I know what you're all thinking. An update? From me? Get outta here! But I'm not kidding this time when I said that this story has plot, guys! Yay! I need to work on some more stories still, like "CGI High", "When the Moon fell in love with the Sun" , "The need to kill", "The murder of Esmeralda"- all of which are stories I haven't updated in a while. Plus, my keyboard is broken, so I can't write at all. This one was just written up before my keyboard decided to stop working, and since I don't have my stylus, typing stuff will go a lot slower now. Thanks for your support and reviews on this! You're all too sweet. :)

Her fingers tried the doorknob again and again. Her hair shook all around her shoulders with each arm movement. Hiccup could only stare at Merida's back, marveling at the way she moved. It was as if a graceful lion was angry. She was banging on the door, yells for Jack or Rapunzel resonating in the tiny space.

"It's no use," Hiccup said finally. "They're not nearby, and this thing must be soundproof." Merida turned to face him, a mixture of realization and anger on her facial features.

"Ye tell mah this now?" she said sarcastically. "Oh, ah'm sorry. Ah didn' realize." Hiccup shrank back, as if her words physically bit.

"Is there a way to unlock it from the inside?" Hiccup asked. Merida snorted.

"If there was, ah would've already picked tha' lock," Merida said irritably.

"Oh," Hiccup said, from his spot on a bucket. "Do you- pick locks often?"

"Only when me mum doesn' want me tae leave the house," Merida said, and her face had turned sour. "She doesn' like it when ah go to parties or anythin', an'-" She stopped as if she had barely realized that Hiccup was there. She uncomfortably looked away.

"Do you want to sit down?" Hiccup asked her, pointing towards another bucket. Merida's first reaction was of disgust, but after surveying her surroundings and not finding a more decent option, she turned the bucket upside down and took a seat reluctantly.

"We've got teh wait till Jack or Rapunzel come by here..." Merida said quietly. It surprised Hiccup, seeing how hateful she seemed to be towards him, that she was actually speaking about something that wasn't an insult.

"You're on the archery team, aren't you?" Hiccup chose to change the topic to something Merida would hopefully like. "Sometimes I see you, on the field, practicing."

"Not jus' archery," Merida said, a faraway look sparking in her eyes. "Ah'm on the girl's soccer team too, 'cause me dad wanted mah tae be, but archery's mah main focus."

"That's really cool," Hiccup said politely. "I'm part of the Mathletes, and the Scholastic Decathlon, but other than that, nothing else sport like." Merida gave another snort.

"Yer such a nerd," she repeated, much like she had at the beginning of detention. "They way ye talk about it, ye'd think ye were proud of it or somethin'."

"I am," Hiccup said unashamedly. "My dad though- he doesn't like to talk about it."

"Why not?" Merida was utterly perplexed at this statement. "If ah was in yer shoes, my mum would be braggin' about mah tae the moon an' back."

"He, uh-" Hiccup inhaled. "Thinks I should join the wrestling team, or the football team, or some manly sport."

"But- yer the size o' a stick," Merida deadpanned.

"Gee, thanks," Hiccup said sarcastically. "I did sign up to join the wrestling team though, don't think I'll get in, of course..." Merida actually burst into a fit of laughter.

"Yeh? In wrestlin'?" Merida was practically laughing her head off. "Ah'm sorry, but yer just so-" Hiccup's face set into a hard line. He hadn't expected her to be so rude in response to what he just said, seeing as she was the first person he'd told about signing up for wrestling.

"I get it, okay?" he snapped uncharacteristically, glaring at the door. "I'm worthless. My dad can't even look at me most of the time, I'm such a failure." Merida instantly shut her mouth, and stared at Hiccup sympathetically. She moved her hand as if she wanted to rest it on Hiccup's shoulder, but instead lowered it onto her own knee.

"Mah mum-" Merida exhaled, deciding to try and open up to Hiccup like he'd just done to her, "Thinks ah'm such a disappointment. She wanted a lady, an' instead- she got me." Hiccup looked at her, and her blue eyes locked into his green eyes in understanding. Merida decided Hiccup wasn't all that bad, and Hiccup thought the same thing about her.

"You're interesting, Merida," Hiccup said softly, so that Merida had to strain to hear him. "You're not as mean as you make yourself out to be."

"Ah jus' insulted yeh, and ye still think that?" Merida said, her eyebrows raised. "Ye really see the good in people, Haddock-"

"Funny," Hiccup said. "Everyone says I can. I just don't believe them. If they're truly good, then there's nothing else there that can hide it so that it's hidden from everyone's sight." Merida fell silent, stared at her hands, the wall, the door, any place that wasn't Hiccup.

"Ah don' think ah'm good," Merida's voice cracked. "Ye see- ah guess it's 'cause ah drink, an' ah smoke, which mah mum doesn' know about- ah'm not even supposed ter do that, because ah'm an athlete-"

"That's not true," Hiccup said. "You are good. You just have some mixed morals." Merida smiled at him sadly, and Hiccup thought absentmindedly how pretty she was when she didn't have an expression of absolute loathing on her face.

"If only we had a phone..." Merida looked away, sighing. "We could call someone tae tell 'em-"

"Maybe we should try and find a way out," Hiccup suggested. "What have we got?" He stood up from his bucket, Merida mirroring his actions, and they both darted to opposite sides of the closet in search for possible things to use.

"Brooms- mops- cleaners-" Merida listed in a bored tone. "There's some sort o' bag mess..."

"Those have sawdust," Hiccup said, as Merida poked the bag. "The janitor uses it for vomit." Merida recoiled immediately. Hiccup looked around on his end, but sadly, besides a few folded ladders and more cleaning supplies, there was nothing.

"Nothin'? Not even a screwdriver or somethin'?" Merida asked. Hiccup shook his head, when what she said registered in his mind.

"A vent!" he shouted, and Merida stared at him like he was crazy. "Is there a vent in here?" Merida looked around, and her eyes landed on the celling, or more specifically, a space covered with metal slabs.

"There!" she said, pointing. Hiccup followed her gaze and his face lit up.

"Maybe we can get out after all!" he said gleefully. "If we find a way to open up that vent-"

"Um, but yer kinda missin' one huge important part tae this," Merida said. "We've got nothin' teh open tha' vent."

"Technicality," Hiccup said, waving his arm around, and untangled a ladder from the mess of the closet. "We've got to try." Merida leaned against the wall, admiration sparking in her eyes.

"Ye don' give up, do yeh Haddock?" she said, smiling for once. And she helped him set up the ladder.

Jack grabbed Rapunzel by the waist, pulling her next to him behind the teacher's desk. Rapunzel gave a small squeak of indignation, but Jack clamped a cold hand over the blond's mouth and pressed his head to her neck.

"Shh," he whispered, as Rapunzel tried to speak. His icy breath that smelled like spearmint tickled Rapunzel's neck, and she shivered violently. Jack held her tighter, feeling her body writhing stop. The familiar jingle of the janitor's keys sounded again. His feet passed dangerously close to where Jack and Rapunzel were hidden, and he paused next to Rapunzel's foot.

"Left the lights on in here," the janitor said gruffly. "Better fix that, eh?" He talked as if there was someone else there, and for a second, Rapunzel was worried he knew they were there, but the janitor just seemed to be speaking to himself.

His feet moved away, and the room fell back into darkness. Rapunzel squirmed again, and Jack finally let her go. A thud told the two that the janitor had left. Rapunzel scampered out from under the desk, Jack following suit, and he turned the lights back on.

"That was close," Jack said, sighing. "I almost thought he was going to catch us."

"Catch us?" Rapunzel's voice was forceful as she leaned against a lab station. "He almost found us, and he could've told Mr. Black, and then he'd have told my mother, I already had to lie as it is just to come to this detention!"

"So your mom's like that, huh?" Jack said, and walked towards Rapunzel. "The type of woman who's raising this honor student, and who doesn't want you to get detention and spoil your spotless record?"

"No," Rapunzel frowned, giving a small huff. Jack smirked.

"Honestly Punz, you're too easy," he said, and walked towards the front of the room.

"Easy?!"

"Oh, relax," Jack said to the fierce look on Rapunzel's face. "I wasn't even talking about sex this time. You're just fun to mess with sometimes." Rapunzel blushed at the comment, and refused to look at him after that. Instead, she let her gaze wander towards the chemistry teacher's desk, the student desks, and examined the lab equipment set out on them.

"We're doing a lab on Monday then," Rapunzel noted, studying a beaker. "She's left out supplies." Jack laughed, his silver tongue stud flashing again.

"Of everything, you notice that?" he said. "Punz, I hardly even know you, and I already know that you're such a killjoy."

"A killjoy?" Rapunzel tried the word out, pronouncing it slightly wrong. "Why's that?"

"Meaning-" Jack moved closer to Rapunzel until his chest was pressed against hers. When he spoke, his breath tickled the girl's lips. "That you're in a classroom, alone, without a teacher, and all you notice is that she's set up for her lesson." Rapunzel flushed red, looking away as Jack moved apart from her.

"What's the first thing you notice then?" she tried to sound sassy but ended up failing, cringing afterward.

"The endless opportunities to take out a Benson Burner and light that bra we found on fire," Jack hopped onto a lab stool. "Or just trash the place."

"Jack!" Rapunzel scolded in a motherly tone. "You can't-"

"Didn't say I would, now did I?" Jack said, playing with a handout on the desk. "I learned my lesson last time."

"What happened last time?" Rapunzel asked curiously, against her will. Jack sent a crooked smile her way.

"Let's just say I almost got some juvie," Jack said, "And at least two months of detention." He hopped off of the lab stool. "Want to go look for the other two?"

"Might as well," Rapunzel said. "Now that you've got your phone." Looking at the phone in Jack's hand, she realized something. "Wait, didn't you hand in a phone to Mr. Black?"

"A phone I- um, borrowed," Jack said, but Rapunzel didn't get the assumption that he had stolen it. Instead, he had the most heartbreaking look in his eyes, as if what Rapunzel had said hurt.

"Okay," Rapunzel said quietly, and Jack snapped out of it, letting a smile float on his face again.

"Here, let's make sure they didn't kill one another in the time we left them alone," Jack said, and opened the door. "After you." Rapunzel graciously smiled and walked out into the corridor. Jack was a bit of an ass, but he was also really sweet at times. He always had a smile on his face. He really did have a love for fun. And Rapunzel admired him for that.

"Who's phone did you borrow?" Rapunzel asked, once the two were walking down the hallway.

"A-" the sad look was back on Jack's face. "Uh, a friend's." Rapunzel could tell she was hitting a nerve on the subject, but she was so curious.

"So, how did you get into detention?" Rapunzel bounded on her heels. Jack's smile returned as he faced Rapunzel.

"Alas, I was caught throwing water on a douchebag," he smirked. "What about you?" Rapunzel tittered at his response before taking a stab at answering herself.

"I got caught sneaking out with my boyfriend," she admitted. Jack's smile twitched ever so slightly before he widened it.

"Boyfriend. Right," he said. "He didn't get caught?"

"No, he ran faster than me," Rapunzel laughed lightly. "And I didn't want to drag him down with me."

"So selfless," Jack said. "But I have to say- nice job, Punz." Rapunzel's smile mirrored Jack's, and the two just grinned idiotically at one another until they reached the classroom they had been serving detention in. Jack opened the door, but no indication of Hiccup and Merida greeted them.

"Merida?" Rapunzel called. "Hiccup?" Toothless came up to them, limping up towards them with his mouth open in an attempt of a smile. His broken teeth made Rapunzel jump, but other than that, nothing.

"They must've gotten lost," Jack said, leaning in the doorway. "Should we go look for them?"

"I guess so-" Rapunzel stooped to give Toothless a fond pat. "They can't have gotten far."

"Hallways then?" Jack moved towards the door. Rapunzel followed, reluctantly leaving Toothless in her wake, the kitten meowing after her. "He's so cute," Rapunzel smiled at the thought of the cat, bounding on her heels.

"Who, Hiccup?" Jack played dumb, that infuriating smirk on his face. "I'll make sure to let that boyfriend of yours know-"

"Who do you hang out with at school, Jack?" Rapunzel chose to ignore the dig and instead wanted to find a new topic. "I've hardly seen you around."

"You're too nice for your own good," Jack frowned, just as quickly moving along to the next topic with her. "Trying to find out about my life as if you actually care."

"I do!" Rapunzel insisted. Jack smiled crookedly.

"Far too nice," he chuckled. "Well, you might know them. There's North, and then there's Aster, Sandy, and Tooth."

"Tooth?" Rapunzel said curiously. "Do you mean Toothiana? She's on the cheerleading team! I always called her Ana though-"

"Tooth is her nickname, reserved for special friends," Jack winked. "Just like mine."

"You have a nickname?" Rapunzel asked.

"Jack," Jack said. "That's my nickname. Technically, my name is Jackson."

"Does anyone call you Jackson?" Rapunzel asked, the name oddly formal sounding in her mouth.

"Just teachers," Jack said. He and Rapunzel had walked in front of a storage closet, and found it closed. Jack pulled the door open, and a few mops flew out towards them.

"Yep, this here's the janitor's closet," he said, and walked inside. Surveying the topsy-turvy area, he wondered aloud, "Looks like they've been in here- but the question is, how did they get out? It locks right after you close the door behind you."

"How do you know that?" Rapunzel asked, frowning. Jack just patiently smirked again.

"Well- let's just say I got stuck with these two annoying freshmen last week-" Jack said. "That'll be the last time they call Tooth cute. Gave 'em a real scare."

"Is Tooth your girlfriend?" Rapunzel asked. Jack laughed, a slow, disbelieving laugh.

"Nope, she's Aster's girlfriend. But she is my friend, so I don't want any drooling ninth graders lusting after her," Jack said. "Now, where did they go?" Just as he turned to leave, something caught Rapunzel's attention.

"There!" she pointed at the vent. It had been forced apart, bent and allowing a space for somebody to crawl through. A ladder had been tossed haphazardly to the side, right next to it. Stooping next to the ladder, Jack picked up a small necklace.

"Looks like this belongs to Merida," he said, and pocketed it. "Guess they decided to crawl through there." He peered up with Rapunzel at the small space. "That Hiccup guy sure is smart, I'll give him that."

Rapunzel rocked back and forth on her heels, staring at Jack as he looked up at the vent. "So.." she trailed. "Should we follow them?" Jack shook his head.

"Nope, by now they must've already gotten pretty far. I say we go where the vent ends and cut them off," he said.

"Where does the vent end?" Rapunzel asked, and Jack grimaced.

"Yeah, that's where it gets tricky. Because of this prank involving green gas, I learned that the vent ends up in every classroom," he said. "We've got to break into a few more classrooms, Punz-"

"Why can't we just wait for them back in the detention room?" Rapunzel asked, fearful enough as it was to break even more rules.

"Someone's got to warn them about the janitor," Jack said. "If he catches them, they're dead meat. Costs them another month's detentions."

"How do you know-?"

"Happened about- eh, three weeks ago?" Jack said. "Funny story actually. But that's for another time. Come on, we've got a lot of classrooms to stop by."

"But we can't break into them all!" Rapunzel said. "We won't find them in time. And I'm running out of bobby pins." The hair floating in front of her eyes was an indication of that, and she pushed it back impatiently.

"We could always- take the janitor's keys," Jack said, a devilish smile coming onto his face.

"B-but-" Rapunzel stammered. "That's worse-!"

"Less time consuming," Jack said. "Up for it, Punz?" Rapunzel gulped. Well, she didn't really have a choice at that point. She did, actually, as a small part of her brain nagged her about it, but what the hell. She'd had enough rules all her life.

"Yes."

Hiccup had made sure to take some sawdust in his pocket to mark his trails. If the vent was anything like it was in movies, it was sure to be pretty tricky. And so far, it prove to be just that.

Merida was calling for him in the cramped space, and Hiccup caught a glimpse of her black sneakers as she turned a corner. Hiccup crawled after her, leaving a thin line of sawdust behind him as he heaved himself through the tight squeeze.

"Hiccup!" Merida's voice echoed. "Where tae?"

"Ugh-" Hiccup dwindled on that. "Keep going right. We're sure to find a vent somewhere else!" A mumble of curse words followed from Merida, but the girl dutifully kept crawling, still unhappy at this. Still, Hiccup felt good about this. At least she wasn't being mad at him anymore just for being a loser.

"Here's one!" Merida said, sounding excited for the first time. Crawling past the vent, she faced Hiccup and both of them crouched over the metal barricade.

"We've got to rip it off-" Hiccup said. "Merida, you brought your knife, right?" Merida brandished her pocket knife, the same one that had taken out the first vent cover. Hiccup took it, and worked on the little screws. Merida looked through the small gaps the slabs of metal didn't cover into the classroom below. A few desks stood there, and a pretty long drop, but nothing else. Nothing remotely dangerous-

A satisfied sigh distracted Merida, and she saw that Hiccup had managed to unscrew one side. He began to work on the next one, and Merida couldn't help but give a fond smile. He looked so in his element as he did this, his fingers and the knife moving like a machine, expertly leaving the metal screws in his wake. It made her wonder how much he'd worked on tinkering.

"Why do ye do that?" Merida asked, and Hiccup paused briefly, flashing a question in his eyes towards her. Merida examined the knife. "Yeh know, just work on it like ye seem tae have been doin' it fer a long while-"

"I'm actually part of Robotics," Hiccup flushed red. "And- I, um, sometimes help my dad when he's working on his car. Stuff like that." He continued his ministrations on the vent, Merida watching him curiously. After a while, though, her gaze drifted towards the walls of their enclosure, studying the gray.

"Got it!" Hiccup cried gleefully, and moved to pry off the vent cover. He struggled with it, his fingertips straining white, so Merida yanked it off in one movement. "Thanks-" Hiccup said weakly, and Merida shoved it somewhere behind her, looking down into the classroom.

"Here-" she said, cautiously moving so that her feet were in front of her and dangled them into the open space, ducking her head so she fit. "Ah'll go in first." Maneuvering herself down, gripping the edge, she kicked out to a nearby desk, landing hard on her knees and grasping a chair quickly to avoid falling. "Yer turn!" Hiccup cautiously set his two feet out, and then tried to grab onto the vent, but missed it altogether and came crashing down onto the hard floor.

"Augh!" he cried out in pain, grasping his shoulder and rising off the floor. "Ow- I'm never doing that again-"

"Hiccup, ye blunderin' idiot!" Merida snapped. "Ye've gone and hurt yerself!" She moved off of the desk, crouched by Hiccup, and roughly yanked his shoulder towards her to examine it.

"Really, Merida, I'm fine," Hiccup said, pulling his shoulder away. As he did, he caught sight of her leg. "Merida, you're bleeding!" Merida glanced down at her knee as if it were the first time, spotted the trickle of blood moving down her calf.

"That's nothin'," she said, smearing it with her fingers. Wiping her blood off on her jean shorts, she stood up and offered Hiccup a hand, which he took gratefully, not even caring that she'd just cleaned her blood with it.

"Now what?" he asked. "You need a band-aid. It's a classroom, they're bound to have a first aid kit." He walked to the teacher's desk, and began looking through the drawers.

"Really, Hiccup!" Merida rolled her eyes. "The way yer actin', it's as if ah'm bleedin' out over th' floor!"

"It could get infected," Hiccup continued, and found a small red pack. "Here!" Inside, he also found an ice pack, which he set to his own shoulder and handed Merida a band-aid.

Merida rolled her eyes but smiled her thanks, slapping the band-aid crookedly onto her knee. Hiccup surveyed their area. Looked like a math classroom.

"Ah can pick the lock on this door," Merida said, stood in front of the door. "Got mah knife, Hiccup?" Hiccup nodded, and handed her her knife, which she started moving into the lock. Just as she did, she spotted Jack and Rapunzel walking down the hallway.

"It's them!" she said, and began to bang on the door's window. "Jack! Rapunzel!" Rapunzel caught sight of Merida's frantic fists, and pulled Jack with her to rescue them. Jack got out a set of keys and unlocked the door before Merida could pick it, and Merida tumbled out as he opened it. Hiccup ran after her, still clutching the ice pack.

"Where'd you guys get the keys?" Hiccup asked.

"Took 'em from the janitor," Jack boasted, jingling them before setting them back in his pocket. "Old man didn't even notice. Where'd you guys run off to?"

"Got stuck in the closet," Hiccup said. "We couldn't even get the stuff to clean up after Toothless. We're going to just have to go back to the closet, and-"

"No time for that, the janitor's back," Jack said. "Which means we're leaving unless you all want more detention."

"Good idea," Hiccup breathed his relief. "But- eh- if the janitor's back, won't he be missing his keys?"

"That's why we should leave," Rapunzel said, distracted by Hiccup and Merida's appearance. "Um-" She turned to Jack, raising her eyebrows in a sign that he should tell them.

"What?" Hiccup asked.

"You two look like hell," Jack said. "What happened?"

"It's just a scratch!" Merida said angrily.

"Not that-" Rapunzel tittered. "I think he means the brown stuff in your hair."

"Brown stuff in mah-" Merida touched her red curls gingerly, and sawdust fluttered out.

"HICCUP HADDOCK, YER DEAD MEAT!"

Their detention escapades aren't over just yet, I tell ya- but there will be a continuation in which they all go back to school. I wanted Merida and Hiccup to actually open themselves up a little, the same with Jack and Rapunzel, so that's the reason for this chapter. It'll be essential to later plot.