Hey guys! I finally managed to write the next chapter, even though my body is failing me. I'm sleep deprived, and everything hurts, it's not even funny. No kidding, I have the stamina and physical strength of an 80-years-old lady.
Anyway, this is where Jack and Hiccup (hopefully) start warming up to each other! AMEN!
Thank you so much to all of those who followed/faved the story, and an especially big thanks to all of those who left a review on the previous chapters! It really keeps me going to know that you enjoy what I write! I'm sorry if I'm a bit behind on replies, I'll get to it right away!
Enjoy chapter 4!
The afternoon sun was filtering through the dust-clouded windows of the college library, bathing the room in soft hues of red. The smell of old parchment and ink gave off a relaxing and peaceful feeling to the few students still working there.
Eyes glued on the pages of a book, fingers slowly tracing the lines and mind absorbed in his reading, Hiccup let out a satisfied sigh. Places like these made him feel so satisfied and comfortable. Surrounded by books, the brunet felt like nothing could get to him.
Not even the constant rolling of Jack's pen which, chin pressed on the edge of the desk, he kept blowing away from his face in boredom.
The white-haired singer wasn't quite used to wait around with nothing to do, and the fact that Hiccup insisted on staying back after their last class to read—read!—was causing him to grow more and more annoyed with each ticking second.
« Are you done yet? » Jack asked for the millionth time in the past hour. Like each time, Hiccup simply gave him an absent-minded shrug. « Ugggghhhh » he groaned, slamming his forehead on the desk.
« Don't hit your head » the brunet muttered without looking up from his book « You're going to ruin what's left of your non-existant brain »
« Then hurry up » he pressed, ignoring the insult.
Hiccup sighed, and finally resigned himself to close the book, holding it up for a second, eyes closed, before sighing and stuffing it in his bag.
« You're such a pain in the ass » he complained as he got off from his chair « You can't stay still for one little hour, can you? »
« And you— » Jack shot back « Are such a kill-joy! I can't believe you chose to stay here and read, when we could've been doing something better… »
« Yeah yeah, whatever » Hiccup waved him off.
The walked out of the college grounds, ambling down the streets, towards their apartment. It was a twenty minutes walk at most, which could've been easily avoided by taking a bus, but Jack's buzz-kill of a bodyguard had insisted on walking, saying they both needed "exercice" and "fresh air" or whatever.
« I have to stop by the convenience store before we get home » Hiccup said.
« What for? » Jack crunched his nose.
« Groceries »
« You want to go grocery shopping? » the white-haired boy hissed, incredulous.
« Well, yeah » Hiccup answered, raising an eyebrow « We're low on food, I don't think we have anything to eat for tonight »
« And why do I have to come? »
« Because I'm supposed to keep an eye on you 24/7, dumbass » the brunet rolled his eyes.
« Bullshit » Jack spat, walking past the other boy « I'm not going to carry plastic bags around just so you can baby-sit me. You take care of that, I'm going back »
Hiccup stopped to a halt and grabbed the singer by the collar, spinning him around.
« Listen up, ass-face » he hissed « I already told you that where I go, you go. Don't count on me to be your errand-boy. Now, I'm going to go buy some goddamn food, and you're going to follow me without so much as a word » He jabbed a finger in the boy's chest « Either you come, or you starve. Capisce? »
Jack shot him a glare and pushed the other's hand away, but rolled his eyes and followed him nonetheless.
The shop was a few blocks away from their apartment. It wasn't much, really, but the owner was decently nice and their isles had enough food to fill his kitchen, so Hiccup didn't complain.
They walked through the automatic doors, greeted by the mechanical 'ding' it made, and the smaller teen pulled out a list from his bag.
« Alright » he said « Let's get this over with »
Hiccup pointed the different isles to Jack, telling him what they needed in each of them. Needless to say, the white-haired boy was less than cooperative. He kept ignoring the brunet's orders to help him out, and barely answered with a shrug when asked to choose between two products.
After a couple of minutes, Hiccup gave up on the idea of getting any help from Jack, and decided to act like he wasn't there, nagging him as he followed him around.
« You're taking that? » Jack asked, picking up the cereal box the brunet had just put down in their cart.
« Yeah? » Hiccup asked, unsure of what the issue was.
« My god » the other grunted, holding the box at arm's length, looking disgusted « Never in my life have I ever seen a more cheap-looking thing… » He dropped the box back in the cart, and eyed the other products lying in it. « For the love of— Are you allergic to quality products? »
« Well excuse me » the brunet hissed « Not everyone has your financial wealth, Ô Mighty Jack » he slapped the box Jack was holding back in the cart « Sorry if I can't afford any fancy products, I'm still repaying my student loan, jackass » he glared daggers at the boy « And need I remind you that I also have to provide for the freeloader that's crashing my guest bedroom? »
That part wasn't exactly true. All of Jack's expenses would be repaid by his company by the end of the month. But it wasn't Jack's money, and at least that last comment managed to get his point across.
Jack rolled his eyes, dragging his feet on the squeaky floor as Hiccup returned to pushing the cart down the isles, all the while complaining about the taller teen's behavior.
« Seriously, get you head out of your ass, Frost » Hiccup huffed, grabbing a few products from the shelves and putting them down in the cart « You can't just expect everyone to have the financial stability of a freaking rock star. Some of us out here have it pretty hard. Not everyone has the chance of having mommy and daddy behind us to bend to our every will. »
He kept on talking for a while, eyes darting from his grocery list to the shelves, grabbing what he needed and stopping from time to time to compare prices, all the while rambling and complaining about life as a broke student.
After a few minutes, he noticed the old lady staring at him in confusion from across the isle. She seemed a bit worried, and Hiccup groaned, turning around to see what mess Jack had caused, again. But, much to his surprise, there was no sign of the white-haired man.
An alarm went off in the brunet's mind, and he dashed down the isle, abandoning his cart for the time being. He ran through the shop, scanning every corner in hope of spotting Jack, but to no avail. As he was about to inform the security, he finally noticed the mop of white hair sticking out like a sore thumb in the middle of the frozen section.
« Jack! » Hiccup yelled, catching up with the boy « Where the f— »
The brunet shut up just in time when he saw that Jack wasn't alone. The white-haired teen was crouching in front of a little girl with long blonde hair falling over puffy red eyes. Her tiny hands were clasped on a tattered stuffed rabbit, holding it for protection.
« Who's that? » Hiccup asked, leaning towards the girl « Is she crying? Jack, did you make her— »
« I didn't do anything » Jack hissed at the accusation.
Hiccup noticed that, although his voice was as harsh as always during their arguments, the taller teen was making an effort to keep his tone low, in hope that it wouldn't freak out the child more than she already was.
« I saw her alone, crying, and I came over to help » the boy added, reporting his attention to the little girl « I think she lost her mother » he said.
The girl nodded, and Jack gave her a warm smile.
« What's your name, kiddo? » he asked, grabbing her free hand and wiping his other thumb on her cheek, brushing the tears away.
« Sophie Bennett » the child said proudly, exposing her missing teeth as she grinned.
« Well well, Sophie » Jack smiled « I'm Jack, and Mr. Gumpy-Face over here is Hiccup » the child giggled, and the singer let out a laugh of his own « How about we help you find your mommy, okay? »
The child nodded actively, and Jack stood up.
« You stay with her » he said, turning to Hiccup « And I'll go make an announcement at the front desk »
He was about to walk away when he was caught off by a whine. Turning around, he saw Sophie grabbing onto the hem of his jeans, eyes pleading and filled with tears once again.
« I don't think she really likes me » Hiccup pointed out.
« Well, I guess I'll come with you, then » Jack laughed.
With a smile, he scooped Sophie off the floor, and settled her on his shoulders, earning a joy-filled laugh from the child. Hiccup walked behind, watching carefully as Jack ran down the isles, making 'woosh' noises to entertain the girl.
When they reached the front desk, Sophie was holding onto Jack's hair, babbling about one thing or another as the white-haired teen nodded and answered like he understood every last word of her childish nonsense.
« Sophie! » a cry came from the desk, and the little girl started wiggling on Jack's shoulder when she spotted the woman in her early thirties rushing towards them.
« Mommy! » she called.
Jack lifted the child off his shoulders, and gently put her down on the floor, laughing when she stumbled towards her mother, who picked her up into a tight hug.
« Oh Sophie I was so worried, where have you been? »
« I was with Jack! » Sophie smiled, and the woman finally seemed to notice the two teens standing next to them.
« Oh! » the mother gasped, immediately recognizing Jack. « Thank you so much for helping my Sophie » she said, holding onto the girls hand as she took a step towards the boys « I hope she didn't cause you too much trouble. »
« No, don't worry » Jack shook his head, offering a stunning grin « I'm just glad we managed to find you quickly »
The woman nodded, and seemed to ponder for a second, looking embarrassed as she carefully scanned Jack's face.
« I don't mean to sound rude » she said « But you look an awful lot like this singer my son is crazy about »
« Yeah » Jack nodded « That's probably me, I'm Jack Frost »
« Oh goodness! » she gasped again, holding a hand in front of her mouth before pulling a notepad out of her bag « Would it be completely inappropriate to— »
« Not at all » he smiled, taking the pad from her and scribbling a few words on it, giving her his best smile when she snapped a picture on her phone.
« Thank you so much » she smiled « Jamie is going to be so happy about this! »
Jack nodded, and leaned down to ruffle Sophie's hair, smiling when he earned a giggled from the girl.
« Now be good, Soph' » he said « Don't go running off like that again »
The child laughed, and her mother smiled fondly at them, scooping the girl up in her arms.
« Thank you again for helping my daughter » she said « I don't know what I would've done without you »
« Don't worry about it » Jack shrugged « It was my pleasure »
The two boys said their goodbyes as Sophie's mother carried her out of the shop, the girls waving her rabbit around. They didn't move until the automatic doors closed behind them and they both disappeared into the parking lot.
« So » Jack said, massaging his shoulders as he turned back to Hiccup « Please tell me we're almost done with this »
As they walked back to their cart, Hiccup stared at the white-haired boy with an eyebrow raised, a ghost of a smile tugging at the corner of his lips. Of all people, Jack was the last person he'd expected to be good with children. With the shitty manners and provoking attitude he usually displayed, Hiccup had assumed Jack wouldn't stand being around kids, let alone be able to interact with toddlers without having them screaming bloody murder.
The brunet found strange how he seemed to have discovered an unexpected aspect of Jack's personality. Maybe he wasn't so bad after all.
« Hurry up » Jack urged « I want to get this poor-people shopping over with, and quick »
Or maybe he was.
AN: There you go! It wasn't much, really, but at least they aren't trying to rip each other's throats quite as much. Also I'm glad I could include the Bennett kids in the story! Unlike Astrid, we probably won't see anymore of them, but Sophie's adorable and I loved adding her to the chapter.
The change in Jack and Hiccup's relationship might be a bit quicker from now on, but I'll try to keep it at a realistic pace. I know "there's a thin line between love and hate" blablabla but you can't expect two people to jump from attempting murder to humping each other's brains out just like that. So, yeah, I hope none of you mind that I'm taking my time with this. If you feel like it really gets too slow, please tell me, I'll try taking it up a notch :)
Thanks again for reading, and please let me know what you thought of this chapter in a review ;w;
Take care! xxx
Guest(Ige): Thanks for your review! As for the classes they're taking, I can't say for sure, since I'm not too familiar with the American scholar systems (being French and all that), but what I had in mind was that Hiccup was already a student before Jack came along. I like the idea that Hiccup wasn't too sure what path to follow, yet, so his classes would be pretty general (calculus, history, art probably, etc.), and Jack just tagged along until he could pick his own classes. I'm not really getting into those details in the story (yet, anyway), mostly because it doesn't really affect the plot in any way, but also because I didn't want to give any details that would be incoherent with the plot or later elements. I hope this made at least a bit of sense! Sorry if my answer was confusing! Thanks again for reading and reviewing!