Welcome to The North Pole
It's just like any other typical day in Berk: incurably cold and loud. The only time the citizens of Berk sees the sun is when the clouds are absent—which rarely happens. It hails mostly three months of the year and the rest is cold like winter. It's probably one of the main reasons Jack Overland decided to move in here. He likes the cold a little bit too much and the overly energetic and enthusiastic people of Berk are a welcome to him.
He had been helping his uncle, North, manage his coffee shop The North Pole everyday for 8 hours for the past two years. The coffee shop is doing fairly well considering the, sometimes, misleading name of their shop but North seems to find it funny and clever.
He enjoys working for North as a barista. The people love him and Jack loves putting smiles on their faces. Their shop is popular because it's the only coffee shop you'll ever find in Berk and if you have an expensive taste and a knack for branded drinks then you'll have to travel for hours just to reach the nearest Starbucks.
"Welcome to the North Pole!" They—he greets their customers like this every day but Jack doesn't seem to get tired of doing it. Bunny, one of his co-workers, hates doing it—thinks it's stupid and childish but it was North's orders so he shuts his mouth and forces a smile and mutters a greeting. A job's a job after all.
There's always a guy that comes in every 8 in the morning to get 2 large black coffee and 1 hot chocolate with marshmallows to go. And everyday Jack stares at him for longer than necessary. He's probably the same age as he is; same height with auburn hair and freckles too many to ignore. "Hi, I'll have the usual, please," he always say, and every time Jack will have it ready in advance.
Most of the times Jack would get a smile with a sigh from the guy, and other times the guy would just smile softly and look at him like he has something to tell.
Jack knows him by the name Hiccup and at first he thought it was a funny name but then he learned that almost everyone in Berk has ridiculous names—everyone except for them—although they, too, have weird names.
He would always greet Hiccup with an extra smile every morning and he would receive a nod and a smile. Despite of Jack's talkativeness and enthusiasm for Berk and for its people, he seems to quiet down every time he sees Hiccup.
"Have you even talked to the guy, yet?" Bunny says from the counter. He looks at him and as usual Bunny has his signature frown as he wipes the counter. "I'm getting tired of you pining over him."
"We . . . say things," he says, "sometimes. And I don't pine!"
He hears Bunny scoff and Jack ignores him. They've . . . talked. Right? Every day he would greet him and they exchange words.
"Yeah, I can see that," There's that sarcastic tone in Bunny's voice that he got used to, "But have you talked talked to the guy, yet?
"No," he mutters. But only because he only sees Hiccup every morning. The rest of the day is him taking orders and wiping tables. Hiccup never returns after he gets his usual every day. Come to think of it, in his two years in Berk, he has never seen Hiccup past 8 in the morning—even on the weekends.
When a customer enters they both went back to work, conversation already dropped, and Jack sighs and went on with his day.
There's this new building being built near the coffee shop and the noise of the machines drilling through concrete is a bit of a nuisance to Jack. "They just received the clearance," North shouted to his ear as if he couldn't hear what North says with his loud, normal, tone. "They could at least apologize for the noise or like warn us or something," he grumbled. He takes a second glance at the construction workers before entering the shop and opening for the day.
At least when the doors are closed the noise outside becomes a somewhat tolerable hum. He prepares the coffee machine and wipes the counter, Toothina is in the kitchen already done with the baked goods, and Bunny just entered the shop.
"Good morning!" North greets and Bunny greeted back. In spite of Bunny's frowny face and a tendency to be broody he respects North like everyone else respects North.
"What's with the ruckus out there?" Bunny asks and points back to where the construction workers are hauling large poles of steel.
"Commercial Building," North says, "Mayor's project."
Ah, the mayor—Berk's mayor. The beloved mayor of Berk. Stoik—the vast—Haddock is a well respected man here in Berk and everyone seemed to love him. He's new in this town but he sees how the citizens follow him and listens to him. Jack often sees him with his trusted advisor, Gobber, mingling with the people. Sometimes in the market, at times in the Fire Station. Considering the amount of arson cases in Berk, Stoik must have had to thank the firemen for their continuous service to its people.
"Alright!" North announces, "Let's greet the customers with a smile and may this day be great as always."
He hears Bunny mutter a very unenthusiastic "Yay" in the background and Jack can't help but snicker, but he smiles at North and nods before turning the sign to 'Open.'
He's a little bit disappointed that Hiccup didn't come today. Jack has been "giddy" and "radiating with happiness" as Bunny had described, although they still have their usual traffic of customers despite the ongoing construction just buildings away from them. The people doesn't seem to mind but Jack does because the drilling never stops and the sound of hammer hitting steel—even through closed doors—is getting really annoying. And by 3 in the afternoon he has had it so he decides to go and talk to whoever their supervisor is.
He crosses the road and the noise gets even more intolerable. It rings in his ears and he has to cover them just to hear himself rehears the things he's going to say. When he reaches the location he shouts over to the man who's drilling through concrete but he doesn't seem to hear him so he tries again and taps him by his shoulders. The man stops and looks at him, shuts of the machine and takes off his earmuffs and goggles.
"Who's in charge in here?" he asks.
The man frowns at him and sighs, his eyebrow furrowed but he pointed to a guy wearing a hard cap holding what seems to be a blueprint. Jack nods and says, "Thank you," but the man is already putting back his goggles and earmuffs so he decides to go and talk to their supervisor.
"Excuse me," he starts, "Do you know how rude it is not to inform us that you're going to be doing heavy construction in the area," the drilling starts again and Jack has to shout over the noise. He taps the guy's shoulders and continues, "And you've been drilling for hours! How long is this going to last?" The guy turns to him, "This is really a— Hi."
"Oh, hey," Jack stops talking because the guy standing in front of him and the one in charge of all things causing his forming headache is Hiccup.
Hiccup takes off his earmuffs and raises an eyebrow at him, "Hey, uh, what are you doing here?" he shouts.
Jack pauses because he is definitely not prepared for this. So this is the reason he wasn't able to drop by the shop earlier. "Hi, I was just, uh," he looks at the area and sees them watching him like a hawk especially the guy he had talked to earlier, the drilling stops, "I was just gonna say, uh . . ."
He hears Hiccup chuckle and Jack stops thinking for things to say. "I'm sorry, but do we have a problem here?" Hiccup says and gestures to his crew who went back to their jobs.
"No. It's just that this is getting annoying," he shouts and flails.
"You just gestured to everything we're doing," Hiccup shouts back, "And we've notified every shop owner here that we're doing construction work, and we apologized in advance for the inconvenience."
"Well, I didn't get the memo," he says and crosses his arm over his chest, "And if you did apologize you can't argue that this is really a nuisance."
Hiccup frowns and Jack immediately feels bad. He blames it on his forming headache. "I'm sorry," Hiccup says. It's in his normal voice but Jack can perfectly hear it, and then Hiccup shouts again, "But we really don't have anything to do to minimize the noise. We're trying to finish all the drilling today so that it'd be bearable in the next couple of weeks, and it would help us a lot if you," Hiccup grabs his arm gently and leads him to the sidewalk, "don't enter there because it's construction zone and you could get hurt."
Despite the cold Berk brings, he could feel Hiccup's warm hands through his blue jacket. He looks at him and mutters a soft "Oh," before Hiccup releases him.
Hiccup smiles softly at him and says, "We're really sorry for all of this. This is my first project and I don't want to mess it up, and now I have my first complaint," he then smiles sadly and now Jack feels kind of bad, "I've personally told North about the construction, I guess he didn't tell you."
Damnit North! Jack flushes a bit, embarrassed about the situation, so he apologizes to Hiccup but Hiccup waves at him and says, "No need to be sorry! It's our fault for not notifying the citizens effectively. I'll try harder the next time."
He nods and then one of the workers calls for Hiccup so Hiccup has to go back to work so Jack says, "I'm sorry again. Gotta go back to work . . . too."
Hiccup puts his goggles back on and his earmuffs, smiles at Jack, before heading back to his work.
He jogs back to the shop, a little bit embarrassed, and goes back to taking orders. The hum is back and his forming headache miraculously gone.
He sees Hiccup the next day. He's wearing working clothes same as yesterday and there seem to be dark circles under his eyes. Jack bit his lips, remembering what happened yesterday, and smiles at Hiccup when he enters through the door. He had glared over at his uncle last night for not informing him about the construction. "I looked like an idiot!" he said, but North just chuckled at him and apologizes though he said that it was "Your fault for barging in like that. Teach you a lesson to approach things carefully."
"Hi, again," he greets Hiccup when he reaches the counter. 8 o'clock on the dot. "The usual?"
"Not today," Hiccup says, "I'll have 12 large black coffees and a hot chocolate with marshmallows to go, please." He smiles at Jack who punches his order.
"This'll take a while," he says, "Might want to take a seat while I make these." Hiccup nods and takes a seat near the counter. Bunny texted him that he'll be late for work and North is in his office doing some accounting while Toothina finishes the last batch of her cookies for the morning so Jack doesn't really have that much help.
As he is making the coffee, Jack steals glances towards Hiccup who sits quietly, like he's just been ordered by his mom to not move, and it's kind of adorable how a 20 something year old can look like a kid in a candy store.
Jack doesn't rush making coffee. He takes his time because he actually likes making coffee, and because watching Hiccup be him is a habit that Jack didn't knew he'd like.
"We're done with the drilling," he's on his 7th cup when he hears Hiccup talk. He looks at him, cup in hand, and Hiccup continues, "We already swept the place clean last night."
"Last night?"
"Yeah," Hiccup scratches the back of his head and says, "I asked most of the men to stay and finish the job so we won't have any more complaints from the people," Jack freezes for a second and slumps his shoulders, "It's a good thing they agreed with me," Hiccup chuckles and something in Jack stirs, "Hence the dozen of coffee."
"Sorry," he mutters. 9th cup. "So, you're the hot chocolate guy," he looks at Hiccup and smiles.
"I prefer the hot chocolate over caffeine," Hiccup says. He stands up and hovers over the counter, watching Jack make coffee, "It wakes me up."
"Hmmm," he hums. 11th cup. "Never pegged you for a hot choco kind of guy."
"What did you pegged me for?"
"Something like strawberry frap with extra whip cream," he jokes as he puts the lid on the last cup.
"That'll ruin my figure," he hears Hiccup say, and it feels like there's a smirk on his lips and when Jack looks up there is.
Their eyes met and they both chuckle. Hiccup pays and their hands briefly touches and it burns like the cold wind burns through their skin.
"Thanks," Hiccup says, trying to balance the two trays on both hands. He leans forward, eyes squinting like he's looking for something, "Uh . . . Bunny?"
Jack looks at his apron and indeed he's wearing Bunny's apron, so he says, "It's uh, actually Jack. This is my co-worker's apron."
"Well, 'actually' Jack," Hiccup smiles, "It was nice finally knowing your name."
Hiccup suppresses a smile because if he lets it he's afraid that it'll rip both his cheeks. He never really wears his nametag—lost it even, but it's nice to think that Hiccup wonders about him, too.
"North, if I ever hear Overland sigh one more time I'm gonna quit," Bunny said one morning after Hiccup got his orders. Ever since that day where Hiccup ordered a dozen black coffee, Jack had started sighing every time he sees Hiccup.
"I think it's cute Jack has a crush," Toothina said from the kitchen, and to Jack she said, "Don't you think it's time for you to enjoy yourself? It's been a while since you moved in here."
Toothina had a point. He moved to Berk about two years already and all he had done was to help North with his business. Jack was happy—don't get him wrong, he enjoyed serving steaming hot beverages to bouncy customers of Berk, but it's been a while since he did something for himself.
"Why don't you ask the guy out already?" Bunny said. He was frowning and slouching from where he was standing. He looked really exasperated that Jack had actually considered asking Hiccup out for a date.
"You can have tomorrow off," North said.
"We're short of men,"
"Bunny can cover for you,"
"Wait. What?" Bunny perked up and raised both his eyebrow.
He has his day offs. Most of the times he'll just stay in his room and sleep all day, sometimes he'll go to the orphanage and play with the kids, and sometimes he'll go and visit a shop and have Bunny take his orders. But now, now Jack was given a day off particularly to ask Hiccup out on a date.
That's how Jack finds himself standing on the sidewalk where the construction is still ongoing. There's a loud hiss and groan coming from the site which sounds a lot like sawing steel. Hiccup told him not to enter the construction zone but he sees his back hunched over the table so he goes there.
The sound of steel being sawed gets louder every time and it's even more annoying than the machine digging through concrete. He taps Hiccup's back and when Hiccup turns to him he raises both his eyebrows and takes off his earmuffs.
"Hi," Hiccup shouts, "I thought I told you not to go in here. You might get hurt!"
"Sorry," he shouts back, "I just really have to ask you something."
Hiccup then takes off his hard cap and Jack has a second to admire Hiccup's messy hair before he puts it on Jacks head. He smiles at him, looks him in the eye and shouts, "What is it?"
Just as he shouts "How would you like to hang out sometime?" the sound of sawing steel gets louder so Hiccup blinks and furrows his brows and shouts a "What?" so Jack shouts louder but the sawing starts again so he sighs and he sees Hiccup chuckle so he rolls his eyes and shouts again but Hiccup still can't hear him.
Just as the sawing gets done and everything got silent, Jack shouts at the top of his lungs, "WOULD YOU LIKE TO HAVE LUNCH WITH ME?" for everyone to hear and he swears he sees all of the workers perk up and look at both of them.
Hiccup is now biting his lower lip, forcing himself not to laugh, and says, "I would love to," he taps the hard cap on Jack's head and he's all flushed and embarrassed at the same time but his chest and cheeks feels warm, and there's a hand wrapped around his wrist leading him back to the sidewalk.
"There," Hiccup says when they reach the sidewalk, "Safe," he takes off the hard cap on Jack's head and ruffles his silver-white hair. "My lunch starts at 12:30."
Jack nods because that's the only thing he thinks he can do because his heart is pounding and he feels warm all over. That was indeed the most embarrassing thing that happened in his lifetime but it was all worth it. And Jack can't help the smile creeping on his lips as he touches the ghost of Hiccup's hand on his wrist. He hadn't thought Hiccup had this much impact on him. He only knew the guy from his coffee run every morning.
It's only about 9 in the morning so Jack decided to visit the shop. When he gets there he sees Bunny, Toothina, and even North all grinning at him.
"What?" he asks.
"Someone got a little carried away," Bunny teases.
He already feels the blush creeping up his neck, and North laughs at him with his booming laugh and pats him on the back, hugs him and ruffles his hair.
"Uh," he tries to get away from his uncle's grasp but fails, "What is happening?"
"We all heard what you did," Toothina says.
"I think everyone did," Bunny smirks.
"Now everyone in Berk knows!" North chuckles.
"That was really sweet, Jack," Toothina smiles at him.
"I gotta say, Overland, that was something," Bunny says. "Asking out a guy in front of a lot of people."
His cheeks feel warm. His whole body feels warm. And Jack doesn't know whether to smile, laugh, or cry. But he wishes the ground to swallow him up and hide him from the rest of Berk. He noticed how the construction workers looked at him when he shouted his desire to have lunch with their boss. They all looked smug, grinning like mad, most of them cheered and the people just passing by who happens to be on the other side of the street were clapping and cat whistling at him.
It was embarrassing and Jack wished he had just pulled Hiccup to the sidewalk and asked him personally instead of having a shout match with him in the midst of construction. It was embarrassing but Jack couldn't help the private smile he allowed himself after that.
Toothina gives him some blueberry muffins and some orange juice. She smiles at him and he smiles back, and the redness of his cheek slowly fades into a hint and he's happy to wait until 12:30 for his lunch date.
Jack has never gone on a date before. He'd like to think that he's a lady's man but his attraction was never really focused on just women. He likes to keep his options open. But that doesn't take away the fact that he's just a novice when it comes to dating. He thought of asking Bunny for advice but he knows the guy and Jack didn't want any favors with him. He knows Bunny would probably smirk and make fun of him of his little crush with Hiccup.
So, when it's nearing 12:30pm Jack's thighs were already bouncing up and down, fidgeting with the straw he just wouldn't let go, and staring outside the window like waiting for the first snowflake to fall.
He spots a man walking on the sidewalk. Jack can just see him through the window and notices a bag of donuts the guy was carrying with him.
"Shit," he mutters. "What are we gonna eat."
It hasn't crossed his mind that asking out Hiccup out for lunch means that they'll have to actually eat lunch and he has no idea where to take Hiccup. He could take him to Ruf and Tuf's but it's the only dinner in Berk and it's probably full this time of the day. There are no other restaurants in this town that fits his budget and Jack feels screwed. What if Hiccup ditches him and eats by himself?
He glances at the clock and sees it's only 10 minutes till 12:30 and the bouncing of his thighs travels down his toes and the straw he's holding doesn't look like a straw anymore, and he's sweating despite the cold temperature. Hiccup will surely be unimpressed by his inadequacy and he probably won't agree on going out with him, again.
Jack stops thinking when he sees Hiccup enter the shop. His head perks up because he was the one to go to Hiccup and not the other way around. He notices that Hiccup is carrying a lunch bag (?) with him, so Jack stands up and greets him.
"Hi," he says, the warmth on his cheeks returning.
"Hi," Hiccup greets back, he looks just as flushed as he is which calms him down a bit—but not enough. "I uh, brought something." He raises the bag he's holding and smiles.
"Oh,"
"My dad kind of gave me this," Hiccup says, "I'm sorry if you have anything planned—"
"No!" He says—perhaps immediately, "I mean. It's okay. You could . . . we, uh."
"He kinda made enough for two," Hiccup says, and Jack stares at him, "News here in Berk travels really fast. And it involves me, so." He ducks his head and smiles.
He ignores Hiccup's comment about the news traveling fast because it involves him in favor of lunch and Hiccup—Hiccup and lunch. They agreed on just eating beside the construction site since Hiccup had a tent there. Jack suggested they grab a blanket and eat on the grass beside the construction zone, and Hiccup smiles at that and nods.
"It's like picnic," He said as he lays the blanket on the grass. He brought some of Toothina's cookies with him in case Hiccup wanted some dessert.
"Just like picnic," Hiccup said and smiled.
They both sat on the blanket, just inches apart, lunch bag sitting beside Hiccup. Beside the construction site was a patch of land with green grass which seemed perfect for their impromptu lunch date. They were silent for a while, just feeling each other, waiting for the other to say something or do something, before Hiccup's stomach grumbled and they both laugh, and the air was cold and gloriously the cloud's were thin which lets sunshine warm them a bit.
"Hey there lovebirds!" One of the contractors shouted and Jack and Hiccup looked at each other before looking away, both cheeks blushing. He gave them two pieces of brownies and smiled at them before returning back to the site. He looked smug for some reason but Jack just ignored him because brownies!
They both eat in silence after that. There were soup and meat, some corn, vegetables and mashed potatoes and Jack wondered where Hiccup puts all of this with his lean body of his.
It was fun, Jack decided. He got to eat lunch with Hiccup and although they both felt nervous and unsure, somewhere along the line it felt comfortable and natural. They both enjoyed the brownies given to them by one of Hiccup's workers and they both smiled with brownies on their teeth and they laugh and told stories about each other and Jack wished that lunch would never end but unfortunately it did when the bell rang signaling everyone to get back to work.
"This was fun," Hiccup said, the smile seemed permanent on his face already and Jack warms up inside knowing he's the one who put it there.
"Yeah," he said, "It was."
"Uhm," Hiccup started. Jack looked at him curiously before Hiccup continued, "Maybe you'd like to have lunch everyday . . . with me?"
Jack smiled. He nodded and he didn't thought that Hiccup's smile could get any brighter but it did, and Jack's happy because he didn't screw up and now Hiccup wanted to eat lunch with him every day!
"I—yeah, that'd be great," he said calmly, not really wanting Hiccup know how excited and thrilled he was with the idea of spending time with him aside from Hiccup's morning coffee runs.
"Cool," Hiccup nodded and smiled.
"Cool," he nodded and smiled back.
It got awkward at the end when both of them were saying goodbyes. Hiccup opted for a hug while Jack offered a handshake—a freaking handshake! And they both flailed figuring out how they would end their lunch with that they missed the watchful eyes and smirking lips of the people around them. Eventually they agreed on a friendly half-hug-pat on the back thing fathers did to their sons when they did something good. And it was fine. Both of them laughed as they separated ways and Jack was already looking forward for tomorrow's morning and lunch as he walked back home.