Title: Happy Birthday, Astrid

Summary: Astrid forgets her birthday, but the rest of the gang doesn't!

Notes: Essentially, this mess was thrown together for an English writing assignment. It's not the best and it's TOTALLY dorky, but enjoy! :P To those who are not tech savvy, a key for the abbreviations follows at the bottom.

"Coffee!" Astrid made a beeline for the machine she kept in the back of her music studio. She was dead exhausted from staying up until one in the morning the previous night watching all of the LOTR movies, and she needed the black elixir.

Her phone went off, and she fumbled for a coffee cup with one hand and grabbed the device out of her pocket with the other. It was Hiccup, her best friend since fourth grade.

Hiccup: You can reply ADN!

He had sent about five other texts beforehand.

Astrid: Hello, Dragon Boy.

She set her phone downand safely finished pouring her cup. She put the pot back in the brewer and took a big gulp of scalding hot coffee. She kicked shoes off onto the mat she kept by the back door and wiggled her toes. As she wandered around with her coffee cup in hand, her phone dinged again.

Hiccup: Abt time. How was breakfast?

Astrid: BBR :(

Astrid sighed and plopped down onto the couch in her private room in the studio, remembering what was intended to be bacon and eggs, but ended up being a feast for her dog, Stormfly. Her stomach grumbled in protest at the granola bar it had received instead.

Hiccup: Learn to cook.

It was so like Hiccup to say that. He could do anything, if he set his mind to it. Unfortunately, all of his ambition went towards writing. Astrid was still trying to talk him into learning the piano. He had the long fingers to do it, but none of the drive.

Astrid: Thx a lot.

Hiccup: Welcome! :)

Astrid rolled her eyes and kicked her feet up on the arm of the couch. Piano classes didn't start for another hour; she could relax. Her toe poked through the cloth of the couch into the rotting stuffing. The studio was in dire need of a thorough remodel. The paint on the walls was peeling, the music books were in tatters, and the piano looked like it had been used as a punching bag. But there was nothing she could do about it until she saved up more money.

Astrid: Who'd you kill off today?

Hiccup: I don't kill off people!

Astrid: …

Hiccup: ...

Astrid: What about your character FKA Eret?

Hiccup was currently writing an adventure series and in the last volume, the main character's best friend had died. Astrid still resented him for it. She resented him for everything in his books, while the rest of their "gang" (which consisted of two crazy twins, Ruffnut and Tuffnut, Hiccup's cousin Snotlout, and Hiccup's roommate, Fishlegs) loved his works.

Hiccup: FYI, he's not dead.

"Aha!" Astrid crowed. "I knew it!"

Astrid: UR THE BEST! TY!

Hiccup: I didn't say anything!

Hiccup: No, si-re! No, ma'am.

Hiccup: Not a word!

Hiccup: I did NOT just give you a spoiler for the next book.

Hiccup: Nope!

Astrid grinned, her ploy for riling him up working quite well, and took another swig of coffee.

Astrid: B3, Dragon Boy.

Hiccup: WTVR

Astrid: ROTFL

Or perhaps more like rolling on the couch laughing.

Hiccup: You won't be when I kill off Eret's little sister!

Hiccup: Btw, you remember the alley where Drago attacked me?

Two years ago, Hiccup had gotten attacked in an alley by the ex-crime lord of the city of Berk for defending an innocent gas station owner named Johann. He had lain in the alley for a whole day with a bullet wound in his leg before anyone could find him. He did get to the hospital, but lost the leg in the process. The very thought of Drago made Astrid's blood boil.

Astrid: Idk what you're talking about.

Astrid: How, exactly, could I forget that?

Hiccup: Jw!

Astrid stretched, cracking her neck, and checked the clock on the wall. It was now ten in the morning. Why weren't any of her students there yet? It wasn't Sunday; once she had called all of them demanding to know where they were and it had turned out to be on a day there weren't any classes.

Astrid: Why?

Hiccup: Well, I'm near the alley right now, and I'm in a bit of trouble-

Astrid didn't read the rest of the message. She dropped her phone and ran to get her shoes. If Hiccup was in trouble, it meant something bad! He usually got out of tough situations by pure luck. She jammed her sneakers on and rushed out the car. A few seconds later, she rushed back into the studio.

"My keys! Where are my keys!" she shouted. "Ah!" She spotted them lying on the counter next to her coffee maker and lunged for them. Then she was out of the studio and speeding down the street. How could Hiccup be such an idiot to go near the alley? Who knows what could have happened!

"I'll kick anybody who's hurting him like the point after," she vowed, jerking the steering wheel to the left to make a sharp turn. "I'll knock their electricity out for a week! I'll-"

She didn't finish the thought, and swerved into a parallel parking spot near the alley. She jammed a whole quarter into the meter, not caring that she was outrageously overpaying, and ran as fast as she could.

"Hiccup?" she yelled, rounding the corner and entering the alley. She was expecting to see him lying there, just like last time, but the alley was only full of trash cans, burger wrappers and cigars. No Hiccup in sight.

"Hiccup?" she tried louder, turning around. Where was he? Her panic spiked to a new high as she ran back into the street.

"You might try the restaurant across the street," a newspaper vendor nearby advised her. "I think I saw some suspicious characters go in there." Her eyes landed on the "THE GREASY BOWL". She threw a thanks over her shoulder and raced forward. The door banged open as she charged in.

"ANYBODY SEEN A SKINNY RED HEAD WITH A-" she shouted.

"SURPRISE!" the whole room screamed, interrupting her.

Astrid's jaw dropped in shock. Her piano students, Hiccup, her uncle Finn, Fishlegs, and Snotlout were all crowded into the small building, holding balloons and smiling like they had won the lottery. The tables were decorated with festive plates, punch bowls, and at the head of the largest one was a crudely labeled sign that read: "THE BIRTHDAY QUEEN".

"Happy birthday, Astrid!" Tuffnut and Ruffnut bustled into the room with a violently-colored cake.

"Close your mouth. You're not a codfish," Hiccup said primly, grinning at her.

Astrid shut her mouth with a soft clop. "This was all a hoax." Her piano students giggled and she glared at them fiercely. They quickly quieted down, knowing she would have them doing extra scales for hours.

"I thought you were in trouble, Hiccup!" she accused. "You said you were!" She brandished her phone at him as evidence. "Who's idea was this?"

Hiccup smirked. "I was in trouble. You weren't here to celebrate with us and I was getting lonely!"

"And it was my idea. Every time you hear Drago's name you go berserk." Fishlegs, decked out in a blue party hat, looked mighty proud of himself. "We knew you'd come."

"And I must say!" Snotlout pushed his way to the front of the crowd. "You look gorgeous when you're worried, dah-ling!"

Astrid rolled her eyes. "It's my...birthday?" she asked hesitantly. She hadn't checked her calendar lately, so it was quite possible that she had missed it.

Chelsea, one of her younger students, huffed dramatically. "Only you would forget your own birthday, Miss Hofferson!"

Astrid turned to Hiccup, remembering his text. "You idiot! You had me scared to bits! I thought you were lying somewhere, in a pool of blood."

"There are kids in the room," Hiccup reminded her lightly.

"You could have-" she started again.

"SOOOOO," the twins interrupted, dumping their cake off onto a table and sliding into chairs. "Can we party now?" Ruffnut brandished a plastic knife, ready to dish out pieces.

"One more thing, then we can." Astrid marched up to Hiccup and socked him in the arm.

"Hey!" he protested. "I thought you were worried about me!"

"That was for scaring me. And this is for everything else..." She leaned forward conspiratorially. Suddenly, her eyes flicked to a large black shape in the corner of the room with a blue bow on it. "MOLDY MIDGARD, IS THAT A NADDER PIANO?" Her students dragged her away to investigate.

And Hiccup never found out what he was going to get for everything else.

Abbreviation Key

LOTR = Lord of the Rings

ADN = Any day now

ABT = About

BBR = Burnt beyond repair

THX = Thanks

FKA = Formerly known as

FYI = For your information

UR = You're

TY = Thank you

B3 = Blah, blah, blah

WTVR = Whatever

ROTFL = Rolling of the floor laughing

BTW = By the way

IDK = I don't know

JW = Just wondering