"I gotta say, only a couple days and you're doing fantastic!" Hiccup smiled as Jack was able to remain on Toothless' back for more than five minutes without falling off. "Pretty soon, you'll be ready to fly!"

"Yes!" Jack gave a victorious yell. "How much longer do you think?"

"A couple more days. Of course, I could always tie you to him if you're too excited to wait."

"Really? I like that option!"

"I figured you would," Hiccup teased. "Alright bud, up you get. Gotta tie Jack to you." Toothless mimicked Hiccup's words in a garbled mumble. "Hey, careful, or no fish for you."

Jack could barely contain his excitement, practically vibrating in his seat. "What's it like up there, Hiccup? Is it as amazing as I think it'll be?" His face fell, the gravity of his dream finally coming true hitting him. What if it's not? What if my dream isn't everything I hoped for?

"Better. It's scary at first, but after a while, it's the only place you'll want to be. Floating above an endless sea of white clouds, the wind blowing through your hair...it's fantastic."

"Any tips for me?" He let out a relieved sigh at Hiccup's description.

"Since you haven't flown before, don't look down."

"Why?" Jack's eyebrow lifted.

"You don't realize how high you are until you see how far away the ground is. It tends to make people sick."

"Okay. No looking down then." A nervous laugh escape his lips. "Is it normal to be terrified at first?"

"Totally. Don't worry though. Toothless and I will take care of you. And if you fall, Toothless loves to play catch."

"A-alright then. I think I'm ready to go." He gripped his staff tightly and Toothless even tighter. Hiccup smiled at him and slid his helmet on before hopping up onto Toothless' back. He slid his feet into the saddle's stirrups and gave the dragon a nudge. Jack barely had time to grab Hiccup's sides before they shot up into the air. The merman didn't even realize he was screaming until he wondered why his throat was hurting. He was still too terrified to open his eyes but the feeling of weightlessness was already fascinating him. "Is it safe yet?"

Hiccup chuckled, his voice muffled by the helmet. "Yeah, you're safe."

One brown eye cracked open to peek at the sky. The more Toothless evened out, the safer he felt and opened his other. "Wow…" The wind stung his face and made every fiber of skin feel more alive. "This is great!" Being up here reminded him of the ocean with its endless blue all around him.

Toothless made a sound like a rumbling laugh, earning a pat to the side of his neck from his rider. "I told you."

"I always wanted to fly but this…" A gust of wind tickled through his hair. "This is something else."

"This isn't flying. This is freedom, true freedom."

"I couldn't have summed it up better myself." Jack grinned and rested his chin on Hiccup's shoulder to look at him mischievously. "So what else can you guys do? I've seen some pretty crazy flying in my couple of days at Berk. You being the craziest."

"Do you want me to show you some of what we can do?"

"I thought you'd never ask." Jack's grip on the other boy tightened.

Hiccup gave a signal and Toothless brought his wings in, their bodies starting to plummet towards the ground. At the last minute, Toothless spread his wings and carried them upwards again. They did a variety of twists and turns, getting more and more daring each time. "You alright back there?"

Jack gave him a thumbs up. "Just a little dizzy. Is there more?" He felt like the children back home when his father would give out gifts from the palace each year.

"You sure you can handle more?"

"Yeah! I never want to go back to the ground again!"

Hiccup smiled and they spent the afternoon doing tricks and traveling further and further from Berk. Finally they landed on a small island, Toothless flopping down with a tired sigh. "Got your land legs, Jack?"

"Totally," he boasted. His first step felt just as wobbly as his first day with legs and he landed on the ground. "Maybe not."

"Come on, we can watch the sunset over here." Hiccup helped Jack stand and walk to the edge of the island. "You were made for flying."

"Do you really think so?" Pale fingers carefully massaged his legs, the muscles sore from gripping Toothless all day. "I guess if you don't get sick during a great northern sea storm your stomach can handle a few flips in the air." He chuckled.

Hiccup laughed and slid his helmet off. "Sometimes you say things that confuse me, and yet they sound so normal coming from you."

"I guess my memory chooses weird moments to remind me of." His laugh was tinged with nervousness. "Well, I will say that I didn't know flying would be so exhausting. Wonderful, but definitely draining." Jack flopped back into the sand like Toothless.

"You'll get used to it. In your defense, we don't normally fly this much in one day." Hiccup laid back, staring up at the sky. "You could stay, you know. In Berk. Or we could help you find your home if you want," he quickly added.

"Do you really think I could stay? Would that be okay?" Chocolate eyes turned to look at Hiccup hopefully. "I have nothing to offer you or the village."

"You'll learn something. The baby dragons like you. Maybe you can help with them." Hiccup turned to look at Jack. "I mean, unless you have someone waiting for you somewhere. A girlfriend, I mean."

Jack's cheeks heated, and he quickly looked back to the sky. "I don't think I have anything to go back to. If they were more important than my time on Berk I'm sure I'd have remembered something by now."

Hiccup sat up and, without thinking, lightly kissed Jack. He pulled back and flopped back against the sand. "Sorry. Probably shouldn't have done that."

"No need to be sorry." The shocked teen ran his fingers over where they'd kissed. "It wasn't unwelcome. Quite the opposite actually…"

Hiccup looked back at him, surprised. "Really?"

Jack nodded at him with a reassuring smile. "I don't think I've ever met anyone like me. Someone who...you know…" Hiccup kissed Jack again before he could finish. "But I'm sure glad you do." He was grinning by the time they pulled apart. "What about you? How has a catch like you not been smitten already?"

"I've always been awkward. The chief's awkward son, that's me." Hiccup smiled and kissed Jack again. "Besides, kissing a boy isn't a very Viking thing to do."

"Lucky I'm not a Viking then. You can be as awkward as you want. I'm not much better." He sighed with happiness, the warmth of Hiccup's lips against his own icy cold nothing short of blissful.

"We should probably head back before my Dad starts panicking," Hiccup whispered against Jack's lips.

"Probably a good idea," he sighed. "And if I don't want to?"

"You mean...spend the night? Here? Together?" This time it was Hiccup's turn to blush furiously.

"We don't have to. It sounds silly when I hear it from you. We aren't exactly prepared for it or anything."

"We could. Odin knows I want to, but I feel like I should woo you more or something."

"Woo? What's that? Is it something Vikings do? I want to try it." Jack sat up and looked over at him, excited for another opportunity to try something new.

"Wooing is when a person who likes someone does nice, romantic things for that person, until that person likes them back."

"I've never heard of that. So does that mean we should go back to Berk so we can...woo?"

Hiccup laughed and kissed him. "Probably. There are stages, you know. Presents that have to be presented, parties to go to, all that sort of stuff. What did people do where you're from when they liked someone?"

"I guess it was something like that. I was never approached like that so I don't really know." Jack gave him a dreamy smile. "Have you been wooed before? Or been wooer?"

"Awkward chief's son, remember?" Hiccup smiled down at him, brushing his thumb across Jack's bottom lip. "And you're my first. I only know how to do it because I've watched so many people do it before."

"Really? I can't believe you've never at least been interested in someone." He held back a shiver at the touch.

"Do you want me to be desirable to others?" Hiccup murmured, dragging that thumb down to tease Jack's throat.

The prince gulped, his mouth suddenly dry. "N-no. I suppose not." Face to face with the supposedly awkward son, Jack was surprised by Hiccup's brazen moves.

"Don't worry, I'll still kiss you, but the wooing part can be fun too."

"Good. I think I'd miss that part too much." With a laugh, Jack got up and pulled Hiccup with him. "So let's go start that wooing."

"You're going to woo me?"

"Is that not allowed? I thought you do it someone you like."

"Normally one person woos the other, and I was going to woo you, but...we can woo each other. I like the idea."

"We don't have to if it's not normal. I just didn't know." Jack shrugged, rubbing his neck in his embarrassment.

Hiccup kissed him. "I'd like to be wooed."

"And I apologize in advance if I'm horrible at it. I'm not exactly sure how to do it. But I'll try my hardest, I swear."

"One of the first things you do is give presents. Little things, when least expected. Anything that strikes your fancy."

"I think I can manage that." Jack's cheeks were beginning to sore from all of his smiling. "So...is it also normal to maybe kiss the one you're wooing every chance you get?" He took a shy step closer to the rider.

"If you want to kiss me, Jack, all you need to do is just...do it."

With a flick of his wrist, the prince had his staff hooked around Hiccup and pulled him close for a kiss. "I look forward to wooing with you."

"Cool trick," Hiccup chuckled. "Got any more of those?"

"None that I'm ready to reveal yet. Have to keep an air of mystery around me, you know. It brings all the boys to me. I could kick your butt with it though."

"Please resist doing that," Hiccup teased as he took the staff from Jack. He looked it over, running his fingers gently along the wood. "These are funny markings."

"I don't know how they got there." Jack immediately felt nervous not having his staff in his hands seeing as it was the only reason he could be here with Hiccup at all. He supposed there wasn't much threat of getting wet for the time being and managed to resist snatching it back.

"Huh, maybe ancient runes or something." Hiccup handed the staff back and kissed his cheek. "Come on. What I want to do with you does not come until later in the wooing stage. I'd hate to ruin things by not doing them properly."

Jack let out a breath of relief when he could run his fingers over the familiar knotted wood. "I'm curious what these things you want to do are, but I suppose you're allowed your secrets and mystery too."

Hiccup looked at Jack and laughed. "Sometimes you talk as if you're new to this world."

"Well I...I don't remember much of my time before I met you." He rubbed his arm as his face turned more red by the second. "It's not that bad is it?"

"No! No, you're fine!" Hiccup kissed Jack reassuringly. "I like the way you talk. I like...a lot about you."

"I like a lot about you too." His grin returned much to his cheeks' dismay. "Even though sometimes I feel like a fish out of water."

"If you weren't awkward, you wouldn't like me. You're too handsome to like someone like me."

"Ha! I think that's the first time anyone but my father has called me handsome."

"It's true. I've seen some of the girls looking at you. I've wanted to kiss you for a while, but I wasn't sure how you would react."

"I guess that's the downside to guys like us. Trying to find out if someone is a kindred spirit is torture! The first time I saw you I never would have thought I'd have a chance."

"I was wondering why you looked at me the way you did. I've seen others have that look, but never when looking at me."

"Can you blame me? Everything you said about me is the same for you. I've seen that girl...Astrid was her name? She looks at you all the time." Jack brushed some of his hair from his face when the breeze picked up.

"It's odd. Astrid showed up around the same time you did. Said she was the daughter of another chief. She is rather pretty, isn't she?"

"I guess so," he guffawed. "If you like the blonde, strong, scary, female type."

"As compared to the brunette, weak, adorable, male type?"

"Weak? You calling me weak?" Jack's staff hooked around the rider's prosthetic leg and sent him tumbling to the ground.

"Try that again, without the stick," he laughed. "Bet I could take you."

"In your dreams, Haddock. I might not look it, especially with my scrawny useless legs, but I have some muscles. I've wrestled bigger than you." Though he gloated, Jack held out his staff to help pull Hiccup up.

Hiccup grabbed the staff and used it to pull Jack down beside him. He pushed the staff away and trapped the teen between his arms on the ground. "Spurned suitors, perhaps?"

"Angry Thunderdrums," he laughed. "Not fun. Not at all."

"A shepherd wrestling Thunderdrums? A boy who likes other boys? Who are you really, Jack?"

Jack looked him straight in the eye with a twinkle in his own. "I'm your dreams come true."

"You are. You're everything I never knew I wanted until you were here." Hiccup traced Jack's lips with his fingers in a gesture that was quickly becoming second nature. "Perhaps you're a god, and Odin has sent you to me."

Soon enough, the sea prince couldn't keep a straight face anymore. "Yeah. The scrawniest god of them all. I was banned from the- wherever the gods live because of my weakness."

"You really are adorable." Hiccup stood and helped Jack to his feet. "Jack...before we begin this, whatever you would like to call this-"

"You mean the wooing?" Jack quickly cut in with a grin.

Hiccup nodded. "Yeah, the wooing. Jack, I need you to understand something."

"What else is there to understand? Besides the fact that I already don't know much to begin with."

"Men...don't wed men here. My Dad may demand I wed a woman."

"Well, to be honest I don't really know what you mean by 'wed.' But the way you make it sound is that you couldn't be with me. Why do you want to do this then?"

"To wed someone means to spend your whole life with them, and only them. But I want to do this because...I like you. A lot. And if you would I'd run away with you, if I had to. I would choose you over Berk."

"No." The word left his mouth before he could stop it. Memories of his life in Santoff Clausen flashed through his mind. He suddenly felt as if the universe would never let him just live his life and be happy as he was. There would always be something to stop his happiness.

"No?"

"No. No to all of it! No to you can't wed me. No to running away. No to choosing me over Berk. I don't want to run away with you from your problems. I'm tired of choosing and running and being hurt. Just...no." His shoulders slumped after his tirade, his frustration washing away from him.

"Oh." Hiccup nodded and looked down at his shoes. "Oh. Okay then. Yeah, time to go back, I think. Yeah." Hiccup slid his helmet back on his head and walked over to Toothless, who gave him a lopsided grin and a lick.

"No to losing you…" Jack whispered to himself. There goes my stupid mouth again. Aster was right. I really gotta work on that. He followed slowly behind to join the other two. Hiccup helped Jack up onto Toothless' back and hopped up himself before the dragon took off into the sky. He flew slowly but increased his speed at Hiccup's insistence.

Back in Berk, the two dismounted in silence. When Hiccup stayed to take off Toothless' gear, Jack stood there with his mouth gaping open and shut like a fish. He wanted to talk but couldn't find the words. In the end, he turned and made his way to Stoic's home. Wearily, he made his way to the cot they'd set up for him in Hiccup's work room. On his first day in Berk they had all quickly decided that stairs did not agree with his legs and balance and so they'd set up his own little corner. Jack wasn't against it at all. He didn't have to use those wretched stairs again, and they'd put so many furs on the cot it was just as comfortable as Hiccup's bed. Jack plopped himself onto his bed after leaning his staff against the wall.

"Hey," Hiccup murmured, leaning against the doorframe. "I, um...maybe we shouldn't mention what happened. The kisses, I mean."

"So men are not allowed to wed men in this place. They are not allowed to kiss either?" He didn't turn to look at Hiccup, afraid he'd notice the tears that were brimming in his eyes.

"Not really. At least, not that they talk about." Hiccup sighed and ran his fingers through his hair, making it stand up. "Jack, I still want to be friends. Even if you can't...I like having your friendship. I like having someone who understands."

"I like it too," Jack said quietly with a sniffle. "Even if this place does have some pretty stupid rules."

"I'm sorry, Jack. I really am."

"It's not your fault. You don't need to apologize." He blinked back his tears. "I'm sure you're tired from today too. Thank you again for taking me flying."

"Yeah, no problem."

"I'll see you tomorrow then. Goodnight, Hiccup."

"Goodnight, Jack." Hiccup looked at him and nodded, walking back to his room.

After he was sure the other teen was settled into his room upstairs, Jack snuck out of the house. He silently made his way down to the shore, hoping he would feel more of a sense of belonging. A large rock that jutted into the surf called his name and he took a seat. Gripping his staff tightly he felt safe enough to let his legs dip into the water over the edge. The feel of the water ebbing and flowing between his toes finally helped him calm. The moon wasn't yet full but the stars helped to light up the night, the sea mirroring it so perfectly that the line between sea and sky became indiscernible.

A small head popped up from the waves and nudged Jack's feet. "I've been waiting forever and ever, but you didn't come."

"Tooth!" Jack bent down to wrap her tightly in his arms, not caring that he was soaking his clothes. "I am so so so so sorry, Tooth. Up until now I haven't been able to walk well enough to get down here."

"But you're here now, and that's good!" Tooth nuzzled against Jack happily. "Are you happy with your two-leg and the dragons?"

The prince sighed. He moved to where he could sit in the shallows so the orca could lay on his lap. "Flying is everything I've ever imagined it to be." He smiled down at her, putting on a brave face. He couldn't bring himself to tell her that he'd left the sea for anything but sheer perfect happiness. "It reminds me of the sea, actually. And I found out that all those storms we've been beat around by helped me from being sick while riding."

Tooth clicked with happiness, her flippers gently flapping against Jack's legs. "Flying sounds nice."

"It is. I do miss you, though. It's so much harder to keep my secret than I thought it would be."

"Does the two-leg ask?"

"He asks where I'm from sometimes. Or he'll say I act like I'm not from this world. So far I've gotten out of it by saying I don't remember much of anything before I woke on the ice that day."

"He sounds nice. Is he nice to you?"

"He's very nice to me. He helped me learn to walk with legs. And he's teaching me so many wonderful things about so many different dragons."

"You really do like him, Jack."

"You already knew that." He nudged his friend playfully.

"But you've cried for him."

"What do you mean?"

"You've been sad. No one's ever made you sad."

"I'm not sad, Tooth. We just...we had a little disagreement today, and I feel bad. I let my big mouth get the best of me, despite all the years Aster tried to get me to stop."

"Could you give him this?" Tooth dived beneath the waves, returning with something in her mouth. She dropped the arm cuff in Jack's lap.

"Tooth, how did-" he gasped, holding it up. "You remade it for me?"

"With Aster's help. He felt bad after what your father did. He thought it might bring you back home."

Jack frowned. "You guys didn't have to do this for me. I can't even imagine how long it took to find all the pieces."

"We love you, Jack. We want you to be happy. Even if it means you don't come back."

"I love you too, Tooth. I don't know what I ever did to deserve a friend like you." He was so overcome by feelings he sobbed against his friend, still clutching her tight.

"I'll always be here, Jack. I did promise." Tooth nuzzled against Jack.

"And so did I. I'll come down here every night from now on, okay?"

"Will you really? Oh Jack, that would be wonderful! We could have fun like before!"

"Fun every night. Just us." He smiled and gave her a kiss on her cheek.

"Fun every night!"