New modern AU story: This is the official Introduction:
"Pilot Hiccup and fitness fanatic Astrid were 'just friends'. At least that's what they told everyone. Those closest to the pair knew differently, and waited for the day when the two of them finally acknowledged the love that was so painfully obvious to everyone else.
But fate had much more in store for the two young lovers. An escaped convict and his killer sister force their way into the couple's lives in a way no one saw coming. The trail of devastation that is left behind could force this couple apart before they've even had a chance to truly be together."
Hope that sent shivers down your spine! This story is full of angst, drama, kidnapping and suggested torture. Plus a few lighter moments. Enter at your own risk...
I don't own the characters from How to Train Your Dragon, but I sure love to put them through the wringer!
The drone of the engine was comfortingly loud and steady, the propeller whirring in a satisfying manner at the front of the little four seater high wing Cessna. The pilot, a young auburn haired man, frowned slightly as he checked the dials on the instrument panel. He tapped one to reassure himself. Happy with the result, he gave a small satisfied nod, and turned his attention back to the horizon beyond.
Suddenly a voice crackled over his headset, "This is truly amazing, Hiccup! I can see why you love to fly so much!"
The young man turned to his companion with a wide smile, "It is, isn't it! I've been flying since I was fourteen, and it still gives me a thrill. I really love it when I can see my own shadow on the mountain! It gives me goose bumps every time!" he crackled excitedly into her earpiece.
The young woman sitting close beside him smiled softly at his enthusiasm. The man really did love to fly, there was no denying it.
"I still can't believe I finally managed to convince you to fly with me," he teased in her ear.
"Well, when you get me safely down in one piece again, then you can say 'I told you so'," she warned him.
"When would I say 'I told you so'? I'm offended you would think I would stoop so low," he pretended to pout.
She laughed, "Oh, get over it, Haddock! You would so, and you know it!" she slapped him lightly on the shoulder.
"Hey! No pilot abuse! You want to get down safely? Then I'll need two working arms, thank you!"
"Ok then, I'll just save it up and wait till we reach the ground," she warned him with a twinkle in her eye.
He rolled his eyes at her, "I'm just soo looking forward to that! Maybe we should just stay up here, and never land!" he suggested, slight static mixing in with his words.
"Yeah, so we can run out of fuel, crash and burn. Not a good look on your resume, I would think?" she bantered back.
"Who said anything about crashing? We've got wings, we can glide," he countered, raising an eyebrow and pretending to be offended.
"I may not know a great deal about planes, but I do know that gliders glide, planes fly. With petrol. In their engines."
"Oh! Now you tell me! I wonder if I put enough in?" he thoughtfully peered at his fuel gauge, tapping it for emphasis.
"Ha! Don't kid, Haddock! …You are kidding, right?" she said, slightly worried. She wasn't entirely sure if he was joking or not.
He turned to give the blonde woman beside him his famous lop-sided grin, "Of course I'm kidding!….Or am I?" He turned to give the dial another tap.
"Yup! We're good!" he announced happily.
She lifted her hand to smack him again, but he warned her off, "Uh, huh! No pilot abuse, remember? You want to have to fly this on your own?" he grinned cheekily at her.
The blonde put her hand back down, "You'll keep Haddock, you'll keep!" she smirked.
Just then, the plane jostled a little through some turbulence. Hiccup didn't pay any attention to it. It wasn't anything to worry about. Astrid however, instinctively reached out and grabbed his arm with a white knuckled grip. She had flown in planes before, but never in such a small plane as this. She had not realised how bumpy it would be.
Hiccup glanced over at Astrid with concern, and saw her jaw clenched in fear although she was trying hard not to show it. He reached over, and placed his larger hand over her smaller one to comfort her.
"Just some turbulence, nothing to worry about," he reassured her. "Think of it as if we're driving on a gravel road. We just hit a few bumps in the road every now and again, that's all."
"Yeah, a road that's 3,000 feet in the air!" she gave a forced laugh.
"Why, Astrid Hofferson! I never thought of you as being afraid?" he tried to jolly her along.
She gritted through her teeth, "Afraid? Of freefalling out of the sky in a bucket of bolts? Why would anyone be frightened of that? Don't be ridiculous!" she denied sarcastically. She was feeling quite terrified at the moment, but she was glad for his touch. It made her feel slightly better.
He smiled gently at her, "Your death grip on my arm tells me otherwise, Astrid."
She glanced over at her hand under his, embarrassed. "Oh right, sorry about that," she muttered, reluctantly stretching out each finger until she had finally let go, and slid her hand off his arm slowly, not really keen to lose her contact with him. His touch had always soothed her when she was troubled or upset, but that would be a little difficult when he needed both his hands to keep them flying in the air.
He tried to soothe her with his words instead, "We'll be there soon, and you can stand on terra-firma once more. You'll be fine. I built this machine myself, I know every bolt and piece of wire. She's as solid as a rock," he finished proudly.
Astrid twisted her hands together, a little too terrified to repartee with him at the moment. She gave a small nod instead.
Hiccup placed his hand on her arm, and spoke gently to her, "It's okay Astrid, trust me."
Astrid turned her azure blue eyes to meet up with his concerned deep green eyes. She sighed. She knew she could trust him with her life. They'd been best friends since they were fourteen. He'd always been dependable, and considerate. He'd always made her feel safe when she was with him, no matter what hair-brained scheme they'd gotten involved in. He always found a way to get them out safely.
Astrid could never be called weak or sappy by any stretch of the imagination. She was physically strong and independent minded, and took no nonsense from anyone. But it was nice to know that Hiccup was there beside her. He always had her back, no matter what. And today was no different. If he said it was okay, then it was okay.
She finally relented, "Okay, I trust you. Just make sure we get there in one piece, alright?"
Hiccup chuckled and patted her arm before removing his hand, "You're safe with me, Astrid." He turned his attention back to the surrounding countryside.
Astrid placed her hand over the site where Hiccup's hand had been. It made her feel warm inside whenever he touched her, and she subconsciously tried to keep that warmth going. She glanced over at him, trying not to be obvious about it. He'd grown into quite a handsome young man, six foot three with longish auburn hair. He was not a massive man like his father. Instead he had a medium build with broad shoulders and enough muscles to be interesting. But you wouldn't know it as he usually wore slightly baggy clothes that hid his best features.
He also tended to wear long pants regardless of the weather, as he was a little self-conscious of the fact that he was missing his lower left leg, from half way down his calf. He had lost his foot in a car accident with his father when he was fifteen, and now wore a prosthetic foot. When he was at home or with friends, he just wore his regular metal leg that he had designed himself. But when he had to go out in public with people who might not know him very well, then he would wear his artificial foot with the shoe on it. It was a lot less obvious but it was also a lot more uncomfortable.
She noticed him jiggling that leg a little now.
"Is your leg giving you bother?" she asked concerned.
"Nah, not too much. Just getting a bit numb. When I'm on a longer flight, things start to go to sleep."
He flicked his eyes over to her mischievously, "That's when I have to do the bum dance."
"Bum dance? What on earth are you talking about?" she queried, thinking he must be slightly mad.
"You know, the bum dance. Lift your left cheek up, put your left cheek down, lift your left cheek up, then you shake it up and down," he sang to her with the tune of the 'Hokey Pokey' song.
Astrid couldn't help herself, she threw her head back and laughed hysterically. She had not expected that!
Hiccup chuckled along with her, glad she had relaxed from her fear. He covertly observed his best friend. Astrid was nineteen, the same age as him. She had a beautiful heart shaped face, with a long blonde braid over her left shoulder. When they were fourteen she had been taller than him, but he had long since overtaken her. Now she came in under his chin. He felt that she would tuck into his arms and his chest quite nicely, but they had somehow always avoided that particular connection. When they were younger they would sometimes hug, but not lately. It seemed a little too….intimate.
Right now she was watching him with tears of laughter in her eyes, "You have got to teach me that!" she gasped.
He pretended to frown, "I don't know, it's a fairly complicated dance move. Think you could keep up?"
She nodded in mock seriousness, "I know it will be difficult, but I have every confidence that you will be able to teach me right," she finished, struggling to hold back another laugh.
He shot back, "Cause it can be difficult to co-ordinate the different body parts you know. First there's the left cheek, then the right cheek, then the shoulders and the feet, and to finish it off, you need to do all the muscles at once."
Astrid's imagination ran wild, she snorted, then couldn't hold it any more. She exploded into laughter, bent over double, holding onto her stomach. Finally she had to stop, struggling to catch her breath. Wiping tears of joy from her eyes, she tried to get it together, but as soon as she cast her eyes back over at Hiccup he started to sing, "Lift your right cheek up, put your right cheek down…" and she just lost it again.
He laughed with her, delighting in the sight of her enjoying herself so much. Her face just lit up when she smiled and she became even more beautiful if that was possible. He loved to make her laugh, just so he could watch her. Her happiness meant so much to him, and he would do anything for her.
Soon they were both laughing as they flew, singing and 'dancing' to Hiccup's 'bum dance' routine. Sometime later, Hiccup had to pull the pin on their fun as they approached their destination, a short soft-field runway high in the mountains. This was going to require all his concentration. Fortunately, the weather was fine today, so the winds were fairly mild, not like the usual blustery conditions he had met with here on previous occasions.
He checked that the runway was clear and ready for him to land. Once he was convinced it was free, he prepared to line up his plane with the runway, reducing his speed, checking his instruments, adjusting his approach, his touch on the controls gentle and smooth. He noticed from the corner of his eye that Astrid was gripping the edge of her seat, but his concentration was on providing a safe landing.
He kept the nose of the plane down until the very last moment, then he lifted it up to prevent the nose wheel digging into the ground. He eased the plane down till it was just skimming over the surface of the runway, teasing the wheels with the promise of a connection, adjusting the throttle to keep the Cessna just over the surface, till finally the tyres reached land with a soft bump. The nose wheel eventually connected too. The plane pulled up short on the runway with plenty of room to spare, before they carefully taxied out of the way. Once parked, Hiccup continued with his post-flight checklist, making sure everything was in its correct position or turned off.
Astrid watched him as he concentrated on his instruments, amazed at the familiarity and confidence he showed with his machine. He was very methodical in his approach, and he made sure nothing got forgotten. He needed to be, any slip ups here could lead to very disastrous results. He chose to fly in some very difficult flying conditions, amongst the mountains, and some of the airstrips up here were challenging to say the least.
Finally after Hiccup had completed his logbook, and was satisfied with the instruments, they exited to finish securing the plane. Up here the winds could start up fairly quickly and without notice, so he always liked to take the extra precaution of tying the wings down.
"Well, as promised, we have arrived safely, m'lady!" he wriggled his eyebrows at her as they worked, unloading the medical supplies that they were delivering for his father.
She laughed, "Okay! You did good! Thank you for getting me back to land safely," she conceded.
"And?" he prompted.
"Oh yeah! I owe you a punch to the shoulder," she replied pretending to swipe at him.
He ducked out of the way, and waved his finger at her while he tisk, tisked. "Not nice, Astrid! Remember, you also need to get back to Berk. Sooo…." he asked again.
"What? You want a medal or something?"
"No…just some recognition that you arrived safely courtesy of one of the best pilots on Berk!"
She laughed again, and put down the box she was carrying on top of the pile. "Just love the humility, so oozing out of you right now," she complained, but with no real malice. Tipping up one side of her mouth in a smirk, she approached him and took hold of his collar, pulling him down to her level. She gave him a quick peck on the cheek before releasing him. Smiling up at him she was happy to say it, "Okay! I'll admit it. You are one of the best pilots on Berk!"
He grinned at her comment, until she added, "And the only one I've flown in a small plane with. That means out of all the pilots I've flown with, you are simply the best!" she finished with a cheeky grin. She jumped out of the road as he launched himself across the space between them, trying to give her a pinch.
With laughter flashing across her eyes, and filling the air around her, she mocked him, "Nice try, Haddock! You should know you could never catch me!"
He pursed his lips and said nothing, but his eyes had a mischievous glint about them.
Their attention was diverted as they completed unloading the last of the supplies. The welcoming committee could be seen arriving up the dirt track. Once the supplies were finally out, Hiccup locked the plane, and gently patted the fuselage over the call sign printed under the window, 'Night Fury'. He'd earned that name from the number of night flights he'd had to make over the years. Flying from his instruments in the pitch black of night had become his speciality.
Finally an old 4WD pulled up beside them, dust lazily rising from where the tyres had disturbed the earth. An older man hopped out of the driver's seat. He had a long blonde beard, with long yellow blonde hair under his cowboy hat. Looking over at the two, his eyes crinkled up into a welcoming smile, "Hello Astrid! How are you, love?"
"Uncle Finn! It's great to see you again!" she came over to be enclosed into a loving hug and a whiskery kiss. "I came by air this time with Hiccup!"
"I can see that. How are you Hiccup, my lad?" he shook the younger man's hand.
"Fine thank you, Finn. Good to see you again," he said respectfully.
"How was the flight? Any turbulence?" Finn enquired.
"No sir, it was mostly fine weather today," Hiccup responded. He flicked his eyes over to Astrid and back to Finn before he said with a straight face, "We had the odd bump or two, but nothing a little cheek couldn't fix."
Astrid immediately sucked her lips in, trying to prevent herself from laughing. She turned away from Hiccup, focusing on anything she could find to distract herself.
Finn studied the two, noting all. He knew these two had been best friends since they were kids, but he also knew there was something much deeper between them. He'd seen how Hiccup and Astrid looked at each other, and it was definitely more than 'just friends'. He wondered how long it would take before they realised that.
"Well, there's obviously a good story there somewhere, I'm sure," he announced. "Let's load up these supplies and get them to the hospital. Have you got time for some lunch before you head back?" he questioned.
Astrid and Hiccup eyed each other, "You said the magic word, Uncle Finn!" exclaimed Astrid with relief. "Food!"
Finn laughed, "Aye lass. You always did have a healthy appetite. Pity you never learned to cook. But eating? Never a problem there!"
"Why would I need to learn to cook? I have so many others who can cook for me! You, mum. Even Hiccup here can put on a mean feast."
"Really? You can cook, can you lad?" Finn eyed him with interest.
"I fancy I can put a decent plate on the table, sir," Hiccup said proudly.
Finn turned to Astrid, "Well then lass, you'd better not let this one get away from you, before someone else snaps him up. He cooks, he flies, he's handsome! What more is there to want?" Finn wasn't above a little not-so-subtle hint or two.
"Uncle Finn!" Astrid gasped, mortified.
Finn shrugged one shoulder, "What? … Just stating the obvious, that's all."
Astrid and Hiccup glanced at each other, embarrassed.
"We're friends, that's all!" she exclaimed.
"Sure," replied Finn in a tone that indicated he clearly didn't believe that. "Just keep telling yourself that. Anyway, lunch won't eat itself. Help me load up and we'll be on our way."
Astrid and Hiccup helped Finn load up the truck before climbing in themselves, Astrid in the front with her uncle and Hiccup in the back. They chatted and laughed as they travelled, but Astrid couldn't help but think about her uncle's comments. She had never really considered that Hiccup might not be there one day. But the idea of being his girlfriend, or even his wife wasn't one she had thought of before either. And to be honest, it wasn't an unpleasant prospect. She wondered if Hiccup had thought about her in that way before. She found herself blushing, so she stared out the side window instead, hoping no one had noticed.
Hiccup was sitting right behind her. He noticed when her gaze shifted outside the window, and the slight red blush creeping up the side of her neck. He wondered if she was thinking about the comment that Finn had made.
Hiccup knew that he couldn't imagine being with anyone else other than Astrid. He'd had a crush on her long before she knew he existed. He had been astounded when she became his friend and they'd become even closer as they had gotten older. He knew he loved her deeply and it had been getting harder to hide it in recent months. He knew Astrid cared about him, but he didn't know if she cared enough to want to be his partner.
He had decided that they were both young, there was still time. He was just going to be patient and wait. If she decided she loved him too, then he would be the happiest man alive, but if she didn't, then he would be grateful to have her friendship. Her happiness was more important than his own. If she choose another over him, than he would just have to find a way to deal with that. He didn't know how, but he would have to find one.
He just hoped it never got to that.
Sounds like trouble brewing to me!