Biology

Chapter 10

A week after their first official date, Hiccup came over to Jack's house during daylight hours for the first time. Of course, North was out at the time, so whether it actually counted or not was debatable.

Settled comfortably in Jack's room with snacks and drinks (and the door closed in case his father did happen to come home unexpectedly), they played video games for a while until Hiccup got frustrated with the first-person shooter system and next thing to live-action rage quit. Jack had been quite pleased to have actually won something over the other teen, as he figured it would likely never happen again.

Next they talked about books, a topic that Hiccup actually knew a surprising amount about, comparing genres and authors and tossing recommendations back and forth until they were both trying to remember so many that the titles and authors were beginning to get mixed up. Neither of them bothered to write a single one down in the end.

When that conversation wound down, they then decided to watch a movie and snuck downstairs to go through the DVD shelves before deciding on some old sci-fi flick that neither of them had seen before. Once they were back in Jack's space, they turned the movie on and settled down together on the bed, since it was the only cushy piece of furniture in the room, littered with the half-dozen pillows that Jack always insisted on sleeping with.

A bag of chips was passed back and forth and jokes were cracked about the cheesy writing and bad acting for a while until they eventually lapsed into comfortable silence. Half an hour later Jack shuffled around quietly until he was leaning into Hiccup's side, and the other teen just adjusted to accommodate him and slung an arm around his shoulders absently.

Another fifteen minutes or so and then Hiccup glanced down a little. The arm around Jack shifted, his hand lifting and fingers brushing along white hair, just stroking through the strands gently. "Jack."

"Mm?"

"How come you don't tell your Dad that you're gay?"

There was brief pause. Jack's eyes didn't move from the television screen. "I dunno... I guess I'm just not ready to be out yet."

"You don't think he'd react badly or anything?"

"No. I don't think so. I'm sure he'd be fine with it if I told him. He supports me with anything. Has ever since I was a kid."

"What about your Mom?"

"I don't have a Mom. Never did. Dad adopted me when I was like a year and a half old."

"You're adopted?"

A smile quirked Jack's lips upward, but he still didn't look up. "Yeah."

"Huh. Does it bother you?"

"Of course not. I've known I was adopted all along and Dad loves me just like if I was really his. Or so all the bone-crushing hugs would indicate."

"You're lucky, then."

"Yeah, pretty much." Finally Jack's eyes flittered upward, taking in the faint frown that was gracing Hiccup's face. "I take it your Dad's not as accommodating?"

"I'm a huge goddamn disappointment as far as he's concerned." Hiccup's frown deepened and the fingers still trailing through Jack's hair paused for a few seconds before picking up the gentle strokes again, the motion absentminded. "Which is pretty much why I haven't come out yet, either. Just another thing for him to rant and rave at me about."

"That... that really sucks."

"Shit, no, don't get me wrong," Hiccup shook his head at the faintly worried tone to Jack's voice. "I'm not saying he doesn't care or love me, yanno? I actually think he might care too much sometimes. But he's no good at the whole talking thing, and you know how I'm like with that, so... in the end he just kinda ignores me unless I've done something wrong again. Like I'm invisible. But I'm used to it."