Happy Friday!
Just a little shout-out to my faithful reviewers: You guys rock! Loves! 3
Alright, so things got a little PG-13 in the last chapter... Lets see how awkward I can make this. :D
~~~~~~~~~a sexy line~~~~~~~~~
It was dawn when Ari next opened his eyes. Force of habit, he supposed. He always woke with the sun.
He knew he should get up. Things had to be done. He was due at the ring in a few hours. But he didn't want to get up. His head pounded, like he drank way too much mead. His body felt sore and stiff, like if he moved he would regret it. And the bed was so warm and soft. There were many furs on him, but the one in his arms was the best, the most comfortable, that made him want to sleep in.
That was also breathing. Whatever he was holding was alive. Confused, he shifted his head to look down.
Hiccup. It was Hiccup. For some reason his mind was working slow and it took several seconds to process.
His eyes widened. His muscles tensed up. Hiccup stirred slightly at the movement, but she soon shifted and gripped tighter on his shirt, then quickly returned to her deep sleep.
He was sleeping with Hiccup. He had slept with Hiccup. They had slept together last night. But... But why? What exactly happened? They hadn't... They didn't do anything... Right? But then... Why?
His mind was still working slow, but eventually the memories started to catch up. Training. The Nadder poison. He was sick. She carried him to the Healer. He was brought to her house. She took care of him. He... He was cold. So cold.
"We have to keep you warm."
She... She kept him warm. She slept with him through the night to keep infection from setting in. As a last resort, she had stopped his shaking with the heat of her body. For someone so small, she was quite the heat source.
"No one has to know. I won't tell."
Why would she do that for him? Its not like they were friends, really. And this was before he even got a chance to apologize for his abhorrent behavior. No one would have blamed her if she left him there and called someone else to go help him. And yet she did it herself. She went even further and took care of him through the night, and then kept him warm. She risked her reputation and yet promised not to ruin his.
"I'd like to think you'd do the same for me."'
He thought about that first day in training, when she had tried to save Ruff and Tuff. She had no reason to. Plus, they never would have done the same for her.
"I guess that's just what I would want someone to do for me. To be there for me, you know, if I needed it."
That's just who she was, then. She did things no one would have expected her to do, nor would have blamed her for not doing. All because that's what she would have wanted someone to do for her. Even though no one would. Hiccup was incapable of being like the way she was treated.
A feeling started to build inside him, like the one he had gotten in the Mead Hall the other night. Understanding. Respect. Praise. He felt this even more so lying there thinking of her words and the previous night's events. There had never been much between the two of them, not since they were children. But now he felt as though they were reconnecting. They were getting to know one another. They were starting to understand.
He made a vow then. He had always sort of watched out for Hiccup. It was in his nature to watch after all in the tribe if they needed it. Plus, no one else bothered with her except Stoick on occasion. Ari made sure she stayed alive. But this was different. He would be there for her. Regardless of feelings or their current standing. He would go out of his way. He would put himself at risk. He would keep her warm though the night if he had to, to keep infection from setting in. He would listen. He would try to understand. He would be her friend.
"That's just what I would want someone to do for me."
One corner of his lips turned up. His muscles relaxed. His eyes slowly started to droop closed in exhaustion. He knew they should get up, that he should get up, soon. But he found that he didn't have the strength. He still felt like he had gone through a brawl with Thor himself. But that was okay. They didn't have to get up quite yet, and it would be better if she were first. If he woke her up, she would be embarrassed. Her face would get red and she would stutter. Though it was amusing to see her like that, he knew she would hate it.
He let his eyes fall shut. His thoughts were filled of Hiccup's noble actions. The half smile stayed on his face.
"That's just what I would want someone to do for me."
Okay, Hiccup.
~~~~~~~~a sexy line~~~~~~~~
Knock, knock, knock.
Hiccup groaned and snuggled closer to her heat source. Wait. Heat source with a heartbeat. Her eyebrows knit in confusion.
She opened her eyes. Blue. Tunic. Ari's blue tunic. Ari.
Her eyes widened. Ari. She was sleeping with Ari. Her face reddened and she began to panic, but quickly calmed as she remembered what had happened.
She shifted to look at his face. Well, she must have kept him warm enough. He looked a lot better. Not so pale. His face not contorted in pain. She took these as good signs.
Knock, knock, knock.
Someone was at the door. The Healer, she guessed, to check on them. Or, more likely, Ruff and Tuff to 'see how things went' and probably tease her. Regardless, she had to get up and get it. She had to do it without waking Ari. She didn't want to think about how awkward it would be if she woke him up and they were still holding one another under the furs of her bed.
His grip on her would be difficult to get out of. Slowly, as gently as she could, she started to slip out of his grasp. He only tightened his hold.
Hiccup huffed in irritation. It was all so thrilling, yet all so wrong. In other circumstances, if things were completely different, she would have been happy to stay there forever. But, as it were, she was only in bed with this boy that was hardly even her friend because his life was on the line. And now she needed to get up and get the door without waking him to spare them both from awkwardness and embarrassment. He was making that very difficult.
She grabbed her pillow and forced it between them as she slipped out of his arms. It took time and coaxing, but he finally accepted the pillow as a replacement.
Knock, knock, knock.
Hiccup threw on her vest and ran to the door of her room. She rushed down the stairs and made it to the front door just as the knocking started for the fourth time. She was relieved to find the Healer on the other side of it.
"Goodness, lass," she said. "Took ya long enough. I thought you both dead. How is he, then?"
Hiccup moved aside to let her in. "He's fine. Better than last night. His skin color is a less frightening shade, at least."
The Healer smiled. "Well that's good to hear. I trust you kept him warm enough, then?"
Hiccup's eyes narrowed at the slight glint in the Healer's. "Yeah. We prevented any kind of infection from setting, trust me."
"Is he upstairs?" She looked to be struggling to maintain a serious face.
Hiccup sighed but let it drop. "Yeah, he's in my room. I have some things to take care of, so I'm going out. You don't need to move him or anything. He can stay until he's ready."
The Healer informed her that Gobber had canceled class for the day in light of Ari's situation. Normally, if a teen was seriously injured or died, class would continue. But because Ari was able to continue, it was decided that they could afford to take the day off. Better that then have Ari miss a day. You needed to be in class everyday to graduate.
They said their goodbyes and Hiccup walked out. It was an hour or so past dawn. The docks had fresh fish around that time, so she headed down there and picked up an assorted basket full. Toothless had only had one fish in the past few days. He was sure to be starving.
~~~~~~~~a sexy line~~~~~~~~
"Wake up, boy. You've slept quite enough."
Ari groaned in protest. He didn't want to get up. He still felt terrible. Why would she wake him, anyway? He figured she would have slipped out of bed before she did that.
The voice scoffed. "Stubborn as my husband on wash day. Come now, up with ya. I have other patients a lot sicker than you to tend to. Don't be wasten' my time."
That was not Hiccup, his mind processed. Neither was what he was holding. Begrudgingly, he opened his eyes and took in his surroundings. He was clutching a pillow in his arms. But, where was Hiccup? Had she left? She was there at one point, he was sure. It hadn't all been a dream or anything, right?
"Sit up, lad. Lets have a look at ya," the Healer said.
Ari sighed, but complied with her demand. Slowly, as fast as his muscles could stand it, he moved into a sitting position against the headboard. He didn't mean to, but another groan escaped him, this time because of the stiffness and pain in his body.
"Ya, ya," the Healer said as she began to poke and prod at him. "Life is tough. Ya get a wee bit of Nadder poison then get tended to by a pretty girl through the night. Can't imagine." Ari rolled his eyes at that. All those on Berk, and Vikings in general, had that unsympathetic, 'suck it up' attitude. Supposedly, it kept them tough. Ari wasn't one to dwell on pain or complain more than anyone else, but he knew that this attitude was to maintain a stupid amount of pride and to avoid any sort of 'uncomfortable' talk, like 'feelings'.
Her words gave him pause, however. So Hiccup had been there. That was clear from the Healer's words. That, and he could see he was in Hiccup's room. The Healer was examining his hand, his chest, eyes, mouth, and ears, but he wasn't paying attention.
He had never actually been in her room before. Sketches and drawings covered the walls. There was a table on the far side of the room that had stacks of books on it, papers spilling out of those and spread all over. He knew that she sketched, he had seen her doing in in her little book before, but he had no idea it was that extensive. She was quite talented. As good, if not better, than the village artist that drew the maps and tapestries. There were many designs of tools and contraptions, some he could recognise and others he hadn't a clue. Dragons. Most he recognized. All but one. A strange looking black one he had never seen before. Perhaps she had made it up.
And then there were people. He could see many of the village, groups and families. There were many of the group their age. He saw himself, Ruff, Tuff, Fishlegs, Snotlout... they were all up there, in the group or alone. Everyone was there. Everyone but Hiccup. There wasn't a single sketch of herself up there. Not even when the group was together. She actually saw herself as everyone else did, then.
The Healer caught his attention again. "Experiencing any chest pain? Pain behind the eyes? Seein' things that aren't there perhaps or havin' strange dreams?"
He frowned. "I... I don't think so." He hadn't, right? He tried to go over the events of the previous night again. He was sure Hiccup took care of him. The last thing he remembered was... was Hiccup keeping him warm. Keeping him alive. That happened, right?
The Healer smiled. "Thats good, then. You'll be fine. Get out and get some air. You'll be sore, but right as rain tomorrow. As it is, Gobber has canceled class so you have the day off. Use it well." He started to get up as she walked toward the door. Putting on his boots and grabbing his armor and weapon belt, he stood up. "Hiccup took good care of ya, she did." With that, the she walked out.
Ari started to make his way out as well, but then remembered his axe. He looked around and spotted it on the floor next to the fireplace. But, it was different. He picked it up. The handle was longer, the leather on it new, and the blade had been sharpened. It felt good, and was definitely better suited to his current size and what he would grow to be. He saw the tools and old handle on the ground.
"Hiccup took good care of ya, she did."
Yeah, he thought. She did.
a sexy line~~~~~~~~~
"Toothless!" Hiccup called. She dropped the basket to the cove floor. "Come on out, buddy. I've got more food for you!"
Toothless materialized nearby and approached her cautiously. She opened both sides of her vest to show him that she was weapon free. He perked up and scurried over, sniffing the basket eagerly.
Hiccup giggled. It still amazed her how calm and friendly his demeanor was when he didn't feel threatened. "Alright, here you go." She tipped over the basket, spilling the contents out in front of him. He looked it over and sniffed curiously. "There you go. Salmon, Icelandic Cod, and even a whole smoked eel."
Suddenly, Toothless crouched and growled. Alarmed, Hiccup tried to soothe him. "Whoa, whoa. What's wrong?" He eyed the eel. Cautiously, Hiccup leaned forward and picked it up. Toothless roared. "Okay, okay!" Hiccup quickly threw it out of sight. Toothless calmed and returned his attention to the fish. "Yeah, I'm not a fan of eel, either." It was interesting, though, how he reacted to it. Almost as if he were scared of it. I wonder if all dragons react like that.
The dragon seemed completely uncaring and comfortable with her presence now. She made herself comfortable on a boulder while he ate. She climbed atop, sat cross legged in good view of the dragon, and pulled out her sketchbook. In the past few days, she had already drawn many pictures of him. Mostly of his different faces. Skeptical. Growling. Curious. He had so many. This time she drew him with his face stuck in the basket as he searched for more fish. She laughed at the sight.
Lost in her sketching, she hadn't noticed when Toothless circled behind her and looked over her shoulder after finally freeing himself from the basket. He had a paw on each side of her and his head directly over. He cooed at the drawing.
Hiccup jumped and looked up at him. "Good grief. For something so large, you sure are quiet." He huffed, then looked back at the picture again. She held it up for him to see. "It's you," she told him. He cooed in response and hopped slightly. Hiccup smiled and looked back down at the drawing. It was then that something familiar caught her eye.
Beads. Colorful glass beads. Why she hadn't seen them before was lost to her. Perhaps it was because she hadn't been that close to his paws since the day they met. Regardless, there they were; her mother's necklaces tangled between his claws and toes on his paw, the ones he ripped off her when he ran off.
"Hey," she said. She turned around so that she was facing him. She pointed at the necklaces. "That must be pretty uncomfortable." He sat back but kept his paws on the rock. He looked at the necklaces, then back at her. "I can take them off for you." Toothless cocked his head to the side, but didn't move as she reached for his paw. He didn't even flinch when she touched it and lifted it off the rock. Carefully, she untangled the necklaces. She set his paw back down and held the beads in her hand. It was only the ties in the back that had broken free. The knots stayed intact, so the beads remained. Toothless knelt down and sniffed them.
"They were my mother's," she said suddenly. It came out of nowhere. She never talked about her mother. But now, tears were springing to her eyes as she continued. "I hardly remember her. She was killed by a dragon, you know. When I was really little. They were going after some of our goats. She charged at them, but the dragon blew her apart before she even got there."
The tears were freely flowing now. Toothless's face came much closer to hers, alarmed at the sudden distress of the small girl. "You know, I remember this one thing she use to always say. She said, 'It's such a shame we have to fight them. They're such beautiful creatures. Can you imagine, Hiccup, what it would be like to fly with one?'." Hiccup laughed through her tears and reached up to dry her eyes. Toothless was just an inch from her face. She set a hand on his snout. "I wonder If she can see us now."
Toothless pressed into her hand. She stroked him softly. "I don't quite understand it yet," she went on thoughtfully, "but I know we don't have to fight you. Maybe one day we can stop the fighting all together. What do you say, Toothless? Should we try and change the world?" The dragon huffed and pulled back a bit. "Yeah, thought so. It's a nice dream, anyway."
She looked back down at the beads. She was struck by an idea. "Here," she said as she reached back down to his paw and secured both necklaces around his wrist. "Proof that a Viking and a dragon can coexist without killing each other. Maybe, if you ever fly again, someone will see it. That will really throw them off, huh?"
Toothless gazed at the beads curiously, then back at her. A few stray tears were falling down her face and it seemed to still be upsetting him. He sniffed around her face. A large huff blew aside her bangs, revealing what was left of her cut and bruise. He pressed his nose to it.
"Ow," Hiccup quietly exclaimed as she pulled back. The dragon's eyes lit up. Before Hiccup could blink, Toothless leaned forward and licked her forehead.
"Gross." Hiccup tried to smooth down her hair, but she couldn't help but laugh. "Uh, thanks, Toothless." The dragon cooed.
~~~~~~~~~~a sexy line~~~~~~~~~
Oh, Toothless. You curious, slightly vain thing, you. And what about that Healer, huh? Quite mischievous, she is. Kind of like two other people I know...
Things are going to speed up a little after the next couple of chapters. Kind of like they did in the movie. I think people would get a little bored if I depicted every single fight in the ring and whatnot. Things will just be condensed a bit.
So, a little preview on the next chapter... More awkwardness, a stare down, some arrows, a sword fight, and a traitorous decision. Sounds fun, right? :D
And now, a quote from 'In the Eye of a Pirate'! The last couple have been pretty serious so lets do a funny one. This one comes from... Ari!
"I knew it. You're just using me for my body."
Gosh. I have way too much fun with witty banter.
Until Monday!
~StoriesOfAnInsomniac