This chapter is a little bit longer. But I still own nothing but the plot.

Bzzp bzzp.

[You've got ONE new message!]

Green eyes glanced at the cellphone.

No, this was not the time to start texting. He had more important things to do.

The boy was sitting by his writing-desk with two books open and a lot of empty paperwork which was waiting to be done. Homework was really a bitch sometimes.

Also, the phone was distracting him. His eyes kept on looking at it as soon as he stopped focusing on the square root out of 50 or something… It was so boring he wanted to cry and throw the schoolbook in a wall. Why was it important to learn things like this?

Perhaps if he took a break…

Bzzp bzzp.

[You've got TWO new messages!]

[You've got THREE new messages!]

That was enough. He picked up the phone and pressed the read-button. The first one.

From: Jackson

Message: Hey, what's up? Are you coming over tonight?

It was almost impossible for him to not smile. The second one.

From: Jackson

Message: So I'm sorry of I'm bothering you but it's getting really boring here. I can help you with your homework. I'll let you play my new Assassin's Creed: Black Flag. Pretty please?

Now he was talking… So what was in the third one? A cry for help?

From: Astrid

Huh? This was new. Not that he never got messages from Astrid, no, but they hadn't seen each other in a while, and they didn't talk that much in school anymore. It wasn't anyone's fault, they were just… Growing apart. Which was sad, of course, but he'd gotten the feeling that she wanted more out of their friendship than he did.
The fact that he was using her as an alibi to go see a sick boy that was trapped inside his own bedroom only made it worse.

Message: Hey Hic, we've got to talk about a few things. Come over?

Shit. So, what was he supped to say? Which one of them?
Astrid's seemed urgent. And they really had to clear up a few things between them.

He pressed the return-button and managed to click up Jack's latest message. After a second of thinking he started typing.

To: Jackson

Message: You getting desperate, ey? Sorry, I can't tonight.

It actually hurt writing that. Not really sure of it was because that he felt responsibility over looking after this kid, or if it was because he actually wanted to see him more than he wanted to see Astrid, he swallowed and hoped the annoying lump in his stomach would disappear.
It didn't, but he ignored it.

To: Astrid

Message: See you in 5.

He took a moment to think over what he just had said written, then press the send-button one last time. A quick glance at the writing-desk before he grabbed the jacket, opened the door and stepped out in the hallway. He made it downstairs in just a second, stepped in his shoes and walked out through the door before shouting over his shoulder;

"Mom, dad! I'm going to Astrid's!"

'It's actually true this time.'

"Sure, see you in a while! Love you, kiddo."

"Love you too dad!"

And with that he was out on the street.

It was 7pm, but the street was surprisingly empty. No kids spotted, but this was also probably the time when they came home from soccer practice or theater class or swimming lessons or things like that. They were probably all inside, watching cartoons and eating cereal with milk, talking to their parents about how awful school is or how funny their friends are.

He sighed. Those were the times. Now it was all about status, grades, looks, love…

The sky shifted in pink and orange. The light shone down peacefully at the colorfully painted houses and the green grass.

He turned his face to the right. If he started walking that way, he'd soon leave the peaceful street and come out to the empty road. After that he'd see the cliffs, and when he'd reached them he'd be able to spot the big white house again, beside it the ocean, and out there… The lighthouse.
It was a really beautiful place.
Especially now when he knew who lived there.

He shook his head. This wasn't the time to regret his choice. Astrid was waiting; he just had to turn left.

And so he did.

It didn't take long walking to her house. It was just on the end of the street, the big red one with a big balcony and a blue door. Their garden was big too – but although all that, she was the only child. Maybe her parents didn't want more kids, maybe they couldn't… But they had always been happy as they were.

He knocked on the door but didn't bother waiting for someone to come open.

"Hello! Astrid?" He shouted.

"Up here!" she answered from up the stairs.

"Oh, hi Ha-"

He frowned. Of course Mrs. Hofferson had to call him by his birth name. No one ever did, except for her.

"It's Hiccup, Mrs. Hofferson, and hello on you too!" he hurried and interrupted.

"Well, well…" The woman came walking out from their living room with a teacup in her hand and a broad smile decorating her lips. "Up you go. She's waiting."

He nodded and took of his shoes before running up the stairs and into Astrid's room where she was sitting, on the floor, legs crossed and chewing on the edge of a pen.

"Hi Haddock. Close the door behind you?"

He did, and then sat down beside her, glancing at what she was doing.

"Homework" he stated, a bit disappointed. Was that what she had texted him about? Was it just homework?

"Yea… You know how much work Gape is giving us? He's a killer-machine!"

She closed the book by protest and turned her head his way, eyed his face closely with squinted eyes – like she wanted to look into his mind and pull out every single secret she didn't know about.

"But that's not why I texted you."

Great. Now he was starting to feel nervous too…

The blonde girl had squinted her eyes to the point that her cheeks started turning red. "We never see each other anymore. What's going on, Hicks? We were close as siblings, and now…"

Her hands signed an explosion.

"I don't know, Astrid… It sounds like we're breaking up…"

She shrugged her shoulders.

"We're not even a couple. We're just friends, remember? I… I've just been doing other things…" He couldn't afford to look her in the eyes. She'd force the truth out of him, like she always could. He loved her for that – but this time, maybe it was too much? Jack was his secret. Jack was what made him wake up in the mornings and think positively. Eat his food, do his homework… And then might have a chance to see him.

"You're hiding something."

"I'm not."

Avoiding her searching look only made it worse, he knew that. But what was he supposed to do?

"Yes you are…" She started smiling, "Hiccup Haddock - you're seeing someone!"

"No I'm not, stop-"

"Yeah, but you are! Who is she?! Tell me all about it!"

"If that's why you told me to come here – just so you could interrogate me – then I might just leave."

He stood up with his lips pressed together and his eyes still avoiding hers. One part of him wanted to tell her, one part of him wanted Jack to stay his own. It was so selfish it made him feel sick, he knew that, but at the same time he was thinking at the boy's safety.
He didn't want anyone to know except for him.

"Hey, don't go-"

"I've got to…"

"No you don't."

It only took a second for her to get up on her feet and force him to look her deep in the eyes.

"Tell me what's going on."

He swallowed. He couldn't lie.
As shoulders relaxed he started thinking, maybe it wasn't so bad telling her after all… She was his best friend. She always understood.
And he'd feel a lot better after telling her.
Maybe this was the best. Maybe she could help.

"Okay…"

Her eyes lit up, cheeks got a little bit redder – like she hadn't expected him to give in so easily. That was nonsense... He always gave in when she convinced him that way.

"Okay – is that it? Who is it? Don't tell me it's Merida because then I'll shove something up your tiny ass…"

"N-no! It's not Merida, why would you think that?" Actually, Astrid tended to scare him sometimes.

She smiled innocently and stroked his cheek with her pinkie. "I don't know… You seem so tense it wouldn't surprise me if it was her of all girls, my best friend…"

"No, it's not her… Just let me explain."

With a hand on her shoulder he forced her back on the floor in sitting position, same for him. They sat opposite each other, and tried to talk in a normal tone without shouting. A challange for Astrid.

"His name is Jack. Or, Jackson, I don't know which one he prefers… He lives by the ocean – you know if you go left when you leave the village and then-"

The girl raised her hand to stop him from talking, her mouth hanging wide open and her eyes just staring at her as if she wasn't sure he was being serious or not.

"Wait – you've got a boyfriend?!"

"No, n-no! That's not what I meant! You asked who I've been seeing… No, it's not like that, we're just friends! Let me explain…"

Her look was mistrusting but she let him continue.

"Yeah okay so… Uhm… Oh, he lives by the ocean. In the white house we always talked about when we were at the beach, remember? We thought it was just a couple who couldn't get kids. But that's wrong. They've got a son, they've got Jack, and he's living there all on his own…"

"Why?"

"He's suffering from a disease that makes his immune system really weak. He can't go outside, Astrid. He can't move a single limb outside that room… His parents are paranoid, they just won't let him. He's out three times a month! I'm telling the truth, I know you know I do."

She looked so surprised, a bit shocked. But she believed in him. He understood why. They had never believed that a kid their age would live in the house by the cliffs. Never. So many times they had been there, by the ocean, just watching boats come and go, children sit in the sand and play, parents lay in the sun trying to get a tan… But they had never seen anyone walk in nor out from that house.

"How did you meet him?"

Hiccup looked away a bit embarrassed. "I was down the beach, just… I don't know, well, looking? At the ocean. Imagining what's out there. I do that sometimes when I have to clear my head. I didn't see him at first, but then when I did it was quite hard to take my eyes off him."

Her lips curled up in a smile, but before she had opened her mouth he interrupted and explained, "No, not like that, he's just not like any other boy our age. He's so pale… Like, a sick pale, and his hair is incredibly white. So I honestly thought he wasn't human at first… Y'know, a ghost? But then he talked to me and said I had dropped something and it was my wallet and we just kind of started talking to each other. "

"When was this?"

"I don't know…" he counted on his fingers, "three months ago?"

"Wow…"

She looked down on her feet, probably unknowing of what to say. That was really unlike her – but on the other hand, he'd react the same way if he was in her position.

"And since then you have just… Done what?"

Hiccup shrug his shoulders, "Hanging out. Well, we talked and then exchanged numbers and then he invited me over one day. His parents know about me. Just don't that I come there more often than once in a month… They've got a ladder just outside his window. I can climb up and see him whenever I want to."

"But, does your parents know about this?"

Shit. This was when it got really embarrassing… Of course, his ears started to get red. She noticed right away.

"You haven't told them?!"

"What am I supposed to say?!" he countered, "Hi mom! Hi dad! I've been sneaking out late night to see a sick guy and hold him company, because we're both lonely and we need each other!"

"That sounds like a really dramatic gay movie…"

"Exactly. You're not going to tell them, are you?"

She studied her finger nails closely like she was mocking him – and she probably was. After a few seconds of silence she opened her mouth and said; "Look, Eugene and Rapunzel deserves to know. But since you're my best friend… I'll let you tell them for yourself. Just don't make them wait for too long, they probably suspect something already."

The brunette sighed and run a hand through his uneven and messy curls, trying to force them on place. "Right. Yeah…"

Before any of them could continue, Mrs. Hofferson's loud and clear voice came echoing from downstairs.

"A-strid sweetheart!"

The teen groaned and yelled back, which made Hiccup raise his hands to his ears to protect them by pure reflex.

"Yes mom!"

"Isn't it time for Hiccup to head home soon? She's 11 already! You've both got school tomorrow, remember that!"

The boy frowned and stood as quickly as he could.

"Shit!"

"It's cool Haddock. Your secret's safe with me. See you tomorrow at school!"

"Yea, see you!"

And he ran down the stairs as fast as he could, jumping into his shoes and shouting one last goodbye before bursting out through the door and out in the late night.