Tuffnut sighed in exasperation as the bell rang and he walked out of his last class at 2:30pm. He had just been informed by his teacher that he was failing the course, and the only way to boost his mark was with a research essay. As much as he hated reading, he liked the idea of having to repeat a course even less. He marched through the hallways that were teaming with the excited voices of weekend-bound students, but he barely noticed their voices as his head was down for the entire walk, angrily muttering to himself.
He had never entered the library in the three years he had been going to Berk High, and he was quite proud of himself for that in his own way. A piece of him was quite upset that his record would be broken, but as he pushed open the double doors into the library he just wanted to get this over with. It was partially because he didn't want to waste his time on this, and partially because he strongly disliked the smell of books that assaulted his nose upon entry.
He knew which topic he would be writing on, and he immediately bee-lined straight for the sciences and chemistry section. He may not be good getting a good mark in chemistry, after all he was writing the essay for that very course, but that didn't mean he wasn't interested in certain aspects of it. Especially when he got to mix chemicals that would blow up.
When he arrived at the section he paused for just a moment as he looked at the spines of the books, or at least tried to. Shaking his head he took off his backpack and placed it on the floor. He unzipped one of the larger sections and started rummaging through, looking for his glasses case.
He shook his head once more before placing the glasses on his face and fixing them. He absolutely hated these things, but his family couldn't afford any type of corrective surgery and so he was stuck with them. And as if to add insult to injury, his mom had picked out the ugliest glasses he had ever seen.
He perused the book titles for minutes on end, occasionally pausing to read the summaries to see if they would be appropriate for his essay. He ended up picking three books he thought would suit his needs and walked them over to a nearby study carrel, dropping them on the surface with a mild thud. He received an angry shush from another student but Tuffnut just blew it off, rolling his eyes.
Tuffnut cracked open the first book and started skimming. There was no way he intended to read the whole book as he had neither the time nor the patience for that. He only needed to pass, he didn't need an A. He was only through half of the second book when the lights flashed, indicating the library would be closing in fifteen minutes. He inwardly cursed the library's short after school hours, and he picked up the books to bring them to the librarian. Hopefully he could finish skimming and write the essay at home over the weekend without getting distracted too much.
When he reached the counter, he stopped dead in his tracks. He removed his glasses for just a moment before replacing them, trying to make sure that his eyes weren't deceiving him. It wasn't the normal librarian standing behind the counter, but a very attractive looking brunet that Tuffnut was sure had to be a student based on how young he looked.
Berk High wasn't a very big school, but it also wasn't small enough to the point where students would all know each other. Tuffnut guessed that the brunet was a grade younger than him, seeing as he didn't even recognize him and he could generally identify those in the year above him.
When it was his turn to check out his books, Tuffnut was immediately captivated by the student's forest green eyes. He was too distracted, however, to hear what he was asked the first time the brunet spoke.
"Can I see your student card please?" the student asked, arching an eyebrow when Tuffnut didn't seem to hear him.
"Oh right, sorry," Tuffnut replied as he returned to reality, making sure to take off his glasses as quickly as possible as he handed over his student ID. "So, uh, you're not the usual librarian."
"No, I'm just a volunteer. Mr. Belch is on vacation until Wednesday next week so I'm just covering for him," the student replied as he handed back Tuff's student card. "Thank you Tuffnut."
"Call me Tuff. And your name is?" Tuffnut asked, seizing the opportunity.
"Hiccup," he replied as he scanned the first book into the computer.
"Cool," Tuffnut replied as he shoved the card back into his pocket. "So, you a freshman or a sophomore?"
"Sophomore," Hiccup replied offhandedly as he scanned the second book. "Interested in chemistry I see."
Tuff had to pause for a minute before he replied. "Oh, yeah, love it. You like chemistry?"
"Meh, I'm more of a physics person myself." As Hiccup said that he scanned the last book through and continued before Tuffnut could get a word in edgewise. "Alright so these are due back in one week." Hiccup handed Tuffnut his receipt with the due date circled in red pen, then immediately looked back at the computer.
"Thanks," was all Tuffnut could say before he picked up his books and left. Something told him he would be spending quite a bit of time at the library over the next few school days.
Tuffnut would never have said it, and if anyone had heard him say it he would have denied it, but he was quite excited to go back to school as Monday rolled around. Not for his classes or to hand in his just-good-enough-to-pass essay, but to go back to the library and see Hiccup again. He didn't know what it was that was attracting him to the student, but really he didn't care.
His classes dragged by at a snail's pace, and as Tuffnut watched the second hand grind through the minutes and hours of the day, he would have sworn at one point it moved backwards. Impatience hung in the air like a thick fog, coming from not just Tuffnut but all of the students as they waited for the first day of their week to end.
When the bell chimed to signal the end of the school day, Tuffnut was the first one out of the classroom. In the hallway he was greeted by a chorus of mixed voices, all of which he ignored on his trek to the library.
When Tuffnut reached the doors he flung them open rather dramatically, earning himself an angry stare from several students sitting near the door. He simply waved them off, walking off to the left to return the books and hoping that a certain brunet would be standing behind the counter when he arrived.
Hiccup wasn't standing behind the counter, but Tuffnut saw him approaching after he had been standing near the computer for a few seconds.
"Hey Tuff," Hiccup greeted, sealing the small, half sized wooden door behind him and walking up to the computer.
"You remembered my name," Tuffnut smiled, secretly thinking that that was one of the greatest things in a long time.
"It's a unique name," Hiccup shrugged. That deflated Tuffnut's ego ever so slightly, but not to the point of shaking his self-confidence. "So what can I do for you?"
"Oh, I'm just returning these books."
"You know there is a slot right here for returning books, right?" Hiccup asked, smiling as he pointed to the slot a few feet to his left. It was just large enough to fit an average textbook and had a plastic sign right next to it saying 'BOOK RETURN'.
Tuffnut looked back and forth between the slot and Hiccup twice before saying, "Yeah but that's so impersonal."
"True, and you do strike me as quite the socialite," Hiccup cracked, the sarcasm practically dripping from his very words. Tuffnut couldn't help but smile at the joke though; he could definitely appreciate a good joke, even if it was at his expense. In his own defence it wasn't that he was a loner, he just stuck to a small group of friends.
Before Tuffnut could respond, however, a group of children suddenly came marching into the library, none older than 8 years old. Considering this was a high school library Tuffnut was confused by the sight, and he turned to Hiccup simply with a raised eyebrow and a pointing gesture.
"Over here guys!" Hiccup called before returning his attention back to Tuffnut. "That's my little brother and a couple of his friends. All of our parents are out of town tonight and I'm the oldest, so I have to watch them. They'll be sticking around here until I leave though since they can't be home alone."
"Hi Hiccup," greeted the tallest of the children, a boy with shoulder length black hair and a slightly darker skin tone than Hiccup himself. Behind him walked a boy with medium length brown hair and a slightly younger girl with blonde hair.
"Hey bud, grab a seat on the couches over there and I'll see you in a sec."
"Got it. Come on guys," the boy gestured, and they all ran over to the couches.
"I'll punch these through later," Hiccup said as he dropped Tuffnut's books into the returns slot. "See you later Tuff!"
Before Tuffnut could get a word in, Hiccup was already gone. He silently cursed to himself; he only had two days left before Mr. Belch's vacation ended, and if he wanted to get anywhere with the boy he would need to do better than that.
He turned around to walk back towards the doors, and before he had even made it out of the library he had started creating a plan of attack for tomorrow in his head.
Classes flew by on Tuesday, and that couldn't have made Tuffnut happier. He asked to go to the bathroom a few minutes before the end of his last class, and when the teacher granted him permission he bolted. He tossed his backpack into his locker and ran for the library, halfway there before the final bell even rang.
When Tuffnut burst through the doors he was not only the first student there, but he actually beat Hiccup as well apparently. Glancing back he noticed Hiccup walking towards the door, and so he bolted into the fiction section of the library. He rifled through the shelves, picking up the first books he could grab without even bothering to look at them (or even put his glasses on to read the titles) before he made his way back to the desk.
"Hey Hiccup!" Tuffnut called from a few metres away, before he had even noticed him.
"Oh, hey Tuff! You're back again," Hiccup smiled.
"Yeah, I wanted to check out some more books. You know, I love reading," Tuffnut lied through his teeth.
"That's great. Alright, student card?"
"Right, right," Tuffnut muttered as he forked over his student card once more.
"Alright let's see here," Hiccup started as he scanned Tuffnut's card and picked up the books to enter them into the system. "The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants, Twilight, and My Sister's Keeper. Interesting choices."
Tuffnut mentally face-palmed. How could he have been so stupid as to not double check the titles of the books he had picked up? He knew it was too late to change now, so he would just have to roll with it.
"Yeah, I'm borrowing these for my sister actually."
"Oh, well that's nice of you," Hiccup said as he circled the due date on the receipt and handed everything to Tuffnut. "One week, like always."
"Thanks," Tuffnut said as he grabbed the books and forced a smile. As he walked out he slowly shook his head, disappointed at himself. There was no saving today in his mind and tomorrow was his last chance, so he had to make sure that it counted.
That night, Tuffnut spent several hours online researching different books that he thought maybe, just maybe, he could stand to read. He refused to blow his last chance to at least have a reason to talk to Hiccup in the future. It took several hours, but at long last, he thought he had finally found one.
When Tuffnut entered the library once more on Wednesday, he waved to Hiccup as he walked back to the fiction section. When he was out of sight he slipped his glasses onto his face, searching for the book he had selected the night before. He knew it was popular, so he hoped that the library would have it in stock.
He perused the aisles, watching as the letters of the authors' names change, until he finally stopped near the end of an aisle. Running past each spine individually he slowed as he zeroed in on the proper spelling of the authors last name. Then, right in the middle of the very bottom row, he found it: the sole remaining copy of The Hunger Games. He picked it up and looked at it for a solid thirty seconds, making sure that everything was right. When he was sure he had the right book, he got his student card out of his pocket, tucked it in the front cover with the top sticking out just enough to be noticeable, and walked back to the counter.
"Hello again," Hiccup smiled as Tuffnut approached him.
"Hey," Tuffnut greeted, placing the book on the counter.
"So, The Hunger Games. This for your sister or…" Hiccup said, letting his voice fade out at the end.
"No, this is for me. I've heard good things about it. Have you read it?"
"Yeah actually, I have. It was really good," Hiccup commented as he scanned everything and handed the book back to Tuffnut. "One week, as always."
Tuffnut was about to say more, but he realized that while he had been there two other people had formed a line, waiting to check out books of their own. Hiccup immediately called the next one forward, and just like that Tuffnut was forced aside.
He took a few steps towards the exit, grasping the book and seeing just the white outline of receipt behind his student card. He shook his head with sorrow, knowing that he had blown his last chance. Sure he could potentially see Hiccup in the halls, but what would he use as an approach to talk to the boy? If he could even manage to track him down that was. For all he knew they had their classes on opposite sides of the building.
Tuffnut paused after five steps, cementing himself to the spot for just a moment. He wasn't going to let some other random student ruin his chance; he was going to do something about it.
He spun around and saw that Hiccup was just about to help the last person in line. To be courteous, Tuffnut decided to wait for Hiccup to be done. Normally he wouldn't care, but he wanted to make a good impression with the boy. So, while he waited he succumbed to his mindless nervous habit: he fiddled with the ends of his hair. He didn't know why he did it, but whenever he was nervous it's where his hands just naturally seemed to go.
"Hey, Hiccup," Tuffnut said immediately after the last student had moved along.
"Hm? Everything OK?" Hiccup asked, cocking his eyebrow.
"I was wondering if you, uh, wanted to hang out sometime."
Hiccup cracked a smile and responded, "Take a look at your receipt."
This confused Tuffnut but regardless, he obeyed. Gingerly plucking the receipt out from between the cover and the first page to avoid dropping his student card, Tuffnut glanced over the receipt from the top down. It looked pretty normal, showing the school name, time, list of books taken out, the due date circled in Hiccup's red pen, and then Tuffnut noticed the difference. There, at the bottom, in his red ink, was Hiccup's name and phone number.
To say that Tuffnut was dumbstruck would have been an understatement. He must've remained perfectly still and silent for at least thirty seconds. Where the heck did that come from? That was definitely the last thing he was expecting.
"Why…How did you…" Tuffnut started, unable to form a complete sentence.
"I know you've been coming back here every day because you want to see me Tuff. And, well, I think I'd like to get to know you a little better too." Hiccup smiled as he said this, partially because it was true and partially because he found Tuffnut's present expression rather amusing.
"How…"
"I know you don't like to read Tuff. And I also know that your sister never would have wanted those books. She plays volleyball with my friend Astrid, and I've met her a couple times at practices I've visited. She didn't strike me as the kind of person for those types of books. Plus she spoke about you a little."
"But…I…" Tuffnut stuttered, but as he did another line started to form at the counter for Hiccup.
"I have to get back to work. Call me when you can form a complete sentence, alright?" Hiccup joked.
Tuffnut turned around and left, book in hand. He couldn't believe it; the brunet had beaten him to it. Not that he was complaining since it made his life infinitely easier now that he knew there was a reciprocal interest.
As he exited the library and rounded the corner he let out a small whoop. Time to start planning once more, but this time, he would be planning their first date.
Mr. Belch is not the one head of the twins' Hideous Zippleback's heads . 10 points to whoever knows who it is! XD
Also, if this gets enough reviews/follows/favourites maybe I'll write their date :)