The Life of Thieves

Happy Birthday!

This chapter is a bit ship-oriented if you squint, but before you all get excited, this will be a Jarida fic, but not super revolved around it. I can't decide if I want this to be Hiccunzel of if i want to throw in Eugene. Lmk!

Rapunzel stood at the doc, the buyers in a white suit with slicked back black hair and a pack of cigars in his breast pocket, much like the dozen other buyers that she had to meet. Sunglasses perched over her eyes and an all-black attire that she hardly bothered changing out of from the night before. Instead, going straight to the docs to meet her buyers. She'd traveled far and didn't think anyone would be tailing her by now. And, as usual, she was right.

She waited on the docs while the billionaire took off in his yacht, not caring to soak up details of the trip, and wishing nothing more than to go home.
It was her 19th birthday today, but Rapunzel wasn't feeling it quite yet.

"Adios, Corona!" The billionaire raises a glass of champagne in the air with a crowd of younger, much prettier girls than she would take to be his company, if not for the yacht.

Under her sunglasses the girl rolled her eyes, and strutted back to the shore.

She slipped the heel out of her shoe, hardly slowing her pace as she'd done this too many times. Crouching back to her 5'2" height, she turned a corner into an alley, slipping of the long blonde wig upon her head, and threw it carelessly into the dumpster as she passed. Her boots clicked onto the pavement as she put her wrist to her face, her watch illuminating her face in the early morning darkness. It was 6:30 and the sun was only just beginning to rise. She was in the Bay Area, a decent amount of hours behind her friends.

"Call Burgess." she said into the watch. Her ruffled brown choppy hair swept lazily across her face.

Her friends appeared in a holographic screen in front of her in a big square. Hiccup was at the computer,but his back was turned. Jack looked up at the screen, holding a large rectangular piece of metal. Eyes wide, he quickly chucked the piece of metal onto the ground, out of sight.

"Jack!-" Hiccup exclaimed.

He pointed to the screen behind him, to which Rapunzels favorite head of hair popped into frame. "Punz!" She shouted excitingly.

Hiccup swiveled around and pulled himself closer to the screen, and all three faces came close to speak to her. "Give us the details."

"Well, he was sleazy," She began, "But he wasn't suspicious. I didn't even have to speak."

Hiccup nodded. "Alright, remember our coordinates?"

Rapunzel nodded. "I'll be there in a couple of minutes. I'm a little drained from just looking at that yacht of his. I don't have a clear location yet."

"It looks like everything went well, then." Hiccup said. "Hurry back so we can celebrate another successful round." She smiled.

"On my way, sir." She gave a little salute to which Hiccup responded with one in return.They shared a smile that Hiccup could feel in his chest. 

She hung up.

Hiccup shut off the monitor and sent a look to Jack, who quickly picked the frame back up from the floor. "I'll get the painting." Hiccup ran to the closet where they'd stacked Punzies paintings that they didn't quite have room for. He slid the portrait out from the corner, and rushed to the frame which Jack and Merida were in the process of taking apart to fit the frame.

"Jack, since you're closest, go bring the cake out from the fridge." Hiccup had gone out of his way to pick up a simple strawberry flavored cake from the bakery, the safest bet they had considering Rapunzel was the only one of the four of them who could really use the kitchen correctly, and they certainly weren't going to maker her bake her own cake.

As Jack turned around with the cake in the box,fridge still swung open, Rapunzel was standing behind him in the living room in plain sight, staring at the wall with the torn up frame-less picture from target still hung up on it.

"Wow," She began. "I thought we were gonna put the other frame on that one. That looks horrendous."She laughed, the painting basically a ripped up poster at that point. Horses that once cascaded in a field now became ripped corners and a sort of glob of paper, messily taped up onto the wall, and Rapunzel wondered why they'd even bothered to hang it back up.

Jack quickly put he box on the counter, hidden behind the dish rack so it was, for the moment, out of sight.

"Rapunzel!" Jack shouted, loud enough for Hiccup and Merida to hear from the other room.

Despite Rapunzel being across the country, nothing could bring her anywhere in the world faster than she could teleport there.

A loud thunk could be heard from the studio. "Ow!" Merida yelped.

Rapunzel turned towards the room and began walking to it, until Jack said, "They're fine," He rushed towards her, careful as to what to say, because she could easily just appear there without another step, but knew she was too drained to teleport after travelling across the country in a good 5 minutes.
"You can't go in there," Jack stated, planting himself firmly in front of the small girl.

She raised her eyebrow. "And why not?" She asks, crossing her arms. Her all black attire of long skinny jeans and a slim-fit leather jacket made the girl look older, but at the same time, much smaller than Jack, who was a good 8 inches taller, but she acted as though she couldn't possibly be the one intimidated, (Which she never was,) and Jack was the one who grew nervous.

"Because... Because they're-" Jack got cut off by the ripe voice of his other female friend.

"Because Hiccup is naked!" Merida shouted behind the door.
"I'm what!?" Hiccup screeched in return. Merida jabbed the boy in the ribs.

"She'll know we're lying once we get this damn picture in," She said, quiet enough for no one else to hear but him.

"He's wHAT!?" She exclaimed from behind the door. Jack swung his arm in front of her small body. Rapunzel felt a wave of shock as she pondered the reasons why Hiccup would be naked with Merida in the room, why Jack would know, and why if Merida was allowed, she still wasn't.

"Rapunzel, relax," Jack said, and she gave him a look that signaled that maybe telling her to relax wasn't going to do anything.

"He wasn't naked when I called in." She spat, salt sprinkled in her tone.

He could only sigh, quickly running out of ways to stall her and recognizing her mood going sour as he could only imagine her assuming two of her best friends were just naked in a room with no explanation other than one he couldn't offer, that they were just trying to surprise her.

For a group of criminals, they were awful under pressure.

"Done!" Merida yelle, swinging the door open.

"Done with what, getting-" Rapunzel, who was still freshly salted, quickly picked up her mood when she noticed the two of them standing, their fists proudly on their hips and a smile, with her favorite painting behind them, plastered on the wall, with the most beautiful frame she'd ever seen, and remembered saying the night before. Her frown grew into a smile.

She turned around to Jack holding a cake with 17 freshly lit candles, an extra purple one in the center for good luck. A wave of relief hit her that maybe Hiccup was fully clothed the whole time.

They shouted, "Happy Birthday!"