Thanks to P-Artsypants for being my beta reader and for her support in writing this story. Also thank you guys for the reviews and for your support for this story.
Four days later.
The remaining days to Hiccup's birthday were nothing if not disappointing in his eyes. Even if he knew that the chances were very dim, he still hoped that maybe Astrid would ask him when his birthday was. Just like that. Then he would say that it was in a few days and she would say that she's sorry she hadn't asked sooner and then they would just make out. That would've been perfect for him. But as the days passed by and Astrid showed absolutely no intention in asking him that, he grew sadder. At least no one noticed except Toothless. Or that's what he thought. Even if Astrid didn't said anything about it, she noticed Hiccup's sad attitude for the past couple of days. She intuited the reason behind that and a small chat with Toothless only confirmed her initial guess, so she pretended to not notice, trying not to ruin the surprise, hoping that in the end, it would be all worth it.
Today was his birthday. Hiccup yawned and rubbed his eyes, trying to wake them up. He slowly got in a sitting position, awkwardly stretching, wakening his muscles. The first thing he realized was that neither Toothless nor Stormfly tried to wake him up, notifying him that it was breakfast time, on a closer look, they weren't even in the cave. The second thing he noticed was that Astrid wasn't near him. He yawned again, looking at the burning fire. "Well, happy birthday Hiccup..." He muttered to himself. A few moments later, he heard a yawn a little further, then a voice.
"You're finally awake." Astrid said, slowly getting up from the other side of the fireplace.
"What were you doing?" Hiccup asked confused.
"Waiting for you to get up."
"Where are the dragons?"
"I fed them and now they are outside, sleeping, most likely." Astrid answered, sitting next to Hiccup.
"Why did you make them leave?"
"I know that you always complain about the dragons waking you up, so I fed them, so you could sleep more. And then I didn't crawl next to you because I was afraid that I might wake you up."
"So you did all that so I wouldn't complain about the dragons for one day?"
"Yes. And I also did this." Astrid answered, grabbing her bag from near the fireplace and pulling a small pouch out of it.
"What's that?"
"Well, its for you." Astrid gave Hiccup the small pouch.
The boy opened it curiously, carefully examining the small trinket.
"This is one of Toothless's scales?" Hiccup asked, slowly dragging his finger over the runes.
"Yes. Its a trinket. Do you like it?"
"This is amazing!" Hiccup stated, making Astrid release a small laugh in relief.
"Happy birthday Hiccup!" She suddenly declared, making Hiccup to slowly turn and look at her, surprised.
"H-How did you know?"
"You are the son of Stoick. At each of your birthdays there was a feast, to celebrate the birthday of the chief's son, obvious, so it's kind of hard to forget all those feasts for the past few years, especially since you were missing from most of them. And your birthday is exactly five weeks prior to mine."
"Astrid...That's..."
"And Toothless confirmed it to me. A few days ago." Astrid interrupted him.
Hiccup brought Astrid in a tight hug. It was a weaker way to express his gratitude for her gesture than he initially wanted, but it was the first reaction that came into mind. It seemed more natural, somehow. He never kissed the person that brought him a gift for his birthday before, for obvious reasons, but now he wanted to. So after he released her from the hug, he kissed her, muttering a silent 'thank you' against her lips. They slowly parted after that and Hiccup returned to his careful analysis of the trinket. They sat in silence for a few moments, until Hiccup placed the trinket back into the pouch and the pouch near the fur makeshift bed.
"What are you going to do today?" Hiccup asked, lying back on the furs.
"Well, it's almost past noon, so maybe we should get going to Jàrnstarfa." Astrid responded.
"Can't we just stay here, all day?" Hiccup asked, pulling Astrid closer to him.
"Not really."
"Why?"
"I'm not the only person that knows that your birthday is today. And I kind of promised the others that I would bring you to Jàrnstarfa."
"I just want to spend the day with you."
"We have to go."
"I don't want to go..." Hiccup stated, leaving small kisses along her face.
"We don't have to go now. But pretty soon." Astrid said, giving in.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
A few hours past noon, Astrid and Hiccup were at one of the forges in Jàrnstarfa. The one where Hiccup usually worked and kept all his prototypes and experiments. Initially, Hiccup wanted to make the trinket Astrid gave him more like a necklace, to be easier to keep it with him, and Astrid just wanted to watch him work. But after they left the forge, Astrid was wearing a small scarf, trying to hide a 'fresh' mark that Hiccup left. They spent another hour walking aimless through the village, until Heather found them. She gave Hiccup a book about all the dragon species known in the Barbaric Archipelago. Like a smaller version of The Book of Dragons from Berk. After that, they walked towards the Great Hall, well, Heather jogged towards the huge building, leaving Astrid and Hiccup behind. It would be a lie if Hiccup said that he wasn't at least a little nervous about the possible outcome of this day. Snotlout used to call his birthday 'The Useless Day'. At least he wouldn't have to hide from Snotlout or to sneak back home this time, so it should be a lot better than how it was on Berk. He suddenly remembered that last year, Snotlout actually ignored Hiccup for a few days before and after his birthday. He looked at Astrid, slightly confused. She did said that she liked him before the whole dragon training thing, so maybe she had something to do with that?
"What?" Astrid asked, noticing his look.
"Exactly an year ago, Snotlout left me alone for a few days. Did you have something to do with that?"
"I don't know what are you talking about." She said, smiling.
"I do believe you do know what I'm talking about."
"Nope. I have no idea."
"Then let me ask you this. Did you beat Snotlout this time of year?"
"I used to beat Snotlout a lot. Even this time of the year." She replied, earning a small laugh from Hiccup.
"It's nice to know that you tried to take care of me even before you had to kill me." Hiccup said, stopping as they reached the Great Hall.
"I still have to kill you." She replied, looking at the huge wooden doors, waiting for Hiccup to show that he's ready to go inside. "The title of shield-maiden is still very important to me."
"Then all I can do is wish you good luck with that, milady." Hiccup replied with a small bow.
"Well, in that case, I'll give you a five minute head start."
"I won't need five minutes." Hiccup proudly stated, bringing his right hand to his mouth and whistling. "The offspring of lighting and death itself will be here to help me."
Astrid looked skeptical at him, until he whistled again, still receiving no response from the Night Fury, then she laughed. "Can't you see? I bribed your Night Fury this morning, that's why you haven't seen him."
"I flew on him here..."
"Shut up." Astrid interrupted, trying not to laugh, "So, I bribed him so he won't help you..." she tried to continue, but she couldn't control her laughing anymore.
"So, you bribed my best friend?!" Hiccup asked, with a fake betrayed expression.
"With fish!"
"With fish?! That's outrageous!" He almost yelled, making Astrid burst out laughing. "And now, you. You laugh in front of your helpless enemy."
"Okay, okay... Now stop." She said, trying to stop laughing.
"But I was liking this." Hiccup states, also starting to laugh.
"Well, I'm happy for you. Now let's go inside." And with that being said, they both opened the huge wooden doors, walking in the Great Hall.
The huge building was finished about a week ago, so this was the first 'official' feast that the Great Hall had the privilege to hold. It took a little more than a month, with the help of dragons, to build it. After Jàrnstarfa got in the same group with the big villages, it was the next logical step to build its own Great Hall, to impress the nearby villages and to have a place for feasts on holidays, or on important visits from other chiefs. The Great Hall was big enough to hold four hundred vikings in it, but now, it was mostly empty. Most of the time, nine great fireplaces were pleasantly warming the hall, but now only two of them were lit. The one in the middle of the hall was the biggest of them all and it was always lit, lighting and warming most of the hall, while small torches hanging from the great stone pillars were lighting the corners the main fireplace couldn't reach. A thing Hiccup found interesting was that there were no tables around the main fireplace, but the other eight smaller fireplaces were surrounded by them. And another thing that he found curious was that there was no main table, reserved only for the chief and his family and closest friends. Audun would always sit at one of the tables near the smaller fireplaces, with the rest of the villagers, showing that they were all equals, showing respect to each and every one of them. And maybe that's why there aren't any tables around the main fireplace, to show that in the end, everyone is equal.
Astrid and Hiccup were slowly walking towards the other lit fireplace, in the furthest corner of the hall. Hiccup noticed that there were only about forty people there. He glanced confused at Astrid, who grabbed his hand and said.
"I insisted on calling only the persons you consider friends. And I also insisted on that fireplace since there will be other vikings coming here for dinner and they won't disturb us. Probably."
"Can I ask who is there? Or is that also a 'surprise'?" Hiccup asked with a small smile. Happy that Astrid thought about everything.
"Audun and his family, obviously. The other vikings that were here when you first arrived. Potet and Horkman, with whom you share the forge, and their families. The small group that you are teaching taking care of the dragons. And there is also Fredrick."
"The trader?"
"Yes. And there is also his crew, I hope you won't mind them."
"That's it?"
"Well, there is also Heather and my father." Astrid said. Then she added after a small pause. "I know that you don't really like events like this, but I promise that it will be fun."
"I wish Gobber was here..." Hiccup stated, just before Bjørn, Audun's son, started walking towards them, with the intention to be the first one to greet them.
"Hiccup! You finally decided to show up." Bjørn said, stopping in front of them. He gave Hiccup a sheathed sword. Hiccup unsheathed the sword, examining the blade.
"Thanks. " He said, with a small smile, "Is this a roman sword?" then he asked, admiring the weapon.
"This, my friend, is a roman gladius, one of the most used and practical swords."
"How did you get one?" Astrid asked surprised.
"I killed a roman for one." Bjørn simply said. The three of them laughed at Bjørn's comment. "Well, its yours now. Happy birthday pal." He said, giving Hiccup an amicable, punch in the shoulder.
At least it was 'amicable' for a normal viking, Hiccup stumbled a step backwards, before trying to give a friendly punch back. He was used to a lot of punches from Astrid, who was a rather strong person, but she was still not even close to Bjørn's stature. Bjørn was a lot taller than Hiccup and visibly muscular, he had a small, brown beard covering his face and short hair. He just looked like a typical viking of his age. He was twenty four, just eight years older than Hiccup, and he treated him and Astrid like little siblings, always taking care of them. He even cried when he found out about Astrid's injury. An annoying thing about the young viking was that he sometimes underestimated his own strength, and that usually led to situations like this. And his mental capacity was somewhat questionable, but he never made a big deal out of it, accepting his lower intellect and knowing when to shut up and when to follow orders. In the end, he most likely wouldn't be the next chief for Jàrnstarfa, but he accepted that fact and even encouraged his father to chose a new heir. So in the end, making Bjørn a lot more clever than he looked.
The trio walked towards the loud group surrounding the fireplace. Most of the vikings stopped and looked at Hiccup, quickly assaulting him with wishes and small gifts, most of them axes and other weapons. At least maybe Astrid would like the weapons, he thought.
After everyone seemed to finish with him, Hiccup sat at a small table, near Bjørn. He grabbed an apple from a bowl and started chewing on it, looking for Astrid. After the vikings assaulted him, she just abandoned him; and now she was nowhere to be found. At least that would make his escape easier. He knew that vikings really had an appetite for mead; and by the looks of it, they already started without him, so in about an hour or two, they'd be too drunk to notice he was missing. He smiled to himself, eating his apple, then a tankard was placed on the table, in front of him. He looked confused at it, noticing Astrid sitting near him, with her own tankard.
"It's time for you to taste mead." She said, looking expectancy at him.
"I drank mead before." Hiccup responded, continuing to eat his apple.
"I don't believe you."
"Ask Gobber."
"You drank mead with Gobber? Of all people?" Astrid asked surprised and Hiccup simply gave her an 'are you seriously asking this' look. "Sorry. But my point is that Gobber gets drunk very easy and once he's drunk you can't shut him up with his stories."
"You forgot that when he's drunk he's also very clumsy and always manages to hurt himself. And anyway, I drank mead before with Gobber."
"And don't you want to drink with me?" She asked, with a sad tone.
"I...Just..." He glances at her, noticing her sad 'puppy' eyes, "Oh, what the heck." He said, taking the tankard from the table, at which Astrid smiles.
"You'll get drunk today, Hiccup."
"You wish." He replies simply, raising their tankards. "Skol."
"Skol." Astrid replies, both drinking from their respective tankards.
Almost a hour had passed and Hiccup had to admit that he was having a better time than he initially thought he would. He mostly blamed the mead and Astrid for that. But also the way the vikings were yelling at each other in rhymes really amused him. He wondered how many tankards would he have to drink to get in their state. But would he even want to get in their state? It's way more funnier to look at them how they stumble and how they sing. He continued to sip from his mead, quickly glancing at Astrid as she devoured a chicken leg. He couldn't abstain a laugh, making Astrid glare at him.
"What?" She asked with a full mouth.
"Nothing." Hiccup quickly responded, but Astrid was looking unconvinced at him. "It's just that... The way the vikings were stumbling and singing."
"No." Astrid said, pointing the mostly empty chicken bone threatening towards Hiccup. "You looked at me, and then you laughed. So I did something that amused you. Spit it out Haddock!"
"You were just brutally eating that chicken leg..." Hiccup tried to defend himself.
"So the fact that I'm satisfying my hunger amuses you?"
"Not really..."
"Then?"
"Well, you just looked 'adorable' with your mouth full trying to force the chicken down with mead."
"Oh." Astrid exclaimed, delivering a weak punch to Hiccup's shoulder. "You know that I can't be mad at you when you call me 'adorable'." She stated, slightly amused by his excuse.
"Of course. And this punch was just your way to express your love towards me." Hiccup said sarcastically, rubbing his shoulder.
"Exactly." Another punch to the shoulder.
"Stop that!" Hiccup said, grabbing her hand.
Astrid gave him a quick peck on the cheek, "Is this better?" she asked, looking at his surprised expression.
"Uh... Y-Yes. Of course. Of course t-this is better." And she started laughing. "Do I amuse you, milady?"
"You are stuttering."
"So?"
"It had been a while since you stuttered when you talked to me."
"I never stuttered when I talked to you."
"That's alright. I always found it cute."
"I'm so happy that you find me 'cute'." Hiccup said sarcastically, just now noticing how close they were. They glanced at each other's eyes, quickly looking away after that, creating a situation more awkward that it needed to be, considering their past together.
"I like that you're cute." Astrid stated, slowly turning to face him.
"I could go with 'cute'." Hiccup said, slowly facing her. They were looking at each other, sharing a small, content laugh, not noticing that most of the vikings stopped their drunken dance and songs and were looking at them. Nothing else mattered at the moment for the young couple, and in a subconscious action Hiccup carefully brushed a strand of hair from Astrid's face behind her ear, earning a smile from her.
But their 'moment' brutally ended, bringing them back to reality when a rather drunk Heather started to yell 'Kiss! Kiss', clapping her hands, matching her words. A few seconds after that, the rest of the vikings joined Heather, urging the couple to kiss. A simple moment when Astrid and Hiccup were content, even happy with each other, a moment that allowed them to appreciated the powerful magic of a simple touch, was once again ruined by a group of impulsive savages that lived in the Barbaric Archipelago.
Hiccup glanced slightly annoyed at the drunk vikings, trying to save some crumbs from their previous moment, but Astrid brought back his attention when she said. "Want to give them something to look at?"
Hiccup's eyes widened and he didn't said anything until Astrid started approaching, "I'm worried that your father might get mad if we make out like this." he said in one breath.
"It's not like he doesn't know about us."
"Yes, but if he's as impulsive as you, I don't want to make out with you in front of him, especially after he had a few tankards of mead, which I'm sure he did."
"You might look more 'manly' with a scar. I thought you'd like that." Astrid chuckled.
"I don't want a..." Hiccup was interrupted by Astrid's lips. They shared a small kiss, accompanied of whistles and laughing from the other vikings. Astrid backed away after not even ten seconds, leaving Hiccup with a slightly disappointed look on his eyes. But his expression quickly lightened up before he said. "I think you just saved my life."
Astrid laughed at him. "You owe me."
"I guess." Hiccup awkwardly responded.
More than a hour had passed. The vikings inside the Great Hall were still dancing and drinking and singing, just like in the past few hours. Some villagers came to the Great Hall to get their dinner, some of them joined the others near the isolated fireplace, while some of them went back to their homes, preparing for the cold night. Nothing else of importance had happened in the meantime, as far as Astrid and Hiccup could say. But they'd been outside the Great Hall for the past twenty minutes, far from the too curious eyes of the other vikings. Funnily enough, the entrance of the great building was empty. The cold wind and the snow keeping most of the vikings inside their houses and near the fires. Luckily for the young couple, the entrance of the Great Hall was covered by a small roof, preventing the snow from falling on them, and the small statues at the end of the staircase provided a small protection against the wind.
It's funny that this started almost half a hour ago when Hiccup said that he didn't like to owe people anything and then they went outside to pay the 'debt'. Now he was sitting near the platform of one of the statues, with Astrid on his lap, both lost in their little world at the moment. If it wasn't for the small roof and the statues, they'd probably freeze before they would even feel the cold.
Except from their breaths and the occasional cry of a crow, the world outside the Great Hall was very quiet. Sometimes a gust of wind would blow the falling snowflakes towards them, disturbing them, but they would quickly resume their previous actions, ignoring the nature that tried to stop them. So far, this day was possibly one of Hiccup's best days. Being on Jàrnstarfa, having fun with people that respected him, drinking mead with Astrid, spending time with her. He smiled against her lips, just before a surprised voice said, "Astrid?" making them suddenly depart and look at the intruder. It was Cuyler, Astrid's father. Well, this day just fell a few places.
"Dad?!" Astrid exclaimed surprised, quickly getting up, almost losing her balance at her sudden action. Hiccup quickly followed after her.
"What are you two doing here?" Cuyler asked.
"We were just..." Astrid tried to respond.
"Forget that. I know what you were doing, what I meant is why are you making out here?"
"Because...Uhm...Vikings."
"What vikings?"
"In the hall they were all looking with this knowing grin..."
"Just get back inside before you freeze out here. And I need to talk with you tomorrow. To both of you" Cuyler interrupted, walking inside the Great Hall.
"Why?" Astrid asked, following him. "It's not like this is the first time you caught us like this. And it's not like we were doing something, bad. We didn't..."
"No, it's not. And this is not about that. We'll talk tomorrow when you two are both sober and capable of understanding what I'm saying. For now, just have fun." Cuyler finished, giving Astrid a pat on the back.
"I don't like the sound of that." Hiccup said, staying near Astrid.
"Last one to fill his tankard is a sheep tick." Astrid said, quickly running at the table, leaving a confused Hiccup behind.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Hours had passed and the moon was already starting to make its appearance. Some vikings bid their farewells and went home, intending to not pass out on some random tables in the Great Hall. In the end, Hiccup really enjoyed himself, but the more he tried to keep up drinking with the others, the more he realized that he reached his limit. He didn't have the 'experience' the other had and he never drank that much with Gobber, so he decided it was his time to quit, not wanting to make a fool of himself by passing out somewhere. He discreetly excused himself, saying that he wanted to go and pee, but instead he went to the inn, where he knew that they had a permanently reserved room only for him and Astrid.
With some minor struggle he arrived at the inn. He was a little surprised that it was empty, but he didn't tried to insist on the subject, so he went to his room, then, after a few failed tries, he finally managed to ignite the small fireplace, after that, he threw his boots near the bed and climbed in it, wrapping himself in the warm furs. Even if he was slightly tired before, now that he was warm and comfortable, the sleep just flew away, leaving him awake, dizzy and dazing at the fire. He knew that if he drank too much he could feel nauseous, making him feel horrible the following day, but luckily for him, he never got to that point. Even now, after taking more than ten minutes for a walk that would usually take less than three and feeling dizzy as heck, he still felt 'nice' overall. Maybe his resistance was higher than he thought, or maybe he just got lucky somehow.
Almost half an hour later, the door to Hiccup's room burst open, allowing a slightly drunk Astrid to enter the room. As soon as she noticed the small fire and Hiccup lying on the bed, she cursed under her breath and carefully closed the door. Then she approached the bed and kneeled near it, looking at Hiccup's calm expression.
"Hey babe." She said, gently caressing his hair, "We were looking for you for the past twenty minutes. If you just wanted to go to sleep, you could've just said so. We wouldn't have minded," she continued, waiting for him to respond, but when he didn't, she just sighed, "At least I hope you had a good time with us. I had fun. Maybe we could do this again, sometime. If you want, of course. Anyway, I'll let you sleep now." she finished, kissing his forehead before getting up.
"It was fun." Hiccup responded when he heard Astrid open the door to leave.
"So you weren't asleep, after all?" She asked, staying near the door.
"No, I wasn't asleep. And yes, we should do this again sometime." Hiccup responded, still laying in the bed.
"Are you feeling nauseous? Do you want me to let you sleep?"
"No. I'm just dizzy as heck."
"Then what are you doing here?" She asked, walking towards him.
"I'm waiting for it to pass."
"Why?"
"Because it's annoying."
"But the dizziness is the best part about being drunk. Everything seems a lot more interesting and fun."
"I almost tripped on the stairs when I got here." Hiccup complained.
"And wasn't it fun?!"
"Astrid, you should get some sleep, you're not making sense anymore."
She didn't replied, instead, she sat on the edge of the bend and slowly leaned over him, starting to kiss him deeply. They were just laying like that for almost half a minute, until Astrid suddenly got up and ran to the door.
"If you want that to continue then get your lazy ass out of that fricking bed!" She almost yelled at a confused Hiccup that was looking at her like she was nuts. Then she walked outside, giggling at the confused look Hiccup gave her.
After a few moments of trying to understand what just happened, Hiccup got up from the bed and started searching for his boots. "Why am I even putting up with her?" He muttered.
"Because you love me!" Astrid yelled in response, making Hiccup laugh.
In less than a minute, Hiccup slowly walked outside of his room, closing the door after him. He looked down the long hallway of the inn, expecting to see Astrid somewhere, but he was a little surprise when he didn't. It was already night outside, so the only light in the whole hallway came from a small window that allowed the moonlight to sneak in, but that was only at the opposite end of the hallway. So Hiccup slowly walked towards the end of the hallway, where the stairs leading down to the dining area were. He was rather confused, Astrid was just yelling after him a few moments ago, and now she just disappeared; and the graveyard silence wasn't making things any better. When he almost reached the staircase Hiccup felt two hands falling on his shoulders, so he jumped, quickly turning around to look at a giggling Astrid.
"What the heck is..." He wanted to yell at Astrid, but she quickly interrupted him by kissing him. After almost half a minute she ended the kiss just as sudden as she started it, laughing at Hiccup's confused and disappointed expression.
"Grab a candle and come in the kitchen after that." She urged him, quickly running down the stairs, almost tripping at the last few steps, but graciously managing to recover. She quickly glanced at an amused Hiccup looking down the stairs after her. "Don't you dare say anything about that."
"Promise." Hiccup responded, discreetly laughing while carefully walking down the stairs, after her. He noticed her walking in the kitchen, then he started to look in the dining hall for a candle. When he finally found one, he lit it at the almost extinguished fireplace in the room and walked after Astrid. He was expecting her to assault him again, but instead he found her trying to open a large barrel and cursing under her breath.
"Shit..." She muttered once she managed to open the barrel.
"What?" Hiccup asked confused, grabbing a small wooden bowl and placing the candle in it.
"This is only water, just like the other one." She answered, going to the next barrel.
"What exactly are you looking for?"
"Mead."
"Why?"
"To make a friking cake! Why do you think I'm looking for mead?" Astrid replied slightly annoyed, managing to open the barrel.
"I really doubt that you could make a cake with mead. Maybe a pie, but not a cake." Hiccup said sarcastically, making Astrid laugh.
"Anyway, give me a tankard." Astrid said and Hiccup complied. Astrid then filled the tankard with the liquid in the barrel and passed it to Hiccup. "Drink." She ordered.
Hiccup slowly sniffed at the drink, than asked. "Is this wine?"
"Yes."
"But I hate wine."
"How could you if you never drank wine before? We can't make any, and the only one that is available comes from the raiding parties from the south. And even that one is expensive."
"My dad is the chief of Berk." Hiccup reminded her. "And he got a lot of gifts and things like that from different traders. And I might had tried a few of those things."
"Just sit down." Astrid ordered, taking the tankard from Hiccup; and the boy complied again, sitting down near a wall. Astrid quickly sat near him, leaning on his side, making Hiccup put his arm around her, bringing her closer. "Are you sure that wine tastes bad?" Astrid asked after a few moments of silence.
"I don't like it. But feel free to drink, if you want." Hiccup answered, looking at Astrid as she tried the new drink.
"You know, actually, this is not that bad." Astrid stated, taking another sip.
Then Hiccup slowly took the tankard from her hands, ignoring the fact that she was glaring daggers at him, and he also took a sip. "Nope. Still as bad as I remember." Hiccup said, finally noticing Astrid's glare. "What?"
"That's my tankard." She simply but promptly answered.
"We can share it."
"Of course that we can, since its not yours."
"I'll pay you for it."
"How?"
Hiccup leaned closer to her and kissed her. At first, Astrid tried to remain stubborn, to not give him the satisfaction of giving up on her tankard so easily, but she quickly failed, kissing him back. After almost a minute Hiccup pulled back a little, to be able to talk. "Is this a good payment method, milady?" He asked with a small smile.
"You have sweet lips." Astrid suddenly declared.
"I... Thanks... I guess..." Hiccup awkwardly replied, at which Astrid backed away a little.
"Did I say that out loud?"
Hiccup nodded.
"Gods... I didn't meant to say that..."
"You know, it's actually a good thing that you said that."
"How is that good?!"
"Because now when I kiss you, I don't have to worry about the taste..." Astrid elbowed him.
"Shut up!"
"Am I not allowed to tease my girlfriend?"
"No!" She elbowed him again.
"What did I do?" Hiccup asked confused.
"You cheated."
"What? When?"
"The price wasn't fair and now you stole my tankard." This time she punched him.
"Gods, woman! Stop that! And I didn't steal it, that price was for sharing."
"Good!" Astrid said, snatching the tankard from near Hiccup.
"I'll go and grab my own tankard." Hiccup said after a few moments of silence, trying to get up.
But Astrid pulled him back down, passing him her tankard. "No, it's okay. We'll share."
"That's so kind of you, milady." Hiccup said, making himself comfortable against the wooden wall. "It's not like you hit me three times..."
"I'll hit you again if you keep complaining!" Astrid interrupted him.
"Point taken." Hiccup said, taking another sip. "What are we doing here, again?"
"Stealing wine from the kitchen."
"I noticed that, but why are we still here? We already have the wine, we could go back in the room, where is not freezing like here."
"You do have a point." Astrid said, slowly getting up, followed by Hiccup. They were both walking outside the kitchen when Astrid suddenly turned and punched Hiccup's shoulder.
"Why did you do that?!" Hiccup groaned, rubbing his shoulder.
"I told you that I'd hit you if you kept complaining."
"I wasn't complaining! I was suggesting!"
"Are you complaining now?" Astrid said, raising her fist.
"What?! Not!"
"You are complaining."
"Astrid, I am pretty sure I'm not..." And he ran past her, leaving a surprised and amused Astrid behind.
"He's unpredictable when he's drunk, I'll give him that." Astrid said to herself, walking towards their room.
As she entered the room, she saw Hiccup laying in the bed, facing at the almost extinguished fire. She grabbed a log from near the wall and tossed it in the fire pit. Then she walked near the bed, crouching so she can look Hiccup in the face. After a few seconds of silence, Hiccup half opened one eye, looking at Astrid.
"You wouldn't hit a sleeping man, wouldn't you?" He asked, making Astrid chuckle.
"Not if he makes some room so that I could also sleep." She said, pushing him and getting under the furs. Hiccup quickly covered her with the furs and hugged her tightly.
"Thanks." Hiccup simply said, leaving a small kiss on her temple.
"What for?"
"I don't know."
"You don't know what you thanked me for?"
"For being you, I guess."
"That's cheesy." Astrid said, giggling.
"I know. But it's true. You have no idea how much this day meant for me. Just thinking about how you managed to talk to Audun about this and even make a trinket for me and all that behind my back. And then you even tried to make this a surprise. I don't even know how to begin to thank you."
"You looked happy, that's enough." Astrid said smiling, squeezing his hand.
"I love you." He whispered, burying his nose in her hair.
"I love you too, dork."
Thanks for reading and please leave your opinion about the story so far.