Ahh you guys, I am so sorry this took so long to get out to you! I had a ton to do between school, work, my honors society, and my new position as choreography director for my Rocky Horror shadow cast :) Then, there was finals week and working on cosplay and preparing for auditions… Anyway, I'm home for Christmas break now, and that means that I have time to work on this some more! I'll try to get one more chapter out before I go back to school, but no promises.

Oh, and also, I'm looking for a cover image that I can use for this bad boy! Don't be afraid to send any my way. You can also contact me on tumblr if you have any comments or questions about the story, and I'll answer them to the extent that I can without spoiling anything. My URL is "sobasicallyimafreak", and I love receiving asks! Well, anyway, onto the chapter. As always, characters belong to their respective creators, and I hope you enjoy! Thanks for reading!

Hiccup found himself sneaking out of the academic reception early. It wasn't that it was bad; on the contrary, he had a pretty good time. There was ice cream, and it was nice getting to meet more of the visual and performing arts majors, along with some of the instructors. He just was a little bit overwhelmed by the sheer amount of people there. Hiccup had never really liked being in large groups of people, especially when those groups included people as outgoing and touchy-feely as the ones he had met. Besides, he really had to finish unpacking.

Hiccup had successfully escaped the reception without being noticed and was now on his way up the stairs to his room. Luckily, since most of the arts majors lived in his dorm, the reception was just in the basement. This meant that sneaking out was a lot easier than Hiccup would have thought. He jingled his keys as he climbed the stairs, smiling to himself as he remembered his little duet with Jack in the showers that morning. He wasn't going to lie, it was mortifying being seen afterwards, but it was still a nice, warm moment. After having finally reached his room, Hiccup stuck his keys in the door and opened it to see his roommate scrambling to cover himself with a blanket. Hiccup turned away to give him a bit of privacy. The sounds coming from his laptop were unmistakable. "Hey, Eug-" He stopped and corrected himself, "Flynn."

Hiccup's roommate, whose real name was Eugene (although he went by "Flynn" for some reason) was older than the average dorm resident – 22, to be exact. When asked what year he was in school, his answer was a shrug and a lackadaisical chuckle. He was too interested in women and money to care much about classes. He managed to not flunk out, though, due to his good looks and charm. He had long, shaggy brown hair and warm chocolate eyes that made the girls on campus just melt. He also sported a scruffy goatee that was already the talk of the dorm. Girls whispered about how great it felt; he had apparently made his presence known already. "Hiccup!" He responded, obviously trying to make it seem like nothing had happened. "What's up?"

"Oh, I, ah, just thought I'd come unpack a little…" Hiccup shifted his weight uncomfortably and rubbed the back of his neck. He turned around cautiously to see that Flynn now had his pants on. Hiccup sighed under his breath and turned the rest of the way to walk into the room. "You know, get ready for classes to start."

"Tons of fun." Flynn cleared his throat and slowly walked over to the mini fridge that came with their room. "You want a beer?" He asked while grabbing one for himself.

"Uh, no thanks, still 18 here." Hiccup responded as he held his hands in front of his body defensively. "But I'll take one of those Cokes in there."

Flynn tossed his younger roommate a can of Coke. Hiccup scrambled, almost dropping it, but he caught it at the very last second. "You know it's not a big deal, right?" Flynn asked as he cracked open his beer. "I've been drinking since I was in middle school, and I've never gotten caught."

"It's fine, really." Hiccup insisted. He tapped on the top of his can, partially from nervousness and partially to calm down the fizz inside. "I just don't want to risk it."

Flynn shrugged. "More for me." With that, he began chugging his beer and heading back to his bed. Hiccup walked over to his own bed, finally taking a chance and opening his Coke. It didn't explode, so that was good. Hiccup took a sip and set it down so he could remove some items from one of the cardboard boxes on his side of the floor. The two men remained in silence for a few moments until Flynn decided to speak. "So," he began, startling Hiccup. "Seen any cute girls around campus?"

"Excuse me?" Hiccup responded. He thanked the gods that he was turned away from his roommate at the moment. He busied his hands by folding clothes.

"You know, any girls you have your eye on?"

Hiccup had run out of shirts to fold, so he grabbed some boxers, something he didn't normally fold – anything to avoid looking Flynn in the eye. "Ah, no, no sir." He fiddled with the boxers some more. "No girls are, ah, 'catching my eye'. Not right now, you know."

"Oh, I see," Flynn got up off of his bed to clap a shoulder on his furiously blushing roommate's shoulder. "You're letting them come to you, am I right? Don't want to waste your time on a girl who's not even gonna' give it up."

"Sure, something like that…" Hiccup wriggled his way out from under Flynn's hand and gathered up the rest of the boxers, having given up on folding them. He shoved them into a drawer haphazardly. There was no way he was going to mention his little crush on Jack to anyone, especially his stud of a roommate.

"Wait a minute; I get what's going on here." Flynn chuckled to himself as he strolled casually back to his side of the room.

"You… You do." Hiccup paled. He was fighting hard to keep his voice level, but it cracked nonetheless.

"Oh, I do." Flynn nodded with a self-assured look on his face. "I know exactly what's going on here."

Hiccup gulped and was about to jump into an explanation when Flynn stated his accusation: "You're a virgin." Hiccup dropped onto his bed in disbelief. "That's it, isn't it?"

"You know what, yeah." Hiccup answered. "I mean, I've gotten some, but I've never gone… All the way."

"That's cute, kid." Flynn laughed again. "Don't worry, though. I will get you laid before the semester is over."

"That's… Really nice of you, Flynn." Hiccup deadpanned. He figured he could pick his battles, and this was not one of them for the time being. "Thanks."

"Don't mention it." Flynn smirked. "It's kind of my forte."

"Right." Hiccup answered noncommittally as he returned to his unpacking. He was still a little shaken up, to be honest, but he refused to let Flynn see. After realizing that this was a nearly impossible task, Hiccup threw the handful of socks he was now holding into a drawer and grabbed his keys. "I'm gonna' go grab dinner." He said as a means of excusing himself.

"Alright, see you later." Flynn waved his roommate off casually. "Do you, uh… Happen to know when you're going to be back, by any chance?"

Hiccup sighed. "Is 45 minutes enough time?"

Flynn considered it. "Yeah, I should be fine. But knock first."

"Sure thing." Hiccup called back over his shoulder. He just had to get out of that room. It was getting way too awkward in there. As he walked away, he could already hear the sound from Flynn's laptop loud and clear. Hiccup cringed, imagining what their neighbors would think.

He headed toward the dining hall as slowly as he could manage, knowing full well that it would not take him 45 minutes to eat. He should have brought along a sketchbook or something. It was too late now, apparently.

Upon arriving in the dining hall, Hiccup piled his tray full of food that he knew he would never finish. It was an old habit from back home: he would get a lot of food with the intention of bulking up, but it would soon prove to be pointless. His appetite was just too small to allow for such a thing.

Hiccup sat down at an empty table and glanced at his phone. He still had over 40 minutes before he could go back to his room. He began mindlessly picking at the mountain of food in front of him. Yeah, there was no way he was going to finish this.

As Hiccup worked on making a dent in his meal, he became aware of a presence that was getting closer. He peeked up from his undertaking to see none other than Jack standing on the opposite side of the table. "Mind if I join you?" Jack asked, an almost cocky-looking half-smile on his face.

Hiccup was breathless. He nodded mutely and lowered his head to swallow. He was somewhat embarrassed about the large pile of food in front of him, especially after looking at Jack's tray. His contained a bowl of salad with minimal toppings, a perfectly pink cut of fish, and a bunch of grapes. The beverage glasses were not filled with soda, as Hiccup's were, but instead held water that was threatening to spill over the edges.

Jack set his tray down, pulled out the chair, and took a seat. He took a bite of his salad and chewed for a bit before speaking. "So what'd you think of the reception?"

"That?" Hiccup swallowed his bite of burger. "It was, uh… Fun."

"Fun?" Jack asked, cocking an eyebrow. "You're a terrible liar."

"Well, you know…" Hiccup waved his sandwich in the air absentmindedly. "I mean, I didn't really stay for that long."

"I don't blame you." Jack chuckled as he took another bite. "Those things can be pretty obnoxious."

"Food was good, though." Hiccup shrugged. He bit his lip awkwardly when he got another glimpse of Jack's tray. "I mean…"

Jack laughed a little bit louder this time. "Hey, Hiccup, don't feel like I'm judging you or anything. I mean, you can eat whatever you want. It doesn't affect me."

"Heh, right…" Hiccup started cutting up the chicken on his tray. "It's just, you know, my dad's always telling me I should bulk up, so…" He shrugged and put a piece into his mouth.

"Do you ever lift?" Jack asked.

"Oh yeah, all the time." Hiccup rolled his eyes and gestured down at himself. "Can't you tell?"

"No, really, though." Jack pushed his tray off to the side and leaned in, eyes shining bright. "It's not that hard to get into."

"Nah, I've tried before, and it just ended with me getting hurt." Hiccup continued to pick at the food on his tray, but it seemed like he was barely making a dent in it. He took a gulp of his soda in an attempt to make himself feel less full.

"Well then, you must not've had good instruction." Jack could barely contain his excitement at this point. "Why don't you come with me to the gym sometime, and I can teach you?"

Hiccup blinked and looked Jack up and down.

"Hiccup," the older man shot his resident a sudden, serious look that set butterflies going in his stomach. "I can lift girls who weigh more than I do. I know what I'm doing. Won't you come work out with me sometime?"

The brunette pursed his lips and lowered his head, a slight blush tinting his freckled cheeks. He gathered himself and peeked up to meet Jack's eyes. His beautiful, blue eyes on his beautiful, pale face. "Fine," Hiccup sighed, causing his RA's face to instantly brighten up. "I'll come with sometime. Hey, it'll be worth it to get bigger, right?" Not to mention the fact that he would get to see Jack covered in sweat. Hiccup forced himself to stop thinking about it before something happened that he couldn't control.

"Awesome!" Jack grinned widely. "I can help you start this program. It's what I started doing when I was a newbie. It'll be good for us, too. You know, bonding time."

Hiccup let out a soft chuckle. The guys sat in silence for a moment. This one was almost comfortable, unlike the awkward silence that Hiccup had experienced with his roommate earlier. Speaking of, Hiccup pulled out his phone to check the time.

"Got somewhere to be?" Jack asked conversationally.

"Uh, no, actually." Hiccup cleared his throat. "Not for another twenty minutes or so."

Jack pulled out his own phone and looked at the clock. "You know the floor meeting doesn't start for another hour, right?"

"Oh, I know, I just really have to unpack, and I'm not even hungry anymore, so…"

"Well, don't let me keep you!" Jack interrupted.

"No, you're not! What? Nooooo." Hiccup started pushing some food around with his fork. "No, I just… I'm giving Flynn some..." He searched for the word. "'Privacy', is all."

Jack furrowed his brows and mouthed the word 'privacy'. His expression quickly changed to one of understanding as the lightbulb went off in his head. "You know, uh." He cleared his throat, "if you think it's going to become a problem…"

"No, no problem here." Hiccup spoke over Jack.

"You can just talk to someone about it-" The white-haired RA continued.

"I don't really think I need to-"

"I mean, you need to talk to him first, or-"

"It's not a big deal, just-"

"We can't do anything until-"

"I can handle it." Hiccup stated. His tone indicated that he was done with this topic. "It's just a guy thing. I'm not about to stop Flynn from doing what makes him… Happy."

Jack raised an eyebrow, but he brushed it aside and returned to his salad. "So what are you going to do for the next twenty minutes?"

Hiccup looked at his tray and shrugged. "That's a good question."

"Well," Jack swallowed the bite in his mouth before continuing, "you could always come hang with us RAs. Get a little sneak preview of the meeting?"

"I'd like that." Hiccup smiled and nodded. "Um… I'm ready whenever you are. There's no way I'm not gonna' finish all of this."

Jack gulped down the rest of his water, wiped his lip, and grinned at his freckled friend. "Shall we?"

The pair gathered their trays and piled them on top of the conveyor belt that led to the dishwashing area. Jack leaned down to peer into the window and waved a 'thanks' to the workers. They walked out of the dining hall, exited the main building, and crossed the grassy yard that separated the central building from their dorm wing. The walk was mostly silent with some comments about the weather peppered in. Jack seemed to want the conversation to happen more than Hiccup did. The brunette honestly wouldn't have minded just being with his RA. No words needed to be spoken. That's not to say that he minded the conversation, but it wasn't high on his list of priorities. Besides, talking with Jack just made Hiccup think about how his lips moved…

Soon enough, they were standing in front of Jamie's door. Jack made a loose fist and tapped rapidly on the door until Jamie opened it. "Hey, Hiccup is gonna' join us for a bit." The white-haired RA said in lieu of a greeting.

"Sure, come on in." Jamie smiled and opened the door wide. "What, are you trying to take our jobs or something?" He teased Hiccup.

"No, no, I mean, I just... Flynn has some, ah, business to take care of." Hiccup played with the school spirit lanyard that held his keys.

Jamie shot him a confused look until Jack translated: "He got sexiled."

"Well, not exactly sexiled." Hiccup explained. "It's more of a… 'Solo act'."

Jamie laughed awkwardly, and Jack's eyebrows twitched upward. "That's a… Fun situation." Jack chuckled.

"Yeah, it's the greatest." Hiccup responded dryly. "Anyway, I still have, like, fifteen minutes before he'll be done in there, so, I don't know; is there something I can help you with or something?"

"I mean," Jamie looked to his co. "You can… Listen to us looking through the agenda for the meeting? The girls' side RAs should be here in a few minutes."

"Sure. I mean, it's better than sitting outside of my room and waiting for Flynn to finish." Hiccup took a seat on the ground. "I'll try to stay out of your way."

The two RAs got to work making sure that they were both at least mostly familiar with the agenda. The Housing and Dining office, Hiccup learned, had sent it out to all of the RAs on campus. The pair joked around as they worked, but the air still carried the leftover tension from the small fight the day before. It was more of the 'I really don't want to offend you' variety, but that didn't diminish the awkwardness. Thankfully, it wasn't long at all before Tooth and Sam were knocking at the door. Sam and Hiccup were introduced, and the RAs got back to their business. With the girls in the room, the mood was lighter. Hiccup silently watched them interact. He noticed that Tooth and Jack almost immediately cuddled up next to each other, and he would be lying if he said that the sight didn't send pangs of jealously shooting through his stomach.

To distract himself from thinking about Jack, Hiccup borrowed a pen and a piece of paper from Jamie and began sketching the scene he saw before him. It was a loose, messy sketch, definitely not his best work, but it got the point across. He got so lost in his work that he didn't notice when the RAs all crowded around him, peering over his shoulder as he put on the finishing touches.

"Wow, that looks incredible," Jamie was the one to break the silence, startling the artist in the process.

""Aw, you made me so pretty!" Sam gushed.

"And I just love what you did over here!" Tooth grinned, pointing to the surprisingly detailed, poster-covered wall in the background of the image.

Jack let out a low whistle next to Hiccup's ear. The mere feeling of his breath against his skin was enough to send goosebumps down Hiccup's arms. "That's really something…" Jack murmured. He stared at the drawing intently for a minute or so. It showed the four RAs going over the agenda, just as they had been. Jamie was sitting backwards on one of the desk chairs in the room and rolling the edge of the paper in his hands into a tight cone. Sam was lounging on the floor with one leg folded underneath her and the other one bent with her foot on the floor. She had threaded one arm between the calf and thigh of that leg and was holding her paper with the other hand. Jack and Tooth were relaxing on Jamie's bed. Jack was leaning against the wall with his ankles crossed and one arm draped over Tooth's shoulder. She, meanwhile, was facing away from him, her back propped up against his side. Her head was leaning backwards to rest on his shoulder, and one hand was reaching up to meet Jack's. She had also been absentmindedly rubbing her thumb against Jack's hand, a fact that Hiccup willfully ignored.

"It's not my best work." Hiccup brushed off the compliments awkwardly. "I just was bored and needed something to do."

"Don't sell yourself short." Jack was still squinting at the picture and sounded distracted. "Tell you what; are you planning on doing anything with that?"

"Nah, probably just putting it in a notebook somewhere." Hiccup responded.

"Awesome!" Jack grinned as he bounced on his heels. "Could I keep it?"

"This?" Hiccup asked incredulously. "I mean, it's just a doodle, but sure, if you really want it…" He began handing it to Jack, who pushed it back into the younger male's hands.

"Oh no, you have to sign it first." Jack watched as Hiccup carefully wrote along the bottom: "3rd floor RAs hard at work". He then signed it and printed the date before handing it back to Jack. "There, now it's perfect." The RA nodded in satisfaction.

"Well anyway, it's practically time for the meeting." Tooth chirped. "I'll go knock on doors!"

"I'm coming, too!" Sam scrambled to her feet and chased her co-RA out of the door and down the hall. "Bye, boys, see you in a few minutes!"

That left the guys alone in the room again. "We should probably do that, too." Jamie stood up and headed toward the door. "Hiccup, you want to help?"

"Um, sure." Hiccup shrugged. He took the time to stretch out his legs, which had been crossed lotus-style while he was drawing, before rising. Jack joined them, and the three left the room together. As they walked down the hallway knocking on doors, Hiccup let the fuzzy feeling inside of him grow.

Jack liked his work.