you seem quite shy but you're oh, so cute ( for dragonconqueror )

[icy]

[ No one quite knows what happened, but the fact remains everyone semi-blames Jack for it and he's almost inclined to agree. The snowglobes have been used with greater frequency since Hiccup awoke and Dave joined the Workshop, which means more and more are being stockpiled. Let's go watch, Jack suggested to his husband, it'll be interesting. It turns out that blowing snowflakes while flirting can be disastrous when a stray floats into the snowglobe directly in front of Hiccup, causing a reactive explosion that turns everything a riot of swirling colors and whoosing Stargate noises for the worst five seconds of Jack's life.

And then he finds himself staring at a short, furious-looking mini Hiccup, the same boy he first fell for and vastly different from the imposing figure cut by the Dragon Prince. Hiccup is short and weedy (at best), with big cute green eyes and softer hair in a perpetually dejected flop about his lone freckles. No scales, no braids, no mildly pointed ears ...

Oh, shit. Look at his leg.

Two hours later in their bedroom, Jack is still failing at not laughing at the angry little figure his husband makes. North said the effects of the magic should wear off over the course of a day, so he isn't worried in the slightest. ]

You're adorable, I really don't see the problem.

Comments

[icy]

And you can't lie to me, just admit it.

[ He'll reward Hiccup with many more nibbling kisses if he does, licking a cold wet stripe down his neck. ]

[dragonconqueror]

Fine, fine. I can't lie to you. I've never been able to.

[Jack somehow manages to bring the truth out of him, always has been able to. Even if Hiccup wanted to he was sure he'd feel guilty about it later. He tilts his head back, hair splaying like a halo under his head as his mate's tongue rolls down his neck, his body giving a half sigh half humph.]

[icy]

[ Jack's snickering builds up right from his belly, bringing up a hand to tickle Hiccup's ribs. ]

Anyone would think I'm a chore. [ Bawww. He knows why Hiccup feels so down though, and gives him a fond, thoughtful look after teasing. ] If you're not big and swaggering around by tomorrow afternoon, we'll ask North to do something about this himself, but I really think the yeti have their shit down where snowglobes are concerned. Until then, sweetheart, I promise to be your complete slave.

[ A playful way of giving back Hiccup the control that came with his adulthood. Jack tries. ]

[dragonconqueror]

I don't swagger.

[It's murmured, but he appreciates Jack's attempt at making him feel better. All his attempts really. Besides, it's only a minor complaint. His expression softens, knowing how much he means to Jack makes him settle. The hands fisted in the blue hoodie come up, trailing along arms and shoulders to loop his arms around Jack's neck.]

Remember when I used to have to be quiet? Because my dad was in the same house or just overhead?

[It's a quiet question, fingers teasing the white locks of hair on his husband's head.]

[icy]

You do a little, saucepot.

[ The force of his smile gentles as he regards Hiccup, the twirling of white strands helping him think. ]

I remember.

[ It wasn't because he'd hear me. Jack gives Hiccup back his hands and slides off the bed to fetch his staff from the wall. Gesturing to him to remain seated, the echo of his staff smacking the floor is echoed by a crackle of ice shooting out to cover everything but the bed in a glittering blue. From this, Jack draws and coaxes parts of an old room into 3D relief as he walks around, from the old desk that used to stand in the left corner with papers fluttering on the above board to the dragon's slab opposite the bed with scorch-marks. Silvery frost-beams rush overhead, imitating the old ceiling and the trapdoor to the roof.

His circling steps stop after a minute or so, facing Hiccup at the bedside surrounded in the ghost of a lost home. ]

I remember it really well.

[dragonconqueror]

[He's a little disappointed when Jack pulls away but as he watches the events unfold around him, he's struck with a sudden wave of nostalgia and homesickness flutters in his stomach. Hiccup finds his breath taken away as the room comes to resemble his old one back on Berk, shape after shape, even to the old sketches of his failed experiments and Toothless' slab.

Even he couldn't remember the room in that great a detail despite it having been his for most of his young life, Jack's work jogging his memory. He raises his hands to his face when he feels hot tears pricked at his eyes, one of them cupping over his mouth.]

I'd almost forgotten...

[icy]

[ Jack leans on his staff, watching Hiccup watch the twinkling illusion. ]

We can't touch it but it'll stick around, otherwise. [ The bed dips as he sits at the astonished boy's side, hands in his lap once the staff is leaned against the four-poster. There's a slight touch to the small of Hiccup's back, gently rubbing there. ] This was where I first felt like I had a home, too.

[dragonconqueror]

[He feels the bed dip under Jack's weight, leaning into the touch at the middle of his back. Hiccup turns his head to look at his husband when he says that, smiling softly and reaching out to tug a hand into his hoodie.]

I'm glad. I...well, I wanted it to be your home as much as it was mine.

[He shifts to sit back against Jack's arm, tilting his head to sit it on the crook of his shoulder. For a moment, a very brief moment, he almost expects his father to come up the stairs and catch him leaning against nothing.]

This is where it started after all.

[icy]

[ Cuddling his arms around Hiccup, he presses a kiss into Hiccup's hair and sways a little as he smiles. ]

Scuttling around so your dad didn't think his kid was nuts, smooching the air. [ Jack glances down, leaning away just enough to catch those green eyes. He hesitates, then asks demurely, ] Would you ... Would you like to see him again? Only as ice, but I could ...

[ With a nod to the shimmering bedroom. ]

He'd disappear, though. It's only frost.

[dragonconqueror]

[He chuckles but then hesitates at the suggestion. He almost considers it. Looking at the way his husband recreates his childhood bedroom is enough of a nostalgic trip but seeing his dad again, even an ice formation of him...

Hiccup shakes his head.]

No, I...I let him go a long time ago. [Even though a small, childish part of him really wanted to.] I mean it'd be nice but it...doesn't seem right. [It'd make him feel like he was in the museum again, staring at Astrid's corpse.] Sometimes the dead are better left a memory.

[icy]

[ Nodding, Jack puts his best spin on it and lies back on the furs, arms behind his head and a slice of pale abdomen on view above his belt. ]

Well, I for one take that incredibly personally. Excuse me, Mr Living.

[dragonconqueror]

[Hiccup turns his head, raising an eyebrow at his husband.]

You know what I mean. I'm not exactly alive either usually.

[icy]

[ The look Jack returns is equally unsure of what he hears. ]

Hiccup, you never died. You changed. [ Which is when his lashes shutter quickly and he shakes his head. ] Wait, wait — do you think North and the other Guardians are dead? That you are?

[dragonconqueror]

[The news makes him blink, pausing and raising a hand to scratch the back of his neck.]

W-well I assumed that was why people couldn't see them unless they believed...us, I mean. [He pauses and shakes his head.] At least I assumed it back then.

[icy]

[ Sitting up, Jack covers one of Hiccup's hands with his own, blue eyes dancing with concern and the reopened, depthless guilt. ]

Hiccup, you're just different. All this time, did you think I killed you?

[dragonconqueror]

[He's quiet for a few minutes, taking hold of the hand in his and threading their fingers before he speaks, shaking his head.]

I heard stories about it when I was little. Faeries and trolls leading children away from their homes, never to be seen again. I mean, I knew those were just stories to scare kids into staying indoors after dark but I still...

[He purses his lips together, biting the bottom one.]

I thought because you had...because you had died, that meant that the others did too. [His look turns a bit sheepish.] I guess that just proves how in love with you I was. That I was willing to die for you to be with you...

[icy]

[ Jack's eyes widen as he listens, a lump lodging in his throat and an ill hollowness in his gut where he supposedly has insides. They must have disappeared because he feels a weightless urge to float right out the window and back off from this realization altogether. Hiccup thought Jack had ... Of course he did, you never explain anything properly. You're a thousand years late to this one, Frost.

Shoulders sagging, the twinkling rendition of Hiccup's old bedroom fades with the plummeting of the winter sprite's mood. Searching for the right words, he shifts his fingers around Hiccup's to hold on a little tighter by way of a useless apology. ]

I would never hurt you.

[ The only thing he wants to convey, as if that will somehow make everything right. The dumbness of reinforcing his stance on the subject of any harm coming to Hiccup is well known to Jack yet it still bears saying, evidently. ]

[dragonconqueror]

I know you wouldn't, Jack. I've always known that.

[He squeezes his hand reassuringly, unable to stop the little bit of disappointment he feels when his old bedroom fades away. Hiccup smiles softly, trying to look reassuring for his husband. It didn't matter anymore, but it obviously did to Jack if the way he holds his hand is any indication.

Hiccup twists around in his mate's lap, settling his face against a cold neck before he kisses it gently, reaching up to cradle a face with a smaller hand than he's used to, fingers spreading across his cheek.]

You'd never hurt me. I've known that since I was like this. You always treated me like I was fragile in this form, like I'd break if you so much as touched me. I didn't care if I had to die to be with you, because you're worth it.

[icy]

You're not fragile, you weren't. You were the first person to ...

[ To see me, and I didn't know how not to hold you every second of every day. Sighing as he sinks into the hug, he runs a hand up through Hiccup's hair at his nape, the spread of fingers over his cheek a comfort. Not nearly as warm as he's used to nowadays, so he hastily raises his temperature as much as he can. Good job there, too. He fails to notice everything. ]

Don't ever die for anyone, especially not me. Hic, the whole reason I — I wanted you to be one of us, it was so you'd never have to leave. Not unless you decided to. [ Swallowing hard, he lowers his gaze. ] I'm ... I'm sorry it seemed that I asked that of you. I should have explained so much ...

[dragonconqueror]

[He presses a kiss softly to Jack's lips, silencing that train of thought as he lets his hand slip down to rest on a shoulder, drawing his arm over it shortly after. Hiccup lets his lips linger there as an afterthought, looking at Jack with the sincerest green eyes.]

It doesn't matter anymore.

[It definitely didn't matter anymore. That had been a thousand years ago, a whole lifetime ago. He pulls back slightly, squeezing the fingers trapped in his again.]

I'm not leaving. I never will. Not even if I turn into a dragon. I told you, I'm with you until the world turns dark and cold.

[icy]

[ Jack supposes he's the most selfish person to ever walk the planet, giving a weak smile into the kiss. His other hand cups Hiccup's cheek to thumb across the familiar freckles, mentally placing scales where they ought to be. ]

If you go full-dragon, I'll go full-snowflake. [ You won't lose that much of yourself, I promise. ] Deal?

[dragonconqueror]

[If Jack's selfish than Hiccup is the most selfish asshole on the planet, given all that he left behind. He turns his face towards the hand cupping his cheek, kissing the palm as he reaches up with his free hand to caress his fingers along the back of Jack's hand.]

Deal.

[Even though he knew Jack going full snowflake was an absolutely ridiculous notion. The boy lifts his head, pressing another kiss to his mate's lips.]

[icy]

[ Jack tugs him down so they can lie on the bed together nose to nose, wanting him close enough to see those familiar green eyes. It's easier to cuddle him when Hiccup is this small, draping an arm and leg around his side. ]

How are you feeling, all of ... that aside. You holding up okay?

[dragonconqueror]

[He lets his husband maneuver him again, resting against him with surprising ease. It's definitely easier to cuddle when he's not the giant hulk he became over the years, and he rests his forehead against Jack's, shifting in his spot.]

Yeah. It's...it's actually pretty nice to be able to be close to you without towering over you or anything. [He tilts his head.] I kept stumbling into things downstairs because I'm used to giving things a wider girth though...

[icy]

I like the way you tower, it makes me feel safe. When you turn back, ask me anytime to be the big spoon and you've got it.

[ Those lips will get a peck if Hiccup stays where he is, lingering in place before Jack murmurs again. ]

God, you look so damn cute.

[ Illegally so. ]