Chapter 2

"So..... eh... lad, you wanna talk about it?" Gobber asked as he glanced at Hiccup occasionally while keeping his other eye on the oncoming traffic.

"Not really......." Hiccup mumbled as he stared aimlessly out of the window into the dark.

"Ooookayyy......" Gobber mumbled as he kept on driving. He wasn't very good with the advice as Hiccup liked to point out at times. Apparently telling a six-year-old Hiccup to imitate an octopus wasn't the swimming lesson Valka had in mind.

The ride back home was spent mostly in silence as Hiccup couldn't seem to find any good music on the radio. Gobber's eyebrows shot up as Hiccup kept channel surfing. He noticed the lad skipping Taylor Swift's 'We are never getting back together' song so fast only to end up listening to Pat Benatar's 'Heartbreaker'. The next channel wasn't any better either as it played Toni Braxton's 'Un-Break my heart'.

"Even the radio gods hate me," he muttered as the ride continued in silence. When Gobber pulled up into Hiccup's driveway and stopped Hiccup nearly jumped out of the car. He did say "Thanks for the ride, Gobber." Before bolting towards the door. Gobber followed after and he heard Hiccup run up the stairs.

Valka came from the kitchen wearing an apron that said 'Caution Biohazard' and called out "Sweetie?" only to hear a door slam.

"Gobber do you know what's up with Hiccup?"

"Well he either has a bad case of diarrhea or it's lady problems." Gobber scratched his head as he told her.

"You staying for dinner Gobber?" Valka asked and the poor man blanched.

"You cookin'?" he nervously chuckled.

"Yup," she confirmed cheerfully as smoke began to filter from the kitchen. "Ah, that will be the ice cream," she muttered and vanished again.

"I.....eh.....I.... just remembered. I have to finish a parade float." Gobber tried to think of an excuse to quickly back out and save his stomach. Valka popped her head back round the door and quirked a brow at 'parade float' but nodded.

"Another time then," she told him as Gobber, even on one good appendage, managed to get out of the door faster than the roadrunner trying to outrun the coyote.

"Oh that man," Valka laughed before she heard something explode in the kitchen. She sighed. "I knew that salad recipe was a little technical," she murmured as she headed back into the billowing smoke.

Hiccup lay on his bed and stared at the ceiling, his phone clutched in his hand. The image of him and Heather, snuggled together for the selfie the previous winter stared back at him mockingly. They were both laughing and Heather's eyes sparkled and her face was filled with happiness. Heart aching, he stroked his thumb over her image and closed his eyes.

"I-I..." he mumbled and swallowed. "I don't know what more I could do." He took a deep breath. "I love you. And I know you loved me. And I-I can't believe that you can just cast that all aside..." He flung his arm across his face. "You're the only girl I love, Heather. The only girl for me."

"Son?"

Hiccup sat up automatically and his phone dropped on the floor. He cringed.

"Dad?" The huge shape of Stoick Haddock squeezed through the door, his massive shape powerful and straining against his 'Official Food Taster' sweater. Stoick's huge red beard moved as he leaned forward, his green eyes concerned. Walking in and accidentally knocking over Hiccup's chair and almost treading on Toothless the cat at least gave the young man a chance to reassemble his scrambled brain. "What are you doing here?" Stoick looked over his shoulder.

"Your mother is trying a new recipe for salad and ice cream," he said in a low voice. "I may need to send for the fire brigade, again."

"Even though they're threatening to blacklist us." Hiccup asked as he quirked a brow and watched his dad right the chair and sit down, ignoring the creaking. Any chair in the Haddock house had to be reinforced against the four hundred pound loads of accidental Stoick use. "What's more important is, what are you doing here?" Stoick leaned forward. "Wasn't tonight the night of the big question?" His lips curled up into a smile. "Well? Did she like the ring?"

"I don't think she even looked at it," Hiccup sighed, collapsing back on the bed.

"So...?" Stoick asked not getting what Hiccup meant at first.

"Actually, she dumped me," Hiccup mumbled.

"SHE WHAT?" Stoick shouted while leaping out of the chair causing it to fall backwards with a heavy thud.

"Stoick is everything alright?" Valka could be heard shouting from the floor below. "Do I need to come up there?"

"No honey!" Stoick said as he wanted her to keep an eye on the food. No need to make it more inedible. He then turned to Hiccup who was still wallowing in sadness.

"What are ya gonna do now son?"

"I have got to think of a way to win Heather back." Hiccup told his father. "I got to show her I can be serious."

"Son you've been serious all your life." Stoick sighed while mumbling "I can't imagine all the times your mom and I prayed for you to sneak out of the house so we could have some fun."

"DAD!" Hiccup looked scandalized at hearing that.

"Oh you're a grown man son. I'm sure you've experimen..."

"DAD!" Hiccup interrupted Stoick again and this time he was blushing furiously. "Can I.... I just...... I just need some time to think." He told his father.

"Will you be down for dinner son?" Stoick now whispered. "You can't leave me alone with your mom's cooking."

Hiccup laughed at that. The Haddock men had developed steel stomachs over the years by marrying women that tended to be toxic in the kitchen. Stoick patted Hiccup's shoulder and told him "I'm sure everything will work out alright son."

Hiccup nodded but was mostly thinking of ways to get Heather back. Then he thought that he still had to tell Cami and Throk. He cringed at what would possibly be said during that conversation. But first thing was first, he had to back up his dad when facing mom's cooking.

"SHE DID WHATTTTT!!!" the next morning Hiccup quickly put his hands over his ears as Cami let out a shriek. Throk did the same but he looked much calmer.

"I need a plan to get her back." Hiccup told the duo causing Cami to shout once more.

"You don't need to get back together with that.. That b-WITCH!" Camicazi told him as she flicked Hiccup's nose. "Tell him Throk!"

"I don't know...." Throk mumbled.

"What do you mean you don't know?" Cami then rounded on him. "She just smashed his heart into itty bitty pieces!"

"Thanks so much for that clarification." Hiccup mumbled dryly.

"No Hiccup," Cami quickly turned back and realized what she said. "I just meant you need to move on."

"Cami moving on won't be that easy." Throk told her. "They've been dating for years. You can't just have Hiccup flip a switch and decide he doesn't love her anymore."

Cami let out a groan before coming up with an idea. "We need a shopping trip! That should make you think clearly!"

"How will a shopping trip help?" Throk asked.

"It helped me when I got over Raymundo." Cami retorted.

"You were with him for a week!"

"And those new pumps got my mind off of him!" Cami stated as she glared at Throk. "Shopping can be therapeutic!"

"Uhm... Cami... I don't have any money," Hiccup mumbled.

"Don't worry," She said while grabbing Hiccup's elbow. "I have Daddy's plastic."

"Uh oh..." both men said as they knew what was coming.

Despite allowing himself to be dragged out to the craziness that was Cami shopping-which actually consisted of he and Throk helping her choose between nineteen different pairs of shoes-Hiccup found himself with far too much time to think. And as Cami sent back pair after pair of shoes for being too big, too small or just the wrong shade of pistachio, Hiccup was able to dissect every tiny detail of his relationship with Heather.

And he realised that he was still hopelessly in love with her. She was smart and beautiful, witty and determined and she made him feel amazing. When they were out as a couple of just hanging with their friends...well, her friends...he always felt the luckiest man in the world.

But he had known, in his heart, that Heather was high maintenance, that she was someone who expected the best. Hiccup's father was well-off but he had always taught his son to earn his money and never live beyond his means and Hiccup had taken his words to heart. Working with Gobber in the shop and learning to strip down and rebuild an automobile engine by the time he was twelve had always stood him in good stead and his friends had exploited his skills to ensure their vehicles always had free services. In fact, Hiccup tended to do all their repairs at cost price, working on Sundays when Gobber's auto shop was closed so that he didn't impact on his godfather's work.

Heather had been the most demanding and a small part of Hiccup snarked that he hoped her new fancy boyfriend was good at doing oil changes. She had certainly never even offered to pay costs and he had always found himself out of pocket helping her out. And of course treating her to all the trips to the movies, concerts and the regular flowers and presents that somehow she always expected and sulked if she didn't get...

He watched Cami pile up the third pair of shoes she was going to purchase and rolled his eyes.

"How many shoes does one person need?" he muttered, staring at his beat-up trainers. As long as they didn't actually have holes in, they seemed fine to him. Throk shook his head.

"You know, I really wonder if someone dropped you on your head when you were a baby and knocked your fashion sense out!" he moaned. Hiccup rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly.

"Actually...Dad did drop me on my head when I was about one," he admitted, gesturing to his chin and the tiny scar there. "They had to take me to the ER. Mom was furious and refused to speak to Dad for about a week for almost killing me. Not that she hasn't tried even harder since with incredibly bad cooking...or all those fires..." Throk chuckled.

"If you want Heather back, you may need to smarten up," he suggested as Hiccup's face fell.

"I think that ship may have sailed," he grumbled as Cami bounced over, brandishing a pair of scarlet wedges.

"These are so adorable!" she enthused, a wicked twinkle in her eye. "And just your colour, Hicc!"

"What? Agh!" Hiccup gulped and fell backwards off the bench he was sitting on. Throk face-palmed.

"I was trying to cheer him up," he told her.

"So was I!" Cami grinned and then grabbed Hiccup's other hand, hauling him back to his feet. "But the truth is that she's broken his heart and that doesn't heal that quickly. Sometimes, you just have to do your best to push on through and see what happens."

"And we'll definitely see what happens tomorrow when we have the actual Graduation," Hiccup said glumly. "I mean, I'm Valedictorian and have Honors but I got an email that they have decided to ask another student to give the speech. Guess who?"

"Get outta here!" Cami growled. "Really? MIss 'you're too nerdy for me' has got your duty?"

"I mean, I don't mind, I guess," Hiccup said uncomfortably. "I do tend to stammer a bit when I'm nervous and I hate speaking in front of an audience..."

"Even though you have been awesome when you have had to do it," Throk reminded him. "Remember the debate on whether dragons were real or not?" Hiccup managed a small smile.

"Well...they were real and there is conclusive evidence that anyone can find with only a small amount of research and dedication..." he rattled off swiftly as Cami and Throk nudged each other.

"See? You sound much better suited to law than Miss 'I wanna be a partner by the time I'm thirty'!" Cami snarked. "I mean, it's alright having dreams but your dreams shouldn't trample on other people's. And you need to be able to do the actual job anyway first."

"Who says she would actually be any good at law?" Throk added.

"She's certainly ruthless enough," Throk commented as they gathered Cami's purchases and stood in the line to pay.

"But law isn't all standing in front of a packed courtroom doing a high profile murder case, like they show on TV," Hiccup reminded him. "Lots of law is research, hard work, long nights of completing paperwork and loads of less than thrilling stuff..."

"Sounds like engineering to me," Cami admitted as she fished out the credit card. "Or science. All those things you're good at. Me-I'd go mad."

"You are already mad," Hiccup reminded her and she grinned good humouredly.

"Guilty as charged," she smirked and paid for the shoes. "Look, Hicc-we're gonna take you out for lunch-Crazy Lars' Viking Tacos is just round the block and you know a super super super hot taco always makes you feel better..."

"Or puts me in the ICU with fourth degree burns," Hiccup deadpanned.

"Let's not do that," Throk grinned, clapping him on the shoulder and nearly knocking him over.

"And then we're gonna treat you to the best, sharpest Graduation outfit ever so Heather will realise what she's missing.'

"And you know I'm broke," Hiccup reminded her with a sigh.

"My treat!" Cami insisted. "Look, Hicc-you have been there for me and Throk whenever we had problems. Whether it was in a relationship or schoolwork or just life, you're a great guy. This is what real actual friends do."

"And somehow that makes it worse..." he commented. Throk hugged him.

"Look, let's have tacos and then we can plan how we are going to be awesome at Graduation and then make sure Heather regrets ever even thinking she wanted to dump you!"