Flowers for Feelings

"Astrid always loved flowers, not that anyone knew. Or did they?"

Rated K+

2,485 Words

No Ships

Astrid, Snotlout, Ruffnut, Fishlegs, Tuffnut, Hiccup

Major Character Death, Pre-Canon, Canon-Compliant, Post-Canon

July 29th, 2020

No one would believe that such a strong girl like Astrid Hofferson loves flowers. She's so strong and brash and not afraid to get her hands dirty. Flowers are so delicate and pretty and fragrant. Astrid loves flowers of all kinds. She never asks for them but, every once in a while, she'll go out and pick some. No one gets a girl like Astrid flowers. Not only do they believe that she doesn't like them but they also wouldn't have any reason to give her flowers.

Flowers are for when boys want to flatter girls or when friends want to cheer each other up or when families are being extra formal. A) Astrid wants to remain single so that she can excel as a shieldmaiden without being bogged down by a husband or kids—not to mention that nobody is interested in her like that, B) Astrid needs to be strong and never shows her weaker emotions like sadness anyways, and C) they're Vikings; Vikings aren't formal. So, Astrid never gets flowers… with a few exceptions.

Hiccup is the first person to notice that Astrid likes flowers. He snuck out, hunting for trolls again, and spied on her. She was looking for flowers that hadn't already been or tramped upon by the local wildlife, Hiccup included. Frustrated, Astrid went home with a measly bundle of three flowers.

The next day she awoke to a package on the doorstep. Her mother wouldn't tell her who it was from or what was in it and she had to wait until after breakfast to open it. The writing on the package was awful, much like chicken scratch. She opened it up to a note and a bundle of purple flowers, the circumference of her fist. The note read:

'I like flowers too.'

Ruffnut figured it out next, naturally. The two girls were playing in the river together. The boys were off doing some boy's thing with Gobber, so the two girls wandered off. They were having a splash war but Astrid's focus was somewhere else.

"Hey, Astrid!" Ruffnut hollered even though Astrid was within arm's reach. "I'm not actually winning, now am I?"

Astrid's gaze was on something behind Ruffnut. She remained silent, entranced by something. Ruffnut turned around to see what Astrid was looking at, but it was at that moment that Astrid regained her focus.

"Never," she said as she leaped up, kicking a bunch of water at a distracted Ruffnut. Ruffnut responded by tackling Astrid in the air. The two tumbled through the shallow water until Ruffnut, slightly bigger, had Astrid's head in the water.

"Say 'Uncle' and I'll let you up," she taunted as Astrid kicked and splashed. "What was that? I couldn't hear you over all the-"

Astrid stilled, using the fact that water made surfaces slippery to turn on her side, knocking Ruffnut off of her back was on the girl's stomach and she was putting all her weight into keeping Ruffnut from moving. In defense, Ruffnut had Astrid's head in a loose headlock. "Are you sure you're not the one who needs to say 'Uncle'?" Astrid teased.

The two girls tousled in the water for the rest of the day, Astrid winning by tickling Ruffnut into forfeiting. She thought that the flowers were long forgotten until a knock on her door the next day.

Astrid opened the door to a smiling Ruffnut, her nose scrunched and eyes narrowed at Astrid. She looked proud of herself and that's when Astrid noticed the single yellow flower in her hand.

"So," Ruffnut began as Astrid's pale face flushed red, "This is what you were looking at yesterday." It was a statement, not a question, yet Astrid felt like she was supposed to respond. She didn't. Ruffnut's smile dropped a little so she did not look so crazed. "Don't worry." She placed her empty hand on Astrid's shoulder. "The guys are still busy so… why don't we go back out and pick up some more flowers?" Astrid nodded slowly and that's exactly how they spent the rest of their day: picking flowers.

Astrid was afraid that Ruffnut would reveal her girly secret to everyone else, but she never did. They never did go out to pick flowers together after that day, but that one time was enough to make Astrid happy for days.

Snotlout didn't really figure it out like the others. Since they were kids, he always had a thing for Astrid. However, he never gave her flowers to try to woo her and this time wasn't any different. The flowers weren't even his idea. Astrid had a very bad day the day before and Snotlout's flirting wasn't making it any better. Since there wasn't any dragon training going on, the kids were hanging out in the Kill Ring. Some targets were set up and Astrid was practicing throwing her ax at them. She had attracted a small crowd, the people being impressed by the talent of the young girl. Unfortunately, she had also attracted Snotlout.

He waltzed over to her as she pulled her arm back to cast another throw. She rolled her eyes and threw, hard, just missing Snotlout's nose.

"Hey, babe," he greeted her as she stomped over to her ax. She was having a pretty bad day, fighting with her mom, and she really wanted to let her anger out by throwing her ax. She was not in the mood for Snotlout's annoying behavior. Her ax had hit more towards the top of the target rather than the bullseye. "Why don't you let a strong and admirable Viking like me throw the axe?" His eyes scanned up and down her body and Astrid shuddered, but she relented. Maybe if she let him fail at throwing the ax he would leave her alone.

"Sure, whatever." She handed him the ax and walked back to the crowd. Snotlout was so shocked that he almost dropped the ax.

"Wait, really?" He followed her to where she had been standing before. "Because I've got an amazing aim and all but… uh… why are you letting me throw your axe?"

The question caught Astrid a little off guard. She would've thought that Snotlout would've jumped at the opportunity to show off. "Um… You said it yourself. You have good aim." Astrid pointed to the bull's eye. "Then prove it."

Snotlout gulped, seemingly realizing the challenge he set himself up for. He had never really handled an ax before, let alone tried throwing it at a target. "And what do I get if I do?"

Astrid was sure he wouldn't. Absolutely. One-hundred percent. "Whatever you want, I guess." She placed one hand on her hip, stepping out of the crowd and leaning in close to Snotlout. "But, if you don't, you have to leave me alone for the rest of the day."

Snotlout mumbled something, probably a complaint. "Fine. If I win, then… you have to kiss me!"

Astrid gagged at the idea. "On the cheek," she said quickly but clearly. The rest of the crowd was getting interested.

"On the lips," Snotlout corrected her. It was bad judgment on his part as she stepped back, jabbed him in the ribs with her elbow, and grabbed her ax before Snotlout dropped it.

"On the cheek or the deals off."

"What?" Snotlout sneered from where he was crumpled on the ground, "Scared I'm gonna win or something." Astrid didn't answer him and shoved the ax back in his hands.

Snotlout was shaky, eyes darting around. Astrid stood with her arms crossed. She looked annoyed but she was really studying his movements and calculating where the ax would land. He pulled his arm back, closed his eyes, and swung with all his might.

Bull's eye.

Astrid screamed and punched Snotlout square in the face. "There is no way that you just got a bull's eye without even trying!" Their parents had to get involved, pulling a kicking and screaming Astrid off of a dazed Snotlout. He never got his kiss and left Astrid alone for the rest of the day.

Astrid was technically in the wrong but Snotlout's mother was well aware of her son's advancements on the young Hofferson girl. As an apology for humiliating her, she demanded that her son give her a bouquet of the prettiest flowers they could get. He thought the idea was stupid. Astrid doesn't like flowers.

Astrid was home when Snotlout came to her house. At this time of day, she usually would've been outside training. She was grounded.

"Uh, hi, Astrid." Snotlout rubbed the back of his head with one hand while the other was clenched behind his back. "My mom wanted me- I mean, I'm sorry for yesterday."

"Whatever." Astrid began shutting the door but Snotlout stuck his foot in. "What do you want?"

"I really am sorry," Snotlout pleaded. "I didn't know that me hitting a bull's eye with your ax would have upset you that much and…" Snotlout finally stopped scratching his head and stretched out his other arm; clenched in his hands was a luscious bouquet of the most elegant red flowers Astrid had ever seen. "I got you these."

Astrid didn't flush this time. Actually, she didn't really react at all. She gave Snotlout a peck on the cheek before swiping the flowers and skipping to her room, giddy with joy. Snotlout wasn't sure what happened that day. He still didn't think it was the flowers and thought that he was finally winning Astrid over. He went back to his usual habit of annoying Astrid with his terrible attempts at flirting. They were still some of the prettiest flowers Astrid had ever seen.

Tuffnut didn't understand that Astrid liked flowers. He thought she was playing a trick on him as he had played plenty of tricks on her. In fact, it was when he was playing a trick on her that he discovered her secret.

He had gone into her room to hide a slimy concoction in her stuff. As he was snooping around, he found a little wooden box with a beautiful engraving of a meadow. The meadow was populated by flowers and birds and was near a pond. Tuffnut opened the box to find some little flowers stuffed in it. They had turned mostly brown and crinkled up.

Tuffnut, with his wild imagination, believed that Astrid somehow knew about his prank and planted the box to do something… The flowers were probably toxic or something. Maybe he was supposed to touch them and get a rash. Or, she was gonna poison him by putting them in his food. Either way, they were dangerous in her possession. He had to get rid of them.

Tuffnut also didn't have a good understanding of plants. He grabbed some useless flowers that he found in the woods to replace the obviously deadly ones that she had. Using actual flowers would make it harder to notice the difference so she would go on with the prank and would only discover the sabotage when it's too late.

Unbeknownst to Tuffnut, Astrid was just finding herself busier and busier with more and more responsibility. She hadn't the time to replace her collection of flowers and they were starting to rot.

The second time Tuffnut snuck into Astrid's room to replace the flowers, he also placed the slime… on her clothes. She was absolutely furious and chased Tuffnut until sundown with her ax. She didn't even notice the flowers had been replaced until she noticed the box aloof the next morning. In the box were some very green flowers, probably picked before they were mature. It worked, though, as Astrid really liked her flowers and didn't have time to go into the woods and replace them for a few more days.

Fishlegs liked flowers too. Okay, not really. However, like how he was knowledgeable about species of dragons, he also knew a fair bit about flowers. Sometimes they have symbolic meanings and other times they can act as life-saving medicine. He notices things. He also noticed that Astrid knew a suspicious lot about flowers too.

"You sure know a lot about flowers for someone who isn't a healer." His tone was meant to be accusing but, coming from Fishlegs, it wasn't that threatening.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Astrid played innocent.

Fishlegs wasn't in the position to be interrogating Astrid. That would be like poking a sleeping bear. "Sure you don't," he relented. He'd have to take a different approach.

Fishlegs enjoyed the quiet and peaceful mornings before most of the village got up. He liked sitting outside and watching the sunrise. Astrid also liked the mornings or, more so, utilized the first sign of daylight to start training. Not many others were up when Fishlegs made his move. There would be no witnesses.

Fishlegs just happen to walk by the spot Astrid practiced throwing her ax with a bundle of beautiful, orange flowers. He hummed a little tune to himself, loud enough that Astrid would hear.

"What do you want Fishlegs?" Astrid rolled her eyes as she retrieved her ax from the target and wiped it clean. "It better not be the flower thing again." Her eyes narrowed as she looked up and saw him with the bundle.

"Oh, it's not," he said in a sing-song voice. He smiled, looked her straight in the eye, and plucked the petals of the flowers to the tune he was humming.

"Why you little-"

Astrid stomped over to Fishlegs but was stopped by the smug look on his face. "What, Astrid? What am I, but a man, singing his happy songs as he enjoys destroying the flowers he picked."

"Fine," Astrid huffed. "I like flowers."

"That's all I wanted to hear." And, with that, Fishlegs handed Astrid the rest of the flowers before skipping away to his music. "You'd get more use out of them than I would."

Astrid died first and, as strong as she was, everyone saw it coming. She was a fierce warrior and would die before letting anyone lay a hand on her village. It's that mentality that wore her down until she was the first to die of the friends.

It was a sad day. It was rainy. And it was quiet.

Astrid already had her send-off with everyone else in the village, but there was one last thing to do before they could properly send the woman off to Valhalla. Despite the rain, each of her friends trekked into the woods to pick up their parting gift for her.

One by one, Hiccup, Ruffnut, Snotlout, Tuffnut, and Fishlegs placed a flower in the cold hands of their friend. Purple. yellow, red, green, orange… and blue. The blue flower had been in Astrid's hair when she died. She was a strong and brash warrior who wasn't afraid to get her hands dirty.

And she loved flowers.

Written second but published first because, while the "Immortal, but Not Invincible" piece is smoother, this one has actual scenes.

The idea is that this story takes place before the events of the first movie in a universe where Astrid really likes flowers but thinks that no one knows (except the last part which could be read as AU or not).

I did not research Viking culture or flowers for this so I apologize for any inaccuracies.

Flowers referenced as colors I feel each character is:

Red- Snotlout

Orange- Fishlegs

Yellow- Ruffnut

Green- Tuffnut

Blue- Astrid

Purple- Hiccup