Soft and Hard

"You know, most guys ask girls to go out for a night a generally trying to do something fun," I say.

He smiled. Nerd.

"This-is fun!" He defended himself.

I shook my head, "This is so stupid."

"Come on, Astrid," He whined in that voice he used on, well, everyone.

"Hiccup, no, I cannot believe you!" I act angry. But really, it doesn't bother me much. Much.

"Just put it on. Pleaaase!?"

I begrudgingly grab the leather out of his hand, "Just tell me this is something important?"

"Important to me!"

I shrug, and put it on, "Now I know how Toothless feels."

"It's not a saddle, Astrid," He says defensively. He stares me in the eye. I pause long enough to give him the death-gaze.

He keeps staring.

"Fine," I strip off my armor and slip it on, "Now what?"

"Now I need you to do some work for me."

So, for the next three hours, I performed whatever task he asked; picked up his tools, scrubbed the floors, and hammered in the boards. It wasn't until I was putting nails in the roof that I became suspicious. Hiccup isn't like other guys, but…

"…is this just your way of getting your chores done?!" I demand.

"What?!"

I hit the ground gripping the hammer until the blood was squeezed from my fingers, "So help me Hiccup, if this is just a way for you to get your work done…"

I grab his hand, viciously twisting it, "Why did you have me do all this?!" I wave my hand around the workshop, "You could have done any of these chores!"

"Ow, yeah, ow, ow, ow," He grunted, "True…"

"Then why am I here?!"

"I needed help with the outfit!"

I step back and look at it, "….what?"

He wrings his fingers to revive them, "I needed to see if it was up to my usual lifestyle."

"Why not wear it yourself?!"

"I needed to see how it operated from the outside. Too many times I was too close to my inventions for their test run," I smirk, remembering some of his more colorful failures, "this is better in terms of objectivity."

I sniff, "Fine."

"I need you to take it off," He paused, and laughed awkwardly, "To study."

"Fine…." I took it off and rubbed my skin, "It's a little too hard anyways."

"Yeah, you did a great job softening it up for me!" He punched my arm, "Dude!"

"Well, you're welcome," I walked away. Apparently, I'm so hard I make things softer for him.

The next morning was no better…

"We ride at daybreak!" He called. Now this was the Hiccup I loved. Or at least, the Hiccup I was coming to love.

He hopped on Toothless who promptly took flight. I smiled and strapped myself in.

"Let's go, Stormfly!"

She didn't need to be told twice. We rose through the clouds, steadily rising higher and higher. There is nothing like riding a dragon; nothing in the world. The power, the freedom, it's perfect!

"Okay, people, we have our assignments; Snotlout, I need you to," Hiccup was promptly interrupted by Snotlout, who belched loudly, "meet with the ambassadors from Dun Broch, but I can see that is it. Fish Legs, if you could bring along our measuring equipment. The old book of dragons has a poor system," He dropped his voice into a manly Viking growl, imitating our ancestors, "The deadly nadder is twenty bloody heads tall, and thirty and a hand's arm's length long," He scoffed, dropping the accent, "Ridiculous. Let's get some actual numbers in our edition.

"Why do we need actual numbers when it's so much easier to just guess?" Insisted Snotlout.

Hiccup and I sighed at the same time. Whoops.

"Whatever. What do you want me to do, Hiccup?"

He smiled at me. Nerd.

"Please… stay by my side."

I smiled back. Okay, this I could get used to.

"Should I even bother giving the twins a job?" He asked.

"We can hear you, you know!"

"…yeah, I know. But I was asking Astrid."

"No, Hiccup, I don't think that's a good idea," I looked back at the twins who were currently trying to stick fingers into one another's holes. Ew, "As a matter of fact, I think we should seriously consider whether or not it's a good idea to let them come along."

He shrugged, "What's the worst that could happen?"

I glared.

"Oh, come on. We won't let them near anything breakable, I promise," He rolled his shoulders, "Besides, it's not like any Berkian is too far from what they are!"

I laughed, "No… I have skills, they're just… ew."

An explosion behind us stopped our conversation for a moment.

"Oh man, I am glad I'm not…." Tuffnut paused, as his head screwed sideways to read the owner's name, "Hiccu. Man, that sounds like a loser."

'Hiccu' grit his teeth in frustration, "I swear, they must have done something useful at least once."

"…name it."

"uh…"

"You can't do it, can you?" I scoffed, "Literally every time we go out," I intake a breath trying to arrange my thoughts as the others crowd around me. I'm not usually so self-conscious, but suddenly that last sentence sounds like we're dating.

"You and Hiccup go out without us?!" Demands Tuffnut.

"No, I-"

"Wait," Says Ruffnut, "You date while we're around?!"

"Eeeeew…!"

"How is that disgusting?!" I demand, "You ear your dragon's ear wax."

"Once," He defends, "On a dare!"

"Twice, and it was for 'health reasons', or at least, that's what you claimed!" I holler.

"Oh, yeah, I forgot."

Tuffnut and Ruffnut laughed.

"Wait," said Snotlout, "Does that mean you and Hiccup are dating?"

A serious of 'woos' rose from the group.

"I didn't say that!"

"You're not denying it!" Exclaimed Fishlegs.

"I am now!"

"Denying that you're not dating?"

"Grah!" I grab my battle-axe. Everyone gets really, really quite, "All I said is that it wasn't as disgusting as eating my dragon's ear wax!"

Stormfly growl/chirped.

"I'm done with this conversation," I say. I pat the back of Stormfly's head, and she dives. Why does this bother me so much?

a.n. Lemme know if you think I should continue this.