Author's Note: Hello and welcome! I'm not a big fan of large author's notes so I'll keep this short. Some things to note: they're 18-ish in this story so feel free to imagine the characters as they appear in Race To The Edge, events from RTTE have no bearing on this plot, and lastly, this is told from Astrid's perspective, mostly because I think it would be fun to explore the development of her emotional side between the first and second movies. So, with that out of the way – enjoy!
Slow Burn – Chapter 1
This is Berk. Located on the Meridian of Misery it's twelve days north of Nowhere and nine days south of Freezing to Death. Home to the Hairy Hooligan tribe for seven generations, this hulk of rock, where it snows for nine months of the year and hails for the other three, continues to endure. The food that grows here is tough and tasteless, like most of the people that live here. Well, they're Vikings after all, and you'll find that stubbornness is a common Viking trait. The only upside are the pets. Unlike most places that opt for cats, dogs and in some places, goats, the people of Berk have dragons. Real fire breathing dragons.
This wasn't always the case. For three hundred odd years, the Vikings of Berk had fought a seemingly never-ending war against the creatures. It took the bravest, most determined, stubborn and unviking-est Viking in all of Berk's history to end the war. Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third had shot down a Night Fury (no one believed him), trained it in secret, built it a prosthetic tail and saddle so he could fly it, placed first in dragon training (no one could believe it), discovered the dragons nest and defeated its formidable queen the Red Death, thus making himself a hero overnight. Hiccup had managed to achieve in a few short weeks what seven generations of Berkians had been trying to achieve in three hundred or so years, and in doing so had turned life on Berk upside down. Dragon fighting and killing quickly became a thing of the past and dragon training took its place. The tribe's chief and Hiccup's father, Stoick the Vast had taken to calling the young dragon authority the Pride of Berk.
And it was the Pride of Berk that had Berk's fiercest warrior, the fearless Astrid Hofferson, in a tangle. Not a physical tangle that Astrid could swing her trusty axe at and resolve in seconds. Hofferson's were good with axes; if you had a problem, you took an axe to it and presto, problem solved. Only, an axe wouldn't do any good for this problem. No, this was a matter of the heart that Astrid had to solve on her own. Astrid lay on her bed staring up at the rafters, re-playing in her mind the moment when her own world had turned upside down.
It had happened a week ago. Everything and everyone had been in its place still; Fishlegs was the group's dragon lexicon, Snotlout was obnoxious (typical of a Jorgenson), Ruffnut and Tuffnut were devoting themselves to Loki and Hiccup was their dorky, clumsy and adorable leader. The day had started just like any other with the sun rising over the hills and Astrid emerging from her house early in the morning to tend to her beloved dragon, Stormfly, currently housed in the stables. Astrid was busy securing her saddle on to Stormfly when Hiccup appeared in the entry way, and when she glanced up to see Hiccup smiling and walking towards her, time slowed and everything else seemed to fade into the background. Astrid stared at him as though she was seeing him for the first time.
Dorky, clumsy and adorable Hiccup had apparently been replaced overnight. The young man making his way down the stairs towards her had a squarer jaw and broader shoulders, a leaner and taller body than Astrid could remember the other Hiccup had ever possessed. His reddish-brown hair shone when the early morning sun caught it and the lopsided smile made his eyes warm and bright. She watched as he stopped to grab a basket of fish for Toothless, lifting it easily and swinging the basket over his shoulder, and couldn't help but notice -and then appreciate- how the shoulder straps made his tunic and leathers cling a little tighter to his chest and arms. Astrid felt her breath hitch in her throat and her face flush as an intense feeling of – of something - crashed into her, making her stomach flip flop and her heart rate increase. Realising she was staring Astrid tore her eyes away, commanded herself to start breathing again, and then to check the buckle she had been fastening before Hiccup the Distraction had appeared.
"Good morning, milady," Hiccup greeted her warmly, sticking his head through the doorway of Stormfly's stable. Astrid glanced up quickly, forced her brain and mouth to function properly and quickly murmured "Good morning, Hiccup," back to him. He turned away for a moment to check on Toothless, who was still sound asleep next door.
"So, what do you say to an early morning flight once Toothless wakes up?" Hiccup asked her. She glanced up again to find him standing right next to her, giving Stormfly a good scratch. He turned to face her, his eyes looking right into hers and the intense feeling crashed right into her again.
"Huh? Oh – oh yeah! Sounds great!" Astrid heard herself reply, her voice an octave higher than normal. She turned away quickly, hoping that he would go and check on Toothless, so she could have just a moment to compose herself.
"Astrid? Are you okay?" No such luck.
"Ye-yes, Hiccup, I'm fine," Astrid said hurriedly, snatching up a brush and starting to run the bristles over Stormfly's tail. "Perfectly okay!"
"Are you sure? Your face is a bit flushed," Hiccup persisted. Observant wasn't he, Astrid thought drily. She took a breath that she hoped he didn't see to calm herself for a moment. "Thanks, Hiccup, but really, I'm okay," she gave him an encouraging smile. "Go check on Toothless and see if he's going to wake up before midday."
Grinning at her and seemingly satisfied that she was acting normal again, Hiccup left her to go and check on his own dragon. Astrid darted around to Stormflys other side and let out a slow, deep breath. Her mind was racing.
What. The. Hell. Had. Just. Happened?
When in Thor's name had Hiccup gone from being, well, a hiccup, to being a man? When did he develop shoulders and arms that actually had a bit of muscle definition to them? When did his hair grow out and stop looking like it was swimming around his face? And when did he get taller than her? Had she been walking around blindfolded for the last three years? But of course, regardless of when these changes took place, the bigger questions were why was she noticing them now, and why was it causing her to react the way she was?
Astrid took a deep breath. She needed to think about this and carefully analyse the situation right now.
"Hey bud! Good morning!" Only she couldn't, because she had just agreed to go flying with Hiccup.
"Great," Astrid muttered as she rubbed her temple with her fingers. She idly wondered how Hiccup's fingers would feel on her skin. Stop it! A voice in the back of her mind screamed at the scandalizing thought. She peeked over Stormfly's back, anxious that Hiccup could hear her thoughts (even though it registered in the very back of her mind that the idea of someone being able to hear another person's thoughts was complete nonsense, like something the twins would come up with) and would immediately to take her to Gothi to have her assessed for thinking such things. Thankfully, he was oblivious to the secret inner workings of her mind and was preparing Toothless for their morning flight.
Astrid ducked out of sight again. Maybe she and Stormfly could make a stealthy exit whilst Hiccup was busy? No, that would just be mean. Besides it wasn't Hiccup's fault she was feeling out of sorts. Okay, she told herself sternly. New plan: get the early morning flight over with as quickly as possible, whilst acting as normal as possible, dream up some excuse to get away from Hiccup and then find a nice, private spot to work out what the hell is wrong with me this morning.
Astrid lead Stormfly out of her stable and the Nadder took advantage of the larger space to stretch her wings out and preen a little. Astrid scratched her dragons flank absentmindedly. She risked another peek at Hiccup and couldn't help but smile softly at the playful way dragon and rider interacted with one another.
Astrid giggled quietly to herself as Hiccup and Toothless jumped around, attempting to wrestle, with Hiccup providing a running commentary. "The Night Fury tries to jab with his right – OH! But he misses! Quickly-the viking makes his move!" Hiccup reached up under the dragons jaw, tickling and scratching Toothless' neck. Toothless gave a happy warble and flopped right over onto his back, his tongue lolling out of the side of his mouth, tail twitching. "Oh no! Toothless-come on bud! I hadn't finished fastening the saddle yet! Aaaand the mighty dragon has been undone by a tickle to his neck." Hiccup sighed. Toothless gave a disgruntled snort. "Ohhhh what's wrong, you big sook? You want more scratches, is that what you want? Huh, is it? Okay you big baby!" Hiccup flattened himself against Toothless' exposed belly and proceeded to scratch his hands all over the dragons scales, much to the Night Fury's delight.
Astrid tried to hide her snort of laughter behind her hand but to no avail; Hiccup heard it and glanced up at her grinning.
"Hey, I'm not the only one who does the whole baby talk and scratches thing."
"I-I don't do that," Astrid said quickly. She stilled her hand on Stormfly's flank. Stormfly gave an ill-timed squawk of discontent as the scratches ceased. Okay, yes, she did the baby talk thing to Stormfly, but not all of the time! And besides, it was a private thing just between her and Stormfly. Astrid might have softened a teensy bit since dragon training, but she was still a badass warrior who had an image to maintain after all, and she wasn't going to let Hiccup get under her skin about it.
Hiccup grinned. "Yes you do!"
"No I don't," Astrid retorted. She glared at him and turned back to Stormfly, hoping he would stop his teasing.
"I've seen you do it."
Astrid turned back to him, eyes wide. "What? When?" She asked sharply. Wincing, she realised her mistake.
"Obviously when you thought no one was looking." He was smiling like a kid at Snoggletog with a brand new helmet, clearly impressed with himself for irritating her. Astrid turned back to Stormfly, flustered. Was Hiccup flirting with her? She let the idea go as soon as it entered her head. She had too much to think about already without adding that to the pile.
Hiccup chuckled softly. "Oh come on Astrid," he said gently. "It's not that big of a deal. Besides, I'm not going to tell anyone. Can't have anything crack that tough, fearless Hofferson outer shell now can we?" Astrid clenched her fist and he changed tact quickly. "Besides, you can laugh at me all you want milady, but you were watching a dragon master and his dragon at work!"
Astrid didn't blush this time when she looked back at him, instead she arched an eyebrow at his comment and decided to play along. "Dragon master?"
"Yep."
Astrid folded her arms over her chest. "And what makes you a dragon master?"
Hiccup got to his feet and waltzed confidently around Toothless, leaned against the saddle and perched one hand on his hip. "Well," he drawled slowly, "I did kinda stop a three hundred year war by taming a Night Fury, not to mention showing tribes all across the archipelago since then, how to live in peace with dragons. Also-" he hesitated, a cheeky smile slowly breaking out onto his face.
"Also?" Astrid prompted with a wave of her hand.
"Also, Stormfly has never beaten Toothless in a race. So there."
And just like that, all the fluttery butterfly feelings that had taken up residence in her stomach since Hiccup arrived that morning disappeared. Astrid narrowed her eyes at Hiccup. "Um, sorry to burst your bubble oh great dragon master," Astrid began with heavy sarcasm. "But yes we have."
Hiccup tapped a finger to his chin, deep in mock thought. "No, no, I don't think so. I would remember something like that."
"I won all of the dragon races last season!" Astrid huffed.
Hiccup gave a non-committal shrug. "Doesn't count."
Astrid glared at him. First he shows up looking like…like…really hot? part of her brain supplied. Yes, okay, fine. First he shows up looking really hot, which causes her to lose all train of rational thought. Then, he jumps around in his dragon's stable like the adorable dork he is and now he's telling her she's never beaten him in a race? Oh no, Astrid was not having any of this. Order had to be restored to her universe as quickly as possible. Tossing her braid over her shoulder in the most haughty manner she could muster in her flustered state, Astrid climbed into Stormfly's saddle and stared down her competition. "Fine," she bit out. "Let's settle this right here, right now."
"I was so hoping you would say that," Hiccup smiled. He turned to Toothless. "Come on bud, Astrid and Stormfly think they can take us." He gave his dragon a wink unseen by Astrid. Toothless righted himself and jumped out of his stable. Hiccup whispered in his ear as he knelt down to fasten the buckle. "Let's make it close, bud. Just enough to really annoy her."
"What are you whispering about?"
"Uhh, nothing! I'm just telling Toothless to give it absolutely everything he's got so-"
Astrid cut him off. "So when Stormfly and I win, I'll know it's because you didn't let me win?"
"Right, right," Hiccup laughed. He climbed into Toothless' saddle. "Alright Astrid, your challenge, your conditions."
"One lap around the island, through the sea stacks, no going around them. Start and finish back here. Agreed?"
Hiccup nodded. "Agreed." Toothless and Stormfly looked at each other, bowed their heads, trilled and warbled at each other in mutual respect for one another.
"Could learn something from your dragon there, Haddock."
"I'll expect full acceptance of my dragon mastery after I win, Hofferson."
"Enough talk, let's race! On three; one, two, three!"
There was a commotion of soaring wings, laughter and yelling as the two dragons took off and sped out of the stables, their riders gripping their saddles and urging their dragons on.
"Come on girl, we can beat those two!"
"Like we planned, bud."
Astrid knew the race would be close. She accepted that she and Stormfly would struggle to beat Hiccup and Toothless in a straight line race, the Night Fury was just so quick. But she also knew that Stormfly's agility would have the advantage navigating through the sea stacks before the last turn into the stables. So long as she was level with Hiccup before the sea stacks, Astrid was confident of a victory.
They were level at the first turn and sped past the village. Any Berkians out this early wouldn't be phased by what they saw, the was truly a regular occurrence now. Only Mildew would be likely to complain. Into the next turn and they zoomed around the forest, trees rattling as they flew past. They were still level but Hiccup and Toothless pulled ahead gradually as the flight path straightened out a little.
"Give up yet?" Hiccup called over to her, a grin on his face.
"Never! Come on Stormfly, we can get them!" Astrid yelled back, eyes firmly focused ahead of her.
They rounded the next corner. Astrid and Stormfly had closed the gap a little. "Okay girl, the sea stacks are after the next turn, we need to be in front, let's make our move!"
Stormfly put on a burst of speed and Astrid flattened herself as much as she could against the saddle. They raced past Hiccup and Toothless to take the lead and then turned sharply at the final corner. "Come on girl, keep it up! You can do it!" Astrid urged. Stormfly twisted, turned and barrel rolled her way through the sea stacks at break neck speed; Astrid's knuckles were white from gripping the handlebar of her saddle so tightly. Stormfly sped past the last sea stack and began to climb into the air again, heading for the finish line. Astrid chanced a glance either side of her to see where Hiccup and Toothless were. She couldn't see them but the unmistakeable chinking sound that Toothless' saddle and tail made when Hiccup changed its position was behind her, and it sounded like it was getting closer.
"Come on Stormfly, we're nearly there!" The stables were in sight, less than 100 feet away. Stormfly beat her wings harder, but she was tiring, and Astrid threw herself against the saddle again.
Chink! Less than 50 feet to go...Hiccup and Toothless were just trailing behind her…
"Come on bud!" She heard Hiccup shout.
Chink! Less than 20 Feet to go…Hiccup and Toothless were level…
10 feet to go…still level!
Five…four…three…two…one!
"AHHHHH!"
Both dragons and their riders came to a screeching halt on the runway, nearly cleaning up Fishlegs in the process had Meatlug not grabbed her rider and pulled him into the air for safety.
"What are you two doing?" Fishlegs cried out indignantly. "Trying to kill me?"
Hiccup and Astrid quickly dismounted, the result of the race temporarily forgotten.
"Sorry Fishlegs!" Hiccup called up to his friend apologetically. "Just an early morning race is all."
Meatlug and Fishlegs descended back to the ground. "A race huh? Gee, wonder who's idea that must have been," Fishlegs said exasperated, glancing at Astrid who offered a small, apologetic smile.
"We are sorry, Fishlegs," Astrid said. "We didn't mean to startle or unintentionally injure you."
"Or Meatlug," Hiccup hurriedly added on. Astrid nodded her head fervently in agreement.
Fishlegs smiled and shrugged. "Meh, it's okay. No harm done to either of us." He gave Meatlug an affectionate smile.
"Sooo um, I don't suppose you saw from up there who won did you?" Astrid asked quietly, a hint of guilt in her voice.
Fishlegs rolled his eyes. "It was a draw," he replied tonelessly.
Astrid folded her arms across her chest and narrowed her eyes at Fishlegs. "Are you sure?"
"Oh for Thor's sake- yes I am sure," Fishlegs said exasperated. "And if you ask me again I'll state that Hiccup was the winner, even though it was a tie."
Astrid gave the large blonde Viking a guilty smile. "Sorry again, Fishlegs." Well, she and Stormfly hadn't lost, but they hadn't won either. That was slightly more annoying.
"Come on Meaty, I've bought you a selection of your favourite rocks for breakfast." Fishlegs cooed to his dragon as they both retreated into the stables.
Hiccup appeared at her side and put his hand out to her. "That was a fine race, milady." Astrid rolled her eyes and accepted his hand without thinking. Suddenly the butterflies were back. His larger hand wrapped around her slender fingers perfectly and despite the calluses from blacksmithing, his hand felt soft somehow. It felt right and she didn't want to let go.
"Um, Astrid? You can let go of my hand now. Or-or not, you know," Hiccup said softly, awkwardly rubbing the back of his head with his free hand. Astrid yanked her hand away quickly and she felt her face heat up. Hiccup quickly filled the awkward silence that was starting to settle between them.
"You know the result doesn't really matter, I think you're a great rider regardless. I really do! That was a pretty clever tactic to try and use Stormfly's agility to open up a lead through the sea stacks. I'll have to remember that for next time." Astrid barely heard a word he was saying. His eyes and his smile were drawing her attention again. The butterflies were not only back, they were swooping around in her stomach.
"Uh, yeah thanks Hiccup," she heard herself say. Her brain had started working again and was barking orders. The plan! The race is over, let's get out of here!
"Are you sure you're okay?" Hiccup tried again. "You've seemed a bit off since I found you this morning. Did I-?"
"No! No, of course you didn't," Astrid cut him off sharply, retreated to Stormfly's side and climbed into the saddle. "I'm okay, Hiccup, really I am! You didn't upset me, I just have a lot on my mind. It's a personal thing," she said hurriedly.
"Oh," Hiccup gave a small smile. "Well, okay. You know you can talk to me, right?"
"I know. This-this is just something I need to do on my own." She fiddled with the hem of her tunic.
"Well, if you change your mind you know where to find me. I'll see you later, right?"
Astrid smiled. "Of course you will." Hiccup's face brightened with her answer.
Without another word, she turned Stormfly back towards the ocean and they took off towards the horizon. Astrid hoped that when she returned, everything and everyone would be in its place as it had been the day before.
Thanks for reading! Until next time! (And there will be more of this, I'm just not totally sure what the rest of this looks like just yet, but I'll work it out)