Negative delta is the beginning of fun Chapter 22 - Stoletov's law, a How to Train Your Dragon + Rise of the Guardians Crossover fanfic

Pairing: Jack x Hiccup

Genre: Romance, Drama + Angst

Warning: NC-17/T

Warning: only half beta-read

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

Stoletov's law – the first law of photoeffect – there is a direct proportionality between the intensity of electromagnetic radiation acting on a metallic surface and the photocurrent induced by this radiation.

"So how did your dad you know… take it?" Hiccup asked, fumbling with the book in his hands, looking through the questions and exercises he might still give Jack.

"Eh, pretty good, but he seemed surprised." Jack murmured and moved his hand through the hair as his pen scribbled yet another answer on the paper. "How about yours?"

Hiccup recollected that day both with happiness and overwhelming shame that spread through his bones like light gas – maybe even helium in this case. Though that idea kinda terrified him.

He swallowed and then waved the book around.

"You know…"

"Should I run for my life?" Jack asked, the mirth dancing in the corners of his uplifted lips as he glanced at Hiccup.

(And he felt all warm inside and the high temperature behind the windows had nothing to do with it.)

"Perhaps?" Hiccup said hesitantly, slowly, because to be fair he never was sure what his father would do. "Maybe he won't kill you, but then… don't be surprised if he wants to talk with you."

"That's why you're helping me at my house and not at yours?"

Hiccup nodded and then grabbed the paper Jack was showing him.

With finals literally four weeks away it seemed like everyone around was stressed. Well every senior that was. They were spotted in school with heavy books and dark shadows under their eyes. Their hands trembled like their bloodstreams were infused with caffeine. And maybe in some cases it almost seemed like that.

Even Jack was stressed. But Hiccup couldn't blame him. He himself knew that next year he will be a mess around this time too.

(And part of him was happy that Jack asked him to help with learning again.)

"Well you will have to meet him at some point." Hiccup slowly said, calculating in his mind whether he should ask about it or not.

Because with finals, the prom was also coming. The semester still wasn't ending, there were a few weeks between finals and graduation, but the prom was happening almost immediately after them.

It was a chance for students to breathe, to enjoy their last days before the graduation, to lose the stress exams and finals brought them. A small reward for the stressful times that happened.

So if finals were coming, prom was too.

And Hiccup didn't really want to clatter Jack's mind with stupid things like prom. He knew the teen had more important matters to tend to. But he couldn't stop the squeeze of his stomach as he thought about upcoming time.

"Oh yeah, do you think he will kill me if I pick you up before the prom?" Jack asked, moving his hands to the crossed ankles on the floor.

Hiccup looked at the answers, twirling the pen he had grabbed from the book and circling correct ones. He mostly did it to calm down the storm his heart was making inside his chest and hide the blush from Jack's perceptive eyes.

"You only had one answer wrong, but simply because you wrote six instead of five." Hiccup said and then passed the paper to Jack. "Now try to do exercise seven and fifteen."

Jack nodded and then grabbed the book from Hiccup to focus on the designated task.

Hiccup took a few short breaths to calm his racing mind and fiddling fingers and to finally ask this question.

(They had to talk about it anyway at some point. And there wasn't much time left.)

"Will you be picking me up?" He asked hesitantly, hoping that his voice didn't show how nervous and embarrassed he was. But his behavior was probably as translucent as some hydrogels*, so very.

Because he felt like boiling inside, like shivering and exploding from all this buzzing inside his veins, rattling the cells inside his body.

Jack stilled, his back tensed and the pen stopped mid–air as he was writing another formula to finish the exercise. The shoulders slowly, terribly slow, dropped down as Jack exhaled.

(Hiccup had a feeling he saw a pink smudge on the pale cheeks, but it had to be his imagination or the play of light cascading on their bodies through the window.)

"Well I was planning to." Jack finally answered, turning to him and pushing the paper away. "Take North's car and go to your house. You know, like a proper date prom."

Hiccup swallowed hard and then reached his hand to grab the coffee from the coffee table. He needed something to grip his palms on to prevent them from shaking and showing Jack just how really nervous he was.

"Uh, but if you want, I can simply go to yours." Hiccup said and then took a slow sip, feeling his mouth immediately dry. "I mean I don't need you to pick me up."

"I don't mind." Jack quickly shook his head. "I actually want to do it." A cough left his lips. "I'm just kinda… terrified of your dad."

Hiccup nodded.

Yeah he could be… not quite pleasant.

"But then I'm sure North would want to snap some photos of us together to send to mom."

Another bob of his head. He doubted that Jack was talking about Eris. Heck, he probably didn't even think about her for a minute.

(Had they even talked since the last time they had seen each other? Had she checked on him at least once? Had she called him? Had written a message? Just had done anything to show that she had been interested in her son?)

"Yeah, my dad is not so up for photos." Hiccup mumbled, feeling a sudden pang inside his chest at the memory of the wall filled with photos, askew and straight ones, warm and cold, happy and sad.

(His dad hadn't taken a photo in forever.)

"Uhhhh…" Jack hummed and then looked up at the ceiling, crossing his hands on his chest.

It was true, Hiccup didn't care about the proper etiquette. The only valid reason Jack had for going to pick him up was that Hiccup still didn't have his driver license. Not to mention even if he did, Stoick definitely wouldn't let him take his car.

He knew how bad the last practice had gone. But they miraculously had survived.

"Well, it feels kinda weird to ask you to come to my house."

"I think it's quite normal." Hiccup shrugged. "And I totally don't mind."

"Still feel kinda bad."

Hiccup rolled his eyes at the sweet behavior, but felt a spasm of something hitting his chest. It was warm but sharp and kinda hurt him nevertheless.

So if they already had started it, should Hiccup prolong this topic? He had quite a few more questions. They weren't important, but some weird part of Hiccup really wanted to ask about them.

"And uh, what about the money?"

"Well I'm paying for it." Jack said like it was the most obvious thing in the entire universe.

"But I can pay for myself!" Hiccup furrowed his eyebrows, feeling his glasses sliding down his nose.

It felt kinda bad to not be paying for something they were only doing to prolong their plan. It felt for Hiccup like he was using Jack.

(Even though deep down he was happy that Jack asked him to go to the prom together.)

"I now you can. But I want to do it. I asked you out, not the other way around."

"It sucks." Hiccup moved the cup closer to his mouth as he glared at Jack, who only darted his chin higher.

"Deal with it, hon." He said with a smirk.

Oh, how he wanted to brush that smirk away. He just wanted to get closer, move his hand, put it on Jack's face and –

No, he had to stop it. They were going there as friends. They were friends. To other they were more than that, but they had boundaries, heavy, thick ones neither of them should cross.

Yet Hiccup had maybe not crossed them, but breached them. But it was his own secret, hidden from the world, kept in the safe with different locks and passwords every week to prevent other people from opening it.

Hiccup's face probably was making a really weird thing. It had to, because Jack laughed at him and then reached to move his finger on Hiccup's nose, pushing the glasses higher and smoothening the wrinkles there.

"W-what?" Hiccup asked, automatically moving his hand to his forehead when Jack retrieved his own palm.

Did he have something there?

"Nothing, you were glaring at me." Jack said, the smirk not leaving his mouth as he stared at Hiccup.

Although maybe now it wasn't a smirk, but a fond smile. One filled with warmness, with light so bright that it almost hurt Hiccup to look at Jack.

He felt his heart hammering loudly inside his chest, shuddering, thudding and then stilling. It was a short moment, a sudden blast that overtook controls of every nerve inside, but a painful one.

"Because you're ridiculous." Hiccup finally mumbled, casting his gaze down and feeling his cheeks getting hotter and hotter.

His fingers gripped the cup tighter. He could see the knuckles whitening.

"So I've been told."

This time it was Hiccup's turn to chuckle. And just because his mind worked in weird, mystical ways, one that couldn't be described by any formulas or by any programs, he just blurted out.

"So are we planning to have matching outfits or –"

And Hiccup bit his tongue, but unfortunately not in time. A part of the sentence had left his mouth. He felt a sudden fear appearing inside his mind as what he had said was slowly processed by his brain.

Oh gosh, why oh why?! He was so stupid.

Jack probably hadn't even thought about that. Heck, he had other things to worry about. Finals were way, way more important than stupid clothes. Just because Hiccup had time to think about it, it didn't mean that Jack had. Nor that he did that.

Jack's eyes widened at that and in this very moment Hiccup wanted nothing else than to hide himself, far away from this room, from this house, from this city.

Why had he done that?

"Do you want to?" Jack asked instead, the smile not leaving his lips.

He turned on the pillow so he was looking at Hiccup more comfortably.

Was it stupid of Hiccup to want that? Maybe? Probably? He didn't know.

He just never expected himself to experience such kind of things. He thought that maybe he would attend his own prom alone, maybe with Astrid, but knowing her she would find someone with whom she would go. Hiccup never had thought that he would go to not his own prom with someone.

It was nice. And also very stressful.

But with it came new possibilities. Possibilities that were so bizarre to Hiccup that his mind couldn't comprehend them fully. And some part of Hiccup was simply overjoyed with so many new ways, so many new choices, so many new things to do that it didn't know how to act in such kind of situation.

"Uh…" Hiccup eloquently said and stared at Jack, who looked back at him with so much honesty and happiness that Hiccup could do nothing else than tell the truth. "Maybe?"

Jack's mouth twitched and something sparkled in his eyes. Hiccup couldn't quite pinpoint what it was. It was something soft, yet bright, delicate, yet burning, something smooth and yet rough around the edges.

But then Jack smiled wider.

"Well, it's good to know that I'm not alone in this then."

Hiccup blinked.

"Why didn't you say anything then?" He asked, licking his lips first.

Jack shrugged.

"I don't know. I just assumed you wouldn't want to do that, I guess."

It wasn't a wrong assumption. Hiccup himself didn't know why he wanted to do that.

(Of course, he could explain that they would do that to prolong their plan, to make people think that there was something still there, but Hiccup didn't want to do that. Just once he wanted to be honest with himself in this case. He simply wanted to do that, for himself.)

"Well–" Hiccup started, but then stopped when he found out he didn't know what to add. He rattled his mind, hoping for some kind of thought that would pop up so he would be able to explain himself, but it didn't happen, unfortunately. So he only sighed and dropped his shoulders, moving the cup to rest it on his lap. "I guess I'm just excited for it? But I know you have a lot on your mind, so I didn't really want to add more to it."

Because he really was excited. It was thrumming inside his lungs whenever he thought about it. It was a warm sizzle, a soft hum at the back of his mind.

"Duh of course I would want that, finals aside. I'm Jackson Overland Frost, come on!" Jack said and then elbowed Hiccup's side as he winked at him.

(Needless to say Hiccup felt like burning. But a nice way of burning.)

"Okay, okay, my mistake."

"No worries, a small error in the calculations." Jack quickly added.

Hiccup shook his head and put the cup away.

"Now that we have it more or less sorted out you should return to finishing this exercise. I already have seventeen more prepared."

Jack groaned and then flopped down on the floor, spreading his hands wide. The low thud echoed in the room and Hiccup winced at the sound, but it seemed like Jack was unharmed by it.

"No complaints." Hiccup said and then flicked a pen in Jack's direction. "You need to finish it. They could be on the finals."

"I know." Jack mumbled, but only got up after five more seconds. He stretched his hands above his head and only then leaned forward. "Let's do it."

Okay, so Emma had seen Aster and someone in the Mall. It didn't have to mean that they were going together. They could be just buying something. Heck, maybe Aster had accidentally met someone there and decided to accompany them on the voyage to buy something.

(It had happened with Heather once. It could happen the second time.)

But it didn't stop the fact that Jack was incredibly curious.

"Hey, do you know if Aster finally asked someone to the prom?" Jack asked Tooth as they ate their lunch in the cafeteria.

The girl lifted her head from a giant biology book she had spread in front of her and blinked. Her colorful earrings – in form of metal feathers – swished back and forth, circling softly with every movement of her head.

A sandwich hung from her mouth.

"I don't know? He didn't mention anything to me." The girl said and then took a bite. "What? Did he say something to you finally?"

Jack shook his head, feeling his heart weighing him down like an anchor, pushing him further and further down until he would hit the bottom of the ocean. There was an echo of familiar memories pushing to the front of his mind, but Jack shut the door in their faces, pushing his back against it as his face was hidden in his palms.

The guilt was there.

Even though neither Aster nor Hiccup seemed like they tried to… get together. Jack didn't even know if Aster had told Hiccup about it. Because if he had done that then Hiccup would certainly mention it, right?

They were telling each other a lot of things. And Jack knew about Hiccup's crush, so if there was a situation when such crush would be able to return the feelings then Hiccup would tell him about it. Probably. Hopefully.

But nothing was pointing in that direction, so Jack assumed that Aster hadn't said anything to Hiccup.

So he had started making plans with Hiccup. Prom was getting closer and closer with every passing day and the sweet excitement was slowly being more visible in the corridors.

The giant banner hanging in the cafeteria where they were counting off days definitely was a tasty reminder of that.

"No, not really." Jack finally shook his head. "Just Em saw him with some girl in the Mall the other day and I was curious whether maybe he simply didn't tell us yet."

Tooth blinked at him curiously, munching on the sandwich. The highlighter she held in the other hand moved away from the book.

"Oh, well… that's nice."

Jack shrugged.

"I thought maybe you knew something more."

"No, nothing more than you." Tooth swallowed and then looked up at him. "Though I'm sure he would say something to us if he had a plus one to the prom. After you know…"

Jack nodded at that.

"Yeah, I think so too. I just wanted to ask, 'cause you know, I was kinda curious."

"I think for now we should just wait. We did invade his privacy, I don't think he needs more meddling from our side."

He grimaced at that, feeling the tension returning to his shoulders and the cold shiver running through his spine. He clenched his fists and then straightened his fingers to spread them on the table.

"Well, in the end he could always go alone." Tooth said, returning her gaze to the book spread on the table.

"I know, but it's kinda sad." Jack mumbled, resting his head on the surface and staring at people walking in and going out.

Some stopped to wave at them, some seemed like they wanted to approach him, some only smiled at him encouragingly – the world moved, rolled around them. The cheerful bustling of the cafeteria was calming in its weird own way. The familiar shouts, conversations, murmurs, rattles of cutlery, whispers of books and pages being flipped over – it was like a sweet melody to Jack's ears.

He hated silence. Silence rarely brought anything good to him. He preferred sounds, whether it would be passing by car or chirping bird or neighbor cutting the grass. No matter what it was, Jack adored it.

(Because silence meant cold treatment, silence meant that he had done something wrong, that he wasn't enough, that he could have done something more.)

"Hey, I'm going alone." Tooth bristled.

For a moment Jack thought that if he looked back at Tooth she would be fuming, ruffling her feathers like a bird, ready to defend herself.

"Uh sorry, I didn't mean it that way." Jack quickly said, trying to correct himself. "I mean like… Aster didn't want to go alone, so it would suck for him if he had to go alone in the end."

"Oh, yeah. In that case it could… kinda suck." Tooth added. "But he could go with someone. People ask about him. He just…"

"Isn't picking anyone?"

"Yeah, almost like he is waiting for one person."

Jack involuntarily tensed. He didn't want to do that, but his muscles seized like electricity suddenly ran through them, like he was momentarily dipped in cold water, pushing him into a thermic shock.

Jack didn't want to think about it anymore. He didn't want that, yet he was doing it, during silent times, whenever Aster was near Hiccup and Hiccup was near Aster. Because they sometimes met on the corridors and talked, exchanging bizarre and not stories about the world behind those walls.

(A weird group of friends.)

Aster had told him that it was okay. And it hadn't seemed like he had told Hiccup anything as the teen wanted to still go with him, but maybe, just maybe, they wanted to go together.

It was a little bit too late now. Jack already had told North about it. Hiccup had told Stoick. Everyone important knew about it.

(Or maybe Jack was only searching for excuses.)

So he swallowed hard, feeling his throat tightening, barely letting the air pass through and desperately blocking the words there. Like it didn't want to let them go, like it was protecting Jack from speaking them out loud.

But he still did that.

"Maybe he is."

Because it was true. Maybe Aster was waiting for someone special.

And maybe it was all Jack's fault.

"Nervous much?"

"Me? No!" Hiccup squeaked and then lamely cleared his throat.

Which totally sold him out by the way. But probably the fact that he was indeed very much nervous and stressed was pretty visible. Like 'hard to miss' visible. Like 'almost impossible not to notice' the stretching vibration band of hydroxyl group in IR spectrum*.

Astrid chuckled in reply and then flipped a page of the comic she was reading.

"It's going to be fine, don't stress too much."

The short, snarky reply was almost crawling towards Hiccup's mouth and he was so so close to spurting it out, letting it go. But he held it tightly and prevented his mind from forcing the words through his mouth.

"I can't." Hiccup finally managed to say, letting his shoulders drop even though he didn't feel like any weight left them.

Or more like more was added to them. He felt incredibly heavy, overstimulated with excitement that ran through his stomach. He was so excited, so happy, so overjoyed that it almost hurt and was making him nervous to this point he kinda was afraid he would vomit.

(That was definitely a new sensation. And not really a welcomed one.)

"Just… I don't know, drink some lemon balm or even better, take a quick shot and everything would be fine and dandy." Another flip of the page.

Hiccup grimaced at the idea. Yep, definitely not going to do the second thing, though maybe drinking something hot would calm him down indeed.

If he was able to swallow anything that was.

Hiccup stood up from the chair. Moved forward. Stopped. Turned on his heel. Sneaked back. Was just about to sit on the chair, but decided to make another round around Astrid's room.

At first the girl didn't comment it. She let him wander around, move his legs, allowing him just to do something than sit on his butt. But her patience was wearing and she was honestly on the verge of breaking.

Even though Hiccup could see it, he couldn't stop himself from pacing around at least two more times.

Astrid huffed loudly and closed the comic she was reading even louder.

"Hiccup, oh my god, sit on your ass and wait those five minutes!"

Hiccup quickly shuffled back to flop down on the chair. But he was still restless so he started to play with his fingers, bending them in weird angles and listening to bones crackling here and there.

He knew he shouldn't do that, but he didn't know what to do with himself during these five minutes.

Astrid sighed one more time, scooted closer on the bed and grabbed Hiccup's hands.

For a moment Hiccup wanted to move them away, bring them close to his chest, but then calmed himself when the familiar sensation of Astrid's skin touching his palm was detected by his brain.

The muscles relaxed a little bit, as he stopped pestering his poor fingers.

"Hiccup, it's okay, you're just going out together to look at clothes. And that is all. Think about it like it is any normal day."

Hiccup quickly inhaled deeply and then exhaled even quicker. Okay, okay. It was only a normal meeting, nothing too big. They were just going out to check out the suits, maybe try a few on.

(It totally sounded like a date. But Hiccup decided to brush this thought away, push it far away into the dark parts of his mind. No, he didn't need that right now. Neither Jack.)

"Just a normal day. A normal meeting."

"A normal day and a normal meeting." Astrid repeated, gripping his hands tighter and letting a soft smile appear on her mouth.

Hiccup nodded.

Because this was it, a normal day, a normal meeting. It wasn't Jack's fault, nor was Astrid nor anyone that Hiccup added adjectives to it that weren't even very fitting. His feelings and emotions weren't helping that much either.

Plus he was simply excited. And excitement mixed with stress rarely brought anything good in him.

"See? Much better!" Astrid said and then patted his shoulder. "And now scotch. You need to go, before you'll be late."

Hiccup checked the time. He still had two or three minutes before going out, but he guessed Astrid was right. Better be early than late. Plus at this point he wasn't sure his heart would take so much tension.

So he gathered his sparse things and then moved across Astrid's house with the girl trailing after him. He bid his farewell to Mister and Miss Hofferson, who were sitting in the living room above a stack of papers, with bills and then he was in front of the door, clumsily putting on the shoes.

It was hard to do so with trembling hands.

But somehow he managed to do it. He quickly looked at himself in the mirror and then was just about to jump out of the door, before Astrid's voice stopped him.

"Man, if I hadn't known better I would say that you are actually going to a date."

And something in Hiccup rattled. Like cold, murky water overtook his chest, drowning it, making it drip and drop down. There was a sudden stop to his heart as the words were processed in his head.

Hiccup turned to his best-friend and looked right at her, right into her eyes and felt incredibly lost for the first time in many, many days.

He really wanted to tell her. Inform her about the news his body was processing. He really wanted Astrid to know.

Yet right now his throat was closed as shame overtaken it.

He wanted to tell her so much it hurt. And yet on the other hand he was incredibly scared. Scared of what – he wasn't sure. It was just there, hiding inside his bones, inside his mind, whispering and humming during calm and silent times.

"Astrid I…" Hiccup started and stopped when he couldn't find words to use in this moment to fill the gap between them.

It was too much, the excitement and nervousness mingled and mixed and stirred and expanded and it was so, so much. Hiccup nervously started to palm the hem of his jacket, playing with the zipper as his lungs tried to learn how to breathe once again.

"… I just wanted to say…" He managed to add, though he wasn't sure if this was even a proper sentence.

For him it seemed like glued words, gurgles, sounds that didn't even resembled human language in any form.

Yet Astrid smiled at him, not grinned, not smirked, but softly smiled. She leaned her shoulder on the wall, near the mirror, and tilted her head.

"We will talk later. Don't worry."

There was something in her posture, in her smile, in her eyes, in the soft movement, in her overall appearance that whispered delicately that everything would be okay, that for now he didn't have to worry.

"You go, tiger." She added then, the soft and kind smile turning into devilish, impish smirk. "And remember, no sex allowed in changing rooms."

Hiccup groaned at that, but waved at her as he exited her house.

The stress and tension were still there, but he had to admit he felt a little bit lighter. Not fully light, but it was definitely way better than before.

He checked the time. He was a bit off with his schedule.

As his feet carried him to his destination – the familiar Shopping Mall, the favorites place to hang out for many teenagers in Burgess – his brain collected the data from the last hour or so, processing it and analyzing in its own way.

And there were a few lights that blinked in his head.

Because Hiccup definitely didn't act normal. His behavior had been abnormal even. Of course, he usually was stressed before meetings, but now it was due to a different reason. And Hiccup understood the reason. He knew why he was feeling like that. He knew which substances were clearly flowing through his body, were overtaking the synapses and nerves.

The point was that he knew he had a crush on Jack. That was why he was so stressed.

But Astrid didn't know that. And yeah, she knew he was usually stressed before going to a meeting, but she also knew that around Jack Hiccup was very much relaxed.

Yet she didn't comment that.

Well not a lot anyway.

Which knowing Astrid is like super weird. Like utterly weird. Like the possibilities of her acting the way she had acted had been super slim. And yet she had acted normal. Like it was totally usual of Hiccup to behave like that before going out with Jack.

(For a meeting! He was going out for a meeting, not a date!)

Hiccup didn't like it. He definitely didn't. There was a smudge of ideas forming in his head, a dark shadow overlapping and embracing him in its dark claws. It was expanding, more and more and then it all poofed.

No, it wasn't possible that Astrid knew about his crush, right? Because from where could she possibly know that? Hiccup hadn't told anyone about it.

(The only person who more or less could possibly know that was his father and Hiccup doubted that Stoick would tell Astrid about it.)

But he couldn't find any other possible reason for her simply not teasing him so much. She could grow up from it, but Hiccup doubted that was the case. Yeah. Not that much possible.

So what was the reason here?

Okay, Jack was kinda nervous. Or very nervous. Or like super totally, bat-shit crazy nervous. Nervous like he rarely ever had been.

His hands fidgeted heavily as they wanted to move to the nape of his neck to scratch this place nervously. But he held strongly, preventing his muscles from moving to do that.

It was going to be fine. It was normal afternoon with his friend. Nothing more and nothing less. Of course they were going to look at the suits for the prom to which they were going together. But it was a totally normal thing to do. Yep.

It definitely wasn't a date.

(Even though Jack really wanted it to be a date.)

Jack lifted his hands and clasped his cheeks, patting them later on a few times to get his mind back on the track. He turned around to look at his reflection in the windows of some shop. Gladly only mannequins looked back at him, judging his behavior.

Jack was a mess inside.

He was glad he had an excuse to stop learning for a moment. He needed this change, especially as he was starting to feel the weight of it on his shoulders.

So short break was very much needed.

Jack inhaled loudly, glancing one more time at his reflection. Aw, shit, there was this one persistent lock that didn't want to lay down and stood out, like it tried to wave at everyone around.

He moved his hand to pat it down, but no matter how many times he already had done it, it still had sprung back. Just like right now.

Jack growled.

"What are you doing?"

Okay, Jack didn't expect it. Well, that was wrong. He did expect it, but he didn't expect it so soon and so suddenly.

And if before his heart had been prepared for this meeting, right now it exploded, erupted and sparkled with electricity that burned in the nicest way possible. A sudden waterfall surged through his body, both cold and dazzling hot in the same time. His chest tightened and he was fricking sure he squealed as he looked back.

Hiccup stood next to him, looking up with one raised eyebrow and red cheeks. His breath was a little bit labored, but it seemed that due to the fact that he had fastened his pace beforehand.

"Eh uhm, correcting my hair?" Jack simply said, smiling goofily at his companion.

If it was possible Hiccup's eyebrow moved even higher, making a point of the surprise that was clearly visible on his face.

"Why?"

"Can't I look nice for you?" Jack asked instead, immediately wanting to slap himself after saying it out loud.

What the hell brain? It was supposed to be on his side, not sputtering some random nonsenses that barely even orbited near logic, especially as it was only a friendly meeting. Nothing more, nothing less.

(Even though Jack wanted to look nice for Hiccup. No higher reasons… just wanting to look nice.)

Hiccup opened his mouth, closed it, opened it one more time and if Jack wasn't mistaken it seemed like the color on his cheeks got darker. But it could be a play of light or Jack's imagination.

But then the boy cleared his throat and croaked.

"You look fine to me."

"I could look better." Jack said back, wailing and pleading his brain to just shut down for a second.

Hiccup sighed heavily, looking up at the sky like he was searching for a sign. A sign for what Jack wasn't sure, but just for something. Anything.

But then he looked back at him with a small smile, which was followed by a shake of the head.

"You're impossible."

"I know." Jack said, feeling like grinning himself. The coil of tension was slowly being unwrapped in his body, piece by piece, step by step, relaxing. "Ready to go?"

"Nope, but let's go."

This was going surprisingly nice and steady. They already visited a few shops, mostly trying on nice shirts in different colors.

Of course Jack wouldn't be himself if he didn't pick every weird one to try on. Hiccup tried really hard to be mad at this, but couldn't. Not when Jack looked utterly ridiculous in a Hawaiian shirt mixed with elegant pants.

Still Hiccup didn't agree to this. He had his decency and standards. Not great ones, but still some.

But unfortunately sometimes Jack's puppy eyes were too strong. So he still put some of the things on, just to please him and make a ton of stupid photos in the changing stalls.

Neither Hiccup nor Jack actually needed a full new suit per se, but they definitely needed new shirts and ties or bowties. In Jack's case he also needed new shoes. Hiccup was fine gladly with what he had.

(Mostly because shopping for shoes was hell for him.)

"I'm telling you, we totally should buy waistcoats." Jack said, moving through the long racks filled with white and colorful elegant shirts, just waiting to be put on.

"Why thought?" Hiccup asked, skimming his fingers across the material.

He internally twisted and grimaced at some of them. Honestly, why would they make some materials so stiff? And so not permeable? Did they want to make the customers suffer?

"Because it would look so cool. Like I can buy a black shirt and have a white vest, and you have a white shirt and black vest!" Jack excitedly said, moving the hangers and looking through the clothes, but it seemed like he barely paid them any mind actually right now.

Hiccup tried to imagine it. On one hand it would look kinda nice. Well they did go out to buy themselves some matching clothes. But when Hiccup thought about matching clothes he thought maybe about buying shirts or ties in the same color. Not fully planning their entire attire.

But it was nice to see Jack so excitedly talking about something, without the wrinkles on his forehead or never-ending look of exhaustion that seemed almost cemented in his eyes.

Finals were taking a toll on everyone. Even on Jack.

(Now when Hiccup compared the Jack from before he had known him and the Jack he really knew now it was like light and day. Before all of that he would have never thought that infamous Jackson Overland Frost would be stressed over simple things like finals and exams. Back then Hiccup had thought that Frost had been immature, childish, laid back, a person with too much free time, so he had spent it on parties and getting more and more popular. But it was far from being real. Because the reality Hiccup clearly saw now was fully different.)

"Were you planning it all this time or just came up with it right now?" Hiccup asked instead, almost burring his face in the line of shirts to hide the stupid smile that didn't want to be brushed away.

"Actually just right now." Jack quickly said and then moved another three or so shirts before he shouted and took out one. A black one. "See, that one would be perfect for me."

Hiccup felt a sudden need to roll his eyes. So he did.

But Jack was still smiling like crazy while looking at Hiccup and keeping the shirt close to his chest, checking whether it would at least fit him more or less fine.

Hiccup wasn't sure how to answer this. Jack behaving was super endearing. To be honest Hiccup hadn't thought that the teen would be so much into it. He just had proposed it, because deep down it had been Hiccup's lone, small, skittish dream.

But seeing that Jack took this dream and formed something new from it, took the steers and moved it into right rails was making him all… fuzzy inside.

(Was Hiccup falling deep? It definitely felt like that.)

"Well then… what are you waiting for? Try it on."

Jack's eyes sparkled like thousand stars.

It was almost hard to look at. The fact that Hiccup's heart was going haywire inside his ribcage wasn't actually helping. It was making everything way worse.

Jack grabbed the shirt and then hooked his elbow with Hiccup's one and dragged him to the changing rooms situated in the back of the shop.

Hiccup rolled his eyes.

One woman, who clearly worked there and had been on her merry way to help them, stopped and glanced at them, lifting the perfectly painted eyebrows high on her forehead, but then shook her head and turned on the heel to aid someone else.

Jack was going to convince Hiccup to agree on his plan. He wasn't sure how he was going to do it, but he was going to do it.

Because, come on! They would look so cool and dope if they had matched waistcoats in black and white. Jack could already see it in his mind, eyes following them, some laughing, some smiling, some barely paying them any mind.

(To be honest, deep inside he couldn't wait. But to get there he had to defeat a bigger mountain first. Finals.)

But today was fun. Fun he hadn't felt in a long time.

And it wasn't only due to the fact that he was spending time with Hiccup.

Well of course the fact that he was spending this day with his crush was a great advantage, but it wasn't only that. Hiccup was his crush, but he was also Jack's friend and he treasured their friendship more than anything else. So for him it was just fun to spend time with a friend. Friend who accepted him for who he was. Friend who didn't think any less of him. Friend who was there for Jack when he needed them.

Jack needed such a break, he needed this time to defuse, to lose the tension, to calm down, to let his brain enjoy itself from time to time. Because to be honest it all had been getting too much.

(Lately Jack actually had felt like panicking. There had been days when he had thought that he couldn't make it, that actually he would fail, that it all had been too much with too big weight put upon his shoulders.)

So it was okay. Such calm, kinda fuzzy, funny day, filled with messing around, dragging Hiccup from one shop to another and hear him groan every time, yet while trying to hide the smile that was clearly visible on his lips was… fun.

Jack really missed it.

They had a small break, so they had bought themselves some burgers in a random fast-food restaurant in a food court and now were walking around the mall, munching slowly on the food and slurping on the sodas.

Hiccup looked around, observing the surroundings, almost scanning it with his eyes. Fingers moved, sometimes tapped the burger in his hand, but mostly just twitched or shivered, like they weren't used to being restless for so long.

Jack put the straw in his mouth and took a big sip, slurping loudly to get his friend's attention. Which actually did the trick as Hiccup snapped his head back at him, furrowing his eyebrows as he took another bite.

"So, will you agree to matching waistcoats?"

"Why are you so persistent about that?"

"Because it looks cool!"

Hiccup sighed, but with a fond smile on his face that he tried to hide by looking away from Jack.

But he saw that.

Jack was seeing a lot of details in Hiccup. He wasn't even conscious of this fact that much, but now, when he really thought about it there were a ton of small tics here and there.

Like how Hiccup's nose wrinkled when he wasn't sure about something. How his eyes twitched when he saw something incredibly weird. How his mouth formed a small smile whenever he saw something even remotely funny while trying to remain stoic. How his fingers moved almost constantly whenever they weren't doing anything, like they just wanted some action.

"If I agree would you at least drop the blue roses?"

Jack pouted as he looked at Hiccup and touched his chest.

"Why do you have to hurt me Hiccup? You force me to choose between two best things I came up with!"

"Vests and blue roses were the best things you could come up with?" Hiccup asked, raising his eyebrow and looking at him with the hamburger almost hanging from the mouth.

Jack opened his mouth, puffing out his chest to proudly proclaim that no, he had come up with a bazillion of other things. But unfortunately he hadn't done that.

(To be fair he had other things to worry about.)

So Jack deflated, dropped his shoulders and sighed heavily, feeling the joy leaving his body, seeping through his mouth and fingers as he slowly stepped forward.

"You're a kill joy." Jack added after a moment, glancing at his companion.

For a moment Hiccup looked worried. But it had to be Jack's imagination, because why Hiccup would be worried right now, right in this very moment? No, it had to be a play of lights, or some tired part of Jack's brain playing tricks on him or just well some kind of breach in space-time continuum.

Yeah, it had to be this. Or some other thing. Because there was no reason for Hiccup to suddenly look worried.

For some time they simply walked around the Mall, looking around at people passing them by and munching on the very late lunch.

Jack quickly returned to his mood from before, but Hiccup suddenly seemed really out of it. His eyebrows were moving dangerously close to each other and his eyes were jumping from left to right, to come back to left once again. His fingers started to play with the paper wrapper, untangling it and messing it intermittently.

Jack observed him from the corner of his eyes.

Did Jack say something wrong? No, he didn't think so. So why Hiccup's mood turned sour all of a sudden? Was it because of those dumb clothes? Well Jack could live without his ideas coming to life. He wanted them to work, but he was okay with them not working.

(Especially as Hiccup was the one who initially had wanted to dress to fit each other. Yet his ideas had been definitely not good and Jack had had to shoot them down even before they would be able to form fully.)

They passed the same shop already twice and finished food when Jack finally opened his mouth.

"Hiccup? Everything's alright? You went quiet suddenly."

Hiccup shook his head and glanced up, putting a wry smile on his lips.

"No, everything's good. I just… kinda got lost in thoughts."

Jack tilted his head and stared at Hiccup for a long moment, searching for those small things that would sell Hiccup out.

Oh, his fingers patted the empty wrapper and the corner of his mouth twitched. Yep, he definitely wasn't speaking the honest truth. But if he decided to hide whatever suddenly had made him sad then Jack had to accept it.

He had probed enough in other people's private lives.

"Okay, if you say so." He nodded and then turned around.

Just in time to spot a familiar mop of dark hair moving through the crowd.

Jack blinked.

Maybe he was seeing things. There were a lot of people with the same hair color, with similar hairstyles, with the familiar hairpins. But honestly he could swear he saw Heather walking through the crowd.

There was a lone pang in his heart. A sudden heartache that spread like a disease, like viruses that overtook his nerves.

Before Heather's sudden obsession they had been quite good friends. Not best friends, but they had talked almost daily and had hung out a lot of times. And somehow with time, with Heather nagging him more and more it all had disappeared, had dispersed into sad stardust that floated around like a reminiscent of something bigger, something better.

Feelings could really mess a lot of things.

Jack had missed those old, better times, when everything had been way easier, when he hadn't had to worry about finals, friends, future, plans, guilt, family. Back when he had been carefree and popular, spending more time outside than inside.

But those times were gone, replaced with something different. Not bad different, but for now it was just neutral different. Neither good nor bad. Like a scale, waiting for another weight to be added to move left or right, tip one side and rise the other.

Yet there she was, moving through the crowd delicately, smoothly, like she was all alone there.

And somehow this look really got to him, got to all the guilt he had been keeping inside. It wasn't anything special, just a spare second of the universe moving as he stared at the familiar posture getting further and further away.

Something that once was normal, today seemed like a faraway planet or star or moon or galaxy.

"Is that Heather?"

Jack swallowed and nodded.

"Should we call her?" Hiccup asked, glancing up at him curiously.

Jack wasn't sure. He wasn't sure about a lot of things.

Some part of him desperately wanted to, wanted to reach his hand, wanted to just do something. Maybe get back what he had lost some time ago.

(He got new things in life. Things and people which and whose he valued a lot, he cared for, but it didn't mean he didn't care about the past, about other things and people.)

"I don't–"

"Heather! Hey!"

Guess Hiccup decided for him.

Jack wasn't sure if he was thankful or not.

The dark mop of hair swirled in the crowd, looking left and right, trying to locate the source of the sound that probably to her sounded vaguely familiar.

Hiccup called her one more time and only after that the girl turned around and looked at them with eyes sparking with recognition.

Jack and Hiccup moved their feet quicker, getting closer to the girl who stopped moving and now looked at them with smile splitting her mouth.

"Hey, guys." She said, looking first at Jack and then glancing at Hiccup.

There was a sudden twitch on the face, a small crack, a sudden hesitation, but the smile was back on the mouth. Maybe it was only Jack's imagination in the end, maybe he only tried to see the sadness in her eyes. Maybe it really wasn't there.

"Hey, long time no see." Jack answered, feeling like it was his responsibility to start, to prolong this conversation.

"Yeah, some time… passed since we last talked." Heather nodded, looking up at him. "What are you guys doing here?"

"Oh uhhh…" Jack eloquently started.

"We're searching for clothes actually?" Hiccup proposed, looking up at him with a hesitant smile.

"Yeah, uh, that's right." Jack added then, quickly, but still a second too late.

It all seemed incredibly awkward, unnatural. Like they were on a secret date. Like they were doing something wrong. Like they weren't in places they should be. It all simply seemed fake.

But wasn't it all fake in the end? Weren't they just pretending? Deceiving people? Good people that just had lost themselves along the road, stopped to take a break after a crash, skidded alongside. Both he and Hiccup had desperately wanted to get rid of people who just had had feelings, human, beautiful feelings.

And of course, the way they had showed them was wrong, incredibly wrong, but there wasn't anything wrong with having feelings. And somehow Jack felt like they were and had been doing exactly that. Forcing people to think that their feelings were wrong.

(And somehow along the way Jack had lost people who were around him. Back before he had had a trail of people walking after him, following his every step, almost needing to talk with him, but now he felt incredibly lonely. He wasn't alone, but there was a gaping hole inside his chest. He felt like during all this time he had pushed people away. People who just had wanted to be near him. And yet he had thrown a half-built lie in their faces to feed upon. It had been so terribly bad that it twisted his heart and stomach and chest and made it painfully obvious during calm nights.)

Had they even believed them? Or maybe they had seen right through their lies at the beginning, but never had said anything, just waiting for the moment when they would slip, make a mistake?

Maybe everyone simply already knew?

No, Jack couldn't start going there. It was getting him nowhere, only backing him up against the wall and he didn't need nor want that.

"That sounds like fun! Did you decide on something?" Heather said, looking up at them with a little bit wider smile.

Hiccup one more time glanced at Jack, but he simply couldn't do it. It seemed like all his brain processes lagged, like there was a storm inside his mind that was taking more and more and not giving anything in return.

"Not really. We have a few ideas, I mean, Jack has a few ideas." Hiccup started and then turned to the girl to lean closer like he wanted to tell her something in private, whisper a secretive messages only for her ears to hear.

Heather unsurely leaned closer.

"But if you ask me they are terrible. But don't tell him I told you that."

Heather gasped, covering her mouth in fake surprise, but there was a sudden warm grin splitting her mouth.

Jack was bewildered. But maybe it was good, because this finally snapped him back to reality from whatever guilty and stormy dreamland he had dived into.

"Excuse me? My taste and style is top notch!" Jack said, closing his eyes and puffing out his chest, hands moving to his hips to look even more confident.

"Yeah, everyone just let you believe that."

"I mean you did once wear pink shorts to gray hoodie, together with green socks, so you know… I think I'm siding with Hiccup on this one." Heather added, tilting her head as she looked at him.

Jack sighed. Loudly. Long. Heavily.

"Oh yeah, I remember it now that you mentioned it. That was honestly horrible!"

"I know, right?!"

Jack's eye twitched.

"You're both banned from my birthday party." He said, pointing first at Hiccup and then moving his finger to point at Heather.

Hiccup rolled his eyes playfully, smirking under his nose as Heather smiled wider at him.

Clearly no one believed him. But somehow Jack was okay with that. So he only sighed even louder, moving his shoulders up to drop them down during the next second, theatrically, majestically, with as much pathos as he could muster right now.

"I'll remember this." He added and then turned to the girl. "And what are you doing here?"

"Me?" Heather asked, blinking first quickly. "I'm actually here for the same reason."

"Searching for clothes for the prom?" Jack inquired.

The black haired girl nodded.

"Yeah, actually I was with my other half for that day just a few minutes ago, but he went to check something and we lost each other –"

"Heather, hey!"

Jack looked up to stare at the face of his best-friend.

And okay, Jack had to admit that life worked in a mysterious and weird way. You never know how it would turn out in the end, which road it would follow, where it would turn, what kind of things were waiting ahead. You sometimes think you understand it all, only to get to know you know nothing in the end.

And Jack felt exactly like that right now.

"Oh Aster, hey, sorry." Heather said, turning to the teen and looking up at him, one hand moving to grip the strap of her bag tighter. "I was just searching for you when I bumped into Jack and Hiccup."

"Or more like we called her, so it's actually on us." Hiccup quickly said, beating Jack to it.

Or maybe saving Jack from having to answer as his mind still had problems with understanding what was happening around.

Jack stared at Aster and stared and stared and Bunny probably noticed it – not counting the fact that it was probably incredibly hard not to notice someone gaping at you – because he looked at him and then asked.

"Everything okay, Jack?"

"You're going with Heather?!" He asked, maybe too loud, but he couldn't stop himself. "I mean I'm super happy, but, since when?"

Bunny moved his hand and scratched the back of his head slowly, looking sheepish, sad and uncomfortable all in the same time.

"Oh uh, well… like since yesterday actually? Sorry, didn't have time to tell you. I wanted to tell you, I just didn't have time."

Jack simply gaped.

"Sorry, I kinda forced him to do it." Heather quickly butted in, clasping her hands together and closing her eyes, like she was apologizing for something.

"Come on, it isn't and wasn't your fault." Aster added, looking down at her. "I was looking for someone to go with anyway."

"But maybe you wanted to go with someone else and now you are stuck with me." Heather glanced at him, remorseful eyes blinking in the artificial lights shimmering above their heads.

Jack glanced at Hiccup who had a very perplexed look on his face. The teen glanced back at him, but then shrugged, clearly also not understanding what was happening in front of them.

"I already told you Heather, it's okay." Aster added.

Heather still didn't look convinced.

"Still I'm sorry."

"You have nothing to apologize for."

It seemed like a never-ending waterfall, a maze of apologies and acceptance, intertwining and interlacing. A ribbon, with no end, a line, with no final point. Like that… thingy with only one side of the surface*.

In a way it was really adorable. Seeing both of them like that, confused, but clearly trying to support each other in their own weird way. Jack knew that Aster was a good person – a kinda blocked one, but still a good one.

And Heather also was good. She just had lost herself a little bit along the way, lost those things that had made her simply herself – had dropped the golden coins on the merry way, had let the stardust dissipate, had let the shine glow too bright for a moment to finally die down, painfully, hurtfully.

But now it seemed like she was doing… well maybe not good. There had been times when Jack had seen her around the school weirdly isolated, with big bags under her eyes, with fingers clutching tightly the notebooks.

The big group that had once surrounded her dissipated, leaving only the strongest souls.

And on one hand it was utterly terrible. But on the other Jack now knew she had people around her for whom she could count on. And this was what mattered.

But it all had been some time ago. Now she seemed way better. There was a hesitant smile on her mouth, something that resembled Jack of her old self so strongly, that he felt a pang in his chest and an echo of old memories rattling around his body.

It was still something.

It seemed like during this year a lot of worlds had crashed, mirrors had been destroyed. Like there had been a storm, a tsunami overtaking the shore, destroying homes, breaking apart people and their lives. And it all hadn't been visible at first sight. No. It was hidden under layer of layer of cloth. Like someone took a curtain and thrown it over cracks in haste.

(The fact that it wasn't visible scared Jack.)

But it seemed like the clouds were slowly moving away, letting the sun shine through, touching and caressing the cheeks softly.

(Or was it calm before the storm?)

Hiccup hesitantly looked up at him, searching for an answer Jack couldn't exactly give.

Especially as he also didn't know what was happening.

"Should we be… like worried?" Jack asked, moving his hand to his nape, out of habit, but not really having an urge to scratch the place.

It was just a familiar weight. One he sometimes needed during those times, when it seemed like he could be nervous during the next moment, step, second.

Aster glanced at him, opened his mouth, closed it, glanced down at Hiccup, one more time opened his mouth, to finally shut it down and look at his companion.

Heather shrugged, but she had a remorseful look on her mouth, half grim, half trying to take everything lightly, even though it seemed like it was very hard to do so.

"Not really. There was just this one guy that kept pestering me about the prom and well… lately it started to get pretty bad. But gladly Aster was there before it could turn into something more dangerous."

Yep, Jack was right, it definitely didn't sound nice. Or good. Or any positive adjective.

This time his fingers nervously scratched the skin.

"But everything turned out… okay?" Hiccup slowly asked, glancing between Jack and Heather.

Heather hesitantly looked up at Bunny. Who stared down at her, clearly having an internal conversation, with unspoken shushed words and sentences.

"Well Aster accidentally had to tell him that I was already going to prom with him, but other than that it was okay." Heather finally admitted, dropping her shoulders.

Well it sounded awfully familiar. It felt like Jack was watching a new episode of some series and sensed that he had seen it somewhere before. Or like he was playing some level in a game, but the quest was the same as the one he had seen at the beginning.

Similar to déjà vu. But he was looking at it from a side and not playing a main role in it.

Hiccup glanced up at him, pointing with his eyes at the hand that moved on his nape, leaving red marks all over his skin.

Jack forced himself to drop the hand.

"I told you I'm okay with that." Aster said.

"You telling it doesn't make it any more real." Heather fought back.

"Are you saying I'm lying?"

Heather blinked and then took a step back, casting her eyes around, looking everywhere but at the person in front of her.

Jack could really understand that. She had stepped in some land from which there was no turning back.

(And Jack knew that Aster was a really honest person. He didn't lie, he simply didn't say anything if he had to hide something. The only lie he believed in was the one to protect others. And maybe the situation was like that right now.)

"Not exactly…" Heather said, quieter than before.

The nervousness was back. It didn't sound good. It felt like suddenly he and Hiccup were nearby a storm, a waterfall of rocks, a sudden eruption just waiting to follow.

The atmosphere was filled with static. Crackling, painful electricity that ran down his hands and legs.

(It reminded Jack of all those times North and Eris had stared at each other, ready to fight, ready to clash with words and Jack had been there, hearing all about it through painfully thin walls and hoping that North would finally take him away.

It seemed like every moment Eris had talked down to him, commented every small mistake or frowned at every little thing he had done.

It seemed like a hit from the past. A painfully, cold slap that ached and hurt and hurt.)

His fingers twitched.

But then there was warmness enveloping them. A sweetness that overpowered the sudden shivers that had taken over. It seemed like a life line – so Jack clung desperately to it, gripping it tighter to feel the warmness once again.

And the strength.

Because he had to step in. He knew both of them. Aster was his best friend and he practically knew him fully. And Heather was still a close person to him – even when they had chosen different paths, not always right.

"Heather, if Bunny didn't want to go with you, I'm sure he would tell you." He finally said, moving his thumb to caress a skin beneath it, calming his suddenly racing heart.

(He definitely needed some free time. All this stress made him remember things he didn't want to remember, made him act like he wasn't himself anymore.)

The girl looked at him, opened her mouth and then nodded in the end.

"Okay…"

"You believe him and not me?" Aster asked, raising his eyebrow.

"Well I know him longer than you."

Bunny furrowed his eyebrows, but then sighed heavily, dropping his shoulders like a rock was residing there and he was finally letting it crumble to the ground.

"I guess that's understandable." He finally admitted, lifting his hand and scratching his cheek, looking at Heather.

There was this moment of awkward silence, when no one particularly know what to say. One topic ended abruptly, but the heaviness remained, squishing their bodies in an uncomfortable hug.

Jack held tightly onto his lifeline, anchor that guided him back to the shore. The sudden tension that appeared inside his muscles and body slowly started to dissipate, leaving tiredness in its wake, wet tracks of footsteps on a concrete.

(Jack couldn't wait till exams would be over and he would have time to finally rest. Because everyone was getting stressed and acting out of place. Just last week Tooth suddenly had started yelling at a poor boy after he had ordered wrong ribbons. She quickly had apologized for that when she had seen the boy being on the verge of crying, but the scar remained.)

They all needed time to destress.

And what was better than prom? Plus now Aster finally had a plus one! And Heather of all people. Maybe it was a sign. Maybe life was giving him a second chance to reconcile with their long lost friends. Maybe life was opening a road for him, to repair what had been broken.

Or maybe he was just looking too much into it.

But the fact remained, as the sudden wave of happiness surged through his body, leaving beautiful seashells while retreating.

"So wait, both of you are… searching for clothes right now?" Jack asked.

Heather jumped, suddenly startled, like she already moved to faraway land in these short few seconds when there was just silence.

"Uh well, yeah, that's the point today." She admitted after a moment, turning back to him. "Though there wasn't much luck yet."

Aster nodded to that.

Jack wouldn't admit it out loud, but he was kinda starting to scream and squeal internally. Because honestly, it was kinda cute.

"I'm sure whatever you'll pick up in the end will be amazing." Hiccup butted in, smiling softly at the girl.

Heather turned to him quickly and even though her smile was strained, it still remained honest.

"Thanks Hiccup. Though I doubt it. We saw some really weird dresses already."

"Like the one that looked like pumpkin?" Aster asked.

"Yeah! Or that white one that looked like a cigarette." Heather added, turning to her companion.

Bunny let out a snort.

"Okay, that one was good. But the pink one was quite cute."

"The one from H&M? Don't you think it was a little bit too childish?"

"You can always take off all the ribbons."

"I know, but what if I accidentally destroy it while doing so?"

Aster opened his mouth, then closed it and nodded in the end.

"Yeah, that could happen."

Jack glanced down at Hiccup who was observing the situation in front of them with a small smile dancing on his lips, hiding in the corners and sparkling eyes.

It was nice to see it. A piece of normalcy Jack didn't expect to happen.

Hiccup tugged on his hand and pointed with his head to some far away point. It was probably a cue to get away from here and let Aster and Heather go on their merry way and bicker somewhere else.

"Well I see that you still need to search, so we'll be going and doing the exactly same thing." Jack caught on and turned to the pair, looking at them with a smile.

"Oh okay." Heather suddenly said. "I wish I could say we can go together, but I don't think we go to the same shops."

"Depends. Hiccup, maybe you want a dress in the end?" Jack asked, glancing down at his friend.

Hiccup pouted first, but the look quickly turned into glare that sent dagger after dagger into his body.

"Why me? You can wear one. Plus I think the blue one you once wore and posted the photo on Facebook suited you well."

Oh, that! Jack totally forgot about it. Those were… weird things from the past. But Jack couldn't exactly say that it was a dark, terrible past. For him it was just a funny memory that he sometimes forgot about. Or pretty often forgot about.

"Hey, I lost a bet and I don't take back my words!" Jack said, puffing out his chest.

"You could have taken them back, especially as the whole team was involved." Aster added, crossing his hands on his chest and looking at him.

Yeah, now that Jack thought about it, the whole soccer team had been involved in that – unfortunately or fortunately depending on the point of view. But hey, they had got great photos from that day! They had been made by literally everyone, especially the enemy team, but come on! For Jack it was a blast.

(Plus he rocked that outfit, so shush!)

Some of their teammates hadn't thought so and had been quite mad at Jack for betting with the opposite team, but some had been just into it as Jack had been. And the results had been hilarious photos posted on Facebook.

(Aster hadn't been technically on any side. He clearly hadn't liked wearing such clothes, but he hadn't whined about it and had lived through it with his head held high.)

"I'm Jackson Overland Frost. When I make a promise, I keep it till the end." Jack added, proudly puffing out his chest one more time.

Because he was many things – a slacker, a lazy bun, an optimist, an open person, a trickster – but between it all was hidden a trustworthy person. If he promised something he would try damn hard to fulfill that promise.

Until now he had managed to fulfil each and every one and he hoped that the count would remain the same.

Aster sighed, but there was an amused smirk dancing on his lips, hiding in tired eyes as both of them recalled this fateful day. For some it was embarrassing, but for him it was a day to remember.

"Okay, we need to check a few more shops. See you later?" Heather said.

"Yeah, bye!"

After waving to each other with their free hands, they turned around on their heels and walked in the opposite direction for a few meters.

Until Hiccup tugged his hand and oh God, when did this happen? Had they been holding hands before? Had Jack moved to clasp Hiccup's palm? Or maybe the teen had been the first one to grip his fingers? Were their fingers interlocked? Did anyone could see that? Did Jack want anyone to see that?

Jack's heart hammered and knocked on his ribcage, banging its hand loudly on the surface, to the point it was almost painful.

"You do know that we're going in the wrong direction?" Hiccup finally murmured, after they walked like thirty meters away.

Jack cursed under his breath, but it was mixed with a snort leaving his lips as they both swirled a little bit weirdly on their heels and started moving back.

"Why didn't you say anything earlier?" Jack asked, glancing at his friend and shuffling his feet across the squeaky floor.

"I mean, saying goodbye to someone and then finding out you're going in the same direction is like super fricking awkward, so yeah."

"True." Jack nodded and then they walked forward.

Indeed they did bump in the end once into Bunny and Heather, who also laughed at seeing them nearby, but it was all okay.

They only let go of their hands when they found a shirt Hiccup really liked and he needed both his hands to get it off the hook. And even though Jack let him do that, he felt a sudden coldness seeping through his fingers. It was okay. He didn't know when they had started holding hands, but it seemed like Hiccup hadn't noticed it.

And the last thing he wanted was making him uncomfortable.

They walked for a few more minutes, which turned into hours, enjoying a late dinner somewhere in between, when Jack finally broke Hiccup's spirit, who threw his hands in the air and shouted that okay, they could buy waistcoats, but Hiccup was going to choose the colors.

The exclamation made a few people look at them, but nothing more than that.

Jack took it as a victory and he couldn't brush away the smile from his lips when they returned to the same shop from the beginning and asked woman who was walking around the shop for some thoughts.

In the end, Hiccup agreed to all Jack's propositions.

The school was overtaken with stress.

Hiccup couldn't really blame anyone. Wherever he glanced there were books, notebooks, notes, formulas written on torn pieces of papers laying here and there. Everyone looked like they needed five cups of coffee, pack of tissues or four cans of beer. Or maybe a bottle of vodka

Hiccup remembered this image from a year before, but back then Tuff, Ruff and Snotlout had been also among those people. He remembered seeing the twins asking each other questions from different subjects, while Snotlout spastically had tried to read some notes from his palm.

He knew he would look the same next year. If not even worse.

A week remained. Definitely not a lot of time.

And the fact that the teachers were reminding them about it every day wasn't helping. The announcements of places, times and dates for specific finals weren't great help either.

The point was that it was a disaster.

People occupied library like by just being there they could learn something. Which was kinda true, as there was always someone repeating some stuff out loud, so if someone just listened they could probably found out about this or that theory.

(Someone, somewhere, was murmuring – 'the Planck constant is a physical constant that is the quantum of electromagnetic–')

The lines to the librarian had been never so long. The woman didn't look amused by it either.

And Hiccup was at the back. Holding three books he needed to return. Today was the last day and maybe he simply shouldn't wait till the last day, but well… he forgot about it until he had gotten an e-mail.

So yeah, it was kinda his fault.

But he was moving forward, slowly, but surely getting closer and closer to the woman who looked like she was ready to snap. Oh gosh, oh dear, Hiccup didn't want to be a poor soul without a head! He knew other people needed their heads more, but right now he kinda liked his own.

(She could eat his glasses. Of course, they helped him see, but honestly he still sometimes got really frustrated with them.)

Still he had to wait around thirty minutes till his time was up, because some boy almost started crying because the book he desperately needed was currently rented to someone.

(Hiccup could understand the desperation.)

When it was his chance, he quickly squeaked a welcome and then slipped the books towards her. The woman furiously put the numbers of the books into her computer. Her eyebrows furrowed, moved dangerously close to each other and for a moment Hiccup was sure she was going to snap, just because she was probably exhausted. But the woman, in really grouchy and tired voice, simply said:

"Next."

And that was all.

Hiccup lived to see another day. Lucky he.

Hiccup quickly said his thanks and goodbyes and then he was moving towards the door to leave this place of misery and tears and lost hope. Of course, it wasn't really like that, but currently it felt like that.

Just by getting inside you could get depressed and Hiccup definitely didn't need more problems than he currently had.

So he moved to the door, shuffling his feet quickly - which was a feat considering there were piles of books laying here and there, copied notes and science books and people sitting nearby, trying to devour the knowledge and hope for the best.

Hiccup wished them the best as he had to jump over someone's legs. Someone who was very much asleep, with book half-laying on her stomach.

He was almost to the door when he heard a low curse coming from between the shelfs and something that definitely sounded like a book falling to the ground. Or maybe hitting the shelf. Or maybe hitting something else or worse – someone else.

Hiccup was all about deserting this place and not stepping a foot inside for another week, if not even longer – he had his own tests to worry about, less important ones, but still needed to be finished, hopefully with good grades – but something stopped him.

(From now on he was going to blame Jack for making him act differently. Before he would never had done that, he would selfishly had moved forward and had forgot about it all, but damn, right now he honestly stopped. Gosh fricking damn it.)

For a moment he did nothing. Just waited with hand almost moving to the door handle. But then he heard an exasperated sigh, one that sounded familiar, which sneaked through the shelves and well…

Hiccup moved there.

At this point in life he wasn't surprised by anything. To be honest the last year really taught him well to not actually be astonished by some things that happened to him. In some way it was a good thing, because this way he could be prepared for anything. But on the other hand it sometimes really dulled his emotions.

Which right now was probably a good thing as he found Dagur with his face hidden in his hands while breathing heavily. And it definitely didn't look good.

Hiccup stared for a good few seconds, which wasn't the nicest thing he could do, and only then cleared his throat hesitantly.

"Everything's okay?"

"Does it fucking look like everything's okay, dumbass?" Dagur grumbled, not even lifting his face.

Hiccup wasn't sure Dagur knew who was speaking to him. And even if he knew, would he act different? Maybe, maybe not.

Truth been told, Dagur never had called Hiccup that or any actually bad combination of words, but Hiccup wasn't mad at that. It was just an observation he pointed out. Something he noticed.

"Not really, that's why I'm asking." Hiccup murmured, moving to massage his one arm with his other hand.

"You can fuck off, for a start."

"Wow, fucking rude." Hiccup whispered.

Maybe before he would be terrified, maybe before all of that he wouldn't openly say such things. But right now he felt strong enough, he felt brave enough to do so. Plus come on, he just tried to help somehow and he was getting chested for it.

Dagur snapped his head up with mouth opening to say something, probably something not nice, when he froze after finally spotting him.

"You know… uhh… I mean…"

In this very moment Hiccup felt like he was seconds away from bursting into laughter.

(Life was really a weird thing. Untangling and messing itself in weird, strange ways, ways no one could really comprehend. Not that Hiccup really wanted to. He liked that kind of surprising form of life.)

"No, no worries. I got it. Finals are stressful." Hiccup started, lifting even his hand to point that it was okay.

In case Dagur would want to do something like apologize. Hiccup wasn't sure if it was the case here, but if it was, he just wanted to point it out.

He also lashed out when he was stressed or nervous, with the time moving its hand across the cheek and brushing away the hair. He also shouted and said things he didn't want to say when it felt like he was banging his fists against the wall.

So he wasn't mad. He wasn't even surprised either.

He was just kinda amused by it.

"I mean, I can fuck off if you want –" Hiccup started, when the silence spread for far too long between them, and pointed with his head at the door.

"No, I mean, you don't have to. Unless you want to. Then uhh…"

Hiccup glanced at the door.

(He would be laying if he said the stress wasn't inside his body anymore. It was. But the particles were sparse, almost uncountable, spread around like stars on the sky visible from Earth. The fear would probably never disappear. But seeing Dagur suddenly lost made him incredibly human. And seeing it with his own eyes calmed him down.)

So Hiccup took several steps forward and glanced at the books scattered around, opened or closed, with a few pages flying around.

The librarian probably wouldn't be happy about destroyed properties. But nothing adhesive tape couldn't fix. Even Hiccup had to do it in his life a few times. Or a lot of times actually.

"So what are you repeating?"

"Ugh physics." Dagur said, moving his fringe away from the forehead and then leaning to grab a book.

Oh, something Hiccup liked.

"I suppose it's not going that great."

"Wow, amazing fucking guess."

Hiccup huffed. Yep, it was difficult. It had been way harder before, but now it wasn't that much better. Or maybe it was just Hiccup's fault, being unable to deal with some people.

"I know." Hiccup agreed, because in the end it was better to be on the same side, than opposite. Especially right now. "Do you need help with… anything?"

"No, unless you could explain quantum physics to me."

"I actually could do that?"

To say that Dagur didn't expect this kind of answer would be an understatement as his eyes widened and mouth hung open for a second. Hands fidgeted nearby the face like they weren't sure whether to cover it or move away, but in the end one slumped down and one moved to comb the locks and mess them up even more.

"Yeah, Physics Olympics, I forgot about that."

Hiccup felt a spark of pride inside his chest, a sudden warmness that overtook his core and made all the fans whir. He knew some people still remembered it. The news about it even had reached the school main site. But it all had happened almost a year ago, if not more, and most people simply had pushed away this thing from their heads after some time.

Even Hiccup did. He of course remembered about it when he spotted the certificate hanging on his wall, but in the end, he was just a normal guy, trying to get from day to day.

Dagur worried his bottom lip for a second, looking at the books laying hither and tither, glancing at the scribbles he had made and staring at the unfinished exercises he probably had tried to finish.

"Well, there are those two tasks I kinda can't–"

"Show me them."

And Dagur did.

The time moved incredibly fast and astonishingly slow in the same time. Days passed in the blink of an eye for Jack and yet every day prolonged itself into eternity. Somehow the thought that he still had time was in his mind, etched somewhere in the inner calendar.

But he didn't have time. Especially as the last week before the exams rolled in.

School already ended for them, grades were placed in a program and now the only thing left were finals and later on the graduation.

Jack was so into learning, that he totally forgot that it was his last year here. That he had been attending the last Math class where Professor Pitch still almost had made some girl cry. Though at least he had seemed a little bit bad about that in the end, as he even had apologized to her at the end of the class, privately.

(Jack only knew about it because he had been the last one to leave the classroom.)

It only had hit him back in his house, when he had sat down to repeat his knowledge from English literature.

That something was definitely ending.

Some part of him wanted to dwell on it, wanted to live in the moment, relive all his past memories. It sounded like a thing he should do, like he should be doing right now. But he couldn't. He had other things to do that were more important.

The last weekend before the Hell starts.

Well he had to use the most of it, right?

When Jack woke up on Saturday his coffee table was filled with old plates and empty mugs with reminiscent of coffee at the very bottom. The notes were sprawled everywhere, even under his legs as he noticed now.

Just a few more days and it all would be over. Just a few more days and he would be able to rest for some time. Especially with prom around the corner.

So Jack stood up. Washed his face and hair. Put clean clothes, went down to make quick breakfast and coffee – startling his family with his so early presence in the kitchen – and then he was back in his room, nervously flipping through pages in the last chance to learn anything.

But usually as it was with the last things and being under pressure, it wasn't going that great. Jack wished he could say that he knew everything, but the longer he thought, the more he didn't know, didn't repeat yet and now didn't even dare to look into books and notes he had found somewhere at the bottom of the wardrobe.

It would be over in a few days. Jack only needed to live through this weekend.

However as he stared at the notes, he came to a conclusion that he knew nothing. And he knew it wasn't true. He knew a lot of things already. Maybe not by heart, because learning by heart wasn't one of his talents. But he had tried to more or less understand some things and go from there.

How is it going for you?

It was a message he received after five minutes. Usually Jack didn't pick up the phone while learning, but he caught a glimpse of the name and somehow he couldn't not do that. Especially as the person on the other side was sharing his pain. If not even worse pain that was.

terrible i know nthing

Im human sigrace

*disgrace (´；д；`)

With that Jack sent the message and returned to reading the shortened versions of required readings and lectures he had had to read. And most definitely hadn't done that. So now brave people who once had shortened it were helping him.

Jack was very much grateful.

Aster answered.

Same. I don't remember anything right

now. My head feels like combusting

itself into oblivion.

bruh sounds nice u can

also tak away mah brain if

you want to (ﾟ▽^*)ﾉ

It was nice knowing that he wasn't the only one having problems. It wasn't a good thing to know that other people were dealing with stress too, but there was something comforting in being able to share it with someone and know that this someone knew what he was feeling.

You can get a discount

as my friend.

what ann honor i knew i

started talking to yo for

a reason XDDDD

Jack couldn't stop the small smile from forming on his lips. It was nice. A small pause in the world, a short press of a button to stop the time.

He knew he had to return to learning in a few minutes. There wasn't enough time for the things he wanted to still learn about, but he had to at least try. Even though he was fed up with it. With most things. He had enough of staring at the long lines of his own writing or typed in the computers or even worse, typewriters, and then printed in the books. The information swam in his head, combining themselves, connecting dots, making lines, but then suddenly disintegrating into nothingness, leaving only dark smudges on the papers of knowledge.

He was simply and honestly tired.

It was your hidden goal all along.

im a willy serpent

hiss hiss hiss :D

It was silly, maybe even stupid or dumb to some people, but weirdly comforting to him. He and Aster talked a lot, but somehow they had lost this something, this spark, this comfort of talking like that. Being just two teenagers who tried to live through the day. Being just two teenagers with a crush. Being just two teenagers who had enough of exams and wanted to rest.

It was unfathomably sad that somehow they got it back and some part of their lives was already ending. Like most things.

Will this willy serpent be up for McDonald's?

Jack stared at the message. Some part of him told him that he shouldn't. That he still had a lot of work to do, that there were things more urgent, things that needed his attention right now.

But did they really? Jack was constantly trying to learn, improve himself to this point he had been losing sleep, eating less and well, not keeping up the good appearance. But maybe they shouldn't go there, shouldn't move in that direction. Direction where eyes were filled with tears and moments packed with sobs.

And hell, he had worked hard. The hardest probably in his entire life. And he deserved a short break. He earned it. He couldn't simply jump into the pit and hope that he would be able to swim to the surface if he didn't have any energy.

bruh always, see you in ten? :DDDD

Sure :)

Jack grinned under his nose and then frowned.

tooth?

Already on my way to get her.

noice C:

Perfect.

"I know I shouldn't drink this coffee, because it's already my third one today, but –"

"Tooth it's only… eleven am."

The girl glanced at them with eyes widening for a moment, like she couldn't really believe that what they had been saying was truth.

"Wow, so late." She said, then moved the cup closer to herself and took a sip.

Her colorful hair was put in a messy bun. Or had been made. It almost seemed like she had done it yesterday and didn't try to correct today. Never mind the time Jack still thought it looked lovely. But what made him smile was the gray tracksuit she was wearing. It looked astonishingly weird, especially in contrast to violet trainers she had on her feet.

From what Aster had told him Tooth didn't know he was even coming to get her. But she had thrown whatever she had had in her room on herself and had been out of the house in a beat. Which resulted in this.

It seemed that everyone was done with learning.

They sat outside of a McDonald's nearby the outskirts of Burgess, close to the freeway. A few other tables were also occupied, mostly by families with kids and some teenagers who talked loudly between each other.

Jack put a big portion of ice cream on the small plastic spoon he had and then put it inside his mouth, smiling at the sweet and delicate taste spreading on his tongue.

Aster sipped on his chocolate milkshake slowly, looking at the cars passing them by.

It was really nice, in lack of a better word. But maybe Jack didn't need better words to describe the situation right now. Maybe he didn't actually need to put a higher meaning, a better description to this moment, to this small space of time he was currently inhabiting.

Eighteen years of life lead to this point and he felt like he was on a crossroad. He was terrified. He felt like he could pay consequences if he choose the wrong road, switch the wrong blinkers on, move the steering wheel in the wrong direction. But in the end he will have to deal with the consequences if he choose any side, any road, any turn in any direction. It was terrifying to have to pick a specific road and try to remain on it. However he didn't have to remain on it either. Along the way there may be roundabouts, other intersections, traffic and not. It wasn't an one–way road. There were also detours, which helped to get somewhere while not being on the main road.

Jack just wished he had some kind of map with him. Maybe he only had scraps, kiddy doodles that directed him to a treasure that he wasn't sure was even there.

But they were reassuring anyway. He knew they couldn't help much or at all even, but he held onto them dearly.

He wasn't alone in this. His friends were also in the same situation as he. And maybe they knew better what they wanted to do, maybe they already put the specific goal in front of them when Jack was still moving through the fog, curiously trying to glance at what was behind the misty wall. However there were people like him too, people who seemed lost and just tried to find a way to reach home.

"It's already this time." Tooth suddenly said, moving her cup away from her mouth.

It seemed that everyone was thinking the same or almost similar thing. It was hard not to when they were meet face to face with fate.

"Weird, how time flies by so quickly." Aster added, sipping on his milkshake.

"To be honest, I feel like crying a little bit."

Jack could understand Tooth well.

"Nothing ended yet." Aster logically spoke, looking at their friends.

"I know." The girl sighed and then dropped her shoulders, eyes following a motorcycle that rode past them like a thunder. "But it feels like it just did."

"Yeah, same for me." Jack butted in the conversation. "Did you know we had the last Math on Thursday?"

Aster blinked.

"Really?" He asked, like only now it was coming to him, like his mind was only now processing the moving and passing time. "That… yeah, that is definitely weird."

"Right?!" Tooth perked, looking up at him and shaking her cup vigorously, almost spilling the coffee everywhere. "I didn't even notice it until it ended!"

Jack moved his ice cream closer to himself as the table also shook with Tooth's movements.

"I can't believe you didn't pull any prank on the last day of school." Aster said, turning to him with one eyebrow raised high.

Jack scoffed and puffed out his chest.

"Pff, I matured. I don't do such childish things anymore."

"Last week you changed 'yes' in my phone to 'I love John Cena'." Aster stated, looking at him like he wasn't believe him even in the slightest. Especially as he had proof on his phone, quite a few hilarious conversations.

Jack snickered. Okay, maybe he didn't mature at all.

"You got me here." He admitted. "To be fair I didn't have time to plan anything big. You know, finals and all."

"Aw shucks and it could have been your moment to shine." Tooth butted in, sending him a smirk, impish one, filled with playfulness.

"I shine enough without it." Jack puffed out his chest.

To be fair he had thought about doing something spectacular, something big, something that would be later on told by every student. Something that would leave his mark, something that when people would hear Jackson Overland Frost they immediately would know who he was.

He had had such kind of dream after starting High School. But now, when time had passed, he felt that he was more and more okay with what he had now. He loved good pranks of course – North still didn't noticed that he had changed their photos in the house to photos of Steve Buscemi – but now they were on a smaller scale. Something to take off his mind. Something to do between learning and meeting with people.

So in the end he had done nothing.

But there was still graduation, but Jack doubted he would be trying to do anything. He just wanted to have it all behind him, take a nap, or three, and enjoy his last vacations after applying to another schools.

"When are you moving actually?" Jack suddenly asked after taking a big part of the ice cream inside him mouth.

Aster turned to him.

The topic was still soft at the edges, like it didn't have enough time to harden, but it was way easier to talk about it now, than before. Of course, there was some sour feeling on the tongue and pinching sensation inside his chest, but it all was tolerable to an extent.

"A week after graduation."

So holidays without his one friend.

Jack loved Tooth and they both spent time together very often, but they were a trio, unbreakable one. They went everywhere together without even asking each other. It just came naturally to them.

"Wow so fast." Tooth mumbled and then hid her mouth behind the cup. One hand played with the straw she had taken.

"Yeah." Aster nodded.

"Just give us a call when you'll settle in and will have some time. We will pop in. Right, Tooth?" Jack said and then smiled as he glanced at their friend in search of approval.

Which came very quickly in form of short nods. The smile graced her face, wider than usual, even though it was intertwined with sadness. But it was only a small part of it. Mostly the pure hope beamed from it.

"Of course, you won't get rid of us so quickly."

Because they had to make it work. Hiccup was making it work. A lot of people were making it work. Of course, the contact won't always be there. There definitely will be times when they won't talk with each other. But they wanted to preserve, to hold tightly onto what they had.

And they hoped that the determination will be enough.

Aster ducked his head as he mumbled some reply. Jack couldn't distinguish specific words, but he definitely could see, clear as the sky, a small smile Aster really wanted to hide. But he was very, very bad at it. He just didn't like showing it.

"Aw buddy, don't cry." Jack said and patted him hard on the back.

Aster glared at him, still with his head tilted down.

"I'm not crying."

Jack knew Aster wasn't crying, but he could see the tension in his jaw, the sudden seizure of the mouth, the sudden tightness to the cheeks, the sudden strain and pressure.

But it wasn't a bad thing. Or at least it didn't seem like it had any bad roots.

It almost seemed like Aster prevented himself from smiling, from letting that treacherous grin appear on his mouth, just because he was that type of a person.

Jack didn't mind. He was only happy that somehow it lifted Aster's mood. That in the end they were all in this together.

Tooth was also smiling, taking sip after sip of her coffee. Then something blinked in her eyes, a shooting star flew by and then she was turning to Aster, the softness being simply replaced by curiosity.

"So what kind of dress is Heather wearing to the prom?"

Aster choked a little on his shake and then hit his chest repeatedly a few times.

A pair of teenagers glanced at them warily from a nearby table, their cheeseburgers forgotten for a moment in their hands.

Jack chortled at that, letting out a snort after snort from his mouth.

Only after a minute or so Bunny took a deep breath and then answered.

"A pink one."

Tooth nodded.

"The one I showed her?"

"I think so?" Aster mumbled, but the hesitancy shivered and hid behind those words.

Nevertheless Tooth one more time nodded.

"Good. Pink is an amazing color."

Author's note:

Another chapter done! Huff puff, we're getting to the grand finale and it's scaring me! But I'm also super excited so there is that haha xD. Also, the next chapter may be posted later than usual, because well… the next chapter will be quite big and when I say big I mean… really big xD. And I actually still didn't finish writing it or checking it and due to work I'm not sure I will be able to do it in two months… So, I'm not sure when the next chapter will be posted. But rest assured, it will be posted =D!

And some nerdy facts as always:

*Hydrogels – a lot of hydrogels are maybe not fully transparent, but translucent. And sometimes in water you can barely see them =D!

*The stretching vibration band of hydroxyl group in IR spectrum – it is one of the most visible bands on the spectrum. Just search for a giant deflection near 3200 and 3600 cm-1 =D!

*Only one side of the surface – Jack is referring to a Möbius strip, which indeed is a surface with only one side (when embedded in three-dimensional Euclidean space) and only one boundary :D.

And some answers:

Two of the broken mask – I wish it won't happen too… But I must admit, she is a riot xD.

vampireharry the 2 – Aw I'm super happy that you're back =DDD! And no worries, I totally understand losing interest in some stories (as often I do the same!). But you returned to it and it makes me utterly happy :D. Thank youuu C:!

sonofHades7 – Oh no, I hope you will be able to rest a little bit D: Take care of yourself. Everything will turn out okay in the end, even if life now is difficult D:. And oh my gosh, your comment honestly made me super happy. Because this is one of my biggest goals, making people happy and helping them forget even for a bit about problems. So I'm like super happy that I managed to do that Q.Q. And now back to the fic xD I sometimes feel like I only develop some characters and the rest is like… meh haha xD. Oh my gosh I must admit… most of the time I don't know where the plot is taking me. Like I have major points somewhere along the plotline… but mostly I open the document and I'm like 'Hmmm… what to write today!?' xD Because they simply don't really want to see it xD. It's way easier to believe someone won't reciprocate your feelings than believing they might… Or at least in their cases… plus I really love writing this haha xD me looking at the notes I made about future chapters Well… they will find out about each other's feelings… at some point haha xD. Thank you for reading it. Hope to hear from you soon and hope everything turns out okay for you :D!

coeur de lune – Really long time no see omg =DDD! Ohhhh noooo, that definitely sucked D:! Aw the dorks missed you too =DDD!

kisskisshug – AAAa hello again 3 Don't worry about being late! This fic won't run away xD. And you're right, we're moving to the end. I planned 25 chapters for now xD. So not much left. Though I must tell you that… chapter 23 will be pretty… pretty long xDD. Ahhhh that gives me utter joy 3 I actually really love to write family related stuff :3. Thankkk you, hoping you're doing good. Have an amazing day =D!

coeur de lune – They both are super denseeeee xD! Come on, Hiccup, you can do it. We're cheering you on! Ahhh definitely. Photos are amazing 3 It sometimes feel like you can jump in time while staring at them =D! So it's totally true :D. And about Hiccup's leg… to be honest somewhere in the middle I thought about making him lose it later on… But in the end I was too lazy to add another ten chapters to the story XDDD"". Plus it's not a main part of the story, it is not a trait that describes Hiccup, so I decided to not focus on it too much. Especially as his friends don't really care that he had a prosthetic xD. I'm not sure if it was smarter… I definitely blame it on my lazy ass haha xD.

Hope to see you soon :D!