If Hiccup were to describe his perfect Saturday, it would begin at some point after two in the afternoon, and it would most certainly not include waking up to the sound of potato chips being crunched. He also could do without the weight of someone's legs tossed over the small of his back, or the light seeping in through the duvet that he had stubbornly pulled over his head, but at the moment Hiccup was not willing to be picky.

The smell of salt and vinegar was thick in the air, and the silence of the room only seemed to amplify the sound of the crunching. Hiccup curled his lip and let out a low growl. "Fishlegs, do you ever go home?"

"Not Fishlegs." Replied a feminine voice. "Though, he poked his head through the window 'bout and hour ago and gave me one of those yogurt drinks. You two have a weird relationship."

Hiccup pulled back the duvet just enough to peer up at girl who had made herself comfortable on top of him. At some point while Hiccup was still asleep, Astrid had crawled onto Hiccup's too small twin bed and leaned her back against the wall. As he suspected, her legs had been tossed unceremoniously over his back, and she appeared far too comfortable for Hiccup's liking. Her hand was deep inside a bag of potato chips, and their eyes met as she brought another chip to her mouth.

The girl chewed slowly, and waited for Hiccup to think of a response. When none came, she took her hand and wiped it on blanket just above the boy's shoulder. Hiccup glared, although being swaddled as he was in his blue striped duvet, the action did not have its desired effect. "And what, pray-tell, are you doing here?" He asked.

Astrid shrugged, crumpling up the now empty potato chip bag. Effortlessly, she tossed the bag, aiming for the trash can sitting by his desk. It sailed through the air, and like it had a mind of its own, landed exactly where it was meant to be. "Was hoping to wake you up, but you're a really deep sleeper."

Hiccup sighed, and rolled over so he laid on his back. "Yeah… I get that a lot..." Above his head were an array of glow in the dark stars that he and Fishlegs had stuck to his ceiling when they were only children. He counted each one, silently asking them if it would be worth it to get up and out of bed when his mattress was so soft. "What are the odds of you letting me go back to sleep?" He asked, turning his attention to Astrid. The girl flipped her braid over her shoulder and shuffled her body back over Hiccup's legs until her feet met the floor.

"Slim to none." She replied. Without warning, she gripped the edge of Hiccup's blanket and gave it a hard yank. Hiccup was left defenseless to the cool air, and curled himself into a ball in a feeble attempt to conserve what little warmth he had left.

"Nooo…" He whined, burying his head beneath his pillow, much to Astrid's amusement. The girl set a hand on her hip and smirked down at the sight.

"Come on." She cooed, as if talking to a child. Her hand found Hiccup's pillow just as the boy had tightened his grip on it. "It's almost eleven, and the day is half over." With one swift movement, the pillow was tugged from Hiccup's seemingly iron grip. He sighed again, glaring up at the stars on the ceiling as if it were their fault any of this was happening. Astrid held the pillow under one arm, and used her free hand to pat the top of Hiccup's head in a condescending manner.

"You and I have two very different definitions of what 'half over' means." He remarked, going limp as Astrid's hand gripped the front of his shirt. As if she were only picking up a child, Astrid pulled Hiccup in to a sitting position. From his new angle, Hiccup could now see that not only had Astrid turned on all his lights, she had also appeared to have rifled through his drawers. Clothes were tossed in every direction, including on top of his work desk. "What exactly were you looking for?" He asked, tossing his legs over the side of the bed.

"I got bored, so I thought I'd pick your outfit for the day. You boys are gross, I'm pretty sure I saw you wear that same shirt you're sleeping in three times this week."

Hiccup gripped the hem of his shirt and stared down at it, trying to pick out what it was that Astrid found so offensive. "It's still clean I think."

Astrid rolled her eyes. "No. No it's not Hiccup. If you sweat, you shower. And if you can't do that, you at least change your clothes."

"It's a good thing I go out of my way to avoid sweating then." Hiccup padded over to his desk and picked up the shirt that had been haphazardly tossed over his homework, and several vinyl figurines. Out of habit he gave the shirt a tentative sniff, an action which caused Astrid to curl her nose.

"Of course I picked out something clean for you to wear. No need to sniff it you dingus."

Hiccup shrugged. "Never hurts to be cautious." The boy turned his back and pulled the shirt he had been sleeping in over his head, before replacing it with the one Astrid had selected for him. He wouldn't admit it, but the soft cotton had felt a considerable amount better against his skin than what he had previously been wearing. "I'm going to change my pants, so you better leave."

"You must be joking." Astrid huffed. When Hiccup gave her a pointed look, she sighed and sat herself on the boy's bed, and then pulled the duvet over her head. "You are such a baby."

Hiccup's cheeks took on a reddish hue as he slid his pajama pants off his legs. "I'm not a baby. I just don't like when people watch me change. I'm not into voyeurism."

"You don't even know what voyeurism means." Astrid's voice was muffled from her hiding spot.

"I do so." Hiccup pulled up his jeans and sucked in his stomach to do up the button. "It's like, people getting their rocks off on watching others change, and stuff like that. You can look now by the way."

Astrid pulled off the blanket, her perfect braid now a mess from the static. "Close enough." She muttered, smoothing a hand over her hair. "Can we go now?"

Hiccup bent down to pick up his crumbled duvet. "Go where?" He asked. Astrid wordlessly moved so Hiccup could make his bed.

"Out of course." She handed him a pillow once his sheets were smoothed. "Camicaze got herself grounded again, so I'm dying of boredom. I was thinking the mall?"

Peering over his shoulder, Hiccup arched a brow in Astrid's direction. "Again?" He asked. "What did she do this time?"

"Bit some kid during lunch. Though, I can't be too disappointed in her. I was the same way at her age."

This gave Hiccup reason to pause. He set down his pillow and turned to face Astrid, features screwed up in concern. "Aren't you only like, two years older than her?"

Astrid shrugged, having become preoccupied with fixing her hair in the mirror hanging behind Hiccup's bedroom door. "Yeah, but thats okay though."

"... I see."

000

At least a full hour had passed by the time Hiccup was deemed fit by Astrid's standards to face the outside world. While they sat on the faded bus seats, Hiccup had begun to fiddle with the small braid his friend had insisted on putting in his freshly combed hair. This had earned him a slap to the arm when Astrid saw this.

"Don't take it out." She demanded. They had been sitting on the bus for nearly a full forty-five minutes, and Astrid had begun to grow restless. She had been bouncing her leg insistently for at least half the time they had been on the bus, and while Hiccup had begun to grow irritated with this, he dared not say anything on it.

"You tied them too tight." Hiccup grumbled, forcing his hands away from his hair. For lack of anything else to do with them, he folded his hands neatly in his lap.

"They look cute. Leave them in."

"I don't want to look cute, I want to look like a man."

Astrid scoffed. "Your dad sometimes wears a braid."

"Yes, but my dad is also a giant Viking, and one of his hands is the size of my head. Pretty sure he could dress as a ballerina and no one would say anything."

At this Astrid began to giggle, which soon had Hiccup imagining the very image he described. Both of them dissolved into fits of laughter that carried on even after they reached their stop.

"Could you imagine?" Astrid asked, performing an incredibly sloppy pirouette once her foot found the concrete. Her skirt fluttered around her, and she deepened her voice as she attempted a rather pathetic excuse for an Icelandic accent. "Och, Hamish m' boy!" She chortled, holding her arms out like the wings of a bird.

"That sounds more Scottish than anything, but I'll let you have that one." Hiccup said between giggles. He linked his arm with Astrid's and lead her away from the handful of people who were also getting off the bus. The girl stumbled, but did not show any signs of caring, entertained as she was by her new game.

As one would expect for a Saturday afternoon, the shopping mall was flooded with people. Hiccup curled his nose and let out a soft groan, already plotting how to get this day over and done with as quickly and painlessly as possible. "Remind me why this place is so 'fun' again?" He asked, pressing himself closer to Astrid's side to avoid a mother with her stroller.

Astrid shrugged. "Shopping, food, chaos. The mall has the whole package. Plus, I was kind of in the mood for Chipotle while we're here."

"Since when did they open a Chipotle?"

"We really need to get you out of that library more often."

With Hiccup leading the way, the pair found themselves sticking close the walls and away from the majority of the crowds. Astrid was all too happy with this, her pale blue eyes scanning every window and display for the next exciting thing to catch her interest. It wasn't until Astrid suddenly stopped, and caused Hiccup to stumble while she peered up at a display of bras, that Hiccup continued. "There's nothing wrong with the library. Lots of interesting things can happen there." He argued, stubbornly staring down at his shoes.

"Such as?" Astrid asked as her hand began to cup at one of her breasts.

"W-well… I met a person! And what the hell are you doing?"

The girl paused, glancing down at her hand, then back at Hiccup. "I think I need a different bra size, but go on. Tell me about the apparent living, breathing person that still uses a library."

Hiccup's face had taken on a deep reddish hue, and he wasted no time in pulling his friend away from the store all together. "You can do that when I'm not here." He decided out loud. "You have a sister. Abuse her."

"First off, my sister barely counts as a human. I'm pretty sure our mom just plucked her out of the ocean at low tide; and second, don't stop telling me about you're enthralling library adventures!" If Astrid had wanted to, she could have dug in her heels and forced Hiccup in to the store, but at the moment she was caught up in another fit of giggles and was all too happy to harass her friend verbally. "Did they have goat legs and lead you into a wardrobe?"

Hiccup slowed his steps once he was certain they were a safe distance away from the offending store. "Lucy met after she entered the wardrobe, although I'm flattered that you actually read my book suggestion. And I'll have you know that Jack does not have goat legs, but rather very real people legs."

"Oh so they're a 'He?' Did you make out?" Astrid asked, eyes shimmering with mischief.

Hiccup was aghast, his own eyes widening and lips turning downwards in a petulant frown. "No we did not make out! You and Fish I swear. Why is it that when I meet boy, 'did we make out' is the first question either of you ask?"

Astrid's giggles erupted into full force laughter. She threw her head back and had to stop walking so that she did not bump into anything. "Fishlegs asked that too? I must be on to something!"

"You are on to absolutely nothing." Hiccup argued with a stomp of his foot. "I am allowed to meet other people without romance being in the question." The pair were forced to move again when a man with his arms weighed down with shopping bags pushed his way past them. "My life is not like one of your fanfictions. I won't just fall in love with someone I just met."

Astrid rolled her eyes. "Leave my fanfictions out of this. I'll have you know that there are some very talented writers out there that-"

"-and I prefer my reading to not revolve around whether or not two volleyball players kiss or not." Hiccup threw his hands up in the air dramatically. "My point is that I met a person, who happens to like sitting in my window seat, and who happens to be surprisingly fun to talk to, and knows enough about the history of drugs to be mildly concerning."

"You're getting awfully defensive Hiccup." Astrid cooed as she slipped a hand around his narrow waist. It was like this that she guided him to a colourful shop with stuffed animals lining the windows. "Would building a bear make you feel better?"

Hiccup was not done his rant though. "No. Because you won't let me put the velociraptor sound box in, and I'm too hungry and offended to build a bear right now."

"I told you before, you can't do that because the cat doesn't make a velociraptor sound, so it doesn't make sense. Although, you being 'hangry' does, so let's get you something to eat."

Hiccup crossed his arms. "Fine. But I don't want Chipotle."

000

Just like the rest of the mall had been, the food court was a buzz of activity. Hiccup whined and bounced from foot to foot, taking advantage of the irritation beginning to roll off his friend in waves. "You're worse than a toddler when you're hungry, did you know that?" Astrid asked, taking Hiccup's hand in hers. Her fingers while warm, were rough from calluses and spoke a silent demand for Hiccup to be still. A demand which the boy actively chose to ignore.

"I want KFC." Hiccup decided out loud. He gave Astrid's hand a tug and tried to pull her in the direction of the throngs of people. This time the girl refused to be moved, and tossed her head back as if she were a child's doll.

"Noooo…" She whined, letting her upper body go limp in Hiccup's grasp. "It's too greasy. It's gonna make me break out."

"No one said you had to eat it." Hiccup argued, giving her arm another stubborn tug. "Just go to another stall or something. Let me have my gravy!"

"When I'm in hell!" Without warning Astrid threw herself forward and wrapped her arms tightly around Hiccup's waist. Hiccup let out an undignified yelp (that he would later deny ever making) when he felt his feet leave the ground. He set his hands on Astrid's shoulders and kicked his legs feebly while a group of elderly women walked by, tittering to themselves at the sight.

"You said you would stop doing that!" Hiccup squawked, voice shooting up several octaves in his surprise. Astrid meanwhile was losing herself in a fit of triumphant snickers, and marched forward with a wobbly gait.

"Never trust a Hofferson!" She declared, uncaring of the glares being shot her way by the strangers that they passed. "We're too sneaky!"

Hiccup groaned. "Hoffersons are also huge, gaping assholes!" The one positive that came from his new vantage point, was that now if Hiccup strained his neck over the crowds of people, he could pick out an empty table on the far end of the food court. "Now put me down if you want to actually sit down to eat. There's a spot over by the Chinese place if we hurry." He said, giving Astrid's shoulder a firm slap.

"The magic words." With the same speed that she had picked him up, Astrid dropped Hiccup back on to his feet. She took his hand once more, and steered the boy through the crowd with almost frightening precision. Hiccup had always been impressed with how quickly Astrid had managed to get to each of her classes in school, and from his current perspective he felt he finally understood how she did it. The girl darted in-between groups of people as if she were a fish avoiding the net. While a few curses were tossed at them, the pair had yet to bump in to anyone; until Hiccup stopped dead in his tracks.

Forgetting that she had been very much attached to someone, Astrid stumbled backwards and bumped into Hiccup when he stopped. "A Little warning would be nice." She hissed, using her free arm to give the boy a hard shove. Hiccup grunted from the force, but did not recoil. His eyes were focused on something several yards ahead of them, and squinting through the crowds he could only just make out a familiar flash of blue and white.

"Hold up, I think that's him." Hiccup mumbled, momentarily forgetting that Astrid had been with him. The girl stood on her tiptoes, bobbing her head like a snake in an attempt to catch a glimpse at what had caught her friend's attention.

"Who's who?" She asked squinting in determination. Hiccup lead her forward a few steps before forcing her to duck with him behind a display of decorative plants.

"Jack." He replied, peering through the foliage. "At least I think it is." It was difficult to tell from where they were hiding, but if Hiccup concentrated hard enough he could make out the familiar blue of the pull-over Jack seemed to exclusively wear, and flash of silver white hair. "I mean, not a lot of people go for the old man look with white hair, so it should be him."

"Fascinating." Astrid arched her neck and peeked over the leaves. Her eyes however trained on the man sharing a table Jack, whose hands were moving in an animated flurry of motion. "He's handsome." She chirped, her lips turning upwards into a grin. "Nice jawline, lots of muscles; tattoos are a bit much, but I must say: you have nice taste."

"What?" Hiccup followed Astrid's line of vision and pinched her waist when he discovered who she was looking at. "Not the big guy! I don't know who that is, but he looks like he snorts protein powder for breakfast. I meant Jack, the one in blue!"

Astrid's features fell. "Oh. I should have known you would make friends with the q-tip. I guess he does look more like the library type. Why are we hiding by the way?"

"I don't know, I panicked!" As if only now realizing the absurdity of the situation, Hiccup stepped out from his hiding spot and smoothed a hand over his hair. "Would it be weird if I said hi? I've only really spoken to him twice, and I'm pretty sure I offended him yesterday."

Astrid shrugged her shoulders. "Knowing you, if you don't at least try you'll be obsessing all day, so go for it."

"Yeah, but what if we're not friends enough?"

"You're not gonna be 'friends enough' if you don't say hi."

"Would it be weird though?"

"Weirder than hiding behind a bush?" Astrid set her hands on Hiccup's shoulders and forcibly turned him around to face Jack's table. "Impossible."