Misunderstandings:

Fourteen Years

Hiccup was quickly coming to the conclusion that this might be the worst year of his life. And that falling in love with the prettiest girl on the island was possibly the stupidest thing he'd ever done.

Not only did it make maintaining their friendship without giving himself away ridiculously hard, he also now had to watch every unattached male (and some of the attached ones too) under the age of twenty fawn all over her and make complete asses of themselves as they fought with each other to impress her with their prowess.

At the moment, Hiccup was in his loft room, at his desk, doodling sketches of Astrid and thinking of all the depressing reasons she would never return his affection.

One - Astrid would want a real man as her husband; one who could fight the dragons and protect their children. Despite their secret training, Hiccup was almost positive he'd never be approved to go to the dragon academy next year when it ran again. And thus, he'd never be considered a real Viking.

Two – Astrid could do so much better than him when it came to physical appearance. Hiccup thought of himself as only passably okay looking with stupid, untameable hair that looked awful if he let it grow long and only somewhat better when it was short. He was also now shorter than her by a good hand's width, since she'd had a final growth spurt and he hadn't. In fact, Hiccup was petrified he'd never grow again, and be stuck at child height forever.

Three - By the time Hiccup did catch up to her in height and (Please, Thor, please) filled out a bit so he didn't rival a twig for the skinniest thing on the island, he just knew that Astrid would have picked another boy for her husband. Hiccup could even take a good guess as to who it would be; one Elof the Lucky. The sixteen year old was the star of last year's dragon school, had the blond and blue eyed looks of Thor, and the build to match. The only thing Elof was missing was a high degree of intelligence, but with his looks and fighting skills, who cared?

Hiccup sighed and traced a finger over the outline of Astrid's braid in a sketch where it was flying out behind her as she whirled on the ball of her foot, axe just one second away from being released in a throw. She was so magnificent, so beautiful, he knew his drawings didn't do her justice, but he couldn't help drawing more and more of them.

Unable to help himself, Hiccup flipped to the second last picture in the messy pile and uncovered his favourite guilty pleasure; a sketch of Astrid wearing nothing but her hair as she lay on her front, chin propped on her crossed arms and a dreamy look in her eyes.

Gods, he'd felt like a pervert when he drew it, and half of it was guesswork, but it was just so hot, he couldn't make himself burn it. Nor could he stop himself from imagining it... her... naked and kissing him, her long, glorious, golden locks surrounding them, as he dreamed of unlikely scenarios in the dark of night.

Now, his fingers traced the line of her hair as it followed the dip of her back and the rise of her bottom. He sighed softly again in longing, wishing he could bury his face in the back of her neck and just breathe her in before pushing her hair to the side and running kisses down the length of her spine.

"Hiccup!"

Shit!

He jumped guiltily at his father's bellow coming from the base of the stairs, shaking fingers scrambling to bury the naughty drawing and the other Astrids amongst the sketches of fanciful inventions. Thor, it felt like he was yelling at me for ogling, but it had to just be a coincidence. Right?

"Yes, Dad?" he called back, wincing when his voice cracked. He jumped up from his chair and moved to look down at his father from the top of the stairs before Stoick could get the idea to come up to his room.

"I'm going to hang out with Gobber and the guys at the pub for dinner tonight," Stoick explained, looking up at him with an expectant expression, so Hiccup started down the stairs. "Are you going to be okay rummaging for yourself?"

Hiccup restrained the urge to roll his eyes at that; he'd been left on his own more often than not and was easily the better cook of the two of them. And his father knew it, he just liked to conveniently forget on a regular basis. "Yes, Dad, I'll be fine. I might go to Astrid's for dinner, anyway," he tacked on as he stopped on the bottom step, now looking way up at his massive father who still topped him even with a temporary height advantage.

Stoick's mouth quirked up in a smile under his moustache as he clapped a hand bigger than Hiccup's entire head on his scrawny shoulder, nearly making the boy's knees buckle. "Good. Good." He steered Hiccup towards the door as he walked that way. practically carrying him without even realizing it. "You know, I wouldn't be opposed to adding that girl to our family. Quite the little warrior she's turning out to be," he said with a twinkle in his eyes and a wiggle of his thick brows. "You really need to get a move on and win her already before someone else does."

What the Hel?! Is he seriously encouraging me to go courting? Hiccup somehow dragged them to a stop and gawked at his father for a second before exploding. "Dad! That's just... How could you think... What in Thor's name gave you the idea that I even like her like that? And even if I did, which I'm not saying I do, I don't stand a chance against the likes of Elof the Lucky."

Stoick gave his son a puzzled look. "What? What's wrong with you? You look fine to me. You're the son of the chief, have the famous Haddock good looks, are a mighty fine blacksmith, and have enough smarts for three Vikings put together; you should be beating the girls off with a stick." Stoick adopted a smug look. "I know I was, at your age."

The teenage Viking practically growled as he felt years' worth of contained temper boil over at his father's blatant obliviousness to his situation. "You don't have a clue do you?! There are no girls! And there will probably never be any girls! I'm short, scrawny, and forbidden to learn how to fight dragons! I'm the laughing stock of the island; no girl is ever going to want that for a husband!"

Stoick reared back as if he'd been punched. "I see." His green eyes welled with sorrow as he looked down at his son and noticed just how short he was still for his age. But he's always been just my wee Hiccup, hasn't he? "I can't make you taller or bigger, and I can't give you permission to go to dragon school next year. You'll never survive it and I just can't lose you too; you're all I have left."

And that's why I should've kept my stupid mouth shut in the first place. Hiccup sagged on his feet, shoulders drooping, as his temper fizzled out and died under the familiar guilt trip. "I know, Dad. I'm sorry I even brought it up." He opened the door. "Go. Go have fun with your friends. I'll see you in the morning."

Stoick studied his son, looking defeated and smaller than ever, finally realizing that he might have done wrong by him, but not quite willing to take the step that would fix it. "All right, Son. Just... try to think about what you do have going for you, okay? You'll grow eventually, I'm sure, and there will be other girls if your friend can't see what's right in front of her."

There are no other girls but Astrid as far as I'm concerned. But Hiccup kept that thought to himself and only scoffed lightly as he pushed his father out the door. "Thanks, Dad, for the pep talk," he said, only mostly sarcastic. "I'll go right over to Astrid's and confess my undying love." Hah! Never in a million years, he added in his head. I have no desire to ruin our friendship or be laughed right out of her house. "Now go, before the others drink all the beer before you get there."

Stoick smiled and ruffled Hiccup's hair. "That's the spirit, Son." He grabbed Hiccup and pulled him out the door too before closing it with a hearty slam. "I'll walk you to the Hofferson house and pick up Hector if he hasn't left already."

Hiccup swallowed a groan. He'd totally been lying about going to Astrid's, not currently in the mood to deal with all the emotional drama that came with being in her presence, which had been increasingly difficult lately, no matter how much he loved spending time with her. But now it seemed he didn't have a choice. If he could just convince his body not to react to her alluring scent, or how the light shone on her golden hair, or her sweet and commanding voice, or the enticing curve of her hips, or any of the hundred other things that so easily turned him on, it wouldn't be so bad. He snorted mentally. As if. His wayward hormones absolutely adored Astrid and were determined to show it at all times. Which is why his tunics had gotten longer lately and he'd taken to wearing a long, thick fur vest, even in the month that passed as summer in the archipelago.

The trip down the mountainside went much too quickly and not quickly enough, as Hiccup had to listen to his father go on and on with forced cheerfulness about his courting days as a young man. It had just started to transition from uncomfortable to interesting when he mentioned the first time he met his mother at a tribe gathering, but then they arrived at the Hofferson house and that monologue screeched to a stop.

Hiccup almost wanted to turn around and make the trip again so his father would say more about his mother, because he hardly ever talked about her, and Hiccup was always eager for any little tidbits he did learn about her.

But that wasn't to be. At least, not today.

Stoick gave the Hofferson door a hearty knock, grinning when it was finally opened by Alga. She didn't give Stoick time to even ask, already knowing what he wanted.

"Hector's already left for the pub, Stoick."

"Oh. Good," he grunted before turning right back around. "Have a good evening, Alga, Hiccup," he yelled over his shoulder, eager steps striding down the street.

The tall, blond, beautiful, and relatively lean for a Vikingess, woman focused on Hiccup and smiled gently. "Astrid already left for your house. You must have missed her somewhere."

Hiccup gave the female who was the closest thing to a mother he had a grateful smile. "Thanks. I'll go find her."

Despite the conundrum of having to deal with rampaging hormones whenever he was within a few metres of Astrid, he couldn't help but feel a thrill of delight that put a bounce in his step as he climbed back up the mountain. Anytime Astrid chose to spend her evenings with him always made him feel like the luckiest boy in the world, even if it was just to make yet another attempt at turning Hiccup into something resembling a warrior on the sly.

Hiccup was all for the sword and battle axe training, he just wasn't particularly good at it. Perhaps because he knew it was akin to whipping a dead yak since he knew he'd never be allowed to go dragon hunting, that he just couldn't focus enough to even come close to beating Astrid at her forte. Or maybe it was because he'd rather watch her than fight her. The one thing he had mastered over the years, though, and much to Astrid's delight, was knife throwing. The challenge of refining such a delicate skill had intrigued him from the start and he could actually give Astrid a run for her money when they had a friendly competition. He even won a good forty percent of the time.

Reaching his house, he expected to find Astrid leaning against the wall, waiting for him, or even inside, since there was a bit of chill in the early autumn air. But she wasn't there.

So Hiccup continued on past his house and over the bridge that linked the village part of the island with the big center section of the Isle of Berk. Up here, aside from the livestock pastures, there was also the training grounds and the dragon arena.

Neither Hiccup nor Astrid had been inside the dragon arena, since only the older teenagers were allowed inside during their dragon training, and it was kept locked up tight the rest of the time. But he'd seen it from the stands that circled the outside and found it awe inspiring and intimidating. Hiccup had to wonder if he'd ever see the view from the inside, looking up. At the moment, he very much doubted it. At least Astrid will next summer, when it's her turn to take the dragon training. She's sooooo going to be the star of that group of teenagers, he thought smugly. Snotlout, Ruffnut, Toughnut, and Fishlegs didn't stand a chance of being the first chosen by Gothi to fight the Monstrous Nightmare that equalled graduating to true Viking status, not against the truly magnificent Vikingess, Astrid Hofferson.

Hiccup was both anticipating and dreading that fight. He knew she'd be spectacular, but at the same time, he was sure he wouldn't breathe for the whole thing as he lived in terror that something might go wrong.

In this instance, he could understand where his father's overprotective streak was coming from.

He didn't like it, but he could understand it.

Hiccup finally made it up to the clearing designated for sparring and came to an abrupt halt as his eyes scanned the space, his heart breaking even though he knew this day was coming.

Oh Gods. Oh Gods. Oh Gods. I think I'm going to be sick. Or die. Or both.

To the left side of the clearing, pressed up against a boulder, Astrid had her mouth plastered to Elof's and her hands were buried in his long hair as he bent over her much smaller form, his hands against the rock on either side of her head.

Hearing a moan from one of them spurred Hiccup's frozen and faintly trembling body into moving again. Swallowing down the bile lurking in his throat, he spun right back around and ran all the way back to his house, his heart feeling literally stabbed from the pain of what he'd just witnessed.

He flung open the door and slammed it as hard as he could behind him, taking great comfort in the physical act, then ran up the stairs to his room where he flung himself facedown on his bed by the window. His narrow shoulders shook with the effort it took to hold in the pathetic sobs that wanted to escape as he hugged his pillow for dear life. Gods, he wanted to scream and wail at the injustice of it all, but at the same time, he was quietly accepting. Because he'd known she would fall for some other boy soon enough. Honestly, he was surprised it had taken her this long to give in to all the attention she'd been receiving lately. Then again, maybe this wasn't a new thing, and she'd just been keeping her relationship with Elof quiet for some reason. Maybe so she didn't hurt my feelings?

That thought was somewhat comforting, but it didn't help much.

Hiccup rolled over onto his back, still hugging his pillow for comfort, and stared up at the ceiling that was sort of glowing with the reflected light of the lowering sun, a single glistening tear rolling down his cheek to fall uncomfortably into his ear.

Unrequited love sucks.

Half an hour prior...

Astrid left her house right after her dad did, and made straight for the sparring clearing in search of the silver skull that had fallen off her belt. She hadn't noticed it was missing until her mom pointed it out, since it was one of the back ones, but now felt terrible about it. She refused to actually lose it, because Hiccup had made her the belt as a Snoggletog gift last year and she loved it dearly. It was just so... her. He was good like that, knowing what she'd like.

She knew Hiccup would happily make a new skull to replace the missing one, but they were made of silver and that particular metal wasn't the easiest to come by. She had no idea how he'd found or bartered for the silver to make the ornaments she did have, but she really really appreciated the effort and cost of it.

Odin knew, it only made her love him more. Was there a sweeter or smarter boy on the island? Not even close.

Astrid was distracted enough in her worry and thoughts that she didn't notice Elof moving up to walk beside her until she was almost out of the main part of the village and he spoke.

"Whatcha doin'?"

Thor! Astrid nearly jumped out of her skin from the unexpected sound of the husky voice beside her, but refused to show it. She glanced up at Elof with a cool and indifferent expression as her heartbeat settled back down to normal. "Oh. Hi, Elof. I was just going to go look for something up in the sparring yard. I lost one of my skulls."

Elof gave her his usual perfect smile, filled with nice straight teeth and tinged with hope. "I can help ya look if ya want. I'm not doin' nothin'."

Astrid was about to turn him down when she thought better of it. Two sets of eyes are better than one, as they say. And finding the skull was really important to her. "Sure, I guess." She tried to keep her tone as discouraging as possible, not wanting the pushy oaf to get any ideas.

Elof lit up and then his look turned kind of smouldering as they walked. Ugh. How does he not get it that I'm not interested? Astrid picked up the pace to put as much distance as possible between them.

Ever since she'd grown a pair of breasts, the boys had come to the very annoying conclusion that she was now dying for their attentions. As far as she could tell, with the sole exception of Hiccup, the young males of her species were possessed of wandering hands and one track minds. It was bloody annoying. She'd already turned down more offers of one on one 'sparring' sessions then there were livestock in the fields. And... she'd had to flat out refuse five proposals of marriage already, saying she wasn't ready to marry anyone yet, just to be sort of nice. (Two of which were from Snotlout.) At this rate, though, her refusals were going to start sounding more like, 'Never in a million years, you moron' because she was quickly getting fed up with the whole thing.

Astrid supposed that if Hiccup didn't exist, then she'd probably have said yes to Fishlegs' calf eyed proposal, since he was the least loathsome of the lot, being decent enough to look at, smart, kind, and turning into a half decent warrior with her help.

The two guys she would never say yes to, even if they were the last men on earth, were Snotlout and Elof. One was obnoxious to the extreme, and the other was a lust driven beast who was nearly as dumb as a yak and couldn't hold an interesting conversation that didn't involve recapping his latest dragon kill into infinitum to save his life.

She'd thanked Thor about a thousand times already for the refreshing gift that was Hiccup, even if the boy was being obtuse about figuring out that she was a girl. It was ironic really, considering that she wished all of the other boys would forget that little facet about her and treat her like one of them instead of all this groping nonsense.

Not that she believed Hiccup would ever be so ungentlemanly as to actually grope a person, but at this point, she wouldn't mind if he did, just so she knew that he returned her interest.

The walk up to the training grounds went fast enough, with Astrid lost in her thoughts and making generic, 'un huhs' when necessary to Elof's latest speech about the greatness that was him. She was more relieved than she could possibly express in words when they finally arrived and could direct Elof to start looking before they ran out of daylight.

She also very deliberately sent him to the other side of the grass covered space so she didn't have to listen to him jabber on anymore.

Astrid had nearly covered the entirety of her half of the sparring grounds and was now walking along the edge when Elof ran over, looking triumphant. "I found it, Astrid!" he called, holding out the small silver skull triumphantly as he skidded to a stop in front of her.

"That's great, Elof. Thank you so much!" she gushed in relief as she reached for it.

The pain in the ass who believed himself to be Thor's gift to womankind held the skull up higher than she could reach, a lustful cast taking over his features. "Ah ah. What do I get for finding this for you?"

The blond Vikingess wished she could say, 'A swift kick to the nuts', but she'd tried that with him before, and he'd just thought she was coming on to him; the meathead had a ridiculously high pain tolerance, and as far as she could tell, liked a little pain with his pleasure. (The very thought of it made her want to gag.)

So, instead, she rolled her eyes and sighed in resignation. "Fine, one kiss on the cheek, but that's it, and you keep your hands to yourself, got it?"

Elof smirked, clenching his fist around her ornament. "Got it."

Astrid looked up at the cheek he'd presented with a tilt of his head that she was supposed to kiss and shook her head. "You have to bend down, moron. I'm not climbing you like a tree."

Aside from looking a little disappointed at that, Elof did as she asked, planting his hands on either side of her on the boulder she was standing beside. "Better?"

Thor save me from idiots. "Yes," she huffed, before rising on her toes and pressing a brief peck to his clean-shaven skin.

She should have expected it, knowing the lengths boys (including the one in front of her) had gone to to try and steal kisses from her, but she was still surprised when he turned his head and captured her mouth in a slobbery kiss.

And then he crowded her up against the rock, pressing his thick form against her and making it clearly obvious that he found her desirable as he rubbed his hard length against her suggestively.

Astrid was not impressed.

She grabbed handfuls of his hair and yanked. Hard.

Elof moaned greedily, believe it or not, and pressed on, trying to get his tongue in her mouth. Astrid was tempted to let him, just so she could bite it, but she was afraid he'd just like it. So she ran her hands down his chest - which he took as more encouragement by the mumbled, "Yes, baby." - and groped around his belt until she found the eating dagger tucked under it and then proceeded to press it very deliberately against the unwelcome thing poking her in the stomach like a rabid snake through their clothes. Thank Thor for clothes or I'd feel very defiled right now. As is, I feel like I've been humped by a horny yak.

The dagger stabbing his sensitive bits fortunately got his attention in a hurry.

Elof quickly backed up, eyes wide as she followed with narrowed eyes, not letting up on the pressure with the knife. "If you ever kiss me again without my permission, I will cut this off, do you understand me?" she snarled.

"Yes," he squeaked.

Astrid applied just a fraction more pressure to the knife. "Good. Now give me my skull."

He dropped it into her waiting hand like it was a hot coal.

"Thank you." Astrid clenched her fist around it and smiled with a vicious baring of teeth. Then she whirled and threw his dagger across the clearing, burying it to the hilt in the center of a target. "That's what I'll do to your manhood if I ever hear of you forcing yourself on any other girl, either, got it?"

Elof gulped as he gaped at his quivering knife with wide eyes and then nodded frantically.

"I'm glad we understand each other," she said sweetly as she sauntered away like nothing was amiss, in complete contradiction to her pounding heart and sweat soaked shirt.

For a few seconds, Astrid had genuinely been afraid because he was so much bigger than her and there was no way she could outmuscle him.

But she would always be smarter and that was where the boys constantly underestimated her.

She also thought she might start carrying another knife hidden up her arm wrap, just in case. With the position Elof had her in, she hadn't been able to reach the dagger in her boot, and that had worried her until she remembered where he kept his.

Thank Thor that's over. And Gods willing, one less boy trying to get under my skirt.

By the time Astrid made it down to Hiccup's house, she'd more or less put the incident behind her, having wiped her mouth thoroughly in disgust with the back of her arm, and then making a side trip to a stream to rinse her mouth out repeatedly when that hadn't felt like enough. She'd felt contaminated until she'd done so. She still felt kind of contaminated, actually, and needed a good dose of Hiccup's well mannered intelligence to help her forget how much trouble she might have been in if she wasn't a well trained warrior girl with more determination than actual strength. If I was one of the barmaids with no training, I wouldn't have stood a chance against him. Not that those hussies would have wanted to say no, but still...

Sighing at the unfairness of being a girl less than half the size of an average male Viking, Astrid finally looked at the skull in her hand, instantly spotting where the metal had broken off from where it used to be attached to her belt.

At least I know just the right person to get it fixed, she thought with a smile as she knocked on the thick wooden door.