Shall We Dance?

Chapter 1 - Stubborn

Merida sighed as she looked up at the newest poster on the school notice board:

Midnight Dance!

Bring a partner for the night of a lifetime. Tickets available at school reception. Years 9 and up only.

Merida walked away, hoisting her bag onto her shoulder firmly. She wasn't going to go. To be fair, she couldn't go either. After all, no one would ask her to the dance, and it said to 'bring a partner'. Hmph. The men weren't exactly queueing up for her; Dingwall had had a crush on her since she had joined high school, but that was it. And she wasn't sure whether Dingwall knew how to walk, let alone dance.

She decided to meet up with Rapunzel, Jack and Hiccup in the canteen; she knew they'd be there. Sure enough, there they were, sat apart from virtually everyone else in the corner that they had claimed. Rapunzel saw her and waved her over excitedly. Merida grinned and sat down with them. Hiccup was playing with his sandwich, fishing out the tomato and Jack was nibbling a cheese baguette. Rapunzel was even more excitable than usual as she ignored her jacket potato and turned immedietly to Merida.

"Did you see the new notice?"

"Yep," Merida sighed, taking a large bite into her apple.

"So?!" Rapunzel could barely contain her excitement. "Who're you going with?"

"I'm not," Merida replied simply. Rapunzel's face fell dramatically and looked around the canteen frantically.

"Well, there's always Snotlout," she said, wrinkling her small nose. Merida almost spat out her apple at the thought.

"Punzie!" she cried, "I am NOT going with anyone! Everyone's already got dates anyway! And who's going to ask me, being realistic here?"

Rapunzel thought for a moment, then turned to Hiccup who'd been unusually quiet today.

"Hic!" Rapunzel grabbed his arm and pulled him, literally pulled him, into the conversation. "You can go with Merida!"

"What?" Hiccup jumped right out of his skin.

"You can't set us up like that!" Merida said angrily.

"Why not?" Rapunzel asked, genuinely confused.

"That's not how I wanted to ask her!" Hiccup blurted out. "I, I mean -"

Rapunzel squealed and turned to Merida.

"I think he likes you!!"

"No!" Merida slammed her fist onto the table. Hiccup was holding his face in his hands.

"Nice one," Jack patted Hiccup on the back sarcastically. "Really subtle. Well done."

"You can't MAKE me go with ANYONE!" Merida was practically yelling at Rapunzel.

"But you don't have a date and neither does Hiccup so -"

"I don't care!" Merida shoved her apple core into the bin furiously. "I want to make my OWN decisions, y'hear me?"

"Perfectly," Jack sighed. "So did the whole school by the sounds of it."

"I won't go through with this!" Merida slammed her chair under the table and stormed out. "You can't make me!"

"Looks like we have some persuading to do," Jack turned to Hiccup, smirking slightly. "But seriously? Out of everyone you could pick, you chose Furball?"

"Yes," Hiccup looked directly at Jack, meaning every word. Jack was slightly taken aback by Hiccup's response.

"Okay," Jack turned to Rapunzel. "You have a date, I trust?"

Rapunzel sighed and fiddled with a loose strand of her long blonde hair.

"No, not yet."

"Well," Jack smiled shyly, "I know someone who might be interested in going,"

"Who?" Rapunzel asked eagerly.

Jack looked into her huge green eyes and smiled slightly. Realisation dawned on her as she saw what he was trying to convey without words.

"Well, only if you want to of course -"

"Jack, I'd love to," Rapunzel smiled at him. Jack grinned broadly. Hiccup sighed slightly and played with the remains of his chicken sandwich. Why couldn't he be smooth like other guys?

What was wrong with him?