Chapter 2
Hiccup and his friends walked into the Berk Academy's cafeteria as Frederickson AKA Fishlegs and Hiccup were talking animatedly about the upcoming field trip tomorrow and what they wanted to see first.
"OMG! Shut up already! No one cares!" Scott AKA Snotlout yelled, exasperated at the two nerds.
"Hiccup have you handed in your permission slip yet?" Fishleg asked.
"No, not yet my dad's been pretty busy lately and I haven't gotten a chance to ask him..." Hiccup answer as the group looked around for an empty table.
"Hiccup the trips tomorrow morning! Mr. Mulch won't let you go without it" Astrid said concerned.
"I know, I know but he's in a meeting right now and I don't want to disturb him." Hiccup nervously fidgeted with his phone.
"Blah, Blah, Blah, just call him already" Snotlout reached over his smaller cousin and ripped the phone out of his hands, at the same time he drove 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 from him but was unsuccessful as 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. The phone rang loudly even in the crowded cafeteria, and Hiccup jumped forward in his haste to end the call quickly before his father could answer it. Hiccup managed to take the phone back but just as he was going to press the end call button he heard his father's booming voice calling his name over the speaker.
"Hayden? I'm in a meeting right now. Is everything okay?"
Hiccup quickly turned off the speaker and pulled the phone to his ear "Oh h-hey Dad, sorry about that. I didn't mean to interrupt…" he said shooting Snotlout a glare as the group of friends made it to their way over 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 three weeks ago remember..." Hiccup gives his father a sarcastic tone. "…Sorry dad…"
Hiccup could hear his friends laughing next to him. Hiccup knows that they can't hear what his father is saying but from the look on their faces, they must have guessed that his father just called him out for his sarcastic tone (they weren't wrong). His attention was pulled back to the phone as he heard his father cry out in joy that he found it.
"You got it? Good" Hiccup smiled in relief. "Please don't forget to bring it home with you tonight? I can't go on this trip without…" Hiccup paused as his father cut him off.
"WHAT?! What do you mean you don't know! You said I could go last month...?" Hiccup yelled shocking his friends as they jumped from his yell looking on in worry.
"Protection?! You were serious about that? Dad, I don't need a babysitter I'm 15!" Hiccup huffed getting more and more annoyed as his father got more incident.
"…Dad you can't… please I don't want… will you just listen…" Hiccup let out a sigh in frustration balling his hand into a fist before shouting back to his unbelievably stubborn father "this conversation is feeling very one-sided…"
Another paused and Astrid and Fishlegs exchanged looks wondering how something as simple as getting a permission slip signed had gotten the two Haddock into a fight. They all thought Hiccup and his dad's relationship had gotten better over the last year. Even the twins who loved chaos were starting to get nervous about how the conversation turned so quickly.
"…But…Argh fine!" Hiccup sagged in his seat dropping his head and gripping his hair with his free hand while the other still held the phone to his ear. "…Deal" if possible Hiccup sagged even further into his seat with a look of total exhaustion.
"Yes, I'll see you tonight at dinner. Is Gobber still coming over?" Hiccup lifted himself up and nodded into the phone.
"…Alright, I'll meet him upfront then...yes I will, bye dad." Hiccup hung up the phone with a dramatic sigh as he turned back to his friends. "Sorry about that guys."
"That's alright… um is everything alright Hiccup? What was all that about? " Astrid asked with confused concern.
"That depends if you define alright as my insanely overprotective father has stubbornly decided to make Sven come with me tomorrow on our field trip…" Hiccup grumbled dropping his head into his arms onto the table.
"Who's Sven and why is he coming on a high school field trip?" Ruffnut asked, "Ya it doesn't make any sense?" Tuffnut added.
"Haha Wait?! Oh my gods this is too good!" the group turns towards Snotlout as he laughs hysterically confused as to what made this so funny. "Stoic's having Sven babysit you?! Oh, this is too good…" Snotlout leaned forward 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 it only made him laugh harder. Decided instead to look away pinching the bridge of his nose in frustration to explain it to the others. "Sven is a security guard that works at my father's company."
"Okay… so why is your dad making him come with us on the field trip?" Astrid was started to wonder what was going on. No parent hires a security guard to follow their child around no matter how overprotective they may be. That is unless something is seriously wrong.
"Is there something you're not telling us Hiccup? You're not in trouble or anything are you?' she asked placing a hand on his shoulder.
"What?! No…w-well not that I know of…um" he gave a weird grin and tried to shrug it off as nothing as he blurted out "What are you guys wanting to see first tomorrow?"
Hiccup's quick change of the subject was not lost on Astrid as it was on the others.
Fishlegs jumped on Hiccup's distraction, his excitement off the charts as he went on. "Oh, ooh! I want to see the…" but Astrid cut him off.
"HICCUP!" She grounded out 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 really…" Hiccup stuttered out.
"Hiccup…' her voice had a warning tone to it as if she was daring him to try and lie to her again.
"…" When he still didn't say anything she gave his arm a light punch.
"Ow!… what was that for?!" He yelped, bringing his hand down to rub his now sore arm. "Why is it always violence with you?"
"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 Stoic hasn't been let you out of the house recently? Or that you have been spending practically every weekend at your dad's company for the last couple of weeks?"
Hiccup just stared at her shocked that she had pieced it all together so quickly. "U-um…ya actually it is. H-how did you…?"
"Hiccup please, you're a terrible liar and I can read you like an open book."
The 'Awes' that rang out around the table were only made worse by the twin's catcalls, causing both Astrid and Hiccup to blush profusely.
Although Astrid's blush left her face much faster than Hiccup did as she whipped around to Tuffnut and punch him in the gut. "Shut up!" Astrid glared watching him fall off his chair and roll around on the ground.
"Oh I am hurt, I am very much hurt!" he shouted dramatically as his sister just laughed at her twin not bothering to help him at all.
"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…" Hiccup said tearing his eyes away from the twins and shaking 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." Hiccup's voice had risen in excitement near the end as a large smile spread across his face.
"Really… What is it?" Fishleg's asked feeding off of Hiccup's excitement.
"Well…I'm not allowed to talk about it. The whole project is top-secret, but the board members have been pushing my father to go live with the project but he doesn't want to take the risk. You see it could bring a lot of unwanted attention from certain people, and my father's not about to risk telling the public yet. Not after what happened last year."
"Uuuh- 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'm the one that got it working and I wanted to keep helping" Hiccup said determination set on his face.
"Even if that's true. There is no way Stoic the Vastly overprotective father of the year would NEVER 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, Snotlout, 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 instead… he'd allow me to keep working on the project under 3 conditions."
"What are the conditions?" Fishlegs asked.
"The first was that I had to keep it a secret," Hiccup said counting it off on his fingers. "The second was that I didn't bring any of the details of the work home with me, and the last one… that I'm not happy about by the way." Hiccup sent a glare at his cousin daring him to comment on it again. "Is that I would be on lockdown (besides leaving the house for school and working at my father's company). That is until he hired a bodyguard…" Hiccup finished saying the last part with disdain.
"A bodyguard?! Are you serious! Ha-ha-ha, when? Are they here now?" Snotlout laughed looking around the cafeteria.
"No there not! Apparently, my dad is still doing interviews. Seeing as my father has very high standards, he says none of them are good enough. It's been 3 weeks and he still hasn't found anyone he fit for the job. He's turned away seven of them this week alone." Hiccup sighed exasperatedly.
"That's insane" the others agreed with Ruffnut's statement.
"Right now he just has one of the security guards picking me up from school and dropping me off at home, when he can't do it himself. Oh, and they're not allowed to leave until he gets home either."
"That's a little much isn't it?" Astrid said a little stunned that Stoic would go that far.
"It is extreme, isn't it?! I've been trying to reason with him that a full-time bodyguard is unnecessary. Especially since the project isn't going to last for much longer. But he won't budge, and he keeps saying that with what happened to me last year he doesn't want anything bad happening again. I mean I get it but…" Hiccup trailed off trying to calm himself down.
Hiccup sighed as he looked up at all his friends seeing the look on their faces as they knew that 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. Exploring the labs that night while waiting for his father to get off work. That was when the thieves came storming into the building guns blazing. One of the techs had pushed him into the private stairway that lead up to the second floor to hide him. The Tech had told him to stay hidden fearing that if recognized the thieves would try to kidnap him.
The thieves had then moved the rest of the lab techs to another room on the far side of the building and started tearing the lab apart picking up whatever technology they could get their hands on.
Hiccup was trapped unable to get off without one of the lab Technician's ID badges as the stairway only lead to an office on the second floor with no other exit but through the lab.
Unfortunately for Hiccup, he was unaware of the bomb the thieves had set up to cover their tracks and had been caught in the blast, hitting him with such force that it threw him down the stairs knocking him out. The blast sent the supporting walls to come down all around him, and one of the concrete slabs landed on him pinning him down and virtually crushing his left leg.
Subconsciously Hiccup reached down to touch his leg, breath hitching slightly as he remembered the fear that consumed him as he had been trapped in that dark stairwell alone and in pain not knowing if anyone would find him.
He was told he had been trapped like that for hours before any of the firefighters or medics were able to get anywhere near him. His father had been beside himself with worry thinking his son had died in the explosion since he wasn't with the 12 other scientists who were injured.
…
Hiccup pulled out of his memories as Astrid placed a comforting hand on his shoulder brought him out of his shocked state. She knew the incident 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 as thanks as he tried to ease down the onslaught of memories and panic 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 for the way he had ignored him. His father had said he was ashamed to admit that it hurt to look at his own son because he looked so much like his mother Valka his late wife.
Then there was the devastation of finding out that he had lost his leg and the next few 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.
"I can understand where Stoic is coming from… Not that I'm agreeing that what he's doing isn't a little insane but…" Fishleg fidgeted in his seat uncomfortable on the dark turn this conversation had gotten on. "I'm just surprised he's even letting you go on this field trip at all from what you told us?"
"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. I get that he's worried but he's driving me crazy!" Hiccup said while rubbing the back of his neck nervously before a thought occurred to him "Do you know he has a security guard on staff whose job it is to track me throughout the building and relay my ware abuts back to him! I can't even go to the bathroom without being followed."
"Ha-ha" Snotlout snorted.
"It's not funny Snotlout!" Hiccup turned to his cousin annoyed.
"Sure it is" Hiccup just glared at him, only to stop as Astrid gave his shoulder a light squeeze. Hiccup blushed as he had forgotten 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?" She reassured him.
"Hey what do you call me" Snotlout shouted, he was Hiccup's older cousin after all.
"Oh, way too many names to count" Ruffnut laughed.
"Man hard to pick just one?" Tuffnut pondered resting his chin in his hand thinking.
"Shut up!" Snotlout shouted over at the twins as the rest of the group laughed.
"You know what I meant," Astrid said.
Hiccup sighed "I know Astrid, but I already lost my leg and with it part of my independence. It's hard to lose my freedom too."
"Just hold on a little longer okay, besides the prototype must be almost finished by now right?"
"Yeah, it is thanks, Astrid. I'll try to keep that in mind, but I need to talk to my father again after this project is over maybe I can get him to drop the whole bodyguard thing?"
...Time Laps…
After the final bell, Hiccup made his way to his locker and began collecting the books he would need before heading home. Once the last book was put into his bag he closed his locker and turned towards the front entryway to meet up with his friends.
His father's childhood friend Gobber was picking him up today, giving him a slight break from the quiet stuff rides he was sadly getting used to from his father's security team.
Hiccup spotted his friends sitting on the benches next to a large evergreen tree. He nodded to them as they waved him over.
"Hey, guys" Hiccup greets them, setting down his book bag in the grass next to the bench.
"Hey, Hiccup! So which babysitter is coming to pick you up today?" Snotlout joked.
"Oh, gods..." Hiccup rolled his eyes ignored his cousin's jabs but answered anyway. "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, yeah Gobber's one of a kind alright" Hiccup gave a nervous chuckle.
Don't get him wrong Hiccup loved Gobber, he thought of him as an uncle. But that didn't change the fact that the man could be a handful at times. Gobber had practically raised Hiccup 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 Hiccup still thought of him as family, and Gobber treated him like his own son/nephew.
Hiccup had spent many hours working in Gobber's auto shop. Where the man had taught him everything he knows about mechanics, and it was thanks to Gobber's teachings that he found his love for engineering.
A horn honked behind the group causing them to turn around to investigate. Gobber had pulled up in front of the school in his old beat-up pickup truck and honked again waving his large meaty arm out the window as he called to Hiccup.
"Oh, Hiccup! Your chariot has arrived my lord!" Gobber shouted earning a couple of laughs from his friends and several of the other students around them.
Yup that's Gobber for you, he loved to embarrass Hiccup anytime he got the chance (all in good faith that this).
"Oh, Thor…" Hiccup groaned shrinking in on himself, his face turning beat red. Waving goodbye to his friends Hiccup made his way over to his crazy uncle while trying to hide his face behind his bangs.
"Was that really necessary," Hiccup asked as he climbed into the pickup truck, being careful of his prosthetic leg so he didn't trip and embarrass himself more.
"I don't know what you're talking about my lord, I am just a simple chariot driver" Gobber chuckled with a large smile on his face.
"You see that! That is what I'm talking about!" 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 Hiccup's house. "So how have you been lad? I haven't seen you around the shop lately. Must be keeping yourself pretty busy with that girlfriend of yours?" he winked.
'WHAT! GOBBER NO! She's not my girlfriend we're just friends," Hiccup yelled blushing even harder if it was even possible. He could physically feel his face heating up for what felt like the hundredth time that day and getting even more flustered.
"Alright, alright don't get your britches in a bunch laddie. I was just teasing. But really what have you been up to?" Gobber laughed amused with himself.
"Helping my dad mostly." Hiccup said turning his head to look out the window, but mostly to hide his blushing face from Gobber.
"Ah, so that's why he was so insistent about me picking you up today." Gobber had picked up the meaning behind Hiccup helping his father right away. "I tell ya that man would take no for an answer I had to close up shop early."
"Sorry…" Hiccup apologized bowing his head slightly.
"Aw don't worry about it lad, you know I'm always there to help you out" Gobber grinned making Hiccup feel better about the situation.
"So is Stoic driving you crazy yet?" Gobber smiled, it was a shock to him that his best friend had changed so much over the last year. Going from absentee father to overprotective nut in a blink of an eye.
"You have no idea..." Hiccup slouched in his seat crossing his arms over his chest. "I mean the man is looking into getting me, my own personal bodyguard."
"Yeck's! 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 a client he had at his shop wanting a custom job done on his ride.
They continued talking and laughing throughout the rest of the ride to the Haddock household and afterward before Hiccup started to work on dinner. Hiccup had just finished setting up the table an hour later when his father walked in the door.
"Sorry I'm late Son, the meeting ran later than I planned" Stoic apologize, but Hiccup waved him off.
"Don't worry about it dad, I just finished. So you're right on time."
"Hey Stoic, hurry up and get over here. Hiccup sure has outdone himself tonight." Gobber cheered from his spot at the table.
"I didn't do that much…" Hiccup blushed rubbing the back of his neck.
"Nonsense" Stoic said sitting down at the head of the table and pulling some dishes towards him "Everything looks amazing son."
Hiccup nodded his thanks and sat down himself looking out at what he had made. There was 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 as he wasn't the best at it himself. He wasn't bad per se just only good enough to make it bland but edible. Valka had been the true chef, though some of her more… Creative dishes went amiss more often than not making them inedible.
Gobber had still joked to this day that one of her meatballs was still kicking around in his stomach. As he sat across the table from 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.
"Don't worry about the dishes son, Gobber and I will do them later" Stoic said waving his son off.
"Oh um okay. Thanks" Hiccup smiled as he hugged Gobber goodnight before heading up the stairs to finish up his homework, so he could go to bed early and be well rested for the long and exciting day he was looking forward to tomorrow.
...