Hiccup stared at the ceiling above, his head cushioned by his hand underneath him. She'd visited him at the smithy. Astrid had taken the time to walk to the blacksmith shop to see him! The tingling in Hiccup's chest sent sparks into his limbs at the thought.

Astrid Hofferson – the girl he'd crushed on for years – was to be his wife. He would have been happy just going out on a date with her, but now he was to be with her the rest of his life!

As inciting as the prospect was, a small weight lingered in Hiccup's chest. This wasn't Astrid's decision and though he was head over heels for her, he wished they could take it slower; to get to actually know each other before vowing to spend their lives together.

He wanted to make her happy; to take care of her as she deserved. Hiccup sighed deeply, his slender chest rising and falling in his eye line. He was only a 16-year old boy who could barely take care of himself, how would he possibly take care of another human being as well?

Hiccup pursed his lips, determination spurring up inside him. He'd try his best to be a good husband and prove to Astrid that he could be the Viking she deserved.

Astrid was a hard person to check up with. She was always on the go with dragon training and village duties, with the wedding preparations on top of all that. When Hiccup could slip away from the blacksmith shop during lulls, he'd go watch the dragon training.

He couldn't take his eyes off her as Astrid battled the dragon of the day. Hiccup smiled broadly, and he couldn't help cheer whenever Astrid succeeded. He wished he could be down there with the others his age, training to be a warrior. A slight bitterness remained in the pit of Hiccup's stomach at his father's decision to hold off on dragon fighting. Stoick concluded he was far too small and gangly still to train; "Odin, help us, maybe next year when there's more meat on your bones."

Hiccup had a plan to not miss his chance to slay one of the beasts; one of these days soon he'd get the calibration right and take down a dragon.

That evening in the Great Hall during suppertime, Hiccup spotted Astrid with the other teens at a table together. She'd been spending more time with the others since dragon training had begun. She wasn't much of a participant in the conversations, Hiccup observed, but he caught her laughing along with the others every once and a while.

He wondered how it would be after they were wed. Would Astrid cook supper for them? Would he be welcomed into the group of his own age finally?

Working up the courage, Hiccup walked over to the table. "Room for one more?" he asked, feigning confidence.

Snotlout burst into laughter. "Haha! No! Not for anyone as useless as you!" The twins cackled evilly at the remark, while Fishlegs gazed at him with an air of judgement.

Hiccup peered at his cousin, the line of his mouth turned heavily down. Astrid remained quiet, her silence digging a hole in him.

"Oh look, that table has enough room…" Tuffnut pause before continuing the jab, "because it's empty!"

Hiccup turned away before anymore remarks were spat on his behalf. He sighed deeply through his nose as he plopped down at the empty table, not feeling at all hungry anymore.

What was he thinking? Just because he and Astrid were betrothed that she'd automatically take up for him? She was thrown into this mess. Their marriage was her duty, but being obligated to help him fit in was not.

Hiccup started picking at his quickly cooling veggies, head hung low over his plate. Another plate suddenly appeared next to his. Hiccup looked to his left to find Astrid joining him. His heart sped up pace instantly.

"Hey," she said quietly.

"Hey."

"Sorry about those guys. They can be pretty dumb sometimes."

"I've been wrong. I thought they were dumb all the time."

He waited for Astrid to stick up for the other teens, but she surprised him. "You're right. They are dumb all the time." She gazed side-long at him. "Aren't you and Snotlout cousins?"

Out of everyone in the entire village, Hiccup had to be related to the most obnoxious person in the tribe. "Unfortunately."

He caught Astrid wrinkling her nose, a little quirk he decided was cute on her. "Eww…I'll be related to Snotlout."

Hiccup laughed humorlessly. "Sorry about that."

Astrid playfully bumped his shoulder with hers. Hiccup's breath caught as he froze in place. "Well, we can't choose who our family is. Unfortunately."

Hiccup frowned, feeling his shoulders hunch at what he assumed included their arranged nuptials.

Astrid caught his reaction, and quickly clarified, "I meant blood relations. Not…y'know-" She swirled her hands between them in an attempt to make her correction clearer.

Awkward silence fell between them as they both picked up their food.

Hiccup had prepared a declaration for Astrid. He'd pondered thoroughly what he would say to her in hopes to show her how he desired to prove that he could be worthy of her. All the perfect scenarios that he'd conjured in his head dissolved into a dark room among every other person in the village over a cold plate of dinner.

Hiccup set down his fork, turning to face his betrothed. "Astrid, I will prove to you that I'm worthy of having you. I promise I will shoot down a dragon someday soon and I will slay it and become a real Viking."

Astrid peered at him for a moment, her eyes hooded under long bangs. She set down her fork, sighing through her nose. "Hiccup, you don't have to prove anything to me."

"But-"

Her eyes sharpened upon him, cutting off his protest. "Quit trying before you or someone else gets hurt again by one of your contraptions."

Hiccup knew he had a reputation on Berk, but it stung worse hearing Astrid bring it up.

Her expression softened, and concern filtered into her voice, "Do what you do best and stay safe working in the forge." She flicked her eyes to the table, an uncertain air suddenly about her as she added, "Promise you'll do it for me."

Hiccup hung his head, knowing this was a promise he had no intention to keep. "I promise."

Hiccup trekked back home at a slow pace, his mood a strange mix of being pleased that Astrid sat with him and frustration over her request. A stray rock went tumbling down the hill from the toe of his boot. Astrid didn't understand what it meant to him to prove he could be a real Viking. She wanted him to be "safe", but Hiccup was never one to stay in the safety zone.

He pushed on his front door, the weight of the wood seeming heavier tonight. All Hiccup wanted was to crash in his bed and disappear from his thoughts for several hours. His father, however, interrupted that plan.

"Son," Stoick called out with an edge of firmness from his place at the table.

"Hey Dad," Hiccup greeted, lacking gusto.

"Come here, I want to show you something."

Hiccup reluctantly joined his father, glancing at the blueprints that were laid on the table.

"This," Stoick swept a mighty hand over the papers, "is the final draft for your new hut."

The statement made Hiccup's insides seize up. It hadn't crossed his mind where him and Astrid would live. A part of him automatically assumed they'd share his upstairs bedroom. His father's hut was big enough for the three of them. Why did they need their own home yet? How was he supposed to be the leader of his own household at a mere 16 years old? He felt like choking when the crazy thought of babies shot through his mind.

"Dad?" he squeaked out then cleared his throat at an attempt to sound less like a scared kid. "Are you sure I'm ready for this? Because I really don't think I am."

Stoick made a grand gesture to emphasis his answer. "Sure, you are, son!"

Hiccup almost gave up right there. His father was boar-headed stubborn, but so was he. "I really have my doubts that I'm ready. Astrid is great and she's…" the girl of my dreams, he was about to say but stalled before the words could escape his mouth, "she's the kind of girl that I'd like to have by my side…just maybe not right now."

Stoick shook his head, tisking and sighing. A scraping noise filled the room as he pushed back from the table to face Hiccup. "Son, I think it's time ye knew."

There was a somber tone in his father's voice, and Hiccup assumed Stoick's next words would be of his lost mother

"When I was your age, I was wed to a girl."

Hiccup's brow furrowed together. The timeline he knew of his parents did not go back that far. "But I thought you married Mom when you were older."

"It is not your mother I speak of."

Stories of his father's endeavors before his birth were recounted throughout the village. Gobber always had a tale to spin of the epic "Stoick the Vindictive". Every once and a while a vague story of his mother popped up in conversation. Never once was it mentioned that his father was married once before.

"I was-" Stoick chuckled low in his gut, "a bit rough around the edges and needed to be reeled in sometimes. My father – your grandad – thought it would do well for me to take a wife to keep me in line and maybe smooth out those edges before I became chief. Inger was just what I needed."

Stoick seemed lost in his own memories for a moment, his gaze glassy with a sad sheen in his eyes. Hiccup wasn't sure how to feel. The fact that his mother wasn't Stoick's first wife was not a huge surprise. It wasn't uncommon to lose a spouse and take up another. But Hiccup wasn't sure he'd be able to shake off the punch that this first wife had never been mentioned by anyone in all of Berk – like she'd never existed.

"What happened to her?" Hiccup barely heard himself breathe.

Stoick bowed his head, the weight of losing not one but two wives hanging on his broad shoulders. "There was a terrible sickness one winter. Inger did not recover. I had her for two years, but in that short period, I'd grown to be a gentler person, a better person to become chief."

If Inger had smoothed out his father edges, then was Astrid supposed to sharpen his?

Stoick cleared his throat, the sound finalizing his trip into the past. He sliced a vast hand down onto the table. "The point is, son, this marriage will be good for you in the long run."

Hiccup released a sigh of frustration through his nose. There was no convincing his father of anything, not even giving him and Astrid more time to get to know each other. In a short two weeks, his life would change for better or the worse.