...

Hey!

So sorry for the slow updates. I have been pretty busy lately and am also working on another story on top of this one.

But hopefully I still have readers!

Please enjoy!

Zorn

By the time Jack had woken up, Hiccup had already left for school. Well, that wasn't unusual, but Jack really hoped that Hiccup didn't notice Toothless's absence last night. If not…he could just tell him he was drunk and he didn't want to wake Hic up.

After having that thought, Jack felt guilt tug the strings of his heart for having to lie to Hiccup again. Especially from something like last night. Even Jack didn't want to admit the truth to himself, but, maybe Benedikt was able to extract the truth from Toothless and get the whole story. Yeah…

Even with his wishful thinking, Jack couldn't evade what he knew to be true.

…

…

Toothless's eyes blinked slowly open only to be greeted by the morning sun. His eyelids were heavy and his mouth felt like he had slept with cotton shoved inside it. After sitting up and realizing he was in Bene's room, he realized that he must have been really wasted to not remember how or when he had gotten home. Or even dreamt for that matter.

He sat up slowly and ran a hand through his hair only to meet a helix of knots. His breath was repugnant, tasting of stale booze and vile acid, the flavor only adding to the overall filth that coated his skin in an invisible slime. He couldn't even recall the last time he had felt so disgusting.

Sighing heavily, Toothless swung his legs over the side of the bed and stood up to walk into Bene's bathroom. He would rather not show himself to anyone until he cleaned himself off first.

After finding a new toothbrush, brushing his teeth twice, and rinsing with mouthwash past the recommended time, he swallowed what might have been more than a liter of water and turned on the shower. He stepped inside and simply stood in the hot water, letting it sear across his skin as it ran down his scalp, face, and back. It felt like the only way to get himself clean again.

The idea that the last memory he had was before nightfall greatly disturbed him. Sure, he was drinking with Tom and them, but it seemed weird for him to black out from that. That hadn't happened to him since he was a kid. He had since better learned to handle his alcohol. But still…no matter how hard he tried, everything about the night prior was a total blank. And that unleashed a turmoil of emotions to churn uncomfortably in his stomach. He was mad at himself for getting to that point, afraid of not knowing where he was or how he had gotten home, and most of all embarrassed that Benedikt had to look after him…again. Fantastic. This would just add to the mountain of things that Bene could use as leverage against him.

He finished washing his hair and body and exited the shower to head back into his bedroom to properly change into his own clothes. Jack and Hiccup weren't there, so Toothless assumed they had already gone about their day at class and whatnot. Not really feeling the need to dress up, he just grabbed a pair of shorts and a black t-shirt before heading downstairs.

Entering the kitchen, he pulled out some toast bread and dropped it into the appliance to cook before grabbing an apple. He wolfed the fruit down ravenously. He couldn't remember the last time he had eaten and alcohol always had the ability to leave him starving when he woke up.

After a seemingly long couple minutes, the toast popped up. Toothless slathered on some hazelnut spread and inhaled the two pieces of bread rather unceremoniously. Struggling to chew the bread he had jammed into his mouth, he looked up to see Jack walk into the kitchen.

Jack's crystalline eyes flashed after realizing that Toothless was standing there. Was he…mad? Shit…

Unable to speak until he managed to shove the food down his gullet, Toothless just stood there awkwardly and absorbed the silence that blanketed everything in the small kitchen.

Finally, he cleared his cleared his throat and managed to choke out uncertainly, "Hey…"

Jack grunted in response and turned to open the fridge. He pulled out the box of milk, poured some into a glass, and put it back before reaching across the counter to snatch an apple out of the bowl. He walked his breakfast to the kitchen table and collapsed into a chair. It was plainly obvious that he was avoiding physical contact or even eye contact with Toothless for that matter.

"Something wrong?" Toothless asked while already knowing the answer.

The only sound Jack made was the audible crunch as he bit into the red flesh of the apple. Other than that, Jack simply shrugged his shoulders and shook his head slightly in the laziest attempt at hiding his true feelings.

Toothless must have done something to piss him off. Granted, the smallest things seemed to piss Jack off sometimes. Hopefully this was just one of those occurrences…

Toothless noticed Jack was wearing similar clothes as he was and had brought his iPod downstairs with him. "Were you about to go on a run?" he asked in an attempt at getting some sort of answer out of him.

Once again, Jack bit into the apple and shrugged his shoulders begrudgingly as he stared at the wall.

Toothless scratched his stomach and continued his attempt at reconciliation, "Well…mind if I join you? I could probably use some exercise. I feel like shit," he added trying to indicate that he was aware of his excessive drunkenness the night prior.

But Jack only shrugged his shoulders in response. Fine, if he wasn't going to answer, then Toothless would have to just take it as a yes.

"Cool, just give me a minute," he said before turning and heading back upstairs. As fast as he could, he tore Bene's sheets off his bed and threw them in the wash since they held the lingering odor of beer and rum from a drunk guy's dirty clothes. Least he could do…he'd have to apologize to Bene later. Hopefully Hiccup wasn't mad at him too, but then again, Hiccup seemed incapable of being mad with Toothless. Even though he felt that he deserved to be mad more than anyone…

He shook the thought away before it overwhelmed him. Anytime he dwelled too much on his past, he would retreat too far into his own thoughts and he was finding it increasingly more difficult to pull himself out again. He couldn't let it become a habit, not when they were both there with him like he had always wanted.

After turning the machine on, he lightly traipsed down the stairs to see Jack tying his running shoes on by the door. Without saying a word, Toothless slipped his shoes on as well and followed Jack out the front door and down the steps until they reached the ground floor.

In order to continue avoiding conversation, as far as Toothless could tell, Jack plugged in his earbuds and went outside with Toothless following as he haphazardly tied his hair back to keep it off his neck.

They started off at a fast walk and picked up into a steady jog once they reached the river. It had become a habit of theirs to run down by the river. Toothless knew Hiccup loved it, since he loved the scenery. After about a kilometer, they would cross the bridge to run into the forest lining the other side. If they were feeling ambitious, they would run uphill to the small castle before turning back. Otherwise, they would just take the meandering path through the woods.

Since Jack seemed more than willing to zone Toothless out, Toothless tried to concentrate on trying to remember pieces of what had happened the night before in order to find something to apologize for. His mouth had tasted god-awful, so he could only assume he had vomited. Maybe he threw up on something of Jack's? Their bed maybe? No…the sheets were the same from the day before, so that couldn't be it. Maybe he just made a mess and Jack was the unfortunate soul to clean it up. That would probably piss him off enough…

A gentle breeze flew around him and cooled his skin as they turned to cross the bridge over the river. Toothless thought further back to any interaction he had with Jack…

He remembered Jack being jealous that he was going to hang out with his friends. Maybe that was still bothering him…even though it shouldn't. Tom just became one of his good friends over the last year. Plus he had a girlfriend, so that should have been enough to settle Jack's suspicions on two different fronts. But…maybe he never mentioned that bit to Jack before…Hm…He couldn't remember.

After passing the route to the castle they entered the thick shade of the forest. The light filtered through the leaves and cast an emerald glow around everything from the reflection from the vegetation. The air was thick with the scent of wood, leaves, and water and Toothless breathed in more heavily after feeling a little short of breath.

But then he realized that Jack had picked up his speed a bit. Toothless adjusted his gait to keep up with him, but a minute later Jack took off at a full out sprint.

"Jack!" Toothless yelled as his legs hit the ground harder to catch up with the white-haired boy.

But Jack had already gotten a distance on him, and he was fast despite him being shorter. Toothless lengthened his stride and threw his body forward as fast as he could.

The only sounds that reached his ears were the sounds of their feet slamming into the dirt path and his own labored breathing. With each pace he made up for two of Jack's. He was only a couple feet in front of him now… Just a little further and he could…

"Jack!" he shouted again as he grabbed onto Jack's arm to stop this stupid chase of his. After several more paces he pulled back into a stop and Jack was subsequently pulled backwards against his will. He tried to yank his arm out of Toothless's hold, but Toothless grabbed him with the other hand to prevent him from escaping.

"What the hell, Jack?!" he yelled trying to get his attention over the music in his ears.

"Let GO of me!" Jack shouted at the ground as he continued trying to pry his arm away.

"Will you at least tell me why the fuck you're mad at me?!" Toothless yelled again as he released Jack's arm.

At that comment, Jack finally brought his eyes to meet Toothless's and Toothless noted the absolute fury that burned in them as he screamed, "Why do you THINK?!"

Toothless stood in shock for a minute as he watched Jack wander off the path to lean his back against a tree trunk and look out at the golden field that stretched on after the border of trees. His chest rose and fell heavily as he fumed from adrenaline and rage. Toothless waited for his own breathing to settle slightly before he walked a couple steps closer.

"I…I'm sorry if I made you clean up after me last night… I don't remember drinking that much and-"

"Don't even try to play the blackout card, Toothless," Jack spat as he continued to stare cross-armed at the field.

"But…I'm sorry. I don't remember anything. I don't know how I got home or what-"

"Did you not even notice the shit all over your neck?" he asked, venom dripping from his tone as he turned his head to fix his glare onto the raven-haired boy's throat.

Toothless unconsciously reached a hand up to his neck as he felt Jack's gaze sear into him. He hadn't looked at it…he didn't even look in a mirror at all this morning. Rarely did he ever look in the mirror…

Jack snorted in incredulity and shook his head slightly as he said, "You're unbelievable."

Toothless found it difficult to form coherent thought as he had absolutely no memory of anything anymore. "I- I don't-"

"Well you didn't have those yesterday morning and I know I didn't give them to you, so you tell me," he said before clenching his jaw and Toothless noticed his eyes start to shimmer.

Toothless could only stand there and shake his head in disbelief. He didn't do anything…

"Jack, I- I didn-"

"You practically ADMITTED it to me last NIGHT!" he screamed at the raven-haired boy, water gathering at the edges of his eyelids as he leaned toward him.

Toothless could only stare wide-eyed at him. He wouldn't do that…not to him or Hiccup…Someone must have…

At the thought of that, he actually felt his own eyes burn as he struggled to stop tears from gathering. No…they were his friends…they wouldn't…

Jack sniffed and turned his back to Toothless one again to hide his face. Toothless took a step toward him and said trying to keep his voice steady, "Please Jack…You know that I wouldn't do-"

"I don't know who you are anymore, Toothless," he interrupted angrily as he spun around to face him again. "And I'm sick of hiding the shit you do from Hiccup!"

"W-what?"

"Don't even pretend like you don't know!" he shouted. "He doesn't know anything! I cover everything up for you! How you stay out late and come back completely wasted after I stay up all night waiting for you to call or text or SOMETHING. Bene has to go out looking for you! And then you treat me like crap and puke your brains out, not bothering to answer me unless I talk to you in German, only for me to discover you've been-!"

Toothless had reached out an arm to touch Jack's in a beginning attempt at apologizing, but Jack only ripped it away and screamed, "A FUCKING WHORE!"

Shock had completely taken over at that point. Toothless saw and felt nothing. The only thing he heard were Jack's words echoing over and over again in his mind. The next thing he realized, he was crouched in the forest hugging his knees and his fingernails digging into the sides of his arms while tears ran rampant down his cheeks. Jack was nowhere to be seen.

I wanted to make this longer, but I found it more appropriate to stop there.

My heart hurts just thinking about the next chapter...

Oh geez, I'm so mean to my characters. p.q

If you are liking where this is going so far, please leave a comment and let me know!

Like I said, I have ideas at least for one story arc with these guys.

Special Thanks to:

Klurig, Luvr5ossome, EliteEkat, CaptainAlex2014, paisthea, ThePheonixFlight1000, and jaspers-drabbles for your follows and favorites!

blazingwing: This story arc is going to focus on Toothless getting better, yeah. As for your other questions...I honestly cannot answer you. I want to check in on the other group in the states, a reviewer from the original story gave me an idea. But whether they'll go back or everyone will come visit is up in the air. We'll see...I have a habit of winging stories as I go along. :3

Kigen Dawn: you can say that again...and you don't even know the half of it. Just wait until you see what happened from Jack's perspective...

Teddy: ooh did I? #^-^# You should make an account! It's free anyway and saves you some time, I find. But if you can't then it's totally fine. Your wonderful reviews are more than enough. But I'm so glad you got that impression! It's what I was hoping to get across. Hopefully you'll continue to read!

EmilyxJane: Jack is definitely not happy... and I'm glad I'm still able to channel the same characters from before. :) I was worried with my new story that I will have altered them somewhat.

HuskaAkita: Thank you! I'm glad to see you're still reading my stuff :)) And really? Your favorite story? Ohhhhhhh that's such high praise I don't deserve it! But yeah, Luka's gonna get real dark, real quick here...