Hey everyone! I think this is the longest chapter I've done in a while - had a lot of fun with this one, I hope you enjoy it!
Chapter 25 – Fire Drills and Rumour Mills
The knock on his door startled Hiccup. Instinctively, he slammed his laptop shut, just before he could press 'Process payment'.
"Door's open!" he called out, feeling heat rush to his cheeks and quickly ruffling his hair. Astrid popped her head into the living room, beaming at him.
"Morning, puffin!"
Hiccup chuckled, raising an eyebrow at her as she plopped down on the sofa next to him. "Puffin?"
She shrugged. "What? Puffins are my favourite bird - don't tell Stormfly I said that. I'm getting creative with my nicknames for you."
"I can see that."
"I brought," – Astrid slammed a folder onto his couch table – "everything we need for the workshop."
Hiccup's second eyebrow went up. "Only a couple of things then, eh?"
"Oh yeah, no pressure at all," she quipped and bumped their shoulders together. Hiccup couldn't help but throw her a smile that he knew definitely looked cheesier than he'd intended. He watched her flip through the folder for a bit, talking about the general structure she'd imagined for the workshop in a week, and caught his thoughts wandering off as the sunlight hit her face in a way that made her freckles look like stars. She turned towards him and saw his expression. She stopped.
"You did not hear a single word I just said, did you?"
Hiccup grinned sheepishly and shook his head. "Sorry."
She rolled her eyes but couldn't hide the grin that crept on her face and brushed her hair behind her ear. "Well, I guess it is early. Kind of. And your day off. Have you had breakfast yet?"
He shook his head and asked her if she fancied going out. Astrid thought for a second and then nodded excitedly.
"Let's go to the Cove! Feels like I haven't been there in ages and I'm dying for some pancakes for brea- well, lunch, now." Her eyes briefly wandered to his laptop on the couch table, and she scrunched her face.
"Don't tell me you were doing work on your day off?"
Shit. He knew this would happen. And he hadn't thought of a cover. "Oh, well, I – just … this report from yesterday. Needed some polishing, you know?"
She didn't look completely convinced but apparently didn't care to investigate any further. Hiccup exhaled lightly and leaned back, smiling at her as he ran a hand through his hair.
"You look really pretty today," he said without thinking. "Obviously you always look pretty. I like that top on you."
She grinned and turned her head away from him, biting her lip as she felt herself blush. Their six-month anniversary was coming up, and she couldn't believe that she was still blushing this easily. "Stop it," she mumbled, full-well knowing he knew she was lying, and her mumble turned into a laugh when he grinned even wider and pulled her into his arms.
"Hey, Astrid?"
She hummed to let him know she heard him but kept her eyes closed, facing the sun, her legs dangling off the bench they'd been sitting on. For a second, Hiccup stared at her, distracted by her smile and the breeze in her hair, and then he cleared his throat.
"Have you ever been to the mainland?"
"No, why?"
"Okay, cool. Um, follow-up question, do you like … entertainment?"
She squinted at him now, confused, trying to keep her hair out of her face. "Entertainment?" she asked, grinning quizzically. Hiccup inhaled and then gave up. He shifted his weight, turning towards her.
"Okay, I was gonna surprise you but now that I'm thinking about it, I don't even know if you like surprises, plus I'm really bad at keeping secrets, so, uh. I've, um, booked up an Airbnb for next weekend on the mainland, for our six-month. And they're doing a fair over there that I thought you might like. I can cancel it if you want, I mean, obviously-"
He was cut off, taken by surprise by her body crashing against his, her arms locking around him in the hardest hug she'd ever given him. He couldn't help but laugh and had to steady himself on the bench so as not to fall over.
She sniffed. "That's so sweet. I love you. And also, that's, like, ten times more adorable than what I had planned." She pulled back and grinned at him, cupping his face. "Wait, is that what you were doing on your laptop earlier when I came in?" He nodded.
"I love you."
Hiccup beamed at her. "I love you, too. So, you like surprises?"
She hesitated. "Um," she said, and he laughed, pulling her against him again.
"Okay, now I know for next time."
She squinted at him, suspiciously. "What do you mean, next time? I thought the purpose of me telling you I don't like surprises meant you're not gonna surprise me again?"
He grinned. "Well, you never said that, you just said 'um'. So, loophole for future Hiccup."
She rolled her eyes and stuck her tongue out at him and leaned back into his embrace.
"What was your thing?" he asked her, caressing her shoulder as they watched the seagulls scouting the fishing boats below.
"Oh, I was just gonna get up a reservation at the Chez Dragon but now that looks a bit lame," she said. He hummed and drew a heart on her shoulder.
"Hey, that's the idea of our one-year, then."
"I don't think I've spoken to a teenager in, like … since I was one," Hiccup said as he was buttoning up his shirt, loud enough so Astrid could hear him from the bathroom.
"You're gonna do great, babe," she replied, with perhaps more focus on the curling iron and her reflection in the mirror. "Plus, they're easy to handle. Ish. You'll be okay, I'll be there the whole time."
"So I've got nothing to be worried about?" he asked, grinning at her as he leaned against the doorframe. She turned back shortly, flashing him a smile.
"Exactly. Now shush, or I'm gonna burn myself."
Hiccup chuckled and returned to the bedroom, his eyes scanning over the unmade, messy bed they'd crawled out of a mere hour ago, sleep-drunken and giggling as they untangled their limbs from each other. He'd slept over – out of convenience this time around – but it had become a habit. They were spending more time with each other than they were by themselves outside of work – perhaps to a slightly unhealthy degree, admittedly, but neither of them minded much. It's not like we've ever been lowkey, Hiccup thought, grinning to himself as he ruffled through his hair. The day of his fire safety workshop had crept on him faster than he'd have liked and he was trying not to think about it too much. The last time he'd given a presentation of any kind had been back at school. Maybe it's just like training a new recruit, he thought. Except they're all minors and probably not there because they really want to know more about fire safety. Despite the anxiety now crawling up his stomach, Astrid hadn't even had to ask him twice. He'd said yes in the blink of an eye without even thinking about it.
He pulled a shirt out of Astrid's wardrobe – she'd cleared some space for him a couple of weeks ago and he really appreciated the convenience – and quickly buttoned it up, remembering he hadn't cleaned his teeth yet.
"You almost ready?" he asked her, his heart swelling like a balloon at the sight of her scrunched-up concentration face, hair clips between her teeth, her eyes flickering over to him shortly as he grabbed his toothbrush and nodded. Hiccup chuckled.
"You have ten minutes until we really have to go. Although, I might go a bit earlier to set up and to get there before you, so we don't look-" he paused dramatically, "suspicious."
Astrid rolled her eyes at him but didn't hide her smile through all the hair clips.
"Everything ready in here?" asked Camilla Bog as she wandered into the auditorium, smiling at Hiccup, who was trying very hard not to look like he was scrambling last-minute.
"Yes, give me two minutes," he said as he fumbled with the USB stick. Camilla shot him a lopsided, warm grin.
"Glad to know that some things don't really change," she said under her breath as she turned around and let him finish preparing. In the hallway, she almost ran into Astrid.
"Oh, sorry about that, Camilla – I'm just on my way into my year 8s, but Hi-Mr Haddock should almost be set up," Astrid said, trying not to lose grip on her notebook.
Camilla smiled at her. "Astrid," she sounded almost stern, "relax. I know you guys are going out. Don't have to hide it just yet. But, you know, t minus two minutes." She winked. Astrid laughed and swept her hair out of her face.
"Sorry, I forget sometimes. It feels weirdly inappropriate I asked my boyfriend to do this but I guess I can always blame it on you if it goes south, right?"
She tapped Camilla's shoulder and as they continued walking down the hallway together, laughing quietly, she still couldn't believe how insanely lucky she'd gotten for this to be her first teaching job.
Everyone was fairly tame today, Astrid thought with a hint of gratefulness as she led her students into the auditorium. She came to a halt in front of the door and tried to be stern with a medium amount of success.
"Okay, guys, when we're in there, I want you all to be focused, no phones, and no side conversations – I'm specifically looking at you two –" she said, pointing at two boys further back, "and please, listen carefully. Mr Haddock has taken time out of his very busy schedule to do this for us today, okay?"
A few of her students nodded. Astrid smiled.
"Good. Come through and sit down," she said and opened the door. She caught Hiccup's eye and waved, biting down a beaming grin at the sight of his – what she assumed to have been – hastily buttoned up shirt, his black undershirt still visible.
"Good morning, everyone," he began, once everyone had settled down and Camilla gave him a friendly nod. "My name is Henry Haddock, you can call me Henry, and I'm a firefighter down at the fire station on Hillcrest Road. I'm part of a four-person team, which includes our station manager. Now, I love my job, but it's hard work and so I'd like to talk to you all about fire safety and walk you through some general fire training. Now – Miss Hofferson, if you'd be so kind-" he handed Astrid the stack of handouts he'd typed up the night before – memories of Astrid, frowning over a glass of wine as she leaned in to pencil around a punctuation mistake he'd made, her glasses which she'd tried to hide from him sliding down her nose – and smiled at her. "Thank you," he said and cleared his throat before he continued, "Okay, while that's making the rounds: any questions so far?"
One student's hand went up. "Do you like your job?"
"Oh, I love it," he replied earnestly, smiling at the boy who'd asked him. "Like I said, it's hard work, but I like a challenge and my team is amazing. We're like family." And also literally are in some cases, he thought to himself.
Another student put their hand up. "What's it like driving the truck?" she asked, twiddling with her braid. "Also, statistically, how many cats do you get down from trees in, like, a month?"
As Hiccup drew a breath to answer, Camilla cut him off, in what he assumed to have been intended to be a stern voice, but what turned out to be a poorly disguised snort of laughter, "Okay, I think we're moving off topic now!"
"Right." Hiccup cleared his throat. "Okay, then – now, for a fire to start, it needs three components: heat, oxygen, and fuel. You've probably done that thing where you light a candle and then put a cover on it and watch the flame go out; fire needs oxygen to grow and exist. But it also needs fuel; any guesses as to what the most common causes for a fire are? Feel free to just shout it out, no need for raised hands."
"Um, unsupervised candles?"
"Gas?"
"Cigarettes?"
He smiled. "Good guesses, thank you – and actually, yes, the most common causes of fires at home are electrical fires and cooking accidents (he threw a glance at Astrid and smirked slightly, perhaps a bit too long), for example, leaving something in the oven for too long or," he bit back a grin, "if you have a gas hob, leaving the gas on for too long before you add the flame. Can anyone tell me what the first thing is that you should do in a fire?"
A girl raised her hand. He nodded at her, smiling lightly.
"You, um, get out?"
"Yes, and no – for you guys, here at school, that is absolutely the first thing you have to do. If you hear the alarm, get up and get out as calmly as possible, as soon as you can. I'll go through ways you can help people in wheelchairs and other physical disabilities in a bit as well, and what you can do yourself if you have a physical disability. If you're not at school though and you have a fire at home and nobody else around, you call the fire department first, and then you get out. And you stay out," he added after a pause, remembering more close calls than he'd have liked.
"On your handouts," he continued, "you'll find all marked fire exits – obviously, we'll be all doing a drill together today, so we can take the time and memorise some of the other exits you haven't used on your regular school fire drills yet."
The more he talked, the more he found that he was honestly enjoying it. It felt weirdly satisfying to be the one teaching as opposed to being the one who was being taught; even though he'd been a firefighter for years now, there was still so much more to learn, and Gobber liked making a point of lecturing both him and Snotlout on the procedure and street smarts whenever he got the chance.
"Okay, who can tell me how to use a fire extinguisher?" he called out and grinned as multiple students put their hands up with visible enthusiasm, his heart swelling with pride.
He showed them how to use the fire extinguishers, put everyone into groups, let them try it out for themselves (Hiccup was glad he'd remembered to get the empty props because he didn't want the caretaker to hate him forever), and wandered over to Astrid, hands in his pockets, smiling as he looked onto the students.
"It's going well so far, I'd say," he mumbled, slyly bumping their shoulders together. She flashed him a big smile.
"You're doing great!" she whispered, not taking her eyes off the students. "Thanks again for doing this."
"Anything for you," Hiccup said, his voice barely a mumble and bumped into her again gently. Once the students were done with the fire extinguishers, they all took the fire drill tour around the building, while Hiccup continued quizzing them and explaining what to do.
"Now, if the only way out is through a room that is already filled with smoke, try to get down as low as possible under the smoke and get out; the most common cause of injury and death in fires is actually smoke poisoning, not getting burned – and, trust me, it is not pretty."
Overlapping chatter of "Woah! Have you had it before?", "What happens when you get it?" and "Have you been in a collapsing building before?".
Astrid was watching Hiccup with a strange sense of pride as he answered every single question with a kind of patience that seemed not from this earth. She bit down a grin as she watched a couple of girls walking next to her blushing as Hiccup friendlily answered a question one of them had had.
Man, if I was fifteen, I'd have the biggest crush on him, she thought and then caught herself – she stopped for a second. Huh. That's my boyfriend. She continued walking, smiling to herself. Nice.
"Okay – any questions?" Hiccup asked the small crowd of students looking at him, before taking a sip of water and answering any potential questions. A girl's hand immediately shot up.
'Nice,' Astrid thought. 'They're really engaging with the material!' and classified this entire morning as a personal win.
"Do you have a girlfriend?" the girl asked, and Hiccup accidentally inhaled the sip of water he'd taken.
"Or boyfriend!" another student helpfully chimed in.
"Guys, let's keep this focussed on the topic, please!" Astrid said – maybe a touch too loud – before Hiccup could reply in any capacity. She could feel her face flush and hated it. "No personal questions."
Some students grumbled at that; Astrid tried very hard not to roll her eyes.
A general silence filled the room.
"Any other, uh, questions?" Hiccup asked hesitantly once he'd stopped coughing. Several headshakes. "Okay," he said after a while. "Then I guess we're done. Thanks for paying attention, everyone. Me and A- Miss Hofferson will pass around the pamphlet on our department I brought in a second."
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw two pupils shooting each other an all-knowing glance and sighed.
And still, when he handed Astrid the pamphlets, he couldn't resist briefly lingering and brushing his fingers against her arm. Her eyes were shooting daggers at him.
He bit back a smile at how flushed her skin was and went to grab the rest of the handouts.
"Sorry about earlier, I couldn't resist."
He closed the door of the teacher's lounge behind him and saw Astrid visibly relax, and watched her slump into a chair, rubbing her eyes.
"Oh, it's fine. I won't hear the end of this until they graduate, though," she said, a faint smile on her lips as she pulled another chair out next to her and patted it.
Hiccup laughed, sitting down. "Yeah, probably not. Sorry." He shot her a crooked smile and finally, she gave in, grinning herself.
"Who knows, it might earn me some street cred around here. I saw some of my 9th graders swooning over you," she said, nudging his shoulder. He grimaced.
"Oh, great. Love that for me."
"You should. It made them pay attention, at least … although I'm not sure how much of that was actually directed towards the material. You did a good job, though."
"Thanks. I'm normally not that great at public speaking."
"Why'd you do it then?" she asked, curiously eyeing him from the side. He shrugged, smiling and their eyes met.
"I know how important this job is to you. And what's important to you is important to me."
She grinned, tucking her hands underneath her thighs. "Aww. You love me," she said sing-songy, and he rolled his eyes, but she felt his hands around her waist, pulling her closer to his chair.
"I think that's just a rumour," he muttered as he cupped her face and leaned down to kiss her.