Hiccup really didn't want to go to school today, because he didn't want to face Jack, who knew what kind of ideas he had planned for the young boy. His stomach revolted in protest whenever the image of Jack appeared in his mind. He had an ill-omened feeling about today. Nothing could be good if Jack was after him.
A knock interrupted the serene silence. "Hiccup, it's time for you to leave."
Hiccup grimaced at the reminder, but he was determined to fight against the destiny the gods had laid before him. "I can't dad, I'm sick; I better just skip school today." He said with a hoarse voice. Go acting skills. But his small moment of triumph evaporated the moment his dad entered the room, turning on the lights.
"Son, I know that you aren't sick."
"Sure I am! I have a very sore throat and probably a fever. And you know me; I really don't want to infect anyone with this dreadful cold." He faked a few coughs.
Stoick walked towards the bed, laying a hand on Hiccup's forehead. "I know when you're acting, you aren't even warm. And you know better than to skip school, even if there is an event you don't like."
"But dad-!" Hiccup whined.
Stoick sighed. "You've already missed too much of school and I don't want you to fall behind."
"Oh come on, I can easily catch up, please just this one time-"
"Hiccup, there is a limit and you can't expect to make your relatives proud if this demeanor continues. Is that understood?" Stoick said in a stern voice, trying to sound authoritative.
"But-"
"Understood?"
Hiccup sighed as he knew he wouldn't be able to convince his dad. Besides, Stoick would probably haul him to the school if he had to.
"Yeah. Understood." Hiccup grumbled quietly.
"Good. Be ready in ten minutes." He patted the covers and the boy underneath it, before he marched out of the door and continued his way down the stairs.
Hiccup rolled onto his back, spreading his arms dramatically on the blanket when he knew that his dad was out of reach in the area.
"That's it. I'm dead. I'm so dead." He muttered, enjoying his last minutes in his bed before he had to head towards the deathtrap in the form of a school. He was basically only waiting for his life to flash before his eyes. "Better get it over with. It was nice knowing you life." He threw himself up from the bed, gathering his knapsack before he joined his father in the car.
Hiccup had entered the school with great caution and he had observed every corner, new corridor and person with calculating eyes. He did not find anything sticking out from the normal routine he faced on a daily basis, but the hair standing up on the back of his neck warned him that he was being watched. He looked all over the place, but Jack was nowhere to be found, not even with his customary gang of girls and popular guys. Which was weird, very weird in Hiccup's rational world. Maybe it was all part of his imagination. Maybe Jack was actually sick, staying at home. Maybe Jack didn't care about the challenge after all. Maybe it was all just a joke. Or it had all been a dream. A very bad dream.
Hiccup observed crowded hallway to the left and right before he concluded that it was safe to unbolt his locker, quickly throwing in the backpack and fetching his supplies to be able to hastily get to the lecture. He knew he was a bit too paranoid, because Jack probably didn't even know the location of Hiccup's locker, at least he hoped for that fact to be true as he had never really seen Jack stroll around in these parts. In fact, he never really saw Jack at all, except in certain classes, lunch or outside with his friends, because Jack wasn't much of an indoor type. Thus, he had probably nothing to worry about as long as he was cautious. He nodded to himself, trying to convince himself of safety when he closed the locker.
"Good morning." A clear and baritone voice said, which belonged to a certain tall teenager with ice-blue eyes.
Hiccup screeched in horror and skipped at the sudden sound, in a very manly manner mind you, dropping all his supplies on the floor. He spun his head around, looking at the boy who had been concealed behind the locker door, causing him to suddenly emerge when the door had been closed.
"What the hell, you scared the shit out of me." Hiccup covered his face with his hands, so much for not remaining paranoid. "Can you teleport as well?" He grunted in a low whisper, so only Jack could hear him.
"Not really. I'm just really awesome at sneaking, especially when I'm not wearing any shoes." He demonstrated by wriggling his bare toes.
Hiccup dropped his hands when he saw the gesture. "Why wouldn't you wear any shoes?" It was goddamn winter, who would voluntarily walk without any shoes?
"To be able to sneak up on you?" He offered with a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes.
Hiccup snorted. "That isn't the entire truth, is it?"
Jack shrugged while he shot the auburn-haired male a grin. "I have other reasons as well, none that I will tell you here."
Hiccup rolled his eyes as he tried to quickly gather his supplies, awkwardly twining because of Jack's scrutiny. Instead of walking away, the prankster had actually huddled on the floor and helped Hiccup to gather his things. "Thanks." He muttered while Jack handed over the last supplies, not expecting for the other teenager to actually be kind. "So what are you doing actually here?"
"Can't I just be friendly with my lovely classmate? A good old regular Bonding moment?"
Hiccup threw him a disbelieving look. "Yeah, because we were such best buds before this conversation." Then the conversation from yesterday appeared in his mind. "Wait, are you spying on me? Is this your great 24/7 spying plan? Following me around?"
Jack only smirked at him, but the brunette knew he had hit the head on the nail. "Maybe, maybe not."
Hiccup eyes squinted even more on the lad. "Great. Well, good luck on that while I head to my classes." He said before he began to promenade away, hoping that this was the end of the conversation, because no one wanted to speak with Hiccup anyways, not more than necessary. But oh how he was wrong. Jack defied all norms and traditions in every aspect.
"What classes do you have?" Hiccup jumped again at the sudden voice that was right beside his ear. Jack's breath tickled as the warm puff of air hit the ear and neck. Hiccup really didn't know how to interpret the quickened pulse. He really needed to stop teleporting or whatever he did!
"Oh right, of course I'll just tell you right away so you know where you can torture and spy on me?"
"I'm seriously hurt for you to think that ill of me." Jack pretended to clutch his heart in despair as a dramatic gesture before he strolled closely to Hiccup's side, trying to get a glimpse of the scheme, but Hiccup continued to hide it from his snooping eyes. "C'mon, I'm just curious."
"I'm definitely not telling the prankster of the school."
"Oh really? Well, then I guess I've to take this matter into my own capable hands."
Hiccup frowned at the comment. "What do you-?"
Jack interrupted his sentence by snatching the scheme right from his hands, causing Hiccup to protest in a high-pitched noise against the sudden deed and reach for the stolen goods without any success. He wasn't usually the one to make high-pitched noises, he swore that on his own life, but Jack made the impossible possible.
"Hm, let's see what you got." Jack said as he pranced cheerily down the corridor, observing the piece of paper. "Ah, art, one of my favorites. And what do we have here, chemistry? With me?." He chuckled naughtily as if he was creating plans.
"Hand that back over!" He tried to reach for it, but Jack had anticipated it and the prankster easily outmaneuvered the brunette by skipped back, starting to jog slightly.
"Hmm." Jack contemplated with an innocent smile, tapping his face with an index finger for a few seconds until the motion suddenly stopped. "How about no?" He mouthed dramatically as he shot the brunette a wide ear to ear grin, before he sprinted and skipped playfully down the corridor.
Hiccup just stared in shock with wide eyes for a few seconds before his brain could catch up. His scheme had just been snatched away. By Jack Frost. Crap. Double crap.
"Hey! Get back here!" Hiccup exclaimed before he darted after the thief, because he couldn't do much else against the problem at the moment.
"Oh and look here, we got about three classes together, how fun!" Jack shouted over his shoulder while he was running and holding the paper with both of his hands, still grinning widely towards the other teenager.
"Jack! I'm serious!" The brunette tried to follow him with his best effort. "I don't have time for this! Give it back you useless prankster!"
Jack cackled mischievously, not stopping for a second, which didn't surprise Hiccup as he knew that Jack was quite of an athlete. Hiccup, on the other hand, was far from one and it wasn't long until he was breathless. Although, Hiccup had inherited one innate trait from his Viking ancestors that made the brunette not the easiest opponent; obstinacy. It was mostly more of a problem than an advantage, but right now, then he was determined that he would get that piece of paper this time, no matter what, even if he would probably collapse of exhaustion before that ever happened. It certainly didn't help with throngs of students in the corridors, who only shot weird glances and stares at them. They weren't surprised over Jack and his pranks; however, they were flabbergasted to see Hiccup as the victim of these pranks, as it hadn't happened in the last two years. Some even stopped their activities in order to watch the new fascinating event.
Jack meandered among the students with ease, slipping by several narrow openings while Hiccup continued to accidentally crash into students. This was probably the worst time for a race as it was near eight o'clock. Thus, the corridors were filled with students, preparing for their first class. "Sorry!" Hiccup continued to apologize frequently as he crashed into new people and their things, making paper and things fly over the entire place. "This isn't funny anymore Jack!" Jack just had the 'decency' to laugh at his frustration, ineptness and clumsiness, which fortified Hiccup's indignation and obstinacy. How Jack managed to observe Hiccup and run with grace simultaneously would forever be an enigma to Hiccup.
"Oh C'mon! Just- Just give me the damn paper Jack!" He managed to shout in his breathless condition but Jack ignored his demands, making a sharp turn at a corner which caught Hiccup completely off guard as he had focused on going straightforward. Thus, he glided onward a few meters before he could turn to the other corridor, almost crashing into the wall.
"Agh!" Hiccup cried with aghast when his gaze traveled upwards, as he wasn't prepared for the tall teenager to emerge in front of him, leaning peacefully towards the exhausted brunette which caused the white-haired face with a smug grin on his lips to be a few centimeters from Hiccup's face. That phenomenon had happen quite a few times by now, which made the brunette question if the other liked to invade others personal space on a daily basis. However, he wouldn't let the white-haired teenagers antics distract him from his real goal, but he was too exhausted after the long sprint. Instead of trying to pluck the schedule from the prankster hands that were right before him, then Hiccup could only plant his hands on his knees while he struggled for his breath. "I will hunt you down if you start running again." He warned.
Jack laughed at him. "What's the matter dragon boy? Out of breath already? That was just the warm-up."
"Oh no no." Hiccup waggled a finger at him as a reprimand. "Don't even joke about that."
Jack threw him a lopsided grin, his eyes twinkling with mischief and laughter. "Aw, here I thought I was doing you a favor. Look, you're in your first class and on time as well." He gestured towards the door, tapping faintly on the wooden material and giving Hiccup his best expression of faked innocence.
"What?" Hiccup frowned as he observed the door's number. He was right, his first class was supposed to occur in this room. "W-Wha-why-?" He looked befuddled at the snow-haired boy.
Jack shrugged as he smacked the paper on Hiccup's chest, making the brunette stagger a few centimeters back from the sheer force. "See you at Chemistry." Jack saluted before he strolled away. Hiccup just stood there completely frozen, staring at the departing boy for several seconds until he regained consciousness.
"This isn't over, you know!" Hiccup shouted. Hiccup, what have you done, don't fuel the bullying prankster's mischievous side. This won't end well.
"Oh I'm counting on it!" The white-haired boy responded before he blew a kiss towards Hiccup's direction.
Hiccup's cheeks heated at the gesture. "He doesn't have any decency or boundaries at all." He mumbled to himself, before heading into the classroom.
Hiccup could only feel anxious and restless as he observed the whiteboard with various patterns of chemical structures when he walked into the classroom. Jack had been really excited for their common classes, which was completely incomprehensible. They had been in the same classes for two years, why the sudden change now? It did not bode well when Jack had used 'class together' and 'blowing up things' in the same sentence. Did Jack plan to explode him? That sure would eradicate the problem of Hiccup knowing too many things about Jack. Hiccup huffed. One simply didn't explode things in chemistry, not in high school, unless if it was intentional or if an incredible clumsy person was doing the experiments. Jack could be both for all he knew.
The room contained only a few students when Hiccup entered the class. Now where is the best spot for hiding? Hiccup contemplated as he scanned and calculated the room. Perhaps one would easily bypass him if he sat in the corner, behind those girls who stared at him. Yeah, that's probably the best, non-riveting place.
The girls cast him weird looks, wondering why he took the seat behind them of all the other options. Hiccup avoided their awkward glances by preparing his desk with school supplies. He rather endured the awkward silence and glances than putting himself in the front as usual, because that would totally say to Jack; Hey, I'm voluntarily offering myself as a victim for your upcoming pranks and games. What are we playing? Exploding Hiccup? He snorted at the thought.
One after the other student filled the seats in the lecture room; they all glanced excitedly at the desks that were decorated with flasks, tubes and other equipment for the next lesson. While all the students were busy guessing the next experiment, Hiccup inwardly cheered as the back seats were filled by students and since he was a short individual, one would find it difficult to notice or distinguish him from the crowd.
Hiccup held his breath when he noticed the probing eyes that belonged to a certain person peeked from the door, observing the room. Hiccup huddled as much as he could, sticking himself to the wall. I'm invisible, I'm invisible. I'm one with the wall. I AM the wall. Hiccup chanted in his head, closing his eyes in the process as if it would somehow strengthen the effect.
"I almost thought you had run away." A figure took the seat beside Hiccup; it wasn't hard to guess who, especially with the cheerfully leering one could even hear in that voice. "Not that I would know why you would want to run away, especially since you were the one who wanted vengeance."
You got to be kidding me. Hiccup threw his hands up in surrender; these past two days had been unbelievable. This was too bizarre to be reality. He discreetly pinched his arm to wake himself up from this irrational dream. Nope, he was unfortunately still here.
"Also, who would ever want to avoid me?" His eyes twinkled with amusement.
"Oh I don't know, maybe because you are a nuisance?" Hiccup grunted. "And I'm just waiting for the perfect moment for my revenge."
"Oh? Should I be worried?"
Hiccup nodded eagerly. "I definitely would if I were you."
Jack snickered and widened his eyes, slightly quivering his hands in the air beside his head as a gesture of fear and formed his mouth into a large O. Hiccup fought the smile that tugged at his lips, but that act dispersed quickly when he saw a few girls and guys staring at them, shooting bizarre glances. Probably because they didn't know why Jack Frost would be chatting with an outcast, especially with the most awkward of them all as it broke the social norms. It probably didn't make it less suspicious when Jack had never attempted to even utter a word to Hiccup until this day, even less direct his attention towards Hiccup.
Hiccup squirmed under the other people's judging gazes, as he didn't like the feeling of being evaluated by other people. It made him feel more self-conscious and awkward than normal, even his hands had begun to fidget with the hem of his shirt.
"You know, your friends are located on the other side of the room." He spluttered, because it didn't make any sense why Jack was sitting next to him when he had some of his other friends in the classroom.
"Yeah?" Jack supplied innocently as he hadn't noticed his friends who were throwing him questionable glances.
Hiccup raised one of his eyebrows. "You don't need to sit next to me in order to spy on me. I swear I won't tell the wall about your secret." He said as he jabbed the wall in a mocking gesture as literally no one sat close enough to whisper secrets of the world beside Jack.
Jack shrugged and finally turned his head towards the brunette to give him a toothy grin. "I told you that we would have a bonding moment and I'm holding to my end of the bargain."
"Is that merely what this is all about? The challenge?"
"Who knows." Jack placed his elbow on the desk and positioned his head in the palm, leaning his upper body against the desk while a smug grin grew on the face as he observed the other teenager with half-masted eyes. "You seem to be an interesting guy; I think I'm going to keep you."
A blush bloomed across Hiccup's freckled cheeks like a wild fire in a dry forest and unable to answer in a comprehensible language to such a preposterous statement; he rapidly turned his face to the notepad on his desk. Who even say such a thing? Going to keep me? What the hell? "Did you ever think about what I want? I have feelings too you know." He muttered, ignoring his burning cheeks.
"Oh, I did and I concluded that your life would become much more fun with me in it."
Hiccup arched his eyebrows. "Did you now?"
"Yep, and your life changing stage begin now. Because it looks like we will be partners for the next two weeks." Jack gestured towards the whiteboard. "Howdy partner." He saluted and gave the boy a cheeky wave.
"What?" Hiccup's head snapped up, abruptly stopping the movement of his pen to shift his attention to the scribbles on the whiteboard and the rest of the text that was being scrawled by the teacher.
You will all pair with the person to your side, only two-two pairs are allowed, if one row cannot be evenly paired, then search for another uneven row. This partner will be your continuous partner for the next two weeks. These approaching weeks will contain a lot of task-oriented experiments and each one will contain a paper with a task to solve. At the end of these weeks, all of you will deliver a report of these tasks, which will be graded and affect your final grade in this course.
Hiccup turned his head slowly to the side. "No."
"Oh yes." Jack made a gesture of victory, grinning at the boy who still had a ghastly expression. "Oh c'mon, I'm not that bad." He laughed at the sheer terror in the other's face and eyes.
"You explode things."
"I was only kidding before; I've just done that like one time."
"More like ten." Hiccup corrected.
Jack waved dismissively. "Details, details."
"Right."
The brunette tracked the other male's movements throughout the entire lesson, only to discover that the snow-haired boy used the correct chemicals and followed the instructions adequately. Hiccup only knew the naughty and popular side of Jack, since those were the most prominent traits during school activities, lessons and general events. Hence, Hiccup was immensely flabbergasted when the experiment continued with ease, because the other male appeared to be quite skilled in this area, fetching the accurate instruments and filling the tubes with the precise amount of chemical components in each step. He definitely didn't see that coming. It contradicted with the information he had gathered before about the prankster and Jack Frost didn't stop delivering new surprising facts as Hiccup observed the lad. His body had prepared for a sudden explosion, injures or critical wounds, but when none of those occurred, a slight quantity of hope was filled in his veins. Perhaps he would pass this experiment assignment after all. Hiccup was even more surprised when they were the first to finish the first task, giving them a few minutes to work on their report before the lesson ended.
"So, what is the great son of the Haddock family doing after school?" Jack had asked before they both had to depart to their next lessons.
Hiccup looked dumbfounded on the white-haired teenager. "Uh- Finishing the assignment myself-?"
Jack snorted. "Don't be ridiculous. I'm not letting you do unnecessary work, Hic."
Hiccup narrowed his eyes on the prankster. He didn't know if he was supposed to be thankful or terrified of spending more time with the younger teenager, knowing that the prankster probably had something planned for him and the fact that Hiccup wasn't very well accustomed to group work. Most people just allocated the assignment to Hiccup while they spent their time on funnier activities. Hiccup didn't usually mind, because that meant he would have full control of the assignment's quality and content even if it was quite unfair to him in the end.
As Hiccup had momentarily dozed off in his thoughts, Jack took the opportunity to sneak his hands to Hiccup's pockets in his pants, immediately waking up the brunette in several ways instead of one. "W-what are you doing-?!" Jack snatched the cell phone from the trousers while Hiccup's cheeks heated. "That's my property you know!" Hiccup protested as he followed the hands of the thief, but the snow-haired boy spun around, letting his back be turned towards Hiccup and twirling around whenever the brunette's hands came too close to the phone.
"Chill would you. I'm just giving you my number and taking yours. In case something suddenly comes up, otherwise, meet me on the park bench near the place where you first saw you-know-what." Jack typed zealously on the phone, sending a message to himself to gain the brunette's phone number.
"Oh yeaaah, absolutely. I'll definitely meet you near a murky forest with basically no visitors with a person who probably wants to kill me for knowing their secret. Shall I bring a shovel to help you with the process too? Maybe a gun too?" Hiccup deadpanned.
The classical bat-crazy grin had returned to the prankster.
"You know. If I had wanted to kill you then I would have already done that, so that leaves the question; what other reason do I have to meet you at the park?" Jack said cryptically before he placed the phone in its real owner's hands.
"I'm sorry, I didn't know you had bad hearing, but that's what I've been asking you for the past hours."
"No, only your body language has been asking that for hours. But maybe I just want to finish the assignment. Maybe I want to merely meet you. Maybe it's something else. You won't know until later." Jack grinned sadistically at the kid, because he knew that the shorter male couldn't resist the temptation to find out. After all. Temptation and curiosity had driven the brunette in the first place to find out Jack's secret. "See you on the bench." Jack rubbed the brunette's hair, much to Hiccup's aversion and words of protests, before he pranced down the corridor, intertwining his hands before he placed them on his own head at the back and whistled to himself.
Hiccup flickered through his contacts to find the new number to Jack's phone, frowning at the nickname once he had found it – Handsome beast.
"Can't I just have one normal minute in my life?" Hiccup muttered to himself. Really Jack, really? Whatever are you up to? He raised his eyes to the teenager who had at some time turned his head to watch the brunette's expression, laughing loudly in the distance as a response when the brunette threw a glare at him.
The place was filled with reminiscences of the past; each part was connected to a repressed memory that tried to permeate through Hiccup's thick barricades and walls, but he swatted them away with one hand. Minor puffs of breath escaped from the brunette's plump lips, transforming into small clouds of mists before the water particles blended with the wintery environment that was surrounded by the chilly air. So much joy had occurred in this place, only to have it wiped away and covered by certain events of the past, leaving a trace of sorrow. A sorrow that was still lingering in the air, as it wasn't something that was forgotten easily. However, there was another memory attached to this place now, which added a magical atmosphere to the gloomy forest.
"Don't you know young boys shouldn't be alone?" A voice right beside his ear tickled his cheek and earlobes. The owner of the voice stood close enough to be able to send puffs of warmth against Hiccup's sensitive skin, making the hair stand up on the back of the brunette's neck. The brunette's heart skipped a beat.
Hiccup threw his head to the side as he felt his cheeks redden, only to discover that the face of the white-haired teenager was a few centimeters from his own, wearing a shit-eating grin. "Will you please stop that!"
Jack snickered. "Aw, and here I thought you wanted to be warmed up, sitting on the make-out bench after all."
"T-the - w-what?"
"Oh, you know, never wondered why this bench was placed so far away from the park, veiled from most prying eyes?" Jack fluttered his eyelashes innocently at the boy as he hung on the backrest of the bench.
Hiccup choked on non-existent mucus. "Great. That's just great, inviting me to practically a sex bench. I knew this was a bad plan from the very beginning." His face suffused in a blush. "Your regular hanging spot after school as you seem so familiar with it?"
Jack laughed. "Not at the moment. But if someone like you will linger around here, then I might reconsider it."
"Yep, that's it. I'm definitely regretting my life-choices today."
"Aw, you're breaking my heart here Hiccy." Jack cooed.
Hiccup sighed. "And you are avoiding the original question. Are we doing the assignment or what?"
"Did you really think that I invited you here to write on the assignment Hiccup, surely you figured this out?"
With Hiccup's heart in his throat, the brunette shifted slowly his gaze to the other teenager's face, almost expecting to find a murderous gleam in the eyes of the other. They were alone after all. The kids and parents were on the other side of the park and this spot was closer to the forest. I'm such an idiot. However, he found nothing but the typical smirk on the magical boy rather than gleams of malicious intent.
"Then what are we doing here?"
Jack hummed coyly. "Who knows." He said before he planted himself on the bench, very close to Hiccup. The brunette could basically feel the heat from the other even with the several layers of outwear between them.
Hiccup breath's hitched in anxiety and there was only thing he did during these situations; ramble. "Uh- You know, I meant what I said that I wouldn't tell anyone about your secret and I really need the grades from this assignment. I also I've a lot of other homework and I know you don't really care, but I really need this to be done before the deadline-"
"Relax won't you. I'm not here to kill you or whatever your brain has cooked up for you. Also deadlines are overrated anyway." Jack interrupted, inspecting the environment of unwanted people before he began to play with his magical powers, conjuring snowflakes and strings of frost. Hiccup began to relax in the other's company as nothing malicious had happened for several minutes and he could only observe the scene with fascination. Completely forgetting that he was sitting beside a boy that wanted to shut him up for whatever cost.
"Have you always been able to do-" Hiccup gestured at Jack's hands.
"This?" Jack emitted some frost from his hands, although the floral pattern was quickly shattered by the wind and the remains traveled with the movement of the gust. "Pretty much as long as I can remember." He stated, following the traces of frost with his eyes.
"Shouldn't you be at Hogwarts or something then?" The brunette mocked.
Jack smiled inwardly at the boy's nerdy side.
"Actually, they banned me after one year of sheer mischiefs. Top of the naughty list they said. " The snow-haired male said with a solemn face, but it altered rapidly into a cheeky smirk when he observed the teenager. Hiccup wore a face of shock and bafflement, as if he actually believed in Jack's midwife tale. "I'm kidding! Geez, you will believe just anything. No, there is no such thing as Hogwarts. At least I don't think so."
Hiccup appeared fairly disappointed at that fact. "Oh good, I wouldn't want a whole lot of you to worry about to stab me in my sleep." He said in a sardonic voice. "But there are others like you?"
"At least my family. Otherwise, I don't know." Jack shrugged. "I've never really met others with the same abilities, but I guess they hide their abilities from the society as well."
Hiccup hummed. "That sort of surprises me; I bet people like you could easily take over the world by, oh I don't know, throwing spears of ice on everyone who doesn't abide by your fair rule and pranks?"
Jack snickered. "A utopia world, I hear. However, I think ordinary people could easily overpower us by numbers. We aren't exactly immortals. Shot us with a gun and we will die just like any other human." Jack shaped his hand into a gun before he put it to his head and acted as if he killed himself with a real gun, releasing a loud pop from his mouth.
"Can't you just freeze people to death before that even happens?"
"I'm not that powerful to kill thousands of people." Jack confessed, shaking his head. "And why would I want that? Pranks? Sure. Killing people? Nah. That's just not my thing." He made a grimace of distaste.
"That's reassuring." Hiccup muttered, looking at the serene forest. Even the winter birds were singing in the tall pines. "Still, those powers are quite amazing."
"And useful." Jack created a ball of snow in his hands, throwing it up and down in his right hand, looking intently at Hiccup.
Hiccup frowned at the comment before he rotated his head to peek at Jack, watching at the snowball and the mischievous grin on the snow-haired boy. Various conclusions swished in front of his eyes. "No." He said seriously, narrowing his eyes and pointing with a finger of reprimand at Jack. "No, don't you dare."
"Do I hear a challenge in there?" He said slightly through his wide, toothy grin.
"I will use my raw Viking-ness on you sir, if you even-" Hiccup stopped abruptly as he felt his cell phone buzzing wildly in his pants and there was only one person who would be calling him. Hiccup sighed.
"It's my dad, which is my cue to go home."
Jack dropped his snowball and observed his wristwatch, to later send Hiccup a face of bewilderment. "But's it's only five o'clock!"
"Well, my dad becomes worried when I'm not at home after school, as I'm usually not outside on weekdays. It has become a habit."
Jack shook his head in disbelief. "Just tell your dad that you will come home later today, because of this new awesome and funny guy in your life."
"That doesn't sound gay at all." He deadpanned. "Also, as I said, I've homework, essays and other reports to work on." Hiccup added as he rose from the bench, brushing away the snow on his trousers.
"Aw, C'mon. One needs some fun and leisure time as well." Jack whined, dramatically leaning on the bench.
"Ever heard of holidays?"
"Yeah, but-"
"Goodbye, Jack." Hiccup interrupted and grinned at the melodramatic teen. "But, um- I was quite serious for once about the assignment, because I really don't want to be failed as the nerd I am?"
"I know, contrast to what others believe about me, then I have actually a plan on when to work on it. I did see your schedule after all."
"Oh. Well then. I guess I'll see you later then?" He uttered in a very insecure voice, awkwardly eyeing the other boy before he shifted his gaze to the forest again. Jack could only smile genuinely, mostly to himself, as he watched the endearing behavior and it quickly made his decision clear.
"Quite a lot I imagine, and Hiccup?"
The brunette began to turn his body towards the other teenager. "Yeah?"
Before Hiccup could fully face the taller boy, Jack arms slid around the boy's waist and pulled him into a tight hug. His white hair tickled the side of Hiccup's cheek as Jack placed his head on the other male's shoulder. Hiccup's body and brain froze at the action, his mouth was slightly agape because of the unexpected situation and his arms spread out awkwardly in the air as he didn't know what to do with them. It felt as if his whole body was hotter than a boiling kettle when his skin touched the nippy air. However, it was even weirder that his body made these kinds of twists and somersaults in his stomach. "Mm, awkwardness, love it. I should probably walk away before this becomes even more uncomfortable and touchy-feeling." He spluttered, as he only knew of one way to deal with embarrassing situations, sarcasm.
Jack chuckled. "See you around kid." He released the kid out of his misery and before the brunette knew it, the magical prankster was located far away from the spot. Probably because Hiccup's brain was still not fully functioning and he had frozen on the spot.
"I swear, he is crazy. Absolutely crazy." Hiccup muttered before he strolled home in an incredible haste, using his cold hands to cover his cheeks and refusing to acknowledge that the prankster's actions were affecting him.