Authors Note:

RIN: Relatively Important Notice: (That's not a real abbreviation) I had to change the mention of a band name in the first chapter. Turns out I should have read the agreements more carefully, you're not allowed to mention real band names. That's why I have now changed it to a fictional band name(Mutant Scarecrows) and fictional lyrics, although I haven't changed the song title because it didn't say anything about that. I also had to change the format of the texting conversation because they were not allowed to be in "keyboard dialogue."

If I've broken the rules and guidelines in some other way, let me know how. :)

Chapter 1

It's 9.23 p.m. Astrid is sitting on the floor of her and Ruffnut's small dorm room, the is window open and she is listening to music and scrolling through Tumblr, bored out of her mind as she waits for Ruffnut to get back from the gym. That's when her phone makes a sound. It's a new Facebook message from Fishlegs.

"Hey." It says.

Fishlegs is a boy Astrid had met at a party a while ago. He was a tall boy with blonde curly hair swept back behind a camp cap and who usually had a skateboard at his hand, a hipster basically. The party was held for the purpose of new college students getting to know each other. Ruffnut, who was their mutual friend and in engineering at the same college as Astrid and him, had introduced them. It was only brief, but the next morning she had woken up to a friend request on Facebook, which she had accepted.

"Hey :)" She replies.

"What are you up to?" She soon receives back.

"Just listening to some music, nothing much. Wbu?"

"Nothing really. What are you listening to?"

"Mutant Scarecrows at the moment."

"What song?"

"The pros and cons of breathing."

"I love you baby, you give me a heart attack." Is the next message she receives.

Astrid's heart starts racing, what is he doing? Is he professing his love for her? This is weird.

"What?"

She sends it without thinking and immediately regrets it. What if she hurt him now?

"Oops, sorry! Sent it to the wrong person, hehe. Sorry."

"Oh, okay, yeah it surprised me, haha." She types.

"Anyway, so Mutant Scarecrows, huh? "I fear myself whenever you're near, and as our days disappear you become revered."

"Impressive, you really do know your Mutant Scarecrows lyrics like the back of your hand."

"I know it better than the back of my hand! I don't know about the back of your hand, but there are a lot of mysteries on the back of mine."

Astrid smiles as she reads the text.

"Like what?"

"Just the usual mysteries humankind face everyday. Like death for one, how can people just cease to exist, where do their minds go? Or like if the universe is infinite or finite and how both are just as hard to grasp. Those are just two of the mysteries at the back of my hand. What's at the back of your hand?"

"Just skin I think."

"How boring."

"I know, yours should be put in an exhibition."

"The fame would destroy me."

"Probably, but the world needs your philosophical thoughts. Ever thought of joining the philosophy course?"

"I think I'll stick to engineering."

Astrid finds herself a little disappointed that he won't be taking the philosophy course with her. Fishlegs is not in any of her courses. As the conversation dies out Astrid gets up to close her window, giving in to the cold breeze of September. You can clearly tell autumn is on its way, and it's arriving early this year. However, it's not raining, which is a rarity for Seattle.

She gets under the warm covers of her bed. This boy was an interesting texter, indeed. And she suddenly sees him in a new light, an interesting new light.

Fishlegs is sitting on the floor of their dorm room. Hiccup is lying on his bed, phone lighting up his face in the poorly lit room.

"Ask her what she's wearing." Hiccup says.

"Har har har" Fishlegs replies.

"Oh I'm sorry, this isn't sexting?" He says sarcastically.

"Shut up."

"What… Are… You… Up to…" Fishlegs recites as he types the message.

"Fishlegs everybody, asking the real questions." Hiccup says to no one really while scrolling mindlessly.

"She's listening to Mutant Scarecrows." Fishlegs says happily, ignoring Hiccup's sarcasm, who immediately reacts at the mention of the band name by jerking his head away from the screen to look at Fishlegs. He regains his cool quickly though and turns his head back to the screen.

"Ask her what song." And Fishlegs can tell he is trying to sound casual.

"The Pros and Cons of Breathing." He says moments later and Hiccup gives a nod. Fishlegs waits a while before he finally says "Give me a quote from the song, anything."

Hiccup looks at him, baffled. He was just about to quote the song, but he hesitates before finally saying, "I love you baby, you give me a heart attack, that's a quote from the song." He says, trying to keep a straight face. He doesn't exactly know why he wants to sabotage this for Fishlegs, who is now typing it without a second thought, he is his friend after all, but he can't help but feel annoyed that Fishlegs is using him to get on Astrid's good side, not that he really cares.

"What." Fishlegs says in a confused voice.

"What?" Hiccup asks.

"That was her reply … Why was that her reply, Hiccup?" He says with distress in his voice. Hiccup bursts out laughing, although he feels a little bad about what he just did. "That's not how the song goes, is it?" Fishlegs says with a look that makes it clear he is not amused. Hiccup only shakes his head at him slowly, trying to contain laughter and Fishlegs starts typing again furiously saying, "This is bad, this is bad," over and over again.

"Seriously now, give me some lyrics to the song." Fishlegs asks Hiccup once again, who hesitates, once again.

"You don't think this is going to backfire one day?" he says doubtingly.

"I don't care, please Hiccup."

"Why don't you just Google them?"

"I know you know them." Fish says, not missing a beat.

He sighs, "Fine." and thinks for a moment before settling on, "I fear myself whenever you're near, and as our days disappear you become revered." and then turning his attention back onto his phone once again, trying to block out Fishlegs, although he can't help but feel keen to hear her reply.

"Congratulations Hiccup, she's impressed." Fishlegs suddenly says, smiling. He recites the full text, "Impressive, you really do know your Mutant Scarecrow lyrics like the back of your hand."

Hiccup huffs at the answer. "I know it better than the back of my hand! I don't know about the back of her hand, but there are a lot of mysteries on the back of mine." He states and Fishlegs starts typing again. He wonders what he's typing but decides not to ask, trying to keep up his carefree façade.

"Like what, she asks."

He should have guessed Fishlegs stole his words once again. Still, Hiccup keeps going, not exactly knowing why. "Just the usual mysteries humankind face everyday. Like death for one, how can people just cease to exist, where do their minds go? Or like if the universe is infinite or finite and how both are just as hard to grasp." He says as Fishlegs types. "Think about it…" Hiccup continues. "How can something like space be infinite? But how can it end? There must be something beyond. Both are equally hard to get your head around."

"Yeah… Beats me…" Fishlegs says, not really hearing what he just said but mainly focusing on his phone. He recites what he just wrote. "…What's at the back of your hand?" He finishes with.

"Mmhmmm." Hiccup replies, going back to his uninterested demeanor.

"Just skin… I think." Fish reads.

Hiccup smiles and says, "How boring."

…

"Yours should be put in an exhibition." He reads aloud.

…

"The fame would destroy me." Hiccup answers. "Alright, enough of this, I'm going to sleep now." He says before Fishlegs can continue the conversation further. He gets under the covers and turns around, facing the wall. He doesn't want Fishlegs stealing any more of his words.

"Yeah, goodnight." Fishlegs says absentmindedly.