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.

Charles's law – when the pressure on a sample of a dry gas is held constant, the Kelvin temperature and the volume will be in direct proportion.

"Jack, is everything okay?" North asked, opening the door to his room a little bit.

Jack turned his face from his phone on which he had been numbly playing some kind of game.

"Yeah, yeah, totally." He murmured back, trying to smile at his dad, who was looking at him worriedly in the doorway.

"Okay. Dinner will be ready in fifteen minutes."

And with that North closed the door, leaving Jack alone one more time.

He sighed, then exited the app only to lay the phone down on his stomach. His hands sneaked under his head, making a comfortable pillow for him to lay down as he stared up at the ceiling and swirling snowflakes.

What should he do from now on? How should he act? Act like nothing had happened? That was impossible, he couldn't do that, he didn't want to do that. Aster shared a part of himself with him, Jack had to react somehow.

Why were they moving away? He thought that Bunnymunds' situation was good here. Aster's dad had a prosperous vet clinic, they could live with what they had right now, they never had been in need for more money. So why?

The situation was so bizarre and sudden that Jack's mind just clogged, prevented other thoughts from entering his mind. The only thing now present was his friend.

Why hadn't he wanted to tell them about it earlier? It was stupid, they were friends! They should know about such important information before!

Because they were friends, right?

Did Tooth know? Probably not. If Jack had found out today, then Tooth definitely hadn't known about that. Or maybe Aster had already told her after he had admitted it to Jack.

He should tell her. He needed to tell her. He needed someone with whom he could speak and share it.

At least one information. The second one he was going to leave for himself.

can you come over?

we need to talk

Jack sent it and then after a second added another message.

about bunny

He wasn't in a mood to add emoticons. He wasn't in a mood to do anything actually.

For quite long time Tooth didn't answer. In the meantime Jack ate dinner with his family, cracking a few lame jokes at the table. Both North and Emma noticed that there was something bugging him so they tried as hard as they could to put a smile on his face.

It worked… well at least a few times.

Jack simply needed time to understand it all, get the main concept of what he had heard, understand the changes in the future that now stood hesitantly in front of them, fiddling with the hands of the clock residing in its palms.

Future was a skittish thing, always changing, never certain. It was a lottery, with bazillion numbers and letters. You could never be sure what kind of cards it held, what it would play next, what kind of move would happen.

When Jack returned to his room after dinner there were gladly two new messages on his phone. One of which was from Tooth.

Sorry, today no can do.

But I can come over tomorrow

if that's okay with you ):?

Maybe tomorrow would be better. He could gather his thoughts to plan about what he wanted to talk with Tooth.

Because she was his best-friend too.

totally

Jack tried to occupy his mind with playing games, but couldn't focus much on trying to not be killed, so he quickly decided against it.

The minutes before falling sleep were spent in an emotionless void as his mind tried to process what had happened.

"He what!?"

This was exactly what Jack expected from Tooth – a reaction he kinda hoped he would get – but it still didn't stop the sudden twitch of his body at the high pitched volume of those two words.

"Yeah, believe me I was also surprised."

Tooth's eyes were wide, wider than the moon and the sun and the stars and the whole galaxies. Her fingers gripped tightly the quilt under her body as she leaned forward.

"But why didn't he ever say anything?! We are like his best-friends! He had to know it before!"

"I know, right!? This is so messed up!" Jack admitted, throwing his hands in the air, the sudden sadness making place for a surprise and a slight pinch of anger.

The girl definitely looked angry, with her eyebrows moving dangerously close to each other and bright pink lips pinched into a mad, thin line. Tooth fumed, still glaring at Jack, even though it wasn't really directed at him, but at the whole complicated case put onto their shoulders, weighing them down or maybe even pushing into the ground, farther and farther, covering their faces with dirt and sooth.

In the end Tooth sighed heavily and then flopped back on the bed, head barely missing the wooden structure at the end.

The silence walked into the room, stretched its hands above its head, then flopped down on the carpet in the middle and stared at them curiously.

It was weird of Aster to not share such vital part of information about his private life with them. They talked about everything, especially about private matters. That had been… well until some time ago.

Jack simply couldn't understand why Aster didn't want to tell them about it.

Just why?

"What do you think happened? Why are they moving away?" Tooth finally asked, breaking the hold this silence had on them. Her voice was hoarse, slightly broken, like the anger that had surged through her body left her weak, devastated, unfit to face the world for some time alone.

Jack was going to be here, next to her, for as long as she needed.

Jack flopped down on the bed and looked up at the ceiling.

"I don't know. Maybe some family problems? Money problems?" Jack murmured, eyes following the soft waves of snowflakes up high on the ceiling. "Health problems?"

He really didn't want the last option to be true, in any way. He feared that it could be a possibility, that some kind of nightmare hadn't been happening right under his nose and he hadn't known about it.

"Maybe." Tooth said, voice barely above a whisper.

Jack wondered if she also stared at the cut out snowflakes twirling and swirling above their bodies. Some were bent, some were turning slightly yellow at their sides, but Jack loved them.

(He had cut them out with Emma.)

"What should we do from now on?"

Jack wasn't sure. He wasn't sure about a lot of things. His future that he slowly started to build, putting layers of bricks, sticking puzzles together to form a coherent image, filled with bright colors, not only with gray scale. He wasn't sure about himself – about his personality.

Lately he had been open to so many possibilities, so many different advices, so many people had told him that he should be more selfish and that it was okay to show weakness and sad faces in front of some people that surrounded him.

And Jack was going to be selfish.

"We're going to find out the truth." He simply said, finding the strength resonating in his body, rattling the bones.

Strength so sudden and persistent that it unraveled him, like some kind of ball of yarn, messed over years with emotions stuck together in loops, badly stitched together places that needed to be corrected, but Jack never found the time to do so.

Tooth jumped on the bed, moving herself into a sitting position. Eyes rimmed with red circles beamed at him, a sudden waterfall of emotions, hope, hope so clear that it was a never ending stream. It poured and gave and there was still so much more that was hidden there.

"But how?"

The question didn't dim the sudden surge of hope. No, in the end maybe it shadowed it a little, just a millimeter, but it was still there, present.

Jack also sat up.

"I think we should simply ask Aster's dad about it. He will have every answer we need."

Tooth nodded at it, curling her legs beneath her body and then swinging back and forth.

"Yeah, but we need to do it when Aster won't be home. And he's not home usually when he is out with either one of us."

There had been times when Aster had met with some of his other friends, but they had been sparse. And especially now, when finals and exams were lurking around the corner, both he and Tooth doubted that he would be up for going out with anyone.

Well... there was one person with whom Aster would maybe want to meet.

The idea made Jack's stomach churn, twist painfully, jump and squeeze. No matter how many times he told himself that it was okay to feel bad about it, he still couldn't stop pondering that he shouldn't think like that.

Some part of him told him that he should be happy about the revelation. Two people he loved deeply liked each other – this was an ideal situation.

Only it wasn't, his own emotions were messing it up, were sneaking into his mind, scattering doubts everywhere, making his breath hitch and lungs collapse and heart drown in cold, freezing water.

No, this wasn't about him. Jack liked Hiccup – the pure emotions, feelings, sensations were there, stronger than ever – but he was alone in this. Hiccup didn't like him back, he liked Aster.

And Aster liked him back.

Jack shouldn't think about himself right now. At least not in this option.

It was selfish of him – of them both – that they wanted to interfere with Aster's problems.

Jack looked up at Tooth, who looked at him back expectantly.

"I may have an idea."

"Pardon?"

Jack fidgeted in his seat, eyes nervously glancing between him and the table on which a cheeseburger, two boxes of fries and two cups of colas were residing.

Hiccup's hand stopped in the middle of its way towards his mouth with fry hanging from the fingers.

Okay, okay, okay, rewind, rewind, rewind! Hiccup's mind needed to process it.

Okay, Jack had asked him for a meeting after school because he had needed some help. And well, Hiccup of course had agreed – as the sudden nausea had ran through his stomach, squeezing it painfully for a moment of stress. They had picked some McDonald near the railway station.

(Why this one Hiccup wasn't sure, but he had agreed. He probably would agree to a lot of things Jack would ask right now. Stupid, heart, stupid not working brain, stupid life.)

So they had bought some food, sat down and Jack had asked him if Hiccup could invite Aster to a meeting.

Yep, exactly that.

Jack finally looked up at him with a soft rosy hue smeared on his cheeks and nose.

"We need Aster out of the house, so me and Tooth could talk with his dad."

Oh, this sounded even more suspicious. Like totally suspicious.

"Why? Did something happen?"

Jack nodded, but then shook his head making Hiccup fully confused about this situation.

(So much for a calm meeting to catch-up. But if Jack needed help with something then Hiccup would try hard to help him, repaying the debt at least with a small amount.)

"More like something is about to happen."

"Okay that totally doesn't sound suspicious and ominous at all." Hiccup grumped and then finally put the fry in his mouth.

Jack's lips twitched, forming something similar to a comforting smile, but there was no soul in it, just a pure understanding. Or maybe it was a natural mechanism in such kind of situations.

Hiccup furrowed his eyebrows and then reached for his cola.

"Sure, I can do it." He said, because well he still hadn't given Jack his answer.

"Thank you Hic, you're the best."

He tilted his head, hoping that his gaze was enough to show that he didn't even believe it for a mere second, but then shook it.

"I just don't understand why I have to do it. Clearly Aster has more close friends than me."

Was this some kind of Jack's move to try to get them to talk and hang out? Was he trying to set them up? Kill two birds with one stone?

"It just has to be you."

"Still sounds suspicious af if you ask me."

"Since when do you use af?"

"Since now." Hiccup shot back, taking a long sip and enjoying the coldness running down his throat.

Jack chuckled and reached for the half-eaten cheeseburger laying in front of him.

Hiccup opened his eye and glanced at Jack. He looked, well, he looked worse than before. If he squinted his eyes he could see the grey bags under Jack's eyes, a reminiscent of not good nights. His movements were also slow, slower than normal. And the usual chirpiness was dulled, covered with a layer of something dense and gray that prevented it from getting to the surface, absorbing all the light that tried to get out.

(A very low transmittance*.)

Hiccup didn't like that look. Whatever was happening had to take a toll on Jack. He was always worrying too much about everyone. Jack was putting other people's problems in front of his own and forgetting to care about himself.

Hiccup hated it. He could understand it, he could admire the devotion Jack was putting in worrying about others, but he hated, despised the fact that Jack simply was forgetting about himself in the process.

Just like right now.

Maybe a few weeks, months ago Hiccup would be enamored by the prospect of going somewhere with Aster, spending time together, catching up on things, talking, exchanging so many different information. But now he wasn't sure about it all. He was going to do it, of course he was, but there was an echo of nervousness shimmering in his chest, playing some kind of slow song.

(Right now he would prefer to spend time with Jack, do something to brush away the grimace off his face, replace it with an honest look. It didn't have to be a smile, just anything that wasn't wielding any negative emotions.)

"So when are you planning on going to Aster's dad?" Hiccup inquired.

He didn't really want to ask about any more details, but he needed to know a little bit to prepare some kind of plan, list of things to talk about, list of excuses in case Aster would want to go back home earlier and just more or less to prepare himself.

"I'm not sure. I need to check our plans, so that we don't interfere with each other." Jack admitted, munching on the cheeseburger slowly, the previous smile disappearing fully from his lips.

"Just give me a head start."

"I'll try." Jack nodded.

For a moment silence enveloped them when they ate and stared at the people passing them by. There was a quite big crowd here, but it didn't seem like there were any students from their school, mostly people taking break from their jobs or waiting for another train to this or that city.

They ate, rarely exchanging a few sentences here and there, but soon enough they were standing up and exiting the fast food restaurant into the fresh air of the uplifting world.

The wind tickled their cheeks and ruffled their unzipped jackets, sneaking past their bodies and going forward on a faraway journey with secret destination. The leaves on the tress, some small, some fully grown, whispered between each other, shared stories of the world that was growing around.

Hiccup closed his eyes for a moment, enjoying the calmness that was now spreading around them. He felt that it was a short one, he could feel that a storm was coming. Perhaps it was already here.

And maybe he was simply pulled into it. Or maybe he jumped in willingly, trying to get Jack out, but failing, only to be sucked inside together in the end. But it was fine – to some point – if he could somehow help Jack live through it.

There were always some problems in life, the calm moments were sparse and short, but they were there and Hiccup had all intentions on directing the ship out of the storm in the right direction. Somehow.

(He knew shit about sailing.)

But for now he tried to enjoy the peace, the calm waters beneath their feet, for just a moment. One more moment he gripped tightly, held onto, trying to let it stay here.

"Hey, Hiccup…" It was Jack who broke the silence first.

They were already near the suburbs, where the tall buildings made place for shorter houses.

Hiccup hummed in response to show that he was listening.

But the next part didn't come immediately. There was tension in the air, loaded with static, waiting for one spark of electricity to burst, to consume everything in its wake, destroying it, making it crumble down and dissipate into nothingness.

Hiccup opened his eyes and glanced at Jack.

There was a crease on his forehead, a deep, dark one, a shadow looming in his eyes, a sad one, not a dangerous one. His one hand was planted on the nape of his neck and he scratched it slowly, leaving red marks all over.

Hiccup wanted to grab the hand, move it away and order Jack to spill whatever was littering his mind and heart. He wanted to do it desperately, he wanted to be able to do it.

(Or maybe he was already doing it, stopping in the middle of the sidewalk to reach his hand, take the burden from Jack's dry fingers and help him breathe more evenly.)

But then Jack was looking at him, palm stilling on his neck, only to fall limply next to his body.

"Hiccup, if you ever… if you need…" Jack swallowed hard, the bile in his throat bobbing up and down for a moment as his eyes skidded, jumped from left to right. "What I want to say is…"

"Jack?" Hiccup asked, reached and grabbed his palm. "Calm down. We aren't in a hurry. Just take a deep breath. You have time to collect your thoughts."

It almost came naturally to him, reaching for and grabbing Jack's hand. He liked the weight of it, the sudden chilliness that ran through his nerves, a familiar comfort that came with it.

Hiccup could only hope that Jack was feeling the same.

The teen looked at him, closed his eyes and then took a deep breath. The air left his body in a low hiss, shoulders dropping for a moment in a rhythm with his thumb brushing Hiccup's hand.

"Hiccup, if you ever need to end this whole fake-dating fiasco because you want to be with someone else, then please tell me and we'll do it." Jack said, looking right into his eyes.

And somehow for a moment Hiccup couldn't breathe.

"I don't want you to feel obligated to prolong it. I want you to be happy, so if the opportunity arises I want you to grab it."

What? What was happening? Why was Jack saying such things?

Hiccup could understand the logic behind it, he could understand the reasons and consequences of such actions, but it didn't stop his stupid, dumb, foolish heart from dropping down, smashing for a moment to pieces that he wasn't sure he could pick up.

Why did he have to fall for Jack? Why now?

No, he couldn't let emotions control him now. He couldn't let them out, for now he had to hide them, lock them down and allow for the more coherent part of his brain to take control.

"The same…" Hiccup licked his lips. "The same applies to you, you know?"

Jack nodded, the thin line of his lips twitching a little, maybe in comfort, maybe in sadness, maybe in acceptance.

"You would tell me, right?" Hiccup continued.

"I would." Jack nodded, his thumb stilling for a second, stopping like only now it finally was registered by his brain what he had been doing during the last minute.

Hiccup pushed the emotions away, allowed the clear logic to take control of his body, brain, heart, picking up the shards to stick them back together. It was going to be okay, most parts were in bigger sizes, it was going to be okay.

"What brought this up?" Hiccup found himself asking.

Because it seemed like Jack knew something, like he had found some vital piece of information that had made him rethink their plan – or whatever details they had come up with.

(Their plan wasn't perfect, it never had been, it had been glued together with old glue, kept with duct tape in some places or with string that barely clung to the material. They had had a more or less coherent idea, some few details, but nothing solid. How their plan had managed to live for so long was a mystery for Hiccup.)

Jack looked at him, tightened the grip on his hand and simply spoke.

"Nothing…"

Hiccup didn't believe it. Okay, no, maybe that was wrong, he didn't really believe it that much. He had a feeling that Jack wasn't speaking the truth, there was some error in the calculations inside his brain, there was one thing missing or some command written wrong in the program.

"Really?" Hiccup asked anyway, words rolling off his tongue.

Jack nodded.

"I just want you to be happy."

How Hiccup could not fall hard for someone so genuine, for someone who could do things like that, say things so purely honest without feeling the hint of embarrassment?

He felt like the world was suddenly too small, like there wasn't enough oxygen around them to take a proper breath, the lungs expanded but it was only nitrogen that filled this space.

Jack was eloquent, his words could cut right through someone's heart, barrier, like it was no problem. They didn't seem out of place – okay, maybe a teeny–tiny bit.

But Hiccup couldn't do that, his mind lagged, couldn't really process all his emotions, put them in nice words, pretty ones, covered with ribbons and glitter.

"That was pretty sappy of you." Hiccup instead said, not fully happy with what his mouth allowed him to do. "You sound like you may know something actually."

Jack grinned at him, a joyful, joking smile, followed by a wink.

"I am still the most popular guy in the whole school, I know a lot of things."

"You wanted to say you know a lot of rumors, that is."

"Also that."

Hiccup shook his head. This was getting him nowhere. He had to try again later or wait and see what the life would bring him.

"I want you to be happy too." He said instead, looking up at Jack.

"I already am." Jack murmured, brushed his thumb on Hiccup's hand and then let go. "Shall we go?"

To say Jack was stressed would be an understatement.

The situation between the three of them was well… definitely weird. Because they all acted like nothing had happened, like everything was the same. Like there wasn't anything mysterious going on behind their backs.

Aster talked with them, but didn't acknowledge the fact that he had said something to Jack. It didn't seem like he had even thought that Jack could tell Tooth.

Or maybe he wasn't pointing out the obvious.

Nevertheless Jack and Tooth decided to act fast, before the situation could escalate into worse. They had waited long enough and now it was time to do something.

During Tuesdays and Thursdays both Jack and Aster had trainings in the afternoon – and even after the talk with the Captain Aster was still attending those. But also Hiccup had his Chemistry club on Tuesdays and Wednesday, so the first option wasn't acceptable.

So it left Thursday for their plan.

They had to do it near the evening, because this way Aster's father wouldn't be working. That was why Jack preferred for the plan to happen during the day with the afternoon practices. Aster could immediately go out with Hiccup without returning home, especially as lately afternoon practices had finished pretty late. Because if he returned home Aster maybe wouldn't be so up for going out. Especially if he started learning or something like that.

Jack felt for a moment like he was in the middle of some action movie with them laying out plans, thinking about small details and planning their escape routes.

(Even though it was a little bit far away from truth.)

Yet he was still stressed. The nervousness swam through his bones, making him twitch a few times.

It was going to be okay, it was going to be okay. No matter what would happen, he was going to be okay with it.

He wanted his friends to be happy. He really did.

Even though it hurt.

Jack knew they couldn't live like this forever, pretending to be together, happily together. He knew they had to finish it at some point, but at the beginning he hadn't anticipated for his feelings to grow, heck, to appear in the end. He had thought that it would all end as it all had stared – with logic, well a little bit awkward logic, but Hiccup maybe would come up with a brilliant idea and then they would be partying ways.

It was his own fault that he clung to it, maybe too much.

No, it was okay. People finished their relationships because they found someone else. It was a good reason. And if Hiccup and Aster decided to be together, then he would be okay with that.

He would be happy.

Or at least he would try to be.

Because feelings were fickle things, they could appear and disappear quickly. They were like stars, shining brightly in the sky for one moment, and then falling down in the other, leaving only star dust after them.

Jack shook his head.

"So are we doing this?" Tooth asked, voice broken by static in the middle of this short sentence.

Jack corrected his headphones and exhaled slowly through his nose. This shouldn't probably stress him as much as it did.

Mostly because some part of it seemed wrong. And Jack couldn't really pinpoint if they were doing a bad thing or not. There was some part of his heart that told him that he shouldn't interfere, that he should step down, back away, hide himself in the shadows.

But there was the other part, the brighter one, that just wanted to help, just wanted to understand and get some answers.

Humans were curious beings in the end.

"Yeah, we're doing it."

"Did Hiccup say anything?"

"No, I mean I'm still waiting for his confirmation. But as soon as I'll get it, I'll tell you."

"Thanks." Tooth exhaled.

A shivering sigh left her lips.

Jack glanced down at his phone when it lit up with a new message from Hiccup.

Sending the message was still kinda hard.

It wasn't much, just a quick question about a meeting – whether Aster had some time to spare for Hiccup. Writing the message wasn't the hardest part – although Hiccup still had redone it a few times. But the hardest was actually sending it and then waiting for a reply.

(Several weeks ago the sudden squeeze of his stomach could be due to the butterflies that had found home there, but now he was simply nervous, without any traces of more prominent warm feelings inside his heart.

No, wait, that was wrong, he still would like to call Aster his friend, so the warmness was still there, but it wasn't just that kind of warmness.)

Plus Hiccup really wanted to help Jack, brush away the scowl from his mouth, put back there a relaxed smile and beautiful sparkles. He wanted to be able to do something. He wanted Jack to be able to count on him in dire times, even if it forced Hiccup to do things he usually wouldn't do.

Because he had to step out from his comfort zone from time to time.

He still didn't know about what he would talk with Aster, this was still a problem for future Hiccup. He will worry about it when the time will come. If all fail, they can talk about science, school, their friends and memes. There was always some topic that they could cover.

Hiccup will try hard.

His phone peeped and Hiccup scrambled to get to it. He swiped his finger across the screen and let out the air in a low hiss at the new message.

Sure, we can meet after practices.

Any place particular?

Hiccup inhaled deeply, calming his palms.

He wrote a quick reply to Aster, finalizing their plans and then opened Jack's tab – with heart skidding fast for a moment, jumping giddily around the ribcage, a sudden burst of flames – to give him a green light.

They weren't doing anything wrong.

Or at least this was what Jack told himself. But no matter how many times this sentence appeared in his head, he still wasn't sure. There were a few percentages of wrongness to this whole situation.

All day he was on his tiptoes, feeling his chest constricting and hands twitching nervously several times. And to be honest Tooth didn't look any better. She was still her usual chirpy self, but Jack simply knew there was something wrong.

And the fact that Aster shot them a few weird glances was a confirmation.

But it had to work, their plan was simple and perfect. It had to work.

The time passed, seconds rolled, turned into minutes which walked slowly, pushing the hands of clock leisurely, like they weren't in a hurry and had all the time in the world to do it.

Which Jack knew wasn't true, but it still felt like this day wouldn't end.

And the afternoon practices didn't help. They were doing the same drills over and over again. Jack was usually good at them, yet he still missed the ball or almost tripped a few times.

"Frost, get your head in the game!"

"Aye, Captain!"

Jack shook his head, brushed the sweat from his forehead and sent an apologizing look toward Bunny whose pass he just had missed.

Then finally, finally the practice was over.

The whole team jumped into the changing room, hitting the showers first to get rid of the sweat clinging to their bodies. The happy chatters, shouts, filled the air as steam rose high up, making it almost impossible to see anything.

Jack scrubbed his hair, trying to ease the tension in his fingers and neck.

He felt like his every movement was robotic, twitchy, squeaky along the way, but luckily his teammates paid him no mind. They all changed, putting on fresh clothes and pushing the sweaty ones farther into their bags.

Jack was ready. Aster was almost too.

Now it was the final test whether their plan would work.

"Are you ready?" Jack asked, throwing his bag over shoulder and glancing at Bunny.

The teen twitched, pinched his lips in a tight line for a second and then looked up at Jack.

Please, please, please…

"Sorry, I have a meeting today and can't drive you home."

Yes!

Jack tried to put on the most natural surprised face he could muster – he was no actor unfortunately, not as much as he wanted to. He could act silly or goofy or fake innocence, but that was all.

"Ah, sure, okay."

"Sorry, I should have told you earlier." Aster murmured, really looking sorry.

Jack shrugged.

"Don't worry. Today is quite nice, I don't mind walking home." Not that he was planning on doing it immediately.

But for now Aster didn't need to know that. Later on they will tell him the truth.

"So I'll be going then." Jack said, sending him a warm smile, even though his heart was hammering in his chest. "Have fun and see you tomorrow."

"Thanks." Bunny mumbled and then casted his gaze down.

With that Jack walked out, exhaling slowly as his feet carried him to the exit. He took out his phone and wrote a quick message to Tooth to inform her that he was already on his way to the meeting point.

It had to work.

Hiccup fidgeted, playing with the sleeves of his jacket and trying to calm the mess of thoughts inside his head.

Well he should have maybe planned what they would be talking about yesterday, but he hadn't done that. And now he felt the repercussions of it in his stomach and mind, going haywire somewhere at the back of his skull.

No okay, he had vague ideas. Some topics that were common. He could do that, somehow.

Hiccup checked the time for at least seventh time right now, even though he had been standing here for ten minutes. He had been here way before the designated time because he hadn't been sure what else he could do.

Jack had messaged him some time ago that he had been on his way to meet with Tooth, so it was Hiccup's job now to well… occupy Aster to buy time for Jack and Tooth, so they could talk with Aster's father.

He wasn't sure how much time they needed, but he was going to do it for as long as he could.

Or at least he hoped so.

"Hey, did you wait long?"

Even though he was prepared, the sudden voice startled him.

The fact that he was still analyzing ideas for topics didn't actually help that much, maybe it made everything way worse.

"No, I just got here."

A lie, an easy one which almost everyone used. But what else could he say? That he had been standing here for almost twenty minutes, stressing himself at the very last moment?

"Oh okay."

Hiccup looked up and indeed Aster was standing there, looking at him with a kinda emotionless face.

(Some time ago it had made him quite nervous, but then he had found out that it was a natural façade of Aster. Like Hiccup's scowl that sometimes seemed like it was glued there permanently.)

"How was training?" Hiccup asked instead, hand automatically moving to his pocket.

Gladly his phone was secured there, the sounds turned off, replaced only by vibrations.

Jack and Tooth probably were on their way already, now it was Hiccup's time to shine. Or at least help Jack.

"Eh, the same as always." Bunny answered, palming the straps of his backpack and looking at him. "So for what do you need me?"

"Can't I just ask you to hang out?"

Aster blinked and then shrugged, making the jacket rustle loudly.

"You can." He answered. "Just you never have done that, so pardon me for being a little suspicious."

That was a very fair point and Hiccup had thought it may come to this. He had hoped that maybe with time he would come up with a good enough excuse to give Aster right now, but unfortunately that wasn't the case.

Hiccup blamed twins and Snotlout for taking his logic away and forcing him to make things up on the spot. No matter how many times he had tried to plan anything with them, it always had blown up in the end – so may as well learn to live without any plans.

"Well I was planning to buy some books and I wanted your insight on them."

Now Hiccup was kinda glad he had observed Aster on a few social media sites and knew what genre he liked. Not really the same titles as him, but well, he had to work with something.

Aster lifted his eyebrow and glanced at him, still with passive look.

Might as well give him a small piece of truth. Tiny particles of it.

"And also you seemed really stressed nowadays and I thought you may need a day off." Hiccup finally said, shoulders dropping and hoping that at least he sounded a little bit believable.

It seemed like it did the work, as the emotionless façade dropped for a moment, a sudden twitch of lips appeared in the corner, making small dimples appear on the cheeks.

"Sure."

Only when Jack had told him about Aster, Hiccup had started to notice that indeed maybe something had been off. So there was some truth in it.

"Lead the way then."

When Aster wasn't looking, Hiccup exhaled slowly with the fingers tracing his phone in his pocket.

He only hoped that he would be able to buy enough time for Jack.

He and Tooth had to wait a little bit, strolling around the neighborhood.

Aster's father was finishing his regular job around seven pm. And even then he was still sometimes working for a few more minutes, feeding the dogs, cats and other animals he kept in his clinic.

Luckily the designated time was pretty close, so they could somehow pass it.

They didn't talk much. Jack could feel his stomach squeeze painfully, swirling and twitching occasionally. He wasn't even hungry, even though he hadn't eaten in a pretty long time.

"Are you ready?" Tooth asked.

Jack inhaled deeply.

"Ready as I'll ever be."

They directed their steps to the familiar house and the blinking sign hanging above the street. They were deliberately slow, even more than usual and normal, so when they arrived at the place it was good ten minutes later.

The door to the clinic was open. A woman was currently walking out, holding a dog under her arm and talking with Aster's dad who stood in the doorway, but without the white coat around his body.

"… And remember to give this pill to him twice a day, in the morning and in the afternoon."

The woman nodded, one hand moving to comb through the sparse fur on the small dog's head.

"Will do, doctor. Thank you."

"No problem." The man said, sending her a warm, yet tired smile.

The client probably grinned back, then turned on her heel and passed both Jack and Tooth who were getting closer and closer to the clinic.

Aster's father looked at them, blinked and the grin that was about to be dropped returned back.

"Oh, hey Jack and Tooth. Didn't see you in a while."

"Hello Mister Bunnymund." Tooth chirped happily, waving at the man.

"Hello." Jack added.

"If you're looking for Aster he still isn't here."

Jack glanced at Tooth, who nodded at him, the seriousness overpowering her pink lips in just one short moment.

"Uh no, we aren't here for him. We are actually here to talk with you. If that is possible." Jack said, looking back at the man.

The vet blinked and the hand on the handle twitched. Or maybe it was shivering.

Jack wasn't sure.

"Oh sure, I don't mind. Come on in then."

And with that they entered Aster's home through the vet clinic.

"I still need to do a little bit of cleaning, so you can wait in the kitchen if you don't mind. Make yourself something to drink."

"Thank you."

Both Jack and Tooth were familiar with the house layout so without problems they moved to Aster's home and sneaked into the kitchen, flipping on the light first. The electric kettle was almost filled to the brim, so they only turned it on and rummaged through cupboards in search of cups.

Jack made himself coffee, Tooth some green tea she had found in the drawer. For Mister Bunnymund they both made lighter coffee.

(Both Jack and Tooth had visited this place too many times to count, so they knew what kind of coffee Mister Bunnymund liked.)

They both sat in the living room on the couches, staring sometimes at each other and sometimes at the dark screen of the turned off TV standing there. It was rarely even on – Mister Bunnymund didn't have that much time to watch it and Aster could simply use his computer if he wanted to watch anything.

Tic tocking clock above it kept them company.

It seemed like too much and yet too little time had passed before Aster's father managed to step into the house, sighing softly, like he was bearing an incredible amount of weight on his shoulders.

Maybe he was doing it. And neither Jack nor Tooth knew.

"Did you make yourself something to drink?" He asked, stepping into the living room.

The white coat was left in the clinic. They both usually saw the man in it, so seeing him without it was always a kinda bizarre experience for Jack.

"Yeah, we did. We also made you coffee."

"Oh, thank you very much." The tired smile appeared on the man's lips as he moved forward and flopped down on one of the couches.

His hands immediately moved to the cup standing on the coffee table. Maybe it wasn't boiling hot anymore, but it still should be pleasingly warm.

The ponytail the man had was a little bit messed. A few strands had escaped it, probably a long time ago, and now curled around his neck and ears, sometimes even being glued to the skin hither and tither.

In the dim light of the lamp above their heads Jack noticed that Aster's father didn't look that good. There was some dryness to the skin, dark splotches here and there, mixing with the hollow bags under the eyes.

Mister Bunnymund always looked tired – he honestly loved his job, but it wasn't an easy one and it was pretty visible in the amount of work he did and the time he sacrificed for the animals – but now he looked incredibly unhealthy.

The man took a slow sip, not letting go of the grin for a moment, and only after that turned to them.

"So, with what may I help you?"

Here comes the worse part.

Jack was about to open his mouth and start speaking – anything, just to let the words out, allowing them to morph and form something – when Tooth beat him to it.

"We noticed that nowadays Aster has been acting a little bit off. He wasn't as happy as he used to anymore or was losing focus a lot of times during the day. At the beginning we kind brushed it off, because we thought that maybe it would pass, but it certainly didn't."

Aster's father nodded, but there was some kind of spark in his eyes, a familiar, sad one, dying almost as quickly as it had appeared.

"But then we decided to do something about it. We tried asking our friends or even him a few times, but he always told us that there was nothing to worry about." Tooth corrected her hands on the cup. "And we did leave it for some time, hoping that Aster would resolve whatever problem or problems he was having. But lately it honestly doesn't seem like it is the case." She said and then glanced at Jack.

So it was his cue. He could do this. He wanted to do this.

"Aster is a really calm and gentle person so I was really surprised when he started acting pretty… unkind to some of our friends and even to us. So well a few days ago I confronted him about that." Jack took a short breath.

Aster's father directed his gaze at him and leaned forward, like he was trying to get closer to them.

"And?" He urged after a moment.

"And it didn't go as well as I would like. Among other things he told me that you are planning to… move away. And I was quite surprised by that information. I didn't know what to do and Aster didn't look like he wanted to say anything more. And since then the situation between us is awkward. I mean, no offence, but moving away to a different town is a quite big and important thing and it was the first time me, then Tooth heard about it. So we got really worried that maybe it wasn't the full story –"

"So we decided to visit you privately, just the two of us, in hopes you might and are willing to clear it for us." Tooth butted in, looking at the man with hopeful eyes.

Mister Bunnymund blinked, but didn't look surprised by that information. Maybe even more tired. Yeah, it was exhaustion shimmering in his eyes, waving at them and disappearing when Aster's father sighed loudly, put the cup away on the coffee table and then hid his face behind his hands, with shoulders dropping down like some kind of incredibly heavy weight was put on them.

Jack didn't like that look, not even a bit.

"Oh why Aster is always taking everything so literally." It was the sentence that escaped the confinement of mister Bunnymund's hands.

Jack glanced at Tooth, who shrugged in reply and then slowly put the cup away to clench her fists on the lap.

Aster's father stayed in this position for at least good two or three minutes, breathing slowly, but steadily.

Jack was starting to get scared that maybe they had said something wrong or maybe the situation was terrible, so he was just about to ask about it, when the man finally moved his hands to comb them through his hairs, totally messing the low ponytail he had.

"Aster, my boy…" He mumbled, looking down at the ground. "You can act so stupid sometimes…"

Okay, this was the first time Jack heard something similar. Aster was usually the most intelligent one in their group – he often had the explanation to every situation, could come up with simple solutions in short time and could connect the dots quicker than anyone else.

So hearing that he had done something kinda stupid and from his own father's mouth was definitely new.

"Can we have a more… elaborate explanation?" Tooth slowly asked, fingers wrinkling the skirt she was wearing.

Aster's father nodded, once, twice and only then he opened his mouth.

"Of course you can, but I'm just trying to understand it all by myself to be honest." He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, then reached back to undo the ponytail only to make a new, neater one.

Maybe it was a calming habit for him. Aster was doing something similar too.

"First, I'm sorry that you had to find out in such a way. I honestly thought that you would be the first people informed about it by Aster." The hands landed on his knees. "Unfortunately, it is true. We will be moving away at the end of this semester, after Aster's finals."

Jack lost his breath for a moment. This didn't seem like a good situation or like totally the opposite of one.

Tooth cleared her throat.

Jack could see that her hands twitched nervously, but she hid it by gripping the fabric of her skirt tighter, creating wave after wave of folds on her lap.

"Can we ask why?"

Tooth's voice was soft, delicate, but due to all bad reasons. It seemed like a thin thread, breakable, pulled to the maximum and one sharp cut could make it all disappear.

Jack wanted to reach and hold her hand, squeeze it and show that everything was okay.

Tooth always worried too much between the three of them. She was the most emphatic one – her heart too kind for this world. She could lose sleep over other people's problems, trying to solve them somehow.

Jack was also like that. He knew what she was feeling.

Mister Bunnymund nodded.

"Yeah, of course you can. I think the whole problem started even at this point."

Jack tilted his head, returning his gaze to the man.

"What do you mean?"

"I told Aster to not tell this to anyone else." The man finally said, sighing loudly. "But I… didn't think he would understand it literally. I am okay with you knowing, you are his closest friends. I just hoped that he wouldn't talk about it with other unfamiliar people, but I should have known better. Aster would understand it without me pointing it out. I feel like it was my mistake."

The small smile didn't reach Aster's father eyes, it was just there to make the situation lighter, but barely did it job. Maybe it even made everything way worse.

And honestly this was such Aster thing to do. Take everything way literally. Jack knew that Aster sometimes had problems with understanding sarcasm – gladly after a few years Jack had taught him to distinguish it quite quickly – and understanding some jokes. He wasn't a type to read between the lines, he had strict rules and he kept and followed them, no matter what.

Which sometimes backfired, just like right now.

In any other situation maybe Jack would laugh, he would let out a soft chuckle to discharge the situation, let the tension drop, but now he seemed he wasn't able to do that.

It was nice to know that it wasn't their fault.

But it wasn't Aster's father fault either. It was all a result of miscommunication.

"I feel like I made a mess." Aster's father continued, after a moment.

"It's not your fault, mister." Jack quickly butted in.

"I know Aster, I should have known he would interpret those words in his own way."

"No one could know that for sure, so please don't beat yourself over it. Nothing bad happened." Tooth added, smiling a little bit, fingers unclenching the fold she had been holding until now.

Aster's father exhaled slowly, hands moving for the cup once again. He kept it near his mouth, staring at the coffee table between them for a moment and only then took a short sip.

"Maybe you're right." He finally said. "But the point was that he could tell you guys. All this time I thought you knew."

"About what exactly?" Tooth asked.

"My sister… she is not doing that great. Well she hasn't been doing great for some time, but it is getting worse and worse." The man said. "And she will need to be hospitalized soon. I need to be there to help her and her kids."

Oh, that didn't sound too good. That sounded terrible and deadly actually.

Jack had met Aster's aunt a few times in the past, when she had visited them during Christmas or holidays. She was a nice woman, with three adorable children, without a husband who had left her.

But she was strong woman, being able to raise her kids with a smile on her face.

"I'm so sorry." Tooth immediately said.

"No, it's okay. We knew it already for some time so we had plenty of time to prepare ourselves. I already finished all my papers about moving my clinic there. And most of my customers already know about it." Aster's father cleared his throat. It seemed like there was something clogging it, some kind of emotion was squeezing it tight and preventing the air and voice from getting farther up. "The school also knows about it."

Jack glanced at Tooth who did it back. There were a thousand of different questions swirling in his head, some more important, some small and could be missed, but he wanted to know the answers to all of them.

How could they all miss it? It had been all happening behind their backs – a major change that could shake their worlds.

Of course Aster wanted to go to Uni in a different city, but the prospect of him going back home for breaks and holidays had been always there. And now he was moving somewhere else, far away from them, slipping past their grasps.

It felt like the end of their friendship for a moment.

But Jack decided that he wouldn't allow it.

Now they needed to give Aster love and support he deserved. All his life plans had been suddenly destroyed, smashed to pieces, leaving only dust that could be brushed away by one blow.

Of course he had to feel terrible.

"How about Aster's plans for University?" Tooth inquired with hands now clasped together in front of her, playing with the ring she kept on her one finger.

The man looked up at them, then casted his gaze down.

"It's a… complicated matter." He finally mumbled, eyelids fluttering for a moment, like he tried to contain something inside, something that tried to tear its way open. "We have the money, but in the current situation…" Ona hand moved to glide along the hair, like it wanted to correct something that had already been corrected. "We talked a little bit about it. Aster told me that he was okay with giving money away for more important matters, but I… don't want to do it. I want to help him fulfill his dreams. He was so excited about the idea of his dream College. I feel like I took it away."

"It wasn't your fault Mister. It's no one's fault." Jack added.

He wanted to say something more, maybe something else, but he wasn't sure what. What kind of words could be good in this type of situation? What kind of sentences could repair something that was almost broken beyond repair?

Aster's father sighed and returned to the previous question.

"We still haven't decided on that yet. But I know it took a toll on him and he isn't feeling well nowadays."

"Is there anything we can do to help?" Tooth quickly inquired, surging forward a little.

The man smiled sadly at them.

"Well now that you know the truth you can stay with him and help him cope with this."

"Always." Jack immediately nodded.

"We won't fail him." Tooth added.

The smile which now appeared on mister Bunnymund's face was a little bit more honest. Still destroyed, missing vital components to be fully operational, but sweet, kind and delicate nevertheless.

"He needs you now. He hasn't been himself since he found out." The man said. "My sister was like a mother to him, he really loves her." He licked his lips. "The information devastated him, devastated us." He corrected himself a little quickly. "But for now we can't do much, but help them, however we can."

Jack understood that. He hated that life was like that – unfair, messed, complicated, harsh, heavy, like a never ending storm where the waves pushed the ship higher or lower, threating to pull it under water. But life was still beautiful, sweet, delicate during different times, fresh and calm on Sunday mornings with the shimmering light filtering through the rustling curtains.

It wasn't fair.

But it was reality.

No matter how Jack wanted to change it.

"Thank you for telling us." Jack finally said, looking up at the man and feeling that his voice was heavy, barely wanting to be pushed through the throat.

Mister Bunnymund shook his head.

"No, I should thank you. For still staying with Aster, for worrying about him to this point you came up to me. You didn't have to do it, but I'm glad you did. So thank you."

"It's nothing, really." Tooth quickly added, waving her hands in front of herself.

"It is for me." The man sighed. "It is for him too. He really is happy that he has you."

Jack's mouth twitched. His heart weighed on his shoulders, but there was some kind of breeze inside his mind, some kind of comfort in knowing the reasons behind all this behavior.

It wasn't going to be okay, heck, maybe it won't ever be the same. Probably not. The world was changing, their futures were getting closer and closer, decisions had to be made – harsh and not.

Jack had to say goodbye to the old life, even though it was hard and he kept it near him with both hands, struggling with the idea that all soon would be lost. But he already had been losing it slowly, day by day.

It didn't mean the new world would be worse. Now it didn't seem like it for Aster and neither for Jack. But he had to believe, he had to be here and see how the things will change, be the witness of it and hopefully someone who could alter some things, make them a little more bearable.

There were so many possibilities. Good and bad, easy and hard. But it was their life and no one could live it for them.

Jack exhaled slowly, hands reaching for his now cold coffee.

Times were changing.

So for now it was going good. Quite good. Not the best, but not the worst either.

Hiccup was still a mess inside, that didn't really change. His sentences sometimes were chaotic, needed to be glued together somehow, missing some words, components or cables.

However for now it seemed like Aster had fun. Or wasn't in totally bad mood actually. Yeah, that was a better option.

The trip to the bookstore had taken the longest amount of time, but simply because Hiccup had prolonged every moment. He had showed Aster almost every book he had found interesting, asking for his opinion on this title or that author.

Aster calmly had helped him with picking a few titles, still with emotionless façade on his face.

At this point Hiccup simply guessed that he was like that.

He could admit that some time ago he had been mesmerized by the long creases as Aster wrinkled his nose, he had loved to stare from far away at the lips pinched in tight line, he had adored those smart eyes, hiding the pure intelligence and wisdom, but mixed with warm love for his friends and family.

But those had been things of the past.

Now Hiccup could say that Bunny was still attractive, heck, he hadn't stopped being handsome after Hiccup's feelings had changed. And there was nothing wrong with admiring someone aesthetically.

But there wasn't any surge of warmness, no sudden hitched breath getting lost in his lungs and throat, no sudden skip of heart. Just the two of them walking around on a lazy evening.

Hiccup checked his phone quickly when Aster was occupied by something in his backpack. No new messages from Jack. He still needed to buy them some time, enough time to talk, to try to understand what was exactly happening.

He can do it.

"So what's next?" Bunny inquired, throwing his backpack on his back and looking at him.

"Uhm…" Hiccup murmured, quickly scrolling in his head through the list of things they could do. "How about some food? I'm actually quite hungry."

Which was half of the truth. He was kinda hungry, so he could use it as an excuse.

"Sure, lead the way."

So Hiccup did.

They talked a little bit about teachers, old and new, about homework, about future exams that were waiting for Aster and the rest of the grade, about the city they lived in and about some of their friends.

(Hiccup really was in a mood for a burger from the twins' restaurant, but he didn't want them to somehow blow this whole plan, so he had to pick something else.)

They found a small noodle bar near the city center with a moderately short line, taking into account the time. They quickly looked through the menu and picked separate meals, which then they ordered.

The man behind the cash register sent them a warm, yet tired smile and turned around to prepare their food.

"Chopsticks or forks?" Aster suddenly asked, eyeing the line of cutlery.

"Erm fork. I'm not that great with chopsticks."

"Fork it is then."

The man gave them two boxes wrapped in a plastic bag and wished them a happy meal.

Hiccup thanked him in return and grabbed the bag, stopping for a moment to let Aster drop the cutlery inside.

"Outside?" Hiccup asked, just to be sure he got Aster's plans correctly.

The boy shrugged, but the corner of his lips softened for a brief moment.

"I thought crowded places made you stressed." Aster's said, waving his hand around to point at the mostly taken seats.

The small fast-food restaurant wasn't maybe packed to the brim, but it was still loud, vibrant, vivid in all the wrong meaning of those words. People waved their hands around, laughing loudly about something, while almost elbowing other customers.

Yeah, Hiccup didn't like it that much.

"They do." Hiccup admitted.

"So let's go."

They walked slowly to the small park near the city center. The trees there, accumulated in too small space, were already fully green, shivering, talking softly between each other under the touch of the spring wind, sneaking past like a worker trying to get back home as fast as they could.

There were a few people walking around, trying to get from point A in the city to point B. Some were walking their dogs, leashes leisurely hanging as the dogs skittered around, barking, sniffing freshly bloomed flowers or jumping at each other.

It was a nice view.

Most of the benches were taken – there was a pair of two grandmas talking loudly and excitedly about something, pure smiles wrinkling their faces. A few meters away a group of teenagers murmured between each other, eyes focused and skateboards laying near their feet.

Aster pointed at a bench. Hiccup nodded and fastened his pace to get to it before a couple.

(Unfortunately for the couple, he and Aster were quicker to reach it. The girl sighed with shoulders dropping for a second, but the boy shrugged and smiled to her.)

Hiccup exhaled slowly as he leaned his back on the bench. Standing and walking for so long was quite tiresome and he could feel a whisper, a shiver of pain in the lower part of his back and leg.

Bunny flopped down next to him, letting out a grunt, like an old man.

Hiccup snickered, put the bag on his lap, untied it and then passed one box and chopsticks to his companion. He put his own box on his knees and unwrapped it, only to be hit by a delicious smell of fast-food noodles.

His mouth immediately watered.

He quickly twirled some noodles on the plastic fork which he put in his mouth, humming at the sweet and sour sensation spreading on his tongue.

Yeah, good food was exactly what he needed.

Aster ate in silence next to him, using chopsticks definitely more professionally than Hiccup could. He could barely keep them in his hands without them clattering to the floor. He had tried to learn how to use them, but he had been terrible at it. Astrid always had laughed at his miserable try to use it whenever they had gone out for sushi.

But gladly now he could simply use fork.

They both ate, slurping from time to time and observing people passing them by. Some grandpa smiled at them, a lone dog sniffed Bunny's legs, a duo of girls laughed loudly as they passed them, a few birds landed in front of them and both he and Aster threw several noodles on the ground.

(Were noodles even good for birds? Ah, it was already too late, the birds took it and flew away, not counting one pigeon who stuck with them.)

Minutes passed, accompanied by the conversations around them, shuffling of feet and rustling of leaves. Hiccup was in the middle of the box, but it seemed that Aster already was finishing his own, judging by the scrapping sound on the paper bottom with the wooden sticks.

And then Aster dropped the bomb of course.

"So, what is the real reason you asked me out today?"

Hiccup tensed for a moment – his body betrayed him – and then twirled some more noodles on his fork.

"I already told you I just wanted to hang out."

Aster hummed and Hiccup could feel that he was observing him.

(Try to act normal, try to act normal.)

Oh shit, the noodles fell down from his fork into the box. Damn.

"I mean, don't get me wrong, I had fun." Aster said, finally managing to get some more food between the chopsticks and then lifting it to his mouth. "But we both know that you didn't ask me out without some kind of motive behind it. You rarely do things without higher reasons."

Which was true and not, both in the same time.

He had no ulterior motives while hanging and spending time with his friends and family. He didn't have any higher plans while talking with Jack. He just did that because he liked it, no other reasons.

(It also kinda hurt, the sudden information prickled his heart. Didn't Aster also think they were friends? Or he only thought that Hiccup wanted something from him by asking him to hang out?)

No, he needed to clear this misunderstanding, fast.

"I don't need a reason to hang out with friends." He said, turning his head and looking sincerely at Aster.

There was a sudden twitch on Bunny's mouth, the kinda condescending smile he had had before turned into something definitely more honest, fresher, happier. There was a sparkle in his eyes, a sudden gleam of light, a luminescent glow that appeared only for a moment.

Okay, so that was a good answer.

A few months ago Hiccup could never think about sitting in a park with his ex-crush while leisurely eating noodles. But here he was, doing exactly that.

It was bizarre in its simplicity that now it wasn't so hard to just ask a few words and both of them could simply talk. Back then he had thought only a miracle could save and help him.

But it wasn't a miracle.

It was life, being wild and weird, astonishing and astounding and of course, it was also full of dark and hollow parts, tearing hearts and chests apart, stealing breaths and brushing away tears, but there were also beautiful moments.

Not beautiful in the meaning that everything was all right. But there was a particle of amazement, a sprinkle of something incredible in it.

Bunny finally hummed, then closed the box and threw it into the trash bin standing next to them.

Hiccup twirled another portion of noodles on his fork and put it into his mouth to buy himself more time.

Something was telling him that Aster wouldn't let it go that easily, if at all.

"So you're not gonna tell me the reason?"

Should he lie? Or simply tell the truth? Hiccup wasn't sure what to do in this situation. Both options seemed bad.

If he lied, he would have to plunge further into it. Would he be failing Jack's trust if he told the truth? Of course not the full truth, but some small part of it, so this way Aster would leave him alone.

He wouldn't even mention Jack or Tooth or Aster's father.

"No." Hiccup finally said and it was the best answer he could give Bunny.

The taller teen nodded.

"Well, I still had fun nevertheless." He finally said. "How about you?"

"Not being able to reach the highest shelf definitely wasn't fun, but other than that, yeah, it was cool."

Aster laughed shortly – a quick snort left his lips while probably recalling the situations from an hour before when he had had to help Hiccup reach some book from the top of the bookshelf.

"I'm glad then."

"Did you relax a little?" Hiccup asked, prolonging the inevitable for as long as he could.

(Because maybe he was a coward in the end. But social interactions weren't his thing, he couldn't deal with them correctly, pick the perfect response that wouldn't be bad or wouldn't sound like he was being mean.)

Aster nodded, eyes looking at some far away point on the horizon.

"I did."

A pair with a dog passed them by, together with a bristle of wind.

Hiccup hoped that maybe Bunny would drop the topic, relinquish it, leaving only the fact that this was just a calm day, a short moment of time where he could forget about worries, a tiny speck of time where he could simply be himself without ton of problems sitting on his shoulders.

But Aster wasn't like that. Hiccup should have known better than hope for that.

And unfortunately, Aster could deduce a lot of things.

"Did Jack ask you to hang out with me?"

Hiccup snapped his mouth shut, forcing all his cells not to twitch at that.

How Aster had connected so many dots in such short amount of time? Okay, that was a correct theory that the only thing connecting them was Jack, but it really should be a blind shot. Unless Jack somehow had spilled the truth to Aster about Hiccup's crush. But that wasn't possible. Hiccup fully believed Jack and there was no way that the teen would have done something like that.

So there had to be something else. Yet the only thing that was coming to his head was the feeling that had disappeared with time, making place for something entirely new.

What Hiccup should do in this situation? Should he speak the truth now? Aster had deduced it himself. But it still felt bad to do it, like he was betraying Jack's trust and he didn't want to do that.

No book covered the topic of what to do in this situation. He wondered if he could somehow take out his phone, google the situation and hope for some kind of answer.

Was Aster mad at him now? Was he mad at Jack? Oh God, Hiccup didn't want that. Jack forged this plan to help Aster, not made him even more mad.

Hiccup felt lost and he still decided to be super occupied with picking the noodles from the box.

How long can they keep this up?

"That boy is stupid. And selfless too." Aster finally murmured, leaning forward with elbows on his knees, hands connected leisurely and fingers interlocked.

Okay, this definitely wasn't something Hiccup expected Aster to do. Or say. Or yeah, in overall it was really surprising.

Well, but Hiccup couldn't not agree with Aster. At least with some part of his sentence.

"He is." He mumbled, without really thinking too much, and then quickly turned his head to correct himself. "I mean selfless! He is selfless! Totally, but, ugh, I'm not sure, I mean I don't think that he is stupid." Somehow in the middle he bit his tongue and made probably a weird face, because Aster snorted softly as they both now looked at each other. "I mean yeah he doesn't have that good grades, but this doesn't mean that he is stupid. Or at least I don't think he is stupid."

Okay, Hiccup was making a mess out of himself. Great.

Yet Aster only stared at him with this weird look on his face – kinda sad, but kinda happy. Maybe fifty percent sad and fifty percent happy. Or not, forty percent sad, fifty percent happy and ten percent amused. Wait, there was also a trace amount of confusion.

Aster took a deep breath.

"Okay, sorry, let me correct myself." He glanced at Hiccup and then simply said. "You both are stupid."

Hiccup was… well to put it mildly surprised as heck. This was definitely not what he expected to hear coming from Aster's mouth now.

(Plus, even though he knew Aster probably meant it in a different way, it still stung a little. He couldn't really help that.)

"Excuse me?" Hiccup finally said, when his brain caught up that indeed those words had left Aster's lips and it hadn't been some weird figment of his imagination.

Bunny looked at him. His eyes looked incredibly tired, there was a veil of exhaustion thrown over them, covering the spark, the sudden burst of passion that had been there some time ago. That sweet blink, gleam that a few months ago could take Hiccup's breath away.

"You heard what I said."

"I mean, I did, but what? What do you mean?" His hands flew higher, hitting the paper box with some noodles still inside of it.

His eyes stared as the box tilted, being on a verge of falling down and making a mess around them. Something Hiccup definitely didn't want and he would be too slow to catch and prevent it.

But then Aster moved his hand, grabbed the box, before it could fall down, and then moved it to his lap to close the lid.

"Sorry, but this is the truth."

"You're still evading answering me what exactly you meant by that." Hiccup quickly shot back, trying to not let the hurt be audible in his voice and visible on his face as he moved his hands around.

But it was probably a futile job, or some part of Hiccup simply spilled the truth, because Aster looked at him and blinked with the sad smile breaking for a moment.

"Sorry, I didn't well mean it in the bad way." He quickly said, one hand kept on the box and one moving in circles in front of him.

"Then in what way did you mean it?" Hiccup asked, barely feeling any better after what the other boy had told him.

Aster huffed.

"Don't worry, you'll understand what I mean if you talk with Jack."

"But I talk with him every day." Hiccup blurted out and immediately felt his cheeks reddening, getting warmer and warmer with every passing second.

Oh God, he just hadn't said that in front of Aster, did he? There definitely was no way of misinterpreting this! Or maybe Hiccup was thinking too much about it? Or maybe he wasn't and he just had spilled his second biggest secret to his ex-crush!

(The first one would probably be the fact that he had had crush on him some time ago.)

The heart plummeted to his lungs, soared for a moment and crashed down when he felt a hand on his head, ruffling his hair softly.

Okay, what the heck was happening? Did Aster just honestly pat his head?

"Never change, Hiccup." Bunny simply said, the hand lingered in his locks for a few more moments before it slowly moved back. "Your honesty is probably the thing I like most in you."

What?

What!?

Hiccup was dazed for a moment. He was sure his brain just rebooted as there was a long silence inside his mind for a moment, and then a beeping sound resonated somewhere when his heart caught up with his body.

Had he seriously just heard that?

"What?" Hiccup croaked out.

He didn't mean for the words to leave his lips, but they just did, almost like they had their own mind and decided to move out, find a new place for themselves in the world.

No, Hiccup had to be wrong. It was just a big misunderstanding. Aster definitely hadn't meant it in that way. He definitely had meant it in a friendly way. A fake-boyfriend's best-friend's kind of way? Was there even a thing like that?

It definitely had to be that.

"You heard me."

So Hiccup let out a fake laugh – which sounded terrible even for him – and then simply said.

"I know, it's just…"

Just what? Hiccup wasn't sure.

The only thing he was sure of was that everything was too much, there was too many information in such short span of time, they clattered and clogged the cables, making him freeze for a moment while his brain tried to sort out the new impulses and signals.

Aster tilted his head.

His throat clenched and unclenched in an uneven rhythm – like a pump – and the air whistled in his nostrils as he let out another long breathe. The atoms in his skull gathered, forming a dense atmosphere that almost pushed uncomfortably on all his nerves.

(Too much, too much.)

It seemed like the rest of the world didn't exist for a moment, a short, terrible moment when there was only this bench, the two of them, a box of unfinished noodles still sitting on Aster lap, Hiccup's phone vibrating suddenly in his pocket and the lingering weight of Aster's hand on Hiccup's head that had disappeared a few moments ago.

"I like you, Hiccup."

Okay.

Okay.

It wasn't okay. It was far away from okay. It was a disaster, a sudden explosion inside his mind, a painful one, which messed all the catalogues he had made inside his head. A sudden fear overtook every fibre of his skin. Hydrogen, carbon, oxygen, nitrogen and sulphur atoms shivered in their wake, vibrating, creating an unhealthy heat that just burned in the sour way.

His tongue was heavy.

His heart even more so.

It was surprisingly terrible how time could change the perspective, how emotions were a fickle thing, rarely a constant, never an easy formula with only one or two answers. No, they were much more complicated. They couldn't be solved so quickly. No sine or tangent or Euler's number could describe them.

They were mysterious beings, yet familiar ones, but ever-changing.

Some time ago those words would make Hiccup's day.

Today they totally destroyed it.

For a moment he forgot how to breathe, how to do the simplest thing like move his finger. He was frozen in place, in time, with the world passing him by.

"I…" He swallowed hard, feeling like even this one thing was too difficult.

How could he even answer that? Hell, no, he knew how to answer that. It was just hard to do it, it was hard to combine words with his mind, made his lips move through the stress, the sudden realization and the possibilities of what he was just about to do.

Hiccup was never on this end of conversation. Well, he never really was on the other end either. He never had confessed to anyone, so it was all pretty new.

(With Dagur it was a totally different matter. Dagur had been brash, harsh and dangerous. Hiccup never had been sure whether he had been honest or not. He never had been sure whether he should run away or stay and listen.)

No, he knew what he needed to do. He knew what he had to do.

Miscommunication and misinterpretation were the worst companions of life, especially in such kind of situations.

So Hiccup took a breath – he tried to do it for a longer time, but it turned into a short, crooked inhale.

"I'm sorry, but I…" Hiccup looked up, then casted his gaze down on the hands on his lap. "… I don't feel… the same way… I mean like you're super cool and like amazingly smart and come on, you are pretty handsome, but I –"

"It's okay, I already knew that."

"You did?" Hiccup quickly answered, already feeling that meaningless words were clambering in his mouth, a pure, sudden need to fill the void with rushed sentences almost overpowered his mind.

Aster nodded, the weirdly calm and sad smile didn't leave his lips not even once, though there was something to his eyes that hadn't been there before.

"I mean… that's super good and I'm like really flattered and all… " And would be enamored if the time had been just right, but it rarely was. It didn't play by any rules, it was a never ending flow, flying and floating between people, pushing them forward and back, together and far away. "But it's just… I mean I'm simply sorry…"

"Don't worry about it."

"But I mean… it sucks…"

Hiccup knew a few things about crushed hearts, unresolved one–sided feelings. He wasn't a pro in them, but he was familiar with the pang of sudden pain that could tear the chest in half for a short, terrible moment.

"It actually does…" Aster nodded one more time.

"I'm sorry."

"Though I do feel a little better. Still terrible, but you know… there is some part of me that feel more comfortable now, I think."

Hiccup blinked at the statement and Aster looking up at the sky as the wind tickled their warm cheeks.

(Hiccup's cheeks definitely were boiling now with the steam overflowing every possible free place beneath the skin. It definitely wasn't possible, but it seemed like a reality right now.)

"Maybe Jack was right. Talking about this helped a little."

Okay, this was going right. Not perfectly good, but Aster didn't seem that broken by the rejection. Or maybe he wasn't showing it. He had a tendency to do that.

Just like Jack.

"Jack gives quite good advices." Hiccup finally murmured, peeking at Aster from time to time.

"He does." Aster admitted. "Maybe not always, but sometimes."

Hiccup wasn't sure how to answer so he only made a weird sound that could be counted as a chuckle and then turned back to stare at the park.

It didn't seem gladly that anyone paid them much mind. Everyone minded their own business. A dog ran near them, followed by a man clearly chasing it as it called her name over and over again.

So they sat like that. Silence wrapped them in its tight hug, quite on the verge of uncomfortableness.

Should Hiccup say that he had had crush on him some time ago? No, it would be counterproductive. Aster didn't need to know that, it probably would make him feel way worse than he already was and this wasn't a thing Hiccup wanted.

Though there were some answers that Hiccup kinda wanted to know.

"For how long?" He asked with voice incredibly small.

"Hm?"

"For how long you…" Okay this was definitely awkward. "… you liked me, I guess?"

Aster exhaled slowly, something resembling a tired sigh left his lips as his shoulder slumped.

The box of noodles wavered a little on his lap, but he quickly moved his hands to secure it.

"For quite some time I think."

"That is a very specific span of time. Totally answers my questions."

A low chuckle, hesitant, maybe even forced one, left Bunny's lips, but there was something honest about it, small particles mixing with the other ones.

Aster grabbed the box and turned it around a few times, trying not to spill the contents that were still residing inside. It seemed like for a moment he was reading the side of it, where was a short description of the restaurant.

Hiccup patiently waited.

"I guess since before the whole fake-dating fiasco started."

So pretty long.

And also during the time when Hiccup had had the crush on Aster too.

Life had a mysterious way of working, not in anyone's favor. There had been a time when two people had liked each other, but neither of them had done anything with it, so the feeling had disappeared, dissipated, barely leaving a trace of it being there in the first place.

Hiccup felt kinda sad about that. The waterfall of possibilities, memories, stories, that could be shared and made, had dried out. The path that clearly was in front of them was shut down and some part of Hiccup was simply dejected about that.

But it was gone and Hiccup could do nothing about it.

No, that was wrong, the road wasn't fully closed. There were still some ways of stepping onto it, create new memories from zero, but he didn't want that. He closed that chapter of his life – it was a good one, not perfect, filled with melancholy and sudden beats of heart, but Hiccup still treasured it.

"Sorry."

"Stop apologizing. It's fine. I'm fine."

Hiccup bit his bottom lip to prevent himself from trying to say sorry one more time.

"Then thank you for telling me." He said instead.

It didn't sound like the perfect thing to say in this situation, but he had to add something.

Aster turned to him and this time the smile he had was more honest and real than the ones he had used before.

"You're welcome." Then like an afterthought he simply added. "Now it's your time to tell the truth."

"Pardon?"

Aster looked at him, shook his head and then put the box he had been playing with down.

"You'll get what I mean."

Hiccup hated when people talked in riddles. Or maybe not in riddles, but hid the truth behind sentences that could mean too many different things. Yet it seemed like his mind couldn't really pick the correct answer among the code.

Maybe that was why he never really could understand poetry.

"Gosh talking with you is sometimes impossible."

Aster let out a soft snort.

"Should we go?" He asked instead, standing up and holding the box in one hand.

Ah shit. Should they? Now that Aster mentioned it he had felt a vibration coming from his pocket so someone had messaged him, but he wasn't sure if it was Jack.

He hoped it was him, because Hiccup wasn't sure for how long he could stay like that with Aster.

"Uhm, yeah, sure." Hiccup answered nevertheless and grabbed the hand Aster was showing him to hoist himself up.

They slowly moved in the direction of the park exit.

For a moment Hiccup wanted to secretly take out his phone and check his messages, so Aster wouldn't see it, but then decided against it. The teen definitely would notice that something was wrong with him, plus it wasn't bad to check your phone in company. Doing it too often or paying too much attention to it, instead to the person with whom you were spending time, was bad, but one check was okay.

So Hiccup took out the phone and brushed the screen with his finger to indeed spot a message from Jack.

we are done

Hiccup exhaled slowly and wrote a quick response.

I'm getting him back.

When Hiccup looked up, Aster was glancing at him with a knowing look on his face.

"W-what?"

Of fucking course, he stuttered. It was just so typical of him.

"Nothing." Aster mumbled, shaking his head and then returning his gaze to the road.

Okay, Hiccup officially wanted to end this day. It was too bizarre and he needed some time to catalogue every information, think it all through. He needed time to process everything.

Aster walked him back home and sent a quick wave as a farewell.

Hiccup stood for some time in the driveway, looking at the retreating silhouette of Aster, feeling that his mind was too full and weirdly empty both in the same time.

He hoped that Jack had more luck with his part of the job.

The door opened with a soft click and a voice that echoed in the house.

"I'm home."

It definitely was Aster.

Jack swallowed hard as he listened to his friend taking off his shoes and then jacket.

Tooth next to him also looked stressed. Her bottom lip was worried with her teeth, the lipstick she had worn was now fully gone.

Aster's father glanced at the corridor.

Jack's hand twitched when he heard footsteps, rustling of clothes and heavy breaths getting closer and closer. He could feel his heart jumping, thrumming, beating loud inside his chest, clenching for a moment when Aster stepped into the living room and simply froze in place for a moment.

They should expect it.

"Hey, Aster." His father said, mouth quirking into something resembling a very tired smile.

Okay, this was awkward as hell.

Jack licked his lips slowly, feeling the nervous choppiness of the skin beneath his tongue as the saliva rolled down his throat. What should he do? He felt out of place, out of control.

He got what he wanted. And now he had to deal with reality.

But he didn't know how. He wanted to do something, to show Aster that it had to be terrible, living with problems alone, hiding secrets from friends, seeing them and thinking that the good times would end soon.

Aster maybe didn't look like it but he worried a lot and he loved his family more than anything, so it had to be extremely hard on him.

And now, when Jack knew, he wanted to do something, show his friend that he was here. They didn't have much time together in this city, where they had built so many good and bad memories, but they were friends and nothing could break them. Not distance, not illness, not problems that could rip hearts apart.

Jack just didn't know how to show it.

Gladly Tooth did.

She just jumped to her feet, miraculously managed not to crash into coffee table, and then she was in front of Aster, wrapping her arms around his chest and hugging tightly.

Aster looked perplexed, taken aback by the movement, eyes widening for a second with a low grunt leaving his mouth at the pure strength the girl possessed.

"Bunny, you are one of the stupidest people I know." Tooth mumbled, face hidden in the fabric of her friend's shirt.

Guess the girl knew what to do in those kind of situations.

But Jack didn't want to be left out, so he simply stood up, walked to Aster and also hugged him.

Jack liked physical contact. He sought it, he loved the comfort of someone's else's palm touching his shoulder, head, hand, he felt good when he was hugging someone, holding them, keeping as close as he could.

Aster wasn't like that.

But even though he clearly didn't like hugs, he just slumped down under the pressure of them both. There was a shivering exhale that left this mouth, rattling the teeth and lips as his hand twitched spasmodically.

Jack and Tooth just hugged him tighter.

"I agree with Tooth here." Jack finally mumbled.

Their position was probably awkward, but he didn't care. He couldn't care less if he wanted to actually.

It was okay, maybe not perfect for other people, but for him it was. And he loved it.

"You're the worst friends I have." Aster finally mumbled, somehow whispering the words into Tooth's colorful hair.

"We know." The girl answered, the hint of amusement at the last word leaving her lips.

"But you still love us?" Jack asked, stealing a glance in Aster's direction.

The boy huffed with arms slumping even lower, before he moved them and somehow patted both Tooth and Jack on their backs.

"This I do."

Jack couldn't stop the smile from forming on his lips. Even though his chest was heavy, his heart was drowning and his mind was filled to the brim, he felt happy. Well maybe not happy with the world – with the future, possibilities, pain, missed moments, hesitation, unsureness, sad hugs that soon would follow. No, he was happy to be alive in this very moment.

Part of Aster's world was broken. It had crashed long time ago, with the concrete splattering around, covering the ground with sooth and dust. It wasn't looking good, it was broken with thin dark lines going around, sneaking, making everything weak.

But Jack's world was also like that.

Nobody's world was perfect. In some were more sun, in some more clouds. But they were all standing here through the pain, through the storms, through the rain and through the earthquakes. It didn't seem that the sun would come out soon. It definitely would appear one day, covering the gray ground with shimmering light, warming every face, but some time needed to pass. Now there were hard times in front of them. Maybe thunders rumbling in the distance. Maybe there was a cold wind, bringing droplets that stick to the skin.

But in this moment Jack felt strangely happy that he was alive. That Aster was alive. That Tooth was alive. That they all were living and breathing and it was very hard to do so. Incredibly even.

But they were doing it nevertheless.

After a long moment – Jack felt like hours passed – they all moved away.

And if the skin around Aster's eyes was a little bit redder no one mentioned it.

"Do you want something to drink?"

It was an invite to stay for a little bit more.

Jack's heart swelled.

Tooth nodded without hesitation.

"Tea would be nice."

Aster nodded and then moved his eyes to Jack, a small smile gracing his lips.

"Same as Tooth." Jack said.

It was far from being perfect, but for now it was okay.

Author's note:

I feel like everyone is called stupid in this chapter haha xDD. But not in the mean way! But you know in the… not-noticing-things way xD! Anyway hope you enjoyed it 3!

And one nerdy fact (I'll try to do better in the next chapters, believe me xD):

*Transmittance – the amount of monochromatic light absorbed by a sample is determined by comparing the intensities of the incident light (Io) and transmitted light (I). The ratio of the intensity of the transmitted light (I) to the intensity if the incident light (Io) is called transmittance (T) .

And a few answers:

O -Koneko . Marlem- O - I hope that you don't mind that I answered you in English =D. Haha I like surprising everyone with Aster xD. Omg that makes me super happy :D And don't worry about not reviewing earlier. If this story made you happy then I am happy about that =D. Thank you for reading it!

sonofHades7 – Awww don't worry, there is no hurry =D. Writing some characters changing is probably one of my fav things to do. Aw thank youuuu : D! See you hopefully soon =D!

Fangirlnerd001 – I hope this was a wild, but nice ride =D. I honestly hope everyone would be okay in the end haha xD. Omg… omg Aster and Tadashi would be so great together =D. Oh damn… I mean writing from other people's point of views would be great… but then this fanfic probably would never end xDD. Awwww that makes me so happy (tho… I must admit, there is not a lot of planning haha xD). That is a very, very good question… Very good… xD""" Very good question I should probably answer… xD"""" Nooo, don't apologize for rambling, I loved your comment =D. And spill all your ideas, I would love to read all of them! Thank you =D!

See ya later =D!