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.

Snell's law - the ratio of the sines of the angles of incidence and refraction is constant for all incidences in any given pair of media for electromagnetic waves of a definite frequency.

Hiccup should be really surprised by his revelation.

However he weirdly wasn't. He stared at the results of the analysis and felt his heart hammering inside his chest, and yet he wasn't taken aback by what he saw, by what he felt.

And he felt a vibrating warmness spreading through his chest, some pleasant, sizzling reaction, some excitement, some electricity running through his body, electrons jumping onto higher levels and falling down and yet…

He felt comfortable like that.

Maybe the fact that he was okay with it surprised him the most. Not the fact that he liked Jack, but the fact that it felt okay to feel like that, that it felt good to read these kind of conclusions which had been thrown at him by an old, rusty machine inside his head.

Liking Jack felt comfortable.

Hiccup didn't like when people touched him. He didn't like their hands touching his hair, shoulders or hands. He didn't like when people hugged him, when they were giving him high fives or forced to remain close. As hard as he could he tried to remain far away from any personal contact.

But when Jack held him like that, he didn't feel like he wanted to move away. He didn't feel the need to scatter or brush these hands away. No, he felt like he could, maybe even wanted to stay like this for a little more.

And when Jack tilted his head, smiling softly at him, with Hiccup's fingers still holding onto the white fringe, he felt his heart fluttering inside his chest.

He really liked Jack.

(The machine inside his head beeped approvingly and then spurted a long paper filled with diagrams and graphs with maximums and minimums of functions in different points.)

What should he do from now on?

First of all, this probably will mess their plan a lot. They hadn't agreed on 'no feelings' rule per se. But both he and Jack knew it was there. It was only a plan that was supposed to help them get away from other problems. It was only a play, nothing more, nothing less.

No one was supposed to develop a crush.

Oh no, this was bad, this was really bad. This could mess their plan gravely. It could bring chaos into it. It could complicate a lot of things! No, this was bad, this wasn't good. This was a disaster. Hiccup couldn't deal well with crushes!

Especially if he had to pretend he was fake dating his crush!

"What are you thinking about?" Jack asked, grinning at him and slowly tightening the grip of their small embrace.

Hiccup wasn't sure what to do. He wasn't sure what kind of façade he was making that made Jack ask this question. Mostly he wasn't sure how he should act from now!

But Jack had asked him a question and he still didn't answer. How could he even answer? How should he answer? He couldn't tell Jack that he was thinking about him!

Gladly his stomach helped him as it growled loudly.

"I was thinking that I may be a little hungry." Hiccup managed to say, somehow pushing the words through his throat.

Jack blinked and then chuckled loudly, throwing his head back and letting Hiccup's hand fall down on his chest.

The sound of his laughter resonated in Hiccup's lungs. It was like a sudden burst of warm air after exiting a cold building. It was like a short gust of warmness after opening the oven.

Hiccup really liked it. It made something swell inside his chest.

No, stop, Hiccup had to stop this program and its protocols. He had to stop the sudden warmness spreading through his body, making him want to actually inch forward and not move back. Just how he was supposed to do.

Jack can't know.

"Well I can't say that I don't feel the same." Jack said, smiling down at him. "Because I do."

Okay, this was good. Or maybe Jack was sending him signals to step, to move, to push himself away. But he was holding so dearly onto him and Hiccup actually didn't mind. No, he had to move away, before he would lose himself, before this program would take control over his brain.

Hiccup slowly lifted himself from Jack's chest. The hand embracing his stomach fell down and landed on the quilt next to him as Hiccup sat on the bed and then slowly stood up. This time the world didn't start to swirl, though Hiccup still had some kind of a hazy feeling at the back of his skull.

"Maybe we'll find something to eat in kitchen."

He turned to Jack who also stood up from the bed. The teen leaned and grabbed his cup and then Hiccup's one.

"I can always go back home to eat."

Hiccup snorted.

"Dude, I ate at your house for two weeks. I think you can eat once at mine." Hiccup reached to grab his cup, but Jack hugged them closer to his chest and stuck out his tongue. "I mean I'm still sure it won't be as tasty as your cooking, but well…"

Jack passed him and moved into the corridor.

"I'm sure that whatever you'll do will be amazing."

Hiccup snorted, though the compliment – even though he knew it wasn't true, not because of Jack, but simply because Hiccup knew he was a terrible cook… Maybe not terrible, but well not amazing either – made him weirdly happy.

Shit, Hiccup was really dumb.

His brain whirred and then spitted out a few another pages of analysis and calculations.

"Pff you only say that because you didn't taste it yet."

"Trust me, I tasted some bad food in my life."

Hiccup looked up at Jack and then shook his head softly as he descended down the stairs.

Only when he was in the middle of moving down he started to hear sounds coming from the bottom floor. Had he left the window open and some bird had flown in? Or worse! A raccoon?

Hiccup hoped that it wasn't the second option. Really.

But when he peeked into the kitchen he actually found his father moving in front of the cooker.

Wait, what? When had his dad stepped inside? Hiccup couldn't remember hearing the front door open. Was it already that late? Maybe.

Hiccup blinked and stopped. Jack did the same next to him.

"Uh hey dad." He said.

Stoick twitched and turned around.

"Good afternoon, Mister Haddock." Jack next to him chirped happily and then stepped inside to put the cups in the sink.

"Hello Jack." Stoick said, not even missing a beat.

Did he know that Jack was here? But Stoick hadn't called for Hiccup after entering. Or maybe he had done that, but Hiccup never had heard it. But even if that had been true then Stoick would go upstairs. So no, he had to know that Jack was here somehow. But how…

Hiccup glanced at the door and then moved his gaze down, at the rows of shoes standing near it. Oh, one blue pair was sticking out from the other dark ones. So this was how Stoick knew.

"Are you staying for dinner, Jack?" The man asked, turning around.

Jack next to Hiccup twitched and then looked at Hiccup before answering.

Argh, what should he do? Should he say something to Jack? Should he say something to his dad? He was lost. He didn't tell Stoick simply because he wasn't sure they would even meet today. It wasn't like he didn't want them to meet, but well… Hiccup knew his father was kinda terrifying and wasn't usually the most open person and well, it made some people a little bit nervous.

But Jack was still staring at him so Hiccup slowly nodded.

"I mean, if it isn't a problem I will be honored." Jack answered, looking back at Stoick.

"Of course it isn't a problem. Hiccup's friends are always welcomed here. Especially as I don't see that many of them."

Oh, okay, rude!

"Dad!" Hiccup shrieked, looking with wide eyes at his father.

Stoick smiled hesitantly at him with his bear moving around.

"I know, I know, a bad joke."

"I think it's better to have less friends, but real ones, than a lot and fakes ones." Jack said, shrugging a little and glancing at him.

Stoick nodded, clasping his hands together and brushing them.

"That is true."

Jack smiled at him –

(And Hiccup's heart hammered loudly inside his chest, bursting with flames and sparks swirling around)

– and then turned to his dad, stepping forward a little bit.

"Is there anything I can help you with while making dinner?"

Stoick looked really taken aback by Jack's proposition. He blinked a few times and only then slowly opened his mouth to speak.

"No, no, don't worry. You can go and do whatever teenagers do nowadays."

Jack turned to Hiccup and lifted his eyebrow.

Stoick was always like that. Even if he had a lot of work, he still would tell someone that they didn't need to help him. On one side Hiccup really admired the devotion and the fact that Stoick always looked after others to make their lives a little bit easier.

But on the other hand it really pissed Hiccup off. Because sometimes he wanted to help him and he didn't know how and Stoick would always say the same thing. That Hiccup didn't have to do that.

"What are you making?" Hiccup asked instead, breaking the gaze connection he had with Jack to look at his dad standing in the kitchen.

"I was thinking spaghetti?"

Oh, this wasn't bad.

Hiccup glanced at the white haired teen standing next to him and then once again at his father.

"We could… make the sauce?" He proposed, hesitantly picking words.

Stoick looked really taken aback. It wasn't like Hiccup never proposed to help. He tried to do it as often as he could. It wasn't his fault that his father rarely accepted it.

"I mean… yeah, you could do that if you really want to…"

Jack turned to Hiccup and very theatrically moved the sleeves of his shirt higher.

"Okay, let's get to work."

It was really kind of nice. The three of them moving in the kitchen.

It was a little bit bigger than Jack's one, but maybe because the wall between it and the living room had been simply destroyed, so it felt like there was more place here than it actually was. But the three of them still didn't have problems with moving around themselves, passing each other to get to a cupboard or the fridge.

When Stoick was in charge of pasta and meat, Hiccup and Jack started to make the sauce. Hiccup proposed simply using one from a jar, but Jack gasped and touched his chest, feeling really wounded.

"Okay, then lead the way." Hiccup sighed, pointing with his hands at the counter.

So they did one of the simplest tomato sauces. Hiccup was kinda a little bit clumsy in the kitchen. Like he asked if he was cutting the tomato correctly or if the amount of pepper he had added was enough.

It made Jack chuckled a little bit. But when Hiccup had asked at what temperature the sauce should be boiled he couldn't really stop the loud snicker from leaving his lips.

And Stoick did laugh too. If the sudden movement of his shoulders was any indications and the quick cough which followed after.

In the end, the atmosphere was kinda a little bit off with Stoick occasionally glancing at the both of them and opening his mouth a few times. But in the end it wasn't all bad.

And it looked like Hiccup fully came back to his old self.

Though Jack couldn't really stop himself from stealing several glances at the boy's foot. The leg of the trousers covered it perfectly and Hiccup was moving with such ease that it was really hard to see that something was off. But now, when Jack knew, he sometimes saw the small tilts of his leg or hips Hiccup did to remain in balance.

In half an hour, or maybe more, the sauce, pasta and meat were ready and Jack with Stoick were grabbing plates. Hiccup moved away, because during the last month he already had managed to break two plates.

"So how is your father doing, Jack?" Stoick finally asked, passing him three plates. "I didn't see him in a long time."

Jack put the plates down on the counter.

"He is doing really good. They have some big project coming up at work with some electrical company. He will be taking care of the logistic."

He reached and grabbed three cups from Stoick's hands to put them next to the plates.

"That's good." Stoick nodded, hesitantly looking at him. "And how is your… sister?"

At this Jack had to blink, because he was really taken aback by this information. How did Hiccup's father know about Emma? Had Hiccup told him? That wasn't really likely as it seemed that Hiccup hadn't talked a lot about Jack with Stoick in the first place.

The surprise had to be pretty visible on his face, because Stoick coughed and then continued.

"North told me a lot about you guys."

Oh. That was… pretty possible. Jack had seen North gushing to random people when Emma had been born.

"Oh!" Jack said, putting a smile on his lips. "She is good. Slowly moving to her rebellious phase."

"Already?" Stoick turned to Jack and lifted his eyebrows.

Jack grabbed the pot with noodles and started to put a good amount on every plate. His and Hiccup's portion were more or less similar, but he decided that Stoick probably wanted a little more.

"She is a very rebellious kid. She always has been." Jack admitted. From very early days Emma liked to have her own opinion which she would defend fully. "But we will still love her, even if she smacks doors in our faces."

Which had been happening a few times nowadays. Well, Jack was still going to support her no matter what and he hoped that she will know that they both love her very much. Even if she was blasting music at the top volume of the speakers.

(A very good music, Jack noticed.)

"Hiccup never had a rebellious phase." Stoick moved to pour the sauce with meat on the plates, hesitantly smiling under his nose. "Only lately there has been something wrong. Coming back home very late and ending at the Emergency Room. Soon I will pick him up from jail."

Hiccup behind them groaned and both Jack and Stoick snorted at that.

"Mostly it's the twins' fault. You know them, dad! You can't blame me when you know what they are capable of!"

Stoick grabbed two plates and Jack picked the last one and they all moved to the living room.

"Yeah, right." Stoick said and put the plates down. "Don't blame them for that."

"I'm not blaming. I'm just finding a good explanation of me being late lately."

"I'm pretty sure that in this case it's called blaming." Jack added, turning to Hiccup and grinning at him.

Hiccup threw his hands in the air and made an exasperated sound at the back of his throat, but then approached them. Stoick took one seat, then Hiccup flopped on the other which gladly left Jack without a choice. So he sat down on the next free space.

They quickly started to eat.

Hiccup hummed approvingly after tasting the first bite.

"It's amazing, Jack."

"That is because you did it." Jack said, rolling longer noodles on his fork and then lifting it to his mouth.

Hiccup snorted and quickly covered his mouth with his hand.

"I barely did anything there, you did most of the work."

"Not true."

"Both of you did an amazing job." Stoick told them after a second. "See Hiccup. Maybe Jack could teach you to cook."

Jack looked up at the man, feeling warmness spreading through his chest. It was nice to hear that.

"I wouldn't mind that, Hic. I can teach you a few tricks."

Hiccup blinked and then looked between his father and Jack.

"Is my food really that inedible?" He finally asked, putting another portion inside his mouth and chewing on it.

"It's not." Stoick mumbled. "It's just sometimes you stick too much to the rules."

"What is bad in sticking to the rules? I have to do it all the times during labs."

"Yeah, but in cooking you sometimes have to change the recipe." Jack pipped in.

"Exactly. Don't get me wrong, you cook just fine." Stoick said, slurping a little at the end. "But you sometimes need to change something to make it even better."

Hiccup twirled spaghetti on his fork and stared at it.

"I guess my dishes are kinda bland." He mumbled, more to himself than to them.

"If you want I can show you a few tricks during holidays." Jack said, before he could fully focus on eating and not prying open his mouth.

Stoick lifted his face from his plate and stared at Jack. Or more like the boy felt the man staring at him than actually saw it, because he was looking expectantly at Hiccup.

It sounded like fun. He liked cooking with North, he adored cooking with Emma (and he wasn't able to do it a lot of times), so the idea of being able to do it with Hiccup really seemed nice. Plus food, additional points! Food was always good.

(Beside if he did decide on Uni in some other city, then he wouldn't be able to see Hiccup as much anymore after the holidays. Maybe twice or three times a year? So the idea of being able to do something with Hiccup during holidays, to have some kind of last, sweet memories was really appealing.)

Hiccup lifted his head and looked at him, with a hesitant, shy smile dancing in the corners of his lips.

"Sure, that would be really nice."

Jack nodded and then returned to eating.

In the end it was a nice evening.

Hiccup held his breath deep in his lungs as he stared at Dagur and Professor Robinson observing his project from every side. The man was twirling the small robot in his hands and looked at every nook and cranny, humming to himself.

Hiccup felt like fainting. He wasn't so stressed in a long time. Last time had been probably when he had been in a laboratory for the very first time and had been afraid of touching anything.

(Now he sometimes was still afraid to touch some machines, but it was way much better.)

"It's good!" The teacher finally said, putting it down on the counter. "Did you remember to send the description of it and photos of blueprints to the e-mail I wrote you?"

Hiccup nodded, grabbed his small robot and put it in the box filled with bubble wrap. It was a small one, but Dagur had helped him build something that would send the parameters of the soil hydration to a computer or telephone, so Hiccup had to add another part to the robot.

"I did." Hiccup nodded, closing the box and securing it with a tape. You never know what could happen with it while he was walking, knowing his luck. So it was good to take precautions.

"Good. How about you, Dagur?"

The taller teen nodded, scratching his chin.

"Yeah, I sent it to them a week ago, I think? I need to re-check my e-mail."

"Good." Professor Robinson clasped his hands together. "So the final presentation is in two weeks. As I talked with both of you we will go there using my car. I need a slip from your parents that will say that they agree on that."

Hiccup nodded. Dagur only huffed, which probably meant that he also agreed. Probably. Hiccup still wasn't sure about some things.

"Great!" Professor Robinson really looked like the happiest person alive.

And even though Hiccup was still stressed as hell, some part of the positivity even got to him, making him smile a little more honestly than the forced one he had worn a second before.

"I will send you more info to your e-mail! But please bring me the slips till the end of this week, because I need to get them to the Principal and I also have to fill a lot of different papers."

"Sure." Dagur mumbled, leaning down and grabbing the backpack to throw it over his shoulder.

"Okay." Hiccup agreed.

Maybe he could even ask dad to do it today. The faster the better, right? Other way there was a chance he would forget about it.

"Thank you, boys. Now you can go, you probably have other classes to attend to."

Hiccup definitely did.

Both of them said their goodbyes to the man and shuffled to the exit of the hall. Outside of the door already stood a group of students waiting to step inside after the bell. They glanced at them for a second, but quickly returned to staring at their phones and talking with each other. Hiccup and Dagur maneuvered between them, bending their bodies (or pushing with brute force sometimes like the taller teen) until they were finally free to take a sweet breath.

Hiccup pushed his fringe away from his forehead and corrected his glasses.

In the silence spreading between them like molded, dense metal they moved through the school in the same direction.

This was finally it. No more additional sessions with Dagur. No more awkward empty pauses between them. No more hesitant glances at each other. Hiccup was finally free and he had a few additional afternoons now to do whatever he wanted.

"I'm going here." Dagur suddenly said, stopping.

Hiccup did it after two steps, after the voice was finally registered by his brain. He felt like he was lagging nowadays.

"Ah, uh, sure." He said, turning to the male.

Dagur fiddled for a second with the strap of his backpack, eyes jumping back and forth, between Hiccup, the floor and his dirty military boots.

"So I guess… see you in two weeks?"

"Yeah, uhm, sure." Hiccup murmured.

God, this was so awkward. Hiccup knew he was awkward. He knew he couldn't act logically when he was put in an unfamiliar situation. Heck, he couldn't sometimes act normal when he was put in a familiar situation. But this was something totally new. Both of them being fully awkward was strange.

Like mixing water with oil.

"So uhhh… bye."

"Bye."

And with that they both moved in different directions.

To be fair, there was something that was bugging him a little bit, hanging on his consciousness, like copper in column filled with neutral and activated aluminum oxide*.

Dagur had helped him a lot. Like really a lot. And he hadn't had to do it. Of course, Professor Robinson had asked him to help Hiccup, but he could simply not do it. He could pretend to be helping and leave Hiccup to fend for himself.

Yet, he hadn't done that. He had attended every meeting and had given Hiccup many useful tips and advices. Gosh, he had helped him finish the project! Dagur had wasted countless hours having to point Hiccup what should he change or what parts should he buy.

And Hiccup felt bad that he had taken so much and had given nothing in return.

But what could he do?

Should he give Dagur chocolate? This sounded pretty obvious and really dumb. He simply couldn't imagine himself giving it to him. Plus he couldn't really do it in the middle of the corridor and he wasn't really keen on asking Dagur to go somewhere with him alone.

But what else could he buy?

Maybe a book? He had seen Dagur reading a lot of similar titles as him. So maybe he could give him something which he also had in his library. But there was also a chance that the teen had already read it. Then maybe a book about cars? Jack had told Hiccup that he had seen Dagur in his work. But Hiccup wasn't sure. First this certainly would show that Jack and Hiccup talked about him and second – this really sounded bad.

So what else could he do?

Well he had two weeks to think about it.

"What are you doing, Jack?"

Jack turned his head to Emma who stood above him with a juice in her one hand.

"Erm, spending time with Thorin and Galadriel?" Jack hesitantly said.

The girl blinked at that, but then sighed heavily.

"Scoot."

Jack tilted his head, but obediently moved a little bit on the blanket on which he had been sitting, making place for his sister, who as quickly as she saw a vacant spot flopped down on it.

Usually Jack didn't mind sitting on a grass, especially as he had sweatpants, but it had been drizzling in the morning, so the grass was a little bit wet. And yeah, wet butt wasn't a fun thing.

A few weeks ago he had transplanted the lilac to his garden. First he had wanted to put them in different parts of the garden, but then had decided not to separate them. So now they were not that far away from each other – far away to let them grow healthily, but not that far away that they would be separated. But from what Jack had read about this type of lilac they didn't grow too big.

"So what have been bugging you?" Emma finally asked, sucking on a straw stuck in her juice.

Jack smiled softly under his nose at that small show of affection. Emma maybe didn't like to show that she cared, but she was pretty observant in this type of things.

To be fair, he didn't talk about his future a lot with Emma. He knew that she sometimes listened to him talking about it with North, but they never had talked about it together.

"Emma, what do you think I should do after High School?" Jack asked.

"Whatever makes you happy?" Emma quickly answered, not looking at him but at the trees in front of her.

He had to blink and let out a soft snort from his mouth.

Typical Emma.

"I mean, I still don't know what all this fuss is about." The girl continued nevertheless, one hand moving to play with the grass spreading in front of her legs. "I know that it's probably not easy to pick what you should do. Fuck–"

"Emma!" Jack shrieked, glancing at his sister with wide eyes. From where she knew those kind of words!? She was still a kid!

"– Heck." The girl quickly corrected herself, coughing then into her juice hesitantly. "But I think that you should pick something that simply makes you happy and don't worry so much about every small thing." There was a short pause, before she continued. "Because I think you tend to think more about others than about yourself. And this is your future, you will live it and no one else. And well, of course it will be great if I am a part of your future, but I'm not sure you are able to make everyone happy. So at least make yourself happy." Emma glanced at him, but quickly averted his gaze. "Does it make any sense?"

Jack looked at her, feeling pride bubbling, blooming and growing inside his chest.

"Aw, don't worry Em. I won't ever stop thinking about you." Jack said, throwing his arm over her shoulder and bringing her in for a tight half–hug.

Emma waved her hand and the box of juice actually landed on the grass on its side, but nothing spilled from it. The girl jabbed his side a few times, trying to run away from the embrace, but Jack held dearly, hugging his sister as close as he could.

"Jack, stop it!"

"No, it's siblings' hug time." Jack said, feeling another painful hit to his abdomen. "It's hug o'clock."

"It's going to be hospital o'clock if you don't let me go." Emma whined into his shirt, still wriggling like crazy.

Jack knew she didn't like affection that much, but sometimes he had to tease her. Because she was his sister, but also because he really, really loved her.

After a few moments of struggling Emma gave up and simple laid limp on Jack's side.

Jack took it as a victory and gave her one last, big squeeze before loosening his grip and allowing Emma to slip away from it.

Surprisingly the girl didn't do that. She lifted her legs so she could hug them closer to her chest as she leaned on Jack's side.

"What's wrong, Em?" Jack slowly asked, after a minute or so, maybe longer.

His hand traced random patterns on her naked arm. Shit, she had gone out only in a t-shirt. It was warm outside, but still there was a chilly wind pushing past them, which made even Jack chilly.

"Nothing." The girl mumbled and snuggled closer.

Or at least it felt like she snuggled closer. Or maybe she was only correcting her position.

Jack lifted his hand and took off his blouse to throw it over her shoulders.

"I'm not cold." Emma glared at him.

"I know." Jack said.

The girl corrected the blouse on her shoulders and leaned on Jack's side again.

They both stared at the plants, trees, flowers spreading in front of them. Jack knew Emma liked plants, but she wasn't good at taking care of them. And it was okay. She didn't have to be good at the things Jack was. They were siblings, but it didn't mean they had to be the same.

But Jack knew Emma liked to stare at plants. He had seen her stealing glance after glance when the flowers had been blooming. He had seen her sometimes resting under the trees with a book.

(So he had planted flowers in her favourite color near her window, so she could see them after staring through it.)

"Will you tell me now what is bugging you?"

"Why do you think something is bugging me?"

"Hmm, older brother's intuition?" Jack proposed, glancing at her and sending a small smile.

Emma looked up at him, grumbled something under her nose and then turned her head once again.

"There is no such thing as older brother's intuition."

"There is, but it only works if you believe!" Jack quickly said, tickling Emma a little bit and making her move quickly in the spot to get rid of the assaulting hand.

"You're a doofus." She finally said, when Jack moved his hand away and the wrinkles which had appeared on her petite nose smoothened out a little bit.

"I know." Jack admitted, darting his head up like he was proud of it. And maybe he was proud of it. If it lifted his sister mood then it was something to be proud of. "So what's wrong?"

Emma exhaled slowly and then combed her hand through her brown locks, pushing them far away from her forehead.

"Nothing is really wrong. I just saw you mopping around and decided to approach you."

Jack smiled to her, but did nothing more. He knew Emma had problems with trying to show what was really wrong, so he gave her time, as much as she wanted and needed to gather her thoughts. If she didn't want to tell him then it was fine, but Jack didn't want her to bottle all those things up.

So they stayed there for at least five minutes, if not more, observing the flowers, trees, plants moving with the wind which floated between the growing leaves.

Jack could already see small pods on the lilacs' branches. And he knew that Hiccup had bought him white and blue ones, so he couldn't wait to see them in real life. They will probably be the most astonishing lilacs in the whole neighborhood, not bragging of course.

"I felt kinda left out, you know?"

Jack snapped his head up and turned it to her sister.

Now Emma played with the sleeve of his blue blouse as she stared intently at the ground beneath them, which missed a quite big patch of grass. Uh oh.

"Just don't get me wrong. It's still your life, so I still think you should decide on your own, but I feel like no one is telling me anything. And I know I'm just a kid, but… it's probably stupid. I don't think I want you to suddenly stop talking when I enter the room."

"We were doing that?" Jack hadn't noticed it.

Emma nodded hesitantly.

"Maybe you were doing it subconsciously, but it still made me feel left out."

"Oh Em –" Jack was already lifting his hand to put it around the girl once again, when he was stopped by a smaller palm on his face.

"Don't." Emma hissed and pushed his face back. "And let me finish."

Emma had a lot of power in such small body actually.

She took a shallow breath and then slowly retracted her hand to let it fall onto her legs, which she now crossed.

"I know I'm a kid. I probably still have a lot to learn and I can't give that good advices as dad or mom. But… at least don't just hide it."

"Will do. Or at least we will try."

"Thanks." Emma mumbled, a ghost of a content smile dancing in the corner of her lips.

Jack grinned too and moved closer to Emma, leaning his head on top of hers. The peacefulness was there for maybe a minute or so, before Emma moved away and Jack almost greeted the ground covered in blanket with his face.

"Okay, enough affection for one day."

"Dad?"

Stoick looked up at him, eyes barely noticing that he was there.

Well it was a pretty late hour to be fair. And his father had said that he had a tiring day at work. But Hiccup had got really into his homework and had forgotten that he was supposed to ask for a slip.

Gladly he printed one and only needed his father's name at the very bottom.

"Can you sign this?" Hiccup slowly asked, putting the sheet on the coffee table in front of Stoick, together with a pen.

The man sat more properly and brushed his eyes with his big hands, groaning softly under his nose.

"What is it?" He asked and then leaned forward to stare at the writing.

"Uhm, it's a permission for Professor Robinson that allows us to drive with him to another town."

"Another town?" Stoick parroted, grabbing the paper and starting to read it.

"Uhm yeah, the final stage of the Robotic Contest is held in a different town and we need to go there. But there are only two of us going, wait, three counting the Professor, so the school won't let us rent a bus." He inhaled sharply. "So Professor Robinson will drive us."

Stoick nodded, but Hiccup wasn't sure he really listened to him. His mouth moved like he read out loud the words written on the paper.

"When?"

"Next Tuesday."

Stoick stared at the slip for a few more seconds before he groaned and leaned to grab the pen resting on the coffee table. He clicked it and then signed the paper at the bottom, curling the last letter a little bit.

"Thanks, dad." Hiccup took the paper from his father's hands and smiled at the name written there.

"No problem." The man said and then started to look around. After a few seconds he grabbed the remote control which was laying next to his hip and then lowered the TV volume. "Who is also going with you?"

Hiccup lifted his head from the paper and then folded it.

He wasn't sure if he ever had told his dad about Dagur. Maybe he only had mentioned him a few times. Back when the whole problem with Dagur had been pretty prominent, he had thought about telling Stoick several times. But he had never done that.

(Till this day he had felt really ashamed about it. Maybe one day he will tell his father the truth.)

"Uhm with this one guy." Hiccup started and hoped that maybe Stoick would drop the topic, but the man even turned to him, so Hiccup unfortunately had to continue. "His name is Dagur."

There was a short pause as Stoick processed the words he had heard. And Hiccup really expected the man to nod, like he did every time something unfamiliar to him was mentioned, and let it go. But the man furrowed his eyebrows suddenly with tons of wrinkles appearing beneath his eyes, on the nose and forehead.

Uh oh. Hiccup didn't like it.

Stoick looked up at him and then hesitantly asked.

"Dagur… Dagur Berserk?"

This took Hiccup by a surprise.

His bran short-circuited for a brief moment. Or maybe it simply froze and then there was an information about closing every program inside his brain. So Hiccup closed them and then opened once again.

Stoick knew the Berserk family? How? When? What?

Hiccup opened his mouth and found out that it was really dry, so he slowly licked his lips and coughed a little to clear his throat.

Burgess wasn't a small city. Of course, most of the people on their street knew each other, but that was all. Maybe he more or less could recognize a few people who lived not that far away from them, but that was all.

And Dagur gladly wasn't living that close. So how?

"Uhm… yeah, I'm going with him." Hiccup hesitantly said, still trying to process the whole situation.

Stoick blinked slowly and then turned to the TV.

"That's good. He is a good boy. Kinda lost one, but still he is good." He mumbled and to be fair Hiccup wasn't sure if he was speaking to himself or actually to his son.

On one side he was murmuring it and not looking at Hiccup, but on the other hand the voice was kinda louder than a whisper.

Hiccup stood there with a folded paper and eyes jumping between the TV and his father's posture. Should… should he ask about it? The curiosity was gnawing on him, was making him itch, was pushing him forward, because to be fair he really was interested.

(Especially as some part of him could agree with Stoick. Dagur wasn't that bad nowadays. Of course, in the past it had been really terrible, but if he truly changed, then he changed for the best. And Stoick's murmurs indicated that he had at least heard about brash Dagur from before.)

Hiccup lifted his leg and scratched the back of his calf hesitantly. His eyes jumped to the random series currently played on the screen. Some guy and some kind of a policeman were running after someone with guns in their hands.

Asking wouldn't hurt him, right? He could ask about it. It was okay.

"Uhm dad, do you perhaps know…"

But his sentence was stopped by a snore coming from his father's mouth and a bristle movement of his beard.

Oh, there went his chances. Literally lulled to sleep.

Hiccup stared as his dad's sleeping form and bit his bottom lip slowly. He fiddled with the paper in his hands a little more, then finally reached and grabbed the remote control to turn off the TV. It beeped and then flooded the living room with darkness. The only source of light were now the small lights in the kitchen, lightening the stove.

"Dad…" Hiccup whispered.

Stoick didn't answer nor moved, so Hiccup tried one more time, but a little bit louder.

"Dad?"

This time a light snore left the man's mouth, but he still didn't wake up.

Hiccup sighed and brushed his shoulder.

"Dad, go to your room. Your back will hurt tomorrow, if you sleep on the couch again."

This finally did the trick, because Stoick opened his eyes again, blinked and then nodded slowly.

"You're right." The man said and then hoisted himself up.

Hiccup observed his father as he moved through the house, climbing the stairs and only when he heard the door to his room closing, he turned around and checked if the house was locked.

It gladly was.

Hiccup turned off the lights in the kitchen and moved to his own room.

"Dad, can we talk for a second?" Jack asked, standing in the doorway to the kitchen.

North was washing the last few dishes in the sink, but when he spotted him he smiled broadly.

"Sure, I'll just finish cleaning this one plate and then I'm done."

Jack nodded and then slowly sat down.

It took a minute or so with North humming happily under his nose, before the plate was secured on the drier and the man was brushing his hands and sitting down next to Jack.

"So, what did you want to talk about?" The man inquired as the legs of the chair scraped on the floor loudly.

Jack lifted his hand.

"First… Emma, I know you are there, you can come out."

There was a short pause, a sudden silence and then Emma emerged from the living room.

"How are you doing it?" She asked, looking up at him.

"Older brother's intuition, I told you." Jack proudly said, puffing out his chest. "Also I saw your shadow."

The girl mumbled a few uncoherent words, but then shuffled closer and flopped down on the next free chair that was available at their table.

Jack smiled under his nose and then took a deep breath.

He had been thinking about something for the last several days and he wanted to ask his family what they were thinking about it. He wasn't totally sure about this, but it was a lone thought that one day had popped into his mind – during a calm evening – and had stuck with him ever since.

North looked expectantly at him. Emma occupied herself with playing on her phone, but Jack knew she was listening to him. Or like she was waiting for him to say something.

"Okay." Jack started and then tapped his fingers on the table a few times. "So I need your thoughts about an idea of mine."

"Should we run?" Emma quickly inquired, glancing up at him from her phone.

"Not yet." Jack quickly shot back.

North laughed heartily under his nose, but other than that didn't speak and only stared at Jack expectantly.

Okay, Jack got it. He got it, it was just an idea. An idea he quite liked? But still he totally wasn't sure about it.

"So I've been thinking lately about what I want to do after High School and also talked with some of you about it."

North looked up at him a little bit surprised, but curiously nevertheless.

Emma lifted her head from her phone.

"And I also googled some schools." Jack took another deep breath and then intertwined his fingers on the table. "And there is a cooking school two towns away and I've been curious what are you thinking about that?"

"A cooking school?" North parroted.

Jack nodded slowly.

"Yeah." Jack looked up at them, but then quickly casted his gaze down. "I mean… I'm still not sure about this idea. But I guess I like doing it and the school has really good reviews, so I decided to ask what do you think about this."

After that there was silence. Not heavy one, but kinda lost one, where everyone tried to process what he just had said.

Was it a really bad idea?

But Jack kinda liked it. He wasn't fully sure about it yet, to be fair he only had googled this place and read the reviews. He still didn't read what he should do to get in.

"I mean, if you like cooking then I guess you can go there. Maybe you will finally learn to cook something else than pasta." Emma said, looking up at him. There was no venom in her voice, just an up-beat sarcastic tone, hanging on the last sentence as she smirked at him.

Jack smiled. It was nice to know it.

But North still didn't say anything. He was only staring at the table which separated them with a very thoughtful look. The creases on his forehead moved, swirling, getting bigger and smaller with every passing second. Just as Jack he intertwined his fingers and now his one thumb brushed the skin on his other palm slowly.

Jack knew that deep down North wanted Jack to go to some University. But Jack wasn't sure if he really wanted that. Of course, the idea of being in a dorm and living the full student's life was really tempting.

Heck, it even sounded amazing.

But Jack wasn't sure about it.

He knew that maybe he was disappointing his father a little bit. But he felt like he didn't belong there. Like there was something else he would prefer to do.

It was still an idea for now. He still didn't think it fully through.

"I mean…" North started, only to lick his lips in the middle. "If this is what will make you happy, then I will support you."

Maybe there was some hesitation in the man's words, but Jack could feel that he was honest, that he was speaking the truth.

"I didn't fully decided on it yet." Jack quickly said, exhaling loudly at the end. "But I don't know, it sounds pretty nice."

Emma shrugged and returned her eyes to the colorful screen of her phone. There was a red sign in the middle of it. Her character probably had died as she had stopped paying it any attention a few moments ago.

"Did you talk with Tiana about it?" North asked, turning to him once again.

"No, not yet." Jack said. "I was planning on doing it, but I wanted to ask you first."

The man nodded. His white bear moved as he made a small smile.

"You should call her." Then like an afterthought he added. "Maybe not now as it is already pretty late, but you know, when you find some time."

Jack glanced at the darkness spreading outside the window in the living room. The TV was still on and was currently playing some random romance series. Surprisingly, North really loved them.

"I will." Jack nodded.

"Okay, if that is all, I'm going to my room." Emma said and then stood up.

"Goodnight Emma." North said.

"Who told you that I'm already going to sleep?"

Jack chuckled. Well, if she started playing some game now, he wouldn't be really that surprised.

"G'night, Em." He said nevertheless.

Emma huffed, but murmured some goodbye under her nose.

Jack observed her posture as she slowly moved to the stairs which lead her to the upper floor. All this time her nose was glued to the screen, but Jack could swear he saw a faint smile on her lips. It was barely visible in the darkness spreading through the corridor, but it shimmered there, like a star among the vast space.

"Did you want to talk about something more?" North asked.

To be fair there was this unresolved matter that was hanging on his consciousness for quite some time already. But it was a matter that he didn't want to talk with his father yet.

Though he was sure he will have to tell North at some point. Of course, he will only have to do it if the other side agrees. But Jack still hadn't asked the other side about it, so he wasn't sure. And Tooth was still bugging him about it.

"No, not really." Jack said, smiling to his father.

"Okay, if you need something then tell me." North nodded at him. "And now if you excuse me, my show is starting in two minutes."

Jack shook his head and stood up from the chair to move to his own room.

He looked at his computer to see that he had already a few messages on Facebook. And for a moment he wanted to answer them, as he could see a few opened windows, but in the end he flopped down on his bed and looked up at the ceiling and swirling softly snowflakes high above him.

Jack wanted to ask Hiccup to prom. He was Jack's very first option in this case. Not only because they were still technically fake-dating, so they kinda had to be there together. So theoretically it should happen. But in reality he simply wanted to do it – without the technical and theoretical parts of their plan.

A few days ago he had tried to do it at Hiccup's house, but then there had been more prominent matters to deal with. Matters that didn't really change the fact that he still wanted to ask Hiccup out… to prom!

(In other ways too, but Jack was too afraid of destroying what they had now to even try sharing his feelings with Hiccup. No matter how many times Astrid had already told him to just do it.)

But if he asked Hiccup out – to prom – then North would definitely want to know with whom he was going and then… what was Jack supposed to say? He had to cover the whole misunderstanding with Eris and now that? This wasn't good.

However he also didn't want to lie to them. He felt bad enough that he was still lying to all those people.

(And it really made his chest clench painfully, with a sudden emptiness surging through his ribcage, rattling the bones there.)

No, he wanted to do it. He could explain the situation to North. And if not, he simply could tell him the truth. That he liked Hiccup, but the boy didn't know about it. And he would have to deal with North sending him those familiar looks every few seconds.

Now came the problem of asking Hiccup's out. He should totally do it in the school, just so everyone could see it, but Jack kinda had enough. People would know they were going together, so there was nothing wrong with asking him about it more privately.

But how? How could he do it?

Maybe he should ask Hiccup out for a date?

Oh my god, oh my god, even thinking about it made his heart skip a beat, with the warmness blooming in his guts and getting hotter and hotter with every passing second. They weren't on a date in like… forever. Jack wasn't sure if their other meetings or random walks through the neighborhood could be called dates even.

But the longer he thought about it, the better it sounded. It didn't have to be anything big, maybe a walk around the town with two cups of coffee in their hands. Yeah, that sounded amazing, blissful even.

(Jack's heart hammered happily in his chest.)

And on the surge of this bravery, that suddenly shot through his body, he got up and quickly grabbed his phone to write a message.

Heyzz do you mayhbe have some

free time tomorow afternoon? :D

And sent!

Oh gosh, maybe it wasn't such a good idea after all? Maybe Jack was making a mistake? But no, he didn't feel like he was making a mistake. Sure there was a lot of hesitation and unsureness inside his head, storming through his chest and making him think about the bad possibilities, but it didn't feel like they were too loud. No, on the contrary, the bad voices were dimmed, dulled out.

Lately a lot of people told him that he had to think about himself too, that being selfish from time to time in some matters wasn't bad, that he should put his needs in front and not care about the rest of the world.

And this was exactly what he was doing.

Jack stared at the ceiling with his phone on his chest and waited. And waited. And waited. And… waited.

But no response came.

Jack checked if he had sent the message. He had done that. He had signal.

So why wasn't Hiccup responding?

Did Jack make a mistake? Maybe Hiccup didn't want to see him anymore? But why? Jack felt that everything between them was okay after the last incident. They talked normally after that. To be fair, Jack couldn't stop himself from sneaking a peek at Hiccup's leg from time to time, but other than that it should be fine.

Right? Right?!

Why wasn't Hiccup answering?

"Shit, shit, shit, shit!" Hiccup mumbled as he haphazardly threw his things into the backpack.

He overslept. Or more like his alarm didn't ring, because he thought he had plugged his phone into a charger, but apparently the charger wasn't plugged into a socket! Fuck his life.

Stoick had woken him up, quite surprised that Hiccup had been sleeping longer than usual. It was nice, but still Hiccup kinda hoped his dad would do it way earlier. But he appreciated it. Now he will only be like maybe twenty minutes late and not a few hours.

Hiccup ran down the stairs and into the kitchen. His dad already left.

He kneeled to pick up Toothless' bowl and fill it, but he found out that it was filled with new food, already eaten in half. This still didn't stop the cat from nudging his leg for some more.

"No, Toothless you ate."

The cat meowed loudly at him and swirled around his legs.

Hiccup shook his head. He grabbed a water bottle, threw it into his backpack and then he was moving to the entrance to put on his jacket and shoes. After that he was out.

And only when he was in the middle of his running journey he noticed that he had forgotten his phone at home. Shit!

Well, it was discharged anyway. And he could always check the time on his wristwatch, so probably no harm done. It wasn't like a lot of people messaged him. And even if they did, they could wait for a few more hours, right?

In the morning Hiccup still didn't answer.

Jack really tried not to feel bad about it, but he did. He thought that maybe the boy had fallen asleep yesterday, but now he wasn't so sure.

Even when the topic wasn't as nice as their usual ones, Hiccup always answered fast. Maybe not when he had classes, laboratories or had to do something else. But he always informed Jack when he would be busy, so Jack wouldn't anticipate his messages.

But now he didn't even answer.

Jack knew there could be probably a dozen logical explanations of this situation, but he couldn't help, but focus only on the most bizarre and bad ones. Because what if Hiccup didn't want to talk with him every again? What if he decided that he didn't want to see Jack anymore? What if –

No, he had to be calm. He had to be collected.

So through the whole day he tried to see Hiccup in a crowd, find him in the places he usually sat at. He even waited for some time near his locker, but still with no use. Come on!

"Jack, we have training in five minutes and I don't want to be late. Are you going or what?" Aster asked, standing next to him and tilting his head.

Jack bit his bottom lip, but then nodded.

"It's so weird to see you without your phone suddenly." Astrid said, glancing at him, maybe even at his hands now holding books.

"I forgot it at home." Hiccup admitted, sighing at the end. "But it's okay, I accidentally didn't charge it yesterday so it wouldn't be of any use now."

"Oh, classic forgetting to plug in overnight?"

"Yep." Hiccup nodded.

"Harsh." Astrid snorted.

They both moved through the corridor to their lockers.

It was kinda weird not having his phone with himself. He got used to it and he didn't even notice how many times he was taking it out during classes. But one day without it couldn't hurt. Of course, during the day the hands twitched a few times, immediately reaching to his side pocket, but that was all.

It wasn't like anyone would need something really important from him, right?

Right.

Hiccup stopped in front of his locker. He opened it and threw his books and notebooks inside.

Astrid walked a little bit further away and did the same. Though she had to act fast, because a sudden pile of books tried to escape their prison and crash down on the ground. But the girl was faster and quickly pushed them away, back into the dark cave, similar to cuvettes in Spekol11*, with no light being able to get inside.

"Maybe you should clean here a little bit?" Hiccup asked, peeking at the girl from behind the oxidized surface of the metal door, now covered with rusty, red and orange dots.

"Nah, it's cool." Astrid said and then started to get the things from her bag to put it into the locker.

Hiccup took out his folded lab coat and Astrid respectively took out her sport bag.

(It was nice to know that even though they had different passions, they still worked well nicely.)

And because Hiccup's lab was on the way of Astrid going to the changing room (they had training today outside, because the weather was nice.), she walked him there.

"The training can be a little longer so don't wait for me." Astrid said and then waved at him. "See ya. Don't burn yourself!"

"Okay. I'll try!" Hiccup said and waved back too, but the girl probably couldn't see it as she already turned around and stomped through the corridor, getting further away from him.

When Hiccup finished the lab it was pretty late. Well not late that it was already dark, but simply late. Gladly he had something to do, so the lack of phone wasn't a problem and he could always check the time on his wristwatch.

But he was pretty tired when he finally got rid of the lab coat and put it back in his locker.

Maybe that was why when he was pulling out some notebooks he accidentally touched a bottle filled with juice. The bottle rolled in place and when Hiccup though that maybe it wouldn't fall down, the juice decided to fuck him over. It moved to the edge and then did exactly that.

And maybe it all would be okay if Hiccup didn't decide that it was a good idea to grab it and save it from hitting the ground. And more or less he managed to do that. But unfortunately he grabbed it too hard, to this point the cap opened and sprayed his shirt with apple juice.

God damn it.

The moment he felt the sweetness touching his shirt, he knew he had made a mistake. And he had learned during a laboratory BHP course that he shouldn't really catch anything that was already falling down. Damn, how could he do it in lab, but not in real life? Now he was covered with sticky and sweet juice – not a good combination.

Yikes.

Hiccup sighed, too tired to get really angry. Today nothing was really going according to plan, so he wasn't really surprised that he had spilled something in the end. Just his luck.

But he didn't want to get home with sticky hands. With his shirt he wasn't sure he could do much, it was going to be wet anyway, but he had a jacket so he could cover it.

Hiccup threw his things in the locker, locked it, noting in his mind to come back when he will have more or less clean hands, and then moved to the bathroom.

As expected, after opening the door, no one was there. Gladly Hiccup didn't mind. He even preferred to be alone. One window was tilted to let a spring breeze inside, yet it didn't really help the smell here. Hiccup tried not to breathe as much as he could and then moved to the sink.

He turned on the water and first rinsed his hands. He moved and checked if there was some soap still in a dispenser and wasn't really surprised when he felt nothing coming out. Typical.

He had to ask Astrid if they had some soap in their bathrooms. Just out of curiosity.

Hiccup moved his hands under the stream of water methodically, getting rid of the sweet juice glued to his skin. After a few seconds he more or less felt clean.

He glanced down at his shirt. There was a big dark spot on his side that left an uncomfortable feeling on his skin. In the end he grabbed it and twisted above the sink. A few droplets of juice fell down onto the white porcelain. After that he moved the material under the still running water.

He won't be able to clean it, but at least it won't be glued permanently to his skin.

He methodically scrubbed the material, focusing on getting rid of most of the sweet liquid when he heard the door opening.

"Hiccup?"

Oh, he knew this voice.

Hiccup still didn't answer even after Jack finished the training and took the shower.

Was he mad at Jack? But why? Had Jack done something? But he couldn't remember what?

"Are you going, Jack?" Aster asked, throwing a backpack on his shoulder and looking at him as Jack looked at his phone.

"You can go." Jack said, sighing and looking up at his friend. "I need to go somewhere first."

"Okay."

Aster didn't look like he was convinced, but didn't add anything to this topic. He waved at him when he exited the changing room.

"See ya tomorrow."

"Bye!"

At this point Jack was the only one in the changing room. He slowly gathered his things, put them randomly in his bag and then stood up, still twirling the phone in his hand.

Should he wait some more? Or maybe ask Astrid? But wouldn't it be a little bit nagging? Hiccup only didn't answer him for a day. And maybe in any other situation it would be fine, but Jack asked for a meeting.

(And it was a kinda important meeting for him.)

But if Hiccup didn't want to talk with him for some time, then he would respect that. Even though it really hurt. However if he needed some time, then Jack was okay with that.

Jack threw the bag over his shoulder and then exited the changing room. He moved through the corridors, empty at this hour. He could feel his kinda wet hair moving through his forehead. He had washed them after the training, but didn't dry them to the fullest and a few strands were still wet.

Hmm, maybe he should check how he actually looked, because there was a high probability that his hair was a total mess. A very high chance.

Jack looked around and located the nearest bathroom. He quickly moved there, playing with his fringe as he opened the door.

And then he simply froze for a second.

"Hiccup?" He asked, forcing his voice to move through the throat as his heart finally caught up with the situation as it momentarily had stopped.

Because it really was him.

The said boy turned his head, blinked and then smiled with the recognition shimmering in his eyes.

"Oh, hi Jack, I didn't see you for a whole day." He said.

Jack wasn't sure what else to do. The only thing he was conscious of was how his heart suddenly sped up.

"Oh, uh, me too." He said and then glanced down. "What are you doing?"

Hiccup looked down at the part of shirt he was holding under the stream. He moved it away and turned off the water.

"I spilled juice on my shirt and hands, so I came here to clean it." He said and then got rid of the additional water his shirt had absorbed. "Did you finish your training already?"

Jack nodded and then finally moved closer to the mirror to look at himself.

Yep, his hairs were in quite disarray. He combed his hand through some white strands, trying to lay down a few and move higher the others, but he wasn't sure that he did an amazing job.

"So you're going back home?" Hiccup continued, straightening the shirt on his body and looking quite displeased at it.

"Yeah." Jack said.

He tried to make a few locks stand, but they moved down the second he put them up. And the ones he wanted to lay down were haphazardly standing. It was a futile job. He couldn't arrange his hair only with water and hands. It was impossible. Gladly today probably not many people would see him, so he hopefully didn't have to look good.

But he kinda wanted to look good to Hiccup. But the teen already saw his miserable, sweaty mess after the training, so there was probably no way of correcting that image, right?

Only after a minute or so, he noticed that the only sound he was hearing now was his own loud heartbeat.

Jack glanced to the side to look at Hiccup staring up at him. But there was some strain in his gaze, some kind of tension in the corner of his mouth, some kind of nervousness in the way he played with the wet part of his shirt.

Jack let his hand fall down.

"Hiccup? Everything's okay."

The teen quickly nodded.

"Yes, yes, everything is fine. I was just curious if you maybe wanted to walk home together? I mean you finished your training and I'm done with my labs. Plus we live almost in the same direction, so I thought 'Hey, it would be nice to walk this several meters with someone' and you are here!"

Was Hiccup nervous? But he rarely was around Jack. I mean, of course, at the beginning Hiccup had been kinda nervous around Jack, but mostly because they hadn't known each other. Maybe nervous wasn't the best word to describe it, as Hiccup had been simply unsure about everything.

So what changed now?

Did he want to also talk about something important and that was why he was nervous? Did he see the message Jack had sent him!? Was he nervous because of that!?

It was a possibility. But then why didn't he answer earlier and now asked Jack randomly?

"Uhm, sure." Jack said, when Hiccup glanced at him for at least the tenth time in the last several seconds, shaking himself back to the reality. "That would be really cool. I mean I wanted to ask you for a meeting today, so it's a nice coincidence."

Hiccup blinked.

"You did?"

"Uh yeah, I sent you a message on your phone and all that, but you didn't answer."

Hiccup stared at him for a good second, before he facepalmed himself, leaving a big, red imprint on his forehead.

"Oh geez, Jack, I'm sorry. I plugged my phone yesterday to charge it, but I didn't plug the charger into a socket, I'm sorry." He sighed, moving his hand to his face, only to let it fall down.

Oh. Oh! So that was why!

That was a big relief actually. Like an enormous one. Huff.

"No worries." Jack quickly said, waving his hands in front of himself. "Everything turned out okay in the end."

"I'm still sorry!"

"Seriously, don't mention it!" Jack added once again, feeling his heart getting lighter.

So Hiccup didn't hate him. Uff that was a giant burden taken away from his shoulders. He knew he said that he would accept everything, but it didn't mean he couldn't be hurt. Because it would be fricking painful.

Hiccup didn't look fully convinced, but he stopped playing with his shirt.

"So, should we go?"

"Totally."

Hiccup was actually tired. Tired as hell.

But when Jack asked if he was up for walking a little bit longer and buy themselves some coffee he still said yes.

Of course, now he knew why he said yes. And he understood why his whole insides were burning at the simple idea, but he tried really hard to calm himself down.

It was only a coffee between friends. Fake boyfriends, but still friends. There was nothing more between them. No matter how much Hiccup's heart suddenly hammered when Jack opened the door for him or when he insisted on paying.

In the end Jack paid for Hiccup's coffee and Hiccup paid for Jack's one. Even the woman behind the cash register shot them a surprised glance, but in the end allowed it.

For a moment Hiccup thought about sitting down, but the day outside wasn't that bad.

The spring finally fully arrived and the small leaves on the trees started to grow, lifting up the mood of the world. The wind still was kinda painfully chilly, but Hiccup actually didn't mind. His jacket secured him well from the wind's nagging bites.

So with two steaming cups he and Jack roamed around, mostly in the direction of their homes, but neither he nor Jack really looked like they were in a hurry.

(Hiccup only hoped his dad didn't want anything from him, because his phone was still laying dead in his room. He had been too busy in the morning to plug it back in.)

They talked a little bit about school, about what had happened in the meantime between their meetings. Jack even asked about Hiccup's leg, which he only commented with a roll of his eyes and a small shove.

In overall it was a pretty calm afternoon. But after an hour or so they were getting closer to Hiccup's house with not much coffee in their cups.

Or well, Jack already had finished his own a few minutes ago. And it didn't look like he started the topic he had wanted to talk about.

Though the closer they were getting, the more nervous Jack seemed – with his hand hesitantly twitching and scratching the back of his nape several times.

Hiccup didn't want to push him, but he was also kinda curious.

They almost stepped onto the street where Hiccup lived when Jack said.

"Uhm, do you mind walking with me for a few more minutes. I…" He inhaled deeply. "I kinda want to ask you about something."

Hiccup took the last sip of his cafe latte and then threw the cup into a trash bin standing nearby.

He could feel his heart shivering inside his chest, not sure what would and could happen. Did Jack bring him bad news? Good news? Neutral ones? Hiccup wasn't sure.

"No problem."

Jack sent him a stressed smile and then turned to walk a few streets away yet again, but not that far away.

They passed a mother with a child, dragging her by the hand when Jack finally took a deep breath.

To be honest he looked stressed as fuck. His eyes were jumping from one side to the other and his fingers wiggled hesitantly with his hand twitching a lot of times, like it wanted to move higher, touch the nape and scratch the skin there.

But Jack kept it all in himself.

Though it still took him a few tries to start this topic.

"So you know I'm in last year of High School." He started.

And Hiccup, to ease the atmosphere, quickly butted in.

"Yeah I think I heard about it, but I'm not fully sure."

Jack glanced at him, furrowing his eyebrows, but smiled in the end.

Hiccup didn't like to see Jack nervous. Especially around him. He liked the idea that Jack was comfortable near him, in his presence –

(Even though his heart was beating loudly at that idea right now.)

– so he didn't want this thing to change.

"Yeah, that." Jack quickly followed and then clasped his hands together. "And the end of the year is coming closer. Plus Tooth has been asking me about it for some time. But I somehow never could find the time or perfect moment to ask you this –"

Hiccup looked up, suddenly very lost in the whole situation that was happening around them. What made Jack so stressed? Something that also Tooth knew about. But if Tooth knew it, then Aster probably did too. So maybe it concerned all three of them?

Then suddenly Jack turned to him, looked Hiccup right into his eyes and in the middle of some road simply asked:

"Do you want to go to prom… with me, I mean?"

And Hiccup… Hiccup could feel his core overheating. He could feel a sudden explosion roaming around his body, another, another, another dynamite going off inside his veins as his brain tried to process if those words he had heard were real.

Because they had to be real.

He had heard them himself.

"Hiccup?"

"Me?" Hiccup croaked, hesitantly lifting his hand and pointing at himself. "And you?"

Some part of him really wanted it to be true. Even though Hiccup hated such kind of parties, some deep part of him was enamored by this information, was sizzling with positivity at the prospect of going there with… with Jack.

"Yes." Jack nodded, eyes jumping away for a second, but they quickly returned to him. "Me and you."

Was Jack seriously asking him out to prom?

"Are you serious?" Hiccup asked, still feeling like his head was made from cotton and filled with wool, like there were a bazillion balls made from hydrogel inside his skull.

Because it was unbelievable. It was amazing, astonishing and astounding and…

Ah, yeah, they were technically fake-dating. So it was only naturally for Jack to ask his fake-boyfriend to prom. Other way people could think that it wasn't real anymore.

And they didn't want that.

Right?

And as fast as this warmness had started to boil inside his gut, had started to evaporate inside his stomach, it quickly turned to ice, spreading through his veins and made him almost shiver.

Because it had to be the reason.

He wouldn't ask Hiccup to prom other way.

Jack nodded.

"Yeah, I want to go with you." He said, the sincerity so audible in his voice, so unbelievably honest –

And it made Hiccup twitch, it made him so lost, because he didn't know what to think about it. The warmness and coldness mixed inside his gut, swirling and fighting together, forming something new, something unknown to his receptor, something his programming couldn't understand.

Because Jack's eyes looked at him and there was something utterly weak in them, some kind of vulnerability, some kind of fear that Hiccup would say no. And Hiccup's heart really wanted Jack to ask him, without any other reasons. Just Hiccup.

However his brain was whispering that it was still a part of the plan, a play they have to put in front of the others, a fakeness they have to maintain to make people still believe them.

But weren't people convinced enough?

Right now it felt like everyone accepted the fact that the two of them were dating. Some girls and boys still were glancing at Hiccup or at least it felt like they paid him more mind now than previously. But Dagur left him alone and it looked like Heather also stopped pestering Jack, so…

Was the play still on?

"Hiccup?" Jack asked, nervously looking at him.

Oh, he still didn't answer.

"Sure, I can go with you."

Because even though it could be fake, it could be a play, Hiccup still liked Jack. And if that made him happy, then he would go to.

(Also he wanted to go.)

And the smile that spurted on Jack's lips, a grin that took over his mouth, a sudden spark inside his eyes, a mirth swimming through his face made Hiccup all warm inside.

There was a sudden reaction inside his gut, an exothermic one, because it felt like his insides were getting hotter and hotter with every passing second.

"That's great." Jack said, breathlessly as his one hand moved to comb through his white strands. He laughed softly and then the grin stretched even wider. "Oh, yeah, now I can finally relax."

Hiccup tilted his head and lifted his eyebrow.

"Why?"

"Because you said yes." Jack answered, looking at him. "I was scared that you know… maybe you would say no."

Hiccup looked at him, trying to compile the puzzles inside his head and form a coherent image.

Because it sounded like Jack wanted to ask him, just him, not because there was an inner plan, but… just because.

Hiccup was really, really lost.

"I actually wanted to ask you before today, but some things got in the way, so yeah…" The hand moved to his nape, but it rested there for a second and then flopped down to hang near his body. "But I'm… I'm happy that you said yes."

Hiccup felt a smile trying to appear on his face, so he allowed the corners of his mouth to twitch.

"You are a doofus, Jackson Overland." He said in the end and slowly started to move in the direction of his home. "But I'll go with you to your prom."

Jack caught up with him after a second or so.

"Great!" He said, weirdly with a very high tone. He quickly cleared his throat and more normally added. "By the way, Tooth is organizing this year prom."

"She is?" Hiccup asked, glancing at Jack. "I didn't hear about it."

"I don't think she told a lot of people. Or maybe she didn't have time to tell them yet."

"Is she that overworked?"

"I think she got herself too much into it."

"But this way she won't be able to enjoy the actual prom." Hiccup said.

He heard that even during the actual party, the committee had a lot on their heads – starting from welcoming everyone and finishing on getting rid of every drunk dead person there.

Or at least this was what Tuff, Ruff and Snotlout had said about their prom.

Hiccup never had been to one. That was obvious. Not many older people were interested in him, plus he wasn't that type of guy who liked going to parties, but prom was kinda different.

(And Jack had asked Hiccup to accompany him to it. His mind still kinda had to catch up with that.)

"I know." Jack nodded. "I even told her so, but she said that she liked organizing things." Then after a second he added. "Plus she said she wanted to make the perfect evening for us."

Hiccup couldn't stop the soft smile from appearing on his lips.

"Tooth is a really nice person."

"One of the nicest I know." Then a dry chuckle left Jack's mouth. "But don't be fooled. She could be vicious and evil as hell sometimes."

"Tooth?"

Hiccup couldn't fully believe it.

Tooth always looked like a never ending flow of colors and positivity. She was like a prism – splitting the white light into different colors and showing their amazingness to the whole world.

She consisted of all colors, of all those vibrant positivity that the world had.

So it was kinda hard for Hiccup to at first imagine her acting bad.

But after a second he could quite imagine her doing so. He knew a few girls (not much), but every one was a warrior, a ferocious beast when they needed.

Whoever thought that girls were weak probably still didn't feel their power.

"Yes. She is seriously a villain sometimes."

"A very colorful one then." Hiccup added.

"That is very much true."

And so like that they walked slowly back to Hiccup's home. This few streets away quickly turned into the correct one and then too fast for his mind to really understand the flow of events, Hiccup was already standing in front of his own door.

Hiccup was just about to say goodbye and turn on his heel to stomp into his house and think over the whole situation that had happened several minutes ago, when Jack's hand stopped him by grabbing his wrist.

It wasn't much. It was only a soft grip, fingers curling around his wrist. However even though Jack's hand was cold, Hiccup felt like he was burning.

(It was like having a crush on Aster all over again, but weirdly different, more intense in some parts, and more dulled in others. Changed parameters. Beeping softly indicators. Lights sparkling constantly in the darkness.)

Jack was looking at him and there was something in his eyes that made Hiccup halt.

A brief moment of silence stretched between them, going on and on and on – like elastomer* – and it felt like Hiccup couldn't find air inside his lungs before Jack finally started speaking.

"Did you really mean it?"

"Meant what?" Hiccup answered with another question.

Jack opened his mouth, closed it and a soft pink hue appeared on his cheeks.

"That you will go with me to my prom?"

Hiccup blinked in the rhythm of his heart hammering inside his ribcage.

"Did you change your mind?"

"What!? No! I want to go with you!" Jack gasped, letting go of Hiccup's wrist and starting to wave his hands in front of himself. "I just wanted to make sure I heard you correctly!"

Oh, okay, okay, everything was fine. Jack still wanted to go to prom with Hiccup, even when his mind and heart still couldn't really fully believe him.

"I want to go to prom with you, Jack." Hiccup slowly nodded.

The words and sentences mingled inside his head and it was weirdly hard to speak, but somehow he did it, without stuttering too much.

"Great." Jack chirped, smiling brightly to him like Sirius*.

And Hiccup felt like he could burn, like he could incinerate under that grin that made his skin vibrate.

But his heart didn't skip a beat, it didn't suddenly start hammering loudly in his ears, it didn't make it almost painful. No, it slowed down to a comfortable beat that made Hiccup utterly content with the whole world ordeal.

He was simply happy.

And for a moment he didn't care if Jack asking him out was a part of the plan, if it was only to keep up the stupid charade they had. He didn't care about it at all for a second.

He was simply happy that Jack was happy about him going. And this was the only thing that now mattered.

Jack felt like he could fly.

Hiccup had said 'yes'. He had told him that he will go with Jack to prom! He had agreed to do it, even though Jack knew that Hiccup didn't like those kind of parties.

Of course, Jack could tell him that it would be good for their plan to succeed, but he hadn't wanted that. He had wanted to ask Hiccup out, as a person, not as someone else.

That was why he was so enamored when Hiccup had agreed to that.

He felt like he could soar, like he could jump and the wind would take him up, high and far away to the moon, so he could shout there in happiness.

(He knew it probably didn't mean much, it didn't mean that Hiccup had the same feelings toward him, but he still agreed to that!)

Even North and Emma noticed his good moon as he almost leaped into the house.

"Everything's okay, Jack?" North asked, peeking at him from the kitchen.

"Totally!"

"You are glowing."

And then of course Emma had to speak.

"Are you pregnant?"

"Emma!" North said and almost dropped the plate he was holding, looking down at the girl as she sat at the table in the kitchen and stared at her phone.

"What? I saw it on the internet!"

North looked actually lost after that.

"You know, I think you shouldn't use it that much." He said and then walked to the girl to snatch the phone away from her hands.

"But memes!" Emma shouted, trying to grasp her device.

Unfortunately she was too small to catch the phone which North now held high in the air.

"No, leave it for at least an hour!"

Emma tried to jump and catch her device, but then huffed in the end and flopped down on the chair.

"Fine."

Jack chuckled. Nothing could destroy his good mood. Not even Emma saying weird stuffs she had read on the internet.

So he only moved to her, ruffled her hair playfully and then sat down to eat dinner with his family.

Jack, can I call you for a moment :3?

Jack stared at the message and then glanced at the corner of the screen to check the time. It was close to 11 pm.

He wasn't sleeping. But it looked like North was. With Emma he wasn't so sure. She probably still played some game or surfed the net.

Sure ( ᐛ )و

Jack grabbed his phone and rolled away from the computer. A few open windows with other chats blinked at him rapidly, but he ignored them to flop down on the bed.

He didn't have to wait long and as fast as he heard vibrations he picked up to avoid waking someone else up in the house.

"Hi, Jack!" Tooth's cheerful voice resonated in his ear and wow, how could she be so lively at this hour.

Jack was alive, but he couldn't be as vivid and energetic as the girl.

"Hey." Jack answered in a quieter voice.

"Oh, shoot, sorry, is your family sleeping?" The girl asked, immediately lowering her voice.

"I don't know. Maybe." Jack pushed the fringe away from his forehead. "Yours isn't?"

"No. Ma and Pa are watching something in the living room and laughing loudly."

Jack let out a soft chuckle and moved higher on his bed, so he could lay comfortable on his pillow.

And hopefully he wouldn't fall asleep, but about that he wasn't fully sure.

"So what did you want from me at this hour?"

"Oh, right! I have two matters to talk about." Tooth chirped. "First! Did you finally ask Hiccup out to prom?"

"Seriously, the very first thing you ask is about prom?"

"Did you?"

"How do you even know that?"

"Well, it is connected with the second part of this conversation so just answer me."

Jack sighed, but he couldn't stop the soft bubbles from forming inside his stomach and guts.

"Yeah, yeah I did." He finally answered.

"And what Hiccup said?!" It felt like Tooth was speaking louder and faster with every word leaving her mouth.

The smile blossomed on his face as the warmness spread through his limbs.

"He agreed!"

"Fuck yeah!"

"Tooth! Since when are you swearing?!"

"Eh, since I'm sleepy." The girl on the other side huffed.

Seriously, hearing a curse coming from Tooth's mouth was really peculiar. Jack had heard her swear a few times, but usually when she was really, really angry. She simply didn't like to curse, but she had no problem with Jack or Aster doing so.

"You can go to sleep."

"I will after this conversation is over." Tooth huffed on the other side, which was followed by a slumping sound. She probably also laid down on her bed. "But I'm happy for you."

Jack grinned.

It all felt so natural to him – smiling because Hiccup had agreed to go with him. It felt so normal, so okay to do it, so nice to be simply happy about that.

(He was still nervous around Hiccup, but the emotion wasn't so strong anymore. No, it leveled down, it remained in form of short vibrations at the back of his head, like a small bee was living constantly there, in his head, reminding him about itself whenever Hiccup was near.)

"Okay, so what is the second part about?" Jack inquired instead.

"I talked with Aster."

Oh.

"That was why I kinda knew you asked Hiccup out. He told me that you were kinda lost today, so I glued two pieces together."

Oh…

"And… what did you talk about?" Jack asked, hoisting himself up so now he was sitting with his back resting on the wall.

He didn't want to fall asleep. No, he couldn't fall asleep now. No, that was also wrong. He suddenly didn't feel like sleeping. It felt like his heart and mind suddenly jumped into override.

He was interested, but with dark thoughts swimming in his head.

"Eh you know, about the usual stuff. I caught him after my meeting and you already finished your training, so we decided to talk and walk a little bit."

That was a good start.

"So we went to McDonalds, bought ourselves some ice-creams. Or well I bought myself an ice-cream and Aster took some coffee I think." Tooth's static voice suddenly jumped in and out of focus, like there was some disruption on the line, but after a second it became crystal clear once again. "Anyway, we decided to hang out a little bit. Aster didn't look like he wanted to learn anyway."

"Impossible."

"Yeah, surprised me too, but I guess everyone needs some break. So I decided to use this time to ask him about some… delicate stuff."

"And how did it go?"

Jack was really curious.

"Not so great at first." Tooth admitted and then it sounds like she turned on her bed. "But I did manage to get some information out of him. Or like some information and some kinda like confirmations of some of my theories."

"So." Jack quickly said, almost interrupting the girl. "Spill the beans."

Tooth took a deep breath.

"So I think I quite confirmed that he has a crush on someone. I mean, he didn't exactly told me per se, but he hinted a lot towards it. Or I felt like he hinted it. But unfortunately I didn't get who it could be."

Okay, so that confirmed this one suspicion they had for quite some time, but Jack wanted to know more. It still didn't explain a lot of things, especially why Aster had moved away some time ago.

"And it felt like he knew he had no chance with them. That was why he seemed so down."

"Okay." Jack said, just to show that he was still listening.

"And then I asked him about prom. If he was going with someone, and you know stuff like that."

"And what did he say?"

"That he wanted to go with someone, but this someone probably would go with someone else."

That was… pretty interesting.

To be honest Jack wasn't sure whether Aster will attend prom or not. Well the shawl was tipped to the 'going' side, because probably if he doesn't go then he won't hear the end of it from Tooth.

Aster wasn't a big fan of those kind of parties.

So the information that he wanted to go with someone specific surprised Jack.

"But you didn't get out with whom he wants to go?"

"Unfortunately not. You know our Bunny, he likes to keep some things for himself." Tooth's voice was quiet, well quieter than the one she had used before, like she was pondering over some memories.

Jack wasn't sure how to answer that, so he only put his hand on his face and dragged it down.

"We actually talked a little about you."

"About me?" Jack parroted, feeling his eyes widening what Tooth couldn't see.

"Yeah." Jack could imagine Tooth's nodding and grabbing one colorful strand to curl it on her finger. "Well he kinda asked if you were mad at him."

"What?"

"Did something happen today to make him feel that way? I mean, you sound quite pleased right now."

Oh, maybe Jack had treated some people coldly today. But he had been kinda stressed so half of his normal behavior was cut down. When he was stressed it was way more difficult to try to be himself. Or this himself the whole school knew.

"I mean…" Jack licked his lips. "There was some misunderstanding between me and Hiccup today, so I was kinda down. Maybe that is the reason?"

"Yeah, that is possible." Tooth murmured on the other side.

"That was all you talked about me?"

"No." She said quickly, but then stopped and Jack could hear her friend taking a breath. "We talked… a little more."

There was something in her voice, a sudden stillness, a void appeared in the last few words and Jack didn't like it.

He knew Tooth and Aster talked about him sometimes. It was normal. He talked about Tooth with Aster, or about Aster with Tooth and it was normal. He knew they wouldn't say anything bad about him. He trusted them.

But there was something that lingered in Tooth's voice that picked his curiosity.

"Oh." Jack finally mumbled, not really sure how to comment that.

"But not in the bad way!" Tooth quickly clarified and Jack could almost see her trying to wave her hands in front of herself.

Maybe she even tugged on her strands, maybe she quickly sat up on her bed, and maybe she tensed for a moment.

"I know, don't worry, Tooth." Jack added, moving his hand so now it laid on his chest.

"I just wanted you to know that."

So this meant that she won't tell him what they had talked about.

It was okay. They were friends, but they didn't have to share everything. And it was okay to share something with other friends.

Jack himself knew that there were some things he could tell Tooth, but not Aster. He was okay with that. Of course, Jack would be happy if Aster talked about it with him too, but he could understand it.

But it meant that he was opening up a little bit and it was warming Jack's heart.

"He looks better though." Tooth quickly chirped in. "He said that he was dealing okay with some of the things. He had a mild break down during this year, but he told me that he is sorting slowly some of his personal issues."

"So he still didn't tell you what happened?"

"No." Tooth mumbled. "Maybe he will say it one day, maybe not. Who knows? I'm just glad that he is feeling better."

"Yeah, me too."

Was it finally over? Just like that everything simply… solved itself out? No, it wasn't still fully solved. But if time could heal some parts of Aster then Jack would be glad.

He knew his friend and he knew some problems couldn't be solved by yourself only.

So he was happy, yet scared if it wasn't only a calm before the storm.

No, he was going to remain positive. He had to. He wanted Aster to feel better.

"So should I try to get something more out of him?" Tooth then inquired, after a sound that definitely seemed like a yawn.

And now Jack felt like yawning. Damn you Tooth.

"For now I don't think so." Jack proposed. "If he is doing okay on his own then I think we should let him do it and… be near if something else happens."

"Okay."

Jack smiled under his nose when he heard the droopy tone of the girl's voice. She definitely had to be exhausted.

"Go to sleep, Tooth."

"I'm not sleepy." The girl said, even though her words slurred a little and there was a brushing sound on the other side.

"Of course not."

"You don't believe me?" Tooth asked, but she wasn't as quick as she probably wanted to be.

Jack chuckled.

"I just know you, Tooth." Jack admitted. "Go to sleep. You worked hard today. You deserve a break."

"Maybe you're right."

Between additional clubs, homework, prom organization and meeting with other people Tooth didn't have much time for herself. And she also started learning for the exams recently too, so that left her literally exhausted.

(Jack started doing some exercises too, but still less than them.)

It seemed that Tooth stood up, or moved on the bed, judging by the creaking sound of the wooden panels.

"Okay, I'm off. Good night, Jack."

"Sweet dreams Tooth."

The girl chuckled slowly.

"You too."

And with that the call ended.

"Wow, did you spend the whole evening playing games again?" Emma inquired, looking up at Jack.

"No." Jack quickly said. "Not the whole evening."

"But the majority of it?" Emma quickly added, looking at him from her plate filled with scrambled eggs and bacon.

The smell was heavenly, even for Jack, and it was the only thing that made him want to get out of the warm bed today.

Jack glared at his sister.

"Well I also saw some light under your door, so…" Jack started.

Emma furrowed her eyebrows for a second and opened her mouth, but quickly closed it when North walked closer to the table and looked at her.

"Emma?" The man asked, putting a plate with eggs and bacon in front of Jack. "We talked about going late to sleep."

The girl mumbled something uncoherent under her nose and put a lot of food in her mouth.

"Emma?" North repeated himself, voice suddenly steady and very much stern.

"I'm sorry."

"I hope it won't happen again during the school week."

North usually allowed them to do a lot of things, but he hated when someone broke the rules he had made. And not staying late during the school week was one of them. Jack actually could already stay as long as he wanted if his grades were good enough.

(He had fought for this rule some time ago and he had won.)

North walked back to take a plate for himself and the three of them sat down together to eat. For a moment the only sound accompanying them was clattering of forks and knifes moving together, but then North started some small talk.

It was a pleasant morning. The sun shone through the windows, lightening the living room with yellowish, comforting light, spreading through the air. The soft breeze coming from the thin tilted window in the kitchen danced around them, ruffling their hairs and making them shiver from time to time.

Jack loved that kind of mornings. When they could just sit together and prepare themselves for the busy day.

Then North suddenly turned to him and a radian grin split his mouth.

"Oh, Jack, by the way, the lilacs!" He said and then moved the fork to his mouth.

Jack lifted his head.

"What about them?" He asked, tilting his head.

North was munching on the food he had in his mouth, so Jack had to wait to hear the reply.

Gladly Emma helped their father on this one.

"Oh, some pods bloomed, that's all." She said.

But Jack's brain suddenly froze.

Of course he had seen the pods there. He knew that soon they would bloom, but he didn't expect it to happen today.

Then he simply stood up and moved to the back door.

His heart pumped heavily in his chest, knocking loudly on his ribcage as his feet shuffled quickly to the exit. Excitement ran through his veins, making him almost shiver, vibrate, because he finally will see it. Finally he will see the flowers for which he waited so long.

He opened the door and ran in his slippers through the garden to the two lilacs standing there.

Emma and North were right. Well Thorin bloomed, though Galadriel was very close to doing it too.

Jack moved closer and kneeled.

Hiccup had told him that he had bought two different colors – blue and white. But there was one problem. Well, not a problem, but a misunderstanding. Or a small glitch in the world.

Because the flowers were neither blue nor white.

They were… lilac. A purple hint mixed with a sweet pink. A simple lilac.

And for a second Jack could only stare at them.

A soft breeze moved through the garden, rustling the leaves on the nearby trees, the bloomed flowers and the petals of the new lilac.

Jack stared for a few more seconds and then smiled under his nose.

For him it didn't matter what kind of petals were there. White, blue, pink, lilac? It didn't matter. He admired the thought put into it, but he didn't care. He was simply happy that Hiccup had thought about him and now he was enamored that he finally saw the very first flowers on the branches.

And the smell, the heavenly scent was intoxicating. For a moment he wanted to cut the branches and bring them back to his home to smell it everywhere, but decided against it. He wouldn't do it to Thorin.

Jack reached with his hand though and combed his fingers through the soft petals. They brushed against his skin, making him shiver happily and the hair on his arm stand up.

Lilac was still a beautiful color.

The warmness spread through his chest as he quickly stood up. His feet fast moved him back to his home, up his stairs to jump into his room. One glance was enough to locate his phone. His needy hand grabbed it and as fast as he appeared in his house, he was already outside, running to the tree.

He more or less heard an echo of North's voice asking what he was doing, but he had no time to answer.

Jack was already kneeling in front of the tree and making a photo. His hands trembled a little, so the first two were kinda blurry, but the third one was perfect, with the shimmering sunlight moving through the leaves delicately, like a golden thread.

With a grin, he quickly scanned his contacts and picked the one he wanted. Then another brush on the keyboard helped him send it and it was already done.

Jack couldn't stop smiling as his fingers danced on the keyboard while writing a message.

Hiccup was in the middle of putting the bowl with food on the floor for Toothless when he heard his phone pip up.

He blinked, but then grabbed the other bowl to fill it with water and put it next to the one with the food. The place in front of it was already occupied by the cat who munched quickly on his breakfast.

Hiccup moved to his room upstairs, grabbed his backpack and then moved down to pack his lunch he had made a few minutes ago. Only when the box was inside his backpack and he checked if every window in the house was closed he remembered that someone had sent him a message.

But who could it be? Maybe Astrid? Yeah, that was the most plausible answer. She could message him to tell him that he shouldn't wait for her, because she overslept or something like that.

So Hiccup grabbed the phone, expecting for the familiar name to pop at the very top, but his breath hitched as someone else had written to him instead.

Jack. Jack had sent him a message.

A skidding heart started to beat faster for a moment. Hiccup waited with closed eyes for his heart to slow down, to stop hamming and knocking on his ribcage.

(It was one thing expecting a message from him and getting one without any preparations. Hiccup felt like he could overheat suddenly, like the programs inside his head were suddenly lagging due to the heat overpowering his core.)

He got it.

Jack had sent him a photo. A photo of a small tree with light purple flowers.

look, Thorin has flowerzzzz :D

And Hiccup only stared for a second, compiling the parts in his head. Lilacs, they finally bloomed, after such long time the flowers finally opened themselves to the world.

But there was something off about the picture. He bought white and blue one. Not… not some color and lilac one.

He wasn't mad. People make mistakes. Stuff like this happens in real life.

He wasn't angry, he was just surprised.

And a little bit curious too.

Aw yass! =DDD I'm so happy!

Hiccup looked at the time. He still got a minute or two, so he quickly turned on the internet in his phone and opened the searching tab. His fingers moved through the keyboard as he wrote a needed phrase.

Meaning of lilac's colors – this is what he wanted to find.

Of course the internet was filled with different sites, some more colorful, some more toned, some filled with pictures and some blank as paper.

Hiccup picked the three best looking ones and started reading.

And the longer he read, the more sites he visited, the more his cheeks were getting hotter with the crimson blush spreading through his cheekbones to his ears. He could feel the heat under the skin, the sizzling fire crackling in his chest.

In this very moment Hiccup was sure that life loved to mess with him in any form and way.

Lilac: This lighter shade of purple is associated with one's first love or the first time one feels love for someone.

Author's note:

Finally, finally I could use lilacs xD! Argh I've been planning it the moment Hiccup had bought them xD! Hope you liked it :3 The main meaning is from: lilac-flower-meaning/.

Also I'm pretty curious if you also yawned when Tooth and Jack were talking? Because I know I did xD.

Anyway I hope you enjoyed it. See you soon :3!

And some nerdy facts:

*Copper in column filled with neutral and activated aluminum oxide – this column is used to get rid of the copper after polymerization. Usually it stays in the solid phase and the rest of ingredients move through it =D.

*Spekol11 – it is an old type of spectrophotometer where you put substances in transparent cuvettes which are then pushed into the machine, so no light can get to them.

*Elastomer – any rubbery material composed of long chainlike molecules, or polymers, that are capable of recovering their original shape after being stretched to great extents.

*Sirius – is a star system and the brightest star in the Earth's night sky.

And answers:

MRRoth – Awww yass, I put here all the awkwardness I could get : D! So I'm super happy you like it! And to be honest I think I started to write him like that somewhere in the middle of this story, but I liked it, so I stuck to it (also not because I jumped into other fandom on the way, totally not haha xD).

sword slasher – Haha hope you enjoyed the second try =DDD! Yep, I must admit I kinda forgot about the prosthetic a lil' bit ^^"".

WOW544 – Thank youuu, this really means a lot! Hope you have a nice day too :D!

kisskisshug – Thank youuu =D! Finally! It only took a fricking lot to get to this point haha xDDD Jack is so thirsty (he also likes personal contact, but with his crush nearby he can't stop himself!), he just wants to get a taste : D! Thank youu, I'll try! =DDD

FenanOni – Huehuehue, because I'm an evil person : D!

Lou-chan – Not yet XD! AWW :3!

Hope to see you soon :3!