This is Foxmorgorth, recently Rumbling Night Cutter had placed this story up for adoption, I have since adopted it, I will do my best to follow the writing style but I shall remain true to the story. Those more familiar with Rumbling Night Cutter's writing style please critic. The first five Chapters are straight from Rumbling Night Cutter, all other chapters will be mine.

Hi. Here is my attempt to make myself do non violent, serious writing. A modern Hiccstrid AU. Also, to any of my followers or regular readers, a few announcements regarding my other stories. The Gang is on unofficial hiatus, Unless I get inspiration for it. My priorities are RYL, and Ghosts of the Night Fury. Time Fury will be worked on on the weekends. Depending on reviews, this May or may not become priority. -Rumbling Night Cutter

The Feeling's Mutual, My Enemy

Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third was in World History class.

He hated that class so, so much. For a couple of reasons. One: the ever blabbing Snotlout Jorgenson would never, ever, ever shut up and stop interrupting the lesson, or flirting with the closest entity wearing a skirt.

The other reason he hated this class: he just plain despised the subject. He didn't care about the past or the people in it. It would be of no use to the young boy if he didn't know when the Neolithic Revolution was. He would never be faced in a situation where he had to name why Rome fell.

But he suffered through it, for the sake of good grades. If he made valedictorian, or even finished with honors, maybe his dad would stop looking at him like something disgusting the man's enormous foot had stepped in.

Oh, who was he kidding. That in itself was a fantasy. He'd tried as hard as he could, but it never seemed to get anywhere.

He final reason he detested World History: he sat next to Astrid Hofferson. The girl who had bullied him from day one of freshman year. He was only a sophomore, but a year and a half was still a deceptively long time. The blond beauty had done everything from shove him in mud puddles to the cliché cramming of boy into undersized locker.

He didn't like her.

She didn't like him.

The feeling was mutual. It was a little unfair, though, that one party was a fitness nut, this party being the mighty, undefeated Girl's Wrestling Team Captain, Astrid, and op the other being a nerd, namely Hiccup Haddock.

He didn't mind being called a nerd so much. It was an apt, but accurate description, and he simply didn't care. He was entitled to enjoy whatever he liked. So what if he found plot line more interesting than watching meat-heads tackle each other for a ball that wasn't even shaped like a ball?

So what if he didn't like parties, mostly because the music hurt his already near deaf ears and shortened his hearing aids, and that he despised alcohol. Yes, Hiccup was almost deaf. He had a hearing disorder that had slowly eaten away at his auditor reception capabilities since he was a kid. The doctors said he would most likely would suffer complete hearing loss by graduation. But even without this significant factor in his dislike for large gatherings, he would much rather stay at home in the peace and quiet while his dad was gone, so that nobody could hurt him.

So what if he didn't play sports? He's a freaking amputee here, he's not going for track or basketball. He's only a month or two out of limb loss, his limp is still very visible!

So, like he said, he doesn't mind being called a nerd. An almost deaf, amputee nerd who tries his best to keep both oddities a secret. Maybe his dragon drawings would draw attention from the bright red devices in his ears that were the only reason he could hear anything at all. Maybe his liking for fantasies would keep people scoffing and rolling their eyes, so that their attention wouldn't be attracted to the uneven gait, or the clinking of the prosthetic under his shortened leg.

He sighed and subtly lifted his hands to his ears, lowering the volume of his hearing aids to tune out the teacher. He didn't like him ether. Less then he not-liked Astrid Hofferson, but he still felt a steady flow of ire for the man.

He concentrated on the drawing in front if him, trying to distract himself.

He loved dragons, another thing claiming his nerd status. He had a large collection of his drawings of the mythical creatures in his room at home. Night Fury, Snaptrapper, Whispering Death, Skrill. The reptile taking 2D form in front of him was a new one, and one that engrossed his attentions fully as he started on the right side.

The teacher droned on and on, wordless to Hiccup's defective ears. He rolled his eyes and went back to his creation.

Like he said, he doesn't mind being a nerd. Being a nerd meant he had an excuse to disappear into his made up fantasy of dragons and battles, or acceptance and happiness, to go into a world where his father didn't treat him like an annoying pet that he had never wanted to begin with. To go into a world where Astrid Hofferson didn't torment him on a daily basis just for existing. A world where he had two strong legs, arms that were worth something, and ears that weren't going to be more useless than the rest of him by the end of his education.

What good is reality to Hiccup? Reality sucks. Daydreams don't. But... You always had to wake up and face the music sometime, he thought as he shook himself out of his trance and turned his hearing aids back on.

"And so," the teacher said as Hiccup added a second set of wings under the ones he'd already drawn. "You will all be assigned a project due by winter break." He started handing out packets, and Hiccup's fist clenched around his pencil in annoyance. He hated projects too.

Right now he just wanted to go home and be with his pet, Toothless.

Things got even worse as the teacher continued on. "You'll all be assigned partners."

Great, great, great. Now he'll likely have to be paired with Snotlout. The idiot would likely just ditch him and go after Astrid Hofferson, or some similar hot, mean girl out to crush his soul and steal his dreams.

He honestly didn't know why he continued. He would never get his dad's love, or his leg or his hearing back. He was low, and he didn't know how he could get much lower than he already had.

Because he's pathetic, and weird, and stupid enough to have a crush on the girl who made his life a living hell.

Astrid Hofferson.

"OK, then." The teacher continued. "I'll call out the names of the teams. Tuffnut Thorsten," the male blond twin raised his head off the desk sleepily, going slack-jawed.

Hiccup wouldn't mind if he was chosen to be paired with Tuff. Not to bad a partner, Hiccup thought. Won't get in the way, and he and Tuffnut sort of got along.

"Camicazi Bog." Ah well, he thought, beginning on the dragon's head. Offhandedly, he decided to call it a Stormcutter, for no apparent reason. The name just sounded supremely awesome.

"Ruffnut Thorsten." Tuff's counterpart of the opposite sex mirrored her brother's earlier action, groaning as she did.

"Eret North." At this, she squealed with joy. She had an infatuation with the muscle bound dude as far as anyone could remember. Eret himself looked a little green. He in no way shared the enthusiastic girl's affections. Quite the opposite, really.

"Snotlout Jorgenson."

Whatever.

"Heather Fraud." Ah well. There were so many people left in class, most of which he didn't know. He just really, really hoped that whoever he ended up with, they would be nice and tolerable.

"Hiccup Haddock," he said finally, and I continued drawing, idly listening for the name he would be talking to over school for the next few months. When it did, he pushed his pencil so hard into the desk from shock it snapped, the led tip hitting him between the eyes. Said eyes were wide open in shock and fear and the name of his partner.

"Astrid Hofferson."

Hiccup was going to die.

Astrid Hofferson decided she severely hated World History. As soon as her name was called to pair with the skinny little nerd in the back of the class, she muttered a slew of violent curses that would make hardened prisoners cringe at her language.

She looked back at Hiccup, who looked like he'd been charged with several volts of electricity, and her heart skipped a beat.

Oh, no. Oh nononononononono!

Not him! Anyone but him! I couldn't stand looking at the guy! I honestly couldn't. I turned away from him and gritted my teeth.

She knew it would be pointless to ask for another partner. Mr. Treacherous was one if those unrelenting, my-way-or-the-high-way kind of teachers who never, ever compromised. And now he had set up the ultimate punishment.

He had paired her with Hiccup freaking Useless Haddock! She hated his guts, she hated his face, she hated his existence! He was a no good, half troll, rat-eating munge bucket that she couldn't believe had the nerve to try to to better than her!

He was rich, while her father was an unemployed slob, making her get a job to pay for their dismal little house in the slums.

He seemed to be lost in some perpetual daydream, while she couldn't escape reality that easily. Every time she closed her eyes and tried to forget the awful life she had, it seemed to focus in on the pain even more.

Yes, she was jealous. Yes, she knew it was an ugly emotion, but with everything else about her having a morbid need to be flawless, she allowed her emotions to have a little leeway.

Except when it comes to affection. When she had first seen Hiccup Haddock, she had felt some kind of crush on the small guy in her chest. A feeling that was instantly Hulk Smashed by her perfectionism, busy schedule, and overwhelming stress. Not to mention the fact her father had basically stolen everything from her. She didn't have time, need, or want for a boyfriend, or children. Which was why it was even more infuriating that Hiccup Haddock had the nerve to stir gushy mushy feelings in her.

She hated the fact that she had a crush on Hiccup Haddock, and he needed to be punished for being adorable enough to make her feel weak.

Make her feel jealous

Make her feel period.

On second thought, no leeway for her emotions!

But the anger and jealously occasionally turned to shame at the nerd's big, green, miserable eyes as if she had kicked him while he was down. And while she had, in fact, done that, she still took out her frustrations on the itty, bitty nerd who made her so freaking confused.

She too another glance backwards at the rich boy she both despised and adored.

He still had the shell shocked look on his face, but it quickly changed. He groaned loudly and rolled his eyes towards the heavens, and held his hands out. He both seemed to be pleading with divine forces to strike him down, and saying to said divine forces why are you doing this to me?

She had a similar prayer, and moaned as she banged her head on the table, trying to hold back tears of frustration.

This was a bad situation, no other way around it. She was stuck with the boy who made her unstable for months. She's have to hear his infuriatingly nasal, pleasing voice, and talk to his infernally cute face, and endure his rage-inducing funny jokes.

Or she would fail the semester.

Bad, bad situation. Chances were this dynamic duo would be reduced to a solo act before the grade was handed in, and Astrid ensured that it would be her, and not the spoiled rich kid, that made it to the end!

If she didn't, her father would be mad. And her father mad was something she didn't like. When he was mad, he made her life miserable, and much, much harder than it was already.

She was jolted out of her thoughts as the bell rang, ending the school day for Berk High. She saw Hiccup still in his seat, shaking his head at the ceiling and mouthing, 'Why,' over and over and over.

It ignited an irrational flame of indignation in her. She knew she was overreacting, she despised him with all her being. She couldn't be hurt about the fact he was miserable they had been paired up.

No, OK no she couldn't. Definitely not. Nuh-uh. Nope. Not at all.

She stomped over to the smallish nerd. When he saw her approach, he glanced at his desk before frantically shoving the paper on it back into his bag as fast as he could possible move. Astrid could have sworn she saw something in his ridiculously long hair as it fell to one side as he leaned over, or that she heard the click of a spring somewhere.

Those minor details were blotted out by the raging tempest of emotions in her ribcage. She slammed her hand down on the laminated wood in front or the boy, and he flinched.

He looked up at her and scowled. "Yes, partner?" OK, she really hated his guts.

"Listen here, Haddock," she snarled, poking him in the chest. He met her eyes with a steely green look of her own, pouring just as much contempt into it as she did into her own death glare. "I know that this isn't the ideal situation for ether of us. Let's be clear about something. I," she growled, leaning over him a little. He leaned backwards a bit, "hate," she came even closer, and he gulped, backing up even more, "you!"

That was the final straw for Hiccup, though, apparently. His face turned stony, and he had the courage to push her away from him by the shoulders. "Feeling's mutual," he said in a dry, fed-up tone. "Can't imagine why though. All I've ever done to you was breath the same air as you. You, however, have tortured me so constantly a medieval dungeon master would be telling you to lay off."

"Do you want a black eye?"

He had the nerve to tilt his head to the side and consider it. "Eh, maybe. Never had one before, though Tuffnut did accidentally shove me off the top of a tree when we were littler and broke my wrist. Maybe you want to do it to my other one so it doesn't feel left out of the painful fun."

"Don't tempt me, Haddock," she growled, and grabbed him by the collar of his shirt. "I will break you if you ruin this grade for me, got it?!"

"Certainly," he said, unafraid. She had to give it to him, this kid had balls. Snotlout would be begging for mercy at this point, but he just kept his cool and wrenched his shirt from her grip.

He smoothed the garment out and hoisted his bag over his shoulder. "I'll see you tomorrow," he said. "Unfortunately."

"Troll," she muttered.

"Butt-elf," he grumbled childishly, probably not meaning for her to hear.

"Bride of Grendel," she shot back loud enough to be in earshot. He just waved a dismissive hand behind him and shoved his hood over his head to join the crowd of kids leaving with him.

She had half a mind to go after him and beat him to a pulp for back-sassing me like that. But the last thing she needed was to be arrested for assault on the superintendent's son. That would make her father furious. He would probably literally kill her.

She looked at the empty space once occupied by her sworn enemy, then huffed, grabbing her own bag and heading out the door too.

Hiccup cursed himself once he was outside.

He hated the fact that he had felt his heart soar that she was talking to him without trying to squish his spirit like a grape. That it was just plain fact that she was telling him, not stuff that made the barrel of a gun look awfully friendly.

He hated the way his heart sped up when she grabbed his shirt. He hated the rush he got from speaking with her, even if it was a verbal spark more spiteful than Spitelout's name. He hated himself for having a crush on Astrid Hofferson.

"You need to let this go," he told himself. "She bullies you, tortures you, makes your life more miserable than it already is. Why do you continue to like her? Why?"

I dunno. Just because? His brain answered helpfully, and he groaned. It won't matter. He'd just gotten a text from his doctor, with the latest diagnostic results on his hearing problem.

Within months, he would never hear anything ever again. Might as well make the most of sounds while he could still hear them.

But at least he wouldn't be able to hear Astrid Hofferson's hateful words in his ears in a few months... Or anything else. He leaned against the wall of the school. Nobody else was around, so he decided then to let it all out.

"GAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!" He screamed, the sound ripping out of his chest like a wild animal tearing through his lungs. He dropped his backpack and slammed his fists into the wall. Pain shot through his arm, but it made him feel better.

Whack!

That brick was his feelings for Astrid Hofferson.

Whack!

That brick was Astrid Hofferson herself.

Whack.

That brick was his useless hearing problem.

Whack!

And that one was his father's scowling face when he laid eyes in his son, and the disappointed shake in his head.

Hiccup breathed heavily, and clutched his bruised and bloodied knuckles, hissing in pain.

But it felt good. Good to imagine conquering the things in his life he hated. But it would never come true. Hiccup Haddock could never conquer anything. He was an expert at calming animals of all sorts, but never overpowering them.

No matter what he did, he would always be at the mercy of others. Bottom of the food chain. And in a few months, around the time he turned in the project, he would be completely deaf. He scowled back into the brick that was smeared with blood from his hand, but unbroken.

He needed to be like that, he decided. No matter how much hate people put on him, he would never break. Never bend. Never prove them right of his weakness. He was walking without a left leg. If that didn't prove he was strong, he didn't know what was.

Let the silence come, he thought. I'm strong. I'll take it.

Hiccup Haddock hated Astrid Hofferson.

Astrid Hofferson detested Hiccup Haddock.

Hiccup Haddock had a crush on Astrid Hofferson.

Astrid Hofferson had a crush on Hiccup Haddock.

Would they ever realize hate wasn't the only feeling that was mutual?

New Author's Note: I change Merida to Camicazi, mainly because Merida doesn't fit in the story to me.