Just a warning, there is quite a lot of chat room speak in this one, so sorry if you guys don't like it but it's necessary to the story and I like how awkward things can be over a chat room haha so please bear with it thank you J
When Astrid had finished changing into a comfortable pair of sweats and a t-shirt, she logged onto her laptop where her Mebook page stood proud, and she saw some pictures had been uploaded by Elizabeth. She quickly decided to check them out and what she saw made her mouth gape. She was at a sleepover with Heather, Amir and Hendrick, and she and Heather were lounging on some pillows against the sofa with bowls of popcorn, the picture was obviously taken by one of the guys, but then there was one of Hendrick. His back against the sofa and sporting some hot abs since he wasn't wearing a t-shirt, when did Hendrick get muscles and a six-pack? The sight of him made her hot and bothered and that had happened with many guys she'd seen. She suddenly found herself wondering what the rest of him looked like, after all, he may have had a six-pack on his chest but he was still skinny in body size she wondered if it was the same in all aspects. But she quickly pushed that thought from her mind, she was trying to be friends with him, not fuck him as soon as they're in the same town. Then she saw that she had a message on her Mebook from said hot person.
Hendrick: HEY ASTRID
Astrid:HEY HENDRICK J
Hendrick: HOW ARE YOU? J
Astrid: I'M GOOD, WHAT ABOUT YOU?
Hendrick: I'M GOOD, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?
"Thinking about you and your six-pack." Astrid told herself, but she refused to type it as she thought of an answer that didn't involve telling her ex-boyfriend that she was sort of stalking him.
Astrid: JUST FINISHED MAKING COOKIES
Hendrick: YUM! HAHA. ANYWAY, SORRY IT'S SHORT I'VE GOT TO GO I'M MEANT TO BE AT A SLEEPOVER WITH MY FRIENDS. SO I'LL TALK TO YOU IN THE MORNING, OKAY?
Astrid: OKAY, NIGHT HENDRICK
Hendrick:GOODNIGHT ASTRID J
Hendrick Haddock is now offline
Astrid sat back on her pillows and she smiled. This was a start, Hendrick wanted to talk to her again, everything was working out fine, she just had to make it clear to herself and her head that she was trying to be his friend and then things would be absolutely fine. But who was she kidding; her imagination was already running away from her even as she sat there. She soon went downstairs when she heard the timer for the cooker and she found the cookies happily golden brown and hot as she put them onto the cooling rack.
"Well done Astrid, they look great." Her Aunt told her as she came up behind her.
"Thanks Aunt Sarah." She smiled.
Eventually they had the cookies sorted out onto a plate and the two women were sat in the living room watching television as they waited for Finn to come home from work so that they could watch the baseball game that they had recorded. That was how Astrid spent her night, cheering on her favorite team as they won the baseball against her Uncle's favorite team. She enjoyed the cookies that she and her Aunt had made, and she enjoyed the laughter that it started. When it was over, and her Aunt and Uncle had gone to bed, Astrid put her jacket on and she slid on some shoes, before she walked down to the stable and she smiled at seeing Stormfly wandering around.
"Hey girl, what are you doing?" Astrid asked as she walked over to her dragon.
Stormfly looked at her and she squawked happily, before she nuzzled Astrid, who happily stroked her face.
"Come on, time for some food and then its bed time." Astrid told her, bringing her dragon over to her stall, going past her Aunt's stable which held her Razorwhip, Silver and her Uncle's Changewing that was called Scar due to the scar he had over his left eye.
"Hey Silver, hey Scar." Astrid greeted the two dragons who both gave her a soft growl in greeting, before they both stood and walked over to Astrid who had started setting out baskets of fish.
As the dragons ate, Astrid cleaned up the stable a bit, putting the dragon's things away and then putting away the saddles and brushes before she eventually put away the baskets that they were using to feed the dragons. Then she watched as Silver and Scar went back to their stables and settled down to sleep. When they were both settled, Astrid shut their stable doors, before she walked back to Stormfly who was just settling down on her straw bedding and she stroked her scales a few more times.
"Everything's working out great Stormfly, you're going to love it in the city, the halls are so nice and so are the stables." She told her dragon.
Stormfly just squawked in sleepiness as her owner's stroking started putting her to sleep.
"Good night Stormfly, I'll come and see you before I go to practice in the morning." She smiled at her dragon who nodded sleepily, and Astrid shut her stable door, heading back up to the house. When she was inside, she grabbed herself a hot drink and headed up to bed.
The next morning, she was woken up by her Aunt calling her and telling her that she was going to be late for practice if she didn't hurry up. Quickly grabbing her clothes, and getting dressed, she braided her hair as she ran down the stairs and grabbed the piece of toast that was on the table for her, before she grabbed her car keys and ran towards a small red car that stood outside of her Aunt and Uncle's house and she threw her stuff on the back seat, before she jumped into the driver's side and she drove off towards the sports centre. Getting there, she found her coach setting up the batter stands and she quickly through her sports top on, one she'd parked up, and she ran towards him.
"Hey Gobber." She smiled.
"Ah, hello Astrid." Gobber smiled as he finished setting up for their baseball game.
"Need any help?"
"No thanks Lass, it's all done." He told her. "Hey, Cami told me that you'd gone to her introduction lecture the other day."
"Yeah, but I didn't know that it was Cami who was teaching us." Astrid laughed.
"Aye, she didn't want me to tell you." Gobber told her. "She wanted it to be a surprise for you and young Hendrick."
"Well it as certainly a surprise, especially seeing Hendrick." Astrid mused.
"Aye, you're still smart on him, huh lass?" He asked.
"Yeah…Gobber, do you know if he's coming back here by any chance?" She tried to make out like she didn't really care so much.
"Yeah, he's going to be here in a week, he and Cami are going to be helping me pack up."
"Pack up?" She asked, suddenly confused, why would Gobber be packing up?
"I'm moving down to the city; I got a job as a lecturer for blacksmithing and mechanics. I can stay close to them two if they need me then."
"Awesome, well done Gobber." She smiled.
"Thank you lass, now go and get ready, you're up first."
Astrid smiled and she went to join the other players and she played the sport until the end, impressing Gobber with her skills, but her mind was flashing from the game to Hendrick, he was coming back to Berk, this was amazing.
Days had passed and Astrid wondered if she would even see Hendrick when he came back to help Gobber, she slightly doubted it. However, she was surprised when she was walking through the mall, after getting some things for her Aunt and Uncle, and she saw him sat in the ice cream parlor eating some ice cream. So taking a deep breath, she walked over.
"Hey, mind if I sit here?" She asked.
At hearing her, Hendrick looked up and both of them froze, emerald green eyes locking onto ocean blue ones and he nodded dumbly.
"Go ahead." He told her and he watched as she sat down in front of him.
"On your own?" She asked, nodding to the ice cream in front of him.
"Yeah, Cami asked me to pick up some groceries for Gobber, and I suddenly felt like an ice cream." He looked down at the ice cream; it was big enough for two. "Want some?"
Astrid smiled and went to get a spoon, hey no one turned down free ice cream, and she came back and dug in with him.
"So, how's the city?" Astrid asked between mouthfuls.
"Its fine, there's a lot more people, and a lot more things to do." He told her. "So it's pretty good."
"Your friends seemed nice." She commented.
"Yeah, they're all great fun, Heather especially; she was the first friend I made when I first moved down to the city."
Astrid nodded. "I'm glad that you're okay down there." She smiled.
Hiccup smiled. "So, what about you, how is your time in Berk?"
"It's alright, same old same old really." She shrugged. "Snotlout stopped asking me out for a date after three years of not getting anywhere, and Ruffnut is dating Fishlegs."
"Wow, so a lot of things have changed then?" He asked.
Astrid looked at him and she smiled. A lot certainly had changed between them, and most of it seemed to be for the better. But there was one thing that she really wanted to ask, but found herself to be too scared.
"What's the matter?" Hiccup asked. "Your forehead has creased, you're thinking about something."
Astrid looked at him, she hadn't realized what she had been doing, and she was surprised that he still remembered the signs of her thinking, especially one as specific as that.
"I want to as you something, but I don't want to upset you."
"Ask me anyway." He told her.
Astrid looked at him. "Hendrick, have you talked to your dad at all?"
Looking at him, she saw him tense up, and she soon deflated, she shouldn't have asked, she should have said something else, but as she was about to tell him that it didn't matter, he stopped her.
"I haven't, but Camicazi and I have been talking about it." He told her.
"Really?" She asked.
"Yeah, but I don't know if I want to, just yet." He shrugged. "Why did you ask that anyway?" He asked, rather curiously at that.
"I don't know." She shrugged. "But there is a lot that I want to ask you and a lot that I want to know about you, but I guess I just thought that since he was your reason for leaving Berk, that you'd maybe thought about it at all." She shrugged again. "I know that it was a stupid idea, after all the man done to you, why would you want to speak to him, right?"
Hiccup shrugged. "I'm not entirely sure what I want to do to be honest, but I'm still young, so I don't know what might happen."
Astrid smiled, young he was, she could just make out some muscle from where his t-shirt stuck to his chest and his jacket stayed on his arms, but it wasn't over muscle, just a little bit of muscle.
Eventually, they finished their ice cream and Astrid had to leave, so Hiccup offered to drive her home, since he'd borrowed Vladamir's car to come down here and help Gobber pack and move some things to his new place in the city. So as they drove, Astrid seemed pretty impressed, and on the way home, they asked each other simple questions, such as what they liked doing and what they wanted to be in the future, for Astrid it was a sports teacher and for Hiccup it was wither a dragon trainer or a mechanics teacher. Then things started to go deeper.
"So, do you have a girlfriend, or boyfriend?" She asked.
"No to both accounts, and I'm straight Astrid." Hiccup laughed. "What about you?"
"I'm straight and no I haven't got a boyfriend right now." Astrid told him.
"Oh right." He smiled slightly.
"What's with the sudden smile?"She asked.
"Nothing, I just thought that you'd have a boyfriend or something, you're still as beautiful as ever." He told her, blushing at his admission.
Astrid went silent at that, Hiccup still thought that she was beautiful…Admittedly Astrid thought that he was pretty handsome now. With his dark auburn hair, still messy, but a good messy, like he's been running his hands through it a lot, his emerald hazel eyes that made her get lost in them each time she looked at him, his broad shoulders and slight muscled physique. He was definitely stronger than he used to be, but Astrid had ended up putting that down to living with Vladamir, who looked like he could bench press a tank on a good day. But unbeknownst to her, Hiccup was doing the same thing, thinking of how beautiful she looked. Her hair was brought into a modified version of her usual braid, shining in the sun with its golden color, her ocean blue eyes that had him lost at sea the minute he looked into them, her full lips, her figure built by long hours at baseball practice and a lot of other activities. She was definitely the most beautiful person that he'd ever seen.
However, they soon pulled up outside of Astrid's Aunt and Uncle's place and they both got out, Hiccup helping her get her shopping bags from the boot of the car. He even carried them for her and walked her to her gate where her Aunt and Uncle were tending to the garden.
"Hey Uncle Finn, hey Aunt Sarah, sorry I'm late." Astrid smiled.
"Astrid, what kept you sweetheart?" Sarah asked, walking over and helping with the bags.
"I bumped into Hendrick." She gestured to Hiccup who'd put the shopping bags on the doorstep for them.
"Young Hendrick Haddock, it can't be." Finn told him, looking at Hiccup.
"Hi, Mr. Hofferson." Hiccup greeted.
"Sweet baby Thor in a thunderstorm, you haven't half changed lad." He shook Hiccup's hand, looking the lad up and down and he soon got to his metal leg. "See you wear it with pride."
Hiccup looked down at his metal leg and so did Astrid, in all the time she had been talking and thinking about him, she hadn't noticed the intricate piece of metal attached to his left leg.
"So, what are you doing now, lad?" Finn asked.
"Not a lot really just waiting for a reply to know if I've been accept to the university in town, and working weekends at a club." Hiccup shrugged. "Saving up to get my own car, just so I don't have to borrow my sister's boyfriend's car all the time." He nodded to the jeep.
"Aye, it is a nice jeep though." Finn smiled.
"Yeah, smooth ride, we just finished putting a new engine in and giving it a paint job, he bought it as a shell of a car and I helped him and the two guys build it back up, it was fun, but took us three years in total." He shrugged. "But Vladamir is Russian, so I think they have a lot of patience for stuff like this."
"You may have a point." Finn smiled. "Anyway, I best get back to trimming these hedges before the Missus has a go." He patted Hiccup on the shoulder. "It was good seeing you again lad, and I'm glad that you're doing okay."
"You too Mr. Hofferson." He smiled, watching Finn go back to his work and h looked over at Astrid. "I'd best get going, I'll see you around?"
"Of course." She smiled, running over and giving him a hug. "Be careful." She told him, feeling him hug her back before he pulled away. "I will don't worry."
Astrid smiled as she watched him walk away and back to the car, and she waved to him as he drove off towards Gobber's place. This was definitely the start of a new beginning, and now she couldn't wait to go to the city and see more of Hiccup, they were certainly going to have some fun.
