A/N: So I'm going to continue this fic because you were all SO determined to see it through to the end. I really don't have time to write this, I hope you understand that, so please don't leave me hanging if I'm literally squeezing in time I don't have to write this. I love HTTYD, don't get me wrong, but I have other projects I need to finish. That being said, I'm freakin' ready to start writing more of this fic. Read on and enjoy guys!


DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN HTTYD.

Hiccup groaned softly and opened his eyes to a sight he had only ever seen in his dreams: Astrid Hofferson was curled up against him and they were both buried warmly under the sheets of her bed inside her very own bedroom.

How had that happened?

Before he could even finish that particular thought, the events of the previous night exploded across his jumbled and sleepy mind. Hiccup felt the pain and sadness return almost immediately as he once again saw a broken Astrid holding onto him as she bawled her eyes out.

Fire burned through his veins and ice coated his aching heart as Hiccup pulled Astrid closer to him in a defensive gesture. The fair-haired girl, who had been mumbling slightly in her sleep, immediately curled up against him without a single noise of protest—even her mumbling stopped as a small smile took its place.

He was going to kill him.

Hiccup had sworn that the night before and now he would fulfill that promise. This of course meant he had to willingly leave Astrid—something he had never seen coming—and sneak out of her room without waking her.

But first...

Unable to resist her warmth and the almost assuredly irreplicable moment that he had found himself in, Hiccup allowed a few more minutes to pass as he simply held Astrid in his arms. He touched her hair gently in slow, soothing, strokes and kissed her forehead softly before finally sighing in defeat.

He carefully extracted himself from the wall he had been pressed against and left Astrid bundled tightly in her blankets before stealthily making his exit into the hall outside. Once he had silently shut her bedroom door, Hiccup stole away to the bottom floor of the Hofferson home and quickly entered the kitchen.

Though Tuffnut had only given him a few lessons as a joke, Hiccup had picked up a few things about the life of a cook and could even make a few dishes on his own—save a few minor charrings. The brunette immediately went to work heating up pre-frozen pancakes and Eggo Waffles that he found in the freezer.

He then began grabbing several egg cartons from the fridge before dropping them all in the boiling water contained within in a pot he took from a cupboard. After the eggs had boiled thoroughly, the scrawny teen shut off the stove and left the eggs to cool off in the still hot water of the pot.

He then took the mountain of pancakes and waffles that he had warmed up in the nearby microwave and left them over the still cooling stove. The heat effectively kept the food items from losing their warmth while Hiccup wrote a quick note on the OUT pad that was magnetically attached to the fridge.

Astrid,

I'm going out to get some stuff from the store, be back soon.

Hiccup.

Hiccup paused only briefly to allow his mind the chance to soak in the knowledge that he was writing Astrid a note after spending the night with her. Sure it hadn't been inappropriate—whatever that meant—but he still couldn't believe he was doing it.

He still couldn't believe Astrid had called him.

Shaking his head, Hiccup left the still warm food in the kitchen while he made sure the house was locked up—a first he was sure—before he left out the front door. He told himself it wasn't a big deal, but he still felt like Astrid would kill him when he took a spare house key off the key rack in the garage.

Leaving the house that contained the love of his life was harder than he would have thought. It was even worse because he knew she would more than likely have wanted to wake up to his face.

He had definitely wanted that.

Hiccup shook his head again and unlocked his truck and climbed inside; the beat up pickup sputtered to life only a few more moments later and Hiccup backed out of the Hofferson's driveway with the utmost secrecy.

Then he blew the horn and floored it away from the house like the devil itself was on his heels. He knew Astrid hated waking up late—which for her meant seven—and it was already nine. As much as he wanted her to sleep, he knew she would have wanted him to wake her up by now.

Hopefully she would see the loving breakfast and the thoughtful note and decide to only cut off half of his limbs. That, or she would work off all her frustration off while training and she would magically forget about Hiccup staying the night and letting her sleep in.

Yeah right.

Hiccup sighed and turned at a four way intersection; he followed the road for a short moment before making a handful of other turns until he came to a decently large home. It wasn't as large as Hiccup's own house, but it was very close.

Spitelout Jorgenson had always made it very clear that he was just as good as his brother—or at the very least nearly just as good. He hunted and fished nearly or just as good as his brother; he danced nearly or just as good as his brother; he had a car and home nearly or just as good as his brother; he had a job nearly or just as good as his brother; and he was paid nearly or just as good as his brother.

The only thing he claimed—with some outside agreement—to be better at then his brother was having a family. Hiccup's mother had drowned at sea when he was just a young child and Hiccup himself wasn't much to brag about. He got straight A's and could say mutualigonatuicalous perfectly, but that was about it.

Spitelout's wife was a Swedish underwear model and his son was the captain of his high school football team—and had formerly been dating the most attractive girl in school.

Turning the truck off, Hiccup locked the pickup securely and grabbed an object out of the bed before walking over to the house and hopping the elegant stone fence. The brunette casually strolled past the sleeping rottweilers locked up in their doghouses—Hiccup had always had a way with animals—and found the low-to-the-ground window that led into Snoutlout's second bedroom.

The brute had always had life better than most—due to his father's business connections and his uncle's position as the mayor. He had a large and extravagant primary bedroom on the second floor of his family's three story home; it was filled with everything from the newest video games to illegal booze.

He also had a secondary bedroom located down the basement that was used for his more private affairs. He used the one bedroom, one bath combination for his late night "bro-parties" with Tuffnut and a few of the other jocks of the football team or lacrosse team. He also used it to screw girls when his parents were out of town.

Hiccup sorely hoped it was the aftermath of the former that he was about to barge in on.

He carefully used the object in his hands to tweak and twist the loose bolt on the window next to the one that led into Snoutlout's secondary bedroom and quietly slid into the basement once it had been pried open. Still clutching the object in one hand, Hiccup opened his cousin's bedroom door and boldly stepped inside.

He had never been more relieved to see Snoutlout by himself.

Before his courage failed him, the smaller man walked over to Snoutlout's bed and kicked it roughly. To his embarrassment, it took Hiccup another four or five kicks to wake up his significantly larger cousin.

"H-Hiccup?" Snoutlout slurred as he groaned and covered his eyes—he was badly hungover apparently.

"Get up." Hiccup said coldly while gripping the object in his hands a bit tighter.

"W-wha' are you...doin'..." Snoutlout tried to ask as he attempted to pull his blankets over himself like a shield in a vain effort to ward of the sunlight invading his former place of solitude.

"Get up!" Hiccup said, wincing at the slightly shrill note his voice took on, before he kicked the bed again.

"M'kay...m'kay..." Snoutlout muttered and groggily slid out of his bed enough to where he was now half seated on the waterbed. The brute rubbed at his eyes slowly and opened his mouth to speak, only for Hiccup to cut him off.

"Why'd you break Astrid's heart?" He demanded.

"Wh-who...Astri...Astru..." Snoutlout started to mumble, only for Hiccup to strike him for the first time in his life.

BANG!

Snoutlout hit the side of the floor in a heap while his alcohol soaked brain tried to comprehend that his pissy little cousin had just struck him. What was worse, he had done it and Snoutlout had yet to beat the living crap out of him for it.

"You pieeec' of-" Snoutlout started to say, only for the object to whack him again in the face—sending him sideways into the bed with a dulled thud.

"You're scum!" Hiccup shouted at him, his loud voice doing nearly as much damage as his physical attacks to Snoutlout due to his hangover.

"Ass is Ass br-" Snoutlout started to say, only for Hiccup to again strike him.

BANG!

Snoutlout slammed into the wall, blood now dripping from his right eye while his left began to swell slightly.

"If you ever go near her again, I'll hurt you just like you've hurt me for the past seventeen years!" Hiccup snapped at him and hit him once more—this time in the stomach—for good measure. His cousin hit the ground with a groan while clutching at his stomach painfully.

"You...dea...dead..." Snoutlout spat out while half-glaring, half-wincing up at his smaller cousin. Where the wimp had balled up the courage to strike him he would never know. Where he had gotten the strength to actually hurt him would forever astound him.

"I'm warning you, you block-head!" Hiccup snapped before turning around and leaving before he really did kill his cousin. He wanted to, that much was true, but he didn't have it in him. He was too good deep down. His kind nature had always kept him from throwing a punch or a kick back at Snoutlout over the years.

But even his kind nature couldn't stop the ugly demon of jealous covetry. Snoutlout had hurt something Hiccup loved and he wasn't about to let the fat oaf get away with such an act. He could brutalize every single part of Hiccup's life if he wanted—except Astrid.

Never Astrid.

Hiccup snuck back out of the window and crossed through the backyard once again—the rottweilers had awoken at the sound of their master's pain-filled outcries—and stopped only briefly to pet the attention deprived animals before hopping the stone fence. He moved quickly to his truck and unlocked it before tossing the object he had taken back into the truckbed as he hopped back inside before starting the engine.

Snoutlout would be struggling to get up for the six hours or so, but it never hurt anyone to be cautious. Hiccup backed out of the Jorgenson's nearly empty driveway and drove away down a different route then he had come. He stopped at the local market on his way back to Astrid's and picked up a handful of groceries—both to give his story credibility and to help reinforce Astrid's nearly depleted stock of food.

He pulled into the Hofferson's drive way only an hour after he had left and everything seemed just as calm as he had left it. Hiccup grabbed the grocery bags and locked up his truck before walking over to the front door. Once there, he unlocked the door with the spare key he had "borrowed" earlier and walked inside.

Astrid tripped him and he fell painfully onto the ground as a parade of food stuffs showered down around him.

"How was the grocery run?" Astrid questioned him, her eyes showing just a flicker of regret before her colder persona took over.

Hiccup gulped and started to collect the items that were scattered all around—Astrid put her foot down squarely atop a miraculously intact bottle of milk and Hiccup's hand, effectively trapping him.

"It was...uh...good?" Hiccup said, trying to keep the tremble out of his voice. He was equal parts terrified and distracted. Astrid looked incredibly pissed at him at the moment, but she was wearing her work out clothes and that alone could stop an invading army.

Skin tight gray running shorts—far too short—and a sinfully black sports bra was all that covered Astrid's beautiful skin and Hiccup couldn't help but allow his eyes to wander over the skin he had only recently been allowed to feel.

"Eyes up here doofus," Astrid remarked before straddling Hiccup and effectively confusing him. He was even more dumbfounded when she leaned down and captured his lips in her own. Just like the night before, the kiss was magical and explosive, it was perfect and rapturous. It was heaven meeting hell on the eclipses of a universal alignment of the cosmos.

Hiccup was sweaty because he was scared, Astrid was sweaty because she had just spent an hour working out following breakfast. Both were equally excited and proved it with feverish kisses and bolder hands than they had allowed previously.

Astrid groaned and pressed against Hiccup, but rather than shriek and back away, the weaker of the pair actually pressed against her and deepened the kiss. Somehow they ended up flipping and Hiccup was straddling Astrid as liquid fire spread throughout their bodies.

Hiccup was about to go in for another deep kiss when he found himself on his back again—not that he was complaining.

"You went to see him didn't you?" Astrid demanded as she panted lightly while trying to catch her breath.

"W-who?" Hiccup asked, slightly brain dead after their energetic make out session.

"Your dumb cousin," Astrid said and her eyes reflected a deep hurt that ran all the way into her soul. "The one that doesn't kiss anywhere near as great as you do," she added before kissing Hiccup again with even more passion than before.

"W-woah!" Hiccup said after reluctantly pushing Astrid off of him—another thing he would have never seen himself doing only a day before. "I didn't see anybody, I went to the store!" He defended.

"Bull," Astrid remarked while pointing at his shirt, "you've got a bit of blood right there by the way," she said before smacking him roughly. "Idiot!" She cried out and smacked him again, this time with real force. "Why would you do that!?" She demanded as she stared at him with concern.

"Rush of the moment kind of thing?" Hiccup offered weakly, however to his great surprise Astrid didn't smack him again. Rather, she merely sighed and let her body fall flush against his own.

"Dang it Hiccup..." She grumbled into his ear while her hair tickled his face. "I don't even want to acknowledge that bozo, don't go and try to defend my honor or whatever you were trying to do..."

"I didn't try," Hiccup grumbled.

"What?" Astrid said, her eyes widening slightly as she leaned back enough to look at his face with her own.

"I said-" Hiccup began to say.

"I know what you said," Astrid told him with a roll of her eyes, "what did you mean by it?"

"I beat him up." Hiccup said far more confidently than he felt as he stared up at his lifelong crush.

"You seriously beat him up?" Astrid remarked with equal parts surprise and pride.

"Yeah?" Hiccup said, slightly offended. "I'll have you know I can hold my own in a-" Hiccup was interrupted as Astrid brought her lips down to meet with his own again.

They remained like that for some time.


You know a fic is golden when you can knock out nearly 3k easy. That was so much fun to write, I just hope it all translated well for you guys. I always feel like everything I write makes no sense, then it all pans out real well. Hopefully this chapter does just that!

I'll see you all in a bit when I decide to write the next chapter. I'm literally going with it as I think it up, so please feel free to drop ideas or commentary to me through reviews! I loved the strong feedback I got from this fic, so keep it up!

Lostsword