Well, Hi! It's been quite a while since I posted, and this is something completely different. Basically, I'm a lonely sod who has nothing better to do with their time other than write bad fanfics, so here you go- this is my small contribution to the Hijack fandom.

Jack was perched on a stool facing the window of his favourite café. In his opinion, the place was perfect; hidden away in a street that was just out of the shops, close enough that you could meander through them casually but far enough to avoid the busy streets, the endless Starbucks queues and the irritatingly loud people. And this was his favourite coffee slurping spot, for it overlooked the street running alongside the river which was lined with flats all along it, and was ideal for people watching. People watching allowed Jack to indulge in trying to participate in a person's life, being a small part of it as they rushed past his window and he could decide where they were going. He could make up anything about them that he wanted to be true, anything about their life, and he enjoyed that. It made him feel less isolated, and more a part of the world, and he could pretend that he was friendly with more people other than the owner of this café about 3 others.

"You know, one day Jack it would be good for you to get out there. You never know what you could find, eh?'' Jack casually swivelled in his stool to face the man at the counter who was slowly wiping tea stained mugs. Jack smiled at him, always appreciating his jolly attitude.
"Yeah, I know North, I'm trying. I'll find more friends soon, hopefully. Perhaps not today, but maybe one day. I'll try soon, promise." He gave him a smile that he hoped didn't look too pathetic as he picked up his rucksack to sling across his shoulder and bring his empty mug to the counter. He picked up some cookies for the way and left him some coins, waving his usual friendly goodbye as the man just shook his head at the retreating back.

It became apparent to Jack that it was raining, but this was never something he minded as again it meant less people and he could enjoy a little walk along the riverside in the calming rain. He hardly ever managed to catch a cold either, so he wasn't worried about that at all. Shoving his hands into the pockets of his hoodie, he made his way down to the river and perched by a bench for a second to take out his camera. It was something new he'd decided to take up, inspired by artists such as Lowry in the way that his work was very much looking on as an outsider, Jack liked to take photos of places around the city that looked beautiful, and yet as someone who was very much separate from everything. Although, he took photos of other things as well, such as now, he was framing a photo of the river and the bridge and the little row of flats in the gloomy cloud and rain that created these stunning abstract patterns in the grey city sky.

Hearing the satisfying click of the shutter, he put away his camera and was about to wander off again when movement in the corner of his eye stopped him. He wasn't sure why, it wasn't that unusual to see other people here, but it was crap weather after all and this guy, well… his head was stuck in a bush, which even for this area was a little unusual. Mustering up the courage to say something, he made his way over.
"Uhm, can I help you…?" Jack asked the shuffling person, mildly proud of himself for not messing up on such a simple statement. He was shocked however, when a head full of messy brown hair shot up out of the bush and stumbled backwards awkwardly, rubbing the back of his head.
"Ah, um hi, sorry, I'm okay, just looking for something…" the awkward boy trailed off, scanning the ground quietly. Jack picked up the confidence and gestured around.
"I can help, if you'd like?" The other smiled ruefully and shook his head shyly.
"It's okay, it's a bit silly really…"
"How come? Surely it means a lot to you, if you're out looking for it in this weather?" Silently congratulating himself on the fact this now totally counted as a conversation, he also looked around, trying not to seem awkward.
"Ah, well…it's stupid but I haven't seen my cat all day, and he's normally around and well with this weather…" he rambled as he shrugged, his wet brown hair dripping into his eyes and onto his freckled nose. Jack could have sworn he'd seen the boy before, but if he was from around here… Jack smiled in what he hoped wasn't a 'too eager' way but was just gentle.
"What's he called?"
The boy looked up, surprised that he wasn't mocked or ridiculed, especially as he'd only recently been missing. It was just that they were very close, which sounded rather sad he thought, but he was worried about him getting into trouble.
"Toothless." He mumbled shyly. "He's a plain black cat, quite small, which yellow-green eyes… 'You sure you want to look? This weather is bad…"
"I don't particularly dislike it." Jack smiled awkwardly, wishing North could see him trying to interact like a normal human being. "I'm Jack, by the way. Are you from nearby?"
"'M Hiccup, and around here, yeah. "
Jack started to walk other by the bridge, calling out the cat's name gently. "That's a pretty unusual name." Hiccup took to the other side of the road, checking in little gaps and small places.
"Ah, yeah, my folks had some story about ugly names scaring off like demons or something… it's pretty weird." He chuckled nervously.
"Oh, so it has some cool meaning to it? That makes me sound so boring." Jack nervously chuckled back.
"So do you do this a lot then? Randomly help strangers in the street like a good Samaritan?" Hiccup joked, shuffling awkwardly to look under another bush.
"Ha, no." Jack scoffed. "It's just you look like a wet cat yourself, I felt bad."
Hiccup laughed, and headed over to another area calling the cat's name. A few minutes of silence passed, and Jack headed underneath the bridge. He looked around in the darker corners, and saw a sodden cardboard box. He sighed, ready to turn around, until he swear he saw it move.
"Uhm, Hiccup? Could you come over here?" He gently called to the other male, who wondered over to see with a hopeful expression on his face.
"It moved." Jack pointed to the box and whispered. Hiccup nudged forward, and knelt down. Looking over at Jack, who also bent over to look, he carefully picked up the edge of the box and was met by sharp claws tugging into his skin.
"Ow! Hey!" Hiccup objected, lifting the box higher to find… "Toothless?! What are you doing, you- Oh." Hiccup stopped short in surprise.
"Oh?" Jack questioned.
"Oh." Determined Hiccup, pointing to another furry blob next to Toothless. And another. And another. There was a pause.
"Um, Hiccup? I thought Toothless was, well, male."
"So did I."
"Oh."
Another pause.
"We should get him somewhere safe. …Her." Hiccup quickly corrected himself, trying to approach the grumpy cat. As Jack watched, one of the smaller cats with a little white ear sneezed.
"How about mine, if you don't mind? It's just across the bridge" Jack offered, hoping it wasn't too forward. Hiccup looked around, pulling his scarf off whilst he did.
"Yeah, we're further from mine than I thought…Okay." He managed to get Toothless to calm down and scooped him and one of the small furry blobs up into his scarf. Jack dropped his rucksack so he could empty his pocket of the cookies he'd brought early and other miscellaneous crap so he could put the two remaining kittens into them. The first one was fast asleep and snuggled in no problem, and the second- the white-eared one- cuddled right up to him and meowed softly as he smiled at it.
"Hey there little fella, what'cha doing?" He smiled at it and stroked it gently on the head as he placed it in his pocket. He turned to face Hiccup and pulled is hood up, not that it would do much now.
"It's just over there." He said, nodding in the direction of the flats over the river. He set off at a fast pace, checking Hiccup was keeping up. They walked in silence as they crossed the bridge, Jack wistfully looking out over the way the dark was now setting in and the rippled reflections on the river looking perfectly photogenic. If he missed a step in his walk, Hiccup either didn't notice it, or decided not to say anything. They reached a tall, grey apartment building and Jack held the door open for Hiccup, shaking a bit to try and lose some of the damp he'd gain from being stubborn and not getting an umbrella. Once inside, Jack gave him a small smile.
"I don't just randomly invite strangers over all the time, don't worry. I just have a soft spot for little balls of fluff like these." He held up the kitten that wasn't sleeping and tickled it under it's chin. Hiccup laughed, his hair shaking causing droplets to drip onto the rather disgruntled cat in his arms.
"It's okay, you seem trustworthy enough." Hiccup gave him a gentle smile.
"Okay, well it's up the stairs, First floor, on your left. Hope you're prepared for a mess!"
"Oh no, seriously, you should see my place."
"No, really." Jack clambered up the stairs after him and unlocked the door, flicking the lights and stepping in. The place was practically a scrap yard. Clothes were strewn all over the narrow corridor they faced, with the small kitchen on the right and the tiny bathroom on the left. The corridor continued into the living room/bedroom, as although there was a room at the back that was usually a bedroom Jack wasn't using it because they were doing work on it soon, and to put stuff in there when he'd just have to take it out again seemed pointless.
"You weren't kidding." Jack grinned; giving him an 'I-Told-You-So' look.
"Nope!" He kicked some of the stuff to the side as he went, making it look a tiny bit clearer. "The back room is being done up apparently, aka they're getting rid of the mould, so I'm not using it for now which means I'm kipping in here. It's not as trashy as it seems, honestly. And you managed to get me on a bad day, I normally clean it after it gets this bad."
"Sure, sure, excuses." Hiccup chuckled, stepping over various items that cluttered the floor- books, CDs, a Nintendo DS….. Jack gestured to the sofa for Hiccup to plonk himself down on, which he did.
"I have a hairdryer in here somewhere if they need to dry off?" Jack questioned.
"I think a towel would be fine to be honest, they're not too bad." Jack motioned that he'd be back in a sec and scrambled to grab a towel or two from the bathroom.
"Do you need the hairdryer?" He called out from the bathroom.
"I'll just use the towel as well." Jack returned and tossed a towel over to him, not so gracefully collapsing on the floor and sitting cross-legged with kitten no.1 in his lap wrapped in a towel. They sat there in companionable silence for a while, drying off the purring black with the occasionally hint of white fur. Jack was the first to break the silence, picking up the kitten he had decided was his favourite.
"So, what are you going to do with them then?"
"Uhm, I hadn't really thought about it to be honest. I'll probably keep one, if I don't Toothless will become grumpy with me. Not that that's new." He smiled and stroked the cat behind the ears.
"I can take one if you'd like." Jack offered, he had been thinking about getting a friend to keep him company in the lonely flat. His previous accommodation didn't allow pets, but this place didn't mind as long as they didn't disturb the other residents.
"Really? You would?" Hiccup looked slightly bewildered at the prospect, as if it was a massive deal.
"Sure, I mean, why not? Look at this cutie." Jack turned the kitten around and made a 'cute' face at Hiccup whilst holding it up to his face.
"Well, they can be a lot of trouble, but maybe that was just Toothless…" Hiccup smirked at the cat, who raised an eyelid and Jack swore gave Hiccup a dirty look.
"Pch, maybe I need more excitement in my life."
"Really? I would have guessed you were the kinda person who had quite a busy life already?"
"How'd'ya figure that one?" Jack asked curiously as he played with the kitten, hiding it in his hood.
"I don't know, you just seem like a friendly guy that would have loads of friends and lots to do all the time." Hiccup smiled bashfully.
"Nah, quite the opposite. I haven't lived here long, and I have about 3 friends, two of which work in that café shop down the road and the other two live on like the other side of the freaking city." Jack laughed, trying to make it sound not as sad as it actually was.
"So what do you do then? Do you have a job, or are you a student or something?" Hiccup enquired, noting Jack wasn't totally comfortable on the topic of his, well, loneliness.
"I'm a student. I'm studying natural sciences." He nodded to a load of heavy looking books next to a laptop in the corner. "Final year. What about you?"
"Ah, well I'm a student too. I'm in desperate need of a part time job though, because my last one had to fire a load of people."
"That's tough man, sorry." Jack frowned. His frown then turned into a more thoughtful expression as he thought of an idea.
"Oh hey, you know the café I mentioned? Well, they're actually looking for part time workers at the moment, so I could ask for you if you wanted?"
"That would be great actually!" Hiccup's eyes lit up hopefully- finally a way out of his crappy situation. "I was starting to really worry about the rent you know? It's not that high, but I can't afford it forever."
Jack nodded knowingly, glancing around at his place. "Well it's obvious this place isn't the most expensive of places either, but I'm debating getting a job myself just so I can keep on top of it." There was a pause as the sleepy kitten made its way back into Jack's hoodie pocket to curl up. The other had taken to trying to catch Jack's bright hair.
"So what are you studying?" Jack asked. Hiccup rubbed his nose so that it crinkled up and Jack noticed even more freckles dotted along his arms too.
"Ahh, well, art mainly." He shrugged.
"No way?! That's cool! I wish I'd been good at the kinda thing, would have loved to have taken it." Jack's interest made Hiccup laugh a little.
"Really? It's often looked down on…"
"No way! I think it's awesome." Jack gave him a genuine grin, his eyes full of interest. "Sadly I think my talents lie in the academic boring side." He rolled his eyes to prove his point.
"Well, you're more likely to, you know, get a job, and somehow earn a living." Hiccup said sarcastically.
"Aw, I'm sure you'll find one fine. I'd pay you to paint for me! You know, 'draw me like one of your French girls and all~" Jack smirked, relaxing more around the other male and reverting to his more sarcastic, joking side. Hiccup giggled, and swatted Jack over the head.
"Idiot." Jack chuckled too. There was a pause, but it was quickly broken by a low grumble. Hiccup flushed red, and Jack smirked.
"Hiccup, was that perchance your stomach?"
"….Maybe…"
Jack laughed and picked himself up, catching the kitten that tried to fall out of his hood as he did so. "It's cool, I got it, I picked up cookies earlier." He pulled out the cookies from his rucksack and passed them over to him. "I'll grab some drinks and crisps etc. too, wait there." He made his way into the kitchen, grabbing a bag of Doritos and various other snacks, and pulling two J2Os from the fridge- he didn't feel like drinking tonight. "Uhm, I might have some cider somewhere if you want it…"
"Nope, I'm okay thanks." Hiccup smiled, glad to see Jack wasn't immediately handing him alcohol. They munched and sipped for a while, Hiccup thoughtfully stroking the still asleep Toothless as he did. Jack could have sworn that cat snored.
"So Hiccup, how did you end up in this part of London anyway?" Jack enquired, brushing some of his messy hair out of his eyes as he looked up at the other on the couch.
Hiccup paused before he started, thinking back. "Well, obviously it was Uni that brought me here, as I'm from much further up north. You can probably tell by the accent. But this specific part? Well, I hadn't made many friends first year, and I did my second year abroad so when I came back, I had no one to live with. Someone told me about cheap apartments in this area and I managed to snag one and get a job close by. So I guess it just kind of happened. At first, I thought it wasn't that great, but it's grown on me. I've only been here for about 3 months, so there's still more to find. "
"Oh, I could show you some places! There are some great spots in the area if you know where to look." He reached into his rucksack and pulled out a worn notebook. He flicked through the pages so Hiccup could see. "I often write about places I enjoyed visiting so I can go back. I could take you to some, if you could stand my company!" He joked, silently wondering if Hiccup really didn't mind his company. Under such bizarre circumstances, was it possible that he really could make a new friend? In the back of his mind, he started thinking back to what North said about him 'getting out there'. Well, maybe it wasn't so bad.
"That'd be nice." Hiccup's warm smile brightened Jack's expression.
To Hiccup, Jack looked lonely. The messy apartment looked lonely, and the way he'd been wandering along the river in the rain seemed lonely, but perhaps it could only match Hiccup's own friendlessness as he knew very few people.
"So do you know many people here? I know you mentioned that you didn't make many friends in first year, but…" Jack trailed off.
"Ah, I have a few friends. But like you, they mostly live on the other side, closer to campus. A few of them live together, but they weren't sure what my plans were for this year which is why I didn't stay with them." He shrugged nonchalantly. It really didn't faze him too much he guessed; he still saw them every so often. There was another pause as the conversation dwindled, the room full of sounds of them munching. The noise was overpowered however by the sound of thunder grumbling low throughout the sky, causing a slight disturbance in the now not-so-sleep Toothless and a hiss from Hiccup as claws sunk into his knee. Jack got up to look out the window at the weather.
"It's still pretty damn bad out there… I don't want to be weird as I only just met you, but do you want to stay over?" Jack questioned awkwardly. Hiccup loosened the claws and went to join him.
"Yeah, you're right…I guess if I'm not imposing? I don't want to cause trouble…" his worried expression relaxed somewhat with the shake of Jack's head.
"No, no, it's totally fine! I haven't had anyone stay here yet anyway, it'll be fun!" Hiccup laughed at Jack's excitement over the prospect of what the slightly immature male would call a sleepover.
"Easily amused Jack, aren't you." He teased, half picking up a cushion to mock call "do you want a pillow fight and everything? Oh wait, we could even do each other's nails!"
Jack laughed, and stole the pillow to throw it at him. "Ha ha, queen of sarcasm. For that, you can sleep on the floor I think."
Hiccup looked over at him, trying to look offended. "I'm hurt Jack, really."
"Yeah, yeah" Jack snorted, picking up the rubbish and strolling to the kitchen. He fussed over the stuff for a few minutes, and then crossed over to the bathroom to pull out his spare blankets.
"You can have that duvet seeing as you shotgunned the floor. Steal however many pillows you'd like." Jack tossed his blankets over the couch and flopped (literally) onto, narrowly missing Hiccup.
"I did not shotgun the floor!"
"That's what it looked like to me, hey?" With wide eyes, Jack surveyed Hiccup, who was visibly fighting the urge to either hit Jack or give in to the ridiculous male. "Anyway, it's only about 9. D'you want me to shove a movie on or something?"
"Yeah, go ahead."
"Any requests? I have everything ranging from cheesy animations to gore fests."
Hiccup's voice scrunched up at the idea of gore. "Uhm, I'm good without the gore thanks. Have you got any action movies?"
"What, like superhero movies? Aw, what a little dork." Jack teased, standing up to go and retrieve his collection so that he missed the grumbled 'asshole' from Hiccup. "Well, we have The Avengers, Thor, Iron Man 2, Captain America, Kick-Ass, and yeah." Jack trailed off, flicking through the DVDs.
"Kick-Ass sounds good to me." Hiccup picked the DVD off Jack to go put in the player whilst Jack turned it on and dropped onto the couch again. Hiccup sat with has back leaning against the part of the couch where Jack's feet were, wrapped partly up in a duvet, with Toothless on his lap and they'd arranged the other kittens in a little huddle next to him in a box with several blankets. Most of them were asleep, curled up cutely with their tiny paws resting underneath their equally tiny noses. They fell silent as the film started, and throughout the film only occasionally made comments, the only disturbance was when the kitten with an attachment to Jack woke up and started meowing so Jack stroked it for the rest of the film. When the film was over, Jack stood up and flicked the TV off. He checked his watch for the time- it was just past 11.
"Hiccup? Do you want to go to sleep? …Hiccup?" Jack glanced over to see he had already fallen quite steadily into a slumber. Jack observed the boy, thinking back to how in such short time he'd managed to gain a friend and one that Jack suspected he could trust. A nuzzle into his stomach from inside his hoodie brought his attention and Jack pulled out the tiny cat and whispered a quiet 'Thank you' into it. Maybe North was right, and good things could come out of giving a little to the world.