#I forgot to draw Childes freckles but it’s not like you’d notice anyway

[l05tl1ght]

Real reason why Zhongli uses his echo tail ☺️

🧡💙🧡

[whathappenedtomyweekend]

It’s Just A Spark Ch. 3 - First Date

Time until Friday seemed to crawl by achingly slow. Astrid even played with the thought of setting her kitchen on fire on purpose this time but then quickly realised how mental that sounded and discarded that thought.

On Friday, she realised she had, in fact, nothing to wear after wreaking havoc in her entire wardrobe.

"Great," she huffed, slumping down on her bed. The Che Dragon wasn't a fancy restaurant - but she wanted to look nice.

'He's seen you without makeup, in your underwear and a messy bun, she thought next. Everything you do up from this point is an upgrade.'

'Alright,' She stood with her hands on her hips. 'Just because this is my first date in two years and the other ones all ended in either diappointment, annoyance or indifference, that doesn't have to mean this one will too.'

In the end she had finally found something she felt comfortable in. And she didn't even look remotely bad in it. Just … decent, she thought as she braided her hair. She didn't really know what she was doing with her hair when she braided it, so she always just sort of hoped for the best.

The clock told her she still had enough time left to brush her teeth, use mouthwash and put some perfume on.

Should she put lipstick on? That sort of clashed with the dinner. Oh god, what if she just started kissing him?

Okay. No lipstick. Definitely no lipstick.

oOo

Hiccup was so nervous he thought his heart was going to jump right out of his chest and run away, followed by his stomach.

He tried to take deep calming breaths as he approached her door. Oh, God. He couldn't do this. This could go wrong in so many ways. What if she ended up hating him and just stood up and left in the middle of dinner? Or worse, not even be home because she didn't want to see him?

Okay, you need to stop this, he thought. What did Gobber say? Don't spend your time with her in your head. That's simple. I can do that.

His finger pressed the doorbell.

Moments later the door opened.

And Hiccup could have sworn his heart skipped a beat.

She looked absolutely radiant. The red shirt she wore accentuated her blue eyes in a way that hiccup felt shouldn't even be humanly possible or even allowed, in fact.

"You look …" He simply couldn't help but run his eyes over her slim form. They scanned over her high-waisted skirt and toned, clad-in-tights legs and her smiling, open expression. With the soft glow of her flat in the background she looked like a goddess. "…gorgeous." Stunning. Breathtaking. Beautiful. Magical. Criminally attractive.

She blushed and bit back a grin. "Thanks."

Then she let her grin show and made his stomach flip. "You're not so bad yourself."

I'm gonna have an asthma attack somewhen this evening, he thought and offered her his arm.

"Shall we?"

oOo

"So, Berk's not a gigantic city. How come I've never seen you around?" he asked as they strolled through the streets. Their reservation wasn't until 8:30, so they still had plent of time. Astrid laughed.

"Oh, I'm not from here. I moved here only a year ago, for work."

"What do you do?"

"I'm working in the animal shop. That's also how I got Stormfly. The poor girl was all alone, nobody ever wanted to buy her. So, I did back when I started. It was love on first sight, really," she smiled. "And recently I picked up a night shift two to three times a week for a bar just around the corner. You know, extra money and it's relatively little effort, considering I wanted to become a teacher. Well, originally at least, but I had to postpone that when I had to move out."

She did not explain it any further and Hiccup had noticed the faint shadow flit over her eyes for a split second, so he decided not to push any further.

"Anyway," she continued, smiling again and looked back up at him. "What about you?"

He laughed. "Oh, I'm a true Berkian, born and raised."

She looked at him, her eyes like the sea. Hiccup desperately wanted to get lost in them.

"Don't you ever feel trapped?"

Hiccup paused, and usually he would have laughed this kind of question off, but something in him rebelled against that reflex. Slowly, the admitted, "I do. A lot, actually." The words just kept flowing over his lips. "Sometimes I'm looking up flights to places I know I'll never go."

"Why couldn't you?"

He looked at her. Her expression was open, serious. Genuine.

"I … you know, I have a job and a cat and I can't just suddenly disappear."

"You can take a break. And lots of hotels allow animals. So what is it?"

Maybe he told her because she really wanted to know. Or maybe he did because he felt she wouldn't judge him for it.

"I'm scared that if I left, I'd never come back."

They had stopped in front of the restaurant.

Her blue eyes were still fixed on him and he felt like drowning in them.

Softly she said, "If you do, you know that your soul belongs someplace else."

She opened the door and stepped in, a stunned Hiccup still staring after her.

Quickly he followed suit and thanked her for holding the door for him.

"Astrid!" a voice called out to them. Hiccup noticed a tall, blond young man stride towards them with a big grim on his face. He tried to ignore the strange sting he felt when they hugged.

"Hey, Tuff."

"Bringing company?" he pointed at Hiccup and stepped towards him, offering his hand. "Hi, I'm Tom."

"Henry, nice to meet you."

"So, you're her collegue, or …?"

"He's my date, actually." Astrid chimed in and Tom's face lit up as he went to shake Hiccup's hand again, this time more enthusiastically.

"It is truly an honour to meet you, thank you dear sir for being crazy enough to-"

"-and we booked a table for 8:30," Astrid interrupted him, pushed him away and smiled at Hiccup, who only nodded, still slightly confused.

"On Haddock, yes," he informed Tom weakly and followed him towards the table.

Hiccup had thoroughly checked the situation before booking and had chosen a table that was next to one of the windows and framed by some indoor plants, so they could have a little privacy if they were going to have their first date in a public place.

Tom handed them their menus, grinned at Hiccup, gave Astrid a thumbs up and disappeared.

As soon as he had left, Astrid groaned and hid her face in her hands.

"Sorry about him," she said. "I forgot he's ... well. Himself. He can be a bit …"

"Oh, no, I don't mind. But if you're uncomfortable, we can-"

"No, I just thought you'd be uncomfortable."

"I'm not." He smiled. "It's okay, really."

She nodded and after a moment of silence he asked, "So, how do you guys know each other?"

Astrid smiled. "Oh, he's my best friend's twin brother. We've been friends since middle school after I punched someone for breaking his glasses and taking his lunch." She shrugged.

"How come he's here?" Hiccup asked, keeping in mind she was not from Berk.

"Oh, he and Ruff - Rachel, I mean, moved here after college. It was kind of a coincidence we all ended up here."

Decisions on food were made really quickly. Hiccup didn't even pay full attention to what he ordered if he was being honest, too captivated by her face. He noticed she scrunched her nose as she studied the pages.

After she had decided she set her menue down, folded her hands and watched him carefully. Hiccup blushed slightly under her gaze.

"Can I ask you something?"

Oh, god.

"Of course."

Her eyes flitted down to his chin and he remembered he had forgotten to shave instantly.

"I'm sorry if this is a bit too straightforward, but … how come you're single?"

He choked on his drink.

"Oh, I'm sorry, please forget I asked that, that was stupid, I'm sorry-"

Their hands touched.

Quickly he pulled his hand back because oh god, touching her sent sparks across his skin.

"No, it's okay, I mean … I just don't. Um. Well. Never really …" he hesitated, embarrassed. He would have told her sooner or later anyway. "I never really had a serious relationship. It just never felt … important to me. I mean, I've been on dates before, but they either lost interest and didn't stick around or …" he blushed, looking down on his hands. "Or nobody managed to catch my attention." As you do right now, he wanted to say.

"As you do right now," he said, shocked at his own audacity.

Astrid looked at him. Blue and green collided. A forest under the deep sky.

Slowly she smiled and Hiccup felt his breath hitch in his throat because there it was again, that feeling of growing flowers somewhere.

"That's good," she said then, her hands openly on the table. "'Cause you've caught mine too."

Something in her smile told Hiccup that not even a surprise asthma attack could ruin this evening.

When their food arrived he didn't really pay attention to it - how could he when she captivated his eyes like that and had wrapped him in conversation like this? - but made sure to at least take a bite or two every now and then.

"So," Astrid said after a while, laying down her fork. "Any other dark secrets?"

"The whole town calls me Hiccup."

She laughed.

"I'm serious!"

Still grinning, she took a sip of her drink and replied, "Yeah, but that's not exactly what I meant with 'dark secret', Henry."

Then she paused and asked after watching him with twinkling eyes, "Which do you prefer?"

"Honestly? Hiccup, I think." He chuckled. "It's sort of grown on me. It started out as a joke when I was a child, originally made by my father, then adapted by my uncle and soon the whole town only knew me as that weird boy Hiccup who's convinced dragons exist."

Astrid smiled. "I like it," she mused, her head resting on her hand. "I like … this, in general."

He blinked. "You just … gestured to all of me."

She nodded and laughed at his lopsided grin, noticing the gap between his front teeth, adding it to her list of things she liked about him.

Astrid couldn't help but keep watching his face while he talked; her plate of food was soon forgotten. Her eyes drank in the way he moved his hands while he talked, the freckles drawing constellations on his skin, the tiny pale scar on his chin, his eyes - good grief, his eyes -, his smile.

She didn't know what she'd been so scared of all this time. This was … confusing and strangely hypnotic. It almost scared her still. She wasn't usually like this - especially not on first dates. Granted, it had often stayed at a FIRST date because they all had either lost interest in her, ghosted her or hadn't been compatible in the first place.

"After this, would you like to take a walk through the park?" he suddenly asked her then and Astrid smiled involuntarily, halfway thinking back to other men - boys, they'd all been boys - who had taken her to clubs and bars with endless noise and drinking and crowds.

This was better.

"I'd love to."

He smiled at her and Astrid felt her heart jump. This was wonderful.

Hiccup politely waved at Tom, who beamed at them.

"Everything alright?"

Better than alright, Astrid wanted to say, but bit her tongue and grinned. "Let's split?" she offered Hiccup, who paused shortly but nodded, returning her smile.

Faint memories of people insisting to pay because she was 'a lady' suddenly became very, very distant.

They paid and sat for another couple of minutes to finish their drinks, then proceeded to make their way outside. Tom highfived her - earning a raised eyebrow from the chef - and shook Hiccup's hand. The young man almost gasped when the other pulled him in and muttered as quietly as possible, "I've never seen her like this. Make it count."

He let him go, shot Hiccup a last grin, then he waved them both goodbye.

This time Hiccup held the door open for her and grinned brightly at her.

"Did he threaten you?" Astrid's eyes were sparkling. Hiccup chuckled and shook his head. "Oh no, he didn't. It was more like … a piece of advice."

Saying that he collected all of his courage, took a deep breath and gently intertwined their fingers.

Astrid stopped in her tracks, starting down at their joined hands, looked back up at him, into his warm and honest eyes and only thought, 'This feels right.'. Worry was starting to overshadow his eyes at her unresponsiveness and suddenly she was afraid he'd pull back, so she tightened her grip around his hand and resumed walking, pulling him along with her, feeling happiness bubbling up in her chest and not failing to take notice of his bright smile.

They walked in silence for a while.

A warm breeze danced around their steps on the concrete and soon guided them into the park to the outskirts of the small city.

After a while Hiccup's voice softly arose to spoke.

"You've probably been wondering about my leg." Astrid shrugged. "I figured it might be rude to ask."

"Oh, I don't have a problem with it. It's usually the first thing people notice about me. It's a bit … funny, really, considering my career choice."

Her eyes widened.

"I was fifteen when it happened. My dad had left to get some groceries and I was in my room, doing homework. What I didn't know was he'd left a candle unattended. It stood way too close to the curtains, so … after a while, it caught fire. And fire has this weird thing about spreading fast as hell," He chuckled, his gaze shortly flitting back to her face. "Which means by the time the fire alarm went off and I noticed it, it had already spread to the kitchen, my room in-between. I would have been out in time if Toothless - my cat - would have been with me, but he was still in the living room. So, I had already called the fire department but knew that if I waited too long, the fire would reach him. So I went back in to get him, spent too much time inside, got smoke poisoning, passed out and the fire did the rest. Gobber found me. Toothless was luckier, he lost the tip of his tail and it's healed pretty nicely. But, well, since then I've never had to worry about finding a matching sock ever again!" He laughed and smiled almost wistfully at her.

"It's okay, really. I'm not really bothered. And it's been ten years, so."

Astrid just looked at him, somewhat amazed, then she managed, "I think that's the bravest thing I've ever heard someone do. But that was really fucking stupid."

Hiccup laughed lightheartedly and Astrid couldn't help but smile. "Well, there we are, I'm brave but stupid." He sobered up, his gaze now soft. "Crazy enough?"

Now it was her turn to chuckle. "Definitely."

"You know what's weird?" he suddenly asked and knew he was acting on a whim, "You're the first person I want to tell this. I mean, I … I want you to know that stuff, and I wanna tell you about how hard it was to walk again, or that I keep starting new sketchbooks without finishing any of them because I haven't found the right things to draw yet, or that, if you'd want, I'd really like to see you again. Several times. If you want."

Astrid blinked and her heart was soaring and she thought, I've got my heart where my head should be, but found that somehow she didn't care at all and that her answer was easy.

"We're still seeing each other. We're even alone together. And I'd like being alone with you more often."

They had stopped walking. Hiccup just stared at her, a wondrous expression on his face.

"Next weekend," he said. "Let's stay inside next weekend. I'm cooking."

Astrid looked at him and realised she wouldn't really need a second or third date to know she was already heads over heels for him. Looking at him in the moonlight, his freckles like stars, his eyes only on her, she really wanted to kiss him. But another part of her said, 'Don't. This isn't the time.'

And she listened. Because she was entirely certain that there would come a time.

So she only smiled, nodded and said, yes.

Hiccup looked at her features and wondered when he'd find the courage to kiss her. The remarkable thing was, the more he looked at her, the less he needed to think. He didn't need to turn his options over and over in his head. He felt an incredible wave of calmness wash over him and with her hand still enclosed with his he was in absolute peace.

Right now, it was enough to just stand here and look at her.

Right now, he just wanted to lose his train of thought and drown in her eyes, just for a bit.