Pairing: JackxHiccup

Genre: Romance, Drama

Rating: NC-17/M

Warning: not beta-read

All characters belong to Cressida Cowel, William Joyce and DreamWorks Studia. May contain some OOCness.

Newton's law of universal gravitation - a particle attracts every other particle in the universe using a force that is directly proportional to the product of their masses and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them.

He never thought his brain would do that. It is something every person does automatically, without thinking too much about it. But for few minutes, Jack swore that his brain just forgot how to breathe.

He tapped his feet nervously on the ground as his eyes observed the silhouette walking slowly, terribly slowly towards their desk. The sounds of his footsteps ringed in Jack's ears. It made his stomach twist and curl. This was a torture - just slay him right here right there, free him from this pain. Every cell in his body screamed in agony. He should have said proper goodbyes to his sister and dad. Would he see them once again?

Jack didn't know he could get so nervous over tests' results. But it was the truth. He barely slept that night. His mind decided that staring at the ceiling was more proficient for his body than sleeping for few hours (even if he had to strongly disagree, but couldn't really do much about it). And now the effects were devastating.

Jack nibbled on his knuckles nervously. He had to quickly stop it when Aster next to him swatted his hand away from his mouth. When Jack glared at him, his friend only nodded at something with his head.

Jack turned around and froze. Like literally. Professor Black must have been some kind of black wizard, managing to turn students into stone with just one glance of his mighty, cold eyes. "Mister Overland…" Professor said slowly, like he wanted to gain Jack's attention. Which he often had to do, but not now. Now Jack was fully focused on the man in front of him. Or more on the stack of papers in his hands. Some of the students already received their graded test. Jack actually had seen some of them trying not to cry openly. This image didn't really help him soothe his wrecked body and mind.

"Y-yes?" Jack swallowed the barely produced saliva in his mouth. His hands were clasped onto his trousers, but they were shaking. He felt like puking. This was terrible.

The male looked down at the tests in his hands and grabbed the corner of one between his thumb and pointing finger. He slowly lifted it up, eyeing the mark. Then – it felt like ages – he put it down in front of Jack.

Now he wasn't sure if he really wanted to see it. On the second though… Professor Black could take it back and never show him. No, wait! Hiccup told him that he wanted to know the results. But he was scared. Shit… Jack still stared at the teacher too afraid to look down.

And then – seriously, it really happened, Jack wasn't imagining this – the corners of Professor Black's mouth twitched upwards.

"Congratulation, mister Overland." He said and walked to the next desk.

With a wild heart rummaging in his chest (it was beating so fast and loud that it was almost hurting him), he slowly looked down.

And there was his test, covered in red lines, small comments, circles and ticks.

Above it all was the grade – his grade. Jack felt that he could faint when his eyes finally landed on the note at the beginning of the test. He bit his lip and looked at the grade.

It was… B+.

Ohmygosh…Ohmygosh… He was hyperventilating. Someone help him soon. "Everything alright?" Tooth, sitting in front of them, turned around on her chair, staring at him worriedly.

"It looks like Jack blew some fuse." Aster whispered, leaning to his friend.

Jack actually may have done that, because – shit! – This… this really happened. He got B+. Not C, not normal B, but actual B with a red plus written right next to it. He could die in peace right now. He could suddenly jump and yell and shout and hug and kiss and cry and… Oh fuck, he was almost crying.

"What did you get Jack?" Tooth stood up a little, trying to glance at his sheet. "I… I…" He tried to speak, but every attempt came out asan unfinished stutter. Not to mention his trembling body quite complicated his ability to speak coherently.

Aster groaned loudly and literally teared the sheet out from his hands. Good that Jack loosened up grip on it, because it would be in two pieces by now. The paper landed gracefully between Tooth and Aster.

There was silence when both his friend stared at the test. Then Tooth yelled out first.

"Jack, you did it!" Her happy, maybe too cheerful voice echoed in the room, gathering the attention of definitely some students and unfortunately Professor Black, who Jack assumed may have glared at her to quiet her down. She then clasped both her hands over her mouth.

Aster was not saying anything for a pretty long time. He was only staring at Jack's paper with this really… really dumbfounded look.

When Professor Black moved to the desks far away from them, the rainbow haired girl finally moved her hands away and put them down on Jack's and Aster's desk. Her bracelets made a clinging sound when they touched the surface.

"I'm so proud of you!" She was now whispering with this delightful beaming on her lips.

Jack still couldn't believe it himself. This had to be a dream! Wait, no, he didn't want for it to be a dream.

His mouth was stretched in one of the biggest smile of the week… or maybe even a month? Half a year? Jack couldn't remember the last time he felt so accomplished. His body, that until then was rigid as a rock, loosened up, to this point he was almost slumped on the chair. His back muscles ached a little from being taunted all morning.

He needs some bath, warm bath to help him get rid of this tightness…

"H-how about you?" Jack finally was able to find his voice, stuck somewhere between excitement and surprise. Gosh, his heart was still hammering in his chest. "What did you get?"

Tooth turned around and grabbed her own test. The bright, red as Cardinals* C+ was standing proudly at the top.

"Well, it's not the best, but I'm still pleased with the results." She said enthusiastically.

Jack was opening his mouth one more time to add something, but he stopped when he felt a shadow creeping to their desk from the other side. Professor Black looked at them, shushing them all down with only one glance. Then from the definitely smaller piles he took the sheet on the top and put it in front of Aster.

"Your test, mister Bunnymund." He stated emotionlessly.

The gray haired male robotically moved Jack's test away and grabbed his own. Both Tooth and Jack stretched their necks, trying to see the grade on their friend's paper.

"No need to be so stealthy." Aster coughed, like he finally was put out of some daze.

"Here, you can see this." He passed the paper to Jack's own, still shaking, palms. Jack directed his blue eyes at the grade. His heart almost stopped beating. His breath got tangled in his throat. Because this couldn't be right. Now, this really had to be a dream. Some vivid dream. Some weird, twisted, wonky dream. Because it couldn't happen in reality. It simply couldn't.

"Jack, are you alive?" Tooth waved her hand in front of Jack's eyes, looking at him worriedly.

And Jack simply burst out.

"I've got a better grade than Bunny?!" Now his voice was definitely heard by all of the students, judging by every heads turning suddenly in their direction.

Aster next to him sighed heavily, like he expected the outcome. And maybe he even did.

"Yes, yes you have." He said looking at him with a half-smile.

Tooth ripped the test with simple B (without the beautiful, magical, amazing, crimson plus next to it) away from Jack's hand, eyeing it curiously. She then smiled at her friend.

"You did great nevertheless." The girl praised him.

"I know." Aster said, leaning on his chair and crossing his arms on his chest.

For Aster and Tooth getting good grades was something normal, something that happened maybe not every day but very often, but for Jack it was totally new. He often got grades that allowed him to pass that or this test or year, but rarely so high… and rarely so high from Math.

Seriously, this was amazing, astonishing, even incredible! He felt like he could just stand up from the chair and almost hug the Professor, but knew better not to do that (although Jack wanted to know what kind of face the man would do). His mouth now hurt from smiling so bright, so wide, however he couldn't stop himself from doing so. He felt like nothing would destroy this happy, this blissful, this rapturous, this delightful mood. No Heather, no Professor Black, no family problems… Nothing!

He felt accomplished. He had studied for the test a whole bunch, really. He spent hours and hours, doing new exercises, correcting mistakes, trying to understand different examples. Not to mention he didn't even cheat! He did it all using his own mind. Very own mind! How amazing was that!? And Professor Black even praised him! He could die right there, right then! But he wouldn't have been able to do all of that if this wasn't for… Hiccup!

Oh shit, he was supposed to write to him immediately after he would receive the result.

Jack quickly searched his pants for his cellphone. He found it weirdly hanging from his pocket. His eyes searched the grounds for Professor, but he was talking with some boy in the front about his grade. Good, very good. Jack had two to three minutes to write the message. It was enough.

It maybe wouldn't be so hard if his hand would stop shaking, but they didn't. Yet somehow he was able to take the phone out, open the message tab and write.

I DID IT! I DID IT! I got B+ =DDDDDDDDDD! I even beated Bunny!

The white haired teen actually had to correct a few words a few times, because he made some typos, but when he clicked the send button, he leaned on his chair with a blessed gleam on his face.

Aster weirdly moved to Tooth, leaning above her ear.

"I think he may die from this sudden overdose of happiness. Should we do something about this?" He whispered, glancing at him. Aster lacked the ability of whispering without people hearing him.

Tooth shook her head – her earrings swished from side to side. Today she wore a small dream catchers with yellow beads.

"No, let him enjoy himself. He deserves it."

"I can hear you…" Jack scoffed and although it was supposed to sound a little bit angry, it came out like a happy yip.

"We know you do." Tooth stuck out her tongue.

Before Jack was able to add something, the phone in his hand vibrated. He quickly directed his eyes down at his palms under the desk. It was a new message from Hiccup.

Jack's heart was beating very fast. He was kind of nervous… How Hiccup would react to that? How Jack wanted for Hiccup to react to this? Maybe he wanted to read a little praise? Sarcastic comment? A happy emoji?

He clicked the new message icon.

CONGRATULATIONS! I knew you would do it! =DDDDDDDDD. I'm so proud of you.

Jack wondered if Hiccup was currently grinning while looking at his phone. The white haired teen was definitely doing it. Then he read the last sentence one more time. Then he reread it twice and thrice.

Proud. Hiccup was proud of him. The biggest nerd of the school was proud of him. One of the nicest person he ever met (although the kindest was sprinkled with a maybe not too small dose of sarcasm) was proud of him. Even though half of it (or maybe two thirds, if not three quarters) was Hiccup's work, he was still proud of him. It kind of made Jack feel amazingly nice.

His fingers quickly danced on the keyboard, writing a reply.

You did almost all of the work. I only wrote the test D:

Because this seemed right. It was Hiccup who had prepared exercises, explained to him thoroughly step after step what he should be doing, walked to his house, spent hour after hour correcting Jack's mistakes (but still without being mean), helped Jack get over his stress. It was a lot of work to do. Jack just simply took it all with only simple 'thanks' as a show of gratitude. This wasn't right.

Professor Black returned to his desk and directed his cunning, dark and piercing eyes at all his students. When he acted like that Jack knew he won't be able to write freely on his phone. And he didn't plan getting on Black's dark side, especially after receiving such good grade. The Professor definitely didn't have cookies there. So when his phone vibrated, announcing new message, he had to hide it in his pocket.

When Fishlegs called him in the afternoon on the Skype, Hiccup had no problem with telling everything that happened at the twins' party. He only hid one thing – Jack mumbling in his sleep, but that something only he and Aster knew about then. Not to mention Aster told him that it was a private matter and Hiccup knew how soft those topics were.

"Yeah, Ruff's and Tuff's party are something I definitely don't miss…" Said the boy on the other line, sniffing a little at the end. "Although they called me and invited me, but you know… six hours of driving to be on a party that I don't enjoy? No, thank you~." "Yeah, totally understand you…" Hiccup mumbled, bored, staring at the screen, where Fishlegs was playing a game and was sharing the screen with him. "Not to mention, I don't think you ever want to see Astrid puking. Seriously, this scared me to death. I thought I would have had a heart attack!"

The boy giggled and then shouted something, when his enemy put some card out. Fishlegs already had few minions in front of his hero, but they were very weak.

Although one had taunt, so this was a small plus on Fishlegs' side.

"I suppose…" The boy was silent for few minutes. He was looking carefully through his cards. He then placed two in front of himself and started attacking the enemy.

After that he finished his round. "It kind of does not surprise me. I mean, it was bound to happen one day."

"You're not helping, Fishlegs…" Hiccup stated as he leaned on his chair. He minimalized the Skype's tab, too bored of watching Fishlegs' play. If something would happen then Hiccup would deduce it from the cry of joy or sadness coming from his headphone.

"Hey, it was Astrid who helped you when you got drunk on this one party so you could say that you are even…"

Hiccup bit his bottom lip hard, feeling the blush returning to his cheek. Oh yeah, Astrid also had spent some beautiful moments with him in the toilet, but only on the next day, not at the actual party.

"You make one mistake and everyone reminds you about it." He mumbled, sweeping through some tabs not really interested in any of them. Maybe he should watch some series? There was a new episode of Parks and Recreation. But he wasn't really in a mood.

"Yeah, because no one expected this from you… By the way, it's not like everyone reminds you about it, it's only us." Fishlegs then yelled happily. Hiccup had to guess his attack was effective against the enemy.

"It makes me feel so better that Ruff and Tuff bring it back every time we meet." Hiccup sighed. This was going nowhere. He wanted to loosen up, not get angry at himself for something that happened few months ago. It was all water over the dam. He should move forward.

Hiccup brought back Fishlegs' tab to see him sending a final attack on his minion with charge. The screen burst with fireworks and Fishlegs' hero swirled in the center of it, showing that he had just leveled up. Hiccup played this game from time to time. He wasn't very good at games that required skills with keyboard and mousepad so every FPS was out of the question. Survivals were also too difficult. But logic games were okay.

Hiccup actually liked games, but he preferred to watch other people play it. Maybe that was why Fishlegs called him whenever he bought new game.

But his friend never played any horror games. Fantasy and RPG were genres Astrid and Fishlegs played (with Hiccup as an onlooker), but horror? Not so much. Not to mention that Hiccup was a little… just a tini-tiny… a little bit…scared of playing one. He could never even sit till the end of a horror movie with Astrid without hiding behind the quilt or suddenly excusing himself to hide in the toilet. But this was Astrid he was talking (erm, thinking?) about! She knew how he behaved. But Jack… well, Hiccup didn't know if he wanted to show this part of himself. It was kind of embarrassing. But well, some sacrifices had to be made.

"Hey Hiccup."

He hummed, leaning his face on his hand and staring at the screen.

"What about Jack's test? Shouldn't they get results soon?"

Hiccup quickly straightened up, feeling some weird spark running through his spine (the one he often feltwhen he finds a way to solve some exercise). He moved the chair closer, suddenly remembering that he didn't answer Jack last message. He was too preoccupied with dinner - who could blame him?

"He passed!" The auburn haired teen chirped. Wasn't he too loud? Well, his father wasn't home, so he could be as loud as he could be. "Even with a B+!"

"That's great!"

It really was. Hiccup felt super happy about it. It wasn't even that he felt accomplished (he kind of did, but it was only a small percentage of the true feeling). It's just felt really nice to know that the hard work wasn't in vain, that they were able to cut through this wall, this barrier that was standing in Jack's way. Almost like it was an activation energy, and Jack was finally able to overcome it for chemical reaction to happen. Hiccup was just a helpful catalyst. It was Jack who did all the work. Maybe Aster was right. Maybe they really were friends. Hiccup couldn't explain his happiness any other way. He often got very excited when his friends were able to overcome some difficulty, no matter if this was a test or afear of birds.

"Yeah, it really is."

"Maybe you should become a teacher? You know, with your experience in learning it wouldn't be too hard."

"After tutoring Snotlout? Please, I'm too terrified to have similar students to him." Hiccup waved his hand, even though he knew Fishlegs couldn't see him.

"You still didn't tell my why? I only know that you were always mad after those lessons."

Hiccup shuddered remembering all of that. Maybe those lessons wouldn't be so bad if Snotlout wasn't so stubborn and they wouldn't start yelling at each other every time they hit some wall. Seriously, those lessons were the most exhausting exercises he ever had. And he thought trying to determining the molecular weight of a substance using cryoscopy method* was difficult.

"No, just… no…" His hands massaged his temples, feeling that he could get a headache any second now, just remembering those times. "Let me forget about that." Fishlegs giggled and turned on another match.

"When we are on topic of forgetting about something… you asked your father about New Year, right?"

It took some time for clutch in Hiccup's mind to start working properly, but then he opened his mouth, when he felt it turning softly. The cloves in the racks were in a

synch.

"Oh yeah, I did. Quite some time ago, but forgot to tell you, sorry. He totally agreed." Hiccup said, feeling the corners of his mouth moving upwards.

The case was that their small group wanted to spend the New Year Eve together. At first Ruffnut, Tuffnut and Snotlout whined about not going to some kind of loud club, where they could drink even more alcohol, but Hiccup knew they would stick with them, even if this meant camping at the twins' house and playing some games. So in relation to this Fishlegs asked if he could stay at Hiccup's house for three days during their small holiday. His father agreed immediately. It wasn't very often that Hiccup got guest over their house. Not to mention they hadn't seen each other since Summer Holidays, and talking on Skype almost every week was great… but not as great as sitting in front of the monitor together and watching or playing something.

"Cool, I can't wait for it! I haven't seen you guys in so long!" Fishlegs' voice dripped with childish happiness. The sound and tone of it reminded Hiccup a little bit of Jack. And – uh oh – he still hadn't answered his last message.

Jack sighed heavily, as he finally crossed the doorway to his house. When his friend from Middle School had asked him if he wanted to meet, he couldn't just say no . Apparently a small meeting for two turned into a small meeting for six. And even though it was pretty cold outside (cold enough outside for a jacket), the small group moved to the court to play some basketball. Jack wasn't very good at it, but he had an infinite amount of energy in his veins. Not to mention he needed some kind of movement to release the last pollens of tension longing on his muscles from the day's stress.

So when he finally returned home, it was already evening and he was drenched with sweat. But he had never felt better. Especially when he was returning home with good news.

Emma and North both reacted as Jack expected. Maybe even worse, but worse in the good way. Emma tried to remain as stoic as possible and only rolled her eyes, scoffing that she knew that this would happen (because duh! Hiccup), but the twitches of her lips told Jack that she was trying hard not to smile at him. Not to mention the small imps of happiness and pride growing in her eyes couldn't be hidden from the outside world.

North, on the other side, let out a loud shout mixed with a sigh. His cheeks quickly turned red and eyes teared up a little bit, when he hugged Jack so hard he was scared that his ribs would break underneath. The hug lasted long and when Emma rolled her eyes one more time, she was forced to participate.

It was an Overland tradition, anyway. Not that Emma had any other choice.

North hugged them for almost five minutes, until he finally released both of them and they were able to take a proper, yet a little aching in the chest, breath.

North told them he would order some food in small celebration. Had it not been so late, Jack would have grabbed the reins and done some significant dinner..

He walked then to his room, where he decided to wait for the take-out. He threw his sport bag near his bed on which he himself slumped down, face first. His muscles relaxed immediately. His mind even started slowly to drift away and Jack had to try really hard to not fall asleep so soon. His body needed rest, but he wanted to catch up on the laptop with his friends and some cartoons.

With a groan he rolled on his bed and stared at the ceiling, where white snowflakes were glued. He and Emma had made them few years ago, when his sister was forced to stay at home with a smallpox. At first Jack had hung them to please his sister, but then he had decided he liked the result. It gave this room a nice cold feeling even in the summer. Not to mention his nickname - Frost - fitted well with this decoration.

Jack closed his eyes, sighing heavily. He didn't know that he could be so happy about getting a simple B+. Of course, sometimes he received good grades from other subjects - he even got few A from Geography and English – but this one was on a different level. Almost like he beat some kind of mid-level boss. It tingled his nerves, lulling his body in this dream of accomplishment. But he wouldn't have done it without Hiccup.

Jack opened his eyes. His one hand travelled to his pants, where he searched for his phone. When he found it, he checked it for new messages. He had two. One from his football teammate and second from Sandy. Not one from Hiccup – and now it was the smaller teen time to reply.

He surprisingly found himself awaiting, maybe even anticipating the message. Talking with his other friends via phone's messages was okay, but with Hiccup it was slightly different. Jack never knew how Hiccup would respond. It was like a neverending mystery. Not to mention Jack felt that Hiccup was a little more open while writing (or maybe it was only his imagination?). Yet, every message was written in very Hiccupish style. They rarely had any typos, began with a big letter and often finished with a full stop (totally different from Jack's messy ones). However the emoticons surprised him. He didn't expect Hiccup to actually use them. He read the remaining two messages, answered them and then left his phone somewhere on his bed.

The white haired teen hadn't been able to see Hiccup at all today. It wasn't like there was an urge inside of him to see the boy, but he was interested in his reaction. Would

Hiccup welcome him with a big, toothy grin? Would he pat him on the back? Or maybe he would do a sarcastic remark? Judging by his messages, he was also happy for Jack, but he wanted to see it with his very own eyes.

Did Hiccup feel accomplished too? Was he feeling really, really proud? Did he tell Astrid about it? Did he had those small sparks in his eyes while speaking about it?

Jack was very curious. He could finally take a proper breath and it was all thanks to the small boy.

He should thank him, but there was a giant problem clawing its nails at the back of

Jack's mind. He didn't know how to do that? How should he thank him? Words weren't enough (not to mention he kind of already thanked him), plus Hiccup probably would say that it was enough for him, but Jack didn't think so. He wanted to show more of his gratitude somehow. But how? Maybe with some kind of present? A book? Jack knew that Hiccup liked reading, but he didn't know which books he had already read. This one… what it was… Oh! 1984 - was out of the question, but maybe he would buy something similar. No… there was a chance Hiccup had read it and Jack wasn't good at asking questions with hints nor did he plan to ask it straightforward.

But any other present seemed dim. Chocolate box? Just plain, not to mention Hiccup had told him that he didn't like chocolate too much. He ate some from time to time, but only when he really wanted to. So that was out. Maybe some different candy? A bouquet? Well, that sounded girly, beside Jack is against giving cut flowers. Where was the fun in that? Here, have these dying flowers, so you can stare as they die more slowly and painfully? Nu huh.

Jack groaned and threw his hands in the air. What to do? What to do…

Well, definitely lying down wouldn't help him, so he sat up. He waited for few minutes for the world to stop spinning and he stood up. He turned his computer on. While he waited for it to open every program, he busied himself with humming.

Asking the internet for his problem seemed dumb. By the way, it wasn't that he totally had no idea, he just didn't think that the ones he thought up were good enough. Jack was a pro in people interaction, but there was some walls that he simply couldn't destroy. But maybe his friends could help him. He opened the group Aster and Tooth formed quite some time ago on Facebook and asked them about ideas.

Neither of them were online, but it didn't bug him too much.

The doorbell rang. reminding him that he was actually pretty hungry.

He wanted to get up, but one small green icon caught his interest. Astrid. She was online.

They never ever talked on Facebook. Now Jack wasn't even sure who sent the friend invitation first, but he had a foggy recollection that it happened a year ago, when the soccer and basketball team shared once a bus when they were both going to the intercity games.

"Jack, food is here!" North shouted. His voice was very audible even if the door to Jack's room was closed.

"In a minute!" He yelled back. His hand hovered above the mouse.

To write, or not to write? Astrid was Hiccup's best friend. She probably knew more about him than Jack did (but what could he expect after knowing someone for only two weeks?). But wouldn't it seem weird? Maybe a little, but Jack really wanted to do something in return.

"Jack!" This time Emma shouted from the downstairs. She was probably hungry and the Overlands' started dinner together (or almost always together). "Come on!" Jack rolled his eyes, smiling under his nose. It would serve her right for allowing Jack to hit his knee in the bathroom, when she had told him the wrong time when Hiccup was visiting.

But he was kind of really, terribly hungry too, so he opened the tab and wrote a message.

Astrid, I need to ask you something D:

Hiccup yawned, as he stretched his arm above his head. Waking up was never easy for him.

Astrid was walking next to him, humming some tune under her nose. She was in a surprisingly good mood. Her mouth was turned upwards, what rarely happened those days. Even the rain that was pouring on them didn't dissolve her smile.

Albeit suspicious, Hiccup was more interested in keeping the umbrella above his head and not let it wander around.

"You would think winter means snow here." The smaller teen said, looking up at the gray sky. The sun was fully hidden behind the heavy, dense clouds. It looked like it wasn't going to stop raining anytime soon.

"Not before the heavy amount of good ol' rain here." Astrid picked up the topic, still smiling to herself. Seriously what put her in so good mood?

Hiccup didn't really know what to add, so they walked in that weird, comfortable notreally-silence floating around them. For Hiccup it was weird, because Astrid was this neverending reaction – always babbling about something, coming up with new conversations. Of course they sat or spent time in silence, but never for very long and usually at their houses, when they were doing their own respective things. But outside it was totally different thing.

"Okay, Astrid, what is on your mind? You act weird…" Hiccup finally confronted her, when they were close enough to see the school building.

The girl swished her head in his direction and their umbrellas clashed, sending small droplets of water to the ground. Some person behind them sighed heavily. It looked like they wet this someone a little bit by their sudden movement.

"Me? Nothing is on my mind." She said, but her white teeth were pretty visible, even though she seemed to attempt to hide them. But it was almost impossible not to see the pink color of phenolphthalein in an alkaline environment*, even if you dilute it.

"Anyway I've been thinking of watching something in cinema. You know what they're playing?"

Astrid? Cinema? She wanted to watch a movie? This was all going slowly into one direction. But it was a little bit too early to draw any conclusion. Maybe she really wanted to watch something in cinema?

"I'm not sure…" Hiccup started, not really knowing what to say more. "Anything specific?"

The girl sighed, her free hand brushed away the fringe from her forehead. The person behind them passed them, not glancing in their direction.

"I don't know. I was only thinking that maybe we should watch something. We haven't been inside a cinema for like… three years?"

Hiccup was confused a little bit. Why so sudden change of mind?

"That is because you are always pissed at the prices of tickets. Not to mention for half of the movie you complain about too salty popcorn and for the rest about the ce in your coke!"

Astrid chuckled and accidentally stepped into very big puddle that formed overnight. She cursed loudly, which in return made Hiccup snicker at her reaction. "Yeah, I know. I don't know why, but I want to watch something. So what do you recommend?" Astrid murmured, looking at her now wet shoes.

Hiccup felt that this wasn't really the truth. He knew Astrid too well, but… He had seen her also devouring a bowl full of caramel popcorn (even though she hated caramel popcorn) once, due to her having period so… yeah. No judging here!

"Well… there is Gravity which I think may be okay… and Elysium which could be cool too. But if you're really interested then there are also Now You See me or Prisoners." Hiccup slowly started to list the titles from memory. He loved watching movies, so he more or less knew what was currently on the screens.

"I'm not up for thrillers lately. Maybe we should watch something you want?" Astrid asked, looking right at him.

Okay, seriously, now this was bizarre. What game was she playing? Because Hiccup was now one hundred percent sure that Astrid didn't really want to go to cinema. "Astrid, stop fooling around. What is your problem?" Hiccup questioned her, lifting his eyebrow. They were very close to the school by then.

"Me?" Astrid eyes widened hearing it. "I have no problem. Who is talking about problems anyway!? You must be delusional!"

Hiccup rolled his eyes. He knew Astrid - she definitely was planning something, but he knew he was also unable to make her speak at this very moment. But she would do it, sooner or later, consciously or not. Hiccup only had to push the right buttons, add the right ingredients to have the correct compound for precipitating. So for now, he left that topic.

"Okay, suit yourself." The auburn haired teen finally said, climbing up the stairs to the school building. As he stood under a small roof, he moved his umbrella away and shook it, trying to not wet anyone in that process.

Astrid moved after him, standing near and shaking her umbrella too. Then they both closed their umbrellas and moved to the front glass door.

Okay, so he said something about Gravitation or Gravity actually… and… Elysium I suppose xP? He told me something about Now You See Me, but I think he only mentioned it because of me ._.

Okay, Jack was slowly going somewhere. He could guess that Hiccup was into that kind of movies - like sci-fi or overly complicated ones.

Plan was really simple. He wanted to take Hiccup to the movies as a show of his gratitude. But this wasn't all, of course not. Jack planned to invite Aster along too. Maybe it would look weird for the people outside, but then he could always explain that the taller teen simply tagged along because he was bored. It wasn't like he would be a third wheel, because Hiccup and Jack weren't in a relationship. Or more like Jack would be a third wheel? Kind of. But it was worth it. Hiccup deserved it.

Jack quickly looked the times for those two movies. They were both played close to each other at Saturday afternoon. Perfect. Too perfect. Now he only has to ask them.

Hiccup was actually an easier matter. From what Astrid had told him, Hiccup usually had free weekends, unless someone asked him out to hang out. But neither Astrid nor the twins nor Snotlout planned anything so he should be free.

The problem was Aster, because even though Jack knew more about whether he was doing anything this weekend (for now Aster wasn't doing much), he couldn't know whether something wouldn't crop up. Aster's father was a vet with his own clinic that was next to his house and because of that they often were opened all day and all night. Aster often helped him there too. It had happened few times in the past – the fact that Aster had to cancel the meeting because he needed to help his father. Jack could only hope that it wouldn't happen this weekend. Nevertheless he took his phone and wrote a quick message to Aster. He was faster to look at his phone than Facebook or Skype.

Hey, doing anything on Saturday? =DDD

Hiccup, on the other side, Jack planned to ask on the next day. They were supposed to act like a pair, so it should be normal to ask your boyfriend out in the corridor, right? This was normal. He actually had done it few times in the past. But this time… it was kind of different. Jack couldn't point out why.

His phone vibrated, just as he was clicking on another page on the monitor.

Nope. Have something on your mind?

Oh, Jack did. He really did.

He was going to do it. It was the perfect time. Everyone knew that lunch pauses were the best time to ask someone out. Or at least movies and books told him so.

Jack was sitting on the edge of his chair as he stared at the clock above the blackboard. Just four more minutes, maybe not even four full minutes but three minutes and… forty-six seconds! Yes, that seemed right.

There was a weird feeling inside his stomach. It was definitely the excitement he felt whenever he planned something with his friends. But the normal happiness was accompanied by something different. A small stress flooded his stomach. Jack never felt nervous while making plans with Aster, or Tooth, or the rest of his friends, but now it was different. The problem was that he didn't know why it was different. It almost felt like a small imitation of the first time he asked a girl out on a date, but it was ridiculous. He kind of was asking Hiccup on a date, but they both knew it wasn't like that. Maybe Jack was just scared of his reaction? That seemed right. Jack couldn't guess how Hiccup would react. Would he smile? Maybe. Would he sigh very heavily? Totally possible. Maybe he wouldn't even smile or wouldn't even hear him, too preoccupied by something different? It could really happen. So that was probably the case. Or at least Jack though so… Never mind, it wasn't so important.

Astrid had told him the previous dayon Facebook that they both she and Hiccup would be moving to the cafeteria, so Jack had high chances of catching them while doing the same. They were walking from the same direction anyway. He planned to catch them and ask Hiccup for few minutes of private talk and then… bam!

The bell rang above their heads. Jack literally jumped from his seat and unfortunately hit his knee on the desk quite painfully. A few supplies danced on the surface and fell down. Tooth yelped next to him, freaked out by his outburst.

"You okay?" She asked, raising her eyebrow while standing up and packing her things.

"Yeah, totally." Jack gasped, massaging his hurt knee, while bending and collecting his things. He threw his pencils and rubber inside his bag.

Tooth was already done, waiting for him to finish with a warm, kind smile. They moved to the door, saying goodbyes to the teacher before exiting the classroom.

The corridor was swarmed with people trying to get to the cafeteria to get lunch. The crowd was so dense it was almost impossible to walk at normal pace, so they decided to wait a little bit. Astrid and Hiccup always were the last to walk into the cafeteria anyway.

People were passing them in quite happy moods, even though the world outside was as gray as dirty snow. Jack didn't really mind it, rain was fine too. It refreshed the air outside, not to mention it meant that he could play outside with Emma in puddles. Funny thing was that it was usually Jack who had to drag his sister out and not the other way around.

When there were clearances in the river of people, they joined the stream. Tooth started talking about some sleepover she was invited to with her friends from Biology club, but Jack listened to her with only one ear. The second one searched for Astrid's or Hiccup's voice. It looked like the smaller girl didn't really mind as she was babbling wildly and excitedly while swinging her hands from side to side.

Jack finally found his goal almost near the entrance. They were now at the end of the stream, because Jack was slowing down their pace. And indeed, Astrid and Hiccup were walking at the end, talking softly to each other.

Jack lifted his hand.

"Astrid, Hiccup, hey!"

The blonde lifted her head pretty quickly, because she expected it. Hiccup was a little bit slower to react. He looked at Jack with slightly widened eyes and hanging open mouth, but then he shrugged and moved closer.

"Hey Jack!" Astrid waved her arms wildly, grinning like a small lion. "And hey Tooth! How are you feeling?"

The rainbow colored girl caught up to the duet and greeted them with a smile.

"Well, now I'm feeling fine. Definitely better than on Saturday. How about you?"

"I'm back alive, as you can see." Astrid brushed the fringe away from her forehead. She glanced quickly at Jack.

The white haired teen cleared his throat, with one hand put behind his back. Hiccup looked at him.

"Everything's okay?" He lifted one of his eyebrow. That movement made his glasses slip a little bit down.

"Yes, yes, perfectly fine. Actually I wanted to find you. Do you have a minute?" Jack asked, feeling the corners of his mouth stretching in a grin.

"Umm sure… but…" Hiccup started, to be almost immediately stopped by Astrid jumping onto his arm.

"Don't worry about us. Tooth and I will wait for you in the cafeteria! Right?" She then turned to the slightly out of place girl.

Nevertheless Tooth nodded. It even looked like she was quite happy to be able to spend some time and chat with the blonde girl. Astrid then walked to the girl and took her under her arm. She waved back at Jack and Hiccup and they both moved to the opened door of canteen.

Jack waited till they disappeared inside the room. They were left alone in the empty corridor.

Hiccup crossed his arms over his chest. He was smirking at Jack.

"Okay, spill the beans." His cunning eyes were drilling right into Jack's own.

"What beans? I'm not hiding anything." Kind of. But that was beside the point. "And I really need to talk to you. Are you free this Saturday?" He asked, feeling the specks of electricity running through his veins. His one hand maneuvered to the back of his head. Seriously, why was he being so nervous?

"Gee, no I'm playing with my hardcore metal band in my garage." Hiccup said in a very serious tone. For a second Jack almost believed him, but the sudden roll of the smaller boy's eyes told him that he'd guessed right. "I'm not doing anything. Why do you ask?"

They heard steps and not soon after two tenth graders passed them, running to the cafeteria. Maybe a teacher had asked them to stay a little bit after the bell? Totally possible. They glanced at them, but then returned to their journey in mighty need to find not so edible food.

"Because I'm taking you out!"

Hiccup's eyebrows flew high onto his forehead, as the boy changed weight to his other leg.

"Oookay…" He finally said, weirdly quietly while prolonging the first letter. His voice was pretty skeptical. "Why?"

It was now Jack's time to roll his eyes. His hand, with the locks at the back of his head until then, moved to his pockets.

"Because duuh, I want to?" He said, tilting his head and gracing his companion with a playful grin. "Do I need a reason to hang out?"

Hiccup was staring at him, as though he were searching for something in Jack's posture, some missing x that he really wanted to know. But it seemed like he hadn't quite managed, as his arms slumped down and he sighed heavily, finally pushing his glasses higher. Defeated – one point on Jack's side.

"Okay, I'm free." He finally grumbled, it sounded like it pained him to do so. "So what are we doing exactly?"

Jack was all jittery inside. He felt like someone was blowing bubbles inside his stomach. Very excited bubbles that now floated around his body. He could say it all now. It was so easy, but where was the fun in it? No to mention, he wanted to tease the smaller teen a little still. "It's a surprise!" Jack said, putting both hands behind his back and balancing on his heels. "So 3 p.m. is good?"

Hiccup rolled his eyes (one more time, just how many times had he done it today already? Jack wasn't sure), but nodded then, pushing his backpack higher with a slight shove.

"Okay."

"Great, meet me in front of the Burgess Plaza?"

Hiccup looked at him skeptically, tilting his head to the side. He looked like a small crow, staring at something interesting yet keeping his distance, not daring to move closer, scanning the ground for a safe step to take.

Yet he didn't dare to make his move.

"Mhhhmmm sure. Now can we go get food?"

Hiccup would have lied had he said he wasn't curious. He moreover knew Jack was taking him to the cinema, because – hello? - who wouldn't guess it after Astrid asked him about the movie titles. So that was the easy part. The hard one could be problematic. He was curious as to why Jack was doing it.

Hiccup had some suspicions. Some of them more positive and some of them negative. But the bad ones he quickly brushed away from his mind. Jack was a very nice person, he wouldn't have askedhim out to stand him up. Not to mention, he looked genuinely happy to hang out with Hiccup - what was admittedly very surprising.

What was even more unforeseen was the fact that Hiccup… wanted to go. He anticipated Saturday - not in the way that's not allowing you to sleep at night, not in the way that makes you all jittery, not in the way that doesn't let you eat. He just felt happy while thinking about it.

A few times he had tried to nudge Jack during messages' conversation to spill his plans, but he always somehow busted Hiccup's traps. How he had been able able to sense them was beyond Hiccup's mind comprehension. Slyas a fox.

Now it was Friday afternoon and he was laying on his bed, with his laptop on his lap, watching a new episode of Supernatural. Well, the episode was on in the background, Hiccup wasn't really paying it much attention. He was playing with his phone, circling it and awaiting a reply, in the meantime conversing with Fishlegs and Astrid on Skype. Toothless napped peacefully next to his thigh. Hiccup stroked his head softly.

His phone buzzed.

Emma switched off the bathroom light while I was washing my face. I tell you she is evil D:! For a second I though I'd gone blind! （ｉДｉ）

Hiccup giggled under his nose as he turned on the reply tab. Sam on the screen said something, but Hiccup's ears didn't quite catch what.

I don't know what you mean. She is sweet =D.

Hiccup wasn't good with kids. He must say that he even avoided them. Whenever some small child approached him, he got very stiff. Astrid told him that it would disappear with time, but Hiccup really doubted it.

Emma wasn't really a child, but not a teenager either, yet Hiccup could say that he was really fond of her. Maybe it was the way she was always able to take Jack down a peg. The auburn haired teen had to admit that it was pretty impressive.

Not for me! She iz eviiiiiil, I tell you Hic, evillllllll D:!

Maybe she learned from the better?

Hey! I'm not that bad! Annoying - yes, definitely, absolutely!* But not that bad (｀ε´)

I remember that you poured sugar into Principal's car's tank once. Tell me this is not evil :P.

No, that was a prank D:! Something funny! ヽ(ヅ)ノ

The Principle wasn't laughing at that. After a second Hiccup added. You weren't laughing either when you had detention after it.

Still worth it =D!

Hiccup rolled his eyes.

Talking with Jack was actually pretty fun. He replied fast (not as slowly as Astrid often did) and it was amusing to bicker through messages. Not to mention, it felt oddly natural and smooth. Talking through messages was easier for Hiccup. He had less problems with responding and speaking his mind. Of course, he was totally against talking about important things through messages, but they weren't doing it. It was only just a little small talk.

Sometimes (like exactly a minute and a half ago) he even found himself awaiting the reply. Unfortunately, it had happened few times in classes too. His teachers, even if they noticed, didn't say anything about it. Was it because he was a good student? Maybe. But still, he didn't really want to not listen during classes. It didn't seem right. So they talked more when they both were at homes.

Jack often had busy afternoons. Sometimes he had to take Emma for her afternoon Kung Fu classes, sometimes he was meeting with his friends and sometimes he had to help North at his shop. Jack wasn't one to sit at home doing nothing, yet whenever he had a chance he responded.

Was he doing it with everyone or only with Hiccup? Probably with everyone. Hiccup could imagine four of five messages on Jack's phone, awaiting a quick reply – Hiccup's own embedded between some of them. Nevertheless it was still nice.

There was a knock at his door.

"Hiccup, are you in here?" Came the loud voice of his father from the other side.

Hiccup stopped the half-watched episode (he would need to watch it one more time later) and snapped his head back at the door. His phone landed somewhere next to his pillow.

"Come in!" He said, raising his voice a little to be audible on the other side of the wooden surface.

The door creaked heavily when Stoick opened it. The sound woke Toothless up, causing him to glared at the intruder, but as if he decided it wasn't really worth it, he went back to sleep. Stoick didn't even notice as he walked inside with a troubled façade. It was strange, because Hiccup knew he hadn't done anything. So it meant it wasn't about him… but more about his father.

Stoick clasped his hands together and opened his mouth, but nothing came out. This looked like something much deeper.

Hiccup closed his laptop and propped himself up, leaning more comfortably onto the wall and making space for his father to sit on his bed. Stoick noticed it, because he moved and slumped down. The bed's leg howled painfully under the weight, but withstood it.

For few seconds, maybe even minutes, Stoick only sat there with his hands on his knees and eyes staring at the open door. His beard moved, like he was mumbling something to himself, but no words came out. He got rid of the suit he needed to wear, leaving him only in a white shirt that wrinkled all over his back. Stoick was tense and Hiccup didn't know what to do. Such great son he was…

No, during last few weeks it had been Stoick making efforts, now was Hiccup's turn to do it. It might be awkward or odd, be he at least has to try.

"So…" Hiccup cleared his throat. "What's up?"

Stoick turned to him and through his tired eyes shone small particles of amusement. Had Hiccup said something wrong? He just wanted to start a conversation.

"Are you asking about work or…?"

So, this was it. His whole father. He hated to beat around the bush. Stoick preferred to be straightforward with everything. But they never really talked about very important things, so Hiccup didn't know whether he should just ask or not. Guess the first option was better.

"Okay, never mind. What's troubling you?" Stoick smiled at him.

"That's way better." Then he put his hands on his knees and took a deep breath, probably trying to let the pressure fly away. "So you remember when we talked about my friend on Sunday ?"

Hiccup remembered well. "The one that gave you some problems. Yes, I remember. And what did you do? Did you agree on a meeting?"

Somehow the idea of his father meeting with someone that caused him trouble wasn't too appealing for Hiccup. His father was big, bulky, strong, muscular, brave and could take care of himself, and yet Hiccup just couldn't stop worrying. Because with all these features, came the short temper – not as good as the previous ones. Hiccup knew that if someone would push even the smallest button inside Stoick's head, he would burst out like a dynamite. And his father didn't need any more problems.

"Not really. Although I replied him, not really saying 'no' or 'yes' to his proposition."

"And?" Hiccup moved a little bit closer.

"He said he'd received a pass for two weeks and wanted to meet up with old friends during the upcoming holidays."

Okay, so this sounded quite normal. Hiccup didn't know about the past, but maybe that could happen? Yet, Stoick didn't look convinced. Hiccup wanted to ask why his Father's friend was sent to jail, but found himself not asking about it. He only hoped it wasn't something very bad.

He was opening his mouth to speak, when Stoick continued:

"And I wanted to ask what you advise me to do…"

Stoick asked him for an advice. Hiccup felt the complex of pride and sadness nucleating inside his stomach. He had been awaiting this moment, wanted his father to ask him about something important, but with it came the sudden weight of responsibility. This wasn't a simple query about dinner or where to go on vacation. This was more complicated, some weird arduous differential equation. Yet Hiccup wanted to try really hard to help his father.

"Okay, this will be my point of view, so you don't have to listen to me or anything like that…" Stoick stared at him, his eyes drilling holes inside Hiccup's head, yet it looked like the man anticipated the next words. "I don't know what happened between you guys. I don't know if that was very bad or not. But… I don't know. I have a feeling that if you really didn't want to meet him, you would just disagree, but you didn't. So some part of you has already forgiven him…" For what, Hiccup wasn't sure. Stoick scrunched his nose. It looked like Hiccup had misused some word. "Okay, maybe not forgiven then. So maybe you're just curious? I mean, he was your friend, it's totally natural to want to hear from him." At least Hiccup though so. Stoick beard moved, like he mulled this idea in his mouth.

"So, you're advising me to meet him?" He finally asked, the unsure tones ringing at the end of his sentence.

Was he really doing it? To be honest Hiccup wasn't sure what the best option here was. Not to mention he didn't really want to make such one-sided choices – yes or no, good or bad – because he didn't have all hints as to how to answer properly. But it looked like his father needed it, some kind of guide, some kind of voice from the outside world, some kind of push.

In life there are many uncomfortable choices and moments, Hiccup knew he needed to get used to some of them.

"I think so? I mean, otherwise you would be regretting not meeting him. But if you meet him and then decide to never do it again, then what stops you from doing just that?" Hiccup pushed away the bangs from his forehead. There were a few droplets of sweat on it.

Stoick turned his head, staring at the wall and half-open door. There was a huge wrinkle on his forehead that twitched whenever he scrunched his nose or moved his mouth. His eyes were focused on something in the distance, but Hiccup knew there was an enormous thinking process inside his brain right now.

Hiccup waited patiently, patting Toothless and glancing at his father from time to time. He anticipated the answer Stoick would give. It kind of depended on what Hiccup just told him, so he couldn't help but be curious as to whether Stoick would consider it.

Then after maybe three or four minutes the bulky man turned to him and nodded.

"I think I will follow your advice. You're right, I can just fully stop keeping in touch him if the meeting doesn't please me." Then his bear moved upwards. It looked like he smiled a little. "Thanks…"

Hiccup felt some spark of satisfaction appearing inside his stomach. He really did it, he managed to help his father, even if only a little bit!

"N-no problem." And of course, he stuttered. He wasn't even surprised. He just felt really… really glad. "Happy to be any help."

Stoick nodded one more time, probably showing that he acknowledged what Hiccup just said.

"I'm glad I asked you. Now I need to do some small work…"

The man stood up and moved to the door. He caught the fake golden handle, but before he exited the room, he turned on his heels and looked at Hiccup.

The auburn haired boy had his laptop already on his lap with hand glued to his phone.

"Hiccup… did something happen?" He finally asked, now weirdly silencing the mighty tone of his voice.

Hiccup was confused by this question. It was Stoick who had a problem, not his son, so he slowly shook his head.

"No, nothing that I can think of…" He said, trying to remember something from the last week that may have made his father think something was wrong, but found nothing. This week was weirdly uneventful in a very nice way.

"Good, good. It's just… you seemed very happy for the last few days and I wondered if something happened to you… or maybe, you know, you found someone…" Stoick one more time clasped his hands together, letting go of the handle. His eyes were on Hiccup, yet he had a feeling that the man wanted to look somewhere else. Was his father… flustered? No, this couldn't be true. But the way he said that… And the meaning of his sentence…

Oh gosh, oh gosh, Bernoulli*, was it reality? Had Stoick just asked whether Hiccup had a date?

"No! No, no, no, no!" Hiccup's hands waved protectively in front of him. His phone landed somewhere on the keyboard, clicking few buttons and changing the tab in the process. "No, I don't have a date!" Oh, this sounded even weirded coming out of his mouth. "I'm just meeting a friend tomorrow and you could say that I'm… pretty excited about it!" His face was definitely as red as burning strontium*. "But this is not a date!"

Well, that should be a date for everyone else from the school, but not for them. Or at least this was what Hiccup thought. But no, of course, in his mind it wasn't a date. A meeting? Probably?

"Okay, sure, sure, that's fine. But if it were a date, it'd be fine too!" Stoick looked as uncomfortable as Hiccup probably did. His face was also tinted with soft pink hues.

"Do I know him?"

"No. I mean kind of yes? It's this guy I was helping with Math…" Had Hiccup even told his father Jack's name? He wasn't sure. Probably not. Maybe he should change it. "His name is Jackson Overland."

Stoick's mouth formed a thin line. He nodded slowly, but still averted the small teen's gaze.

"Oh okay, so I hope you'll have a good time anyway. If it's not a date… but if it is, I

also wish for you to have a good time."

Hiccup couldn't believe the conversation he was having right now. Maybe if he weren't so embarrassed and terrified by it, he would have started laughing. But right then, he just wanted to hide his face in the pillow and scream.

Yet, there was something endearing in his father trying so hard to wish him a happy time. So Hiccup held these mixed emotions inside of him and put on a smile.

"It's not a date, but thanks…"

Stoick stopped looking everywhere but at him and he finally looked at Hiccup's face. He probably noticed the giant blush immediately, but didn't comment on that.

"O-okay then. Dinner will be ready in thirty minutes."

"Okay."

And with that his father finally left his room, glancing one more time at Hiccup.

When he was left alone with Toothless, he took a deep breath, that he hoped could help him calm his nerves, but it actually didn't do its job properly. So Hiccup slumped down on his bed, now fully lying down. His laptop was currently warming up his stomach, where the screen blinked with new messages from Astrid and Fishlegs.

Toothless hissed when the sweaty hand landed on his head, but didn't back away. It was a sign for Hiccup that he should pet him anyway. It wasn't a real date, right? No, definitely not. Jack wouldn't take Hiccup on a date. They were fake-dating, so it was a fake-date. Did something like that even exist? Ugh, it was all so complicated.

His other hand moved around the bed, until he found his phone lying somewhere near his hip. He lifted it to his face.

I told you, I told you! Just seconds ago she put pepper in my tea, she is grando eviiiiiil mastermind D:!

Hiccup could really imagine Emma doing it.

Stop being mean to her then D:!

On which side you're on? ): Shouldn't you be on your boyfriend's side rather than his sister's? ノಠ_ಠノ

Hiccup chuckled.

Maybe I would be on my real boyfriend's side, not fake one ;)

Touchee : Remember to bring me that awfully boring book m'kay? =D

The precious 1984 was lying faithfully on Hiccup's desk, just waiting to be grabbed on the next day. He couldn't wait for Jack to read it. That was if he read it at all, of course. But Hiccup would take care of that.

Even if he had to play those horror games he hated.

Jack knew that life was too perfect to be true. He knew it the day earlier when he was laying in his bed that everything was going too smoothly. He had everything planned in the evening. His evil plan was so good, so polished, and so ideal that it simply had to work. That was if Aster didn't destroy it first thing in the morning.

Jack woke up in a very good mood. Not to mention, very early for him. It didn't happen often for him to wake up at 9 am on a Saturday. Even North classified it as odd and did not fail to voice it loudly when Jack paraded into the kitchen to make himself some coffee.

"Everything okay, Jack?" He asked, lifting one his eyebrow from behind the newspaper held in his bear's hand. Emma gladly was still asleep.

"Yes, why do you ask?" Jack checked the kettle to see that it was still hot. So it meant that his father had been doing his coffee not too long ago. Great! He grabbed the jar with instant coffee and poured two tea spoons inside.

"You rarely wake up so early on Saturdays…"

Jack rolled his eyes, but the small grin tugged at the corner of his lips. He poured the water inside the cup and almost danced his way to the fridge, from which he took milk.

He still had time until 3 pm, quite plenty of time actually. But Jack felt like waking up early. He was afraid of oversleeping. Not to mention this way he still could do some things in the morning, like maybe start his homework…

Ugh, did he seriously just think about doing his homework? Hiccup must have been brushing on his mind too hard.

"I have plans for the afternoon, so I didn't want to oversleep." Humming softly, he added milk.

"Don't you ever have plans?" North playfully asked.

Jack had to agree with him. He rarely had free days – those free days when he was literally doing nothing, only sit in front of his computer. And some of the people liked those free days, Jack could really see the advantages of those days, it was just that… he preferred to do something other than sit all day in front of a computer. He loved to do it in late evenings, or maybe half of the night, but not all day! Maybe he had been born in the wrong century?

"You know me too well… but today is kind of different." Jack smirked under his nose. He then took a sip of his coffee. Perfect, just the way he liked it.

"Date?"

And the coffee went into the wrong hole inside his throat, blocking his breathing ability for few seconds. His eyes got watery as Jack desperately tried to redirect the flow of the fluid by coughing and hitting his chest very hard.

North was standing up to help him, but Jack waved at him to stay where he was.

"No…" Okay, Jack was able to take a short breath. "No need to do that…"

North's hit could break his spine. Jack liked his bones whole, without cracks. After a few more seconds, he was able to function more properly.

"No, Dad it's not a date…"

Well, not for him, but if his plan worked correctly then maybe it would transform into a date - date for Hiccup and Aster. Oh, Jack couldn't wait for that.

"Oh, my mistake." North chuckled. "It's just, the last time I saw you so joyful on a Saturday morning was when you were going on a date."

Jack smiled under his nose. He remembered those times as well. Even though all his past relationships ended and he was now a free man (maybe not so free), he still kept in touch with all his exes. He couldn't understand this hate that was spreading over the world when people ended their relationships. He could understand that maybe maintaining friendship could be hard after ending a relationship, but come on! Just because it didn't work out, it didn't mean he had to lose a friend.

But those times ended for him and now he was simply enjoying the fact that he was able to spend some time with his new friend. And maybe even do something special for him. Two people might even gain from it, which was even better in Jack's opinion. "Yeah…" Jack said with a small grin, because he didn't really know what else to add.

"It's just a meeting."

"Oh good, have fun then."

The white haired teen nodded and shuffled his feet in the direction of the stairs, planning to hide in his room and maybe really do his homework, when he was once again stopped by his father .

"Um hey, Jack. I forgot to tell you that Eris* called me yesterday. She sent you money for this month, so it should be on your account on Monday."

"Oh…" Jack felt as his stomach suddenly dropped. He heard this sentence so many times, that it didn't really affect his mood too much. But the sudden drop was still there. Guess it would never die. "Cool! This means I can buy caramel popcorn now." Every cloud has a silver lining. Jack simply could use this money for useful purposes. Not that games weren't useful. They really were. Maybe Jack should tell her to send the money directly to his Steam account? Nah, that was probably too much.

North looked at him disapproving, but his eyes glinted with a spark of amusement.

"What?" Jack asked, lifting his arms and putting his hands out with a smirk.

"Nothing. Buy that popcorn and enjoy yourself."

Jack returned to his room, humming something under his nose. He placed his coffee on the desk, turned on the computer and sat on the chair. He should make himself some breakfast, as he felt his stomach twist inside of him. But later.

When he turned on the Facebook, immediately a few chats opened. People just didn't give him a break and Jack loved it. He responded quickly to some of them. He had to refuse a meeting from Nod* - his friend from their last part-time job, but he quickly scheduled it for another week.

In the end he really started to do his homework. Seriously… what was happening to him? Maybe Hiccup was sending some weird nerd vibes that were washing his brain? With his weird scientific talk it could be totally possible.

Gladly he wasn't able to focus on it longer than two hours. After this very tedious and difficult time for his brain, which wasn't usually used to such heavy effort, he decided he needed a break. That could last till the evening (he didn't really plan the time with Hiccup to be strict).

The rest of the free time he spent playing, glancing at his phone from time to time to not lose track of time. It happened quite few times, so he had to be cautious. He didn't want to be late on their first fake-date that may turn into a date for Aster and Hiccup.

When it was time, he switched off his computer and moved to put his clothes on.

Everything was going too smoothly. He knew it was too good to be true when his phone blinked, announcing new message.

Jack finished putting on his shirt with a band logo on the front, as he crawled onto his bed to the phone lying near the pillow. He brushed the screen and opened the new message.

His stomach really dropped down, maybe even hit some obstacle and started drowning.

Sorry Frost, I can't meet you and Hiccup today. Emergency at my Dad's work. Some asshole shot a deer.

He almost could hear the crumbling sound of something breaking inside of him. This couldn't be happening. He had planned it all. He had wanted to meet with Hiccup, then Aster would come too and Jack planned on leaving them together. Of course, Jack was aware that nothing would happen between them, because he knew Aster too well and Hiccup didn't look like a person to make the first move, but… He just wanted to do something for Hiccup to thank him for his help.

But now half of the plan was ruined. That left only him and Hiccup. Jack wanted to meet with the auburn haired boy and talk, joke, laugh about dumb things, but it simply wasn't the same.

Jack was so glad it was supposed to be a surprise, because he wouldn't be able to stand seeing Hiccup's probably disappointed face, no matter how hard he tried to hide it.

However he was Jack 'Frost' Overland – the guy with a Master's degree in happiness, enthusiasm, optimism and lifting people's mood up. Seriously, he really has a diploma, drawn by Emma when she was four years old, hidden deep inside a drawer. Even without Aster, he could make this a fun afternoon for both of them.

Just the two of them.

Starting reading new chapter of a fanfiction was maybe a bad move from Hiccup's side, but he couldn't stop himself. Yet there he was, packing himself in a hurry and cursing under his nose. Hiccup was so glad he took a shower in the morning and didn't plan it on later hours.

Stoick was out of the house. It was even better, because he didn't see Hiccup falling from the last three steps. But no harm done to any furniture, only small scratches on his knee, but Hiccup could live with it.

He put on his warmer jacket and high shoes, because it looked like it could rain and snow any time soon (even though the weather forecast told that it should only be gray). He had his hand on the handle, when he heard Toothless meowing. The auburn haired teen didn't know why exactly this sound reminded him of the book still laying on the desk, but it gladly did.

"Oh, shit!"

Fully clothed, Hiccup ran upstairs and burst into his room. He quickly grabbed the book on the desk and marched down with it under his arm. Toothless found perfect place for an afternoon nap on the table. Hiccup had no time to yell at him for actually jumping onto the furniture as he had only like thirteen minutes to get to the mall. He leaped out of the house. It took him three times to finally put the key inside the lock and close the door.

The day indeed was dark and cold. The heavy, dusty clouds floated above their heads, looking menacingly, like a burn filter paper that was accidentally aflame during incineration. The wind that accompanied this weather was freezing and dense, pushing past people with brute force, making it hard for Hiccup to actually walk properly. Why was wind in Burgess always so angry and strong?

His glasses hung on the end of his nose and his eyes got watery, due to the cold air. It stung a little, but the most important problem was the fact that it was hard to see properly. He was able to see people when he was very close to them, but he had to make few weird swirls and jumps when he was afraid he would almost crash into someone. His leg wasn't helping him much, but he got used to it. He still had six minutes left.

The wind died down a little when Hiccup got closer to the city center. The high buildings blocked it, but unfortunately not completely. Not to mention the crowd was bigger than on the outskirts. Some people could move better in a crowd when they were smaller, but not Hiccup. Especially not with his leg and a defect of vision. When he finally stopped at the lights, he took a deep breath.

He wasn't running per se, just walking very fast. He hated to be late to any meeting, even though he was used to Astrid being late almost everywhere. Plus - this probably was a date. Fake one, but still Hiccup wanted to be on time.

When the light turned green, he made a spin and passed a pair in front of him, fastening his pace in the same time. He will be soon out of breath, but he wasn't now too far away. He'll only be late like a minute or maybe even less.

That was until he bumped into someone while turning the corner. Seriously, was his whole life just a big mess of weird accidents? He didn't sign himself up for this! Should he write an rejection letter? But to whom he should send it?

The vector of the strength that was put onto him during the collision was working in the opposite direction of his goal, so he made a few steps back, swaying on his legs and waving his hands, trying to search for some kind of support to not fall down. Gladly, the person in whom he bumped caught his hand and hoisted him up quickly to his legs. It happened so fast, that Hiccup wasn't able to take a proper breath or even yelp in surprise.

"Oh, shit, sorry my fault. I wasn't looking where I was going…" The voice was weirdly familiar.

"No, it was my fau…" Hiccup with trembling hand pushed his glasses higher while lifting his head to finally stare at the source of his problem and savior, both in the same time. "…lt…"

Seriously, okay, where should he go to receive his prize for the worst luck on the whole Earth in the accidental meetings? Because, seriously, not to mention it was bad, but it also was starting to get boring. It was almost like the Norns* were replying some old cassette over and over again, snickering under their noses. Yeah, Hiccup felt like that when he was standing right now in front of Dagur.

What was even more surprising was the sudden disbelieve clearly painted on the taller teen face, like he only recognized Hiccup just now.

"Oh…" Dagur murmured. "Hey…"

Hiccup wasn't sure how to respond to that, so he only mumbled back:

"Hey…"

And then there was silence. A heavy, overly dense, unpleasant, sour silence. The people around them were still chattering, but the sound of it was dulled, like there was suddenly an invisible barrier between them and the rest of the world.

Hiccup waited for some kind of not tasteful pick-up line, some kind of gross movement, maybe even an evil smirk – he waited for all those things that came with Dagur whenever he appeared near Hiccup. He waited and waited, but nothing happened. What was going on?

They stood there awkwardly, in front of each other, but Hiccup wasn't really looking at his companion. He was bracing himself for something, but this something never really came.

Finally, after his beating heart calmed a little (from stress or from fear, Hiccup wasn't sure), Hiccup found his bravery to look up.

Dagur looked troubled. He was staring back at him, but there was something different in his eyes - not predatory need, not evil glint, not crazy spark. They looked weirdly dulled, maybe sad or… exhausted.

"Sorry, I really didn't see you there…" Dagur repeated himself, massaging his eyes. It looked like he wasn't conscious that not only few seconds ago he said almost the same thing. Or maybe he just wanted to fill the void between them.

"Don't worry, it happens…" Hiccup muttered. If it would be anyone else he would add that it was because of his small height, but it was Dagur – not one of his friends.

The red haired male opened his mouth once again, eyes darting to the window next to them, then to the street to finally land on the ground. They widened for a brief second and then Dagur kneeled to pick something from the ground.

"I believe it's yours… Don't worry, it isn't too dirty."

Hiccup bit his bottom lip, staring at the book in Dagur's hand. It was covered in small crumbs and dust, but looked more over okay. Now, Hiccup was really grateful it wasn't still raining. He hated to think that something could happen to his precious copy of 1984.

He reached and took the book, trying hard to not brush his hand on Dagur's own. He succeeded. When he had the book in his hand, Hiccup turned it over to see if there really was no damages, but indeed there wasn't. He closed his eyes and sighed.

"It's your copy?" Dagur suddenly asked.

He could always find some kind of excuse and run away from this place, because it looked like the older teen was out of this world – like he was replaced by some weird, imperfect copy of himself – and Hiccup didn't know if it was safe to be near this Dagur.

However he found himself nodding.

"Y-yeah. After I read the one from library, I just had to have my own copy…" And it was the truth. Hiccup loved to collect books that were really important to him and this one was on the highest place on the list. "Now I'm lending it to Jack, so he could also read it."

Jack must really want to see Hiccup getting scared that he agreed to read a book that wasn't in his field of interest.

"Well… that's cool…" Dagur said, changing his weight to the other leg. "Let's hope that he isn't afraid of rats then…"

Hiccup heard this sentence. It went inside his ears as a wave, the eardrums allowed it to move forward, his brain slowly processed it, but it felt like light years before he finally understood what Dagur actually said.

And the only thing he was able to say to that was very smart:

"What?"

To which Dagur replied with the same level of intelligence.

"What?" The taller teen lifted his one eyebrow, with confusion quickly growing on his face. Hiccup couldn't really believe what he just heard. But it must have happened! Because if not, then how Dagur was able to know about rats?

Hiccup clenched his hands on the book and moved it closer to his chest. He raised his head, feeling something rising inside his lungs, stomach and throat – an excitement. It was weird, because it was the first time he felt excited around Dagur of all people.

"D-did you read it?" Hiccup was somehow able to ask, without stuttering too much.

Dagur blinked. His hand moved to hid inside the pockets, where it looked like he played with something. Maybe phone or keys, because Hiccup heard some clinging sound.

"Umm yeah, I read it some time ago, but I had to say I didn't really like it…" He finally said, looking back at Hiccup, but it looked like he wanted to avert his eyes.

Hiccup chuckled under his nose.

"No wonder, it is book about dystopia, not utopia." Hiccup said, daring to form a small, tiny smile.

Dagur looked dumbfounded. Hiccup wasn't sure if it was because of what Hiccup just told or because Hiccup was prolonging the topic. Both were possible answers. "Umm… yeah… you're right…" Dagur finally mumbled, barely opening his lips. The voice came out very quietly.

Hiccup had almost to move closer to hear it, but he wasn't keen on doing it. Maybe Dagur was acting weird (normal wasn't the word he would use), but Hiccup didn't want to take his chances.

The smaller teen coughed, as he looked down at his book and brushed away dirt from the corner. It wasn't pretty visible and could simply stay there, but he needed something to do.

Dagur looked at a shop's window next to him. Few times he made few quick glances in Hiccup's direction, yet did nothing but that. Seriously, this was strange. It felt like someone replaced the old aggressive Dagur with a new, uncomfortable one. Something must have happened to made him act like that. Something big. And it looked like something not nice definitely. Finally, after a minute or two, Hiccup's phone buzzed. Someone tried to get to him. Then he kind of remembered that he was running late to his meeting with Jack. And indeed yes, when he took out his phone and glanced at the screen, Jack's ID was blinking furiously at him. Uh oh… He was already ten minutes late.

"I'm sorry, I gotta go!" Hiccup turned to Dagur.

He never have seen any kind of hurt or pain on Dagur's face. It was almost always an evil smirk, angry look, furrowed eyebrows, pinched together lips or nothing. But now, the look Hiccup saw couldn't be catalogued under neither of the previous façades.

"Me too." Dagur finally said and made a weird movement with his hand. "Work and you know…"

"Um right. So bye?"

"Bye."

And they parted their ways. Just like that. Without fighting, without remarks, without any weird movement from both sides. Almost like they were friends that didn't see each other in ages and didn't know how to act in each other presences (even thought it was far away from the truth).

Hiccup took a deep breath of smelly, city air, but it was a paradise in his lungs. He picked his phone and finally answered the call. Jack's voice echoed immediately near his ears.

"I don't want to be mean, but you're already ten minutes late." It was supposed to sound angry, however Jack was a bad actor. It felt more like a childish whine. "I know. Sorry, be there in a minute…" Hiccup quickly responded, avoiding a woman that was about to crash into him.

There was a second of silence. Maybe a little bit longer, before Jack spoke:

"Everything's alright?"

Seriously, Jack's level of being a worrywart was too high for Hiccup to reach it. He could simply asset that Hiccup's mood dropped suddenly just by talking with him on the phone – even when his voice was changed and he couldn't see his face. It was kind of amazing, but scary in the same time.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm okay." And with that he closed his phone, because seriously, he was one street away from his goal.

Just almost as Hiccup promised, he emerged from behind the corner a minute later. From Jack's point of view he looked like he was running the last few streets. The white haired teen moved slowly in his direction, hands in his pocket.

"Sorry I'm late." Hiccup panted out, putting his hands on his knees and leaning forward.

"No problem." Jack waved his palm. He didn't book the tickets for specific time nor movie, so Jack asked for a meeting a little bit earlier. They still had around thirty minutes to one movie Hiccup might like and forty-five till the other. That is if Hiccup will pick one of them. "I didn't take you as a lazy butt. Huh dude, am I surprised!" Hiccup lifted his head, sending him a not amused twitch of lips. He rolled his eyes as he straightened his body slowly. His breath already evened out.

"I'm usually on time. It's just… something stopped me today." Hiccup said, stopping mid-sentence. Like he was thinking about what words he should actually use. Jack already knew that he probably wouldn't like this. But before he was able to ask about it, Hiccup pushed something in his chest. "Hey, I brought it for you, so now you definitely have to read it."

Jack looked down at the book pushed inside his body. He slowly unwrapped it from Hiccup's finger and turned over to stare at the cover. They did have a deal, so he wasn't very surprised, yet… The blank cover without any picture, only a title - wasn't really filling him with the will to read it. But hey, what wouldn't he do to see this small nerd playing Outlast?

"Cool." Or not really. Jack turned it around, not really knowing what he was searching and he finally hid it in his bag hanging near his hip. He patted the flap protectively, while turning to his fake-date. "Are you ready?"

"For the movies? Definitely." Hiccup sent him a sly smile, correcting his glasses with one hand.

Jack opened his mouth and closed it.

"How did you…?"

"Astrid. She hates cinemas, so I knew something was up. Then you asked and everything clicked together." His hands swayed forward and back. "Well, not everything, but I took a lucky shot."

"I'm not good at surprises, right?" Jack asked, combing his hand through his white strands. He felt just a tini-tiny, microscopically bit embarrassed by that.

"Nah, you just picked up bad collaborator, that is…" Hiccup moved a little bit forward. "Are we going in? It's pretty cold out there."

Jack nodded quickly, turning around and allowing Hiccup to fall into steps with him.

He sometimes really forgot that other people didn't like cold as much as he did. For example, Hiccup was wearing thick jacket with a scarf around his neck when Jack still wore his autumn light jacket.

"Totally."

They walked for few minutes in silence. Gladly when they entered the Burgess Plaza, the wild chatters wrapped them in a warm hug. There were tons of people walking around, in groups or alone, looking at the sparkling windows and pointing at one thing or another. Every shop was already decorated with Christmas' spirit – red and golden chains, sparkling lights and colorful baubles decorated every corner and glass. The artificial green trees stood near every turn around, like soldiers on a duty. Kids were running around, screaming happily, dragging their friends and parents and pointing at small present standing on the exhibitions. Jack knew it was pretty loud there, due to the mood casting it's spell on most of people, but he didn't mind. He actually preferred sound over the uncomfortable silence without anything.

Yet it looked like Hiccup wasn't on his side in this matter. He even squinted his eyes when the bright yellow light shone upon them.

"Too many people around?" Jack asked, not really knowing if this was the correct answer. The mannequins on displays were posing gracefully, showing their holidays' and warm clothes to the people walking by. Many of them had Santa's hats on top of them.

Hiccup massaged his arm. His jacked made a rustling, squishy sound while doing so.

"Kind of, but I'll live." He then loosened his scarf. "The twins love this place, so I had to get used to it, but I still don't like it."

"So where are you buying your things if not here?" Jack unzipped his jacket quite quickly. It was too hot in here for his comfort (probably due to the crowd around them). He was glad that he had short sleeved shirt beneath his jacket.

"On the internet or small shops around the town."

The beige tiles were making whistling sound with their every step.

"But you have everything around here within a reach of a hand."

"True, but I just don't like this place." Hiccup stepped onto the moving stairs, whirling softly beneath them. He was on a step higher than Jack's own, but he was still shorter than the white haired teen. Jack took pleasure in noticing it.

"You'll live through one afternoon." Jack quickly said. He took off his jacket and hung it around his bag. He returned his eyes at Hiccup to notice him eying his shirt. Jack had to look down at the band name – Rise Against.

"I'll somehow live through it. Ahh the things I do for love." The auburn haired teen threw his head back and put his wrist near his forehead, leaning back.

Jack snorted at that small scene in front of him. He had to say it was pretty endearing to see Hiccup act like that. When they first met, he was stiff and very sarcastic. Now, he was even more sarcastic, but more loosened up. It wasn't the level of Astrid, Jack knew that. He doubted that he could even reach the level of that kind of friendship with Hiccup – without boundaries, without problems in speaking your mind. It was given with years of experience, not something that could be gained in three weeks. "That must be a very big sacrifice from your side." Jack said and followed Hiccup off the stairs.

"You bet! Aren't I the best boyfriend ever?"

Jack snickered under his nose. The best boyfriend? Far away from it.

"Nah, you could do better. Besides, you can't take my title away."

Hiccup rolled his eyes and turned his head at the giant entrance to the cinema, which was encircled by a auric chain intertwined with a silver, smaller one. Yet Hiccup immediately moved to the burgundy wall on the right, lightened up by the floor lamps and covered in posters with movie titles. He instantly gravitated to the ones mentioned by Astrid. Jack was nicely surprised. Maybe he really should have bought tickets in advance…

"So, what do you want to watch?" The auburn haired boy asked, when they were slowly moving along the posters' wall. There were few people on their road, already with popcorn and coca cola.

"I asked you out, so you choose." Jack shrugged and put his hands inside his pockets. He stepped closer, when Hiccup stopped to stare at some poster.

"Such a gentleman." The head swished from one side to another, almost hitting Jack's head above it. "Did you see any of these movies?"

Jack hummed under his nose as he followed the line of posters. He rarely went to cinema lately. The tickets were too expensive in his opinion, besides he could always download everything from the internet. It wasn't that he didn't like those places. He did – he loved the atmosphere, the popcorn, the weird laughs in the middle of a funny scene. But he could live without visiting this place too often.

His eyes landed on Monsters University's poster. Man, he was dying to see this prequel. Both he and Emma loved the first movie. Maybe he should take her to see it? But no, she was on it with her class from Elementary School two weeks ago, so that was out of the question. The rest of the posters didn't seem too interesting.

When Jack looked down at Hiccup, he found him looking back at Jack thoroughly. His eyebrows were a little bit furrowed, with small wrinkle on his nose.

"Nope. So you have to choose." Then he took out a wallet from his back pocket and took out few bills, pushing them into Hiccup's palm quickly. "Buy us tickets on whatever movie you want. I buy food in the meantime. Want something specific?" Hiccup looked at the crumped bills in his hand.

"I can pay for myself." He said, pinching his lips together at the end and staring up at Jack with not amused look.

"I know, but today it's on me." Jack grinned wildly. He then made a sweeping away movement with his hands, urging Hiccup to move forward. "Now go, buy tickets. And because you didn't answer my question I'm just going to buy popcorn and cola for you."

Hiccup sent him the evilest stare he could muster, which still looked childish, and turned on his heels, stomping away to the cash register and a small line.

From all boys in the world Jack had to pick the most stubborn one. With a heavy sigh on his lips he walked to the buffet. The queue wasn't moving very fast, but a glance back told Jack that the line near the box office was even slower, so he definitely had time. He ordered two medium popcorns (not caramel in the end) and two medium cola. The guy behind the counter eyed him suspiciously, probably wondering if he could take it all by himself. But Jack had a lot of training with much smaller Emma, when he had to hold all her things while going somewhere, so he was quite proud of his skills.

He left the cashier with half opened mouth when he took two buckets of popcorn and paper tray with drinks without problem.

Jack liked to show off a little. Lately he wasn't doing it as much as he used to, but the small need was still inside of him – it wasn't growing, but was there. A planted seed. He waited near the gates where the woman was tearing the tickets and showing people where their auditorium was. In this time he observed as Hiccup approached the cashier and moved closer, probably to be better audible on the other side. That doofus had to stand on his tiptoes to do so. Gosh, just how small was he? Jack snickered under his nose. It was weirdly nice view and he couldn't pinpoint why. He just liked it. The uneven sway to the side, the fall of his glasses, the twitch of his knees. It was weirdly charming in its strange way.

Hiccup thanked the woman, gathered the tickets and looked around, walking away from the box office.

"Hic!"

The boy's head snapped to Jack's direction. He quickly walked there, still with the tickets glued to his chest. Hiccup eyed him up and down, when he was close enough.

"Here, I'll take one." He offered.

Jack had nothing against it, so he moved and allowed for Hiccup to take one bucket of popcorn from his grasp. It looked ridiculously big in the auburn haired boy's hand, but Jack tried really hard to not snort here. Although his lips twitched.

They moved to the gate and Hiccup showed woman their tickets. She looked at them, and then tore part of the tickets*.

"Auditorium number two, on the right at the end." She said monotonically and steadily, like unmoving water in a lake.

They both thanked her in unison while entering. Jack glanced at Hiccup, but he didn't look back, like he totally expected it.

Jack walked slowly. They still had around twenty to thirty minutes for the movie right?

So why Hiccup was suddenly stomping so quickly? It wasn't like they were in a hurry.

When the smaller teen was good few steps away from him, he finally turned around. "If you don't fasten up your pace, we're going to be late."

Jack blinked, surprised by that statement. Was there some performance earlier than he checked? Maybe, although he was almost sure that there wasn't. Maybe he checked them wrong? He was very excited back then, so he could make a mistake.

Shrugging slowly, he followed the boy.

"Okay. You're the boss now."

When they were close enough still gladly opened door, Jack heard sounds coming from the inside. It looked like commercials already started.

Hiccup caught his arm, when he tried to look up at the title showed on the small LED screen above the door, so in the end he walked inside the already dark auditorium now knowing what he will be watching. Talking about surprises, it looked like Jack will be the next victim of it.

Still holding onto Jack's arm, Hiccup was dragging him to their assigned seats. Jack looked around. In the dark it was hard to see who was sitting in the room, but it looked like there were some adults – maybe college students, because they didn't look older than Jack when he passed one girl and her date on the quest to their seats.

Hiccup walked inside some row, near the end of the auditorium. They had seats not exactly in the middle, but near one side. There wasn't anyone besides them in the row. There was only one old man in the row behind them. The rest of the people were in the front.

With small problems, they finally sat down with a loud sighs. Jack's eyes immediately landed on the screen, where some commercial of a movie for teenagers was ending. He put the colas in their respective slots.

Jack leaned to his right, where Hiccup was seated.

"Will you now tell me what we'll be watching?" He whispered, moving even an inch closer. They maybe were alone in the back, but Jack knew that his voice sometimes was too loud, even when he tried to be quiet.

Hiccup twitched, but he glanced back at him, not moving actually away.

"You'll see! Now shush, it's starting."

Jack rolled his eyes. Why was this suddenly a secret? Okay, he didn't tell Hiccup that they were going for the movies, but the smaller teen deduced it. Was he mad about it? No, definitely not. Hiccup wasn't a type of a guy that was mad over nothing (or something as small as this). Did he want to pay Jack back by not telling the title? Probably.

Jack looked back at the screen just in time to see beautiful, bright animation – or to be more precise a bright background and… pigeon with two heads? With slightly agape mouth he turned to Hiccup.

"You bought tickets for Monsters University?" He asked and now his voice was definitely louder than earlier. Some guy turned even to him.

Hiccup curled in himself, hugging the bucket with popcorn to his chest.

"We can always go out if you don't want to watch it…" The boy responded, not ungluing his eyes from the screen where the movie was going.

"No, no, no I want to watch it, but…"

"So keep quiet and let me enjoy it too!"

Jack patiently returned to his normal sitting position and looked back at the screen. The familiar colors brought back memories. The nostalgia slowly flowed inside his veins, making him slump down with his popcorn on his laps.

He definitely had some question to ask, but later. Now he simply wanted to enjoy the movie.

Jack slowly started to understand that no matter what they would be watching, Hiccup wouldn't be himself if he didn't add some sarcastic comment every twenty minutes. But when they exited the dark auditorium into the corridor filled with light as bright as primrose petals, Jack looked down at Hiccup who was smiling under his nose. Jack took it as a fact that the boy enjoyed the movie. It wasn't too childish, not to mention the most of the audience were students.

"Oh my gosh, it was so cool! And the animation and characters and ughh!" The white haired teen kind of couldn't contain his excitement. "I loved it!"

Hiccup next to him scoffed under his nose, but when Jack stared at him, he was smiling softly. He took Jack's bucket and threw it away while passing trash cans.

"I hope you did, other way it would be wasting money."

Ah yeah, money. Jack didn't really care for it that much. The Overland weren't rich, of course not, but they weren't poor either. Maybe something in the middle? There were times when they had more money and times when they didn't. But now, there was time when Jack had money. Especially after what North told him.

"Naah, from time to time I can allow myself some luxury. Especially after Eris sent me money." Jack could finally put his hands inside his pants. When they finally exited the cinema, Jack decided to brush that topic. "So why did you pick this movie? You should have picked something you like. I asked you out, not the other way around."

"Well, I…" Hiccup started, but then he covered his mouth and coughed. This picked Jack's interest, so he glued his stare to the smaller teen next to him. "I saw you looking at the poster… so I though you wanted to watch it…"

If this wasn't the most adorable thing Jack heard in the last few weeks then he didn't know what could beat it.

His chest suddenly tightened. It was no longer than a second, maybe even less. But Jack definitely felt that. He felt special. When was the last time someone did something like that for him, without reasons? It wasn't like his friends were using him and vice versa, but they almost never did something like that. Aster, Tooth and some other people probably did in the past, but long time ago. But Hiccup…?

Jack chuckled, first stretching his mouth in an embarrassed smile. It looked unfortunately that the auburn haired teen took it the wrong way.

"Gee thanks, you make me feel so appreciated right now." Hiccup was staring back at him, but now with crossed arms and small pout on his lips.

"No, no, no. I wasn't laughing about you… it's just…" Jack took a deep breath. "I wanted to do something for you, because thanks to you I've got a B+ from Math, but it looks like you did something for me… not the other way around."

Hiccup blinked few times, then relaxed his hands which slumped down near his body.

"I thought it was about it. You don't have to thank me over and over again. One time is enough…" He smiled at the end. "Besides I think you deserved it more, you did all the work."

"Are we now going to argue who did more?" Jack lifted his eyebrow.

"Maybe?"

"Oh no, our first relationship's fight! I need to write that down in my diary." Hiccup snorted. He hid his mouth behind his palm, and with his other he hit Jack's arm. It was very light, but Jack still made a step to the side.

"See, now you are even hitting me! What happened to my sweet, precious baby that I love so much!?" Maybe Jack had too much fun from it, especially adding now quite surprised faces of people passing them by. He tried to keep his voice sounding as pained and hurtful as he could.

Hiccup rolled his eyes.

"Stop it, it's not funny." But he was still smiling at him, so Jack decided to prolong it just a bit.

"See, this is the problem. We never talk about them!"

"Jack, stop it! People are watching!" Hiccup's voice was urgent and even thought there was still a small grin on his lips, Jack knew that he was slowly moving to the line that he shouldn't cross.

"Okay, we talk about it at home then. As always." Jack scoffed, under his nose, but when they passed the corner and started to move down the stairs, he nudged

Hiccup's arm. There wasn't anyone here. "You seriously didn't have to do that, you know?"

"I know, but I wanted to. You really deserve it." It looked like Hiccup wasn't too conscious right now. His eyes were looking hardly at the ground, like he was very careful to not slip and fall down suddenly. Was he really such a klutz? "How did you know I wanted to watch it?" Jack asked instead, because he remembered well telling Hiccup not seeing any of the movies on the posters (which was truth).

"Your eyes…" Hiccup started to immediately stop. Jack glanced down at him, but it looked like Hiccup slumped down in his position even more, like he wanted to curl and disappear.

Jack waited patiently, feeling the curiosity growing inside of him. His hands fidgeted inside his pockets, not really knowing what to do. Sadly he was unable to hold it any longer, because after two minutes he leaned near the boy and repeated:

"My eyes…?"

Hiccup took a shallow breath.

"You were looking a little bit longer at the poster with it and I thought that you looked like you really wanted to see it… so… you know… I took my another lucky shot." Jack stopped moving in the middle of the stairs. His eyes followed Hiccup who walked two more steps down, until he noticed that the white haired teen wasn't following him. The auburn haired boy also stopped and turned around to look at him Seriously… this was so nice and kind and adorable and pure that Jack couldn't understand how someone could do something so entirely pure. Especially for someone like Jack!

The warmness flooded his stomach. For a second he even felt a prickling inside his eyes, but he quickly brushed it off.

Hiccup lifted his one eyebrow.

"Jack, everything okay?" He asked unsurely. Jack could also take his lucky shoot.

"Run." He said, with the most straightforward face he could muster right now. It seemed like it worked, because Hiccup immediately tensed.

"W-what? Why?"

"Because if you don't do it, I will hug you right here, right now."

"Huh?"

Author's note:

Huff, it definitely took some time to post it! But I have a valid reason, because pause for dramatic effect Eliaze offered to help me with beta-reading =D! You don't even know how happy I am to hear it. And due to her and mine work it took some time to correct this chapter (some parts will be still swapped later, so don't worry if sudden update will pop out). Especially as I have a lot of fun talking with her 3 So great thanks to:

Eliaze Ravenfeather – for becoming my beta-reader! Omg, you don't even know how happy I am that you're helping me with checking it. And your work is so amazing! And I totally love our talks! You're great!

Nerds' fact:

* Cardinals - are passerine birds found in North and South America. They have very lush/alive/bright red feathers.

* Cryoscopy method - technique which determines relative molecular mass of a substance based on the lowering of the freezing point of a solvent when a known quantity of solute is added. And let me tell you… this is a pain in the ass to do it. Like seriously, we had to hold the giant thermometer, stir the solution, add substance, check time and write down the measurements in the same time.

* Phenolphthalein in the alkaline environment – it turns colorless in acidic solutions and pink in basic solutions.

* Burning strontium – strontium burns in very bright red/burgundy color.

* The Norns – in Norse mythology they are female beings who rule the destiny of gods and men.

* Daniel Bernoulli – was a Swiss mathematician and physicist and was one of the many prominent mathematicians in the Bernoulli family. He has developed one of the fundamental equations of hydrodynamics.

Other facts:

* 'Yes, definitely, absolutely!' – if someone got this reference, then they deserve a high-five from me. It's from Gravity Falls, from the very first episode =D

* Eris – from Sinbad: legend of the seven seas.

* Nod – from Epic.

* Tearing tickets in cinema – I'm not sure if it happens in other countries, but in Poland when he go to the cinema, the guards simply tear a small piece of our tickets before entering. This way they know that the tickets have been checked.

* A game Fishlegs was playing – well, the game is real. Do you know what it is? :3

Other things to talk about:

* Messages and errors in them – Usually the errors and mistakes in them are there on purpose to show different styles of writing of every character.

And answers to comments:

Spnwinchester125 – Oh my gosh, I'm so glad you did! Even though nothing happened in it xDD. Hope you liked this one too 3!

Ydw – almost crying from happiness I don't deserve it D:!

Snowflakesandangels – Yahoooo! waves with both hands :3 Nerdy science references rules haha xD! And thank youuuuu ;_; I don't know If I'm that good writer, judging by the amount of mistakes I make, but still I'm flattered :3.

Siôn – Yop, I'm from Poland :3. Ooooh, that's so cool, say hello to them from me! 3 And I want to say so many thing right now about Jack, but nah, can't do it. xDDD

Hope you enjoyed this chapter and that you will have an amazing day!

See ya :3!