I've been fully absent from this site since Christmas, so if I haven't gotten back to you on anything that's the reason. So I will get back to all reviews and PM:s sometime now after New Years Eve, this is just a short stop!
So like I've said to some, I had a vision of these two meeting and when I had the time I would publish it, now here it is! I couldn't help to write it down, despite telling myself to keep of this site completely until the new year, so see it as a small gift to celebrate the new year! Also I think I'll have to change the short summery for this story, I've so many short ideas with these two in this universe that I wish to write haha!
3 years earlier.
It had been two weeks, two weeks and he was still having a little trouble getting around the at his new workplace. Sure the science facility was huge so it was understandable, but Hiccup still didn't want to be late to the meeting that would start in only five minutes. He was meeting with the owner and CEO of the company that had just hired him. Sure the man probably wouldn't care too much, he was so happy that Hiccup had started working for them that he probably wouldn't care much about anything now in the beginning, but Hiccup still didn't want to be late.
It had been pure luck that the company had found him at all. He had never had any ambition to enter the international engineering contest that had been hosted by his school earlier that year and through which he had been discovered. In fact, he had only entered the competition because he and a couple of friends had turned it all into a contest between themselves.
The winner would be allowed to travel the first part on the road trip they were planning after graduation for free, and have free access to a fair amount of alcohol the time they had left to study.
Once he had been in the competition though, Hiccup had done the best he could like he always did. Still, he had not expected to win it, even less that one of the owners and the CEO of an international science facility in Norway would insist to hire him. And it hadn't been the only offer he had received, in fact he had received many other equal offers.
His school had strongly promoted that the competition was an easy way to succeed after graduation, but it had never occurred to him that winning would give him so many opportunities.
In the end, the man who had first approached him had offered him the best deal. The only thing that had made Hiccup hesitate was the fact that he would have to move to the other side of world, but after much encouragement from his friends, Astrid and his parents he had accepted it.
Once the contract had been signed, Hiccup had realized that his future was secured without him even having graduated. The feeling had been strange and taken some time to get used to, but in the end it had been replaced with excitement. He would learn at one of the best facilities in the whole world, it was an opportunity unlike any other.
The day he had stood on the airport with his family and all of his friends, both the old gang from his youth and the new ones he had gotten in collage, had been tough. His mother had cried and his father had nearly done the same, but at the same time they had been certain to tell him once more how extremely proud they were of him and that they wanted him to go.
Saying goodbye to all of them had been extremely hard and when he had given Astrid one last long hug, he had been unable to hold back a few tears of his own.
Since they were children, he and Astrid had been inseparable. She was his sister in every sense of the word except for in blood and all their lives they had been there for each other. He loved her, it was as simple as that, and knowing he would not see her every day had been heavy.
Right before he had boarded the plane, they had all promised to come and visit him when they could. He had known that they all meant it, but he had also known it would be a long time before he saw any of them in person again.
When he had arrived in Norway, he had been tired after the long flight and been happy to be greeted on the airport by a private driver the company had hired to drive him to his new apartment.
Now two weeks later, Hiccup was slowly starting to settle in. Each day was still with full of new impressions, and him trying to understand the new land he now lived in, but it was starting to come together. Even his small apartment.
As it had turned out, Norway was not extremely different from his own home, but it was still different. The people here were happy and open, but there was a distance that was much more prominent than where he came from and he had quickly learned that it was a fine line to walk.
But then again, he had only been here two weeks. Knowing things would work out, he took a sip of the coffee he had just bought in the cafeteria, frowning at the taste. He really needed to find somewhere else to buy coffee. This brew tasted burnt and it wasn't even warm. It was actually quite impressive that the woman who brewed the coffee always managed to make it taste horrible in one way or another. Not that Hiccup would ever dare to tell her that, the woman was an utter...
He was just about to round a corner when someone bumped into him so harshly that the coffee in his mug flew over his shirt, leaving him with a huge stain all over his stomach.
"Ohh, nei! Det var mitt feil! Beklagar, låt meg hjelpe dig."
Looking up, he blinked two times as he took in the vision of the woman standing before him. Her face was flushed with embarrassment and distress as she looked at him with glowing blue eyes. Her hair was an unusually pale colour of blonde that fell down her back in a long thick braid. She was tall, nearly as tall as himself, and she was dressed in a suit that was so well cut it showed off her flattering figure in the most elegant way he had ever seen.
In other words, she was beautiful. Normally he would have stuttered, but at her flushed face and her distressed expression as she apologized to him, or he thought she apologized, he only smiled at her in amusement.
"I mean in no way to be rude, but I don't understand a word you're saying. However there is no need to apologize, this wasn't very good anyway." He told her holding up his mug a little to show he indicated the coffee.
At his response, it was her turn to stare at him for a second before a smile of relief spread over her face.
"It never is, I think the old lady burns it on purpose, and I could've been angry at you just now for all you know." She replied to him in English, a glint of humour in her eyes.
"If you were you wouldn't have told me." He replied, his response causing a dazzling smile to spread over her face.
"You're a wise man…" She began, trailing off.
"Hiccup." Hiccup filled in, reaching out his hand to her, a look of recognition falling over her face as she shook it firmly.
"You're the new employee from the States! I'm Elsa, one of the lawyers working here. I wrote your contract." She told him. "Yours is a name one remembers." She clarified to him at his questioning look, causing him to awkwardly rub his neck.
Of course she would remember his name, everyone always did.
"Yeah, don't ask what my parents were thinking. They wanted something unique and found some old relative of ours who was named Hiccup. They found it funny and went for it without any thought about their son." He replied with a slightly embarrassed smile.
"It is very unique." Elsa answered him with glittering eyes, Hiccup seeing how she was trying not to smile.
"You know, you're not really making it any better." He therefore told her with a pointed look that caused her to laugh.
"Sorry and also I really am sorry about your coffee and your shirt." She told him with a sheepish expression, feeling very guilty when she looked at the big coffee stain that now covered him.
"Nahh it was not my favorite shirt anyway, though I was on my to meet with the CEO. I'll just tell him what happened." He told her, shrugging his shoulders as he looked down at the stain.
Looking at the young man before her, Elsa was amazed that he really didn't put any blame on her at all. The way he said the words she could hear he wasn't even trying to give her a bad conscience. He was just stating a fact and it only made her more determined to make it up to him.
"You know what, I'll call our CEO, tell him you're late and I'll find you a shirt you can borrow. You're about the same size as my brother, a little taller but it should fit."
In response Hiccup stared at her with wide eyes.
"There really is no need for that." He said, but Elsa just smiled at him.
"Yes there is since I ruined your cloths. Besides my brother works here so it won't be any extra trouble. It's the least I can do." She told him, feeling something flutter within when he smiled at her gratefully.
"Thank you." He said and she couldn't stop the smile that spread over her own face as she looked into his green eyes.
She found her own reactions to be a little strange actually. Hiccup was not the type she was usually drawn to, but there was something about him that was different.
Gesturing for him to follow she took up her phone, taking the time to discreetly look at him as he walked next her. He was very tall and lean, but still appeared to be very agile. His brown hair was unruly and he had a strong jaw. There was nothing extremely special about him, except for his forest green eyes behind his glasses. Those were very special, and then there was of course the strange way she felt how he affected her.
But then again, she would lie if she said he wasn't handsome. In fact, the more she looked at him, the more she liked his features. They were timeless in a simple way, one that drew all your attention once you had noticed them.
Okay so maybe he was handsome. Very much so even.
She also liked that he had seemed to be at ease around her, that he hadn't just stared at her with wide eyes and stuttered. It happened to her far too often. Either a guy would stare at her or they would act like a total ass. It made no sense to her at all and she hated it. She also hated that guys had a tendency of either treating her like a trophy in front of their friends or someone who was extremely fragile.
She was neither and she always made it extremely clear to them.
But Hiccup, who should have been angry at her but hadn't been, had not acted like that. He had treated her like anyone else and she liked it. The humor and kindness in his eyes was what made him attractive, and she already knew he was extremely smart. She had seen his scores and grades.
But then again, one act of kindess said nothing. He might always be like this in the beginning before he turned out to be someone different. She had just bumped into him a few moments ago after all, she didn't know him.
Yet.
Finally getting the CEO on the phone, she told him about the situation, the man on other end laughing like a mad man before telling her to take the time they needed. He would even reschedule a few things if he had to.
"So now that's solved." She told Hiccup with a smile when she ended the call, Hiccup wondering how she so easily could get the CEO to change his calendar. However he felt it could be a pretty personal question so he decided not to ask.
"How are you settling in?" Elsa asked instead.
"It's different, but I think I'll come to like it very much. The language is not the easiest though." Hiccup told her truthfully.
"You'll learn, though it might take some time. Most of us working here, as you probably have already noticed, are from all around the world so we speak English most of the time. As for everyone else, we start studying English very early in school so you'll probably not hear much Norwegian if you don't tell others to speak it." She replied. "Here we are!" She exclaimed happily as they reached a glass door, guiding him into a big office.
Looking around, Hiccup immediately realized that whatever Elsa's brother was doing, he had a high position within the company. One much higher than himself.
"Now let's see." She said, walking up to a closet that stood in one of corners of the room. Opening it she started to move around an endless amount of button-down shirts and jackets. "This one might suit you, our younger sister bought it but she got the wrong size so it's a big for him."
Walking over to her, Hiccup took the white button-down shirt with a hesitant expression.
"Are you sure he won't mind?" Hiccup asked, feeling very little uncomfortable, but Elsa only gave him a reassuring look.
"I know my brother; he'll only find all of this highly entertaining when he hears about it." She replied, a small silence falling between them before her eyes winded a little as she looked between him and the shirt. "Oh right... I'll just... I'll wait outside." She told him with a slightly sheepish expression, rushing out of the office while Hiccup looked after her with a confused expression.
If anyone was always nervous around people it was him, even more so around people like Elsa, but it was something about her that made him relax. Which only was even more strange since he couldn't deny that he found her to be extremely beautiful.
Trying not to think too much about the strange turn his day had taken, Hiccup pulled off the shirt he had been wearing before starting to put on the one Elsa had handed him. Once it was buttoned, he realized she had been right, the shirt did fit him perfectly. The soft material even made the usually confining clothing very comfortable to wear.
Walking out of the office, he looked down the corridor to see that Elsa was standing and talking to a woman with fiery red hair.
When he emerged the red haired woman, who was dressed in old jeans and simple T-shirt, sent him an approving look while she grinned at him. Seeing her obvious appreciation caused him to blush a little, very embarrassed as the red haired woman only winked at him before walking away.
"Don't mind Merida, she likes to make everyone uncomfortable if she can." Elsa told him, looking him over as he walked up to her and gratefully accepted the plastic bag he supposed Merida had fetched for him so he could get rid of his stained shirt.
"I knew it was the right size. It looks nice only you." Elsa added with a smile, Hiccup noticing that her eyes lingered a little bit longer than they had needed to. Rising a questioning eyebrow at her, Elsa simply turned around and started walking down the hallway, but it not before he had already seen the appreciative look in her eyes. It was much more subtle than that of her friend and unlike that look, this one didn't make him feel embarrassed. Instead it caused a strange happiness to spread within as he followed her.
"So how long have you been here at the company?" Hiccup asked her.
"About a year, I started immediately after I finished law school. I was 23 then, so don't you dare call me young." She told him, Hiccup chuckling at her words.
"I'm starting to wonder if I should be worried about how much you really know about me." He replied, knowing his age was another thing she must have picked up when she worked with his contract.
"If you don't add knowing your achievements as a student, which are extremely impressive by the way, I hardly know anything at all, but it could be easily solved over a cup of coffee." She said casually, Hiccup looking down at her with surprise.
"Coffee?" He asked her, Elsa chuckling at his dumbfound expression.
"Yes coffee, I made you spill yours and it would be a crime to let you continue drinking the horrible brew they have in the cafeteria. There is a little café close to here that is great, I could show it to you after your meeting." She told him, the two of them stopping outside the CEO:s office.
When he looked at her, she seemed slightly nervous. It surprised him that she could be so confident and sure of herself, only to become uncertain when she apparently moved into territory he hadn't thought was unknown for her.
If anyone should be nervous about this it was him, not her.
"Well, I can need saving from the sour lady behind the counter." He replied, Elsa smiling in response while she tried to ignore the slight feeling of relief.
"Yes she is a nightmare, I tried talking to her once and she simply turned her back to me and walked away. Besides it would feel a little better knowing more than just your name, age and grades which I've read from different papers." She told him, breaking herself off when she realized she was babbling.
Anna did that, she didn't.
"So I'll see you after your meeting?" She therefore asked him instead, wanting to know she hadn't misunderstood him in any way.
After all she didn't know what had come over her when she had mentioned the café. She had never asked anyone out before. In fact, she still hadn't really asked anyone out since her suggestion could hardly qualify as a question, but that didn't mean she wanted him to say no. She wanted him to say yes.
"After my meeting, but I'll pay for it." He told her, smiling when she opened her mouth to argue. "You've already saved me from making a fool of myself to my new boss by stealing from your brothers closet, I think that is thank you enough for causing me drown myself in coffee."
"You didn't drown yourself." She replied to him with a humors glare.
"No, you're right, it was you who did that." He told her grin.
"It was hardly only my fault!" She answered, sighing when he just kept on staring at her. "Fine! I might have been the reason, but you were not drowning. Besides if we're even, I'll not allow you to pay for me as well. That would be ridiculous." She told him with a defiant look.
"And if I want to?" Hiccup replied, her smile faltering a little as she gave him a surprised look.
In fact, Hiccup had to admit he was a little surprised himself over his own response, but he really meant it. Elsa intrigued him, she was pulling him in and keeping him at bay at the same time. She was different and he liked that.
"Then… We can talk about that later." She responded, looking away from his green eyes that suddenly had become strangely intense because of the honesty behind his words.
Hiccup had thrown her off guard and no one had ever done that before. She was the one who threw people off guard and moved past their defenses, it was never the other way around, but with him had turned out to be different. She didn't know what Hiccup would say next or what he would do, and while he was open to her, it was also clear that he guarded himself a little.
In other words, she wanted to figure him out, but she didn't want him to know that, at least not yet.
"Come on or you'll be even more late." She therefore said, opening the door before leading him into the grand office.
Inside sat an older man with blond hair with grey streaks and an impressive mustache. He was in his fifties but still looked young for his age. Beside him sat a young man who had an uncanny resemblance to Elsa, sharing her strange eye and hair colour.
"Hiccup, there you are! I heard about the little incident, I hope it all worked out even though it looks like it did." Adgar, the older man and CEO, exclaimed happily when he saw them enter. During all the time he had tried to convince Hiccup to move to Norway, the two had found out they got along really well. It was another reason Hiccup had chosen to move.
"It did, thank you for waiting." He replied with a smile, shaking the other man's hand with a smile of his own.
"No problem, I'm just sad I haven't had the time to welcome you earlier." Adgar answered. "And now I don't have to introduce you to my daughter, I heard she did that on her own." He continued with a chuckle, Hiccup doing his best to look unfazed by the information while he sent Elsa a questioning look she avoided.
Hiccup had known that the company was mostly owned and driven by Adgar's family, but he had not even considered that Elsa could be his daughter. Even less so considering the fact that she had asked him out for coffee.
"I'm sure it was all a simple mistake." The young man resembling Elsa spoke up with a mischievous smile, Elsa sending him an angry look across the room while Adgar just chuckled.
"This is Jack, he is my son and Elsa's twin." Adgar explained.
"But I'm the better twin of course." Jack told Hiccup, shaking his hand. "Nice shirt." He added with a crooked grin that Hiccup didn't doubt had gotten him out of a lot of trouble. The man was just as good looking as his sister and he seemed very aware of it.
"Jack stop acting like an ass." Elsa told him, Jack just laughing as he put his arm around her shoulders, the two of them the same height. Seeing all three family members next to each other it was impossible to not see the resemblance and Hiccup almost felt stupid he hadn't seen it before.
"Well it is a nice shirt, Anna has good taste I'll give her that." He grinned, Elsa and Adar both smiling. "You keep it; she'll probably buy me another one for Christmas. It's all I ever get." Jack added with a grimace in Hiccup's direction.
"That's because it's the only thing you ever wish for." Elsa grinned at him before Hiccup had time to anything, pushing her brother's arm off her shoulders at the same time. "So I'll meet you down in the lobby when you're done here?" Elsa asked Hiccup, seemingly completely unfazed that both her father and brother was in the room.
"Öhhm…Yeah sure." Hiccup answered her, trying to ignore the fact that her father was now looking at him with a serious expression while her brother had gotten a new mischievous smile on his face.
"Now dad be nice, I asked him, not the other way around." Elsa said to Adgar, the man getting an innocent expression on his face as he finally stopped looking at Hiccup and looked at his daughter instead, Elsa having turned to her brother. "And you shut it!" She added with a glare at him.
"What?!" Jack exclaimed, Elsa grabbing a hold of his arm as she started to drag him out of the office.
"You know what!" She replied.
"How can you know?! I must admit I'm highly confused to whatever you are referring to. You can't read my mind, not the last time I checked." Jack answered her, winking at Hiccup with a huge grin before the door into the office closed and the siblings voices were shut out.
For a few moments, there was a heavy silence between Hiccup and Adgar, Hiccup wondering what on earth he should do. Apologizing felt stupid, but so did keeping silent.
"You know, I was going to ask if you had found any people you thought you would get along with, but I think my daughter has beaten me to it." Adgar finally said, breaking the silence as Hiccup looked at him with an expression he hoped didn't look too scared.
"I'll pay for the coffee." He replied quickly, wanting to bang his head against the wall at the stupid response. As if Adgar needed any more proof that Hiccup perhaps didn't see Elsa's offer as only a friendly one.
Thankfully, the other man just laughed heartedly and patted Hiccup on the back.
"If I you can manage that I'll be mighty impressed, especially considering Elsa is just like her mother, but that's for another time. Now tell me…"
And just like that it was over. Hiccup didn't know if Elsa's father, and his boss, was always this open or if he had passed some secret test he was unaware of, but he felt deeply grateful that Adgar took it all so easily.
After that Hiccup felt more at ease again and when he finally met Elsa down in the lobby, he felt that same surge of excitement rush through him again as before when she smiled warmly at him. He also found himself defeated, just as Adgar had predicted, when it came to paying for all of the coffee. In fact, Elsa had payed for both of them before he was even given any chance to stop her and when he pointed it out she only sent him a mischievous smile that perfectly mirrored that of her brother's.
Taking a seat at one of the small tables in back, neither one of them noticed how much time that had passed until the barista finally walked up to them and told them they were closing. Sharing a slightly confused look as they saw it was completely dark outside, they packed up their things and went outside, stopping right outside the door as they stood in comfortable silence.
As they stood there, Hiccup got the feeling that Elsa wanted to leave as little as him.
"You know, we're some friends who get together and watch movies every Friday. Would you like to join us tomorrow?" Elsa finally asked him.
"They won't mind?" Hiccup asked her, not wanting to intrude but very happy she had asked.
"Of course not, otherwise I wouldn't have invited you." Elsa answered with a smile.
"Then sure, yeah, I'd like that." Hiccup told her, feeling how his heart fluttered strangely when her smile grew. The feeling had started to appear during the evening and even though it was strange, he liked it. He had been in relationships before, but this feeling of lightness was new.
"I'll pick you up then, give me your phone." Elsa told him, Hiccup giving it to her without any hesitation and he watched how her fingers moved hastily over the screen before she gave it back to him. "Goodnight Hiccup." She then said, giving him one last warm smile before she turned around and walked away from him.
Staring after her, Hiccup looked down at his phone to see that new contact had been added. With a smile he pressed on the name, one ring being heard before he got an answer.
"You didn't wait for me to say goodbye nor did you take my number." Hiccup said, a smile spreading over his face as the voice on the other end laughed.
"Of course not, I wanted you to call me." Elsa replied, the two of them falling back into the conversation they had started in the café.
It was in that moment Hiccup knew things would change in his life again and, for once, he wanted them to.
So Elsa and Jack as twins, does this mean I have any comment about any pairings? Nope! Just think they would've amazing dynamic as siblings!
Don't know when I'll update the next time, might be in a week or in three months, this is one of those stories where the chapters just happen, but I will update it again! I think hahah!
A Happy New Year to all of you and best wishes it will be wonderful!
Until next year!
/Lysistrate