Hiccup was awake later than he would have preferred. The only thing keeping him from falling asleep with the phone pressed against his cheek was a little black cat that head butted him when he started nodding off.

"I told you, Taylor, nothing happened. We all just got dinner and went hoe. It was nothing exciting, but if you really want to we can go again tomorrow." He glanced up at the clock and moaned. "Later today."

The person at the other end sniffled. "Seriously? You promise?"

"Sure," he tried not to yawn.

"You can't back out later! Bye!"

Hiccup kept the phone pressed to his ear for a good five minutes before he realized the line had gone dead. He glanced at Toothless, who mewled. "Okay, Bud, let's go to bed." He finally let a yawn fee and took the cat under his arm.

Toothless meowed in protest and wiggled to get away, but his human ignored him.

XxX

The next day was a lot like the one before it, excluding the absence of the sixth member.

Hiccup met the twins and Astrid when they parked, having had spotted Taylor's car when he pulled up.

He and Astrid walked to the first lecture together, where they sat drawing a goofy comic about ducks until they had to go their separate ways.

They met again at lunch and waited a while for their friends, but ended up eating without them.

"I don't know how she expects us to be able to pay attention when she drones on like that. She just states facts! I mean…"

Hiccup was grinning. "Yeah, I don't get why professors would do that. Stating facts? Your job is to contradict the truth! How dare you!"

"You know what I mean! She talks like she's reading straight out of a twelfth grade textbook."

"I know what you mean." He smiled teasingly.

She whacked him in the arm. "Jerk."

"How's your bird?"

"She's been doing great! Yesterday she found a mouse and annoyed it until it ran away."

"You have mice?"

"Can't really afford the rent without a roommate or two." The made him laugh, which she discovered she liked. "What about you?"

"Me? Nah, mice probably figure they can do better." She giggled and realized she had been twirling her hair around her index finger. Quickly, she puts her hand down, surprising her lunch mate.

"Uh, no, I mean how's Toothless?"

Hiccup shrugged, "He's about as spoiled as Last night he seriously didn't want me to fall asleep." He rubbed his chin. "I'm going to have a bruise."

"Aw, poor Hiccup. Beat up by a kitty."

"A vicious, evil kitty." His tone was still fond, completely contradicting his words.

"The sweetest ball of fluff on four legs."

Hiccup shook his head. "I am almost certain that he was a dragon in his past life?"

"You believe in that kind of thing?" Astrid wasn't being judgmental, only curious. Hiccup narrowed his eyes playfully.

"Is whether or not I believe the point?" He scoffed as if he had been cornered, but he was grinning.

Astrid rolled her eyes and smiled. "I have to go to class, dork."

"Me too, butted."

"What a retort." She snickered as he snatched away her tray.

They ended up sitting far away from each other in their next class together, so the next time they met that day was at the arranged gathering point.

Fisher was the last to show, but he finally famed running they piled into Taylor and Hiccup's cars and headed out.

The gardening went better than it had yesterday, though someone misunderstood and had Fisher watch their five-year old until their aunt came. Someone else asked Hiccup to take off his shirt while he worked and, after Taylor gave him a huge grin and two thumb up, he awkwardly complied.

The drivers soon went to gather the rest of their group - Taylor grabbing his sister and Fisher and Hiccup went to Astrid and Scott's section. When all three of the latter group had climbed into the little red car, Hiccup's phone rang.

"It's Taylor," he mouthed to the girl in the passenger seat.

"Hiccup you gotta come to Fisher and Rayya's street. House, um, 211," Was all that was said before the line went dead.

The boy shrugged obeyed the order. They came to the house to see Taylor in the driveway, waving his arms frantically.

All four headed inside to see Fisher sitting cross-legged on the floor with a small child in his lap.

"I have to stay here until her aunt comes." He seemed like he was still confused about the situation. "There's money on the counter for pizza."

Hiccup pressed his lips together and shrugged. "We can babysit."

"What?" Taylor whined. "I wanted to go party! You promised! I don't wanna watch some kid all- oh my God are those coloring books?"

The kid's aunt was probably surprised to see six college students sprawled across the living room, scribbling to their heart's content, the floor covered in open coloring books and crayon boxes and a couple of pizza boxes.

XxX

The next day was a lot like the one before it… again. Minus, somewhat to their dismay, any babysitting gigs. The few weeks following it were the same as well, and passed quickly with a strict schedule. The twins treated everyone to dinner every night until they reached the date of their deadline.

Hiccup withdrew all the money from the account they had set up and returned to his friends looking like he was going to cry.

"Are you that happy?" Scott asked nervously after a long silence. Hiccup shook his head and handed him a paper. His jaw dropped. "It says here there were only twenty dollars." Hiccup nodded and held up a twenty-dollar bill."

"How is that possible?" Astrid exhaled irritatedly.

"I don't know." His expression was slowly becoming angry. "I kept saying there was a mistake, but she just shook her head…"

"Who cares?" Taylor scoffed. "We'll just use some of our money tonight! Ray and I can pay. We're not poor, you know."

Everyone looked at the twins.

Taylor blinked. "What? That's the money we were using to pay for dinner, right?"

Slowly, any trace of confusion in Hiccup's expression burned away. "You what?" He grit his teeth.

"What's wrong? That's what it was for, right?"

"No! That money was going to help me keep my academy! And now, thanks to you, I'm going to lose it, and take over my dad's dumb job!" Small pauses awkwardly punctuated his yelling when he remembered there were children present. He was about to continue, but couldn't think of anything to say without swearing, so he opted for storming out.

Astrid closed her eyes and sighed, then turned to the twins.

"Seriously, guys?"

Okay so this chapter might be a little lame... It was written at like three in the morning pff...

Thanks for reading! Ilu wow