Well hello there! Despite this series' popularity, I've gotten caught up in other projects and before I knew it, it had been NINE DAYS and I hadn't even started the next one-shot. Shame on me! The funny thing is, I've been planning this one for a few days after getting a request from Bright Eyes Illusionist. So now is the time to write! My deepest apologies for the lateness. Special thanks to Miss Pookamonga because I read some of the stuff she wrote and it improved my descriptions (we're each other's secret weapon).

I got a question for my male fans of this story. Please PM me if you're a guy and don't mind answering it.

~KateMarie999

Body Heat

Hiccup was excited.

No, excited wasn't the right word. Deliriously happy perhaps? Euphoric? Something along those lines. Astrid Hofferson had finally decided to go out with him. Alone. No dragons. No twins or Snotlout or Fishlegs. Completely and utterly alone with him. And he was trembling with nerves now.

Get a grip, Hiccup, he thought furiously. You've known Astrid your whole life.

But this was different. After years of tension and random kisses that they would pretend never happened, he had finally gotten up the courage to ask Astrid on a proper date and she had said yes. The most beautiful word in the world.

He had been so excited, he hadn't been able to form proper words and so he'd said something along the lines of "AiiiieeeeegaaaahhhREALLY?" which had caused Astrid to fall over laughing. He wasn't sure what he had been expecting but it wasn't a yes. Definitely not a yes. He had steeled himself against a no and had prepared for a maybe but a yes? He hadn't considered that.

And after a whole week of planning it was finally time. Hiccup had taken a bath the previous night (after pushing a few objects against the door to keep out surprise visitors) and had tried combing his hair in a way that looked more presentable. But his hair was stubborn and had fallen to its normal style no matter what he did with it. And then he'd done his best to wash his clothes. This resulted in an emergency dyeing of his green shirt, which had turned white when he realized, too late, that he'd used the wrong kind of soap on it. Then he'd had to wash it again. It smelled quite potent now that it had been washed twice but at least it was a somewhat pleasant smell.

And now Astrid would be there any minute. Hiccup help up a hand and was somewhat amused to notice that it was noticeably shaking. He exchanged looks with his dragon, who had been watching his owner's nervous energy over the last few hours.

"This is it, Toothless." he said, gently stroking the Night Fury's neck. "Astrid and I… me and Astrid… we're actually doing something official. Maybe romantic. Does my breath smell okay?"

Toothless gave him an exasperated look and Hiccup felt slightly embarrassed for voicing that last question. The dragon lay down and lazily watched the unfolding scene. Hiccup jumped up and began to pace back and forth, clasping his hands behind his back.

And then he heard a knock at the door. For a moment, he was frozen, unable to do anything at all. Then he couldn't stop himself from moving. He shot over to the door, took a second to compose himself, and opened it.

And then his body turned to lead. His heart stopped beating. He was unable to draw breath. Because there, a foot away from him, was the most beautiful sight in the world. Astrid looked almost as though she was glowing. Her hair was mostly down with a small section tied back to keep her bangs out of her face (this was completely ineffective as several strands of hair still fell in front of her eyes) and her lovely golden hair cascaded down her back and over her shoulders. Her beautiful blue eyes sparkled with excitement. Her smooth, pink lips stretched into a small smile.

"Hey." she said breathlessly, almost as if she had been ogling a bit as well.

"Hey." Hiccup replied with the tiny bit of breath he had left.

He took a few steps aside to allow the radiant woman to step forward into the house. She seemed to light up the surroundings, waves of pulchritude emanating from her and making Hiccup feel warm inside.

And it wasn't just Hiccup who was feeling this way. Astrid wasn't sure what it was about the gangly young man who had appeared at the door that took her breath away but the mystery was something that didn't concern her at the moment. As long as she always felt that way when he was around, she would be happy. He gave her his trademark lopsided smile and she knew he was gawking at her as much as she was gawking at him. This thought was simultaneously more and less awkward than the thought of only one of them staring at the other, heart racing and breaths coming in short gasps.

For a few moments which felt like ages, they simply drank in the vision of each other. Of course they had seen each other all over the village for years but now that there was an element of intentional romance, it was completely different.

Astrid snapped herself out of her reverie first. "So what did you have planned?" she asked.

Hiccup's mouth opened but no sound came out. Well, that wasn't strictly true. There was a faint squeaking coming from this throat but he couldn't seem to find his voice. Astrid, overwhelmed with how adorable this was, decided to save him.

"Well let's see… there's blankets, a basket of food… were you going to take us on a picnic? At night?"

Hiccup's voice finally came back. "Yes!" he shouted far too loudly, almost as if his voice had been building in his throat before bursting through. He coughed awkwardly. "I mean yeah. I was thinking of camping out and watching the Star Shower."

The Star Shower was a strange kind of phenomenon that happened on Berk a few times a year in which one could watch a bunch of shooting stars falling in the sky for a few minutes on one specific end of the island. It had been quite convenient that it was time for another one at that very moment. Astrid looked delighted at this prospect and, scooping up the blankets and allowing Hiccup to pick up the basket, she smiled at him.

"Well then let's go." she said, taking his hand in hers and leading them out of the door.

The trek to the part of the island in which the Star Shower was most visible took nearly an hour. Rather than talk to each other, Hiccup and Astrid felt like simply enjoying each other's company. There was no need for words. Hiccup held Astrid's hand tightly in his, marveling at how warm he felt all over, not just in the hand, despite the bitter coldness of the weather outside. A few flurries of snow were sprinkling down on them when they finally arrived at the field in which the Star Shower was most visible. They were quite pleased to find themselves alone there.

"Didn't know you were such a romantic." Astrid said as she spread out the blanket.

Hiccup shrugged. "I try." he said.

He lay down on the blanket, not feeling the least bit hungry, and stretched out, excitedly waiting for the Star Shower to begin. Astrid stared at him for a moment before joining him. The look of peace and pure bliss on his face was intoxicating. Though if she didn't join him soon, he'd probably give those big, sad eyes and she would melt right then and there. She snuggled into him, allowing his body heat to warm her on the outside (goodness knows she was warm enough on the inside). He gently tightened his hold on her shoulders and didn't even notice his arm steadily growing numb.

The Star Shower began with a tiny little star shooting suddenly into the dark sky. Astrid smiled and snuggled closer to Hiccup as a few more stars flew through the sky. Their breaths rose lazily and blew away in the light breeze, slightly obscuring the spectacle. They were beginning to get a bit cold by the end of the Shower and so they huddled together as they packed up their stuff at last.

Neither Viking knew much about this end of the island. In fact, most people avoided it. There was a strange chill that sometimes hung over it and on nights without Star Showers, no one came near that field. Hiccup never knew why this was the case but he didn't want to hang around and find out.

Inevitably, this was the night both he and Astrid discovered the reason people avoided this section of the island. Just as they were nearly finished packing up their things, they felt the ground shake beneath them.

"What was that?" Astrid asked him.

Hiccup looked around and saw nothing in particular. The atmosphere was getting colder by the second.

"I don't know. We better get out of…"

He wasn't able to finish that sentence. This was partially because he was interrupted and partially because the interruption was so surprising that he wouldn't have been able to string any words together at all.

A monstrous dragon, about the size of a Boneknapper, towered before them. Its scales were an icy blue color and its eyes nearly glowing white. It was covered in what looked like icicles and it did not look happy. Hiccup and Astrid prepared themselves for its fiery breath but it never came. Instead it breathed what appeared to be half frozen water. It missed them by inches but the dragon still continued to chase them, letting out a deafening roar.

"Holy Thor, what is that thing?" Astrid shrieked, running as fast as she could toward the trees.

"Whatever it is, I don't want to find out now!" Hiccup shouted back as they finally reached the trees.

The dragon stopped chasing them and began to walk around the field again. Not at all certain as to why the dragon was so protective of the field, they edged back and realized, with a jolt, that they had run in the wrong direction.

The forest that led back to Berk was on the opposite end of the field. A glacier obscured one end while a steep cliff ended it on the other. They were trapped in an unfamiliar forest and there was no way they would get past such a large dragon without their own dragons to help them. And, naturally, they had left their supplies in the field. For a moment, they silently stared at the irritated dragon.

"We are so stupid." Astrid said at last, voicing exactly Hiccup's thoughts as well.

"Not going to argue with you there." he replied, rubbing his arms to keep warm.

"We're going to have to sleep out here and hope the dragon is gone by morning. Think it's nocturnal? It looks nocturnal… I hope." Astrid muttered just loud enough for Hiccup to hear.

He wasn't really sure how something could look nocturnal but it wasn't the right time to ask such a trivial question. They had to explore the forest, perhaps find someplace to sleep. Maybe some firewood.

Hiccup marveled as Astrid, true to form, pulled no less than six daggers from her person.

"Where do you keep them all?" he asked his friend, who smirked at him and didn't answer.

She handed Hiccup a good sized dagger and used the biggest one to cut down branches so that they could light a fire. They worked silently, always keeping each other within earshot. For some reason, neither wanted to stray too far from the other. Perhaps it was the near death experience they'd had but they were feeling a bit jumpy and their companionship kept them calm. They periodically checked the field but, to their great dismay, the dragon had curled up right in the middle and they were unsure of whether or not it was asleep.

"Dad's going to kill me." Hiccup muttered as he chopped down a branch in one swift movement. "Out all night with you, I don't even want to think about where his mind is going to go."

To his great surprise, Astrid seemed to find this comment hilarious. He glanced at her, eyebrow raised, as she doubled over and clutched her stomach, trying to keep her laughter quiet.

"It's just… it's you. I don't think he's got anything to worry about. And the idea of… I'm sorry, it's not that funny." she said, wiping tears of mirth out of her eyes.

"Hey, what woman wouldn't want a chance to have all of… all of this?" Hiccup winked at her as he gestured to his gangly body.

"Cave." said Astrid, looking over his shoulder.

"I… what?"

"We can sleep in the cave." she pointed and he turned around to find himself facing a small cave.

Hiccup breathed a sigh of relief. At first he was certain she was making some sort of derogatory comment about him but he wasn't sure how it connected to caves. This made a lot more sense.

"Right. Yes, the cave. It's going to be freezing." he said without thinking.

They looked at each other and a sort of light clicked on in both of their heads. In order to survive this, they were going to have to cuddle. And not like they'd done in front of the stars, oh no, they were going to have to depend on each other for survival. Hiccup tried to smile but it came across as even more lopsided than usual. Even though he was quite smitten with the girl, he didn't want to get too intimate too soon. Then again, this was survival, not romance. Or was it?

"I know what you're thinking." Astrid said, picking up the firewood she had collected. "It's not like that."

"Like… oh no… no, not like… not at all." Hiccup stammered, picking up his firewood letting her enter the cave first.

"It's just survival."

"Of course."

"Means nothing."

"Nothing at all."

"Okay then."

They stared at each other for a few seconds before they dropped the firewood onto the ground and began to attempt to light a fire. Their hands were numb by the time the fire finally sparked to life. For a while, they watched the flickering flames in silence, feeling incredibly awkward. As far as first dates went, this one was certainly memorable.

"Sorry this didn't work out." Hiccup said at last, still staring into the flames.

Astrid punched him on the shoulder.

"Ow! Why would you do that?" he exclaimed, rubbing the now bruised area of his skin.

"Hiccup, if there's one thing I know about you, it's that things tend to go wrong when you're around." Astrid grinned at the look of confusion he was giving her. "But even when they do go wrong, it makes for an interesting story. Why should tonight be any different?"

Hiccup realized with a start that he had been holding his breath. He exhaled through his teeth, creating a soft hissing noise.

"Well one day everything is going to go right. Just once. Maybe." he replied, tentatively lifting an arm to place around her shoulders.

"I hope not. It's one of the things I like about you." Astrid whispered.

She gently lowered her head onto his shoulder, which irritated the bruise she had just left. He barely registered the pain. His heart skipped a beat. Or maybe two. He wasn't sure his heart was beating at all. Wait… there it was, thudding loudly in his eardrums. Astrid could hear it and she found it quite soothing. She thought back to when they had been cuddling right after Thawfest, when he had blurted out that he loved her. She had nearly fallen asleep on him then too. She hoped he wouldn't express a similar sentiment now. She was just getting comfortable and she needed his body heat to survive. She had no choice but to stay with him no matter how awkward things got.

"Astrid…"

Oh boy. Here it came. Astrid steeled herself against the wave of discomfort that would soon wash over her. Please don't let him say anything stupid, please, Thor, just this once…

"Sweet dreams."

Astrid smiled and closed her eyes. The fire's warmth was very comfortable but heat radiating off of Hiccup made her feel safe. And, just as she was thinking about how wonderful she felt, she drifted off to sleep, dreaming things she wouldn't dare tell him for a long, long time.

Astrid's breathing became slower and Hiccup could tell that she had fallen asleep. Very slowly, he lowered her head onto his lap so that she could be even more comfortable. She looked so beautiful in the firelight. He had never noticed how long her eyelashes were but now he saw them, he felt his heart melt a little bit at how lovely she looked with her eyes shut. He had always loved the cool blue color of her eyes but this was different. This look of serenity was rare for her and, in that moment, he promised himself that he would work as hard as he could to make sure she always had a reason to be safe. Because that was his job. And it was the most wonderful job in the world.

It wasn't as though he needed to sleep. Aside from dozing off a few times, Hiccup remained vigilant so that Astrid would sleep soundly without any interruptions. To his great surprise, nothing came to interrupt them at all during the night. He kept the fire going as long as he could and then, just as the sun was rising over the clouds, he gently shook her awake.

"Just a few more minutes, Stormfly." Astrid groaned.

She reached down to pull the nonexistent blankets over her head. Instead she grabbed Hiccup's hand. Her eyes shot open.

"You're not Stormfly." she said, looking up at Hiccup in surprise. "What are you doing in my room? Wait… I'm not in my room…"

And then she remembered the previous night. She quickly let go of his hand, smiling at the thought of how ridiculous she had probably sounded.

"Sorry, Hiccup." she slowly sat up. "Were you able to sleep?"

Hiccup grinned at her. "Don't worry about me. I don't need sleep."

She narrowed her eyes at him. "Hiccup…"

"Don't fret, Astrid, I'll take a nap when I get home." he watched her stand up and took her hand when she extended it to him.

"Right well let's hope that ice dragon has left its field." Astrid whispered to him and they tiptoed out of the cave.

The dragon was gone, thankfully, but their supplies were destroyed. Ignoring the growling in their stomachs, they took a few steps forward when they were violently startled.

"There you are!" They looked up to see Stoick atop Thornado, looking down at them. "Been looking for you all morning. Where were you?"

"We got a bit trapped." said Hiccup, feeling a bit dizzy from lack of sleep.

"We're fine." Astrid continued. "Though a ride home would be nice."

Stoick gave them a very firm look before allowing them to climb onto his dragon's back. "Don't do that again, son. Especially not with a woman."

"Nothing happened, dad…"

"I mean it."

Hiccup threw up his hands. "Okay, okay, I get it."

Thornado deposited Hiccup and Astrid in the middle of the village a few minutes later. They looked at each other.

"Well that was fun." Astrid said, now focusing on his shoulder instead of his face.

Hiccup bit his lip. "Yeah it was."

They were silent again, now not meeting each other's gaze. Astrid took a deep breath.

"We should do this again sometime."

Hiccup's heart began its loud drumming against his ears now but he tried to act casual. "Yes we should. Well…"

"Well…"

"See you later, Astrid." He said, beginning to turn away from her.

Astrid immediately grabbed the front of his shirt and pulled him in for a kiss. When it was over, she smiled at how wide his eyes had become.

"I'll see you around, Hiccup."

And with that, she spun around on her heel and walked away. Hiccup watched her retreating form, forcing himself to not stare at her too hard, and felt as though all the air in his lungs suddenly vanished. And then, without noticing he was doing it, he began to skip merrily all the way home.