Fixing it

A/N: This is sort of based on my previous one-shot Always, but I don't think it's necessary to read it beforehand, I went out of my way to pretty much repeat what I'd said in it, or at least give the general idea of it regarding Astrid's feelings for Hiccup.

Part 1: Frontal Attack

She hadn't seen him in a while.

She hadn't had a chance to really be around him either.

It seemed like every time she wanted to say something or be near him five other villagers wanted the same thing. And they wouldn't take no for an answer.

It was sort of like when he'd suddenly become 'good' at dragon training except ten times worse because this time he'd saved them all. He wasn't just popular because he was suddenly acting 'normal'. This time they wanted to be around him for what he was. Now they were constantly asking for advice, or sharing something about the dragons, or for one of his crazy creations. And while she thought it was good that they were seeking Hiccup for... well for being Hiccup she still was incredibly frustrated about not really having spent much time with him or Toothless.

So she had decided to go looking for him, she should be able to find him easily enough. Only one problem with that…

He wasn't anywhere in the village.

That only left... oh about ¾ of the whole island.

However there was one spot that could most probably be hiding her wayward... well whatever he was. She was nearly there now, moving over the familiar ground as she ducked under fallen trees and moved around boulders, and starting to get nervous. Since that day a week ago when he'd finally woken up she hadn't really gotten a chance to... well, talk to him.

It wasn't something she particularly wanted to do, but she really felt like she needed to talk to him, to make him understand. The looks he'd been giving her lately were starting to really annoy and worry her.

The cove was as pretty as ever, the sun was starting to fall towards the west and giving the whole pace its last moments of full sunlight left before the trees surrounding it would start cast the reddish green light that filtered through the tree tops into the cove. The little pond sparkled with reflected sunlight and grass looked perfect for laying down on and enjoying the day.

And there at the bottom, laying on the side of a mass of sleeping black scales was Hiccup. And suddenly Astrid felt an odd sensation in her stomach, one that she was quickly starting to realize only appeared when Hiccup was involved. Why do you affect me so? She asked him silently as she looked down at him. He was half sitting half laying on Toothless, his head resting on his dragon's side, eyes closed, and with his hands behind his head.

She made her way over to him, and it wasn't until she was half way there that he suddenly sat up and looked around, looking weary. He spotted her and again that odd look in his face… almost… reluctant and it was really starting to bother her.

He didn't move from besides Toothless as she continued to walk towards him. He simply looked down at his legs, or she supposed his leg. It was funny how she couldn't quite seem to remember that he was now… well he did only have one leg though he was not peg-legged like most others in the village. Even when he was the same he had to be different, she mused.

Finally reaching him she slid down to sit beside him. He didn't say anything, or even look up, just continued to stare down, except now she could see that he wasn't looking down, his eyes were closed. The silence stretched on as she struggled to figure out how to start.

"Hi" she said, finally.

"Hey"

"I haven't seen you a lot lately" she tried.

"I've been busy" he said shrugging. He opened his eyes but rather than look at her he was staring off into the distance.

"There have been a lot of changes, haven't there?"

"Yeah" This was starting to get frustrating. How was she supposed to get him to talk if he wasn't getting the hint?

"You're very popular lately," she tried again. "Always someone wanting to talk to you, ask you things…" he nodded, exhaling softly. "We haven't hung out in a while."

At that he turned to her sharply, looking at her with a confused sort of look. "Yeah, we haven't."

Alright, she thought, that's it. I'm not going to dance around this, time to grab the Nightmare by the horns.

"Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Like what?" He asked suddenly bewildered.

"The way you have been, like…that." She gestured to him unable to put his expression into normal words.

A semi-annoyed expression crossed his face. "You just gestured to me."

"Well I can't help it if it's a Hiccup thing." She told him.

He blinked.

"A Hiccup thing?"

"Yes, a Hiccup thing, like creating things to do what you can't do, or forgetting to do your chores because you were looking for trolls, or befriending dragons and creating tails for them to fly, or doing crazy flying stunts, or defeating huge monstrous dragons."

He looked disbelieving. "Those are all Hiccup things?"

"Have you seen any other Viking do that?" he shrugged; just shrugged, like it wasn't anything at all.

"Ow!" he cried, clutching his arm.

"That was for being an idiot." She told him, angrily.

"Well, at least now you're acting like Astrid." He muttered to himself. Unfortunately, he forgot he was sitting right besides her.

"What was that?" She asked her voice angry. If she was honest with herself she wasn't angry so much as confused, unfortunately her instant reaction to confusion was getting angry.

"Nothing, nothing, nothing," He said waving his arms as if in surrender. Quickly, she lunged at him. Throwing herself at him pinning him to the ground by sitting on him.

"Now what were you saying?" He looked up at her, somewhat scared but then tried to get away from under her by pushing her. She, however, was not the best fighter for nothing. It was easy enough to keep him pinned under her. Suddenly an odd huff from behind them made them stop and look back.

Toothless had woken up, and was now laying with his head between his great paws smiling toothlessly and huffing… no, laughing at them and looking at them with a look she couldn't quite interpret but made her feel like blushing.

"Oh, shut it, you over grown lizard." Hiccup said, from underneath her blushing, as if he could understand exactly what the dragon was thinking. Well, I wouldn't be surprised if he could, it would fight right in with all the other Hiccup things.

Another silence descended on them, neither knowing how to express what was on their minds. Astrid tried to come up with a way of bringing him out, but the ball in her stomach wasn't helping her.

Toothless on the other hand knew exactly what they needed.

Getting up, he walked towards them and crouched down so that his saddle was right in front of them. Astrid stared, just how smart is he?

"What now?" Hiccup asked, confused. Toothless nodded, gesturing with his shoulders for them to get on. "Uh… Buddy I do-"

"Well come on." Astrid cut in before he could say anything else. Somehow this would help, she was sure of it. Hiccup stared at her, denial all over his face. "Come on, what are you? Chicken?" she said semi-teasingly. Hiccup turned instantly and walked towards Toothless. Astrid felt the ball in her stomach tighten. Something was wrong. And she had to figure out how to fix it. Only problem was, she wasn't the fixer in this… whatever it was they had, Hiccup was the thinker, the one who figured things out. He was the one who made things, and did things to them to make them better and better. She… she was a Viking, a fighter. Astrid sighed softly. She'd just have to think of this as a fight. One she had to win, no matter what.

Astrid frowned slightly as she noticed Hiccup get on the saddle. It was, she realized, the first time she'd seen him get on Toothless since he lost his leg. It was more clumsy, and awkward. Not horribly so, but… enough to be noticeable.

As his metal leg made a click she jumped on behind him. Hiccup scooted forwards a bit, this saddle was just a bit smaller than the original, since Gobber had made it to replace the badly charred old one. Astrid tried to balance herself, putting her hands on Hiccups shoulders to steady herself. She was, therefore, very surprised when Toothless took off at suddenly quickly followed by a burst of speed to execute a daring corkscrew maneuver as he gained height.

Astrid screamed, much as she had last time she'd ridden Toothless, and Hiccup yelped. Toothless did a back flip.

Astrid cursed everyone of Toothless' ancestor.

"Woooah! Boy, what's wrong? It's just-" Hiccup was cut off as Toothless suddenly leveled out and soared contentedly letting the air keep him afloat and relaxing.

Heart hammering, legs wrapped around Hiccup with one arm nearly chocking him and the other at his waist, her head buried into his back Astrid took a deep steadying breath and unwrapped her legs from around him. "Odin help me, Hiccup if your dragon does that to me one more time I'll skin him." Astrid hissed as she lifted her head.

Toothless glanced back and snorted, much the same way Hiccup did. She glared at him.

What followed was a ride much like their previous one. Toothless soared without any real direction, simply enjoying the wind rushing by him. Astrid relaxed her arms a bit, not letting go of Hiccup but not clutching at him desperately either. Slowly, she unhooked her right arm from around his neck and slid it down to wrap around his stomach. He was so tense… whatever was worrying him would not be easy to get out of him. But how…? Sneak attack? Distract him with one thing and then strike when he's not paying attention? He had to be more relaxed for that to work, tense as he was he would not talk. Taking a deep breath of fresh cold air Astrid braced herself then relaxed.

"You really scared me." She stated, as she scooted a little closer to Hiccup so she wouldn't have to yell. "I saw you laying on that bed, not moving for days and… it forced me to realize some things." She continued.

"As-"

"Shush!" It really scared me to think I'd never see you wake up. That you'd never get up and go draw things in your book, or go to the forge with some new idea for a crazy invention, or hear you say something sarcastic." She continued.

"Wha-" Hiccup tried to interrupt again.

"Shut it! Thinking about that made me confront some things I'd been hiding for a while. Things I'd been… unwilling to face."

"Wow, Astrid whe-"

"Odin help me Hiccup, if you interrupt one more time I'll throw you off of Toothless." Astrid said squeezing his waist so he knew she meant business.

"Ok, shutting up." He said, somewhat breathless.

"Look I'm not good at this talking thing so let me get it out." She said, her voice sharp. Hiccup gulped and nodded, afraid to say another word. Ok, she was a Viking. Sometimes the best way to distract an enemy was to make them look at something else. Fool him into thinking there was only one head on attack. She could do this!But, Thor, is it hard to talk about this. Come on, Astrid you have to do this, and do this right!

"Ok, Hiccup, the fact is that I came to a realization when you were in bed after that battle." He tensed again. "I realized it was ok to like you." He let out a breath, but somehow she knew it wasn't a relieved breath, it felt… resigned. That wasn't supposed to happen. But plans were nothing more than rough outlines, ideals of how you wanted a battle to go. Every good Viking new plans were null and void when you actually met the opposition. Oh well, improvisation was always a part of good battle tactics. "I realized all those things that had stopped me from getting to know you before didn't matter. That what, for years, I'd thought were signs of weakness really were the opposite."

Hiccup seemed to slump more and more with each word. "I understood what I'd felt all those years and… "

"Years?" Hiccup said, sitting up straight all of a sudden. His voice acquired a tone that let Astrid know she was on the right track. Frontal attack: breaking through initial defenses.

"Yes, Hiccup, years. I've… liked you for as long as I can remember knowing you."

"Wowwowwowwow. Back up, you never gave me the time of day! You pushed me away, hit me, avoided being anywhere near me and downright ignored me when you couldn't!"

"Well of course I did Hiccup!" Astrid said exasperatedly. "I was the most promising Viking child of our generation. All I heard about you were bad things. When I was little, training with my dad and I messed up he'd say 'Do it again Astrid, girl. And do it right this time. No fooling around like you're a weakling. Do you want people to say you're as bad as that Hiccup?'" Hiccup flinched. She felt it and stopped, it probably still hurt for him. He'd only broken away from that image recently.

"I looked at you and saw exactly what they saw." She continued, hurriedly trying to get to the important part. "Useless, weak, no talent, attention span of a sparrow, odd-"

"Thank you! I get it!" Hiccup exclaimed, his voice flat.

"The point is my head kept telling me to stay away, to ignore you, you were supposed to be insignificant." Astrid stated, stressing the last word.

"Yeah, ok I get it, then I got a Night Fury, showed off some new tricks, defeated a big bad dragon and now I'm cool." Hiccup said, his tone… frustrated, annoyed, defeated almost. Astrid leaned back and punched him in the shoulder blade, hard enough to bruise. His strangled cry brought a slight note of satisfaction to her, if he was going to be an idiot then she'd treat him like one.

"Shut up and listen for once. Have you heard nothing I've said? I'm not going to do this again Hiccup so you better pay attention." She said harshly. "You were never insignificant to me." Her tone started to soften as she continued to speak. "Everyone else dismissed you, ignored you , treated you like a disgrace to the village; including me." She added when she saw him begin to tense up.

"The thing is I could never see you with their eyes. I treated you the same way they did, but I couldn't think of you like that. I saw you and wanted to talk to you, to get to know you, to understand what in Odin's name, you were thinking or doing." Astrid leaned on Hiccup a bit more. Toothless, somehow understanding what she needed to say climbed up. Taking them above the clouds were the last of the sun had left and left nothing but clear black night. The stars shinning so brightly they seemed to be other small sun's that shone from very far away.

"That's why I ignored you and treated you like I did. I was the best, and yet I couldn't understand why I felt such a big pull to be around you. It was confusing, and frustrating and I hated you for making me feel weak when I was the strong one. Who were you, Hiccup Haddock to make me feel like that?"

Astrid felt Hiccup gulp, his body seemed almost to tremble for a few moments during her speech. Wishing to get this done, feeling incredibly uncomfortable, Astrid tried to finish quickly. "And then you befriended a Night Fury, became the first Viking Dragon Rider ever, and saved everyone. And from the minute you brought me up here that first time to when you were in the deep sleep I started to realize that I had always like you because… you were you. It's the Hiccup things you do that made me like you from the start, not the fact that you were suddenly good at Dragon training or that you saved everyone." Fact was she'd hated it when he'd been good at Dragon training. She'd thought he was turning more Viking like and it made her even angrier with him that he was… not Hiccup anymore. But she'd talked enough about her feelings for one time.

"I like you Hiccup, because you're Hiccup." She finished, glad it was done and hoping she'd never again have to do something as horrible and embarrassing as this ever again. You better believe you are making this up to me later Hiccup, she thought menacingly.

Hiccup was silent for a moment, his breathing had sped up and she could feel his heart pumping.

"You… But-… I'm.." He tried to start various times, his voice high, strained even. Now, she thought, frontal attack: success. Time for the sneak attack.

A/N: So yeah, I know it's been forever. Sorry! I started out thinking I knew where it was going and then I couldn't figure out how to continue after Astrid got to the cove. Took me nearly a year to figure out that Toothless was going to take them on another 'Romantic Flight.' Don't ask me why, he just said he was going to do it and I went along with it. And then Astrid had to talk... which was weird. Really weird... oh well.

And yes I realize it's a cliffie... of sorts. I'm actually not done with it but I'm determined to finish this entire thing, if not tonight, then within the next few days. Funny thing is it was mean to be a one-shot, but it's growing so much that I decided to split it. This is five pages on it's own and I've still got his issues to work out.

Truthfully I'm not very happy with this at all. I feel like I lost Astrid in it. I'm hoping the next part is better but truthfully I'm having issues with the whole idea of this story as it is. I kinda lost the feel of this story but it's been sitting in my computer for forever, so I'm going to dang well finish it. Hopefully within the next couple of hours so cross your fingers and send me some encouragement ;)

Please review and tell me what you thought. Virtual hugs to those who do. :)