Hiccup stood in the doorway, looking around at the room that would essentially be his home for the next four years. It was exactly like all the other dorm rooms on campus, both sides mirroring each other.
One side of the room was already extremely messy, the bed sheets strewn everywhere and clothes in messy piles all over the floor. On the bed sat an open suitcase, personal effects spilling out. The owner, however, was nowhere to be seen.
Even odder than the fact that his absent roommate had already turned the place into a pigsty was that, at exactly the middle of the room, the mess just...stopped, as if it had encountered an invisible barrier.
Beyond this unseen barrier, on what Hiccup assumed was his side, everything was completely untouched. The bed had pristine sheets, the bookshelves were empty, the bedside table clear. The only things to be seen were the piles of boxes filled with Hiccup's belongings, and the suitcase of clothes on his bed.
At least his new roommate knew how to respect boundaries.
Walking slowly into the room, Hiccup looked around warily, almost expecting for his roommate to pop out from underneath one of the piles of clothes.
When, after a few quiet moments, no one was forthcoming, he sank down onto his bed and put his camera bag aside, ignoring the clothes he had to unpack in favour of checking his phone for texts.
Not that anyone other than his parents had his number, of course.
As Hiccup was shooting off a text to his mother insisting that, yes, he had arrived safely and no, no one had bothered him, a blond strode into his room and stopped short upon seeing him.
There was a moment of silence as the two boys stared at each other, sizing each other up.
"You're Tuffnut Thorston," said Hiccup after a few moments of silence, feeling surprise run through him. The Thorston family had a Dragon Riding history almost as long and prestigious as the Haddocks, and the twins did a pretty good job in living up to their family name, unlike Hiccup.
There was also the fact that, after a whole life-time of sharing their belongings and having everyone treat the two of them as only one person, the Thorston twins were known to be extremely territorial, and possessive of their belongings.
"And you're Hiccup the Useless," replied the blond with a condescending smirk. Going over to fall onto his bed, he asked, "So, how did you even pass the entrance exam? Did daddy have to pull some strings?"
Scowling darkly at the sudden turn this conversation had taken, Hiccup bit out, "No, actually, I got perfect scores on the written portion. Honestly, I'm surprised that you got in, considering you can barely read."
Jerking upright, Tuffnut glowered at Hiccup, replying, "Well, unlike some people, I actually have this thing called coordination. And stamina, and strength!"
This time Hiccup was the condescending one, saying, "That's only about a quarter of the exam."
"Well, contrary to what some people may believe," hissed out Tuffnut, "I'm not completely stupid. I know I'm not the smartest out there, but I am a Thorston. I know enough about dragons to pass an entrance exam."
"So you just barely passed," stated Hiccup, smirking at the other boy. "And you're calling me useless?"
"Well, at least I'm talented in all the ways that really matter. You can't even stay on a dragon for more than five seconds! At least when I bond with a dragon, I'll know how to properly ride him! I feel bad for the dragon that gets stuck with you! If any of them even bond with you, that is."
When Hiccup heard this, it was almost as if he'd had all the breath completely knocked from him. It was as if Tuffnut had looked into his head and plucked out his single greatest fear and was now waving it around in front of him mockingly.
Before Hiccup could get his mind to start working, the fierce glaring match between the two young males was interrupted by a knock on the open door.
When they saw who was standing in the doorway, Tuffnut immediately jumped off his bed to stand at attention.
"Headmaster Haddock!" he greeted stiffly, and Stoick nodded at him in greeting.
"Mr. Thorston," he said.
"Did you need anything, sir?" asked Tuffnut, the picture of respect.
In reply, Stoick shook his head, saying, "I'm not here as headmaster. I'm here as a father."
Tuffnut looked a little confused at this, but Hiccup didn't pay him any mind.
"Hey dad," said Hiccup with a slightly strained smile.
"Hiccup," greeted his father, beckoning him forward with a wave of his hand.
The two Haddocks left the room together, closing the door behind them and leaving behind a still confused Tuffnut.
"So, you…you arrived safely," said his father after a few moments of awkward silence.
"Yeah, mom dropped me off on Cloudjumper," replied Hiccup with a shrug. "Can't get much safer than that."
Stoick nodded and was quiet for a moment as if trying to think of what to say. Finally, he asked, "And Valka*…is she doing well?"
"You saw her yesterday, dad! And you're going to see her again when she comes down tomorrow after finishing up her business back home!" replied Hiccup in an exasperated voice. "Why don't you ask her then?"
"Yeah…yeah, I'll do that," replied Stoick, not letting Hiccup see the hurt he was feeling at the brusque reply.
"Anyways, can I go now? I've still got a lot of unpacking to do," said Hiccup, itching to get away from this intensely awkward conversation.
"Yes, of course," replied Stoick with a nod. As Hiccup was walking away though, he called out once more.
"Oh, and Hiccup?"
"Yeah, dad?" asked Hiccup in barely masked irritation as he turned back to look at his dad.
"Congratulations, son. On getting accepted, I mean."
Hiccup stood, shocked, for a moment before a tentative but genuine smile came onto his face.
"Thanks, dad," he replied, his smile growing wider as he turned away and headed back in the direction of his dorm.
Stoick stood watching his son going, a smile growing on his face in response to his son's.
It had been far too long since he'd seen Hiccup smile at him like that.
After the conversation with his dad, Hiccup was in a surprisingly better mood than he had been before, and he didn't want to ruin that by getting into another argument with his new roommate so instead of going back to his room, he turned towards another destination.
Hiccup often spent his summer vacations on Berk, exploring the island and basically trying not to be a nuisance as his parents spent some much-needed quality time together, got ready for the coming school year, and kept the students who'd decided to stay during summer vacation from wreaking too much havoc.
This summer, however, he had been too busy at home to do so; too busy packing for school, being excited that he would finally be able to attend the Academy, pestering his mom for information, and being fitted for the brand new riding gear his parents had agreed to buy for him after much pestering.
And this wouldn't have been much of a problem, seeing as Hiccup already knew the island like the back of his hand, if not for the fact that, at this very moment, there was probably a certain very irate dragon waiting for him.
Taking a deep breath as he stepped off school grounds and into the surrounding forest, Hiccup started the ten minute trek to the cove where his best friend liked to spend most of his time.
The teen hadn't even made it halfway there before he was suddenly knocked to the ground by a great big ball of energy.
"H-hey Toothless!" Hiccup gasped out, trying to pull air into his lungs as the Night Fury stood with both front feet planted on Hiccup's chest, growling quietly.
"A-ah, can you please get off of me before I suffocate, bud?" said the teen, pushing at his friend's chest, and after a few more seconds of growling, Toothless sat up, still glowering at the human.
Sitting up and gasping in as much air as his lungs could hold, Hiccup spent a few moments just trying to return his breathing to normal while Toothless sat and stared at him through hooded green eyes.
"Look, bud, I'm really sorry I couldn't come see you this summer," said Hiccup, "But I was a bit busy at home, and didn't really have much time. I'm sorry I worried you. Forgive me?"
Toothless glared at his human for a few seconds more before finally leaning forward and, without further ado, licking a long stripe up Hiccup's face from chin to hairline.
Staggering back, Hiccup immediately started wiping at his face with his sleeve, shouting, "Gross! Toothless! You KNOW that doesn't wash out!"
In reply, Toothless just chirped happily and began prancing around Hiccup, stopping once to help nudge his human to his feet before continuing.
Hiccup shook his head and smiled fondly at the dragon, remembering back to the first time they'd met.
Against his parents' wishes, he'd gone exploring in the woods and had gotten himself stuck in a cove with walls too steep for a child to safely navigate.
The five-year-old had sat, huddled into a little ball of misery by the lake, for about five minutes before the dragon who lived in that very cove had noticed his existence.
When Hiccup had noticed the pitch black dragon making its way slowly towards him, he'd let out high-pitched shriek of pure terror, having finally realized where he was.
He was in the Night Fury's Cove.
The students of the Academy all avoided he cove like the plague because of the temperamental Night Fury that had taken up residence there almost twenty years ago.
The group of students who had discovered it had all nearly had their heads blown off by it, and since then, the place was considered off limits to everyone.
Instead of doing any number of horribly things to him, though, the Night Fury had nosed curiously at him for a few moments before smiling at him from a toothless mouth, and thus was a beautiful friendship born.
Suddenly, Hiccup was knocked out of his reminiscence by a head-butt to his side, and when he came back to attention, he found that while he'd been spaced out, his friend had led them back to the cove and he was now just a few steps away from a rather dangerous fall that would, at the very least, lead to a broken arm or leg.
"Ehe…thanks bud," he said, scratching Toothless' head, to which the dragon replied with an eye-roll and a nudge in the right direction.
A few minutes later, Hiccup was seated at the shore of the lake with his back to a sun-heated rock and Toothless curled up beside him, his great big head resting in Hiccup's lap.
Sighing as he relaxed into the familiarity of this moment, Hiccup said, "You know, bud, I'm going to miss this when I'm Bonded."
Toothless just purred happily in reply, not paying a bit of attention to Hiccup's words as he enjoyed the clever fingers scratching at his head.
"I mean, yeah, I'm looking forward to Bonding. Who wouldn't? I'm finally going to have a partner, someone who won't look down on me and who'll stay by my side. But I doubt any of the school's dragons are going to be like you, bud."
Hiccup stared into space for a moment before finally voicing the one desire he'd never admitted to himself.
"If only I could Bond with you bud. But dad would never let that happen. It's against school policy to Bond with wild dragons. Not that you're wild at all. I mean, you're probably tamer than half the dragons we have. And definitely the smartest."
Toothless snorted when he heard this, as if to say, Of course I am. They're all idiots.
"But then you're also extremely proud," laughed Hiccup, "I mean, I can't imagine you ever letting anyone ride you. Let alone me, who's never actually rode a dragon by himself.
"Too bad, huh?"
SkyGem: Well, that's the end of chapter 2! I hope you all liked it! Please do leave a review and let me know what you thought of it, eh?
*I was originally going to name his mother Valhallarama, but on the wiki it said that in HtTYD 2, her name was going to be Valka, so I decided to go with that, since this is going to be based mostly on the movie!verse. Just wanted you all to know.