Oh my god so idk just loads of stuff happened like I'm at college and stuff and as you'll see by the author's note I wrote when I first started writing this other crap cropped up but finally. It is here. And it is appalling. (like seriously) But I'm hoping that now I've got it out the way, I can move on and get better and get a new chapter out etc! Which, you know, would be cool.

Hi! So, just after I posted my last chapter (literally the next morning) my laptop went into repair, which meant I couldn't write at all whilst I was away ;v; So I'm sorry this is later than expected! And, when I finally settled down to start writing this, I wrote a few hundred words to get started, stood up, and, um, well, fainted aha, probably due to heat and lack of water. And had to rest for the rest of the day woops. But I'm getting there! Sorry!

(See omg)

Hiccup glared at the reflection in the grimy mirror of Jack's apartment. To no surprise, the reflection glared back with twin intensity in jade eyes.
It was the night of the party, and for whatever stupid reason he had let Jack dictate what he was going to wear for this damnable gathering. Hiccup questioned just how many glasses of wine he'd had before he agreed to that.
"Show meeee-!" came the familiar wailing voice of Jack, who was undoubtedly sprawled out across the sofa, coffee in hand and chewing some form of sugary treat.
"Bugger off." Hiccup gruffly replied. "This was a stupid idea. I'll just stay here."
"No you bloody well won't!" was the put out reply. Hiccup sighed, and pushed open the door. Jack wolf-whistled, his eyes twinkling as he smirked at Hiccup's blushing face.
"Of all the things you could have picked…" Hiccup trailed off, running a hand through his slick gelled hair. His attire consisted of a checked shirt with a maroon bowtie, matching braces, with the shirt tucked into straight-legged jeans (that Jack mentally pointed out were incredibly flattering for Hiccup's legs-) that were slightly rolled up above a pair of dark brown brogues. Over his arm hung a (fake) tweed blazer, which held what looked like a glowing screwdriver in one of its pockets. From the outfit, the shirt was Jack's, the jacket was from a charity shop, the braces were questionably Jacks, as was the bowtie, and the shoes. Hiccup had had to buy the jeans, but he figured he could wear them casually if they looked alright.
"You suck at options for this. I can't believe I let you pick."
"Hey! I object to that, my ideas were good!"
"This or Frodo Baggins! The others already call me short enough as it is thanks…"
Hiccup sighed, throwing the pot of gel he had borrowed off Jack at him. "Go change. We'll need to leave soon."
"Yeah, yeah, grumpy butt." Jack teased, and clapped Hiccup heavily on the shoulder as he left to get ready. Hiccup flopped into his recently cleared seat to settle down and flick on the TV, staying on Cartoon Network to watch Adventure Time, a personal favourite of his. He was almost dosing off when Jack eventually re-emerged, a can of some spray in hand and-
"Is that blusher?!" Hiccup exclaimed. Then he actually looked at the rest of the outfit. "Oh, my god." Jack just grinned in return. He had sprayed his hair with what must be coloured hair spray so the bit you could see was, well, yellow. Not even blonde, but like bright yellow. This was to match the character he was going as, you see. "I'm sorry, but onesies totally count as cheating." Hiccup pouted, scrunching his body up as he shifted on the sofa.
"Do not!" Jack protested, shuffling the hood around. The yellow onesie had the tail dipped in brown, the stripes, and the correct ears, even the eyes and cheeks and all of a Pikachu. Jack had added extra blusher to his cheeks to highlight the electric mouse's own.
"I am genuinely ashamed you didn't paint your face yellow."
Jack stuck his tongue out as a retort. "I'm allergic to face paint!"
"Pathetic." Hiccup mumbled. "Just excuses." Jack whacked him upside the head, but ran away before Hiccup could start and all-out brawl.
"Okay dork-face, let's goooo. You can catch up with your children's cartoon another night!" Jack teased, pulling Hiccup off the sofa and pushing him towards the exit.
"Oh my god. The one dressed as a Pikachu just called me a dork." Hiccup mumbled, grabbing his satchel as he was pushed out of the door. Once there was the click of the lock, the duo headed down stairs where Jack's bike awaited them. Hiccup shoved a heavy bundle he had grabbed along with his bag into Jack's arms- it turned out to be a coat.
"I want to avoid too many stares, thanks." Jack rolled his eyes.
"Okay, so you know where we're going right?"
"Sure. Astrid said it was being held at her friend's place, and she texted me where to go- it sounds like it's just round the corner from hers. She even said we can stay the night if you want to drink." Hiccup shrugged as he pulled on the helmet Jack handed him.
"Okay. I'll think about it. You do the usual pointing, okay?"
Hiccup nodded to reply, and they were off, zooming down the artificially lit streets pleasantly.
The glare of orange and yellows from the lights made Hiccup feel a little dreamy as he was clinging to Jack's jacket, and he almost forgot to keep pointing out which turn to the driver whilst he let his eyes lose focus and just settled in to a calmer frame of mind. When they span off the last turn he had memorised, they saw a medium sized house with the lights on in a pretty empty, dark street and guessed that was were 'the party was at' as Jack said, grinning, as he pointed out how it stuck out like a sore thumb. He helped Hiccup off, keeping the other balanced as he stumbled off the bike in his usual, slightly clumsy manner. They strode over to the door and glared at on another to decide who had to knock- Jack did, in the end- and was greeted at the door by a gruff male.
"Hello?" He asked them, looking at them both.
Hiccup stammered, and looked around him nervously. "Uhm, hi, I'm Hiccup, a friend of Astrid's?" Almost immediately what appeared to be a rough exterior had vanished and the male's stern expression gave way to a slight smile. He shook Hiccup's hand earnestly, beckoning them in. They made their way down a corridor with several rooms spiralling off it containing groups of people chatting, dancing or drinking, and came to a stop at the
"She's in here, I think…" He trailed off, looking around the room. "Oi, Astrid!" He bellowed, making Jack, whose ear was a bit too near for his liking, to wince.
"Yeah?!" came the yell from the other side of the room.
"It's 'Iccup!" was the reply. Jack shuffled impatiently next to Hiccup who snubbed his nose awkwardly, switching his weight from one foot to the other whilst waiting. He could scrambling, and before he knew it he felt a weight being thrown upon him and arms being flung around his neck.
"Hicccc! I haven't seen you in ages!" Came a female voiced cry, and Hiccup had to cough in response until the arms slacked enough for him to form a proper response.
"Hey, Astrid!" he coughed out, and then cried out as he received a punch to the arm in the familiar form of greeting. Glaring at the girl, he replied "It hasn't been that long, only like 2 weeks." He turned to Jack, who was watching the greeting questionably. Hiccup rubbed where she had punched him, and threw a feeble one back at her to complete their normal greeting, loosening up and smiling at his friend. "Anyway, Astrid, this is Jack. I told you about him the other day, remember?"
"Uh, nice to meet you?" Jack offered, running a hand through his hair as he debated whether or not to offer a handshake or not. Luckily, Astrid got their first, and held out a fist in a friendly manner. Jack returned the form of greeting and grinned easily. "You seem pretty neat." This also earned him what Jack could guess was meant to be a friendly punch on the arm.
"You're not too bad yourself, although hanging around this dork-" at this, Astrid gestured to Hiccup- "must mean you're a bit of a dork or something." Stepping back a moment, appreciating the outfit Jack had covered with a long trench coat to avoid stares as they had travelled (mainly at Hiccup's request) she frowned slightly. "Okay, definitely a dork. Ah well, not everyone is as perfect as I…" she trailed off, a smirk gracing her face that could rival Jack's own mischievous smirk. Hiccup just rolled his eyes and followed where the blonde girl led. Jack took a chance to look at Astrid and size her up so to speak. For the party, she had gone for what he presumed was a 'gladiator' look, with a canvas brown skirt slung at her hips, a ripped top exposing a pale stomach, sandals, and leather wraps around her feet and ankles. Her blonde hair had been tied back loosely and held in place with a band similar to those of the decorative purposes.
"A gladiator, Astrid? Not anything like last year's Viking, hey?" Hiccup teased, as they wound around groups of people and were lead into the kitchen.
"Hey! Don't even get me started on you and your friend here." Hiccup chuckled in response, and helped her pour drinks, handing what he knew was Jack's favourite beer over to him. They both sipped at the beverages, as Hiccup listened to Astrid ramble about who was here, and who wasn't here, and who was expected. He perked up at the name of a few people, and when a 'Fishlegs' was mentioned he asked to go see him.
"Fishlegs is awesome Jack, he's like a giant teddy bear. Irritably intelligent teddy bear, but adorable none the less."
Jack, who was a little bemused at all the people around, could not hesitate to say that Hiccup's descriptions was surprisingly accurate, even just by appearance. The large, fumbling male shook Jack's hand and immediately ran off into questions about Jack's white hair showing underneath the yellow dye- as to whether or not it was natural, was it genetic, etc, so that Jack felt a little overwhelmed and glared at Hiccup who was giggling at him.
Shortly, it as Jack's turn to chuckle however, as Hiccup was clapped on the shoulder by a muscular looking male with rough brown hair and a sharp face. Despite also being quite chubby, in comparison to Hiccup, he looked like a wrestler or a muscle builder, so what Jack assumed had been a friendly clap ended up with Hiccup falling over and needing Jack to stop him crashing into the cabinet he had been leaning on.
"Snotlout?! Was that really necessary?!" Hiccup cried, catching his breath back from the shock.
"'Haven't seen you around in a while. Classes changed?" Snotlout's voice was gruff, and without his size his facial expressions could have been comical, but Hiccup seemed familiar with him so Jack said nothing.
"Uh, no, actually. I moved, and got a job because, well, you all know how broke I am…" Hiccup mumbled, still scowling and rubbing the other arm- Jack was beginning to assume conflict was a common greeting but with scrawny Hiccup it was not so much fun.
"Where do you work?" Snotlout's eyebrows burrowed, and he grabbed a new beer off of the side table to drink, the can seemingly smaller in comparison to his large hands.
"A café? A little one near my apartment- Astrid told you my address right? Anyway, Jack got me a job…" for the first time in the conversation, the dark beady eyes were fixed on Jack, who shuffled.
"'M Snotlout. Knew Hiccup in college. "
"Uh, hi, I'm Jack." Jack looked at Hiccup as a signal of what to say, but the male just shrugged, and Snotlout pressed no further information. At that time, Astrid ran up anyway, with all the energy in the world, and pulled Hiccup's arm.
"Hic! I gotta show you something, okay? Jack, there's videogames over there- entertain yourself for 5 minutes?" And with a flash- Hiccup was gone.

Glancing over his shoulder, Hiccup looked at Jack's bemused face, and chuckled to himself as the white-haired male went off to play what looked like a version of HALO.
"So Hiccccuppp, are you going to tell me what's going on between you and Jack?" Astrid questioned, suddenly very close and grinning ear to ear.
"W-what do you mean what-s go- OH wow, yeah, um, nothing like that-" Astrid was beside herself giggling as she watched Hiccup flail rather dramatically and stumble for the words to explain what he felt. For a moment, the male paused though, and leaned in close, looking at her carefully.
"Astrid...how much have you had to drink?" He questioned suspiciously. Astrid was never normally this giggly and Hiccup knew her tough exterior often dissolved under the influence of alcohol…
"Only about as much as Snotlout." Was the reply Hiccup caught in between giggles.
"….Astrid, you're half his weight I swear- you are going to so regret this in the morning-"
"Oh shush, you're being boring! Sooo, do you like him?"
"What?! No! We're just friends! I mean, sure we hang out a lot but I doubt he's even into guys!"
"Who cares?! If he's hot, go for him. I mean, it's not like you have a preferred gender, right?"
Hiccup blushed profoundly at this, and flicked Astrid irritably. "Shut up. And please don't spread that around?!"
"You can trust meee!"
"Not when you're this drunk."
"Hey, I'm not that drunk." Astrid straightened a little, looking at him and smiling. "Do you like him?"
"I just said no!"
"But really think about it. I mean, could you?"
"Astrid, I'm serious-"
"Hiccup! You never look for a relationship so just try this time, okay? It's not going to ruin everything if you guys are the friends I think you are. I know you're lonely and look at the guy-" sure enough, Hiccup immediately scouted him out and watched him aggressively shake a gaming remote at the screen- "does he look like he would be here if it wasn't for you? He could be more interested than you think." Hiccup sighed. He sighed at Astrid because she was drunk and her speech was messed up and slurred and stupid, and he sighed because he unfortunately had a nagging worry deep in his stomach that she could be right.
"Astrid, he's like the first friend I've had in ages. I don't want to wreck anything. But I'll think about it." Hiccup promised, mainly just to shut her up. "Now, what were you going to show me…?"

"….Okay, this is pretty cool." Astrid, after calming down a little, had lead him into a study piled high with papers, sketchbooks, and other art supplies. At the desk, a modern-looking laptop was charging, plugged into an expensive looking tablet, surrounded by complex designs.
"So, the guy you met at the door? That's Dave. I met him at one of my sports groups, and well, we're dating-"
"Astrid!" Hiccup punched her on the arm. "You didn't even tell me." He pouted.
"-it only happened like, last week, and I thought I could just tell you in person!" She protested. "Anyway, we were talking about our friends and stuff, and I mentioned you were taking art, and this is his. He does stuff to do with mechanics and design, I don't know it's complicated, but he said you could borrow some of his supplies if you wanted!" Astrid beamed at him, and Hiccup's mouth was left open slightly.
"…Astrid, some of this stuff, it's worth hundreds…"
"And I told him you were trustworthy. Anyway, I was going to ask you to coffee sometime soon anyway, would you like to meet up with him too and talk?"
"Really? Wow, Astrid… this is incredible!" Eyes gleaming, Hiccup was barely containing his glee to bounce up and down. "I could really use some of this for designing… Okay, he doesn't seem too bad, especially in comparison to your previous dates!" This earned him a retaliation punch, which he vaguely accepted with an inclination of his head that it was deserved. They shared a grin, and Hiccup realised he had missed the company of Astrid.
"Okay, loser, let's go find Jack. I want to challenge him to a round of Mariokart!"
"Aha, well I should warn you, he's mean at racing games…" Hiccup trailed off, leading her back into the room. They shuffled over awkwardly to Jack, avoiding all the clustered dancing drunk groups, and Hiccup flopped onto the recently vacated seat on the sofa next to his friend. Astrid took the floor space, mentioning it made her play better, and picked up the control.
"Oh-ho, it is so on, you special snowflake." Astrid began as the game whirred up.
"Special snowflake?!" Jack cried indignantly. "You're going down, Viking."
Hiccup chuckled and crossed his legs to eagerly watch the game.
"Hey Hic, next race grab a control too?" Jack pouted in his direction.
"Maybe. Watch out- the race is going to start!" On the split screen, the looming path of Rainbow Road faced them. Jack grinned. "No way you're gonna do this drunk!"
"Oh yeah?!"
"Seriously, try her." Hiccup muttered, silently thinking 'been there, done that…'
As dramatic as the race was, with violence from pushing the other off the road to resulting in at one point Jack kicking the control out of Astrid's fumbling hands, when someone finally won there was a triumphant cry and a punch in the air as Jack yelled happily at beating Astrid (But only just). Astrid sighed at her defeat and turned to Hiccup, mumbling slightly; "Okay, he beat me. You can date him." before lurching off to find some more alcohol. Hiccup turned to face Jack, bright red, spluttering "Ah, she didn't mean that! She was –is- drunk ah-" Jack was looking at him and holding the remote to him questioningly.
"…Ok, fine. ONE round."

"You're actually a mean mariokart player!" Jack spluttered as they made their way to the bike. Hiccup rolled his eyes. "You sure you're sober enough to drive, twinkle toes?"
"Twinkle toes?! What kind of name is that?" Jack questioned indignantly as he tossed Hiccup the helmet. "I'm perfectly fine to drive, thank you. I had less than one glass."
"My life in your hands." Hiccup shrugged, shifting onto the bike and waiting for Jack to seat himself. Sure enough, Jack swung his legs over casually in a manner Hiccup had always questioned- how did he look so smooth?- to nestle in and kick up the bike. But this time, something was different.
Maybe it was what Astrid had said, maybe it was the effects of a cider taking it's slight toll, but Hiccup became acutely aware of the way Jack moved; how he looked with the wind flicking through his air, his muscles tensing as he leaned into the bike. Shaking his head at the thoughts, he tried to bite down a flush, glad it was dark so that no one would notice.
"You alright back there? Awfully quite- you're not going to puke on me are you?" Jack joked.
"As payback, I just might" Hiccup teased, shaking off whatever thoughts had come over him. There was a pause whilst Jack turned into a service station and Hiccup thought of an idea. "Hey, Jack… you're always driving me around, do you want to stay the night? I mean, it's unfair to make you do more than one trip…"
"Hic, are you sure you wouldn't mind? Because I'd actually be really grateful, I'm a lot more tired than I thought I was." Jack replied honestly as he filled his tank up. Hiccup shrugged in response, leaning loosely on the bike.
"I mean, sure, even if we just kip on the couch or floor, I just think it might save you trouble?" Hiccup looked up at him, smiling at the yellow in his hair from the costume exaggerated by the street lights.
And then Jack flashed him one of those grins. "That would be really great, thank you." And although Hiccup could hear the words, he couldn't process them, as he was hit for the first time of what Jack really looked like and how he acted and who he was. And all he could think of was that Astrid's drunk ass better pay the consequences for starting this thought pattern and listen to him when he inevitably called her over the worry he suddenly found in his stomach and the butterflies and all the weird thoughts rushing through his head.
'Bugger.'

Another note: because this was written over literally months, I'm sorry if things change. I tried to edit it, (really!) and things might have even changed just within this chapter, never mind through the entire fic because like the moron I am I did not manage to plan or write notes on things I should remember. Sigh. Yep.

OH in other news, I have also started slightly a oneshot that I may or may not finish based on an idea of an apocalyptic AU on the song 'The Lightning Strike' by Snow Patrol, so maybe keep your eyes open for that if I ever manage to finish it...?