A/N: Hope you guys all like! :D I am a shameless Hicstrid fluff writer and I notice some of you are shameless Hicstrid fluff readers!
Sometimes your prince charming only has one leg.
If Astrid had been told that one day, she would be completely in love with the chief's son, she most likely would have laughed.
She had never been interested in any guy before; boys were too easily distracting, not to mention distracted.
And Astrid preferred to keep her eyes on the prize.
But seeing Hiccup stumble out of his house and look around in wonder and amazement had really changed something inside of her.
It had been a small change at first, starting on her first flight on Toothless, then slowly transforming into something bigger when she realized how much she would miss him if he died.
She'd known of him her whole life, but she had never really known him.
And now that she was finally getting to know the mysterious boy who had always lurked just on the fringes of her group, it seemed a cruel joke for fate to play, letting death claim him so soon.
Now that he was awake, she intended to make up for being such a witch to him in the past.
And, true to her word, a few days more and she and Toothless had barely left Hiccup's side.
Hiccup was more outgoing than he had been around the other villagers; he didn't have to constantly expect snide remarks anymore, which was a relief.
But he was still adjusting to his leg, and it showed; he stumbled everywhere he went, refused offers of help from everyone but Toothless and winced often whenever he ran somewhere, which Stoick had pointed out would only take it longer to heal.
"You need to give your leg some time to heal, Hiccup," Stoick pointed out. "All this running around and dragon riding is gonna take its toll, and soon."
Hiccup appeared to have gone temporarily deaf when his father had said that, but now Astrid said it, too.
"You need to give your leg a chance to heal," she said as she looked at the silver metal hook that had once been a fur-edged brown boot.
Hiccup rolled his emerald eyes. "Astrid. It's fine."
There was a silence as both of them looked away from the other, Astrid cursing Hiccup's stupidity and him wondering…
"Astrid?"
"Yeah?"
"Are you sure you really don't care about…you know…my leg?"
"What?" she turned to look at the boy she had ignored for so long. He looked slightly nervous and wasn't looking at her; his eyes were focused solely on the grass they were sitting on.
"Hiccup!" She was lost for words, so she merely repeated it. "Hiccup!"
He tensed a little. "Astrid, if you don't want to be with me, just say it. I can understand. It was in the heat of the moment, you were glad that I was alive, that's it. Ok?"
She grabbed him by the shoulders and hugged him tightly. "How could I ever want to be with anyone but you?"
She rubbed her fingers slowly up and down his arched back, his bony shoulder blades, to where her fingers tangled in his fluffy auburn hair.
"I love you, Hiccup."
There was a silence as Hiccup pondered this. "Really?"
Astrid smiled. "Yes. Really. And don't worry about your leg, okay? Sometimes, Prince Charming has just one leg."