Something Wild

Chapter 11

Jack's POV

Before long, we had arrived in San Francisco. It was late at night, and we pulled into the dock, spying the three other boats there too. Damn, we were late. There wasn't any signs of the rest of them being near, which wasn't good. I alerted this to Hiccup, who was busy dragging the ship's captain up the stairs and placing him in his seat. Hiccup sighed as he stabbed the man with the antidote, his eyes beginning to stir. We dashed out of the boat, Hiccup grabbing his backpack as we left. We rested our backs against a wall, panting from running.

"So, what do you suggest we do now? We've lost the rest of them." I said, sighing in annoyance.

"Hey, don't worry. We'll find them. In the meantime, we have to stay somewhere," Hiccup responded.

"Yeah, you're right," I replied, mustering a smile. "Let's go find a place to stay."

Hiccup's POV

As we wandered the streets of San Francisco, I noticed something about Jack. He was scared. Every time we walked by someone, he would squeeze my hand a little tighter, to the point where he actually hung onto my arm. I put my arm around him and tried to comfort him.

"Hey, don't worry. It'll all be okay," I reassured. "Don't worry." He nodded, not saying anything. His heart was racing, his eyes wide, flinching at every sound, every movement. Eventually, I couldn't take it anymore. I pulled him aside and sat him down on a fountain, looking into his fearful blue eyes.

"What's wrong?" I asked him. He looked down at the ground, breathing out and in with skipping breath.

"Hiccup, I grew up in a big city. It wasn't quite like this, but it was always dark and cloudy out even in the daytime. When I walked down the street I couldn't see anything, and at first that was okay. But I didn't know what was coming... walking home from school one day I got mugged. They took everything. I couldn't do anything about it. I was so weak, unable to fight back at all. I didn't tell my mom because I didn't want her to worry, so I made up an excuse. It happened again, and I made up another excuse. And it kept happening. And eventually I figured it out. It was my glasses. Every single one of the guys who did it made cruel comments about my glasses and broke them, laughing hysterically. It made my mom pretty angry that I was always breaking my glasses, or so I told her. But one day we were walking together and they tried to mug me again, and she beat them up. My mom is trained in martial arts. I told her everything, and I begged her to let me get contacts. She said yes, and I haven't worn glasses since. I'm too scared to wear them, even though they really help my eyesight." Tears welled up in his eyes, rolling down his cheeks silently.

"At school I got bullied for them too. It got even worse when I came out. The contacts helped, but I still got bullied. I was so happy when I got to college, I had a clean slate. But then my friends found out I was gay, and the bullying started again. It's been horrible." He could barely say that last sentence, his voice interrupted by tears and quieted by sadness. I looked at the tears dripping off of his face, and his sea blown hair, and I started to cry a little too.

"You're the only one who accepted me... you cared about me... no one else ever did..." He tried to collect himself, tears still in his eyes. He reached into his back pocket, and pulled out a pair of glasses with amber rims.

"I still keep them with me. I don't even know why. I just can't let my past go, I guess." A tear fell from his cheek and landed on one of the lenses, reflecting the city lights onto his face. I took the glasses from his fingers, and wiped the lenses with my shirt, and put them gingerly on his face, tucking them behind his ears. He looked up at me, his eyes magnified magnificently by his glasses. They framed his face perfectly, as if they were meant to be there.

"I don't know Jack, but I think you look beautiful."

Jack's POV

"You... you really think so?" I said, adjusting them.

"Of course. They look great."

"Thank you." I replied, looking down and to the side. "But they don't." He put his hand on my chin and lifted my head up so I was looking at him. Through my lenses he was even more radiant then before, his face a perfect spectacle of masculine beauty.

"You are such a liar."

Hiccup's POV

I kissed him, and put my passion into it, but I felt his distance, a coldness on his lips I hadn't felt before. It worries me slightly, but I decided not to ask.

"Okay, I'll stop being so hard on myself," Jack said, smiling with melancholy in the cracks of his lips.

"That's more like it," I smiled, taking his hand as we got up. "Let's go find somewhere to stay.

Jack's POV

Before long we had found a hotel at the west end of the city. It wasn't perfect, but it was okay, at least for the time being. We went up the stairs into our room, and found that the room contained one queen sized bed, a lamp in the center of the room(?), a window directly facing a brick wall, and no air conditioning. I sighed and sat down on the bed, looking at the ceiling. Hiccup laid down next to me and I put my head on his chest, feeling the steady beat of his fearless heart.

"It could be worse, right? We could still be back at the correctional facility." I laughed sleepily and smiled up at him.

"Yeah, I guess," I said, taking off my glasses.

"Here, put these on the dresser," I said to him, handing him the glasses. He put them down on the tiny table next to the bed, a small click made when the rims hit the wood.

"Are your tired?" He asked. I nodded, my eyelids getting heavier, almost as if they had weights on them. He put a hand on my back and kissed my forehead as I dosed off, my dreams swaying to the tides of his chest and ticking to the time of his heartbeat.