OH BOY YOU'LL NEVER GUESS WHAT HAPPENED... AGAIN! That dumb thing where you go to upload a story and it's all in code format. AAAARGH! Fanfiction, sort your bloody website out! So I did have a pretty long description here but I'm not gonna bother with one this time, cos I'm tired and wanna write the next chapter before I fall asleep. I'll just say that my inner DINOSAUR NERD definitely came through in this chapter (hence the title...)
...
"No freaking way!" Hiccup cried, hopping up and down as another stuffed dinosaur fell into the claw machine basket. "No one ever wins this many times in a row. How are you doing this?!"
"I don't know. How many is that now?" Jack cheered, a massive smile stretching over his face as he gripped the joystick.
"Five!" Hiccup hugged the huge fuzzy toys to his chest, making Jack blush. "Jack, you are now the proud owner of five adorable stuffed dinosaurs!"
Jack's grin grew even more if possible, at the look of wonder that was etched upon Hiccup's face. "Jeez, I swear I'm usually no good at these machines!"
"Looks like it's just your lucky day…" Hiccup pushed two of the dinosaurs into Jack's arms and then bounced off to the next amusement machine, rummaging in his pocket for coins.
Jack smiled as he watched Hiccup fire up the claw machine. Their 'date', as they'd both pretty much decided upon it being, was going amazingly well. They'd had an awesome lunch at Yoji, and then walked along the seafront a few times, had ice cream on the beach wall, and now they were on the pier, spending all of their loose change (and then some) on the prize machines.
The pier was basically a giant funhouse with rides and cafes and arcade machines all over the bottom floor. It connected to the seafront by a long promenade walk of planks, which you could see through down to the crashing waves of the ocean below. If you paid a good sum of money, it was possible to get your name or maybe a message engraved on a plaque and put into the floor of the promenade. One of Jack's stinking rich uncles had given Jack a plaque for his birthday one year, so on their way along it, Jack found his name and pointed it out to Hiccup, who seemed absolutely amazed.
"I had no idea these were all people's names." He bent down to look at all the plaques. There were so many littering the floor that they could easily have been mistaken for just bronze plank dividers at this point. "Wow, that's really cool!"
The original pier itself had been well over fifty years old but it'd burned down seven years ago in some freak accident. Jack had liked the old pier, with it's weird games and old fashioned arcade things. But the new pier they'd rebuilt over the old frame was filled with tons of the coolest rides and games. Hell, there was even a go-kart track on the top floor. There was also a long balcony at the back with looked out over the sea, and at the islands visible from the coast. Islands? Hmm, more like random rocks that kinda just stuck up out of the sea...
Anyway, so far Jack had been on fire with the claw machines.
And Hiccup was revelling in the games and fun. Jack wasn't going to admit it anytime soon, but he was absolutely loving the aesthetic of his new beanie-clad, dinosaur-cuddling friend who was currently rushing around like a kid, excitedly pointing to one of those games where you throw a basketball through a hoop to score. "This one?"
"Go for it!" Jack dared him, hopping along to stand beside Hiccup as he pushed a coin in and picked up a basketball. As Hiccup readied himself to throw it, Jack stuffed the five dinosaurs into his messenger bag. They only just fit, with a little tail sticking out of one side and a clawed foot from the other.
"Just so you know, I suck at sports." Hiccup whispered to Jack before he chucked the ball full throttle towards the hoop…
And missed it completely.
In fact, he'd missed so incredibly that the ball hit the very top of the machines shell and bounced over it, thudding away across the arcade floor.
"I'll get it!" Jack chirped and rushed off to recapture it before a theft alarm went off or something. The pier was surprisingly quiet considering the amount of people there had been on the beach so the basketball didn't hit anyone on its crash course across the air hockey tables, and Jack managed to catch it right before it jumped into the dodgems rink.
Triumphantly holding it up, he swivelled around to take it back when he saw Hiccup rushing towards him.
"What are you doing? We've gotta put the ball back." Jack asked as Hiccup hurried across the arcade, dodging around a few kids carrying candy floss and clearly fighting a losing battle to keep hysterics off his face. "What are you-?"
"C'mon, let's run!" Hiccup grabbed Jack's hand and began sprinting, dragging him away from the arcade, towards the balcony.
"Why?" Jack stammered, struggling to keep up with Hiccup as the basketball fell from his grip and continued its journey across the floor.
"An employee just came up to me and asked where the ball was and I panicked and said I didn't know and ran off and now he's chasing us so c'mon we have to lose him!"
"You what? They're someone chasing us?!" Jack cast a quick glance over his shoulder to check, but couldn't see anyone through the jungle of flashing lights and games machines. "Well, what's your plan now?"
"Dunno, but we're running for now!" He panted, almost breaking down the glass panelled door leading out onto the balcony as they crashed through it. Feet pounded on the planks that made up the floor. Similarly to the promenade, the floor was littered with name plaques which clacked under their feet as they ran to the end of the long balcony and ducked under a table. "We can hide here for a sec, he shouldn't follow us for too long…" Hiccup said in a breathy whisper.
Jack didn't speak for a moment, trying to get his breath back while the two of them stared at the door they'd burst out of. If the employee were to come through it, he'd see them straight away.
It was very quiet out on the balcony deck. Besides the crashing of the waves below them and the occasional squawk of a seagull flying overhead, all Jack could hear was his and Hiccup's breathing.
And it was then, in the silence of the moment, that Jack looked down and realised they were still holding hands.
Cheeks suddenly beginning to feel very hot Jack decided not to say anything. He was going to see how long he could get away with it before Hiccup noticed and inevitably let go.
"How long d'you reckon we should hide for?" Hiccup asked after another awkward quiet minute, shifting a little but still not letting go. "My foot's kinda gone to sleep…"
"Give it a bit longer. Look, the ball's right there. He'll probably see it at some point and come to the door to get it." Jack saw that the basketball had apparently been caught in the jetstream of their running because it was there, by the glass door, bumping against it rhythmically as it used up its remaining momentum.
Sure enough, a few seconds later, the employee appeared on the other side of the door, picked up the ball and only paused for a brief period, looking confused, before turning back and disappearing again.
"Phew…" Hiccup let out a breath he'd apparently been holding. Jack let out a little laugh of relief too, and let his head drop a little.
"Well, we probably shouldn't go back in there for a while, eh?" Hiccup shot Jack a little sideways smile as they clambered out from under the table. "Let's give that hothead a few minutes to cool off."
Jack laughed and nodded in agreement, straightening up and looking out to the sea behind them. The sky had started to cloud over a little, giving the water weird striped patterns and making the waves look a lot bigger. A lot scarier
"Woah, that escalated quickly…" Hiccup came up to stand beside Jack, leaning over the railings and watching the shadowy water crashing up against the support beams of the pier. "Looks like a storm down there."
"Yeah…" Jack followed Hiccup's gaze down to the support beams and actually started to feel a little dizzy. After all, looking down and suddenly realising that all that's holding you up from a dark swirly sea is a few several metal beams and a wooden floor can be pretty terrifying. He stepped back a little, trying not to make it too obvious what he was doing.
"You okay?" Hiccup turned to him, looking concerned.
Shit.
"Y-yeah, just uh…" He had to stop himself there, not knowing how to phrase his sentence without sounding stupid. "I'm uh, not a big fan of water."
"What? Like on a phobia level?" Hiccup stepped closer and tilted his head.
"Something like that yeah…" Jack looked down, feeling embarrassed. "No idea why. I just can't deal with big expanses of water like that, and being so close."
"Jack, why did you agree to come meet at the pier then?" Hiccup sighed, but still smiling.
"It's okay when we're inside, 'cos I can just imagine it's a regular building. It's just walking along the promenade and standing out here by the edge that freaks me out." He explained, taking another quick glance at the balcony railings and immediately looking away again.
"D'you wanna go back inside then?" Hiccup held out his hand for Jack to take. But Jack shook his head.
"No, don't let me and my stupid fear ruin the day. Besides we need to hide from that guy for a little longer, right? Let's just uh, not stand right by the edge and I'll be fine."
"You sure?" Hiccup asked.
"Yeah. Positive." Jack nodded, and took Hiccup's hand anyway, pulling him further onto the deck, away from the railings. "C'mon, we've got some dinosaurs to name!"
The two of them sat at one of the many cheap metal tables on the deck and Jack emptied the dinosaurs out of his bag onto the surface.
"Well well, what have we here?" Hiccup picked up two of the dinosaurs and turned them over in his hands. "This one's a stegosaurus and this one's… an allosaurus I think."
"How the heck d'you know that?" Jack asked, impressed.
"I used to be- am a massive dinosaur nerd. I used to want to be a paleontologist. I guess I just really liked the idea of giant lizards roaming the earth all those millions of years ago. Funny how times change, huh?" He sighed, and then picked up another of the dinosaurs. "This one's easy though. It's a…?"
"Triceratops?" Jack guessed.
"Correct. Now this one?" Hiccup held up another.
"I dunno man, I just know the famous ones Y'know, t-rex, triceratops, pterodactyl… That one looks like an oversized turtle."
"This one's a euoplocephalus."
"Nerd." Jack coughed.
"Whatever."
"And this one?" Jack held up the last one, a weird looking ostrich-looking kind of thing.
"Ornithomimus." Hiccup mumbled.
"Gesundheit."
"No, that's the name of it." Hiccup chuckled, "Then again…" He turned the toy over in his hands a few times, examining it, "It could be a struthiomimus, or a gallimimus. Hard to tell."
Jack stared at him, mouth agape. "Wow…"
"Okay okay, I'm an epic dinosaur nerd, but c'mon, it's your job to actually name them."
"Why's it my job?"
"Because you won them." Hiccup held up the ornithomimus and squeezed its belly a few times, "So what's this little guys name them?"
Jack paused for a second. "That's a big responsibility, Hiccup. I don't know if I trust myself with such a big part of this things life." He stroked his chin in mock deep thought. "What did you say it was again?"
"An ornithomimus." Hiccup repeated, tilting his head and resting his elbows on the table, still holding the toy up.
"Hmm… Nigel." Jack announced.
"W-what?" Hiccup's arms fell flat on the table as he shook with silent laughter. "Nigel? That's so random."
"Is random a bad thing?"
"No no, I love it. Nigel the ornithomimus." Hiccup turned Nigel around to face him and just the sight of Hiccup going slightly cross eyed to stare into its face made Jack laugh.
"Okay okay, let's sit Nigel over here then." Hiccup pushed him over towards Jack, so he was sitting up in front of him. "How about our triceratops?"
Jack tilted his head and shut one eye, squinting at the dinosaur before shrugging, "What about Theo?"
Hiccup's smile widened. "Did you just come up with that on the spot?"
"Guess so…"
"That's so weird. I used to watch this TV show about dinosaurs and one of the trikes on there was named Theo."
"It's just a very trike-y name then, I guess." Jack took the toy from Hiccup and looked it over, twiddling its stubby legs between his fingers. "You name the next one." He said, pointing to the weird turtle looking dinosaur, which was currently on its back.
"You want me to name the euoplocephalus? Oh Jack, I'd be honoured." Hiccup said and then paused, eyebrows scrunching up for a second, "That's gotta be the weirdest sentence I've ever said in my life."
"Probably the weirdest sentence I've ever heard in my life, to be honest." Jack grinned.
Hiccup looked at Jack for a moment, and Jack was sure if there wasn't a chair under him, his legs would've given out under him. Damn, was Hiccup gorgeous… Especially when he was being such a nerd and getting all excited over naming some stuffed dinosaurs.
"Henry sound good?" Hiccup asked, "Y'know, since we're sticking with pretty normal names."
"Henry the euop- euoploc-" Jack frowned at the tabletop, trying to remember how to pronounce it, before giving up. "Henry the turtle dinosaur. I like it."
"Henry the euoplocephalus. Got a nice ring to it, yeah… Okay, your turn again." Hiccup held up another of the dinosaurs. One with large plates coming out it's back. "What're you gonna name the stegosaurus?"
"He looks like a Thomas." Jack said quickly.
"Thomas the stegosaurus." Hiccup chuckled. "Jack, dude, you should seriously consider doing this as a job. You come up with the best names."
"And what job would that be?"
"I dunno… didn't think that one through really. But you're so good at it."
Jack watched as Hiccup's face began to go slightly red.
"Okay. Now this one." Jack picked up the final dinosaur and stood it up on it's two legs, facing Hiccup. "It's a t-rex, right?"
"Allosaurus actually, but they're pretty much the same… This one's easy-" He stopped suddenly, stifling a laugh with his hand.
"What?"
"Sorry, it's just, he looks so derpy from this angle."
Jack turned the allosaurus around so it was facing him and couldn't stop his own laugh from erupting at the stupid sight. It's mouth was made so it was wide open and it's eyes were cartoon style googly ones that looked hysterical from the front angle.
"Anyway, this one's easy. He should be called Allan. Y'know, 'cos he's an allosaurus."
"Genius." Jack clapped and then moved the dinosaurs so they were all standing in a line. "So who have we got here? Allan the…"
"Allosaurus." Hiccup filled in.
"Henry the…"
"Euoplocephalus."
"Thomas the…"
"Stegosaurus."
"Nigel the…"
"Ornithomimus."
"And Theo the triceratops! Yeah, I know that one!" Jack scooped Theo up and hugged him, grinning from ear to ear.
"Damn…" Hiccup sighed.
"What?" Jack stopped hugging the toy and looked at Hiccup curiously.
"Nothing. Just, that was unbelievably adorable."
Jack's breath seemed to catch in his throat for a second. "H-huh?"
"I said, that was really cute."
For a few moments that seemed to last for a few hours, Jack just stared at Hiccup. Stared at his freckled, (he now noticed) slightly stubbly, face, that was also staring back at him, and the two of them stayed like that, simply taking in the minute details of each others faces, until Hiccup finally spoke.
"Wanna head back inside?"
"No…" Jack replied, confidence somehow building inside him.
Hiccup's wonky smile returned and he shifted in his seat, "Me neither."
Jack wasn't sure what to do so he just carried on staring at the other boy, waiting for something to happen. And when it finally did, boy, was he surprised…
Hiccup
He wasn't sure what had sparked up inside him to make him do it, but it just seemed like the right moment. Never taking his eyes away from Jack's, he stood and walked around the table to where the white-haired, dinosaur-clutching boy was sat, looking slightly apprehensive up at him.
Before his brain could talk him out of it, Hiccup put his crazy idea into action. He crouched until his head was level with Jack's and after a quick gasp from Jack, kissed him.
He heard the stuffed triceratops fall to the wooden planks as Jack's arms went limp. He'd closed his eyes and was furrowing his eyebrows, and to Hiccup's surprise, seemed to be leaning further forward, pushing their lips together, deepening the kiss.
Hiccup had only meant for it be a quick peck. After all, it was only their first date (was it a date?). But Jack didn't want to pull away and each time their lips began to grow apart, Jack pushed himself into it again.
Not that Hiccup minded that at all, of course…
Hiccup shut his eyes too now, and allowed himself to melt into the moment, feeling Jack's hands climbing up Hiccup's shoulders and along his neck. They kept travelling upwards until they'd slid under his beanie and nestled in his thick hair. At the same time, Hiccup wrapped his arms around Jack's small waist, pulling him closer.
At this, Jack gasped a little, and Hiccup took the opportunity to take their embrace even further, allowing his tongue to slide in through open lips . As their tongues danced around each other, Hiccup could taste the vanilla of the ice cream they'd eaten earlier and chuckled slightly, the sound muffling against Jack's lips.
All too quickly though, Hiccup felt Jack retreating and opened his eyes. Jack was covering his mouth with the back of his hand, his face turning bright red. He was avoiding Hiccup's eyes.
Hiccup stepped closer, placing a hand on his shoulder tentatively, "You okay?"
"That was…" Jack mumbled into his sleeve. Hiccup braced himself. "That was… amazing." He turned around to look at Hiccup finally, and there were tears in his eyes and the biggest smile on his face.
"Glad to hear it." Hiccup couldn't help but mirror the expression on Jack's face as he held out his hand. With a wink, he continued. "There's plenty more where that came from if you answer this question correctly. Jack Frost, will you be my boyfriend?"
Jack's eyes widened for a second before he seized Hiccup's hand and stood up. "Yeah, why not?"
…
Urgh, cringey kissy kissy scenes! Not nearly as much fun to write as they are to read, lemme tell you.
Thanks for reading xx no shoutouts this time but I'll give out double love next time!