Astrid opened her door to see a stack of presents attached to a lanky pair of arms and legs. "Merry Christmas!" The presents exclaimed.

Astrid's eyes rolled skyward, "I thought I told you I didn't want you buying lots of presents!" She growled.

Hiccup snorted from behind the pile. "And I thought I told you I didn't hear that," Astrid folded her arms and let out a huff, she could picture Hiccup smirking triumphantly and it irked her. "And this isn't a lot, I have more for your family too!"

"Ugh, come in you pain in the arse." She stepped aside to let him through the door.

Hiccup sauntered in with far too much swagger for his own good. "You know you love me Mi'lady." he gave her a peck on the cheek and a wink.

Astrid narrowed her eyes, "If you weren't carrying my presents I'd hit you right now," Hiccup grinned playfully, "What are you grinning about?" Astrid said narrowing her eyes again.

Hiccup grinned cheekily, "I did this by design, mi'lady." Hiccup winked again.

Astrid poked him on the nose, "You better watch it babe," He wiggled his nose and scrunched up his face, Astrid laughed and kissed him, "You're right I do love you, but I'm still giving you that punch."

Hiccup set down her presents and jumped when he heard Mrs Hofferson's voice from behind him, "Merry Christmas Hiccup dear!" Hiccup held his hand over his heart for a second in shock.

He took a deep breath, "I'll never get used to your family doing that."

Astrid cocked her head to one side, "doing what?"

Hiccup turned to face her, "being so light footed, have you not heard my dad? He sounds like a robot or something, and it's not like I'm quiet with my leg." Astrid rolled her eyes.

She gave him a light push back toward the door, "Go get the rest of the presents,"

Hiccup grumbled something akin to bunch of ninjas but proceeded to bring in the presents from his car, when all of them were finally under the Christmas tree Astrid gave him the promised punch. "Ouch," Hiccup yelped, "Why are you so violent?"

Astrid smiled triumphantly, "It's not violence, it's communication." Hiccup pouted. He sat down on the couch and Astrid plopped herself next to him.

Astrid made herself comfortable before speaking "Hey Babe, what are you doing Christmas Day?" Hiccup cocked his head, Astrid prodded him in the shoulder, "Well? What's the answer?"

Hiccup,shrugged nonchalant, "Just Christmas with dad and Toothless really, I usually cook. Why'd you ask?"

Astrid brushed her hair behind her ear, "Well, I was wondering if you two would want to come for Christmas Dinner if it's just the two of you?"

Hiccup's mouth made a perfect O and it made Astrid snort with laughter, she poked his cheek when he didn't reply, he blinked his eyes as he came back to reality, "Oh my Gods that would be amazing, I'll tell your mom thanks."

Astrid pouted, "How do you know it wasn't my idea?"

Hiccup raised one knowing eyebrow, "Was it?" Astrid crossed her arms moodily, she proceeded to prod him hard in the ribs, "Ouch, I'll take that as a no then," He smirked and kissed her, "I've got to go to work, I'll see you later." He sauntered out the room leaving Astrid wondering what to do with the presents.

=0=

Loud crashing and banging emanated from Gobber's forge followed by an unseemly amount of rock music. The car repair and workshop lay on the outskirts of town, but fortunately it was close enough to the Haddock mansion that he could walk if need be.

A pair of legs with a prosthetic stuck out from under a black Chevrolet Impala, a jack was lifting the right side of the vehicle, Hiccup was attempting to mend a ripped fuel line when Gobber waddled his wrench hand attached to his stump. "Oi ye wee runt, how's the repair going?"

Hiccup rolled himself out from under the car, grease stains covered his overalls and hands, his face was covered by a welding mask and the torch still flared. He switched the torch off and removed the mask. "Almost done, just welding it up now. Anything else you want or was that it?"

Gobber stroked his long blonde suit covered moustache, "Ye Dad has brought his car into the shop, says the left wheel is sticking, asked for you to take a look"

Hiccup groaned and got to his feet, "What's wrong with you? Why can't you do it?" He removed his mask and set the torch down on his workbench

Gobber gave him a quick smack round the head, "Because, ye cheeky runt, he's ye dad and I told ye to,"

Hiccup gave him a quick shove back, "Alright! Alright you old fool, I'll take a look at it." Gobber rolled his eyes then pushed Hiccup in the direction of the shop.

Stoick in all his vastness stood next to his Jag his arms crossed and beard as bright and ginger as ever. "Hi son, it's sticking left, you set it right for me?"

"Yeah I'll see what I can do. You know Gobber is the expert right?" Hiccup jacked the car up and slid under on the roller.

Stoick chuckled, "I trust you to do a good job, son."

Hiccup scoffed from under the car, "Well thanks for the vote of confidence I guess," he noticed the problem immediately, just some asphalt that had been dried onto the axle where it joined the wheel. He rolled himself out from the car, "Hey, could you pass the torch and mask please?"

Stoick swirled round and placed his hand on the torch, he showed it to Hiccup, "This one?"

Hiccup nodded and took it then slid back under, he worked to removed the asphalt then slid back out when he finished. Standing up he removed mask and lent against the car, "So that should do fine now," he set the stuff down then sighed, "So uh I've been meaning to ask something." Stoick cocked an eyebrow as if to say go on. "Astrid has invited us to Christmas dinner at her house, you wouldn't mind if we went would you?"

Stoick's brow furrowed making Hiccup worry, "Son that would be wonderful!" He grinned behind his beard, "It's about time we had a proper Christmas meal!"

Hiccup rolled his eyes, "Great, I knew you hated my cooking! It's settled then, Christmas at Astrid's"

=0=

A blanket of pristine white snow covered the landscape, the roads were clear but people could be seen shovelling snow from their drives. The snow crunched beneath a pair of black shoes and green converse. They moved up a driveway and stopped at the front door of the Hofferson residence. Two swift knocks pierced the almost silent Christmas Day air.

The door was pulled back revealing Astrid smiling warmly "Hi babe," she came close to Hiccup and kissed him on the cheek, "Hi Stoick, glad you could come,"

Stoick nodded in response, "Wouldn't have missed it for the world, glad to finally have a nice meal on Christmas. I like the jumper lass."

Astrid glanced down at her red Christmas jumper and chuckled. "My mum makes us wear them," she scrunched her nose up in disgust.

Hiccup on the other hand just found it adorable, "I dunno Milady, it looks cute to me,"

Astrid rolled her eyes, "Come on in, dinner's almost ready,"

Hiccup and Stoick went through into the dining area, the table was already set, perfectly laid out with immaculate plates and cutlery. It didn't take a genius to notice Mrs Hofferson was trying to impress her guests.

It wasn't long before everyone was sitting at the table and the food came out. There was every type of potato available to man, Roast, mash, boiled even sweet potato. You name it, it was there. Then came the other vegetables; carrots, parsnips, peas, corn, broccoli and sprouts. Finally the turkey, steaming and three times the size of Toothless.

"This looks amazing Mrs Hofferson! Thank you so much for inviting us!" Stoick said, his eyes popping out of his head at the sight of the food.

Around half an hour later and the meal had been demolished and all that was left was a few slices of turkey. The family moved into the living room, although very slowly because of the food babies they were sporting. When everyone was sprawled out on the couches or sat in the armchairs Astrid dragged Hiccup away to her room. He quickly grabbed her present from under the tree before he was yanked playfully by the arm.

She took his hand led him into her room, after plopping him down on her bed she went into her bedside draw and brought out a flat-ish wrapped present. "Here, It's nothing too special I just thought of you when I saw them."

Hiccup took the present sheepishly, he looked to Astrid to see her smile. Inside was prints of storyboards from Raiders of the Lost Ark. "Oh my Thor Astrid they're amazing!" He grinned madly,and started studying the storyboards, forgetting for a second that Astrid was there."Thank you." Astrid smiled warmly. "Oh, here's yours"

Hiccup handed Astrid her present, slowly and carefully she ripped open the paper. She stopped still when he saw what was inside, "What? What's wrong?" Hiccup asked frantically. Astrid ripped the rest of the wrapping paper away to reveal the first editions of Lord of the rings. "Because if you don't like them I'll take them back, I just thought when you told me that you liked the trilogy that you'd really like th-"

Hiccup was suddenly cut off by her lips on his, after a few seconds she pulled away only slightly so their heads were still resting together. "They're perfect," she kissed him again and Hiccup smiled into the kiss.

"Only the best for you, Mi'lady," he brushed a single hair from her face. "Merry Christmas Astrid Hofferson."

Astrid sighed, content and happy. "Merry Christmas Hiccup Haddock."