"Another modification?" Astrid's voice chimed, redolent with laughter as it cut through the relative silence of the forge. "I thought things were finally perfect."
"In all fairness, I said 'almost perfect'," Hiccup corrected. Glancing up from his work, he found her smiling at him, leaning in through the open window, both elbows propped on the sill.
"What are you doing inside?" she continued. "We get three beautiful days a year, and you wanna spend this one working? What is that, anyway?"
"New stirrup," Hiccup replied.
"What's wrong with the old one?"
"Nothing. This one's for you."
Swinging around the doorframe, Astrid said, "My stirrups are fine. Come outside." Plucking the mostly-finished piece of hardware out of his grasp, she made to set it beside him on the workbench but instead wound up taking a closer look, turning it over in her hands. After a few moments of careful inspection, she said, "This looks like a piece of Toothless' tack."
Hiccup nodded.
"But you said it was for me," Astrid pressed.
Hiccup nodded again.
"Explain," she said, handing it back to him.
He gazed down at it in silent thought for a few long moments, during which Astrid moved to sit beside him, pressing their shoulders together. "I think," he began finally, "that… it might be a good idea if someone else learned to handle Toothless. Just in case."
"Just in case?" she demanded, suddenly tense. "Just in case what? He won't even let anyone else in the saddle!"
Turning to look at her, Hiccup said, "He lets you."
"Yeah, when I'm with you," Astrid said. "I'm pretty sure he'd turn me into kindling if I tried that by myself."
Hiccup laughed. "Nah, he likes you."
Shaking her head, she said, "You like me. He tolerates me."
"Toothless likes you," he insisted. "He tolerates the rest of the village."
After a moment of suddenly tense silence, Hiccup ran a hand back through his already-messy hair and said, "Look, Astrid, I can't… I can't guarantee that I'll always be there for him – I mean, we don't even know how long dragons live, and a good tenth of me is already gone!" Not looking at her, he put the stirrup down and took one of her hands in both of his, running his fingers over the back of her palm in an absent, nervous manner. "But if I can't be there, the least I can do is make sure that someone else is, and I think you should be that someone. He saved my life. I owe it to him to at least ask."
His hands tightened around hers when she didn't make an immediate reply. "Astrid?"
"Okay," she said. "I'll do it."
A grin, grateful and relieved, broke across his face, and then he surprised her by untangling their fingers, taking her chin in one hand, and kissing her. It was brief, but very, very sweet.
"But," she added, "If he tries that spinning thing with me, you're the one who's going to hear about it."