AN: Hey! It's been too long. Sorry for disappearing for a while.

So, Testimony is on hiatus for a while. It has a long plot and I think I threw in a lot of unnecessary Hiccup-quirks in there. It'll take a while for me to format the next few chapters. Also, life is just in the way a little bit right now.

Anyway, here's another short, Modern AU one-shot for you.

Enjoy!

-ET

Oh gods, thought Henry 'Hiccup' Haddock the Third as he watched the seen in front of him. Currently, there were three blonde customers standing before his register at Gobber's Shed, the local hardware store in his hometown of Berk. Two of the blonde customers looked like they could be siblings, twins even, and they also seemed to be stuck to each other. After staring at the pair for perhaps longer than he should have he shifted his gaze to the third blonde, a girl stood by with an annoyed scowl that seemed to be permanently etched onto her face. She wore athletic grey sweat pants and a tight blue sports tank top. If she were to ever smile, Hiccup would think her pretty.

"C-Can I… help you?" asked the freckled store clerk in search of an explanation. The twins clothing seemed to be stuck together in such a way that forced the two siblings to face each other directly and Hiccup could hear muttered insults between them.

"They're stuck," the scowling blonde said simply. She stared at the auburn-haired boy expectantly. This confused Hiccup greatly. He could see they were stuck but without any detail he couldn't really help them.

"H-How are they stuck?" Hiccup looked at the girl quizzically. She rolled her eyes in return. Before she could say anything in reply the bell rang by the entryway announcing that another customer had walked in. Upon seeing who came in the blonde athlete rolled her eyes in further annoyance. In walked a stalky, snot-faced boy with black hair wearing a baseball cap.

Before Hiccup could say a greeting, the stalky boy spoke up saying "Hey Astrid! What's taking so long? That nerd, Fishlegs, said he needed to be home in an hour before his parents get home. We still need him to finish our chemistry project."

The blonde, Astrid, glanced back to the store clerk before saying "It's only been two minutes Snotlout."

Hiccup struggled to contain his laughter at the boy's unfortunate name. His laughter came out as a snort behind his hand. That caught the attention of all four customers. "Uhh…" was all he could get out before Snotlout tightened his fists and stepped forward threateningly. Hiccup immediately knew he did not strike the right cord with this guy.

"Something funny twerp?" Hiccup gulped before glancing around to see if Gobber or another coworker was nearby. No one was around. The boy continued, "Are you gonna help us or what?"

Astrid stepped up to finish her explanation, "Those two idiots made their chemistry experiment explode and got super glue all over themselves. They were celebrating their little explosion when they decided to chest bump and, well… you can guess what happened as a result."

Hiccup nodded understanding immediately. He then pointed to his left and said "Acetone should get the job done. Check on aisle thirteen. Should be at the very end on your left." He then turned back to his physics textbook sitting on the counter.

However, the confrontation was not yet over it seemed. As the twins awkwardly started to shuffle away Astrid following, Snotlout huffed and took another step toward the register. "Is that it?" Hiccup looked up confused. The others halted their movements and turned to see what Snotlout had to say. "I don't think your directions were specific enough. I think you should get up and show us where the acetone-y stuff is."

Hiccup rolled his eyes. Acetone-y? "The labels are clear. It should be easy to find. My coworkers usually do a good job at labeling where our products are."

The rolling of the eye may not have been the best idea. The expression seemed to irk the boy and he let out an aggravated growl as he glared at the clerk. "Coworkers, huh? Do they do all the work? What do you do…" He stopped to glance down at his name tag, "… Henry? Just sit there all day?"

Hiccup glared right back at the boy. Well yea. I kind of don't have a choice, thought Hiccup bitterly. "I was hired as a cashier," he stated.

"Snot, come on. Let's just—" Astrid attempted to pacify the stalky boy's anger before said boy continued on without hearing her.

"And as an employee of this grubby establishment, you should be able to help your customers no matter what position you're in, small-fry. Sounds like you're just lazy to me."

What is this guy's problem? "I'm sorry. D-Do you wake up on the wrong side of the bed every morning or do you just have a problem with store clerks o-or what? I'm having trouble figuring out what your problem is." Oh, what did I just do? I think I poked a bear. He watched as Snotlout's sneer grew into an intense glare. Hiccup gulped.

"My problem? My problem is that I don't know where to find the un-glue-ify stuff and I need you to show me where it is!" the rude customer nearly shouted.

Hiccup groaned. He knew the guy just wanted a rise out of him. "fine," he said before complying to the customer's demand. He briefly glanced over to the three blondes who all seemed to be wearing concerned expressions as they looked between the clerk and the bully. Why do these guys put up with him? Hiccup then started to wheel himself around the counter to lead them down aisle thirteen. He looked up again at the sound of four loud gasps. He smirked.

The four customers watched with guilty faces as Hiccup headed toward the correct aisle in his wheelchair. The clerk wore loose jeans that hardly worked to hide the form of his thin, bony legs. Snotlout glanced back to the clerk's former station and noticed how the set up required the customers to bag their own goods while the actual register and computer were lowered so a seated clerk could do his work. How did he not notice? There had to be a reason why he simply didn't just get up to help customers. He felt awful.

They followed Hiccup slowly and watched as he reached up as far as he could. He was barely able to grip onto a bottle of acetone before placing the product on his lap and wheeling back to the register.

Astrid was the first to approach the counter after the acetone was placed on the counter after assessing that the twins were in no position to be reaching for their wallets and that there was an apology to be made. Snotlout seemed too stunned to say anything let alone say "I'm sorry."

Hiccup hardly looked up as he entered the order into the register. "That'll be $4.26 with tax please," the boy muttered dejectedly. Obviously, despite his previous smirk in victory over making Snotlout utterly speechless, Hiccup was a bit self-conscious about the attention his disability was gaining.

Astrid searched her pockets for the cash. The quarter and penny that fell onto the counter made a clinking sound all too loud in the suddenly silent and tense atmosphere. "Listen…," she started with mild hesitation. "Sorry about him. Not only does he wake up on the wrong side of the bed each morning, I think he falls on his head each morning too." She then let out a sigh of relief when the boy before her let out a soft chuckle as he put the money into his cash drawer. "And… I wasn't the kindest person when I first walked in either. The twins put me in a bad mood and I shouldn't have put that on you."

Hiccup looked up as he tore the receipt from the printer. "Thanks, and i-it's okay. It's not the first time I've had a grumpy customer walk in." He gave a comforting smile before he realized what he had just said. His face turned into one of panic before stuttering out an explanation. "I-I mean -uh- I was referring to the other guy. N-Not you! Uh, oh gods." He blushed and face-palmed. He looked up in surprise and relief when he heard Astrid's soft laughter.

For the first time Astrid smiled in his presence. He was right; she is pretty. "You're pretty bold to stand up to him like that. You're a cool guy Henry," she complimented. "Don't let anyone judge you differently."

"I won't," confirmed Hiccup. He glanced at the others as they watched their interaction. He was bold for showing his weakness in order teach the bully a lesson about judging someone. Hiccup was about to show his boldness once again. He wanted to get to know this Astrid. He quickly grabbed a pen and wrote on the back of the receipt before handing the paper over to the waiting customer. "I'll make sure people know me for me. Have a nice day." He smiled to her as she turned to leave with the others. Once she left the building and was riding along in Snotlout's SUV she looked down to the receipt in her hand. On the back in perfect hand writing was a string of numbers followed by a note that read 'I'd also like to get to know you. You can call me Hiccup,' followed by a winking face. She chuckled.

Yes, thought Astrid. Bold indeed Hiccup.

AN: I hope you liked it! I'm thinking about adding a few chapters, but this works as a one-shot also. What do you think?