Hiccup shivered as he stepped out of his boyfriend's car, the cool fall air hitting his bare arms. He rubbed his hands against them desperately trying to create some sort of friction and heat. He squinted in the darkness, his mouth falling open as he realized they were at the old abandoned fair grounds at the edge of Berk. "Jack what are we doing here?" he whispered harshly to the white haired teen next to him.
"Aw lighten up Hic, I thought it would be cool. I mean no one's here to report back to your father." Jack gave Hiccup a devilish grin, before leaning down to kiss the shorter boy. Jack quickly whipped off his jacket, wrapping it around Hiccup.
Hiccup considered the idea, after all the old lot was the only place where no one really ventured except horny teenagers. There wouldn't be anyone to tell his father that he was once again going behind his back and seeing Jack. It's not that his father disliked the fact that his son was gay. Oh no, that was fine. The problem was his choice in guys, particularly Jack, the local delinquent. Jack was constantly being chastised by both the local police force and the school dean. He liked to skip class in favor of fun and the occasional act of vandalism. Hiccup's father, the mayor of Berk, could simply not allow his only son to run around with the "wrong crowd." It probably didn't help that Jack had dyed his hair an unusual, shockingly white color, had several piercings, and a couple of well-hidden tattoos.
Finally, Hiccup nodded, intertwining his hand with Jack's, letting himself be pulled in the direction of the abandoned carnival. Even still, Hiccup couldn't help but shiver at the eeriness of the place. It used to be a cheery place, where kids would drag their parents and teenagers would flock to as an ideal date or hangout spot. But when Hiccup and Jack had still been in elementary school, there had been some sort of incident that none of the adults talked about and the carnival had shut down overnight. The carnies had gone, but they had left behind all of the stalls and a few of the rides, which now creaked in the slight wind.
Truthfully there were all sorts of rumors surrounding the area. Some of the seniors swore the grounds were haunted by the ghosts of the carnival workers who perished when the 'freaks' rose up against them. Others swore that the carnies hadn't actually left, that they still lived there, hiding, waiting for the right opportunity to murder the entire town. Occasionally a few people would go missing around there, but no one could prove that they had been harmed. It was assumed that the people had left on their own will. Hiccup wasn't the wimpiest junior by any means, after all, he had taken on all of the senior bullies while he was still a freshman, but still, the thought of evil carnies scared the crap out of him.
As if reading his thoughts, Jack tugged him closer, tucking him into his side. "Hey don't worry, we're gonna have some fun, okay Hic?"
Hiccup nodded, basking in the warmth his boyfriend provided. "Where are we headed anyway?"
Jack jerked his head in the direction of the carousel. "It still works, I used to come here a lot with Aster and Jamie."
Hiccup grinned in delight, on the very few occasions when his father would bring him to the fair, the carousel was his absolute favorite. He let go of Jack's hand, running towards the ride. Jack laughed, watching his lover with mirth in his eyes, before jogging to catch up to him. He had Hiccup pick out which horse he wanted to sit on before he carefully began to fiddle with the controls, setting it so that the ride would last for three minutes. Tinkling music began and as the ride began to spin slowly, Jack grabbed one of the poles lining the outer edge and hoisted himself onto the ride. He jumped onto the horse with Hiccup, reaching over and placing a small kiss on his cheek before wrapping his arms around Hiccup.
Hiccup enjoyed himself so much that he demanded Jack let him ride again before they left. Jack simply laughed and nodded, slipping off of the horse and jumping down to the control box once again. He decided to let Hiccup go alone this time, feeling a bit dizzy himself.
He smiled and waved at his boyfriend as he passed by the first few times. He frowned though as he felt like something was wrong. He studied the area, trying to shake the feeling. The carousel completed three more revolutions before he realized what was wrong. The carousel looked shiny and bright, as though someone had recently cleaned it. The last time he had been here, the ride had all sorts of plants growing on it and now there was nothing. He glanced around the rest of the rides. All of them were the same, clean and shiny. His frown deepened as he noticed movement out of the corner of his eye. He quickly stopped the ride, shaking as he noticed a few people approaching them. "Hiccup! We gotta go! Now!" He pulled the boy off of the ride running as fast as possible towards the exit.
Hiccup ran even though he was confused, if something had terrified Jack, he honestly didn't want to know until they were completely safe. Behind them he could hear footsteps. He wondered briefly if perhaps cops had shown up and decided to chase them for entering the lot without permission.
Jack tugged on his wrist harder, they were so close to the exit. Just then, a tall man with clown makeup stepped out from behind one of the stalls, blocking off their escape route.
Jack quickly changed directions, only to find that they were cornered. He backed up so that they were in a literal corner, quickly placing Hiccup behind him. He prepared himself to fight. It wouldn't be his first but the odds sure sucked he thought. Hiccup was terrified, he quickly reached into his jean pocket, pulling out his phone and hitting speed dial. He dropped his phone however when one singular man approached them.
The man was shorter than Hiccup, rounder too. He was dressed in a pinstripe suit, shoes perfectly shined. He would have looked completely normal if not for the jagged scar that ran down the side of his face. "Where do you think you boys are going? Why don't you stay a little longer? In fact, why don't you stay forever?" He gave them a sinister smile before two men approached them from either side, lunging at them. Jack managed to dodge the attack the first time, the second time he wasn't so lucky. The carnie had grabbed his arm hard, squeezing, making the white haired boy cry out in pain. Frantically he used his other arm to swing at the man, hoping to land a punch and escape his grip. He was jerked forward, exposing the shorter teen behind him.
Hiccup let out a short shriek as he watched his boyfriend struggle against the ogre that was currently holding him captive. He steadied himself, easily dismissing an attack from the other man, charging forward. He rammed into the man who was holding onto Jack, allowing Jack his arm back.
The trio crashed onto the ground with both teens scrambling back to their feet. The man had been knocked unconscious. Jack hated himself at the moment, this was all his fault. He was the one with the idea to sneak into the fairgrounds. He was supposed to be able to protect Hiccup and at the moment he honestly couldn't see a way out of this. He glanced around, there were at least thirty men and women surrounding them. They were trapped.
He wondered why no one else was attacking. The ringmaster still held a sinister smile, the look chilling Jack to his very core. He slowly reached towards his back pocket hoping he hadn't left his knife back in the car. He groaned when he came up with nothing.
Hiccup hissed as he realized that something was digging into his side. He reached down, his eyes widened when he felt a cool blade pressed against his side. He pulled on it, relief washing through him as he realized it had barely nicked him and hadn't actually stabbed him. Unfortunately, he had never wielded a knife before.
Suddenly the tension broke as all of their attackers began to advance on them. Jack and Hiccup stood back to back, both of them praying they would get out of this situation somehow. Hiccup perked up a little as he heard sirens in the far distant. He hoped his father understood that he was in danger from the phone call he had attempted to make.
Jack glanced back. The fence they were close to wasn't very high. He nudged Hiccup in that direction, hoping the smaller boy would get the idea. Hiccup nodded and just before the mob reached them, he was already half way up. He had pressed the knife into Jack's hands knowing the older teenager had some experience with the weapon.
Jack nodded to himself, he had to make sure that Hiccup could escape. He took on as many of the carnies as he could, slashing at them, trying his best to hit critical spots that would do the most damage. But unfortunately, the odds were against him. Thirty versus one was not ideal and soon Jack found himself surrounded.
Hiccup had already made it over the wire fence, he had believed that Jack had been right behind him. As he turned around, he discovered that he was wrong. He saw a flash of white amongst the bodies that were now converged around his lover.
Jack had caught a glimpse of Hiccup despite all the chaos and knew what he was thinking. He ignored the ache that seemed to radiate from every inch of his body. He screamed out, "Just go Hic! Get help!"
The brunette frowned, debating on what to do for a split second. He felt tears well in his eyes as he murmured a small apology and ran for the main road where he could hear the sirens approaching. He didn't see as Jack was knocked to the ground, losing his knife. He didn't see Jack curl into a ball to protect himself from the onslaught of punches and kicks.
Hiccup flagged down the police officers, trying to hold back his tears as he shouted that they needed to go and help Jack. Not even a few minutes later, he heard gunshots ring out. He ignored the officer he had been speaking to and ran back in the direction of where he had left Jack. He fell to his knees however when he saw multiple bodies on the ground. The officers were still fighting back the men who tried to kill them. He climbed over the fence as quickly as he could, trying to spot his boyfriend at the same time. He knew he would never forgive himself if something had happened to Jack.
Paramedics had already flooded the scene. They had already wheeled away a few of the carnies who had been injured. Hiccup wanted to scream at them to leave those guys behind, that they should be spending their time looking for the victim in all of this.
"Hiccup!" He heard his name being called a few feet away. He turned to see his father standing there looking disheveled.
"Dad I have to-I have to find Jack. I left him and now I can't-" Hiccup rambled, still searching for his white-haired lover.
"Son, it's okay. The paramedics already have Jack in an ambulance." Stoick spoke lowly, fear creeping into his voice as he realized how close he had come to losing his only child.
"I have to go to him dad. I know you don't approve-"
"I know son, let's go." Stoick ushered Hiccup into his car knowing the boy would refuse medical attention until he had seen Jack.
The ride to the hospital was possibly the longest car ride Hiccup had ever experienced. The wait before he could see Jack felt even longer. Jack's family had been contacted and had already been let into the room but for the moment the situation was family only. At least one of the nurses had come out to inform them of Jack's condition. Multiple broken ribs, a broken arm, a dozen or so scrapes, two non-deep stab wounds, and a ton of bruises. It would be crappy recovery, but the nurse said Jack was quite lucky. He was alive and that was all that mattered.
Hiccup nearly cried in relief when the nurse finally led him back to Jack's hospital room. He nodded at Jack's adoptive father and younger sister before he approached the bed that held the fragile body of the man he loved the most. Jack wasn't awake, but that was due to the medicine that his doctors had administered as an attempt to save him from some pain. Hiccup knelt on the ground, taking Jack's warm hand in his as he began to weep.
This was his fault. He should have stayed with Jack, he shouldn't have just left. No one had the heart to make him leave the hospital that night. Hiccup had been lucky. He had escaped the attack with only a few bruises, one long gash on his side, and a sprained wrist. Even though everyone said that Jack would be happy he hadn't gotten hurt, Hiccup couldn't help but feel guilty over how easy he had gotten off.
The next morning Jack woke up. The first thing that Jack registered was the dull pain he was feeling. The next was that Hiccup was curled up asleep on a chair right next to his bed. He smiled when he noticed the teen was relatively fine. He was glad he could protect him.
"Hey." He whispered. Instantly Hiccup's eyes flew open and green eyes met blue. Hiccup felt tears come to his eyes once again as he saw just how hurt Jack was again. Jack frowned instantly, he hated to see Hiccup upset. "Hey none of that. No crying babe."
That only made Hiccup cry harder. "I'msorrythatIleftyoubehind!" he rushed out before dissolving into a mess of tears and snot.
"No. Hic, I wanted you to go. I wanted you to be safe. Okay? Don't you dare blame yourself for what those sick fucks did."
Hiccup nodded slowly. Eventually his tears slowed into small sobs. "They were all arrested you know? My dad made sure that the ringleader was held responsible. Everyone seriously thought they had left town. Apparently they had done something like this before...that's the reason the carnival had been abandoned."
Jack nodded, not really processing what Hiccup had just told him. "C'mere Hic. I'm hurting."
"Where? Are you okay? Maybe I should get the doctor and wake up North?" Hiccup stammered, unsure of what to do.
"Nah I just need your magical lips." Jack murmured, a smirk appearing on his face.
Hiccup blushed and nodded, leaning down to kiss Jack carefully. The two broke apart when North cleared his throat, "You two need to work on being quiet."