Game Night

AU: Modern Day

Ship: Ruffstrid

Prompt: Game night for Astrid and Ruffnut. Fluffiness ensues.

-::-

Summers in Berk were short but so much fun. School was out, stores were on sale, and no work! The first thing that came to Astrid's mind was: Videogames. She begged and begged her mom to take her to GameStop, and when she finally did she let out a screech of joy. The car ride wasn't long, but too far to walk there. Astrid had a small job of her own that her mother drove her two every other day in the summer, so she had a few dollars to spare. Still, no car. She had yet to pass her driver's Ed class. Until then, it was ride with mom or not go.

When he car engine finally stopped rumbling, Astrid flung open the car door and sprinted into the store. The tiny jingle from a silver bell over the transparent door summoned a clerk to the cash register and put on a fake smile for her. "Hello there, can I help you with anything?" The clerk asked. Astrid shook her head and walked past the counter area quickly. She went straight to the Xbox 360 section and scanned it. "Yes!" The dirty blonde exclaimed, picking up a green case with a bloody mangled hand on the cover. She ran back over to the counter and placed the game with the appropriate amount of money.

The clerk just sighed and rung up her item; handing her a recite and her new game. Astrid hugged the case to her chest tightly and squealed. She was interrupted by the sound of someone trying to stifle a laugh. When she turned to see who is was, her face immediately turned a bright pink. Astrid took the game away from her chest and held it normally. In front of her, still laughing, was one of the girls she had known from school. Three long blonde braids circled her, two in front, and one in the back. She wore a dumb brown hat covered in fur with two smaller braids the size of sharpened pencils sticking out from underneath it. She was taller than Astrid, her limbs long and lanky with a long pointy chin.

She and Astrid had talked before, but it was only because their science teacher insisted on pairing them together for every partner job assignment. The dirty blonde had spoken to her many times before, but she could never remember her name to save her life. Often, she had to look over at her paper in class to check at the top for her name. There was something there. Astrid knew it. She felt something for that girl, but didn't know what.

"Havin' fun there?" The blonde asked, chuckling aloud.

"No," Astrid responded almost too quickly.

The taller girl leaned her head to see what was in Astrid's hand. "Left 4 Dead? You play?" She asked with a surprised smirk. Astrid nodded and held it out for her to see better. "Yeah, do you?" "Of course! That game is gold!" The braided girl cheered. Astrid smiled inwardly and did her best to push the blood out of her face. She swallowed thickly and thought, "It's now or never Astrid. You can do this." She cleared her throat and spoke, "Really? I- uh, do you wanna maybe come over to my house sometime and play?" Her heart pounded and inwardly winced when her 'friend' didn't respond. "Huh? Oh, yeah, sure!" She said with her usual wide smirk.

A boy with long blond hair busted through the glass door and ran up behind the taller girl, yanking off her hat with a smirk. "Finders keepers!" He teased and held his hand up high away from her reach. The dirty blonde was relieved for the interruption and turned slightly taking a deep breath to soothe her beating heart. The amount of adrenaline in her body was making her knees shake and her stomach churn. She turned back to witness the blonde punch, what looked like her twin, in the gut and grabbed the hat. She walked back up to Astrid and pulled the hat back on with a toothy grin.

"Sorry, Tuffnut is an idiot." She snickered and slouched. Astrid examined her stance; horrible posture, legs spread wide a part like she was in a power stance, and long dangling arms. The braided girl snapped her fingers when Astrid didn't reply. "Are you dead?" She questioned jokingly. Astrid flicked back to reality and shook her head. "Wh- What? No I'm alive," She stuttered, blushing coming back to her face.

The blonde snickered. "Well, I have to go. I came here because I had to drive my brother's smelly butt to buy a game." She explained, jerking a thumb over her shoulder to the blond boy with a new game, still rubbing his abdomen. "O-Oh, alright." Astrid replied then hesitated before blurting out. "Can I have your number?" She mentally beat herself to a pulp and sucked in a breath. "Yeah it's 1-800-IM A DIRT BAG!" Her twin yelled from behind her. His sister scowled at him with a death glare while he just stuck out his tongue at her.

They exchanged numbers before Astrid's mother came in with an annoyed frown for taking so long. The dirty blonde braided girl shrugged with a guilty smile and got back in the car with her mom.

-::-

A small, dim, light from a lamp lit a portion of Astrid room. She sat there on her bed alone, staring at the small black phone on her nightstand. She checked the time. 6:28. She sighed and squeezed her fists close in anxiety. Was she going to text her? Call her? When? Or should Astrid be the first to do it? Should she text or call? The dirty blonde closed her eyes and took a long deep breath to try and calm her wildly beating heart. "BZZT!" Her eyelids flew open. "Low battery" Her bright screen read. "URGH!" Astrid groaned and threw her phone on the brown carpet, flopping onto her mattress.

She was so caught up in thinking about her classmate, she didn't even play her newly purchased game she had been begging her mom for. "BZZT!" Her phone chimed again but she didn't even bother to look at it. "BZZT!" It chimed once again after a few minutes. Astrid grinned wide and bit her lip. Her elbows pushed her up and onto the floor. "New messages" Her phone read. She took another deep breath and opened the message.

[6:34 PM] Unknown: Hey, its Ruffnut.

[6:39 PM] Unknown: Are you dead now?

Astrid rolled her eyes with a small smile. Her tiny thumbs tapped over the phone writing:

[6:40 PM] Astrid: Yeah, sorry I was busy. But I'm not now. Don't worry you didn't interrupt anything. Not that I would care.

She pressed send and face palmed groaning. "Why can't I just talk normal! That was so stupid, why did you say that!?" She scolded herself. Astrid was always so confident around her friends and even strangers. She was strong, independent, and NOT a nervous wreck. What was wrong with her? She shook it off and fixed her contact's name to her actual. "Ruffnut… Strange name. Probably a nickname." She spoke aloud to herself.

[6:40 PM] Ruffnut: Heh, okay. So, mind if I swing by tomorrow and we game it up?

The single braided girl bit her lip again and replied.

[6:41 PM] Astrid: Yeah sure. How does 6 PM sound?

[6:41 PM] Ruffnut: Sounds good. Cya then.

-::-

The next morning, Astrid woke up without a fuss, combed her hair, braided it as nicely as possible, and put on her favorite clothes. She had a tight green shirt, a maroonish-red skirt, black tights, and fluffy house shoes. She wasn't leaving her house, so why not? The clock next to her displayed: 12:32. "Wow, I really over slept." She grumbled and made her way down stairs. Even though she went to bed somewhat early, she could not sleep. It was obvious to what was busy running in her mind, keeping her brain awake. The teen had to count down from 100 by threes to finally knock herself out.

Down in the kitchen she hastily ate some tasteless cereal before she bolted to her living room where her mom was folding clothes. "Hey mom, my friend is coming over today after you leave for work and she and I are going to play my new game. Thought I should just let you know." She explained. Her mother just absently nodded and continued folding.

The blonde sprinted back up to her room where she got on her laptop to kill time, observing the clock every now and then.

Around 5:40, she came downstairs and sat crisscross in front of the door. Her mother had already left, so she was all alone. After 20 minutes, the doorbell rang at exactly 6 PM. A smiled tugged her lips up as she stood. Too not seem too eager, she waited for about 10 seconds before answering the door. On the other side. Ruffnut looked at her with a smirk. "Hey," Astrid slid to the side as the taller teen stepped in. "Hi," She replied almost inaudibly. Astrid already had everything set up. A plate of Pizza rolls on the coffee table, two soda bottles, the Xbox was on and the game ready. Ruffnut inspected the area before speaking with a cackle, "Niiiiice."

The triple braided girl picked up a controlled and selected Francis as her character, sitting down on the ground with her back leaning up against the couch. Astrid took a seat on the floor about 4 feet from her. The dirty blonde selected Zoey as her character, and the apocalyptic adventure ensued.

They passed the first level with good teamwork. Astrid had subconsciously moved closer to her classmate; neither of them noticed. Astrid decided to spice it up by "accidentally" shooting Francis in the back 20 times. Astrid bit her lip when she saw Ruffnut glancing at her with a surprised grin from the corner of her eye. When they passed that area, a Tank charged at Ruffnut, knocking her to the ground for the bots to go and help her. Astrid's character sprinted away and hid in a corner, making her teammates do all the work. She received another devious smirk from her guest and continued playing.

Ruffnut was sitting on her knees, so when she got tired of that position, she shifted and sat of her butt. Both of the girls were now directly next to each other by the last level. Francis and Zoey were being viciously attacked by zombies as they made their way to an airport. Ruffnut silently snickered when she leaned on Astrid's arm, making her almost drop her controller. Astrid just competitively grinned at her and went back to gaming. Ruffnut did it again, making Astrid's character fall into a pit of the undead. Astrid shrieked and pushed at Ruffnut's shoulder playfully. "Not fair!"

On the final boss battle, Astrid was on fire! Literally. She was doing great with a ton of kills – until Ruffnut threw a Molotov Cocktail at her. Her character screamed and got instantly surrounded by zombies. Astrid hissed at her classmate and fled the hostiles. The triple braided girl pushed her hand one more time before Astrid snapped. She tossed her controller on the carpet, not caring about the game. The shorter teen tackled the taller, knocking her onto her back. Ruffnut was taken by surprise so she didn't try and fight it. Her startled expression soon turned back to her signature smirk.

Astrid was straddling her classmate's waist, gripping the collar of her shirt. Her frustrated growl, turned to a silent realization. What the hell did she just do. Her heart raced in her chest threatening to bust out of her chest. Her face turned back to bright pink it was the previous day. There was less than a foot between their faces making it twice as awkward. The dirty blonde licked her lips as though that was the only part of her body she could move. Her legs refused to let her get up. Her arms refused to let her let go.

Ruffnut patiently looked up at the shorter teen. Astrid's long bangs tickled over Ruffnut's forehead as Astrid's body moved closer. A warm breath blew from Astrid's mouth and on Ruffnut's. Her face began to darken as well when there was only an inch between their noses. It was awkward as hell, but neither of them could seem to pull away. Only gaze into each other's matching blue eyes and slowly attract. Ruffnut moved her trembling arms up off the carpet and onto Astrid's hips. The dirty blonde hesitated, then softly pressed her thin pink lips to her classmate's.

Their soft lips felt hot to the touch. Ruffnut began to kiss back making Astrid's heart jump into her throat. Her trembling fingers let go of her scrunched blue shirt and moved up to her rosy cheeks. The single braided girl began to deepen the kiss, pushing a bit for firmer. Ruffnut's hands squeezed her hips, pressing their bodies together. Astrid made a faint mewl noise that made her teammate grin into the kiss.

For a moment Astrid's brain shut down and the pure ecstasy of their shape-shifting and swirling mouth with each delicious smack of escaping air overcame her body. There was heating radiating between them, making them glow. All sound from the television faded out from their hearing. Both of their characters had been mauled to death by now – neither of them cared.

Their kissing started out slow and shy but eventually got more passionate and their lips locked. Astrid squeezed Ruffnut's face, pressing their foreheads together while her fingers traced down to long blonde braids, tangling into them. Their kiss started to become sloppy when Ruffnut slipped her tongue in. The teammate's teeth clashed causing them to part, gasping for air. Astrid stared down at her classmate. Both girls were a blushing, panting, mess. When the shorter girl swung her leg off of the other, the taller one sat up and watched her gulp shyly.

"What was that?" Astrid questioned, her voice firm. "I think… We just made out," Ruffnut replied in her lazy tone. "Obviously! But why?" She snapped back. "You think I know? You kissed me!" The tension in the air was thick and hot. Uncomfortable mostly. Both of them stayed silent letting the scenario sink in. Astrid forced her blue eyes to meet a twin pair.

Ruffnut was first to speak. 'Y'know, it wasn't bad…"

"Hm, yeah…"

Astrid flashed a quick smile and punched Ruffnut's arm. "Owwow," She whined, rubbing it. The dirty blonde gripped the collar of her shirt again, pulling her into a 1 second kiss, then pulled away and directed her eyes downwards. The triple braided girl chuckled and tilted her chin up to look at her. "You are adorable," She giggled. Astrid wanted to hide her face so badly but she couldn't turn away. Their eyes locked again, trapping them in a staring contest of bliss. Both of them had a sappy smile glued to their face when Ruffnut spoke again.

"…I like you." Both of their smiles widened and Astrid punched her arm again, softer. Since it was already so late, Astrid insisted that her friend stay the night since it was already so dark outside. The triple braided, blonde, teen didn't complain.