Disclaimer: I don't own How To Train Your Dragon or anything associated with it. All rights go to Dreamworks, who made the series and films, and Cressida Cowell, who wrote the books that inspired it all. Don't try this at home, school or work. Just keep any stunts mentioned in my fanfics out of your life, OK!? I don't own any songs mentioned in this fanfic, either.

A/N: This fanfiction was inspired by another fanfiction called How to swat a Queen bee by vala411. I've always pictured Hiccup as a high school teenager protecting Astrid after she runs into a mean girl who makes her really angry/want to cry. And for those of you who read my story The photo album and remembered my modern-day equivalent to the Red Death being a car crash, don't worry about it. I wanted to give Hiccup a more badass look for this fanfic, which would explain the new backstory. I may switch between the two explanations, depending on what I think will work best.

Astrid had been having a perfect day before it was ruined. She'd automatically woken up on the right side of the bed and in a good mood because today was her birthday, and her awesome friends had all gotten her some gifts, which ranged from birthday cards, running shoes from the twins, a book she'd always wanted to read from Fishlegs and Meatlug, and a booklet on hair and make-up tips from Stormfly, her adopted sister with naturally curly (dyed) blue hair that just wouldn't stay natural without malfunctioning somehow.

Although Astrid loved the book, running shoes, fashion hacks and cupcakes (Meatlug) that her friends had got for her, her all-time favourite gift was from Hiccup, who'd surprised her by forging a bracelet out of copper, and engraving the words "Astrid Hofferson" on one side and the word "Princess" on the other. Add that the charm was shaped like a Disney-style tiara, and you had a present that both looked classy and could make any romantic go "Awww, how adorable."

Astrid loved the bracelet, and had many of her friends from the track team jealous of her for her doting, creative boyfriend. However, there seems to always be a dark cloud in the sky for even the sunniest of days, and that cloud was called Nicola Evergreen, the school's queen bee and head of the cheerleading squad. There was a rivalry between the track team and the cheerleading squad, and that was made known in the changing room the school made them share. That changing room is where, for lack of better words, the shit hit the fan. This is where most of the school's gossip was generated, and if it had been forgotten, it would be revived, like Frankenstein's monster. So when Nicola heard the other members of the school track team fawning over something that wasn't her/associated with her (the scandal!), she set out to destroy everything about it that made it seem desirable. Like a predatory animal, she waited until she and Astrid were the only people in the changing room before she went over to her. Couldn't have her victim relying on the support of friends, after all. That was how you got defeated.

"What's that, Astrid?" she asked, pointing to the bracelet on her wrist and feigning ignorance about how it came into Astrid's posession. She wrapped a stray lock of black hair around her index finger and popped a piece of chewing gum into her mouth.

"Oh, it's just a birthday gift from Henry, my boyfriend," Astrid explained, feeling proud that it was hers, but careful not to reveal her nickname for Hiccup/Henry. "He made it himself as a surprise for me."

"The surprise must have been how shitty it actually is," Nicola sneered. "Ugh, couldn't he have just bought you one that was made out of gold, like my boyfriend, Matt? Oh, wait, he's not rich enough, so he has to make do with the scraps from the Product Design Club, located in the heart of Loserville."

"Don't say that!" Astrid defended. "Henry's not a loser just because he's a member of the Product Design Club! And what does money have to do with love?"

"Oh, you'll figure it out when you're around 30, living with him in a trailer park with all the other homeless losers in this dump of a village," Nicola answered cattily, her green eyes turning cold. "Besides, he's not even dating material, with that prosthetic leg and scrawny frame of his. I know he got it exposing some drug lord who called herself the Red Death who tried to kill him and all, but it won't make up for him being a loser his entire life before that. That's why I picked Matt, who has muscles to spare and is super rich. I feel sorry for you, actually. You had way better taste before you got with him, and deserve way better than someone who makes trinkets out of the same stuff found in wires."

"How dare you say that, you bitch! Henry loves me!" Astrid shrieked. She wanted nothing more than to leap out of her chair and rearrange Nicola's face so it was as ugly as her personality, but if she did that, she'd be pulled from the track team and her sports scholarship would be revoked instantly. Anyway, by the time she'd convinced herself to take a less physical approach, Nicola had gone, and her anger became sadness. She honestly wanted nothing more than to bawl her eyes out until there was no more tears left in her. Slowly and sadly, Astrid got changed, took her other presents out of her locker and started walking to Hiccup's house.

Hiccup had been chilling in his workshop, making designs for more jewellery before Astrid knocked on the door. Thinking it was his dad, he went to open it, only to find his girlfriend, the most beautiful girl in the world, on the verge of tears. "Astrid, is something wrong?" he asked. Astrid flung herself into his arms and sobbed. He held her tight and led her into the living room, sitting her down on the sofa as he got her a chocolate milkshake and some tissues. "Oh, Astrid, what happened?"

"Just Nicola telling me that . . . the bracelet you made me was trashy because it was made out of copper instead of gold. She also said that I'd end up living in a trailer park with you because you weren't rich like her boyfriend was," Astrid revealed, before sobbing all over again, crying on Hiccup's shoulder. Hiccup sat on his hands to stop himself making them into fists. How dare somebody say that to his girl? And on her birthday, too! And just as Astrid's anger became sadness, Hiccup's anger became cool, calculated vengeance. His sharp brain was already coming up with a plan to put that girl in her place.

"I think I've got just the thing to put Nicola in her place," Hiccup stated, grinning as he mentally thought of all the things he would need. "You don't mind helping me, do you, Astrid?"

"You had me at 'put Nicola in her place'," Astrid grinned. "What's the plan?"

"You show off that bracelet as much as possible, milady," Hiccup answered. "Lots of people are talking about it, and some are actually paying me to make them stuff. It won't be long until Nicola notices."

"But even if she asks you for some jewellery, what metal will you use to make it?" Astrid asked. Hiccup only grinned, and kissed her senseless so she wouldn't talk any more.

"Leave that to me, baby," Hiccup whispered, as Astrid gasped for breath and hugged him.

True to his word, Astrid's bracelet had spread around the school, and she got a variety of comments (all positive), from girls who waxed lyrical about her bracelet and wished aloud that their boyfriend would do that for them to guys who would not-so-secretly ask Hiccup to make their girl one so they'd stop being so jealous of Astrid. Snotlout would just watch on from the sidelines, pissed off that Hiccup was getting so much attention. Hiccup was even taking the money and making these bracelets, quickly becoming rich as hell. And when a guy becomes rich in Berk High School, Nicola hears the sound of paper money rustling together in his pocket and is drawn to it like a fly to honey. Toothless, being a loyal brother to Hiccup, alerted him to the queen bee's sting. "You've got company, bro," Toothless muttered.

"Hey, Henry," Nicola purred, leaning on the table in a way that gave Hiccup an ample view of her cleavage. Hiccup stared at her face instead, knowing all too well the consequences he could get for not looking a girl in the eye, thanks to his cousin being the living guide on what not to do with a girl. "Can we talk alone for a few minutes?" she asked, glaring daggers at Toothless. Under Hiccup's instructions and not Nicola, Toothless got up and left, leaving Hiccup alone with a scheming Nicola.

"Hello there, uh, Nicola," Hiccup greeted, not wanting to look at her face for too long and especially not her eyes, as those eyes were the ones that stared coldly at Astrid while telling her that the bracelet she loved was trashy and she'd end up living in a trailer park as a nameless loser, a nobody. "Why did you come here? Don't you have cheerleading practice or something to distance yourself from us regular folk?"

"Oh, Henry, we both know that I just came here to talk business," Nicola cooed. "I heard through the grapevine that you make some really pretty jewllery, and I was just wondering if you could make one for me. But please don't use copper like you did for all your other clients, I am the head of the cheerleading squad, and come from a very affluent background. I have a reputation to keep up around here, and I don't want anyone to think of me as . . . low class. Trashy. Tasteless. You know what I mean?" Of course you do, she thought to herself. You're not exactly the richest guy in school yourself. You probably live under a bridge, for all I know.

"I'll keep that in mind," Hiccup answered curtly. "Just so you know, I'll need to take down a few details about the type of jewellery you'd like to have. Bracelet, anklet, ring . . . "

"Necklace," Nicola interrupted. "And I am telling you, use any metal other than copper. It's gross."

"Can you write that down here?" Hiccup asked, sliding a sheet of paper and a pencil towards her.

"What? Why?!" she demanded, ditching the naughty schoolgirl persona like an outfit that had gone out of fashion.

"Just so I don't forget that you asked me to make this for you," Hiccup answered coolly, motioning to Nicola to use the resourses he'd given her. "Written instructions are literally the only way I can remember this sort of thing. That, and it's more professional."

By now, Nicola was pissed off. She was pissed that Hiccup had subtly rejected her flirting, didn't gossip about his extensive clientele like so many other business owners she knew and didn't flinch when he heard of her social staus, or even showed signs of recognizing her other than knowing her name. He even had her writing notes, for Thor's sake. She hated writing notes, always having somebody else do it for her. So she used that piece of paper to vent at Henry Haddock, the person who'd given it to her. Here's what it looked like after she'd finished filling it out:

Name:
Nicola

What sort of accessory do you want? (E.g. necklace, ring, anklet, bracelet.)
Necklace, obvs

Any specifications about the metal used in the jewellery?
So long as it ain't coppar, I'm good. Shaep it to look like a hart with an arow thru it, coz that shit's cool.

Any engravings wanted on the item of jewellery?
Put the words 'Hot Stuff' on one side and 'Nicola' on the other. Do it in corsive, tho. I wanna look fancy so those dumb Year Sevins will get jelus.

"Thanks," Hiccup finally said, looking at the sheet with a growing sense of astonishment that someone who was nearly an adult and was going to be allowed to vote in a few years could have such bad spelling. "This will be very helpful to me when making your necklace, trust me."

"Good," Nicola asserted, strutting away in a desperate attempt to look hot after acting like a spoiled brat to Hiccup. "I want it completed in ten days, got it?" She didn't even wait for a reply before turning her back on him and walking over to her friends, who were already green with envy and focused on her, just the way she liked it.

Because they were so busy talking to her and didn't dare look at anything that wasn't her, nobody told her that Hiccup had left and had gone to meet up with his friends outside.

Toothless laughed as he read the hilariously misspelled sheet that Hiccup had been handed by the most popular girl in school, Nicola. Astrid couldn't resist giggling as she looked at the badly spelled piece of paper. "So that's why she gets her boyfriend to do her homework for her!" she joked, pushing her blonde bangs out of her field of view. "If she did it, she'd fail and get kicked off the cheerleading squad!"

"Hey, tell us the joke," Hookfang grumbled, and was rewarded with the piece of paper shoved in his face. He read it, snorted, and handed it to Stormfly, who laughed, and handed it to Meatlug. Meatlug sighed, facepalmed and gave it to Barf, Belch, Ruffnut and Tuffnut, who laughed and handed it to Snotlout. Eventually, everybody had seen it and was losing their minds over how bad Nicola was at spelling, but in different ways. (Meatlug and Fishlegs were groaning at human stupidity, and everyone else was laughing their butts off.)

"And my English teacher said I was bad at spelling!" Toothless chortled. "If she knew about Nicola, she'd freak out!"

"And she says I'm the ditzy one!" Stormfly laughed. "At least I can spell the word 'cursive' properly!"

"This is gold dust," Hiccup announced, grabbing everyone's attention. "This is what I need for revenge!"

"What's he talking about?" Toothless asked Astrid. She quickly explained everything that Nicola had done, causing cries of outrage from the tight-knit group.

"How dare she?" Meatlug growled, her brown eyes blazing with anger.

"Why would she do that?" Fishlegs asked.

"Couldn't you have punched her?" Hookfang questioned. "That girl's got a mean right hook!"

"She insulted you and you didn't tell me?" Stormfly shrieked. "We're sisters! We're supposed to tell each other about this sort of thing!"

"Tell me where to go, and I'll prank her gym locker with rotten food," Ruffnut growled. "That. Bitch. Will. Pay!"

"We're pranking someone's locker?" Tuffnut, Barf and Belch asked. "Whoohoo!"

"Oh, definitely," Ruffnut grinned. "I'll let you help with the planning and sourcing what we'll need, but I'll set it up. You three can't do it, for obvious reasons."

"Oh, yeah? Like what? You don't think we're good enough?" Tuffnut challenged, only to be slapped in the face by Barf and Belch. "Ow!" he whined.

"We're guys, and this is her gym locker, which means girls only," Barf hissed. "We'll be caught for sure."

"Ruff's the only one who can get in and out without suspicion," Belch clarified, trying to make up for/explain his twin's behavour. "We're vigilante pranksters, not perverts."

"Is there anything I can do to help?" Toothless asked. "Nicola insulted you, and I can't let her get away with that."

"Same here," Stormfly agreed. "I can't let her get away with making my sister cry."

"Okay then," Hiccup said, handing over a £10 note he had in his pocket. (FYI, in this AU, Berk is a modern day town in the UK, as that just makes it more relatable for me. And for those who don't live in the UK, Asda is the British equivalent of Walmart.) "You two go to Asda and buy a roll of aluminium foil, some bread, a bottle of milk and some double chocolate cookies."

"Why do we need this?" Toothless asked, confused.

"The aluminium foil is part of my revenge, the bread and milk is because we're running out and Mom wants us to make a grocery run after school and the cookies are simply because I like cookies and don't want to get them myself," Hiccup answered, causing everyone to laugh as Stormfly and Toothless frowned. "Well, you did say you wanted to help me."

"Fine," Stormfly sulked, as Toothless glared at Hiccup. "You'd better have something good planned, Hiccup."

After school, Toothless and Stormfly were traipsing around Asda searching for the things Hiccup had asked for. Toothless had the money in his pocket, claiming that as Hiccup's brother, it was his responsibility to look after it. "Why did Hiccup put us on grocery shopping?" Stormfly groaned, as she held the loaf of bread in one hand and the cookies in the other. "This is boring."

"The aluminium is part of his revenge thing, and Hiccup being Hiccup, this is going to be good," Toothless answered optimistically, while holding the bottle of milk and the foil tucked under his arm. "I just know it!"

"Explain," Stormfly commanded.

"The last time Dagur was here with his 'armada' of friends, they stole his lunch, made fun of him and laughed at him every day. You remember that, right?" Stormfly nodded. "Well, Hiccup made some cookies with some extra ingredients in them - slow-acting laxatives and chili-infused chocolate. Dagur and everyone in his armada ate them, thinking they were regular cookies. Those guys had such a fun time with their burning mouths and shit-stained clothes. Everyone who'd eaten them had to go home with a note from the school nurse."

"Whoa," Stormfly gasped, laughing at the thought of Dagur with brown-stained clothes and a red face from the shame and the chili, sulking and feeling sorry for himself while he waited for his parents to collect him. "How much trouble was he in after that?"

"None. Loads of people remembered Hiccup telling them not to eat it, and the school basically told everyone's parents that if you're told not to do something, you do it anyway, and you don't like the results, you're to blame. So Hiccup wasn't punished for it. Dad even laughed when he heard about it, and went around telling all his friends that his son was sneaky. Hiccup literally got away with the public humiliation of Dagur, who never lived down having messed himself in the cafeteria," Toothless answered. "The fact that we still haven't forgotten is proof of that."

If Toothless is telling the truth about Hiccup, then this is going to be big, Stormfly thought, approaching the checkout, a smiling male cashier . . . and Mildew.

"So this is what you're getting up to in your spare time, is it?" Mildew asked, looking at them in an accusing manner. "Shoplifting? I knew Berk's teenagers were out of control."

"What?" Toothless yelped. "We wouldn't do that!"

"We've got the money to pay for these," Stormfly protested.

"Security, over here!" Mildew shouted. "Shoplifters!" Two tired-looking guys in uniform came to his aid and grabbed the two teens.

"You talking about these two, Mildew?" a tall, brown-haired guard asked, gesturing to a terrified Toothless and Stormfly. (His name tag read Sven.) Mildew nodded.

"We were about to go to the till and pay, honestly," Toothless explained. "Mildew came out of nowhere accusing us of being shoplifters! We've never stolen before, ever!"

"Let's go over to the till and see if you really intend on paying," the other security officer, a smaller, bald-headed man explained, guiding two mortified teens to a till, where their shopping was paid for and witnessed by the same smiling cashier they'd seen earlier. The name tag on his shirt read Magnus. "You two can go," Magnus ordered, when the transaction had finished. Toothless and Stormfly sighed with relief as they walked off. Mildew also attempted to leave, but he was stopped. "Not you, though."

"Why not?" Mildew asked, playing dumb.

"We've told you before that if you wrongly reported people as shoplifters, you'd be banned from the store for life," Sven answered grimly as they escorted him out. "That was your last chance, and you blew it."

"You wouldn't ban a harmless old man from his favourite store, would you?" he whimpered, as the doors were shut in his face. The vindicated teens grinned.

"I still can't believe that this is the guy you dressed up as for Halloween," Stormfly said to Toothless. The security guards swivelled around and somehow didn't look as tired as they had earlier.

"THAT WAS YOU?!" they yelled, stopping the pair in their tracks.

"Yes, I dressed as Mildew for Halloween once when I was younger," Toothless answered, bewildered. The two guards laughed and clapped him on the back.

"I remember that! One day, Mildew came into the store and he was complaining about how somebody had dressed up as him for Halloween. We didn't believe him until we saw a tiny Mildew on the security cameras," Sven remembered, smirking at the memory. "He then tried to get you banned from the store for defamation!"

"I never thought he'd still have a vendetta against the kid," Magnus thought aloud. "Shows how much I know about Mildew."

"Nice talking to you two," Toothless cheerily replied. "Didn't think that my Halloween costumes were so widely known around here."

"Have to go now," Stormfly smiled, dragging Toothless away. "Bye!" And the two walked out of Asda, grinning at the story they'd have to tell later.

"What took you so long?" Hiccup asked, as Toothless and Stormfly finally waltzed through the door holding the items Hiccup had asked for. "You only had four things to get!"

"And Mildew only had two shoplifters to report to store security," Toothless sassed. "Once security was through with us, they had to escort Mildew off the property. It. Was. Glorious."

"Why couldn't I have come with you?" Snotlout whined, partly leaning on an uncomfortable Hookfang. "Watching that would have been epic!"

"You're too lazy to make your own breakfast, Snotlout, I doubt you'd have been able to motivate yourself to get dressed and go to Asda to buy groceries," Hookfang pointed out. Snotlout glowered and attempted to tackle his brother to the ground, forgetting about Hookfang's size advantage. The redheaded teen quickly held Snotlout down and made a beeline for the boy's ribs and stomach. "Are you going to keep contradicting me, Snotface?" he asked, letting his fingers spider over his brother's abdomen.

"AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Snotlout howled, squirming even more as Hookfang's finger traced the inner wall of his belly button, making tears of laughter spring to his eyes. "HOOKFAHAHAHAHANG, NOHOHOHOHOHOHO! I WOHOHOHOHOHOHON'T!"

"Good answer. Are you going to keep leaning on me whenever you're sitting on the sofa, or is that going to stop too?" To influence Snotlout's answer, he starting kneading Snotlout's sides like a chef kneading pizza dough, making him squeal girlishly.

"GAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! NEHEHEHEHEHEVER AGAHAHAHAHAHAIN!"

"Good to hear that from you, bro. Now, it had better stay that way, or you'll mysteriously find your name signed up to stay in those Renfaire stocks the council has tucked away somewhere. Just think, being put on display and having random people tickling you just because they're bored or because they feel like it. It would be sooo embarrassing," Hookfang cooed. Snotlout gulped, and then grinned, poking Hookfang's sides. "Hehehehehe! Hey! Don't touch that!"

"I'm sorry, just a little confused. Which one of us does this apply to again?" Snotlout asked, pushing Hookfang onto his stomach and going for the boy's feet. That guy was going to really regret not wearing socks today. "That could be either you or me, man. Just making sure." When Hookfang didn't answer, Snotlout teased him further. "What's wrong, big guy? Cat got your tongue?"

"Maybe you should stop," Hiccup mumbled, taking the foil and leaving the room. "His face is turning red."

"That means it's going to happen soon," Snotlout grunted. True to his word, Hookfang started snickering, and when Toothless squeezed his sides, the redhead burst into howls of laughter that seemed to shake the walls. Toothless wanted to cover his ears.

"NAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! SNOTLOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOUT, NOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHO!" Hookfang's shoulders shook with laughter, and he thrashed around on the sofa. Toothless held him down as Snotlout got to work counting the boy's wiggling toes. "UNCLE, UNCLE!"

"Are you going to sign me up for stuff I don't want to do, Hooky?" Snotlout teased, playfully scratching at the boy's heels. "You seem to like this, don't you? You love it when I tickle you here, because that's where you've got it worst! I can tell from your grin, so don't bother hiding it!"

"YOHOHOHOHOU'RE LYIHIHIHIHING!" Hookfang accused, blushing. "AND DOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHON'T CAHAHAHAHAHALL ME HOOKY!"

"I'll ignore that remark," Snotlout smiled. "Or at least I would have, until I heard you accuse me of lying. Toothless, I suggest you go. I can handle it from here." Toothless nodded and excused himself from the room. Seconds after leaving it, hysterical laughter could be heard, mingling with the hissing sound of metal being melted in a nearby furnace. When he took a closer look at the inside of the workshop, they found Hiccup, Astrid and Stormfly huddled around a kiln, as they threw bits of foil into it. They used up about two sheets of foil doing this, and all three agreed that it was pretty fun watching the metal melt away.

"So this is what you needed the foil for," Stormfly mused, smiling. "How long will it take for you to make the necklace?"

"I have a mould I can use for this," Hiccup said, digging out a small heart-shaped casting mould, and pouring the aluminium into it. Even after he scraped off the excess, he still had the problem of how to use up the rest of the molten aluminium. That was quickly solved when he heard a shriek of disgust from Stormfly.

"EW! THERE'S AN ANTHILL HERE!" Stormfly squealed, dashing inside the house and peeking her head out the door. "THERE'S AN ANTHILL NEXT TO YOUR FORGE AND I NEARLY STEPPED ON IT!"

"No way!" Hiccup cheered, looking happy for some reason. "Now I've got a science project to hand in!" He quickly donned his gloves, held the pot of molten aluminium, and slowly poured the near-liquid metal down the hole where all the ants entered and exited. Steam poured out of the only visible orifice and the anthill, if you looked closely, seemed to deflate a little. "There goes your ant problem, Stormfly. Mom and Dad are definitely going to be pleased."

"How?" Stormfly asked.

"I am literally making money and doing my homework at the same time," Hiccup answered. "Nicola's paying me handsomely for this necklace, and tomorrow, I'm going to dig that aluminium out of the ground and hose it down. By then it will have hardened and taken the form of all those tunnels in that anthill, and I'm going to use that as part of my science project! That, and they were going to pay some fancy exterminator to get rid of this. I did it for free."

"This is why I'm with you and not some football team quarterback," Astrid whispered in his ear. "You're so much smarter than them, and more affectionate too. None of them ever bought me gifts, and certainly not adorable handmade ones like yours."

"That's because they didn't have the money, the time or the energy to get gifts for you, milady," Hiccup answered. "They're too busy paying for some new toys to show off around school, so they have no money to spend on you. They're always practicing for some big game, so they have no time for you. And they have no energy because every time their TV gets stolen, they ran over to the burglar to tell them that they left the remote behind, but it's fine because they've got it!"

Stormfly and Astrid laughed their butts off at Hiccup's joke, wiping tears of laughter from their eyes and leaning on the walls to stop themselves from falling. This moment of hilarity was cut short when Toothless came running over to them and yelled, "Hiccup! Call Snotlout off! He's going to make Hookfang pass out!"

Hiccup, Stormfly and Astrid followed Toothless to the living room, where they found Hookfang on the floor laughing hysterically and uncontrollably as Snotlout scrawled smiley faces on his tummy with a marker pen. He even blew raspberries on his sensitive navel. Hookfang had twin trails of tears trickling down his face, which was as red as his hair at this point and almost seemed to be wilting. One fist hammered on the floor and his shoulders shook from laughing so hard. Hookfang looked ready to collapse right there. "MAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAKE IHIHIHIHIHIHIT STOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOP!" Hookfang pleaded, his will shattered. "HE WON'T LEHEHEHEHEHET ME BREHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEATHE! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

"Snotlout, let go of him!" Astrid yelled, dragging the brothers away from each other and finally letting Hookfang breathe. "The guy has to breathe sometime!"

"Oh, come on!" Snotlout whined. "All I was doing was giving my brother a little lesson on why you shouldn't call me a liar! I was going to let him go once I was done, and you know that!"

"Why didn't you let me go, Snotlout?" Hookfang whispered, his voice too hoarse to talk at a normal volume. "I couldn't breathe, and you knew it." He looked as if he was going to faint if he got up too fast, so Toothless helped him up. "Thanks, T."

"It's OK, big guy," Toothless consoled. "You just concentrate on breathing. I think I know what happens to you now. The longer Snotlout spends tickling you, the more sensitive your skin becomes. It's perfectly normal."

"You said concentrate on breathing. How do I do that if I have to listen to you?" Hookfang teased.

"Save your breath, Hookfang. Literally," Toothless muttered. Hookfang was about to keep talking, but a sharp, ticklish squeeze to his side shut him up. Exhausted, Hookfang lay on his back on the sofa, where he eventually fell asleep.

"How does this revenge thing work anyway?" Snotlout whined. "I don't get it."

"You'll see," Hiccup smiled, not giving away any clues about his revenge.

The next day at school, Hiccup presented the necklace to the queen bee herself, with her loyal underlings present as witnesses. He wrapped it in a small gift box that was adorned with a red satin bow, and a name tag hung off that bow, the only word on that tag being Nicola. "Here is the necklace you asked me to make, Nicola," Hiccup announced, catching everyone's attention. The gift wrapping made some of the students feel lowly, and Nicola's smug smile only succeeded in rubbing salt into the gaping, fresh wound.

"And here is the money I owe you, Henry," Nicola purred, not even looking at her new item of jewellery (or Hiccup) when she handed over an envelope filled with what was obviously cash. She destroyed the wrapping paper to get to the necklace inside. She gasped with joy, and held up the elegant-looking, silver necklace decorated with a heart-shaped charm. The words 'Nicola' had been engraved on one side and 'Hot Stuff' on the other. Cursive script had been used, just the way she wanted it to look. "And you didn't use copper," she whispered joyfully.

"You told me not to in the form you wrote," Hiccup answered. He then reached into his bag and retrieved an A3 sheet, which he unfolded and stuck to the wall with sellotape. It was essentially a blown up photocopy of what Nicola had filled out for him. "I made it into an A3-sized copy, just in case you forgot about it." A few Year Seven students came over to look at it, curiously, before bursting out into laughter and calling their friends over.

"Hey, look! Nicola thinks we'll be jealous of her! At least we can spell jealous!" one of them giggled.

"Along with 'seven', 'shape' and 'heart', to name a few!" another one laughed. This prompted more onlookers, who all laughed at Nicola's frankly atrocious spelling. Her level of popularity had taken a downturn.

"That piece of paper is what gave me my big break, because of the phrase, 'So long as it ain't copper, I'm good'. This meant that I could use any metal but copper and I'd have done what she wanted me to do," Hiccup continued, his soft voice quieting a room full of rowdy teenagers. 'Berk's Dragons', who were apparently the rowdiest of all, were still sniggering, but quietly. "I wanted to see if she really meant it, so I made a necklace out of aluminium foil, the type used to wrap your lunch in. And I should know. I used that to wrap my sandwiches in so they wouldn't be flattened by my books." The crowd chuckled; nothing like relatable humour to break the ice.

"What happened to them next?" Nicola asked. She didn't look so smug now, Hiccup noticed.

"That's when I put it in a fancy gift box and wrapped it in gift wrapping to make it look classy. Then I put a name tag on it, and I waited until lunch time today so I could give it to you," Hiccup answered. The canteen seemed to roar with laughter, and all over the room, you could hear people adding in their two cents, all of which were about how Hiccup had played Nicola.

"When I told you not to use copper, I didn't say you should use foil, idiot!" Nicola shrieked, no longer looking so refined. "Why did you do this to me?"

"You don't seriously think that I would go an extra mile to please you after what you said to Astrid, did you?" Hiccup asked. The room fell silent, shocked at the behaviour of their 'golden girl'. "I suppose she didn't tell you, did she? On her birthday, Astrid came to me crying because of her. She refuses to tell all, but I got the gist of it. You told her that her bracelet was trashy because it wasn't gold and she'd end up living in a trailer park because she picked a boyfriend who wasn't insanely rich. And you wonder why I made yours out of something so cheap."

"Well, pardon me for not wanting to look as trashy as your other clients! I've got fucking standards, you know!" Nicola shouted. All her popularity dried up when she said those fateful words. Berk's Dragons were the first to start booing, joined by the Year 7s from earlier, then all of Hiccup's clients. After hearing and seeing Hiccup take a stand against Nicola, they wanted to defend him.

Then the chanting started. "Get her out! Get her out! GET HER OUT! GET HER OUT!" Toothless and Stormfly chanted. That chant spread around the cafeteria like wildfire, and everyone used it. "GET HER OUT! GET HER OUT! GET HER OUT! GET HER OUT!" Sighing, Nicola walked out, but not before she took off the necklace and threw it into the crowd. She didn't want it anymore, but for some reason, she didn't go back for her money. The crowd cheered, and Hiccup and Astrid quickly found themselves being carried out by Berk's Dragons. They had a new chant now.

"HICCSTRID! HICCSTRID! HICCSTRID!"

At the end of the day, Hiccup and Astrid went to Hiccup's house, followed by all their friends.

"THAT WAS SO COOL!" Toothless and Hookfang cheered.

"I never knew you could be so sneaky!" Tuffnut complimented.

"Or so cold!" Ruffnut added.

"And he did it all for Astrid! How romantic!" Stormfly gushed. Toothless mimed being sick.

"I don't really care about romance, but that was fucking badass!" Meatlug whooped. "You've gone from evil cookies to tin foil necklaces!"

"Thank you, Hiccup," Astrid whispered, before punching him. "That was for not telling me what you were actually planning." Then she kissed him hard on the lips, as everyone looked away out of decency for the couple. "And that was for getting her to finally shut up. Thanks, baby."

"Awww!" Stormfly cooed. Toothless left the room to actually be sick.

A week later, in the school cafeteria, Hiccup and Astrid were eating lunch together when they were approached by a very different Nicola to the one Berk High School knew. A lock of hair was out of place, and her makeup looked wonky. Her crop top (Berk High School had no official uniform) was stained. Instead of the scared silence that surrounded her whenever she walked, it was replaced by whispers and glares. If it wasn't for her elevated status as a cheerleader, people would be making her life hell right now.

"What do you want, Nicola?" Astrid growled. Hiccup held one hand and Stormfly held the other. Neither let go until Astrid calmed down.

"Are you all right?" Hiccup asked, surprising everyone but his friends. Hiccup never liked to hold grudges against anyone unless they did something irreversible that no amount of tears and apologies could fix. "You look - well - like you've been having a hard time lately. Why don't you sit down?" He pointed to a chair near the group, and Nicola took the offer.

"The last few days have been horrible!" she cried, pouring everything out to Hiccup and his friends. "Everyone's been treating me like crap, telling me how much of a bitch I was to them and that they'd have done worse to me if they were you. They told me that my boyfriend would leave me for a girl that actually had a heart, and even the other girls on the cheerleading squad seem to hate me! I don't have any friends, the teachers don't care enough to do anything to stop them and I wish I was dead!"

"Don't say that!" Toothless discouraged. "Never utter death wishes, even if they're for yourself!"

"Nicola, Toothless is right," Hiccup agreed. "Death wishes are hard to take back, and anyone can tell you that words live longer than the person who said them ever will. I guess watching you not look perfect sparked the hate campaign, and I really wish I hadn't blown up your copy of the jewellery specifications form and posted it on the walls. That can't have helped. Oh, and Nicola? I've sold a lot of copper bracelets and necklaces and anklets to know that when a style is becoming popular and you insult those that like that style, they don't really like you."

"Understood," Nicola sniffled. "You're actually smarter than what I've heard about you."

"Don't knock it 'til you try it," Toothless butted in.

"Hookfang, get him," Hiccup instructed. Hookfang jumped on Toothless, and muffled yelps and pleas for mercy could be heard soon after. Hookfang had done his job at subduing Toothless well. "Nicola, I can tell you that they have no right to say those things to you, and unless they're able to X-ray you to see if you're really heartless, they should shut up and never return to that topic again. I don't know if your boyfriend will actually leave you, you'll have to ask him yourself and work through it with him. Reconciling with your team-mates is the best thing for you instead of bottling it up. I can't do anything about the teachers, but if you want, you can stay with us."

"Thank you," Nicola replied tearfully. "You're the first people who've been nice to me all week and you're the ones I've been the bitchiest to! How do I pay you back?"

"You don't have to pay us back," Astrid answered, giving her former tormentor's hand a comforting squeeze. "We don't want to live our lives thinking that we may have ruined yours."

"You know what, Nicola?" Hiccup said. "Instead of paying us back, pay it forward. That's all I ask."

The aftermath of the Tin Foil Necklace debacle went as follows:

Hiccup became a school hero, a golden standard for any guy who wants to know how to treat his girl and anyone who needed tips on how not to hold a grudge. And his business thrived even more, as he now had kids from other schools coming to him for jewellery. (The anthill he poured molten aluminium into was dug up and entered as his project. His parents were delighted at the score he got.)

Nicola became a lot less popular, as not many people wanted to be seen associating with someone who had treated other people so badly. However, the more open-minded members of the student body had become inspired by Hiccup's forgiving nature were willing to give her a second chance, making her school life happier. She had to work out some issues with her boyfriend Matt, who had some trust issues with her once he found out what she said, but they got through it. She took Hiccup's advice on paying it forward, and spent the rest of her academic life working on being a better person.

The track team and the cheerleading squad eventually managed to establish a friendly rivalry instead of the bitchiness they'd exchanged in the past. Most of the rumours had been generated by Nicola in the first place, so she spent a lot of time helping to resolve a lot of issues that were caused by her, and it wasn't always easy. Some of them had people with lasting damage done to them, mentally and sometimes physically.

And Astrid, the girl who Hiccup did this for? She married Hiccup and encouraged him to make a real living out of making jewellery. They started their husband and wife jewellery business, which went down very well with the people of Berk. For their 20th anniversary, Hiccup made her the gold necklace he'd been pressured into getting for her when they were still in school together. So there really is a happy ending.

Hey guys! In case you're wondering why this chapter has been made, I wanted to do an alternate ending chapter where Hiccup forgives Nicola, who becomes a better person as a result. Normally, I would've left this as a oneshot, but a few users called Jimmix and ChaMeleonNinja812 helped me see that Hiccup's more about forgiveness than vengeance, and this is so OOC for him. I'll also remember, thanks to them, that I shouldn't torment a character unless there are literally no redeeming qualities about them. To all those who felt the same way as them, I'm sorry.