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“You know you could just ask him out,” Astrid says, sharpening her axe on a whetstone. Hiccup sighs and lowers his hammer. He’s flattening steel for a commissioned blade, but pauses to look at her dourly.
“I can’t, actually.”
“You mean you won’t,” she says, flatly. “I mean, you asked me out.”
“You asked me out. And that was a long time ago.”
She looks up consideringly. “You’re right, I did ask you out. Fair enough, you don’t actually have any experience with this. But it isn’t that hard, what’s really holding you back?”
Hiccup leaves his work behind and falls into a seat near Astrid, resting his forearms on the table. Summer in Berk doesn’t get egregiously hot, but the heat from the forge has sweat collecting on his forehead even from the other side of the room. Summer in Berk also brings other things, like a family of traders— a mother with her teenage son and young daughter, carting in wares to the docks and stories from the boy’s ever smiling mouth. Jack, who arrives by ship after the ice has thawed, entertaining the children with games and legends from other lands, who always waves to Hiccup when he passes the forge every day of the summer.
Hiccup’s heart skips a beat every time he does.
Astrid waves her hand in front of Hiccup’s face.
“You’re hopeless. I know you’re thinking about him,” she groans. “Can you put us all out of our misery and get it over with? It’s been five summers already.”
His head falls onto his arms heavily as he says “I can’t,” into the table. He looks up at Astrid through his hair, and she doesn’t look impressed. “Look, he’s only here three months out of the year, sometimes two if winter hits early. On top of that, if he even knows I exist, he’s gonna forget all about me when he leaves.” He turns his head back into his arms as he asks, “Why try?”
Her hand comes down to slap the back of his head, and he looks back up with a yelp, rubbing his hair into sticking up.
“You could really stand to let some praise go to your head,” Astrid says pityingly. “All that ‘Pride of Berk’ stuff really flies over you, huh?”
She’s right, in a sense, but only because sometimes it feels so… hollow. He’s happy to be seen now, he’s happy that his accomplishments mean something, and he’s happy that life on Berk has become so much better, not just for him, but for everyone.
He just wishes it hadn’t taken so much pain to get to a point where he’s no longer the laughingstock of the island. And he wishes he could stop feeling like at some point, it’s all going to be taken away— one wrong move is going to send him right back to where he started. Looking at Astrid, who once was so far away and is now so important to him, he can feel that fear inside his chest. Why open himself up to another thing to lose?
Like she can read his mind, her face softens and she reaches back over, this time to smooth his hair back down into something slightly more orderly.
“Why don’t you just try talking to him first, huh?” She lifts her axe up and sets it on the table near him, like it weighs nothing at all. “I bet it’ll all work out. And if it doesn’t,” she pats the handle, “I use this girl.”
“To put me out of my misery?” he asks.
“No, to make him regret ever coming to Berk.”
Hiccup rolls his eyes, but smiles anyway. “And you call me overdramatic.”
She smiles back and gives his shoulder a nudge, says, “Just go find him already.”
—
Finding Jackson Overland in Berk is never particularly difficult— all you need to do is follow the sound of laughter.
“You're never going to tell me how you do it,” Emma Overland says to her brother, and though her voice is exasperated she’s smiling all the same. Several other children stand with Emma, the friends she made her first summer in Berk that she sees again every year. Jack rolls a coin over his fingers with carefully practiced dexterity, smiling back at his sister, wide and innocent.
“I don’t know what you mean, I’ve already told you it’s magic,” he says, holding the coin up between finger and thumb. He flips it upwards, catches it, and with a showy wave of his hands, presents his empty palms. He grins as the children gasp, while Emma merely crosses her arms.
Jack walks over to her, leaning down and moving his hand up as if to brush her hair behind her ear. He flicks his wrist just so, seemingly pulling the coin from between the strands.
“Now how did that get there?” he asks as the children laugh. “You know you have a purse for a reason, Emma.”
“I don’t know, I think I’m with her,” Hiccup says, “I’d like to know too.”
Jack must not have noticed him watching because he jerks his head up, surprised, and fumbles the coin in his hands until it falls to the ground. There’s more laughter from the children, but this time Jack’s face is pink and embarrassment has him looking away from them. Instead, he looks around to his left and right, and then behind himself, as if Hiccup could be talking to anyone else. He straightens up, then turns to Hiccup.
“One of the most important rules of magic, I was taught, is to never reveal your secrets,” Jack says, winking at the kids. Emma looks between Jack and Hiccup, a sort of smile on her face that Hiccup can’t parse the meaning of.
“Then I guess you’ll just have your secrets to keep you company,” Emma says, turning away. “Let’s go play hide and seek!” she continues to the rest of her friends.
“Aw, without me?” Jack asks, a hand to his chest in mock pain. Emma grins.
“No one can ever find you, you’ll still be hiding by sundown!” she’s already started walking away, clearly the leader of her little group. “Maybe Hiccup can get a secret out of you.”
“Emma!” Jack hisses, but she’s long gone, peals of laughter in her wake. He groans and puts his coin away into a pocket on his belt, looking at Hiccup from the corner of his eye.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to derail your show,” Hiccup says, rubbing the back of his neck. Jack shakes his head.
“Don’t be. I love the kids, but she should get some time with just her friends,” he says. “Did you need something? You’re usually at the forge around this time.”
“I am, yeah. I didn’t know you knew that,” Hiccup says, and Jack’s face turns a curious red.
“I just, uh, see you. At the forge, that is.”
I see you too, he thinks. His crooked smile, the soft one that makes his whole face look younger. When he was 13, the first summer Jack came to Berk, he was peering out of the forge window to see him coming up the hill with his sister, scrapes on his knees and the wind brushing through his hair. Gobber’s yell directing Hiccup back to work had caught both of their attention, and Jack’s eyes met his. He was so embarrassed to be caught looking he wanted to hide away, but to this day he’s glad he didn’t— because Jack waved at him for the first time, the sun on his face with that same crooked smile.
“Yeah,” he says, shaking himself out of his own thoughts. “I was, but I sort of got kicked out. Too nice of a day to be working, right?”
“It is, isn’t it,” Jack says thoughtfully, looking up at the sky. It’s cloudless and blue, and there’s just enough of a breeze to ruffle the light cloak around Jack’s shoulders. Hiccup pauses.
“Have you ever flown on a dragon?”
Jack looks at him, surprised.
“No, I can’t say I have. Don’t really know anyone who would take me.”
Hiccup thinks that something about that doesn’t sound right. Who wouldn’t want to show Jack the skies?
“It’s been a few years now since we started taming dragons, none of your friends took you for a flight?”
“I don’t really have friends here,” Jack says, scratching his cheek and looking away. “At least none that are older than 10.”
“Why don’t you fly with me and Toothless?” he asks before he can even think about what he’s saying. Jack’s eyes widen and he looks around again, like he’s sure Hiccup is talking to someone else. When he looks back and Hiccup hasn’t spontaneously taken off, he gives a slow grin, rocking back on his heels.
“If this is a bribe to get me to show you my magic secrets, it’s a pretty good one,” he says. Hiccup laughs, looking at his feet.
“No, I think it would be more satisfying to figure it out on my own, right?” he says, looking back up at Jack. He doesn’t have that grin anymore, but there’s a softness around his eyes that’s a little less joking. There’s always a surety in Jack’s movements, like every step he takes is part of a dance he’s done many times before, but from his first drop of a coin Jack has seemed just slightly off kilter. Instead, he’s gotten a Jack with warmth in his eyes, something directed at Hiccup.
He thinks he’s happy to take that over a surefooted Jack any day.
“Yeah, I think I’ll take you up on a flight,” Jack says. Hiccup smiles.
—
“Please do not screw this up for me,” Hiccup says, holding Toothless’ face in his hands. “I am begging you not to screw this up for me.”
Toothless shakes Hiccup’s hands off and gives him a flat look, as if to say You can do that easily enough on your own.
“I will give you so many fish. More fish than you could possibly want. I will give you belly rubs every night, even where it’s hard to reach.”
“Wow, is he always that spoiled?”
Hiccup jerks his head to Jack, now standing behind him. Toothless nudges Hiccup in what might be an attempt to push him towards Jack, but could equally be an attempt to knock him over. Hiccup glares back at him.
“Not… usually. Uh, Jack, this is Toothless. Toothless, this is Jack,” under his breath adding, “your best behaviour.” Toothless walks past Hiccup towards Jack, and, true to his name, gives a toothless grin.
Jack smiles, not looking nervous in the least. Having been to a ‘post dragon taming’ Berk for the past three summers, he must be more comfortable with dragons than less frequent visitors of Berk. He moves his hand forwards but doesn’t close the distance, instead letting Toothless push his nose into Jack’s hand.
“You’re good with him. I did that one of the first times we met.”
“Oh, I picked that up from petting dogs, if you can believe it,” Jack says, rubbing his hand over Toothless’ nose. “I think dragons are far more deserving of the man’s best friend title, right?”
Hiccup laughs, “Yeah, the loyalty almost makes up for the property damage.” Toothless’ tail whacks him in the leg, clearly intentional, but given that it’s the prosthetic, Hiccup just glares at his back. “We should get in the air though, right?”
“Right,” Jack says, reluctantly drawing his hand back from scratching behind Toothless’ ear. Hiccup pulls himself onto his saddle with practiced ease, hitching his leg into place, and holds out his hand for Jack. Jack looks at it almost hesitantly.
“I guess it’s a bit late to ask, but you aren’t scared of heights, are you?” Hiccup asks, hand still outstretched. Jack looks at him, seeming to notice his pause for the first time, and clasps his hand around Hiccup’s, pulling himself forward before wrapping his arms around Hiccup’s waist.
“Nah, I don’t scare easily,” Jack says. He’s glad to have Jack at his back, revelling in the closeness but dearly appreciating that Jack can’t see his face growing redder. He clears his throat before giving Toothless a nudge.
“Come on bud, nice and easy.”
Toothless clearly heard what Jack said and took it to heart, because he does not listen to Hiccup. Jack gives a startled yelp as they move from ground to air at the highest speed possible. Rising up faster and faster, Hiccup attempts to pull on the reins, but Toothless ignores him, having the time of his life as he divebombs, circling all the while.
Jack’s yell quickly transforms into peals of laughter that Hiccup feels against his back, and he looks over his shoulder to see Jack’s face set in a smile like the sun coming up, dawn breaking the horizon. He grins back, looking forward once again.
“Alright, alright, you can show off,” he relents, and they cut close to the water with a spray from under Toothless’ wings. Jack’s hold around his waist gets tighter the lower they get and Hiccup feels his forehead press against the back of his neck, so he directs them back upwards to weave through the clouds.
Jack looks up again, hooking his chin on Hiccup’s shoulder as they soar more calmly through the sky. He can feel the hitch of Jack’s breath as if it were from his own rib cage.
“You really did all of this, huh?” Jack asks. Hiccup’s brows furrow.
“What do you mean?”
Jack laughs softly, barely a breath, and his voice is quiet as he says, “Every summer I would see you at the forge or around Berk, and I always thought you were…”
“Getting in the way?” he asks. He feels Jack shake his head.
“No, I thought you were amazing. Even when everyone was telling you what to do or talking down to you, you always did your own thing. And you worked so hard,” he continues, somehow, when this alone has Hiccup finding it hard to breathe. “Every time I saw you at work, you had this concentration on your face that I’ve never seen on anyone else. I always thought, if someone here is really going to do something— something incredible, it’s going to be that guy. And you did.
“I came back one summer and everything had changed. There were dragons everywhere! And no one was killing them! And you were the one who did that,” Jack draws back, enough that Hiccup can look over his shoulder and see his face, the setting sun making his eyes light up amber. He feels like he can’t catch his breath.
“You thought all of that?” he asks, not even sure Jack will hear it over the sky. Jack reaches up and brushes his bangs, obscuring his eyes.
“Sorry, that was really weird, I know we haven’t talked that much,” he says, “I wasn’t really sure why you spoke to me today. You’re, you know, you, and I’m me, and now we’re on this really nice flight and I keep talking—” he runs his hand over his face. “I’m gonna stop talking.”
“No!” Hiccup says, turning to face Jack better, one hand still holding the reins but the other coming to rest on the hand Jack still has placed around him. “Please keep talking. About anything. I’ve— I’ve wanted to talk to you for a really long time.”
“Why didn’t you?” Jack asks.
“Well, because you’re you, and I’m me,” Hiccup replies, “but I think that means something different to both of us.”
Jack grins, ducking his head to rest it against Hiccup’s shoulder. “Man, how stupid is that. We could have been talking for who knows how long.”
“Yeah,” Hiccup agrees with a laugh, “I guess it is pretty stupid.” Toothless looks back at them as if also in agreement.
“Hey,” Jack starts, quietly, “do you want to hear one of my secrets?”
“If it’s the coin one, I think I might have figured it out. Do you—“
“I’ve liked you for a really long time.”
“Oh,” Hiccup says. He can’t find more words, he feels like his heart has taken all of them and hidden them out of his reach. Jack pulls his hands away.
“Sorry, I shouldn’t have dumped that on you when we’re, uh, who knows how high in the air and you can’t escape,” he says. “You can drop me back off on Berk and I’ll just not leave the ship for three months.”
“No, I mean— I’ve wanted to tell you all day that I really like you too,” Hiccup says, looking at Jack, who seemed determined not to be seen, but now looks up.
“Really?” he asks.
“No one on Berk laughs as much as they do when you’re here,” Hiccup says, “I always wondered, how does he do that? Sometimes it felt like everyone on Berk was determined to be unhappy all the time, but whenever you were around, things just got… lighter.
“The hard stuff didn’t matter as much. For a while I thought maybe I was jealous of you, but it was more like… I was jealous of everyone else. I guess I wanted you all for myself,” Hiccup ducks his head down, his smile self deprecating. “Stupid and selfish of me. But every time you and your family came to Berk was my favourite part of the year,” he says, looking back up to see awe on Jack’s face.
“You really— wow,” Jack says. “No one has ever said anything like that about me before. I just cause trouble, or make a mess of things, or—“
“Are in the way?” Hiccup asks.
“… Yeah,” Jacks says softly. The feeling is unspoken but they can see it in the other’s face, that understanding. Hiccup reaches out to take Jack’s hands, placing them back around his waist, squeezing them lightly before taking the reins again. Jack leans forward, resting his head against Hiccup’s back.
“Toothless, let’s head home.”
—
When they touch down to the cliffside, the sun is so low stars have started to come out, pinholes of light through dusk. Hiccup unlatches himself from Toothless, helping Jack down from the saddle.
“I’m not gonna wake up tomorrow and none of this will have ever happened, right?” Jack asks. They haven’t started the walk back yet, instead standing in front of each other, neither wanting to be the first to go. Hiccup smiles down at him.
“It wouldn’t be a bad dream, at least,” he says. “Just in case, though, do you want to go on another flight tomorrow?”
Jack grins. “I don’t know, I think Toothless should get a say.”
Toothless lets out a chirp and ducks his head under Jack’s arm, nuzzling his side. Jack laughs, rubbing his hands down the sides of Toothless’ face.
“Sounds like a yes from him,” Hiccup says. “So, it’s a date?”
Jack looks at him as he scratches Toothless’ chin. “I don’t know, was this a date?”
“I mean, if you want it to be,” Hiccup says, scratching the back of his head, “I’d like it to be if that’s—”
“If it was a date, could I kiss you?” Jack asks. Hiccup pauses.
“It was definitely a date,” Hiccup answers immediately. Jack steps forward, reaching his hands up to Hiccup’s face. He stops there, and Hiccup’s hands rest on Jack’s waist. Not expectant, just comforting.
Jack smiles and leans up to close the distance.
It’s just a gentle brush at first, but it becomes a kiss like Hiccup can’t remember having. It’s warm and familiar, but at the same time it’s the cool rush of falling through the sky, knowing he won’t hit the ground. He smiles into the kiss and feels Jack do the same until they’re both pulling away. It feels like coming home.
“Jack! Mom wants you home for dinner!”
They can’t see Emma through the trees and her voice is distant, but Jack still jumps, nearly falling over.
“Oh gods, she’s going to be so smug,” he says, righting himself.
“Why is that?” Hiccup asks, taking Jack’s hand as they start the walk back to Berk.
“She knew how I felt before I did,” Jack mumbles, swinging their hands together. Hiccup grins.
“If it helps, the other riders will be happy to know that they don’t need to deal with me pining anymore,” he says, but frowns. “Well, I guess they will when you have to go.”
Jack stops their walk, pulling Hiccup’s arm. He looks down at their joined hands, thinking.
“Let’s make it through the summer. Right?”
Hiccup nods, running his thumb over Jack’s hand.
“Right.”
—
“Your mom wants you to help Emma pack, right?”
Jack nods, picking at and smoothing out the blanket on Hiccup’s bed. Hiccup stands from his seat at his desk and walks over, sitting beside Jack and resting his hand on top of Jack’s restless one, stilling his nervous movements.
They’ve had their whole summer, but even if they had another year of dragon rides to new islands, Hiccup’s attempts to win over Emma while the dragon riders warm to Jack, or listening to Jack’s stories as Hiccup gives his own— even the ones they find painful to share— it wouldn’t be enough. Jack turns his hand over, threading their fingers together.
“You leave tomorrow,” Hiccup says with a disbelieving laugh. “That just doesn’t feel real. I mean, you just got here, and then almost a year until…”
“… I come back,” Jack finishes. He turns his head, looking at Hiccup. “Okay, there’s something I have to ask, and you’re free to say no. I mean, don’t feel like you have to say yes.”
“I can’t give you any answer if you don’t ask a question,” Hiccup says, squeezing Jack’s hand.
“Right. I, uh, asked my mom if… I could stay,” Jack says. “I’m basically an adult, and I like Berk. We’ve been to a lot of places, but I’ve never felt like I belonged somewhere. I don’t feel like I’m tied down, and there are people here who want me around.” He takes a breath, “There’s you. I’m really, really glad there’s you.”
Hiccup feels very aware of his heart, how fast it’s beating in his chest.
“What’s the question, Jack?”
“Well, my mom said yes, but only if I can find a place to stay,” Jack says, “so I thought I would ask you. If it’s an imposition, I’ll find somewhere else— a tree, even. But, could I stay here? Wherever you are, really.”
Hiccup leans forward, pulling Jack into his arms, who quickly leans his head into Hiccup’s neck, his hair brushing his jaw.
“Of course you can stay,” he says. He can feel Jack's smile.
“Good, because I’ve always wanted to see Berk in winter.”
Hiccup pulls back, holding Jack’s shoulders.
“You’re crazy. We have two winters, and one of them is called devastating for a reason.”
Jack just smiles, reaching up to run a hand through Hiccup’s hair.
“Yeah, yeah, but you’ve never had a winter with me. It’ll be great!” he says, and somehow, because it’s Jack saying it, he can believe it.
And now, they have time.