Disclaimer: Everything belongs to their rightful owner(s)
Pairings: main Jack/Merida, side-Jack/Elsa, Hiccup/Elsa, Rapunzel/Hiccup.
Word Count: 2,041 word(s).
Genre: Romance, Friendship, Drama.
World/Story Settings: AU. Modern times. 21st century.
Ratings: PG-13/T.
Summary: "In return for all of the beatings I've taken over the course of our friendship―" Merida shook her head quickly, glaring. "No." "You are here obligated to make Jack Frost fall for you."


Teenage Dirtbag
...

"I am not going to seduce him just because yer had a stupid wee crush on the lad's girlfriend!"

"Okay. Elsa is not his girlfriend, though I admit, they do look like it, but that's only because the whole school expected them to be together and it all kinda made sense, but it doesn't, and just because they have matching white hair does not mean that they should go out and make more white haired little babies because I do not approve, and that would just be creepy. They'd be like a bunch white-headed blob floating around except it's not a blob, it's just their babies."

Merida didn't snarl at how stupid that mindset was.

"Hiccup." She slammed her locker shut. "No."

"Yes, Merida, yes. Say yes. Please. I'm begging you."

"Rapunzel. Knock some sense into him, will ya'?" Merida shot the shy blonde a look, earning nothing but a tight, strained smile that only Merida knew the true meaning behind, and sighed helplessly. She turned back to the brunet, squaring her shoulders, just like so many times before, when she had to face her nine-year-old brothers. But now, of course, she's facing a seventeen-year-old boy, who supposedly passed all of his tests with nothing but A and above. "I'd only say this once, ay, so listen up ― I will not seduce Jack Frost."

Hiccup's face fell. "Well, why not?"

"Why not?" Merida echoed, wide-eyed. "Because, you daft prick, I said so."

"Oh, and you said you're nothing like your mother."

SLAP.

"Ouch!"

"Merida!" yelped Rapunzel, now hushing over Hiccup, who had his hands clasped behind the back of his skull, where Merida's textbooks just came in contact with, a few seconds ago; Rapunzel glared, but not strong enough that Merida resisted her urge to roll her eyes backward.

"Seriously, Merida. Abused friendship. We talked about this." Hiccup bit out dryly, hushing Rapunzel down that really, he's fine.

"It must have slipped me mind." She excused nonchalantly, waving her hands in a dismissive gesture.

"I think you owe me an apology." Hiccup responded, hands by his hips, his small face pinched in determination. Merida narrowed his eyes up at him. What. "Rapunzel, don't you think she owes me an apology?"

Rapunzel nodded slowly, eyes glancing at Hiccup to Merida. "I think you owe him an apol―"

"She thinks you owe me an apology!" Hiccup blurted out quickly, cutting poor Rapunzel off, while Merida rolled her eyes. Again. Sometimes she wondered how she got herself stuck here. Yeah, okay, sometimes she's grateful, because by the end of the day, she loved Hiccup and Rapunzel to death. But sometimes, just sometimes you know ― she really wondered how.

"Fine." Merida pressed on. "In the good name of ma good father Sir Ferg―"

"Not in that sense."

"What?"

"You heard me." Hiccup gave her a smug look. "In return for all of the beatings I've taken over the course of our friendship―"

No. Merida shook her head quickly, glaring. "What!"

"―the only was I see fit for you to mend your mistake is to obey my one and simple rule―"

"No."

"You are here obligated to make Jack Frost fall for you."

"I do not." She huffed out again, crossing her arms.

"Yeah, you do. You owe me."

"I don't owe you nothin', Haddock. And yer, and yer little game can stop right now, because I am no part of this." She turned on her heels. "And yer can't force me into this." She gestured towards his whole appearance, teeth gritted and eyes furrowed together in that familiar rebellious trait she wore so much. Her wild, orange-red hair tickled the side of her cheeks, but she took no notice of it. She grabbed Rapunzel's wrist and tugged the blonde along, "Now if you'll excuse us, Rapunzel and I will be going to our first class."

"I'll see you at lunch?" Rapunzel smiled, blinking at the only man in their group.

"Yeah, sure." Hiccup shrugged, smiled back and narrowed his eyes up at the Scot. "And you― we're not done with this."

"Oh yes, we are." Her accent flown in thickly, and she finally took Rapunzel away from him.

"YOU OWE ME!" Hiccup yelled loudly as the pair got further and further away, lost in the sea of known as high school students.

Merida groaned and bit out, only to herself, "No, I don't."

"Hey, did you finish the homework―"

"And you!"

Rapunzel blinked, mouth open, fear flashed across her eyes. "What?" She meekly replied, her sweet, little face saddened.

Merida groaned at that ― it's like if puppies were humans ― and regained her conscious thoughts because this was little Rapunzel, and the last thing she would want to do was set the waterworks. Merida calmed herself down and stared at the innocent blonde, tilting her head to one side. "Why aren't yer still sayin' anythin'?"

"What is there to say―"

"Oh, come on, Punzie. We talked about this." Merida pressed on, searching for the blonde's green eyes, as she leaned down, whispering out harshly, "When are yer goin' to confess that you like the wimpy lad?"

"Hiccup is not wimpy―"

"Okay, yeah, whatever. He's super strong and I'm so terrified of his humongous muscle."

"Merida! That's not nice."

"Yer get the point."

"I just― I don't―" Rapunzel fumbled with her textbooks, her eyes traveled across the floor, avoiding Merida's stern gaze. When she finally looked up, Merida could detect the small hint of pink colouring her cheeks, flushed. "I can't, Merida. Have you seen the way he looks at Elsa? He's in love."

"That's stupid."

Rapunzel spatted her Scottish friend on the arm. "It's not."

"Yes it is." Merida winced at the burn of Rapunzel's slap to her arm ― for a mouse, she got good hands ― and frowned. "Yer know I don't believe in this. How can it be love when yer just seventeen?"

"Love knows no age."

Merida snorted. "Whatever. I'm ain't falling for it."

"And Elsa's so beautiful. Who wouldn't fall for her?"

"Are yer kidding me?" Merida scoffed, her mind reeled back as her memory box peeled open to conjure up the face of Elsa Arendelle, also known as the Snow Queen. The star of the school. For someone who wasn't a cheerleader, she sure got all of the students under her thumb. Good reputation, poise appearances, respectable intelligence and undefined beauty― what, with those blue eyes and porcelain skin. Merida snorted some more. "There's no such thing."

"Oh, Merida, you wouldn't understand."

"Understand what?"

"It's― you can't, okay. It sucks being in my position."

"Then do something."

"Easy for you to say."

"Hmph!" Merida stomped her foot stubbornly. "Fine then. Don't do anything. See if I care." With that, she turned on her heels again and entered the class, finding it half-filled and the teacher absent. Merida glanced at the clock above the door to note that there were still a few good minutes before class officially started, and found herself a decent seat around the back. She always have to sit at the back now ― not after the school called her Mum to lay down the complaints they received of parents saying their children couldn't see the board with her hair getting in the way. Merida was still pretty pissed about that ― as if they gave a frack to pay attention.

She watched Rapunzel moved, staggered a little at the front seats ― where she always preferred to sit at in classes ― and moved, with shaky confidence, up to Merida. The Scot raised a questionable eyebrow. Rapunzel avoided her stare, "Jack Frost."

"What?" Merida found herself responding.

"The guy Hiccup asked you to seduce."

Merida shut her eyes in complete grieve, plastering her hands over her face, "Not you too."

"No, no. It's just― do you know who he is?"

Merida angled her face away so that her fingers won't cover her eyes, and she considered Rapunzel's question. "Who doesn't?" She chose to answer, "The lad who had it all. Good looks, an even more good athlete. Nice enough personality, but honestly― you learn one, you learn 'em all."

"He's just like you, right?"

"Hm?" Now Merida was just plain confused.

"Athletic. He's kind of like you right?"

"Ay, in a way." Merida shrugged, finally leaning back against her chair. Her mind recalled back on Jack Frost, the star jock. He was nothing of a great build, not in Kristoff sense, or lean and still big, like Hans who's the pompous, wild card which she shared a few cigarettes now and then, or like Flynn Rider who's the college drop-out of whom she had the misfortune of befriending last summer. Jack Frost was lean, and well-formed, which made him quick on his feet ― sneaky, fast, and he knew his way around a game, that was sure. But he wasn't Merida kind of sports either. Traditional. That was what her personal coach had commented when they first met. Archery and horseback-riding. Was it traditional though? It wouldn't matter. What matter was that she loved doing them, and if she had the power, she won't ever stop doing them.

"So, you have a lot in common..."

"What's yer point, Rapunzel?"

"I don't know," the blonde shrugged her shoulders, munching her lips. "It's just― if you want to seduce him, it won't be that hard, would it?"

"Are yer asking me to seduce the lad?"

"Seducing is a harsh word," Rapunzel murmured, pressing her lips together. "I'd like to think of it as distracting him."

"No."

"But, Merida―"

"I can't believe yer! Yer in 'love' with the hopeless guy and you want him to get the other girl?"

"Shh! People are staring."

"No. I don't care. How can you even―"

"Merida, all I'm saying is―"

"Oh my god, ma friends are insane!"

"Think of it as a challenge."

"A what?"

"I know Jack."

Merida squinted her eyes, surprised. "You do?"

"We've talked. On several occasions." Rapunzel nodded, "We were paired up for a project last year in Arts Club. Well, along with Manny, but he was hallucinating most of the time, so he really wasn't there when he should be. It's a long story―" Rapunzel nodded, waving the details away. "Anyway, he's not a bad guy. Jack Frost, that is, not Manny."

"So?"

"But he's really― stubborn, you know? Kind of like you, but in a different way. He's more subtle about it, I guess." Rapunzel went on, her eyes glancing towards the ceiling, tapping her chin with a pen. Merida noted dully how she always did that when she tried to remember something, or was just thinking matters through. She wondered if Rapunzel noticed her own habit. "So imagine if he likes Elsa, and I really think he does, it'll be an absolute challenge for you to distract him."

"Okay," Merida listened, suddenly a small part of her flipped in joy ― she was actually interested.

"And you―" Rapunzel smiled, her green eyes lighting up in a brilliant sense that told Merida things were getting her way. Sometimes Merida forgot just how devious Rapunzel could be, especially when she manipulated people into doing whatever she wants. Hm. "You like a challenge."

Damn.


She guessed she's distracting Jack Frost after all.


"I'll think about it," was what Merida said when the teacher finally walked in and ordered for all students to be seated.

She watched how Rapunzel nodded her head excitedly, restraining a squeal at the back of her throat, before she hopped away to the front and took a seat. And that was how she spent the rest of the class, her head filled with thoughts of a certain white-haired boy and a way to satisfy her stubborn hunger for the new challenge.

...

Author's Note: Finally. A simple fanfic, with a simple plot. I've missed this. Praised to whoever put The Big Four together, because if that didn't happen, I wouldn't have known Jack/Merida and fell in love with it. Please leave a review, and I hope you'll be sticking around for the next chapter.