Author: Written completely on a whim, inspired by and dedicated to ValiantWarrior37! My first (and probably only) Modern Jelsa AU. Warnings for drug use and sexuality, everyone's favorites. Cover was made by the lovely The Atlantean. Also, nothing in this story reflects my personal views on drugs, drinking, etc. It's a story. Relax.

This was going to be a one-shot, but because I'm me, it wound up being much longer and will be multi-chaptered.

December, 2005

"Pleeeaaaaseee?"

"No."

"Pretty please with chocolate fudge?" Elsa gave her sister an incredulous look. Anna was getting desperate. "I'll be your best friend?"

Elsa finally turned around in her office chair. "Anna, come on. Mid-terms are coming up, I've barely gotten any studying in, and I don't even like rock music."

"What do you even listen to?" She grabbed the pair of headphones off of Elsa's neck and listened. All she heard were orchestra instruments. "Rock's kind of like that." She knew she wasn't going to convince her, but it was worth a shot. "My friend bailed out on me and now I'm stuck with an extra ticket I paid for!"

"Well," Elsa turned around and threw her headphones back on, "I'm sorry you didn't plan it far ahead enough." She skipped to the next track on her Rachmaninov CD.

Anna yelled so Elsa could hear her over the music, "You never go out and have any fun! You're always at the library or hiding in here doing nothing. Don't you have any friends?" Elsa decided she was going to pretend she didn't hear that. Anna was desperate now, and she knew Hiccup would be waiting for her since she hadn't told him what was happening yet! "It's not even a huge group of us that's going, it's just me, Hiccup, and his friend Jack."

Elsa knew Hiccup, but not as well as Anna did—they had the same major, and so they swapped notes and studied together. Anna always kept the pictures she took on her computer, she loved to make collages and keep prints in photo albums; that was the only way Elsa could remember what Hiccup looked like... as for Jack, "Which one's Jack again?"

"Oh, he's super cool! He's been friends with Hiccup for, like, ever!"

"Have I seen him before?"

"Uh, I don't think so. He's kind of weird and to himself like you."

"...Thanks."

Anna ripped the cord out of the CD player and spun Elsa's chair around. She finally got down on her knees and put her hands together in a begging motion. It wasn't so much about wasting the money, but about getting her sister out to have a good time for once. It was always like this with her; Elsa had more trouble making friends than Anna did, which was a shame, since she was the smartest, sweetest, and funniest big sister ever! More people ought to know that.

"Anna..."

"We don't even have to stay the whole show! If you wanna leave early, we will. I promise."

Elsa couldn't believe her sister... actually, she could. She never gave up and sometimes it was her most irritating quality. Finally, she stood up, "Just give me a few minutes, then I'll be ready."

"YES!" She hopped up and ran to her phone to update Hiccup.

October, 1998

"Hey." Said a shy voice, interrupting the boy who'd been getting some last-minute studying in.

"...Hi?"

"Aren't you the new kid?"

He'd heard that so many times in just a single week, it was getting tiresome. He just shrugged and flipped the page of his textbook. He only recognized the boy in front of him because they had P.E. together.

The boy wouldn't give up, though. "Where'd you say you're from again?"

"Pennsylvania."

"Like, Pittsburgh? Harrisburg? Philadelphia...?"

"Does it matter?"

"Nope! You're right. Pennsylvania. Got it." The boy, nicknamed Hiccup his whole life, had made a deal with himself the night before that he'd try harder to make new friends this year. It was his last year of middle school, and not once did he spend a weekend at a party or going to the movies like most groups of kids his age did. What better opportunity than to befriend the other kid that didn't speak to a single soul here? Hiccup, keeping some distance, sat on the bench next to him, and the boy seemed to bristle. "Uh... So, are you in U.S. History this year too?" No answer, not even a head shake. "Do you have Mrs. Fueller? I like her!"

He hoped if he answered, maybe he'd stop talking. "I have Ms. O'Hara."

"Huh. I don't know anyone that has her. Are you in advanced?"

"I'm in gifted."

"Ohh..." That made all the more sense now why all his classes were in a different building than his. "So, do you have algebra this year?"

"Mhm."

Hiccup was genuinely fascinated. "Nice! I'm only in pre-algebra... So what math will you be in next year, then?"

There was ice in his tone when he said, "Geometry. Like everyone else." Stupid... He mumbled silently.

Hiccup knew he was on thin ice and scooted away some. The chilly Virginia air already didn't help. "Um... so... why'd you guys move here?"

"We wanted to." He grumbled, not in the mood for that conversation.

"Pennsylvania sounds way cooler."

"It's okay. I like New York better."

"You've been to New York?"

Somehow, the boy cracked a grin then. Clearly he wasn't sitting next to a city boy. "You can get on a train and be there in an hour. I'd go all the time."

Hiccup's face fell. "By yourself?"

"Yeah?"

"Isn't that dangerous?"

"Probably."

"Huh. My parents don't let me do anything by myself."

"I wasn't always alone. I'd go with friends sometimes. Don't you do that?" Hiccup blanched and didn't answer. The new student finally glanced at him then; even his eyes were a chilling blue, a contrast to his chestnut-brown hair. "You have friends, right?"

"Erm..." The warning bell rang, offering an easy way out. "There's the first bell! My class is all the way across campus." That was a lie, he had to walk upstairs from where they sat and he was there. "Gotta run!" He took the longer route to make it seem like he told the truth.

December, 2005

"You didn't get us lost, did you?" Elsa complained.

"No! I've driven here a million times. I'm just trying to find a way around traffic."

"God, I hate the city. I miss home."

"There was nothing to do at home."

"But it was better than this."

Anna pointed a finger. "Hey, I brought you to have fun, not to complain."

"God, how is it ten o'clock already? It's past my bedtime."

Anna rolled her eyes and pulled into a parking garage. "I promise, you'll be having such a blast, you won't even care about the time." She turned off the engine and she hopped out. Elsa was less than enthused when she followed her out and went across the street to the park venue. Already this was too much hustle for Elsa's liking; she only applied to go to college in New York City was because she knew her job as a journalist was out here. She wanted to be the best damn journalist there was, and there weren't enough 'exciting' things going on back home in Cincinnati for her liking. She missed that city though, her neighborhood, her childhood home. Especially times like right now did she wish she could crawl back into her own bed in her own room.

Anna and Elsa's parents always wrote to them and sent them pictures to keep. What Anna missed most was their dog, their little ten-year-old terrier that loved to jump into their laps when they sat on the couch. She would demand their mother or father put him on the phone whenever they called so she could tell him she loved him. Elsa would just laugh. Anna was just a five-year-old in a grown woman's body. One of these days she'd grow out of it, she hoped.

"I think I see them. HICCUP!" She screamed so loud that people walking by looked her way. Elsa wanted to sink into the slushy ice beneath them when they did. Anna was waving her arm to get his attention; it was indeed him, him and another young man. Elsa realized she vaguely remembered him from perhaps a picture Anna showed her. His blue eyes were what struck her first, then the single streaks of dark blue and purple in his hair—Jack had been messing around with color in his hair for years, and with how professionally-done they looked, Elsa never would've guessed he'd done them himself with store-bought hair dye.

Something else Elsa noticed was that he looked as uncomfortable as she was.

Anna, meanwhile, shouted at the top of her lungs, "Are you ready to party?"

Hiccup shouted back, "I'm ready to party! Are you ready to party?"

"I'M READY TO PAR-TAY! ARE YOU READY TO PAR-TAY?"

Dear God, they're quoting cartoons again. Elsa was sniggering with embarrassment, meanwhile, Jack was used to this. It was weird being the 'mature one' of the three.

"And look who decided to join us! Stick-in-the-mud Elsa!" Hiccup laughed.

She'd heard him use that nickname before, so she wasn't offended. Anna said, "Hey! Not tonight! She's decided to join us on our musical escapade!"

Hiccup looked at her in denial. "Who are you? And where's the real Elsa?"

Anna remembered Jack had not officially met her yet. "Oh, um, Jack, this is Elsa. Elsa, Jack."

Elsa was surprised by the meekness in his voice when he said, "Nice to meet you." Like he wasn't sure if it was the right thing to say.

"You too." Neither reached out for a handshake, clearly at equal levels of uncertainty. The group of four then weaved and bobbed through the crowd of attendees. The venue was what Elsa expected: loud, overcrowded, uncomfortable... but when the music started, she found herself letting loose a bit and moving with everyone around her, still trying not to knock into anyone. Anna bounced and jumped around, not the most graceful dancer, but she was having fun, and that's what mattered. Hiccup himself wasn't a dancer, but he still managed to look like he knew what he was doing. It took him years to learn how to not give a fuck.

Elsa might be happier if it wasn't so cold; she wasn't used to these harsher winters yet. Jack looked right at home; he'd been doing things like this nearly his whole life so far. He hated crowds, but he could still blend in. As the four would occasionally stop and talk (screaming over the music, that was), Elsa noticed how Jack indeed kept quiet even though he knew Anna and Hiccup quite well. Elsa found herself comfortable and chatty with Hiccup... It baffled her how Jack seemed to prefer not getting any attention.

Anna had reminded Elsa right before the concert started, "Jack's just quiet, don't take it personally."

He was the kind of person who knew he wasn't as charming and outgoing as Hiccup could be, but accepted it. It reminded Elsa of herself and Anna, the social butterfly and the stone-cold nerd. Elsa always had to psyche herself up to go out and talk to people—even when she was young, she didn't like going to birthday parties and school fairs as much as Anna did. Anna was the star of every school play, while Elsa was acing every test. Half the time, people were stunned to find out they were sisters.

Jack and Hiccup themselves were an odd couple, and had been since they were both thirteen. Friends like them were the best kind; they complimented each other, with Jack's relative stoicism and Hiccup's energy. Elsa wished she could read minds, wondering if Jack was asking himself the same questions about her, what he was thinking of her out of simple curiosity.

What she didn't know was that Jack was quietly berating Hiccup, thinking, Fuck me. Hiccup could've told me she was this pretty. But his straight face never would've given her a clue.

The rest of the night went pleasantly, but Elsa about lost it when Anna cranked the car and she saw the clock. "Anna, it's one in the morning!"

"I know! So early, huh?"

"We've got to get home. I need to be up by eight!"

"Relax, relax. We're going now."

Elsa felt reassured for a minute until they got to the first red light and next to them, the car honked and they realized who it was. Anna rolled down the window and yelled over at Hiccup. "Why, hello!" She laughed. Elsa had to lean out of the way so they could see each other. She caught Jack peeping from behind Hiccup the same way Anna was.

"We're gonna get something to eat, wanna follow us?" Hiccup called from the driver's seat.

Elsa turned her head away so they couldn't see her 'please, no' face. She was breaking her routine as it was! But as Anna had her hostage, there was no stopping her. "We'd love to!" Called the bronze-haired girl and Elsa forced a grin.