Battle of the coffee shops

Rivalry

Jack walked into the cafe and pulled down his hoodie, the bells jingling to signal his arrival. He expected North to greet him like the day before but three of the other people who worked there seemed to be busy with something. Bunny, North, and Toothiana were all gathered around a table in the middle of the room, pointing at something and arguing about it.

"No, we did that last year. He will expect that now."

"Maybe we can put something in his drinks to make his teeth turn yellow!"

"Naw mate. We need to use carrots this year!"

"Bunny will you knock it off, no one is going along with your carrot obsession!"

"Don't call me bunny! I'll freakin' curse you, I swear on me mum!"

Jack could see that this was escalating very quickly, but before he could decide to escape before he was noticed, North realized he was there.

"Jackie boy! Good to see you! You can start today by sweeping up the floors. Broom and dust pan are over by counter." Jack nodded and walked over to pick it up. As soon as he started sweeping up the floors, the trio started talking again.

"We have to think of something good tonight. That Shadow loving boogeyman is probably already formulating evil plans as we speak." North kept his voice controlled but by his tone, Jack could tell he was furious.

"Nicholas, honey, why don't we just ask Jack for help? He might have some fresh ideas." Tooth put a comforting hand on North's shoulder and he nodded slowly. Jack stiffened and tried to act like he hadn't heard them. There was no way he was getting pulled into whatever got them arguing earlier, that was totally not his fight. It seemed however, that luck was not on his side this night.

"Jack, could you come over here a moment." Jack sighed and set the broom down.

"Yes sir?" Bunny put a hand on his hip and ran an annoyed hand through his spiky black hair.

"Yes ask the newbie ou' doesn't even know about the rivalry!" he spat, disdain dripping from his voice.

"What rivalry?" Asked Jack, who stepped closer to the table. Looking down he saw several pictures of Pitch's restaurant lined up, along with a map and the blueprints of what he could only guess was the All Hallows coffee house. What was going on here? North's eyes narrowed dangerously and he stepped up intimidatingly towards Jack. Stabbing a fat finger at jacks chest he started to explain.

"Thirty years ago. When my grandmother started up this cafe, Pitch's grandfather started up his. They were both bakeries at the time, and business was booming. The two shops were always in a competition, until one day Pitch's grandfather took it too far." North was shaking with rage, and Jack was tempted to take a step back from the scary Santa. In fear that movement might set him off, Jack stood still.

"My grandmother had finally perfected 'cake' recipe and Kosmotis Black, thieving bastard he was, stole it!" Before Jack could think too much about why North had used air quotations around the word 'cake', North continued.

"They battle it out for weeks before they made 'truce'. Deciding it would be better for business if they contained their fighting to one month a year. That month would be now. Tomorrow will be the first of December and we need to make sure that Pitch Black knows it." North's eyes were glowing red and Jack was sure this time that it was no reflection. Toothiana tapped North's shoulder as soon as she saw what Jack was focused on.

"Ahem, North darling...Eyes!" North looked at her in confusion before gasping!

"Oh!" He blinked and just like that his eyes were back to their normal baby blue. Jack didn't know what to think other than everyone in this whole freaking town was insane.

"Anyway Jack, can you think of anyway we can remind Pitch that it's that time of year?" North was back to his friendly self again and Jack could only stare in amazement, did North have some kind of personality disorder?

Even if Jack had wanted to answer in that moment he wouldn't have been able to because Bunnymund literally hopped over to North,

"I know what! We could put poison in all his coffee so that it kill everyone and he has to go to prison." Everyone stopped and stared at Bunnymund, the cafe becoming so quiet that crickets could be heard. It was the start of winter, and it was snowing outside and crickets could be heard. Bunnymund felt a hot blush rise to his face and he gave a nervous laugh.

"Haha, we could do that but we are definitely not going to do that, because that would be wrong." Deciding to avoid making this situation even more awkward, North set his hands on Jack's shoulders to ask him what they should do only to draw them back in surprise. Jack was freezing cold!

"Jack do you feel alright?" He asked, concerned for his newest employee. Had Pitch found out about his newest little employee and decided to curse him before he could do any damage?

"Yeah, why?" North would have responded, if he hadn't been struck with a sudden idea. Jack was cold...And cold was just what they needed! North gave Jack an insane smile

"Jack, vould you mind doing us ...Favor?" Jack gulped and responded in a slightly wavering voice.

"Uhmm, yeah... sure."

"You can't back out once you agree. Are you sure Jack?" North gave Jack his best puppy dog eyes, which just made him look like he tried to superglue his eyelids to keep them open. Jack hesitated, but only for a moment. What could North ask of him that could be so bad? The man ran a Christmas themed cafe for heavens sake!

"Yeah, no problamo boss." He flashed a small smile at North which was eagerly returned.

"Good. We are going to need you to sneak into the All Hallows coffee house and leave this in there." North had said it so calmly that Jack wasn't sure he heard it right at first, but there North was, pushing an envelope addressed to Pitch at him. Eyes widening Jack tried to get out of the situation calmly. He furrowed his brow and looked up at the giant Russian that towered over him. Taking on a look of childlike confusion he said,

"But sir, I thought you said we weren't allowed to go over there?" He looked up at North with bright blue doe eyes. North looked at Jack intently, hadn't his eyes been brown before? He shook his head and grinned. No it must have just been the lighting.

"Ah ha! We make exception for this." Jack's palms started to sweat, he had expected that to work. Drat, it seemed that once you got out of high school the 'cute face' trick didn't work anymore. The temperature in the room dropped and Jack tried to think up a reason not to go.

"Well... How am I supposed to get in, do you have a key?" North nodded and held out the palm of his hand.

"Use this." Jack stared mutely down at the giant paw.

"That is a bobby pin."

"Yes." North nodded, smiling at Jack like he was asking him to go pick flowers.

"But isn't this illegal?" Jack questioned, his voice squeaking in panic. North just looked at him like he had grown a second head.

"Why would a bobby pin be illegal?" Bunny started laughing and had to walk into the kitchen to avoid upsetting North. Despite the location change, Bunny's loud guffaws could be heard from the streets if you listened hard enough.

North handed Jack the bobby pin and pushed him to the door.

"Don't worry so much frosty, just think of it as part of job!" Jack pushed open the glass doors and stepped into the snowy street, North's joyous laughter sounding much darker through the glass. Jack looked at the dark shop that sat across the street before taking his first step.

'After this,' thought Jack, 'I should really re-evaluate my life choices'