Hey guys. The idea for this story came to me in the shower. (Yeah, seriously. Why was I thinking about zoos in the shower?) But this just seems like such a great idea to me and as far as I know there isn't another Hijack/Frostcup AU out there where they work at a zoo. I'm a genius.

Disclaimer: If I owned either of these amazing movies and the amazing characters within them, there would be a sequel that would make this pairing cannon. But sadly, I don't own.

I hope you guys like this little slice of my mind. And in case you're wondering, I couldn't come up with shit for the title of this thing so I pulled up a word document I made when I was eleven that consisted of nothing but story titles, and Complicated of an Animal was one of the titles.

Anyway, here we go.

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The large lion crouched down, bearing his row of sharp fangs at me with a predatory growl. To be complete honest, I was a little hesitant toward the aggression that the lion was displaying on every feature of his body: his tightened leg muscles prepared to attack, his recently acquired mane standing on end, his eyes watching me in the same way I've seen Jack glare at a careless zoo-goer who had tossed trash into the penguin exhibit.

But I knew better than to be afraid.

"Toothless, I've known you since your name actually made sense."

The lion released another guttural snarl. His eyes dart to something past my shoulder.

Oh.

I find my radio on my belt and lift it to my lips. "Stand down now! You're spooking him."

The radio replies with static. Some of the tension slips from Toothless's stature.

"Bud, it's okay. They're not going to shoot you as long as I'm in here."

The lion's eyes meet mine. Instantly he sits down and gives me what I've learned to be a goofy smile. That's a relief. I was worried the escape ward would actually have to use their tranquilizer guns.

Toothless tilts his head to the side, silently questioning me. As a reply I slap my hand against my leg twice. Toothless understand and leans back onto his haunches before resting his paws on my shoulders and dragging his tongue from my chin well into my hair. I force myself to not recoil from the moist sign of affection.

"That's enough, bud." Toothless slips off of me. Now with the situation under control, I turn to face the cage breacher who had moved from her place hiding behind a rock to standing just a few meters away, watching wide-eyed in what appear to be a green sweater and pink fairy wings.

I smile as warmly as I can manage. "Hey there, little girl, are you alright."

Her eyes dart from me to the daunting-looking lion sitting in front of me to me once again. She looks afraid.

Toothless looks up at me and makes a motion that looks very much like a shrug. So much help you are. I sigh and place one hand on the lion's muzzle and outstretch the other toward the little blonde girl. She takes my silent invitation immediately and throws herself into my open arm, wrapping her small arms around my neck.

"Hey, everything is okay. Toothless won't hurt you. He was just as scared as you were." She frowns at me, clearly not believing a word that leaves my mouth. I sigh. "How old are you?"

The small girl seems to ponder this thought for a moment before remove one hand from around my neck just long enough to hold two fingers right in front of my nose.

"You're two?" When she gives a nod of confirmation I smile. "Toothless here is two too…err…two as well."

She blinks at that fact and turns to look at the lion who was still sitting patiently in front of me. I can tell that the bulk of her fear had slipped away, replaced with a slight unease. "Can…" her sentence trails off, but I understand.

"Yeah, you can pet him if you want to. He's just a big baby after all."

Toothless seems to pout at my comment but makes no movement, seeming to take the small girl's apprehension into consideration. The tiny blonde slowly lowers her hand toward the lion until it is hovering in front of Toothless. Toothless glance at me and I give him a nod before he leans his head forward, pressing his forehead against the girl's tiny hand.

She gasps and flinches. Her gasp turns into an explosion of giggles and twists her body towards Toothless with an excited squeal of "Kitty!"

And without any warning or consideration of my position at all, Toothless rocks back on his haunches before place his giant paws on my shoulders and licking the little blonde girl's face, nearly knocking me onto my ass in the process.

"Toothless," I hiss as I shift my weight and manage to regain my balance for the most part under the large lions weight without dropping the girl. Toothless lets out a low whine before once again slapping his tongue against my face. "I accept your apology, okay. Now get off of me."

My words were drowned out by the tiny girl's squirming and excited cries of "Toot-less." I sigh as the lion licks the girls face once more before falling back on the ground. I'm shifting the girl in my arms so that she can reach the lion when I hear the cage door creak open before closing back with a thud. The girl doesn't seem to have heard it, but Toothless did. He gave nothing more than a glance behind me before letting the girl once again pet him.

I didn't have to look to know who was approaching, but for some reason I was still surprised when a very wet, very warm, very human tongue pressed itself against my cheek with a small lick.

"Jack," I groan, turning to stare at the white haired boy beside me.

He pouts. "I can't believe you didn't invite me to this licking party you guys are having, Hic."

"We are not having a licking party. No one has licking parties."

Jack smirks. "Says you."

I just shake my head at my unbelievable companion before pulling the girl away from Toothless. She makes a noise of discontent but I ignore it. "Let's get you back to your family."

I manage to take five steps before Jack says, "Are you going to leave me in here alone with Toothless."

"Yep. Toothless, attack."

Jack manages to say, "Attack?" before he is laying on the ground with a lion sitting on top of him, happily licking at his face. Serves him right. He wanted a licking party after all.

I carry the girl out the door of the cage and find a woman with bloodshot eyes and a small brunette boy clinging to her leg waiting. "Sophie?!" the woman practically cries.

"Momma!" the girl squeals before bouncing out of my arms and into those of her mother.

I watch feeling a little uncomfortable as the woman embraces her daughter while cooing soft words of reassurance following along the lines of "Everything is okay. You're fine. I love you so much."

I'm contemplating going back into Toothless's cage to make sure Jack hasn't, I don't know, drowned in lion drool, when I feel a tug on my pant leg.

The little brunette boy smiles up at me, stuttering out a whispered sentence. "Uh, um, uh thank you Mr. Zookeeper Sir for, um, saving my sister." His face flushes red as soon as he finishes stumbling through his sentence.

I squat down so I'm at eyelevel with him and smile. "Call me Hiccup."

He smiles, his face still flushed, and offers his hand. "My name is Jamie."

"Nice to meet you, Jamie." I give his hand a firm shake before being pulled out of the conversation by his mother.

"I can't thank you enough. Is there anything I could do for you?"

My face flushes due to pure embarrassment. "It's really not a big deal. It happens all the time…well, actually, no, this has never happened before, but it was nothing. Occupational hazard. But I do suggest something from the gift shop and a bubble bath for this one," I say before reaching out and brushing the girl's now saliva coated hair.

The children's mother smiles at me. "There has to be something I could do for you."

The cage door clanks behind me and Jack appears at my side looking more than a little flustered. "You left me in there alone!"

"You wanted a licking party. Toothless was happy to have one with you." I turn to face Jack as I speak and force myself to swallow the laugh rising quickly in my throat. His face was shiny was lion slobber, but the worst part was his hair. Toothless had been meticulous in the way he styled Jack's hair, giving the boy something that could have only been the lovechild of a mohawk and a comb over.

He pouts. "I can tell you're trying not to laugh, Hiccup. You're not hiding it at all."

I bite my lower lip and shake my head before mumbling, "Sorry." Unfortunately for Jack, half way through saying sorry I lost my shit and broke out into a fit of uncontrollable laughter.

"Why am I friends with you again?"

"Because I let you live in my apartment for free."

"Oh, yeah, that."

"I got it!"

Both Jack and I freeze at the new voice in our conversation. I had honestly forgotten that the mother of the little girl was still standing there with her son. Her son, Jamie, had been the one who spoke. "What is it, kid?" Jack asked, suddenly aware of the boy pulling at the hem of his mother dress and my pant leg at the same time.

Jamie looks from Jack to me to his mother before saying, "They should come have dinner with us."

They?

His mother seems to like that idea. "That's a great idea, Jamie. Would you two like to come have dinner with us?"

You two?

Jack's arm wraps around my shoulders and he smiles at the woman. "We'd love to…uh…"

"You can call me Mrs. Bennett," the children's mother supplies. "That's what everyone calls me."

"We'd love to, Mrs. Bennett!"

We?

Mrs. Bennett pulls an index card and a pen from her purse and hurriedly scribbles something on it, most likely her address, and offers it to Jack. "We eat dinner at six o'clock."

Jack accepts the index card. "Perfect! We get off work at five."

"We'll see you then!" Mrs. Bennett says before saying something about the gift shop and walking slowly away. The little girl, Sophie, waves at me from over her mother's shoulder.

Suddenly a pressure appears on my legs and I look down to see Jamie smiling up at me. "See you later, Mr. Hiccup!"

I open my mouth to say something but the boy's mother cuts me off. "Jamie, come along!"

And with that the boy runs off, occasionally glancing over his shoulder at me. The Bennett family is gone. I'm alone with Jack, who still has his arm draped over my shoulders.

"What the hell just happened?" I ask as I slip out of Jack's grasp.

"We just got free food, that's what happened."

My eye twitches but I force the situation to leave my mind, instead focusing on something more important. "Why the hell did you lick me back in Toothless's cage?"

Jack frowns. "Why does it matter? I lick your face all the time."

I try not to dwell on the uncomfortable feeling rising in my gut at Jack's latter sentence. "People were watching."

He blinks.

"The escape ward was watching."

"They were?"

"Mr. Moon was watching!"

"What?!"

That got a reaction out of him. "How could you not have seen him in the crowd outside of the cage? It's not like he blends in or anything."

Jack's face becomes more pale than usual. "Does me licking you face fall under the sexual assault clause we had to sign when we got the job here?"

"Let's hope it doesn't for your sake."

He lets out a nervous laugh. "You're not going to file a claim against me or anything, are you?"

"Jack, do you seriously think I would file a claim against you now? You have been licking my face since middle school. It doesn't bother me anymore."

"Anymore?"

I give his shoulder a light punch. "Shut up."

And then I notice something.

"Jack?"

"Yeah?"

"Where are your shoes?"

"Hiccup, come on, do you really have to ask that?"

"One day you're going to step in elephant shit and I am going to laugh my ass off."

"I know you will."

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So, did you like it? If you like it and want to see more please leave a review. I can't tell if people actually like this story unless they leave a review or favorite or follow or a combination of the two or all three. Anywho, see you guys in chapter two (hopefully).

Lots of love & Hijack, RedWords