Chapter 1

Astrid could not fathom what had gotten into him lately. They'd been good friends for years, closer to each other than to any of the rest of their gang. They had always looked out for each other, always shared everything about their lives, and had even been each others first kiss. Second kiss... Third. all quick chaste pecks on the lips in their youth. But still. It had meant something to them. Both of their families had joked throughout their teen years that they'd be married some day.

Then, at 16, when he had started acting weird around her by stumbling over his words every time he tried to speak and never meeting her eyes, Astrid had felt like there was just too much pressure riding on him to make a move. She had backed off, knowing Henrik for the shy and self doubting person that he was. Just to give the guy room to breathe.

That was when she had casually started dating Connor to try and throw their families off from putting too much pressure on them. In the beginning, it seemed to have worked, and their friendship had grown back stronger than ever. But now, two years had passed and suddenly it felt like they were back in that awkward limbo of not knowing how to be around each other. And Astrid felt a pang in her chest everytime she noticed him back away or avoid her.

That familiar ache in her heart was felt as her eyes followed him while he swiftly walked out of their college library, wondering where he could possibly be headed when they both had a class in twenty minutes. She had a sinking feeling he had left after noticing her come in and sit down a little ways away from him. She frowned and looked back down at her notebook, trying to revise for the few minutes she had until their quiz, but knowing nothing would be retained in her memory. With another ache in her chest and a sigh, she shut her books and slung her backpack over her shoulder, figuring she might as well show up early to their class.

The walk to the engineering building was short thankfully, next door to the library with the winter-like cold blowing in spite of it being spring. When Astrid arrived in class, she faltered for a second, noticing Henrik had arrived earlier than she had, which was unlike him. And he seemed to be rereading his own notes and muttering to himself as he went, which continued even as Astrid plopped in the seat next to him, staring into his eyes that looked a little hollow and tired, determined to make him speak to her.

"Hiccup." she said. Using his nickname.

She continued to stare, but he did not seem to have noticed her there at all.

"Hiccup!" she called more forcefully as she leaned closer to him.

He jumped and his eyes darted to her icy blue ones and gasped when he noticed her eyes were inches from his own. Quickly leaning away and glancing at her pink lips then away again.

Huh. Astrid thought. that's new.

"Sorry, Astrid! I didn't notice you, ah, come in, was just, erm, reviewing for our quiz." he stammered.

"Oh please Hick, you're top of the class I doubt you'll have any trouble."

Her eyes scanned over his body at his outfit. Noticing he was wearing sweatpants. Which he never ever wore.

Her brow pinched and she added softly, "are you alright?"

"Errr, yeah," he replied, rubbing the back of his neck and arousing her from her thoughts, "just a bit tired and I didn't get to review much last night."

There it was again. His eyes darted away from hers and it seemed his cheeks were tinged pink.

What was going on with him?! Astrid was worried now, but she was cutoff from saying anything as a quiz paper was placed down in front of her.

Fine. she figured. whatever it was, today after school she was getting an answer from him if it killed her. She hadn't been having a great time after dumping Connor a few weeks ago. Not that she was particularly heartbroken, but she had been missing his company more than ever. And with that note she turned her attention to her quiz.

Fourty-five minutes seemed to pass in the blink of an eye for Astrid, although she definitely could blame that on her distracted brain. She'd watched Hiccup leave their class after handing in his quiz in only 15 minutes, when she had barely finished answering the last question as her professor called to hand them in. Sighing, Astrid quickly gave in her paper and scurried to her car, fully intending on driving straight to Hiccups place after class to get down to the bottom of his recent awkwardness.

"Hiccup!" she yelled as she slammed open his front door, then winced at how angry she sounded.

She heard a yelp from his bedroom down the hall and a thud as something was knocked over. She approached the noise, calling out again more softly, "Hiccup?" and then she was pushing open his bedroom door to see him standing by his bed yanking a shirt over his head and kicking something else under the bed with the back of his heel.

He was clearly hiding something and she was going to figure out what it was. She walked in and reached for the object that had been uncerimoniously stuffed under the bed, all the while watching his green eyes that looked not only frightened but also exhausted, and was that... aroused? He gulped as her hands closed around it and she brought up a... picture album? Is this what he was so worried about?

"Hiccup, what...?" Astrid was even more confused now as she started flipping through the pages only to find photos of herself alongside Hiccup and the rest of their friends throughout their youth and teens, leading up to last year. There was Heather, and her brother Darien. The twins: Tommy and Romy Thorston. Then Scott Jorgenson, and Finn Ingerman. The pictures of her and Henrik alone outnumbered all the others combined though, and she felt a lump in her throat at that thought.

She hadn't even noticed she had sat down on his bed when he was suddenly tugging gently at the album as she reached the last few pages.

"Okay Astrid, I'm just going to take this back now. Why don't I make some tea and then we can, uh, talk about today's quiz! Yeah." he finished as he gave a more forceful tug only for a loose paper to slip out of the album and fall to the ground in front of Astrid. She just watched it fall until it was right at her feet and she realized that what she was looking at was a drawing of herself. An erotic drawing of herself. She had to admit it wasn't untasteful, and the position she was drawn in simply covered her more intimate body parts and left that to the imagination. Which, she realized, might have been exactly what Hiccup had been doing as she'd barged in on him.

But she had no time to process that as suddenly with a small cry Hiccup was lunging forward and stuffing the picture back in the book. Quickly throwing it under his bed before grabbing Astrid's wrist and dragging her to the kitchen.

She allowed herself to be towed to his small kitchen and even sat down at the table when he pulled out a chair for her and gently pressed on her shoulders for her to sit. Her mind was racing as she kept trying to answer her own questions. Not realizing that Hiccup was babbling and banging around the kitchen for mugs and tea and the kettle, she finally came to tthe conclusion that there was no one else who could answer her questions for her.

Cutting him off she asked, "Hick what is going on with you?"