Astrid woke up to the raucous shouting of her parent's fighting. It's not that they didn't love each other...it's just that they didn't agree on a few things. Crash. Make that a select few. Actually...BANG! They agreed on virtually nothing. And being vikings, they sorted out fights like civilized people, throwing everything in sight at the person in which they were arguing. Clatter.

Astrid crept down the stairs cautiously, ready to avoid any flying shrapnel. Somehow, she managed to make it to the kitchen to grab half a loaf of bread before dive-rolling out the door to have an iron pot just miss her arm by a few millimeters.

'Bye! I'm heading out for training.' Her shout fell upon deaf ears though, because not a second later, she heard the cracking of someone's bones and a grunt. 'Might as well not stick around to find out who's arm that was.'

Astrid had lied when she had said she was going to train. In reality, she was going to spend the day riding on the back of her dragon, Stormfly. She put a finger in her mouth and let out a high pitch whistle. Her dragon came flapping down out of the clearless blue sky. 'Good girl, Stormfly,' she cooed, stroking the dragon's rough scales. Stormfly purred, enjoying the attention. Astrid put the loaf of bread into her saddle bag for later. She hurtled up onto Stormfly's back, and shouted, 'Giddyup!'

Once in the cool air, Astrid and her dragon preformed endless tricks and routines, showing off to the wonderstruck vikings below. They then settled for taking a lap around the island at a slow, lazy pace. Astrid was about to nod off, very comfortable on Stormfly, when she heard the familiar sound of a Night Fury approaching. There was only a single dragon that made that sound, and that sound meant...'Hiccup.'

Her heart skipped a beat at the thought of his name.

'Hey Astrid! How are you?' 'How are you?' thought Hiccup. He mentally kicked himself. 'Idiot, idiot, idiot. Wait, s-she's saying something…but what? I wasn't listening!' His brain was moving a mile a minute.

'Uh, could you repeat that? Sorry I couldn't hear you because...the wind! Yeah, there was this large squall of wind and it was roaring and I couldn't hear a single thing you said...' Astrid was giving him a weird look.

'I said that I was fine, but that my parents had another...disagreement, this morning.' Hiccup knew how viking squabbles went, and immediately asked,' Are you alright? Did you get hit with anything?'

'Nah, I'm okay.' They continued along, in companionable silence, each thinking about the other. Astrid glanced at Hiccup and blushed, looking at his auburn hair, slowly becoming more and more tangled in the gentle wind. His eyes darted from here to there, constantly checking the tail fin and the rigging, looking for things to improve on and to fix. Astrid drove herself to look away. Hiccup looked at Astrid, and her golden tresses, currently wrapped in a braid, but gradually coming undone. Her fingers were long and slender, but forceful and strong, showing her dedication to her training. That was what Hiccup looked at most when meeting a person. Their hands. You could tell how much they worked or lounged about, how rich or poor they were. Most people say that the eyes give away most to a person, but to Hiccup, it was the hands. His eyes slowly traveled to her face. Astrid looked up. Blue met green, and both of the young viking's hearts stopped.

'Umm…' Hiccup was the first to break Astrid's stare, glancing down into the icy blue sea. 'It's getting kinda cold...you want to land and make a fire?'

'Sure.' Hiccup was embarrassed that he had been staring at her. They arced into a gentle dive heading for a clearing in the thick forests Berk was famous for. Astrid found herself gazing at Hiccup's slim shoulders outlined by his riding gear.

Toothless's landing was graceful and fluid, while Stormfly's was a bit bumpier than usual, due to her rider's distraction. She grunted and tossed her head while Astrid backflipped off the saddle, changing the height and velocity of her jump. She flew through the air, cursing her dragon for being a prissy little brat, and herself, for trying to impress Hiccup and attempting to maneuver herself to land on her feet. Astrid found herself nearing Hiccup and Toothless in her path.

'HICCUP!' Astrid shouted his name, fervently trying to warn him of her plight. Hiccup turned, and his eyes grew wide. He awkwardly stuck out his arms, splaying his fingers, ready to catch Astrid. She landed with a thump...in Hiccup's arms. Miraculously, Hiccup had pulled through and had actually caught her. Hiccup looked just as surprised as Astrid was, if not redder.

'I-I-I-'

'Thanks for catching me, but could you put me down now?' Astrid cocked a brow and held in a giggle at Hiccup's look of mortification. He gently set her on her feet and Astrid's urge to giggle dissipated in astonishment at how tender someone could be. Raised in a world where it's good to be rough and bad to be soft, she had never really had the feeling of being safe in someone else's arms. She punched him in the shoulder.

'That's for being the one who distracted me and made me fall. And no one is allowed to do that.' She drew back her arm and punched him. Hiccup, rubbing his arm, gave Toothless an astonished look that said,'What!? After I caught her?' Astrid grabbed the collar of his shirt and planted a kiss on his lips. Both their dragons sauntered away, disgusted. Hiccup's eyes were as round as saucers and his heart was beating rapidly. He reluctantly closed them and wrapped his arms around Astrid's waist. By now, her arms had wrapped around his neck and her hands were tangled his chestnut locks. Astrid pulled away at last, for lack of air, eyes closed, savoring the moment. Hiccup however, was left kissing air.

Astrid strode away, to gather firewood. Hiccup fell backwards, onto his rump. She came back, arms piled with wood. Hiccup had done nothing, still in his confused state. Astrid dug a pit, set up kindling and the firewood, and managed to coax a roaring fire out of the dew dampened logs. She looked at Hiccup out of the corner of her eye. She could see him pressing his fingers to his lips and mouthing something. His usually scintillating emerald eyes were cloudy with perplexity. Hiccup's eyebrows were furrowed, a look of utter bewilderment upon his countenance.

'What was that for?'

He could feel her warm breath coasting his ear as she whispered, 'You don't know? That was for being the only exception.'

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