It was late when they finally decided to leave. Most of the students had already gone home. Fishlegs was snoring in a corner, camera hanging from a strap around his neck. The twins were nowhere to be seen, Snotlout had left over an hour ago (to a supposed college party with "lots of half-naked chicks just waiting for the Snot-man") and Heather was trying to wake Fishlegs.

Astrid yawned loudly as she drove Hiccup home, prompting him to yawn even wider, which made them both chuckle, the exhaustion audible in their voices. A few raindrops landed on her windshield, sending the wipers into motion.

When they reached his house, she got out of the car with him and escorted him to the door, not yet ready to let the night end. They stood in front of his door and leaned against it, looking out into the cloudy night. The weather had turned into a drizzle, the rhythmic sound of falling rain filling the air.

"Thanks for driving me home," Hiccup mumbled and Astrid jumped at the chance to start a conversation, any conversation, to drag out saying goodnight.

"Would have been a shitty thing for me to do to drive you there and then let you walk home."

"I could have reported you for disability abuse."

"Hiccup, you regularly walk to school."

"Out of my own volition and not in the middle of the night after the longest party of my life."

"It's not like you've been to many." Astrid grinned at his deadpan expression. "It was fun, though."

Hiccup smiled at her. "It was." Astrid thought of their dance, their almost-kiss, and all those little moments when he'd smiled his special Hiccup-smile at her during the night and sent her heart racing.

Right as she wanted to say something, another yawn overcame her.

"Maybe we should go to sleep," Hiccup said.

"We really should," she agreed, and before she could think twice, she hugged him. His arms embraced her waist and he put his head on her shoulder. They stood there for a long minute, listening to the rain and each other's beating heart, before they pulled back.

"Good night, Hiccup." She took a few steps back in the direction of her car, still captured by his smile.

"Good night, Astrid." Neither of them moved, thinking of something to say, anything to drag this out longer. "Don't drive like Tuffnut dances."

Astrid snorted. "I don't have a death wish."

"What even was that when you guys were dancing? It looked like he was playing with a spin top, and you were the spin top."

She laughed and stepped closer again. "It sure felt like it. I was afraid I'd lose my balance after he let go of me and faceplant on the floor."

"Yeah, who knows what else he was providing tonight."

"That was so the twins, right?"

"I wouldn't have expected anything else. I mean, not that I knew what they were going to do, who ever knows that, but it was still typically weird, like all the other stuff they pull, and I'm rambling, sorry."

Astrid chuckled and hit his arm with a loose fist. "It's okay."

"Good."

"Good."

Suddenly, his hand rose to her cheek, picking a strand of hair off it and putting it behind her ear. Astrid held her breath as his hand hovered near her face and his eyes fell to her lips. She didn't dare to move or look away, lest the moment was broken.

They stared at each other for a while, before Hiccup cleared his throat and took a step back. "Goodnight."

Astrid bit her lip. He could have… But he didn't. Why?

"Goodnight." She looked at him a moment longer, trying to signal him with her eyes to just damn kiss her, but he averted his gaze.

In a bold move of determination, she grabbed his arm and planted a quick peck on his cheek. The contact left her lips tingling and her tongue itching to trace over them. Hiccup's eyes had gone wide in surprise and his mouth was slightly agape. She waited for him to react while the sound of rain was getting louder. A gust of wind blew a few drops under the roof they were standing beneath and they fell on her naked shoulder.

Hiccup kept gaping at her like a fish. Why didn't he do anything? She hoped it meant that his brain had short-circuited and not that he was desperately trying to think of something to say that would let her down easily.

After a minute of awkward silence, though, her nerves got the better of her and she turned around, cursing Hiccup, cursing herself, while she walked towards her car.

"Astrid," she heard him call out and she whirled around, hopeful.

"Yes?" While the rain was slowly soaking her hair and dress and her heart was pounding in her ears, she watched Hiccup open and close his mouth a couple times before he spoke.

"Get home safe." Her shoulders sagged and a feeling of disappointment shot right through her heart. She simply nodded and got in her car, watching him through the rearview mirror as she drove away. He stood there, following her with his eyes, until she rounded the corner and he disappeared from her sight.

Astrid tossed and turned in her bed, unable to come even close to falling asleep.

Whenever she closed her eyes, she saw Hiccup, standing there in front of her on the dancefloor, outside the gym, and in front of his house. Her heart would speed up whenever she thought of the almost-kiss, the feeling of him so close to her while they danced, him draping his jacket over her shoulders, and every other moment between them that night that her mind kept replaying over and over.

It was impossible to block those memories out. She just couldn't stop thinking about him. And although she found herself in this situation not infrequently, this time it was worse than all the other nights she spent lying awake with her chest feeling tight and her mind full of him. Sometimes it really infuriated her.

At one point, she grabbed her phone and contemplated calling or texting him. Her fingers hovered over the screen, typing, deleting, retyping, deleting again. She felt like the blinking cursor was mocking her. It was literally cursing her. She grinned. Hiccup would like that one. Maybe she should text him that… No, never mind. She didn't want him asking her exactly how she'd thought of it.

Astrid sighed. It was no use; he was probably long asleep anyway. Rubbing her tired eyes and ignoring the horrifying digits on her alarm clock, she locked her phone and put it back on her nightstand.

She had just turned on her other side and shut her eyes, concentrating on the soothing sound of raindrops steadily drumming against her window, when her phone suddenly buzzed, the low light of the screen illuminating part of her pillow. She scrambled to get to it and checked the notification with a beating heart.

Astrid, check out our latest deals and save up to $10!

With a huff, she turned her phone off completely and shoved it into her nightstand before she flopped back down on the pillow. This was ridiculous. She should really go to sleep now, Hiccup Haddock be damned.

About half an hour later, she was so concentrated on squeezing her eyes shut and counting sheep that she missed it the first time.

The second time, she heard it in the back of her mind, a sound like a branch hitting glass. It was possible; there was a tree directly in front of her window.

The third time, it came louder, longer, more insistent. Knock-knock-knock-knock-knock-knock-knock-knock-knock-knock-knock.

Astrid's eyes flew open, staring at a silhouette right outside her room, a dark shape in form of a… a head? In an instant, she was wide awake again. All the sheep ran straight against the fence, collapsing in a bleating heap.

There was another series of knocks, and a voice. "Astrid!" it hissed. She recognized it immediately.

"What the hell?!" she mumbled under her breath as she padded over to the window and opened it. "What are you doing here?!"

"I um… Can I come in?" It was then that she noticed the dripping strands of hair hanging down his forehead, longer than usual in their soaked state. The rest of him was probably just as drenched.

Astrid stepped aside and watched Hiccup pull himself gracelessly through her window, knocking his arms and legs on the frame and his head on the pane several times, before he slumped down on her floor in a pile of rain-soaked limbs.

"What are you doing here?" she repeated her question. "And how did you climb the house?"

Hiccup stood up, carding his fingers through his wet hair, a few raindrops rolling down the side of his face in the process. "Tree," he simply said.

"The lowest branch is too high to climb," Astrid countered.

"I stood on my bike to reach it."

Astrid frowned. "But you hate cycling." He hadn't yet altered the left pedal of his bike to make it easier for him to ride it, instead his prosthetic used to slide off the pedal all the time.

"I know, but I had to come here as fast as possible and my parents would have heard the car."

"But why are you here, Hiccup? And how would you even know if I was awake? It's the middle of the night!"

Hiccup shrugged and, in a tone as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, said, "Astrintuition."

She shoved his shoulder lightly but couldn't keep the grin from forming on her face, matching the gleam in his eyes.

"I tried texting you but my texts didn't come through." Oh. Figured. As soon as she turned off her phone…

The frown returned to her face. "Seriously now, why are you here, Hiccup?"

"Well…" He scratched his neck and would suddenly look anywhere but her. "I just… I um, I wanted– you see, it's… Tonight was– for so long I… And I could have, but you know… And then you… But I, I–"

"Hiccup," she cut in, "you're not making any sense."

The only light in her room was coming from the glowing digits of her alarm clock and the street lamps outside, but it was enough. Enough to see the shadows on his cheeks, the crease on his forehead, and the sudden determination in his eyes after she interrupted his rambling.

Astrid found herself stuck under his gaze as his eyes darted down to her mouth and he suddenly surged forward, grabbed her face and pressed his lips on hers. Her stomach dropped out and her brain froze, but she didn't even have time to react when after a couple of seconds, he pulled back.

For a minute, they stared at each other, eyes wide and hearts pounding. Unconsciously, Astrid raised a finger to her lips. They were still tingling like crazy from his touch moments ago. Again, they screamed, more!

Astrid's eyes fell to his lips all on their own, and an invisible string pulled them together once more.

They were like two sides of a magnet, a natural force between them that kept them attached. With her eyes closed, Astrid found herself lost in space and time, soaring through staggering heights. Her mind went blank. Jolts of electricity shot from her lips into her toes; she was on a crazy rollercoaster ride, spinning up and down and around as fast as possible. Her stomach flip-flopped, her bones turned to jelly, and a feeling of elation spread in her chest, running through every nerve and fiber like a tidal wave.

Breathing hard, hearts threatening to jump out of their chests, they parted. Astrid found her hands wrapped around his neck, his arms around her waist, holding her flush to him. She could count his freckles in the dim light and feel his heartbeat against her chest.

Her lips felt swollen and her brain had melted. She had always thought the description of first kisses in books and movies were cheesy and exaggerated, and when people told her about their real-life experiences, that only solidified her opinion. Never had she thought it could feel like this. Not cheesy, not hopelessly romantic, not sloppy, wet, or awkward. Instead, it was breathtaking. Exciting. Nerve-wracking. Toe-numbing. Wonderful. Exhilarating.

Gathering back her senses, she looked up at Hiccup. His eyelids fluttered open, a look of wonder on his face.

"I've always wanted to do that," he whispered hoarsely and her heart skipped a beat.

"Then why didn't you?" She gazed into his eyes, the green a dark shade in the lack of light. She could swear there were sparkles in it. He was apparently hell-bent on making this cheesy. But she was still soaring too high to care.

"I… Call me corny, but the moment was never perfect." Astrid's fist connected with his shoulder, but there wasn't as much momentum behind it as usual. Her muscles still felt like jelly.

"There've been plenty of perfect moments tonight."

"Well, the safe angles of Berk High prom apparently took their job very seriously." Astrid's stomach swooped. So it hadn't just been her, then.

She wanted to comment on all the other opportunities that had presented themselves that night (or on any other day), but instead she got lost in the soft crinkles around his eyes, the wide stretch of his smile, the pure adoration with which he regarded her as he tucked a strand of hair behind her ear for the second time that night.

It didn't matter anyway, she decided. There had been moments, he had been a chicken, she had been a chicken. They were here now. Hiccup Haddock had come to her house in the middle of the night, during a rainstorm, on a bike which he hated, and climbed up her house. Smiling, she shook her head and lost the fight against a big yawn.

With a bit of reluctance, she stepped away from him and returned to her bed, lying down under the covers. Hiccup remained on his spot, his eyes never leaving her, uncertain about what he should do now.

"What?" Astrid asked. "Are you planning on sleeping while standing up?" His mouth formed a silent oh when she scooted over and padded the space next to her.

"But… I'm soaked."

"Then hang your clothes over the radiator. Or do you need jeans to sleep in?" Astrid couldn't see it in the dark, but she was sure he was blushing while he took off his jacket, wiggled out of his pants and came over to her in nothing but his boxers and a t-shirt. He sat down, removed his prosthetic and slipped under the covers of her small bed, their bodies instantly touching the moment he shuffled closer ever so slightly to make sure he didn't fall over the edge.

Astrid could feel the heat radiating off him and another jolt of lightning pleasantly shocked her when she felt the skin of his thigh brush against hers. She'd never been gladder and more nervous about wearing her pajama shorts.

"You don't have to lie on the frame," she whispered, finding his hand under the blanket and tugging lightly until he moved a little closer. "I don't bite, you know."

"I just don't want to take up all your sleeping space."

"You've been taking up my space for years now, Haddock."

"Me? You're the one always hoarding all the pillows on the couch during movie nights." He shifted on his side, facing her. She did the same, and falling off the bed wasn't a problem anymore.

"That's your own fault for choosing a rom-com. I wanted to watch Iron Man, instead I had to cuddle the pillows."

Hiccup's face lit up. "Astrid Hofferson likes to cuddle during rom-coms? Now that's a fact I feel honored to know and will keep dear all my life."

She snickered at the amazed face he made. He was so adorable. That look immediately turned into a wide smile when she laughed.

"Astrid?"

"Hmm?" She shuffled a little closer, faces only inches apart, and closed her eyes. His t-shirt was a little clammy from the soaked through rain. Her giddiness was slowly fading, making way for her tiredness to set back in. Hiccup's thumb gently stroked her knuckles.

"Wanna go get ice cream tomorrow?"

She opened her eyes again. "Are you asking me out?"

"Yes." He interlaced their fingers. "Like I already should have done a long time ago." The storm in her stomach had settled down, the butterflies only slowly flapping their wings or flying a quick loop whenever he touched her, but now the whole colony did a little dance.

"I agree, you should have." She snuggled into her big pillow, shut her eyes and gave his hand a squeeze. "But yes, let's go for all the ice cream."

She felt him place a kiss on her forehead, the skin there instantly tingling again. Would it be like that all the time now? Would kissing him, touching him, being with him make her feel that way forever? If so, she could get used to it.

Comfortable and warm, Astrid slowly drifted off to sleep, listening to the sound of Hiccup's even breaths right there next to her and the rain drumming against her window in a calming song.

Astrid woke to the distant sound of a phone ringing.

It was far away enough to pull her from sleep gently, her foggy mind slowly clearing while she half-opened her eyes. A beam of sunlight fell through her window, warming the side of her head. She had never felt more comfortable in her entire life.

After a minute, she registered the arms hugging her from behind, the legs tangled with hers, and the hair tickling her ear and neck. Hiccup.

The smile found its way on her face all on its own while she replayed the previous night. He'd actually done that.

Hiccup made a barely audible, sleep-filled hum when she turned in his embrace to face him. She marveled at the soft lines of his face, so calm and relaxed in his sleep, admired the slope of his brows, attempted to count his freckles, gently traced his cheekbones with a feather-light finger, down his face, the sides of his jaw, the stubble uneven under her touch.

Slowly, he blinked his eyes open, and she watched his pupils narrow and dilate as they adjusted to the light.

"Hey," she breathed.

"Hey." His voice was low and a little throaty and it woke the butterflies. The beam of sunlight grew when a cloud moved on in the sky. It shone warm on her skin and partially illuminated Hiccup's hair so that it looked like it was burning. It didn't reach his eyes, but it didn't have to. They were shining by themselves as he held her gaze.

A sudden loud knock on the door startled them both. They were wide awake in an instant.

"Astrid, are you awake?" her mother called from the other side.

Hiccup's eyes were wide as saucers and he didn't move a muscle as Astrid sat up, an equal look of panic on her face.

"Ah, yeah, but don't come in… I'm, um… I'm not dressed… yet!"

In a horrifying second, she watched the doorknob turn, but then it closed again.

"Do you know where Hiccup is?" her mother continued. Astrid shared an alarmed look with him. "I have his mom on the phone. She says his suit from last night is home but she doesn't know where he is and can't reach his phone."

"Crap," Hiccup mumbled and jumped out of bed, hopping on one leg towards the radiator where he'd hung his clothes. He pulled his phone out of his pocket and cursed again. "Empty battery."

"Astrid?" The doorknob began to turn again and Astrid was at the door in one step, pushing it closed.

"Don't come in! I'm… putting on clothes. But I don't know where he is," she lied and only felt a tad bad about it, "I dropped him off at home last night and he went inside."

"Do you have any idea where he could be?"

Astrid looked over at Hiccup who had put on his prosthetic and was now stepping into his jeans, grimacing when he found them still wet. "Maybe he went on a morning walk and his phone is dead."

"Hmm, okay. Thanks, honey." Astrid heard her mother's steps disappearing down the hall, her voice growing distant as she relayed the information to Valka.

"I better get home," Hiccup said, uncomfortably tugging at the hem of his jeans. His shoes made a squishing sound when he walked over to the window and opened it.

"Make sure to not go past the kitchen window." Astrid grabbed his jacket that he'd left on the radiator and handed it to him.

"Oh, thanks. Wait, is that my shirt?" He pointed at the t-shirt Astrid was wearing, the one she'd slept in for the past weeks. He hadn't noticed in the lack of light last night and she'd forgotten all about it.

"No, it's not," she quickly said, hoping she wouldn't blush and give herself away. "It just looks similar. Now go, before your parents send out a search mission or my mom comes back! She'll be suspicious if I still won't let her in."

Hiccup wasn't convinced, looking between the shirt and her face with a raised eyebrow. But then he shrugged, although Astrid could tell by the look on his face that he hadn't dropped the subject for good yet.

He put an arm through his jacket, scrunched up his face and took it off again, before he shot a quick glance into the garden below and dropped the jacket next to the tree where his bicycle was leaning against the trunk. He started scrambling out the window and already had one foot out when he suddenly paused, climbed back in and hit his head on the frame in the process.

"Ouch."

"Is someone down there?" Astrid asked, stepping closer to get a better look, but Hiccup shook his head.

"Nah, just forgot something." In one swift move, he pulled her close with one arm curling around her waist, closed his eyes and kissed her, eliciting a surprised sound from her throat. She melted into the kiss, soaring once again. She couldn't imagine ever growing tired of this.

He let her go much too soon, taking a moment to nuzzle his nose against hers, before he turned around and hit his head on the frame again when he climbed out the way he came in.

"Be careful," Astrid whisper-shouted after him when she remembered how to speak.

"Should've told me that before I hit my head on your window several times," he whisper-shouted back from his spot on the tree and promptly hit his head on a thick branch. "Fuck!"

Astrid burst into laughter, watching as he jumped down from the lowest branch, took a look around and found it safe. He waved up at her, then sneaked out the garden with his bike. Astrid waved back when he turned around one last time to smile at her, before he disappeared down the street.

Astrid closed her window and outright giddily twirled through her room before flopping down on her bed. The sheets still smelled a little like him, just like the shirt she secretly borrowed from him a while ago. She allowed herself a few minutes of daydreaming before she got up to take a shower. She didn't even attempt to not think about him, because she knew that whatever she'd do, her mind would go back to him straight away. And when she closed her eyes, she remembered the way his lips had felt on hers, so soft and warm and tingly.

When she came out of the bathroom, she got her phone out of her nightstand and checked for new messages.

Snotlout [4:20am]: still cant fin d aa patry,, where it

Snotlout [4:20am]: patry

Snotlout [4:20am]: party

Snotlout [4:21am]: hah a dope its 420

Snotlout [4:21am]: ah yak dung

Snotlout [7:13am]: ther was no patry u sukc astrid not cool

With a satisfied smile on her face, she texted him a winking emoji and one of a fish on a hook, and opened the next chat.

Fishlegs [9:38am]: Here are your photos from last night

Fishlegs [9:39am]: Actually you have to pay for them but I love these too much to not give them to you right away

Attached were two photos, both of them the portraits Fish had taken of them last night. The first one featured her with her arms crossed, but she was looking at Hiccup who was standing right next to her. A faint blush was visible on her face as she gazed at him with a soft look. He was looking right back at her with a warm, lopsided smile.

The second one had them both grinning at the camera, his arm around her shoulder while she was leaning into him, arms no longer crossed, stance relaxed.

Astrid stared at the pictures with a fuzzy feeling. She typed a quick thank you back before setting the first picture as her lockscreen. (She briefly considered setting the other one as her general phone background, but the way her dog Stormfly looked at her from the screen made her dismiss the idea.)

While she was admiring her new lockscreen, a new text came in.

Hiccup [10:08am]: the cove in 20?

Astrid [10:09am]: On my way.

She made it there in fifteen minutes, but he was already there, leaning against a big oak tree, smiling at something on his phone.

The cove was on the edge of the city, a beautiful spot near the forest, with a small lake in the middle. It was her and Hiccup's favorite place to meet, especially in summer when they could go for a cool swim in the fresh water.

The grass was still wet from the rain, the paths muddy, and with every puff of wind, a little shower fell out of the trees.

Astrid approached Hiccup from behind, moved her face close to his ear, and said in the most casual voice, "Boo." He jumped, almost dropping his phone, and clutched a hand to his heart.

"Astrid! Don't do that!"

Laughing, she wrapped her hands around his neck. "You knew what you were getting yourself into." When she kissed him, she thought she'd been prepared this time, but nevertheless it sent her heart flying and her stomach flipping. And she loved every second of it.

When she pulled back, he briefly leaned back in to steal another peck.

"I see you're wearing your own clothes now."

Astrid crossed her arms. "I don't know what you mean."

"Come on, I've seen it, I know you stole my shirt. I've actually been wondering where that went."

"Have not! Your drawer is pure chaos, I don't know how you find anything in there."

"It's called organized chaos, Astrid. And you stole my shirt."

"Did not."

"You know what? If you get one of mine, I get one of yours."

That made her laugh. "They wouldn't even fit you."

"Who says that I was gonna wear it?"

"What, you want to hang it on your wall?"

"No, I was gonna snuggle with it."

"You're such a dork, Hiccup."

He reached down to grab her hand. "You started it, you stole my shirt."

Astrid rolled her eyes with a smile. She would never tell him that she'd been borrowing his shirts for months, keeping them until they lost his scent because she'd been wearing them too long or they had to be washed. She always returned them and took another one without him noticing.

When she simply smirked instead of replying, Hiccup ran a hand through her hair and under his gaze she felt like a goddess.

"I don't know if you noticed," he said quietly, face close to her ear, "but I really, really like you." His words sent a shiver down her spine.

She bopped his nose. "And I guess your Astrintuition can tell you what I think."

"Ha ha. I mean it."

"I know." She brushed her bangs out of her face while she looked at the ground and rolled a few pebbles around with her shoe. "What did your parents say?"

"About you stealing my clothes or you changing the topic?" She hit his arm. "Ow, violence!"

"Communication, Hiccup." He shook his head smiling.

"My dad was already off to work and I think my mom didn't believe me when I told her I went to Fishlegs' because of an emergency at six in the morning before she got up, and returned three hours later, shortly after she called your mom."

"But you got away with it?"

"I hope so."

Astrid's stomach chose that moment to rumble audibly.

"Haven't had breakfast yet either?" When she shook her head, he held out his hand. "Wanna go get some?"

She snorted and took his hand. "Great choice of words, Hiccup. But yes, let's go get some together."

They strolled off towards the city, holding hands and debating the best kind of breakfast and the weirdest way of wording it. They were laughing so hard by the time they crossed the first streets that people were turning their heads in their direction, but neither Hiccup nor Astrid minded them.

When they stopped at a red light, she squeezed his hand and faced him, complete honesty in her eyes. "I really like you too."

Hiccup's blinding smile was worth all those months she'd struggled with telling him, pining over him so unnecessarily. (Astrid didn't plan on telling Heather that she'd been right all this time, at least not so soon. She could live a while without that shit-eating grin and smug I told you so.)

Astrid didn't know when she started having feelings for her best friend. Maybe a year ago, maybe two, maybe even when she talked to him for the first time. She didn't care. All she knew was that it felt right. And that she wouldn't have it any other way.