Hiccup stared at his reflection and found a stranger staring back at him. He blinked, splashing cold water over his eyes to clear away any visible redness. It was a result of staying up too late for the past few days. He had thrown himself into work to distract himself from his wavering emotions. It was better than drinking himself to stupor. Ruffnut had attempted to contact him for hookups and even shown up on his doorstep clad in naught but a dark fur-coat. It still didn't deter him however.

He had ended up bedding her but promised himself this arrangement had now ran its course. Hiccup was determined to give up his old ways and start fresh and anew. It wasn't going to be easy but he had to begin somewhere. Cutting ties with his cousin's vengeful ex felt like the first logical step in the right direction.

On his downtime, Hiccup had also taken up doodling again.

It used to be a childhood hobby he had left behind upon meeting Heather. He knew he couldn't blame her for all his downfalls, it would be unrealistic to do so, but when he had needed someone to rely on and be his rock, he had been met by thin air, and sometimes even the hard ground. While he, on the other hand, cared and worried about her to the point he forgot his own struggles. He had put himself aside for her sake and in the end, he forgot himself and who he used to be.

Some may claim it was a good thing that she had erased away his tragic past, keeping him so hung up on herself that he rarely needed to dwell on anything else. But the problem was, he had felt like he had been suppressing that part of himself instead of coming in terms with it. The painful accident that had cost him half a leg left him and a scar that went far deeper than what the naked eye could detect. When Heather in addition dumped her own personal baggage on him, he had felt both overwhelmed and negated at the same time. It was as if his only purpose was to cushion her falls and take the brunt of all the burdens with no expectation of her paying him the same respect. Heather was a selfish woman by nature and he knew he wasn't much better himself, often resorting to self-pity and pessimism, but at least he had tried to atively be there for her.

Hiccup sighed. He needed to let this bitterness go.

They had both hurt each other and it had been bound to happen considering the lack of balance in their relationship. He needed to forgive her. It was the only way he could truly move on and be a better version of himself.

Later that afternoon, he laid on his leather couch and drew whatever came to mind.

One step at a time.

xoxo

Hiccup and Astrid ran side by side howling in laughter over his earlier clumsiness. He had accidentally knocked down an entire shelf at the superstore they had stopped by. It had led to an embarrassing chain of reactions. He was pretty certain the employees there hated him now.

"Hey, give me some credit! I have a prosthetic foot in case you forgot."

Astrid grinned, shaking her head. "You don't get to blame this one on the foot, Haddock. This was all you."

"Alright, fine. I admit it. I'm a natural walking disaster!"

Although his tone was light and humorous, he carried a rather sullen expression. "All I ever do is screw things up. Or ruin people's lives. That's all I'm good at," he added quietly.

Astrid face softened. "Not true. You made some mistakes but you have also made amends! Besides, I find your lack of coordination kinda adorable. I mean I have never seen a grown man trip over thin air before!" she beamed, giggling again.

He felt himself smile and blush at the same time. "Well, what can I say? I try my best."

Astrid continued to snicker, punching him lightly on the arm.

"What?"

"I'm just finding it hard to believe now that you were ever a fuckboy."

"Ha, ha. You are never going to let me live this down are you?"

"Nope."

When they parted ways later on, Hiccup felt as if someone had been watching their encounter.

xoxo

He was sitting on his regular seat in the bar Ruffnut usually worked at. Fortunately she didn't have any shifts today so he wouldn't need to worry about her advances.

It had been weeks since they had slept together and he had not missed her touch one bit. That certainly gave a good indication of how empty their relationship was. There was no emotional connection. At least with Cami he had felt something. He might not have been in love with Cami but he had cared for her deeply. His fling with Ruffnut reminded him rather of all his failures and no matter how good it felt for one blissful moment, he always ended up regretting it afterwards.

It just wasn't worth it.

He pulled forth his phone and flipped through the latest text messages he had received.

One in particular was from Astrid. They had been sending one another cat memes lately.

He opened the MMS and chuckled.

God, he still missed Toothless so much.

xoxo

"I think you are getting slower," Astrid teased, running past him.

Motivated by her playful taunt, Hiccup decided to speed up. He caught up with her soon enough and grasped her by the arm. The sudden movement threw both of them off balance and they ended up stumbling down on the grass.

"Seriously, Hiccup!" Astrid huffed, blowing strands of hair off her eyes. While she sounded rather annoyed, her face was anything but. "You are hopeless."

Hiccup grinned at her apologatically. "Are you okay?"

He heard her sigh. "I'm.. fine." She continued to look up at him as his body hovered on top of hers.

They stared at each other for one breathless moment.

Astrid cleared her throat, pushing against his chest so he would move off of her.

"We should probably get going."

Hiccup snapped out of his reverie. "Yeah.. That's uh, what.. I mean exactly what I was gonna-.. Get going!"

He helped her stand up and Astrid ended up punching him lightly on the arm. "Let's go," she smiled and picked up her pace. Hiccup followed suit.

xoxo

"What's the special occasion?"

Hiccup caught up to Astrid as they strolled down the three-story stairs. She was wearing a formal wine-red dress that reached down to her knees, black stilettos, and her golden locks were woven into a pretty bun.

"Dinner party," she sighed. "Eret is waiting outside in the car, I should probably hurry up." She then paused in her step to regard him fully. "I would invite you along but I don't think my parents would approve, or Eret's for the matter," she added with a grin.

"Yeah, can't have some strange man crashing your party," he laughed along. "You look very nice, by the way."

"Thanks." She smiled, tucking a piece of hair behind her ear at the compliment. "You usually clean up pretty well too."

They stared at each other for a tense moment, standing at distance from one another but close enough that Hiccup could make out her freckles and stare deeply into the sapphire pools frowning at him. For some reason, Astrid looked rather conflicted and unsure of herself, almost as if she had something more to say.

Her phone however went off suddenly and the spell broke.

They ended up proceeding down the stairs in silence afterwards

xoxo

Hiccup's chest heaved and tightened as he gasped for air to fill his lungs.

He had been jogging down the block for a perfect twenty minutes and just decided to take a break by a nearby bench. He closed his eyes momentarily and leaned back, letting the cool wind wash over his overheated skin.

Someone seated themselves next to him.

Hiccup didn't open his eyes though, relying on intuition and wishful thinking instead.

"I was hoping to run into you today," he said with a growing smirk. "Figuratively speaking. Literally running into you would be painful and I rather not break my other remaining limbs."

He imagined feminine laughter to follow up. But it never came.

Instead, he heard a snide snort which could have easily been mistaken for a jeer.

"Is that so?"

Hiccup froze. He straightened up immediately to find himself face to face with Eret of all people.

Great.

Eret tipped his water bottle flask back to take a large swig. Hiccup decided to follow suit if only to ease up the sudden awkwardness.

He felt slightly self-conscious sitting next to someone who was obviously in much greater shape than he was. Hiccup knew he could never be as ripped as Eret no matter how much effort he put into it, he had always been on the lanky side since birth. He was at least above average in height but that still didn't give him much leverage on Eret as he was just as tall, if not taller. Hiccup sighed to himself.

"Trying to shape up, eh?"

Hiccup snapped his head up in surprise as Eret rarely initiated small talk with him.

The man in question was currently regarding him with a look of curiosity that Hiccup couldn't quite figure out. It wasn't hostile per se but also not very friendly either.

Hiccup shrugged, choosing not to give a verbal response.

"I can offer you a few tips," Eret suggested. "If you want to bulk up."

For some reason, their conversation felt like a deflection. Especially judging by Eret's dry tone.

Hiccup shook his head. "Nah, I'm good. Just needed to clear my head for a bit." It wasn't entirely untrue, he had wanted to freshen up.

The stillness grew thick after that, and they could hear the leaves on the trees fluttering as the wind ruffled them.

"The weather is nice."

It was only midday and baking hot.

"Hmm, yeah.."

Another moment passed before he heard Eret shift in his seat. He had now crossed his arms over his chest in order to look more intimidating and still continued to watch Hiccup like a hawk.

"So I see you have been spending time a lot of time with Astrid lately."

And there it was - at last. The actual reason Eret had sought him out.

"Yeah, about that.. she and her uncle are actually helping me with my PPL."

"She told me as much." There was a moment of dull silence.

Hiccup sighed, pinching his hand nervously before forcing himself to speak.

"You don't have to worry about anything, we are just friends.."

Eret raised an amused eyebrow.

"Oh, I'm not worried," he chuckled, looking over at Hiccup condescendingly. "A scrawny guy like you with a beautiful goddess like Astrid? Never gonna happen dude. Not in a million years."

Hiccup kept his face expressionless, shooting Eret a tight smile.

"Right."

xoxo

Hiccup stayed awake and tried not to let Eret's former words get to him as his ego was beyond deflated at this point.

He had never thought very highly of himself in the first place but the way Eret had spoken to him brought back some unpleasant memories from high school. He had been all but invisible back then while guys like Eret had chased all the pretty girls and fought for popularity.

Hiccup drew a tired hand over his face and turned the lights off.

The next morning, he woke up feeling as gloomy as the weather outside. He definitely didn't want to get up, settling to spend the day drawing in his bed instead.

That had certainly been the initial plan until he received a surprise phone-call from Cami.

She was apparently upset about something and currently on her way to see him.

After forcing himself to get up and take a shower, Hiccup hurriedly began cleaning up the apartment as best as he could.

He didn't know how long Cami was considering staying but judging by her hoarse, tear-strained voice, he would guess a sleepover or two were most guaranteed.

xoxo

Hiccup was carrying groceries bags up the stairs when Astrid caught up with him.

"Hi, you." Her smile was bright and infectious. He returned her greeting with as much vigor. "Hello."

"That's a lot of groceries for one person," she noted. "Do you need any help?"

Hiccup shook his head. "I'm fine but thanks for offering."

They had nearly reached their floor when she tapped him on the arm to stop midway.

"You never replied to my text." She looked slightly dismayed.

"The one about the barbecue party on the roof?" Hiccup recalled. " Yeah, I didn't see it until this morning."

"So..?" Astrid prompted hopefully. "Are you thinking of coming?"

Hiccup looked conflicted. "I, err.. have some company over at the moment."

"Then bring her along," she suggested. "Ruffnut.. was it?"

"Actually-"

They had made their way to the top now and Hiccup was fishing for his keys when the door suddenly burst open.

"I was wondering where you disappeared off to!"

Cami wasted no time in pulling him into a passionate make out session, making him drop the bags down on the floor.

Just as quickly, Hiccup broke away, blushing and clearing his throat.

Cami followed his eyeline and suddenly took notice of Astrid's presence behind him.

"Um, Astrid.. this is Cami." Astrid's eyes widened in surprise.

"And Cami, this is my good neighbour Astrid. She is a.. friend." He scratched the back of his head nervously.

Once the shock wore off, Astrid stepped forward and extended her hand. "It's nice to finally meet you."

Cami reluctantly accepted the handshake while throwing Hiccup a confused glare.


I didn't expect the sequel to garner much interest so here is an additional smut-free chapter before the inevitable happens.

Question - Is an emotional affair worse or better than a physical affair? Clearly it's going to be a full-blown affair in this story but I'm curious about other people's opinions on this matter.

- Sticcup