Chapter Text
The Archipelago Academy, located on the south-west coast of Ey Morgindagsins.
The Science corridor of the Archipelago Academy’s main building was empty and quiet. It being breaktime, the hordes of teenagers who attended the Academy had dispersed outside, and it was as if the building itself breathed a sigh of relief at the peace and quiet.
It would be more peaceful and quiet, however, if two sixteen-year-olds had actually gone to break with their friends. Instead, the silence was broken by creaking floorboards and squeaky door hinges: the unmistakable sounds of two people trying very hard not to be noticed.
***
“Are you sure this will work, bro?” a voice whisper-shouted from behind a cupboard in the Science department.
“Positive! Grimborn Junior said it’s possible, and he takes Chemistry!” another voice replied from a hiding place across the corridor.
“Dude, Grimborn Junior hates us! He could be lying!” The first voice sounded rather agitated.
“I know!” A chuckle, and then: “But I told him Hiccup wouldn’t play chess with him unless he told us the answer. You know how that guy loves a good strategy game with the Hiccster!”
“You better be right about this, Tuff. We’re risking both our necks for this prank.” The first speaker stepped out from behind the cupboard and cast a look down the corridor. It was empty. “All clear!” She tossed her braids over her shoulder and tapped her foot impatiently. “We haven’t got all day, bro! Hurry up!”
“Tuff” joined her, a mischievous grin plastered over his face, eyes seeming to glow with delight - or that could’ve been his eyebrow piercing catching the light that flooded in through the large windows.
Even to the casual observer, it was obvious the two were related - although they were fraternal twins, they looked near-identical. They shared pretty much everything, from their long blonde hair to their favourite well-groomed pet yak. Today, they were dressed even more similarly then usual, with cargo trousers and baggy t-shirts over long sleeves, although Ruffnut’s dark green and grey colour scheme contrasted her brother’s mostly-black punk-style aesthetic.
The twins also shared a hobby. Really, though, it was more of a lifestyle: practical jokes.
“Man, Snotlout will fall right into our trap,” smirked Tuff.
His sister elbowed him sharply in the ribs. “Not if we don’t get the stuff we need to convince him about this!”
“Lead on, MacRuff,” Tuff quipped, and the two sneaked down the corridor to the Science storeroom.
***
A few minutes earlier…
“Hello, Thorstons.” Viggo acknowledged the duo standing in the crowded corridor. “Would you like to know something fascinating? I learned it years ago - when my class studied Rutherford’s Gold Foil experiment - but I doubt you pay enough attention in Science to remember anything.”
“Keep it to yourself, Grimborn. We’re not interested.” Ruffnut scowled, just as her brother spoke.
“Ooo, what is it? Tell us!” Eyes aglow with excitement, Tuffnut stepped a little closer to the other boy.
“No, no, I shan’t trouble you.” Viggo smirked, turning as if to walk away.
The twins exchanged a look. Ruff sighed and reached forward to stop Viggo. He looked back expectantly, eyebrow arched.
Tuffnut stepped towards the shorter boy and draped his arm around Viggo’s shoulders, taking him a few steps away from the crowds. Viggo pushed Tuff’s arm away, indignant.
“Thorston, please,” he chided, “personal space!”
“Oops, sorry Grimborn.” Tuff lowered his voice. “You better tell us, or I’ll… I’ll tell Hiccup Haddock not to ever play chess with you again!” he finished triumphantly.
“As you wish.” Viggo shrugged, unperturbed. “Atoms - you do know what atoms are, don’t you? - are mostly empty space.”
“Of course we know what atoms are!” Tuff scoffed, crossing his arms defensively.
“What’s your point, Viggo?” Ruffnut glared at the other student. He smoothed out his v-neck jumper and continued his lecture.
“There’s a chance, albeit a small one-” infinitely small, Viggo didn’t say- “that if, say, someone was to hit their hand on a table enough times, their hand could hypothetically pass through all the atoms that make up the table.”
Ruffnut’s expression changed completely at that, from unimpressed distrust to reluctant curiosity. She raised an eyebrow, prompting Viggo to continue. “And?”
“And if you were looking for a test subject, I know how you can convince one… just get some atom models from the Science storeroom to prove your point.”
The twins exchanged another look. Viggo decided to bait them a little more. “Perhaps Snotlout Jorgenson would make a suitable subject?”
Just then, one of the Grimborn brothers’ goons walked by, a beefy jock part of Ryker’s group (nicknamed the Hunters among their fellow students, due to their… unfortunate tendencies to bully other pupils). The Hunter stopped and glared at the Thorstons, who reluctantly began to walk away.
As they were leaving, Viggo called out to them. “You wouldn’t want to get caught stealing school resources, though. That would be unfortunate.” His voice carried a hint of malice, though his tone was as smoothly polite as ever.
The twins had a Plan.
***
Phlegma Fierce had been having a stressful day. First, her car wouldn’t start, and after several anxious minutes of tinkering with the engine - all in vain - she’d had to call her colleague Skulder Jones to come and give her a lift to work (the silver lining was how happy to help Skulder had been, even though it made him late as well - he was sweet, if rather awkward). Later, some younger students had been wreaking havoc in her lesson and she’d had to send three people out of the classroom. To top it all off, she’d just had to deal with a situation involving a new girl and a Hunter who seemed to have forgotten his lunch money. Needless to say, Phlegma was not feeling benevolent when she found the Thorston twins breaking into her resources cupboard at morning break.
She supposed she should be thankful that the troublemakers chose to practise their lock-picking on the cupboard containing diagrams, models, and fact sheets, as opposed to the cupboards containing hazardous chemicals. That said, she didn’t feel particularly thankful that yet another thing was dragging her away from her cup of tea.
“Right, you two. Detention, and you’re lucky that's all it is. What in the world makes you think you can just rummage around in the resources cupboard?” She sighed, then spotted something she’d missed when she first walked in on the pair looking through her equipment.
“Tuffnut Thorston, what are you hiding behind your back?”
“Nothing, miss, just… some models to help our friend do his homework…” Tuff guiltily returned the stolen items to their place.
Phlegma was about to unleash more threats of punishment when a certain young son of Headmaster Vast happened to be walking by and noticed the situation.
“Hello, Dr Fierce, how are you today?” He offered a polite smile, attempting to de-escalate the situation despite the pit of dread that formed in his stomach at the sight of the two guilty-looking Year 12s.
She didn't beat around the bush. “Hiccup, these two are your friends, I believe?”
Hiccup glanced at the Thorstons and took in the urgent looks on their faces.
“Yeah, they’re my friends.” He thought it wise not to add that though he was their friend, he was not their babysitter.
“I have just caught them attempting to steal school resources. They claim it’s for a friend’s homework…”
Thinking fast, Hiccup addressed Ruff and Tuff. “Guys, I told you, I could get the models online. I only asked you to find my Physics book after I missed last lesson!” They looked meaningfully at their friends, willing them to play along.
Ruffnut caught on. “Sorry, Hiccup. We forgot. It won’t happen again, Dr Fierce.”
Tuffnut hastily agreed.
Phlegma sighed, tired of her pupils’ shenanigans. Hiccup sighed, tired of bailing his friends out of trouble. Tuffnut sighed, but for a very different reason. His and Ruff’s prank had failed - something that didn't happen very often. Ruffnut stayed silent, but looked downcast.
Phlegma spoke. “You may go, and no detention for now, so count yourselves lucky. But next time you need to help out a friend who missed a lesson, ask me or another teacher rather than breaking in, alright? Now go to break.” She shooed the students out of the classroom and returned to her office and her cup of tea, which had no doubt gone cold.
As soon as she had gone out of earshot, Hiccup began to scold the twins. “I can't be responsible for you all the time, guys. You need to stop doing things like this! I saved your butts this time, but next time I might not be able to! What were you even doing there in the first place?”
“Stealing these to prank Snotlout with.” Ruff sniggered, pulling a plastic model of an atom out from a pocket of her cargo trousers.
Hiccup did a double take. “I heard Tuff stole something, then as I walked by I could’ve sworn he put it back!”
The Thorston girl winked. “Well, my dear Haddock, never underestimate a Nut.”
“...I’m not even going to ask how you did that… Okay, what’s it all about?” they said with a resigned air.
“Nothing to worry about, Hiccy my friend, just a little fact that one Grimborn Junior let us know,” Tuff grinned.
Hiccup pinched the bridge of his nose in the way he did when he was annoyed or frustrated. “What did he…? Oh, never mind, I’ll just leave you two alone and stay far away for the time being.” They sighed yet again, despairing of their troublesome friends.
True to their word, Hiccup walked off, with a parting nod to the twins. He decided to head to his locker to grab some books for his next period, which was free study. As he walked through the corridors, Hunters glared at him from every doorway. He rolled his eyes secretly. Truth be told, he found the Grimborn brothers’ little gang more annoying than intimidating.
Except when they were Hunting.
Then, he only felt rage.
Hunting was the term used to describe the gang’s certain unfortunate habits, as mentioned earlier. To put it bluntly, they were all vicious bullies whose favourite activity was picking on those smaller and weaker than themselves. Despite Hiccup’s prosthetic leg, they were not a major target, for the sole reason that Viggo Grimborn enjoyed their unfriendly acquaintance too much to let his goons disrupt the rivalry.
Hiccup’s father, Stoick, was the Headmaster of the school, and Hiccup had complained to his dad about the Hunters many a time. Stoick, too, despised bullies, but detentions and other behavioural strategies could only do so much. They helped a fair deal, and had stopped many cases of bullying, but there came a point when the sheer volume of perpetrators made it difficult for such measures to have any real effect. Peer pressure and bullying from older students often pulled young and almost-reformed Hunters back into the group, and it often seemed to Hiccup as if the only effective way of getting rid of the bullies would be to expel them from the school. Whenever he mentioned this, he was met with explanations that this was impossible: expulsion was for the most serious of offences only, or to be used as a last resort, and was very difficult to carry out. Legislation in their part of the Archipelago meant that the school’s governors had to approve any expulsions, and expelling multiple pupils would be extremely unlikely to go through - not to mention the negative attention such an event would attract to the school, including potential threats of legal action or funding cuts from their supporters.
The Grimborns and most of their gang had only joined the Archipelago Academy a year or two ago, when a neighbouring school, Hooligan High, merged with the Academy for financial reasons. Rumour has it that the head teacher of the other school was… questionable in his decisions to run the school, refusing to acknowledge that any bullying took place. Long story short, he was fired, and the schools - which previously had only been separated by a wire fence - joined together under the headship of Stoick Haddock, known to the school as Headmaster Vast and to Hiccup simply as Dad.
Speaking of whom…
“Dad!”
“Ah, Hiccup. I’ve got a minute, what’s bothering you, son?”
“Just the gang as usual - the twins are scheming about some kind of prank for Snotlout.” Hiccup could always trust his father. They both knew leading could be tough, whether they had been adopted as the “mum friend” of an unruly group of teenagers, or were in charge of the entire school.
“I wouldn’t worry about it, son. Snotlout can handle himself. He was good in our rugby match against Krogan Academy last week.”
“Speaking of sports,” Hiccup sighed, “Astrid joined the netball team.”
“She has? Well, good for her!” Stoick cheerfully clapped his son on the shoulder. “I always said she should join the team, she’s such a good sportswoman!”
“I know, and I’m happy for her. The thing is, what with Snotlout’s rugby training with Gobber, Fishlegs and his science tutoring job, the twins being… the twins, and now this too, it’s like we never get any time to properly hang out as a group anymore.”
Stoick smiled sympathetically at his son. “I’m sorry, Hiccup. But you do meet up in the holidays, and it’s not like you’ll have much free time either in sixth form, especially since the elections…”
Hiccup’s expression darkened. “Don’t remind me.”
“Why not?” Stoick asked, genuinely curious. “Being voted head of Student Council is an honour!”
“I know, and it is an honour, Dad,” Hiccup began apologetically, then sighed. “It’s just Viggo being Viggo. He’s not stopped bothering me about it! Especially since I promised to tackle bullying when I got elected. Trying to put me off and get inside my head. He’s such a pri-”
“Hiccup, watch your language.” Stoick’s voice held amusement and warning in equal measures.
“Sorry. He’s a… a pretty irritating guy!” they sighed.
“He’s not bullying you though, son?”
“No, just being an a-” - Stoick raised an eyebrow - “an annoying person.”
Stoick smiled sympathetically and patted Hiccup on the arm. “Good on you for putting up with him, son.”
Hiccup grimaced. “About that, Dad… do we have to put up with him? You know he controls the Hunters, can’t you do something? Make him leave?”
“Hiccup,” Stoick’s tone became stern, “I’ve told you before why that isn’t an option. To expel a student is a very serious matter. As much as you dislike the boy, he is a model student and there is no evidence that he is involved in the bullying incidents.”
“But-”
“No, Hiccup. I do believe you, of course. But I’m afraid I can’t do anything beyond believing you.”
At that moment, Gobber Bell - a Design & Technology teacher, rugby coach, ex-professional para-athelete, and Stoick’s best friend - rushed up to Stoick.
“Stoick! Sorry to interrupt, but we’ve got that meeting, remember?”
“Yes, Gobber. I remember.” Stoick sighed and turned back to Hiccup. “Sorry, Hiccup. We’ll discuss this later.”
He walked off with Gobber, leaving Hiccup standing in the corridor.
The bell rang, signalling the end of break. Students began to fill up the corridor as they rushed to their next lesson. Hiccup turned and started to walk away. They glanced back over their shoulder and muttered, “See you then, Dad.”
Amid the chatter and bustle of the crowded school, nobody heard him.
***
A few minutes ago, elsewhere in the school…
Viggo Grimborn sat in front of a chessboard, regarding it with indifference as he moved his bishop two places.
“Checkmate.”
His opponent, an unfortunate younger student, got up to exit the room, casting nervous glances at the Hunters blocking his path.
“Let him go,” Viggo instructed his goons, waving an uncaring hand in the direction of the leaving student. “Find me another opponent. I have to hone my skills for tomorrow’s tournament.”
The Hunters exchanged an uncertain glance. Ryker Grimborn, from his seat at the next table, looked over in Viggo’s direction.
“Tournament, little brother?”
“Have you forgotten already?” Viggo questioned amiably. “Come now Ryker, I’m sure I told you. I’m playing against Hiccup Haddock.”
Ryker raised one eyebrow. “Does Haddock know about this?”
Viggo smiled and turned away. “He will by tomorrow.” His smile faded and he added under his breath, “I’ll make sure of that.”
The bell rang for the end of break. As Viggo left the room and began to walk to his next class, he stopped for a moment by the lockers that lined the corridor. He pushed a folded piece of paper through the cracks into locker #2010. He walked on.
Hiccup reached his locker and fumbled in his jacket pocket for the key. Upon unlocking the door, he saw a scrap of paper on top of his folders and laptop. He took it and unfolded it with a sigh, reading its contents out loud.
“‘I’ve entered you for a chess tourna-’ what?!” They groaned. “Viggo!”
Ryker, having witnessed these events, went to catch up with his brother.
“About what you said a minute ago, little brother. Ominous wording, threatening tone, and all you did was give Haddock a post-it note with a polite invitation to a tournament? Seriously?”
Viggo shrugged, oblivious. “Well, yes, naturally. I don’t have his phone number, so how else was I supposed to contact him? He doesn’t speak to me in the lessons we have together, so a note in his locker seemed like the optimum solution.”
“Viggo, upon my word, Father is not going to be pleased. What, did you draw a smiley face and a heart to top it all off?” Ryker growled, frustrated.
“Relax, Ryker,” Viggo chuckled and patted his brother on the shoulder condescendingly. “What Father doesn’t know won’t hurt him. And once I win, we’ll tell him, and he’ll be very pleased, I’m sure.”
“It’s a waste of time and effort! For a board game!”
“Nonsense.” Viggo’s tone was brisk and clipped. He just really wanted to play chess with the one guy in the school who matched him intellectually. Was that too much to ask? “Think of it as an exercise in willpower, or a strategy to raise morale for the Hunters. We’re playing the long game here, brother.”
Ryker shook his head, but arguing was pointless when Viggo was like this. He turned on his heel and left.