Hey, I'm not dead!
So, uh, this is more of a filler chapter to lead up to what's gonna happen next... so sorry about the long wait to only be over that. College is killing me; I'm always writing papers and stuff now so the last thing I want to do is write even more when those are done. Ugh...
Also, this one is Jack-centric since the last one turned out to be quite Hiccup-centric, so I'm balancing that out a bit... I hope this is okay.
"I had a really good time, Jack."
"Me too." He confirmed as he walked Hiccup to her front door, like he always did, hand in hand "I didn't expect to enjoy that as much as I did."
"Sometimes kids' movies can surprise you, ya know?"
Jack just sniggered in response "I could see the plot twist coming a mile away, though." When Hiccup suggested that they go see the new animated movie that was out (one he admittedly wanted to see anyway) he didn't think that she was being serious. Seeing a movie made for kids with your girlfriend wasn't exactly romantic. But, hey, they both had a good time. That was what really mattered.
Hiccup pulled at her jacket so that it was closer to her neck, in an effort to keep warm in the frigid January air "Yeah, but it could have been more obvious than it was, right?"
"I guess." He let go of her hand and looked at the door. Neither one of them seemed to mind the cold that much, but Hiccup's face was starting to turn red from the icy winds drifting between them. He let out a breath through his mouth and watched the steam from it dissolve in front of him "So, see you Monday?"
The brunette nodded "See you Monday."
They hugged goodbye and Jack gave her a quick peck on the cheek, something else that was added to their little after-date ritual. Hiccup opened the door and Jack started back for his car, but then another voice called him "Hey, Jack!" He froze when he realized that it was Scott. He held in a groan. Great. What'd I do now?
The teen in question emerged from the house wearing nothing but boots, his boxers, and a sweat-stained tank top, looking the taller but weaker teen over with his best poker face yet "Got a minute?"
"Guess I do now." Jack sighed "What is it?"
"I know you're afraid of me."
The pale boy sputtered "I am not."
"You should be." Scott declared "But, since my sister likes you so much," He said that last part as if he was teasing them both "I'm willing to call a little truce between you and I."
Jack looked at him quizzically "What's the catch?"
"Simple." Scott lifted his chin to make up for the inch Jack had on him, staring him in the eye "Tomorrow I'm meeting up with my buddies at the gym. I told them I'm bringing you with me."
Oh no. Oh no. Jack didn't like where this was going!
"So meet me up at the gym on the corner of Berkly and Hooligan. Nine A.M. Sharp. If you don't show, well," He took a step back and smirked "just see what happens the next time you come to pick up my baby sister."
"… What if I have to work tomorrow morning…?" Jack weakly argued.
"What kind of library is open on a Saturday?!"
"Um, a lot of them."
Scott huffed "Ugh, whatever. Just be there."
He trudged back in the house and all but slammed the front door. It was clear that even Scott was doing this against his own will, probably because Hiccup told him to back off or something. (Not that she needed to, of course. Jack could surely handle himself if he and Scott ever got into a fight. Not like the other guy would snap his limbs like twigs or anything.) The thought of that alone made Jack feel a little bit better about the situation. But still, being at the gym with Hiccup's big brother for who-knows-how-long was… daunting to him.
Oh well, his fate for tomorrow was clearly sealed. As Jack climbed in his car and drove back home, he thought that he should probably do a lot of push-ups before he went to bed, as if that would prepare him for the day ahead of him.
Jack pulled up to the gray concrete building that had to be Scott's gym… late. Only by ten minutes, but he was still late. But it wasn't the clock on his dashboard that told him, oh no, it was an irritated Haddock that told him so with a bite in his voice.
Scott was leaning against the wall when Jack parked his car and stepped out, who immediately greeted him with a "you're late" before pushing off and striding towards him in, yet again, shorts and a tank top. Seriously, did this guy never get cold? Sure, Jack loved when the air got chilly but he didn't want to risk hypothermia when he went outside. Inside, though… boxers and a t-shirt, baby.
He made some excuse about there being a bit of traffic on the way here, which Scott just ignored with an eye roll that reminded Jack of Hiccup… in an odd way "Whatever. Just come inside."
Scott wandered towards the front doors while Jack slowly followed, surveying the area and the building's exterior one last time. The sign read "Bludvist's" Jack noticed before the pair walked inside and Jack was hit with the over-powering smells of energy drinks, sweat, and a brew of different colognes.
"Welcome to my world, Jack." Scott bragged as he spread his arms open, as if gesturing to the entire establishment as his property "You may have heard of No Man's Land, but this is All Man's Land." He paused to look around before adding on "Well, except for the kickass ladies who work out here too; they're awesome though, so it's totally cool. Come on, I'll show you around and introduce you."
Then, he scampered over to the counter to check himself in or something. All Jack could think of to do was follow him, so he did just that… only to wish he hadn't when he saw the guy Scott was chatting with.
This guy had to be the size of Hiccup's dad. If not, bigger. The man had dark skin and a scary face decorated with an aged scar spanning half of his head, turning his otherwise (assumedly) harmless grin into something much more sinister. Long dreadlocks cascaded around his scarred, beaten body and… was that a prosthetic arm?
Jack wanted to run. He wanted to bolt back out to his car, drive back home, and forget this whole ordeal. Who cared if Scott didn't lay off, right? He'd probably get tired of screwing with him eventually… right?!
"Friend of yours, Scott?" He practically growled.
"Eh, not really." Scott remarked, like it was nothing at all "He and I just have some business to take care of here is all."
"Right…" The man didn't take his eyes off Jack for another few seconds, like he was trying to figure out why he was there to begin with.
"Are the guys here?" Scott questioned.
"I thought I saw them go down to the boxing ring a bit ago. Got tired of waiting for ya up here, I would imagine."
Scott tapped the counter before walking off "Thanks, man." Under the stranger's suspicious gaze, Jack stayed closer to Hiccup's brother than he ever had before, though he looked at the ground more than anything else "Drago runs the place." Then, Jack's head lifted "He's not really used to seeing bodies like you hanging around here; that's why he was lookin' at you funny."
"O-oh…" Jack could have sworn he heard his voice crack just then.
Scott led him down a flight of stairs not far from the counter, sneakers squeaking with every step until they touched a floor that was almost completely padded. Punching bags and exercise machines lined the walls and a boxing ring took up the rest of the space.
"Oh yeah," Scott piped "you've never met my friends, have you? I guess we're gonna fix that in a few seconds."
He was meeting this guy's friends too? Great, just great. More people that could probably kill him.
Scott strode up to a group of guys near the boxing ring nonchalantly, Jack close behind. He stopped when he reached them and jutted his thumb over his shoulder "Guys, this is the fresh meat I was telling you all about, Jack."
"Wait, wait, wait." A tall boy with toned, dark skin and black dreadlocks pulled back into a ponytail stepped forward, sneakers squeaking against the hardwood as he did so "Which new piece of meat? You had like three lined up last time I checked."
Scott groaned "Right, you were at that tournament… sorry, man, forgot to get you up to speed." He pushed Jack towards his friends "This is my sister's boyfriend" He said the last word with a bit of venom in his voice "and she's getting on my case about getting along with him so I brought him here on a field trip. He's gonna be hanging out with us for the day and, if he survives, I'll listen to her."
"Oh okay." The teen with the dreadlocks nodded as he began to wrap what looked like gauze around his hands and wrists.
"Anyway," Scott continued "Jack, you've met Speedifist" he gestured to the dark-skinned boy "and that's Wartihog," he motioned to a rounder boy with curly red hair and a few warts dotting his face "I think you know Derek already, and the lazy ass sitting on the edge of the ring is Terence." He said the last introduction louder than all the others.
"Geez, we were just waiting on you." A lanky teen with long blond hair tied into a braid drawled as he started climbing into the boxing ring.
"You could have at least warmed up while we were waiting, though man." Speedifist berated before he started wailing on a punching bag a few yards from the ring "I'm all fired up and now I gotta wait on you!?"
"Dude, I stretch before I even get in here." Terrence groaned as he rolled his shoulder "I'm good to go whenever you are." With that, he slipped between the ropes that sealed in the ring and started putting on… protective padding?
With one final punch to the bag, Speedifist breathed "Good. Because I'm ready to punch your skinny ass to the moon." He threw on a pair of boxing gloves and jumped into the ring, standing square in front of Terrence, now fully padded, and throwing a few practice punches at the air.
"Just go easy on him, Spence!" Derek called "Macy'll have your head if you do any permanent damage."
"Relax," the boxer waved off "when I'm done with him, Mace'll have more than enough of him to entertain herself." Without another word, he started punching and throwing combinations at a surprisingly sturdy Terrence.
There was about thirty seconds of silence between them before someone spoke "Come on, man!" Terrence goaded "I can barely feel those; I wanna see some stars!" Speedifist's punches became quicker and more violent, indicated by Terrence's decreased stability after each one "Yeah! That's what I'm talkin' about!"
Jack did his best not to cringe as Terrence finally started letting out grunts in response to Speedifist's assaults. That guy could take a punch, he'd give him that much.
"So, Jack," Derek leaned on Scott's shoulder as he eyed Jack up and down "you do any lifting?"
Scott visibly gagged "Yeesh, dude, mints, have you ever heard of 'em?" He pushed his friend off of him.
"Your sister don't call me 'Dog's Breath' for nothing, pal." The tallest of the group countered "Gotta make sure I'm still worthy of the title."
"Trust me, you are." Scott coughed and grumbled about it being "disgusting" under his breath.
The attention of the remaining boys turned back to Jack "Uh… no…" He weakly responded "I-I just do, uh, cardio for the most part."
Derek just nodded in response.
"Wait, why does that even matter?" Wartihog questioned "I thought he was doing whatever we were doing today."
"I just wanna see what we're dealing with is all." Derek reasoned "At least he does something, right? He's not a total wimp."
"Are we gonna do this or not?!" Scott complained.
A thud was heard behind them and the small party turned to see Terrence on the ground and Speedifist was jumping around and celebrating his victory "Fuck yes!" He cheered "Seein' stars yet, man?!"
Terrence groaned and sat up, holding his head in his hands "Just a few…"
"You wanna go again when you can see straight again?" Speedifist questioned with a smirk.
"Oh, you bet I do!" Terrence stood with a wobble and leaned against the ropes to support himself "My sister can do better than that."
"Then why don't you put on some gloves next time and we'll really go at it?" Speedifist taunted.
"You're on!"
Jack saw Derek roll his eyes and start heading for the stairs "Yeah, okay, let's get out of here, let them beat each other into a pair of messes in the ring." Scott and Wartihog started following him before Jack caught the hint "We'll pick up their corpses on our way out."
The quartet scaled the stairs back up to the main floor of the gym and swung the corner, heading down an aisle of exercise machines. Scott and Derek immediately started greeting the sparse people occupying the machines with fist bumps or simple waves. Wartihog did the same with a few people, but he slinked behind the two of them and strode alongside Jack.
"So, you're dating Henrika, eh?" The redhead mused. Jack just nodded in response "What's it like bein' with her?"
"Uh, it's good. Really good."
Wartihog hummed and nodded "Bet it is, considering you're basically the only guy she hasn't friend-zoned to date."
Salt and pepper eyebrows rose at the statement "But… she's dated before…"
The older boy shrugged "Doesn't mean anything. One time a guy confessed he liked her and got instantly shut down. Another one tried to go a step farther and she turned him away like nothing." He paused, like he was trying to figure out what to say next when Jack stayed silent "I'm just saying you must be something special or you're just lucky you just haven't pushed the wrong button yet."
"O… kay then…"
"Yooo, Dagur!" Scott's voice resounded. Jack and Wartihog looked up to see Scott high-fiveing someone on a treadmill before continuing on his way. He was probably just another one of the friends that the older Haddock had made by coming to this place, but it was clear Scott was more vocal towards him than anyone else.
"Oh yeah," Derek looked back at Jack and Wartihog "it's leg day, guys."
While Wartihog hissed under his breath, Jack just looked at the others confused "Leg day?"
"We're working out our legs today." Scott drawled on "Grab a treadmill and start running." He and Derek jumped onto adjacent machines and started them up. Jack and Wartihog followed their lead. Only… Jack didn't know how to start up the machine.
Jack stared at the control panel on the treadmill and wound up just pressing buttons that looked important until the machine turned on and from there it was easy enough. He increased the speed of the treadmill until he was jogging and then looked around. Scott and Derek were each had theirs set on an incline as they ran, meanwhile Wartihog was jogging like he was.
The four of them were exercising in silence for quite a while until Scott challenged Derek "Hey, bet I can sprint faster than you."
"Bro, you may be stronger than I am but I got more stamina."
"This isn't a video game!" The other retorted "Come on, me and you."
Derek just rolled his eyes and agreed and then the two were running faster within seconds of playing with the control panels.
"Quite a bromance, huh?" Wartihog commented "I swear, if Scott wasn't into that girl in his class, the two of them would have started dating a long time ago."
Jack quietly pondered the notion and, now that it was pointed out to him, Scott and Derek did kind of behave the same as he and Hiccup did sometimes. Like when they went to the arcade… He and Wartihog watched the two of them sprint for a good fifteen minutes before Scott started showing some wear, but he didn't slow down.
Derek noticed his more labored breathing and playfully nudged him, throwing the smaller boy off-balance for a fraction of a second. That little stumble was enough to make Scott scramble for the sidebars to regain his composure while Derek just laughed at the pathetic display. Scott growled and threw a punch to the other's arm, grumbling about how "that was cheating" to deaf ears. Jack and Wartihog both started laughing, only to hear Scott screech "It's not funny!"
"I think it's funny." Derek chuckled. Then, he noticed something near the front of the gym "Oh, hey Ru-"
"Hey, Snotnut!" A gruff voice bellowed.
Derek was immediately silenced "Nevermind…"
A few seconds later, a girl who looked a lot like Terrence with longer hair stormed through the room and made her way to Scott "Where the hell's my brother?"
"He and Speedifist should still be beating the shit out of each other." He stated plainly "What'd he do now?"
The blonde's cheeks turned a little pink before she answered "He did the laundry today and he shrank half of my bras."
It took a few seconds for him to register what she'd just said, but once he did Scott burst out laughing. While he and Wartihog just laughed as she rampaged down to the boxing ring, Derek was at least nice enough to wait until she was out of earshot before he started losing it.
Jack held in a chuckle all the while and took notice when Scott turned off his machine and stepped off the treadmill "I kinda wanna see this."
"Ya know," Wartihog jumped off of his and then turned it off "me too."
"Looks like we're taking a field trip then…" Derek sighed before he followed suit.
Jack did the same and followed the trio back downstairs, where he could hear two people shouting but couldn't make out the argument. When they reached the bottom, he could see Speedifist and Terrence still going at each other in the ring and that girl standing just outside the ropes.
"You could at least give me money to buy new ones!" She yelled.
"Can't we talk about this later?!" Terrence screamed back "Can't you see I'm busy?!" He threw another punch at Speedifist before dodging a low blow.
"You could at least say you're sorry!"
Derek leaned closer to Jack and stated "That's Terrence's sister Ruth. This is why some people call them Ruff and Tuff, cause they always fight each other."
"Why do I have to apologize?!" Terrence rebutted after dodging a punch aimed at his head "You left everything in the machine!"
"You could have hung them up or something, shithead!"
Terrence broke from the fight in favor of leaning over the ropes and getting in his sister's face "Bitch!"
"Butt elf!"
"Bride of Grendel!"
Ruth's eyes momentarily widened before her hard glare returned to match her brother's. The two were caught in a staring contest before Ruth voiced "Wanna take this in the ring?"
"You bet I do." Terrence heatedly replied.
"Heeere we go…" Speedifist sighed as he jumped out of the ring and removed his helmet and gloves. When they were off, he tossed them over to Ruth, who immediately began putting them on. She then discarded her jacket and bag before sliding into the ring and throwing a punch at her brother's side.
"Hey, foul! Foul!"
Wartihog and Derek started cheering the sparring twins on while Scott rolled his eyes… and throwing moves that had to be illegal in actual boxing, in Jack's amateur opinion.
After a minute or two of watching the fight, Scott slinked closer to Speedifist "So, you know it's leg day right?"
"Yeah." Dreadlocks spilled from his ponytail before they were put back in a tighter hold "Sorry, Tuff and I got carried away."
"As usual." Scott scoffed "Come on, let's get to it." They walked past Jack "Jack, come on!"
He blindly followed them back up the stairs and over to new machines Jack hadn't seen before. And, frankly, Jack had no idea how these things were supposed to used. To him, it just looked like a weird looking chair with a panel or something in front of it.
Scott climbed into one without a problem and put his feet on the panel while Speedifist loaded weights onto the other side "You wanted a hundred, right?"
"One ten." The other corrected.
"You got it." The boxer put the correct amount of weight on it and then looked at Jack "How much you want, Jack?"
"Uh, what?"
"Get your ass in that chair; you're doing everything I'm doing." Scott asserted and then began to extend his legs to their limit and curling back up again, repeating the process over and over again.
Jack sighed and set himself up in the adjacent machine like Scott had. Not a second later, Speedifist was poking at him again "How much?"
"Uh…"
"Give him fifty to start." Scott ordered with a grunt.
Speedifist obliged without another word… and that's when Jack realized that this was harder than it looked. He started pumping his legs up and down and wanted to quit after only doing it five times.
He paused to catch a breath and Scott took it upon himself to be Jack's new coach for the day "Keep going! Go until those twig legs threaten to snap!"
"They might be now."
"Don't be such a baby; that's like nothing."
"Maybe for you…"
"Them's fightin' words!" Speedifist taunted, now a few yards away from them jumping rope.
"You shut up!" Scott yelled.
"What?" The darker teen questioned "I thought you'd like going against your sister's little boy toy in the ring."
Jack's legs faltered and he blushed up to his ears, causing both of the other boys to burst into laughter "One thing's for sure" Scott breathed through laughs "his reactions are funny."
Ugh, this was gonna be a long day…
"Okay, just next time your brother decides to abduct me and torment me, could you give me a warning?" Jack grumbled as he lay motionless in his bed.
After Scott had mercifully let him go home, Jack had a whole new adventure awaiting him. Because he had to drive his car… all the way back home… and his legs and arms were sore from exertion they weren't used to. After a good fifteen minutes of tentatively hitting the gas and doing his best to stay on the road, he sloppily parked in the driveway, shuffled into the house, and promptly plopped down on the couch where he refused to move a muscle for a few hours. Eventually, Emma pulled him upstairs to ask for help with her weekend homework and he'd stayed on the second floor ever since.
"I'm sorry; it's actually kinda my fault." Hiccup sighed before continuing "I told Scott that I wanted him to be a little nicer to you and that's the path he decided to take."
Jack just groaned on the other end "So this is your fault… and I can't even get mad at you…"
"You can," She stated "you probably just don't want to."
"Bingo…"
"If you want, I can come over there and hang out with you if that'll make you feel better."
"Nah, I've got work tomorrow." Jack whined again "Harry's gonna make me rearrange the whole library with my luck."
"Ooh, poor baby." Hiccup sarcastically cooed.
They shared a chuckle before Jack remembered what Wartihog had said to him earlier. He wondered… "Hey, Hiccup?"
"Hmm?"
"So, uh, one of your brother's friends told me something and… I kind of wanna know if he was being serious or not?"
"Here we go…" She breathed "what happened?"
"Is it true that you like to friend-zone people that like you?"
The other line was dead silent for almost a minute. Jack was going to pipe up and ask if she was still there until he heard her grumble "I'm gonna fucking kill him…"
"Uh, Hiccup…?"
He heard a little gasp "Oh, not you, not you! Just… those idiots always blow everything out of proportion." Then, he could hear some anger in her voice "Ok, sure, I didn't feel the same way about someone but still wanted to be his friend and now I'm the bad guy, right?"
"No," Jack interjected "that's now why I... I just wanted to hear your side or if it was just made up."
"It wasn't made up but it was twisted." She'd calmed down some, but Hiccup still sounded irritated "I'm sorry about the outburst."
"Don't apologize." He commented "I'm sorry it happened."
"I'm gonna kill my brother…" Hiccup muttered.
"Scott didn't tell me that." Jack informed "It was his friend, uh… Warti… something?"
"Okay, then I'm gonna kill Wartihog." She corrected.
He let out another laugh "Please don't kill anyone, Hiccup."
The brunette giggled "Fine, only 'cause you asked."
They fell into a comfortable silence afterwards and, even though they didn't talk for several minutes, Jack didn't want to hang up.
"Hey, Jack…" Hiccup whispered, as if she'd ruin the moment if she spoke louder "when do you wanna get together again, anyway?"
"Oh, right! Um…" Jack's eyes scanned over his bedroom "How about Saturday? My parents are going out to dinner, so maybe we can watch a movie or something in peace?"
"Hmmm…" She paused "Okay. You'll come pick me up?"
"You got it."
There was a distant slamming door on Hiccup's end "Sounds like Scott's home."
The older teen smirked "I take it you still wanna go have a talk with him?"
"Yeah, sure, a talk…" The younger absently agreed "Feel better, Jack. See you Monday."
"Okay. Good night."
"Night."