Project Nano - Chapter 2

Hiccup walked into Berk Academy's cafeteria with his friends as Frederickson AKA Fishlegs and he were talking animatedly about the upcoming field trip tomorrow and what they wanted to see first.

Scott AKA Snotlout Hiccup's annoying cousin shouted "Shut up no one cares" Exasperated at the two nerds as they ignored him. Hiccup you have handed in your permission slip have you?" Fishleg asked.

"No, not yet my dad's been pretty busy and I haven't gotten a chance to ask him..."

"Hiccup the trips tomorrow morning! Mr. Mulch won't let you go without it"

"I know, but he's in a meeting right now and I don't want to disturb him."

"Bla, Bla, Bla,

call him already" Snotlout reached over to his smaller cousin and ripped the phone out of his hands, and diving behind the twins so he could look for Stoic's number.

"WHAT! No! Snotlout give that back!" Hiccup whipped around and tried to get the phone back nut the twins blocked his every move.

"Ha-ha, too late it's ringing" Snotlout held the phone out so Hiccup could see the caller ID reading DAD. Hiccup jumped forward and managed to take the phone back but just as he was going to hang up so he wouldn't have to disturb his father he heard him speak calling his name.

"Oh h-hey Dad, sorry about that. I didn't mean to interrupt… " Hiccup shoots a glare towards Snotlout as the group of friends made it to their usual table and sat down.

"What? No, I'm fine… really I am…" Hiccup paused with each statement he made as he waited for his Fathers response on the other end of the phone.

"I just wanted to remind you to bring home my permission slip today after work…"

"No dad, you didn't… yes, I'm sure…it's on your desk…because that's where it's been since I gave it to you last week remember..." Hiccup shoots off sarcastically he knows his friends couldn't hear what his dad was saying but from their faces, they got the message.

"You got it? Good. Please don't forget to bring it home with tonight? I can't go on this trip without it…"

"WHAT?! What do you mean you don't know you said I could go months ago...?"

"Protection?! You were serious about that? I don't need a babysitter dad I'm 15!" Hiccup huffed getting annoyed as his father gets more incident.

"…Dad you can't…please I don't want… this conversation is feeling very one-sided…"

"…But…fine, deal." Hiccup sagged in his seat dropping his head into his hand while the other still held the phone to his ear.

"Yes, I'll see you tonight at dinner. Is Gobber still coming over?"

"…Alright, I'll meet him upfront then...yes, bye dad." Hiccup hung up the phone with a dramatic sigh as he turned back to his friends. "Sorry about that guys."

"What was all that about? Is everything alright?" Astrid asked with confused concern.

"Yes, it`s fine, my Dad`s just making Seven come with me tomorrow on the field trip…"

"Who's Seven and why is he coming on a high school field trip?" Ruffnut asked, "Ya it doesn't make any sense?" Tuffnut added.

"Haha Wait?! Stoic`s have Seven babysitters you?! Oh, this is too good…" Snotlout leaned over grabbing his stomach to ease the uncontrollable laughter that was escaping him.

"It's not funny Snotlout…" Hiccup glared at his cousin before giving up as he only laughed harder. Decided instead to look away pinching the bridge of his nose in frustration to explain it to the others. "Seven`s a security guard that works for my dad's company."

"So why is your dad making Seven come with us on this field trip?" Astrid was started to wonder what was going on, no one just gets a security guard to follow them around unless something is seriously wrong. "Is everything okay Hiccup? You're not in trouble or anything are you?' she said resting a hand on his shoulder.

"What? No…well n-not that I know of…um" he gave a weird grin and tried to shrug it off as nothing. "What are you guys wanting to see first tomorrow" Hiccup quickly tried to change the subject which was not lost on Astrid.

"Oh, ooh! I want to see the…" Fishleg jumped on his distraction his excitement off the charts as he went on but Astrid cut him off.

"HICCUP!" She shouted getting his attention "What aren't you telling us?!"

Everyone at the table froze including Hiccup himself. Not liking that all eyes were on him, he reached up and ran a hand through his hair before stopping to rub the back of his neck. It was a nervous tick that Astrid was well aware of.

"I-It's nothing ready…"

"Hiccup!' she grounded out warningly, when that didn't seem to work she gave his arm a light punch.

"Ow… what was that for? He yelped "Why is it always violence with you?!" brings his hand down from his neck to rub his now sore arm.

"It's not violence it's communication. Now stop stalling and tell us what's really going on? Does this have anything to do with the fact that you've been spending practically every weekend at your dad's company? And also why he hasn't been let you out of the house recently?"

Hiccup just stared at her shocked that she had pieced it all together so quickly. "Um…ya actually-h-how did you?"

"Hiccup please, you're a terrible liar I can read you like an open book."

Awes and catcalls rang out around the table made only worse by the twins, making both Astrid and Hiccup blushed. Through Astrid's left her face first as she whipped around to Tuffnut and punch him in the gut "Shut up" Astrid glared watching him go down rolling off the chair.

"Oh I'm hurt, I am very much hurt!" he shouted dramatically as his sister just laughed at her twin not bothering to help him in the slightest.

"Back to the matter at hand…" she looked at Hiccup's face still slightly heated "What is your father having you do there anyway?"

"C-coding mostly…" he shook himself out of his shocked state. "It's for this new form of tech his company has been developing, they're only in the prototype stage right now but when it's up and running it will change everything."

"Really… What is it?" Fishleg's asked excided.

"Well…I'm not supposed to talk about it. It's top-secret, the board members have been pushing my father to go live with the project but he doesn't want to take the risk to see how it could bring a lot of unwanted attention from certain people, and my father's not about to risk telling the public yet."

"Oh- Hiccup colour us intrigued… now you have to tell us?" the twins were practically bouncing in their seats while Hiccup chose to ignore them.

"I don't know Hiccup, that doesn't sound like something you should be working on? There is no way your dad would let you work on that. Isn't he afraid someone will go after you or one of the technicians?!" Fishlegs all but blurted out not comfortable with his friend working on something that could potentially put him in danger.

"That has come up once or twice. But it's my code – I got it working and I wanted to keep helping."

"And he still let you stay on? There is no way Stoic the Vastly overprotective father would let you stay on something so dangerous even if it's for a good cause" Snotlout argued.

"He didn't get the chance to say no, and believe me he tried. No one else could keep up with the code I made as it needs to contently stay in flux throughout the process. So my dad made a deal with me, he'd allow me to keep working on the project if I kept it a secret, didn't bring any of the details of the work home with me, and that I would be in lockdown (besides leaving the house for school and the company) until he hired a bodyguard…" Hiccup finished saying the last part with disdain.

"A bodyguard?! Are you serious! Ha-ha-ha, when, where are they here now?"

"No my dad`s still doing interviews. Apparently, my father has very high standards, as he`s turned away the first 7 that have applied this week alone." Hiccup gave a sarcastic jab. "Right now he just has one of the security guards picking me up from school and dropping me off at home, not leave until he gets home."

"That's a little much isn't it?"

"It is a little extreme, yes…and I'm trying to reason with him that a full-time bodyguard is unnecessary. But he won't budge, and with what happened to me last year he doesn't want anything bad happening again"

Hiccup sighed as he looked up at his friends seeing the look on their faces as they know what he was referring to the incident that cost him his lower left leg. Even now it was like he could see the attack playing out in his head like it was yesterday. Thieves had stormed the building trying to get whatever tech they could get their hands and once they got what they were looking for they left a bomb in its place to cover up any evidence left behind. Hiccup had been exploring near the labs as the thief was taking place and got caught in the blast. Unfortunately for Hiccup, he had been in the staircase on the other side of the wall when the blast went off.

The blast had hit him with such force that it threw him down the stairs knocking him out cold as the supporting walls came down around him. A slab of cement broke off from the wall and landed on him pinning him down and virtually crushing his left leg. He had been trapped like that for hours before any firefighters or medics could get anywhere near him. His father had been beside himself with worry thinking his son had died along with the other eight scientists as he wasn't with the 12 others who were injured. Luckily the blast was contained enough that it didn't bring down the building next to it and hurt even more people.

Subconsciously he reached down to touch his leg breath hitching slightly at the fear that consumed him as he trapped in that dark stairwell alone and in pain not know if anyone would find him. Astrid placed a hand on his shoulder to calm him, she knew the insolent still affected him, and even though it was more than a year ago he was still getting used to the fact that his leg wasn't there anymore. Hiccup slowed his breathing placing his hand on hers with a thanks as he tried to ease down the onslaught of memories that assaulted him. From the explosion, and the pain to waking up days later in the hospital with his father promising that he would do better and that he was so sorry with the way he had ignored him( it hurt to look at hiccup as he looked so much his late wife Valka) he just looks so much like Valka. Then the devastation of finding out that he had lost his leg as the next six months had been filled with pain, loss, anger, and annoyances as his already protective father had gotten so much worse over the six months that followed his recovery.

His friends shuddered at the memory.

"I get that…" Fishleg fidgeted in his seat uncomfortable on the dark turn this conversation had got on. "I'm just surprised he's even letting you go on this field trip?"

"I think he's more worried about me while I'm on my own, like walking home or when I'm in the building at his work." Hiccup said while rubbing the back of his neck nervously before a thought occurred to him "I get that he's worried but he's driving me crazy. Do you know he actually has a security guard on staff whose job it is to track me throughout the building and relay my ware bouts back to my father! I can't even go to the bathroom without being followed."

"ha-ha" Snotlout

"It's not funny Snotlout!"

"Sure it is" hiccup just glared at him, only to stop as Astrid gave his shoulder a light squeeze. Hiccup blushed as he forgot that her hand was still there.

"I know it's hard Hiccup but your father's just trying to protect you. You're the only family he has remember?"

"Hey what do you call me" Snotlout shouted, he was Hiccup's older cousin after all.

"You know what I meant," Astrid said.

Sigh "I know Astrid, but I already lost my bag and leg and part of my independence it's hard to lose my freedom to"

"Just hold on a little along her okay besides the prototype must almost be finished by now right?"

"Yeah, it is. I'll try talking to him again after this project is over maybe I can get him to lighten up on the whole bodyguard things?"

...

At the final bell, Hiccup made his way to his locker collecting the books he would need before heading home. As the last book was in his bag he closed his locker and turned towards the front entryway to meet up with his friends. Stoic's lifelong friend Gobber was picking him up today, giving him a slight break from the quiet stuff rides he was getting used to from his father's security team.

Hiccup spotted his friends sitting on the benches next to a large evergreen tree, nodding to them as he approached and setting down his book bag in the grass. "Hey, Hiccup! Which babysitter is coming for you up today?" Snotlout joked

Hiccup ignored his cousin's jokes "Oh gods... Gobber's coming over for dinner tonight so he'll be picking me up today."

"Oh man Gobber's coming I love that crazy old cot, he has such cool stories," Tuffnut said while hanging upside down from the tree next to them.

"Ya because tolls that steal your left socks are so believable" Astrid scuffed.

"ha-ha Ya Gobber's one of a kind already" Hiccup gave a nervous chuckle. Don't get him wrong he loved Gobber but he could be a handful at times. Gobber practically raised him after his mother died, looking out for him when his father had started to pull away and buried himself in his work. Although Gobber wasn't related by blood he still thought of him as an uncle, and Gobber treated him like his own son. He had spent many hours working in his auto shop, Gobber had taught him everything he knows about mechanics, and it's thanks solely to Gobber that he found his love for engineering.

Gobber pulled up in front of the school in his old beat-up pickup truck and honked at Hiccup ganging the attention of the teens and several other students "Oh Hiccup! Your chariot has arrived my lord" Gobber shouted earning a couple of laughs from some of the students waiting around. Yup that's Gobber for you he loved to embarrass him anytime he got the chance (all in good faith that this).

"Oh, Gods" Hiccup groaned face turning beat red before making his way over to his crazy uncle trying to hide under his bangs.

"Was that necessary," Hiccup asked as he climbed into the pickup truck being careful of his prosthetic leg.

"Oh what that?!" Gobber chuckled with a large smile on his face.

" Yes, that!" Hiccup shouted waving his arms in the air to exaggerate his point. Gobber just shrugged and pulled out of the parking lot making his way to Hiccups house. "So how have you been lad? I haven't seen much of you lately. Keeping yourself busy with that girlfriend of yours" he winked.

'WHAT! NO, she's not my girlfriend we're just friends" he yelled flustered, his face began to heat up for what felt like the hundredth time that day.

"Alright alright don't get your britches in a bunch laddie I was just teasing. But really what have you been up to?"

"Helping my dad mostly."

"Ah so that's why he was so insistent about me picking you up" Gobber picked up the meaning right away, Stoic was being paranoid again. "Driving you crazy yet?" Gobber smiled seeing how his best friend had changed so much over the last year or so, going from absentee father to overprotective nut.

"You have no idea..." Hiccup slouched in his seat crossing his arms over his chest.

"Well don't let it get to you lad it's just how he is, especially if you're helping him out at work." Hiccup nodded as the car lapped into silence for a couple of seconds before Gobber decided to change the subject talking about this client he had at his shop wanting a custom job on his ride.

They continued talking like this throughout the ride and the Haddock household for the next couple of hours until Hiccup started working on dinner and just finished setting up the table as his father walked in the door.

Stoic apologize for being late for dinner but Hiccup waved it off says it was okay and they had just sat down themselves. Hiccup had made some nice thick pork roast with a large helping of mashed potatoes and some veggies on the side. Stoic was grateful for his son's cooking he wasn't the best at it himself just good enough to get them by. Valka had been the true chef, though some of her more… Creative dishes went amiss more often than not.

Gobber had still joked that one of her meatballs was still kicking around in his stomach to this day as sat opposite end of the table by Stoic laughing and joking throughout the meal until Hiccup said that he had to go upstairs to finish off some last-minute homework before bed.

...