Just so you know, this story has switches point of views faster than I switch topics in conversation (and I have legitimately diagnosed ADD). Snotlout is in bold. Heather is in italics.

Sparks at the Forge

I don't shy away from a challenge. That's not how I work. I see something difficult or dangerous and I run at it like a Terrible Terror runs at half a regurgitated fish before the other dragons get it. Yeah that's a gross analogy but what did you expect?

I'd busted my saddle pretty badly and Hiccup told me he wasn't going to fix it for me this time. Ugh. I hate it when he does this. Acts all… Hiccup-ish! Expects me to learn this cutesy girly skill like making saddles and stitching stuff. I figured I'd be in the forge all night.

Or I would have been if Heather hadn't had issues with her own saddle. She walked through the door, took one look at me, and almost walked back out.

"Hey wait a minute!" I called, putting down the busted saddle for a second. "What's the matter, does my handsomeness make you nervous?"

I hate it when he says stuff like that. Handsomeness, oh please. I just didn't want to deal with his idiocy all night while I fixed up my own saddle. It was just my luck to run into problems at the same time as Snotlout. Still, I had to give him a comeback.

"Yeah sure." I said, rolling my eyes. "That's the reason. Nothing to do with your charming, self absorbed Viking demeanor."

Snotlout sensed my sarcasm. Funny, I didn't know he had the capacity to do that.

"Self absorbed?" he seemed taken aback. "Since when?"

"Since always!" I snapped. "Look, you do what you have to do and I'll do what I have to do, okay?"

She's impossible sometimes. So are all women but Heather especially. I gave her a sort of half shrug and turned back to my saddle. Stupid busted stitches. Stupid wear in the leather. Stupid burn marks. How was I supposed to fix this? I looked over at Heather, who was walking over to another workbench. She immediately got to work. She was pretty precise too. Maybe she would help me. At the very least, she could tell me where to start.

"Soooo." I sort of slid into the seat next to her. "Exactly how does someone as lovely as yourself fix one of these stupid things?"

He was right there in front of my face. I could have punched him if I wanted. I held myself back, faced him, and gave him a very fake smile.

"Well first you need a brain." I said slowly, as though talking to a toddler. "And then you need to know how to use it."

Snotlout chuckled. "Well last I checked, I still had those."

I sighed deeply. "The jury's still out."

Snotlout looked very confused for a second. "What's that supposed to mean?"

I didn't reply. The look of abject bewilderment was too satisfying. He huffed a bit and then stood back up. I guess he didn't want the help.

Astrid usually punches me when I say stuff like that. No words, just a fist in my chest. Much easier than dealing with the sickly sweet sarcasm in front of me. I looked over at her and she had this evil little glint in her eye as she worked on her saddle. I took a deep breath, steeling myself against the inevitable.

"You know, they say I may not be the sharpest arrow in the quiver on some level, although I'm totally against that view, but I am capable of fixing things. And maybe.. possibly having the ability to ask for... uh… help when I need it. Not that I'm saying I do…"

"Snotlout, I get it." She interrupted me. I was glad. I almost sounded like Hiccup for a second there.

Well if I was going to stay in here for a few hours, I might as well offer up my services as someone who is not, in fact, a jerk. I debated in my mind for a moment. I really didn't want to help him; he was an annoying, stuck-up, priggish jerk so much of the time. And he was probably only asking for my help because he thinks I'm attractive. But maybe if I help him just this once, he'll leave me alone.

With a deep breath, I finally got up and inspected the saddle. It was a complete mess. Several stitches had burst open. A lot of it was burnt. Rips and tears seemed to line the edges. Snotlout didn't need to repair his saddle. He needed a new one.

"Yeah, this is irreparable." I stated blankly.

"What!?" he roared behind me. "Where the heck am I gonna get…"

"Breathe." I tapped a finger to his lips, regretting the action instantly. He froze, incapacitated with wide blue eyes that I was touching him in a way other than a hit or punch.

My heart was going really, really fast. Like an intense drumbeat against my chest. Heather was actually touching me! I'm so used to rejection, the idea of being touched by a girl in a way that doesn't, you know, hurt is a big surprise! We stared at each other for a moment before she took her finger off my lips and looked down at my saddle again, her face slightly pink.

"What we need to do is make a new saddle. Do you have something to use to measure this one?" she asked, not making eye contact with me.

I got out some tape with measurements on it. She took it from me a bit too slowly. Her hand lingered on mine. Then again, I might have been imagining it.

My hand met his as I reached for the tape and for a moment, I froze. I didn't know why but there was something about physical contact with him that didn't repulse me. In fact… I liked it. What in the world was wrong with me? I suddenly grabbed the tape and yanked my hand back. I could feel my face burning.

"So we just measure everything and write it all down and then we can build a new saddle from scratch." I said to my hands as I began to measure it.

For a moment, we were silent. The only sounds we heard were the scraping of the charcoal on the parchment and my very noisy heartbeat. I thought I could hear his too. I was getting so flustered, for a second I actually tried to write out the measurements with the wrong hand. I sheepishly switched hands and hoped Snotlout didn't notice.

The measurements were finally complete and Heather looked me in the eye again.

"So now we need some durable leather to cut out. Where do you keep it?" she asked as though nothing unusual was happening.

"Ummm…" I'd completely forgotten. But I wasn't about to tell her that. "Over here… just move stuff around." I began digging through a few drawers.

"You have no idea, do you?" she asked from behind me.

I looked up and she was holding several strips of leather with a smirk on her face. Apparently it had been right in front of my face the whole time. And speaking of my face, I'm pretty sure it was turning a brilliant shade of red.

She turned to her cutting, a look of intense concentration on her face. It was as if she was trying really hard not to think about anything but that leather. And the way she was hacking it to bits was slightly scary.

Without thinking, I felt the words "are you okay" tumble out of my mouth before I could stop them.

I'd never heard Snotlout speak so… so gently to anyone. He almost sounded genuinely concerned. It was as if he couldn't stand the silence. But the most amazing thing was that he broke it not by talking about himself but to ask about my wellbeing. That was new. At first I didn't know how to respond. But then, I got a wild, crazy idea. I could actually ask him what I wanted to know.

"Why do you want to know?" I asked, still concentrating on the leather.

"I… I just… you seemed kind of upset." Snotlout said in that soft, gentle voice again. I felt shivers go up and down my spine.

"Well I'm here with you, aren't I?" I quipped in a futile attempt to diffuse the tension. "Who wouldn't be…"

"Look, I get it. I'm a jerk. I'll just back off now." He actually took a few steps backward.

I finally looked up at him. The expression on his face was completely foreign to me. There was no arrogance in his gaze, no smirk on his face. His eyes were wide with concern. Then I felt something hit me like a ton of bricks. He knew he was being an idiot. And he was actually backing off because of it. It was like he knew he never had a shot with me to begin with.

Ironically, that was the point when I actually started to care.

She kept staring at me, her eyes widening a little bit every few seconds. Finally, she blinked and looked away.

"Why do you do it?" she asked in a very quiet voice.

"Do what?" I furrowed my brow in confusion.

"Act all… stupid. Arrogant. Self absorbed." she replied, measuring the leather she had just cut out.

I shrugged. "I kinda have to."

She looked up at me again; her expression was unreadable. I felt my heart stop for just a second.

"Why?" she asked breathlessly.

"Because that's who I am." I said, looking down at my hands. "It's who I've always been. Snotlout Jorgenson, the guy who wins everything and gets all the attention and goes after pretty girls."

"Is that who you want to be?"

I opened my mouth and then shut it again. I didn't know how to respond to that. I didn't really think about it. I'd been raised as a strong, tough Viking, to go after what I wanted relentlessly and to win. It's what my dad wanted. It's what the village expected.

"It doesn't matter." I said at last. "Too late to change now."

I stared at him for a few seconds. He looked like he was actually thinking. And feeling. And acting like a real person, not this stupid shell of a person who always shows off. I felt like I was actually getting to know the Snotlout Jorgenson underneath all the bravado. And I wondered why he trusted me enough to show it.

"It's never too late. I changed." I looked down at the saddle again.

"That's different. You had to be all evil. Your parents were taken." Snotlout scooted a little bit closer to me and I felt my hands start to tremble a little bit.

"I could have just asked. But… I kind of liked it. Being the bad girl. But this isn't about me." I looked back at him. "If you're not happy with your image, why don't you change it?"

"Because then I won't have one."

I opened my mouth but no sound came out. What did that mean? I sat there, my mouth hanging open for several seconds, before he continued.

"Everyone else has their place, you know? Fishlegs is the book guy who knows all about dragons. Ruffnut and Tuffnut are the funny, violent ones. Astrid is the enforcer, you know, makes sure we all stay in line. And Hiccup's… well he's Hiccup." Snotlout sighed. "And if I'm not the tough, brawny Viking who always wins, what am I really?"

I couldn't believe I'd just spilled all that to her. Here she was, just making polite conversation and I blurt out my deepest, darkest secret. I continued to stare at her and suddenly, I saw something different.

She wasn't a conquest. She wasn't a prize to be won. She was a woman, a beautiful one at that, and she actually cared about me. I felt something new coming up, a sort of feeling of… warmth. Happy warmth. I don't know how to describe it. But I was starting to feel it for just her. Just this gorgeous woman in front of me who actually wanted to know how I felt. And I started to care about how she felt. What she thought. I'd let down my guard and now I couldn't bring it back up.

"Look, Heather… I'm sorry. I'm sorry I acted like an idiot. I just… when I look at you and you actually act like you care and… I can't even… I don't know what I'm saying. I just feel different around you. Like… you know, I don't have to do this." I'd never stammered like this before. I really was turning into Hiccup. Thor help us all.

He was apologizing. The arrogant, priggish brute in front of me wasn't an arrogant, priggish brute at all but someone just trying to find his place in the world… and he was actually sorry for acting the way he had around me.

A new feeling enveloped me. I cared about this version of Snotlout. A lot. Yeah he was probably going to act like a moron as soon as he left but right here, right now, he was being himself.

I scooted over to him. Right next to him. And then I gently placed my hand on top of his. He stared down at our hands for a moment, probably at a loss for words. And then our eyes met once more.

"You don't have to pretend for me. I like this version of you a lot better." I whispered.

I felt my face slowly approach his, inching closer and closer until I could feel his breath on my face. I tightened my grip on his hand as I brushed my lips against his. I could hear his heartbeat quicken and knew that mine was doing the same.

I didn't know how to feel about this. I'd spent my whole life chasing the pretty girls around, trying to show off… but Heather liked me better when I was vulnerable. She leaned in again and closed her eyes. I'd kissed girls before but this… this was the best I'd ever had. It meant something. It wasn't a dare. It wasn't coerced. It was her choice and she really wanted this. I shut my eyes and returned the kiss, moving my other hand to her waist and pulling her in. I felt emotion swelling in my chest and I prayed to the gods that I wouldn't actually shed a tear. That would completely destroy the moment.

I suddenly realized that I wasn't only kissing her because she was pretty. I was kissing her because she cared. Because she knew my secret and she still liked me. I never expected anyone to feel this way about me. Or to feel this way about anyone. But I wanted it to last forever.

I didn't want to deal with Snotlout's idiocy all night. All the arrogance or bragging nonsense. I never thought that I could bring out the man behind the ego. That by caring about him, he would begin to be someone I could actually love. Who could actually love me. What I knew about him was private, a secret we shared now. And I knew that the moment we stepped outside, he was going to be a jerk again. But at least I knew that it was all an act. And that as soon as I had him alone, he would make sure he was grateful to be relieved of his burden. If only for a little while.

No, I don't shy away from a challenge. I run into them with everything I've got. What I didn't realize was that falling in love wasn't a challenge. Finding someone wasn't winning a prize. All I had to do was let myself go. And wait for someone who liked the real me.

Who ships Heathlout now? I hope I've converted a few of you. How is this the first Heathlout fan fiction ever on this site? What I wrote is exactly the reason I support this ship. I always figured Heather would be able to bring out the good in him by actually caring. And that he would really appreciate the confidant. She strikes me as the only person who can see through the arrogance and find the real person inside. Probably because she's so sneaky and clever. Kind of a good girl with a dark side. And that's probably quite attractive to him!

Special thanks to EmmerzK for being the first Heathlout convert (that I've made) and helping me with a few ideas in this. For those of you who read Unexpected, this happens between the birth and the welcoming ceremony.

Don't forget to review!

~KateMarie999

P.S. MISS POOKAMONGA WAS ON THE HEATHLOUT BOAT BEFORE ME AND SHE'S MAD BECAUSE I WROTE THE FIRST HEATHLOUT FANFIC ON THIS SITE. I put that in all caps because she did for her review. So now you know she shipped it before me. That's only because I didn't watch Riders of Berk until the season was already over.