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.

Buys Ballot's law – in the Northern Hemisphere, if a person stands with his back to the wind, the atmospheric pressure is low to the left, high to the right. This is because wind travels counterclockwise around low pressure zones in the Northern Hemisphere.

Fishlegs was coming over for the next weekend.

"Can I sleep at your house?" He asked hesitantly, voice disturbed by the small rain outside Hiccup's window.

"Don't ask questions to which you know the answer." The teen immediately replied.

"I mean, it's always better to ask. You never know what could happen. Maybe you'll have guests for the next weekend, so I won't have place to–"

"No, Fishlegs, I don't have any guests." Like almost ever, not counting Fishlegs, Gobber and occasionally Jorgenson's family. "And yes, you can stay over."

"Great, I can't wait!" Fishlegs happily yipped from the other side.

Hiccup shook his head and connected two parts of his project. For now it was going more or less good, but he preferred not to say it out loud in case he would jinx it.

"You can't wait to see us or you can't wait to lay your hands on Jack's PS4?"

Hiccup knew the real reason Fishlegs was visiting – to pick up Jack's birthday present. They had agreed on that few days earlier and Hiccup had known about it from both sides.

To be honest, he was happy for Fishlegs. At least, this way he still would be able to play with Astrid and not whine about having no one with whom he could kill monsters or dragons or… whatever they were killing in their games.

But he was also happy for Jack. He had looked way relieved when they finally had agreed on their deal. Hiccup knew that this present had been hanging onto Jack's consciousness, reminding him about itself a few times per day. It looked like Jack didn't like to remember Eris and well… it was hard to do so, if the gift from her was laying beneath Jack's bed.

"That's too." Fishlegs finally murmured and then cursed under his nose. It looked like he was playing something. "But I want to see you guys too."

"Oh, that reminded me to check if the rest of the gang also have a free weekend."

"Right. Can you write to them? I'm kinda in a pinch…" Fishlegs, on the other side, one more time swore profusely and then started to smash some buttons quickly. "I will fucking show them who is the boss here…"

Hiccup pushed his project away and turned on the Facebook page to write on the group if everyone has free time during the next weekend to meet. He kinda hoped that they would manage to find some free time to catch up.

They didn't hang out together since New Year and it was almost three months away.

"Done." Hiccup said, closing the tab and returning to his project.

Today was a good day. He was in a good mood, plus he had more or less understood what Dagur had wanted him to do with his project, so he had been making progress with his small robot too.

Not to mention Jack had written to him in the morning.

Maybe the weather outside wasn't the best. It was raining, however from time to time the Sun peeked from behind the gray clouds to warm the remaining snow piled in clumps on the sides of the roads, only to hide a few minutes later.

It really looked like from this point it will be getting warmer and warmer, but Hiccup tried not to be deceived too quickly. He knew that March was usually very tricky. One day you think there will be only sunny sky from now on and boom, the next day your entire driveway is covered with a few centimeters of fluffy, pearly snow.

But today was a good day and Hiccup was going to enjoy it.

His phone vibrated and he quickly grabbed it, staring with a smile at the screen where Jack's name popped up.

hey, do you think I'm getting old? Σ(-᷅_-᷄๑)

What? They weren't that old. Well yeah, Jack was one year older than Hiccup, but he definitely couldn't be called old. And the white hair definitely didn't come from age, that was for sure.

Uhm no? Why would you even say that? o.o

cause I didnt do any prank in

like forEVAAAAA DDD:

Hiccup blinked at that. Seriously? This was what had been worrying Jack? His pranks? Hiccup sometimes couldn't believe this guy.

And you feel old, because you

didn't do any pranks lately? xD

yes? T.T even Pitch noticed

I hav been slacking offfff….

Wow, if even Professor Black had mentioned it, then it definitely had to hit Jack hard. Especially as it had come from the teacher that Jack didn't especially like.

He knew that Jack had become famous thanks to his pranks – which for some people were hilarious. Hiccup had found them… definitely not that amazing, but they sometimes had made him laugh. And gladly, he never had been a victim of one. Well maybe only once he had been an additional victim by mistake, because he simply shouldn't had stepped into the corridor where everyone had been laying down, unable to get up. So in the end he also had slipped on the floor and crashed down. He had had a big bruise on his thigh for a few weeks after that, but to be honest it had been fun to see everyone trying to get up and failing miserably.

And yeah, when it came to this, Hiccup hadn't really heard about any of Jack's new pranks nowadays. But it never came to him that the teen could be worried about that.

His phone vibrated once again.

what should I do, hic?

What should Jack do? And why was he asking Hiccup of all people? Couldn't he ask someone more suitable for this position like… Sinbad? Or Jim? Or someone who knew more about pranks than Hiccup?

(But he still felt happiness bubbling inside his stomach, like it just reached its boiling point.)

I don't know? If they made you happy

and you feel sad, because you haven't done

one in a long time, then I guess… you

can do one?

Hiccup wasn't sure whether this was a good advice or the most terrible one.

After a second thought, he added:

But don't hurt anyone, please D:

Fishlegs on the other side was still spurting profanities and cursing along the way. It looked that whatever was preventing him from moving further was doing an amazing job… almost too amazing.

im a prankster, not a killer…

Then another message quickly followed.

but what if im not good at those anymore?

who am I theennnnn?

Hiccup sighed softly. Was Jack really so worried over this? The lack of emoticons would say that yes. He kinda could understand that. Pranks were what had made Jack the Jack – the one which the whole school knew. Maybe he was feeling that without them he was someone else?

Or no one…

Hiccup didn't like that idea. Nu-huh. It made his body tingle a little – like a small spark of electricity ran down his spine. Or it resembled that small twitch when you touch something metal and you can sense the electrons zapping you.

Kinda weird, however he had to live with more and more strange things nowadays, so another thing wasn't making that much of a difference.

Then you're still a funny guy, with tons of other

good traits, but who surprisingly lost the knack

for pranking =D

Would this message make Jack feel better or not? Well, too late, Hiccup already and automatically clicked send, so yeah, there was no turning back. Beside he preferred to be honest, than filled with sweet words that meant nothing in the long run.

OMG, you wrote something nice

about me! I have to writttteeee it

down in me calendar :o :o :o!

Hiccup chuckled under his nose at that and moved to write another reply.

"What are you laughing at?" Fishlegs suddenly asked from the other side, sounding maybe not utterly calm, as there was still this angry tone tugging at the last few tones, but it wasn't that bad.

"Oh, nothing…" Hiccup said and then moved the phone away. "Just at a message from Jack."

Fishlegs hummed. He hummed in that way that definitely didn't mean that he was only listening, but also hinting at something. This hum, that was at first low, then was getting higher and higher with passing time. Hiccup could almost see (in his mind of course) Fishlegs lifting his one eyebrow while glancing at him.

"So a message from Jack?" Fishlegs mused.

Hiccup wanted to bury himself underground. What was wrong with laughing at the messages from your friend?

"Yes, from Jack."

"Oh, okay." One prolonged word, also scented and combined with these few ever knowing tones.

Hiccup shook his head quickly and then slapped both his cheeks. Oh shit, they were warm. Or maybe his hands were warm? Or maybe both were warm? Argh, he wasn't sure at this point.

So he decided to do the most suave thing in this moment and gracefully change the topic.

It didn't turn out to be such graceful.

Aster and Jack were in the middle of not quite tasty lunch (it was better thanks to a box filled with fruits' slices Aster had taken from his home) when Tooth almost skipped to their table, grinning from ear to ear, swirling her rainbow colored skirt around.

She definitely looked overjoyed.

"Hey, guys!" She sung, as she twirled in front of the table and then smoothly sat down, pushing Aster away. Her hand moved to steal an apple slice from the plastic box. "Guess what did I just do?"

Jack glanced at Aster, who did it back and they both shrugged.

"We don't know." They both said.

Tooth frowned and bit onto the apple.

"It's no fun if you don't even try to guess."

"I'm bad at guessing." Aster quickly said, taking a grape and throwing it into his mouth. It landed perfectly on his tongue.

Back when they had been kids, both he and Jack had challenged each other who would manage to throw more grapes into their mouths. And to be honest, Jack had usually won in those small contests. But it looked like Aster had some training.

Jack decided to play the girl's little game.

"Were you talking about it nowadays?" He asked.

Tooth beamed at him, a beautiful flower opening up after the first few rays of sunlight.

"Well, not really…" She said, prolonging the last word. "Maybe I only mentioned it once or twice."

Okay, so that definitely will be a hard one to crack.

"Then how do you expect us to guess it?" Aster asked, rising his eyebrows at her.

"Just amuse me." The girl quickly added, waving her hands at them, only to rest her head on them later on. "Please?"

"Is it about the Biology contest?" Jack proposed the first idea.

"Nope." Tooth was quick to answer so the answer was probably far off.

The gray haired teen, next to Jack, sighed loudly, with arms slumping down like a wave on the shore.

"Is it about your parrots?" Aster was the next one to speak, giving another idea, but also this time Tooth shook her head.

Her pinks lips moved, stretching the grin on her mouth.

"Nope."

"Is it about…" Jack looked around. "This terrible food they are serving here?"

"No, not about that." Tooth answered and then, like an afterthought, added. "Unfortunately."

"Is it about this new book you were reading?" Aster again tried.

"Nu-huh."

"Is it about a school play?"

"I'm not even in the theater club."

Jack shrugged.

"It was worth a try." It was as good try as any other.

Because Tooth could change the topic of the conversation three times in five minutes. One moment she was describing to you how she had bought this sweet dress and a few seconds later she was trying to decode existential problems.

But Jack loved listening and conversing with her. She always was listening to everyone intently and giving her own thoughts. Of course, sometimes she couldn't stop her giddy character and not butt in with her own ideas, but it was always in good favor.

"Okay, Tooth tell us!" Aster said, leaning on the table.

Jack quickly grabbed a slice of an orange and munched on it as he stared at his friend.

"I will be merciful today and tell you!" However it looked like she was just waiting to spill the truth. "I signed up to be a part of the Prom Organization Committee!"

Wait what? Jack had a vague memory of some of those words coming from Tooth's mouth, but to be honest, he could be also wrong.

Aster looked totally taken aback. But well, Jack also didn't expect it to be the answer to the question.

"Prom committee?" The tall teen inquired.

Tooth nodded vigorously with her rainbow colored hair bouncing back and forth. Few strands landed on the forehead and she quickly brushed them away.

"Yeah, today was the first meeting!"

"So that's why you were late now?" Jack asked curiously.

Tooth turned to him and nodded happily one more time.

"I'm so excited! I always wanted to organize such thing!" Tooth chirped happily. "I have so many ideas! Oh, like for example we can hang everywhere those white sparkling ribbons I found at the store three days ago! And then move the reflectors so they would light them! Oh and we definitely should move the tables under the wall with scoreboards and not the one near stands! Plus, definitely not put the DJ near door and…"

"Wow wow Tooth calm down, the prom is still far away!" Aster quickly said, lifting his hands, hoping to maybe calm their friend somehow.

"It's not far away enough, Bunny!' Tooth quickly shot back, looking at him like he just offended her gravely. "And it's definitely not far away enough to not start making preparations! You know how hard it is to organize something in big groups! And I want to make it perfect, so everyone can enjoy it!"

"But will you enjoy it in the end?" Aster asked, grabbing a few grapes and putting them in his mouth. "I heard people from the committee hardly have time to dance even once."

Tooth waved her hand, still smiling like it was the best day of her life. Or maybe it was the best day of her life.

"Meh, I don't care about dancing really." She said and then clasped her hands together. "I want to make this night memorable for other people. Like you guys!" She stared at them with sparkling galaxies inside her eyes, so vivid and lively and glistening that it was almost difficult to look at.

Jack glanced at Aster. Aster glanced back at Jack.

To be honest Jack didn't even think about it yet. The prom was still a few months away and he had a more prominent problem at his hands… or head. Like the final exams. Which were before the prom and if he failed them then he wasn't sure whether he would want to go to prom anyway.

Well, he would probably go in the end, but he wasn't sure he could enjoy it to the fullest if he knew he had failed exams.

And with Aster he simply wasn't sure. They never really talked about it, but Jack had supposed they all would go.

Aster opened his mouth:

"I don't kn–"

But Tooth immediately shushed him with a hard as steel gaze as she looked at the taller teen.

"You're going, no discussion." She then fluttered her eyelids and turned to Jack. "How about you?"

Jack swallowed hard, feeling a big lump forming inside his throat and almost preventing him to breathe or speak. That was a threating gaze.

"I'm going Tooth, no worries."

The girl smiled, the evil gaze and posture disappearing in the blink of an eye. She finally leant to take out a packed lunch from the bag. It was a salad of some sort. She opened the plastic package and was already taking out a fork to stab some vegetable, but was interrupted instead by the bell above their heads.

She groaned and looked up.

"Seriously?"

Jack snickered under his nose and stole another apple's slice from Aster's lunch box. The very last one. Aster glared at him, but then sighed and closed the container.

"We should be going." He said.

Tooth stood up and grabbed her lunch. She didn't close it, as Jack and Aster had expected her to, but simple started to eat it as they moved to their next class.

Jack glanced at her and she looked back at him with her mouth full of salad:

"What? I'm hungry!"

"It's looking good." Dagur finally murmured at the halfway done project. He twirled it around and inspected every part intensely only to put it away.

Hiccup's mouth twitched as he grabbed the project and hid it away. Maybe it was stupid to feel like that, but to be honest he was quite proud of himself. Maybe the project wasn't the best, but he had already learned so many new things and sometimes, occasionally, had had fun while making this small robot.

"Thanks."

"Few more meetings and it'll be done."

Finally! Man, Hiccup couldn't wait for the moment when his project will be presented and he won't have to do it anymore. To be honest, he didn't even plan on winning, uh–huh, definitely not, he wasn't even close to a podium! Nor he really wanted to get to the podium. He didn't even know if he wanted some honorable mention, because he simply wasn't sure whether he deserved it. There definitely will be better robots, which will make a ton of different things. But Hiccup didn't mind, he was happy with what he had.

But coming to this he still didn't know what Dagur was making.

Should he ask? On one side he was kinda curious, especially after Jack had told him Dagur worked as a mechanic, but on the other hand…

"Hey, can I ask you a question?" Hiccup mumbled, glancing up at the taller teen.

"You already did." Dagur snarled back, swirling the phone on the table and not looking up.

There were a few seconds of silence when Hiccup just stared at Dagur, not really knowing what he should do next or whether he wanted to do anything more, when the male spoke once again:

"So, I'm waiting?"

Oh, so Hiccup should simply ask his question in the first place. Good… good to know.

"What are you doing for the contest?" Hiccup asked, hoping to sound as normal as he could. Talking with Dagur still sometimes set him on edge, even though it was way better than what they had had in the past.

Dagur glanced at him and then looked down.

"A robot."

Hiccup rolled his eyes and sighed at that. What else should he actually expect?

"Of course."

Dagur snickered, the scars on his face smoothened out for a second. It wasn't that mean chuckle which often left his lips, but more hesitant, amused one.

"I would rather not to say it out loud yet." He then added. "Let's call it a surprise. You'll see it in during the presentation."

"Does Professor Robinson know what you're doing?" Hiccup followed quickly.

"Duh, of course he knows. He needs to know."

"Okay." Hiccup then mumbled, because he felt like he needed to add something, but wasn't sure what, so he decided on neutral grounds – like an inert environment for a substance which you don't know that well.

Another few ticks and tocks of silence passed, before this time Dagur opened his mouth:

"Why do you ask?"

"I was just… curious, I guess." Hiccup admitted. What else he should say? "'Cause you know a lot about this stuff…"

Dagur hmphed loudly, but other than that he didn't utter a word. Yet till the end of their tutoring session he looked weirdly pleased with himself, maybe even content, with something resembling a kind smile tugging at the corners of his lips.

"Come on Hiccup, faster!" Astrid turned around on her heel and fumed at him, puffing out her cheeks.

He sighed, fastening a little bit his pace, but not significantly. Like maybe by one millimeter per hour… okay maybe one centimeter, because ten definitely would be too much. Plus he kinda wanted to taunt Astrid.

"He won't be there for another fifteen minutes, and that is if the train isn't late, so we don't have to move that fast."

Astrid growled, but waited patiently for Hiccup to catch up. She was murmuring something profusely under her breath, something that resembled 'I hate it when you're right…'.

Today was Saturday and with that Fishlegs was coming for a weekend. Unfortunately both twins and Snotlout had to work till 6 pm, so they couldn't come pick up Fishlegs with them. But they agreed to meet later and talk.

Hiccup was kinda excited.

"So are we like going to Jack later or is he coming to us?" Astrid asked after a few meters.

Hiccup sighed, smiling softly under his nose. So yeah, Astrid was tagging along. He really didn't mind and it looked like the girl was happy that Fishlegs will be getting Jack's present, because this way they still both can play together.

"I don't know. I didn't talk with him about it yet." Hiccup admitted.

"Then do it, loverboy is not going to wait."

At this he rolled his eyes and took out his phone. He quickly found Jack and opened a new message to him.

Hey, should we go to you to pick up the

console or will you come over to us? =D

And sent.

They both finally reached the railway station and walked to the underground tunnel that allowed them to step onto the right platform. If Hiccup checked it right, the train was supposed to arrive on the second platform… but they could never be sure.

The day was actually quite nice. Not fully sunny, but it wasn't that cold, so Hiccup didn't mind standing a few additional minutes on the platform.

Hiccup took out his phone when he sensed a new message.

do you mind if I come overrr? ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ

No, I don't mind C:

To be honest, Jack never was in Hiccup's house. But he definitely knew where Hiccup lived as he had taken the teen home quite many, many times.

"Jack will be coming over." Hiccup informed Astrid, who was peeking in the direction from which the train would be coming. Some man stared at her suspiciously, like he expected her to jump onto the rails the very next second when she would spot the train coming.

"Oh, nice." Astrid grinned at him. "How long more?"

He checked the time.

"Seven minutes or so?"

"Ugh…"

So they waited, with Astrid moving from time to time dangerously close to the edge, to this point one man even coughed. Hiccup dragged Astrid away from the yellow line, so no one would bother them anymore.

Then five minutes after the designated time they heard a loud honk and then soon after the train moved onto the rails near the platform. Many people, who had been sitting all this time, stood up and stepped closer to the doors or searched in the windows for a familiar face.

This time Astrid and Hiccup spotted their friend almost immediately, glued to the window and waving like crazy at them even before the train actually fully stopped.

The swarm of people emerged from the train as soon as the automatic doors opened. The chatters and conversations floated above the heads, mingling and mixing together. Someone called a friend, someone shouted to the kids, there was laughter blended with a sound of an incoming call.

Astrid and Hiccup stepped away, at a safe distance.

Near the end of the crowd they saw a familiar mop of dirty blond hair stepping off the train and Astrid immediately shot forward to tackle the guy in a big hug.

"Fishlegs!"

How she managed to pick the boy up, was beyond Hiccup's scientific knowledge. But he simply accepted the reality that was in front of him as a fact. Better not to dwell on it, because he wasn't sure he could understand it.

Fishlegs turned red, probably due to the tight hug, but the grin was stretched across his face.

"It's good to see you too." He croaked, between gasps.

Astrid finally let him go and patted on the shoulder.

Hiccup stepped closer and waved his hand. He wasn't up for big hugs and he knew Fishlegs respected it.

"Hey, Fish. How was the ride?" He asked.

Fishlegs corrected the hold on his backpack and then turned to him.

"Good. I wanted to sleep, but well, to be honest I was too excited to do so." He grabbed the bag that he had put down for Astrid's hug.

"Me too! Oh God, we're still gonna play together, that is so amazing!" Astrid squealed next to him and moved to take the bag. "Allow me to take it."

Fishlegs passed it without a problem.

They moved to the stairs and in the underground corridor turned right.

Astrid and Fishlegs started talking about some upcoming games as they moved through the corridor. Hiccup listened to them with one ear and enjoyed the echoes of their steps with the other.

When they stepped out back into the world, Fishlegs exhaled loudly and looked around.

"It's good to be back."

Jack hummed as he walked through the suburbs of Burgess with a package under his arm. Hiccup had messaged him an hour or maybe less ago that they were already in his house, so Jack decided to finally bring the gift there.

The idea of giving away Eris's – his own mother's – present still kinda hurt somewhere inside his heart, but the pure freedom he had felt after exiting the house had been bigger and far more better than the small speck of guilt floating somewhere in his brain.

He stopped in front of the correct house and then took a deep breath.

It was his first time at Hiccup's house. And he was kinda excited, but also very nervous. Hiccup's father wasn't home yet, so at least Jack didn't have to worry about that.

After Eris' message at the end of the birthday card and North finding it, he wasn't sure if he wanted to deal with Hiccup's father. Because Jack had seen photos and to be honest Stoick looked terrifying. Like he could break Jack with one small movement. So yeah… Maybe, maybe not today.

Jack walked to the door and rang a doorbell. The sound of it echoed in the house and then, soon after, he heard footsteps – like someone was walking down the stairs. Then a few seconds later the door opened, with Hiccup standing in the entrance with crooked a little bit glasses.

"Jack, hey!" He said breathlessly.

Jack blinked. Not that he minded Hiccup's state, but it was kinda suspicious.

"Everything… alright?'

The boy nodded vigorously and moved from the doorway, so Jack could walk in.

"Yeah, I just had to fight Astrid to get here, so I'm a little bit out of breath."

"I can see." Jack added with a smile and leaned the box on the wall, so he could take off his shoes. "I assume you won?"

Hiccup huffed and combed his one hand through quite messy strands. He stepped closer to a mirror hanging near the door and scrunched his nose when he noticed his hairs were in quite big disarray.

It looked kinda cute.

"I wish. She gave up in the end."

"I didn't give up. I felt bad for you!" Astrid shouted from the first floor.

"The same thing!" Hiccup yelled back.

"No, it's not!"

Jack snorted and then hung his jacket. He turned to Hiccup with a grin plastered to his face, which Hiccup reciprocated.

"Let me show you my house!"

Hiccup showed him the living room which was connected with the kitchen – it looked like the wall had been destroyed and replaced with a counter. While they were there, Hiccup turned on the kettle and then showed Jack the bathroom and guest room which was used as the storage room. After that they moved upstairs where Hiccup pointed at the closed door to his father's room, another bathroom and then, finally…

"And it's my own nerdy room."

Jack stepped inside.

The room was painted in very light orange color and, where most of Jack's own walls were covered in posters, here they were filled with photos, diplomas and a few small sketches scattered here and there. On one side there was a giant cork board with pinned calendars, pages filled with formulas and all this weird scientific things. The first thing catching Jack's eyes was definitely bed and Astrid laying on it while staring intently at a laptop standing on Hiccup's desk. The quilt was surprisingly filled with pictures of dragons, swirling together or sending balls of flame at each other. Especially the one near pillows looked extra vicious. And on the body of the said dragon laid a cat.

A simple, black cat.

When Jack entered, he raised his head and looked at him. The eyes furrowed immediately and fur stood up on his back, but he didn't dart away. Yet he was observing Jack's every movement.

Well Jack shouldn't be surprised to be honest. Toothless was seeing him for the very first time.

In front of Astrid, on a chair, sat Fishlegs who was smashing the buttons on attached keyboard and staring passionately at the screen too.

When Jack entered and put the package down, Astrid lifted her face and grinned at him.

"Hey, Jack! You've finally made it!"

This brought the blonde haired boy back to the reality as he twitched, but only glanced at Jack for a second, before he looked back at the screen again. It looked like he was in the middle of a heated battle, with colors blasting around and music picking up the beat with every passing second.

"Hey Jack." He said. "Sorry, but I'm in a –"

"Don't worry, finish this guy!" Jack said amused, staring at probably Fishlegs' character moving back to send a blue blast at the enemy who started to turn red.

Hiccup entered the room and then quickly looked around. He sighed when he spotted Fishlegs moving his fingers across the keyboard in weird, rhythmic tempo to the soundtrack, but didn't comment it. Instead he turned to Astrid.

"Do you want something to drink?"

The girl sat up and picked up Toothless, who was still eyeing Jack, even though he didn't step further into the room yet.

"Tea would be good."

"How about you, Fish?"

For few second the teen didn't respond and Hiccup was already opening his mouth to repeat the question, when he finally answered.

"What… shit… whatever…" He then turned his body and hit the enemy with some fricking jumping and kicking combo.

"Okay, so also tea…" Hiccup mumbled to himself and then turned to Jack. "How about you, Jack? Oh, by the way sit wherever you want… or go with me, you'll help me get the drinks upstairs."

"Okay."

And as quickly as Jack had appeared in the room, he walked out, but not before glancing one more time at the blonde haired girl, who wiggled her eyebrows at him.

He felt his cheeks turning red like summer strawberries.

Hiccup moved down the stairs and then stepped into the kitchen, where the kettle was already skittering loudly with the boiling water swirling inside of it. In just a second or two it turned off and the white steam floated above it.

Hiccup moved to a cabinet and started taking out cups.

"So what do you want, Jack?"

"Coffee would be good." Jack said and stepped closer to retrieve two cups from Hiccup's hands to put them on the counter.

"Sure. Can you take out milk from the fridge?"

Jack stepped to the silver door and opened it. His eyes scanned the shelves – jumping from tomatoes, carrots and onions, above cream, cheese, ham and pickles to land on ketchup, juice and milk! He grabbed the carton and took it out.

Hiccup in the meantime filled two cups with teabags and was currently pouring instant coffee in the other two.

"You have a nice house." Jack finally said, looking around the kitchen. It was very clean. Too clean to be honest.

His own usually had some plates laying around on the table or a few spots from old dishes here and there, but the counter here was spotless.

"Thanks." Hiccup said, out of habit. Then he blinked, like the word leaving his lips was registered by his brain a second later. "I mean… it's okay, I guess." Then there was a second of silence and hesitation, with Hiccup's hand floating in the air, reaching for the kettle. "I think your is better."

"I don't think so. We don't have such dope counter!" Jack said, moving his hand smoothly on the said counter. "Or such nice fridge." He glanced at the tall machine standing proudly in the corner. "Or everything organized and cleaned perfectly. Did you see that spot near the cooker in my house? I didn't clean it for three days and now it's impossible to get rid of."

Hiccup grabbed the kettle and started pouring the water into the cups, leaving a little bit of place for milk.

"I still think your house is better than this one. It's more… homely?" Hiccup added, looking up at him and stepping away so Jack could pour milk into the cups. "My home is empty and cold. Well, usually empty." He shrugged and then grabbed two cups with tea.

Jack put the milk away and grabbed the remaining two cups.

He wasn't sure how to comment that. He never really paid his home that much mind – especially to the atmosphere it had. But if he had to compare his house and this own, then Hiccup kinda was right. Everything here was so still, so hollow.

The living room was nicely made, with a crimson sofa and black coffee table in it, but it didn't look like it was often used. For now it looked like a perfect image – the one you find in advertising newspapers from shops with furniture. It was like that, clean and ideal, just waiting to be used, waiting for someone to sit down, waiting for some person to dirty the shining black surface, wanting to be worn out by time.

Hiccup moved past him and stopped on the stairs.

"Are you coming?"

Jack bobbed his head and then followed Hiccup. He decided to end this topic.

"I think Toothless hates me." He said instead.

Hiccup chuckled and the sound of it resonated warmly in Jack's chest, pulling some long, taut strings inside his lungs.

"Oh, he doesn't like new people. Give him time."

"Is he feeling any better?" Jack hummed when they moved through the corridor to the room from which they could hear Fishlegs and Astrid talking passionately and loudly about something.

"He eats normally, so that is good. Although I think he is mad at me for taking him to the vet for four days in a row."

"Well, I wouldn't like that too." Jack added and then glanced to his left.

The wall was covered with lines of photos, some hanging higher and some lower. Every frame was different, some made from wood, some painted in white, but every one held a photo.

In a few of them Jack could see small Hiccup, smiling proudly at the person behind the camera or doing something, with his tongue sticking out. In one he held a black cat in his hands and – oh! – one tooth was missing from his grin. Then in another picture Hiccup's father was hunched above a newspaper surrounded by a morning sunlight flickering through the window in the living room. The sofa was different from the crimson one that currently occupied this household, but the coffee table was the same.

Jack moved forward with the line of photos and…

"Jack, is it what I'm thinking it is?" Shouted someone from Hiccup's room and Jack had to look behind to see who it was.

Oh, Fishlegs was eyeing the package he had brought with shining from excitement eyes.

"It definitely is." Jack said, entering the room and putting Hiccup's coffee on the desk. "I packed it for you, 'cause I wasn't sure if you have needed materials for that."

Fishlegs still stared in awe at the brown package, like his eyes could look through the paper and tape. His hand twitched when he reached and patted the hidden console, grinning from ear to ear. He looked really happy.

Jack still wasn't one hundred percent sure that it was the best option. Well no, maybe it wasn't that. He was almost one hundred percent sure that Fishlegs was the best option here – well, not counting the fact that he was living so far away. Jack wasn't sure about this whole 'giving away Eris' gift' idea.

There was always doubt scratching its nails on his back, whispering, making him question his decisions and resolves. But Jack pushed it all away, buried it deep down in his mind, threw another layer of veil on it and hoped that it will finally become silent.

"I still can't believe it!" Fishlegs whispered to himself.

Jack took a sip of his coffee and glanced at Hiccup, who now occupied the chair in front of his laptop.

He shrugged while smiling at Jack and then grabbed his cup.

The blond haired teen stroked the package for a few more seconds, before he twitched and then immediately moved to the bag standing under one shelf, filled from the bottom to the very top with different books.

"I have something for you!"

Jack grinned under his nose as he stared at the games Fishlegs was taking out from the bag. Maybe it wasn't such a bad trade after all.

Jack turned off the water and then glanced at his reflection in the mirror hanging above the sink. His white hairs were quite disheveled, but only because he had to tackle Astrid, so she would lose and let them all – the rest of the team – win. Unfortunately, it hadn't worked that good, because she had tried to shove him back and somehow they both had ended up tackling each other and falling down on the floor from the bed.

And Astrid still had won, what the hell?

With a little bit wet hand he pushed a few locks back, patting them down in the process. The hairstyle stayed for maybe a minute, before the hairs strung back again, pointing at every direction in the world.

Welp, he couldn't look nice and presentable even if he wanted to.

With a sigh, he exited the bathroom and moved slowly to Hiccup's room. At first he was about to do it quick, in several steps, but stopped when something tugged on his chest and made him turn around.

Ah, the photos hanging on the wall, scattered all over the place. Jack had noticed that they weren't hanging in a perfect line. It looked like someone had decided that 'yes, this is a good place' and just had nailed them there. Without a second thought.

Without Hiccup leading him, Jack had now maybe a few minutes to look at them, hoping in his mind that neither Hiccup nor Hiccup's father would mind. But they were hanging in the corridor, where everyone could see them, so it shouldn't be a bad thing to look at them right?

Yet something in the not perfect way of them hanging there wasn't fitting the rest of the house.

But Jack liked it.

He moved along the wall, staring at the pictures, seeing the small details he had missed the first time. Like wow, previously he hadn't seen the picture of Hiccup perched on his father's shoulders and looking up in awe at something in the sky. Or Jack simply couldn't believe he had missed seeing Hiccup with an inflatable swim ring in form of a turtle, smashing his hands on the water, probably learning how to swim. There were dozens of others – mostly containing Hiccup, then Stoick was in a lot of them too, a few had Snotlout and his family merging with the picture and other people Jack hadn't seen earlier.

Yet they were missing something. No, maybe not missing. It looked like every picture – every one of them – had been made by the same person.

Jack moved, eyeing every picture curiously until he started to pass the ones he had already seen. Hiccup smiled and waved at him from behind the glass and his father sent him a smirk and then they were both staring lovingly at someone behind the camera and then…

Oh.

A family picture.

Near the end, somewhere higher than the rest of other photos, Jack could finally see the author of all those pictures. A woman.

Jack stepped closed.

On the photo Hiccup was hugging the woman, who was blowing a raspberry on his cheek. She had the same auburn hair, running down her back as she leaned to attack the little boy with love. She had the same button nose which was touching Hiccup's forehead. She had the same freckles, which were mixing together with Hiccup's ones on his cheek.

They looked happy. Like every person in the photos.

In another one it looked more official. Not fully official, but both Hiccup and the woman were staring at the person behind the camera. The corner of the photo was blocked by a finger – quite big one. Was it Hiccup's father who stood behind the camera now? It had to be.

In the picture Hiccup was in the woman's arms, showing the brightest of smiles at the person behind the camera. The woman was staring at the author of the photo quite skeptically, but with a loving smile tugging on her lips. She looked like she wanted to say something, maybe mention the finger, but kept her mouth close.

Another few photos were quite… messy. Definitely made by an inexperienced hand. Jack would even say that by a child's hand, as it was definitely made from an angle closer to the ground. Now in the photo ruled the woman and Hiccup's father, making faces at each other, running somewhere, sitting in the living room, both reading something or hugging each other in the dim light coming from the kitchen.

Then near the window, surrounded by other photos and pictures was finally the one containing all three, well four members of the family.

Hiccup in the picture was hugging Toothless softly and smiling like crazy, even though he had a quite painful gash on his cheek. The woman had her hands on both of his shoulders and was staring at the boy with a mix of happiness and worry creasing over her forehead. Stoick looked more… more angry, but also relieved while sitting on the other side of the boy.

That had to be Hiccup's mother. There was no mistaking it.

"Jack? Everything's okay?"

Jack shook his head, tearing his eyes away from the last photo and turning around.

Hiccup was standing near the doorway, leaning on the frame and staring at him.

"Yeah, yeah. I just…" Jack licked his lips, suddenly feeling like he had done something bad, even though the photos were in plain sight for everyone to see. However Hiccup had rarely mentioned his mother. "… was looking at the photos." He finished.

Hiccup blinked and then stepped closer, after glancing at the room one last time.

Jack felt like his heart could jump out of his chest, however he wasn't sure if that was due to the close proximity – as Hiccup stopped way, way, way too close to Jack so he would be able to look at the photo that had captured Jack's eyes not so long ago – or because he was just caught doing it.

But it wasn't wrong…

Hiccup moved a little bit in front of Jack and, damn, he could feel the auburn strands tickling his nose and almost making him want to sneeze, but he held strongly, clenching his fists tightly with knuckles turning as white as pearly snow.

And then Hiccup chuckled and moved away.

Jack's slowly let out the air he had been holding to not accidentally blow it on Hiccup's hair.

"Oh, it's the day when I found Toothless." Hiccup said and put his hands behind his back. "I fell into bushes trying to get him out. My dad was so pissed at me." Another snort left his lips, but then small wrinkles appeared on his forehead and his mouth turned down.

Jack licked his lips, burying the urge to wrap his hand around Hiccup's shoulders and bring him in for a hug. Would it even smooth the frown now wrinkling his nose or would it make him more agitated? Hiccup had gotten used to their hugs, but how much? Would it be weird if Jack did that? Probably yeah.

But he still didn't like the sudden drop of the atmosphere, the sudden emptiness appearing after the second laugh had left, disappearing somewhere in the past behind the pictures.

Jack cleared his throat.

"Who did this picture?" He asked instead.

Hiccup blinked, shook his head and then swung his body forward.

"Oh, I think Gobber did."

"Who is Gobber?"

"My dad's friend, but he is more like an uncle to me… or a godfather even." Hiccup added, the corners of his mouth tugging upwards.

Okay, this direction was good. It was weakening the dense and heavy atmosphere it had appeared there a few seconds ago. Plus Jack was really interested in Hiccup's family. He rarely talked about himself, so Jack liked to grasp every golden chance he could.

After that Hiccup moved away and Jack sighed, but quickly shut his mouth tightly to not let any other sounds slip past his lips.

But the auburn haired teen didn't walk to the room. He moved near the wall, staring at the pictures and tapping his chin. Then he stopped somewhere near the stairs and glanced at the photo that was kinda higher than the others.

"Oh, here he is."

Jack quickly shuffled closer to stare at the picture in which he could see Hiccup's father and a other man – as big as him, with a blonde mustache and a… prosthesis for a left hand?

Jack moved closer.

Hiccup's father had his hand thrown over Gobber's shoulder and it looked like he was in the middle of telling the man something, maybe even a joke, because the other one looked on the verge of bursting into heavy chuckles. The photo was a little bit crooked, like it was made by a person hiding conspiratorially behind the doorway. At the bottom of the photo there was an auburn streak of hair.

"My mom made it during my father's birthday party." Hiccup suddenly said, confirming Jack's suspicions about who was making all of those photos.

It was Hiccup's mom.

"Your mom was a photographer?" Jack asked, glancing down at his friend.

Hiccup shrugged.

"It was more like her hobby." He stated, looking back at her pictures. "She was a financial adviser."

Jack hummed and then looked back at the photos.

"She should have been a photographer."

There was a movement in the corner of Jack's eyes, a small shuffle, a sudden spark of light reflecting in Hiccup's glasses as he turned to him. If he turned around Jack had a feeling that the boy would be staring at him with eyes big as two full moons and mouth opened in a silent, shocked gasp.

"I like her photos." Jack continued after a while, when Hiccup didn't say anything or stopped staring at him.

And it was true. Jack liked them. They looked nice with their crooked settings, with the natural flow of events presented in them. They looked warm with the natural, yet hidden smiles in captured moments and the sudden surprise clearly visible in some shots. The looked lovely with the pure emotions emanating from them, from the stolen hidden details of the everyday life. They weren't staged – not even one of them looked like one. They were snatched from the reality, stolen from the flowing time.

Hiccup finally turned around and Jack dared to look at him.

There was a ghost, a smudge, a trace of a smile tugging on the corners of Hiccup's lips as he looked up at the photos with both hands hidden behind his back.

"Thanks." Hiccup said.

Jack wasn't sure what the teen was thanking him for, but it made his heart flutter and spasm with warm vibrations resonating for a few more seconds inside his chest.

He kinda wanted to ask what had happened with her, but the soft grin smeared over Hiccup's face prevented Jack from doing so. No, he shouldn't interfere, plus he didn't want to destroy Hiccup's mood.

Then after a few seconds of void which stood between them, Hiccup cleared his throat.

"Are you doing anything later?" He asked, stealing one glance at Jack, but quickly returning his gaze to the photos hanging on the wall. Yet something in his posture told Jack that he was focused on listening intently.

Jack's heart fluttered in his chest. It wasn't often that Hiccup proposed doing something or asked to hang out. Usually it was Jack initiating things, whether it was taking Hiccup home or proposing random evenings walk around the neighborhood. So it was no surprise that the change made him blink with astonishment blossoming in his mind.

But it was a nice surprise.

"No, not really." Well, technically his football team was hanging today in a pizzeria in the center of Burgess, but Jack hadn't exactly said per se if he was going to be there for one hundred percent.

Hiccup stole another peek at him and then crossed his arm on his chest, but it looked like he wanted to wrap himself in them.

"Later we're going to meet with the twins and Snotlout to hang out…" There was a short moment for an inhale. "… and I wondered if you want to come too?"

"Is than an invitation?" Jack asked, moving his weight to the other leg and hiding his hands in his pockets. But how could he not when his hands were sweating like crazy from the stress pulling on his nerves, because he was around his crush. And Jack's crush asked him to hang out with them even longer!

"I mean… I… yeah, it is…" Hiccup scratched his arm. "I mean, if you have something else planned, or you simply don't want to, I won't get mad!"

Jack chuckled, feeling the sweet sensation moving to his limbs and face, especially gathering in his cheeks and ears. Yeah, he was blushing, maybe even blushing furiously, with red colors splattered over his skin like he had a fever.

Hiccup was asking him to hang out! Well of course there will be other people around, but it still made him so darn happy!

"No, I don't have anything planned. I can go." Jack quickly said, feeling the excitement vibrating inside his chest, like he suddenly swallowed a beehive with thousands and thousands of bees buzzing happily inside.

"Great!" Hiccup said, sending him a warm grin.

"Yeah." Jack confirmed, clenching and unclenching his sweaty hands with that stupid, childish smile that didn't want to leave his mouth.

And then in this very moment they both heard the sound of the opening door.

"Hiccup, I'm home!"

He blinked, tearing his gaze away from Jack and looking back in the direction of the stairs.

"I'm coming!" He shouted back, feeling the weird knot he had in his throat untangling softly step after step with every passing second. He glanced back at Jack, smiling apologetically. "I'll be right back." He added and then turned on his heel to move down the stairs.

The further away Hiccup was getting, the calmer he was feeling. With every step down his heart was slowing down, his breath was evening out and his stomach didn't feel like there was something wrong with it.

Had he eaten something today that could make him feel like that? No, he didn't think so. At least he hoped so. A stomachache would definitely ruin the day.

He could see his father moving around the kitchen, unpacking food he had bought. Hiccup quickly approached him and grabbed one plastic bag to help with the groceries.

"Did you pick up Fishlegs?" His father suddenly asked, between putting away cans of sweet corn and peas on the higher shelves.

Hiccup could never reach there.

"Yeah, he is already upstairs." He answered, opening the fridge and putting two plastic cups of cream on the top shelf, standing on his tiptoes to do so.

"The ride was okay?"

"Yeah, no problems along the way." Or at least Fishlegs had told them so. "How was work?" Hiccup asked instead.

Stoick first mumbled something under his nose and only then he answered louder and more clearly:

"Ah, the same as always."

Hiccup wasn't sure how to answer that. Stoick rarely talked more about his work than a few words – and usually he was repeating himself. But Hiccup actually had made a small translator to know how his father's day went. The same as always translated into fine.

(And for example when Stoick said that he was tired, then the day was definitely bad.)

"Any plans for today?" Stoick instead continued the small conversation they had.

He had to be in a good mood. The fact that he had bought a box of ice cream confirmed Hiccup's suspicions. But he was glad.

"We're going to hang out with the twins and Snotlout a little bit in the evening." Hiccup answered, putting the vegetables into a plastic drawer inside the fridge.

"Are you planning to come back home tonight?" Stoick asked, raising his eyebrow.

Hiccup twitched, remembering the last time he had went out with the twins and Snotlout. And yeah they had ended in an emergency room.

Back then Hiccup of course had called his dad to inform him about the situation. But explaining to him that he won't be back home tonight, because his friend got in a fight was well… not what Hiccup had expected he would be doing ever in his life.

But with the twins he could be never sure what could happen.

"I mean, I plan on doing so." Hiccup answered truthfully. He even took out a mattress for Fishlegs to sleep on comfortably through the night. "But you know…"

"Yeah, the Thorstons' kids. I can understand. They are the exact copy of their parents." The man nodded, a ghost of a smirk tugging on his pale, barely visible lips.

Hiccup smiled under his nose. It was kinda amazing that their parents were also friends and had been hanging out as a group when they had been teenagers just like them.

At first, when Hiccup had been younger, he hadn't been really keen on making any friends. Especially with the twins and the rest of the group. Of course, he had been obliged to meet with them – every time their parents had visited each other – but their meetings always had ended in Hiccup running away and crying somewhere in the corner of the living room.

Right now Hiccup couldn't remember the exact point when it had changed. Maybe it wasn't even one specific point. It probably wasn't. It hadn't been like suddenly one day he had had good relations with the rest of the kids. But it probably had started with Astrid approaching him, after Snotlout had hit him maybe too hard, leaving a kinda awful bruise on his leg and Hiccup in reply had made three clawing marks on his cheek, which had bled quite a lot.

Their relationship had changed, transformed, from the dislike to friendship, almost like someone had told them – you are stuck together, so either you'll be hating each other for the rest of your lives or learn to like each other.

And so they had picked the second option.

"So yeah, hopefully everything will turn out okay. But Jack will be with us, so maybe he will tame them." Hiccup said, smiling to himself.

"Jack?" Stoick suddenly asked and – uh oh. "The one–"

"Yeah, that… that one." Hiccup quickly nodded, putting away the eggs on the middle shelf and taking a deep breath.

"Is he…" Stoick started, only to stop for a second, like he was trying to collect his thoughts. "Is he also upstairs?"

And like on cue Jack's and Astrid's booming laughter resonated in the air, making Hiccup flinch internally.

"Y-yeah…" He said, swallowing hard and then braced himself as he asked the next question. "Do you want to meet him?"

There was a short pause, a short moment, a slice of time when neither of them really talked. Or actually like Stoick didn't reply. They both were still moving around the kitchen, finishing unpacking things and stocking them on the shelves and in the cupboards.

For a second Hiccup thought that maybe his father hadn't heard him. But he had to. It wasn't like Hiccup whispered this question.

"Yeah, that would be nice."

Hiccup turned around to see Stoick putting the plastic bag into another bag they had under the sink.

"Okay." He nodded. "I'll be right back."

And with that Hiccup stomped to his room.

Jack and Astrid were laughing while rolling on the bed and it looked like the teen was trying to get the gamepad back from the girl. But the blonde was strongly holding onto the controller, keeping it hidden under her back.

When Hiccup entered they were still fighting over the device, but then Hiccup cleared his throat to get their attention. And something in his face, maybe in the twitch of his mouth or maybe in the look of his eyes, made them stop immediately.

(Just what kind of façade did he have?)

"Something's wrong?" Astrid asked, untangling herself from Jack, but still keeping the controller close to her, in case Jack would leap for it.

"No, nothing is wrong…" Hiccup said, glancing away when he sensed Jack looking curiously and worriedly at him. "It's just… My dad wants to meet you… Jack."

The ocean blue eyes widened for a second and the teen opened his mouth.

Astrid and Fishlegs both glanced at him with wide eyes. But when Fishlegs looked perplexed, Astrid's surprised look turned into a devilish and evil smirk.

"Ooohhh… the classic introduction of the boyfriend. Me like it."

Hiccup could do nothing more than facepalm.

(Even though some part of this sentence was kinda true. Just in the fake way. But Stoick didn't have to know about this. It was better if he knew as little about their plan as he could.)

Jack glanced at Astrid and then shoved her hard, chuckling under his nose when the girl almost fell down.

"Stop. You're scaring me! I want to live." Jack said, standing up from the bed and moving to Hiccup.

"Remember to maintain eye contact." Astrid shouted, taking out the controller and pressing a button on it to unlock the screen. With her leg she nudged Fishlegs – a movement which finally fished him out of his dazed state.

"I'll try." Jack said, glancing at the girl.

"And don't get scared!"

"Okay!"

And with that both Hiccup and Jack finally went out of the room, hearing a sudden clash of characters as Astrid and Fishlegs both returned to playing whatever game they had turned on.

For a few seconds they walked in silence, but before they reached the stairs, Jack opened his mouth:

"Should I… really be afraid?" He asked in this sort of small, raspy voice.

Hiccup could see Jack's hand twitching. Oh, so he was nervous. Damn you, Astrid! He knew she was teasing Jack, because she thought it was funny, but well…

"No, not really. Don't trust everything Astrid says." Hiccup shook his head slowly, grabbed the rail and started to slowly climb down. "My dad isn't that scary. I mean, he is big, but he is a good man. And no…" Hiccup quickly started, seeing in the dark that Jack was already opening his mouth. "… he won't kill you."

"Okay." The teen nodded and then exhaled slowly though his nose, shoulders slumping down, letting out the particles of tension which had been holding strongly onto the muscles. "… Can I ask how much he knows about me?"

Hiccup blinked and faltered his movements for a second, kinda surprised by this question. But to be honest, if he was in Jack's shoes, he would also be curious.

But well, North knew him and Stoick… Stoick didn't.

"Hmm… he knew I was teaching you math and that we sometimes hang out… And he knows I went out with you for a dinner…"

Jack nodded, looking like he was cataloging these information in his head, storing them in signed drawers.

After they stepped on the first floor, Jack stopped, took a deep breath, with his chest puffing out significantly, and then exhaled slowly though his partially open mouth. He looked at Hiccup and put on a kind smile.

"I'm ready."

Hiccup's heart hammered loudly inside his chest.

Why was his mouth suddenly so dry, like some kind of substance absorbed all the moisture he had before? Why did his tongue feel like it was made from solid copper? Why were his hands twitching and shivering, like there were short impulses running through his body?

"Okay." Hiccup breathed out after what felt like an eternity and they both moved to the kitchen.

Stoick was there, just as he had been before Hiccup had left, looking through cupboards, definitely searching for something. Or he was just pretending to search for something.

Hiccup and Jack stood there for a few seconds, stealing glances at each other, before Hiccup decided to clear his throat and get his dad's attention.

"Dad..." He said and, wow, why speaking was suddenly so hard. Damn, it was probably Astrid's talk which got to him. "… it's Jack, my friend." Hiccup moved a step away, pointing at the white haired teen. Then he caught Jack's gaze and pointed at his father. "Jack, this is my dad."

Jack made a step forward and showed the bulky man his hand, still grinning kindly and politely at him.

"Good afternoon, I'm Jackson Overland. I heard a lot of good things about you from Hiccup."

Stoick grabbed Jack's hand, squeezed and then shook it.

Hiccup kinda wondered if it was painful for Jack. But even if it was, his face didn't show anything, not even a twitch of an eyelid.

"Hello, I'm Stoick, Stoick Haddock, and well… I also heard a lot about you."

They ended the handshake.

"I hope only good things." Jack said, still looking right into Stoick's eyes, not even wavering.

And in this very moment Hiccup kinda forgot what he exactly had told his father about Jack. He could hope he only had told Stoick good things! But ugh… his memory was suddenly blank, empty, like the video feedback crashed and there was an error inside his brain.

Hiccup bit his bottom lip.

"Yeah." Stoick nodded and then clasped his hands together. "So you know each other from school, right?"

"Yep." Jack said, popping the last letter quite loudly.

"Jack is in higher grade." Hiccup added, at this point not even sure if he ever had mentioned this fact to his father. He could have or could have not done that – now it was a mystery.

"I may be in the higher grade, but Hiccup here is still smarter than me. So he helped me with math." Jack said, finally glancing at Hiccup and sending him a small reassuring twitch of his lips. "He is a great tutor."

"That's not true." Hiccup quickly added, looking away after he felt a warmth sensation pooling in his cheeks.

"It is. Astrid will also tell you that. And Snotlout probably too."

"Yeah, I'm probably not getting any compliments from Snotlout really." Hiccup smiled softly under his nose.

Jack chuckled at that and then looked back at the big man in front of him.

Stoick looked kinda lost in the situation – he was glancing between him and Jack with sort of puzzled look on his face. He was brushing his fingers together, like he wanted to get rid of an invisible dust residing there. His mouth moved – it opened a few times, trying to form words, but only after a third or fourth try some sound came out.

"You're an Overland, right?" Stoick asked, looking at the white haired teen who nodded in return. "Is North Overland your father?"

This definitely took Jack by a surprise as his eyes widened for a brief second. But they quickly returned to their normal size, with the mouth forming a wider smile, now kinda more honest than the previous one.

"Yeah, yes he is. Do you two know each other?" Jack inquired, looking really interested in that information.

Hiccup's ear perked up too, well metaphorically of course. He wasn't one of those people who could move their ears on cue.

"Oh yeah, we had a few business contracts in the past." Stoick said. "He is a good man, very hard-working too."

"That is true, sir."

Stoick was opening his mouth to say something, when they all heard Astrid's voice coming from somewhere near the stairs. When they all turned to the source of the noise, they saw the girl peeking at them, standing in the middle of the stairs.

"Uh sorry to interrupt, but the twins just called to say that they are free." Astrid said, looking at Hiccup first, before glancing back at his dad. "Oh, hello Mister Haddock!" She added, waving.

Stoick nodded.

"Hello Astrid."

Hiccup turned to his father.

"We should be going."

"Okay, don't let me stop you." Stoick said, with a small twitch of the corners of his mouth, forming a teeny-tiny smile.

Both he and Jack moved to the stairs, but Jack turned to Hiccup's father before he started climbing them.

"I was nice meeting you, sir!" He said in that always cheerful tone.

"Same here."

And with that they were both walking up the stairs.

Hiccup let out a long exhale. Jack kinda did too. Both their shoulders slumped down in synchronization as they both looked at each other.

"Okay, that was kinda nerve-wracking." Jack muttered, quiet enough so no one beside Hiccup would hear him.

"Yeah…" Hiccup agreed, brushing his fringe away.

"But to be honest your dad is kinda scary." Jack admitted. "I felt like he could read my entire life story from my face…"

Hiccup blinked and looked at Jack, who was still smiling, but the grin was smaller, almost hesitant, almost filled with fear and stress. Or maybe it contained all of those emotions, mingled together.

"But it went all right." Hiccup said, shoving Jack's arm with his shoulder a little.

Jack turned to him.

"You think?" He asked and there was a soft note, an accent at the last word, a hidden tone that made Hiccup's spine shiver.

It took him a little bit of time, a brief moment, to collect his thoughts and find a voice that got lost in his throat.

"Yeah, totally…" He answered breathlessly.

Jack grinned at him – his eyes shone in the darkness surrounding them and, oh, why Hiccup's heart suddenly thundered and thumped and drummed and beat so loudly inside his chest – like his own personal orchestra was giving a concert.

It kinda hurt.

But as fast as it appeared, it was gone with Jack turning around and entering Hiccup's room. He did it too, a second later, and almost immediately was whacked in the stomach by a pillow thrown by no one else than Astrid.

Hiccup yelped, even though it didn't hurt that much, and glanced up at Astrid, who was kneeling on the bed, and Jack, standing on the side. It looked like he was a victim of a bullet that was meant to hit Jack. Great.

"Took you long enough!" Astrid shouted from her place. "Also sorry, that was meant for Jack."

"I noticed that." Hiccup mumbled, straightening his body. Gladly it was a pillow and not something way heavier.

Fishlegs was already closing all tabs and games he had opened on Hiccup's laptop. How some of those games ran on this old piece of junk was beyond Hiccup's understanding and comprehending abilities – it probably was a miracle or Fishlegs' perseverance.

His computer wasn't the worst, it was simply old, so most of the cards and programs he had there weren't compatible with new games. It ran Excel just okay, so Hiccup was glad with that. What he would do without the reglinp function*?

"So where are we going?" He asked, passing Fishlegs to grab his backpack.

Inside the backpack he had a wallet and a few notebooks. He didn't really need them per se, but he liked to carry them around anyway.

"First we're going to grab something to eat." Astrid answered, slipping off the bed. "And then I guess we decide?"

"Sounds good enough." Hiccup said and then glanced at Jack. "Are you okay with that?"

"Yeah, sounds fun." Jack said, sending him another blinding and reassuring gaze.

Astrid turned to the white haired teen and showed him a row of white teeth forming an evil smirk.

"I hope you have insurance."

Jack looked quite disturbed.

Hiccup and Fishlegs had to snort at the look on his face, because – come on! – it was hilarious.

"And then I looked at this girl and was like…" Tuffnut started, bringing a slice of pizza to his mouth, but stopping in the end so he could make the face he was describing. "'What the fuck, dude', and she asked me to call the manager. So I did. Gladly Miguel was in work and he is totally cool, so I called him…"

Hiccup grabbed his own slice from the plate and lifted it to his mouth. He took a bite and munched on it slowly, enjoying the sour taste it was leaving on his tongue. But wait, this was missing something. Like very important ingredient.

He moved the slice away and looked at it. Yeah, it definitely was missing something – black olives. But where could they be? Hiccup remembered taking the piece with the biggest amount of those.

Oh… he knew where they were.

On Jack's slice. That sneaky bastard!

Hiccup lifted his gaze to stare at a victorious smirk dancing on Jack's lips who even dared to stare back at him. What the heck? That was plain rude!

Hiccup felt betrayed. He thought that he and Jack were friends, close friends even! But that was treachery! How could he? After what they had been through!?

Oh, Jack was already munching happily on his slice with the extra olives.

"…And she said 'I won't buy any food here ever again!" Tuffnut shouted, raising his voice to sound more feminine and flailing his hands around, pretending to be very irritated woman with a purse. Hiccup doubted that very irritated women with purses looked like that, but well… maybe this one did look like that. "And me and Miguel were like 'Fucking great, bye bitch!' but we couldn't say it out loud, but damn it would be nice!" Tuffnut finished his story by taking a big gulp of soda from his glass.

"So yeah, moral of the story, some people are fucking terrible." Ruffnut added, licking her lips and then brushing them additionally with her wrist.

"Oh, remember that one dude that came after Christmas? You know, that almost bald one!?" Snotlout shouted from the other end of the table, far away from Hiccup, but sitting close to Astrid.

Tuffnut waved his hands frantically as he tried to say something, but it was hard to do so with a mouth full of pizza.

Gladly Ruffnut quickly helped.

"Oh dude, yeah he was the worst. For a second I thought about spitting into his cup."

Ugh yikes, totally disgusting. Hiccup simply had to shudder at that image.

Tuffnut finally swallowed the bite he had in his mouth and then pointed at Snotlout with the rest of the slice, almost smacking Fishlegs in the face. Gladly the boy backed away.

"Yeah, I'm so glad I didn't see his mug after that." After that he huffed loudly and leaned back on the chair. "Man, I hate this job."

Astrid chuckled as Snotlout nodded so hard, he almost put his nose in his own piece.

"It sounds like fun actually." Jack, sitting next to Hiccup, pipped up, looking at Tuffnut with an amused grin.

"It's fun to tell the stories later, but when you're in the middle of such story you try so hard not to strangle the person." Tuffnut commented. "Though some people are pretty nice. Like this old grandpa and his boy scout kid! They always leave huge tips after the meal!"

"Oh yeah, I love them. The small dude is pretty rad!" Ruffnut added, next to Astrid, grinning at them widely.

"So yeah, there are some good parts of this job." Tuffnut said and shrugged at the end. "But they pay us nicely and we need this money. A few more months, maybe a year or so and we'll be able to pay for college." He high-fived his sister who yipped happily and then turned to the white haired teen. "What about you, Frost? What are you planning to do after school?"

Hiccup more or less felt Jack tense than actually saw him doing that. His hand stopped in the middle of moving the rest of the slice to his mouth.

He looked up at the teen.

"Ehm…" Jack started and then licked his lips slowly, like he tried to buy himself some time before he would give the answer. "I'm not sure really?"

"How about some sport scholarship?" Ruffnut inquired, throwing her one hand on the back of the chair and glancing at Jack. "I'm sure you could get one."

"Maybe." Jack mused, but Hiccup knew he didn't give this idea much thought. "But I don't think I want to focus my life around sport."

"I can understand that." Tuffnut continued. "Then some other plans for the future?"

Jack moved his hand down. He bit the inside of his cheek and then frowned, mulling the idea – the question – over in his head.

To be honest neither he nor Jack talked about the future. It looked even like the other teen avoided talking or even thinking about it. But he couldn't do that anymore. He was in his last year of High School and the end of the semester was getting closer and closer with every passing day.

Maybe they should talk about it?

"Ehh… not really?" Jack finally murmured, looking up with a kinda sheepish smile smeared over his lips.

"Well any time is good to start thinking about it." Tuffnut said, raising his glass and pointing it at Jack. "But I'm sure you'll come up with something."

The grin was still present on Jack's tensed face as he made a small toast with the blond haired teen and then took a sip.

"So what are we going to do after that?" Ruffnut asked, looking at them with questioning glance.

Hiccup shrugged and glanced up at Jack to see he did the same. The rest of the team also started looking at each other.

"Okay, maybe we'll go to the cinema? I have a group coupon!" Ruffnut said, suddenly lightening up like a luminol after adding an oxidizing agent*.

Tuffnut nodded, Fishlegs mumbled some approval between the last bites of his food and Astrid and Snotlout also agreed on the idea (though Astrid a little bit hesitantly, as she didn't like going to cinemas that much, but well the tickets were cheaper).

"Sure, we can go." Jack nodded.

Well, Hiccup decided that it couldn't hurt him to watch some movie with his friends. When was the last time he actually had been in a cinema with someone?

(The last time had been with Jack, a few months ago.)

So they finished eating the pizza, paid the waitress (leaving a quite good tip, maybe the service wasn't the best, but the woman looked tired as hell) and then went out with Tuffnut and Snotlout laughing loudly about something.

Hiccup was between Jack and Astrid, who after exiting pushed him a little into the white haired teen's direction. Hiccup looked back at her with a raised eyebrow and she looked at him, then at Jack, only to look at the twins and Snotlout in front of them, tilting her head in the process.

Oh… Oh!

Hiccup glanced up at Jack, who looked down at him.

There was a soft stillness in the air – a heartbeat of a pause – and then Jack's hand brushed his in a quiet, muted question.

Hiccup's stomach did a weird thing. Like kinda squeezing thing, like it clenched and twitched inside his body.

He swallowed hard and then nodded, not significantly, but softly enough that only Jack saw this.

And maybe it was only his imagination, maybe it was a figment his mind put, played in front of his eyes, but he had a feeling that he saw Jack's smile softening, losing all those particles of unsureness and fakeness it had held until now.

Jack took his hand and intertwined their fingers together and oh… Hiccup felt all warm inside. All fuzzy and vibrating and reverberating and pulsating and oscillating inside. Like every molecule and atom and proton and neutron in his palm was rotating, changing and swirling. Like electrons were jumping from the lower levels of energy to the higher ones and dropping down constantly – absorbing and emitting power alternately. He felt like his nerves were permeated to the maximum with dozens and dozens of different information. Like every sensation was doubled or maybe even tripled. His brain was conscious of every soft touch, of every delicate brush of Jack's thumb on his skin, of every chilly lick of the spring wind on his palm.

It was something entirely new and something still familiar.

"Everything's okay?"

Hiccup lifted his head up and, wow, he had been staring at their connected hands. Damn, that had to be weird.

But gladly everyone were in front of them, so hopefully no one had seen Hiccup staring at their hands, like he had been seeing them for the very first time in his entire life.

"Yeah, yeah, I just… got lost in thoughts." Hiccup said, licking his lips at the end.

Jack smiled at him and the waved their hands, like kids during a fieldtrip.

Hiccup chuckled under his nose at that movement. Seriously.

"Right, Hiccup?"

He lifted his head to stare at Tuffnut, who was looking back at him.

"What me?"

The blond haired teen rolled his eyes and huffed:

"Just say that you agree!"

"I don't even know what I'm agreeing with." Hiccup said, raising his one eyebrow.

"Just say that you agree!" Tuffnut groaned.

"With what!?"

"Just do it!"

"Okay! Yeah, I agree!"

Tuffnut grinned at him and then turned to Astrid.

"See, Hiccup agrees with me!"

They were impossible.

Hiccup huffed under his nose and hid his mouth in his scarf. Seriously, he probably will never understand what was inside the twins' minds. But to be honest, he wasn't sure if he really wanted to know. Probably the best computers couldn't crack that enigma.

In just a few minutes they were in front of the Mall and were walking up to the highest floor, where the cinema was. Of course, twins wouldn't be twins, if they didn't actually try to go up on an escalator that was, well, moving down. So the rest of them had to wait for them at least for four or so minutes on the correct floor.

"Are they close?" Astrid asked, tapping her foot.

Fishlegs moved to the rails and looked down.

"No, they're on the second floor… Oh, wait… a security guard is approaching."

Snotlout immediately grabbed the rails, leaned above and shouted.

"Run!"

Hiccup sighed loudly and with his free hand he massaged his temples. The grip on his other hand tightened in rhythm with Jack's laughter as Snotlout started to give the position of the enemy away.

(ba-dum)

Hiccup blinked.

The twins gladly, and finally, reached the last floor, panting and huffing loudly, trying desperately to catch their breaths.

"Dude, that security guard was fast!" Tuffnut rasped, leaning onto his sister's shoulder.

"Yeah, he almost caught us!" Ruffnut added, brushing away the sweat forming on her forehead. During this process she glanced down at the floors beneath them and visibly paled. "You know what? We should be going." She said, moving from under his brother arm and urging everyone to enter the cinema.

Even though it was a fairly late hour, the cinema was bustling with life and people standing in lines to get tickets to anticipated movies. They quickly moved around the crowd, hiding behind people or some groups, when they saw a familiar uniform standing in the entrance to the cinema and lustering the crowd.

Everyone stopped breathing for a brief moment, waiting, trying to check if the security guard noticed them.

But the man only frowned and then, after a few painful, motionless seconds, turned around on his heel to stomp away, clearly agitated about his lost track.

Ruffnut exhaled loudly through her nose.

"That was close." She mumbled to her brother, who nodded, but looking clearly happy and excited.

"Erm, excuse me? Is everything alright?"

Hiccup lifted his head and only now noticed that they hid near a cash register, or well, near some group of teenagers, but now they were gone so Hiccup and the rest were the next one in line.

Gladly the rest of the gang also noticed this and they sprang to their feet, some of them correcting clothes or coughing nervously.

"Oh yeah, yeah, totally." Tuffnut quickly said, stepping closer to the girl behind the counter.

"Okay…" The girl definitely didn't look convinced, but she was probably tired and decided not to ask about this. "What can I help you with today?"

Ruffnut pushed her brother aside and stepped closer. She fiddled a little with her satchel, clearly searching for something that probably was at the very bottom of it. After a few seconds she took out a crumpled something and handed it to the girl.

The cashier took it hesitantly and unwrapped, slowly and delicately, like she was sure it could suddenly attack her by spitting highly concentrated acid into her eyes. But gladly nothing like this happened and after smoothening the paper, she nodded to herself.

"Okay, so that will be…" The girl lifted her head from the coupon inside her hands and then mumbled to herself. "… six, no, seven people, right?"

Hiccup quickly counted them in his head. Yeah, seven.

Ruffnut nodded.

"Yeah."

"So this will be 70% off the final price. So for which movie is this coupon for?"

Ruffnut was already confidently opening her mouth to answer that actually simple question, when she stopped and glanced at her brother.

"What do we want to watch?" She asked.

Tuffnut shrugged.

"Something with action!"

"And blood!' Snotlout, who was standing next to Astrid and Fishlegs, added loudly.

Hiccup bit his lip. Okay he could deal with some action movie. It wasn't his favourite type, but it wasn't a bad choice.

"Maybe some superheroes?" Fishlegs added, looking up at the blonde haired girl. "There is this new movie that came out."

"Something without cheesy romance in it!" Astrid said.

"I want some comedy!" Jack pipped from the back.

Hiccup could watch almost everything. Well, almost everything…

The girl behind the counter looked at them and grimaced.

"I'm sorry, but right now nothing that would please you all is played." She said, tapping her fingers on the counter slowly.

"Hmm then what is the next movie in line?" Ruffnut asked, finally glancing up at the screen above the cash registers which showed the list of movies played today in the cinema.

Hiccup did too. Hmm… there wasn't much to pick really. Some random action movie, some cheesy romance drama – ugh, nothing seemed too interesting for him.

The woman looked down at the screen in front of her eyes and looked through the timetable.

Tuffnut suddenly elbowed his sister, who turned to him with one raised eyebrow. He pointed with his head at the entrance to the cinema where the same guard with two of his friends were standing there, looking at the crowd suspiciously.

Uh oh…

"The next is…" The girl started, to be almost immediately interrupted by the blonde.

"Great, we can watch it!"

The girl looked perplexed and surprised, but she started to print the tickets.

"It will be eight dollars and twenty nine cents, ma'am…"

Ruffnut quickly threw a ten dollar bill on the counter and grabbed the tickets when a loud and quite angry shout resonated in the air, above the customers' heads.

"Hey you! Stop right there!"

"Run!"

And so they did, with the cashier's voice following them.

"Room number nine! Have a nice movie!"

They maneuvered around the crowd, pushing and bending their bodies to the limits, trying to get away from the huffing and panting security guards who also started to push through the crowd to get to them.

Seriously, Hiccup wanted to spend one normal evening with the twins. Why did it always turn out like that! Couldn't they enjoy a movie without being followed by the security guards!

"Hello, can I see your–"

Ruffnut pushed the seven tickets into the cinema's worker hands.

He looked kinda surprised, but then counted the tickets, then them and ripped the tickets.

"Have a nice movie. Room number nine. The movie starts in five minutes."

"Thanks dude!" Tuffnut shouted as they ran through the gate to the correct room.

"No problem!"

Only when they were in front of the screening room, Hiccup dared to look back. He saw the three security guards standing near the gate, talking angrily with the worker who allowed them to step inside.

"Hiccup, come on!" It was Jack, tugging them into a dark room.

He quickly looked back and followed the dark shadows of his friends inside the room.

There wasn't much clients in the screening room, though the three back rows were full.

"Which row?" Snotlout asked, leaning to Ruffnut.

The girl lifted the tickets and moved a little bit away, so the light coming from commercials would help her read the number.

"Uhh… seven." She murmured. "I think… Seats from eleven to five."

The group moved up the stairs to the correct row and slowly started to sit down on their assigned seats.

Hiccup and Jack were at the very end. Hiccup was the first one to enter the row, so he sat down next to Fishlegs, which left Jack to be the one at the very end.

Gladly soon after they were sitting in the seats, taking off their jackets and muting their phones. Well, that was until everyone heard Ruffnut muttering to them.

"Hide, hide."

Hiccup turned around to see some shadows slowly creeping into the screening room. Everyone immediately sat down. Even moved further so the seats in the front rows would at least cover some of them.

Shit, the security guard was very persistent. Maybe it was his first day at job. Or maybe the twins already had goofed enough around the Mall and the security had enough of this. Both options seemed plausible.

Hiccup stopped breathing for a second as he saw the dark silhouettes moving in front of the screen. There was visible hesitation in their movements and it looked like – gosh, darn it – they wanted to climb the stairs. But suddenly the screen got dark and for a brief few seconds only sweet stillness and silence hugged them. That was until the movie started playing, first showing the logo of the producer, accompanied by loud music.

Please, please, please…

The silhouettes looked at the rows and then at the screen. It seemed like one of them shrugged and said something to the other, because soon after they were moving slowly to the door.

Saved at last! Finally!

(Though at this point Hiccup wouldn't be surprised if one of the security guards waited for them after the movie. Hopefully not.)

Now he could fully focus on the movie starting on the screen. With all this running he hadn't even had a chance to look at the movie title above the door or to ask Ruffnut what they will be watching – though he wasn't sure anyone knew actually.

Well he could always sleep through it. He only hoped that it wasn't a horror movie.

But unfortunately for Hiccup it seemed like life and luck liked to play pranks and jokes on him, because already fifteen minutes into the movie he felt like he could die of a heart attack, with his hands moving around himself, trying to find some kind of comfort, something that he could squeeze (or strangle, like the twins' necks) during scary moments.

There were blood and screams on the screen and he could hear Ruff, Tuff and Snotlout snorting loudly in their seats and, damn, Hiccup could faint any second now. How could he even sleep with the loud shrieks coming from the speakers!?

Oh gosh, oh gosh, oh gosh…

His hands gripped the armrest tightly as he closed his eyes for the quite brutal scene happening on the screen. His breath hitched in his throat, because, wow, that looked way too realistic, even though he knew the blood was probably potassium thiocyanate mixed with iron(III) chloride or iron nitrate. But knowing it and seeing it on the screen were two different things!

Then there was soft air tickling his skin, near his ear, and it took a lot of Hiccup's willpower to not suddenly yelp and jump in his seat.

"Do you want to leave?"

Hiccup turned his head and stared at the concerned blue eyes, sparkling at him in the darkness.

Hiccup wasn't sure. On one side he wanted nothing more than to leave the screening room, but on the other the plot kinda started to interest him. Even though it was scaring him.

Plus there was a chance that the security guard was still outside the door. Even though Hiccup wasn't sure whether the man had seen the rest of the group, he didn't really want to test his luck anymore today.

"N-no… I'm…" He took a deep breath and then flinched when a woman shrieked on the screen while hiding under a bed. "…okay."

Hiccup knew Jack didn't believe him – it was pretty visible in the small twitch of his lips, not really moving higher in a smile, but in a worried grimace. Well, Hiccup himself didn't believe his own words, so well, that counted for something.

He slowly exhaled through his nose and turned his head to stare at the screen. This was only a movie, right? It wasn't reality. It all consisted of a lot of special effects and actors playing their roles. He knew it was all a play. So why was it still so terrifying?

There was another splatter of gruesome blood on the screen when Hiccup felt his fingers being lifted. His eyes wandered to his hand to see Jack slowly, but steadily, sneaking his palm under Hiccup's own to intertwine their fingers in the end.

They didn't have to put on a play. It was really dark in the cinema, plus the twins and Snotlout were sitting too far away to see what they were doing.

He lifted his questioning gaze at the white haired teen, who whispered to him:

"Squeeze my hand whenever you feel scared. I heard it helps." Jack said, the same kind and soft look blinked in the darkness of the screening room, making something inside Hiccup's chest twitch at that. "Well, it always helps Emma that is." He added, like an afterthought, shrugging slowly.

Hiccup nodded, not really knowing what to add or why this something was still inside his chest. The only thing that he was conscious of was that it was warm and not as uncomfortable as he thought it would be.

The movie was still terrifying, but the steady touch of Jack's hand and the calmness spreading from his fingers to Hiccup's arm made him not jump high into the air after every scream.

Though he was still sure his grip had been way too tight a few times. The nail marks he saw on Jack's skin later quite confirmed his suspicions.

"Well that was fun!" Ruffnut said, stretching her hands above her head as the closing credits rolled on the screen with chilly music playing from the speakers.

The rest of people in the back rows slowly started to get up from their seats and collect their things – jackets, empty boxes of popcorn and bottles or cups of cola.

"Meh, I've seen better." Tuffnut added, slowly standing up from his seat and leaning to grab his jacket.

Hiccup still tried to get rid of some of the images from his head, but he had hard time doing so. He shook his head, closing his eyes and then exhaling slowly (or trying to) through his mouth.

"What do you think, Jack?" It was Ruffnut, turning to them and grinning from ear to ear.

The white haired teen leaned so he could look at the twins from behind Hiccup and gave them the thumbs up using only his left hand.

"It was cool."

"And what do you think, Hiccup?" Snotlout asked, looking at him with mischief sparkling in his eyes.

Hiccup glared at his cousin and he only got a chortle in reply.

They knew he hated those kind of movies. And even though this time they hadn't picked this movie on purpose, Hiccup was sure they had been pretty delighted when it had turned out to be a horror movie.

The mischievous glint hiding behind their eyes told him the truth.

They all stood up when most people from the back rows went out already. It took them several minutes to put on their jackets, step down, say goodbye to the worker and march through the dark corridor.

Ruffnut was the first one to step outside and she conspicuously glanced around. Oh, so Hiccup wasn't the only one thinking that the security guard from before could be there, waiting to snatch them after the finished movie.

Gladly it looked like no one similar to him was there, because Ruffnut glanced back and ushered them outside.

They all exited the dark hall and Hiccup exhaled through his nose, feeling the tension slipping away from his shoulder. He was glad that it was over and he could try to forget about the movie, gruesome scenes and screams that were still kinda pounding at the back of his head.

They moved through the main part of the cinema. There were definitely fewer people than a few hours ago, but Hiccup wasn't that much surprised. It was already pretty late and even the cinema had to close down at some point. Most of the customers were exiting the last movies projected during this day and were chatting between each other as they all moved to the exit.

Ruffnut, Tuffnut and Snotlout were at the front, giggling and talking about something, pointing at someone in the crowd, only to burst in laughter a second later. Astrid shook her head at that sound and then turned to Fishlegs, who was walking next to her.

Fishlegs then shrugged and glanced at Hiccup, walking on his left.

"Are we planning to watch something today?" He asked.

"Hmm, we can." Hiccup mumbled. To be honest, watching something that wasn't terrifying sounded delightful. Maybe this way he could get rid of the terrible memories resurfacing in his brain.

Though he was sure he won't be able to sleep through the whole night for a few days. Damn. He was so happy Fishlegs was spending the night over at his house today.

"Got something particular in mind?" Hiccup added, when Fishlegs didn't prolong this topic.

"Nah, I'm fine with anything." Fishlegs said, mouth twitching, forming a soft smile. Oh, maybe he only proposed this because of Hiccup? But there was a quick flutter of his eyelids and then he opened his mouth to speak. "Wait, maybe we can watch–"

But his proposition was dulled and drowned by Tuffnut's loud, booming voice, soaring above their heads.

"Isn't that Bunny and Heather standing there?!"

Hiccup lifted his face quickly in a weird combination with something tightening around his hand. His eyes moved around the surroundings, first focusing on the blond haired boy and his pointing hand only to move in the direction the finger was showing.

And it indeed was true. A few meters away from them there were two silhouettes, walking side by side. They both turned their heads to the group and even from his position Hiccup could immediately say that Tuffnut was right.

The blackhaired girl next to the taller boy lifted her hand and waved. They both moved in their direction.

All of them stopped walking and turned to Heather and Aster. And with every step of the two silhouettes – getting closer and closer – something inside of Hiccup was crumbling softly and slowly. Piece after piece, some wall inside of Hiccup was rumbling, with dusty particles of sand rising up into the atmosphere, making everything hazy and blurry.

Jack's hand was suddenly cold and there was a soft tug, a hesitation in the uneven rhythm of his fingers tapping on Hiccup's skin.

His mouth was dry. He could sense the choppiness beneath his tongue as he licked his lips, but he was breathing normally, even though his throat clenched a little at the sight of Aster and Heather approaching them.

"Hey, my man! Why are you two doing here?!" Tuffnut said and then patted the taller teen on the back. "We didn't see each other in ages! Heather, you too! Looking beautiful as always!" Tuffnut moved to the girl and sent her a wink.

Heather chuckled, but gave the blond haired teen a small hug.

"It's good to see you all too." She added, brushing away the black lock behind her ear and then looking at every one of them.

Her gaze stopped for a longer moment at the white haired teen, but then it moved to land on Hiccup, past him and to the rest of the crew.

Hiccup lifted his eyes and he crossed his gaze with Aster's, whose mouth twitched a little as he gave a short nod at him. The walls inside Hiccup's chest trembled, shivered and another cloud of ash and dust arose inside, but… weirdly smaller. Like someone drove through a field, leaving only a trail after themselves.

"So, you didn't answer my question!" Tuffnut moved away and then eyed both of them. "What are you two doing here?" Then he gasped when Ruffnut jabbed him in the ribs. "Hey!"

"Can't you see they are on a date and we're interrupting?!" The girls hissed, trying to sound quiet, but everyone actually heard her.

There was a sudden silence overpowering the whole group, when everyone looked at Heather and Aster.

Then all hell broke loose.

"Oh my gosh! No – you're –"

"– wrong. We aren't on a date! We just –"

"– met while buying tickets! And we found out we were going to – "

"– the same movie! So we decided to watch it together! – "

"– Yeah, as friends –"

"– only friends!"

Hiccup heard and saw Aster babbling for the very first time in his entire life. Usually he was calm, collected and stoic, but now he was moving his hands around, trying to explain the situation and glancing warily at his companion every few seconds.

Heather's face was red, and when she was finally done, she hid her face in her hands to exhale loudly.

"You got it wrong." She murmured between her fingers.

And they all just stood there, staring at the pair, not really knowing what to say and how to comment that.

"Oh uh… " Tuffnut started, scratching the back of his head, clearly not knowing how to react. But then he twitched and turned to his sister. "See! You were wrong. They were on a platonic date!"

Ruffnut blinked, what was followed by a huff.

"Okay." She raised her hands, surrendering herself.

Tuffnut puffed out his chest and grinned from ear to ear, while Heather and Aster just stood there, glancing at each other, not really knowing what to do. There was a pinkish smudge splattered over their cheeks.

There was a soft echo inside Hiccup's chest. He stared at Aster, only to glance at Heather, but in the end his eyes always returned to the male closer to him. There was a weird sensation spreading in his chest, starting from his lungs (or maybe heart, maybe it was starting all from the heart) and moving through his nerves to his limbs. A weird uncomfortable sensation, a weird clenching pain, tugging on something inside of him – like a kid trying to get their parents attention by yanking the pants.
It wasn't a nice feeling – a kinda painful one, with the small prickles accumulating inside. There was a soft beep – a sudden echo of static inside his brain – as his mind tried to understand what was happening with his body. It tried to combine the signals with their meanings to explain why he was feeling like that.

Hiccup knew what it was. It was a negative feeling, but not a mean negative, more like a sad negative, the one that eats you alive, bit after bit, piece after piece.

(But that wasn't the most astonishing thing about it. Because damn, Hiccup knew he would act like that, he knew his heart would start going sorta crazy, sorta mad, but clearly sad. But there was a teeny–tiny thing that was off, that was messing up the signals and calculations, that was bringing chaos in his brain's processes which tried to understand the situation.)

Jack's clenched their intertwined hands. Hiccup shook his head and turned to glance up at the boy, who was looking at him with a really weird expression. It was a mixture of different emotions swirling around his façade, inside his eyes, sparkling and blinking, appearing and disappearing, being born and dying out. It was a storm, a heavy, uncontrollable reaction with an unknown equilibrium.

But there was one emotion stronger than the others – worry.

The conversation was still going above their heads, but Hiccup didn't really listen to it.

And Hiccup's brain kinda short-circuited. It gave a soft beep as it shut down and then came back, starting all programs once again. His heart swelled, like it tried to take a big breath and, oh, that… that one was painful.

(Way worse than whatever he had been feeling a few seconds prior.)

Hiccup wanted to get rid of the small hesitation in the smile – so so fake now – on Jack's lips. He wanted to get rid of the twitches, of those dull eyes, of those creases smeared over Jack's forehead.

But he couldn't do much right now, especially with the twins and Heather around, so he only smiled back at Jack, showed him that he was okay and he had nothing to worry about.

He softly brushed his thumb on Jack's cool skin.

Apparently the twins quickly forgot about the previous topic and started to talk about school and teachers. It was pretty visible that the twins and Snotlout were enamored with the meeting. Between their shifts at work they didn't have much time to hang out with other people, especially with the ones that weren't their closest friends, so they grabbed every occasion to talk and catch up.

Heather laughed at some joke Snotlout said – and the redness returned to her face, but it was a nice color. It fitted her. Her eyes sparkled with mirth as she tried to regain her breath back.

It was a nice view. Kinda calming one.

The small crowd around them was thinning out, to this point only a few people still roamed around. The workers started giving them weird looks – mostly tired ones, almost pleading them to finally get out, so they could close for the day and go back to their homes.

Astrid nudged Tuffnut and whispered something in his ear.

"Oh, yeah, true." The boy said. "We should be going. Are you going with us?"

Aster quickly shook his head, glancing down at the girl standing next to him.

"I have my car here and I promised Heather to drive her home."

Tuffnut nodded and grinned at him. Heather and Dagur didn't particular live in the same neighborhood as them, so they wouldn't be able to walk with them that far.

They all decided to move when Snotlout spotted some worker approaching them, because at this point they were the only ones still left inside the cinema. They quickly moved to the emergency stairs, because the main part of the Mall was already closed, so they couldn't go out through it. Their journey outside was filled with soft conversations and laughter jumping off the walls.

Hiccup talked with Fishlegs about the movies they could watch in the evening with Astrid sometimes pipping up to give a few good ideas. Jack talked a little bit with Aster, but the teen was mostly captured by the trio. Well, it wasn't surprising. Jack had Aster everyday to talk with and they not so much.

Soon they were outside, in the parking lot, where they said goodbyes to Aster and Heather, who then moved slowly to the last cars still parked there. They all observed the pair getting into one and driving away, giving them one loud honk as a farewell sign.

"I still don't fully believe they weren't on a date." Ruffnut said when the car disappeared behind a corner.

"You got a boyfriend and suddenly you don't believe in platonic dates!?" Tuffnut looked at her, with one eyebrow raised high on his forehead.

They slowly started moving in the same direction, getting on the streets of Burgess, illuminated by the soft hue coming from the street lamps above their heads.

"I believe in them!" Ruffnut quickly said, raising her hands like she wanted to defend herself. "I just don't believe they were on a platonic date."

Hiccup lifted his head, just in time to see Jack's biting his bottom lip and furrowing his eyebrows. He looked like he was thinking heavily about something, with ideas and possibilities running through his mind like electrons.

"Okay! Stop! Whether they were on a date or not is not our concern." Astrid quickly said, closing her eyes and sighing heavily. "So can we just stop talking about it?"

Tuffnut and Ruffnut both glanced at her, but then shrugged and changed the topic.

In just several minutes they were out of the main city center and were roaming around the suburbs of Burgess. They stopped on a crosswalk and said goodbyes to the twins and Snotlout who were living in a little bit different direction.

"Bye, we have to repeat it sometimes soon!" Ruffnut yelled loudly, even when she was only standing a few meters away.

"Totally!" Added Tuffnut.

"Sleep well, Hiccup!" Snotlout added, staring at him with that ever knowing smirk.

Oh, how Hiccup wanted to brush it off, probably with his fists – even though he knew he couldn't punch well or strongly in the end, but the satisfaction would be enough.

So only the four of them were left.

They decided to walk Astrid home, who was living a little bit further away. Fishlegs moved to the front, so he could talk freely with the girl, which left Hiccup and Jack at the back.

Hiccup was keen on walking quite close to his friends in front, but Jack looked like he tried to slow down their pace, so there would be a small gap between them. Their feet shuffled slowly, making the pair walk further and further away, but not so far away that they won't be able to hear the front.

Hiccup looked up at the white haired teen walking next to him.

"Everything's okay?" He asked in a whisper.

"I wanted to ask you the same thing." Jack said, the smile he had on his lips until now dropped down, leaving only a trace of it being there, hiding in the smoothened wrinkles near his dimples.

Hiccup blinked, kinda taken aback. Why would Jack ask him that? Nothing had happened – like nothing major had happened lately. There had been a few bumps in the road, but it was typical Hiccup's bad luck. So what was Jack asking about?

"Erm, why wouldn't I be?" Hiccup inquired, tilting his head a little bit.

It was now Jack's turn to look kinda taken aback by Hiccup's response.

"Because well… because of Aster." He finally murmured, eyes looking away to stare at the duet walking in front of them, who didn't seem like they noticed Jack and Hiccup walking further away.

Oh.

Oh! Now it made sense!

But with this revelation a sudden burst of something warm filled Hiccup's chest. The sensation, which had been crystallized until now, sublimated and started to spread further and further in his body with every new particle expanding inside his chest. Hiccup felt the joy slowly overtaking his heart.

(Because it had to be joy, nothing else could be so positive and so fulfilling than simple happiness.)

Of course, seeing Aster with Heather had hurt, but… the pain hadn't been as big as Hiccup had thought it could be. It had been maybe an uncomfortable prickle, resonating somewhere inside his bones. It hadn't been a sudden bullet shot through his heart, he hadn't felt the need to cry, he hadn't felt nothing more than a small, sudden pang.

Everything inside of him had been dulled – yeah, that was a fitting word here.

"I'm okay." Hiccup said, looking up at Jack and hoping that the smile he had on his face was reassuring.

Because it was true. Hiccup was okay.

"Are you sure?" Jack asked, looking like he didn't fully believe him.

"Yeah, Jack I really am."

Jack nodded. Then it looked like he wanted to add something more, because he was already opening his mouth, yet the words were stopped by the voice coming from the front:

"You know you don't have to hold hands anymore, right? The twins and Snotlout have already gone home."

Hiccup blinked and lifted his head to look at Fishlegs, who was glancing back at them, only to direct his gaze down at their connected hands.

Oh, Fishlegs was right. All this time Hiccup had been holding Jack's hand and he hadn't really noticed it.

Jack also was looking down at their connected palms and intertwined fingers with kinda surprised look on his face.

"You're right." Jack said and then let go of Hiccup's hand.

And this time the feelings – kinda similar, yet so different, the ones he had previously felt when he had seen Aster with Heather – rushed through his mind and chest, making it clench and twirl painfully inside his body.

What was wrong with him nowadays? Why was he acting like that?

It was weird. Just a few months ago holding Jack's hand had been an uncomfortable feat – with Hiccup wanting nothing more than to break it, because it had been too much, too awkward and too distressing.

And now, when Jack's hand was hanging limply next to his body, Hiccup wanted to reach out and take it back – to wrap his own palm around Jack's hand once again.

It was something strange, not in the bad way, and something entirely new, both in the same time.

Hiccup wasn't sure what to think about all of this anymore.

Author's note:

Heeeeey, I'm finally updating another chapter! I'm actually really hyped for updating the very next one, because you know… Nooo, I can't give too many spoilers! XDDDD

Also I finally kinda planned the whole story and it should have around 25 chapters =D!

And as always very short science facts:

*reglinp function – a function in Excel which allows you to get a lot of details about the linear function of some data! Saved my ass a lot of times! xD

*luminol after adding an oxidizing agent – after adding the oxidizing agent the luminol gives this kinda blue glow. It looks amazing. Check it out!

And answers:

Anhi Vann – Ahhh I'm so glad to hear that! Especially as I felt that this story was lacking some warm friendship moments, so I had to add this! =DDD Thank youuuu :D!

Dragon Age Inquisition – I already answered you, but I'm going to do it again! Thank youuuuu =D!

Hope to see you again soon! =D