Merida woke on Thursday morning to laughter coming from the kitchen. Briefly, she wondered if she'd overslept, and Thanksgiving dinner was happening in the living room without her. She rolled over groggily and looked at the clock, but it read 10am, so that couldn't be right. She grabbed Hiccup's dressing gown and shuffled into the room,a dn was greeted by the smell of at least 10 different delicious things.
"Oh my god," she said, and Toothless came crashing round the corner from the kitchen to greet her. Hiccup stuck his head around the corner and waved, and she hurried over to plant a kiss on his cheek, having to hop slightly to reach. "Whatever is cooking right now I want all of it."
"I thought you'd say that," a voice sang gleefully, and Anna appeared from in front of the oven holding a tray of fresh croissants. "So I brought these to stop you from eating all the turkey. Happy Thanksgiving!"
"I'm a bit offended by that," she admitted, and Anna grinned sheepishly. "But you've won me over with the croissants."
Hiccup was gathering plates, and Merida scooped a croissant into her mouth, taking a bite without even stopping to add jam. Hiccup gasped incredulously at her and Anna laughed out loud.
"So, what needs doing?" she asked, and then groaned when Anna produced a notebook.
She and Hiccup found themselves spending the next hour and a half hanging up decorations, folding napkins, mashing potatoes and getting barked at by Anna every time they stole a scrap of food. Kristoff appeared at eleven, apologising for his lateness as he'd been at work, and they made a big show of fussing over how smart he looked in his plaid shirt and suit trousers. At half eleven, Merida ducked out to shower and change, and as she came out of the shower Hiccup shuffled in, leaving her a searing kiss on the way past.
Merida had picked out a knee length green dress to wear, with a black collar and waistband. She wouldn't have admitted it to anyone, but she bought it because it matched Hiccup's eyes, and she had blushed from the second she'd seen it all the way up to putting it on. She still ha a towel wrapped around her hair when Hiccup came in, but he let out a low wolf whistle at the sight of her.
"Hello you," he said, immediately coming over to wrap his arms around her waist. "You look absolutely gorgeous."
She blushed, embarrassed, and weaved out of his grip.
"I've not even put on my makeup yet," she protested, but he reached out to catch her again from behind, planting kisses on her neck. She squealed and giggled but he was stronger and held her tight.
"I don't care, I think you're fantastic." He said, and Merida relished in the feeling of his nose pressed against her neck. The doorbell rang loudly through the flat, followed by Kristoff yelling that he'd get it, and Merida squirmed free.
"I'm going to sort my hair and face." She said, trying to bite down the smile creeping across her cheeks. She grabbed her makeup bag and hairdryer and ducked out, laughing as Hiccup blew stage kisses after her. She shot a wave to Elsa, who was just entering the flat, and headed into the bathroom.
When she emerged, even she was happy to agree with Hiccups earlier cat calls. Merida fluffed her hair and headed over to the kitchen, where Anna had changed too into a black and blue knee length dress with a small pink cardigan. Her and Elsa were standing side by side, passing dishes back and forth and laughing, and Merida was happy to see the girls getting on so well. They had a tense relationship, but it was a sore spot and neither talked about it very much, so nobody every pushed it. Kristoff smiled at her from where he was arranging some small pumpkins and leaves in the middle of the long dining room table that she and Hiccup had dragged in earlier from the office. Outside, snow was falling once again, thick and fast, and she took a minute to admire it as it spiralled down to the street below, where she spotted Rapunzel, wrapped up in a hat and scarf, carrying several stacked dishes, and struggling to lift something else from her car. There was no sign of Flynn anywhere.
"I can see Rapunzel outside, I'm just going to pop down and help," Merida said, already on her way out the front door, and Anna looked up for long enough to wave her off.
As soon as she made it out of the front door, Merida regretted not grabbing her jacket. The snow was coming down in huge clumps, and they stung against the bare skin of her arms nd legs as she hurried to wedge the front door open. She called out to Rapunzel, who looked up and smiled in relief at the sight of her, giving a her a mitten-clad wave.
Merida met her at the side of her tiny yellow car, and laughed out loud at the selection of dishes in the car.
"Damn Rapunzel, got enough food?" The redhead teased, rubbing her arms frantically, but Rapunzel just frowned.
"I don't know. I feel awful that I've not seen Anna recently, so offered to cook a load of things for her and got a bit overexcited. Flynn was meant to meet me here but…" she trailed off, looking down the snow covered street. Merida sighed, holding her tongue, and instead smiled brightly.
"That's okay, I'm here to help! I saw you struggling from the window." The redhead admitted, and blinked the snowflakes off of her lashes. Rapunzel smiled gratefully and reached into the car, handing her a pile of dishes, many of which Merida recognised from their flat dinners at university. She didn't mention it, just stepped back while the blonde collected the rest and locked the car, then lead her into the building, kicking out the wedge and letting the door slam shut. They hurried into the lift, eager to escape the cold, and Merida bumped the button with her hip.
When they made it into the flat, Merida sighed with relief at the heat coming from the kitchen, and gently set her stack of food down on the worktop. Anna squealed indelight when Rapunzel did the same, and the pair immediately began discussing their contents while Rapunzel stripped off her woolly layers to reveal a smart purple square-necked dress with a pink cardigan over the top.
"Where's the man?" Kristoff asked, and Merida made a cancelling motion, but he missed it. Rapunzel shrugged, and shook some stray snow out of her hair.
"I don't know, he was meant to meet me ten minutes ago. I'm sure he'll show up."
Merida glanced at the kitchen clock, reading quarter past midday, and pursed her lips. At that point, Hiccup emerged from his room to a chorus of wolf whistles from Anna and Kristoff. He wore a pair pf grey tweed trousers with a crisp white shirt, embroidered with tiny brown leaves. His hair was pushed back from his face, and he'd foregone the contacts for the day, instead opting for his wire rimmed glasses, which he pushed up his nose as he blushed at the attention.
Merida had never seen him dressed up, and for a second her breath caught in her throat. He winked at her, and she was so taken by him so marched right up to him and took his head in her hands, pulling him in for a deep kiss. He smiled against her mouth and pulled her too him until her feet left the ground, and her body pulsed with joy.
Anna whooped again, and they both simultaneously remembered where they were. Hiccup placed her down gently, grinned at her, and Merida blushed brightly and took a small curtsey, earning a chuckle from the group. She patted out her skirt, and looked up to see Hiccup staring at her in wonder, a beatific smile splitting his face in half.
"You," he said in wonder, and Merida grinned and took his hand, and together they entered the kitchen to see if either of the Arendelle sisters required assistance. They both busied themselves with different tasks, but Merida couldn't help but steal glances at Hiccup, the blush still lingering on her cheeks. He looked so good, and it made her feel warm and giddy when she looked at him. She glanced at Rapunzel, and thought of the conversation they'd had sitting together in the orchard all that time ago.
She'd been sitting on the knowledge that she loved him so long now, she wasn't even sure how she'd say it, but she did know that it was getting harder and harder to keep it to herself. Every time she woke up next to him the thought bounced around in her head, but she hadn't yet managed to get the words out.
She busied herself with carrying dishes to the table, where Rapunzel had tasked herself with setting everything up nicely, and by half twelve they had the meal all set up. It looked incredible, and Anna hustled everyone around the table for a photo, dragging out a tripod from, Hiccup's office so they could all be in it. Elsa passed around glasses of prosecco and they giggled and tried to arrange themselves into the shot.
They squeezed around one end of the table, with Merida perched half on Hiccup's lap, one hand braced against Anna on her other side. Elsa stood behind them, and Rapunzel crouched beside Kristoff, on the other side of Anna. They grinned widely into the camera, Anna giggling wildly at her precarious position, and as the third shutter clicked she and Merida tumbled into each other and under the table. A knock sounded at the door, and Kristoff got up to answer it just as Elsa and Hiccup tried to pull Anna and Merida to their feet. Merida was laughing so hard her sides hurt and tears stung her vison, and when Hiccup eventually got her upright the figure in the doorway was blurry, but she blinked them away to see Flynn. She looked over at Rapunzel, who looked up sharply as if she'd forgotten he was coming.
"Oh, Flynn, hi," she said, scrambling up to greet him. As she neared him she didn't go to kiss him, instead sort of hovering by his side, then walked with him to the table. An awkward silence fell as they all began arranging themselves into seats, and Merida found herself sat between Hiccup and Kristoff at the head of the table. Anna sat opposite Merida on his other side, and then beside her was Rapunzel, and then Flynn, and Elsa sat opposite Flynn beside Hiccup. Anna stood up wielding a set of carving tool, and all eyes turned to her.
"I just wanted to say, I know Thanksgiving isn't a tradition here, but I am so thankful for you all allowing me to host one for my closest friends." She beamed around the table at everyone, and Merida tried not to laugh at the way her eyes darted slightly over Flynn's head. "I love you guys so much, and this has been one of the best years of my life, getting to spend it with all of you."
Rapunzel reached up and placed her hand on Anna's back, and the girl wiped tears away as she waved around the carving knife.
"Turkey!" she laughed, and everyone echoed her cry. She got to work cutting meat and handing it around, whilst the rest of the group helped themselves to gravy, potatoes, and small scone-like things Elsa referred to as biscuits. Elsa hopped up to grab a couple of bottle of wine to pass around the table, and once everyone had a full glass Kristoff opened his mouth, but was cut off by Flynn standing up, glass in hand. Rapunzel looked up at him with horror as he began to speak, and Merida took the opportunity to take in how dishevelled he looked in a rumpled, threadbare Oasis shirt, with his long dark hair askew.
"And I'd just like to thank you all for letting me into this home, and for this valiant bird dying so we can dress up fancy and consume its flesh." Anna clapped a hand over her mouth, and Rapunzel sunk her head into her hands, but the others looked on in horrified fascination as he continued, his English accent getting broader as he spoke. "And I'm thankful that we live in a world with Britpop, and motorbikes, and god bless the queen and the British government."
Merida hadn't even moved before Hiccup's arm had shot across her lap to hold her in place. The words died on her throat, but she stared determinedly at the lanky boy as he raised his glass high. Everyone muttered a response and took a deep swing from their drink, and Rapunzel emerged meekly from her hands, avoiding everyone's eyes, and collected her cutlery up to start eating.
"Cheers," muttered Kristoff, and they dug in.
…
The food was absolutely divine, but it barely made up for Flynn as Rapunzel desperately tried to direct the conversation away from politics for the third time. He'd grown up in London, and claimed to be very punk rock and anti-establishment, but someone muttered Merida's buzzword 'independence' and they'd both forgotten their food in favour of a verbal tug of war about the 'fascist state' and the 'slimy SNP'. Hiccup caught Rapunzel's eye and shrugged comically, and she would have laughed if she weren't so tired.
"The land belongs rightfully to the Scots, the English stole it from us to start with!" Merida was saying, and Rapunzel guessed that Hiccup's hand on her arm was the only thing preventing her from standing up and yelling. "The English government has abused their power over us for centuries."
"Its because the scots were savage before they were absorbed into the UK," Flynn spat, and Rapunzel tried Hiccup's passive hand-on-arm technique, but the dark haired boy just shrugged it off roughly. "The people who were killed probably deserved it anyway."
"Hey now," Kristoff said warningly, and Rapunzel was shocked that Merida hadn't physically exploded, her face was so red. Miraculously, she didn't retaliate, and instead took a mouthful of food before replying again.
"Nice. Very colonial of you," she said, and Flynn rolled his eyes and let it lie, to everyone's relief. Anna started up some small talk at the other end of the table, and they ate in between comfortable chit chat for a while.
There was a sudden bang, and everyone turned just in time to see Elsa bolt upright, knocking her seat over. She was looking at Flynn with an icy glare, and Rapunzel was horrified to see he had one hand reaching under the table.
"He was stroking my knee," Elsa hissed, her face flushed with embarrassment at the sudden scene, but Everyone hopped to their feet with varying cried of outrage. Rapunzel let out a shout of frustration, and shaved at Flynn, urging him towards the door. He tripped to his feet, gesticulating back to the table.
"Hey, I've not finished my meal!" he protested, but she ignored him, fury bubbling up her slight frame as she shoved him through the front door and into the hallway.
"Prick!" Merida yelled, just before the door slammed, and Rapunzel pushed down a sharp laugh in response, because her friend was right, and she couldn't believe she hadn't seen it.
"Go home Flynn," she snapped at him, and he leant back against the wall and crossed his arms contemptuously.
"No," he spat, and gestured to the hallway. "I'm comfortable here."
Rapunzel stomped a foot and let out an angry huff of air.
"Flynn, I swear to god," she hissed in her most menacing tone, but his smug expression stayed. "I can't believe I liked you for a minute there. You have to go, now. I don't every want to see you again, at my shop, or anywhere near my friends is that perfectly clear?"
"Damn, you're hot when you're mad," he crooned, and reached his hands out, but Rapunzel smacked them away, then brought up her other hand and slapped him across the face, hard. Something flashed in his eyes there, and a small knot of fear bundled in her stomach.
"Go away," she croaked, but it was less convincing than before, and she backed up into the door as he leered forward.
"You'll regret that sweetheart," he muttered darkly, reaching out and running a hand through her hair, but before he could do anything else the door swung open and Rapunzel immediately ducked in behind Kristoff, all six foot four of him, broad shoulders filling the doorway. Flynn backed up almost immediately, hands up in mock surrender, and Kristoff slammed the door in his face without a word.
Rapunzel laughed nervously and turned to be greeted with four withering stares. She cringed, and sat back down in her seat, picking up Anna's hand.
"I am so sorry. I swear, I didn't know he was like that. Elsa," she turned to the platinum blonde, who had retaken her seat as well, and was steadily draining her glass of wine. "Please forgive me, he was a horrible mistake, and I had absolutely no idea he was like that."
Elsa smiled meekly behind the glass, and shrugged her shoulders.
"It's okay, no real harm done." She admitted, and Rapunzel breathed a sigh of relief.
"Look, he's gone now," Anna said. "So lets just have a nice dinner now? We've still got dessert too."
Everyone nodded in agreement, and went back to their food without much more thought. Rapunzel's eyes welled up at all of her friends together in one place and joined in as the conversation picked up once again. She couldn't help the ache in her heart though, as she saw the way Merida looked up at Hiccup as he told a silly joke; with so much love in her eyes she was surprised it wasn't infectious. She thought back to a time she'd had a love like that, not so long ago, and smiled to herself at the memory. It wasn't as painful as it had been, and she was relieved that she could look back on it with a sort of fondness.
Her and Jack were just bad timing, she'd come to accept that now. And she really did love him, and reckons she always would, but she'd made her peace with it. There was no need for her to seek out someone like Flynn to complete her, she deserved someone spectacular.
She reached out for the wind, happy with that thought, and topped up her own glass the passed it down the table and let herself be present with her friends for once.
…
The stars in Wisconsin seemed brighter than the ones in LA. It must have been the lack of pollution out of the city on his family's small farm, and it was the one thing about it that Jack missed. He was sprawled on the roof in front of his childhood bedroom, that he'd not slept in for close to 10 years. The sheets were softer than he remembered, and the air felt lighter around him. He tried to think of an actual solid reason he hadn't returned, but came up short.
He took a deep breath, and squinted up at the stars, wishing he knew anything about constellations. He vaguely remembered his dad sitting up here with him when he was little, pointing out animals and figures prancing through the inky skies, and a sudden urge to remember them washed over him.
Jack was still frowning up into the stars when there was a light tap at his window. He rolled over on to his stomach and was greeted by Mary, who gave him a sheepish wave, and held up a huge fluffy jacket. It did look inviting (Wisconsin was not known for warm winters), but he ignored it stubbornly.
"Go away," he muttered, rolling back over. He was still sulking at her for speaking to Hiccup on his phone, especially after he'd spent so many months avoiding all contact with his friends.
Looking back, he'd definitely not handled his breakup with Rapunzel very well. Upon leaving Merida's house that day, he'd driven home, packed a bag, and hopped on the next flight to Los Angeles before he'd even had a chance to think. He spent the entire plane ride trying not to cry loudly over his first class meal, and when he'd landed had tossed his bag and immediately called every friend he knew in the city to throw an absolutely huge party. He kept this up for weeks, until he was so hungover he couldn't feel his body, and only then did he call his manager and tell him he was back in the city, and ready to return to work.
Filming took up the next 3 months, all day every day, and most nights too, and Jack was grateful to have a purpose once more. However, the press had cottoned on to his abrupt arrival and subsequent party streak, and were determined to get a shot of him, and though he was a professional, and outstanding at keeping his cool, last week, two men had knocked on his trailer door. He'd been drinking with his castmates and playing cards, and so wasn't really expecting a nosey man asking about the girl in Edinburgh with the short brown hair, and everything had come crashing back.
Paparazzi would always be a part of Jack's life, and he'd come to terms with that years ago, but Rapunzel didn't deserve it, and Jack was embarrassed to admit that he'd seen red as the questions about their relationship had gotten more and more intimate, whilst he stood speechless on the top step. Eventually, he'd grabbed one of the men by the shirt and pushed him away from the door, and the reporter had fallen over with a shout, and immediately lunged at Jack. The short brawl that entailed consisted of two significant punches, one to Jacks face, and another delivered to the reporter from Jack, cracking the man's nose clean open, and that was the end of it.
Jack had been expecting repercussions from his manager, the director for sure, but he had nor expected for his parents to be called. He had begged his manager, North, to send them home as they stood in the porch of Jack's generous LA home, but North had stood firm.
"Please. I'm off the show, I'm embarrassed, and I'm certainly going to get a second arse kicking from social media. Is that not enough for you?"
"No, not enough," North said in his gruff Russian accent. "Look at yourself. You've not been taking care of all this."
"You just gestured to all of me," Jack had replied meekly, but was already being propelled towards the lounge where his parents had been sat, ready to tell him he should have just been an accountant like his father.
Coming out of his head, Jack realised that Mary was crawling up out of the window to sit next to him on the room, her arms wrapped around her legs. She was wearing a huge parka jacket, and handed him a second one wordlessly, which he shrugged on before lying back down. They sat in silence for a while, and he couldn't help but wonder if their dad had shown her any stars too.
"Do you know any cool constellations Mary?" he asked, and she looked at him in surprise.
"Is this going to be a cute bonding moment?" she snorted incredulously, and Jack couldn't help but smile in response.
"No, I just can't remember any."
"Ah," she said, and after a few seconds of silence moved so they were lying side by side. He looked over at the girl beside him, taking in how much shed grown since he was last home. Her dark hair – just like his mother's – was chopped short around her face, but she was built like him; lanky and tall.
She had been born when he was eight; just old enough to appreciate a younger sibling from the start. When she'd been old enough, he'd walked her to kindergarten each morning, then on to school, and any of the kids had had teased him would go home with scraped knees and wobbly lower lips.
"You know," she said, looking over at him and laughing, and Jack marvelled at the fact that she was eighteen now, and not a snot-nosed toddler. "One of my first memories is of you playing with me out here."
Jack was surprised at that.
"I don't remember," he murmured, and she chuckled and nodded, half to herself.
"Yeah, I must have been three or four. You brought my building blocks up, and you had all these copies of Shakespeare plays with really funny looking drawings, the little drama queen that you were. And Mum found us, and got so angry. I remember her screaming and screaming when she saw us, and she reached out and scooped me up but left you out here…"
She trailed off, and Jack shut his eyes. It came back to him then, the image of his mother removing his siter from his lap, and leaving him with his books on the roof, not bothering to make sure he made it in safe as well.
"That sounds about right," he said, picking at a patch of moss below his hand. "You were their 'second times the charm' baby. I came out of the womb wanting to be an actor, and they just really wanted an accountant or something."
"Well jokes on them I guess, cause I have no idea what to do, and you're a bloody good Hollywood actor."
He chuckled at that, and she joined in, and they lay peacefully like that for a few minutes.
"I'm sorry. For taking off like I did, I mean." He murmured, but Mary was shaking her head.
"Don't, I think I get it. I mean, being a celeb must be pretty special, if you've given up Edinburgh three times for it now."
He shot her a look, but she was staring pointedly at the stars.
"I need to make a living, I can't just drift about Scotland for the rest of my life." He said slowly, but she snorted.
"Piss! I know for a fact that you got paid enough from guardians to pay for a comfortable life three times over. But I guess acting is your passion, your calling. The amazing people over there who've been routinely trying to contact you for 4 months are nothing compared to that."
"Mary, you have to stop going through my phone," he groaned, and her eyes danced with mischief in the dark.
"Okay, last online confession." She said, and sat up. He reluctantly followed, and was immediately aware of how cold the air was around them. Their breath formed in icy clouds in front of their faces and Mary pulled out her phone.
"Here, its this weekend," she said, and presented Jack with a Facebook event for the opening of an art shop. He took the phone and tentatively scrolled through the event, looking at reactions and comments from Merida, and Anna, and even one from Hiccup. And then, the creator's name popped up, and he stuffed the phone back in his younger sister's hands.
"I can't," he said shortly, causing her to frown.
"I don't see what the issue is," she said with a scowl. "These are all your friends right? Why can't you go and celebrate their new business venture?"
"Because Rapunzel is more. She's…well, I love her," he admitted, and Mary's eyes widened. She went back to her phone, and raked through Rapunzel's page, taking on all the photos.
"She's the one, from the press photos," she murmured, and Jack nodded slowly.
"I told a really bad lie, and she told me she didn't want to see me anymore. So, I cant go back. I can't see her again."
"Oh god, you're so dramatic." Mary groaned, and turned to shuffle back in the window. "You can afford a ticket, and you're a twenty-six-year-old man. You can go wherever the hell you like. Don't linger around your parent's house."
"Hey, you still live here permanently," Jack pointed out, but she waved a hand and snorted.
"I'm eighteen years old," she said, lowering herself into the room until only her head and shoulders were visible. "I'm just a kid, I'm allowed to scrounge for a few more years. It's not my fault you gave up early."
Jack mocked offense, but she had already left, and he was sat alone again, feeling even more unsure than he had been before.
…
"What says, 'art shop opening night'?" Hiccup called into Merida's bathroom. There was no immediate reply, just the sound of the shower running. He walked back across the bedroom to her bed, and looked down at the outfit options he'd brought with him, one of which he'd eventually have to choose to wear. He continued talking, even though there was still no answer.
"See even though its cold, I don't know how warm Rapunzel keeps the shop, so the knitted jumper might be a bit hot. And I really love this shirt here, but its maybe not colourful enough?"
He walked back into the bathroom, holding two different coloured shirts.
"Green or red?" he called through the curtain, and Merida's head appeared around the side, her hair wet and slicked back against her head.
"Hiccup, I'm in the shower. I'll help when I get out."
"Right, yeah," he said, nodding, and she disappeared again into the water. "Sorry!"
He backed into the bedroom again, and dropped the shirts on to the pile on her bed. Merida's flat still felt very much like student accommodation, but there was something vaguely nostalgic about it that he absolutely loved. It was clean, but the walls were pockmarked with years of blue tack stains and pin holes, and the roofs sported old water stains that had never been properly repaired. Throughout the spacious two bed, the carpets were threadbare and the windows were slack, and he could see why she was sick of it, but it was all so familiar to him.
Hiccup pursed his lips and moved over to her desk, pushing aside a messy pile of important-looking papers to get to a few decorative photo frames he knew she kept. There was one of her astride her horse Angus, looking much younger, and with a big cheesy grin on her face. Another was of her, Rapunzel and Anna holding paintbrushes together in the art shop, and he smiled at the memory of all five of them spending days painting, from early in the morning to late at night.
"I like this one. I had so much fun," he called over his shoulder to the shower, receiving only water in response. "I remember, it was one of the first times I stayed here, and we spent most of the night sitting in the shower picking paint off of each other."
Hiccup smiled fondly to himself as he thought of them both, cross legged in Merida's bathtub, legs tangled together, laughing at each other as they tried to remove the pale blue hair from each other's faces. The flecks had mingled with Merida's freckles, and she had shut her eyes as he gently rubbed them away.
Behind him, the shower cut off, and he turned around in surprise.
"Mer?"
There was no answer, just the faint sound of her humming as she dried herself off out of view. He looked back down at the photo frames and chuckled.
"You know, I like this one the best," he said, reaching for the third frame. It was taken when they were at Merida's family home way back in July, and they were sat in two camp chairs squeezed as close together as they could, tucked under the same blanket. He was looking at her like so adoringly, unaware of the photo being taken, and Merida was talking animatedly, one hand knitted in his, the other thrown in the air.
"We look so happy, I've never seen myself looking like that," he mused, running a hand over the glass. "I can't believe I didn't just tell you I loved you, right there and then. God knows I was thinking it the whole time."
It was true, now he really thought about it. Every time he saw her, his body screamed it. He said it with the way he always reached out for her when she was stood next to him, the way he kissed her first thing in the morning, as soon as she woke up. When he shut his eyes at night, his brain screamed it so loud he swore she could hear it.
"I keep trying to tell you, but I don't want to overwhelm you," Hiccup murmured, more to the photo of her than anything. "One day it's just going to slip out at the stupidest time, and you're going to be scared off completely."
"Its more likely than you'd think," a voice chuckled from behind him, and he dropped the frame on to the desk with a start, spinning around in surprise to see Merida leaning on the doorframe of the bathroom. She had on a huge fluffy teal dressing gown, and her hair was curling damply down her shoulders. Her face was poker straight except her eyes, which were dancing with mischief, and he tried to figure out how much she'd overheard.
"Uhh, out of curiosity…" he began, looking around the room guiltily like he could still snatch all the words up and shove them back in his mouth.
"What?" she said, and her eyes were wide with fake confusion. Heat rushed to his cheeks, and Hiccup swore he was going to burst with embarrassment.
"Don't mock me, please," he groaned, and sunk on to her desk chair, his head in his hands. "Just pretend you didn't hear anything. It never happened. Let me wallow in my embarrassment."
He refused to look up, but heard her the floorboards creak as she walked towards him, and paused a few feet away.
"Hiccup," Merida whispered, and he peeked up at her through his fingers. She crouched in front of him and prised his arms away from his face, then pinned them on to his lap under her own. "You're an idiot, truly. Were you talking to that photo of us?"
"I might have been," he muttered, avoiding her eyes, but she reached out gently pulled his chin down to her so she could kiss him gently. She pulled back with a smile, and then stood and turned to the huge pile of clothes on her bed.
"God, okay, where to start here.
His eyes followed her across the room as she fussed over his potential outfit choices. She eventually held up his black skinny jeans and green knitted sweater, and he nodded dumbly, reaching out to take them from her.
He got up to change, robotically putting on aftershave and styling his hair, his brain racing, and when he emerged Merida had already twisted her hair into a complex-looking twist, and was squinting at her makeup in the mirror. He sat down behind her, and she instinctively shuffled back to lean on him as she continued applying eyeliner.
He stayed like that for near to half an hour as Merida got ready around him, and before he knew it she was pulling him to his feet and hustling him towards the door. Hiccup was immediately startled by the appearance of Mavis, Merida's elusive flatmate, clutching a bowl of ramen, with several of the aforementioned noodles hanging out of her mouth. He yelped slightly, tripping back, and the petite raven-haired girl smiled around her mouthful of food.
"Where you guys headed?" she asked, and Merida gesticulated wildly.
"The art shop, Mavis!" she cried. "You were meant be coming too? You're still in your pyjamas!"
"Oh shit," she hissed, and looked down at her black and red striped matching pyjamas. Hiccup laughed out loud, and the girl looked at him in surprise. "You guys go ahead, I'll go wake up Johnny and we'll meet you there within the hour. Apologise for me!"
Merida just huffed as a response and grabbed Hiccup's sleeve, towing him out on to the street and into the bus shelter outside. It was snowing again, and Hiccup couldn't help but marvel about how much they'd had recently – practically unheard of for this time of year, in this part of the country – and stuck out a hand to collect some light flakes. They'd opted to take public transport so they could both have a drink, but he regretted that choice now, because she was sat beside him practically vibrating, her leg bouncing erratically.
"Merida," he coaxed, but she looked away. He reached out and placed a hand on her leg, and she flipped her gaze on to him.
"What?" she snapped, and he sunk slightly.
"Have I done something wrong?"
That was a stupid question, because he knew what he'd done. He'd said the L word, out loud, and had predictably scared her half to death. She shook her head, but he knew it was a lie.
"Look, I'm sorry about earlier," he said, and she deflated in beside him, all the tension sicking from her body until she fell against him, tucking her fluffy lilac jacket tighter around her shoulders.
"No, I'm sorry," she admitted sheepishly, and there was a long pause as he waited for her to find the words. "I heard what you said, there's no point in ignoring it now. You've just taken me by surprise."
"No, that's okay," Hiccup gasped out, trying desperately to play it down. "Take your time, it s fine, I don't mind."
She smiled tightly and nodded, taking his hand, and he blinked up at the sky, fighting back tears he didn't realise were there.