Hiccup was exhausted after his first day at university. So different from the high school in his hometown. A lot more challenging, but the courses were also a lot more enjoyable.
Not to mention his new classmates seem a lot nicer than the people who made his life hell for years in high school.
There had been a lot to process today, and that was what made Hiccup stop when he saw the Starbucks sign on his walk back to his apartment. He deserved a hot drink right? Sure, he hated coffee, but he could get a nice hot chocolate before going home and having to worry about unpacking more stuff and preparing for tomorrow.
He entered the coffee shop, busy with like minded students, and joined the queue. As he waited, his phone buzzed, and Hiccup rolled his eyes when he saw a message from Snotlout.
Hey, little Hiccup, check out my gals!
Attached to it was a picture of Snotlout in a sports uniform, surrounded by a cheerleading team. Part of Hiccup wanted to send a snarky reply about how Snotlout had lost his pompoms, but then he realized he could just not do that. Snotlout had gone to a different college hundreds of miles away, he'd probably never see him again. Why stay in touch with someone who had bullied him nonstop?
So Hiccup's finger moved from the reply button to the block button, and a weight fell off his shoulders when he pressed it and the messages vanished.
Yeah, this could be an opportunity to start over, a clean slate. He could even get rid of that dumb nickname that had followed him all those years. Hell, he could do that right now! When he'd have to give his name for the order, he'd finally use his real name instead of Hiccup.
"Can I help you?" a female voice made him look up to see the line in front of him had vanished, and he was up to order. Then he looked up a bit more, and nearly dropped his phone.
Did goddesses work at Starbucks? The logo was a siren, and that seemed an apt way to describe the blonde toned woman in front of him. Her smile turned into a frown, and he remembered he was still in a line at a coffee shop.
"I… uh… " he stuttered, walking to the counter and reluctantly tearing his eyes away from the girl to look at the list of drinks. His brain refused to process any of the words, instead his breath sped up as he realized he looked like an idiot in front of this very attractive and very murderous looking woman.
"I'll have coffee!" he somehow managed to say.
Any pride he felt in not stuttering vanished when he saw her head tilt, clearly thinking 'Are you serious?'
She took a deep breath, before asking "What kind of coffee?" with a sugary sweet voice he was sure she used on her most annoying customers. Hiccup really didn't want to be a most annoying customer. But his brain was bouncing between "Pick something please!", "Tell the pretty blonde you have to think for a moment!", and "Oh shit oh shit oh shit oh shit oh shit!"
His eyes locked onto something his brain somehow thought was appropriate for the situation, and he shouted "Blonde roast!" making the girl lean back in surprise. Sure that his face was bright red at this point, Hiccup mumbled an apology.
"Alriiiiight then… would you like something in it? Hazelnut, vanilla, caramel?" she asked, looking away from him to enter his order into the register.
"Uhh… No?" he said hesitantly, just wanting this trainwreck to be over.
"Okay, name?" she asked, blue eyes bright as she looked back up at him again, and the part of Hiccup's brain that knew his name was overwritten by images of her.
"Hiccup!" he finally managed to say when he noticed she was getting frustrated again. Oh gods, why had he said that name?! So much for getting a fresh start! But he couldn't correct her now, she was already writing it on the cup!
Mentally kicking himself, Hiccup grabbed his card to pay, then moved to the end of the counter. He briefly considered running off, but that'd probably be even weirder. And maybe the coffee would actually be good! So he waited for his drink to finish, trying not to look at the blonde girl. He had been the last in line, so she was now waiting for new customers, leaning her head on her arm.
For a second he thought he saw her glance in his direction with a smile, but then the other barista called his name with a confused tone, and the moment was gone. So he grabbed his coffee and sat down at a small table. The shop was emptying, just some people with laptops left. Hiccup considered doing homework, but decided he just wanted to drink his coffee and go home as quickly as possible.
The moment he took a sip and tasted it he knew that would take a while.
It was sour and bitter, like he was drinking a spoiled lemon. He gagged, the cap the only thing preventing half the cup from spilling over his legs when he jolted from the shock. Gods, why was coffee so awful? Why hadn't he gotten that vanilla and caramel and all the other stuff that would make this taste like anything other than… this?! Somehow he managed to swallow it, but tears sprang from his eyes.
Okay, one sip down, just… like a hundred to go. Yay, Hiccup. Well done.
The next sip went slightly better. He only gagged audibly once, and managed to put the cup down before his hands shook again. Hiccup squeezed his eyes shut as he forced himself to swallow. What had he done to deserve this? Was this instant karma for blocking Snotlout?
"You want some sugar?" Hiccup's eyes flew open at the sound of the pretty barista's voice right next to him, and a high-pitched squeek came out of his throat.
"Sorry, didn't mean to startle you. It's just, I could see you… weren't enjoying your drink, so… " she said, and he somehow managed to nod.
"I should probably have gotten the caramel," he said with a chuckle. The girl sat down next to him and grabbed his cup, opening the cap and pouring a pack of sugar into it.
"You didn't want coffee, did you?" she said as she put the cap back on. He expected her to give him back the cup, but she just held it in her lap.
Hiccup wanted to lie, to pretend like he actually knew how to drink coffee, but she was looking at him so earnestly, the truth rolled off his mouth without thinking.
"No… I wanted hot chocolate," he mumbled, blushing bright as he looked away.
"Soooooo… why didn't you order it?" she asked in a playful tone, making him look up in surprise. Along the way his eyes finally noticed she was wearing a name tag.
Astrid. What a pretty name.
"I panicked," he said, and when she didn't laugh, he continued. "Sorry, I probably seem like such a creep. I just… It's my first day here, and I'm exhausted, and as I was waiting I got this annoying text message, and then I looked up and saw you and I-" he quickly shut up when he realized he was about to say way too much.
"It happens a lot here. But not everyone who messes up their order is as cute as you. How about I take your coffee, and we get you an actual hot chocolate, and we can talk more," Astrid said quickly, and Hiccup was sure his heart stopped beating for a second.
"Don't you have to work?" was his very smooth response, brain still scrambled as this girl apparently asked him out! Was this a date? Or just a trick to make him spend more money?
"Nah, just got off the clock. It's slow time right now anyway. So, want that hot chocolate? I can use my employee discount!" she said, winking at the last word. Hiccup was sure he looked very stupid, nodding as a grin formed.
"I'd love to," he said, and she stood up, coffee still in hand.
"Oh, one thing," Hiccup somehow found the courage to say. "My name's not Hiccup. It's Henry."
Astrid turned to smile at him. "Very well, Henry. One hot chocolate coming up. On your tab, though. You owe me after ordering 'coffee' at a coffee shop."
A/N: I hope you enjoyed it! Please leave a review if you did! Concrit is welcomed and appreciated!