Warning: Some severe bullying and attempted rape in this scene.
Jack and Hiccup made it through Halloween and Thanksgiving as a couple. Though they weren't quite official, they were still going out and becoming closer every day.
Both had skipped Homecoming and decided that Prom was a better idea, being it was later in the year. Instead, Jack got Hiccup tickets to a Flogging Molly concert and Hiccup was able to borrow his dad's truck so they could tailgate to the concert during Homecoming weekend. Both had to admit it was way better than a dance.
Thanksgiving proved rough because neither could see one another during the holidays. Hiccup got to stay home with his family, but Jack had to go out of town. They texted every chance they got, but it was hard being occupied with family gatherings.
It was getting harder to keep their secret from their families. Everyone was beginning to notice how often Jack and Hiccup hung out and did things together. But luckily everyone seemed to brush it off as just being good friends.
It didn't get any easier at school once Christmas break started coming around. Both their schedules got busier with Jack's upcoming swim practices and Hiccup's orchestra concerts coming up. More and more people were beginning to notice how different the two were, unfortunately catching the eye of their respective bullies.
It came to a head one day in December when Snot had seen Hiccup's picture of Jack in his textbook. He grabbed it and began taunting him with it.
"Who's this? Your boyfriend? What are you gay or something?" he laughed.
"Give it back to me Snot!" Hiccup yelled, getting anxious and worried. He needed that picture and he couldn't let Snot use it to torment him. That picture helped Hiccup through his anxiety and right now it was being used to hurt him.
"Please, just give it back!" Hiccup panted, his anxiety getting worse.
"Oh, what? You don't want me to make it prettier?" Snot taunted, taking out his lighter.
"NO!" Hiccup yelled, "Please, stop!" he yelled, not caring that everyone in the room was staring at him like he was insane. Why was he so worried about a picture of a white-haired guy?
Fishlegs came to the rescue by shoving Snot and grabbing the picture for Hiccup.
Hiccup thanked him and shoved the picture into his bag and tried packing up to go to the nurse's office.
"Fine!" Snot shouted, "Go ahead and make out with your imaginary boyfriend, faggot!"
"Hey!" Fishlegs yelled, "You don't ever use that word!" he snarled.
"Why not fatty?" Snot teased.
Fishlegs grew angry and advanced, "Because if you mess with him, you mess with me, and you don't want to do that."
Snot didn't back down and Fishlegs merely smiled, "I'm giving you to the count of three to back off of me and my friend or I give you a reason to."
"Fuck off you pig." Snot laughed.
"One…"
"Whatever, you can both go and-"
"Two…"
"Give blow jobs in the bathroom for all I-"
"Three."
Without warning, Fishlegs punched Snot straight in the nose. Everyone gasped and actually laughed as blood came pouring out of his nose. He teared up and snarled at Fishlegs as he ran off, "You're so gonna regret that. Both of you." He warned, running off.
"Nobody says that word in front of me." Fishlegs said boldly.
He turned to see everyone stare at him. A few people actually clapped and then dispersed.
Hiccup walked up to Fishlegs in awe, "Thanks…you really didn't have to do that." He said.
Fishlegs shrugged, "Like I said, I don't like that word."
"Really…thank you." Hiccup said, holding out his hand and smiling.
Fishlegs smiled and shook it, "So…who is he? The guy in the picture?"
Hiccup stuttered for a moment before Fishlegs laughed, "I wanna know who I saved."
Hiccup chuckled and finally spoke, "His name's Jack." He smiled.
"Who is he?"
"My…b-best friend." Hiccup smiled, blushing a little.
Fishlegs looked down kind of sadly but smiled when he looked up, "He looks cool."
"He's amazing." Hiccup sighed, smiling at Jack's picture.
Once again, Fishleg's frowned sadly but he seemed to pick himself up and nodded, "Well, I gotta go."
"Thanks again…I don't know how to repay you for doing that." Hiccup admitted.
Fishlegs shrugged, "Maybe we can just hang out sometime?"
"Sure." Hiccup nodded.
Fishleg's seemed happy with that and walked off.
Hiccup smiled after him and then looked back at Jack's picture, safely back in his hands. He hoped Jack was doing all right at school.
….
Jack had been doing well in school. He'd been getting good grades, his swim tryouts and practices were going real well, and people were starting to talk to him again. It felt pretty good.
Granted he simply just ignored the bad, but it still managed to rear its ugly head once in a while; today just happened to be a bad day for it.
Like Hiccup, Jack had put his picture on his phone, his locker, and in his notebooks. He would sometimes write songs during class when he was bored and he would just look at Hiccup's picture to give him inspiration.
He was walking down the hall when things started getting ugly. Pitch had left him alone for a while at that point, but he was apparently very bored and not amused that once again, Jack was beating him in swim practices. Not to mention, Sandy was now with a new boyfriend that she had the nerve to bring to Homecoming.
Pitch was furious, because now he knew that all that time, Jack was never with Sandy, making him look like an idiot.
He'd make him pay.
Jack was talking to Sandy at her locker. She was smiling happily and showing Jack more pictures she'd taken of her and Damien on their dates. Jack was about to show her a recent picture of Hiccup when Pitch came up behind him and shoved him away. He rounded on Sandy who shrank back.
"What I don't understand is what you even see in a retarded deaf boy." He sneered, "But I guess it takes two to tango."
"Hey!" Jack yelled, "Back off."
"Or what?" Pitch said, turning to him, "You gonna try something? Baby killer."
Jack's chest fell when he heard the name Pitch always used to bring him down.
"What? Am I wrong? Didn't you kill your baby sister? Or was it just some stupid mistake? Cause let's be honest Jack, you're just a walking mistake waiting to happen."
"Shut your mouth." Jack snarled.
Sandy walked up in front of Jack and signed angrily at Pitch who merely laughed at her, "You still look pathetic doing that. When you gonna actually talk retard?"
Sandy's face fell and Jack put a hand on her shoulder, "Get out of here, Pitch."
"Fine." He said, "But be warned, this is only the beginning. See you later Sandy."
Sandy looked puzzled and Jack kept his hand on her shoulder as Pitch walked away.
"Don't worry, I'm not gonna let him hurt you." He told her.
She leaned into him and sighed, shaking her head.
"He's all talk." Jack said, "Probably couldn't count to ten without his hands." He laughed.
Sandy chuckled and grabbed her things, "SEE YOU LATER?"
Jack nodded, "You bet."
She nodded and told him to wait for her by the south entrance of the school. They had a routine of walking out together that way. He smiled and walked off to class.
He completely blocked Pitch from his mind the rest of the day, instead focusing on Hiccup's smile in the picture he'd taken of him. Hiccup's pictures were always so adorable. He always grinned like he wasn't sure he wanted to smile or when he did smile it was so genuine and cute, it was almost awkward. Jack loved it.
He was at his locker putting his things away to meet Sandy when he walked by the boys restroom. He suddenly heard a strange noise and walked inside.
He was grabbed and shoved towards the sinks when he heard the lock click.
He looked over in horror to see Sandy pinned down by a bunch of Pitch's jock friends. Pitch was standing over her and smiling at Jack.
"I told you this was just the beginning." He sneered.
Sandy was terrified as she lay underneath him. Her eyes pleaded for Jack to help her and all he could do was stare in horror at what he was seeing.
"Pitch…" he said, holding his hand out, "Just…stop. Please. Don't hurt her, okay? She's scared. Do what you want to me, just let her go."
"No." Pitch said simply.
Sandy was crying now and Jack finally shoved some of the guys holding him to get to her. He was punched in the stomach and sent to the ground, groaning in pain.
"This will teach both of you not to mess with me." Pitch glared. He stared at Sandy who was panting and struggling to get out, "I don't hear you telling me no." he teased.
"Pitch! Stop!" Jack yelled.
Pitch got down and actually lifted Sandy's shirt, exposing her bra. She struggled more and more, tears pouring from her eyes. Pitch suddenly stopped and laughed.
Everyone laughed and let her go.
She sat up and guarded herself crying.
"You actually think I would even try to touch you? God you are both so stupid!" Pitch laughed, and then looked seriously at Jack, "But don't underestimate me ever again. I may not have done anything today, but I know where you both live and if I wanted to, I could easily take care of my business."
Jack glared at him and was kicked in the stomach. Pitch and his friends left and Sandy crawled to Jack.
"I'm okay." He grunted, trying to sit up. He put a hand to her face, "You okay?" he asked her.
She nodded timidly. He hugged her, feeling awful that he let this happen.
"It's okay." He told her, more for himself than her really, "He won't hurt you, not again."
She sobbed quietly into his shoulder and he just held her for a while, "Let's get home, I'll make sure you get to your car. I'll even follow you home. How does that sound?"
She nodded, still clinging to him. He made sure she was decent and walked with her out of the restroom quickly.
He held his stomach that was probably going to hold a nasty bruise. He got her to her car and hugged her one more time, "It's going to be okay Sandy, I promise."
She suddenly shook her head as she sat in the driver's seat of her car.
He got down on his knees, "Hey." He said softly, "What's wrong?"
She finally signed and his heart broke. She wanted to leave Burgess High. Jack didn't blame her, but he would be devastated without his best friend.
"Sandy…no matter what happens, I will always be here for you." He told her, "I promise."
She looked up at him and wiped her eyes, smiling sadly and nodded. She quickly signed, "SAME." And then got into her car to drive off.
Jack followed her home and made sure she made it safely. She seemed better as she went inside, but he still felt awful. He would text her throughout the night to make sure she was okay.
He finally made it home and found Punzie at the table with his mom. Punzie sometimes reminded him of Sandy and it broke his heart to think that someone as close to him as his sister was hurt this way. He'd never let that happen again for as long as he lived.
He wanted Sandy to report Pitch, but he knew she was scared. Not to mention he didn't even technically rape her or leave a mark. It was Jack and Sandy's words against Pitch and his friends. He cursed Pitch to oblivion and swore that he'd kill Pitch before he let him touch Sandy again.
He got a text from Hiccup and sighed as he read it. Hiccup always knew how to take his mind off of anything bad.
He almost wanted to tell Hiccup what had happened today, but he didn't want him to worry. Instead, he brushed it off and texted Hiccup as he always did, with a smile on his face. But every few minutes he was checking on Sandy. She seemed better by the time he went to bed and he debated telling Astrid what had happened, but he also knew that Astrid would probably commit a few crimes if he did, so he'd just let Sandy deal with her.
He sighed as slowly fell asleep. He got one more text that night and it gave him nightmares when he read it.
Just the beginning…