A/N: Sorry if this chapter is a short and boring. My time was pretty limited last week because my weekend was crazy.
The next day, Astrid went back into the woods to throw her axe as Hiccup started The Academy. The teens did basic things like scratching below the dragon's chin to release an object from its mouth. While they were practicing, Hookfang ignored his rider when it was their turn.
"Come on Hookfang; just put the fish in your mouth." Snotlout commanded trying to get his dragon to grab the fish. Hookfang sniffed the fish before putting it in his mouth, and then he spit the fish in his rider's face. The twins laughed as Snotlout pulled the fish away from his face.
Hiccup let out a sigh and walked over to Snotlout. "Okay, let's just try another time."
"Stubborn dragon," Snotlout mumbled then he felt Hookfang's tail whip his back sending him across The Arena. Snotlout landed on the stone wall and slid down to the ground. Snotlout groaned in pain trying to get up from the ground. "Bullseye," he whined.
"Okay! I think we're good for the day. We'll meet back here tomorrow after breakfast." Hiccup stated giving the fish to his dragon.
"Cool, see you later!" Tuffnut shouted leaving with his sister and their dragon.
After Hiccup cleaned up from the day's lesson, Fishlegs walked up to him and tapped him on the shoulder. "How come Astrid didn't show up today?" he asked.
Hiccup shrugged and crossed his arms. "Um, she's just not feeling up to doing any lessons. She's been throwing her axe in the woods and staying at home most of the time. That's just her way of grieving I guess. My dad just told me to give her time to get back to her old self."
Fishlegs nodded, "I can't imagine what she's been going through. I mean, losing the last member of your family like that."
"I know, so I'm not trying to make her do anything. These kinds of things just take time."
"Yeah," Fishlegs agreed before asking his next question. "Oh hey, so what did Asmund write in his journal?"
"Um, you know I haven't read it yet. He wrote a letter to me and Astrid, she read hers yesterday. I don't know what he wrote, but she got really upset and left to go in the woods."
"Maybe he wrote something that brought back memories."
Hiccup shrugged lightly, "Your guess is as good as mine. Anyway, I should head home. Dad has to help prepare for a wedding tomorrow, so I'm cooking tonight."
"Oh okay, I'll see you later." Fishlegs walked out of The Academy with Meatlug leaving the boy and his Night Fury.
~oOo~
After Hiccup and Toothless flew around the island, they went back home seeing Stormfly grooming herself outside of the house. When Hiccup dismounted, Toothless ran up to Stormfly and they started to chase each other around the house. When Hiccup walked in the house, he found Astrid sitting on the floor by the fire pit reading out of her father's journal.
When Hiccup shut the door behind him, Astrid raised her head giving him a weak smile. Then she bent the corner of the page to not lose her place. "Hey," she greeted dryly clutching the leather back journal to her chest.
"Hey, when did you get home?" he asked walking to her.
"Just a few minutes ago," She answered looking up at him. She looked down at the journal, then back up to him. "Can I ask you a question?"
"You kind of just did," he replied getting on the ground to sit in front of her. "So, what's going on?"
Astrid bit her lip trying to find the right words to say. "If you kept a big secret from anyone because you thought it was best, would you?"
Hiccup raised his eyebrow and narrowed his eyes at her. "I don't understand; are you keeping a secret from me or something?"
Astrid let out a sigh getting ready to get up from the floor. "Just forget it," she mumbled then she felt him grabbing her wrist. She looked down at him just as he let go of her.
"Come on, tell me what's going on." He told her softly. Astrid bit her lip before sitting back down on the ground next to him.
"Okay, so don't act weird when I ask you this because you know it'll happen sometime in the future." He gestured for her to go on. "When we have kids, will you keep secrets from them? Like if you thought they were too young to understand, and you wanted to tell them as they got older, but you couldn't because you thought it was better that they didn't know. Would you keep them in the dark their whole lives even though they should know?"
Hiccup's eye widened trying to process what she just said. "Um, okay…..what?" he squeaked raising an eyebrow.
Astrid rolled her eyes. "Never mind, just forget I even asked."
"No it's just…what kind of a secret are we talking about here? I think it kind of depends of the severity of the secret." He answered seeing a little disappointment in Astrid's eyes. "Why are you asking questions about keeping secrets from our….kids?" he felt a little bit of heat rush to his face saying the last word.
"Just forget it, I shouldn't have asked anyway." She got up from the floor and picked up her father's journal. "I'm gonna go out, I'll be back later." She said making her way to the bedroom.
"Okay….Oh hey!" Astrid stopped walking up the stairs midway to look down at him. "Dad is going to be at The Great Hall tonight to help get ready for that wedding tomorrow. I thought we could eat here tonight, do you want me to make something?"
The young girl nodded. "Um, sure eating here sounds fine. I can really go for anything right now." She answered brushing her bangs away from her eyes.
"How does vegetable soup sound?"
She shrugged and nodded, "Sure, that's okay."
"I'll put some chicken in it." He added making Astrid smile weakly before she walked up the stairs to go in the bedroom. As Hiccup watched her go up the stairs, he couldn't help but wonder if it was something that Asmund wrote that made her ask those questions.
~oOo~
Later that night, Hiccup hung the cauldron over the fire bit letting the water start to boil. He set all the bags of vegetables on the dining table just as Astrid walked in the door. "Hey you made it just in time; I was just about to put the chicken in the pot." He said seeing her set her axe on the wall.
"In time for what?" she asked walking up to the table.
"I'm going to teach you how to cook vegetable soup," he announced as he put all the vegetables on the table. Astrid raised a brow as she watched him grab a knife to cut the veggies.
"Are you sure? Even my dad said I was a horrible cook."
"No disrespect to your father, but he didn't know how to cook either. If he did, he wouldn't have been spending all of his time at The Great Hall. Also, he would have taught you himself if he knew how to cook. I on the other hand had to learn how to cook because of dad not being here all the time."
"So if you know how to cook, then why should I? No matter how much I try, I always make people sick."
"That's because you never had someone teach you, that's why I thought we should try soup to help you get started." He replied seeing her shaking her head.
"Are you trying to make me one of those women that cooks and cleans all the time?" she asked putting her hands on her hips.
"What? No of course not! I just thought I should teach you because you might actually be really good at it." He explained putting the chicken in the simmering pot.
Astrid let out a groan and sat down by the table. "Okay, you got an extra knife?" Hiccup handed her a knife and put a bowl and some tomatoes in front of her.
"I find it easier to chop standing up." He told her as he started to chop up some potatoes. Astrid stood up and kept listening to him as they prepared the soup. As they were cutting, Hiccup heard Astrid hiss in pain. He put his knife down seeing her holding her hand.
"Oh Thor, I cut my finger!" she groaned seeing the blood flowing out of her pointer finger. Hiccup grabbed her wrist and dragged her away from the table. He ran up to his room to grab a rag, and then he ran back to the dining area to get a bottle of alcohol. He dribbled some alcohol in the rag, and then he wrapped it around her bleeding finger. Astrid held in her scream feeing it burn in her open wound. He grasped her finger with the rag until the bleeding clotted. "I think I should stop hanging around with you because your clumsiness is rubbing off." Astrid joked feeling the sting in her finger starting to cease.
Hiccup breathed out a laugh before he opened the rag. He set the rag aside to wrap her finger up. "Well, maybe if I keep hanging around you, your strength might rub off." Hiccup tied the end of the white wrap in a small tight bow.
Astrid bent her finger a few times trying to get used to the tight wrapping, and then went back to the table to cook. After all the chopped vegetables were in the bowl, Hiccup checked the chicken in the cauldron. He kept helping her with what to do once the chicken was ready to be chopped.
It took longer than expected, but the soup was finally done. Hiccup made each of them a bowl and gave their dragons a basket of fish. The teenagers ate in almost complete silence. He tapped the tip of his spoon trying to think of something to say.
"So….why were you asking me about keeping secrets?" Hiccup asked seeing Astrid tense up.
"I said to forget about it," she mumbled spinning her spoon around in the bowl.
"Astrid, if something is bothering you, you know you can tell me right?"
She let out a sigh and looked up at him, "I know."
"Then why are you shutting me out?" Astrid could almost hear the hurt in this voice. She wanted to tell him, but she didn't know how.
"I have a lot going on right now; I would think you of all people would understand."
"I do understand, but I also know that talking about it is better than keeping it to yourself."
"You'll treat me different if you find out." Astrid told him just as the front door swung open. Hiccup looked at his father before turning his head back to her.
"No I won't," he whispered just loud enough for her to hear. Just as they were finishing up, Stoick walked to the steaming pot to see how much was left. The chief let them go to bed as he was eating dinner, but they had to clean up before they did. After the teens put their bowls away, Astrid went to check on Stormfly as Hiccup went up to the bedroom with Toothless following. When he got in the room, he saw the journal on the bed. He felt tempted to read what Asmund wrote to Astrid. Just as he was reaching out for the leather back book, he heard Astrid's walking up the stairs. He quickly walked to his desk and started to draw in his book. When Astrid got into the room she moved the journal to her dresser.
"Hey," she said softly trying to get his attention. He put his feather pin in the ink, and looked up at her. "I know I've been acting more isolated lately, but please try to understand why. I just need to figure some things out right now, and I don't think you should get involved, at least not right now."
"Will you ever tell me what's going on?" he asked.
Astrid looked at the ground and shrugged. "Eventually, it's just that right now it's hard to grasp what's going on." She saw him nodding trying to understand. "Just don't take it personally why I haven't told you. I mean, I'm still trying to figure it out myself."
"I want to help, but I can only do that if I know what's bothering you." He told her, "If this is about your dad don't try to act tough. It's okay to be upset-"
"This isn't about my dad," she raised her voice a little, but she took a breath to finish, "At least not all of it." She muttered looking down at the ground. Then she heard him get out of his chair, and felt his hand on her shoulder pad. She raised her head seeing the sympathetic look in his eyes.
"Okay, just forget about it. Let's just go to bed and talk more about it later if you want." He said making Astrid nod in agreement.
~oOo~
The next day at sundown, Astrid went to the cove to clean herself up from throwing her axe again. She knelt in front of the lake to clean the sweat off of her face. She heard her dragon squawking at her as she cupped her hands in the water. "What?" she asked her Nadder just before she splashed the water on her face.
"I'm sorry Stormfly, but I need to train. This guy could be on the island, and I don't want anyone to know why I'm doing this." She explained putting her cold wet hand on the back of her neck. She wasn't sure if Stormfly could understand her, but she felt her staring at her. She turned around with a glare looking at the Nadder. "I don't want Hiccup to know right now okay? I know he'll try to stop me. That's why I can't tell him just yet."
Astrid let out a sigh before getting up from the ground. "Let's go home girl." She mounted on Stormfly and they flew back to the village. When she got in the house, she found Stoick dozing off in his chair. She walked up the stairs and saw Toothless resting on his rock bed, and Hiccup lying on the bed reading out of her father's journal.
"What are you doing?" she asked putting her axe by her dresser.
"I decided to read the letter your dad wrote to me," he answered not leaving his eyes from the page. Astrid nodded walking to the desk chair to take her boots off.
"What does it say?" she asked.
"Oh, I just started reading it. Right now, it's just a lot of advice." He replied lying on his back holding the open journal over his face. "Hey, did you hear that Gobber's going to help my dad tomorrow?" he moved the journal away from his face to look at her.
"With what?"
"He's going to be my dad's right-hand man with chiefing," he answered sitting up.
Astrid raised a bow and put her hands on her hips. "Are you serious? Whose bright idea was that?"
"Uh, mine," Hiccup was almost hesitant to answer.
"Hiccup, are you out of your mind? You and I both know how Gobber is!"
"You didn't see what I saw this morning! Gobber was trying to get people to buy his weapons! It's was depressing seeing Gobber acting like a Peddler. I mean it's my fault that he's out of business!" he explained.
"It's not your fault," she softly said walking up to him.
"Yes it is. Gobber taught me everything I know to make Toothless tail, and now he's out of a job!"
"Hiccup, Gobber is out of a job because you ended the war." She said sitting next to him.
"See! It is my fault!" he shouted.
"You know that's not what I meant." She put her hand on his shoulder. "What you and Toothless did changed our way of life. Gobber just needs to adjust just like all of us did. I don't know, maybe Gobber being Stoick's right hand man just might be it."
"That's what I'm hoping for," Hiccup said looking back down at the journal. "So, I'm guessing you've been chucking your axe in the woods again." Astrid nodded in response.
"Yeah, um…I'm pretty tired from it…..I think I'm going to get ready for bed," she said. Hiccup got up and walked down the stairs with Toothless following. As soon as Hiccup was out of sight, Astrid picked up the journal and went to her letter. She ripped out the pages, folded them, and hid them under her clothes in her dresser.
A/N: Just to let you guys know, this secrets stuff is actually the subplot. This is also my first fanfic with a subplot, so please bare with me. I hope you enjoyed and I'll be back in another two weeks (maybe next week if I'm lucky).
So until then I'll see you next time. Bye!
