You only get one chance...

YOU ONLY GET ONE CHANCE...

Modern AU: Hiccup and Astrid are trying to impress Astrid's parents and her fierce Uncle Finn. Naturally, a dinner party is the answer...or is it?

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A/N: A CHALLENGE FROM VALA411! Inspired about a discussion about chocolate fondants (don't ask) and threats against the porg, I agreed to write a story about a less than perfect dinner party. Remember-you only get one chance to make a first impression...so don't let the twins anywhere near it!

Disclaimer: I don't own How To Train Your Dragon. All right remain with Cressida Cowell and Dreamworks.

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It was honestly the most nervous that Hiccup Haddock had ever been. And that included participating in the legendarily dangerous Trans-Berk run (for a bet with his cousin) and asking Astrid Hofferson if she would go out with him. Admittedly the run had left him falling off a cliff, eventually emerging from that dratted cove lightly covered with mud and brambles and with a concussion that ultimately had him running naked around St Hilde's cemetery singing 'Agadoo' but that was just minor details. Maybe an after-dinner story or a perennial cause for his cousin, best friend and the twins to tease him but knowing them as he did, he was certain one day, he would not have done the most embarrassing thing in their group and one of them would be in for the lifetime of teasing. But asking Astrid out...oh, that have been far worse and he had thought she would have axed his head off because honestly he was in no way worthy of her. But she had kissed him and said 'yes' and confessed that she had been hoping he would ask her because she couldn't tell if he was in love with her or not and fearless Astrid Hofferson had been afraid to ruin their friendship to ask.

Astrid was blonde, beautiful, fierce, accomplished and it seemed like every guy in the school was after her. Smart, athletic and organised, she was the go-to person the teachers asked to organise and lead anything and she never failed to succeed. It was incredibly intimidating to a mere nobody like Hiccup, though it seemed like an irresistible aphrodisiac to all the would-be alpha males in Berk High. But-astonishingly-she had rejected everyone and Hiccup-an auburn fishbone with bright green eyes, a few freckles and one leg- had watched her from afar, observing her exasperation at the unbridled flirting that he could see was demeaning and intrusive to such an independent young woman.

As their names were adjacent in the register and they did the same classes, they were paired up more often than not and he found himself falling in love with her despite his every effort not to. The fact was that she was a different person with him than with everyone else, her bold and efficient facade pushed aside to reveal the real girl underneath. She saw frustrated Astrid, exasperated Astrid, despairing Astrid and upset Astrid when pursuing jocks seemed to think she had no night to privacy. He heard about her family and her pet macaw, Stormfly, about her beloved Uncle Fien-the War Hero-and her hopes and dreams. And as her friend-because that was what he became-Hiccup had helped her, hid her, offered her a place to come over and breathe in his basement project room. She texted him daily and though she was often busy with her other duties at school, she never ghosted him or made him feel anything other than a friend. And it had been so hard precisely because she was his friend and in the end, he had held off until just before Prom before asking her out because if he ruined their friendship, there were only a few weeks to be miserable. But instead, she had said yes-and five years later, they were still together. In fact, they had just bought their first apartment together in a converted old house overlooking the harbour with a little garden where Hiccup's extremely sassy little black cat Toothless could prowl to his heart's content. Astrid was working in as physical therapist and Hiccup was a junior engineer in the offices of Belcher and Co, the finest engineering consultancy in the Archipelago but they could afford their first home and now, they were hosting a Dinner Party.