Since this is chapter 1, I would really appreciate it if you guys could leave a quick comment in the reviews, even if it's just a word or two, to let me know whether I should continue this :) Thanks for reading, enjoy. xxx

Hiccup trudged along the pavement solemnly, his boots clapping hard footsteps onto the concrete, clutching a coffee to his chest. It was a gloomy day in late November, and even though it was only around four the clouded over sky was darkening, casting the whole world in a very depressing light. There was a faint drizzle hanging in the air, and Hiccup sighed, tapping his gloveless fingers in a repetitive pattern on the sides of the cardboard cup which held the steaming liquid.

He had come out because he had gotten writers block again. It had been the third bloody time that week, which was worrying because it was only Tuesday. Normally coming out into the depressing little Scottish town in which he lived managed to stir up some inspiration, but today the smoke from the single factory and the odd smell of brioche which came from the industry in the place just weren't doing it for him. This was the fifth coffee he had bought from the Costa in the retail park, which was probably appalling for his health, and yet still nothing had come to mind about what to do in the next chapter of the novel he was in the middle of, so he had decided to give up until the next day and go back home.

It wasn't that Hiccup hadn't planned the book out. He had, in great detail; it was just that he had gotten to a particular turning point for one of the protagonists and he had absolutely no idea how to describe the emotions running through his head, and just exactly what his immediate reaction would be. Normally he would draw on his past experience to write out these sorts of scenarios, but he'd never been in he situation where he'd found out that his brother was a mass murderer that was hell bent on killing his mother, so he was a bit stuck. And it was a vital scene in the book, so he had to get it just right.

After about fifteen minutes of walking he finally managed to reach the end of his street. Compared to the rest of the town, it was relatively pleasant. There was a row of trees on the other side of the road to his house, though now they had lost all of their leaves and were looking rather forlorn, and it was clean. The pavements were made of a pretty sort of cobbles rather than the concrete that coated the rest of the place and most of the houses were red brick, which Hiccup particularly liked, though he couldn't really explain why. None of the neighbours had house parties, and none of them had heated arguments at three in the morning. All in all, it was a nice neighbourhood.

He looked up as he approached his own house. It was the same as most of the others on the row, with a bay window overlooking the street and a door with a small wooden porch over it and a lion knocker. There was a light on, which indicated that his sister Astrid was home. He had to sidestep her badly parked car as he made his way up the gravelled driveway, switching his coffee into his left hand as he fumbled around in his pocket for his keys with the right and then kicked the door open with his foot.

The warmth of the house wrapped around him like a blanket as he flicked the door shut and placed his coffee on the small shelf by the door so that he could hang his coat up and lock the door again – Astrid had clearly put the heating on, which Hiccup had been meaning to do all morning, and had just never really gotten around to. There was the soft smell of gingerbread wafting from the kitchen, and Hiccup quickly dumped his keys on the appropriate hook (Astrid went through phases of OCD) before rushing in to see what was going on.

It was like a bombsite. There were pots and pans everywhere, a mysterious liquid was dripping from the worktop on the floor, and all of the utensils had been used. Hiccup had no idea how Astrid had managed to use their entire extensive collection of kitchen items, but then again, with her, anything was possible. She was standing over their kitchen table, completely unfazed, icing some gingerbread men with bright green and red icing. Hiccup groaned inwardly. His sister had always been obsessed with Christmas, with this appearing earlier every year, and now it had broken into November. Hiccup had always known this day was coming, but still.

He sneaked up and hugged Astrid from behind. Ever the professional, her hands didn't slip and mess up her (actually rather good) artwork, and he could just tell she was smiling. He released her, and went over to the sink to start dealing with the mess.

"So, did you get anything more written?" She asked, still totally absorbed in the icing. Hiccup shook his head even though she couldn't see him, grabbing a couple of wooden spoons and running the hot water.

"Not really, only about a hundred words which I'm probably going to delete."

Astrid smiled. Hiccup started scrubbing at the spoons. The water was slightly too hot, but he wasn't really fussed.

"Trust you. Do you have a deadline for this one?"

"Not yet, though the publishers will probably give me one if I don't give them more updates. I haven't told them how I'm doing for about three weeks now."

Astrid tutted, and then stepped back to admire her handiwork, setting the icing bag down on the table. Hiccup moved on to one of the dirtiest mixing bowls.

"Are they going to like it if you do send them another update?" Hiccup shrugged.

"Not sure. I'm not exactly sticking to a regular schedule, but I have got an awful lot written and second drafted since I last emailed, so maybe? Depends how evil they're feeling."

Astrid nodded, and walked over to start drying and putting away the increasing pile of now clean items – Hiccup had learnt to be very good at the dishes since they'd moved out together. Astrid also had a gift for drying, so together they made a formidable team.

"That reminds me, a letter came for you today."

"Really? That totally doesn't happen every day, Astrid." Astrid rolled her eyes, nudging him with her shoulder.

"As in one from America, marked urgent in big red letters." Hiccup raised his eyebrows, and grabbed the last item, a ladle.

"Where did you put it? And how did you manage to use a ladle to make gingerbread." He waved the thing around. Astrid ignored the last comment and started to wipe the surfaces, which was no small task.

"I put it on your desk." Hiccup groaned. He'd bought the thing to write at, but this had never happened (he preferred coffee shops, sofas, and quite frankly anywhere; desks sapped his creativity) – instead it became a place to pile stuff. It was currently completely covered in crap, so if this important letter had got in any way mixed up with that, he was going to have a fun job finding it.

"Cool, well, I'll check it out later. Right now, I'm going to try this gingerbread and then go have a bath. I'm knackered." Astrid scoffed.

"You haven't written anything." Hiccup ran a hand through his hair. He instantly regretted it – it was damp, and had soap suds all over it.

"The process of writing is far more than putting words on paper. That's the least tiring part."

"I know." Astrid laughed, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Well, I hope you have a nice bath. I'll see you in a bit. I think I'm going to order pizza for dinner."

"Just don't try to cook anything else. I can't be bothered to deal with the damage."

He left the room before Astrid could get grumpy with him (she was very proud of her cooking), trudging up the stairs. Truth be told, he was fed up. This was his third novel, and he felt like it should have got easier by now. Instead, it was getting harder. He had a lot of pressure on him from his publishers to write his third bestseller, and pressure from the fans for more complex plots and characters. It was his passion, but it felt like a bit of a drag when you were 25, and everyone you used to know could go out clubbing every day, when you just wanted to sleep.

Not that he wasn't appreciative, he thought, as he started running the bath, hoping that Astrid hadn't used up all of the hot water. He loved his work, and he still couldn't believe how lucky he was to have such wonderful readers, and so many, too. He couldn't have asked for more. It's just sometimes he felt like he wanted a break, to do something different; he was worried if he didn't, writing would lose its charm.

He sighed as he sank into the warm water, finally letting the tension drift from his muscles. He had an entire stack of books next to him from his 'to be read' list that he was itching to read, but he could not be bothered that evening. Instead, he let all thoughts drift from his mind, enjoying the sensation of having nothing to do (at that exact moment anyway). Eventually he fell asleep, dreaming of plotlines and evil pens that wouldn't write the right thing.

Hiccup eventually woke up about an hour later, when the bath water had turned icy cold, and darkness had truly set in outside. His thoughts felt viscous in his mind, slight fogginess hanging around the edges of his vision. Trying to power through it, he pulled himself out of the bath, wrapping one of his new fluffy towels around him like a cloak, like his and Astrid's mother had used to when they were little. The air had turned really cold, and he could feel himself shivering. He quickly shuffled into his room, leaving damp footprints on the landing carpet, and then quickly dried himself off, slipping into his Christmas pyjamas – yes, he had Christmas pyjamas, and if Astrid was allowed to make gingerbread men, he was bloody well allowed to wear them.

As he was walking down the stairs, Astrid was just closing the door, pizza box in hand. He stopped at the top and smiled as she walked into their lounge, completely oblivious to his presence. She'd tied her hair back into a French plait, and changed into tracksuits and a vest top. To him – although pretty much all of her ex's had disagreed, which showed what idiots they were – this was when she was most beautiful. Sure, he was biased as her brother, but anyone would admit that Astrid was stunning. Of course, once you got to know her, you found out that she was completely mad, but in Hiccup's opinion that just made her more awesome.

Hiccup put his permanent status of single down to this opinion – although a couple of his more… involved readers had written marriage proposals, which he'd politely declined every time.

He continued down the stairs, walking past the lounge where Astrid had slumped on the sofa and into his office. Most of the walls were covered in photos, some of him and Astrid, some of random places he'd used as locations, and some of Toothless. Toothless was his very not toothless cat, who was currently curled up on the swivel chair, his tail covering his face. He barely stirred as Hiccup closed and locked the door behind him with a tiny key he always kept around his neck. Although he rarely used the office to write, it was still his space, and he didn't really want Astrid to come in.

Toothless did notice when Hiccup picked him up off of the chair, and only stopped hissing once he'd been draped over his shoulder, Hiccup holding him up with his left arm. Luckily, the 'important letter' hadn't been buried in the piles of crap. He picked it up slowly, careful not to jostle Toothless, who'd promptly fallen asleep again. It was hard to open the thing one handed, and it took a couple of minutes, but eventually he pulled the sheet of paper out. It took a few seconds to read, and by then his eyes had gone wide. He placed the letter very carefully in his filing cabinet (the only organised section of the room) and then went into the lounge, not bothering to lock his office behind him.

Astrid for once looked up when he walked in, Toothless still perched precariously on his shoulder. She laughed at the expression on his face.

"What, was it them telling you that you had to have the entire thing finished in a month?" Hiccup shook his head.

"No. They want to make After The Night into a movie!"

Astrid stood up.

"You're kidding!"

"I know right! They need my permission, but they're going to start writing a script, and they want me to go to the US in a couple of months to help with casting and everything!"

Astrid squealed, and hugged him enthusiastically around the neck.

"I'm so proud of you!" Hiccup smiled. Toothless hissed ominously.