Part Six

"ERET!"

The man looked up at Astrid in shock, his caramel eyes widening as the blonde stormed forward, her fists balled. She grabbed the other girl by the hair, swinging her away from Eret and punching her hard across the face. The girl spun and slammed across the table, landing in a display of shrimp and getting pink sauce smeared all over her face and hair.

"Get off my fiancé!" Astrid snarled, her fists balled.

"Astrid..." Eret began but the other blonde pulled herself off the table and whacked Astrid across the face with a salmon quiche.

"Sorry, sister-but your boyfriend came onto me!" she sneered. "Not that I was resisting since he is a pretty nice hunk of beefcake!" Astrid ducked under a wild swipe and lifted her skirt, her painful shoes forgotten as she kicked out to slam the girl aside. She landed in a bowl of salsa and screamed, grabbing the bowl and flinging it at Astrid-who ducked, allowing the salsa to hit Eret, who was standing behind her. Incandescent with rage, Astrid spun again, launching a ferocious roundhouse that threw the other girl all the way across the table and onto her face in a heap behind.

"Cami?" Hiccup's voice cut through the sudden silence and Astrid spun to see him, her face scorching in humiliation. Gods, not only had she abandoned him for Eret but the girlfriend who had dumped him had now also gone for Eret. Wow, even thinking about it made her head hurt: she had no idea how Hiccup must feel. Snotlout was laughing helplessly.

"Wow-Useless indeed!" he guffawed. "Every girl he likes wants to stick her tongue down Eret's throat!"

"Shut up, Snotlout," Hiccup growled. "Or do you want Dad to cancel your internship at the Legislature?" The stocky boy glared at him and turned to his friends, making a snarky comment. Astrid turned round to face Eret.

"What is this?" she asked in an icy voice. "Eret...you better have a frickin' good explanation for this..." The tall, handsome man turned to her with his widest smile.

"Asty...you know it's you I love," he protested. "She's just an old friend and we were just getting reacquainted..." Astrid grabbed a cup of punch and threw it full in his face.

"You don't get acquainted with anyone when you're with me!" she shouted.

"Exclusive...got it..." Eret said too quickly as he wiped the punch out of his eyes and she knew. She drew herself up and stared into his eyes.

"This isn't the first time...with her or with the others, is it?" she said in a frigid voice. He stared at her and for a moment, he almost looked regretful..and then he shook his head. Her eyes widened and shone with tears...but she blinked them away. "How many?"

"Asty...it doesn't mean anything..." he protested.

"HOW MANY WOMEN HAVE YOU BEEN WITH SINCE YOU"VE BEEN MY BOYFRIEND?" she roared.

"Um...six..." he admitted.

It was so quiet you could hear a pin drop. Even the sounds of 'the Monster Mash' seemed muted.

And then she punched him in the face, slamming him back a couple of paces. As he was shaking his head, she was fumbling at her hand, dragging the ring from her finger and flinging it into the punch...and then throwing the whole bowl, punch and all, into his face. He cringed back, dripping from orange punch as she drew herself up.

"WE'RE OVER!" she shouted and turned away, elbowing through the crowd, tears suddenly streaking down her face and blinding her. She shoved past Hiccup half-raising a hand to shield her face from him and seeing the pity flare in his cool green eyes. Ruff cast her brother an exasperated look-well, he was cheering and whooping at the show-and ran after Astrid. But the girl was already at the cloakroom, retrieving her shawl and erupting into the cold evening outside.

"AST!" Ruff called, running after her. Astrid turned, her face wet and her breathing hard and ragged. "I tried to tell you not to look!"

"Which is the best damned way of making me look at anything!" she snapped, then raised her hands. "Gods damn it, Ruff! He was so...amazing...and I just fell for him in the first week here and now he's a cheating ass and always has been and I just didn't notice it because I was so blind and Hiccup won't even give me the time of day because I didn't notice he actually loved me and had for years and-and...what am I going to do?" Ruff caught her shoulders.

"Ast, you're a warrior-you'll survive," she reminded her, pity bright in her eyes. "I know I'm a mutton-head most of the time but you know you can always call on me, right?" Astrid nodded, dabbing her eyes with the corner of her shawl.

"I'm a Viking through and through," she mumbled. "Damned stupid motto."

"But it's the only one we've got!" Ruff reminded her and let her go. "Um...can I go back inside now? It's freezing..." Astrid nodded.

"I'll call you in the morning, Ruff," she said in a small voice. "And...thanks..."

"Any time," the female twin sighed and raced inside, shoulders hunched against the cold breeze. Sighing, Astrid began to trudge back across campus to her room, feeling almost numb. She had ended it with Eret as publicly as she could...because she couldn't have been more publicly humiliated. And worst of all, Hiccup had seen the whole thing. Boy, he had to be laughing at how fate had paid her back for the way she had treated him. She shook her head and continued her miserable trudge through the drifted leaves...until she heard the shout.

"ASTRID! HEY!"

She put her head down and accelerated. It was Eret and his voice was closing fast...well, the ass wasn't walking in really uncomfortable heels.

"ASTRID!" The shout was much closer and she shook her head.

"Go away!" she snapped. "I have nothing left to say to you!"

But she stopped when he grabbed her arm and dragged her round to face him. He was drenched, his tux and shirt ruined and dignity a thing of the past. "Hey-I've got something to say to you!" he snapped. "What the Hel do you think you're doing, breaking up with me?"

"You think I would want to spend one more second with you after tonight?" she snapped.

"Well, you've spent plenty of nights before with me despite the others," he told her brutally.

"Thanks for reminding me-I need a shower!" she snarled. "Now let me go!" He jerked her closer and she caught a flash of turquoise.

"You need to get one thing straight, babe," he sneered. "This goes back on and you carry as just like everything is normal.."

"Ragnarok will come first!" she spat, struggling against his ferociously powerful grip. "GET OFF OF ME!"

"No-you're mine!" he snarled, trying to grab her left hand to force the ring back on.

"I think the lady told you to go!" a calm and familiar voice said. Astrid looked round and saw Hiccup standing straight, his fists balled and eyes flashing with anger. Eret's handsome face curled into a very ugly sneer.

"Aw...the jilted friend..." he sneered. "I asked Snotlout. Your cousin doesn't like you very much, does he?"

"Hey, compared to you, he's straight Valhalla material!" Hiccup growled.

"You know she said you were nothing important when you saw us together, last year in the canteen?" Eret sneered.

"Doesn't matter," Hiccup said sternly. "She asked you to go away. Get away from her, Eret!"

"Do you think you can take me, fishbone?" Eret sneered, shoving Astrid aside and squaring up to the tall, lean auburn-haired man. Hiccup looked elegant in his tailored tux, his prosthetic only obvious by the slight limp. Eret leaned forward...then lunged at Hiccup. Swift as a flash, he skipped aside, using Eret's momentum to throw him. Astrid gaped: where had this come from? But Eret was up and slammed a fist into Hiccup's back. tossing him forward. He followed it by throwing himself onto the slighter man. But Hiccup wasn't a pushover and though he took a shot hard to the face, he threw Eret off, rolling to his feet and half-crouching opposite the larger man.

"Give it up, you ass!" he snapped. "You've lost her! And losing Astrid Hofferson is the worst thing you can do! And this was all down to you!"

"And you hope to pick up the scraps?" Eret snapped. Hiccup's eyes flashed with fury.

"Astrid isn't some...prize...to be handed out as a consolation..." he growled. "I'm her friend. I always have been. And I always will be. Now haul your scrawny ass out of here...!" Eret lunged at him again but the men traded punches and finally Hiccup floored the man. He backed up a pace, breathing hard, his fists balled.

"GET OUTTA HERE!" he shouted and Eret backed up, shaking his bloodied head and stumbling away.

"Frigid bitch!" he sneered as a parting shot. "Hope you have as much fun with her as I did!" And with that he was gone. Astrid stared after him as he stumbled away, swearing foully...and then she turned back to Hiccup. He was swaying, his face bloodied, knuckles split and shirt ripped and stained with blood. He took a limping pace back as she turned to face him.

"If...if he bothers you again...you can always call me..." he said wearily and turned...but she grabbed his hand and stopped him.

"Hiccup...I...I..." she mumbled.

"Are you okay?" he asked and the familiar concern was there, the warm edge to his voice and worry in those glorious green eyes. She chewed her lip and nodded.

"I-I never expected him to...or thought he would..." she said, her tone confused and upset.

"I...I found out who he was when I saw you with him," he admitted, "and it soon became very obvious he had a very wandering eye and wandering...well, everything else." He shrugged. "I tried to move on, tried dating Cami but she dumped me because I was still in love with you...and within a week she was seeing him behind your back..."

"And you couldn't say anything?" she asked him sharply. He backed up a pace but she kept her grip on his wrist.

"Would you have believed me?" he asked her bitterly. "I thought you would just assume I was jealous. And-and I was jealous because he had the girl of my dreams...but you were happy and I hoped he would realise how amazing you are and do the decent thing." He sighed. "Unfortunately...that isn't who he is..."

"But it is who you are," she said, fumbling in her purse and finding a paper tissue, dabbing at his bleeding lip.

"Oww..." he whined. "That really isn't helping..."

"Hiccup," she asked in a low voice. "Why did you leave me? Why did you abandon me and not answer my texts and calls and...everything..?" He swallowed and his eyes shadowed.

"I-I couldn't do it," he admitted in a shamed voice. "I couldn't pretend any more. After graduation, we spent so much time together, called each other for everything and I thought...I hoped you saw me as more than just a friend...but when I got to AU, you'd hooked up with Eret. You had stopped returning my calls or texts or anything...so I assumed you no longer wanted me. And, to be honest, it was just too painful. I love you, Astrid, and I couldn't smile and be nice and watch you with another man...especially one who was cheating on you like he was..."

"Missed you," she admitted, still dabbing at his wounds. He caught her hand and stared into her azure eyes.

"So did I," he admitted in a low voice, "but I can't do it again. I can't be the nice platonic friend when my heart is in pieces. You are the only girl for me, Astrid...but I can't torture myself any more. I know I'm not the man you want and we've never even been on a date so I have no right to expect anything so just be honest with me, Astrid. Is there any chance...?"

She stared into his hopeful, wary emerald eyes for a long moment and he finally bowed his head. "I see," he said in a pained voice. "I-I hope you find the right man who will love and cherish you..." He turned away but she grabbed his hand.

"I already have," she told him in a choked voice. His head snapped back.

"Astrid..." he murmured as she pulled him to face her, staring up into his suddenly uncertain emerald eyes.

"You, doofus!" she told him, her hand rising to stroke his bruised cheek. "As a friend pointed out, I am spectacularly oblivious to the most obvious things...but not this. Not any more. I want you...and only you."

"Astrid..." And she heard the uncertainty in his voice that had been absent when he was fighting Eret for her. "Astrid...are you sure you...want all this..?"

"All that raw Viking?" she murmured, her fingers sliding up to slide through his tousled auburn hair, too long and brushing his collar. "Hmm...you've lost your braids...I'll have to sort that..."

"I wish you would," he whispered, leaning closer. She smiled and pressed her lips to his, electricity zinging through her as it never had with Eret. The kiss lasted for aeons and no time at all...but when she pulled back, there was that goofy smile and the life was back in his forest green gaze, his hands warm on her waist.

"Now...do you want to go to the Halloween Ball with me, Milady..?" he asked.

"Hel, no!" she told him with a smirk. "I have had enough of Halloween parties to last a lifetime. I can think of something much more fun...just the two of us." She linked her arm with his and he pulled her close, his eyes seeing brief uncertainty in her face at the newness of it all.

"Well, I've never had much luck at them myself," he sighed, "so I guess spending some time with you instead would be perfect."

"In fact, Dragon Boy," she smiled. "I'll be happy if I never see another pumpkin in my life!"

"Hey, I like pumpkin!"

"Hiccup!"

"Shutting up, my love."

"Dragon Boy...that sounds...perfect."

The End