Disclaimer: I don't own How To Train Your Dragon or any of the associated characters or settings.
She was sixteen and he was seventeen. They'd flown as far out as they dared. She was glad that he'd brought her with him. She was glad that it was just her and not the others. It was comfortable this way. It made her happy, the easy silence between them. It felt right, the way they could work together.
Astrid followed his lead and landed Stormfly on a cliff. Hiccup climbed off of Toothless and patted the dragon absently. She loved the way he did that. It was as natural and necessary as breathing to him. Toothless was an extension of Hiccup; Hiccup was an extension of Toothless.
"Astrid, I wanted you to see this," Hiccup said, his voice quiet.
She walked up beside him and followed his gaze. The sun was setting behind a cliff in the distance and its rays danced orange and red and yellow on the ocean's surface. It was like dragonfire in a starry sky.
"It's beautiful," she whispered.
She felt Hiccup watching her profile and glanced at him. It was strange to stand next to him and to feel all his focus locked on her. It wasn't the first time. She doubted it would be the last time. But it wasn't something she always got from him. Most of the time he was thinking of the next thing and the next thing after that and maybe the next thing after that. Most of the time he was thinking about how he could help someone out of a bind and then who he could help next. Right now, he was looking at her and it made her want to punch his arm and hide behind Stormfly to cover up her embarrassment.
"You're beautiful," he said.
His eyes widened as though he hadn't expected to say that. Astrid half-expected him to try to backpedal out of his words. She thought she'd have to make a move again – grab him and kiss him and not let him back away. But he surprised her when his disbelief melted away and he kept looking at her. He leaned in, his eyes falling to her lips, and then he kissed her.
He kissed her.
It was different from the other times, the times when she had kissed him. It was different because Hiccup was in control, because Hiccup's hand had slid up into her hair at the base of her neck, because Hiccup wasn't letting her go.
When they broke apart, she could see the mild anxiety in his eyes. She fought the urge to punch him in the shoulder in embarrassment. She fought the urge to look away. Astrid realized that she liked him looking at her. She liked the way he was looking at her. She liked that he wasn't apologizing for anything. She never wanted him to apologize for anything again.
Astrid couldn't help the smile that pulled at the corners of her lips. She didn't want to because Hiccup's mouth echoed hers and his smile was worth everything she had and more.