Merida's hands were sweating. She was shaking like Vesuvius before it erupted in Pompeii and her pupils had dilated. Nope, she wasn't doing drugs - she was preparing for a first date. To be fair, both had the same effect on you.

She wiped her hands on her jeans and pulled her shirt down. Her reflection stared at her through the mirror.

"It's going to be fine," her twin told her, though the words were being issued from Merida's own mouth. "You're going to be fine. It's just lunch."

Merida stared at herself for another moment before slapping herself in the face sharply. Amazingly this seemed to clear her head and she promptly walked out of the door, feeling much more confident than she had before. Within minutes she was waiting outside Starbucks and she didn't have to wait long. Hiccup was walking towards her, smiling in a ridiculously cute, lopsided and embarrassed way. She stared at her shoes in an attempt to hide her blush before looking up to find him right in front of her.

It was all she could do to stop herself from grabbing his shirt and kissing him there and then. He was wearing a green checkered shirt and a dark brown jacket and his hair was messy. His hands were in his pockets - it was clear that he was as nervous as she was before she left.

"Hi," she smiled. Hiccup started stammering in reply.

"H - hey, Merida, um - hi, yeah, hi..."

Merida grinned. She seemed much less nervous now. What the hell was there to be scared of? It was just lunch!

"You okay?" she made eye contact as he was deliberately staring at his shoes which seemed to have been of great interest lately. Hiccup looked up like a frightened mouse, his eyes wide and glassy.

"What? Yeah - yeah, why wouldn't I be, I mean, it's not like this is a big deal or something that matters in my life - not that I don't care about you! Because I do - do care about you and, and, oh Thor..."

"Hiccup," she whispered, "It's just lunch."

He looked at her, then away again. He nodded.

"Yeah. Just - just lunch."

He smiled weakly and Merida took his hand. His eyes snapped back in her direction and he grinned.

"Told you it'd be okay," she whispered. They walked into Starbucks, brimming with confidence and smiled stretched over their cheeks. Until they saw who was working at the till.

"Hiccup?" she said in a disgusted kind of tone.

"Oh crap," Hiccup whispered.

"Who the hell," she said, looking Merida up and down, "is this? She's my replacement? God, you could do so much better than this." Merida read the name badge pinned to her green apron. Hello, I'm Astrid.

"No, I can't do any better than her," Hiccup snarled, sudden courage coming over him suddenly, holding Merida's hand even tighter. "Y'know why? Because she's perfect. And she didn't cheat on me for McGuffin."

Astrid couldn't reply to that, so she stood there seething. Merida's heart had skipped several beats and she barely felt Hiccup pull at her hand and lead her outside. Rain had started to fall, a light drizzle which tickled their noses.

"Did you mean that?" Merida whispered.

"What?" Hiccup asked. His cheeks were burning red.

"Did you mean that?" Merida repeated. "What you said. In there."

Hiccup turned to her, taking her other hand as well. This new-found courage span seemed to be lasting quite a while, for which Merida was grateful.

"Every word," he said. "I didn't want it to be just lunch, I wanted to be with you, to, to talk to you when we didn't have to do work. To tell you how I really felt."

"Hiccup -"

"Don't stop me," he hushed her quickly, "or I'll never get a chance like this again." He took a deep breath and started speaking again, holding her hands go his chest. "I - I really like you, okay? More than friends. I've felt like this for ages, since before art lessons started. But I figured I didn't stand a chance so I tried to talk to Jack. He told me to go for it. So - here I am."

Merida looked up at him, almost not believing it. She didn't speak. She couldn't speak. She didn't understand. It was so confusing. Her brain was a sea of statements, mush but shining through the lot was a pair of forest green eyes staring into her own through a messy auburn fringe.

Hiccup let go of her hands, his own dropping down to his sides limply as the life went out of his expression. He looked down at his shoes, then into Merida's dumbstruck face. He turned away and shook his head.

"Forget it."

"What?"

Hiccup started to walk away.

"Forget I said anything. There was no point. I've got no chance with you, why I even thought about you, dreamt that maybe I'd have a chance with someone as gorgeous and funny and -"

He shut up. Well, he had to really. His lips were otherwise occupied. Merida had grabbed his face and kissed him. It took Hiccup a moment to register what was going on, but after a second his brain clicked and his arms found their way to her waist, drawing her to him. She pulled away, her hands on his chest, the pair of them breathless and slightly shocked by what they'd just done.

"You were saying?" Merida grinned.

Hiccup smiled lopsidedly.

"D'you, d'you want to go out with me?"

"Do I need to answer that?"

"I want to hear you say it."

"In that case -"

Merida pulled his shirt down to kiss him again. Their lips smashed together in a haze of the rain falling and uncontrollable happiness.

"I would like nothing better."