First off, thank you for all the reviews, Guest. It would be easier for me to address you directly if you nicknamed yourself, but it's okay. I appreciate the feedback nonetheless. Yes, I do think different people cope with loss differently, and that's going to be addressed in this chapter. And you know what that also means?

HICCSTRID DEVELOPMENT! FINALLY!

I'd like to point out to you guys that this story doesn't follow Race to the Edge in any way, at least for now. I'm all caught up in the series, so I know what's going on with the Dragon Hunters and all that, and I'd like to let you guys know that there is an implied ship in this story that involves Heather, but not Fishlegs. I wrote the original Berk High School story before I even knew about Race to the Edge, I think, and I want to stay as close to that story as possible. I have made a couple of changes. In my original story, the Halloween party in the last chapter took place in Fishlegs's apartment and didn't even involve pumpkin carving. I changed a couple of the costumes as well, but I won't get into detail regarding that. You get the idea. Don't be upset when Heather doesn't go out with Fishlegs.

We left off on the scene where the entire town of Berk goes on lockdown and the gang (minus Ruffnut and Tuffnut) is stuck in Jack's house after Trick-or-Treating. I wasn't going to dedicate an entire chapter to this originally, but here we are. Let's go for it.

Chapter 6
Lockdown

8:48 PM
Monday, October 31, 2016
Jack Collins's Residence

When Hiccup entered the room Tim was referring to, he immediately knew what he'd meant by having not moved all the furniture up. There was one couch and the bare bones of an entertainment center, but that was it. It was a large room, but accounting for the fact that a wall had been knocked down to make the space, it shouldn't have been a surprise that there were two doors leading to the upstairs hallway.

Astrid, Heather and George trailed in behind him. "Wow," said Heather. "That's a lot of space."

"Yeah," said Hiccup. "Not bad, huh?"

Everyone started spreading out around the room. With the lights out, the only source of light was the street lamp outside the window. Hiccup looked outside, only for Astrid to turn the blinds down on him. "Don't do that!" she quietly snapped.

Hiccup held his hands up by his collarbone and said, "I was just looking."

"There is a murderer on the loose, and you're looking outside?" Astrid seemed utterly flabbergasted. "What if he was out there? He could have seen you!"

"Astrid, as much as I appreciate the concern, I feel like you're being a bit overly paranoid," said Hiccup.

"My dad wouldn't have taken the chance of losing me if he was here," said Astrid. "I'm not about to take any chances with you!"

"You don't have to yell," said Hiccup. "Why are you acting like this?"

"Leave her alone," said Heather.

"Yeah," said George. "Astrid has every right to act this way."

"Fishlegs, seriously?" said Hiccup. "You're playing the 'every right' card?"

"Maybe 'right' is the wrong word," said George. "She has every reason to. This guy did kill her father, after all. If it was me, I'd think the same way."

Tim and Stanley entered the room before Hiccup could respond. Stanley was carrying pizza boxes and Tim was holding candles and a lighter. "We'll eat the pizza in the candlelight," said Tim. "Jack's getting camping mattresses and sleeping bags for you so you won't be fighting for the couch."

"Fine by me," said Stanley, setting the pizza boxes down on the floor. "I'd rather sleep on a nice mattress than an uncomfortable couch."

"What's wrong with sleeping on a couch?" asked Astrid.

"I'll have you know, Astrid, that couches aren't designed for sleeping," said Stanley. "They're for lounging, and I do not sleep where people lounge."

"Yes, you do," said Hiccup. "You fell asleep in the homework lounge last week."

"Because I was bored," said Stanley. "Don't you ever get bored, Hiccup?"

"Well, thanks to my... Never mind. I'm not gonna say it," said Hiccup.

"Why not?" asked Stanley.

"Because if I said what I was going to, I would have implied that you didn't have friends, and that wasn't my intention at all," said Hiccup.

A look of shock crossed Stanley's face. After a moment, he said, "Say what you want about me, but the 'no friends' thing was a low blow, especially for you."

"Stanley, you're an idiot if you call that a low blow and say the same thing about him," said Astrid. "And I heard that crack about us being underweight earlier, which we are not!"

"Would you three stop fighting!?" The voice belonged to Tim, who was lighting candles around the room. "I wasn't going to bring it up, but this is what I was afraid would happen if Stanley stayed."

"Well, no matter," said Jack, who had arrived with the blankets, camping mattresses and sleeping bags. "Let's just play the silent game while we eat our pizza."

"When do we start?" asked Stanley.

"It starts when I drop the stuff and it ends when I snap my fingers," said Jack. He immediately dropped what he was carrying.

At that moment, everyone fell silent. Hiccup didn't dare speak in case Stanley tried to make fun of him again. Until that moment, silence had never been so unsettling, especially with DD potentially right outside the window.

Everyone lined up for pizza. Since George and Stanley had won the competition, they got their slices first. Hiccup took his immediately afterwards and took to the floor near the couch.

"As the only adult here, I am exempt from the silent game," said Tim, putting a stack of napkins next to the pizza boxes. "Everyone take a napkin and, please, nobody make a mess."

Before Hiccup could get up again to get himself a napkin, Astrid sat next to him and handed one to him. Not wanting to ruin the game, Hiccup mouthed a silent "thank you." Astrid winked and started to eat her pizza. As the rest of their party started to eat their pizza, Hiccup couldn't help observing Astrid. He noticed that she was taking occasional sideways glances to the window, something Hiccup had never seen her do before. Well, there was a murderer on the loose, as she'd said before. Her behavior wasn't completely unwarranted, especially since the murderer in question had killed her dad. Hiccup wanted to ask her how she was feeling at that moment, but he didn't want to ruin the silent game, which would give Stanley all the reason to make fun of him.

I'll talk to her when the opportunity presents itself, he thought.

A second round of pizza slices went around, and a third. Soon, Tim walked downstairs to put the leftovers in the refrigerator. Jack snapped his fingers.

"Finally!" Stanley yelled. "The silence was killing me!"

"Shh!" Jack hissed. "Not so loud!"

"Fine!" said Stanley. "You don't have to whisper-shout at me."

"Guys, you have to promise not to freak out when I tell you this," said Jack.

"What is it?" asked Heather.

Jack pointed to the sleeping bags and self-inflating camping mattresses. "I only have three sets," he said. "One for me, one for my mom, and one for my dad."

"I call the big sleeping bag!" said Stanley. He started to move towards the pile.

"The big one goes to Fishlegs," said Jack.

"Why?" asked Stanley.

"He's the biggest out of all six of us," said Jack. "No offense, Fishlegs."

"Oh, it's fine," said George. He took the big sleeping bag and one of the mattresses.

"If you don't want to take the couch, Stanley, you might as well have the next one," said Jack. Stanley took the second sleeping bag and mattress without question. Jack turned to Heather, Astrid and Hiccup. "Sorry, guys. Like I said, I only had three. Which of you wants the last one?"

"Not me," said Astrid. "I'll take the couch if nobody else wants it."

"Heather, you can have the sleeping bag," said Hiccup.

"But where'll you sleep?" asked Heather.

Jack spoke up. "It won't be as comfortable, but we can Jerry-rig a bed for Hiccup. I brought in a spare pillow and a bunch of blankets."

"Hiccup, do you want to take the couch instead?" asked Astrid, suddenly sounding concerned. "I'll let you."

"No," said Hiccup. "I insist you take it if you think it'll be comfortable."

"Okay," said Astrid.

Tim returned with ice cream sandwiches. "I had these just for the occasion," he said. "I was going to offer them earlier, but I didn't have time to after the lockdown started. Again, don't make any messes. This carpet is brand new."

The ice cream sandwiches turned out to be small bricks of mint chocolate ice cream between two chocolate layers. Hiccup was expecting vanilla ice cream, but the mint chocolate flavor tasted even better than he expected. He hadn't had mint chocolate ice cream in a long time.

Before long, Stanley, George and Heather sealed up the mattresses and got in the sleeping bags. Jack helped Hiccup pack a bunch of the blankets into something of a mattress. Soon, they had something that any decent person still wouldn't call a bed, but it was all they had to work with.

"Sorry again, man," said Jack. "If I only had a fourth set, we wouldn't have to do this."

"It's okay, Jack," said Hiccup.

Jack's voice lowered to a barely audible whisper and he said, "And just between you and me, I couldn't help noticing that Astrid is acting more anxious than I would have expected her to in this situation."

Hiccup took a quick glance at Astrid and saw that she had wrapped herself in a blanket on the couch, but was staring out the window. "DD killed her father," he whispered to Jack. "What would you expect?"

Jack shrugged. "Just ... think about talking to her, okay? I initiated that silent game thing so Stanley would quit bothering you, but I could tell you wanted to talk to her."

Hiccup eyed Jack quizzically. "You know, I find it very interesting how you can read people so easily," said Hiccup. "Now that I know you just a little bit better, I'm not sure how I feel about that."

"I don't read people like books," said Jack. "I observe." he glanced around for a second to make sure nobody was listening. "You know what? I've never told anyone at school this, but I have high-functioning autism. I've been in social skills groups for years. I wouldn't call myself an expert on the matter, but going to those groups has taught me how to read people. So you can't really blame me for knowing these things. Capiche?"

Hiccup paused before answering. "I didn't know about that. I never would have guessed you were autistic."

"Nobody does, and I don't like to talk about it," said Jack. "I don't want jerks like Stanley to make fun of me."

"Yeah," said Hiccup. He thought for a moment. "Why are you even telling me about your concern for Astrid's anxiety?"

"Because I wanted to talk to her about it, too, but she doesn't know me very well," said Jack. "And I doubt she trusts me very much, because ... well, I said something to her about you two being the talk of the whole freshman class. One in three students thinks you and Astrid are a thing."

"A 'thing'?" Hiccup repeated. "You mean, like a couple? I know that's what people think, and I'm not comfortable with them thinking it. It's not true."

"Listen here, pal," said Jack. "You might not be her boyfriend, but as far as I know, you're her best friend. If that's true, take my advice and talk to her. That might help ease the anxiety a little."

"What if she doesn't want to?" asked Hiccup.

"Don't worry about that; if there's anyone she'll want to talk to about it, it's you," said Jack. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I should put out these candles now."

Hiccup decided not to ask Jack any more questions. He put his prosthetic leg near his "bed" and tucked himself in. When Jack and Tim left to sleep in their own rooms, the only light source was a dim night light in the corner. Hiccup's eyes adjusted to the darkness soon enough. He thought back to his conversation with Jack and looked over at Astrid. She wasn't even trying to sleep. She was still staring at the window from the couch. Hiccup was about to call out to her, but she suddenly put her head on the pillow and closed her eyes, as if she had decided to try going to sleep.

Well, there goes that chance, Hiccup thought. He tried to find a comfortable position to sleep in, but failed miserably. It's going to be a long night.

Later that night...

For the umpteenth time, Hiccup turned over to his left side. As far as he knew, the rest of the party had fallen asleep, and he didn't even know what time it was. Even Astrid seemed to be sleeping, and she was on the couch. It must have been a fairly comfortable couch if she was able to sleep on it. He opened his eyes and looked up at the couch to see if he could still see her. It was only then that he realized something was wrong.

Astrid appeared to be mumbling in her sleep. After a few seconds, the mumbles became intelligible words. "No... no ... Dad ... Dad, wait ... don't go ... Dad!" She started to hyperventilate. Suddenly, her eyes opened and she gasped for breath. She seemed to regain her composure, but she buried her face into the pillow and started whimpering.

Hiccup's instincts kicked in and he threw his blanket off of his body. He hobbled over to the couch and said, "Astrid, are you okay?"

A muffled "yes" made its way through the pillow, but it wasn't enough to mask the sobs coming from Astrid's throat.

"Astrid, please," said Hiccup. "Talk to me. I hate seeing you like this." Astrid reluctantly took her head away from the pillow, sat up on the couch, and looked down at Hiccup. He could barely see the streaks of tears across her face. "Tell me what's wrong," he said.

At first, Astrid didn't reply. Hiccup almost asked again when she whispered, "I'm ... I'm scared ... and I miss my dad." She covered her face in her hands and let out a quiet sob.

That did it. Hiccup climbed onto the couch beside Astrid and hugged her. She didn't hesitate to hug him back, crying just a little bit more.

"Shh," said Hiccup. "He won't find us here. Tim's house has an alarm system. The police will know if he breaks in."

"But you know what he does when anyone calls the police," said Astrid. "He kills everyone in sight and gets away with it." She was still crying.

"Astrid, please," said Hiccup. "Forget him. What would your dad have you do right now?"

"Stay calm, deep breaths," said Astrid.

"That's right," said Hiccup.

Astrid seemed to relax into Hiccup's embrace, but more sobs escaped her body. "I still miss him," she whispered.

"I know," said Hiccup. He desperately tried to think of ways to make her feel better, but came up with nothing. He had never seen Astrid cry before. Unable to think of anything else, he wiped another tear off her face and lightly kissed her on the cheek. She responded by hugging him tighter.

"Why did you do that?" she asked.

"That's all I could think of," Hiccup whispered. "I've never seen you cry before, and like I said, I hate seeing you like this."

Astrid sighed. "Hiccup, I owe you an apology."

"Why?" asked Hiccup.

"I've been hiding a lot from you," said Astrid. "The truth is, my dad's death has taken more of a toll on me than I've let you know. I have nightmares, and I never go out by myself anymore because I have this strange sense of paranoia. I'm sorry this is how you had to find out." She tried to pull away from Hiccup's arms, but he only tightened his grip on her.

"Astrid, I accept your apology," said Hiccup. "But just know that I'm always here for you, no matter what. Always. You understand that? If you ever need to talk to someone, or if you even need a shoulder to cry on, I'm always here, okay?"

Astrid hugged him again and said, "Thank you, Hiccup." She started literally crying into his shoulder, but Hiccup didn't mind. He started to subtly rock her body side to side.

"Shh," he whispered. "I'm right here."

After a few minutes, Astrid had calmed down. She and Hiccup sat in silence for a while, simply sitting side by side. Eventually, he broke the silence.

"We should probably get to sleep," he said. He started to shift towards the floor, but Astrid stopped him.

"Wait," she said.

"What is it?" he asked.

"Will you stay up here with me?" she asked. The question caught Hiccup off guard, and he stared at her for a moment. He could see her blushing. "I'll be right behind you."

After Hiccup recovered from the awkwardness of the thought of sleeping on the couch with her, he said, "Of course." Astrid lay down on her right side against the back of the couch and Hiccup followed suit in front of her. He felt her cover both their bodies with her blanket and snuggle up to his back. Without warning, she embraced him from behind.

"Is this okay?" she asked.

"Yeah, it's fine," said Hiccup.

"Good," said Astrid.

For a while, they were silent once more, but Hiccup couldn't stop thinking about whether he should tell her about his feelings. Would that be too much? Fortunately, Astrid answered that question before he could ask. "Hiccup, can I ask you something?"

"Sure," he said.

"What are we?"

"Um... Where is this going?" he asked.

"Remember on Friday, when I said we shouldn't talk about our feelings?" Without waiting for Hiccup to reply, Astrid said, "I regret that decision. I didn't just kiss you to comfort you. I like you a lot. But ... I bet you knew that already."

"Yeah," said Hiccup. He found one of her hands on his chest and held it. "I like you a lot, too, Astrid."

"So, does that make us boyfriend and girlfriend?" asked Astrid.

Hiccup hesitated before replying. "I'm not sure," he said. "We haven't known each other that long, and we haven't even been on a date yet."

"What do you think we should do about it?" asked Astrid.

Hiccup blushed. In truth, he had never thought seriously about being in a relationship with Astrid, and it scared him to imagine it. "Let's give it some time," he said. "I need to figure out how I really feel about this."

Astrid leaned upwards and hovered over his face to kiss his cheek. "You do that," she said. She settled back down behind him again and said, "Goodnight."

"Goodnight," said Hiccup. Before he fell asleep, though, he thought to himself, What have I just gotten myself into?

The next morning, 7:38 AM...

A tap on the shoulder roused Hiccup from his slumber. When he looked up, Heather was hovering over him. He felt a pair of arms wrapped around his chest and realized Astrid was still asleep behind him.

He gently shushed Heather. "What time is it?" he asked.

"It's 7:38," said Heather. "Tim got a call earlier. The lockdown's over, but school's cancelled for the day because of the risks."

"There's no way he's still out there," said Hiccup.

"I don't think so, either," said Heather. "So, what happened last night?"

"She woke up crying in the middle of the night and I came up here to make sure she was okay," said Hiccup. "I'm not gonna lie to you; she was a mess."

"So what did you do?" asked Heather.

"I came up here and just hugged her, at first, but ... I kissed her on the cheek before too long," said Hiccup. "Then ... later on, we were talking about our feelings. I think I remember saying we should still give it some time before we go on a date."

"Hiccup, just admit it!" said Heather. "You love her! You're just too nervous to say it!"

"Hey, that's taking it a little too far," said Hiccup. "We haven't even known each other that long."

"If you keep playing that card, your relationship with her won't progress at all," said Heather. "I'm just trying to make sure you aren't hurting her feelings. You should ask her out. Do it sooner rather than later."

Hiccup sighed. "Maybe you're right, Heather," he said. "But if you keep doing this, it won't be too long before I start teasing you about Jack."

"You wouldn't," said Heather.

"Wouldn't I?"

"Is that a challenge?"

"Maybe."

"It's a challenge I won't take," said Heather.

Hiccup looked around the room. "Where is everybody?" he asked. Stanley and George were gone.

"Jack just came in here and woke me up," said Heather. "George and Stanley are downstairs eating breakfast."

"Did they see us?" asked Hiccup.

"Probably," said Heather.

Hiccup shook his head. "Go downstairs and handle them," he said. "I'll wake her up, okay?"

"Okay," said Heather. She walked out of the room, leaving the door slightly ajar.

Hiccup relaxed his entire body, relieved that the conversation was over. He savored the feeling of Astrid's embrace a few seconds longer. He brought his right hand around to her shoulder and shook it. "Hey, Astrid," he whispered. "Astrid, come on. Wake up."

Astrid yawned and tightened her grip on Hiccup. "Just a little bit longer, please?" she muttered.

"Astrid, Tim has breakfast downstairs," said Hiccup. "I know you're comfy over here, and you're probably still a bit sleepy, but we have to get up now." He felt her nuzzle his head before sitting up. "You ready to get up now?" he asked.

"Yeah," said Astrid. She walked over to the mess of blankets that would have been Hiccup's bed and picked up his prosthetic leg. "Hmm. It's not as heavy as I thought it would be." She handed it to him. "Here you go."

"Thanks," said Hiccup. He took the leg and attached it to his stump. After standing up, he said, "Shall we go downstairs and get breakfast?"

"I have to go to the bathroom first," said Astrid. "I'll be down once I'm done."

"Okay," said Hiccup. Once they left the room, he walked toward the stairway and she went to the bathroom. Downstairs, he found Heather, Jack, Stanley and George at the breakfast table. There were two empty plates at the table and Tim was in the living room, watching TV.

Stanley was the first to notice Hiccup. "Oh, boy. The Jedi returns," he said.

"What?" It took Hiccup a couple of seconds to realize he was still in his costume. "Oh, right! That!"

"So, I gotta know," said Stanley. "How'd you end up on the couch with Astrid last night?"

Hiccup groaned. "Do you really have to know?"

"I'm sure all of us would like to," said George.

"Okay, fine," said Hiccup. "Astrid woke up from a nightmare last night and started crying. I went to check up on her and I stayed up there to keep her company. We ended up falling asleep. What did you think happened? Don't answer that. You're the dirtiest minded person I know, Stanley."

"Why would she be crying?" asked Stanley. "This dude she's freaking out about doesn't exist."

"Yes, he does!" Heather snapped. "Our dad has been trying to pin this guy down for months! DD is the serial killer who killed Astrid's father! If you were her, what would you do?"

Stanley couldn't form an answer.

"That's exactly what I thought," said Heather.

"I didn't say anything," said Stanley.

"What Heather means is," said Jack, "you have no reason to talk down on her like that."

Stanley glared at Jack, but then said, "You know what? Fine. I'll drop it."

After Hiccup sat down, Astrid walked downstairs and sat in the empty chair next to him. Breakfast was eaten in an eerie silence, during which Hiccup's mind raced. If he and Astrid were this close, should he at least try to be her boyfriend? But what would the others think of him for dating someone at 14 years old? Sure, he was almost 15, but still. He had never felt more shy in his life, not even in elementary school, when he had always watched her from a distance and never spoken to her. But then, what reason did he have to be so shy and nervous? Astrid had already outright admitted that she liked him, so any nervousness he felt about being around her should have dissipated, but it was still there.

Why are feelings so darn complicated? he thought to himself.

Later that morning...

Hiccup had decided to walk with Astrid to her house. After all, she had told him she didn't like going out alone anymore, but it wasn't just because of that. He wanted to talk to her about their relationship, but he wasn't sure how to start. Fortunately, she noticed his silence.

"I know that look," she said. "What's going on?"

Hiccup sighed. "Astrid, last night ... I was wrong."

"About what?" asked Astrid. "I don't understand."

He stopped in his tracks so she could turn and face him, even though they were two houses away from hers. "We can't go on like this, hiding our feelings from one another. Up until last night, I wasn't sure you liked me more than you'd like anyone else."

"Most of my friends are guys, Hiccup," said Astrid. "But you've been my best friend for a while now, and ... until this weekend, I guess I was too embarrassed to think about us as anything else."

"Well, then, what do you think we should do?" asked Hiccup.

"I don't know," said Astrid. "What do you think? You said you'd figure out how you felt, and I guess you did. What do you want to do?"

"Well..." Hiccup scratched his head. "Maybe we could go and get pizza together this weekend or something. No Jack, no Heather, no Fishlegs, and definitely no Stanley. Just you and me. I'll pay."

Astrid grinned at him slyly and said, "Harry Haddock, did you just ask me out!?"

"Um... I guess so?" he said. "If you look at it that way—." He was abruptly cut off by Astrid hugging him. He was initially too shocked to hug her back, but he did so after a couple of seconds.

He was about to speak, but she whispered in his ear, "Hiccup, I realized just now that I didn't thank you for staying with me last night. Normally, I have a weird sense of paranoia when I go to sleep because of DD, but I felt safe with you. I haven't slept that well in so long. Thank you." She gave him a squeeze and released him.

"You're welcome, Astrid," said Hiccup. "I'll see you at school tomorrow, okay?"

"Okay," said Astrid. She quickly pecked his cheek and jogged to her doorstep.

Hiccup couldn't help snickering at how ridiculous she looked jogging in her skeleton costume with her pillowcase. When she had gone into her house, he walked back to Jack's place.

He couldn't wait to tell Heather what had just happened.

AND that wraps it up for this chapter. Thank you guys so much for reading, once again. I struggled with this one. It's been a while since I've struggled that much on an original fiction work. I've been dedicating so much time to actual work that I haven't had time to write this, but it's finally done. Since I'll be working on my other story, Dragons of Berk for a while, why not follow this story so you get notified when the next chapter is released? Don't forget to follow that one as well, because I'm pretty darn proud of it. See you soon!