Laura

The handsome red headed man with a slightly too large nose checked his watch and saw he still had 40 minutes before he had to board his flight to London. He was on his way to England for a business meeting that had foolishly been called by his cousin, Simon Jorgensen, the other half of the family owned Haddock & Jorgensen Inc.

He supposed he had plenty of time to show a little patience to the new employee behind the counter when he spotted a sporty blonde joining the queue beside him.

This is rather more interesting, he thought as he peeked another quick glance at her. Yep! just as he thought she is gorgeous. She was wearing a long-sleeved running top the kind with holes in the thumb for maximum aerodynamics and tight black leggings with sheer material emphasizing her strong calf muscles.

The man finally got his chance to order a large soy milk latte with a box of 10 timbits. He could vaguely hear the blonde order a latte as well as he gets his timbits and realized he was given more than the allotted 10.

Hiccup straightened his suit and returned to the busy counter, Canadianism at its peak, trying to get the barista’s attention. “Hey, I am so incredibly sorry, but you gave me 11 instead of 10.”

“My dude,” replied the blonde man. “It’s totally cool. You know what? Just because of this inconvenience, I’ll let you have the extra on the house.”

Hiccup did his best to insist on rightfully paying, but was imminently turned down. Eventually he squeezed into the waiting area until his drink was called up, his eyes roaming through the crowd.

The wait for drinks allowed him to continue to glance furtively at the woman in black just for the sheer pleasure of looking.

Gosh she really is pretty. Her eyes are like the color of clear water on a perfect summer day at the lake.

He continued to dwell on her beauty and noticed occasionally, they’d make eye contact. That brought a slight flush to his cheeks.

Drinks were finally getting around to be called out and the ring of “Large Latte” was called. At that moment, he saw the lady step up to grab her coffee and lamented that the time spent admiring her was up.

Another drink was announced and Hiccup went to take it. He double-checked the order to make sure it was what he’d ordered. To his misfortune, the barista had messed it up. Of course. He called for the man behind the counter.

“This wasn’t my order,” Hiccup complained.

Ever calm amidst the chaos, the man stated to Hiccup, with a knowing glance, “That lady you were drooling at must’ve mistaken it for hers.”

Doing his best to conceal his inner cringe, he asked, “Okay, then, may I have another one.”

The barista didn’t even look up as he replied, “Sorry, my dude. That was the last of the soy milk.”

Crap.

He needed that coffee. In an act of desperation, Hiccup screwed all he consequences and began chasing after that lady.

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 “Hey Mademoiselle?” Hiccup was completely out of breath when the lady finally stopped in place after the wild chase throughout the rest of the airport. “Miss? Excuse me.”    

“Can I help you?”

He’d at last gotten her attention, but now he was speechless because she was ten times prettier up close. “I-I think our orders got mixed up.

A look of understanding dawned on her expression, simultaneously making his heart stutter. “So that’s why it tasted so weird”

He offered her the cup he had in hand awkwardly. Only now, did he feel silly for the whole scene he had caused by trying to catch up to her.

“Here’s your coffee.”

She glanced at her rightful cup in his hands and back up to his face, unsurely. Lifting the cup she had, she shrugged and took the cup from him handing back his own. She responded sheepishly, “I’m sorry, I already took a sip of this.” 

“It’s okay, I’ll take it anyway.”

He had said that way too quickly to sound sane. He mentally slapped himself. Now this woman probably believed he was some creep who spent his free time stealing peoples’ coffees and running after them. 

Fortunately, she showed no signs of offense. “You must be quite determined for coffee if you chased me halfway through the airport.” The teasing smile she gave evaporated all his worries. “What’s in it anyway?”

“Uhh… Soy milk.” It took an embarrassingly long time to conjure up an answer. “And that was the last they had, so yeah...” 

He shifted his weight from one foot to another, grinning shyly. How could everyone around them be oblivious to those bright eyes the lady he faced had and her shiny hair. Of course, everyone else was busy getting to their gates to prepare for their flights. Yes, flights…

Hiccup’s train of thought was interrupted, however, when the woman pointed to his box of tiny donut balls. 

“What are those?” she asked. “I see them around all the time.”

“Timbits?” said Hiccup, lifting the box. He saw her expression and was appalled when her face showed no signs of recognition of the national Canadian delicacy. “Wait, you’ve never tried Timbits before?”

He was answered with a confused shake of her head. An old woman sitting near them looked up in annoyance when he mock-gasped too loudly.

Motioning for the lady he had just met to come closer, he apologetically winced at the elder and whispered in a conspiring tone. “I will be dishonouring my country if I let you leave here without having tried a Timbit.”

“No, they’re yours,” she declines. “I couldn’t take one.”

Hiccup could see the curiosity shining through her eyes, though. “I insist.”

Reluctantly, she reached into the box of Timbits and picked a cinnamon one. He searched her eyes for any reaction as she took a bite. He wasn’t disappointed when she raised her eyebrows in an impressed manner and became enamoured with the little donut.

“I need to get some for myself.” She pulled out her phone to check the time. “I still have time. I’m Astrid, by the way.” She extended her hand to shake and he took it gladly. Her hand was smaller than his but she still had a firm grip.

The PA system said something irrelevant at that moment about a flight to London. Something told Hiccup that he was supposed to be paying attention but all he could think about was the beautiful Astrid’s hand in his and the temporary falter of his heartbeat.

“Hiccup Haddock.” When Astrid– her name was Astrid– released his hand, he fell back down to the earth and cleared his throat. “C-Can I take you there?”

A flash of uncertainty was there and gone before Hiccup felt her arm wrap around his and she motioned for him to escort her. He blushed again. They made easy conversation as they walked back to the Tim Hortons. Hiccup never once forgot the presence of her arm in his. 

“You want the cinnamon ones and the chocolate glazed.” He suggested as the approached the café. “Those are the best.” 

She took a glance at the menu and he smiled to himself when he realized she had to rise slightly on her tiptoes to see the options. “What about the jelly filling ones?”

“No comment on that.”

“How can you not like jelly filling?” Even being shorter, Astrid managed to stare him down. “Have you ever tried it before or is it just a picky thing?”

“Hey, I’m not going to judge your horrible taste in Timbits if you don’t go exposing me and my food habits,” he stated defensively.

She huffed dramatically, but dropped the subject.

The truth was, she was completely right. Hiccup had never tried the jelly filled Timbits. He would always offer them to his mother while he was growing up. Astrid had gone past his defences and unlocked hidden secrets and he’d only known her for five minutes. 

The blond barista with the dreadlocks called, “Next!” When he saw Hiccup and Astrid again, together this time, his smile grew largely. “Heeeeey you’re back!”

Hiccup felt uncomfortable when the barista looked between them knowingly and winked at him. 

Astrid glanced at the exchange and intervening in on the uncomfortable moment, then said, “Yeah... I’m just here for the Timbits.”

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By the time they’d left Tim Hortons, Hiccup had had it with the barista’s continuous hints at the two of them. He had only just met Astrid. There was no way they could be together. He was only a friendly person interacting with another person. No feelings attached. Even if hanging out with her for the past few minutes was the most fun he’d had in a while, with their incessant banter and light nudging at each other, they were nothing more than friends.

Just friends. Life wasn’t a fanfiction.

He had followed her over to her gate where people, including them, were currently lined up to board. 

“Hiccup, you’ve got to try one of these!” Astrid was waving around one of the horrible jelly-filled Timbits she had bought specifically to shove in his face like she was doing now.

“I’ve already said, that I’m not going to like it anyway, so why waste your time,” he countered, but couldn’t help the grin that betrayed his tone spreading across his face. 

“You haven’t even tried it. How can you know?”

She was persistent, he’d give her that.

A loud, pointed cough from behind them warned Hiccup and Astrid to advance in line and walk towards the flight attendant. Had they really already made it to the front of the line? he thought.

“Sorry,” he apologized to the tired-looking man behind them. He turned back to Astrid and went ahead of her, walking backwards as he finally surrendered to her wishes. “Fine! Just so we don’t annoy everybody any longer,” he gestured to the crowd of onlookers. “I’ll try one!”

“Aha! I knew you’d give in.”

Hiccup faced the forward abruptly, boarding pass in hand, and crashed into the man at the front desk, splattering coffee all over the larger man’s uniform. The flight attendant’s higher pitched voice sounded like it was interpreting a machine short-circuiting.

“I am so incredibly sorry!” Hiccup tried his best to lessen the mess but to no avail. From his peripheral vision, he caught a glance of Astrid hiding her face behind her passport as her shoulders shuddered from suppressed giggles.

The flight attendant regained his senses and his Canadian mechanism immediately kicked in. “No, no, it’s fine. I’m sorry. Just get on board the two of you.” The flight attendant, Fishlegs (Hiccup saw from his nametag), waved them off and let them through to enter the aircraft.

Hiccup and Astrid got on the plane and burst into laughter. As he’d been doing this whole time, he followed Astrid’s lead to where her seat was. He absentmindedly took the one next to hers. He had the vague feeling he was forgetting something, but her remaining gasps for air after his embarrassing moment were enough to make him ignore the thought.

Having calmed down, Astrid raised a mini donut to him. “You promised.”

He rolled his eyes, reluctantly taking it. He hadn’t known her for long, but he’d learned already that there was no arguing with Astrid. He bit into half of the Timbit, the tangy jelly inside surprisingly contrasted well with the rest of it.

A middle-aged woman, tapping her foot impatiently, was glaring daggers at the pair from where she stood. Her passive aggressive tone confirmed his instinct to sink into himself. “Sir, this is my seat.”

Before Hiccup could even swallow the donut, Astrid cut in, “Ma’am, could we switch seats?”

Hiccup checked to where Astrid was pointing to realize that there was no specific seat she was indicating for the woman to take. Nevertheless, the woman scowled but didn’t bother them any longer. 

“That poor lady,” he said after regaining his ability of speech. “I could’ve sat somewhere else.”

Astrid completely ignored what he had said and went back to the “more important” matter. “I dare you to say that what you just ate wasn’t good.” Delight danced in her eyes. 

She was so close. He could feel the heat radiating off her. His voice lowered when he responded, “Alright, you win. It wasn’t that bad.”

“Not bad? You didn’t like it completely then.” Her eyes fell onto the leftover Timbit in his hand. “I’ll eat the half you didn’t, then.”

He yanked back his hand from her incoming grasp. There was no way he was giving her the rest of it. Suddenly, the plane began shifting. 

The crinkly pre-take-off announcements sounded. “Mes dames et messieurs, bienvenue abord le vole 45B d’Air Canada avec du service continuel de Montréal à Boston. Nous espérons que vous avez un bon voyage. Merci.” 

Hiccup’s heart dropped to his stomach as he realized his mistake. But now was too late.

“Ladies and gentlemen, on behalf of Air Canada, I’d like to welcome you all to flight 45B with service from Montreal to Boston. We hope you have a good flight. Thank you.”

He turned, wide-eyed to Astrid. “I’m on the wrong plane.”

Thank you so much for reading this first chapter! We will be uploading weekly and if you want to interact with us we can be found on Ao3 at hey-its-laura-again and celtictreemuffin respectively.