Author's Note: I hope you guys like this story. LunnaValley23 and I have been working on it for a quite a while now and are so excited to see how it comes together. The beautiful cover art is by Lunna herself.
Disclaimer: I do not own How to Train Your Dragon
6 years earlier...
Hiccup, or Henry as his driver's license screamed in bold print, blamed his headache on the four hour-long drive from his home in Aiken, South Carolina to Atlanta. The change was always unsettling. He didn't mind the city as a whole, but it was so different from the country. The smell of fast food that seeped from open car windows, the careless pedestrians on every street corner, the glittering, towering buildings that made him feel invisible and lost. It made him miss the sight of the tall maple trees in his backyard and the smell of freshly cut grass. It also made him think of Toothless, his black Arabian stallion, who was probably giving his mother a hard time right then.
Or maybe he could blame it on the cold glass in front of him. As they did every year, Frankie and Theodore, or "Tuffnut" as they called him, had pressured him to let them show him around the city. Henry had been hesitant but agreed. And now, sitting in a booth at a top notch bar calledFinn's that reeked of expensive perfume and cleaning products, he just wanted to go home.
"-and so that's how I met her!" Frankie exclaimed.
Hiccup lifted his head and blinked dumbly at his friend for a few seconds. Had he really missed one of Frankie's entire stories? The man was known for his lectures for a reason. "What?"
Frankie frowned as his shoulders sagged forward. "Were you even listening? I was telling Tuffnut about how I adopted my cat, Marybeth."
Marybeth, Marybeth, Marybeth...nope. No bells rang in Henry's head.
"Oh. Sorry. You know how I've been. I mean, with the book and Heather and…" Hiccup shrugged and sighed quietly.
Frankie nodded and leaned forward a bit, his arms folded on the tabletop. His blue eyes were wide and curious. "Speaking of Heather, how are things with you two? You don't talk about her much anymore."
Hiccup laughed as he lifted his glass to his lips. He took a swig from it before setting it back down. "And what am I supposed to talk about? The only time I see her is when we walk by each other at the grocery store," he said.
"That's Heather for you. She only wants you when you're worth something to other people," Tuffnut mumbled. Hiccup glanced at him and opened his mouth to make a comment but Frankie spoke first.
"But...you guys seemed so happy together. What happened?" Frankie asked. He shot a stern look at Tuffnut when the other man grinned into his drink.
"I don't know. I guess we just grew apart."
"Well then don't stay with her! We want you to be happy, Hiccup, and you're clearly not happy with her. I mean, look around you. There are so many opportunities to meet someone new," Frankie said. He gestured to the crowd that had flooded the pristine bar, with its white marble counters and maple barstools.
Hiccup nodded. He had scanned the room a few times but none of the women caught his eye. They were all wearing too much makeup or their dresses left close to nothing to imagination. He wanted someone who felt comfortable around him, not someone who felt the need to impress him.
"But, on a lighter note, we should be going. Checkout for you at the hotel tomorrow morning is at 11 and there is no way we'll have time to meet up with Ruffnut if you're not up by 10. You have a room key with you, don't you?" Frankie said as he stood up.
Hiccup nodded, his eyes fixated on a window across the room. He saw Frankie shift in the corner of his eyes but at the same time watched as a car whizzed passed, its brake lights flickering to life in the purple evening light.
"Good. Come on Tuff, I'm not letting you get hammered and try to drive yourself home again." Tuffnut groaned and slid out of the booth, his sneakers squeaking along the floor.
"Okay then. Call one of us if you need anything. We'll see you in the morning. Goodnight, Hiccup," Frankie said.
"'night guys," Hiccup said.
"See you," Tuff called as he followed the taller man.
Alone again, Hiccup thought. He scanned the bar, a strange hope rising in his chest. He didn't want to go back to the hotel and sleep in those cold sheets in that dark room. He didn't want to wake up to a simple text from the stranger the called his girlfriend that she only sent out of boredom. But he saw no one of interest and found himself gazing into his nearly empty glass again. He traced a finger down its perspirating side, the cold water dripping down his hand.
It wasn't until someone slid into the booth that he looked up. His green eyes widened then flickered back down to the glass out of humiliation at his reaction.
There was a woman lounging in the booth across from him. A very, very attractive woman at that. She smirked at him as he drew his glass closer.
"Sorry, was this seat taken?" she asked in a warm voice. It was sweet like honey but at the same time a twinge of danger danced in her tone, like the flash of a blade. Or maybe that was just that perfect pearly smile framed by pink lips.
It took Hiccup a moment to find his voice and then another to remember how to use it. And when he did, it came out in a squeak. "No."
"I didn't think so," the woman said. She looked him up and down without shame, her head cocking to the side in what he hoped was interest. "So what brings you here?"
"Oh, you know…" Hiccup sighed. "I'm writing a book and it's not exactly...I needed to get away for a while."
"Ah," she said. Her fingernails, unpainted, he observed, clicked against the tabletop. "I'm here with friends. But they probably left by now, so I'm not worried about them."
Hiccup nodded. He took a chance and hesitantly glanced up at her again. She was even more beautiful than he had thought at first. Her blonde hair had been twisted and pinned to the crown of her head, a few curled strands kissing her pale cheeks. Her oceanic blue eyes watched him curiously from under dark lashes, then found something else or interest. As she reached up to tuck a strand of hair behind her ear, he took the rest of her in. A black dress hugged her curves, which disappeared under the tabletop as she rested her arms on top of its surface.
She mumbled something, her eyes never leaving his face.
Her eyes.
So blue. So clear and bright, like the sky above the ranch on a summer day. No, that sounded like a sappy line from one of his mom's romance novels-
"Hello?" The woman leaned closer, her nose almost touching his. "I've been talking to myself for like five minutes here, haven't I?"
"What?"
The woman grinned at him and arched an eyebrow. "Did you hear any of that, Mr. Smooth?"
Hiccup felt the blood rush to his face and rubbed his neck awkwardly. He could feel her stare burning into him but refused to give in that easily. "Uh…"
The woman rolled her eyes and leaned back in the booth. "Astrid," she said.
"Hiccup is fine." Hiccup shrugged and lifted his glass to his lips, pretending (and failing miserably) to not notice when she snorted with laughter. But when she continued to gasp for air for minutes afterward, her shoulders shaking, he felt a smile begin to tug at the corners of his own lips. The alcohol burned in his throat and warmed his insides.
"Well, Astrid, I'm glad you find my name so amusing," he said, sarcasm dripping from his tone. He watched as she cleared her throat, still smiling, and shook her head.
"Sorry," she mumbled. "It's just...really? Hiccup is the best your parents could do?"
Hiccup shrugged. "It is what it is." Because there was no way in hell he was letting this beautiful, amazing creature call him Henry. No one ever called him that anymore anyways.
Her smile brightened. She reached across the table to trace a fingernail over his left hand that was pressed against the table. "So what do you do other than write books and get drunk with strangers?" she asked.
Despite his reluctance to not bolt out of the place the second she reached for his hand, Hiccup chuckled lightly. "Not much I guess."
"No one special in your life?"
The word 'no' lingered on his lips and burned into them. Could he even consider whatever it was between he and Heather a relationship anymore? He never saw her. And the guys hadn't been wrong the last time they had warned him about her…
Damn. He really needed another drink.
"No one."
Astrid hummed and glanced over her shoulder at the bar, which had only grown more full since the sun had begun to dip behind the skyline. She looked oddly at peace despite the quickening beat her fingers tapped on the tabletop. Over her shoulder, Hiccup saw a red-haired woman smile and nod in their direction as she leaned against one of the high stools, flipping her long mane over her shoulder.
After a minute Astrid lifted her glass and finished its contents before slamming it back down. "Do you want to rethink that tonight?" There was fear and excitement and wonder in those smoldering blue eyes as she spoke.
Hiccup bit his lip and followed as she stood. He hesitated a moment, his emotions a mess of drunken glee and anxiety, before falling into her, his lips crashing over hers. Her touch burned and soothingly chilled him at once as her fingernails dug into his shoulders. There was something about her that he just couldn't wrap his head around...something that just wouldn't let him say 'no' to the voice in the back of his mind that screamed and begged for him to stop.
They probably stood there for ten minutes, twisted together in a moment that was so perfectly not romantic, before she broke away, a wild grin on her face. "Do you wanna get out of here?"
Did he want to get out of here? In that moment, with his head spinning like a top and his stomach turning uneasily, it would be impossible to say no.
"Y- yeah."
