I got out of the Writer's Block From Hell, spent two weeks in Turkey with my family and wrote not only one but TWO (2) new chapters, so buckle up, buddy!

Here's chapter 14, in which it is the same evening of the day we left off, Astrid exe. has stopped working and Hiccup has an epiphany!

Chapter 14 - Fools

"Good evening, everyone."

Scott's head snapped around at the chipper sound of his cousin's voice, just in time to witness Hiccup walk in, all bounce-y steps and wide grins, and drop his bag on his desk.

Gobber stopped, raising an eyebrow at his colleague over the rim of his mug.

"What're you all smiley for? I thought I'd given you the day off."

"My guess? He got lucky," Scott grinned and crossed his arms behind his neck.

Gobber clicked his tongue with a wave of his hand.

"Don't be stupid. If he'd done as much as kiss her we'd know."

The dark-haired man hummed in response and leaned forward to closely watch his cousin, who was getting progressively less smiley.

"Yeah, you're right. It'd be all over the news. 'Henry Haddock - source confirms Berk's most desired bachelor is going steady. Local singles outraged'."

Hiccup frowned, raising his hands.

"Okay, guys - can we please stop speculating about my love life?"

"Oh, so we're already talking love now, huh?" Snotlout smirked, resting his head on his hand, a smug smile playing on his lips.

Hiccup only groaned, rolling his eyes and turned away, muttering something under his breath.

"Sorry, what was that?"

"I said if you wanted the new Berk's issue cover story, you should've scheduled an interview."

Gobber barked out a laugh and gave Hiccup a well-meant slap on the back.

"Come on, boy, we're just messin' with ya."

Hiccup hesitated but then let out a short exhale, the dopey smile slowly stealing itself back on his lips.

"I know."

Scott grinned and nudged his shoulder.

"There he is! Now, come on, at least give us something! You can't just waltz in, all dopey and shit and then expect us to not want any info."

Hiccup shrugged, waving vaguely as if there was really not much to talk about, honestly (his tried-and-failed nonchalance was not bought for a second)

"Well-"

Her hands sinking into his hair - they're stumbling back into the apartment -

"If you MUST know-"

There is barely any space between them, and he doesn't think he wants there to be any-

"She stayed for the night - you know, because of the storm-"

She's wrapping her arms around him and buries her nose in his chest, and he wants to never let her go-

"A-and before she left, we, uh-"

They've stumbled backwards - his hands can't stop tracing her-

"We kissed."

Gobber's mouth hung wide open.

Snotlout let out a sound that resembled a mix between a strangled sob and a squeal.

Hiccup waited. A couple of moments passed. Then, finally, Gobber broke out into a whoop of laughter, and Hiccup was mentally preparing for the usual slap on the shoulder, but was instead pulled in a hug that he could have sworn was cracking a few of his ribs.

"Ha! I knew it! I knew it - you owe me ten, Snotlout-"

"-you bet on me again?"

"Yeah, well, it was a minor storm."

"Ho- how is that a justification?" Hiccup exclaimed and helplessly searched Snotlout's gaze.

But Scott Jorgenson was speechless.

This happened very - very - rarely. The last time Hiccup had seen him like this had been five years ago after they had pulled a feral, muddy and scared Hookfang out of a frozen creek.

"Scott?" he asked carefully, leaning closer to his cousin. "You okay?"

Snotlout was scrambling for words, helplessly opening and closing his mouth again, looking up at his cousin.

"I - I just didn't think you'd actually do it," he then got out, and to Hiccup's horror, his eyes were watering.

"Oh- God, Scott, I - wait, why is this such a big deal to you? I mean, we're a couple, it was official - I told you and you were completely okay."

His cousin's face crumpled up.

"What? You - you were a couple and you didn't tell me?"

"No, I - I did, I definitely did-" Hiccup stopped, his hands flying up to his hair. "Shit, I told Gobber. I didn't tell you."

"And you're asking me why I'm making such a big deal out of this?"

"Ooh my God, Scott, no, I-"

"Since when? Huh? How long have you been keeping this from me?"

"I wasn't - 3 days."

"Three da- oh wait, that's actually a lot less than I thought it'd be."

Snotlout stopped, looked at Hiccup and then shrugged, and his next words were completely levelled as if he hadn't just been yelling and on the brink of tears at being presented with the fact that his cousin had found love. "Yeah, that's chill."

Hiccup blinked.

"Wait - what?"

Snotlout shrugged again.

"Yah, it's fine. Three days is fine. Gobber once took a week to tell me he got Grump And a new arm design, so you're good."

Hiccup exhaled, relieved. "Okay, good."

He paused, frowned, turning back to Gobber, furrowing his brow.

"You didn't tell him about Grump?"

Gobber shrugged unassumingly.

"No, but seriously," Snot grinned and nudged Hiccup's shoulder. "I'm really happy for you."

Hiccup grinned back at him. "Thanks."

"But don't think that means you're getting out of telling me everything that happened!"

"Yeah, no, I know."

Hiccup's words were still ringing in her head. 'Take a step back. Clear your head.'

So she went out for a run. The memory of his lips still burning on hers. Every breath she drew was burning, and her legs felt like they'd give way under her, but Astrid couldn't stop grinning to herself.

Something led her past the fire department, and it was either her heart or her memory, but it was hard trying to bite down her smile, so she gave up and grinned at the ground under her.

His heart had beaten so loud she'd heard.

Astrid remembered the dream she'd had a few weeks back, and she couldn't help but think how that hadn't even gone close to comparing to the real thing. Hiccup's calloused fingers seemed to have left invisible imprints on her skin, and heat rushed to her cheeks as she imagined them ghost over the same trail again, his mouth following his hands.

Astrid came to a sudden halt, leaning against a facade, trying to catch her breath. She screwed her eyes shut and dragged her hands over her burning face, trying to chase the previous thoughts out of her mind.

It turned out that it was downright impossible not to think of - memories of stepping on each other's feet and desperately trying to get closer were as present to her as the wall she was leaning against.

Astrid remembered wishing for fourth, fifth glances, get to know him past his jokes and easy smiles - she thought of him that night, sitting with his leg pulled up, fingers trembling over the fabric. The look in his eyes that was begging her to both to watch and look away.

She'd looked at him and realised that he had never really tried to hide anything with his jokes - but that this Hiccup, right now, was letting her know that there were things in his life that were real and that were painful . He had looked at her and apologised.

A part of her wanted him to know that she was willing to share and ease his pain; another part of her desperately needed him to know that there was nothing to be ashamed of. But she also knew that he needed time to grow comfortable with that idea. And she was willing to wait, however long it took.

By the time Astrid got back home, it was already dark outside. She dropped her keys on her bedside table and quickly checked on Stormfly, who was already asleep, before she toddled into the kitchen, turned on her computer, put on the kettle and opened the fridge, where the only things remotely resembling a meal were a slightly wrinkley paprika and a container with some fruit salad. Usually, she would have at least sighed and closed the door again, only to open it up a few seconds later to check if anything had magically changed - but today, on this particularily unordinary day, she shrugged and opened up the container.

So she sat and ate, in silence.

Astrid had no problem with being alone. In fact, she even enjoyed it. Usually. But again, today, on this particularily unordinary day, she had a problem with eating alone. Specifically, eating without Hiccup.

She wondered how she'd got so used to spending time with him so quickly. All she knew right now was that doing the dishes after finishing this fruit salad would be a drag again, maybe just because they weren't doing them together. A smile bubbled up inside her chest at the thought of yesterday, and she bit her lip, trying not to think about how he'd kept throwing little glances at her anytime he'd handed her a dish, their fingers sometimes brushing, in fear she'd miss it too much now if she did.

But she already had, and now she did miss it. Astrid sighed and put down her fork.

The steady tapping of her fingers on the keyboard was interrupted by a sudden rap on the door, before a key turned in the lock and she heard the door open -

"Put on your pants, we're having dinner!" Ruffnut Thorsten declared from in the middle of her kitchen, shoes and all.

Astrid blinked and looked up from her screen.

"We are?"

"Yup!" Ruff confirmed, grinning brightly at her friend. "Come on, grab your keys, wallet, I booked us a table."

"What, right now?"

"Well - yeah. But first," Ruff grinned and plopped down in Astrid's place when she got up and walked over to the kitchen counter. "I wanna see how you're getting on with this."

Astrid shrugged and handed her friend a mug of coffee - two spoonful sugar and so much milk it was an offense to everything Astrid stood for - and sat down again, curling her legs under her.

They sat in silence for a while, and Ruff took a sip of her abominable coffee choice (Astrid's words, not hers) and remarked calmly, "So, I don't know if this is intentional, but it says here under personal skills 'kissing Hiccup', and, uh, you might wanna give that one a second thought, sis."

Astrid choked on her coffee, slamming the mug down on the table.

"What."

"Well, it says -"

"I wrote that?"

Ruff hesitated, her eyes scanning her screen. Suddenly her face went uncharacteristically slack with surprise. "That's … not the only thing you wrote."

"Wh- let me see."

Astrid scrambled to her feet and grabbed the laptop's screen, pulling it closer.

Stumbling back against the wall … couldn't stop smiling … his hands …

With every passing sentence Astrid's expression grew a bit more horrfied. For a blurry moment she wasn't even sure what her mind had made up and what had really happened yesterday.

There was a moment of silence after they had both finished reading.

Ruff clapped her hands and rubbed them together, her voice almost cheerful when she spoke.

"Well, at least nobody will ever read that, right?"

Astrid looked at her, completely mortified.

"You just did!"

"Shut up, as if i count."

"So?"

Hiccup stopped and waited for Scott to catch up with him, keys already in hand, and chuckled. "So what?"

Scott had convinced him to change shifts at the same time, so now Hiccup stood in the department's drive way, waiting for his cousin to finish up. It was a clear, calm and starry night - not a single reminder left of the passed storm.

"So," Scott stressed, jamming his hands into the pockets of his jean jacket as they picked up a leusurely pace. "How do you feel? About all of this. Yesterday, I mean."

Hiccup stopped short, having expected another prod for 'details' from his cousin.

But, to his surprise, Snotlout was watching him with an earnest expression. So he hesitated for a few moments, not sure what to say.

Snotlout went on, "'Cause, listen. I - I mean, we both know you've never had - well. Something like this - but let's be honest, you're a bit of a sap. I know you, so you're probably completely head over heels, but … is she serious about this? As serious as you are, I mean?" At his cousin's expression he quickly raised his hands. "I just don't want you to get hurt. I care about you, man. I want this to work out for you."

It was in this moment, and maybe it was the fact that they were out on this particularily starry night, or that Scott's expression and voice were so soft and concerned it was impossible to think that there had ever been any animosity between them years back from now, or that at the thought of yesterday he felt an intense wave of serenity wash over him - it was in this moment, that Hiccup realised that there was a word for what he was feeling.

"I'm in love," he whispered into the darkness, and Snotlout stopped walking, and the words were so easy they chased a smile to his lips. "I think I'm in love with her, Snot."

It was for the second time today that Scott Jorgenson was rendered scrambling for words.

So Hiccup continued walking and gave his words some more room. "I've been living in this flat for almost five years now, Scott. And I don't know, maybe it's the job or the amount of hours I spend talking to my cat each day, but every time she's in my apartment it feels like I'm finally home. Like I've stopped searching," Hiccup paused for a second, then he grinned. "And honestly? Fuck sleeping alone."

Snotlout couldn't help but snort at that, making Hiccup's grin widen as he grabbed his arm and leaned against him, making both of them stumble. "There he is."

Scott laughed and pushed him off, stumbling onto the empty street.

"I knew it! You sappy fool! And you didn't tell me earlier!"

"If love be blind, it best agrees with night," Hiccup chipped swiftly, and quickly ducked away from his laughing cousin's arm.

"You know I don't get your Shakespeare references!"

"That's why I make them," Hiccup grinned and pulled Snotlout back onto the pavement.

"No, dude, but seriously," Snotlout's expression was serious again. "This isn't one-sided, is it? Emotion-wise?"

Hiccup raised an eyebrow. "How do you mean?"

"Well," Snotlout shrugged. "Are you sure she's feeling the same for you? Or at least to some degree?"

Hiccup paused for a moment.

Her hands are open on the table, calm, relaxed. 'That's good. 'Cause you've caught mine, too.

'It's good to see you.'-

Her voice is still trembling, but she's smiling as she presses her lips to his cheek-

"And this is for ... everything else."-

Her voice is the first thing he hears that morning. 'I've missed you,' she confesses and he's redefining his own meaning of the word.

He looks up, and the sun's coming up, and she's out of breath but still breathtaking- 'You okay?'

The plank bed is bending violently and she leans into him - "I'd rather be here and spend the night with you than going back."

They're already back inside and he's fiddling with the radio, so maybe she thinks he doesn't notice the expression on her face, but then he looks up and she's smiling even wider-

She wraps her arms around him and he can feel her grin against his chest-

"You're not staying?"-

She's comforting Toothless, he feels himself dozing off, her calm voice surrounding him, and he can feel her drape the blanket over his shoulders-He's trembling, and he's wishing he wasn't, but then there she's taking his hand, "Let it be ugly"-

-Then he's holding her, or maybe she's holding him, and he can feel her heartbeat, and it's as erratic as his own-

"Hiccup Haddock, I can't even begin to tell you how much I'd like that."

Hiccup looked at his cousin and nodded. "Yeah," he said. "I am."

'15 Things That Will Make Your Life A Bit Better Now That Hiccup Haddock Has A Girlfriend' - the Berk's issue cover nobody talks about