Twilight [no vampires]

After getting Toothless his fish, Hiccup decided to have a little walk by himself, so he sent Toothless back home and walked around for a while, holding his arms crossed and having a small smile upon his lips. After a while, he decided to go into the forest. Hiccup walked through the forest, not knowing that Astrid was following him. He walked for a long time. When it was close to dusk, he went to a small cliff edge and sat down, his legs hanging off the edge and leaned on his knees with his elbows. He sighed as a breeze blew past him and made his hair blow out of his face.

When Astrid got back to her home, she noticed Hiccup walking by himself. Hiccup headed into the forest and a dumb idea crossed her mind: she decided to follow him. She followed Hiccup through the forest silently and, gladly, he didn't notice it. Dusk was approaching and Hiccup rested himself on a small cliff edge. Astrid stood a few feet behind him, by a tree.

"So, how are you enjoying the view?" said Astrid, her arms crossed and a smirk on her lips.

At the sound of Astrid's voice, Hiccup didn't even flinch. He was used to her sneaking up to him. "Eh, could be better." he shrugged and turned around to Astrid "And it just did." he smiled. "You know, you following me has become sort of a habit of yours."

She unfolded her arms and walked towards him, a little blush formed on her cheeks. She sat down beside Hiccup and gave him a light punch on the arm. "Hey, I only follow people when they deserve it." she said.

"Now what did I do, that I deserved you following me for an hour?" he asked, with a small smile, a slightly burrowed eyebrow and a slightly amused look on his face and he tilted his head slightly, as he had turned his head to Astrid and leaned down on his knees.

"Oh, I don't know, Hiccup. What do you think you did?" she said teasingly with a hint of a smile, the happiness reflected in her eyes.

"Not really in a guessing mood." he shrugged and tried to keep himself from staring at Astrid's eyes. Favorite shade of blue…

Astrid didn't say anything. Their eyes met and they locked each other's gaze. Warmth spread, and sparks ignited. Those green eyes fixed on her blue tantalizing ones. They stayed like that for a minute, but it felt like years. It was like the whole world stopped and nothing else mattered but him. Astrid broke their gaze and focused on the stunning view. She bit her lips and couldn't help the butterflies in her stomach.

Hiccup looked away as well and turned his head back ahead and watched as the setting sun was soon submerged by the vast ocean and showed only a few glimpses of sunlight, which shined through the clouds and gave them a small silver lining of light and shadow. The sky and clouds were soft pinks, oranges and purples along with a few dark blues and violets surrounding the softness of the sunset. The cool breeze was blowing once more, a bit colder than before.

She let out a sigh and watched the sunset in awe. It was one of those moments where she wished the time would just stop and they'd stay there forever — side by side — admiring breathtaking sceneries together. The cool breeze made Astrid shiver a little.

Hiccup wrapped his hand around her and rubbed her arm and gave her slight warmth, as well as pulled her a little closer to him. He felt slightly nervous, but let the nervousness fade away.

Astrid slightly flinched at the touch of Hiccup's hand on her arm. She never liked it when people touched her, but with Hiccup, it felt entirely different — she loved it. The warmth was spreading all over. When he pulled her a little closer to him, Astrid's cheeks flushed red, her heart dancing to its new found rhythm. She rested her head on his shoulder, comfortable silence enveloping them.

Soon only a few small glimpses of the sun were shining and around the soft colors, the dark violets and blues were dancing around the sky within the clouds, as they were silky and soft and the colors passed right though them. And then the sun disappeared and the stars slowly emerged into the sky and shimmered. Hiccup loved it when the starts shimmered - it reminded him of how Astrid's eyes shined when the moonlight touched her face and shined into her eyes. Her eyes were like ponds in which her mood reflected any way she wanted - she could seal the ponds away and freeze them to hide her emotion and she could warm them up and show them to show her emotion. That was something he admired about her.

Evening came, the stars were like fireflies. It wasn't like the sunset, but it was as breathtaking. Hiccup's right arm was still embracing her and she took a hold his left hand. After a few moments, she broke the silence, "What are you thinking?" she asked in a soft voice.

"Eh, nothing much really…" he lied. He had many thoughts in him mind, every one of them revolving around Astrid. As far as he knew, in that moment, that seemed to last for eternity, the only thing that mattered to him was Astrid. Yet he decided to keep these thought of her to himself for a while.

"Don't you think they'll be looking for us or notice that we're gone?" she asked in a low voice. She didn't want to go back at all — she wanted to stay here in his arms forever — but she was worried about what others might think.

"Nah. Notice - maybe, but I doubt anyone will look for us. Besides, it's not like we'll stay here for long." he shrugged. As much as he wanted to stay there longer, with Astrid, he didn't want to show it. I wish I could tell her the truth… the truth about how I love her, about how I think of her almost every day- alright, every day… the whole truth… not just a part of it… even if what I say is partly true, it still doesn't really count… but no matter how much he wanted to, he just couldn't tell it to her. He didn't know why, but he just couldn't.

Disappointment poured into her, and her lips curled into a frown. She let go of his hand and unwrapped herself from his arm. She sat with her legs crossed and stared into the stars, trying to hide her disappointment.

"Hey, you alright?" he asked with concern, looking at her and put his hand on her shoulder. "Y'know… i-if you want, we can stay a bit longer… I wouldn't mind…" he offered with a small, sweet smile.

But if I said I wanted to stay longer, I would sound like one of those clingy girls, she thought. That thought visited her head again — the thing about the clingy girls. Even if he's here right now with her, even if he said that he liked her, she still doesn't know for sure. She wanted to ask him — there and now — if he loves her, but she couldn't. For a Viking who has the guts to do anything, she definitely cannot count on her guts for this one thing. She wanted to know so badly. The blonde Viking opened her mouth to ask… but closed it immediately. Instead, she did nothing but sigh.

"No, I'm okay. I'm good." she replied with a shrug and a fake smile.

Hiccup frowned at the answer. But not just the answer. It was the way she smiled. Even though he saw her put on a smile, it didn't seem right. Could fool anyone, but not him. He knew to look further than just the smile. He saw that she seemed to not like her own answer and that she might have regretted part of it. "What's the matter?"

Astrid bit her lip. Maybe it's time to tell the truth — to let it out. She took a deep breath and let out a heavy sigh. "Ever since you're back, almost every girl in this village never takes their eyes off you. Whenever you're around them, they go crazy and just are… clingy. It's not because I'm jealous or anything. It's just that…." she paused and hugged her knees, her eyes glued to what's in front of her "…. I feel like you think of me being as clingy as they are," she continued. She bit the inside of her lip, waiting anxiously for a response. The cold breeze along with her nervous state made her shiver once more and she kept her eyes away from his.

"Astrid," he started "That has to be one of the craziest ideas I have ever heard from you. You are anything but one of those clingy girls. I don't even care about any one of them; they're like flies – annoying. And even if you were clingy, I wouldn't think any less of you. So don't worry about it." he flashed a small smile.

A bit of relief dipped into her pool of worries. She let out the breath she didn't know she was holding. Although, one question still remained: does he love me? It was an embarrassing question, but she had to know no matter what. She hugged her knees tighter, her body tensed up.

She stayed silent for a while before asking, "Do you, uhmm…. do you l-love me?" she almost choked on her own words. She closed her eyes and mentally crossed her fingers. There, I asked him, she said to herself. Now all she had to do was wait.

He was a little taken aback by her question. Of course he did. He'd loved her from the moment he saw her. Almost every thought revolved around her. Most of the village even knew about his crush on the girl way before he even met Toothless. He stayed quiet for that. He sighed and answered "Yes, I do…" There… I finally did it… I told her…

Astrid opened her eyes and tried to embrace the silence as she waited for Hiccup's answer. Her body was freezing from all the nervousness the situation was casting on her. Tick, tock. It felt like she's been waiting for an eternity when it was for only a while. Finally, his gentle voice said the answer opposite to what Astrid was expecting — he does love her.

She turned her head slightly, and her eyes met his. Her heart wouldn't stop dancing and the butterflies in her stomach won't settle down. She didn't know exactly how to react, so instead, she just acted normal. She flashed the brown haired Viking a wide grin. "Prove it," she said in a hush voice, but enough for him to hear.

Hiccup smirked at her request. And what happened next? It happened so fast, yet so slow, that it was almost impossible to describe. He answered "How about this?" in the same kind of hushed voice and one second he was smiling at her and the next thing he knew, he moved in and kissed her. His lips connected with hers and his eyes soon closed.

Astrid knew what was coming and she braced herself for it. His lips gracefully met hers and sparks flew. It all seemed to happen so fast. She gently placed her hand on the side of Hiccup's face. She already kissed him before, but this one was different. It felt so passionate and — real. She pulled away from the kiss to catch her breath and stared into his green eyes.

Hiccup stared back and asked with a grin "That proof enough?" He leaned back on his arms, which he set behind him.

"Definitely," she replied and winked at him. She stretched her legs and let them hang off the edge.

Hiccup let out a small "Hm" with a chuckle and a smirk and looked at Astrid.

She focused on the stars again as her mind replayed what had happened a few seconds ago, still unsure if it's real or not. She looked away from the sky to glance at Hiccup, but he was already looking at her. Chills ran down her spine as his eyes locked with hers again.

"What?" she asked with a smirk, hoping that he would wrap his arms around her again.

"Nothing…" he lied. He had often been caught staring at her and he was always asked the same question and he always replied the same. He couldn't help but look at her. He soon moved his eyes away from hers and stared off into the view in front. He closed his eyes and listened to the sounds around - the waves of the ocean, the 'oo'ing of the owls, the sound of the wind rustling through the trees and the sound of silence…

Astrid kept her eyes at Hiccup even if he already looked away. She watched him for a while before turning her eyes on the view too. Moments of silence passed by.

"So… what are you really thinking now?" she couldn't help but ask — after all what happened.

He opened his left eye at the question and shrugged "Nothing at the moment… just enjoying the silence…" It was true. The past few days haven't been exactly peaceful, so some quiet time was nothing other than a good thing.

"Hm." Astrid kept her eyes at the view and enjoyed the silence as well. The moonlight shined upon them as the stars shimmered. Astrid felt a little tired so she laid her back on the ground, her legs still hanging off the edge, and gazed at the sky.

"This might sound kind of stupid," he started "but I think we should do this more often. You know, just hang out and do nothing." he turned his head towards Astrid and smiled a little.

"No," she said softly. "It doesn't sound stupid. And yeah, I think we should do this more often too." she said and let out a happy sigh.

Hiccup let out a small yawn and lay down next to Astrid and rested his head on his hands. Astrid moved a little closer to Hiccup. She slightly turned her head and looked at him with a small smile. Hiccup glanced at her and let out a small, chuckled "Hm." of amusement. She wasn't usually like this… but he kind of liked it… it was cute… wait, what? She gave him a playful eye-roll and gazed at the stars again, her small smile still visible. He took one hand from under his head and put it over his stomach and let out a small sigh.

Moments of silence passed by and she was getting a bit tired. Astrid turned and put an arm around Hiccup's stomach and rested her head on his chest. "I hope you don't mind." she said quietly, hugging Hiccup.

"Not at all." he replied.

She stayed like that for a while — her head on his chest — listening to the beating of his heart. The wonderful sound of his heartbeat, his even breathing, the waves of the ocean, the whistling wind. It all sounded so beautiful. He smiled a little and took his other hand out of under his head and placed it on Astrid's hand. His hand felt warm on hers. Her lips smiled a bit and she let out a small "hm." After a few moments, her eyes felt tired and her eyelids slowly covered her blue orbs. Soon then, she fell asleep on his chest. He noticed that she had fallen asleep and smiled. He stayed up for a while, but soon sleep took over him, too.

Favorite, follow and/or review if you like. It would certainly be appreciated.

I apologize for the delay in the update. I had a busy day.

In the next chapter nothing new really happens. It's the eleventh chapter you have to look forward to. Might post tomorrow.