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Strong breeze swept through the auburn of Hiccup’s soft locks, leaving a tingling sensation on his skin as it crashed onto his unmasked face. The wind around him embraced his torso in a reassuring brush, unlike the suffocating intensity he feels every time his Dad or Gobber forcefully hugs his bony limbs (which is more like squashing his face onto their chests, really).
As times tick by, Hiccup felt the gentle wind start to lure him into somnolence, catching heavily on his eyelids and forcing them to close. Which was probably not the best option, as his body was suddenly roughed into a series of turbulence by the weight of a night fury under him.
“Easy there, buddy,” Hiccup chuckled as he patted at his dragon’s head lightly. Toothless scoffed at him, giving an unimpressed face. They had been flying directionless since the sun was out, and now it's almost midday, and as enjoyable as it is, his limbs were already complaining from the tiredness. His eyes were also struggling to stay open. Hence, he better not take the risk of flying Toothless in such a state. Even then, he still hasn’t gotten the mood to fly home just yet, so instead of guiding Toothless back to Berk, he drifted the night fury to the nearest island for a place to land.
“Alright, bud, I think we’ll take a break here,” Toothless grunted in reply, before lowering them to the rugged cliff of a deserted island. Hiccup unclasped the carabiner that was attached to Toothless' harness, then climbs off of his dragon. Toothless was already whining and shoving him impatiently by the time he’s busy adjusting his flight suit, demanding for the basket of fish that’s strapped tightly on Hiccup’s back. He stumbled down on his side when the dragon’s snout pushed at his back a bit too hard.
“Toothless! Didn’t you eat much already?” Hiccup let out a chuckle that quickly dissolved to a groan as the fury wailed and licked a series of fat stripes on his face.
“Aw, ew– Okay, okay, calm down! Here you go–” he cumbersomely pushed Toothless' snout away from his face, struggling to slip the basket off of his shoulders as he felt his skin was getting more and more sticky with saliva. He unbuckled the basket lid then shoved it in front of Toothless. The said dragon immediately plunged his head into the pile of fish, slurping and chewing them hungrily, as if he hadn’t almost drowned both of them earlier by catching swarms of fish leaping out of the ocean.
Hiccup rolled his eyes at Toothless. “I think we need to keep you on a diet, bud,” said him, before pushing up his body to stand. Hiccup patted away some dirt off of his clothes as he glanced at the topography around him, finding only a sequence of trees filling his line sight. His hands itched to pick on his graphite and match the coordinate of this new land onto his map, but then he decided against it, the soreness on his limbs demanding to be rested. He dragged his feet to the nearest tree, slumping bonelessly against it.
Getting sleep in the middle of Gods-know-where probably won’t be a great idea. Especially when he had been away from Berk for almost half of the day. Astrid’s worried face and his father’s wrathful tone were already prickling at the back of his head. But with his sour mood to deal with the entire village’s chaos, he convinced himself to not give a care, letting his mind pulled him into the deep world of sweet dreams.
At the time he woke up, Hiccup found himself shivering slightly from the cold.
And that was strange, he thought, because when he glanced around the island, the sun was still peeking parchingly behind the clouds, and Toothless—warmer than any of his blankets piled together, basically a very effective heating machine—was snuggled warmly around his body. He then noticed that the cold is mostly gathered on the top of his head, chilly air hitting softly against his cheeks. Then—at first he thought he was imagining it, maybe his mind was still stuck on the hazy dream—he saw a scatter of white snowflakes drizzling right in front of his nose.
“What on Odin’s beard…” he mumbled quietly, bewildered, before tilting his head up at the tree branch above him. His eyes widened at the sight.
There was someone up there— a boy, he realized, sitting right on top of him. He’s perched up comfortably on the branch like a bird, bare foot and thin limbs covered in brown-ish leggings and dark blue tunic, with a long, crooked staff clasped on his hand, the bottom end of it almost knocking against Hiccup’s head. Before Hiccup’s mind could register an action, the boy’s eyes, which previously traveled on the surrounding island, landed directly on his green ones. Hiccup gasped at the gleam of his wonderfully blue eyes and at the whiteness of his hair.
The blue orbs then blinked at him, his brown but slightly white eyebrows knitted together in an expression that Hiccup saw as a combination of confusement and shock.
“Is he looking at me? Or is he looking past me?” he heard the boy whisper to no one in particular, eyes squinting and head tilting as he scrutinized Hiccup warily. He had met too many weird people around the archipelago, let alone his group of friends, so he paid little attention to the strange boy’s reaction.
“Uh… I am looking at you?” His statement sounded more like a question to his own ears, and as tired as he was to deal with anything beyond normal today, he just can’t pretend he had been gawking at a tree for the last couple of moments.
The reaction on the boy’s face was immediate, his expression fully lit up, with a big, toothy grin plastered across his cheeks. His smile reached his eyes, the blue of his pupils slightly disappearing behind his squinted eyelids. Hiccup’s breath hitched at the sight, a familiar somersault feeling churned on his stomach.
Suddenly, the charming face he was admiring disappears, just to quickly appear in front of him again, but now it was upside down. Hiccup then realized that the boy was now dangling over the tree branch, skinny legs locked tightly around the wood as one of his hands was still clutching at the staff. Not much of a space that was separating both of their faces, and Hiccup jerked his head backwards in shock.
“You’re saying that— you're saying that you can see me? You can see my face? My—my body? But—aren’t you supposed to be under some circumstances to be able to see me?” the boy’s arms hovered uncontrollably as he rambled, and he winced at his own jitter.
Hiccup tried to gulp down the boy's sentences around his head. Under some circumstances? His brows furrowed harder now, a circulation of thoughts running rapidly on his head. He felt himself somewhat panicking as the only logical conclusion his head could make appeared.
“Oh Gods. Am I dead?”
The boy barked out a loud laugh at that, eyes closing in amusement and—Hiccup was definitely not imagining it now—a sparkle of snowflakes really was scattering around him as his body vibrated with the laughter. Some of them land on Hiccup's lap, the coldness seeping through the layer of his slacks. That was when it struck him, that the figure of a boy in front of him was definitely not a human.
“Nope. Don't worry, as far as I can sense, you're still very much a living person,” the boy affirmed, smirking, but then didn't offer any more explanation beyond that. Hiccup was about to ask again, when the mass of the night fury around him shifted abruptly, waking up from his slumber. Toothless threw Hiccup a confused look, his gaze saying who are you talking to before it shifted right onto the dangling body in front of him.
Hiccup grimaced when the reaction that emanated from Toothless is exactly how he thinks it would be. The night fury’s form was now rigid, his usually dilated pupils now shrinking into a thin, cautious line, as a low-pitched snarl came out at the foreign presence ahead of him. Hiccup could feel Toothless' tail curling protectively around his torso, his paws stepping forward. The boy lurched slightly away from the dragon’s alerted form, but never lost the smirk that somehow suited him perfectly. Reminds him a bit of the twins, and Hiccup doubts that similarity translated to a good thing.
The boy’s body was still hanging upside down, and Hiccup wondered how he managed not to get heavy-headed with the blood routed all the way down his head. That was, even if the being in front of him had actual blood.
“Ooh, it seems like you've got a protective friend here,” the boy teased, staring straight at the night fury.
That earned a louder growl from Toothless. “Easy, bud, don’t let him scare you,” he assured, though Hiccup didn't entirely know if they should or should not be afraid of the presence before him. The night fury was still tense even after Hiccup soothes him, so he extended an arm ahead Toothless before anything that could worsen up the situation happened.
The boy—not a boy, Hiccup reminded himself—finally untangled his legs around the branch, and Hiccup expected him to fall over against the grass, but then he blinked his eyes twice when the figure somehow floated instead, flexibly jumping to crouch at the ground after. The playful smirk was still glued on his face, and his attention had entirely glued on Toothless. Not a good thing, Hiccup thought. Then, even after Toothless made his stance clear that he wasn't too keen on the certain white haired boy, he raised his staff in front of the fury, poking the crooked part of it on Toothless' arm.
Toothless immediately snapped his teeth at the boy, his huge body leaping forward.
Hiccup didn't know which part of his brain that drives his limbs when he swiftly jumps in front of the boy’s figure, right hand curling securely around the boy’s extended wrist—jolted at how cold it feels—trying to keep it from being snatched by Toothless' jaw.
“Woah there, Toothless! Calm down! It’s okay, bud, you’re okay,” he let go the hand around the being's wrist, then gently placed both of them on Toothless' snout, stroking back and forth trying to relieve the tension. He can’t really blame the dragon for snapping, but he felt a bit odd when Toothless didn't immediately calm down even after Hiccup’s attempt of comfort.
He warily wondered if this is due to the distinct presence behind them that was undoubtedly different from what they had encountered before, which was a non-human and a non-dragon. Toothless’ prickly attitude just sort of confirmed his suspicion.
Toothless eventually let out a compliant gurgle, his pupils dilating at Hiccup’s touches. The wide green orbs then squinted suspiciously at the body behind him, and Hiccup followed the dragon’s line of sight. He was met with a sheepish look on the boy’s face, leaning most of his weight against the staff, lips tightening into a thin line and brows knitted prudently. Hiccup wanted to let out words that only the twins (or Snotlout) had been at the receiving end of, but immediately held back at the boy’s guilty expression.
“Sorry about that… didn’t know why I did that. Never really had a great reputation with dragons,” the boy let out a weak chuckle after he mumbled, lowering his head until the curtains of his bangs fell and covered his eyes. Hiccup’s gaze softened at the confession.
“Well, certainly not with that stick, you won’t,” the boy slowly lifted his head at Hiccup’s words, his head tilting a bit as his lips curved into a ghost of a smile. Hiccup nodded then offered his hand. “Lend me your hand. I’ll show you how to do it right.”
His eyes fell to Hiccup’s hand, hesitancy stopped him from doing anything for a moment, and Hiccup could somehow sense it didn't have to do with trusting the wrong person, but more like he's never had someone propose those sentences to him before.
He eventually took Hiccup's offering hand, giving a small smile and a nod to encourage Hiccup to guide him. The moment his fingers touched the boy’s, he tried to hide the same jolt he felt when his skin made contact with the being’s wrist earlier. Hiccup wrapped his pale hand with his own, then brought it right in front of Toothless, staring expectedly at the dragon. Toothless delivered him a dubious expression, but then softened and lowered his head when Hiccup gave a hopeful nod.
For a second, rough scales finally collided with the boy’s freezing palm, but then the fury jerked his head backwards, a skeptic look on Toothless’ face. Hiccup sense it must have been caused by the cold. But the night fury must have seen the way the being’s face fell at the reaction, and probably felt bad for him, because he promptly proceeded to nudge his snout back against the being’s palm. Hiccup watched as the boy let out an astounded gasp, a wave of excitement hit every ounce of the being's presence, like a candle that's being lit to its life.
“Wow. This is first time they didn't run off or try to burn me alive the moment I touched them,” a soft, sincere laugh escaped from the boy’s lips. They’re stretched to a gentle curve, his gaze sweeping longingly around Toothless' bowed form.
The boy was standing so close to Hiccup, and when he turned, Hiccup's breath hitched, like the air’s been taken away from him every time he directly made contact with the boy’s eyes. Hiccup swears on Thor's hammer he could see snowflakes gleaming inside the pupils. He drifted his attention to the rest of his facial features, examining what seems like hoarfrost embellished on the being's pale skin, creating a beautiful, awestrucking pattern. They're like his own freckles, but with frost. The skin on his own face suddenly prickled with a cold, shivering and slightly tingling sensation, and his mind provided him an explanation that the cold was probably radiated by the presence before him. And that's how he was made aware of the small distance between both their faces.
Hiccup also noticed he still had his hand covering the boy’s smaller, paler one on Toothless’ snout.
Without understanding why most of his blood seemingly rushed to head north onto his face, he quickly scooted a few steps back. Hiccup clears his throat before letting out a reply. “Uh. Yeah. Definitely have been on your place before.”
The white haired boy appeared to be oblivious to Hiccup's sudden bashfulness, continuously stroking a gentle pat on Toothless. He seemed to withhold the idea of putting down his staff, though, as it clasped securely on his armpit.
None of them said anything for a while, not with the way the being seemed to be completely enamoured by the figure of the night fury before him. He giggled and smiled as he cupped Toothless' round head and caressed the spot beneath his jaw with his nimble fingers. The dragon itself looks like he has forgotten the whole commotion earlier, warbling happily as he lolled his tongue out, satisfied with the boy's exquisite pets.
As much as endearing the sight withholds, Hiccup didn't intend to let the silence spread longer. “So… you've got a name?”
Without losing his hands off of Toothless, the boy turned to his direction, a smile still plastered on his face. His lips pursed to a pout for a second, seemed to consider his answers, then quickly stretched to a grin once again. “I'm Jack.”
Hiccup blinked at the rather vagueness of the answer, but then slowly nodded his head.
The boy raised his eyebrow. “And yours?”
“Oh, um. I’m Hiccup. And, uh… this giant fella here, is Toothless,” he offered, one arm slung over Toothless' neck.
“Hiccup and Toothless. Quite a pair of names, huh?”
Hiccup grimaced, rubbing the back of his neck at the not-uncommon reaction. “Yeah. So we've been told.”
A snort escaped from the being's throat, and he stared some more at the night fury on his grasp. Then, in the twinkling of an eye, the being motioned his right hand with a delicate grace, the movements seem to create blue sparks, twinkling and bursting around the air. And the next thing Hiccup's eyes caught was a pile of soft white—a snowball, Hiccup realizes—lay on the pale of Jack's palm.
Jack threw it right onto Toothless' nose.
Hiccup was too busy dawning his mind on the thought of this boy just magically made a snow out of his freaking hand to prevent however Toothless would react, and the next thing he knew, both the night fury and the—whatever creature he was—was rolling down on the grass.
“Toothless!” He dropped himself with one swift movement, grabbing at the fury’s dark scales in an attempt to stop the dragon from eating Jack alive. But instead of that, what he saw was the creature’s smile breaking into a joyful laugh, his face gleaming in content as his thin, slender arms blocked and pushed at the dragon’s snout to protect himself from Toothless' licking. Not munching. Certainly there was no swallowing that Hiccup had initially feared.
“That tickles, you oversized reptile!”
As he drank in the sight, Hiccup made a note on his head that this creature didn't really have a good survival instinct. Powerful, undoubtedly—by the way he created snowballs out of thin air, Gods know what he's more capable of—but also combined with the same worrisome hijinks as Ruff and Tuff. Probably someone that wasn't on Hiccup's mind if he was to pick a friend. But of course, his night fury already found him as a new chew toy.
“Hiccup, mind your dragon here?” Jack shot him a glance, his words coming out slightly breathless, given the way he was trying to stifle his laugh from Toothless’ constant licking. In the deepest back of his mind, he found the sight ahead of him very much adorable.
He shook away his thoughts as he swiftly pulled the giant lizard away from the skinny boy, desperately trying to act as normal as his dragon was to this entire bizarre situation, like Toothless wasn't poking and chewing with an ice making kind of creature. Hel, he could’ve been a literal God.
“Okay, bud, enough harassing our new guest here,” the night fury eventually got up, warbling at Hiccup's command. Hiccup held his hand out for Jack, offering him help. Jack took it with a smile.
As he helped Jack get back to his feet, he couldn't help but study the boy under his wary eyes. After the disastrous troubles he had been getting himself through, there wasn't any harm for being skeptical over everything, including this weird looking boy he was staring at. He didn't want to get him nor Toothless caught up in a new mess.
But then Jack must've caught something from Hiccup’s face, a lingering uncertainty, perhaps, because the next second, Jack’s smile faltered, replaced with similar anxiousness he had shown earlier after poking Toothless with his staff.
Moments pass by for a little while, both of them just staring at each other, and through the layers of Jack's foreignness, of his distinct, unfamiliar kind of appearance Hiccup had never seen before, he felt like he didn't need an extra sighting to spot some hidden fear behind his face. Hiccup immediately recognized the stories behind those eyes, the hurtful dread behind unwanted memories. A fear of being known, of being treated wrongfully.
“Something's wrong?” Jack put on a smile, not unlike his previous ones, but Hiccup could still see the cautiousness behind it, like he was preparing himself from the questions that’re going to come, mixed with some hope of not being perceived.
And so, Hiccup caged the curiosity that's been gnawing his insides, not letting it set loose and unbound and consumed his entire mind. He let the prying questions die in his tongue.
“It’s uh… it's nothing. It's just, I've known you for not even a day, but I have a feeling that you're easily stumbled into troubles, you know, with the whole poking and provoking of a literal fire-breathing dragon thing,” he went with teasing instead, hoping for the best that the boy didn't perceive offense out of his words.
At his unexpected mockery, the white haired boy let out a surprised bark of laughter, his blue eyes widened in disbelief. “Oh, are you calling me mindless, Hiccup? Because that isn't a very nice thing to say, isn't it? Or are you just known for throwing insults at people you've just met?” Jack raised his brows, mischievousness in his smirk as he tossed back a playful snark to Hiccup's face. He was throwing his staff around his shoulders now, slung behind his neck with his arms dangling on both sides of the stick.
Hiccup chuckled, slinging his arm around Toothless’ neck once again. “I'm not calling or throwing you anything, Jack. I'm just saying you remind me of a group of dumbasses I know from home, that's all,” he explained, the riders’ face prying on the back of his head. He kind of missed them, somehow, even though they're practically living under Hiccup's nose every second of his life.
A hum released from Jack as he walked past both Hiccup and Toothless to settle down on the spot Hiccup’s been sleeping earlier. “Is that so? They must be a lot of fun, then,” Jack smiled, tapping his staff mindlessly against the ground. Hiccup followed, settling himself beside the white haired boy. The night fury quickly stuck on Hiccup’s left, resting his head on his lap.
“Well, if the definition of fun is stupidly reckless and maddening, then yes, they are a lot of fun,” he huffed, although he could hear the fondness in his own voice. Jack only emitted a small laugh as a response, and it lingered, before they resolved into an almost comfortable silence. Almost, because Hiccup couldn’t stop his mind from spiraling around the magical creature next to him. He sure did choose not to get nosy about the being’s narrative or his existential proposition, but Hiccup gets antsy when he’s deeply curious about something, so he decided to dig him up just a little bit.
“So, uh. If you don't mind me asking. You can make snow out of your bare hands.”
He saw Jack briefly bestowed him a side glance, before dropping them to his fingers, fidgeting with the ridges of his staff. Hiccup was about to pull the question back, picking up a new topic, but then Jack lifted his head and sent him a lopsided smile.
“Yes. I can,” and that was all the answer he was offering to Hiccup for a moment, stretching the atmosphere with an awkward pause, but Jack subsequently added some more explanations.
“Well, not only my hands, precisely. I could also shoot them out of my staff. Or out of my feet,” he added, proofing his sentence by planting the ball of his feet against the grass beneath, and almost all at once a spread of smooth ice materialized, creating sort of a small ice pond. It reached the ground below Hiccup's right foot, and he could feel the slippery texture of it when he planted his foot straight. A wave of amazement struck him as his fingers instinctively hovered above the thin layer of the ice, brushing it carefully with his palm.
“Woah. That is… very impressive,” he replied, unsure of a response that won't come out too nosy or too intrusive.
Jack hummed. “Not much, compared to the camaraderie you've got with Toothless there. Seriously, I've never seen a human-dragon alliance before. How did you do that?”
The sleek attempt of changing the topic was not missed from Hiccup's sense, but if the boy didn't want to talk about himself any longer, then Hiccup wouldn't mind letting it be that way.
“Eh, I could say it was an accident. Long story-short, my people used to fight them, but then something happened, and that something is me, aaand the whole situation just changed.”
There was a twinkle of awe in Jack's eyes after he finished his succinct story. “You made your entire village believe there's good inside every dragon or something like that? That's pretty amazing."
At the praise, heat started to flood straight onto his face, and he scratched his finger awkwardly against his cheek. “Well, uh, I guess so. Still kind of weird to think about, though, going from the ghost of the village to the first person sought by everyone when something bad happens.”
Hiccup couldn't stop the rambling before he realized what he had just said. Jack was quiet for a moment, like he studied Hiccup’s words carefully under his brain, before finally speaking again.
“Mhm. Seems like I encountered quite an important person today. What do they call you back there? Your majesty, perhaps?”
Hiccup rolled his eyes, hands brushing on Toothless rough scale thoughtlessly. “You're exaggerating it, really. I'm just lucky this giant beast here sees my bony limbs as a friend rather than a pack of lunch,” he jested, cupping both his hands on Toothless' head, scrunching his nose at him in delight. The dragon’s eyes were closed throughout the entire conversation, but he let out an annoyed gurgle when Hiccup playfully flicked his ear.
He didn't peek at Jack's direction, but he was pretty sure the boy was looking at both of them with some sort of adoration written on his face. “Does that mean every dragon where you live is as friendly as him?”
Hiccup considered the question for a moment. “Well, if you mean the dragons that live around the village, then yes. But there are still wild dragons on the other side of the island, not yet to be tamed. We're just sort of picking up the ones that want to stick around, I guess.”
The boy bobbed his head in understatement, sending Hiccup a genuine stretch of a smile. “I get that. Better control of the dragons compared to the other islands, you could say?”
Hiccup stared at him right in the eyes as he grinned, nodding his head slightly. He decided to let the Snotlout side of him take charge for a second. “Well, I'd say we're the best.”
Jack guffawed at that, squinting his eyes at Hiccup, seeming to accept his slightly conceited answer. They drifted into silence once more, now more comfortable than the last. He rested his head against the trunk behind him, letting the soft breeze brush his skin and play with his locks. But as his eyes traveled around the scenery around him, he was made aware by the tinted colors of the sky, a beautiful combination of pink and orange. Then his mind dawned on one realization.
“Oh Gods. Is it that late already? Shit, bud, we have to get back before Dad or the others search after us,” Hiccup scrambled to his feet in one swift movement—knocking his knee against Toothless' jaw in the process—before hovering his hands on himself, making a few adjustments of his flight suit.
Fiddling with the gear of his prosthetic foot, he sensed Jack getting on his feet as well. The boy stayed quiet as Hiccup busied himself on everything; plucking the basket he'd brought earlier, positioning the saddle on Toothless' back, and checking Toothless' tailfin. By the time he mounted himself over Toothless’ back, making sure both him and Toothless were equipped for the long flight home, he turned his head around, his green met the blue of Jack's eyes. The beat of his heart faltered slightly at the thought of leaving Jack, and his face crumpled guiltily the moment he saw the tightened smile on the boy's lips.
Hiccup sighed. “Well. I guess this is a goodbye. I, uh… I have a long flight home, but it was nice meeting you, Jack,” he finished lamely, voice small, as he tried to offer Jack an encouraging smile.
Jack stepped closer, his own smile never breaking away from his face. “Of course, your majesty. Did I finally scare you off?” he teased, his smile grew into something more wily, but Hiccup could discern the slight solemnity behind his sentence. Like the boy wished that their encounter today didn't end with a miserable ending, with Hiccup running away with a fright coloring his face, terrified at the presence of Jack. He can't help but think of how Jack looked like he clutched desperately at the hope that this won't be their last time seeing each other.
So Hiccup let out a soft snort, the muscles of his face loosen slack. “Scared me? No way, Jack. I was thinking more of how you would fit seamlessly on Berk, or how seamlessly Berk would fit for you. Seriously, you're very much alike with these two people I know, I'm starting to think you're their missing brother or something.”
Whatever the white haired boy was expecting, it seemed like he certainly did not predict those words Hiccup declared to him. The boy was quiet for a while, flabbergasted by his confession, mouth slightly parted with his bright, piercing, blue eyes contracted in awe. And Hiccup, he felt the sudden urge to know everything about the boy in front of him, about the things that made him react like this, solely from the tenderhearted words he let out. More strangely, he felt the urge to protect Jack from whatever cruel enough to let the kindness Jack deserved stolen away from him.
Eventually, Jack's expression settled into something tender, hoarfrost blooming beautifully on his skin and his thin lips curved into the most genuine smile Hiccup's seen on his face.
The boy floated towards his direction to get into an eye level with Hiccup, and oh, he might've got used to the weird ice stuff but still blinked twice at the sight of Jack just floating around, but he gravely tried to shake aside that prickling thought.
“Who knows, maybe I am. But can you handle the idea of me being related to them, though?” Jack smirked, extended one of his hands out to Hiccup.
Hiccup winced at the image on his head, the twins teaming up with Jack, bringing trouble and mess wherever they go. But he just shrugged and took Jack's hand. “Well, nothing’s wrong with adding some more fun, right?”
Jack only tittered as a response, shaking both their hands, and through the brief squeeze on his hand, he felt Jack was reluctant to let go. Hiccup pressed his lips sternly. “Do you have… somewhere to go after this, Jack?”
Jack’s eyebrows twitched to a variety of movements at the question, slightly frowning, then raising, then knitting together again. He seemed unsure with his own thoughts. “Yes. But also no. It's… complicated. I'm needed in many places,” he grimaced at his awful effort for an explanation.
Hiccup just nodded once at that, pretending he knew and understood what Jack was talking about.
“Okay then. But… but will I ever see you again?” Once more, words were spilling out of his mouth spontaneously, slipping out of his consciousness. He probably sounded pathetic, a hope ringing in his tone, but he didn't care. Whatever Jack was, however unexpected or even dangerous the being was, he wanted to see him again somewhere in the next time.
Through their still connected hands, Hiccup felt Jack squeezing once again. “Berk, wasn't it? I'll keep that name in mind. And maybe, if I was kind enough, I'll pay you a visit,” Jack remarked, a wink thrown to his face. He let go of Hiccup's hand for the purpose of lowering himself in front of Toothless. Jack gave the dragon’s snout an affectionate pet. “See you some time later, you oversized reptile,” Hiccup saw Jack scrunches his nose comically at Toothless, and the dragon lets out a cheerful warble in reply.
After their goodbyes, Hiccup gave a single nod towards Jack. They shared one more brief glance at each other, before Hiccup finally announced Toothless to go.
As both Hiccup and Toothless flew away from the uninhabited island, he tried not to steal a glance every one second to the shadow of a person behind him. By the time Toothless wings brought him high enough in the sky, he turned his head around for the last time, finding no signs of someone lingering at the cliff of the island.