Chapter 6

"She gets on my nerves a lot," the green-eyed boy said as he plopped down on his couch with a sigh. "Okay, she can be charming at times...well, all the time, but she mostly gets on my nerves. One minute we'll be arguing over the stupidest things and then the next we're acting like friends even though we're not. I mean, I think we're not friends, because let's face it, a girl like her would never be friends with a guy like me. She's popular, I'm not. Then again, she does talk to me even when she doesn't have to."

He sat up with a thoughtful look on his face. "Maybe she wants to be my friend but I'm being too hostile? Am I even hostile? I think I'm pretty nice if the other person's being nice, but I'm also a sarcastic asshole and Astrid doesn't mind reminding that every day. Okay, now that I think about it, I kind of want to be friends with her, like really be friends with her and not like in the movies where the guy uses the girl for something." He paused and frowned. "But she can be a bitch at times and I kind of don't like her for it. You should see the way she is at school, she's always rude to people and yelling at them for no reason and it's pretty pathetic. Annnddd then again, there's something about her that I do like, I just can't figure what it is." He looked at the individual seated next to him. "Is any of this making sense?"

Squeak.

"You're right, Sharpshot. I'm just ranting now," he mumbled as he ran a hand through his hair. Sharpshot only stared at him until he yawned and began to groom himself.

Hiccup sighed and let the small rat hop onto his shoulder before he stood up and made his way over to the kitchen. It had almost been a week since he began training Astrid in basketball and tomorrow was the big day–she was coming over to his house after volleyball practice. The mere thought of it had made him nervous mostly because no one had ever been in his apartment besides his father, Gobber, and Heather.

He had only known Heather since she worked at the animal hospital and was usually the one to give Toothless his vaccines and do monthly check-ups on him. Hiccup had been surprised when she said she attended Berserker High School and played volleyball. She reminded him of Astrid since both girls were competitive, athletic, and captain of their volleyball teams. She was nice and intelligent, and if he had to admit, she was insanely gorgeous. They could have been friends, but like Astrid, she was popular at her school and it had been a mutual agreement that they were just acquaintances. Although Hiccup knew he was in need of a friend, he had his one and only reason to not be Heather's.

She was Dagur's sister.

Even though she was nice to him and all, it made him uneasy that they were related. He wasn't the type to hate people, but he hated Dagur more than anything. After everything the sociopath of a boy put him through? He had had every reason to.

Hiccup had a great memory, so if one thought he didn't remember something, they were wrong. But what happened with Dagur was the one thing he never wanted to remember, yet it seemed to always come back into his mind and remind him of it. Yesterday, he had actually wanted to tell Astrid about what had happened between him and the deranged Berserker student, but he stopped himself when she had started rubbing his knee.

Of course he had taken it all wrong, and of course he would lie to her and tell her it was a personal space issue. It had always been his excuse when it came to his father, though the only person who truly knew was Gobber. He had been the first and only person to know about what happened, and Hiccup had made the man promise to never say a word about it. Gobber protested about it first, but seeing the pained and frightened look in the boy's eyes made him give in. He knew Hiccup had been just coming to accept the idea that he would always be different because of his foot, that he would have to deal with it because nothing could top the pain of losing his foot, and Hiccup had known that as well.

But they had both been wrong.

Hiccup frowned when he realized he had let his mind wander off too far and focused on preparing Toothless's food. He chuckled softly when he saw Sharpshot reach over and grasp a small piece of meat in his little hands and ate it. Hiccup took notice of the large scar reaching from Sharpshot's shoulder, across his back, and towards his hind leg. It was long healed by now, but it was still visible even through the fur that grew over it. Without realizing it, he gently traced the scar with his pointer finger, causing Sharpshot to squeak a little and look up at him.

Although he was a rodent, Sharpshot wasn't stupid, so when he saw tears brimming in Hiccup's eyes, he climbed up his arm to his shoulder. He steadied himself by placing his hands on Hiccup's jaw and licked his cheek. Hiccup sniffled and wiped his eyes before he turned to look at the rat on his shoulder.

"Sorry, I just..." he trailed off as he gently plucked the hooded rat from his shoulder and held him close to his chest. "I'm sorry for what happened. It was my fault that you got hurt."

Sharpshot nipped at his finger as if arguing with him, causing Hiccup to hiss. "Ow! Okay, maybe you don't think it was, but I know it is. You can't change my mind about that."

The rat only wriggled out of his grasp and bounded off somewhere in the living room. Right as he left, Toothless came trotting into the room having woken up from his nap and jumped onto Hiccup. The boy nearly lost his footing if it weren't for the counter behind him to stop him. Toothless placed his massive paws onto Hiccup's shoulders and licked his face all over, wagging his tail.

"Jesus bud, you're going to kill me one of these days," Hiccup said as he rubbed his best friend's head. Toothless only barked in response causing Hiccup to yelp in surprise. "Toothless!" He rolled his eyes and groaned when he saw the hybrid pull back his lips into what seemed like a smile, tongue lolling out to the side. "You just love teasing me, don't you bud?"

Toothless licked his face again and turned his head toward his food that was still being prepared. Hiccup chuckled and moved the dog off of him so that he could finish preparing his food. He mixed up the meat and kibble and placed it on the floor before going over to fill Toothless's water bowl and setting it down next to the other bowl. As Toothless began to eat, Hiccup heard his phone vibrating on the table in the living room and walked over to grab it. He checked the caller ID and saw that it was Gobber calling him.

"Hello?"

"Hiccup! Where are you, lad?!" he heard Gobber yell over the phone.

He frowned in confusion. "What–"

"You were supposed to be here ten minutes ago! That guy from last time is coming in an hour and yer still not done with fixing up his car!"

Hiccup cursed under his breath as he slipped on his shoes and threw on his leather jacket. "Sorry! I'll be there–"

"Get yer ass over here, now!" Gobber yelled before hanging up. Hiccup sighed before jogging over to the kitchen where he found Toothless and Sharpshot sharing Toothless's water bowl. He clasped his hands together and both animals turned their heads to look at him. "Okay, I'll be back because I have work." He pointed a finger at both of them. "Behave. I'll be back in an hour or so."

With that, Hiccup left the living room and went out the door. He accidentally slammed it shut, startling Sharpshot and causing him to fall into Toothless's water bowl. The dog eyed the little rat paddling around in his bowl before he gently plucked him out and set him down on the nearest counter. He watched curiously as Sharpshot began to groom himself, and tilted his head from side-to-side as he watched him clean his tail.

Rats were strange things.

Hiccup pulled into Gobber's mechanic shop and hopped out of his car and ran inside. He saw Gobber working on a different car than the one he was working on before he took off his jacket and black shirt, and putting on the apron over his tank top.

Gobber looked up and glared at the boy. "It's about time you showed up!"

"Sorry, got held up," Hiccup said and picked up the tools he needed and went over to the black Escalade in the back. He scanned his drawings of the car and looked at what he needed left to work on before the car was good to go.

He grabbed a pencil in his left hand and made some final notes before he went to go work on the car. He managed to fix up the Escalade in thirty minutes, smiling to himself with his accomplishment. He looked over at Gobber who had been watching him and the older man shook his head in disbelief at how quickly his employer worked. Hiccup smirked before he put away his tools and sat down at his desk that looked much like the one he had at his apartment. He looked up at the pinned up designs on the bulletin board, and then at the photos that were pinned around in random spots. He would have been taking an AP art class as a Junior if he took art his previous years, but he had been doing art as an elective since middle school, so when he saw that film making was one, he took an interest in it.

And frankly, it was the best decision he ever made.

"Hiccup!"

The said boy looked up to see Gobber looking at him. "Yeah?"

The older man pushed up his welding mask and glared at him. "I've been calling yer name since you sat down! Will you go help our customer at the desk?"

Hiccup widened his eyes and nodded. "Uh...yeah! Sorry, I'm going, I'm going." He quickly got up and jogged over to the door, ducking when Gobber swung at him with his prosthetic. Closing the back door behind him, he walked into the shop and went over to the front desk.

He addressed the person on the other side of the desk without looking up. "Hi, how can I help you? Anything you need to fix up, pick up, or just look around?"

"Pick up actually, nice apron by the way," a familiar voice said back, causing Hiccup to look up.

Green eyes met blue eyes and he found himself smiling a bit as he rolled his eyes. "Nice to see you too, Milady."

Astrid smirked and shook her head. "I hate it when you call me that, you know." Hiccup only smiled even more. "All the more reason to call you it."

The blonde-haired girl rolled her eyes this time before she set down a paper on the table with a license plate number on it. "Anyways, I'm here for a pick up."

Hiccup looked down at the paper and nodded. "Yeah, it's just in the back. I didn't know you could drive–" Astrid held up a set of car keys and shrugged. "I have my driver's license but it's my mom's car."

"Of course," he said with a small smile before he gestured towards the back door. "Come on, it's in here."

Astrid pushed the small swinging door and followed Hiccup into the back of the shop. The first thing she noticed were a bunch of cars around the place and then Gobber, who was fixing up the engine of a car in the back corner. Hiccup led her over to his work space and gestured to the black Navigator next to the one he had been working on earlier.

Astrid took a look at it and smiled when she saw that it looked better than before. "You did a really good job."

Hiccup rubbed the back of his neck and shrugged. "It was nothing really, it took just a few tweaks and I decided to clean it up a bit." Astrid turned to look at him with a worried look. "Did that cost extra? Because my mom only gave me the money for the repair–" Hiccup put his hands up and smiled as he shook his head. "No extra cost, it's on me."

Astrid smiled at him as she brushed her bangs out of her face. "Thanks, Hiccup."

"No problem," he said before turning back to his work space and moved the papers and pencils aside. Astrid took notice of the drawings hung up on the wall and raised her eyebrows. "Did you draw those?"

"Uh, yeah," he said and she smiled. "Wow, you're really good at drawing. Why didn't you take art as an elective?" Hiccup shrugged and leaned back against the table. "I've been taking art since middle school. So instead of taking what should have been AP art by now, I decided to make a change and take film making instead."

Astrid nodded in understanding. "Well, that makes sense. I still think you should consider taking an art class the second semester or at least Senior year."

He grinned. "I'll take it if you take it." She shook her head and held up her hands. "Oh no, no, no. I don't draw." He raised an eyebrow and she rolled her eyes. "Fine. I can't draw, for shit actually."

Hiccup laughed. "It's not as hard as you think it is. You just have to have a creative mind and a steady hand."

"So basically I'm never going to draw for my life," she joked with a smile.

"Well, I can always teach you," he offered as he wiped some dust off his tank top. Astrid smirked. "You've been teaching me a lot of things lately." Hiccup gave her a lopsided grin. "I know, and speaking of teaching, are you coming over tomorrow?"

She nodded. "Yeah, anything I need to know before I step into the Haddock lair?"

He chuckled and shook his head. "Just know that Toothless and Sharpshot are pretty different, one who happens to be huge and the other happens to be small." She gave him a questioning look and he shrugged. "You'll see what I mean."

"Alright, alright," she said and nodded towards the other car. "Whose car is that?"

Hiccup looked over at the black Escalade and shrugged. "Beats me, I just know it's some rich guy's car."

"Not as rich as your dad, I'm guessing." He sent her an annoyed look, to which she smiled at. "Kidding. Well, I don't think anyone in Berk can be as rich as your dad."

"For the first time, that's actually pretty true," he said with a grin and she laughed. "So, this guy isn't as rich as your dad, but he's rich?" Hiccup nodded. "Yeah, Gobber's met him and said he's a pretty nice guy."

Astrid nodded as she glanced back at Gobber. "So, I take it you and Gobber are pretty close?"

"Yeah, him and my dad are really close friends, but Gobber's always been more of a father to me, in all honesty," he said, admitting the last part softly.

"How so?" she asked, feeling the mood of the conversation changing.

Hiccup rubbed the back of his neck. "I don't know, Gobber just knows a lot about me, mostly because he's cared enough to try. My dad on the other hand..." he stopped, realizing that he was already opening up to Astrid too much, and cleared his throat. "...he's a different story."

Noticing that he was trying to drop the conversation, Astrid nodded. "So, are you coming to my volleyball game on Friday at six?"

He smirked. "How could I miss it?" She glared at the sarcasm in his voice and pointed a finger at him. "You better be there, Haddock." Hiccup threw his hands up and smiled. "Okay, okay. I'll be there," he said and his voice deepened a bit at his next words as he leaned his face towards hers. "But only for you, Milady."

Astrid suddenly felt her heart skip a beat at his voice and his words, her stomach fluttering madly. Before the blush rose to her cheeks, she shook everything off before she rolled her eyes at him as she pushed him away from her. "If you're trying to seduce me, it's not working."

Hiccup laughed loudly and waved his hand at her. "How did that get into this conversation?!"

Soon, it was her turn to laugh. "I don't know! Your voice got all deep and you leaned in really close!"

"Hey! I saw it in a movie before!" he defended, but they both ended up laughing even more.

After they calmed down a bit, Hiccup whipped out his iPhone and showed her his calendar. "See? I was already going to go if you told me or not." Astrid moved to stand beside him and leaned over a bit to see the screen. She smiled when she saw "Astrid's Home VB Game" written in for Friday at six.

"Why'd you label it as my game?" she asked quietly, not realizing that she was now leaning against his shoulder.

Hiccup gave a small shrug. "Because then it wouldn't mean anything and I wouldn't have a reason to go."

Astrid looked up at him as he looked down at her and she felt her heart rate quicken. They said nothing for a few seconds as they looked at each other, and for some reason, Astrid found herself holding back the urge to close the gap between them. Unbeknownst to her, Hiccup was holding back a similar urge that he had no explanation to. Suddenly, they heard someone clear their throat and they looked up to see Gobber looking at them with a knowing look in his eyes.

"Having fun there, are ya?"

"Gobber!" Hiccup exclaimed, only to have his boss laugh and turn away with a wink.

Hiccup looked back at Astrid who had moved a few inches away from him and sighed. "Sorry about that. But anyways, I'll be at your game."

She smiled at him. "Good, I better get a present when I win." Hiccup smirked. "When you win? Cocky, much?" She rolled her eyes. "Asshole, much?"

"Touché," he said with a grin before before putting his phone away. "So, I'm guessing you have to go now?"

Astrid nodded. "Yeah, I have to go pick up my mom from work and basically give her back her car. I'll see you at school tomorrow?"

"Obviously," he said in a 'duh' tone.

She chuckled before turning away. "Bye Hiccup."

"Bye Milady," he said with a smile as he watched her hop into the Navigator, and drive out, waving to him.

Gobber, who had still been watching them, smiled knowingly to himself as Hiccup went back to work. He knew what was bound to happen between those two, and whether they realized it or not, it was going to happen sooner or later.

A/N: So, firstly, I apologize for not updating in literally a whole month. I just got back to school, and everything's been centered around homework and projects, so I haven't had the time to really write this chapter up. Secondly, it'll take a little longer for me to write and post chapters regularly, though I do plan on posting chapters on the weekends every week. So, with that being said, expect another update this weekend.

Anyways, I'm sorry if this chapter seemed a little short or something along those lines, it was more of a filler. So, Hiccup opened up a bit to Astrid without really realizing it, so that's a good place to start, right? Not to mention that little Hiccstrid moment thrown in there. (; Next chapter Astrid's taking a visit to Casa De Haddock and meeting Toothless and Sharpshot. But her reaction won't be what you expect...stay tuned.

For the question I gave to you guys last chapter, the answer to your theories was answered in the beginning of this chapter. But hold onto those theories for later chapters, they may or may not come into play at some point. (;

Also, an announcement I'd like to make: I am currently working on a new story that will be titled Vestige and it will be a Hiccstrid story. Hopefully, I'll be uploading it around the same time as chapter 7, so keep a look out for it!

Now for this chapter's question:

How do you think Astrid will react to Toothless and Sharpshot, and most importantly, to Hiccup living alone?