Let's Give it a Year

Chapter 12

Hiccup walked across the kitchen and over to the fridge, leaving Astrid still sat up on the counter with her hand clutching her chest. In her attempt to calm her racing heart, she had not noticed Hiccup withdrawing away from her and beginning his task of making dinner. So when Hiccup turned around from the fridge to face her, he smiled to himself and shook his head in amusement.

Walking over to her, placing the packet of minced beef to the side for a moment, Hiccup flicked Astrid's head and stood a foot or so away from her, giving her room to breath. Hiccup smiled at her vacant expression and chuckled lowly to himself.

"Well, are you going to help? I could use it." Hiccup asked with humour to his voice, chuckling gently as Astrid shook herself out of her daze.

Jumping down from the counter, she nodded enthusiastically and grabbed the package that Hiccup had placed down on the counter beside her.

"Of course, where do we start?"

Hiccup quickly reached out and stole back the packet of mince away from Astrid's grasp with a raised eyebrow. Holding the packet in his hand, he kept it out of her reach as he gestured over to the stove.

"I will be handling all the important stuff. It's too early in your training to be frying the mince. So how about you get a pan and fill it with water and try boiling the water again? At least you got that bit right when you tried cooking earlier." Hiccup suggested with an amused expression, before moving his way over to the stove and placing the packet on the side.

"Yes, sensei." Astrid mocked as she placed her hands together and bowed with a serious face, earning a small laugh from Hiccup at her actions.

Following his instructions, Astrid strode over to one of the cupboards and searched for a pan to boil the water in. As she was reaching up, her height causing her to balance on her toes as she tried reaching for a pan in the overhead cupboards, another arm appeared above her and reached up for a pan. Their hands easily grabbed a pan from the high shelf and brought it down from the shelf. Astrid turned around and came face-to-face with Hiccup, their noses inches apart and his lips enticingly close to hers as he towered over her, trapping her against the cupboards once again.

"How about you use the pan in the sink? The one that you used before. Saves you having to reach for one of these and ending up hurting yourself." He suggested kindly, a friendly smile plastered upon his face as he looked into Astrid's eyes. "Although I do like saving you like this, it's not really the time."

Astrid nodded, unable to speak as she felt her breath escape her once again. Slipping away from Hiccup's trap, Astrid made her way over to the sink and gave the pan another rinse out after Hiccup had washed it out earlier. Filling it up with water, after shaking herself awake for the millionth time that hour, Astrid strode over to Hiccup in front of the stove and placed the pan on one of the rings of the stove.

Hiccup smiled at her efforts, the sound of sizzling meat in his pan filling his ears, but he could still hear a grunt of struggle as Astrid hauled the heavy pan of water onto the stove. Luckily, the stove was an electronic stove that required no gas, which would explain why Astrid had an easy time boiling the water, and so Hiccup easily switched on her stove and put the pan of water on high heat to start it boiling.

Standing side-by-side with each other, Hiccup and Astrid proceeded to cook dinner, the gentle sizzling sound of the meat cooking away as Hiccup explained the look of the food to know when it was done. Astrid helped Hiccup with adding the sauce to the pan when the mince was ready and carefully placed the spaghetti in the pan of boiling water.

Everything was cooking nicely, and almost ready. Hiccup asked Astrid to set the table that was in the dining room, and Astrid nodded eagerly. She was excited to eat a meal that she had helped create from scratch, with the helping hands and knowledge of Hiccup by her side. Once the table was ready, Hiccup entered with two plates of perfectly prepared bolognese.