Frozen Dragons

by Vexcinnt

Creativity is a must in life. You have to try new things. If you don't, then where's the fun in life? Being creative, letting your mind run wild is the best way to live, especially if you meet other people that are just as inventive as you. The thing is, you may not see their creative side at first. But when you do, and you combine your ideas, you get the best kinds of fun. Hijack

11. Chapter 11

Alright so I feel like a bit of an apology is due. College/Theatre work decided to be a giant pain in my butt, which I guess I should have seen coming since it's near the end of the semester and every single teacher/director was scrambling to get things done. But thankfully most of that is over for a short while so I was finally able to finish writing this chapter!

Hopefully since the semester is almost over I'll have a little more time to write and get some stuff done.

Anyways, here's the 11th chapter of Frozen Dragons (still think that title was a bad idea).

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Chapter 11

Dragon after dragon flew through the cool air, roaring as they circled above the training center. The sky was perfect for flying today, and the dragons were more than happy to enjoy it while they still could. One of them, a Gronckle, circled through the air, spiraling down as it flew through the entrance and came to a halt just a few inches above the cold stone floor. Gently landing, the Gronckle immediately went to scratch her side, her rider having to get off on the other side as he rubbed the top of her large and bumpy head and told her such things as 'Good girl, Meatlug', and, 'You were excellent today.'

The other dragon, a Deadly Nadder to be precise, was still showing off her latest stunt that she and her rider had begun to perfect. Shooting her spikes straight up into the air as she flew in a circle, she came to a sudden halt and flew towards the sky right as the spikes started to fall. She wasn't worried, however. She had practiced this feat many times and was certain that she would get it right. Almost effortlessly, she tucked her wings inside just before she flew through the ring of spikes that she had made, roaring in excitement that she was able to show off in front of the rest of her companions.

"Woo-Hoo!" Astrid shouted as she and Stormfly dove towards arena.

Everyone below on the other hand was sure to stay out of the way, per Astrid's warning. The spikes landed a safe distance from everyone, landing with a thud in the ground as they penetrated the rocky surface.

Stormfly flew through the arena's entrance and landed right beside Hiccup, Astrid jumping down form her back and brushing the hair out of her face as she placed her hand on her hip. "So," she began, "think the rest of them can top that?"

Looking over to her competition, Hiccup couldn't say that he thought there really was much competition considering the only people that hadn't yet gone were the twins and Snotlout. "Am I supposed to give you a serious answer?" he asked rhetorically.

Astrid didn't even need to try to prove Hiccup wrong since the twins ran over to Barf and Belch, eager to be the next ones to show off their latest trick. Although, it did take a while for the two of them to actually decide which trick they were going to present, apparently having practiced two for the presentation.

"We're doing the barrel roll!" shouted Tuffnut.

"We did that last time!" screamed his sister.

"Yeah but this time it'll be better!"

"It was good enough!"

"Nuh-uh!"

"Yuh-huh!" she shouted. "We're doing the twister!"

"The twister sucks!"

"You suck!" Now the twins decided to butt helmets.

"No you!"

"You!"

"YOU!"

"YOU!"

"GUYS!" screamed Snotlout, not willing to put up with their loud bickering for one more second. "Can you PLEASE just pick something so we can get this over with?"

This wasn't something new. Snotlout anticipating his turn to show off whatever skill he and Hookfang had actually managed to learn was a regular occurrence. Then again, half the time whenever he did claim to have something to show off, Hookfang would purposely mess it up just and end up singeing Snotlout's butt…again. "Like you actually have something to show off today?" Astrid asked with a smirk.

Snotlout pointed right at Astrid, confidently saying, "Of course I do! And this time, nothing's gonna go wrong!" He looked to his dragon and went to pet his rather long snout, "Right buddy?", only to have Hookfang snarl at him in discomfort. Snotlout looked to the rest of his friends and gave a small and nervous smile, his shoulders giving a small bounce as he did so before turning his back on them and mumbling in a gruff tone to Hookfang, "Look. You do this one for me, and I'll get you that cod you liked for dinner tonight. Got it?"

The dragon said nothing.

"Got. It?" Finally, Hookfang let out a small growl of approval, really liking the cod he had last week for dinner. "Good boy."

Hiccup only sighed in secondhand embarrassment. To this day he had no idea why Snotlout couldn't just be nicer to his dragon. One would think that, after all this time, he would have learned that by now. Apparently, he was wrong. But no matter; the two were causing less trouble than when they first started out so that had to be some kind of plus, right? It was probably best not to question it or else Hiccup might jinx the whole thing and before he knew it something or, Odin forbid, someone would be set on fire.

While the twins still argued, but a little quitter than before since they preferred not to get yelled at by Snotlout again, Hiccup looked up at the sky and saw two large clouds slowly floating by. It was way past noon, almost dinner time actually, and still there was nothing to be heard or seen from Jack. He placed his hand over his eyes in order to block out any light and try to get a better view, but still, he saw nothing.

"Looking for something?" he heard Astrid call out from behind him, almost making him jump out of his boot.

He looked at Astrid and fixed his vest, and then his hair, and then his vest again as he stammered, "What? Oh, ah, no, uh, no I'm not. I'm just, uh, admiring the-the view is all."

Astrid stared at Hiccup in confusion. Whenever he acted like this, there was the slight chance that he was hiding something. She had been friends with him long enough to know that. "Uh-huh."

"Yeah, actually," Hiccup said as he gave her a small nod. "I, uh, felt like practicing my, um, drawing last night and I wanted to do clouds. But it was night, so you, no clouds. Heh heh." He cursed himself mentally for giving her a nervous chuckle. He always hated himself whenever he did that but it seemed like he couldn't stop it! Half the time he didn't even know he had done it until right afterwards and then there was nothing he could do about it!

"Ugh, again with the drawings, Hiccup?" Snotlout called out, granting a look from both Hiccup and Astrid. "How can you expect to be chief if the only things you do are train dragons and draw your cutesy wittle pictures?

Astrid was quick to speak up for Hiccup. "You know, if I remember correctly, it was Hiccup that helped Gobber make that axe of yours."

"Yeah, so?"

"Can you make an axe? Or a sword? Or a shield that turns into a crossbow?"

Snotlout was never the one to admit defeat, but even he did have to admit sometimes that he wasn't the best at snappy comebacks. "Well…no. What's your point?"

"My point," said Astrid as she took a few steps towards Hiccup, keeping her sly smile as she pointed towards the young Viking, "is that if I were you, I'd be a little nicer to Hiccup. Thor knows it won't be pretty for you if he becomes chief and decides to get revenge for all the things you've done to him."

Snotlout shook his head, thinking that Astrid had to be over exaggerating. "Pfft, he'd never do that." Snotlout quickly looked at Hiccup, his eyes growing wide with the thought that, as Chief, Hiccup really would have that power. "Would you?"

Hiccup only crossed his arms and shrugged. "Eh, maybe. Maybe not. Guess we'll just have to wait and see, huh Snotlout?"

Grunting with anger, Snotlout turned his attention back to Hookfang as Astrid made her way back over to Stormfly. Hiccup once again took a quick glance towards the sky, still hoping to see Jack fly by any second now. He never did like it when Astrid stood up for him like that. It made him feel weak; as if he couldn't fight any of his own battles. Still, that didn't mean he didn't appreciate all the things she did for him whenever he needed her help. Even then, there were times that he was able to tell Snotlout or anyone that was giving him trouble what was what and that they needed to just shut up before they made an even bigger fool of themselves. But that didn't mean that there were times where he wished that he was the one able to shut Snotlout up instead of Astrid.

He really wished Jack wasn't here to see this either. The last thing he needed was Jack making even more jokes about how socially inept Hiccup was half the time.

"Alright, Snot," spoke Hiccup, "since the twins can't seem to come to a decision on what to do, I guess you can go next."

"Gladly," answered Snotlout as he mounted the Monstrous Nightmare. "Alright boy, to the sky!" Although it took the large dragon a moment to comply, Hookfang flew out of the arena and took towards the sky.

Astrid was the first to speak up after the duo had left. "He has to do his trick outside the Academy?"

"Are you complaining?" asked Fishlegs. "The last time he tried to show off in here, he almost burnt my butt off! Please, someone explain to me how that's supposed to be a 'trick'?"

"Maybe the trick was that you weren't supposed to catch on fire this time?" replied Hiccup.

Painful memories came back to haunt Fishlegs of the times Snotlout had been the reason he had to jump into the nearest barrel of water. "Some trick," he mumbled.

Astrid cupped one hand around the top of her eyes, squinting as she tried to keep her eyes focused on Snotlout. "Why is he going so high?" she asked. "Does he expect us to be able to see him from all the way down here?"

There was a small pause between the three of them, the only sounds coming from the twins who had just realized that something else was going on and that it was probably important if they watched. "Only one way to find out," answered Hiccup.

No sooner then he spoke did a loud roar come from above. "Well, here goes nothing," Astrid said with sigh.

"If only it were that simple," Fishlegs said as-a-matter-of-fact. As they waited a few more seconds for something to happen, they saw Hookfang dive down towards them, spinning like crazy as they got closer and closer to the ground. Fire spewed out form his mouth, forming a circle of fire that began to rain down on the group, all covering their heads as the heat got closer and closer.

"SNOTLOUT!" cried Hiccup. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" But Snotlout was too busy cheering to hear Hiccup. Thankfully, the fire didn't singe any of them by the time it reached the ground, only forming a ring around them, encasing them in Snotlout's trap. Hookfang soon stopped his spinning and flew right back through the entrance and landed with a small purr of satisfaction, his rider stumbling over his own two feet as he stepped down from his dragon.

"You, woah," it took Snotlout a moment to try to steady himself, "you see? I told you I could do it. But you didn't believe me, did you?" he boasted.

"Uh, you never told us what you were doing in the first place." Fishlegs pointed out.

"Yeah!" added Tuffnut. "And even then, we still have all our hair! What's the point of trying to burn us if we still have our hair?"

Hiccup took two steps towards Snotlout, not knowing whether to be angry or impressed. Both seemed like a good option. "What's wrong with you!?"

Blinking in confusion, Snotlout answered, "Well, I think my brain might have hit my skull if that's what you mean." He shook his head a little before adding, "Jeez Hiccup will you stop moving?"

"I'm not moving Snotlout." Hiccup said monotone.

"Oh, well then maybe I-" Snotlout quickly stopped talking and covered his mouth, eyes wide with fear before he ran to the nearest barrel and dipped his head in it, letting his stomach do its work and expel practically everything he had.

"Great trick by the way," Astrid said sarcastically as she slow clapped, "Brilliant job. Definitely worth losing your breakfast."

Snotlout looked up from the now vomit-covered barrel and wiped his mouth with his armband, squinting his eyes as he tried to focus on Astrid. However, all he could say in response was, "Shut up."

"Well," Hiccup said as he placed his open hands on his side, "that was, uh, a good show Snotlout. Good job." Snotlout only gave Hiccup a thumbs up. Looking at the twins, Hiccup said "Now, for you guys."

"No. Way," sneered Ruffnut. "There's no way I'm doing the barrel roll again."

"Well I'm not doing the twister! It's not ready!" the siblings only folded their arms and looked away from each other, Barf and Belch not knowing what to do next, so they simply stood there, looking at everyone else while their riders silently fought it out.

Hiccup, on the other hand, just wasn't willing to put up with anymore of their squabbling. "Uh, you know what, that's fine. Just try to think of something else to show off next time, okay? Don't worry about it."

Not saying anything to anyone, the twins nodded in approval and started to leave the arena, leaving Hiccup to bury his face in his hand in aggravation. "Alright, so," he turned to look at everyone else, "great job today guys. Uh, I guess I'll just see you around."

"Fine by me," said Snotlout as he made his way towards the exit, Hookfang following close behind.

Fishlegs said his goodbye to Hiccup and Astrid before he followed Snotlout, saying how he had some stuff he needed to take care of for Meatlug and leaving Hiccup alone with Astrid and their dragons.

"So," Hiccup began as Fishlegs began to leave, "what are your plans for the rest of the day?"

"Well for one, I can tell you I won't be cleaning out that!" she said as she pointed behind her towards the barrel that Snotlout decided to use for his bile. "But, other than that, I've got nothing except eating and taking care of Stormfly."

Toothless strolled over to Hiccup, purring as he rubbed against the Viking's side and asked for attention. Hiccup, scratching his friend's head, went ahead and said, "Yeah, I've really got nothing else going on today either. I just gotta make sure I survive dinner and then whatever else my dad might have me do."

"You gonna work on those pictures?"

"My what?"

"You know," Astrid pointed towards the sky, "the clouds? The reason Snotlout was being a jerk to you earlier."

Hiccup nodded his head in sudden understanding, "Oh! Oh, oh yeah. That might happen, I don't know. I guess I'll just have to, uh, you know, wait and see if the inspiration strikes and all."

Astrid wasn't exactly the best artist, but she understood what he meant completely when he said that he would wait for the inspiration. "Makes sense." Astrid looked over to Stormfly as she shook her head and gently let her wings spread out just a bit, loosening herself up. "I think someone's ready to go ahead and eat," Astrid thought aloud. "Come on, girl," she said as she waved Stormfly over towards herself, letting her know that yes, they could leave now. "I'll see you 'round Hiccup!"

"Yeah, okay, sure thing," Hiccup responded, his hands starting to twitch as he balled them into nervous fists. If there was going to be another opportunity today, then this was definitely it, otherwise he'd have to wait until tomorrow. That is, if he even had the courage to ask her tomorrow. "Hey, Astrid, wait up!" he called out as he took a few quick steps towards her before she left the arena.

She looked back at Hiccup curiously, Stormfly having no problem waiting for her just a little bit longer. "What's up?" asked Astrid.

Hiccup scratches his arm as he tried to find the words. Wait, was his arm even itchy? 'Stop that' he told himself. "Are you, uh, going to the Great Hall tonight?" Now his head was itchy, great. He ignored the itch as he gestured towards her and tried to explain, "You know, for dinner?"

"Um, yeah?" Astrid wasn't completely sure where Hiccup was going with this. "I was going to meet up with anyone I saw there. As long as it's just not me and Snot, I think I'll be fine though," she jested.

Hiccup resisted the urge to bite his lip as he thought about what to say next, though not much came to mind. "Oh, okay. So I, uh, I guess I'll just see you there then?"

Ah. Now it was starting to make sense. Astrid gave Hiccup a small smile before she walked over towards him, accidentally chuckling as she stepped right in front of him and placed a small kiss on his cheek. "You're welcome to join me if you want, you know."

'Dammit' Hiccup thought. He couldn't feel it happening, but he was pretty sure that he was blushing. Trying to act cool…or at the very least, calm, he smiled back at her and said, "Oh, yeah. No, I know. I was just wondering is all. You know, being curious and what not." 'Shut up while you still can Haddock. Shut up shut up shut up!'

Astrid gave Hiccup another small laugh before she began to walk backwards towards the exit, keeping her eyes fixed on Hiccup's. "I'll see you there, okay mister artsy-pants?"

"Artsy-pants?" Hiccup called out. "Is that even a real insult?"

"Who said anything about insulting you?" Astrid rhetorically asked before turning around and running back to Stormfly, who had already made her way to the outside of the arena as she waited patiently for Astrid to come after her.

Hiccup had enough time to let out a small yet rather loud sigh after Astrid had left before Toothless nudged his head against him, looking up at his friend with a sense of optimism and happiness, almost as if he were trying to tell him that everything was going to be okay. "What?" Hiccup asked, Toothless looking towards the exit and then back to Hiccup. "Yeah, I know it wasn't the best move, but can you blame me?"

"Kinda," a voice called out from above. Hiccup quickly looked up to see Jack, slowly falling down towards the ground, belly down, as he smiled down at Hiccup, arms folded and legs bent at the knee and crossed by his ankles. "I gotta say, that was some smooth talking you did there Hiccup. I'm impressed, well done."

Although he was happy that his friend had finally shown up, Hiccup wasn't about to be patronized by him. He shook his head and waved his hand at Jack, "Pfft, whatever," before stepping back and letting the Immortal have room to land.

But Jack didn't land and instead levitated in the air, keeping his clever smirk as he bounced his eyebrows. "Never knew you were such a charmer."

"I never knew you'd be such an eavesdropper."

"I wasn't eavesdropping!" Jack quickly snapped back.

"Oh really?" Hiccup inquired before crossing his arms and raising an eyebrow at his friend, "then what would you call listening in on someone else's conversation without letting them know that you're even within hearing distance?"

Jack, once again, was quick to think of something to say. "I call it spying. A covert operation if you will, just to make sure you didn't make a fool of yourself."

"Is that so?"

"Yep!" Jack looked to Toothless as he continued, "Although it doesn't look like I was much help here, was I?" Toothless glanced at Hiccup before shaking his head just slightly, hoping that Hiccup wouldn't notice.

"Hey!" He noticed. "You know, for your information, I didn't make a complete fool of myself."

Jack tucked his legs into his chest and tilted himself so that he was standing upright, resting his staff on his shoulder as he stepped onto the cold stone ground of the arena. "You weren't?"

"No! In case you didn't see, she kissed my cheek," Hiccup said with a smug attitude, thinking that he had Jack beat this round.

Rolling his eyes, Jack retorted, "Is that what you think that was? Dude, that was a pity kiss. Nothing more."

"Oh come on!"

Jack raised his hands in defense, taking a small step back away from the Viking as he said, "Hey, I call it like I see it." Man it was fun to tease this kid.

Hiccup, obviously, thought otherwise. "You know what, fine, whatever," Hiccup said as he gave up, motioning his hands through the air as he relinquished his dignity due to the fact that he didn't want to stand here any longer and try to prove Jack wrong. "I'm done. Let's just change the subject, please?"

"Hey, by all means, go ahead," Jack said as he held the staff with both arms behind his head, resting it over his shoulder as he let his hands go limp. "What's up?"

"Well, for starters, you're a little late to the party."

"There was a party?" Jack asked Toothless, who only gave a small chirp in response as he perked his head and ears up. "Why wasn't I invited?"

"Can you go three minutes without trying to annoy and pester someone?"

"Mmmm, yes, but I'd rather not."

'Oh if only the Gods were kinder' "Alright then, well, where've you been all day? I knew you had to be busy but it's almost dark. You're cutting it a little close, don't you think?"

Jack looked up at the sky, shrugging his shoulders as he said, "Eh, it's still light outside, right? I can't be that late." He looked back to Hiccup and quickly spoke up before Hiccup even had a chance to say anything else. "But enough about me," he said as he grabbed his staff and motioned it towards Hiccup, "tell me about her and why you're so interested in her." Jack began swinging his staff lightly, his hand brushing the side of his leg as he went on, "She special to ya?"

Oh boy, here we go. Hiccup looked back to the exit, almost hoping that someone would walk in and give him a reason to delay this conversation. Of course, they would only delay it since Jack would more than likely bring it up again. Hiccup walked over to Toothless and answered as he passed Jack, "Kind of. It's a bit more complicated than that."

"Oh" There was a small pause between the two before Jack spoke, "Is she seeing anyone?"

Reaching out towards Toothless to pet the dragon's head, Hiccup looked at Jack with squinted and confused eyes. "No, she's single. She's looking for a dead frozen corpse to take home to dinner one night and show off to her father."

"Sweet!" Jack said with a sense of enthusiasm. "Looks like I'm her guy then!"

"Oh Gods," Hiccup uttered under his breath. "Look, why the sudden interest in Astrid?"

Again, Jack shrugged, biting his bottom lip as he tried to think of an answer that might not get on Hiccup's bad side. But, seeing as how that probably wasn't going to be the case, Jack teased, "Because I wanna see how a stud like you gets the ladies."

Wow; this guy wasn't gonna let up, was he? With a sigh, Hiccup leaned his side against Toothless, who was more than willing to help his friend stand up, as he explained, "You know, me and her, it's just complicated."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. I mean, we kinda had something for a little while, but that was along while ago. Turns out our, I don't know how to say it, our...we just didn't mix. We kinda fought a lot about some of the small things. But that-that was a long time ago." Hiccup remembered every other attempt he made at getting back together with Astrid, each time granting him at the very least a charming smile and a brush of the hair out of her face from her. "But, yeah we're still great friends and all and...uh,"

"And being the love-struck dragon trainer you are, you still have feelings for her, don't you?" Jack playfully poked Hiccup's shoulder twice as he spoke, teasing his friend even further.

Hiccup brushed Jack's hand away before he had the chance to poke him again, sighing as he tried to find the rights words that he felt would truly explain how things were between him and Astrid. "Sure, you could say that. But," a small bounce of his shoulders as he twiddled his fingers together and bit his tongue, "it's different, I guess."

"Different how?"

"Well, uh, for starters, we still joke around with each other and we hang out a lot and it's just…" Gods, why did it make sense in his head but not out loud? "I've asked her out again before, but I guess she's just not into me like she once was."

"That kiss on the cheek says otherwise," Jack said with a sense of confidence and positivity.

"Yeah, but like you said, pity kiss. That's all."

"Not necessarily," Jack stated, "maybe she just likes you a lot but is more comfortable with being friends is all. Is that the first time the cheek kiss has happened?"

Hiccup wished it wasn't. "In a while, yeah."

"How long of a while?"

"Oh, I don't know! A while, just, a long while."

"Okay," Jack said thoughtfully, trying to make sense of this situation, "well then I guess she still likes you. But, just, not the way you want her to like you."

Hiccup stared at Jack for a moment, seriously wondering if he had just heard Jack correctly. Was that statement not already obvious enough? "Gee, where'd you get that idea from?"

'Yeah, probably not the best way to word that, Frost.' Jack told himself. "Okay, well, look all I can say is, appreciate what you have. Who knows, maybe one day she'll come back, maybe she won't. But for now I'd stick with the fact that yes, she likes you, and yes, you're only friends, but enjoy that in and of itself. If you think about it too much you'll only ruin yourself and maybe whatever it is you two have, ya know?"

"I already do."

"Alright, so keep doing that, I guess. Just let things be and maybe, one day, she might come back. If not, then I'm sure it's not the end of the world, right? There's got to be plenty of other girls out there, huh?"

Hiccup wasn't sure why Jack's answer was agitating him like this. Either it was because it was the answer he already knew, or because it was the answer he didn't want to hear. Maybe both. It didn't matter though, he knew what Jack as saying was right, no matter how much he wished it wasn't. Astrid was the first person on Berk Hiccup ever really thought he had some kind of crush on. Of course other girls had caught his eye before, but not like Astrid. Even his dad admitted that he and Astrid 'made a cute couple' when they were dating. But the fact that it didn't work out between them was just something that Hiccup was going to have to get over sooner or later, but he preferred sooner.

The Viking looked down at his dragon friend and bit his lip before admitting, "Yeah, I guess you're right." He looked back to Jack as he added, "I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm not distraught over this. I mean, it ended a long time ago. I'm just a little hopeful is all."

"Oh believe me, I understand completely," Jack confessed." Jack, having been around for over three hundred years, had had his fair share of crushes. But he knew he had to let them go since he had to take in the painfully apparent fact that he was immortal and they weren't. Except for Tooth however, but that was a story for another day, if he ever felt like telling that story to Hiccup that is. "Besides," Jack said as he smiled at his friend and took a few steps towards him, "I'm sure a charmer like you is bound to catch the eye of someone on Berk."

Hiccup rolled his eyes before Jack playfully patted his shoulder. "Yeah, uh-huh," Hiccup said as he nodded with false hope.

"Oh come on!" Jack jumped behind Hiccup and grabbed his shoulders. "A guy like you? Charming, smart, inventive, honest,"

"Don't you start complimenting me like this, Frost. I don't need a crush turned stalker on my already full plate," Hiccup badgered.

"I'm serious!" Jack insisted. "Look at you! You're such a charming stud, you!" Once more, Jack decided to playfully poke Hiccup's shoulders, an act Hiccup didn't really like that much, stepping away from Jack as he rubbed his shoulders.

"Stop!" he shouted through his laughter, Toothless rolling his ember eyes at the two's shenanigans.

Jack, ignoring Hiccup's pleas, continued torturing and taunting the young Viking. "You have all the ladies on Berk at your feet, huh?"

Looking down at his feet, Hiccup gave a small shrug as he shook his head. "I guess you could say that. At least," he looked back to Jack, "whatever's left of them anyways."

"Well just be thankful it was your foot and not your entire body!" Jack stated as he kicked his feet up in the air and started to fly closer to Hiccup, circling around as he joked, "If it did, you'd be the weirdest ghost I'd ever see." Jack even went so far as to grab Hiccup's brown and furry vest and begin waving it in the air, having it float behind Hiccup as if it here a cape, as he made ominous and cheesy eerie ghost 'oooh's'.

Hiccup quickly snatched his vest back, adjusting it and hoping no one saw anything as he quickly snapped back with, "Oh, and I guess you would know all about ghosts, wouldn't you, huh corpse?"

Jack stopped mid-air as he squinted at Hiccup, his mouth open slightly as the surprise flowed through him that Hiccup would make a corpse joke of all things. "You know what?" he finally said, "I'm gonna let that one slide. And, for the record, it's not because you have the fire-breathing dragon by your side no matter what. That was just a good one."

"Oh yeah," Hiccup said sarcastically as he looked back at Toothless, who shook his head in secondhand embarrassment for both of the boys. "I'm sure, yet again, the thought of my dragon burning your hair off didn't affect you at all."

"You know me so well." The Guardian did a backflip through the air as he sighed and continued, "And even then, if the giant salamander did decide to come after me, I'd just fly away and have him eat my cold icy dust."

Toothless stretched his large wings out, wanting Jack to mention racing him again so that he could show the Immortal who was really the better flyer. Hiccup normally would have done something to calm Toothless down, but in this case, he was willing to let the Night Fury put Jack in his place. "Uh, didn't we already have this debate? If I remember correctly, that race we had was a tie, right?"

"That's where you're wrong short stuff."

"Short stuff!?" Hiccup interrupted. "We're almost the same height! I'm just a couple inches shorter than you!"

"Try three. And like I was saying, it was me that actually won that race."

Hiccup rolled his eyes as Jack showed off, doing yet another backflip through the air. "What are you ranting on about this time?"

"I actually won by just the tip of my nose. I didn't wanna tell the big guy because I thought it would hurt his poor dragon heart." Jack placed his hands over his heart as he began to pout and quiver his bottom lip mockingly at the dragon. Toothless wasn't going to have any of this of course and began preparing himself to jump in the air as high as he could fly without a rider just for the chance to snap at Jack with his sharp teeth. Now was the time that Hiccup came in to intervene and calm his friend down.

Rubbing the top of Toothless' head, the dragon purring in response as he backed off but didn't calm down, Hiccup looked back up towards Jack and responded, "I don't think it would be best to egg him on, Jack. Toothless isn't the kind of dragon you want on your bad side."

"Is there any kind of dragon you won't want on your bad side?" Jack asked.

"Well," answered Hiccup barely giving it a moment's thought, "the Terror's aren't really that bad, so long as you watch out for them. Fishlegs, a friend of mine, stepped on one of their tails once and, well, let's just say it didn't end well for him."

Jack nodded in understanding before sticking his tongue out at the dragon. "You know Jack," Hiccup began, "I might just have to let him show you who's boss around here." Toothless wasn't really angry at Jack for calling him out like he was. Really, he was just more anxious and eager than ever to show Jack that he was the true better flyer.

"Hey, I'm ready whenever you two are!" Jack pointed his staff at the two and made a sudden gust of wind blow down right at them, Hiccup's vest flapping lightly behind him before the wind died down and Hiccup began to hear Jack's amused laughter.

"Would you cut that out!?" Hiccup shouted at Jack, though he couldn't help but laugh along with him.

Jack, not listening at all to what Hiccup had just said, sent another burst of wind at him and Toothless. "What?" Jack shouted back. "Sorry dude, I can't hear you over this wind! It's getting pretty intense!"

Laughing at his friend, Hiccup tried stepping out of the way of his staff just in time to see Toothless jump in the opposite direction, playfully biting at the wind that Jack was sending down to them in his fun. "I said stop it!" Hiccup said through his laughter.

"Stop what?"

Hiccup looked towards the entrance to the arena to see Snotlout giving Hiccup a look of concern and confusion and he gestured towards him with an open hand. "Mind telling me what exactly it is you're still doing here, Hiccup?"

'Uh oh' thought Hiccup as he looked back to Toothless, thinking of an excuse for why he was talking to himself. Wait, why would he need to be talking to himself? He already had this planned out for Thor's sake! "Oh, just, uh, talking to Toothless."

"You're dragon?"

"Yep. Toothless, just Toothless. No one else is here except me and Toothless. We were just, uh, practicing some attack strategies and…thing like that."

Jack's face, to Hiccup's surprise, quickly appeared in front of Hiccup, floating upside down just a foot away as he smiled and shook his head. "Great save there, Hiccup. I can totally tell you've made a living off lying."

"Wha-uh-what are you doing back here?" Hiccup asked as he calmly walked around Jack, pretending that the winter spirit didn't even exist.

"I left my axe." Snotlout said as he walked past Hiccup.

"Oh," was all Hiccup could think to say.

Snotlout, finally reaching his weapon, reached down and picked it up and began twirling it in his hand as he looked at Hiccup, giving him a look as if he had never seen him before. The kind of look he would give a new type of dragon he hadn't seen before and was trying to study him. "You know, you've been acting weird lately."

"How would you even know?!" Hiccup asked, raising his voice slightly. "You and I haven't had a conversation in days! At least a decent one anyways."

"Because!" was all Snotlout had to say at first. Hiccup and Toothless shared a look of confusion, Hiccup wondering if Snotlout had seen him talking to Jack, or better put, talking to thin air. Snotlout went on to explain, "You've suddenly gone off on your own more than usual lately, you're more eager to go outsider instead of being cooped up in your room."

Hiccup was quick to stop Snotlout there. "Okay I do not spend all of my time in my room! Just because I don't hang out with you Snotlout doesn't mean I'm not social! What did you think I normally did? Stay put in my room or in my workshop and not talk to anybody all day?"

Snotlout, placing his axe in his other hand, looked at Hiccup as he tried to think of another way to explain himself, but Hiccup did bring up a good point. "You've just seemed…cheerier or something."

"And that's supposed to be a weird thing for me?"

"NO!" Snotlout cried out. "It's just…weird! Okay? You haven't been this cheery in a while."

Hiccup had absolutely no idea what Snotlout was talking about. What did he mean by cheery? Had he been appearing upset or down about something lately? He had been concerned about whether or not Jack would come back, yes, but that didn't mean he was sad or upset or anything of the sort! "Well, I wasn't, okay?"

At this point, Snotlout figured it would probably be best if were to just stop talking, making yet again a jerk of himself. "You know what, whatever," he said as he gave up and made his way out of the arena. "Forgive me for making a simple observation!"

"A false observation at that," Hiccup added as he and Toothless turned to watch Snotlout leave, Jack slowly landing beside Hiccup, not making a sound as his feet touched the ground.

"You know what, Hiccup?" Snotlout said as he turned to face Hiccup and began walking backwards. Pointing towards his cousin, Snotlout continued, "To be fair, I never thought you were just tucked away in your room or workshop doing absolutely nothing. To be honest, I thought you were always working on those sissy drawings of yours."

"My what?"

"You know. Those drawings you always do? I thought you were always working on those." Snotlout smirked as he turned back around and began walking out the exit of the arena, axe twirling around in his hand.

"Sissy!?" Hiccup called out, but not getting any kind of response out of Snotlout.

When he had left the arena, there was a short bit of silence between the three friends that was broken by Jack, who only had to say, "You know, I didn't really like him," very nonchalantly, as if he was saying an obvious fact that both Hiccup and Toothless should have known.

Hiccup, right after Jack spoke, turned around and pulled at small handfuls of his hair. "Gah! What was that all about?"

"Besides the fact that you let some jerk walk all over you and call your drawings 'sissy', I'd say not much." Jack looked back to Hiccup, hands clasped behind his back. "Mind telling me who that was and why your friend didn't blast him sky high?"

Hiccup would much rather have let this all go, but unfortunately for him, his anger got the better of him. "That 'jerk' was Snotlout. My cousin."

"Oh, so I take it 'brains' isn't exactly something that's inherited in your family, huh?" Jack quickly spoke up.

"Oh we'd be so lucky." Hiccup still wasn't looking at Jack but instead was pacing back and forth, staring straight ahead as he tried to put the pieces together while trying to calm himself down. "But the guy's had it out for me for as long as I can remember!"

"And what? Everyone applauds him or something?"

Hiccup managed to look at Jack with a serious expression for only a short moment before he began to giggle, which quickly turned into actual laughter. The very idea of Snotlout being popular and loved by everyone on Berk? Now that was something only the Gods could manage. "Oh no. No no no, not even close. Half the tow's had some of their stuff destroyed by him alone. It's practically a monthly ritual for him to either start a fire, destroy one building, start some kind of fiasco that gets everyone in the village on their last nerve."

Jack felt sympathy towards this kid, but at the same time he also felt eager to stick close-by to him to see what kind of trouble he would get himself in to. "Alright then. So, what's the big deal? He obviously gets on your nerves, so why not do something about it? OOH! Can I freeze his feet to the ground?!" Hiccup looked at Jack as if he had just asked if the sky was blue. "Come on! I haven't done that trick in years!"

Hiccup threw his hands up to try to get Jack to stop talking for even just a moment. "Hey! Do whatever you want. Just let me know when you're going to do it so I can watch."

"Yeah, maybe if you tell him you actually have god-like power's he'll stop teasing you." Jack could see it now; making Hiccup float over the island seemingly by himself would definitely be something he had to see.

"Well, it's not like I'm the only one he picks on."

"Really?"

"Really! Seriously, Jack, I'm not the scrawniest Viking on Berk. I can defend myself when need be. Besides, he's all talk and no show. He never lashes out on anyone."

"Someone watching over him to make sure he does no wrong?" asked Jack.

"Mmm, yes and no. He did get beat up by Astrid pretty bad this one time, but other than that, Hookfang seems to take care of all of his beatings for the rest of us."

Despite the fact that he still wanted to freeze Snotlout's boots to the ground, Jack was happy to hear that karma still existed on Berk and that Snotlout eventually got everything that was coming to him. "Well, just let me know if he ever wants to get so cold he loses a toe or two."

Hiccup nodded in false honesty. "Will do," he answered before looking at Toothless and then tilting his head towards the exit. "Whaddya say, bud? Wanna head outta here?" he asked. Toothless gave a small 'humph' before his ears perked up and his pupils grew wider, a usual sign that meant 'yes'. "Well then, let's get of here and get you something to eat." Toothless followed Hiccup, who was then followed by Jack, as they made their way out of the arena. Jack made a small jump and, using the wind to his advantage as usual, landed right beside Hiccup.

"So, what're we supposed to do know? Burn down another building just so we can see everyone run around like ants?" Jack asked.

Hiccup almost stopped walking just so he could punch Jack's shoulder. "No!" Although, running around like ants did seem like a good way to describe the people of Berk when they were in panic. "Jeez, when did you get the harsh sense of humor?"

"Oh come on," Jack pleaded. "It's not like anyone around here is gonna suspect you! Besides, we can take Snotlout off destruction duty for the month this way! Give the kid a break. He probably deserves it right?" Hiccup didn't even need to answer that out loud for Jack. All he had to do was raise an eyebrow and cock his head a little to the side as he squinted his eyes at Jack. "Never mind then. I guess he doesn't deserve any of our help. That being the case then I certainly look forward to the upcoming demise of your village thanks to the terrible and vicious hands of Snotlout what's-his-name!"

"May the Gods have mercy on our damned and pitiful souls!" Hiccup added, throwing his hands up in the air and shaking his fists as his gruff voice echoed throughout the exit, soon walking out into the open and hearing the sound of his boots crunching on the small spots of snow that had managed to survive all of the dragon fire that had been sent out of the arena.

The familiar sound of the crunching of snow beneath heavy feet was enough to get Jack's mischievous side all fired up. Not giving it a second thought, even disregarding any kind of outcome that might come of what he was about to do since Hiccup had threatened him many times with Toothless, Jack reached down and grabbed a small handful of snow, not even packing it into a ball before he pulled on the back of Hiccup's thin green shirt and dumped the snow down his pale, freckled back, earning a shriek of surprise out of the teen.

Hiccup bounced around as he pulled the bottom of his shirt out, trying to shake whatever snow he could out and off of his back. "JACK! WHAT'RE YOU THINKING?" he shouted a little too loudly.

Through his laughter, Jack explained, "I think I'm trying to make our day a little more fun!" To his surprise, Toothless didn't grown or even glare at Jack. In fact, it looked as if the Night Fury was laughing along with Jack, huffing along in amusement as Hiccup managed to get the last bit of cold snowflakes out of his shirt, the bottom of his pale back already starting to turn red thanks to the snow collecting at the bottom of his shirt before he had his chance to remove it.

"Well does it have to be at my own expense?"

"It was either you or the dragon; and last I checked you don't breathe fire…do you?"

"Keep testing me like that and we'll find out together. How does that sound?"

Jack gave it a moment's thought. "Fun, amusing, entertaining, better than standing around and talking all day. Let's do it!" Jack raised his fists in the air with triumph, hoping to lighten Hiccup's mood.

However, Hiccup did start to smile as Jack raised his fists in the air; he could take a joke just as well as anyone else could. "Is everything a joke to you?"

"Only when it's funny."

"And when it's not?"

"I find a way to make it funny. Call it my coping mechanism. It's something I need in order to get through the day." Jack stuffed his free hand in his hoodie pocket, still giggling as he playfully jabbed Toothless with his elbow. "You gotta admit, seeing him like that is kind of amusing, isn't it?" Toothless cooed in response. "I'll take that as a yes."

Hiccup couldn't believe what he was seeing. Jack and Toothless ganging up against him like this? He didn't even bother to look at his two friends as he said, "I can't believe this! You two are bonding over your appreciation of tormenting me!"

"Well," Jack said pointing his finger towards Hiccup, "to be fair, I'm pretty sure I like it more than he does."

"Oh and that's supposed to be an apology to make me feel better?"

"Who said anything about an apology? I just wanted to get the record straight that Toothless here probably isn't having as much fun with this as I am. But honestly," Jack nudged Toothless with his elbow a second time, "I've got a feeling that if Toothless had opposable thumbs then he would have already stuffed plenty of snow down your shirt." Toothless only sneezed in response. "Bless you."

Hiccup rolled his eyes as Jack two a couple giant steps forward and started walking right beside him. "Great. My best friend and my new friend decide to get along by pestering me to death."

"You've got other friends though!"

"Don't change the subject!" Hiccup said before he reached down, after Jack had looked away of course, and picked up his own handful of snow and placed it inside Jack's hood and throwing it over Jack's head. "There! Now we're even!" Hiccup boasted as he took a few steps away from Jack, just in case the Guardian decided to try his luck once more.

As Jack laughed and brushed the snow out of his head, he felt tempted to mention to Hiccup that, being the spirit of winter, he didn't really get or feel cold like Hiccup did. However, he didn't want to ruin Hiccup's good mood, so he instead just decided it would be best if he kept his mouth shut. "Alright, alright. We're even."

Before Hiccup could take the chance about how Jack shouldn't underestimate him, a loud and booming roar echoed throughout the sky, the first either of the boys had heard in a while. The sudden noise startled Jack, making him duck and raise his arms whereas Hiccup only blinked and gave a small jump having been more accustom to the sudden roars that he would hear throughout the day. All three looked up to see a dark orange Monstrous Nightmare flying overhead, carrying supplies to whatever its destination may be. The dragon let out another, much softer roar, as it slowed down and began its descent into what Hiccup guessed was the center of town.

"Man I hate those guys," Jack grumbled, Toothless looking at Jack with displeasure as if he had just insulted him, which he might as well have. "What? I said those guys, not you!" Jack protested. "Calm your tail!"

Hiccup looked back at the two's bickering, wondering if they had really made any kind of progress with the time they've spent together. "Hate what?" he questioned, realizing the answer right after he had asked. "The Monstrous Nightmare's?"

"Yeah."

"Why?"

"Because, oh I dunno, they light themselves on fire?" Jack motioned his hand up and down his chest. "I like being cold, remember? It's literally part of my name."

Hiccup looked back at the village for a short moment before asking, "So you don't like the Nightmares over any other kind of dragons?"

"Didn't I just say that?"

"You do know all dragons can still breathe fire, right? What does it matter if they light themselves?"

"Because," Jack explained, "if you get too close to them, poof, there they go!"

Hiccup shook his head with a smile. "If you say so." Toothless sneezed again as the Monstrous Nightmare took to the sky once more, shaking his head as he snorted to try to sooth his itchy nostril. "You okay there, bud?" Toothless blinked a couple of times, but otherwise he seemed fine as he licked his bottom lip and proceeded to bite down on his front-left leg, scratching whatever other itch he had.

"I'm sure he's fine," Jack reassured. "Just a sneeze, right? It's getting cold outside. Happens to everyone."

"And we all know who to thank for that, now don't we?" Hiccup rhetorically asked as he crossed his arms and glanced at Jack, smirking as he shrugged his shoulders while Jack gave him a blank stare in response. "What? You know it's true."

"Well that doesn't make it any less hurtful," Jack whined overdramatically. Looking back at the dragon, Jack was impressed to see him spin through the air as he climbed higher and higher towards the clouds, its large wings spreading out as it stopped its ascent and hovered in the air for a short moment as if to show them off. Soon, the dragon was on its way back to doing whatever it was he, or she, and their rider needed to do. "Alright," Jack admitted, "that was kind of impressive."

Hiccup blew air through his lips, finding it somewhat amusing that Jack, someone who had been flying for over three hundred years, would call something like that 'impressive'. "Really? You thought that was a good trick?"

With a shrug of his shoulders, Jack grinned and tried to clarify, "Okay, well, maybe not that impressive, but just, you know, remarkable I guess." Simply put, Jack was just a little amazed that the dragon with its size and the wing span that it had was able to pull that off for as long as it did. "Besides, I'm sure Toothless could pull that off, easy."

"Uh," Hiccup looked at Toothless before continuing, "that and so much more."

Jack stepped in front of the two, switching his staff from one hand to the other. "Oh, really? Fell like showing off any of his tricks then mister boastful?"

"What?"

"You heard me. I asked if you wanted to sho-"

Hiccup help up an open hand as he cut Jack off. "Oh-oh no, I heard you. I was just a little surprised that you think 'mister boastful' is a good name to call someone. I've seen Terror's irritate me better than that."

What the heck did he mean by that? "Man," the Immortal said as he shook his head in disbelief, "you are just so quick to think that my entire existence is to tick you off, huh?"

"Well so far, you're doing an okay job. I could teach you a few tricks, but otherwise it's decent." Lies, likes, and even more lies. Of course, being picked on almost his entire life by Snotlout or the twins or his own dad, Hiccup knew what it meant to be insulted by someone's words. Though to be fair his dad meant no harm most of the time and really didn't know how hurtful his words meant whenever he commented on Hiccup's lack of strength or the fact that he always managed to seem to be wherever there was a mess in Berk. Thankfully, for Hiccup, it was all water under the bridge. Everyone, which included Snotlout much to Hiccup's surprise, had apologized for the way they had treated him.

Jack twirled his staff in his hand and poked Hiccup's stomach with the flat end as he spoke, "Speaking of tricks, don't you think you should show me some of yours?" Toothless, unable to keep still, let his tongue hang out of his mouth, obviously eager to fly and show off any kind of trick to Jack, who was beginning to snicker at the sight. "So I have one vote yes. Hiccup?"

Trying to think of something to say, Hiccup's mouth opened slightly as he stuttered and tried to find the right words to say. Of course, knowing Jack was an apparent 'yes', he knew he was outvoted. But then again, showing off a few things to Jack did seem like a very fun idea, much better than any idea he had in mind. "Ye-okay, yes, fine," he finally answered. Filled with glee, the Night Fury began to lick his friend's face, covering him with saliva. "Hey-oh no no! Toothless! Calm down!" Toothless backed down as Hiccup wiped whatever he could off of his face. "Come on, Toothless, we're just gonna show Jack how good you really are. No flying to some random island, alright?"

That didn't seem to bother the dark-scaled dragon, who still couldn't keep still. He even turned to his side so that Hiccup could mount him easier. Hiccup mumbled a quick, 'Oh Gods' under his breath as he climbed on top of Toothless, Jack's feet already leaving the ground as the snow beneath him started to swirl around his legs. "Ready whenever you are," Hiccup said as he adjusted his artificial foot and tested to make sure it was nice and secure.

With a quick laugh, Jack began headed for the treetops, Hiccup and Toothless right on his tail. The two didn't fly for too long since Jack stopped in mid-flight, turning around as he waited for Toothless to stop. "So, where to?"

Hiccup looked around, trying to decide whether or not this would be an appropriate spot for he and Toothless to show Jack some of their moves. It was plenty far away from Berk and any other dragon riders, they were in a seemingly open area, and not too many trees appeared to possibly get in the way. "Yeah, this'll do."

"Great!" Jack exclaimed as he put his arms behind his head and crossed his legs, lying back as he tried to make himself comfortable. "Show me what you got, Viking!"

Hiccup tried his best to show off anything he could for Jack, and if he had to be honest with himself, he'd say that he thought he did a pretty good job. They started off with the basics: the loop-de-loops, the nose dives, a small free-fall, a few of the things that Hiccup first tried to learn with Toothless. But he considered them to be child's play compared to the other stuff he and Toothless had accomplished. For example, Hiccup had Jack go and fetch three large branches and toss them up into the air in different directions. Toothless managed to hit them all with his plasma blast before they even came close to the treetops almost effortlessly.

Now Jack could really say that he was impressed. The blasts, the close nose-dives, even the free-fall fascinated him. After each trick, even the ones that were simpler than the others, Jack would tell Hiccup how good he thought they were. Of course, Hiccup would just brush whatever compliments Jack gave him away, saying how they were 'nothing' and that he and Toothless had done them for months and had perfected them to the point that attempting them wasn't even a challenge. "Oh just take the compliment!" Jack would say before Hiccup moved onto another trick.

It was nice to finally get a chance to show off what he could do to someone new and hadn't seen any of his real tricks. Hiccup of course wasn't alone when it came to this thinking; Toothless also loved showing off whenever he could get the chance, and to have Jack floating there and admiring each and every new trick he did gave Toothless such a feeling of gratitude, accomplishment, and happiness. Hiccup was sure to tell Toothless what a good job he was doing, always being sure to treat Toothless as a friend more than just a pet. "Whaddya say, bud? You wanna do more or are you finished?" he would always ask, but Toothless was more than willing to do more in order to get a reaction out of Jack.

Their fun went on for almost a half hour before Jack spoke up and said, "Okay, you know what? I think I've seen enough. Clearly you two have mastered quite a few tricks, so you don't need to show off anymore. I'm worried the poor guy might tire himself out."

"Awh, thanks Jack. But really, I'm fine. I'm not tired at all," Hiccup jested.

"Oh ha, ha," Jack laughed sarcastically. 'Actually, that was kind of funny.' Jack thought. "Now, since you two are done showing off,"

"Actually, Jack, you said we were done. If Toothless wants to go then he can still go."

"Quiet," Jack quickly spat. "I think it's time I show you a few tricks of my own. That free-fall you did?"

"I know of it," Hiccup responded.

"I can do it much longer than the two of you can," Jack boasted with a sly smile.

Toothless rolled his eyes with a low growl of uncertainty. "That doesn't mean anything!" Hiccup protested. "We're not that high up! And besides, you don't have a dragon that relies on your help in order for him to, you know, not fall to his death! Plus, you can fly on your own!"

"So? I can still show off a few more tricks when I'm falling than just staying still."

"Well so can I!"

"Really?"

"Yeah, and so can Toothless, kind of."

"Oh I bet."

"We can!"

"Prove it then!"

"Fine! We will!" Toothless only watched as the two playfully argued back and forth, curious as to where this little debate of theirs would be leading. "C'mon Toothless," Hiccup said as he rubbed the dragon's side. "You wanna show Jack what we're really made of?"

"Isn't that why we came out here?" Jack asked before he took off, leaving Hiccup and Toothless behind as he flew higher and closer to the clouds. Toothless quickly flew after Jack, flapping his wings as hard as he could in order to catch up to the trickster. Soon enough, both of them were high enough that they could almost touch the clouds. "Alright, rules?" asked Jack.

Hiccup thought for a moment about any kind of rules that needed to be established, besides the obvious ones of course. "Okay then. One chance. Whoever does the best trick wins. No flying at all, just a straight drop."

"Yeah, and no help!" Jack interrupted.

"No help?"

"You heard me?"

"Yeah, that's not gonna happen," Hiccup spoke unquestionably. "You've flown solo for over three hundred years. And this is, after all, a tricks competition. My tricks involve Toothless, so, motion denied."

Jack pouted like a baby with a small 'humph' as he slumped his shoulders. "Go on then," he said as he rolled his eyes.

Were there any other rules that needed to be said? Really, all of the obvious ones had been established, so there was nothing else that Hiccup actually needed to address. "Besides 'no cheating' I think that's pretty much it."

Jack snapped his fingers in frustration. "Dang it, cheating was gonna be my ticket to win this thing!"

Hiccup laughed as he unhooked himself from Toothless. "If cheating was the only way you were going to win this thing then by all means, quit while you can."

"Not a chance!" Jack exclaimed as Hiccup carefully and slowly stood up, making sure to keep his metal foot secure until just the right moment. "You ready?"

"As we'll ever be." Hiccup said as he quickly unhooked his prosthetic leg. "We gO FIIRRRSST!" shouted the young Viking as he jumped off of the Night Fury and back-flipped through the air, Toothless swiftly diving after him. Jack quickly hurried after the two in order to watch their little show. Locking eyes with Hiccup as the wind made his hair flutter behind his freckled head, Jack saw Hiccup first collect himself into a ball and do a forward-roll, Toothless carefully reaching his arms out to make sure Hiccup didn't stray too far or lose control. No sooner after he had straightened himself out, he laughed as Toothless used his paw to make Hiccup spin through the air, an act they had done many-a-times simply for fun while they skydived throughout Berk.

Hiccup smiled and laughed as they fell, his green, glimmering eyes glanced at Jack's for a brief moment; though he closed them quickly thanks to the fact that they were watering up immensely at this speed. For a moment, Jack forgot he even had a trick to do, being completely and utterly content and happy where he was at that very moment. He shouted at Hiccup, "GREAT JOB!" over the howling of the wind.

"THANKS!" Hiccup cried back, barely opening his eyes so he could see Jack. "NOW COULD YOU HURRY UP? I DON'T WANT TO DIE WAITING FOR YOU!"

'Oh crap right!' Jack realized as he prepared himself. "WATCH THIS!" Jack back-flipped through the air, giving himself some space between he and Hiccup, immediately turning around in the air on his side and crying out in excitement. Suddenly, he began diving down towards the Earth, still spinning and shouting like a maniac, and began twirling around Hiccup and Toothless in a full circle. Like the Earth spinning on its axis as it orbits the sun, Jack spun around Hiccup, shouting to the teen, "HOW DO YA LIKE ME NOW, DRAGON RIDER?!"

Hiccup had to admit, and Toothless did as well, that what Jack was accomplishing was indeed very impressive. Even Hiccup didn't think he could pull that off. At least, not at the moment. He was sure that with some practice and dedication he would be able to someday pull that trick off. "NICE," Hiccup complemented as he reached out for Toothless, signaling it was time for them to start flying again before they hit the ground. Hooking in his prosthetic foot, Hiccup adjusted Toothless' tail wing and the two shot back up into the air as the mighty Night Fury opened its wings and slowed down their descent.

Jack was quick to follow the two, slowing down before he soared after his friends. Once he caught up with them, Hiccup was still fixing his messed up hair and, surprisingly, still the whole ordeal. "You okay there?" Jack asked as he hovered beside Toothless, Hiccup looking down as he fixed his hair.

"Huh? Oh, oh yeah. Yeah I'm good." Hiccup answered through his uncontrollable yet quiet laughter.

"Uh, well, uh, okay?"

The Viking shook his head as he rubbed his eyes and explained. "No, no it's just, uh, my hair. You know, it always does this whenever we dive." Hiccup wiped his eyes as he blinked a couple more times and looked up at Jack. "When we fly, oh sure, totally fine. But when we do that, uh-uh, this thing has a mind of its own.

Jack laughed as he mirrored Hiccup and ran his hand through his hair, though he didn't need to. "Ha, wow. So, uh, who won?"

"We did," Hiccup answered without any hesitation.

"Pfft, what?" asked Jack, wondering if Hiccup was really being serious right now.

"Well, yeah," Hiccup rubbed the back of his neck, "I mean, come on. Did you see us back there? We've had, like, less than a year to perfect that. You've have way more than that. Therefore, we win."

Jack blinked in astonishment, sucking in his lips as he tried to make sense of what Hiccup was saying. "A-are you being serious right now?"

Hiccup looked down to Toothless, once again rubbing his side as he asked, "What do you think, Toothless? Do you think we won fair and square?" A grunt and a playful shake of his head showed that Toothless did in fact think they deserved to be the winners this time around. "Well, can't argue with that."

"Yeah, because if you did, you'd be incinerated!" Jack said as he pointed his staff at Toothless, who eyed the staff eagerly with his deep and emerald-green eyes.

"Don't care," Hiccup replied with a small shake of his head, "It's a two-to-one vote. Therefore," Hiccup crossed his arms, "we won."

If this had been a real competition for some kind of prize, Jack might not have given up so easily. But Hiccup did have a good point. He had had many years to perfect his aerobatic tricks while Hiccup and Toothless had less than a year. He closed his eyes as he chuckled, his shoulders bouncing as he smiled, "Alright. Fine, you win. Congratulations."

Another small laughed escaped Hiccup before he boasted, "I knew you'd see it our way eventually." Toothless laughed alongside Hiccup, the pair of them relishing in the fun they were having.

And they weren't alone. Jack was having a wonderful time as well. Seeing Hiccup like that, when he was falling and smiling like he was, made him feel as if he couldn't be doing his job any better. Being the Guardian of Fun, he would have to say that this day was definitely one well spent so far. The way Hiccup laughed, his cries of excitement, Jack knew for a fact that his time here on Berk had been well spent and wasn't for naught. He didn't want any of it to end if he had to be honest.

Before either of them could say anything, a small gurgling sound seemed to come out of nowhere. It wasn't until Hiccup placed a hand on his stomach did Jack realize what the sound really was. "Hungry?" he asked.

"I guess so." Hiccup rubbed his stomach as he looked up at the sky, trying to figure out what time it was, surprised to find out that it was already dinner time. "Oh wow."

"What?" asked Jack as he looked up at the sky. "Time for you to go?"

"Well," Hiccup said, thinking about whether or not to actually show up, "I don't really have to go. But I kinda sorta promised Astrid I'd go."

"Oh yeah," Jack teased, "I almost forgot. You're a lover boy, aren't you?"

Even Toothless couldn't help but groan at the comment. "Oh grow up, Jack," snapped Hiccup. "But still, if I don't show up then my dad will find out somehow. He usually does."

"So tell him you were out," Jack interjected. "You're not really lying if you say you were out flying, are you?"

"Yeah," Hiccup said with a sigh, "but see, he doesn't like it when I skip meals; says I need to eat more so I can build up my strength and things like that."

Jack understood completely. There were times when North would tell him he needed to eat more so that he wasn't so thin, especially when it came around Thanksgiving time. Although no one else really pestered him about it since Jack appeared to be in great health, especially since he was able to do as many jumps and flips and be as nimble as he was whenever he flew. Still, he knew exactly how Hiccup felt when it came to this particular situation.

"So if you need to go, then go," Jack answered.

"Are you sure?" Hiccup didn't want to just leave Jack, partially because he too was having a great time and didn't want to have to stop hanging out with him. "I mean, I can always grab something later you know."

Jack waved his hand as he floated to the other side of Toothless. "No, no. If your dad says you need to go, then you should probably go."

Hiccup was a little surprised to see Jack saying something so…well compared to half of the stuff he had said and done previously, so mature. "Huh," he uttered. "Didn't think you'd start becoming so responsible so quickly."

Jack shrugged his shoulders. "Hey, what can I say? I have my moments."

"Hm. They must be rare." Hiccup jested as he grabbed Toothless' harness, ready to fly back towards the village. "Well then I guess I'll see you around?"

"See me around? What the heck do you mean by that?" Jack asked as he rested his staff on his shoulder.

"Wh…what do you...what do you mean what do I mean?"

Jack moaned as he tossed his head back. "I mean," he explained as he looked back at Hiccup, "I'm coming with you! What, did you think I was just gonna leave just because it's time for you to go eat?"

Hiccup, once more, was caught off guard. He didn't want to be rude, but at the same time, having Jack go to dinner with him and his friends, even if they wouldn't be able to see him, was something he didn't think would happen for a long while, or in fact ever. "To be honest, yeah, that's kind of what I was expecting."

"Rude."

Hiccup tried to think of some kind of reasonable answer to give Jack; one that wouldn't upset him or give off the impression that he was completely unwelcome. "Well don't blame me! I mean, if you're hungry then sure you can come just as long as no one sees a floating spoon!"

"Oh I'm not gonna eat anything," Jack replied. "I'm just gonna sit there and make things a little more interesting for ya."

While that didn't exactly sound like the best idea at first, Hiccup did have to admire Jack's honesty. "So, what, you're just gonna sit there and act like an idiot while I try to eat and talk to my friends?"

"Pretty much, yeah," Jack answered with a nod.

Hiccup shrugged his shoulders as he wiggled his fingers on the harness, Toothless even mumbling in acceptance that this was going to happen. "Alright then. To the Great Hall, Toothless." The Night Fury flew off back towards the village, Jack flying right beside him. Though he didn't want to admit it, Hiccup was actually a little worried as to what he would do when he saw his friends. If it was anything like what happened when his dad came into his room the other day, it was sure to be annoying but definitely having the potential to be something enjoyable.

As the two entered the village, landing at the bottom of the steps, Hiccup climbed off of Toothless and fixed his vest as Jack landed a few feet in front of him on the third step up towards the hall. "Look," Hiccup pleaded, "just promise me you won't make a scene or anything. If you're going to do something, just keep it so that no one knows I'm being haunted or something, okay?"

As Hiccup began walking up the steps, walking right past Jack, the Guardian gave him a small pat on his shoulder before following him. "Ah, you know me Hiccup."

"Exactly," Hiccup stated. "That's why I'm asking."

"You know, you're one to talk about keeping everything hidden and such. Meanwhile to everyone else you might as well be talking to nobody right now. Toothless, maybe, but last I checked you can't have an actual conversation with a dragon, Hiccup." Toothless looked back and snorted at the spirit in frustration. "What? I'm just trying to make a point here."

As Toothless looked away, he sneezed and shook his head, grunting as he nudged his head against Hiccup. "Bless you," Hiccup said as they continued up the steps. Once they reached the top, Hiccup opened the door to see that the Hall was actually emptier than he thought it would be. He found his friends quickly however when Astrid decided to wave him over.

Walking over to the table, where apparently the entire Academy had decided to sit, with a smile, as well as silently praying to the Gods that Jack wouldn't be as obnoxious as he was afraid he would be, Hiccup waved back and walked over to their table. "Hey Astrid. Hey guys."

Assorted 'hellos' came from the rest of the table as Hiccup sat down at the edge of the table by Astrid, where she had already prepared a small plate of food for him. Toothless stood right beside Hiccup as he asked, "I take you remembered I was coming?" as he gestured at his plate.

"Mhm," answered Astrid. "I didn't know what you wanted so I just got you breast and some of the bread, which is actually pretty good tonight."

"Oh, thanks," Hiccup said politely as he took a small sip of his drink. Hiccup looked around the rest of the table, Ruff, Tuff, and Snotlout on one side; Fishlegs, Astrid, and Hiccup on the opposite. "So, uh, how is everyone?"

"You mean how have we been since the last time we saw each other at the Academy just an hour or so ago?" nagged Snotlout. "Good, I guess."

And so began Snotlout's usual bickering and, poorly worded, verbal abuse. "Yes Snot," Hiccup said with a sigh. "Anybody else? Perhaps with higher brain functions?"

Both Ruffnut and Tuffnut practically shouted at Hiccup as their hands shook in excitement. "Ooh! Ooh! Ooh!" Tuffnut was the first to speak solo, "We finally decided on what move we wanna show off!"

"Really?" asked Hiccup, Toothless leaving the table and going over to where the rest of the dragons were gathering as another couple large baskets of fish were being dumped on the large slab of rock for all the dragons to eat, conveniently placed right by the fire.

"Yeah!" they both shouted. "The barrel roll!"

"The twister!"

"Oh for Odin's sake," groaned Astrid as she slumped down and supported her head on her palm.

"I thought we agreed to do the twister!" exclaimed Ruffnut.

"No!" replied her brother. "The barrel roll is the best trick we have! It's such an obvious choice! You're just too stupid to realize that!"

Of course this statement led to yet another argument between the two, Astrid having to tell the siblings to knock it off once Ruffnut picked up her plate and started Tuffnut's face with it, leaving a large red mark on the side of his face. "Now, if you two are done arguing, can we get back to a peaceful meal? Maybe one where we try to get as little amount of bruising as possible?" asked Astrid.

The twins were against the idea at first, as everyone at the table predicted, but they set aside their differences once Fishlegs began telling Hiccup of his next idea for a trick he and Meatlug could do together in order to give him strange looks as he rambled on.

"Wait, so, you're going to shoot the rocks?" questioned Hiccup, everyone else eager to hear how Fishlegs was going to try to pull this off.

"Well, yeah!" Fishlegs thought it seemed like a good idea. "You see, I grab whatever rock I can, and give it to Meatlug, right? So then what she does is chew it up and blast the bits up along with the fire she spits!" The rest of the table was silent for a moment as Fishleg's idea sank in.

"Well, uh, that idea seems…different," Hiccup admitted.

Astrid nodded in response, agreeing with her friend that the idea did seem to be a thought-provoking one. "Yeah, that uh, does sound like it could work Fishlegs…probably."

"You think so?"

"A little far-fetched but I mean, if you tweak it and work on it a little I'm sure it could work." Hiccup almost jumped out of his skin as he heard a thump on the edge of the table. He looked over to see Jack, sitting on his knees, leaning his head down on his folded arms on the table.

"BOOOOORED!" Jack shouted.

Hiccup said nothing as he looked back to the rest of his friends, slowly and carefully pulling his sketchbook and pencil out of his belt and opening it to a blank page on his lap. Not looking down at the paper he was writing on, Hiccup quickly attempted to scribble out 'You didn't have to come you know'. Hiccup, noticing that Jack hadn't seen him write down in his sketchbook, poked his side with his pencil in order to get his attention.

"Huh?" Jack asked before he saw Hiccup tapping his sketchbook with his free hand, already in another conversation with the rest of the table. Reading what Hiccup had wrote, Jack quickly answered, "Yeah, but that's because I thought it would be a little more interesting! That fight those two had? Best entertainment I've had since I came here."

'Well it's your own fault' Hiccup continued to write. 'You can leave whenever you want you know.'

"And miss all the fun?" Jack said, as if it was clear that Jack missing said fun wasn't an option.

"You know Astrid," said Snotlout in a softer tone than he normally used, raising a brow as he tried to flirt with the girl he still thought he had a chance with, "if you ever need me to help you out with that trick shot you've been working on, I'll be more than glad to help."

Astrid smiled before she took another sip of her drink. "Oh good! I've been needing a target that screams. Makes it more fun!" The rest of the table laughed at her joke, Tuffnut even punching Snotlout's shoulder as he grew angry with everyone's laughter.

"Shut up!" Snotlout told everyone before turning his so-called 'charm' back on in order to woo Astrid. "But hey, I mean, if that's what you need then sure, I'm up for it."

As Astrid groaned and set her cup back down, Hiccup saw Jack slowly get up on the table and sit with his legs crossed, being sure not to bump into anything. "You know, I still don't like this guy," he told Hiccup before he slowly started to smile deviously. "Hey," he whispered as he bumped Hiccup's shoulder with his elbow, but only getting a few blinks in response. "Speaking of fun, watch this."

Jack waited until Snotlout had picked up his chicken leg and waved it around as he boasted about how good he and Hookfang were doing while they flew around earlier that day after training, swearing that the dragon was the best he'd ever been. Jack slowly reached his leg out and tapped Snotlout's food with his big toe just before the Viking took a bite out of it. He quickly spat it back out as Jack retracted his foot and began laughing.

The table shared their concern for Snotlout as he spat out the rest of the chicken he had taken a bite out of, although Hiccup had a pretty good idea why he did what he did. "What the heck, Snotlout?" shouted Ruffnut.

"It's cold!" cried Snotlout, throwing the meat back down on his plate in a huff. "It was warm a second ago, but now it's like it's been sitting out in the open for hours!"

While Fishlegs thought aloud, agreeing that yes, it was rather weird for the meat to go cold so sudden, Hiccup didn't need to write anything down to tell Jack what he thought of what he did. He just tried to hide his laughter by drinking from his cup and slightly shaking his head.

"I don't know what's funnier," Jack said as he hopped down from the tabletop. "Him eating cold meat and freaking out, or the fact he ate something that touched my foot. Does he have any idea where this thing's been?" Jack lifted his foot and wiggled his toes, laughing as he enjoyed seeing Snotlout like this. Hiccup quickly grabbed his pencil and wrote the word 'both' in his book, getting a nod out of Jack. "Oh yeah, I think you're right. Definitely both."

Compared to that, the rest of Hiccup's time with everyone was pretty average. Snotlout tried two more times to get Astrid to admit that he was 'pretty awesome', the twins almost got into another argument, and the time they spent together proved once more that Hiccup, Astrid, and Fishlegs were the more sane ones in the group. Once they were done with their meal, one by one, each of them got up and told the others good night and headed home, Hiccup and Astrid being the last ones to leave.

"Well, no one started bleeding so I'd say that all-in-all, this was a pretty good night," Hiccup admitted as Toothless and Stormfly walked fast-pace in order to catch up with their riders.

"Yeah, I'd say the same." Astrid began her descent down the stairs and waved to Hiccup as she and Stormfly left for home. "We'll see you tomorrow!"

"See you two!" Hiccup said as he waved back. Toothless purred as he looked at Hiccup and slowly squinted his eyes before yawning. "What? You're tired?" asked Hiccup. A small 'huff' let Hiccup know that, surprisingly, Toothless really was getting a little sleepy. "Well, it's not like we've got anything else to do today. What say we head back home, huh bud?" Toothless didn't even verbally respond but instead already began walking down the stairs.

Jack snickered as Toothless began his walk. "Well, I guess he's eager to go to bed, huh?"

"I guess so." Hiccup followed Toothless down the stairs, Jack literally jumping ahead of both of them and awaiting them at the bottom. Once they had both reached him, the Guardian of Fun started to follow the two back to their house. "Okay, so, I think today was, honestly, a good day."

"Did you expect anything else?" Jack teased as he poked Hiccup's shoulder.

"No!" Hiccup replied as he poked Jack back, earning another small laugh from the winter spirit. "I was just saying this was fun is all."

Jack threw out his arms, smiling as he relished in the fact that he was doing his job right, thought it came to no surprise to him after all. "Great!" he exclaimed. "This means you think I'm not a total failure!"

Hiccup shook his head and rolled his eyes at the comment. "Well, maybe not a total failure."

"Oh, that's cold." Before Hiccup could retort, Jack pointed at him and said in a stern tone, "Don't you dare say it. Say it and I'll freeze your tongue so much it'll be numb for a week, got it?" Hiccup said nothing in reply. He only smiled with closed eyes at his friend before looking back to the path that led to his home.

"So listen," Jack began, "I'm not gonna be back tomorrow. In fact I may not be back for a while."

This news came as no real surprise to Hiccup. Jack couldn't spend all of his time on Berk after all. "No problem," he said. "How long you gonna be gone?"

"Dunno," Jack confessed. "Won't be too long, I can promise you that at least."

"Oh darn," Hiccup frowned as he snapped his fingers, "and just when I was looking forward to the idea of not having to see you and actually having a comforting day filled with dragons and screaming Vikings. Well, there goes my vacation."

Jack pointed at Hiccup again and told the boy, "Watch it, you don't want your food covered it foot like I did to Snot, do ya?"

"Compared to half the cooking here, that might actually be an improvement."

The two shared a good laugh as they began climbing up the hill leading to Hiccup's home. Jack caught himself smiling again not at the joke, but seeing Hiccup laugh like he was. It was heartfelt, sincere, an honest laugh that made Jack know that Hiccup was having a good time. He took it as a sign that Hiccup really did enjoy his company and, if he had to be truthful, it made him feel good that Hiccup actually liked having him around as much as he did. "But, seriously, I'll be back before you know it," Jack told Hiccup, making sure his friend knew that he would without a doubt be back to cause more mayhem.

"Well then I look forward to the oncoming blizzard!" Hiccup said overdramatically as Jack began to levitate off of the snowy ground. Sharing their goodbyes, Hiccup and Toothless saw Jack off as he floated out towards the open see, Jack already counting down the moments until he could come back and have some fun with Hiccup.

The young Viking entered his home to find his dad sitting by the fire, stoking it since it was near death, but still gave off plenty of light in the house. "Ah! Son! You're home!" he bellowed.

"Yeah, uh, hi dad!" answered Hiccup.

"How was your day?" Stoick asked as he stood up to greet his son and welcome him home.

"Oh, uh, it was good. Got some tricks in with Toothless. Had a good day at the Academy too, that went really well, very productive. Managed to keep the twins from killing each other, again, so, yeah, you know. Same ol' same ol'." Of course Hiccup didn't even think about telling his dad anything about Jack. He didn't even get nervous about lying to his dad either. Usually his hands would tremble and start to get sweaty whenever he had to lie to his dad, but since there was absolutely no way his dad would find out he was lying, he was perfectly content with leaving the parts about hanging out with Jokul Frosti out.

Stoick smiled as he cracked his knuckles. "Ah, well that's good. You had a productive day then I take it."

"Oh yeah, got plenty of things done." Toothless yawned as he began walking towards the steps that led to his and Hiccup's room. "Toothless is pretty beat though so I'm gonna go upstairs with him, if that's okay."

"Oh it's fine Hiccup," Stoick said, waving his hand at the boy. "I was about to call it a night myself."

"Great, so I'll just see you tomorrow then."

"Goodnight my boy. Sleep tight!" The two went their separate ways after they wished the other a good night, Hiccup climbing up his stairs as Stoick sat down in his chair and made himself comfortable by the fire.

Hiccup entered his room to see Toothless already making himself comfortable on his bed, the candle by Hiccup's own bed already pre-lit thanks to his dad. Hiccup sat down on his bed and took his sketchbook out and set it down on the floor, Toothless purring as he finally lied down and closed his eyes. Hiccup on the other hand had a bit more of a problem going to sleep.

He wasn't tired. At all. His mind was still active and full of thought after thought of how much fun he had today. He laughed quietly to himself, not wanting to disturb Toothless as he remembered what he did at dinner to Snotlout. As gross as it was, he did have to admit that it was pretty funny to see Snotlout get what was coming to him. Jack's face especially made it all the more memorable. His laughter and joy when everyone else gasped as Snotlout spit the chicken meat out of his mouth helped make it as enjoyable as it was. Jack really did get a kick out of pranking people.

Looking down at his sketchbook and tapping his fingers on his knees, Hiccup came to the conclusion that he wasn't going to go to bed any time soon. He sat down on the floor, picked up his pencil and sketchbook, and began to draw. First the jawline, then the spiky hair. Next came the eyes, nose, and mouth, followed by the ears. He was careful to make sure that his smile would be just as cocky as he remembered it; his eyes giving off the idea that he was up to no good.

"Dammit," he mumbled under his breath as he tried to fix the mistake with the ears, accidentally making them, in his opinion, too big. Once he had fixed the ears and the hair that hung over them, Hiccup went on to draw the neck and the jacket hood that was draped behind it. Adding a few more lines to make the shoulders and the side of the arms and chest, Hiccup added a few more creative touches, drawing intersecting lines to make the frost on his jacket.

It wasn't until after he had drawn the frost did he realize that his shoulders were too broad and too far out. Still, it did look good, and anyone who probably hadn't seen Jack would think that the drawing he had just completed looked fine. He even got that smirk of his right, remembering the way he had smiled once they were done free-falling earlier that day, Jack's laughter echoing in his ears. Hiccup sighed as he looked at his finished drawing, the corner of his mouth twitching in amusement as he looked at his work.

Hiccup looked over his creation once, twice, trying to see if he gave Jack justice with his drawing. Hiccup, deciding he could do just a bit better, added a small bit of shading on his cheeks, trying his best to give off the pink on the Guardian's cheeks. Looking at his drawing, Hiccup came to the conclusion that it wasn't the spitting image of Jack, but it did resemble him very well.

…..did it?

Hiccup saw no problem in going to the bottom of the page and starting all over, this time making sure he didn't make the same mistake with the shoulders twice. He even went so far as to give his eyes a bit of a 'glistening' effect, very carefully drawing the added details in his already completed eyes. Finishing up the eyes, Hiccup realized that they looked perfect. Man, he was proud of those eyes. He could admire them all night, feeling as if he had never before drawn eyes any better. The ears, on the other hand, they continued to be a recurring problem for the young artist. 'Ah well, third times the charm," Hiccup thought aloud as he went on to the next page and tried again, this time giving Jack a different emotion instead of just the simple 'looking left and smiling' pose he had already given him twice. Hiccup filled another two pages as he tried to get as close as possible to what Jack looked like, big ears and all.

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So yeah that happened...hope you liked it.

Reviews/Comments are always welcome and appreciated!