LEARN TO TRUST YOURSELF

CHAPTER 10 - TRUTH

PREVIOUSLY - Hiccup recovers from Snotlout's hits and explains to Fishlegs what happened. Fishlegs also enters a state of deep thought when Hiccup mentions of his "date" with Astrid the next day.

LEARN TO TRUST YOURSELF

Eating was painful. Sleeping was painful. Even breathing was when I forgot to breath through my mouth instead of my nose. By the next morning the swelling was relatively normal, much to Fish's surprise. He thought I'd be with a baboon nose for at least a week. However the cut on the bridge of my nose wouldn't stop breaking open, so I put one of those thin, white plasters over the top.

I couldn't decide if whether or not I was looking forward to the day. On one hand, I would have to explain to several people why I still had a red face and why there were darker than normal patches under my eyes. Several people (hopefully not any teachers) would add 2 and 2 and get 4.

On the other hand, I was off out to see Astrid later. This must be the only time in my life that I must be worrying about how I look. Damn nose. In fact, damn Snotlout.

It was the first day that I hadn't gone down to the track either to watch Astrid. Not that it felt too weird, I haven't been doing it long enough for it to

become too bad a habit.

I met up with Carn outside mathematics for our first period, he immediately called "bullshit" with my a-fire-door-hit-my-face story. So I told him the truth, about being pinned and knocked out against a wall. Honesty is the best policy, right? Even if it's not always with myself.

Carn was shocked, horrified, disgusted and a whole lot of other things all at the same time. Pretty much doing the same as Fishlegs, questioning my reasoning behind what I've (not) done about it. However, I think "saved by the exam" is applicable here, as we were split up and handed an exam paper. We may have only been here a week but we have an exam worth 5% of our final grade today. To quote Basil, we are on a 'crash course in engineering'. Which means it is very fast paced, and some people have already been left behind.

I had spent the last 2 years in college studying maths. This seemed like it was an advanced extension of the first year back at college. I didn't think it was too bad (don't jinx it you fool) but most of the rest of the class I could tell were crying their hearts out.

I find myself being asked by Basil to help him take the papers to a scanner when we had finished. I know what he wants to ask and I appreciate the subtlety.

"I grew up on a farm you know Howard. Two older brothers. We would fight each other to prove how strong we were. Being the youngest, I usually lost but it was all good fun. Brotherly love yes, but we held nothing back. But anyway, once or twice, someones nose got broken."

Yep. Why is it people see through me as easily as one would look through a pane of glass?

"I was advised to read your file when you joined" He continued after waiting to see my reaction, "and I can see why you wouldn't want to report anything. Please let us help you, we can do so much more here than what any school or college can do to people who abuse others."

I put the papers down next to the scanner in the empty staff room. "Will that be all sir?" I say bluntly.

Basil rolls his eyes (thats my trick!), "We'll respect your wishes this time, but we will be contacting the police if this happens again, capisce?" [1]

"Thank you sir." I give the usual slight bow of my head before turning around to leave. So thats one two hour exam done, we now don't have anything until after lunch (CAD workshop [2]) because the exams need to all be scanned in and sent off to the examiners like, now.

I suddenly realise that I'm all alone amongst the books on the top floor of the library. Something I haven't done since my secondary school days when I had no-one to hang around with.

I push that thought from my mind and sit at a table in one corner to start my maths coursework.

Taking a brief look over all the questions, I feel like we should have been given the coursework before sitting the exam this morning. Whats the point in setting us work thats easier than an exam we have literally just taken eh?

LEARN TO TRUST YOURSELF

I never understand how time can fly when you do work. I only stop at lunch only because my throbbing face tells me its time for another painkiller.

Lunch for me consists of leftovers from last nights chilognese. Needless to say, it was a success (why wouldn't it be? I invented it after all)

So lunch then comes and goes and my pains are easily forgotten with the forthcoming prospect of CAD next and seeing Astrid later.

Due to my affinity for 3D work, the tutorial lesson made me feel like I was being made to suck eggs. To the point where once I've made all the parts to a small air compressor, animated it and converted it into 2D drawings complete with dimensions for people to make from sheet metal, I have enough time left over to teach over a third of the class how to use the software. Damn I'm good.

So time flies when you're having fun. It's suddenly time to go back to the apartment and spend hours deliberating what to go out in. I'm thinking casual?

As usual, when I get back I'm all alone. Fishlegs wont be back for another hour or so, and I don't even know what courses the other two are studying, let alone what time they'll be back. I'm beginning to think that I have a timetable to die for with all the late starts and early finishes.

So the plan between now and 1945 is thus; eat, get nervous, shower, become more nervous, get changed and then finally surrender all my remaining sanity to the stomach pit vipers. I have hours to kill.

LEARN TO TRUST YOURSELF

Fishlegs takes a little longer to get back than I thought. By time he does, I've had dinner (how original does beans on toast sound?), showered and tried to continue with some coursework, but my mind had other ideas. I hate being a guy sometimes. Tuff returned as well. Back to being the old usual him, smelling of the sweet stuff and thinking me a wall when he walks into me.

"Seeing as I have a feeling that I'm going to be third wheeling it tonight, I'm going to be meeting a couple of my friends off of my course tonight. If things go wrong for you, these guys don't bite. You're ok with that aren't you?"

"Course I am, maybe we need to get you a girl some time eh? Take the focus off me for once."

Fishlegs went a very surprising shade of pink

"I…well…uhhh…that may not be the best idea Hiccup." he spluttered.

We were just lazing on the sofa, Tuffnut able to be clearly heard snoring in his room. I turned and gave him a quizzical look. I can hazard a guess as to his lack of enthusiasm toward the idea, but only a guess.

"Theres well…um you see the thing is…"

"Have you ever actually had a girlfriend Fish?" I feel awkward for asking, but if what little I actually know about him is correct…

He takes a nervous gulp. "No." Comes the resolute reply. "No I haven't."

"Ah. Well theres a first time for everything. You scratch my back, I'll scratch yours, deal?" I stick my hand out towards him.

"Thanks for the offer but I th-"

I roll my eyes. "Just shake the hand Fish."

He huffs and does so. Then he checks his watch in an attempt to change the topic.

"Well it's almost time. What you wearing? If you get the clothing right I predict a-"

"I'd actually love to know how you calculate these things Fishlegs. And to answer your question I have a green shirt and jeans lined up."

"Well I suppose thats alright. We'll leave in five. See you then."

I get changed and look at myself in the mirror at my nose. Its a bit red on the bridge, but it's not immediately obvious that it's been hit. The black patches beneath my eyes are back as they were before, like I've not had much sleep.

Dad would make a mention about the messy state of my hair, but I happen to quite like it. If it didn't scare Astrid off when she first saw me then I doubt it will tonight.

Fishlegs outside is in a pair of brown trousers and blue checkered shirt. I'm about to say something to him, but he gets there first;

"Got any way of protecting yourself against her?"

I'm baffled. "Eh?"

"You know, in case you and her…"

It's my turn to turn an awkward colour. "Oh Gods Fishlegs! No! That won't be happening tonight! If ever!"

"I estimate that by your third beer you'll be spilling your deepest and darkest secrets to her. Whats to say she won't be the same?"

"I have a waaaay higher tolerance than three…hang on, how did you know I liked beer?"

We were already outside at this point, walking in the direction of the town. Only about 5 minutes late but it's good to be fashionably late isn't it?

"You looked like a beer type of person. If there's ever the little pitter-patter of any Hiccstrid babies, can I be the godfather?"

"Hiccstrid? Fishlegs tell me you are NOT already shipping us!? And there won't be any children!"

Fishlegs lets loose a rare cackle. "Well its better than Asup, that just sounds wrong. And we'll see. We'll see."

The rest of the walk is done in comparative silence, Fishlegs whistling an old Berkian tune, one I know very well as Gobber would sing it himself in the Forge regularly (I've got my axe and I've got my mace and I love my wife with the ugly face, because I'm a viking through and through!)

LEARN TO TRUST YOURSELF

We're here. The pub is an old building, made mostly of dark brown/black wood by the looks of it. Above the door there is a head of a blue dragon with yellow spikes coming off in a sort of frill.

"Am I allowed to run away right about now?"

"Hiccup if you tried running away, you would find yourself bouncing off me, I'm taking up the whole doorway here. Keep going."

I take a nervous gulp. Here goes nothing. The men at the entrance are looking at ID to make sure we're old enough. My provisional driving license is mine.

The outside of the building betrays the size of the innards. It's huge! It's already fairly packed, mainly with students. With my height I take a scan of the heads, looking for hair which could be mistaken for a sun. I spot the hair with matching braid pretty much instantly by the bar, and I begin making my way through the crowd over to her. Fishleg's hand rests on my shoulder before I do however;

"I'll be over in the far corner if you need me! Ive spotted my friends!" He shouted over all the noise.

Instead of even trying to do the same, I simply nod over my shoulder, then carry on.

Being thin has it's perks, I can squeeze past drunk people without having to yell 'excuse me!' at them to get past, and then end up feeling very awkward.

So how is this going to work? Do I just go up and say hi or…

"Snotlout." I curse out loud. He's here. Standing next to Astrid.

My first thought is back to my nose and how much it hurt. Then comes a feeling of betrayal towards Astrid because he's here.

"Do you seriously want me to deck you again?" She harshly asks him.

I perk up. Perhaps his company isn't wanted after all.

"Well if that's how you show affection I wouldn't mind being decked again, although somewhere more in private would be very nice, if you follow my meaning." He said back, shuffling towards her slightly.

I'm standing a couple of feet behind them. I know the theory behind knocking someone out with a single hit to the temple, but it would likely go horribly wrong anyway and I'd get done for assault.

"Urgh, that is a fucking disgusting thought you utter moron. How many times have I asked you to go away now!?"

A bouncer made a very timely arrival at this point, evidently overhearing the exchange. This guy was huge, getting close to being on par with dad, and that's saying something.

"Are you ok miss? Is this man bothering you?"

Snotlout made a very arrogant move and put his hand on the bouncers shoulder; "Nah, she's just getting a little excited for later", I'm glad that I'm virtually invisible to him behind this behemoth of a man.

"Yes actually, you'd best move him before he sustains a broken neck."

"Aww come on babe, stop playing hard to get, you know you can't resist all th-"

He was stopped mid sentence by the bouncer, who had picked him up over his shoulder and made his way to the door, Snotlout thrashing the whole way. Looking back at Astrid, she's shaking her head before finishing her drink. Well I suppose it's now or never.

"So if I said I can hold a conversation without talking about sex and flashing my non-existent muscles, would you threaten me with a decking?" I say without looking at her while taking a seat at the bar.

She jumps and then looks at me.

"Hiccup! Gods don't do - argh!"

Without a seconds warning, I find myself with another bruise to add to my collection.

"Ow! Thor almighty I take it back!"

"Thats for being late! What kept you?"

"I'm sorry I didn't realise that the 'if you're not five minutes early, you're late' rule applied to being fashionably late" I replied sarcastically.

She stared at me. "Ok then. What gave me away?"

I crack a lopsided grin. "When you said 'Twenty-hundred hours' yesterday."

She groaned.

I make a notation to the barman; "Can I have a Berk Pride please?" and hand him a note to pay.

"I knew someone would realise eventually."

"You know people are very proud of this countries armed forces, I'm not too sure why you're hiding being a forces child."

"Not to be rude Hiccup but I hardly know you. I might tell you some day."

The bartender came back with my pint and change, and something else for Astrid, "Thanks." I say, while he says, "on the house for your incident earlier with that other fella." Astrid nods her thanks to him.

"So where are your friends then?" I ask, after raising my pint to my mouth and letting the black stuff touch my parched lips. Lovely stuff, like darkened honey.

"Without looking at me she bluntly tells me "Behind us, probably giggling their stupid arses off at me. They've been plotting ever since they weedled out of me that I was meeting you tonight."

My head was hurting from all the noise, and I've not even finished my first drink yet.

"D'you want to find somewhere a bit quieter? Away from them and all this noise?"

"You know what, go on."

We move to the next room, and then upstairs. Both were still fairly full but it was a more serious crowd upstairs. We sit down at the bar there instead.

"So why did you want to see me then? Not that I'm complaining but it's not like I've ever been out drinking before, let alone invited.

She gives me a 'what the Hel? You've never been out drinking before?' look. "Becuase you seemed like a decent guy and they're hard to find nowadays."

As she says this I take a look at what she's wearing. A light and dark blue striped shirt with a red skirt. Simple, but it works for her so well.

"Have you ever considered that instead of decent guys like me just not existing, you're just not noticing us?"

I'm lucky that I'm not holding my drink, because she hits my arm again

"And that one is for getting philosophical on me!"

"Alright alright I'm sorry! I take that one back 'n all!"

The silence following is extremely awkward. My head feels like it's moving further than it actually is when I move it. Damn being a lightweight.

"So all I know is that your name is Howard. Much else you want to tell me?"

We're facing each other, my right elbow leaning on the bar and her left doing the same.

"Well, you've probably guessed that I'm a forces child myself, both parents." I raise my hand and make a pair of inverted commas when saying; "Military brat, I believe is the affectionate term." She giggles to that.

"Anyway, so in a nutshell I'm a single child, 18. Grew up all over the place following dad around to wherever the army posted him. Too thick to go on a normal university course so I'm on a foundation year, aeronautical engineering with pilot studies. Thats basically it, not much exciting going on there." I end.

"Thats not much! Like what job do you want and stuff?"

"Fine! I wanted to be a Night Fury pilot for the air force, but they're both being phased out in favour of specialised aircraft like Deadly Nadders and Gronckles, and even if they weren't, I'm a walking medical disaster. So I've decided to go with mechanical aerospace technician, and then commercial flying. Uhhhh anything else…I spend more of my free time with my head inside of my computer than out and I am the lightest weight you'll ever find when it comes to drinking. Does that satisfy you milady?"

Oh wow, Night Fury pilot. They saved my uncles ass more times than he could count during the invasion of Berserk."

She realises her mistake at mentioning her uncle, and stairs at her glass accusingly, like its some sort of truth serum.

"My turn then I suppose?"

"Yep. Unless theres more classified stuff in there" I say, taking another long draught of my drink.

She glares at me before saying her life story.

"I have a younger sister, 9. Im also 18, uhhh, on a combined course. Sports trainer and physiological effects of sport. It's going to be a long five years. I'd like to be a Berkian Marine but they don't let women join. Sexist pigs. Don't really want to join the infantry so I'm looking at physical training instructor." She summarises.

"Why do I get the feeling theres a lot more to that story that you're just not divulging?"

"People who play with fire get their hands burned Hiccup, be careful you're not going to try handling with the dynamite instead."

So thats one way of telling me to mind my own I suppose. My drinks empty so I order another Berk Pride.

"Do you want anything while I get another drink?"

"Did you just offer me a drink?" She blushed.

"Well I thought that would have been quite obvious, thats the question I just asked you."

She drains her whatever it was. "Yeah, Kracken Rum then."

"Rum? I thought you were 18 not 80."

If looks could kill…

"I should warn you that that more I drink, the more truthful I become. Fishlegs predicts that I'll be spilling to you my deepest and darkest secrets by the end of the night."

She has an evil grin on her face as she starts her next drink. At least her third one.

"Fishlegs…?"

"Mate I came here with. He's downstairs with some other friends of his."

She shrugs her shoulders, as if to say ok-thats-another-weird-nickname.

Our conversation continues for Odin knows how long. I surprise myself with still being awake after yet another beer, two Jägerbombs and we shared a rather large glass of Piña Colada. She jumped the chair separating us for this and I felt awkward (in more ways than one) at her close proximity.

"So Hic-Hiccup. You currently thingying with anyone at the minute?"

"Lady Astrid. You are going to have to be far more precise than just saying thingying."

While my brain is still working normally, the rest of my body seems to not want to listen. I know I'm clumsy when sober but this is ridiculous. I keep knocking her and other silly things. Something new I've discovered, It seems that I'm far more gentlemanly than normal in this state."

"Thingying…you know…are you a thing with anyone?" She slurs. She did have a bit more than me and did mention something about pre-drinks earlier…

Aaaaaand here comes the question I didn't want to answer. But it just spills out anyway. Urgh.

"Noooo. I've only ever been in -hic!- one relationship, and that only -hic!- lasted for a couple of months."

"Awwww thats cute."

Cute? Seriously? If only she knew…

"I just ended a long term relationship, he just turned out to be a dick in the end…I like being drunk, I forget all my problems like this…" And then she rests her head on my shoulder. Right I've passed out and I'm currently dreaming.

"Yep. I feel the same." And then out of instinct (or was it the alcohol?) I rest my head on hers and tentatively wrap my arm around her. I was expecting her to rage and actually murder me, but the violence never came.

We sat there like that for a couple of minutes before a bright flash and the sound of a camera went off, I look around and see…Tuff? No thats not Tuffnut. Must be his twin, Ruffnut, standing there with her phone in her hand and 6 others are giggling like anything. Fishlegs and his two friends appear to be in tow as well but I pay them no notice for the time being.

"Well looks like goody-two shoes Astrid finally found the guy of her dreams." She cackled, along with the others.

The girl in question shoots up, narrowly missing my skull and stares threateningly at Ruffnut.

"We're going to the club now, and you two-" she points at us accusingly, "are coming with us."

I glance at Astrid, who is still glaring at Ruff.

"Fine. Doesn't mean I'm going to enjoy it though."

"Oh don't offend Howard there. See look now he looks like he's going to cry, you hurt his feelings so."

I didn't actually feel like crying, and it looks like Tuff or Astrid told them my actual name.

The group of girls start moving downstairs, and Fishlegs smirks at me before following them with his own two friends.

"What did I do to deserve her as a friend…"

"Well someone needs to balance out the world with your looks."

She almost tripped over her own feet, would have done too had I not caught her by the waist. I realise what I'm holding and quickly let go.

"Did you just try flirting with me Hiccup!?"

My brain is playing slow on the catch up.

"Yep. Believe me when I say that a sober me would never say something like that."

"Maybe I did strike gold with you then eh?" she says quietly. I hear this but don't think about it, still thinking about holding her by her waist.

The walk to the club is a somewhat hilarious affair. Neither myself nor Astrid were capable of walking very far, so Fishlegs half carried me and one of Astrid's friends did the same for her. I get the feeling that normally Astrid wouldn't ever accept help.

The nightclub is underground, with a big dance floor in the middle and two bars at the back. The first thing I notice though upon entering is the amount of blue and green light. Slightly blinding actually.

When we all sit down, I almost fall asleep there and then. Several girls and Fishlegs' two friends immediately stand back up and go to the dance floor, while Astrid goes to the bar. Fish slaps me awake and I almost fall off my chair. Good thing he did though, Astrid wouldn't've been happy because she came back with another two Jägerbombs and 6 shots, 3 for the pair of us.

I eye the drinks, and say "What did I do to deserve this Milady?"

The cold air outside appears to have sobered her up a bit, as her words are no longer slurred. Still very unsteady on the walking though.

"You bought me 2 drinks and that Piña Colada earlier. I'm paying you back."

"Well I'm not going to argue with a Valkyrie. They take the dead to Valhalla after all, so you'd kill me."

"Right little Norse mythologist aren't you?"

"Little!?"

"Just shut up and drink your Jäger."

I down it and shiver. This much alcohol doesn't appear to be agreeing with my system much. She does the same and licks her lips. When did they get so red and plump all of a sudden?

I find myself with 3 different coloured shots in front of me.

"You've got one apple sourz, a salted caramel and a B-52. Thought you'd appreciate the B-52 seeing how aircraft orientated you are."

I immediately began listing off things about the Giganticus Maximus, such as its sheer size, 8 engines in 4 pods under each wing…and then shook my head. Now isn't the time to nerd out over planes.

"Well thanks I suppose. Cheers?" I slur to her, raising the salted caramel.

"Cheers", she's back to slurring now.

I knock it back and feel it burn down my throat. We do the same with the next one, the apple for me and something else for her, I didn't take much notice, my eyes were fairly foggy around my peripheral vision.

I raise the B-52, and I felt like ruffling my hair, so I did. Then I looked and grinned at Astrid, who gave a large smile back.

We both knock back our last drink and slam them down on the table in the corner we're sitting in. Astrid then stands up and stays surprisingly still.

"You're coming to dance with me." She says, giving me no option to say no.

"Iiiiii…youu what?"

"You heard me. Don't make me drag you there."

I hate to break this you dearest, but I don't think I can walk at the minute, let alone-"

Before I know what's happening, I'm being fireman carried to the dance floor. It takes a few seconds for the spinning to settle (Gods this is such a sickly feeling).

Then I'm suddenly dumped on the floor and subsequently dragged up. I pay no attention to Astrid's friends who've fallen over at the sight of me over her shoulders (shouldn't it be the other way around?)

It's a blur. I mainly do with other people do in relation to the music, be it jump about, not do much at all, or whatever, I pay no notice. Then something a bit slower comes over the speakers and I find myself fairly close to Astrid, facing each other.

I tentatively wrap my arms around her, pulling her closer. I hope I don't remember any of this tomorrow. Or do I?

She responds by putting her arms around my neck, and I feel Ruff's eyes on us, as well as the others.

I feel the curves of her body pressed against me, I'm looking down and she's looking up. I fail to suppress the growth downstairs, and make a quick pray to any god listening out there for her not to notice. Damn that would be embarrassing.

Our faces are ridiculously close, I can see into her eyes, like the sapphires they are.

Our foreheads are touching, yet something is stopping me from going any further. I know what it is and I hate myself because of it.

I told myself I never wanted to fall in love again, yet I can feel that exact feeling ebbing away at my very being. But suddenly having that feeling torn away from me is something I would never wish to experience again.

"I'm not ready for this" I breath to her, hoping she hears me and doesn't storm away.

Astrid however, looks similarly pained. "Neither am I" she replied.

I don't know what I'm feeling now; love, pain, anguish, joy…we give each other an unsaid consent to draw each other into a very deep, very meaningful hug.

I can feel the rest of the nightclub deflate, but I don't care and I don't think Astrid does either. Throughout all of this I try my best to hide my bulge…it's not a bad thing is it?

We're there for a fair while, just rocking back and forth as the rest of the club gets back into its swing. Just when I think she's fallen asleep in my arms, I feel her wanting to break the hug.

"I think I need to go to sleep, it is gone 2am after all."

"I might join you on that, I might fall asleep standing up…not join you in your bed of course! But just the idea…yeah."

She giggled, and as we pulled apart, our hands linked and we walked back to Fishlegs, who was sitting there where we'd left him, drinking some…water? Or is that straight vodka?

He notices my gaze at his glass, "It's so I don't get a hangover tomorrow. Have one between each alcoholic drink you have and you never will."

His words mean nothing to me, I'm so high on emotions now this beats any drug in the world I think.

"We uh…might need you to walk us back Fish. I don't think either of us would be able to walk very far without getting lost." I say. He did understand me though my gibberish, right?

"Yes sir, personal chauffeur Fishlegs at your service. Anything else you might need? Hot water bottle? Cup of tea? Scone? Condom?"

Neither of us were paying attention to him, thankfully Astrid more so than me, otherwise I think she might of killed him. He realised this and huffed. "Alright fine, come on then lets go, I'm not getting any younger."

"Pass me your phone Hiccup", Astrid asked me once outside, and made sure we had everything.

I passed it to her and asked why

"Unlock it doofus."

"Yes Milady."

I let go of her hand and pull her closer to my with my arm around her waist, and her arm goes around mine. I watch her copy my number into her phone and then vice versa. She's good with her fingers then, able to work them on a small phone screen while drunk…

Aaaaand now is a good time to push that thought from my mind.

With Fishlegs pulling up the vanguard, we make it back to the accommodation in short order, and without falling over. Although both of our hands wandered down slightly before correcting ourselves. We go to Astrid's flat first to drop her off. She lets go of me and I feel cold all of a sudden in the part she's just occupied for the last half hour. Before disappearing through the door, she punches me on the arm for the third time tonight.

"What!? Is it always going to be like this?"

"That was for having to force you to dance with me." She then grabs me by my collar and pulls us together for one last time before giving me a brief kiss.

"And thats for…everything else."

She releases me and looks down, beginning to turn a very bright red. Then she darts into her dorm and shuts the door.

I'm on fire, literally. I forgot how good kissing someone was.

For the second time tonight I feel myself being hoisted onto someones shoulders;

"Because I don't think you're capable of walking by yourself at the minute."

I must have either fallen asleep or passed out on his shoulders. Either way, I don't remember how I got in my bed the next morning with a bucket next to it, no sign of a headache and my phone buzzing on my bedside.

I groan and pick it up to look at the time. 1213. Afternoon already? Wow. Then I glance down at the notifications.

*1 Text from Astrid Hofferson*

My heart does a triple take.

LEARN TO TRUST YOURSELF

[1] - Capisce, pronounced 'cap-eesh'. A wonderful word for 'got it'.

[2] - CAD; Computer Aided Design, also known simply as '3D work'. An absolute godsend lesson if you have coursework to finish.

So two chapters at once? Gods I'm spoiling you all. Not to mention this one is my longest yet (I'm so proud! Almost 2.5x as long as my next longest chapter, Ch9) I thought I might've been killed if some of you didn't get to see Hiccup and Astrid this week.

Do you people mind freakishly long chapters like this? I won't normally be able to pump out a chapter of this length but I got carried away with Hiccup and Astrid and didn't want to (wasn't able to more like, I love these two) cut it down anywhere.

A part of myself I couldn't help putting into Hiccup; the intolerance to alcohol! He's actually a bit more robust than I am, all it takes me is a strong Weißbier (damn German beer is good) and the walls start getting closer together. Add a couple of Jägerbombs on top and well…lets just say that at 6ft 4", people start getting very scared about how tall I am all of a sudden (it's a long way down!)