"There you are!"

Hiccup blinked and looked to his left, seeing Astrid standing next to his desk. She slid into the seat next to him, dropping her bag by her side and propping a chin on her hand with a smirk.

"So how'd it go?"

He smiled and set his pencil down, having been previously doing a lazy background sketch of a place he and Toothless would go hide in the forest, using his hands as he spoke.

"It was great, just everything about it! The plot was really well done, and nicely paced. Characters were good too, especially the voice actors,"

Astrid rolled her eyes in a knowing way, figures he would start with the movie. She sat and listened though, waiting patiently until he finished his excited talk.

"-and the attention to detail, I don't know where to start with that, you could see the veins in their eyes when the camera did a close-up! If you get the time to, you should go see it."

She nodded in response, straightening up to ask,

"Sure, sounds good. . . I meant the whole 'date' part with Jack though."

Hiccup blinked and gave a nervous chuckle.

"Oh, right, well nothing really happened after we left the movie theater. . . until we got to my house."

"Go on!"

He ran a hand through his hair, a small smile in place.

"Well, uh, we agreed we wanted to have, uh another date."

Astrid smiled and crossed her arms, leaning back in her seat.

"About time for both of you."

Hiccup paused and was about to ask her what exactly she meant by 'about time' but the bell rang and class started before he could. He could only sigh and pick up his copy of the book the class was reading and continued where he left off, far ahead of where everybody else was at.

He couldn't help but digress from the text to rethink over his date idea. He wanted to go out and eat somewhere and just walk around afterwards with Jack, it was perfect yeah, but he kept on over thinking it. Was it going to be too expensive? Too cheap? And who knew if Jack would change his mind at the last second-

The bell clanged around and startled Hiccup, letting out a breath as he started to put his things away. He got up to leave and looked up, and his heart sped up when he found Jack waiting by the door, face brightening a bit as they made eye contact.

He walked up to him, noticing Jack holding a paper. He glanced up and rose his eyebrow, prompting Jack to grin and hold it up, showing a 90 written in red pen.

"Passed it. You should consider tutoring others, considering I got this good a grade after being as bad as I was before."

Hiccup rolled his eyes as they fell into step next to each other, walking towards their next class.

"That'll be the day, anybody actually listening to me, besides Astrid, Fishlegs, Merida, Rapunzel, and you."

Jack laughed and shook his head.

"Don't be such a pessimist, wait until you make some invention that'll destroy world hunger. So did you decide on anything?"

"For this Friday? Yeah uh,"

They stopped outside Jack's next class, Hiccup shrugging as he continued,

"I was just thinking that dinner somewhere and just walking around would be nice."

Oh god saying it out loud sounded stupid why did he ever think it was a good idea-

"Great!"

He turned to Jack, blinking owlishly at the response.

"Really? It's not stupid, or mushy?"

Jack simply smiled and shook his head.

"It's great. Simple dinner and walking around under the stars. What more does it need?"

Hiccup smiled back.

"Nothing I guess."

The warning bell rang, two minutes left until the next class. Jack flashed a smirk and said a quick 'seeya' before disappearing into his class, Hiccup breathing a sigh of relief as he walked to his own.

Now he had to wait.

A week later Stoick was in the same place as previous, but not with the same feeling and posture as before. He sat ram rod straight, hands on his knees with his stern boss face on as he addressed his son.

"Alright now, you need to be back at eleven, not a second later, no funny business. If he tries to get you to do anythin' you don't wanna do, say no and leave. And don't think I won't hear about whatever you do, it's a small town, somebody'll tell me sooner or later so don't do it in the first place. . . "

Hiccup couldn't help but roll his eyes at the display, since he used the word 'date' this time around it meant a different reaction from his father.

". . . and you know Gobber won't hesitate to step in should that ever happen."

He sighed a placed a hand on Hiccups shoulder, look softening.

"But most of all, have fun, and be safe."

The teen smiled and nodded, and the doorbell rang at that moment. Toothless again went at the door, barking loud enough for people within a two mile radius to hear.

Once the pitbull mix was calmed, Hiccup opened the door to a smiling Jack.

"Ready?"

Hiccup nodded, about to walk out and start his date, but a hand on his shoulder stopped him and made him groan.

"Evening Jack, you seem to be doing well."

Jack blinked at the appearance of the father with a metaphorical shotgun, but took it all in stride with a smile and a nod.

"Yes I am Mr. Haddock, I hope the same can be said for you."

A nerve-wracking (at least to Hiccup) silence rose for a moment, until Stoick came to some kind if approval in his mind, removing his hand from his sons shoulder and placing both hands on his own hips.

"Have him back at eleven. Emphasis on at."

Jack continued to smile and nod, reaching out and taking Hiccup by the hand (unknowingly causing butterflies to fly in the brunetts stomach) and gently pulling him by his side.

"You got it sir, I'll take good care of him."

He started to lead Hiccup away, Hiccup taking a second to talk over his shoulder to his father.

"I'll text you when we're done, so you know when to expect us back."

Once out of range of the protective father, which was twenty feet from the edge of the driveway, Hiccup sighed and hung his head.

"I am so sorry about my dad, you know he's not usually like that."

Jack only laughed and flexed his grip on Hiccups hand, making the youngers heart stutter for a second.

"I don't blame him, knowing the kind of prankster I am."

Hiccup rolled his eyes, remembering back to the many things the other had done, from simple prank phone calls to what he'd heard of a famous one, and the most he knew about that was it involved lots of snow and a severely pissed off Australian fellow.

They slipped into a comfortable silence, not feeling the need to constantly talk with each other, and Hiccup couldn't help but dwell on how nice it felt to hold Jacks hand.

Jack always had cold hands, proven many times by him sticking his pale hands in others faces or on the back of their necks, but it was pleasant. It was like the chill of the autumn wind, or a glass of ice on a hot summer day. He wondered if it was any different if they entwined their fingers. . .

As if reading his mind, Jacks fingers started to shift around to fit between Hiccups own.

The freckled boy had to take a second to recognize that yes they were holding hands and everybody could see and he was trying to fight a smile down because he'd never felt like this before.

Eventually they arrived at their destination, a set of stairs that led down to somewhere, a neon green sign that addressed the place as 'The Warren'.

Hiccup blinked and a deadpan look took over his face.

"Did you just bring us to a bar?"

"Pfft, kind of. They serve food, they have the best burgers here by the way. Plus, I know the manager."

Hiccup blinked again as he was led down the stairs and into the bar.

"How do you-?"

"You know 'Blizzard of apartment 68'?"

Hiccups eyes widened as realization hit him.

"You mean that guy owns this place? And you know him, and puts up with you?"

Jack looked over his shoulder at Hiccup and pouted,

"You say that as if it's a bad thing!"

"Watcha doin' here Frost?"

Both turned to the opened door to find a tall, tanned and grey haired man standing in the doorway. His grass green eyes stared at Hiccup for awhile before shifting to Jack.

"You got me, never expected to see ya with anybody. Especially Stoicks kid."

Jack laughed as Hiccups face flushed slightly.

"Admit it Kangaroo, I don't get on everybody's nerves!"

The Aussie rolled his eyes and muttered about how ridiculous the nickname was under his breath, stepping back and opening the door for more access.

"Well, ya gonna have dinner or not?"

After a fine dining of hamburgers and flat soda, the two teens made their way out, after Jack and Aster got into a debate of whether the teen got a discount for being friends with the man (it ended with the owner of the bar getting fed up and agreeing to the 'bloody ridiculous' discount).

Now they were just walking around, holding hands again to Hiccups joy, to who knew where.

"Anywhere specific you want to go?"

Jack shrugged and leant his head back to look up at the sky, stars poking out and the moon shining brightly down onto them,

"I don't care where we go, as long as it's with you."

Hiccup smiled, and they continued to walk in that same comfortable silence from before, until Jack stopped with a look of epiphany on his face.

"I know where we should go!"

And just like that they were running, Hiccup doing his best to run with his fake leg as Jack laughed the whole time, buildings rushing past changing to the nearby woods and they didn't stop until Jack stopped at the edge of a clearing in the forest.

Hiccup panted heavily, trying to gain back his breath and a cramp forming from running so much after just eating, taking in the sight before him.

A pond stretched out before them, moon glistening off the water, a breeze went past and ruffled some of the tall grass sitting by the edge of it, the only sound being the occasional cricket and the breathing of the two boys. A gnarled tree sat to the side of the pond, showing a testament to the time it had been there, with how far out the roots stretched. Next to the tree and behind the pond, an enormous rock sat, time and use whittling it to a few ledges, good spots for someone to jump and dive into the water below.

Jack started to pull them around the pond, speaking as he went,

"Found this place when I was ten, used to bring my sister here all the time until she went to hospital, I usually come here to get away from everything and take a breath or whenever I have nothing better to do."

They climbed over the tree roots and pulled themselves on top of the rocks, sitting and watching the water below.

"It's a good place to practice ice-skating, last time I did it I almost died though."

Hiccup remembered that, it had been winter break five years ago, when Jack had just been a face in the crowd to him. At the time his sister hadn't gotten sick yet and was enjoying some ice-skating with her brother, until the ice cracked beneath her. Jack had been able to pull her out of harms way at the cost of him falling in instead.

He'd happen to have been walking Toothless around at the time, and had heard her scream for her brother. The hole in the ice had been enough for him to run calling for help. If Hiccup hadn't been there, Jack would've died for sure.

". . . and Mary was tested for cancer not long after that, so I haven't really had as much fun as I used to here."

Hiccup nodded and things went quiet. He hadn't expected Jack to regale his tale, which begged the question,

"Then why bring me here?"

Jack smiled and nudged an arm against Hiccup, looking up at him from where he was leaned over.

"To make better memories with this place, especially with you."

Hiccup smiled back at him, aimlessly kicking his feet from where they hung.

"I have my own place like this, by my house. It's where I found Toothless, and nobody else has really been there."

"Maybe you'll show it to me one day?"

That made Hiccup grow quiet. Would he? He'd never even spoken about it until just now, and he'd had his secluded spot ever since he was eight. Without thinking he responded,

"Eventually. . . you'd have to be my boyfriend or something."

He wanted to take it back the moment he said it, all he could do was sit in anxiety as Jack absorbed the words.

". . . Well, do you want a relationship with me?"

Wow he hadn't expected things to turn out like this and his mind was drawing a blank and gods was this really happening?

"To be honest Hic, I've had a crush on you for the longest time."

Hiccup looked at Jack, whom had pulled a leg up to rest his chin on and was staring out across the clearing.

"I think it was when we started high school, after the fire you got caught in. Everybody was talking about how big of a hero you were, but every time I looked at you I just saw a cute guy. Then I got you involved in one of my pranks and we became friends, and then I started to like how you talk, your freckles, your sarcasm. . . "

Jack laughed and turned to Hiccup, a smile he didn't see often stretching across the others face.

"I'm making an idiot of myself, aren't I?"

Hiccup swallowed and shook his head, scooting himself closer to the other.

"N-No I, if we're coming clean here, I'll admit I have a crush on you too. You make everything seem better, you always find something to make others laugh, and you genuinely care about others. . . "

They trailed off into silence, each contemplating what had just been said.

". . . a week ago we were friends, and here we are now. . . "

". . . do you really want that with me? I mean I. . . "

Should he come out to Jack? Was now the right time? Well it was if they were a few words away from a potential relationship, but that fear still clung at him. What if Jack turned up his nose and claimed he wanted somebody who'd have sex with him? And what if he went even further to question how he was so sure about being asexual, and try to make a move on him? The longer he puzzled on it the drier his throat got and the more scared he became, until a hand pressed on top of his and brought his attention up to startlingly blue eyes.

"Whatever it is I don't care. The only thing I know is that I want to be your boyfriend."

The simple statement got to Hiccup and made him realize the same. What it boiled down to was that he wanted to be able to openly like Jack. If he didn't want to be treated differently, why was he doing so to himself?

He nodded back.

"Me too."

Ten minutes before eleven they arrived back at Hiccups house, idly saying a few last things before they departed.

Jack would walk less than three feet away before stopping and contemplating something, turn back to Hiccup and press a chaste kiss to his freckled cheek, before jogging off with one last look over his shoulder.

Hiccup would stand there a bit after the kiss, reaching his hand up to rub at the spot, until a smile broke across his face, walking into his house with excitement of finally telling his Dad of his first 'high school sweetheart'.