Two:

"Hiccup? Is that you?" The warm voice of Valka Haddock, Hiccup's mother, echoed through the impressive high-vaulted hall from the kitchen as she heard her son come home. The Haddocks lived in an enormous house, set back from the road in the most exclusive part of town, the five acre plot guarded by electric gates and a very long drive. Hiccup's black jeep had pulled up by the house and the boy's steps were quick and angry as he entered and dropped his bag.

"Yeah, Mom," he replied, then headed into the kitchen to meet her. She was fixing dinner, her brown furrowed lightly in concentration as she chopped onions, bell peppers, garlic, cilantro and tomatoes to rest under the rack of lamb she had prepared to roast in the oven. Her long greying chestnut brown hair was in long fat braids that almost reached her waist, her wide green eyes almost the mirror of her son's. He had inherited her slender shape as well and he leaned casually against the kitchen worktop, clearly frustrated. "Have you seen Dad?' he asked, his voice determined. She smiled.

"He's in his office, son," she revealed, looking up and seeing the annoyance in his face. "Is something wrong?" He sighed and shook his head.

"No, just...he promised to sort something out for me and he hasn't," he said in a disappointed tone. Valka wiped her hands and then walked forward, resting her hands lightly on his tense shoulders and staring into his glittering eyes.

"Son, he's very busy at present, what with the new property developers in town flouting regulations and the major deal he is trying to close to secure our own future," she said soothingly. "You know he has to juggle that with being the Mayor and he has to play strictly by the rules to avoid any suggestion he has exploited his position..." Hiccup's eyes flicked up.

"Why shouldn't he?" he asked directly. "He has served this town for over fifteen years as Mayor, giving them countless hours. He always says no job is too small and he does an incredible job for everyone else. Why shouldn't he get something out of it?" Valka sighed and and rested her hand against his cheek.

"Son, one day you will realise that the respect and affection your father is held in is in no small part due to his unwavering fairness and honesty," she informed him. "That is why he keeps getting re-elected!" Hiccup pulled away, filching a tomato and winking as he wandered down the hall. He pushed his father's study door open and Stoick 'the Vast' Haddock, Mayor and businessman, looked up from his huge desk and smiled at his only child.

"Hey, Dad," Hiccup said with a smile. "Can I have a word?" The huge shape sat back, grey-green eyes crinkling in a proud smile. Stoick was a huge bear of a man, six foot ten and around four hundred pounds of muscle and sinew, topped by a head with large nose and enormous grey-streaked flaming red beard.

"I always have time for my son," he said and gestured to the chair, but Hiccup stood in front of the desk, his arms folded. Taking in his expression, the Mayor sighed. "What's wrong?" he asked.

There was a pause and Hiccup tried to frame his question...well, questions. In the end he just sighed.

"I thought you were going to talk to the Coach-but she announced Astrid Hofferson as Captain of the Soccer Team," he said, his tone vaguely accusing. Stoick rubbed the bridge of his nose and sighed.

"Then she must have thought that Astrid was the better choice," he said. Hiccup's brows dipped.

"But you promised you'd speak to her about Cameron..." he began and Stoick nodded.

"As I did," he said sternly. "A man must keep his word."

"But I promised Cameron that..." Hiccup began and Stoick dropped his hands flat on the desk, the noise cutting his son off short.

"Why would you do that?" he asked his son thoughtfully, wondering if Hiccup had any insight what he was doing. The boy glared at his father.

"Because you're the Mayor and I thought you'd fix it!" he said sulkily. Stoick sat back, sighing heavily and pressing his hands together.

"I feared this would happen," he murmured. "Hiccup, I asked your Coach to consider Cameron-but the choice was always hers."

"You're the Mayor!" Hiccup's tone was outraged. "Couldn't you have just ordered her to make Cameron Captain? She really set her heart on it..." Stoick shook his head.

"Son, I am Mayor and no one can tell me what to do...but in reality, I am servant to the people and I do what they want...and need doing," he explained. "I am not an expert on soccer. Coach Markstrom, however is. She is an internationally lauded ex-player and Berk was immensely fortunate to win her services. I would never tell her what to do because she knows better than me." He sighed. "A good leader knows his limits and listens to those who know better. And Astrid Hofferson must be a far better choice."

"But Cameron is my girlfriend!" Hiccup reminded him forcefully. "And the Coach should want to do what you ask!"

"Even to the detriment of the team?" Stoick asked him rhetorically. "Her job is to produce the best team that Berk High can. Not pander to the wishes of the Mayor's spoilt son!" Hiccup's head snapped up and he stared angrily at his father, hating the accusation. "You know, son, I got a call from Principal Wing at the end of last semester. She was calling me in person because she wanted to explain why she would not consider you as Class President." Hiccup started, momentarily looking guilty. How did his father know what his other question was? Stoick smiled ruefully. "I know my son," he said, answering the unspoken query.

"Then why?" Hiccup asked quietly. "I mean, I am a straight A student, I do some track, I take extra classes in engineering and I am your son." Stoick sighed.

"Before you got to High School, I would have laid money on you being Senior Class President, son," he said, "but since you've been with your gang of friends, there are things about you that I am not so proud of-things your Principal has noted as well." Folding his arms and offering a defiant glare, Hiccup bit back his instinctive response.

"Such as...?" he said finally.

"You and your friends are arrogant and bully younger students," Stoick said finally.

"We do not!"

"You assume everything should be given to you because of who your father is-not on your own merit," the Mayor said, his tone sad. "You just take-and don't give. You buy your friends everything they want and squander money like water. You expect the best to be given to you for nothing. You are disruptive in lessons. You are not the son I raised...and I know part of the fault is mine for indulging you. You are my only child and I wanted you to be happy. But I cannot change the world just so you can have fun with your friends and indulge their whims. If you want something, son, you have to work for it. And it may mean sacrifice and hardship. You may fail before you succeed. And you may have to pick yourself up and try over and over-but if you are my son, you will have the character, the stubbornness and the determination to get there. A Haddock doesn't quit."

"Snot says a Jorgensen takes what he wants," Hiccup argued.

"Which is why Spitelout has never beat me in the polls, son," Stoick said. "It's that influence that has meant Mala Wing couldn't make you Class President. Why you are unsuited to the post." He gave a shuddering sigh. "And it grieves me-because I know you are better than that, son...but I would never interfere with her decision. It is her school and she runs it the best she can-because she knows you all better than I do." Hiccup glared at him.

"We're going up to the cabin at the weekend to camp by the lake, Dad," Hiccup said stiffly. "There won't be many weekends before it gets colder..." The Mayor stared at his son-no longer the runt he was until he was about sixteen when his growth spurt had finally hit-but still lean and lanky, his colours echoing his mother. And Stoick knew his son had better stuff in him than what he had showed the last year or so. Snotlout, the twins and especially Dagur DeRange were all bad influences and Hiccup had allowed them to turn his head and become arrogant and unfeeling to others. The Mayor knew that wasn't the boy he had raised, but Hiccup was almost an adult and he had to make his own mistakes. Stoick just hoped he would be there to help his son when he finally realised his friends were not the best people for him.

But Hiccup was steaming, grabbing his bag and racing up to his room-really two adjoining rooms with his own bathroom. His flatscreen TV was attached to the wall, his games consoles and computer were laid out on his desk and photos of him and Cameron were pinned to a board...along with the treasured pictures of him with his parents. But he grabbed his phone and walked through into his bedroom, flinging himself onto his super-king sized bed and staring moodily at the ceiling. Reluctantly, he flipped down his contacts until he arrived at the picture of him and his girlfriend in a very intimate clinch-not a photo he would ever share with his Mom. With a sigh, he thumbed the number and called Cameron. One thing he knew for sure: she wasn't going to be pleased.

oOo

Predictably, she had sulked and cold-shouldered him when they were back at school-for about half a day, because being the girlfriend of the Mayor's son was too good a thing to throw away in a fit of pique. But when they headed up the cabin on Friday for an quiet night together, she had been pensive for a while.

Of course, once they had arrived at the secluded hideaway, Hiccup had managed to distract her very effectively for quite a long time-but as they lay in the bed later on, snuggled together, Cameron had turned to him, leaning over him and kissing him very passionately, her long, wild blonde hair hanging over her face.

"Do you love me, baby?" she asked him softly, her lips ghosting along the line of his jaw. His lips curled up as he answered, his lopsided smile lighting his face.

"I thought I'd just proved that, Milady," he smirked but she pressed a finger to his lips, her lower lip pouting in the way she tended to when she was sulking at him.

"Then why aren't I soccer Captain?" she asked sharply. His eyes widened.

"My Dad did ask," he protested, "but the Coach made her own mind up..."

"So why is she still Coach?" Cameron asked pointedly. "Why didn't your Dad fire her? What's the point of being Mayor if you can't do anything?" He lifted himself up on one elbow to stare into her petulant blue eyes.

"He's Mayor, not Odin!" he reminded her a little irritably. "And he's not going to sack the Coach because he can't! She's here to win soccer matches so she gets the final say." He chewed his lip. "He said you could always work harder to prove you're the best?"

She slapped him, pulling away and sitting up, searching for her clothes.

"So you're siding with her against me?" she snapped. "Hah! Should've known you didn't have the balls to stand up for me..." He grabbed her and flipped her onto the bed, leaning over her and staring down into her eyes, his own emerald orbs filled with lust and a little irritation.

"Milady, I did everything I could-but I cannot order him to fire the Coach for choosing who she thinks is her best player!" he told her and pressed a fierce kiss on her mouth. She made to push him off...but found herself making out with him.

"You...Snotlout said his Dad would have got me the Captaincy," she pointed out when they broke for air.

"Snotlout is all mouth and no action," Hiccup reminded her. "I'm definitely a man of action..."

She giggled. "Prove it, baby," she invited him. "But if you can't change the Coach's mind, maybe we can change it for her?" Pausing as he kissed her neck urgently, Hiccup looked up, alerted by the cool tone.

"How?' he mumbled, lips sliding down the hollow of her neck.

"If Astrid couldn't play, Coach Markstrom would have to appoint a new Captain...and you could redeem yourself," Cameron suggested. Hiccup paused and stared at her.

"What devilish plan is hatching in that pretty head of yours?" he asked suspiciously. She gave a broad smile.

"We can get Dagur or Thuggory to corner Astrid...maybe break her leg or ankle...and then the Coach would have to drop her!" she said smugly as Hiccup sat up abruptly.

"What?" he exclaimed, his mood completely shattered by the suggestion. "You..."

"Oh, come on-you tried to trip her up!" she told him, pouting again. "It's no different!"

Actually, it is. Pretty sure one is called Assault and another is called an accident. One gets you jail and the other is just an apology.

"S'pose," he mumbled, feeling like a coward. "But hurting her badly just so you can become Captain-that's pretty ruthless!" he commented. She sat up and trailed a finger lightly down his chest.

"Babe-we rule the school," she reminded him. "Heather is Class President. Snot Captains the Football team. The twins are the best pranksters. You're the Mayor's son. Dagur is a crazy sonata bitch. I want to be Soccer Captain! Why should that loser have my position?" She kissed his chest, just over his heart. "Surely you can see, baby?" He rolled her onto her back and kissed her passionately, crushing his qualms.

"For you, Milady-anything!"

oOo

Back up at the house, Stoick Haddock sat back in his seat and sipped his coffee as his wife curled up on the couch opposite, her feet folded underneath her. She opened her book and read for a few moments, then put her book aside.

"Is anything wrong, Stoick?" she asked quietly. "You've been staring into the fire for the last fifteen minutes without even drinking your coffee. Something's on your mind." He looked up with a wan smile and nodded, forcing himself to sip the cooling liquid.

"That obvious, hmm?" he commented. She sighed.

"Anything I can help with?" she asked quietly. He drained his cup.

"Hiccup," he sighed. "I know he's a good boy at heart but his friends have gradually made him believe he should have everything he wants handed to him. That I should abuse my position to make his life easier-and that of his friends. He told me Simon believes 'a Jorgenson takes what he wants'. That's very dangerous thinking." Valka reached over and her fingers twined with his.

"I don't like that Cameron," she admitted. "I always feel she's just out for what she can get-she's barely civil to me though she gushed over you..." Stoick rolled his eyes.

"Quite," he commented dryly. "You know he and she...?" She nodded.

"He's nearly an adult, Stoick," she sighed. "He has to make his own mistakes. I just hope she doesn't hurt him. And I hope they're careful. I'm not ready to be a grandmother yet!" Stoick chuckled.

"No one would believe it, love,"!he reassured her. His fingers tightened round hers. "I'll be happier when this deal is concluded. We've had the Cove for years, but the rest will mean we can finally secure our future. We won't be as rich as the Jorgensons or Thorstons but we'll be very comfortable." Valka got up and leaned forward to kiss him.

"I couldn't have wished for a better husband," she smiled. "Now how about a nice cocoa?" He nodded and watched her leave then sighed heavily, his eyes sad.

"I really hope you understand why I worry, son," he murmured. "It's a cold and hard world out there and if you can't think of others, you're going to have a difficult time. " He stared at the little picture of the family on the mantlepiece and sighed again. "Sometimes, it's not easy to feel proud of you..."