Negative delta is the beginning of fun Chapter 12 - Henry's law, a How to Train Your Dragon + Rise of the Guardians Crossover fanfic

Pairing: Jack x Hiccup

Genre: Romance, Drama + Angst

Warning: NC-17/T

Warning: only half beta-read

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

Henry's law – the amount of dissolved gas is proportional to its partial pressure in the gas phase. The proportionality factor is called the Henry's law constant.

Hiccup stared at Emma, processing the words he just had heard.

Jack's mother? Wait. Hiccup and Jack had talked about her. But what was her name? Something starting with a vowel. Maybe I? No, no, it was something different.

"When you said mother…" Hiccup started, only to lick his chapped lips in the middle. "You meant E-" He prolonged the letter, hoping in his mind that Emma would catch a bait and help him there.

"Eris, yeah." Emma huffed under her nose and looked away. It seemed like even mentioning the name was putting her in a bad mood. "Definitely not our mom. He never makes those faces when she calls."

Hiccup internally sighed. So the ploy worked. Huff… At least he now knew with whom Jack was talking. Which didn't actually help him that much.

From what he remembered, Jack's mother (the biological one) was currently somewhere else, on another continent, working. And from what he had sensed when they had been talking about their parents, she and Jack didn't have that great relationship. Well, today quite confirmed this suspicions.

Jack had looked like he didn't really want to pick up the phone. Like it would suddenly grab him and eat whole or turn him into a stone or explode in his palm! He simple had looked uncomfortable about the simple idea of talking with the woman on the other side.

Hiccup would give a lot of things to be able to talk with his mother.

But his mom and Jack's real one were two different people. He and Jack were two different humans.

Hiccup mulled the idea over in his head. On the outside he was biting his bottom lip and clenching and unclenching his fist.

Emma massaged her arm with her other palm and looked around the room. She also looked like she was thinking about something.

She finally turned to him and asked, with mischief shining in her eyes:

"Wanna eavesdrop on him?"

Hiccup actually didn't want to do that. He was all about other people's privacy. He respected other's private lives and he wanted the same thing in return.

Well, Emma already grabbed his wrist and was dragging him quietly down the stairs.

Fuck his life.

The worst part of it? He didn't even mind that much.

Would Jack even be still talking with her? He was gone for around five minutes already. How long are normal conversations supposed to last? Hiccup wasn't that comfortable with talking through the phone, so he tried to avoid it as much as he could. With Astrid and Fishleg it was more over okay, but the rest…

Apparently Jack was still on the phone in the kitchen, if the light scattered on the floor coming from that room was any indication. His hums of approval were definitely more convincing.

Emma stepped onto the first floor, still holding tightly onto Hiccup's wrist like she was afraid he would run back, if she let go. Maybe he would do it, maybe not. At this point he himself wasn't even sure.

She moved to the wall and nodded at Hiccup to do the same.

Emma was still a kid. So a spy game it was.

They tiptoed to the open door to the kitchen and stopped near the doorframe. Gladly they weren't casting any shadows on the floor, because that would sell them out immediately.

Emma put the fringe behind her ear and stepped closer, trying to listen in. Hiccup… Hiccup did too.

"Uhm, I don't know…" Jack's voice was hesitant. Hiccup had a vague image of his hand maneuvering to his nape to scratch the place nervously. He wondered if that was the case here. "I mean, I already-" Oh, he stopped speaking. It looked like the person on the other side started talking. It lasted for a minute or so, until Jack added something on his own. "Can't we move this to another date? Like only one day later?"

Emma furrowed her eyebrows and moved closer to the wall, even though it wouldn't help at all.

Hiccup swallowed hard. It didn't feel right to be here, sneaking around like some kind of criminal.

The curiosity and guilt were fighting inside his stomach. The emotions were bubbling, mixing and swirling in his body, one dominating, only to be at the losing place in the very next second. It was a wild reaction with unknown results.

Hiccup felt bad for being curious. He shouldn't be acting like that. But Jack's face, his behavior, his whole demeanor had pulled some string, had opened some weird program Hiccup hadn't known he had inside his brain. It was only now booting up, beeping softly and installing features.

Hiccup was concerned for Jack.

So he remained in this place, even though his stomach was curled and twisted in almost, no, definitely, painful way.

Then there was a big sigh. Like Jack finally gave up on something, but it didn't feel like the burden was taken away from his shoulders. It seemed like even more weight was put onto them.

When will those shoulders break?

"Okay, I will… I will ask him. And call you back." Another pause filled with silence. "Okay, wait, let me find something to write on." There was shuffling, two or three steps and the sound of clicking pen. "I got it."

After that the scribbling and few hums of approval followed. Then Jack asked to repeat the number. The chair squeaked when he changed his position. So he was sitting.

"Okay, I call you later. Uhm, yeah…" There was a tired huff. "Okay, call you later. Bye."

And then the sound of putting down phone resonated in the silent house. Only now Hiccup noticed that the building was quiet, still even – no turned on TV, no switched on radio, and almost no sounds coming from the outside world.

It was still kind of sad, that even though this house right now felt lonely and empty, it was still more warm than Hiccup's own.

Wait, shouldn't they move back, so Jack wouldn't notice them?

Almost like Emma could read minds, she turned to him and pointed with his head at the stairs. Hiccup nodded and on their tiptoes they moved back to the stairs. Emma passed him by to be the first one in line.

Actually Hiccup was quite proud of himself for being unnoticed on his way down with well… with his leg.

The first four steps didn't squeak under Emma's feet, but now she was walking with extra caution due to the silence around the house. Another three steps were also good. The following two were muted too.

However Jack still said:

"I know you're there, Em!"

Shit. They both froze. Then Emma turned around and she didn't even look that surprised for being found out. She even rolled her eyes while sighing.

Then there were footsteps, combined with a shadow creeping on the light scattered on the floor. Few seconds later Jack emerged from the kitchen and leaned on the doorframe. He crossed his hands on his chest.

At first Hiccup expected for him to look moderately mad at them, because, well, eavesdropping private conversations was something bad to do. But Jack didn't look even slightly angry. He looked… amused, a little bit relieved? Or maybe the last one was just a trick of light, or its lack in this case.

Then Jack's blue eyes landed on Hiccup and the smile faltered for a second, only to return back even bigger. What did it mean? Was it bad?! Was it good!? Argh, it was complicated to read emotions in this darkness.

"You even dragged Hic with you." He said. "You're a bad influence on people, Emma."

The girl groaned heavily. She let go of Hiccup's wrist, which finally slumped down near his body.

"I learned from the best." She countered Jack, putting one hand on her hip. Huh, sassy.

Jack lifted his eyebrow.

"No need to compliment me, young lady."

"I wasn't!" Emma huffed, leaning forward and adding another hand to her hip.

Jack grinned at her with that ever-knowing grin which meant he won this round. It looked like Emma totally hated it, because in the next second she was moaning and heaving loudly while looking up at the ceiling.

Then her voice softened and the angry glisten she had in her chocolate brown eyes disappeared, leaving place for something much more vulnerable.

"So what did she want?"

Jack blinked at that, probably not prepared for the sudden change in conversation (or the sibling bickering) they had just now. But then his hand moved to the back of his head and he shrugged in the same time.

"Ah, you know, the usual. How I am doing, how was school and all that…"

Emma nodded, more in acknowledgement that she heard him, than anything else.

"Is she going to visit?"

Jack twitched and for a brief moment his eyes jumped from his sister to Hiccup, who still stood there, not knowing what to do. Staying seemed bad, but walking away sounded even worse.

"Yeah…" He finally murmured. Emma hung her head. "Em, I know you don't like her-"

"You're right. I don't like her. She is a bitch!"

Jack gasped. Hiccup froze.

"Emma!" The white haired teen said, not particularly raising his voice, but putting some sort of reprimanding tone in it. "Language!"

"It's the truth! She's a bitch! I don't want to see her! I'm surprised you want to see her!" Her voice was wavering. She couldn't keep the calm façade Jack was somehow still having on.

"Em!" Jack tried one more time, but was stopped.

"I can't believe you!" Emma shouted and with that she turned around on her heels and ran upstairs to her room. The door was shut with a loud bang! and Hiccup could even notice few pictures shivering.

After that there was silence around them. A heavy, dense silence which made it hard to breathe.

Yet it looked like Jack wasn't fazed by it at all. He looked incredibly tired, exhausted, but not surprised by his sister's behavior. And to underline Hiccup's way of thinking, Jack only sighed loudly and put his hands on his waist.

"Sorry for her." He said, glancing at Hiccup and trying to put on an apologetic smile on his lips. Hiccup wanted to tell him that he didn't have to do that, but couldn't find the voice in his throat. "She is always like that."

Hiccup turned his head to stare at the upper floor where Emma had disappeared just few minutes ago. His heart – which had sped up previously – now was slowing down to a normal tempo and untangling the mess of wires made from stress inside his chest. It took some time, so when Hiccup finally found the strength to utter some words, Jack was already passing him by and tilting his head in the direction of his room.

"Are you going or what?" He asked, trying to sound playful. And the white haired teen even managed to do that. The grin on his face looked almost real.

Only his eyes were telling the truth. Emma's behavior hurt him. And the fact that Jack had expected the conversation to end like that made Hiccup feel even more… empty.

His legs moved on their own as he followed Jack upstairs. For the whole short trip Jack didn't turn back, nor he tried to start some kind of childish and joyful conversation. Hiccup couldn't blame him.

Emma definitely wasn't an angel. Starting from pranking Jack to ending on arguments they both had. Sometimes she had been mean to Jack – both in words and behavior. But most of those were normal siblings' fights. Plus, everything had been back to normal in an hour or so, without the trace of the negativity even being there in the first place.

However this argument seemed different. Emma may act like she doesn't care. Heck, hell whole behavior was centered around that cool image of being the 'not-caring' person. But the truth was different. She did care about her family – she was only doing it in different way, with snarky and mean comments that had the purpose of pushing you forward.

She was still a child and when something was too much for her, she just exploded.

Yet Hiccup felt like this worry, this anger, this incomprehension which erupted from Emma was a way of showing how much she cared for her brother and his best well-being. It was a twisted way to show feelings, but hey, nobody was perfect.

Which concluded to the final question – what Jack's mother had done that Emma hated her so much?

Jack stepped into the room and waited for Hiccup to do the same, so he could close the door.

And before Hiccup's brain could fully catch up with the rest of his body, his mouth was already moving, forming words:

"Your mother, what kind of person is she?"

Fuck, shit, did he say that out loud?

He definitely did, judging by Jack's eyes widening suddenly.

Not good, not good. Why wasn't there some kind of backspace key in real life? Or a time machine? Gosh, he wanted to jump back in time. Ten seconds would be enough!

"I mean… you don't have to tell me… if you don't want to…" Hiccup continued, brushing his arm with other hand in soothing manner. He casted his eyes down, not sure if he could stare at Jack right now.

There was a short pause, but this was enough for Hiccup to regret his multiple life choices. Shit, why, oh, why did he ask that? He shouldn't ask such personal questions! But Jack looked so down and Hiccup was simply concerned about him and well… wanted to help somehow.

But how talking about it could help Jack!?

"I'm sorry, that was…"

"No, it's okay!" Jack quickly said, raising his voice a little. The sound of it, maybe not made Hiccup jump, but definitely made him twitch. "I was just… surprised you asked."

"Oh." Hiccup mumbled in response. Clever. Very clever. "But still if you don't want to tell me-"

"Now it sounds like you don't want to hear it." Jack said, crossing his arms, but with a playful smirk on his lips. Hiccup was glad the grin was there, because other way he would understand the sentence completely different.

"No, it's not that. I just don't want to make you uncomfortable, because… you know last time… it didn't sound like you liked to talk about… her?" Hiccup lifted his hands, bending fingers in different angles. In the end he pointed them at Jack, rising his eyebrows in an unspoken question if the explanation was enough.

The white haired teen shook his head with the smirk forming into a gentler, kinder one. He slowly moved to the bed and slumped down on it. His upper body was laying down, but legs were resting on the floor.

Hiccup observed him, not really sure what to do, until Jack patted the place next to him. Sighing, Hiccup sat and then laid down

The snowflakes on the threads glued to the ceiling swirled softly above them, pushed around by the breeze coming from the tilted window. Funny how Hiccup didn't feel cold, even though the window was opened.

Hiccup stole a glance at the half-laying Jack. His chest was moving slowly up and down and his eyes were closed. He looked peaceful, calm, tranquil – like he was even sleeping. And for a brief second Hiccup almost believed that was the case.

But then Jack opened his eyes and started speaking.

"My mother… I mean Eris is specific – in lack for a better word. She always has been like that." There was a pause. It looked like Jack searched for proper words. "She isn't a bad person, but well, I wouldn't call her good either actually. I mean, maybe she was a better person way before she had me, or, I don't know, she didn't show the good part that much to me in the end. She had to have some good traits or something like that because other way North and she wouldn't have me, but…"

Jack was rambling. It rarely happened. Usually it was Hiccup who was doing it. And people often called it cute. But the way Jack rambled now was different. Like he had some bad thought inside his head and he desperately wanted to excuse himself for feeling that way. And maybe it was the truth, not only a hunch.

Either way, Hiccup didn't like it.

"Jack!" Hiccup raised his voice a little to get the teen's attention. It did the trick, because Jack stopped midway through some sentence to look at him. "It's okay. There is nothing bad in having a bad opinion of someone, even if it's your own mother. No one will judge you because you said a bad thing about her. Especially if she deserved it."

Jack blinked, but then slowly nodded, looking almost reassured by Hiccup's words.

Hiccup felt very proud after that. Or well, the swelling feeling inside his chest seemed like proudness. Anyway, it felt nice.

"Okay…" Jack confirmed, then took a deep breath. "Okay, so she isn't totally bad, but she is kind of bad? Like she acts like she cares, but you know she doesn't. She rarely calls and when she does, she is almost always speaking and it is so hard to get through to her." Then there was a chuckle. "You probably heard it actually."

Hiccup felt warmness spreading through his cheeks at the mention of their eavesdropping.

"A little bit." Hiccup shrugged, which only made the quilt wrinkle near his shoulders.

"And when we meet she almost always talks about herself or scolds me for everything." Jack huffed and his hand twitched, but didn't move up. Due to laying down, Jack couldn't scratch the back of his nape. A nervous habit he had. "And well, of course I'm curious about her life, but not that hard? I mean I could say 'Hey mom, I started doing crack and smoked a pot with Bunny yesterday' and she still would be like 'That's great Jackie, but you know that my friend wrote a really terrible article about pots!'"

Uh ouch, this didn't sound that good actually. Or good at all.

Hiccup didn't know how to comment that, other than 'she doesn't sound like a good person' (which he didn't want to say out loud), but gladly Jack continued.

"And I mean, okay, fine! But it still sounds like she knows nothing about me. When I'm speaking with Tara, she always looks so interested in my life, but Eris is not like that. She was never like that! She always had problems with my behavior. Everything I did was wrong to her."

And after that came silence. Jack didn't exactly burst out per so, only raised his voice by an octave or so. But it was enough to make him realize something.

Hiccup could only stare from the corner of his eyes at Jack's moving chest, at his suddenly quick rises and falls, at his half opened mouth, at his blinking eyes, now doing it way faster than earlier.

Fuck, should Hiccup do something? What to do, what to do, what the fuck should he do? Say something? Clear his throat?

Why exactly was Jack living with North and not with Eris?

There has to be something else, something more to this story. But after the last sentence, it didn't look like Jack wanted or felt comfortable talking about it yet.

What to do? What would Jack do in similar situation?

Personal contact. Hiccup hated it – hugs, brushes, small touches here and there, pecks on cheeks. It wasn't bringing him any comfort, on the contrary actually. But Jack loved it, almost needed it for being able to live normally.

And it really looked like he needed it right now.

So with heavy beating heart, Hiccup brushed his hand on the quilt in search for Jack's own palm. He found it laying few centimeters away. The skin was cold, which was weird, because even though Jack loved the freezing weather, his hands were always warm. But not now.

He had to be stressed. But he opened some part of his heart to Hiccup. And he wanted to help.

So Hiccup put his palm on Jack's one.

For one slow beat of the heart he was terrified that the teen would move away, or that Jack would suddenly turn his head to him and ask what he was doing. But nothing like this happened.

Actually, Jack turned his palm over and intertwined their fingers together, clenching a tiny bit too strongly Hiccup's hand. He didn't look back at Hiccup, but the blinking stopped.

Hiccup took it as a success. A little bit embarrassing and kind of uncomfortable success. But it was a win in the end nevertheless.

It took few seconds, maybe even minutes, for the rises and falls of Jack's chest to have a peaceful rhythm. Only then Jack opened his mouth one more time.

"I don't want to see her and I do both in the same time." He said, hoarsely. Then he laughed, or coughed. Or coughed-laughed. "Actually, funny story ahead." Oh boy. "She wants to meet on my birthday. Which is the same day as Valentine's Day." The free hand moved up and landed on Jack's face, which he massaged groggily. "And I told her I have plans already with you, but then she said to bring you with me."

What. The. Fuck.

"And then I told her I would ask you, so yeah…" Jack huffed, brushing the fringe higher. His thumb started to massage the back of Hiccup's palm.

He wondered if Jack was conscious of this fact.

Hiccup actually didn't know how to answer that. Making Jack's birthday plans was one thing, making Valentines' plan was other thing, but meeting Jack's mother on the same day was totally different.

Plus, she definitely will think that there is something between them. Come on! Hiccup doubted that she will believe them that they were just friends after they had made plans for Valentine's Day and Jack's birthday.

And it was bad. Because if Jack's mother think that there is something between them, then she can tell North and…

Neither Jack nor Hiccup wanted to lie to their families.

Hiccup glanced at Jack and bit his lip. The other teen wasn't looking at him, but at the ceiling and softly swishing around snowflakes.

Hiccup wasn't mad at Jack for saying that he already had plans. He was kind of even glad that Hiccup was the first person Jack had kinda of turned to in search for help. But it sort of messed up and complicated everything.

Well the plan was going too perfectly, so yeah, Hiccup wasn't that surprised that something had to disturb the peacefulness. But honestly he didn't know what to do in this situation.

Neither option was good. Every one had pros and cons of the consequences. However it wasn't Hiccup who should decide it, but Jack. It was his mother, not Hiccup's.

But Hiccup will be with him, no matter which way Jack will choose. Hiccup owed him that much. No… he didn't want to do it, because Hiccup owed Jack. He wanted to do it just because. No higher reason. He wanted to help, to do something to put a true, honest smile on Jack's lips.

Hiccup tightened softly the grip on Jack's palm, which made the teen look back at him.

"Jack, I'm sorry, but I can't choose for you." He said, licking his lips first. "It's your family and you have to decide whether you want to see her or not." Jack was staring at him intently, listening to every word he was speaking. "But no matter what you choose, I will follow you."

Jack's blue eyes widened for a second, maybe less, or maybe longer. The light appeared – it was a supernova – a sudden, bright explosion of warmness, reassurance, calmness and everything in between.

Jack returned the grip slowly and smiled. It wasn't a full smile, it was only a small twitch of the corners of pale lips. But it was enough.

"Thanks, Hic. I… really appreciate it."

Hiccup grinned softly.

"But tell me earlier what you'll decide on, so I can mentally prepare myself for it."

This made Jack chuckle lightly.

"I will."

After that Jack sat up and let go of Hiccup's hand.

Oh yeah, they had been holding hands. Shit. Was he sweating a lot? Hiccup brushed his fingers to check. No, they weren't that wet. Gladly. It would be weird if he was sweating profusely while he only tried to lift someone's spirit up.

And even though it was pretty (a lot, his mind added) awkward, it did the trick.

Although now Hiccup wasn't sure which emotion was bigger – proudness or embarrassment.

"Anyway I still think we should have some back-up plan for Valentine's Day." Hiccup said after a while, when Jack didn't respond, filling the sudden odd void which appeared between them. Or maybe only Hiccup felt it, because Jack didn't look fazed at all.

"Oh, okay. What do you think we should do then?" Jack answered, not missing a beat.

And well… Hiccup didn't actually know what they should do.

Shit.

Jack looked at the screen of his computer and sighed heavily. Okay, he could do it. An hour ago his heart was still a skipping, crazy mess inside his chest – a fact that didn't help him play this quite stressful level.

He turned off the menu screen and started the level once again. This time his fingers were maybe not moving perfectly, but methodically and rhythmically. He only got hit twice, which was good, in comparison to being hit five times, what had happened previously. His right hand moved more firmly, pointing his attack in a right direction, instead of hitting trees, once again like last time.

It definitely took much longer than this mission was supposed to take, but Jack didn't mind. At least today, erm... this evening. He needed some stress relieve. Because, yes, spending time alone with Hiccup had been quite a lot of work for his poor heart.

Jack had enjoyed it, of course he did, but he still needed to calm down after that.

And what was better than playing games in a dark room, full after a great dinner.

Well almost great, because Emma had stolen her plate quickly as soon as she had seen Jack in the kitchen. North had looked at Jack, hoping for an answer which Jack had provided. In form of one word. Eris. And North had only nodded at him after that.

Jack loved how North was so understanding in this matter (or in many, many other matters too).

He checked the time. Damn, near 11 pm. Quite late, but somehow Jack had a feeling he wouldn't be able to fall asleep so quickly tonight, due to all that had happened.

Hiccup had held his hand! Like, Jack knew it wasn't in a romantic way. Hiccup had tried to help to get rid of the panic which slowly had found its way to Jack's brain. And he had succeeded. For what Jack was very, very thankful.

But his heart still skipped a beat when the smudge of the memory appeared inside his mind.

Jack had no chance with Hiccup, but at least he got himself a friend who cared – to this point of breaking through some personal limits to make him feel better.

With a happy grin, Jack's character passed the last line and the saving screen appeared on the monitor.

Jack moved away from the desk and raised his hands above his head, stretching and sighing loudly.

After that came a soft knock on the door.

"Come in!" Jack said, without even looking away.

The door squeaked softly. This sound was followed by few footsteps and then… silence.

Jack turned to the guest.

He actually expected to see North there, asking whether he wanted something special for breakfast or if he had seen some missing thing that definitely was simply put in a drawer of North's night stand. However it wasn't his father who stood in the doorway, but Emma.

It took him a second to take off his headphones and turn on the chair, giving his sister full attention.

"Hey Em, what's the matter?" He asked, softly, steadily and kindly.

Emma was looking down at the carpet beneath her bare feet. Toes moved, twitched nervously. Hands were wrinkling the shirt of her pajamas, with rocket drawn on the front. Eyebrows were furrowed, with tiny wrinkles folding on her nose.

Jack expected this. Well, no, that was wrong. Emma always apologized after her outburst, but usually in the middle of doing something, whether it was eating the dinner or going together with Jack to school. She was only apologizing officially when she had done something really bad. Her outburst today hadn't been half as bad as it could be. It had been actually pretty mild.

"I'm sorry Jack, for yelling at you today." She finally said, glancing up. Her eyes were almost covered by the brown fringe, but Jack could see the softness beaming from them.

"It's okay. I understand." It was their tradition.

Some people maybe would say it was bad that Emma wasn't learning from her mistakes. However for Jack it wasn't a mistake. Emma's feelings were real – even when they were negative. It didn't matter. At least she was honest with herself and with Jack. He knew she wasn't apologizing for her negative emotions, but for making Jack feel sad.

And… well, Jack was kind of glad she was still getting angry at Eris. It showed that she still cared as deeply as she had been all this time they had been together.

Emma nodded.

"So when she's coming?"

"Uhm around my birthday, I think." Jack answered. Actually Eris hadn't told him when she would be arriving, but when she wanted to meet up with Jack. Well, at this point Jack wasn't even surprised. "What, are you planning to go camping in the middle of winter if she wants to come over?"

At this Emma finally fully raised her head and snorted. The evil smirk returned to her lips. Jack definitely preferred them turned upwards, than pinched into that thin line.

"Ah, of course, my dear bro already knows what I was planning. Now I need to come up with another, better plan." She scoffed playfully, then after a second stepped inside and flopped down on the bed.

Jack swirled around on his chair to face her.

"You can always crash at one of your friends' house for that evening. If she even come to our house, that is." Jack added, putting his bent elbow on his knee and resting his chin on his palm.

Emma swung her feet.

"Maybe I can spend the night at the Railway Station!" She said, glancing at him.

"No, no spending night at any Railway Station!" From where did she get that idea?

Emma chuckled.

"But still sorry for yelling at you in front of Hiccup."

"Oh yeah, I think you scared him more than me actually."

At this Emma looked kinda embarrassed. If her glancing away for a split-second was any indication.

"Oh, sorry… didn't mean to actually." She said, nibbling at the brown lock she put in her mouth.

Jack waved his hand, like he wanted to brush away the guilt swarming around Emma's head. He knew Hiccup wasn't mad – terrified, of course, but not mad. Plus it was kind of funny actually.

"All is good. Well, maybe not good, but not bad either. It was kind of funny how scared he looked after your outburst."

At this Emma flushed so hard to this point that Jack wouldn't be surprised if steam started pouring out from her ears. It would be horrifying, but amusing both in the same time.

Emma mumbled another quiet apologize. Or at least it sounded like that, but the lock in her mouth and barely parted lips disturbed every sound. However Jack didn't mind. The only thing that mattered was Emma trying to be honest. He knew she was stubborn and it was hard for her to confess to making mistakes. So Jack treasured every moment like this one.

Also it felt good to know she was trying to be honest, especially with him – her half big brother.

After that there was a small pause where Emma swung her feet. Then, after few seconds, she lifted her head and hit Jack with the biggest bomb ever.

"So are you and Hiccup together or…?"

What. The. Heck.

His brain stopped working and, honestly, Jack had a feeling he heard a Windows shutting down sound somewhere at the back of his head. It took some time, maybe in reality not so much, for him to understand that what Emma was implicating actually left her lips.

"Why… Why would you think that?" Jack asked and fuck, he really stuttered. His hand automatically moved to his nape.

Emma blinked. Actually, she didn't look grossed out or surprised. Maybe mildly curious? Yeah, that was a good word to use here.

"Because I wanted to apologize to you earlier, but you… you both were laying down on the bed holding hands, so I thought about the most logical reason for you doing that."

Jack groaned and then hid his face in his palms. Fuck. Did Emma really had to see this moment? It wasn't like he was embarrassed of Hiccup helping him through his panic attack (could he even call it that?). He was kind of afraid of trying to explain it to her. Mostly because he was afraid she could see right through him.

"So are you or?" Emma mussed, humming softly and finally getting the lock out of her mouth.

Jack let his hands fall down onto his lap as he leaned back on his chair.

"No, we aren't."

"Oh, okay."

Simple as that. And because of that Jack now only gaped at his sister like a fish out of water.

"What?" Emma asked, looking at him unperturbed.

"Nothing. You just took it in so easily. Without any more explanation."

Emma shrugged.

"I mean, it's your life. If you want to hold Hiccup's hand without any romantic feelings behind it then it's fine with me. I just wanted to make sure that I won't say something stupid next time he'll visit."

"O-okay…" Jack said, honestly and truly baffled by his sister's words.

The girl then stood up.

"I'm off to bed." She said, moving to the open door.

Jack followed her with his gaze, still perplexed by Emma's words from few minutes, no, even seconds ago.

She turned in the doorway and sent him a tired grin. It kind of looked like she wanted to make it a little bit evil, but the emotion got lost somewhere in the middle of going to the nerves. So only a tired smirk came out.

"G'night, Jack."

"Sleep tight, Em." Jack responded, not missing a beat.

And with that his sister exited the room, leaving him alone in the darkness, with the only light coming from the monitor screen and the lamp standing on the desk.

Jack turned to his computer, but he only moved the keyboard away so he could rest his warm face on the cold surface. Honestly. He wasn't sure what had surprised him the most – Emma finding them holding hands or her quick understatement of the situation. Actually Jack kind of expected her to make fun of him, but she didn't. He knew that it didn't mean she wouldn't point it out to tease him later, but right now she understood. And this was what mattered.

The first week of February passed in the blink of an eye. Especially for Hiccup.

Between school, chemistry labs and working on his project he rarely had some free time for himself. Or maybe he was simply stressed over upcoming Valentine's Day. And the dinner with Eris – Jack's mother.

Because yesterday Jack had called him to inform Hiccup that the dinner was happening.

Fuck. Of course, Hiccup wouldn't back away from the promise, but this didn't mean he couldn't get stressed over this situation. Especially as it definitely will be awkward as hell.

He hoped that Eris won't ask him too many questions. Especially what was connecting him and her son.

The fact that Jack's birthday was on the same day wasn't helping. It was now a week away and he still didn't have a present for his fake-boyfriend. But at least they had formed a plan for Valentine's Day. A little bit cliché, but kind of adorable? Okay, Hiccup simply was kind of excited? He never really… celebrated this day with anyone – not counting Astrid and Fishlegs. But their previous Valentine's Days had been spent in Hiccup's room, eating chocolate and laughing at bad comedies.

The plan wasn't much. Jack had said that he will décor Hiccup's locker and Hiccup will give him chocolate. Simple, but enough for the both of them. And they had planned to do it before classes, so they wouldn't have to worry for the whole day and focus instead on the dinner with Eris.

But right now he had more present problems to deal with. Another tutoring session with Dagur.

And, to be honest, Hiccup had to admit that the teen was good in what he was teaching Hiccup. His project was looking better and better with every meeting and slowly, step after step, Hiccup wasn't feeling like he was walking blindly in the fog.

The meetings were still dreadful and stressful, but less than the first few ones.

So this time it didn't take Hiccup as much time as usually to calm down and walk into the Professor Robinson's hall.

And as usual, Dagur was there, swirling around in their teacher's chair. At first Hiccup had thought that Professor would say something to Dagur when he had seen him doing the same for the very first time, but the male only had chuckled and done nothing. So Hiccup definitely won't point out that it is a little bit rude.

Dagur lifted his face from his phone when he heard Hiccup entering.

"Sup." He said, tapping something on the screen.

"Hey." Hiccup murmured, stepping closer and taking off his backpack.

He grabbed one chair and sat on it, keeping his eyes locked on the wooden surface of the desk between them. Few times Hiccup glanced at Dagur, but quickly looked down, when he saw any of the teen's muscles move.

The atmosphere around them was definitely awkward. However Dagur didn't look influenced by it, or he was pretty good at hiding it. Both options seemed possible. His eyes were mostly glued to the screen of his phone.

Or at least until Dagur opened his mouth.

"You know-"

However he was interrupted by the sound of an opening door and Professor Robinson jumping out of it. He looked around, like a deer caught in a headlight, and then finally focused on them. The smile was still there, but smaller than usual. Uh-oh.

"Oh, good, you both are here." He said, stepping closer and putting his hands on the desk. "Sorry, but I need you to work somewhere else today. I think the library is still open." He stated, sending them now an apologetic grin. "I thought my dentist appointment was scheduled for tomorrow, but apparently I have it like in fifteen minutes." Then he moved his wrist up and glanced down at the watch he had there. "Make it fourteen."

Hiccup nodded and stood up. Dagur did the same.

"No problem." The older teen said, putting both his hands inside the pockets of his blouse and shrugging in the process.

Hiccup had kinda different opinion, but he didn't want to cause problems for his favourite teacher, so he only grabbed the folder with his project.

"Really? Thank you so much!" The blond haired teacher beamed and clasped his hands together. After that he only ran to his office to grab his coat and briefcase. Then the three of them walked out of the hall with Professor Robinson closing the door after them. "See you later then, boys!" And with that he almost ran to the exit.

Leaving the two of them alone in the corridor.

Shit.

Hiccup gulped down and glanced at his shoes. What to do? He didn't want to be alone with Dagur. He knew the librarian will be in the library, so there won't be just the two of them there. Plus it looked like Dagur respected their teacher.

The older teen sighed and Hiccup immediately tensed.

"Let's go." Dagur mumbled, turned on his heel and stomped away.

The auburn haired boy walked few steps behind Dagur, but his head was lifted so he was able to stare at the other teenager's back.

Just because he got a little bit more comfortable around Dagur, with Professor Robinson's presence lurking around, it didn't mean he was totally okay with spending time with him on his own. Okay, maybe Dagur wasn't acting like his usual douchy self, but…

Yeah, there always were some 'buts' hiding in the corners of his mind. With Dagur Hiccup never was one hundred percent sure what could happen. It wasn't nice to think like that, but well, he had lived through some difficult times with the teen, so he had reasons to not fully trust him.

Their journey to the library was gladly not long. And they only passed like one student on their way there.

Inside the library there were only a librarian and two more people reading books while sitting near long tables. The woman behind the counter lifted her head, but then quickly looked down.

Heh, okay, that was weird. Usually Dagur was spreading terror wherever he went. People who were not his friends were moving away when he was walking through corridors with a frown on his face. Yet the librarian paid him no mind. Was it possible that she didn't hear one thing about the dreadful teen? Or was she just that badass? Or crazy? Or both.

"Are you coming or what?"

Hiccup jumped and turned to the teen who was now good few feet away. He quickly sped up, catching up with the other one in three long steps.

They moved to a different part of the library – a place where students could learn together and work on their projects. The adjacent room to the main library was filled with much more tables and less book shelves. Under one wall stood three desks and every one was equipped with a computer. They weren't maybe new, but were good enough when you had to calculate something quick in Excel or change your PowerPoint project at the very last minute.

Currently there was no one in this room. Hiccup's luck.

Dagur moved to the first table and threw his things which landed on the ground with a heavy thump. Hiccup followed in his steps, setting his backpack aside more gently. After that he put the folder on the desk and with trembling hands tried to untie the knot.

The fact that he felt Dagur's gaze on himself wasn't really helping.

After few tries Hiccup finally was able to open the folder and take out sheets filled with sketches of his project, some ideas and other blueprints. Only for him to lose a grip on them. Two sheets of paper immediately ran away from the table and landed near Dagur's military boots. Great.

Hiccup felt his cheeks heating up, but definitely not in the nice way.

The taller teen leaned and grabbed the fallen sheets from the floor. He spread them over the surface, slower than usual.

"Okay, where did we finish last time?"

Hiccup was a nervous mess halfway through their tutoring session.

Currently Dagur was looking at the connected pieces of metal and plastic Hiccup had managed to make. Before he had brought the project to school he had felt pretty accomplished with himself, but right now… he wasn't so sure.

His wildly beating heart wasn't making this situation any better. It was so terrible that at some point his chest started to ache. Not a good sign.

Could he faint from stress?

Dagur stared at the connections between metals. He looked at every screw Hiccup had used. He checked if the plastic parts weren't cracked in important places. He hummed when he tried to move two rods which were supposed to move, but did it with a squeaking sound.

Oh yeah, Hiccup forgot about that.

Even though he didn't want to stare at Dagur, he was kind of interested in his reactions. But also terrified.

Due to the fact that after he and Jack had started fake-dating Dagur had stopped pestering him, now he wasn't sure how to react. The teen didn't show any hints that he was about to start doing it again, but still… Hiccup was scared that it could happen again.

Dagur put Hiccup's project down, then he leaned on the chair's back and crossed his hands. He closed his eyes and for few moments he didn't speak, nor made any movements, totally lost in some kind of thoughts concerning Hiccup's project. At least Hiccup thought so.

After a minute or so, he opened his eyes.

"It looks okay, but…"

Of course, there were always some 'buts'.

"… You should oil the moving parts, so they won't squeak so loud. I also advise to oil the screws in case they want to start corroding. The project need to be all shiny for the presentation."

"O… okay." Hiccup mumbled.

This seemed logical enough. He actually didn't think about it that hard. The presentations were around two months and a half away, but yeah, he should keep the metals pieces in perfect shape. Other way the consequences could be terrible.

Hiccup looked up at Dagur who was staring at him expectantly. What was he supposed to do more? Oh, yeah, grab his project and hide it back into his backpack.

Slowly, with trembling hands, Hiccup reached for his not even half-way done project.

There was a smudge in the corner of his eyes, behind the glasses, where he saw some quick movement. It was as fast as jumping electrons. In one moment Dagur was sitting normally, swinging at the back legs of his chair and in the other he hit loudly the table's surface with his hands and leaned forward.

Hiccup wasn't sure what startled him the most in this situation. The sound, Dagur's speed, or memories flashing through his head. It all happened in the blink of an eye. And the only thing Hiccup managed to do was yelp and let go of his project, which he had already picked up. His small robot clattered onto the desk and rolled for few centimeters, but gladly didn't fall down.

Yet the sound of it falling down and hitting the wooden surface was blocked by Hiccup's own loudly pounding heart.

Dagur was leaning above the desk, staring, almost glaring right at Hiccup.

And he… he didn't like it. These eyes, cunning, dangerous – shining irises were drilling holes into Hiccup's own mind, almost desperately searching for something.

Badum, badum, badum…

There was a buzzing sound resonating in his ears. His mouth was dry. His limbs froze in place.

Then Dagur opened his mouth and asked, no, hissed to him:

"What is wrong with you?"

And Hiccup's brain had to be restarted.

What was wrong with him? It wasn't Hiccup who suddenly jumped onto his feet, only to slap his hands on the desk! It wasn't Hiccup who looked like an animal, ready to pounce someone! It wasn't Hiccup who was sending daggers through his gaze at someone sitting right in front of him.

And Dagur was asking what was wrong with him?

The knot inside his throat loosened up at the pure inexplicability of this situation.

"Excuse me?" Hiccup asked, lifting his one eyebrow and feeling his heart slowing down. The desk was still between them. Not to mention Hiccup was closer to the door than Dagur.

"You heard me. What is wrong with you today?" Dagur repeated, much slower, like he was just explaining something to a kid, still with venom dripping from the end of sentence.

Hiccup was perplexed. It was probably pretty visible on his face, because the older teen continued.

"You acted normally around me, but today you're acting like a fucking scaredy-cat. You're fidgeting all over the place and you can't focus on one simple thing!"

This was really happening?

If this was really happening, then Hiccup definitely jumped into some alternative dimension. Was Dagur seriously angry at Hiccup for being scared to spend some alone time with him?

This was like… totally fucked up. This was bizarre, unbelievable and messed up.

Because Dagur, of all people, shouldn't be the one to point that one out. Especially when he was the core of Hiccup's nerves' problems.

"Are you for real?"

Shit, wait, what? Did he seriously just say that out loud? Did he really let it slip past his lips? Like for real?

Dagur's suddenly surprised face, with half opened mouth and wide eyes, confirmed that Hiccup indeed say that out loud.

The taller teen's eyebrow twitched and he growled out, yet with little to no force:

"What?"

"You can say shit about my behavior around you after you treated me like garbage!" Hiccup wanted to find some comparison to the situation they both had, but found none. Or rather he found way too many and not one of them sounded good in his head – even though it was the honest truth. "You abused me to the point of me having almost panic attacks just thinking about meeting you, and you suddenly tell me not to be nervous around you?" Hiccup chuckled darkly, feeling, sensing the inverse of the situation. "Are you seriously that crazy? Are you even listening to what you're saying?"

Now it was time for Dagur to move away, eyes still big as two moons. And maybe if Hiccup wouldn't be so furious about this whole conversation, he would notice the small things about Dagur he didn't notice nor care to notice until now. How his shoulders slumped down, how his eyes jumped from his face to the floor, how his hands twitched, still splattered on the desk.

But Hiccup had no time for such unimportant details right now.

"I-" Dagur started, only to be interrupted by Hiccup once again.

"You what? You thought that I would forget all about it if you just acted a little bit nicer to me? You thought that maybe I would act like nothing happened?" Then Hiccup looked at Dagur, feeling being the one in charge for the very first time. Now it wasn't him who was quivering in fear from Dagur, it was almost the opposite. It was Dagur who was backing away, looking at him with this something frustrating sparkling in his eyes.

And it was horrible, but at first it felt good to be the one at top. To be the one holding all strings. But the good feelings disappeared, as quickly as they appeared when Hiccup simply started to feel bad.

It wasn't like him. It wasn't who Hiccup really was. He wasn't this type of person who was making people feel afraid of him.

Hiccup blinked when he saw some confusion clearly painted on the other teen's face. But the confusion was not the only feeling emanating from this façade.

"Oh my god, were you really thinking that?" Hiccup asked, now way quieter. He made a step back and combed his one hand through his now messy auburn locks.

At this Dagur literally looked away.

No, Hiccup couldn't deal with it. It was all too much. He needed some cold air to help him think coherently. Very needed cold breeze to soothe the heat emanating from his cheeks – now fuming with unnatural for him rage.

Hiccup grabbed his things and shoved them into the backpack, together with his unfinished project.

"I'm going." Hiccup said, not looking up while zipping his backpack. He couldn't stay in this room any longer. He knew they weren't even in the middle of their tutoring session, but it was too much. "See you later." He added, in the middle of throwing his backpack onto his back and moving to the exit.

He could see Dagur's eyes following him, but other than that he made no movement to stop him or… just do something.

Hiccup left the room and stormed quickly through the main hall, nodding only at the librarian while exiting.

The hallway gladly was empty. No one could see as Hiccup almost ran to the door, bursting through it in one quick shove.

The cold, freezing air was the sweetest thing he felt for the whole day. It almost immediately lowered the temperature in his cheeks, slowing down the pace of his rapidly beating heart.

However he couldn't stop here. He didn't want to stay here. He had to move. So he did. He walked now at much slower pace in the direction of his home. Only when he was far away enough from the school, his mind caught up with everything he had said and heard.

Because, honestly, he still couldn't believe it. Dagur had to be delusional if he thought that Hiccup could simply forget about everything that had happened between them. And why now? Why suddenly he stopped acting like that? What made him change?

Hiccup couldn't understand – some part of him didn't even want to comprehend what it all meant. But the other one was curious, it wanted, needed to know the reason behind all these changes.

No, he shouldn't mingle in it. Dagur never brought anything good in his life. It was almost on a contrary – the only thing Dagur reminded him about were bad times, full of embarrassment and pain, still resonating somewhere in his body. Maybe Dagur changed, but he could also revert back. And Hiccup didn't want to be near him if this happened.

Of course, if…

Hiccup nibbled on his bottom lip in the same time slowing down his pace.

There was a chance of Dagur never returning to his former self. He could stay being this new him – kind of weird, still with a lot of his old self creeping somewhere in the dark eyes. It could be an one way reaction. But it could be also a reaction that could be reversed. And Hiccup didn't know the equilibrium constant* of this specific metamorphosis.

He was this person who was all up for giving second chances. He also could understand not being able to give second chances.

But right now he wasn't sure if he was still a part of the first group.

Are you nervous? ;)

Was he nervous?

Jack glanced at his shaking hands. Yep, he definitely was nervous. And terrified. But also kind of excited? But still mostly stressed.

For a brief second he thought about lying, but in the end he decided against it.

A little bit? (Q﹏Q)

Jack looked at the bag he had already packed. Few pink streamers were hanging on its side, similar to ivy on an old building. All supplies needed for decorating Hiccup's locker were already hidden.

But he wasn't sure whether he was stressed over that. He actually really doubted it. He was more nervous about the dinner. With his mother. And with Hiccup.

Yesterday Eris had called once again to give details about a restaurant. She even had pointed out what Jack should wear to such place. At that Jack only had rolled his eyes. Demanding as ever, even when they weren't living together anymore.

Gladly.

In just few – give or take – hours he will see his mother again in like… three years?

This was both awfully long and short time to not meet up with your own biological mother. But to be honest Jack didn't really miss her that much. And to be even more terrible he would be perfectly fine with not seeing her. At all.

He didn't have quite good memories of his childhood and he wasn't keen on relieving those. Like at all. He was fed up with listening to her harsh words, being under her scrutinizing gaze and having to deal with her boasting.

She was always like that – trying to make herself look better. Even though she wasn't. Especially around people.

Jack was glad Hiccup had decided to go with him. This way he won't feel so alone and his mother won't pester him about how not-ideal Jack was. If she stop talking about herself, that is. Maybe she shouldn't stop talking about her perfect self.

Maybe this way tomorrow evening won't end in a disaster.

I'm sure he'll love it :*

I hope so.

Hiccup stared at the game laying on his lap with wrapping paper next to it. Half of the gift was already wrapped in the colorful paper with adorable cupcakes. The rest was almost done too. However he wasn't the best in this kind of things, so the wrapping looked a little bit… askew.

He wasn't even sure whether it was a good idea for a present. Jack had told him few times about this game. And from what he had caught Jack had really wanted to play it, but hadn't had money to buy it. So Hiccup had done it for him.

But of course, beforehand, he had to make background survey. To check if Jack really didn't have it. Aster had helped a lot in this term, although at first Hiccup hadn't been so sure whether he should ask him for help or not.

There was something weird in asking your crush to help you buy present for your fake-boyfriend.

This totally sounded like some dumb chick-flick movie's plot.

But Aster quickly had checked the background and had denied Hiccup's suspicions. Jack still didn't have the game, didn't order it and didn't plan to do it in the next two weeks, no matter how sad he was about it.

Hiccup had also asked Astrid about his gift's ideas and she had been very… very excited about it actually. Which was weird. But at this point Hiccup decided that weird was his New Year's agenda.

Hiccup sighed and grabbed the wrapping paper, feeling his heart jump high into his throat. He was pretty excited about tomorrow. Yeah, he knew it was dumb – they both were playing some kind of act in definitely strange play. However it still felt nice. Even if this was all a part of a plan. Hiccup never really had celebrated Valentine's Day – because he never had anyone with whom he could do it. Like in this… romantic way.

Okay, Hiccup was very sappy. But, come on!

Even though he knew there was nothing going on between him and Jack, he was still excited for tomorrow. But this excitement – a positive solvent – was heavily stirred with some negative solid substance. And the outcome was well… strange. Because the negative substance didn't want to dissolve in the good feelings.

Negative here was fear of the dinner. Maybe even not the dinner, but the person with whom it was supposed to happen.

Because there was no way everything could go smoothly. And Hiccup had a feeling that many, many things could go wrong. Especially as the world just loved to make everything go wrong.

But he also wanted to do it. There was curiosity somewhere inside the reactor – an initiator, mixing with the negative and positive thoughts.

However it was small, almost impossible to spot with a naked eye. Plus the auburn haired boy quickly brushed this thought away. Nothing ever came good from being too curious.

Curiosity killed the cat, right?

Hiccup huffed and finished wrapping the gift. He stared at the outcomes from different angles.

In science you have to be curious to get anywhere. But private problems, emotions and relationships weren't this type of science Hiccup was familiar with.

He sighed, not really content with his work, but too tired to do it over. He had done it already three times and he doubted that the fourth try would come out better.

So for now he decided to focus on the positive thoughts. It wasn't easy, but worrying over dinner wouldn't do him any good. Plus, he was sure he was going to be terribly stressed tomorrow.

However it was tomorrow Hiccup's problem. Now… now he wanted to simply enjoy the warm sensation inside his stomach when he thought about giving his present to Jack.

But satisfaction brought it back.

Jack sighed as he pushed the front door. They gave up under his force with a long whine mixed with a short, high squeak. He quickly stomped inside.

Man, the school so early was deserted. But well, he shouldn't expect much actually.

The corridor was only partially lit, with the white fluorescent tubes blinking from time to time above his head.

Well, this place would be horrifying at night. No wonder people make horror games happening in schools.

Jack corrected the hold on his bag and moved through the corridor with his steps echoing softly after him, like some kind of a friendly ghost.

In just few minutes he was in front of Hiccup's locker, same as dozen others green lockers next to it. The numbers were fading and one was written using permanent black marker.

Jack took off his bag and started his magical work.

He wasn't that good in art and crafts. Back when he had been a kid he barely could draw an even house or a cat resembling an animal and not a long log with claws. While gluing he often glued his fingers to the paper and while cutting he was often cutting in a wrong direction. He definitely was no master in this.

But he wanted to try. That's why he was here so early. To try to decorate nicely his locker.

Because he wanted to do it. Jack didn't like Valentine's Day, but Hiccup looked… looked actually happy about this day. Which was surprising, but not unwelcomed.

Streamer after streamer were glued to the surface. Ribbons stuck to the corner. A lot of dazzling glitter smeared in empty spaces. Few pink and red hearts glued to show affection. And finally…

The photo of the two of them.

Jack simply stared at it for few seconds.

That had taken it that evening when his mom had called him for the first time. They had been talking about decorating the locker and somehow Jack had proposed the idea of putting their photo there – because what kind of pair didn't have photos together?

Actually when the question had left his lips, Jack had wanted to slap himself. But Hiccup actually had smiled at him and nodded vigorously, saying that they totally should do it.

So the photo came to life. It wasn't much. Just a selfie of the two of them smiling to the camera, while sitting on Jack's bed. His one hand was thrown over Hiccup's shoulder who looked like he was (or wanted to) almost rolling his eyes. No wonder actually, as their cheeks were squished together.

Jack really… really adored this picture.

It was the first and only picture they had together and it made him wonder why they weren't making more actually.

Jack turned the photo around and stuck few pieces of adhesive tape on the back. After that he lifted his hand and pasted the photo in the middle of the locker, smiling under his nose.

"What are you smiling at?"

Okay, the voice almost gave him a heart attack. Especially as he didn't expect to hear it at this hour in their school.

Jack turned around and looked at Hiccup who was eyeing him with suspicious, but not mean, look.

"Uhm…" He swallowed hard. "Just our picture."

Hiccup blinked, but stepped closer to take a look at the picture currently being pressed to the cold metal locker by Jack's palms.

"It looks nice." Hiccup confirmed, the corners of his mouth twitching upwards.

Jack hummed and finally moved his palms away to turn fully to the teen standing next to him.

"What are you doing here?" He asked instead.

"I wanted to help you, but it looks like you already did it." Hiccup said, glancing up at him, but then directing his eyes at the locker. "You could have told me you'd be here so early."

Jack snickered under his nose, which made Hiccup look back at him. Oh, shit, he didn't mean to be so loud, but come on!

"You are really bad in this relationship's thing." Jack said, putting his one hand on his hip and leaning to this side a little bit.

Hiccup opened his mouth, but closed it and then glared at Jack. He did it one more time and only then he finally said:

"I came here to have a good time and I'm feeling so attacked right now."

At that Jack simply had to laugh hard. It was precious, especially since it came from nerd's mouth in this very emotionless, robotic voice. The poker face on Hiccup's face was beautiful too.

But even the auburn haired teen had to drop his façade and crack a smile.

"Okay, that was a good one."

"Thanks. It took me a while to recall this one." Hiccup nodded, but then turned to the locker. "But honestly I wanted to help you with this one. You didn't have to do it on your own."

Jack sighed, half-heartedly.

"But I wanted to." He mused, looking back at the locker. He was quite content with his work, even though he was no artist. It wasn't the best – a crooked ribbon was the proof, hanging loosely, barely glued to the surface. But in the end it was a nicely decorated locker.

Not to mention he did speak the truth. He wanted to do it. Maybe Jack wasn't a big fan of Valentine's Day, but it didn't mean he hated this day either.

However today he wanted to participate a little bit in this day's activities. Because Hiccup had looked totally mesmerized about the idea of being able to do something on this day. Plus this way Jack could show his affection – even though it was hidden behind a trench of false-relationship. Hiccup didn't have to know the real meaning behind all those pinkish hearts, colorful ribbons and smeared glitter. He didn't have to know that the words written there were true. Maybe for Hiccup they were only a few drops of pen ink smudged on a paper. But for Jack they held something important – a small piece of his shared secret.

Paper was safe. The words can disappear from it quickly – all it takes is sometimes a tug, not necessarily strong, and poof, the words are torn in half. It can take Jack one swift movement to get rid of all his emotions written there. However he didn't want to do that.

No one, beside him and Astrid, actually knew that what he had written there was reality. So he wasn't afraid of leaving it there. It made him feel lighter even.

"And I wanted to help, so this brought us to nothing." Hiccup insisted, puffing out his cheeks.

So stubborn.

Jack slumped his shoulders and then grabbed a glittery pen from the bag.

"Okay, here, you can participate now." He declared, making a face like it was taking a lot of his inner strength.

Hiccup grabbed the pen in the speed of light. Then with childish grin he stepped in front of Jack and uncapped the pen.

Jack observed from above Hiccup's arm at the small doodles that were currently being drawn on the only free places available on the metal surface. His hand was moving quickly, but steadily while making short lines or round shapes. He definitely had more experience in drawing than Jack. It took him only few seconds to create a decent cat and ten or so movements to create two quite adorable small figures holding hands. All this time Hiccup was making weird faces and sticking his tongue out.

Jack decided he liked that. Observing Hiccup as he was so passionately doing something.

And just after few minutes there were no more empty spaces, only tiny doodles adorning the locker.

"Done!" Hiccup extolled, stepping back, almost bumping into Jack in this process.

Welp, Jack had moved closer to see more details on these tiny drawings. Gladly he managed to move away in time to not make Hiccup uncomfortable.

"Okay. I must say I wasn't giving you much credit, but you surprised me. Although it's still lame to decorate your own locker for Valentine's Day." Jack said, putting his one hand on his chin.

His comment was quickly countered with a jab to the side.

Jack jumped and touched the wounded place, making puppy eyes at Hiccup who was almost glaring at him right now.

"Haha, yeah, I know I'm a loser!" The auburn haired teen huffed. The hand which so painfully hit Jack's side moved down.

Jack quickly stepped closer to throw his arm over Hiccup's should and bring him in for a half hug.

"No, you're not. You're just a weirdo."

Maybe Jack shouldn't feel so happy about the fact that Hiccup didn't immediately push him away. He knew he shouldn't feel so fulfilled after noticing this small detail. He knew he shouldn't feel proud of the fact that he was able to more-over hug Hiccup without him freaking out. But Jack did feel all of that and even more.

Few weeks ago Hiccup would yelp and jump away. Today he didn't even mention it – he didn't become rigid, he didn't freeze like he was under some ice spell, his eyes didn't become big as full moons. In the end nothing in his posture showed that he was stressed over the fact that Jack hugged him.

And it was amazing.

"A weird loser?" Hiccup insisted, casting his eyes upwards at him. There was even a hint of mirth, a playful joke sparkling somewhere in his lush green orbs.

"No, just weird." Jack nodded and then turned to the locker.

Hiccup did too. Or at least the slight movement under Jack's chin told him so. They were staring at the decorated metal door for few seconds before Hiccup cleared his throat.

Jack glanced down, his arm slumping down when Hiccup backed away.

"Thanks, Jack." He simply said.

"For what?" He lifted his eyebrow, not really understanding what the other one mean.

The smaller teen looked up, only to cast his gaze away, focusing his eyes on his own feet.

"For trying to celebrate this day with me." He finally murmured. "I know you're not the biggest fan of Valentines."

"No problem." Jack immediately responded, hiding his hands in the pockets of his blouse. He shifted his weight from one leg to another.

"But it was a problem, so yeah… thank you."

Jack really didn't want to be fazed by simple words – a show of gratitude. But lately he was fazed by a lot of things Hiccup did. Especially small things. But usually those small things were the most precious ones.

Because these few words made him all warm inside. It made the butterflies, currently living in his stomach, come to life, waking them up from the slumber.

(However lately he felt that there were less and less butterflies there)

Somehow repeating himself that it was no problem seemed dumb in this situation. So he said the next thing that popped into his mind.

"Well, in this case I expect some delicious chocolates from you."

That wasn't the truth. Jack would be happy if he even received cheap chocolates. He would be happy if he got any chocolate really.

Hiccup looked back at him. The smile tugged on the corner of his lips.

"You'll like them, no worries." He said, lifting his hand and pushing one auburn lock behind his ear. "By the way, are you maybe allergic to arsenic?"

Jack blinked.

"What?"

"Nothing!" Hiccup smirked and then turned on his heels to quickly stomp away. "See you in few minutes!"

Well, that was weird.

Jack stared at the retreating silhouette of Hiccup. Only after few seconds he grabbed all his things and walked to his own locker to hide them.

The play they had put in front of others was well… good. Or at least this was what Astrid told him, after they were alone, eating lunch.

Hiccup had walked few blocks away from the school to catch up with Astrid and to step into the school together. There he had had to feign a surprise after seeing the nicely decorated locker. But the smile that had formed on his lips after seeing Jack goofy grin hadn't been faked.

They had hugged in front of the small crowd that had formed around their locker. They had laughed and joked and Hiccup had given Jack cookies. The fact which had surprised Jack, judging by his widening eyes. But the glee had returned to his orbs quickly after that. And well, if the joy was more prominent than before, Hiccup had decided not to point that out.

He knew they had decided on the bought chocolates, but he had wanted to make something. To make Jack day a little bit bearable. Maybe it was silly, but well… now it was too late.

They had talked a little bit in front of the locker and then, after hearing the bell ring, they had moved to their separate classes, hugging one more time as a farewell.

"Man, you could have at least kissed him on the cheek." Astrid said, twirling some pasta onto her fork. She put it into her mouth and munched on it. "I mean, this is what pairs do, right?"

"Are you proposing the idea or asking? Because I'm not sure." Hiccup followed, rising his eyebrow at his friend. Then he shook his head. "Never mind. The plan worked. The official part of Valentine's Day is over."

Astrid hummed, eyeing him suspiciously, but with a hint of something evil sparkling in the corners of her eyes.

"I wouldn't be so sure." She said.

Hiccup glanced at her. The hand holding a carton with milk stopped in its journey to his mouth.

"What do you mean?"

"Nothing~" Astrid quickly replied, looking up at the ceiling.

Okay, no, he definitely didn't trust this tone. It had bad frequency. The one he didn't technically like very much. Or at all for that matter.

He was kind of curious if she really knew something or was just teasing him to make him feel edgy for the whole day, awaiting something that could or could not happen. It had happened few times in the past. Gladly Hiccup quickly had learned how to stop caring about it. So after a short fight inside his brain, whether he should or should not ask for more information, he decided it wasn't worth another dose of stress added to his already sour stomach.

After classes he literally flew away from the school. And it was all due to Jack's one message.

Shit. She booked the restaurant for an hour

earlier. Think you can make it? (๑ʘ∆ʘ๑)

I'll try definitely D:

So here was Hiccup, running to his house to get ready for the dinner. Under normal circumstances he would have additional hour to get ready. But now he was under pressure. And he hated to be under pressure. Especially concerning time.

Hiccup wanted to really put effort into his look. Maybe do some calming down exercises. Maybe rehearse some conversations beforehand in his head. He had all this afternoon planned.

And yet it all crashed down.

Hiccup shouldn't be surprised. Maybe in the end he wasn't even surprised. He was worried. He wasn't even pissed actually. But yeah, definitely troubled. Because, well when one thing is missing from the plan, then all hell breaks loose. Yeah, Murphy's Law. So Hiccup had a giant feeling that everything can go wrong.

Hiccup jumped into his house – with the door banging on the opposite wall – at what he had to wince. He quickly checked the surface of the wall, but there were no cracks. Gladly. A broken wall was the last thing he needed in his life.

After that he was moving in the speed of light. During the shower his hands were shivering and fidgeting to this point everything was slipping from his fingers. Not to mention he managed to get soap into his eyes, which hurt badly. After that he almost crashed down when he slipped on the water puddle on the bathroom's floor.

And Toothless only stared at him, curiously tilting his head to one side.

Gladly he had already prepared his clothes, so he only had to put them on. Which in the end was still a complicated job to the unsteady hands. The fact that his body was a little bit wet from the shower wasn't helping either. And, of course, he got his head stuck in a shirt's hole.

"Shit…" He cursed under his nose as he finally was able to get his head through the sweater.

What should he take? What should he do? Wait, wallet, he definitely needed a wallet. And a phone! Wait, where did he put his phone?

"Where is it? Where is it?"

His hands moved frantically in his backpack, searching for the device. But even after he shuffled through eleven notebooks, dirty lab coat and other not useful things, he still couldn't find his phone. Gladly he heard vibrations coming from under a pile of dirty clothes he had worn today.

I'm taking North's car. I'll be near

your house in ten minutes (o.o)

Even while writing one simple word, he had problems.

Okay.

Even though it wasn't okay.

Hiccup combed his hand through his hair, only to find them still dripping. Great, he can't go like that!

The auburn haired boy ran to the bathroom one more time. He maneouvered around in search for a dryer, only to find it in the cupboard above the washing machine. He somehow plugged it in and enjoyed few seconds of peace when the hot air blew through his locks.

To be honest, he didn't want to go there. Going to this dinner hadn't sounded so bad few days ago. But now… now the only thing he wanted was for the afternoon to end. And it didn't even start yet.

Poor Jack. He must be feeling way worse than Hiccup. He had tried to hide it, behind a combination of fake smiles and even worse imitation of laughs, but Hiccup had known. It wasn't so hard to see actually.

Or maybe he got more over good at distinguishing the real Jack from the acted one.

So Jack definitely had to be more stressed than Hiccup. Especially as the meeting was now happening earlier.

Hiccup had a tendency to turn into a grumpy and quite angry mess whenever some of his plans turned to ashes after being oxidized by something (or someone). He liked to have everything in order and when this order was taken away, he simply felt scared.

But today he would try to behave properly and remain optimistic. Even if this was against his usual negative nature. Jack deserved it. He didn't need a brat bothering him and making him more nervous than he probably already was.

Hiccup looked in the mirror, combing his hand through now dry hair. They were soft, but unfortunately also sticking in different directions. Using comb he somehow managed to tame his auburn locks. He looked not as presentable as he wanted to look, but he didn't have time.

His phone came to life with yet another message. Well, actually there were two messages from Aster in the background, but Hiccup had more important matters on his head than replying to Bunny.

I'm in front of your house (o _o |)

He was already here! Okay, no, Hiccup can't panic.

He got it. They will live through today afternoon. If the two of them are there, then they will somehow manage to do it. Together.

After glancing one more time at the mirror, he ran back into the room to grab his things. Toothless trotted to him, snuggling his leg.

"Sorry bud. Dad will feed you later. I have to go."

With that Hiccup ran down the stairs, not even slipping once, even though his leg started to ache in the middle. However while he was passing through kitchen there was a soft blink inside his head, a sudden spark of burning down magnesium stripe.

His present for Jack's birthday! Fuck, he almost forgot it.

So Hiccup had to draw to a halt, only to turn around and return to his room.

The small rectangular box was secured in the drawer under his desk. Hiccup grabbed it and hid inside his bag, pushing it behind a book so no one would see it so fast if he or she glanced inside.

This time he was ready. Or at least he thought he was ready.

Hiccup quickly put on his more over clean shoes (not the dirty ones he usually wore to school) and jacket. After that he glanced back, quickly searching in his mind for anything that he might forget and only then he stepped out and locked the door.

In front of his house stood a car. Inside of it was Jack, tapping nervously on the steering wheel. When Hiccup opened the door Jack looked at him and even from far away he could see a ghost of a smirk trying to appear in the corner of his lips.

Hiccup quickly ran to the car and opened the door to the passenger seat in one swift motion.

"Hey there, long time no see." Jack said, looking at him.

"Hello to you too."

Hiccup smiled hesitantly, sitting on the seat and locking the door after himself. He put the bag on his lap and then fastened the seatbelt. Unfortunately, he found out during this process that his palms were still shaking. Shit.

All this time Jack was observing him. Maybe not fully observing, but he was glancing a lot in his direction.

Only after Hiccup was sitting properly, Jack's hand moved to ignition. He turned the key and the lead-acid battery* came to life with a small roar, urging electrons into motion.

Jack exhaled as he looked in the rearview mirror to check if he was allowed to drive onto a road.

Hiccup observed him. Not openly, of course, because he wasn't some creep, but from the corner of his eyes. He could see as Jack's hands fidgeted whenever they were away from the steering wheel, as Jack's leg tapped nervously when it wasn't used currently and as Jack nibbled on his bottom lip, only to exhale loudly in the end.

"Nervous?" Hiccup asked. He already knew the answer. Hiccup just wanted to start a conversation, he needed some kind of initiator to put the whole reaction into motion.

Jack glanced at him only once, quickly returning his gaze to the road.

"Honestly?" Hiccup nodded, even though the white haired teen couldn't see him. "I'm terrified."

So it was way worse. Not a good sign.

Then after a second, Jack continued:

"How about you?"

And then they both stopped on the red light. The cars standing parallel to them woke up from their slumber and started to move – some of they jumped into top speed and some slowly drove through the crossroad.

"I'm stressed as fuck…" Hiccup admitted, pushing the fringe away from his forehead. Unfortunately he found few locks still glued to his skin. "Do you think that the only person happy about this meeting is your mother?"

Jack's finger, which had been tapping some kind of unsteady rhythm, stopped midair. It landed on the steering wheel, but the other hand moved to the gearbox.

"I don't think if even she is happy about this meeting."

Ouch, that… that wasn't nice.

"I'm sure she wants to see you."

If she had some oxytocin* running through her body, that was. But she was Jack's mother. She had held him under her heart for nine months. There was no way she didn't want to see her baby after being away from him for few years, right?

Right?

But Jack didn't look convinced. His lips didn't even twitch, didn't make that hesitant move to show that he wanted (or tried) to believe his words.

Hiccup didn't like it.

He could jump into this black hole – into the never ending pit of words of comfort. Beautiful emptiness. Warm cups filled with hot chocolate during bad evenings. He could do all of that. He could pat Jack on the back and tell him that he probably was mistaken about his mother, that she probably loved him, but had problems with showing it, that he definitely was the apple of her eye. He could do all of that.

But he wasn't sure whether he nor especially Jack would believe it.

No, Hiccup wanted to believe it, but it looked like Jack stopped doing so long time ago. Like the childish light, the pure, fuzzy spark was ripped away from his hands.

It was terrifying. How different Jack was – on the outside and on the inside. Because the outside Jack, the image of him he shared with the world, was perfect. With the handsome face. With the addictive laugh. With the warm, comforting hands, ready to reach for you when you need it.

Yet the image showed to the world wasn't scary. It was the effort Jack had to put to polish this mask to perfection. It was horrifying how it came so naturally to Jack to pretend that everything was okay in his small, perfect life.

Especially when it wasn't.

So Hiccup didn't let the sweet nothings spill from his mouth, even though sentences were already being formed at the back of his tongue. He reached and put his hand on Jack's shoulder.

"We're going to go through it together." He said, trying to sound strong and as reassuring as he wanted to be.

Jack knew his mother the best, so he probably knew what they should expect, so no sweet words would work here. They were reassuring, of course, but they weren't a solid ground. They floated in the air, only to disappear few minutes later. Jack didn't need something that could disintegrate so quickly. He needed something more, something on which he could lean on, something that could be there when he needed it.

Hiccup wanted to be this something. Because he was tired of being the one who searched for help, who sought a helping hand. He wanted to be the one helping, giving hope, being there.

His throat was dry after he had spoken, but he kept his hand firm on Jack's shoulder.

Jack glanced at him, but he had to quickly look back at the road. But even though it was a mere second, Hiccup could see something shimmering inside these orbs. And the corners of his mouth moved upwards, turning the negative parabolic equation of a smile into a positive one.

Jack's one palm moved clumsily to his own shoulder, where it rested on Hiccup's hand for few seconds.

Jack's palm was cold. Even more than usual. It was almost freezing, even though it was pretty warm in the car. So Jack had to be stressed over it, cutting the circulation to his hand to minimum.

Then Jack lifted his hand, so Hiccup could retract his own. Which he did, but before he could fully do it, Jack grabbed it and squeezed hard. Not so hard to hurt, but hard like he wanted to show something, send some kind of coded message.

"Thanks."

It was a short spasm, a jump, a shudder, a tremble of electricity. It was a blink of an eye. It was a burst, an explosion, a supernova. It was a warm wind passing through the hair, but it also was a soft buzz of whirring machine. It was something new, and comfortingly old too.

Hiccup wasn't sure what it was.

But he felt happy after hearing this one word. And the hand holding his own, even if for a short amount of time, wasn't as uncomfortable as he always had thought it was.

It was almost… nice.

Heh, weird.

Jack moved his palm and returned it to the steering wheel as he made a turn. Hiccup put his palm on his lap, sensing a ticklish tingling somewhere between his fingers.

Hiccup had to agree on one thing – Jack's mother had style. Because the restaurant she had picked was stunning.

And also very expensive apparently.

He had heard the name of it somewhere, but never had paid it any attention. Mostly because he rarely went to restaurants. Especially such exquisite. Every detail of this place was thought through. There wasn't any part that didn't fit the rest of the surroundings. The golden roses were in perfect synchronization with chocolate carpets beneath creamy vases. The tall windows were an excellent combination for hanging, platinum chandeliers. The round tables covered in thin silk, scattered all over white, shiny floor, were like flowers on the meadow.

It looked astonishingly pristine and elegant, so Hiccup, of course, felt out of place the second he stepped in. Judging by Jack immediately becoming rigid under scrutinizing gaze of a waiter standing near the doorway, he had to feel the same.

The waiter skeptically stared at them when they approached him after entering, but his eyes shone with recognition after Jack said for whom the reservation was*.

"Of course, follow me." The waiter said, taking two menus and turning to march into the ballroom filled with tables and people. The worst combination for Hiccup's anxiety.

Gladly not many people looked at them as they walked through the hall to the round table near one windowed wall. It was perfectly made, just as everything else here.

It almost looked fake.

Gosh, so many forks. Hiccup didn't know which one he should use. Fuck, what if he takes the wrong one?! Will everyone see it!? Damn, embarrassing himself was one thing, but embarrassing Jack was a whole another business. And he didn't want to do that.

"Should we take your coats, sirs?"

"Ah, yes, please."

There was a shuffling sound coming from Hiccup's side. It looked like Jack was taking his jacket off. Wait… the waiter asked them about something? What it was, what it was!?

"Here, let me help you."

It was Jack, with soft voice, putting his hands on Hiccup's shoulders.

Hiccup somehow took off his own coat and turned to his friend, feeling the blush rising to his cheek, like steam from boiling liquid. Yep, first few minutes inside and he already was a mess.

Jack gave both their jackets to the waiter and then turned to him, sending a kind, understanding smile.

They both sat down, next to each other. Hiccup tried not to make any sound as he was pushing his chair back, but Jack did it in one swift motion, scraping on the floor along the way.

When Hiccup finally sat down, he exhaled loudly, trying to calm his hammering heart and sweating hands. Great. He knew he was bad at interactions. He knew he was a mess in new places. He knew he shouldn't go to such extravaganza places like this. But he couldn't let all these negative emotions win. Even when he wanted to curl and disappear. He had to fight back.

It was only few hours. Maybe less.

"You okay?"

He turned to the white haired teen.

"Yeah, I think so." No, he wasn't, but he won't give up, so he might at least try to pretend. "It's just… this place is so…"

"Overwhelming?" Jack proposed, a hint of amusement at the end tone.

"Yeah." Hiccup nodded, looking down at the porcelain plate. Or at least it looked like porcelain. He never could fully understand ceramics materials*.

Jack nudged his arm delicately.

"My advice is to not care about what other people think. You probably won't come here for another few months or years, so they definitely will forget about you."

Hiccup blinked and then rose his head to look at Jack, who had his elbow on the table and chin resting on his hand.

"So you were here?"

"Yop, four years ago. And I accidentally made some waiter trip and spill a soup on a poor lady." Jack cackled, leaning on the chair's back legs, swinging back and forth. The behavior made some other man glance at them disapprovingly, but Jack, even if he noticed, didn't care.

Okay, so Jack also had done some embarrassing things. Phew. That was actually reassuring a lot.

"Sounds harsh." Hiccup commented, smiling a little at the end.

"What can I say? I was a troublemaker!" Jack put both his hands behind his head, swinging heavily back and glancing at Hiccup.

"Was? Mister, I think you used the wrong tense. You're still a troublemaker."

Jack returned to his normal sitting position and then raised his hand to put it on his chest. He exhaled loudly, trying to sound as touched and wounded as he could.

"Me? The most innocent boy you know? Hiccup, how could you say such terrible things about poor ol' me?"

Hiccup rolled his eyes, feeling something tugging on his heart inside his chest. Like a small pull of a string tied around it. Or maybe a soft tug of metal in very faint magnetic field. Whatever it was, it was something new, yet familiar nevertheless.

Because it was like the bickers they had had some time ago. The same leisure atmosphere appeared between them, light and kinda dizzy, like helium. It was making everything seem easier and more accepting.

God, Hiccup missed that. He never knew he could get used to it, until he had lost what he had built with Jack. For other it maybe was insignificant. Just a small bicker, a tease, a barely visible precipitate in the solvent. But for Hiccup, it meant a lot.

He felt comfortable like that, sitting with Jack in an unknown and unwelcoming place. Just the two of them.

"I definitely wouldn't call you innocent." Hiccup finally said, cocking his eyebrow as he tapped his fingers on the surface of the table.

"Really? Then wha-" But the white haired teen's sentence was cut in half as he simply froze, staring at something above Hiccup's shoulder.

He blinked and only a second later turned around on his chair.

Jack's mother was beautiful. He was the whole epitome of elegancy and fashion. The cascade of ebony, straight hair was falling softly onto her shoulders, moving slightly with every movement of her body. Her eyes, red as burning lithium, were directed at them. The color was unusual, and even though it was alluring, it was also impassive. Especially as it didn't fit the kindly smiling painted lips.

The purple dress waved with every step, nicely fitting the body that definitely had taken some work to be put into this shape. It was a body of someone who wasn't ashamed of it.

Hiccup found out that he could only stare, mesmerized and weirdly terrified both in the same time.

"Hello Jackson." She said, voice smooth as regenerated cellulose fiber*. "It's good to see you after such long time."

Jack answered a few seconds later than usual. He also sat more straight and rigid, losing all this laxity his body had until now.

"Yeah, nice to see you too." Jack said, but it felt strained.

Jack's mother's mouth twitched and then, God, she looked at Hiccup who sat right in front of her.

It felt like she could see right through him and read him like an open book.

He felt small, even tiny under this gaze.

"You must be Hamish, right?" She asked, the soft tone weirdly seemed fake or maybe strained. Like she tried to remember his name correctly. Which actually might be the case.

Hiccup was honestly astonished that she even knew his name. To this point he only answered few seconds late.

Damn.

"Uhm, yeah, I'm Hamish… or Hiccup as people usually call me." He jumped to his feet, feeling the chair wavering, but gladly not falling back. He showed his hand to the woman. "It's very nice to meet you."

Jack's mother's hand was cold, chilling even. But the grip was a strong one and she didn't hesitate to shake their connected hands, with a polite smile and slight nod of her head.

"Eris Pfeiffer. I'm happy to say the same." She tilted her head softly, maybe assessing him from different angle. Her gaze looked like it was calculating something. "It rarely happens for me to meet Jackie's friends."

Jack behind him groaned loudly and Hiccup turned to him, rising his eyebrows. Eris let go of his hand.

"Please, just not Jackie…" The teen mumbled, looking up at the ceiling and sighing exasperatedly at the end.

Eris circled Hiccup and moved to Jack, only to pinch his cheek. Jack quickly jumped and swatted her hand away.

"Stop it." Jack grumbled, massaging the pinched place. There was a rosy color smeared near his nose. "You know I don't like when you do it."

"You see me once every few years, so I think you can bear with this for few hours." The woman said with a hint of motherly tone to her voice.

It was supposed to sound normal. Heck, Eris kinda had a point. Yet there was something unsettling in that sentence. Some kind of power, an unspoken seriousness. It was a tone of someone who was used to giving orders, and not taking 'no' for an answer.

Jack didn't reply. He didn't even look up at his mother.

Eris moved past him, ruffling his hair with her palm. She curled one Jack's lock around her finger. After that she sat on the last, free chair.

"So boys, did you already order something?"

Eris ordered herself a lamp of red wine. Jack was about to order a glass of white wine for himself, but a nudge from Hiccup made him stop. He glanced back at him and Hiccup only tilted his head in the direction of the parking lot.

Jack was driving them back.

In the end he only ordered himself a drink without alcohol – Shirley Temple*. Hiccup got himself coffee.

After that came a time to order dinner. And Hiccup, well he wasn't sure what he wanted to pick. Everything in the menu sounded overly complicated – with its long description and, not to mention, too high price. Shit, even the cheapest dish was still too expensive. Why waste so much money when you could simply order pizza?

Jack quickly looked through the menu, but it didn't look like he was searching for anything. More like he was pretending that he was interested in whatever was there. The unfocused gaze told Hiccup at least much.

He wanted to ask Jack what he was taking, so maybe he could take the same, but he was afraid it would look pretty impolite.

So Hiccup returned to staring at the laminated pages, cringing and screaming internally. If someone who had mind reading abilities was here, then they definitely would have to cover their ears right now.

He stole few glances at the white haired teen, but he didn't even once look back. Shit.

"You can pick whatever you want, Hiccup." Eris suddenly said, the corner of her nicely made lips moving upwards in something similar to comforting smile.

However Hiccup was terrified how easy it was to read him. Or maybe it was the blood line – because Jack had no problems with guessing Hiccup's real feelings too.

His eyes quickly scanned the main menu list and decided on something that sounded edible and wasn't as expensive as some of the meals written there. When the waiter came, everyone said their respective orders and Hiccup found out that his own was the cheapest of them all. He wasn't sure if this was a good or a bad thing.

After the waiter left them, Hiccup exhaled slowly through his nose, trying to soothe the tension roaming in his muscles. He could see Jack looking at him, so he stared back.

Jack's smile was soft and a little bit giddy. But it wasn't the smile Hiccup focused on, but on Jack's eyes, shimmering in the yellowish light coming from chandeliers above. It was a flame, glinting and disappearing, sending a coded message in form of blinks of the light.

Hiccup nodded, trying to grin too and show that he was more over doing okay.

But then Eris opened her mouth and started to speak.

She talked about her life, how beautiful Greece was, how delicious the food there was, how the weather was just perfectly warm and, of course, she talked about her job. The places she had seen, the people she had met and the situations she had to write about.

And Hiccup found himself being enamored by her way of talking, by the way she connected words with tones – like some kind of beautiful threads. He was mesmerized by the stories – told in funny, yet charming and interesting way. Eris knew how to give her words a spark, a needed ingredient to make the reader being captivated by the sounds and meanings.

Jack looked interested too. Or at least he looked like he was listening, but he didn't utter a single word. Once or twice he opened his mouth, but then he was drowned by the bigger, stronger presence.

Hiccup didn't like it.

But then the waiter brought their meals and all stories were cut short.

The food was delicious, even though, honestly, Hiccup wasn't sure what he was actually eating. In the middle of his dish Jack's fork moved to steal a piece of fish from his plate, what Hiccup commented with a small glare. Jack snickered and put the stolen piece in his mouth.

Hiccup turned back to see Eris moving her head back to her dish, elegantly maneuvering both a fork and a knife. Shit, she definitely had seen that. But friends do that too and he and Jack were friends, so it shouldn't be bad, right?

Still, his stomach weighed him down, churning nervously with another bite.

When they finished dinner, the same waiter came to them to ask what they would want for dessert. Jack ordered himself a Black Forest cake and Hiccup a piece of Tiramisu*.

"So, Jackie, how's life? How is school? You didn't tell me much during our conversation on the phone." Eris started, lifting a hand to another waiter who approached them with a bottle of wine. The short stream of liquid moved without a sound, filling perfectly half of the glass.

Hiccup would definitely spill most of it on the floor.

Jack looked away from his mother who was now swirling the red liquid around the glass.

"Life is okay, I guess." He shrugged and then tapped on his knee. "School is… more over fine."

Hiccup knew Jack preferred to avoid talking about school. Mostly due to Professor Black. Or at least Aster had told him that Jack could be moody because of his problems with math. That reminded Hiccup he had wanted to talk about it with him.

Eris hummed, more to herself than to them, taking a slow sip.

"More over?" She inquired, rising her eyebrow. There was a hesitant, playful smirk dancing in the corners of her lips, but something about it seemed forced. It didn't look like any amused smile Jack had been giving him – those were always honest, brilliant and warm. This one… this one wasn't.

"Yeah, more over." Jack mumbled, reaching and grabbing his drink only to fiddle with the straw.

Hiccup occupied himself with taking a sip of the coffee he had ordered. It was perfect, not scalding hot, but warm enough for drinking.

"North told me you have problem with math." She said, tilting the glass to one side.

Uh oh. Jack twitched nervously while straightening his back. His eyes jumped from the drink in front of him to his mother.

"Can we not talk about it right now?" He asked, politely.

Hiccup glanced at him, keeping the cup near his mouth. Shit, this was starting to turn sour, dangerous even with the atmosphere around them sizzling with charged loads. One spark, one spark could burn it all.

"Why not? I don't understand why we shouldn't talk about your problems when I see you once every few years?" Eris looked up, right at Jack, putting her glass away on the table.

Jack made a weird, incoherent noise at the back of his throat. Something between a whine and a groan, which gave him the attention of a near table.

Eris noticed it too and commented with a cough.

"Please, behave yourself."

Okay, okay, okay. This was starting to get hazy. Nope, nope, nope.

Jack looked like he wanted to add something to it, but bit his tongue in time and only straightened his posture, moving the drink away on the table.

"So, what will it be?" Eris asked one more time, when no one spoke for few seconds.

"What will be what?" Jack quickly implored, looking up at the black haired woman.

Now it was her time to roll her eyes. Her fingers twitched near the wine glass, like she desperately wanted to reach for it, but something inside of her was stopping it.

"Will you tell me about your problems with math?"

Jack pinched his mouth into a thin line, to this point his usually pinkish lips turned pale. His hands twitched and he put them on his knees, grabbing onto the jeans tightly immediately.

Hiccup didn't like that. He wanted to signal to Jack somehow that maybe he should… should what? End this afternoon quicker? But how? Everything was fine when Eris was talking about herself, but when she wanted to interact with Jack's personal life, everything broke down.

"Do I have to?" Jack snapped and judging by Eris furrowing her eyebrows, this was definitely a bad answer. Jack probably noticed it too, because he almost immediately continued. "Can't we talk about something I want to talk about?"

"Of course." Eris nodded, taking the neck of the glass between her thin fingers. Oh, her nails were painted. She lifted it to her lips, but before she took a sip, she followed. "Of course, we can." Jack relaxed slowly, moving to rest his body on the back of his chair. "As soon as you tell me about your problems with math."

Persistent in a very bad way. Even Hiccup started to get a bad taste in his mouth. He started to understand why Jack didn't want to be here, why was he already so grumpy before entering. He definitely knew her better than most of the people around them, so he already knew what should he expect.

Jack's leg twitched, hand gripped the material so tight that the usual pale knuckles became white as titania*, muscles tensed, eyes lost all the warm light they had been (or tried to) emanating few seconds ago. Now he looked… tired. Exhausted even. No wonder. No one wanted to argue with their family, especially parents, after not seeing them for such long time.

How did these meetings look like when Hiccup wasn't there? Was Eris forcing herself and her point of view on Jack a little bit less, because of Hiccup's presence here?

She did glance at him few times, so maybe yes. Maybe Hiccup was this neutral substance which was diluting the atmosphere – the mixture of two opposite points of view. However Hiccup didn't want to stay neutral – not good, but not particularly bad either. He wanted to participate somehow, to be active and not passive. To be important, to help somehow.

Just as Jack had helped him so many times.

"Excuse me, but I don't… don't think Jack has that big iss- problems with math." Hiccup opened his mouth and well, words just slipped past them, breaking somehow through the dense air between them.

Eris looked at him, the glass of wine leaving her lips. Shit, shit, shit. His heart was hammering inside his chest, the dopamine swirling through his veins. His hands shivered when he simply felt exposed under her cunning, perceptive eyes.

They were like magnetic field, exciting all his nuclei, forcing them to send a radio frequency signal so all his secrets could be shared*.

But Hiccup decided to hold strongly, to not cower back under the piercing gaze.

"He can be good at it when he tries and I think… I think he only needs to learn a little bit." Maybe more than a little bit, but she didn't have to know that. "And then he'll pass all exams with flying grades."

Hiccup honestly believed it, he only didn't have time to tell it face to face to Jack.

Who was definitely staring at him, if the feeling at the back of his mind and the prickling of his skin were any indications.

Eris stared at him, running calculations in her head. Or at least it looked like that. Or maybe she was checking if Hiccup did speak the truth. How? He wasn't sure.

Okay, okay, Hiccup can pull out Jack's ace.

"He got a B+ from his last test, after all."

The wrinkles on Eris' forehead softened. With her one hand she moved a lone, ebony strand behind her ear and then looked back at Jack.

"Jackie, that's amazing. Why didn't you tell me?" The kind, soft tone was back, but this time it felt like it took a lot of her inner strength to modify it.

Hiccup finally could turn to Jack, who looked back at his mother. He nibbled on his bottom lip for a second or so, before he finally opened his mouth:

"I don't know. I just… forgot."

It was a lie. Hiccup knew it immediately. Even though it was a very good lie. Nothing in Jack's demeanor changed – he didn't look away, his fingers didn't shiver, eyes were as focused at the person in front of him as they had been before opening his mouth. Yet Hiccup knew it was a lie.

A painful one.

"Well… I'm still proud of you, Jackie." Eris added, tilting the glass to his direction, like she was making a toast.

After that came the waiter with their desserts and another refill of Eris' glass.

The cakes were delicious – a pure heaven melting inside his mouth. Hiccup couldn't stop himself from humming contently after taking the first bite. Jack probably thought the same, judging by his dazed look and smile returning to pale lips.

Maybe it was time for revenge. Because, well, Jack's piece also looked tasty.

Hiccup moved closer, eyeing the plate and chocolate cake.

Jack swallowed a bite and glanced down at him. Or at least it looked like that, because Hiccup didn't stop eyeing the dessert.

"Do you want a bite?"

"Yes." Hiccup immediately said.

Jack put down his hand and pushed his plate in the direction of Hiccup, who beamed at him and grabbed quite big bite onto his spoon.

"Hey!"

"You didn't specify how big of a piece I can take, so shush. Plus you took a piece of my dinner earlier."

"Point taken, but I didn't take half of your dinner."

"Come on, I only took like one third of your slice."

"Exactly!"

So before Jack could whine more about it, Hiccup quickly devoured the piece he had on his spoon. Gosh, it was also yummy. If he knew, he would skip the main menu to order only desserts for today.

Jack sighed loudly, but he didn't look mad at that.

Hiccup swallowed and moved back to his seat.

"Okay, you can try mine." He said, pushing his own plate to his friend.

He didn't have to repeat himself, because in a split-second almost half of his piece was gone.

"You're terrible, you know that…" Hiccup commented drily, staring at what was left of his Tiramisu. Welp, he should have known better than to mess with Jack.

"I know." Jack happily agreed, reaching forward to grab a napkin which he used to clean his mouth.

Hiccup rolled his eyes, finished his dessert and only then he looked up to see Eris eyeing him. Shit, shit, shit. What now? What did he mess up? Did he do something wrong? Did she get the wrong idea from the whole situation between him and Jack? They had agreed on not trying to look like they were together. The less people knew now, the easier it will be to untangle in the future the mess they had made.

Untangle. Which meant that they will have to break up.

Oh…

Hiccup took the last few sips of coffee he had in the cup, trying to kill the weird, sour aftertaste he suddenly seemed to have in his mouth.

But then Eris smiled at him and moved to rest her eyes on her son once again.

"How is Emma?" She suddenly asked.

Jack almost choked on the drink.

"She's fine. Why do you ask?"

"Oh, I was just curious." She said in a way that Hiccup had doubts that she actually was curious. But he could be wrong. Maybe she really was interested in Emma's life.

The girl definitely wouldn't be crazy over this fact. Hiccup could almost imagine Emma making gagging noises after hearing that Jack's real mother asked about her. Heck, he kinda wanted to see it.

Hiccup busied himself with looking up at the ceiling. Jack played with his fork and the remaining crumbs of the cake he still had on his plate.

"Jackie, don't act like a child." Eris commented one more time. "Put the fork away, so the waiter can take our plates away."

Jack huffed under his nose, but did as he was told. He rested his chin on his palm with his elbows put on the table.

"Remember what I told you about elbows?"

One more time Jack did as he was told, but this time he had done it way slower than usual. Deliberately slow. On purpose. To rouse. He was playing with fire. The furrowed eyebrows of Eris told him so.

Please, can this afternoon just end?

"Jackie-"

But then a phone rang. Not Hiccup's own, not Jack's one, but his mother's. At first she looked surprised and only after few seconds she started to search for it in her white purse.

It definitely was one of the newest models, however it looked like it was already used a lot of times.

"Hello?" Her sweet voice danced around them. "Oh, okay. I totally understand. Yeah, yeah, no problem sweetheart."

After that she turned into a machine, programmed to hum contently, smile sweetly and laugh kindly at the perfect chosen times. She was nice, or she tried to seem nice. There was a veil of something mischievous, something suspicious, secretive and interesting which she had thrown over her persona the second she had clicked the button on her phone.

An actor playing in real life. A beautiful talent or most tragic curse.

Jack didn't look interested in the conversation as he sat grumpily in his seat. Well, no wonder, after he had been reprimanded about almost everything he had done.

Eris finished the call, the happy, seductive and pristine demeanor crumbling down the second the phone was hidden. She massaged her temple with one hand and then looked at them.

"Sorry, dears, but I have to go. Do you want to order anything else and sit here?"

Jack sent him a quick glance and Hiccup shrugged. Jack should decide. It was his mother's money and his time.

However judging by the tiredness seeping from his cerulean orbs, Hiccup knew the answer way before Jack spoke.

"No, we're good. We'll go out with you." Jack said.

Eris called the waiter, paid for everything and asked to bring them their clothes. After that she put on her sparkling coat. She looked like a shimmering star between Hiccup and Jack – both dull and boring.

However Hiccup had to admit he was glad he was going out.

They said goodbyes to the worker at the door and exited the warm building into the coldness of the outside, not extravagant world.

"Do you need a ride somewhere?" Eris asked, looking at her son.

Jack shook his head.

"I borrowed North's car."

Eris smiled softly. The wind that passed them ruffled her hair similar to waves on the dark ocean.

She bent down and planted a kiss on Jack's cheek.

"Call me if you need anything." She said, touching Jack's cheek with the back of her hand.

"Okay."

She smiled at him one more time and then looked up, above Jack's shoulder, at Hiccup.

"It was nice to meet you, Hiccup."

"The pleasure was all mine."

Eris nodded, patted Jack on the cheek and straightened her posture.

"Happy birthday, Jackie. Have a nice rest of the evening." And with that she turned around and walked away, not glancing back at them.

Her silhouette was visible for few more seconds, until it dissolved into the darkness of the night around them. And it felt like someone turned off a valve. All tension left Hiccups body, seeping away, when he exhaled slowly through his nose.

Jack observed the road where his mother had disappeared for few more seconds – and for the first time this evening Hiccup couldn't read Jack's real emotions.

Author's note:

I liveeeeeee… somehow! I'm not that happy with this update? I rewrote it (like almost every chapter actually), but meh? I'm still not sure about it xDDD. Anyway, hope you like it!

Nerdy fact:

* The equilibrium constant – is a ratio of the concentration of the products to the concentration of the reactants. If the K value is less than one the reaction will move to the left and if the K value is greater than one the reaction will move to the right.

* The lead-acid battery – was invented in 1859 by Gaston Planté and is the oldest type of rechargeable battery. Despite having a very low energy-to-weight ratio and a low energy-to-volume ratio, its ability to supply high surge currents means that the cells have a relatively large power-to-weight ratio, so it is often used in motor vehicles to provide the high current required by automobile starter motors. Some of my teachers love to ask about this battery during lab tests xD.

* Oxytocin – is a peptide hormone and neuropeptide. It plays a role in social bonding, sexual reproduction in both sexes, and during and after childbirth. My roommate told me that they give it to animals if they want to make a mother nurse babies (I think especially if they aren't hers).

* Ceramic – is an inorganic compound, non-metallic, solid material comprising metal, non-metal or metalloid atoms primarily held in ionic and covalent bonds. I never really liked learning about them, ughhh… I have bad memory of a lab where we had to make small bricks… xD

* Smooth as regenerated cellulose fiber – regenerated cellulose fiber is used to produce rayon (artificial silk).

* Titania – titanium dioxide and is used as a white pigment.

* 'They were like magnetic field, exciting all his nuclei, forcing them to send a radio frequency signal so all his secrets could be shared' – Hiccup is describing NMR here. I would explain more this method, but I can't xD. Also there is a lot of theory behind it… Though it's still cool, so go, check it out!

Other facts:

* Shirley Temple – non-alcoholic mixed drink traditionally made with ginger ale and a splash of grenadine, garnished with a maraschino cherry. Modern Shirley Temple recipes may substitute lemon-lime soda or lemonade and sometimes orange juice in part, or in whole. Also it is a reference to Camp Camp =D

* Reservation – the reservation was for Eris' surname – Pfeiffer – which is also the surname of Eris' voice actor in the movie.

And answers as always:

Guest – Oh it's so temptiiiiing xDDDD But well, I promised HiJack soo… xD

Guest – Aww thanks =D. I must say I was planning the names for some time xDD But the lilacs will play a big role in the future too! (Giving names rulez!)

sword slasher – That makes me so happy =DDDD! Especially as literally nothing happens in this fanfic xD"". Hope you liked this chapter too (and no worries Valentine's Day is still not over)!

And thank you Reader for being here with me! You're the best!

See you!