The Meridian of Mishaps

Chapter 1

Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III woke up to the sound of his alarm roaring. Yes, roaring. For some reason, that was the only sound that could reliably lift him from his deep slumber. The dragon-like noise always managed to alarm Hiccup, no matter what time it was set for. At first Hiccup couldn't remember why he had set the thing to go off at 6:30, but it quickly occurred to him that it was the first day of school- of senior year. He loved school, yet he loved sleep more. Groaning, he reluctantly pried himself from the warm bed that seemed to envelop him deeper and deeper into a hug. As he swung his bony legs over the side of the bed, he made contact with something furry. He could just make out the faint outline of his large, black cat. "Mornin', Bud," Hiccup said to the snoozing animal who stirred silently in his sleep. He gave his best friend an affectionate pat on the top of his head. Feeling Hiccup's gentle touch, the cat stretched and let out a huge yawn, bearing his gummy smile. Hiccup was never sure exactly how the cat came to miss his teeth, but Hiccup knew he had endured a rough life in the wilderness before he took him in. Due to his missing canine teeth, Hiccup called the cat Toothless. At first it started out as a nick-name, but it eventually stuck.

Hiccup stood at the entrance to his closet, debating on whether or not to actually look nice for the first day of school. Standing there pondering, Hiccup felt like an idiot. It didn't matter at all what he wore. No one would give him a second thought, except to make fun of his awkward nerdiness and clumsiness. Hell, people would laugh at him just as much in normal clothes as they would if he wore a clown suit to school. Realizing this, Hiccup grabbed his favorite green shirt off the hanger and took his favorite pair of brown pants out of his hamper. He gave the pants a solid sniff before putting them on.

As Hiccup trudged down the stairs to make himself breakfast, a black blur ran past him. "Don't worry, Toothless, I'll make you breakfast too," he shouted after the object. "You always know when I'm going to get food, don't you?" At this, the cat turned around and gave a self-assured meow that made Hiccup chuckle. He always found it funny how his cat's meow sounded vaguely similar to his dragon-roar alarm clock. Hiccup went over to the cupboard and took out a box of cereal and a can of tuna. With all the food in the house, Hiccup preferred simple, easily prepared foods. Judging by his rail-thin frame, he didn't really eat all that much, unlike his father, Stoick, whom his friends affectionately called "Stoick the Vast" due to his exceptionally large frame. Hiccup quickly poured his cereal and milk and put the tuna into a bowl for Toothless. Still extremely groggy from his early wakeup, Hiccup accidently placed his bowl of cereal on the floor for Toothless and stuck his spoon into the bowl of tuna. Just as he was about to take a bite, he realized his mistake, glancing both at his spoonful of tuna as well as the happy black cat lapping up the milk from his bowl. "Sorry, Bud. That's not your breakfast. He ya go," he said as he exchanged the bowls. Honestly, Hiccup really didn't feel like fetching himself a new bowl of cereal so he decided to go ahead and eat the saliva-contaminated cereal.

At 7:00 Hiccup gathered his things and was set to head out the door. He debated whether or not to say goodbye to his father before he left; however, a gnarly snore from upstairs answered that question. Hiccup knew better than to wake his father. After all, his father definitely needed his beauty sleep to be the best mayor possible. And besides, it's not like he really cared what Hiccup was doing anyways. His father had tried for so long to get his son interested in football and baseball. He really tried to bond with his son; however, Hiccup really never took an interest to those sort of things. For one he was abnormally klutzy, tripping over nothing but air and also, he truly preferred his academics. His father could never understand how Hiccup could stay in the basement study area for hours upon hours just reading or drawing up inventions. He just wasn't like the other boys.