The candy game came to its conclusion at the end of the day without a hitch. No major hitch, at least. Their final operation, as far as Andy was concerned, also signaled the first step to ending Jack and Elsa's switcheroo week. Thank the heavens for that.
"Aw, look at us, sitting together like a big happy family," Violet mocked as she clunked her tray on the table and took the seat next to his.
"Nice, isn't it?" Wilbur mumbled with his fork stuck between his lips. "But as someone who left the group for a while and came back to the world turned upside down, I feel like I am entitled to say… you people sure are keen on some drama."
Andy cocked his head to the side, curious. "Drama?"
The other guy shrugged. "Back then, us all sitting together like this would be unimaginable, but after a damn rollercoaster of a year, here we are." Lowering his voice as if to share a secret with the others, he added, "Frost and Arendelle even became a thing ."
"What's that people say about hatred and love?" Hiro mused. "That they're sides of the same coin."
"Aw, guys, you're making Elsa blush," Violet said with a snort as she pointed at the blonde with her fork.
Eyes glued to her plate, a deeply flustered Elsa stirred her food, and mumbled, "Can we talk about anything else?"
"So what happened to our new superhero duo?" Hiccup asked, looking at Violet.
"If you're talking about Jack and Astrid, he offered to help Rapunzel with some paperwork and she stayed behind to keep an eye on him."
"Hold on, Jack I-Get-Tired-Just-Writing-My-Own-Name Frost offering to do paperwork?" Wilbur laughed, shaking his head in disbelief.
"Are we talking about the same idiot who's always pushing the shit he doesn't feel like doing to us?" Hiro asked with a raised eyebrow.
"You know, you'd be surprised," Andy said, smirking.
Hiccup chuckled, throwing an amused glance around the table. "Aw, our little Frosty boy is growing up—"
"I don't know if I'm flattered or creeped out that you guys can't stop talking about me even when I'm not around," an unamused Jack stated, suddenly appearing at the edge of their table. An even less amused, yet equally—if not more—exhausted-looking, Astrid trailed behind him.
"We're just proud of you, buddy," Wilbur cooed, grinning widely.
The silverhead rolled his eyes, took the closest empty seat, and proceeded with eating his dinner.
"Now that we're all here, should we end the bet?" Hiccup asked, looking at the two newcomers.
Jack nodded. "Sure, go ahead."
Straightening up, Hiccup cleared his throat and folded his hands over the table. "Ladies and gentlemen, we gather here tonight to officially put a closure to the seven days bet between our own Jackson Frost and Elsa Arendelle." He paused for a moment to look at each of them solemnly. "Thank you all for your efforts throughout the week, I know it hasn't always been easy—"
"Hear, hear." Wilbur raised his glass in a toast.
"—And it is with great pride that I declare both parties rightfully deservers of the victory."
Taken aback, Jack blinked slowly a couple of times. "… What?"
"He means it's a tie," Hiro explained.
"I know what he means, dipshit." Jack glowered at the other guy. "But we can't have that."
"Why not?" Andy asked.
"Because there's no point in not having a loser!"
Elsa rolled her eyes. "You're unbelievable."
"Thanks. But I still wanna know who won."
Deadpan, Wilbur said, "The bet was to see who could stand a week in the other's place. Technically, you both did. Which means you both won, Frosty."
Jack frowned, still looking rather displeased. He was probably ready to argue about the outcome but, at the last minute, changed his mind and leaned back on his chair with a heavy huff. "Great. Where's the thrill in that?"
"I think we had enough thrill this week to last us a while..." Elsa mumbled, and Astrid let out a snort in agreement.
"Anyways, congratulations on your tie!" Hiccup said, clasping Jack's shoulder.
"Hurray," Astrid said with nill excitement in her voice.
With his head propped up on one hand, Wilbur glanced at Elsa with a raised eyebrow to ask, "You sure you don't wanna prolong your stay with us, Elsa? We could help you stage a coup."
"You were better at doing Frost's job than Frost himself anyway," Hiro added.
"Egad!" Jack chastised, shaking his head in disbelief.
"I'm honored," Elsa chuckled, "but I think I'm ready to go back to my old routine."
"Drop by to play whenever you feel like it then. You're always welcome with us."
"I'll keep that in mind."
"Are you done?" a rather displeased Jack snarled, shifting his gaze from Wilbur to Elsa, and back to Wilbur, and back to Elsa again.
"Don't worry, pretty boy. She's all yours." Batting his eyelashes, Wilbur winked at the silverhead, triggering a multitude of groans from some of the others at their table.
"So tomorrow, it's gonna be all back to normal?" Violet asked as she made circles on the rim of her glass.
"Whatever normal is at this point," Andy replied.
"Yep." Jack let out a moan as he stretched his arms above his head. "Your Majesty is going back to her dull life of hard work and deadlines whereas I am pursuing snowballs and fun times one again. And so, the universe shall go back to its natural course."
"About time," Astrid grumbled to her plate.
"... I'll miss you too, Hofferson."
"Please tell me there's nothing going down tonight," Astrid begged as she collapsed on her bed and buried her face in her pillow.
"Don't worry, I am officially out of the troublemakers' pack," Elsa assured the other girl as she sat at her dressing table brushing her hair.
"Aw, don't leave me, Elsa," Violet whined. "I'm gonna miss having someone with more than two brain cells on my side."
Frowning at the brunette through the mirror, Elsa listed, "Andy's GPA ranks in the school's Top 5; Hiro is a robotics prodigy; Hiccup is—"
"Okay, they have brains, I'll give you that," Violet cut off the blonde with a wave of her hand. "But you can't deny that boys are stupidly simplistic most of the time."
"Then why do you keep hanging with them?" Astrid questioned.
Violet shrugged. "Because you can be a moron and still know how to have fun."
"You would know, wouldn't you?"
"Say that to my face, pipsqueak—"
Elsa's phone buzzing eagerly on her nightstand interrupted their conversation, and upon reading the message, the girl's eyebrows furrowed in concern, eliciting the others' curiosity.
"Problem?" Astrid asked as she tried to read the sudden expression change.
Giving the length of her hair one final stroke, Elsa let out a long sigh. "It's from Jack. He says he wants to meet up."
"Someone is eager to get his girlfriend back," Violet sang, wiggling her fingers suggestively.
"Dweeb," Astrid scoffed but could not help but smirk knowingly at the other blonde. "So what are you gonna do?"
"Tell him to go to sleep, what else? I'm sure whatever he has to say can wait until morning."
Violet laughed, shaking her head in disbelief. "You're joking, right?"
"Why would I be?"
"He wants to see you," Violet stated dryly. "You probably want to see him too. You're just holding back because you're Elsa."
"Why did that sound like an insult—"
"Look," Astrid started, throwing a pointed glare in Violet's direction. "If you wanna go, then go. We can cover for you here."
"What about curfew?"
"Fuck curfew!" Violet roared, throwing her hands in the air. "Did you seriously not learn a single thing this past week?"
"I'm sure you'll enlighten me, Violet," Elsa said with a raised eyebrow.
"As long as you're not caught, you ain't breaking no rules."
"That's not really how it works—"
"For the love of God, Elsa, just go! You can complain all about it after you come back."
Astrid nodded. "I'm seconding that."
"You two are ganging up on me."
"If that's what you need to tell yourself, then yeah, we are."
Elsa pressed her lips together, conflicting emotions making her face twitch and her posture stiffen.
"Elsa," Astrid called, her voice firm yet gentle. When the other girl looked up, Astrid gave her a short nod and a reassuring smile. "Go."
Elsa closed her eyes and ever so slowly, let out a loud exhale. "Fine. But let me change into something appropriate first."
"Hey, you." Jack gave her a two fingers salute as the rooftop door creaked open and Elsa came tumbling out.
"Hi."
She made her way to where he sat with his back against the wall, and he wrapped an arm around her shoulders, pulling her closer. "Hmm... I think I missed you," he mumbled with his lips on her hair.
Shaking her head slightly, she whispered, "I think I missed you too."
He squeezed her a little tighter, chuckling. "So can I ask about your week of impersonating me now?"
She leaned into the crook of his neck and started fumbling with the hem of her sweater. "It was alright. Busy. Lots of new things to learn. Yours?"
"Same, I guess. Which is kinda weird when you think about it."
"Hmm…"
Jack closed his eyes, resting his head against hers and letting his mind relax slowly. He breathed in the crisp night air mixed with her shampoo and smiled to herself. "I gotta say though. You do too much at once, Your Majesty. I would've gone insane for sure if I had to do all that for more than a week."
Elsa chuckled, tapping his knee affectionately. "I'm sure you'd eventually get the hang of it."
"I wouldn't. I probably don't say this enough, but you're amazing, Elsa. And thank you for putting up with me this whole time."
"You're not as bad as you think you are."
Smirking, he squeezed her shoulders and leaned in to whisper in her ear, "Was that an indirect compliment?"
"Don't let it get to your head."
"I'll take that as a yes."
Elsa shook her head, but he could feel her amusement even without seeing her expression in the dark. "You're an idiot."
Finger under her chin, he tilted her face toward him. "Thanks."
"That one was definitely not a compliment," she whispered back. Her lips brushed against his as she spoke, and his skin tingled.
"I don't care."
Before they could argue even more, he pulled her into a kiss, one hand cupping the back of her head and the other pressing against her lower back to trap her in place. Her hands twisted the collar of his shirt, making a shiver run down his spine, and he had to hold himself not to pull her into his lap. Slow down, he chastised himself.
Easing the kiss into a sequence of goofy pecks against her lips that made her giggle, he hugged her with his loose arms around her waist and asked, "Did you have fun?"
"In a way."
"Come on, Your Majesty. You don't have to hide it."
"I did have fun," she admitted, to what he uttered a victorious 'Yes!' under his breath. "But I'm happy to return your post to you." She delicately stroked his jaw with the back of her finger and leaned closer until their breaths mingled together. "Your friends deserve their leader back."
"We should plan something together soon."
"Like what?" Elsa asked with a hint of apprehension in her voice.
Jack shrugged. "Not sure yet. But now that you've got a taste of it, nothing can stop us if we team up."
She gripped his cheeks between her thumb and index finger so he couldn't look away from her. Firmly, she asked, "What are you talking about?"
Struggling in her clasp, he mumbled, "Face it: I'm the mastermind; you have the power. Together, we can rule the world."
She frowned, slowly dropping her hand. "You're delusional."
"Or, I could take you out on our first real date." He took her hand and brought it to his lips so he could press a kiss to her knuckles.
"Didn't we go on a date last weekend?" she said, muffling a chuckle.
"Doesn't count," he countered as he started playing with her fingers, separating them one by one. "We spent more time together cleaning up the pool last year than we did last Saturday."
Elsa huffed, but there was veiled amusement in her semblance.
"So what do you say?" Grinning cheekily, he pulled her toward him, and let his thumbs trace circles on her lower back.
"It's an intriguing proposition you have there," she said with nonchalance.
When she tilted her head to the side, her breath tickled his chin. Jack swallowed hard once. "Is that a yes?"
A moment of agony passed before he felt her reply against his lips.
"Yes."
As aspiring future leaders of the world, they were expected to do good. Hiccup wouldn't specifically call himself an 'aspiring future leader' or whatever, but the idea of doing charity work and helping society in a positive way was still something he could get behind. So even though the senior class' project meetings were usually long and draining, Hiccup didn't entirely hate them, which was more than he could say was the case with some of his friends.
Over the months, albeit slowly, progress was undeniably made, but there was a lot more to be done. As for that specific afternoon, Elsa, flanked by the newly-selected infrastructure committee, led the meeting to decide which non-profit they would be backing and how.
Hiccup sat in the back, hunched over his desk, diligently scribbling down any relevant decisions on his sketchbook so he could later pass on the notes to Andy and Violet. The pair had been pulled away from the meeting to sort out some urgent college application matters, and since Elsa and Astrid would be too busy with their own roles at the (literal and figurative) front of the room, Hiccup had offered to act as the day's transcriptionist.
"Psst!"
He was so engrossed in the minutes, making sure that all topics were properly described and systematically organized, that the sudden sound made him jump. Confused, he glanced to his right.
"What?" he let out a low hiss, half of his attention still directed at the main conversation happening on the other side of the room.
Smirking, Wilbur pointed at the space behind them where Jack slumped with his head slung forward, precariously propped up on one arm with his bangs hiding his face from view. He was also nodding off in even small intervals that would be easy to miss had one not been paying close attention to the boy.
"Watch," Wilbur mouthed, tapping once by the corner of his eyes then pointing at the guy dozing off.
Hiccup leaned back and did just that, watching as Wilbur carefully sneaked in and yanked Jack's arm from under him. The perfectly-timed jerk thrusts the silver-haired guy forward and his forehead bumps against the desk with a loud thud.
"FUCK!" Jack jumps up, ready to tear anyone in the immediate vicinity a new one, raging fire burning in his eyes.
Hiccup instinctively turned around, hunching over his desk and muffling giggles behind his hand. Glancing forward, however, he realized that Jack's little moment of distress had attracted the attention of more than just a few people.
"Anything you'd like to share with the rest of the class, Frost?" Elsa asked, an eerie cold tone to her voice that made the rest of the classroom crawl in fear.
"I…" Jack's fists opened and closed as he looked around for some clue as to what was happening. "Uh…"
Seeing an opportunity to make things even more interesting, Hiccup quickly scribbled a message, tore the piece of paper from his sketchbook, and threw it on Jack's desk.
"I wanna be in charge of the fundraising team— I'm doing what now?" Jack hissed the last part, glowering directly at Hiccup.
Hiccup very innocently batted his eyelashes in response, then shifted his eyes back to the front to see how the rest of the room was coping with Jack's sudden altruistic awakening. Sadly, if Elsa was finding the set-up as amusing as he was, she didn't show. Instead, the girl faced them with a hand on her hip and a tense jaw.
"It's very noble of you to volunteer," she said dryly. "Does anyone have any objections?"
Aside from the sniggering, nobody said a thing, and Jack was thus nominated the head of the fundraising committee.
Elsa cleared her throat and flashed an all-business smile at her boyfriend. "Welcome aboard, Jack. Don't forget that we have a meeting with the representatives of each committee on Wednesday."
"Wouldn't dream of it," the boy mumbled, sinking back into his chair.
The meeting continued with no other interruptions and half an hour or so later, the seniors were dispersing in small groups, leaving Jack and his herd as the last ones in the room.
"Okay, what the fuck is your damage, you jerks?" the silverhead finally snapped, throwing daggers at the other boys.
"That was all on you, pretty boy, for not reading the note first," Wilbur stated, shrugging with nonchalance as the trio made their way to the classroom's door.
Jack laughed sourly. "You're right. It was on me for ever trusting you douchebags."
Adjusting his backpack strap, Hiccup patted the silverhead on the shoulder. "Hey, we were at a standstill. If it wasn't for you, we'd probably still be stuck in the meeting. You pretty much saved us back there, Jack."
" Yay. Go bureaucracy," Jack grumbled, rolling his eyes.
At the door, Elsa and Astrid joined the party, and apparently having heard the ongoing conversation, the latter chimed in, "Somebody is regretting their recent life choices. Shocking."
"I don't know what you're talking about," Jack retorted, and as they resumed their walk down the hallway, his eyes moved around the group and his eyebrows knit together in confusion. "Where's baby Hiro?"
"He had another meeting to attend so he had to leave early," Elsa explained.
"Which you would know about if you weren't dozing off five minutes after the meeting started," Astrid added.
"... You saw that, huh?"
Astrid snorted with contempt. "You were practically drooling on the desk; pretty hard to miss."
Jack gave the girl a sheepish smile. "Yeah, sorry, beautiful. Couldn't keep my eyes open."
"Were we boring you that much?" Elsa asked, raising one eyebrow, intrigued.
The silverhead shrugged. "Not even. I had to finish my essay for Fredricksen's class. Took a lot longer than I expected.'"
"Whoa, hold on"—Wilbur shook his head in disbelief.—"You, doing homework?"
"Ask Hiccup if you don't believe me."
"It's true," Hiccup confirmed with a tired sigh. "His desklamp kept bugging me all night long."
"Wonders never cease," Elsa mused, clicking her tongue.
"I promised North I was gonna keep myself in line. And I refuse to be sent to detention just because I forgot to turn in my goddamn homework."
"Because an extraordinary crime master like you should be sent to detention for far worse."
"My point exactly," Jack agreed, smirking. "But who knows? Maybe you're having an effect on me, Your Majesty, and I'm legitimately trying not to get my stupid ass in trouble."
"Are you saying that we could've purified the evil a long time ago?" Elsa teased.
"I don't know. Would you be willing to go out with me then?"
The blonde girl didn't even hesitate before answering, "Definitely not."
Wilbur hissed audibly and looked at the silverhead with nothing but utter pity in his eyes. "Oof. Burn."
Ignoring the other guy, Jack pulled Elsa back by the arm and leaned closer to her. Lowering his voice, he said, "Okay, that was mean. And you are so getting it for that one—"
"Jack and Elsa sitting in a tree," Hiccup sang, throwing amused looks at the couple from over his shoulder. "K-I-S-S-I-N-G!"
"Keep moving, Hiccup."
Smoothing the front of her blazer purposefully, Elsa cleared her throat. "Anyway, I look forward to working with you."
Jack groaned, scrunching his face in agony. "When I said we should team up, this was not really what I had in mind."
"I can imagine…"
Astrid pointed a menacing finger at the silverhead. "You better not be planning to half-ass it, jackass."
"I'm not. But I am nominating these two to help me with stuff," Jack replied, casually gesturing at the other two guys.
Wilbur shook his head. "One, you're not the boss of me, so I'd appreciate it if you didn't go around signing me up for shit without my consent. Two, I don't even know what your job is ."
"Perfect! Welcome to the club, William."
Wilbur rolled his eyes, faking irritation but his smirk gave away the true nature of his feelings. Then, he glanced at the guy next to him. "Haddock?"
"Yeah, I'm in—"
"THERE YOU ARE!" A flush-cheeked Hiro hurried towards them, distress and wariness visible on his face.
"Please don't run in the hallways," Elsa said, making Hiro unwillingly slow down.
Hiccup gave the other boy a salutation. "Hey, buddy! What's up?"
"Oh, you know, the usual. Busy, busy," Hiro hastily said with a casual wave of the hand. "Can we talk? It's kinda important."
"What's wrong?"
"Not talking to you, Frost." Hiro pointed between the girls. "You two. Come with me."
"Wait, what—"
Barely giving them time to process, Hiro led the girls by the shoulders the way he had just come from in a mixture of restless and slightly panicked energy.
"Keep your hand there if you wanna lose it," Astrid snarled, though she didn't seem that reluctant about the boy's ushering.
Hiro rolled his eyes, dropping one of his hands. "Sheesh, Hofferson. Simmer down, will ya?"
"Whoa, where do you think you're going, Hamada?" Jack shouted, flailing his arms around with disgruntlement.
"Sorry, gentlemen," he mumbled apologetically to the others with a quick wave, "I'll bring them back before dinner!"
"Bye…"
"The fuck was that about?" Jack snarled to no one in particular, and all Hiccup could manage in response was a noncommittal shrug.
Still a bit confused, the auburn-haired guy continued to stare wordlessly after the trio as they turned around a corner and disappeared from sight. Then, as he heard Wilbur starting to chuckle, he chanced a curious glance at his friend.
A grinning Wilbur held his hand with his thumb and pinkie extended next to his ear. "Hello? Is this the pet shelter?" he said on the make-believe phone. "Yeah, I've got two sad, lost puppies here, and they look so dejected I'm worried they might do something stupid... When can you come pick them up?"
Jack's eyes narrowed dangerously and he hissed through gritted teeth, "Cute."
"Let's get out of here," Hiccup sighed.
"How about we go fetch Andy and Vi? That oughta keep you poor boys entertained for a while—"
"Yeah, whatever."
"God knows how much of a distraction you lovesick dweebs are gonna need now…"
Something that I will never write but happens in the W2LA universe: Jack proposes to Elsa (in the very far future) doing a flash mob to some cheesy music like Bruno Mars' Marry You, or something. All their friends are part of it. After the first shock wears off, Elsa just turns on her heels and leaves.