Inspired by my current obsession: the Big Four. Also by FRIENDS, another obsession of mine.
I do not own Disney/Pixar or Dreamworks.
"Oh, darling, are you sure you want to do this? You know you don't have to. I'll understand if you want to wait another year to go off to school." The raven-haired woman told her petite blonde daughter, gently touching her under the chin.
"I-" she began, but the raven-haired woman wasn't finished speaking yet.
"Nobody will judge you if you want to take courses at the community college so you can stay at home with me."
"But-"
"Or you could do online courses. I'll buy you a brand new tablet to go with your new laptop! And what's that game that you like? Photostore?"
"Photoshop, mother, and it's not a game, it's an application."
"Ah, yes, Photoshop." she said with a nod. "See, you can do everything from home, and then you don't even have to leave home! I'll be here to look after you the entire time!"
The girl glanced down as though she was considering the proposal, then shook her head. "Mother, I've already put this off once – if I don't do it now, I might never do it!"
"And what's wrong with that, sweetheart? You can stay right here with me and never have to go through all that silly leaving home stuff that all those other kids do. You won't have to worry about not making it – I mean, what if you fail, darling? Or if you don't have enough money? What would you do? And groceries – you've never gone shopping on your own before – what if you run out of money?"
"Mother, I have to try."
"Well, if you can live with a clear conscience after abandoning your poor old mumsy all alone in a big, lonely house in the middle of nowhere, then don't let me stop you."
"I'll call you twice a day."
"But I'll forget your pretty face, my widdle chubby bunny." the raven-haired woman patted the blonde's cheeks and spoke to her as though she was a small child.
"We can skype every day."
"Skype? You mean on the computer? Oh, I don't know how to use all those newfangled technological do-dads!" Then she made a face as though she had just had an idea. "Oh, I know! You could stay home and teach me how to use it so that we'll be all ready for next year."
"I have to do this." the blonde said finally, picking up the cage from the table beside her and giving her mother a determined nod. "This is really what I want, mother, please try to understand."
Her raven-haired mother sighed, and gave her a disappointed look before she nodded and picked up her car keys from the table. "Alright."
Taking a deep breath, Hiccup picked up the small black kitten and cupped it against his chest for a moment, running a finger over its velvety smooth ears affectionately. "Not long now, Toothless."
The kitten mewled in protest as Hiccup placed the cat in a cardboard box. He'd put a few of his sweaters in the box so that the cat would have something soft to sleep on, as well as something that smelled like his master to comfort him. Then, dropping one of the cat's stuffed toys into the box with him, he closed the flaps of the box and hoped the kitten would be quiet on the car ride to Corona.
His father hated cats with a passion, and Hiccup was pretty sure his father sped up when he saw a cat crossing the road. Although, it wasn't his father that was taking him to Corona that day; Stoick was working today - he was always working. He was the Chief of the Berk fire department and he was there more often than he was at the two bedroom bungalow he shared with his son, Hiccup.
Hiccup supposed that was a good thing - it was hard enough hiding Toothless in the house as it was when his father was hardly ever home. If his father spent any more time at home, Hiccup was almost sure that his secret would have been discovered and he wouldn't have a cat to hide in the cardboard box in his hands.
"Is tha' the las' of 'em?" Asked a large blonde male with a long handlebar mustache. When he nodded, he reached for the box. "We'll jus' throw it on the top then."
Hiccup jerked the box back and out of the former mechanic's hands. Gunnar Belch, affectionately called "Gobber" by everyone who knew him, was a mechanic turned firefighter who still did some mechanic's work in his spare time, mostly to ensure that the fire station's motorized objects - such as the fire trucks - remained in working order.
"Uh, sorry, I just have. . . uh. . . photos! Yes, that's what I have in this box! Very special and important photos that could get broken so I'll just keep them on my lap, okay? Okay. Wow, it's really warm out here, so we should probably get going."
"Righ'." Gobber said, shaking his head at the high-strung boy as he slammed shut the back of his SUV.
The sound of the front door to the house closing brought the attention of both men to the front of the house, where Hiccup's bearded father stood. He met his son's eyes for a moment.
"Dad-" Hiccup began in an attempt to break the awkward silence that followed the momentary eye contact.
"There's . . . a fire in the east end." Stoick said at last, cutting off his son mid-sentence in what seemed to be his own attempt at breaking the awkward silence.
"Oh, well, I guess you'd better . . . go then." Hiccup said, unable to mask the disappointment in his tone.
"Yes." Stoick with an awkward nod.
Hiccup pursed his lips, and glanced down at the box in his hands, catching a glimpse of one apple-green eye staring up at him from between the interlocked slats. "Well, I guess I'll be going now. Uh, farewell and all that. Have fun with . . . the fires and stuff. Ok, bye Dad."
Then, in a desperate attempt to escape the uncomfortable feelings that the three of them were caught in, Hiccup hurried to the passenger's side door of Gobber's SUV and got in. Stoick nodded and walked to the back of Gobber's car, which was parked next to Stoick's dark blue Dodge Ram, pausing next to his friend.
"He's not goin' ta make it on his own."
Gobber shrugged. "Ye never know, Stoick. He might surprise ye."
Stoick made a noncommittal grunt as he made his way to the driver's side door of his truck. He turned left on the street, and Gobber turned right. Hiccup couldn't help thinking that it was rather symbolic that they'd turned in different directions on the street - they were going their separate ways in more ways than one. As he watched his father's truck disappearing from sight in the rearview mirror, he found himself wondering if his father would actually miss him.
"Dad, won't ye speak ta her for me, please?" The fiery redhead begged her father, dropping to her knees with her hands clasped together in the typical begging pose. "Ah don't want ta do it, Dad! I mean – political sciences? Of all the programs to force me into-"
"Merida, a lady does nae squat on the floor." The redhead's brunette mother chose to enter the room at that moment, and gave her daughter a stern look.
"Ach, Mum, a Lady?" Merida groaned in protest.
"And we've already discussed this. As the daughter of a Lord and a Member of Parliament, yer expected to be educated."
"I'd still be educated if ye let me pick ma own program." Merida said, giving her mother a pleading look.
"A lady does nae frown – you'll get dreadful frown-lines." she told her. "And archery does not count as education."
"What university even offers a program for archery? None! Trus' me, Ah've checked!" Merida retorted indignantly, crossing her arms. "But I would nae choose a program as god-awful as political sciences."
Her mother ignored her comment and turned to the girl's ruddy-haired father. "Fergus, the boys and Ah have been waiting ages for the two of ye ta meet us at the car."
"Ye left the triplets unsupervised with the car? With ma stuff?!" Merida asked in alarm, on her feet in an instant.
"Of course not," she scoffed. "Maudie's with them."
"Maudie?" Merida repeated in disbelief, and as fast as she could possibly move in the charcoal pencil skirt and grey pumps her mother had dressed her in that day, she fled the hotel room before anyone could say another word.
"It's just as well." the brunette said with a satisfied nod. "It's almost time for her ta get her key. Now, come on Fergus - stop dallying!"
"Me – dallying?" Fergus sputtered indignantly.
"Oh hush." she scolded him as the two made their way from the hotel suite in which they were staying.
Sitting in the passenger's seat as they drove through the city of Corona, the boy's pale blue eyes were staring dully at the shops and streets, the markets and coffee shops, the restaurants and fast food chains, the houses and apartments as they flashed by the red minivan.
He almost seemed in a trance, because when the vehicle finally came to a stop and the boy remained as he had been for the past hour and a half – just staring out the window with glazed eyes.
"Jack, we're here." The car's driver, a bearded man with a heavy Russian accent, told him.
The boy blinked, then shook his head. "Oh, uh, thanks, North."
"Don't mention it, my boy!" his foster father told him. "Would you like me to stick around, help you move your stuff into your new 'pad'?"
Jack paused a moment, then pulled his worn blue backpack up onto his lap from its place on the floor of the car by his feet. "Not much to move, really."
"I am very sad to see you go, but I told myself when I met you – I said 'North, this boy is destined for great things!' and so you are!"
"It's just school."
"But school will take you to greatness. I see it. You will be big man, very important."
He almost smiled as he opened the door to the vehicle and hopped onto the sidewalk. Pulling his backpack on over his classic navy hoodie, he opened the back door of the van to grab his suitcase which contained the rest of his possessions.
"You will come back to the Pole to visit, yes?"
"The Pole" was a short name for "North's Pole", which was the name of the group home where Jack had lived for the past twelve years. He never had managed to recall what his life had been like before he'd been taken in by Children's Aid and by Nicholas North. He'd been lost or abandoned when he was six years old, and nobody had ever come to claim his as their own, so after twelve years, everyone assumed the latter.
"Of course." Jack said with a quick nod. He'd visit, but probably not for a long while. He was grateful to North for being the father that he couldn't remember ever having, for giving him a roof over his head, for giving him food and putting clothes on his back – North had given Jack everything. North had even been the one who'd pushed Jack towards Corona U, and lit a metaphorical fire under his ass the past year to make sure he had the grades to get into the program he wanted.
But Jack felt like he'd been mooching off of North for too long. He didn't like owing people anything, and the fact that North was the entire reason that he was anything right now bothered him. He was grateful, but he hated the feeling of being indebted.
Also, North had enough to worry about with an average of ten or twelve fostered children underfoot every day, not to mention a stable full of therapeutic horses. Jack himself had never really got the whole thing with horses helping heal damaged kids, but he'd seen its magic at work numerous times, even if it hadn't actually worked on him.
"The kids will miss you." North told him. "I will miss you."
"No you won't." Jack told him with a joking smile. "I taught the others enough of my tricks – you'll never even notice I'm gone."
"We will Jack, we all will."
"Don't get all sentimental on me now, North." Jack noticed the bearded man hastily wipe his eye before he replied.
"You work hard and you will be great!" North told him through the now-open passenger's side window as Jack closed the sliding door on the side of North's red van. "And remember, my door is always open!"
"See you 'round, North." Jack said, stepping back on the sidewalk with his suitcase.
"Try to stay out of trouble!" North called to him as the fair-haired boy took a few steps away on the sidewalk.
Jack turned back with his signature mischievous smile. "No promises."
And then he made his way into the lobby of his new home.
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