Little Thing

He remembers a bit too clearly the first time she did it.

He was only sixteen, closing his locker with his best friend Frank beside him. It was the break between the third and last period, the hallways not that crowded being the fact that senior students who have a free block just leave the school. He was just getting ready for his last block.

"Ready for some factoring?" His best friend said and he raised his eyebrow as they both just stayed at their lockers, having enough time to just relax. To this day, he's still surprised at the high-pitched voice that his friend has considering his build.

"Haha," he said, resting his weight on his locker as he emphasized the last ha, crossing his arms in the process. "Who wouldn't be?"

Frank just stayed still, "can you play today?" It was always the same conversation on the break before the last period if they can play and today was no different than last time. He just nodded his head.

"Yeah. Might need to take care of Toothless beforehand but after that, I should be free."

"Ahh," Fishlegs said, both hands on his backpack straps, "still being a snarky cat?"

He sighed, Toothless was a cat he got last year as a companion beside Fishlegs. That being said, he's anything but toothless considering the fact that he just keeps wanting to eat fish and just knows when you're talking bad about him. With Toothless he learned to just contain all that anger and just unleash it one day at him even though deep down inside he wouldn't want Toothless to change one bit and he loved him just the way he was.

"Yeah. I wonder if that stomach can ever be filled up."

His best friend shrugged, "we should honestly do an experiment on him. See if he's just a mutated cat that can never have a full stomach."

He laughed, "you know, you may not be far from the truth." Frank pulled off a winning smile.

Frank looked behind him, noticing the same empty hallway as he is overlooking, then looked at him and his face blanched as if he was seeing a ghost. He blinked, surprised at the fact that his face could change colour that quickly.

"Hey. Frank." He said, raising a hand up, "yoohoo! You okay?"

"Ahem."

He jumped, doing a 180 to find Astrid Hofferson right there, in extremely close proximity and he took a step back, thanking himself that he didn't pee right there and then.

"Hey… Astrid." He said. Astrid Hofferson being in a different group of friends meant that they really never had any interaction with one another. With a blue shirt and some jeans that look kind of bright blue, he doesn't know what else to say to her as he looks at her blue eyes. It's not like he knows her, it just that he doesn't know know her, you know?

She seemed so calm as she looked behind him, probably Fishlegs, "Hiccup will catch up to you. Have to do something with him at the moment." And the gulp he made must've been a combination of the two of them considering that it was loud. All he heard was a shaky, "yeah, sure," and quick footsteps and it was just them.

Silence occurred.

"So…" He said, holding the straps of his backpack, "hi?" He doesn't really know what to say considering the fact that he just doesn't really know her? We've already had this discussion before. He never really noticed that they both have almost the same height, she maybe is a little bit tall—

Before he could comprehend what happened, Astrid grabbed his shirt and pulled him close, interlocking their lips together.

What?

Wait.

Wait a minute, she's kissing me.

Why am I not responding to that?

He closed his eyes and pushed a bit, feeling just soft lips touch against his as he feels her hand slowly loosening his grip on his shirt. He's in a dream, that's what he hopes is happening with the fact that he's just going to randomly kiss Astrid Hofferson out of nowhere. Maybe that chemistry class had suspicious activity happening in the background.

They broke apart and he slowly opened his eyes. He found her looking down, her bangs completely covering her eyes as she puts a strand of hair behind her ear, and coughed a bit.

"Okay?" He said, saying the letter O for a long time. "So that happened."

"Mmhmm." She said as she looked up with a blush covering her face as his face suddenly got hot. His mind just processing the fact that he kissed Astrid Hofferson. Sure when he was young he had a crush on her but to just suddenly happen out of nowhere, that's, that's pretty wow.

Wow.

"Alright." He said, raising a hand to wave at her. "I'll, uh, see you, um, later?" He hesitantly said as he turned around and walked to class, not wanting Astrid to see his red face.

Brrrrrrrrrring!

Ran to class.

…

…

The second time was literally that period.

He was walking out to drink some water, his mind focused on the math assignment that he was working on at the moment until his throat sort of dried up out of nowhere and he asked the teacher to get some water.

The hallway was empty, not a soul to be seen as suddenly a hand grabbed him and pulled him inside a room, his manly scream - it was manly he swears it was - being muffled by the hand that was covering his mouth. After it died down, all he saw was just a dark room and an outline of a person. He soon discovered that this was a janitor's room.

"Um." He said. "Hi?" He doesn't know what's the proper etiquette here! Should you be polite to the person who just grabbed you out of nowhere? No? Oh well darn.

The person said nothing as they grabbed his shirt and pulled him close, and he felt a sense of déjà vu with this. The lips felt the same and he realized that it's Astrid again. That surprised him, considering the fact that he thinks they had zero conversation before this… kissing thing that apparently they have. Or do they have anything? Does anyone know what's like the relationship for this sort of things?

He should really stop overthinking this.

That being said, he grew a bit bolder this time, using one of his stationary hands to move up and rest at the back of her head as he twisted his head slightly to the right to fit better with her. They stayed like that for who knows how long until they parted ways, huge gulps of air was heard in the room as Hiccup's brain finally turned on again and… and…

He just made out with Astrid.

He looked towards her, expecting her to be shy about this but instead, she seemed to be smiling at him and his face grew a bit hotter, not knowing what was happening in her head. As much as he'd like to be calm, it's kind of hard with the fact that this kind of behaviour seems so out of character from her.

"Um…" Great start. "If you don't mind me asking, why did you kiss me the first time? O-or this time?" His breathing has stabilized and after his mouth did its thing - which is to speak before his brain gives the ok to say those words - that the brain caught up to his mouth. That's a good question, why did she?

"Oh." Her smile dropped for a quick second as she bit her lip, a trait he would later find out she does when she feels that the person won't like the answer. "It was a, um, a bet with Ruffnut."

"Ruffnut?" He repeated to her. Who's Ruffnut?

"Rachel." With his blank face did she roll her eyes. "Rachel Thorston?" His brain caught on fire as he remembers who Rachel, or Ruffnut, is. Gods, he must look so stupid.

"Oh." He weakly said. His mind finally understanding the fact that it was just a dare and she didn't really have any feelings for this and his heart kind of sank. He lowered his head, not really wanting to see Astrid in this kind of state. That's a really low blow and a sad dare the moment you're the one being used. "I'm assuming she dared you again."

"No," Astrid responded quickly and confidently as he raised his head, alongside his eyebrows. What does she mean by no? "This time," she proceeded to be in extremely close proximity to him as she goes for the third kiss, feeling a slight tug on his shirt where she now seems to always hold him.

"This time I want to."

His response was him pushing forward to kiss her. Third kiss. Not like he's counting.

Okay…

Maybe he's counting.

…

…

So they became kissing buddies.

Astrid laughed at him as he hesitantly said that after school for the tenth time they did it, himself growing a lot more confident and using two hands while she was being delicate with him. Honestly, he thinks that they've kissed more times than talk to each other and he's not too sure how to process that.

Nonetheless, the very few times that he has talked to make a bad joke, he has made her laugh and he's pretty sure that's some slight progress. Also, it seems like she's smiling after every time.

At the moment, Fishlegs was leaning against the adjacent locker as he's waiting for him to put away his things from school. Since his locker is the closest exit towards his home he always returns back to his locker before leaving for school. Fishlegs was just here until his mother would arrive to pick him up.

"So what's up between you and Astrid?" He comments on that and he swears as he dropped his books, landing on his feet. He didn't even expect that kind of question as he bends down to pick them up.

"What do you mean?" He painfully says as he gets up from picking his books. "No… nothing?" He answers that as a question as he doesn't think to tell Fishlegs would be a good idea considering how he spills secrets like it's nothing. Thank goodness the Dragon Book secret was only in elementary school but the damage has been done and Hiccup can now be dubbed the Dragon Conqueror by the people who were in the same elementary school as he.

"Huh. Cause after the first time I've seen you two since last week, I've seen Astrid become over three-hundred percent happy with everyone. Thought you would be something related to that and it seemed to be the case considering how it just happened recently."

He went wide-eyed towards his best friend. Astrid has been looking happier? She must've done something athletically challenging or something like that. He might have to ask her.

Does he have permission to do such things?

"Ahem," and he jumps like the scaredy cat he is. Heck, even Toothless is less of a scaredy cat than he is and he's a cat. Useless Toothless. He turns around to find Astrid holding her backpack strap with her left hand while her right hand is in her jean pocket. She's wearing the same jeans or maybe it was a different jean, he's not too sure. She's also wearing a dark red sort of shirt. He glances his eyes a little upward to find her smiling an easy smile.

"Hey, Astrid." He said softly and he kept balancing off one foot and another because he was this close to kissing her. He's rather not publicly show this kind of relationship in public in case she might completely destroy him physically. Astrid's right eyebrow rose a little bit as he gives off an uneasy smile.

"Hey Hic. Frank." She nods towards the two as he tries not to turn his head to see Fishlegs' reaction. "I think I saw your mother outside Frank." He decides that probably now is a good time to smash his back against his locker so that he can see both Astrid and Fishlegs. Except he wasn't there as he said a soft goodbye towards both of them. He turns his head towards the hallway to find Fishlegs' retreating form and he shouted a "bye" to him. With that, the hallway seemed to be a desert.

He turned around to find Astrid kissing him immediately, making him wide-eyed at her closed eyes as she completely blindsided him. Before he could react, she pulled away and he blinked as she gave off a smile that kind of made him softly smile. At that though, he blinked as he turned towards his locker.

"Hey," he softly said as he grabbed his backpack full of books, closing the locker and locking it, "I thought you would have some kind of practice." He turned his head towards her as she chuckled a bit, making him flush with the possibility that maybe there isn't practice today.

"Nope, a free day. Speaking of, are you doing anything today?" He blinked, what? Usually, they would meet somewhere (usually his locker) and then just go their own ways. Never does this happen that Astrid asks him what he's doing and he just shrugged. "No, I got nothing to do today. Why?" Except for maybe the chemistry lab, he might need to tinker a bit at his "uncle's" shop. Maybe take care of Toothless. But he feels like Toothless would be a-ok with him going out with Astrid Hofferson.

Actually, probably not as he's already glaring at the door, impatiently waiting for him to come through that door just to give him the best quality fish cat food.

She just smiled, "I was wondering if you'd like to go to the park." She was slightly swaying from side to side as she was asking a question, making him wonder if maybe, just maybe, she was as nervous as he was. He highly doubts that, but let's just hope that maybe that's true as he nodded. With that response, she gave off a massive smile that probably lights up the hallway as he gave off an easy smile, hoping himself he wouldn't screw up. Don't screw up, don't screw up, don't screw…

"Go?" He stupidly said and he winced at his one word. "I mean, uh, should we, uh go?" He said to her as he pointed his head towards one of the exits nearby his locker.

Don't screw this up

She smiled at him as she nodded her head, her smile softly growing.

Don't screw this up.

…

…

He's surprised that he hasn't screwed this up yet.

He's lost count on the number of kisses he's given her. But hey, as a compromise, they're boyfriend-girlfriend.

Of course, him being eighteen and puberty was like "hey, we kind of forgot about you, sorry 'bout that," made him have a growth spurt that made him taller than her. Interestingly enough, he doesn't even look half bad as most of the time he's walked ahead of her and turned around, she seems like she was staring downwards and he thinks he knows where those eyes were looking. They've tried to keep it a secret from the school with success and so far it's been a pretty smooth ride for their relationship. Well considering that it's not him that sometimes make mistakes, sometimes it's her like that Christmas one year where she cooked the meals for the two of them. Honestly, she didn't think it was that bad as he still feels a meatball trying to kill him from the inside even today. Also, the fact that they were talking regularly in the hallways makes people suspicious of why those two are even talking.

That being said, those are just background noise as he's cleaning up the house, hoping that it looks decent as he's the one in charge of cooking the food. Toothless just snoring at the moment making him hope that he just stays in that state the whole time Astrid's here. It's not the first time that she's been in this house, except it will be the first time she will meet his parents and considering how they're business people who only demand the best, she's sort of nervous. He tries to calm her down, tell her that his parents are actually surprised that she chose him just to make her smile.

His bruised arm shows that it isn't the best joke to make.

His parents arrived first from work at around five. He told Astrid to come around six so that the whole food is ready. Since he's the one cooking it, not trusting either of his parents, (his dad is okay at some things at horrible at others so he'd rather not risk having him at the kitchen. His mother's cooking is not the reason why his father married her) he has to get an early start.

What he didn't expect was that Astrid would be early.

At five twenty-five, the doorbell was heard. Him being in the kitchen meant that one of his parents would have to respond and he doesn't think twice of it. He keeps on cooking, checking the instructions as he takes multiple glances at the clock. He had the background noise of his parents watching the TV in the living room to keep him calm.

Wait, his parents are talking.

He shrugged, thinking that maybe they were talking their day to each other as he put his head right into the kitchen.

It's not until it's quarter to six that he glances up from stirring the food to see both his parents and Astrid at the doorway of the kitchen, all having smiles towards him as he screeched, spooked by the people.

So yeah. Fun start.

"Hey, Astrid. Hey, Astrid. Astrid." He said stupidly as he winces. He coughed first before continuing with "I've seen you met my parents."

"Yeah Hic." She responded. She was just wearing a simple red dress as she braided her hair, making him blush to see her. It's the first time that he's seen her in a dress and he was touched by the fact that she went the extra mile for him. He smiled at her easy smile, something that she always seems to have around him.

"Why didn't you tell me your father went fishing monthly!?" She then proceeded to mock glare at him as he chuckled. He knew that those two would get along perfectly well and he shook his head.

He feels like this is just going to be a swell night.

"Oh, Astrid dear. Would you like to see Hiccup's baby pictures."

Wait a minute…

"I'd love to Mrs. Haddock." She said as she went towards the kitchen just to kiss him then affectionately pinch his cheek.

"Now wait a minute." He said, the food gone from his mind. "Don't I get a say from this considering, well, it's my baby—"

"Son you better look over the food." His father interrupted him and he went slack as he just glanced at his parents and then saw his girlfriend giving him the biggest grin he's ever seen.

With a huff, he turned and continued to make the food, not sure if he can ever see Astrid in the eyes again.

…

…

It was a sunny day and he hated it.

They were all outside. All of his friends and his co-workers outside wearing black. He himself was wearing black as he heard sobbing from different distances away. He didn't think this day would come this early. At just the ripe age of 21 did he hear the devastating news.

His father has passed away.

He was the next one to take the torch for the company and even though he had some experience, he couldn't believe it. Not yet. Astrid is holding his hand very tightly, yet always glancing at him just to see if he will be alright. He captures her eyes with his own and gives off a bittersweet smile. He then leans in to kiss her and she meets him halfway. It's been six years now ever since that dare and three years since they are official and it seems like this death has hit both of them pretty hard as they broke apart. She always had a deep connection with his father considering how they always enjoy doing physical activities and whenever she'd come over he'd always boast about how perfect of a daughter-in-law she is, making her blush and him forcing her out of the house to get away from the disaster that is his family.

Gods, he'd wish to hear those words from his father just one last time.

The funeral ended as people started to leave, most of them hugging him or just shaking his hand. He can't believe that most of these will now be his employees as he has to take control of the reins. He knew most about the company and he sighed, slowly sinking it down but not really.

Finally, Gobber was one of the few left as he hugged him. He cried a bit and he felt a bit damp on his back.

"Your father was a good man Hiccup," Gobber said as he pulled away. "Just always remember that your father was and will always be proud of you." He said, wiping away his tears as he looked at Astrid. "You too, lass. Just know that he will always smile no matter what." He nodded at his "uncle's" words as Gobber went to hug his mother a good distance away from them as she saw the men just putting the dirt over the coffin. The tighter grip made him look at her as it was the few rare times that he's seen her with big blue eyes right at him, seemed to be with an added moisture layer. She just put her free arm around him in an embrace and he sighed.

"It still hasn't hit me, you know?" He told her honestly as he stroked her hair, something that relaxes her even in the worst situations. "I still think right now I'll go to my parent's house to find him there, angrily muttering about how spoiled Toothless is even though it's just him that's spoiling Toothless." Even now, it's still so surreal to him.

"Oh, Hiccup." She muttered lowly. She pulled away to kiss him again and he went along with it. He knows that whatever hiccup could come up in his life or her life that they'll be together.

"I… I love you." He muttered to her with his eyes closed. He opened them to find them still together in their embrace as she widened her eyes. She started to cry fully then as she buried her face into his shoulder blade. It was the first time he ever told you those three words and he was surprised at how easy it was to just tell her and be so sincere about it.

Her response came a few seconds later with her pulling him towards her for a passionate kiss.

He knows one thing for sure though. Even though the next couple of months are going to be stressful trying to handle the reins of the company and try to just know that his father won't be there to correct his mistakes of the company. He sighs shakily as he cups her face with his hands, her hands grabbing him by the shirt. Even though he might have a long aching for his father.

He knows that Astrid will be by his side.

…
CUTLINE HERE
…

At age twenty-five, he's wearing black again, but for a different reason as he standing beside some other people, Astrid being right in front of him. He couldn't believe this at all.

"I do."

"I now pronounce you Mr. and Mrs. Hiccup Haddock. You may kiss the bride."

"Usually, it's the bride that kisses the—" He was cut off from her grabbing his shirt, earning her a yell from him as he was smacked right in the lips. The whole room erupting in either laughter or claps. He didn't pay them any attention though as he broke off the kiss, opening his surprised closed eyes to find her giving an amazing easy smile.

"And to think." He said as he was seeing people dancing in the dance floor as he was sitting beside his wife. His wife Astrid Haddock. "All of this was a dare." She chuckled at him but it was a different kind of chuckle. A more nervous one. He turned towards her to find her tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.

"Yeah. I guess." He slightly twisted his head, sort of asking her to elaborate in silent.

"It was a dare but I had to choose the boy." He blinked a bit, not having the pieces clicked as she sighed exasperatedly.

"I choose you Hiccup." It then finally clicked on him that she chooses him. He blinked again.

"Why though?" She shrugged then gave a mischevious smile.

"Because it was just your butt."

He had no reaction for a bit. Then his brain sort of restarted at that and he blushed.

"What?" He said shell-shocked.

"Hiccup!" Someone yelled at him, making him glance at the table where Snotlout and the twins are. He winced, knowing that something bad is about to happen. "We need your help!"

"Coming!" He yelled out at them as he got up. Then he glanced back at his wife.

"…what?" He told her again at the newfound information ten years later. He didn't know what to do as he turned his head straight to find Snotlout holding the funnel as they were chugging beer down. He blinks at the scene in front of him as he sighs, not wanting to be involved in anything these crazy people are about to do. The moment he took his first step forward his wife called out to him.

"Wait!"

"What's up?" He said to her as she got up to kiss him. Just a quick peck.

"3000th kiss." She muttered afterwards.

…

…

Hey! There's a kiss every scene. Man, that was actually coincidental. Hiccup muttered "third kiss" but never realized it so Astrid kept the tally.

Gods this was hard. The easiest part was just the first two parts and originally that was the whole story. But I just disliked the fact that it was only 1.5k words and it felt super short considering Marriage is just around 4k the lowest word count to 10k the highest word count and Cruod Advice is around 4.5k just made 1.5k felt super short so I added some more. But the extra part just seemed forced to me. I don't know this is written at two o'clock in the morning let me get some sleep.

Now that I'm awake, I can tell you that this originally was supposed to be posted around the premier in Canada/US so Febuaray. I remember seeing this document as I blinked, realizing that I never really posted it and just wanted to add more. So I did it for around that timeline. Fun fact, it didn't happen but still set out to finish it. Better late than never I supposed.

I did a challenge that I wouldn't post this until the day that I didn't work on any of the stories (City, Secretive or Marriage). On the 25th of March, I didn't work on any of my stories as I was out hiking and trying to not die (with minimal success). So yay, another One-Shot.

...

Started: April 7th, 2018

Finished (Original): June 10th, 2018

Re-modified: January 3rd, 2019

Finished: March 22nd, 2019

Published: March 26th, 2019