*BEEP* *BEEP* *BEEP*

"Wha- Ah- Oof!"

That was the noise Astrid Hofferson made as her alarm scared her out of her bed. Sometimes she was lucky, and the alarm would simply wake her up. Then there were days like this where the alarn would cause her to faceplant her carpet. Astrid didn't mind too much, the thud of the floor was the last push to wake her up properly.

"Oh for the love of Thor..." she muttered angrily, silencing the awful alarm.

From then on it was her normal morning routine. She had a shower and got dressed into her first uniform for the day, a waitress outfit for the local coffee shop.

Except she'd completely forgot about the customer that spilt coffee all over her uniform yesterday. She'd promised herself she would wash it but she had to take the night shift at the bar and obviously that went on way later than she intended. She didn't even get back to her flat until 3am and at that point she was way too tired to do anything. Astrid crashed onto her bed, dirty uniform completely slipping her mind.

... Until now, that is. Realistically, it wasn't the end of the world. Astrid had a spare uniform, it was just a little small. Not in an explicit way or anything, it was just a little tighter and slowed her down a tiny bit. She groaned inwardly, as much as she hated it, she could survive one day in that uniform. Now the issue was actually finding the uniform.

Clothes went flying around her tiny bedroom like a tornado as she frantically searched for the worn out dress. Astrid was usually pretty good with keeping all clothes clean, she rarely needed her spares. Eventually she found it curled up in a ball in the corner of her closet. Hurriedly she threw the outfit on and left her flat...

... Only to run straight back because not only had she forgotten her phone and headphones, she didn't lock the front door. Oh, and she forgot breakfast but that didn't bother her as much, throughout out her childhood she'd seen plenty of days without breakfast, without food in general. That, however, was another story.

Astrid ran to her bike and had to refrain from screaming in anger when she noticed the cycle had a flat. Again, not a huge life ending issue, but in that moment, to her it felt like it was pretty damn close.

And so she ran, and ran, and ran. She was already running late and she'd promised her boss that she'd try not to be late this week. It was only Monday and already that promise was out the window. Out of breath and exhausted, Astrid entered the quaint coffee shop.

"Astrid..." Her boss frowned upon her arrival.

"I know, I know, I'm sorry" she apologized automatically "It was an accident, really, it's just my uniform-"

"I don't need your excuses Astrid"

"But it's not an excuse, it's a reason, you see my uniform-"

"I don't care. You can take the Sunday morning shift to make up for it"

Astrid screamed internally. Sundays were fairly busy for her without an extra load of work. She at least had the mornings off. It was the one of the only times in the week when she didn't have any work, the only time she had to herself, and now she didn't even have that.

Still, she couldn't figure out why she was getting so upset. She'd done the Sunday morning shift before, obviously she hadn't been happy about it, but she hadn't been this angry either. Not to the point where she just wanted to yell and scream and cry all at the same time. She couldn't figure out why were emotions were so imbalanced-

"Astrid did you take your pill this morning?"

That would be why. She left her pills in the kitchen. No wonder she was so snappy today.

"No, I was in a rush this morning, I didn't get time" Astrid denied, putting on her apron "But I don't need them, that doctor is insane"

"Ast-"

"I'm fine. If things get out of hand I'll find a way to control it" she said somewhat stiffly.

She knew what happened when she didn't take her meds, things could get... Dark. It was a place she didn't like being in. And to some extent those stupid pills did help a little, but just barely. Astrid knew her own feelings, she didn't care what those doctors said, she was not depressed.

"Just be careful, yeah?" Atali smiled gently.

Astrid returned the gesture, but with a little less of a spark in her eye than usual "I always am"

Atali had become a close friend of Astrid's in the past year or two. Of course, she'd had friends in the system but every friend she really got close to always found their happy endings with other families. The only two friends she still had from the system were busy with their families and getting on with their lives. All she ever got was being moved around, a lot. Ever since the age of 12, impermanence had become an ironic part of her routine. Still, this had been her new start, and with new starts came new people. Atali had been one them, and really made Astrid feel welcome during her first days. It also helped that they both worked at the same orphanage as well. The two became close quite quick, sharing many interests and values. It was nice having a stable friend. Although Astrid didn't count on that lasting, she knew friendships could always be temporary.

"Hey, you free tonight?"

The young girl frowned in response "I wish"

"Ah of course, which job tonight?"

"Just tonight? Bar tender" she rolled her eyes "My favourite"

"Oh it's not that bad"

"Of course it's not, I absolutely love having to deal with drunks of all ages, young, middle aged, even a few old drunks. Hard to figure out which kind is my favourite. They're all loud, annoying and can't string together coherent sentences to save their lives. Love it" the sarcasm tumbled out of her mouth word after word.

Atali just laughed in response "What time does your shift start?"

"Ten, I think"

"So you have tons of time to rest until then!"

"Except I don't" she pointed out frowning "I'm here until twelve, I have half an hour for lunch, then from twelve thirty to four I'm waitressing, I have twenty minutes to get to the orphanage and then I'm there until six thirty. The pet shelter is from seven until nine thirty and then it's the bar"

"I don't understand how you do it" her friend shook her head incredulously.

"I don't have a choice" her smile became sadder "Unless I want to live on the streets"

"I still don't get why you don't just get a roommate"

"Roommates just complicate things" she rolled her eyes "Trust me, I've tried. Too lazy, too sloppy, too unreliable"

"Or maybe you just like living alone?" Atali asked knowingly.

"There's nothing wrong with that" Astrid defended

"Astrid you're working five jobs and-"

"And I've never given in my rent late. It's tiring but it's working''

"But will it work for the rest of your life?"

"Who cares about the rest of my life? I'm only eighteen and it's working for now. I'll cross that bridge when I come to it. I'm fine"

Atali shot her a worried look "If you say so" she simply shook her head "Hey, do me a favour and take the counter"

"Ugh" the blonde groaned "Monday morning counter is the worst. Having to pretend to be all cheery and act like you don't absolutely hate life in front people who feel just about as tired and awful as you do"

"Come on, you were late, you know the rules" the boss spoke from behind them.

"I'm on it" Astrid replied through gritted teeth.

She really didn't like this new manager. He didn't know them the way the old manager did. This one was ruder, he felt he could treat people as he pleased, with little to no regard of their emotions.

With a scowl planted on her face, she threw on an apron and went to the counter. The little bell rang and a young auburn haired man with sparkling green eyes strolled in.

"Finally!" he exclaimed optimistically "A place that will make a decent cup of coffee that I can actually drink!"

'Oh gods' she thought 'Here we go. 'Coffee he can actually drink. Must be one of those jerks with the annoying coffee orders that nobody can make. No this and no that with this on top and hold that. Why the little...'

"Coffee snob" she sneered under her breath

"E-excuse me?"

She was fully ready to show this snob her scowl (screw the rules). However upon seeing his confused, and slightly hurt, face she changed her mind. Up close, he didn't look like that much of a douche. She decided to give him the benefit of the doubt.

"Sorry" she grimaced apologetically "I didn't mean that, rough morning"

"Eh it's okay, it's a Monday, gets to all of us" he dismissed, smiling.

His willingness to forgive her poor word choice from before made her feel even more guilty. This stranger was actually being kind to her and she had, albeit accidentally, been kind of a bitch.

"Well it hasn't seemed to have gotten to you" she pointed out, grabbing her notepad and a pencil "Any reason for the good mood?"

"Just excited about the coffee" the stranger grinned.

"Which you can drink as soon as you give me your order" she held up the notepad.

"R-right! Of course! Can't make coffee without the order!" he laughed akwardly, something Astrid couldn't help but find endearing.

"Which is...?" she trailed off, trying to get him to realize that he still hadn't given her the order yet.

His eyes widened ever so slightly as it finally hit him "Oh yeah! Sorry! Just a latte is fine"

She raised an eyebrow as she went to make his order "That isn't complicated. What was all that stuff about coffee you 'actually' drink?"

"Yeeaah, that probably sounded weird" she looked over her shoulder to see him rubbing his neck and blushing with, what she could only assume was, embarrassment "It's just, there's no good coffee shops on campus"

"You're a Berk U student?"

He nodded "You go there too?"

"No, university's not for me" she shrugged.

That was a lie. Going to university was a big dream of hers. She liked how university gave students some freedom. In university there was no constant move arounds. Just one dorm that was yours for an entire year. Unfortunately for her, some dreams were just meant to just be dreams. Life and expenses seemed to get in the way of her dream of education. She didn't mind too much though, at least her life gave her some (strained) freedom.

"So anyways, what's so awful about your campus coffee?" she began making his lattee.

"Well for one thing all the people that work there are just hungover freshers" he paused "Actually, now that I think about it, two of my best friends work in one of those coffee shops"

Astrid couldn't stop herself from giggling, which was very strange for her. Astrid never giggled. Quickly, she snapped herself out of it.

"I'm gonna need your name to put on the cup" she finished up the order.

"Yeah of course, my name is... Hidbsjhs"

She blinked a few times "Huh?"

"I said my name is... Heiehhe"

"You're gonna have to speak up there buddy"

His blush deepened "Fine. My name is... Hiccup"

Astrid surpressed her laughter. It had clearly taken a lot of courage for him to actually tell her his name, to laugh would be cruel.

Instead she grinned "I mean, you totally could've lied about your name just now, it's not like I would have known. I appreciate the honesty"

"Damn it! Why didn't I think of that?" Hiccup muttered.

"Oh relax. I prefer unique names anyways" she scribbled the name down and handed him the cup "So you on your way to a lecture or something?"

"Yup. My first one actually, and I heard the professor is pretty boring so I'm counting on the coffee to save me. It starts in-" he looked at his watch as panic struck his face "Fifteen minutes. Oh gods, I'm gonna have to run to the lecture"

The blonde barista laughed a little more "Good luck doing that with scaulding hot coffee"

"I'll make it work" he hastily slapped a five pound note in her hand "Keep the change. Thanks-" the now semi-stranger paused to read her nametag "Astrid"

He smiled at her one last time before rushing out. Astrid felt something flutter in her stomach. She couldn't figure out if she loved or hated the feeling. How had he cheered her up so quickly?

"Ooh what was that?" Atali smirked.

Astrid turned her head "What was what?"

"You and that customer" she nudged her playfully.

"That was nothing"

Her friend simply scoffed "Please. You actually made small talk with him, and you laughed. You never do either of those things, especially not with customers"

It was true. Astrid normally tried to keep her interactions with customers to a minimum. It was very out of character for her.

"Astrid has a crush" Atali teased with a sing-song voice.

"Shut up, I do not" she denied automatically "I don't have time for that stuff. In case you haven't noticed, my life is a little hectic at the moment. Why would I add a relationship into the mess that is my life?"

"I'm just saying, a little romance never killed anyone"

'But in my case romance has caused serious injuries, and that didn't even come from my own romance'

"You've clearly never read any teen romance novel ever written" was how she chose to respond instead

"You know what I mean"

"I do" she nodded "And when the time is right, I'll start thinking about it. For now I need to focus on actually having a place to live"

Atali seemed to drop it after that. For some reason that Astrid could not understand, images of the lanky teen crossed her mind again. Another flutter.

Were those butterflies?

No. Nope. Nuh uh. She was coming down with something (at least that's what she told herself)

And that's first chapter done!

So this story is gonna tackle a lot of mature topics but don't worry I'll put trigger warnings for anything serious. I'll still try to balance that with comedy. The rating may also change at some point but I'm not sure yet.

Hope you guys like it!

Shohini :)