The Hopeless

It really, really sucked when your father was the chief of police.

Hiccup would know, since that was the exact position his own father proudly held in the City of Burk. Which, by the way, wasn't the safest or most crime-free city in the world. Far from it, actually. Before Stoick took command, corruption and chaos ran rampant in Berk, and The Chief had faced it all head on. Now Stoick was feared by the criminal element and revered by everyone else as the hero who saved the city.

And Hiccup?

"Hey, isn't that the chief's son?"

Hiccup was that.

"Hiccup? What are you doing out on the streets?" Sighing quietly, Hiccup turned to regard the police cruiser that had slowed to a crawl to match his walking pace, annoyance bubbling in him as other on the street watched in interest to see why the officers were speaking to the twelve year old.

"I'm selling my body to strangers. Can't you tell?" Hiccup deadpanned as he motioned to his scrawny form, which looked even more pathetic in the down coat he wore to keep Berk's biting cold at bay. Neither officers looked amused at the young brunet's crack. The boy handcuffed in the back seat, however, gave a snort of amusement. Well at least someone here appreciated Hiccup's sense of humor.

"You should get inside, kid. Isn't it past your curfew?"

"It's seven!" Hiccup pointed out, annoyance building when the officers refused to leave him alone.

"And you're grounded and not supposed to be out past four." The officer countered, making Hiccup groan. He honestly suspected that Stoick had a special unit which had the sole purpose of following him to keep him out of trouble, which guarantee that Hiccup couldn't get away with so much as crossing the street without looking both ways.

"I was grounded. For two weeks. Ending today. Anyways, I'm just going to see my dad at the station. Not exactly a crime. Now shouldn't you guys be writing up parking tickets or something?" As far as Hiccup was concerned, the only perk that came with being 'The Chief's Son' was the fact that he could say whatever he wanted to any cop, and none of them would do anything more that glare at him. He made a point to abuse this privilege as often as he could.

"Hop in. We were just taking this punk in for vandalizing a store. We'll give you a ride." The officer said, looking pretty unaffected by Hiccup's snark even though his partner was giving the boy a pretty dirty look.

"I'm less than a block away!" Hiccup exclaimed, exasperated. "How much trouble do you really think I can get in from here to the station?!" Unfortunately, Hiccup had punctuated this statement with wave of his hand, which knocked a passerby's phone out of his hand.

"That was a new phone!" The man growled with a glare at Hiccup's much smaller form. Large, beefy hands lifted the twelve year old off his feet, pinning him against a light post. "You little brat! I'm gonna-!"

"Ah-HEM." Turning at the pointed throat clearing, the man stilled at the sight of the police car he'd overlooked earlier. Grimacing, the man set Hiccup back on his feet, brushed invisible dust off his shoulder and ran as if the devil himself was on his heels. Once he was gone, both police officers turned smugly to Hiccup, who gave them a sullen look in return.

"That didn't prove anything." Hiccup insisted mulishly. In the back of the police car, the other boy looked dangerously close to dying of laugher.

In the end, Hiccup took the ride from his father's men. Mostly because it was more hassle to keep arguing with them then it was to just sit in the car awkwardly wedged between two officers for the forty-two seconds it took to drive around the corner. After entering the station, Hiccup made his way to his father's office, ignoring the way the officers he passed panicked and hastily hid any important documents before he could do something that would ruin them.

Accidentally spill coffee on a couple reports a few times and set off the fire sprinklers once doing a science experiment in the forensics lab, and no one ever lets you live it down.

Thankfully, Hiccup managed to get to his father's office without setting the place on fire. Again. A sense of foreboding filled him when he stood outside the office door, though, listening to his father's bellow through the wooden barrier that separated them.

"No, no NO! I don't care, Ferguson, we're not taking that deal! We have enough on that scumbag to send him away for two lifetimes, and I'm not letting the bastard get any kind of cushy treatment after what he's done! We're seeing this to court, I don't care how much it costs!" Hearing his father slam his phone back down on his receiver, Hiccup took a deep breath and turned the knob to enter the office, his eyes immediately settling on the imposing sight of his father.

Stoick 'The Vast' Haddock was a powerful looking man, with fearless eyes and the ability to make hardened criminals wet themselves in fear. Nothing at all like his scrawny, useless son. Which probably explain why Stoick expression darkened a bit at the sight of Hiccup slinking into his office.

"What are you doin' here, Hiccup?" Stoick demanded harshly. "You're supposed to be grounded!"

"Dad, you grounded me for two weeks. Two weeks ago." Hiccup reminded him, settling himself into a chair. "And you told me last Tuesday you'd take me to eat at a restaurant today." Stoick paused for a moment, thinking back to try and recall the conversation in question. Eventually he drudged up a memory of Hiccup complaining about them not having anything to eat in the house since Stoick was always too busy to shop and Hiccup wasn't allowed to go to the store on his own.

"Oh." Stoick grimaced. "Right."

Hiccup knew that tone. Too well, as a matter of fact.

"You forgot." He stated blandly, not bothering to make it sound like a question when he already knew the answer. He wished he could at least be surprised by this, but it was almost expected at this point. Stoick always forgot when he made plans to take Hiccup out to eat. Forgot when there was a school play, or a parent-teacher conference. Forgot awards ceremonies and science fairs and birthdays…

"I'm sorry, Hiccup. It's been a madhouse here today." Stoick's face softened a bit with the guilt of backing out on his son again. A little anyways. Not enough to stop the annoyance Hiccup could feel bubbling inside him at being pushed off to the side again. "You know how important my work here is, son."

Oh, sure. Hiccup knew, alright. Didn't change the fact that he wished he could be important to his father too, but Hiccup knew.

"Fine." Hiccup said, his tone rough with the frustration he was trying to mask. "I'll grab a burger or something on my way home."

"I'll have Phlegma drive you back." Stoick told Hiccup as the twelve year old rose from his seat.

"Dad, I can walk back on my own." Hiccup said with a scowl. He hated the way his father insisted on treating him like a baby all the time and kept him under the thumb of the police officers at his disposal. Other kids his age got to hang out with friends and have lives outside of school and their homes, but he got put under lock and key and couldn't go anywhere without an armed escort to keep him from screwing something up and making things harder for Berk's precious police chief.

"This isn't up for debate, Hiccup." Stoick said, his expression hardening.

Of course it wasn't. It never was.

Rolling his eyes, Hiccup followed his father's larger form sullenly as they headed into the madhouse that was the police station, Stoick barking out orders as he went.

"Flirt on your own time, Gibbson! I need those forensic results on my desk as soon as they come out! Unger! Where's the CSI report on the Renolds girl's case? Pierce! Drive Hiccup back to my place! Stop at a drive-through or something for some burgers on the way. I saw that, Malchone! Stop goofing off and do your job!" A flurry of action followed Stoick's commands, which Hiccup watched disinterestedly as he waited for Phlegma Pierce to put her things away and drive him back home.

"Well, if it isn't the littlest Viking!" A voice drawled playfully as a meaty hand slapped Hiccup's back, making his knees buckle.

"Hey, Gobber." Hiccup replied, a smile fighting its way to his lips. Godwin Belch, or Gobber as he preferred to be called, was the only man under his father's employment that Hiccup actually liked. Gobber had been taken off of active police work and left to push paper at a desk after an incident with some gang members had quite literally cost Gobber and arm and a leg. When Hiccup was younger and his father couldn't find him a proper babysitter, he was forced to play nanny to the little brunet as well, which meant he was charged with keeping the inquisitive child out of things he shouldn't get into while Hiccup was forced to endure him regaling stories of his days as an active cop. It wasn't so bad, though. Since Gobber knew that Hiccup was being stuck with him as much as he was getting stuck with Hiccup, the man did his best to keep things as painless as possible for the both of them, which usually meant a lot of sarcastic banter and cracks about Hiccup being a toothpick.

In all honesty, Hiccup really liked him because Gobber treated him like a scrawny, bratty nephew instead of 'The Chief's Son.' He'd give him advice and encouragement, and provided a patient ear to Hiccup's frustrated rants about his father. He even taught Hiccup a thing or ten about guns and would sneak him into the police range to practice on targets all the time, which Stoick had always heavily disapproved of. Mostly because Gobber had started Hiccup's gun training when he was six.

"How you survivin' that fancy-pants school of yours, Hiccup?" Gobber asked cheerfully, settling himself into a plastic chair and stretching his prosthetic leg out in front of him.

"Oh you know, pretty much the same as ever." Hiccup responded flippantly. "The inside of my locker really is lovely this time of year, you know."

"Is it now?" Gobber snorted. "And what did ya say to the football team in order to figure that out?"

"Oh come on, Gobber, don't be so cliché. It was the wrestling team."

"My mistake." Gobber said flatly. "Ya still haven't told me what you said to get the sardine treatment."

"Can't remember anymore, honestly. I think it might've been something about one of their mothers." Hiccup confessed, shrugging apologetically.

"How many times have I told ya that yer mouth is gonna get you into some serious trouble one of these days?"

"Was I supposed to keep track?" Hiccup asked, earning a knock on the head from Gobber.

"Alright, Hiccup. I'm all set to take you back home now." Phlegma said, interrupting the two. Shaking his head, Gobber pulled himself back onto his feet tousling Hiccup's hair as he limped past the boy to get back to his desk.

"Well, guess that's my cue to get back to work." The cop said cheerfully as he passed. "See you this Friday?"

"Wouldn't miss it." Hiccup grinned as he tried to flatten his mussed hair and began following Phlegma's retreating form. Before they could reach the door though, a man came barreling after them, accidentally knocking Hiccup into a vending machine in his haste to get to Phlegma.

"Peggy!" The man shouted, getting the female cop's attention "They've got some new information on the Haligan Case! There's a man in the interrogation room right now!"

"Are you serious?!" Phlegma lit up as Hiccup peeled himself off of the vending machine, gingerly rubbing his shoulder to check for bruises. "Let's go, Bucket. Hiccup, you stay put here until I come back. Don't move. Or touch anything. Or look at anything too hard. Or do anything else. I'll be back soon."

Having been around cops his entire life, Hiccup knew that 'soon' was a relative term. Which was why as soon as Phlegma and Bucket were out of sight and Hiccup knew no one else was looking at him, the brunet turned and made a break for the door. Chances of him making it home without a cop spotting him were slim, but Hiccup was willing to risk it if it meant not sitting under the wary eyes of an entire police department just waiting for him to screw something up. He had a few dollars on him, so hopefully he could buy a burger or something on his way back, but if not there was a can of cheese wiz and some tuna in the fridge, and a box of Wheaties in the cupboard. He could probably invent an interesting meal with that.

As Hiccup was musing about this, he rummaged through his pocket for his Ipod, scrolling through the screen to try and find a decent song to listen to on the walk home. He was so engrossed in the device he never noticed the spry brunet who rounded the corner while walking backwards, laughing about something and shouting at a cop headed in the other direction.

At least, he didn't notice until they collided and Hiccup was sent sprawling to the ground.

"Oops. Sorry. Didn't see you." The other boy said, not sounding all that apologetic as he held out a hand to the fallen Hiccup, who groaned a bit in response as he recognized the other boy as the vandal from the cruiser earlier. Sure enough, the other brunet quickly recognized him too, and blinked a bit in surprise at the coincidence. "Hey, aren't you the Chief's son or something?"

"Haven't legally changed my name to that yet, but I might as well at this point." Hiccup sassed back as he accepted the boy's outstretched hand and pulled himself to his feet. One upright again, Hiccup frowned when he realized his Ipod was missing, and began scanning the area for the device.

"Lemme guess, you're looking for this, right?" the weird brunet vandal said, drawing Hiccup's attention to the Ipod he held in his hands. It looked undamaged, but when Hiccup stepped forward to take it back, the boy leapt out of reach with a playful grin, making Hiccup scowl.

Great, just what he needed.

"You're really gonna start this crap? With the police chief's son? In the middle of a police station?" There were some levels of stupid Hiccup would never comprehend no matter how hard he lived. Blue eyed vandal just broke his scale.

"Oh come on, all that whining about being treated like the police chief's son and you're gonna go crying to the cops because someone's having a little fun with you?" The other boy scoffed, and Hiccup's scowl darkened.

"Yeah, don't care. Give it back." Hiccup responded curtly, making another grab for his Ipod and growing more frustrated as the boy lithely dodged away.

"Ah~ah~ah~" The brunet sing-songed. "If you want to see your baby alive again, you gotta pay the ransom, dude."

"Ransom?" Hiccup scoffed. God, who did this moron think he was?

"Yeah, I gotta meet my Guardian for dinner in a bit. You're coming along as my new friend who I totally didn't meet after getting busted for spray painting the windows of a corner store, who I was hanging out with and made me lose track of time." The brunet explained cheerfully with a wide grin. "That way, I have an excuse for being almost an hour late that doesn't involve me being handcuffed in a police car."

"Clever." Hiccup commended, mildly impressed despite himself. Maybe this guy had more brains then he first thought.

"Yep. And if you play along and don't mention anything about me getting arrested, then I'll return your baby unharmed. You'll even get a free home cooked meal out of it." That part almost sounded better to Hiccup then the return of his Ipod at this point. Besides, he probably didn't have much longer before someone came to check up on him and make sure he wasn't getting into any trouble, so he was going to have to get out fast if he didn't want to be stuck there starving for the rest of the night.

"Fine." Hiccup agreed, holding out a hand to shake with the other boy. Looking very pleased with himself, the other boy pocketed Hiccup's Ipod and grasped the smaller boy's hand firmly with his own.

"I'm Jack, by the way." The boy mentioned, almost as an afterthought. "Jack Frost. You should probably know the name of your new best friend if you're gonna fool Sandy."

"It'd come in handy." Hiccup replied dryly. "I'm-!"

"Hiccup, yeah I know. You don't forget a name that unfortunate. Ever ask your parents what they were thinking when they named you that?"

"It was my dad's idea," Hiccup said, rolling his eyes as he let go of Jack's hand. "It's a Haddock family tradition to name scrawny babies Hiccup, so they spend their entire lives getting pounded on in the hopes that it'll somehow toughen them up."

"Kinda like the scary biker dudes who got named Nancy or Sue?" Jack clarified with a grin as he motioned for Hiccup to follow him out the door.

"Same basic concept, yeah," Hiccup shrugged as he let Jack lead him wherever they were going.

"How's that working out for you?" Jack asked, grinning when Hiccup shot him a flat look.

"I hope your Guardian's food is worth this." Hiccup said, shaking his head.

"It's the stuff dreams are made of." Jack promised cheerfully, unfazed by Hiccup's skeptism. Heaving a world-weary sigh, Hiccup followed Jack as he led him through the streets of Berk, figuring that he really didn't have much to lose in putting his trust in the other boy.

Besides, if he got caught or things went south, he could always claim to have been kidnapped or something.

Once they got to Jack's home, Hiccup was pleasantly surprised to find that the other boy hadn't lied to him after all. Sanderson McSnoozie, Jack's legal guardian, was a short, soft-spoken blond with an eternally sleepy expression who hadn't said more than two words the entire time Hiccup had been in his home, but still managed to come off as friendly as welcoming. And as it turned out, his food was to die for.

"Sandy's an Anesthesiologist at the children's hospital," Jack explained around a mouthful of pork chops. "He's also been my foster father for almost a year now." Briefly, Hiccup considered asking about Jack's birth parents, before deciding against it. It always made him uncomfortable when people started asking about his mom, and he was willing to bet it wasn't much better when people were nosy about you having both your parents missing rather than just one."

"Did you guys just move to Berk or something?" Hiccup asked, eyeing the empty boxes stacked by the door.

"Earlier this week, yeah. So hey, do you go to Berk Middle School? I haven't seen you around before…"

"No, I'm a student at the Draga Academy." Hiccup answered, ignoring the look that earned him from Jack.

"That snobby school with the uniforms?" Jack clarified, eyebrow arching when Hiccup nodded. "I can't believe your dad makes enough to send you there…"

"He doesn't. I have a scholarship." Jack looked a little stunned at this information, but Mr. McSnoozie flashed him a small, approving smile.

"You never told me you were a nerd!" Jack wailed in accusation. Mr. McSnoozie cuffed him lightly on the head in reprimand as Hiccup rolled his eyes, unaffected by Jack's comment. He'd heard much worse in the halls at school, after all.

"Well, I get good grades and turn my homework in, but I don't think that's a bad thing." Hiccup responded casually, smiling innocently at Mr. McSnoozie. "I mean, at least I'm not one of those kids who defaces private properties or something." Mr. McSnoozie smiled back at Hiccup, before shooting Jack a concerned look when the boy started to choke on his food.

"I'm okay, really!" Jack assured his Guardian. "But I think I'm getting kinda full now. Maybe me and Hiccup can hang out in my room a while before he's gotta go home?" Mr. McSnoozie frowned, considering this for a moment before nodding, making Jack grin widely. Without warning, he lunged at Hiccup, grabbing the smaller boy by his boney wrist and dragging him up the stairs, completely ignoring Hiccup when he let out a yelp of protest.

"Hey! I wasn't done eating!" Hiccup groused, thinking sadly of the unfinished food they'd left behind.

"Yeah, yeah," Jack scoffed. "Thanks for putting me on the spot like that, jerk. What happened to our deal?" Hiccup shrugged in response to Jack's accusing question.

"I didn't say anything about you now, did I?" He asked innocently. "I was just making an example." Jack scoffed at that, but a grin tugged at the corner of his mouth.

"You've got more guts than I thought you would," Jack admitted, surprising Hiccup a bit.

"Uh, thanks?" Hiccup responded uncertainly.

"Crap taste in music, though," Jack added, pulling out Hiccup's IPod and making a face. "What's with all the ballerina crap on here?"

"Give me that." Hiccup snapped, scowling as he snatched his IPod back from Jack's unresisting hands. "And not that it's any of your business, but classical music helps me think."

"Really?" Jack asked skeptically. "It puts me to sleep. Don't you ever listen to stuff like Green Day or Beastie Boys?"

"Not really." Hiccup confessed, shrugging. "My dad hates that kind of music. He says it's just a bunch of senseless noise, combined with drugs and sex."

"That's what makes it fun!" Jack said cheerfully. "Here, I have a couple of CDs I got from that store on the corner. You should listen to them sometime."

"Um, thanks." Hiccup said awkwardly as he accepted the cases Jack held out for him to take. He never quite knew what to do when people were honestly nice to him. Though frankly, that was a rare occurrence when you factored in his nerdiness, sarcasm and a semi-famous, overprotective father who never let him outside except when he had to go to school.

With that thought, Hiccup went white as a ghost as realization suddenly dawned on him.

"What time is it?" He asked sharply.

"Nine twenty. Why?" Jack frowned when he heard Hiccup let out a low groan.

"Craaaaap. I gotta go."

"What? Why?"

"Dad gets off work at ten, and if I'm not home before him, he'll flip." Hiccup explained with a grimace.

"What, you've never broke curfew before?" Jack scoffed, looking amused.

"It's not highly recommended when your dad has an army of cops on speed dial and the keys to the jail cells." Hiccup shot back.

"…Point. Has he seriously locked you up before?"

"No, but I can tell he's thought about it a couple of times, so I don't want to take the chance." Hiccup sighed, remembering the look his father would get in his eyes after some of his bigger screw ups.

"Alright, then. Need any help getting back to your place?"

"No. I can make it on my own." Hiccup assured him, relieved when Jack shrugged and didn't press the subject any further. His dad had an uncanny knack for knowing everything that happened in his police station, so Hiccup had no doubt he knew about the young delinquent who got picked up for vandalism. And he was even more sure that his dad would be furious if he caught him hanging out with such a kid.

"Okay. You can swing by any time to bring those CDs back when you're done with them." Jack said casually, making Hiccup pause.

"Are you serious?" Hiccup asked incredulously. "You just met me, and you're trusting me with your stuff? How do you know I won't just take it?"

"Oh come on." Jack scoffed. "If you're the kind of kid who has panic attacks over missing curfew, then I really don't think you're a hardened criminal. Anyways, you don't seem like the type to steal." Jack would know, since he'd gotten most of his CDs with a tried and true five finger discount himself.

"You don't know that, though." Hiccup insisted, frowning uncomfortably at the way a total stranger was fine with letting him borrow his stuff.

"Wanna bet?" Jack grinned. "Cuz I've got a feeling your goody-two-shoes butt's gonna have my CDs back in my hands by tomorrow. Sooner, if you can manage it." Hiccup glared, a little annoyed at how this strange boy was so sure he knew him.

"Maybe you won't get them back at all." Hiccup warned, his mouth moving faster than his brain once again. Jack didn't seem troubled by this though, merely waving a hand at Hiccup as if to say 'yeah, yeah.'

Hiccup kind of wanted to throttle him for that.

Throwing the other boy a dirty look, Hiccup grumbled darkly as he swept out of Jack's room, ignoring the way it made the brunet chuckle. Smiling politely to Mr. McSnoozie, Hiccup mentally vowed to keep the CDs for at least a week before returning them, just to make Jack sweat. Or at least five days or so. That's teach him who the goody-two-shoes was.

The next day, ten minutes after he got home from school, Jack opened the front door to find Hiccup standing there with his CDs and a disgruntled look on his face and immediately burst out laughing. Hiccup responded by throwing the bag of CDs at Jack's head.

And thus began a beautiful friendship.