I think FF has stopped eating chapters... we shall see!

-HTTYD-

Hiccup hadn't really expected Astrid to be serious, in all honesty. He was pretty sure Eret had definitely been kidding, but Astrid seemed to have been at least semi-serious. She didn't bring it up again until Eret had gone home, which he appreciated.

"Look, obviously you can say no. I'm not gonna force you, I'm not a rapist. But I would point out you get paid, and you get laid. Not a bad nights work!"

Hiccup couldn't help but laugh at how Astrid had managed to make a rhyme out of it, and how utterly blunt she was about the request. She wasn't wrong that most people didn't get to get paid to have sex. Especially to have sex with somebody who looked like Astrid. They were best friends, but Hiccup wasn't blind. He knew she was a beautiful woman.

But that was sort of it. They were best friends.

"Wouldn't that make things... awkward between us?"

Astrid cocked her head and fixed him with an incredulous look.

"Do you think it makes things awkward between me and Eret? Or me and Heather? Cus I've fucked both of them several times, on and off camera, and nothing is awkward there."

"Well, no, but you originally met up with them with the intention of sex, on camera. We became friends as children and I don't think the possibility of us having sex, let alone on camera, ever came up."

"Alright, fair point. Still, I didn't think you'd be this against having sex with me."

Hiccup flailed internally a bit, because if he was honest, that wasn't really the main concern for him.

"I uh... I mean, it's a little weird, but I'm a lot more concerned about being on camera. With all due respect, you signed up for strangers seeing you naked and fucking people. I did not."

"Is that what this is about? If you're worried about being... seen, we can always keep your face out of it. With all due respect, most of them are just there to see me. But like I said, I'm not gonna force you or anything. Just... think about it? If the answer is no, it's fine, no hard feelings, alright? I can do an extra solo show next week."

Hiccup nodded.

"Ok. I'll think about it."

Astrid left a little later - it was late, and she'd had a pretty physical encounter with Eret and so she wanted her bed. Sometimes Eret spent the night, but he had plans the next day and so he'd gone back to his own place after their little post-work drink.

She didn't bring it up again right away either; she was off work the next night to give her body a break after a run of shows and then some energetic sex with Eret, and so Hiccup spent his time doing his usual work - totting up her money for the night, minus his payment and the rest she split with Eret since he'd... helped. He needed to archive her videos too, but that felt a little close to home when she'd asked him to consider a starring role in one.

It didn't come up again til the next afternoon, when Astrid invited him over for lunch. She had a show that evening, and there were a couple of videos waiting to be uploaded to her website where people could buy access to both the videos and some other photos she'd taken. Well, that Hiccup had taken for her.

A year or so ago, Hiccup would never have trusted her to cook for the two of them, but after getting tired of replacing the batteries in her smoke alarm every month, Hiccup had taken it upon himself to teach her to cook. She'd never make it on Masterchef, but he was no longer frightened for his life when Astrid suggested she cook for the two of them.

As he sat on the sofa, editing and preparing to upload the videos but awaiting Astrid's approval that she wanted them all put up, he glanced over to the kitchen. Dressed in an amusing mismatch of tiny shorts and oversized tee, Astrid was dancing and singing along to the radio as she stirred something in a pot. He smiled at the cute image she made, enjoying how completely at ease she was with him there. It wasn't the sensual sway she did when working, but it was cute and funny and he liked to see her enjoying herself.

After a couple of minutes, Astrid turned down the cooker and commented that the food needed to simmer for a little bit before it was ready. When she turned, she caught Hiccup smiling in her direction.

"What are you grinning about?"

Too shy to admit he'd been watching her be kind of adorable, Hiccup looked away. Astrid didn't drop it, leaping on to the sofa and leaning over to see what was on the laptop screen.

"Ah, watching my videos? Live streams not enough for you?"

Thankfully used to Astrid's playful ribbing about her work, Hiccup kept from blushing awkwardly.

"Do I need a reason to smile? Anyway, I was just waiting to see if you wanted all these videos uploaded."

"Oh. Let me see..." Astrid leant over, peering at the dates and titles "yeah, they're all good. That one with Heather was awesome, I think it was our best night so far."

Hiccup nodded in agreement, remembering seeing the donations climb higher and higher.

"Speaking of Heather, how come you didn't ask her to fill in for Eret next week? I doubt anyone would mind that."

"She's away for a couple of weeks, she's gone on holiday. I was invited to join her on said holiday, but I hate Swedish food."

He chuckled at Astrid's face of disgust, turning back to his laptop to finish uploading her videos. After a couple of minutes of him tapping absently at the edge of his laptop while waiting for the uploads to say they were complete, Astrid broke the silence.

"You know you can just say no. I won't take it personally."

Hiccup chewed his lip, choosing his words carefully.

"I know. I've been thinking about it. It's not that I don't want to help you out or anything. I'm more worried I can't keep up with the whole thing. You're quite... active, and I'm gonna be nervous about the camera."

Astrid hummed, tapping her hands against her knees.

"Well, I've heard from your ex girlfriends that you're not shit in bed."

Hiccup choked.

"Excuse me?"

"Yeah. Some of them were a little insecure about us being best friends" she stopped to roll her eyes dramatically "and so they liked to let me know you had a very active sex life. Yanno, as though to reassure me I wasn't needed there."

Hiccup frowned.

"I didn't know about that. Sorry, by the way."

"Not your fault. Anyway, my point was that I don't see you struggling to keep up, and most of the attention is gonna be on me anyway. Not saying there aren't people who enjoy seeing Eret, he's cute and knows how to perform for the camera. But you're cute too and really, most people are tuning in to watch me get fucked and they're not that fussy about the who. If it makes you feel better, we can draw up a battle plan."

"A battle plan? Should I be worried it will involve an axe?"

Astrid laughed, shaking her head.

"Only in the background. I mean, we can lay out what's gonna happen and when, so you know what's coming. We can work out what positions will keep your face out of shot, cus I know you're worried about that."

Figuring it could probably help if he did decide to go through with it, Hiccup nodded.

"Ok."

"Good. So, since we have a lot of study material available, why not use my videos for research?"

As Hiccup had watched most of them live on air, he supposed that wasn't such an unusual request. And it was probably going to help the whole 'plan' thing. So he brought up the file list on his laptop, which Astrid teased him lightly about.

"You keep them all?"

Hiccup shrugged.

"Good to have a backup copy."

"True. Ok, let me see..." she leant over to scroll through, humming to herself "ah, here."

She tapped on one video, and it loaded up instantly to show her and Heather sat on her bed. Astrid explained she'd picked Heather so Hiccup could see how to play to the camera without needing to be as forward as Eret. Heather wasn't shy, but she was a little more reserved than Eret. They skipped through the waiting bit, moving on to where the two women began kissing and undressing each other. Hiccup watched how Heather worked, occasionally covering her eyes which Astrid told her was how Heather made sure she didn't get distracted from how Astrid's mouth or fingers were making her feel.

They used toys in the video Astrid showed him, Heather strapping on a dildo and using it to fuck Astrid - much to Astrid's delight, it appeared. That in itself wasn't unusual, but when they were done Heather pulled out, reaching down to her side and then the toy appeared to ejaculate across Astrid's chest and stomach. He remembered her explaining how the toy worked the first time it came out for the camera.

"That's the most popular finish other than on my face, but like, I prefer not getting come in my eye."

She closed that video and went searching for another, picking out a pretty long one of her and Eret instead, so they could discuss positions and the general rhythm of the shows.

"I still find it ridiculous I've had a few people actually complain about how long Eret spends going down on me, but then they like it when I come for real on screen. I should do a lesson on foreplay some time, these guys must be giving their girlfriends some baaaad sex."

Hiccup couldn't help but laugh at the way she wrinkled her nose in disapproval, all while watching herself receive what looked to be some quite enthusiastic oral sex. As the two moved on to penetration, Astrid climbed up on top of Eret and rode him with her back to him.

"Reverse cowgirl is a good way to keep both the camera and the focus off of you. Or doggy style, cus you can just put the camera range a little lower so when you're straightened up, your face will be over the top. Like when I blow Eret in front of the bed, you can't see his face but then nobody is looking."

Though Hiccup watched her streams regularly, he was usually also working. It was a little different to being entirely focused on Astrid's performance, particularly with Astrid herself sat next to him pointing out various details. And it got even more... different, when Astrid pulled up a special evening where Eret had only been one of her co-performers. The other man was stocky and red-haired, tattoos on his muscular arms, hands clasped on to Astrid's hips while he and Eret both fucked her.

"Man, that was a good night... maybe if you turn out to be a camera natural you and Eret can re-enact this."

She shifted in her seat, and Hiccup noticed a familiar flush creeping up her neck to darken her cheeks from pink to red.

"Is this turning you on?"

"A little. I was about to say I'll just excuse myself, but then I realised you've seen it all before. Mind if I enjoy this a little more?"

A little stunned by her asking, Hiccup could only nod silently. She moved to wriggle her shorts down a little, though her baggy t-shirt still hid most of the show as her hand moved between her thighs. Though he knew she put on the noise on camera and Astrid had told him she was quieter when self-serving off camera, knowing wasn't quite the same as seeing, or hearing it. Astrid bit her lip and let out soft little gasps, breath hitching on occasion before she glanced over at him. Hiccup would have been lying if he pretended he was unaffected, and Astrid seemed to know it.

"If you're serious about doing the show, you might as well get it out cus I'll have to see your cock anyway."

She had a point. Hiccup swallowed nervously, but managed to find a bit of to hell with it in his head that sounded a lot like Astrid's voice, and moved the laptop to the table so he had hands free to undo his bottoms. It took him a few tugs before he felt confident enough to expose himself, but Hiccup couldn't deny he felt emboldened by the way Astrid looked at him. She had sex regularly with Eret, and someone would have to be blind not to notice Eret was well-endowed. So he was relieved not to see Astrid look disappointed by the sight of him. His cock twitched when Astrid moaned, hips rolling up into her hand as she spread her legs and moved her fingers a little quicker. Something primal inside him responded to the heady scent of arousal coming off of her, Astrid kicking her shorts off completely when they restricted her movements.

"You kno-owww" her voice caught on another moan, her gaze having abandoned the laptop screen to watch his hand as he stroked his cock "we could do a trial run."

"A trial run of what?"

Astrid answered with her hand rather than her voice, sliding her free hand over his leg and looking up to his face, fingers brushing his inner thigh without really touching him properly. Heart pounding, Hiccup nodded and moved his own hand aside. Her fingers, smaller and a little smoother than his own but so warm, wrapped around his cock. Squeezing around the base, Astrid slid her hand up and down, Astrid noticing the way his hips flexed when her thumb found the sensitive spot just below the head and teasing at it over and over. Then she stopped, but any protest soon died in Hiccup's throat when she took off her t-shirt and moved, straddling one of his legs completely naked. One hand braced her on the back of the sofa behind him, but the other reached down and grabbed his, guiding it until they shared a gasp as he found her hot and wet to the touch.

Her voice was low and silk-smooth as she murmured in his ear, guiding his fingers as she told him what she liked. Hiccup had seen it done before, countless times, but it was different to be doing it to her himself, to be responsible for the sinful sounds she made and the trembling in her thighs. Though most of the blood had left his brain by then, Hiccup still noticed a lack of background noise.

"The video is over."

Why he said it, Hiccup had no idea, but it seemed to amuse Astrid as she chuckled in his ear before pulling back.

"Want to keep going?"

"You mean..."

"Yes Hiccup, I mean a full trial run. Sex. We can just keep doing this if you don't want to."

His cock was certainly happy with the idea, and his brain soon caught up.

"You have condoms?"

"Always. I buy so many, the pharmacist has finally stopped looking awkward when I buy the biggest pack and the biggest bottle of lube they sell."

She squeezed him teasingly, then looked down as though measuring him up.

"Get your kit off. I need to turn the food off en route" she batted his hand away from where his fingers circled her clit before standing up, fixing him with that lethal smirk of hers "and I knew you liked watching me dance earlier."

And with that, she sauntered off, giving him an inviting hip wiggle and throwing a smirk over her shoulder before she headed to turn off the forgotten-but-thankfully-not-burnt lunch. Then she detoured to her bedroom, returning with a condom box in hand and looking expectantly at Hiccup, who had forgotten he was meant to be getting undressed. He pulled his top off quickly, and Astrid dropped the condom box aside to help him pull off his bottoms. She tore open a condom wrapper and rolled the latex over him, straddling Hiccup's hips and looking down at him.

"You sure you're ok with this?"

Hiccup nodded, though he was touched and warmed by the fact she asked for his consent again first. Astrid grinned, reaching down and gripping his cock, lining him up so she could take him in inch by inch. There was very little build up since both were already pretty tightly wound after the mutual masturbation, and Astrid quickly began to ride him hard and fast, hips tipped forward so that his pelvis stimulated her clit when she ground herself against him.

Hiccup gripped her hips to slow her down when he realised he was going to come too quick, which made Astrid let out a growl.

"What's wrong?"

"Didn't wanna go off too soon. I tend to last longer when I'm on top."

Though he knew Astrid preferred being on top herself, she seemed quite happy to swap and climbed out of his lap, waiting for Hiccup to move so she could get under him. They found their way back together quickly, Astrid's thighs locking around his hips as he made slow thrusts, trying to get back from the edge. When he felt he could hold out a little longer, Hiccup began to move quicker, though his certainty faded when Astrid moved with him, her hand worming between them so she could stroke her clit as they fucked, the erotic image and her filthy sounds almost enough to make him come there and then.

Her other hand splayed over his sweaty back, nails digging in as her hips arched up and her muscles fluttered and spasmed around him. Already in a little disbelief at the turn their afternoon had taken, Hiccup was more than a little dizzy when he realised he'd been a part of bringing Astrid to climax, the sight far more intense up close and personal.

Reminded of something she'd said earlier, Hiccup barely retained the senses to pull out. He rolled the condom off, hands going to his cock and stroking quickly. Astrid watched through half-lidded eyes, flushed and panting as her hands came up to rub the sides of his thighs and hips in encouragement. Hiccup needed little urging, coming over her breasts and stomach with a low groan, hips pumping forward to push his cock into his hand a few more times, squeezing out the last few drops to puddle on Astrid's belly.

Neither spoke for a minute, both working to get their breathing and heart beats back to a somewhat regular rhythm. Naturally, Astrid was not content to let an awkward silence linger.

"Well, I have no complaints, but I do need you to move so I can pee."

Hiccup moved so she could get up, unable to help but look at his come splattered over her bare breasts, dripping down her torso as she left for the bathroom. She shouted back that there were wet wipes under the table, which Hiccup hastily retrieved and used a couple to wipe himself down, slipping his boxers back on while he waited for Astrid to come back.

"So," Astrid said as she returned, Hiccup's mess wiped away, and plopped herself down on the sofa next to him "I think you're gonna do just fine on camera. But it's still your choice. Unless now we've just made things awkward?"

Thinking about it, Hiccup shrugged.

"I don't know. Is it awkward for you?"

"Me? No, but I fuck my friends anyway. What about you?"

Hiccup pondered it a little longer, then shook his head.

"If you're good, I am too."

"You sure?"

He nodded.

"Yeah. I was more worried I'd made things awkward with you, but if I haven't, then yeah, we're good."

Astrid winked.

"Oh, you were definitely good. We're gonna have a great show next week."

-HTTYD-

This 'trial run' wasn't in the original plan but then, well, these two didn't wanna wait I guess!