The Man Inside

Our Own Niches

Hiccup's POV

Gobber is standing outside the forge, waving us over when we land. "Look who finally decided to show up for work!" he calls out once we've dismounted. I freeze in place. Shoot. I was supposed to come in early today since we have been receiving so many orders on saddles recently. "Come on. Move it. Those saddles can't build themselves. You took control of that job when you didn't like how i did it, so I have no pity for you." he says, tossing Astrid my leather apron. She shoots me a worried look. "Get to work lad." Gobber heads back into the forge to finish hammering in a false tooth for a gronkle.

"Why don't you let me take this one?" I offer, taking the apron from her.

"No,no. I said I wanted to be Hiccup for the day." she cuts in. I sigh, looking up at her determined expression, handing the apron back.

"So, what exactly am I supposed to do?" I ask.

"Well, normally I watch you work, practice in the arena, make sure the others don't get in trouble, hang out with you when your shift is over, and fly Stormfly." I nod, following her in to the forge.She stops, tying the apron around her waist and swiveling her neck.

"What are you looking for?" I ask, smiling.

"Where are the tools and the list?"

I walk over near Gobber and pull out an open box full of tools, picking some up that are strewn around.

"Good afternoon las." Gobber says to me.

"Hey Gobber." I set the box down beside Astrid and sit down to watch.

"You really don't have to stay. Go practice with Toothless or something. I can handle this." Astrid reassures me.

"As you wish. Do you at least know what you're doing?" I urge.

"I guess you could help with the first one." she says, scooting over some.

I lay out a leather sheet over the wooden dragon back I crafted to allow me to get the right shapes and size I want. It would have been nice to have one of these when I made Toothless' first saddle. Back then, I just ad to do guess work. I sketch out the design I want and take it over to the saw to cut it out.

I wish Astrid would just let me do this. I'm worried she wont put the saddles together correctly and, I'll have to go back and fix all of them.

Astrid's POV

I shove Hiccup out of the forge so I can get to making all of these saddles. He protests the whole way out, but I ignore him. I walk back to the saddle pad Hiccup started, staring at it, trying to decide what to do next.

"Stirrups, maybe?" I ask myself.

I search the area for a stack of scrap metal Hiccup uses sometimes to make the stirrups. I bend down once I've spotted it and carry it over to pound it into the shapes I want. I dig through the box of tools looking for a hammer, but come up empty handed. I sigh, and decide to just ask Gobber.

"How is it going lad?" he asks when I walk back over to the metal.

"Well, actually I was going to ask where we keep the hammers." Gobber stops tapping in the false tooth to stand up and look at me. He raises his bushy eyebrows curiously. I stare back, waiting for an answer.

"Hiccup Haddock. You have worked in this forge since you were five. if you don't know where the hammers are by now, Thor help us all." He hands me a hammer off a rack and sends me back to work. "So how are things going with the academy?" he asks, making conversation.