The next day Astrid got up late, she was still tired from yesterday's hunting trip and she got back late.

When she finally got up and out of bed, she dressed, then went out to say good morning to Stormfly, and give her some breakfast. Then they took a ride into town and Astrid decided to see if she could find Tuff.

She looked around the village, but she didn't see him anywhere. Astrid did see Ruff though, so she went up to her and said hi.

"Oh, hey Astrid," Ruffnut said.

"Hey Ruff," Astrid said. "Uh, have you seen Tuff? I can't find him."

Ruff looked up from what she was doing and looked at Astrid. "No, I haven't seen him, but when he went out this morning he told me to tell you to meet him at the caves. I have no idea what that means, but that's what he said."

Astrid was already turning and jogging away. "Thanks Ruff!" She yelled, getting fathered and farther away.

Astrid couldn't find Stormfly so she jogged down to the caves, taking in the sight of the ocean and the patterns it made in the sand.

She got to the caves and stopped at the entrance. The darkness seemed to swallow everything, leaving nothing but a dark void in its place.

Astrid took a deep breath and was about to step into the cave when she saw a torch on the wall. She smiled, grabbed the torch, set it aflame, then stepped into the cave, the dancing light from the fire flickering over the walls.

Astrid came to the cavern and gasped. She looked around and saw what Tuff had done the day before.

There was another chair and both had cushions, the table had a table cloth, there were torches on the walls that provided dim lighting, the glow worm palace looked awesome, and the hammock was full of blankets and pillows. Then Astrids eyes fell on the bookshelf. She stepped towards it in a daze, then walked up to it and looked at all the books that were there. There were some that she had already read, some that she wanted to read, and some that she had never heard of.

Astrid was so focused on the bookshelf that when she felt a hand on her shoulder she was so startled that she grabbed the whoever it was and flipped them onto the ground. The someone was Tuff. Whoops.

"Tuff!" Astrid gasped. "I'm so sorry!" She helped him to his feet.

"Jeez A, you have one hell of a flip," Tuff wheezed.

Astrid blushed, then looked around the cave. "When did you have the time to do all this Tuff?" She asked.

"Yesterday, when you were out hunting," he replied. "You like it?"

Astrid grinned. "Like it? It's amazing!"

Tuff showed her all he did, and some of the books he thought she'd like. Astrid picked one up and then settled down on the pile of pillows and blankets and flipped open the first page and began to read.

When Astrid looked up, she realized that she had gotten through over half the book, and Tuff was on the hammock, looking at her.

Astrid closed the book and gave him a confused look.

"Why are you looking at me? Is there something in my hair?" She asked.

Tuff shook his head. "Nah, your hair is kinda whack, but that's not why I'm looking at you."

Astrid must have looked extremely confused, so Tuff chuckled and elaborated.

"What I mean is, I like watching you read." He said.

"Why?" Astrid asked. Why on Thors green earth would Tuff of all people like watching her read?

"Cause," he said, shrugging. "It's cute when you make those expressions, you frown, or smile without knowing, and it's really cute."

Astrid blushed, then got annoyed with herself. Why was she a blushing mess around Tuff whenever he said something cute? It's not like she really liked him like that, right?

"How long was I reading?" Astrid asked, forcing herself to change the subject.

Tuff shrugged again. "I don't know, just over an hour I think? My stomach is telling me that it's lunch, so you hungry?"

Astrid realized that she had been so engrossed in her book that she totally didn't notice that she was starving. She had even skipped breakfast this morning because she slept in so late.

"Starving," she replied. Tuff nodded and then fell out of the hammock and got up and went over to the bag in the corner that Astrid totally missed when she came in.

Tuff pulled out some yak chops, bread and a couple plates, then set them on the table and beckoned to Astrid. She put her book down and got up, then walked over to the table and sat down on the chair that Tuff had pulled out for her.

"Madam," he said, and she smirked.

Tuff sat down across from her and then have her half of the food, then put the other half on his plate.

They ate in silence for a bit, Astrid hating every moment of silent awkwardness, then she said "Where did you get all of these weapons?" And gestured around the room, indicating all the weapons on the walls.

"Oh," he said, taking another bite of his yak chop. "Gobber was going get rid of them, but I nabbed them and brought them here."

Astrid smiled and said in the sweetest voice she was capable of, "I bet I could kick your butt with them."

Tuff laughed and almost choked on his yak chop.

"Ya right. You're on A." He took one last bite, then got up from the table and grabbed a mace. George, if she remembered correctly. Astrid took another bite of her yak chop then got up as well. She grabbed an axe from the wall and examined it. It was old, but it would work well enough in a fight. She grinned evilly at Tuff, who returned her evil grin, and then they charged at each other.

Tuff swung first, but Astrid ducked and swept her axe at his legs, only just missing as he danced out of the way. She ran at Tuff, her axe low and then she brought it up last minute and landed a blow on Tuffs back with the blunt side of her axe. Tuff grunted and stumbled, but stayed in his feet. Impressive, Astrid thought. When I did that move on Hiccup it sent him sprawling. Tuff swung George at Astrids stomach and she reeled back, the mace just grazing the cloth of her shirt.

"Oh, it's on now," she said, swinging her axe at his head and grinning.

"If that's the best you got, then you might as well give up now!" Tuff taunted as he danced back, light on his toes. She swung at him again but he dropped to the ground and tripped her. Astrid fell on her knees and Tuff stood over her, pointing his mace at her head.

Astrid chuckled and said "Ok, I give in," and let Tuff help her up. Then, just to wipe the triumphant smirk off of his cute face, she grabbed the front of his shirt and flipped him onto the ground, then put a foot on his chest.

Tuff put his hands up and grinned. "Ok, I really should have seen that coming. You win." Astrid grinned and helped him up.

Both of them breathing hard, they leaned against the wall for a second, then burst out laughing and slid to the floor.

Astrid looked down at the axe in her hand, then at Tuff, then bounced up and said "I have an idea."

Tuff stood up and looks at her, imploring her to continue.

"I wanna build a dummy. You know, for weapons practice and stuff," she said.

Tuff considered for a moment, then said "Like a scare ship! You know, that's actually not a bad idea."

Astrid sat down again, Tuff copying her, and they began to talk about different design ideas, and what materials would work best.

Soon they had a plan and they went out of the caves to find what they needed. Astrid was in charge of finding straws and cloth, and Tuff was gathering sticks and coloured charcoal to draw a face on the scare ships.

Astrid had just finished gathering up everything she needed when she heard someone calling her name. She turned around and saw Hiccup unsteadily walking towards her. Astrid dropped her bundle of cloth and straw and jogged over to meet him. Hiccup stumbled and Astrid steadied him and he grinned.

"So," he said awkwardly.

"So..." Astrid said.

Hiccup sighed and then strained. "Look," he said. "There's no easy way to tell you this, but..." he trailed off, looking dejected.

"What?" Astrid asked, slightly concerned. "What's the matter? Is something wrong?"

Hiccup shook his head, then took a deep breath and blurted, "I have something to tell you." Astrid gestured for him to continue, so he took another breath and kept talking.

"I, uh, I want to get back together." Astrid was so shocked she took a step back and almost tripped over a rock.

"You... what?!?"

"When we were talking this past week, I had a ton of time to myself, to do absolutely nothing but think, and think that I still have feelings for you." He rushes on before Astrid could object.

"I know that you still like me too. You kept coming to see me, and you and I talked, really talked for the first time since we broke up, and it just felt right, you know?"

He waited for her to say something, and when Astrid got over her shock she did.

"Listen Hiccup, I used to like you, I really did, but you are the one who told me that you wanted to take a break, not the other way around. And even if I did feel that way about you now, I'm betrothed to Tuffnut! So nothing could ever happen between us!"

Hiccup frowned, then said "I'm the son of the chief! I'm sure that my dad could break up the betrothal between you and Tuff and you and I could get together again!"

Then without warning Hiccup leaned forward and gave Astrid a kiss. On the lips. It was short, and no where near as good as the ones that Astrid shares with Tuff, she thought. When Hiccup pulled back he scanned Astrids face for a sign to see if she wanted to continue. But before she could say anything there was a loud crash behind them and Hiccup and Astrid both jumped. Astrid whirled around and she saw Tuff with a very hurt expression on his face and a bundle of sticks at his feet.

Astrid was horrified. She started to say "Tuff, wait!" But he turned around and fled, running and weaving through the few people who were out and about, then he ducked into an ally and was gone.

"So... that could have gone better," Hiccup said. Astrid looked at him, and she had never been so disgusted with him. Or herself. She realized that he was still holding her hand, and she pushed him off her, then ran after Tuff, hoping that it wasn't too late to find him and explain.