New chapter! Hope you like it and review. I own nothing.
Merida curled up tight in a grey wool blanket as Hiccup knocked on the door. "I'm sensing a flipped roles parallel!" he called.
Merida chuckled, remembering Hiccup's first morning in DunBroch. "Come in, and good morning to you, too." Hiccup pushed the door open and sat on Merida's bed.
"Are you going to get up any time soon?"
"Why would I? Sun's not up yet, and that's my rule of thumb." Merida yawned and burrowed into her blankets and pillows, peeking up at Hiccup through sleepy eyes.
"Except for in Berk, where it's a cloudy, ominous layer over the sun any time it's not already raining. It's nearly eleven."
"ELEVEN?" Merida bolted up and popped out of bed. "Hiccup why didn't you wake me up earlier? I wanted to go exploring and meet your friends better and all that!" She rushed around the room, collecting the clothes she would wear for the day. "Shoo, shoo! I've got to get dressed!"
"And who says that means I can't stay?" He grinned cheekily and tried to stop the blush from overcoming his face.
Merida rolled her eyes and fought back a smile. "Alright, I get it. You can attempt to be the bold one, Hiccup, but at least wait 'til I'm settled."
"If I must." Hiccup jokingly sighed and walked out the door. Merida couldn't help but admit to herself that she rather enjoyed Hiccup trying to have a pretentious swagger.
Merida bounced down to the first floor, thoroughly enjoying her light brown pants and taking strides that were as long as she wished and her legs would take her.
"Having fun in pants?" a voice said from the kitchen.
Merida walked into the area and saw Hiccup sitting at the table. A girl stood at the fire. She was thin with blonde hair, and was very tall.
"They're an excellent change of pace, Astrid. Thank you very much for letting me borrow them."
"It's no problem," Astrid replied, "in fact if you can keep them if you'd like. I've gotten too tall for them."
Merida thanked her and sat at the table next to Hiccup. She eyed him with a 'why is she here exactly?' look, and he shrugged, sipping at his drink. Merida rolled her eyes at his obvious lack of curiosity, but didn't know how to manage it.
"So tell me," Astrid said, sliding a plate of something in front of them, "how's DunBroch?" The coupled eyed Astrid's dish, very much hesitant over the odd shade of green. Astrid noticed and rolled her eyes. "You don't have to eat it."
Hiccup sighed in relief. "Well DunBroch was great. It was a very nice vacation from this little spot of what can be miserable. Met some people." Hiccup nudged Merida with his elbow, and she rolled her eyes with a smile. She ignored Hiccup's persistence over not being fond of Berk, because she knew that it would still always be home to him.
"Oh really, I hadn't noticed." Astrid flipped her hair back. "You'll have to forgive his obvious statements, but I'm sure you're already more or less used to that."
"As much as I can be," Merida grinned. She didn't find herself hating Astrid, in fact, she felt that maybe they could even be good friends. "But what was some of the blackmail that was mentioned about Hiccup yesterday?"
Hiccup made a noise of interjection and Astrid laughed, shushing him. "We won't talk about you right now, you're there to defend yourself!" The girls laughed, and Hiccup's face took on a look of mixed terror and forfeit.
"Alright, alright, alright. You're all very sneaky and mischievous. Congratulations. But I still don't know why you're here, Astrid." He looked at her over his mug, eyebrows raised in sarcastic curiosity.
"Your father asked me here. He's probably going to bestow Berk to me since you're clearly going off to Scotland."
The pair blushed at the prospect, to which Astrid rolled her eyes. Merida caught the details, however. She turned to Hiccup. "You get Berk?"
Hiccup rubbed the back of his neck with his hand, looking up at the ceiling and trying to make everyone look there too instead of at him. "More or less. The Elder would have to pass judgment on me-"
"Which she has!" Astrid interrupted.
"but that was in an event not even slightly related to being a ruler," Hiccup said with a glare at Astrid.
"Hiccup, you're basically the prince. You've managed to keep yourself in the royal pairing business, Princess!" Merida grimaced at the title, and Astrid chuckled. "Alright, that was a low swing. I'll stop."
Merida muttered her thanks, and Hiccup continued. "So yeah, I'm the number one candidate to being the next chief of Berk. But since my dad is the current chief, he has the ability to choose a new successor. If he's smart, he'll choose Astrid. I lead dragons, not people." He stared at his empty cup, and Merida struggled for encouragement.
"A good nation needs a good cavalry," said the archer quietly. Hiccup half-smiled appreciatively, and Astrid tilted her head, quietly studying the pair and making a mental bet with herself.
The teens talked among themselves for a while longer, until Stoick the Vast walked in. He nodded at them, and Hiccup straightened. Merida and Astrid both noticed and looked at each other.
"Hello, all. Merida, I trust you slept well?" Merida nodded. "Good. Now, I've wanted to talk to you three about something. Astrid, I trust you know that Hiccup and Merida are a… well they're a couple?"
"Yes, Sir. And a lovely one." She winked at them with a one handed finger gun, and they grinned back.
"Yes, yes, and all that. The point of it is that Merida will be staying with us. And as long as she's here, we might as well let her know what it would be like to possibly live in Berk." The confident grins disappeared from Merida and Hiccup's faces, and they looked anywhere but at each other. "I, naturally, cannot tell her what it means to be a Valkyrie. However, Astrid can." Merida's head snapped to attention, suspicious of the way things were going. "And so, I have asked Astrid if she will gently instruct Merida as to the way of the female Viking."
The room exploded in motion that went off in milliseconds. Merida jumped out of her chair, sputtering her fury at Stoick in a loud, disbelieving wave of words that teetered between polite anger and unbridled rage. Hiccup facepalmed, discovering yet again that his father could still have the worst ideas. Astrid jumped back in surprise, not aware of Merida's disgust with lessons on how to be a lady, no matter what the culture. And finally, Stoick bristled and boomed out over the reaction.
"Your parents have agreed to it, and it is customary!"
"Customary!" Merida shrieked. "CUSTOMARY! I'm expected to do what's customary? Why doesn't Hiccup learn how to be a Scottish man? Why don't you ride a dragon, if you're the leader of the dragon riders? That seems customary! And who's to say I even am going to marry Hiccup? Maybe I won't marry at all!" She stormed off, spewing Gaelic and going out into the unknown village.
Hiccup swung his head to his father. "You really thought this would be a good idea, didn't you." Hiccup chased after Merida, his gangly legs flailing. Astrid still sat at the table, dumbstruck. Stoick sighed, looking at the girl.
"She'll calm down. If they aren't seen by anyone by dinner, alert me."
Astrid nodded obediently but strongly, and went to go take care of her own dragon and chores.
If he hadn't tripped on a root, she probably would have kept running.
Instead, compassion found Merida and she doubled back to help her boyfriend.
"You know," she said bitterly, "in all my princess lessons, I've never once been told to go back and help someone. So you really should be grateful that I don't stick to those, instead of trying to force more on me."
Hiccup looked up at her unbelievingly. "You really think this was my idea?"
"No! I'm just furious that no matter where I go, I can't manage to escape this hell!" She kicked the tree, and Hiccup brought himself up from the ground.
"I know, I know. It's not fair at all, and it's really stupid and I promise I'm going to try to talk to my dad. But I'm not sure what'll come of it, Merida."
She slouched against the tree, sliding down and sitting on the ground in the woods she had run towards. Her hair was tangled and unbrushed, and the only consolation in the horribly cold weather were the warm clothes. "I know, Hiccup. I'm just… upset. I'm tired and I'm not at home and I'm upset."
Hiccup looked down at her. "Which is totally allowed, you know. You're allowed to be upset. Also, for what it's worth, you don't have to do much to be a Viking girl. All the ones I've noticed have run around and cooked hearty meals. That's really about all that I know. You can tell why I fell for a foreigner instead of someone from home."
Merida smiled at him, wiping away the remnants of tired and angry tears. "But Hiccup…"
He squatted down in front of her, his hands resting on her knees. "But what?"
"What if I can't cook?" Her eyes twinkled, and Hiccup smiled.
"It's alright. I'm not one of those big eater Vikings anyway."
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