I do not own anything, as always.

Well, here goes nothing.
Suffering a total lack of sleep I decided to once again prove that I should rather read than write Fanfiction.
Too much work, coffee, too little talent and a lack of common sense have resulted in this story. If you can call it that at all.
I don't have a beta, the story went totally different from what I wanted it to be as usual and I am not really sure why I am about to post it. Then again I always hate my own stories, because they never come close to what I want them to be. Hopefully it will be the only thing you have to suffer from me in the near future.
As you may have gathered I am not really pleased with it, but in the end I also have read worse One-shots.
Sadly this is the best thing I have written in quite a while, so I may as well share it.
Maybe some of you enjoy it. If not, you have been warned.

If you feel the need to leave a review feel free. If not I am fine with that too.

Honestly people, now is your last chance to leave this horrible trainwreck.

Cards

Astrid Hofferson had always been a proud person. She took pride in her grades, her work ethic, her viking heritage and last but not least her looks. With everything she did, she gave it her all. Even the home economy classes and her abysmal attempts at creating food were done with all the effort she could muster. She did not care one bit that the results were not edible, since in the end nobody was perfect.
Astrid´s parents had started her early on in her life to always give her best. They had cared for her in any way possible, encouraging her curious nature and competitive spirit. Even though money had been short all through their life, due to them taking care of her uncle, they never told their daughter to not do something she wanted. They had however told her that nothing came free in life and that if Astrid wanted something she would have to work for it. Be it chores like chopping firewood, cleaning the bathroom, mowing the neighbour lawn or simply handing a hand to her parents, Astrid helped where she could. Not to mention that chopping wood with an axe was her chosen way to release stress. At first she did it all grudgingly, as she became older though she saw not only why her parents made her help, but she learned to be proud of her work. Nobody could tell her she had not earned everything she had. Her grades, her spending money, which she often gave to her parents to help pay the bills, her good looks. All of it came from hard work and Astrid loved it.

Sadly hard work could not give her everything. Her competitive nature was often seen as being standoffish and Astrid had to chose her friends carefully. Nor could hard work cure her uncle Finn, who was in Astrids opinion the bravest person she knew. Her Parents had taken care of the man since his sickness had been diagnosed and the slowly growing paralysis rendered the man unfit for most work. Sadly her parents money problems meant she could not buy expensive clothes or video games or even eat out at the mall to often.
The girl did not mind it most of the time, after all the Money went to pay for uncle Finns treatment stopping the disease that would have otherwise completely paralyzed her beloved uncle by now, but sometimes it was hard for a teenager to see all her rather well of friends spending money, while she had to watch her spendings carefully. However her pride also meant that the girl would not ask her friends for money. In Astrids head that was the same as asking for charity and she was no charity case. No sir, thank you very much.

Complaining to Heather however was no problem. Which lead to Astrid loudly complaining about how unfair it was that she would never get the dreamy shoes the two of them had seen in the mall the other day. Her dark haired friend endured Astrids complaints with the same calm she always did, while rummaging in the depths of her locker.
As Heather finished with finding her books, listening to Astrid with only one ear, both girls heard a yelp an seconds later something or rather someone slammed in the row of locker they were stood in front of.

"Watch it useless." the loud voice of Steven "Snotlout" Jorgerson filled the hallway as he pushed one of the resident Nerds to the ground. Said nerd, also know as Henry "Hiccup" Haddock, didn't even look up at his bully, only trying to gather his books strewn about the floor. Apparently he did not see the need to fight back. Not that it would've done him much good. Snotlout was one of the bulkiest guys in the school and Hiccup, while not quite the fishbone he had been a few years back, was nowhere near his bully in pure strenght. A fact that his bully knew and abused regulary.

"Sorry Snot." the quiet nasal reply was nearly lost in the background of the busy hallway as the auburn haired boy got up and left for his next class, before anybody had a chance to help him. Astrid watched his retreating back with a frown. Hiccup was one of the few people who got the same or better grades than her and to be totally honest the boy had grown to be quite cute lately, at least in her opinion.
But where she would have stood up against the idiot also know as Snotlout, Hiccup just folded into himself and let others push him around. That was something Astrid never understood and hated about Hiccup. She would've never had anybody treat her like that. In fact she often helped Snots victims, either by distracting him or her favored choice by punching the daylights out of him, when he tried to push other around. Most of the time it worked, except for when Snot went against Hiccup. Unlike the other nerds Hiccup always made sure to get out of his cousins way as fast as possible, before any fuss could be raised.

"Did you guys see? Useless doesn't even try to fight anymore." Snotlout gloated to his friends when Hiccup had left. "It's sad really. Just shows how much better I am, compared to him."

Next to her Astrid heard Heather snort very unladylike. The blond girl herself meanwhile had to fight the urge to reprimand the bully and give him a piece of mind. It would've just been a waste of time. Hiccup had already left and Snotlout never accepted anything than his own reality.
Instead of bringing him back to reality Astrid took her own books and urged Heather to leave for their last class of the day, before Snot realised they were there and focused his unwanted attention on either of them. Luckily they managed to escape Snotlout notice today. One had to thank the gods for small favours.

When entering the class Astrid saw Hiccup already in his seat in the last row, scribbling on some piece of paper. She considered asking him if he was okay, before dismissing the notion and taking her place in a chair right at the front of the class.
Soon the teacher entered and started class. As the ring of the bell signaled the end of school an hour later, she took her books to her locker, put the ones she needed for homework in her backpack and went to Heather car to get home.
Today she would only do her homework, maybe send a few texts to Ruff, who was sick at home and then go to bed. All the while thinking about those dammed shoes, she could not afford.
Her last thought before drifting to sleep was, that it would have been nice to get those boots.

The next morning, after dragging herself out of the nice, warm bed Astrid took a shower and got ready for school again. Happy that it was it was the last day of school before the weekend, she enjoyed breakfast with her family before being picked up by Heather for school. The black haired Girl had gotten her new car just a few weeks ago for her birthday and was happy to drive where ever she could, including the detour to pick up her blonde best friend.

Arriving in the schools parking lot they both got out of the car and got to their lockers to pick up the books for first period. The hallways as always were packed with students who would have probably been anywhere but in school right now and getting to their lockers through the sea of slow moving bodies was something Astrid could've done without.

"Can't these people move faster? I mean come on it's not like they can't sleep in class later." she complained, already annoyed about the people around. Why others couldn't be as motivated as her was forever a mystery to her.

"Come on relax, they can't all be like you." Heather smirked "Hell girl, I have a hard time understanding how you can be so motivated."

"I am, because I have to." Astrid told her friend "Being motivated means good grades. Good grades mean better chances after school, which means I will be able to help my family more."

"Yeah, I know, I know. " came the reply. "Sorry Ast."

"It's okay."

When they ("Finally!") got to their lockers Astrid was in for a surprise. Inside the small space, right on top of her books lay the boots from the mall. Eyes widening she turned to her friend.

"Did you put them there?" she asked, temper already rising. "You KNOW I hate you buying me things!"

Heather however just held up her hands in surrender and shook her head in denail.

"Sorry Ast, but after your last temper tantrum I learned my lesson."

"Really?" Astrid did obviously not believe her friend. "And it wasn't that bad. Honestly."

"It was. It really really was that bad." Heather snorted. "You really should work on either your temper issues or your ability to receive gifts from others."

"I don't have issues." Astrid denied sharply. Before turning back to the boots in her locker. They were exact the ones she had wanted. She felt Heather lean over her shoulder to see them too.

"Well, is there a card or something? Maybe you have a secret admirer!" the excitement in Heathers voice did not sit well with her friend. Shaking her head Astrid began searching for a card or any information on how she had gotten the boots, while at the same time dissuading Heathers inner romantic.

"I have lots of admirers. Most of them unwanted. The fact that one of them is a stalker and can get in my locker does not reassure me."

"You really are a downer sometimes." Heather said. Astrid smirked to herself, taking the statement as a victory.

Finally she found a small card. It looked to have been right on top of the boots at one time, but had fallen down next to the book. Just a small piece of white cardboard with a few words in a messy scrawl.

"To make your world less unfair. Hope you like them."
"So? Who sent them?" Astrid heard her friend ask. Frowning she searched on the backside of the card for some clue, but found none. Giving the card to Heather she replied:

"Don't know. They did not give a name." she turned back to the boots while Heather inspected the card.

"Well nothing to do about it girl. Just be happy about getting your boots. It IS strange that there is no name here." Heather said and held the card up to her face. "Sweet message thought."

"Hmm, I guess there is nothing to do about it now. Whoever put them there did not want me to know how they got there." Astrid gave in and took her books from under the boots and carefully setting them back into the locker before closing and locking it. "Let's get to class for now."

"Guess we have to, but you are so wearing your present after school today." Heather told Astird.

Said girl just shrugged and dragged the black haired girl class.

The rest of the day went surprisingly fast for Astrid. Mostly because her thoughts strayed back to her new boots and how she had gotten them every few minutes. Since it was friday not even the teachers seemed to do their work and most classes were just quiet individual work.

When lunch came around and all students filled the hallways again to get something to eat, Astrid was distracted from the Mystery in her life. As usual lunch meant that Snotlout and his friends were seen engaging in their favorite pastime. Which meant picking on the nerds. Today they had picked Freddy "Fishlegs" Ingerman and as usual Hiccup had to suffer the idiots too. Today thought something was different, because as Snot tried to move past Hiccup, pushing him out of the way to get to Fishlegs, the bully stumbled and crashed face first into the hallway floor. What followed was a loud wail, a bloody nose and from the way the boy had his wrist Astrid gathered that is was at least sprained.

Astrid had a prime view at the spectacle as she had been just about to help stop Snotlout being more of an idiot than usual. But Snotlout being a bully or hurting himself wasn't that special. No the special thing was that she had seen Hiccup tripping his cousin right as he was pushed into the locker. No one other than her had seen it apparently as they all were busy laughing or asking the two nerds if they were alright. Heather had taken the opportunity to fuss over Fishlegs, who despite a few harsh word had gotten away this time. Astrid did not understand why her friend had a crush on the husky boy, but to each her own she guessed. Now back to Hiccup tripping his cousin. He had been fast and acted like nothing had happened and as it turned out was already trying to leave the crowd of people looking uncomfortable.
As he got away from the others and the crowd left the hallway the blonde girl was left starring after the lanky nerd, wondering why today he had stood up to Snotlout, when just yesterday he just took the abuse without any complaint. If he were able to trip his cousin without anyone noticing, he had to be able to avoid the idiot. Then why didn't Hiccup do just that? Lost in her thought she only came back to the world when Heather shook her and asked if she was alright. Saying yes Astrid followed her friend to get some food and this strange day over with. Apparently fate was that she would not find any answer to all the questions in her head today.
Sometimes you just had to go with the flow. Especially on strange days like this one.

(§§§&§§§)

The next few weeks Astrid forgot about Hiccup tripping Snotlout and to be honest even about the boots. Her uncle Finn had gotten worse and had to go to the hospital, which meant Astrid either buried her head in schoolwork, was being distracted by Heather and her strange plans to date Fishlegs or was worried about her uncle.

While she noticed there were less incidents between Hiccup and Snotlout, mostly duo to Hiccup masterly avoiding his cousin, she was just too busy. Astrid knew all the stress was getting to her. There were bags under her eyes, also she had stopped eating regulary and often skipped her workout days to be with uncle Finn in the hospital, but as long as her grades stayed up she did not worry. All she worried about was her uncle, who thanks to his disease could not move his fingers anymore. Something about the nerves and muscles not responding. Astrid did not care, because all that was important was seeing Finn losing the little freedom and independence he had left because the doctors wanted him to stay in the hospital. She had seen the sadness in his eyes, despite the smile the man had put on for her. It had been crushing her own spirit in ways the blonde had not imagined.

The worst thing about the situation however was, that with the right treatment there was a chance to help Finn. It was highly experimental but there was a good chance of success. Too bad thought that places in the treatment group were very limited it was too expensive too buy one. Not that her family could not afford it. So her uncle was damned because of fucking money and bad luck.

Hopefully Heather would drive her to the hospital after school again. She did not want to walk through the rain that had fallen constantly the last days. Astrid wondered were the girl was anyways, as she had not seen Heater since lunch today.
As she packed her last books away another, just like the one that came with her boots a few weeks ago, fell out of her locker before her feet.

"Smile, things are good things are about to happen."

Again the same stupid scrawled handwriting, not signature and just the few cryptic words. She frowned throwing the card in the locker. Just stupid word, probably form the idiotic try from some boy to get in her pants. Astrid did not have time for this.
She smashed the door of her locker and turned to find Heather running towards her.

"Sorry I am late. I...uuh.. got held up." The girl apologized.

"It´s okay." Astrid replied. It was not like Heather had to be there for her. "Could you please drive me to the hospital again?"

"Sure. Come on."

"You are great thanks." Astrid told her friend earnestly.

Heather just smiled and led Astrid to her car. The drive to the hospital was quiet both girls apparently lost in thought. As the arrived at their destination Astrid gave Heather a hug and left for her uncles room.
As she entered she was surprised to find her uncle and her parents all inside the small hospital room all with happy smiles, talking. Soon she was engulfed by her Father in a hug.

"Dad, whats going on?" she wanted to know.

"Good news. Great news even." her father told her still smiling. "Your uncle got into the treatment group! Seems there was still a place free there."

As she was again hugged, this time by her mother Astird tried to take in the words. Uncle Finn had gotten into the experiment that could help him? How? And just as she had gotten another card? Was that even possible?
She was just about to ask her parents how it was possible a doctor came into the room, demanding the attention of the family.

"Hello again." the woman said. "I am doctor Cloud. Finn already knows me and just like him you all can call me Valka. I am here to answer some of your questions today."

Valka or doctor Cloud gestured to the chairs around Finn's bed. After everyone had taken a seat Valka watched them, waiting for any questions they had. Astrid took the chance to blurt out the first thing that came to mind.

"Sorry doctor Cloud but how is this possible? We were told the treatment group had already been filled and that there was little to no chance of my uncle getting in?"

The girl blushed as soon as she noticed how rude that had been. However the tall doctor only smiled at her and told the other people in the room to also ask their questions before she answered. Her parents added a few other questions as well as Finn who all wanted to know what would happen now.

"Well as good as any other questions to start with. Let me explain." Valka took a breath and strated: "The treatment we are talking about and everything to do with it is lead by me. It is highly experimental and not to well received around my fellow doctors. Mostly because I implement a lot of things not commonly seen in modern medicine, which make it quite costly and less profitable. Safe to say there will be tests with electric shock therapy. I will go over the details at a later date if you wish. Safe to say we will spent quite some time together Mr. Hofferson."
She sent uncle Finn a smile before continuing her explanation.

"Now as to how your uncle got into the program is quite simple. The number of patients is limited duo to the time I need to spend with each patient, the money given to the hospital where the treatment will be testet." she frowned , clearly uncomfortable admitting the last part. "As it is money had been the limiting factor, which led to your uncle not getting a place at first. Something I was most upset with, let me tell you. As of yesterday however money is not a problem anymore. We have found a wealthy donor, who was willing to donate quite a large sum to us, which led to your uncle being put into the treatment group."

Everyone was staring after that monologue. After they took in the word her parents and uncle asked a few other questions, but soon the doctor left and the family began to happily chatter about how lucky they were.
As they left after visiting hours were over, Astrid spotted doctor cloud. The tall woman stood out like a sore thump in the hallways. As Astrid saw who exactly the woman was talking to Astird's eyes widened as a lot of things suddenly made sense.

After she had gotten home from the hospital, she had send a text to Heather and Ruff telling them the happy news. Also she had recruited them into helping her in her revenge. After all the stress of the last weeks luck seemed to be on her side as Heather had admitted that she was now together with Fishlegs, someone close to her victim. After a little prodding from Heather he told her what he knew.
Together the three girls planned how to best enact Astrids plan. It turned out they even found a way to include Snotlout in their plan. That night Astrid slept deep and calm, like she had not done in a long time ago.

The next day after school Hiccup Haddock could be seen being chased by an enraged Snotlout Jorgerson through the hallways of the school. Most students had left and Snotlout had waited after Ruffut, whose brother was friends with Snot, had told him, that it had been Hiccup who had tripped him all these weeks ago resulting in his broken nose. The large boy, not realising that it was his own fault for bullying the nerds had waited till after school was over to get revenge on his cousin. Said Cousin had been held back by Fishlegs who had wanted to discuss some problem or the other and ended up mostly telling Hiccup how nice his new Girlfriend was.

Now Hiccup was being chased and ran for his dear life, since he had not expected for Snotlout to ever stay this late in the school or him to find out about that little tripping secret. Snotlout had also told his friends to get him. Now Hiccup had to think and think fast. If they got him he was in for a world of pain. An Idiot Snotlout may be but he never pulled punches.
Turning around a corner Hiccup saw his chance. The hallway lead outside to the parking lot of the school. He just had to pass a janitors closet and he did not suspect any of Snotlouds friends to hide in there.
As it were he was wrong. As soon as he passed the door of said closet, it opened and strong arms pulled him inside.
Accepting his doom Hiccup closed his eyes and in his panic did not notice the door closing or Snoutlout and his friends passing outside.

The blood rushing in his ears was too loud for him to hear these sounds. Eyes closed he waited for the punch that surely was about to come. When nothing happened after a few second he carefully opened one eye. What he saw made both his eyes buldge. In front of him in the dim lit closet stood Astrid Hofferson, also know as the girl starring most of his fantasies and admittedly object of obsession. Taking in the sight before him he felt his sense of doom return to him and this time it had nothing to do with Snotlout. Astrid, her hair in the usual tight braid, was wearing a bright blue top, that needed to be forbidden as good as she looked in it. The same could be Said about the skirt she wore.
The boots on her feet were the same ones he had sneaked in her locker all those weeks ago, after he heard her complaining. He had bribed Heather with a few facts about Fishlegs, gotten the boots and placed them into Astrid locker. They looked great on her. Just too bad how would probably killed by the girl wearing them in the next minutes.

"Dun dun dun, I'm dead."

If he had to die by Astrid's hand he could at least try to do so with grace he decided. His comment did not seem to have any effect on Astrids stoic visage. The girl took a step towards him and he took a step back. Sadly the closet was way too small and he found himself literally with his back to the wall.

"A-Astrid, uhm Hi, Hi Astrid." Seemingly he had lost the ability to properly form sentences in face of the clearly displeased valkyrie before him. He could do nothing but watch as the girl pulled two pieces of paper from behind her back and held them right in his face. He recognized them of course. The cards he had left in her locker.

"Explain." The demand was clear. Hiccup could not help but take a gulp of air trying to get his thoughts together.

"Uhhm that could take a while thought." he tried to argue. Not that he ever had a chance.

"You are not going anywhere." Astrid told him with a slight growl. "Now talk. Before I make you talk. 10 Seconds!"

Seeing as he really had no choice her Hiccup sang like a bird. About his crush slash obsession on Astrid, how he admired her for the person she was. Also how she was so out of his league that he would've never had a chance asking her out. He went into explaining how he had overheard her and Heather talk about the boots. His deal with Heather and how he had gotten early into the school to crack her locker, which had been ridiculous easy. He had left the boots and the first card, but had never wanted her to know who had given them to her.
"I knew you didn't like getting things for free." the boy told his crush. "And I did not want you to think I wanted to buy your love. So I left no name."

Hiccup took a moment to take a breath. His heart racing in his chest. As he had told the first part of the story Astrid had gotten closer. Just a step more and she would have been right into his face. It did not help to calm him at all. Or to concentrate on the second part of the story. He tried to get his mind together but it became harder.

"And the second card?" The question came with the same growl as before. "What about that."

"Well anybody knows about your uncle." Hiccup tried to explain. Everybody had noticed Astrid's troubles in the last few weeks. Most people just didn't know what to do.

"So?"

"Well you probably don't know but I am in the hospital quite often, because of my leg injury. Still needs treatment." he admitted. "And well I saw him and went for a visit when you weren't there..."

Astrid had taken the last step toward him and was now right in his face. Hiccup closed his eyes again, trying to finish his explaination.

"Well you know his doctor...uuhmm...yeah she is kinda my Mum. She and dad are not together anymore and she took her old name." he told the girl trying to get whatever would come next over with. "She travels a lot so not a lot of people know. I asked her about your uncle and after some prodding and blackmail she told me what was wrong. You know..."
Hiccups tried to speak but the words wouldn't come out. He could hear feel is pulse racing. Astrid was so close. He just needed some space.

"About how she had not enough money to include another patient." Astrid supplied trying to get him to continue. "Right?"

Her words shook Hiccup from his thoughts. Deciding that there was no way out he tried to finish:

"Yep, completely right. " he told her. "So I thought how I could help. I could not raise the money myself obviously, so I did the next best thing. I went to my dad."

"And he just gave you the money?" the disbelieve was clear in her voice. Everbody knew Stoick Haddock was wealthy, but to just give that amount of money to his son seemed unlikely.

"No, he would never do that. I mean I had to beg just for him to allow me Toothless." he said. As an afterthought he added "My Dog you know?"

"So where came the money from? You are not leaving till I am satisfied!"

"Please, just take a step back and I'll tell you!" Hiccup pleaded. With a huff the girl did just what he had asked, allowing him to breath for a moment.

"Uhm, I did not do much really. " he said a little calmer. "Dad's company donates a lot of money every year. Something about taxes and all that. I just convinced him that the hospital could use some donations and to look it up."

"Really only that?" Astrid took a step towards him again.

"Oh come on, I told you." Hiccup complained. "I mean he was sure to find Mums project in the files. The old man has his ways. They both still love each other, despite their differences. So he was sure to donate something."

"And after you knew he did you slipped me another card?" Astrid asked voice still dangerous low. " Again without a name? So I wouldn't know it was you who helped my uncle? Because you didn't want me to do something for you because of what you did?"

"Yes, exactly that!Yes please you have to believe me." Hiccup wasn't about begging anymore. What Astrid was doing to him felt like torture. He was sure she would hit him in the next few seconds. In fact he was surprised he had not yet felt her fist against his body. She had a mean temper when she felt wronged in any way.
" I mean I didn't really do that much. Mostly talk to my parents."

"Fine. I heard enough take this." Astrid told him. Hiccup pressed his eyes shut as Astrid closed the distance between them, not willing to see what came next.

Surprisingly he just felt her push something in his hand, that were still hanging at his sides.

"Read. It." came her harsh command. He opened his eyes, bringing a small card into his view. He barely had time to read the few words on the card, eyes widening, before Astrid rammed her fist into his stomach. Hard. Hiccup bend forward, nearly crashing his head into Astrid's face. He only avoided that fate because the girl pulled his head back by his hair, painfully, so he faced her again.

"THAT, was for all that for hiding behind stupid cards." she told him with a hard face. "Next time you get your guts together and talk straight to me and stand up for what you did. Are. We. Clear?"

He tried to nod but her grip in his hair stopped him. So he moaned a quiet "Yes."

"Good." she told him, suddenly smiling. "Now, as you have learned your lesson, you earned a reward. THIS is for everything else you did."

And with that she smashed her lips against his, still using her hand in his hair to guide him into the kiss. Without meaning to his arms went around Astrids middle after a few seconds as he returned the rather wild kiss hesitantly, while Astrid pushed him against the wall.

The small card Astrid had given him lay on the floor. Only a few words on it, just like the ones Hiccup had left in her locker.

" I'm your new girlfriend. Get used to it!"

End