And then an eccentric radio demon shows up and changes everything.

~~~

Chapter 10

~~~

Just as discussed the day prior, Fishlegs, Astrid, and Hiccup took a trip to the village library, which was ancient and wind-blown. Inside the old building, were endless, towering shelves of books, and beside them were piles and stacks of more books. There was plenty of light falling in from the ornate skylights and high tower windows, showcasing the overlay of dust in the static air. There was a small, frail librarian seated behind a desk at the entrance, who appeared just about as old as the building itself. She didn’t greet them, only peered over her book, as they walked in, giving them a suspicious look before returning to reading.

The kids browsed up and down the aisles, searching for something of interest, when Astrid spotted a gorgeous silver-lined book, popping out at her amongst the other dull ones. She pulled the bright thing off the shelf and was gratefully pleased to see it was something about dragons. Everyone was fascinated by the book, they plopped down on the floor beside each other, in the middle of the aisle, to look through it.

Astrid, between the two of them, was all too aware of Hiccup’s shoulder and leg against hers. She had been longing for this contact all night and day. The lucky contact of his touch was so loud, it was screaming. Her face pooled with warmth, as they looked over maps and drawings in the book and she tried her best to distract herself by pointing out to the boys the subtle difference between two sets of dragon tracks.

After half an hour of flipping through the contents and maybe another half hour of searching for another book, the three of them decided they were bored and left.

The blinding daylight had their eyes in sudden tears, yet the clean, crisp air was more refreshing than ever after being in such a dusty, old building. The sun still hung high overhead, but Fishlegs said he had to help his dad with a fishing rod project, and Hiccup had to work at the forge, so Astrid was off to find her next activity alone.

The sky was clear and there was no sign of rain. Astrid decided she would go on a solo hunting patrol along the trail that twisted through the dense thicket surrounding Berk.

Astrid gathered some arrows and her favorite bow her father had gifted her a couple years ago. It had been carved from a willow tree and sanded down smooth and sleek. On her own, she used a pocket knife to cut a few intricate little flowers into the finish.

The young warrior set off on the steep downhill path that plunged into the dark woods. The air felt cooler and the sunlight was scattered here, unable to pierce through the full branches above. She moved quietly through the dense undergrowth, managing to avoid getting snagging on the brambles as the path narrowed.

She was used to being out here with an entire hunting party. While most of her peers were quite skilled hunters, it was much more difficult to move silently with so many people. And they would always be mumbling to each other. Now, here, alone, she was completely invisible, moving lightly on her feet like a stealthy cat. Not even a rabbit would hear her approaching.

The trail ended as the narrow tunnel of bracken broke into a massive expanse of windy plains. The tall yellow grass was a wide stretch, however most of the bright horizon was hidden behind patches of trees. The hum of rushing water was louder now and Astrid knew if she continued north, she would meet the edge of the plains, where the steep rocky cliffs overlooked a sparkling river which cut through the valley. Instead of trying to find a way down the cliffs, Astrid followed the plains decline, keeping her pace quick yet silent.

Astrid moved quietly as she entered another wooded area of undergrowth and tall trees. The shade felt nice on her hot shoulders. She could see a suntan beginning to form on her skin.

Suddenly, she heard a rustle in the bushes ahead, and instinctively, she dropped to a crouch, low to the ground. She held her bow tightly, holding her breath, watching the bushes carefully when a brown hare hopped into sight. Astrid didn’t dare move, the long blades of grass would rustle and give her away. She waited patiently. When the common breeze swept through the plains she seized the opportunity to draw her bow and aim carefully.

The hare stopped sniffing the ground and was still for a moment, its black eyes seemingly landed on her. Astrid held her breath, focusing on the prey, and then shot. Satisfaction swelled through her as the arrow pierced her target. After scooping up her kill she set off to hunt down another.

By sunset, she had caught five rabbits. Astrid proudly made her way back to the village to show off her fresh catches to Hiccup. The air was starting to cool down and her arms broke out into goosebumps. A cold shudder ran through her body in the chilling wind and she couldn’t help fantasizing about the cozy heat from the fire in the dining hall or the familiar warmth of her thick, fur blankets…or the sweet safety of Hiccup’s perfect arms around her.

Just as she turned out of the woods, a glimmer of white blonde hair caught her eye and a wave of uneasiness sank through her body. Oh no.

Cato was leaning up against a massive oak beneath the shade with his arms crossed, gazing out into the distance. Astrid froze in her tracks, hoping he hadn’t seen her yet, but it was too late. When he looked up, her heart lurched in her chest. It was as if he had been waiting for her and called over casually.

“Hey, Astrid!”

Great. She struggled not to roll her eyes. This is not something I wanted to deal with today. She approached him slowly with caution, her heart beginning to pound.

“What do you want?” Astrid sneered, unable to hide her resentment. She dropped the tied bundle of rabbits on the forest floor beside her muddy boots.

“I, er, was hoping you would want to talk,” Cato stammered, taken aback by her hostility. He glanced down at her fresh kills, his dark steel eyes revealing a glimmer of amusement.

“Why?” Astrid crossed her arms.

“Because you’re someone who I’ve considered a friend for many years,” answered Cato. These words had a strange sting to them, for some reason, however, Astrid remained cold.

“Well, you’ve been acting like a fucking jerk recently and you’re mean to my friends.” She snapped back. She had said ‘friends,’ but they both knew who she really meant.

“You’re right,” he admitted unexpectedly. “I’m not happy with myself…or with my actions…”

Astrid didn’t say anything. His aggression had grown stronger than ever over the more recent months and it had been driving her away. She found him rather annoying nowadays, unlike before, in her early teens, when she would actually look up to Cato and his skills and strength and wear herself out for his approval.

“Look, I just want it to be like old times again. Remember how much fun you and I used to have on the those all-nighter hunting patrols,” Cato smiled with nostalgia, showing his sharp white teeth and some distant memories came flooding back to her. “And every day with all the unnecessary combat training?”

When he laughed a little, Astrid actually found herself tense a little, realizing there was an urge there to laugh too. She would not lie to herself, she was fond of these memories. A part of her did miss having such a good time with Cato and the other two boys whom she had been so close with, Tom and Ramsey. They were her best friends for years. She even missed hanging out sometimes with Snotlout and Tuffnut, as obnoxious as they were. She imagined a peaceful world where everyone united in harmony and all the kids hung out together and went on hunting patrols together and shared lunch together. The grouping of social genres was so stupid, nonetheless, the root of the issue was aggressive people like Cato. He was just so jealous. Jealous of other boys talking to her or training with her when she wasn’t even his! If Cato could just accept that he will never be more than her friend, they could all start hanging out again.

“Astrid,” his voice was soft and pleading.

“I don’t know, Cato. That was a long time ago,” was all she could manage.

“You have been one of my best friends since childhood, Astrid,” she could hear the desperation wavering in his words. “Please, just let me make it up to you. I can’t lose you as a friend too. I won’t cause any more problems. And I’ll be respectful towards your little—I-I mean Hiccup Haddock.”

“That’s all that really matters,” Astrid said, for some odd reason her heart began to pound in her chest at the thought of Hiccup. “Don’t be mean to him. Don’t ever hurt him. Or I’ll seriously hurt you.”

“Okay, okay. You have my word, Astrid,” Cato said sincerely, his hand over his heart.

Astrid picked up her bundle of rabbits and gave him a somber look, before she walked away without saying anything else.

Dinnertime was loud and busy. Astrid sat with Hiccup and Fishlegs per usual, but this time Ruffnut joined them as well. Astrid was delighted to get to actually sit next to Hiccup today, her leg against his, his elbow easily brushing her arm every so often when he reached for something on the table. The miniature contact was fuzzy electric, making her skin break into goosebumps, her heart soar with bliss.

Fishlegs, as always took the spotlight and gave a detailed account of the time he fought head-on with a bear. Although he was practically yelling over the table, Astrid half listened, murmuring comments to Ruffnut here and there about Fishleg’s enthusiasm.

They all shared red wine and a plate full of roasted chicken and smoked fish on skewers.

“Do you think Snotlout is a good kisser?” Ruff asked, causing Astrid to almost choke on a piece of fish.

This even caught Hiccup’s attention, who turned his head curiously to tune into the exchange.

“What? Probably not,” Astrid said, taking a sip of wine. She followed Ruffnut's cloudy, distant gaze across the hall where it was fixed on the boy.

“No, you’re wrong,” Ruff murmured, clearly lost in her own thoughts. “I can just tell.”

“Wait, Hiccup, listen,” Fishlegs tried not to whine. “This is the best part.”

“Okay, sorry.”

“So, I’m gushing blood from my arm and stomach, but I gather all my strength and since my spear has now snapped in half, at this point, I realize that I’m going to have to use my small steel dagger to take down the bear!” Fishlegs continued, waving his arms and hands to create visuals to go with his story.

Astrid began to drown him out when Ruffnut started mumbling to her again.

“He acts so funny around me, now. I just know he wants me,” Ruff said under her breath, her gaze migrating to Astrid. “I mean who wouldn’t want me? But, I honestly didn’t suspect Snotlout would feel any type of way….”

“Ruffnut, listen, I know you guys will really like this part,” Fishlegs protested.

The girls tried to listen to his story for a few moments before Ruffnut whispered to Astrid again.

“I bet he’s a great kisser,” she was dreamily gazing off at Snotlout again. “Look at that mouth!”

“Why don’t you go find out,” Astrid challenged, lowering her voice mischievously.

“No way, not right here!”

“No, I mean, later. Like maybe tonight meet up with him or something? Go on a little patrol together?”

Ruffnut stifled her gasp with her hands but her excited squeals broke through.

“Yes, yes, yes. Good idea. Wonderful idea,” Ruffnut squeaked, giggling uncontrollably like a little girl.

Just past Fishlegs head, Astrid could see Cato had appeared at the far entrance of the dining hall. He was looking around the room when their eyes met and unexpectedly, he raised his hand and waved at her. Why was he waving at her? Was he testing to see if she’ll do it? Astrid debated it for a moment and when she slowly raised her hand and waved back, a delightful smile broke across his face. For a second, she worried he would come over here and sit with them, but he settled at his usual table, in the spot next to Ramsey, the black-haired, blue-eyed boy, whom Astrid was best friends with at one point.

“Wow. Are you guys cool, now?” Ruff inquired, who had been paying close attention.

Astrid merely shrugged her shoulders. She wouldn’t call them friends or anything. When she glanced at Hiccup, he was fixed right on her, a very subtle hint of distaste crossing his face. It was apparent that he had noticed this exchange between her and Cato, as well.

Astrid could sense that this made him feel uneasy, however, neither of them spoke of it. Fishlegs continued to list off the different species of snakes that were present in Berk, but Astrid was lost in her own thoughts. Maybe she shouldn’t have waved at Cato. She didn’t want to give off the impression that they were friends. And she certainly didn’t want Hiccup to think there was anything going on between the two of them.

The moment dinner was over, everyone split off on their own separate ways.

“See you guys tomorrow,” said Fishlegs, before heading out of the hall.

“I’ll let you know if I end up meeting up with Snotlout,” said Ruffnut. Behind her, Astrid could see Hiccup beginning to walk away toward the exit, a sense of dread filled her stomach. He hadn’t said a word to her since she greeted Cato. She was terribly worried he was upset with her.

“I’ll tell you everything that happens if anything happens!” Ruffnut exclaimed. Astrid could not get excited with her friend this time, the feeling of worry was sapping all of her attention.

“Okay, see you,” Astrid murmured and pushed past Ruffnut to follow Hiccup, but he was nowhere in sight.

Astrid left the dining hall, pushing through the crowd of villagers that had just shared dinner. She descended the stone steps in the cool twilight and peered around in all directions for Hiccup.

In a short distance, she could see his tiny figure in the direction of his house, disappearing down the village trail into the fog.

“Hiccup!” Astrid called after him. When he didn’t turn around, her heart swelled horribly and she broke out into a light jog after him.

“Hiccup, wait up,” she panted, slowing her pace as she finally caught up with him. “Hey.”

“Hey,” his cool eyes met hers briefly, and Astrid felt a small wash of relief, but he did not smile.

“What’s going on?” She demanded, searching his expression for any answers, but he seemed mellow as always. “What’s wrong?”

“What do you mean?”

“You didn’t say goodbye, or even wait. We always walk together.”

“Well, er, yes, I’m sorry,” Hiccup replied.

Astrid couldn’t help thinking she would get nowhere with this if she didn’t just say something now.

“Are you annoyed that I waved hello to Cato?” Astrid stopped to try to seriously talk for a second, but Hiccup kept walking.

“Please, talk to me for a moment,” she begged and realized she sounded like Cato, herself.

“Fine. Yes. I didn’t like it,” he admitted shortly. “I didn’t realize you were friends.”

She was taken aback by his jumpy conclusion.

“We are not friends! But we decided not to be enemies either. There’s really no reason for hate. We just reached a common ground, that’s all.”

He scoffed at these protests.

“Did you guys hang out or something and sort out all your differences?” Hiccup sounded annoyed. Astrid felt her heart sinking, he had never shown any kind of negative emotion in front of her before. It was making her feel funny.

“No, we didn’t hang out,” Astrid insisted, her heart pulsing in her throat. “He found me by the forest after I went out hunting. To talk.”

Hiccup scowled with jealousy at the mention of Cato and her talking alone in the woods.

“Yep and that’s when you got together to reconcile and sing Kumbaya,” he muttered sarcastically, casting his gaze to the ground.

It wouldn’t take a genius to know Hiccup didn’t like her being around Cato. It made him jealous and irritable. Why wouldn’t it, after all the hostility the two had been through with Cato up until now? She could easily understand why Hiccup would be confused and even pissed off with Astrid’s sudden peaceful interaction with someone who had they deemed an enemy for quite some time now.

Although he wasn’t her boyfriend yet, she could tell how badly he wanted to ask her to avoid Cato. She didn’t blame him, Cato was aggressive and rude and it was obvious he was in love with her. And although Hiccup saw this other boy as such a threat, Astrid knew he really wasn’t. At the end of the day, all that mattered is who she wanted to be with, right?

“Please, Hiccup, stop,” Astrid suddenly said, out of nowhere, grabbing his hand to prevent him from walking on, stopping them by a gnarled, shaded tree. He didn’t resist, but he sighed and turned to her, a glint of irritation in his usually refreshing green eyes.

“Please, don’t worry,” she reassured weakly.

This was not enough for him. He continued to glare at her silently. His cheeks had gone red as of his frustration had physically heated him or maybe it was the wine they had at dinner. Astrid felt a pang of guilt for thinking he looked so cute right now.

“How can I not worry?” He snapped. “I don’t trust that scumbag’s intentions. Even Fishlegs said it himself—he’s obsessed with you.”

She couldn’t deny this. However, she could handle herself. Cato’s always thrown himself at her and she easily told him off every time.

“That’s true, but, at this point, he knows that he’ll never have me!”

“Does he?” Hiccup retorted sharply. “Do you actually think he’s made peace with that, he just accepts he has no chance?”

“I don’t know,” Astrid admitted. Her brain felt fuzzy from all this uncertainty and tension.

For a moment, she tried to imagine if the roles were reversed, and some relentless girl was in love with Hiccup, following him around, trying to talk to him alone, lashing out at everyone who tried to get close with him. Her stomach lurched dreadfully. Oh, she would hate that!

“I’m sorry, baby,” she suddenly felt these strange words tumbling out of her mouth and watched how his eyes seemed to light up as if coming back to life. The wine must be making her bold. Her heart slammed against her chest as she grabbed both of his hands now, stepping closer, so their faces were inches apart and she held his bewildered gaze. “Listen, I’ll stay away from him, okay?”

“Okay,” he murmured contently, an uncertain little smile finally unraveling over his mouth.

She leaned forward to close the distance between their faces, kissing him affectionately. She let her fingers climb up the back of his neck to play in the softness of his copper flips. Gods, how she had missed this feeling. She pushed him up against the nearby tree and kissed him hard, letting the front of her body press against his tauntingly.

They stopped kissing, their close breaths mingling as Hiccup complained, “Astrid, we’re like right in the open.”

“You’re right,” she whispered and kissed him once more. She tasted him this time, fancying his flavor and the way his tongue moved over hers.

“Oooh, what do we have here? Lucky Hiccup’s getting some action!” A familiar and annoying voice hollering a short distance away from them, right on time.

Astrid turned to see Snotlout sniggering on the hill just behind them with Tuffnut, who looked at them curiously.

“Something that you’ll never have!” Astrid called back sourly, then snatched Hiccup’s hand to yank him away from the scene.

“Let’s go to my house,” she suggested, changing directions, and leading them toward her end of the village. “I can sneak you in through my bedroom window. We just have to be really quiet.”

Hiccup laughed nervously at this. “Okay. Er, what will we do?”

“Oh, you know. Stuff.” She shrugged casually but then turned around to give him a telling smirk.

Hiccup raised his eyebrows in response, but said nothing. After a few moments of following her in silence, he piped up.

“Hey. It would be far less trouble to go to my house. My dad won’t care at all if I have any, uh, company over.”

Astrid considered this for a moment. She slowed down to walk beside him, still holding his hand. “He won’t care at all? Even if we go to your room and shut the door?”

“He won’t bother us,” Hiccup confirmed, his face blushing red at her words. “If anything, he’ll tell me ‘good job.’”

“Well, okay. As long as he doesn’t go tattle to my parents.”

They shifted directions again and set off towards the chief’s house, which was a distinctly large, dark silhouette on the breezy hilltop, overlooking the village.

The quiet earth bathed in moonlight, giving the pale, tall grass a silver illusion and as they picked their way, suddenly a loud, cool wind swept over the plains, teasing the long, parched blades.

~ ~ ~

Chapter nine

~ ~ ~

Huge apologies to everyone who has been waiting so long for an update. I started taking classes and was kind of overwhelmed :') I'm already working on the next chapter and have some time off to write now. Thank you for your patience <3

~ ~ ~

Although Hiccup had become a close friend to Astrid in little to no time at all, it was quite strange for her to think about the odd fact that she had actually known him for most of her life, since they were very young.

She wouldn’t exactly call this a realization, because she had always been aware of their relation, before, or lack of. However, the subtle, almost nonexistent history between them seemed to become something much more real, now, something she thought about very often, at this point.

He had been here this whole time, living in the background, like a single, thin black thread, of her big, moving, colorful world. She had never looked twice in his direction until now.

Their lack of affiliation was on herself to blame, she could even recall on several occasions over the years, when Hiccup would try to talk to her, here and there, but unfortunately, she always kept any interaction between the two of them dull, short and uninteresting.

Her developing mind had been distracted with other affairs, like combat training, hunting, and popularity. And since Hiccup had nothing to offer in any of those fields, she had no reason to bother with him.

However, now, it was a completely different story. She wasn’t seeking what he had to offer, other than his company.

She found him attractive. He was attractive to look at, but especially to be around. It was his personality that she fancied the most.

Her head was clouded with thoughts, nowadays, that consisted of things far from combat or popularity and the idea of Hiccup Haddock was under a completely different light.

In such a short amount of time, they had become quite close. She would even go as far as to call him her best friend. Being near him and talking to him felt so refreshing, it seemed impossible that another person could evoke such feelings.

Though they were already romantically involved, she desperately wanted nothing more than to be his lover, his girlfriend and she was still getting used to the idea of herself desiring this once, unlikely relation.

Throughout this past week of hanging around with Hiccup, it seemed her hormones had somehow gotten the best of her.

This attraction towards him she was harboring was growing too hot and heavy and she didn’t know if she really liked it being at this degree, because, at times, the appeal almost had her hypnotized, behaving in ways she never would have before. She had never felt this way about anyone and she certainly never had little control over her own demeanor and such.

That odd feeling seemed to warm her most when they were up against each other, kissing, touching, breathing one another in.

Sometimes, when she kissed him, he would really start kissing her back, he would move into her more, his breathing would pick up, his hands would find innocent parts of her to hold, yet her mind would always take it somewhere else.

He had gotten somewhat comfortable with her. Before, he would always try to hold back, she supposed it was because he was polite and shy and unsure, but now, she could detect how his mouth moved against hers with desire and hunger and want. She realized he hadn’t given her this energy until recently, until now really.

Whenever she felt this energy shift from him, that once, innocent attraction for him would ascend into lust quickly—the thirst to sleep with him, to pleasure him, would become a mission.

This explicit fantasy was very much obtainable. In fact, it was right at her finger tips. All she needed was just a little more time with him and it was perfectly inevitable.

However, some part of her was reluctant to have sex with him and she tried to find reasons behind this knotted feeling in her stomach.

First off, with heavy guilt, she felt as if she was pushing his boundaries, forcing him out of his comfort zone. She wouldn’t want to do that to him or anyone, for that matter.

Secondly, which she wasn’t so willful to admit to herself, she wasn’t so sure how the aftermath would play out socially and she was rather uneasy thinking of the results.

What if the other girls made fun of her, said mean things when she trained with them or even walked by. Or what if Hiccup became some target of attraction for these other girls because ‘if virgin Astrid Hoffman had sex with him, he must be good in bed, right?’ And then they would pursue him to see what all the fuss was about. It was alarming, but highly unlikely.

What if Cato and his friends found out and began beating up on him? Like really beating up on him. She wouldn’t put it past Cato to do something like that.

Astrid wouldn’t want to just be a snitch and involve an adult or something stupid like that, she would want to fight fire with fire. She would have to beat the daylights out of Cato. That would be fun. She was confident in her combat skills and knew plenty about fighting people who were bigger than her. She was probably most advanced in self defense versus other branches of combat.

Perhaps, for her stress levels sake, would it would be best if they kept their thing a secret? She worried that Hiccup might take offense to her suggesting their relationship remain in secrecy. She doubted he would understand all of the conflict it could cause, but the thought of having to explain all of her foolish worry to him, mortified her. She did not want to be a person who got worried, or least appeared worried.

Perhaps…perhaps, she was being stupid. She could simply let go of this feeling and not care about anything. Just let herself be happy and be with him, act like his girl, kiss him publicly, hold his hand, sit in his lap, and not give a fuck about what anyone else thought. There’s a bright idea.

It wasn’t like the personal details of her life would be broadcasted to the public. No one would truly know what has or hasn’t gone down between the two of them, anyway. How would they know? It would be intimate details between just her and Hiccup. They would never know.

Oh, they’ll know, alright. Just wait til they pay attention to the way you act around him. Then they’ll talk and it will be everywhere and it will be social hell.

What would actually end up happening within the next week, would surprise the both of them.

The parts of her that weren’t worrying about the outcome, were wanting nothing more but to pleasure him endlessly.

She could feel the tickling attraction in her tummy that made her feel so weird, in such a good way. It felt similar to gliding playfully on a rope swing over the water and jumping off at the highest point, that delightful spring that arrived in the stomach for just a moment. She was dying for another taste of this feeling she could harvest off him.

She had gotten a little of what she wanted today.

The expression on his face when she had shed most of her clothing, was unbelievably priceless. The sight of his reaction had instilled itself into her mind, at that moment, and she knew she would never forget it. The heavy tension in the room had created a bubble consisting of only them two; it was so overwhelming, she had trouble finding her own breath and keeping her own thoughts in order. She prickled with excitement unable to shake the arousing memory of earlier.

Teasing Hiccup, kissing him—that feeling when she brought herself flush against him. She had excited him—that stiff, weird feeling was because of her!

Sex was such an odd thing she knew little about, but she understood exactly what she had done to him and she loved it. She was quite proud of herself to say the least.

She had heard what the other girls described a guy’s ‘erection’ would feel like but she still wasn’t expecting it to be that hard. It was as solid as a blade of steel! It had thrown her off guard at the time, but she refused to allow herself to show it.

Although, the provocative moment had happened quite some time ago, she still could feel herself heated, her head swimming in thoughts of sex.

Being in his presence, now, was erotic. He, with his young eyes, had seen her body, almost nude.

Between their juvenile minds, it had been the most peculiar moment of their lives.

She couldn’t help the guilt that hooked her. Was she acting like a slut? Was she a bad influence on him? Was she taking advantage of him?

She was shocked with herself, with how much of a storm she had orchestrated up in her head. What had gotten into her? She had never had a problem with worrying and worrying before.

Being at such a hormonal age, exposed to one another’s half decent bodies had to be chemically fucking with their heads.

He sat across from her now, scribbling away in his book, still shirtless, glancing up at her to study her face every couple of seconds. Sometimes he leaned in really close to the paper, like hardly an inch away, and then he would lean back and examine his work from a small distance.

“Hiccup, why don’t we take a break for a few minutes?” She suddenly broke the silence. “You’ve been at this forever.”

His pond-green eyes drifted past the paper before him to meet hers.

“Hey, you can’t rush perfection,” he said, “It’s almost done, anyway.”

“Let’s go make some hot chocolate, real quick,” she insisted. “Come on. I can’t sit still right now.”

“Alright,” he smiled at this.

They proceeded to the kitchen, which was very tidy. Her mother treated it as if it were her own child.

Clean dishes were stacked neatly on shelves, a bowl of vibrant, colorful fruit glittered in a patch of sunlight near the dripping window. Freshly cut blue hydrangeas were arranged patiently in a glass vase on the table.

Astrid would make sure not to leave any sort of mess for her mother to complain about…and certainly no evidence of having a boy at the house. Both her mother and father would definitely have a stern word with her and put all kinds of unreasonable restrictions on her.

“It’s nice in here. We don’t have flowers at my house,” Hiccup said.

“My mom has this big garden out back, she puts different flowers inside all the time,” Astrid explained. “I’ll show you if you want.”

“Sure, sounds cool,” he gave her this little smile and for some reason, she felt it through her whole body.

It was an innocent smile. Like when you walk into the tavern and the bartender gives you a welcome or the morning neighbors glance over fields of carrots and wheat to give you a wave. However, it kindled an uproar of desire and uncensored thoughts.

“Try these cherries,” she offered him the bowl of fruit from the counter, her mind rushing to the next project for comfort. “They’re fresh. I picked them this morning.”

It had been a heatless, summer morning, hints of crisp, autumn air had arrived this year and under the pale sun, while she plucked dozens of ripe, plump cherries from their green stems, nearly filling her wicker basket to the brim.

She managed to get in and out of the garden, getting scratched only two separate times by the overgrown tangle of scarlet rose bushes.

Hiccup tried one of these little ruby-colored berries.

“Mm, thanks,” he said delightfully, then had a couple more.

The fire in the pit had reduced to glowing coals, so Astrid had to relight it.

She talked about the different flowers and berries that would grow in their garden depending on which season it was, while she filled a rusted kettle up with the well water her mother had collected this morning and left in the basin by the foggy window. She hung it on a hook over her new, crackling fire, so in a short time it would start to boil.

Somewhere along the way, she had drifted toward Hiccup and before she knew it, she found herself kissing him again.

She hooked her arms around his neck to pull him in close, easily consumed by his cherry taste and the intoxicating sensation of his mouth moving with hers. He was getting better at controlling his tongue and she wondered how he would grade her on such skill.

Astrid slightly moved back, blindly feeling for the wooden end table that anchored against her backside and she instinctively sat down on this, being mindful not to knock over the ceramic vase adorning it.

Now, that she was seated in front of him, she could hug her legs around his waist as she kissed him and suddenly it felt really mature; she was straddling him, moving against him, grinding against him. It was all happening so quickly. The feeling was so hypnotizing, she couldn’t help but push into him, the relief in her core was remarkable.

“Oh my god, Astrid,” the mumble came out as a breath, between kisses. His soft words prickled her stomach.

It felt like they were doing something really bad; suddenly, she was worried about someone walking in.

Was that fear, she recognized? Gods what was she becoming?

Hiccup’s hands on either side of her thighs brought her out of her head. The shorts she was wearing revealed much of her leg, including the few inches above her knee. No one else had ever touched her bare legs before, so the contact was quite magnified.

Astrid leaned into him further, closing the remaining space between them.

She wanted so badly for his hands to rise up her legs, moving to the inner parts rather than the outer. She would not lie to herself, she wanted him to fuck her. She wanted so badly for him to initiate it, because the truth was, she was scared.

She broke their kiss to meet his eyes, feeling so grown up. He seemed mellow, not nervous, and she was about to say something when, unfortunately, she caught a glimpse of the window past his head.

“Shit!” The realization hit her with a flash of disappointment, “How long has it stopped raining for?”

The maroon curtain was slightly open, allowing a stretch of light to decorate the kitchen and a view of the fog that had settled over the land, creating a hazy, gray overlay outside.

“Umm, I dunno. Why?” His unbothered response furthered her alarm.

“Because my parents are probably on the way back now! Quick we gotta get you dressed.”

A look of panic crossed his face, however his voice remained even, “Well, shit. Where is my shirt?”

“It’s okay,” she reassured him but more so herself. “I think it’s in my room.”

Suddenly they were scrambling around the house trying to get all of his stuff together.

She wasn’t exactly sure what would happen if her parents came home and caught her alone with a boy. This had never happened before. It wouldn’t be good. She would be in a lot of trouble and it was certain they would tell the chief, as well, to make sure Hiccup would receive his consequences just the same.

When they got to the front patio area, they could now see that the sun was setting, coloring the sky peach.

“It was so much fun hanging out with you, short stuff,” Astrid could not help but bite her lip to try to stop smiling so hard.

“Yeah. I had a great time,” he couldn’t help wincing at her pet name, “I guess I’ll have to finish that drawing some other time.”

“Just finish it tonight,” she said. “You know what I look like, just draw me up from memory.”

Before he could answer her she pulled him into a kiss. It was long but not explicit.

“I really like you Hiccup,” the butterflies stormed and whirled through her.

“I really like you too,” he pecked her on the cheek, then left.

~ ~ ~

It was shameful to admit it to herself, but at lunch, that next day, when Fishlegs sat down on the bench seat right beside her and Hiccup took the spot across from her, she was internally troubled, overthinking the casual exchange like any other young lady would.

Does he not want to sit next to me? The thought gripped her focus and she inadvertently drowned out Fishleg’s, now, meaningless talk of the primary diet of yetis and snow trolls.

Sure enough, Fishlegs had brought a heavy stack of books he had referenced plenty yesterday, consisting of thousands of pages on any monster anyone could think of and other folklore and spooky stories. He fanned through the leather bounds, stopping every couple of moments to admire various horrific illustrations of monsters, pointing out sets of horns and fangs to them.

Hiccup doesn’t want to sit with me because I was too forward with him yesterday. She hastily decided on a conclusion. It was her worst fear. I pushed and pushed him too far and now he thinks I’m a slut, was the final decision of what Hiccup’s opinion could be. She was starting to run far with this consensus. She felt herself straying further and further from reality and how he had truly felt.

Her mother always told her that boys are supposed to make the first move and that any girl who goes chasing after a boy was just looking for trouble.

Now, you’ve done it! You’ve made a fool of yourself! She could almost hear the bitter echo of her own mother's voice scolding her.

Her eyes trained on Hiccup, who was mildly interested in whatever Fishlegs was saying, while he himself flipped through one of these enormous books. Astrid watched how would glance up at the rambling, excited boy often, but this time, his gaze landed directly on her, instead causing her stomach to toss and flip.

How was he so collected? His green eyes were cool and calm. He just seemed so cool today. She wished she felt as cool as Hiccup looked. She only felt hot and dizzy.

He thinks I’m annoying. She worried hopelessly. He’s already exhausted by my constant need for attention. The pessimistic thoughts had surfaced and began to bully her. No. Calm down. She told herself quickly. He didn’t sit beside me because Fishlegs already took that spot. But there’s another perfectly good spot on my right side he could have taken! But wouldn’t it be weird to have three people seated at just one side of the table?

She was having a debate in her own head, at this point, far away from whatever the boys were speaking of.

Astrid hadn’t imagined the next time they see each other to consist of so many ill feelings. And it didn’t, as far as Hiccup knew. However, she was having such a fit, all to herself, over ultimately nothing.

All night, she hadn’t been able to stop thinking, dreaming of the exchange they shared; his hot mouth on hers, the perfect taste of him, their heavy breath mingling, that funny hardness pressing against her—how could the gods blame her, when she succumbed to touching herself last night? She needed some kind of relief, however, she was bored of her own fingers—she wanted him.

The whole morning, while getting dressed, brushing her hair, her mind could only go to the excitement of getting to see him again and be close to him again. She couldn’t wait to join him at lunch and finally feel that comforting warmth of the side of his thigh pressed against hers. Oh, how her heart desperately ached for this!

Now, she was far, far away, stuck across the table, forever just out of reach. In a moment of frustration, longing so badly to just touch Hiccup's leg with her own and feel that perfect warmth, she selfishly cursed herself for even inviting Fishlegs in the first place.

Speak of the devil, he was looking directly at her.

“So, uh, if you don’t mind me asking…what’s going on with you two, anyway?” Fishlegs was suddenly talking directly to her and she felt a hot chill roll down her spine.

“What,” Hiccup’s dry response came first.

“Nothing! Nothing is going on!” Astrid blurted impulsively then felt guilty for her instinctive response. “Well…not nothing, I mean—we’re friends!”

She caught Hiccup’s eye and to her relief, he didn’t appear offended by this statement. In fact, he kind of looked amused. What was so funny? Suddenly he broke into this big white, dimpled smile. Stupid.

“Well, I think Astrid has a little crush on me,” He teased.

Her jaw dropped. You’ve got to be joking.

“I do not!” She defended herself, instinctively again, blatantly denying the truth and this time kicking his leg with exaggerated force under the table. There was a small thud, rattling the silverware, yet no one acknowledged it.

“Oh, yeah?” Hiccup challenged, unfazed, raising his eyebrows, that stupid smirk remained plastered on his face.

“Hiccup! Shut up!” She glared at his big smile and without realizing it she slammed her palm across the table onto his.

She was confident he wouldn’t spill any intimate details, but she didn’t want to risk it. The last thing she needed was Fishlegs to run his mouth to the other boys. But then asked herself, was she actually afraid of their opinions?

“Okay, I’ll stop” he shook his head, smiling, then looked to Fishlegs and said in the most nonchalant way, “she’s so cute, isn’t she?”

Fishlegs had been beaming back and forth between the both of them this whole time, in pure amusement. He giggled like this was the most entertaining thing.

Astrid could only huff in response, shooting them both a glare.

“Look, I don’t care who’s been fooling around with who,” Fishlegs said innocently. “Cato’s the one who’s obsessed with you, Astrid! I fully support this!”

“This?” Hiccup echoed.

“Nobody has been fooling around with anyone!” Astrid insisted, revisiting the first part and attempting to clear the air.

“Well, perhaps not yet, but from what I can infer, it’s likely to happen at any given point,” Fishlegs said in an innocent yet smarty pants manner and Hiccup thought it was funny and started kind of laughing.

She had always had the upper hand, always been the one who got to tease him, now that the roles were reversed it really made her feel a little embarrassed but for some odd reason she liked it and could feel herself smiling.

Remarkably, his irritating behavior only made her fill with more of these delightful butterflies that she wasn’t used to. She began to realize she liked it when he teased her. She would never admit it, but it only made her want to have sex with him more. And how did that make any sense? She didn’t care.

~ ~ ~

Chapter eight

~ ~ ~

please let me know what you think!

This scene got so extensive I actually had to break it into two parts between chap 8 and 9. The next chapter will be out soon!

~ ~ ~

Forced by the wind, the thick, hickory door slammed shut behind the kids with a heavy clunk, muffling the roaring, endless rainfall outside.

It was physically relieving to get out of that cranky storm and step inside the quiet, stagnate air of a house—her house! That was just the thing, thought Hiccup, now troubled by the feverish uneasiness of being alone with this girl. Like truly, impossibly alone, this time.

Yes, it had just been only the two of them once before, on the night when they had trained together by the water, and even on the day, they had first met, in the forest. Although he had been plenty nervous, those situations had not given him this very peculiar feeling that was arising in his stomach right now.

It had been different, those times. The two of them had been out in the open air, on the open beach or Berk’s local woods. Out in the world, free to be seen, heard, or interacted with by any passerby.

But now…now, here, the two of them were hidden behind private walls, completely isolated from all supervision, exempt from any company.

He fixed on her while she did not pay attention, admiring the gleaming damp wisps of ivory that framed her face, the sweet way her nose and cheeks adopted this pink wash.

There was no one else in the world for him to spend his focus on except for her, which was everything he could have ever wished for and more, but what truly terrified him was the more part.

Now, suddenly, behind closed doors, there was no one else here for her to focus on except for him. And she was wildly unpredictable.

Hiccup tried not to freak out when he realized all of the millions of things that could very likely happen between the two of them.

He was choked by the suddenness of how this all came to be, praying that his panic wasn’t too visually obvious.

He worried for quite some moments, before being able to pay any mind to the growing discomfort provided by the sopping, wet clothes that stuck to his cold skin.

“Wow, it’s really coming down out there,” Astrid spoke suddenly, breaking the silence.

She shifted her silver gaze to him, the two of them still lingering in the foyer.

“I didn’t think the weather would actually get this bad,” he replied, feeling his body begin to tremble in the cool dryness. Water dripped off his clothes, off his hair, trickling onto the floor, “I should have planned a change of dry clothes.”

“Should of, could of,” she teased in a sing-song voice, somehow already pulling his strings, “Looks like you’re just stuck here with me till the storm rides out.”

“Oh, what a pity,” Hiccup grinned, feeling his face grow warm.

She laughed softly at his sarcasm, a bumbling, rich sound in the thick, static air.

The humming sheets of heavy rain seemed to pelt stronger against the roof.

He followed her into the den which consisted of a few sheepskin sofas and a massive, unlit stone fireplace.

He couldn’t help but swallow when he glanced at the couch. A couple pillows and fur throws were sprawled over its expanse.

“So…what do you wanna do?” She suddenly was asking, right beside him, causing him to jump, even gasp the tiniest bit.

His wet, shivering skin broke into goosebumps, perhaps by her sudden closeness.

“I dunno…what do you wanna do?” He played it off cool, meeting her curious eyes with a struggle, trying to ignore the way his heart was pounding.

He prayed he wasn’t coming off too jumpy and took a moment to assess his composure.

“Our family has a nice Taflkast dice set if you wanna play a couple rounds,” Astrid suggested, seemingly unaware of his uneasiness.

Her gaze drifted away from his so she could pull the ribbon free from the end of her dripping braid.

“Yeah, that sounds fun,” he mumbled, intrigued, watching as she undid the long blonde waves she had weaved together, wet and shimmering with rainwater.

He wished so badly to touch that silky softness, to feel her golden locks slip through his fingers. He hoped maybe someday she would allow him to brush her beautiful hair.

“I do want to get into dry clothes first,” she said fixed on him again, then hesitation crossed her face for one of those rare moments where her flawless confidence somehow faltered. She couldn’t even meet his eyes, “Come to my room with me, real quick.”

Hiccup’s stomach dropped like a cannonball. That was the last thing he was expecting her to say. He certainly thought that she would have told him to wait out here. It seemed like she was trying to play it off causal, but an invitation like that was as heavy as it gets. He knew that bedrooms were a very intimate place, especially to be alone with a girl.

His mouth suddenly felt entirely too parched and he wished for a glass of water.

“A-alright,” he swallowed, this time meeting her eyes by mistake, resulting in another hot wave of embarrassment.

She smirked at him charmingly, perhaps finally picking up on his now, probably, obvious tension.

He silently cursed at himself, reminding himself not to stutter as he compliantly followed her across the room, tracking water along the way.

“I feel bad,” she frowned glancing to him, her face glistening beneath the candlelight, “I certainly don’t have anything you can change into.”

“That’s quite alright with me, milady,” he smiled, coming off rather smooth compared to how he was truly feeling, but then quickly felt tremendous satisfaction from the adorable way she lit up at this pet name.

He was trying to be unproblematic but he wouldn’t argue that it would be real nice to feel warm and dry.

While she led him down the dim hallway with her long gold waves flowing down her back, he tried to breathe normally, imagining what was about to happen in her bedroom. Was she going to undress right in front of him? Literally, one of his intrusive, little fantasies had come to life.

When they entered the room, Hiccup’s heart slammed so hard in his chest that he felt like he would puke as his virgin gaze landed on her fluffy, fur bed. His cruel, nervous brain tormented him, flooding his mind with obscene ideas, ensuring he would anticipate the absolute most.

He distracted himself by looking elsewhere. There were little ornate things everywhere; perfumes and oils, twinkling jewels and shiny rings, assorted, dried flower petals in jars organized across her vanity. There was everything he would expect to see in a teenage girl’s room, but there was also some other stuff he would only anticipate seeing in this specific girl’s room, like the wooden, painted target hanging at the top of the far wall, badly worn and punctured with probably a dozen arrows, or the thick wooden posts at each corner of the bed, still standing strong, yet badly mutilated by what he guessed were axe swings.

After setting down her axe on the dresser, Astrid began to remove her shoulder pauldrons, hanging them up on the armor rack. Hiccup stood awkwardly for a moment, before shrugging off his leather satchel, dropping it atop the dresser as well, right beside her axe.

He watched her for a moment, but never for too long, as she gracefully stepped out of her muddy boots, revealing her dainty, princess feet in wooly gray socks, then set them on a mat by the door.

“You can put your boots right here, too,” her words were casual but he could hear the hint of fear wavering in her voice.

He did as was suggested, taking longer than necessary to remove his shoes, silently resurrecting his confidence while he was down there.

“I should have had us take them off by the front door, so we didn’t track anything through the house,” she continued on.

Upon standing back up, he was blessed by a sight he thought he would never get to see. By some divine miracle, Astrid was in the process of removing her top as if he wasn’t even in the room.

Did she not care? He figured that even close friendships appreciated physical privacy, especially so if it was between opposite genders.

Hiccup felt his mouth fall slightly open at this eyeful.

For a moment, it was only a glimpse of her pale stomach, slender waist, then in a flash, her entire garment was thrown aside, leaving her upper body clothed with nothing but thinly wrapped chest bindings. The rainwater had seeped through to that final layer, dampening the fabric to almost see-through and that’s when he forced himself to stop observing any further detail.

“But, I won’t care, if my parents do throw a fit. I just won’t care at all,” she said.

Standing half-naked, her pale skin was beautifully exposed to him and he tried his best not to stare, forcing his eyes just anywhere else in the room.

If his face got any hotter than this, he would absolutely get a nose bleed.

He suddenly couldn’t remember how to breathe, terrified and honored all at the same time—why did she pick him? What was the catch? He thanked the gods, asking them how had he gotten so lucky?

But as quickly as he was thanking them, he was cursing at them, for plaguing him with this uncontrollable, embarrassing stiffness rousing in his rain-drenched, wet pants.

Good fucking gods—wet pants! He was positively doomed. It would be much easier to see anything happening down there with his clothes sticking to him like this!

His body was a traitor. Selling him out in such desperate times.

Astrid unfastened the latch on her belt which held her skirt up, letting it all fall to the floor carelessly with a heavy clatter.

“My mother is always getting onto me over the stupidest things,” she continued to complain, blissfully unaware of his situation.

She began to take off her leggings, meanwhile, Hiccup tried his best to focus on his uneven breathing and the twiddling of his thumbs rather than the—bloody hell, Thor have mercy! Her legs were so perfect, he felt himself jump at the lewd sight. He had never seen anyone so exposed in his life, not even the whores his father used to keep around when he was a child.

Her skin was pale as cream and looked smooth to the touch. It was easy to see, without a doubt, that she was much further along developed than he was in this puberty race.

He had no idea that women could consist of so many curves. Astrid with her long blonde hair, flowing freely like a mermaid, stood only in her chest bindings and those tantalizing panties—which he thought were mature and too sexy for her young age, but it wasn’t his place to say so; he wasn’t her father, or her brother, or her boyfriend.

“How do I look?” She wickedly teased him, then laughed and turned to pose for him playfully, for a moment, placing a hand behind her head and the other on her thrown out hip.

Hiccup could only swallow, feeling his face burn.

She’s talking to you, idiot! Speak! Words! Now!

“Y-You’re breathtaking,” he stammered the first thing he could think of, finally recalling how to function.

She beamed at him, those haunting eyes and he did not fail to catch the solace she found in his reply. She then turned her efforts towards looking for something to wear.

He could not help but survey the slender arch of her calves to the curve of her toned thighs as she leaned into her wardrobe full of clothing.

He glanced away to breathe, trying not to cough, then back to her, naturally, to admire the subtle, developing width of her nice full hips, her thin waist, pelvis bones slightly poking out of her taut stomach.

Hiccup drank up the godly sight of this girl, trying so hard to ignore the way he throbbed. He was truly blown away by her nonchalance, indifferently picking through her wardrobe for something comfortable, while he was just allowed to watch?

He tried his best to play it cool, just to breathe, but every time he glanced over, he would catch the developed plumpness of her ass and how it would so gently bounce as she moved, pawing through her clothes. He begged and pleaded with himself not to grow any harder.

It’s alright, he told himself, he would certainly wake up any second now and this hot fantasy would soon end when he opened his eyes to see that he was still in his own bed.

But then, that furious disappointment would strangle him back into real life, the promise that this beautiful girl, that Astrid, could never truly have feelings for him.

But the dream did not seem to show any signs of ending. He pinched himself.

Hiccup thought she would never settle on something, but finally, she did, throwing a flowing, loose, pale shirt over her head and then sliding on some dark-colored cotton shorts meant for sleeping in—they were rather short, but whatever was comfortable, right?

He didn’t anticipate her to reach under her shirt and unravel her chest bindings. He slightly averted his gaze, hearing them fall to the ground.

Now, she’s not wearing anything underneath that thin shirt, the intrusive thought taunted him and he felt guilty.

“I must get this off the floor or my mother will pitch a fit over that too,” Astrid sighed, snatching her bundle of wet clothes up, then draped it lazily over her armor rack.

“Ready to go play that game?” Hiccup suggested, meaning to come off chipper, but under all the hot tension, his voice cracked boyishly.

“Yeah…let’s go,” she agreed, when she finally met his gaze, he could see that she was just as red and flustered as he was and he felt significantly better about himself.

He thought she was going for the door at first, but she lingered to him instead, smirking her pretty mouth. He prayed she wouldn’t detect his hard-on.

“Hiccup, you’re trembling.”

How nice of you to notice.

She gazed at him, just very, subtly licked at her lips, wetting them, gently biting at that bottom one—was she teasing him? Or was he imagining it? Who was he kidding, this entire field trip to her bedroom had been a tease.

“Are you cold?” Her soft voice was hardly over a whisper.

“Yes,” he confessed.

Her crystal eyes did not leave his own, drawing him weak beneath the unrelenting contact.

She reached her dainty hand out towards him, his breath catching in his throat, as she gently brushed his damp bangs out of his eyes, his heart hammering so hard against his chest, he was certain she would hear it.

Just as he was expecting her to lower her touch, so he could finally breathe again, she then cupped the side of his face lovingly, in her soft, warm hand and allowed her thumb to give his cheek an affectionate stroke.

He felt himself shudder beneath her fingers tips, her touch paralyzing him.

The faintest exhale left her parted lips and a look of attainment filled her winter eyes.

Throughout his whole life, he had experienced such little physical touch. Being very rarely being hugged by his father, usually, the most he got out of any parental figure was a pat on the back.

He had never felt a loving sensation such as this one and he allowed his eyes to flutter shut for just a second.

Then out of nowhere, “Hiccup, why don’t you take off this wet shirt?” She was tugging on his sleeve and suddenly her crystal eyes were penetrating him. She had no idea what power her words had over him, what they did to him, then she added with just a hint of girlish nervousness, “I-I’m sure you’ll feel much better without it.”

My shirt? Did he hear her correctly? He felt dizzy for a second when reality caught up with him.

She just asked him to take off his shirt. Did she want him to take off his shirt? Would she like that? No, it wasn’t that, he told himself, it couldn’t be. She only wanted him to be more comfortable, less cold, not shivering, but would he even be more comfortable being so exposed? Physically maybe, but mentally, no chance.

He would never dream of not doing as she asked. How could he possibly say no to her? But the controlling anxiety was clawing him to pieces.

She would laugh at how scrawny he’ll look shirtless, he panicked unrealistically while his self-consciousness abused him. She’ll be appalled by his lack of manliness—he was sure of it—more than disappointed by the haunting absence of any muscle.

“You just look so cold,” she insisted softly and he realized he had been quiet and reactionless for far too long.

His trembling body would certainly appreciate the gesture, he considered.

The continuous patter of rain outside the windows hummed on.

“I-I am cold,” he blinked, finally finding his words, “Uh, I’ll take it off.”

The slightest hint of surprise knitted in her brows.

Hiccup mentally braced himself for her negative reaction, before shrugging off his cold, wet shirt, right in front of her.

It felt positively better to have that thing off of him, yet, suddenly not so much, when he felt entirely too naked and vulnerable—surely, far too small for her liking. He frowned down at his sharp rib cage, clutching his sopping shirt in his hand.

“Beautiful,” he heard her say, to his surprise.

Beautiful? That’s the last word he would use to describe himself.

He met up with her gaze only to see that her eyes fixed over his body—please, not the stiffy—evidently appraising his blindingly bare paleness.

“I’m glad you think so,” he sighed, looking off to the side as his face burned like a hot coal.

“I’m sure that feels much better now, huh?” Astrid smiled, showing her gleaming, sharp teeth, the nervous tension had somehow left her demeanor.

If she was scared, she was doing a fine job of hiding it.

“It does.”

“Here, I’ll warm you up,” She offered generously.

Then suddenly, before he could say alright, her soft hands were already around his teeny upper arms, moving up and down in an attempt for heated friction.

“We have blankets and stuff too,” she suggested, amusement playing on her tone.

“I’m alright, thank you,” he laughed huskily, trying to remain as cool as he could beneath her powerful touch.

It did warm him up plenty, but he was busy being choked by embarrassment, for there was no way she hadn’t noticed his stupid boner by now. To his worst nightmare, her eyes that had been fixated on his, were now busy, traveling over his little frame. If she hadn’t seen it yet, she surely would in the next few seconds.

Her intoxicating touch wandered off course, rising up his freckled shoulders and up the back of his neck, leaving a trail of goosebumps beneath her touch. Her attentive fingers raked through his hair, then back down his neck and shoulders, once more, to glide over his pounding chest.

The feeling of her nurturing fingertips over his skin was foreign and strange, yet so impossibly soothing.

For a moment her chilling eyes were back on his. Then, out of nowhere, she leaned in and kissed him.

He had trouble reacting, he was dazed for a heartbeat or two, before melting into her warm, soft lips.

Her hands had yet to move from his white chest and he wondered if she could feel his racing heart beneath her fingertips.

She moved her lips against his with eager impatience, before forcing her tongue into his mouth as if it were the very thing she had been waiting her whole life to do.

He tried to tolerate the way his erection throbbed, but all too soon, it was literally impossible, when she fancied herself against him, chest to chest, groin to groin.

He gasped, almost squeaked, at the sudden, glorious pressure down there.

This caused her to laugh softly, smiling against his lips and stirring up a fluttering in his stomach.

She was really taking the piss out of him, now, wasn’t she?

He knew she could feel his hardness against her, but in the erotic heat of the moment, perhaps the lust had caught up with her, taking over any feelings of fear.

“Let’s go play that stupid dice game,” she murmured, her breath mingling with his and a hot chill rolled up his spine.

“O-Okay,” he hardly managed.

She untangled herself from him, evidently unfazed, at least from what he could tell, and they floated out of her room, hardly decent. Hiccup watched her as she skipped down the hall—those skimpy shorts were the devil.

Astrid insisted that he sit right across from her, on the floor, while they played Taflkast.

She opened the leather pouch, dumping its contents out; tiny, wooden pieces all over the fur rug.

At first, Hiccup couldn’t remember how the game went, he hadn’t played this in a few years, but after she explained the rules, it all came back to him.

While playing, Hiccup tried as best he could to concentrate on the game, yet his once innocent mind was now afflicted with the unforgettable impression of sexy, almost-naked Astrid.

By accident, his eyes skimmed directly over her chest, over that light, thin material, capturing the way her nipples sharply poked against the shirt. He glanced up to make sure she hadn’t seen and to his relief, she was mildly distracted by the game.

Stop it, you dirty perv, he scolded himself, telling himself that he shouldn’t even be thinking of her in this way.

“Hiccup, it’s your turn,” her beautiful ocean eyes were so adoring on him.

But, I’m so in love with you.

“You suck at this game,” she laughed.

Hiccup had grown somewhat comfortable at this point and almost completely forgot he wasn’t wearing a shirt.

Based on her reaction earlier and a little bit right now, he knew she actually liked how he looked. His luck had been so exceptional, he wondered if he had been somehow blessed by the gods in some moonlight ritual he had no memory of. Or perhaps, someone had tricked her into drinking a love potion or put her under some kind of spell. He couldn’t figure it out.

He kept catching the way her eyes would wander over his shirtless, thin body as if she wanted so badly to just reach out and touch his bare skin again.

When she saw he had noticed, her sheepish gaze snapped back up to his as she blushed, which he found quite adorable. For a rare moment, he felt really good about himself.

After a half a dozen rounds, they lost interest in the wooden dice and switched to a more intense, strategy, board game, called Hnefatafl, when Astrid suggested that it would be ‘loads more fun.’

They sat crisscross applesauce across from one another with the playing board in between them.

Hiccup had never played this game before, but after learning the rules, he quickly got the hang of the slow-paced, thoughtful turns.

He won the first two games and was about to win the third when a loud, sudden clash of lightning rumbled the house and startled both kids enough to jump in fright.

“Oh,” Astrid suddenly said, a look of realization crossing her face, “I hope none of your books got wet in the rain,” she worried.

“Hm, I hope not,” Hiccup said easily.

“I was wondering…” Astrid started, eying him hopefully, “can we look at some more of your sketches?”

“Well, alright,” he answered with a touch of reluctance, “if you want to.”

“Great!”

She was up to run and go grab it before he could say anything else.

“Here, I brought the whole bag because there’s a lot of books in here,” she thrust the damp leather satchel into his arms as they casually settled down on the couch together.

It was amazing how much tension could rise within him, just from being on that fur blanket next to her.

Hiccup slid the sketchbook out of the bag, opening it to the first couple of pages, which he knew were safe.

He was always so careful handling such a sensitive book around her. There was no way in hell he would allow her to see those embarrassing drawings of herself. He had previously thought about pulling them, though, they were just too good to tear out.

“Here’s a sketch I did of a rabbit.”

His heart skipped a beat when her electric hand decided to rest, out of anywhere, on his thigh.

She really, really likes me.

“Aw, he’s so cute. This is great work,” she admired the bunny drawing, then shifted herself more so against him.

“Yeah, he didn’t hop away or anything, so I was able to get the detail on the eyes,” Hiccup remained chill, letting her curl up on him, as he pointed out the lead shading.

This is a dream come true.

“Maybe, he just thought you were another rabbit,” Astrid teased amusingly and leaned in somewhat, to observe the intricate markings.

“Oh, ha-ha, you’re so funny,” smirked Hiccup sarcastically.

“You’re so cute and little, though!”

He ignored her, yet giving her a small, insincere glare, as he turned to the next page.

“Here’s a different one I did of the Night Fury,” he continued on.

“Oh! cool. This one is more detailed than the one you showed me the other day,” she said, seemingly interested in the dragon stuff the most, which made his heart flutter.

He turned to the next page, feeling his stomach drop like a boulder. He quickly skipped over that one, trying to remain composed.

“What’s that?”

My worst fear.

“Oh, nothing.”

“Lemme see!” She jumped excitedly, to an upright seated position beside him.

“No way,” Hiccup felt his face light on fire.

Astrid snatched the sketchbook, faster than he could pull it away from her reach, and she hugged it to her chest.

“Astrid, no, give it back,” Hiccup pleaded desperately, sitting up quickly.

“I won’t laugh, I promise,” she shook her head, a big smile overtaking her face.

“No, it’s so bad,” he shook his head, too, “you don’t understand.”

“Come onnn, I thought we were closer than that,” she coerced.

Hiccup could only swallow weakly, eyeing her wordlessly, in inevitable defeat.

This is it, he accepted his fate, this was the end of his bloody world. It was all over now.

He felt like he was going to puke when she fanned open the book and peered down at its pages.

Her determined facial expression wavered into slight confusion upon viewing the contents, her brows knitting some.

“I—what’s so bad about it? Are these valkyries?”

She looked closer.

“Wait…Hiccup, this is beautiful. Is this one supposed to be me?”

He was absolutely going to die. This fantasy had turned into a terrible nightmare far too quickly.

She glanced up at him, he had fallen silent, mortified.

“Hiccup,” she said his name again, this time gazing directly into his soul. “I love this. I love this so much.”

She reached out and grabbed his hand, squeezing it gently, but he could only blink at her.

“This means the world to me. Nobody has ever done anything like this for me,” she looked emotional for a second when she held her heart in her free hand.

“You drew me as a valkyrie?” She dropped everything to then flip the page, “and a fairy? Amongst all these other fairies of course, but this one is certainly me, wouldn’t you say?”

He nodded.

“This is the most remarkably gorgeous thing I’ve ever seen in my life!” She cried, “why would you want to keep this hidden?”

The words finally came spilling out of him, “I-I was so worried y-you would—you would, I dunno,” but then she grabbed his face and kissed him.

Her comforting mouth against his drained all his worries away.

“Hiccup, I want you to draw me in real life,” she pulled away to say, still holding his face in her hands.

“What?”

“Draw me, please,” she insisted, her pleading blue eyes were stunning to meet with. Her fingers sweetly caressed his skin.

He wouldn’t say no to her. This was an opportunity of a lifetime, one he never thought he would get to have, even if he did somehow manage to become friends with her.

“Right now?” He asked a bit choked up with apprehension.

“Yes, now. Why not?” She finally let go of him and posed dramatically for a moment, laughing that beautiful laugh of hers.

“Alright, well get comfortable, it might take a while,” Hiccup reached into the leather satchel, searching for a couple of sketching utensils.

“That’s just fine with me,” her voice was dreamlike as she watched him leave their sofa to pull a chair close enough for the perfect, artistic view of her, sliding it over the masonry floor.

He sank down in the fluffy chair, a couple of spaces away from her. He was scared out of his wits.

“And try to keep y-your eyes on mine, if you can,” he instructed her weakly.

~ ~ ~

Chapter Seven

~ ~ ~

By now, nobody reacted surprised when Astrid sat with Hiccup again during lunchtime, as she had been doing so almost all week long.

Ruffnut might have glanced at her a couple of times, but they were funny, little smiles as if to encourage any intimate interactions between the two of them.

Not that Astrid cared even the slightest bit, she still found it odd enough to see an absent seat where Cato usually resided, glaring daggers across the room at the two of them, or pouting over his food like a spoiled child.

He could have slept in, or perhaps, he couldn’t possibly stand the sight of Astrid with anyone but himself anymore and finally decided he had enough.

Astrid sat beside Hiccup today, not across from him, so that their legs could be up against one another, their elbows could touch, so she could just be close to him.

Sometimes, if she was lucky, when he turned his head and talked to her she could feel a slight ghost of his warm breath on her cheek, or her neck, or the ivory strands of hair that tickled her ear.

Hiccup didn’t seem nearly as nervous as she had anticipated he would be during lunchtime, right before training with her at Berk’s public combat arena. She suspected his lack of anxiety was due to Cato’s current absence and hoped this blessing would apply to the following event.

She leaned her head close to Hiccup’s, dying to just rest it on his shoulder.

“This dragon is probably my favorite,” Astrid pointed at the Deadly Nadder illustration above its fierce description. “It would definitely put up a difficult fight.”

“I feel like it would be a lot more fun to try to ride the dragon, don’t you think?” Hiccup suggested avidly, a bit of charm in his eyes, “Like imagine what it would be like to fly.”

“I didn’t even think about that,” Astrid pondered the concept. “How would you even tame a dragon up to a point for it to actually allow you onto its back?”

She always had imagined these creatures as being quite viscous and merciless, never giving any thought to other possibilities until now.

“Beats me,” Hiccup shrugged his tiny shoulders, “just sounds pretty cool. Like, this one specifically is so fast. Theoretically.”

“I believe in them,” Astrid said heartily. “I believe they exist or existed.”

She truly should, she told herself. She wasn’t just saying that because it would gain Hiccup’s approval, right? Anything was possible, she decided on.

“I just know they still exist,” his green eyes flickered off the page to hers, “I mean there’s been tons of sightings.”

“Yeah, there’s no way these things aren’t flying around somewhere,” she agreed, unable to rip her eyes away from his, her stomach feeling the full fluttering effect under his pleasant gaze, “Just think about all the uninhabited islands I pass by while sailing to visit my distant relatives.”

“Yeah,” Hiccup paused dreamily for a moment, blinking his bright eyes with wonder, “they’ve gotta be out there. It’s a big world.”

His words had a sentimental touch to them for some odd reason and the warmth of his leg against hers was so comforting.

“So, what’s your favorite dragon?” Astrid questioned further, just wanting to hear him talk some more.

She enjoyed learning things about him, but if she were to be honest with herself, it truly did not matter what he spoke of, as long as she could hear the mellow sound of his voice.

“I would probably have to say the Night Fury,” he answered without having to think about it.

“That one isn’t in this book,” she flipped through the pages of the alphabetically-organized dragons. “Oh wait, here it is.”

A subtle smile played on his freckled face, creating the faintest of dimples at the corner of his mouth.

“It’s only a vague description, no picture or anything,” Astrid stared down at the page, perplexed.

“I know,” his smile deepened.

“I don’t get it. What’s so great about it?”

“It’s one of the rarest dragons there is, again, only in theory. It’s also the only dragon that doesn’t have a drawing to go with it,” he explained.

How could something in a questionably existent collection be rare or not? Clearly, he had done his homework.

“There’s only a small bit of information on it. Well, in this book, at least,” Hiccup explained, speaking quickly with enthusiasm, “There are tons of other books I found in the library about the legends and folklore of the Night Fury but there has said to only be a few sightings of it from far away distances. I guess no one has been able to get close enough to get a good look at it without getting eaten.”

“Oh, I like this dragon, it sounds frightening. What does it look like according to the distant sightings anyway?”

“It’s described as dark and kinda lanky and it darts around so quickly and gracefully through the sky you would miss it if you blinked.”

“Not faster than the Nadder though, right?”

“Definitely faster,” he disagreed to her surprise.

“Wow, that’s incredible,” after a thoughtful pause she beamed at him admiringly, “I didn’t think there was anyone who knew so much about dragons.”

A hint of smugness bled through him for one of the few, rare times she had detected, when he smirked at her in a bit of a haughty manner, “Well, I did spend about half my life teaching myself everything there is to know about them.”

She threw him a brilliant smile and then to give him more than what he wanted, she said, “Wow, that is some impressive dedication, Hiccup,” she fawned over him, “I love how scholarly you are.”

It was amusing to see all the coolness drain from him, replaced by a hot, uneasy blush. She wondered at what point her sweetness would fuel his smug rather than fluster him.

“Well, thank you. I-I actually have a sketch of one…if you want to see,” he shifted against her leg, heavy reluctance suggesting his tone.

“Yes, I would love to,” she said, more than delighted to see one of his drawings. She hoped she wasn’t forcing him out of his boundaries. He had been the one to suggest showing off his private, little drawings first, after all.

Hiccup pulled a leather-bound sketchbook out of his bag and held it very close to him, without opening it all the way so she could not see its contents unless he wanted her to. He was very careful while turning through each page, yet skipping a couple at a time, and it raised a spark of curiosity within her. It seemed as if he had something to hide in that book.

He stopped on a page and held it open to show her, a few charcoal sketches smudged over the yellowing parchment. It was an ominous drawing of a slender, feline-like dragon; there were serval different angles and some depictions of its sharp wings stretched out. She was blown away by the skill in his art. She had no idea he possessed such a talent.

“Woah,” Astrid breathed, “that’s some beautiful work, Hiccup, you truly have a gift.”

“It took a long time to get decent,” he said simply.

“Decent? This is a masterpiece!” She insisted, “You’ll have to show me more sometime.”

A bashful smile captured his face. It was obvious he wasn’t used to the overload of compliments.

“Yeah, of course.”

As lunch drew to an end, she picked up on his subtle uneasiness, but he was doing his best to hide it and so she did him the favor of not addressing it.

The sky held a bit of an overcast this afternoon, gray clouds mudding up the pale, lukewarm sun to a tin ambiance.

She prayed the gods would be kind and that the dreary weather was not foreshadowing the luck for today.

While they walked the trail to the arena, Astrid advised more detailed tips on offensive and defensive stances. She could tell Hiccup’s head was somewhere else, because while he was usually curious and full of questions, most of his responses were “uh-huh,” and “okay.”

When they entered the arena Hiccup drifted behind her quietly, perhaps hoping to remain undetected by the other kids their age, however, Astrid was a flashy sight wherever she went and this would not work in his skittish favor. She noticed a few heads turn their way, but there was no more drama than that.

Without much effort, Astrid sought out Fishleg’s hefty figure practicing by himself, off in the far west corner of the moderately occupied stadium, with a flail, which is basically just a mace and chain. He was swinging it with weak, hesitant force against a wooden and straw target, missing almost every other turn.

Like Hiccup, Fishlegs was one of the few boys Astrid felt she could talk to without feeling like some object of attraction. She felt as if he treated her as an equal, like two Vikings having a conversation, rather than her having to stomach whatever flirtatious or sexual remarks she endured from the other boys. She never sensed that constant predatory undertone within him that a lot of the others seemed to radiate.

Astrid approached Fishlegs with Hiccup following close behind, like a silent pup, while she navigated them across the watchful arena.

When they reached his proximity, he was still turned away swinging his flail, which she could now truly see, appeared much too small for his massive size.

There was no doubt in her mind this wouldn’t go smoothly. Fishlegs had one of the biggest hearts she knew of. She once saw him shed tears over a deceased butterfly after he accidentally landed on it and crushed it.

“Hey, Fishlegs,” she greeted the back of his blonde head.

The bigger boy turned around and a friendly smile crossed his face when he looked down at his much smaller addresser.

“Good afternoon, Astrid,” he chimed politely, then trained his harmless eyes on the other boy, his smile remaining bright, “and Hiccup.”

She was relieved to hear Fishlegs greet him by name.

“Hello,” Hiccup answered gently, still partially tucked behind her.

“How have you been?” Fishlegs asked fixing back on Astrid.

“Never been better,” she replied honestly. The recent, uphill days had been so refreshing. “And you?”

“That’s great to hear, Astrid,” he said as he swung the chain of his weapon around in a mediocre circle, then launched it at the target, missing again. He sighed before answering her small talk, “and I’m doing just fine. You know, same old, same old.”

“We haven’t caught up in ages,” she fussed, “and you’re such an old friend, let’s please all train together.”

“Of course,” he agreed to her relief, tossing the flail off to the ground carelessly, “I could always use the company. And definitely a change of weapon choice.”

“Lovely! This will be so much fun!” Astrid could hardly contain her excitement as she looped her arm through quiet Hiccup’s, to yank him to the front, beside her.

“The past couple of days, I’ve been training with Hiccup all the melee basics,” she filled him in while his friendly gaze floated down to the smaller boy.

“Oh, that is my absolute worst branch of combat,” Fishlegs groaned in lighthearted complaint.

“That makes two of us,” Hiccup contributed minimal words, yet a witty remark still managed to fall out of his mouth, causing Fishlegs to snort in amusement.

“What is with all that swinging and stabbing nonsense anyway?” The larger boy bantered with him, “I would much rather tactically aim my crossbow between my enemies’ eyes from a safe distance.”

“I would definitely rather do it that way too, it’s much more strategic,” Hiccup was quick to agree. He started talking finally and Astrid resisted the urge to congratulate him.

There was a pause of silence.

“Hiccup likes to read,” Astrid blurted out, feeling as if it were her responsibility to pull the two together.

Fishlegs lit up at this gift of information.

“I love to read,” He exclaimed, looking to Hiccup, “I respect someone who can appreciate literature. What are you reading, right now?”

Hiccup hesitated. “Um, well, I’ve already read it before, I’m just reading it again.”

“It’s good enough to read it twice? Now I’m intrigued, I’ve got to check it out, what is it?”

“It’s not really a novel or anything,” said Hiccup timidly, “it’s uh, The Book of Dragons.”

Fishlegs jaw dropped open and his eyes widened in the most amusing, dramatic manner.

“The Book of Dragons?” He echoed in a girlish gasp, “I’ve never read that one before, but I’ve always wanted to get my hands on a copy! I absolutely love dragons! They’re my all-time favorite mystery, right next to the sea monsters, of course.”

Perfect. Astrid was more than satisfied with the nerd party she had started. They would get along just fine now, without much further effort. Though clearly her work here was done, a little more influence couldn’t hurt.

“What’s your favorite dragon, Fishlegs? Mine is the Deady Nadder,” she specified. Her ego couldn’t help but ensure that he was aware she harbored knowledge for dragons as well as the two of them.

“That makes perfect sense!” He concluded, continuing to explode into detail, “It shares some of your characteristics—it’s incredibly swift and agile and has the deadliest aim,” he observed keenly, using plenty of his hands.

How had someone pieced this bit together before she could?

“And as for my favorite dragon? Well, I’m not so sure. I like the Hideous Zipplebacks, however, the Gronckles might be my favorite overall.”

Astrid never thought she would discover someone who was just as infatuated with dragons as Hiccup was.

“Wow, you sure know a lot about dragons,” Hiccup stated her thoughts exactly.

“Well, recently I’ve been reading more so for retaining information and deepening my knowledge bank, not so much entertainment purposes, though who doesn’t love a good romance novel once and while?” He suddenly appeared as if he said a smidge too much, flushing like a beet.

Hiccup laughed, though, not admitting to such things, then suggested, “We could all go to the library tomorrow if you both want to.”

Astrid had set foot in Berk’s library very few times in her life, strictly for any instructional guides to refine her fighting skills and almost always under the order of a professor. She never once had considered actually going in there during her free time for enjoyment.

However, given the circumstances, it seemed like it could be some fun—Hiccup would be there. He was fishing a side out of her she had no idea she even reserved.

Fishlegs looked emotionally softened, as he was deeply moved by being invited to the library. His reaction suggested that this could be a rare occasion, or might have never happened before at all.

“I would be delighted to go with you guys!” His voice jumped with glee as he could hardly contain his excitement.

“Great,” said Hiccup, “we can all go tomorrow in the afternoon.”

“Sounds good!” Fishlegs beamed appreciatively.

It seemed as though he had been in need of a friend more so than Hiccup. Astrid couldn’t help but feel pleased with herself and the way she had brought two loners together.

Although, she wouldn’t exactly specify Fishlegs as a loner, because he was easily able to fit in with the other kids, though it was obvious he wasn’t actually pursuing his true interests.

Nonetheless, in the overall picture, neither of these boys really had friends. Now that she was about to inspect each vein of the social system, she was the odd one out in this particular trio of Vikings, her nervous thoughts whispered to her, promised her.

She worried for an unrealistic moment if the two would form a union against her because of her social status and the assholes she used to hang out with.

She would make a point to rebrand herself.

“Do you want to sit with Hiccup and I at lunch tomorrow?” Astrid blurted out, absolutely loving the way ‘Hiccup and I’ sounded coming out of her mouth.

“Sure,” Fishlegs agreed without hesitation.

Out of the corner of her eye, she caught how Hiccup glanced to her, giving her some kind of look, though she couldn’t exactly pinpoint his thoughts. Maybe she should have run the blatant invitation through him first.

“I’ll bring my books of mythical beasts and folklore,” suggested Fishlegs.

“Oh, yeah, I kinda wanna look through that,” Hiccup said.

“Just wait till you see all the monsters inside,” Fishlegs continued to fuel this, now, one-sided bonfire of excitement.

“Monsters?” Hiccup echoed, appearing slightly alarmed.

“Don’t worry, I know it sounds scary,” Fishlegs gave the other boy unnecessary reassurance, “I’m terrified of pretty much everything, so trust me, when I tell you they’re more fascinating than frightening!”

“Let’s get to fighting already,” Astrid broke in with a groan, although she sounded impatient, it wasn’t sincere.

She was ecstatic the two of them had hit it off but she could see this conversation lasting for hours.

They trained for a while until the overcast grew heavy and dark. When they finally departed the arena for the day, the wind had picked up immensely, blowing feverish gusts through the rattling branches, promising a storm was up ahead.

The three of them walked the trail together hastily, in order to beat the weather and when they reached a fork in the way, Fishlegs had to split off and take a separate road in order to get home.

At the dawn of his absence, Astrid was not proud to admit to herself how relieved she felt to be alone with Hiccup again.

“You’ll walk me home?” She beckoned.

“Yes, of course,” he was quick to answer, eager to please.

“See I told you, the two of you would get along just fine,” Astrid gave him an insightful side-smile as they began to walk.

“Yeah, I didn’t realize that we share some of the same interests,” admitted Hiccup, glancing to her.

She met his refreshing eyes for a thoughtful moment.

“You don’t mind that I invited him to sit with us tomorrow, do you?” Astrid worried.

“No, of course not,” Hiccup discouraged this assumption quickly, “he’s a nice guy. It could be fun, the three of us.”

The three of us. His words had an offbeat ring. She knew he wouldn’t disclose his true feelings to her, right now, at least. Good thing he didn’t have to—she was already remarkable at reading him all on her own.

“Don’t get me wrong, Hiccup,” her tone jumped teasingly as they walked, “I prefer when it’s just the two of us, as well.”

“You do?” He considered thickly, flustered by her subtle allegation.

She felt mildly rewarded by the production of blush over his freckled cheeks and then this curious desire to kiss him hotly pricked her like a sewing needle, however she made no such move to do so yet.

“Well, of course. I always prefer when I’m only with you,” Astrid insisted clinically.

It surprised her when she heard herself and how sweet it sounded coming out of her mouth—she would have cringed if this decree was directed towards anyone else. He had dug out a raw spot in her heart she wasn’t keen on admitting was there.

“I feel the same way,” his voice was soft.

Hiccup looked over to smile at her when she felt the dancing electric of his hand nudge hers by accident. Or perhaps it wasn’t a mistake? She wondered if maybe he wanted to hold her hand, but was still too shy to do so, even after being kissed by her twice.

Fastening onto this idea, she dauntlessly snared his small hand in her own, knitting their fingers together.

His reaction was subtle, but she adored how his eyes jumped down to their intertwined hands, then fixed back to her own eyes, twinkling in marvel, even under the ever-darkening cloud masses moving in over Berk.

She had been wanting to get a hold on him, another chance to touch him, since earlier when she was blessed by the warm physical contact of his leg against hers when they sat next to one another at lunch.

They walked hand in hand around the overgrown bend that followed her yard. Once they reached the old, brawny juniper tree, she stopped him beneath the shade of its gnarled branches and kissed him.

With good grace, he kissed her back. His lips moved against hers softly and she sensed less hesitation in him this time.

Her ready fingers trailed up, to coax the soft flips of copper hair falling at the back of his neck when she suddenly felt the gentle touch of his docile hands on her waist and it put her under some kind of spell.

She pleaded his mouth open, so her lovesick tongue could play in the hot rapture, and out of nowhere, he gently pulled her in closer against him, fueled by this random miracle of desire.

Up until this very second, he had always been so submissive to her, especially during the more intimate moments they had shared. And though she completely preferred it that way, to be in charge, she couldn’t help but feel impressed by his tiny speck of wayward behavior, to say the least.

But as quickly as his tiny dominance had surfaced, it sank, when his grip loosened, and the feeling of his nervous, racing heart against her chest was a dream come true once more.

As her tongue moved over his in a playful, little spar, she felt the first cold drop of rain land on her head.

She ignored it, not wanting this dream to end, kissing him deeper in hopes he would ignore it too. To her delight, he paid no mind to it, even when the second and third and dozen droplets of rain followed that initial one, soaking her hair and drenching her clothes when she finally retired from his mouth and began to laugh in the pouring rainfall.

“I want you to come inside the house, just til it stops raining,” she met his glowing eyes, his lashes dappled with droplets and his gleaming face slick with sky water.

The invitation felt fast, as her mother would say, but it would certainly be rude to have him walk home in such horrible weather.

Right on time, a growl of thunder rumbled through the glooming sky.

“Well, only if y-you insist,” Hiccup retorted politely, though quite timidly.

She knew neither of her parents would be there to reprimand her for bringing a boy home, but she was confident that even her stern mother would see that Hiccup was hardly a threat.

While familiar adults in the village hardly treated her as a child, her parents were strict with their rules and kept her sheltered for most of her life.

They prescribed her a perfect schedule and stern force to train hard without faults to become the most flawless warrior anyone could possibly raise.

Her father was a retired war veteran who worked on his own farm nowadays and she knew that’s where he would be now.

Whenever it rained, he had no choice but to move the cattle inside from the storming pasture as well as the metal farm equipment that was promised to rust.

The quaint, cobblestone shop outside the farm, antique and overgrown with ivy, was run by her mother who sold freshly baked bread, cow and goat milk, raw hen eggs, and various fruits and vegetables.

Earlier this morning, when Astrid first woke up, her mother was just leaving to open the shop and she was willing to bet that’s where she would still be, especially at this time of the day, or due to the weather she would certainly helping her father with the farm.

For a guilty second, Astrid wondered if maybe she should be helping her tired, old parents with the physical chores, instead of impishly sneaking a boy into her house.

No, it wasn’t like that! It was innocent, she promised herself. They would just wait out the weather over a board game or something.

As they drew up to her front door, she felt unrelenting waves of fear, for she was about to be inside this quiet, vacant place, sealed off from the rest of the world, with no one else but Hiccup.

If her parents were to come home they would be trapped, she worried with dread. Or even worse, what if they didn’t come home—the panic gripped her—all the lewd, endless possibilities crept up into her mind, making her stomach turn with apprehension.

Suddenly she felt entirely young as she grabbed Hiccup’s hand and pulled him inside the warm dry shelter with her. It felt as if, for a wavering moment, her true, child soul finally caught up with her mature façade.

She laughed at herself, laughed at that silly half-second of actually feeling intimidated by being alone with Hiccup.

He was as harmless and innocent as a lamb. She knew damn well that if there was any hot kissing or heavy petting, it would only be because she started it.

But it wouldn’t get to that point, she mentally planned. Although there was no doubt that she wanted to take things a step further with Hiccup, further than first-base for sure, she would not deny to anyone, even herself, that he was not ready for that. At least, from what she could gather, judging by most of his reactions to her spirited affection.

She did not want to force him out of his comfort zone. Some folk don’t take into consideration the underlying trauma that even subtle sexual advancements could cause on the developing mind, and she would not contribute to that destruction. She would only be just as bad as Cato if she succumbed to such.

They would play board games and drink hot cocoa and read books and if Hiccup wanted to do any more than that, she decided she would just let him take the lead and make the first move if he could handle that.

More like if she could handle that, she worried realistically. She had a hard time stopping herself from kissing him abruptly whenever she felt that unwavering ache to do so.

~ ~ ~

Chapter six

~ ~ ~

Astrid convinced her impatient self to stay and train at the arena until the sun finally started to sink low enough to redden the blanket of sky.

Fortunately, she managed to get in and out of practice without directly interacting with Cato. The most that had occurred between the two of them was some uncomfortable eye contact from a distance.

She did not care if Hiccup was finished with his work at the blacksmith shop or not, she was headed there either way and even if she had to wait for him, she would.

When Astrid approached the forge, a white tail of steam was spewing out the chimney, providing her that Hiccup was still pounding away at the ironworks.

She slipped into the warmth of the building, embraced by the dim flicker of amber shadows, the scent of smelting metal and burning coals filled her senses.

The fire-lit room was adorned with countless, glittering weapons of all different breeds and sizes. The bricks of steel, iron, and especially bronze that were piled up in organized stacks on the floor reminded her of giant bars of chocolate. She had been inside the shop a couple of times before throughout her lifetime of residing in Berk, but never had she been inside while Hiccup was presently working.

He hadn’t seen her walk in, he was intently focused on sharpening a long two-handed sword, his hot, worked face close to the rapidly moving grindstone was grazed by the bright sparks jumping out.

He had never appeared so attractive to her before this very moment. From the moment she walked into the room, she had fixed her cat-like eyes on him and the chase for her catch had begun. If truth be told, the hunt started when she first awoke, this morning, from her potent dream of him.

There was something enticing in seeing him hard away at work, tired and sweaty and completely unaware of her presence; it somehow felt peculiarly arousing, in light of the theme of today was rather sexual.

She was very tempted to slink up behind him and snake her arms around his thin waist, lay tender kisses down the side of his throat, adoring the way he would jump beneath her longing touch.

Nonetheless, her confidence fuse seemed to short out while waiting for the grindstone to stop moving and once it did, alternatively, she ambled up to his turned-away figure, and chose a more innocent gesture, setting her hand down on his shoulder.

To her satisfaction, he still jumped, just like she wanted him to and the look of relief in his eyes as he turned around to see her coy smile was significantly rewarding inside.

“Hiccup.”

“Oh, hey,” he managed to say coolly, greeting her with the dearest grin, an oversized apron was draped over his petite figure, “I just finished up here.”

“I couldn’t wait to see you,” Astrid admitted, treasuring the way her heart absolutely fluttered as she told him, “Everyone else is so boring.”

He laughed and she was more than fulfilled when she witnessed his face light up red.

“Trust me, I feel the same way,” he said, the massive sword he began carrying across the room made him look dainty and adorable, “You’re the only one here that’s nice to me.”

A frosty cloud of sympathy snowed her heart in and she wanted to hug him so badly. How could anyone mistreat him? He’s so harmless.

“Who’s mean to you? Tell me their names,” she demanded.

“I can’t exactly say,” he replied timidly, sliding the freshly sharpened sword into a weapon rack.

“Why? Are you protecting them?” Astrid questioned hastily, feeling the fiery instinct to keep him safe, They didn’t deserve the confidentiality. “It’s okay to be a tattletale sometimes, Hiccup. I want to kick their asses.”

He laughed warmly again, a beautiful soprano that was pure music to her ears.

“I honestly don’t know their names,” he said sincerely, his hand paused on the leather handle of his finished product, “I mean other than Cato, of course.”

“Well, point ‘em out to me next time so I can ruin their day.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“And for Cato? Well, that’s a work in progress,” she said as she casually crossed the shop to reach his vicinity, “I think he’s finally beginning to understand it, though.”

Hiccup remained where he stood; she sensed the nervous shift in his energy as she moved closer to him, ultimately stopping only a step away.

They were almost exactly the same height as one another and though most girls she knew might be bothered by this factor, she had grown to adore his physique in little to no time at all. She couldn’t blame him; like herself, he had only hit puberty just a couple of years ago and had plenty of time ahead of him to fill out and grow taller.

She was able to distinguish his facial features without any effort now that she was so near. His chilling eyes mesmerized her; they seemed to glow under the smoky ash smudged over his youthful skin.

She wanted so badly to touch that skin with her restless fingertips, nevertheless, she reached up to meet her own face and gently brushed her bangs off to the side, something she longed to do for him.

“Understand what?” Hiccup had asked some time ago.

“That he doesn’t own me. And that I never wanted to be with him,” she swallowed, it felt weird to talk about Cato in this sense with him, “that between him acting like a possessive dick face to me and abusing you, I don’t even consider him and I friends anymore.”

“Good call. I think you dodged a really toxic ‘friendship’ there.”

“Fucking A.”

They shared a small laugh.

“So, I’m really the only person who treats you nicely?” She revisited the touchy subject, “You really don’t have any other friends?”

She felt a terrible, little heartbreak when he appeared somewhat embarrassed, furrowing his brow a touch, as he gazed down at his boots.

“Well, I mean, sometimes I talk to the adults,” his thin voice cracked a bit as he reunited with her eyes, “like I guess I would say I’m friends with Gobber.”

“Hmm,” she stared at him for a moment thoughtfully, disregarding his growing discomfort with every passing second of silence.

“I have a really good idea,” she finally announced.

“Astrid,” he already was starting to protest.

“What if you and I went and trained in the arena together, tomorrow after lunch?”

“No way,” he shook his head, his russet bangs flicking over his forehead.

“Please, Hiccup,” she disliked how whiny she sounded, “I know it’ll be scary, but I’ll be there with you.”

“But, Astrid, you know that they’ll—“

“No one will be mean to you. They’re not allowed to. I’ll kill them.”

He couldn’t help the little laugh that came out of him as a short exhale.

Hiccup took it as a lighthearted joke but little did he know, her threat was grave and she would make them pay if they wronged him.

She beamed at him appreciatively, taking his subtly positive reaction as an agreement, “And I know someone I think you’ll get along with really well,

He gave her a cynical look.

“Maybe you’ve already met him before, his name is Fishlegs,” she continued.

“I have,” he answered dryly.

She ignored his unwilling tone, proceeding to build up her case.

“He’s quiet and soft-spoken, like you.”

“I’m what?” Hiccup raised an eyebrow.

“And he hates most of our combat training lessons and he loves to read books!”

“Yeah—I don’t know. I’ve met him a couple times before and he’s hardly said a word to me,” Hiccup shrugged his little shoulders.

“He seems standoffish before you get to know him, but I just know you guys could be great friends,” Astrid insisted.

“I don’t know…” he repeated himself, uncertainty twisted over his freckled face.

“Please, Hiccup, it can just be the three of us training together tomorrow. Pretty please?” She begged, romantically fluttering her long lashes at him before adding, “For me?”

“Alright, alright, fine,” he grumbled, his arms crossed, “only for you.”

“Yay!” She celebrated, launching off his shoulders to bounce up and down and a buttery smile seized his face, revealing that cute, little tooth gap of his.

Without any warning, Astrid ceased her hopping to loop her arms around Hiccup’s neck and pull him into an exhilarating kiss.

He returned the motion after a second of realization, moving his lips against hers delicately, though she could feel the hesitation gripping his every movement.

His soft, gentle lips were all she had ever craved since the first time she kissed him. Afterward, she knew it would be difficult to satisfy this impending itch without him. There was nothing else in the world that would compare to his invaluable taste. Her cat and mouse chase had finally ended and victory was hers.

Hiccup relaxed under her eager mouth, allowing himself to lean into her as she curled her fingers through the soft hair wolfing at the nape of his neck. It was so rare to have him against her like this, it was a rush that made her head swim in hot pools of excitement.

Without any incitement out of her, all by himself, he dared to let his hands rest on an innocent patch of her waist, his heavy black-smith gloves still on.

She loved the way it felt to be in his grip.

Hiccup’s attempt to stifle a gasp failed, as she drew herself flush against him, the front of their adolescent bodies pressed together and for the first time they shared the strange spell of lust that overtook them together.

She could tell he wanted more by the way he gave in, so she parted her lips and to her gratification, he copied the erotic gesture.

She inhaled his queer flavor, playing her greedy tongue over his, exploring every part of his hot mouth. He had this odd taste she wouldn’t expect to be so addicted to.

Perhaps it was her hormones, but after she drew in close, his pungent, sweaty, boy scent had her very turned on.

She wasn’t brave enough to vocalize it out loud, especially not to his face, but if she was being honest with herself, she wanted so badly for Hiccup to drive her up onto the craftsman table and take her right here, right now. She knew he would never do such things to her unless maybe she asked politely, which she couldn’t find it in herself to do just yet. If it came down to drastic measures, she thought of teasing him until he would beg for her.

The gruff clearing of an adult man’s throat from across the room caused the two teens to spring off of each other as if they were burning hot to the touch.

“Sorry, kids, I didn’t mean to interrupt,” Gobber addressed them awkwardly.

“Uh, where were you?” Hiccup asked uneasily, unable to make eye contact with his superior.

“I had to get more lumber from the mill,” Gobber replied, “I thought I told you that already, remember?”

Hiccup’s answer was silence as he sheepishly scratched the back of his neck.

Gobber then turned to Astrid casually, “How are you, my dear? Keeping up with those empty fades and front guards, I hope?”

“Yes, sir,” she answered, still quite embarrassed from the older man’s sudden, unexpected presence. Although they were fifteen and hardly seen as children anymore, especially in a Viking society, for some reason it still felt like they had been misbehaving under an adult’s authoritarian eye.

“Hiccup, my boy, would you mind giving me a hand with all that lumber out front?” Gobber asked as he hobbled over to the fire pit to retrieve the empty textile log sling. “It’s overflowing that old wheelbarrow.”

Hiccup failed to stifle an irritated sigh and before starting for the door, he turned to Astrid, “I guess I’ll have to catch up with you in a few,” the disappointment on his face was obvious.

“Alright, no worries,” she gave him a smile of reassurance, “and if not, I’ll just see you tomorrow at lunch. And we’re going to the arena afterward, remember?”

“Yeah, I remember,” he replied unenthusiastically.

He clearly was anxious about it. It was rare to see him there. She couldn’t recall the last time he had participated in any training hours.

“It’ll be fun,” she insisted, giving his hand a goodbye squeeze, “I can’t wait.”

~ ~ ~

Chapter Five

Ok this is a bit of a filler chapter, because there isn’t much story progression but it still has some good stuff crucial to the story line, I was going to continue writing it and make it one big massive chapter but I kept telling myself I want to cut them shorter so I can get them out at a faster pace. Anyways the next chapter should be out soon because it’s already in the works but I hope u enjoy this one ^.^

~ ~ ~

When Astrid woke from the sweat of her blankets, it was still dark outside her windows. Her mind was foggy with sleep as she tried to collect what was real and what wasn’t. Only seconds ago, Hiccup’s sweet, boyish fingers had been testing the soft skin up and down her thighs.

It was only a dream, she thought highly dissatisfied, yet it had been so vivid, so erotic, it had ripped her right out of her sleep.

She had never really thought much about Hiccup in a sexual light. It wasn’t like it was a difficult task to do so, however, it did not appear to be very a common theme within his contents. His manner was so innocent and friendly, that if any dirty sentiments regarding him managed to float their way to the surface, it was because she had exclusively thought of them all on her own.

The boy was a saint; he had this pure, virtuous aura that followed him around and she didn’t want to dirty it up with her lustful thoughts.

Sometime during their first real conversation, she had developed an undeniable interest in him. His personality was a breath of fresh air. He was more than fascinating in less than no time.

Astrid couldn’t exactly pinpoint when the physical desire started cooking, but now, without a doubt, she was overwhelmingly attracted to his body and she wanted to touch and kiss every inch of his virgin skin.

With a groan of frustration, certain there was no way she was ever going to be able to fall back asleep, she climbed out of bed, threw on a fur robe, and sauntered to the main room, where they kept the furnace and fire pit.

After heating up a few cauldrons of boiling water and carrying them to the other room, she managed to fill the iron tub in about half an hour.

It usually took less time but she was distracted by her thoughts.

The soft whispers and sweet nothings of Hiccup were still fresh in her mind from the promising grip of her dream. She couldn’t get the sound of his voice out of her head. She couldn’t stop imagining the feeling of his gentle, unsure lips on hers, or the funny taste of him once she finally was able to slip her tongue into his mouth.

Astrid stripped her robe off and tried not to hiss as she lowered herself into the steaming water.

Now, that she had experienced the high of his evocative flavor it was all she wanted, all she could think about.

She plucked the cork off of a small glass vial filled with a golden serum, honeysuckle almond oil, and added a few generous splashes into the water.

The way she kissed Hiccup—she had never kissed anyone like that before. Physical intimacy was an unfamiliar concept and had been disregarded most of her life. She had never ventured any further than the threshold of innocent playground pecks, which obviously none of them possessed this new passionate savor to them.

The feeling was so fresh and intoxicating, she just couldn’t get enough. The moment their lips had touched she was hypnotized. It was a high she had no idea she had been chasing and nothing could replace it.

Over and over, she tried to revisit the feeling, that moment in time when he first opened his mouth, so their tongues could play, a lascivious spell had come over her—she drank him up and couldn’t stop.

He had been the one to stop them—the thought haunted her. He seemed to be enjoying the way she kissed him until he decided he had too much and gave up. Perhaps he was worried he wasn’t doing something right?

Astrid hoped she hadn’t been too forward with him. She had always been the pushy one to instigate any physical interactions between the two of them. It was always her to start the flirting and the teasing, edging closer and grabbing his hand, and now kissing him.

Hiccup seemed to be more than glad to partake in this affectionate behavior, yet she couldn’t shake the sense she was being too assertive with him.

She concluded that this sense derived from the guys she was so accustomed to being around. She had never been around a boy so unwilling to make the first move. He needed a push of encouragement. Or perhaps a shove. Or maybe she oughta let him come to her, see how long it takes, but then again, she could be waiting an entire lifetime for that, because Hiccup didn’t seem like the type of boy to just grab her and kiss her. However, this was one of the many things she loved about him.

It was strange, she harbored this peculiar attraction to his lack of confidence. She somehow found his shy awkwardness as a turn-on. She loved how opposite he was from the other boys.

Though, she oughta give him some charisma points. Last night, he had been so witty and so cute and had her laughing the whole time. She remembered while laying in bed how her cheeks had hurt from smiling so much.

She had no idea if it was on purpose or not, but Hiccup talked in this husky voice that only occurred when they had been intimate toward each other. She found she really liked hearing him speak that way. It was rather tantalizing, a word she would have never thought of using to describe him.

After she had soaked in the bath for a while and scrubbed her body clean of all her filthy thoughts, she got dressed, deciding to get an early start for the day.

Astrid tied her long braid’s end off with a little blue ribbon and after debating it back and forth in her head, she finally dabbed a bit of cocoa butter on her lips to make them softer and sweeter. She wasn’t sure what the day would entail, but she would make a point to steal another kiss from Hiccup.

Lunch wasn’t such a big deal today. She was delighted to sit at Hiccup’s crummy, corner table again. Although she desperately wanted to, she and Hiccup did not talk about the kiss. She was going to bring it up, but she convinced herself not to. She told herself that she should just cut him a break from all the hot and bothered teasing. However, in all actuality, this was the least of her concerns. For the first time, she was truly too nervous to vocalize her thoughts.

Astrid decided that she wasn’t going to overthink every second of his presence and just wanted to resonate with the friendly, childlike energy that radiated from him. So they leaned their heads together and looked through his Book of Dragons some more, unbothered this time around, their backs turned to the rest of the world.

She couldn’t help but notice how he didn’t bother to touch his lunch again, but she didn’t say anything about it.

Astrid thanked the stars, Cato didn’t cause an explosive scene this time. When she stole a little glimpse his way, she was relieved to see him sulking over his plate, meanwhile, his friends beside him were continuing their merry day, laughing and attacking each other with their vegetables.

She had known Cato for a long time and at one point would have called them friends, but right now, she did not feel that way and she did not feel bad for him. He had been growing stale for some time, but, now, with the foul way he was behaving, he had tarnished himself in her eyes. It would take a lifetime of apologies for him to redeem himself.

After lunch, when Hiccup said he had to go work the forge again, it was a struggle for Astrid to hide her disappointment. If he noticed, he didn’t say anything and after giving it some thought, she actually preferred it that way.

With minimal planning, she told him she would catch up with him later, uncertain where and when, but she would find him, somehow. There were only so few places he could be.

Wondering what she could possibly do all day without a boy to entertain her, it dawned on her that she had never had this dilemma before, much less thought process. All her life it was always about her, every decision had been a selfish one for her own best interest. She would always find a way to be proactive with her time, with or without the company of friends. Never once had she stopped and thought for a second, ‘oh what am I going to do today without this person,’ or ‘oh I’ll be so bored without so and so,’ until this very moment.

Unappetizingly, she settled for some defensive training with one of her girlfriends.

The subtle breeze was warm and crisp, promising a great day for a swim, although, she wouldn’t take one. The pleasant sun was dousing a tan on their exposed arms and faces, and with every step was a crunch of dry leaves and stray sticks amid the path.

“So what’s your deal, Astrid?” Ruffnut did not waste a second of time with idle small talk while they walked the trail together towards the training arena.

Surprisingly enough, she and her brother were some of the exclusive Viking teenagers permitted by Cato and his wicked friend group to sit at the center table, where the other alleged ‘cool’ kids ate lunch and every so often dinner.

“What do you mean?” Astrid replied absently, already knowing what she was referring to.

“Like you haven’t sat with us for the past two days?”

Like I’m assigned to sit there?

“Yeah, I’ve been sitting with Hiccup Haddock, instead,” she answered matter-of-factly.

“I know, I saw that,” Ruffnut raised her brows in bewilderment, “I don’t get it, though. Is it a prank or something?”

“No. What?” Astrid couldn’t understand why it was such an outlandish concept to everyone else. “I just wanted to sit with him. He’s actually really cool.”

“Yeah, I mean, I personally don’t have anything against him,” Ruffnut defended herself, then smirked impishly, “I honestly think he’s cute.”

Astrid’s stomach fluttered at her words. Naturally, she wanted to join in and make a fuss over him with the other girl but she said nothing of the sort.

“Did they talk about me? Or him?”

“Well, duh. No shit, they talked,” said Ruffnut. “Most of them weren’t really bothered, though. Just kind of confused? But um, Cato’s pretty pissed about the whole thing.”

“Yeah, trust me, I know,” Astrid sighed heavily recalling the details of their exhausting, little spats.

“Today, he was weirdly quiet but definitely still really mad,” Ruffnut explained, “But yesterday, he wouldn’t shut up about you guys, then he finally snapped and went over there when…”

“When what?” Astrid demanded, the anticipation gripping her.

Ruffnut hesitated for a second, then finally spit it out.

“When Snotlout said Hiccup would be the one to take your virginity.”

“What!?” Astrid’s face burned red hot. It was a graphic thing to say out loud, yet she would not deny it, though she did try to brush it off, “I swear he’s always trying to provoke some shitstorm.”

“Well, you know Snotlout, he’s such an asshole,” Ruffnut acknowledged, then to Astrid’s fear, “But, uh, anyway, is it true?”

“Is what true?” Astrid gave her a side-eye.

“You and Hiccup,” Ruffnut bounced her eyebrows playfully.

“I mean, we’re friends,” She danced around the answer, feeling her face grow hot again.

“Friends? That’s cute,” Ruff smirked, “But come on, you can tell me the truth. I’m not going to say anything, I swear.”

Although Astrid had known Ruffnut for most of her life, she was still on the fence about trusting her with sensitive information, considering she shared the same air she breathed with her twin brother.

For some reason, though, the topic of boys seemed different. Perhaps, it was exempt from all the pointless things Ruff would share with her brother. It felt like Astrid could open up to her; she was one of her only girlfriends after all.

“Okay, maybe I kissed him,” Astrid bit her lip in an attempt to fight her unstoppable smile.

“No way!” Ruffnut gasped, covering her mouth. “You need to tell me everything. Don’t leave anything out. Give me all the juicy details! How was he?”

“He was, um…he was nice,” Astrid said vaguely, absorbed by the arousing memory of Hiccup's hot mouth on hers, “Gentle…um, inexperienced, I guess, but in a good way.”

“Mmm, you’re so lucky,” Ruffnut hugged herself as she imagined it. “I’ve been waiting forever for some mouth-to-mouth action with one of these cuties.”

Astrid couldn’t help but roll her eyes in amusement, although she really did like talking about this kind of thing with another girl. It made her feel like the older girls she used to look up to—so mature, being able to discuss such sensual details.

“You have to tell me, did he slip you any tongue?”

Astrid’s stomach did a backflip for the unexpected question.

“Well…kind of, I had to do it first though,” she couldn’t help biting her lip again as she remembered his funny flavor that she had been craving all day.

Ruffnut screeched accordingly.

It was quite exciting to feed little bits of her girlish attraction to a friend.

“Honestly I’m kind of surprised,” Ruff said, “I didn’t think you were into boys like Hiccup Haddock.”

“Me neither, honestly. Until I ran into him the other day and actually started talking to him.”

“But he is really such a dork. Wait—is that why it’s actually kinda hot?” Ruffnut’s jaw dropped dramatically as if she had solved some ongoing mystery. “No, that is so hot.”

“Ruff, I’ve never met anyone so remarkable in my whole life. He’s like an angel or something.”

“Woah, you’re in love,” Ruffnut’s blue eyes widened crazily as she came to her conclusion.

“Shut up! Don’t say that. I am NOT in love. We just started hanging out a few days ago.”

“Astrid’s in lo-ove,” Ruffnut sang.

“Seriously, cut it out,” she had gone the color of a tomato, her cheeks burned to the touch. “It’s just a little crush. And please try not to spill too much to Ramsey or the other guys, especially Cato.”

“Aww why-yyy?” Ruff teased. “Are you guys trying to keep this little fling a secret or something?”

“No, I mean—not really. It’s not like that. I just honestly don’t want those idiots to have more reasons to wanna hurt him. Just try to keep it on the low.”

Astrid knew that if it ever came down to it, if one of those guys were to lay even a finger on Hiccup, that would mean war and she would slaughter them all…or at least make them bleed and break a bone or two.

“Yeah, okay, okay. I won’t say anything,” Ruff threw her hands up innocently, “I’ll be cool.”

“Thank you.”

Upon entering the arena, a part of Astrid wanted to linger behind Ruffnut to try to hide out of view from everyone, but it just wasn’t in her blood to act like that. She reminded herself that she wasn’t a frightened little mouse. She was a fucking tiger. A fierce, powerful warrior, and no boy would ever intimidate her.

When they walked in, they first made their way toward the weapon racks so Ruffnut could get equipped. While Astrid followed, she scanned over the training occupants, hoping none of them would have enough balls to confront her about her alleged scandalous behavior.

She caught sight of Cato from a debatably safe distance. He was wielding this considerable, two-handed mallet, a choice of weapon that wasn’t his usual style and was swinging it relentlessly against a battered, wooden training dummy. She guessed he might be letting off steam due to this whole situation constantly working against his wishes.

Even from a distance, she could detect the rage in his powerful hits and she couldn’t help but wonder if he was imagining his maltreated target was Hiccup.

Though it was only a plausible theory she had just spun up in her head, it was enough to kickstart the protective instincts in her wolfish heart.

She wanted to take her axe and brutally massacre whatever wooden combat pell was in his immediate view to demonstrate the wrath he would suffer if he crossed Hiccup again.

However, her idea swam away as her flight or flight might have triggered when Snotlout was the first person to notice their female presence.

“Where’s your boyfriend?” He sneered a greeting as he swaggered over to them.

Astrid took notice past Snotlout’s smug face, at the way Cato had stopped his vicious swings to listen with a sudden pique of interest.

“He isn’t my boyfriend. Just saying, since you’ve all been breaking your necks to know so bad,” Astrid retorted sharply.

“Hmm. Well, you could have fooled me,” the condescending tone in his voice was already biting a nerve.

He rotated his shoulders dramatically so they would crack loudly, perhaps a gesture in an attempt to impress them.

“Did you get bored of him already and come to see me?”

Cato was looking their way.

“You wish. Hiccup’s actually very busy working today,” she narrowed her eyes as she made him out to be so mature, “so now, I have to find ways to distract myself.”

“I can think of a few,” Snotlout’s tone sent her skin crawling as he advanced a step towards her.

“Gross,” she could help but cringe, taking a step back accordingly, “Not a chance in hell.”

“Hey, I don’t know what you’re suggesting,” he played stupid as he tried to turn it on her, his blue eyes gleaming with amusement, “I just meant we could practice some archery or something.”

“You know, Snot,” Ruffnut piped up, seizing his brawny arm. “I happen to be on the market for available bachelorettes,” she batted her eyelashes rapidly under his disgruntled gaze.

She doubted Ruff’s intentions were to step in and save her, but her sudden advances on him worked in Astrid’s favor to distract him from the mild pursuit.

“Relax, Ruffnut,” he threw an arm over her shoulder, “There’s plenty of me to go around.”

He leaned in close to Ruff’s face and raised his eyebrow suggestively.

“We can all fit in my bed.”

Ruffnut opened her mouth to say something, but Astrid cut her words off before giving her any time to entertain his vile idea.

“No, thank you! We’re good,” she maintained an upbeat demeanor as she snatched Ruffnut off of him, pulling the other girl to her side, “Now, if your interrogation is over, please, go away so we can actually get some practice in.”

The sly smile never left Snotlout’s face as he shook his head with a sigh, “I love it when you play hard to get.”

It surprised her how easy it was when he actually walked away.

Astrid watched how his distancing figure made the mistake of heading in Cato’s direction and was forcefully stopped, perhaps for some questioning of his own because he had just been seen talking to her.

It was funny to her because it seemed that intimating harmless guys and pursuing pointless matters was all Cato had left now, considering Hiccup was practically untouchable at this point.

Unlike everyone else in the world, as it seemed, Astrid was not scared, even the slightest bit, of Cato. It felt as if she was peering through a sunglass and could see every malevolent particle of his translucent façade.

If he wanted to swing his stupid mallet so hard, she would just have to swing her axe harder. She would make a point to appear violent in front of him.

~ ~ ~

Chapter Four

~ ~ ~

After lunch, Hiccup went off to work the forge, leaving Astrid, for the first time, unsure what to do with her day. She truly did not want to see the other boys she normally would spend this time with. In fact, she would rather do anything than train with them today, so breaking out of her mundane routine, she decided to use this liberty to hunt.

Not someone to regularly shoot a bow, unfortunately, she was required to make a stop at the training arena to collect the weapon from her personal rack, where she knew the guys would be.

Once the arena dawned into sight, her heart began to pound harder.

Please, just none of you fucking talk to me, she thought to herself, tucking a long strand of loose hair beneath her circlet as she passed under the shady branches of a maple tree. As she drew closer, she could hear the loud male voices scattering over the dry field.

The moment Astrid had set one foot through the doorway, she concluded this was the worst decision she had made today.

To her worst nightmare, she caught a glimpse of Cato and the other boys, not actually practicing real tactics or anything but messing around, trying to balance swords on their feet, and tackling each other like idiots.

Some of the guys here weren’t so bad; they didn’t display any belligerent, possessive behaviors towards her, like Ramsey or Tom. They were friendly for the most part, but not usually towards other people. She had grown up around these boys, but was never really close with them, until the past year or so, but even now she wouldn’t exactly call herself ‘close’ with any of them.

The last thing she wanted was for Cato to see her. She was furious with the way he talked to her and Hiccup at lunch today. In an instant, she changed her mind about the stupid bow and spun around sharply. She didn’t need to hunt anymore, she could just go home and—

“Hey! Wait!”

Fuck. She walked faster.

It was too late, he had seen her.

She could only advance a few paces outside the arena before her worst demon caught up with her.

“I need to talk to you,” Cato’s chilling voice turned her stomach as he approached from behind. After lunchtime, such a minor interaction was enough to set her off.

“What do you want?” She whipped around, doubling on him. The moment she was speaking to him again, her anger and animosity seemed to flourish. “Are you happy with yourself? Causing a scene back there? Fucking ridiculous.”

“I know, I know,” he said, it was somewhat unexpected he identified his mistake, “I’m sorry. I want to apologize. I didn’t mean to explode on you, I just lost my temper.”

Though at this moment, he seemed good-natured, the confession felt very rehearsed. She tried to speculate what his real intentions were.

“I just don’t understand what was going through your head...” she was still reluctant to speak to him, leaning away from his vicinity, ready to bolt at any given second, “We’re not together, Cato. I’m not yours to tell what to do.”

He smirked this haughty little way, narrowing his eyes.

“Everyone here already knows that you and I are going to get together sooner or later,” he said to her arrogantly, as if letting someone in on a secret.

“Apparently everyone but me,” she retorted, unable to hide the disgust from her face.

“I don’t know what has gotten into you!” His cultured demeanor perished after receiving her reaction, “But you and I, both, know damn well we had something going.”

This was beginning to feel like less of an apology and more of a confrontation.

“Yeah, maybe in your delusional mind,” she said bitterly.

He continued, ignoring her remark.

“Look, I said I was sorry,” he insisted, banking a bit closer to her, the discomfort was like a thorn driving into her foot. “How long are you going to keep up this bratty little attitude?”

“Whenever you decide to stop pissing me off. You’re acting like a jerk,” she crossed her arms over her chest, disliking how small she felt beneath his hulking figure. “And if you’re really sorry, then you’ll apologize to Hiccup too.”

“HA!” He practically screamed in her face, “Are you fucking serious?”

Astrid’s blood boiled in response to his childish feedback, inducing the unpleasant memory of their prior encounter to sting her like a bee—the image of him snarling to her wickedly about Hiccup as if he wasn’t sitting right there.

“Yes, I’m dead serious,” her tone was ice cold, “You owe him an apology and you better do so if you ever want to talk to me again.”

“What is so interesting about him?” He sneered, undermining her threat, “He’s awkward and he’s weak as a child and severely underweight! The kid probably weighs like ninety pounds. I don’t know what the hell is wrong with you.”

She found it frivolous how Cato really assumed he would be able to degrade Hiccup in her eyes by listing his physical attributes to her, that for one, she was already well aware of and two, had even grown to appreciate in the more recent hours.

In all actuality, the only thing Cato was doing, was embarrassing himself by acting like a jealous moron and getting under her skin in the process. She took the high road anyway.

“Mm, I like him. He’s fun-size.”

Cato’s jaw dropped absurdly.

“What?” He took a second to gather his train of thought, before shaking his head in irritated bewilderment.

“I knew you were jealous of him,” Astrid taunted smugly.

“How do you expect him to pick you up or carry you?”

What! How did we start talking about this? Astrid’s heart lept into her throat at his words. At the thought of Hiccup holding her, she felt the hot wind of embarrassment flare over her cheeks.

“Why are you automatically assuming he and I are like that?” She narrowed her eyes. Though she held her composure, she wasn’t fooling anyone.

He ignored any objections out of her, continuing the charade.

“Or protect you from big, bad guys like me?” He sneered, catching onto her fluster.

“Oh, please,” she scoffed, desperately wishing she wasn’t so red in the face.

“You need someone who’s strong and tough enough to handle a woman like you,” he said smugly, standing up a little taller, “And I’m here to fill that role.”

She rolled her eyes. This was the most ridiculous bullshit she had ever heard. She knew he was going to pull this. This is the reason why she was trying her best to avoid interacting with him.

“I don’t want to be with you,” she said coldly.

“Why? Because you would rather be with him?” He sounded like a pouty, little kid.

“I’d pick him over you in a heartbeat,” it came flying out of her mouth, she hadn’t given herself time to even think.

His jaw dropped again, an overplayed reaction she still found amusing.

She couldn’t believe she was admitting this to Cato, but it was the truth and she knew it would burn him.

“Don’t sell me that shit. You’re lying! You’re only saying that to piss me off.”

“No, I’m not. He’s nice and sensitive and thoughtful. Everything that you’re not.”

Throughout her earlier teen years, given her environment and peers, naively, Astrid felt as if she knew everything, thinking she had herself figured out and she had decided that she knew exactly what type of guys she was attracted to. However, it wasn’t until more recent times that she began to find her colleagues rather irritating, boring, and tedious.

Now finally, it had registered in her maturing mind the genuine kind of boy she truly desired for herself. Once she had a taste of Hiccup, he was all she ever wanted in a person.

“Don’t pretend like you didn’t like me for years,” he growled. She was getting tired of hearing his voice and would make a point to get out of here.

“I only tolerated you,” she sighed.

“You’re making shit up because you’ve switched sides now,” he snapped back readily, his veins jumping out of his red hot neck.

He was always in denial. In his sick head, he would never accept the truth.

“Switched sides? This isn’t a fucking game.”

“Yes, it is, Astrid!” He seethed, his rage boiling to the surface, “This is your little game. Your cruel way of torturing me!"

“What are you talking about?”

He’s insane!

“What happened between us!?” He demanded, his voice rising so loud she knew the other guys had heard it.

“I’ve outgrown you,” she said, bored.

“Well, you’ve certainly downgraded!”

It felt like quite the opposite, but she was done going back and forth with this ogre.

“Get bent,” she bid him farewell and began to storm off, but before she could get a few paces away, her wrist was seized in Cato’s powerful grip.

“You better not fuck him,” he hissed in her ear, her stomach twisting sourly.

The idea in open-air sent flames scorching over her cheeks. She ripped her arm violently from his grasp.

“I can do whatever I want.”

She split off again, walking quicker this time, to distance herself as fast as she could from this psycho.

“This fucking game isn’t over!” She heard him yell at her and she swiveled around gracefully with a sarcastic smirk for one last remark.

“Yeah, have fun playing with yourself.”

~ ~ ~

After choosing a light, one-handed sword, Hiccup hung up his apron and left the forge right on time, just as the tired sun had begun to set.

He started along the trail that navigated through Berk, illuminating the dusk with crackling torches, freshly ignited aside the setting sun. The immense, blistering honeycomb melted over the horizon, bleeding streaks of burnt gold and ginger that reflected off the coastline.

Despite the excitement broiling inside of him, he walked at a rather mellow pace, waving his sword around playfully, as he followed the highland path amidst horned cottages.

Hiccup was certain he had soot and ash smudged over his face from working the past couple of hot, smoggy hours for the local blacksmith. It would have been ideal if he could stop home and bathe first, but he wasn’t sure if he had enough time.

In some miraculous blessing, Astrid had wanted to see him again. This was the second time she had asked him to spend time with her. It was really beginning to feel like she had a little thing for him.

He had plenty of evidence to back this concept up. At lunch earlier today, she had reached for him, grabbing his hand not once, but twice, and as if were some kind of beautiful fantasy, she went on to tell him how much she cares about him.

But there was much more to it than just that. Hiccup had added it all up in his head like math and the truth couldn’t be any more blatant.

It was the magnetic energy between them. The way she said things to him. How could she make such a basic statement so intimate? It was the way she teased him, giggling whenever he got all red. It was very much the way she was too focused on him, leaning over the table like there was nothing else in the fucking world.

Gods, she was so exciting. He could never forecast what she was planning to do next to catch him off guard. Nobody in the world had ever had him so jumpy before, even his bullies. Being near her was a fever, intoxicating him with an addictive rapture he hadn’t experienced before.

The two of them had agreed to meet at sundown. She had instructed him to find her at the top of a very specific hill along the overgrown outskirts of the village, however, it quickly occurred to him that most hills happened to look the same and proved to be rather difficult to differentiate from one another.

As the cottages thinned out, growing sparser apart, he drew upon an entire chain of hills that overlooked the coast and he wondered to himself how in the hell he was going to find her.

He slid his sword in the baldric, then picked a tall slope, figuring she would be easier to spot from atop, and sauntered up the incline. It was steep enough for him to slip and slide a bit in the dry grass upon losing his footing.

It was windier up here, twinkling with lightning bugs, the long ferns of tan grass so tall they nearly brushed his waist.

The sky that had previously been the colour of amber honey, when Hiccup had initially left the forge, had baked to a spell of mulberry twilight, the palest of stars grazing prematurely in the highest indigo point of the heavens.

“Hey, you,” a soft, familiar voice behind him sent a hot wave rolling up his spine.

Hiccup braced himself for the adrenaline rush that always accompanied her presence. He turned around to greet her pretty face and was struck by the expensive way she smiled at him, an unspoken promise that there was no one else she would rather see. Her steel axe was gripped loosely in one hand, the gleaming blade partially submerged in the deep prairie.

“Oh, hey, Astrid,” he said as coolly as he could manage. “I was looking for you.”

The last hope of sunlight caught the pale of her gold locks, carelessly entailed in a braid.

“Well, lucky you. You found me,” she said as if they had been playing hide and seek together, yet, he picked up on intimate undertones. “It’s good to see you again.”

“It’s good to see you too,” he answered uniformly, which was quite an understatement, but the cogs in his mind couldn’t seem to spin fast enough to think of something witty.

“Look at you,” she smiled, glancing down at the sheathed sword on his waistband. “Listening to my suggestions.”

“My father always told me to take advice from girls,” he joked, earning a charming laugh out of her.

“We always know better,” she agreed.

Her eyes gleamed vibrant shades of cool, reflecting off the marine water. He was starting to finally beat his ever-lasting battle with maintaining her impossible eye contact.

He always thought she was so beautiful, but now, the light was hitting her just right, the wind blowing gracefully through her bangs, he never had seen anything or anyone so effortlessly perfect.

“Alright. Now whip it out,” she was suddenly saying to him.

“What?”

“The sword, Hiccup,” she clarified, turning bright red. “Unsheathe it.”

“Oh, right,” he smirked sheepishly, certain he was mirroring her shade of scarlet as he drew his blade.

He silently cursed at himself when suddenly it was a struggle again to look her in the eye.

“Okay, let’s see what you got, Haddock. Try to hit me,” she jumped into a defensive position, holding her axe up.

Suddenly, she was a moving target in a game he had given up on a long time ago.

His sword felt terribly heavy as he reminded himself failure was not an option.

“I don’t want to hurt you,” he came up with a weak protest.

She chuckled softly at his concern, a half-expected reaction.

“Hiccup, you won’t be fast enough to strike me.”

He found it very attractive how confident in herself she was. And just because she said that it made him kind of wanna prove her wrong.

“Alright…” he still hesitated.

The apprehension gripped him. What if he completely misses or trips and falls and she laughed at him? What if his sword flails off the wrong way? Once she saw his lack of combat skills, she would most definitely realize how useless he is in a Viking society and give up on whatever chemistry they were brewing.

Well, he hoped she wasn’t that shallow. From what he could gather between the last couple of days she seemed genuine, but more importantly, she was nice to him and it even felt like she liked him. He knew he wouldn’t be able to impress her in this field of skill, but he could at least play the role of her student compliantly.

“Any day now,” she teased impatiently.

This was the only prompt he needed. Hiccup reluctantly gave his sword a swift, unsure swing, and their steel collided with a piercing clash on impact, sending a thunderous wave vibrating up his scrawny arms.

“Not bad at all!” She praised him and he couldn’t help smiling, feeling a swell of relief under her approval.

“Really?”

“Yeah. Now try it again, this time swing with a little more force,” she instructed, holding her axe defensively again.

He realized at this point she could handle herself just fine. He thrashed the sword again this time much harder, the clash ringing in his ears.

“Good,” she breathed, a bit winded, still holding her axe up to block, “Try again, this time don’t slow down before it makes contact.”

He slashed his thin sword against her axe once more, but hesitated just the same again, on accident, losing momentum right before the strike.

“You’re still holding back. Use a fluid motion, follow through the entire swing,” she explained to him patiently.

He felt a bit like a naive, younger sibling being taught how to do something elementary. Yet, he brushed this feeling off and readied his sword again, detecting the joyful gleam in her eyes. At least she was having a good time.

“Remember, Hiccup, treat it as an extension of your own arm. Be one with the sword,” she reminded him. He watched the way her mouth moved while she talked, catching the glimmering white of her teeth in the opening starlight. It was getting difficult to make out her fine details in the augmenting dark.

Hiccup thought back to earlier when Cato had prowled over to them, furious with Astrid because she had not sat with him. He couldn’t handle the sight of her sitting beside and talking to his human punching bag. And as entertaining as it was to watch him act like an idiot in front of Astrid and some of the other kids, he couldn’t stand to see him yell at her and treat her like his little pet.

According to Astrid, she and Cato had no romantic relations once so ever, yet Hiccup still felt a heavy, uneasy tension between the two of them, like maybe something was going to happen that never did?

Hiccup was could not distinguish a clear picture between the two of them, however, he was certain that Cato harnessed an empty hatred for him or maybe a strange obsession with him, or perhaps both.

But at the end of the day, he would never fail to torment the younger boy at any opportunity he got, as a dominant wolf would abuse a runt to keep him feeling inferior.

Hiccup, irritated by these thoughts, swung his blade precisely, this time his serve was clean and steady, a brilliant strike that threw them both off guard.

“Well done!” she applauded his new, developing, sword skills. He did not fail to catch the adoring look she gave him as she lowered her axe, “You’re a very fast learner.”

A spark fused between them, this desire to impress her seized him.

“Well, what can I say?” He shrugged, smiling bashfully, “I have a great teacher.”

“Aw. Hiccup,” her voice came out shy, hardly above a murmur as she started blushing a good bit, unsure how to take the compliment, “you’re so sweet.”

“That’s strange, I’m usually described as sour.”

She giggled absurdly and leaned his way, remarkably charmed by him and quite flushed.

Why did it almost feel like she wanted to kiss him?

Her laugh was a beautiful harmony of chords, a lovely sound he found would be difficult to forget.

He could tell she wasn’t used to feeling this way, and she certainly wasn’t accustomed to a boy talking to her like this—so innocently—considering the aggressive maniacs she usually hung out with.

It was so good to finally be able to think she had mutual feelings for him. For years, as long as he could remember, it had been a one-sided feeling—just a wistful, longing, never-going-happen crush on her.

A gust of cool salty wind drifted in off the ocean, blowing him back out of thought as it grazed over his face and the hilltop and sailed through her long braid like a flag.

The sky had sunken to its final form a deep navy-black, dazzling with bright clusters, billions of luminous, dancing stars.

“Let’s go practice more by the tide,” she suggested, flicking her head towards the waves breaking along the shore.

He eyed her thoughtfully for a moment, struck by a spontaneous wonder of how and why this all came to be. He still could not determine if hanging out with this girl was truly real or not. It all felt like a dream, too good to be true, and any moment he’ll wake up disappointed in his bedsheets.

“Yeah, good idea,” Hiccup’s methodical reply was a little too delayed, causing a storm of rouge to resurface over her cheekbones.

“We can practice all the defensive stuff too,” she continued on, delivering with less spirit.

“I feel like I might be better at that, than all the swinging and stabbing” he admitted. “What do you think?”

Hiccup hadn’t paid attention to any of the basic fundamentals of melee combat when they had first been taught, years ago, around the age of eleven or twelve. Now, he could only make an effort to participate in ranged combat such as crossbow and archery drills.

Most of the time, on the days Berk had dedicated to a prescription learning program for the Viking youth, Hiccup was able to convince (beg) Gobber to let him work at the forge if he didn’t wish to participate in whatever violent lesson they were revising that day, which seemed like a good idea to Hiccup at the time, but in the long run, unfortunately, it resulted in a severe lack of knowledge in battle education.

“Yeah, defense might suit you better,” she agreed shortly, following in his lead down the extensive slope towards the beach. As they waded through the weeds, she added after some thought, “It’ll be difficult, though, if your opponent is quick, especially if they’re quicker than you, you have to keep your guard up at all times.”

“Alright, I’ll keep that in mind. But if my guard is always up, when am I supposed to strike?” Hiccup asked curiously, feeling more and more like a student by the question.

“There’ll be a second of opportunity, and you go for the most vulnerable area,” she explained, “or probably less than a second. More like a blink of an eye.”

The long grass began to thin out to dry and scratchy brambles just before breaking into sand.

“But don’t worry about that,” she said. “Just try to deflect my swings with your sword for now.”

“Okay,” he said, feeling far more confident this time around than during their first spar.

The sound of waves crashing against the shore was crisp and much louder than he had heard in a while. He couldn’t remember the last time he was down here on the beach.

“Alright, let’s go over the basics,” Astrid initiated the lesson. “Hold it like this to block.”

She demonstrated a textbook defensive stance, shielding her axe in front of her face and chest area.

Hiccup mirrored her technique, which was a simple task, and she did not waste any time grading him.

As she raised her axe to strike, he kept in mind to hold his grip tight and unrelenting and to keep his sword steady because he knew that the impact was going to be—

Clash!—

Brutal. He was blown away by the power of her swing, rattling up his arms. The loud, steel ringing swelled in his ears for a few moments after.

“Again,” she breathed, before giving him time to think, another strike crashing against his sword.

He knew she was strong but he couldn’t have predicted it was to this volume. It didn’t feel as if he were sword fighting with a fifteen-year-old girl. If he were blindfolded, he might have very well guessed his opponent was a grown man, just judging by the degree of power in her swing.

“It’s not so bad, huh?” Astrid checked on him.

“Yeah, it’s easy,” he lied in a tired breath. Though he was winded and growing fatigued, he was determined to impress her. “Let’s keep going.”

“Alright,” she smiled at him, though she didn’t sound very convinced.

Without hesitating, Astrid tested a couple of harsh swings against his sword, playfully catching him at different angles.

His block timing was remarkable, gauged by the expression on her face.

“You’re keeping up with me very well,” she paused to notice in a breathless pant.

Hiccup hardly had time to acknowledge her praise, before she was knocking her heavy weapon against his again.

He continued to block her oncoming attacks, never failing to miss a beat.

He wasn’t sure how long they had been dueling for, but it seemed like a lot of time had passed before finally, his arms began to feel like jelly and he was ready to give out.

“Astrid, hey,” the intro to his objection was weak, not wanting to be the one to wanna tap out first.

She stopped firing her light shots on him and lowered her axe.

“Tired?” A smile twitched over her face as she pulled his next complaint right out of his mouth.

Hiccup gave a hesitant nod in reply, unexplainably shameful for his lack of energy, his sword, heavier than ever, relaxed in his spent grip.

“Don’t worry, I’m tired too,” she admitted to his relief, allowing him to find some comfort in ceasing their practice.

He wiped the sweat off his hot, clammy forehead with his sleeve, brushing his damp bangs from his eyes. It was surprising how much exhaustion he managed to work up during their battle, even in the cool of the night.

The moon was a bright ghost, kissed by a milky stretch of clouds, napping in the high peak of the ink-blue sky.

Hiccup figured it was time to head home, his father would be furious and maybe even concerned if he were to come home any later than this.

“Well…thank you for coaching me through the basics and stuff,” Hiccup said, a bit awkwardly as he sheathed his sword back into his waistband to prepare for their trek back through the hills.

“Yeah of course, anytime,” Astrid replied with ease.

Before she hung her weapon up on her own waistband, she glanced at him and the blue of her eyes seemed to glow in the moonbeams.

“It was my pleasure…” she added after a little pause. “I actually had a lot of fun playing teacher and student with you.”

He indulged in the frisky touch her voice carried.

“Yeah, I like being your student,” he couldn’t help but echo her tone, ignoring the heat that was beginning to creep over his face. “I’m better than the rest of your class?”

“Hiccup, please. You’re my best student,” she flirted with him.

Her sharp, captivating smile was addressed only to him. This was a gorgeous concept that never seemed possible in this lifetime. He was grateful to finally be on the receiving end of her flawless smiles; for years they made his heart race, even from a distance, and they were never for him, always for someone else…until yesterday. Now, it was so addicting to feel the high from experiencing her firsthand, up close and personal.

He didn’t think he would ever be able to get over the effect she had on him. He could harvest a feverish rush from purely the way she looked at him, or sometimes, whenever she moved too close to him, like right now.

“You’re so well behaved,” Astrid continued playfully, tugging him from his thought clouds.

Was she biting her lip on purpose?

“Your best student? Wow,” he was feeling undoubtedly attracted, feeding into her kittenish pursuit, “Do I…get a reward for that?”

“Yeah, here. This one’s for you,” she socked him in the arm, knocking him back a couple of steps in the grass.

The pain was surprisingly active; a throbbing ache on his sore, overworked muscle.

“Ow! Astrid,” he shot a glare at her and held his arm, nursing the pain.

While he was distracted, she moved in much closer to him, save she had already been only a step away, and cut out the remaining distance between the two of them. She gripped him by the shirt collar and pulled him into a kiss, paralyzing him.

Hiccup’s mind left him at the hot crash of her lips on his. He was unable to react, even breathe, immobilized by the explosive, unrealistic feeling.

She’s kissing me! She’s fucking kissing me! His heart sang and screamed and the butterflies in his stomach stirred up in a frenzy. Someone pinch me, so I know it’s not a dream!

After years of only watching those perfect red lips of hers twist into smiles and frowns, contort into smirks—after so many minutes wasted of fantasizing about what she would taste like, there was no way he could trust this was really happening. But the warm, unfamiliar, softness of her lips pressing against his own, promised him that this was just as real as anything else he had experienced throughout his tiny, youthful life.

It was as if he had been dead this whole time and the sweet symphony of sensation had just brought him jumping back to life.

She retreated from his lips to say something, but remained inches close, so their hot breath could mingle together, stroking the scorching flames in the pit of his stomach.

“Is this what you wanted, Hiccup?” she teased him, drawing herself flush against him, so their racing hearts could blend.

Don’t pretend like you didn’t want this, too, he thought. He was willing to bet everything he owned that the desire was mutual at this point.

“You already know the answer to that,” his voice came out a bit husky.

Astrid engaged with him again, this time, slinging her arm around the back of his neck to keep him close as their lips collided in hot excitement.

It felt so good when she wreathed her fingers through the rusty flips of his hair.

He wasn’t sure what to do with his hands, but considering she just yanked him into a kiss, he figured it would be safe to hold her. Gingerly, he allowed his fingers to trace the slender curve of her hips, finding an innocent area to rest.

She didn’t seem to mind at all.

“Mmm,” she hummed against his lips, evidently loving every moment of this as much as he did.

Cato’s going to kill me, he thought carelessly.

She seemed eager, so with a spark of confidence, Hiccup parted his lips open so her impatient tongue could play with his. He could taste the passion, the want that moved within her mouth.

Hiccup was shy so he let her do all the work. He had no idea what he was doing and was not about to screw this up. It felt too good to be kissed by her like this, her hot tongue dancing over his, it was turning him on.

When he felt the blood start to rush between his legs, he knew he had to break away. The last thing he needed was for this annoying, little problem to become noticeable or—oh my god—if it were to fucking poke her and ruin the moment and humiliate himself. He would die.

He found a gentle way to stop kissing her and retired some from her face, panting in a breathless high.

He did not fail to catch a slight layer of disappointment that highlighted her flushed face.

“Astrid,” he started apologetically, but she was quicker to say something.

“I really like how you make me feel,” she grabbed his hand, “I like being near you.”

“You don’t know how good that is to hear,” Hiccup replied, numb from the bliss, feeling a tsunami of success that all his hopes and dreams came true.

There was a shared moment of silence, locking eyes, holding hands and for once it was not awkward, instead, rather comforting.

“Hey, our parents might freak out if we come home any later than this,” Hiccup said.

“Yeah,” she sighed, glancing up at the moon that had been watching them this whole time, “you’re right, we should start back.”

He started to walk with, her hand in hand, in peaceful, reflective silence, back toward the hills that hugged the village.

“I’m glad you agreed to come out here to train with me,” Astrid suddenly said to him.

“Yeah, it was totally worth it,” he laughed softly, hindsight had a funny way.

“Can I sit with you again, tomorrow?”

This made him laugh again, it was weird to think that she was the one asking him. If only she knew how long he had been crushing on her. It all felt kind of ironic.

“Yes, Astrid, you can sit with me,” he felt himself blushing as he smiled.

“Yay! Lucky me,” she sang with a girlish attraction, still holding his hand. “I was hoping you would say yes.”

“I don’t think I can say no to you, even if I wanted to,” Hiccup half-joked, earning a bewitching melody of laughter out of her.

~ ~ ~

Chapter Three

~ ~ ~

The next day as promised, Astrid looked for Hiccup during lunch. She scanned over the crowded Great Hall for his sulking figure.

The array of lively, familiar faces advertised under spreads of sunlight, filtered through massive, arched windows. Each one of their faces belonged to a voice participating in this diverse symphony of sorrowful and delighted voices that cantered over the sound of clanking tankards and tinkering silverware.

Without much effort at all, her gaze quickly landed on Hiccup, seated at a table alone in the corner.

Of course. She rolled her eyes.

He was hunched over a hefty book when she approached, his plate of untouched lunch pushed off to the side, yet another big surprise.

“No wonder you’re so thin, you’re too preoccupied reading that you forget to eat,” she hailed him with a joke.

Hiccup jumped at the unexpected sound of her voice, but his speckled face broke into a smile when he realized who it was, here to fulfill her offer.

“Astrid, hey,” he stammered, his eyes were seemingly hesitant to fix on her own.

As she took a seat, setting her plate down directly across from him, he raised his eyebrows in skepticism.

“I can’t believe you actually wanna sit with me.”

She wished for him not to be so doubtful of her intentions.

“Nice to see you too,” she played a scowl, pretending to be insulted.

It was rather fun to lightheartedly taunt him. Since their encounter yesterday, she found that it gave her little pricklings of joy to mess with him. She would even go as far as calling him a friend.

“I mean, yes! Of course, it’s great to see you, too!” He flushed a bit of pink, scrambling for his words, “I-I just didn’t think you would ever want to. To sit with me.”

He played with the edge of his page uncomfortably.

She had to admit to herself it was quite entertaining how awkward he was being. It was one of those things about him she found she was really drawn in by.

“Well, believe it or not,” Astrid said as she leaned in just a smidge closer so she could read every freckle and detail—is that a scar? “I was looking forward to hanging out with you, over here at this dingy, old table.”

She ate up the way he smiled.

“Yeah, me too,” he agreed dreamily. “We can switch tables if you want.”

“I didn’t say I didn’t like the dingy table,” she patted the tarnished wood appreciatively.

They shared a small laugh, before Astrid quirked a sly eyebrow, always wanting to keep him on edge.

“Unless, you would rather come sit with me, at my usual spot over there?” She teased, gesturing to her normal place at the front, center table, full of rambunctious, older teenagers.

Hiccup laughed nervously at her absurd suggestion.

They both, in unison, had glanced that way, when she spotted Cato, glaring directly at them and she knew Hiccup did too.

Astrid had to admit, she was nervous of what judgmental things her comrades would say to her. Or even worse, what they would say to Hiccup. She would never let him see the falter in her courage though.

“Uh, why is that guy staring at us?”

“Don’t pay attention to him,” Astrid said quickly, reaching across the table for Hiccup’s hand to stop him from making eye contact with the other boy.

It worked like a charm. He flinched at the warm, unfamiliar contact their intertwined hands shared, blinking dramatically down at the sight before his colorful eyes then bounced back to hers uneasily.

“That’s Cato,” she groaned his name like it was the pained her to say. “He’s probably just jealous or something.”

The moment she said it aloud, Astrid realized that this could potentially be really bad for Hiccup. The last thing she wanted to do was give those bullies another reason to go after him. She would make a point to assure no harm would come his way.

“Jealous?” He echoed, bewilderment programmed over his youthful face, “Of who? Me?”

“No, the other guy sitting with me,” she said flatly, “yes, you!”

She laughed at her own joke, but in all actuality, it was the way his whole face flushed. She realized they were still holding hands when she felt him shift beneath her grip.

The awareness of this shared contact was deafening. This stifling feeling of their skin touching one another felt as if it were heightening with every manual breath, and suddenly, it was too overwhelming—she snuffed the flame and casually retired her hand.

“What’s this book your reading?” Astrid asked coolly as she bent her head to the side to get an angled view of the endless expanse of pages in his dense book.

“Oh, it’s nothing,” Hiccup folded in the corner of the page he had been reading and snapped the thick binding shut.

“It’s not nothing,” Astrid reached across the table for it, but Hiccup dallied the book just out of her reach.

Despite wanting to resist her efforts, the playful smirk that played on his face promised otherwise.

“C’mon lemme see what book your reading,” Astrid fussed. “That thing is probably heavier than you are.”

“Oh, ha-ha. Haven’t heard that one before,” he scoffed, shaking his head, always making sure to maintain the book far from her proximity.

“Give it here,” she ordered, unrelenting.

“You’re going to make fun of me if I show you!” Hiccup accused cynically.

“I’m always going to make fun of you Hiccup,” she said, inadvertently stirring the butterflies up that had been pending inside her.

For some reason, saying this out loud felt as if she was declaring an undying love for him and it sent scorching waves of heat over her cheeks, she was confident he would notice.

Fortunately, he was always blushing too and happened to be in that moment, just as bad as she was.

“Alright, fine,” he sighed in defeat and pushed the book across the table to her. He then crossed his arms in an attempt to adopt a more careless demeanor, looking off into empty space.

The Book of Dragons. Wondering what Hiccup had been so worked up about, she skimmed the title before curiously flipping through the pages. She recalled learning about the legend of these creatures, once a long time ago, during an academic lesson. Astrid remembered how all the other little girls were put off and some even frightened by these mythical beasts, while she was remarkably captivated. She tried to think back if Hiccup had been in that class with her, but despite all efforts, it was just a blur.

She smiled to herself, paused open on a page with a two-legged blue dragon, as she realized and appreciated that they both coincidentally shared a mutual liking for dragons. A fascination she forgot she even had until now.

She wondered how different everything might have turned out, if only they had just relayed their common interest to one another, back then, in their elementary years. They might have become friends a lot sooner, or maybe even more, but only Thor knows.

Hiccup was over there trying to dismiss her occasional glances, but she could feel him growing uneasy in the silence with every turning page.

“This is…really cool,” she said slowly, inducing his eyes to flicker to hers, “I always liked dragons, too.”

She adored the way his face lit up.

“Really?” He scoffed.

He then uncrossed his arms to lean onto the table, his interest evidently recollected.

“What do you know about them? Most of what I learned is in this book, here,” he said feverishly, tapping the page. Do you read at all?”

He had leaned in closer to Astrid, perhaps too excited to notice. But she wasn’t nearly as hyper as he was, and she could taste the full gravity of his nearness.

“Um…not too much,” she admitted an answer to both questions, regaining touch with words.

“I know everyone says they’re only legends, dragons. But, I swear—sometimes, I think I can almost remember seeing one once, a very long time ago.”

“I know that feeling,” Astrid, too, sometimes had strange dreams, or maybe they were memories, that she couldn’t quite piece all the fragments together. It would hardly be a glimpse or some peculiar feeling, but she knew for a fact that she had never seen a real-life dragon.

“You think you’ve seen one too?”

“No. I mean—I know that feeling of, you know, those distant, fuzzy memories you can’t tell are real or not.”

“Yeah, it’s a weird feeling,” he said, pausing in thought, giving her a chance to admire the gap between his front teeth.

“I kind of like it,” she shrugged.

“Oh-h no,” Hiccup suddenly looked as if he saw a ghost.

“What?” She frowned, puzzled. “What is it?”

He was looking past her, into the expanse of the dining hall and suddenly it occurred to her exactly what—who was coming.

“Don’t worry,” she reassured Hiccup with sparkling eyes, before turning around in her seat to meet her correct prediction.

When they had made eye contact earlier, she felt it would only be a matter of time before he stalked over here to demand some answers. She had given him the benefit of the doubt, hopeful he was at least decent enough not to confront her in public, but here he was, towering at the edge of their table.

“Astrid. What are you doing?” Cato’s bitter greeting was coded with thinly practiced patience. “I saved you a spot.”

His voice was an irritating mosquito, persistently inescapable in the heat. He glared at her, under a sweep of white-blonde, with penetrating, scornful eyes. It seemed like he was trying his hardest not to acknowledge Hiccup’s presence.

“Well you can give it away, I’m sitting over here today,” she replied shortly, feeling more than satisfied with herself when she saw the furious way his veins jumped out on his neck.

“Sitting here?” He echoed, his face twisting into a sneer, finally acknowledging Hiccup, “with Haddock?” He exaggerated his name as if it were an explicit word, then laughed cruelly. “For what? What could this loser,” he gestured to the smaller boy “possibly have to offer you that I don’t?”

“Loser?” Astrid scoffed, folding her arms over her chest, her heart racing with anger and the fiery urge to defend Hiccup.

It was important that she remain strong, it was evident that in this moment, she ought to play that role for the both of them.

“You heard me,” he shot a glare at Hiccup, who sank down in his seat.

Her blood boiled and she couldn’t contain her anger.

“You mean the chief’s son?” She protected his name. “He’s more of a man than you’ll ever be!”

Cato gawked at her stupidly, unable to find any words in the heat of the moment, and Astrid took this opportunity, fueled by a fresh spark of courage to snarl another remark.

“And what do you mean, for what? I’m tired of you shallow people! I don’t hang out with anyone for personal gain—I don’t have alternative motives, like your psychotic ass!”

“He’s a weak child!—” Cato cried, ignoring her attack on his identity.

“And you’re an incompetent pig! Why are you so obsessed with him?”

His jaw dropped as he scowled in dramatic confusion—it was quite entertaining.

“Fuck this shit! What are you even talking about?” Cato seethed in fury, unable to think of anything better.

The commotion was drawing a few heads their way.

The raging boy glanced around at his curious audience, then fixed back on her, lowering his voice to a frantic growl.

“I can’t believe the way you’re acting, Astrid—Haddock’s poisoned your mind!”

“No he hasn’t,” he’s freed me. Her icy eyes shot daggers. “I’ve just come to my senses.”

“No! You’ve lost your fucking mind!” Cato threw his hands up, his voice rising again.

“Will you shut up!” Astrid snapped at him before sheepishly glancing around at the other kids watching.

“I don’t fucking care!” He fumed, not really making sense. Then, evidently losing his temper, he leaned over the table, challengingly close to Hiccup, who again cowered down, looking rather small.

“What are you playing, Haddock?” Cato spat with rage.

Astrid thrashed her arm between the two boys, “Screw you! Leave him alone!”

“Stay out of this, Astrid!” He doubled on her, snatching her arm in his furious grip.

“Let go of me!” She hissed, ripping her arm from his grasp.

“Screw both of you!” Cato practically shouted.

He roared in caveman frustration, slamming his fists on their table and ratting their dining ware. He had attracted unwanted attention once again, before dramatically storming off towards the doors.

Thank the gods he’s leaving, Astrid exhaled, feeling like she could finally breathe again.

“What are you looking at!” They heard him bark at someone in the retiring vicinity.

Astrid rubbed her eyes until she saw stars, wishing this hadn’t been such a scene. The questioning looks fixed in their direction made her insides squirm and she just wanted to go home for the day. If this moment of spotlight made her uneasy, she couldn’t imagine how uncomfortable Hiccup must be.

Cato was a demon. He thought he knew everything and acted like he owned everyone, including her. While it was obvious he had some feelings for her, she lacked regard for him.

Whenever she hung out with that friend group, she tried her best to brush off his tired pickup lines and ignore his aggressive flirting.

Over time, she had caught a few glimpses of Cato’s weird, possessive tendencies. He might dissuade another guy their age from training with her, just so it could only be him, whenever he could help it. Or he would throw an arm over her shoulder whenever they sat together, talking over any other boy who tried to speak to her, and if he couldn’t manage to for any reason, he would glare at his threats with impatient, jealous eyes.

She was tired of dealing with it. She was exhausted from putting herself around people that were draining her of her energy, sucking the life out of her.

“Astrid—” Hiccup started to say, perhaps to comfort her.

“Don’t—it’s fine Hiccup. Please, spare me.”

She blinked up at him, at his worried frown and he appeared to be a little shaken up from all that. He appeared younger, smaller at that moment and she felt an unexplainable urge to hug him, however, she did not move.

She had to remind herself, she wasn’t dealing with the same male company as she just had, or ever had before—it was only her sweet, vulnerable Hiccup.

Astrid’s gaze promptly softened on him.

“I am so, so sorry about him,” she apologized, unable to find any other words to describe how terrible she felt for putting him in this situation.

“It’s alright,” Hiccup shrugged his little shoulders.

If this event had fazed him, he was doing a very fine job of hiding it.

The prominent desire to hold him was growing brighter, perhaps as bright as his eyes.

She was hungry, even just to touch him again, just to feel the warmth of that sparkling contact. She wanted to hold his hand like before, but last time she had a reason to and this time she had overthought it too much and psyched herself out.

Her gaze wavered on his hand for a moment, only miles across the table.

Never one to act on how she really feels, she remained seated, so close, yet still so far away, forever out of reach.

Her brain called the shots, not her heart.

The heated anger that had just been at its record pique, today, just a few moments before, had already depleted from her. She wasn’t exactly relaxed now, still feeling tension. But a different kind now of tension now, perhaps from overthinking—being in Hiccup’s company—but more than anything, she was happy, even just after that nasty encounter.

A comforting thought clouded her—it was just Hiccup, here with her now. Just the two of them. Astrid fastened onto this idea, loving how it sounded in her head.

“It’s not alright, though. He’s such a low-life,” she said, sickened by her association with Cato.

“Is that guy your ex-boyfriend or something?”

“Gods!—No! Don’t make me puke,” she rasped, unable to bring herself to imagine that idea. “I hang out with his friends. I think he has a thing for me.”

“Yeah, you think?” Hiccup laughed softly.

She swallowed, enabling herself to study his lips.

Their mutual chemistry began to trickle back into their bubble.

“Maybe just a little crush,” She said, returning the amusement. Like I have on you. She wanted to say it so bad, there was no denying it at this point, but her tongue would never allow her.

“Well, he talks to you like he’s your ex. He treats you very disrespectfully,” he observed.

“Yeah, he thinks he owns me or something. That shithead.”

“I don’t like it. Makes me feel funny,” he admitted, wrinkling his freckled nose.

Was this a thread of protectiveness or even jealousy, she sensed?

It was gorgeous to think of Hiccup as protective over her.

She beamed at him, pestered by the flip of her stomach.

“But, um, on a real note,” he paused, his eyes meeting hers for a long note of undivided contact. More than he could usually handle at a time, “T-thank you for sticking up for me. You didn’t have to…nobody has ever done that for me before.”

Her heart melted with fondness over him, as well as it burned with a sting of mercy. She had hoped and prayed he didn’t deal with torments very often, but a disheartening feeling told her otherwise, reminding her not to be so naive. In this morbid, judgmental village, it would just be too good to be true.

“I won’t let them pick on you anymore, Hiccup, I won’t stand for it, not for a moment,” she promised.

“Astrid, really, I can—“

“Please. You tell me if he ever gives you trouble, okay? If anyone does,” she said firmly, feeling a charge of confidence to finally reach over the table and grab his hand.

At last! It felt so good. Finally, they had reunited. The feeling of their equally dainty hands flush against one another, was a scalding jolt of electric heat that bled down to her fingertips and snaked up her arm.

He glanced down for hardly a second, before his eyes darted back up to hers, the sudden, intimate contact making him blush.

This was all Astrid had craved for as long as she could remember—the past few minutes.

She had him in her hand. She dared to move her thumb delicately over his knuckles, tracing a line of affection across his milk-white skin and feeling him very slightly jump beneath the subtle endearment. For a secret moment to herself, he belonged to her, as he did every time they held hands.

“You’ll tell me,” she insisted, churning with butterflies, fighting to maintain eye contact.

It was apparent he was too, mesmerized by her awaited touch and attentive gaze.

“Alright, I will,” he obediently agreed, too caught up in the heat of the moment to care anymore what he was agreeing to.

She gathered her courage, deciding it was a decent moment to further his understanding of how she felt about him.

“I care about you, a lot, Hiccup,” she found her words slowly, wanting to say it right.

His cheeks burned rich as blood.

“I-I care about you, too,” he managed softly, perhaps turning a heavy gear of confidence as well.

The length of eye contact he was tolerating was incredible. She gave his hand a gentle squeeze for encouragement.

“And ever since I became friends with you, I feel like I’ve woken up from this boring, repetitive dream I’ve been trapped in for so long,” she confessed, the best way she could manage, feeling a quick, hot shade of red, like Hiccup.

He inhaled sharply, but quietly, “W-wow, Astrid..I, uh, it really does mean a lot to hear you say that…” he stuttered, “It’s also kinda funny.”

“Huh? What is?”

“Because, to me, ever since I became friends with you, not any of this has felt real,” his green eyes were chilling.

When he said this, her arms prickled with goose flesh. She closed her eyes for some heartbeats, knowing this was meant to happen, sure that they were meant to be. She felt as if they were following their path of fate through the dark like it was a buzzing, golden trail illuminated by lanterns and fireflies.

“Hiccup that’s beautiful,” she said opening her eyes, still holding onto his soft hand.

“Hm?”

“I love the way you said that,” she elaborated. “It made me feel funny. In a good way.”

He eyed her with his charming eyes, a boyish smile spread over his face.

It was silent for a few moments before Astrid was sure he would hear the sound of her pounding, racing heart, which she was far too prideful to address.

“Are you doing anything after this?” She blatantly asked.

His mouth frowned to the side a bit and he sighed, “Yeah, I have to help Gobber at his forge for a while.”

“Oh,” Astrid felt herself deflate a little.

Hiccup picked up on it, “But I mean if you’re not doing later tonight, after-“

“Yes! Wanna do something together? Let’s take a walk by the water,” she suggested excitedly, but when she caught the way his brow quirked, she thought to herself for a moment, the idea of the two of them walking alone under the stars, along the shore seemed pretty…romantic.

Her face suddenly felt hot enough to fry a fish on and she retracted her hand from his a little too quickly.

“To practice swinging some weapons or something,” she briskly added to clarify.

She wasn’t implying they do anything over there. Did he think that? Or was she overthinking it all?

“I’m not very good with stuff like that,” he smirked clinically.

“Aww c’mon, I’ll teach you,” Astrid implored, looking down at her plate, for the first time.

She flicked a carrot around with her fork, playing with it while she spoke.

“It’ll just be you and I, again. You can be my new training partner,” she purred, peeking up at him through her long lashes.

“Who’s your old one?” he challenged narrowing his eyes, though a playful note played in his voice.

“Oh, shut up,” she teased, “it changes all the time. I train with different people every day.”

“Must be nice,” he scoffed flatly.

Her heart sank and she worried for a second if he was annoyed.

“But I want to train with you,” she tried not to whine. “That’s why I’m inviting you to practice with me tonight. I’ll teach you how to swing a sword or a mace or whatever your type is.”

“My type?” when he cracked a gap-tooth smile she felt an instant wave of relief.

“You gotta have a type. Everyone does,” she said. I think I just figured out what mine is.

“My type, or class, I guess, is an axe. It has more cleaving power than a blade, yet less precision, that’s why I think you oughta use a sword instead, personally,” she went on to explain. “But then again, you should try out different weapons to see what you like.”

“Alright, alright,” Hiccup slowed her down, “I’ll be delighted to come and play sword fighting with you if it’ll make you happy,” he smirked, his cool eyes always grabbing her attention, “But seriously, you can’t make fun of me.”