I was actually pleasantly surprised by the response to first chapter, since the fandom had seemed entirely dead except for me and about eight other people. Where y'all been hiding?

-HTTYD-

Dinner had made her super thirsty, and so Astrid had guzzled a whole lot of water before she fell asleep. Which naturally meant she woke up a couple of hours later, half-asleep and desperate for a wee. She threw off the covers, glad as could be that she lived alone as she got up in nothing but her pants - she'd spilled food down her lounging clothes and just threw them off before crawling in to bed.

She padded out to the living room to get to the bathroom, yawning and stretching and easily familiar with her little flat to find her way in the dark.

Until she walked into something stiff and heavy, and swore loudly as she banged her knee. Fumbling around, she found the light switch and turned it on.

Suitcase? Why was there a...

"Astrid!"

'She jumped in surprise, martial arts instinct actually putting her into a defensive stance despite her drowsy state and lack of clothes. Hiccup - of course! Hiccup was staying with her, it was his suitcase - had quite clearly gotten quite the eyeful, but was now bright red in the face and had his hands over his eyes.

"I didn't see anything! Well I did, but I didn't mean to!"

Relaxing now she realised there was no burglar or murderer in her living room, Astrid realised she was almost naked.

"Sorry. I forgot you were here and I normally go to the loo like this."

"It's fine, it's your home! I'm just gonna stay here with my eyes covered until you're back in your room."

His voice was a strange mix of high from shock and rough with sleep, hands still covering his eyes as Astrid continued on to the bathroom. She quickly relieved herself, washed her hands and grabbed a towel from the side for cover. Not that she was that disappointed about Hiccup seeing her in a state of undress, though she would have much preferred it to be because he was undressing her himself...

Stop it brain.

She used the towel for cover, turning the light off on her way and calling out "night Hiccup!" as she closed her bedroom door behind her. That had been... something. Hiccup was probably still doing an excellent impression of a tomato. Unable to help but giggle to herself, Astrid tossed a t-shirt over the chair by her desk to remind herself in the morning, then climbed back into bed and fell asleep soon after.

Hiccup was already awake when she headed out even though it was quite early, in search of coffee and a pre-workout drink before she changed to go running. He peeked at her very quickly, then looked away before his brain processed that she wasn't topless that time and turned to face her properly. She hadn't put trousers on, or a bra, and she noticed him very resolutely looking only at her face as she went to put the kettle on, scooping instant coffee into her favourite mug.

"Sorry about last night. I'll try not to flash you in the future."

Unless you ask me to... shut up brain! Astrid thought to herself, noticing the faint flush on poor flustered Hiccup's cheeks when she passed back through to go to the bathroom. He was folding the blankets he'd slept under when she came back out.

"It's... fine. I'll uh, move my case tonight so it doesn't hurt you."

Astrid smiled in thanks as she stirred milk into her coffee, rejoining him in the living room.

"Probably a good idea. My mornings usually start with coffee, then running. If I'm not going running, I sleep in since I currently do not have to go to work. And since the gyms are gonna close, I'll probably work out here with my weights a few days a week. Not sure how long you'll be stuck here. Feel free to raid the fridge or cupboards, just don't eat my trail mix or protein bars and we're good."

Hiccup nodded slowly.

"How long do you go running for?"

"Uh, about half hour, an hour if I'm feeling it. Why?"

"So I know how long I have to take a shower without getting in your way, cus I assume you shower after you run."

Astrid smiled. He always had been a thoughtful boy.

"Unless you take forever, you can go when I leave and I assume you'll be out in time. Open the window, it gets pretty steamed up in there."

She doubted she'd make it for a whole hour that morning, still a little bloated from last nights dinner. It had been totally worth it though. The pre-workout she'd bought tasted absolutely awful, but it was only a small amount she had to drink so she chugged it down quickly and then replaced the synthetic 'fruit' taste with more coffee. Hiccup watched, bemused.

"What?"

"Just slightly horrified by the colour of whatever you just drank."

"Oh. Pre workout. I'm giving it a go to see if it helps my workouts, cus I never used to use it. And yeah, a lot of them are ludicrous colours and weird flavours. That one was meant to be blue raspberry, which I got cus it was on sale when I was ordering my usual bucket of protein powder. Now I know why."

Hiccup laughed, settling back against the sofa cushions.

"Fair enough."

Caffeine ingested and energy starting to pick up, Astrid went to brush her teeth before she changed into her running gear. Hiccup blinked several times when she came back out in sports bra and running shorts.

"You go running dressed like that?"

She looked down at herself.

"Yeah? Problem?"

"Not really. Just can't imagine going outside dressed like that myself."

Snickering to herself, Astrid headed to the door, setting up her Fitbit to ensure her run was recorded.

"Of course not. You'd never fill this bra out."

Hiccup made an interesting noise in response to that, and Astrid left laughing as she jogged down the stairs to get outside. It wasn't totally light out yet, but she could see the sun creeping up from the horizon. It was a bit chilly out at that hour, but that just encouraged Astrid to get going so she'd warm up. She didn't skip her actual warm up, but was glad to be on the go at last even with her digestive system cursing her quietly for last nights dinner. She loved running, and always had. Even on the days she hated running.

Her earlier prediction was right, and after about twenty minutes she turned back to head home, feeling worn out already after having too much salty food the night before. She headed right to the kitchen, and found Hiccup had done all the washing up while she was out, as well as showered and cleaned the bathroom up afterwards. He was sat on the sofa eating porridge, empty mug on the table in front of him when Astrid headed out, having downed lots of water and now holding a protein shake in hand to drink before she showered.

"I wasn't gone that long!"

"I don't like leaving a mess. And I figured it was the least I could do."

Thankful her protein tasted much better than her pre-workout had, Astrid took a long swallow and smiled.

"Well, I'm not gonna stop you, but don't feel like you have to clean up after me all the time."

"Seemed silly to only do half the washing up, but noted."

He was already a step up on most guys she'd dated if he cleaned up after himself without asking, Astrid decided. Not that they were dating. Or going to be. Astrid was relieved she could escape to go shower, only realising when she'd peeled off her sweaty running gear that she hadn't taken clean clothes in to the bathroom. There was no way she was trying to get those back on. At least she kept her towels in there, otherwise Hiccup would have gotten another accidental eyeful. She dashed from the bathroom to her bedroom, wrapped in a towel at least, and quickly got herself dressed before she grabbed her phone. Ruff ought to be awake by then, she figured.

"I accidentally flashed him!"

"Yeah. 'Accidentally'. I totally believe you."

Ruff was not helpful when Astrid texted her to complain about the awkward incident that happened in the night.

"It was! I was just going to the loo and tripped over his case."

"And just happened to be naked? Mhmm. Totally believable."

Hiccup watched as Astrid growled at her phone.

"Everything alright?"

"Hmm? Oh. Yeah. Just Ruff being annoying."

"I wasn't naked! I had pants on, it was just how I fell asleep. If I was gonna flash somebody on purpose, it wouldn't be with when I'm half asleep with bed hair and yesterday's undies on."

Hiccup got up and crossed over to his stuff, bending down - Astrid quietly appreciated the view - and straightening up with a book. She felt a little guilty.

"Am I a boring host already?"

"Not at all, but you also don't have to entertain me. I just felt like reading. Do you want a drink?"

Not about to turn that down, Astrid nodded and elaborated on how she took her coffee. Hiccup returned, a mug of tea for himself and coffee for her, then got comfortable on the sofa and started reading to himself. Astrid fiddled with her phone for a bit, unsure what to do other than silently enjoy his concentration face.

"Will it disturb you if I game?"

Hiccup looked up, offering her a soft smile and shaking his head.

"Not at all. My flatmate at uni listens to rap music at deafening volumes, so I'm used to very loud swearing."

Astrid chuckled, turning away. How was it fair Hiccup could still make her laugh so easily and he'd gotten super hot? Surely that was cheating.

Hiccup was very very glad that he was wearing a mask when Astrid first opened the door to him. It meant she couldn't see that his jaw literally dropped. Hel, she'd grown up. A lot. And he was kind of thrown by it. All he managed to get out was her name while he waited for his brain to kick back in.

Even in baggy clothes with messy hair, Astrid was stunning. Hiccup knew he was in trouble the moment he laid eyes on her, and was glad for a moments reprieve when he went to the bathroom to remove his mask and wash his hands.

There was no defined end date - except perhaps when Astrid was tired of putting up with an awkward nerd on her sofa, tripping her up with luggage - to the exquisite torture the gods had decided to inflict upon him, trapped by a pandemic that only seemed to be getting worse, and no news on when stranded travellers like himself would be able to get home. He supposed if he had to, a trip back to his mothers was possible, if difficult and borderline annoying when he'd only just left there as travel shut down.

Astrid seemed surprised by him too. He'd been told he had a real 'glow up' after puberty took it's sweet time to actually hit him, but Hiccup didn't really see it. He was just glad not to be smaller than half the girls in his year anymore. The fact he seemed to occasionally be appealing to women was a very pleasant bonus. He didn't really think Astrid found him that attractive, more that she was just surprised by the difference between the last time she'd seen him and now.

Gaming together was a relief - familiar and easy, something they did online all the time. And after way too much Chinese food, Hiccup was only thinking of lying down and groaning uncomfortably. He took a while to fall asleep, overly full stomach making it tough to get into a comfy position for sleeping. He eventually drifted off, and then there was the incident with a nearly-nude Astrid. Even someone who tried to be as polite as Hiccup - and he did cover his eyes as soon as he realised - couldn't immediately erase the image of Astrid's bare skin from his brain.

That particular predicament was not really helped the next morning, when Astrid wandered about in nothing but a t-shirt and underwear, her muscled legs on display and Hiccup doing his absolute best not to let himself look for too long. He doubted Astrid would appreciate him staring. And then she left the room and came back wearing even less! All the exposed skin and visible muscle tone was doing things to his brain, and HIccup barely waited for Astrid to leave before he was grabbing his things and heading to the shower.

He felt a little dirty for doing it in Astrid's shower, and guilty for what he was thinking as he did it, but Hiccup tried to reason with himself that it was surely better he get it out of his system. It was impossible not to remember the... incident where he woke suddenly to find Astrid and her naked breasts only a few feet from his face, brightly lit by the light she turned on, and Hiccup had been struggling with it while they were chatting that morning, since she was still not exactly dressed. Gripping his cock and biting his lip, Hiccup tried to make it quick and efficient, guiltily remembering muscular thighs and smooth curves...

As his climax swirled down the drain, Hiccup wished his sense of shame would have washed away so easily. He finished showering quickly, dried and dressed and then cleaned the bathroom. It was probably a bit excessive, since he highly doubted Astrid was going to be able to tell what he'd been doing, but Hiccup felt better for it.

He saw the pile of washing up in the kitchen, and after retrieving a sachet of instant oats from his bag, Hiccup set breakfast going in the microwave and started working through the mess of last nights dinner. By the time Astrid returned - still terribly appealing sweaty and grunting as she chugged water and plucked at sweaty clothes - Hiccup was almost relaxed again.

Well, before the towel thing. When he asked Astrid to let him stay, Hiccup hadn't anticipated that she'd have grown up into such a heart-stopping beauty, though if he was honest he'd carried a bit of a torch for her when they were young teens too. And now he felt like a bit of a pervert for... noticing quite so much.

As the day progressed, he calmed down more. Astrid played on her console, he read a book, they had lunch and Astrid asked if he wanted to make a bet on how many substitutions she was going to get from her supermarket delivery the day after next. And, most importantly, she was dressed again, which helped Hiccup's sanity just a little.

He was sort of torn between wanting to escape from the confined space with the hot girl before he turned in to some kind of lech, and also really enjoying the whole getting to see one of his best friends after years apart. And it was only day one.

"What do you wanna do for dinner?"

Astrid asked, sat eating slices of her own homebaked bread. Hiccup shrugged.

"I don't mind. I can just make some noodles while you sort yourself out, or I can go through the cupboards and see what I can make. I'm a pretty good cook. Had to learn, my mom's cooking is awful."

Snickering, Astrid shrugged.

"You clean and have survival cooking skills? I like it. Sure, go see what jumps out at you."

Once he'd figured out the not-really-a-system in Astrid's kitchen and pulled out some ingredients from the cupboards and freezer, Hiccup got to cooking. Astrid stood in the doorway, leant casually against the frame as she watched him and Hiccup was reminded again that she was just ridiculously pretty all the damn time.

They trawled Netflix for something to watch, settling on a slightly cheesy kids show about dragons that they both thoroughly enjoyed while they ate dinner.

Hiccup could really have done without the sound effects. He got the impression Astrid was very pleased by his efforts in the kitchen, and it made him very glad he had a cushion on his lap to protect his legs from the heat of the plate.

"You want some ice cream?"

Astrid offered when they were done, and Hiccup accepted happily. They followed the eating with a gaming session - Astrid wasn't going running the next morning, so she was planning to sleep in, which meant they could stay up late.

"It's like we're having a sleepover!"

She joked, and Hiccup grinned.

"Well, we need pyjamas for that. Although you don't seem to wear pyjamas, so maybe don't get changed."

Astrid raised an eyebrow, mouth tipped up in a smirk.

"Was seeing me topless really so bad?"

Hiccup stammered out a couple of nonsense sounds, having no idea how he was supposed to answer that. Astrid roared with laughter, and Hiccup flushed so deeply he could feel the heat coming off his own face.

"It's fine. I do wear pyjamas some of the time, but I got Chinese down my vest and just took it off cus I was tired. Then I forgot you were here when I got up to pee."

After they gamed for a bit, Astrid yawned and stretched, then bid Hiccup goodnight and got a drink before she headed to bed. He fooled about on his phone, texted his mom and his friends to check they were alright, and debated whether to read for a bit or just lie down and go to sleep. Hiccup went to brush his teeth while he thought about it, and settled on sleep when he yawned so hard he almost choked on toothpaste foam.

As he headed back out, Hiccup noticed a weird humming noise. He glanced over to the table, but his phone wasn't vibrating. He realised it was coming from Astrid's room. Had she fallen asleep and someone was calling her? If so, her phone was really loud when it vibrated.

The sounds he heard her start making a few seconds later said something else entirely was going on. Hiccup stumbled away from the door very quickly, shoving his toothbrush and toothpaste back in his wash bag, then dove on to the sofa and hid his head under the blanket. Astrid wouldn't have known he could hear her... she definitely wouldn't have known he'd stand by the door, listening for a good fifteen or twenty seconds before he realised what was happening on the other side of the door.

So now he knew what she looked like mostly naked, and how she sounded while... enjoying herself. Resolutely ignoring that that fact had... an effect on him, Hiccup buried his face in his pillow and groaned.

If he didn't leave soon, Hiccup had the feeling he was in for a long lockdown.

-HTTYD-

Poor Hiccup! He needs a cold shower after that I think.