They drove in comfortable silence for at least 5 minutes until Hiccup started noticing a pattern. There seemed to be an increasing amount of signage for-
"A haunted corn maze." Hiccup mumbled to himself in disbelief.
"What was that?" Jack asked and turned down the radio, glancing at Hiccup.
"Jack," Hiccup began, voice calm and level, "Are you taking me to a haunted corn maze?"
Jack turned back to the road, beaming. "Yes. And it's going to be amazing."
"Oh gods I'm going to die…"
"Well, if that helps you get into the spirit, go for it."
"Don't you make haunting puns at me, Frosty. I just don't usually… don't do well with scary things." Hiccup admitted reluctantly.
Jack turned briefly towards Hiccup again with a genuine look of concern. "Hiccup, if you really don't want to go we don't have to. Our night isn't set in stone. If you're not comfortable with this, we can turn around right now and catch a movie instead."
The genuine level of concern and caring that Jack was giving off astonished Hiccup. He was not used to being treated this nicely, especially on a first date by a veritable stranger. This made him smile softly.
"No, it's okay Jack. You spent how long planning this and I've actually never been to a haunted corn maze, so who knows. I might just enjoy it." Hiccup reassured with a small but genuine smile. "I just did not expect that to be the focus of our date. But I'll give it to ya, it's definitely unique," he finished, making multiple hand gestures during his small speech.
"I do what I can to have fun and be original."
"Well I don't necessarily know about fun," said Hiccup, laying down the sass, "but you're definitely unique."
"Hey! I'm totally fun!" Jack shot back defensively.
"We can bring that up for review after the maze. But until then my word stands, Mr Frost." Hiccup delivered with mock finality.
"Fine then. I won't protect you from the monsters that will be chasing us through the corn. I bet I can outrun you. Good luck!"
"I'll trip you before you get away, don't worry."
"You're evil."
"Well, one time I was called a child of Satan by one of those screaming preacher guys who show up on campus occasionally, so I guess I can't deny that."
"Wait, he really said that to you?"
"Well it was directed at literally everyone walking past him, but yeah. I'm also going to hell for at least 15 different reasons apparently."
"Well that's good. But only 15? There has to be more than that. I mean, look at you! You're obviously the scourge of the earth."
"Devil child, at your service, Mr Frost."
Jack laughed lightly and Hiccup just smiled at the exchange.
Well this is going so much better than I expected, Hiccup reflected.
Jack began slowing the car and flipped on his blinker, signifying that they had reached their destination. Hiccup had been too caught up in bantering with the white haired man to notice the field lit up by various portable lights and miscellaneous bonfires. His nerves grew as the car bumped to a halt on the uneven terrain. Just be calm, Hiccup. It won't be that bad. Just breathe.
They exited the car and began walking towards the ticket booth. Jack turned to Hiccup, noticing the slight worried painted on his face. "You sure you're alright with this Hic?"
"Yeah. I should be okay. Getting scared is just… you know… scary," he finished lamely.
Jack, instead of responding, reached over and grabbed Hiccup's hand, giving it a light squeeze.
Hiccup thanked the gods that it was relatively dark so that Jack might not be able to see the blush that spread across his face. He felt some of the nerves slip away and he gave Jack's hand a small squeeze in return.
Jack turned to look at Hiccup while still walking forward, "We'll be fine Hiccup. I'm here for you," He smiled, his teeth bright in the twilight, "I'll even protect you from the monsters, even though you accused me of not being fun." He said the last part while winking. Jack, although it was dark, was able to see that Hiccup was blushing madly but chose not to embarrass him any more for now. Later… Not worth pushing it on the first date.
"Oh, gee. Thanks," Hiccup responded sarcastically but still with a smile.
They reached the ticket booth that was currently manned by an attractive young woman. Brown hair tied back into a messy bun, glasses, wearing a flannel. She smiled at the pair, "Welcome to our wonderful maze of terrors. Will you two be buying couples tickets?"
Hiccup's blush came back with a vengeance. He stammered a bit, "Oh, uh, we're-"
Jack cut in, finishing Hiccup's sentence, "Absolutely going to get the couples tickets, yes." He released Hiccup's hand and fished out his wallet, paying for them both. "Thank you!" He said cheerily, taking the wristbands the woman slid to him. He grabbed Hiccup's hand again and pulled him towards the entrance of the maze. Jack donned his own band and put Hiccup's on the wrist he stole.
"You ready?" Jack queried, a smile teasing his lips.
"As I'll ever be," Hiccup sighed, both nervous and excited at this point.
They turned towards the maze entrance and pressed forward, hand in hand.
The first few meters were increasingly dark. Soon the men could only see maybe a meter and a half in front of them. The path was about that wide and they were the only people in sight. It was eerily quiet now that they were away from the entrance. Hiccup squeezed Jack's hand a little tighter as his heart rate picked up a bit. The further they walked in the darkness, the more anxious Hiccup became. The suspense of waiting for someone to jump out was driving him mad.
A person screamed. It was impossible to tell where it came from, but it was closer than Hiccup would have liked. He jumped and pushed himself closer to Jack, most of their arms touching at this point. Jack smiled and looked at Hiccup, about to say something clever when something came bursting out of the corn next to them. It lunged straight towards Jack, bellowing loudly. Jack screeched and jumped back, crashing into Hiccup. He then ran forwards, past the dark, hulking creature, pulling his date with him. Hiccup, who was also screaming, could only focus on staying upright and following Jack.
They slowed down and Jack looked back, noticing that the thing was not following them. He quickly looked at Hiccup, who had a peculiar look on his face.
Hiccup started laughing. Half out of fear, half out of how ridiculous this was. "Wha- hahaha, what the fuck! You screamed so loud!" Hiccup laughed.
"Hey, you did too!" Jack said defensively.
"Jack you totally panicked. That was fantastic," he said while taking a steadying breath. "Okay." He paused and looked around, raising his arms outward then letting them fall, "Okay. So. Should we keep going?"
"If you're done being a loon, then yes."
They took a single step forward when something screamed directly behind them, making them whip around to see a figure in a tattered, dirty white dress. Dark, gross hair cascaded from its lowered head. Its hands shot up as it ran for them. Once again the pair ran forward, whipping around corner after corner, fleeing the monster.
The darkness was oppressive, the moon being only half full and scattered clouds sporadically made the night absolutely dark. Slowing their pace, Jack and Hiccup realized they had reached a crossroads. Three paths to choose from and no way to tell which would take them towards the exit or which would deliver them to another creature to scare the shit out of them.
They chose to go left, which turned out to be a bad choice. Not 5 steps in the corn around them began to rustle and shake, as if something was following them. Growling and heavy breathing followed them as they apprehensively continued forward.
"Maybe we should turn around?" Hiccup whispered to Jack.
Jack glanced back at the way they came and immediately whipped his head forward, face more pale than usual and eyes wide. "Nope. Nope nope nope nope nope!" He whispered hurriedly to Hiccup. "They're right behind us!"
Hiccup stole a glance himself and couldn't help but yell.
There were a group of hooded figures directly behind them, at least 5, silently following them, blocking their way back.
At the sound of Hiccup's yell, the thing that was following them in the corn let out its own screech, terrifying the boys further. They once again took off, attempting to flee whatever was there only to be stopped short by a monstrous black horse with a large, robed man atop it. The horseman burst out of the corn in front of them, the horse neighing loudly and rearing up. Screaming even louder now, they stopped fast and turned to run the other way, only to be faced with a werewolf type monster running towards them full speed.
Hiccup reflexively grabbed Jack and buried his face into his shoulder, too afraid to look around. He screamed into the white haired man's shoulder, holding him extremely tight. Jack squeezed back and put his face into Hiccup's chest, him yelling as well. They stayed like this for a few seconds, locked together and shouting. When they stopped to breathe, they heard nothing. Jack was the first to look up and see what was happening.
There was nothing there. No horse, no hooded figures, no werewolf thing. It was deadly silent.
And the silence was the most terrifying non-thing of all.
Hiccup was still fully attached to Jack and made no sign of moving anytime soon. Jack reached up a hand and put it Hiccup's head, rubbing his hair a bit. "Hey Hic, they're gone. Nothing's here anymore."
Hiccup remained frozen for another second before slowly raising his head and meeting Jack's eyes. His face was more pale than usual and still held traces of terror. Speechlessly, he broke the unofficial staring contest and looked around, confirming what Jack had just said. His mind was blank and barely functioning, a stark contrast to what he was used to.
As his mind slowly engaged again, he began to realize his situation.
Hiccup was pressed tightly against Jack. His arms still wrapped tightly around the shorter man's torso. Their chests flush; their pounding hearts could be felt by the other. Despite the 4 layers of clothing between them, Hiccup could feel that Jack was quite well built. He was skinny, just a few inches shorter than Hiccup, but exceptionally well-toned. Warmth radiated off of the white haired man, his chest heaved from both the terror and running. Hiccup felt this all and his face reddened deeply and he abruptly separated from Jack, looking down and mumbling "Sorry…"
"No need to apologize, it's okay Hiccup," Jack said warmly and calmly. Hiccup glanced up and caught his eye before Jack added, "I didn't mind at all anyways," and winked. This made Hiccup blush even more, which he didn't even realize was possible.
The pair made their way through the rest of the maze quickly after that, with only a few more small jump scares and a few other tailing creatures. Each time they got scared, one usually grabbed on to the other in some way, whether it was grabbing a hand, holding on to an arm, or, as happened one time, a tackling hug that left them both on the ground, embarrassed, mildly scared, but still giggling. Once the exit was in sight, they both started jogging towards it, ready to be out of the terrifying place.
They burst out of the exit together and were partially blinded from the fire light after escaping the lurking darkness of the maze. They slowed to a halt and blinked away the blindness, catching their breath and coming down from the elevated state they had throughout the maze.
"Well," Jack began, "You didn't die."
"Thank you," Hiccup shot back, "for that observation." He broke out into a large, toothy smile.
"Did you enjoy yourself after all?" Jack asked while grabbing Hiccup's hand and pulling him towards one of the food stands.
"If you ignore the terror and the running, then yeah. I guess I had a pretty good time."
"I told you you'd love it!"
"Don't get too excited, Frosty. I did not say I loved it. I said I liked it," Hiccup deadpanned.
"Oh hush we both know you enjoyed it. I mean, who wouldn't want to have an excuse to grab on to me every 10 seconds?"
"It was NOT every ten seconds and I was afraid!" Hiccup shouted back a little too quickly. Jack just laughed and let go of Hiccup's hand and approached the boy running the food stand. He ordered two hot ciders, handing the kid some money.
"Here you go, scaredy cat."
"You didn't have to buy me anything, Jack."
"I know. I wanted to though. I did just kinda force you to do something you were uncomfortable with after all," Jack said with a small blush and timid smile, "So… Thanks. For coming and for enjoying yourself."
Hiccup's face softened and he relaxed into a small, cute smile. "I really did have a lot of fun with you Jack. I should be thanking you."
"No need. Holding your hand was enough thanks," He said with a smirk and yet another wink.
Hiccup blushed and sipped at his cider, hiding the huge smile he couldn't keep off of his face.