AU.

I don't own Brave, How to Train Your Dragon, Rise of the Guardians, or Tangled! end/AN/

"She just won't listen to me!" Merida threw herself back against the tree trunk, which her hair stuck to a little, holding an apple but not biting it. She was too busy talking, her Scottish burr making each word inherently musical and fascinating.

Rapunzel patted her shoulder, shoving one hand into her paint-spattered overalls. "I'm sorry about your mom." She couldn't comprehend having such disagreements with her mother every day; her mother just told her what she needed, what to do, then she did it. The last thing she had ever argued with her mother about was going to a normal high school, instead of being homeschooled.

A breeze whipped the smell of wet grass around their noses, and Merida let out a groan. "She's just- you know, she never stops to think that maybe I don't want to learn how to play the flute, or that I might want a life outside of going to her college! What kind of park ranger goes to college?"

Rapunzel nodded, not at all sure if park rangers went to college. She let out a sigh, adding, "I think it's so cool that you want to work in a forest; that sounds like a lot of fun."

Merida snorted, rolling her eyes. "You won't make enough money!" she imitated, sticking her chin up and making a prissy face. "Why won't you just become a scientist and earn enough for retirement? She doesn't understand me at all! I don't need to be rich, I just want to be outside, in nature!"

Rapunzel laid against the grass, inhaling the smell and feeling the sun break through the boughs above them and gently warm her face. "Mhm. I mean, so long as you're happy, right?"

"Right! It shouldn't matter to her what I do as long as I'm happy!" Merida tucked her legs against her, her big shorts crinkling. "And you should have heard her yesterday! Don't wear a t-shirt and those baggy shorts, you look like a boy! As if anyone with my hair could look like a boy!"

Laughing, Rapunzel turned over, saying, "You've got the craziest hair I've ever seen."

"You're one to talk, Miss Hair-Down-to-the-Ankles. How you keep it so smooth and pretty, I'll never know," Merida retorted, a grin on her face. She reached out to grab the tail of Rapunzel's long braid, playing with it.

Rapunzel let out a giggle. "It grows faster than anyone else's; why not keep it as long as it can go? Besides, my mom loves my hair. I wouldn't cut it unless she said to."

"You've got to cut the apron strings," Merida commented, setting down the braid and grabbing her lunch box. "They'll be wanting us back inside soon. I hope you ate all your food?"

Rapunzel had had a problem finishing food on time the first semester; she wasn't used to having to rush, and she felt like she was going to choke, shoveling it all in like some of the other students did. But now, she'd finally caught up, and could eat as fast as Merida. "Yes, of course. Don't treat me like a baby." She poked Merida in the shoulder, getting up with a laugh.

And they walked into the busy school building, which had far too few windows to see outside, and every light had the sterile impression of a hospital about it, especially with the white walls and floors. It would be another day stuck inside, and both girls dreamed of a day when they wouldn't be stuck at the institution.

Jack looked out from under his hood, watching the other kids mill about the lunchroom. He bit off a piece of his fudgesicle (he didn't get brain freeze), mulling over what lives the people had. Anything had to be more interesting than talking to no one.

He wasn't bitter; really, he wasn't. It was just that, he had been in this school system all his life, and the last time he'd had a friend had been in early middle school. It was as if he was invisible; no one seemed to look at him, not even the people he shared a lunch table with. Who, coincidentally, had bunched around the other end of the table, talking to each other in obnoxious, self-absorbed voices.

He'd dyed his hair; it was bleach blonde, just to see if anyone would notice. Not even the punks had noticed him, or the hipsters; he supposed the flip-flops he chronically wore sort of distracted from his potential coolness.

All in all, he was feeling kind of sorry for himself today. Was it so much to ask for direction? Just a friendly push in the right way? His father was no help, practically nonexistent in his life; a Jericho Frost, from whom he'd gotten his last name and not much else. His mother worked two jobs to keep them in a good place financially. He buried his face in his hands, thinking that if no one talked to him again today, he might do something drastic…

"Um, hi, can I sit here?"

Jack looked up. In front of him stood an awkward, uncomfortable brown-haired boy; on his tray was an apple, a milk, and two sandwiches. A healthy lunch. Under his arm, barely held up by the awkward tuck, was a thick book.

"Is it okay? I mean, if it's not, I can find somewhere else…"

"No, no, it's fine. You can sit right there." Jack gestured across from him, and, suddenly remembering manners, stated, "I'm Jack."

"I'm Hiccup." Instantly, Hiccup seemed to assume that his name was going to be laughed at, because he said, with a groan, "It was my mom's idea. She was sort into Norse religion or something; she said a name like that would confuse the evil creatures, or something. Personally, I think she just used it as an excuse because she thought it was cute."

"Oh. Okay." Jack wasn't at all bothered by the strange name, of course, but if Hiccup wanted to carry on about it, that was his business. "So, how come you're sitting here? Don't you have somewhere else you usually sit?"

"Well…" Hiccup looked a bit unsure, scratching the back of his neck as he sat, "I'm a boxer. A very, very bad one; it's my dad's thing, he just… well, he is a boxer, so he wants me to be a boxer, and… anyway, my boxer 'friends' made me leave the table for doing so badly at a match yesterday. So, yeah, I'm kind of a loser."

Jack shrugged. "Well, you can sit there as long as you want." He eyed the book, asking, "What's the book about?"

"Oh, this?" Hiccup lifted the book, sheepishly saying, "It's… it's about pitbulls. You know, the dog. I just… I saw one around, and the other boxers have been throwing things at it and stuff. I thought maybe if I understood it, well… It's stupid, but I thought maybe I could make it go away instead of having to scare it away every time."

"Pitbull? Good luck with that. They're vicious," Jack commented, cracking his knuckles after throwing the last bit of fudgesicle in his mouth. Then he smiled. "But hey, got to give you points for trying. You've probably got more guts than the rest of them."

"Yeah." Hiccup was quiet, digging into his lunch. "So, how come you sit alone here?"

Jack shrugged, saying, "No one's sat with me before. Simple as that." Was it really that weird that no one had noticed him before now? He briefly wondered if Hiccup was here for some prank, but dismissed that as silly. Why would someone prank him?

They sat in relative silence, occasionally offering questions to the other, as Hiccup wolfed down his lunch.

Jack learned a few things about Hiccup: he was an only child, just like him. He also seemed to have a passion for learning, occasionally reading aloud from the book while they sat there. He managed to make it sound interesting, like pitbull breeding was something that Jack would want to get into all of a sudden.

Jack was actually very disappointed when the bell rang; he gave Hiccup a quick salute, and said, "See you!"

"See you tomorrow!" Hiccup said, and then he scurried off.

Jack stared after him. Huh, had he made a friend? Probably too soon to call him a friend. Still, he wanted to see where it went…

/AN/ I just had to write a Big Four/Rise of the Brave Tangled Dragons fic. I might keep this just a oneshot, though it was very fun to write… Hope you enjoyed it.