#+10 points for Jack to feel a twinge of pain over Lucy's name sounding similar to Judy's

[op15-moonwaltz]

OMG YESSS PLS EXAND ON THIS CONCEPT!!! ITS MAKING MY BRAIN GO BRRRRRRR FR FR

oh my gosh I didn’t even think about how the escape clause would connect to this and. omg. wow. yeah that would mess him up bad😭 I can see him constantly replaying that moment in his head, feeling so much guilt that he had that moment in the palm of his hands to change the course of nick’s fate even just a little and he did nothing. man :,)

I can also see after a particularly bad counsil meeting (Jack slams the table and storms out after the counsil continues to call nick “the previous santa” even after he corrected them numerous times), mrs clause finds him and he just cracks. he tells stories of decorating, bake offs, and times where he just felt cared about. she doesn’t say much, but she does listen and offer the occasional pat on the back and a reminder to take deep breaths. he asks if he can keep what he told her about nick strictly between them, and of course she agrees, wanting to make sure he opens up to others in his own time. she keeps the Clause residence a little extra warm that night, just in case

over time he finds more items of nick’s around the north pole that had gotten lost to time. most of them he gives to nick’s family, still trying to be present in their lives, but occasionally he’ll find something for himself. sometimes it gets easier to talk about, but the pain in his chest reminds him it never completely gets easier to lose the one person who believed in him.

nick’s hat remains jack’s comfort item though, as he’ll sometimes put it in the pocket of his suit jacket. instead of clenching his hands to stim, he’ll run his hands along the fabric of the hat :) (Nick was always very supportive of stimming)

once jack gets back on doing decorations, he’ll take inspiration from previous decorations that he did with nick, almost like a tribute. he never makes it a full blast from the past though, as nick always loved to see jack’s creativity and fresh take on things, so jack always made sure to continue that.

Lord i’m obsessed with this concept omg

Taking a Christmas movie collection made by Disney and making the saddest shit possible 🤝🤝

Now tack on MORE guilt on Jack's end, because what if the roof wasn't supposed to be icy that night? Maybe it wasn't supposed to snow that night at all, but Jack wanted a good Christmas snowstorm for the kids to play around in on Christmas Day and just didn't account for the mushy snow from days before refreezing into thick pieces of ice.

He probably didn't even know Nick had slipped on ice until the Escape Clause incident, he probably didn't even notice it or actually comprehend it until after everything settled down at the end of the movie. (also cut to him aggressively slicking his hair back because I can NOT give him the chocolate shell hair I'm so sorry but that is not a good look 💀)

Jack probably feels horrible since Nick's family can't come to the pole anymore (he's practically begged at council meetings about letting them come up to see the place, but the other Figures have all said it was too risky, he's already gone on about how stupid the 'Secret of Santa' clause is for previous Claus families). He's a very common face around the household there, he's actually given a few photos of him and Nick to them when the grandkids needed pictures for a school project. (they played it off as Nick being a santa impersonator and Jack being, well, Jack Frost)

Mrs. Claus has probably seen him at his lowest unintentionally, she's seen enough to notice his tells (hands shaking, a slur to some words, lost look in his eyes that he hides with a smile, a blue tinge to his fingertips-) and actually get him out of whatever situation he's in. He's gotten comfortable with her enough that if he feels that overwhelming feeling he'll subtly nudge her with his shoulder to help him out of wherever he is.

Jack most definitely has his own memento collection of his times with Nick, he has his old hat, of course, but he also has a little collection of duo memorabilia that they had designed. A Jack Frost and Santa Claus set of Cola bottles, a few mockup plushies they had designed but never sold, the rough sketches of a late '60s TV commercial, he kept a lot of stuff. He only had one or two ornaments, one of himself all cartoony with his arms proudly in the air, and one of Nick, also cartoony, with the signature sack of presents standing with his big grin.

He even had Nick's round glasses, his eyesight was never very good so his wife had actually bought him a pair of glasses after he'd become Santa. (Nick's wife went through and became Mrs. Claus, however she preferred to stay in New York to stay close to their kids. He always made sure to visit often and invite them over for After-Christmas, a day he made specifically so he can do standard Christmas traditions with them without having to worry about time to deliver presents. Jack was practically dragged by three of Nick's kids to the first one. And then he was dragged by grandkids in the later ones).

Speaking of kids, Jack has continuously berated Nick's daughter Judy for her taste in men. He fully believes she can do better then a guy named Darrel who's never visited the Pole once with her or their kids.

Jack would happily ice him if she ever asked.