For legal purposes: How to Train Your Dragon and Rise of the Guardians belong to DreamWorks. This AU was based off of tumblr's Nerd-Of-The-World 's ice skating headcanon.
Every morning since he was three years old, Hiccup Haddock has been going to the ice rink with his mother, Val. Every day, he would watch her in awe and the beauty of what his mother does. It wasn't just because she was beautiful in her lovely outfits during every skating event, but it was just the performance she does. How smooth she glides on the ice forward and backwards; the speed she puts in her spins and the amazing jumps she so gracefully lands.
It was all so beautiful to him.
When he turned 5 years old, his mother bought him a pair of ice skates, so when she didn't need to practice hard, he could skate with her and learn many of her moves that he wanted to do so very badly.
After days of getting used to the slippery ice, the tricks came so naturally for him. Within a week, he perfected the simple twirls and the backwards-skating Hiccup has always seen her do. But one thing that he so ever wanted to do was to perform a jump.
She told him to practice a bit more with his toe picking and spins and later that month, she would teach him.
And so he did. He practiced nonstop until that day came. Hiccup asked after a week of training on his twirling, that he was performing a speedy two-foot spin, a scratch spin (leg crossed over spinning leg), a camel spin (leg not spinning is 90-degrees from the spinning leg) and his favourite, the sit spin. His mother was simply amazed and proud of him. Of course he deserves to finally learn more.
The first couple of tries were of course a failure, but the more he spent practicing and watching his mother perform her jumps during her routine, the better he got with the jumping and spinning. Though he never landed one on that day. Hiccup was sad that he spent the whole day falling on his butt or side instead of landing, that he protested going home until he made at least one landing. It was getting too late for more tries, but there was always tomorrow.
As they were driving home that day, his mother was giving Hiccup tips on how to land a jump. They were happily talking, and before they knew it, there was a loud noise, and a painful jerking motion.
It turns out that two drunk drivers were racing each other and hit them, smashing right into Val's side of the car.
The next day, Hiccup ran away from home. It was a miracle that Hiccup got out of the accident with a few cuts and bruises.
His father skipped work that day, spending the day quiet and in his room. Hiccup couldn't blame him though. Hiccup spent hours upon hours in his room, hating himself for not feeling anything but emptiness, for his father always told him that crying wasn't manly. If he was going to ice skate, well he better be manly in some ways, so this was his way.
It was an hour of walking and running until he reached the only place he's ever really been to. The ice rink.
Hiccup went inside, finding only two other people inside. After receiving an okay from the skater's coach if it was all right for him to skate, Hiccup pulled out the key to his locker from the pair of pants he hasn't changed from yesterday and unlocked his locker. After changing into his practice uniform and skates, he waiting for the boy on the ice to take his break before going out there, giving him a nod and a forced, small smile to show gratitude.
He warmed up by skating slowly, then faster and faster until he was skating backwards.
Before, he was feeling empty and emotionless that it hurt. But being on ice, he was imagining his mother skating every time he closed his eyes.
He closed his eyes again as he did a scratch spin, imagining his mother doing it. He stopped with his toe pick and opened his eyes. He began again, skating backwards first, which isn't something he hasn't done before. (He always started forward, then turning.)
He gained speed as he slid across the ice, turned forward once again on one foot and closed his eyes. He felt wind on his face and going through his hair. He imagined this is exactly how it felt when he saw his mother closing her eyes right before performing one of her jumps.
He was beginning to watch her exact moves in his mind and mimicked it. He then lowered his one unused foot and slammed the toe pick in the ice, vaulting himself up. He watched as his mother pull her arms in and twirls. He mimicked her by pulling his arms in and twisted his body to twirl as well. Slowly, he opened his eyes, and kept the foot he toed the ice with steady to land his first successful jump. He closed his eyes once more to see his mother with arms stretched out and her legs at a 90-degree angle. He opened his eyes again, realizing that he was doing the same stance too. He smiled.
"Mom! Did you see that? I landed my first jump!" He yelled for her, turning towards her usual seat. But she wasn't there. His eyes watered and his legs gave out underneath him. He couldn't hold it in anymore. Tears were falling down his face in a matter of seconds as he realized she wasn't there. She will never be there again.
Suddenly a pair of arms wrapped around him.
"Mom?" He gasped, his head jolting up to see a brown haired boy with bright blue eyes. The boy asked if he was okay, but Hiccup couldn't answer for hours.
The hours passed and Hiccup was all out of tears to cry. He felt awful for number of reasons, but he was also not alone anymore.
He finally answered the boy's question, saying that he was going to be okay.
The boy's mother asked why Hiccup was here alone after making all three of them a cup of hot chocolate. He gave them the story, and after a long while of saying nothing, the boy held out his hand.
"My name's Jack." He gave him a sympathetic, caring smile. "Would you like to be my partner?"
Many skates, four coaches, and ten years later, Jack and Hiccup were on their way to their first competition as a duo. They had already won their singles with Hiccup in first place and Jack right behind in second place. There were definitely no hard feelings as Jack was happier for Hiccup than he was for himself.
They have never been separated since that dreadful day. The very day that he thought his mother would never be there to see him skate. But Jack had told him he was wrong. Hiccup's mother was there with him that day when he landed the jump, and told him that she had helped him land, and will always be there with him.
Not only has Val been there for Hiccup, but Jack has been with him, as well as Jack's adoptive mother/coach: Toothania. She had taken Hiccup in as a student. Teaching everything she knows, and on days where they were free to skate however they like, they tried doing things they saw couples do on ice.
And after years and years of goofing off, it became something that Jack promised Hiccup when he was seven (with Jack being nine at the time).
"We're going to be the best skating duo there is!" Jack promised.
And here they were, after trying out for the couple's competition, they made it past the first step.
With shaky bodies, they put on their outfits and skates and ignored some of the boys that were calling them such awful names. Jack placed a hand on Hiccup's back, pushing him away from them and to their seat next to Tooth.
"You guys have been practicing for this, and I heard those guys over there." She jerked her head towards the immature group. "Show them what you guys are made of!" She grinned. Being better than them will definitely drop their jaws.
They watched the first few couples perform, and they both were becoming less nervous as they saw a few fell, and mess-ups, but they were still great. Hiccup smiled when he felt Jack's hand in his. Giving it a squeeze he said,
"We can do this." Before walking under the stands to wait their turn.
During the couples' performance before theirs', they grabbed each other's hands and closed their eyes, leaning in for their foreheads to touch and they prayed to no god in particular until the audience was clapping loudly. They said nothing as they still held on, and stared into each other's eyes. The moment their names were called, their hands slowly slid out of each other's and smiled as the duo stepped triumphantly out of the stands.
As expected, Jack and Hiccup were getting weird looks from most of the audience and a few of the judges. They weren't exactly expecting a couple that had both being boys.
With their song Commander in Chief by Audiomachine getting ready to play, they stood facing each other. Hiccup's left hand laid flat on Jack's left hand with their arms bent, both breathing hard and receiving stares from every one. They even heard someone yell 'gay', but instead of that bringing them down, it gave them more confidants.
"Ready?" Jack asked with a grin. He was ready to show off with his skating partner.
"Ready." Hiccup reflected that grin. He too was excited.
The song started out with its five drumbeats. The first four gave them time to do a half circle before pushing the other with their hands at the fifth and began skating backwards with their feet in perfect sync with each other while in beat with the music.
They got ready and jumped together, making a perfect landing right as the cymbals were hit. They slid closer and closer as the music picked up, doing a synchronized dance and little jumps and twirls until they toe picked the ice to stop themselves not even an inch from each other right as the music had its pause. They stood tall, eyes meeting, hands slapped against each other's until the music picked up again.
Jack's left hand moved underneath Hiccup's in a blink of an eye and pulled him forward, placing his right on Hiccup's waist. They were suddenly spinning closely together, each of them using only one foot to keep each other balance as they became closer and closer to the ice. They spun incredibly fast, it made the crowd cheer even louder than before.
They slowly stood back up straight, still spinning and let go of each other which caused them to slide, but they still kept their balance and when they both were ready in time with the music, they did a camel spin that soon ended with a sit spin. The moment when they knew the cymbal was coming; they toed the ground, Hiccup being barely a second late, and performed a perfect axel land right in time for the cymbal to hit.
With a certain, subtle hand gesture from Jack, Hiccup knew that they should do three jumps right after the other.
With that in almost sync, the crowd grew louder.
As the song was ending, they slid to each other and spun until it was time for their finishing move. At the third to last group of notes, Jack grabbed Hiccup's waist, pulled the smaller boy to the side of him to toss him in the air. The moment his hands were off Hiccup, he toed the ice once more and jumped. They twirled in the air together, Hiccup doing two more than Jack, and landed together at the very last note.
As the last note drifted away, so did they with their legs at a 90-degrees angle. Once that note ended, the dropped their toe pick into the ice and the crowd went wild.
Their smiles were huge, and Jack turned his head to find the group of boys that were insulting them earlier. Hiccup follower. They noticed the group indeed had their mouths wide open, but they were also clapping with the crowd.
The moment arrived when everybody was going dead silent. The judges were getting the results readied and the announcer was talking to get them all riled up until it was time.
Hiccup and Jack were squeezing each other's hands nervously as third place was to the couple they missed whiled praying. They scooted closer, grip becoming tighter as second place was going to…. The first performers. Tooth too was becoming part of the squeezing as she placed her thin hands on both of the boy's shoulder.
"First place with a score so near to perfect that I can't believe it's not goes to….."
This long pause was so unbearable, that after a few seconds, Hiccup and Jack squeezed their eyes closed.
"….. HICCUP HADDOCK AND JACK OVERLAND!" And the crowed was impossibly loud!
Jack and Hiccup faces lit up, smiling so wide that it hurt. But the hug was even more painful as the squeezed each other so painfully hard. When the two separated, cameras were on them, and a few adults with a few microphones and recorders were so close.
"How does it feel knowing that you two are going to the Olympics?" One of the women asked.
They were speechless until Jack found his voice. "Insane!" Hiccup nodded in agreement, grabbing a fist full of hair.
"What about being the youngest to go in?" Another one asked.
Jack let out an airy laugh, still trying to process everything. With out thinking, he said, "Insane!" With even more excitement in his tone.
"Were you guys a couple before deciding to enter?" The first woman asked. The question surprised them more than winning did, and Hiccup finally found his voice.
"Wha- ah, no! B-Before we were-" Hiccup sputtered.
"Actually!" Jack began. "We weren't together before we decided to do this but," Jack turned to Hiccup, grabbing the boy's left hand. With his free hand, Jack unbuttoned one of his pockets and pulled out a simple ring that had a snowflake pattern engraved around it. "Hiccup," Jack smiled, looking straight into Hiccup's wide, green eyes. "Would you want to be together? As actual partners in not only figure skating, but in life as well?" Jack asked, slipping the promise ring on Hiccup's finger.
Everyone "Aw'ed" at the champions, as they quietly waited for Hiccup's answer.
Hiccup on the other hand lost his voice once again. Smiling with all of his front teeth showing as tears formed in his eyes. His lips were trying to move, but they couldn't form any words. So he nodded, letting out a breathless "Yes".
The crowed once again cheered for the two as Jack grabbed the sides of Hiccup's face, pulling him into a kiss. Their lips met with such grace and beauty. It didn't last more than three seconds as Jack pulled away to jump hug Hiccup tightly. A second later, with one arm now around each other, the two boys yelled.
"We're going to the Olympics!"