Hiccup needs glasses. Astrid finds this attractive as hell.
He supposed he should've known. He'd been writing in those tiny runes for years, squinting at them, trying to reread his own handwriting for materials, amounts, instructions, and so forth. He's never really noticed the steadily decreasing distance from his face to the paper, only realizing when Gobber said "Yer gonna eat that paper if it gets any closer to yer mouth" one day at the forge when there was a lull in saddle building and basic weapon maintenance.
It was after that incident that Hiccup determined he needed reading glasses. He went and got a pair the next day, the glassmaker only responding "I had wondered when you were going to show up." (That's how Hiccup learned his runes were infamously tiny, thanks to Gobber. The smith had poured over his designs while he was out after the death of the Fallen Queen, muttering under his breath the whole while. The only complaint was of the itsy letters.)
So now Hiccup wore his glasses whenever he was designing a project. Gobber noticed but didn't comment, making sure the protective cloth that the glasses were put in when they weren't on Hiccup's face was in his assistant's back room when the lad forgot them in the forge, usually with a chuckle. Attention span of a sparrow indeed.
The only other person who knew Hiccup wore glasses was Stoick, who lived with him. Hiccup was always reading a book or writing in the Book of Dragons as a form of indoor entertainment that didn't destroy the house. Naturally, sharing a house would lead to this aspect of Hiccup's life not being a secret. He also made sure Hiccup's glasses were safe, knowing that his son truly did need them to work as well as he did. (So many notes saying Out in the forest, be back by sunset were written in that small script that eventually Stoick had given up on reading due to aging eyes.)
He's also plucked the darn things off his son's face on more than a few occasions. The boy would have a stroke of inspiration and would stay up until the candles went low, eventually falling asleep at his desk. Or so he presumed; the black dragon that guarded his son like a faithful hound would always tuck him into bed, either in the actual piece of furniture or the dragon's wings. He always grinned under his beard when he had to, a moment of youth in his otherwise far-too-old son. He had missed so many years already. He wasn't going to lose any more.
The reason I say the only other person is because of course Toothless knew, he was there when Hiccup got the glasses, and a dragon isn't a person, though they certainly have a personality.
So to say that Astrid was surprised when she found out would be to do the shieldmaiden an injustice. She wasn't surprised so much as startled… and attracted. Hiccup looked damn fine in glasses.
She had stumbled across this discovery a bit before sunset. Astrid knew her boyfriend was working on a new project and would probably have to be dragged away from it for dinner. Usually when she got there, he was just cleaning up; a rather protective dragon ensured his human got enough to eat.
This time was different, however. Toothless had fallen asleep and was yet to awaken, casting a comforting, rumbling noise in Hiccup's area that had been expanded to accommodate both the dragon and growing boy more comfortably. The aforementioned boy was steadily moving his feather pen, the one he had picked up from Hamish the First's treasure hoard. The glasses sat on his face, allowing him to see the runes clearly.
Astrid admired the way they made him look for a few seconds, eventually knocking on the door frame to catch the attention of the young inventor.
Hiccup jumped a bit, startled, quickly glancing at the entrance to see who it was.
Astrid grinned. "What improvement have you made to Berk now?" she inquired, genuinely interested.
Hiccup, knowing why she was here, left those drawings out as he got up and started to put the others away, frames still on his nose.
"A fire-proofing system. We've long since been in need of this, but with the dragon population only growing, we're going to need a better one than the Bucket Brigade. Plus we're probably going to have more little ones soon; it's migration season in about two months, and they're due to travel this year. So we're going to have even more dragons, and… well, fire breathing lizards. For the most part." Hiccup tucked his glasses into the protective cloth, leaving them on the top of his desk and extending an arm out to Astrid. "Milady", he invited. She accepted, Toothless following the two as they left. Gobber had left the forge awhile ago, saying that there wasn't enough time left in the day to start on a new project.
"Why don't you wear your glasses all the time?" Astrid asked halfway to the Great Hall.
"I don't need them all the time, only when I'm reading," Hiccup replied to what he (correctly) presumed was her next question.
"Ah," Astrid accepted. "You look good in them."
Hiccup blushed lightly, still not confident in his physical appearance. "Thanks," he said honestly.
They entered the Great Hall and didn't speak about the subject again until their wedding night, where Astrid requested him to wear them.
He happily agreed.
A/N: Someone had to do it. I realize it doesn't seem that romantic, but that's how I see their relationship. They pretty much act as friends with benefits, though they acknowledge that they are more than that. I like the way HTTYD2 portrayed it as, it was beautiful.
I'm also cheating a little bit here. In the books, Fishlegs wears glasses. Plus I'm pretty sure archeologists have found several pairs in the same time period, so… yeah. Hiccup can wear glasses.
Disclaimer: I own plot and nothing else.
