Disclaimer: I do not own any of the original content from the How to Train Your Dragon books, movies, or their spin-offs. I only own this storyline.
Helloooo! :) I'm BAAAACK! A fun little fluff piece for you. Please review! It can't hurt you, I promise!
Calibration
Hiccup raced between the trees with Astrid laughing a few feet behind him. He'd lost the lead he'd gained a minute before.
"Astrid!" he called over his shoulder, "Stop it!"
She laughed again.
"You're -," he gasped as he hopped over a log, "- so childish!"
She didn't respond, and they kept running. Eventually, their legs began to tire. Hiccup jumped over another dead tree, but his prosthetic got caught in the leaves. He quickly freed it, but after Astrid jumped over, it took about two seconds for her to come up right behind him.
The forest, which was growing darker in the orange twilight, sloped downhill, and they stumbled through the brush. Finally, Hiccup tripped into the open, onto a cliff top. Astrid ran straight into his back. He tried to run away, but she had her arms around him. Her hand felt along his ribs.
"Agh!" he grunted as he squirmed free.
He spun around and caught her wrists as they shot out. Her fingers groped the air, and she gritted her teeth as she slowly pushed her wrists through his grip. They stood fast as they struggled. Finally, with a twisting motion, she wrenched her hands free, grabbed his defending arms, pulled them apart, drew her fist back, and punched the fin mechanism.
"Hagh!" he gagged as he fell backward.
He hit the grass with a thud. The fin clicked weakly underneath him.
Astrid looked down at him, breathing heavily with her fists clenched at her sides.
"You ok?" she asked.
He slowly brought his arms up to his chest as he rolled to the side.
"Mmm…" he grumbled.
He gingerly turned the disc clockwise, reeling the fin back in. When he finished, he rolled all the way onto his stomach and closed his eyes.
"What in Thor's name is wrong with you, Astrid?" he mumbled, frowning miserably.
She smiled, then stooped and crawled on top of him. She stroked his cheek with her index finger and kissed the back of his head.
"Nothing," she crooned.
His eyes were closed, and his frown deepened. She continued smiling as she petted his hair. She kissed him again, and he lifted his head a little to look at her. He slowly rolled onto his back - She lifted herself up a little to give him room to move. Then, she lay back down and pulled a lock from his forehead.
"Why are you still frowning?" she asked softly.
"I'm not frowning…" he muttered.
After a few seconds, he added, "…You're crazy."
She grinned.
"You're crazy, too. So, we're perfect for each other."
He smiled, but said, "Could you at least promise to stop trying to destroy my equipment? You're making my life kind of difficult."
She smiled coquettishly, tilting her head.
"Hiccup," she began, as she ran the tip of her middle finger down the side of his face, "You know I don't really want to make your life difficult…but…you might have to reimburse me to give up something like that…"
She trailed off as her finger reached the fuzz on his chin. The corners of his mouth twitched.
"With what?' he mumbled, trying to keep his face straight.
She shrugged, but she had a big smile on her face.
"Huh," he sighed as he casually looked away, "If you can't tell me what you want, guess I can't give it to you…"
She giggled and pinched the tiny hairs between her fingers.
"But don't you have a clue?"
He looked at her, grinning.
"Not in the slightest."
She cocked her head and made an irritated face, but she couldn't stifle her smile.
"Well, in that case," she said, as she slowly lowered her head, "I'll just have to tell you everything…"
She kissed him, and he immediately wrapped his arms around her waist. She held his face in both hands, and his left hand reached up and gently pulled on the tip of her braid. Her right hand slid down from his cheek, to his neck, to his chest. It clenched over his heart.
Then, she pulled her arm back and punched him again. His eyes flew open as she burst into laughter, jumped to her feet, and bolted away. After a few seconds, Hiccup recovered and staggered up.
"Astrid!" he yelled as he ran after her, winding up the fin as he went.
THANKS FOR READING! PLEASE REVIEW! The Devil won't come for you...probably...
- EN
