Hicretstrid – Modern AU

AN: This was another prompt I got over on Tumblr. "Shouldn't you be with him/her?" for Hicretstrid. There's nothing more to say about this, except that I had a lot of fun with this! ^^

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Not A Bad Day

"All right, this calls for a celebration," Dagur exclaimed, and pulled Hiccup in one of his trademark hugs. "Tonight, we'll go out! Scott and I can show you the best places to meet people. Oh, this will be awesome!"

Chuckling with slight embarrassment, Hiccup retreated and rubbed his arm.

"Yeah, congratulations, coz. It was about time though. Nobody believed you to be straight anyway." Scott's grin was, as always, a little patronising as he stepped next to Dagur and placed a hand on his boyfriend's shoulder, but today, Hiccup didn't really care.

Coming out as bisexual had been a daunting prospect, but in the end, all his worries had been for nothing. Because Scott was right, nobody had really been surprised; his dad had accepted the news with a shrug and a nod, his mum had been supportive as ever, and his friends had congratulated him for making up his mind and picking up the courage. Even Gobber, his employer at the workshop who'd, of course, heard the news from his dad, had clapped him on the shoulder with a huge grin on his face.

"Very true. Certainly not me," Dagur sing-songed in reply to Scott's ribbing, which made his boyfriend roll his eyes. "Okay, let's see. How about we all head home to change and we pick you up in about two hours?"

Hiccup agreed, and before he really knew how the time had flown by so fast, he found himself at a club he'd never been to before, surrounded by people and, for once, couldn't imagine feeling any better. Who would have thought that admitting to his sexuality could be so liberating? Sure, the acceptance from his friends and family were a big part of that, and he was still nervous at first. But before long, he was moving through the crowd without hesitation, smiling at men and women alike and basking in the fact that nobody thought him weird for doing so.

He was just taking a break, sipping a fruity cocktail at the bar, when he saw her. She was gorgeous in her skin-tight red dress, silken golden hair falling down over most of her back, and her blue eyes seemed to sparkle with the club's stroboscopic light. And she headed right in his direction.

"Five caipirinhas," she ordered. Then she paused, threw a scrutinising look at Hiccup's drink, then turned back toward the barkeeper. "Or wait. Four caipis, and one of these." She leaned against the bar, waiting, and Hiccup thought he might just as well try his luck and talk to her.

"Hi. Are you coming here often?"

The blonde looked at him, her eyebrows raised and pink lips stretched into a faint smirk. "Really?"

Hiccup shrugged, a little hesitant, but wasn't yet ready to give up. "Well, I wouldn't know. It's the first time I'm here. But I like it."

For a moment, the blonde kept looking at him as if he had a funny nose, but then she broke and giggled. "Yeah," she said, smiling more genuine now. "I like it here too." She threw him a look, her gleaming eyes almost tangible on his body. "And I'm glad you found your way here as well," she added, winking suggestively.

With his courage boosted by her reaction, Hiccup kept chatting with her. He learned that her name was Astrid, that she had a dog named Stormfly she adored, that, like him, she loved to draw but never had the patience to actually finish anything, and that she liked to have sex. A lot of it. And judging by the way she looked at him, Hiccup wouldn't have been surprised if she'd tried to mount him right then and there. He wouldn't have minded either.

When her ordered drinks arrived, she even almost looked disappointed. Hiccup thought about offering to help her carry them to her friends, but she turned out to be more than capable of doing so all by herself. And even though he was disappointed that his excuse to spend more time with her wouldn't work, Hiccup had to admit that he found her strength rather sexy.

"It was nice meeting you, Hiccup," she said, her pretty blue eyes gleaming. "I hope you'll come here more often now."

She left, and Hiccup followed her with his eyes, but quickly lost sight of her in the crowd. There was a tiny spark of disappointment that they hadn't talked more. But she obviously was here with friends. And even though Hiccup would have liked to get in touch with new people, he wasn't that desperate that he would get obtrusive. She hadn't invited him to accompany her, and that was okay.

Contemplating whether to get another drink or not, he decided against it and got up. He didn't want to get drunk, after all. Making his way over to the dance floor, he suddenly felt as if he'd run into a literal mountain.

"Oh, hey, sorry, man," the mountain said, turning to see who stood behind him. "I didn't mean to run into anyone. Seriously, not having eyes in the back of your head is such a design flaw, don't you think?"

But Hiccup wasn't capable of answering. In front of him stood the most stunning guy he'd ever seen. He was tall, taller even than Hiccup with his 6'1'', and nearly twice as broad, the sight of his muscled chest and arms making Hiccup swallow. His black hair, which he wore long and was bound at his back, looked as if it was made of silk, and Hiccup was just dying to touch it, to feel whether it really was as soft as it looked. The guy's most prominent feature was his broad chin though, highlighted even by a couple of tattooed lines, and with his large nose, bushy eyebrows, and a pair of warm brown eyes, Hiccup actually couldn't find any design flaws in him whatsoever.

"Uh," he mumbled, unable to find any words to answer.

"Hey, you okay?" the guy asked. "You look dizzy if I may say so."

Hiccup wanted to kick himself. "Uh, I'm fine," he said, forcefully pulling himself together. Drooling in front of this guy certainly wouldn't do him any good.

"Great," the guy commented cheerfully, then gave Hiccup a closer look. "I don't think I've seen you around before. Are you new here?" he asked with genuine interest.

Hiccup couldn't help but chuckle at the guy using the same approach he'd used before too. "Actually, I am. I've never before been to a club like this. Just, you know... came out today," he shrugged, a little self-consciously. Certainly, that was too much information to share with someone he didn't even know the name of?

"Oh, that's great! So, you're not only new here but also to the whole scene? Must be a little daunting, eh?" The guy let his eyes wander around over the crowd as if looking for something – or someone – then nodded. "Were you just going anywhere? Else, how about we chat a little? Maybe we can even get a spot over there on the sofas. I assure you, they are as clean as they can be – I know the guy who owns this club. Oh, I'm Eret by the way."

A little overwhelmed, Hiccup followed the guy, Eret, to the mentioned sofas. "I'm Hiccup," he replied, fully expecting the usual disbelieving question after people heard his name. But Eret just gave him a crooked smile. "Hiccup, eh? Ah, I've heard weirder names. So, you only came out today? Tell me about it. That is, only if you want to. If I'm getting too nosy just tell me. It's cool. I don't want to push you, am just curious."

Still a little dazed, Hiccup answered all questions Eret asked, and happily so. Talking about all his struggles and the confusion felt good, and Eret's honest interest made it even easier. In addition, Hiccup found himself more and more drawn to this guy, and if he didn't fail completely at interpreting body language, the interest was mutual. Part of it certainly was that Eret didn't seem to know about personal space. Or was it just that he came that close to Hiccup because he'd noticed his interest? Hiccup might not have gone out tonight with the intention to hook up with anyone, but in Eret's case, he also wouldn't mind changing his plans.

Except that his change of plans got changed again by an unexpected source.

"Ah, there you are," suddenly a mildly familiar voice exclaimed, and before Hiccup knew what had happened, a whirlwind of red fabric and golden hair was draped across Eret's lap. "I almost thought you'd left without me."

Eret chuckled. "I wouldn't dare, love. I was just talking to Hiccup here. He's new, you know?"

Astrid turned as if she only now noticed that Eret wasn't alone, and her lips stretched into a wide grin when she recognised Hiccup. "Well, hi there again."

Hiccup, however, could only stare. Was this supposed to be a joke? His throat went dry as he watched the two interact; the way Eret's hand was curled around Astrid's waist, how sure she settled on his lap, and how they both craned their necks in an obviously familiar motion to kiss each other. No, there was no doubt that these two were more than just friends.

Hiccup really should have known better. What had he been thinking?

His eyes drifted from one to the other and back again, head whirling. What had happened? Had they played some cruel game on him, both fake-hitting on him just to make fun of him? It certainly seemed that way, especially when Astrid threw him a cheeky look over her shoulder, then turned back toward her boyfriend. Her lips were at his ears as she whispered something, then Eret glanced in Hiccup's direction and grinned.

Gods, he felt like an idiot.

Desperately wishing for a hole to open up in the ground and swallow him whole, Hiccup got up on his feet and made an awkward stumbling step backwards before turning around and looking for the exit. Why, oh why, had he followed Snot's and Dagur's suggestion to go out? The day had been so good, why had he needed to ruin it by making a fool of himself?

As if in a trance, he stumbled away from the happy couple. Through the crowd of dancing bodies, past laughing and drinking people. He just wanted to get away. Honestly, what had he been thinking? That he would go out and through some miracle not just one but two incredibly alluring people would hit on him? When usually, he barely got more than a dismissive glance in passing? Gods, he'd been so stupid. They were probably laughing about him right now. Haha, what a great joke. As if…

Hiccup hadn't even known the club had a backdoor exit that led into an outdoor area, but suddenly he found himself under a clear and star-lit night sky. It was cool outside, the chill of the past weeks not yet gone. It meant that there weren't many people out here, which was good. Hiccup walked away from the door and slumped against a wall. What was he doing here? He should be at home, drawing more dragons or maybe cuddling with his cat Toothless. He shouldn't be here, trying to connect to other people. He'd never been good at doing so; why should that have changed now? Taking a few deep breaths, he forced himself to calm down. He ought to leave. If Dagur and Scott wanted to stay then that was fine, he could always call a cab. He just wanted to get away, and all that kept him from doing so was the fact that, in order to leave – and to let Scott know he was leaving – he had to go back inside. And even with how ample the club was, he dreaded the idea of running into either Astrid or Eret again – or even worse, both. So he stayed where he was, unwilling to go back inside, even as the cold winter air made him shiver.

He stayed until a broad figure appeared and leaned against the wall next to him. He didn't say anything and didn't come conspicuously close, which, from the little he'd gotten to know about Eret, certainly was remarkable.

"Shouldn't you be with your girlfriend?" Hiccup eventually asked, not in the mood for more taunting or even pity. Right now, he just wanted to be alone.

"Heh... no, I think being out here is far more sensible," Eret said cheerfully. Hiccup just grunted. A part of him wanted to ask why that was. Had his girlfriend been annoyed with him for flirting with someone else? That would have been quite the double standard. But in the end, he didn't care enough to ask.

But Eret seemed to interpret his silence differently. "Unless you would have prefered her company instead of mine. But usually, people find her a little scary at first, so we figured me talking to you would be the better choice."

Despite himself, an amused little laugh escaped Hiccup. The picture of the muscled mountain of a guy and the slender blonde didn't exactly support the idea of her being the scary one. But then, from the little he'd learned about them both tonight, Eret appeared to be more the big teddy bear type of guy while the only word to describe Astrid that came to his mind was Valkyrie. So, maybe, she was the scarier one after all.

There were a few minutes of silence before Eret eventually sighed. "Okay, listen… I don't know how things came across to you just now so I'll just be blunt. Yes, Astrid is my girlfriend. But I wasn't cheating on her when I hit on you, and neither was she when she hit on you. We have a fairly relaxed and open relationship; we love each other to pieces, but we don't own each other."

Almost despite his will, Hiccup looked up at that. "What is that even supposed to mean?"

"Well… it means that both my and her hitting on you was genuine? I didn't even know she'd already met you."

Hiccup still felt like none of Eret's words made any sense. "So what… am I supposed to choose or something?" Even just saying that felt ridiculous. There were these two gorgeous and stunning people who were both interested in him and he was to pick one? Yeah, good joke. If he told Scott about it, his cousin might just die of laughter.

Eret though shook his head. "No, not necessarily. I mean, you could if you wanted? But we actually more thought of both meeting you?"

He sounded serious, not as if he was joking at all, Hiccup mused. A dream. Yeah, that was the only sensible explanation. He was dreaming, because honestly, this was too good to be true. "What? As in, let's have a fun little threesome, you, me, and your girlfriend?" It sounded ridiculous in his own ears, but Eret didn't seem to think so.

"If that's what you're interested in, then that would be an option," he shrugged. "An alternative would be to… well, to meet and talk. Simply getting to know each other."

"What?" No, this was no dream. Bewildered, Hiccup glanced around, halfway expecting a team of Candid Camera to appear. Because, honestly, this was too crazy to come up with it all by himself.

"Look, Astrid and I are open for alternatives. We've had shared bedmates before and it was fun. But in the over six years we know each other now, it never happened that we were both truly interested in the same person. Not until today. So I apologise if this offer comes across as too blunt, but… yeah, we'd like to get to know you better. If you say no, that's cool. But… yeah."

For a minute, Hiccup was speechless. "Wh-what exactly are you even saying here?"

"He's asking you for a date," came Astrid's blunt voice from the entrance to the club. "Even though he's not really good at it." She threw her boyfriend a half-teasing-half-loving look. "So I'll take over now before we all freeze to death. Damn, it's fucking cold. So yeah, what we want to ask is whether you'd agree to go on a date with us. Because you're damn cute and funny, and we'd both like to know you better. How about pizza at Carlo's, tomorrow evening?"

Hiccup was still stunned, but a slight spark of hope began to rise inside him. He looked from one to the other, saw the warm and friendly smile in Eret's eyes and the teasing sparkle in Astrid's, and nodded. "I'd be down for that," he replied, smiling shyly. "Just promise not to sneak any pineapple on my pizza, because that's just gross!"

Both Eret and Astrid burst out laughing, and a moment later, Hiccup joined in. Maybe, this day wasn't a complete disaster after all.

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AN: Aaahh, I just love these dorks! :D