Modern AU. Jackson Overland Frost is suffering from bad immune system. His parents are a bit too paranoid to let him go to school or leave the house at all. Luckily, there's a freckled someone who won't get up on him even though he's trapped inside a bedroom all day…They're both about 16 years old (Hiccup the age between HTTYD and HTTYD 2).
So, hey guys! This is my first hijack fanfiction, I thought I'd might give it a go. I've never written something like this before I suppose, hah, and I just study English in school (it's not my main language) so my grammar isn't always the best. You know the deal.
Oh, and Jack & Hiccup and other mentioned characters both belongs to Dreamworks. I own nothing but the plot!
Hope you'll enjoy!
"I'm going out!"
The boy had put on his red converse before the short-haired woman in the doorway even had time to blink. She opened her mouth but wasn't able to crack a sound until she was pushed aside, her son halfway out through the door and it was probably too late to stop him.
"Hic, can you please wait a second?"
He turned his face to her with a displeased look in his eyes. "What is it, mom?"
She took a deep breath. It wasn't easy dealing with kids these days.
How was she supposed to put it without sounding like an ancient old grannie? No idea at all.
"Ah, you know… Eugene and I've been talking…"
A tilt with the hip, a small gesture fixing a little with her bangs... An attempt to look nonchalant about it all. "We don't really like that you're out this late every other night. What exactly is it that you're doing again?"
The teenager's mouth was open. His facial expression summed up the sentence 'Is this really happening?' perfectly without putting it into words.
"Uhm…" he stuttered, not really sure what to really say. "I've told you… I'm hanging out with Astrid…"
"Ah-ah?"
The woman studied her son quietly for a moment.
"We're studying…"
His eyes were wide open and his lips pressed together, forming a perfect line. She could really see how his brain was working hard, trying to cope with her questions and most likely putting up scenarios of what would happen if she banned him from walking out. What a catastrophe it would be.
What if he knew that she had been calling Astrid's parents? That she knew that he never showed up there?
The concerned wrinkle on his forehead got bigger.
She knew it wasn't any kind of drug. Tobacco, alcohol, or stronger than that… He would never, not her boy. They had talked about it and he had stated it clear that he'd chosen to stay away from all that stuff, and both she and Eugene trusted that for sure. Such a bright teen.
But what was it then? What was it that made him run out at 8 every night and come back way later than appropriate?
Friends? Unlikely. A girlfriend? Maybe this was the first love-stuff every other grown-up talked about. But it sounded a bit too innocent to be true. And who would it be if it wasn't Astrid? Those two were close – and had always been, but the friendship was too strong between them to become something more. And Hiccup didn't seem very interested in the other girls…
She sighed and shrugged her shoulders tiredly.
"Well, off you go, tell Astrid I said hi. See you when you're back. Don't stay out for too late this time!"
His face lit up like a candle on Christmas Eve, smiling like he couldn't think of anything better than this. "Of course mom, thanks!"
With the shoelaces still untied and the jacket just hanging over his shoulder he jumped out through the doorway and smashed the door close. All that was left was a ringing echo.
She drummed with the index finger on the jawline. Was it good or bad that she'd let him go? He had seemed so happy. Could something that made him smile that bright really be bad for him? He was just a boy.
She hadn't heard him come, so when he laid his hands on her shoulders she got a little surprised, then relaxed.
His breath tickled by her ear when he spoke, almost whispered; "He's a grown boy. We can't lock him in forever and pretend that he isn't growing. He's a teen, R… Not our little baby anymore."
She turned around and faced him, eyed his slender face. Such brown eyes.
"He's still our boy, Eugene…"
"Of course he is. And he will always be… But he's not a kid. He's got to have his own time."
She gave him a quick kiss on the lips. They curled up in a smile, and she couldn't resist to do the same.
"Guess you're right. Come one then…"
They left the hallway.
The adrenaline pumped in his veins. Small feet carried his body forwards, closer and closer to the goal. Almost there. Almost…
He could spot the lights on the other side of the road. As soon as he had passed the last five birches that peacefully whizzed by the cool breeze, he could even see the big white house loom. A few shadows danced by its windows, and an old lantern lit up the door.
And, if he squint his eyes just a tiny tiny bit more, see the window.
His window.
The gravel crackled under his feet while moving quickly, working himself forwards the last few meters. A shortcut over the grass made him reach the white-painted wooden walls even quicker than expected.
Full of excitement, the brunette looked up to the nearest window. He squint his eyes once more and tried to catch a sign of something; just a quick movement or a shadow. But he was disappointed. Nothing appeared.
What if he wasn't at home?
'Stupid… Where else would he be?'
Perhaps at the hospital. What if something had happened?
A sting in his heart.
Really, it hurt. It hurt as hell.
As if it could shake the bad thoughts away, he ruffled his brown curls and took a deep breath. It was at least worth a try!
A metallic ladder was screwed up tightly against the wall, and he grabbed the rod that was closest and started to climb upwards.
It actually took a while to find the balance and climb those few meters, and when he finally reached the windowsill his forehead was sweaty and his hands hurt a bit.
But the teen didn't care.
Pressing one ear to the frame, he tried to listen.
Not a sound. After a moment of uncertainty a small fist knocked on the window.
He waited.
Just when he was about to start climbing down again; heart beating and head spinning, the window opened up with an almost loud smash, and out peeked the head of a boy his own age.
It was incredible how pale he was. Hiccup had never seen anyone with a skin so bright, not even his own grandmother (who hadn't stepped out of her small little house in ages).
This boy also had another kind of paleness. It looked more... Healthy.
He couldn't deny saying that it was beautiful. Any girl at school would fall for him, right there on that place that exact moment, if they saw him. He looked like a fairy, from the bedtime stories.
Another thing about the little creature was his hair. It was snow white! As white as any hair could be without have being bleached thousands of times. As white as the cartoon character's hairs!
Blue eyes glittered, and his thin lips curled up in a smile. Yep, he definitely looked like a fairy. Even in the faded light from the lanterns…
The relief flushed all over his body, and he started smiling like a five year old at Christmas! Could a heart beat that fast? Could it really?
"Oh shit, sorry Hiccup! I didn't mean to… It was just, I was talking to dad…"
Embarrassing.
"No no - it's okay. I didn't tell you I was coming."
They shared a quick smile before the pale boy moved aside so his friend could climb in through the window. It went faster than usual. He was getting pretty used to it.
When both were standing with their feet on the floor, the window was closed again and they had both breathed out they looked at each other happily.
Hiccup broke the eye-contact quickly just to look around in the room again. He really loved it.
The walls were gray and pretty basic but the teen hadn't let that get in the way for making the room more personal. The boring walls were covered with movie-posters (a few of them obviously taken from cinemas, with the time stamp from the premiere still there on the bottom of the picture), some framed with lightning strands (his favorites?), some big and some smaller. Over the second biggest one, a retro and probably original, version of Star Wars IV: A New Hope, there hung a big TV with speakers and everything.
One of the other walls was completely hidden behind a few bookshelves, and they were all stuffed with books – thick ones, small ones, colorful ones and plain black ones. He had probably read them all.
The floor was plain wooden, the bed big and covered with lots of blankets, pelts and he'd got at least five pillows. A sick man's bed.
'That sounded like a really bad movie.'
But the best part with this boy's room was the roof.
See, this was no ordinary roof – it was pitch black all over, and covered with sparks. Stars! Stars everywhere, you could spot a new one every time you looked up. If you were looking from the floor then they were just spots, but if you got closer… You could see a prickly pattern around each one of them. They really were stars, carefully painted one by one.
That pale little kid had got a whole galaxy in his bedroom roof.
"Your reaction is always the same…"
Hiccup turned his face to his friend again and smiled quickly. He scratched the back of his hair a bit embarrassed. "It's just… So cool, Jack."
"You think?"
It was obvious that Jack knew how nice it was, but he didn't brag about it. He was only glad someone enjoyed it. So he backed and sat down on the bed, lifting away a book so the brunette could sit down too. And so he did.
"What's it about?"
"Huh?"
"The book."
Hiccup pointed at the red cover that still were in Jack's hands, but he just dropped it on the floor a bit nonchalant.
"Nah, nothing. Just poetry and stuff…"
A muffled giggle broke out in the room for a second, until the white haired boy raised his eyebrow accusingly.
"What?"
Hiccup smiled. He didn't mean to sound rude, which he obviously had done, so he raised a hand and explained calmly; "I'm sorry, I just didn't know you were the poetry-type…"
"'Tempt not a desperate man.'"
Jack smirked.
"I shan't."
"It's Shakespeare. But I could've said it too, you know. I'm a desperate man… A desperate man locked inside my own castle."
"… No, Frosty. You're a princess, patiently waiting for her prince to come save you."
He got a harmless punch on his arm and they both laughed – but Hiccup hesitated a moment. Was it really that fun? Well, at least they could joke about it.
"Y'know… I've been practicing…"
From under the pillow, the white haired boy took out a green case with a familiar cover. "I've been here for a while. Don't ever think you can beat me."
He jumped out of the bed and went over to the TV, plucked out the game and put it in the console, grabbed the controls and threw one at his friend. "Halo's not quite your thing, Haddock."
