-The Doomed Meeting-

The next time he spoke to her was almost three days after the... incident, in the forest. It didn't stop raining since then, so when he ran from his bike to the school library, he was drenched from head to toe.

The place was empty a usually, but just this time the silence didn't feel as comforting as always. A mixture of orange and pink tones filtered through the windows that creaked slightly from the wind and the rain bathing the dusty shelves and old tables.

Hiccup had spent the last days going from the bathroom to the bed and from the bed to the kitchen. He had struggled for fifteen minutes before going out just combing the pillow mark out of his hair.

Around half past four Astrid sent him a message that almost caused him to fall out of bed when he saw who it was.

He had to hold himself back for a few minutes, dry-eyed on the screen and nervous achy thumbs, from not answering in that right second. He didn't wanted to seem too desperate.

'I'm going to the library in a while to do the work, 'you coming?"

-Astrid

Astrid

The six letters he wrote just a few days ago stared him back. They exchanged numbers very awkwardly in their first meeting in the library. Hiccup saved name changed like five times in which the words lady, annoying, perfectly perfect, Hoff between others were implied until he changed it to simply Astrid in an impulsive night at 1:00am.

After answering a simple "see you there" before he could stop his hands, he entertained himself for another while thinking about his latest actions, something not very frequent in him. There was a time in which Hiccup dedicated every minute of his existence in regretting every single thing he did. As he grew up he just forced him to simply think in what what's ahead, or simply in nothing that had to do when he was just a preteen that fucked everything up.

The auburn stoped his train of thought before it passed for some painful stuff he didn't really wanted to relive in that moment.

The thing was that he hadn't seen Astrid in days, other than catching a glimpse of a braid or blue eyes across the hall or in front of him in biology class before the girl ran away when the bell rang.

She needed her space, okay, he got it, it's not like she had to explain anything to him, they were nothing to each other, after all.

So swallowing his thoughts and almost walking out of the house in his bed clothes, now Hiccup Haddock, who just last night was having a dumb drinking contest to empty his mind with his cousin until he passed out (which he won by far, by the way), was looking around for the girl who was capable of getting under his skin every time they looked at each other, to do a stupid botanical work that he didn't even care about.

Hiccup had no trouble finding her huddled at one of the end tables near the windows, her nose in a heavy book and four more stacks around her.

He felt his hands get wet and his breath get caught in his throat but he decided not to think about it before going to her.

He didn't say her name, nor did he greet her, he just looked up from her and choked on his words.

In the golden light it seemed like she wasn't even there, almost as if she was just some cruel trick of his mind. Something ethereal that didn't exist if it wasn't for her looking straight back at him.

The light made her eyes look like two suns on a blue sky and he had the impression that he stayed too long staring at them.

"Hey"

What?

"Haddock"

Oh, she was talking to him.

Hiccup bit his tongue as he spoke "Oh, h-hey"

The only reaction he got from her was a raised eyebrow before she returned to reading in concentration. What was with this girl and the studies?

Feeling even more foolish for standing still, he slammed the chair in front of her with a loud curse and awkwardly sat down. About a minute after the girl noticed his gaze still on her and made a funny face.

"Are you just going to sit there staring at me?"

He looked like he hadn't even noticed because his eyebrows disappeared under his long, unkempt bangs and he winced. Astrid raised her eyebrow higher.

The auburn reached for the first book he could and opened it randomly "Right, right"

"You okay?"

"Yeah, why do you say?"

Hearing no response, Hiccup looked up from the pages he wasn't reading to find her looking at him. He saw her lips pink from the cold move slowly "Really?"

He shrugged and the girl decided not to ask again.

The next half hour must have been the most uncomfortable of Hiccup's life.

And the first fifteen years of his life were competitors.

He hadn't remembered looking at a book so intently in so long and for so long and he didn't even know what the hell he was reading.

The fact that the blonde hadn't looked at him or spoken to him in all that time made his leg go up and down with a nervous click while he watched as she just opened and closed books and took notes with that perfect cursive handwriting of hers.

He didn't understand, how could she be so calm while he was there about to have a crap attack? Had last night been real? Or would it have been another of his hot dreams? His hand went against himself to his lips and then to his cheek and he fought a blush. It had been real, he was very sure of that.

Had she decided on her own to ignore the subject? Maybe that would have been fine with the him from two weeks ago, when he didn't know Astrid Hofferson, but not now.

"Are you mad at me?"

When she looked up and stopped her hand to look at him, Hiccup couldn't see any surprise or anger in her blue sky eyes. It was the typical neutral and cold face of hers that he had seen many times.That made his mouth pucker up.

"No"

She said, but Hiccup wasn't going to buy it.

"Then why don't you talk to me?"

"Why don't you talk to me?"

"I'm doing it right now"

"Hiccup, we've come here to work"

"Yeah, very important job, I get it. But why don't you talk to me?"

The girl had talked quite a bit at their first meeting in the library. If it wasn't to scold him, correct him, or turn the tables on him with a scathing comment.

The girl put an excited fake smile on her lips and she supported her chin in her crossed hands, fluttering her eyelashes, and a sugared tone in her voice "Oh, sorry, do you want me to tell you how my day was?"

Hiccup rolled his eyes and focused in not staring at her so much.

"Aren't we going to talk about what happened?"

Astrid already had her eyes on the book.

"No"

"No?"

"Yeah, no" she shrugged nonchalantly as if this wasn't with her.

The boy dropped the book he was holding in his hands perhaps too abruptly. His leg twitch intensified and he had to put a hand on his knee to stop it. "Are you mad that we kissed?"

That did cause a reaction. Hiccup saw her mask fall, her mouth open and her blue eyes suddenly bright in anger and surprise. He thought he saw her blush if it wasn't for the orange pale light covering her face.

"Don't say that"

She looked so shocked that he almost felt like laughing.

He shrugged, turning a page, his eyes nervously on the book in his hands.

"Why not? It's what happened"

"You kissed me"

He crumpled the page under his fingers feeling a sudden knot in his stomach. He felt as if he had just stepped foot in some quicksand. Hearing her saying that just made it all more real.

"What difference there is?"

Astrid dropped the pen next to her and she was missing a robe and a hammer to complete the character.

"There is a lot of difference"

Hiccup felt a smile, a tingle on his cheeks and his lips when he finally looked at her "If I remember correctly, you answered back quite well Hoff"

The girl began to make waves in the air with her hands that reminded him of himself "I was freaking out! What did you want me to do, punch you in front of Dagur, is that what you wanted?" Her voice came out higher and tied.

"You could have"

They looked at each other for a few tense seconds and the orange light began to fall, being replaced by a gray darker tone.

The rain lashed at the windows harder.

"Hiccup" she warned.

"What?"

Astrid sighed in exasperation "Gods, how can you be so childish?"

"I'm just saying what happened. And you are mad"

"Of course I'm mad, you kissed me!" She said the last part in a loud whisper, her body leaning across the table, towards him.

Hiccup would have smiled at another time to finally see that fire in action.

"Was it that bad?"

He now could see a pink tint her cheeks and her nose, her eyes twinkling, he guessed from anger.

she started blabbering, her hands barely following her words "Wha-no-yeah! You didn't even ask me!" she ended up yelling, stamping a hand on the table.

The pen rolled down until it landed at her feet.

Hiccup smirked, the knot in his stomach tightening, letting his tongue hang loose. "You're not supposed to ask before kissing a girl, but I see you don't have much experience on the subject

He punched himself mentally.

Astrid opened her mouth in indignation before answering "And what do you know? Besides, it wasn't a real kiss" she stated resolutely, an invisible hammer highlighting the final verdict.

The boy shrugged in a poor attempt of reassurance "It seemed quite real though"

"What's your point, is it that you just came here, to make me angry?" Hiccup could almost hear his teeth creak.

He jerked upright, his hand ruffling his bangs several times before clearing his throat. His sudden discomfort halted the girl.

"Ah...no, I actually, um, I wanted to... apologize"

He watched her blink for a few seconds before she blurted out a comical, "huh?"

This time he almost laughed, but he just smiled not knowing what to do with himself. "Why do you look so surprised? I've apologized before. So there you have it. Sorry, you're right, I should have asked you."

"Or not had done it" Astrid said in a deadly voice. Her storming blue eyes piercing him.

He decided not to answer that because he didn't want to lie.

"Umm"

"What" she bited.

Hiccup shrugged and turned back to his book, flipping through several pages until stopping at a boring drawing of a pine tree and pretending to study it carefully.

"You could've punched me"

"You really do want to see me mad"

He turned to look at her with sincere eyes, suddenly unable to maintain eye contact "You could have, I wouldn't have been mad really" He was telling the truth, he wouldn't have.

He did gave her a fair reason, for having been foolishly carried away by his deepest and unknown impulses.

All he would have give her would be a disappointed and amazed look to, like he deducted, incredible hard punch of the blonde.

But he wouldn't have been angry with her.

"I could've" she said it like a fact and he smiled.

"Uhm-mh"

"I could have done it!"

He decided to lighten the atmosphere and laughed again.

"Please, you would have fallen to the ground if I hadn't held you" Remembering the girl between her arms and a tree with her bodies and mouths stuck together didn't do him any good.

"Hiccup"

He was able to look into her cold eyes, his cheeks aching suddenly and his throat dry.

"What? Don't worry, I usually have that effect on girls"

"Now I really want to hit you"

"Mmh"

"Stop 'mmhing' me!"

He rolled his eyes visibly amused "Yeah, Astrid. You could have hit me."

She insisted with a completely confident tone "I could have done it"

He smiled again, that crooked, mysterious way that made her nervous and made her unable to know what the boy was going to do next.

Then he rose, the chair pulling smoothly behind him, rising up on the desk, thankful that it was slim, coming face to face with her, his palms cold on the table and her nose inches from his. Close, maybe too close.

He seemed taller than he was, and his eyes were almost black from the sudden lack of light. Astrid couldn't do more than swallow and stick as close as she could to the back of her chair, although it didn't help much when the boy stretched out following her.

"Go ahead" he said simply, the phrase resonated between the shelves, and she could not see anything other than his lips, getting closer to her, playing her, her breath taking her breath making her pulse beat furiously.

"Hiccup"

Her warning came out small and that made her angry.

Her cheeks heated up and she had to stop herself from leaning forward as the boy played in millimeter movements making her spin around and around in a feverish spiral from which it was not possible to tear her gaze from his.

"You're not gonna hit me, Astrid?" his voice came out velvety and very serious, low, like bells in the distance, her name as a promise.

Their breaths exchanged for a few seconds. Then she took a steady breath, got up, and ran out with bagpack in hand.

Hiccup was an asshole.

The rain beat hard against his head and his shoulders but not that he cared.

He couldn't hear more than their mingled breaths, her bright, unreadable eyes pierced like a tattoo into his mind, her pounding footsteps as she fled the library, running away from him.

His chest clenched, each beat a painful bump. His hair blocked his view as he hit the accelerator with white knuckles on the wheel. He hadn't even remembered to put on the helmet.

When he got to his room, he threw his bag to the floor, and punched his wall so hard it resounded throughout the empty house.