Biology

Chapter 28

It had taken a while before either Jack or Hiccup had been willing to let go of each other. After North had disappeared into his office, they had ended up cuddled up on the couch together, just holding onto one another for the longest time. Not much had been said, aside from a few murmured apologies and 'I love you's—there wasn't really anything else to say.

Eventually, Jack had reluctantly decided he needed to go and at least get dressed. Hiccup had just as reluctantly agreed, and after a few more minutes of procrastinating over it and a handful of little kisses, Jack finally disentangled himself and disappeared upstairs to put some real clothing on.

When he came back down, wearing a pair of old blue jeans and baggy hoodie that he never would have worn outside of the house, Hiccup took a moment to consider that the fact if Jack was comfortable enough to dress that way when he was around, it probably said a lot about their relationship in general.

Jack approached him almost shyly, the sweater sleeves mostly hiding his hands, and he fiddled with them a little, even as Hiccup just reached to pull him close again, down until Jack was seated comfortably, this time in the other boy's lap. Jack flushed a little, but didn't protest, instead just settling quietly.

He vaguely hoped his father didn't chose that exact moment to come back into the room.

"I wonder if you're still grounded."

Jack shrugged slightly and tucked his head into the warm nook between Hiccup's neck and his shoulder, his breath fanning softly across the brunet's skin. "I have no idea... why?"

"Well... while you were upstairs I was thinking." Hiccup's reply was just as quiet, murmured intimately. "Maybe... if you wanted... and if your Dad would let you go..." Tipping his head a little, green eyes peered sideways at the other boy, faint embarrassment glinting in them: "...the Winter Formal is tomorrow night, so..."

Blinking, Jack lifted his head, looking up at Hiccup in surprise. "The—the dance? Really?"

"Don't look at me like that, Jack, this is already fucking embarrassing enough as it is." Hiccup glanced away quickly. "It was just a thought, okay?"

"N-no, I—" Jack bit his lip, shaking his head quickly. It was relatively clear that Hiccup was interested in going to the formal with him—but he would never admit as much. So Jack just smiled, even though the idea of going to the dance gave him the same uncomfortable, anxious feeling in his stomach that the club or the party had before. "It... it could be fun, right? I'd—I'd love to go. If Dad is okay with it, I mean..."

Hiccup gave an awkward little shrug. "Yeah, I guess it could be okay... I just thought, you know, the others would be there and that kind of shit." Then a little hesitation and he looked back at Jack. "Plus... we haven't even gone out on a second date yet."

"We went to the party...?"

"Well, yeah, but that was kind of a group thing. And we barely even spent any time together there. Mavis kidnapped you to talk all night then I had to save you from that shithead who was hitting on you."

Jack pursed his lips at that. "I told you already, it wasn't like that."

"Jack, you were drunk. You don't know what it was like."

The white-haired boy had to give him that one. He sighed and returned his head to Hiccup's shoulder, one hand coming up to toy with the front of the other teen's shirt absently. "So basically," he said after a moment, "you're asking me out on another date."

Hiccup rolled his eyes, but eventually conceded: "yeah, I guess."

"Why the formal?"

"I dunno, I just... thought you'd like it."