Disclaimer: I do not own How to Train Your Dragon or any of its characters in any way, shape, or form.

Chapter 3

Hiccup woke up with a start, feeling a light tapping on his shoulder. Quickly looking up, he saw that he was looking right into familiar, bright blue eyes. Startled, he jumped back a bit, and took in his surroundings. He must have dozed off, and he quickly checked to see if everything was still there.

Thankfully, it was. Looking back up, he saw the girl from the other day in front of him.

"Oh! Uh, hi!" Hiccup stammered, still a bit startled. The girl sheepishly smiled, saying,

"Sorry. I didn't mean to frighten you, but…" She trailed off, looking slightly above his head.

"No! Sorry, I guess I just got a bit tired, and… So, you came for your computer?" Hiccup said, collecting himself again.

"Yeah, did you fix it?" She asked.

Nodding, he answered, "Yeah, I did. Here, you can take it now." Leaning over, Hiccup grabbed his bag and pulled out her laptop. Handing it over, she took it and put it in her bag, giving him his payment.

"Thanks. Oh, and my name's Astrid." Astrid said, sticking out her hand. Hiccup shook it and replied with

"Hiccup. I know, it's a bad name, but it's not the worst." he said, trying to justify why he called himself 'Hiccup'.

"Well, it was nice meeting you, Hiccup." Astrid smiled, then walked away. taking her laptop with her. Not thinking much about the encounter, Hiccup leaned over again.

Getting back to work, Hiccup thought about what had led him up to getting this job. His father had never really noticed him and they hadn't had a real conversation in a while, so Hiccup thought that if he could prove to his father that he could do something and wasn't useless, his father would be more proud of him. After building a few things in his booth, Hiccup had tried to show his father, but every time he would just brush him off, never paying attention to Hiccup. After a few months, Hiccup eventually gave up, and spent all of his time at the stall.

Twirling his pencil in his left hand, Hiccup sat back in his chair, lost in thought. Toothless came up to him and jumped on the desk, laying down in the sunlight. Hiccup watched him as he curled up, wishing that he too, were a cat. Having no worries or expectations, just being able to sleep all day. At least he wasn't still stuck in the palace all of the time, never having much to do. Hiccup had bought the shop two years ago, and had gone almost every day since.

Still thinking, Hiccup almost missed the little girl who had come up to his stall, with a little toy robot in her hand.

"Hello." Hiccup said, looking at the girl "How may I help you?" Smiling at the girl, she put her toy on the desk.

"Can you… can you fix this for me?" She timidly asked, not looking at him in the eyes.

"Sure, what's wrong with it?" Hiccup asked, still smiling.

The girl shuffled her feet a bit, saying "The key isn't turning, it won't move." She put the key on the desk, next to the robot.

"Yeah, I can fix it. Come back in about an hour, and it'll be done."

The little girl walked away, and Hiccup pulled the toy in front of him.

It was quite simple, really. Hiccup worked on many more complicated things that this usually, but there were still a lot of children who needed a toy to be fixed. Unscrewing the back, Hiccup fixed the stuck pieces, taking his time. He didn't have any other things to do at the moment, for he had already finished them earlier. He was quite skilled working with machinery, and could always fix complex problems fairly quickly.

After Hiccup finished fixing the robot, he pulled out his mechanical dragon again. After working on it for a while and getting more small repairs, Hiccup eventually called it a day. It was about 8:00, and it was when he usually went back to the castle. Packing up his bag and grabbing Toothless, Hiccup locked the doors behind him and made his way back home.

He worked in a fairly popular marketplace, and he often liked to look in the shops and buy snacks from the other stalls. The streetlights were illuminating the sidewalk, since the sun had already gone down not too long before. Most of the other shops were closed, but the restaurants and café's were all mostly still open. Hiccup looked in some of them, seeing a bunch of young and old couples there for dinner together. Hiccup had never been in a relationship before - heck, he had never even had a real friend.

Sighing, he kept on walking down the street, kicking loose rocks. After walking for a bit, he got out of the marketplace. Around him now were a bunch of apartment buildings, towering high above him, the light from inside the rooms shining through the windows. He could see families watching television, all sitting together on a couch. Looking back at his feet, Hiccup put his hands into his pocket, where he pet Toothless.

Hiccup usually rode a bike but he was currently fixing it, because some of the gears had broken. Until he fixed it, he had to walk to and from the booth everyday. It took him about 30 minutes to walk there and back, but since Hiccup was never needed anywhere, he didn't have to travel fast.

Making his way to the back of the palace, Hiccup took out an old key from his pocket, one that unlocked an old and unused gate in the back. Nobody even knew the gate existed anymore, so he never had any trouble sneaking in and out. Unlocking the door that led into the tunnels, he slid through and made his way to his bedroom.

Once getting there, Toothless jumped out of his pocket and sat on his bed. The maids that came to clean Hiccup's room knew about Toothless, but Hiccup had told them not to tell anyone else, especially his father. Luckily, they agreed and Stoick had never found out. Changing into his regular clothes, Hiccup went to his bathroom to clean up. It was a large washroom, and had plenty of space for his and Toothless' things. Taking a shower, Hiccup then walked down to the dining hall to get some dinner.

Walking through the hallways, Hiccup was almost at the dining hall when he heard a bit of noise coming from one of the rooms where they had some of their more expensive decorations. Curious, he slowly peeked his head around the door, which was slightly ajar. When he looked through, he saw a group of men in red leather jackets and black pants, grabbing things and putting them in their sacs that they carried. They were all wearing red, dragon-esque hats, with red face paint and sunglasses that covered their eyes, so they weren't recognizable.

Panicked, Hiccup quickly ran away, tripping over himself as he tried to find someone. After a minute, he saw a guard and hurriedly told him that there was a robbery happening. The guard immediately gathered more guards and they rushed into the room where Hiccup saw the thieves in. One there, though, all they saw was the torn apart room, bare of any decorations. Whatever wasn't stolen was broken, and the tapestries on the walls were torn. Looking up at one of the higher windows, they saw the last of the thieves leave.

The man was obviously the leader of the group, and he wasn't wearing sunglasses. Seeing Hiccup and the guards look at him, the man smirked and winked, then was pulled out of the window.

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