Chapter 36 – Presents

Astrid and Hiccup were waiting for the cashier to just put the things into the plastic bag. It was bad enough to be in this kind of shop but of course, Eret was not content with only that. The woman behind the counter looked at the two with raised eyebrows when she had to scan the things that they had to buy. Who would not judge if in front of her lay several kinds of sex toys and seductive underwear, like, really seductive underwear. Moreover, it did not make matters better when next to all that lay five condom boxes with a large L written on it. The woman looked up to Hiccup and gave him a small smirk. It did not go unnoticed though for Astrid glared at her right after. Hiccup just blushed and shifted his weight now and then on the opposite foot, avoiding her eyes as good as he could. He leaned a bit to Astrid and whispered nervously, "How did we end up here again?"

Astrid sighed and shook her head, "Honestly, I don't know why it has to be… this."

The cashier held the plastic bag in front of the young couple and gave them a polite and unjudging smile, as unjudging as she could manage at least. Astrid and Hiccup hurried out of the erotic shop and glared at the large man who waited for his presents. "Mind telling us again why it has to be… this?!" Astrid snapped at the bulgy man again. Eret just laughed and gave them back the money it required to get all that stuff. "Why, thanks. I owe you guys big time. Ruff will love this," he said with a smirk.

"I don't understand why you aren't going out with each other if you've already reached that level of intimacy," Hiccup wondered aloud. Eret just smiled at him and answered, "Hiccup, my friend. She's not someone who likes to be bound to one man only. And I don't like to be bound to one girl only. We're just helping each other out if we're sexually frustrated."

"Which you're often," Astrid pointed out, "Did you at least think about a present for Tuff?"

"Oh, just leave that to Hiccup, he'll tell you about it," Eret replied nonchalantly. Clearly, he only wanted to buy a present for Ruff. He probably forgot about her twin until Astrid had reminded him.

"Well, I'll look around a bit more. We'll meet at Mc's. See you guys," Eret said before he went off. He did not notice though that Hiccup had taken out one condom box, hiding it in his jacket pocket. After Eret disappeared from their sight, Astrid turned around to Hiccup with a smirk. "Well, why would you need condoms now?" she asked with a wide grin as she stepped a bit closer, just to intimidate him. Hiccup laughed sheepishly as he tried to avoid her eyes, blushing furiously. "Well, you know, it's because of… yeah, because of that, you know? That," he rambled, his eyes searching something to focus on. Something but her eyes. Astrid grinned even wider and argued, "I did not know that Eret had the same size as you."

Hiccup went redder than a tomato, if that was even possible, and he stuttered, "W-Well, you- you didn't have to know that, a-a-and I didn't know until recently too- can we please change the topic?"

Astrid laughed at his reaction and decided that she had teased him enough. She slipped her hand into his and laced her fingers around his. "Alright, which present are we going to get first?" she asked as he held onto her hand tightly. He hummed a bit before he answered, "I know what I'm going to get for Tuffnut. I don't know about Ruff though. I think I will leave that part to you."

"So Tuff it is. What were you thinking about?"

"A camera. I mean, he likes to record, doesn't he? And it was also his recording that cleared up the misunderstanding from that time too. What do you think?"

"It's a good idea. I don't have a better one anyway, so we'll go with that. But Hiccup, isn't it a bit… pricy?" she asked a bit uncertain.

"Not really. I mean, I want to get him a good camera, no question, but it will be a present from us, not from me, which means that we're going to put the money for the camera together instead of only me buying it. That way we can save money and the present will still be valuable. Valuable, meaning that it's not too cheap for, err," Hiccup counts silently as he puts out his finger for each count, "Ten people?" It came out more as a question instead of a statement.

"And if we consider that each one of us is willing to pay 100 dollar, then," Hiccup stops again to calculate the product, which only takes a split second, "Err, we could get him a camera which costs around 1000 dollars, at least. And the good cameras are all around that sum."

Astrid smirked at his presentation of fast and logical way of thinking. Although she still saw some flaws. "Well, that's good and all, but what about Ruff. If we buy one present for Tuff, we should also get one present for Ruff, shouldn't we?" she asks, mumbling another sentence quietly, "Although Eret just got her some… obnoxious present."

Hiccup laughed gently at the last comment and walked with her into an electronic shop. "Let's get Tuff's present first, alright? We can think about Ruff meanwhile," he suggested as he turned to ask the staff where the area for cameras was. They spent nearly an hour deciding what camera they should buy. The staff had compared the various cameras laying in front of them and told them what advantage each had, or if there was a better camera. The better ones would of course demand a higher price. After a while, they still could not decide on a camera. When Astrid had mentioned that they wanted to buy a camera for their friend since he liked to record, the staff had suggested buying a camcorder instead.

The man working there led them to a section nearby and compared several camcorders again, pointing out the advantages and disadvantages, which took another fifteen minutes. In the end, They decided to buy a Sony HXR-MC2500 Camcorder, which was around 1200 dollars. Hiccup said that if they were already buying a high quality product for Tuffnut, they should not shy away from a bit extra cash. When Hiccup told the man his decision, the man reminded him that they had no exemplar ready to buy. He would have to order it and in two days time it would arrive in the shop and Hiccup could come pick it up. Now that one present was ordered, Astrid dragged him out of the shop and led him to another underwear shop for girls.

"A-Another underwear shop? Nope. Totally not. I'm not going in there. Anyway, I think Eret has enough stuff for her concerning that matter," Hiccup said, refusing to go in another embarrassing shop. Astrid pouted and gave him these unbelievable shiny puppy eyes. Nope, even if that gaze made his knees weak, nope, he would not go in there.

"I mean, Victoria's Secret? Really? Even I know what kind of shop that is. No, I'm not going in there," he said resolutely, crossing his arms in front of his chest. Astrid did not even want to buy things for Ruff in there, but rather for herself. She really wanted to know which underwear would turn him on the most. Just out of curiosity though.

"Please?" she asked with a sweet voice, tightening her grip around his hand. Hiccup turned his eyes away and shut them or he might really just go along with her, "Nope. I'm not going."

Astrid pursed her lips and gave him one last stare before she sighed and gave up. No point in dragging him into the shop if he would refuse to give his opinion on it anyway.

"Well, then we'll just have to find some other present for Ruffnut," she said, hiding her own personal interest with that sentence. "I think I know what we could get her."

Hiccup raised an eyebrow and looked at her suspiciously. "Does it involve anything where I might embarrass myself?" he asked, just to check if he might take over this task as well instead of leaving it to her. Astrid just punched his arm at that comment and snorted, "No, you big baby. We could get her shoes."

"Err, yes. Shoes, of course… why shoes again?" he asked dumbly.

"Ruffnut mentioned once how she always had to borrow shoes from her friends since she herself had no decent ones. Moreover, it's not like she's poor, but she doesn't see a good reason in spending so much money into shoes. And the good dancing shoes come from money. So, I've been thinking that we might as well get her some decent shoes," Astrid explained openly, her eyes already searching for a shop.

Hiccup hummed at that and found himself agreeing to that idea. Yep, that would do. This time, Astrid was the one to take a good look at the shoes since Hiccup had no way of understanding how girls compared high-heels. Might as well let the expert do the task. It took less time to decide on which shoes to get since Astrid was convinced that she felt the string of fate pulling her towards some black high heels. Yes, he would never understand girls.

Hiccup looked at his phone to check the time and noticed that they were supposed to be at Mc's by now. He unlocked it and sent Toothless a message, saying that he would need a bit more before he arrived.

Half an hour later, the couple arrived at Mc's and searched for their friends. Since they were not in sight, they went upstairs, walking towards the window where the Crew sat, already eating and chatting cheerfully, as cheerful as their character allowed it though. Take for example Hookfang, who just sits there and is amusing himself by watching the group talking about senseless things again. Hiccup told Astrid to go and join them while he would order for some food. She told him what she wanted and gave him a peck on his cheek before she joined the group. Hiccup was standing in line while he waited for his turn, going through the things again that Astrid wanted. After a second, his phone vibrated in his pocket and he took it out. It read Gobber on it and Hiccup wondered why the man was calling him now. He picked up and said, "Henry here, hello?" He heard a cough before the familiar voice spoke up.

"Aye, Hiccup! Haven't heard fae ye fur a while, huh? How urr ye daein'?"

"Hey Gobber. Just, err, keep your Scottish down a bit, I have a hard time understanding you otherwise," he answered with a chuckle. The bulgy man on the other side just laughed and sighed.

"Listen, I asked yer faither to tak' care o` yer financial issues. But I coudnae reach him yet. I will transfer th' dosh- err, sorry,- money to yer credit card in th' neist few days. And I've also taken care o' Astrid's tuition fee. Juist so ye know."

"Thanks Gobber. By the way, sorry I haven't called you lately. I've been busy with… stuff."

"Dun' worry, lad. I know that ye can tak' care o' yersel' juist fine. Well, I hae to go. Thir's aye a lot o' things I have to dae. Err... Did ye... Dae ye know th' news?"

"Which news?" Hiccup asked curiously, unknowing about his father's current situation.

"Well, err, news about yer faither."

"Gobber, I haven't had any contact with him since the last time I asked for help. How should I know if there's any news?"

"Och, aye, uh, I forgot. Sorry about that, lad. Anyway, I have tae go. Tak' care," Gobber said fakingly cheerful as he hung up, leaving a confused Hiccup at the other end of the line. He was about to call him back when the cashier called him to order his menu. Hiccup put his phone away, putting the matter aside for now, and ordered.

Little did he know that there was a shadow lurking over the Crew, watching every move and step that they took. Hiccup felt a cold shiver running down his spine as he turned, searching for something that might have caused it, just to find everything as normal as before. He probably just imagined it…

A/N:

The question, my friend, is: Who is keeping his or her eyes on the Crew? Either way, this chapter will also serve as an introduction to the upcoming event that I have planned.

Thank you for reading and please leave a review if you have the time.

Date of Update: 10th November 2015

~ KeGzZ