Chapter 2 - First Meetings

Jackson had also been on his way to leave the Kingdom, although without been forced out. He was leaving for his own reasons. For a good twenty minutes, there was nothing but the road he walked by. His family lived in a small village, about an hour's walk away from the Kingdom, so he had a long way to go yet. After another ten minutes of constant walking, there were two buildings; one was a shop where you could buy almost anything you could possibly imagine. The other was a small café. Jack decided a cup of coffee and a bacon sandwich wouldn't go amiss and walked inside.

The was only one other person in the café, although he wasn't sure whether it was a boy or a girl… He was unable to see the person's face and from the back it could have been either. He shrugged it off and asked for his usual as he sat down. He often dropped in here when he made the long journey back home every couple of weeks. After thirty minutes of silence, he often enjoyed Martha's company. She was a good listener and often gave good advice, in return, Jack would leave a nice tip for her; it was the least he could do. He doubted that they got a lot of customers unless there was a group of travellers.

Hiccup had arrived a fair bit before Jack, and was sitting by himself at the other end of the counter. He only had the small amount of change he had in the jeans he was wearing. This was only enough to get him a coffee, which he was continuously stirring as he considered his options. He couldn't go back to the Kingdom. He didn't have any way of getting home… He was stuck here until someone came to visit, but they wouldn't know where he was. Hiccup was intrigued to see the popular Jackson Overland walk through the doors, but tried to remain neutral, although he couldn't help but listen in to what he was saying.

Jack had begun to explain his tricky little situation to Martha as she poured his coffee. By the time he was finished, he had bitten into the greasy bacon sandwich a few times in between his story. He set the bread down for a moment, only to pick his coffee up to take a sip. Hiccup saw this as an opportunity to speak up. He wasn't quite sure where he
gathered the confidence from, but it might be because he didn't have anything to lose. Well, he didn't really. Jack obviously had no idea who he was so what was there to lose? Either way, he didn't really think about it much and spoke regardless of the part of him telling him just to keep quiet. "At least you weren't being tracked down and chased out of the Kingdom."

Both Martha and Jack were surprised when he spoke up. The boy had been silent ever since walking in and hadn't shown much interest at all in anything. Jack, however, had a sudden interest in the other boy, not really caring that he had been rudely listening to somebody else's conversation. He looked over at him as he swallowed. His eyes showed a genuine curiosity that was much more commonly seen in children. "What happened?" He asked after the bittersweet coffee slid down his throat.

"Well, I was really rude to the Princess," Hiccup began, but quickly cleared himself up when their eyes widened in shock. "It wasn't my fault, I got angry. She was breaking up with me so… Yeah…" He defended himself before they could judge him too quickly. "After I told her to get out, I was working you see, so didn't really have time to be dealing with it. Anyway, I think she told her father, so he sent out his guards to come and get me. As soon as I saw them coming towards the weaponry, I was out of there. I mean, I don't know what would have happened if I hadn't left but I can't exactly go back. If I do, it'll probably just happen again, but I figured that once I was out of the Kingdom, they wouldn't care about me anymore." Hiccup concluded with a slight shrug as if it was nothing as he waited for their responses. Their criticism. Something...

Nothing came. At least not in the way that he had expected them to. Jack had invited Hiccup to join him on his journey, and the freckled boy agreed without hesitation, after all, it wasn't like he had anywhere else to be. Secretly, Jack admired the boy's courage and quick thinking. Plus they both had something in common; both had just broken up with their girlfriends. As they both stood up to leave, there was a noticeable height difference between them, Hiccup being a fair bit shorter than Jack. It wasn't surprising, most people were taller than Hiccup, even Merida was. The taller boy ordered two triple chocolate muffins to go. As they walked beside the road together, they indulged in the chocolatey goodness. Hiccup had never tasted anything so delicious.

"You really didn't have to buy me anything." Hiccup said after he had finished. Jack just shrugged, "It's no problem, my treat." He smiled kindly before he began to introduce himself. "Anyway, I'm Jack."
"I know." Hiccup spoke without thinking, not realising that it sounded a little bit creepy. So before he received any comments, or before he left Hiccup by himself, thinking he was a stalker, he explained himself. "A lot of people talk about you, you're quite the trouble maker. Girls are always swooning over you. I've seen them when you walk past; 'hi, Jack!'" He put on a girly voice at the end, a very high pitched, squeaky one, fluttering his eyelashes up at Jack as he did so. Neither could keep a straight face after that and it took them both a while to stop laughing.

Jack realised then that he didn't actually know Mr. Freckle Face's name. "So, you know me, do I get to know you?" Hiccup bit his lip, feeling nervous all of a sudden. Everybody always laughed at his name and made fun of it, even Merida, even though she had promised she wouldn't. Despite the uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach, he muttered loud enough for Jack to hear. "I'm Hiccup." He closed his eyes, bracing himself for the hysterical laughter that was always present.

It never came.

"Is that a nickname?" Jack asked, and when Hiccup shook his head, obviously confused, Jack grinned. Again, he braced himself for laughter and giggled, but nothing of the sort came out. "Your parents are so awesome! Like seriously, your name is so unique." He continued despite the shock and confusion on Hiccup's face. "My parents gave me such a boring, common name, but yours… Hiccup is a great name! Although…" Hiccup bit his lip, not knowing what to expect. "I might just call you Freckles." Jack smirked as he poked at Hiccup's cheek, causing the smaller male to blush, "Or maybe Hic. I like Hic."

Upon gaining his confidence again, Hiccup took a deep breath. "You know, my full name us even better. Wanna hear it?" He had barely gotten the question out, but Jack was nodding eagerly. "Hiccup Horrendous Haddock… The third." Jack let out a short laugh, but not out of mockery and not to make Hiccup feel bad. Hiccup was laughing himself anyway. Jack was just amazing. This was obviously the start of a very good friendship between the two boys. For Hiccup had never told anyone his full name, ever. "Ooooh, I think I might just call you Triple H now!"

A/N: Sorry it's taken a long time to upload but I've been a little bit busy. I plan to start trying to make the chapters longer so... Stay tuned?