Ch. 2: The first date
"I guess the next topic is how the relationship developed from your prospective." The HR agent said.
"Right, I guess I'll start with the first date. Well…" Astrid started. The scene changed to her apartment, it was later that day. She had just finished a shower, and reentered her room; Tuffnut and Ruffnut had organized and maximized her room. Thankfully the two were able to know how Astrid thought and organized according. She heard her cell phone ring; the number was unknown, could it? "Astrid Hofferson." Astrid answered.
"Ahoy, Astrid, it's Hekkrulf. You know the peg leg guy with the black cat that jumped you."
"I didn't notice the peg leg, Ahab, but I do remember the cat. So I take it you are taking me up on the offer to make it up to me?"
"First, the Mody Dick reference was not funny. Second yes, I am trying to take you up on the offer to make this up to you. So how about dinner or maybe you rather met up for a drink?" Hiccup asked.
"You know the bar on Frost and Ester?" Astrid asked.
"Which one, there are two, the arctic themed one on the North-west corner or the tropical bird themed one on the South-east corner of the interception?" Hiccup asked for clarification.
"Um... how about the Viking themed one?" Astrid reconsidered rethinking the choice.
"Viking as in the Minnesota football team or the Scandinavian raiders from the 700's?" Hiccup again sought clarification.
"The latter, you know the bar on Misery Turnpike." Astrid answered.
"Alright, Beck's Hooligans it is. So do you want to meet there or can I give you a ride?" Hiccup asked.
"Sure you can pick me up; I am in the apartment complex on 8th Ave, just after the 8th Ave and Fox Road interception. Say 6:15"
"Alright, 6:15 see you then, Milady" Hiccup hung up. Astrid then dressed in her usual green horizontal striped shirt, red skirt, blue pants and blue head band. She considered going dressier but figured, why Beck's was her idea and she was the one to be treated. She was ready to go at 6:10 and when she exited her room she saw 'Hekkrulf' in the living room, he was in black leather biking gear and he looked great, as in 'take him now' great. He was giving some animal care-taking advice to Snotlout.
"Now in your case, for the time being the best time to walk him would be after you get back from practice. However I do have a fair sized yard and Toothless is usually great with dogs, just as long as the dog doesn't yip, hates those sounds."
"Hookfang ain't no yip-yip, he'll practically a wolf. I'll think about it. Hey Astrid, so this this you date?" Snotlout said perplexed, he had recently accepted that he and Astrid were never going to happen, but he didn't get Astrid with anyone else.
"Well now is actually a good time to take Hookfang for a walk." Hiccup commented as Hookfang pawed at the door. Snotlout got the hint and left, Hookfang was a little too eager. "Milady, your chariot waits." 'Hekkrulf' said with a bow and scrap.
"My, aren't you the charmer. So what do you ride?" Astrid laughed, it was not an insult because clearly Hekkrulf was making a good impression.
"I'll show you." 'Hekkrulf' said as he led Astrid out, holding the door for her. Astrid was awe struck when they got outside and saw the motorcycle, 'Hekkrulf' rode a Night Fury, the fastest motorcycle around.
"'The unholy offspring of Lighting and Death itself', how did you…only a dozen of these were made." Astrid was looking it over like a fan girl.
"You strike me as more of a Deadly Nadder girl." Hekkrulf commented as he pressed a button on his prosthetic leg and it switched from its 'walking' to 'riding' mode. It was not easy to walk over but it was not too hard.
"I totally am, but it's a fucking Night Fury. How did you get it?" Astrid still couldn't get over Hekkrulf's ride.
"To paraphrase Richard Castle from the TV series Castle, my family's money buys banks. Also I am actually the designer for the Night Fury, the Deadly Nadder, Monstrous Nightmare motorcycles, the Hideous Zippleback twin-cycle, the Gronckle scooter and the Terrible Terror training motorcycle. But that's more of third date topics. Your crown, Milady" Hekkrulf said as he handed Astrid his passenger's helmet and got on the bike. Astrid dawn the helmet and also mounted the bike. "Hold on tight, she likes speed and she can be a little envious." Hekkrulf said as he started the bike.
The ride was relatively event-less, Hekkrulf parked and secured the bike and the two went in. They were able to get a booth and placed their orders, Hekkrulf was staying sober and had a coke, Astrid elected for a Roy Rogers. Astrid started the questions. "So what does 'Hekkrulf' mean? You know the meaning of my name, it's only fair."
"'Hekkr' means 'Cherry' as in the actual tree, and 'ulf' means 'wolf', so my name can mean 'Wolf of the cherry tree', 'cherry tree wolf', or 'cherry wolf'. But everyone calls me 'Hiccup', it was because when I tried to introduce myself for the first time I couldn't say 'Hekkrulf' right and I was so nervous all I could say or rather hiccup was 'Hiccup'. Next question Milady?"
"Alright, what is your cat, why is it named Toothless and how did you get it?"
"Well I call him 'Toothless' because when I first met him he bite me he didn't puncher my skin, granted he was a scared cub then. I rescued him. You see a few years back there was this ring of illegal exotic pets, I made a prosthetic limb for its head, he was called Drago Bludvist, well technically he was one of three the other two was Dager, pronounced like 'dagger', the Deranged, and Alvin the Treacherous. Well I found out about the exotic animal smuggling and reported, I was actually able to get Toothless and the other cats out, but I lost the part of my left leg in the process. Sadly Toothless was the only one to survive; I do have all the permits for him. Again thanks for not reporting to Animal Control. One of my neighbor's… um… yip-yip dog, not sure the breed, but it was one of those tiny breeds, vanished and while there is no proof it was Toothless, Animal Control is unconvinced, despite that all the signs and clues point to a bird of prey, most likely a red tail hawk. So my turn, 'Stormfly', interesting name for a blue and gold macaw."
"Well I found her during a storm and she just flew into my life. Literally there was a storm in my home-town a few years back, someone must have been trying to smuggle South American birds, anyway I open my door and Stormfly flew right in and huddled next to the heater, she must have just learn to fly before she was captured. I guess you'd say she's a rescue too. So you're not asking about Snotlout?"
"Nor am I asking about Tuffnut, Ruffnut, Hookfang nor Barf and Belch. It makes economic sense, it may be a four bedroom apartment, but it's clear you four trust each other to pay your share or help each other out during a rough month, also given its location; it's close to most places you would have a job. As for Barf and Belch, the twins are used to sharing and they find Barf and Belch interesting. Hookfang's simple, a 'gift' from a parent to make Snotlout become responsible." Hiccup said. "Change of subject, I don't have Toothless tonight. My mother, she some sort of anthropologist-zoologist hybrid, picked him up. She's taking him to a Renaissance Fair."
"Really?" Astrid was intrigued.
"It's part of her act, she's some sort of mistress of the big cats, in fact her doctorates are in the interrelationships of humans and large cats. She has him perform a few tricks, she tells about how he was rescued, and often Toothless will let a few kids ride him. He does growl at them if they kick him. My favorite part is when she asks the audience what Toothless is. The answer is always panther and in his case it is correct. He also likes the attention he gets and one can never overestimate the trills of riding shotgun."
"So what do you do, Hiccup?" Astrid asked.
"I am an engineer at soul, but my heart leans to teaching. I am an adjunct professor, mostly I am guest lecturer in a wide away of physics topics, a couple time the psychology department ask me to actually what happens during a 'phantom limb' from the perspective of the amputee, but I often work with Masters and doctorate students in the developing of and testing of their thesis, the university thinks undergraduates won't take a 26 year old professor seriously."
"College adjunct professor and you have a Night Fury and what has to be the largest cat in the world, how?" Astrid just had to know.
"I also work on commission for designs, my area of expertise is prosthetic, but as you know I am good with vehicles. Also, you know of Major Stoick Haddock, the presidential candidate that is truthfully running on his own money." Hiccup pointed out.
"You're the son of Stoick the Vast! Caster and Pollux blew me to Bermuda! If he wins, I can finally punch people for their stupidity towards me and not have to worry about those idiotic assault and battery charges." Astrid shouted in near disbelief, actually spitting out her drink before she said anything.
"In order, 1) yes I am the son of Stoick the Vast. Wow, 2) nice The Once and Future King reference and 3) remind me to never to cross you. So what do you do, Miss…" Hiccup paused.
"Sorry, my last name is Hofferson." Astrid apologized realizing the pause and the inquisitive look on Hiccup's face.
"'Divinely Beautiful Son of the Farmer', that name sucks. Granted 'Horrifying Cherry Wolf-Fish' is not much better" Hiccup then noted Astrid's perplex face. "'Hofferson' means son of the farmer, while my full name 'Dr. Hekkrulf Horrendous Haddock' …I should shut up now. So back to my question, what do you do Astrid?" Hiccup changed subjects back a little too late.
"I am in college, a senior. I am in between jobs at the moment, I am however the face of line of sport equipment…"
"Wait, I have seen your commercials; the ones about women football and hockey equipment." Hiccup said in a 'Eureka' manner.
"I hate those commercials. God, I haven't played either since high school; I was my home town's first girl quarter back and football captain. That's how I met Snotlout, Tuffnut and Ruffnut. Tuffnut and Ruffnut were my right and left offensive tackle and Snotlout was the lead defensive tackle. Apparently it's some big deal you know Title IX. As for hockey, I was the goalie. Again my roommates were my teammates. As for my major…"
"Let me guess, psychology."
"Yeah, how did… you saw the books on the shelf in the apartment and assumed I was the only one smart enough to delve into the human mind."
"While I did notice the books, no, but that was a good guess. Tuffnut is majoring in design, Ruffnut is actually looking into being a vet and Snotlout has 'professional football' with News channel Sports correspondent as a fall back written all over him. They told me you were the psychologist. Also noticed a few master level text books, I assume those are yours."
"Yeah, I only need one gen. ed. Class for my bachelors, and I decided to take a few course for my masters while I have the scholarships and the royalties. My uncle encouraged me into taking AP courses in high school. It's just the core master courses in psychology, not sure what field to actually delve in right now." Astrid informed.
"I got nothing; I always liked building things so engineering came naturally to me, best of luck though."
"So how does a 26 year old get a doctorate?" Astrid asked.
"Three, one is a Ph.D., a doctorate of Philosophy, one is an Eng.D., doctorate of Engineering and the last is a Sc.D., doctorate of Science. As to how, I have what can be best described as a partial eidetic memory, I finished my high school classes, AP mind you, before my junior year, took all my college gen. ed. classes my junior and senior year of high school. And most what I did for my Ph.D. I was able to carry over to my other doctorates."
"I bet you were one of those kids that made everyone else feel dumb and because that hit with books."
"Not so. Unlike most people with my intellect, I had a father who tried…and I mean he really tried, it drove us all insane how hard he tried, to understand, I had a mother with similar mental facilities whom was able to teach me when to keep quit and for most of my childhood everyone was too afraid of what my father could do to their parents if they tried anything on me. That lasted until senior prom. The football team decided to pull a Carrie on me; pig's blood, prom king election, the hottest girl to ask me to be her date, the works. In hind sight Camicazi asking me to be her date to the senior prom when I never attended a school dance before should have been a dead giveaway and the prom-king election should have been my 'run now' realization. It turned out that the football and a couple other teams were in a dare war and if the football didn't do what they did they would have lost. Things did not end well for any of the sports teams involved in that dare war."
"Wait, you're talking about the year Hooligan High had to challenge all the second place teams and if the Hooligans lost the other school would be declared first place. I know the senior prom prank of that year and the break in my school's winning streak were related. Please tell me that was that your idea and not your dad's?" Astrid begged.
"I never felt so much glee as each team broke down and cried like little girls as their hard won first place trophies were given away. Granted it my father was the one whom inspired it. I do apologize for tarnishing our Alma Mater's reputation."
"Don't, before I started high school it turned out that year the teams cheated and the forced rematch saved the school's face. Besides, I preferred to rebuild the reputation as appose to building on a bad one. Did you take shop with Gobber?"
"Take it? I was Gobber's apprentice; I practically lived in his garage growing up. How is he, please tell me he didn't lose another limb."
"Last I checked he still had the right hand and left foot. You know when I took his shop class, he would go on and on about you and what you made, but he would referred you at 'Stoick's Boy". I got so angry I was going set your works there on fire until my own project was grade higher than yours."
"You would have done me a favor. And to honest, I was the one whom graded those projects that year, Gobber wanted to help me out with being a teacher. Now that I think about it, whenever I visit him, he's always talking about you. But he always referred to you as 'Fearless Finn's Niece'. Wait a minute, we met before, it was day Gobber had suffered phantom-limb." Hiccup remembered.
"That was the day the wall between the Chemistry Lab and Shop Class come down, the day of the fire, Ruffnut and Tuffnut thought it would be a good idea to drop some Caesium into water. I remember you now; you were ... the guy who saved me... I never got the chance to thank you." Astrid commented in awe as she recalled that day
"Actually they dropped Francium, the initial reaction with the water was too violent for Caesium, but that's neither here nor there. As for saving you, if the debris fell differently you would have saved your self, I mean look at you you're a fucking shieldmadien... well you would be back in the 800's. I just did what Haddocks do, take care of their own. But you are welcome." Hiccup said a little timidly, as if he didn't warn hero worship. "So what do you want to do now?" Hiccup asked not quite sure what to do next. "To be frank, this is the longest date I've been on; well technically this is the only date I have been on, I am not counting my senior prom."
"I wouldn't count that either, it was a prank. Well what do you do for fun?" Astrid asked, seeing the help that Hiccup needed.
"Sometimes I work on my bikes."
"Bikes, you mean you have more than the Night Fury?"
"I have a Monstrous Nightmare, a Hideous Zippleback and a Deadly Nadder. My working on them is mostly to keep them in prime condition. Other than that for fun I some time play online fantasy or sci-fi based RPGs, or I go to a Renaissance Fair or a comic or animation based convention. Back to the bikes, would you like to see my Deadly Nadder?" Hiccup noticed that Astrid was able to help he figure it out.
"I'd love to, how about now?" Astrid's overt want to see the Deadly Nadder was actually a cover for her desire to see Hiccup's house and maybe… wait she wasn't that kind of girl, sure Hiccup gave all the subtle unintentional signs that he was not going to force anything on her, but is it too soon to for that… isn't it? Astrid mentally asked herself. Hiccup did not object to taking her to his house. He escorted her out of the bar and after a fairly event-less ride, opened his house to her. He the first thing he did was show her the motorcycles, he could not help but grin as she was all over the Deadly Nadder like a fan girl, during that time he made them a night cape, Hiccup didn't have any work the next day, he had completed the prosthetic earlier that day thanks to time away. For most of the night they talked about their home town, Alma Mater, etc.
Hiccup didn't know why he chanced it, but for some reason he knew he had to. It was just a simple closed eye peck on the lips, or so he planned. Astrid however wanted more; as their lips touched she wrapped her arms around Hiccup's neck and pulled him in for a deeper kiss. After a couple seconds, Hiccup broke the kiss. It was... Hiccup could not describe it, he may have an extended English vocabulary, expanding to flapping fluency into all other the Germanic languages, fluent in all the Romance, Celtic, Balto-Slavic and Hellenic languages, functional Amermian and Albanian, wing-able in the Indo-Iranian languages, able to get by in Japanese, Mandarin and Cantonese and survivable in Arabic and Hebrew, but there was no word, no collection of words, nothing in all the languages he knew could describe how it felt. Astrid too was... speechless. "Wow." Astrid near whispered after a few seconds. She looked at Hiccup and she could tell that Hiccup was... "You're a great kisser." she said, turning away flush red.
"Thanks... that was... 'indescribable' is the only word I can use and I actually have quite the vocabulary." Hiccup said also red, but he didn't look away. "I know you hear this a lot, you are beautiful." Astrid then punched Hiccup in the chest.
"That's for making me blush." Astrid then grabbed Hiccup's shoulder and kissed him. "That's for everything else."
"I am confused. Is it always going to be like that, you hit me for one reason and then you kiss me for a collection of other?" Hiccup asked.
"It may not always be a kiss." Astrid said a little too innocently. "So Hiccup... I guess this is the farthest you have been with a girl."
"Really you had to ask?" Hiccup said blankly.
Astrid then hit him again "That's for being sardonic." Astrid said as Hiccup cringed as he rubbed his shoulder. "Anyway... do you want to try going farther?"
"Farther?" Hiccup questioned.
"You know, like second base?" Hiccup's stare of confusion answered the question. "You poor thing, you have no idea what I am talking about." Hiccup only shock his head. Astrid wasn't sure what or why but the only thing at the moment that made sense was to kiss Hiccup again and again and again, and slowly with each kiss the only thing that made sense was to dare to be more physical, however there was a moment she felt a pain that Hiccup may not feel the same way, but that lasted the smallest measurement of time as when she paused Hiccup started up. Starting with her check and heading down to her neck, Astrid had been in relationships that gone this far, in fact she had just fell short of sex, but never had it felt so right.
There was a pause, the two were breathing heavily, their shirts in disarray, their hearts racing. "Maybe we should go to my room?" Hiccup suggested, "Second floor, third door on the left." He whispered as he leaned in to Astrid's left side, right behind her ear. Hiccup led the way and the two fell on to his bed kissing. Again as the passions rose the shirts and Astrid's bra were cast on to the floor. Astrid didn't know how but Hiccup seemed to know what to do, where to kiss, how much force to apply not only in each kiss but at each spot. And not only was Hiccup kissing her but was also how Hiccup was rubbing her, massaging her entire body, well what Hiccup's hands had access to. Astrid felt like she was putty in the hands of a master sculpture. She did not realize she could feel such pleasure. It felt like forever, in truth it was a few minutes, a few bliss filled minutes, so blissful it had to be damning. For Hiccup he had no idea the feel of Astrid's skin in his hands, it was … there was no word in any tongue of man that could describe it, in that
moment Hiccup's belief of poets being liars and fools to even attempt to describe the feel of any woman, in his case Astrid, was confirmed. They paused and took a moment a catch their breathes again.
"You are...amazing." Astrid said between breaths.
"I think...we reached a... natural stopping point..." Hiccup commented still short of breath.
"And here I thought you were a gentleman...its very ungentlemanly to tease a girl." Astrid said coyly as she punched Hiccup in the shoulder and knocked him on to the bed. She then took off her skirt and began to take off her pants.
"What are you doing?" Hiccup asked clearly not getting it. Astrid then got on Hiccup straddling him. It took a couple of seconds but Hiccup "Oh... we're going...past... second base?" Hiccup asked.
"Well technically we just slide into third..." Astrid pointed out. "Nervous?" Astrid asked.
"Horrified to be accurate, you can see my hair is standing on end. Are you sure you want to go farther? We did just meet today." Hiccup pointed out, well he is 26, his brain had completely developed. Also someone had to be the voice of reason in this situation. Astrid was about to get off him and storm out in anger, here she was giving herself to him and he's rejecting her... her... Astrid Hofferson? But just as she was about to get off but she was pulled back on Hiccup. "Astrid, wait, it's not that I don't want to... I think the term is 'go all the way'..." Hiccup said "Either way... are you sure you want this. We don't have to is what I am saying, but I am not arguing." Hiccup finished. Astrid didn't know what or why but she desired more and more of Hiccup, she wanted all of him, the fire started up again as Hiccup renewed the kissing and the massaging, after what felt like forever, a good forever, in reality only a few minutes, Hiccup's pants and the last of the two's clothes were on the floor. Astrid even went so far as to try to take off Hiccup's leg. "Wait...wait...wait, not that one, that changes it from walk to ride and back, let me get it." Hiccup said as he pressed the blue button on the prosthetic and the leg popped of.
The following morning Fisher Ingerman pulled into Dr. Haddock's drive way on his Gronckle scooter. Well technically it was his drive way too, he was Hiccup's tenant. He was not usually out all night, but it was the best opportunity to deliver the prosthetic before Hiccup second guest himself, again, and make the prosthetic take another month to complete. Fisher opened the door and was greeted by Meatlug, his bulldog. She looked like she was board; Toothless must have been taken by Dr. Valka Haddock after he left. Fisher then proceeded to the kitchen; odds were Hiccup was up alright with another project, most likely one just to keep active until the next term began. It was then that he looked in the sink he noticed the two glasses. "Finally he went on a date, looks like he brought her home. Better make two. Meatlug, could you wake them up in five minutes." Fisher said as he cracked open four eggs, scrambled eggs may have been simple, but Fisher kept the morning simple.
Astrid was the first to wake up of the two; she honestly could not recall having such a satisfactory night. She on top of Hiccup, guess he didn't try to move her after she pasted out. She decided to have a little fun; she leaned in and brushed her head against Hiccup's neck not unlike a cat, making a sound a close to a purr as a human can. "Well… 'yawn'… good morning to you too." Hiccup yawned.
"You know for a first timer, you seem overly experienced." Astrid cooed, still brushing against Hiccup.
"Well speaking of first timers 'yawn', if memory severs me correctly, your hymen broke, you can see the blood on my sheets." Hiccup commented
"Hymen?"
"That's the membrane …" Astrid glared at Hiccup. "um...never-mind... so can I get up or are you going to use me as a mattress all day?" Astrid bit her lip faking that she was deep in thought.
She leaned in and whispered in the most arousing tone Hiccup could possibly imagine "Five more minutes." And Astrid just allowed herself to collapse on Hiccup again, after giving out a forced exhale from the impact, Hiccup just shrugged his shoulders. It was the best night of his life and if Astrid wanted to make it last past dawn he was not going to argue. After five minutes Astrid got up first and passed Hiccup his lower leg, how it got detached was up to debate, she then dawned on one of Hiccup's shirts and boxers. Hiccup was did likewise but also dawned a pair of pants. Astrid left the room first, playfully goading Hiccup to follow her down the stairs and into the living room and the day would have been a repeat of last night had she not noticed someone was in the kitchen. "Um Hiccup… there's someone in your house."
"Oh… Fisher is that you, I thought you would be heading to that convention after the delivery."
"The convention is not for another two weeks, Dr. Haddock. Good morning, ma'am." Fisher was trying to be polite but then Fisher and Astrid looked at each other.
"Fishlegs, oh my god, how long has it been, I haven't seen you since the end of the fall semester sophomore year."
"Well technically it was your sophomore year, I graduated that term and I have completed my masters. Like Dr. Haddock I am an engineer. I currently work as Dr. Haddock's assistant."
"Hiccup, you have an assistant?" Astrid called back not noticing Hiccup was coming down the stairs.
"I had multiple… for lack of a better term episodes of month long blanks, before Fisher earned his master's. The university gave me an ultimatum, hire an assistant out of my pocket or never have a shot at tenure. I had already accepted Fisher as a tenant and he was one the graduate students I worked with in fact he was the best non-doctoral, so we talked and signed the contract. He doesn't pay rent, but that amount is deducted from his pay. We had it notarized and apostatized, I keep one copy the garage where I work, one copy in my office at the university, he keeps one at his work station, one on his person, and in each of our safety despite boxes is another copy. So you two know each other."
"Yeah he was my RA before his graduation. Well thanks for breakfast, Fishlegs. Oh hey there Meatlug, oh your such a big girl, aren't you. Who's a good girl? Who's a good girl? That's right, you are." Astrid attention went to the bulldog, clearly Meatlug loved the attention.
"Fisher, I going to take Astrid's cloths to the hour dry cleaner, I'll be back soon."
"Wait, you're going to dry clean my clothes?" Astrid asked.
"I refuse to let you do the walk of shame, Milady. Fisher, I leave her in your care. Until I return" Hiccup then kissed Astrid and started to head out, he had Astrid's clothes in a bag. Astrid was impressed with Hiccup, he really was a gentleman. "Oh and Fisher, after I get back from dropping Astrid of, please don't waste our time asking me about last night, it's not your business. And I shall never tell." Hiccup shouted back as he shut the door and started up his car, it was then that Astrid recalled Hiccup's van.
"Why does Hiccup have that van?"
"Oh, it was for when he takes his work home, but also it's great in transporting his and my stuff when we go to renaissance fairs, Live-action role play games A.K.A. LARPGs, conventions when we are panelists and it's great for transporting Toothless. He's a big..." Fishlegs started.
"I've met Toothless, he was the one that 'introduced' Hiccup and I. I think he afraid of me. So you two are panelists at conventions?"
"We are subject matter expects and Hiccup was hired to voice-act in a couple of our favorite series. I doubt you would know them. Well here is your breakfast." Fishlegs said giving Astrid's the meal he prepared. Astrid ate and then Fishlegs took her on a full tour of the house, which included the garage, the work shed, it took about an hour and shorty Hiccup returned with her clothes cleaned. Astrid changed and Hiccup took her back to her apartment.
The scene changed back to the HR Office "And that was our first date." Astrid said. The HR agent finished dotting down what Astrid said. "So what's next?" She asked.
