"Hiccup? What – what are you doing here?"

"Astrid?" the menacing aura he was just wielding disappeared so fast that I actually questioned whether or not it'd ever been there. "Oh, hey. I'm just um… taking a little break before walking the rest of way home to my nice warm apartment." He smiled up at me, like everything was just fine. Like he wasn't huddled in an alley.

"Cut the crap, Hiccup." I saw through him instantly. No one just wanted to risk freezing to death. "What are you really doing out here."

"Really, I'll be fin-"

"Hiccup."

"Don't wor-"

"Hiccup!"

"I'm homeless, okay! Are you happy?" It took him to say the magic word before everything clicked into place. The glass of water. Devouring the hamburger. The wrinkled clothes that were getting just a little ragged.

"What? No, I'm not happy! Why would I be happy that your homeless?" How could Hiccup be homeless? He'd been in an apartment not three days ago. "Hiccup, what happened?"

"I got into a little argument with my friend."

"What?!" I couldn't even fathom what type of argument would make me so angry that I would kick someone out onto the streets. Especially in this weather. "And so they kicked you out?"

"More like I left… It wasn't working out."

"What were you thinking, Hiccup! You could freeze out here idiot! Tell me you have a plan."

"Of course, I have a plan." Hiccup crossed his arms in stubbornness. 'It's called don't freeze."

"Hiccup be serious. You can't stay out here, especially in this weather." There had to be something I could do to help him. "If you don't have anywhere else to stay, then you'll just have to stay with me." His eyes popped open. I didn't mean to say it, but there was no way I was taking it back. He'd already done this sort of thing for me. This was my chance to fully pay him back.

"There's no way I could intrude on you like that." He immediately protested.

"Nonsense. You'd be doing me a favor. I don't know if I'd be able to sleep without being certain you'd survive the night." I held my hand out for him to grab. "Come on, there's hot chocolate waiting for us at home."

"Astrid…"

"Hiccup, there is no way I am letting you stay out here tonight. Either you take my hand willingly, or I drag you there by force." It looked like I might actually have to grab him by his ankle and start pulling, but he grabbed my hand and hauled himself up.

"Lead the way then." The walk back was silent. I had so many questions I wanted answers to, but if I asked them before he was in my apartment he might try and make a run for it. The biggest question on my mind was what could be so important that it was worth freezing for?

The steps up to the front of the apartment complex were super slippery. I nearly lost my footing and I latched onto Hiccups shoulder to stabilize myself. I muttered a quick apology before leading him down the hall.

"Alright, here's my home." I said as I opened the door to my little apartment. "Excuse the mess; I didn't know I'd be taking people off the street when I left this morning." I pointed down the hallway to the left. "There's only one bedroom, but I have a couch and an extra blanket for you if that's alright." I may be letting him stay the night here, but there was no way I could

"That's more than enough, really." I gave him a quick tour of the place before getting his bedding. And by quick, I mean quick. There was one bedroom, one bathroom (with a shower), and a room that was both the living room and the kitchen.

"I hope you like pink." The only other sheets were bright pink with little red hearts on it. They were a gag gift from my dad when I'd first gone to college. I thought Hiccup would complain that he'd have to give his man card up, but he took them gratefully and started to make his bed. It was a little ironic that the first person to use them would be a stranger. A male stranger, too.

Was Hiccup still a stranger? At what point can someone no longer be considered a stranger? I knew his name and where his college major. I knew he liked history. Was that enough? A friend was someone that you enjoyed being around who also enjoyed being around you. All the times I'd spent with him had been almost out of necessity.

If he was to be staying at my home, could I consider him an acquaintance? Or did necessity negate any chance at camaraderie? Would Hiccup and I be friends if we'd met at a bar instead of on the way home from one?

"Hey Hiccup. If you want, you're more than welcome to take a shower. I have some sweats that'd fit you while we throw your clothes in the wash."

I waited until he'd been in the shower for a few minutes before starting the hot chocolate. I grabbed the water boiler from the cupboards and put the cocoa powder in the bottom of two mugs. I grew up putting hot milk in my hot chocolate, but I'd used the last of it a few days ago and had yet to pick up more.

I waited until I heard Hiccup turn the shower off before mixing the two ingredients together. This way the mixture was still hot, but not too hot. I hated burning my tongue because it always got in the way of enjoying whatever food I ate for the next week.

"Thanks for the clothes." Hiccup was wearing a pair of sweatpants with my college's logo and a black shirt that was surprisingly soft. They were some of my favorite clothes to wear around the house in the mornings.

I handed him his mug and laid down on the couch. Just because I had a guest over didn't mean I had to act like a proper lady. Hiccup took one of the chairs by the table. Even after a shower, he still looked tense. His legs were glued together and both hands were gripping his hot chocolate. It was almost as if he was counting the minutes until something went wrong.

"Alright Hiccup, I don't need to know everything that happened, but I do want something. What happened since I last saw you?" He took a slow sip; no doubt considering his next words carefully.

"You're right." He said. "I graduated last spring but was unable to find a job in the region. I didn't want to move far away because my mother is in the hospital so I was stuck looking for jobs in the area. I landed a few dead-end jobs trying to help pay the hospital bills."

"What about your dad, shouldn't he be helping?"

"He died in a sailing accident – and that's not something that my mom used to tell me because he ran away. I barely remember him now, but he was there." Hiccup paused and I looked out the window so he could wipe away the tears that I definitely hadn't seen forming.

"Anyways, a few weeks ago I had to choose between using the leftover money for mortgage or helping my mom. I was homeless for a few days before a friend from college offered me a place to stay until I got back on my feet. She took a weekend cruise with her family for thanksgiving. Let's just say she didn't appreciate me letting some stranger into her house. She felt that her private space had been violated, so I left."

I nearly spit out my drink. Hiccup had lost a house because of me?!

"Hiccup, you can't be serious." I was not worth being homeless. He should've left me alone. Me spending one night outside was better than him spending several. "You should've let me fend for myself!"

"Let me make something clear." Hiccup set his mug down, a rare spark of defiance in his eyes. "I didn't leave because of you. I left because I didn't want to be the kind of person that wouldn't help someone who needed it."

"Why didn't you try to stay at someone else's house?"

"Well… you probably can't tell," He joked," but I am very introverted. My friend Heather was the only person I'd felt comfortable asking."

"If you're an introvert, why did you decide to talk to me when we first met?"

"To be fair, you did run into me. I didn't really have much choice." He gave a small smile to let me know he meant no offense, "And once I saw that you were drunk in a bad part of town, I couldn't just leave you there."

"Oh yeah, I did kind of run into you. Sorry about that." I said. "Well, Mr. introvert, you won't have to ask me. You can stay here for as long as you want to." Hiccups eyes widened.

"No – no I couldn't do that. One night is more than generous. Thank you Astrid, but I wouldn't feel comfortable taking advantage of you like that."

"I know you don't know me that well, but you risked a place to stay so that I could be safe. It really means a lot to me.

"However, I can't afford to buy food for the both of us."

"That's fine, I can help with groceries. I'll also keep the house clean for you." I was about to protest, but I would do the exact same thing if the positions were switched. Hiccup could run if he thought he was taking advantage of me. This way he could at least tell himself he was working for somewhere to sleep.

"Alright, but we split cooking meals."

"Deal."

It was late and I had an early shift tomorrow, but I couldn't sleep. Hiccup and I had talked for a little bit more, but I could tell he was out of it. Being on the streets must've been exhausting so I'd excused myself to get ready for bed and let him be. Hiccup didn't have a toothbrush, and I'd really wanted him to feel as clean as possible, so I'd begrudgingly let him use mine after I'd used it with the promise of him getting his own as soon as possible. I was little bit of a hygiene nazi.

I refluffed my pillow and tried to get comfortable.

I still couldn't believe I'd let someone I barely knew stay with me. He could easily grab a kitchen knife and murder me. What was it about him that made me so sure he wouldn't take advantage of the situation? I've only seen him three times and now he's in my apartment.

I couldn't empathize with him because I'd never been in any situation similar to what he's faced. I could sympathize, sure, but that bond wasn't as strong. Ruffnut had always said that I was the nicer one of us, but that wasn't really a fair competition. Ruff wasn't exactly known for her compassion. In fact, the Thorston twins were known for somehow always having enough money. Ruffs brother, Tuffnut, had a thing for really expensive goat cheese and It was a wonder Ruff hadn't drunk herself into crippling debt.

If I was a wealthy person, I could make a hotel for homeless people. Somewhere that anyone could walk into and have a nice meal and a warm bed to sleep in. people could volunteer to cut peoples hair and donate clothes. it could even have a program to teach people basic skills that could help them get a job.

There were countless reasons why that version of utopia wouldn't work. First off, it would take a near infinite amount of money for even one such hotel to open, let alone a chain of them. Second off, people are greedy. If the masses got wind of a free hotel, any traveler in the area would impersonate a homeless just to save a few bucks. Within days of launch there would be more people taking advantage of the hotel than people who actually needed it.

If humans weren't so self-centered it could work, but human nature is human nature.

I rolled onto my other side to try and get more comfortable. Of course, no one wanted people to live on the streets, but everyone had a different idea on how to accomplish it. Jobs helped people pay for homes, but I'd learned in economics that a well-developed country aimed to have somewhere between 4-6% unemployment rate. Any lower than four percent and they risk hyper-employment.

I groaned in annoyance and rubbed my hands down my face. I should be sleeping, not thinking about how humans would corrupt a utopian society. Tomorrow wasn't a long shift, only five hours, but I had to go to the grocery store and iron all the arrangements for Hiccup staying here.

What would Ruffnut think? Would she say that I finally lost my marbles, or that maybe I was so desperate for a man that I let one in from the streets. On the other hand, maybe she would help me out. Ruff had a surprising amount of connections. She was the one who recommended the burger restaurant to me, after all. I'm sure she could find something to help Hiccup get back on his feet if she felt like it, but that would take a miracle.

You couldn't convince that girl to do anything she didn't want to – or stop her from doing anything she did. Some people thought I was stubborn, but she was on a completely different level. It was problem for another day, though. There wasn't any use worrying about it tonight.

I took a quick glance at my alarm clock. I know almost everyone just used the alarms on their phone, but I liked to keep my dependence on phones to a minimum. Besides, there was something so adulty about having a real alarm clock.

What time was it again? I'd already forgot.

1:47.

Maybe I should take some kind of drug to knock me out. There was NyQuil in the bathroom cabinet. I had to pee again; I could kill two birds with one stone.

I shook the covers off and put on my glasses and a pair extra fuzzy socks, to dampen my footsteps so I didn't wake Hiccup, and opened my door. I crept slowly arcoss the hall to the bathroom. It was weird sneaking around my own apartment, like I was the guest.

Strangely, the light in the living room was still on. Could Hiccup no find the lightswitch? There were right by the door. I tip toed a little farther, and there was Hiccup on the couch reading one of the books from the little library by the TV.

"I take it you couldn't sleep either." He said, not looking up from whatever he was reading.

"I tried, but there was too much on my mind." I took a seat on the opposite end of the couch. When he finished the page, he set the book down and looked at me.

"I didn't know you wore glasses." He said and my hands instinctively grabbed them off my face, as if I could somehow convince him that I hadn't been wearing anything just a few moments ago. One of my best kept secrets was my poor eyesight. I always wore contacts and Ruff was probably the only one besides my family to know about it. I got them in middle school and all it took was one bully to make fun of me to make me commit to contacts until Lasik surgery could make me normal again.

"I didn't mean to offend you, or anything." He put his hands up to show that he meant no harm. "I was just saying that because I guess all the other times I've seen you you've been wearing contacts."

"Yeah, I've been wearing contacts for just about as long as I can remember now." I know it's stupid to be insecure about something as common as wearing glasses, but it's one of the few things about my appearance I can change. "I can't even remember the last time someone saw me wearing these old things."

"Why? They don't transform you into a hideous dragon, or anything. You still look like Astrid to me."

"You're just buttering me up so that I don't throw you back on the streets." I quipped, but my flushed cheeks betrayed me. He could've called thrown a snarky response, but instead he looked over my shoulder and through the window. Some nights you could just make out one or two of the brighter stars through the light pollution of the city, but clouds blanketed the sky tonight.

"I still can't believe I'm in your apartment instead of… out there. I really can't thank you enough."

"Hey," I gingerly grabbed his hand to make him focus on me. His emerald eyes were slightly unfocused, "I didn't mean to remind you of the past. That's not something you need to think about right now."

"No, it's alright. I can tell you're curious about my… adventures." His face still looked troubled, but his eyes were back to normal. It was crazy just how much information were in them; I geuss the eyes really were windows to the soul.

"So, what was it like? Being on the streets." Hiccup sighed and crossed his arms.

"It was eye opening." He said. "you really see peoples true colors. The first night I was out had been especially bad. There was an old lady who yelled at me for making her city look bad and kept telling me to leave. She even tried to spit on me!"

"No way! An old lady?" It was so absurd that I couldn't help the laugh that escaped my lips. I knew it was a serious topic, but imagining someone's grandma with a walker shaking her fist at someone as harmless as Hiccup was just too much.

"Yeah, laugh it up. Poor old Hiccup gets bullied by a woman." He tried to look hurt, but his lips held the faintest trace of a smile, the edges were just barely tilted up.

"Did she tell you to get off her lawn?" I couldn't help myself. Teasing him was just too much fun. "Or did she yell at you because you were stopping her from watching the newest Wheel of Fortune?"

Hiccup couldn't keep his façade any longer and let out a small chuckle. I, on the other hand, had tears rolling out of my eyes. Maybe it was a sign that I really needed to get some sleep.

After a few minutes of trying to regain my composer, I finally managed to stop laughing. "Sorry, sorry. It's just that you never expect to hear something as absurd as that!"

"Mhmm," Hiccup confirmed, nodding his head." I could hardly believe it myself. I'd grown up in this city, and the second I'm homeless it turns it back on me. I'd been so happy when Heather allowed me to stay at her house the next day.

"And so devasted when I'd have to go back." Hiccups eyes watered a little, so I put a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"Hey, it's okay. You won't be on the streets ever again if I have anything to say about it."

"Never on the streets again? But how will I get to work? How can I ever get groceries if I'm contained within the confines of an apartment?"

"Haha, very funny."

Hiccup gave a small smile, but his eyes still looked lost in memories.

AN: hey guys! Sorry about updating a day late, but I ended up driving all over town running errands on Saturday and Sunday I had to drive back to campus and do a lot of homework. I could've uploaded something yesterday, but I didn't want to give you guys something that was incomplete. I'm still not completely happy with it, but that's because I'm having trouble coming up with an interesting plotline that can last for more than five chapters.

With that out of the way, thank you guys so much! This story already has more followers and reviews than my other one! Special shoutouts to TJcat01 and CajunBear73! I loved reading your reviews.

I'm going to go out a limb and say that next weeks update me be a day late as well because I'm going camping over the weekend. I'm going to try and upload on Sunday, though.

See you guys next week!