~Jack~~~~
Jack finds himself unable to look away from her. When he looked in her eyes, he had felt something that he'd never felt before, and it both scared him and left him wanting more at the same time. She had completely thrown him off, and she didn't say a word to him. She didn't need to. Her emerald green eyes had told him a glimpse of a story, barely a taste of what she hides behind her bright smiles. He had seen emotions he couldn't even begin to understand: anxiety, hesitation, hope, but also pain, fear, and raw vulnerability. It didn't make sense. All she had done was look at him, but she had also put her true feelings out on display, even if it was just for one accidental moment.
Rapunzel had averted her eyes as soon as Merida and Hiccup had arrived, closing him off from things she obviously didn't mean for him to see. He waits for her to steal a glance at him again, but she never does. Instead, a heavy sigh escapes her lips as she hops off the pontoon and onto the dock. Her toes curl around the edge of the pier, and she seems to hesitate for a brief second before plunging head-first into the clear lake.
Without even thinking, Jack jumps in after her, tucking in his legs for a cannon-ball before hitting the surface with a splash. The cold water cools his skin and wakes up his senses as he follows Rapunzel out to the plastic raft tethered in the middle of the cove. It doesn't take long for Hic and Merida to join them in the water, and soon all four of them are on the raft, dripping wet. For a minute, they just stare at one another, waiting for someone to do, or at least say, something.
Impatient, Jack swoops down and picks up Rapunzel like he had the night before, bluntly stating, "Time's up," as he tosses her into the lake.
Her body crashes into the water, and when she rises to the surface, a glare is plastered on her face. She climbs back onto the raft, never steering her narrowed eyes away from his, and stalks towards him. Before he even has time to brace himself, she pushes hard on his chest, forcing him to lose his balance and fall backwards. His back smacks against the flat water, stinging a little from the impact.
He mirrors her glare once he resurfaces, but Rapunzel just shrugs and mocks, "'Time's up'."
Jack laughs dryly and holds a hand out to her. "Ha, ha, very funny, now can you at least help me up?"
Surprisingly, she takes his proffered hand, and as soon as he feels her palm against his, he yanks her forward. A scream escapes her lips before she lands squarely on top of him, pushing him down under the water with her. Their arms and legs tangle as they both frantically rise to burst through the paper-thin membrane of the water. Gasping for air, Rapunzel splashes him the moment he pops up beside her and pushes his head back underwater to give her enough of a head-start to climb onto the raft before he can stop her.
Taking advantage of the chaos, Merida whips around and shoves Hiccup off the raft, too. Mercy is not an option anymore as the boys scramble to get to their feet and fight.
It turns into an all-out war, boys against girls.
The wrestling lasts for at least a half an hour without a clear winner, but soon enough the fighting slows and the four collapse onto the raft, one after another. They lay in the sun, soaking up its rays and recuperating from the dog-fight. Next to Jack, Rapunzel's chest rises and falls heavily with every breath she takes. He shifts to face her, his head propped up on his elbow. "Man, you really put up a fight," he comments.
Blinking, she replies, "Thanks, I think."
"No, really, you're pretty good . . . for a girl."
Her eyes narrow, and her voice is playfully offended when she shoots back, "What do you mean, 'for a girl'?"
"Well, I mean you're good, sure, but you're not as good as me," he tests.
"Oh really? If I remember right I pushed you in, like, a million times!"
"Yeah, but that just means I pushed you in a million and one times 'cause I threw you in first."
Rapunzel scoffs and sticks her tongue out at him, and Jack rolls onto his back in laughter.
~Rapunzel~~~~
His laugh is infectious, and it doesn't take long for Rapunzel to follow his lead and laugh uncontrollably herself. Question marks are written all over Merida's face, but Rapunzel just shrugs in response. "You're so full of it," she accuses the boy beside her.
His face contorts into a feigned look of hurt, "I am not!"
"Are too! I bet you think you can beat me at everything and are convinced that I'm weak and fragile just because I'm a girl."
Jack shrugs, "Maybe that's because I can."
"Okay I may be sort of weak," she confesses, "but I am not fragile. I could take you on any day."
"Oh, really?" He asks, his tone skeptical.
Just then, Mr. Dunbroch calls from the dock, waving a boat key in the air, "Anyone up for tubing?"
Jack turns back to Rapunzel, a challenge written in his sapphire eyes, "We'll see about that little bet. I guess now you'll get your chance to prove yourself."
Before she has a chance to ask what he means, he scrambles to his feet and dives into the lake. Within seconds, all four of them are in the water once again, racing towards shore. Jack reaches the dock first, and runs to claim the life-jackets - one for himself and the other for Hiccup. The girls reluctantly let them go first, and wrap themselves in their towels before climbing into the back Mr. Dunbroch's speedboat. Rapunzel watches her best friend tie the tubing rope to the boat, and Merida's father settles into the driver's seat.
Rapunzel claims a spot on the long bench seat at the back of the boat, wrapping her towel tighter around her legs before combing through her wet hair with her fingers. Hiccup carefully steps off the dock and onto the small round tube sitting patiently in the water, making barely enough room on the other side for his friend. She sees Jack roll his eyes and leap onto the tube, making little waves as it bobs up and down in the lake.
They signal that they're ready, and Merida turns to her dad. "Hit it!"
The engine roars to life, and the boat slowly inches backwards away from the pier. Mr. Dunbroch straightens out the boat, and as soon as the the rope snaps taught, they lurch forward, large waves curling behind the motor. The boys whoop and holler in excitement when they swing out of the wake and bounce on the white-caps. Mr. Dunbroch turns the boat in sharp curves that resemble an "S", sending the tubers flying over the waves.
Hiccup signals for his dad to drive them in circles, and he complies, taking his wish to the extreme. Mr. Dunbroch whips the boat in impossibly tight turns, and the underside of the tube catches air as the boys hit enormous heights. While skimming across the surface, the tube gets stuck on the side of the wake, dangerously teetering on the edge.
Suddenly, a big wave finally flips it over, plunging the boys into the water. Merida yells at her father over the noisy engine, telling him that Jack and Hiccup had flown off. Immediately, the boat slows and circles back to pick up the fallen riders. As they pass Hiccup, it's obvious by the way he's holding his back that he'd smacked it pretty hard on the fall. Jack, on the other hand, has already climbed back onto the tube, ready to hit the waves again. Rapunzel watches as Hiccup shakes his head at his best friend, "I'd better sit this one out."
Jack's face falls, clearly disappointed, and tries to reason, "Oh, come on, man! It wasn't that bad. Once you get up and out on the water you'll forget all about it. Plus, you're already here!"
Hiccup still doesn't budge, motioning instead for his dad to shut off the boat's engine so that he can come aboard.
Not wanting Jack to have to give up his ride, Rapunzel calls out to him, her voice even despite her pounding heart, "Hey, you wouldn't mind tubing with a girl, now, would you?"
"Not at all, but you'll have to swim out here, first," he retorts.
She takes Hiccup's life-jacket and slips it on, trying to calm her excited nerves. The cold water sends a chill through her body when she jumps in, but she welcomes it as she swims out to a very impatient Jack.
"Gosh, you take forever," he teases when she reaches the bright purple tube.
"I would have gotten here sooner if you had helped pull the tube in closer," she shoots back, "but now that I'm here, can you at least help me up, please?"
Jack rolls his eyes as he lends her an outstretched hand. She grabs it and tugs as hard as she can, purposely pulling him into the water. Laughing, Rapunzel scrambles onto the vinyl as he pops out of the water, sputtering, "What the heck was that for?"
She simply shrugs and states, "Payback."
"All right, all right," he sighs. "You win." Jack hauls himself up next to her and grabs a free handle in each hand. "You've had your payback; now we're even, okay?"
"Fine," she relents, "but that means no purposely pushing me off either."
"Truce?"
"Truce," she agrees, holding out her hand for him to shake. He returns the gesture, and as soon as his palm meets hers, something almost like electricity shoots up her arm, and she pulls away as if it had actually shocked her. Jack hesitantly places his hand back on one of the foam handles of the tube, and she opens her mouth to apologize, but the roar of the boat engine cuts her off as they surge forward.
The sudden lurch catches her off guard, and for a moment Rapunzel forgets to hold on. She fumbles around for a handle, but it's too late; she closes her eyes, knowing that she's a split-second away from flying off, when a firm hand bolts around her waist. Rapunzel quickly opens her eyes again to see Jack's right arm around her, holding her down. Breathless, she struggles to tell him over the noise, "Um, thanks!"
"No problem," he yells back.
But he doesn't move his arm.
Unsure of what to say, she quickly grabs the closest handles, hanging on tight as they fly over the open water. The tube swings this way and that, launching them over the choppy waves. Jack yells in excitement when they slide over the flat water. She peers down at the smooth surface beneath them and runs her fingers over the glass-like lake. After a few more rounds of moderate waves, she feels ready for anything, squealing in delight every time the tube is launched into the air.
Out of nowhere, Mr. Dunbroch swings the boat left in a tight arc, and a chill runs down Rapunzel's spine when she discovers their destination. A minefield of enormous waves rapidly surges towards them, and she screams as they shoot into the air and crash back down onto the surface. Up and down they fly over the massive waves, like a roller coaster nightmare, until they skim over flat open water again. Another left turn and the monstrous white-caps come barreling back, ready to strike once more.
Dread fills her stomach, and she yells to the boy next to her, "I'm going to let go."
Jack gives her a confused look. "Why?"
My arms burn from crouching, my knuckles ache from gripping the handles so tight, and my knees are rubbed raw from the vinyl; that's why!
She can hardly hold on as she yells, louder this time, "Jack, I'm going to fall off!"
He looks over at her white knuckles on the tube handles, a look of concern crossing his face. "No, you won't."
Despite his reassurance, the dread doesn't go away as they fly closer and closer to the dangerous waves. She instinctively curls into him and squeezes her eyes shut. Without warning, Jack's arm leaves her side and he lets go of the handles, his body catching the wind and flying backwards off the tube. Immediately the boat yanks to the right, away from the terrifying waves, and slowly crawls over to where Jack is waiting. Merida grabs the tubing rope and pulls a speechless Rapunzel towards the boat.
"Dude, what happened? We weren't even to the huge waves yet, how the heck did you fall off?" Hiccup asks his smirking friend.
Jack steals the smallest of glances at Rapunzel as he replies, "My pants were falling down! It was me or the shorts; one of us was going to fly off, and I wasn't about to moon the entire lake."
His perfect excuse makes the entire group laugh, but the girl on the tube is too busy staring at him with questioning eyes to notice.
~Jack~~~~
Jack couldn't help it. She had looked so dang scared, and he felt like he had to do something. He didn't know what her deal was with those waves, but he couldn't sit there and watch when she looked that terrified. Never once had he ever intentionally fallen off when tubing, until today that is. Something was just telling him to let go, so he had.
He steps into the shower and lets the hot water soothe his body, hoping it'll clear his head, but a nagging thought won't go away. Why did it matter to him how scared she was? He's not heartless or anything, but still. Technically, he's only hung out with her a couple of times over the years, and only when she happened to be at the Dunbroch's at the same time he was.
On the other hand, Hic had been his friend since kindergarten, but Jack wouldn't even think to purposely give up tubing if Hiccup was really that scared. His head starts spinning with all of the confusion, so he turns off the faucet and dries off with a towel, wiping away his thoughts like the water on his skin.
But when Hiccup confides in him late that night, he starts to feel weird all over again.
"You have a crush on Rapunzel?" Jack repeats incredulously.
"Yeah, I know it's sort of out of the blue, but I kinda do," Hiccup confesses, a blush crawling up his neck.
Jack runs a hand through his hair and looks down at his feet, not knowing how to respond.
"She's just so pretty and high-spirited, you know?" Hiccup continues. "She has this kind of contagious laugh, and that smile . . ." He forgets to end his sentence as he spaces out, probably thinking about her, which is what Jack is trying so hard not to do. Jack sits on the floor and listens to his best friend go on about Rapunzel, nodding and biting his tongue to keep from yelling. Finally, Hiccup runs out of steam and collapses onto the bed, mumbling something along the lines of, "Want to go to bed now?"
Laying there, unable to sleep, Rapunzel is the only thing that Jack can think about. Shouldn't he feel happy for his friend? This is the first time in a while that Hiccup has liked someone. Then why is his mind treating it as if this was a bad thing? Sure, when he looked into Rapunzel's eyes that morning, he had instantly felt this strange connection with her, but that doesn't necessarily mean anything. But on the raft, they had laid there laughing so effortlessly, and it felt like they were the only two people on the planet, teasing and joking as if they had been friends for years.
All of his thoughts tangle themselves in knots in his mind, but when he feels the beginnings of another headache, he shoves them all away and focuses on the silence. Thankfully, sleep washes over him and drowns out the straggling memories of her laughing face.
A/N - So I tried to make this one a little longer, but I can't really tell if it is haha. Do you like where this is going, or no? Please review and tell me what you think! I know I've been updating kind of quickly, but that's only because it's the weekend and I actually have time to write. During the week I probably won't update mostly because of work and school, but also a little because I want to keep you guys hanging for a bit :)
Side Note: If you guys like my stuff, then you need to check out "Nip at My Nose" by MicMic and "It's Good to Believe" by ZuEra. Their Jackunzel fanfics are TO DIE FOR, and they were my inspiration to write my own!
"And on that bombshell", I hope you guys liked this chapter! ;)
~Jackunzelhayniac3~