September was always a nasty wake up call.

Figuratively, because after settling down into two months of lazy days in the sun, nothing to worry about except the mysterious set of eyes that watched you from underneath the manhole cover outside the ice cream shop, dragging yourself to sit in a cell-box of a classroom for eight hours every day was never fun, and literally, because a six o'clock alarm was about as welcome as waking up on a bed of knives.

The wake-up call that started the worst month of the year didn't come on the first day of school though, rather two days before, and at three rather than six.

Hiccup Haddock's phone buzzed on his bedside table, ripping him from a rather pleasant dream he'd been having about his pet cat having wings. He let out a long groan, fumbling in the dark to flip it open and wincing when the glare of artificial light met his eyes. His thumb hovered over the decline button, thinking whoever had called him had either done it accidentally or could just as well wait until morning, when he saw the name on the caller ID.

Astrid Hofferson.

Hiccup blinked, rubbing sleep crud out of his eyes as he sat up in bed, before tentatively putting his phone to his ear.

"Astrid?" he said, his voice muffled from sleep. He yawned and tried again, "Astrid? You okay?"

"Hiiiiiiiiiiiiiccup Haddock," a voice drawled from the other end of the phone. "You're not here."

Hiccup frowned. She was drunk.

"You're drunk," he said.

"Sure am," she said, "and you're not here."

He pulled himself out of bed, ignoring his aching limbs as he wrapped a dressing gown around himself, his phone wedged between his ear and his shoulder. "Where are you?"

"Scott's house. He'd said you'd be here, and you're not here," Astrid whined. "Why aren't you here?"

Hiccup frowned. He'd forgotten about what his cousin Scott had said was going to be the 'rager to end all ragers', and through a sleep-deprived haze, he vaguely recollected promising that he'd be there.

"Hold on, Astrid," he said, his phone still wedged on his shoulder as he stumbled across his room in the dark to find some clothes, without waking his father up. "I'm coming."

There was a loud whoop on the other end of the phone and then a shriek of, "you guys! Hiccup's coming over!" followed by raucous cheering.

Despite his tired state, Hiccup felt something tug in his heart. There was nothing like feeling wanted, even if it was by someone so inebriated they probably didn't even know up from down.

"I'm on my way," Hiccup said, stood in the middle of the room in his boxers, halfway into a pair of jeans. "Hey, Astrid?"

"Mmm?"

"Do me a favour and drink me some water."

"Yes, boss!"

The call clicked off, her voice fizzled away, and he was left standing alone in the dark, nothing but the dim light of the moon shining through the window, casting a shadow across his room.

He got dressed, found his wallet hidden amongst the pile of dirty clothes that hadn't quite made the laundry basket, and headed outside to his car.

There was something magical about the world at night.

As Hiccup drove, the dim blue of the clock lighting up the car, and the intermittent lamp posts lighting up the road, he thought to himself that no matter how old he got, he would never get used to the feeling of being outside at 3am. There was a delight to feeling like you were somewhere you shouldn't be, a certain pleasure at knowing the world around you was asleep and unaware. The world was different at 3am, like it belonged to you, and only you.

He felt decidedly less comfortable when he reached the lane that would take him towards Scott's house.

His cousin's family were the kind of thrill-seekers that chose to live out in the middle of the woods. It was idyllic during the day, especially during the summer when the sun shone between the trees and cast glittering colours across the little lane, but at night, it was a different story. The shadows moved, the eyes that flickered in your peripheral disappeared when you looked their way, and Hiccup didn't trust his beat-up secondhand Honda Civic to keep himself from whatever might be lurking.

Astrid Hofferson, if I get murdered for you, Hiccup thought to himself, there will be hell to pay.

He took a moment to curse his aunt and uncle's choice of residence, and then kept going, ignoring the eyes watching him until he'd pulled up outside Scott's house.

It might have been half three in the morning, but all the lights were on, and Hiccup could hear loud thumping music from the inside - house tracks, not his favourite, but he could get into it if he was in the right mood, had enough to drink, and hadn't just been dragged out of bed in the small hours.

As he left the car, he spotted a few people he recognised sitting on the front step. T.J. Thorston raised a hand in greeting, taking a puff on his joint and blowing smoke into the air.

"Hey, Tuff." Hiccup nodded at his friend. "You seen Astrid anywhere?"

T.J gestured vaguely into the house. "Probably got her arms around Eret somewhere."

Hiccup wrinkled his nose. "Thanks."

He headed inside the house and was greeted by a pungent waft of marijuana smell and loud bass beats. The hallway was littered with empty plastic cups, and Hiccup gingerly picked his way through, stepping over people on the floor and kicking his way through the rubbish. He headed through the house into the kitchen. It was empty, aside from someone slumped up against the fridge, snoring loudly. The countertop was laden with booze - mostly vodka, but he spotted several gin bottles as well, all empty, along with several empty bottles of soft drinks. The only thing that wasn't empty was a huge plastic bottle of pink lemonade on its side, dripping sticky liquid on the surface.

His lip curled. Sickly stuff.

He headed back out down the hallway and deeper into the house. A few people greeted him as he passed by, including T.J's sister, who was draped across Heather Whitman's stomach on one of the sofas in the living room.

"Hey, Ruff," he said. "Seen Astrid?"

Rachel shrugged. "Try upstairs."

Hiccup stepped back into the hallway and headed for the stairs. They were carpeted, and Hiccup held his hand over his nose when he saw the tell-tale sign of someone having too much to drink. He did not envy whoever had to clean that up. After side-stepping the vomit, he found himself on the upper floor of the Jorgenson house, no idea where to go.

"Astrid?" he called out, hopefully. "You here?"

Silence. Hiccup edged towards one of the rooms, about to rap his knuckles on the door, when he heard a set of moans. He recoiled, his hand hovering in the air before going to the back of his head.

Jesus Christ, if he was going to find Astrid sequestered in one of these rooms horizontal with Eret fucking Harrington, he was going to go back to his car and go straight home.

He didn't find that though, because, in the next minute, Eret himself appeared on the stairs, his eyes brightening when he saw Hiccup.

"Hiccup!" he said, delighted. "Scott said you weren't coming. Good to see you, man."

He clapped his hand on Hiccup's shoulder. Hiccup slid away smoothly. "Astrid rang me," he said. "She around? She okay?"

"She's fine, she's out in the back garden watching the show," Eret said, jabbing a thumb towards the window.

Hiccup glanced outside. It was difficult to see from so far away, but down in the garden, he could just make out the shirtless body of his cousin, engaged in a wrestling match with a much bigger, older kind.

This was the kind of behaviour you got from people who were brave enough to live out in the woods.

"Great," Hiccup said, deadpan. "Now I'm going to have to explain to Aunt Linda why we had to take Snot to the hospital."

Eret snorted. The two watched from the window for a moment, before Eret spoke again. "You couldn't take Astrid home, could you? She's had a bit too much to drink, and you live right next door."

One of the worst things about Eret was how much Hiccup didn't hate him.

"Yeah, no problem. I'll make sure she drinks some water, too," Hiccup said.

"Thanks, man."

Hiccup waited until Eret disappeared into the bathroom before giving a long sigh.

Out in the garden, the fight was still going on.

People were crowded around in a circle, yelling encouragements continuously. Scott was losing badly, but Hiccup didn't feel the need to step in. He wasn't his cousin's keeper.

He scanned the crowd, hoping to find Astrid so he could leave as quickly as possible, but Astrid found him first, jumping onto his back and pressing her hands over his eyes.

"Guess who," she said.

"I guess the Queen of England," Hiccup said, dryly.

Astrid took her hands from his eyes and stood in front of him. "It's me!" she said, doing jazz hands.

"Well, now I'm disappointed."

Astrid pouted.

She was different when she was drunk. Looser. More free. More likely to giggle.

And of course, if she wasn't drunk, the conversation would have been over by now. They hadn't said more than a 'hello' to each other in months, not that Astrid seemed aware.

"Why weren't you here earlier?" she said, punching him lightly near the shoulder. "S'no fun without you."

There was that pang again - that wonderful feeling of being wanted that undercut any feeling of regret that he might have had that he was out fat later than he wanted to be, surrounded by drunk people, listening to the sounds of his cousin getting the crap kicked out of him.

"Just not a party person, I guess."

"I'll say. Glad you're here now."

He knew she was only saying it because she was drunk, but it made his heart warm anyway.

He opened his mouth to say something else, but he was interrupted by Eret, who had bounded up from the house over towards Astrid.

"Babe!" Astrid cried out when she saw him, bouncing over to him to throw his arms around him and kiss him.

Hiccup hovered, rocking back and forth on his feet, wondering if he should look away.

Eret grinned, wrapping his arms around Astrid's waist, holding her close. "Mmm," he mumbled. "You're drunk."

"I'm not drunk," Astrid said. She patted him on the chest. "You're drunk."

"Sorry, sweetheart, but you're drunk," Eret said, slipping his hands around her wrists and leaning forward to kiss her sweetly.

Hiccup did look away then. It was a mistake. Scott was near fully naked, his shirt wrapped around his forehead like a bandanna. People were pouring their beers on him, while he lay on the floor, whooping.

What a waste of beer, Hiccup thought to himself, and he's going to be horribly sticky when he comes to his senses.

Perhaps this was why he didn't go to parties.

He turned back when he heard Eret say, "Hiccup's going to take you home."

"Nooo," Astrid whined, her head dropping onto Eret's chest. "I don't wanna go home."

"Babe, you can barely stand up, c'mon," he said. "Your parents are gonna hate me."

"But Ereeeeeeet," Astrid moaned. "I was going to challenge Scott to an arm wrestle."

For the first time since he'd got there, Hiccup smiled for real.

He wasn't the only one who had perked up. Despite being beaten to a bloody pulp, Scott sprang up from the floor, darting over to slam himself down into one of the garden tables, thrusting his elbow up.

"You're on!" he said, wiggling his fingers at Astrid, "if you think you can beat me!"

"Snot, no one can beat her," Hiccup said, a grin spreading across her face. "We've established this."

Scott said nothing, he just looked pointedly at Astrid and wiggled his fingers again. The crowd was forming again, this time around the garden table. Astrid pulled away from Eret, eyes glistening.

"You don't have to do this, Snot," Hiccup said. "You could still back out, save your pride."

Astrid turned back and glared at Hiccup, her eyes flashing even in the dim light. "Oh, he's doing this."

"I'm doing this!"

"Well, at least I can say that I tried," Hiccup said, unable to keep a smile from his face. "Have at it, Astrid."

Astrid grinned and tossed her braid behind her shoulder, strolling over to the table with all the grace of someone on their sixth drink, and dropped into the chair opposite Scott, hand clasping his.

"Shouldn't we stop them?" Eret asked.

"You think you could stop her?"

"…Fair point."

The two stood on the sidelines and watched as Scott pushed and pushed against Astrid's hand, his face turning red with effort, all while Astrid held fast, lazily examining her fingernails on the other hand.

Eret was watching Hiccup with a half-smile. "You seem awfully excited to see your cousin get humiliated."

"Yeah, what's your point?"

Scott was still pushing furiously against Astrid's arm, getting nowhere against her stone-like grip. Astrid was still looking at her fingernails, whistling a little tune. A few seconds later, she got bored, stopped whistling, and slammed Scott's hand down onto the table, practically wrenching his arm out of its socket. The crowd cheered, Scott cried out in pain, and Hiccup hid a smile behind his hand.

If his heart sped up in his chest a little, no one else had to know.

Astrid swaggered back over towards Hiccup and Eret, a smug grin on her face.

The spell was broken when she snuggled into Eret's chest. Hiccup did his best to squash the nasty feeling in his stomach that had risen up unbidden.

"Alright, you had your arm wrestle," Eret said, "now will you go home?"

Astrid tipped her head back and groaned like he was the biggest nuisance in the world. "I suppose."

The two of them giggled and moved closer, lost in their own little world again.

Hiccup stepped back, staring down at his feet. The world had sunk back to normal after the wonderful glow of belonging he'd felt during the arm wrestle. Here he was again on the outside looking in, hovering awkwardly while everyone else went on with their lives.

"Hey," he said when it seemed like they weren't going to stop snuggling. "I kinda wanna get back before my dad gets up, so…"

He jangled his car keys for emphasis.

A guilty look flashed across Astrid's face, and there was a pang in Hiccup's chest. If she'd wanted to stay, if she'd insisted, Hiccup would have caved instantly. He'd never really been able to say no to Astrid Hofferson.

She didn't insist on staying, though, she just pulled away from Eret, patting him on the chest and giving him a soft smile, before following Hiccup out to the front.

Out at the front of the house, away from all the music and the shouting, away from their drunk friends, it was much too quiet for comfort. He felt something shift in the air as he clicked his car keys, shifting his weight from foot to foot as he opened the driver door.

Astrid seemed to notice it too - she'd gone quiet, shifting into the passenger seat and buckling herself in, staring out the window.

"We're friends, right?" she said, after a few moments of silence.

"Of course we're friends," Hiccup said, but it felt like a lie.

They were peripheral friends, if anything.

Friends that were friends because they lived next door to each other. Friends that nodded at each other in the halls, said hello to each other when they passed by, but never really knew what to say to each other when they were alone. Friends whose friends were friends. Friends who were okay in a group, better than okay, almost-back-to-normal okay.

"We're not friends like we used to be friends," she said, almost like she'd read his mind.

Hiccup gripped the steering wheel. Pressed his lips together.

"Why aren't we friends like we used to be?" Astrid said.

"I don't know," Hiccup said.

Because you chose him, he didn't say.

The shaded road finally wound out of the woods, but Hiccup kept an eye on the shadows jumping between the streetlamps anyway.

One by one the lights slowly became closer and closer together, the shadows dimmed until they weren't there at all. Hiccup turned around a corner and they were on their street, pulling up beside his father's car.

Outside, their breath caught on the air. Astrid wrapped her arms around herself.

"You okay getting in by yourself?" Hiccup asked.

Astrid was looking at him oddly, head tilted to the side. Her eyes were almost glassy. She swayed backwards, and for a moment, Hiccup was bracing his hands to step forward and catch her if she fell.

But she didn't fall. Instead, she looked at him like she was trying to unravel a tangled string.

"Yes," she said, eventually. "I'm fine."

Hiccup nodded, turned away.

A hand shot out and grabbed his wrist.

He turned back. Astrid was standing closer now, face lit up by the porchlight, face bathed in yellow light. Her fingers twisted around his wrist, warm and firm, the contact of her skin against his like electricity up his arm.

"Hiccup."

His name in her voice was like a plea.

There was another breath, and then Astrid tugged on his wrist, lifted up onto her toes and kissed him. His heart pounded, heat thrumming through his veins. Her mouth was soft against his, her deft fingers fluttering around his waist. His hands itched to thread through her hair, pull her closer, kiss her back.

"Astrid." He pressed his hands firmly on her shoulders, pushing her gently away from him. "You're with Eret."

She blinked, and something slid back into focus in her eyes, like she'd only just remembered where she was. Another second passed, both of them still and staring at each other.

Hiccup was the first to speak. "Astrid," was all he said.

Astrid turned and fled, hopping over the small border of flowers that separated his front yard from hers and disappeared into her house, faster than a flicker.

Hiccup stood frozen in the cold air, his fingertips brushing against his lips, still buzzing from where Astrid's lips had been. He could still feel her hands on his waist.

Then the porchlight, ever temperamental, flickered once and then slowly died, bathing Hiccup's front lawn in darkness.

He ducked into the house before the shadows could get to him.