Chapter 4

I guess it's about time I get to a part of my memory that I guess you could say I've been sort of itching to get to.

It was January—Jack had just turned eleven and I was still ten years old. It had been freezing cold the entire week—I remember because Jack and I had woken up earlier that week and started writing messages on the frost that had gathered on our windows overnight. I wrapped myself in my blankets, shuffling around my room, trying to keep warm while simultaneously pretending to be a superhero. Snow had piled on the rooftops to the point where I could lean out of my window just a little bit to touch it. Of course, Jack was extremely pleased about this, as usual, and begged me to go exploring with him over the can-phone.

"Bring your slingshot and explorer's book," he said. "We're going on an adventure!"

And so I walked out of the front door to see him waiting eagerly, carrying a backpack full of candy and junk food, his eyes glittering with excitement, pulling me along as soon as I closed the front door. "C'mon, Hic, we're going to the forest!"

"Jack, the last time we tried going into the forest in the snow, we almost froze half to death."

"Don't be ridiculous," he frowned at me as we shuffled through the fresh, white snow, "you froze half to death—I was okay."

"Oh, wow, you're absolutely right. I'm just being worried for no reason," I said, rolling my eyes. "By all means, let's go into the forest."

"Okay, so maybe that time didn't go so well," Jack admitted, "but we're more prepared now! I mean, look at you, you look like a marshmallow."

"Oh, shut up."

Our trip to the forest continued, Jack making jabs at my fashion choice and me shooting back witty comebacks as fast as I could. We approached a tall metal fence and proceeded to climb it, stuffing our gloves into our pockets and freezing our hands on the cold metal. When we got to the very top, I glanced down, a lump forming in my throat as I stared down at the ten feet jump. Jack just leaped off the top and fell bottom first into the snow. He turned around, patting the snow off of him and motioned for me to come down.

"C'mon—you can be a princess and I can catch you!" Jack called to me, suppressing his giggles.

"Over my dead body," I growled, turning around to begin my descent. I wedged my feet into the little holes and wrapped my bare fingers around the railing, my teeth chattering as I went. I looked down behind me and, considering the fact that I was maybe four feet tall at the time, it seemed like I'd have a pretty nasty fall when I slipped. I gulped and continued downwards, going to great lengths to make sure I didn't fall.

"Today would be nice," Jack called at me. I looked behind me to see him faking a yawn.

"Jack, can you just wait for five seconds," I growled down at him. He pouted and crossed his arms. A silence enveloped us as Jack shifted uncomfortably below and I slowed down my movements, now mostly out of spite. The snow chilled my bones and, as I heard Jack kicking the snow with impatience, I started moving at a snail's pace, cackling as Jack groaned in frustration.

"Hurry uuuuuuuup," Jack whined. I laughed at his frustration, picking up the pace a little.

Suddenly, a loud bark filled the air to the point where the fence vibrated and my bones shook. I lost my footing on the fence in my shock and fell back, my heart stopping and my brain processing my fall in slow motion. I closed my eyes, bracing for impact, when I suddenly heard a small "oof!" from under me.

When I opened my eyes, I noticed that I was lying on a soft bed of snow. Well, mostly a soft bed of snow—I felt Jack pushing on my back from underneath me.

"Geroff me-! You're so fat!"

"Hey, you said I was a twig just a few days ago," I argued stubbornly, refusing to move. Jack pushed me off and I face planted in the snow.

"You're a really fat twig," he said, dusting the snow off of his body before helping me up and patting the snow off of me.

"Well, you—"

I was interrupted by a series of loud barks that reverberated through the forest. A chill ran down my spine and Jack's head darted around like a frantic rabbit.

"What is that?" he muttered, mostly to himself.

"A whale," I said bitingly, tugging the sleeve of Jack's jacket. "It's a dog—probably an angry one at that. We shouldn't have come here." My panic built up as the barking continued, getting seemingly closer and much more aggressive. "Jack, let's go back."

Jack put a finger to his lip and tugged my arm in response, leading me away from the fence. "We'll be fine. Don't worry."

I gulped, but held onto his hand, following Jack's league and staying close as we approached the source of the barking. We hid behind a tree, peering out to see a large dog barking at something huddled against the base of the tree.

"Jack, it might see us," I warned him.

'Sh," he nudged me in the ribs. "What's it barking at?"

I pressed my hands against the tree bark, moving forward a little bit and squinting at a puny black mass that stood out against the white snow. My eyes widened when I saw it was moving and something red was dripping from its side.

"Jack, it's a cat!" I said urgently, panicking. "I think it's hurt really bad!"

There was no reply and I was suddenly aware of the breeze that blew right behind me—where Jack was standing. I looked around frantically for my friend, my eyes skimming along the trees in search of his messy brown hair.

"HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEY!"

I whirled around to see Jack standing twenty feet away from the dog, which turned towards him right when he launched a snowball at its face. The vicious canine bared its teeth, which seemed to be a lot pointier than I've seen in movies. I felt the blood drain from my face as it started running towards Jack. For a minute I thought I saw panic flash on Jack's face, but when I took the moment to emerge from behind the tree and run to his aid, his cocky smile returned and he took off running in the other direction, the dog hot on his heels, the barking fading into the distance.

I looked in the direction they were heading, silently praying that Jack would be okay. I rushed to the cat, kneeling onto the snow to pick it up. I was surprised to see it could probably fit in my hands if I cupped them together, making me panic even more when I realized how fragile this kitten could be. It hissed when I reached out to touch it, feebly flicking its paw towards me.

I was surprised to see a rather defiant and haughty look still in its eye even though its chest was breathing so heavily, parts of its fur obviously matted with fur. I scooped it up in my gloves as carefully as I can

I looked around frantically, walking as quickly as I could, following the footsteps Jack made in the snow. When I reached the end of Jack's trail, I saw that the dog's paw prints had lead off somewhere else. I turned back and forth, utterly confused.

"Jack?" I called tentatively.

"Pst! Up here!"

I tilted my head upwards to see Jack clutching a rather thin branch for dear life. He gave me a nervous smile that immediately turned into panic when we heard the branch crack.

"Jack, get down from there! We have to get this kitten some help quick!"

"Look, if I could get down now, I would've done it earlier," Jack argued. The branch cracked again, its base looking like it was going to snap at any moment.

"We already have an injured cat in our hands, I don't want to deal with you, too," I frowned at him, rather surprised at myself for being able to joke so easily in this predicament.

"Then, why don't you—" Jack's argument was cut off by a yelp of panic as the branch completely snapped and Jack plummeted face first into the snow. I winced and turned my back towards him, shielding the cat, as the snow was flung on us from Jack's fall. I peeked behind me to see Jack, splayed on the ground, his face in the snow, his arms to his sides and his legs apart. It was almost as if he was trying to make a backwards snow angel.

"Jack, are you okay?"

"I'm fantastic," he said bitterly, his voice muffled by the snow. He pushed himself up and shook the snow off of himself. "So how's that cat?"

"Really badly hurt," I repeated anxiously. "Jack, we really need to get some help—and fast!"

"Who would help us? They'd just make us take it to the pound!"

Jack and I shared a worried look and I gulped, thinking about all the TV shows I've watched about the pound and it's supposedly dark secrets. I felt a shiver run up my spine as I considered the possibilities for a brief moment—and it wasn't from the snow.

"W-we really don't have any other choice," I finally concluded.

"Well, even then, I don't know any certified animal doc—" Jack suddenly paused, his look of nervous confusion turning into a smug and secret smile. I knew this smile anywhere—this is the smile Jack gets when he thinks of an amazing prank that can get us in trouble. This is the smile Jack gets when he decides the kid across the street is going to pay for stealing his bike. The smile Jack gets when he spots the next victim of his endless desire for fun.

"Jack, this really isn't the time," I said warningly, nudging him with my elbow to draw the attention back to the kitten that still breathed heavily in my hand.

"Don't worry, I'm not doing another prank," Jack pulled my elbow towards the fence that led back into town. "Just believe me, Hic."

I opened my mouth to object, but changed my mind when I saw the determination etched across Jack's face, which normally wore a carefree expression. I sighed as he pulled me along. "At least let me walk by myself."

"Oh, right," Jack let go of my arm and pointed towards a gap in the gates that led into another neighborhood. "It's this way."

I really wasn't sure how Jack knew the way to get into town from the forest, but on second thought, he did tend to sneak out of the house often and go on adventures while I did my homework after school and he never really tells me where he goes—just that he gets in a lot of trouble, but he has a lot of fun doing it. We squeezed ourselves through a crevice between two fences and found ourselves at the neighborhood just outside of our small town. We trudged as quickly as we could through the snow to the edge of a line of uniform houses, not unlike the ones in our neighborhood.

The streetlamps seemed brighter in town and the traffic seemed busier and the people seemed louder. No one even noticed two ten year old boys shuffling through the crowd, trying to get to the town shopping center. Some stores still had their New Year's decorations up while others already began putting up their Valentine's Day paraphernalia. We weaved past the crowd, muttering our "excuse me!"s, "coming through!"s, and "get out of the way!"s until I found us standing in front of a shop devoid of any sort of celebratory decorum advertisements. The sign over the door read "Aster's Pets."

I looked at Jack in confusion. "Okay, I know you have some good intentions and all that, but I'm pretty sure that just because they have animals in a pet shop it doesn't mean there's gonna be a vet—"

"Oh, shut up, I know what I'm doing," Jack rolled his eyes, ushering me into the shop. A little chime rang as the door closed around us and I found myself in distracted awe of all the animals that gazed at us for a moment as we walked in. The shop was pretty empty, and I guess I'm not surprised, since most people were still on their winter vacations. The interior was painted a shade of grass green that reminded me vaguely of spring.

A tall man walked in from a room in the back, carrying a tall stack of boxes, which he placed on the counter. He couldn't have been more than 25 and had dark hair and tattoos plastered all over his arms. He turned towards us.

"Hey, can I help—" he began in a peculiar accent and then frowning as soon as he saw Jack, who gave him a smug look. "Oh no, it's you. Haven't you already caused me enough grief, kid?"

"Not now, Aster—we have bigger problems," Jack said with determination and maturity that I didn't expect from him, pulling my arm towards the counter.

The man called Aster opened his mouth to object to something, but suddenly stopped when he laid his eyes on the kitten huddling in my palms. I walked up to the counter nervously peeking up at Aster for just a moment. His stern expression had turned into one of soft concern. He motioned me forward and held out his hands, in which I placed the small kitten.

He inspected it for a second, gently raising a paw and giving it a quick look. He looked back up at Jack and gave him an accusing glare.

"Did you have anything to do with this?"

Jack pouted and crossed his arm in defiance. "Hey, Hic and I just found it huddled near a tree in the forest, okay? If it wasn't for us, a dog would've eaten it!"

"It's too bad it didn't eat you," Aster scoffed with a disappointed shake of the head. Despite the circumstances, it still managed to squeeze a giggle out of me. I slapped my hand over my mouth as Jack cast me a disdainful pout.

"It almost did!" Jack piped up as Aster looked over our kitten again.

Aster looked up at Jack, giving him the same concerned look-over he was giving the kitten. "Really? Are you hurt or anything?" he asked urgently.

"Aw, you do care!" Jack cooed, breaking into a mischievous grin. Aster rolled his eyes and turned his attention back towards the frail life in his hands.

"I think I'll be able to fix him up. He'll be alright," Aster finally concluded. I sighed in relief and Jack and I shared a celebratory glance. Aster smiled at our revelation and he headed into a room in the back. "Why don't you guys come back in two or three days to check up on the little guy?"

"You'd really let us?" Jack said, his eyes big and surprised as he hopped up to the counter.

"I wouldn't let you," Aster said with an affected sneer, "but maybe if you went with Fun-sized over here. He at least seems a lot better-behaved than you."

I opened my mouth to object to his comment about my height, but quickly thought better of it, considering he was three times my size. I just smiled at him gratefully. "Thank you for doing this."

Aster grinned at us as he headed towards the back of the shop. "Go home, you two," he called over his shoulder. "I don't want Frost over there messing with my birds again."

I raised a curious eyebrow at the tall man before whipping my head around to see Jack whip his finger out from between the bars of a bird cage, casting a guilty smile at Aster, who smirked before disappearing behind curtains.

Much to Jack's disdain, I insisted that we head home as the snowfall began to pick up. We made our way back, trudging through the snow and taking a detour back to the neighborhood to avoid the dog that was still probably lurking in the forest.

"Do you think it'll be alright?" I finally piped up during our walk. "I mean, it looked really hurt and—"

"Hiccup," Jack said firmly, turning towards me and crossing his arms with confidence, "that cat's a fighter. If anything, he'll be more than okay. I mean, did you see the way he squirmed in your hands?"

"I guess, but—"

" 'Butts' are for sitting, Hic," Jack said matter-of-factly, turning on his heel with some difficulty and tapping me lightly on the nose. I blinked stupidly and shook my head in surprise. "He'll definitely be okay!"

I gave into Jack's determination and shoved aside my own worries for a minute, continuing our journey in silence. My mind wandered for a bit and I began to remember a concern we had earlier. I stopped in my tracks and stared at the ground in thought. Jack, who was lost in his own thoughts, walked a bit ahead of me before noticing my absence from his side and turning to give me a curious look. I looked up with him and frowned. "Who's going to keep the cat?"

Jack gazed at me with a shocked expression, opening and closing his mouth several times as he tried and failed to propose a solution to our problem. He stared at the ground, scratching his chin in his thought before looking at me confidently. "I can keep it! My parents said they wanted me to have another friend soon anyway! They said I'd be getting one soon—so why not now?"

I raised an eyebrow at him. "Are you a kajillion percent sure? What if your mom eats him?"

Jack made an expression of mock offense at me. "Hey! My mom has only been eating watermelons—I know. I've asked."

"Whole watermelons?" I raise an eyebrow at him as I recalled Mrs. Frost's image as of the past couple of months.

Jack waved his hand at me. "Don't worry about it! He'll be safe with me!"

Eventually we did reach our respective homes. We said our good-byes for the next few minutes and retreated into our households. I hung my coat on the hanger and tiptoed through the house, trying not to wake my dad, who was napping peacefully on the couch. I then retreated to the safe haven that was my bedroom, closed the door and curtains, and read everything I owned about cats.

Later that night, I was awoken by the sounds of sirens and bright flashing lights that peaked through my curtains. Just like the night the Frosts moved in, I walked to the window and pressed my face against it, watching them with curiosity and alarm as I saw them load Mrs. Frost into the ambulance. I looked across towards Jack's window for an explanation, only to see his bedroom empty, but his lights left on.

Suddenly, the sound of the doorbell echoed throughout my house and I heard my father step out into the hallway straight away. I quietly followed him out and peeked down at him from the staircase as he yanked the door open. I saw my father standing at the door, speaking in hushed voices with Mr. Frost. Jack clung to his father's side with a shocked and worried expression on his face. I watched Jack for a minute as his eyes darted around in distress. I watched as Jack gazed back up to his father as he began to usher Jack into my house before running off. My father closed the door and looked right up at me. I quickly ducked behind the wall next to the staircase in a vain attempt to hide.

"Hiccup, I know you're there," my father called. I peeked from behind the wall to see my father staring at me sternly. I watched as he and Jack walked up the stairs, Jack still in absolute shock. My father crouched down to look at me with a soft expression that I did not see very often. "Hiccup why don't you and Jack have a sleepover tonight?"

I stared at my father in confusion as he turned to Jack and gave him a pat on the head. "Everything's all right, Jack. You can see your parents tomorrow and it will all be okay."

Jack nodded slowly and I walked over to take his hand and lead him to my room. I flipped the lights on before closing the door and stared at Jack in curiosity. A moment of silence enveloped us before he finally spoke.

"I don't think I can keep the cat," Jack squeaked.

"Wait, what happened?" I asked worriedly.

"I don't know, I just," Jack looked at me helplessly. "I—I went home and asked my parents about the cat… And I threw a fit when they said no and… All of a sudden my mom started panicking and telling my dad that they needed to go to the hospital…" Jack began to mumble, mostly to himself, looking at the ground the entire time as he rambled in confusion.

"Jack," I said meekly as he began to pace around my room nervously. "Jack!"

He stopped in his tracks and looked back at me like a deer caught in headlights. His eyes were wide with concern and he looked so distraught—something that made him basically unrecognizable to me. I felt my heart sink at the sudden disappearance of his normally carefree and cheerful expression and I was unsure of what to do. So I did what any close friend would obviously do.

I reached up and ruffled Jack's hair and his expression of distress quickly changed to one of surprise as he stared at me in confusion.

"What are you doing?"

"I don't know—my dad said my mom used to do this when I was sad so I'd stop crying," I shrugged. "It'll be okay, Jack. My dad even said we could visit them in the morning."

He still looked unsure so I gave his hair another ruffle. "Jack, it's not your fault."

Jack opened his mouth to say something, but promptly closed it, as if changing his mind. He repeated this several times and I tried my best to give him the most comforting smile I could muster, my hand still awkwardly placed on his soft brown hair.

Jack then rolled over into fits of laughter and I stared at him in confusion. He smiled, the familiar sparkle in his eyes a comfort to me, as he rolled onto his side. "You're a loser, Hiccup. Who even pets people's heads when they're feeling sad?"

I blushed furiously and crossed my arms in defiance. "Well, hey! You were being a big crybaby—it's not my fault." I stuck my tongue out at him. "If you don't want my help, you can pet your own head!"

"Wait, no—it felt nice," Jack pouted at me.

"What are you, a puppy?"

"Yeah, so you have to pet my hair again."

"Gross, no," I said, faking a barfing noise. "I'm never doing that again—I might catch your stupid." I retreated back to my bed.

"But Hiccuuup, I'm sad," Jack whined, sitting at the edge of my bed.

"Puppies have to sleep on the ground, Jack," I teased. I laughed as Jack frowned at me in mock anger, crossing his arms and turning away from me, sticking his nose in the air. "I'm just kidding. You can sleep on the side."

"Sweet," Jack hopped under the covers as I built a pillow barrier between us.

"You have to stay on your side," I ordered him. "If you get even a hair over this wall, I'll kick you off the bed."

"Yeah, yeah," Jack said, yawning. "Just go to sleep, Hic."

I chuckled and reached over to pull the chord on my lamp. We were wrapped in a darkness that was only eased by the moonlight that peaked through the curtain. I pulled the blanket up to my shoulders and put my back against the pillow wall, yawning and shutting my eyes.

"Hiccup?"

"What?"

"Thank you."

"Mhmm," I yawned. "Goodnight, Jack."

"Goodnight, Hiccup."

When I woke up in the morning, the pillow wall had been breached and Jack's head lay on my stomach, his legs dangling off the side of the bed, and a calm smile plastered on his face in his sleep.

A/N: I was planning on making this chapter longer, but I decided to cut this in half mostly because it's been a while since I last updated and I wanted to give you guys what I've gotten so far!

I don't know I actually really didn't like this chapter that much, but I wanted to get this part out of the way so I can move on. Haha, so you'll have to forgive me for this sucky chapter. U n U

I'll post the next chapter as soon as I finish up some of the other fics I have, so thanks for your patience, guys! I really appreciate it!