It's just about 3am when Merida drags a nearly passed out Jack out of the cab they shared. She props Jack up against the fence in front of his house and rummages through his jean's pockets for his house keys. She pulls out the keys and triumphantly but momentarily jangles them before dejectedly turning to look at her next obstacle. Four stoop steps have suddenly become a complicated puzzle. Not to mention the stairs inside the house that she would have to somehow get Jack up to get to his room. Deep in thought, Merida is irritated to find that Jack has once again found his way to the floor.

"You could be a little bit more helpful, you know," she says trying to pull him up. "How am I supposed to get you up all these steps? We need to get to your room without waking your parents up."

"Here's good in the day," Jack slurs as he slumps back down. "It's fine. I'm fine. We just need to lie down to…" He doesn't finish his sentence as he climbs on the ledge of the flower bed in front of his house and curls up.

"Honestly, Jack. What am I going to do? It's no problem when I'm the drunk one. You can easily carry me to my room, but I can't possibly carry a teenage boy by myself. What if I-? No, she'd hate me. This is exactly the kind of thing she'd scold me about. But, Jack's the one who's passed out. Not me. I wasn't the irresponsible one. And I can't not ask for help because I won't get anywhere. Okay, Jack, you owe me big time."

Merida pulls out her phone and dials a number, hoping with all her might that her best friend picks up. After almost a minute of ringing, Merida begins to lose hope that she'll be getting any help until a voice picks up.

"Merida?" Rapunzel asks groggily.

"Rapunzel! I'm so glad you picked up. I have a massive favor to ask you. I know you'll be angry, so you can lecture all you want, but please help me." Merida says all this while trying to get Jack down from the ledge.

Rapunzel's voice turns from sleepy to worried in seconds. "What's wrong? Are you hurt? Where are you?"

"Look outside your window!" Rapunzel gets up from her bed to look down to the street below. She sees Merida wave at her with Jack leaning over her shoulder.

"Really, Merida? This is exactly what I don't like about your little arrangement with Frost. The two of you aren't always careful and now-"

"I know, I know," Merida interrupts her. "And I know you have more to say, but can you please come down and help me carry this log up to his room? You can continue the sermon here. Please?"

"I am not helping you break into his house!"

"Please, Punzie! I can't leave him here. Plus, it's not breaking in. I have his keys. See?" She jangles them again in the air to show Rapunzel.

Rapunzel sighs and says that she'll be right down before hanging up. When Rapunzel meets Merida on the sidewalk, she asks her what happened.

"He's had a little too much to drink. I should know. I paid for it all. He kind of got injured in a fight this afternoon, so maybe that contributed to his weakened tolerance."

"That was wrong on so many levels," Rapunzel shakes her head and takes Jack's other arm to put around her shoulder. "I'll never understand why you continue to hang out with someone like this guy."

"You just caught us at a bad time," Merida says as she tries to open the front door as quietly as she can. "He's not always like this. He's decent on most nights. I probably get drunk twice as often as he does."

"Is that supposed to make me feel better?"

"That didn't come out right. I just mean that, after all our time together, he probably has only ever gotten drunk once aside from tonight, while I've gotten really drunk about four or five times. That's not often considering how long we've been hanging out."

"Your attempts to appease me aren't really working," Rapunzel whispers dryly as they drag Sano up his stairs.

"You know how careless I was before getting to know Jack. You remember, don't you? Jack helps keep me more grounded. I promise this will never happen again. I'll even make Jack swear."

They finally reach his room, and the two girls throw him on his bed. He doesn't land in the most comfortable position, but Rapunzel refuses to do any more "tucking in." Merida sighs before turning her head to quickly look outside Jack's balcony.

"Hey, you can see your room from here!"

"What was that?" Rapunzel asks confusedly.

"Oh, nothing," Merida says dismissively before dragging her friend out of Jack's house.

"That Jack is a wildcard," Rapunzel repeats once outside. "You have to be careful."

"He's wild and rough, I'll admit, but he's really a good guy. He's genuine and not a creep at all. He always makes sure I'm safe. I wish you'd give him a chance."

"I can't control who your friends are, Mer. I know you've always gravitated towards the rowdy boys. I'll just let you do what you do. I've said my piece. I suppose I should apologize in advance because I won't be serving any alcohol during dinner tomorrow."

"Very funny. I think I'll lay off the booze for a while after tonight."

"Sorry for being snappy," Rapunzel says sincerely. "It is past 3, so I'm not in my happiest mood. Oh, you can invite Hiccup over tomorrow. I think dinner can serve more than three people, so the more the merrier."

"All right, I'll tell him tomorrow. Why didn't you invite Kristoff?"

"I'd rather have a relaxing night with friends without having to worry about entertaining a suitor, you know?"

"Not really, but okay. See you tomorrow then! Or I guess, I mean tonight. Night, Rapunzel! Thank you so much again!" She gives her friend a big hug before getting ready to head home herself.

Rapunzel tells her to spend the night because it isn't safe for her to go alone at this hour. Merida says that she should get home before her parents notice that she hasn't come home yet. Rapunzel argues that if they haven't called by now, they probably haven't noticed. They compromise, and Merida decides to sleep a couple of hours until sunrise then leave before her parents wake up.

Around noon, Rapunzel gets ready at her vanity. She is about to shop for ingredients for tonight's dinner.

"Hey, Rapunzel!" a voice calls her name from outside. She looks out her window to see Jack standing in his mini balcony across her room. He's half-naked with a towel wrapped around his waist. He's clearly just woken up, judging from the sleepy look in his eyes. He waves at her and gestures for her to open her window. She kneels on her built-in nook and opens her windows.

"I see you're up and about," she comments. "How are you feeling?"

"Good morning, princess," he smiles boyishly. "Merida told me what you two did last night. I wasn't really myself then. But I just want to thank you for helping out. Sorry that had to be our first direct encounter. Trust me, my first impressions are usually terrible, but hopefully you'll give me another chance to charm you before you make up your mind about me."

"I don't know what to make of you, honestly. I'm just warning you. You had better be careful with Merida. Don't try anything funny with her. She's a great person and friend."

"I know that," Jack says, a little hurt by the accusation. "After all our months of friendship, we've never done anything you wouldn't approve of – aside from the drinking, I mean. We take care of each other like we're siblings. I care about her as much as you do. But while we're on this topic, Merida told me that you're also the only one else who knows about our nighttime interests, and you haven't spilled it to any of your other friends. That must mean you're a great friend to her too if she's willing to trust you with that secret. But I see where you're coming from. I understand why you would be wary of someone like me. I guess I can be quite the bad boy."

He shrugs and pops an invisible collar. Rapunzel rolls her eyes but can't stop herself from laughing.

"I promise," he says seriously. "I would never let any harm come to Merida. Not that she needs much protection. Believe me, that girl can hold her own."

Rapunzel laughs again and agrees at the assessment about their common friend.

"Well," Jack says, preparing to go back inside. "I just wanted to thank you again for your help. I owe you guys. Anyway, I'm going to try to stomach something and sleep off the rest of this hangover. Bye!"

"Bye!" Rapunzel calls out as she shuts her windows, and Jack returns to his room and closes the balcony doors.