Face Value

Part 21

TWENTY ONE:

Hiccup was bowed over his homework English assignment when the doorbell rang. His friends had sent their refusals to tutor Snotlout at the end of the school day and had all scooted from the school at top speed to avoid any confrontation. Actually, Hiccup could see that the twins were quite looking forward to an argument but Heather, Fishlegs and Astrid had hauled them away before they could locate the Snot.

The doorbell rang again and Hiccup rolled his eyes. His father was downstairs in his office and would be just as unwilling to be interrupted but Stoick had insisted his son concentrate on his work, since he had missed time with his concussion so it was with relief that he heard the creak of steps on the hall floor and the creak of the door.

He turned back to the paper and typed in another sentence, then erased it. The wording just wasn't right, the words eluding him... He massaged his temples, rerunning his previous thoughts and grasping the elusive thread. He smiled and began to type, fingers flying across the keyboard as he chased the train of thought. The words were flowing, the discussion suddenly clear in his mind and he could see the rest of the paper forming even as he typed.

"HICCUP!"

He growled, his train of thought derailed.

"BUSY!" he yelled, desperately trying to put down the words before his concentration was broken.

"SON! IMPORTANT!"

"GO 'WAY! BUSY!" he yelled back desperately, trying to at least type a few words as pointers to how his argument was going to develop. But he could feel the bubble burst and he shook his head, making a bullet list of the points he had come up with, in the hope he could string them back together when whatever his father was determined to discuss would be done.

"HICCUP! NOW!"

Snapping the screen of his laptop down in frustration, he shoved his chair back from his desk and scrambled up, limping slightly and almost tripping over Toothless, who had wound himself around Hiccup's chair. Smiling, the boy fondled the Shollie's soft black ears. Green eyes cracked open gently and the dog whimpered.

"Yeah, I'll be okay," he murmured. "I'm sure it's nothing..." Then he walked out of his room and made his way to the top of the stairs-to stop dead as he saw his Uncle Spitelout standing there, a smug look on his face and his arms folded. Sighing, Hiccup cautiously made his way down the stairs, his limp still obvious and his hand clamped tightly on the hand rail. Stoick looked up, mild disappointment in his eyes.

"Ah, Hiccup-yeh know Uncle Spitelout?" he said lamely.

"You mean the same one who burst into my hospital room just after I had woken from really bad concussion and made a load of unfounded and vicious allegations ALL OF WHICH WERE UNTRUE about the attack Snotlout made on me that could have killed me?" Hiccup snarked, his eyes glittering with anger. Stoick rubbed the back of his neck.

"Um...aye...well, he wanted to talk to me about Snotlout," he said.

"Has he offered an apology?" Hiccup asked sharply.

"Well...no..." Stoick mumbled. "But it was an accident."

Hiccup blinked.

"What was? The fact I grabbed at anything to stop me falling after Snotlout had deliberately shoved me down the stairs?" he asked. "And where is the apology for the attack? Because Snotlout certainly hasn't apologised for pushing me down the stairs and then lying about it. And Spitelout hasn't apologised for his behaviour in the hospital, the way he stormed in and verbally attacked an injured minor-which you were pretty slow to stop, Dad!"