It was a slow and cool day at the cove and Hiccup was secretly drawing Astrid instead of designing a new weapon, as she practiced her axe swinging at an imaginary foe, their dragons nowhere in sight since the two were off playing. Hiccup openly stared at her in wonder as over the last couple of years, they had become very close. It wasn't like the friendship he had with Toothless, but Hiccup was thankful for someone he could actually converse with.
Hiccup shared his thoughts and worries with Astrid regarding his father's expectations and his newfound status in the village, as the dragon expert and the Academy's new leader. Astrid, who had become his second-in-command and human best friend, also became his voice of reason. She encouraged him in moments when he couldn't believe in himself, but she never let herself spoil him, putting him in his place when he was too stubborn to listen, like that time with Heather.
Looking back to the hectic times and the fights that they had to undergo to protect their scaled friends; there wasn't much time for thinking about relationships as they did now. Hiccup never really had time to consider his whatever-this-was with her and where they had been standing.
Hiccup had always been attracted to her since way before the battle with the Green Death, but he cherished her even more so now that they had gone through a lot of things together and now that he had gotten to know her even better. They had shared a few kisses over the years, even if it was more like she had forced them on him - not that he was complaining; but it had made him wonder what exactly did they all mean.
"Hey, Astrid." Hiccup had called out, his thoughts making him curious although he was still very nervous at what he was about to be asking.
"What, Hiccup?" Astrid said with a slight tone of irritation, not even glancing at him as she continued to practice.
"What are we?" Hiccup asked her suddenly, causing her to stop in the middle of one of her forms to raise an eyebrow at him.
"Huh? Has all that free-falling finally gotten to your brain? What kind of question is that? We're dragon trainers or did you forget the last few years just by sitting there and drawing whatever new contraption you are drawing." she said, before re-focusing and repeating her form again from the beginning since it was rudely interrupted by some silly question.
"No! Not that kind of we…!" Hiccup exclaimed while placing his notebook on the ground before standing up to wildly gesture to the space between him and her. "I meant, what is this? What are we? I, mean…this thing between you and me? As a boy and girl who had been k-...k-...kissing." Hiccup said, stammering at the end of his sentence.
Astrid quickly turned towards him with a frustrated cry, before throwing her axe at the tree behind Hiccup, causing him to swallow very nervously and wondering if he should just make a run for it. Astrid stomped her way to Hiccup to glare at him before huffing and saying, "That was for ruining my training, okay? But seriously? You're only asking me this now and out of the blue? After two years?!"
Hiccup held his hands up defensively. Even as Hiccup now towered over Astrid by around half a head, he still felt small whenever he was in front of an angry Astrid. He asked himself why he was being so stupid to confront not just an angry Astrid, but an angry Astrid with an axe. He wondered if he actually had a death wish to be sent to Valhalla by the Valkyrie in front of him. He figured he should just forget about asking, but he already had his remaining foot at the gates of Valgrind, so he might as well persevere.
"Err...uhm...sorry. I honestly just thought about it now. We've never really had much time to think about it before, what with all the fighting and the reconstructing..." Hiccup answered, trying to justify himself. Astrid had just crossed her arms in front of her to stare at him before sighing.
"Well, what do you think?" Astrid asked him calmly.
Hiccup had a confused look on his face, his eyes scrunching up in concentration. He honestly didn't know what he thought so, he asked Astrid who was much less dense when it came to these things.
"We're not a couple, are we?" Hiccup asked cautiously, voicing the most obvious question.
"No." Astrid said, causing Hiccup to think to himself that he knew that would have been too good to be true. "Couples need to declare their mutual feelings first, you know?" Astrid told him with a very annoyed tone.
Hiccup slowly nodded in agreement. Hiccup thought that his feelings were probably obvious to her already, but he didn't know how she felt for him. Feeling particularly courageous, Hiccup took a deep breath and asked her the question that would end up either sending him to paradise or to the depths of despair.
"Do you like me?" Hiccup asked nervously which caused Astrid to roll her eyes.
"I've kissed you, dummy." she told him which caused Hiccup to rebuke by saying, "But that doesn't necessarily mean you like me, does it?" Hiccup whispered unsure of what he just said.
This comment caused Astrid to punch him hard, right at the gut, making Hiccup double over in pain while Astrid took a step back from him angrily. "Did you seriously think that? Do I look like the kind of girl who gives away kisses to anybody?" she challenged him.
"Sorry! Sorry!" Hiccup wheezed out before looking at her hopefully. "So, that's a yes, right? You like me, and that's why you kissed me?"
Astrid shrugged in embarrassment, a blush coloring her face with a very visible tinge of pink. "Maybe. It depends… Do you like me?" Astrid asked this time, eyeing him.
Hiccup looked at her and said, "Uhm… yeah. It was obvious, wasn't it?" Astrid scoffed at him.
"Obvious? Hah! It'd be as obvious as the day you sprout wings. I kiss you, but you don't kiss back. How could I take that as you liking me?" she complained to him.
Hiccup pouted in response, "Well, I liked it too much, obviously. It was just so amazing that the girl of my dreams was kissing someone like me that I couldn't wrap my head around it properly enough to respond. Any normal person would probably feel the same."
Astrid punched him again but lighter this time to cover up her embarrassment.
"You're the one who is amazing, you know? But you don't see me freezing up. It was only because it was someone like you who wasn't normal like everyone else that I did it anyways." she responded with a deep blush on her face, emphasizing that he was special to her.
The two were quiet for some time, taking in the implications of their conversation, before Astrid spoke up. "So…" Astrid began.
"I...like you." Hiccup confirmed, with his hands fidgeting. Astrid smiled brightly at him.
"I like you too, Hiccup." she said taking his hands into hers gently. Hiccup and Astrid just stood there gazing at each other tenderly, before Hiccup awkwardly interrupted by saying, "So… Does this mean we're a couple now? Our mutual feelings have been declared and all…"
"Yeah yeah, lover boy. We're a couple now. Boyfriend. Girlfriend. Dates. That whole thing. Just… spare me the cheesy stuff, okay?" Astrid said exasperatedly.
"Yeah, baby!" Hiccup celebrated, pumping his fists in the air, which caused Astrid to choke back a laughter. Hiccup blushed furiously, before trying to play it cool. "I mean... Ehem. Okay. Y-yeah. I wouldn't mind… m-mind it."
Astrid bit her lip to prevent herself from laughing and noticed how his eyes suddenly focused in on it. "So I'm probably allowed to do some couple things now…?" Hiccup said to himself while trailing off at the end, but Astrid had heard him and knew what he was thinking.
"With my approval, yak brain." she said before punching his arm and then reaching out to wrap her arms around his neck. "Just to be clear, this was your idea, but I approve." she urged, but Hiccup only stared at her deeply.
Astrid groaned while moving to pull away. "Or not…? Is this how it's always going to be, Hiccup? Because I swear I…" she started saying before Hiccup suddenly wrapped his arms around her waist, bringing her close to him, and placing a firm kiss on her lips. As they pulled back, after a while, to take a breath, Hiccup whispered to her before eagerly leaning in for another sweet kiss. "I told you, I'd get used to this."
Author's Note:
Guess I'm not including this anymore in the "Sweet Thorns" series although this long drabble was inspired by the original plans for the Orange Fascination story.
Thank you also to a new friend I've made: AsianRapunzel for helping me read over it and fixing my grammar and punctuation. :D
Please review! And my Tumblr is hatchethaddockhoneyhofferson ~