"Yer soaked lad."
"Hi to you too Gobber." Hiccup said shaking out his dripping head as he walked in.
"Ya coulda phoned lad, I'd have picked ya up."
"Thanks, I'll remember that in future." He sighed as he dripped over the hardwood floors heading for the dry room at the back of the house.
"Just go round the back, ya father'll kill ya if you wreck those floors."
"I'm wet enough already thanks."
"Now, lad." Groaning Hiccup went back outside and walked to the back of the large house. Once inside he simply tugged his drenched clothes off, ringing them out and shoving them into the washing machine. He tugged one the towels from the rail and wrapped it around himself.
"Gobber, I'mma take a shower. Is there food?"
"Nah, not yet lad."
"Did you order in again?"
"Nah was waiting for you."
"Thanks." Hiccup said sarcastically heading up the stairs.
One steaming shower later and Hiccup came downstairs to make food for dinner.
"Are we expecting dad back for dinner?"
"Nah, he has to stay late at the office he said" Gobber told him, flicking through the channels on the TV.
"No surprises there." Hiccup sighed. "He's never here."
"Ach, now lad, your dad does what he can to be here..."
"But he never is Gobber, and when he is we don't talk. He doesn't know me. At all." It was true that whilst his relationship with his father was not a bad relationship, there was little shared between them. His father was incredibly different to him and so they often found communication difficult and had very little to talk about.
"That's not true lad..."
"It is Gobber, you know more about me than he does. I know he doesn't mean to never see me, but it has an effect. Mum's gone and Dad is never here. Who does that leave me with?"
"You've got me lad."
"I know Gobber, and I'm glad I have you..."
"...But you still wish ya had them too."
"Yeah." Hiccup said sighing. He wandered into the kitchen and began making dinner; he didn't really feel like doing much. He wanted to curl up with Toothless, but Gobber was here so that wasn't going to happen. He dragged his water-logged bag into the kitchen and stuck it in the sink and began pulling out his books. Fortunately they weren't too wet, just a little at the edges of the pages. He laid them out on the breakfast bar so they could dry and started making dinner. It was a typical pattern. He came home, did a couple of hours work, made dinner either just for himself or sometimes Gobber too, and about once every couple of weeks for his dad too, did some more homework and then went to bed. These days, he'd interval it with going out to see Toothless. But that wasn't a problem. Hiccup was indeed top of his class and homework generally didn't take him too long to complete, he did do extra work on top for his side classes. Hiccup planned to go far in life and this was his start point. All the extra work contributed to getting extra points for college. He knew the top colleges were asking after him. There were already a dozen letters and prospectuses stashed away in his room. His father of course, wanted him to go to Yale, or Harvard or Stanford but Hiccup didn't seem so keen. Hiccup had not even made up his mind what he wanted to do with his future, he knew it probably lay in the sciences, but he'd yet to decide what aspect.
Toothless had actually got him thinking more seriously about his future. Toothless had a leg missing. After Hiccup rescued him, he'd called a vet to try and fix his injured leg but she'd been forced to amputate it. Hiccup had paid her well to do the job and insisted that he had someone from a sanctuary coming for the wolf. This of course was a lie. But it was this that started Hiccup looking into veterinary practice and from there he found out about prosthetics and animal prosthetics. The idea of combining the skills he had in engineering, or so Gobber told him, with biology to help animals like Toothless had appealed to him. But he was only fifteen. He didn't need to worry too much just yet. Nothing was set in stone, his future was still wide open.
"Gobber! Food's done!" Hiccup called and the bigger man came bumbling in. Gobber had two prosthetic limbs, an arm and a leg. He lost them both in an accident at work years ago. It hadn't stopped Gobber running a motor garage a year after he lost them. He got advanced prosthetics that would act like normal and continued to function normally. Hiccup had enquired about them recently, he knew his father had helped pay for the limbs. Gobber being an old family friend, Gerard had been only too happy to help.
"Ah, thanks Hiccup... Ach, I mean Hugo." Hiccup rolled his eyes.
"No worries Gobber, everyone calls me that. I don't mind. Listen would you mind putting the dishes in the dishwasher for me? I've got some homework to do."
"How come ye were late back anyways lad?"
"I went to see Mum." He said quietly. Gobber stopped and looked at him.
"Ah, I see. Well you go git on with ye work. I'll put this lot away alright?"
"Thanks Gobber, I appreciate it."
"Listen lad, I know it's not bin easy what with yer dad working all hours under the sun and yer mum not being here, but if you ever need ta talk..."
"I know Gobber,"
"Or if you wanna go see her, or need fetching..."
"Gobber," Hiccup placed a hand on his elbow, "I know, thank you. Thanks for being the other parent in my life." Gobber gave a grunt in response and nodded.
"Yer dad's a great guy Hugo, and I ain't saying nothing against him, but he doesn't always prioritise right. Yer Mum wouldn'ta stood for it. And I know he misses her as much as ya do, but he don't always show it."
"Nor do I Gobber, I keep it all hidden."
"You've always bin a good kid, always had potential. Yer mum was a saint, yer dad was the hero. I always promised 'em both I'd take care of you if may the gods forbid, they couldn't. Yer Mum loved ya, she always wanted what was best fer ya. And I promised her I'd get ya there. She knew yer dad wouldn't always know what was best, but she asked me to try and help out there."
"I know Gobber, you promised her you'd take care of us both." Hiccup sighed, he'd heard the story before.
"Nah, lad. I promised her I'd watch over yer dad. I promised her I'd take good care of you. She always said, 'Gerard's grown up, he's set in his ways and I love him, but you can't let Hugo grow up to be like that. It's not fer him. Promise me Craig, promise me, no matter what he chooses, you'll help him and encourage and support him in it. Cos his dad won't never understand.'" Gobber said finally. Hiccup stared for a moment longer, so his mum had always known? She'd always known he was different? But what had she wanted? Would she be proud of him? "So whatever it is you ain't saying right now, I hope you'll say in time, because I'll be damned if I'm going to invoke yer mother's wrath. She'll come back from the grave if I break me promise." He gave a sort of smile and Hiccup smiled back. Gobber always had been there, even if he didn't always understand completely, he always tried. Certainly more than Hiccup's dad did. He knew he was lucky, he didn't just have one dad who loved him, even if he didn't understand him, he had another, because he knew Gobber loved him just as much as any parent, even if he never said it. Gobber clapped his shoulder, once more sending him stumbling forwards and the two went their own directions.
