There's so much romantic tension in this one, I wasn't ready

Anything Could Happen

oOo

Yet again Hiccup found himself confronted with his wardrobe and concluded he had way too little things that were not baggy, out of wool or old loungewear.

He tried to negotiate; in the end, it was still summer and he owned maybe three button-down shirts that looked neat enough.

"Sometimes I don't know if I'm an adult or just faking it," he told Toothless who was lounging on his bed. "On our fifth date she'll see I've run out of options, realise I'm an actual idiot and then leave me. Not that we're together."

He sighed and plopped down next to the cat, who hissed indignantly at the disturbance.

"Sorry," Hiccup mumbled and idly ran his hands through the pitch black fur. "I think I want to, Toothless. Be with her. I don't know. I mean, it's not like I … have a lot of experience. I don't wanna mess this up. But I guess the second date is way too soon and I'm pretty sure she'd let me know when it's too late. Is it too early to ask? I mean, it's just a question, right? Just a harmless little 'Hey, what are we?' … right?"

Toothless blinked and started purring. Hiccup sighed.

"Glad we talked about this."

Toothless yawned.

oOo

His flat didn't really feel like home. It had always felt like something was missing.

But now, with Astrid standing in the middle of his hallway, it didn't seem that bad after all.

She'd been right on time and had beamed up at him, a bottle of wine in her hands. Hiccup was sure he had never opened his door to such a beautiful sight.

"Just, uh, put your shoes anywhere, it's fine," he quickly said and watched her place her shoes next to his.

Right. He'd forgotten his heart could beat this fast. He discovered his heart was able to beat even faster as she quickly wrapped her arms around his middle and squeezed him lightly. Hiccup's arms closed around her almost reflexively.

"It's good to see you," she murmured into his chest and let go as quickly as she'd hugged him, leaving a slightly dazed Hiccup who had to wait for his heart to continue beating for a second.

Astrid bit back a wide grin at the expression on his face.

"Likewise," he grinned, focused on her smile. "It's been a week since I last saw you - you didn't set your stove on fire."

She laughed. "I decided to stick to salads and frozen food. Safest decision I ever made."

Hiccup grinned and led her into the kitchen.

"To make up for all the deep-frozen stuff …" he pointed at the oven and grinned even wider as Astrid gasped and inhaled deeply.

"You really made lasagna!"

Hiccup couldn't help but laugh as she hit him lightly with excitement.

"I'll use those quickfire questions more often," he said and Astrid didn't know why but it sounded like a promise, excitement blossoming in her chest.

The kitchen was warm and smelled absolutely amazing. She wondered how long it had taken him to prepare this.

"It should be done in about ten minutes," he mumbled close to her ear, standing right behind her. It was then that Astrid really took notice of the close proximity they had been in the whole time. Quickly she took a step to the side and nodded when he offered, "Let's sit down?"

He led her into the living room. It was a small, cozy room with lots of nooks and crannies but was very sparsely decorated, as if he'd moved in only recently.

"Since when have you been living here?" Astrid asked curiously, looking around. Hiccup looked embarassed, rubbing the nape of his neck.

"Um … five years, give or take?"

Oh. Well. She shot him a quick smirk. "You're not really the decoration type, huh?"

He shrugged. "I would've, I just never found the time," he paused and then quickly added, "No, it just never felt home enough for me to really put effort into it."

Astrid furrowed her brows and turned to him fully this time.

"How come?"

He shrugged again. "I don't know. Maybe it's just living here in general. Or that I'm living alone with Toothless."

The young woman hummed.

"Or I'm just not home enough, too busy with work," he laughed now and Astrid couldn't help but think, No. You told me the truth the second time you tried to explain.

They both wordlessly agreed to drop the subject. Hiccup turned to say something to her but was interrupted by a black lightning bolt that made a dash for the sofa.

Astrid jumped - tripped over her own feet - crashed into Hiccup - together they fell onto the sofa.

Hiccup swallowed, his face inches away from Astrid's who had landed on top of him, one hand on his chest, the other right next to him on he sofa. The young woman stared at him, her bright blue eyes wide with shock. Her breath was hot on his skin.

Oh, god. He almost groaned at the sensation.

"Um …"

Astrid was mortified.

"I …"

"That … was Toothless," Hiccup got out then, his voice rasp and Astrid thought, 'how have you still not pushed me away?', her nose almost touching his. It would be so easy to just lean forward and-

The oven beeped.

Both of them jumped and immediately Astrid scrambled off of him, Hiccup following her suit.

'Right,' he thought through the mist in his head. 'Ten minutes.' And then, 'She almost kissed me.'

Astrid had almost run off into the kitchen, having to catch her breath for a moment and pretend that did not just happen.

'Oh, God,' she thought, slumping against the copboard. 'I almost kissed him.'

Astrid tried taking deep breaths to calm her soaring heart. If it hadn't been for that oven she really would have kissed him. Would he want her to? Would he kiss her back? Or just stay still, and then ask her to leave?

Hiccup returned, with the cat in his arms. His crooked, flustered smile almost made her forget to properly breathe in.

"May I introduce … the culprit. Also known as Toothless."

Astrid chuckled breathlessly and didn't fail to notice he seemed to be just as shaken and flustered as her.

Nevertheless she crouched down when Hiccup let the cat down again and offered her hand to the animal.

"Hi, buddy," she crooned softly and smiled when the cat bumped his head against her open palm. "Hi. Nice to meet you. You gave me quite the turn there, Toothless."

Toothless started purring as if agreeing with her and prowled around her legs, making her laugh.

"Okay, so your cat likes me," she declared brightly and smiled at him and felt a weight drop off her chest as he returned her smile just as freely.

"Makes two of us, then," he returned, almost making her forget the scene on the couch had even happened.

He quickly turned off the oven and took out the steaming lasagna.

"Alright, side or middle part?"

oOo

Hiccup was already halfway into his glass of wine when he remembered he didn't usually drink but also found he didn't really care. Maybe it was just her company, but he felt the urge to try something new. So he took another sip but kept it at a full glass

Astrid looked even more beautiful sitting at his table, he found. He couldn't help but think that nobody else should be sitting on that chair, bathed in warm, glowing light, really. Maybe that was the alcohol getting to him. How much wine before he'd be tipsy? Considering he never really drank - his heart rate was already through the roof at the sight of her - it had to be the alcohol. He wondered what would have happened if the oven hadn't beeped earlier.

She'd have kissed him. Maybe. Hopefully.

And he wasn't sure if he'd have held back much after that.

Again, this was the alcohol speaking.

Of course.

Hiccup ignored the fact that he had been thinking about kissing her for weeks now.

She was smiling at him.

"Sorry?"

"Thanks again," she repeated, still smiling - how was it that her smile was enough to warm him entirely? - and laid down her cutlery. "For the lasagna, I mean. I wouldn't even have gotten to completing the sauce. Also, my oven doesn't have an alarm," Astrid tried not to let her mind wander back to the previous moment in his living room (she failed miserably). "And I always forget to set an alarm elsewhere."

Hiccup chuckled. "Next time, just come over if you need a full meal."

How did he manage to make everything he said sound like a promise for a future?

"I'd love to," she heard herself say, not really surprised she was completely truthful.

oOo

They had already finished dinner and moved back onto the couch when Hiccup realised that this was the most home he'd ever felt in his own apartment.

Astrid had looked even more radiant in his kitchen, he'd found and looked as if no other than her should be sitting on the chair opposite to his, really.

Right now she was facing him, her head resting on her arm on the sofa, one leg comfortably tucked under her body.

"By the way, I didn't get to tell you any dark secrets last time."

Hiccup chuckled. "I'm all ears," and in demonstration inched closer and propped up his leg on a pillow, resting it at her side.

Astrid grinned and cleared her throat, mockingly serious. "Alright, let's see … all my friends saved my contact as Ass-strid,"

Toothless, who had been resting between them, jumped at Hiccup's sudden burst of laughter and stared at the young man accusingly.

"And you have my official permission to do that, too, if you like," she continued. "To make up for your nickname."

Hiccup tried to get it together. Really, he tried. But upon meeting her eyes, he burst into another fit of laughter, making her blush and lightly hit his arm.

"Come on, I didn't laugh that much at yours."

"You're right," he cleared his throat, trying to sober up. "Sorry."

Her sparkling eyes gave her away. "You're forgiven."

"Thank you."

"Also I own more fluffy socks than normal ones."

He blinked. "That's … soft."

"Hey, it's a problem. Especially in summer. Ever tried being sockless in high heels for a job you hate?"

His expression grew serious at that. "Which one?" he asked, entirely dropping the subject at hand and moving away from their teasing tone.

Astrid paused, defeated by his softened gaze and quietly admitted, "The waitressing. I'm … I'm at the Smith's every Tuesdays and Wednesdays and some Fridays when it's busy. I hate that place. Never liked bars in general, and even less like the people there, my boss is alright but almost never there 'cause he's busy getting drunk with the customers." The words just kept flowing over her lips - she felt completely safe telling him this, because it was Hiccup. Because his eyes were honest and his hands were gentle. Because he was patient. Because he was listenting, seriously because it was her talking.

"The other waiters don't really care, but that's the thing, they mostly don't even care about the JOB, they don't write things down, and it gets messy. The customers are a whole other story. Some are really nice, but that's maybe ten percent. The other ninety are jerks who wanna go to a bar and get some who think it's acceptable to grope the waitresses. They quickly learn that it's not. I almost got fired for punching instead of letting them."

Finally she stopped, feeling as if a giant weight had been lifted off her chest.

"Then why haven't you quit yet?"

His voice was gentle.

She drew another breath.

"Because I need that job. I'm paying my rents and food with the pet shop money, and the rest I need for the books."

Hiccup furrowed his brows, leaning his head to the side, signalling her to explain.

"I … told you last week I had to postpone becoming a teacher."

He nodded.

"Well. I … I was living with my uncle at the time. And one day he gets up and tells me, he's moving. And that it's time for me to get a job. I had just finished university. He knew that I wanted to start going into teacher training. But he insisted, so I started searching for a job. Elsewhere. I didn't want to stay where I was, especially not after ... that talk with my uncle. So I found a good offer here, reasonable rent, safe location," she smiled slightly at the reference to the fire department. "And a job I could tolerate. So I moved. And he hasn't called since."

Silence engulfed them after she had finished. Astrid had been staring at a very interesting loose thread of his shirt the entire time she had talked. Now the shirt started moving and slowly, ever so gently, Hiccup took her hand in his.

"I'm sorry, Astrid," he whispered softly, searching her gaze. She bit her lip and looked up into honest forest-green eyes, only now registering the tears that had formed in her own and quickly went to wipe them away with her free hand.

"S-sorry," she whispered shakily, wishing she had never even started talking about it. Now she was crying, on a date, with a person she actually liked, and now he had to see her like this! Getting all sentimental over nothing -

Her thoughts were interrupted by calloused fingers that settled on her cheek and gently - how could he be so careful while having such rough hands? - wiped away the tears that had spilled over.

"Don't," he mumbled. "Don't apologise. Least of all to me. Don't apologise for having feelings."

His thumb was now almost absentmindedly stroking her cheek, her eyes wide. The movement stopped abruptly and he quickly lowered his hand again - she wouldn't complain if he continued - but still held her hand in his.

"Astrid, I ..." he broke off, as if searching for the right words. "I have asthma. And … whenever I had an asthma attack, I'd apologise and run off somewhere because I didn't want to bother anybody, 'cause it was my illness, right? It was my inaqequacy, like it was my fault for having it. I didn't want anybody else deal with it.

But one day I didn't have my inhalator with me. And I'd have suffocated if I hadn't told Gobber, who knew which inhalator I was using and got one for me. What I'm trying to say is," he was smiling softly now. "Don't be me. Don't almost die just because you feel like this is only your burden to carry. Even if this was a pretty weird metaphor, I admit."

And Astrid looked at him and thought, 'I'll try if you stay.'

Out loud, she said, "Thank you. For … well."

Before Hiccup realised what was happening her small fist had hit his chest lightly.

"That's for making me talk about this."

"What-"

"And this," she quickly leant forward and gently pecked him on the cheek. "Is for … everything else."

Part of his heart was singing, 'She kissed me!', the other wondered what he had done to deserve her letting down her guard.

"I think we're almost even now," she husked out, smiling again, probably at his dumbfounded expression. "That's one dark secret on one dark secret."

Hiccup hummed and looked down at their still-joined hands. Then he returned her gaze and said, "Quickfire question." Astrid groaned playfully and chuckled, distractedly wondering just how his voice had managed to easily untie the knot in her chest.

"Alright, just ask."

"A dream except teaching?"

She hummed, running a hand along her braid. "That would probably be travelling, or flying. Like parachuting. Or sky diving."

"Where would you go?"

"Paris, maybe. Or Moscow. Or - oh, Istanbul! Or Hanoi. And I'd love to see the Northern Lights someday."

He chuckled. "Sounds good."

"Why, you finally planning a trip?"

"Maybe."

Astrid couldn't help but return his smile and shifted, curling into the crook of the sofa.

"Okay, my turn: relationship with your parents?"

Hiccup hummed and ran a hand through his hair. "I grew up with my dad, never met my mum, but I had Gobber as adoptive dad, slash uncle, slash godfather, slash trainer, slash the guy whose sofa I crashed on when I had a fight with my dad."

"I'm sorry about your mum," she whispered, already regretting her question. He shrugged.

"I never really got to experience what it's like having one. I mean … it feels weird, 'cause growing up the other kids had a mother and they fought and complained about it, and I just thought, I never got to choose. I never got to fight with her. But Dad sort of made up for that. We used to have what could best be explained as a, say, rocky relationship. He didn't listen and I rarely tried to talk. But we grew out of that. We meet every Wednesday for lunch, so I guess that's a habit."

He grinned at her and quickly, before she could ask him another question, asked, "A thing teenage-Astrid wanted?"

She laughed. "A punching bag."

"A thing now-Astrid wants?"

A pause. "A punching bag," she repeated and laughed, feeling all too light sitting in front of him on his sofa.

He chuckled. "Solid."

"Honestly, you just ruined my punch line."

"Yeah, well, maybe next time you do that, you should hit me up."

Astrid scrunched her nose at him, causing him to grin brightly.

"By the way, I have ice cream," he piped up, a joyous feeling bubbling up in his chest at her excitement.

"What now, you have me on your sofa for an hour before you decide to supply me with information like that?"

He laughed and got up, pulling her with him.

"I needed to make sure you stayed before I gave you all the good stuff."

Her laughter echoed through the hallway and Hiccup was sure he'd never hear a better sound than that.

'I stand corrected,' he thought five minutes later and hid his blush behind his bowl of ice cream as he watched Astrid take another spoonful of ice cream and MOAN.

"Where'd you get this?" he heard her ask through the mist in his head. "I've been searching for good ice cream for ages and here I am, in your living room, with stuff that doesn't taste like it was made out of cardboard."

"Uh, one of my friends has a little café a couple of blocks from here and it's on my nightly route, so I picked some off yesterday."

Her eyes lit up and she shuffled closer.

"Let's go there sometime! That ice cream is to die for, plus," she pointed her spoon at him. "I get to meet one of your friends."

He couldn't help but laugh at her. She looked endearing, as excited as she was, even with ice cream on her nose.

"Don't move."

Her expression was priceless as he scooted closer to her, reached out and gently wiped the dollop of ice cream off her freckled nose. Without thinking (which was rare for him but had grown into something like a bad habit he only seemed to have in her company), Hiccup licked it off his finger - then realised what he'd done and almost precicely blushed to the same colour as the strawberry ice in front of him.

"Sorry," he blurted out. "I wasn't really- um. Thinking."

To his surprise (and confusion) Astrid started laughing so hard she almost doubled over.

"Okay, what's so funny? I'm making an idiot out of myself, and you …" he hesitated, searching for words, shrugging helplessly.

Astrid had sobered up now but was still grinning, her eyes sparkling.

"Yes, but the fact that you did it isn't really the thing - okay, it kind of is, your face was pretty funny," she explained and flitted her eyes shortly over his body. "But it's also you doing something sexy and not realising. And if you do realise you're backing away immediately." Her eyes were fixing his own now. "For some reason."

He swallowed and still looked at her, completely incredulous.

"What … about me is sexy?" he asked, partly in utter disbelief that Astrid was the one calling him sexy and not the other way round. Another part of him was desperate to know so he could do them more often - again, the alcohol speaking, of course.

Astrid chuckled, seemingly surprised at his utter lack of understanding and set her ice cream aside.

"Okay, so there's … running your hands through your hair, for one." She waved at the auburn mess on his head, counting on her fingers. "Then there would be the fact that you're a fireman, which should speak for this all in itself-"

"How is an occupation-"

"First of all, the general facing-death-thing and you know, saving people and pets and all that. Then there's the helmet thing, which could be specific for you, but I'm not sure. You should see yourself when you're walking out of my kitchen and take off that helmet. Anyways. That's that about your job, then there's your reaction to meeting Tuff, which," she chuckled. "Was a bit mean, I admit. But you did look jealous - don't think I didn't notice!"

"You weren't supposed to," he said weakly and slumped his shoulders.

"Hey," Astrid's hand gently touched his shoulder and he looked back up at her. "Everything I just said were positive things. Some of which may or may not drive me crazy."

She offered him a smile that made his heart skip a beat. Hiccup blinked. Astrid sighed, a small smile still playing on her lips.

"What I'm trying to say, Hiccup, is, that you have no reason to retreat anytime something like that happens. It's …" she paused, searching for the right word and offered him multiple ones. "Good. Endearing. Incredibly attractive. And a bit funny."

"Okay," he huffed out a laugh, finally relaxing. "Good."

"And I'm not just saying that because you lifted the ice cream mystery."

There. A grin blossomed on his face and Astrid had succeeded. Her success became even more tangible as a pillow hit her gently.

"Come on, I know that." He paused and grinned. "It was also the lasagna."

She threw the pillow back at him.

He caught it, still smiling. Astrid leaned back onto her arm again, watching him intently.

"Quickfire question. Why become a fireman?"

"Why not?"

"A leg that you lost because of a fire and asthma." She grinned. "Considering these it sounds like you have a death wish."

He chuckled and ran a hand through his hair. "Well. I guess it is pretty stupid. But you know, never let that hold me back. I think … fire fascinates me, for one and I don't really know why. Then, of course, I thought, how can I help people? How can I be useful? I want to … change things, I want to improve things."

She hummed in understanding.

"You know what's funny? I had the exact same thought process, just that my mind ended up with teaching, and not with risking my life on a daily basis for the sake of it."

Hiccup laughed, bumping his prosthesis against her leg. "Children can be pretty dangerous. One minute one's crying because their goldfish died, the next second there's a fist fight on the yard and next period you have a class of hormonal teenagers who either just got into a relationship or freshly got out of one."

She rasied an eyebrow. "That's what I call good high school memories."

"That was a free outlook of your future," he retorted, grinning crookedly.

Astrid snorted and asked, "Alright, Mr Fortune Teller, any other outlooks you have to offer?" She trailed a finger across his collar bone to his chest, poking him there.

Hiccup tried to surpress the shudder at that sensation and replied, "Well. You could, of course, pursue your career. I do see a lot of happiness in this possible future, yes. Imagine: no more careless collegues, stupid costumers … just careless collegues and stupid children who-" she swatted at his chest, laughing when he gently grabbed her wrist and stilled her. "Okay, forget that one," he chuckled, his eyes soft. "Chase it. I see academical fulfillment."

"You do?"

"Oh, yeah."

"Alright. What else? Any … people who might influence me?" Her tone was light, teasing almost as she marvelled at the way Hiccup's eyes were glowing in the soft light of the living room. "Well," he had not let go of her wrist yet and now trailed his fingers towards himself so he could intertwine his fingers with hers."There MIGHT be a - I believe you called him an incredibly attractive young man, who, if you play your cards right-"

"Oh, shut up."

He laughed.

"Am I wrong?"

"You're pushing it, Haddock."

He smirked. "Back to last names, Hofferson?"

He took another light punch to the chest, his smile never faltering. Their faces were, for the second time this evening, only inches apart.

The air between them was prickling.

It was a moment.

Astrid pulled back.

Hiccup smiled at her and brushed a stray strand of hair back into her fringe.

"Quickfire question," he husked and Astrid grinned brightly. "If I asked you out on a third date, would you say yes?"

Her grin widened, her hands found his chest and pushed him back lightly.

"Only if you let me ask you out next time."

Their breaths mingled.

Next time.

oOo

Okay, so I KNOW everyone's probably waiting for a kiss to happen but I just??? I mean they're already a bit much considering this is their second date, so I thought a kiss would DEFINITELY be too much, so we'll just roll with the tension and this little game of 'who takes the next step'