The first thing Hiccup can think to say in response to the girl is, "Are you sure it was me?" Ugh. How original.

The girl – was it Cami? he's a bit too thrown off to remember – smiles at him. She… has a nice smile. Very wide. "Is your timer zeroed out?"

"Well… well, yes, but not the way you're–"

"Then who else could it be?"

He looks around the hallway. It's almost empty at this point, but… but surely it can't be him. He can't find his soulmate today, right now, half-sick and in a situation so bizarre that it doesn't even feel real. "I, uh… um, it could be… Astrid?"

He's not sure if he's handing the question off to Astrid or actually suggesting that maybe she's this girl's soulmate, but either way, she doesn't react. She just… stands there, in stony silence, her mouth a hard line. She'd been all jittery and panicked a few seconds ago, and he hadn't liked that, but now she's straight-backed and rigid and he doesn't like that either. He really doesn't like that.

His eyes are focused on the firm clench of Astrid's jaw – is she grinding her teeth? – until a loud laugh at his side snaps his gaze back onto the girl. Her name is definitely Cami, he decides, as he evaluates her laugh. It's not a giggle, or a guffaw, it's just… a laugh. A generic, run-of-the-mill laugh. It's pleasant, but doesn't inspire any particular sense of joy or accomplishment in him.

Not like Astrid's.

"You're funny, Hayden," Cami says, and he furrows his brow. Had he said something funny? He can't remember. "I can tell I'm going to like you."

"…Oh," he says, and vaguely registers the fact that he's probably coming off as a total idiot. He just – he can barely even process this. "I – I have class…"

"Me too," Cami says brightly. "You want to skip?"

"No!" he blurts, probably too quickly. "Um, I mean… we could meet up? After?"

"Sure," she says, and starts digging around in her backpack for something. Hiccup takes advantage of the moment to note how short she is – he's at least a foot taller – before she pulls out a pen.

"Hand?" she prompts, and he gives her his left, thinking she's going to check his timer for confirmation or something. Instead, she writes her cell phone number on his palm before offering him one last huge smile and flouncing away.

No, really. She flounces. She's got a spring in her step that Hiccup can only guess is from just having found her soulmate – or at least thinking she has, because he's still not sure if this makes any sense – and he watches her messy hair bounce against her back as she makes her way down the hallway and eventually disappears at a corner.

"Wow," he says aloud, and turns to Astrid to… well, he's not sure what he turns to her to do. Gape at her? Ask her if she can believe what just happened? Beg her to please please please call Cami for him because he's not sure if he has the nerve to do it?

It doesn't matter, though, because when he turns around, Astrid's not there. Huh. She must've snuck off at some point when he'd been stuttering and stumbling and basically having a heart attack, which was a little rude of her. She must've been worried about being late for class… or maybe she just doesn't care enough about his love life to stick around…

Hiccup shakes his head. He has far more important things to worry about right now than Astrid's whereabouts. And whether or not she gives a crap about his current situation. No, really, he does.

No matter what his subconscious seems to be telling him.

… … …

"So," Hiccup says, looking down at his sundae as he stirs it in order to avoid making eye contact with Cami. "You… are you a freshman?"

There's a tiny (more than tiny?) part of him that hopes she'll say yes, so that he can jump up in his chair and say ha! My timer zeroed out when I was three so there's no way we could possibly be soulmates! Suck it! but Cami shakes her head. "Junior."

"…Oh." Well. It's not like he really would've told her to suck it, anyway. He's the one that texted her to meet up with him here after class, not the other way around. He wants to be here, really, he does, but… but why is he feeling so strangely against the idea of Cami being his soulmate? She seems plenty nice, and he's literally been looking forward to this day since he was three years old. What's up with him?

"Yeah," Cami is saying, oblivious to his inner turmoil. "I'm really short, is all. I just moved here from upstate because my mom got this new job offer and –"

"Wait," Hiccup interrupts, which is rude but necessary. "You just moved here?"

"Yup." She takes a careless bite of her mint-chip ice cream, and he can't help but hate that they have the same favorite flavor. What does that mean?

"My timer zeroed out when I was three," he informs her. "At a park. Willow Park. So… so if you didn't live here –"

"Oh, I have relatives here, we used to visit all the time when I was little," Cami says, waving her spoon around in an overexcited manner and getting a bit of ice cream on the table. Hiccup hands her a napkin, but instead of cleaning up the mess, she starts making an origami elephant with it. Which is… charming? He's not sure. "I'm sure I went to Willow Park once back then."

"Right," he says, watching her tiny hands transform the napkin from an elephant into a swan. "I can do a dragon, you know." Maybe this is it. Maybe this is where they bond over origami animals and everything turns out okay.

"Cool. I only do real life things, though," Cami says, with a certain air of pride, and Hiccup's stomach drops. So much for bonding.

"Really?"

"Yeah. I mean, fiction is so silly. Why read books about doing things when you can actually go out and do things, you know? Adventures are so much more adventurous when you're actually going on them. You feel me?"

"I, uh… yeah, I feel you," he says, because she looks so zealous, and he totally gets where she's coming from in theory. Just… not really in practice. "But what about things that don't exist in real life? Like dragons?"

"They're not worth my time!" Cami declares fervently, and Hiccup's actually afraid for a moment that she's going to stand up on the table and start yelling. "I live in the here! In the now! Not in some fantasy world with make-believe lands and a –"

"Okay," Hiccup whispers, because she's speaking loud enough that a couple a few tables away is staring at them. Cami looks riled up, so he gestures towards her empty ice cream cup to distract her. "You want some more mint-chip? On me?"

Cami's suddenly breezy again, and she waves a hand carelessly at him. "This date is on me, Hayden, so I'll buy you some more mint-chip." He balks slightly at the word date, and by the time he's gathered up the courage to attempt eye contact again she's already getting up.

"I'm not out of ice cream yet," he says quietly, even though Cami is already halfway across the room and headed towards the counter. She is really short. He's never been one to judge someone on their looks, let alone their height, but… but she's so short! He's 6'1 – 6'1, can you believe it, how weird is that? – and she's… 4'11, maybe? Shorter, possibly. That's… that's just such a height difference. How would they even kiss?

He closes his eyes as he attempts to block that thought out. He is not going there. But, still… he wishes Cami were a little taller. Tall enough for him not to feel like a giant around her. What's a good height difference, anyway? Eight inches, tops?

How tall is Astrid? 5'7? 5'6? It's not like he's ever walked up to her with a tape measure, but he figures that's about right. She's a good height for him. Not, like, for him, specifically, but… you know. For some other 6'1 inch tall person. Who isn't him.

He's having such a hard time convincing himself that he doesn't care how tall Astrid is that he's actually relieved when Cami comes back to the table with another cup of ice cream for him. He hadn't felt like ordering a cone, because he somehow can't imagine eating messily in front of his supposed soulmate like he had in front of Astrid, so he picks up his spoon again and starts working rather miserably on his suddenly unappetizing frozen treat.

If she were someone else (but not Astrid, who he is still not thinking about at all) he'd probably be making ice cream puns right now. He'd say something like 'I can tell our relationship is gonna be a rocky road'. And when it was time to go, he'd say 'I guess I'd better (banana) split'. And if they had a good time, he'd ask her if she'd want to meet up again, on Sundae. None of which are stellar, exactly, but they're still certainly decent. Why doesn't he feel the urge to tell any of them to her?

Cami watches him, uncharacteristically silent (or at least he thinks it's uncharacteristic of her, it's certainly the first time she's been quiet so far) as he more plays with his food than eats it. There's an awkward quietness for a moment before Hiccup determines that she must be waiting for him to express his gratitude for bringing him ice cream, and he says, "Thanks."

"No problem," Cami says, looking very nearly as anxious as he feels, but also looking like she's trying to hide it. It occurs to him that maybe she'd left the table to compose herself, and that maybe she's just as freaked out as he is. This is kind of a big deal.

He stiffens his resolve. "So what do you like to do for fun?"

Cami brightens instantly. "Oh, I fence."

Hiccup nearly chokes on a spoonful of ice cream. "You fence?"

"Yeah! It's like sword-fighting, but, you know… less lethal." She says the last part like it's a concession – like she'd much rather engage in a sport that occasionally ended in mortal wounds – and Hiccup can't help but smile. She's harmless-looking blonde girl who's actually secretly violent. It reminds him of – wait, no, it doesn't. Not at all.

And then suddenly his heart rate triples because he remembers. He remembers a blonde girl on the playground nearly fifteen years ago. She'd been… she'd been shoving some kid for taking her spot on the swing set, and Hiccup had been watching them with mild relief because he'd been considering sitting down on the vacated swing himself. She'd been short, and her hair had been long, and he thinks she'd had blue eyes.

"Hayden?" Cami says, waving a hand in front of his face. "Hey, come on, don't look like that, I'm not going to make you fence with me or anything. Unless you're up for it, of course…"

"No, no, that's okay," Hiccup says absently, and then realizes that she's still calling him Hayden. No one calls him Hayden, except for his granddad and that's just because he's Hayden Harrison Haddock the Second and he doesn't want to lose the honor of having his grandson named after him. Hiccup protested it for a while, but they finally reached a compromise where his granddad gets to call him Hayden as long as Hiccup gets to call him Old Wrinkly.

Cami is neither old nor wrinkly, so Hiccup says, "I actually don't really go by Hayden." If this girl really is his soulmate – and it's looking like she is, if he observes the situation purely objectively – then he doesn't want her calling him by a title he barely recognizes for the rest of his life,

"You don't? Wait, do you really go by Hayden Harrison Haddock the Third? I thought you were kidding…"

Hiccup laughs nervously. "Uh, no, I just… I have a nickname. Hiccup."

"Hiccup?" Cami questions, looking rather bemused. He's so used to going by his nickname that he'd almost forgotten how strange it is. Almost. "Why?"

"Oh, you know. Elementary school," Hiccup says vaguely. Cami seems to accept it.

"Alright then, Hiccup. What do you like to do?"

"Uh, I – I draw. And, uh – invent things. Sometimes. When I feel like it."

"Ah," Cami says, and kicks her legs under the table. One of them bangs into his prosthetic foot, and she frowns as she appears to practice some tact and not ask him how he lost it.

"Fire," Hiccup blurts out. Cami looks at him. "I, uh, the leg. Fire. A few years ago."

"Oh," Cami says. There's… there's nothing else to say, really. What do they talk about? Cami is clearly a chatty person, but she's being strangely quiet. He gets the feeling they're thinking the same thing.

"There's no way we're soulmates," Hiccup says aloud, his mouth moving without conscious permission from his brain. He's about to crawl under the table and die, but then Cami surprises him by grinning.

"I know, right? It's not that you're not nice, but…"

"Yeah," Hiccup agrees. They're just not… clicking. Sure, it's not like it always happens right away with soulmates, and it's always pretty awkward in the beginning, but sometimes you can just tell. And Hiccup can tell.

"I didn't see anyone else, though," Cami says, frowning. Hiccup mulls that over. Maybe her soulmate really is Astrid, which would actually suck a lot… or maybe –

Oh. No way.

Yes way, the gods seem to say, because at that moment Snotlout and his two favorite cronies, Ruffnut and Tuffnut (great for holding people down) walk in through the door. Snotlout's glancing nervously at his timer, looking green the face, and the twins are engaged in a raucous argument about what appears to be ice cream flavor preferences.

Hiccup groans. How had he forgotten that Snotlout had been in the hall earlier? And that he had turned nineteen last week? He'd been held back a year for failing math (or was it history? Hiccup can never remember) and now that Hiccup is thinking about it, Snotlout had mentioned at their last reluctant family dinner that his timer was almost up. He could've spared himself this entire awkward interaction by just not being an idiot and working out the fact that Snotlout is Cami's soulmate. Not him.

Duh.

"Oi, Snotlout!" Hiccup calls, to get his attention, and his cousin looks up. Hiccup gestures vaguely to Cami, and Snotlout frowns, then glances down at his watch and goes very pale. Hiccup is rather pleased at how freaked out he looks, but then he realizes how mean that is and pushes down the impulse to smirk.

"What are you doing?" Cami asks, and follows his gaze. "Isn't that the jerk who pushed you in the hallway?"

"I wouldn't call him that if I were you," Hiccup says wryly. Cami looks at him, then goes very wide-eyed and directs her stare back onto Snotlout.

Snotlout walks towards the table. Hiccup grins, folds his arms behind his back, and enjoys the show.

… … …

Hiccup gets home around four, and his elation fades at around the same time. Sure, it'd been great watching Cami lecture Snotlout on using his superior athletic abilities for heroism rather than bullying, and yeah, he'd thoroughly appreciated the twins laughing at his cousin's expense, and maybe he'd even been a little bit happy for the brand new couple-to-be when they'd started arguing about which sport was more violent (Snotlout said football, Cami backed hockey), but now he's alone and faced with the realization that he is still as soulmate-less as ever.

He sighs and collapses on the couch. He should've stayed a little longer, things were just getting interesting… Cami had pulled out her cell phone to compare yearly injury stats for their respective sports, and Snotlout had been looking at her like she was a Valkyrie or something. It's a match made in Valhalla, for sure… or maybe in Hel, Hiccup's torn. But the point is that he, Hiccup Haddock the Third, doesn't have a Valkyrie and he is not okay with that.

And yet…

And yet.

What if Cami had been his soulmate, anyway? She's not, obviously, but what if… what if she had been? What would he have done? Would he have gone out with her, would he have married her, would he have had kids with her one day? Not because he particularly liked her or wanted to be with her, but because the gods had dictated it so?

Would he have?

Hiccup is a man (yes, a MAN) of science, or as much of a man of science as he can be when everyone in the world is born with a soulmate timer from the gods on their wrist. He is a man of reason and logic and… and integrity. Why would he spend the rest of his life walking along the lines of what the gods had written out just to… to what, to please them? He's can't even really please his parents, why would he want to attempt to please the gods?

Hiccup sighs and drapes his elbow over his eyes. This is all irrelevant, anyway, because Cami's not his soulmate and whoever his soulmate is will be fantastic. It's not that he doesn't believe in fate, it's just that…

Well.

It's stupid.

It's very stupid, but… but if his fate doesn't involve Astrid, who he's been secretly thinking about the entire day, then he'd really rather have nothing to do with fate at all.

And Hiccup is literally the king of dumbassery – if his dad is the mayor of Berk then Hiccup is the mayor of berks – but this is a bit much, even for him. Denouncing fate and the gods and destiny and whatever because he's got an unrequited teenage crush on a girl that will obviously (obviously) fade in time transcends stupidity and hops right up to idiocy.

Really, he doesn't want him and Astrid to be together… that much. He just wants her to be in his life. That's not too unreasonable, is it?

Toothless yowls, because the first thing Hiccup usually does when he gets home is feed him. Hiccup gets up off the couch, drags himself to the kitchen, and opens up a can of wet food for his ever-helpful cat.

As he empties some expensive but seriously gross-looking cat food into Toothless's bowl, Hiccup realizes that he and Toothless are friends. And he really likes being Toothless's friend. And – and why not try it with Astrid?

So that's settled, then. Inner musings about letting the gods rule his future aside, he is going to be Astrid's friend.

Friends.

He can do that.

... … …

Hiccup: hey Astrid, you want to work on our project today? like now?

Astrid: Aren't you busy?

Hiccup: nope :) u up 4 it?

Astrid: We could meet up at the library at five and work there.

Hiccup: ok…

Astrid: I can't pick you up, you'll have to get a ride.

Hiccup: oh. sure. see u soon?

Astrid: Later.

Hiccup can't stop frowning at the text conversation as he sits in the passenger's seat on the ride to the library. It's very… curt. And formal. Sure, Astrid's texts are almost always perfectly typed out, but they've at least got a joking tinge to them. These are like… these are funeral texts. And she's not putting the 'fun' in 'funeral'. He wonders if something bad happened.

"Alright," his mom says, as they pull into the parking lot. Astrid's car is already there. "What time do you want me to pick you up?"

"I'll call you when I'm ready to go," Hiccup assures her. Val Haddock frowns.

"What time does the library close, again?"

"Not until eight, Mom."

She bites her lip. "I have some paperwork, I might not be able to get here until 8:30…"

"Mom. I can wait."

"I don't like the idea of you out in the dark…"

"Mom," Hiccup says firmly, and she sighs. She's not quite as bad as his dad, but she still worries way too much about him. "I'll be fine." He gives her a gracious kiss on the cheek and practically dashes inside, because he hasn't talked to Astrid all day.

She's at a round table near the front of the library, and he grins as he sits down next to her. It feels great, having come to terms with what he wants them to be. Friends. Well, it doesn't feel great, and he doesn't exactly want to be friends, but he does feel better about accepting what their relationship is.

"Hey," he greets her. She slams the book she'd been reading shut with enough force that it makes a bang like a gunshot, and a librarian does that classic 'shh' thing from behind the counter.

"Wow," Hiccup says, still smiling rather stupidly and trying to ignore how stony Astrid's face is. "You take the phrase hitting the books to a whole new level."

Astrid doesn't even acknowledge his sad attempt at a joke. "We should get started," she says briskly, and Hiccup can't help but feel slightly offended. Sure, it hadn't been his best material, but it wasn't bad.

…Okay, well, it wasn't horrible.

…Okay, well it wasn't the worst joke he'd ever told. Remember the cat puns? Yeah, a little play on words with books is definitely not the lowest he can go.

"So, what are you reading?" he asks lightly, in a vain attempt to bring the atmosphere out of the dark deep pit it seems to have fallen into. Astrid shoves the book into her backpack but otherwise ignores him.

How polite.

"You looked pretty absorbed in it when I came in," Hiccup says, attempting to peer into her bag but giving up when she tucks it under the table. "Was it a book about mazes? Because I really got lost in one of those once."

Astrid wordless opens her laptop and, okay, something is definitely wrong here. That joke was gold! It was right up there with the classic coffee pun 'this coffee tastes like dirt because it was just ground'! How is Astrid not smiling?

Feeling just a little bit desperate, Hiccup tacks on, "Or is it a book about anti-gravity? I know those are just impossible to put down." Astrid finally acknowledges that he's telling her jokes, but not exactly in a good way.

"Look, Hiccup," she says flatly, so monotone that it almost makes him wince. "If we actually work on this project, for once, we can finish it today. And then we can never talk to each other again, and gods knows that would be nice. So please, just for right now, focus."

Ooouuuch.

It's a good thing he'd given up any and all ideas of a romance with Astrid earlier, because ouch. What if he'd come in here planning to tell her that he wanted to be with her even if they weren't soulmates (and he'd considered it, in secret) only to have her shoot him down like that before he could even say anything? Talk about a knife to the heart.

As it is, it still kind of feels like he's bleeding out from internal injuries at her words. He'd just come to the conclusion that he wants her in his life, for Odin's sake, and now she's saying that she never wants to talk to him again? He'll say it again: ooouuuch.

He offers her a weak smile, though, because she doesn't owe him anything, and gets his own laptop out of his book bag.

"Did you do those calculations I asked you to do?" she queries as he brings up Excel. He nods and digs around in his bag for them.

"Yeah, got 'em. Algebraic explanation of the ideal number of years required for carbon dating to be as accurate as possible."

"Thanks," Astrid says, and he watches how she focuses on not letting their hands brush as he hands her the paper.

"You might want to double check them, though, I suck at math." Which isn't strictly true – math is a big part of science and, well, Hiccup is a science nerd – but he figures if he did make a mistake and it brings down their grade by even half a percentage, Astrid will kill him. At least this way it's not technically his fault.

"Yeah, right," Astrid huffs, looking over his work. "This is perfect."

She doesn't say it in a way that's particularly complimentary – in fact, it comes off kind of grudging and bitter. Hiccup sinks down in his seat. "I guess I just got lucky this time."

"There's no luck involved in math, Hiccup."

Because Hiccup is an idiotic masochist who thrives off of making people angry through rebellion, he says, "There must be, because I usually can't even do simple equations. Even 2n plus 2n is 4n to me."

Astrid pauses, and he swears he sees the shadow of a smile tug at the corners of her lips for a moment. Really, he swears. On his one good leg. It's there.

But only for a moment.

"Seriously?" she snaps, sounding more resigned than angry at his antics. Hiccup sighs and turns his focus back onto his laptop, officially having given up on his make-Astrid-laugh-or-even-smile-slightly campaign, and manages to get lost in the bar graphs and line charts of their presentation. It's so quiet that he can almost pretend he's in his room, with both of his parents out, except for the fact that it's a lot cleaner and there's no cat sabotaging his work by lying on the keyboard and begging for a belly rub. Even though cats aren't even supposed to like belly rubs. Stupid Toothless.

They work in rather uncompanionable silence for about half an hour before Astrid leans back and rubs at her eyes. "I have to go to the bathroom," she announces, and Hiccup watches her leave in the peripheral of his vision but doesn't say or do anything.

Hiccup is a prying and curious individual at heart – that is, he's unbearably nosy – and once he's sure that Astrid is out of sight, he ducks under the table and takes out her backpack to take a look at what she'd been reading when he came in. He wouldn't be snooping if he thought it were anything actually personal or important, but he's sure it's just some random book that she doesn't really care if he sees. But not knowing has been driving him crazy.

He reads the title, and it's… Unusual Soulmate Timer Cases of the 20th Century, Vol. 3. Hiccup frowns. Why would Astrid be reading this? He notes a dog-eared page and flips to it.

The section Astrid's marked is about a girl named Hannah Grayson, born 1923, who claimed while she was alive that her soulmate timer zeroed out on someone who had already found their soulmate. Assuming that it wasn't some sort of mistake, she would be one of the rare and unlucky people who suffered from something called unrequited soulmatism – when someone is your soulmate, but you're not theirs.

Hiccup stares at the page. What does this even mean? Unrequited soulmatism is kind of like a medical myth, as the entire concept of soulmates is that you complete each other's soul, which leans upon the basis that everyone has one specific match – why is Astrid reading about this? How is unrequited soulmatism even relevant to her life? They're in the same honors English class, so it's not like it's a school assignment or anything…

Hiccup puts the book back and climbs back into his chair. Astrid's not back yet, thank the gods, and he attempts to absorb himself back into his Excel project. He can't.

Does Astrid… does Astrid think she doesn't have a soulmate or something? Is that why she seems so miserable? Does she think she zeroed out on someone who has a different soulmate? Why would she assume that? That's ridiculous, who wouldn't want Astrid as their soulmate?

He starts working on a Toothless pie chart to take his mind off of it, and he's trying to work out whether the cat has more tuna or snarkiness in him when Astrid comes back. She peers over his shoulder and sighs when she sees what he's doing, but apparently decides it's not worth the trouble to lecture him on it.

"I'd add a space for cuteness, if I were you," she says as she sits back down, and Hiccup grins at her. She's talking to him again, score!

"But then where would I put diabolical?" he poses. Astrid rolls her eyes before focusing her gaze back on her laptop, which isn't exactly friendly but is definitely very Astrid. Hiccup decides it's a win.

They work in a remotely more comfortable manner for the next couple of hours – it's still silent, but more… relaxed – with Hiccup switching in between his school graphs and his Toothless one, and Astrid working diligently on the brushing up of their written speech.

It's only once it's nearing eight o'clock that Hiccup finally gathers up the nerve to breach the subject he hasn't quite been able to stop thinking about all evening. "Hey, Astrid, I, uh… I saw your book."

Astrid snaps her eyes up to him. "What?"

"The, uh. The one about the soulmate timer stuff. And unrequited soulmatism."

Astrid's fingers curl dangerously on top of her laptop's keyboard. "Why were you going through my stuff?"

"I wasn't, I –" Hiccup sighs. "Okay, I was, but I – I just wanted to say… you don't have it."

She glares at him. He wonders if she's really going to punch him, here and now, right in the middle of a library. She wouldn't… would she? That would make quite a scene… "I don't have what? A project partner who minds his own business?"

He flushes. "No, you – well, you don't have that either, but I just meant – you'll find your soulmate. Someday. I know it." He offers her his trademark Hiccup-grin, lopsided and goofy, and Astrid's anger seems to dissipate.

"Easy for you to say," she says, looking rather depressed. "You already found your soulmate."

Hiccup's smile freezes. "What?"

"You know. That girl. Cami." Astrid's face is dark. "You seem really happy about it."

"Oh, I –" Had he really forgotten to mention the rather crucial detail of Cami not being his soulmate? It'd all been so surreal, he'd barely even remembered that Astrid was there when it happened. "She wasn't my soulmate."

Astrid's entire demeanor suddenly changes; she goes from slumped and tired-looking to instantly alert in about a quarter of a second. "She what?"

"Yeah, she saw Snotlout. Weird, right? Snotlout!" He shakes his head. "At least he won't be hitting on you anymore, right?"

"I – yeah," Astrid says, looking very taken aback. "So – so you – why didn't you tell me?"

"I was going to," he throws at her, which is totally true. If she'd been talking to him, he definitely would have brought up the whole thing. "But you said you wanted to finish the project and never speak again and I kind of took that to mean you didn't want to know."

"…Right," Astrid says, her cheeks and neck turning faintly red. Which is adorable. "Sorry. About that."

"And I'm sorry I looked for your stuff," he offers. Astrid's suddenly smiling at him – a little, suppressed smile, like she's holding back a bigger one, and it's so genuine that he feels like he's floating.

"I liked your math pun," she says through her grin. Hiccup throws his hands up and mimes praising Valhalla.

"Thank you, finally. I'd been saving that one for weeks and you totally stomped it down."

"Sorry," Astrid says again, not looking very sorry at all. What's with her, anyway? One minute she's all cold and cut off and the next she's… this. Which is not to say he doesn't like this. He likes this very much.

Astrid's smile suddenly drops. "Are you… okay?" she asks, searching his face for something, although he has no idea what.

"Yeah, of course. Why?"

"I mean… you thought you found your soulmate… and… you know…"

"Oh. Nah, I'm fine, she was a fencer."

Astrid laughs. "A fencer?"

"Yeah. Can you imagine? One minute we're fighting over laundry and the next she's impaled me on her saber. I think I'll let Snotlout take that one, thanks."

"So… you're not upset at all?" Astrid looks to be in a very good mood, which Hiccup doesn't exactly get, but it's still ridiculously contagious. He grins back at her.

"Not a bit. I have a soulmate, I just…" He considers telling her his inner conflict of sorts, the one about not relying on the gods for answers, but decides against it. "I haven't found her yet."

Astrid stares at him. "You sure about that?"

And before he can ask her what the Hel that's supposed to mean, Astrid's leaning over the table and proving that she doesn't mind causing scenes in libraries. Except that she doesn't punch him. Gods, she doesn't punch him. She opposite-of-punches him.

As Astrid Hofferson gently grabs his face and kisses him, Hiccup thinks (quite eloquently, considering the situation), oh.

… … …

Hey guys, sorry I couldn't post this sooner but I'm literally so behind in school right now because of my lack of internet D: I spent the whole weekend catching up and doing two huge projects for financial accounting but I finally managed to get this down last night 'round 3 AM. I was really tired and I did it in an hour so I know it came out weird and disjointed but hopefully the hiccstrid kiss was okay? more details on that next chap btw :D

Thanks so so much for the reviews guys! I totally flipped when they got up to 360… AHA get it? because… a 360… is a flip… so… I flipped… aha… I'm so sorry…