This is a Modern AU so be warned. Names have been changed to protect the innocent, no wait, they've been changed to make thing more interesting. I plan on this being multiple chapters. Please review with any feedback.

I own nothing.

Enjoy

"So you threw a stapler at him?" Ruff questioned Astrid.

"He pissed me off okay? He was too far away to hit, and it was the first thing I got my hand on. So I chucked it at his head." Astrid rolled her eyes. It wasn't a big deal; she had caused Hiccup more than a few bruises over the years. Still, Ruff had been pestering her for the past hour to relive the incident from earlier in the day.

"I knew he was getting on your nerves, I just didn't think you had it in you." Ruff said with a slightly maniacal smile, incredulous that her roommate's violent streak had reached new heights.

"Ruff, I've beat the shit out of him before. Why wouldn't I toss a stapler at his head?" Astrid challenged. "Can we be done talking about this now?" She whined, wanting to forget the fight.

"No, and that was before you both came to terms with your feelings." She made wide gesture to accompany the broad term of feelings, with mild irk. "You've been less than averagely violent with him since you've been 'talking'." Ruff sat up from her position on the floor where she had been lying on the carpet to look at Astrid.

"You're starting to sound like Fish. Henry will get over it." Astrid shrugged, hoping that was the end of the conversation.

"I don't think he will too quickly." Fishlegs contributed to the conversation as he entered the apartment without knocking.

"Speak of the devil." Astrid mumbled.

Fishlegs continued, "You gave him a solid black eye to go with his re-broken nose." Astrid pulled her knees up to her chest and began rhythmically hitting her head on her knees in frustration. Ruff burst out in raucous laughter.

"Twice! You've broken his nose twice now!" Ruffnut was gasping for air in her uncontrollable fit, rolling on the floor "I can't believe it. Not just once but twice." Astrid groaned and self-directed anger began to set in.

"Astrid, I'd say there's a 80% chance that hitting your head on your knee is only going to make the swelling worse." Fish winced at his distraught friend in sympathy. "And it won't make Hiccup any better."

"Dammit. I left my damn ice packs over there." Astrid was under strict orders to ice her knee every two hours. It was a constant cycle of putting the ice packs in the freezer and taking them out; it was a tedious routine, she loathed.

"I know you spend most of your time over at Hiccup's but, bitch, you live here. So should your shit." Astrid had left multiple things at Hiccup's apartment from earrings and bobby pins to her phone and it wasn't out of the ordinary for him to show up with a bag of her things when he came over to their apartment.

"Shut up, Rachel. I can handle my own life okay." Astrid snapped defensively. The apartment's atmosphere quickly became filled with tension.

"Obviously not, Gwen." Ruffnut challenged. When the pair began to use on another's first names, a fight was not far behind.

"Both of you cut it out before I call a Family Meeting." Fishlegs said in a calm tone. "I know you're both stressed out but invoking the real names is out of line. . ." Fishlegs continued the lecture as Astrid gave her attention to her buzzing phone instead of Fish's monologue. Henry had texted her. She huffed as she unlocked her phone to read the message.

'I heard yelling and the words Rachel and Gwen. Is it safe to come inside? Or am going to have to go back to the hospital today if I enter?' She rolled her eyes at the tone of his message; she could always hear him saying the things he wrote as she read them.

". . .Do you know how much everyone hates it when we have to have a family meeting for your shenanigans. . ." Fishlegs had continued.

Astrid interrupted. "Henry, get your ass in here and stop eavesdropping." Fish and Ruff turned toward the door in mild surprise to see Hiccup come into the apartment.

"Oh." "My." "God." The trio alternated in shock. Hiccup's face was bruised pretty badly; dark ovals underneath his eyes, swollen nose and a dark swollen area on his cheekbone where the stapler made its initial impact. To top it off there were a few cuts on his face from the metal edge of the stapler's bottom.

"Damn Gwen, you got him real good. That's going to look great in your Christmas photos, Hic. I'm sure Gwen is going to have a great time trying to explain this to your family." Ruff enthused as she tried to snap a photo of his face for Instagram.

"Shit. They already hate me. This isn't going to help." Astrid ran her hands through her hair before pulling out handfuls in frustration.

"I would say you're going to be at least 50% more ostracized by them than before. But that bodes well for the chance of increasing the rest of the group's approval ratings." Fish offered partially cheerful.

"Who said I was still even going to let you come home with me at Christmas?" Hiccup's tone was flat and emotionless. His determined gaze pinned Astrid to her seat.

"You know Fish, I think it's time for you to take me to the movies. Grab your shoes, let's leave them alone. We'll see you guys at the hospital later, Lord knows one of you will end up there by the end of the night."

"Shove it, Rachel!" Astrid yelled as Ruff walked out the door and Fishlegs followed with less dramatic flair.

"Gwen and Rachel, huh?" He raised his eyebrow to her in question. He walked over from where he'd been standing by the door to their apartment and sat down on the foot stool in front of the couch where Astrid was sitting. "I thought you'd both grown out of that. I haven't heard a blow-up like that in months." His expression was chastising with some humor in his eyes.

"Yeah, well with everything piling up for the end of the semester it's a wonder we haven't fought yet. We've had interviews, last minute assignments and now this stupid knee injury. We're just stressed and on edge, typical senior college student behavior." Astrid explained trying to shrug off his attentions.

"On edge, might be an understatement." He huffed. He winced as he neglected to reign in his usually expressive face. Still, he beseeched her with his eyes; his way of asking her to be serious with him.

"Henry, I'm sorry about your nose and cheek and well really your whole face. I didn't mean for all of this to happen. But I honestly don't want to talk about it." She moved to get up and winced in pain, ultimately sitting back down resigned. He didn't comment, but just got up and went to his bag and pulled out her ice packs.

"You know the drill." He told her as he approached. Astrid reluctantly extended her left leg and propped her foot up on the arm of the couch. Hiccup slid one ice pack under her knee and one on top, adjusting the decorative pillow into a support. "You need to be careful of that. It will not heal properly if we don't treat it right." He sat back on the footstool but left his hand on her knee protectively.

"We? I'm still surprised you're talking to me. You should be so pissed at me right now. You should be yelling, I would be yelling. To be honest, I wouldn't even want to see me again if I were you. I broke your nose, and it wasn't exactly an accident this time." She glanced down at her lap avoiding eye contact of out shame.

"Asta." Henry said to her fondly, in a way he only used in the rare moments, when they were by themselves and she let her guard down. He was moving his thumb in soothing circles on her knee, just above the ice packs, distracting her from her anger.

"Don't Henry. There is a difference between taking care of me and being my therapist. I don't need any more doctors in my life telling me how to live. I have a bum knee. It will never heal right. It won't ever function normally, because it never has functioned normally. I love that you love to take care of me and I know there are sometimes I need it. I don't need the medical advice though. If that means we don't work out together and you don't stretch me anymore then that is what we'll do. But we all know I don't take kindly to being ordered around, that doesn't need to come between us."

"You know I'm just trying to help you through this the best way I know how." He removed his hand from Astrid and looked at his feet as if they held the answer to having this conversation.

"Damn it, Haddock. If I could kick right now, I'd kick your ass." Astrid yelled at him. "I'm your friend, not your patient anymore, and you damn well know that."

"Well technically it is where we bonded." He offered looking up at her.

"Hiccup Henry Haddock, you backed me into this conversation stop trying to weasel your way out it now. " She smirked, which was his aim with his comments. Shying away from the yelling that would only exacerbate their problem, she wasn't any less frustrated with him. "Just because we bonded in physical therapy doesn't mean that's why we're friends."

"I'd like to think we're more than friends." Hiccup would have blushed if his face wasn't mottled with bruises. He reached for her hand lacing his finger in hers. "Don't tell me we're not. But you would have never given me the time of day for us to get closer if you hadn't ended up in the clinic where you we're stuck with me." His eyes had softened, losing the anger they held when he first arrived.

"Henry, you're getting off topic. I've apologized and I will take you out to dinner to partially compensate for your face. But you need to promise me that you will lay off when it comes to me medically. If you start diagnosing me and giving me lists of exercises, as you make me feel like an invalid again, I will not hesitate to break something else of yours." She implored him.

"While I make no promises, I will do my best to leave therapy at the clinic. You have full permissions to point it out if I don't. I am sorry for the way I made you feel earlier and in the future I expect you to try to communicate your frustrations with at least enough time to let me dodge." He smirked and he joked with her, both of them knowing she was working on expressing her emotions without yelling or violence.

"Deal. Now, help me up. I need to go change if we're going to eat; it's a bit cold outside for shorts." She took off the ice packs setting them on the table. Hiccup stood up, leaned down to grab her hands and gently pulled her up to stand in front of him. She looked up at him and smiled, trying to remember when he became so handsome.

"Do you need help getting to your bedroom?"

She looked down at her knee as she bent it to test it out. "No, my knee is mostly numb. I should be fine." She shrugged and looked back at him searching his face.

"Then why aren't you moving?" She was only standing a few inches from him, but hadn't made a move to go put on pants.

"Because I want to kiss you and it hurts too much to go on my tiptoes. I thought if I kept looking up at you, you'd figure it out." She put her hand on his chest. Normally, she'd pull him down by his hoodie or neck, but she was wary of injuring him further with her usual force.

"Well, I'm sure that can be arranged." He brushed her bangs off face and cupped the back of her head carefully. He kissed her gently, both of their heads tilted to prevent further injury to Hiccup's nose. She sighed gently as he pulled away. "Now, go get changed if you must. I'm starving."

a/n

For those who may have been confused:

Ruffnut's real name is Rachel. Ruffnut is nickname.

Astrid's first name is Gwendolyn. Astrid's middle name is Astrid.

I don't know if Fishleg's real name is Fishleg's or not, we will see where the story takes me.

And Henry Hiccup Haddock. If you missed that. Really only Astrid calls him Henry.

Please review, I love feedback negative, positive, questionably relevant.