Edited.

You're pretty had been a random, very much unexpected compliment from an alcohol-smelling Artichoke that stuck in her head more than she'd like to admit and, in all honesty, Hiccup would have been enough tense by just his proximity and compliment alone, weren't for the alcoholic smell and her acknowledgment that beer seems to make men stupid. Well, seems to make people stupid in general, though she was used with leaving the mandatory feasts before most adults got drunk, only being present to her own father's and Gobber's attempt to crawl back to the Chief's hut, snoring so loud she'd never sleep in those nights.

Obviously, Hiccup had drank before. You could go only so much in Viking life without what that tastes like and it didn't taste good, mind you. Not to her. She very much would choose water instead, based on both the taste and the side effect. Though Hiccup had never said that since everyone else seemed so content with both those aspects and she didn't want to bring any other reason to be sided out. Not to count, listening to the sailors tell about their wonders and travels wasn't so bad. Big, grown ass men would sit with children around them and tell their sailing stories as if they were fairy tales and myths turned to history, they'd grab about how Thor himself would come down with his lightning and scare them, take sacrifices from their tribe to guarantee the lot's safety or however they'd interpret it. Hiccup had no wish of ever being in those ships, but some of the sailors were good storytellers.

In her short fifteen years of life, Hiccup would have hidden her fear that leaving the ground would cause her. Thunderstorms mid-sea were great to listen and sounded awful to experience. Yet, there she was, running to find her giant, fire-breathing, dark-scaled friend to take her up, up, up in the skies, in a velocity that could easily surpass the ships'.

Still, before last night, she didn't recall ever seeing her peers get drunk, although it indicated that most of them, including Artichoke, did that every now and them. The dizziness on his posture and the sloppiness of his voice seemed like a satiric version of the Artichoke she had known all her life. Well, what she had known of him.

When she brought the bucket, Hiccup had almost considered dropping all its content atop of his head. Might not sober him up completely, but would probably make him wake up a bit, and push a considerable amount of blood and dirt and whatever else away. Seeing the boy drunk had been annoying, yes, but it was the post-fight sight that caused her to wide her eyes in surprise on the previous night. It's not my blood, okay? He had said, yeah, knowing that helps a lot. In some parts, the dark blood would mix with the dirt in an unrecognizable mess.

"Hey, girl, ready to go on a flight?", Hiccup didn't bother lowering her voice or hiding after she got into the cove safely, not even really caring whether or not she was being followed, as if yesterday hadn't taught her anything.

Truth is, after letting herself drown in breath-taking tears, she just felt her face heated and her eyes burning. Hiccup would much prefer to spend the night alone or not to be questioned on that weakness. She could easily have fetched a simple humid rag to clean her tears a bit and give in some sense of cleaning, but seeing her husband covered in such substances, like if he just barely survived a battle and crawled home to die, she thought a full bucket was a better idea.

Artichoke was oddly slow, though, not adrenaline filled or loud like she had seen others get and when he didn't finish taking the excess of filthiness of his own body and clothing, Hiccup went for cleaning her face after putting on a night gown and having her hair free. They did share a bed for weeks now but there was some nonverbal agreement of not spending too long in their pajamas in front of the other. She didn't mind breaking that part, but she knew it would bring attention to the tears she was wiping away.

You were crying, Artichoke had stated, more like a question. Yes, and the sky is blue. She feared he'd find her weak. She'd feared anyone would find her weak. She was weak enough on the outside and she couldn't be weak on the inside, too. The thought that really scared her then wasn't the judgment, but the result of it, what if Artichoke found her too emotionally unstable to deal with her- well, their new secret?

She wanted to trust him, she did. A married couple is supposed to trust one another, right? And she felt herself being overfilled with warm joy when she saw Artichoke's features, touching clouds like pink cotton, eyes sparkling childlike wonder, dissipating the strong warrior façade. "This is amazing, she is amazing", she had heard him talk about Toothless, his voice going through her bones due the wind. He seemed like he could love flying just like she did, honestly…

"No, I didn't bring any fish, but we can go fetching them for you today", Hiccup told her lizard-like friend when Toothless went for smelling any in her. The Night Fury snorted in disappointment quickly replaced by her shared eagerness to get up in the air.

She could teach Artichoke – or anyone, really – to ride Toothless, to use the pedals right, though it did take her a near death experience to fully trust herself without a flying sheet of positions, to work together with the dragon as one. It would be harder to get Toothless to trust him that much in all reality and, most importantly, Hiccup didn't want to. Call it jealousy but that was her dragon, her friend dragon, even if Toothless could, perhaps, learn to befriend other humans… Maybe other dragons, those who didn't need could let them be ride… She wondered if Artichoke would like the wild Terrible Terrors like she did and if he could befriend a dragon to fly on his own like Hiccup had. If she had to guess, she'd say he'd get quite along with Deadly Nadders. They were sharp, tall, and witty, and their often blue-ish scales would match his eyes perfectly… Not that Hiccup herself was anything like a Night Fury, maybe Artichoke's ideal dragon would be a Gronckle, of all things, only Odin knows.

It was stupid to think of his eyes, honestly. But they were pretty, even if with a damaging sight from last night's comment. She had heard about tricky drinks that would make a man see something that there wasn't there at all and although she doubted Berk even had these stored for a regular welcome to the sailors, it could be so…

He fell asleep right after saying that, leaning in, not towards her anymore, but down to the table, like a sacrificed goat would just fall after death. Such comparison would have scared her way more if she hadn't seen it happen to her father before. He wouldn't get up, and although Hiccup had grown more familiarized with the heat emanating from his body beside her and maybe clinging to it could comforting and peaceful after her early episode after her father's gift, she wouldn't want this still stinky, strange man in her bed, so she just thought bringing him a cloak to shield the cold away.

Hiccup's mind was shot awaken to reality as the cold water hit her as Toothless dove in to catch her dinner. Right, right, she must be hungry, and Hiccup had made them fly as further away as possible. She might have to just get over her fear of the dark in order to fly after sunset only, hoping the black scales would made them blend in the night, hidden from the new sets of Viking eyes that just made home yesterday.

Truth is any strange scratch and the mere fact she couldn't see in that pitch black of a night would make paralyzing panic reach the surface of her mind. The bigger hand given to her was probably just to make her start walking faster, to guide them home and to ground her in. It did all those things, true, but it also made her heartbeat just as fast as the panic surrounding them would. Hiccup was sure that such contact was somehow enough to make her cheeks visibly red, case was any light. It made her nervous, but not enough to pull away, not that she was sure she could make herself pull away in the forest, but it made her think she wouldn't pull away if he had done that in plain daylight.

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After Hiccup left, nearly running, Artichoke decided to be a better man than he remember being the previous night and starting his path to his usual disciplined self, though it felt like Thor himself was slamming his divine hammer against his head.

Above it all, he was hungry and headed to the Great Hall, where his mother was back to being a waitress of a sorts serving much better-looking Vikings, all previous night things considered. His younger siblings, as a result, were being far too louder than he remembered, running across the tables with their childish giggling. How could the sunlight be this bright at this time of the year?

His mother only laughed, laughed of all things, at seeing this state and brought him eggs and an odd liquid she said was something she'd brewed to get this state done. Though the taste could have been better, Artichoke trusts his mother's word and after that, he went to the hot springs. Unlike the time Ruffnut apparently dragged Hiccup there, it wasn't empty, because an unexpected welcome feast was enough of reason to make other Vikings decide to take in the last sunlight of autumn.

He didn't mind, never did actually. They had their bodies, he had his, so what? Although he couldn't help to, once again, feel slight dread over the thought of Hiccup seeing him bare. A dread he'd blame it in her regular awkward behavior if he didn't know that her palm against his on the night before were enough to send heat across his body. He was sure that further skin contact could warm him through the winter if he only dared.

Nudity was never a big deal with his group of friends and Artichoke almost wished he was more naïve so he would just wonder why the idea of nudity with her made him quiver as much as made him yearn for it, but he wasn't such a child. And he could remember when the Thorston's mother forbid Ruffnut to join them. When she was only allowed on the summer months, were she would never go bare as they would as children, she'd wear undergarments and then not be allowed to go until it dried on the clothesline by the twins' hut.

He also couldn't remember ever seeing Hiccup there in the last few years. Not that he'd ever care to look for her before.