Berk, Minnesota

Hiccup POV

The first thing I remembered was the smell of browned, greasy bacon. The smell was both new and old at the same time and peaked my curiosity, which nowadays, not many things do. Slipping on my sandals and dodging through a mess of scattered drawings and half built contraptions, I rushed upstairs from my "room" in the basement and almost flew into the kitchen. There, to my absolute surprise, was my dad; sitting at the dining table and smiling at me.

Before I progress with this story I'd like to clear a few things up. 1. My dad NEVER smiles and hasn't for as long as I can remember. Not around me, anyway. 2. On the rare occasions that we eat together, and when we do, we either bicker to no end or we sit in an awkward silence. It was strange to say the least.

"Good mornin', Hiccup." my father boomed in his heavy Scandinavian accent.

Yeah, yeah, laugh it up. The name was my mother's idea. Apparently, it was the first sound she ever heard out of me... at least that's how my dad tells it.

"Hey… Dad." I made a poor attempt smile, although I'm pretty sure it just made me look constipated.

"Made ya breakfast." Usually, when my dad is doing something he doesn't want to, you can see right through whatever facade he has. This time however, he seemed quite genuinely happy I was there with him. I wasn't complaining, but I was suspicious.

"Dad, if this is another attempt to get me to go hunting with you and your friends, I already told you a hundred times that I don't like killing…"

"It's not about that." He said in a much more gruff and serious tone, cutting me off. "It's much more important."

"Am in trouble?" 'More than I usually am.' is what I actually meant. I'm not exactly the most popular person in my town. As if my name wasn't enough, whatever deity is up there granted me with extremely small arms and legs and put me in a town where playing sports and hunting makes you a man. Aside from that, I've had enough of my projects and inventions go awry that basically the whole town wants me either exiled or locked up for good.

"No, no. Quite the opposite actually. Do you remember that practice ACT ya took last year?"

"Yeah, I guess." Remember it? I eventually gave up on checking my email because of all the college spam I got. "I got a lot of junk mail from colleges, didn't read much of it."

"It's more than just colleges that want ya." He said as he handed me a pamphlet. "Apparently, your math and science scores were quite impressive. These people would like to make you a part of their school." I was shocked. Math and science always came easily to me, but never thought I could do anything that well. I was always known as Hiccup the Screwup, or Hiccup the Horrendous.

As I looked through the pamphlet, something immediately caught my eye.

"They have a mechanical engineering program!" I blurted out but quickly tried contain my excitement. I looked up and expected a look of disappointment on his face, but for the first time that I can remember I saw a look of pride on my dad's face.

I look down at the pamphlet, then back up at him. "But why all of this now? I thought you wanted me to be a hunter like you."

My dad looked down at the floor. Now that look I had recognized. It was the same one he had when my mother had passed away just over ten years ago. After some hesitation, he spoke. "I always knew that there was something different about you, son. You weren't like me or the kids your age or anyone in this town. You didn't want to hunt or fish or play sports. For the better part of your life, I thought there was something wrong with ya."

I averted my gaze downward, not able to meet his eyes. "Dad, I'm sorry that I'm not like…"

"Let me finish." He held his hand up and stopped me. "I realized that the fault was with me. I was never the best father to you. Especially after your mother passed, Odin rest her soul. I was so focused on pleasing the town and being a good mayor, that I forgot what my most important job was. I'm making up for that mistake now." His smile returned. "I'm sending you to a place where they can use some of… this." He said as he pointed towards me.

"You just gestured to all of me." I said not able to hide the smile from my face.

He let out a chuckle. "That I did, son." He took a sip of the strong smelling, black tar he called coffee and casually said, "By the way, they're going to be here in about two and a half hours. You should get to packin'."

My jaw dropped and I started to panic. 'Out of all the the things to give me short notice on.' I thought.

Just when I was about to run out of the room, I stopped myself.

"Hey Dad?"

He looked up at me from his breakfast. "Yes?"

"Thanks." I said. He smiled and gave me a thumbs up.

I ran downstairs to pack. This was going to be an interesting schoolyear.

Welp, there it is. Can't believe it, but that's the first chapter of my first story on fanfiction. By the way, the main seven characters will be Hiccup (obviously), Merida, Eugene, Rapunzel, Jack, Elsa, and Anna. Don't like the lineup, don't read the story. I also won't be getting into pairings because I feel like some people overlook very good stories just because it includes a pairing they don't like. I will say that I won't be doing any slash or femslash. I have nothing against the LGBT community and in fact have lots of friends who are a part of it. It's just not something I really enjoy writing or reading. Be sure to tell me what you think of the first chapter by review or PM. From now on, I'll probably do two POVs per chapter instead of one. Updates may be sporadic due to the upcoming schoolyear, but I'll try to be as consistent as possibru. With that said, peace out.