Troublemaker

Part 7: Homework

Sophie held a small stuffed rabbit. It was grey, and looked almost nothing like a real rabbit, not that Sophie cared. North had called it a 'pooka' when he'd given it to her a few years prior, whatever that meant. "I didn't realize North was watching you guys today?" Jack continued, leaning over Jamie's book for a glance at what he was reading. "Where's Mrs.Bennet?"

"Mom had to stay late at work," Jamie explained, looking up from the page of a particularly nasty xenomorph-looking alien, to examine the two older boys. "Mom called North and asked if we could stay here for a while." The smile etched across the boys freckled face revealing how happy he was to be sent to the store. Not that Hiccup could blame him. "Jack, who's your friend?"

"Oh, this is Hiccup." Jack said, waving with his hand to Hiccup's direction. Hiccup smiled, waving at the younger pair.

"Hey Hiccup," Jamie said. "Nice t-"

"Jack likes your eyes." The young girl chimed in before her brother could finish. She looked up innocently from her toy. Although her eyes darted back behind her mess of blonde hair before her comment even registered with any of the boys. "He told me before."

Hiccup blinked, turning to the flustered Jack Frost beside him. "He does?" The brunette laughed, elbowing Jack lightly. He heard Jack give out a muffled sigh of aggravation, although he sent a reassuring smile to the girl afterwords. "Good to know." Hiccup added, but before they could continue on that topic, Jack managed to regain some composure.

"Hey Jamie, where's North?" He asked, ignoring the last few moments.

"He's in his workshop," Jamie said, raising a brow and shifting his head in the direction of the office spaces. "Where else?" The younger boy glanced at his sister, at the two boys, and then -as if bored- buried his face back in his book, turning to a page about Moon-people. "Why?"

"Who's running the store?" Jack asked, raising a brow and leaning on his elbows across the counter top. "Don't tell me you're in charge?" Jack's words would've sounded mean if not for his tone. It was light-hearted and maybe even a little proud.

"I'm just suppose to get him when people want to check out." Jamie explained, shrugging. "It's not a big deal." although the sound of his tone revealed his relief at Jack's accepted of him running the show.

"Let me know if you or Sophie need anything," Jack said, sounding a little more stern. "You know North doesn't like to put something down once he's started messing with it." Jack smiled, looking at Jamie and Sophie for another moment before turning back to Hiccup. "Alright, now that that's sorted out. Let's go upstairs?" It sounded like a question, which was odd. But Hiccup followed the snowy-haired boy upstairs none the less.

"They seem to like you a lot." Hiccup said once the pair were in the small hallway separating the first and second floor.

"Yeah, they're like family." Jack sighed, pulling out another key to unlock the apartment. "I just wish there was more I could do."

"What do you mean?" Hiccup asked, raising a brow as he followed Jack into the apartment.

"Mrs.Bennet is a single mom," Jack sighed, shrugging and taking a seat on one of the two couches that made up the living room. "She does a lot, but I feel like it must be so hard. She's a great woman, really. She used to babysit me, so watching Sophie and Jamie is the least I can do."

"You're good at it," Hiccup said, smirking. He looked around the apartment as he sat across from Jack on the opposite couch.

The living room was a rich velvet color, the walls complimenting the white carpet underneath them. Hiccup wondered how old the carpet was, since it's appearance was still relatively new. He concluded that the residents -being Jack and North- may just not use the room often. The snowy color was definitely rarely touched. the furniture itself were all dark woods, and trinkets littered the small room. They were clearly from or for the store below, but only added to the appeal of the space. Hiccup smiled, wondering how someone like Jack Frost had come from such a sweet-looking home.

"Hey," Jack said, snapping his fingers to gain Hiccup's attention. "Hiccup?"

"Yeah," Hiccup stuttered. "Sorry, what?"

"Your assignment, remember? Didn't you bring your laptop or papers or something?" Jack raised a brow, waiving to Hiccup's backpack. "We should probably look those over or whatever, right?"

"Yeah, yeah sorry." Hiccup replied, pulling the papers and his laptop from the confines of his cluttered bag. It really was time for him to get another laptop, but he was fond of keeping things until the were little more than scraps than functional objects. Hiccup's room back home was littered with half-built or taken apart electronics of all sorts. The brown bag had definitely seen better days too though, and was more likely to be replaced soon.

"Alright," Jack laughed, snatching the papers from the boy's hand. "Let's get started."

-------- Author's Note: ----------------

Here's a new chapter since it's been a while. I assume you guys are alright with me skipping them actually writing the paper? I can always do a one-shot if anyone wants me to actually try writing them writing a paper, I guess that could be cute if I really tried, due to creative differences of something? But it mainly seems boring.

I'm gonna try updating Wonderlust today as well. : )