"Irish Party in Third Class" from Titanic is what I listened to for this whole chapter, and I used the dance scene from Tangled to get an idea for this one.
I'm updating a little early because I won't be able to update until late tomorrow, so I'm treating you guys :D Enjoy!
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Hands on Sunshine
Chapter Three
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The ceremony couldn't have lasted any longer than it did; it felt like an eternity had passed before it ended. Elder Gothi was speaking in an ancient tongue, calling to the Gods to bless the union and the goat Brandan and Auda would keep as a living testament to their marriage. Auda and Brandan dutifully repeated the vows she spoke for them, and lucky for Brandan that he practiced because his thick Celtic accent would have made the vows go horribly wrong. They traded swords and rings were past between them, and Elder Gothi said some finishing words then Brandan lifted the thin veil covering Auda's face and kissed her cheek. Auda could have resembled a tomato she was so red.
After that, every villager cheered and began the race to Mead Hall. Astrid lagged behind with her weeping mother to walk slowly with her to the hall and to console the delightfully sad woman. She said things like 'this was always going to happen', and 'Brandan's a great guy, don't worry' and Ingrid, almost comically, would honk into her handkerchief and thickly reply to her daughter in unintelligible words.
"Oh, my—mom, come on. We have to get there in time to see the chief make the toast," Astrid said in exasperation, rubbing her mother's shoulder. She prayed that she wouldn't fall into such a state of mess at her children's weddings, may the Gods forbid.
"I—I—I… Sto—Stoi—Stoi-ick will w-wait," Ingrid fervently nodded and dabbed at her red nose. "Okay," She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "I'm o-okay."
"Good. Let's go," Astrid took her mother's hand and led her along, their roles as mother and child very much reversed.
Astrid wasn't very excited to be at the wedding after-party because that meant hanging around her mother and all her catty friends and putting on fake smiles like she was totally happy for Auda, which she was, but she wasn't at the same time. Being married didn't sound as great as it seemed to Astrid; being tied down to one person seemed like such a pain in the ass, and not to mention pregnancy and the housework and the kids and the lovey-dovey sickness, and the pregnancy. But Astrid just really wanted to get this whole thing over with and avoid Hiccup as much as possible.
Hiccup, however, was looking high and low for the blonde-headed Viking who occupied his thoughts much too often to be normal. He needed to find her and apologize profusely and do anything to gain her acceptance back. And he also really wanted to show her the white stone tooth he carved himself-but he wanted to apologize more than show her a stupid tooth.
Hiccup was raising himself to his full height and then some to scan the heads of the crowd pooling into the hall for dinner. "Astrid, where are you…," he whispered lightly, stepping around a giant and giantess Viking couple. "Astrid!" He found her, walking in very last with Ingrid. Hiccup immediately weaved through people to get to her, but just has soon as he started he was pulled by the elbow out of the stream of Vikings by none other that his hulky cousin.
"'Lout! Wait, I need to—,"
"Nope, we gotta sit at the table, now. Important toast is important," Snotlout didn't even look over his shoulder when he spoke, making Hiccup even more ticked off than he already was.
"The toast isn't at least for ten minutes! Let me—go!" Hiccup exaggerated and yanked his elbow free from Snotlout's meaty hand but continued walking with him. It was important for the ring surrounding the chief be first to be seated, so he understood why Snotlout, of all people, would pull him back, but he supposed he would have plenty of time to talk to Astrid.
"Feast, whatever, don't care," Snotlout weaved around a few people and sat down at a bench and Hiccup followed suit, sitting next to Stoick's left and Spitelout at his right.
Tables were already piled with food of all kinds and everyone dug in, but Hiccup was moving his body left and right and trying to extend his neck to see where he saw the familiar head of blonde. He couldn't see her face because of a Viking's helmet horn. He ate quietly and lightly, his stomach too uneasy to eat much.
Stoick gave his toast about how Auda was such a remarkable girl and how everybody loved her and how great she was with her hammers and a bunch of other lame stuff that made Astrid snort in contempt. He spoke about Brandan and his Celtic family, stirring up laughs like he always seemed to be best at, and ended his speech with a mighty 'hurrah!' and the party picked up.
There was continuous music subtly playing in the background, but when the eating was near over and the drinking games began and more and more girls brought their men or chosen boyfriends for the night to the dance floor, the renowned Irish music grew louder. Flutes, pipes, fiddles, drums, lutes—a small ragtag band of mixed Celts and Vikings playing fast-pace music, and they made sure the dance floor was in constant motion without fail.
At the beginning, Astrid hung out at her family table with her parents to talk to villagers and to receive any congratulatory gifts. Auda and Brandan had gone off dancing after a while, but not until Auda dragged Brandan away while Ingrid wasn't looking to take a few shots of hard liquor behind a wood statue. Astrid laid her head on the table and almost fell asleep, tired of being ignored by villagers and her parents, but she was shaken awake by a tipsy Ruffnut.
"Hey, Ast, you wanna join a drinking game?" Ruffnut asked, her words perfectly normal, but the way she was swaying and how her eyes were slightly glazed totally gave her away.
"Yeah, what the Hel," Astrid shook her head to will herself to wake up, and slipped under the table while her mother's back was turned.
"Okay, so, dude. Tuffnut is totally kicking ass and we need to beat him. 'Lout was originally my partner until some chick walked by and he pretty much went drooling after her. So, it's me and you, Tuffnut and Fishlegs—who is surprisingly good, by the way—Hoark and Stinger, Nosebleed and Buttscratch, aaand… yeah," Ruffnut explained while leading Astrid to the table where the game was being held, stopping for wildly dancing people that looked more or less like they were drunk, walking around the dance floor, being run into by some hulking Vikings, and laughing at two ladies fighting over a knocked out man. Approaching the table, there was a ring around the players and currently there were raised fists as Tuffnut won another round.
"Goddamnit!" Ruffnut barked and pushed her way through the ring, leading Astrid behind her.
"Ooh, Ruffnut, I got another point!" Tuffnut teased, jumping up and down with excitement as his sister rounded the head of the table with Astrid in tow.
"Whose turn is it?" Ruffnut asked, stopping next to her brother.
"Yours, I think," Fishlegs replied, his eyes going a bit lazy. He was sitting at a table within the ring, looking ready to topple over his mug and sleep in the puddle. He was incredibly wasted for being such a big and muscular guy.
"Oh, well, Astrid'll go. It's her turn anyway," Ruffnut pushed Astrid forward and she almost fell into the table from tripping on her dress. She was about to yell at her but Ruffnut started first. "It's beer ball, you just—,"
"I know how to play," Astrid snapped, standing at the head of the table. There was a set up of beer glasses at the other end of the table set in a triangular shape, another one at her end, the tip of the opposite triangle in her direction. She was meant to get a small cloth ball into each one of the glasses filled three-fourths of the way, and each one she got the opposing person had to chug one of their glasses. If she missed, her turn was given to the next player in the cycle. The whole point of the game was to get the other person as drunk as possible, and so far, Tuffnut was in the lead, even before the older players.
Astrid didn't really like beer ball because she didn't like beer. If there was any alcoholic beverage she would drink freely it would either be mead because it was sweet and had a pleasing tang, or vodka, when it was around on rare occasions. She also didn't like beer ball because beer hardly had an effect on her, even after drinking ten glasses. At seventeen-years-old, Astrid had plenty exposure to alcohol and she'd been drinking it, technically, since she was a child, but in actuality she had been drinking since she could reach the bar counter at fourteen. But, before that, she and her friends stole a barrel when they were eleven and that was the time Astrid first broke her nose. Now, being allowed to drink publicly, Astrid had a higher tolerance to alcohol than most of her friends. Fishlegs had the lowest tolerance, then Tuffnut, then Snotlout, Ruffnut, and then her. Hiccup was probably before Fishlegs because she had never seen him drunk, ever, but it was her turn to go.
Astrid made her first shot in the middle cup against Buttscratch, the third row with three cups, and she received a round of applause before he took the cup and downed it one go. Taking the cloth ball out, Buttscratch swayed a little before taking a shot, bouncing the lip of one cup and plunking into the center one. Astrid picked the cup up, took the ball out, and drank it faster than Buttscratch previously did.
"Holy Valhalla, that girl can drink," a Viking on the sidelines spoke to their neighbor, and Astrid felt a surge of pride swell within her as she smirked.
Astrid took another shot and the ball landed in a cup in the forth row and he slugged it down, he made one, she made one, he made it, she made it, and it kept going back and forth until Astrid purposely missed her seventh shot so she could stop drinking the beer. "Woah! Holy shit, Astrid's a monster!" Tuffnut cheered, wrapping an overly-friendly arm around her neck and pulling her head into his shoulder, his other hand occupied with a mug. "Go Astrid!" Tuffnut nodded vigorously to the music. "Oh, dude—it's your turn, my man! Go, Nosebleed! Go, man, go!"
"Okay, Tuff…," Astrid said with a squished cheek, trying to shove Tuffnut away. She wasn't super buzzed, but she was feeling the slight jelly legged-ness.
Tuffnut looked down at Astrid like he forgot he was almost holding her in a headlock. "Oh, hey," he chuckled out. "You know, Astrid, can I tell ya somethin'?" Tuffnut asked, his grip never really loosening.
"What is it, Tuff?" Astrid rolled her eyes and looked up at him. His face was flushed with his helmet a little turned to the side and he absolutely reeked of alcohol. Astrid wrinkled her nose, knowing the smell probably wouldn't leave him until next week.
"You look—," he burped rather loudly and unattractively. "You look purdy with your hair down."
Astrid furrowed her eye brows and shoved him off, ignoring Ruffnut shaking her head and sniggering. "Shut up, Tuff. You're drunk," Astrid snapped and crossed her arms, watching Nosebleed chug down his second glass, and then he began falling to the side until the cup fell from his mouth and spilled all over his front. He stumbled into the wall of people with crazed laughing. Nosebleed righted himself, at least to the best of his drunken ability, and tried walking off before he ran into Stinger and lewdly grabbed her breast. Astrid started bursting out laughing when Stinger pulled her fist back and jammed it right into his nose.
"Go Stinger!" Tuffnut cheered, jumping around and spilling his ale onto a few people. They pushed him away but he recoiled back like a spring with rabid giggles. Stinger kicked Nosebleed on the floor, now with an actual nose bleed, and stepped over him to take her turn at beer ball.
Astrid stayed and watched until Ruffnut went and then after her the players began falling all over each other. The game broke up and Astrid slipped out of the group just as Tuffnut sat on Stinger's lap, only to get shoved off onto the ground with ale spilling into his hair.
Astrid strode around the giant hall with her arms crossed and hair flowing down to the small of her back, watching children run past with toy dragons, avoiding the dark shadows in case any couples were having their fun, and stopped to watch a few fights play out. A Viking party was never complete without a few brawls, and Astrid saw many play out in her short lifetime. Auda even got into one many years ago when her main rival dumped a mixture of sloppy food and vinegar on her head. Auda ended up winning because the girl got pulled off by her father and also because she fared the worst of the two. Auda only got a few bruises and a cut next to her brow that scarred and was still present to this day. It was that one time in history that Astrid rooted for Auda to win something, mostly because it was a damn good fight. Women on Berk did not fight like little girls with the hair pulling and screeches—they exchanged blows like the men, wrestling and trying to fervently get the upper hand. More often than not, the women's fights were watched more than the men's.
Astrid even remembered a time when her mother was almost induced into a fight, but she pulled herself out because Astrid was watching and she didn't want her daughter to see her kick total ass. Astrid was quite young at the time so she didn't remember much detail, just her mother sweeping her into her arms and hurriedly walking away while the lady yelled after them, and also from the stories Arnheim told. Astrid knew that if she ever got into a bar fight, she would win hands down and that she wouldn't back out for anything. She would win and that was certain.
Astrid swiped a smallish goblet filled with wine from a table, not really caring whose it belonged to. She didn't really mind wine, but she liked mead better, and it was the closest thing nearby to wash the fermenting taste of beer from her mouth. She really hated beer.
Meanwhile, Hiccup was having quite the time watching his father and Gobber race each other to see who chugged faster. Apparently, it has been an on-going debate for years and years because they were both soo professional at it (Yeah, right, Hiccup thought sarcastically), and also because they could never remember who won. Spitelout was supposed to be the referee but his words were getting slurred together and he gave his job to Hiccup, who could honestly care less, and kept calling each round a tie.
"Hiccup! Yeh got—yeh got ta pay attention!" Gobber shouted a bit loudly despite the already roaring music.
"I am—," Lies.
"No, it's okay, Gobber, 'ee's a good son. A great son," Stoick waved Gobber off with a heavy hand and shined his son a grand, bleary-eye smile.
Oh, great. Here is where he gets emotional like an old woman. "Yeah, dad. I'll refill," and without haste Hiccup swiped Stoick's and Gobber's mugs before his father could say anything else, but he did hear things about him as he walked away. Stoick tended to talk a lot when drunk and it often led to him spilling his guts out to anybody who would hear. There was a rumor that past around before Hiccup was born that he spoke to a sheep all night and brought it back to Valhallarama as a new member of the family. Stoick viciously denied the rumors, but his wife told everybody it was true anyway. He would still deny it to this day.
Hiccup didn't like alcohol all that much. He wasn't able to even get a sip of anything until he was fifteen when he could finally reach the bar counter, and by then he thought he grew a permanent aversion to it. He would drink alcohol when offered out of politeness but he wouldn't actively go out seeking it, and if anything, he would drink it slowly. But, he did quite enjoy people-watching when the whole of Berk was drunk. He could remember a hundred stories out of the top of his head when men ventured outside to display their strength by uprooting trees and hauling boulders and throwing axes. Now that there were dragons around, there were a few instances where a house or two got lit on fire or crashed into. Hiccup had never gotten drunk, but he prayed he wouldn't be entirely incapacitated and moronic as some of the men.
Walking over to the bar with one mug in each hand, he weaved through clumps of people and dodged children, almost slipping on a puddle of ale once, and narrowly missing a swinging fist. However, as a new song picked up, he was roughly grabbed by the forearm and brought into the dance, dropping the mugs with drowned out clatters.
His stomach dropped.
"No!" He shouted to the woman who pulled him in but his voice was lost to the music. He didn't know the woman's name but she was short and reached to his chest, so when she pulled him uncomfortably close her cheek was almost against him. She rested her hand on his shoulder and his fell to her back and they held their hands outwardly, and suddenly Hiccup didn't know what he was doing. He was spinning around, skipping between people as the woman led him through, face red and smiling.
Oh, Gods. Oh Gods, oh Gods. No, please end! But then he was suddenly switched to another partner and the whole thing started over again; the spinning, the twirling, the awkward skipping. Hiccup's feet fumbled as the dance floor stopped in perfect time to spin their partners and clap to the music twice before beginning again. Okay, pattern. Hiccup could work with patterns. Another partner switch, more spinning, jumping, skipping, twirling partner, clap clap, spin and skip around, new partner. After a few more rotations, Hiccup began to relax into the music and he started to enjoy himself.
Astrid strode around with her wine glass, sipping on it, and watched the band play a little, sweat dripping off their foreheads in sheets from the fast pace they kept constantly. She turned her attention to the dance floor and spotted her sister, spinning around in a man's grasp, smiling bigger than she's ever seen her. Then Hiccup spun into view and Astrid just about spat her wine out in laughter.
"He's dancing!" she said to herself after she swallowed, almost laughing her head off.
He looked like a total dork dancing, she thought. He was a good head taller than most of the women and matched many of the men in height, but he just looked so funny. She had never in her life seen him dance. Astrid just laughed at the thought, shaking her head, watching him bring a woman's hand above her head and spin her around. But, thinking about it, Astrid found it a bit endearing he was dancing and smiling and laughing. He looked like he was having a good time. And, good, he put his hair in a pony tail. She would have snipped it off if he wasn't. It was a tiny thing, sticking out of the nape of his neck like a fan in all directions; his hair must have got a bit funny at the ends when it was long, she guessed. His cheeks were flushed as he skipped around with much more agility than Astrid expected from a person with one full leg. He seemed to have a grip on dancing like it was purely effortless. Who knew Hiccup Haddock could dance.
The song ended abruptly and the dance floor was still for almost ten seconds as the people watching clapped. Hiccup was catching his breath, hands on his hips and smiling down at his partner who could not have been a day over fourteen. A band member shouted and started clapping a beat and another song began. It was entirely different but much the same, and it was apparently a Irish dance due to most of the people he didn't recognize immediately form a clearing in the middle. People who still wished to dance stayed and a few left, but there was still a crowded dance floor. Strangely, Hiccup found himself wanting to stay.
He watched the couples in the center, carefully counting off steps as they switched around partners, hopped around in timed steps, stopped and clapped, hooked arms and spun around, switching two times, then back to the original partner. There seemed to be one constant partner in this dance.
And, spotting a dab of blonde hair, Hiccup found his partner.
Astrid was busy watching the new dance wildly start up so she hadn't noticed the lanky blacksmith come up to her and take her free hand. Astrid almost spilled her goblet over her dress, but she quickly handed it off to someone as she ran behind Hiccup.
"Hiccup!" she shouted, panic and anger mixing into a frothy brew in her stomach. "I can't dance!"
"Follow me!" he shouted over his shoulder and suddenly he whipped her around, pulled her close, and started leading her around the dance floor now filled with groups of dancing partners.
"Hiccup, let me go!" Astrid yelled at him, hitting his shoulder as she stumbled after him.
He only replied with a laugh, unfazed by her pounding his shoulder and unsuccessfully trying to knee him in the groin. He pulled her to a stop and clapped, Astrid trying to desperately keep up, but she hated dancing. She would have loved to have run off but that was cowardly and she was being pulled every which direction before she could. At first she had absolutely no idea what she was doing, but then she started to catch on when different parts of the song repeated when she would walk around her male partner and shake her skirts, then go back to skipping around again.
She was back to Hiccup after hooking arms with another girl, and she was actually relieved. "I will kill you for this!" she shouted up at him, now mindful of her and Hiccup's feet—well, his foot and his metal prosthetic.
"You seem to be having fun, too, Astrid," he pulled her apart and spun her around, once, twice, then three times, and then quickly pulled her back again, his left hand resting just at the middle of her back.
"Am not!" she cracked an unconscious smile, and seeing Hiccup's 'I told you so' face, she had to laugh. Okay, she was having fun. But she was still going to kill him.
Astrid switched partners again, coming chest to chest with Helsplitter. Astrid grinned stupidly up at him, trying her best not to snort out laughing knowing Ruffnut would kill to be in her position. He grinned down at her with a twitching brow, and with a few more skips and three twirls she had another partner.
Astrid secretly loved dancing now, but it was hard to hide a secret when in the middle of the dance floor with everybody watching and when sharing the same secret with someone else. She knew neither she nor Hiccup would truly admit it straight-faced, but they both knew it existed.
In the dances, Astrid always kind of looked forward to meeting Hiccup one way or another, whether it is hooking arms or tapping steps around him or him spinning her around. She liked being near his energy. The vibes he gave off were very contagious and Astrid couldn't complain; she was also enjoying herself. But she couldn't complain at all when his hand held hers tight or his other hand went a little farther south than the middle of her back, or even when she was pressed hard against his strong chest like he was protecting her or something equally outrageous. Astrid didn't need protecting from anybody, but it was oddly enjoyable when he pulled her in tight.
The dances ended in an abrupt halt just when the dancers met their partners face to face after a drawn out crescendo of flutes and fiddles. Astrid and Hiccup looked at each other, both grinning with heaving chests and red faces. Astrid was the first to pull away and drop her hands from his shoulder and outstretched hand, adjusting her long dress. The band hopped off the stage for a well-deserved break and the hall was filled with the din of laughter, talking voices, screeching chairs, toasting mugs, shouts and children.
Astrid adjusted her slightly off kilter headband and smiled up at Hiccup with raised brows. "Let's get something to drink," she took Hiccup's sleeve and he followed her with no objections, but he did manage to squeak out, "okay".
She led him around a few people to the close-by dive bar and squeezed through a couple of swaying Vikings to the counter. Astrid pulled Hiccup beside her, rather roughly, and shouted for a bartender. With Astrid's pretty looks, and standing out in lavender in a sea of male-orientated neutral tones, a husky bartender was standing in front of her in no time at all.
"Just a mead," she said. The bartender and Astrid looked to Hiccup, who started scrambling for words.
Alcohol? No alcohol? Uh—uh—"Same."
The bartender looked at him a bit strangely for a second, close to being deadpan, then turned and went to get two mugs for their mead. Astrid laughed and shook her head, throwing her mane of blonde hair over her shoulder. Hiccup watched her, nearly a head below him, and his stomach did weird topsy-turvies when she tossed her hair; her beautiful, long, golden yellow hair. Oh, how he missed her.
"What?" Hiccup spoke after her giggling ceased, cracking a crooked smirk and leaning his elbow on the bar.
"You don't drink much, do you?" Astrid asked calmly but her eyes were showing mischievous glints and her tiny smirk gracing her lips betrayed her voice. She cocked a thin brow and examined his scruff. Hiccup Haddock certainly looked attractive with his dusting of barely-there russet whiskers, paired with some amateur sideburns that were just fuzzy and not really sideburns.
Hiccup shook his head, watching a Viking past Astrid slug down a pint of ale briefly before looking back at her. "Nope. Not much."
"Have you ever been drunk? At all? Even buzzed?" Astrid asked and the two mugs were set in front of them. Despite what Hiccup said, he took the mug by the metal handle and gulped from it, and pulling it away he furrowed his brows tightly and licked his lips with a slight grimace. Astrid snorted in laughter and downed a few gulps.
Hiccup raised his brows and smiled. "Only once. Your sister kept refilling my glass and telling me to drink the whiskey and I did."
"Auda? Or Aislin? What?" Astrid looked at him incredulously with tightly knit eyebrows.
"Auda. I met her in Dublin and she sewed up a gash on my chest after some bar fight," Hiccup waved his hand and took another sip. "I don't really remember much but it hurt really bad is all I know. The whiskey really helped to numb the pain," he laughed airily but Astrid was still confused, even looking a bit mad.
"She never told me she met you in Dublin!" Astrid searched his grown-up features, not entirely happy she was left out of the loop, again.
"I told you in a letter I sent you, but… you didn't reply to any," Hiccup said solemnly among the din of Mead Hall, looking into his mug, swirling it around. Astrid deflated, remembering the dozen or so letters he sent she had never opened, stashed away in a dresser drawer somewhere. She even blushed.
"Oh… right," and to drown out the couple of awkward seconds, she threw her head back and emptied half of her mug and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand.
Hiccup was quiet but he wasn't moping like he used to do; instead, he seemed to be entirely lost in thought, swimming inside his mug which looked like it was really interesting to him. Astrid watched him, having a gut feeling that she knew what was racing in his head. She decided to wait, however, until he chose to speak, watching him look at his mug and then around to the people and then back to his mug, standing up straight, switching his feet into different positions. Hiccup was the fidgety type, Astrid noticed. Astrid didn't fidget unless she was nervous, but right now she was very content, even a bit buzzed.
"Astrid, I, uhm…," Hiccup looked at her briefly but averted his eyes to the barrels of ale, mead, beer and a whole lot of other beverages behind the counter. "I just wanted to say...,"
"No, wait," Astrid held up a hand before taking a sip of her favorite alcoholic drink. "Before you start to annoy me with your endless apologies, let me first," she laughed, warmth spreading to all parts of her body from her stomach.
Hiccup raised his brows, almost disappearing into his sheet of bangs. Astrid, apologize? What? He had been gone for far too long to see this drastic change in her. She had certainly matured in a way Hiccup didn't expect for he expected her to be much the same: young and brash and someone who would never apologize for anything, unrelenting and unchanging like the sun. Hiccup was baffled, promptly shutting his mouth to hear her words of apology he would probably never forget.
"Okay, I know you broke your promise and all," Astrid started with the beginnings of an embarrassed smile. "but I'm sorry for over-reacting. I didn't need to punch your tooth out—but it sure as Hel felt good," she let out a ripple of laughs that made Hiccup grin.
"It's okay. I found a white looking stone and I carved it so it would look somewhat like a tooth and I stuck it in so it looks okay, I guess," he pulled his lips aside by the corner of his mouth and pointed to the stone, a bit more grey than the white teeth around it, but it did look like a tooth. At least it wasn't a dark grey pebble like Gobber's that stuck out like a wrong picket in a fence.
Astrid raised her brows and nodded in approval. "Well, I'm still sorry. But you did deserve a punch."
"And a very painful kick to the groin, too, right?" Hiccup couldn't help but smile a little. Her cheeks were flushed and her eyes sparkled and her hair was down and she was wearing a dress and she just looked simply beautiful. Everything Astrid was beautiful, to sum it up.
"Yup. And that too." They shared a few laughs and a couple of swigs of their drinks, falling back into a smiling-mouthed silence between them while the Hall raged on. "Oh, and uhm… I wanted to thank you for the, uh… souvenirs? You sent me?" Astrid scratched her cheek, nervous and unaccustomed to thanking someone for gifts she actually liked. For a birthday present a few years ago, her grandmother sent her a doll like she was still six. But, Hiccup seemed to know what she liked without even seeming to try.
"Oh, sure," Hiccup smiled before sipping from his mug. "I saw them and I thought you would like them. I wasn't sure about the necklace, but it had blue-colored scales like you Nadder so I just went with it."
That was so sweet of him. She looked down at the warped wood of the counter, allowing a small smile grace her mouth. "I wore it one day and went to go get Spike ready for a ride and she wouldn't stop sniffing the scales." Astrid's eyes danced from anywhere but Hiccup, trying to carry on the rest of her sentence with quick-paced halting words despite how awkward she felt. It wasn't entirely being around him that that made her feel this way, it was mostly her hazy mind and her lack of perception of the moment that made her think the situation was awkward. Hiccup was simply chuckling to himself at her antics while Astrid cursed the whoozy, drunken butterflies in her stomach.
Hiccup nodded. "They're Barnacle-backed Spooknoose dragon scales. They live in tide pools, apparently, in Ireland. Brandan told me about them and they're really ferocious," Hiccup explained conversationally, quickly taking a sip of his mead. Astrid sighed and prepared herself for a long dragon-related conversation.
"When he explained what a Barnacle-backed Spooknoose looked like, I couldn't believe those scales were from the back of a… Barnacle-backed Spooknoose, because, well, they don't have barnacles on them," Hiccup used his hands to demonstrate, his face equally expressive and animate.
"Obviously," Astrid smiled.
"But," Hiccup started with a special twinkle in his eye. "he said, "Tha's thuh beauty of 'em!"," he replayed back to her in the thick Irish accent Brandan possessed, and when Astrid giggled at it, he felt a flame of confidence grow. "He said, picking up a Spooknoose and holding it around its neck to restrain it, 'Yeh gotta take oof thee barrnackles, er—scrape them off—ta geet to dee scales oonderneath, and aren't thay beautiful?' And Brandan sits down on a rock, holding the squirming Spooknoose between his knees and pulls out this long hunting knife," Hiccup shows Astrid the approximate length with his hands, about seven inches apart. "And for a second I think he's going to kill it, but he says, "Oh, hold on naow, varmit", and he scrapes off a couple of dead barnacles and underneath are very bright blue scales, but brighter than the ones you have because they boil them to sell, and he plucks off a couple off to show me. Fresh scales like that sparkle. There's tiny flecks of silver in them, hidden underneath ugly barnacle armor," Hiccup slowed down his speech toward the end, reaching the point of his story.
"Are there more Spooknoose?" Astrid asked, now sitting comfortably on a stolen stool while Hiccup stands beside her. Her eyes are alight and glimmering, full of interest. She was still dancing over the thought of Hiccup actually getting her a necklace and how thoughtful it was of him to actually get her anything. Astrid couldn't think of any words to string together in her hazy mind to express her gratitude, but the unfinished thought was provoking a twisted feeling in her stomach.
"Yeah, but they're only south of here. But, it's only the Barnacle-backed Spooknoose that have the prettiest and come off with no barnacle attached. Ironic, isn't it?" Hiccup chuckled and Astrid nodded. "Auda said it fit you perfectly, that necklace, coming from a Barnacle-backed Spooknoose; a grossly armored thing, but once you dig deeper you find the hidden treasure."
Astrid's mouth fell open briefly before she burst out laughing. She laid a hand on her chest and ran the other through her hair, still giggling even a minute later. "Auda said that? What a hag," she was only being half-serious, the insult empty as she settled down and fixed her hair.
Hiccup shrugged. "She's right, though. It fits you," he reverted to kind and shy Hiccup at the flip of coin, casting his eyes downwards and blushing a little. Astrid furrowed her brows briefly but when he looked up at her after a few intense seconds, she didn't know what to think. His weirdly colored eyes were exploding with truth but hidden secrets Astrid couldn't quite figure out. It was like he wanted to say something, she noticed, as he rubbed his lips together but he was holding himself back. His eyes were deceiving him, showing her his emotion without realizing. Astrid was one of the most observant women on Berk, and Hiccup could occasionally be a subject worth observing (and lately, in a good way rather than bad).
Astrid opened her mouth to speak, but a familiar voice interrupted her. "Astrid! Aaaaassstriiiid!"
Both Hiccup and the girl in question looked behind their shoulders to see none other than their rambunctious and obnoxious friend Ruffnut standing on a table searching the crowds. Astrid rolled her eyes and sighed to Hiccup, who laughed, and raised her free hand to wave Ruffnut over.
"Oh my Gods, she's crazy," Astrid said to Hiccup discreetly as Ruffnut jumped down clumsily and shoved people aside to reach her friend.
"Is that Tuff's helmet…?" Hiccup pointed to the object Ruffnut was using to whack people aside.
"I—I—," Astrid sputtered between laughing, and then Ruffnut was up in her face, pulling her by a clump of hair.
"You," Ruffnut growled, eyes extremely glassy, and her breath reeked of ale and beer.
"Hey, Ruff, wanna let go of my hair?" Astrid's voice and expression were pleasant, but her intents were malicious, and even being incredibly inebriated, Ruffnut picked up on that. She let go of Astrid's hair and stepped back on wobbly feet like she was on a boat.
"Astrid," Ruffnut started with an almost unintelligible slur. "Yeh gotta take me home," Ruffnut blinked dumbly at her and Astrid smacked her forehead in remembrance.
"Oh, that's right! I'm at your place tonight!" Astrid sighed and took once last swig of her mug before hopping off the stool. "Hey, Hiccup, what time is it?" She asked as she took Ruffnut's skinny arm and slung it around her shoulders, gripping her firmly by the waist.
"I guess well after midnight," Hiccup replied while glancing around Mead Hall, looking considerably less full than two hours ago when he danced.
"Okay, yep, time to go home," Astrid said with struggle in her voice, trying to hold a limp Ruffnut while she giggled saying she felt like a dead fish. Hiccup immediately set down his mug and went to help Astrid, taking Ruffnut's other arm and resting it over his shoulder. But, because of his newly gained height from growth spurts a couple months back, he more or less leaned to the side to match Astrid's shoulder height.
"What about Tuffnut, Ruff?" Astrid asked, not too entirely concerned about the dumbass who called her 'purdy', but she did at least want to know where he was so his twin wouldn't blame her next morning about his mysterious whereabouts.
"He's—," she hiccuped. "he's wif Snotface 'notlout," Ruff's legs were all but dragging on the dirt and straw covered floors, about to slip from her supporter's grasps. "Don' worry 'bout him. Let's not worry 'bout… 'bout nuffin' for once, guise," Ruffnut spoke like she was preaching the greatest words ever spoken. "I mean… isso… isso beautifool ousside!" She said just as they emerged out of the giant wooden doors, Tuffnut's helmet now on Astrid's head, lopsided, and she and Hiccup struggled to keep Ruffnut upwards on their way out.
"Hiccup—she's—," Astrid spoke but suddenly they were stopped and Ruffnut's arm slipped off her lavender-clothed shoulder.
"Astrid, help her get on my back, I'll carry her from here," Hiccup asked with a bowed head, still hunched over from trying to equal Astrid's height, trying to find a suitable grip on Ruffnut's waist. Astrid stared a him for a few seconds, dumbfounded, and went to help him heave her stupid best friend onto his back like a sack of potatoes.
"There. So much easier," Hiccup flashed Astrid a toothy smile when he finally got the drunken female twin adjusted on his back.
Still mind-blown, Astrid said, "You know, two years ago and your legs or back would have broken."
"Well, what legs I have left," she shook his prosthetic and laughed, descending the staircase where some passed out Vikings lay. Astrid was glad he could laugh about it instead of being an irritating mope.
"Amigad, this… is awesome!" Ruffnut flung her arms up and arched her back so much she almost brought both her and Hiccup tumbling backward. It took Astrid smacking her on the back and teensy mumbles of pleas from Hiccup to get her to relax. Ruffnut was an excitable drunk and wasn't an easy to one to take care of, apparently.
"Holy shit," Astrid said under her breath, Ruffnut now snoring into Hiccup's upper back, resting her hands on his hips. "I am never babysitting her again when she's drunk like this."
Hiccup grinned at her but didn't reply, adjusting his hands underneath Ruffnut's thighs; she was so heavy. Astrid simply smiled back, folding her arms behind her. It was a short, quiet walk to the Thorston's household but neither really minded; it was nice not to have to talk for a change. Astrid led them inside the older house, leaning toward its side, tiptoeing into the front room and slipping her shoes off at the front door.
"C'mon, their room's upstairs," Astrid whispered to Hiccup as she pulled off Ruffnut's boots and carefully set them down, leading him to the thin and steep staircase in the kitchen that lead up to the upstairs rooms. At the top of the staircase, Astrid stopped Hiccup from walking down the hall.
She turned to him, face only illuminated from the candle hanging on the wall, eyes livid. "Stay here. I have to clear a walkway in their room because it's disgusting, but also because the floor's squeaky when too many people are on it."
Hiccup nodded, finding it kind of funny that Astrid knew so much about Ruffnut's house, and the fact that she was even staying here for the night surprised him. The two girls hardly seemed like good friends when he was with them two years ago. Hiccup obeyed, however, holding onto Ruffnut easily enough though his back was getting sore. He felt manly offering to carry her home in front of Astrid and she seemed pretty surprised. He had definitely come a long way and he was, for once, proud of himself and who he was. But, man, it felt awesome feeling manly, full of the raw Viking-ness that was finally escaping.
Astrid kicked pathway through clothes, dull weapons, shoes, dolls, and random items that didn't seem to belong in their room like books and pots. Astrid didn't really care at the moment because now she was suddenly dead tired and desperately wanted to go to sleep.
"Ow!" she hissed quietly when she kicked a shield with her foot, hopping on the other. "Odin's ghost…," she mumbled annoyingly and massaged her toes before limping to the door to call Hiccup inside.
Despite the extra baggage, Hiccup was quiet and managed to make few squeaks in the noisy floor as he walked down the short hall to Ruffnut and Tuffnut's room. The whole room was dark except for the single window between two messy beds, and Astrid's dress was oddly a light purple in the silver light, and from it, Hiccup could see faint shadows of her calves through the fabric. He blushed and quickly pretended like he didn't just suck in a gulp of air by purposely hitting his shoulder against the door frame.
"Gods, Hiccup, come on," Astrid almost growled at him, taking him by the front of his tunic and leading him down the cleared path to Ruffnut's bed on the right. Hiccup turned and carefully set her down on the bed, but being flustered and clumsy he dropped her too quickly and Ruffnut almost fell to the floor.
Astrid was trying to be annoyed but she was snorting back laughter, realizing the absurdity of this whole ordeal. Finally she started laughing, but quietly, backing up to sit on Tuffnut's bed opposite.
"What?" Hiccup asked, trying to put Ruffnut's leg back on the bed for the third time as it kept falling off.
"Nothing, just this… is so… stupid! It's stupid," she kept laughing, but Hiccup had no idea what she was talking about, he was just focusing on how the light from the window and the folds of her dress around her knees cast just perfect shadows. And how he could see the roundness of her collarbone as she was slightly bent over, and also how her hair fell over her shoulders. He sighed and bit his lip lazily, hoping he would remember to draw it later.
"How is it stupid?" he sat on Ruffnut's bed at her feet and pretended he was observing her chest for purely artistic reasons.
"This!" she whispered back loudly, rubbing her forehead. "Talking to you in Ruff and Tuff's room while Ruff's asleep and Tuff's nowhere to be found."
"He's with Snotlout," It was becoming harder for Hiccup to think when looking at how her chest expanded and deflated ever so slightly—
"Duh! Get out, Hiccup, this is weird," Astrid stood up, spoiling his misty fantasies, and shooed him.
He stood and shook his head, coming back to reality. "Are you sure?" he glanced to Ruffnut snoring on her bed, looking awfully comfortable.
"Yes, I'm sure. See you tomorrow, Hiccup," she turned her back to him to throw some covers over Ruffnut.
"T—tomorrow?"
Shit! Did she really just say that? "Yeah, tomorrow… for Auda and Brandan's morning gift?" she came up and said something right on the spot and she thought she did pretty well
"Oh, right," something in Hiccup's voice fell a bit. "See you tomorrow, Astrid," he said as he left the room, but his voice went back to being deep and dorky and Hiccup.
"Yeah," Astrid groaned and let her head fall into Ruff's pillow, doubting she was still the same always-sure Astrid she thought she was. Two years can do a lot and Astrid believed that full-heartedly as she pushed Ruff to the wall so she could crawl in bed next to her. Two years definitely changed Astrid in some ways, but with Hiccup now back around and doing some funky things with her heart, she felt the summer of her life coming head on.
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Thanks for all the reviews, guys! I can't thank you enough! I already got 25 for THREE chapters! That's never happened to me before, so I can't be more grateful! THANK YOU! :D