Drawing Together

Hiccup reached down to feel the skin on his left leg. It was still a little damp, enough that he didn't want to put on his prosthesis yet.

"A few more minutes?"

Astrid, who had been watching him, nodded with a slight shrug. "I think there are bonfires tonight. The twins were promising a huge one on the cliffs."

"Yeah, I heard Fishlegs talking about it."

Hiccup froze. Fishlegs… Snotlout. He looked up at Astrid, but any words he might have used to talk to her about earlier were absent. His mind could sometimes be very unhelpful when he needed ideas the most.

Astrid hadn't noticed his hesitation. She was running the comb over her head, smoothing out her hair. He wanted to ask her, to apologize if she was upset that he'd revealed too much or embarrassed her, but he didn't know what to say. Or do.

So he picked up his notebook again, and added some embellishments to the weapons they'd come up with. They'd designed a set of slingshots for the twins, with various types of ammunition that could be used - including some that were flammable, despite Astrid's misgivings.

For Snotlout, they had to come up with a weapon that would allow him to aim at a large target area, because for all his bravado, his aim was not good. Hiccup suspected it was because his eyesight wasn't always great at seeing far distances, but he didn't mention it. Hookfang often made up for Snotlout's inability to see things that were far away from them both, but if Snotlout was going to use a weapon while flying, he needed something that would spread to hit a wider target area so his aim, or lack thereof, wasn't a problem.

Astrid had suggested a larger slingshot, with ammunition that would splatter on impact, such as hot water, acid, or even lava, if they could figure out a way to enclose it in something that wouldn't burn their hands. Hiccup had made a long line of notes down the side of the page of options for holding lava, water, and possibly also Zippleback gas or Monstrous Nightmare saliva.

Fishlegs was more difficult to figure out. He needed both hands on Meatlug most of the time, and wouldn't be comfortable holding something and trying to keep his balance, especially since Meatlug was a slow and sometimes uneven flyer.

"What if we gave him things to toss down to Meatlug, like small rocks for her to turn into lava?"

"He has some already," Hiccup had replied, leaning back against Toothless and tapping his charcoal against his chin, looking off into the treetops. "His saddle has compartments for rocks, and he keeps them full. It's good ballast."

"We could ask him," Astrid said. "He's probably already thought of weapons he could use."

"That's true," Hiccup agreed, though he didn't like not being able to come up with anything for Fishlegs. He sat forward and sketched Fishlegs' back on Meatlug, adding twisting lines for the fur on his vest and thicker spikes on Meatlug's tail as he thought some more.

"What about me?"

Hiccup looked up. Astrid was leaning close to him, looking at his notebook, and he could see her hair was drying in the evening air, turning from gold to blonde. He cleared his throat.

"There's a weapon you don't have, or aren't already an expert with? Where?" Hiccup put down his pencil and pretended to look around, lifting Toothless' tail and peeking under it, prompting Toothless to growl at him and prompting Astrid to punch him in the arm.

"Ow!"

"You deserved that."

He thought for a second about moving away from her, but gave up. He couldn't.

"Your axe is your favorite weapon, right?"

"Yes, it is," Astrid agreed, turning her comb over in her hands.

"What if we built a better axe mount for your saddle, behind you so it's within reach but high enough that it's not a danger to Stormfly?"

Hiccup turned to a new page and started drawing the saddle with a wooden curve behind it that would hold her axe. He added some notes about braiding leather for netting underneath to hold smaller weapons.

"Can it hold two?"

He stopped his pencil, then nodded. "Sure. Side by side?"

"That would work. I have two axes now. I like them both," she said. He glanced up at her, and her smile made his face burn again.

He drew a wider frame behind the saddle, then sketched in the axes, including the metal rings on the one he'd made for her, and, because he was already adding detail, drew Stormfly's back and tail behind the saddle, curved as if she were in mid-air and flying fast.

Astrid smiled down at the image of her dragon.

"How do you do that?"

"Do what?" He kept sketching, not looking up, adding Stormfly's quills and her hind legs. His charcoal was flying across the page, adding the saddle straps, then shading in where compartments could be placed for more storage. He paused to make notes in the corner as to what materials to use, then continued to fill in the page. Within the space of a few breaths, most of Stormfly was present, along with a saddle that he thought would be a challenge, but a lot of fun to build.

"How do you draw what's in your mind so clearly, so people can see it? Or draw people or dragons so…accurately?"

"I told you, not so much people," he replied, shaking his head. He was still sketching, the image filling the paper edge to edge.

"It's amazing," she said.

"It should be fun to build," he replied with a nod.

"No, Hiccup," she elbowed him in the side. "The drawing. You're amazing."

He shrugged, but smiled as he glanced at her. "Thanks. Mostly I draw to make room in my head. Otherwise…" he gestured with his pencil. "It gets crowded, too many ideas to remember."

"I know that feeling," she said softly.

"Yeah?" He looked up at her, his pencil falling silent on the page.

It was Astrid's turn to shrug. "Sure. But I don't draw. I throw my axe at things until I feel better."

He laughed. "I'll try to stay out of range."

She frowned at him. "Ha ha, very funny. I'm like you - not so much people... though I'm tempted sometimes."

He looked down at the page again, but sat up when he felt Astrid shiver.

"Ready to head back?"

"Yeah, it's getting cold. Plus fire and food await us."

"OK, then." He reached up and slid his notebook and pencil in to the saddlebag above his head. Astrid jumped down and put her comb in her bag before bringing it over to the rock. Toothless was stretching, ready to fly back, grumbling at Hiccup. He didn't know if there was a way dragons communicated "boring," but Toothless was fluent in that one concept. He'd had more than enough of the hot springs.

Hiccup reached for his leg. Then he stopped.

"Need help?" Astrid had hopped up onto the rock next to him, dropping her bag down next to her.

"Uh, no. Thanks. Um. I'm - I'm good."

"Ok, then."

She sat down, curled her legs in front of her and waited.

What in Thor's name was going on? He couldn't … do that in front of her. And she seemed intent on watching.

Hiccup rubbed his hand through his hair, not sure of what to do.

"What's wrong? You ok?"

He reached down and felt the skin of his leg. It was dry. They could head home at any time.

Astrid's face fell. "You… you want me to leave?"

"No, no." He did, but not if it meant she sounded like that.

"You sure?"

"Yeah. I…." He looked at her. Might as well be honest. "I've never done this… with anybody before."

Astrid looked shocked. Then her left eyebrow raised slowly, and it wasn't until he could see the laughter escaping the corners of her mouth that he realized what he'd just said.

"Oh, Gods. I mean…. Oh, forget it."

Astrid laughed until she had to wipe tears from her eyes, brought herself under control, and then lost it again when she looked at Hiccup.

"Yeah. Oh… that's great." He covered his face with his hand, feeling how hot his skin was. Maybe his head actually would catch fire now, and he'd pass out. That would be helpful.

"Oh, Hiccup. I-" Astrid shut her mouth abruptly.

He looked at her. "You what?"

She shook her head.

"I give you possibly the most embarrassing thing I've ever said, in the entire history of my life - a life that's marked by many an embarrassing moment, I might add - and you're not going to finish your sentence?"

"No," she said, trying to hold in more laughter.

He shook his head, and sighed. Then he rolled up the fabric on his leg a little higher to make room for the straps. Astrid wrapped her arms around her legs and rested her chin on her knees, watching his movements. Oh, well, he thought to himself. It's not like his leg was going to grow back. He couldn't hide forever.

He moved the prosthesis in place, and with easy, automatic movements, wrapped the leather straps that held it in place around his leg. Then he twisted the cuff below so it tightened enough to be comfortable but snug, and lowered his pant leg over it.

He didn't want to glance over at Astrid, but he couldn't help himself. Her face was calm, and… not disgusted. Or curious in the way he'd seen some people watching Gobber in the forge, with almost leering expressions that made him want to throw things at them. Astrid would never do that, and he knew it, but he hadn't been lying when he said he'd never attached his leg in front of anyone before. Outside of Gobber, and his father, he tended to keep that part of his life to himself.

But right then, Astrid was…herself. Her chin still rested on her knees, and she was looking at him the same way she always did, with an expression that he could never fully interpret but didn't seem negative. Her eyes were calm, her mouth curved in a faint smile, and she didn't look away from him. Then her mouth curved into the slightly wicked smile he knew very well, and she leaned in and kissed him.

Her left hand moved to curl behind his neck and pull him closer. As he reached for her, her other hand met his, and she grabbed on to him, lacing her fingers and holding tight. Her mouth opened slightly, and their kiss deepened, until Toothless let out a decidedly impatient growl at them both, thumping his tail fin on the rock.

Hiccup pulled away as Astrid started to laugh, and looked over his shoulder at Toothless.

"Really, bud?"

Astrid stood up, still laughing. "Sorry. We're leaving now. You can have dinner soon."

Toothless purred at her and lowered his body so Astrid could climb onto the saddle. Hiccup handed her bag up to her, then looked over at Toothless. Toothless glowered at him, and he glared back, though he looked away first. He reached up and climbed onto the saddle. And then they were in the air, the rock and the hot springs falling away behind them.