A/N: A little time skip here from the previous chapter.
After a few more weeks of prepping, it was finally the day of the wedding. All the snow had melted and the sun was beaming down, but there was still a cold breeze around the village. That morning, Hiccup laid on his back staring at the ceiling. He could feel the anxiety and nausea in his stomach. Toothless must have felt the unease from his rider because he gently rested his head on Hiccup's chest. The boy patted the dragon's head as he purred with concern. "I'm alright bud; I'm just feeling nervous about this."
The teenager let out a loud groan as he kept stroking the black scales on his dragon. His father must have heard his groan because he walked up the stairs asking "are you alright son?"
Hiccup sat up and Toothless moved his head so his rider could move. The boy sat at the edge of the bed and looked up at his father. "You know dad, I understand why I'm doing this, but I still feel strange about it. I've been preparing myself for this day, so why do I feel weird?"
"Maybe because she's your friend, and you don't see her as anything else." Stoick said looking down at his son. Hiccup looked to the floor as he listened to his father. "Son, what you are feeling is completely normal. I even felt like this on my wedding day, knots were in my stomach, I felt like I couldn't breathe, and felt like I was going to barf!" Stoick explained as he sat next to his son and patted his back.
"So what did you do?"
"Well, I panicked inside at first, but when I saw your mother walk in…..I knew that I was making the right choice."
"What about tomorrow and years later? How did you know you made the right choice?" Hiccup asked his father. Stoick thought about how to explain this, and then he got an idea on how to make his son understand.
"Marriage is like riding a dragon. It's rough at first, but you never stop trying to figure out how to make it comfortable for the both of you to fly. After days, months, and even years of practice, the both of you start to understand how to communicate with each other when you're in the air. Think of the metal connecting rod representing your troubles. Sometimes it's shiny and strong, but other times it gets rusty and breaks. That's when you try to fix it, but you know that it will get rusty again. So you don't stop trying to get back that strong bond, and every time you make it stronger, it will last longer than it did before."
Hiccup smiled, that actually helped a lot. "Thanks dad." He said with a smile and received a hug from him.
"And besides, no one is telling you to change your friendship with her. I'm not expecting you two to do anything tonight."
Hiccup pulled away from his dad, looking up at him with wide eyes. "What?! If you're not expecting Astrid and me to do anything, then why were you giving me those terrible talks?"
"Well I had to, it's part of tradition. Also it's fun to torture you." He said with a chuckle. "Remember when I gave you the talk for the first time when you were twelve? You couldn't look at Astrid or Ruffnut without blushing for two weeks!" he said before letting out a laugh. Hiccup let out a growl reliving the memory.
"Those were the worst two weeks of my life." He grumbled as his father continued to laugh.
Once Stoick calmed down from his laughter, he gave his son a pat on the back before getting off the bed. "Alright enough of that, let's get you ready."
~oOo~
"I have to say it, I feel sorry for you." Ruffnut said as she watched Astrid's hair getting done in her room.
"You feel sorry for me?" Astrid asked feeling Mrs. Thorston pulling a knot in her long hair. She heard a small "Sorry Astrid" from the woman behind her as she tried to comb out the tangled hair.
"Well yeah," Ruffnut crossed her arms and leaned against the door frame. "I mean, if I found out that I had to marry Hiccup, I would die."
Astrid cocked a brow at her. "Ruff, you used to have a crush on him."
Ruffnut felt her face get warm. "I-I did not," she stuttered.
"Yes you did dearie, don't you remember?" Mrs. Thorston said pointing the comb at her daughter. "It was sometime around when you kiddos were doing Dragon Training. You and your brother came home and I remember you saying 'I think I have found my future husband'." She said trying to do an impression of her daughter. Astrid bit her lip trying to hold in her laughter when she saw Ruffnut's face turn bright red.
"That-that could have been about anyone mom." Ruffnut stuttered trying to defend herself.
"No it wasn't, because…." Mrs. Thorston then turned her attention back to Astrid's hair. "Oh never mind," she said combing the bride's hair.
"Mom…how do you even know that I had a crush on Hiccup?"
Mrs. Thorston cringed before answering. "I read your private journal," she muttered as kept combing the blonde hair that was in front of her.
"Mom!" Ruffnut cried stomping her foot on the floor.
"I'm sorry, I was curious! You weren't telling me anything. A mother needs to know these things."
"Plus, she wasn't very subtle with her flirting." Astrid added giving her friend a smirk.
"Oh what do you know about subtle flirting Ms. I-kissed-the-same-guy-two-times?!" she shouted before leaving the bedroom. Astrid and Mrs. Thorston let out light laughs and continued to get Astrid ready.
"Good thing she doesn't know it was really three." Astrid said making Mrs. Thorston chuckle.
~oOo~
A couple of hours later, the ceremony ended and everyone stayed at The Great Hall. People stopped talking about the bruise incident, expect for Mildew. He kept trying to convince Stoick that Hiccup was not a proper heir because he kept breaking traditions. Stoick kept telling the old man to stay out of their family business, and that it was a false rumor.
While everyone ate their meals, Stoick and Asmund talked as they watched their newly wed children hanging out with their friends. "Do you think anything will change soon?" Asmund asked looking at his daughter smiling as she talked with the other teens.
"It's hard to tell. Best friends getting married are rare. The only thing I can promise you is that their friendship might grow stronger. Personally, I don't think my son's mature enough to think about having a 'true' marriage. It's one of the main reasons why there will be no witnesses tonight. Neither one of them are ready for something like that. There are too many risk involved for them." Asmund nodded in agreement as he watched the teens laugh. He knew he must have missed something that was said because all of them were having a laughing fit. His smile grew as he watched his daughter smiling and laughing. Then his smile faded when he heard a familiar voice behind him.
"Yes Stoick, you say your son is not mature enough for something like that, but if you ask me it has already been done." The chief and Asmund turned around and saw the cranky old man leaning on his staff.
"How many times do I have to tell you Mildew? That was just a rumor that started from miscommunication. I know my son; he would never do anything like that."
"Yet he befriended all the dragons, and no one thought he could do that."
"That's different Mildew," Stoick replied crossing his arms over his chest. "My son knew what dragons were capable of, and we haven't seen any raids since. What you're talking about is something that they both must agree upon, let alone be mature enough to be ready for. There is no connection to your reasoning."
"Let's not forget that both things were forbidden. Now that dragons are roaming free around the village because of your son, he thinks he can do anything against the law or immoral with that girl."
"Now you listen here old man!" Asmund shouted making almost everyone in the hall turn their heads to the three men. "I don't care what you think happened, but if I hear you say anything like that about my daughter and son-in-law again. I will hunt you down and personally harm you. You got it?" he threatened shoving his finger in Mildew's chest.
"Stoick, are you really going to let this man threaten me like that?"
The chief shrugged and took a step closer. "I don't know Mildew; I think Mr. Hofferson is being quite generous compared to what I would do." He replied with a smirk.
Mildew's eye went wide, and then he frowned at the two men. "Bah fine, defend the little law breakers. Just wait and see what this village will look like once they take over." He walked out of the hall leaving Mr. Hofferson clinching his fist. Stoick put a hand on his shoulder and he relaxed from yelling at the crusty man. Everyone went back to what they were doing once Mildew was out of the hall. Astrid got up from her seat and walked over to her father.
"What was that all about?" she asked looking up at her father who was now covering his mouth with a rag.
He coughed then wiped his mouth with the rag before answering. "Nothing you should be worry about. I'm going to head home, you sleep well Astrid." He said wrapping an arm around his daughter before leaving The Great Hall. Astrid watched her father before going back to her seat. When Asmund was outside, he looked in the rag and saw crimson. He let out a sigh and walked back to his house. He wasn't sure how much time he had left, but at least he knew his daughter would be taken care of.
~oOo~
Later that day, Stoick stayed at The Great Hall while Hiccup and Astrid went back home. The two newly wed teens walked back to the house with their dragons. When they walked in, Toothless fallowed, but a squawk was let out behind them. Astrid turned around and saw what the problem was. "Sorry girl, the door isn't big enough for you. You can either go home with dad and sleep in your pen, or sleep out here." Astrid suggested to the Nadder. Stormfly let out one last squawk before walking away from the door to sleep by the side of the house.
"Looks like we have to build a new pen for Stormfly soon," Hiccup commented. Astrid nodded in agreement then shut the door. Hiccup took off his heavy black vest and laid it on the dining table. "Do you want to get dressed first?" he asked pointing to the stairs.
"Oh yeah," she walked up the stairs hearing Hiccup call out for her to come back down so he could get dressed next. She yelled out "okay" once she reached the top of the stairs. When she got upstairs, she saw lit candles all around the bedroom. She also noticed that the small bed was replaced with a much larger one. Then she saw a new dresser in the corner of the room. She slid out a drawer and saw that her clothes were folded in it. She was able to find her long night gown and her rob. She got undressed then put on her night gown and wrapped her rob around herself. After she put her dress away, she walked down the stairs seeing Hiccup throwing a fish in the air for Toothless to catch. "Your turn," she said walking up towards him.
Hiccup turned around to look at her and nodded. He picked up his vest from the table and walked up to his room. It didn't take long for him to get ready for bed; he put on his regular clothes minus the vest. "So, what do you want to do?" he asked walking up to her.
Astrid shrugged and sat by the fire pit. "I don't know. What do you do for fun here?" she asked watching him poking at the dying fire.
Hiccup let out a sigh and shrugged before setting the poker down. "Nothing you'll find interesting. I normally stay in my room and draw out plans to make Toothless' tail better."
"Can I see them?" she asked making him raise a brow at her.
"Seriously? You actually want to see my plans?"
"Yeah sure why not? I mean they can't be that bad." She said getting up from the floor.
"Well alright then, everything's upstairs." He told her getting up to walk up to his room. When the teens walked up the stairs, Toothless fallowed to get on his rock bed. Astrid waited in the corner of the room watching Hiccup getting his journal. "Here you go," he handed her his brown leather back journal. Astrid gave him a weak smile and walked to the bed and sat on the end of it. Hiccup sat next to her watching her turn each page to explain each plan.
"You know Hiccup, you can use your ideas to not just improve Toothless flight. You can improve the whole village." She said turning to the next page.
"You think so?"
"Hiccup, if you can come up with this, I can only imagine what you can come up with for the village." She said closing the journal and handing it back to him. "Have you shown your dad these?" Hiccup shook his head and got up to put it on his desk. "Well you should. I'm pretty sure he would agree with me."
"I don't want to show my dad these." He muttered walking back to the bed to sit next to her.
"Why not?"
"He wouldn't care, you know how he is. He doesn't do well with change. He's still trying to adapt with dragons living here." Astrid nodded dropping the conversation. The two of them sat in silence hearing Toothless' light snores. "So, my life's pretty boring uh?"
"You're not boring, Hiccup-"
"I didn't say I was boring! I said my life is. You think I'm boring?!" he cried out defensively.
Astrid bit her lip trying to think of something to say. "Okay, first off you're overreacting, and I didn't mean it like that. It's just that there's nothing to do and I'm not tired yet. I'm just little bored."
"Well, what do you want to do in the meantime?" he asked. Astrid got up from the bed and paced around the room wrapping her arms around herself. Even in the dim lighting, he can see the red growing in her face. He wasn't so sure what she was thinking, but he finally put the pieces together. He shot up from the bed feeling his own face burn. "Oh, whoa, whoa! You're not suggesting….?" He didn't need to finish the question because she knew what he meant.
"Of course not! We barely talked about it, and we agreed to see if we felt close enough to do anything like that!" she shouted throwing a pillow at his face.
Hiccup huffed and set the pillow back in its place. "So…How do you feel about it anyway?"
Astrid shrugged and sat back down on the bed. "I don't know, I mean I feel a little closer, but not enough." She answered then she heard a sigh of relief from him before sitting down next to her.
"I have to be honest; I was scared that you would be ready for it while I'm not."
Astrid crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes at him. "Why would that scare you?"
Hiccup shrugged and rubbed his hands together nervously. "I don't know…. I just thought that…if you were ready, that I have to…"
"Hiccup, even if I was ready. I would never let you do that if you didn't feel ready." She saw him raise his head up to look at her, then went back to look at the ground. "We agreed to see how we both felt. I'm your friend first, and as your friend I want to help you, not put pressure on you."
Hiccup nodded and muttered "same here."
Astrid let out a sigh and rested her hand on his back. "How about a new plan?" she suggested making him turn his head to look up at her.
"Okay, what's the new plan?"
"We don't do anything, until we both feel ready. Not 90% ready, not even 99%, we should both be 100% ready. There should be no hesitation if we ask one another if we're ready. If one of us is ready and the other isn't, then we wait. How does that plan sound?" she asked seeing a small smile grow on his face.
"Yeah, that sounds great…and it might take us ten years before we both feel like doing that," he added.
Astrid shrugged with a smile. "Then that's how it happens."
"So do you want to play 'what would you do?' until we fall sleep?" Hiccup suggested making Astrid breathe out a laugh.
"That sounds great."
A/N: Sorry for anyone who thought that something was going to happen. I said I wanted to work on the relationship and that's what I'm going to do. Now like I said before, this story is going to follow season 1 and 2, and that's going to start in the next chapter.
I'm not going to copy every single detail from the show because it is an AU. I want it to be a little original with something familiar.
So until then I'll see you next time, Bye!
