Negative delta is the beginning of fun

by Lajt Hane

Hiccup thought that this day couldn't get any worse. And there he was, in the boy's bathroom, trapped with Dagur and the school's prankster and star - Jack - who was claiming to be Hiccup's boyfriend. And he only wanted to clean his sweater…

8. Chapter 8 - Hess's law

Pairing: Jack x Hiccup

Genre: Romance, Drama

Warning: NC-17/T

Warning: not beta-read

All characters belong to Cressida Cowell, William Joyce and DreamWorks Studio. May contain some OOCness.

---

Hess's law – the total enthalpy change during the complete course of a chemical reaction is the same whether the reaction is made in one step or in several steps.

What if he doesn't like it? What if he laughs right in his face? Or worse… acts like he like it and then throw it away? Oh no. That was stupid idea.

"Relax Hic, everything will be okay."

"I'm not nervous. What are you talking about? I'm perfectly normal! It's just the wind!"

Astrid rolled her eyes, totally amused by this whole situation. And even though Hiccup couldn't see her mouth, because it was hidden behind giant, red scarf, he was sure she was smirking at him.

"First, I never said you're nervous, only asked you to loosen up. Which you're not doing." She patted his shoulder. Yep, they were tensed. But seriously, it was freezing outside, so he could totally blame the weather for it. "And you're babbling which means you're pretty stressed." Okay, this one Hiccup couldn't blame on the weather.

But seriously, after a second thought, buying flowers… well, not flowers, but kind of like tiny trees at the beginning of the winter was well… plain stupid and embarrassing. He should have bought cooking books! They would be useful, but no, Hiccup had to listen to this weird gut feeling he had and buy fricking lilacs.

At least he hoped that a saleswoman didn't sell him wrong colors.

"I'm just curious, if Jack likes it." Hiccup said, correcting the hold on the pot in his hands. Even though he had gloves on, his fingers quickly started to get cold and numb.

"Come on, it's Frost! He would probably be happy if you gave him a bubble gum." Astrid noted and then sneezed loudly. She brushed her nose with the sleeve. "Ugh, I was all over snow few days ago, but now it's too much."

Hiccup had to agree with her. Even though the thin layer of beautiful, white coat was nice for a change at Christmas' Eve, now it was getting too huge for comfort. And his poor muscles were screaming in agony in the mornings when he had to clean the driveway.

"Totally agree on that matter." Hiccup nodded into his own scarf. Gladly, they weren't too far away from Jack's house by now.

"What did your father say when he saw you bringing those lilacs home?" Astrid asked instead, keeping the conversation going.

"Nothing. I think he didn't even see them, they stood in my room and you know he rarely visits it." Maybe it kind of was Hiccup's fault, because once when his Dad had walked inside he almost had stepped on a project Hiccup had spread over his floor. And Hiccup kind of had yelled at Stoick for almost destroying it? "Besides, it looks like he has other things on his mind."

"Like work things?" Astrid stuck her tongue, making a landing place for snowflakes.

"No, other things." Hiccup muttered, observing her friend swallowing the fallen snow. "Ugh, you know how dirty this water is?"

Astrid shrugged. The tree under her arm swayed to the side, which she commented with a small 'whoops', but quickly secured it back in her embrace.

"Don't really care." She said. "And what do you mean by other things?"

"I'm not sure. I think this is about his friend."

"Gobber?"

"No." Actually, he only once had seen his Dad and Gobber being in an argument and he had to say he didn't miss that time. Seriously, this was Armageddon coming into their house. But gladly, it ended as quickly as it started, with no fatalities in friendships. "His other friend."

"Ruff's and Tuff's dad?"

"No, I'm pretty sure he wasn't talking about them." Besides, neither of Thornston's parents were recently or like ever in jail, so yeah, definitely not them. "I don't know his name. He didn't tell me that much…"

"Hey, but it means your Dad talked with you about his problems, right?" Astrid stepped closer and bumped his shoulder with her own.

"Yeah, he did, but it sucked." Hiccup exhaled loudly. The air which he puffed into the scarf fogged his glasses. "I couldn't do much about it… I didn't even know what to say! Nothing seemed right! I just mumbled something and now I'm not even sure what I exactly said." Another groan escaped his lips. "I'm terrible at this."

"Well you're definitely not going to be a therapist, that's for sure." Astrid nodded, not even looking at him, but staring at the sky covered in the dark clouds, pouring the freshly made snow onto them. "But I'm sure you did fine. Maybe he only needed someone who would listen to him. And sometimes your awkward way of saying things is exactly what people need."

"Was that supposed to lift up my spirits, because I'm not sure?"

"Yeah, it was." When Hiccup glanced at her, she quickly shrugged – the movement barely visible under the cover of thick, green coat. "Hey, don't look at me like that. I'm not cut out to be a psychologist either."

Hiccup snorted. Yeah, that would be pretty bad. Astrid's way of lifting someone's mood up was equal to a hit to the stomach, accompanied by a loud 'pull yourself together!' and a lot of shaking someone until he or she would throw up. And even though it didn't work on everyone, for some people it was enough.

Although the bruises after it were bad.

"Definitely not, but thanks…" Hiccup added. He darted his head higher to look at the houses they were passing. The bright building not too far away immediately caught his attention. It was hard to miss it between the dulled houses surrounding it. "We're here."

"Oh!" Astrid looked at the building curiously, nodding to herself. She never was in Jack's house, but today Hiccup had asked her to help him get the gift here. "Wow, even his house has to stand out."

Hiccup rolled his eyes. Jack wasn't like that. He liked to stand out, of course, but not in the mean way like he wanted to be better than everyone else. He just liked people noticing him.

"At least it's easy to find it." Hiccup turned and walked up few steps directing him to the front door.

His hand automatically moved to the hidden bell under the colorful chain, when Astrid put the tree down and spoke:

"Okay, you manage on your own from now on." She huffed, brushing her forehead with her coat.

Hiccup's hand stopped in the middle of trying to ring the doorbell.

"You're not going inside with me?" He asked.

"And interrupt your lovey-dovey reunion with your precious boyfriend? No, thank you~!" She prolonged the last word, almost sing-sanging it. Seriously, Hiccup wanted to jump at her and cover her mouth with his own palm. Someone could hear her! North and Emma could hear her!

"Astrid!" Hiccup hissed, feeling the tree swaying in his hands so hard, he had to put it down. "You know it's not like that!"

"Oh, I know." Astrid said, hiding her hands inside the pockets and leaning to Hiccup. "Or do you prefer me teasing you about Aster then?"

"Neither! Both options are terrible." He mumbled, already feeling his cheeks turning red. He was so glad he could blame it on the weather outside.

"Okay, I'm going!" Astrid nudged his arm and stepped down from the stairs. "Remember to use protection!"

Hiccup literally wanted to dissolve right here, right there.

"Astrid!"

"I know you love me." And with sending him a quick kiss (which Hiccup hoped was taken away by the wind), she walked away, whistling some Christmas' tune under her nose.

Hiccup shook his head, following her silhouette for few more seconds. Seriously, he only hoped no one from Overlands' house heard her, other way this would get pretty embarrassing.

With another huff he finally turned around and lifted his hand to ring the doorbell.

---

Okay, so Jack had been thinking… well, about himself. No, that sounded wrong. He hadn't been thinking about himself in that kind of bashful way. To be honest he had been thinking about… more over about someone else, but also about himself

Or maybe to be more precise he had been thinking about his behavior – inside and outside, because those were two different things. Well, maybe they weren't that different in the end, as Jack wasn't the type to think before doing something. Quite the opposite.

When he started to wonder like that maybe he hadn't been thinking about his behavior, but his reactions? No, well, yes, he had been thinking about how he reacted nowadays to a certain someone, but somehow this word didn't fit there.

Scratch that.

But he had been thinking about something that was happening to him. Or maybe with him? Jack wasn't sure anymore.

However he had been thinking and that was important. Mostly he had been thinking during evenings and nights, because it was the only times during which he was able to take a breath. Besides, nights were made for thinking, right? Right…

Or at least a lot of poets had said that? Yes? No?

Actually why it was so easy to think at nights? Was it because of the silence and calmness spreading over the world, when everyone else was sleeping? Or maybe because it felt like the time stopped, allowing you to take a small break? Or maybe because some parts of you were still filled with emotions given to you by the day?

Jack was moving away from the main topic, wasn't he?

So he had been thinking about the way he had acted and about thoughts that had appeared in his head nowadays. And he had been often thinking about it at nights, when everyone else was asleep, so he had some time for himself and…

Okay he had been thinking about Hiccup and what changed in Jack!

The white haired teen sighed heavily, massaging his forehead and pausing a game he was playing. No, he couldn't focus right now, not when he was minutes away from having a guest.

There was no denying that there was a slight difference in the way he reacted to Hiccup's messages and phone calls now. And the way he enjoyed talking with him, spending time together, teasing him and well… Of course, Jack loved to do all of that with his other friends, but Hiccup…

Well, Jack's heart didn't skip a beat whenever someone just wrote to him, so that was an obvious fact he couldn't deny. And he was no idiot. Maybe he was a math idiot, but he wasn't idiot like that in this emotional and feelings matter. He definitely was better in it than Hiccup.

So he had few suspicions. Or maybe, in the end, he got one suspicion, because erm… the others sounded dumb.

So Jack maybe… just maybe… it was only a possibility that he was starting to feel something more than a simple best-buddies friendship. But it was only an idea, a hypothesis, which could and could not be confirmed with a positive result.

Because this confirmation needed more data. Jack needed more data, so he could work with them to get proper results. Maybe even do an analysis of errors*…

He still had time to think about it. He didn't have to act urgently.

Now he simply was happy that Hiccup would visit him and there was nothing wrong with it. Plus, he wanted to give the boy his Christmas' present, which was wrapped in a colorful paper and waiting patiently under clothes in the wardrobe.

Jack exited the game and looked at the time. Coming to this, Hiccup should be…

The bell finally rang in the house, almost startling him in his seat.

… Here by now. It looked like Mister Perfect was two minutes late.

Jack jumped from his seat and ran out of them room, because he already heard someone shuffling to the front door, planning to open it before him.

"I've got it!" He shouted, jumping three stairs in one go.

Gladly, now it wasn't Emma who moved to the door, but North, who only shrugged as Jack landed gracefully on the first floor.

He stopped only once in front of the mirror to tap down his wild hair and then took a deep breath while opening the door, just to be met face to face with a… tree?

What the heck?

Jack was only a little bit taken aback by it, but he quickly shook his head when Hiccup's face peeked from behind the branches to look at him with glinting eyes.

"Uhm, hey Jack. Mind giving me a helping hand?" He sniffed loudly at the end.

"No, of course not!" Jack caught the potted plant from the teen's hand and moved from the doorway, allowing for Hiccup to walk inside.

And the auburn haired boy did walk inside, however after picking another plant. Okay, that was a little bit off. Maybe he was supposed to get them somewhere or was on the way from getting them?

Hiccup walked inside, put the tree down and took off his shoes. Taking the rest of his armory took some time, but gladly after few minutes everything was secured on the hook.

"Is there that cold?" Jack asked, noticing the redness of Hiccup's nose as he brushed it from time to time. Jack corrected the hold of the plant in his hands.

While waiting for Hiccup, he got some time to look at the few remaining leaves hanging onto branches. Lilac, definitely a lilac. Jack loved their flowers, which reminded him that he wanted to buy few to their backyard.

Maybe he should hint it to his father or ask Hiccup where he had bought those.

"I know you're immune to cold, but it doesn't mean other people are." Hiccup responded, grabbing the second plant and lifting it up.

"I'll assume then that it is freezing outside." Jack said, passing the boy and moving to the stairs.

"You'll assuming right then." Hiccup mumbled. When they were in the middle of the stairs Hiccup leaned above the railing and greeted North and Emma who were sitting in the living room.

They greeted him back, but quickly returned to a movie they both were watching. Oh, that's why Emma didn't run to the door. It was actually pretty convenient.

They walked inside his room, where Jack put down the plant near the heater, so it wouldn't get too cold. Even though he liked coldness, his room was quite warm.

Hiccup put the lilac down, groaning heavily. Then he straightened his back with a sigh.

"Soooo, what are those?" Jack asked, pointing to the vegetal siblings standing close or even almost leaning on each other.

"Oh…" Hiccup jumped and looked to the side, clearly avoiding Jack's stare. His hand rubbed the other shoulder.

Seriously, was this really abashing for Hiccup or what? It got Jack curious, especially as the teen started to nibble on his bottom lip, which meant he was pretty embarrassed. Did he just steal them from somewhere? No, of course not. Maybe it was supposed to be a present for someone? Then this would explain the sudden rosy color in his cheeks. Then for who? Jack had hard times imagining Astrid taking care of those lilacs. Snotlout and twins were also out of the question. So maybe Fishlegs? But how would the boy transport two trees to his own house few hours away from Burgess? No, so it had to be someone else. But who…

Then maybe… maybe Aster?

Jack frowned at this though, but quickly soothed his wrinkles when he heard Hiccup's low mumbles mixed with short glances at Jack.

"Well… those are…" Hiccup started, only to stop and take a short, spastic breath. "Well… this is a Christmas' present… from me…" His hand maneuvered to land on his nape, where it stayed, not really doing anything in particular. "To you…" He muttered, one more time glancing at Jack, however quickly averting his eyes, when Jack did stare at him back.

Wait, his brain just suddenly got disconnected from the rest of his body. Rebooting, rebooting!

"For me?" Jack repeated, swallowing hard.

Hiccup nodded.

"Uhm… yeah…"

"These are for me?" Jack pointed at the siblings standing and cuddling together near the heater.

Hiccup hung his head with his hands slipping down to hang limp near his body. The blush still adorned the cheeks, but now it spread to his neck, covering it with cherry smudges.

"Yeah, sorry, well… it's just Aster once told me that you're interested in gardening, so I thought you will maybe like those, so I bought them for you, but well…" Hiccup lifted his head and pushed higher the glasses which had slipped down. "… I mean… now I'm not sure, you probably prefer something different, but it's too late… so I hope you at least like them a little bit…"

Jack stared totally taken aback by it all. Well, he indeed loved plants and gardening and everything related to it, however it wasn't a secret. More like he rarely spoke about it, because it's just… wasn't so him. Besides, who lately was interested in what kind of ground should be put under larches for them to grow healthy? Yep, totally nobody.

Even Tooth and Aster barely withstood when Jack and North jumped into that kind of conversation.

So no wonder Jack was surprised that Hiccup bough him two beautiful, tiny, adorable lilacs. However, when his brain finally caught up with the rest of his body, it reminded Jack that he should actually say something and not stood there like a scarecrow.

But… wow… wow…

"Okay, I know now it was stupid! Jack, come on, say something… Anything…"

Jack could only utter three words, as he still was overwhelmed by this situation.

"I love it." He whispered.

"What?"

And when Hiccup finally turned to him, Jack didn't wait even a second to jump at Hiccup and embrace him.

"I love it." He shouted, maybe too close to Hiccup's ear for his comfort, but now Jack simply was too happy to care for such trivial things. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!" Jack yelled, picking the teen from the floor (which resulted in a yelp, shout and hit at the top of his head when Hiccup finally freed his one hand) and spinning around wildly.

"Jack, stop!" Hiccup shrieked above him, hiccupping at the end. And now he grabbed a hold of his white hair and tugged them, maybe hoping this would stop the sudden twister.

No, it didn't. It just made Jack ridiculously happier even.

So Jack made another few swirls and twirls, whooping loudly, which definitely got the attention of North and Emma, but gladly they didn't walk inside… yet.

"Jack, seriously!" Hiccup, who was still few centimeters above the ground, sounded disturbed. "I will throw up on you…"

Uh oh, this didn't sound so grand, so Jack stopped twirling, however he didn't stop moving, as his mind became dizzy. Now he kind of could understand Hiccup's worries. With only a little problem, he put his guest down, who sighed contently, touching his chest in the same time.

"Uhm sorry?" Jack said, not really sounding that remorseful. Because, seriously, come on. He was just happy.

"No worries, just…" Hiccup put the hand to his mouth. However and gladly nothing came out from it. "Just… don't do it anymore…"

"No promises." Jack looked up at the ceiling, more feeling than actually seeing Hiccup glaring at him, which he commented with a short whistle.

The auburn haired teen inhaled deeply, putting his glasses correctly on his nose. He then crossed hands on his chest.

"So I can assume my present is not that… bad?"

"Bad? Hic, it's amazing!" Jack said, now trying hard not to yell due to excitement still buzzing in his ears.

"Oh… I'm…" Hiccup jumped and quickly looked away, grabbing one lock from his forehead and curling it on his finger. "I'm glad then… really…" He glanced at Jack. "Tuff's and Ruff's mom actually helped me with picking up the present. Because you know… I know nothing about flowers and plants, soo…"

Oh. Somehow this didn't surprise Jack at all. It was so… hiccup (could he even say it as an adjective?) to give him a present with hidden message, encrypted somewhere between lines. But knowing that he seeked help from someone was totally different matter.

It really made Jack's heart clench in weird, but nice way.

"But in the end I couldn't decide on the right meaning, so that's why there are two of them…"

Jack lifted his eyebrow, turning around to stare at the two lilacs. There were only few tiny leaves on the branches, but he was sure that during the spring they will be filled with dozens of beautiful flower buds.

He hummed in response, turning back.

"So what did you pick in the end?"

"Uhm… white and blue." Hiccup responded, still with red cheeks, but now Jack wasn't sure if it was because of the exhaustion or embarrassment. Maybe it was a sum of both.

"White and blue…" Jack parroted. He leaned and took one lonely leave between his fingers, brushing it softly, but trying not to rip it off. Let's go with the easiest option. "Blue because it's my favourite color and white because of my hair?"

"Well… yes and no." Hiccup sat down on Jack's bed.

So the obvious reason wasn't the right one. No worries, Jack was proud of his knowledge in this field, so he can definitely come up with something. He just had to search for the right meaning, hidden somewhere inside his brain or stocked under other memories.

"White… white…" Jack mumbled to himself, almost humming this word in tune to some song. "White means definitely purity and innocence, but I fail to see myself as something pure." Innocent wasn't fitting him either. Maybe even more than purity.

"No offence Jack, but you often act like a child. And kids are usually pure." Hiccup said. Jack glimpsed back with a smirk. "Plus, I think your heart is very pure. Like… you know… You help people and not ask for anything in return, so I don't know… It just fits in my opinion."

Jack felt sweet warmness spreading inside his stomach as he nodded, more to himself. He would still consider that he guessed the meaning right.

But blue… What could blue mean? Trust, honesty… loyalty? Those were right answers, but Jack wasn't sure if blue lilacs had the same meaning as blue color. Probably, but he wasn't sure. Then maybe tranquility? Peace?

Jack opened his mouth, but closed it, furrowing his eyebrows.

Blue petunias mean deep trust and peacefulness (Jack had given Tiana a pot of those for her birthday). Blue irises symbolize hope and faith. But lilacs…

However Jack had a feeling he knew the answer. It was peeking slowly from the deepest part of his consciousness, chuckling at him for not being able to grasp it. But he definitely knew the answer…

What was it? What did it mean? It was at the tip of his tongue…

"Happiness."

Jack turned to Hiccup who was massaging his arm and staring at him a little bit hesitantly.

"Pardon?" Jack asked, not grasping what the teen meant.

"Blue lilacs mean happiness." Hiccup mumbled, now quieter, but Jack surprisingly heard and understood him even better now.

And Jack in response just gaped at his guest, with his slightly parted lips and no words coming out, simply because he didn't know what to say.

The warm feeling inside of him was just increased by ten degrees.

And before Jack even came up with something to articulate, Hiccup groaned, hid his face in his hands and laid down on Jack's bed.

"Ugh, I know, it was dumb, sorry if you doesn't like them or their meanings. I'm not sure what I was thinking while buying them. Only that… well you're always happy, but sometimes you are forcibly happy? Does it make sense to you? So I thought that maybe…"

Jack didn't really listen to him.

He quickly maneuvered to his wardrobe, which he opened and from under a pile of shirts with bands' names he took out a small wrapped box. It looked so tiny and insignificant in comparison to two trees hugging each other under the heater, but he simply had to give Hiccup something in return.

With a quick inhale, Jack turned around and flopped down on the bed, where the auburn haired teen was still rambling with covered face. Jack dropped the box onto the teen's head.

"Ophh…" Hiccup mumbled when the box rolled onto his chest. "What was that for, Jack?"

"Your present, doofus." Jack said, smiling at the upside-down Hiccup's lost face.

The boy blinked at him confused, but then pouted.

"You didn't have to buy me anything." Hiccup said, raising slowly from the bed and grabbing the package. He turned to Jack, but still stared at the wrapped gift in his palms, rolling it around, maybe trying to guess what was inside.

"Says someone who bought me a present." Jack blew a raspberry at him. Hiccup glanced at him, smirking softly. His hands started to open the present, trying really hard not to tear the green paper around it. "And… you know… sorry that my present… isn't as amazing as yours…"

Hiccup stopped ungluing the adhesive tape as he raised his eyes at Jack.

"Seriously Jack?" He asked in that really bewildered voice, which made Jack cringe and think he really did and/or said something stupid. Which wasn't true, of course. "I'm just happy you decided to give me anything. I would be probably happy if you gave me a rubber band."

"No one can be happy about a bag of rubber bands."

"Ever tried to put on a distilling cow receiver* without rubber bands keeping it in place?" Hiccup asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Distillation what now?"

"Never mind…" Hiccup shook his head and returned to unwrapping the present.

After four minutes he finally freed the brown box from the mighty captivity of emerald wrapping paper. He slowly opened the box and then took out simple pair of lab glasses.

Jack may-may not have closed his eyes for this moment, because he wasn't sure if he wanted to see Hiccup's reaction and the look of disappointment running through those big eyes. He heard Hiccup turning the lab safety glasses in his hands and then gasping softly. Uh oh, he probably saw the tiny, yellow star which Jack had glued to its side.

Back then it sounded like a good idea. Now… not so much.

"Jack?"

"Yes?"

"How do I look?"

Jack, still a little bit hesitant, opened his eyes to stare at Hiccup wearing both glasses and looking at him while smiling from ear to ear. The glittery, tiny sticker shimmered in the corner, accompanied by a delicate glint of Hiccup's own eyes. And if Jack wasn't wrong, he felt those orbs shining maybe even brighter than usual.

Hiccup scratched his cheek.

"So?" He prolonged to syllable, awaiting the reply.

"Nerdy."

Hiccup rolled his eyes, but punched softly Jack's arm. Jack chuckled at that. Well, technically, he said the truth. The part about shining eyes he simply decided to leave for himself.

"What? I spoke the truth and you're punching me for it?" Jack gasped loudly, grabbing his arm and pouting at Hiccup.

"I barely touched you." Hiccup snapped back, taking off his glasses and staring at them with fond grin still melted to his face.

Jack was really glad. It looked that somehow Aster was on point with the present. How Hiccup was so happy about the simple pair of glasses was however beyond Jack's mind's comprehension.

"It still hurt." Jack added quickly.

"Yeah, totally." Hiccup mumbled and then put the glasses back in the box. "Thanks. They will really come in handy. Like really." He said, grabbing his backpack and hiding his present. "I barely saw anything through my old ones."

"Then why didn't you buy new ones already?"

Hiccup shrugged and it was the only answer Jack got in that matter. But he had no problems with it. At least he got Hiccup something useful, even though it wasn't as meaningful as what the teen got him.

Jack laid down on the bed, sighing softly and putting hands behind his head. Now free of all stress, he closed his eyes. It wasn't so bad. Hiccup enjoyed his present and it was all that mattered.

The bed shifted and Jack felt Hiccup's accidentally brushing his leg on Jack's own.

"If you wanted to sleep, you could always tell me to come later." He commented. When Jack lifted one eyelid, the auburn haired teen was crossing his legs.

"Nah, just wanted to chill out here. The past few days were quite vivid, so my energy resources didn't fill to the maximum level yet." Jack murmured with a content smile on his lip.

Hiccup blinked and then burst in laughter. What? What was so funny? Was it something Jack had said?

"I think I may be rubbing on you too strongly." Hiccup gasped between fits, lifting his normal glasses and brushing his eye.

Rubbing, hmm? This may be a good chance to say a dirty jo-

"And no, I didn't mean it in the literal way." Hiccup quickly continued, suddenly turning stern and putting his palms on crossed ankles.

Jack laughed. Was Hiccup some mind-reader or was Jack so easy to read? On the second though, he wasn't sure whether he wanted to know the answer or not.

However the smaller teen was kind of right. He did start to use weird, a little bit too nerdy (for Jack's comfort) words lately. Maybe it was because he was speaking a lot with Hiccup?

"Come on Hic! Stop doing that. You're taking the fun from me."

"Is seeing me getting super flustered fun to you?"

When the auburn haired teen said it like that, it didn't sound too good, however…

"…yes?" Jack said, unsurely, lifting his one eyebrow. Come on, it was funny! And kind of… adorable?

Hiccup eyed him, pinching his lips into a thin line, before sighing loudly.

"I will act like I didn't hear it."

Jack shrugged or at least tried to, but it was hard to do so while laying. So he only moved his arms on the quilt, making an oceans of wrinkles due to that movement.

"Suit yourself." He added with an evil smirk.

"I will, thank you for your approval." Hiccup responded, not even batting an eye and crossing his arms on his chest. He even had that victorious grin on his lips. "I win this one round."

At that Jack had to groan, untangling his hands from beneath the head and jabbing one finger into his guest's side. Hiccup swatted his hand away, although a little bit too late.

"You little…" Jack was just about to jump and tackle Hiccup in a fight of jabs, when he remembered why exactly he had invited Hiccup here. Oh, this would be even better. "I see you're getting courageous. Well let's test this bravado in real… well, not so real life."

Hiccup smirk immediately turned sour and he even backed away.

"Do I have to?" He asked, sounding utterly sad.

"Yes, you promised me." Jack quickly noted, making puppy eyes. He knew that the promise card should be enough, but you could never be one hundred percent sure.

"But…"

"Not butts except yours on my chair playing horror games!" Jack quickly jumped to his feet, already moving to the monitor. He moved the mouse, so the screen could rise from the slumber.

Hiccup groaned, but Jack heard him standing up and shuffling to the chair very, very, very (terribly!) slowly.

Jack was patient. Especially when he turned on Outlast (because come on, it wasn't a very long game) and the menu screen popped after few seconds in front of them.

Hiccup finally sat down.

"Remember, I will call you at nights when I'll be scared." He quickly murmured, pushing Jack's hand away and taking control of the mouse and the keyboard.

"Oh, I know…" Jack whispered excitedly into Hiccup's ear. "I was afraid of walking to bathroom after finishing this one." The boy shuddered and Jack took pride into doing it.

"Stop it."

He giggled and ran to the door to switch off the lights (because it was already dark outside). He quickly returned to the chair he had brought from the living room and sat down.

"Okay, what we are waiting for!?"

---

When Hiccup had said he was bad at playing games Jack didn't know he would be so bad. Well, maybe it wasn't the case of abilities in this term (like accuracy or speed of moving fingers), but fear in form of tremors which shook Hiccup's body, making him unable to press correct keys. So in the end, the game which should take them from two to three hours, took them five and a half to finish.

For Jack it was a wild ride. He had finished two bowls of popcorn, one bag of gummy bears and one bottle of cola, in the meantime enjoying Hiccup's shrieks and his words of denial – most of the time he simply shouted 'fuck it, I'm not playing this shit!'. At some point even Emma had watched Hiccup struggle.

"I hate you, I hate you so much."

"Oh, I know you love me."

"No, totally hate. There is only despise and hatred swimming in those thin veins of mine right now."

Jack had enjoyed himself to the fullest this evening. He couldn't remember the last time he had so much fun while observing someone play.

Jack bumped Hiccup's thickly covered arm which resulted in pushing the poor boy almost into a snowdrift.

"Aww, I know it's not true." He quickly added.

The smaller teen glared at him, huffing and pushing higher the scarf around his neck.

"This was terrible. My heart is still pounding inside my chest like crazy. I am surprised I'm still conscious and alive." Hiccup mumbled, barely coherently behind the material covering his mouth. Jack had to lean to hear him.

The snow stopped falling today, but the large layer of white fluff was covering every inch of the streets, branches and houses. It was crunching softly beneath their feet as they were walking slowly to Hiccup's house. The sky was covered with heavy clouds, veiling the shimmering stars above them.

"But it was good, you have to admit it!"

"Yeah, it was…" Hiccup shivered and Jack wasn't sure if it was because of the temperature or the bad memories. Maybe both in the end. "It was terrible. I'm so glad Fishlegs is coming over, so I won't have to sleep alone in my room…"

Jack coed sweetly, trying to pinch Hiccup's already red cheek.

"Poor baby Hic."

"Stop it!" The boy swatted his hand away, grumbling incoherent words under his breath, some of them definitely resembling swears.

They stopped in the usual place, near Hiccup's front door, but on the pavement. Jack looked at Hiccup's house, missing all Christmas decorations. He knew Hiccup had been at Snotlout's place for Christmas dinner and that his father was quite busy, but there wasn't even a single chain nor lamp hanging under gutters. So different than Jack's own house.

And as always there was a faint light coming from between curtains covering the view of the living room, but now it was more colorful than usual. There was probably Christmas tree standing in the corner.

Jack really liked to escort Hiccup to his house. Of course, the neighborhood was peaceful and rarely something happened here, but Hiccup was also quite unlucky, so there was no way of predicting what could really happen. Aliens could abduct him with his luck and Jack wouldn't be surprised. Maybe even a little bit jealous.

Plus the calm atmosphere of the outside world and the feeling of completion was quite soothing for Jack, to this point he thought he may get addicted to it.

Hiccup pushed his scarf down and hat higher to glance up at Jack.

"Thanks for taking me home, again." He added with a sigh. "You know I totally can walk back alone right?"

"Yeah I know… you said it the first time, the second, the third…" Jack started to count, showing his fingers to the boy. Actually he may have not enough fingers on his hands if he was counting all these times he had walked Hiccup back after their learning sessions.

"Point taken, doofus." Hiccup quickly lifted his hand, stopping Jack. "Besides, I'm not sure you can count that high, so stop it."

Jack rolled his eyes.

"You're so funny."

"I know I'm the best."

Jack snorted at the obvious smirk on the auburn haired teen's face. Two could play this game.

"But you know what happens at the end of our meetings lately, don't you?" Jack quickly asked, wiggling his eyebrows.

Hiccup opened his mouth and then pointed with his thumb at the door, immediately making two steps back.

"You know what? I left something on the oven, so you know? I'm afraid I'll burn it so…"

That was the poorest lie Jack had ever heard, so he didn't wait a second to jump at Hiccup and embrace him for goodbye.

It wasn't that uncommon in Jack's group of friends to hug each other when they were saying goodbye. Most of the times he did it with girls and few guys, so he decided to bring this tradition to Hiccup to warm him a little to Jack's touch. Besides, they were technically dating, right?

But today… today was a little bit different.

He felt the warmness of Hiccup's body under his arms, he heard the soft breath huffed on his neck, he sensed the tickling feeling of Hiccup's hair on his nose.

And Jack felt his own heart beating inside his ribcage. Faster than usual.

Hiccup stopped moving, almost like he was turned into a stone (or maybe frozen) statue under magical spell.

"This is the worst…" A low rumble tickled the skin on Jack's neck when Hiccup exhaled loudly through his nose.

Jack chuckled. Seriously, he could hug Hiccup just to hear his responds to it.

"Shush it, you're doing great." Jack murmured, feeling the smirk blossoming on his face.

Hiccup twitched in his arms.

But this wasn't a twitch of discomfort or a plead to be let out, because not even five seconds later Jack felt two palms resting on his back. Hiccup barely put any pressure on hugging back, it felt more like a ghost touch than actual human being reciprocating the hug, but it was there!

Hiccup hugged Jack back!

And the sudden leap of his heart couldn't be misinterpreted. He couldn't deny that this rapid skip of a beat actually happened, because the sudden movement made his throat clench.

It was almost painful.

However he grinned wider and tightened the embrace, squishing Hiccup's jacket into his chest.

"Jack, I… can't breathe! Humans need… oxygen to live! Mine Alveolar sacs* are closing!"

Well, with this he simply couldn't fight.

With reluctance Jack let Hiccup go. The teen took a step back and brushed his jacket, like by hugging Jack he got invisible dust on it. Or maybe he just wanted to straighten creases on it.

"Well that was…" Hiccup coughed and corrected his scarf.

"Nice?" Jack nudged.

"Too warm, but whatever." Hiccup lifted his one eyebrow, starring at him a little bit skeptically, but with a hint of amusement hidden inside those green eyes.

"But you hugged me back!" Jack wasn't losing this one, as he tilted his head and hid hands inside his pockets.

"Consider it an additional present for Christmas." Then after a thought, he added. "And don't get used to it."

"I promise nothing." Jack said, proudly puffing his chest.

Hiccup rolled his eyes.

"Why do I still spend time with you?"

"Because you love me?" Jack leaned closer and fluttered his eyes, making the most handsome face he had in his arsenal.

Hiccup snorted and pushed Jack's face away with his gloved hand.

"Debatable." He quickly retorted.

Jack pouted, but straightened his body

"So I guess I see you on New Years' Eve?" Jack asked instead, feeling his fingers twitch and sensing an urge to scratch the back of his neck.

The auburn haired boy nodded at him. The glasses slipped from his nose and he corrected them with a slight shove.

"Sure, I'll call you then."

"Sweet!" Jack said and ruffled Hiccup's hair, well hat, but in his mind he wanted to ruffle the boy's hair. "See ya later!" And just like always, he turned on his heels and started to walk away.

He moreover heard Hiccup responding, but the voice was dulled to the sound of his loudly beating heart inside his ears.

Shit. Things were not looking good for him.

---

Hiccup walked from one end of the platform to the other. He did it exactly twenty seven times already, which only resulted in a pain in the leg and a very concerned stare from a charwoman. He probably looked like a lunatic – a small teenager at 6 am was pacing nervously around the platform, murmuring under his breath. And no, he wasn't waiting for a train to Hogwarts… unfortunately.

He checked the time. The train was getting late. Approximately three minutes late.

Except him and the cleaning lady on the snowy platform was an old man who was yawning every five seconds and reading a newspaper and two women chirping happily, but loudly at this ungodly hour.

Hiccup huffed and the air formed a small cloud in front of his mouth, which also fogged his glasses. He had no power to take them off and clean, so he waited for the fog to disappear.

He was excited. He didn't see Fishlegs in few months (the last time they had seen each other was during summer holidays) and well, the fact that he missed his friend was pretty visible. Fishlegs was the only one in their pack who understood him and shared his interests. So Hiccup simply couldn't wait to finally see the teen and hear in person what had happened in his life.

The loud tooting sound of the train entering the station made him turn instantly on his heel and focus on two lights passing him by.

His eyes scanned windows, searching for a familiar face who also could be looking out for him, but the only thing he saw were unfamiliar and tired eyes of very groggy and sleepy people. He followed the train for few meters and when it stopped, Hiccup did too. Blue doors opened with a shushing sound and the swarm of people started to pour out from them. He had to make few steps back to not dive into the crowd and be taken away with it. He stood on his tiptoes and searched for the known face or hair or just whatever that could tell him that Fishlegs indeed was here and didn't miss Hiccup (what was pretty possible due to all those people outside). But no such luck, for now.

Hiccup felt something swelling inside his lungs, but he told himself to calm down. He definitely was there. Fishlegs even had written him a message, informing that he was already on the train.

"Hiccup!"

He turned his head and smiled when he saw a chubby face of his blond haired friend, dragging a giant suitcase behind him.

Hiccup ran to him, bumping into few people on the way.

"It's so good to see you, bud!"

"Same here. Sorry, there was an old lady which needed help in getting down her bag." Fishlegs stopped in front of him with a very warm smile on his lips.

"No worries. I'm just happy to see you." Hiccup couldn't stop the grin from forming on his mouth. "Give me this." He said, grabbing a bag from Fishlegs' other hand. He wasn't maybe strong, but he still could help carry something. "How was the trip?"

They both started walking to the moving stairs.

"Sleepy." Fishlegs stated the obvious. He took the night train, so he could sleep during the trip. Hiccup could understand his way of thinking, but he rarely was able to sleep in unfamiliar places. Or away from Toothless. "But you look like a zombie." Fishlegs pointed out, lifting one eyebrow, and then put the suitcase on the step behind himself. "Did you stay till 3 am re-watching Bill Nye the Science Guy?"

Hiccup stepped on the vibrating step behind Fishlegs' suitcase.

"No, you know I wouldn't do a marathon without you." Hiccup said, feeling an urge to brush his eyes.

Fishlegs chuckled.

"Glad that we still agree on that. Then why do you look like you're about to fall asleep?"

That was… that was pretty embarrassing. Lately, he simply had problems with falling asleep. And it all was because of one mister called Jackson Overland.

If the said person would be standing here right now then Hiccup wouldn't hesitate to punch him in the gut as hard as he could. But unfortunately Jack wasn't here, so Hiccup couldn't pour his frustration into this primitive, yet very effective movement. So he was stuck with what he got – problems with falling asleep.

"It's just…" Fishlegs would understand. "Jack forced me to play Outlast with him and… you know…"

The teen got off the escalator, making place for Hiccup to do it too. They both walked to the bright, blinking exit sign hanging above a glass door.

"Typical response to playing some good horror game." Fishlegs nodded. See, Hiccup had nothing to worry about. His friend understood him completely. "Well the typical response for such scaredy cats like you, Hic, no offense."

Hiccup groaned.

"None taken."

But gladly Jack kept his part of the promise, because when Hiccup had messaged him at 3 am the first night after playing he had responded almost immediately. Which was nice. Amazing actually. Jack even had proposed to call him, but Hiccup didn't want to wake neither his dad nor Jack's family with them talking at such late hour.

"But at least he forced you to play a good game." Fishlegs continued the topic.

They both walked out of the railway station and shivered at the freezing wind running and sneaking around Burgess.

"Yeah, it was okay…" Hiccup mumbled, looking around the snowy surroundings. He spotted the bus stop near the road. "Do you want to take a bus?"

The taller teen shrugged.

"I'm okay actually and up for a little walk actually. That is if you don't mind?" Fishlegs smiled a little sheepishly, like he was embarrassed about proposing this idea. "I didn't see Burgess in four months, so I'm kind of curious whether something changed here or not."

Hiccup nodded. He could totally understand Fishlegs. Maybe this wasn't his favourite town in the whole world, but they both had grown up here.

Even when it was pretty early, the streets in the city center were crowded with people bustling around. Maybe it was the New Years' fever getting into them?

"So I see that everything is going well between you and Jack." Fishlegs suddenly said, but he wasn't looking at Hiccup. His eyes were focused on the parallel street where he stared at signs hanging above shops.

"Yeah, I mean, when you get to know him he is a decent and kind guy." Hiccup said, correcting the hold on the bag on his arm. He was glad he had gloves, because this morning was exceptional chilly.

"Good, that's good." Fishlegs nodded to himself. "I'm glad everything between you is okay. To be honest, I wasn't so sure when you told me about your… plan." There was a small hesitation while speaking the last word and Hiccup wasn't sure if it was because they were in the crowded place or because Fishlegs had no better way to call their fake-dating rendezvous. "But now I see I was worrying for nothing. Gladly."

"Oh, well…" Hiccup scratched the back of his head, accidentally moving his hat and disheveling his hair even more. "I wasn't sure about it either at the beginning, but you know… after a while it started to not be so bad."

Fishlegs hummed under his nose and glanced at him with this look in his eyes that didn't bring anything good with it. Seriously, even Fishlegs?!

"Fishlegs!" Hiccup groaned, which resulted in his friend chuckling under his nose.

"No worries, I only did it to hear your reaction. I'm sure you have plenty of this jabbing from Astrid and twins…"

This was… was, well, not so comfortable.

"Uhm, yeah, about that…" Hiccup started, only to swallow a huge amount of cold air before speaking once again. "Ruff, Tuff and Snotlout don't know that this all is… fake…" He mumbled, closing his eyes at the end.

Fishlegs didn't respond for some time. In the meantime they stopped at the lights together with few people and waited patiently for all cars to stop at their red light. Only then they slowly shuffled forward.

Hiccup felt bad that he didn't tell his other friends about his plan, but he knew them too well and he also knew that when they were drunk they could spill some secrets. Of course, it was never intentional. Stuff like that happens, but well… with them it happens way too often for comfort.

It wasn't like he didn't trust Ruffnut, Tuffnut or Snotlout, because he knew if he asked for help then they would help him without blinking an eye (even Snotlout once proved it), but secrets… were totally different matter.

But even after a month and a half it was still terrible and Hiccup simply felt guilty. He wanted to tell them the truth.

"Well I can tell that you had your reasons." Fishlegs finally said after they crossed the street and slowly moved away from the tall buildings cramped together in the city center. The wind outside was even stronger and colder than inside the city.

The sentence made Hiccup sigh with relief, even though it didn't soothe the bad feeling hiding inside his heart.

"Thank you." He muttered, pushing the fringe from his forehead. "I really wanted… want to tell them, but… I'm afraid they will spill it out."

Hiccup knew it was kind of bad for thinking this way, but… ugh, no, there was no way for explaining what he had done. He simply did bad thing, but he had to keep it up for a little more time.

How long more actually? His situation with Dagur was quite stable. The teen kind of stopped pestering him in and out of the school, but Hiccup had a feeling there were other reasons behind it. The last time Hiccup had seen Dagur in school he looked terribly… depressed, especially with his head hanging low. Come to this, Heather didn't look that much better. With her friends she had been all smiles and butterflies, but her façade quickly had dropped down when she had been turning away.

But what could make them act like that?

"Yeah, that's why I said I understand." Fishlegs smiled to him and then corrected the gray scarf around his neck. "Okay, I must say I didn't miss winters in Burgess definitely. Were they always this cold?"

Hiccup chuckled as he moved forward into the more heavy falling snow.

"It was worse. Remember the winter at our second grade?"

Fishlegs shivered and Hiccup wasn't sure if it was because of the cold or the memories.

"Yeah, then it was really cold."

---

Hey guys, are you hungry? Maybe some trip to Ruff and Tuff? =D

Hiccup lifted his face from the phone and glanced at Fishlegs, who was looking at the laptop's screen.

"Astrid is asking if we're up for some food." Hiccup lifted his body a little from his almost laying position on the bed. "Are we up?"

The taller boy next to him tore away his gaze from some scientific YouTube video, pausing it in the same time. He shrugged, but Hiccup could see some sparks of interest appearing in his eyes.

"I am always up for food Hiccup. The question is whether you want to go out or not." Fishlegs pointed knowingly with his head at the window, where big layer of snow was laying on the window sill, totally looking like a precipitate in a test-tube. "Plus I want to see Astrid and the rest."

Hiccup nodded and wrote a quick response, that they would be near her house in twenty minutes or so.

Besides Stoick was late. It was already late afternoon. Even the sky turned fully black. Usually he was home at this hour. Maybe he had more work to do? Totally possible. But he usually had texted Hiccup that he would be late, but he received no message from his father.

With a groan he stood up which Fishlegs commented with a short snort. They gathered quickly their things. Hiccup closed his laptop, put it away on the desk and scratched Toothless behind his ear while exiting his room. They put on the thickest jackets they had and went out with Hiccup locking the door first.

They walked quickly to Astrid's house, almost not muttering any word to each other due to the really chilly wind outside. They were there even faster than in twenty minutes, but when Fishlegs rung a doorbell, Astrid opened the door almost immediately, jumping at him and grabbing into a deadly hug.

Hiccup was glad he was one step away, because his friend's face quickly turned purple under Astrid's strong embrace.

"Oh man, it's so good to see you!" She said almost lifting Fishlegs from the ground.

The poor boy tried to say something, but the scarf and strong hold was preventing him from doing so, so Hiccup stepped close and put his hands on Astrid's shoulders.

"Okay, Astrid, he can't breathe, put him down."

"Boo, joy-killer!" Astrid blew him a raspberry, but gladly put Fishlegs down and freed him from her embrace. Seriously, what was with people and hugs? Was it some kind of weird hormone which was making people want to hug each other?

Fishlegs took a deep breath, putting his hand on his chest, but the fuzzy smile quickly blossomed on his face.

"Glad to see you too." He gasped, a little bit hoarsely.

"Aww you didn't change at all." Astrid said, punching his arm and then jumping off the stairs in front of her house.

"It was only four months."

"Whatever, let's go eat. I'm starving!" And without glancing back, Astrid started to walk away.

Hiccup glanced at Fishlegs and shrugged. They both jogged to her, trying not to slip on the icy pavement.

Most of the walk to the restaurant Astrid was talking with Fishlegs, catching up on all the things they had missed. Hiccup remained silent, only once or twice interrupting the conversation to add few words here and there.

In few minutes they were in front of the restaurant in which Ruffnut, Tuffnut and Snotlout were working. Astrid pushed the front door and then made place to let everyone in. Fishlegs walked first followed by Hiccup.

After entering Hiccup's glasses immediately fogged up. He sighed loudly as he pushed them down, so he was able to see something with his own eyes. Fishlegs and Astrid walked to a table for six in the further part of the restaurant, near an entrance to a kitchen. Hiccup quickly jogged after them.

There were a lot of people sitting inside, chatting with each other and munching on their food. No wonder that most of the people wanted to stay inside than walk around in the winter weather. But due to everyone's jackets and coats hanging on chairs it was hard to maneuver inside.

Finally Hiccup stopped in front of the table and took off his own jacket, also throwing it on the chair and sitting with a loud huff.

"Seriously, you would think people would stay in their homes during winter, but apparently not." He mumbled, brushing the wet fringe away from his forehead.

"Not everyone is as antisocial as you, Hiccup, so don't whine." Astrid sat next to him. "Besides food here is good."

"You can't argue with arguments like that." Fishlegs added sitting on his other side and immediately grabbing the menu standing proudly in the middle of the wooden table. "Something changed here?"

Astrid looked around, searching for the familiar faces and silhouettes scrambling around, getting orders and bringing food to the hungry customers, but then she turned back with unsatisfied look.

"Nope, the same as ever." She said.

A teenager with the restaurant's logo on her apron walked to them and flipped the notepad to another page. They quickly ordered the usual for them, but when the girl wanted to walk away Astrid spoke.

"Are Ruff, Tuff or Snotlout here?"

The waiter lifted her eyebrow.

"I think they should be off their break in few minutes." She answered, glancing at her wristwatch first.

Astrid thanked her and the girl walked away to another table. There really had a lot of customers at this hour.

For some time Astrid and Fishlegs talked about some multiplayer games that were coming out this year which they both could play together. Hiccup one more time mostly listened.

To be honest, he actually liked it – being able to be silent and only listen to their conversation. He never felt left out with both of them. It was different than when he was with Ruffnut, Tuffnut and Snotlout – they sometimes almost forced him to speak. Now he simply could listen, speaking whenever he wanted.

"Look what the weather brought us. Big man is back in the town." The quite loud and very hyperactive voice was the only thing alarming them before suddenly two people jumped at poor Fishlegs. He could only yelp before he was once again squished almost to death, but now by very lively and always energetic Thorston twins.

Snotlout was calmer gladly as he approached their table, tying the apron behind his back with a simple 'sup' as a greeting.

"Man, why didn't you say you were already here!?" Ruffnut asked, moving away and ruffling Fishlegs' hair affectionately. Then she pointed a very accusing finger in Hiccup's direction, which almost hit him in the nose. "You! I blame you for not informing us."

"I did inform you, you just forgot." And it was the truth. He had written them two days ago that he would be picking Fishlegs up on this precise day from the train station. "Check our Skype's history."

"But you could tell us today!" Tuffnut moved to the front and also nudged Fishlegs' head. "Anyway, good to see you man. Ready to be destroyed in Jungle Speed on New Year's Eve?"

At that Astrid next to him literally shivered and curled on herself.

"I though no one would be bringing it." She murmured, glancing warily between her friends and almost pleading with her eyes for someone to confirm this information.

Hiccup didn't want to be the one to ruin her hopes, as he also wasn't the biggest fan of this game. But the twins said that if they have to endure 'nerds' night out/inside' at least they have to play Jungle Speed.

"I'm sorry Astrid, but I thought it would only be fair to let them play." Fishlegs mumbled, looking at her with pure sadness and guilt crystalizing in his eyes.

"Yeah, baby, we're on!" Tuffnut suddenly shouted and high-fived his sister above Hiccup's head, who had to duck to not be hit accidentally.

Oh joy, he almost missed the twins for the past few days after Christmas.

Gladly the same waiter who had written their orders down interrupted them with quite theatrical cough just behind their back. When everyone turned to her, she was glaring at the twins and Snotlout.

"Here are your orders." She stepped forward and put three plates in front of Astrid, Fishlegs and Hiccup. "And you… I think there are some orders to take."

Both Snotlout and Tuffnut saluted, straightening their back. Ruffnut only snorted in response, but they all finished tying their aprons.

"We are finishing in two hours. Wait for us!" The blonde haired girl shouted, before together with her brother and Snotlout disappeared behind the kitchen door.

Hiccup turned around and glanced at Fishlegs, who only shrugged at him.

"Good that we didn't plan anything for today then."

---

"What are we doing here exactly?" Hiccup asked as he had to cover his eyes from the blasting colors that were trying to blind him from every direction.

"Come on, Hic. We finished our shifts and we want to relax a little bit." Tuffnut nudged him, as he passed Hiccup and walked to the machine in which he threw few coins.

"Can't we relax at home while watching movies?" Hiccup asked, massaging his arm and stepping out of the way of two kids who ran to the DDR station next to them.

"Nope. So deal with it." Ruffnut pushed past him and stopped behind the two kids who tried to trample Hiccup. She encouraged Astrid who was currently ruling over the DDR console.

Hiccup sighed and looked around. Fishlegs, after entering the Burgess Arcadia, had immediately moved to some old games standing alone in the corner to check if his score was still at the top of the board. Judging by his lack of presence it meant that someone had beated him and he had to take back what was rightfully his. Snotlout and Tuffnut had jumped to some shooting game, racing each other who could kill more zombies (or whatever was there). Astrid was the queen of the DDR (when she put her feet on this machine she could dance all night). Ruffnut had been maneuvering around the place, but mostly had been standing near some fighting game, breaking every boy's and teen's spirit while destroying their characters. And Hiccup…

Hiccup didn't have his favourite game. Moreover he was overtaken by the amount of bright colors and sounds and people and just everything happening around him. He was with Fishlegs for some time, but the taller teen didn't like when someone talked to him or did something when he was breaking the records, so Hiccup quickly left him to fend for himself. With Tuffnut and Snotlout he was afraid he would accidentally be hit by their waving hands. He stayed with Astrid for some time, but the sound level of her game was hurting his ears (plus the music choice wasn't too good.). With Ruffnut it was the most fun and Hiccup enjoyed seeing other boys getting angry after losing to a girl, but he got dizzy from staring for too long at the bright and moving screen.

He checked the time on his phone. It was close to ten pm and even though they still had holidays and his father was weirdly all about him staying out late, he didn't exactly tell Stoick that he would be away for so long.

Hiccup tapped Ruffnut's arm, after she had made an amazing combo, kicking the opponent into the sky and away from the ring. A man twice her size looked dumbfounded at the screen.

"Sup, Hiccup?" She asked, turning to him with ablazed cheeks.

"I'm going out for a second to call my dad, okay?" He moved his phone in front of her eyes to show his point in case she didn't hear him. It was quite loud here.

"Sure thing. Just return to us and don't go wandering alone, okay?"

He nodded and then left Ruffnut for a rematch. He was sure the girl would kick the man's butt one more time and he only hoped this wouldn't result in some fight in the Arcadia, about which they could be writing in a newspaper tomorrow.

Hiccup maneuvered around teenagers and adults and moved to the exit. He welcomed the cold wind with a sigh, even though it was biting on his nose and ears. At least there was some free space.

Hiccup leaned on the wall next to the entrance and took out his phone, quickly searching for his father's number.

Stoick answered after four signals. Unusual long for him, but maybe the phone was just laying too far away.

"Hello?"

"Hi Dad. Just wanted to say that I'm out with Astrid and the rest." Which usually meant the whole pack. "Can you take out the mattress and put it in my room?"

"Oh, good, good. Okay, I can do that." Stoick answered fast and Hiccup heard him standing up and shuffling around the room. "I assume Fishlegs is already with you then?"

"Yes, he is…" See? There was the problem. Almost nothing about him getting late to home! Urgh and Hiccup hoped that maybe once (only once) his Dad would tell him to return home early, but no such luck.

Stoick on the other side sighed and it looked like he found the mattress in the spare room.

"Everything okay?" Hiccup asked after another groan flowed into his ears. His father was strong, bulky and powerful – he rarely got tired just by caring some mattress around the house. "You sound… exhausted."

"Me? No, I'm okay." He grunted and then it looked like he threw the mattress into Hiccup's room, judging by the sound of Toothless hissing quite loudly. "See, everything's perfect."

"Yeah, sure." Hiccup mumbled. He wanted to hide his mouth into his scarf, but he left it at a cloakroom.

"Was it all you needed from me?"

"Yeah." He exhaled loudly. Hiccup wouldn't accomplish anything via phone with his dad. Not to mention it was already quite late and he preferred for Stoick to at least relax and rest for a little bit.

"Do you have keys to the house?"

Hiccup patted the pocket where the keys jingled tenderly under the touch. He knew he had locked the door after exiting with Fishlegs, but he still preferred to check the pockets. Just to be sure.

"Yeah, I do." He responded and then put the phone to his other hand, because the first one started to ache from the cold weather. "I guess I see you later."

"Take care and have fun." Was Stoick last reply before the line became silent.

Hiccup sighed and moved the phone away from his ear. He should stop hoping that his dad would ask him to go home early. Apparently Stoick believed that coming back late was something normal for teenagers (even though Hiccup would like to be home earlier than on midnight).

He checked the time one more time. Yep, fourteen minutes after ten. And an unopened message from 'The Hottest Dude You Have Ever Se'. Why he still didn't change it to simple 'Jack' was beyond Hiccup's mind comprehension. Maybe because it was making him chuckle whenever he glanced at his phone?

But if someone would accidentally (or not) look at his phone and saw that, then…

Wait, they were fake-dating, so this shouldn't be weird or anything like that. Besides, Jack himself wrote it – it would be kind of rude to replace it.

Hiccup unglued his back from the wall and moved to the warm entrance with the phone still frozen to his cold hand. He was trying to write some normal response – without too much mistakes – when he heard a loud banging sound.

He quickly turned around to see a ray of light casted upon the pavement from the entrance to some restaurant (or fast-food joint, he wasn't sure) with a door fully opened (the sound of it hitting the wall was what caught his attention). He kind of expected for some drunk dudes or girls to stumble out of this place…

What he did not expect was for Dagur and his sister Heather to walk out of the restaurant.

Murphy's law was working astonishingly good in this world.

Hiccup immediately froze mid-step with his body halfway turned to the source of the commotion.

But Dagur didn't even glance at Hiccup. He threw a scarf around his neck with a scowl on his face and turned in other direction, putting his hands inside his pockets.

"Dagur, wait!" Heather jumped to him and caught his arm, but the teen didn't stop moving, only shrugged her off mumbling something too quiet for Hiccup to hear him from few meters away. "Can't you just bear with it for few more minutes? For my sake?"

Dagur stopped and turned to Heather in the middle of the street.

"I endured him for at least half of my life and I'm not going to do it much longer. Now leave me alone!" Then he caught his hoodie and threw it over his head. "Have a good evening." Dagur added, turned around, freeing himself from his sister's grasp in the same time, and stomped away, not even once glancing back.

Heather stood there alone with her palms lifted, staring at her brother until he turned around the corner. Only then she slowly wrapped her hands around herself.

Shit. What had Hiccup just seen? It didn't look a simple siblings' quarrel. And if Hiccup had to be perfectly honest, he rarely heard Dagur yell at someone. He was terrifying, but… he never yelled. And he was never mean to his sister.

Hiccup finally felt his body breaking free from the frozen state he was forcefully put into by his brain. He glanced at the bright entrance to the Burgess Arcadia, welcoming him with the flashes of light and heaters standing in the entrance. Should he…

Ugh, who he was kidding.

"Everything's… all right?"

Hiccup knew it was a stupid question. It was as dumb as not taking out the plug from the separatory funnel when he was draining the bottom layer and wondering why it wasn't dripping into the flask*.

But Hiccup was more over inexperienced in these comforting people matters. Or at least this was what he preferred to tell himself to feel a little bit better about his stupid decisions.

Heather turned her head around with wide and glassy eyes. When she spotted Hiccup, her look softened and she sniffed, which she tried to cover with a small cough.

"Oh, hey Hiccup." She whispered quietly, looking away for a second. Her pale palm brushed an ebony lock behind her ear.

Hiccup saw her wrist shivering, but he wasn't sure if it was because of the emotional state or the cold weather outside. Maybe both.

Definitely both.

"Maybe it's not my problem, but…" Okay, he gulped down. "Can I help you somehow? I never saw… Dagur so angry…" At you was unspoken and Hiccup preferred it that way.

Heather chuckled at that. She wiped her eyes with her sleeve, still laughing under her breath.

"Yeah, he usually keeps it all for himself when he is angry." And after a while she added. "That is my big bro for you."

Hiccup clenched and unclenched his fists inside his pockets few times, wondering what he should do.

Ugh, it all looked so easy in movies and books. His friends always were able to lift up Hiccup's mood with only few sentences and gentle pat to the shoulder. When Jack did it, it all looked like it was as easy as acid-base titration.

But apparently it was a very complicated machine, with even more tangled electricity circuit and Hiccup didn't know which buttons to press to get some or any kind of positive reaction.

"Mind me asking what happened there?" Hiccup asked in a whisper, not sure whether he made a good or a bad move.

Heather looked at the ground and kicked some rock, which rolled for a meter or so and stopped. Hiccup wasn't sure if it was because of the friction or just Heather kicked it really weak.

"A family dinner which I shouldn't plan at all." She answered, not casting her eyes up and still looking at the gray, dirty, and trodden snow beneath their feet.

"Why?" Hiccup immediately asked. He wanted to clamp his mouth and keep it shut, but the question just rolled off his tongue. Why was he so interested in Dagur's and Heather's argument? The teen practically molested him at some point.

Yet, he looked unusual down lately. There definitely was something wrong with Hiccup's brain if he was concerned about his enemy well-being. Maybe he got Jack's germs on himself somehow?

"It's just… he doesn't get too well with our dad. I know it and yet… you know…" She sniffed one more time. "I hoped that this time it could be different… guess I was stupid for hoping…"

Okay, okay, this was pretty bad. Red alert, red alert!

Hiccup opened his mouth and closed it. Seriously, he wanted for Jack to be right here with him. He would know what to say to help Heather. He always knew what to say.

But Jack wasn't here right now. It was only Hiccup and Heather.

"I don't think it's stupid to want to spend some time with your family…" He finally said, not even sure if it was the right thing to say or not. But at least this was what he thought was okay.

"Guess with my family it's different." Heather quickly retorted, but the corners of her lips twitched in almost depressing smile.

Well, Hiccup didn't expect that kind of a response. He pushed his glasses higher while he searched desperately in his mind for something to say in this situation, but his brain was blank. No, that was wrong. It wasn't blank, it was filled with many sentences, ideas to say, but they all were wrong.

"I think that the timing was just bad."

Heather glanced at him and pinched her lips together in a thin line, but added nothing. Maybe Hiccup should elaborate on that?

"It's that… lately Dagur looked weirdly… weirdly down, so maybe he isn't in the best mood for some… family meetings." Wow, he wasn't even sure what he was talking about.

However it was pretty obvious that Heather cared deeply for her brother (no matter how big of a douche he was). If she didn't, she wouldn't almost cry in front of Hiccup. And he knew well how hard it was to try to stop the prickling tears from running down your cheeks.

She was strong. And in need of some warm words. Only Hiccup wasn't the perfect person for this kind of things.

Jack was. He would be perfect for this kind of situations. He would be perfect for her… not Hiccup.

He blinked, taken aback by the sudden… something which abruptly ran through his body. A small tremor, a shudder, a shiver which jumped between his joints. Gosh, why was the wind in Burgess so freezing? Even with few layers of clothes he was still trembling.

Because it had to be due to cold.

"There is never a right time." Heather mumbled, but finally looked up at him. "But I appreciate your concern." She added, trying to put something similar to a smile on her lips, but they only twitched (it kind of looked like half of her face was frozen). She patter her cheeks with her hands. "Okay. He will eventually return home. He can't stay too long out in this weather." Then she chuckled and leaned closer to Hiccup. "To tell you a secret, he is a lazy, warm bun, who loves to be wrapped in tons of blankets and lay in front of a fireplace with cup of hot chocolate. But don't tell anyone about it or his bad boy image will be ruined." She put her finger near his mouth and the smile she tried to put on this time was a little bit more honest, even if still crooked.

Hiccup made a zipping motion with his finger, trying to imagine Dagur in front of a fireplace with dozens of blankets around him. This… this didn't look and sounded like him at all, so he had problems with painting the image inside his head.

"I will tell no one." He added, after he had thrown the imaginary key away into a pile of dirty snow laying on the side of the road.

"Good. I trust you." And then she turned around to the still opened door to the restaurant. How no one walked and closed it was a mystery to Hiccup. "I must go back to the rest of my family that didn't run away." The teen glanced back at him. "Have a calm evening. Well, better than mine that is."

"I'll try, but I don't know how calm evening could be while spending it with Ruff and Tuff."

Heather chuckled under her nose and the air coming from her mouth formed a tiny cloud in front of her pale lips.

"Not that calm. Say hello to them from me." And with that she turned around and walked inside the restaurant. The door closed after her, cutting the source of yellow light on the ground.

Hiccup stood in the middle of the street for few more second, confused and quite messed inside his head. He moved his fingers. His palms still didn't freeze, even though it felt like he was standing there already for few hours (which wasn't possible).

"Hiccup, are you alive?"

He glanced back at the bright, translucent door to the Burgess Arcadia, now standing wide open with Astrid looking at him with quite worried look.

"Yeah, I'm okay. I was just about to go back inside." Hiccup nodded, sniffing and feeling that he kind of needed a handkerchief right now.

"Then move faster. Ruffnut found some dude on the same level as hers and the fight is getting hectic! The whole Arcadia is already watching!"

Hiccup sighed, but followed her inside, welcoming the sudden gust of warm air on his body from the heater standing next to the door with a relief. Yep, it was too cold outside. But at least the water pumps inside their laboratory could achieve lower vacuum*, so it wasn't that bad.

"I just hope she won't get in another fight."

"Well…"

Hiccup didn't like the tone of Astrid's voice and how she desperately avoided his gaze, but decided to follow her further nevertheless.

He hoped he wouldn't regret it later.

---

"Dude, the message won't magically pop on your phone if you look at it more often. Besides you insisted on playing this game with me and now you're looking away from it."

Jack groaned and turned from his phone to the computer's screen.

He really wanted to play this game with Aster, because duh it was very fun to play it in two-player mode, but he couldn't fully focus on it. The fault could be the late hour… or well… Hiccup.

The boy didn't answer him for twelve hours. And no, the fact that it was 1 am wasn't really exempting him from messaging Jack back.

When Jack did look back, Aster unblocked the game and they both started to move to another destination. But Jack was so out of it that he accidentally killed both of them and they had to start the level from the very beginning. Well, they wouldn't have to start it all over if Jack didn't insist on picking the hardest mode.

"Okay, Frost, I can't take it. What's bugging you?" Aster huffed, pausing the game once again and turning to him.

Jack put his legs on the chair.

"Nothing is wrong with me." He murmured, but also put the joypad away. "I'm probably tired."

"Dude, it's like only one am. You rarely asleep at this hour. Plus you already glanced at your phone twenty-seven times." Aster noticed, lifting one eyebrow.

"You counted?" Jack asked, smirking at him and putting his chin on his knees.

"Unfortunately yes."

Jack chuckled at that. Typical Aster. Somehow this didn't surprise him.

So okay, maybe he was looking at the phone quite too many times for Aster's comfort. But come on! Hiccup never had stopped responding for such long time without announcing first that he would be doing something important.

"So on whose amazing response you're waiting for?" Aster crossed hands on his chest, rolling away from his desk a little to have more space for himself. He even cockily put one leg on another. What a douche!

"No ones." Jack grumbled under his nose.

"Dude, don't lie to me."

Yes, Jack knew he was bad at lying. And it wasn't like he was ashamed of the fact that he waited for Hiccup's response. If someone else asked about it then he would say it right away. The problem was the person who asked it.

Aster – of all people it had to be Aster. Probably the fact that Jack was spending the night over at Aster's house was quite important selection's detail, but still. It could be anyone else.

No, of course, it couldn't.

And well, to be honest, Jack didn't want to tell Aster that he was anticipating Hiccup's message. He could accidentally think something stupid. Something really weird. Something maybe unbelievable. Bunny simply could think that Hiccup and Jack had something for each other, like real feelings.

Jack couldn't allow that. He couldn't allow for Aster to think Hiccup had feelings for Jack, because…

Because…

Because Hiccup had a crush on Aster. And they would be perfect together. They were both nerds. They had so many common topics! They definitely would have fun while spending time together.

But Hiccup was stuck in the fake-relationship with Jack and not the perfect for him Aster. Hiccup deserved better and Jack didn't want to destroy this small seed of hope which could bloom between him and Aster.

Even though something deep inside was telling him that it wasn't as easy as he initially had thought.

"I'm not lying, I'm avoiding the truth." Jack simply stated. "Just leave it for now. Seriously, I'm begging you."

Aster lifted his eyebrow and eyed him for few more seconds, but then sighed heavily and brushed away the wet fringe from his forehead. He had taken a shower some time ago, but his hair still didn't dry off completely.

"Only because you're asking me to. And don't think I'll forget about it."

"I owe you big time."

At that Bunny smiled softly, yet a little tiredly. Lately he was kind of edgy and nervous, bursting in grumbles and casting sarcastic comments everywhere like he had a never ending amount of mana on him. It wasn't like Aster totally changed, those were only small facts Jack had noticed along the way of the last two weeks.

And he still refused to tell Jack what was wrong, so the white haired teen could also play this card.

"Yeah, of course. Now do you still want to play this game or can we maybe go to sleep?"

"Nah." Jack waved his hand and when Aster started to smile, he quickly grabbed the gamepad one more time. "Don't wanna sleep. Let's at least beat this level. Or this map."

Aster wasn't very nice to him till they went to sleep an hour later.

---

"Jack, your phone is buzzing. Whoever it is tell him or her to write to you later."

Jack moved his hand around himself, searching for the phone which definitely vibrated with new messages. Two or three. And it wasn't even… Jack wasn't sure what time it was, but it had to be quite early for Aster to be pissed about being awake.

He finale found it laying somewhere under his back. How did that didn't make him uncomfortable was a mystery.

Jack brushed his finger on the screen and stared in awe at not three, but seven unopened messages. Okay, that was a little bit… bizarre. He quickly opened his message box and was ready to see few names popping on his list. But there was only one name bolded in front of his eyes. Hiccup. Hiccup finally wrote him back.

Jack sat up immediately and the quilt felt down from his body, pooling around his hips. He touched the boy's name, feeling the anticipation flowing through his veins.

The images of well, kind of battered twins making selfies next to sleeping Hiccup and probably Fishlegs were not what he expected from those messages. But here Jack was, with four images, each subsequent photo weirder than the previous one.

The last one was the funniest to him as it was pretty blurred, but he could see some silhouette which looked like Astrid trying to grab the device the twins definitely had stolen from Hiccup. Good that someone was trying to look out after those people.

He directed his gaze at the written messages below the photos.

OMG Jack I'm so so sorry!

Ruff and Tuff took my phone when I was sleeping! D:

I hope they didn't wake you up…

Jack chuckled while reading, feeling some warm sensation bubbling inside his stomach. Aster turned on his bed and mumbled something under his nose, but did nothing more.

No worries (^o^) You didn't wake me up (before you go go)~

He clicked send, but he quickly started to write more.

But where were you guyzzz? Partying without me?

‧º·(˚ ˃̣̣̥^˂̣̣̥ )‧º·˚ I feel wounded now…

And with that he slumped back on his pillow still with the phone in his hand. Two messages were sent and now he could only wait for Hiccup's reply.

With his thumb he scrolled higher on the chat and clicked at the first photo. It also was a little blurred in corners, but he could clearly see Hiccup and Fishlegs huddled in their jackets in the back, leaning on each other and sleeping peacefully. Ruff and Tuff were smiling broadly with their teeth out to the camera. It looked like Ruffnut was the one taking the photo. Somehow it wouldn't even surprise Jack if this was her idea in the first place.

The next one was similar, but the twins were making different faces. On the third one Jack could see some kind of shadow in the right corner that looked suspiciously akin to Snotlout. The fourth one was destroyed (or saved) by Astrid trying to grab the phone.

Well it was quite successful photo session in Jack's opinion.

He checked the time at which they had been sent – all near 3.15 am. Okay, wow that was a little bit early (or late, depending on the person). Sometimes Jack had been staying till this hour to play some games or chat with some friend from the other side of the globe, but Hiccup and the rest? Not so much.

Coming to this, where they were? The background in every picture was very bright. Were these white walls? And the chairs Hiccup and Fishlegs were using looked kind of plastic and uncomfortable. Plus the amount of small scratches and adhesive bandages on the twins' faces (they didn't look that bad, but they had more of them than usual)…

Were they in a hospital?

At this idea Jack's heart skipped a beat, but it didn't leave a nice sensation after it. More like a nerve-wracking echo.

But his hand vibrated with another message appearing at the end of the chat.

I'm glad then.

And no, we weren't partying.

Jack furrowed his eyebrows. Somewhere inside of him there was this lone idea to inform Hiccup that he didn't wake up Jack, but instead woke up Bunny, but he decided not to voice (or write) it out. Hiccup could feel bad about it.

Besides it didn't look like Hiccup was in too happy mood. Well, not many people were in a good mood first thing in the morning, but they had Christmas' holidays! Not to mention tomorrow was New Year's Eve. He should be in a little bit more enthusiastic mood.

But he wasn't.

Jack quickly wrote a message, clicking send without thinking too much.

May I ask what happened?

He turned and faced the wall, bringing the quilt closer to his face and covering his neck. He still stuck out the hand to be able to stare at the chat. One minute, two minutes, three minutes…

Even after five there was still no new message from Hiccup. Maybe something really did happen? But judging from the photos nothing happened to the boy. He just looked tired on them. Jack should be more concerned about the twins…

But those were Ruffnut and Tuffnut, they were literally jumping from one problem to another. Jack was kind of amazed with their ability to literally make their way through everything which was tossed at them.

They definitely had some additional stone of luck or elixir hidden in their inventory.

Another ten minutes later Hiccup still didn't answer, so Jack decided to sleep a little more. He put the phone under his pillow, where he knew it would wake him if it vibrated.

---

"I swear, if you ever do something like that one more time-" Astrid hissed under her breath as she stopped the car and pulled up the handbrake.

"We promise to never step into a fight after an arcade game ever again. Or at least I promise. I'm not sure about my sis." Tuffnut said, way too happily in this situation, but crossed his heart nevertheless.

"To be fair, I only jumped into it, because they were into it, Astrid. Believe me!" Snotlout grabbed the driver's seat and leaned closer, watching out for the adhesive plaster on his nose.

"I was there Snotlout, I saw what happened. Let's be glad that no one was majorly hurt, okay?" Astrid fumed, turning back and taking off her seatbelt. "And you, try to act more mature, please!"

Ruffnut leaned on the backseat, crossing her hands on the chest, but wincing at the scratches she had there.

"Sorry." She mumbled. "This wasn't very smart of us."

"Thank you!" Astrid said, glancing up at the sky, or in this case at the roof of the car. "Now get your asses out."

Everyone stepped out of the Thorstons' car obediently as sheep. No one wanted to feel the rage of Astrid Hofferson on their skin. Hiccup was glad that theoretically he wasn't endangered to be the victim of it right now.

But he could totally understand her. She had to be scared out of her wits by what had happened yesterday.

Hiccup stepped onto the snowy driveway with a sore moan, as he felt the pain in his limbs and joints from the uncomfortable sleep he just had. Fishlegs, who went out from the backseat, didn't look that much better, especially with the dark circles around his eyes.

That was one way to spend the night. Hiccup knew that meeting with twins was a bad idea. Somehow even when they didn't want to get into troubles, the troubles always found them.

Maybe because of that they all stuck together.

Gladly this night ended only with minor injuries and a peace treaty between both sides. The guy and his pack who had started it – what was his name again? Ah, right, Eret even had apologized when Astrid had been driving them all to the hospital. Although back then it was really terrifying, now Hiccup was kind of amused about the whole situation.

It all had started with Ruffnut kicking Eret's butt in a game, then moved to the fight outside the Arcadia and ended on the peace pact in the hospital. Even a nurse had shaken her head at their behavior.

Now the only thing Hiccup wanted was to get into his bed and sleep. Probably for few hours, with a margin of error around one hundred percent.

"Okay, see you guys tomorrow. Eight at ours, right?" Ruffnut asked, glancing back at them with a small hesitant smile.

"Yeah, sure." Hiccup answered, when Astrid didn't open her mouth to speak and only gave Tuffnut the keys to their car back.

"Sweet, see you guys tomorrow then!"

Both twins went back into their house. Snotlout who was living in the opposite direction quickly said his goodbyes, apologizing to Astrid one more time. But the girl still brushed it off and didn't answer.

She seriously was mad at them.

Hiccup and Fishlegs literally had to jog to catch up with her after they had split up with Snotlout.

"Astrid, come on, slow down. We aren't as fast as you!" Hiccup gasped, feeling the exhaustion of the lack of sleep hanging tightly onto his limbs. The snow covering the pavement wasn't helping him maneuver that much either.

Fishlegs next to him was already breathing hard.

The girl gladly heard them and stopped to wait for them to catch up. Half of her face was hidden behind bright pink scarf wrapped around her neck.

"Sorry…" She muttered when they were next to her.

"No worries." Fishlegs gasped out, putting his hand on his chest and exhaling loudly. "But man, I don't remember the last time I saw you so angry."

Hiccup had to agree, but now he was more preoccupied by the ice beneath their feet to add something to this topic. He was accident-prone, so he had to be extra careful while walking on such slippery road.

"And you should be grateful you're not on the end receiving my rage." Astrid snapped, but her angry eyes quickly softened when she glanced at Fishlegs on her left. "Sorry." She quickly added, lifting her hand and correcting the hat on her head. "It's just pissed me off."

Hiccup jumped to avoid one giant frozen puddle.

"What exactly?" He finally asked, when he was on more over save ground. "I mean, of course, I wasn't too happy about spending the night at the hospital, but whenever we go out with twins and Snotlout something happens, so you should get used to it."

"No, we shouldn't get used to this." Astrid said and kicked a rock or maybe it was very dirty snowball laying on the ground. "They are adults. They can't get in every fight they want."

"You should tell them that, not me." Fishlegs noticed.

"I told them, but you were asleep, so you didn't hear it."

"Oh." The boy flushed deep and scratched his cheek. "Never mind then."

For few more meters and minutes they walked in silence, with Astrid stomping half a meter in front of them, still fuming with anger.

Hiccup wanted to take out his phone and reply to Jack, but he had a feeling this was somehow improper. Plus his hands were kind of frozen, even though he kept them in gloves and in pockets.

Fishlegs, on the other side of Astrid, glanced at him and tilted his head in the direction of the girl, cocking his eyebrow in the same time.

However Hiccup also didn't know what was happening with his best-friend. Usually in their group Hiccup was the one getting pissed about every stupid thing twins had done, not Astrid. She was the balanced one, as half of her was filled with sweet fun and craziness and the other with sour authority and seriousness. So her bursting so suddenly right now wasn't something which occurred too often. Or like ever.

Hiccup shrugged in response. Maybe it was just a bad day.

But in those few silent minutes they reached Astrid's house. Gladly everyone's family was previously informed about the situation, so there shouldn't be too much yelling or any case of being grounded.

"You guys doing anything later?" She suddenly asked, in much nicer and softer tone now, although there was still some strained emotions playing on her cheeks.

Hiccup glanced at Fishlegs and vice versa. Did they have anything planned? He wasn't sure. He did want to show Fishlegs his very clear quinolone he had made during laboratory, but he had a feeling school would be closed at that hour.

"Can we watch something later?" Astrid sighed, lifting her hand and gloomily massaging her forehead.

"Like a movie marathon?" Fishlegs rose his eyebrow, glancing back at the girl.

"Yeah, a movie marathon. I need to loosen up a little." She said, brushing away one long, blond lock which had fallen on her forehead.

"But without yelling at us, right?" Hiccup inquired, a little unsurely, not sure if Astrid calmed enough to not explode like a heated flask without a reflux condenser.

Although the small smile which graced her pink lips was a tiny indicator that she was already cooling off.

"I'm not promising anything, but I'll try." She swirled around on her heel. "See ya later then."

"Bye!" Fishlegs shouted, waving his hand, even though the blond haired girl definitely couldn't see it.

Astrid disappeared in her house with one last glimpse at them and another yet familiar smirk playing on her lips.

Both he and Fishlegs turned around and started to slowly walk towards Hiccup's home. Somewhere when they were on his street, Hiccup started chuckling under his nose.

Fishlegs glanced at him warily.

"What's so funny?"

"Oh you know, after today's night I can finally say it. Welcome home." Hiccup said, feeling the soft fumes of happiness and joy starting to appear in his belly.

Fishlegs stretched his mouth in a smirk.

"It's actually nice to be back."

---

"Frost, wake up, it almost twelve."

"Nooo…" Jack moaned, hiding further under his quilt. It was still too early. "Let me sleep for few more minutes…"

"You said the same an hour ago."

Jack wasn't sure if he really did it, but judging by their past, Aster was probably right. So the only logical thing was to turn around and open only one eye.

The sun was already hanging high on the sky and shining right through the window at Jack's face and making him wince. It looked like even the sun was telling him to finally wake up. Why you gotta be so rude?

Jack groaned, but then the beautiful and a little bit bitter smell reached his nose. He lifted his head to check if what he smelled was reality or if Morpheus was still pulling his brain into dream land.

Nope, it was definitely reality. Aster was sitting in front of his computer, looking through some web pages and drinking coffee. Coffee! The beverage of the gods!

"Hey, make me some." Jack said, sitting up and pushing the quilt away from his body.

Aster glanced at him, then shrugged and took another long sip.

"Go make it yourself. You know where the kitchen is." He said, scrolling down.

"Ugh, rude. I'm the guest here!" Jack shouted, standing up and scratching his stomach.

"No, no you're not."

Jack groaned. Did he achieve some kind of a higher level when you stop being a guest at your friend's house? He couldn't remember when was the last time he went to Aster's house and his friend actually took care of him. Jack always had to make himself coffee or tea and grab something from the fridge to eat. Not to mention – not even once or twice Jack actually had to make dinner here.

"Ugh, okay, I'll make myself some!" Jack snorted and walked out of the room, leaving Aster alone, but probably content with himself. He definitely was smirking under his nose when Jack was closing the door.

Jack slowly stepped down the stairs, keeping his hand on the rails as he was still feeling a little bit sleepy. The house was quiet, but he could hear muted sounds of animals coming from behind the walls. It looked like Aster's father was working since early hours.

Jack walked into the kitchen he knew very well and maneuvered around to the kettle. He poured water inside and put it on the stove. While waiting for water to boil, he decided to make himself some breakfast. And because Aster was so rude, he wasn't going to do anything for him.

At first, two or three years ago when Aster literally had told him to make himself something to eat Jack had been pretty scared to do it. Come on, it wasn't his own kitchen where he knew he could do anything. So back then he had been taking minimum of things he wanted to eat. However when once Aster's father had seen him putting only cheese on the sandwich, he had started yelling something about vegetables and healthy eating and that they had too much food and ordered Jack to put at least a cucumber on it. So Jack had done just that. And after that he hadn't been embarrassed about making himself food.

Now, he felt like it was his second home.

He danced around the kitchen, humming softly, cutting bread, putting butter and ham on it, waiting patiently for the water. He cut himself few slices of tomato and even basil, because it looked like rarely someone used it here, so he had to be the chosen one to use it!

The kettle started to whistle louder. But the noise wasn't lonely, but accompanied by barking sound slowly starting to become louder and louder. Jack stopped putting the tomato on the sandwich in time to snap his head around and look as the door to the vet clinic suddenly burst open with some dog jumping out of it.

Well Jack should be more surprised about it, but he also got used to this.

Aster's father – a man with similar to his son's gray hair, tied in a ponytail near his nape and brilliant green eyes – followed the animal with his white coat rustling behind him like a superhero's cape.

"Jack, catch him!"

Jack quickly located the chocolate dog actually making a turn in the living room and running into the kitchen. The poor animal probably didn't spot him, too preoccupied with running for its life, because Jack almost had no problems with catching the dog as it was about to jump from the kitchen into the hallway.

The dog whimpered when Jack caught the skin on his or her neck, but didn't move. He was glad that it didn't try to bite him.

Aster's father ran to Jack, holding a syringe in his gloved hand.

"Oh, you caught him!" He sighed heavily when he saw Jack holding the dog down. "Now if you hold him still for few more seconds…"

Jack patiently kept the dog in one place and observed as the man knelled and caught a lone wrinkle on the puppy neck. He inserted a needle there, quickly pushing the button down. The brown dog whined, but after two or three seconds the whole procedure was done.

"See, nothing to be afraid of." The man said softly, massaging a place where he had put the needle in and nodding at Jack.

He quickly let go of the dog, which scampered a little in one place, but surprisingly didn't start running away now.

They both stood up, Jack a little bit quicker than the man, who sighed as he straightened his bones.

"I'm getting too old for this." Aster's father murmured, but with a fond smile on his lips.

Jack quickly turned off the water which was whistling for the past minute or so.

The dog barked at the man and moved in a circle. His tail wagged slowly – left, right, left – similar to a metronome. Even though the dog wasn't that small, as he was reaching almost Jack's knees, he couldn't be that old. Maybe a year, or a little bit older.

Aster's father grabbed a ball which laid on the counter and showed it to the dog, which barked one more time, but stuck out his tongue. With one throw of the yellow ball, the puppy was gone in the hallway, chasing it playfully.

"Thanks for your help." The man said, turning to Jack with a soft smile dancing on his lips.

"No problem, mister. Always at your service." Jack responded, grinning back and moving to the stove. "Do you want some coffee?"

"Oh, if you don't mind making me some then yes."

Jack moved to take out another cup and pour himself and the man coffee. He remembered that Aster's dad didn't really sugar his drinks, but added milk. In few second coffees were ready and Jack passed one cup to the man.

"Thank you, Jack." He said, taking a sip quickly, just in time for the dog to return with a spongy, yellow ball sticking out from his mouth. His tail was wagging fast, but he stood patiently in front of the doctor.

The man kneeled, took out the ball and threw it once again, but now in different direction.

"I see your work never ends." Jack commented, glancing at the dog. With one hand he grabbed the sandwich.

"I can't remember when I had holidays last time." The man said in a happy, yet tired tone.

"Maybe short vacation could be good for your health." Jack noticed, taking a bite. He turned around and leaned on the counter.

"First, I need to find some person to replace me while I'm gone." The man shook his head, just in time to hear the soft trots of the dog returning with his prey.

"What about Aster?" Jack asked, swallowing first. Maybe in the Bunnymund's house they didn't really care about propriety and traditions, but Jack still would feel bad talking with someone while eating.

"He still has school." The man said, kneeling and taking out the ball. However this time he didn't throw it, but put back on the counter. "And his own hobbies. I don't want to take him away from those." He added, now more quiet. "He still helps me a lot nevertheless and I'm grateful for that. But I need a full-time worker who would help me every day."

Jack hummed, nodding along the way. He knew many people helped in the clinic, but usually Aster's father was doing most of the job. But Jack rarely had heard him complaining about it. The man loved his job. So did Aster.

Everyone knew that no matter what his dad would say, Aster would still chose to be a vet in the future. Not because it was a family business, but simply because he loved taking care of animals. Jack would even say that he loved everything small, but well… he once had said it in the middle of the street and some woman had glanced at them terrified, dragging her surprised kid away. Aster had been so close to killing Jack back then, but well to be even more honest Bunny was good with kids. Not in the bad and creepy way of course!

"Were you thinking about taking some kind of intern?" Jack proposed, finishing his first sandwich and glancing at the man.

The dog patiently waited for the man to throw the ball, but when he noticed that it won't happen fast he sat down, still looking up.

"Yeah, but I'm not sure if the one Labor Office will give me will be good for this job…"

"Maybe you should put a notice about work on the internet? I'm sure someone in Burgess is capable of helping you."

Aster's father didn't answer and it looked like he was contemplating about Jack's last proposition. He only took two pauses – one to take a sip and one to pet a dog, which now licked his hand happily.

From a pocket of his coat he took out a small bone shaped treat and gave it to the dog.

"I definitely can try that. Maybe this way I'll finally have some vacations." The man finally said, smiling to himself.

"And you should take Aster with you. Lately he is too grumpy." Jack said with a warm chuckle accenting the end of the sentence, but also with a dose of seriousness mixed in between words.

"Oh, you noticed it too?" The man asked, looking at him and lifting his cup closer to his mouth, but not taking a sip. "At first I thought something happened between you guys, but now I see this isn't the case."

"No, everything is fine between us." Jack confirmed, taking his own cup and taking a sip of delicious coffee he had to make himself. "Well at least I think everything is fine. He doesn't act different." Maybe only a little. "And he hang out with us just normally. Well except that one time he had to help you with a shot deer, so he couldn't spend time with us." Jack added, remembering what Aster had written him when Jack had tried to surprise Hiccup on their date… fake-date. Totally fake-date! Well if Aster had been there, it would be a normal date, only Jack would be the fifth… or third wheel?

Aster's father suddenly became serious, furrowing his eyebrows at what Jack had just said.

"What shot deer?" He asked, putting his drink down.

"Well around two weeks ago he told me he couldn't hang out because he had to help you in the clinic with a shot deer." Jack repeated the story, now more slowly while adding more details. But something in the surprise clearly floating on the man's face was making Jack cringe inside.

Aster's dad stared at him with wide eyes, only to sigh suddenly very loud. His free hand massaged his eyelids, with his arms slowly slumping down like he was surrendering to the information he just received.

Jack didn't like it, not even one bit.

"Jack, I don't want to sadden you, but there was no case of deer shooting in the last two months, so…" Aster's father started and stopped, glancing at him warily and unsteady.

Jack understood in a heartbeat and it felt like everything inside of him suddenly trembled in their bases. The plaster in his brain dropped down, making a cloud of ashes which rose and fogged his mind for a second.

Aster lied to him.

And even though Jack suddenly felt anger and dolor boiling inside his body, he lifted his head and smiled at the man.

"I'm sure he had his own reasons." Was the only thing Jack added to this topic.

"I hope they were good…" The man muttered and finished his coffee. "If you need me, I'll be in my clinic. Thank you for the coffee." With that Aster's father put the cup into the sink, waved at Jack and disappeared together with the dog in the clinic next to the house.

Jack was left alone and suddenly very, very lonely.

Aster lied to him. Aster lied right in his face. Well, that wasn't right, he didn't tell him that face to face per se. He had only sent a message. Which kind of was good and terrible both in the same time.

Bunny was always a straightforward person, always telling what he thought face to face, without hesitation and often without second thoughts. Guess that wasn't the truth anymore.

Jack felt terrible with this information. Not because Aster lied to him, because these things happens sometimes – between friends, families and close people. Now he was mad and sorrowful, because Jack was the main reason Aster had started to act like that. How else would Jack explain lying to him and not wanting to tell what was wrong if this didn't concern Jack somehow?

So it was about him.

Which made entire matter even worse.

Something in his chest constricted, like suddenly an invisible ivy trapped his lungs, making it hard to breath.

Why did Jack do to make Aster act like that? Why didn't Aster say anything then? What was he missing?

Jack took the plate with the second sandwich in one hand and the cup of coffee in other and slowly moved back to Aster's room. He had a feeling he was walking as loud as elephant. It was probably only his imagination, but his legs were really heavy now.

However Aster only glanced at Jack when he stepped inside.

"Took you long enough." He commented.

"I helped your father catch a dog." Jack said and moved to the other chair standing in front of Aster's computer.

He put the plate down together with his coffee. Jack was in the middle of grabbing some clean clothes when he saw a hand reaching for his sandwich. He quickly spun around and hit the palm away. Oh, the sweet yelp coming from Aster's mouth was a balm to his ears in the morning, well… late morning. Late noon?

Never mind.

"Make your own damn sandwich." Jack chirped with a toothy grin.

Bunny retreated his limb and massaged it slowly, glaring at him.

"Gee, thanks."

"That's for not wanting to make me coffee." Jack added, then unfortunately had to grab the plate and together with his fresh clothes go to the bathroom.

Seriously, Bunny was acting sometimes like a kid. Jack was sure that his friend would eat Jack's breakfast if he was to leave it there. Although it was kind of weird to brush teeth with sandwich waiting near the sink.

After a quick shower he was ready to return to finish his breakfast.

Bunny didn't move from his spot. Well he had to move at some, because now in front of him was a bowl with cereals and milk. Jack snickered under his nose at this sight, but Aster didn't look at him.

"Someone messaged you." He only mumbled when Jack put the plate down.

The white haired teen walked to his pillow and fished out the phone still laying under it. Indeed he had one unopened message from no one than… Hiccup.

He maybe pushed the button too hastily, but no one needed to know the truth.

Twins got in a fight and we had to drive them to the hospital to patch them up xP.

What? A hospital?!

"What happened? Who is in the hospital?" Aster asked, swirling around on his chair and facing Jack. Uh oh, did he accidently say (or in this case yell) it out loud? Totally possible.

Jack slumped down on the chair, opening the response tab and quickly writing down a reply.

"Well, no one, I think." He muttered, clicking buttons at the speed of light. "Hiccup went out yesterday with the twins and they had a fight with someone."

"Hiccup was in a fight?" Aster asked, the pure surprise and hint of fear pretty audible in the tone he just used.

"No, it looks like only twins got bumped." Jack added, finishing the message.

Everyone is alright? Were they seriously hurt or only received scratches?

"Seriously…" Aster whispered, pushing his gray fringe away from his forehead, but also staring expectantly at Jack's phone.

Which gladly quickly announced new message.

No, only scratches, but the doctor decided to keep them there till morning. Me, Astrid and Fishlegs are okay C:.

"Hiccup, Astrid and Fishlegs are okay." Jack repeated the message to his friend who tried to look at what Hiccup had written Jack.

Bunny sighed, slumping back on his chair and rolling few centimeters away.

Jack looked up at him with a small smile, but quickly returned to his phone, writing another response.

Don't give me a heart attack! ( /.д.)/

Aww you do care~.

However before Jack was able to send his reply, the phone blinked one more time.

But seriously, don't worry. We are fine. Only Astrid isn't. She just burst like a trinitrotoluene and started yelling at them ):.

Jack stared at the word.

"What is trinitrotoluene?" He asked out loud, glancing up at Aster.

The teen in front of him looked at Jack and rose one eyebrow, then swirled away on the chair.

"Seriously Jack? It's TNT, you should know at least that much."

"Well sorry I'm not a nerd first thing in the morning!"

"It's almost 1 pm!" Aster shouted, throwing his hands in the air and then pointing at the electric clock standing on the tidy and neat desk.

Jack confirmed that indeed it was close to 1 pm. But hey, they had holidays, so the time didn't matter during those times.

I'm glad everyone is okay then. Except for Astrid of course ( ﾟ▽ﾟ)/

Me too, now if you'll excuse me, I need some sleep.

The hospital chairs weren't that comfortable if you ask me.

No worries, g'night (。-ω-)zzz

Goodnight Jack C:

And with that the white haired teen finally put his phone away.

"So I assume everything is okay, not counting bruises on the psyche that is?" Aster asked, looking at his computer, where he was currently talking with… Tooth. Jack could recognize her avatar everywhere.

"It looks like that." Jack mumbled, finally taking his second sandwich. "Come on, turn on some funny vines on YouTube while I eat."

The gray haired teen groaned, but opened another tab and did as Jack requested.

Maybe Aster was sometimes harsh and callous, but he still was Jack's best friend and he proved it a hundred (if not even more) times. And Jack knew that no one was a saint, that Aster probably lad lied to him in the past too. So why now was so different…?

Jack hated the feeling of not being able to help. He hated it even more, because it concerned his best friend.

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Author's note:

I finally finished it! Seriously, it took me so long! Almost two months since the last update! But the finals held me captive, then (or maybe before) I was re-writing this chapter and boom, somehow I'm updating it quite late D:!

Few nerdy facts:

*Analysis of errors – so basically it is a part of the report where you should include a calculation of how much the results vary from expectations or calculate range of errors you've made. Sometimes it is a pain in the ass, because some formulas are weird and it's difficult to calculate errors from them. But you can get the idea if the method is good and precise, judging by the size of the error.

*Distilling cow receiver – this is quite comfortable distillate's receiver, as you only have to turn the receiver a little bit and the liquid will be dripping into another flask. Usually used with vacuum distillation, because it would be fricking uncomfortable to operate around atmospheric and lower pressure D: Trust me, it is terrible! xD

* Alveolar sac – terminal dilation of the alveolar ducts that give rise to alveoli in the lung. I maybe do not know a lot about biology (sorry!), but the only thing I remember is that you can't allow for the Alveolar sacks to like close xD.

*Dripping into the flask during the extraction – this is something that always makes us laugh during labs, because seriously, everyone makes this mistake (including me =D!). Like when you extracting the bottom layer you have to take out the plug from the separatory funnel, because other way it won't almost work. But this is precious when someone is wondering why it's not dripping and then duuh, the plug is still in xD.

*Lower vacuum in water pumps during winter – so yeah, basically during winter you can get lower vacuum in the water pumps. Or at least this is what my book for organic chem labs told me so xDD.

Now few quick answers:

Vampireharry the 2 – And here is another one! I hope you enjoyed this one too! =D

AnhiVann – Being in denial is the worst, but it is so fun to write xD! I don't know but writing clueless characters just makes my day. And yeah, more Bunny's plot is coming! Sometimes I think I focus more on side-characters than on the main pair xP. And about vines/veins… omg I feel so ashamed now, because shit I didn't notice it xDDD. Thank yoouuu, I tried to correct it in this chapter :3!

Snowflakesandangels – I'm so cliché, I like flowers and plants as presents (even more personally) xDDD. I can only imagine how terrible it is to have parent living so far away, especially when someone is a kid D: I'm glad then, what would be life without a little uncertainty! =D

And thank you reader for staying with this story and me. I hope you'll have an amazing day! 3