Hi, guys! It's DillPickle! Sorry this is late again. My schedule has been jacked up in the last week. I really enjoyed writing this chapter, though. This is the most excited I've been to get a chapter up in a while! With that, progress!

Chapter 4
Overcoming Fears

That evening, Astrid received a text from Hiccup. Hi, Astrid! You left your bike at my house accidentally. What should we do? At first, she was confused, but then she remembered she'd ridden her bike to Hiccup's place. She responded to his text saying, I'll come over next week and get it. In response, Hiccup sent her a smiley emoji face.

In the next few weeks, everything seemed to be going well. Hiccup and Astrid quickly became best friends, and often got teased about being a couple, to which Hiccup always responded, "We are not!" Astrid continued to provide feedback to Hiccup on his dragon project, and Hiccup sometimes went to her house to practice playing the piano with her and make a good impression on her mom. He still wasn't completely convinced Karen Hofferson had changed her mind about him and his family, so he was especially careful to mind his manners. His dad even convinced him to invite Astrid to dinner twice over the next month. Though these two friends became quite close, Hiccup never pursued a romantic relationship with Astrid because he wasn't sure she would reciprocate his emotions. He hadn't even known her for very long, and they were just friends, right?

That was about to change.

10:32 AM
Friday, October 28, 2016
Gobber's Engineering Classroom

When Hiccup arrived at Engineering, there was a special package waiting for him at his seat. As he opened it, he marveled at his accomplishment. His dragon was finally completed, though the 3D print was a bit smaller than he had expected it to look. He still had to draw some details, but he was proud of what he'd done. Before taking her seat at the other side of the room, Astrid visited Hiccup to look at it.

"It's so much cooler than looking at it on a computer!" said Astrid.

"I agree," said Hiccup. "It was nice of Gobber to let this print overnight. I do think I could have done a bit better with the wings, though."

"Well, I think it looks great, and I'm proud of you," said Astrid, nudging his arm.

"Thank you," said Hiccup, smiling at her. He felt his face warm up as he blushed. Astrid pretended not to notice as she walked to her seat because she didn't want to embarrass him.

A few minutes later, the class began working on a miniature project. Each student was to build a house out of coffee sticks without using scale drawings. Gobber said the objective was to teach the students why he always made them plan ahead for engineering projects.

Stanley sat next to Hiccup, who wished to be sitting with Astrid instead. About ten minutes before the end of the class, Stanley picked up the dragon and looked closely at it. "What the heck is this thing?" he asked in a rude tone of voice.

"It's a dragon," said Hiccup. "I made it. Will you please put it down?"

"Not until I've had a good look at it, thank you very much!" said Stanley. He stared at it for a few seconds, inspecting every part of it. "Okay, at first glance, it looks pretty cool."

"Thanks," said Hiccup. "Any constructive feedback?"

"Yes," said Stanley. "Everybody knows dragons breathe fire. Where is the fire in this thing? Why are the feet so small? They're almost disproportionately small! Try and get some more detail on this, too! It looks like a low poly video game character. And what's all this gunk underneath its wings?" He started to pick at the remaining 3D ink under the wings.

"Don't touch that, Stanley!" Hiccup snapped. "I was going to take care of it. Can I please have it back now?"

Instead of giving it back to Hiccup, Stanley continued to scratch off the excess ink. Under the unmeasured pressure, one of the wings crumbled in his hand. "Oops!" Stanley jeered.

"You idiot!" Hiccup snatched what was left of the dragon from Stanley's hands and assessed the damage. The wing wasn't the only broken part. The body had some cracks from Stanley's careless grip. "You just ruined it!"

"Hey, it's not my fault you screwed up the design," said Stanley.

That did it. Hiccup stood up and shouted, "Stop blaming me!" He scooped up the remaining broken pieces from the floor and stormed out of the classroom.

By this point, Stanley had the attention of the entire class. The engineering teacher, Gobber, walked up behind him and yelled, "WHAT was that?"

Jack, who had been sitting across from Hiccup, said, "This bully was bashing Hiccup's dragon design. He grabbed it without permission and ended up breaking it."

Astrid broke through the Thorston twins, who had been blocking her from Hiccup the entire time. She walked straight up to Stanley and slapped him in the face. "I don't care who you are or what the relation is between you and Hiccup," she told him. "You have no right to harass him like that." She turned towards the Thorstons. "And you guys are especially to blame for this escalating the way it did. You blocked me and enabled him to push Hiccup over the edge!"

"What?" said Tom. "I don't remember that."

"Alright, that's enough!" Gobber shouted. "You obviously don't appreciate the amount of work Hiccup put into that, you chuckleheads! He spent months on this!"

"He did?" Stanley asked, nervously.

"And that's not all," said Gobber. "You're not off the hook. I'm putting extra community service hours on you for this! And that goes for you, too, Tom and Rachel!"

"What? We didn't do anything!" said Rachel.

"Save it for the dean if you're going to cause any more trouble," said Gobber. He made his way towards the door, intent on speaking with Hiccup. Before he got there, though, Astrid walked into his field of view and raised her hand.

"Yes, lass?" said Gobber.

"Can I go talk to Hiccup, please?" asked Astrid.

Gobber was surprised to hear this, but he happily obliged. "Of course," he replied. "You might be able to get through to him better than I can."

"Thanks," said Astrid, exiting the classroom.

As Gobber returned to Stanley, he noticed the boy was still holding part of the dragon's wing. Suddenly, a spiteful but wonderful idea popped into his mind.

"This will be your punishment!" Gobber announced.

It didn't take Astrid long to find Hiccup. He was sitting outside near the lunch area, slumped against the building. He was sheltered from the sun in the shadow of the school. She quietly approached him and said, "Hey, Hiccup."

Hiccup was startled at first, but when he saw it was just her, he looked up at her and said, "Hi, Astrid." His eyes were red, as if he had been crying. He sniffled. Yes, he had definitely been crying.

"Mind if I sit here with you?" she asked.

"No, go ahead," said Hiccup.

Astrid crouched down next to him and said, "Hiccup, I'm sorry about what happened back there. I really do think you did a great job on the dragon. Stanley was just being a moron."

"I know," said Hiccup. "He's always like that."

"Really? I haven't seen it lately," said Astrid.

"He always does it behind people's backs."

"What did you say?"

"I mean—." Hiccup sputtered "um" and other speech fillers as he tried to cover up what he'd said.

"Wait just a minute," said Astrid, cutting him off completely. "Are you saying that when you're alone, he's an even bigger bully?"

Hiccup sighed in defeat. "Yeah," he said. "More than he was before. I've been downplaying it the whole time."

"You really shouldn't do that," said Astrid. "You need to tell someone. Without someone to reprimand him, he'll just continue to do this. You know it's true."

Tears started to fill Hiccup's eyes. "I know," he said. "But I didn't want to make a big deal out of it. And if I tell somebody, he'll just call me a coward."

"You're not a coward, Hiccup," said Astrid. "Who cares what he says? You're one of the bravest people I know."

"But I'm afraid to do this to him," said Hiccup.

"It's better if you report him than if I slap him in the face again," said Astrid. "And if you need me, I'll help you. Okay?"

Hiccup wiped the tears out of his eyes and said, "You will?"

Astrid scooted closer to Hiccup and, to his surprise, hugged him. He hesitantly hugged her back, even though his mind told him in so many different ways not to. "Remember, I'm always here for you, Hiccup," said Astrid. She tilted her head up and quickly planted a gentle kiss on his temple.

Hiccup's heart stopped for a moment. Had she actually just done that? For a moment, he lost the ability to speak and just smiled at her. When she smiled back, he said, "Thanks, Astrid. I really needed that."

She continued to smile at him and said, "Are you ready to go back to class?"

"Yeah," said Hiccup.

As they made their way down the hall, Hiccup observed Astrid closely. She was smiling, but there was something else. A very light shade of pink was barely visible on her cheeks, but Hiccup only noticed when he looked closely enough. Does she actually like me more than I think she does? he thought to himself.

Astrid caught him staring and said, "What?"

"Nothing." Hiccup could feel his face heating up.

"No, really. What?" she insisted.

Hiccup chuckled. "You. You're blushing."

"Am not!" said Astrid. She couldn't help a small giggle. "You are."

"Maybe so," said Hiccup.

"Let's never speak of this in class, okay?" said Astrid.

"You bet," said Hiccup. "I wouldn't want you to become a social outcast like me."

"Hey, don't talk yourself down like that," said Astrid. "Pretty much everyone knows we're friends."

"Some of them think we're even more than that," said Hiccup.

"Are we?" asked Astrid.

Hiccup paused for a moment. To tell the truth, he did see Astrid as more than just his friend. On the other hand, he'd only really known her for a couple of months. Then again, she had kissed him earlier...

"I honestly don't know, Astrid," said Hiccup. "You're my best friend, but you kissed me just a minute ago."

Now Astrid blushed even brighter. "Um... maybe we shouldn't discuss this right now. We've only known each other for so long."

"My thoughts exactly," said Hiccup.

"Thanks," said Astrid. "I don't want my face tomato red when we get back to class."

"I should hope not," said Hiccup.

When they reached the classroom, Astrid had recovered enough to at least be presentable. As they entered, everyone was packing up to go to lunch.

"Remember, all concept drawings are due next Friday!" said Gobber. "I have a limited criteria to deal with, so don't make them too crazy!"

When the classroom was clear, Hiccup and Astrid walked up to Gobber. "Concept drawings?" asked Hiccup. "What did we miss?"

"Well, I was fed up with those degenerates, so I'm making everyone do something that will make them appreciate your effort in your dragon project," said Gobber. "Everyone is to design a 3D dragon to compete in a contest to see who builds the best!"

"What?" asked Astrid. "Are you sure that's a good idea?"

"Well, I thought it was," said Gobber. "Maybe I was being a bit spiteful, but it is an engineering thing. There could be a sculpting element, too. There's a program online called TinkerCad. I don't know how much detail you can put into the things you design, but it's worth a shot, right?"

"Definitely," said Hiccup.

"Are you sure you want to start over, Hiccup?" asked Astrid. "It won't be like Blender."

"That's not all, Astrid!" said Hiccup. "You get to design a dragon, too!"

"I'm not even that good at computers," said Astrid.

"That's where I come in," said Hiccup. "I'll help you out. We can be a team."

"Wait, but are we competing against each other?" asked Astrid.

"I actually haven't figured out what the competition will be structured like yet," said Gobber.

"That's all well and good," said Hiccup. "What do you say, Astrid? Team?" He put his left hand up.

"Any day!" said Astrid. She high-fived Hiccup. "When do we start?"

"We'll probably start after we get those concept drawings in," said Hiccup. He cleared off his desk and picked up his backpack. Astrid followed suit.

As they walked out of the classroom, Hiccup said, "Hey, Astrid, I'm going to go to the dean and report Stanley right now."

"Now?" asked Astrid. "Are you sure, Hiccup?"

"Yeah," he said. "I don't want to put up with him anymore. You'll wait for me, right?"

"Sure," said Astrid. "I'll be right outside if you need me." She sat down on the bench just outside the dean's office and said, "Better get a move-on."

"Here goes nothing," said Hiccup. He took a deep breath and entered the office.

While waiting for Hiccup, Astrid ate her lunch on the bench. Soon, Jack walked by. "Hey, Astrid!" he said. "What's up?"

"Nothing," said Astrid. "Just waiting for Hiccup to come out."

"What?" Jack looked confused. "Did he do something wrong?"

"No," said Astrid. "He's reporting Stanley for the confrontation, and probably everything else that moron's done."

"Finally!" said Jack. "He's probably the meanest guy in school. Not even Tom and Rachel compare to him by a long shot."

"He's a flirt, too, in case you haven't noticed," said Astrid.

"That must be quite bothersome and annoying, huh?" asked Jack. "Especially since you and Hiccup are so close."

She looked up at him and said, "What do you mean by that?"

"Oh, come on, Astrid," said Jack. "Every time you so much as make eye contact with Hiccup, you act differently."

"Differently how?" asked Astrid.

"Don't play dumb with me," said Jack. "You talk differently around him, too. Your tone is softer. Sometimes I even catch you blushing when he does something for you." She glared at him. "Okay, I'll just tell you straight up. I know you like him as more than just your friend."

"Is it really that obvious?" asked Astrid.

"Have you really not heard that people talk about you two?"

"I don't want them to talk about us, Jack!" said Astrid.

"Neither would I," said Jack. "If I had a girlfriend, I wouldn't want everyone gossiping about us."

"I'm not his girlfriend!" said Astrid. "Just because I'm his best friend and I'm a girl, it doesn't mean I'm his girlfriend. There's a big difference. Listen. Every time someone makes fun of us for being a couple, which we aren't, Hiccup denies it like crazy. I'm not even sure he wants to have that kind of relationship with me."

A shocked look crossed Jack's face. After a moment, he said, "Okay, enough about you two. How about this? I'm having a Halloween party at my house, and it's probably a bad time to mention I invited Stanley, too."

"Why?" asked Astrid. "You clearly don't like the guy."

"Doesn't mean I can't try being nice to him," said Jack. "Point is, I wanted you and the Haddock twins to come."

"What kind of Halloween party is this?" asked Astrid.

"The usual," said Jack. "Games, pumpkin carving, Trick-or-Treating, that kind of thing. Here, I'll give you my number and you can RSVP." He handed her a slip of notepad paper with his cell number on it. "Hang onto this and give me a call once you decide. It'll start directly after school on Halloween."

"What about your address?" asked Astrid.

"I'll text it to you," said Jack. "Don't forget to tell Hiccup about this."

"Okay," said Astrid.

When Jack was gone, Hiccup came out of the office. He breathed out a sigh of what Astrid could only identify as relief. "So, how did it go?" she asked.

"Well, it felt good to get it off my chest," said Hiccup. "No telling what happens now, though. I have to wait until 'further notice.'"

"Well, whatever you said, I'm sure you did fine," said Astrid. She patted the space on the bench next to her and Hiccup sat down. She gave him some time to get his lunchbox out of his backpack and said, "Hiccup, Jack is having a Halloween party at his place. I don't know who all is invited, but he wants you, me and Heather to come."

"You know I'm not one for social gatherings, Astrid," said Hiccup.

"But it's Jack!" said Astrid. "One of your other best pals!"

"Jack and I don't hang out much outside of school," said Hiccup.

"That's true, but it doesn't change the fact that he's your friend, right?" asked Astrid.

"Well, there is one thing you should know," said Hiccup. "Even though we're friends and all, I don't know that much about him. Not nearly as much as I know about Fishlegs. I suppose this would be a chance to get to know him better, though."

"That's right!" said Astrid. "That's what I was going for!"

"Well, I suppose I could go," said Hiccup.

"Great!" said Astrid.

3:35 PM
En Route to Haddock Residence

"Then Astrid came by and talked to me," said Hiccup.

"What did she say?" asked Heather, trying her best to pay attention as she pedaled her bike.

"She tried to comfort me, and then I told her Stanley does this all the time," said Hiccup. "She talked about always being there for me if I need her."

"I say that all the time," said Heather. "You never listen. What made it different this time?"

"Maybe it's because she's not my sister. Anyway, she did something I didn't expect. First, she hugged me. Not too weird, right? Then, she kissed me on my temple."

Heather almost lost her balance when she heard this. "What?"

"You heard it," said Hiccup. "On the way back to class, we kind of talked about ... us. And we decided we're not going to talk about that again because we haven't known each other long."

"That makes sense on the surface, but it's counterproductive," said Heather. "If I was in your shoes, I'd take her on a date."

"Shoe," said Hiccup. "And no. Don't you think that would be a little too drastic?"

"She likes you!" said Heather, taking the risk of looking back at him while pedaling. "Can't you tell at this point? She kissed you, for crying out loud! Screw drastic! You should do something with her sometime after this party! Take her out on a date or something."

"Alright, fine," said Hiccup. "But we're fourteen! Don't you think it's a bit soon?"

"We'll be fifteen this coming February," said Heather. "I think it's the prime time!"

"We'll see for sure on Monday," said Hiccup.

"Totes," said Heather.

Later that evening...

"She did what, now?" asked Scott.

"It's like I said," said Hiccup, sitting in his living room chair. "She came out to comfort me, and kissed me on the temple. I honestly don't know what to do."

"Well, she obviously likes you more than you've let on," said Scott. He was sitting on the couch.

"I didn't know until today," said Hiccup.

"Well, the good thing is you told the dean about Stanley," said Scott. "I just wish you would have come to me sooner."

"I know, I'm sorry," said Hiccup. "We can talk about him later. Right now, I need advice about what to do about Astrid."

"Well, how do you feel about her?" asked Scott, taking a sip of wine.

Hiccup sighed. "I don't know, Dad."

"Sure, you do," said Scott. "I'll ask you again. How do you feel about Astrid?"

"Well, I like her a lot," said Hiccup, "but the whole reason we became friends in the first place was because Heather introduced us. I mean, I did have a crush on her back in elementary school, but still."

"The fact that Heather introduced you to her has nothing to do with how you feel," said Scott.

"Okay, fine," said Hiccup. "I'll tell you. I do have feelings for Astrid, if that's what you were going for. I like her enough that I want to kiss her sometimes."

"Well, it looks like she beat you to it!" Scott laughed. "If you like her that much, then why does it bother you that she kissed you?"

"I honestly don't know anymore," said Hiccup. "I think I was just nervous because this feeling is so foreign to me."

"I understand," said Scott. "I was the same way when your mom and I were in college. Tell you what. You're both going to Jack's Halloween party, right?"

"Yeah," said Hiccup.

"Why don't you ask her how she feels there?" asked Scott.

Hiccup blushed. "I don't want my relationship with Astrid to move too fast," he said.

"If you don't do something soon, she might start to think you're not interested," said Scott.

"Oh, alright," said Hiccup. "But only because you said so."

HOLY COW! I just looked at the view count and it's over 1k! Thank you guys so much for reading this, whether you're actually following via email updates or not. Of course, I'm continuing the story. I just wanted to say thank you. This is higher than my YouTube view count on my first video! Let me know how you guys liked this chapter because it's near and dear to my heart. I loved writing this one. I may say to leave reviews almost every time I upload, but any and all feedback is appreciated, or you can just tell me your thoughts on the story so far! Also, don't forget to read Dragons of Berk: How to Train Your Dragon, which is pretty much where my Jack OC came from. As always, I'll see you soon!