Chapter 8

"Again." Astrid's clipped tone said above him.

"I…can't…I…think…I'm dying…" Hiccup panted out, as he laid sprawled out on the basement floor. His chest heaving to take air in to his battered sweaty body.

Astrid crossed her arms and gave him an unamused look, "you're not dying Hiccup. This is how it's supposed to feel."

He shook his head back and forth, sweat dripping to the ground as he did. "No, nothing is supposed to ever feel like this. Except death. That should painful." Astrid shrugged.

"Well actually death is usually quite quick and painless, if you do it right that is." Hiccup raised his head and gave her a skeptical look before closing his eyes and laying his head back down.

"You know, I'm not going to ask how you know that." She gave a small chuckle and despite the morbid turn of the conversation a small smile graced his face.

It had been two weeks since their time in the hospital and to say the two's relationship had made a 180 would be an understatement. Hiccup would say they were budding on an actual friendship. Which excited him to no end.

The day after the two had made the deal in the hospital to try and find some common ground between them Astrid had been released. Though Hiccup stayed at the hospital with her the whole time. Neither feeling comfortable with him going back to the house without her, considering what had just happened.

The doctors told Astrid no "work" for a solid two weeks while she healed from her mild concussion and stitches in her arm. So they gave the school the excuse that the two were still injured from the "gas explosion" and needed to recover at home. Leaving Heather to pick up their school work.

It was during those two weeks that the two had really started to get along. Spending actual time talking, well Hiccup talking and Astrid listening and adding a comment here or there. In addition to that the two had spent time cooking, which started when Hiccup learned how terrible Astrid was at it. It seemed she only knew how to make coffee and pour a glass of whiskey. So that's how cooking lessons with Hiccup had started, he remembered with a smile.

"Ok now we wait." He said as Astrid cracked the eggs into the frying pan.

"Why do we have to wait? Why not just cook it on high heat?" Astrid asked, arms crossed across her chest. The spatula tapping impatiently on her arm.

"Because if you cook it on high the eggs will stick to the pan and your over easy eggs will turn into scrambled ones really quick." She narrowed her eyes at the pan. As if she was weighing her options, before she shrugged and leaned against the counter to wait.

Shaking his head at her attitude Hiccup went back to watching the eggs.

Unfortunately even though Astrid waited very impatiently she broke the yolk when trying to plate the egg. Which resulted in her almost chunking the whole plate out the window in her anger. One thing that Hiccup was learning quickly about Astrid was she was an absolute perfectionist. So he had to be very patient with his teaching or chance setting her off further.

Besides cooking lessons Hiccup had been living up to his side of the deal and was teaching Astrid about dragons. Everything he could possibly think of; their abilities, environments, migration routes, their hatchlings and even about the final resting place of many dragons, Vanaheim.

"They found the island maybe fifty years ago and they're still studying it. On the island bones of specific dragon species were put into their own large earthen tombs by other dragons. Like you would see early humans do. Isn't that cool?" He said excitedly, hands waving wildly as he mad the shape of the burial grounds with them.

"Dragons had their own cultures and traditions. Can you imagine?! The discovery of Vanaheim led paleontologist to change all their views about dragons. Really a discovery of a lifetime!"

Astrid who was laying on his bed petting Toothless rolled over and glanced up at him with a confused look on her face.

"So what about that Night Fury of yours? You said they had never found an intact skeleton? Weren't there any on Vanaheim?" She questioned.

To say Hiccup was surprised by her question was an understatement, "you-you remember that?" Astrid grinned smugly, "I remember everything Hiccup." She continued to stare at him while her fingers danced on his comforter, playing with Toothless. He kept her gaze for a moment longer before dropping it to the floor.

"Well that's the thing, they have all the other known breeds there...except, Night Furies." His gaze dull as he became lost in thought. Astrid noticed his gaze, one that she had seen more times than she would like to say on other soldiers. A gaze that meant they were reliving something painful and that wasn't something she wanted for Hiccup. So she decided to distract him.

"So where are they then?" She asked firmly, expecting an answer.

Hiccup met her gaze his eyes clearing somewhat, "well no one knows." He turned away from her and looked at the picture of his Mother on the shelf. "There are a lot of theories; like they were extremely aggressive and died fighting other dragons, which then ate the remains. Or that our Viking ancestors hunted them to extinction and parted the bodies up to sell."

His hand reached out to touch his Mother's photo, "b-but another theory, the-uh-the one I personally believe is that they had their own Vanaheim. Only for Night Furies." He dropped his hand and turned away from the picture.

"One we just haven't found yet."

Astrid watched the whole interaction with interest, obviously something about this conversation was triggering painful memories for him. Ones he probably wasn't ready to address with her yet. Which meant it was best to get him off the topic.

"Hey, so I've thought about it and well you were right." Hiccup focused his eyes on her and tilted his head in confusion.

"Right about what?" Astrid grinned.

"I would definitely be a Deadly Nadder." The somber mood immediately lifted as Hiccup gave her a wide grin.

The only thing the two found that they couldn't spend their time doing together, was watching a movie. Specifically anything with action in it.

"That's incredibly fake." Astrid said as she sat perched on the couch with an unamused look on her face.

"See the way he's hold the gun, so wrong." She pointed to the screen, "and that explosion, never happens like that."

Hiccup could feel his eye twitch with every comment she made, breaking down one of his favorite action movies of all time.

"Astrid," he started, "I know it's fake. It's a movie." He looked over at her, "why can't you just enjoy it? Just let go for a while and enjoy it." He emphasized every word, trying to get his point across.

"Because this bastardization of "action" should not be allowed to be seen! It's a joke," she turned back to the screen as an actor was dying. "And by the way blood doesn't spray like that." She said and crossed her arms definitively.

"Ok that's it," hiccup clicked the remote and turned off the movie immediately. "No movies. Unless you would be less critical watching, let's say a comedy…" he looked at her as she lifted an eyebrow at his comment.

"Right then, no movies."

So after that painful discovery they crossed movies off their relationship building list and moved onto other endeavors. Which led them to start on Astrids part of the deal. Teaching Hiccup to fight.

It started slow, since Astrid was still down and arm. Just showing him proper stances and techniques. Breaking down the punches, kicks and holds to minimize injury to himself and maximize damage to the other person. After a few days he really felt like he was getting a handle on the moves that was until Astrid wanted him to put them into practice.

Even one handed Astrid quickly had him flat on his back.

It happened in a blink of an eye, one minute he was standing ready to attack and the next, on the the ground. He couldn't even decipher how she did it, she moved so fast. And because she was Astrid she wouldn't tell him. Which meant he just had to get better and figure it out himself.

Frustrated at his easy defeats he and Astrid began training daily. Him trying to gain skill and her trying to get her body back to shape after being injured

Slowly pulling himself up Hiccup rubbed the back of his neck trying to alleviate some of the pain coursing through his body. "Cuz you just got stomped by my Princess!" Snotlout's called out gleefully. Astrid rolled her eyes at the comment.

"Yeah H, even one armed she whooped your butt, bad." Tuffnut called out from the one of the chairs that lined the basement wall. Which his friends had set up to view all of his and Astrid's sparring sessions. Ever since they got home from the hospital the group had been actively participating in their daily lives. No more tip toeing around their words or feelings and especially no more avoiding issues. The whole group seemed to be on a new page. A better page, one Hiccup hoped would continue.

"Thank you for that observation Tuff. I had no idea." He sarcastically told him, looking out the corner of his eye at the twin.

"Oh well, glad to be of service, Hic." He said proudly before his sister slapped him on the head. Rolling her eyes at him.

"You'll get her next time Hiccup!" Heather called out supportively as he chugged some water. Letting the excess run down his face and shirt.

"Well statistically speaking, Hiccup has only an 13% chance of landing a single hit at this point. Let alone actually beating her…well that's a .000002%." Fishlegs said chiming in next to Heather. Who in return gave him a stiff glare telling him to shut up.

Hiccup finished his water and turned to Astrid who had a smug grin on her face hearing Fishlegs stats on her fighting skills.

She would. He thought with a shake of his head.

"Thanks Fishlegs, really needed to hear that." He told him leaning against the basement wall next to Astrid. Who had barely broken a sweat, despite sparing with him one handed.

"So Astrid, I've been wondering can you tell us about any of your past missions?" Ruffnut asked looking at the female bodyguard.

No one said anything as they Astrid stared at Ruffnut critically, "you know the Berk Guard's missions are Top Secret. So that would be a no." She said dryly.

Ruffnut jumped out of her seat and slowly walked up to Astrid, "yeah, yeah, yeah I know but you couldn't give us any details?" She gestured between the two of them, "you know friend to friend."

"No Ruff."

Ruffnut narrowed her eyes and scratched her chin, "what if I guess a mission?"

Astrid cocked an eyebrow, "guess?" She shook her head at the female twins antics, "sure why not." Astrid gestured for her to go ahead with what she assumed were her fruitless efforts.

Ruffnut grinned and sauntered back to Tuffnut who looked equally as excited. The two bumped fist and huddled up. Everyone rolling their eyes at the two.

"Do they really think they will guess a mission you were involved in?" Astrid shrugged at Hiccup's question. "I mean even if somehow they did guess, would you even tell them?" Hiccup watched a grin spread across her face, giving him his answer.

No.

Shaking his head he watched as the twins came out of the huddle. "Ok we have compiled a list of possibilities. Based on news reports and the level of mystery and secrecy surrounding them." Ruffnut announced holding a finger in the air.

"First, the big warehouse fire downtown six months ago. No cause was found, we think it was a cover up for something." Tuffnut said excitedly.

Astrid gave a small shake of her head and crossed her arms.

"Ok ok, next one, the bank robbery a month ago at the Bank of Berk." Giving an annoyed huff Astrid in curled her arms.

"What do you think I do? I don't rob damn banks!" She narrowed her eyes at the two.

"Well duh but they never caught the guy. So we thought you might have…" Ruffnut trailed off hoping for the answer they wanted. Only to be let down when she shook her head.

Everyone else in the room watched the conversation with small smiles on their faces. All of them enjoying the interactions between Astrid and the twins immensely. The only thing they liked to see better was Astrid putting Snotlout in his place when he hit on her.

"Alright, last one," Ruffnut looked over at Tuffnut and the two nodded at each other.

"The Mangler." They said simultaneously with mischievous looks on their faces.

Almost immediately it felt like the air in the room stilled and dropped a few degrees as everything went extremely quite. Hiccup shifted his eyes from the twins to Astrid and what he saw honestly scared him a little.

Astrid's eyes had widened and gone unfocused, her jaw painfully clenching as her hands slightly shook. Never before had he seen her look that way. Like she in shock.

Like she was scared.

The shock seemed to ware off quickly and Astrid's face morphed into an angry scowl. Before she grabbed her towel and stomped out of the room. Slamming the door behind her in a deafening crash.

No one said anything for a few minutes still taking in what had just happened. Until finally Ruffnut broke the silence, "soo is that a yes?" She asked hesitantly. Receiving numerous glares from the others. The most fierce coming from Hiccup.

"What do you think Ruff?" He ground out as he grabbed his own towel and stomped out of the room.

"Astrid?" He said gently for the third time into her bedroom door. Waiting another minute with no response he began speaking again. "I-If you want to talk, I'm right next door"

He stepped away from the door, giving it one last pensive glance before walking quietly into his own room to get ready for bed.

Several hours later Hiccup shot up in bed, waking suddenly from a deep sleep. Disoriented he flicked his eyes around the dark of his room, his brain trying to process everything his senses were taking in.

What the hell woke me up? He wondered briefly still not sure what was going on. It was no less than a second later a muffled scream came from the room next to his.

Astrid's room.

Not thinking about the consequences of his decision Hiccup launched himself out of bed and toward their conjoined bathroom. Only one thought running through his mind.

Astrid needed him.

I loved the idea of telling flashback snippets of their time bonding over two weeks instead of just a start forward chapter that spandex two weeks. Hope you did too!

Thanks again for all the reviews/favs and follows. Y'all are amazing!