Chapter 5

"You irritate the shit out of me, you know that?"

"Oh, I guess not since I've never noticed how you literally tell me all the time."

"You sarcastic little ass–"

"Astrid! Hiccup!" Mr. Phillips's voice boomed across the room, causing everyone to go silent. "Will you two quit being so rude to each other and work already?"

Both teens muttered an apology in response and went back to work on their latest project. They glanced at each other from the corner of their eyes and glared at each other before turning back to their screens.

"Thanks for getting me in trouble," Astrid sneered.

Hiccup rolled his eyes. "Oh, my bad, Milady. Maybe you shouldn't pick a shit fight with me and you wouldn't have to get in trouble."

"So what, you planned this?" she asked angrily.

"May I remind you who yells more in our arguments. Last time I checked, someone would have to be deaf to not be able to hear you."

Astrid growled at him and had to resist the urge to punch him. "God, I hate you."

"I love me too," he joked and went back to work on his latest design.

Their current projects were to come up with a film revolving around the viking era and to create a story with it. It seemed like all fun and games until it was announced that they'd be working in pairs, coincidentally, the person sitting next to them. It was no surprise that Hiccup and Astrid managed to be paired up together. With that being the case, they constantly argued on what they were going to do and what their story and graphics were going to be.

After a few days, they finally settled on doing a film with dragons and vikings. The came up with a story that was revolved around vikings killing dragons who raided their village and a young teen, whom Hiccup would play, would be the first to befriend one after three-hundred years.

Astrid sighed after a few minutes of silence and looked over at Hiccup's screen. "How's that dragon coming along?"

"I don't know, you tell me," he said and gestured towards the screen. "I'm not sure what color to make him though."

"Black."

"What?"

"Make him black. You know, to make him look all cool and a badass that flies through the night, unseen," she explained, wriggling her fingers before her face lit up and her mouth opened into a wide smile. "Then you can call him a Night Fury!"

Hiccup chuckled. "A Night Fury?"

She shrugged. "Why not?"

He thought about it for a moment before he smiled at her. "Night Fury it is."

Astrid beamed and clasped her hands together. "Okay, so can it be my dragon?"

"No."

"Why not? I named it!" she protested and crossed her arms.

He scoffed. "Did you forget who's making the damn thing?" She pointed an accusing finger at him. "See? You don't even respect it!"

Hiccup found himself letting his face go slack so that his eyebrows made his eyelids lower down halfway and his bottom lip stuck out to the side in a small pout. If Astrid hadn't been annoyed with the boy, she would have found his "you've-got-to-be-kidding-me" face extremely amusing.

"I'm just going to pretend I didn't hear that," he said, facial expression still the same as his shoulders bounced a little as he spoke.

Astrid couldn't help the small tug at the corner of her lips as she watched him. Soon, she found herself resisting the urge to laugh as she turn away from him and shook as she silently laughed. Hiccup looked over at her and his eyes widened in concern, thinking that he'd made her cry. When she turned around, laughing, he rose an eyebrow at her.

"What happened now?" he asked, smiling a bit himself when she laughed.

"The f-facial expressions you m-make," she managed to say in between her laughter.

Hiccup rolled his eyes at her and shook his head amusingly. "I'll take it that they make you laugh because of how funny you find them."

"That's true actually," she said, ceasing her laughter to point a finger at him.

The green-eyed boy looked at her wide-eyed when she stopped laughing immediately, only to have her go back into her laughing fit again. Suddenly, he found himself laughing along with her, mostly at how contagious her laugh was. He realized that although things weren't always good between them, things weren't always bad–at the end of the day, the good and the bad seemed to meet up at the middle and even each other out.

It was a saying he remembered hearing before on a show, they had called it regression to the mean.

So as he laughed with her, he knew they would go back to biting at each other's throats and then treat each other as if they were friends. Though, he couldn't help but wonder sometimes if they were, in fact, friends. Part of him hoped they could be, the other part wasn't sure. He was done with losing everything and if becoming friends with Astrid meant he'd end up losing her like he lost everything else, then he didn't want to take the risk.

But then again, since when did he care about her in such a way? Even though they constantly fought with each other, they always seemed to be drawn back to each other. Sure, they couldn't avoid each other in their classes or anything, but they could avoid each other at other times. Except for volleyball, but basketball training? That they could have avoided, but even if neither of them wanted to admit it, something about the other person made them want to stay.

And things staying in their lives wasn't something common for either of them, but maybe this would be different.

"Astrid, wait up!"

The blonde turned her head and looked over her shoulder to see the other blonde running down the hallway towards her to catch up with her. Ruffnut came up beside her and they linked arms as they proceeded to walk down the hall and towards the lunch line.

"So, are you excited for the homecoming dance?" Ruffnut asked, shimmying her shoulders a bit. Astrid smiled and shook her head in amusement before shrugging. "To be honest, not really."

The twin gave her a wide-eyed look. "Not really? How could you not be excited?! It's homecoming, everyone's excited."

"Well, not this year, Ruff. I've got a lot of stuff going on with sports and school and Junior year is what colleges pay most attention to," Astrid explained as they grabbed their lunches. "I'm not wasting any time on stupid dances, even homecoming because it'll just distract me."

"Ugh, you're such a downer," she groaned in annoyance as they walked to their usual lunch table in the center of the courtyard. Unlike most schools, Berk High School usually had their students spend lunch outside in their main courtyard. There were red lunch tables around and some black benches on the side by the trees and grass, though some students walked around or sat on the grass or on the yellow and light blue pyramid stacked blocks around campus.

Astrid sat down across from Ruffnut as Scott came up to sit next to her, throwing an arm around her shoulders. "Hey babe, you never responded to my text." Astrid rolled her eyes and moved his arm off her shoulders. "That's because I just got home from practice and I was tired."

Scott ignored her explanation and continued talking. "Yeah, so I moved down into my parents' basement, you should come by some time."

"Okay Scott," she breathed and opened her water bottle, taking a sip from it.

Fishlegs and Tuffnut soon came to sit down with them later and Astrid watched as everyone conversed with each other. She found herself zoning out until she spotted a familiar auburn-haired boy. He was seated under a tree far away from everyone with his back pressed up against the trunk. All he had was a water bottle and a couple of apricots next to him. He seemed to be concentrated on something as he was looking down at his lap, frowning in concentration.

She felt herself smile a bit when she saw him twist his lips to the side and couldn't help but find it a tad bit adorable. Part of her wanted to go over there and sit down next to him and talk, but the other part of her knew it was better to stay where she was. She had a reputation to maintain and although Hiccup was growing on her, she couldn't bring herself to act as if he was her friend.

Astrid was taken out of her thoughts when she saw a blue-black volvo bus pull up into the school's parking lot in front of the courtyard. It seemed as if she wasn't the only one because soon all the students were taking notice of the bus. They all watched as the bus's doors opened and out came a group of students with duffle bags and uniforms on. It was then that Astrid remembered that today was the cross-country team's last meet at the school before going to the CCS Championship in two weeks. She took a closer look at the team's uniform and finally noticed the familiar mascot on the front.

It was a dragon known as the Skrill, the infamous mascot of Berserker High School.

She scowled at the team, knowing they were Berk's heaviest competition in all their sports. It was then that she noticed a bulky, red-haired teen step off the bus with a smug look plastered across his face.

Dagur DeRange, or most "jokingly" known as Dagur the Deranged.

Everyone knew the reputation Dagur had–he was crazy and always had some twisted way of getting things his way. He was known to inflict harm on other students and even went off on teachers back in middle school, but he had always been let off the hook. He was a sick, cruel person who enjoyed the idea of pain–he was literally deranged in more ways than a mathematician could ever count.

Hiccup noticed the bus and for a brief second he saw Dagur as he was turning back to look down at his sketchbook before his head snapped back up. His eyes went wide and quickly, he tried packing all of his things, his hands trembling hard in a way one would not even think was possible. He glanced back over at the rivaling teen and his heart rate quickened when he saw Dagur make eye-contact with him and began to walk over to where he was seated.

"No, no, no..." Hiccup muttered to himself as he zipped up his backpack and stood up. Just when he was about to walk away, he felt a strong hand wrap around his elbow in a tight grip.

"Where do you think you're going, Hiccup?" Dagur asked with a smile. "Not even a hello? I'm so offended."

The green-eyed boy clamped his eyes shut and tried to even out his breathing. "Dagur, let go of my arm."

Dagur's grip only tightened as his smile grew. "Leaving so soon?"

Astrid watched the confrontation between the two boys and frowned. What was with those two? Slowly, she watched as Dagur turned Hiccup to face him and leaned in to whisper something into the other boy's ear. Whatever it was, it wasn't good because the next thing she knew, Hiccup's entire face turned into a ghostly shade of white and she saw his chest rise and fall quickly. She watched as Dagur let go of his arm and Hiccup stumbled a bit before he speed walked past the lunch tables and into the cafeteria. She saw Dagur laughing with a few of his team members before she got up, packed her things, and ran after Hiccup.

She caught a glimpse of his black hoodie as he turned the corner towards the boys' locker room and she jogged after him. She watched him push open the locker room door and rush in, nearly falling.

Hiccup felt his breathing come out in sharp, quick breaths as he rushed into the locker room, feeling his backpack drop somewhere by the door. Soon, his hoodie began to make him feel claustrophobic, making it even harder for him to breathe so he tried to yank it off, failing miserably as the sleeves wouldn't slip past his elbows. He whimpered as he shut his eyes and finally pulled the hoodie off, throwing it far away from him. He stumbled over to the sink and gripped the edges tightly as he leaned over it to even out his breathing.

"Calm down...just calm down..." he whispered to himself as he felt tears pool in his eyes, but Dagur's words still rung in his head. Hiccup reached up and fisted his hands in his sweaty hair and yelled loudly. He was too out of it to even notice Astrid come into the locker room with a shocked expression on her face.

Astrid first noticed his black backpack by the door and then his black hoodie that got thrown across the room. She then saw Hiccup pulling at his hair and yelling loudly and she couldn't help but feel...pain in her heart. It was the same gripping feeling around her heart, squeezing it painfully as she watched him. After a few seconds, she finally came to her senses, and dropped her bag and ran over to him, wrapping her hands around his wrists.

"Hiccup!" she tried, but he didn't seem to acknowledge her as he flung his head back, nearly hitting it against the tile wall behind him. "Hiccup! Look at me!" she yelled over his voice, finally getting his attention.

Hiccup let his grip on his hair loosen as he looked up with tired eyes at the blonde blue-eyed girl. He looked around him and he let out a shaky sigh as he leaned back against the wall and slid down it and onto the tile floor. He looked down at his white sweat-stained shirt and blinked back tears, but it didn't go unnoticed by Astrid. She knelt down and put a hand on his knee and rubbed it in a soothing manner seeing the distraught look on his face, but immediately retracted her hand when Hiccup gasped and drew his knees into his chest. He hugged them tightly against him and scooted away from her, and for a moment, Astrid saw fear in his eyes.

That moment of fear was soon replaced as he glared at her. "What the fuck do you think you're doing?"

She frowned. "What do you think I'm doing?"

He nodded towards the door and then to his knee. "You were rubbing my knee. Why the hell would you do that for?" Astrid squinted her eyes at him. "Gee, I don't know, maybe because I found you in a distraught state and tried to sooth you?"

"By rubbing my knee."

Astrid threw her hands up. "Obviously! It's what everyone does when someone needs comforting! They rub someone's knee or shoulder or back in a comforting way to calm them down or make them know someone's there to help. And frankly, you were too far away for me to reach your shoulder, so, I rubbed your knee."

Hiccup stared her down, hard. "Don't ever do that again." The blonde gave him a confused look. "Why not?" She saw Hiccup stiffened as he looked at her with an incredulous look. "W-why not? Why not? Do you want to fucking touch me when I don't want to be touched or something?" he growled angrily, scooting back even more into the wall.

"What? No! I was just asking why not as in like..." she paused. "Gah, I don't know! Like why not let me soothe you like normal people usually do!"

He looked at her for a moment before he realized he was overreacting and sighed. "I'm sorry. I just don't...exactly like being touched by other people." Astrid tilted her head as if to let him continue. He bit the inside of his cheek as he rubbed the back of his neck. "Personal space issue."

"Oh," she said quietly. "Sorry, I didn't know."

He shook his head. "It's fine, really. I overreacted." Astrid nodded as she sat down on the floor with him. "So, what was that thing with Dagur? It seemed whatever he said to you shook you up pretty badly–"

"Can we not talk about that?" he said as he played with his fingers. "I'm just not really comfortable with talking about it."

Astrid gave him a sad smile. "Yeah, that's fine. I won't ask about it." But she knew he was hiding something from her, something he didn't want her to know. Part of her wanted to ask him, but seeing the distraught state he had been in, she didn't want to trigger it again. So she settled with dropping it, though not fully letting it drop knowing that it would have to be brought up again at some point. Whatever it was, she figured it was anything but good.

"Thanks," he said softly before he looked up at her with a small smile. "So, you excited for basketball training today?"

The sound of basketballs bouncing across the floor resonated throughout the gym as Hiccup practiced on half the court. He dipped the ball between his legs and spun around before shooting the ball into the hoop and grabbing another ball.

He had gone to the gym straight after sixth period since everyone else had to change and he knew Astrid wanted to change into non-sweaty clothes to practice in. Because he didn't have to do P.E., he didn't have to change back into his normal clothes, making it easier for him to leave quicker. He decided to pass some time by practicing on his own as he waited for Astrid. Part of him still couldn't wrap his mind around the fact that he was going to be training Astrid in basketball. It was weird considering how bipolar things were between them with biting at each other's necks one minute and the next one of them is running after the other to see if they're okay.

He still wondered why she had decided to go on in after him after the whole Dagur incident. How did she even notice the whole thing? Well, it was Astrid Hofferson, she notices anything she wants to notice. Though lately they've been a lot more civil with each other which was also quite odd since they acted like two wild animals trying to fight for a scrap of meat or dominance or over what was theirs.

He was soon taken out of his thoughts when he heard familiar footsteps behind him. He turned around and saw Astrid clad in black basketball shorts and a light gray V-neck. Instead of the normal basketball shoes, she simply wore her running shoes and Nike socks. As she was walking towards him, he couldn't help but smile a little at how small she looked in the baggy clothing. Unlike her volleyball uniform that hugged her body in all the right places, the shirt and shorts did no good for her curves and for some reason, he actually found her adorable, and her perfect ponytail and bangs just added onto it.

"What are you smiling about?" he heard her ask as she came up to him.

Hiccup smirked. "Just thinking about how small you look in those shorts and that shirt."

Astrid narrowed her eyes at him. "Oh shut up."

He chuckled. "Okay, okay. Now, shall we get started, Milady?" This time, she smiled. "Of course."

"Okay," he began dramatically and gestured his arm out. "Welcome to basketball training. Let's see what you've got."

For the first ten minutes, Astrid showed Hiccup her form and shooting before showing him how she blocked. He frowned and thought for a moment before he went up to stand next to her.

"So, let's work on your shooting form," he said and she nodded. "You do lack some things when you shoot, but I'm going to have you try to shoot the ball in again."

Astrid nodded and went back to the center of the court and bounced the ball a few times before she ran towards the hoop. Doing what she did before, Astrid ran up and shot the ball towards the hoop, only to have Hiccup come from her right and smack the ball down. She was dumbfounded for a moment as he jogged a few feet away from her while bouncing the ball.

"You're too confident," he said bluntly as he came back to stand in front of her.

Astrid frowned. "Too confident? What's that supposed to mean?"

"I mean, you're too confident when you go to shoot the ball in. Now before you go on about how you should be confident about shooting, you also need to realize you need to be cautious of your surroundings as well. Being too confident messes up your form because you're also trying too hard to get the ball in too quick, quicker than you should be trying to. See how I managed to stop the ball from going in? That's because you weren't cautious of your surroundings–you didn't see me because all you were focusing on was the hoop," he explained.

"Shouldn't that be the objective though?" she asked and crossed her arms. "To shoot the ball in when you have the chance?"

He tilted his head and ignored her question. "What do you usually do after someone passes you the ball during a game?" Astrid shrugged. "I just keep going until I'm by the hoop and shoot it when I have the chance."

Hiccup nodded before he looked at her. "Okay, so I want you to answer this question: say in a game when you have the ball, the other team is surrounding you from the other sides, waiting to take that ball from you, but the hoop is right in front of you, yet you have a team member right by the hoop with no one blocking them. What would you do? Shoot the ball because it's right there or pass it to your team member who can shoot it from the side?"

"I would obviously try to shoot it myself if there's a clear shot in front of me," she said, cocking her hip to the side.

"Shooting the ball isn't the objective, it's working as a team," he began and threw the ball back and forth between his hands. "Basketball is a team sport, and as a team, you all work together to make that shot. That's the objective. Now, there's the problem with being too confident, you don't even see the game as something where you can work together with the people who share that court with you–who share that win with you. If you were more cautious and weren't so confident about yourself, you would know that passing the ball to an open team member not only gives your team a better chance at making that shot, but it also means you're putting your faith in them and not just in yourself. That's what a team is about."

Astrid looked dumbfounded as she took in Hiccup's words. She hated admitting things to herself, but she knew Hiccup's words held true even if he didn't realize it. During sports, she would always count on herself because she didn't want to give someone else the chance to ruin their win for them. She had been too confident in herself her entire life with sports when really, she should have been counting on her teammates and putting her faith in them for once.

"Now, with that in mind," he said as he stood in front of her and handed her the ball. "I want you to try again."

For the next half hour Hiccup helped Astrid work on her form and even helped her get into the habit of passing the ball to him as if he was an open team member on the court. By the end, she still needed help with passing and a few things with her form, but overall, she made progress.

"Good wor–OW!" he yelped as he felt a small, but strong fist collide with his shoulder. "WHY would you DO that?!"

"That's for being a sarcastic asshole all the time," she said before she leaned over and gave him a quick hug. "That's for...offering to help me with basketball."

Before he could respond, Astrid was already walking out the gym and towards the locker rooms again to change for volleyball. Hiccup stared long after she had gone back out and smiled a bit. He may have snapped at her for rubbing his knee earlier, but the quick hug gave him a sense of comfort. The type that she had been trying to give him earlier and failed to do so.

When she came back into the gym, clad in her volleyball uniform, she smiled at him and he felt his heart skip a beat. He wondered if it was because she smiled at him or because she was just there, standing in all her beauty.

Or it could have been because he was dying or something, but he figured that it was the first two options.

A/N: Sorry for the delay you guys. I was trying to work out the chapters to come after this one, while at the same time, trying to figure out how to write this one out. So anyways, did any of you catch the Teen Wolf reference? I figured that saying fit perfectly with Astrid and Hiccup's bipolar...friendship? I'm not really sure what to call these two, maybe acquaintances until they move into the friend zone.

So, it looks like the movie is coming to life with the help of Hiccstrid, and you all got a glimpse of our favorite villain, Dagur. I did drop some hints about Hiccup in this chapter, hopefully some of you caught them and if not, just keep reading since it'll all come into play soon.

Just so you all know, I usually base Hiccup's facial expressions from the ones he has in RTTE, so if you want to know or get an idea of what they look like, watch the show. (; On another note, a lot of you guys came up with good theories on the question I gave last chapter. I'm not going to say if you guys got it wrong or right, because it could give it away, or it could not give it away. That question will soon be answered in a few more chapters.

Again, I want to say thank you to everyone who has reviewed, followed, favorited, and even viewed this story. It means a lot given that my chapters are really short and not as well-written as I want them to be. But thank you guys.

Now for your guys' next question:

Mentioned in the second part of the chapter, what do you think Hiccup is hiding from Astrid and why?