Chapter Two: Making up to an Angry Girl
Ash smiled as he walked over to the table which held his five closest friends. A spare seat was next to Hiccup and his lips tugged up higher as he settled down next to her.
"Hello."
"Hi," she pressed a quick kiss to his nose, not much of a PDA person. Especially in front of the gang; they already got teased mercilessly as it was.
Snotlout pretended to barf. "Eww! No kissing my cousin in my public!"
He'd earnt that nickname from 1) being a snot picker when he was five and 2) for being a lout; hence Snotlout. And the fact that part of it rhymed with his real name, Scott.
Ash shook his head and wrapped his arms around her, hearing her protest lightly, "Why not?"
"Because it's disturbing!"
"No, Ruff and Fish full on making out in public is disturbing; at least we have morals."
Everyone's eyes fell to the other sheepish couple, the well-rounded blonde ruby red while his girlfriend grinned devilishly. Fish or (his real name) Freddie? Well his full nickname was Fishlegs because he was lacked sea legs and was like a fish out water half of the time. And Ruffnut (Rachel) was called that because well she was a rough nutty person. Same could be said for her twin (Tom), but he was a tough nut to crack when it came to getting through his thick head; Tuffnut. Hiccup got her nickname from having a vicious hiccup problem when she was younger, bursting into hiccups almost every time that she laughed. He could still clearly remember how adorable it was even admitting it to himself when he was only in kindergarten. No one had used her real name since she was five, not even her dad; she hated it that much. Ash on the other hand didn't have a nickname, sometimes he'd get called Blondie, but even then that wasn't often.
Grinning, he grabbed Hiccup's hand and started playing with her nimble fingers. He drifted his eyes sidewards to seek her tell-tale blush, lips drifted into a slight smirk.
"Are we going to eat?" Tuff demanded, stomach growling loud enough for a few people to glance over with concern.
Feeling Hiccup stiffen in his arms and Ruff whistling distractedly, he knew something was up. With a little sigh from all the boys they stared at the female twin, completely aware that the auburn haired girl wasn't going to say a thing.
"Hiccup and I wanted to go shopping since we're here."
"How does that involve us?" Snotlout asked carefully.
She grinned. "We need our boyfriend's opinions of course."
Ruff and Snotlout leapt up immediately, heading towards the food court.
"OI! WHERE ARE YOU GOING?"
They laughed and the Jorgenson boy grinned. "Their your girlfriends, we're not going to join! And Tuff needs to eat anyway!"
Ash glared at them as they walked off, knowing that Fish was doing the same. Hiccup mumbled a quiet apology and he smiled softly, pressing his lips to the top of her head.
"It's okay, Fish and I can go to the game shop later."
"I'll try to tone Ruff down," she said with a small grin.
He frowned. "What's so bad about Ruff?"
"She's an over-enthusiastic shopper."
And he understood to what extent within ten minutes.
They were collapsed on chairs just outside of the dressing rooms; Fish sporting five bags full of clothes Ash with only two boxes of half-price converse, his girlfriend slumped next to them on the floor. That twin was exhausting. She dragged them to every half decent clothes store, even making them try on a few things themselves and abusing poor Hiccup into trying on everything that she deemed suited her and was her size; lots of clothes fell into that category apparently. Only Ruff would present the clothes that she tried on, Fish's voice getting rough from how many times he'd given his opinion. Hiccup wouldn't step out much to the twin's annoyance; Ash practically wasn't needed for anything except for supporting his defenceless friend.
Ruff came hurrying back from scouring the shelves and dragged a surprised and tired girl off the floor, pushing her into a change room.
"Try this on! I think you'll like it!"
"You said that at least fifty different pieces of clothing ago," she moaned as she locked the door.
He felt some sympathy for her, a few Ruffnut induced bruises forming on her arms and he couldn't help but feel guilty.
"Loosen up, she's exhausted."
"And I'm exhausted from trying to get her to buy something! She has two hundred bucks to spend and she's only spent it on converse so far!"
"Maybe she doesn't need new clothes," Ash suggested with a little yawn, "her clothes are fine as they are."
The blonde sighed. "But they're only fine. Anyway you're only saying that because of that v neck sweater she has."
He grinned at the thought of his favourite piece of clothing.
"Partly."
He heard a gasp from inside the change room and frowned as he heard a series of hyperventilating sounds. What the heck was happening?
Getting worried, Ash called. "Are you okay in there, sweetheart?"
A deep calming breath, "I'm fine… I-I think I'm g-going to c-co-come out."
"Okay," a smile found its way onto his face.
When the door opened, he couldn't help but feel like he was meant to be drooling. The dress was black floral, with a flattering but modest slight scoop neckline and thick straps. It had fake buttons going down the body, said top of the dress clinging sweetly to her upper body. Hugging her waist perfectly, it fell into an almost knee-length skirt which complimented her legs; both flesh, bone and metal.
"It looks great!" Ruff exclaimed gleefully.
Fish nodded in approval, grinning at his friend's stunned state.
She was shyly waiting for Ash to say something, but he was too shell-shocked to say anything, her expression falling.
"You don't like it… I'll go get changed…"
Ash jumped up, grabbing her wrist and frowning. "I didn't say that I didn't like it."
"But you didn't say anything," Hiccup mumbled.
He sighed and turned to Fish giving him a pleading look.
The blonde nodded and grabbed his girlfriend's hand, dragging her away. "Let's have a look over here."
"But something cute was about to happen!"
Gently lifting up her chin so that she'd meet his eyes, he smiled softly. "I didn't say anything, because I was stunned okay? You look beautiful. You always do, but that dress looks beautiful on you and you look beautiful in that dress."
She blushed. "Really?"
"Stop asking stupid questions," he murmured, leaning down to press his lips against hers briefly.
"Let's go buy this dress then."
Hiccup slowly smiled and nodded, heading back into the changing room. He sat back on a seat, thinking about when he'd be able to convince her to wear the dress. Maybe on Friday when they were having a dinner at his place with his parents; they adored her. To them she was the best thing since sliced bread. And they also had a reason to tease their son mercifully, so why wouldn't they like her? Especially with that grin of hers; that warm, cheesy grin and sweetly humoured attitude. What's not to like?
She came out barely half a minute later, back in her black skinny jeans and her Imagine Dragons t-shirt. Still stupidly beautiful. Grinning at him, she pressed her lips to his nose quickly with the dress slung over her arm.
"I'm going to go to the counter okay?"
"Okay."
He walked over to Fish who was waiting for his own girlfriend to finish browsing everything that wasn't completely hideous. "How'd it go?"
"Good."
"Smooth moves?"
Ash chuckled and nodded. "Smooth moves."
Bags were already forming under Fish's eyes and he couldn't help but feel a wave of pity strike him.
"You know it wouldn't hurt to tell her to tone it down a notch; she won't kill you."
"Yeah, but she's happy so I don't see why I should- oh shit."
He frowned at him. "What do you mean 'oh shit'?"
The blonde looked reluctant to answer. This wasn't good. "Well… um… look over there."
Following where his friend had nodded to, he felt his entire being freeze. His blood boiled at the sight. The guy at the counter was flirting with a blissfully naïve Hiccup who smiled and conversed back, -without a doubt- not understanding what was happening. He growled.
Mine.
Storming over he possessively wrapped his arm around her waist, smiling at her rather than looking at the tool who thought he could take what was his. She blushed, but grinned lightly all the same.
"Have you bought the dress yet, sweetheart?"
Hiccup nodded. "Yep."
"Let's leave then."
An adorable crease appeared between her eyebrows. "But I was just talking to Nathan."
Nathan. That was the tool's name.
"We should go meet up with-" he stopped himself from saying the nicknames; he didn't want the tool to judge two people that he didn't know, "Scott and Tom."
Her frown deepened. "They said to meet them in half an hour."
"Can we please just go?"
Hiccup looked into his eyes deeply and he saw the recognition. She knew something was definitely going on.
Nodding softly, she turned to smile at 'Nathan' who was annoyingly attractive now that he looked at him. Dark hair, hazel eyes, ate testosterone for breakfast. Great.
"Okay, I better go then."
The jerk had the nerve to smirk. "But you haven't given me your number yet."
That's when all of his self-control crashed into a brick wall and his arm curled more protectively around her. He tugged her in the direction of the door.
"We're going now."
She grabbed the bag and let him lead her until he stopped. "What is it this time?"
"Just go along without me, I need to talk to the guy," he said.
"Ash…"
"Go, Hiccup," Fish and Ruff had walked over hand in hand, surprisingly with no more shopping bags than what they had.
Hiccup frowned deeper. "But-"
"Go, Heidi."
She froze and he regretted those words the moment they left his mouth. He shouldn't have said her real name. With the most hurt and torn look she'd ever given him, she stormed off, Ruff running after her.
"Do you want me to…" he shook his head at Fish.
"Go after them, I have something to deal with."
He nodded and ran off after them, struggling slightly with the excessive amount of bags that he was carrying and the shoe boxes that he had the heart to pick up for him.
Turning on his heel, he stormed over to the tool who had witnessed the whole ordeal.
"What the hell were you trying to pull?"
Nathan grinned at him. "I wasn't; I was just talking to a single girl."
"'Talked'? You were flirting with her even after I made it obvious that I'm her boyfriend! You were stirring up trouble."
"Now why would I do that?"
"To add another girl to the market," Ash snarled.
Then that idiot smirked. "Yeah… but you've got to admit she's pretty hot."
"I know that dumb arse! Back the hell off! Right now because of you, I did the stupidest thing possible and now she's mad at me!"
He shrugged. "Not my fault that you're an overprotective boyfriend."
"Oh I'm sorry that she's been through hell and back and deserves the best she can get! I'm not the best, but I try which is a lot more than I can say for a bastard like you! And I swear if we ever come back and you flirt with her again, I'm giving you a busted face and getting you fired!"
"That's if you still have your girlfriend."
Ash scowled at him before storming out of the shop, running in the direction of the food court.
When he got there, breathing heavily there was no Hiccup in sight. "Shit!"
Fish gave him a sad look. "She left the second that she finished talking to Ruff. You messed up."
"I freaking know that!" he gripped at his hair angrily, "God, I'm an idiot!"
Snotlout spoke up as carefully as the guy could manage. "What did you do anyway?"
"I went all 'over-protective boyfriend' and when I was telling her to leave, so I could talk to the dipshit who was flirting with her, I went overboard and called her Heidi."
A round of winces went around the table and he sighed.
Ruff offered him a smile. "If you run now you might reach her before she gets home. And make sure to not call her Heidi again, you know how sensitive she's about that."
"I know, I experienced it first-hand five minutes ago," Ash said drily.
He started running out of the food court calling, "I'VE GOTTA GO, I'VE GOT A GIRLFRIEND TO MAKE IT UP TO!"
They bellowed out cheers behind him as he sprinted out of the shopping complex, heading towards her street.
When he saw her ponytail swishing as she angrily padded down the street, he sighed in relief, running another twenty metres to get to her. Her pace quickened. Ash groaned, his legs aching from his ankles to his thighs, but sped up in order not to be left behind.
"I-I- Jesus I can't breathe!"
Taking another minute of regaining his breath before he dared to speak again, he said, "I'm sorry."
She didn't respond at all. "I should've have gotten so possessive and I shouldn't have crossed the line by calling you by your first name. I'm so freaking sorry."
Hiccup didn't respond, so he placed his hand on her shoulder and she spun around. The only way that he could describe her expression at that moment was furious.
"You're always so possessive… you get jealous so easily… do you really not have any trust in me?" her voice was dark and her eyes pierced his, a sharp green.
"I trust you; I don't trust the tools that flirt with you. And you're a bit… naïve."
"Naïve? How the heck am I naïve?"
Ash winced; he shouldn't have brought that up. "You don't notice when people flirt with you."
"I notice when people flirt with me!"
"Oh? And when have you noticed?"
She scowled at him. "When the guy asked me for my number, when you flirt with me and um…"
"See? You find it hard to see these things."
Hiccup poked him hard in the chest. "And why are you such an expert then?"
He looked down at the ground, breathing in steadily before looking up again. "Because I spent four years hinting that I liked you and I liked you even before then; since I was five. You needed me to be blunt, that's why I was so straightforward when I first kissed you."
She looked at him, gaze softening before she turned away again, continuing to walk.
He grinned. He was getting through to her. Following after with a huge smile, he tapped her shoulder again.
"ASH! Go away!"
"Can't do that, sweetheart."
Wrapping his arm around her waist, he heard her protest, "What the hell are-"
He gently pressed his lips against her neck and she stopped walking, body stiffening. With a huge grin he saw her bring her hands to her face, knowing that she was blushing furiously.
"Feel better?" Ash asked softly.
"Shut up," he chuckled, "I hate you."
He grinned and turned her around, moving her hands to let him press a kiss to her nose, like she always did to him.
"Right back at you."
Enjoy the second chappie, because I won't be updating for a while... that's because I'll be doing NaNoWriMo, a writing challenge during only November every year. So yeah... I'll start writing again on December 1 an update by December 4 hopefully, so read or reread my other works and my friend ReadyForSunset's work to entertain you during my absence. So... don't hate me, I'm just going to be trying to do original work for a while again. I used to only do original work, but took a break to write fanfiction for self-esteem and self-satisfying purposes; I promise I won't give up on this though! This is only because of NaNoWriMo! Enjoy!
-Blue