Hiccup froze, almost not daring to breathe as the steps closed and he heard the doors of the cubicles slam open. He carefully grabbed one of his crutches and braced it between the bowl and the door as there was an impact on the unimpressive MDF that made the door.

"Got him!" Dogsbreath was literally on the other side of the door. Desperately, Hiccup pulled out his phone and sent a group text to the others. Nothing fancy:

HELP. TRAPPED BATHROOM BY SCIENCE LABS. DOG+ HERE.

"Are you comfortable in there?" Savage called. Hiccup leaned against the door, assessing his options and grateful they hadn't caught him-literally-with his pants down. Normally he was agile and reasonably fast...but here he was trapped and even if he could distract them, he was going nowhere. The doctors had warned him against much weight-bearing on his ankle because the breaks had been so bad and his leg was already starting to ache from standing in the cubicle.

"Just dandy," he said sarcastically. "Unless you want to send over some pillows, a TV and a soda..."

"Come out, fishbone and we'll go easy on you..." Thuggory called. Hiccup groaned.

"You know, threatening someone really isn't the way to persuade them out," he called over. "Suggesting we talk rather than threatening violence will get you a much more positive response..."

"You sarky little..." Dog growled and slammed his weight against the door. The impact thudded through Hiccup and the boy grimaced.

"You know me," he said lightly, "which kinda begs the question, guys. You do know me...so why are you Hell-bent on attacking me when we've hung out for years?"

"I think you know," Savage said snidely.

"To offer your commiserations on my injury, the fact some lunatic tried to kill me?" Hiccup asked sarcastically. "Oops-forgot. You're friends with the lunatic..."

"You know what you can do," Savage suggested seductively. "Drop the charges and we'll say no more of it..."

"Except Dagur and his brother tried to kill me and my dog," Hiccup said. "Sorry but what exactly is going to stop them trying again?"

"That was your dog? That skinny mutt?" Thuggory asked in shock.

"Yeah...Toothless is a good friend...unlike some..." Hiccup snarked at them. Come on, come on...I'm buying as much time as I can, guys...

"I can't believe you're betraying us for a dog?" Dogsbreath sneered.

"Look who's talking?" Hiccup snarked back.

"That's it!" Dogsbreath shouted and threw his weight against the door: it only held because it was braced by the crutch and Hiccup's not very impressive weight.

"Savage-you know this is insane!" Hiccup shouted. "What are you going to do?" The door shuddered again.

"You're going to withdraw your complaint and Dagur is going to walk free..."

"To try again..."

"And if you don't...well, this time we'll break both your legs..." Madguts growled. He was a young man of few words, limited intelligence but a great delight in inflicting pain on others. Hiccup dropped his head and his hand tightened on his other crutch.

"Are you sure you can count to that many?" he called. The door shuddered again as someone else threw themselves against it. But he was more concerned that he could hear people moving into the cubicles on either side and, as expected, heads popped over the partitions to the toilets on each side.

"Get him!" Savage growled to Thuggory on the other side as someone threw themselves against the door as Thuggory hefted himself up and a leg appeared over the top of the partition. Hiccup grimaced as the leg moved closer...so he whacked it hard with his crutch. There was a bellow of pain as he swung the crutch up like a bat and toppled Thuggory back into his cubicle. There was a thud and a crash, along with a lot of cursing. Water began to seep under the partition.

"Oops..." Hiccup murmured...but he had no time to celebrate as Savage tried to haul himself over. Hiccup swatted his crutch at him but Savage grabbed it and tried to pull it from his grasp. Desperate, Hiccup shoved the crutch straight at him and hit him in the face. There was cursing and he vanished behind the partition...but an arm appeared from under the partition, grabbing at his bad leg. Undaunted, Hiccup slammed his crutch onto the hand and was rewarded by a bellow.

Then the door creaked and Hiccup could feel the material splintering behind him. The hinges were tearing themselves from their housing under the assault and he was seriously running out of time.

His hands tightened on his crutch, gripping it like a baseball bat as the next impact had the door creaking and a split appearing down the middle. Offering a final prayer to Thor, he spun and scooted back as the final impact shattered the door, an arm raised to shield his face and crutch already raised as Dog lunged forward...to be cracked in the face with the end of the crutch. He bellowed as Hiccup backed up as far as he could swinging the crutch but Madguts grabbed it and tugged the boy forward, greedy hands grabbing his arm.

"Get off me!" he shouted, snatching at his other crutch but it was kicked away and he was hauled roughly from the cubicle and thrown across the bathroom, impacting the far wall and going down. Desperately, he curled round to protect his broken leg...

...as the door burst open and Snotlout, Fishlegs, Tuffnut and Eret raced in.

"Get away from him!" Snotlout shouted, clenching his fists. Dogsbreath glared at him, his mouth curled in a sneer.

"He your boyfriend, Snotface?" he taunted.

"You went to so much trouble to get him-must be yours!" Snotlout retorted, causing the boy to grow puce with rage. Thuggory was groaning and clutching his back where he had landed on the toilet and smashed it and Savage was nursing a bruised hand and black eye. Madguts lunged at Hiccup but Fishlegs was quicker and shoved him back, an angry expression on his face. Eret backed him up as Snotlout glared at the others. "Go. Now."

"Or what?" Savage scoffed.

"You look the worst for wear...from the fishbone?" Eret said smugly, casting the prone boy a sideways look. Hiccup managed a small shrug, breathing hard. "You really want everyone to know he fought you off?" Savage looked at the wall of Football players protecting the boy and nodded to his friends.

"This isn't over," he snapped and they left, leaving Hiccup to painfully drag himself to his feet. Tuff grabbed his crutches and handed them back as he tried to calm his breathing.

"Um...thanks..." he said in a shaky voice.

"Why the Hel did you go off without one of us?" Snotlout demanded angrily.

"Why the Hel did all of you go off without me?" Hiccup snapped back. "A meeting for Team and Cheerleaders? That includes...ALL of you...but I don't get an invite. So what am I supposed to do? Hide in a locker until one of you remembers me?"

Snotlout opened his mouth...and then closed it again. He face-palmed.

"Sorry..." he mumbled.

"What was that? Did Snotlout actually apologise for messing up?" Tuff asked pointedly.

"Hey, you're just as guilty..."

"And I'm not in charge!" Tuff reminded him.

"Yes, okay-rub it in!" he groaned. Hiccup sighed.

"Thanks for coming," he said with a sigh. "Um...can we get some lunch please...and I actually will need to go at some point...but kinda wanna leave here as soon as..."

"And definitely before someone thinks we destroyed the place..." Fishlegs noted, gesturing to the wrecked door, the smashed toilet, the water everywhere...

"I see your point," Hiccup said heading for the exit and out in to the Hallway for the canteen. It was only when he was halfway down the corridor that he realised the others were all walking along with him. He glanced across. "Um, guys...they may think you're actually with me...do you wanna call me some names or something?"

"You actually fought them off?" Tuff asked him. Hiccup shrugged.

"Because that was really going so well for me..." he said sarcastically.

"Hey...Thug and Savage looked the worse for wear and Dog looked like he's got a broken nose..." Eret commented.

"Yeah, cheer me up some more," Hiccup said bitterly. "Now every one of them wants to kick my ass...and they were already threatening to break both my legs..." Snotlout stared at him.

"I really am sorry," he sighed. "C'mon...we'll work out how this thing goes properly over lunch..."

But as the reached the canteen, there was a noticeable drop in volume as Hiccup entered, flanked by the others...and Astrid was up in a second, her face filled with relief.

"Thank Thor you're safe," she murmured as she sped towards him, her eyes fixed on his face. "I was so worried..." He gave an awkward shrug.

"Well, you know me...can't do what anyone tells me..." he said dryly as she arrived in front of him...and flung her arms around him. "Er...Astrid...are you feeling okay...?"

"I am now I know you are safe," she said, staring into his anxious face with a little smile.

And then she kissed him.