Biology

Chapter 2

Hiccup Haddock was attractive, and that was a problem.

Or, at least, it was once Jack realized that the other boy was in four of his classes. He had never really paid attention before, but after he had crashed into Hiccup in the hallway he had started to notice—the brunet was hard to miss, after all. Unlike Jack, who managed to blend into the background pretty much all the time, Hiccup seemed to pride himself on being different, unique and sticking out like a sore thumb.

A little bit of tentative asking around had garnered him some information: Hiccup was the captain of the rugby team and apparently quite the badass. His fashion sense leaned heavily toward the punk side of things, which might have seemed contradictory to him being an athlete, but somehow it seemed to work for him. (Jack particularly liked the black jeans. They were just tight enough in all the right places. The eyeliner was a bit much, though.)

But all of this was only a problem because for some reason, he couldn't get the other boy off his mind. Certainly it wasn't the first time he had found someone physically appealing, but he usually managed to move on after a short time, his mind and attention shifting to other things. Nothing ever came of his little crushes anyway.

A month after their first and only meeting, though, Jack still found his thoughts wandering back to Hiccup and the positively puzzling interaction that had gone on between them. It certainly didn't help that he had caught Hiccup looking at him once or twice in the interim, either, which made absolutely no sensebecause no one had ever so much as glanced in his direction before.

"Yo, Frostbite."

Jack was sitting in the corner of the lunch room, sandwich untouched in front of him. He always sat alone—even after a month of attending Berk High he still had no real friends—but he filled the silence and solitude with reading, in this case a ratty, dog-eared sci-fi novel that he had picked up the week before from the used book store downtown.

He was very much engrossed in the story, so he didn't hear the approaching footsteps or the voice that called to him. He did, however, notice when a hand braced against the side of his head and pushed lightly.

"Huh?"

Surprised, he looked up quickly, even as Hiccup was spinning the chair beside his around and dropping down to sit on it in a backward straddle. Jack nearly dropped his book in surprise. Hiccup just regarded him with an unreadable expression, crossing his arms over the back of the chair.

"You always sit by yourself." It was a statement, not a question.

Jack shifted in his seat, then swallowed. "Yeah, I, uh," he began, and then finished lamely with; "yeah." Adjusting his grip on the novel, he reached to push his glasses up nervously. "Can I... I mean... do you need... something?"

Hiccup didn't reply right away. Instead he continued to study Jack silently, eyes flitting across the other boy's features—a shock of surprising white hair and crystal blue eyes, complimented by smooth, pale skin—before sliding lower. Finally his mouth twisted into a faint smirk. Jack had to try very hard not to squirm under the scrutiny.

"We have some classes together."

"Uh, yeah. I know."

Bright emerald eyes flitted across Jack's face again, taking in the anxious look, then moved down to where the other boy was fiddling awkwardly with the paperback in his hands, gripping it tightly. He almost felt bad for the guy. Almost.

"So I have practice after school today."

"I—what?" Confused, Jack's brows drew together. The movement scrunched his nose a little, making his glasses slip, and he absentmindedly fixed them again. "I mean... you play rugby or something... right?"

Hiccup's smirk widened a bit, tilting into a half-hazard grin. One dark eyebrow quirked in amusement. "You been askin' about me, Four-Eyes?"

"No!" Caught red-handed, Jack flushed, blood rushing to his cheeks, and shook his head vehemently. "O-of course not!" The protests were useless, he knew, but he felt the need to make them anyway: "e-everyone knows about you!"

"Mmm... and what do they know, huh?" The punk asked, voice low and teasing now. He leaned in close to listen for the response. "Tell me."

Jack, for his part, squeaked and leaned away—and Hiccup found that hilarious. He started snickering and reached a hand up to ruffle Jack's straight-as-sin hair, watching with amusement when the other boy flailed at him. By the time he withdrew his arm, the white strands were sticking up in every possible direction. Jack smoothed at them frantically, trying to get some sort of normalcy going again, but in general he failed spectacularly. When he eventually gave up, his cow-licks still had cow-licks.

Hiccup smirked again, pleased with himself. "Like I was saying," he continued, amused by how flustered Jack continued to be. "I have practice. And you're meeting me after."

"Wait—what? No I'm not—"

"Yes you are." Hiccup insisted, eyes narrowing. His tone darkened slightly, just enough to be forceful. "Five o'clock at the field. We're going back to my place. I need help with my biology and you're gonna tutor me."

Confused, Jack watched him stand. "B-but I suck at biology!"

Yet another smirk down at him and Hiccup licked his lips, the motion very reminiscent of their first meeting. "Nah, Frosty," he practically purred, making Jack squirm in his chair; "trust me, you'll do just fine".