A Promise To Keep

Only A Rumour

Sorry for the lateness of this chapter. Had a pounding headache last week and was recovering from it over the past few days. All is good now, so thanks for waiting :)

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It was now 4:15pm and Hiccup was now heading home. He stayed behind for another 15 minutes, deciding to finish off the chapter he was reading since the café was surprisingly a good, quiet place for him. While his house is about 30 minutes away from his school and he could easily take a bus there, he would always walk to and from school. For him, it allowed him not to make contact with people or hear any gossip. It allowed him to keep to himself.

Soon, he made it to his house, which was located at the end of the street with a small garden at the front. He took out his keys and opened the door, entering inside.

"Hi, dad." He called out before closing the door behind him. He heard footsteps coming from the living room and then, a large man with a long, ginger beard, who was his dad, Stoick, peered through the doorframe.

"Oh, hi Hiccup. You were out longer than usual." He said.

"Yeah, sorry, dad. Had some late work to do." Hiccup lied as he took off his coat and hanged it on the coat hanger, located next to the front door, before walking up the stairs.

"Oh, there's some leftovers in the kitchen." Stoick mentioned.

"It's OK. I ate already. I'll probably eat it later." Hiccup answered, still walking up the stairs as he did without making eye contact with his dad. Once at the top, he made his way into his bedroom near the staircase. When he entered, he saw a male, black cat lying on his bed. When the cat saw Hiccup walking in, he got up on its feet and meowed at him.

Hiccup smiled. "Hey, Toothless. You missed me?" He gave Toothless a stroke on the back, which caused him to purr. Afterwards, he removed his backpack, hanged his Sixth Form pass and took off his shoes, leaving on his socks. He then went into his bag and took out his book before heading to his bed, lying down with his head resting on his pillow. He then began reading it, with Toothless lying down next to him.

This was how he would spend his afternoons most of the time. Sometimes, he would do his homework first before reading and sometimes, on a rare occasion, he would head downstairs and eat first. For him, it was a chance to embrace the silence around him.

But as he read, suddenly, he heard his phone vibrate. He sighed as he put his book down, marking the place he was in before going into the backpack and pulling out his phone. Heading back to his bed, he unlocked his phone and, at the top of his notification, was a message. From Astrid.

He stared at it for a while before finally pressing the notification, taking him to the message.

'Hey Hiccup! Just making sure you didn't give me the wrong number.'

He continued to stare at it, shaking his head as if he was in a dream. Finally, he texted back.

'No. It's me, Hiccup'

She replied instantly.

'Awesome!'

Hiccup leaned back on his bed, staring at that message before locking his phone and putting it away. That actually happened. Astrid Hofferson, probably the most popular girl in the school, had texted him, probably the most reclusive boy in the school.

"This... isn't a dream..."

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The next day rolled by and Hiccup was once again at school. It was about 11am and while he would normally be in class, he had a free period that hour, so he would mostly spend in the school common room, sitting at a table and drawing sketches in a brown notebook. In his notebook, he mostly would draw non-human things, whether it be real life animals or mythical creatures, especially dragons. He was in the middle drawing on such creature, a black type dragon, focused and removed from any background noise.

"Hey, Hiccup." Suddenly, his mind returned to the room when he heard a voice calling to him. A familiar voice. He looked up from his sketch and, as predicted, the face of Fishlegs Ingerman was looking at him as he gave a wave at Hiccup, before taking a seat opposite him.

Fishlegs was, as many students would consider him, one of the smartest students at Berk Sixth Form. Many of them would ask him for help or mostly ask to copy his homework. He wasn't fat, but he was on the big side, with short blonde hair and black framed glasses. He was one of the few people Hiccup didn't mind talking back to but would still present his reclusive nature at him.

"Hey, Fishlegs." Hiccup greeted, before looking back at his dragon sketch. He then heard tapping on the table, which forced him to look up again, seeing Fishlegs tapping his hands on the table. Fishlegs saw Hiccup looking a bit annoyed and immediately stopped.

"Oh, s-sorry. It's just... I... want to ask you something. But I... don't know if..."

"What is it?" Hiccup immediately asked, noticing something wrong. In most cases, he would avoid these kinds of things, but it was clear it was involving him, so he might as well know what rumour was going around this time.

Fishlegs took a deep breath before asking. "Are... you and Astrid dating?"

Hiccup's eyes grew at the question for a moment, before quickly returned to its original position. "No. Why?" he asked.

"Nothing! It's just... some people saw you and Astrid walking in the park together and even went in a café together. So, logically the rumour going around is you two are an item now." Fishlegs explained.

While, once again, his expression was not shown in his face, Hiccup was stunned. To hear this kind of rumour was floating around already surprised him, but not to a degree. He would be involved in rumours many times, and being the less talkative person, he doesn't go out of his way to debunk them; he would just allow them to spend, as long as it didn't hurt him. But this one was different, especially with Astrid's complicated situation that he got himself in.

"Well, what do you think?" Hiccup asked. Fishlegs was surprised at Hiccup wanting to get his opinion about the rumours.

"Well... I mean.... She's very cheerful and you're... well... you. But they say opposite attract and...." He tried to explain, but he knew it was going nowhere, but he stopped himself from talking.

Hiccup sighed. "Well, me and Astrid are not dating." he confirmed, monotoned, but confidently.

"Then, are you just... hanging out with each other?"

"If you want put it that way." Hiccup shrugged before going back to his drawing.

"OK. Sorry for asking. I just thought... it would better if it was me then, say Snotlout." Fishlegs mentioned.

"It's fine." Hiccup simply said. There was then a silence between them before Fishlegs began to get up.

"Well, I have to go and help Tuffnut with his homework, so... I'll see you around." he said. Hiccup simply gave a small wave without looking up before Fishlegs left the common room, leaving Hiccup on his own again. But while he was focused on his sketch, the question Fishlegs asked was still racking around his brain.

He sighed. "Dating? Why do someone like her date someone like me?" He was surprised he had that thought, since he didn't really cared about those kinds of things normally, but he didn't dwell on them, only continuing to sketch. Suddenly, he felt a vibration in his jean pocket. Knowing it was his phone, he pulled it out, seeing a message sent by Astrid.

"Well, speak of the devil." he whispered to himself before checking the message.

'When do you finish school?'

'I only got class at Period 4 left today. Why?'

'I found quite a fancy cafe in The Square. When you're done, meet me there'

'The Square?'

'Yeah! I'm there now, so don't keep me waiting ;) '

Hiccup was about to text her about her knowledge of the rumour but decided against it. While against everything he stood for, he would rather talk to her personally about this to get a better idea of her thoughts.

"Talk to her. Huh." The fact he exactly wanted to talk to her about it seemed insane, like he was from an alternate reality. But he brought himself here, he might as well go the whole way.