Chapter 1

"This man… must be crazy…"

I muttered silently to myself as school continued slowly on. My teacher, (the only teacher with a degree in Berk) had just sent his head into the not-so-soft pillow of his desk with a "Wham!" accompanied by a loud, obnoxious snore. This was a regular ritual by now. He would start the lesson off with almost too much energy, but halfway through, would start to yawn. Then, in the final stretches of what he had to say, would collapse on his desk and promptly pass out.

On any other day I might find this amusing, but today it just pissed me off. I curled one hand up into a fist and sat it underneath my chin, leaning my elbow on the desk. My cheek was pushed upward by the motion, blocking half of the view out of my right eye. "Well that's just grand. Now I guess I'm still the volunteer for Saturday's practice. That's going to make Dad sooo proud, huh?"

I let out an exasperated sigh, letting my head fall down into the desk, much like 's had. I rarely asked for things from my dad. This was caused halfway by the mere intimidation my father held, but also my basic social-awkwardness and inability to stop mumbling. Stoick "The Vast" Haddock (a title he put all of his pride in), was my father. This name didn't exaggerate. He was the tallest, broadest, and bulkiest man in town.

I was the "scrawniest" teen. I was in pretty good shape, had some nice arm muscles even, but when you compared my short and lanky self to the rest of the people in town (girls included) I just wasn't up to par. This little fact never became more apparent to me than when I was standing next to my father, talking about sports.

I shuddered at the thought, but was interrupted by the loud wheezing of the outdated intercom's bell. This brought a small frown to my face while the rest of the class let out relieved whoops and cheers. It was Friday, but I definitely wasn't happy about it. I lifted my head from the desk and gathered the papers on it into a small pile.

Almost all of them had random doodles lining their edges. Some of them were scribbles of people I knew, others of objects I saw, but the best ones were always the dragons. I don't know why I still liked them so much, honestly. There was just something extremely intriguing to me about flying monsters that could breathe fire. That didn't make me sound like a five year old or anything…

I once again let out a sigh, and quietly stuffed the papers into my backpack. I was about to stand up when I felt a small slap on my shoulder. Astrid laughed at my surprised face as I flinched away from the gesture. "Calm down, short stack, geez." She teased as I gave a small pout at the unwanted nickname.

"Oh shut up." I answered grumpily, sending Astrid into a giggle. Even if she was my friend, she couldn't help but pick on me about my size once in a while. "Don't be so grumpy, I've got good news... But I could always just leave if you don't wanna hear it…" she joked, pretending to walk way. I paid her no mind, too fed up with life to do so. "Good news? What do you mean?" I asked, ignoring her earlier threat of walking away. She turned back to me with a sly smile, "What's this? Short stack actually wants to hear me talk for once?" she mocked. I rolled my eyes, "Yes he does… just this once though."

The girl pushed out a breath, blowing her blonde bangs out of her eyes. "Gosh, so cruel. So guess what?" She asked, intent on dragging out my patience. I gave her a glare, seeing right through her. "Can't you just tell me?" I asked, too mentally drained to think up a snarky comeback. Astrid looked a little put off by my lack of interest, but she could tell when done was done.

Putting her joking aside, "Ok, fine." She gave me a look of triumph. "Then guess who took your spot as volunteer next Saturday." She said, throwing a knowing glance over at me, currently pushing my chair back into the desk after standing. I raised my eyebrows suddenly, "Astrid? You didn't!" I stood up board straight, concern covering my features.

She raised her hand to stop me, "No need to thank me. I don't know what you're doing, but whatever it is, it's obviously more important than some stupid football practice." She said, smiling. My face held the same worried expression for a moment, but quickly fell into a laid-back grin. I scratched at the back of my neck. "Um… thanks Astrid, uh… really, that's perfect actually. Thanks…" I trailed off, fading into my usual awkward mumbles.

Astrid couldn't help but laugh. "Yeah, yeah. I know I'm the best." She said, throwing me a wink. I rolled my eyes again, falling back into normal conversation with the girl. We walked out of the old school together, leaving the sleeping bear of a teacher behind. We talked about recent assignments, Astrid's new sports stories, and my artistic endeavors.

I carefully evaded any question about what might be happening on Saturday, much to her dislike. We walked along the roads and rows of houses to her own, where we said our goodbyes for the day. Other teens that lived on and around the same road walked their way home as well, since everyone lived in the same general area. Berk was a small town; that much was for certain.

I trudged along, feeling the loss of feeling in my nose as the temperature dropped ever lower. There had been a warning for snow later on that night, but I was sure that my bad luck would bring it sooner, like it always had. I tried to get myself into a better mood, attempting to locate a fake smile to put on display for my Dad.

A least today I would no longer have to explain that yes, I would be going to practice, but no, I wouldn't be playing... again. I always got chosen as the "volunteer" trainer. It was a less-than-fun job and I knew that Astrid was really being generous by taking it over for me. Pulling angry, injured players off the field and forcing them to drink something wasn't exactly anyone's idea of the best Saturday. But now that I was off the hook…

I found myself on the home stretch of the walk home when I heard my cousin's sneering laughter behind me. "Hey Hic!" He called, putting extreme emphasis on the name. "Heard you dropped out of the volunteer next Saturday. Letting a girl take your spot? Not like I reject to that, I mean I'd rather see Astrid's face than yours any day, but seriously? Come on. How much of a wimp can you be?" He jeered, jogging up to my side with his friends not far behind. They were surrounding me on all sides, elbowing me in the ribs with each remark Snotlout made.

My blood boiled with each comment, building up a silent pressure inside. Don't say anything Hiccup. Your house is just a short walk away. Don't say-"Would you just shut up Snotlout?" I grumbled, looking down.

The comment didn't go unnoticed by my prideful companion. "What did you say?" He asked, suddenly gripping the collar of my shirt and forcing me to turn. I knew that was a bad idea… why did I never listen to my intuition? God, I'm such an idiot. I laughed nervously, fear reaching up into my eyes. "Uh, um… I mean, er… Please?" I whispered, immediately knowing that would not be the right answer.

Snotlout's face was turned up into a grimace. He only glared at me as he slowly raised his fist up past his ear, "Wanna try that again?" He asked, his voice coming out in a deep growl. This was not good. This was really, really, really not good. I brought my hands up to the sides of my face, signaling surrender. "Sorry! Sorry! It won't happen again!" I whimpered, trying anything to get the other boy to loosen his grip. All of Snotlout's friends that had gathered around us growled out insults, egging him on, pushing him to take one out on me.

It didn't exactly take much.

Snotlout pulled back, a menacing grin on his face as he spat into my face, "You bet it won't." I cringed in fear, trying to guard my face with upturned hands to no avail. Snotlout's fist collided with my right cheek, sending me to the ground. He was going easy this time.

My left side hit the hard cement of the sidewalk, sending pain pulsing through me. The impact left me with an immediate headache. I groaned in pain as I opened my eyes, trying to see which attack would be next. All of the boys stared down at me with amused grins. From my back came another round of pain as a booted foot barreled into it. I curled into a ball, awaiting the many other kicks that would soon be coming from all sides.

"Hey!" someone called from behind us, a voice I didn't recognize. None of the anticipated kicks came, as the call had interrupted them. I slowly opened my eyes again, careful not to look at any of the boys directly. Coming from the doorstep of the house behind them, a boy stood. Trying not to move too much, I could only see him out of my peripheral vision. From this view, all I could pick out was a dark blue hoodie.

"You mind not beating someone up right in front of my house? It's kinda annoying to clean blood out of cement." He said, before disappearing from my sight as he walked towards the group. I could hear the boys' surprised grunts as his footsteps drew closer to them.

What was he doing? I was frozen in my position on the sidewalk, too scared to move. It was especially quiet now that he was standing on the edge of the circle. "Besides, what's so fun about an entire group ganging up on one person?" The boy challenged, bringing further wonder from me.

Behind my shoulder, I could sense the tension that came over Snotlout. "And just who the hell are you?" He asked, with all the social grace his ugly mug could muster. I heard the boy move away, walking back into his yard, into my vision. He picked up something from the porch, but I couldn't tell what it was.

"Does that mean I'm going to have to force you away?" he asked, some humor slipping into his voice. Snotlout coughed a laugh. "Just what you gonna do? Hit us with that little stick o' yours?" He mocked.

Oh, so that's what it was. The boy disappeared from view again as he approached the group. Snotlout stepped over me, crossing over to the boy. All eyes were on the strange guy instead of me now, so I turned slightly, trying to get a better view.

"He has white hair." Of course that would be the first thing that crossed my mind. Not something helpful, like say, "He's pointing a big stick at Snotlout's face." Realizing this, I crept up to a sitting position as the two boys stepped closer together. "Actually, yes. That is exactly what I plan to do." The white-haired boy said, a smile coming over his lips.

My eyes widened in surprise and awe. No one had ever stood up to Snotlout before. Well, except for Astrid, but they had tried to keep that one on the down low. He could see Snotlout's breathing becoming heavier with his anger. "Yeah? I'd like to see you try." He threatened. This only brought a wider grin to the other guy's face. The boy laughed a few times, obviously enjoying something. "Okaaaaay. But don't say you weren't asking for it." He said, but before Snotout could process the words, the boy had swung the crooked side of the stick down to his knees. He jerking the stick forward. Snotlout fell with a surprised cry, looking back up angrily at the boy. "I'll smash your face in you-!"

His sentence was cut short as the stick came slapping over the side of his face, knocking him over. He landed on the cement just like I had. All of the boys shuffled back a few steps, worried by this new competitor. The boy laughed, and it pealed happily through the woods behind his house and echoed through the neighborhoods surrounding them. "I told you!" He said, still in good humor.

Snotlout jumped to his feet in one second, a growling noise making its way up into his throat. He rushed at the boy, but he only dodged swiftly to the side, leaving the other to trip into his lawn. This brought him into pure hysterics, looking at his sprawled out form on the ground. The boy walked over to him, rolling the confused and disoriented giant to his back.

"I would get out of here before I decide to really kick you out." He said, one foot on top of the other's chest. Snotlout quickly swatted it off of him, scurrying to the side in an attempt to get away. He stood up with the same confused and defeated expression. It quickly soured into an angry, vengeful scowl. "C'mon." He told the others, motioning with his head in the opposite direction.

All of their faces lit up in surprise and fear as they scampered back to their leader's side. Snotlout sent me one last glare on the ground where I still sat. "Don't think this is the end yet, Hic." He threatened, then turned on his heel and walked with the group down the next road over.

I sat in amazement, unable to take my eyes off of the retreating group. Did Snotlout just lose? Against a skinny boy like that?! I found a small grin slowly slinking up the side of my face, only to notice the pain it caused my cheeks. "Ouch…" I mumbled, reaching up to gauge the intensity of my new wounds. A cold hand stopped me in my tracks. "Don't touch it… it's bleeding." He explained, pushing my hand back down to the side.

The boy had a gentle and comforting expression on. He grabbed onto my other hand and helped me up off the cement. "Uh, um… t-thanks." I managed to push past my already stuttering lips. The boy shook his head, "Eh, it's no problem. I can't stand guys like that."

I dusted myself off a few times, feeling new bruises begin to form along my side. "Well, crap." I grumbled, noticing a rip at the knee of my left pant leg. The boy leaned over to examine it, "So you've got some scrapes down there too, huh?" he noted to himself. He looked back up at me with a friendly smile, "Here, come with me." He said, pointing over to the house behind him.

I was confused for a moment, but then realized that the he was already moving in the house's direction. Without thinking, my legs moved themselves to the space behind him. As he opened the door to let me inside, he turned back around and said, "My name's Jackson, by the way. Jackson Overland Frost, but you can call me Jack."

He closed the door once I was fully inside, and I turned to face him, "Ah… Hiccup." I said, ducking my head into a nod. The other boy's eyebrows rose in question, "Pardon?"

I shook my head a few times, trying to act normal. "Oh, um, I mean my name is… uh, Hiccup." I stuttered. That was just beautiful. Great first impression there. To my surprise the other boy chuckled. "Is that like a nickname?" He asked, genuinely intrigued. I looked over the smiling boy, wondering why he had helped me in the first place. "Nope. My name really is Hiccup." I said, ashamedly.

(Jack's POV)

I crossed past him further into the house, leading towards the stairs. "That's actually really cool. If not a little jocular." I told him. His face lit up in wonder at the praise, blushing a little behind the scratches on his cheeks. "Uhm… thanks I guess?"

I laughed at his reaction, quickly scaling the first few stairs. "Here, I'll go get the first aid kit." I told him, walking a little bit quicker up them. Hiccup let out a noise of rejection, stopping me. "That's ok, actually." He spoke up meekly, "My house is the one right next to this one so…" He let the sentence trail off a little. He swayed back and forth awkwardly for a second, contemplating what to say next.

"I'm used to these kinds of things happening so I'll, um, just get cleaned up at my place." He said, excusing himself from the room. I didn't really hear any of it except for one specific part. "So you're my neighbor, then?" I asked, climbing back down the stairs, excitement brightening my features. He turned back from his retreat out the door. "Well, yeah. Typically the people who live in the house next to you are called neighbors." He chided, and for a moment a small smirk crossed his features.

His attempt at dry humor made me laugh once again. "So I'll get to see you again today. We're still unpacking so it'll be a bit later but… still kinda fun to meet earlier than formal introductions, huh?" I asked, trying to keep the conversation up and running. He sheepishly dug his foot into the carpet. A normal move, but something about it seemed… off?

I tried to pay it no mind, keeping to my own business. "Wait right here and I'll be right back. You can wash your face in the kitchen sink. There's a towel beside it." I told him, once again rushing up the stairs. I passed my uncle Aster's room, already unpacked and cleaned of empty boxes. I never did understand how he got things done so quickly. Inwardly congratulating the man, seeing as how he wasn't in the house, I made my way to the other side of the hallway into the bathroom.

It was… pink.

It made me frown a little each time I saw it. Whoever had been living in the house before us had certainly liked the color, because it was the same as two others in the house. We had unpacked this room earlier, so I knew exactly where to find the kit. Pulling a cabinet door open, I grabbed the white box out of a corner.

It knocked over a few bottles on the trek out, but I left those as they were, trying to get back to the boy in my living room as quick as I could. A couple seconds later I was back on ground level with the box. Hiccup still looked a little freaked out by the whole ordeal, but I decided he would just have to get over it. In his current condition I couldn't let him just go home. He didn't seem like the type that really knew anything about treating wounds.

I walked toward the opening into the kitchen just as he was getting back to the living room from washing his face. The kitchen, of course, just had to be pink. Embarrassing as it was, I still flipped on the light switch (since he was too timid to turn it on when he was in there earlier, apparently). The kitchen had the brightest lighting in the house, so it would be good to treat him in there. I pulled a chair out from under the large wooden table in the center of the room. "Take a seat." I told him, sitting down in the chair next to it.

He looked at the chair and back at me a couple times, approaching slowly. It looked like a kitten getting used to its new home. I had to chuckle under my breath at the thought of that. "Come on." I told him, smirking a bit. "I don't bite… often."

At this he raised a cowardly half-smile, trying to be polite, but I could tell he was still scared. Be it from the pain, surprise from what just happened, his own uncoordinated nature, or a mix of all three, he was visibly shaking. I felt bad for the poor guy. He was pretty small, so it wasn't really a wonder why they had decided to pick on him.

Stupid as that reason was, it was probably the truth. Once Hiccup had finally settled down into the chair, calming down slightly, I picked through the kit until I came across the bottle of hydrogen peroxide and some cotton balls. I twisted the lid off of the top of the bottle and drizzled some of the liquid onto one of the white puffs.

He reached his hand out for it, but I just pushed past it, and started to wipe at the scrapes myself. At first his face only held surprise, but then one eye closed as the peroxide stung at him. A small hiss escaped his clenched lips as I continued on to his other cheek. "Sorryyy. Just give me two more seconds." I told him, cleaning out the last few raw spots. As soon as it was done, he sighed in relief.

I gave him a weak smile as I picked back through the kit. Finding the small tube of Neosporin and a few Q-tips, I set to work on getting the scrapes covered with something. By now he had accepted that he wasn't allowed to treat his own face and leaned in a little as I carefully applied the cream. "So, what was that all about anyway?" I asked him, cutting through the silence.

He gulped a little and laughed nervously, "Heh. Well they would've found anything as an excuse really. That was my cousin, Snotlout." He explained. I blinked in surprise, "Your cousin? Geez, what kind of family problems do you have?" I asked in amazement, realizing too late that it was probably a personal question. I immediately pushed away the thought with a wave of my hand, "Sorry, you don't have to answer that."

He shook his head slightly and gave a small smile, "Nah, it's fine. I can see how it would look to an outsider. Honestly, we've never gotten along." He said, a bit of a sigh escaping his lips. "So basically, he hates me because I'm the heir to the family business and not him. Ouch!" He yelped as I accidently pressed too hard into one of the cuts. "Sorry! Sorry!" I apologized quickly.

"So this family business or whatever, is it really such a big deal?" I asked, wondering how something so simple could cause someone to beat up their own cousin. He tilted his head to the side a little. The light that fell on his jawline found scars much like the ones I was cleaning up now. The freckles on his cheeks helped to hide the higher ones. How many times had this happened before?

"Well it's more of a status thing I guess? Anyway, my Dad's the current president and he fully plans for me to inherit the company." He said, deflating a little more. I got the feeling I was only making him feel worse. Way to go, Jack, way to go. I laughed off the comment, trying to find something easier to talk about. "So are all the people here like that? I mean, I'm sure I just made an absolutely wonderful impression on your cousin there, but I'd like to know if I just completely screwed myself over on a social life." I said, throwing him a teasing smile.

He smirked a little, "Sorry to say, but your bravery has been in vain, young knight. Snotlout and his buddies are the biggest whiney-babies of all time. So by tomorrow, you'll either be known as a great hero among the dorks, or a menace among the socially adept."

I let out a good laugh at that, a full grin covering my features and wrinkling the corners of my eyes. "I honestly like that." I said in earnest. Finishing up with the Neosporin, I covered the major scratches with a Band-Aid or two, leaving the rest to heal on their own. "That should fix you up." I said, leaning back in the chair. I turned sideways to rest my back on the table, and pulled one leg up to my chest, letting the other dangle at my side.

He looked relieved, and gently prodded at the side of one of the bandages. "Uh thanks, Jack for, um well, this…" He said, pointing his finger in a circle around his face, "and of course helping me back there."

I shrugged my shoulders, accepting it. "So you'll be coming to school tomorrow then. Why so soon?" He asked, bringing both of his legs up in the chair and peeping up over his knees. I shrugged again, "Eh, it's no fun being stuck at home unpacking all day. I'd rather go ahead and get started I guess."

Almost as soon as I had ended the sentence, a ringtone went off. Hiccup gave a surprised jump at it, still edgy from his earlier nerves I guessed. He pulled a green cell phone out of his pocket and flipped its top over. I could hear a deep mumbling coming out of the speaker as he lifted it to his ear.

"Oh, uh, hey Astrid." He said. Giving him some privacy, I walked up and went to the fridge. Inside, there wasn't much of anything. We hadn't gone shopping since the move, so we only brought what little food we could stuff inside an ice chest. Giving up on that search, I aimed for the bag of chips on the counter instead.

"Well, duh, it happened again. Doesn't it always? It's not like they're just going to stop right out of the blue." He said, an annoyed look coming over him. "Yeah, yeah. I know that. It's just that I really can't do anything about it. You know where I stand on the whole thing."

I ripped the bag open and reached inside for two or three. "Ok, ok! I will but I'm um, kinda busy at the moment so can't we talk about this later?" Stuffing them in my mouth, I sat back down in the chair. "Mhmm, yep. Yes, thank you mom that's very helpful. Ok, bye." He said, rolling his eyes as he snapped the phone shut again.

I tilted the bag towards him. "Want some?" I asked, taking up my former position. He shook his head, "Thanks, but no thanks. I've gotta get home soon." He said, standing up from the chair. I laid the bag of chips on the table and pouted a little, "Leaving me so soon?" I asked, standing up beside him. He seemed to have warmed up to me a little as he shook his head and laughed. "Sorry, but it's not like you won't be seeing my gorgeous face again in a couple of hours anyway." He said, smirking.

I pulled on a smirk of my own, and snapped my fingers in fake disappointment, "Darn! And here I was thinking I'd get to just stare at you and your pretty bandages all day." I let out a huge sigh, bringing him to a chuckle as we ended up at the door. I opened it for him once again, and he led himself outside. It was still pretty early in the evening even though it seemed like the time it took us to patch up his face had taken a bit of time.

He gave me a small two fingered salute as he made his way down to the sidewalk from the porch. "See you in a while then, I guess." He said, pausing only momentarily for my answer. "Yeah, see ya." I told him, stepping back into the house a little ways. He nodded, then turned around and made a beeline for his house to the right. I shut the door as he was walking and went to go put up the chips. That's when I suddenly remembered that he had injured his knee as well. Dang it. I sat the chips back down on the counter, putting them away before I got the urge to eat more. I leaned back beside them, letting my elbows prop me up as I crossed my ankles in front of me. I scratched absently at my nose as I sat, deep in thought.

"Hiccup, huh? Funny name."

Hello Everybody!

To all of my new readers: Thank you so much for reading this and I hope you'll enjoy the rest of the story as well!

To all of my older readers: I am so sorry it took me so long to fix this chapter! Thank you all for your reviews and encouraging comments and I hope you'll continue to follow the story as I put up new chapters as well!