AUTHOR'S NOTE:

Howdy! I was going to talk to you guys about how my other series, Dragons of Berk, hasn't been getting much attention, but throughout the crazy week I had, I got some follows on it! Still. As you can probably tell, I'm crazy excited about that! I've been working on that series longer than I have this one, so it's easy to see why I'm happy about that.

Anyway, here are my responses to the reviews.

Anonymous Noob the 2nd: I'm glad you appreciate the mystery behind DD. I'm tempted to tell you a little bit, but I'm holding back to avoid spoilers.

Guest: Well, it's not so much what Hiccup has to say to Astrid as it is what Astrid has to say to him. That's really all I can say. Again, no spoilers. I will say, though, that I'm glad you're interested in the story.

I'd like to ask my guest reviewers to nickname yourselves if possible. I don't know how that works, but every guest review I get has to go through me before it gets put into the review section, so I'll get to read all of them in detail.

Thank you to those of you who have left reviews thus far. I really mean it. When I ask for people to comment on my videos, I don't say that because I want a respectable comments section. There are times when I've really wanted people to comment on the videos because it influences future content, and the view count is greatly disproportionate to the amount of comments I get.

Enough of my nagging about YouTube. I wasted 53 words on it. Let's get started!

9:57 AM

Saturday September 3, 2016

Haddock Residence

Hiccup's heartbeat quickened as Valerie remotely unlocked the door to let Astrid in. What would he say to her? More importantly, what would she say to him? Thoughts of this raced through his head as he heard Astrid's footsteps up the stairs to the living room. The door, which was slightly ajar, was pushed open by his new friend. What Heather had said to him the night before was still on his mind, but he tried not to think about it. His primary focus was making a good impression.

"Hi, Astrid!" he said as she walked in.

"Hi, Hiccup," said Astrid. She looked around, taking in the scene. The living space was a bit smaller than she was used to. The room was divided into thirds; a third of it was the kitchen, a small section of it hosted a dining table, and the rest of it was a living room with a TV, a couch and two comfortable looking chairs. There was a balcony outside the living room door with two chairs and a table. When Astrid finished taking it in, she said, "Nice place."

"You really think so?" asked Hiccup.

"Yeah," said Astrid. "Do you have any pets?"

"Meow!"

Astrid looked down and saw a tiny black kitten sniffing her foot. Upon seeing the creature, she laughed and said, "Aw, he's so cute!"

"Thanks," said Hiccup. "You can pick him up if you want. He won't mind." He approached her as she picked the kitten up off the floor. "His name is Toothless."

"Why?" asked Astrid.

Toothless meowed again and Astrid noticed he had small fangs, but no visible teeth. "Oh, my!" she exclaimed.

"That's why," said Hiccup. "My mom's a vet, and she rescued a litter of kittens recently. Nobody would take him, so we kept him."

"Speaking of whom, where is she?" asked Astrid.

Valerie entered the room from upstairs and said, "Right here." She was carrying shopping bags. "I need to go grocery shopping, but Hiccup and Heather will keep you company." Shaking Astrid's hand, she said, "I'm sorry I wasn't here to greet you at the door. I'm Valerie Haddock. Nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you, too," said Astrid. "Being a vet must keep you really busy, huh?"

"Not too busy for my family, thank goodness," said Valerie. "Hiccup, if you need anything, don't hesitate to call me."

"I won't," said Hiccup.

"You'd better not," said Valerie. She reached into her pocket and pulled out her keys. "See you later!"

"Bye, Mom," said Hiccup. He closed the stairway door behind her and looked once again at Astrid, who was still holding Toothless. The kitten started to lick her fingers.

"You're a sweet one, aren't you?" said Astrid, scratching Toothless's ears. She looked up at Hiccup. "Where's Heather?" she asked.

"She's tidying up our room," said Hiccup. "She's all about keeping it spotless."

"You share a room with Heather?" asked Astrid.

"Yeah," said Hiccup. "That's how little space we have here. My parents are looking to buy a house next year, but they're not sure where yet, and my dad barely has time to discuss this with the kind of job he has."

"Wow," said Astrid. "I knew being a police detective was demanding, but I never considered that the chief would have so much on his plate that he barely has much family time. That's sad to think about."

"Sad to live with it, too," said Hiccup. He motioned to the couch. "Come here; sit down."

Astrid carried Toothless to the couch and sat down. Hiccup sat in a nearby chair. As they sat down, Heather came downstairs and said, "Hey, guys!"

"Hi, Heather!" said Astrid.

"Can I get you anything? We have orange juice."

"That sounds good," said Astrid. "Thanks!"

"Can I also have a glass?" asked Hiccup.

"Sure!" said Heather.

"Thanks a lot," said Hiccup. While Heather got the orange juice, Hiccup briefly grinned at Toothless, who was contently falling asleep in Astrid's lap. Looking up at Astrid, he dropped the grin and asked, "What did you want to talk about?"

Astrid didn't speak to this at first, but after a few seconds, she said, "First of all, I wanted to apologize for judging you yesterday, when you said you understand that I hate not having control over things. I shouldn't have assumed anything."

"Oh, this?" Hiccup asked, lifting his left pants leg. Where Astrid would have expected to see flesh, she saw a metal peg attached to a prosthetic foot covered by a sock.

"Yeah," she said, cringing at the sight of it. "That. If you don't mind me asking, what happened to it?"

Hiccup glanced up at Heather and muttered a small "Thank you" when she placed a glass of orange juice on the coffee table in front of him. Astrid did the same when she received her glass. Gulping, Hiccup began to tell his story.

"Three years ago, Heather and I were on a bike ride home from the park during the summer," he said. "I was ahead of her. I was looking both ways and everything. A black sports car with no license plate appeared out of basically nowhere. It was speeding on a neighborhood street. I didn't get a good look at the driver's face, but I don't remember seeing any sense of panic. I couldn't move out of the way fast enough. The car just … hit me. Slammed into me. I was knocked out. While I was down, the driver backed up, drove around me and sped away. Heather called 911 and I was driven to the hospital. My dad turned the press away as much as he could. Three weeks later, I woke up with an oxygen tube on my face, and my leg was gone. It had been mangled to the point where it had to be amputated."

"Was it painful?" asked Astrid.

"Not at first," said Hiccup. "The pain medicine I was on kept it from hurting, but when I got fitted with a prosthetic and released from the hospital, it started to hurt like crazy sometimes. I was kept on pain pills and it was Heather's job to keep me in check."

"Did they ever catch the driver?"

"No," said Hiccup. "The trail went cold when they found the car. Its owner was at work the entire day. It was an older car, so it was easy to mess with the wiring. I guess that's how whoever did this got the car to run."

"A stolen car," Astrid pondered. "Sounds like what DD does."

"Yeah," said Heather, sitting at the opposite end of the couch from Astrid. "He used a stolen car, didn't he?"

"Yeah," said Astrid. "My dad's partner Janet is a friend of mine. She told me everything she thinks happened. The car theft happened late at night, and the owner heard the car starting, so he called the police to report it. My dad was the first in the patrol to find the car, which sped off into the woods on Berk Highway. He kept following the car through the rain until it swerved off the road. It hit a tree and couldn't drive any further. My dad got out of his car and drew his gun, but he didn't have a bulletproof vest on. He was shot in the heart. The bullet would have killed him instantly. There was no trail to follow. The killer just vanished."

"That's awful," said Hiccup. "Who would do such a thing?"

"Someone who's messed up in the head," said Astrid. "The worst part is how much of a toll it's taken on my mother. She's become obsessed with the case, so much that she can't function well as a mom anymore. She wants justice more than anything else. She's blaming the investigation's lack of progress on your dad, and he doesn't deserve that."

"He's been losing sleep over this case," said Hiccup. "He had to come home early last night to get more sleep so he could have a fresh start today. He's starting to have doubts the investigation will ever be finished. The killer doesn't leave a shred of evidence behind. The only evidence the police have is dash cam footage of a man in black with a ski mask."

"That's all they have," said Astrid. "No identifying information, no fingerprints on the steering wheel, and no footprints because of the rain. And it's ruining my mom. It's all about her now. She doesn't listen to me when I tell her to let the police do their job." She looked Hiccup in the face and said, "I'm afraid I was starting to imitate her behavior when I confronted you about the case yesterday, Hiccup. I'm sorry."

"It's okay," said Hiccup.

"No, it's not," said Astrid. "It's not okay for anyone to act the way I did. And it's certainly not okay for my mom to continue acting like this. I don't know what to do. She won't listen to me, and she sure as heck won't listen to you. She hasn't met you, but she didn't want me to come here."

"Does she work?" asked Hiccup.

"She's a saleswoman," said Astrid. "But she's been on sick leave this whole week and she's going back on Monday. If she keeps her job, she'll go into management."

"If she keeps her job?" Hiccup repeated, concerned.

"I'm afraid of her losing it because of the turn in her attitude," said Astrid.

"That's very serious," said Heather. "We should do something."

"What would we do?" asked Hiccup. "I have no idea how to get through to somebody like that, let alone what I would say."

"Guys, I didn't come here seeking help," said Astrid. "I just wanted to get away from my mom for a day. She's not the same person anymore."

"So, what do you want to do?" asked Hiccup.

"Anything," said Astrid. "Literally anything. Music, board games, video games. Anything to get my mind off it."

Hiccup thought for a moment. He had an Xbox, but not a lot of games. There was a piano in the corner of the room, but he didn't play it much. He knew how to play chess, but he didn't want to bore Astrid. He thought for a moment and eventually asked, "Do you want to see my dragon project?"

Heather glared at Hiccup and said, "Seriously?"

"What?" said Hiccup. "It's a distraction."

"Sure," said Astrid.

Hiccup stood up and retrieved his MacBook from his backpack. After logging in, he opened up Blender and loaded a 3D file. Turning the computer around, he showed Astrid the dragon. She stared at it, taking in the sight. The dragon had green eyes, a flat head, and it had very basic wings. Its tail was long compared to its short neck, and its left tail fin was red. The rest of the dragon was black. It wasn't highly detailed, but Astrid could see that Hiccup had paid close attention to the main body.

"It looks kind of like a cat," she observed.

"Yeah, that's because it was inspired by Toothless," said Hiccup. "It's especially noticeable in the face."

"I see that," said Astrid. "The green eyes, and … are those his ears?"

"Yeah," said Hiccup. "I modeled them to look sort of like a cat's ears."

"Specifically Toothless's ears, right?" asked Astrid. She was petting Toothless's head.

"Yeah," said Hiccup.

"What about the red fin on his tail?" asked Astrid.

"You know how airplanes work, right?"

"Not really."

"I forget what they're called, but there are these small wings at the back of most airplanes that help with aerodynamics. That's what the fins are supposed to represent. The fin on the left is kind of a parallel to my leg."

"So this is a representation of you?"

"Yeah," said Hiccup.

"My favorite part of it is the eyes," said Heather. "Especially with that particular shade of green."

"And you're going to print this on the 3D printer in the engineering classroom?" asked Astrid.

"Yep," said Hiccup. "It's not exactly sculpting, but it's art. And some engineering, because I think I may have to print several parts separately."

"How did you know the engineering teacher's phone number?" asked Astrid.

"He's a family friend," said Heather. "He's like our godfather."

"Godfather, huh? I guess that explains why you knew his number off the top of your head, Hiccup," said Astrid.

"Oh, yeah," said Hiccup. "I didn't know if he had any black 3D printer ink for this. He's going to get some this weekend. The project isn't finished yet. It's still got some way to go." He closed out the window and Astrid noticed his desktop background.

"Why is Stanley in the picture with you?" she asked.

"Oh," said Hiccup. "That's the other thing I wanted to tell you about." He hesitated for a moment, but then said, "Stanley's our cousin."

"What?" Astrid was confused. "Why does he always give you a hard time?"

"No idea," said Hiccup. "Other kids at school do it, too. Probably just because he does it."

"That's awful," said Astrid. Now knowing the extent of Hiccup's bullying problem, she started to feel really bad for him.

"I know it is," said Hiccup. "But I've never done anything about it because I don't know what to do."

"If I was in your position, I'd tell an adult," said Astrid. "Someone I trust."

"Or talk to a friend," said Heather.

"I've talked to Jack and Fishlegs," said Hiccup. "Jack told me I shouldn't give him the satisfaction. Fishlegs said to just ignore him. I can't ignore him because he'll try to get me in trouble if I do."

"Hmm… This is quite a dilemma, isn't it?" said Astrid.

"Maybe instead of shutting everyone out all the time, you should be more social," said Heather.

"Maybe so," said Hiccup, his voice dull.

"You don't sound like you're taking that advice seriously," said Astrid.

"That's because I really don't know how to make good friends," said Hiccup.

"Then maybe it's time I intervened," said Heather. She stood up from where she was sitting and walked upstairs.

"What are you doing?" asked Hiccup. When Heather didn't respond, he shook his head.

"Hiccup, I really don't want you to feel that you're being treated unfairly," said Astrid. "Having good friends is the best way to counteract that."

"I know, but it's hard for me to make new friends," said Hiccup.

"You made friends with me quickly," said Astrid.

"Only because Heather introduced us," said Hiccup.

"Well, that's how a lot of friends meet," said Astrid.

Hiccup supposed it was true, so he said, "Perhaps. But I'll admit this, Astrid. I had a crush on you for a long time in elementary school."

"Did you, really?" asked Astrid.

"Yeah," said Hiccup, blushing and turning his gaze downward.

"Hey, it's nothing to be ashamed of," said Astrid. "Well, unless you had a girlfriend, which – I don't want to sound mean, but – I'm guessing you've never had one."

"No," said Hiccup. "And I don't think this is improving the situation very much."

"Okay," said Astrid. "What do you like to do on your spare time?"

"I play games like Minecraft, listen to music, and even play music on my piano," said Hiccup. "I've started to learn the guitar."

"How good are you?" asked Astrid.

"Not very," said Hiccup. "I only just recently got into it. My dad used to play a lot, and he's letting me use his guitar."

Heather reappeared from upstairs and said, "Hey, you guys want to go get pizza?"

"Why?" asked Hiccup.

"I got a text from Jack, and he wants to go get pizza with us at this new place called The Pan," said Heather. "Apparently, it's one of those 'build your own pizza' restaurants."

"Oh, that should be fun!" said Astrid. She turned towards Hiccup and said, "Do you want to go?"

"Sure," said Hiccup. He stood up and said, "Just gotta feed Toothless."

As Hiccup went to the kitchen to feed Toothless, Astrid said to Heather, "Your brother's very shy, isn't he? He says he's not good at making friends, but look at how quickly we've connected."

"He just doesn't have a lot of self-confidence," said Heather. She saw Hiccup returning and said, "Let's go get some pizza!"

"Yes, let's!" said Hiccup. As they exited the apartment, Hiccup made sure the alarm system was armed and the doors were shut and locked before texting his mom to let her know where he would be. He then walked with his sister and new friend to the pizza parlor.

When they arrived, Jack was waiting for them. "Hey, guys!" said Jack. "Astrid! I didn't expect you to come along."

"I was hanging out with Hiccup and Heather, so it worked out great," said Astrid. "By the way, thanks for instigating this whole idea of introducing us."

"You're welcome," said Jack. "You guys seem like you're having fun. And speaking of fun, why don't we all design our own pizzas?"

"Sounds good!" said Heather.

As they walked into the pizza parlor, Hiccup noticed something. His cousin Stanley and his friends Thomas (aka Tom) and Rachel were also in line for pizza. Rachel and Tom seemed to be arguing over who would pay the bill. But of course they were. They were twins. Even Hiccup and Heather argued over the smallest things sometimes.

Astrid noticed Hiccup's unease and said, "You doing okay?"

"I'm alright," said Hiccup. "Just noticing my cousin."

Astrid followed his gaze. When she saw Stanley, she said, "Just pretend he's not there."

"Okay," said Hiccup.

As they got through the line, Hiccup ended up creating a pepperoni pizza with bacon. Heather started with just cheese and added mushrooms pineapple pieces to her pizza, which Hiccup could only stare at in disbelief. Astrid stuck with pepperoni, but added tomatoes to hers. Jack decided to try the veggie pizza, but added bacon for flavor. "It'll be like eating salad on a pizza," he said.

The pizza size was a reasonable 8 inches for lunches. When they reached the cash register, Astrid tapped Hiccup's shoulder and said, "I just realized I left my money at home."

"I'll pay for yours," said Hiccup.

"I'll pay you back next week," said Astrid.

"No," said Hiccup. "You don't have to do that."

"I insist," said Astrid.

"I triple insist," said Hiccup. "Don't worry about it."

Astrid was about to protest, but she had a feeling he wouldn't give up. "Thanks," she said.

"You're welcome," said Hiccup.

As they got seated, Jack said, "I did some research on DD since yesterday, Astrid. Apparently, he's never been caught or successfully identified, so it's no surprise to me that the Berk police can't find him either. The fact remains that I'm very sorry about what happened."

"I'm doing alright, Jack," said Astrid. "It's my mom who's been taking it especially hard. That's why I wanted to leave the house."

As Hiccup finished his his first bite, he said, "Did she know about DD before all this happened?"

"I don't know," said Astrid. "I may have accused her of knowing last night. That was a mistake."

"This is awful," said Heather.

"I know," said Astrid. "It's tearing my family apart."

Hiccup was about to say something, but he noticed Stanley looking at him. His cousin's expression was sour, but to Hiccup's surprise, he looked away. On any other day, he would have gone over to the table and made fun of Hiccup. There was something different. Hiccup turned back towards his own group and noticed Astrid eyeing him. "Just ignore him," she said.

"It's hard to do that sometimes," said Hiccup. He took one more glance at Stanley and saw that he and his friends were leaving. "I do wonder why he didn't come over here and try to make fun of me."

"Maybe because you're not alone," said Jack. "You've talked about how he does it, and I've noticed that every time it happens, you're isolated."

Maybe that was it. The more Hiccup thought about it, the more he realized his cousin usually made fun of him when he was alone. Not only that, but Astrid had punched him when he did it in front of her.

"How's your pizza, Heather?" asked Jack.

"It's … interesting," said Heather.

"I was about to say, Heather," said Hiccup. "Why would you ever put pineapple on a pizza?"

"It's a Hawaiian thing," said Heather. "I don't understand it, either. It tastes interesting, though. You should try it sometime. Although, don't put mushrooms on it. I don't think the tastes go well together."

"I was questioning that choice," said Hiccup. "The pepperoni and bacon go well together, though. What about you, Astrid?"

"I like the flavor of the tomatoes," said Astrid. "I mean, I normally get pepperoni pizza, but I thought I'd try tomatoes on it, and I actually think it's a good combination."

"I don't normally get veggie pizza, but I wanted to try something different today," said Jack.

"This is fun," said Hiccup. "We should come again sometime and give it another shot."

"Yeah," said Astrid.

The rest of their time at the restaurant was spent discussing the school subjects and common interests. One interesting thing Hiccup found out was that Astrid played the piano, like he did! Without setting up a specific day, they decided it was a good idea to hang out and play the piano sometime. Because of the size of the pizzas, none of them needed to bring leftovers home. Jack said a quick goodbye to everyone and went home from there on his own.

"Well, I'd better go home," said Astrid. "I have to take care of Stormfly."

"Stormfly?" Hiccup repeated.

"Oh, I didn't tell you," said Astrid. "I have a pet bird named Stormfly."

"I see," said Hiccup. "I'll walk with you if you want. Where do you live?"

"712 Dragonfly Street," said Astrid.

"That's on the way to our place," said Hiccup. "Let's go." He turned towards the direction of Dragonfly Street, which was where Jack had been heading when he left. Mysteriously, Jack was nowhere to be seen. Hiccup dismissed this.

As they walked home, Hiccup talked with Astrid about music. She liked calm music, and so did he, but he also enjoyed fast-paced piano music. The conversation turned to video games because Hiccup mentioned being inspired by game soundtracks to learn how to play music on the piano and guitar. He found out that she liked to play Minecraft, which Hiccup and Heather played as well. Heather started to drift away from the conversation and study the way her brother and Astrid interacted.

When they reached Astrid's home, she said, "Thanks, guys. See you Monday."

"No, not Monday," said Hiccup. "That's Labor Day."

"Oh, that's right!" said Astrid. "Tuesday, then?"

"Yeah," said Hiccup. "See you later!"

"Bye!" said Astrid. She entered her house and found her mother in the family room, knitting. "Hi, Mom!"

"Hi, Astrid," said Karen. "How was it?"

"I had fun," said Astrid. "Harry's fun to hang out with."

Karen looked up and said, "You like him?"

"What? Mom, we just met!"

"No, I mean as a friend," said Karen.

"Well, yeah," said Astrid. "Why do you ask?"

Karen studied her daughter's expression and said, "There's something different about you. "You seem happier than you've been."

Astrid paused. "Well, that's because I've met a good friend," she said. "You've got his family all wrong. They're not what you think they are. You don't have to hate them."

"I don't hate them, sweetie," said Karen. She put her glasses down and said, "It's just that I've been very frustrated lately. Ever since your dad died, I've been taking out my frustrations on everyone, especially the Haddock family. I haven't been fair to them. I'll apologize to Chief Haddock tomorrow."

Astrid couldn't understand what her mother was saying for a moment, but she began to realize that her mother was turning her behavior around, all from realizing that her daughter's behavior was different, which was because of Hiccup.

Meanwhile, Heather was smiling at nothing in particular on the way home. Hiccup noticed and asked, "What is it?"

"You like her," said Heather.

"What!?" Hiccup exclaimed. "I won't lie; I do like her, but just as a friend!"

Heather chuckled. "I see."

Hiccup gave her an incredulous look, but she continued to grin. "Shut up," he said.

"I didn't say anything," said Heather.

"You were shipping me with Astrid," said Hiccup. "Never in a million years."

"I know you like her that way," said Heather. Hiccup was about to protest, but he decided to leave it at that. Even though he denied it outwardly, he knew it was true. But he was afraid Astrid didn't like him the same way he liked her.

He would find out soon enough.

Okay, I wasn't really feeling it with this chapter. At least not in the pizza parlor scene. That's part of why this is delayed. Another part of it is I was out of town again. I'll try to get the next chapter of Dragons of Berk soon. I think the reason I wasn't feeling it was because I wasn't sure what to do with this chapter. I didn't get a lot of time set aside to write it, either, so I hope you enjoyed it. I'm sorry it was long, but I couldn't figure out a good way to split it into two chapters. Please leave reviews. I think it would encourage me to write with more enthusiasm. So thank you guys so much for reading, and I'll see you next time! Bye!