Merida~

All four of us jumped up when we heard the double doors creaking open.

"Are you done with downtime?" North asked, trying to push his bulky body through the little space he gave himself.

"Yes," the 'Big Four' said in unison. I grabbed my chair and began dragging it out. The other three followed suit. I noticed Rapunzel skipping up to me. Oh brother!

"That was fun, huh?" she asked excitedly.

"No, not fun at all," I said trying to put a downer on the conversation. But she wasn't even fazed.

"It sure was! We got to get along, I know about everyone and can't wait to learn more, and the best part was the interesting tension of attraction between you and Hiccup!" I had immediately turned on her, glaring my hardest glare. She had wide eyes. "I said that out loud, didn't I?"

"Yeah," I said as accusingly as possible.

"I didn't mean to! It was just so obvious that you two like each other!" Now my eyes were wide. Only with anger. "Oops!" Rapunzel squeaked and then she did the unexpected; she ran for her life. I decided to ignore her and left my chair at the table it seemed to belong to.

"What was that about?" Jack had come up behind me and asked as he stared after Rapunzel's disappearing figure and her very slowly disappearing, overlong hair.

"Nothing, she's just annoying," I grumbled.

"I think she just wants to be your friend. You don't have to be so harsh on her," Hiccup said coming into the conversation. My brain instantly registered how close he was to me. There it was again! I thought. That weird way he suddenly tames me. And also that weird feeling I get when he does, like I'm glad he cared enough to do so. I found it kind of funny on how well he could simmer down my emotions by just barely knowing me. It was even a little thrilling on how he seemed to challenge me!

What am I saying?! Hiccup is-- is weird and a dragon loving Berk boy that gossips about me and... and cute and sweet. Sure he's weird, but in a good way.

There I go again! What the hell is wrong with me?

"Yeah, especially since she's been in her tower all her life," Jack put in. Now my heart sank with guilt. How can I be so stupid? She's not annoying, she's lonely. How else will she know how to act around people she barely knows?

Hiccup was examining my face as I was thinking. It took everything in me to not blush under his gaze.

He gestured his head toward the hallway Rapunzel ran through. "Lets go talk to her." I was taken aback.

"Why?" I stupidly asked.

" 'Cause you feel bad. And it's probably worse if you put on a brave face and ignore it." He was right. He seemed to always be right.

In a false huff, I made my way toward Rapunzel with the boys at my heels.

Rapunzel~

That was pretty stupid of me. Here I was trying to make friends with a girl I barely knew and not just any girl, the toughest girl in the world. Apparently not that tough if she had the ability to fall in love. It wasn't long before I heard footsteps and bickering. I turned around to find the rest of the gang. Merida was arguing with Jack while Hiccup kept putting in a few words. Whenever Hiccup said something, Merida would slow down to listen, but then Jack would say something again and Merida would get back on track.

"Guys!" I yelled. Their heads snapped in my direction and now I felt like peeing on the spot with all of the attention I was getting. "Um... what's up?" I slowly say trying to ease the awkwardness away. Merida turned to me. She glanced at Hiccup before talking and waited for his nod.

"Look, I don't do this often so listen good!" She said harshly. Then she softened. "I'm sorry."

"What?"

"I'm not gonna say it twice, you deaf boon!" I exploded on a fit of giggles at her comment and held onto a wall to keep my balance.

"Cool, now we're friends again. Now what?" Jack asked.

"I know downtime was a bit of a mood killer, so why don't we just hang out for fun?" Hiccup asked. Merida, Jack, and I exchanged glances. We nodded.

"Sounds good to me," Jack said.

"Yeah," I chimed in.

"Let's do it then," Merida added.

Hiccup-

To be honest, I had no idea on what we were going to do so I decided to just wing it.

"Let's see the workshop," I decided to go with that so Jack could give us a tour of the place and so we'll have some freedom.

Jack smirked at the idea. "I thought you'd never ask. Follow me." Rapunzel instantly perked up and ran up to Jack so she could talk to him. I lagged behind and Merida was between us.

While Jack and Rapunzel chattered, Merida would turn a little and give me glances every once in a while. Finally, as I decided to catch upto her, she slowed her pace to match mine.

You could say we met halfway.

"I didn't say sorry for the way I spoke to you earlier. I didn't mean to insult you or hurt you in any way. I just hope we can try to at least be friends, even if we did get off on a rough start." I decided to be the man this time and say sorry first. I was never really one of those guys who had pride to keep. Not even an ego to boost.

"I'm sorry too. I have a tendency to lash out at people. My mother always said 'a princess can't speak her mind all the time'. For me, anything that comes out of my mouth is what I'm thinking, rude or not. So... I'm sorry." With all those rumors about her, it was hard to believe that she could admit her mistakes and apologize for them.

I smiled and gave her a tiny nudge with my elbow. "You're forgiven."

Merida nudged me back and said, "Why are we so weird?"

"You didn't know?" I asked.

She furrowed her eyebrows. "Know what?"

"It's because we're epic!"

She laughed. Merida had such a rich laughter...

"Do you know what?" she asked.

"No, what?"

"I think you're right." We shared a grin and walked together for the rest of the tour.

Jack-

"I think Merida and Hiccup are really getting along," Rapunzel whispered to me after she glanced behind us.

The tour was almost over and I think Rapunzel is the only one listening to me.

"Do you think it might just be the whole marriage thing?" I asked.

Rapunzel scowled at my reply. What? I thought.

"No. They obviously have a real connection. You must be blind for not seeing it!"

"Hey!"

" 'Hey' is for horses!" I was shocked with Rapunzel's reply.

"For a girl who's been in a tower all her life, you have a real bite to your attitude." I slowly mentioned this, afraid she'd say something else.

"At least I'm not a real pain with a frostbite." Before I realized what she said, she started to smirk and I couldn't help but laugh.

Rapunzel sure is cute!

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A/N:

I'm sooooo sorry for not updating earlier! Well I'm on break now, so I should start writing a lot more (don't be afraid to be mean about reminding me, I probably deserve it!)

Anyway, hope you enjoyed it and please vote, comment, follow, message, and just DO YOUR THING. Love you guys!

Thanks! :)