DISLAIMER: I do not own How To Train Your Dragon. Rights belong to Cressida Cowell and Dreamworks.

Berk, just one of your run of the mill, Viking villages on the Viking Archipelago along the Meridian of Misery located almost near the icy roof of the planet (and just like any other village in this side of the world; also suffering from the occassional dragon raids from time to time). It was a peaceful morning; no dragon raid happened for the past few weeks, no marauding neighboring Viking villagers. All in all, for the residents of this little village, this would be a quiet day until…

"YOU WANT ME TO WHAT!?" a loud voice from the local forge gets the attention of the people living in the small village. Said voice comes from Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III, the 21 year old son of the chief of the Hairy Hooligans; former heir apparent to the chiefdom; and current apprentice to the local blacksmith, Gobber the Belch.

Inside the Forge, Hiccup's Section

"Get any louder and you'd be waking up Mr-Sleeps-A-Lot*." Hadrian remarked dryly. "You'd have to wonder how he keeps his job."

Hiccup chuckles at the remark before saying, "Well, he is very good at what he does."

"Yep. Luckily for him…anyway we're getting out out of topic. I want you to sing at you're fiance's birthday celebration party tomorrow night.", the man adds while talking a calm but rather teasing manner.

"Are you serious? You want me to sing on front of virtually everyone in the tribe? To Astrid? On her birthday." Hiccup replied in an irritated, disbelieving tone.

Hadrian simply raised his eyebrows and nodded.

"Unbelievable." Hiccup says while facepalming with his left hand.

Hadrian simply sighs while putting a hand on Hiccup's shoulder in a brotherly display of affection. "Look. I know you and Astrid don't exactly get along too well, but give it a chance."

"That's a way to say it." Hiccup cuts him off at that. "Astrid wouldn't come near me even if she's on fire and the only one in the village holding a bucket of water was me." he adds.

"You don't actually know that." Hadrian replies. Hiccup gives him a weird look basically saying 'what' in his mind. "You'd be pretty surprised at what people would be willing to do once their survival instincts kick in". Hadrian finishes.

Hiccup simply inhaled deeply, wanting no more from the conversation as he resumed his work absentmindedly hammering on a sword. His companion sat around on a vacant table in the workshop and brought out a book he brought with him earlier before going to the forge and started reading.

For a short time, the Roman looks to his sworn brother who was busily working in the forge. He knew that Hiccup and Astrid were engaged simply because everyone in the tribe wanted Astrid to be chief and the only other way for her to be so without resulting to the murder of the father-and-son Haddocks would be to marry into the Haddock family; an arrangement which according to Hiccup was one Astrid seem to dislike with much passion.

"Its like...you know when dad basically told her a month ago that she has to marry me in order to be chief, you weren't here yet that day when dad talked to her about the arrangement. You should have seen how she looked like. She seemed as if some waiter got her order wrong." Hiccup suddenly says breaking the awkward silence in the room while stopping on his work. "I mean seriously. She got this look that basically says 'Waiter, I asked for a fiance that's got big biceps on him. You know the type which I could get lost on in my dreams. I didn't ask for a skinny chicken. I'm not paying for this' ." he adds, with the last part of him talking in a rather girly pitch complete with the appropriate facial and hand gestures in an obvious attempt to impersonate the blonde shieldmaiden.

Hadrian simply gives him a bemused look then says, "Wow. I don't know whether to be disturbed or actually impressed with that...I mean the last time, sensei and I loved the whole 'Barmaid thing', I never thought you actually have an Astrid version of it...anyways...Look Hiccup, like it or not, you two will be stuck with each other once you tie the knot. The least you have do would be to actually try to make it work."

"You think I didn't try that before. I was with her and dad when they went to the annual meeting of Chieftains in Shivering Shores last week." Hiccup replies. "Not a word. I didn't hear a word from her. The only thing I heard were grunts and looks which basically could kill me if God actually makes it so that glares can actually kill. We were on the same ship and she looked like she'd rather jump off the ship if she had a choice rather than talk to me. I had better time talking people like Heather who I just recently met." He rants out.

"Heather...who now?" the Roman asked, a bit surprised as apparently another woman caught his sworn brother's eyes.

"Heather." Hiccup corrected. "Oswald the Agreeable's daughter. Heard of her before when good ol' Oswald comes here to visit. First time meeting her last week though."

"Wait…I thought you were into Astrid." Hadrian remarked, something that earned a glare from Hiccup which the former simply shrugged off. "Wait, don't tell me...it's is the old 'make her jealous' routine eh? Nice work." Hadrian says, apparently putting two things together in his mind while at the same time playfully punching the other guy on the shoulders in a boxer-like stance.

"NO. I mean yeah she's nice, pretty, and all that but she's way too edgy for me. Besides, apparently she's been corresponding with Fishlegs for a long time now." Hiccup corrects his sworn brother while chuckling himself a little.

"Fishlegs...we're talking about the same Fishlegs Ingerman right? Local bookworm and all?" Hadrian wonders; suddenly stopping from his playful punches on Hiccup. Hiccup simply nods his head.

"Yup. Apparently Heather's got a thing for big softies." Hiccup says then chuckles. "Who knew. No wonder he stopped fawning over Ruffnut ever since I got back. She approached me with a letter she wants to be delivered to Fishlegs. Its way faster that way than having the letter be delivered by Trader Johann."

"Oh. Wow. I didn't expect that. I've got nothing on Fishlegs and all, but he seems to be the type to be too busy reading to ever get any attention or focus his attention for any girl." Hadrian says...surprised at both revelations; his first impression of the Ingermann was that of someone wholeheartedly immersed in scholarly pursuits (quite a rare thing in Vikings as he has observed) and is too busy to devote himself to someone in a romantic manner; second is that someone like Fishlegs is actually attracted to someone so strange as Ruffnut.

"Then again I haven't been here long. I should get to know more about your guys here." the Roman finally remarks.

Hiccup simply gives a small smile, but then frowns remembering the events from last week. "You know what was insulting; I was all day out there talking to everyone and all, and whenever I try to get close to her to try to work things out as you say, she simply ditches me off. Its like I killed her family or something. The only time she actually talked to me there was when we were leaving the Isles and she said, 'Get ready. We're leaving'.", he says sadly.

"You know, really. Before all this, there was a time when we actually get along quite well..before all this 'growing up to be a Viking stuff'….anyway...seems nothing changed between us. Not six years ago when I left Berk, and certainly not since I returned." Hiccup finally adds as he continues on his work.

With that the two resumed their activities for the morning. Hadrian wanted to say more to console the younger man but he decides to leave it at that for now. With that Hadrian decides to leave the forge silently, leaving Hiccup to be consumed in his work

'You've waited for a long time for this Hiccup.' the Roman says in his mind as he solemnly looks at his sworn brother.

"Bùyào fàngqì." Hadrian whispers before completely leaving the smithy, making sure that Hiccup didn't hear him say those words.

A/N:

So this is my first attempt at writing a fanfic from the How To Train Your Dragon Franchise (Who am I kidding, this is my first attempt to write a fanfic). This story is a threeshot which is part of a series that I'm planning to work on in the future. In my story, Hiccup goes on an 'extended vacation' from Berk at the age of 15 just right after the Night Fury fiasco happened in canon. He returns later when he reaches 21. He travels to mainland Europe where he meets and befriends my OC Hadrian, a 'Roman' (actually he's from Constantinople but during those times, people from the Byzantine Empire were also referred to as Romans as it was after all the Eastern Roman Empire); and Kakunoshin Ni'itsu (Fujiwara Ni'itsu), a ronin who is Hadrian's swordmaster. The old rounin takes Hiccup under his wing as a second apprentice. The three would travel across Europe and Asia involving themselves in odd and lighthearted misadventures until the time Ni'itsu dies of old age and Hiccup finally returns to Berk. This is where our story begins.

*Some other differences from the canon:

a. Stoick doesn't go searching for the Nest after the raid during the canon of the first movie...Berk still makes it through winter obviously.

b. Dragon training begins when they turn 18. Hiccup having left three years prior doesn't undergo dragon training. (Much like every other fanfics, Astrid obviously gets to kill the Nightmare...a shame I've always liked Hookfang)

c. Heather is Oswald's heir. Dagur does not exist in this story. She meets the rest of the Berkian teens three years before Hiccup returns to Berk. Also unlike Dagur from the OTL who Hiccup knew as a kid, Heather and Hiccup never met before, despite that the fact that the Hairy Hooligans and the Berserkers are allies.

d. Valka stays dead. Sorry guys. Good thing is that she doesn't die of a dragon raid. She just dies of an incurable disease.