Negative delta is the beginning of fun

by Lajt Hane

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

13. Chapter 13 - Coulomb's law

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.

---

Coulomb's law – the force between two point charges is directly proportional to the magnitude of each charge and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between their centers. If the objects have the same charge, positive or negative, they will repel each other. If they have opposite charges, they will attract each other.

"Are you read to ditch this place?" Jack asked, turning around on his heel and swirling the car keys on his pointing finger.

"Yes, please." Hiccup huffed out.

The food was good, delicious even, but the atmosphere… Hiccup felt out of place. Like an unwanted substrate that was put into a mixture. It was doing nothing bad, but it still would be better, if it wasn't there.

Jack chuckled and moved to the parking lot where he had left the car. He unlocked it and pointed with his head, asking Hiccup to hop in. Which he did, quickly, because the world outside was definitely below zero Celsius degree.

He fastened the seatbelt and then waited for Jack to start the engine. Which he didn't do. The keys were put in the ignition, but the palm floated near them, hesitant, waiting or deciding on something.

Hiccup looked at Jack.

"Jack?"

"Do you…" The teen started, only to sigh and comb one hand through his white strands, messing them completely. Good, he looked better like that. More natural. More Jack. "… need to go home already?"

Did Hiccup have to go home already? No, but if he comes so early, then he will be able to catch up on few things – homework, project for the contest, tasks he has to do for additional labs. He could use this time.

But did he want to go home? No, not really. He preferred to spend more time with Jack and simply enjoy himself, forget about the, maybe not terrible, but definitely weird afternoon they just had.

Plus, he kinda still had to give Jack his present.

"You're not expected at home? It's your birthday and all…" Hiccup asked.

"No, North and Emma already gave me presents. And my family will come for a small party on Saturday, so yeah, I'm not expected to come home. Or at least come home pretty early." Jack explained, glancing at him with hopeful smile.

Hiccup stared and stared, feeling something in him… something in him growing? Like fondness. Like a first spurt of a flower. Like a first short chain of a polymer appearing during the polymerization. And no, not in CCl4*.

"So what are we waiting for? Let's go somewhere!" Hiccup said, grinning from ear to ear.

Jack beamed, sparkled, shone like a star in a darkest night as he turned the key, started the car and drove onto the road.

They passed good few streets, until Hiccup finally decided to ask.

"And where exactly are we planning to go?"

---

Actually, it was hard to find a place that wasn't swarmed with pairs and groups of people. Every café was packed, every arcade was full, even every fast food restaurant was crowded with couples.

Ah yeah, Hiccup remembered Tuff and Ruff complaining to him that they had to work on Valentine's Day.

"Okay, this might be more difficult than I thought." Jack mumbled, looking into a window of another pizzeria and finding it totally crowded.

"Yeah…" Hiccup nodded.

They should actually expect it. Come on, it was Valentine's Day, people make reservations for seats few months earlier. And they were trying to find something at the very last minute.

However Hiccup actually was glad Jack didn't try to get into one of these too crowded places, only drove by to check if there was miraculously any place left. Hiccup preferred to walk around in coldness than be swarmed by couples who were trying to do tonsillectomy. He had nothing against small pecks in public places, short kisses and hugs. But French kissing for few minutes was definitely disgusting.

"I don't think there is any place here left where we can crash at." Jack said, sounding defeated. One hand left the steering wheel to push the fringe away from his forehead.

"No wonder, actually." Hiccup murmured.

"Shame."

Yeah, it was a little bit sad. But hey, the wind was always blowing in their faces and they every time managed to pass through it and move forward. Or sometimes around it. So why shouldn't they do it now?

Plus Jack really looked bummed out.

And Hiccup still kinda wanted to spend this evening with Jack. His real, very first Valentine's Day spent with someone close. Fake boyfriend, but still. It wouldn't be weird if someone saw them outside, together, spending time.

"Hey, Jack, why don't we leave your car at your house and I don't know… walk around the neighborhood?"

Jack glanced at him, but quickly returned his eyes to the road. His mouth twitched into a mischievous smirk which tugged at something in Hiccup's chest. Gosh, was he starting to get sick? Maybe the walk outside wasn't a good idea.

"You and walks? In this weather?" Jack asked.

Yeah, him and coldness? Never mixed well, but today – today Hiccup felt like he could make an exception.

He was making a lot of exceptions when he was around Jack. God, he had some bad influence on Hiccup.

"Do you want me to change my mind or–"

"Nope. Walk it is!"

---

They simply walked around the neighborhood. Five of six streets away from their houses, but close enough that it wouldn't take them too long to go home if they needed. They talked a lot, about simple things, about important things, about nothing and everything in the same time. Jack complained a lot about Eris, huffing and groaning at her behavior that evening. Hiccup mostly listened during these moments, not sure what he should, or even could, add.

Hiccup talked about himself too. About Dagur – about what had happened between them during their last tutoring session.

They maneuvered around. Other couples passed them by, usually not even glancing or paying them any mind. Two or three times they saw a group of friends – they waved, the teenagers waved at Jack and Hiccup back, one girl whistled happily.

And even though it was freezing outside, Hiccup didn't feel cold. The snow was crunching almost nicely under his feet, the wind was calming his warm cheeks, the lights were blinking happily above them.

It was nice.

Honestly nice. No stress, no need to pretend, no need to show the perfect image of himself outside. Just the two of them – he and Jack – strolling together around the neighborhood.

He felt the weight of his phone in his pocket. There was one new message from Aster, but Hiccup… he didn't want to answer just yet. If he took out the phone, he would sense the tremors of excitement running down his spine. It was amazing and all, but now Hiccup didn't want that. He didn't need that spark of incitement right now. Because sometimes… sometimes it was tiring. It was exhausting to think what to say, how to act to accidentally not make a fool out of himself, to try to show the best image of himself.

Right now he didn't want to deal with the stress of responding to Aster.

Because it was this – a stress – it was munching happily on Hiccup's insides whenever he opened a message from Aster. And it was simply tiring. So the phone stayed in his pocket, forgotten.

"Hic?"

He hummed, closing his eyes and enjoying the soft, yet chilly breeze on his cheeks. Sometimes when he was breathing out, his glasses got fogged. Welp, he never had thought that wearing glasses in winter could be so troublesome.

Jack nudged him.

"Thanks."

"For what?" Hiccup asked, not opening his eyes. He trusted Jack – he could hear his steps next to him, he heard his voice, he felt the warmness emanating from his body. Hiccup trusted Jack to lead them, without a fear of Hiccup falling down.

"For being there with me, at the dinner, duh?" Jack answered, like it was obvious. "So yeah, thanks… and thank you for defending me."

Now Hiccup opened his eyes and glanced at his friend walking next to him – their shoulders almost glued together at this point.

"Uhh?"

Jack wasn't looking at him. He probably wasn't doing it for some time now. But there was a wave of resolution taking over the façade, because Jack exhaled slowly and glanced at Hiccup.

There was a skip and then there was silence inside Hiccup's chest.

"You know, defending me in math and all that shit…" Jack said, weirdly slow, like it was hard to speak and stare at Hiccup both in the same time.

"No problem." Hiccup responded. "Especially as I spoke the truth."

"You don't have to pretend." Jack chuckled softly.

"I'm not." Hiccup raised one eyebrow, perplexed by what he was hearing.

Jack blinked, slowly, but repeatedly. Like a robot – no, an android – that was opening his eyes and seeing everything for the very first time.

Was it so hard to believe that Jack was good in something? Many people admired him for his talent in sports, or that he managed to prank so many people, or that he simply was so cool. Everyone loved the perfect image of Jack. But when Hiccup complimented him, Jack acted like he never had been taught how to take one. Or how to believe them.

It was sad to look at. So Hiccup wanted to show that what he was feeling and thinking was the honest truth.

"Jack, you're amazing in more things than you can probably imagine." Hiccup said, glancing at his friend.

Jack's eyes widened for a short span of seconds. He looked like a lost child, not sure what to do when they were put in a new situation. But there was a honest hope peeking from somewhere behind a cerulean curtain of his eyes.

Was Jack not used to being praised? Or maybe that was wrong. Was Jack not used to believe the praises and compliments spoken to him?

"You-" He croaked out. A voice which he quickly covered with a cough. "You mean it?"

Hiccup nodded, but this tiny, insignificant movement was too small. No, Hiccup had to voice that one out. He knew sometimes actions spoke louder than words, but the nod here wasn't enough.

"Yeah, I mean it." He confirmed with his words, lifting the corners of his lips in something he hoped was a comforting smile.

And Jack… Jack was radiant in this moment when the grin – the same kind, sheepish, hesitant grin Hiccup adored so much – appeared on his mouth.

(Wait, adored? No, there had to be an error in the code. Hiccup's brain needed to fix it, quick!)

Then there was Jack's hand over Hiccup's shoulder, bringing him in for a quick half-hug. It lasted for few seconds – no more, no less – and then Hiccup was free of the confinement.

"Thanks, Hic."

A silence, a drop fell in, there were first smudges of color in the mixture. Close to the end of titration.

As quick as the hug started, it was gone. Just like Hiccup preferred for hugs to last, if he had to participate in them.

"You're ready to finish this evening?" Jack asked, when he moved away.

It took Hiccup way too long to move the sleeve higher to check the time. Shit, it was already so late?

"Oh, shit. Dad will kill me…"

"I'll take that as a yes."

Hiccup laughed at that. Seriously, sometimes he simply couldn't believe Jack.

"We better hurry up."

---

They were in front of Hiccup's door in almost no time. Okay maybe in seven minutes or so? But they had quite good pace. Hiccup definitely didn't look like he wanted to be more late than he already was now.

When they stopped near the front door Hiccup was totally out of breath. Jack only needed to take one deep breath and long exhale to be more over back to normal.

Hiccup leaned on the wall with the hand on his chest.

"That hard?" Jack asked, amused.

"Yeah, I'm pretty out of shape."

"I can see."

Hiccup rolled his eyes, but only after another big gulps of chilling air filled his lungs he managed to stand up more over properly. He took off his backpack, unzipped it and started to rummage through it.

O-kay?

"Wait a second…" Hiccup hummed, sticking his tongue out and pushing his hand further into the bottomless pit that was his backpack.

Some women had bags, Hiccup had his backpack. Honestly, Jack had seen him taking out a lot of things. Was it some kind bag of holding* or what?

Hiccup made an uncoherent shout of victory as he finally took out a rectangular… something out of his backpack. The colorful wrapping paper was torn in some places and stuck together askew in others, but it still seemed like someone put a lot of work in it.

Jack glanced at Hiccup, rising his eyebrow.

"Uhm…?"

"It's for you, dumbass. Your birthday present… for you… from me." Hiccup said, but the nonchalance and confidence was leaving his body with every spoken word, until in the end he turned his gaze away. "I know it's probably not much."

Jack blinked, quickly shaking himself away from his dazed mind. A present? From Hiccup? Well, of course, his friend had given him gifts today and he had been happy after receiving them, but… it was Hiccup.

His crush.

His crush gave him a present!

Hiccup also had given him two beautiful lilacs for Christmas. The two most delightful trees Jack had seen in his entire life. But back then his feelings hadn't been… stable? Coherent? Fully formed? Back then the beating of his heart had been something Jack couldn't name. Now he knew why it had been acting like that.

Which made this situation even more unbearable.

Jack didn't expect Hiccup to actually give him anything. He would be happy, if Hiccup gave him a trashbag.

Only when Jack raised his hand, he found out he was shaking. Shit, shit, shit. He had to control himself somehow! But how could he do it when his heart was hammering so loud – louder and louder and louder – in his chest.

He felt Hiccup's gaze on himself.

His fingers trembled, but he managed to tear the paper and unravel his present. A game. But not a simple game. A game that was on his mind for quite a lot of time and he was collecting money to finally buy this precious, little game. Only he didn't have to do it anymore. Because he had it right now in his very own hands.

Was it a dream? If yes, then please let him sleep forever and ever, thank you very much.

Hiccup cleared his throat and only then Jack kinda found out that he was gaping at the game for at least a good minute and a half. And his mouth was also hanging open. Yeah. He definitely looked like the most handsome man on the whole Earth right now.

"Do you like it?" Hiccup asked, rising his hand and correcting the glasses hesitantly.

"Do I like it?" Jack asked, bewilderment clearly audible in his voice. "Hiccup, honey, sorry but I don't think I can be your boyfriend anymore, because clearly this is my new soulmate." Jack said, moving the game to his mouth and giving it a big, long kiss.

Hiccup stared at him, blinked, huffed and then finally burst out in laughter.

"I'm happy you like it."

"I love it." Jack said, kissing the cover one more time.

"Good." Hiccup nodded, smiling from ear to ear.

Jack's felt his heart hammering, splitting apart and coming back together in a millisecond when he saw that grin. That was terrible. A smile – it wasn't that much – a mere movement of facial muscles, yet it made Jack crazy inside, affection overpowering his core, heating it up.

Crushes were terrible and painful.

Yet he felt good. It was a soaring pain – a pinching, prickling sensation somewhere in his chest – but that one twitch of lips was enough to make Jack forget about his problem.

It was amazing and terrifying.

Jack felt like hugging the living daylights out of Hiccup. He felt like wrapping his all limbs around the smaller teen, bringing him in for a tightest embrace he had ever experienced.

Can he do it? Or did he use all his coupons by asking Hiccup to go meet Eris? Would it be too much to ask from this day?

Jack mulled the idea over in his head – looking at it from different perspectives, breaking it in half, then into four parts, then eight, only to combine the pieces back together in different order – hoping and praying that maybe this way he would know whether he should just surrender to his needs.

The cogs inside his brain moved.

Hiccup stared at him or at least Jack had a feeling he was staring at him, because one second he was far away in his mind and then there were fingers snapping in front of his eyes.

"Jack? Are you still with me?"

He quickly shook his head, literally, before glancing at Hiccup who was perking at him with curious, calculating gaze. Heh, weird. When they first had met this stare was cold, emotionless, almost robotic. Jack had remembered that he had felt like he had been disarmed under that gaze, like Hiccup had needed one look, peek and he could read you like some kind of an instruction. Few months later the calculating, stoic gaze didn't change, yet the coldness disappeared. No, maybe it never had been a coldness that Jack had sensed, but the pure desperation of trying to understand another person.

Just like now.

"Yeah, just…" Fuck, was Jack seriously going for it? "I just wondered if you… I mean... I'm going back to my home… and it was kinda a tradition, but…" Yop, he was lost, he was a tangled mess.

But then Hiccup sighed – like really loud and long – the air exiting his mouth, forming a tiny, fluffy cloud in front of his face. He took his other hand from his pocket and opened his arms.

"Come here, you goofball." Hiccup said, the voice tried to sound confident, but Jack could see a blush adorning his cheek. Not to mention he looked away, eyes jumping, leaping far, far away from Jack.

But he didn't mind.

"You sure?" Jack asked, already feeling a smile forming on his lips.

"Don't make me change my mind…" Hiccup growled, stealing a small peek at Jack, but grumpily looking away one more time. "My hands are starting to get tired."

It wasn't even half a minute.

But Jack didn't need more encouragement.

He stepped closer and wrapped his hands around Hiccup, bringing him in for a hug.

This time the younger boy in his arms returned the embrace faster, yet still a little bit clumsily. His hands held dearly onto folds of Jack's jacket on his back.

There was a spark, no, an explosion, no, no, a waterfall, a storm, a supernova, just something blissful erupting inside Jack chest as he put his chin on Hiccup's head, taking a short inhale.

His heart slowed down, it was now beating softly, steadily in his chest. Content – this was a good word to describe Jack's mind. He felt safe, calm, like there was a sudden peace overpowering all his limbs.

It was almost kinda… weird.

Lately whenever he had been around Hiccup the butterflies inside his stomach hadn't wanted to calm down, but now, when he held Hiccup like that, they weren't even fluttering their tiny wings.

Yet, Jack felt that his heart didn't change its mind. Heh, off.

Jack moved away, feeling a smile forming on his lips. He didn't want to step away, but he knew Hiccup wouldn't be too comfortable with hugging him for too long. It was actually kinda amazing that it was the nerdy teen who had proposed it in the first place.

"Consider it the rest of your birthday present…" Hiccup mumbled, losing the grip on Jack's jacket and moving away.

Huh, was Jack's eyes deceiving him, or was Hiccup blushing? Huh, no, it was definitely because Jack hugged him for too long. And probably smashed poor boy's face into his own chest. Ooops.

"Thanks, Hic." Jack said, ruffling his hat. With that he turned around and moved few steps away, before glancing back. "See ya later?"

"See you, Jack."

Jack waved his hand and turned around to return to his own home.

No, Jack's eyes definitely weren't working properly. Because from the corner of his eyes he had seen a movement in Hiccup's living room, like someone moved the curtain. Nah, that was impossible, Jack definitely was only tired after such eventful day.

He needed sleep.

Yeah, that sounded good.

---

Hiccup clasped his cheeks, touching the skin with his own cold, hands. Shit, yeah, they were burning. Why? Why he felt a burning sensation under his skin there?

Maybe he was starting to get sick? It was possible. Especially as he had spent around two hours walking with Jack in the freezing weather.

Okay, okay, okay…

Hiccup took off his jacket and hung it on the hook. Then he started to get off his shoes, but with frozen hands it was quite impossible. After few minutes he managed to take off one shoe, but lost his balance.

"Shit, shit, shit!"

He waved his hands, trying to find last hints of balance, but his body was moving quickly back, or actually falling down. And Hiccup's back would definitely meet the cold, hard floor, if it didn't bump into something definitely warmer than the ground.

Hiccup glanced up at his father's face.

"Oh." He blinked. "Hey, Dad..."

Stoick murmured his own greetings in response, but due to his beard and Hiccup still fighting with shoes, he didn't quite catch what the older male was speaking. A painful minute later Hiccup was out of his shoes.

He was about to pass his father to get to his own room when he heard a voice behind him:

"Hiccup?"

Uh oh, what did he do now? Hiccup had told his father that he was going out today with Jack to the dinner with his mother. And even though at first Stoick had been surprised, he hadn't asked questions.

Well, maybe he should have called and tell him that he would be late, but come on, it was only few minutes!

"Sorry Dad that I'm late, but it's only like few minutes!" Hiccup quickly said, rising his hands in front of himself. "Plus I was at the front porch! So technically, if you consider the front and back yard as our house I wasn't late, because I was here on time."

Stoick just… stared at him. The eyes suddenly shone, but then the light faded away, as the man closed his mouth. It looked like he wanted to say something, add some kind of thought into Hiccup's monologue, but lost the hint, the idea of what he wanted to say.

Toothless meowed loudly and brushed himself on Hiccup's leg, looking at him with scrutinizing gaze. He was probably hungry.

Hiccup leaned and scratched the cat behind his ear, which flicked down.

"It's… it's okay, Hiccup, I'm not mad at you for being late."

Hiccup glanced back at his father.

Okay, definitely something was wrong. Stoick's whole behavior was simply off. He was brushing his fingers together, like he wanted to get the invisible dirt off his skin and his eyes stared at Hiccup, but they weren't looking at him, but at a faraway point somewhere behind him.

"O…kay?"

Stoick opened his mouth and closed it. Then did it one more time, but also this time the voice didn't leave his mouth.

Okay what was wrong?

"Dad, everything's okay? You don't have to hide if you're mad at me." Hiccup mumbled.

It felt weird, because in this very moment he was the one trying to look right into his father's eyes. It was strange to be on the opposite end. Usually it was Hiccup who was running away with his gaze, but not now.

"Yeah, yeah, everything is okay. Don't worry. I just…" The man started once again, only to not utter any more words.

But this time Hiccup managed to catch his father gaze and something flickered inside of it. The feeling was familiar, the glint was well known, Hiccup knew he had seen and felt it somewhere, but couldn't pinpoint now what it meant.

It unnerved him.

"… I just wanted to ask if you want dinner? I can warm it up in a bit."

This definitely wasn't the thing that Hiccup's father wanted to say. Hiccup felt it, he could sense it in deflating voice and slumping down muscles.

"Oh…" But what could he do? "Sure, why not?"

Stoick nodded and moved to the kitchen.

Okay, Hiccup was puzzled, in lack for a better word here. He knew that this definitely wasn't what Stoick had wanted to ask about. Should he pursue him and nudge or leave alone and hope that the man will finally voice his concerns?

Hiccup hated when someone was asking over and over again about his problems. He preferred to be the one starting talking about them. This way it felt like he had some kind of control over them. Or maybe simply he didn't like people interfering with his personal life.

Hiccup stared at his father's posture, who was moving near the cooker.

In the end he lifted his backpack and moved to his room. Maybe his father will one day finally say what was troubling him?

Or maybe Hiccup just made a big mistake? He wasn't sure.

The warmness he had felt while hugging Jack disappeared somewhere, leaving him only with some sad, cold memory residing inside his bones.

---

Yet another day in paradise.

Hiccup huffed loudly as he stopped in front of the library door. He gripped the strap of his backpack tighter.

But today it wasn't fear which was emanating from and inside his body. It was the anger, still sizzling at the back of his mind, still fuming and boiling and evaporating somewhere inside his chest.

It wasn't as big as it had used to be few days ago. But it was still there. And at this point he wasn't sure whether it was even good to be mad at that or like that.

Maybe it was because it concerned Dagur. Which kinda surprised Hiccup why the hell he cared so much that Dagur wanted to – what? Amend? Apologize somehow? He couldn't understand why it irritated him so much that the teen though that it all could be so simple, like the older boy didn't leave a giant scar inside Hiccup's mind.

Hiccup felt mad… but he also wasn't comfortable with himself right now.

Of course, he often was angry, especially when his friends were doing stupid stunts or when something wasn't going as he planned, but this anger was different. It was more… emotional. It was more vivid.

It was almost painful.

Yet it was there and no matter how many inhales Hiccup took, he couldn't get rid of it.

Well he still had to get this afternoon over with.

Only two more months and it all be over. Shit, two months was a long span of time.

Hiccup walked into the library – again. Professor Robinson had asked him today, if they could work here today too, as he had few students who had to retake a test after classes. Hiccup reluctantly agreed.

The woman behind the counter lifted her head and nodded at him. Hiccup did the same too.

There were more people around, which was pretty audible in louder whispers swarming around the main room. Few people glanced at him when he entered, but other than that they paid him no mind.

Well time to die, Hiccup's brain told him as he moved to the adjacent room hiding behind the door. With one last long sigh, Hiccup walked inside.

Dagur was already there, sitting on a chair and looking at something on his phone. It didn't look like he noticed Hiccup, as he didn't even lift his head at him.

Actually this fact surprised Hiccup a lot. Dagur was never late – on the contrary, he was always the first person to show up.

He made few steps forward and cleared his throat.

Okay, shame that Hiccup didn't have his phone out of the pocket, because, seriously, the video he could make now would be priceless.

Dagur jumped, startled by Hiccup's voice probably. His phone literally leaped from his hand into the air. Hiccup could only observe as the teen tried to grab the device with the other hand, only to hit it higher. The phone made few backflips and then Dagur attacked one more time. He caught his phone, but it somehow miraculously slipped from his grip. Then the phone made one last magnificent somersault and landed on the table with a giant flop resonating in the room.

Somewhere in Hiccup's head there was a pang of guilt when he saw Dagur slowly lifting the phone to check if the screen was cracked. It didn't look like that was the case, because his shoulders moved down in combination with a sigh leaving his lips.

The pang of guilt was quickly replaced by the chuckle suddenly leaving Hiccup's mouth.

Shit, he didn't mean to laugh at Dagur in front of him! Maybe later in his house, replaying the situation over and over in his head, but definitely not now!

And then Dagur glared at him with eyebrows furrowing in anger and somehow, seriously, it made Hiccup snort even harder. Both his hands flew to his mouth and clasped it shut, but the giggles were still audible.

Hiccup begged his body to stop.

He observed with growing fear in his stomach as Dagur's eyebrows moved now dangerously close to each other.

Okay, this was the day of his death. Hiccup thought that Dagur would snap one day. He never expected that it would happen today and because Hiccup had scared him by clearing his throat.

But well… it was more or less a good life. Maybe not perfect, filled with hundreds of embarrassing situations and moments, but he had met nice people and had spent good times with them. He had fun.

Time to say goodbye.

Can he call his father one last time and tell him that he love him?

Hiccup was prepared for anything. Really. For Dagur shoving him into the wall and kicking him, for him starting to yell and shout at him, for Dagur to punch him.

Everything!

He wasn't prepared for Dagur slumping down on the chair while grumpily crossing his hands on the chest and looking away.

Was Hiccup spared a life? Was this really happening!?

The laughter died down in his throat and Hiccup could finally set his mouth free. He stared at Dagur's silhouette on the chair, trying to grasp that what actually had happened in front of his own eyes had been reality.

Hiccup pinched the skin on his palm. Ouch, yep, he wasn't sleeping.

"Are you going to stand there and laugh at me for the whole afternoon?" Dagur asked and, oh boy, he didn't sound like he was in a good mood now.

Great, and it wasn't even Hiccup's fault. Well, kinda was, but he hadn't planned to embarrass him. It was the last thing he wanted to do to Dagur.

Yet, they still had a lot to work on, so Hiccup moved to the chair on the opposite side of the table and slumped down, bringing his backpack onto his lap. He searched through it for the folder with his blueprints. He found it somewhere at the back and took out to put on the table.

But in the middle of this process he caught a glimpse of Dagur's face.

It was red. Maybe not as bright red as a potassium ferricyanide*, but there was significant smudge in color of manganese(II) chloride tetrahydrate* on his cheeks.

Okay, okay, okay, there was no way that Hiccup was in his own world. Because simply there was no chances of Dagur blushing in front of Hiccup… or anyone actually.

But he's just human – some voice murmured behind Hiccup's left ear – it's normal.

However was it normal to Dagur?

Hiccup wasn't sure. The only times Hiccup had seen the teen was when he had been around his rowdy friends or when he had tried to make a move on Hiccup. And in both situations Dagur always had looked menacingly strong – not like a person who could blush easily. Well maybe in anger, but not due to embarrassment.

Dagur lifted his one eyebrow, when he found Hiccup actually gaping at him. Great, just great.

Hiccup quickly shook his head, spread over the blueprints and then took out his project for inspections.

---

"So what do you think Jack?"

Jack only hummed in response, tapping his chin.

"I think next week is good. Only we need to check if the volleyball team is still having practices in the morning. Other way we will have to stay outside." Jack said, trying to remember if he had seen one member of the volleyball team exiting Gym in the mornings during the last week.

"Oh yeah, I forgot about them." The captain of the team said, nodding. He switched his weight to the other leg. "I need to call Jasmine and ask her."

"Her phone is broken. You need to catch her personally." Jack quickly added.

The teen nodded at that, not even slightly surprised from where Jack had this kind of information. Maybe because he even often called Jack his 'social network'. It wasn't Jack's fault that he had good relations with many people from this school.

"Okay, I'll do that." The boy started. "But in the meantime can you text Johnny and–"

Unfortunately (or not) Jack didn't catch what he was supposed to do more, because he found his own wrist being tugged painfully.

"Jack, you need to come with me for a second!" Said the colorful blur that caught him in their grasp.

Jack only after few seconds fully comprehended what had happened. But by the time his brain caught up with the flow of incidents, they were already few corridors away from his team captain.

Ah shoot, he didn't even say goodbye. Welp, he will have to message him later. Now Jack apparently had more important matters on his head… er hand? Wrist? Matters that were tugging him who knows where.

"Tooth!" Jack gasped. Why were they running? Nothing was following them! "Where are we going?"

"Somewhere private!" Was the only response he got from his friend as she made a turn and then…

Literally ran into a girls' bathroom. What, what, what!?

"Tooth, I can't go-"

"Shush, no one we'll find us here!"

To be fair, it was deserted, nor it really looked like many people used it. The limescale on the sink was an indication that even charwoman didn't often visit this place. Yikes.

Tooth closed the door, checking if no one was nearby. Only then she finally let go of Jack's wrist.

The boy massaged the abused place. Damn, Tooth didn't look like she could hold much power in her small body, but the grip had been deadly. It kinda hurt even now.

Jack hissed, tuning his palm around and checking if everything was alright with it. Gladly it was, even though it didn't feel like so.

"So, what is the reason of you dragging me around? You could always call me if you wanted privacy." Jack asked, rising his eyebrow, only now trying the grasp the ridicule of this whole situation. It had to look like a scene from a movie. Damn, Jack wished they had passed more people.

"I laid my hands on quite useful information." Tooth turned to him, smiling menacingly and leaning on the door to the bathroom.

"Okay?"

"You don't look very interested."

"That's because I still have no idea what you're talking about. Plus I'm in girls' bathroom! It feels weird!" Jack sighed, waving his hands to show his point.

Only now he finally turned around to fully look at the place and well… he kinda expected it to look a little bit different. Girls, at least in their school, were always complaining about the smell coming from boy's bathroom and how it was so disgusting. And maybe because of that Jack expected the girls' bathroom to look totally different.

Newsflash – it didn't. The walls were still covered in graffiti, meaningful and not quotes and random hearts shot right through the middle with arrows. And Jack didn't even want to know how the cabins looked. But well, to be perfectly honest, it didn't smell here.

However neither boys nor girls had soap and paper towels. Well…

"Don't worry Jack. I won't open Chamber of Secrets, so you can chill. Besides not many girls come here."

"I can see. And it doesn't make me more comfortable actually." Jack said, moving to the window. It was pretty low, so he could easily sit on the windowsill. "You could kill me here and no one would find a body."

Tooth hummed, walking to the mirror which was hanging above the sinks. She glanced at her face, lifting and pushing skin to check if her eyeliner stayed in one place. After she was content with the results (or the lack of it) she nodded to herself.

"Ah you have me sussed out." She said, turning around and leaning on the sink. "But killing you have to wait. I just heard the juiciest information."

"Okay, spill the beans." Jack got more comfortable on the windowsill. At least as more comfortable as he could, when the coldness was seeping into him. Damn it was chilly here, even for him. Maybe that's why girls never used this bathroom. You could literally freeze here.

"Okay, so listen close…"

Jack had no idea what Tooth meant, but for the next four minutes or so she described to Jack how she came to obtain an important information. There were a lot of names, a lot of secrets that shouldn't be spilled and apparently a lot of alcohol.

"Tooth, to the point!"

"Aster has a crush on someone!" Tooth burst out.

Jack only… stared.

It felt like suddenly his brain stopped responding. Every program became fuzzy and Jack desperately wanted to press ctrl, alt and delete to close some tabs and be able to open them again. But unfortunately he couldn't turn off and on his mind to make it work properly.

So it took a lot of time for his brain to finally catch up with Tooth's words. And when he finally processed the meaning of them, the only thing he could say was:

"And… what does this change?"

Tooth blinked, taken aback by his neutral response. Jack could see that she was expecting totally different reply.

"It changes everything!" Tooth shouted.

Jack lifted his eyebrow and crossed hands on his chest, showing that he was doubting what his friend was speaking about.

Because honestly, the numbers didn't add in his head. So what? Aster had a crush on someone. This didn't actually change a thing in Jack's opinion. Beside this wouldn't be the first time something like this happened actually.

"Like what does it change?" Jack asked, curious.

Tooth opened her mouth and there was even a start of a sentence coming out from it, but then she shut it. Her eyes jumped from Jack to the window behind him, then to the floor and once again up at him.

"Well, maybe it doesn't change everything, but you can't deny that it can play a part in this." She finally stated.

Jack sighed.

"Yeah, this I can't deny. But Tooth, you know Aster. Remember the last time he had a crush on someone?"

Tooth nodded.

"Oh, yeah, Punzie. I remember."

"Right? And did he act different then?" Jack hummed, tilting his head.

"Well, no…" She started slowly, only to turn to Jack with fire blazing in her eyes. "But now it could be different."

Jack sighed once again.

"I actually… doubt it. If I have to be honest." Jack said, lifting the hand and scratching the back of his head. "I mean, I understand you and I understand why you're worried. However Aster did tell us that he had a crush on Rapunzel well… after everything finally ended. And well he was kinda sad when he found out Flynn was going out with her, but it wasn't… back then he wasn't acting like he is acting now." Damn, he hoped Tooth could understand him.

The girl's shoulders slumped down. She furrowed her eyebrows with the hand flying to her mouth to tap on the lips few times. Miraculously she didn't smear her lipstick at all. Women…

"Maybe you're right. I don't know why, but I feel this could be important." She said.

"How can you tell?"

"Women's intuition."

Jack would scoff, if he didn't believe it. But he kinda did. Tooth usually was right in these kind of topics.

She had been the first one to notice that Heather had started to feel something for Jack after all.

Jack exhaled, pondering the idea over in his brain.

"Okay, so let's consider that Aster's little secret crush play a role in his different behavior now. The only question is now – why?"

"Easy. It had to be someone with whom he doesn't have any chances." Tooth proudly said, puffing out her chest with mirth dancing in the corner of her lips. That smile didn't fit the topic of their conversation at all.

"Okay." Jack nodded. "Care to elaborate?"

Tooth rolled her eyes, like she was asked to explain something really easy and plain visible. Jack had to disagree with her. He totally had no idea what she meant.

"Okay, so my theory is that Aster has a crush on someone who is already taken or a person who definitely is in love with someone else. And because he thinks he doesn't have any chances or he doesn't want to interfere, he is grumpy."

"Okay, but this doesn't explain why he is acting so different around me!" Jack scoffed.

The girl hummed.

"Maybe it's you?"

"Me?" Jack blinked.

"Yeah."

At that he only shuddered. Damn, that idea kinda terrified him. Best-friends and secret crushes didn't mix up well together. Nu-huh, he heard enough to know that usually this kind of things ended in disasters.

Life wasn't some rom-com sweet romance movie.

"Yeah, any other options?" For now Jack wanted to forget about this idea.

"Well, the other option is Hiccup."

Jack's heart leaped into his throat painfully.

Hiccup? Why Hiccup? From what Jack knew neither Aster nor Hiccup had talked with each other before the whole fake-dating thing started. Of course, there was the case of Hiccup's crush on Aster, but from what he knew it was all from far away.

Or at least had been until this year started.

"Uhm… w-why?" Fuck, did Jack really stutter? Oh, yeah, he did.

"I mean, it would make sense. He started being like that after you and Hiccup started going out."

Well, she kinda was right.

"But why didn't he act different from the very first moment he found out about it?"

"I don't know Jack. It's just speculations at this point." Tooth shrugged.

Gladly it didn't look like she noticed his mistake. Or if she did, she paid it no mind.

Okay, okay, these were only speculations and ideas, but every choice presented to Jack was more terrifying than the last one.

"Okay." He said out loud, combing his fingers through his hair. "Any other ideas?"

At this point Tooth had to stop to think. She dropped her gaze and furrowed her eyebrows few times – her mouth moved, forming unspoken words. Only after few minutes – or maybe seconds, but at this point Jack felt like they had spent an eternity here – Tooth, finally opened her mouth:

"My other guess is Heather."

Okay, that, that just didn't fit.

The surprise had to be clearly visible on Jack's face, because Tooth continued:

"Maybe he is upset that you hurt her." She proposed, crossing her arms on her chest. The bracelets rattled sadly with the sound of them echoing in the empty bathroom. "I mean, you jumped for the first chance to get rid of her. One day you are free and next one you are surprisingly with someone else. It really had to hurt her."

When Tooth said it like that, she was kinda speaking the truth. Ugh, it didn't sound too good.

When Jack was staring at the past, it really had looked suspicious. One day everything had been fine and dandy and then – boom! both he and Hiccup had dropped the bomb onto the world. Jack couldn't imagine the pain that had strung poor Heather's heart when she had found out about that.

Jack's heart hammered inside his chest. Shit, had they made a terrible mistake? Maybe pretending to fake-date Hiccup wasn't the best choice in that situation? Maybe they had fucked up pretty bad because of that?

All his problems with Aster had started after that… And to be honest he preferred to have Heather still following him than his best-friend not talking with him.

However there was a more, nagging problem at the back of his head. Or maybe at the front of his heart. Hiccup. Because now Jack didn't know if he could let go.

He felt happy pretending to date Hiccup, he liked taking him and late evening dates around the neighborhood, he liked hugging him at the end of their meetings without people judging them. And Jack was simply afraid that he could lose it all, if he decided to finish it.

However he also wanted Aster back.

His breath hitched – the storm broke through his chest, rippling it, a lightning hit, breaking it all in half.

What should he do?

"Jack?"

"But that still doesn't explain why he started acting like that after some time." He quickly stated.

Thump, thump, thump…

Tooth nodded, leaning on the sink.

"Yeah, that's why it's all just speculations at this point."

"So we basically didn't move forward?"

"No, we-" Tooth started, only to blink and hung her head. "Maybe we didn't move forward in the end."

Jack didn't know what to think about all of it. Somehow the further he got in trying to decipher Aster, the more complicated his own feelings were getting.

"So the only thing we can do now is observe?"

"I… yeah, I believe so."

Jack smiled sadly and then jumped off the windowsill. He moved past Tooth to the exit, but was stopped by a hand on his shoulder.

"Jack…" Tooth was staring at him, some kind of resolve shining in her purple eyes. "It's going to be okay."

Jack lifted his hand and put it on Tooth's palm which still rested on his shoulder.

"I know, Tooth."

Only life wasn't some kind of a fairytale. The okay that Jack wanted and the okay that could happen in the future were two different things.

Tooth smiled in response and then let go of Jack's shoulder.

"Shall we go out?" Jack proposed.

"Aww, you don't want to look around more? You're in the girls' bathroom for the very first time. Some people would kill to be in your place!"

Jack wasn't sure if some normal human being would kill to be able to step inside a girls' bathroom, but yeah…

"Of course." Jack rolled his eyes, with a playful smirk hiding somewhere in the corners of his mouth. "Whatever you say."

"Oh, you just can't see the good sides now!" Tooth shouted happily, swinging the door open to check if someone was on the corridor. Jack didn't have the heart to tell her that her voice would bust them out instantly.

"I'm not sure I even want to see the good sides now."

"Aww sometimes you're no fun Jack. You're getting old."

W-what? Did Tooth really dare to say that!? How could she!?

Jack spluttered incoherent words as he stepped out of the bathroom, trying to grasp how and what to answer. Because maybe, maybe she was right? Maybe he was getting old! He didn't make a prank in like forever! What if someone decided that he wasn't the King of Pranksters anymore?!

No, he needed to change that! No more slacking off!

He just needed to come up with a plan.

---

Hiccup stared and stared and he still didn't know which one he should actually pick.

Dagur had given him pretty solid advices. And back then Hiccup had been so foolish that he had thought he could remember all things the other teen had said. But apparently not.

Should he pick this USB board? Or maybe the other? Why would he even need a USB board! He wasn't going to plug in a computer! Or maybe Dagur was talking about this microcontroller? No… Yes! Wait, he did say a name of a company from which Hiccup should have bought it.

Hiccup sighed as he put all products back onto a shelf. Yop, he was fucked. Next time he definitely will write every word coming out from Dagur's mouth in term of mechanics and robotics like it was some kind of a prophecy.

So him going out was a waste of time. And he could be at home, drinking hot cocoa, skyping with Fishlegs, Astrid, Ruff, Tuff and Snotlout… Coming to this they already spammed the chat they had on Facebook. Meh… hopefully there wasn't anything important there.

Hiccup stood up and walked slowly through the store to the exit. He had a feeling a worker was eyeing him suspiciously. Great, this was what he needed right now. Someone looking at him weirdly. He wasn't stealing anything! He was just a guy who was trying to buy parts to finish this damned Robotic Project. A simple thing – a small robot that would check the soil hydration! Hiccup wanted for the robot to also check the pH of the soil and the amount of light directed at it, but Dagur had said that it would be too much work. But he had said that he could think about it.

But coming to this now, Hiccup was glad that Dagur had said that Hiccup should focus on something smaller. Because he wasn't sure he could have done anything bigger.

Only more or less two months were left. Can Hiccup make it? He wasn't sure now. Welp, he hadn't been sure earlier, but now… now it was even worse.

"Hiccup?"

Maybe he should tell Professor Robinson that he can't make it. No, now it was too late to back off. Fuck, he should be more assertive and not be easily convinced to do something under the influence of those damned puppy eyes of his favourite teacher.

"Erm…?"

No, he had to focus. He can do it. Snotlout once had built small things. Or maybe not had built, but repaired a lot of things Tuffnut had broken. Maybe he would know what to do in his situation. Because let's be real, Hiccup didn't want to ask Dagur for his number, so he could ask him a lot of questions. Nope.

"You're going to crash into the shelf."

Was someone calling him or was it just his imagination? With his lack of sleep nowadays he wouldn't be surprised if he started hearing voices. Like right now. Maybe he should drink some Mountain Dew Red*? No, they were discontinued in the nineties-

"Hiccup!"

And in this very moment he found out that no, this voice wasn't inside his head, but was a part of reality. And yes, he crashed into a shelf, hitting his knee quite painfully in the process.

Few products clattered loudly to the ground

"Shit!" Hiccup hissed, closing his eyes and kneeling to hug his leg.

Damn, it really hurt.

Many things changed this year, but his luck was still the same. It was good to at least have one constant thing in his life.

There was movement behind him, or maybe next to him. Hiccup wasn't sure as he still sensed the striking feeling running up from his good leg to his hip. Great.

Someone kneeled next to him and started to gather the things scattered all over the floor.

Hiccup lifted his one eyelid.

"Thanks, but I can manage on my own."

"I know." But the person didn't stop picking up the products.

Hiccup blinked. A lone bulb started to blink inside his head. He knew this voice. Fuck, he knew this voice. Aster!

Hiccup lifted his face to stare at the teen.

Aster was picking up the CD cases, but when he probably felt Hiccup staring at him, he lifted his head.

"Are you okay?" He asked.

Hiccup could only stare for few more seconds, before he snorted under his nose and started to clean up the mess he had made.

"This feels like déjà vu."

They had met once like that. And back then Hiccup had also hurt himself. Well, everyone knew how clumsy he could get, so it wasn't like he could get even worse reputation.

"A little bit, but this time you hit your knee." Aster answered and then stood up with arms full of CD cases.

Hiccup wondered briefly if they were made from HIPS*. Maybe?

"Wow, what a change." Hiccup counterattacked, smiling under his nose as he also stood up and started to sort the cases he had in correct places.

"I think a better change would be, if you stopped hitting yourself accidentally."

"I doubt it's going to happen in the near future."

The corners of Aster's mouth twitched upwards. Hiccup noticed that he rarely smiled fully. Usually it was only half-grins, small twitch of the corners. His smiles weren't like Jack's ones.

When Jack smiled it felt like everything around you looked better, like with that one honest smile the weight was lifted from your shoulders. There were wrinkles appearing in the corners of Jack's eyes and light sparkling in them. There was warmness spreading through your chest. There was the feeling of want to smile back.

It definitely had to be magic.

Aster rarely smiled like that. Or maybe Hiccup never had seen him like that. But it was okay. Hiccup rarely smiled fully too.

(Or at least he thought so.)

They finished stacking back the CD cases and Hiccup turned around to spot a worker who was eyeing him suspiciously. Shit, he didn't know someone beside Aster had seen him. But judging by the camera directed at him, his beautiful crash definitely had to be seen by the whole shop.

"Sorry…" Hiccup mumbled and quickly moved past the worker to the exit with Aster behind him.

Only when he was finally out of the shop, Hiccup managed to take a proper breath. He knew he should get used to embarrassing situations, as they happened to him almost on every step, but it was still stressful.

"What were you doing there?" Aster suddenly asked.

"Uhm… I was searching for parts for the project for this stupid Robotic Contest." Hiccup huffed out.

He moved his backpack so he was able to take out the hat he had hidden there after entering the shop. The winter was still around, even when the weather forecast had told that it should be getting warmer soon. This soon was few weeks away apparently.

"Oh…" Aster answered. "And did you find them?"

"No… I mean I found something, but I forgot what exactly I was supposed to buy, so decided against it."

"Fair enough." The boy nodded.

Hiccup put on his hat and then corrected his hair and glasses.

They stood there in silence in front of the shop for few moments. Hiccup had a vague feeling that the same worker, who had seen him crash into the shelf, was observing them warily from inside, but he didn't want to turn back to check if that was the truth or not.

Hmm, maybe he should head home?

"Are you doing anything right now?"

"What?" Hiccup asked, turning around to the gray haired teen.

Aster glanced away.

"I'm going to grab some Chinese food. Do you want some too?"

Did Hiccup want food? He hadn't eaten in like four or so hours, definitely not since lunch at school and, to be honest, they weren't that edible.

Plus it was Aster! Aster was asking if Hiccup wanted to go out with him to eat something!

"S-sure." Hiccup stuttered out.

"Then let's go."

---

Spending time with Aster was nice. They had fun.

They went to a Chinese Restaurant he, Astrid and Fishlegs had once visited when Fishlegs had been still living in Burgess. Aster ordered rice with some meat and Hiccup pasta with vegetables. They found a free place to sit and talked. About science, a little bit about school and even about their friends. A small talk about nothing in particular.

It was nice. His heart was beating in his chest – faster than usual. His cheeks were often getting red when Aster looked at him or said something funny.

It was very nice.

So why Hiccup felt like he was missing something? Like there was a place he rather be than here?

They talked, they had fun, they talked about their common hobby, but Hiccup still felt uncomfortable. Like there was this something holding him down, preventing him from fully opening up and just being himself.

Jack responded to his message during their meal. Hiccup's eyes immediately jumped to his phone – his hand twitched to respond, but he decided against it. The quarrel with Astrid had taught him that he should focus more on people with whom he was spending time.

After that they both went out and Aster asked if Hiccup wanted a ride home. He agreed, because well, they were both going in the same direction, plus it was still freezing outside and Hiccup didn't want to get sick, nu-huh.

So they moved to the parking lot, side by side, talking about the last Nobel Prize in Science. That was when Hiccup spotted Heather on the other side of the road.

And it looked like she did too, because she stopped walking and just stared at them.

Hiccup lifted his hand and waved at her, smiling. From far away he couldn't exactly see her façade, but she also waved back.

Maybe Hiccup didn't exactly like her brother per se, but he was okay with Heather. Plus she looked way happier nowadays.

After that Hiccup turned around to find Aster staring after Heather with almost… almost sad glint inside his eyes.

Hiccup blinked.

"Everything's okay?" He asked.

"Yeah, yeah, everything's okay." Aster answered and they both returned to walking back to Aster's car.

For the whole ride home they still talked, but it looked like there was something on Aster's mind. And it kinda hurt Hiccup.

However it didn't hurt as much as he thought it could. There was only a soft thumping sound somewhere inside his chest.

Hiccup didn't understand what was happening with him. It felt like everything he felt today was toned down, like there was some veil thrown over his emotions.

Hiccup exited the car in front of his home.

Aster waved at him and then drove away. Only when his car disappeared behind the corner Hiccup took out his phone and smiled when he saw Jack's name blinking on the screen.

Something inside of him fluttered, rippled, waved as he unblocked the screen and wrote a reply.

---

Jack sometimes had enough of his family. He loved them, he adored spending time with them, but if he has his cheek pinched one more time he is going to explode.

Gladly now he could run away for few minutes of silence filled with washing dishes. Huff, maybe he should become a stay-at-home wife. This way he will only have to cook, wash dishes and take care of a garden. And he was quite good at all of these things.

North's brother and Tara's sister came over for a small birthday party North threw for Jack. Earlier today they even had managed to call Jack's mother who had wished him a happy birthday. She also had apologized for not being able to call on Valentine's Day but she couldn't get a clear connection with the rest of the world.

Jack didn't mind. It was a thought that counted.

Now everyone had been sitting in the living room with a cup of coffee or tea and Jack had declared that he would go clean dishes. Chicha and Tiana immediately had asked to help him, but Jack had preferred to do it alone.

"Do you have some cake left?"

Or almost alone.

Jack turned around to look at Tipo, who was looking at him curiously from the doorway. His cousin had both his hands hidden behind his back.

"Hmm, I'll finish cleaning this plate and I'll check."

After Jack put the plate away, he dried his hands and moved to the fridge. There were still three pieces of birthday cake left.

"Can you ask if someone else wants a piece too?" Jack peeked from behind the fridge's door at the boy, who was already taking a plate out.

Tipo pouted, but then obediently returned to the living room. Jack shook his head and took out the rest of the cake from the fridge.

North and Emma had baked it during the very early morning. Emma rarely did anything in the kitchen – anything that wasn't putting popcorn in a microwave. She often said that she wasn't made to be a cook. But it looked like she had tried her best today. Her eyes which had observed Jack as he had taken a first bite had told him the truth. She was unsure of the results.

North had been there to help, but Jack was one hundred percent sure that the cake was the best, because Emma had done it. Which he had to point out.

After that Emma hadn't talked with him for the whole evening. Someone couldn't take a compliment.

"Papa and Chaca also want a piece!" Tipo stated, entering the kitchen loudly.

"Okay. Can you take out two more plates?"

After few weird maneuvers, which included Jack sticking his tongue out as he tried to put pieces on the plates, he was done. And the cake was done too apparently.

Tipo took two plates and brought them to the living room. He quickly returned to take the last piece – the biggest one, of course.

Jack expected him to return to the family, but the boy moved one chair, near the table, away and sat on it. He didn't wait a second to dig in.

Jack returned to cleaning the dishes, humming softly under his nose. He didn't mind the company.

After few minutes apparently the cake disappeared too and Tipo was putting the plate into the sink.

"Was it tasty?" Jack asked.

"Very!"

"Emma did it." Jack could help, but boast about his little sibling.

Tipo's eyes sparkled with shimmering stars as he stared with awe at Jack.

"Really?" He asked in that tone only kids could make. Full of wonder and childish magic.

"Yop." Jack proudly said, puffing out his chest. Emma would roll her eyes at his behavior, but Jack couldn't stop himself. He had a big brother syndrome. "You should congratulate her."

The boy nodded vigorously, standing on his tiptoes.

Jack finished cleaning the dishes. It took him at least ten more minutes, but gladly soon every plate, bowl and utensil was clean. However he knew there were already things that had to be cleaned in the living room, but… later. Maybe he could ask someone else to do it now.

All this time Tipo was with him, looking curiously at Jack's movements, like washing dishes was the most interesting thing in the entire universe. Even though Jack knew it couldn't be truth. Knowing Chicha Tipo definitely had to do it few times in his life already.

"Do you need something else, little man?" Jack asked when he was done.

The boy shook his head.

"No, I just–" But the rest of his sentence was cut short by a door bell.

A doorbell? On Saturday? At this hour? It was already near eight pm. Who could want to visit them now? Jack was sure North didn't invite more people. Mailman? No, definitely not.

There was a commotion in the living room and then loud footsteps echoed in the corridor.

North passed kitchen and glanced at Jack. He smiled softly at Tipo.

"I'll check it."

There were few moments of silence when North fiddled with the lock. Then there was a sound of an opening door and…

"Eris? What are you doing here?"

Jack's heart froze.

Usually he was immune to coldness. Bah, he even preferred it over to the warmness. But now he could feel the chilling tremors running through his spine.

It was like drowning. Drowning in a frozen lake, being pushed further and further under the surface.

What was Eris doing here?

"Hey, North. I hope I'm not interrupting anything?"

It definitely was Jack's mother. He couldn't mistake this voice with anyone else.

Jack tried to breath. Tried to take one proper inhale into his clenched chest, but something was tugging, was grabbing him, was pushing him further and further down, under the surface of the cold water.

His waved his hands, trying to get back to the real world.

Jack was glad he hadn't decided to be the one to open the door. Now Jack wasn't sure what should he do – move to the door and greet his mother or run away and hide in his room.

Only now he noticed the whole house became quiet.

"Uhm, no, Eris, you're not interrupting anything…" North said, a strained tone playing at the end of his sentence.

No, please, don't come inside. Jack didn't want that. This was his family evening. And even though Eris was also a part of his family… it was a totally different matter.

Tipo tugged on his sleeve.

"Jack?" He asked, the pure, childish innocence audible at the end tone of this one word. He looked curiously at Jack.

Jack smiled to him and patted his head. Or at least tried to do both.

"Hey, can you go to your Mom and Dad for a second?"

Tipo stared at him with those big, bright eyes for few more seconds, until he finally nodded.

"Okay." And with that his short legs took him to the living room. Jack was never so glad the kitchen and the living room were connected, so Tipo didn't have to go through the corridor.

Where North and Eris were still talking.

Jack took a deep breath, trying to calm his rapidly beating heart and swam to the surface. But it was too far and his arms slowly started to lose strength. Yet he knew he had to do it.

Even if he didn't want to.

Jack slowly went out from the kitchen into the corridor. North was standing near the open door, letting all the freezing air from the outside world inside. But Jack felt like the chilliness roaming in his body wasn't due to the wind now creeping inside their house.

Eris was standing in the doorway. Her gray coat was opened, but her gloved hands fiddled with a scarf hanging loosely on the neck. It almost looked like she was about to take it off and march inside. Jack hoped, prayed in his heart, that this wouldn't be the case.

When she spotted him, the pissed expression turned into a softer one. Her painted lips twitched as Jack approached them.

"Jackie, hey, it's good to see you." She said delicately.

"Hey." Jack answered, not really knowing what else he could add.

He stopped near North who looked at him with tiredness clearly visible in the wrinkles on his face.

"I wanted to see you one more time before going back to Greece, but it looks like I'm interrupting you all." She stated.

Jack would lie, if he said that the enormous weight wasn't taken away from his chest. The powerless limbs started to move, breaking the surface and trying to grasp onto something to get out from the dark, cold water.

"You're already coming back?" North asked instead. One hand moved to his beard. "But you weren't home even for a week. We didn't even manage to meet and catch up."

Eris turned his head to him, the trace of the previous anger suddenly gone.

"I'll be for few more days in Burgess for some meetings, but then I'm going straight back to Greece."

North nodded.

Jack clenched and unclenched his fist when his mother looked back at him. She grabbed something from the floor. How hadn't Jack seen it by now was a miracle, because it was a pretty big box wrapped in a colorful, Christmas paper.

In February?

"I brought you your birthday present. Sorry I didn't give you it on an actual day, but it didn't arrive back then." Eris said, stepping closer and showing the gift to him.

Jack blinked, actually taken aback.

It wasn't like his mother never had sent him any presents, but it usually had been money and rarely something material.

"You didn't have to…" Was the first thing that popped into Jack's mind. It felt really weird to actually receive something from her. Something that wasn't the alimony, that was. And a cold shoulder. And a reprimand.

"But I wanted to. We didn't see each other in three years, so I wanted to give you something nice for a change."

Jack glanced at her, but then looked down at the box. He reached for it and retrieved. Wow, it was… heavier than he expected it to be actually. He thought it would be as light as a feather, but something heavier definitely was inside.

"Thanks." Jack murmured, putting the box down and smiling at his mother.

Eris looked at him, a ghost of content being visible on her lips too. The image of it was so unusual and weirdly kind that Jack couldn't stop, but feel out of this place.

Then after few seconds the woman twitched.

"Oh, I have something for Emma too!"

At that Jack cringed internally. And he had a feeling Emma's ears twitched after hearing her own name coming from Eris' mouth.

The woman fiddles with the pockets of her coat until she took out a package of the size of a hand. Something rattled inside when she was passing it to North.

"I hope she likes it." She said.

North took the package and stared at it for few seconds.

"I'm sure she'll love it."

Jack bit the inside of his cheek hard to not accidentally spill the facts which desperately wanted to get out from his mouth.

Eris then turned one more time to Jack.

"I don't think we'll see each other soon. Stay safe." She said, reaching and patting his cheek softly. She didn't even take off her gloves to do so. The leather made weird, slapping sounds on his skin.

"You too." Jack answered, truthfully.

"Call me if you ever need something." Eris then stated to North.

"And you message me when you'll return to Greece."

"I will."

And with one last glance at Jack, Eris turned around and went down the stairs to the car that was standing on the driveway. Jack and North observed as the woman got inside the vehicle and then drove away, leaving only snow prints and two presents as a sign of her unusual visit.

After that North shut the door, sighing heavily.

Jack grabbed his present and with his father moved to the living room, where welcomed him the familiar voice:

"What did she want?"

Jack glanced at the man standing next to him who started to massage his beard, actually looking puzzled before replying. Jack hadn't heard what they had been talking before he had gone there.

Why exactly was Eris here?

"I think she wanted to say goodbye?" North answered.

"And what is this?" Emma asked, pointing at Jack's gift laying near his leg now.

"My birthday present slash late Christmas one?" He shrugged.

"That reminds me…" North next to him murmured and fumbled with the pockets of his trousers. After few seconds he took out a small, wrapped package and passed it to Emma. "It's for you from Eris."

The girl blinked and… nothing happened. She just kneeled on the couch with arms resting on the back of it – just as she was before the gift was mentioned.

Chicha and Tiana looked at each other with worry creasing on their foreheads. Pacha glanced nervously at his brother. And North just stood there, still with his hand reaching to his daughter.

For a brief moment Jack thought that Emma would grab the present and threw it out of the window. It was so Emma that he simply wouldn't be even surprised if that happened in real life.

But it didn't.

The girl tentatively reached and grabbed the package from North's hand, eyeing it suspiciously like it could suddenly explode. After that she moved it near her eyes.

"What is it?" She asked.

"Why won't you unwrap it and find out?" Jack proposed.

Emma glanced at him and huffed, but then sat normally on the couch. She was quickly crowded by Tipo and Chaca who peeked curiously at the gift laying now on her lap.

Jack put his own present under the wall and walked to Emma, imitating her posture from few seconds ago and leaning on the back of the couch and looking above her shoulder.

Her hands moved slowly. She didn't try to tear the paper like any giddy child would. She moved methodically, ungluing the adhesive tape, so it wouldn't leave any marks on the paper. Why? Did she plan to wrap it back up?

After a minute or so the paper was discarded and on Emma's lap laid a crimson box. Hesitantly she opened it.

Inside of it, on a small silk pillow, laid a thin silver necklace with a four-leaf clover pendant. The small green sparklers were embedded in the metal, glimmering delicately when Emma took out the present from the box.

She looked at it suspiciously, bringing it closer to her eyes.

"Okay?" She finally said after few seconds of inspecting the gift. "What I'm supposed to do with it?"

"Wear around your neck?" North proposed. Jack only now noticed that he stood next to him.

"Hell no." Emma murmured, returning her gaze to the gift. "Can I sell it in a pawnshop?"

"That wouldn't be nice." Chicha said, smiling reassuringly to her.

Emma hmphed loudly under her nose, but brought the pendant closer once again, staring at it curiously.

Something inside of Jack could tell that she liked it. And the fact that she thought the present was neat was making everything way worse for her. Because it was a gift from Eris of all people.

"What did you get Jack?" Emma asked instead, not looking up, but still staring at the silver necklace.

"I don't know, I didn't open it yet."

"Then why won't you do it now?"

"Ehh…" Jack hummed. "Not really up to do it now. Maybe later."

Tipo and Chaca moaned loudly, saddened by the information. They probably wanted to see what was inside the box. Jack was kinda curious too, but not as much as he usually was about opening presents.

So yeah, this one could wait till the evening when he will be alone in his room.

Emma looked at him, but then turned around. She stared at the necklace for few more minutes, until she put it in the box and closed it.

Hmm, weird.

---

"Open it!"

"Emma, wait…"

"Open it, open it, open it, open it, open it, open it!"

Jack sighed as Emma literally ran around the box, now placed inside his room. Well, she was still a kid after all, but why was North also here with him!?

"Why won't you do it?" Jack asked instead, raising his eyebrow.

"Ugh, no, I'm gonna get more Eris' germs on me." Emma frowned, in the middle of making a n-th lap around the box.

"But you opened your present…" North said, smiling at his daughter.

"And I had to wash my hands at least seven times to get rid of the germs!" Emma countered back.

So this was what Emma was doing so long in the bathroom.

The faster they would do it, the faster this all fuss could be over.

Jack kneeled on the floor, grabbed his present and started to unwrap it. He wasn't methodical like Emma, but he also wasn't a furious animal, ripping through the paper with his bare nails. He was moving slowly, but only because he wanted to rile curious Emma who was peeking at it from above Jack's shoulder now.

Then after few moments the gift was unpacked. It was a PlayStation 4.

And Jack… Jack kinda wanted to throw up seeing it.

Because the first thing that popped into his head was the fact that Eris wanted to buy a place in Jack's life with expensive gifts. Like she thought that Jack was as easy as that – buy him something and everything suddenly would be fine.

"Oh…" Jack managed to say through his closing throat.

"Wow." Emma behind him whispered. "She definitely paid… a lot."

Which made everything actually way worse.

Because, to be honest, Jack didn't want that. No, that was wrong. He wanted a new console, but he didn't want it as a present from Eris of all people.

"That is… nice." North said, slowly, stepping closer and sitting on the ground.

He helped Jack get rid of the last bits and pieces of paper to put the original box on the ground between them.

Jack still didn't know what to say, so he decided on biting his lip, looking at the gift.

North started to collect the ripped papers around them to crumple them in a ball.

"You have an envelope here too, Jack." He said, waving a white something in front of his face.

"You can open it." Jack said, furrowing his eyebrows and thinking what should he do with such expensive gift that made him feel guilty.

He heard North ripping open the paper and taking something colorful out of it. He opened the card and then started to read it.

Jack didn't want this present. Heck, couldn't Eris buy him something more normal? Like a sweater? A book? Even a bike would be better! Definitely not this. What was he supposed to do with it now? Wrap it back and hide under his bed? That sounded like wasted opportunities. However he wasn't up to unpacking it and hooking it up with a monitor. He didn't want to look at it and remember who had bought it whenever he booted up a game!

What to do, what to do –

Only after few seconds he understood that the room became weirdly still.

Jack lifted his head at North who was staring back at him. Yet somehow different. Not bad different, just… different. Neutral different? Yeah, maybe like that.

"What's up?" Jack asked.

North moved the card to him.

"I think you should read it."

The white haired teen blinked, but took the birthday card from his father.

It was pretty simple. A colorful, glittery card with bears at front and simple printed wishes inside. Nothing more, nothing less. Well at least Jack thought so at first, until he moved his eyes down, over Eris' sign at the very bottom of the card.

PS: I hope you and Hiccup will be happy together.

Oh, so that was why the room suddenly became silent. Fuck his life.

Jack sighed, long and loud. Emma glanced at him curiously, then looked at their father. She stared back at Jack and raised her eyebrow. Well, it would be better if she also knew what they would be talking about in just few seconds, so he passed her the card.

Her mouth formed a small 'o' when she clearly found the additional comment at the very bottom.

Jack took another deep breath. If he had more time, maybe he would plan this whole conversation in his head (just Like Hiccup oh so often did), but he didn't have that. So yeah, improvisation it was.

"North, okay before you start thinking anything–"

"No, no, Jack it's okay. I'm okay with it. You don't have to explain it to me. I'm glad you are together with Hiccup–"

"Ugh, that is the case. We are not together!" Jack whined, combing his hand through his white locks and looking at his father.

North blinked.

"You aren't?" He asked.

"No!" Jack said. "I mean, yes, we aren't together. Eris just…" He made a circle with his palm. "… got the wrong impression. Really. Me and Hiccup are not together." Damn, but Jack wished it was the case. "Besides, if we were, do you think I wouldn't tell you? I definitely wouldn't let Eris inform you about it." Jack added, smiling at his dad.

The last one definitely calmed North. His beard twitched and lips formed a kind smile.

"Okay, I believe you." He stated. "But honestly, if you are or will be just tell me. I need to have the talk with you about the birds and the bees… Or maybe only about the bees?"

"Ugh, dad, no!" Jack whined, facepalming himself. No, no, no, he definitely didn't want that. That would be totally embarrassing. That was embarrassing even now!

"Why not? You are of age to–"

"Dad, please, no." Emma interrupted, groaning loudly at the end and hiding her face in both her hands. "I don't want to listen to it yet. I'm too young to be corrupted by the outside world."

Even from Jack's place he could see her face was as red as a tomato.

But gladly, Emma's outburst killed North's urges to explain how sex worked. Coming to this, maybe he should let his father try to explain it. Jack was simply curious how it would go.

Or maybe not.

"The internet gladly taught me enough." Jack quickly complied, hoping that it would make North drop the topic.

"But you know, there is nothing better than some son–to–father talk about–"

"I'm not listening!" Emma shouted, covering her ears and standing up. She quickly stomped away from Jack's room, yelling loudly 'la la la, not hearing you' until she hid in her room, closing the door with too much force.

One day some door will break because of Emma.

North clasped both his hands together, turned to Jack and opened his mouth, but Jack was quicker.

"No, dad, I don't need this talk and no, me and Hiccup are not together."

The man nodded and changed his position on the floor, so he was now leaning on the bed together with Jack.

"Okay, I believe you. But if you ever change your mind, remember that you can always come to me."

"And have the talk?"

"I actually didn't mean that, but if you really want…" North trailed the last words, smiling hesitantly to him.

Jack chuckled under his nose and reached for the card Emma had dropped on the floor when she hid her face. He opened it and stared at the words written there, in neat, elegant, cursive.

Jack always liked Eris' writing style. Back when he had been a kid, he had tried to imitate it. But his own letters never had been so elegant – they had been crooked and askew, plus his hand had been aching after trying for write neatly for too long. So he had stopped imitating it. Yet he never had stopped liking it.

"So what are you going to do with this present?" North asked.

Jack shrugged in response, closing the card.

"I'm… not sure. I don't actually want it. I mean I want it, but like… not from her? Does this makes sense to you?"

"I get more over what you want to say." The man nodded. "So are you going to hide it?"

"It would seem like a wasted gift, so I don't know. Maybe I'll try selling it to someone who I know. This way I'll know where it is."

"Sounds like the best idea to do here."

"Maybe she won't be asking about it." Jack said, moving and grabbing the box. He turned around and pushed the present under his bed. He still wasn't one hundred percent sure about this idea, but it was the best one he had.

He definitely need to sleep with it and then decide.

"Let's hope not." North added. Then after few seconds he opened his mouth. "But at least she tried."

Jack frowned.

"Doesn't it look to you like she wants to buy me? I mean, fancy restaurants and expensive gifts? That sounds a little bit…" Like a cheap tactic.

North hummed.

"Maybe." He finally said. "Or maybe you're looking at it from a wrong angle. Maybe she is really trying to reconnect with you. You know her, she likes fancy things, so I doubt she could ever take you to KFC–"

"But they are finger lickin' good!*" Jack quickly retorted.

"True, but you get the point." North smiled at that. "And with this BZ5–"

"PS4, dad…"

"You know I'm not good with new technologies, Jack. But you can't say she didn't hit a jackpot with this one."

Jack was opening his mouth to add something, but closed it when he found out that North had a point. If maybe he received this gift from anyone else, like literally anyone, he would be overjoyed about it. Because come on! It was PS4! Jack's old PS3 was good, but well…

"Maybe you're right." He finally murmured, scratching his cheek. "But it doesn't mean I want to keep it."

"I understand, Jack. I only ask you to think about it a little more."

"I'll try."

North graced him with another tired, yet proud and full of optimism smile as he stood up from the floor, groaning loudly when his bones cracked painfully.

"Okay, I'm off to bed. Don't stay too late!"

"Yeah…"

"Jack!"

---

"Hey, do you know anyone who would want a PS4?"

Hiccup moved the phone away from his ear and glanced at the screen. Yes, indeed it was Jack who had called him with quite unusual question, but well…

"I don't… know?" Hiccup answered truthfully, bringing the device closer to himself. "Why are you asking?"

"Oh, Eris gave one to me as my birthday slash Christmas present." Jack said it like it was the most normal thing that could happen in real life.

Hiccup always thought that kind of things happened on internet or in weird fanfictions. Well, not anymore.

"My dad gave me socks for Christmas and you got a PS4?" Hiccup complained, grinning under his nose. He opened the drawer and took out earphones to plug them in. Holding a phone was too tiring.

"My dad gave me new spatula, so yeah, no difference here." Jack quickly added. There was a sound of pushed keys. Was Jack also on the computer? Why hadn't he sent him a message on Skype then?

"Okay, let's finish this competition who received the most normal present and return to the main topic." Hiccup put the phone down. Yeah, he had both his hands free to do whatever he wanted. And no, not to jack off. "So you got a PS4 from Eris and you want to?"

"Get rid of it sounds bad, so no. I just want to… I don't know, give it to someone?"

"Why not use it?" Hiccup asked as he moved the mouse to bring his laptop back to life. Oh, Fishlegs messaged him.

"I don't want to." Jack said, the happy tone deflating a little. Uh-oh.

Hiccup could kinda understand it. Eris hadn't seen Jack in three years, and judging by Jack's behavior she hadn't been that good mother before that. And now she was smothering him with expensive gifts? No wonder he didn't really want that.

"Okay…" Hiccup hummed. "How about Aster or Tooth? Don't they want that?"

"Tooth only plays on PC and Aster isn't that great in gaming actually. Plus he said that he has to learn and not waste time on killing zombies, pff." Jack quickly answered. "Loser." He added more quietly.

Hiccup snorted at that and wrote a quick reply to Fishlegs. The boy was whining to him that Astrid wasn't online, so he didn't have anyone with whom he could play. He shouldn't look at Hiccup – he wasn't the best player in town.

"Some of your other friends? You have quite a big amount of them?" Hiccup proposed, indicating the big number of friends Jack had on Facebook… and Twitter… and Instagram and all other sites and in real life.

"Ugh… I mean sure I can ask Jim? Or maybe Sinbad… or even Violet, but I don't know? I want to give it to someone who I can trust so I'll know what is happening with it."

"Understandable." Hiccup nodded and then exited the skype to roam a little bit around the internet. Oh, maybe Acapellascience* added something…

"You don't want it, do you?"

"Nope. I wouldn't use it anyway." Hiccup quickly answered. Although something warm tickled his lungs when Jack had proposed this idea. It was nice to know that Jack had considered him in his plan to give the console away.

"Damn."

"Maybe… Astrid?"

"I already asked her." Jack answered immediately.

Wait, what? Jack didn't even bat an eye while answering. That was… that was unpredictable and unusual.

"Okay…"

"What? She was on Facebook and you told me she likes playing games!" Jack quickly explained.

Kinda suspicious, but Hiccup decided to leave it be.

"Concluding from the fact that you called me I guess she didn't want to take it either?"

"No… she said she was saving to buy it for a long time and she wasn't far away from buying it so… no."

"Oh yeah, she was talking about buying it…"

"You really don't listen to your friends, do you, Hic?"

"Hey, they sometimes jump into this overdrive about games where I can't understand a single word, so I think it's natural for me to turn on my standby mode when they do that. This is how I stay sane." Hiccup murmured.

"Like you and your science talk is better." Oh, Hiccup could almost see Jack smirking on the other side.

"That's why I don't mind when someone turns off when I talk, because I totally do the same."

"Understandable." Jack continued, but then huffed loudly. "So you don't know anyone else who might take care of my present?"

"You know people may have hard time trying to understand that you want to give it to them without them paying you." Hiccup said.

He would have hard time not feeling guilty, if he took Jack's console. Taking something cheap was one thing, but expensive… huh boy. What if he accidentally destroyed it? Knowing his luck it was pretty possible. But gladly he wasn't interested in gaming.

"Yeah, I guess I see your point." Jack agreed reluctantly, after few seconds, like he was mulling the idea over in his head.

"Wouldn't you feel bad, if you received something expensive from someone?"

"I would totally do."

"Exactly."

After that there was silence and they both thought about people they could count in. But it was hard. Hiccup didn't have that many friends. Knowing Tuff and Ruff they would destroy it the second they would get their hands on it. Snotlout was weirdly a big Wii fan, so yeah, maybe he would take the PS4, but maybe not. Besides all three of them had to work, so they didn't have that much time.

So who else could take it? Someone who knew Jack…

Hiccup glanced down. Oh, Fishlegs replied to him.

Wait, maybe Fishlegs? They didn't know each other per se, so that was a disadvantage, but hey! Fishlegs took care of all his games and consoles, so maybe? It definitely was worth a try?

Hiccup cleared his throat.

"Hey, are you still there?" He asked, just to be sure. Jack didn't utter a word in around four minutes.

However the white haired teen hummed from the other side.

"How about Fishlegs? I know you don't actually know each other that well, but trust me, he is trustworthy. Astrid can confirm that. And he really takes care of every game he has! He even repaired an old Atari he had bought on the internet!"

"Oh. That's cool actually…" Jack said and it looked, or sounded like he stood up or sat up more straight, judging by his chair squeaking loudly. "I'm not sure I will decide on him, but I guess I can talk with him about it."

"Do you want his number or Skype nick?" Hiccup asked.

"Yeah… yeah, you can send both."

"Okay, I'll do it after we'll hang up."

"Ugh, are you already tired of me?" Jack, on the other side, whined.

Hiccup snorted under his nose. Seriously.

"I've been talking with you for at least fifteen or so minutes now. If I was, I would already finish the call." He stated and somehow, weirdly, he couldn't stop the smile from forming on his lips, tugging forcefully on the corners.

"Oh, that means you like me." Jack sang from the other side.

"I tolerate you."

"The same thing."

Maybe Jack was right. But damn, Hiccup wouldn't admit it out loud.

"Oh, you agree with me, see?"

"Fuck you, Jack."

"It's an invitation?"

"No!"

Jack chuckled.

Now Hiccup was tired. But weirdly pleased? Yeah. Strange combination.

He didn't even noticed they were talking for twenty minutes.

"But Hic–" Then there was a commotion on the other side, some voices, disturbed, reached Hiccup's ears and Jack answered. "Sorry, I have to go."

"No problem. Hope I helped?"

"You did. Thanks. See you, love you!"

What, what, what, what?

But before Hiccup's mind could fully process the meaning of these words, or judge whether they were a mistake or not, Jack was already speaking, fast, urgently and hesitantly:

"Oh shit, I mean, sorry. I didn't– I mean, I– I have been talking with mom earlier and you know, old habits die hard!" A dry chuckle escaped Jack's lips, followed by another shout for Jack on the other side, this time even Hiccup heard it clearly – over his suddenly loud thumping heart. "Sorry and thanks you one more time!"

"No problem, bye." Hiccup answered and then the call was finished.

Hiccup stared for few more seconds at the screen of his computer. Slowly, he took out the earphones from his ears and put them aside.

Damn, that was kinda embarrassing. Maybe not kinda even. He knew these kind of mistakes happen. Heck, he even had done it two or three times in his life, so he shouldn't think so hard about it.

So why couldn't he stop smiling?

---

Author's note:

Huff puff! Finally done! I'm not entirely happy with the plot about Jack's present from Eris, but I wanted to develop her character a lil bit.

Science facts:

*Polymerization in CCl4 – the polymers' chains in polymerization in this solvent are short due to high reactivity of CCl4.

*Potassium ferricyanide – it's a bright red chemical compound.

*Manganese(II) chloride tetrahydrate – it's a pink chemical compound. The color is definitely not as strong as the color of the salt above.

*HIPS – High Impact Polystyrene – it is a tough, rigid plastic material with high impact strength. Used widely for toys, packaging, signs, kicking plates, display and point of sale – and I think also for CD cases =D.

Other nerdy facts:

*Bag of holding – it's a fictional magical item in the Dungeons & Dragons roleplaying game, capable of containing objects larger than its own size.

*Mountain Dew Red – reference to Be More Chill – by drinking Mountain Dew Red the character could get rid of the Squip inside their head, who was talking with them.

*They are finger lickin' good – Sorry, another reference to Stranger Things (season 2). I couldn't help myself haha xD

*Acapellascience – A channel on Youtube filled with science songs. I know that this story is happening around 2014 now, but I couldn't stop myself from mentioning it in. Listen to it! Do it =3!

And as always answers:

coeur de lune – I'm so glad =D. I didn't want Eris to be the typical bad mother, like maybe she is not that bad, it's just way of behaving which is… kinda bad xD. Finally Hiccup patting him on the back you're doing something, man! xDD Thank you =D!

kisskisshug – Omg you totally made my day! =DDD You don't even know how your review made me happy ;_; I totally love writing slow built and the interactions between characters =DD. I will definitely try, as writing this gives me a lot of fun (plus it's good training to try different styles =D). Omggg you're right… two years… so long… xD I will try my best! Hope you liked the rest of the chapters =D!

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

See you next time =3! And Happy Easter!