Hiccup felt awful.
They'd made up, they'd held each other and suffered through the teasing 'awws' of her friends, but as he'd seen her off to her hut and travelled back to his own, it was impossible not to reflect.
All day
She'd been wearing his betrothal necklace all day, and he hadn't spotted it.
Did he spend too long thinking of other things? He remembered a time, back when he was small and useless, when it felt like he could oft think of naught else but the fierce Hofferson daughter.
How had she gone from being a primary focus to being...something he took for granted.
He'd grown too used to her being by his side, just being available for missions, for tasks, for comfort. Seeing Mala and Dagur had obviously made Astrid feel...lesser. Like she had something to prove, as she always did. She was driven, tenacious, and he was more in love with that than anything else. For all of his obsessions, she had her own; and it made him feel more, Hiccup, than he could with anyone else - even Fishlegs.
Behind him, Toothless tried to help, flopping his scaled legs over Hiccups shoulders, long tongue dragging down his stubbled face. Hiccup couldn't help but laugh, pushing the dragon off and turning, rubbing at his now slimy face with one woolen sleeve.
"Bud, I appreciate it" he chuckled, flicking the slime back at his friend. "But I need to think, I need to make this right"
The dragon grumbled, and Hiccup shook his head. "No...No I know she said it was fine, but it isn't. I...I love her bud, and I don't want her to feel like I don't". His voice cracked nervously as he spoke.
He dragged himself up to his bed, throwing himself face first on the soft sheets with a groan.
What would he do?
He'd been so focused on the dragoneye, on the lenses, on the hunters...when was the last time he'd focused on her.
A gift!
He scrambled upwards into a seating position. A gift. Something personalised, something just for her.
Perfect
...but what.
Of course, his first thought was a new saddle for Stormfly, but Stormfly wasn't his girlfriend.
He needed to just not think about dragons for a minute, was that just too much to ask of his insufferably obsessed brain?
She didn't need a new axe, and he'd noticed she'd replaced her own boots just a fortnight before.
He leaned back again, groaning into the callused skin of his own palms.
Something for her hut? A new bed?
He nodded to himself, thinking of the intricate carving he could do on the headboard. Even without Johan it wouldn't be that difficult to trade for soft stuffing for the mattress...She could feel comfortable and well rested after a hard day of training or rescuing dragons…
He was onto something here. He glanced over at his planning, but honestly didn't want to leave the bed now he was on it. His leg was...tired and sore, and he had a planning book right next to him. Quickly reaching down, he detached his leg, pulling his emergency pencil from it's small compartment on the side and began sketching a headboard. The other drawings were ones from days, weeks before, and they fluttered onto the bed around him as he focused on the new project. He chewed on the end of the pencil between scratching down vague forms, detailed descriptions of woods and designs, patterns that he knew she favoured. His mind wandered as he worked. Would it be a single, or…
Oh Thor he couldn't make her a bed!
What...was he thinking?!
He knew he was bright red, but honestly the idea of Astrid...in a bed.
A bed made by him.
A bed that she'd think of him in every time she lay in it.
He screeched as he even thought about it, desperately trying to stop the torrent of filth that entered his brain, reaching down and throwing his leg across the room in frustration. With how he'd felt earlier, he couldn't think of her that way, and hated how much he wanted to indulge in it.
"Hiccup, are you alright?"
Odin's breath now he was upright, and unfortunately in more ways than one as Astrid's voice entered his hut. Was his fantasy becoming reality, or was he just so far into his own mind that he was making her up?
"Hiccup, why is your leg over here?"
Nope, definitely here.
He grabbed a cushion, desperately stuffing it onto his lap and waving into the air as if he could waft away the incredibly vivid mental image of her lying on a large double bed of his own creation.
She ignored the steps he'd made, choosing instead to quickly climb up the emergency ladder, inquisitive eyes glancing at him as soon as they breached the wood.
"Hiccup, what is going on? Toothless just ran into my hut - nearly knocked Snotlout over to get to me as quickly as possible, scared Stormfly and I half to death…" She paused as she took in the sight of him, flushed and breathing heavily, surrounded by paper and clutching a pillow into his lap as if it were keeping him attached to the bed.
"Can I...sit?" she asked, uncertainty obvious in her voice; as obvious as the nervous crack in his as he told her that yes, of course she could.
She was silent as she got comfortable, lifting the papers into the light of the candle to inspect their contents. Dragons, first, obviously. But then, as she began collating the thick sheets, she noticed Hiccup getting more and more flustered, eyes very firmly set on her boot, hanging off the side of the wooden frame.
"Is...is this me" she asked, breathless.
"I um. I...Yes I suppose it is" he replied, blushing to the tips of his ears, and she couldnt move, staring down at the sheet held in-between her fingers. The woman...her, she knew, was beautiful. Astrid knew she was attractive, but had always seen herself as rough, course. Perfect for 'Dragon Killing', and nowadays, dragon riding...Windswept and battle ready. The Astrid in this pictures though, was soft. Soft smiles, soft curves, soft edges…
"It's beautiful" She sighed, looking up at Hiccup in awe.
His voice cracked as he finally looked up at her, smile stupidly dopey. "Well, you...you are"
Suddenly shy, she wasn't sure what to say, past giving her thanks, which he accepted with a cough of a laugh and a wave of his hand.
"What...what are you working on?" she finally asked, leaning over to reach for the book, startling when he lifted it higher. "Why can't I see?" she demanded, quickly kicking off her boots to follow him up the bed, growing increasingly aggravated as he refused to give in.
Leaning back, she pretended to lose interest, letting him lean back towards her before leaping forwards, landing smack on his lap, pressing him down and scrabbling for the small notebook.
"A bed?" she asked, holding the book at an angle to determine exactly what she was looking at. "Why would you hide this?"
"Because...it was maybe, possibly...I mean if you'd like"
"Spit it out, Hiccup" she told him, firm.
"I wanted to give you a gift, and that was my first good thought, but then when I thought about it…I wasn't sure if it was appropriate"
The penny dropped. His startled, sheepish look, the manic way he'd tried to hide it, the pillow, now discarded on the floor. She wasn't sure whether to run, or laugh; but went with the latter, forehead against his chest, back curved like a cat as she shook.
The look he gave her when she straightened bordered on offended. "Why are you laughing?"
"You don't need to make me a gift, Hiccup, to show how you feel"
"But. Today"
"I told you, today was me being stupid. I saw them being all...inseparable and stupid with each other and I compared it to us. Our relationships are completely different and they...aren't comparable Hiccup"
"But I should make more of an effort Astrid; you're the most important thing to me and I've been taking you for granted"
She flushed, his words so heartfelt and impossibly...Hiccup. How could he be so awkward, and yet so perfectly forthright when he wanted to be.
"Maybe, instead of worrying about giving me a gift, we just try and have more time like this"
He lifted an eyebrow, unable to resist making a joke. "Like, this?" he asked, gesturing. She was completely on top of him, wool leggings against wool leggings, pinning him against his own bed. He couldn't believe, given what he'd been imagining just minutes before, that this was his current reality. It was like a twisted fever dream from Loki himself, sent to trick Hiccup into some sort of horrific fate.
She looked down at herself, shocked, not replying as she realised the way they were resting. She'd been so focused on taking him down, getting what she wanted, that she hadn't stopped to clock the intricacy of the situation.
He was her boyfriend though. Why...why shouldn't they be in this situation.
He shifted beneath her, and in her 19 years of life so far, she'd never been so affected by such a miniscule action of another. It felt as if her entire body was on fire, and judging by the way his own expression shifted from amused to intense, she wasn't the only one affected.
It wasn't the first time they'd kissed, by any stretch of the imagination, but she couldn't recall a time before where it felt quite this all-consuming. His hands were tight against her sides as his mouth was insistent against her own; and she couldn't help but gasp as he tentatively brushed his tongue against her lips.
It felt as if instinct had taken over, as it did in flight, as it did in battle; there on Hiccups bed; small moans escaping her as she shifted against him, shocked by how amazing he felt beneath her. The hut was silent, save for the intoxicating sound of their own moans filling the empty space, Toothless having retreated alongside Stormfly some time ago.
She remembered, in the fog of her mind, a time when he'd absently kissed the side of her neck. He'd been going for her cheek, and had missed - he'd been off down the path before she'd blinked away her shock at the sensation. Would he? She abandoned his mouth, ignoring his whine of protest, focusing on his surprised groan as she trailed her lips down to the stubbled column of his neck.
"Oh gods" he moaned, unable to resist pressing up towards her as she dragged her lips down his skin. Teeth joined lips as his reaction spurred her on. She ground down, wanting more, more of that delicious friction. How long had she imagined how it would feel for his...for his hands instead of her own; and if it was anything like this she knew she wouldn't last once they reached that point. He swore beneath her, and she flushed bright red, realising she'd spoken aloud.
She'd come in here expecting...she wasn't sure. Not this. Not to have the man she...loved...writhing beneath her as he sucked as his pulse point, panting against her ear. She found his lips once more, gasping as he caught something amazing on an upward thrust, making her see stars.
His hands didn't so much as slide but race as they moved upwards, and he gasped his question, feelling her nod against him as he desperately tried to reciprocate her attentions, lips reaching the centre of her neck, moving downwards towards the small amount of skin her under-tunic displayed. He couldn't think, he couldn't focus, it felt too intoxicating.
"Astrid, I...I'm so"
The look she cast down at him would haunt him, half an aggressive smirk, half an aroused flush as she twisted her hips, grinding down on him; drawing a moan that was almost closer to a sob from his throat as his hips sputtered upwards.
"Hiccup!"
Astrid was off him in a shot, rolling off the other side of his bed and underneath as Dagur and Mala stormed straight into his rooms, the former complaining loudly about the twins.
"Dagur, my dear" Mala tried to intervene, the more observant of the two; quickly looking away from the flushed young man currently looking as if he wanted to end it all.
"No Mala-poo, I need to discuss being best man with Hiccup"
"No Dagur, I do rather think Hiccup might have been...unprepared for guests"
Hiccup could only watch as the berserker turned away, accepting his fiance's whispered message, finally laughing loudly and staring straight up into Hiccups eyes.
"We'll talk tomorrow, Hiccup"
"Y-yep" Hiccup spluttered, "I'll see you tomorrow"
Dagur paused at the door, shaking his head with a wink. "I suggest you invest in a lock, brother!"
"That's it, Take me to the cliffs and throw me off, I beg you" he muttered, throwing himself back onto the bed as a rather dischevilled Astrid popped up from the wall-side of his bed.
"I should probably climb out of the back way" Astrid chuckled. "I know Mala saw me, and I'm not sure I can face her"
"You can't face them?" Hiccup groaned, holding his hands over his face before sitting up and looking at the mischievous blonde dead in the eye. "I wasn't aware you were suddenly faced with the leader of the Berserkers and a Queen as you…"
"It was good then?" Astrid asked, standing and straightening up her clothes.
"It was incredible" he groaned, rolling to lie on his front.
"I'll be off" she laughed, opening the wooden shutters at the back of the hut and whistling into the air for Stormfly.
"Wait, wait" Hiccup pleaded, scrambling out of the bed and supporting himself against the drawers to ensure he didn't fall. Not only was he on one leg, but he felt weak and deer-legged. Astrid rushed to his side, trying to press him back down against the bed. "Your leg is on the other side" she laughed, "It's fine Hiccup, i'll see you tomorrow"
"But...you didn't" he protested, thumb rubbing against her cheek as he drew her into him for another kiss.
"And there will be more opportunities, won't there?"
He choked slightly at the thought. "Yes…"
"Unless of course you'd rather we didn't"
"No!" he rapidly responded, and she laughed against his lips, fluttering more kisses as she heard stormfly approach.
"I love you Hiccup" she whispered, pressing one last kiss against his shocked mouth before making her way to the open window. "Now I'm going to go lock myself in my hut, so I won't be disturbed as I...consider the events of this evening"
She lept from the window and he sat, eyes wide, considering her words.
She would be the death of him.
And how would he face Dagur and Mala tomorrow?