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Chapter Four: Contracts

Astrid felt a hand run up her side gently, a murmur escaping Hiccup's lips as she kissed them tearfully. She didn't expect him to actually wake up, and she pulled away to look at his face. His eyelashes fluttered and he groaned quietly. His hand ran up her leg and over her backside, up her back to the back of her neck. Astrid couldn't move.

"Hiccup?" she breathed. The hand on the back of her neck twitched. She tore away from him, leaping back and feeling very invasive. She wrung her hands as Hiccup's nose wrinkled as his hand flopped back to his bed. Toothless was up in an instant, nuzzling his owner. Hiccup opened his eyes slowly and winced. He breathed deeply and sporadically. He pressed his hand to his side and Astrid remembered the situation. She returned to him and rested her hand on his side. Toothless croaked and tried his hardest to stay off the bed.

"Don't move too much… you're still hurt."

Hiccup looked at her tiredly and squinted. "…Astrid?"

She twisted her face comically. "Yeah, the pretty one who lives down the path, remember me?"

Hiccup looked terribly confused and he stared at the ceiling. Then he began to breathe quickly, eyes going wide. Astrid placed her other hand on his chest. He grabbed her hand and held it.

"Did I lose the other one?" he asked hoarsely. "Gods, tell me I didn't."

Astrid smiled. "You're only missing the one leg, don't worry."

Hiccup sighed and licked his lips. It was hard for him to swallow so Astrid fetched him a mug of water. Toothless wriggled under Hiccup's head and propped him upright again. Astrid handed him the mug and helped him drink. She set the mug down and brushed her hair behind her ears, making sure her face was dry. Hiccup let his eyes shut once more before he let himself remember what happened.

"Snowdrop?" he said quietly.

"She's fine," Astrid replied, keeping her composure (barely).

Hiccup smiled weakly. "I was worried…"

"No need to be, she's alright and so are you."

Hiccup nodded in agreement and scratched Toothless' head as much as he could. Astrid watched his every movement and wasn't sure if she should have left or not. But Hiccup's hand was still over Astrid's and he didn't move it. She wasn't about to draw attention to it. But Hiccup pulled at his blankets. Astrid stopped him from tugging at his bandages.

"Don't, I just replaced those," she said quickly.

Hiccup furrowed his eyebrows. "I don't understand… what happened?"

Astrid bit her lip and looked away. "I'm not sure… but Snowdrop says you covered her and the Skrill's claw snagged you. Sliced through your riding suit like water."

He blinked and looked off. "I didn't even feel it. I mean, I knew it tore open my suit, but it was so fast. I didn't even feel…"

He squeezed Astrid's hand as he remembered more. "I was bleeding. A lot."

"When I took off your suit, it opened up," Astrid said, shuddering down her entire spine. "But it's been burned shut and you should be okay."

"What about you?" he asked quietly. "Are you okay?"

Astrid blinked and looked around, confused. "I'm not the one who got fileted by a lightning lizard."

Hiccup picked up his hand and ran his thumb over her forehead gently. "You hurt your head. And your neck." He brought his fingers down to pull her collar away to see her bandages. Astrid grabbed his hand again and pulled it away.

"I'm fine. Really."

Hiccup relaxed a little. "That's really good. I'm glad."

Astrid nodded. There was an awkward silence as Toothless let his master lie back down. He curled up next to the bed as Hiccup pursed his lips.

"I can feel where that wound is," he said. "I probably won't be able to ride for a time."

"Good idea."

Hiccup turned to her and stared at her. She looked away and wasn't sure what he was looking at her for. He glared at her for a second before squeezing her hand. "I didn't mean to scare you, you know."

Astrid breathed deeply. "I know."

"I wasn't going to leave her out there."

"I know."

"I wasn't going to come back without her."

"…I know."

Hiccup reached over and pulled her to him for a hug. She rested his cheek against his chest and trembled. "I'm really glad you did, though."

Hiccup chuckled. "Me too."

He tilted her face so she was hovering over him. He smiled and cupped the back of her neck. He ran a thumb over her cheek and grinned as best he could with all the pain and stress his body was revealing to him. They touched foreheads and breathed for a moment, simultaneously. Hiccup gave her neck a little pull and their lips gently touched.

Astrid felt Hiccup kiss her this time, and she kissed him with as much tenderness and fragility as he gave her. It was as if he could shatter beneath her, and when she thought he would pull back and keep it at that innocent level they had kept it at for six years, he held onto her and kissed her again. He didn't kiss her hard, quite the contrary. But he kissed her and for once tasted her lips and let her taste his. It was new ground, new feelings, and Astrid let her eyes close and the two of them held each other. Astrid kept her body off his, but let herself give in to his gentleness, his tired care, before she pulled away gently and they looked into each other's eyes.

"This is where you rip me in half for being too bold," he said jokingly.

"Gimme a minute, I'm deciding on your fate as we speak."

Hiccup smiled again. "I thought I'd give it a try. It's nice."

Astrid smiled with a tinge of pain; it was nice. But nothing could come from it.

Word spread around Berk that Hiccup was awake. Stoick and Gobber held a meeting at the Great Hall to announce his favouring health and Stoick returned to the house. He clambered up the staircase and found Hiccup in the loft lying in bed looking out the dragon-door in the roof at the setting sun.

Stoick wanted to cross that room and crush his son in an embrace. Instead, he put his fists on his hips.

"My son," Stoick gruffed. "You disobeyed me."

Hiccup looked up and twisted his mouth. But for once, he did not look away from his father's intense stare.

"You could have been killed!" Stoick gushed angrily.

"Snowdrop had a higher chance of dying from the cold, or worse," Hiccup retorted timidly.

"But as your father and your chief, I told you not to go!"

"I know you would have rather kept me safe, dad," Hiccup began, "but if I was her age stuck out in the cold, you would have wasted no time getting to me. You would have killed anything and anyone to save me. I was only following an example."

Stoick pursed his lips under his magnificent beard. He sat down loudly and glared at his son, who stared back, trying to not overstep the glaring to a point where Stoick would toss him out the dragon-door.

He huffed loudly, sighing his massive shoulders in a way Hiccup was unused to. "If it were you… I would have fought for you just the same. But I almost lost you. Again. Without your mother, and without anyone else who shares my blood left on this island, I can't help but be overbearingly protective of you, you sodding fool."

Hiccup nodded and looked into the distance. There was a moment of silence before Stoick leaned forward.

"You do me proud, son. It would help if stopped risking your own skin to do that."

Hiccup turned back and grinned lopsidedly. "And how else would I get you to notice me?"

He didn't expect him to say anything to that. His grin slowly faded when he noticed Stoick staring at him with an answer on the tip of his tongue. It made Hiccup sit up a little straighter, suddenly apprehensive.

"…I meant that to be rhetorical."

"It's not going to be," Stoick replied bluntly. "I almost lost you. I watched you bleed all over the Great Hall with that gods-forsaken grin plastered on your face as if you weren't dying. Berk has been at peace for four years since the last raid, but that doesn't mean that we are completely safe. Alvin may send more Outcasts, or another dragon that even you don't understand may kill someone."

"That's not going to happen."

Stoick growled. "Do not pretend to know the future, Hiccup. If we lost you, I would have nothing. Nothing."

His voice cracked and Hiccup's heart throbbed. A lump grew in his throat as his father brushed it off as if it never happened.

"You have always known that when I go to Valhalla, the leadership of Berk rests on you."

He didn't want to hear this. He grew anxious and uncomfortable and he wanted to squirm as his side began to throb from searing pain.

"And then to your children will you pass to them."

"Dad –"

Stoick raised a hand. "You are twenty-one winters old, Hiccup. It's time to consider the inevitable. Your bravery, your courage… you need to get yourself ready to lead. Before she passed, your mother made a scroll with the name of your betrothed for you to open when you were ready."

Hiccup frowned and looked away. "That's just… great."

Stoick gave a hmph. "Did you suspect otherwise?"

He gave a small shrug. "I never really thought of marriage. I guess I never thought you'd arrange something."

"You're the chief's son. Of course you'd be promised to someone. Right when your future wife was born–"

"Don't." Hiccup was surprised by how sharp that sounded. "Don't call her my future wife."

"Shall I call her by her first name?" Stoick asked angrily. "I thought you'd be happy to hear that you'd marry."

Hiccup spat. "I don't want anyone, dad."

"Just because you don't want someone now doesn't mean you won't later," Stoick replied harshly. "This marriage can unite two clans to make us stronger. More economical."

"I'm not a commodity!" his son yelled with some volume he forgot he had. "Why is this so important to you?!"

Stoick blinked and leaned back. "Because… I almost lost you and I… I want to see you move on with your life before something happens to me."

The two men stayed silent. Hiccup banged his head on the headboard in frustration. He dug the balls of his palms into his eyes and sighed heavily. "Who?"

"You're the one who has to open that scroll."

"Just tell me."

"She's from another clan."

Hiccup's hands flew from his eyes and he stared, absolutely shocked. "What?! You're serious?"

"Do I look like I'm joking?" Stoick said, deadpan. Hiccup clamped his mouth shut and dug his nails into his palms. "You will reveal the name of your bride the day you can walk on your own. Cheer up and be merry!"

Stoick put on a sad attempt at a smile and Hiccup looked away. "You have a bad habit of not listening to what I want."

His father extended his arms in mock defeat. "No use in leaving it be for any longer. You want me to notice you without you putting your neck on the block? Do your mother a favour and open that scroll when you're better. I'd rather a wedding than sewing you back together after another bout of heroics."

He descended the staircase and Hiccup banged his head on the headboard again. He wanted nothing more than to fly out of that house and around the island until his cheeks went numb from the cold. But Stoick returned with a small chest in his hands. He set it on the chair next to Hiccup, opened it, and revealed the scroll with a ribbon tied around it, fastened by a Terror tooth. Hiccup didn't move.

"Open it on your own time, I will send word to all the clans to come. This will be a wonderous occasion, Hiccup. Your mother's only firm wish was to choose for you and even I don't know the answer. You'll do me proud."

He left shortly after and Hiccup stared at the scroll as if it were the Skrill all over. He barely remembered his mother, and now he wanted to take one of the only gifts she had given him in his hands and hurl it into the ocean with an unknown rage that made his chest flutter painfully.