Hiccup twirled the biscuit in his hand, determined not to eat it. Just looking at it made him want to throw up. Astrid had scarfed it down, no problem, but she probably ate biscuits like this for breakfast. Determined not to focus on the nausea, and instead on the nice old man in front of him, he tore his eyes away from the horrid, moldy biscuit.

"But, dear, please understand," the old man, whose name was Mr. Kintle, said, "usually, all the adults in the family gather and throw the wedding." He tried giving their card back to them. "What need do we have for a wedding planner?"

Hiccup nodded in understanding and stood up, but Astrid kept a firm grip on his arm and pulled him back down. "Sir, you just tell us what your usual budget is."

"About...five thousand dollars, I'd say."

Five thousand dollars? Where had Astrid dragged him to? Where was he, where weddings costed that little? He knew how much his parents' wedding had been - and he didn't even want to say it, because the number was so high in contrast. Well, the moldy biscuits should have warned him.

"Good." Astrid nodded firmly. "Sir, we'll do it in the same price. Now, let's talk our price...it's not that high, sir…"

She was crazy. Nuts. Any other simile there was for one hundred percent loco.

"Good! Now, where will the wedding take place?"

"Where all the weddings take place, dear."

"Look at this." Hiccup spread his arms wide and said in a bitter tone, "the site of our first wedding."

Oh, he was always complaining. She had probably lifted more boxes for Mala than he had.

Complaining, yes, but the slight dent was that he wasn't exaggerating.

The "site" that Mr. Kintle had so graciously pointed out was the street next to his apartment. Down the street, kids were running around with dirt on their faces, a few people were watching her and Hiccup with mild interest from their windows and balconies above. It was a narrow lane, not much room for anything.

But the area next to it, a grassy yard which the kids probably played ball on, was a very nice place to sit. And the narrow street could be washed and turned into an entryway. All it would take to clean the place up was a hose and some volunteers. It was absolutely perfect.

All this Astrid decided in the span of two seconds.

"Astrid, listen to me." Hiccup shook her shoulder. "Look at this! Why are we striking here? Why are we striking these guys? Let's go to bigshots, we're barely gonna make anything out of this!"

"No." She looked up; red would be a really nice color overhead, especially at night. "Listen, this is the first time we're doing this. No one who's big is gonna take us right now, and even if they did, there would be too much on the line if we messed up."

"But - but five thousand dollars!"

"Five thousand dollars, now that's the challenge." Astrid smirked at her partner; he needed motivation. "Well, c'mon, let's see how much your dad can invest in us."

He raised an eye at her, clearly getting her message. "Alright, you just keep watching."

She grinned and gave him a playful shove on the shoulder. "Site inspection. Let's go."

"Move!"

Water sprayed all over, and barely any of the kids moved, they went into the water and laughed. It wasn't until their parents threatened them did they listen, and even then, one child would still scurry across every five minutes.

Astrid went to a few kids who looked like they were in high school. The nice thing about a small community was that everyone knew each other, and the teens were more than happy to help their neighbor. When they learned they were cleaning up the entire street, they were less excited, but did the task nevertheless.

Astrid slammed her head on the table, but not before giving the brunet in front of her a reproachful look.

"Look," he insisted, "I can just feel it. Blue is their color."

"That...doesn't...matter!" she snapped, throwing her hands in the air. "The colors are theirs to choose and they chose gold and red!"

"But -"

"No!" Astrid stood up.

He gathered his papers and followed her, nudging her shoulder. "But Astrid -"

"I will bludgeon you if you say blue one more time!"

A very small pause happened, and she sighed in relief.

"Blue blue blue blue - HOLY OUCH, ASTRID!"

"Is this all possible?" Mr. Kintle asked, eyes wide as he stared at their design.

"Of course it is!" Astrid gushed, pointing to herself and Hiccup. "You've got Dancing and the Dreaming. What you're looking for...is in here!"

As Mr. Kintle and his wife politely nodded and pretended like they hadn't already heard Astrid say this one billion times, Hiccup smiled.

If she wasn't so enthusiastic, then he might not have been here with her right now.

Logs were not something the Hiccup associated with weddings, but when you were actually designing a hall, he supposed it would come up sooner or later. At first it looked terrible, and he did not shy away from telling Astrid so.

But then the red drape came.

That really set it off. It still looked very plain, and he knew they weren't done yet, but at least it didn't look like a bunch of branches standing in random different places.

The extra cloth was put in inventory.

The yellow mustache did not put her completely off, but it did make her automatically defensive. Turning to Hiccup, she asked, "Did you get him?"

He shrugged. "Yeah. Why, some problem?"

No chance for her to say that of course there was a problem, because then Gobber walked upto them. "Congratulations fer gettin' to do yer own weddin'. We're here to help."

"Gobber," she said quietly, "our budget is very small."

The man studied her. "But you're quite big, aren't you?" He smiled. "Last time, that was mine and Mala's fault. Yet ya took the blame. At least until he stepped in." He nodded to Hiccup and clapped his hands. "Now, what's for food?"

"Oh, that old caterer down on Elm Street," Hiccup provided.

Gobber sighed. "Listen to me. All these light and decorations, they're all going to be forgotten. Why do most people come to a wedding?' He stared at them, and when they didn't respond right away, he made a loud exasperated sound. "Food, you two. Now, that caterer, I know him. He's gonna charge ya a lot and give ya garbage." He took out a card. "Mulch an' Bucket. Friends of mine. They run a restaurant, an' they'll give ya much more with a better price."

"We can't take that risk with a first timer," Hiccup protested, shaking his head.

Gobber stared him straight in the eye. "Aren't you a first timer too?"

There was silence, and then Astrid put a hand on Hiccup's arm, and took the card from Gobber's hand.

"Oh wow," Astrid breathed softly. Next to her, Hiccup stopped in his tracks and gaped.

The pair had left for lunch, and had only taken a short break while the decorators got to work. But it seemed like this much should have taken half a year, not half an hour.

The place basically shone with gems from overhead. They were all gold, and they fit so well with the red drapery. In the middle, a golden chandelier hung down.

It had been their design, but the two wedding planners were still the ones who were most blown away.

(At least until the bride got there. No one would be able to use their ears for a while).

They helped with the finishing touches and the lights. In a few minutes, most of it was set up. Astrid then caught Hiccup and a worker connecting the wire to another house. "What are you doing?"

"Well, should I connect it to your house?" Hiccup snarked back. "A generator will cost too much."

Astrid glared at him. "I don't care how much it costs. There will be no cheating in Dancing and the Dreaming." She looked up at the worker. "Cut the line, or I'll cut your check."

It was the day of the wedding, and if anyone was nervous, it was Astrid. As soon as Hiccup picked her up (on this motorcycle that he called a Night Fury and she called a death trap), she started worrying about the schedule. What if it didn't work?

"Astrid," Hiccup said, and she could tell he was trying to be patient with her, "we had a rehearsal. We know the schedule works."

"Yeah, but what if it's different on the actual wedding?"

"It's the same schedule! Why would it be different!?"

"Watch the road! We can't die today!"

Hiccup didn't know how they had turned that mangy street into, well, this masterpiece he was looking at, but he did have a sense to feel accomplished. It didn't last long at all. At least not just yet.

"Something's missing," he told Astrid urgently, "I don't know what, but something is."

Gobber, who was standing with them next to the entrance, snorted. "You've turned the place into a palace, what more do you want?" He didn't wait for an answer (and neither Hiccup or Astrid were surprised by this anymore) and went in, still shaking his head and saying something about perfectionists.

"DJ," Hiccup realized out loud, "Astrid, we don't have any music!"

She bit her lip, seemingly agreeing, or so he thought. "We can't afford a DJ, especially not on such a short notice. Almost everyone is here, anyway."

Hiccup scowled. He had worked hard for this wedding, and he couldn't believe they had overlooked something so important. "Give me your phone."

"Why?" She gave it to him, looking over his shoulder curiously.

"I'm getting reinforcements," he mumbled, dialing the number from memory.

Astrid gripped his arm tightly. "Are you getting Snotlout's band here!?"

"I just -"

"Astrid!"

"Mom, dad!" Astrid released her grip on him and hugged them. "Oh, this is Hiccup Haddock, my partner."

There was an exchange of hello's and then she ushered her parents in before her mom got her engaged to Hiccup by accident or something. At least that was what Hiccup thought, based on what he had heard about her parents. Disastrous.

"Hey, Snotlout. Yeah, listen, I got a show for you…"

"No way, dude." Snotlout crossed his arms, looking around. "Not my scene."

"Come on, it'll be your first live show!" Hiccup nervously looked over his shoulder to make sure Astrid wasn't watching. "You'll be famous!" And to really sell the deal, he added, "Not to mention you'll have free food."

So the band started playing. They were actually quite good, but no one was paying much attention. No one was dancing. Hiccup saw Astrid frowning at it all. And then he remembered...wasn't she a good dancer?

The music was pretty dull, and Astrid was getting desperate. Why had she agreed to this? It was better to have no music than music that no one liked.

She looked to the dance floor. First, she thought what she was seeing was a hallucination. But no, Hiccup was there, dancing to the upbeat song. He came up to her, took her hand, and spun her around.

He wasn't bad.

And of course, people followed their example. It became a game between the bride's side and the groom's side, but honestly, Astrid thought the winners were the planners' side.

"We did it," Hiccup murmured, sighing and leaning back into his chair. His bright green eyes surveyed the area in front of him. "Astrid, we did it. And it was great."

She smiled, humming in agreement. "Hey, nice work."

Hiccup smirked. "Not bad yourself, Hofferson."

Astrid laughed. She reached out and squeezed his hand lightly before standing up and saying goodbye. Her parents were leaving, and she'd be going back home with them, of course.

One last look of her - of their - amazing work wouldn't hurt.

Argh, guys, I'm really sorry. I had the PSAT yesterday, and I barely have time to write on the weekands, and even Study Hall, when I do write, is unreliable a lot of the time. I'm sorry :(