A/N No I do not own HTTYD
The strongest warrior. The strongest warrior. The strongest warrior. The strongest warrior. These 3 words were the only words running through Astrid's mind as she repeatedly lodged her trusty axe into her choice tree for the day. The drive to excel, the perseverance, the determination to be the absolute best in her generation and perhaps even for generations to come, kept her training intensely every day.
*Focus, aim, THROW* THWACK.
*Focus, aim, THROW* THWACK.
*Focus, aim, THR-ARRGHHH* Handle having almost left her grasp but not quite yet, she quickly did a backspin to secure her axe from being thrown at the scrawny, auburn haired boy who had just stumbled into her line of fire.
"YIKES! I'm so s-s-sorry As-Astrid." Hiccup apologized profusely as the blonde haired girl turned to pin him down with a stare. Seeing him cowering in fear, she softened her glare by just a little bit, but remained furious at him for nearly getting himself killed (or at the very least injured very badly).
Always at the wrong place at the wrong time doing the wrong things, it was common knowledge that Hiccup was a walking disaster in the village. However, they had been pretty good friends back in their earlier childhood days. Clumsy as he was, he did at least come up with really interesting ideas to occupy their free time together. Her father was Chief Stoick's right hand man, and her mother had been good friends with the Chief's wife, Valka. Whenever duty called, they would drop Hiccup off at her house so he could have some company while they did their work. As such, she had spent a considerable amount of time playing with Hiccup, the chief's son. He was always shy but polite when he was over at her house, a well-mannered albeit scrawny kid. He'd opened up to her after some time, having gotten used to her company. He loved to draw, anything and everything, from houses to trees to ships and whatever else he laid his eyes on, and boy could he draw. Images came to life as he artfully drew on the sketchbook he brought everywhere with him. She knew he'd drawn her occasionally, but he was careful to hide them away from her. There was that one time though, when she'd managed to snatch his sketchbook away after she knew he'd drawn a picture of her. He had gotten all flustered, and desperately pleaded her to return it to him. She'd taken pity on him and complied, but only after she had taken a good, long look at his drawing of her. He'd stood stock still and closed his eyes while she inspected his drawing, looking for all the world like he was a man condemned to the gallows. It had been a drawing of her practicing with a miniature axe in her backyard. It was really detailed, depicting the finer aspects of her lithe and toned body, as well as her smooth, long hair in mid swing as she threw her axe. In extremely small letters, he had signed the drawing with his signature "HHHIII" at the bottom of the page, as well as "The most beautiful Valkyrie in all of Asgard" on top of it. She had blushed a little, leaned in and given him a light peck on the cheek and then raced off after returning him his sketchbook. Before he disappeared from her line of sight, she caught one last glimpse of him. He was still rooted to the spot, but his eyes were wide, as though they would pop out of his sockets at any given moment. His right hand had reached up to touch the spot where she had kissed him, and he had the most crooked, stupid smile on his face. She found it cute (not that she would ever admit it to anyone), and decided she might do it more often just to see that dumb, elated expression plastered on his face.
As fate would have it, Hiccup was not his father's son. Where Stoick was gargantuan in size and stature, Hiccup was small and meek as a mouse. He was more brain than brawn, but unfortunately, they were Vikings, and brawn was more highly valued than brain. Even so, Stoick loved his son very much, but he was unable to protect him from his cousin Snotlout's bullying. Snotlout was the supposed definition of a proper Viking, literally all brawn and no brain. He couldn't count to save his life, and charged headlong into any situation blindly. Astrid had tried her best to stem the bullying, but she couldn't always be around to protect him as she had her own chores and training to do. She had an ambition, and that was to be the strongest warrior. She still cared about her childhood friend, but as time passed, she had less and less time to spare to entertain him and his ideas, although she did still find some of them rather intriguing.
"C'mon Hiccup…can't you be more careful? You know I'd hate to kill you right?" she reprimanded him for his lack of caution when entering her training area.
"Well you kinda seem like the only one who thinks that," Hiccup replied sarcastically, rubbing his hand on the back of his neck as he tended to do when nervous.
*Whack!* her fist collided with his arm.
"OWW! Why would you DO that?" Hiccup whined, rubbing the sore spot where he was sure a bruise would be appearing at soon enough.
*Sigh* "Hiccup. Don't-"
"Don't what, Astrid? Don't pretend like nobody in the village wants me around? Don't pretend I'm not a walking disaster, a time bomb waiting to fuck something up? Don't-UGH, OK, I'm sorry Ast."
"So…are you saying I don't want you around either?" Astrid sounded a little hurt.
"NO! Nononono I meant nobody but you! I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry please forgive me please forgive me…" Hiccup started getting all flustered and apologetic, thinking he might have just fucked up almightily and lost the one person who actually kind of cared for him.
Astrid studied him for a while, and seeing how sad and desperate he was getting decided to let him off the hook.
"Alright, fine. But please, STOP saying those kinds of things. You KNOW I'm still here for you right?" she told him, placing her hands on his shoulders.
Hiccup flashed his signature lopsided smile. "Yeah…you're the BEST, Astrid. Oh, by the way, I nearly forgot. I came looking for you to give you…THIS!" He fished out a brand new sparkling axe from a bag he had been carrying along with him and presented it to her.
Astrid looked on in shock, having not expected such a present being given to her out of nowhere for no apparent reason. She took the axe, which had rubies engraved into the end of the wooden handle, as well as sapphires etched into the axe head, making the sunlight gleam off it. She gave it a test swing, feeling the perfect balance, the sharpness of the blade, and the hard work put into the crafting of such an extraordinary weapon.
"Wow…Thanks Hiccup! But, what did I do to deserve this? I mean, these rubies and sapphires, they've got to cost a fortune! And I have nothing to pay you back with…I can't possibly accept this!" Astrid, realizing how much the axe was probably worth and knowing how poor her family was, decided that she couldn't accept such a gift, and tried giving the axe back to Hiccup.
"Nuh uh, keep it. It's my gift to you. For, you know, protecting me all these years from Snotlout and the twins, keeping me company when my parents went off on business, tolerating my rambling and stupid ideas and such. This, this here, is just a humble collection of materials I've gathered through my years of helping Gobber out. I really hope you'll accept it as a token of my appreciation." And love, he thought to himself, for he had always had a hopeless crush on this Valkyrie whom he had known all his life, ever since the first day he had laid his eyes on her all those years ago.
"…Hiccup…I will treasure this axe. Always. Thank you SO MUCH! And look, this here is proof of how you're not useless. You will NEVER be useless to me," feeling overwhelmed, Astrid held his chin, pressed her lips to his briefly, then embraced him in a tight hug so she didn't have to face him with her burning cheeks.
Hiccup, on the other hand, could have died that very second and been a happy man. ASTRID just kissed me. Astrid just KISSED me. Astrid just kissed ME. Well, he thought to himself, that makes all the sleepless nights, the effort and the money all worth it.
"Hey Hiccup."
"Yea?"
"Why don't I…teach you how to fight, to defend yourself? I'm sure you've developed enough muscle from all the work you've done in the forge for the past few years. Let me train you? Please? I…don't want to see you getting picked on and not being able to defend yourself." Astrid pulled away and looked at Hiccup with pleading eyes.
Hiccup was a little apprehensive. As tempting as the offer was, since he got to learn to fight AND got to spend more time with Astrid, he was worried for her reputation, which she had put much effort into upholding. If she were to be seen sticking around the village screw up, it was sure to get tongues wagging, and truth be told he was absolutely terrified of her father. Her mother had always been kind to him though, probably from all those times she had to watch over him when his mom left him in her care, but her father still scared the living daylights out of him. He did NOT want to find out what his reaction would be if he learnt that his daughter was still in his constant company.
Not only that, he knew of her ambitions too. To become the best shieldmaiden Berk had ever seen, to excel at whatever she did, to slay the most number of dragons, to be…the strongest warrior. And he knew, if she were to devote her time to helping him, it would inevitably slow down her own progress, which was not something he wanted her to sacrifice when she had worked so hard for all that she had achieved.
"I…I'm not sure Astrid. I like the idea, but I don't want you to make unnecessary sacrifices for this lil fishbone. I…I'm not worth your time Ast."
*Whack!*
"OWW! WHY WOULD YOU- never mind, I guess I had it coming."
"You bet you did! And come on, you've always made sacrifices for me, why can't I do the same for you? I mean, look at this axe you just gave me! The hours you must have put into it for such detail, to balance it perfectly for me, to sharpen the edges so expertly, to engrave and embed those jewels, the worth of this axe is not something my teaching you to fight would ever be able to repay. So it's settled! I'll be by your house to pick you up by 8am. We'll head to the Great Hall for breakfast, and then we shall begin your training!" Astrid made up her mind.
Hiccup, seeing that there was no point in arguing with her, decided that he would just have to suck it up and take her up on her offer. He seriously hoped he wouldn't impede her progress, but also really hoped he wouldn't embarrass himself too much by screwing up the training regime she was going to prepare for him. He did, however, look forward to being able to spend all that precious time with his crush, and hopefully she might reciprocate his feelings wholly someday, if the kiss she had given him was any indication of hope.