I'm not even gonna go into detail about why this is so late because I don't have any valid excuse, but here you go because the guilt has been destroying my soul and a final review I got the other day was the straw that broke my poor old camel back... This one's a little longer than I usually do so pls enjoy x

...

"You okay, Jack?"

Jack didn't reply straight away. He didn't reply for about a full minute. He was too busy staring at Hiccup.

Hiccup… What an unusual name. But then he remembered Bunny was there too and immediately dropped the idea that Hiccup was a strange name. Hell, Jack Frost was weird enough, wasn't it?

"Jack, hello?" There was Aster again. He should probably reply…

"Wha-?" He croaked out, eyes still adjusting to the light, coming in and out of focus like a camera lens.

"I think I should probably take 'im home." Jack heard Aster saying, "Get 'im in his own bed, y'know. He's still out of it and it'd be better for 'im to wake up somewhere he's familiar with."

"Yeah, you're right." There was that other voice again. "Want me to drive you back? My car's just out front."

"Nah mate, thanks for the offer, but it's literally about a two minute walk to our place. Warren Terrace, y'know it?"

Jack zoned out again at this point, but kept his eyes open and directed at the brunet in front of him. He was talking to Aster. The exact words weren't processing but his voice itself sounded nice. Soothing even.

As his eyes started to slide into clearer focus permanently, Jack didn't stop looking at Hiccup. He liked the shirt he was wearing. It was green plaid and he had a black t-shirt on underneath it. A pretty good colour combo, but then again, how could Jack trust his own intoxicated eyes at this point? Without his headphones and beanie on, Hiccup had floppy chestnut hair that just brushed his shoulders and Jack noticed, with a small smile, that there was a tiny plait woven into one side of his head. Cute...

Jack wondered what Hiccup had seen or heard him do last night? Had he made an absolute idiot out of himself in front of the one guy he'd taken notice of? Oh man, had he said anything about it?

"C'mon then Frostbite, let's get you 'ome." And Jack suddenly couldn't see Hiccup anymore because he was being pulled gently out of his laying position and onto his hardly stable feet.

"No, don't wanna walk…" Jack moaned, grappling against Aster's hold on him, but he quickly stopped when he felt another, slightly smaller pair of hands steadying him from the back.

"You sure you don't want me to drive?" He asked Aster.

"Yeah, Jack's jus' being lazy. He can walk fine. If not I'll just give 'im a piggyback or something…"

Jack scowled at that. No way was he letting Aster give him a piggyback, or even carry him at all. He couldn't even begin to imagine how embarrassing that would be.

"Wanna walk…" Jack sighed, admitting defeat.

"At least let me help you get him down the stairs then." Hiccup suggested, moving around the bed to pull one of my limp arms over his shoulders. "The lift is out of order. Well, it's been out of order since I moved in, so I guess it's dead, but whatever. It's a lot of stairs."

"Yeah I know, I had to walk up 'em to get here, didn't I?" Aster chuckled, hooking Jack's other arm onto his shoulders and together, the three of them began to walk, slowly, through Hiccup's apartment, across the landing and down the first few flights of stairs.

Jack really didn't feel great. He had to ask them to slow down a few times because he was scared he was going to throw up, but eventually they made it to the bottom floor and Hiccup unlatched himself from Jack.

"You guys sure you'll be okay from here?"

"Yeah yeah, thanks so much for all your help up to this point though, mate. Honestly, I dunno what I'da done if you hadn't picked up Jack's phone when I called…"

"I'm just glad to know he's got friends who can look after him at home." Hiccup's voice sounded distant now, as if he was already leaving. "Maybe our paths'll cross again someday." Then, right before Hiccup left, Jack felt something brush against his side, felt something briefly touch his trouser pocket. "Bye then. Get some good rest, Jack."

And just like that, he was disappearing back up the stairs.

Jack felt like screaming, but there was no way he could've with his still thumping headache and dry throat. That was his one chance to talk to him and he blew it by being completely hungover and bratty. How long had he been at Hiccup's place? He couldn't remember anything about last night before waking up just then to Aster and Hiccup staring at him. God, had their faces been a horrible thing to come back to. All worried and terrified at the same time…

"Jack, y'alright?" Aster shook him out of his musings as the pair continued to limp away from Berk Apartments, heading across the road and a few blocks down to Warren Terrace.

Jack nodded. Of course he wasn't alright. He'd completely fucked up the only chance he was ever going to get with the first guy he'd fallen for on sight. He'd taken it too slow with the few other boys he'd liked. He'd become friends with them first, got to know them better, and then, once he felt their friendship was at the right place, had begun to feel more for them. He often wished he had more than a platonic relationship with many of his past crushes, but could never bring himself to turn them into anything more.

So that's all they'd ever been. Unfulfilled romances. Unrequited fantasies to keep Jack awake at night wishing he'd done something when he'd had the chance.

But he never did.

And now it seemed that Hiccup would become nothing more than another name on that list of regrets Jack had to remember every time he tried to relax.

But no… Hiccup, he was different.

All the other crushes Jack had had, had developed over time as he got to know the real person underneath their appearance, but Hiccup… No, Jack had fallen head over heels for Hiccup just from one glance at him.

Surely that meant something was different this time?

Maybe love at first sight does exist…

"Ugh…" Jack groaned at the sappy thought, and also at the pounding in his head. Aster slowed their walking speed a little, thinking Jack was uncomfortable.

"C'mon snowflake, nearly home. How's a hot bath and then bed sound?" Aster meant it to sound caring, but he stifled a chuckle at the end, "That came out weird… You know what I mean though."

Jack nodded again. Honestly, in any other circumstance, Aster's complete failure to string a normal sentence would normally have made him laugh, but right now, he just felt too confused and annoyed to do anything but focus on not bursting into tears.

That's right. The unbreakable Jack Frost was trying desperately not to cry.

"Jack?"

It wasn't like Jack to be this quiet and submissive, and Aster was definitely noticing that something was wrong.

"We there yet…?" Jack mumbled, trying to break his uncharacteristic silence

"Nearly. It's lucky Hiccup lives so close. I couldn't've come to get you in the car if you were miles away. I'm still a tad gone to be behind the wheel, y'know?"

"Where's... others?"

"They're all back at the flat. Pretty sure Flynn and Tuff are still working off major hangovers, but everyone else's okay. Worried 'bout you though…"

"Oh." Was all Jack could think to say in response. "The girls?"

"Uh, Rapunzel called this morning actually, asking if you were alright, and I told her we didn't know where you'd gone. Oh crikey, I should probably ring her and let her know we gotcha now. Hang on a sec."

Jack felt himself being jostled slightly as Aster reached for his phone and dialled the number.

"Hey, Punz? Yeah. Yeah yeah, calm down love, I've got 'im right here. Some nice kid from the club took 'im home and looked after 'im. We're headed back to the Warren now. Where- oh, you're there? Okay, well we're just coming round the corner so see you in a bit- Huh, she hung up…"

"The girls are at the Warren?" Jack asked.

"Seems like it."

"Ugh…"

"They're probably all just worried about you, Jack. You scared all of us when we couldn't find you. 'Specially Astrid. She seemed to think it was 'er fault."

Jack remembered all those shots he'd taken with Astrid last night, and half-smiled. Worry definitely wasn't an emotion usually associated with the cool and collected Astrid Hofferson, after all…

"We there yet?" Jack asked again, and this time, his question was answered by a different voice that Aster's.

"Jack! Oh thank god you're alright! Wait, are you alright?"

And suddenly Jack was having the life squeezed out of him by the very person he'd just been smiling thinking about. Astrid was famous for never getting hungover after a night out. She kind of usually became the mum of the group the morning after a party, making sure we were all up in time for work or classes and all that. I didn't even think about how stressed she must've been about me…

"I'm good, sorry for getting lost." Jack murmured into Astrid's neck as she continued to hug him.

"Idiot." Was Astrid crying-?

"Astrid-?"

"Come on you knucklehead, you need to sleep this off." Astrid detached herself from Jack quickly and stomped his through the door to the Warren.

Luckily, their flat in this building was only on the first floor, and the lift actually worked, so it wasn't too much of a struggle for Astrid and Aster to get Jack up to his room. Once Jack was sitting on the side of his bed, in the bedroom he shared with Tuff, Astrid stood awkwardly in the doorway for a moment and then left. Jack couldn't hold back the pang of guilt that washed over him as soon as she'd left. How much had he worried her? He could've been drugged, kidnapped, or worse…?

Aster was still in the room when Jack finally took his eyes away from the door.

"Tuff's asleep on the sofa, so you got the room to yerself." He chuckled. "Uh, d'you wanna get changed or…?"

God, this was awkward.

"I'll get changed." Jack replied flatly, "I can do it myself, Bunny."

"Yeah right, I know… Uh, I'll be in the kitchen if ye want anything, alright?"

"Kay."

And Aster left, closing the door softly behind him.

Man, it was quiet in here. That kind of quiet that's actually really loud because it presses on your eardrums, deafening them completely.

"Ugh…" Jack said again, to no one, he realised, because he was alone now.

He'd been lying when he said he could get changed on his own. He was sure if he even tried, he'd end up flat on his face in seconds, so he settled for just removing his trousers, shirt and shoes and curling up under the crispy cold duvet in his boxers and socks.

Within seconds of his head touching the pillow, he was fast asleep.

…

When Jack finally woke up again, he had no idea what time it was, but when he looked around the room, it was very dark and the curtains were drawn. A snoring sound told him that Tuff was in his own bed now, across the room from him.

He tried to fall back asleep, but found it impossible now that he was up. He slowly, groggily, swung his legs over the side of the bed and fumbled around by his pillow, looking for his phone, which he usually kept plugged in, charging, next to his head when he slept.

And then he remembered the circumstances in which he'd fallen asleep last night.

Hmm…

He glanced down at his crumpled trousers on the floor and reached down. They were heavier than the fabric should've been on it's own. Sure enough, his phone was still in the back pocket and Jack fished it out.

The battery was dead.

Typical.

But there was something else in the same pocket… A piece of paper?

Jack pulled it out and unfolded it. He couldn't see anything in the darkness of the room, so he leaned across and turned on the bedside light. Tuff was a super heavy sleeper so he knew it wouldn't disturb him.

It was a sheet of lined paper that had been folded up several times and written on it in scrawly handwriting were the words;

Just in case, H.

And underneath that, a phone number...

...

oooooooooh a phone number! What can that mean?

Again, sorry for the wait. I've had a pretty bad couple of weeks tbh. I've lost my best friend of 15 years because of a dumb argument about an even dumber boy and so I've been pretty lonely. Maybe that's why I wrote this chapter? Anyways I hope you don't hate me too much and don't forget to review if you liked it xx

Shoutouts

Two of the broken masks: Is this friendship escalation enough for you? It's gonna get better I promise. Thanks for the review and for sticking with me through this xx

HanyouExorcistAlchemist48: 4321... Liftoff?

pikianoa: I honestly found it so hard to write this chapter and keep away from writing it as JackRabbit, cos I definitely ship them in the RotG universe! But no, here they're exclusively best bros... I do love Bunny, he's an awesome character. Thanks for the review x

Snowflakesandangels: So much restrain was needed to keep this strictly HiJack... I love JackRabbit almost as much!

A Frozen Shadow: Yup, a lot of self control was required for me to avoid turning this into a JackRabbit fic, but I agree, Hiccup needs to be the number 1 in this specific story x

FightMeBoi: Thanks for your review and I'm so sorry for how long you had to wait for this chapter x hope you're not too mad at me...

Kevin4baconhugs: EVERY FOLLOWER OF THIS STORY SHOULD BOW TO YOU because your review is the only reason this chapter happened. I was considering abandoning this story because I'd lost motivation but your review reminded me of how much I love writing and getting responses like yours from people who actuallu care about what I'm writing. So thank you so much xx

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Okay, so a lot of you seemed to like the subtle JackRabbit happening last chapter. Does anyone want me to try writing a little JackRabbit one-shot? I do adore the ship and I've never actually tried writing it. Would anyone be up for it? Let me know xx