tomorrow will be better

He didn’t have much to work with. No paper or forge. But he had wood and stone working tools left over from his great grandfather. 

And with those, he found a task. 

The stonework outside Mala’s niche was coming along nicely. He’d mimicked the style of the house decoration she’d liked so much, except with sea creatures instead of dragons. 

As he tapped away with the hammer and chisel, his mother sat on the ledge beside him. 

“As much as I want you to, you can’t stay here forever.” 

“I’m just…giving Astrid space.” 

“And hurting her further in the process.” 

He lowered the chisel. “How do you know that looking at my face won’t hurt her more? What if seeing me is a reminder that she’s…ruined?” 

Valka frowned. “That’s how you feel? You ruined her?” 

“She didn’t want to fall in love! And she certainly wouldn’t want to with Salt Boy!” 

“You’re not Salt Boy anymore,” she reminded gently. “You trained a dragon. You taught her how to train a dragon. You’ve revolutionized the entire trade for the island. People look up to you. They respect you.” 

“For now.” 

She took his arm and pulled him to her side. “You have wounds that you aren’t tending to.” 

“Huh?” 

“The pain of rejection. It’s been several months since anyone looked down on you, but you still treat yourself as if they shunned you still.” 

“Mom, I feel like I’m standing on the tip of a needle. Yeah, some things are going okay, but a lot of things aren’t! I feel like I’m looking into a chasm of really bad things and I’m this close to falling into it.” He held up his fingers with a centimeter of space between them. “I already blew it with Astrid. And…and I can hope that she’ll keep my biology a secret, but what if she doesn’t? What if this was the tipping point and the riots start?” 

“I’m sure—“ 

“And if not Astrid, then who? I’m constantly worried someone else is going to find me out! She stumbled across it by accident! Who else will? Who else has and hasn’t said anything yet? Maybe someone is saving blackmail!” 

“Surely that’s not—“ 

“And while the baby dragons are cute, they are also very curious and energetic! We’re trying to train them, but the village is losing patience. I can tell! And every time a sheep bursts into flames, they all turn and look at me!” 

“Well, that comes with the territory—“ 

“And now that Outpost is supposed to get underway, and I don’t have a coherent design! Everyone wants something different! What if we fight so much that the Outcasts attack while we’re bickering and someone gets killed and it’s on me because I couldn’t get five teenagers to focus for an hour?!” 

“To be fair, I don’t think anyone can—“ 

“Ugh! And then Dagur brought up Viggo! That’s the man that cut off my fin! What if he comes here to recruit us and he recognizes me?!” 

“You said you weren’t facing—“ 

“And speaking of losing my fin, when I died, I talked to the Ocean Spirit, and she said I’m supposed to end the war! The mermaid war! Me! Who just this week learned how to get my claws out on command!” He extended his claws to prove his point. 

“Hiccup.” 

“And this all circles back around to the fact I’m the only Chimera in the world! I’m all alone! I’m doing this with no guidance! And I’m sixteen! I haven’t even finished my apprenticeship in the forge and I’m supposed to deal with all this?!” His voice hitched. “Six months ago, no one would entrust me with even mucking the yak stalls, and now I’m the one in charge of keeping secrets and stopping and preventing wars and I have no support anymore! Astrid hates my guts and it’s all my fault!”

Valka waited a moment, then gently said, “feel better now that you laid it all out?” 

“No. I feel like I’m missing something.” 

She started playing with his hair, smoothing it from its hopeless mess of tangles from all his frantic scrubbing. “I don’t envy you, my son. You do have it very hard. You have the problems of man and mer compounded on your shoulders. The things you have already gone through, most people your age can’t fathom. You’re justified in feeling so uncertain.” 

He sighed. It felt really nice to hear someone validating his worries. He was tired of Camicazi calling him dramatic. 

“You’re right. As Chimera, there are some things that you alone will experience. But that doesn’t mean you have to do it all alone. Your sisters and I are here to help you underwater. Your father and Gobber will help you with issues on land. And Toothless and Astrid will help you with the dragons.” 

“But—“ 

“So you will talk to her.” She insisted. “It may be uncomfortable. But the bond is your reality now. There’s no point in wishing it wasn’t there. Acknowledge it, and learn how to cope.” 

“You’re sure there’s no way to undo it?” 

“If I knew, I would have told you.” She rubbed his cheek affectionately. “But she would have fallen in love with you anyways.” 

“I disagree.” 

“You’re wonderful.” 

“I’m average at best.” 

“You’re handsome and kind.” 

“I have goofy teeth, a big nose, and I’m too sarcastic for my own good.” 

“Your heart is big, and you have a lot of love for people, even those that might not deserve it.” 

“...I’m just empathetic.” 

“Most importantly, you have passion.” 

He raised a brow at her. 

“Everything you do, you throw yourself into it. When you were trying to fish without getting on the boats? Taking care of Toothless? Your tail? You care about everything. So when things go wrong, it devastates you.” 

“Are you telling me to stop caring?” 

“No. I’m saying it’s beautiful. You care about Astrid so much that the thought of influencing her in any way makes you uncomfortable. But what if she likes the Bond? What if she doesn’t mind what happened?” 

He scrunched up his face. “Can she dislike it? I thought the whole point was that I enthralled her and she’s under my spell.” 

“She was angry when you told her, right?” 

“....yeah…” 

“If she’d fallen into your arms and cried ‘oh that’s okay my darling! As long as I’m with you!’ then you could start flagellating yourself.” 

“But—” 

“There is still plenty of free will in the Bond. She’s not a mindless draugr carrying out your will.” 

His shoulders started to relax. Of course his mother was right. He should have seen that by now. 

Still…confronting the issue was daunting, and he didn’t know how to talk about it with Astrid. 

“Now,” Valka took his tools away. “You’re going to bed.” 

“Bed? It’s the middle of the afternoon!” 

“No, it’s the middle of the night. The lack of sunlight down here has you confused.” 

“Oh…” 

“And in the morning, you’re going home. Your father wants you back.” 

Hiccup sighed. He supposed he couldn’t stay here forever. Besides Astrid, he had other duties to attend to. “Alright. I guess.” 

—-

Hiccup returned early in the morning, coming up from the grotto inside his father’s house. He hadn’t been as careful leaving Berk this time, and if Toothless was hanging around, people might be curious. Hopefully, no one thought about it too much. 

Except, Astrid would have. But she knew the truth. Did she cover for him? Who knew! 

Once dried off, Hiccup sat on the bench in the tunnel. He had no clothes, and more importantly, no leg. 

Luckily, Stoick came to the rescue, arriving with a change of clothes draped over his arm. “Your mother said you needed some help.” 

“I suppose being stranded down here is part of my punishment for running away like that.” 

“I heard you told Astrid the truth.” 

“Yeah.” 

“Glad to hear it.” 

“It went really bad.” 

“It still had to be done.” 

Hiccup sighed as he finished getting dressed. “I suppose. I just…I don’t know where to go from here.” 

“That’s something you two will have to figure out together.” 

“Yeah, I know.” He stood on his one leg, his prosthetic still in the inlet. “Welp, mom said you wanted me back. Besides the obvious, was there something that needed done?” 

Stoick picked him up with one arm and started carrying him up to the house. “Well, Axel’s been cutting wood like a fiend for the Outpost. And your riders have been spitballing the layout.” 

“Anything good?” 

“The term ‘boar pit’ has been tossed around quite a bit.” 

“Gods.” 

“Besides that, there’s something else. But I’ll just let you see for yourself.” 

Stoick carried him outside, where the dawn had broken and the village was just starting their days. Toothless sat with his babies out in the morning sun, and they were joined by Toothless’ mate; the large, golden Nightfury from the island. 

“Oh wow!” He said, drawing attention to himself. 

Toothless leapt up and started excitedly prancing around, before running to him and placing warm licks on his hands and face. 

“Ack! Okay! Haha! Yes, I missed you too!” 

Stoick set him on the ground, and Toothless got to work snuggling into his arms. From all sides, he was bombarded with Nightfuries, all clambering over him. Begging for scratches and attention. 

Then Toothless’ mate snorted, and the babies looked at her. They slinked down and towards her. 

“What’s going on?” Hiccup asked. 

The mother Nightfury approached and lowered her head, prompting him to greet her with a hand on her snout. 

Then she licked Toothless on the head, and headed toward the cliff, the babies in tow. 

“Hey wait! Are you leaving?!” 

The female didn’t stop. She leapt into the air, and the little Nightfuries went right with her. 

Hiccup sat gobstruck as he watched them go. Toothless sat beside him, his tail curling around Hiccup. 

“That’s…that’s it then?”

“Wrr,” Toothless snorted. 

Stoick answered. “She was hanging around for a few days. I think she knew you needed a chance to say goodbye.” 

“I…” Hiccup swallowed, still watching as the dragons got smaller and smaller in the distance. “I had no idea.”

“Another learning experience,” his father patted his shoulder. “No one’s studied these dragons before. Maybe they’ll come back. Maybe they’re off for good. Guess we wait a year and see if the cycle continues.” 

Hiccup glanced over and pet Toothless on his scaly hide. It was humbling to know that even through all this, Toothless still chose to stay with Hiccup instead of going with his mate. That’s how much he loved him. 

But, dragons weren’t people. Maybe mates didn’t have as strong of a bond as human couples did. 

Now Hiccup was interested to see if this was universal among dragons. Stormfly, Hookfang, Barf and Belch, and Meatlug all had their mates come with them back to Berk. The adult dragons were finding their own niches in the village. 

So maybe Toothless was from farther away, and that’s where Toothless’ mate took the babies.

He also started to wonder about other animals. Heather once told him that most sea creatures don’t stick around and raise their young. 

Maybe this was the Nightfury way. Maybe the males raise them from infancy, and then the mothers take over. 

His father was right. They’d just have to wait a year and see if the cycle continued. 

“Well bud,” Hiccup finally said once the other Nightfuries were no longer visible. “I could use some help getting my leg from the islet.” 

Toothless excitedly panted, before he dove into the shrubs on the side of the house. 

“Toothless, what are you—?!” 

He emerged with Hiccup’s leg in his mouth, and dropped it on the ground in front of him. 

“Hey! My leg! You brought back my—uggh…” as he grabbed it, he found the whole thing covered in slime and teeth marks. “Well, I suppose I should just be grateful you thought of me.” 

Toothless just proudly sat before him, head raised as if to say, ‘I’m the best dragon.’ 

Once the slimy leg was in place, Hiccup made his way to the forge. He had to let Gobber know he was back, and see what kind of work was stacked up for him. 

“Hiccup!” Astrid yelled across the square. 

Hiccup had been preparing to see her again. He had a vague idea of what he needed to say. He thought he was brave enough to confront her. 

But he was wrong. 

He bristled at her voice and bolted for the forge. 

“Wait!” She cried desperately. 

He darted inside and dove inside a cabinet, a hiding place he’d had since he was a kid to escape Snotlout. The door closed quietly behind him, and he held his breath while his knees were up by his ears.

“Hiccup!” Astrid called as she entered. “Come on, seriously?!” There was such disappointment in her voice. 

Carefully, he pushed the door open a crack and looked at her. 

Her face was pulled into a taut frown, almost a pout. She looked on the verge of tears. “What an asshole.” She muttered, before going out the back of the forge, probably hoping to catch his trail. 

Hiccup hunched uncomfortably in his hidey hole, and hated himself. 

The door opened and Gobber peaked in. “Bad luck with the ladies, eh?” 

Hiccup pulled the door closed instead. 

“Now now, you’re better than that!” Gobber yanked the door open, grabbed Hiccup by the ankle, and pulled him out. “Come talk to ole uncle Gobber. What’s the matter?” 

Hiccup was getting rather annoyed with the adults asking. While he needed guidance, they’d all said the same thing. 

‘Talk it out with Astrid.’ 

He assumed Gobber would say the same. 

“I told Astrid I brainwashed her.” 

Gobber chuckled. “Now, you might not be the prized fish to reel in, but you’re still a special kind of catch.” 

“What–? No, no…I mean I literally brainwashed her.” 

“You can do that?”

Hiccup scoffed and shook his head, getting up and pushing past him. “Never mind.” 

“Look, whatever it is, you can’t keep running from it. You have to—” 

“Talk to her, yes, I’m aware. A lot easier said than done, though. My brain wants to have the conversation, but my legs take off running in the other direction. I have no choice.” 

“Have you tried picturing her in her underwear?” 

He blushed. “How would that help?” 

“Makes her less intimidating.” 

“Not really.” 

“Get her at the end of the day. When she’s tired. Preferably right before bed. Yeah! You can have Toothless boost you up to her window!” 

“You want me to sneak into Astrid’s room at night? Why are all your suggestions creepy?”

“Fine, don’t take my help!” Gobber raised his hands in surrender. “But you’ll wish you did!” 

“I’ll keep that in my dying thoughts.” Finally, he reached for his apron before Gobber scolded with an ‘ah-ah!’ “What?” 

“You’ve got an Outpost to get started on!” 

“…yes? And that requires materials.” 

“Oh sure, and I suppose we’ll just make a bunch of random fittings and hinges before we even know what we need.” 

“Oh.” 

“Yeah, so get a move on. You and Toothless ought to go scope out a location first. Then you can get to work designing.” 

“R-right, of course. That…makes sense.” 

“Now off you go. Maybe you could ask Astrid to come with you.” 

“Absolutely not.” 

—-

Hiccup took a leisurely lap around the island on dragonback. Gods, it was so good to be up in the air! 

The Ocean Spirit had called him the son of earth, sky, and sea, and he felt it. It was like when he went a long time without one of them, he felt wrong. He was addicted to the sensations. The wind, the freedom, the openness of the sky. The cold, the beauty, the pressure of the deep. And the solid, unchanging familiarity of land. 

He needed all of them. 

Once he got his flying fix, Hiccup began scanning the Eastern side of the island for a good building area. Like most of Berk, the island was made of sharp drops and sea stacks. The inner island was dense with foliage and sloping terrain. 

There wasn’t really a nice wide field ready to plop an outpost in. 

They doubled back a few times, Hiccup slowly becoming more and more discouraged as it went on. 

He didn’t want to make this harder for the village to pull off, but it was looking like a lot of work would have to be done to build anything. 

Suddenly, Toothless turned and swooped into a section of rocky outcroppings and sea stacks. It was basically a crescent shape, and tapered down to a few short stacks further out in the ocean.

They’d passed this section a few times, but Hiccup had ruled it out, given the different levels of terrain and lack of wide open space.

It was certainly pretty. A nice big view of the ocean, a waterfall, and even a few caves. 

“What do you think, bud?” 

Toothless leapt from one stack to the other, sniffing the air and rocks. 

Maybe this wasn’t as impractical as he first thought. From the air, the sea stacks seemed small, but down on them, there was plenty of room for a hut each. Maybe they’d have to be connected by bridges, but that shouldn’t be too hard. Berk itself was set up a little like that anyway. 

Then Toothless leapt to one of the higher points and revealed another cave. This one was smaller, but had a waterfall on the inside. 

Looking over the edge, he could see light illuminating the water at the bottom. Without going down there to investigate, he assumed there was access to the ocean through the cave. 

A secret tunnel for him. 

“Well, I think I’m sold.” He smirked at Toothless. 

In response, Toothless perked up in pride. 

They made their way to the highest point that looked over the area, a cliff face that was a little further into the island. From here, Hiccup could sketch a pretty accurate map of the layout. 

It took him all afternoon, and by time he returned to Berk, it was dinnertime, and everyone was gathered. 

“Evening gang,” he greeted as he sat down. 

“Whoa! Where have you been?” Asked Ruff. 

“Yeah, you just disappear for a week without saying anything? And then just pop in out of nowhere?” Snotlout pointed at him with his fork. 

Hiccup offered an apologetic smile. “You’re right. I should have told you guys I was leaving, but…something urgent came up.” 

“Is everything okay?” Asked Fishlegs. 

“No, yeah, everything’s great! Er, fine, I should say. Uh…I went to go visit my mom. Family emergency.” 

Astrid glanced at him sideways from where she was hunched over her meal, but didn’t say anything. 

“So,” Hiccup continued. “Uh, the Outpost—“ 

“Will be ‘S’ shaped!” Snotlout declared, pounding his fist on the table. 

“Uh…” Hiccup glanced at his map. There was maybe a way to build an ‘S’ with bridges, but the space was ideal for a fat ‘U’. “…sure…” 

He’d made several copies of the map on individual pieces of paper and handed them out to each Rider. “I scoped out this spot I think would be ideal for an Outpost. Good view of the ocean, fresh water, even some self-sufficient food sources.” 

“This looks like a bunch of rocks,” said Tuff. “We’re building rocks?” 

“No, we’re designing on top of the rocks.”

“Ugh, we?” Said Ruffnut.  

“Yeah…I thought you guys would want to be a part of it.” 

“Of course, but we tell you what we want, and then you design it,” said Snotlout. 

“I’ll probably make the final design, but this is a group project. We’re a team. We should work together.” 

Snotlout rolled his eyes. “My palms are raw from all the fishing I did this week, and now I have to do more work? Remind me again why I joined you people.” 

Hiccup smirked slightly. “Well Snotlout, as I always say, you are certainly welcome to quit and go back on your dad’s boat.” 

Snotlout shifted forward in his seat, his hands folded gently on the table. “Anything I should keep in mind as I design my masterpiece?” 

Hiccup explained the layout of the area, of the cliffs and caves, and how things would have to be connected by bridges. 

It didn’t take long for the others to get invested, and start doodling on their maps. 

“It needs to be well fortified,” Astrid said, eyes on her paper. “Iron walls, reinforced beams, maybe even some traps.” 

“And we’ll constantly be on edge while we’re there? Come on, what about a restful area to relax after all our fishing and patrols?” Said Fishlegs.

Astrid pointed to his paper. “Is that a hot tub?”

“No, it’s a mud bath…that’s the hot tub.” 

“An ‘S’ shaped mud bath?” 

“You keep your ‘S’s away from my retreat!” 

Tuffnut pointed to the mud bath. “I don’t think you could fit many boars in there.” 

“There’s no boars in the mud bath!” 

While the team bickered, Hiccup observed and made notes on his map. He made sure to section off the cave he’d seen and the attached sea stack for himself. 

Each rider got their own section, and they’d be able to do what they wanted with it. That way, everyone would be happy and be invested in their little home away from home. 

By time dinner was over, the group had more or less finished their design ideas and turned them in to Hiccup. 

“You guys don’t want to take these home and think about it more?” 

“I gave my two gold,” said Tuffnut. 

“There’s only so much that can be designed on paper,” said Fishlegs. “I’d have to see it with my own eyes.” 

Astrid wordlessly handed her paper to him. 

He looked at her expectantly. 

But she said nothing. Just looked utterly defeated and disappointed. 

He hated it. 

“Hey,” he said. 

“Hm?” 

“How are you?” 

“Fine,” she said coldly. 

“...right. Um, about the other day—” 

“Not here. Not now.” She shook her head. 

“R-right! Yeah! How silly of me.” 

Her lips pressed into a thin line, before she departed without a goodbye. 

“What was that?” Snotlout raised a brow. 

“Oh, uh, nothing.” Hiccup said quickly. “We just had an argument the other day.” 

Snotlout barked a laugh. “Women, amiright?” 

Hiccup’s face fell flat. “You don’t know anything about women.” 

“I have a mom.” 

“I have a mom too.”

“You’ve seen her, what, twice now?”  

Hiccup bit his tongue. 

“Yeah, that’s what I thought. You didn’t grow up with women. You don’t know how to deal with them.” 

“Sure, Snotlout. Whatever you say.” 

Snotlout handed over his map, where he’d colored in parts of the rock to signify where they should blow them up in order to make them ‘S’ shaped. “Easy enough, right?” 

“That’s…definitely a piece of work.” 

Snotlout smiled proudly before a sharp whistle cut through the lingering conversation in the hall. 

“Snotty! It’s trash night!” A woman’s voice called over the crowd. 

Snotlout scrambled. “Coming mother!” 

Hiccup chuckled to himself and departed. 

—-

The next day was busy. 

Hiccup stayed up late perfecting his design of the Outpost. He had blueprints for a clubhouse, stables, training arena, and his own hut. That way he could give a plan to Axel and Gobber for materials. 

Realistically, he would be probably working on the build for all the common areas while the others goofed around on their huts. 

He looked at Toothless. “This is supposed to teach us independence.” 

“Wurp.” 

“I think my dad is just preparing me so he can go into early retirement.” 

Toothless laughed. 

At breakfast, Hiccup presented the final design to much acclaim. The team seemed pleased, and all agreed on it. 

It was a miracle. 

Then building commenced. With the dragons, hauling supplies back and forth was a cinch. 

Right away, Hiccup had piled a bunch of supplies for his own hut in front of the cave entrance, to keep it hidden from the others. Thankfully, no one seemed to notice. 

To his surprise, the other riders became invested in the common areas too. Astrid appointed herself in charge of the arena and added an armory to it. Fishlegs took over the stable and landing strip. Snotlout worked on the Clubhouse with Hiccup, while the twins started working on bridges and zip lines. 

It was fun too. They were all joking around with each other and making games out of the work. Even Astrid seemed to be in a good mood! 

By the end of the day, most buildings were framed up. The clubhouse had two walls, and the most important bridges were complete. 

Hiccup was ecstatic. For once, everything seemed to be going perfectly. It felt like everyone was on his side. 

So when they called it a day at sunset, and everyone went their separate ways, Hiccup made his way to the inlet for a leisurely swim. 

Maybe he’d meet up with his sisters, and they could see the Outpost from the water. Maybe he could explore that cave he’d seen a little more. 

Toothless hunkered down on the rock beside him, tucking his paws in. 

“You did good work today, bud.” Hiccup praised. “You deserve to rest.” 

“Wrrr.” 

“Thought things would be a little more peaceful with the kids gone, huh?” 

“Wrp.” 

“It won’t be long before summer’s here and you can spend a few days basking in the sun.” 

Toothless rolled onto his back, likely imagining doing just that. 

Hiccup took out his fin and set it to the side. Then he undressed and laid his clothes and leg in a neat pile beside Toothless. 

He stood, balanced on one leg, and stretching his arms, about to dive in, when a shout startled him. 

“Nice ass!” 

Completely unprepared for anyone to be nearby, he tumbled forward and crashed into the sea with a yelp and a smack. 

He surfaced rapidly, pinning himself to the rock ledge to hide his tail. 

Astrid stood up on the ridge, looking down with her arms crossed. 

“O-oh! Ha! Hi Astrid, hi Astrid!” He chuckled weakly. 

She leapt down and in a few short strides, she was before him. She gently nudged his fin away with her foot, putting it out of reach. 

He grimaced at her. 

“There will be no running this time,” she insisted. 

“Right, yeah…I’m sorry.” 

She crooked a finger at him, urging him to come closer. 

He felt very vulnerable with just his tail, and so he just lifted himself up to rest his arms on the ledge. “So uh…I’m not really sure how to begin…” 

Astrid frowned, leaned over, grabbed him by the forearms and heaved him out of the water. 

He landed belly up on the rock with a splat. 

Astrid plopped down on his stomach, pinning him there. 

“I already promised I wouldn’t run,” he squeaked.

“Are you going to let me talk this time?” 

He nodded. “And I’ll answer whatever questions you have.” 

“Good.” She lightly held his wrists and leaned forward so she was staring him in the face. 

Hiccup knew he was turning as red as the tip of his tail, but just buttoned his lip and waited. 

“First of all, you don’t get to decide my feelings. Brainwashing, or mind rape, or whatever you call it, forget about it. If I like you, I like you. Even if I was manipulated, it feels real to me.” 

“Astrid—…” 

“Shut up, dweeb.” 

He hunched his shoulders. 

“I was mad at first. Of course. No one wants to find out they were manipulated or coerced into thinking a certain way. But the thing that really pissed me off was you outright denying how I felt and running away.” 

He lowered his eyes. 

“I didn’t want to have a crush. Romance is drama, case in point.” She gestured to him. “But…when Gothi told me I was crushing on you, it took me a while, but I accepted it.” 

“But it’s because I—“ 

“Shush!” She pinched his lips together. 

“Sowwy,” he mumbled. 

She sighed in exasperation. “Hiccup, if you really did brainwash me, you did it at the exact same time I probably would have started having feelings anyway. You saved my life, and that leaves an impression on a person.” 

He nodded slightly, having heard his family make the same argument. 

“You have made my life immeasurably better. Without you, I’d still be in the gutting station. I wouldn’t have Stormfly. I wouldn’t be respected at all. My father would still be on Outcast Island, or worse! After all that, why wouldn’t I fall in love with you?” 

Goosebumps ran down his arms and neck. Her words were powerful and genuine. It made him weak in the knees. 

Or tail, as the case was. 

“But say you don’t believe me,” her eyes narrowed. “You think I’m enchanted and everything I’m saying right now is done through some nefarious mermaid magic. What now? You said it can’t be undone, right?” 

“Right.” 

“So you’re just going to push me away? You’re going to break my heart over and over just by chance you can wiggle free?” 

He took a sharp intake of breath. 

“You’re going to be chief one day, you know. And you’ll have to take a wife and have an heir. Are you going to make me watch you marry some random woman and live happily ever after with her? Are you seriously dooming me to a life of misery because you’re under the impression I don’t actually want you?”

“I didn’t think about that,” he whispered. 

“No, you didn’t,” she poked his nose. “Because you’re a dumb boy.” 

“I’m not that dumb…” he muttered. 

“Hiccup,” she leaned closer. “It was an accident. I know you would never hurt me. Whatever this Bond entails, whatever it comes with, we’ll deal with it. But we have to do it together, okay? No more lies, no more running.” 

He breathed deep, swallowing and swallowing but his throat was dry. 

“You said you loved me,” she pointed out. “When you breathed into me and made the Bond. Is that…is that still true?” 

“Yes,” he rasped. 

“Then why are you shaking?” 

He hadn’t even noticed he was doing it. There was just a lot of emotion he felt at the moment, unsurprisingly. “I’m just…cold.” 

“You can survive the depths of the ocean in this form. You can’t be that cold.” 

“Astrid please.” 

“What can I do to reassure you? What do I have to say for you to understand that everything is okay? I’m okay with this?” She skirted her hands up from his wrists to intertwine their fingers. “In fact, you’re the only boy I’m okay with. Before you saved my life, when you said I just ‘tolerated’ you. That’s not true. I liked you. Not in a crush way, but I genuinely thought we could be friends. You weren’t gross or obnoxious like the others. I just…I’m not very friendly. I don’t make friends easily. Even though we’ve known each other our whole lives, I don’t always know how to approach people. But I liked you. I’m not upset that you were the one to accidentally charm me.” 

He blinked a few times. “Huh. I guess…I guess I never realized how much of a lone wolf you were. I thought you were so solitary and cool…I didn’t think about why.” 

A smile graced her cheeks. “You’re easy to talk to though. Easy to spend time with. You’re just as weird as I am.” 

“You aren’t weird.” 

“I have a crush on a fish boy. Some people might think that’s weird.” 

“Fair.” He gave her a lopsided grin. 

“So, I’ll ask you again. Are we doing this? Are we talking to parents and making betrothal contracts and all that crap?” 

He squeezed her hands. “Astrid I…I love you. I want to be with you.” 

“...but…?”

“I’m scared,” he whispered. 

“Scared? Of me? Still?” 

“No. Well, yes, a little, but…” he rested his head against the rock. “I don’t know what I’m doing.” 

“I agree. This is a pretty lousy proposal.” 

That squeezed a chuckle out of him. “No, no…I mean…as a Chimera. I’m still learning about my body, my abilities. I had no idea what I had done when I started the Bond. What if there’s more I don’t know? More the other mermaids don’t know? What if I hurt you again? What if there is a way to undo the Bond, or it just disappears one day and you wake up and realize this–this scaly monster has been beside you the whole time and—” 

Astrid’s insistent and comforting lips upon his did a good job of silencing that train of thought. She tilted her head, kissing deeper, goading him into just relaxing and enjoying the moment. 

Eventually, he exhaled and returned the kiss, just as tenderly as she gave it. 

Then she pulled away just enough to look down at him. “You’re not a monster. You’re my best friend.” 

“Are you sure?” He croaked. 

“Definitely. What do you think of me?” 

“That you’re wonderful, and incredible, and beautiful, and nice, and funny, and amazing and—” 

“So why can’t I think all those things about you?” 

“Because—because I’m—” He slapped his tail against the water. “That’s why!” 

She grinned, “I like it. Makes you unique and interesting. More unique and interesting, I should say. You’re very different from all the other vikings.” 

“Gee, thanks.” 

“That’s a good thing. They annoy me.” 

“You know, I spent years trying to be one of them.” 

“I know. I did too. But I was never happy until I found my place with the dragon riders. With you.” 

And he knew she was right. She’d never smiled so freely as when they were out flying together. 

“Still…I don’t want to rush into anything. If the council gets a whiff of a relationship, they’ll pester my dad, and then there will be wedding dates and talk of heirs and…we’re already so lucky that our tribe doesn’t push marriage as early as the others. I don’t know if I could handle all of that on top of all these other expectations I have as a Chimera.” His eyes widened. “Not that you’re stressful! Or an obligation!” 

“I knew what you meant, dork.” She placed her hands on his chest. “Then…how about we just keep this to ourselves for a while?” 

“What like…court in secret? We can do that?” 

“I think it might be fun. Sneaking off to be alone…not having anyone bothering us with nosy questions.” 

“Oh, I think we’ll still get nosy questions. Like ‘when are you going to finally ask that nice Hofferson lass out?’” 

“Oh but that’s fun! You get to wrinkle your nose and go, ‘who? Astrid? As if I’d ever ask her out!’” 

“I wouldn’t say that! Even if I did…no one would believe me.” 

She smirked. “I always figured you liked me.” 

“Yeah, I wasn’t really good at hiding it.” 

“So it’s decided then? We’re together in secret, and if you find any more interesting merman quirks, you’ll come and talk to me about it?” 

He nodded. “Yeah. Yeah Astrid, that sounds…that’s perfect.” 

“And you’ll believe me when I say I’m happy and I want to be with you?” 

“I’ll work on it. Really get it to sink in.” 

“Good.” Then she stood and started getting undressed. 

“Um…?” 

“I’m coming swimming with you. I want to see the Outpost from the water.” 

His smile grew. “Yeah?” 

“Yep!” She folded her shirt and arm wraps up beside his clothes while he put his fin on. 

Once it was in place, he smiled up at her. “Ready?”

She stooped and slid her arms underneath him, lifting him with little effort. 

He clung to her shoulders, not prepared to be lifted by her. “Uh…you’re really strong.” 

“No, you’re just really tiny.” 

“Hey!” 

“Hmm, too tiny. I thought it was a good catch, but I better throw it back.” And with a mighty heave, she tossed him into the water. 

He surfaced with an indignant cry. “Hey! You are not starting this whole relationship off very nicely!” 

Astrid doubled over in laughter, absolutely pleased with herself. 

Toothless peered an eye open at the noise, having ignored most of the encounter. 

“Toothless, push, please.” 

Toothless smacked his gums and slapped Astrid’s rear with his tail, pushing her over and into the water. 

Hiccup was ready and waiting to catch her as she fell in. He wrapped his arms around her and started tickling her bare belly. “Treat me like an oversized guppy, will you? I’ll show you!” 

Astrid’s laughter erupted in plumes of bubbles, and she scrambled to take hold of his hands. 

Then she craned her neck back and captured his lips briefly. It was enough to distract him, and she was able to turn around and kiss him properly. 

As he enveloped her in his arms, there were still some lingering doubts. Doubts that only time would stamp out. 

But for now, he was happy, and so was Astrid.