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.

Kepler's laws of planetary motion – are three scientific laws describing the motion of planets around the Sun and they can be described as follows:

- the path of the planets about the Sun is elliptical in shape, with the center of the Sun being located at one focus – the law of ellipses,

- an imaginary line drawn from the center of the Sun to the center of the planet will sweep out equal areas in equal intervals of time – the law of equal areas,

- the ratio of the squares of the periods of any two planets is equal to the ratio of the cubes of their average distances from the Sun – the law of harmonies.

Jack's eyes hurt.

Scratch that. His whole body hurt. It seemed like a hundred of thin, little needles were puncturing his muscles, seizing them painfully. And the drumming sound in his head wasn't helping his stomach feel better either.

So yeah, bad it was.

To be fair Jack had hoped that he wouldn't be hungover. He had hoped that after a night like tonight, the clumsy hands of alcohol would spare him.

But now, he felt the repercussions.

Gladly it wasn't that bad. Even though his head hurt, stomach twisted, limbs barely moved, he still had felt worse in the past after some parties.

It wasn't the best, it wasn't the worst either and Jack was going to take what was given to him.

He pried open his eyes and glanced at the world. He didn't expect the Sun to still welcome him, but it was still there, shining sweetly behind the thin veils of sparse clouds slowly drifting through the sky. Although it was slowly, but surely, moving towards the horizon, on its merry way to cover the world on the other side with light.

Jack felt like he could sleep for way much longer. He probably would be, but the drizzle of the headache was preventing him from doing it. Maybe a few tabs would help him. Yeah, that seemed like a good idea.

Jack sat up on the bed and then moved his legs from under the cover, welcoming the cold ground with naked feet and sweet chillness that ran up to his knees.

He exited his room, walked through the corridor towards the stairs, climbed down and stepped into the kitchen.

"Oh, Jack, you're awake."

Jack would jump, but he was still too tired. So he only lazily turned his head towards the source of the voice.

It was North, sitting at the table in the living room and flipping through some magazine with furniture.

"Not for long." Jack whispered, feeling his throat incredibly scratched and clenched. "I'm just going to take some pills and then I'm coming back to bed."

"Pills?" North repeated, looking at him. There was a ghost of a tired smile in the corners of his mouth. "Hungover?"

"You could say that."

Jack moved to the cabinet and opened it. There were lines of boxes, packages, stripes, bottles with liquid and even small ampules laying here and there.

They didn't easily get sick. The person who was the most often ill in their house was Emma, but only because she was a kid and even she only had common cold from time to time. So in the end their supply of medicines wasn't big, but they had the most important ones. Pills for headache and sore throat, syrup for cough, something for runny nose, active carbon, some gels for sore muscles and other things.

Jack grabbed the small bottle and then opened it to pull two tabs from it. It should be enough, they weren't that strong anyway and should deal with his headache quite easily. He also found a lone bottle of water which helped him wash down the pills.

He brushed his mouth with the back of his hand, screwed the bottle, put it back and walked towards the corridor one more time, when North called him.

"Jack?"

"Yeah?"

The man was staring at him, tapping his fingers on the table rhythmically. There was clear hesitation in his eyes, but mixed with worry and care.

"Do you… want to talk about yesterday?" North finally asked.

Jack swallowed.

"I…" He started, feeling like the words were escaping his brain, slipping through every barrier he had put there.

His mind was still a tangled mess. A room filled with so much stuff, clothes, books, food, cups and other objects that he wasn't sure where he even should start cleaning it. It felt like a tornado moved past his brain, leaving everything in disarray.

Maybe it did.

"You don't have to tell me now. I just… was curious if you wanted to tell me."

Jack nodded.

"I will tell you, I promise." Jack murmured. "I just need time to… think everything through."

He felt like he needed more than time to cope with everything that had happened. He felt like he needed an enormous amount of strength, power he didn't possess, nor knew where he could find it.

"Okay." North nodded, smiling to him. "I will be here when you're ready."

Jack smiled in gratitude and started to walk up the stairs towards his room.

The muscles and bones wheezed painfully when he flopped down on his bed, letting out a soft groan when the movement rattled his still aching head.

Jack wasn't ready to face the world just yet. He still needed more time to calm down.

He would face the world, he knew he would. He wanted to do it. But he still needed time to recharge, to let his body and mind rest. He needed time to let the waves calm down, to let the ocean of his thoughts still and not be a stormy disaster that could swallow everything.

He would face the world.

Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow. But he knew he would do that. At his own pace. One day.

"Hic?"

"Hey Astrid."

The girl tilted her head and took out the hands from her pockets, letting a soft tone appear on her forehead, smoothening the wrinkles on it.

"You look like hell."

"Thanks." Hiccup mumbled.

He couldn't blame her. Even though he had taken a shower, eaten some medicines, pushed himself through swallowing one piece of bread without going to the bathroom to empty the content of the stomach, put on some clean, decent clothes, he still felt like a wreck.

(He still could feel the dried tracks of tears that had ran down his cheeks the night before. He knew they weren't there. He knew he had washed his face over and over again, trying to get rid of them, of the dark and red circles around his eyes, but no matter how many times he did it, he still felt like they were there.)

"Are you… even allowed to go outside?" Astrid hesitantly asked.

Hiccup shrugged.

"Dad didn't say anything about it, so I suppose it's okay."

"Okay." Astrid huffed, raising her one hand and scratching the back of her head. "Do you want to go grab something to eat?"

Hiccup shook his head. He wasn't sure his stomach could hold any food inside for a longer period of time. He wished it could, but to be honest he was too afraid it may end in a bad scenario.

And this was the last thing he needed right now.

"Something to drink then?"

"Not really."

Astrid huffed, dropping her hands.

"You're leaving me without ideas."

Hiccup curled his back, playing with the thread sticking out in his pocket, rolling it over his finger and curling it around.

He knew he wasn't much of a help, but to be fair he simply didn't want to be alone right now.

(He didn't exactly want to see Jack either. The feeling was still there, it didn't go away. But right now he didn't feel like they should meet. Hiccup needed some time to think things through, to compile all the data in his head into a logical sense, to get rid of all the glitches in his programs.)

Astrid stared at him, scratched the back of her head, sighed one more time and then patted his shoulder.

"Come on, let's go sit somewhere."

By somewhere Astrid apparently meant a bench in the Town's Park.

Stepping into the park hit Hiccup with a sudden wave of nostalgia, so strong that he was almost sure he would start coughing like there were nitric oxides everywhere. It was here where he and Jack had agreed on the plan, it was here where it had become official.

They didn't sit on the same bench, although that would be hilariously horrible if they did. But gladly not. Hiccup wasn't sure he would be able to do it anyway.

His heart and mind were still a mess.

Astrid leaned on the back of the bench and straightened her legs, almost laying and staring at the pinkish clouds on the sky.

Hiccup stared at the ground. He tried to squeeze the nausea inside his stomach, but he was doing a poor job. For now it wasn't terrible, he felt strong enough to walk around without fearing of running to the bathroom, but morning had been literal hell.

(It was his own fault, but part of him didn't regret it.)

"So… I assume that the night was… not that great." Astrid finally murmured.

Hiccup didn't lift his face, but only dropped his shoulders.

"That is a mild way of saying it, yes."

"Mind filling me in? Because I heard a fuckton of different things from different people and I don't know whom to believe. So I wouldn't mind hearing it from the primary source."

Hiccup would laugh if he was in the mood for that, but he wasn't. He only felt tired. He hadn't even slept for that long because his body had woken him up and had demanded a visit to the bathroom. And he had been travelling there back and forth during the whole morning.

(But he was also exhausted mentally. He felt all the threads slowly breaking, the stress pulling them apart was too strong for them to keep it together.)

"Where should I even start?"

"From the beginning perhaps."

Hiccup lifted his head and massaged his eyes, pushing his glasses higher in the process.

So he did, he told her everything, from the very beginning till the very end. He knew he missed some details, some things here and there, but the most important parts were there.

Astrid didn't speak through the whole story, just sat there and stared at the sky, nodding from time to time to show that she was listening.

Hiccup hadn't spoken so much in a pretty long time. He wasn't used to it, he was usually the one listening to the stories, gathering them like some kind of historian. Speaking was not his trait. But he did speak, tried to recall as many details as he could and found out that some parts were a foggy, semitransparent mush. There were a few times where he had to take a breath, try to calm his beating heart and weirdly hitching voice, but somehow he pushed through the whole story.

It didn't make him feel better, but it was well… it was something.

"Well… that definitely explains a lot." Astrid finally murmured, straightening her back and turning to him.

There was no joy on her face, only remorse and sadness.

Hiccup exhaled slowly, feeling the headache already creeping at the back of his head. He wished it had left for good, but it seemed that it only had taken a merry holidays and now was on its way back home.

"What are you going to do from now on?" She continued.

"I don't know." Hiccup answered truthfully. "I'm not sure what I even should be doing right now."

He still had to explain everything to his dad. Tuff, Ruff and Snotlout weren't speaking to him. Jack was probably still the enemy of the whole school. And he was in the middle of it all.

"What Jack thinks about it?"

"We agreed that it would be best to act like… not like it didn't happen. Simply move forward. Acknowledge it, but not make a big deal out of it. And if someone asks about it, then we tell them the truth."

"That… probably is the best thing that could be done in this situation." Astrid nodded. "How about the rest?"

Hiccup exhaled.

"I need to… tell my dad about it. Somehow. I'm not sure how he will react to that to be fair."

Stoick probably would be disappointed in him. Not angry, not mad, not sad, but disappointed. And this letdown would probably be the worst of all the outcomes.

"And the twins and Snotlout?"

Hiccup didn't want to think about it yet. He didn't really want to step towards this land.

He knew he had hurt them. He had known it since the beginning and yet he had done it all nevertheless.

At this point he wasn't sure whether not telling them had been a good or terrible idea.

Now, Hiccup felt horrible. He felt like a piece of him had been ripped away from his chest, had been dropped into a beaker with aqua regia for him to watch as it all had dissolved into nothingness.

No matter how mad he had been at them in the past, Hiccup still loved them. They were a huge part of his life and he couldn't imagine moving forward without them being by his side, messing a lot of things with smiles on their faces, but still helping him when he needed it.

He didn't want to step forward without them.

But then, he also didn't know what to do. Who was at fault here? Who should step forward and show the hand? Who should bow the head and close the eyes?

"I don't know…" Hiccup said.

A lot of people called him smart, intelligent, cunning and bright, but in the end he felt like he knew nothing. He felt like all the knowledge he had in his brain was useless.

He was book smart, just not street smart – as Fishlegs would often tell him. Now coming to this the boy also had tried to get in contact with him. Hiccup should call him back later on.

(It had to be terrible to be out of loop in his own circle of friends.)

Hiccup felt like he was in a new, not exactly welcoming world. World where everything was a tad bit wrong, crooked, askew. World where the laws were working but in a different way, had different meanings. World were letters in formulas were moved to different places and where the multiplication was as important as addition.

He wondered if things would go back to normal. Probably no. Hiccup wasn't sure he wanted them to go back to old normal either.

He knew they had to form some kind of normalcy at some point. He knew it would finally happen, one way or another. It was just impossibly difficult to imagine it right now.

There was a soft touch on his shoulder.

Hiccup turned to Astrid, who looked at him.

"Can I?"

"Strangle me? Feel free to do it."

"You know what I meant, you doofus."

Hiccup wanted to fight, but he was so incredibly tired. Not physically, although he was also tired in his bones and muscles, which creaked and asked him for sleep.

But he was exhausted mentally. His brain was showing him error after error, informing that there wasn't enough memory to sort through the data of the last night. The solution of thoughts inside his head was saturated to the maximum and he couldn't add anything more.

Hiccup nodded lamely.

Astrid wasn't a person that easily showed affections. It didn't mean she wasn't affectionate. She was, when she wanted to be or when she felt comfortable enough.

She sneaked closer, put her one hand around his shoulder and gripped it, making Hiccup tilt his body and rest his head on her shoulder.

It wasn't much. Just a small embrace, barely warming his skin in the process.

But maybe this small not much was enough for him. It wasn't like a magical spell, all his worries didn't suddenly disappear. It was impossible. But there was something – a sudden breeze inside his heart, a cold touch on his warmed mind, a familiar foundation beneath his lungs.

Astrid didn't speak. She just held him and slowly massaged his shoulder, leaving a comforting sensation on his skin.

Hiccup didn't cry, but he did feel close to it. There was a stinging sensation in the corners of his eyes, but the tears didn't fall. He wasn't sure why.

He snuggled a bit closer, staring sideways at the park, feeling the rhythmic movements of the shoulder beneath him as Astrid breathed in and out.

The world was still spinning, there were people living through the best days of their lives, but there were also the ones trying to push through the worst moments. The birds were chirping, the insects were flying around and the trees moved their leaves in a slow dance with the wind taking their hands.

Everything was moving forward.

But Hiccup needed this small slice of time where nothing moved for him, where he was suspended in the space-time continuum.

So Astrid held him for a bit more, letting him rest before he would face the world.

Jack nervously played with the string hanging from his blouse, circling it around his finger.

He should probably get this over with as fast as possible. And even though he had decided he would do it today, at this very specific time, it didn't make it any easier.

He stood up from his bed, moved forward, reached with his hand toward the door handle and stopped, closing his eyes and inhaling deeply.

"Just get this over with, they wouldn't think any less of you." He whispered to himself, trying to move his fingers forward, but finding that he was unable to.

He groaned under his nose and moved back, staring at his computer, where a few of his social medias pages were open. It was not a nice sight to his eyes. It wasn't terrible, but it wasn't good either.

Some people were angry and some were… supportive, Jack assumed.

There was a quiet ping and another message appeared in the chat box. From the first few words Jack could already gauge that it fell into the first category – not nice comments on his behavior – so he grabbed the mouse and closed the window.

He didn't need to see it right now.

But it felt like it wasn't enough. Like even his wallpaper was mocking him, a group of his closest friends staring at him with their smiling faces, back from the time where it all had been alright.

Jack furrowed his eyebrows and decided to turn off the computer with a huff.

"Okay, the situation has to be really bad if you're shutting down your computer."

Jack jumped in place and directed his gaze from the dark screen towards the door.

Emma stood there, staring at him with one eyebrow raised high on her forehead and a straw being rolled around her mouth.

Jack wasn't sure how to react. He definitely didn't hear her knocking. Had she knocked? Maybe. Perhaps. Jack wasn't sure.

"What are you doing here?" He finally decided on asking.

The girl rolled her eyes.

"We've heard you pacing around for the last twenty minutes, so we decided to check on you."

Oh. Yeah. That made some sense.

"Oh, uh, sorry then." Jack said and then straightened his back.

"It's okay." Emma slowly murmured, finally letting go of the straw, which looked more like a chomped mush than a proper straw.

It wasn't okay. It was far away from being okay. Jack felt like nothing was okay.

There was a terrible weight on his shoulders, a horrible force was pulling him down and he wasn't sure how to react.

They had made a mess and he didn't know where he should start tidying up. Was there even a starting point? Could they even clean it up? Where should he even begin to pick up the broken pieces?

"It's not okay. Nothing is okay." Jack huffed and pinched the bridge of his nose, feeling his stomach clenching painfully.

"Are we still talking about you walking around? Because I feel like you redirected it somehow in your head." Emma asked, looking perplexed at him.

"No, it's not about pacing around." Jack huffed, dropping his head down and turning to his little sister.

Emma tilted her head.

"Is it about the prom night?"

Jack felt a pang in his chest, spreading around like a disease. It was sudden, a thunder, a blast of cold air after opening the door in the winter. It was there for a moment, only for it to disperse into nothingness during the next second.

Just not nice nothingness. One that left an empty, hollow void in place of the emotions that should be there.

He felt his finger clench, forming a tight fist with the muscles seizing and tensing in his arm.

There was a sudden wave of anger and Jack wasn't sure at what it was directed. It wasn't directed at Emma, it wasn't directed at himself, it wasn't directed at the people he knew. It was just there, a bird landing on a branch.

It was there and it burned.

Maybe he was simply angry at the world, angry at the fate or angry at everything that was happening around him.

He had been angry a lot of times in his life. It wasn't a feeling that was unfamiliar to him. He wasn't getting easily irritated either. But he did know anger – when he was losing a game, when some people were unfair, when he had a bad day, when he was getting bad grades, when he had been working himself up for something that didn't happen in the end. It wasn't something that was uncommon.

(On the contrary, he felt like it was an old friend, a childhood companion that had been locked in the wardrobe until now. A number in the contact list you know by heart, but don't exactly want to call.)

"Whatever happened had to suck for you to sulk like that. So maybe it would be easier to get it off your shoulder than mop in your room."

Jack turned his head, glaring at his sister.

He didn't want to do that, but the sudden madness was sparkling in his mind, redirecting the emotions.

"It's not so easy, Em." He hissed, feeling immediately bad after doing that.

He didn't want to act like that. It wasn't like him. It wasn't who he was.

The girl blinked and stared at him. It was clear that she was taken aback by his behavior.

Jack could see the symptoms, the furrowed eyebrows, the scrunched nose, the twitch of the lips, the sudden tremble of the fingers on the cup. But it was a short moment. Almost invisible to other people.

But not for Jack.

Yet as fast as those small things appeared, they were gone, not even leaving a trace after themselves.

Emma put the straw in her mouth, took a big sip of the drink and then hummed under her nose.

"It's not, but maybe you will feel better afterwards. You know… just an idea."

Jack knew she was right. He knew it. He just… couldn't fully believe it right now.

"We'll be downstairs, if you need something from us." Emma said and then turned on her heel to stomp downstairs, towards the living room.

Jack observed her go and felt something inside of him cracking at that.

He closed his eyes and inhaled deeply, feeling the storm inside his chest rattling around, crackling and thundering, with the dark clouds gathering on the horizon.

Jack wanted to make it all better. He even knew where to start.

It was only incredibly hard to do so.

What would his family think of him after getting to know what he had done? Would they look at him in the same way? Would they think of him as someone good? Would they understand the reasons behind his decisions? Would they accept the new him, with all the mistakes he had made?

Jack knew they loved him, but the fear was there.

(His mind still could remember the old him, the pain of everyday life, the anger and madness that had swirled in his bones. He didn't want to repeat it. He had moved past that.)

"Fuck."

Jack couldn't explain it. He couldn't find the words that would describe what he was really feeling. It felt like a storm, sudden waves of stinging sensations that ripped his mind apart. He felt like yelling, shouting, grabbing something, smashing it against the wall and then sitting in the dark corner for a few hours, somewhere safe and somewhere where no one would bother him anymore.

Jack dropped down on the chair standing nearby the desk and covered his face with his hands.

Hiccup was stressed.

It wasn't anything new in his life. He felt like he had been stressed half of his life. If not more. Many things, situations and people made him anxious. But right now, it was a different type of stress.

A stress that was familiar, yet painful. A stress that tore his heart apart.

Hiccup inhaled deeply and traced the rails with his hand as his feet brought him down.

There was an echo of the future inside his head. Monday was tomorrow. Which meant he had to go back to school. And as surprising as it could be, that idea didn't really terrified Hiccup that much. Of course it was an uncomfortable idea, but it wasn't scary. Mildly irritating even.

(Plus he would be going there with Astrid and she always managed to make him feel stronger.)

And it was something that couldn't be changed. He knew he had to go. And maybe, if he had to be honest, he didn't want to run away from that. He had enough. He wanted to face it with his head held high and eyes unafraid of the stares that probably would follow him.

People even had written to him. People he didn't know. Why were they doing it? Hiccup couldn't understand that. It was a bizarre, not nice experience. But he quickly had gotten rid of every not nice message without sparing them much thoughts.

Oh no, the last step was just beneath his foot.

Hiccup inhaled deeply, feeling the ghost of the pain still travelling across his body. Like atoms in a really diluted solution, moving around, not disappearing, but staying there.

The TV was turned on in the living room with the silhouettes moving on the screen, stepping around, talking, turning their heads and waving their hands. But Hiccup didn't care much about the TV. Or maybe that was wrong. He only cared whether it was turned on or off. And it was, so it meant that his dad was probably sitting on the sofa–

Yeah, he was right. Stoick was sitting there and reading a book.

(Why was the TV turned on then? Maybe he liked to have some kind of background noise. Back when his mom had been here, the house had been always full of sounds, whether it had been radio going on, soft hums, short songs or quiet conversations vibrating in the air.

Nowadays it was mostly quiet.)

Hiccup walked towards the living room.

Stoick lifted his head, when Hiccup stepped onto the carpet, finding small amount of comfort in the well–known feeling of the soft material beneath his feet.

"Oh, hello Hiccup, how are you feeling?"

Did he still look bad? He felt more or less okay. The memories of yesterday were still jumping inside his head, which throbbed from time to time, but his stomach was mostly fine.

It was only his mentality which felt bad.

(The twins and Snotlout still didn't answer any of his messages, even though Hiccup knew they had read them. And it hurt. Really hurt.)

Hiccup opened his mouth, but then closed it and pondered for a moment about the answer.

"Can I be honest?"

"I don't really want to talk with you, if you're not honest."

Hiccup nodded and then moved forward to flop down on the couch, next to his dad.

"Well if I can be honest then… I'm feeling pretty terrible."

Stoick graced him with a tired smile.

"That's what I thought. You don't look too good."

Hiccup lifted his eyebrow. When he had glanced at himself in the mirror he had thought that he had looked more or less okay. Well, not the best, but not the worst. He had had worse times in the past when he had looked really horrible.

But maybe his dad wasn't talking about his appearance, but about something more. Something that was invisible to the naked eye and had to be looked at through a scanning electron microscope or maybe even through an atomic force microscope. Or perhaps it wasn't that. No machine known to man could see it.

But Stoick could.

Hiccup wasn't sure what to say, so he didn't say anything at all. Which was a bad thing, because he had come down to talk about very important things. Things he should tell his dad. It had taken him some time to find the courage to do so.

He had to speak. He had felt so brave and so strong when he had been walking downstairs. And now this whole strength dispersed somewhere.

(Where it went? Where it moved to? Was it doing fine? Was it having fun, while Hiccup was here, trying to form a coherent sentence out of the tangled mess of his mind, fishing out the perfect words to describe the whole chaos that he had started?)

"I'll make us something to drink while you think, okay?"

Hiccup nodded immediately, finding out the he had already started chewing on his nails.

Stoick patted him on the shoulder, stood up and moved towards the kitchen.

Hiccup sat on the couch and mulled the ideas over inside his head. He made hundred combinations, rearranged words, made new ones, started the conversation at least a dozen times inside his head and yet when his dad returned, it all turned to dust, disintegrated into ash like it had been licked by a fire.

Stoick pushed a warm cup of coffee into his hands.

The delicate steam still rose above it, curling around his face, brushing his cheeks and pushing away the fringe.

The heat transferred from the liquid, through the cup walls, to the skin of his hands, warming them up a bit.

Hiccup didn't even notice how cold they were.

Stoick sat down next to him, nursing his own cup, from which a white steam was also coming.

Hiccup bit his lip.

Stoick didn't speak. He didn't urge Hiccup to start. He didn't show how impatient he was. He didn't show a single twitch which would point that something was wrong.

But it was. It was so, so wrong.

They sat in this silence for a few minutes, both of them lost in their own thoughts. Hiccup felt like he should start, like he should be saying something, anything at all, but somehow couldn't. He wasn't sure how to begin, he wasn't sure in which direction the conversation should be going, he wasn't sure how he could end it.

He hated when he didn't have at least something planned. He loved the comforting cold stability of everything written in form of a list, laid out right in front of him. He adored when everything could be pre-calculated with possible outcomes.

But life unfortunately wasn't like that. Life was full of surprises, not exactly always good ones. It could twist and turn, it could bend, it could throw you into an unknown situation with no immediate way of getting out. It could strap you to a seat and throw around on a rollercoaster, even while you would scream for it to stop.

Life wasn't like that.

Life was an undisclosed formula, a mysterious spectrum with no known peaks, it was a long line of program that could act not according to this world rules.

No one really knew how it could end. No one really knew how it could start either. Something good could turn into something terrible. And a horrible situation could change into something better in the end.

Hiccup had problems with trying to obey the unwritten laws of life. Trying to obey something that wasn't even there.

But he had been learning to do it, step by step, slowly, not always steadily, but he had been and was doing it. Sometimes by himself and sometimes with the help of people around him.

Stoick suddenly put the cup down.

"Helen called me today." He said, calmly, like it was a totally normal thing to say, a small inquiry about a weather.

Even when it was so far away from that.

Hiccup took a sip, feeling his hands shaking.

"Both Heather and Dagur are safe at home. Still a little bit tired, but other than that pretty okay." Then there was a short pause. "They told her what happened."

Oh.

Hiccup felt a pang to his chest.

He was glad that they were fine. To be fair he had been worried how the situation there would look like, but he couldn't find it in himself to ask. He wasn't sure how he would even do that.

"I don't want to rush you or anything like that by mentioning it. But I just want you to know that whatever happened, I won't think any less of you."

Hiccup felt how his chest squeezed painfully, twitched and shuddered. He had been afraid of it. Of telling the story. Telling it meant uncovering what had occurred in his life and what he had kept hidden from his father due to shame pooling in his body. Telling it meant showing what kind of person he really had been during the last few months.

"No, I don't want to prolong it anymore." Hiccup said, feeling that small spark returning to his mind. "I want to tell you. You should know."

Stoick nodded.

"Whenever you feel fine then. I will listen."

Hiccup nodded, took a small sip – the last sip, he promised himself that he would start after this one – and then opened his mouth.

The story was well, not nice to put it mildly. It hadn't been fun to live through it and it wasn't fun to retell it to someone else. Especially his father. But Hiccup did try.

He tried to start at the beginning, at the very epitome of the starting point. And he managed to keep a coherent story for at least two minutes, before he started jumping back and forth, losing focus here and there, misusing words, biting his tongue, stopping a few times to take a breath or collect his thoughts.

He was a mess while describing what had been happening during the last year and even before that. But then, in the end, it was a messy story.

Stoick most of the time listened, taking occasional sips or asking to elaborate on this or that part.

But the plethora of emotions moving through his face was real. There were confusion, anger, madness and fear so deep that Hiccup had to look away. There were misery and surprise. There were fury and sadness. There were shuddered breaths, small stalls of heartbeats and sudden silences.

Hiccup wasn't sure what to think about it all, so he spoke some more.

It took him some time to finish the story and when he did, he felt like what had occurred had made no sense at all, when before it had made complete sense. He felt similar to a little kid, walking blindly in the fog. He felt like he was lost and he didn't even have reception on his phone. He felt confused and angry and sad and terribly misplaced.

"So you… know the rest." Hiccup lamely finished, gripping the cup in his hand.

The coffee turned cold, resembling a liquid nitrogen more than a drink.

Stoick sighed heavily and then put the cup down to hide his face in his hands. His shoulders twitched and shivered.

In this very moment he almost seemed like the whole world crumbled down on him and he wasn't sure how to act with all of this that had been happening around.

Hiccup felt a stab of guilt hitting him right in the chest. It was his fault his dad was like that. It was his fault that the usual bulky man, strong, independent, now looked like a broken machine.

(Maybe in the end he should have stayed quiet.)

"Dad?" Hiccup asked, unsurely, putting the cup away and raising his hands, moving them closer to his father, but not exactly resting them there.

Stoick exhaled sharply with sound more broken and crooked than Hiccup had ever heard coming from him.

(No, that was wrong. He had seen him so empty, so hollow, so void of anything. He had remembered those times, there were like shadows hiding in the back of his mind. But they were there. Always there.)

"I'm sorry…" Stoick whispered.

It was a quiet voice, cracked, crushed, damaged, a voice of a person who had something terrible resting on a poor soul. It was a voice filled with pain, hurt, guilt and shame that roared like a thunder and yet was quiet like a drizzling rain.

It was an explosion and implosion, both in the same time.

"Oh uh, sorry for what?" Hiccup hesitantly asked.

"For… not being there for you when you needed me."

Hiccup stared, blinking a few times.

This was definitely not what he expected.

"Oh uh… you didn't know, so there is nothing you should be sorry for…"

Which was true. It was something Hiccup believed in.

It wasn't Stoick fault. It never had been.

Stoick had his good and bad sides. He loved Hiccup, he just had problems with showing it. But Hiccup knew that he would be there for him if he asked about it. They both were there for each other.

(Life had taught them that they could count on each other in the darkest of times. It hadn't been easy at first, there had been sparks of doubt jumping somewhere in their minds, but in the end what had happened to them had connected and had got them closer than ever. It was terribly awful that it had had to happen under such circumstances, but it was a part of reality, of real life.)

"But I should have noticed that something was wrong, that you had problems, that you were… that you had so much going on."

Hiccup wanted to sigh, but found out that his voice crackled, like broken cables, with electricity jumping between the disconnected joints.

"Dad, it's really–"

"I'm sorry."

"Dad."

Hiccup wasn't sure what to do. He hadn't seen him like that since his mom had died. Since all hell had broken loose.

So empty, so hollow. He seemed like a shell of once brave man, proud warrior, a greatness sculptured in a human form.

(But in the end, everyone had to have a breaking point, a sudden snap where everything becomes too much, where the signals become blaring red alarms, shriveling sounds that could make the mind yield, where the colors hurt the eyes, sending needles of pain through the skull.)

Hiccup was at a loss of words, at a loss of things to do in the current situation, with his father's slumped form and shivering shoulders and hidden face and broken voice and the overwhelming guilt that was almost palpable with bare hands and seen with naked eyes.

He didn't know what to do.

So he did the first thing that popped into his mind.

He slowly moved his hand to wrap it around his dad's suddenly incredibly small form and rested his face on the shoulder, smelling the familiar scent that welcomed him every day at home.

He felt like he was trying to save a tree, destroyed by a thunder, only with his bare hands.

Stoick twitched for a moment, but then the muscles lost all the energy they had held onto until now.

"It isn't your fault. It never was and it never will be." Hiccup murmured. "I should be the one apologizing for not telling you about such important stuff. So I'm sorry…"

"Don't be."

Hiccup still was.

They stayed like this for some time, time long and short, bright and dark, horrible and amazing, all in the same time.

Hiccup felt like the bravest of warriors and the most scared of children. Funny how it was possible to feel two such different emotions, both in the same time.

Then after some time passed, Stoick moved, and Hiccup pushed himself away, giving his father some space.

There was a short sniffle.

"So you and Jack?"

Hiccup groaned involuntarily. It was a reaction he couldn't control. Like the patellar reflex*.

"Yeah."

"So you liked him since the… beginning?"

Hiccup spluttered, feeling his heart skipping a beat, a painful, long leap, like it wanted to jump from the Earth to the moon.

"No, no, no, of course not. At the beginning… it was you know… a deal with mutual benefits! I didn't like him back then! On the contrary! I mean I didn't hate him or super dislike him, but you know… I didn't have the best opinion of him!" Hiccup quickly clarified, feeling like he was tumbling down the hill, like there was a wild reaction in front of him, happening in too small beaker on the magnetic stirrer with the temperature turned on, like it was bubbling and hissing, spilling foam everywhere and he wasn't sure how to deal with it, not sure how he should approach it without being hit by the small droplets of burning hot liquid.

Stoick clasped his hands together.

"Then how did it change?"

Hiccup opened his mouth, closed it, opened one more time and closed it once again.

How had it all happened? There hadn't been a specific one moment, it hadn't been a shooting star falling down and crashing, which technically should be called a meteorite in this situation–

No, he needed to get back on track.

He could clearly remember the moment when he had understood he had fallen for Jack.

(He didn't want to call it love. Love was a fickle, delicate thing. Hiccup didn't want to use this word. Not yet. Maybe one day.)

He remembered the result that had appeared in his head, after the lines of code had been processed. He remembered the confusion he had felt back then, surprise at the quite obviousness of emotions that had roamed his body.

But there hadn't been a specific moment of falling for Jack. It had been a gradual process, slow, not rushed by anything, slice of time filled with getting to know each other and finding out that they actually fit together.

(There also was the problem of the prom… not the whole mess that had happened, but the moment of their dance and the almost kiss? Could Hiccup even call it that? They had to talk about that. But… Jack didn't look like he was in a mood to do it and Hiccup didn't want to push. They had other important things on their minds.)

"I don't know." Hiccup finally said. "We were spending a lot of time together and it just… happened."

"And how about Jack?"

"I don't know. It's… complicated."

Stoick nodded.

There was a brief silence, pregnant one, dense, saturated like a salt solution. But it wasn't a terrible type of quiet. Not the bones cracking one. No, it was more like a blanket thrown over warm, feverish body. It did little to help, but it wasn't unwelcomed either.

"Hiccup… I want you to know that no matter what happens from now on, I'm… quite proud of you."

Hiccup snapped his head up, feeling his eyes widening and mouth dropping open.

Why had his dad said that? There wasn't even one thing to be proud of! Not even a single thing. Hiccup had made so many mistakes, he had lied to his family and to his friends. He had deceived so many people.

Why was Stoick proud of him?

"Uh what?"

"Although I wish you would tell me what has been happening, I'm quite proud you managed to deal with it all. You went through hell, but you climbed out victorious and it's not an easy thing to do."

"Dad, I lied to the whole school. I lied to you and to my friends. How…" Hiccup gripped his hair. "How could you be proud of that?"

Hiccup couldn't understand it all. His dad should be mad. He should be angry. He should be furious at the deception. He should be everything, but proud.

"I think you learned your lesson, you don't need me adding more to what you've already been feeling. You did stupid things, I'm not going to lie about that…" Here Stoick laughed a bit, chuckled and looked up to stare forward, seeing something Hiccup couldn't. "But I did my fair share of stupid things in the past too. So I can't blame you or punish you for the things you did to save yourself."

Hiccup was still lost.

"I'm proud of you that you managed to push yourself through the hard time and I'm incredibly proud of you that in the time of darkness, you didn't turn your back on the people who needed you the most. You hurt them, but you tried to repay for what you've done. You found Dagur."

"By an accident."

"Or maybe it was supposed to happen. Maybe no one else but you could do it."

Hiccup didn't exactly believe it.

"But the twins still hate me. And the rest of the school definitely doesn't have a high opinion of us."

Stoick smiled sadly at him.

"Everything in its own time, Hiccup. You can't fix the whole world in one night."

"I can clearly destroy it in one."

"True. Destruction is much easier. But no one really can say that life is going to be easy. It isn't and I'm sure you felt it many times in your life."

Hiccup nodded.

It wasn't only him. Every person in the whole world had different problems, different obstacles on their roads, different shadows following their every step. Every person dealt with it in a different way – with the pain, hurt that shattered the hearts. Every person made mistakes, slipped and crashed down. Sometimes it even seemed like they did it a hundred, if not thousand times.

And sometimes it felt like they couldn't even get back up.

"But how we are behaving after making those mistakes describe who we really are. You acted. You wanted to fix what you had done. You tried to fix it." Stoick said and then moved to poke Hiccup in his chest.

(Something that he had used to do when Hiccup had been a kid, a small baby running around the garden with his favourite dragon toy and had fallen down. Stoick would always put him on his knee and poke his chest, saying that he had been a brave warrior who had needed to cry from time to time and that it had been okay.)

"And I'm proud of you because of that." Stoick said. "I know I have made a lot of mistakes. There are a ton of things I would do differently, if I had a chance to do them again, but… I love you, no matter what you do, no matter how many mistakes you make and no matter how many people turn their backs on you. I will always love you."

Hiccup felt it like a pang to his heart, like a sudden blast of electricity after touching the broken socket, like a thunder and lightning followed by the first rays of sunshine after a terrible, horrible storm.

He blinked a few times, when he noticed the tears gathering in the corners of his eyes.

And if he cried some more after that, hugging his dad like he was still a kid – and maybe, in the end, he still was – then who could judge him?

Are you asleep?

hardly

Good.

Jack stared, perturbed a little, at the message blinking on the screen.

It was official, now even Hiccup hated him. To be fair he maybe deserved it. He maybe deserved all the negativity and hate and dislike that was thrown at him. He probably deserved to be hated by someone who was in it with him.

Wait, I didn't mean it like in a bad way!

I meant it like…

I have a proposition.

Jack exhaled loudly, feeling something untangling in his chest.

Abort mission. Everything was back to normal, dark, hazy, foggy normal, but normal nevertheless. Hiccup didn't hate him.

im listening

Do you want to go for a walk with me?

Jack blinked and stared at the clock. It wasn't that late just yet, around nine pm. And it was still moderately bright outside. Or at least would be for the next few minutes, before the sun would fully hide behind the horizon, covering their whole world in darkness.

Did Jack want to go out? No, not really. He wasn't in a mood for anything. He wasn't in a mood to talk with anyone. Even with Hiccup. Even with his family. Even with his friends.

He was in a mood to lie down and hide in the darkness that could cover his whole body, securely preventing the world from seeing him.

Did Jack have anything better to do? Also no. He didn't have any plans. He doubted he would have many plans in the future to be fair. He didn't expect that many people would want to hang out with him and he couldn't really blame them.

(He wouldn't want to hang out with himself either if he was in other's people shoes.)

sure

Meet me in the Park in twenty minutes?

k

He wasn't even in the mood to add emoticons. And he had quite a big collection of those on his phone, for every occasion, for every situation, for every emotion. Though the overwhelming, growing sadness rattling in his chest wasn't on the list. Unfortunately.

Jack let the phone drop on his chest as he stared at the ceiling where small snowflakes were twirling, pushed around by the wind sneaking inside through the tilted window.

Well he said he would go, so he might as well do that.

Jack slowly hoisted himself up and moved to his wardrobe to put on better jeans instead of the tracksuit pants he was currently wearing. The shirt also needed to be changed, this one was covered with sweat. He should throw it into a washing machine.

(He also washed his face. He wasn't sure if he had done it today. Perhaps.)

The phone slid into his back pocket as he walked down the stairs.

"Jack, where are you going?" North asked. His voice was coming from inside the kitchen

"Out."

"I can see that, but where exactly?"

There was a part of Jack that wanted to snap, that wanted to go out and don't utter a word, that wanted to simply ignore everything that was happening around him.

But Jack squished that thought, he stomped on that shadow and swept it under a rug of his mind, he grabbed and threw it into an empty room to close the door on it when it wanted to claw out.

He was in a bad mood, but he didn't want this bad mood to dictate everything he was doing. He felt bad for snapping at Emma before, he didn't want and need to add more to that.

(He needed to apologize to her later on.)

"I'm going to see Hiccup."

"Oh, okay. Be back soon." North's voice sounded calmer than before.

Jack let his shoulders drop and then grabbed the handle.

"Yeah, bye." And with that he stepped out.

The world was not cold, but there was a hint of cool breeze walking through, swimming around, leaping and playing hopscotch with the people who still were outside. It was filled with sounds – sounds of the moving cars, of the buzzing late insects, of people walking around, of the kids running around, laughing and playing promised last game before going to their homes. The air was filled with the warmness of the world slowly, but surely going to sleep, with the warmness of the light being turned on in some houses, with the warmness of smiles, shouts of laughter and sparkling eyes.

It made Jack a little bit lighter inside.

He shuffled quickly through the city, peeking from time to time at the people and houses he was passing by.

They all seemed so carefree, so happy, so joyful, like there wasn't even a particle of worry on their shoulders.

(Jack knew it wasn't true. He knew that every person, every house, every pair of eyes had their own problems. Only it was so incredibly difficult to see them now. Even though he knew it was true.)

It didn't take him long to get to the park.

Even when the sun was welcoming the horizon with a delicate caress, there were still people walking around, sitting on blankets or enjoying a late game of volleyball or badminton.

(There were also a few familiar faces, faces Jack didn't exactly want to see right now. Faces that turned to him as he walked quickly through the park.

Not many people waved at him, some quickly looked away, some glared at him. But there were several sparse souls which lifted their hands and waved hesitantly. And Jack waved back, trying, hoping, that the smile he tried to put on his mouth didn't look as fake as it felt.)

There, not far away from the place where it all had started, from the spot where it all had begun, was standing a short silhouette, playing with the zipper of the light jacket he wore, looking around hesitantly, embarrassedly and weirdly out of place.

Jack's stomach squeezed, both with positive and negative connotations laying under the blankets.

Hiccup huffed and then moved his hand to the pocket, probably to get out his phone, but at this point Jack was close enough that he got the boy's attention.

"Oh uh, hey Jack."

"Hi to you too."

Hiccup tilted his head.

Jack lifted his eyebrow.

"What?"

Hiccup quickly blinked and shook his head, moving his one hand to push the glasses higher on his nose. His eyes quickly looked away.

"Ah uh, nothing."

Jack sighed.

"Hiccup…"

He was incredibly tired. He had been lying for a pretty long time. He didn't need more secrets. Especially not between him and Hiccup, someone who was in the same deep, dark, murky water as he, moving through the mud towards the small patch of grass.

The boy looked at him and there had to be something on his face, perhaps in his eyes, maybe even in his voice that sent an unspoken message, because Hiccup continued.

"Oh uh, I just… you know… wanted to say… you definitely looked better."

Jack snorted, feeling the knot inside his chest untangling a little bit. It was like a small breeze coming into the room during the morning on a free day.

"Well, I wasn't in the best mood to you know… style my hair and all of that."

"Yikes." Hiccup said, inhaling and flinching comically. "Impossible."

"I mean, I'm pretty sure I'm still handsome as hell. At least like very tired Keanu Reeves."

Hiccup stared at him skeptically and Jack was sure there were at least dozen bad replies storming in that head, but kept locked shut.

"Don't flatter yourself. Even on your good days you don't look as good as Keanu on his bad days." Hiccup finally said, crossing his hand.

Jack touched his chest.

"You wound me."

"I'm just telling the truth." Then a little bit quieter he added. "Deal with it."

"Okay, only because we're talking about Keanu." Jack finally huffed, admitting defeat.

Hiccup chuckled at that, making small dimples appear in the corners of his mouth. His one hand moved to brush away the fringe that was stuck to the glasses.

(It was nice to joke like that. Even if it was silly or maybe even stupid. Jack needed such small space of time filled with nonsenses that made him a little bit lighter.)

Then across the sweet sun that was shining inside Hiccup's eyes, the clouds appeared, dark, gray ones, covering it for a moment, casting a shadow on the field of freckles on the nose.

"But this time for real, how are you hanging?"

Yep, Jack knew it was coming.

He rolled his shoulders, feeling the muscles pulling on them. The mental exhaustion was even showing itself in his physical behavior, making his movements slower and weirdly disjointed.

"You know… I've been better."

"Did you tell your dad?" Hiccup inquired.

"Do you really want to have this conversation standing?" Jack asked instead, not only because he wanted to buy himself some time, but also because it seemed like a longer conversation.

Hiccup blinked and then looked around.

"We can sit there if you want to." He said, pointing at a free bench standing nearby.

It wasn't in any secluded area or anything like that, something that right now Jack would gladly prefer. It was even more visible than others.

But maybe, in the end, it was better this way.

They both shuffled there, flopping down quite gracelessly.

Jack leaned back on it, throwing his hands around and staring up at the slowly turning dark sky, with the sparse stars shimmering above their heads.

Hiccup glanced at him, inhaled, clasped his hands together, one more time stared at him, huffed, lifted one hand to brush away the fringe, sighed for like a tenth time and then opened his mouth for the last time.

"So I will assume that you… didn't tell him."

"It would be a… correct assumption."

Jack didn't even ask how Hiccup knew that. Maybe it was his observation skills, hardened and smoothened through the life of a scientist. Or maybe Hiccup simply knew him that well. That could also be a possibility.

"Okay."

"How about you?" Jack asked instead.

Hiccup moved a bit on the bench.

"I told him today."

"Oh." Jack mumbled.

The sinking feeling was back, overpowering his chest, making it move around like a ship during a storm, throwing destroyed planks everywhere.

"And how did it go?"

Hiccup glanced at him and then curled his back.

"Well it went actually… quite alright."

"I'm glad then."

And Jack really was. He knew he had said it in a quiet voice, maybe a little bit grumpy even, but he was glad that Hiccup had managed to explain it all to his dad.

It had to be a scary experience, especially due to the past Hiccup had had to dig back up to tell his own father.

If anything, Jack was proud. Even though he was bummed and feeling terrible, he was still proud of Hiccup for managing to do it.

He was just terrible at showing it.

In the corner of his eyes he saw Hiccup's mouth moving in a small smile.

"Yeah, I mean, I feel like I made a total mess out of myself. And then my dad cried. And then I cried and all in the end it was like a… super bizarre experience, but I'm… I'm glad I did that." Hiccup let his shoulders drop. "I feel way better now." Then there was a sudden snap, a sudden spark, a sudden tick of a clock. "I mean, I'm not saying it out loud to you to boast or anything like that. I mean not everything is super alright. The twins and Snotlout still don't talk with me and well I still got some mean messages on Facebook and all of that, but you know, my dad doesn't hate me and is actually kinda proud, so you know it kinda made me feel be–"

Jack couldn't listen to it much longer. He simply couldn't. He had to put a stop to it. Immediately.

So he quickly lifted his hand, moving it through the atmosphere like a rocket and then landed it on Hiccup's shoulder.

"Hic, it's alright. I'm happy you did that. And I'm super glad that you feel better now, no hard feelings, really."

And it was the truth.

Just because he felt bad, it didn't mean he wanted others to feel bad. He maybe sucked at showing it right now, but he was really enamored that Hiccup had managed to push through this hardship and had come out victorious.

"Oh uh, okay, thanks." Hiccup hesitantly said, turning to him and gracing him with a shy smile. "I'm just… I don't know, I feel like I'm living in a different world right now."

"Yeah, me too." Jack admitted. "Not a nice world."

"Yeah, not necessarily." The boy nodded, letting the glasses slip down on the nose. There was a beat of silence that wrapped them in a short hug, like an old friend that was going somewhere and had only a second to greet them. "But it is a world we have to live in."

Jack found out that he had often thought about moving back, about having a time-turner and being able to leap back in time, back a few hours ago to make everything simply stop. Those were small dreams he had, dreams he knew that could never come true, but still persistently thought about.

He knew he had to face the new reality. He just wasn't sure how and even though he knew what kind of first steps he should make, he found out he was scared of making them.

"Unfortunately."

"Do you… want me to go to North with you and help explain everything?"

Jack blinked and glanced at Hiccup.

There was persistence shimmering, blinking like stars in those orbs. It wasn't fully visible, no, more like it was covered by the clouds passing by. But it was there, shyly looking, checking, whether someone may need a helping hand.

Part of Jack wanted to say yes. Part of Jack wanted for Hiccup to make it all better. Part of Jack wanted to use Hiccup to do the work for him.

But in the end, he knew he couldn't and shouldn't do that.

That was partially his fault, the mess they had jumped into. He had been the catalyst to what had happened a few days ago. He had been the dam that had held everything inside, but had crashed and cracked, flooding everything that had been below it.

He couldn't push the things he had to do to other people's shoulders.

"No, I'm okay. I will do it. They deserve to hear it from me." Jack mumbled.

"Oh, okay." Hiccup whispered.

Jack let his hand slowly drop from Hiccup's shoulder. To be fair he didn't want to do it, it was warm and it filled him with some kind of comfort, some kind of mystical spell that made breathing a bit easier.

But he probably shouldn't do that.

(There still was the whole talk they needed to have, conversation that had to happen, but it didn't seem like either of them wanted to do it just yet. Not yet. Soon. Maybe. Perhaps. Just… not yet.)

But before he could fully retract his hand, Hiccup turned on the bench and grabbed it, clasping between both his hands.

Uh, what?

(It wasn't an unwelcome thing. No, no, totally on the contrary, quite welcome movement. Jack was just a tad surprised. Hiccup wasn't the one to strive for a personal contact. On the contrary, he was the one moving away from it, like a scared animal running away when someone wanted to get close.)

"Jack, is everything alright?" Hiccup asked, gripping his palm tighter.

In response he wanted to laugh, to let out a crooked snort, but stopped when Hiccup continued.

"I mean, I know you're not alright, you already said so. What I probably want to ask is… I don't know… I can see that this all is really taking a toll on you and I wish I could help you somehow, but I… I don't know exactly how." Hiccup said, speaking faster and faster with every word leaving his mouth, moving his fingers around Jack's own palm. "I mean, I can calculate the enthalpy of a reaction and I can create macros in Excel, but I doubt that would help you right now."

Jack let out a dry chuckle that scratched the inside of his throat, leaving an unpleasant feeling.

"I appreciate the concern, but… I don't know, I doubt you can help me much right now."

Jack doubted anyone could help him right now.

"I wish I could."

"Just knowing that you want and the fact that you're here is helping me greatly." Jack said, moving his finger a bit in the grip. "Really."

Hiccup didn't look convinced.

Jack wasn't alright. He knew that. He really did. He just wasn't sure what was wrong with him. Or maybe that was inaccurate. He more or less could understand why he felt how he felt, he just had problems with gripping it all, with understanding all these emotions that were swimming in his chest, were surging through his mind, were clutching his heart.

"It's just…" Jack started and licked the back of his teeth. "I feel like my whole world turned upside down. I feel like I don't know who I am anymore. Back then I was Frost, friend of everyone in the school. And now no one trusts me anymore. They look at me like I am a fraud… a… a liar. And I can't exactly blame them. I did lie to them, I deceived them all. And I don't know… I feel like I doesn't belong there, here, anywhere anymore." Jack huffed, suddenly feeling like the words which poured from his mouth were losing the real meaning. And even when he felt like that, he couldn't stop. He wasn't sure what was happening. "I was someone back then, someone with a role and now I don't know… I feel like someone ripped away that script from me and I'm not sure who I am anymore. And I know, I should start building a new me or something like that, because we are changing all the time." Then he inhaled deeply, feeling his heart drumming inside his ribcage, knocking loudly on his chest. "But I'm not sure whether I want to build myself on the remains of the old me I'm leaving behind. The bad old me everyone has in their heads. And I know I probably can't change it. I did lie to them in the end and they have the right to think about me like that. But I don't know…" He lifted his other hand and combed it through his locks. "I'm not sure where I'm going with this, I'm sorry."

Hiccup stared at him, blinked a few times, then hummed, nibbling on the bottom lip.

"I think I more or less understand where you are going with this."

"I'm glad at least one of us do." Jack said, sending him a wry smile.

"I know you're not happy with how people perceive you right now. To be honest, I can't blame you. No one probably wants to be dubbed as a liar."

Uh, that one hurt. But it was the truth.

"And I know you want to be friends with everyone, but in the end you can't please everyone."

"So I made everyone dislike me."

"Not everyone." Hiccup said, looking at him. "The important people stayed."

"Because they knew the truth."

"Not necessarily. North and Emma don't know and they still stayed."

"But they are my family!"

"Eris was too and she didn't stay."

Oh okay, that one hurt like a… very bad. Like okay, Jack wasn't sure he needed to hear it today, especially after what had happened.

(Or maybe he had to hear it right now.)

"Just because they are your family, they are not forced to stay with you." Hiccup continued.

His hands were trembling a little, still wrapped around Jack's palm. He had to be really stressed, nervous, to the point of his muscles seizing and releasing the energy.

It had to be taking a toll on him too.

"The point is… well… the people who really love you, will stay, whether they know the truth or not. Of course, telling them would be better, but they know you, Jack. They know you wouldn't do such things without having a higher reason. The people who know and love you will not leave you alone."

There was a shuddering breath leaving the lungs. Jack wasn't sure if he was the one to exhale or perhaps maybe it was coming from Hiccup's mouth.

"The same apply to your friends. Of course, there will be a few people who will clearly dislike you. But I'm sure there will also be several people who won't leave you because of that. Because they know you, the real you."

Jack rolled the bottom lip between his teeth, feeling his tongue getting dry.

"Jack?"

Hiccup's voice was quiet, yet sounded like a booming thunder between them. It seemed so small, yet it was roaring like a mighty lion. It felt like a speck, but brushed away by a storm.

Jack lifted his eyes to look up at Hiccup, who was staring back at him.

And there was something in his gaze – it was not pity, it was not sadness, it was not anything negative.

There was a small spark, a delicate touch of a candlelight, a shimmering star behind countless galaxies sparkling at him.

"I know you want everyone to like you, but you can't do that. You can't make everyone like you. This is not how life and world work." He gripped Jack's hand tighter. "So instead of focusing on the whole world I think it is far more important to focus on your own small world and the people who are really important to you."

Jack could understand what Hiccup was trying to imply. Of course, he did. He could see the light in the tunnel at which Hiccup was pointing.

But then, in the end, he couldn't make a first step. Like there were invisible hands creeping up his spine, holding his limbs and preventing him from moving forward.

"What if all people are important to me?"

"But are you important to them?"

Jack wished he was. He really did.

But that was probably not a reality. There was a difference between being important as a human being, as a living, breathing person, and as Jack. And he had no doubt that he was important to people as that – a person.

Yet maybe Hiccup was right. Maybe he wasn't important to them as Jack. Because, in the end, the Jackson Overland they all knew was fake. Maybe it had been just a costume he had put on to make everyone feel better, to make everyone smile.

(And maybe, just maybe, part of it wasn't that bad. If it had put smiles on people's faces, then Jack didn't regret it. But he couldn't live such life anymore. No, he didn't want to do that. He was too tired of pretending, of faking it all.)

Perhaps Jack should focus on a much smaller world. On his own world. And tried to build something new from the destroyed remains.

And then he found his mouth moving.

"Am I important to you?"

Hiccup's eyes widened.

Well, it was a weird question to ask right now, but somehow the images from the night a few days ago appeared in his head, the emotion Jack could clearly see in Hiccup's eyes back then, the feeling he wanted so hard to be directed at him, emotion so sweet, so pure, so delicate, yet stronger than anything he knew in his entire life.

(Maybe it was weird to say that love was stronger than anything else. But then, people could push through the darkest times of life thanks to love. It didn't matter whether it was love for someone else, for their family, for their pets, for their plants or for themselves.)

There was a smudge of crimson on Hiccup's cheeks, shimmering like a sunset on the horizon.

"Would I be here, if you weren't important to me?" He finally said, hinting on a joking tone, but there was a shiver, a tremble in his voice that sold him away.

Jack wanted to hold onto it for just a little bit longer.

"Not really."

"Then that should answer your question."

"You can never give me a straight answer, do you? I thought scientist should be straightforward." Jack said.

"Well, then you definitely didn't read some articles. We can… be pretty vague when we want to." Hiccup grinned at him sheepishly, slowly pulling his hands away. "Of course, with a higher reason behind it."

"Do you have a higher reason right now for not being specific?"

"Not really, I just like messing with you."

"You're not even a little bit kind to a person who is sad. Give me some slack." Jack huffed, letting his hand fall down onto his lap.

The feeling of Hiccup moving away should be sad. It had been sad in the past. So it was natural thinking that it should be a little bit disappointing right now too, especially as Jack's feelings didn't change at all.

And yet this time it didn't feel like the end, like Jack was chasing something he couldn't catch. It felt only like a small pause, a break, a farewell between people who would come back to hug once again.

Hiccup stared at him, looked right into his eyes, and then there was a spark of hesitation on his face, jumping between his eyelashes, swirling on the nose and running around the freckles.

And then he opened his mouth:

"Nope."

Jack expected something else, but then it was pretty typical of Hiccup to do something like that.

And it did put him at ease on some level. It felt like not everything in the world changed, like there were some parts of reality that still were the same as before, like the history wasn't fully erased from his mind.

"Harsh."

"Welcome to the life, pal." Hiccup said, raising his one eyebrow.

"Can I unsubscribe somewhere? I didn't agree to those terms and conditions!" Jack groaned, flopping further down on the bench, letting his body slip down like some kind of liquid.

Hiccup snorted.

"You wouldn't even read the terms and conditions."

Jack opened his mouth to retort back, but found out that he actually couldn't.

"Okay, maybe you're right."

"Ha, I knew it!" Hiccup shouted victoriously, pumping his fist in the air.

Jack fondly shook his head, feeling something in him untangling. It felt like a first ray of sunshine after a long rain, it felt like the first delicate and calm waves on the sea after a thundering storm, it felt like a first step on the safe land after a flood.

There was still a field of things that needed to be dealt with, list of consequences he needed to read through, but maybe… it was all going to turn out okay in the end. Not today, not tomorrow, not during this week, but one day, one day it was going to be alright.

Jack was going to hold onto that.

It wasn't going to be easy. He knew that. Staying hopeful was actually a terribly difficult task, tiring, exhausting. But even when there would be days when he wouldn't be positive, that was going to be okay too.

Jack would be okay one day.

"Are you afraid of tomorrow?" Jack suddenly asked.

Hiccup kicked a lone rock that was laying on the pavement and observed it rolling away. He wondered how high the friction was. Probably quite high. It was concrete in the end. The surface was uneven, with a lot of tiny holes. Now that he thought about it, he never really had seen a picture of a concrete surface under a microscope. Perhaps there were articles describing and showing –

"Hic?"

"Ah." Hiccup cursed internally. Yeah, Jack had asked a question. He deserved an answer. "Not really, to be fair. I mean, I feel like it will suck, but I'm… not overly scared?"

Jack hummed, glancing at him like he was a weird precipitate that appeared at the bottom of the flask.

"What?" Hiccup inquired, raising his eyebrow.

"Nothing, it's just… I thought that you would be more nervous about that. Being in the center of attention."

Well, perhaps he had said it a bit too mildly. There were particles of nervousness and stress curling beneath his skin when he thought about tomorrow. There were cracks of fear appearing on the surface of his mind, thin lines running along his whole soul.

To be honest, he was a little bit anxious about tomorrow.

But there was another feeling that was stronger than fear and stress.

And quite surprisingly, it was anger.

"Don't get me wrong, it's not like I don't worry about tomorrow." Hiccup finally murmured, letting the air leave his lungs in a low hiss. "But you can say I'm more pissed at the attention I will get tomorrow."

Jack stared at him, quite perplexed by Hiccup's answer.

He couldn't really blame him. Hiccup had problems with understanding himself too. And he was himself all his life.

"Well I suppose it is a little bit better than being too stressed."

Hiccup stared at him skeptically.

"What?" Jack asked, lifting his shoulders.

"Nothing." Hiccup finally answered.

Maybe there was some truth to what Jack had said. Maybe anger was just a bit, one small percent or maybe even less than a percent, better than being fully scared.

It didn't really make him feel better, but it did make him feel something, maybe like he had more control.

"Are you… going to be okay?" Jack asked, hesitantly, slowly, shyly, moving his one hand to his nape, but stopping it to let it float in the air, almost like no gravitational force was pulling it down.

Was Hiccup going to be alright? To be fair he wasn't sure.

But then, did he have any other option? Not really. He couldn't exactly run away from school. He had to finish it. He had to appear in classes. He had to give back books to the library. He had to attend his additional labs. He wanted to learn more there.

Plus, it wasn't like he talked with a lot of people in and from school. The amount of students he was friendly with could be calculated using the fingers of one hand. But then he didn't exactly need more.

He was fine in his own small world.

"Probably. The next few days will suck, but I'm sure everyone will stop staring at me every five seconds after some time."

People tended to forget. Some faster and some slower, but he was sure that no one would pay him any mind in the future. Maybe not so close future, but future nevertheless.

"Are you sure?"

"Jack." Hiccup huffed, feeling the tiny prickles of irritation nudging his arm. He was done being babied. He was tired of being taken care of. He was tired of being the one everyone had to look after. "I will be fine, really."

The teen didn't look convinced, but he didn't look like he wanted to argue either.

Good, Hiccup wasn't in a mood for arguments.

In just a few minutes they were in front of his house and Hiccup looked up at the light shining dimly above the front door. Weird. He didn't remember turning it on.

"So, I guess this is my stop." He said, looking back at his companion.

Jack smiled to him. There were still creases of tiredness and exhaustion forged in his forehead, in the corners of his lips, in his eyes. But if Hiccup could say it, it seemed that they were a teeny-tiny bit smaller than the ones from a few hours ago.

Hiccup was going to take pride in that.

Then there was silence. A weird, cacophonic silence. A dense silence. An uncomfortable silence. A silence that stuck to their skin like some kind of dust during a really hot, sweaty day. It stuck like some kind of really viscous polymer to the glass surface.

It simply was weird. Uncommon between them. Or at least uncommon during their last few months of friendship.

"Uh would it be…" Jack stared, looked at the ground, then back at him, then up above his head, only to stare back at him, moving one hand to comb it through the unruly hair. "… really weird to hug for goodbye right now?"

Hiccup blinked.

Indeed, it would be a bit peculiar to do so, especially right now. After their entire plan had been busted. They had no higher reason to do it anymore. There was no audience which could look at it. There was no reason for the audience to be here anymore.

And yet, maybe, there was another reason for doing it.

(Or maybe it was just Hiccup's imagination and hope hammering in his chest, in his mind, clenching his lungs.)

He lifted his head and stared at Jack's skittish eyes, trying to find some kind of confirmation, proof, evidence that what he was thinking was right, was close to the truth.

He inhaled shakily, feeling his fingers twitch.

"Uh I mean… I won't… I'm not… I don't think…" Gosh, why were words so difficult right now to articulate? "I just thought… Wait no… what I wanted to say was that…"

He was a mess. And he didn't need any machine calculations to know that. He didn't need elaborate program to tell him that his heart was going bazillion beats per minute. He didn't need to know the chemical composition of his hormones to know that he was stressed, but stressed in that kinda good way.

But how exactly could you tell someone that you want to get the hug because you simply like them? There were probably some words that could be used here. Normal words. But they all seemed to run away from his mind, skid down and jump into some far away land that was beyond his hands' reach.

So he was, quite clearly, a mess in the end.

(But maybe Jack got used to that.)

Maybe in the end words weren't needed?

He swallowed the air that felt like it got stuck inside his throat and then slowly nodded.

Jack looked a little bit sad after that, so Hiccup quickly replayed the last question Jack had asked him.

Apparently there were some situations where words were greatly needed.

"I mean, it's not a no. I mean, we did weirder things. Heck, we pretended to be together for almost a year, so you know… hugging as a goodbye would be classified as a not so weird thing we totally could do."

The gloomy look stayed in Jack's eyes for a moment.

"So is that a… yes?"

This time Hiccup could nod and it would be a good answer in this situation.

Jack smiled to him and for a moment it seemed like Hiccup was staring back at a burning star. He was blinded by it, he wanted to turn back, to close his eyes and stop the ache.

And yet he stayed, because the light was incredibly warm. It didn't burn his skin, but left a pleasant sensation, one of a loving touch that could make the heart shiver with anticipation.

And then, the warmness wasn't only a figment of his imagination, but a part of real life as Jack wrapped his hands around him.

There weren't any supernovas going off in his head, there weren't any explosions going on in his chest, there wasn't any sudden stillness of the world. The time moved, ticked by, walked forward.

And they stood there, sharing a small hug.

Hiccup felt, for a lack of a better word that could describe what he was actually feeling, really nice. Amazing even.

This one hug didn't magically fix everything in the world. It couldn't do that. It was just that, a hug, a small, short movement, a tiny slice of time filled with glued together bodies. It couldn't do amazing and astonishing things like fixing one's world. It was impossible.

But Hiccup did feel a little bit better.

"Hiccup?"

Hiccup jumped in the embrace and made a sudden, swift step back, only to turn around to the man standing in the doorway.

"Oh uh, hi dad, I was just about to come back in. I was…"

"We were just saying goodbyes, sir." Jack quickly helped. "Also, good evening."

Hiccup groaned internally. His dad knowing what he felt towards Jack was one thing, but actually seeing Hiccup hugging Jack was a totally different matter.

(Plus there was the problem of reciprocating the feelings.)

"Hello Jack to you too." Stoick calmly said.

But if Hiccup wasn't mistaken there was something mischievous hiding in that small smile his dad wore, which now was hiding behind the beard.

Oh my gosh, he hoped Stoick wasn't getting any ideas. It was bad that his friends were doing it. If his dad started it, then he could officially say that his life was cursed.

Hiccup felt his throat getting dry and he moved his one hand to grab the elbow of another. He wasn't sure what to do in this situation. There weren't any manuals that could describe step-by-step what exactly should be said and done right now.

"So, hope to see you soon?" Jack hesitantly asked.

Perhaps he was a tad nervous too.

Hiccup looked up at him and smiled.

"Yeah, see you around."

So it was probably a cue to turn around and come back into his house. He had to prepare for tomorrow anyway - wash himself, pack his books, check whether he finished all homework, ask Astrid if she was going to pick him up, turn on the alarm –

"Jack, wait!"

Hiccup lifted his head to stare at his father walking towards them.

There was hesitation in his movements, uncertainty that was not fitting this strong and big man.

(But in the end, Stoick was still a human and Hiccup had seen him in the worst and the best moments of their lives.)

"Yes… Mister Haddock?" Jack slowly turned around to face the man.

Hiccup stepped away.

Stoick lifted his hand, brushed his fingers together, opened his mouth, closed it and then shook his head a bit, like every word that had been preplanned suddenly skittered away, was pushed away from the warm confinement of the mind.

So in the end he put the hand on Jack's shoulder and looked right into his eyes.

To say that Jack was perturbed would be an understatement.

"I want to thank you for… helping my son." Stoick said.

Hiccup twitched. It was totally not what he expected. He didn't think his dad would be angry, but that… that wasn't planned either.

(Perhaps Hiccup should stop… planning everything. Well of course there were things he couldn't stop planning, it was a part of who he was, a part that was just him. But maybe some things were better left unplanned.)

"I uhh…" Jack started and then looked at Hiccup for some kind of help he couldn't exactly provide.

Hiccup wasn't sure what to do either.

"That is very nice of you to say that, mister Haddock. But I don't… I think I made more mess than helped…."

Stoick huffed at that, letting his shoulders rise, only to fall down in an exasperated sigh.

Something told Hiccup that his dad had been expecting to hear that kind of answer. But even though he knew what was coming it didn't make it any easier to continue.

"I admit, the plan you both made was… well not the best if I can say so." Stoick started, not moving his hand away, but opting to look up with his eyes, searching for specific words.

"However I'm still very much grateful that you helped Hiccup. So thank you."

"But I…" Jack started, but then opened and closed his mouth a few times, like the string of logic that wanted to escape got lost inside his lungs.

"I know you had your personal reasons too to prolong this… not so hefty plan. But it didn't start due to your personal reasons. It started because you have a good heart, Jack."

"Uh…" Jack eloquently murmured.

Hiccup smiled under his nose.

"So thank you for that. And thank you for taking care of Hiccup. You helped him a lot."

"It… really was nothing." Jack slowly said, looking up at Stoick with a hesitant smile on his lips.

He looked weirdly out of place, being grasped by the tall man and being thanked for things he had done. Which was a weird thing. Hiccup was sure that Jack had helped a lot of people in his life, it seemed like he felt that he was made only for this. But now, when someone was thanking him for that, he didn't know how to act.

And it somehow pained Hiccup inside. It didn't seem fair. It seemed like Jack deserved more than that. More than people turning his back on him, more than people whispering behind his back, more than people glaring at him.

He deserved so much more.

And yet Hiccup could give him nothing.

"It wasn't nothing for us." Stoick slowly said, smiling to the boy.

Jack's eyes sparkled with mirth, delicate happiness that seemed incredibly timid, but curiously peeking behind the trees of the forest at the whole wide world.

"Well, in that case… glad to be of any help, mister Haddock." Jack said, having some of the usual strength back in his voice.

And then there was a beat, a sudden stillness, a small slice of time cut out especially for this moment.

Moment when Jack glanced at Hiccup, looked right at him and his smile grew a tad bit more.

"But I think… Hiccup helped me as much as I helped him." He slowly said, staring at him with a kind spark in his eyes.

And Hiccup felt… he wasn't sure how to describe exactly what he was feeling. Of course there was some embarrassment inside his lungs, jumping around, leaping playfully, because he had to admit, as sweet as the situation was, it was also a little bit embarrassing.

But it was only a small part of it all.

Mostly he felt happy, accomplished, like someone lit something in his chest, a small fire that was crackling happily beneath his skin. Like someone wrapped his heart in a blanket, comforting, safe.

He couldn't stop himself, so he grinned in return.

Jack turned back to Stoick, who gripped his shoulder a bit tighter, judging by the twitching muscles in his arm.

Hiccup only hoped that it wasn't too tight. But perhaps this was what Jack needed right now.

"Still thank you."

And then there was another brief silence, before Stoick moved and wrapped Jack in a short hug.

Jack's eyes widened as he stood there, being embraced by the man. It seemed like he wasn't sure what to do. His eyes were staring forward, but then they softened, when some kind of painful thought moved through them.

Or maybe it wasn't pain.

Maybe it was longing that Hiccup could see there. A sudden miss the exploded behind the shimmering orbs. Nostalgia that could disintegrate the bones like hydrofluoric acid*, messing with all the insides.

Jack didn't exactly have time to react, because Stoick was already moving away. And if Hiccup wasn't mistaken, there was a pinkish hue to his cheeks, hidden behind the bushy beard and the smile that still graced his lips.

(Hiccup couldn't remember the last time his dad had smiled so much. It wasn't a full blown grin people wear when they have the best day of their life, but it was a delicate smile, one that appears when something nice is waving at you on the horizon.)

Jack stared at Stoick a little bit dazed, probably still trying to understand what exactly had happened a few seconds ago.

"You're a good man, Jack." Stoick said and then finally let his hand drop, making a small step back.

The teen shook his head a bit, probably to clear it.

"Thank you, mister Haddock, that means… a lot to me, especially coming from you." Jack said. "But in all honesty, I should be going. Sorry for keeping Hiccup out for so long, especially as tomorrow is school day."

Oh yeah, Hiccup almost forgot about it. It was pretty late outside, with the sky already covered with uncountable amount of glimmering stars.

"Something tells me that Hiccup didn't mind."

"Dad." Hiccup groaned, feeling the heat moving to his cheeks, raising like a steam during the distillation when the temperature was moving towards the boiling point.

"What? I'm just telling that you didn't mind spending time with your friend, right?" Stoick looked at him and raised his eyebrow.

Hiccup would almost believe his dad meant only that, but the impish, a little bit mischievous glint in his eyes sold him out.

Hiccup had heard Gobber's stories. They hadn't been the nicest and calmest of kids back when they were their age, so Hiccup assumed some of the spirit stayed in the bones and mind.

He sighed in the end.

"Do you want me to drive you home, Jack?" Stoick asked, looking back at the boy.

"No, I'm fine. I can manage on my own. I don't have to wake up early tomorrow anyway."

Hiccup huffed.

"Okay then."

"Good night, mister Haddock. Bye Hiccup!"

"Bye!"

And with that Jack turned on his heel and walked towards his own home, leaving both Stoick and Hiccup standing in the driveway, kinda awkwardly.

Then Stoick clasped his hands together and looked at him.

"You know, Jack is a nice boy –"

"Dad, no, stop."

"Okay. Just saying."

Hiccup groaned.

"Is it a terrible moment to ask you for a slice of your time?"

"Jack, it's… almost midnight?"

"Is that a 'no'?"

North sighed, but looked at him with fondness hiding in those tired eyes.

"Of course not, Jack."

Jack smiled at him.

North put away his phone on which he was reading something and then looked expectantly at him.

Jack inhaled deeply and moved towards the living room. Then there was a short beat inside his skull, a sudden alarm, not terribly loud, but nagging, going on somewhere inside his head.

"Wait, is Emma asleep?"

"Am I what?"

There she was, standing on the stairs and looking at them with one cocked eyebrow.

North looked at her.

"Emma, you were supposed to go to sleep." He scolded her gently.

Emma looked at him.

"I was… thirsty?" She lamely said, not even putting a little bit of effort into this lie.

Because they all knew it was a lie. Quite blatant one.

Jack huffed. Well, to be fair he had a feeling Emma could be lurking nearby in case something like this would happen.

"Perfect timing then. Come, sit down. I need to tell you guys something."

"What about school?" Emma curiously asked, looking at him.

"Well… being tired for one day won't hurt you. It's not like you're not skipping sleep during other days to play games."

"Touché." Emma mumbled, but then moved slowly towards the living room, dragging the bottom of her pajamas on the floor.

(She would grow into them at some point. Or at least this was what they had told her six months ago, when they had bought them, but apparently height was not on her side.)

She flopped next to North, put both legs on the couch and wrapped her hands around them, swaying back and forth.

Jack moved to the other free chair and sat down, feeling the exhaustion of the last few days seep into his muscles and bones. Even though he had slept quite a lot, he still felt exhausted.

But he wanted to tell them and he was afraid that if he waited more, he would lose this string of strength that hung around his body.

To be absolutely honest, Hiccup's dad had helped a lot.

(There had been something in his short, yet warm embrace that just had broken some dam inside his chest, inside his heart. It had put together all the small pieces of strength that had floated in his lungs. It had been like a sudden water engulfing his body, surprising and scary at first, but then slowly calming him down. It had been like a first touch of wind in the morning after coming out from under the quilt, chilly at the beginning, only to turn into something warm.

It simply had felt nice. And had made him want to have something similar in his own house.)

"So, what did you want to talk about, Jack?" North asked, looking at him.

Oh yeah, the truth. He should be talking about that. This was why he gathered them all here, at this quite late hour, in their own living room. To tell them what exactly had been happening in his life during the last few months.

"Is it about you and Hiccup fake-dating?" Emma suddenly asked.

Jack sighed, feeling an echo shimmering behind his eyelids. Leaving it for Emma to cut straight to the main topic while being as less subtle as it was possible.

And perhaps Jack needed exactly that. A harsh push forward.

He nodded.

"Yeah, it's uh about that."

North looked perplexed.

"The what?" He slowly asked, looking at Jack then at Emma.

The girl shrugged, making the pajamas slip from her shoulders. She quickly moved them higher so they would rest peacefully there.

"Oh you know, one of the hottest topics in Jack's school. At least hottest on social media."

Jack groaned. Yep, he had tried to not check all of his social medias pages, but he assumed it would spread around like a disease.

Maybe if he hadn't been so popular, it wouldn't have come to this. Maybe if he hadn't tried to be everyone's friend, it wouldn't turn out like this. Life was full of those maybes, the ones that in the end meant nothing to the present. They were just possibilities that had been buried in the sad, impossible to take back.

Jack shouldn't think about maybes anymore. At least, not that kind of maybes which concerned his past.

"Well, if it matters, a lot of people also doesn't care about it. And well… some are quite supportive." Emma continued, letting her voice drop slightly near the end.

So it meant that she had read everything that was written there about him. No wonder she wanted answers from the prime source right now. Jack couldn't blame her. He never could.

What had she been thinking while she had read those posts, those comments, those assumptions? Had she been pissed at them? Had she been angry at Jack for hiding it from them? Had she been furious with what had been happening without her knowledge?

Wait, what had she said?

"Supportive?" Jack parroted, looking at her.

Emma curled in on herself a little bit, looking weirdly abashed.

"Uh, I mean, I don't know the whole story, but a lot of people defended you and Hiccup? They were writing that you had to have your reasons for doing something like that?"

Yes, reasons, reasons behind the acts were quite important. They could change the point of view, they could give insight into what was going on behind the closed door.

(And a lot can happen behind closed door.)

"Yeah, uh, that is… actually nice to hear." Jack slowly said.

"I feel like we're getting off the track right now. Or is it just me?" North hesitantly asked, with eyes jumping between them.

Maybe they weren't exactly skidding off track, but their dad was definitely left out of the loop.

Jack stared at his dad, at the clueless look he had in his eyes, and his chest heaved terribly, pushed around by a strong gust of wind like a thin tree in the middle of the field filled with poppies.

"Not really necessary off the track, but well…" Emma started, licking her lips. "But it's hard to know whether we're on the right road if we don't know the departure station."

Jack was quite bewildered at the words Emma was saying.

"Em, is everything alright?"

"What?"

"You just sounded so… unlike Emma."

The girl rolled her eyes, but there was a pinkish smudge on her cheeks, which was quickly covered when a few of her strands moved down and shielded half of the face. Or maybe she did it intentionally to hide it.

"Oh shut up and will you just start? You're stalling!"

Perhaps he was. Even though the need and want were still there, it wasn't so easy to let the words out, keep them out of the confinement of his preciously sealed chest.

It was like a chest with too much put inside of it. It was impossible to pick out one specific thing.

But he had to try. Somehow.

(Hiccup was right. He was right about a lot of things. The people to whom he was important mattered right now, not all the other ones. They were important too, but they weren't the closest ones to his heart.)

"Okay, so well… it all started… I think nine months ago?"

And from then the story simply flowed like a river. There were a few slips here and there, logs blocking the movement of the water, rocks partying the ways of the stream, sudden waterfalls making the whole story drop down, only to crash into another pool of water, but it was moving. Clunky at some parts and freely at the others.

North and Emma listened, his dad intently and quiet through the whole story and his sister couldn't stop herself from butting in from time to time with a snarky comment.

Describing what happened during the prom night was probably the hardest part, mostly because he wasn't sure what he could say. His mind and heart still were dealing with the memories of that night. They were like fresh wounds on his back and he wasn't sure how he could treat them when he couldn't exactly reach them.

(He probably would need some help.)

"And well… I would say that you know the rest, but… the rest is now, so… yeah." Jack lamely finished, feeling the tension in his body curling in the muscles of his hands.

It was incredibly hard not to move his hands to his nape, scratch the place and leave red marks all over the skin. The temptation was strong, but he couldn't allow it to win. Not right now. He might leave a scar that wouldn't heal so easily.

The silence rang between them, similar to the quietness of the forest during the late evening, one turning slowly into a night, covered by a thin layer of fog curling around the trees.

Uncomfortable silence. Broken, of course, by Emma.

"Well… for me that explains a lot." She said, moving her legs down onto the ground. "This was what I needed to hear, so if you excuse me, I need to catch some sleep. Someone has to look presentable tomorrow and I can't count on Jack anymore."

"Hey!"

Emma stuck out her tongue at him as she rose from the couch.

"Well I'm just speaking the truth, so deal with it." She added and then stretched her hands above her shoulders.

"Good night, Emma." North quietly said.

"Nighty night."

And with that she moved towards the corridor and then stairs that would take her to her room.

It was nice to know that even after telling her the whole story, Emma didn't change even a bit her behavior towards him. She was still his annoying, but incredibly sweet little sister.

(It was amazing to know that he had this stability in his life.)

But North was unusually quiet. Alarmingly so. Jack didn't like that, but he couldn't exactly blame him. Jack had dropped quite a heavy load onto his shoulders.

Some things needed time to be fully processed. Even when he would want to have everything done in an instant.

Jack clasped his hands together.

The man sighed heavily and then brushed his face with his hand, looking incredibly tired and exhausted in this very moment.

Jack didn't like that look, but he couldn't blame the man. Perhaps it was a little bit childish of him to hope that North would react like Emma or Stoick. Some part of him had expected that, had almost believed that it would happen.

But reality was quite different. And it was a reality Jack would deal with. He had to. He wanted to, even though his hands already hurt from climbing the tall mountain on his road.

"Jack, this is… a lot to take in." North finally said, looking at him with wrinkles covering his whole face.

In this very moment, he finally looked as old as he actually was. Usually the smile that adorned his face was taking a few years from his façade, from his heart and chest. But here was a man, incredibly tired, with a lot of burden put upon his shoulders, without a smile that he usually graced people with.

"I know. I don't… expect you to do it in this very moment." Especially at this hour, his mind added, but Jack didn't add more.

Although he couldn't deny that his heart dropped a little at his dad's behavior.

(Nevertheless he felt a little bit better. Not amazingly so. But it felt like a delicate touch of the grass beneath the hand after laying down on the ground.)

"I may need some time." North said, slowly, quietly, looking at him.

"I understand." Jack nodded.

Because he really did.

So he stood up and brushed his jeans. His legs felt like they were made of jelly and to be fair he wasn't sure how he managed to keep himself upright.

"Well, I need to get some sleep too."

His hands were covered with sweat, so he brushed them on the jeans and only then moved towards the stairs.

Jack was in the middle of the corridor when there was a voice from the living room.

"Jack?"

"Yeah?" He asked, turning around.

North looked right into his eyes and whispered a soft:

"Thank you for telling us."

It wasn't much. It wasn't what he expected. It wasn't even close to being okay.

But it was something. And Jack was still happy about it.

So he smiled in return and went back to his room.

"Are you ready for the end of the world?"

"Astrid, it's just… Monday?"

"Yeah, but not any Monday!" The girl chirped.

Hiccup sighed heavily, letting one strap of his backpack slip from his shoulder. He quickly grabbed it and corrected the hold he had on it.

"Sometimes I'm really wondering if you even want to cheer me up." Hiccup finally huffed, looking at his companion.

Astrid shrugged at him, still with that devilish smile on her lips.

"I mean… sometimes I do. But you know, just sometimes."

"And now is not one of those times?" Hiccup hopefully asked.

Only for his hopes to be crushed down, by Astrid's simple:

"Nope."

She even popped loudly the last letter. What a woman!

What else could Hiccup do, but drop his shoulders?

Astrid was a ruthless girl when she wanted to, but she didn't mean anything bad by it. Mostly. From time to time.

(Or maybe she wanted to defuse the moment, show Hiccup that above all that had changed, there were a few things that couldn't be so easily broken. And their friendship was one of them.)

"Gee thanks." Hiccup mumbled under his breath.

Astrid punched lightly his shoulders, showing him a smile.

So they went to the school, arm in arm, talking about the last week, but not only about that. About important and not stuff. It was nice to have this small slice of stability and calmness before the gates of school would welcome them both back.

And Hiccup was not looking forward to it.

He could ignore a lot of stuff, but it didn't mean it was easy. Nor that he wanted to. But probably getting it over with was the best option right now. This way the day would be over soon and he could forget about it, at some point of his life that was.

"I can see I'm not the only one who wanted to cheer you up before the Doomsday." Astrid suddenly said, leaning closer to his ear.

"Astrid, again, it's just Monday and what the heck are you babbling…"

Hiccup looked up and bit his tongue as he stared at Jack, leisurely leaning on the lamp in the middle of the pavement.

What was he doing here? At this hour?

Hiccup quickly tried to remember the conversation they had had yesterday. No, nowhere in it, it had been mentioned that they were supposed to meet today, here, at this specific time. Even the time wasn't specific. It was all odd numbers. What was happening?

But wait, if they hadn't agreed to meet today, then it meant that Jack had had to wake up early and come here all on his own. Without any previous mentions, without any force added to it by someone else.

Why did he do it?

"Hey, Jack!" Astrid happily said, shouted even as they got closer to the teen.

Jack moved his head up and smiled at them.

"Hi!"

Hiccup lamely waved his hand, trying to understand what Jack could exactly need at this time of the day and at the very beginning of the week.

(He had to need something if he himself had woken up early to get here. Maybe something had happened? Maybe someone was in danger? Had he called Hiccup beforehand to tell him that they needed to talk right here, right now? Had Hiccup checked his phone before going out? Was there a message from Jack waiting to be read with many important information?)

Jack looked at him and Hiccup wasn't sure how to answer.

Astrid glanced between them, first looking at Hiccup with questioning look, to which he could only answer with a shrug of his shoulders, only to glance at Jack who smiled at her sheepishly.

"Should I… leave you two alone?"

Jack quickly waved his hands.

"No, no, totally no. I just though it may be fun to walk you two to school."

It totally didn't sound like full truth was spoken here.

"Well then, lead the way!" Astrid followed, smiling to them.

And so Jack walked with them, slotting into a space next to Hiccup.

For the rest of the trip, it was unsurprisingly Astrid and Jack doing most of the talking. Hiccup didn't mind. He actually liked to listen to them talk. It was weirdly uplifting, how naturally they could bicker, how nicely the conversation was weaving itself, forming something delicate, yet soft, filled with fondness of friendship.

(Hiccup never really thought whether Astrid and Jack were friends. He knew she had had to spend time with Jack because of Hiccup, but what about the time before all of that had happened? Had they been spending time together, talking leisurely about everything and nothing? Hiccup didn't know. He knew they had talked at some point, because there had been this aura of familiarity whenever Astrid had mentioned Frost before, but he wasn't sure how far this acquaintance had been going.

Hiccup liked to think that he helped with developing their friendship. Maybe it was a bit selfish, but he did hope that he helped even a little bit.)

So he listened to their stories, their opinions, their bickers with names thrown left and right, and smiled under his nose.

And too soon, they were already in front of the gates, where stream of students was stepping onto the school grounds.

"Well it seems we have arrived at hell's gate."

"Seriously what is with you and all those ominous things you've been saying today?" It felt like the very first thing Hiccup said in almost last twenty minutes. Maybe it was.

"I'm just setting the mood for today." Astrid said, showing her teeth in a wild smile.

Perhaps, she was having a little bit too much fun out of her friends' misery. But this was who Astrid was.

"You must admit, she is pretty good at it." Jack said, putting his hands in the pockets.

"Don't take her side, Jack. You were supposed to destroy the Sith, not join them." Hiccup quickly huffed.

Jack stared at him and burst in laughter, bending his body as the familiar sounds racked his body.

Astrid snorted too.

"Well, thanks to you I finally know what Hiccup is thinking about me."

"Astrid, I–" Hiccup started, suddenly feeling a pang of fear hitting his chest, before the girl stopped him.

"No, no, don't worry Hiccup. I definitely don't mind it."

Maybe there was some evil in her in the end. Hiccup was amazingly glad he was on her good side. Or at least he hoped it was the good side.

The girl then glanced at Jack and for a moment Hiccup had a feeling that there was an entire conversation happening during this one glance. But that was impossible. There couldn't be a thousand words spoken in just one look. Scientifically it was impossible.

It just… felt like Astrid immediately understood something, even without the waves of words moving through the air towards her ears.

"I still need to talk with the coach about something, so I'll be going." She said, darting her head up and looking at them. "See ya in class, Hiccup. Bye Jack!" And with that she turned on her heel and walked towards the gate, greeting a few people on her way.

Hiccup somehow felt that it wasn't entirely true.

He lamely looked around, noticing that some people glanced at them as they passed them by. So it began. Oh boy, Hiccup was so not looking forward to it. But it was just one day, he can live through it, somehow. He had to.

He just wanted to have it behind him.

"So what is the reason behind you meeting us before school?" He inquired, hoping that his voice sounded normal, but somehow he felt that it was far beyond that.

Today probably would be full of those close, but not quite yet. One of those days.

Jack stared at him and then smiled.

"Can't I simply walk a friend to school?" He asked back.

Hiccup sighed, feeling an echo of a headache thrumming somewhere at the back of his skull, like a buzzing of an ultrasound bath going on.

"Of course you can. But may I add that you never wake up early without a reason." Hiccup pointed out, raising his one eyebrow.

Jack opened his mouth, puffing out his chest to fight back, pounce and attack, defending his territory. But it was only a sparse second, a moment, a spark, a blink and then his shoulders dropped, defused, like they lost all the air they had had a second before.

"Well, okay, perhaps you're right." He finally admitted, looking down. Only to raise his head higher after a second, letting the spark, the flame back into his eyes. "But well, when you look at it from my point of view, perhaps my body was so used to waking up early during the week that perhaps it woke up on its own?"

Hiccup stared at Jack, a little bewildered.

"That is a very valid point, my dear friend." He finally said, resting his one elbow on another hand and holding his chin, looking up at the sky. "I must agree that it is a possibility."

Jack smiled victoriously at him and he was a second away from pumping his hand in the air, before Hiccup decided that he wasn't going to give up the fight so quickly.

"Although it is very hard to believe such thing, because I have hard proofs that during the winter holidays you slept till noon, even during the week days."

"You do?" Jack hesitantly asked.

Hiccup smirked.

"I do. If you want I can find the messages I sent you in the morning and the ones you sent back after noon, telling me that you weren't going to wake up before eleven am when there was no school."

Jack gaped at him, with mouth partially open and gaze lost.

Hiccup felt that he could count it as a win.

There was a beat of silence, before the teen slumped, huffing loudly and closing his eyes in defeat.

"Okay, you win this round."

"I always win." Hiccup happily said, swinging back and forth on his heels.

Jack glanced at him skeptically.

Okay, perhaps not always, but he had won most of the fights they had between them. What could he say, he had spent his entire life proofing theories in science, if not as homework exercises then for additional labs. He felt quite confident in his abilities in this field.

Although he had to admit that Jack always had fought bravely. Perhaps because of it, it was always so fun to bicker like that.

However Hiccup wasn't going to be deceived and pushed off the track.

"But you still didn't answer my question."

"I didn't?"

"You totally didn't." Hiccup said, staring at him.

As nice as it was, standing here and talking, forgetting for a moment about school that was about to swallow him whole, he actually should start moving. Unless he wanted to be late.

And he had first class with Pitch. So being late for his class was like a death sentence and Hiccup knew that even though his life wasn't the best, he still liked it. Plus there was another season of one of his favorite series coming out in a month and he had to watch it.

Jack looked at him, huffed, lifted his hand, only to let it lay at the back of his head, ruffling the hair.

"I don't know, I thought I would… cheer you up by coming?" He said, unsurely.

There was a delicate hint to the cheeks. Like manganese at second state of oxidation. Quite nice color. Hiccup liked it. It made him feel weirdly special, precious even. Though he couldn't understand the reasons behind such thinking. There wasn't anything special in Hiccup per se. He was just a normal human being, not easy to be distinguished from the crowd by anything. Another bland shadow in the never ending stream.

And yet, the way Jack looked at him made him glow. He felt like he was vibrating, like every atom inside his body was excited, was shivering and rotating and twitching and moving and he was so, so warm.

It was amazing.

"But I can see that… I kinda failed."

Hiccup closed his eyes and sighed, trying to control the swirl of emotions inside his chest, which drummed heavily against the walls.

"No, you did help." He admitted quietly.

It wasn't much, but the stress he had been feeling since the morning diminished, turned into something resembling a hue on the glass surface.

Jack hadn't done much. Hiccup couldn't exactly pinpoint why he felt better. Perhaps there wasn't anything specific. Maybe it was just Jack's presence – a calming sea touching the feet standing on the sand. Maybe it was the knowledge that Jack tried to help, that he did something he usually wouldn't do to help Hiccup in whatever way he could.

"I did?" Jack asked, not really believing it.

Hiccup nodded.

Then there was a sound of the bell and both of them jumped.

"Oh uh that is perhaps my cue."

"Yeah sorry for keeping you waiting, I didn't want to make you late."

Hiccup probably would be a minute late. Maybe less, if he ran through the school. Of course, only if he didn't fall down, but with his leg it was quite often a possibility.

(Or maybe it was because Hiccup was Hiccup and not because of his leg.)

Hiccup stared at him, lifted the corners of his mouth in a smile and then waved his hand, only to turn around on a heel and run towards the gate.

But there was something missing. There was a gap inside his mind, inside his chest, inside his heart that he wasn't exactly sure how to fill. He felt like he should be doing something else. Or maybe not totally something else, but something more than a simple wave. He felt it like an echo in the back of his skull, a song he had heard as a kid and couldn't exactly remember the lyrics right now.

Hiccup glanced back before he passed the gate and noticed that Jack didn't exactly move far away from him.

He even turned back to him, almost like he sensed Hiccup doing the same and they stared at each other for a moment, a short slice of time of intertwined fates, threads tangled together.

Then Jack smiled and waved at him.

Hiccup did it back one more time.

The upcoming days before the graduation were a peculiar thing. For first Jack had imagined them totally different. It was the first lick of freedom after finishing – not yet – High School and he definitely expected more from them.

Back a few months ago he had thought he would spent time surrounded by mass of people, going from party to party, perhaps even getting dead drunk every second day, then healing, only to repeat the circle.

He had thought it would be time filled with smiles and never-ending fun, cheers for the upcoming adulthood they were so totally not prepared for.

Jack had imagined it would be totally different.

And instead, he spent the time mostly in the garden, taking care of his plants and additional vegetables and fruits. He watered them, plucked out the weeds, got rid of infected leaves and replanted the flowers.

He couldn't say that he was totally happy with that. He liked working in the garden, he really did. There was something sweet in not having to worry about homework, allowing his fingers to move through the soil that breathed to him. It was calming in some aspects. But there were also parts of Jack that couldn't be simply healed with a job well done.

Perhaps he tried to get his mind off things.

Galadriel and Thorin had lost all their flowers and now were covered with hundreds of lush green leaves which danced with the wind taking their hands and swirling them around.

Jack still talked to them. Scratch that. He talked to most of his plants, but he hated to admit that there was a special connection between him and the two lilac trees sitting in his garden. He couldn't fully explain it – or perhaps he could and he was too afraid to do so.

"Mary* asked me to come to her party this Thursday." He said to them as he brushed a leaf between his fingers. "But I don't think I'll be going. I don't think she is planning anything good."

They never had been good friends and Jack doubted it changed right now.

It wasn't like all of the people suddenly stopped asking him to hang out. Some of them still did.

For example he had agreed to meet with his teammates today for a small impromptu match and to be honest he was afraid as hell of going. But he couldn't simply lock himself in his room and stop contacting other people.

It wouldn't fix a thing.

(And part of him felt that by doing so Jack would be running away, that he would show that he was ashamed of what he had done. And he had felt bad about lying, about deceiving people. But he wasn't ashamed of trying to help Hiccup, trying to help himself.)

Jack sighed.

"I'm kinda afraid of meeting them." Jack admitted to the lilac trees, like they could follow up with his way of thinking, read every thought inside his mind.

They couldn't, but it didn't matter.

It was Aster and Hiccup who had persuaded him to go, because at first Jack hadn't wanted to go. Or well, that was wrong, he had wanted to go, but he had been afraid of going.

(It was Aster who simply had added the last grain to the scale, saying that it may be the last time they all could play together. And Jack unfortunately had had to agree with his friend.)

So he had made plans and now was feeling the nervousness playing a tune inside his body, drumming on his stomach and pulling his nerves like strings.

"I know I shouldn't be." Jack continued, like Thorin had answered him.

He hadn't done that.

Or maybe he had done that, only in his own way. He had moved the leaves in a quiet whisper, helped by the wind that had brushed past them, like a worker trying to catch the last train home.

"It's just… I don't know. Weird probably." Which explained a lot and nothing, both in the same time.

Jack inhaled deeply the crispy air of the garden.

"At least the situation in school is not that terrible. At least from what Hiccup is telling me."

The fact that Jack's grade wasn't there anymore probably helped. He had been the most connected with the people with whom he had spent the whole four years there. Of course he was friends with other people too, however it was a different type of relationship.

But he was happy for Hiccup. It seemed that the situation wasn't so bad, that people slowly, but surely stopped giving him the stink eye. Next year it would probably be even forgotten, maybe only spoken between people with alcohol induced minds during late parties.

Everything was moving, changing, slowly, but surely being covered by a thin layer of dust pushed around by the time.

"I think North is still mad at me. I can't blame him." Jack jumped to another topic.

He didn't feel like he needed to keep onto the string of logic with them. Thorin and Galadriel were simply like that. He could jump, leap from one topic to another and they were okay with that. He had told them many stories about himself and his friends to this point that he was almost sure they knew more about him than he himself did.

He and North talked normally, informed each other about plans for today, told stories of yesterday and made complicated threads of tomorrow, but there was something straining in it. Like both of them tried to sound normal and yet couldn't.

It hurt Jack. He wished that the situation could be as easily untangled as it had been between Stoick and Hiccup.

(To be fair, he kinda selfishly had thought that Stoick would have more problems with accepting their lie than North. Apparently reality had been surprising. Jack was happy for Hiccup, he really was. He just wished he had the same thing.)

But perhaps something was missing, some important clue was out of the equation, one which could make it all work. He felt like there should be more words exchanged between them, something that should be said out loud by him and yet still was being kept inside his chest.

He had a vague feeling what it was. No, he was sure what it was. Something that he should have said long time ago. Something that perhaps wouldn't fix everything or anything at all, but something that shouldn't be hidden anymore.

He had dated people before. Every relationship had ended, not in a disaster, but with an agreement. Those were memories he treasured, even though he knew they had ended long time ago. He had liked those people, the feelings back then had been real, so real that Jack could still feel the tingling sensation of a smile on his lips.

But now he felt a bit different. Now he felt more.

It was a tad diverse from the emotions he had felt before. It didn't make the feelings before any less real, they had been, but Jack could say that he never had fallen so hard.

He was afraid to give this feeling a label, he was afraid of what it would do to him, to his heart, to his chest.

The scenes from the prom were replaying themselves in front of his eyes – the delicious elation that had drummed in his chest, had shivered beneath his skin, had trembled in his skull. He remembered well the emotions, hope, need that had been like another soul inside his body, separate, yet mended together. Perhaps that had been just another him, one that had been showing him what could be true, if only he could find a little bit of strength inside his body.

The problem was that he had used almost every particle of strength inside his body and he felt exhausted. He wasn't sure if he could drew anything more from the lake inside his mind. It was dry and needed some blissful rain to be filled up once again.

Yet the 'what ifs' floated inside his head, like persistent pixies, tugging his hair and gluing his eyelashes together.

Perhaps they were only trying to help.

He had promised Hiccup that they would talk, but it looked like neither he nor Hiccup planned to do that just yet.

(Did Hiccup forget about it? It was a possibility. He had been intoxicated during that night, so had been Jack. Was it possible that it had been only a figment of his alcohol infused mind? No, it couldn't be true. He could still feel Hiccup's hot breath brushing his lips as he had been so close, and yet not near enough. He could still sense the grip the boy had had on him, the sudden tenderness, yet sweet anticipation that had thrummed between them. No, it couldn't not be real. It had been.

But did it mean that Hiccup couldn't remember it? Was it brushed away with the rest of painful memories from that night? It was a possibility, of course it was. And for some time Jack really had believed it.

He had replayed the night a hundred times in his head, during the late nights where he still had laid awake in his bed, staring at the swirling snowflakes, pushed around by the wind sneaking through tilted window. Mirth, hesitancy, need, embarrassment, joy and so much more had jumped between them like electricity. Jack couldn't name it all, couldn't find the proper words to describe what he had been feeling back then. But maybe it wasn't needed.

He just felt like there was something more to it.

And he often trusted his gut feelings.

If only he could find the strength to do something about it.

If life could be as easy as in some books, Hiccup would be enamored. Or perhaps this wasn't what he meant. If every problem could be solved in the span of time it took him to read the book, he would be happy.

Life, unfortunately, didn't work that day.

He wished it did, but he knew he couldn't change the fact.

Hiccup knew that the best remedy for many things was time. He was a patient person. He wasn't in a rush. He knew how important time was during chemical reactions. Too fast and the yield would be too small, too long and unwanted chemicals would appear as the equilibrium would be tilted in another direction.

He knew the importance of time.

It didn't make it any easier to simply wait for something to happen. Or maybe he wasn't waiting for something to happen, but was only giving some people time to think everything through.

He guessed he should be happy with how the situation unfolded. Not the best, but not the worst. It could be even called stable. He definitely had expected something worse and he was almost nicely surprised.

Only he wasn't fully. There was a gaping hole inside his chest and he wasn't sure how to fix it. He didn't know if he was able to do it on his own.

Hiccup didn't have many friends and he treasured greatly the ones he had. He knew that they had their disadvantages, he knew they weren't perfect, no one really was. But he loved them nevertheless.

He loved them even now.

And because his small circle of friends was well… miniature, he felt the loss of even one person like a hard punch to his stomach. So losing three people was like a sudden blow to his chest that made him kneel in pain.

Just inside his mind.

It wasn't like Hiccup talked with them every day. No, he wasn't the type to message everyone every day. He talked almost daily with Astrid, because he went to school with her, but even during holidays they weren't talking nonstop.

But still, when the choice to message them was ripped away from his hands, by himself may be add, he felt empty.

He wanted to reconcile, but Hiccup wasn't sure how. At this point he wasn't sure if not telling them the truth had been the best idea at all. He still understood his motives. The twins and Snotlout, even though they were good friends, were pretty… shitty at keeping secrets. It felt that whenever he had told them something in private, half of the Burgess had known about it in the span of week. They weren't doing it intentionally, it was just the way they were, pretty open with anyone they met.

At the beginning Hiccup had been mad, then had understood it and in the end had stopped sharing the deepest secrets with them. But it didn't make them less than close friends to him.

Perhaps if he had explained the situation, had asked them not to tell the rest of the world about the plan, perhaps then it would have worked. Although there was a dark voice inside Hiccup's head which told him that in the end only one slip was needed for it all to crash down, one small sip of a beer or drink and then everyone would know.

Perhaps it would have changed the outcome. Or perhaps it would have made everything way worse.

Now Hiccup couldn't cry over spilled milk. It was already done. Whether he had made a mistake by not telling them would probably forever be on his conscience.

But he couldn't deny that he missed them, greatly and dearly.

"They will talk with you, don't worry about it." Stoick gently said, putting some of the salad on his fork and moving it to his mouth.

"How can you be so sure?" Hiccup asked, pushing around the rice on the plate.

"I know them. And I know you." His dad chided softly, looking at him with a small smile. "You'll reconcile in no time."

Hiccup doubted it, especially as some time had already passed, so using 'no time' here couldn't be validated and there was no proof that it could technically and theoretically be true.

His dad just tried to cheer him up.

"I doubt it."

"Give them some credit." Stoick tilted his head. "They are… well them. But they are good people."

Hiccup didn't doubt it. They were good people. A little bit crazy, but good nevertheless. They were always there when he needed them, always ready to give a helping hand – even after whining all the time they had to do it, like Snotlout. They were always a second away from jumping into action if it meant being at least a bit helpful.

But apparently not now. Hiccup couldn't blame them. He would probably keep his distance as well if he was in their shoes.

(He had tried to message them two or three times, but they never had replied. Only left him on that delirious, painful read. Hiccup didn't even want to pretend that it didn't hurt.)

"I know." Hiccup mumbled, stabbing a piece of meat on his fork and moving it to his mouth, munching on it slowly in the end.

Stoick smiled at him worriedly, with the small creases forming near the corners of his eyes like tiny crystals during fast evaporation.

"Any plans for the holidays?" Stoick asked instead.

Hiccup shrugged.

"I did have some before, but now…"

Not so much. Probably because most of his plans consisted of the twins and Snotlout tagging along. There had been a plan to go to a beach, perhaps rent a small cabin for a few days, but he hadn't heard about it in days, perhaps weeks. He wasn't sure he would be hearing about it anytime soon.

(Even though at first he had been against it, now he would give a lot to hear his friends plan on dragging him through the sand to throw into the cold water filled with too much sodium and chloride ions.)

"How about you and Jack? Aren't you planning on going somewhere? He is graduating soon, I'm sure he wants to do something after that with his friends."

Hiccup bit his lip.

Jack was indeed graduating soon, in a few days.

Even though they still talked, had met two or three times since Hiccup's first time back at school, they hadn't really talked about the upcoming future. Holidays. To be fair, Hiccup wasn't sure Jack wanted to think about it or plan something.

He knew for a fact that preparing himself for the entrance exams for culinary school would take some part of Jack's holidays. They had talked about that part, or mostly Jack had talked and Hiccup had given his opinion about this or that dish Jack had thought about preparing, but nothing too significant.

Hiccup wasn't a great cook.

(He knew Jack already had made plans with his aunt to train.)

But other than that, Jack didn't tell him about any plans.

Maybe if the things hadn't ended the way they had done, Jack would have a ton of plans, a hundred of trips, a thousand of ideas. But not anymore.

Jack didn't look overly sad about it, but Hiccup could hear that it still bothered him. It probably would bother him for quite some time. It wasn't something that could be changed in one night, during one morning, during one evening. It was a process, with a lot of steps which needed to be taken. There weren't any shortcuts.

Some part of Hiccup was glad that Jack was finishing High School. It made the load resting on his shoulders a little more bearable to carry.

"We didn't plan anything." Hiccup finally answered.

"Why not?"

Hiccup shrugged.

"Why should we?" He answered instead.

There was no higher reason for them to plan anything. They were friends, but were they those kind of friends that planned trips together?

(In Hiccup's heart perhaps he hoped for something more. Maybe a small climb in the mountain with just the two of them. He would whine all the way to the top, but deep inside he would be enamored about the possibility of spending time with Jack in the heart of the wilderness. Or maybe an one day trip to a lake with more people than just the two of them. He would also whine and barely stay in the water for longer than fifteen minutes, but he would still be happy that he was included.)

"Why not?" Stoick repeated himself, raising his one eyebrow.

Hiccup glanced at him. Well, he actually didn't expect that kind of an answer, but somehow he always knew he hadn't inherited all his sassy behaviors only from his mother's side.

(No matter how many times everyone had told him so. He knew it was the truth too, he remembered the bickering fights between his mom and dad, with Stoick clearly losing. But his father still could give a solid punch with his words on rare occasions.)

And unfortunately, to this Hiccup had no reply. He desperately wanted to have one.

"Just… because, I suppose."

Stoick huffed at that.

For another few minutes they ate mostly in silence, only accompanied by the sounds of the outside world moving behind the tilted window. There was a playful shriek of a child, a ring of a bike passing by, a bark of a dog followed by quick footsteps, a heartbeat of conversations, the whispers of shared secrets between lush green leaves.

The summer was almost palpable in the air.

"I think…" Stoick suddenly started, only to look down at the plate.

Hiccup stopped his movements too, staring curiously at his father.

"Of course, I may be wrong, but I think… I think Jackson needs you as much as you need him right now."

Hiccup was glad he didn't have anything in his mouth, because he would splutter it all around the table.

"Uh?"

Well, his mind wasn't very helpful in such situations and he couldn't exactly blame it. It was doing an amazing job during other moments, but when it came to emotional conversations about feelings he felt like it was halting. Perhaps there was some bug in the program. Some wrong written line of code that prevented his brain from fully comprehending the enigma of emotions.

Or maybe it wasn't his brain fault at all.

Stoick lifted his hand, made a weird circling movement, only to let it drop back down on the table.

It seemed like Hiccup wasn't the only one having problems with articulating himself.

"What I am trying to say is that… I think he is a little bit lost, so maybe spending time with you will help him. You are the one who knows everything that occurred. He doesn't have to hide anything from you."

Hiccup looked down at the half-eaten meal.

Perhaps there was some truth in what Stoick was telling him. Jack's life had been turned upside down. Everything he had known that had been stable, suddenly wasn't.

And maybe… Hiccup was currently one of the most stable things in Jack's life.

He didn't want to think about it like that. It didn't feel right. Jack was a free spirit, not bound to anything or anyone. He was a delicate touch of wind, one moment here, curled around you, then far away during another, caressing the sand on the faraway beach.

It terrified Hiccup. But perhaps Stoick was right.

And if Hiccup had to be honest, he did want to spend more time with Jack. He enjoyed his company, his presence, his spirit, his carefree, but deep smile, his sparkling with joy eyes, his wit and jokes and soft touches of the hand against Hiccup's hair.

Maybe Jack needed Hiccup as much as he needed him. Perhaps Jack needed him more.

(Part of him tried to push Jack a little bit away. The plan had been busted, they were in the epicenter of the whole mess they had created. It seemed only natural to try to make Jack be hurt as less as Hiccup could.

But perhaps it wasn't that. Maybe Hiccup tried to protect his heart from the slice of pain at the rejection. Jack was finishing High School. He was planning on going to the culinary school and even though he had doubts whether he would actually get in, Hiccup had faith and hope. But it also meant that Jack would be moving away, ripping himself away from Hiccup's small circle of friends. And perhaps he wanted to safe his heart from that, from the pain that flared while thinking about it.

But then, he was still friends with Fishlegs. Couldn't he make it work with Jack too?

Perhaps he was only thinking for excuses, because deep down inside he was simply scared.

Maybe he didn't want to add anything more to Jack's shattered guilt and conscience.)

"You're right." Hiccup said.

He needed to talk with Jack. Really talk. Clear a few things here and there, dissolute the dark precipitate that had appeared in the solution of their life.

It was only fair that he was honest with Jack. He deserved it. And Hiccup would accept whatever answer he would get. He was always a fan of harsh truth, than sweet lie. He could deal with it.

He had to.

"Why aren't you going to sleep?"

Jack lifted his head and stared at his dad who was looking at him. He shrugged in reply and returned his gaze to the garden spreading in front of them both.

"I don't really have to wake up for school tomorrow." He finally said.

There was no higher reason for him to be up either. It wasn't even that late. Just a few minutes after the time he should go to sleep if he still had to attend school.

"No, of course you don't. But it's good to keep up a healthy sleeping schedule." North continued, still holding his hand on the doorknob of the door leading to the back of the house.

Jack snorted.

"I never had a good sleeping schedule."

Even as a kid, whenever North had urged him to go to sleep, he would agree and then later on turn on the lamp to read comics under the sparse light. He remembered the spark of excitement he had felt about the prospect of being found, fighting with the joy of finding more about the heroes from the stories.

North looked at him. There was a shy smile dancing in the corners of his lips.

"That is indeed true." He said and then glanced down. "Can I sit with you?"

Jack moved on the stairs a bit, making place for his father to flop down next to him – what he did, groaning a little under his nose.

After that there was a short spasm of silence. A delicate wave of the foam on the shore of the sleepiness. A wave of the intergalactic soft energy pushing their bodies around. A wave of the wind sitting with them and patting their heads and hairs, curling the locks around its finger.

"We have a warm night."

Jack snorted.

"It is close to summer." He said, not with malice in his words, but some kind of happiness at the prospect.

He loved summer, the freedom it usually brought with it, the sense of haste time passing by, the smell of flowers in full bloom and warm concrete, the beaches filled with people, the laughter coming through the window during late nights and hot evenings.

Just like right now.

"Yeah." North nodded. "Are you ready for your graduation?"

It was in three days and if Jack had to be perfectly honest, he wasn't. But he never would be. It felt like some kind of vital step, some kind of door that he had to open and he wasn't sure if he wanted to see what was on the other side of it.

"Not really."

The fact that the results from the finals would be coming the day before the actual graduation wasn't really calming. Maybe it even stressed him more than the whole graduation where every student from his grade would be able to see him.

North chuckled.

"No one probably is." He murmured into the still night.

Jack nodded. That was probably true. Or at least in many people's cases. Not everyone had their life fully planned out, knew what they wanted to do, knew exactly where they would go. It was an unknown, an enigma. There could be some points, goals that needed to be reached, but then it all could change with one small touch.

Then there was another pause, a break in the veil that was covering the city with darkness.

The crickets chirped in the grass. Jack probably should mow it, but to be fair he didn't like mowed grass. He loved to feel the long stalks against his bare feet as he walked around the garden during afternoon.

"So… how are you?" North hesitantly asked.

Oh, so it was about that.

"I've been better." Jack shrugged, moving his knee a few times as he clasped his hands on his lap. "But I'm managing." He added and found out that it was true.

He was slowly healing. It wasn't a fast process, more like an incredibly slow one, with a lot of stops and small steps back, but he was dealing with it at his own pace. He had to make some adjustments, there were things he didn't want to think about and remember, but he was moving forward.

He had people around that helped him.

"I'm… really glad to hear it."

But there was still a string between them, a tense one, that was just ready to snap and Jack desperately didn't want that. He wanted to loosen it a bit and then cut it with his own scissors, coil it to hide in the pocket.

He wasn't sure how to start, how to proceed or how to end. But the words just tumbled from his mouth.

"I'm sorry I've let you down."

This felt like a good thing to say, like something he should do. Because in the end it was the truth, Jack had let North down. He had lied to him, he had lied to many people.

North turned to him, a perplexed glint shining like a star in his tired eyes.

"What?"

"I'm really sorry." Jack repeated himself, gripping his hands tighter, curling them into clenched fists, finding some kind of comfort in the twisted skin and harsh touch. "I know I've hurt you. I hurt you a lot of times when you took me back and I hurt you right now. So I'm sorry. I know I'm not perfect, but I really tried to be the best son. I really did." Jack felt his mind swimming, with a delicate tune of dizziness and static filling his head as his heart thrummed inside his chest, faster than normal. "I know that I'm not perfect, and I… I'm sorry, that I can't be… that…"

Because that had to be the case. Jack couldn't come up with another reason why North would act like that.

Jack had let him down. He had done it countless of times when North had taken him back. He had tried to correct himself, be someone that had deserved North's love. Someone who had been more than he had thought he could be. Someone better than Eris had always thought of him. A trustworthy son. A trustworthy person.

But maybe he wasn't even mean to be that.

(Maybe he simply was a mistake.)

There was a gap of silence, stillness and Jack's chest squeezed painfully, rippling through him like a tide and he found out that he had been trying to keep some emotions at bay, keep some animals behind the cage bars, afraid of letting them go, even though they had growled and fluttered their wings.

"Jack…" North quietly whispered. "Do you really think that?"

Jack stared forward – at the garden that had been his sanctuary for several years, at the familiar patches of flowers he tended too, at the well–known trees around which he had played with Emma, at the new vegetables he took care of – and clenched his teeth.

He didn't trust his words, but he nodded.

"Oh Jack…"

Then there was a firm grasp on his shoulder, like an anchor, a steady weight that helped ground him in the moment, let him stay in place when the waves of emotions tried to eat him, push away from the safety of a shoreline, away from the lighthouse that stared at him with light sparkling in his eyes.

"I'm incredibly proud of you." North said, looking right into his eyes. "You never have let me down. On the contrary. All this time you've spent with me, with us, I've been observing a boy growing into a man. A kind, honest and good man that you are now."

Jack really wanted to believe it, but there was a dam inside his mind.

"How could you say that when I lied to you, when I lied to everyone?" He asked, feeling his voice scratching his throat. "I'm a fraud."

"No, you're not. You made a mistake, but it was a mistake made in good faith."

"I can hardly believe that."

"Jack, how did it all start?"

"In the bathroom?" He immediately answered, raising his eyebrow a bit.

He was glad for the hand on his shoulder. He felt like he could crumble down if it wasn't there.

North smiled at him.

"Well, yeah, but who was there?"

"Hiccup and Dagur?"

Jack wasn't sure where it all was going.

"And what did you do?"

What had Jack exactly done? Definitely something stupid.

"I… blurted out that I was Hiccup's boyfriend?" He hesitantly answered, feeling the hiccup climbing his tongue, rolling near the teeth.

The corners of his eyes stung with the familiar feeling, but he felt like he had cried enough lately.

"You helped him. Of course, it wasn't the best way of helping him, but you casted everything aside and bravely defended him. And Jack I'm so… incredibly proud of that. So astonishingly amazed how you grew up to be this amazing man, even more so now that you understood your mistakes."

Jack had to be dreaming. There was no way that North was saying that. That he was speaking to him with the warmness seeping from his voice like honey out of the comb. There was no way that the soft breeze was coming from his smiling mouth. There was no way that the pride he so clearly talked about was shimmering, shooting like falling stars inside his eyes.

Jack was afraid to believe him. He felt like it could be the final blow to his already slowly crumbling down chest.

"But I…" Jack started, feeling like he had to gather the dark clouds back, like he had to throw a rope around them and pull them back in.

"Not buts Jackson." North turned fully to him and moved his other hand to grip the other shoulder. "Everyone makes mistakes, but we shouldn't judge people by the cover that lays above. There are countless of reasons behind every lie every person tells. And even though I'm not happy you lied to me, I'm happy that the real reason was pure. I'm happy that you regret some of the things you've done. You grew Jack. And you're a good man and the best son I could get." There was another exhale and deep inhale, when North stared right at him, right through him, glanced right into his heart and said. "I'm proud of you."

Jack wasn't sure what finally broke him. It wasn't like North had hidden his love for him. He never had done it actually. He had told and had showed Jack that he had been and was loved. He knew he was a part of the family.

And yet those words crashed through him like a bullet, an arrow hitting the target right in the middle, destroying the small cracks and making the glass vessel burst.

He felt the tears slide down his cheeks and he moved his hand up quickly to brush them away, to not let them out, but as soon as he twitched, North's big palms were there, on his cheeks, softly spreading the wet traces.

"I love you and I'm proud of you."

Jack felt like he could cry and he wasn't exactly sure whether he would be crying from happiness or sadness. Perhaps a healthy mix of both. He felt naked, uncovered to the whole buzzing world around them, raw like suddenly everyone could see the true him that was residing inside.

But that was okay.

It was okay, because North put his hand around him, letting Jack's head fall down on his shoulder and kept him there, hidden from the whole world for a few more moments.

The world turned, circled, moved, spinned, inhaled and exhaled, said goodbye to some people, welcomed new ones and Jack was still there, still living, still breathing, still crying and laughing and smiling and feeling all of this.

Jack was alive and his heart beat steadily.

"Hiccup!"

"Yeah?!" Hiccup shouted back, not raising his gaze from the book he was currently reading.

His eyes glided along the lines, barely paying mind to the world outside the yellowish pages. The words sparkled in his head, burst with life like plasma, shimmered like the candle light after brushing the phosphorous sulfide on the match against the red phosphorus on the side of the matchbox.

The plot was thickening, starting to roll faster, quicker, the sentences jumped in his eyes, forming something big, something more, something enthralling.

"There is someone here for you!"

For him? Hiccup didn't order anything so it definitely wasn't a delivery guy. His dad would pick the package anyway and bring it to him. So that was not an option.

"Who is it!?" He yelled once again, not tearing his gaze away just yet.

He didn't have any appointments with anyone today. It was the middle of the week. It was hard to drag him out during the weekend, so it was nearly impossible to do so during Wednesday.

Was it Astrid? She would message him. Jack? The same situation. And well this was almost the end of the list.

(There were of course some people with whom he talked, but they wouldn't appear at his door uninvited.)

"Check out for yourself!"

Hiccup rolled his eyes and grabbed a bookmark to sign the page – he had to leave the exiting part for later on.

Toothless glanced up at him from the curled position near his side, almost like Hiccup was betraying him.

"Sorry, bud, apparently I need to get up."

Toothless only closed his eyes and laid his head back down once again, disappearing into the dreamland.

Hiccup patted his head and then slid to the floor, where he sneaked his legs into the slippers and then shuffled out of the room to descend the stairs.

His dad was standing in front of the door, blocking the view from him with a weirdly stiff spine.

Hiccup stepped onto the bottom floor.

"I'm here." He said, looking at the back of his dad's head.

Stoick turned to him with a small strain to his smile.

"Oh hey."

"So who is here for me?"

"Well…" Stoick started, cleared his throat and then moved away from the doorway.

To show him a perfect sight of the very grumpy twins and Snotlout, who were standing there with frowns on their faces.

Hiccup's heart skittered in his chest, squeezed, trashed and smashed against his ribcage. The stress pulled on his nerves, pressuring the delicate threads, stretching and straining them, pulling until there was barely any space left to operate.

Hiccup stepped forward, feeling his muscles tensing, he lifted his hand and then –

Swiftly closed the door.

Okay, this was definitely not what he planned.

"What are you doing?" His dad slowly asked, looking at him quizzically.

Hiccup blinked, finally processing what he had done.

"I don't know. I panicked!" He shrieked, gripping the doorknob tightly in his palm.

Oh my gosh, what had he done? He hadn't been planning on doing that.

Before Stoick could even open his mouth, there was a loud thudding sound on the other side of the door.

"Hiccup, open up!" Tuffnut shouted, giving the door probably a solid punch judging by the rattling sound.

Hiccup jumped away from it.

"What do I do?" He asked, staring at his father.

Stoick glanced at him, at the door which was shivering under the assault and then back at Hiccup. There was a furrow to his brows, but also mirth and amusement hiding in the old wrinkles adorning his face.

"Whatever you do, don't let them destroy the door."

And with that he turned around on the heel and stomped to the living room.

Hiccup gaped after him and then leaped into the air, when another series of hard knocks were hitting the poor door.

"Hiccup! Don't make us tear down the door!"

Shit, what was he supposed to do!? For the past several days – which had turned into few weeks – he had wanted to talk with them, explain himself, reconcile, become something more once again. He had deeply wanted it back then and wanted it even now.

But the situation in his head looked totally different than the reality which was presented to him right now.

Perhaps with the twins he shouldn't plan anything. Every schedule had turned into a disaster in the past, there were no proofs that right now the situation would look any different.

"Hiccup!"

No, he had to do something. Mostly because he didn't want to live in a house without the front door. Plus, they deserved some explanation after what he had done.

(Even though they didn't look exactly happy to be here. What could they want with him? There was hope in his chest, sweet, delicate, crystallic dream, but he knew it could be easily crushed with one small hit of a hammer.)

Another knock.

No, Hiccup got it. He had to. Somehow. It would be all fine and dandy. He could do it. If they wanted to shout at him some more, he could deal with it. If they wanted to stop being his friends, then… then he probably would have to agree to that too. He didn't want that, but he had to. It was their choice and he couldn't force people to like him after he had hurt them.

Hiccup wasn't going to be that kind of person.

He wanted to count to ten in his head to calm his racing, beating, vibrating heart, but it seemed like he didn't have so much time.

"Hi–"

He opened to door to be met face to face with Ruffnut who had her hand raised, Tuffnut who was held back by Astrid and Snotlout who was kept in place by Eret's hands on his shoulder.

And each and every one of them looked furious.

Hiccup had a sparse moment of hesitation, when he really thought about closing the door once again, locking it and then returning to his room to hide under the quilt. But then they also knew where the windows to his room were and something told him that they wouldn't stop pestering him.

"Oh uh…" Hiccup eloquently started, feeling his chest tightening.

Astrid slowly let go of Tuffnut, who wrenched his hand out of the grip.

For a moment no one talked. To be fair Hiccup wasn't sure how to start, what could he even say. Saying hello sounded incredibly unfitting and jumping immediately to the point at hand would be easier if he knew what it was.

Did they want to officially stop being friends? Perhaps, but it didn't seem like a thing the twins would do. They wouldn't do it formally, standing and saying it right to his face. It simply just wasn't like them.

So they had to be here for a totally different reason.

(The fact that Astrid was there was giving him a small spark of hope, that perhaps… maybe… there could be a small possibility–)

"Hiccup!" Ruffnut suddenly started, raising her voice.

"Y-yeah?" Oh, why did he stutter? These were his friends, why was he so nervous around them?

(Or at least he hoped they were still friends, but at this point he wasn't sure.)

"We need to talk!"

Hiccup bit back the retort that they were already talking. Something told him that it wouldn't do any good right now.

"Uh sure." He hesitantly murmured and then glanced back towards the house, swinging the door a bit, as he still kept the hand, now totally covered in sweat, on the doorknob. "Do you… want to come inside?"

He never had done that, invited the twins and Snotlout like they were a bunch of adults, asking whether one wanted a cup of coffee or tea. It wasn't like them, perhaps they were close or already adults, but deep inside they were still lost souls, teenagers who tried to somehow cope with the reality of the harsh and cold outside world.

Ruffnut looked taken aback by the proposition.

Snotlout glanced between him and the house.

Tuffnut finally straightened his back.

"Uh…" Ruffnut hummed.

To be fair, they rarely had sat in Hiccup's house. Mostly because it was way easier to go to the twins' home than get them back here. Plus Hiccup's house was the furthest one away from the rest of them.

(And, it was only Hiccup's personal opinion, but it felt like Stoick kinda scared all of them. It wasn't like the twins and Snotlout were afraid of him, but he had this aura of respect that curled around him like a magnetic force, which made everything seem more important and serious than it was in reality. And the twins were free spirits, they didn't like to be bound by any codes of good behavior.)

"Well, maybe talking outside would be better." Astrid slowly proposed, eyeing everyone as no one really spoke.

Great, Hiccup could already be easily buried outside after they would kill him. Easy peasy. They wouldn't even have to get the stains out of the carpet.

"We can go to my backyard?" Hiccup slowly proposed.

"Or we can do it right here?" Snotlout huffed.

Hiccup looked around. There wasn't really any place to sit. They had a driveway, a small path leading to their door, a tiny patch of grass and well that was all.

"Okay…" Hiccup slowly said.

Well he should expect the twins and Snotlout to bend the rules. If they wanted the whole neighborhood to see, so be it.

(There weren't many people around, but the woman three houses away on the right was watering her flowers and from time to time a kid on a bike passed their house.)

"Let me just put some shoes on." He finally murmured and turned towards the lines of boots standing near the door.

He grabbed the sneakers and slid his feet inside. For a moment he wanted to do it deliberately slow, to buy himself some time, to think things through, to plan something, some kind of answer, maybe some questions, prepare himself for…

Well he wasn't sure for what he could prepare himself, so he quickly brushed this thought aside. Better to have it already behind them.

"I'm stepping out for a moment, dad!" He shouted into the house.

"Okay, be safe!" Stoick said back.

And with that Hiccup went out. He didn't have any keys or phone with him, so he hoped they weren't getting that far.

Apparently they weren't going anywhere at all, because the twins and Snotlout unceremoniously flopped down on the warm concrete that ran towards the garage.

"Sit." Ruffnut said, ordered even, pointing at a random patch of broken pavement.

"Here?" Hiccup inquired hesitantly.

"Well, where else?"

After a second of hazy thoughts, he sat down too. Great. If they wanted to bash his skull against the ground, it would probably be a quick and painless death. If they did it hard enough, if not, well Hiccup was in for a painful moment.

Astrid smiled at him encouragingly and slowly sat down, between him and Tuffnut, who still looked like he was ready to pounce.

Eret, a little bit confused, sat down too, but closer to the patch of grass. His one hand moved to pluck out a dandelion that was sticking out and he started to curl it around his fingers. Apparently he was an addition to their small group.

Hiccup wondered if the teen simply replaced him, taken his spot. That idea sent a panging echo into his heart, a sudden thrumming vibrations that made all the bases tremble. He knew it was unfounded assumption, but he couldn't stop it, stop himself.

Hiccup stared at the ground and corrected his leg a bit, trying to make the blood flow more smoothly. The concrete was warm beneath his body, heated through the day by the brightly shining sun above their heads. There was this specific smell, moving through the air. He couldn't pinpoint what it was, but it smelled of childhood, long evenings spent running around or laying in the grass of the garden, listening to the nature living around.

There was a sound of a ball bouncing somewhere and shrieks of kids playing basketball.

"So uhh…" Hiccup lamely started or at least tried to when it seemed like no one was really in a mood to talk. "We have a really nice day."

Well that was going splendidly.

Snotlout snorted and barely lifted his head to peek at him.

(Hiccup was actually quite surprised that his cousin hadn't been the first one to jump at his throat. There weren't that close. Of course, they liked each other, not to mention they were family, so they were forced to spend time together during celebrations and holidays, but then there always had been a strain between them. An incomprehension. They were too different to understand each other well.)

Astrid rolled her eyes and Hiccup wasn't sure if it was directed at him or at the rest of their group.

Eret looked incredibly preoccupied with the dandelion, but he still shot a few hesitant glances at Ruffnut.

Astrid finally shoved her elbow into Tuffnut's side, who jumped in his cross-legged position.

"What the hell, Astrid?"

"I should be the one asking you that. First you want to reconcile and then you just sit, not even saying anything!" She noted, glancing at him with a raised eyebrow.

What, reconcile? Was Hiccup hearing right or was his ears playing tricks on him?

"We want to, but we don't know how to start!"

"I may be wrong, but you usually start with saying something and using words. You know, just like normal people do." Astrid quickly scoffed back, crossing her arms on her chest.

Tuffnut glared at her and was already opening his mouth to probably retort something, when Hiccup felt a sudden urge to speak:

"I'm sorry."

Well, in his mind it seemed like a good thing to say, a sentence he should say, words he should use.

But the sudden snap of every head in his direction almost made him take back his words.

"What?" Tuffnut asked.

"Listen, I'm sorry." Hiccup started once again and huffed, moving his one hand to brush away the fringe from his forehead. "I didn't want for it to happen like that. I didn't want for you to find out like that. I was planning on telling you one day, but on my terms, when everything would end and calm down."

And it was the truth, he had been planning on doing that. Maybe a few weeks or months after ending their plan. He had wanted them to know, he had wanted to be at least honest after some time.

Apparently reality had different plans for him.

"So you… really don't trust us?" Ruffnut hesitantly asked.

There was something in her voice that Hiccup never had heard. A broken tension, hesitant pain, awaited hurt, reduction of everything and enlargement of nothing.

Hiccup inhaled deeply. He wasn't sure how to answer this question, but he supposed that the truth would be the best. It wasn't like the situation could get any worse.

"It's not like I don't trust you, because I do. I really do." He said. "But I also wasn't lying during the prom night. You are… fricking terrible at keeping secrets." Hiccup huffed, letting his hand drop. He knew that the truth was harsh, but he had to say it out loud, while being sober and not controlled by anger. "You do have a tendency to say the very first thing that pops into your mind, not thinking whether you should say it out loud or not."

There was a brief pause during which the only thing Hiccup could hear was his loudly beating heart. The stress was playing a cacophonic tune inside his chest, pushing random buttons to make all windows open up in front of his eyes.

Snotlout shrugged.

"I suppose you're right on this one."

Hiccup kinda wanted to lift his eyebrow and peek curiously at his cousin, almost daring him to fully disagree with his statement, but he felt like it would be counterproductive.

"At first, after me and Jack came up with this plan, I wanted to tell you, but then… I decided against it. It wasn't only me that would get hurt, but also Jack and I didn't want that."

"That gets us to the very first thing we wanted to talk about, but wasn't sure how to start…" Ruffnut opened her mouth and looked up at him. "How it all started?"

"Or what really happened?" Tuffnut added, looking at him expectantly.

Well, yeah, maybe some explaining should be done first.

Hiccup corrected his position on the quite uncomfortable concrete and opened his mouth to speak.

How many times had he already told the story? Definitely two. Now that he thought about it, it was still an incredibly small amount, but somehow he felt like he had been repeating it every day to thousand different people.

The words surprisingly flowed through his mouth. He wasn't sure what was the reason behind it. Perhaps the fact that he was doing it for the third time played a role. Maybe because they were his closest friends and they had seen him in weird and even weirder situations. Perhaps it was due to the dimming eyes, twitchy pull of lips, furrowed eyebrows, small signs of emotions as the sentences curled around them, wrapped in a tight hug, connected with their minds like covalent bonds or perhaps ion-exchange processes. Grabbing one moment, only to let go of it to be able to reach for another one.

Hiccup didn't hide much or anything at all. He didn't have the strength to do so, beside he couldn't see the point of that. He wanted to show that he still trusted them, even after what he had done.

So he said the small details which he hadn't told his dad, he showed the way Jack and he had interacted, he told them the small snippets of his thoughts that resurfaced like very delicate solid particles during flotation.

(For a moment he wanted to tell them the truth about Aster's feelings, but decided against it. Even though it would clear a few dark spots here and there, it wasn't his secret to share. It was Aster's own and he wasn't going to spill it.)

Tuffnut, Ruffnut and Snotlout surprisingly listened intently, giving short, quiet comments here and there. Eret was less interested, but he still listened. Perhaps he simply wanted to be included.

The story ended without any kind of crescendo from his side.

And after that there was a short pause, a silence that was predictable. Hiccup himself wasn't sure how he would react at first, if someone told him the story of what his life had become in the last year.

(Was it almost a year soon? Of course, there were holidays in front of them, sweet summer days filled with freedom and the delicious taste of hot wind on their tongues. But it seemed like only a few days had passed between Jack bursting into the bathroom and today. So many things had happened in such short span of time.)

"Okay… this is such… full of bullshit…" Tuffnut finally said, looking at him, right into his eyes.

Hiccup's heart dropped. He knew his story wasn't quite believable. Heck, if someone else told him it, he wasn't sure he would believe them either. But it still hurt to hear it with his own ears.

"But it's –" Hiccup started, cringing at the broken tone of his voice, but stopped due to Tuffnut lifting his hand.

The boy sighed loudly, still keeping his hand in the air, only to let it drop.

"But such things could only happen to you."

Hiccup gaped at him, perplexed, not really sure how to act, how to respond.

(He knew that he had bad luck. It was an ongoing joke in their small circle.)

"I know." Hiccup nodded, gripping the material of his trousers when he found out that his fingers were shaking a bit.

Retelling the story for the third time hadn't made it any less stressful. Okay, maybe it had been a tad easier to say it, but only because it was them, not Dagur and not his father. With them he could be free, he didn't have to hide those small moments that had been important, but not appropriate for every ear.

"Hiccup, I…" Ruffnut started and then glanced at everyone around her. Snotlout cleared his throat. "We are… sorry."

What?

"What?" He said, dumbfounded.

This was not what he expected.

"What what?" Tuffnut even more eloquently asked.

Snotlout rolled his eyes and then raised them to the sky. The frown was still visible on his face, but there was also something else hiding there.

"For what are you apologizing to me? I… I should be the one to do that."

Tuffnut tilted his head.

"But you have already done that." He murmured, kinda perplexed like he wasn't sure what was actually happening and what the real topic of the conversation was.

Hiccup was starting to get lost too.

"I did, but... I don't know why you are apologizing."

"We would get to that, if you stopped interrupting us." Snotlout groaned, returning his gaze from the reddish sky, with painted orange and yellow streaks, above their heads to him.

Hiccup had a spare moment during which he wanted to apologize for that too, but decided against it. In the end he zipped his mouth shut and then grabbed his ankles looking intently, although a little bit terrified, at his friends.

Snotlout glanced at Tuffnut who looked back at him. Ruffnut was worrying her bottom lip with her teeth.

It seemed like neither of them were good at these really important talks. Random jokes and carefree conversations were moving naturally from their mouths, like they only needed a sparse mili-second to get to the equilibrium of the reaction. But with these really important matters it seemed like much more time had to pass for the products to actually appear.

Hiccup waited so long, he could wait some more.

"Listen, Hiccup." Snotlout started and then corrected his position, so he could rest his one elbow on his crossed legs. "We are sorry too. We shouldn't have started yelling at you right in the middle of the prom. It was really immature of us to do so."

Even thought Snotlout was speaking, it seemed like a robotic voice was reading of a script. Perhaps something like this had happened. Maybe Snotlout had the sentences written down somewhere and he had replayed saying them out loud in front of the mirror.

Part of Hiccup wanted to laugh at that, but the other part was weirdly moved by it.

"I mean, it did hurt us. Twins more than me, you know how they are like, not as hard shelled as me."

"Says a person who didn't speak with anyone for a whole day." Tuffnut butted in.

"Not helping here, Tuff. Also that totally didn't happen."

Ruffnut first brushed her nose with her wrist and then conspicuously leaned closer to Hiccup, moving her one hand higher and hiding her mouth with that movement that totally didn't hide her mouth.

"It totally did."

"Okay, I don't know why I bother, if even you are against me. I thought we were doing this together."

Tuffnut sniffed loudly.

"We are, we just like to see you try at something you totally suck at."

"Well thank you." Snotlout grumbled and then sighed heavily, pinching the bridge of his nose. "The point is–"

"We also fucked up." Ruffnut continued, glancing at him. "We should have listened to you. We should have been better friends. We should have kept our mouths shut when you told us something important. We weren't the best at it."

"No, you weren't." Hiccup mumbled.

"So we've been told. By you, by Astrid, by Fishlegs." Tuffnut added, lifting his hand and counting down names on his fingers.

Hiccup lifted his head.

"Fishlegs?"

"Oh yeah, you should hear him after he found out what we did. He called us on Skype and started shouting, lecturing us for almost an hour. He dug out really hard things from our past and then smashed them right into our faces. Man, that was… that was pretty hardcore." Tuffnut pipped up, looking at him with a terrified and awed smirk dancing, jumping on his lips.

Snotlout visibly shuddered.

"I don't know about you, but I don't recollect that evening with fondness."

"True. But it was still pretty hardcore. I'm sure my neighbors three houses away could hear his angry shouts." Tuffnut continued.

"Yeah, Miss Templeton asked me about it the next day." Ruffnut added, glancing back at her brother.

"The point is…" Tuffnut jumped back after a second. "We are also at fault here. If we were better friends, then perhaps you wouldn't have to hide it from us. So we're sorry."

Hiccup slowly shook his head.

"I don't want you to be sorry. I don't want you to be forced to change because of me." He quickly said, trying to compile what he wanted to say in simple sentences, but he wasn't sure whether he could do it. "I like you the way you are."

"Maybe you do, but we don't." Ruffnut added, butting into his almost prepared lecture. "We want to… I don't know, be better friends? We want you to be able to count on us."

"I can count on you." Hiccup quietly supplied, feeling his chest squeeze painfully. He knew what they were talking about.

Part of him was astonishingly impressed. He was so proud of them, how far they came, how much they had grown during the last few months. They seemed like totally different people right now.

And part of him was utterly terrified that he didn't deserve it. He had lied to them and here they were, trying to be better so Hiccup could simply trust them and share his secrets.

Who was he to deserve so much? He was just a puny human, a terrible liar, not even that good friend.

"Not in the way we want you to." Tuffnut quietly whispered, but Hiccup heard it like a drum inside his ears.

He swallowed hard.

There was another pause, so familiar during today afternoon. The lazy clouds swam on the high sky, like they weren't in any hurry. The sun moved slowly down, reaching towards the horizon so it could grab it and pull itself. The kids cheered around them, startled by the sprinklers going off somewhere, covering the thirsty ground with droplets of sweet water. The birds jumped between the branches, preparing themselves for the night of sleep or vicious hunt.

And they sat there, on the warm concrete, in front of Hiccup's house.

Astrid then clasped her hands.

"That went well… I think." She looked at them, slowly, like she was gauging if everyone was agreeing with her.

Hiccup definitely did. It had gone quite well. But what should they do from now on? Simply move forward like nothing totally had happened? Hiccup wasn't sure that was possible. There always would be a scar inside his mind, etched into his skull, visible during the late evenings and even longer nights.

But he had to know where he was standing. He had to.

"So are we… good?" He hesitantly asked, trying not to sound too hopeful.

But God, he was hopeful. He didn't have many people he loved and trusted and he didn't want to let go of the ones he had.

However asking it sounded weird, it wasn't a talk they usually had, it wasn't a talk that was comfortable for either of them. It seemed almost unnatural in his mouth and he noticed that since he had become close friends with the twins, he never had been in any terrible arguments with them.

There was first time for everything, it seemed. This year was definitely like that.

He had learned so much, he had changed, he had lived thought astonishing things, terrible and amazing, painful and joyful. He had had big and small arguments, he had apologized and people had apologized to him. He had waited and had acted in a second. He had held his breath and had taken bigger ones than ever.

Ruffnut smiled at him.

"I think we are."

Hiccup couldn't stop the goofy smile from forming on his lips as his glasses slipped down, so he lifted his shivering hand to push them higher.

Times was moving, universe was expanding, they were breathing and Hiccup suddenly really loved his life.

"Ugh, okay, now that we are done with this mushy stuff, can we do something fun for a change?" Tuffnut groaned, leaning back and staring at the sky.

"Like what?" Astrid asked, glancing at him with a raised eyebrow.

"I don't know, Mario Party tournament?"

"Only if you are ready to lose." Snotlout added, looking at him.

"Oh ho ho, my dear friend, is that a threat I'm hearing? Are you challenging me?" Tuffnut stood up, turning and looking at Snotlout.

"No." The teen said and then hoisted himself up too, although a little bit slower. "It's a promise."

Tuffnut glared.

"So be it."

Ruffnut rolled her eyes and stood up.

"Oh boy, here we go."

Astrid moved up too, in unison with Eret. Which left only Hiccup sitting down on the concrete.

Part of him wanted to jump to his feet and run to them, but should he really do that? They were good, they had agreed on that, but did they really want him with them? Was it really so easy?

They moved toward the street and Hiccup still sat there, mulling the idea over and over in his head, almost like his mind was above the magnetic stirrer that was going four hundred revolutions per minute. If not six hundred.

Tuffnut then halted in his steps and turned to him.

"Are you coming or are you planning to sit there all night?"

It was what Hiccup needed to actually jump to his feet and run towards his friends.

Only when he was at the twins' house, he noticed that he had gone there in his tracksuit and without a phone. Gladly Astrid lent him her mobile, so Hiccup could call his dad and tell him that he would be back a bit later than planned.

Stoick didn't sound like he minded a bit. Neither did Hiccup.

"Stressed?"

"A bit?"

Hiccup, on the other side, chuckled.

Jack threw the small ball in the air, above his head, and caught it easily. Okay, maybe not perfectly, but he still didn't drop it, so for him it was almost perfect.

"Your big day."

Jack shrugged while laying on the bed and one more time threw the ball in the air.

The phone laid on the pillow next to his head, with the speaker turned on, so he didn't have to hold it as he talked with Hiccup.

"Well I'm sure that is a big day for everyone in my grade."

"True, true."

The graduation. The final day of High School. Their farewell to the cold walls, only to welcome the adulthood that was standing in front of them.

They had got their results from the exams a day ago. Jack's ones weren't perfect. He had a few good grades, but mostly mediocre ones and one not that great – which could be way worse. In overall he was quite happy with it. Of course, Bunny and Tooth had aced the subjects they had wanted to, but even they had several worse results.

In the end, those were only tests. They didn't measure a lot, only how much students could learn under pressure and in a short amount of time.

The point was that Jack had his finals results. Now he needed his graduation diploma and then he could finally try to get into the culinary school.

(Which had become his own small, personal dream. He hadn't expected to be so overjoyed about the possibility of going there, but he was really excited. He anticipated the moment he would be gathering all necessary documents and taking the train to the city. He even had picked the hotel at which he would stay – pretty cheap one, but nearby the school.

Tara had helped him pick the dishes he should make. Something simple, but not incredibly so, something that could show the teachers that he indeed had a talent that just needed polishing.)

"The gown is pressed?" Hiccup mused from the other side.

There was a hesitant sound of quick taps of the keys. He probably multitasked while speaking to Jack. Typical of Hiccup. He couldn't waste even one second with not doing anything.

Or maybe he was looking through some science memes. That was also a possibility. He had caught Hiccup scrolling through them when he should have been studying.

"Yep, already hanging on my wardrobe door."

"And Emma didn't try to accidentally pour something on it?" Hiccup asked.

Jack snorted.

"She totally did! Caught her walking around it with a milkshake."

"White spots, yeah, that could give a few people some ideas."

"You tell me." Jack huffed, rolling the ball over in his fingers and then letting it soar in the sky one more time.

For a moment Hiccup was quiet on the other side. Even the short taps of the fingers quieted down.

Jack swallowed hard. This was the perfect moment. He could do it right now. Finally drop the question. He already knew the answer to it, or at least he thought he knew. It had been intertwined in their conversations before.

But there was something comforting in hearing it himself.

He caught the ball.

"Hey, Hiccup?"

The boy hummed. That could mean that he was listening or that he wasn't listening and was just making any sound that could indicate he more or less could be listening, but definitely wasn't.

Okay, here goes nothing.

"Will you be there? Tomorrow? At the ceremony?"

Hiccup inhaled sharply.

"You changed your mind? You don't want me there?"

Jack shook his head and then chastised himself when he noticed that it was quite a stupid thing to do while talking with someone on the phone. Especially as the phone was laying next to him on the pillow.

"No, no, I totally want you there, it's just… we never really… I don't know, made solid plans."

He just assumed Hiccup would go and always had spoken like it had been already planned. And Hiccup had just flowed with it.

"I suppose we didn't." Hiccup hummed. "But yeah, I'm planning to be there."

"Aw, thank you, you do care." Jack cooed, making the ball soar again.

"Yeah, I'm not going for you."

Oh uh the ball dropped down, hitting him square in the face and he had to yelp. It wasn't painful, but it still surprised him nevertheless.

"What?" He shouted, sitting up on the bed, making the ball roll towards his bare feet.

"Yeah, you know, I'm totally coming for Tooth. She aced her Biology final and as a fellow scientist I have to congratulate her personally on this quite astonishing feat."

Jack's mouth dropped open.

"You traitor." He wheezed, turning and staring at the phone like it personally offended him.

Hiccup on the other side dared to laugh at him. Of all the things he could do, he decided to laugh.

"Okay, maybe I'll glance in your direction for a second." He then clarified.

"Thank you, I deserve the attention."

"Some days you don't want attention, then you do. Make up your mind, Jack."

"I like attention when I know what to expect." He said and then flopped back on the bed, making the phone roll a bit and turn around.

He moved his hand and corrected it, so the voice coming from the speakers would be better heard.

"… that makes some sense."

Jack moved his hand across the quilt, searching for the small ball. Aw shit, it had rolled near his legs. Too far away, he didn't have the strength to reach for that.

"Will you be alright tomorrow?"

"Me?" Jack asked.

"Yeah, with all those people looking at you."

Jack hummed.

That idea kinda made him edgy – being in the center of attention after everything that had happened. But then he felt like he needed it, like he had to do it. That was his final step to show that he was not ashamed of what he had done, that he still had his honor.

(The last few days and weeks showed that there were still people who wanted to be his friends, who wanted to meet with him. Some had asked what it all had been about and Jack had tried to give them as honest answer as he could. And even when he couldn't, most of them simply had accepted it as something he had had to do.

And that had helped him greatly. To know that there were still people who liked and loved him.)

"You'll be there in the crowd too." Jack then finally answered, feeling the smile tugging on his lips and the warmness spreading through his chest like fire. "So I think I'm going to be alright."

There was a brief, short silence on the other side, before a low huff moved through the air.

"You're a sap."

Your sap, Jack's mind proposed and it almost moved towards his tongue, clattered against his teeth, but he kept it inside – inside his mind and inside his heart.

Not yet, he needed a bit more time. Not much, just a little bit more.

"I know." He said instead, feeling that the words didn't fit right now.

Perhaps he should say something else.

"But you love me for it."

Oh, yeah, this sounded way better. Much more fitting. Like it belonged here. Like it was a puzzle piece moving, gliding alongside the picture to fall into a small hole. Like a key fitting into a lock. Like a hand sneaking into the spaces between the fingers of another palm.

There was another low huff, maybe even a sigh, a short interstellar exhale that rattled the bones, and a quiet whisper.

There was a lone pang, a sudden pain that shattered his chest, but weirdly didn't make it empty instead.

"Beats me why I do…"

It could be a play of static sounds and hazy mind, but Jack held on to the hope that he had heard him right.

Jack exhaled slowly as he looked at himself in the mirror.

This was it. The final day. The last day of High School. After that he was stepping into the unknown.

It was a little bit terrifying thought. Somehow until now this day had been a faraway part of his life, some kind of an invisible line that had been there, but far away enough from reaching.

But it was today.

Jack didn't feel ready. Perhaps he never would be. He wasn't sure many people were prepared either.

He straightened one fold on his gown and then inhaled and exhaled deeply, stretching his chest to try to take as much air in as he could to clear his mind.

There was a soft knock on the doorframe to his room.

North stood there, wearing his best suit, smiling proudly at him, with this gleam in the eyes that could put even the Sun to shame.

"Are you ready?" He asked.

Jack exhaled.

"No." He said, but turned to him with a smile. "But let's go."

North nodded at him, still with gleaming eyes and grin so big and wide that it seemed like a half covered moon.

Jack followed his father down the stairs and stepped into the living room, where Emma was sitting on the armrest in elegant shirt and trousers, waving her feet covered with white pumps. There were tiny crystals on the material, reflecting softly the light coming through the window.

"Well you look like a total dollophead." She said, when Jack stepped into the room and showed his clothes.

Which probably translated that the gown looked dumb, but Jack still managed to look more or less okayish in it. Which he would take as an accomplishment. Because it was.

(The gown really was uncomfortable in weird places and his hand just itched to scratch his backside.)

"Thank you, my lady."

Emma snorted and then jumped onto her feet, brushing away some dust from her pressed, elegant, black trousers.

(A small silver bracelet glinted on her wrist. It was Jack's present for Emma on her birthday. Jack had seen Emma looking at it with displeasure, but then she had hid it in the last drawer of her nightstand. It was her small safe where she kept all the precious memories, trinkets and gifts. The highest regard to all the presents.

The sight of it gave Jack's warm goosebumps.)

"Let's get this over with." She said, looking to him with a small, hesitant smile.

Jack ruffled her hair. Or at least tried to, because she managed to swat his hand away before he even touched a lone lock.

"Good idea."

There wasn't much to do around the house than simply go out and pack themselves into the car.

It came to life with a tired, but comforting huff. There were a few short coughs following after, but in the end the car rolled down the driveway and onto the street, only to move swiftly through the roads, slowly but surely towards the goal.

Jack fidgeted in his seat.

They didn't talk much. He was surprisingly glad for that. Even though he knew there was nothing to be stressed about, the nerves still twitched inside his body. But conversation wasn't what he needed right now.

The neighborhood passed behind the window, hazy, dizzy, but familiar nevertheless. He had been passing these streets for the last four years almost every day. First on foot, then using Aster's car. He knew this road like the back of his hand. There was one crooked yellow mailbox, covered with small stamps from the fruits. In one garden there was a burned mark, because one girl accidentally had set fire to the grass with mirror while putting on makeup outside. One house near the school had a blue door with a small doggy door at the bottom from which a big Labrador was always coming out whenever Jack was nearby.

All those small things – Jack hadn't noticed until now how much he was going to miss them. Of course, he could go back and walk these streets once again, but it wouldn't be the same. It wouldn't be him and his friends going to school or returning to spend the night playing games.

His life was changing. Accepting it was the hard part. But he knew he had to do it at some point.

Everything was changing, the sky, the wind, the earth, the flowers, the trees, the animals, the houses, the people, the universe. Nothing was standing in one place, everything was pushed forward by time, towards the future, growing, ever changing.

And Jack was too.

"Don't move so much!"

"I can't, this shirt is really itchy."

"Well now it's too late to change it, so bear with it and don't twitch every five seconds. Everyone around is looking at us and I thought you didn't like to be in the center of attention."

Hiccup looked around, trying to gauge if what Astrid had said was true. And it was to some extent – guests were staring at him, with raised eyebrows, but then they were quickly turning back towards the stage in the further part of the gym.

He huffed in reply and stopped correcting his shirt. It still irritated his skin, but he let it be.

(Though in hindsight he could have picked a better shirt.)

The crowd in the gym was enormous. There were a ton of proud parents, wearing elegant dresses and suits, talking excitedly between each other, often accompanied by a small boy or kid or someone who looked incredibly tired after a long trip from Uni. The chatters rose above the crowd, mingling, sizzling, filling every corner of the hall.

The students at the front twitched nervously in their seats.

Astrid and Hiccup stood near the back, far away from the main center where the bodies were huddled together. They couldn't see much, but if Hiccup tilted his head to the right, he could see a white lump of hair leaning towards the colorful one to whisper something into her ear.

They hadn't been able to talk with Jack, Tooth or Aster, but that was okay. There probably would be some time later on to do it, congratulate after the ceremony would be over.

The important thing was that they were here.

Astrid next to him huffed and brushed away one lock from her forehead, putting it behind her ear. Her hair was put in a kinda messy, but cute bun at the top of her head. She also wore a black and red dress that reached just beneath her knees.

(She also had put on thin tights to hide the scratches and bruises she had gotten during her volleyball practices.)

"It's so hot in here." He finally said.

Even every open window and door didn't help the fact that it was blazing hot inside.

Some people fanned themselves with their hands.

"Imagine sitting in those gowns." Astrid said, pointing at the poor graduates.

It definitely looked uncomfortable to sit in the warm hall with the dark clothes on. The stress was probably not helping them either.

"I don't want to do it just yet, we still have a year."

"And it could rain next year."

"At this point I'm not sure if it wouldn't be better with some rain."

It definitely would be much colder.

Hiccup wasn't dealing well with heat, so in his case it would be a blessing. But knowing his luck it wouldn't happen.

"True." Astrid mussed and exhaled slowly as a lone breeze from the open door sneaked past them, cooling down their skins for a brief second.

There was a commotion at the front of the gym, voice raising for a moment, only to quiet down when the principal moved to the podium and looked at the crowd gathered in the room. The chatters stayed for several more seconds, before people started shushing each other with fingers glued to their mouths.

The principal looked at all of them and smiled.

"Welcome everyone."

If he had to be honest, Jack couldn't remember much from the ceremony.

The first part was obviously boring as hell, with the principal talking about the road they had walked, about the people they had meet, about the knowledge they had gained. The brief history of school was intertwined with the lecture, showing the bright points and how proud they should be that they had attended such institute.

So yeah, boring for Jack.

After that came the good part, the actual graduation part. People were called to the stage, got their diploma and a handshake, short moment for a photo from the overexcited parents, siblings, aunts, uncles or friends and then that was the end.

Jack had a vague recognition of Tooth being the first one to go. He more or less could remember her smiling face, the shimmering lights in her eyes and red cheeks and it was done.

Then it was Bunny's turn, proudly marching towards the stage. A quick exchange, smile, photo and voilà, finished.

Jack's own walk was fuzzy inside his head. Almost like he was staring at it from a faraway point and not with the eyes of his own body.

The principal gave him the diploma, smiling at him with that mischievous glint in her eyes and then moved to shake his hand.

(He had landed in her office quite a lot of times due to his pranks. Sometimes they even had had nice conversations, but most of the time she had been scolding him. Well, he couldn't blame her. She was the principal, she had to keep some kind of order around.)

"Congratulations, Mister Overland." She said, smiling to him.

After the handshake he waved at the crowd and then returned to his seat.

Then there was another short lecture and with a wave of applauds the principal left the podium, wishing them all the best on the road to their definitely bright future.

And as simple as it sounded, it was the end.

Jack gripped his diploma and looked at both of his friends, not really sure what they should be doing.

"Uhhh." He said.

"Yeah." Tooth nodded.

"Agreed." Aster added.

They stared at each other and then burst out into laughter.

People around them started to stand up and move towards their parents, family or friends to show what they had been given and receive praises, hugs and kisses.

"Tooth! Come on, we need some photos!"

It was Tooth's mom, shouting above the crowd and waving at them excitedly while holding a camera.

The girl smiled at her and rose from the seat.

"You want some pics together?"

Jack grinned at the proposition.

"Do you even have to ask? You should be thanking me that my beautiful face could be in your photos."

He could see in his head the eye roll Aster gave him.

"Come on, Narcissus, before you fall in love with your own reflection." Bunny grumbled, although with a hint of amusement interlaced with the words.

Jack stood up.

"Hey, I know the worth of my face."

"Are you telling us we could sell you and your beautiful face and we would get good money?" Tooth asked, glancing at him.

Jack opened and closed his mouth a few times, trying to find a good answer to that question. But after finding none, he indignantly sputtered.

"Such good friends you are."

"Good friends who could have a lot of money." Bunny added, jabbing him in the back.

"Remind me about this idea when my account will be empty." Tooth chirped from the front.

Jack huffed and threw his hands in the air, only to let them slump down, feeling his heart swell inside his chest, weirdly giddy atmosphere replacing the stress that escaped his body, evaporated like warm water, steaming over the skin.

Tooth's mother was a tornado of energy, even more so than her daughter. She started to put them in correct positions – hand here, leg there, hips to the left, do not blink, let a small smile onto the lips. One snap, second snap, third, fourth, fifth.

Jack's eyes hurt after the tenth flash and it seemed like it wasn't ending.

"Should we save them?"

"Well, they look like they're having fun."

"Yeah, fun."

Jack tried to turn his head, without Tooth's mother mentioning it. Only a few centimeters, not too much, enough that he would be able to see the source of the voice.

North, Emma and Aster's father stood to the side, observing them with proud smiles on their mouths, conversing quietly between each other. Emma was glancing at him with badly hidden mirth and joy.

After another thirty or so photos, Tooth's mother glanced down at her camera and they managed to sneak towards their parents, leaving the poor girl to look at the best photos alone.

"Hey there!" Jack said, waving at North and Emma. "Good morning to you, Mister Bunnymund."

The man nodded at him with a tired but proud and full smile on his lips.

"Good morning and congratulations. To both of you."

"Thanks, dad." Aster mumbled, but smiled.

"Thank you, sir." Jack nodded.

North clapped his hands together.

"We've been talking together and we came up with an idea to go for a celebratory dinner!" North said, grinning like the sun.

"Would there even be a free table for us right now? I'm sure many students and their families have decided on the same thing." Jack asked.

But North beamed at him.

"Well I did already booked us a big table in my friend's restaurant a few days ago! I thought something like this might happen."

Jack lifted his eyebrows as he stared at his dad. This totally sounded like something the man would do.

Nevertheless it filled his heart with happiness – doing something as simple as going to a restaurant to celebrate the graduation. It was astonishing.

Soon after Tooth's parents and the girl herself approached them and started to talk with each other. They agreed to go to the restaurant too, but they said they had their own small party in the afternoon so they wouldn't be able to stay for an incredibly long time.

But it was okay, some time was still better than no time.

In the meantime, Jack started to look around, searching for the familiar mops of brown and blonde hairs. He had seen him here, when he had been on the stage, he had seen the glint of the glasses, he had seen the quirky, but proud smile, but as quickly as it had appeared it had been lost to the stress playing cacophonic music inside his head.

Hiccup and Astrid had to be here somewhere.

But no matter how hard Jack looked now, he couldn't even see a glimpse of his friends. Had they gone home? It was possible.

(It still hurt a bit though.)

"Are you going, Jack?" North asked.

"Yeah, just…" Jack turned to him, only to look back. "… I just need to use a bathroom before going?"

North smiled at him, patted his shoulder and nodded.

"Okay, we will be near our car waiting for you then."

Jack smiled to him in reply and then moved through the crowd.

It was partially true. He had to use the bathroom. He had been holding it in through the whole celebration and lectures. Drinking coffee before going to such events wasn't a good idea, Jack had to make a mental note of that.

The second part was the fact that he wanted to sneak around the slowly emptying gym, trying to find the familiar faces in the crowd. So he made a few detours, peeking and glancing around, swirling and twirling between students and people, searching, but with no good results.

(His heart heaved inside his chest.)

He took out his phone and checked if he had any messages from Hiccup, but no. Zero.

Maybe he should just write to him and ask if he had gone home? But that sounded kinda selfish. Jack had no reason to expect Hiccup to still stay and wait than the mere fact that they were friends. Maybe he had something else to do? Hiccup was a very busy student. Maybe there were ten reports waiting to be written by him at home?

Jack sighed. Not all was lost yet. Maybe they were outside, waiting for him, for them. Yeah, that could be it. Hiccup hated crowds, so there was a possibility he had stepped out to not be stampeded by the wave of people going out.

(His heart shuddered at that thought.)

Yeah, it could be true.

So Jack hid his phone and decided to do what he had told his dad.

He sneaked through the crowd, towards the corridor leading him to the main school building. He could use the gym bathrooms, but there were still some borders Jack wasn't daring to cross, even on the day of his graduation.

Plus he wanted to walk through the halls, one last time.

(He knew it probably wasn't true. He planned to visit some of his favourite teachers with his friends later on. But that would be different. Plus what could he say, he was a soppy guy.)

At such day, at such hour, the halls were almost deserted. Almost, because Jack could still hear the echoes of footsteps around him. Once or twice he saw someone going through their locker, maybe saying goodbye to the companion that had been with them for the last four years. One teacher was ascending the stairs, perhaps going to the teacher room, with a bouquet of flowers in their hands.

The lights weren't lit. Why would they? Today these halls weren't the main center of attention. Plus the sunlight filtered through the windows at the end, showing the pathway to some lost lone souls that wanted to feel the atmosphere one last time.

Jack approached the bathroom and stalled for a moment, hand in the middle of grabbing the handle.

How peculiar.

Jack's heart hammered in his chest as the memories flew through his head. It was stupid or maybe even weird, but he could almost hear the voices from the other side, could almost see in his head what would happen after he would push the door.

But, no, that was impossible. It had happened almost a year ago.

Nevertheless when he opened the door and saw emptiness, he felt his heart dropping.

It was just that, a bathroom.

(Yet it was the same bathroom in which it all had started. The same bathroom where he had met Hiccup's scared and pleading eyes and where he had blurted out the lie.)

Jack stepped into the dusty air of the closed space and expected to be hit by a combination of not pleasant smells, the typical mixture that usually flew around here, only to find none.

The window was tilted, letting in a warm breeze that barely pushed through the heavy air inside the room.

Jack stood there, staring at the bushes and trees standing outside on the yard of the school, now empty of the cheery students who walked across there during the summer recesses.

Now, without anyone inside beside himself, it felt like a totally different place, like this room and the rest of the world weren't fitting, but were tilted, askew, barely holding onto the same string of the universe.

Jack shook his head. Damn, it was just a bathroom, like any other.

Yet, no matter how funny, or weird, or strange, or disgusting it sounded, it held some place inside his heart.

He wanted to stand here, stay in the moment for a little bit longer, but his bladder painfully reminded him of itself, so waiting no more, Jack rushed into a stall.

"Do you see them?"

"Next time I'll bring you a step ladder, so you could climb it and see above the crowd." Astrid huffed, but then also rose on her tiptoes to look above the sea of people for a familiar something.

Hiccup rolled his eyes, but waited patiently.

After a minute or so, Astrid grabbed his sleeve and shook him.

"Okay, okay, I see Jack's dad, come on!"

And after that, she grabbed his elbow and maneuvered them both around people, twirling and swirling, like they were in the middle of a dance floor.

(Hiccup was elbowed only once, a new personal best!)

After a minute they managed to get out of the crowd and almost stumble into Jack's family.

Hiccup almost fell down, but Astrid grabbed his elbow and hoisted up, saving him from face planting into the ground right in front of North.

That would be terrible, but so-much like him, that he couldn't even be mad at his luck anymore.

"Good morning!" Astrid chirped.

Hiccup straightened his body and corrected his shirt. Only then he looked around and noticed that beside Jack's family, Aster with his father and Tooth with her parents were also there, looking at them with small smiles.

"Oh uh, good morning." He quickly followed, feeling the blush raising to his cheeks.

Well, so much for first impressions to some people.

But North grinned at them and moved to clasp both his hands on their shoulders.

"I started to wonder when you two would appear! Jack told me you were here somewhere!"

"Oh yeah, we got lost in the crowd." Astrid happily said to the man.

The man nodded.

"I thought something like this could happen." He then moved his hands away. "Oh, do you have any plans right now?"

Hiccup blinked and glanced at his friend.

The girl shrugged.

"No, not really." She answered. "What about you, Hiccup?"

He wanted to say that he literally never have anything planned, besides sitting in his room, but decided to bite his tongue.

"Same here."

North beamed at them, clasping his hands together.

"Great, then you're coming with us!"

"Where are we going exactly?" Astrid hesitantly asked.

"To celebrate, of course!"

"Is it also okay for us to go? We don't want to interrupt anything." Hiccup quickly followed, looking around at the rest of the people around them.

"Nonsense! You're Jack's friends too! I'm sure he will be enamored, if you join us too!"

"Then, if it isn't too much of a problem, we will be honored." Hiccup said, smiling a little through his stress.

Astrid looked around.

"Coming to this, where is Jack exactly?"

"Oh, he went to take a piss." Emma responded fast.

"Emma!"

"What? It's the truth!" The girl snorted, looking at her father.

"Well you could have told it in a more delicate way."

"Okay, next time I will say that he is taking a massive–"

North covered Emma's mouth, who glared at him in reply.

Astrid started cackling madly.

"Hell yeah, I already like you!" She howled and then stepped forward, raising her hand to give the smaller girl a high-five.

Emma did it, still with North's hand clasped around her mouth.

The man shook his head and finally freed his daughter, moving the other hand to his nose to pinch the bridge in exasperation.

(In Hiccup's personal opinion Emma was a riot.)

"Is Jack finally back?" Aster suddenly asked, stepping forward.

"Not yet." North answered.

Bunny rolled his eyes, looking up at the sky like a meteor could fly past them and help him.

"What is he doing there?"

"Well I can explain what he could be doing there!" Emma happily pipped.

"No thank you, Emma." North quickly said, already raising his hand in case the girl would try to say something that totally didn't fit this situation.

Astrid next to him snorted and then elbowed him.

Hiccup glanced at her, raising his eyebrow in an unspoken question what the girl had meant, only to find her nudging with her head towards the school.

He raised the other eyebrow, still not understanding what Astrid tried to say.

She huffed and nodded one more time towards the school, moving her eyebrows, wiggling them, pinching the lips and flaring the nostrils.

Whichever language that was, Hiccup clearly wasn't fluent in it. But then, he was quite terrible in foreign languages. He barely could speak a few words in French and Spanish.

But if he had to guess, then Hiccup would say that Astrid was urging him to –

"Hiccup will check on Jack!" Astrid said, smiling to him and moving her one hand to his shoulder and squeezing it, not exactly painfully, but to prove her point and almost daring him to stop her.

Hiccup wasn't planning to.

"I will?" He asked, a then quickly corrected himself when the girl sent him a death glare. "Oh yeah, sure, no problem?"

"That's the spirit!" Astrid said and patted him hard on the back.

"Great. We will be waiting for you near the parking lot!" It was North, who was clearly listening to them.

Hiccup, a little bit confused, nodded at the man, then looked at Astrid who was staring at him with a devilish smirk and then turned on his heel to walk through the crowd back to the gym.

He couldn't stop the string of sentences from leaving his lips.

"Of course, I'll go. I'm going to check if my friend is still pissing. And if not I'm going to tell him to hurry up. Of course, easy-peasy, totally not weird."

Hiccup huffed as he barely ducked when an elbow had got in too close contact with his face. A side step to the right saved him from a low kick. A weird twist and he wasn't hit in the shoulder by a bag. And then he was finally inside the gym.

He moved towards the bathrooms, but stopped when he noticed the two lines in front of them. To be honest he had never seen a line in front of the male bathroom, so it was quite understandable that he had to stop.

He peeked at the people waiting in it. Neither of them were Jack. He waited a minute, but the people who left the stalls also weren't his friend.

So he didn't use this one.

And Astrid didn't message him to get back, so Jack still didn't return.

So where else could he be, if not here? There was a possibility he had gone to the bathroom in the changing room, but no, they should be closed today, so no one would snoop around the lockers.

So if not in the gym, then Jack had to be somewhere else.

The school.

Now that Hiccup thought about it, it seemed almost too obvious.

(It was simply so Jack to do something like this, that Hiccup wanted to facepalm himself that he hadn't thought about it in the first place. He was a melancholic man, missing things even when they had finished a second ago.)

He directed his steps towards the dark corridors, lit only by sparse rays of sunshine filtering through the windows at the end. He heard the whispers around, the quiet sounds of lockers being locked, which after the holidays would be passed to another soul, another set of palms.

He would be still living here, but Jack wouldn't. He could almost imagine the teen sauntering through the hall, remembering every small memory that filled his heart and mind. If Hiccup closed his eyes, he could almost trace in his mind the moving particles of the universe, forming, shaping the familiar silhouette with a spring to his steps, walking through the corridor.

Hiccup stepped forward, with a mission on his shoulders.

Maybe it was an accident, maybe it was a fluke, maybe it was a set of intertwined threads of fate culminating in front of him, or maybe it was simply the fact that the same bathroom was conveniently on the bottom floor, but Hiccup reached the place where it all had started with a wildly beating heart.

He stopped in front of the door and listened. There were some sounds coming from the inside, movements and shuffles. It clearly indicated that someone was inside. But was it Jack? If not Hiccup could clearly pretend that he was going to the bathroom. It was going to be fine.

Hiccup inhaled deeply and stepped inside.

Jack looked at himself in the mirror, turning his head left and right. For a moment he almost felt like he was looking at someone totally different, like his face didn't belong to him. But that was impossible. He simply had grown, the contours of his cheeks and eyes had changed.

It was a natural path of life.

He stared at himself, at the gown adorning his body and then moved his hands to grip the material and slowly hoist it above his head.

Only to hear the door opening.

Jack turned his head to the left, opening his mouth, preparing himself to say something, anything, but closed it.

"Well this is definitely not what I was expecting to see after walking in."

Jack couldn't stop the soft snort from leaving his mouth, feeling his lips involuntarily stretching into a smile.

"But it's definitely starting to become a habit." He said. "Seeing each other in this bathroom in weird situations."

Hiccup laughed shortly at that, stepping closer.

"Here, let me help you."

Jack nodded and moved the gown above his head. And indeed Hiccup's aid was very much needed here, as his normal shirt rolled up and his head got stuck, because he had forgotten about the button at the back.

After a hot minute filled with struggling with the material, Jack was free of its confinement. Not to mention it was way colder with only his jeans and t-shirt on.

Hiccup folded the gown while Jack turned to his reflection, staring at it. His hair was mussed and his cheeks were a bit red due to the struggle, but there was something more familiar in his posture now, something that fitted him.

"That's better." He said out loud.

Hiccup put the gown on the other sink and looked at him.

Jack glanced back. He meant for it to be a short look, a delicate stare, but found out that his eyes couldn't move away, like they were hooked on Hiccup's ones and he was pulled forward.

There was a frown on Hiccup's face suddenly, wrinkles moving like waves, pushing white foam onto the shore of the beach.

"What?" Jack asked.

Hiccup hummed, then moved his hand, pushing his fingers through Jack's locks, making some of them stand, some of them flatten or curl around in weird places.

It wasn't a long moment, barely lasted ten seconds best, but Jack felt like eternities passed, before Hiccup stepped away, smiling to him.

"Now it's perfect."

Jack turned to the mirror and glanced at himself with even more disheveled hair, looking like he just woke up and went out without even looking at the mirror.

Hiccup stepped next to him, so that both of them could be seen in the reflection.

They stared at each other for a second, until Hiccup pushed his elbow into his side.

"So you finally graduated this hellhole. How does it feel?" Hiccup asked.

Jack pushed him with his shoulder, feeling a smirk appearing on his face.

"Weird, good, nice." He said, letting the words roll off his tongue. "But also kinda scary? I'm not sure what I should be doing from now on."

Jack felt all of that and more, he felt like he was bursting with energy and yet like he was drowning. He was happy and sad, amazed and terrified, he wanted to take a step forward into the sun and hide under the comforting cover of darkness.

"I think you're not the only one who feels like that."

"I know." Jack inhaled, letting his chest expand, only to let it drop down, cave in on itself. "Doesn't make it any easier."

"I bet."

"You're really supportive, you know Hiccup?"

The boy shrugged, looking at him.

"Well it didn't look like you needed support, but harsh truth."

Jack shrugged, because perhaps it was the truth. There were times when he needed to hear warm, sweet words and there were times when he needed a cold bucket of truth to be poured on his head.

Hiccup was probably right. Right now he didn't need the delicacy. He felt good, he felt fine, he felt like he could handle the truth after such a stressful time.

For the first time in a pretty long time he felt that he was ready for what the future held for him, even though he was incredibly scared. But fear was a part of living, a part of the past, present and future. He could run away from it or grab it under the elbow to walk step in step together forward.

Of course there would be times when he would slip and crash down, but damn it, he was going to try.

Hiccup chuckled next to him.

"What's so funny?" Jack asked, looking at his friend.

"Nothing." Hiccup immediately said, but then corrected himself. "I just can't believe that it is still there."

By it, Hiccup meant the scribbles made by marker on the tiles around the mirror.

To be fair, a lot of space in the bathroom was covered with writing, stickers, weird messages that could be terrifying or endearing. Or both in the same time.

"The twins wrote it when they were pissed and desperate during one of Pitch's classes. They hoped that maybe someone would save them and solve it for them."

Jack stepped forward, looking at the writing Hiccup was pointing at and he let out a laugh when he understood what he was seeing.

"Well, I admit I noticed it a few times, but I never thought that the twins were the ones to write it."

Because right in front of his eyes was a quadratic equation, written in a messy handwriting. There were spots that barely resembled numbers, a four looked really like a five, or maybe it was a three in the end. Nevertheless it was a real formula on the wall of the bathroom.

Seeing such things wasn't surprising. Once Jack had seen a whole biology task solved in a stall.

"As I said, they were desperate. I'm not sure what they expected. Perhaps they hoped someone would solve it for them. There is the same writing in the girls bathroom."

Jack shook his head.

"Only twins could come up with something like that."

"Well they are special."

He chuckled. Special was a strange word to use here, but perhaps it was the only fitting word.

He looked at the equation, at the numbers, at the scrawny lines of askew minuses and wonky pluses. His brain suddenly started processing what he was seeing accompanying his wildly beating heart. Perhaps? No, that was dumb. But maybe. No. Or well actually quite yes.

"What are you thinking about?" Hiccup asked, glancing at him, judging by the soft movement to his left.

"I'm trying to solve it." Jack answered.

There was a soft sigh, delicate even, and a sound of rummaging through the pockets, before a black marker appeared in his line of vision.

"Go wild. Maybe you're the happy winner here." Hiccup said, smiling to him.

Jack grabbed the marker and looked at it, slightly bewildered.

"Why do you have it?" He inquired, staring at his companion.

Hiccup smiled at him conspiratorially.

"You don't even know how many times it came in handy." He answered.

"Weird."

"Hey, you never know when you may need to label some sample."

Jack huffed, smiling under his nose. Only Hiccup could make carrying a marker sound like a totally normal and natural thing to do. And perhaps for him it was totally normal. He wouldn't be surprised if he had a Chemistry book inside that bag either.

It was simply Hiccup.

Jack uncapped the marker and then moved towards the wall.

He moved the numbers from right to left, wrote a giant zero on the other side, marked which numbers were which letters, so he could calculate a delta and then somehow save the twins from the miserable fate.

Or well… it was probably too late for them. But maybe Jack could help some other poor soul.

(Or maybe he was simply doing it for himself. Yeah, that felt right. He wanted to do it. He felt like he had to do it.)

His hand moved swiftly on the tiled wall. There was a voice in the back of his head which was telling him that he shouldn't be doing that. But there was also another voice which was whispering that he was already out of the school. Plus who would know it was him who solved it? He was sure Hiccup wouldn't tell anyone.

He felt a smile tug on his lips as the numbers accumulated, forming the result, only for it all to drop and crash down, together with his grin.

Oh.

Because, of course, his life was like that. Now he could understand why the twins had written it on the bathroom wall and had hoped someone would solve it for them.

"Something wrong?" Hiccup asked, looking at him.

Jack let out a wry laugh.

"I got a negative result."

"You mean the discriminant?"

"If by discriminant you mean delta*, then yeah, that."

Jack stared at the small line in front of the number. If it wasn't for the minus, then it would be simply too easy to solve the problem. Even the number after the minus had a root which could be easily calculated.

But this was perhaps Jack's life. Nothing was easy, even if at first glance it looked like it.

Jack couldn't solve it. He didn't know how. Perhaps Aster would be able to do it, he was more experienced when it came to Math. He probably wouldn't even stop there, but move swiftly the hand on the wall, solving the problem.

But Jack was simply… Jack. And he couldn't solve it.

He stared at the mocking number and felt something in him crushing, breaking and shivering. There was an echo of memories, weird ideas that had spurted during the late nights. He stared at the number, at the curvy, askew lines and felt his heart suddenly making a leap.

Ah, yeah, he remembered. Stupid thoughts.

"You know…"

Hiccup hummed, showing that he was listening, but he was not looking at Jack, staring instead intently at the writing on the wall like it held the answers to the whole universe.

"I once thought that my love life is like that too."

"What?" Hiccup asked, incredulous, snapping his head towards Jack. There was confusion swimming in those eyes, beaming, gleaming and sparkling. Like the sunlight reflected on the moving surface of the water. "Like what? Like a quadratic equation?"

Jack chuckled, feeling the bizarreness of this sentence. Back when he had been tired, it had made more sense. Back when the feelings for Hiccup had been so fresh, so vivid, it had felt like he had needed something like this to explain how it had come to this.

(He still liked Hiccup. Or liked was a bad word to use here. The feeling was there, as strong as before, but now it curled around his heart, comfortably, like a dog nearby the fireplace. Part of Jack was afraid that the feeling would never leave. He wasn't sure he wanted it to leave.

But perhaps, maybe, it didn't have to leave?

Jack didn't want to be a coward. He had been in relationships before, but they had rarely used words back then. Or maybe Jack simply hadn't know how to use them. There had been lingering gazes, soft kisses and hugs, but never words that could describe what he had been feeling.

He wasn't sure he could explain it right now.

But damn he was going to try.)

"Yeah, more or less." Jack admitted, feeling the heat slowly accumulating beneath the skin. "Easy at first glance, but then, when you try to solve it, it turns out like that." Jack said, moving the marker and pointing at the negative delta written on the wall.

Perhaps he wanted something more. Something he couldn't solve. Neither knew how.

Hiccup stared at the wall and his eyebrows furrowed for a moment. There was also something rigid in his posture, like he was holding his breath inside.

Jack found out that his heart was beating rapidly in his chest too, hammering, thrumming, thundering. Loudly. It was a storm. The Great Red Spot* in his own planetary heart. It was a hurricane of nervousness and stress, fighting together and clawing each other's eyes. But there was also something else.

Hope. Sweet, delicate, hesitant hope. Hope that danced across his chest, lighted up the nerves, spread the flame across his limbs and made the hairs on his skin stand up. Hope that was smiling sheepishly from behind his ear, whispering that it was going to be okay.

Jack stared at Hiccup, feeling the tension hissing between them.

There was a beat, a sudden spasm of silence, a loud heartbeat. Then Hiccup exhaled slowly and moved the hand towards Jack, making a grabbing motion.

Jack put the marker in his palm.

Hiccup looked at him, like he was searching for something in his face, but as quick as he glanced he was turning back, leaning towards the wall and then writing numbers, lines and swirls across the dirty tiles.

It couldn't take long, perhaps four to six minutes. Long minutes spent with Jack observing the calculated movements of the wrist, short stops to check whether the results were correct. Jack stared, barely able to do anything else than blink.

And then, not soon enough, two distinct complex roots were staring back at him.

Hiccup put the cap back on the marker and put it on the sink. His shoulders were raised, close to his neck, and ears red, as he was looking hard at his hands.

Jack stared, trying to make head and tails of what he was seeing.

He wanted to say something, anything, but wasn't sure what. Twice his mouth moved to let out words, but with no result.

Then Hiccup inhaled deeply and slowly turned around, letting his shoulders slump down.

"Perhaps you just need someone who is not afraid of the negative delta." He said, slowly, like he was weighing his words. "Someone who can use imaginary numbers to calculate the result."

Jack tried to squish the loudly beating heart, but it suddenly felt like his chest was too small, too cramped for it to beat wildly and freely.

"Is the result even real then? If you use imaginary numbers?" Jack hoarsely asked.

Hiccup looked up at him, right into his eyes. There was stardust of hesitation there, but also something more, something that was pleading him to understand.

"Well, the roots aren't real, no. But the result is. Real, that is." Then like an afterthought, he added. "The equation is still correctly solved."

The more he spoke, the quieter Hiccup was getting, to this point that near the end, the words resembled a whisper, a touch of the wind on the leaves or a sensation pushing the dust away from the furniture.

Jack felt his heart beating so harshly, that he was afraid it would simply jump out of his chest.

And maybe, it wouldn't be such a bad idea. Not right now. Not with Hiccup.

So with a trembling hand, Jack reached and grabbed Hiccup's palm, pushing it away from the marker, which rolled a bit on the uneven sink and almost slipped into the drain.

Hiccup paid it no mind, as he snapped his eyes up, looking again at him.

Jack smiled and simply said:

"I like you, Hiccup."

Hiccup stared back at him, eyes suddenly going a little bit wider. There was a sudden tremble of the chest as a quick exhale left the barely parted lips, which quirked a bit in something resembling a smile.

"I…" He said and stopped, licking his lips.

Maybe Jack needed to be a bit clearer. A little bit even more straightforward. Because this was what Hiccup preferred. The harsh truth over sweet lie. The simple explanation that explained everything, not the over complicated description that barely made sense.

"More than a friend." Jack clarified, feeling like he could be pushed down by a small touch of the wind coming inside through the tilted window.

Hiccup made a weird noise at the back of his throat as he stared at Jack with wide eyes and a blush rising, growing, getting brighter on his cheeks. He closed and opened his mouth a few times, staring with bewilderment. But the emotion was slowly, but surely, moving away, making place for something else, a hue of happiness, a stroke of hope, a spot of excitement, a shadow of bliss.

Then like finally some synapses snapped together, like the input was finally processed by the brain, like the program in the end was able to deal with the data that had been feed into it, Hiccup's eyes looked at him, wrinkling near the corners as he smiled.

"Are you… are you really confessing to me in the school bathroom?"

Jack quickly opened his mouth, but closed it when he didn't find a quick retort. So he decided for the second best.

"Now that you mention it, I could have picked a more romantic place."

He could. He could ask Hiccup for a walk in the park and say those words there. He could ask him to come over and he could whisper this sentence while laying leisurely on the quilt and staring at the swirling snowflakes. He could ask for a quick meeting in a fast food restaurant and then happily crash the question right into Hiccup's chest.

But he didn't.

It wasn't the perfect place. Now that Jack really thought about it, it maybe was even kinda disgusting.

Hiccup snorted at that, letting the smile spread on his lips, closing his eyes for a moment, hiding those broad and wide galaxies behind the eyelids for a moment. One hand moved to push higher the glasses on his nose.

They stood there for a moment, longer than necessary, longer that they should be.

Jack could feel the nervousness slowly, but surely starting to creep along his spine. Did he get it majorly wrong? But at the prom it had seemed, it had felt like Hiccup had wanted it to.

However it wasn't only that. It was all those small things only nowadays Jack had been noticing - lingering gazes, soft, staying touches, small steps out of the boundary of comfort to make the other person smile. It hadn't been anything majorly big. On the contrary. It had been a spectrum of those small movements, moments, thoughts, emotions and things, that had built it all up.

Jack was going to give Hiccup time. As much as he needed.

Gladly, after the small turmoil of his chest, he didn't have to wait long, as a second later the hand wrapped itself better around his palm, interlocking the fingers and tightening the grip for a moment.

Jack looked at Hiccup.

"Jack, I…" Hiccup started and then stopped, shaking his head. "Are you sure?"

"Am I sure that I have a crush on you?" Jack hesitantly asked. "Yeah, I do."

Hiccup smiled at him, but there was a hidden sad tint to it.

"I can be a difficult person. I may not be the easiest one to be with." He slowly said.

Jack tilted his head.

"Are you trying to discourage me?"

Hiccup quickly shook his head.

"No, no, never that." He bit his tongue after the words left his mouth and then blushed harder. "I just… don't want you to be disappointed, I guess."

Jack felt that there was more left unsaid. Mountains of fears that Jack had to climb at some point. Probably not today, maybe not even this year, but it was a trail he had to face at some point.

But he could make the first step.

"Hiccup, I like you, with all your nerdiness, weird behaviors, hesitant emotions you're afraid to show. I like you because of who you are." Jack inhaled deeply. "Don't get me wrong. There probably will be moments, when I'll get frustrated. I know that. I know myself. But nevertheless I want this." Had wanted for quite some time. "I want to try."

And build something between the two of them.

Hiccup stared at him, cheeks colored with red hues, similar to poppies in the middle of the rye field.

Then quieter, Jack added:

"Of course, if you want it too."

Hiccup swallowed hard. The Adam's apple bobbed up and down, moving beneath the freckled skin.

He gripped Jack's hand - and maybe that small movement, the fact that Hiccup was there, clearly trying to find the words to form a response, was an answer in its own.

No, Hiccup had given him his answer today. He had done it in his own, nerdy way. He had opened the door to the possibilities with the marker, the bathroom wall, askew letters and crooked numbers, imaginary ones, but so real nevertheless.

"Give me a second, my brain is trying not to explode." Hiccup suddenly said, straightening his back.

Jack let out a small snort.

"I hope that not in the bad way."

Hiccup snapped his mouth shut and shook his head.

"No, in the actually pretty nice way? Like really, really nice? I'm just trying not to get into cardiac arrest."

Jack's heart soared, leaped, jumped high inside his ribcage. He smiled widely at Hiccup who grinned broadly back at him.

Then Hiccup blurted out:

"I want it too. To try. I mean I hope to make it work. I want to make it work. The two of us. Together."

The sentences were barely glued together, but oh so Hiccup, that Jack couldn't ask for more than that.

It was even more than he had expected. He was sure that if he could record those words, he would replay them over and over to lull himself back to sleep in the evenings.

Jack brushed his thumb against Hiccup's skin, finding pleasure in the soft movement. Now, with the higher meaning, it was sweeter than ever.

Because from now on, he could do it without second thoughts. He could grab Hiccup's palm and hold it. He could interlock their fingers and keep them like that for longer than a few minutes. He could stare at Hiccup's face and admire the features without the boy judging him. He could do so many little and simple things that Jack wasn't sure where he could even start.

Or maybe… he knew.

There was a small thing he wanted to do, a small thing that had been stuck to the back of his head, glued, ever-lasting since that prom night.

Maybe back then it had been a spur of the moment, an intoxicated movement of the bodies, an alcohol driven desire suddenly blooming inside their chests.

Maybe it was that.

Or maybe it was not.

"Hiccup."

He hummed to show that he was still listening.

"I want to do something, I've been wanting to do it for some time. But you are free to say 'no' if you don't feel like you're ready."

Hiccup looked at him and if it was possible for the blush to get even darker, then Hiccup's one definitely did.

If this didn't look adorable, Jack wasn't sure what else did.

"Oh uh, okay." He nodded, the gratitude shimmering in his eyes.

Okay, okay, Jack got it. He wanted to do it. He had wanted to do it for so long. The mind and heart had feed him ideas, possibilities, echoes of the sensations from before to fill the blank spaces he had had.

He moved a bit, turned on the heel and looked at Hiccup's face. At the light dancing across the cheeks, at the freckles hiding beneath the reddish hue, at the hopefulness and excitement spreading in that giddy grin, at the happiness sailing the ocean of his eyes.

He could do it. He wanted to do it.

Feeling the threads of his heart being pulled forward, he leaned forward - letting his eyelids drop - closer, nearer, slowly, maybe even agonizingly slow to let Hiccup move back if he wanted to. He wouldn't be mad, he would respect that. They didn't have to go fast, they could do things at their own pace and Jack would be simply happy that Hiccup would be there with him.

But maybe, he was doing it a little bit wrong. Because in the next second there was a hand gripping his shirt and yanking him harshly forward.

Well wasn't that a surprise?

In hindsight it wasn't the best of Hiccup's plans.

It wasn't like in the movies. They didn't fit perfectly together. They didn't miraculously closed the distance in oh so astonishingly ideal combination. Quite on the contrary. Their noses bumped, Hiccup's glasses pinched and bruised his skin and their teeth clashed almost painfully.

But they kissed.

And damn, Hiccup's heart soared like it was on an exponential curve, moving higher and higher, almost locking itself in Hiccup's throat.

It was awkward, clearly messy and maybe it was partially his fault, but he didn't care.

He especially didn't care as Jack let out a soft huff, something resembling a laughter, and then moved his hand, spread his fingers across Hiccup's cheek, tilting it so that their noses wouldn't bash together again.

Hiccup obediently moved, loosening the tension in his hand, letting it now only leisurely knot in Jack's shirt.

He felt like his heart and mind could explode with the soft, delicate pressure on his lips. It wasn't like anything he had imagined.

Because he had done that - had imagined it. He had thought how it would feel like, whether it would be really awkward, hot, messy, or perhaps sweet. Yet what he was given, what he was feeling was way better.

It was delicate, yet passionate, it was sweet, yet spicy, it was soft, lingering, yet harsh and strong. Incredibly how so many opposite feelings could be fitted in one touch of the chapped lips.

Hiccup exhaled slowly through his nose, feeling the heat beam back at him due to the close proximity of Jack's face.

Their lips moved slowly against each other. It wasn't a full kiss, not the ones Hiccup had seen in movies or read in books. And that was okay. He was sure he would jump back if something like that actually happened. But this, this was okay for a first try.

Because it felt comforting, familiar, sweet, loving. It was a soft touch of the wind during the cold morning. It was a warm breeze of fire in the middle of the night. It was a starlight cascading on the body during the darkness. It was a sweet exhale of the air after hearing the birds peep in the trees after a painful night.

It was… good.

Jack's hand moved on his cheek and brushed the skin there with his thumb and pointing finger, resting it a little under his eye.

They slowly moved away, after the need for air became very much impossible to ignore, but remained close.

Hiccup kept his eyes closed for a few more seconds. There was this weird and irrational fear inside his chest that if he opened his eyes right now, everything in front of him would turn to dust, would disintegrate and he would be left alone in the school bathroom.

But the touch remained, the lingering sensation etched itself in his brain and heart. Jack's gripped his hand, making him snap his eyes open.

He was still there, looking at Hiccup with that pure grin which had stolen his heart.

They stared at each other and Hiccup simply couldn't stop himself. He let out a soft chuckle.

Jack didn't look phased by that. He let out a silky snort himself, not letting go of that small grin.

"We probably should go." Jack finally said.

Hiccup blinked, suddenly taken aback and then slapped himself internally.

"Oh, yeah, totally! I actually came here to bring you back."

"Well you did bad job at it." Jack quickly said.

Hiccup hit him in the shoulder with the free hand and furrowed his eyebrows.

Jack moved a step back, so the fist only grazed him and sent him another smile, but this one more mischievous, impish, as it jumped across his fluttering eyelashes.

Seriously, why did Hiccup even bother?

"Although I can't say I mind it." Jack added, tugging on their interlocked hands.

Even though his heart still skipped a beat and then drummed almost painfully inside his quite constricted chest, Hiccup couldn't stop himself from rolling his eyes. He was still himself in the end.

"You're a dork." He said.

Jack grabbed his hand, moved it up and made Hiccup swirl beneath it.

Hiccup squeaked as the world whirled around him, blurred as he was forced to move his body weight to his heel to not crash into a sink or into a wall.

When he stopped spinning, Jack stood closer to the door and was looking at him expectantly.

Hiccup had at least ten, dozen remarks at the end of his tongue, but decided to keep them for himself. For now.

He stepped closer to Jack, nudging him with the elbow of their connected hands.

"You're ready?" Hiccup asked, looking up at him.

Jack looked back at him, right at him, squeezed comfortingly his fingers, brushing the thumb against the skin, sending a thousand tiny shivers back up Hiccup's arm.

The smile he sent him now was probably the purest one Hiccup had seen in a pretty long time.

"Now I am."

"And… that should be the last of it!"

Jack huffed, feeling the droplets of sweat rolling down the side of his forehead, sneaking towards his neck, only to disappear into the wet material of his shirt. His one hand moved towards his forehead to brush it, but the only thing he managed to do was spread the sweat around. His white locks were already curling near his ears.

Aster next to him exhaled loudly and then lifted the hem of his shirt to brush away the spot beneath his nose.

"I never thought that packing could be so difficult." Jack said, taking big gulps of air into his lungs.

The fact that the Sun was shining right at their backs wasn't helping them much. He loved it, but in this very moment he wouldn't mind if the star would take a break and hide behind some lonely clouds.

"It's probably easier if you don't have to fit half of your house in a car." Aster added, looking at him with a twitch to his lips.

"How you managed to still have so much stuff after you've already have two full trucks?"

Bunny shrugged at that.

Jack stared at Aster's father's small car. With so many bags in the trunk, it almost tilted to one side. Maybe they should move the suitcase to the left? So this way the vehicle would be better balanced?

"Good job!"

There was a cold touch near his neck and Jack jumped, startled by the sensation.

He swirled his head around to look at Tooth, who was smiling wildly with a bottle of cold water near his throat.

"Thanks." Jack said, sending her a grin and grabbing the bottle.

Another one was passed to Aster, who nodded at her and uncapped it, taking a few big gulps from it.

Jack quickly followed, feeling the coldness numbing his scratched and dry throat.

It felt like the hottest day of the summer and the summer only barely started. If the weather forecast was any indication (and it should be), the next two weeks should be filled with blazing sun, only for a few short storms to come over later on.

(Gladly, the storms would miss his trip for the interview.)

"I can see that you managed to fit everything." Tooth said, looking at the packed car.

"We couldn't let you have all the glory." Jack mused, smirking.

The girl glanced at him, also with a mischievous glint in her eyes. Her one hand moved to push a green strand of hair behind the ear.

"Well, not my fault you're just weak."

"Uh harsh." Aster hummed, but didn't really look like he minded that.

Jack huffed, feeling the muscles on his back tensing as he straightened it and stared with the rest of his friends at the car.

It almost hurt to look at it. There was a lone pang inside his chest at the implications of what it all meant. He knew it would happen, he was conscious of the fact and yet he was surprised that this day really came.

Aster was moving away. Two trucks had been already packed and were driving slowly, but steadily, towards their new home. Which left only several last things and them both to pack into Aster's father's car.

(Aster's own was already there.)

Even though Jack had helped with packing a bit – quite a big bit to be fair – the date, the day still had seemed like some faraway red circle on the calendar. But no. It was today. The marker had to put a giant x on the date.

Jack stared at the packed car and felt his stomach twisting.

"So…" Tooth started and then moved her wrist to brush her nose. "It's today."

Apparently they were all thinking about the same thing. No wonder actually.

"Yeah." Bunny murmured. "I still can't believe it. I feel like my mind is blocking this idea."

"Same here." Jack added.

Part of him wasn't believing it fully just yet. For him it felt like another normal day, a little bit strange, weird and crooked, but nothing out of the ordinary.

Yet it wasn't a normal day. Any day leading to this one hadn't been normal.

Aster moved the bottle closer to his mouth, but pushed it away and turned around to stare at the house.

Jack wondered what kind of thoughts were running through his mind. Whatever it was, judging by the frown caressing his forehead, it couldn't be anything good.

Was he also thinking how a part of his life was just ending in front of his eyes? How the very last words were currently being written in this chapter? How he was one step away from something totally new, while leaving comforting familiarity behind?

Was he as scared as Jack was? Maybe even more so?

Jack didn't want Aster to go, but he could also understand that he had to. He knew there was no other option. It didn't mean he had to like it. He could understand the reasons. He could accept them and still be angry and sad. Because he was. No matter how many times he would smile during this day, no matter how many jokes he would crack, he still knew that his heart was being ripped apart.

And yet he couldn't do anything about it.

No, he could. He was doing it right now. Spending these last minutes with Aster. It wasn't like they wouldn't see each other ever again. They would. He knew they would. Maybe their friendship would become strained, but he knew they all were going to try and keep it.

Too much connected them, for it all to disappear. And if they weren't going to talk for some time, it was going to be alright too. They still would be friends.

Aster pinched his lips in a tight line, like the storm of thoughts that overtook his brain was a heavy one and he was trying hard not to say something, when there was a shout from the street.

"Oh, we've made it!"

Every pair of eyes turned towards the source of voice.

A rush of colors jumped onto the driveway, some of them almost crashing into the car.

It took Jack a few seconds to distinguish specific faces, between the mass that clambered forward, pushing at each other, like they were racing towards them. Or maybe in the end they were.

Because there were twins and Snotlout running forward.

Tuffnut was the first one to reach them and threw his hand around Bunny's shoulder, moving him down, uncomfortably bending his body against his will.

(Jack almost heard the spine crack painfully. Ouch.)

Ruffnut took the second place, tugging on the gray locks playfully and swirling to the other side of the boy.

Snotlout was the last one to reach the rest and he grabbed Aster's cheeks, squishing them and making the boy look up.

"Did you think you could just drive away without saying goodbye?"

"Well if I wanted to say goodbye to every person I know, it would take weeks." Aster murmured, still with clasped cheeks, so the voice came out like a garble and a gurgle.

Tuffnut clicked his tongue.

"You wound us, Aster. And we invited you to so many parties."

To this Bunny didn't have an immediate answer. Mostly because that was true. Aster had been invited to almost all the parties that had been organized by the students. Well mostly by the twins and Sinbad.

"Well, I didn't know you knew I was moving away."

"You know you are literally digging your own grave right now?" Ruffnut asked, tugging on the gray strands and raising her one eyebrow.

Aster hissed at the harsh, but kinda adorable treatment.

Jack looked at Tooth, who stepped closer to him and sent him a small smirk, definitely finding pleasure in the scene too.

"Say you're sorry, that you didn't really want to move away without saying goodbye." Snotlout suddenly said, ordering tone hanging at the last syllable.

"What?"

"Say it!"

"No!"

Tuffnut made Aster bend further, angling his body in all the wrong directions, Ruffnut tugged the ear for a change and Snotlout moved his face closer to the poor teen.

"Do it! Yield!"

"No!"

(Should Jack intervene?)

Aster bent his body and managed to hook his hand under Tuffnut's back, moving it to his shoulders and hoisting him up.

(Perhaps not.)

"Sorry for them. I was sure they knew."

Jack tried to calm his wildly beating and leaping heart after hearing the voice near him. He had expected it. Heck, he had known it would appear here soon. He had been conscious of it. And yet when it happened, it still sent shivers down his spine, making the warmness flutter inside his stomach.

"Don't worry. Aster is fine." He said, turning and locking eyes with Hiccup, who was approaching them with Astrid in tow.

"Is he really?" Astrid asked, looking skeptically at the situation happening in front of them.

Jack looked up.

Apparently Ruffnut somehow had managed to jump on Aster's side and was pulling heavily on his locks. Tuffnut hung on one hand. Snotlout was sneaking towards Bunny's back.

"He'll be fine!" Jack said confidently.

Then they all heard a loud yelp as everyone landed on the grass in a heap of bodies.

Aster groaned heavily.

"See? He is fine." Jack said, waving his hand.

Well, probably as fine as he could be on the dirty, uncut grass with a layer of warm bodies pressed against him.

He was going to live.

"I hate you all." Aster murmured, groaned even as he squinted at the Sun that was definitely shining right into his eyes.

"No, you don't." Ruffnut said happily, rolling off of Aster and then hoisting herself up, wincing in pain as her hand moved to her back.

"I do. From the bottom of my heart."

"Then it is not a deep heart." Tuffnut added, grabbing his sister's hand and jumping to his feet too.

There was a red scratch mark on his elbow, but it seemed like he didn't even pay it any mind.

"I feel like I should be angry about that." Aster huffed, weirdly out of breath as Snotlout scrambled away from him and straightened his back and legs.

They popped painfully.

"We said that your heart is not deep, but it is wide." Ruffnut said, shrugging and brushing away the grass and dirt from her hair.

Aster sighed heavily, moved his hands up and then flopped them down on the ground, groaning in the end.

And this is how Mister Bunnymund found them as he exited the house. His eyes roamed across all their faces, lightening up at the familiar people standing in front of him.

"Hello." He said happily.

The bags were still there, under his eyes. They seemed permanently glued to the skin, like it was a trait he had had from the very beginning. But that was impossible.

Even though the man was simply exhausted, he was trying to be a spark of positivity.

(Though Jack could see the sad etches, bottoms of the dry rivers running across the face. He was sad too. The man had spent his whole life here, in this city. It definitely wasn't easy to leave it all behind.)

"Good afternoon, Mister Bunnymund." Came the chorus of voices, resembling kids greeting a teacher in a kindergarten.

Jack snickered under his nose as the man blinked in confusion for a moment, before he directed his eyes at Aster who was still laying on the ground.

"The heat wave got to you?"

The boy lifted his hand and waved it vaguely to point around him.

"No, they did."

The twins and Snotlout smiled apologetically at the man and moved their hands behind their backs, a perfect image of little imps that tried to show that they did nothing bad.

Aster's father sighed, but with a warm smile. Then there was a sudden spark, a tide wave overpowering the soft eyes as he glanced down, losing the mirth they had held just a second ago.

"We should be moving if we want to arrive today."

And just like that, everyone's moods dropped down, slid and crashed.

Jack could have prepared himself for so many months and somehow this still surprised him. It took away his breath for a moment as it all simply expanded and he felt that he didn't have place in his body for so many emotions.

Aster hoisted himself to a sitting position and nodded.

"Sure, okay, give me a second."

The man nodded.

"Okay, I'm going to check if all the windows are closed and if we turned everything off."

Another short bop of the head.

The man smiled at him and then turned around to walk into the house. Maybe he just wanted to give his son some privacy. He had to know that it was hard for everyone.

Bunny sighed heavily and then moved to stand on his feet, swaying a bit. He stared at the house with the half-lidden eyes and a thoughtful look.

Was he going to walk inside? Jack wasn't sure. He himself would want to, but maybe Aster had already said his goodbyes before. He wouldn't be surprised. Aster was this type of person. Maybe he had laid down in the bed this morning, very early, staring at the bare room and empty walls and thinking about all the memories he was leaving behind. Maybe he had already spent hours walking around, etching every corner into his mind, filling it with the photos of the house that had held so many memories, house that soon would probably be filled with voices, cheers, laughter of other people.

"Hey man." Tuffnut surprisingly stepped forward first. "Take care and visit us from time to time, will ya?"

Bunny turned to the voice and nodded.

"Of course."

Tuffnut smirked at him and clasped his shoulder and hand in a friendly manner, clapping his back a few times.

"See ya around one day." Snotlout added, doing similar thing as Tuffnut, but harder.

Aster winced at the pure strength.

Ruffnut swirled around and then punched his shoulder, making Aster move his palm to massage the abused place.

"Take care and write to us sometimes, okay?"

Aster looked at the girl and nodded.

"Sure."

She shook his hand, then flicked his nose and moved away, letting her arm slump over her brother's shoulder.

"We will be going first. See you all later!"

Jack hesitantly waved at the trio as they moved toward the pavement and walked in the direction of their house, laughing loudly between each other.

There was a quiet whisper near his ear.

"Don't be fooled. They are terrible at saying goodbyes. They cried like babies when Fishlegs was moving away." Hiccup's hot breath washed over his skin, making the hairs on his arm stand up.

Jack grinned to himself.

Aster stared for a few moments at the three people walking away.

They didn't turn back. Maybe they simply couldn't. Jack wouldn't be surprised if they had to fill the emptiness between them with words to forget about the knowledge of Aster moving away. In the end, they were good people, filled to the brim with love for others.

Aster sighed, letting his shoulders slump down, and then turned on his heel towards them.

"So… yeah…" He said, clearly at a loss of words.

Astrid stepped forward and clapped his shoulder.

"It's going to be fine." She said, smiling to him.

The boy nodded at that.

The comforting presence disappeared from Jack's side as Hiccup walked forward, slowly, hesitantly showing Bunny his palm.

"Take care of yourself." He said, softly, curling his lips in that knowing smirk that simply took Jack's breath away.

Maybe he should feel mad or jealous that it wasn't directed at him, but he didn't. He couldn't.

(There was a part of him which rejoiced that this smile, this grin was often directed at him, with the pure feeling twinkling in the heart. It was okay to share it with the rest of the world, it was okay to show it to the sky, it was okay to let the smile sparkle in front of the stars.)

Aster looked down at Hiccup and moved his hand, curling his fingers around the smaller boy's palm.

"Same to you too." Then he looked conspiratorially above his shoulder, right at Jack. "Look after him, will you?"

"Without me, he wouldn't last a day." Hiccup said, turning his head a bit and glancing at him.

Jack stuck out his tongue, closing his eyes and finding a childish pleasure in the small show of affection drizzling between them.

The corners of Hiccup's mouth twitched.

Aster glanced at him, a weird feeling roaming the deserts of his eyes, and then nodded, like he was content with whatever he found on Jack's face.

They shook their hands, staring at each other for a second, and then Hiccup stepped back, barely moving away in time.

Because Tooth jumped at Aster, attacked him, wrapping her hands around his neck.

"Call us when you'll get there, okay?" She said, hanging on his shoulders and whispering into the ear.

Aster hesitantly lifted his hands, moving them in the air for a few seconds, before he finally rested them on her back.

"Sure, if you still will be up."

Tooth giggled, but the sound was weirdly muffed as she pushed her face further into Bunny's neck.

"Of course, I'll be up. I'm already worried and you didn't move yet."

Aster let out a dry chuckle, moving his head, so his nose and half of the face were obscured by the colorful waterfall of hair.

"You were always a worrywart."

"I can't help myself."

There was a short spasm, a sudden melody of silence that enveloped the pair, before Aster let out a whisper.

"Never change, Tooth."

"I'm not planning to."

It seemed like it was a small conversation that should only be heard by them. Maybe it was. Jack did feel bad that he had heard it. But only a little bit. Mostly he felt his heart squeeze, but then it was soaring, floating above the clouds towards the Sun.

They embraced for a few more seconds, probably relaxing in the proximity and comfort of the warmly pressed tight bodies. Like right now in the world there were no other humans but them, two close friends intertwined by fate.

Jack's couldn't stop the small smile from forming on his lips.

But then Tooth moved back, resting her whole feet on the ground and staring forward. There was a short spasm of hesitancy, before she planted a soft kiss on Aster's cheek, moving her other hand to caress the forehead in a motherly manner.

She smiled at him one last time and stepped away, making place for Jack.

He had everything planned inside his head beforehand, but right now, when he was met with the reality, everything skittered away from his mind. The thoughts flew away like insects when kids ran through the grass, disturbing the silence and peacefulness of the garden.

They had been friends since Jack could remember. It seemed like Aster had been always there, from the moment he could understand what had been happening in his life. He had been here when they had been in the kindergarten, he had been here when Jack had attended the Elementary School, they had gone to the same Middle School and then hadn't stopped being close as they had moved together to the High School.

It felt like there hadn't been a part of Jack's life that hadn't been filled with Aster at some point.

But not anymore.

He knew it wasn't the end of their friendship, but he also knew it would be way harder to keep in contact with so many kilometers between them, with so many classes and additional plans they would be making. He knew there probably would be moments filled with silence on the other side, in the other city.

He knew it all. It didn't make it any easier to say something right now.

How people knew what to say in such situations? It always seemed so easy in the books and movies. But right now, when the reality was looking right into his eyes, he found out that it all was a mess, a dizzying spell that was put upon his mind and heart.

The only good thing about this situation was the fact that Aster looked as lost as he was.

Bunny never had been an overly affectionate person, but they treated each other like brothers. Aster was a part of Jack's family and vice versa.

But Jack couldn't let him go without doing, saying anything. He had to. Not only because he was supposed to do it, but also because he wanted to.

However maybe, maybe this time he didn't have to be the first one to make a step, the first one to open the mouth, the first one to take the initiative, rolling high dexterity on the twenty sided dice.

Because Aster looked at him, let the mischievous smirk form on his lips and with a heavy sigh, he said:

"Don't think so much. You'll fry your brain."

"Someone has to do it, if you're not." Jack immediately said, glancing up at his friend.

Aster huffed exasperatedly at that, but then moved weirdly his hands, spreading them around.

"Come here you little shit, before you hurt yourself."

And Jack did. It felt like he tripped as he stepped forward and almost fell into the embrace, but he didn't mind.

Perhaps that was what he needed the most. Not words, not comforting sentences which would show that everything would be okay. Maybe he needed a little bit of touch that could explain and confirm everything.

He wrapped his hands around Aster, gripping him for a moment and feeling the boy's hands hug him back too.

They were probably using a lot of Aster's patience, but he didn't mind.

Jack inhaled deeply, feeling his stomach shiver at the familiar scent that he wouldn't smell for some time.

He knew he could stay like this for a long time, seconds, minutes, hours. He felt like he could stay embracing like that for months, but unfortunately knew that it couldn't happen.

So he clutched Aster's body tightly one last time and then moved away.

(He ignored the prickling sensation in the corners of his eyes for now. This wasn't the time for tears.)

"I hope that you're still up for gaming on Friday?" He asked.

He could feel the hope crystallizing at the end, like a salt at the tip of a stalactite. He knew it was probably stupid, maybe even weird, because he knew Aster would say 'yes'. But the fear was still there, mixing with the crystal clear hope and making him twitch and shiver inside.

"If the internet connection will be there, then yeah." Bunny said, smiling to him.

And it was a promise of their own.

They stared at each other for a second or so, before Aster's father went out of the house. Maybe he was observing them, waiting for a perfect moment to step out, to show himself and finalize today with one small movement of a key.

The man closed the door, locked it with a loud click that resonated even in the open space around them, and then looked at them, stepping forward.

"Ready?" He asked.

And even though it was directed at his son, it felt like everyone could answer him. Like in the end it was a question that everyone took to their hearts.

"Ready as I'll ever be."

The man nodded and then glanced at Jack.

"I hope you'll visit us."

Jack beamed at him.

"Already planned that. You can expect us in a month."

The man grinned at that, letting out a soft snort. He shook his hand with Jack, gripping the palm, not too tightly, not to loosely, just perfect for a man whose kind palms treated animals.

"Take care."

"Same to you, mister Bunnymund. Have a safe trip."

The man nodded and then moved to the rest to bid them farewell too, staying longer with Tooth and exchanging a few shushed sentences with her.

And after that it all happened in the blink of an eye. They moved towards the car, checked if they had everything packed, exchanged a few quick words, leaning into each other's ears and then they were moving inside, sparing them a glance.

Jack's felt something inside of him squeezing painfully. The dryness returned to his throat and it felt like his tongue was moving against sandy desert filled only with the scorching sun that burned the body. He listened as the car came back to life with a loud huff.

One suitcase rattled inside when the man shifted gears.

Part of him, no matter how childish it was, wanted to run forward and stop the car, yell and plead for them to stop. But he knew he couldn't do that, no, he knew that in the end he even wouldn't do that. There were things more important than their friendship, things that had to be put first and Jack would damn himself if he somehow stepped in between that.

It just… hurt, in lack of a more fitting word.

Jack stared, feeling the tears appearing, forming in the corners of his eyes, when the foreign fingers moved, skimmed across his palm and he automatically moved to grab the hand intruding his personal space.

(He didn't mind it, no, on the contrary, this was what he needed right now.)

He didn't have to look at the person who had done that. He knew. He knew that the closeness was shared with only one person. That the proximity of their hearts was understood by only one person.

(Even though they had been officially together for a few days, it felt like nothing had changed in their lives. Okay, maybe not nothing. There were small things here and there, like Hiccup grabbing his hand or Jack pecking the boy's cheek. They hadn't spent every moment together. No, no, there had been days when they had visited each other and there had been days when they had spent alone or with other people. And Jack really loved it, the feeling of companionship that filled his heart. This was what he had been missing, what he wanted to have with Hiccup. His heart still skipped a beat, but there was a happy undertone when he thought about Hiccup's acceptance, about his feelings entangling with the threads of Jack's own heart. Now he felt like his feelings were stronger than before.)

Jack interlaced their fingers together and stared at the car that drove off the driveway.

Aster's face turned to them and there was a sad gleam in his eyes. Then he moved his hand and waved at them.

Jack lifted his hand and waved back, trying to keep it all together.

And simply just like that, the car drove away, taking a little bit of Jack with itself and leaving them alone in front of the empty house that once, not long ago, had held so much life and vigor.

It was done.

Jack felt more lost than ever before.

"We probably should be going." Astrid suddenly said, looking at them.

Hiccup snorted.

"You just want to see the twins and Snotlout try to hide the tears."

"Well, yeah! The longer we stay here, the more time they have to hide the evidence." The girl shrugged with mischievous smirk on her mouth.

"You're an evil woman, Astrid." Hiccup mussed.

"I would call myself chaotic good."

Jack laughed at that.

"Do you want to go with us?" Hiccup suddenly inquired, clenching his palm. "I'm sure the twins wouldn't mind."

Jack looked down at Hiccup, looking right into his sparkling eyes.

He knew he could agree on that proposition. To be fair, he wanted Hiccup to be here with him today. He felt like by simply holding his hand it all was more bearable, like Hiccup was Jack's connection between the reality and his own mind.

But he also knew he couldn't.

"No, it's okay. I already made plans with Tooth to drown our sadness in Ben & Jerry's and weird movies."

Tooth pumped her hand in the air.

"We can't let all those ice creams we bought go to waste!"

Hiccup nodded at that, but there was a sparkle of sadness after hearing it.

He could understand Jack. And Jack really loved that about him.

"Okay." He whispered. "Call me if you need anything."

And then Hiccup stood on his tiptoes to plant a delicate kiss on Jack's cheek.

It was a small movement, a quick one, a short one, with lips barely touching the skin, but it still left a sizzling sensation there, warming his heart and helping it glue itself back together.

"Will do." Jack said, smiling to Hiccup as he moved away. "Have fun you two." He added, glancing also at Astrid.

"You too."

Astrid saluted at him.

And with one last glance in Jack's direction, Hiccup stepped away and hooked his elbow with Astrid's hand, who then proceeded to drag him away.

Jack stared at them for a second, before Tooth popped up next to him, bumping his shoulder.

"You ready, Jack?"

He turned to her.

"Will we ever be?" He asked, hinting on a joking tone.

She graced Jack with a blinding, understanding smile that could crack every code, every enigma and every password.

"Probably no." She answered truthfully and then grabbed his elbow.

Jack chuckled, feeling the stars of happiness, sadness, fears and expectations twist and mingle, dance across his heart.

"Lead the way then." He said, allowing Tooth to drag him away.

"Into the unknown!"

Together.

the end

Author's note:

It's… finally done. Part of me can't really believe it, but it's like finally done. Now I can take a break, huff. Thank you all for being here with me, reading this story, commenting it. I hope that it managed to lift up your mood a bit and made dealing with life a little bit easier.

Thank you :3!

If you want to hear more about me dealing with this story, check my Tumblr, because oh boy, I have a lot of thoughts about it, but I don't want to spam the last chapter xD.

Hope to see you soon :3!

Some nerdy stuff:

*The patellar reflex – or knee-jerk – is a stretch reflex which tests the L2, L3, and L4 segments of the spinal cord. Haha I know, I tried to sound smart xD!

*Disintegrate the bones like hydrofluoric acid – this is actually the result of our talks at work about dissolving the human body. My boss finally said that we should first put the bones in the hydrofluoric acid and then in the potassium hydroxide solution to fully get rid of them. Or something like that, my mind could be a bit wonky xD.

*Mary – a character from Trollhunters: Tales of Arcadia from DreamWorks.

*Delta – I'm sure everyone know what it is, so this part is not about explaining it, but about the fact that, at least in my country, we don't call it a discriminant… we just simply call it delta.

*The Great Red Spot - is a persistent high-pressure region in the atmosphere of Jupiter, producing an anticyclonic storm, the largest in the Solar System.

And as always, some answers:

M. R. Roth – I must admit, I quite liked writing this chapter. All this pain, all this angst, ahhh, my soul rejoices xD. Quite soon enough your wish will be fulfilled xD! Or well… if you're reading the reply, I think you read the last chapter already. Hope you liked it. Thank you =D!

Thank you all!