pookabox | i like your messy hair, i like the clothes you wear

i like your messy hair, i like the clothes you wear

[ A week passes with two spirits and one human as residents of the enormous Workshop, dining with North whenever he appears out of his office but generally doing their own thing in the meantime. Jack flies off now and again to spread snow and wintry cheer, tactfully letting Dave and Hiccup some time to get to know each other now that both of them are rubbing along better than could have been hoped. He hasn't seen much of either of them separately, so Hiccup wandering the Workshop corridors far below Jack (where he sits atop the Globe playing with a puzzlebox) in the new clothes the winter spirit procured for him from a high street store a couple of days ago, is definitely a head-turner.

Oh no, he's hot. Hotter.

Hiccup looks not entirely unlike the way he does in his flight-suit, only ... casual, cut and shaped into modern-day clothing in a way that has Jack staring (fitted brown leather jacket, bottle-green leather pants with laces up the sides so they can be adjusted to those skinny legs), puzzlebox dropped forgotten atop the North Pole as he sweeps down to land in front of him. He drapes his staff over a shoulder as he hops onto the carpet, a hand stuffing inside his hoodie pocket as he ducks his head with a greeting smile. ]

So where've you been all morning, lazybones? It's almost noon.

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[It's been a few months for Hiccup since he was last here, he thinks as he dismounts Toothless at the mouth of a familiar cave, looking down into the deep dark pits. There's no echo of roars or rumbling snores anymore, not since the herd moved on, silent as a grave. Toothless nudges him with a small whine, ear plates pulling back against his head before Hiccup raises his head to rub the Night Fury reassuringly along his snout.

The one he should really be comforting is Jack.

Hiccup turns to look at his husband, watching for any signs that he's uncomfortable as he reaches out to take Jack's hand, sliding his fingers through his and squeezing them, rubbing his thumb gently over his palm. It was only a couple of months ago for him but it was a few hundred years for Jack, the dream memories coming up unbidden before he shoved them down. He attempted to give his mate a smile, though it came out small.]

We don't have to do this if you don't want to.

[ Jack is flightier than usual, only touching down because Hiccup does. He lets him hold his hand and gives a squeeze back, but when he steps forward it's with no attempt to hold onto him. The sight before them of the entrance, now broken where he barricaded it, is enough to have his feet moving on his own. ]

I'm okay.

[ He lets the breeze lift him up, carrying him inside with a reluctance to touch much of anything. In that way, Jack soars through the huge caverns in silence with only a breath of the wind about his heels. Grasping onto ledges here and there to orient him around corners, he knows the route back to the den like a sixth sense. It creeps him out. ]

[The response makes something in his heart break, but before he knows it he has to climb back on Toothless just to keep up with his husband. They know the way back to the den like the back of their hands (or paws in the dragon's case), passing the spot where he found Jack ten years after he became a Guardian and feeling a pang of nostalgia. Toothless chases after the wind at Jack's feet like a dog on the heels of a mailman, the caves echoing with his footsteps.

Within minutes, they're at the center of the caves, the sanctuary they'd carved out for the Bewilderbeast. There's no dragon made ice like there used to be, no but Hiccup can spot the entrance to the den. He just waits to make sure Jack knows where he's going, hunched over on Toothless' saddle, new leathers creasing with his position.]

[ Hesitating as he comes to the mouth of the den, his heels draw up a moment before he lands, staff held in both hands at the middle as Jack heads gingerly inside. His fingertips reach out for the pockmarks in the side of the cave, fluttering to each one without looking (two, two, three, one, two) and he eases around the corner in the rock that he used to swing himself around with hurling force, now pacing with less than a waver in his step.

Bare feet carry him to the edge of bare old straw and tattered, rotten furs in the central hub, a place once so constantly warm yet speckled with ice that he loved the contrast and could throw himself onto the thick nest without a care. It's like looking at a dead animal, trying to figure out where the limbs were, the bones, the skull, and not knowing quite how everything fits because it's gone.

The old fabrics crumble with the breeze as he lifts up enough to fly into the center, sinking into a crouch on his old favorite spot, an arm curled over a bent knee. ]

... I loved waking up here.

[ Back when it was the safest place in the world, nothing could have touched them right here. ]

[Hiccup dismounts again, gesturing for Toothless to stay where he is. While the Night Fury might be interested in exploring too, he knows this is his rider's time with his mate, so he thumps down into a sitting position, pawing at the ground as Hiccup follows Jack gingerly through the hall leading to the den.

It's musty, a strong smell wafting to Hiccup's nose as it's kicked up with the breeze, spider webs fluttering in the wind. He rests his hand on the curve of the wall, watching and waiting. The den is cold now, the warmth from the hearth nonexistent. The furs that used to serve them as a bed were little more than limp rugs he typically used to see in older viking's homes, souvenirs from hunts long ago.

Hiccup leaves his spot, wandering over to where he'd hung his father's cloak up on the wall. He brought his hand up, fingers curling through the tattered, worn furs before Jack's voice comes over to him, turning his head to look at his husband. Spotting where he was, he gives a small smile, pulling away and walking over.]

As did I. I loved watching you sleep, how warm I felt even though you were cold.

[ Blue eyes flicker up in time to see Hiccup touching Stoick's old fur cloak, his heart aching for him in a different way to the one it already is. Jack hops out of the nest to stand at its edge next to Hiccup, hands clasped around his staff as he surveys the dead old thing with mournful fondness. ]

This is a different kind of cold. It got like this on its own, disused and neglected. [ His staff sends a small sliver of fern-frost over a corner of a rotted blanket in a gentle ice-dance. ] There's no life to it.

[ But he loves it, like an old pet that he would love to see well again yet holds no hope out for. In any case, there's Dave to think about and it wouldn't be right to shack up together exactly as they used to, not to mention the migrating herd doesn't want to stick around here anymore.

Catching sight of something, he crouches down to ferret it out and rises holding an old wooden bowl. Jack's laugh barks out as he realizes what it was used for, leaning his head on his husband's shoulder as he shows him. ]

Still smells like flowers.

[Disused and neglected. His stomach flips at those words, the impact of their den suddenly making him realize that he really had slept a thousand years. There's a crease in the furs, body in shape where he'd been laying, watching the frost creep up the corner of the blanket. He used to take care of the den like one would a house, but it's now beyond hope of being repaired.

Not that he would move back in without Jack and his herd. There's also Dave to think about now, as weird as it is to include a human in their coupling, but he makes Jack happy, and that's all Hiccup wants. To make his mate happy after not being able to for a thousand years.

The sudden appearance of the lube bowl over his shoulder and the way his husband's laughter startles him makes him laugh himself, the smell coming easily to his nose before he screws it up.]

Rotten flowers, but I digress. [He smiles, reaching up to pet a hand through the hair belonging to the head on his shoulder.] Man, what was I thinking?

We could give it a wash, put Dave's cereal in it.

[ Jack's grin splits his face as he shakes with laughter, nudging the hand in his hair with a bump from a temple. Tossing the bowl in his hand, he taps the ground with his staff and sends a frozen blanket over the whole nest, freezing it solid into Arctic, enduring ice. ]

That would just be cruel. Besides, I don't think anything could get the smell out of it.

[Hiccup spares a few chuckles himself, responding to the bump to his hand by stroking his fingers through Jack's hair a little more. He watches the frost blanket the den, pausing before looking to his husband.]

How're you feeling?

[ Even so, Jack's going to hold onto the keepsake. He might have to scrub it to hell and back but he doesn't entirely mind the old flowery scent and it's nice to have one thing remain from their time in the den.

He's pretty sure he ate grapes out of this thing, once. ]

Mmm. [ Frowning slightly, he shrugs and shakes his head. ] I thought it would hurt more, it's just kind of sad and I already expected that. You?

[He tilts his head slightly, humming before shrugging, letting his head rest back against Jack's and reaching to wrap his hand around the one holding onto the staff.]

Sad, like you said. A little lonely. This place was home for so long, it feels like...empty, I guess.

[ A glance flickers automatically, then dismissively from the hand covering his on the staff, Jack's slight body-weight resting against Hiccup. ]

Thank you for bringing me back here. I know it's not easy on you either.

[He notices the glance but he doesn't say anything about it, instead leaning back and up into his husband's body weight with a small nuzzle.]

You're welcome. It's easier on me than it is you. This place was lively just a while ago for me, remember?

[ Pausing, he has to shake his head again, slowly. ]

No, I ... I keep forgetting that, somehow.

[ How it can seem like such a small thing to come here is beyond him, because it will never be a brief part of his life that he missed out on in this room. The hours were long and lonely, the pain sometimes kept him up for days, and Jack is so engrossed in his own sense of loss that he overestimates it in Hiccup. ]

That doesn't mean that it hurts any less.

[He turns around without jarring Jack's weight resting against him, reaching up to brush his fingers through snow white hair. Hiccup tilts his head to press a kiss to Jack's forehead, then brushes one down his nose and pulls away, hand coming down to tilt his chin up.]

That doesn't mean that it doesn't hurt to know I was just laying there when I should have woken up. That doesn't mean that it doesn't feel jarring standing here in this room with you when it used to feel so alive.

[ He doesn't look like he believes him until the end, giving a nod as he eases his chin free. He stays in Hiccup's arms but remains distant, still too twisted up inside to know what he wants or how to feel; bitterly, a part of him still feels coolly toward Hiccup for not coming around for so very, very long. A thousand, not ten or fifty or a hundred. After a short, silent interlude, he looks at him again. ]

I think we're done here, we should head back.

[Did he screw up with his words? He can never tell, but the distance he can feel between them again makes him bite his bottom lip in worry. When Jack speaks again, he feels his chest twist with guilt and regret, wanting to take hold of him. Hiccup drops his other hand from where it rests against Jack's on his staff, pulling back.]

If...if you think so.

[ There's a thin sliver of Jack which he holds untouchable and will for some time, not trusting whatever part it was of Hiccup that kept him asleep. He gives him a peck on he lips as he turns to step aside, staff twirling anew. ]

On second thought, you go back and I'll catch up. I'm going out.

[His fingers slip away when Jack steps aside, falling to his side. He wants to tell Jack to scream at him, to curse his name and Hel, even punch him, but the words fail in his throat. He won't be getting that part of his husband back anytime soon, he knows. His fingers itch at his side, wanting to pull him back, but at the same time knowing he needs his space.

Instead, he swallows it down and pulls his foot back from where he was going to step closer, shaking his head.]

I...I should check on the herd anyway. It's...been a while.

[He looks at his mate, pursing his lips together before he speaks again.]

I love you.

[ He pretends not to see Hiccup's disappointment, not wanting to deal with it right now. Jack blows a kiss over at him with a flurry of snowflakes, instead. ]

I love you too, I won't be long.

[ Soaring out of the old caverns, two days and nights pass by until he makes his reappearance at the Workshop, wind-blown and bright-eyed after doing what he does best and indulging the feral adrenaline that undercurrents his Center of Fun. Sleeping in trees, sliding down mountains, starting snowball fights and blowing important documents out of windows has all put him in a far better mood than when he last saw his husband at their den.

Jack doesn't announce his presence to either Dave or Hiccup, one day just happening to be perched on the back of a sofa in the main lounge, chatting with North. ]

[Hiccup had checked in with the herd, informing the Bewilderbeast on the land to the East that Dave had told him about, where their kind was sacred, where they'd possibly be safe from human contact. Though they were already part way to the northernmost parts of the globe, he traveled with them a short distance before deciding to go back to the Workshop. Guiding dragons had been his role for the better part of his life, and it helps him forget the bitterness that had stirred in his stomach when Jack left him.

The Workshop was like home base right now, the only home he and Toothless had other than the one with the dragons. North was more than happy to let them take up their old room again, having told the yetis to keep it the way it was, a feeling in his belly telling him that the dragon prince would be back. Hiccup still wasn't prepared to explore the world proper, having encountered metal dragons in the sky (North informed him those were planes) and large boats ferrying humans across oceans (cruise liners), so for now he was more than happy to bury himself in any work the older man needed help with.

Hiccup emerges from the stables where the reindeer and the sled are kept, jacket-less due to the work, leaving his upper body exposed. Scales littered his torso as he wiped his brow with the back of his hand, scars showing.]

Those repairs you wanted me to do should hold up by next Snoggletog, North, unle... [He trails off when he spots his husband perched on the back of the couch, the wrench in his hand nearly dropping before he fumbled for it, catching it as he manages to regain control of himself.] Jack! Wh-when did you get back?

[ The conversation between himself and Hiccup is stoppered briefly by North exclaiming that he can't wait to get down to the stables and inspect Hiccup's hard work, although Jack's attention doesn't waver from his husband for a moment as a small smile plays on his lips, gaze flicking down over that bared torso. Did he grow more scales than last time ...? Huh. The fumbling with the tool is adorable, harking back to his Boy more so than the dragon prince, and he remains placid only outwardly.

Jack gives North a grin and a nod as the elder Guardian tactfully (or not so much) takes his leave of them, abandoning Jack and Hiccup to their reunion. He hops to his feet, staff slung over a shoulder. ]

About a half-hour ago, Russia was a lot of fun. Been keeping busy?

[He feels like smacking himself in the face with the wrench with how dumb he sounds. He's more than a little grateful when North removes himself from the room with surprising tactful grace for the older spirit, nodding a thankful incline to North as he leaves. Hiccup realizes he's still keeping the wrench pinned to his chest and he coughs, letting go of it long enough to set it down on a nearby table, scratching the back of his neck.]

Uh, y-yeah. North needed a few repairs done and all the yetis are busy. [Mysteriously busy. He seemed to have them in droves but none of them could lend a hand? Though he was happy for the work - it was easier to lose himself in it than keep thinking.] So I put up my hand. Next thing I know Phil's trying to tell me how to use a wrench in yetish.

[ Highly doubting all the yetis are busy, he says nothing of North's incredibly obvious scheme to give Hiccup something to do. He looks ... sweet, even bare-chested and ruggedly attractive as he is, he's still one-hundred percent dork. ]

I need someone to put a lock on my window from the outside, if you want to get on that. It's so I can come and go if I happen to shut the thing.

[He's grateful for the distraction, hair pulled back at the nape of his neck minus the two usual braids as he runs his hand along his jaw, placing the other one on his hip. It's moments like this that make it seem like he hasn't changed from the awkward boy he used to be. Hiccup gives a small shrug, tilting his head.]

A lock shouldn't be hard to do. [A lock was easy to do once he'd gotten the hang of it.] Uh, did you want it done now? Because I'm pretty sure I'm all done with sled repairs...

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t-t-t-timessssskip

/o/

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