Prompt: Blind Date - New Dream
Word Count: 400
Clink, clink, clink. The ice cubes in the remnants of her peach sun tea bobbed up and down, jingling against the sides of the mason jar in an almost musical way as she stirred her drink with her straw. She'd checked her phone so many times, she'd drained half the battery. But despite the constant checking and five full bars of service, the only texts she'd received since she'd arrived at the bar were a he's a great guy, super cute! can't wait for you to meet him! from Anna and a lmk if you need rescuing, gotthe perfectemergency this time. from Merida. She hadn't heard a single word from the guy she was supposed to be meeting.
"And how are you doing, Sunshine?" She looked up to see the face of the handsome bartender who'd been kind enough to make her three peach sun teas in the nearly two hours she'd been waiting at the bar.
"I don't think my date is coming." She conceded, propping herself up on her elbows.
"Really?"
She rolled her eyes at his feigned surprise. "Hey, I believe in giving people the benefit of the doubt. He could just have been late. Really late."
"Sure!" Despite his enthusiastic response, he didn't sound like he believed her. Instead, he nodded towards the nearly empty glass in front of her. "Are you having another?"
She shouldn't. But if she wasn't buying, they'd probably ask her to leave, and she wasn't quite ready to surrender her seat at the bar yet. Sure, she might be a little tipsy, but the bartender was really cute, even in spite of his sarcasm. And she couldn't ignore the little fluttery feeling she got every time he called her Sunshine.
"You know what? I will have another." She decided, pushing her empty glass towards him and grinning. "Who decided that you need another person to go on a date anyway? I'm taking myself on a date."
"Well I'm glad that's settled, then. I was starting to think I was going to have to take one for the team and take you on a date myself."
He was only teasing, she knew, but the idea made her feel almost giddy. And as she scrunched up her nose and made a face at him across the bar, she resolved to give him her phone number before the end of the night.
Prompt: Widower - Hiccstrid/Mericcup
Word Count: 300
Merida had been a light in the darkness.
When Astrid had suddenly passed away seven years ago, Merida had been his rock. While he spiralled further into a seemingly inescapable grief, she'd been unwavering. She was just as devastated, but somehow – he didn't know how she'd managed it – she held steady.
Because he'd needed her, she had been there, as composed as a Queen as she drove Zephyr and Nuffink to school and back, made meals and helped with their homework, and then after the kids had gone to bed, she'd sat with him to help work out the funeral arrangements.
And not once had she wavered.
No matter how dark the circles under her eyes got, and no matter how strained her smile seemed – she held it together, because she knew he couldn't.
Eventually they'd begun to heal, Merida had finally returned to her own apartment. And he'd begun to feel almost like himself again – the parts of him he had left, anyway. And weeks had turned into months, and then years, and it had gotten easier. The hurt never went away, but he got better at carrying it.
And she'd been there through it all.
It wasn't until Zephyr pointed it out to him that he even realized he'd fallen in love with her at some point along the way. Of course, he'd brushed it off, but Zephyr had rolled her eyes and given him a look that reminded him so much of her mother that he'd had to catch his breath. Fifteen and ever her mother's daughter, she was opinionated and had a low threshold for nonsense.
"Mom wouldn't want you to be alone forever. And Aunt Merida was her best friend – I think she'd approve." Then she shrugged, smirking. "Besides, you could do a lot worse."
Prompt: Warmth - FairyFrost
Word Count: 300
Jack was used to the cold. He seemed to exist solely to contradict the belief that men were always warmer than women – he was an outlier. He had cold hands, cold feet and some might even say a cold sense of humour. But he was used to being cold, and so he kept his hoodie on even in the hottest summer months.
But she was warm. Warmer than anyone he'd ever known in both her physical temperature and her temperament – as close to summer incarnate as he was winter.
She was as vibrant as summer flowers with her short green and yellow hair and her wide blue eyes that almost looked violet when the light hit them just right. And it wasn't just the fact that she seemed to need to wear all colours of the rainbow at all times that made her so vibrant, but her electric passion, contagious energy and the fact that she somehow seemed to exist in a state of perpetual motion.
She reminded him of a hummingbird, how she seemed to live life at at least a hundred miles per hour. He, on the other hand, drifted along like a leaf lost on the river, sometimes spinning in place, causing mischief and then slipping away on the current, fading away as though he'd never even been there in the first place, as temporary as frost on the leaves.
Jack was used to the cold, because he'd always felt cold. No matter how warm the weather was or how many sweaters he had on, he was always cold. Perhaps it was that same warmth that drew him to her.
Because she was warm, as warm as summer was supposed to be, and when he was with her, he hoped that he could share her warmth too.
Prompt: Shield-MaidenProposal - Heathstrid
Word Count: 350
Perhaps it was the way her one-of-a-kind battle axe arced through the air, glinting in the sunlight as she whirled to meet her opponent's blade with her own. Or the pink flush of exertion in her cheeks as she charged to meet her next foe. Or perhaps it was how her body moved as she cut down her enemies – as graceful as a dancer, as fierce as a wildcat and as naturally as if she'd been born with the blade in her hands.
And suddenly, Astrid couldn't help thinking that Heather would be a radiant bride.
Marriage wasn't something she thought about often, in fact, it had always been a topic she had outright avoided. It certainly wasn't even something she'd ever considered wanting – she was a shield-maiden through and through, and no man could ever hope to appeal to her as much as the thrill of battle.
But as she sidestepped out of range of her opponent's weapon and slashed at the warrior with renewed energy, she realized that while no man could ever tempt her, a dark haired maiden with a double-headed axe certainly could.
Slamming the head of her own battle axe so hard into her opponent's that the handle cracked and splintered in his hands, Astrid whirled and used the side of the axehead to brush the man aside as easily as she might shoo a blackfly.
Adrenaline coursing through her to a familiar song of steel and timber, she and Heather danced through the fray of battle, perfectly in unison, until the melody eventually faded. Soaked in sweat and surrounded by fallen enemies, they stood side by side once more.
Heather had become something of her other half since they'd first become acquainted, and now she was the only person that made Astrid feel truly whole. And now, no amount of enemy soldiers could possibly hope to keep them apart.
A break in the clouds spontaneously bathing her shield-maiden partner in golden light, Astrid felt a familiar swooping in her chest, and breathless, she took the other woman's calloused hands in her own.
"Marry me."
Prompt: Pride & Prejudice - Mericcup/New Dream
Word Count: 300
She'd been hiding out in the gardens, avoiding another lecture from her mother for having rejected the insufferable Mr MacIntosh's proposal of marriage, when her cousins found her. Setting aside her book, she rose to meet them, fixing her gaze on the girls who had lived with them since their own parents had perished. Elsa, the second eldest, was naturally nervous and always seemed deeply uncomfortable if she were anywhere other than the library. The youngest, Anna, was vivacious and had taken to dragging her middle sister along wherever she went since their eldest sister, Rapunzel, had run off and eloped with the charming Mr Fitzherbert.
"Mr Haddock – he's here!" Anna announced, half breathless from having run across the gardens.
Before Merida could voice her shock, she noticed a gentleman making his way towards them. At her alarmed expression, her cousins turned, and, upon catching sight of Mr Haddock, fled without another word.
"My apologies, Miss DunBroch, I did not mean to intrude."
Stepping forward to greet him, the toe of her boot caught on an exposed root, and would have sent her spilling to the ground, had Mr Haddock not been so quick to offer a steadying hand. Mortified, she dipped into a curtsey to hide her flushed face.
As she rose, her eyes came to rest on their hands – still linked, despite lacking the necessity for it now that she had regained her balance.
When his eyes followed hers to where their hands met, it was shy Mr Haddock's turn to redden, and he released her hand as though it had burnt him.
Desperately, he gestured to the bench where she'd been seated. As they settled next to one another, she couldn't help the faintest smile gracing her lips – perhaps her hopes hadn't been so fanciful after all.
Prompt: Nick Frost & Simon Pegg's Bed Sharing Story, but make it Fishlout
Word Count: 300
When they'd started sharing a bed – sleeping head to feet at first, then back to back, and now all snuggled together – it had been nothing more than a sleeping arrangement. They didn't have the money or space for a second bed, and they both needed somewhere to sleep. And they didn't have a bathtub, so that wasn't an option.
And Fishlegs had shared a bed with Hiccup too, for far longer than he had with Snotlout. But something was different with Snotlout. Sharing a bed and spooning with Hiccup didn't cause that weird fluttery feeling in his chest. But for some reason, sharing a bed with Snotlout did.
In fact, the first time it had happened, Fishlegs had assumed he was ill. But then it'd happened again and again, and eventually he'd noticed a pattern – every time he so much as thought about snuggling up with Snotlout, there it was again, that same fluttery feeling, that unbearable heat in his face and the deafening sound of his heartbeat.
It couldn't go on like this.
It might cost him the friendship, but he had to say something.
He had to take the risk.
"Hey Snotlout?" Fishlegs whispered, his heart hammering so hard against his ribcage that he was sure that even the neighbours could hear it. But despite how loud his heartbeat sounded in his ears, Snotlout didn't stir when Fishlegs called his name. The steady rhythm of his breathing and his lack of response gave Fishlegs courage and relief – perhaps he could confess his feelings without risking their friendship or sleeping arrangements after all. Taking a deep breath, he mustered his courage, his voice barely a whisper. "Snotlout, I think I'm in love with you."
His heart nearly stopped when he heard Snotlout answer in the darkness.
"Oh thank Thor."