A/N: Thank you to everyone who has read this so far, I'm going to try and update it as much as I can, hopefully on a regular basis. (If all goes to plan)
"Miss Hofferson, are you paying attention back there?" the sound of sniggering alerted Astrid to the fact she had dazed off in to the clouds, she shook her head and gestured to her teacher she was and looked down to the last question she was on.
Maths had never been her strongest point, she could write and preform physical strikes, but when it came to using numbers it all went down hill. She began to frown at the book in front of her, taunting her with the question,
"Stupid maths,"
"It's forty-seven point nine if that's any help." she blinked, Hiccup had been sat next to her the whole time and she had no idea.
"Have you always sat next to me?"
Hiccup smiled before he let out a quiet chuckle,
"Since this morning yes, in fact I'll be here for the whole year." butterflies erupted in to her stomach, all year, he was going to sit next to her all year.
The thing about Hiccup; he had beautiful soft green eyes, with scruffy auburn hair, which he kept messy but somehow tamed; Astrid had always wanted to put a braid in to it, not a huge one but one small enough to notice.
He also had a scare which sat on the right, just on the corner of his mouth; which he had told people it was a cat when he was younger who had scratched him.
He had always been a scrawny guy, but over the years he had developed muscle and height and just pushed over six foot, just tall enough for Astrid.
"Sorry, I've kind of been in a world of my own lately. And maths hasn't helped at all." the apology was weak, but Hiccup had believed it, he smiled in return,
"If you want, I can help you with maths," he saw the surprised look on her face "not for anything in return, just the company and the fact I can stop giving you the answers.." he joked; Astrid formed a crooked smile and returned a thanks, Ruffnut is never going to let this one go now.
Keeping to his word Hiccup had set up a plan for Astrid to meet him in his room at seven o'clock that evening. He had planed an evening of going over the basics, not to make her feel stupid but to at least make her feel like she can do it.
"I hope she doesn't think I'm patronising her bud," he said as he stroked the black cat on his bed, the cat, called Toothless had been in a mood all day with his owner, the fact he was allowing Hiccup to pet him was a huge improvement from earlier.
He had cleaned his room as quickly as he could earlier, as well as showering and putting on clothes which didn't force the situation of this evening of being a date; it was just a meeting of two friends doing maths, nothing romantic about maths, not one bit…
Astrid arrived to his door, deciding in the end that it was just maths and not a date, she wore skinny pale jeans with a white top and a baggy cream cardigan, after all it was not a date. She finished the look off with a light brown coat, a thin one but a coat none the less. Taking a deep breath she was about to open the door when Hiccup had beaten her to it, allowing Astrid to stand there with her fist up to the door.
"Uh, sorry.." Hiccup smiled, allowing Astrid in to his room, which, to her surprise was clean and he too had a cat; not as beautiful as Stormfly, but that was a hard thing to beat.
"I thought we could start with the basics…"
"I'm not four Hiccup, I'm twenty."
"I know, but…ah who am I kidding I knew it would feel like I was patronising you."
For the first time since arriving Astrid planted a small smile on her face; he was only trying to help her out and he thought going back to basics would be the starting point.
"Nice try Haddock, but teach me fractions, or you know..what we were doing today."
The boy stood there, a small flush of pink in his cheeks as he called him by his last name.
"Uh, okay. Um.."
"Have I just made you stutter? oh my god I really have." Astrid broke out in to a fit of giggles as she sat down on his bed, almost crushing Toothless in the process, Toothless glared at her as he jumped off the bed and climbed on to Hiccup's desk.
"Shit, sorry. I almost squished your cat.."
"Don't worry about Toothless, he's in a mood with me anyway." he stared at the cat, who opened one eye and then flicked his tail back and forth.
"Right, shall we begin then?" Hiccup asked, smiling.
It had been hours since the two of them had been studying, with Hiccup tutoring Astrid the time had flown by and when they had both noticed how late it had become they both froze and panicked.
"I can't believe it's almost one o'clock, I'm so sorry I've taken your whole evening!" Astrid apologised frantically.
"No need to say sorry, really. It just shows that we had got in to it just a little bit more than I hoped…"
Astrid smiled as she packed her belongings back in to her bag, throwing it on to her shoulder which instantly felt the weight of the textbook and notepad; which had somehow become a lot thicker with paper sticking out unevenly.
"Well thank you anyway, I'll get out your hair now.."
"Let me walk you back."
The words rolled off Hiccups tongue, shocked by his own statement he blushed a light shade of pink, Astrid stood still, almost statue like until she blinked a few times to allow moister back in to her eyes.
"It's okay, my building isn't far,"
"I insist though, I know no one would have a chance of attacking you, but just for my own knowledge you got back safely. Please."
she couldn't look him in the eye, her face had developed a dark shade of pink, no one had offered to walk her back to her building ever, let alone sit up with her all night to do maths. It had all happened at once in one night and here she was speechless to Hiccup.
"Okay, but I'm not protecting your ass if you get attacked,"
Hiccup laughed, then nodded as both of them grabbed their coats and made their way out of Hiccup's building.
The weather had turned cold since the sun had set hours ago, even though there was hardly any light to begin with, there was a small amount of heat. But now, there was frost developing on the grass and the autumn breeze had got stronger, blowing a range of coloured leaves from the trees they belonged to on the ground.
Hiccup stayed close to Astrid the whole time, the coat she had brought wasn't doing its job at all to keep her warm, and her hands looked cold as well.
"Are you okay?" he asked, knowing full well what her answer would be,
"I'm fine, the cold never bothers me."
"But it is bothering your hands, they're frozen," he stated, he had always known Astrid to be stubborn, ever since they were younger she had always been the one to stand her ground and to do what she wanted instead of what others had wanted to do.
But this temperature was bitter, and no place for anyone to be out in no matter how stubborn they were.
Astrid let out her breath, the warmth quickly evaporating in to the nights chill; not even her breath stood a chance in this cold, thankfully they were almost to her building.
She was freezing, but she would never allow Hiccup to see she was, she was almost sure her hands were about to fall off, leading her to question what the school would do about that and how she was going to be able to do her exams; but her thoughts had vanished as she felt warmth on one of them, someone had grabbed her hand.
She looked to where her hand was and followed the strange hand which took hers. Hiccup had taken her hand in his whilst she was in thought about her hands falling off.
"Sorry" Hiccup said, taking his hand off hers just as quick, Astrid shook her head and snuck her hand back in to his.
"Don't be, your hand is actually quite warm, I'm a little jealous of it if I'm honest," she chuckled.
They walked to the front of her building hand in hand, both silent and enjoying the company. It was Astrid who removed her hand first, to get her key for the building out of her pocket,
"Well, thank you for tutoring me this evening, again sorry I took up the whole of your evening.."
"Like I said, don't worry about it." Hiccup smiled.
They both stood there awkwardly for a few minutes, Astrid still had the key in her hand but had yet to move towards the keyhole to place her key in, and Hiccup had yet to walk back, still present in front of her.
'Talk about making sure you get in to the door' Astrid thought, still smiling.
"Well, goodnight Hiccup." she finally said, hoping he would get the message as she turned the key in the lock.
"Goodnight Astrid," Hiccup replied.
Hiccup never started moving again until the door had shut, safely knowing she had got back with out anyone attacking her, although this was a school, and they were both old enough not to worry and able to protect themselves, Hiccup was always taught manners from his parents and to always walk a woman home; or that's what his farther had told him in secret behind his mother's back.
Hiccup was had just left the sign which indicated Astrid's building when he heard fast steeps getting louder and louder behind him, he turned just as Astrid had reached him, red cheeks from where she had run in the cold, and holding out her phone.
"I forgot to get your number! you know, just incase I need more tutoring."
Hiccup smiled, as he reached for his phone and passed his phone to her, and hers to his.
Who knew it, walking Astrid Hofferson home would lead him to get her number as well, and he never even took her on a date.
"Well, goodnight again," she quickly said, turning away until Hiccup grabbed her arm and pulled her back in to a peck on the lips.
Oh how soft Hiccup's lips were against hers, warm as well and his after shave, it smelt like heaven. The kiss only lasted a few seconds before they both pulled away, both of them blushing and both holding large grins on their face.
"Sorry, I shouldn't have done that…"
Astrid giggled, it had been a long time since she had done that, something so girly had happened to her when she was in the presence of him. Something she liked.
"Don't be." she replied, as she kissed his cheek and quickly left to go to her room.
Still trying to build the characters up. I have a lot in mind for them all, so keep an eye out for it