Author's Note: This is my first Hijack or Frostcup fanfiction. It's in its early stages right now, so any feedback people would be willing to give would be much appreciated! I hope you like it, and if you toss me a review, I'll love you forever!
Warnings: None this time. This section is rated T for mentions of sex, but no actual sexual content.
Disclaimer: Clearly, I do not own the rights to these characters.
3. How to Come Out to Your Roommate
Jack woke with a crick in his neck. He realized he'd fallen asleep in an awkward position on the couch and struggled to sit up. In the process, he knocked his book onto the floor and winced when it landed in a heap of crumpled pages. He rushed to pick it up and tried to smooth out the paper. He wasn't used to owning things, so he had to remind himself to be careful, especially with gifts like this one.
Jack sighed and fished his phone out of his pocket. He was afraid to look. He rolled his eyes at himself when he saw the time. Midnight. And now, thanks to his nap, he was wide awake.
He'd been sitting there reading earlier, waiting for Hiccup to return so that he could talk to him, but reading was much too calm and quiet of an activity for him. He was interested in the subject, sure, but wading through pages of ink while sitting still lulled him to sleep every time. His record for non-stop reading was an hour so far.
"Oh well," he said to himself. "Might as well…" he drifted off when he saw that Hiccup's light was on. Maybe it wasn't too late after all.
He knocked on the door. "Hey, Hiccup? You awake?"
"Yeah," he heard him say, and shortly after, the door opened. Hiccup was wearing an oversized green t-shirt and black pajama pants. Jack chastised himself for thinking that he looked cute. "What's up?" Hiccup asked.
"I wanted to talk to you, actually," Jack started nervously.
Hiccup smirked. "I figured that's why you knocked."
"Well… yeah…" Jack said lamely.
Hiccup laughed. "Sorry. Sarcasm is a bad habit of mine… Listen, my sleep schedule's all messed up from traveling, so I'm really awake, too. I'll come join you in there."
Jack gratefully followed Hiccup back to the couch in the main room. "Oh yeah," Hiccup said when he noticed the book on the coffee table. "I wanted to ask you about that."
"This? Oh, it's just a really basic book on magic. That's what I'm studying here. I kind of dropped it and crumpled up the pages, though…"
"That's okay. Just a sec," Hiccup said as he scampered back to his room. He returned a few seconds later with a massive book—no, a tome—in his arms. "Go ahead and line up the pages and then close the book," he instructed.
Jack did as he asked, and then Hiccup hefted the tome on top of his small book. "There!" He said triumphantly. "Just let it sit over night and it'll be good as new tomorrow."
"Thanks," Jack said. He took a glance at the cover and saw that the title was in another language. Runes of some sort?
"So what did you want to talk about?" Hiccup asked, interrupting his thoughts.
Jack joined him on the couch. "Well… there's something important I need to tell you. I wanted to tell you as soon as possible so that you could get a different roommate if you wanted."
Hiccup raised an eyebrow. "What, you're an ax murderer?"
Jack laughed. "No, nothing like that." He looked over and saw the other boy waiting patiently. He took a deep breath. "I'm gay."
Hiccup just raised his eyebrow again. "You're what?"
Did he whisper by accident? "I'm gay," he said again, with more conviction.
Hiccup still looked confused. "Is that a name or something?"
Now it was Jack's turn to be confused. "No, I mean, I'm gay, as in homosexual."
"What-sexual?" Hiccup laughed. "Sorry… I'm from a really small Viking island, and we mostly have dragons and bad weather there. Not a lot of people. There are probably a lot of things that are normal for most people here that I don't know."
A Viking island? I wonder if that was Norse, then, Jack thought. He shook his head. Focus. "So… you've never heard of the term gay or homosexual before? Seriously?"
Hiccup shook his head.
Jack just sat in shock for a minute. He hadn't expected this at all. He'd run through dozens of possible scenarios in his head, but this had not been one of them.
"Okay… well… it's…" he stammered. He'd felt pretty confident before, but now that he had to explain it… "Well, okay, so you know how most guys like girls? I don't. I like guys instead." As the words left his mouth, he felt like he was in middle school again, using the word 'like.'
Hiccup blushed. "You like guys? Like, romantically?"
"Yeah," Jack said, relieved at least that he understood what he was saying.
"Huh. Interesting," he said, furrowing his brow.
Jack waited, but Hiccup seemed lost in thought. "So…"
"That never occurred to me as something people could do…" Hiccup mumbled, looking up at the ceiling. "I don't think anyone in Berk is like that."
"Berk?" Jack asked.
"Oh, that's the name of my village," he explained. "That's interesting!"
"Interesting." Jack said. "You think your new roommate being gay is interesting?"
"Well… yeah. Like I said, I've never heard of it before."
"Just interesting? Not weird? Freaky? Unnatural?"
Hiccup laughed. "No. Why would I think that?"
"It's a pretty popular opinion. A lot of people think being gay is wrong and gross and—" he waved his hand, "you know. Generally weird."
"Well, it's hard to form an opinion of something I just heard of. But I don't know. Theoretically, it's the same as liking girls, right? Just directed at boys instead?"
"Yeah, I guess so," Jack said.
"Then, no, I'm not freaked out or anything," he said with a laugh. "Why would I want a different roommate?"
"You know, if you disapproved. Or if you were uncomfortable with me. Or worried I'd be ogling you or try to jump your bones in your sleep or something."
Hiccup blushed a little. "Do you plan on ogling me and jumping my bones?"
Jack thought, only if you want me to, but responded aloud "No! Of course not."
"Well…" Hiccup started. "Now that I think about it, you were kind of staring at me earlier when I was waiting for the shower."
Shit, Jack thought. "Okay, you caught me, maybe I looked a little, but I was not ogling you. I don't ogle friends and roommates."
Hiccup laughed. "I'm messing with you. It's cool."
Jack sighed in relief. "So you'll stay my roommate?"
"Sure," Hiccup said. He seemed distracted.
"Thanks," Jack said sincerely. He hadn't expected to find a guy who was okay with rooming with him on the first try. "Hey, what are you thinking about?"
Hiccup snapped back into focus. He was suddenly blushing furiously. "Oh, nothing. Just, uh, sleepy."
Jack smirked. "Do you always blush when you're sleepy?"
Hiccup's cheeks burned even brighter. "What are you talking about?"
"Do you have questions or something? You can ask me if you want."
Hiccup hesitated. Jack had hit the mark. "So… you… like guys. Romantically."
"Yes," Jack said with a small laugh.
"So… do you… do all the same stuff?"
Hiccup looked adorable. He was starting to fidget, and the pink would not fade from his face. Jack wanted to tease him, but thought he probably shouldn't push it.
"You mean like kissing and stuff?"
Hiccup nodded.
"Yeah, guys kiss, more or less the same way guys and girls do." He couldn't help himself. "It gets interesting after that part, though," he said with a wink.
He was rewarded with another deep blush from Hiccup. "H-how?"
"Are you a virgin?" Jack asked directly.
Hiccup covered his face with one hand. "Obviously," he muttered.
"But you've had the sex talk, right? I mean, I know your village has to have heterosexual couples, at least, or you wouldn't be here," Jack teased.
"Yes," Hiccup groaned. "I do understand that idea."
"Well," Jack started. "When a man loves another man very much…"
Hiccup uncovered his face so that he could shove Jack's shoulder. "Please don't do that," he grumbled.
Jack laughed. "Sorry. Couldn't help it. Anyway, a lot of it is the same. Kissing, touching, oral. The main difference is that some guys do anal sex. Well, actually, now that I think about it, I guess plenty of heterosexual couples do that, too. But they're all totally different experiences with a guy."
Hiccup's blush had subsided. Hearing Jack talk about sex so nonchalantly made him relax. "So you've done it with both?"
"Yeah," Jack said with a laugh. "Just one girl, though. That was kind of when I figured it out."
Hiccup stifled a yawn. "Sorry," he mumbled. "I actually am getting sleepy now…"
"Actually?" Jack cocked his eyebrow. "You mean you weren't before?"
Hiccup blushed. "No! I was. Just… now I'm really sleepy. Really, really sleepy. In fact, I think I'm going to go to sleep," he said, stumbling on his words.
Jack laughed. "Okay. See you in the morning, then."
After Hiccup went back to his room and closed the door, Jack stayed on the couch for a while, wondering what Hiccup had been thinking about that first time he zoned out.
