AN- Here's the next chapter, in which we meet another major character, Hiccup and Astrid have there first real interaction, and much fun is had. Again, shout-out for the first reviewer to figure out where the names of my chapters comes from. I hope everybody enjoys!

Chapter 5- It Hit Me Like a Hammer

Several days had passed since Astrid's dinner with Heather, and she was starting to develop a pattern. Get up, get to work, spend the morning in the testing chamber "guarding" Fishlegs and the Twins (she spent more time proposing simple solutions to problems with the software), eat lunch with her new friends, then spend the afternoon watching the cameras while trying not to daydream about her boss. He left his door open after lunch, and she saw him hunched over his desk with a determined look on his face often. It sent new fantasies dancing in her head and she had to force her mind back on task. Today, Thursday, she had just snapped herself out of another reverie when she saw a young man reaching for the intercom by the door. He was clearly shorter than heather, and his muscles bulged in a way she found decidedly vain. She grabbed the receiver just as he hit the button. "Can I help you?"

"Oh! You must be the new girl. Fishlegs was telling me about you. I'm Scott, but everyone calls me Snotlout. I'm Hiccup's cousin, and I came to watch him do his hardware test today."

Astrid flinched. "He's running a test this afternoon?"

"Yeah! You're supposed to be there, but I don't think he told you about it. Let me in, I'll meet you at the lab with my antisocial cousin in tow."

After letting him in, Astrid was waiting when Hiccup arrived at the lab with Snotlout. Hiccup immediately scowled, and pointedly ignored her as he set to work. After Hiccup did some tweaks on the side of the table opposite them, he moved around to the side Astrid and Snotlout were standing on. She could practically feel her eyes as they drifted down, and she struggled to snap them up before she started thinking about something she really shouldn't. Snotlout, unfortunately, seemed to notice. "Wow. Fish was right, you have it bad." He only whispered it, but it still made her jump. She looked over, and noticed a dark expression on his face. "With that said, if you do anything to hurt him, I will personally hunt you down, and it will be very painful."

After some more time, Hiccup growled in frustration. Astrid took a look and noticed that he was working on some sort of hydraulics system to make the five fingers on the prosthetic arm Fishlegs and the Twins had been working on software for move independently. Astrid spoke up when she noticed something. "Hey, are you trying to wire all five fingers to the same block and have them move separately?"

Hiccup glared at her. "Obviously. Why do you care?"

Astrid sighed. "I work at this company, and if it's doing well, I do well. Anyway, why don't you make each finger its own independent system and have them link to the CPU on separate wires?"

Hiccup looked startled. "Actually, that's not a terrible idea." His expression, now lightened, remained cautious and distrustful throughout the testing period, but he seemed genuinely impressed with her sensible solutions to complex problems. It didn't always apply, but she was eager to learn about anything to do with him, so she listened when he explained these things with rapt attention. When they parted, while Hiccup clearly no longer hated her, and even seemed to respect her somewhat, he was a long way from liking her. Still, she mused, it was progress, and that was better than nothing.

As the door to Hiccup's office closed, Snotlout turned to her. "Well, I am officially impressed. Not many people earn Hiccup's respect that easily. The only ones that really come to mind for me are Fishlegs, Dagur, and Heather. Anyway, there's a karaoke night tomorrow night, and everyone in town's going to be there. Mainly because there isn't anything else to do. You should come. I'm sure Atali would be thrilled to meet you after I tell her about this afternoon in the lab."

"Atali? Who's that?"

Snotlout grinned. "My girlfriend. We met when I was at Minnesota on my football scholarship. She picked up tutoring me where Hiccup left off when he went to MIT, and I wouldn't have gotten my degree without her. Anyway, that's a story for another time. See you tomorrow night!" By the time Astrid realized she didn't know which bar to go to, Snotlout had already left.

The next day at lunch, Astrid's friends looked up as she walked in. Fishlegs spoke up first. "Hey, Astrid. Snotlout told Heather about yesterday afternoon while she was dropping off his sandwich. Did Hiccup actually ask you for help?"

Astrid smiled. "He did. Hiccup's the sort of guy who tends to over-think a complex problem and look for a complex answer. Sometimes, they need someone to show them the square peg before they get out a saw."

Fishlegs laughed. "Well, I guess that applies to all of us. Still, how did you figure that out about him so fast?"

Astrid couldn't help the blush spreading across her cheeks. "Well, almost everything about him is my type. I've seen it before, is all." She saw no point in denying, since at this point everyone in town probably knew how she felt, with the possible exception of Hiccup himself. "Anyway, Snotlout was mentioning Karaoke yesterday. Where is that? He never told me."

"It's at Wing. It's the bar about two blocks down from here. Mala, Dagur's wife, owns the place and runs the kitchen. Throk, her half-brother, runs the bar. I think you'll like them, but be warned about Throk. He's a little…odd."

"Odd how?"

Fishlegs winced. "Well, he named his pet iguana The Great Protector."

Astrid laughed. That was an absurd name for any animal, let alone an iguana. "Anything else I should know."

This time it was Ruffnut who piped up. "Yeah, you'll get a free song because it will be your first time!"

After that, the friends got to chatting amicably before parting ways with the promise of meeting that night at the bar. As she wandered back towards her office, Astrid saw something she never expected to see: Hiccup Haddock was walking towards her. Specifically her. "Hey, Astrid, could you help me with something? I need some of your simple solutions again."

Astrid nodded, trying to keep her heart from doing backflips. He was talking to her. On purpose! She followed him into his office, but made sure to leave the door open. She didn't trust herself with it closed, at least not yet. "What do you need, boss?"

Hiccup gestured towards the arm. "So, the idea of wiring each finger separately worked like a charm, but now we need to find a place to put the CPU. So, where in the arm should I put it?" He looked at her expectantly.

Astrid had to take a second to center herself with his gaze seeming to pierce into her soul. "Well, if you put the CPU in the center of the arm, maybe by the elbow, it will make the signals not have to travel as far. That's where you should put it."

Hiccup laughed. "I knew you were smarter than the average muscle-bound idiot my dad takes on. You're absolutely correct. I'd come to that conclusion myself, but I'm impressed, Astrid. Maybe it won't be so bad having you around if you can help us like this." He gave her a lopsided grin and, for the first time since she had met him on Monday, looked her straight in the eye with something resembling warmth. "Thank you. If I ever find myself up against the wall and need a simple out, I'll come ask you."

Astrid managed to fumble out a "You're welcome" and maintain some semblance of composure as she exited his office. She closed the door behind her, though, and practically fled to her office once she was sure she'd be unnoticed. As she shut the door behind her, she felt her knees wobbling and her face burning up. She sank to the floor and took several deep breaths, doing her best to banish the fantasies of kissing Hiccup, her boss, square on the lips. "Damn it. This won't end well."