So here's my very first text in English. It's actually a translation of my Hijack OS "Union tiède", originally written in French.

A big thank you to my beta reader, cashewkitty, who helped me a lot with the translation.

Hope you'll like it :)


Warm Unity

Fire melts ice. Ice becomes water. Water puts out fire. Ice wins. Unless there's a lot more fire than water, in which case the water evaporates. Fire wins.

Lying on his bed, his gaze lost into the tangled beams on his bedroom's ceiling, Hiccup repeats this interminable chain in his head. He's had enough of counting sheep and yaks to try to fall asleep, so he attempts this. He examines and reexamines the situation from all directions, trying to make a vicious circle. But it never works. One of the two elements always ends up disappearing in aid of the other. So, sometimes, the Viking adds something else to complicate the situation. Tonight, it's air, which blows out a candle flame, but revives and spreads a chimney fire. Air makes bubbles in water, but can't do anything against it. Or against ice. Unless, it's joined with fire. In this case, see previous example.

Hiccup sighs, and wonders if salt water has different properties than fresh water, against fire.

Instead, he sits up and decides to get out of bed.

###

"I was waiting for you."

Hiccup smiles at Jack. The boy of winter is used to his friend's sleepless nights, and he knows that Hiccup likes joining him when, one more time, the sandman forgets to call. Anyway, he hasn't needed to sleep for a long time, and waiting here or somewhere else doesn't change anything, so he might as well stay near the village. That's what the spirit says to himself, but every night Jack still deeply hopes to see that limping figure making its way towards him, meaning he won't spend that night alone. Every time, he's torn between knowing Hiccup is at least getting sleep, but is far away from Jack, or that Hiccup is way too tired to be awake, but still next to him. The second option stays his favorite, as selfish as it is.

But sometimes, Hiccup doesn't come. Sometimes, the tiredness overcomes him, and Jack still stays - in vain hope of seeing him, even if only for a few minutes – and he talks with the Moon. She's definitely less interesting than his favorite Viking, but it passes the time. And generally, it never happens on two consecutive nights, because Hiccup also needs to see Jack. Even if his body leaves him no other choice but sleep, in return, he comes earlier the next day. Then, he doesn't even try to sleep; he just waits until the village is still, and goes out. And, one more time, he stays up all night.

For him. Because of him.

Jack Frost.

###

Hiccup is glad dragons also need to sleep, but mostly he's glad they do it at the same time as humans; at night. Because this way, he can use his love for the sky – at this point known by everybody – to ask Jack to take him flying, saying that he doesn't want to wake his Night Fury up, already exhausted by their diurnal ridings, and that the poor dragon shouldn't suffer from his master's sleeping problems. Jack believes it, without really questioning if those reasons hide others, even if he hopes that Hiccup doesn't only like him because he can fly.

Every night, Hiccup flies with Jack. He climbs on his back, hugs him hard, and only lets go of him when the sun rises and indicates that the time to go home and pretend to wake up has come.

Hiccup doesn't know if it's normal to feel like he does, when touching his friend like that. He says to himself that it's certainly because this contact is associated with flying, and that's why it's so addicting.

Because apart from their rides in the air, he doesn't dare touch Jack. He's afraid. Afraid to realize, finally, that the pleasure he feels isn't only due to the flight, but also to that cold body that transports him – not only physically speaking. But Hiccup doesn't want to put words on this. Can't, because he doesn't know how. For the moment, he doesn't need to, so he tries to avoid thinking about it. He does things the way he wants them to be done.

Even if he can't stop himself from comparing these to the very first feelings of love that he had during his times with Astrid.

###

Jack takes Hiccup to the middle of the ocean. This time, he doesn't want to fly all night; he'd like to do something else. When his feet skim the salt water, everything freezes. Time especially. Hiccup wonders what Jack has on his mind, but he doesn't say anything. He trusts him. As long as he's here, with him, nothing can happen.

Jack makes a slab of ice big enough to support them both, and invites the Viking to lie beside him.

"Look at the Moon," he whispers.

Hiccup obeys. Besides, there's not really anything more to watch. Apart from Jack, maybe, but this, Hiccup doesn't dare to do. He's afraid. Afraid to see through his pale skin, white hair and blue eyes, to a kind of beauty he wouldn't know how to see. Because after the few times he has observed him long enough, Hiccup can say that Jack is beautiful. Too beautiful. He doesn't trust his own eyes; he knows that if he lets his gaze lingers over the boy, he'll see way further than this simple, apparent beauty. And he doesn't feel ready to manage it at all, so he avoids lingering on Jack's face.

But what the Viking doesn't know, is that while he is letting himself be dazzled by the Moon's whiteness, to forget Jack's, the Spirit of winter is taking this opportunity to observe him. Certainly the same way as Hiccup would do it if he dared. Jack examines his profile: the freckles on his cheek, his slightly up-turned nose like a child, his green eye which seems amazed by the night sky.

And then, gently, fondly, Jack pulls away with his fingers a lock of brown hair, and places it behind Hiccup's ear.

###

Hiccup could swear that his ear is freezing. He feels the cold, and also, kind of, little tingles. He imagines the frost running over his cheek, clotting the blood under his blued skin. He knows he can die, if he lets the cold grab him like that, but this sensation seems way too pleasant to be dangerous, he thinks.

He lets a smile cross his lips.

Right after, Jack moves beside him, as if he was turning his head. So, Hiccup rotates his to see, hoping unwillingly that he'll meet the Spirit's gaze. But he only sees the boy's pale ear, half hidden behind his white hair. Holding back the trace of disappointment he refuses to feel, he turns back to look on the stars. Then, another cold wave surprises him again, coming from his hand this time. But it doesn't subside like the one on his ear. It stays and grabs him, and Hiccup could swear that he really feels the blood flow slowing down in his fingers.

Then he simply realizes that Jack took his hand.

Hiccup thinks that maybe he's going to get up and help him to do the same, or that he only wants to wake him up because he has fallen asleep, or even that this gesture isn't intentional, that Jack didn't mean to do what he's doing and that he's going to stop when he realizes.

But the Spirit doesn't do anything. He merely interlaces his fingers with the boy's, without a word, without a look.

And Hiccup likes the contact of their skin, so he doesn't do anything. He just enjoys, without a word, without a look.

He feels good.

###

Time passes. That's all.

###

Dawn is here. The two boys get up at the same time. The ice has melted a bit under Hiccup, so his clothes are wet. When Jack puts a hand on his back, they freeze. But the Viking doesn't care.

"You have to bring me back." he says to the Spirit, even though he doesn't want to go home at all.

"No rush; you know I can be very fast."

Hiccup wonders if Jack doesn't want him to leave either. But he doesn't dare ask. He's afraid. Afraid to hear the answer. He doesn't even know what he'd like to hear.

The two teenagers smile at each other. And behind Jack's smile, Hiccup sees all his questions stream past – Thor knows they are many. They run through the pale boy's smooth skin, walk around his thin lips and perfect mouth with sparkling teeth, surround his blue eyes and disappear in his messy white tuft of hair.

Blue eyes.

Like Astrid's, Hiccup can't stop himself from comparing.

Identical, yes, but also very different.

The boy suddenly hates himself for thinking about the girl during such a moment. She certainly wouldn't like to know he's here, with him. Not if she could feel the confusion inside him.

But those moments belong only to him. Just like Jack. Nobody knows, nobody needs to know. Nobody has to know. Hiccup isn't even sure he really lives all this, he often wonders to himself if he hasn't dreamt all of it, but until now he hadn't found the answer to his question.

During the day, when the sun heats and lights, he's a Viking, best friend of a dragon, boyfriend of a pretty blonde, son of his village's chief, and many other things. And at night, when the Moon cools and almost doesn't light, he's… nothing. He doesn't know. Only his soul flies away with Jack, only his feelings subsist, there's nothing left from the human he is during the day. He becomes a Spirit, in a way. Like Jack.

Day and Night. Light and Darkness. Heat and Cold. Fire and Ice.

Man and Spirit.

His life is being divided, and like an idiot, he stays in the middle. He feels torn between the two sides, suffering from the heat and cold burn; but he doesn't know which pain to choose.

But does he really have to choose?

###

Jack feels like Hiccup is seeing him for the first time. His gaze examines and pierces him, as if he was trying to communicate but didn't want to do it with speech. The Spirit of winter tries to decipher his friend's expression, but the boy shows so many contradictory feelings that it's totally useless.

However, when Jack takes Hiccup's hand and shows him to climb on his back – this gesture meaning they will go home, and consequently, be separated – the hesitation he feels in Hiccup is enough for him to decide.

###

Hiccup doesn't know. He doesn't know anymore. So many things can happen in only a few seconds. He still doesn't understand how he found himself so close to Jack. They were about to go, Jack had him climb on his back, and before he went out of his mind, the Spirit has pulled Hiccup against him, and now he's hugging him.

Hiccup doesn't know. He doesn't know anymore. He feels like he's discovering Jack's body, although he climbs on him every night. But usually, he's rather against the boy's back. He's never found himself in Jack's arms like that, and the way their bodies perfectly fit together surprises him. Their chest are stuck, each has his hands on the other's back, and their skin is only separated by the fabric of their clothes, still allowing them to feel each other's temperature. Hiccup would like to burn this tiny wall between them. But he's afraid. No, not afraid of what he will find under this time, but afraid of hurting this cold person. He doesn't want to run the risk of seeing the Spirit melting under his body heat. But he doesn't want to come off of him either.

###

Why did he hug him? Why does he not feel like coming off the boiling hot body of the other? Why does he feel his own hand landing on Hiccup's warm cheek, and staying there until his palm burns? And above all, why does he move his face closer to his like that?

Jack doesn't know. He doesn't want to know why he's doing all that. He's not even sure he can find the reason why.

###

Hiccup feels his lips freeze. Jack feels his burn. They suffer. Both of them.

But they like it. Both of them.

They kiss each other.

###

Hiccup feels his tongue freezing. Jack feels his burning. Melting. And the fire inside Hiccup is soothed by this cold water flowing on his lips.

Their saliva mixes with each other's. Heat and cold blend together. And in the warm unity of these opposites, Hiccup finds the solution.

There isn't any vicious circle. All of this is just a question of balance. Between heat and cold. Between fire and ice.

Light and Darkness. Day and Night.

Man and Spirit.


And please don't forget to leave a review, if you like my text I might eventually translate others, so let me know what you think :)