A/N: Woot! Chapter 16. Sorry for the delay. Life happens. Someone on guest reviews seemed to be worried that I'd discontinued the story. Please know that I have NO plans to discontinue this story. I mean, there are only 4 chapters left after this! How can I abandon it when its almost done! I have been trying to do at least weekly updates, but sadly, I can't always keep up with that, (I do work full time and am a full time mom as well!) which is why I've never pinned myself down to a schedule. For one, because I know I wouldn't be able to keep it and then I'd just feel really shitty, and for two, I don't want this to become a chore for me, I want my writing to continue to be something I enjoy. So anywho... now that that is settled: Enjoy!
The light was shining far too brightly into the room, the white against his eyelids seemed to pierce directly into his head as a grim reminder of the alcohol he had consumed. He buried his head down into a warm sea of blonde hair, trying desperately to hang onto a few more minutes of unconsciousness. He breathed in her scent deeply, his fingers curling around her slender waist and tightening around her body. His nose touched her bare shoulder and he began to rub his cheek against her soft skin, nudging her hair aside so he could plant a few soft kisses against the warmth of her neck. He felt her stir beneath him and she snuggled back into him, fitting her bottom perfectly into the front of his hips.
They hadn't had sex. Even though he had gotten a little tipsy, he knew that much. He also knew it was a very close call. The way she drove him wild with her touch, the feel of her breasts in his hands, it was sensory overload. He couldn't have stopped himself if he'd wanted to, which scared the shit out of him. He didn't want to be a regret to Astrid Hofferson. He hadn't come this far to living his dream to screw it all up now, all because he couldn't keep it in his pants.
He needed to try to be more careful. But that didn't mean that he couldn't relish in this moment. It was perfect. She was perfect. He'd need to remember to tell her so later when he had his wits about him and his head wasn't feeling slightly foggy from the alcohol. He tried desperately to cling to every detail, from the smell of her hair to the softness of her skin. He listened to the way she breathed, deeply and in a slow consistent pattern. He memorized the way she felt tight against him as his arms were wrapped around her. He took a deep contented breath as he pondered his luck. God, he was so lucky that he had stumbled into her life, and he was glad that he was finally letting himself trust her. He felt the happiest he'd been in a long time.
Even if he screwed this up somehow and he never got to hold her again, he would have this moment forever. The thought gave him a small amount of comfort and he drifted back to sleep. The two fought away consciousness for a good portion of the morning, waking periodically to snuggle closer together or to exchange kisses under the blankets.
"Mmmmm bacon!" Tuffnut bit into another slice, looking around the table. "The girls did good with breakfast, don't you think, Hiccup?"
Hiccup looked up from taking a bite of his eggs and nodded his head in agreement, his full mouth preventing him from responding verbally.
Heather laughed and tossed her hair to the side. "What can I say? I just like taking care of my boys!" She winked at Hiccup. He glanced over at Astrid but she was too busy stuffing her face so she hadn't noticed.
"Well, making breakfast was my idea!" chimed in Ruff, who was busy making the last of the pancakes. "But Heather jumped in to make the bacon and eggs."
The group was in a good mood sitting around the impressive dining room table at the lake house. With Eret gone, there actually seemed to be a lightness to the air. Everyone seemed to be a little more relaxed. Hiccup knew it wasn't just him. Snotlout seemed a little more like his old self, but now he and Ruff were making obvious eyes at each other.
"So, can we get more information about what happened last night? Astrid posed to the group, looking cautiously at Ruffnut.
"No, it's ok. I have no problem talking about it." Ruff stuck out her chin in defiance. "I didn't do anything wrong."
She brought the plate of pancakes to the table and sat down, scooping a little bit of everything on her plate to join the group. "There's not really a lot to tell, honestly. It is pretty pathetically cliché." She nonchalantly scooped a forkful of scrambled eggs into her mouth and chewed thoughtfully for a moment.
"We were in the bedroom and things were getting hot and heavy, and I was into it! But then…" Ruff's voice trailed slightly and she looked like she was struggling with choosing the right words. She took a quick drink of orange juice before continuing. "So, we start to get close to… you know… and I said, 'oh Eret!' and then, when he was supposed to come back and say, 'oh Ruffnut!', instead he said, 'oh Astrid!'" Ruff paused and winced at her friend. Astrid recoiled visibly, feeling sick in the pit of her stomach at the idea of Eret even thinking of her that way.
"So anyway…" Ruffnut continued, "I stop and I'm like, 'what the hell?' you know? He tried to explain it away, something about… old habits… or something. So I tell him I'm done. I mean, the man is hot and all, but even I got standards…and being called my best friend's name is where I draw the line!"
The group nodded in understanding, everyone hanging on Ruff's every word. Of course, she was soaking up every minute of being the center of attention.
"So then what happened?" Astrid asked, leaning forward in her seat. She was trying desperately to put all the pieces together.
"Well, he basically called me a tease, said I was just as bad as you." She nodded towards Astrid. "He pinned my hands down behind me and said something like, 'we're doing this' and basically kept going. I started screaming, and I guess Snot must have heard me."
The group looked at Snot and he simply nodded. "Not that I was like, listening… or anything, but it's hard to ignore screaming coming from the next room… and I'd like to think I can tell the different between good screams and bad screams."
Ruffnut nodded. "For a minute there, I actually thought he was going to go through with it. I tried to kick him or head-butt him or something, but before I could do anything, I heard a smack and then Eret was on the ground."
"Yeah, I basically kicked down the door and sucker punched him in the side of his head." Snotlout bragged, subconsciously grabbing his knuckles as he talked.
"Yep!" Ruffnut's eyes shot towards Snotlout in admiration. "Not that I couldn't have taken care of myself." She quickly backtracked, balling her hands into fists and punching the table.
"Heh, sure." Tuffnut chimed in. He'd been uncharacteristically quiet. "Although I have to say, I really had to hold you back once we all got in the hallway."
Snot continued the story. "So basically, Eret retreated into the hallway and made some kind of smart ass comment about how Ruff is a slut so she should act like one, so I punched him again, right in the nose!"
It was weirdly nice seeing Snotlout bragging again. It seemed like something was right with the universe, even though his boasting could get just as bad as Eret's sometimes. He'd been overshadowed for so long that she hadn't even realized she'd missed it. The sparkle in his eye was back, the pride on his face shining. It's just too bad it took something like this to gain his confidence back again.
"That basically catches everyone up." Ruff finished. "It was at that point that everyone scrambled into the hall."
"Yeah, most of us were already in the hall before Snot punched Eret the second time." Tuffnut added. "We'd heard the screams too."
Astrid shook her head. "I wonder why we didn't hear that."
Tuff laughed. "Probably couldn't hear them over the noise you guys were making yourselves. I mean seriously guys, we almost couldn't even hear the fight between Eret and Snotlout because of you too."
Astrid felt her face turning hot. She looked at Hiccup and she could see his face turning red as well. He looked down at his food, concentrating harder than necessary at his plate. Astrid bit her lip before turning back to the group. "Ummm... sorry?" she managed, trying to avoid eye contact.
The group started laughing together and Astrid joined them nervously.
"Ah, we're just messing with you," Tuffnut laughed.
"Yeah, I think we were just surprised. I mean, we knew you were a couple, but we didn't realize you were…" Snotlout's voice trailed off as he searched for the right word.
"…So close." Heather jumped in politely for Snot, causing him to let out a sigh of relief.
Astrid smiled at Hiccup and his eyes met hers as he gave her a tight smile back. She leaned against him, taking his hand in hers under the table and squeezing it tight.
"Yes." Astrid replied. "So you guys better get used to him."
"No complaints here!" Tuffnut joked. "At least I'm not the dork of the group anymore! And I say that with the utmost respect!"
"I don't know I'd go that far." Hiccup responded, giving Tuff a sly smile. The group groaned and they began arguing over who was the biggest dork in the group, and much to Hiccup's amusement and relief, it wasn't him this time.
Astrid ran her hands down the smooth fabric. "I'm just not sure, what do you think, Ruff?"
Ruff tore her eyes away from her phone screen and looked at the dress in question. "It's great. They've all been great." She rolled her eyes and went back to her phone.
"Ruff! What are you doing, anyway?"
"Nothing." Ruff's cheeks blushed red as she stuck her phone back in her pocket.
None of them had really wanted to leave the lake house, but the deal was that they'd only have it until noon, and they had stayed later than that as it was. Besides, her and Ruff had been planning on going dress shopping today for weeks.
Astrid put her hand on her hip. "Wait, I know that look. Who are you texting?" she teased. She knew full well who Ruffnut would be texting now, but she wanted her to admit it.
"No one!" She denied, crossing her arms and jutting out her bottom lip in protest.
Astrid gave her friend her best 'I already know so you might as well tell me' look. Ruff sighed in defeat.
"Fine! I'm texting with Snotlout." She admitted. "Happy now?"
"Yes, very!" Astrid replied, moving towards her friend and squealing as she hugged her. "I told you! Didn't I tell you?"
"OK, ok! I get it!" Ruff pushed Astrid off with a disgusted look on her face. "Look, it's no big deal. He asked me to prom again after I finished cleaning the blood off his knuckles, and I said yes."
Astrid squealed again. "That's amazing, Ruff!" She beamed. She'd always had a feeling they'd make a cute couple.
Once they were in the food court eating oversized slices of pizza, Astrid finally got Ruff to open up about her feelings for Snotlout.
"I don't know what it is, Astrid." Ruff was saying between bites of pizza. "Something about seeing him standing there with bloody knuckles, the smirk literally punched right off Eret's face…" her voice trailed and she grinned, the large grin of someone who was smitten. "I don't know. It was just like, all of a sudden I was seeing him in a new light."
"Well, it's no secret he's had a crush on you forever." Astrid grinned as she took a sip of her water before taking another large bite of her own pizza.
"Yeah, I know." Ruff sighed. "I just never thought it was real. I mean, he'd had a crush on you a long time ago, before you got together with Eret. I was always just worried I was just some consolation prize."
"Wait, you were worried about being a rebound crush for Snot, but you never even considered that Eret might have been doing the same thing?" Astrid reasoned.
"Well, I guess part of me knew that could be a possibility, but I had such a crush on him I just didn't care." Ruffnut answered honestly. Then her face fell and she winced at Astrid, taking a more serious demeanor before continuing. "I'm… sorry, by the way. I didn't know if I'd told you that."
"For what?" Astrid absent mindedly picked at the pepperoni on her pizza.
"Well, I mean, for Eret. You guys had just broken up and I was kind of selfish for going after him." Ruff admitted, lowering her eyes to look at her own plate.
Astrid couldn't help but laugh. "It's ok. Really. We're cool, ok Ruff? Besides, I have Hiccup now."
Ruff smiled. "Yes you do. I have to tell you, we were all really surprised to see you two so… close." She snickered to herself a little. "We were even taking bets on if you guys would have sex last night."
"RUFF!" Astrid exclaimed, her face turning red. "Are you serious?"
"Calm down!" Ruffnut threw her head back and laughed. "It was only in fun, no real wagers or anything." She looked around suspiciously and lowered her voice. "So? Are you going to fuck him then?"
Astrid choked on her pizza. "RUFF!"
"What, it's just a question!" Ruffnut laughed. "It's just, after what we saw last night, it seemed like you were really into him. More than we ever saw you with Eret." She shrugged. "There's nothing wrong with wanting to have sex with someone you like."
Astrid finally managed to swallow and took a large swig of her water. "It's more than that, Ruff." She replied, her voice lowering to a whisper. "I think I'm falling in love with him."
"Whoa, really? It's only been a few weeks!"
"I know." Astrid winced, ready to hear Ruff's lecture about love being for saps, or that it was too soon. Instead, Ruffnut just smiled.
"Good for you." She replied. "You finally found the right guy."
Astrid tried her hardest not to smile, but it was too late. Her face split into a dorky grin. "I could say the same for you."
Ruffnut smiled just as widely. "I mean, we're taking it slow. We are just going to prom for now, and that's still two weeks away."
Astrid felt her heart flutter in her chest. She was really looking forward to prom now. She didn't even care about the politics involved. She made a mental note to check with Hiccup to see if he wanted to go to any parties afterwards. For a moment her mind flickered to other options, like getting a hotel room, but she immediately pushed the thought away.
"Hey, Astrid?" Ruff looked at her a bit sheepishly and paused for Astrid's reaction.
"Yeah?" Astrid responded, meeting her friend's worried gaze.
"I mean, it's none of my business really, but have you told Hiccup about the bet?"
Astrid could feel her lungs empty at the mention of the bet, squeezing tightly in her chest and making her heart feel like it could explode. If Hiccup ever found out about the bet, it would crush him. He was finally beginning to trust her.
"No." she stated firmly.
"You should probably tell him."
"What? No. There is no need to tell him. It's over, and it would just hurt him." Astrid shrugged, trying to play it off as casually as possible.
"I'm just saying, wouldn't it be better coming from you than from someone else?"
Astrid narrowed her eyes at Ruff. "What are you trying to say? Does anyone else know about the bet?"
Ruff shook her head defensively. "No! I mean, not that I know of…"
"What do you mean, 'not that you know of'?" Astrid's eyes pierced into Ruff's, causing Ruffnut to swallow hard.
"Damn, Astrid. I just mean, as far as I know, nobody knows but me and you. But you know it doesn't take much for people to find out about things. I'm just saying, maybe it's just best you told him. I mean, aren't you the one always going on about honesty?"
Astrid sat back in her chair and pushed her plate away. All she had left was crust anyway. "I'll think about it."
"Please do." Ruff answered. "I mean, since the bet is off now, you can say something like, 'I called it off because I'm in love with you'." Ruff distorted her voice to sound more like Astrid's, but failed miserably and ended up speaking in an English accent.
Astrid punched her playfully in the arm. "Since when am I British?" she laughed.
Ruff snorted. "I don't know, don't question my creative process."
They laughed for a moment and it was back to the mission.
Ruffnut whined. "Haven't you found your dress yet?"
"Listen, unlike you, I didn't just pick the first dress I saw!" Astrid retorted. "I'm running out of time, too. One more store."
The two went to the last store in the mall with formalwear. It was a little boutique that sold dresses that were a little more on the higher end. They had looked through a few racks when suddenly one caught Astrid's eye. It was the perfect shade of aqua blue, and it was a form fitting shape that would hug her curves just right. She ran excitedly to try it on.
When she stepped out of the fitting room and saw Ruff's face, she knew it was perfect. It hugged her hips and had a slit of the side to her mid-thigh. It had a sweat heart neckline and straps, which could be hard to find these days, but she just wasn't comfortable in a strapless dress. She took a demonstrative spin and Ruff nodded her head in approval.
"Astrid, that's it! That dress was made for you!" Ruff smiled.
Astrid smoothed her hands up the fabric, feeling the intricate design of white gems that gave the dress just a little bit of bling before smiling. "Yes, I think this is it!"
"Great!" replied Ruff. "Now let's go home!"
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Astrid stood at her locker on Monday morning feeling pleasantly pleased. Eret had shown up with two black eyes and a broken nose. It didn't take long before the whole school basically knew the story of how he'd been punched by Snotlout for Ruff's honor. She heard the whispers and hushed tones around her after Eret had walked by.
She was really trying not to be smug about this, not to take pleasure in his downfall, but she found it increasingly difficult to do so. The fact of the matter was, Eret didn't deserve to be the most popular guy in school, and due to his recent behavior everyone was finally starting to see it. Even though the bet was off and she knew that Hiccup didn't particularly want to be prom king, it was looking like they had a pretty good chance of being elected together. In any event, she knew that if she was going to be prom queen, she didn't want anyone else to be her king.
During lunch she was actually surprised to see Eret sitting by himself, even his football friends were sitting at another table. Of course, Eret didn't act like any of this bothered him. He just sat and ate his lunch while scrolling casually through his phone like it was just another Monday.
She turned back to her lunch table to find that Hiccup was talking to Tuffnut about Comic-Con again.
"Dude, we should totally all go to Comic-Con to check out Hiccup's booth!" Tuffnut propositioned the group. He was greeted with a chorus of friendly agreement. "Should we dress up? I've heard people dress up for Comic-Con?" Tuffnut looked like a kid at Christmas, he probably already had a costume in mind.
Hiccup laughed. "I mean, yeah, you can dress up, but you don't have to." He shrugged. "That's really more for the hard core fans who go for the entire weekend."
"So when is this, Hiccup?" Snotlout asked, his hand snaked comfortably around Ruff's waist as he took a large bite of his cheeseburger.
"Two weeks. Well, not quite. Not this weekend, but next."
The table got quiet for a minute. It took Astrid a minute to realize why everyone had gone silent, but then it hit her.
"Wait, like, the first weekend in May?" Astrid asked, leaning towards Hiccup in her chair, a feeling of dread beginning to wash over her.
"Yeah, that's it." Hiccup smiled. "It's getting really close. Fish and I have been working really hard and I think we're almost ready."
Astrid sat back in her chair. She felt like the wind had been knocked out of her.
"A-Astrid? What's wrong?"
"That's the same weekend as prom." Ruffnut offered, seeing that Astrid seemed to be lost in her own head.
"Yeah, I know." Hiccup responded nonchalantly with a shrug. "I never planned on going."
Heather chimed in, "but, you were nominated for prom King. You know you actually have a shot?"
Hiccup shrugged again. "I tried to tell them I wasn't even going, but no one would listen."
The group fell silent, flabbergasted.
Astrid cleared her throat, her dreams of her perfect senior prom crashing around her again for the second time in the last month. "So, were you planning on telling me?"
"I tried to tell you once, when I was first nominated… but you just kept going on and on about how happy I should be… and it hasn't come up again."
He was acting like this was no big deal, like it was the most natural thing in the world for someone to skip their senior prom for Comic-Con. When Astrid spoke next, her voice was much smaller than she anticipated.
"I just thought… I mean… I assumed we were going together." Astrid suddenly felt very stupid. She hadn't even asked him. He hadn't asked her. Why would she just assume? Why hadn't she said something until now? She started running through their interactions in her mind to see if there was ever a time Hiccup actually said anything about going to prom, but she couldn't find anything. She had just assumed they were going.
Hiccup appeared flustered, running his hands through his hair like he did when he was nervous. "I-I'm sorry, Astrid. It just- uh, it never came up. You know how important this booth is for me…" He let his voice trail while he looked nervously at Astrid, waiting for her response.
"I… I need a minute." Astrid replied, finding it hard to breathe with everyone looking at her. "I'll see you guys later."
Astrid stood up somewhat shakenly and high tailed it out of the cafeteria, leaving everyone back at the table in a daze of confusion.