_-_-_Henry's POV_-_-_

I finally arrived home.

"HELLO? DAD ARE YOU HOME?" I called out. 10 seconds passed, you can hear a pin drop. 'Dad's not home yet'. I made walked into my bedroom. I grabbed a backpack and walked towards the kitchen. There I filled the bag with water bottles and prepared a sandwich that I'll eat later. Now ready, I made my way to the backyard where I will start my exploration journey.

After quite some time, I checked my watch. 4:00 it read. "Perhaps it is a good time for a break. Where should I rest?" I asked to myself. There was a trickling noise nearby. From the sound of rushing water up ahead I presumed it was a small waterfall. "That looks like a good place to rest" I spoke out loud to no one in particular. Following my childish curiosity, I followed the sound of the waterfall. As the sound continued to grow louder and louder, I realized that I never visited this part of the forest.

After following the sound, I finally found where the waterfall was, and damn, it was a breathtaking view. The water was falling into a fairly sized cove. The cove had the waterfall out flowing into a little pond with a few fish visibly swimming inside it. The cove also contained several old oak trees, a few giant boulders, and wild berry bushes. There was lots of flat ground, a little cave I could see just beneath the waterfall. Last but not least, a tree top canopy that obscured the view from the skies, no wonder this paradise was hidden from Google Maps. I finally found my paradise, my getaway from reality.

As I started to descend down the cliff side, I realized that I should create a safer way to go in and out of the cove. Considering the cliff-side was slippery due to the waterfall's spray, it was a good idea. I almost slipped 3 times already! "Phew! I finally got to the bottom!" I said to myself as I caught my breath. I then found a spot right beside the pond, with little beams of sunlight that parted the cool misty air. After I unzipped my backpack to dump out the contents, so I can have a little picnic date with myself.

*MEOW*

"Huh? Who's there?" I questioned.

*MEOW*

A black cat with the same forest green eyes as me appeared, crawling out from behind a boulder. "Hey little guy, you seem like you haven't had much to eat now have you?" I said as I observed the feline's thin body and its look of absolute hunger on that fur covered face, as he eyeballed the food in front of me.

"Here little guy, have some tuna from my sandwich" I offered as I grabbed said tuna and placed it into my hand, slowly extending my palm out to the starving fur ball.

*MEOW* the cat meowed as it took a couple steps in retreat as it saw me getting closer.

"Oh! You're scared huh?" What if… what if I look away? Show it I'm not a threat' I thought. "Here little guy" I said as I turned my head away. I heard the rustling of leaves growing louder and louder as the cat came closer and closer.

Soon enough, I felt the feline eating from my hand, with the tongue tickling me as he lapped up the food. For such a simple act, this feeling was so incredible, so breathtaking. My day now instantly brightening up. Once the cat was all done, he started to crawl all over Henry. "Hey! Hey! Hey! St-st-stooop! That tickles" I said while laughing. Finally the cat stopped, and started to curl up in my lap, it was now napping. I checked the time on my watch, it read "4:45".

"Oh no! I'm going to be late for work!" I exclaimed. But there was only one problem, the cat was sound asleep and he looked so cute and was so warm. "Hey little guy, time to wake up now. I have to go now" I said to the cat as I started to poke him.

*MEOW?* the cat said, wondering why the nice human woke him up.

I started to pack up my trash into my bag. Man! I was sweating. 'I should wash my face to cool down a bit' I thought. As I kneeled down near the pond water to wash my face. I looked at my watch again, "4:50" it read. 'Hmmmm, I guess he's gone now' looking around for the now vanishing cat. I now climbed up the cliff side.

I finally arrived at my backyard after stumbling through the foliage.

*MUFFLED MEOW* "Huh? What was that?" I questioned. I unzipped my backpack to throw out the garbage in the bag. But when I did, instead of seeing a pile of trash, I saw the eyes of the newest friend I made. "WHOA! There you went, huh little guy?" I mumbled as I pat the bony creature, drifting off into thought of what I was to do with him now.

*PURRRR*

"Want to be my pet?" I asked.

*MEOW*

"Fine then, your new name is Fury!" I said.

"HEY DAD! ARE YOU HOME?" I half asked, half yelled. Still no answer, 'I guess he is working overtime again' I thought to myself. 'Where should I keep Fury for now?'

"I'll keep you in my room Fury, until I can go to the Pet Store later to buy whatever cats need, and I guess I should take you to the vet to vaccinate you and stuff." I spoke to Fury as I climbed up the stairs.

"There Fury, just behave now and you just might get a treat when I get back!" I said as I let Fury wander around in my ridiculously huge bedroom. After, I glanced up at the clock on the wall, "5:20". "CRAP! I'M LATE!" I yelled out loud. I closed the door to my room and ran towards the garage.

_-_-_ Time Skip _-_-_

I finally arrived at the "Forge". After parking my car in one of the many available parking spaces, I rushed inside,

"Hey Gobber, sorry I'm late. I just lost track of the time." I explained as I walked into the shop through the door, pretending not to notice my little stumble over the non-existent door frame.

"Fine lad, I'll let it pass this one time." Gobber, my ever understanding boss, stated as he ushered me to my station.

"Thanks Gobber" I thanked him before asking, "So what's there to do?"

"Well, we do have the Ninja 1000, but I let Larry take care of it since you were late. Oh! And we also have a customer waiting to get her tires rotated and oil checked, and I think you just might like this one" Gobber winked at Henry as he continued. "She's waiting to bring in her car."

Fast to work, I made my way towards the locker room to get on my mechanic suit. Once that was on, I started to walk towards the large bay garage doors to let in the customer and her car. When the doors opened, I saw a sky blue 2006 Ford Explorer waiting. The Explorer had tinted windows, a blue and yellow paint job; with the yellow being the secondary color, and the car seemed to be in a fairly good condition. I then signaled the driver to drive into the garage as I was now ready.

The person who came out from the driver side, was no other than Astrid Hofferson. 'No wonder Gobber was acting weird, but he always is, whatever.' I thought.

_-_-_ Astrid's POV _-_-_

I needed to take my car for a check-up at the shop. I had already driven over 15,000 kilometers and my car dealer said I should go for an oil change and tire rotation every 10, as you can understand, I was pretty overdue.

I called ahead and the man on the phone said that they should have a mechanic waiting for me once I got there. So now I parked in a spot at the Forge's lot. When I entered the establishment, a man greeted me.

"Ah lass, how may we help you this fine Monday evening?" The man, Gobber, according to the mechanic's jumpsuit, said.

"Hi, my name is Astrid Hofferson. I believe that we talked on the phone a half hour back." I replied.

"Yes, I remember that name. The one who needed the maintenance on a Ford Explorer?" Gobber said.

"Yup! That would be me!" I said.

"Your mechanic is a tad bit late, so just drive around back and wait till he opens the bay door." The older man explained.

"Alright thanks!" I said him before leaving.

I hopped into my car and started it. Hearing the man's instructions in my head, I drove the car around the garage, remembering the instructions. Not even 5 minutes later, one of the bay doors started to open and a mechanic waved at me, signaling for me to drive in. Once inside the garage, I turned off my car and exited.

_-_-_Henry's POV_-_-_

"Henry?" I heard Astrid.

"The one and only." I replied, trying to keep my cool. "Since when did you work here? If you don't mind me asking."

"Ever since I was 12, but I started to get paid at 16, for legal reasons." I replied. "I don't understand, how did you start working here since you were 12?" she asked. "Well, the owner, Gobber, he is my god father and close friend. My dad just basically left me with him so I don't destroy the house while he's at work." I answered back. "And you're here because…." I trailed off, hoping not to sound rude.

"Oh, right! I need an oil change and tire rotation." She said.

"The keys are still in the car right?" I asked.

"Yup!" the blonde replied with an awfully cheerful voice. After starting the ignition, I drove off in the direction of the car lift.

I drove the car unto the car lift. "There's a lounge out front if you want to wait there. Or you can take a seat and see how's it done" I said, as I saw that she was awkwardly just standing around me.

"I'll stay and watch you work." She replied.

"Alright then." I said as I started to turn on the lift, lifting the tires off the ground so I could remove them. As I finished rotating all 4 tires. After that, I started the lift, once happy with the height, I got a pan and put it under the drain for the oil pan. Once in position, I unscrewed the cap. Oil started to come out with a small amount spilling onto my jumpsuit.

I glance over at Astrid, who is basically dazed at the site of me working. "You okay?" I asked as I waited for the oil pan to empty. A few seconds of silence followed my statement.

"Huh, wha-what was that?" Astrid asked.

'What? Astrid Hofferson never stutters' I thought. "You alright, Astrid?" I asked once again.

"Oh yeah, sorry, I just never expected you to -"She mumbled with a small blush forming on her cheeks.

"Huh what was that?" I questioned.

"I said I never expected you to be so strong, carrying all those tires and stuff with no sweat." She said meekly as blood started to rush to her cheeks.

"Oh, thanks." I said with light red appearing on my freckled face. I glanced over at the oil draining from her car, a very thin but continuous flow of oil, still dripping. The pan, three quarters full of oil. I looked over at Astrid, still looking like an angel from heaven above,

"Oi Hiccup! Stop staring at the lass and get back to work!" Gobber yelled out.

Breaking my thoughts instantly, I went to check if the car was fully clear of oil. Blood now rushing to my cheeks, I looked toward Astrid. She had an amused look on her face. I nervously chuckle, "Sorry about Gobber" as I rub the back of my neck. Now with the last drops of my dignity, I removed the pan from underneath the car carefully, making sure that it didn't spill a drop. I dumped the used oil into the oil drums that will be properly disposed of once full. Then I went back to Astrid's car to close the cap. The rotator finally beep for the final time, and I removed the last tire. After, I lowered the car so I can put the freshly rotated tires back onto the vehicle. I also put new oil in the car too.

"There you go, you're basically all set. You just need to come with me to the front to pay and sign some papers." I said to Astrid.

"Alright!" she replied as we started walking.

_-_-_Astrid's POV_-_-_

'Wow, he's chock filled with surprises.' I thought as he went to the front desk. "... So ..." I asked after an odd moment of silence, "what was up with you today?" I tried to tread lightly, after all, I already knew about his odd behaviour, but I wanted his side of the story.

I heard Hiccup sigh, "Well, I thought it's about time I started to fend for myself. Besides, if someone was talking rubbish about your mom, wouldn't you be angry too?!" he said in a dangerously defensive tone. After that, I didn't say anything, not wanting to provoke him.

"Alright, well, we're done once you sign this paper." Henry said while handing over the paper and a pen.

As I started to look over the sheet, I began to think to myself 'I want to know him better, I can't place it, but I feel something different when he's around compared to my time with Scott'.

'Man! I'm pretty hungry' Astrid thought. Not even 2 seconds later, *GRUMBLE GRUMBLE*

_-_-_Henry's POV_-_-_

"Hey, I don't know about you but after all that working I'm pretty famished, you want to go somewhere to get a quick bite?" I said with surprising ease and courage.

Astrid didn't respond right away. 'Man, maybe that was a bad idea' More nervous and timid than ever. Astrid was now smiling. Okay, now I'm just confused.

Before I say anything else, she beams at me and says "Sure I would love to".

"Its fine you don't have to" I say, not realizing what she said.

"I said yes, you dork!" She exclaimed.

"Wait what? She said yes?" I thought out loud. Next thing I know, I have pain on my arm and I see her hand balled up into a fist. "Ouch, what was that for?" I pleaded.

"That's for being stupid" She answered.

"Okay, okay. I'm sorry, I just never thought that ever in my life, you would go out to eat lunch with me" I explained meekly. Astrid just smiled back. "Well, let's go. We can take my car and I could drive you back here. If you want that is." I said to her, not wanting to make her feel trapped.

"Alright, that sounds just fine." She replied.

'Now the question is, where to go' I thought to myself. "Is there anywhere you want to go eat in particular?" I asked her.

"Anywhere is fine with me" She answered.

"Alright, I just might have an idea of where to go then. It will take about 10 minutes. Is that fine with you?" I asked her.

"Yup!"

Author's Note

Hey guys, I just wanted to say happy new years! Also, I want to say that I'm sorry for not updating sooner. A lot of things happened since the last time I uploaded. I'm now in my last year of high school and procrastinating like b*tch. I honestly don't want to study for any of my exams right now. I'll try my best to push out the next chapter. Tbh, I actually had this chapter written out, and proof read since September. I was too lazy to edit it until now. Special thanks to ToxicGirlfriend for beta reading this chapter, you've done an amazing job btw. Also, thank you to everyone who followed and favorited this story, I wasn't really expecting anyone to enjoy this. I hope y'all will enjoy this one. Signing out, Skyred89.