Heyo! Welcome to another chapter! This time we are meeting the gang! And Toothless! Whoot whoot! This jumps a little in time, next chapter you will see more on the phone call with the police department. Enjoy!
While it killed Astrid not to want to skip every floor, she still had a job to do. Stormfly sniffed the ground, mostly looking for crumbs people left behind. She scanned the dark hallways. As Astrid trudged towards the west wing, she stopped in front of the main elevator that was roped off. She wanted to hate that stupid elevator so much. It almost killed her. But for some reason, she couldn't.
Finally after surveying each floor leading up to the technology department, she reached the hall that had Hiccup's office. She glanced down the hallway. Dark. Empty.
She sighed sadly and turned around. She should've known. She shouldn't have gotten her hopes up. She scolded herself harshly.
"Stupid! Why would I waste my time thinking about some dumb guy!? I have more important matters!" She whispered to herself sharply. She continued down the hallways, in a slower manner. Just work again like usual. Astrid clicked the flashlight on and off in boredom and if she was being completely honest... disappointment.
She huffed a heavy breath and turned the corner. She stopped. Stormfly let a low growl rise from her chest. Her body stiffened and her tail pointed straight out. With ears up and alert, she stepped forward. A shadow passed by the adjacent hallway. Astrid pulled out her gun. Just in case.
Cautiously, they stepped forward. One of the office doors was open. Oh it was this persons very unlucky day. She pressed her back against the wall, just outside the door way. With a sharp turn, she entered the room pointing her gun. A scream.
"Thor almighty! I could've killed you!" Astrid cursed as Hiccup stepped out of the way of her gun. He chuckled nervously and ran a hand through his messy auburn hair. Stormfly rushed up to him happily and waited impatiently for him to pet her.
"Hehe. Sorry."
"Why are you here?" Astrid asked. She snapped her mouth shut. She didn't mean it to come out that way.
"I'm mean... sorry... I just- uhh... I mean your office was locked."
"I know. I came for the spare key. Fishlegs always hides a spare in the copy room. I left my phone in there."
"You seem to leave your phone there a lot." Astrid snorted. She was trying to hide the fact that she felt like a fool. She hated feeling like a fool.
"Come on." He said already heading down to his workshop. She couldn't help but notice him limping slightly as he walked.
As they arrived at his office, Astrid suddenly had a million questions pop into her head.
"Wait. Who's Fishlegs?"
"Oh! That's right!" He opened the door and flipped the light switch on. His workshop suddenly sprank to life.
"Fishlegs is a coworker. And a good friend. His real name is Issac. We all call him Fishlegs. Tuff gives the nicknames."
"Tuff?"
"Yeah. Got that because him and his sister are always getting into brutal fights. He also manages to piss everyone off too." Hiccup chuckled rummaging around.
Astrid laughed. "Yeah? So how did Fishlegs become a thing?" Hiccup shrugged.
"I actually don't know. It's something between Tuff and Fishlegs. They still to this day refuse to tell us why."
"Oh? And what about you?"
"You'll never believe how I got it!" Astrid snorted.
"How's that?" She leaned back against the wall and crossed her arms
"When me and Tuff first met, he scared me so bad that I started hiccuping. He said 'Bam! You're Hiccup now!' And it just stuck."
Astrid laughed. That laugh. Man how he loved it. He loved everything about her. Her laugh. Her eyes. Her outgoing personality. And of course he had to open his big mouth.
"Hey so if your shift is almost done, do you want to come over? A bunch of my other friends are there. We were going to hang out and stuff." He asked rather shyly. Astrid stood there for a second. She had no idea how to process this. She barely nodded, trying to get words to come out of her mouth.
"Y-Yeah. Sure... but" She trailed off. She still had work.
"Hey, if they fire you, I'll hire you again, or at least get my dad to hire you." She wasn't so sure about this. She needed this job. But she wanted to be with Hiccup. Which was more important?
"Alright."
He smiled and grabbed her hand. She felt her stomach flip as he did so. He pulled her towards the stairs this time. They both quickly hurried down the stairs still hand in hand, until Astrid let go and sped up. Hiccup laughed and sped up too.
She held the railing and flung herself over, landing on the next set of stairs.
"Ah-ha!" I win!" She laughed and punched the panting Hiccup.
"I didn't know it was a competition!" Hiccup said with a slight wince on his face.
"Its always a competition!" She laughed again. She couldn't remember the last time she had laughed this much. He punched open the door for her.
They crossed into the parking lot and Hiccup opened the door for her. Astrid climbed in and Stormfly followed, grunting irritably that she couldn't have the front seat.
"Oh no. What about Stormy?"
"She can come to my house. Toothless would love the company." Astrid thought for a minute. She wasn't so sure how Stormfly would handle another dog. She went against that fear and nodded.
...
Hiccup's house was huge! A giant dark blue house with stone bricks that framed a large front porch. In the large window, you could see a massive chandelier hanging. Astrid mouthed a wow as she opened the car door and slowly walked to the front door. Hiccup opened the door for her.
"After you milady." Astrid bit her lip with a blush and punched him. She ignored his playful glare.
"Toothless! I've brought friends!" A large, black, sleek dog came shooting like a bullet down the main staircase and into Hiccup's arms.
"Hey bud!" Hiccup exclaimed bending down to pet the overjoyed dog. Astrid chuckled at their friendship. She also noticed a red prosthetic on his back right leg.
"That's the leg?" Hiccup nodded and stood.
"The very one. He doesn't mind it though. I think he probably runs faster with it. Astrid then squatted down to reach eye level with the greyhound. He smiled a gummy grin and licked Astrid's face. She fell back laughing as Toothless jumped on her. That's when they heard a low growl.
Stormfly.
"No. it's okay girl. He wasn't hurting me. Toothless is a friend." The large, white German shepherd approached Toothless skeptically.
Toothless retuned the motion with a downward dog, his tail high in the air wagging. Stormfly's icy blue eyes started back at him. Then... her tail wagged. Toothless took off in the opposite direction and Stormfly chased after him, the two barking happily.
"Well I guess that's done."
"Good luck separating the two now." Hiccup and Astrid both shared a laugh and watched the dogs chase each other about, biting each others cheeks and using the other as a hurdle. They would both then collapse to the floor, and lick and bite each other playfully.
Toothless pulled Stormfly's tail, making her yelp in surprise and take off with one of his toys.
"Come on!" Hiccup pulled Astrid's hand again and pulled open the basement door. Right away Astrid could hear arguing and laughing as well as music. Hiccup's basement was a huge man cave, with recliners, a fireplace, large tv and surround sound. Their was a pool table and an air hockey table as well as a snack bar. Astrid was in awe of the place but was even more surprised with the people she came face to face with.
"Who's the tall one now muttonhead?!" Shouted a woman, balancing on top of the couch laughing as she chucked a pillow at a boy who looked almost identical to her. A squeamish beefy boy yelped at a short muscular boy to stop the encouragement.
"Guys!" Hiccup called, breaking up the ruckus. They all turned at stared at Astrid making her feel slightly uncomfortable.
"Whoa! Hiccup. When did you land the hot babe?" Astrid blinked to make sure she was hearing this right.
"What? No! This is Astrid. She was stuck in the elevator with me."
"Oh! Welcome Astrid! I'm Issac. Although they call me-"
"Fishlegs. I've been told." He smiled and shook her hand. He grunted as the short boy pushed him out of the way and grabbed her hand and kissed it.
"Snotlout. They don't get much better then me babe. Leave his scrawny butt and join team Jorganson." He leaned closer to her face. Astrid right then knew they wouldn't get along. She smirked and leaned in. His eyes widened, mildly surprised that she was "falling" for him. Her nose was centimeters from his.
"I have a gun on me as we speak." She whispered. He just about jumped out of skin. Everyone laughed, including the girl on the couch who lost her balance and fell on her brother.
"Oh I like her! Lets keep her! Hi. Names Tuff." Tuffnut said wiggling his hand free from underneath his sister.
"And that's Ruff. But don't shake her hand. She has fleas."
"Do not!" She shouted, slamming a pillow on his head. He responded by shoving her away, but ended up rolling around on the floor smacking each other.
"Come on guys! For once can you not?" The twins yelled in response. Hiccup groaned.
"Great first impression." He mumbled.
"Were you counting on it?" Astrid smirked, elbowing him in the ribs. A blush rose up his neck. Fishlegs giggled. Astrid smiled, suddenly feeling very at home. She pulled off her belt and vest. She felt a whole 5 pounds lighter now with only a red shirt and her jeans. Ruff had finally stopped fighting her brother and had pulled Astrid to the couch.
They had all spent the evening talking and laughing. They played video games and raided the fridge. Every now and again they could the scrambling of nails on the hard wood floors as the dogs played upstairs. Astrid had never felt so at home. She felt like these had been her friends for years.
"Astrid, if I had know you had a dog too, I would have brought Meatlug. We should all go to the dog park one of these days."
"Meatlug?"
"Yeah he's my miniature bulldog."
"Pft. It's not all cool as my fangster. Hookfang's a Doberman."
"You shut your mouth! We all know Barf and Belch are the best!"
"Excuse me?"
"He's talking about their bullheaded beagles." Snotlout interjected.
"Oh. Well I'm sure Stormfly could enjoy the company. My roommate doesn't have a dog."
"How tragic. Everyone should have a dog." Astrid nodded, but Ruffnut shushed them as she was fixated on the movie. Astrid and Hiccup sat on the couch under a mountain of blankets. Toothless and Stormfly had joined them, now laying spread out over them. The twins were laying on their stomachs eating from a bowl of popcorn, their legs swinging in the air. Snotlout was on the floor a pillow pressed against his chest. He didn't want to admit that the horror movie was scaring him. Fishlegs was also freaking out. Screaming at every little movement on the screen.
Slowly, Astrid could her head feel heavy and dropped to the side onto Hiccup's shoulder. He blushed deeply and his heart was doing front flips. By the time the movie rolled to the credits, everyone was asleep. Ruffnut was using her brother as a pillow, and Snotlout snoring away as he still hugged a pillow. Fishlegs was sprawled out over beam bag chairs, humming in his sleep.
And Hiccup's head was on Astrid's. One arm around her shoulders and the other around Toothless, who nuzzled Stormfly in her sleep.
Bunch of foreshadowing here! Let me know if you want to see Toothless and Stormfly have puppies, I think that would be interesting. I will get more into Astrid's talk with the chief of police, and both their back stories. Next chapter Astrid will get his phone number! But what other unfortunate events will strike? Haha! Until next time,
-Daisy