Work Text:
Jack had seen the boy on the train many times before. Each morning he would get on a couple stops after Jack, sit beside a window, nose buried in the latest novel he had gotten his hands on, backpack at his feet, with his little green earbuds stuck in. He never looked up from his book (who knew the autobiography of Nikola Tesla could be so interesting), even when he was getting off his stop. He maneuvered through the crowd and made his way to the campus he unknowingly shared with Jack.
Jack would never admit that he stared...but he did. The boy was cute. Okay that was a lie, he was downright adorable . Though the boy was obviously in college, he still seemed to have a bit of baby fat, showing in his long, round face, complete with his cute nose. The boy had an entire galaxy of light freckles over his tanned cheeks. Jack wished the kid would look up so he could see his eyes behind the thick framed glasses.
Today was different from most days, though. The train was more filled than usual and all of the seats were taken, which wasn’t much to Jack since he always stood on the morning route. But he did know someone who never stood on the ride and today he would not have a choice; Jack felt himself elate a little at the thought that the boy would stand beside him. Maybe he could even get him to talk to him. Work up the nerve to ask him out for coffee or something!
The train came to its usual stop and he saw the boy get on, moving to take a seat near the window as he always did. He stopped short upon noticing every seat was taken, and Jack saw his face fall. He almost felt bad but suddenly swelled up again when the brunet started making his way toward him. Jack noticed the light pink dust over his cheeks as he took the spot next to him; it was then that Jack realized how small the boy was. He was slender and petite, shorter than Jack by almost a foot. He seemed to hesitate before reaching up to grab the handle hanging from the train’s ceiling.
Then Jack realized why the boy always sat down: he was just too short to reach the safety handle. He almost started laughing, but thankfully didn’t.
The boy reached a couple times and Jack saw his fingers just grazing the plastic handle, and noticed the stretching of the boy’s boots as he raised himself up on his toes. He saw the boy becoming quickly embarrassed, noticing the couple of passengers beginning to stare.
Before he realized it, Jack was gripping the other safety handle and straightening his bicep as best he could in front of the boy’s reach. When the boy looked up at him in confusion, Jack was floored: he finally got a good look at the kid’s eyes. The biggest, roundest, greenest, most adorable look that seemed only fitting for him to have. Perfectly accented in the thick black frames of his glasses that started sliding down his nose. Jack’s face and ears heated up but he desperately tried to keep his composure and tried not to look like a blubbering fish. So, he did the only thing he could think of: he smirked, then winked.
Not surprisingly, the kid was taken aback. He quickly pushed his glasses up and hugged the book he had been planning to read to his chest, this time a tattered and obviously worn out copy of Farmer Giles of Ham . Jack just smiled at him and nodded towards his arm. “Uhhm…” the boy started to say when suddenly the train left station and lurched forward. The boy’s balance was thrown for a loop and he quickly took Jack’s offer and held on tightly to his arm. He turned his feet inward and after the train began to move more smoothly, straightened his knees and looked up at his makeshift safety handle. Jack saw his ears turn pink and laughed.
“Hey, don’t look so disappointed! Plenty of ladies are dying to be in your spot, you know!” he teased. That seemed to break the ice because the boy looked up at him and his embarrassed scowl was quickly replaced with surprise, then a quirked eyebrow and unimpressed expression. “Well they’re welcome to switch with me for a seat.”
Jack laughed again and the boy seemed to break out a bit of a smile back. “Come on, I’m bein’ nice here!” He pretended he wasn’t fully aware of the feeling of the boy’s long fingers over his arm; his grip was tighter than expected. “You could at least tell me your name.”
The boy hesitated and shifted his eyes away before mumbling it. Jack almost saw the boy trying to chew the name up, whatever it was. He leaned over to hear him. “What was that?”
The boy sighs and looks away from Jack. “My name’s Heaven. Heaven Haddock the Third.” Heaven almost spat the name out. Jack chuckled and Heaven shot him quite the look.
“Hey, I think it’s cute! Don’t get your socks twisted up,” he joked. Really though, he liked it and couldn’t understand Heaven’s obvious dislike for it. “So Heaven, huh?”
The brunet scoffs and begins putting his book back into his messenger bag, accepting that he wasn’t going to be reading during this ride. “My mom. We’re Norwegian, old fashioned Viking traditions and all that. Her name means the Norse equivalent of ‘heaven’ so I guess my parents thought it made sense. Honestly I think they named me expecting a girl and didn’t change it when I actually showed up.” He sighed, putting his hand on his hip. “I used to catch Hell for that name in high school. Glad it’s over. Besides, everyone just calls me Hiccup.”
Well that was unexpected. And yet fit the kid. As if sensing the question before it was asked, Heaven--now Hiccup--rolled his eyes but smiled at Jack. “‘Cause I’m the runt. The runts are called hiccups on my home island.”
“You’re not that small,” Jack said. He was lying, of course, the kid was small; smaller than average, anyway. Then again, most people seemed small to Jack due to his height, save for his dad who stood at a whopping seven feet and his good friend, Aster, who was just shy of Jack’s father.
Hiccup sensed the lie and rolled his eyes, though a smile tugged at his face. “Right. So, I’ve revealed my deepest darkest secrets. What about you, Mr. Suave?”
Jack laughed and ran a hand through his white hair, releasing his own safety handle. “Jack. Jack Frost.”
“You liar,” Hiccup laughed (giggled, actually, and no one could tell Jack he didn’t.)
“No, it’s true! Name’s Jack Frost!”
“Seems like we both got it bad,” Hiccup said, covering his mouth as he laughed. Jack liked the sound of it.
“You bet. Before I was adopted, it was Overland. At least with Jack Overland, people had to work harder for jokes.” They both laugh and suddenly it feels like they’re the only ones in the train car. “Didn’t help when I started dying my hair,” he said, roughing it up between his fingers.
Hiccup smiled and opened his mouth to say something, but was cut off when the intercom announced the coming stop at station nearest the university. Hiccup let out a breath and looked up at Jack with a nod. “Well, that’s my stop. You get off two from here, right?”
Jack felt all of his smooth talking suddenly falter and flounder. How could this kid possibly know that? The train came to a stop and passengers began gathering their things and flocking to the exit doors. Hiccup released Jack’s arm (and instantly Jack missed the warmth) and adjusted the bag strap on his shoulder. “I frequent the cafe you work at. Your pictures are all over. And I know you have afternoon classes at my university; I see you around campus sometimes.” Jack blushed heavily and Hiccup chuckled at him, turning to exit the train after everyone else had gone. Jack quickly gathered his own backpack and followed.
Hiccup waited for him on the train platform and seemed to be searching in his bag for something. Jack trotted to him just as he found what he was looking for. He grabbed Jack’s hand and pushed his sleeve up. His ballpoint pen felt nice against Jack’s skin and before he knew it, Hiccup’s handwriting was sprawled across his arm. Hiccup put his pen back into the pocket he probably didn’t find it in and slid his glasses back up as they tried to make a run for it. He smiled and pulled his book from earlier back out. “Better get back in there, or you’re walking the rest of the way,” he said as he turned and left.
Jack’s eyebrows furrowed. Walk the rest of...oh! Jack jumped then all but sprinted back into the train car, just missing the closing doors and beep from the intercom indicating the train leaving the station. His sprint turned to a trot as he grabbed the nearest pole, turned a couple times around it and panting. He hadn’t even realized he’d followed Hiccup right out of the train car. Walking to work would have sucked in the dead of winter. Heartbeat returning to a normal speed and breath evening out, Jack finally rolled his sleeve up to see what Hiccup had written.
you should try not to stare at people if you wanna go unnoticed. i accept coffee as apology
Then a number just below it.
Jack stared at the message and read it a few times before his face broke into a smile and he laughed out loud. He pulled out his phone from his back pocket. The boy almost broke his fingers trying to send the message.
if i must ;)