It came to my attention the other day that some people might think my title is just the HTTYD title but with the word jocks slapped in. I actually made the title with the intention that the "train" in this case referred to athletic training rather than animal training as intended in the original. I thought it was obvious but I made it up so of course it's obvious to me. I just wanted this to be clarified, let me know if it was clear or not, or if I just suck at making titles :P

Hope the wait wasn't too long, I'm doing my best to try getting back into updating more regularly here. I want to thank everyone for always being so patient and supportive, I really appreciate it!

Chapter 37

The inside of the rehabilitation centre was all too familiar to me, the canary yellow walls, the way my shoes squeaked against the shiny white floors, even the hum of nearby treadmills going, everything seemed to have stayed exactly the same as I had remembered. Back then I had been so upset when I lost my leg, for the first few months I didn't even want to try and walk, and it was hard to learn, maybe the most difficult thing I ever had to do, I couldn't even imagine how hard it was for Finn. Knowing what had happened to him I almost felt silly for being so upset about my leg, the comparison was night and day.

I made it over to his door, I had only been once before, with Astrid, and it was not long after his surgery so we couldn't stay much more than a half-hour. This would be the first time to see him on my own, and admittedly I felt quite nervous, though I had already met Astrid's real father, Finn was the one who made me feel like I had to prove something, show him I was good for her. I gave the door a gentle knock.

"Come in," A voice called out from within.

I swallowed nervously, gently pushing the door open and walking into the room. It was a corner room with a nice view, Finn sat by the window in his wheelchair, back facing me as I entered. The buzz of the electric motor came on as his chair slowly spun around so he could face me.

Finn greeted me with a huge smile as he moved closer. "Hiccup, so nice to see you," He said, stopping and opening up his arms slightly, hands and fingers remained in tight crumpled fists.

"I'm afraid it's just me today, Astrid asked me to come instead, she had a really big assignment due next week so she couldn't find the time," I explained as apologetically as I could.

He lightly shook an arm at me. "Don't worry about that, school is most important right now, I wouldn't want her grades to drop because of me. It's always nice having visitors though, sit down," He said gesturing towards a chair by the bed.

I sat down and pulled my satchel around and onto my lap. "Oh, right," I opened up my bag and began rummaging through it. "Astrid told me to bring this to you, she said that Halloween was your favourite holiday and she was sorry she couldn't bring this to you herself," I explained pulling out a rubber mask attached to a scratchy brown wig.

Finn's eyes lit up when the mask caught his eye, moving his hands towards it, but unable to use his fingers to grasp it. "Oh yes, I remember this, every Halloween I would put this on and try to scare Astrid, didn't work so well once she got to highschool," He mused with a chuckle, his knuckles grazed over the wig. "Would you mind…helping me put it on?"

"Oh!" I jumped up. "Yes, of course!" I said, opening up the mask and carefully placing it over Finn's head.

He looked up at me and lifted both his arms up as best he could. "Argh!"

"Very scary," I said nodding, before helping him to take the mask back off.

He smiled at me. "You don't have to humor me, son, relax a little."

"No, I-"

"I know, I'm paralyzed, and I'm your girlfriend's uncle, I'm sure you were quite nervous to come visit me on your own," He said nodding to himself. "I was surprised Astrid picked a guy like you…" I took in a sharp breath as he paused. "But I'm glad she did."

I looked up at him. "...you are?"

"I've heard plenty of things about you from Astrid, she's quite fond of you it seems, and I can see why, you're a good man. You've done a lot for her, and I trust you will continue to do so?"

I nodded quickly and vigorously. "Yes, yes of course," I said. "Astrid is, she's-I love her, alot."

Finn laughed heartily. "Yes, I don't doubt it."

"I'll be honest with you, I'm surprised she was ever scared by this," I said holding the mask up to look at it. "Not much scares her it seems, even when I think it should."

"I'll have to agree with you on that one," He said with a short chuckle. "She was always brave, even when she was little, this mask was the only thing that frightened her, then she stopped even being scared of this. Sometimes I wonder if she's afraid of anything at all."

"She seemed pretty afraid when you went into surgery," I said.

Finn nodded. "Thank you for being there for her while I couldn't, I probably won't be able to do as much to help her as I used to, I'm glad Astrid has you."

"Well, she's helped me quite a bit too."

"I don't doubt that either," He said smiling to himself.

I glanced up at him shyly. "Astrid...she didn't mention my leg did she?"

"Your leg?" He said, brows furrowed.

"I guess not then."

"What's the matter with your leg? Did you hurt it or something?"

I laughed and pulled my pant leg up to show him my prosthetic. "You could say that."

"Goodness, I had no idea, you walk just like anyone else."

I nodded. "Yeah, when I had it amputated I was sent here for rehabilitation," I explained to him. "They were really helpful, for a long time I thought that I'd be defined by my injury, that nobody would treat me the same after, this facility helped me a lot, and so did Astrid," Finn smiled at that remark. "So, what I'm trying to say is...you know, you've got both those things too, and even though it's not the same as losing a leg...I think you'll be alright."

Finn moved a arm around me as best he could, smiling from ear to ear. "I think so too."

I typed away furiously at my computer, eyes staring unwaveringly at the dim light of my computer screen. Some professors were evil, pure evil, and somehow I had gotten all the worst ones in the same semester. Three assignments from three different classes, two due on monday, one on tuesday, only Loki himself could think of a punishment more cruel.

I could hear the sounds of all the other students out and about the campus, Halloween night was popular for parties, and most of the dorm was out drinking and having a good time. I had wished that I could've at least visited Finn for Halloween, going to a party hadn't really been on my mind, but with all my work it looked like neither was possible. By the time I turned around to look out the window, the previously sunny sky had become completely black in what felt like no time at all. I stood up from my desk, walked over to the window, and shut it, the sounds of people outside were starting to distract me, and more distractions was the last thing I needed right now. Not with my deadlines coming up quickly. I shuffled back over to my desk and continued typing. It wasn't much more than a few minutes before the door burst open, and a very excited, very tipsy Ruffnut came stumbling into our room, a huge grin on her face, dressed in a skimpy chicken costume.

"What are you wearing?" I asked, looking up from my laptop.

Ruffnut giggled. "I'm a 'Sexy Chick' get it?" She said using her fingers to make quotations.

I rolled my eyes and turned back to the screen. "Clever, did you think of that all on your own?"

She moved towards me and grabbed one of my arms, pulling me away from my computer. "I've got to show you something, it's amazing Astrid, seriously, like nothing you've ever seen before, you've got to come with me and see for yourself," She rambled on.

I tried yanking my arm out of her grasp. "Ruffnut, I have work to do, I don't have time for this," I leaned in and sniffed at her breath. "How much did you drink anyway?"

Ruffnut smiled and shrugged. "I dunno, three, four, maybe like seven drinks? Listen you really have to come see this, it's the best thing I've ever seen in my life."

I furrowed my brows and stared at her. "What the hell are you going on about? What's the best thing you've ever seen?"

She smirked at me. "Ooh~? So you do want to know?"

"No, no," I said shaking my head and sitting back down at my desk. "I have work to do, I don't have time to go running around with you."

Ruffnut grabbed onto my arm again and began whining. "Oh, please, please, you won't regret it, I promise it's seriously amazing, I swear!"

"Ruff-"

"Come on Astrid, it won't take long."

"I have to finish my work."

She slid down to the floor, still grasping my sleeve. "It's soooo good though, it's sooooo good, really, really, really good, really, seriously, super-dup-"

"Okay, okay, shit, I'll come, just promise you'll leave me in peace to finish my work afterwards," I yanked my arm back out of her hands and unruffled my sleeve. "What is this really, really, really good thing anyway?"

"I'll show you, let's go," Ruffnut said rushing out of the room and towards the stairs.

I groaned and begrudgingly followed after. "Odin help me…" I muttered under my breath as we continued on down the stairs of the dorm. We walked briskly through the campus, students in and out of costume were everywhere, many stumbling around drunkenly with their friends laughing and chatting. "Where are we going?" I asked looking around.

"Just up here, at the international student dorms," Ruffnut said as she quickly walked, weaving in between the other students as she passed them, eyes lit up and face animated. As we approached the dorms, I noticed the crowd of maybe ten to fifteen students standing outside the front doors, talking to each other while taking drinks from bottles wrapped in paper bags. They laughed and chattered noisily, hooting and whistling at the girls passing by. Ruffnut grabbed me and pulled me behind a bush, holding my head close to hers and pointing towards the group of people. "Do you see it?"

I stared froward at the group, narrowing my eyes in a attempt to see what she was seeing. "No, where? What is it?"

"Him, there," She said, pointing again to the group.

I looked again, and noticed that Ruffnut's eyes seemed to be glued to one particular person in the group. He was tall, wearing a black v-neck shirt that barely fit over his muscular arms and chest, with sleek black hair that had been slicked back with hair gel. "That guy over there?"

"Isn't he the most amazing thing you've ever seen in your entire life?" Ruffnut rambled on. "I didn't know a man so perfect could even exist!"

"Wait…" I turned to better face her, a deep frown setting in. "Did you drag me all the way over here just to show me some guy you like? Ruffnut, I have work to do, I don't have time to go around ogling hot guys with you!" I said moving to stand up.

She grabbed my arm, yanking me back down. "Wait, Astrid, please, you have to help me get him, I need to have him, I've never wanted anything as much as this!"

I groaned. "Ruffnut, you're drunk, can we please not do this right now?"

"Please, Astrid, please, please, please-"

"Okay, okay, just shut up," I sighed. "You're dressed as a fucking chicken too, I don't know how exactly I'm supposed to help you."

"I just need a wing girl so I-" Ruffnut stopped abruptly and began laughing hysterically, with a hand over her mouth as she tried to hold in her laughter

"What? What's so funny?"

"It's-you're my-because-" She could hardly speak as she attempted to stifle her laughs. "You're my wing girl," She said, lifting her arms to display the wings of her cheap chicken costume, before immediately falling back into laughter.

I stared at her for a moment, watching her writhe on the floor as she continued to laugh. "Are you serious? Ruffnut- oh fuck this, I'm leaving," I said standing up, before I could take a step to leave, Ruffnut wrapped her arms around on of my legs, still lying on the ground. "Let go- and get up off the ground you're going to get all dirty."

"Don't go Astrid, you have to help me, c'mon!"

"No, this is ridiculous, you're drunk, I have work to do, and there's no way that guy is going to-"

"Uhh, pardon, could I get by you?"

My head snapped around and sure enough, there he was, standing just a few feet away, holding an empty bottle and a crumpled paper bag. He pointed and I turned to look, and right behind us was a public garbage bin. Ruffnut immediately jumped to her feet, brushing the dirt from her costume and shooting him a seductive smile, or at least an attempt at a seductive smile. "Hello, handsome," She cooed.

"I'm really sorry, we'll just be on our way," I said grabbing Ruffnut by the shoulders and pushing her away from him. Before I could get even a few steps away, she had already wriggled out of my grasp and rushed back over to him, hands grabbing onto his arm, squeezing it with a great deal of delight. "Ruffnut!" I yelled.

He laughed. "Oh, it's okay, she must have had quite a few drinks huh?"

"No kidding, I wish she wouldn't do this, I've actually got work to do right now," I said with an exasperated sigh.

"Hope they don't work us too hard, is it tough here?" He asked. "I just transferred this semester, haven't been in classes too long."

I shrugged. "Not if you don't get the shit professors, which unfortunately, I got three all at once. Now I'm working on three different assignments all due at the same time."

"Man, that's rough," He said wincing. "...I'm Eret by the way, I'm staying here at the international dorms," He stuck a hand out for me to shake.

"Astrid, and the girl slobbering all over your arm there," I said pointing to Ruffnut. "That's Ruffnut. We're just back a little at the dorm down there, it's mostly for sport's scholarship students."

"What sport?"

"I do a bunch of different ones, but I'm really into track right now."

"Nice, I did football during my first few years too, it's really fun. Don't have much time to handle all that and try to get decent grades now, the work really doubles when you go from getting a bachelor's to getting a master's."

"Oh you're getting your master's?"

He nodded. "Sure am, Marine Biology."

"So you're interested in animals? My boyfriend is looking into switching his major to Zoology, I really think he should do it."

"Definitely, it's very fulfilling work."

Ruffnut began kissing the side of Eret's arm, half asleep and with a huge smile on her face. "Oh, gosh, I should get her back, I'm really sorry about this," I said pulling her off of him. "But hey, if you need to know how to get somewhere or something like that, just come on over to our dorm, I can help you out, and if I can't, I'm sure Ruffnut will be happy to." Ruffnut slumped over my shoulder, barely conscious.

Eret chuckled. "Actually I was trying to find out where the new museum is being built, do you know of anything like that around this area?"

"New museum? I don't think I do," I said shaking my head. "I know a few museums but they've all been around for awhile."

He waved a hand at me. "Don't worry about it then, I figured not many people would know about it, it's pretty new from what I've heard."

"Why? Are you going to be volunteering there? If it's a program through the school I'm sure the placement office should have that sort of information."

"No, nothing like that, just an old mentor of mine is supposed to be working there, thought I might pop in and say hi, that's all," He explained. "I don't know much outside that, I don't even know what the name of the museum is going to be."

"Mentor? From back home?"

Eret shook his head. "No, no, actually I think she's from here, she just spends a lot of time traveling around doing research and conservation stuff."

"Here?" I felt a tingle in the back of my mind, like there was something I should be thinking of. "Is she well known?" He shrugged. "What's her name?"

"Valka Haddock."

Yay new character, I took some liberties with Eret so let me know what you think in the reviews whether you love it or hate it, I always like to know your thoughts! Thanks so much for reading and I'll see you in the next chapter :)