Chapter 7
Sunday a day for rest and relaxation, a day where sleeping in and waking up at noon is totally acceptable... Unless you're astrid. And so we return to the field where astrid who supposedly should still be jogging is now preoccupied with listening in on Hiccup's and Gobber's conversation
"What are they up to now?" Astrid thought, anything that has something to do with that nerd can't be good. As astrid crept closer hiccup decides to further interrogate the peg legged man
"And what wee bit of detail would that be?" Said hiccup, brows furrowed while closely observing Gobber's face. Gobber on the other hand averts Hiccup's gaze an obvious sign of his guilt
"Aye well... you see lad... I've recently got my hands tied up with a little project I've been workin on" he earnestly responds while focusing on his only good hand whilst it holds his hook. Astrid hears his reply and wonders "Little project? What little project? he never mentioned any little projects to me"
"First of all "hand" not hands and second that didn't answer my question at all!" exclaimed hiccup who raises his voice to emphasize how confused he was and how unclear gobber was being
"Alright, alright... guess there's no point in beating around the bush..." gobber finally looks at hiccup, places his hand and hook onto hiccups shoulder and closes the space between them, then he politely offers hiccup an advice "ya might wanna brace yourself lad"
"I'm starting to think you left out more than just a "wee bit" gobber" he responds sounding all the more sarcastic than his previous comments, with the two being so close to each other it left the eaves dropping astrid no room to listen in to
"huh? What're they saying? Augh… I can't hear a thing" she frustratingly says, and so the irritated teen crept ever so slowly to where the two stood. She was about a meter and a half away from them; luckily the two was still oblivious to the teen listening in behind them, they never even wondered why there wasn't anyone running anymore but I guess when youre nervous and/or you're hiding something you tend to forget the little things going on around you and besides maybe astrid is just that good of a eaves dropper. Who knew she had a talent for sneaking around, well it wasn't easy avoiding her father through the house all those years… but back to the present where gobber in currently confessing to hiccup
"Ya do remember me saying you'd be the manager right? Well... I wasn't lying but what i didn't tell you was that you'd be managing a certain someone a lot more..." gobber explained, he looks straight at hiccup hoping that what he said might have gone through to him… nope it didn't, hiccup just stares at him still perplexed. All the while astrid was still unable to make out their full conversation and so she tries her luck, creeping a little bit further until shes heard sounds that made sense… still no reaction from the two men until hiccup finally moves in one big motion away from gobber, maybe he finally realized something
"Why!? Please tell me that that certain someone isn't running around the field right now" hiccup desperately asks gobber, his shoulders fell and his voice seemed pleading. Gobber responds with a big exhale… although he knew hiccup had finally figured out his job and who he had to train and manage, he just pitied the poor guy especially since dealing with her was never an easy job, and believe me he should know, he reminisces to all the times she's thrown a tantrum and all the times she's begged him for more training… oi… it just made him sigh and scratch his head a lot more... so he tries his best not to sound too happy, and checks the field whether that certain someone was indeed still running around the field. Initially he was shocked, since astrid was nowhere to be seen but after a glimpse to his back he spots the blonde crouching from a meters distance… cue another sigh, gobber then signals astrid that shes already been found. Astrid seeing gobbers signal stood up and slowly walked towards them… meanwhile hiccup stressing out from where he stood, failed to notice gobbers signal and astrids arrival, gobber notices hiccups frenzied state and decides to humor the teen "you're wrong lad she not running around the field right now"
"Really!? Thank God... for a second there I thought you meant as-" but before hiccup could finish his mini celebration, gobber cuts him off and says "Cause lad she's not "running" right now"
"U-uh i don't?-" those words from gobber instantly cause hiccup to stutter in confusion, he was genuinely confused he didn't understand what gobber meant, but gobber quickly clarified things much to hiccups dismay "she's standing"
"uuh standing?" gobbers words weren't much help to the stuttering teen, being dazed and very much confused hiccup had nothing more to say so he settles for repetition instead. Then gobber follows up his previous remark with another comment but now he so kindly added instructional gestures to guide the dazed out teen, Gobber points to hiccups back and says "behind you…"
"behind me?" hiccup pauses for a short while maybe processing what might be behind him but shortly after a few seconds he follows gobbers instructions and slowly turns around, he closes his eyes just before turning and as soon as he's fully rotated he opens them and surprise… hiccup's worst thoughts came true, there she was standing proudly whilst crossing her arms, but astrid wasn't up to speed yet, she still had no idea of what was happening. She notices hiccup's sudden gaze and the strange reaction he had the moment he sees her. This just made her feel a lot more aggravated, but getting aggravated right now might earn her another ticket around the field so she tries to calm down and compose herself. She closes in on the two and finally their words were audible to her, and the first thing she hears is hiccup
"Oh please no, you gotta be kidding me gobber" the teen begged the peg-legged man, but gobber just looks at him and gently pats his back as a form of condolence, but in his thoughts he was shouting "hell yes, ha haa… poor lad" he then coughs probably remembering they were still having the conversation and said as sadly as he could "I wish i was, hiccup, i wish i was... but someone needs to manage her during Sundays"
"manage who?-" said astrid, but her question goes unnoticed overpowered by hiccups boisterous reply, and maybe because hiccup was kinda shouting his question at gobber leaving astrid question at the side and unanswered
"But why me!? I mean I'd be the least person astrid wants to see every week..." hiccup deadpanned
"Hiccup stop yer overreacting, that's not entirely true… is it?" said gobber whilst looking towards astrid, but gobber's question is immediately answered by the expression on astrid's face. She wore a face that sarcastically said "what do you think?..."
"there you have it" hiccup so blatantly says, gesturing to astrid. How could gobber even think otherwise him and astrid they're like night and day, when the sun comes out naturally the moon goes away and they avoid each other completely… and that's exactly what hiccup should be doing avoiding astrid, oh and there's that time where astrid wanted to knock him out. Weren't those clear signs of a disastrous relationship, but we are talking about gobber…
"Nonsense lad ha ha…" gobber tells hiccup all the while forcing short laughs, he quickly stands in front of the two teens blocking astrid's face and hiding the clear distaste written on it, he then continues on and says "besides, shouldn't a teenage boy like you be jumpin out of his pants just to have some alone time with a fine lass like her"
Hearing gobbers words made astrid wonder. Coach has a point there, not that I want another idiot slobbering all over me but why isn't he hitting on me like the rest of them… so I guess he doesn't think anything of me? Whatever, I don't really care about that… but even though she convinced herself that it was nothing, it somehow made her feel irritated. Hiccup then breaks her out of her thoughts with his next words
"On any occasion gobber believe me I'd love to go out with a beautiful girl" hiccup clearly stated, astrid hearing hiccup's reply steps aside to where she had a clear view of hiccup's face and not gobbers back, and once again it got her thinking, so he does think I'm beautiful… huh? It's been awhile since anybody's called me that, those guys just keep saying I'm hot or sexy but never beautiful, not even scott calls me that. She is stunted by hiccups words but suddenly when everything in her head was going right hiccup carried on his remark and said "just not this one"
And now were back to square one, astrid who was supposedly about to think of hiccup in a new positive light was now mentally putting him back in the dark torture room. She forces a smile and clenches her fist "You want me to knock you out right now?"
"See? Gobber you're really gonna leave me with her?" hiccup once again gestures to astrid but now with both hands, gobber tries to calm astrid down getting in between them again but now facing astrid "easy lass, easy"
"I'm fine gobber" she declares, pushing gobber aside and asking both hiccup and gobber her unanswered question, they so rudely ignored "now can someone tell me what the hell you two were talking about?"
Gobber looks at hiccup sending him mental messages "hiccup I've already told you the situation, you do the honors" and hiccup replies "Oh no, I'm not telling her anything, you do it" and gobber replies "Cmon lad, just this once" but hiccup say "nope, not gonna do it" gobber was about to continue the mental conversation until…
"Hello! Are you two just gonna stare at each other all day or what?" astrid demanded, she stomps her foot and stared at gobber, both of them just being broken out of their mental conversation answered a slurred "what?"
"Augh! well?" she irritdly asks, and gobber finally opens his mouth and looks at his hand and hook again "Well, you see lass, I've recently got my hands tied u-"
But before gobber can finish his obviously rehearsed answer hiccup blurts out "really gobber?" hiccup lets out a sigh and reluctantly says "fine… I'll tell her" he knew how confusing and aggravating gobbers explanation was, so he takes it upon himself to tell astrid instead, he'd rather not repeat their whole conversation a while ago. And besides confused hiccup is just confused but confused astrid… things might get a little bit physical. So hiccup cautiously heads to astrid and gently explains to her what gobbers plans was. That he was going to manage her training in the place of gobber because gobber is apparently "busy" with something, hiccup was already expecting to get punched or kicked in the face but surprisingly astrid wasn't all that physical she just gives a loud "What!?" and then scans hiccup from head to toe which was very weird on hiccup part. She then walks calmly to gobber and says "When did i ever agree to be trained by that geek, just look at him he can't even manage himself?"
Hiccup hears astrid's sarcastic question all to clearly, he lets out a big sigh, and then proceeds to scan his own body he particularly focused on his arms more precisely his biceps. The sad excuse for an arm made hiccup think to himself, "well she's gotta point there, a trainer isn't exactly the first thing you'd think off when you see this" he raises his arms a little bit but not too much to gain the twos attention, and so with that he abandons the thought of retaliating towards astrids words, well… how could he? She was on all aspects right. Suddenly gobber snaps his train of thought out of its tracks with the next few revelations he was about to divulge "You might wanna hold yer tongue there lass, the last person he trained went to the nationals"
"What!? Him?! No way" and just like that astrid immediately voiced her disbelief nearly shouting at the crazy idea, all the while thinking "him!? That's gotta be the biggest load of shit I've heard today" hiccup on the other hand out of shock that gobber would reveal something they both agreed on as a secret just places his palm firmly on his face. He was about to intervene but gobber quickly beat him to it "I aint lying to ya, that's why I want hiccup to be your manager"
"And you expect me to believe that? hah!…" astrid immediately replies with yet again another sarcastic question, and she doesn't stop there she even lets out a single loud and boisterous laugh emphasizing the preposterous idea gobber was suggesting. This left hiccups supposed intervention at the side, probably since an intervention wasn't needed if she didn't even believe it. While hiccup was in the middle of his thoughts astrid takes another short glimpse on hiccups body, points and says "he doesn't even look like he can carry a single dumbbell, I mean have you looked at him lately he's a talking fishbone"
She says those words as if stating a fact, this in turn makes hiccup finally say something "ok I know you're just trying to get to me but at some point it's starting to hurt my self-esteem now" he did say something, but not really something that a guy whose finally lost his cool would say, but I guess that's hiccup. In fact gobber can only name a handful of situations where hiccup has truly "lost his cool" and that's only when the topic of his family was concerned but other than that he's as cool as an ice cube, but as if not hearing hiccups remarks gobber adds insult to injury by saying "I know lass, I'm not blind"
"And that's really not helping… thank you gobber" said hiccup gesturing one hand to gobber in an exasperated manner
"shut it, I'm not done talkin lad, now listen… after what I'm about to say to her it's gonna get a lot better, trust me" gobber says to hiccup in a hushed tone feeling all the more confident in his next statements as if it was the long awaited solution to their dilemma but hiccup just looks at gobber confused and somewhat skeptical towards gobbers words and so he replies with the usual hiccup sarcasm "oh reeally? I can't imagine how this conversation could possibly get anymore better gobber but please go ahead and tr-…"
As soon as he uttered the all so sarcastic comment gobber fires him a serious look that ultimately stops him in his tracks leaving hiccup with a shocked expression. And so he decides to just raise his hands as a sign of him giving up maybe finally agreeing to the pegged-legged man's demanding request and says "ok shutting up now" all the while turning his back towards the two, signaling the two to continue their conversation and perhaps an assurance that he'll say no more and just let gobber say what he wants to say
"Finally huh…ok back to my point" gobber declared huffing a single authoritative breath while turning to face astrid with every attempt to get her to accept hiccup as her trainer. Hiccup still facing the other side of the conversation grew ever so curious at gobbers remarks even though he highly doubted the chances of having astrids point of view turn upside down he decides to listen instead he thought maybe gobber really has something of his sleeve, maybe I should trust him more often well I guess I should just listen then.
"Astrid, believe it or not this talking fishbone used to be the ace strik-" but before gobber could finish his sentence hiccup without wasting a single second quickly turns around and lunges for the pegged-legged man, immediately covering gobber's mouth and preventing him from revealing another unnecessary thing about his past. Small beads of sweat run down his forehead as he nervously says "whoa there, ha ha I don't think bringing up something like that is really necessary gobber ha ha"
He forces short laughs while staring at astrid, all the while thinking maybe she'd already caught on I mean gobber pretty much said the whole word, and there's only a few words in the dictionary that starts with the words ace and strik- shit. While hiccup was panicking in his thoughts gobber claws his face out of hiccups grip and quickly retaliated "but hiccup"
Hiccup in turn replied with his version of a serious look obviously wanting gobber to stop talking, he's already said enough about a topic both of them agreed on not to discuss, gobber sees hiccups face and the expression he was showing but after hiccups message was conveyed to him the girl who was obviously not making sense of the situation in front her grew impatient and all the more confused. She then got very suspicious and thought to herself what are they mumbling on about now? And what was gobber about to say that would make the nerd jump on him like that, plus it made him so fidgety and agitated, what did gobber actually say? I think it was ace something, ace- what? As if he could be an ace at any sport he'd probably be the water boy hah or better yet the mascot and with those thoughts in her mind she asks irritidly "what? What does he mean by something like that? Was he some kind of a mascot?"
"Mascot? Hah he was more than jus-" was what gobber had to say to the highly skeptical astrid but yet again hiccup jumps in to intervene, he puts on another expression that on all translations meant that he was getting really frustrated. Honestly how many times does he have to look at gobber to make him understand that his past is past and he wants it to stay that way. Gobber catches hiccups stare and finally he decides to stop, once he did hiccup ignores gobbers initial reply and answers astrid instead "yes astrid, I was a mascot… right gobber?" after his last question he sets his gaze back onto gobber wanting him to respond to his question and validate the answer that he just gave, gobber who now looks especially disappointed lets out a breath and finally answers "aye, he was…"
"Then what was "that" all about?" astrid asks pointing to both of them, she probably meant what was all the commotion about between the two of them with just the mention of the nerd being a mascot, to which hiccup replies nonchalantly "huh? I-i don't know what you're talking about"
"Whatever, I couldn't care less about that, what I want to know is why the hell am I going to be trained by a mascot?" she asks or rather she forcefully declares, ignoring hiccups presence and fully focuses on gobber and his long awaited answer but gobber on the other hand felt the need to end the already tedious argument once and for all, simply because astrid showed no signs of being swayed at all and his last trump card was apparently taken away by hiccup and so he decides to finally use his authority on her and exclaims "Alright this has gone on far enough… either a mascot trains you or no one trains you"
After gobbers forceful declaration it was clear that astrid was taken aback surely she would've never guessed that gobber would just go ahead and force her into something she clearly doesn't want but it takes astrid a few seconds to come up with a proper response should she just shout at him or try reasoning with her longtime coach. But within those few seconds of silence hiccup comes along and blurts out "I haven't really said yes yet"
gobber fearing the worst of what's to come, namely astrid's wrath completely ignores hiccup words and focuses on how he should react to what she'll say I'm the coach so I should have the last say, but his train of thought was disrupted by hiccup who once again says "hey umm … I think the mascot would like a word in this too"
Finally both of them respond to hiccup with a resounding "shut up" which leaves hiccup dumbfounded. He felt the atmosphere between the two and decides to follow their advice but not before saying a few remarks "why does everyone keep telling me to shut up… huh"
And with that the silence was over and it was time for astrid and gobber to clash, astrid was the first one to attack or talk "So what!? You're just gonna stop coaching me? Just like that?" she irritidly says
"Lass, I don't see what's the big fuss all about, I'll just stop managing ya on weekends, weekends! the rest of the week believe me you'd get my full attention" gobber says but astrid immediately responds
"week days aren't enough!... you of all people should know how much I want to get noticed by the scouts" she exclaims while grasping the upper part of her arm as if she was covering something maybe she remembered an unfortunate memory, this doesn't escape hiccups eyes but he decides to ignore that detail… at least for now
"I know lass, but… I don't see how one or two days could make such a huge difference" gobbers says in manner that seemed pleading, at this point gobber was just reasoning with girl instead of arguing
"I still don't get it, why can't you just keep coaching me like you've always done" says astrid now in the same manner which gobber previously showed
"Because I'm busy this time around… sorry astrid but you've got to understand that things don't always go yer way" gobbers last statement hit astrid hard, it made her feel aggravated, it made her eyes unexpectedly water but not enough to cause a tear to drop. It made her wonder what reason could there be that explains why she would possibly react this way, thus in her thoughts she starts to question some things, why am I suddenly tearing up? Everything goes my way? Please don't make laugh… all my life nothing has ever gone "My way" my family… my mother, if everything went my way then why is my mother dead, if everything went my way then she should be here protecting me from… him... She clenches her fist and bites her lip just before shouting "Don't you think I already know that!…"
Both Gobber and hiccup were dumbfounded by astrid's sudden outburst hiccup notices astrid eyes, the way it gleamed like it was about to cry. After that there was again another deafening silence… gobber slowly approached astrid calmly saying "Astrid are ya-"
But before gobber could even get near her she turns around and says "whatever I'm done with this… I'm going home" and so she walks away from the two, she enters the gym and there she wipes whatever it was that made her eyes agitated, she's relieved no one saw what had happened. How she just suddenly exploded… not to mention how she almost cr-No! she immediately erases the thought of crying, because to her crying isn't allowed, crying could only mean weakness and she had no room for such things, that's why everyday she strives to get stronger not because she wants to but because she needs to because going home and facing the troubles that lay within that house takes all the courage and strength she has and from the moment her mother passed away she was already by herself. To be facing such problems all on her own one can only imagine how difficult and lonely the road she'd been walking on was, but just as she was done wiping the tea…dirt out of her eyes hiccup opens the gym doors, walks in and searches the area for astrid. Finally he spots astrid sitting on a small bench near the other side of the gym, he slowly walks closer to her, astrid on the other hand had every intention of ignoring whatever he was going to say and so she stands up and was about walk towards the exit leading to the parking lot where her car is currently parked but before she got to the exit hiccup had already caught up with her and tries to talk to her "H-hey astrid… you ok? Gobber's sorry you know and m-maybe we coul-"
"of course I'm not OK!… is this some kind of a joke to you!?" she snaps at him, I guess her initial plan of ignoring him didn't really pan out since she'd already directly adressed to him, she's somewhat surprised at her actions she was so convinced that she'd ignore him and yet here she is arguing with him yet again, maybe because he's just that annoying I mean who would ask someone who was finished walking out of an argument shouting "are you OK?" that's just stupid right. But hiccup still tries to talk some sense into her "no its.. I just wan-"
She cuts him off exclaiming "cause to me it isn't… I need to get scouted and this year is my last chance… the last thing I need is a nerd weighing me down" after her rather honest but insulting answer hiccup with a rather serious tone and expression says "I don't plan on weighing anybody down, so let's just give it a try"
She scoffs at hiccups words but it made her curious at the same time, why is he so on board with this all of sudden? And why is he so serious too, don't tell me he really believes he can train me hah… but what if gobber was right? Maybe I'd been too irrational all this time, what am I thinking there's just no way he's a good trainer. But as she was in the middle of judging whether or not his words were true or not gobber joins the conversation after quietly entering and listening on the twos conversation "Astrid I'm sorry if i-"
"ok, ok… I'm fine, apology accepted" she says nonchalantly, clearly she wanted to avoid repeating that one topic again maybe she was afraid something might come into her eyes. After accepting his apology gobber lets out a big sigh of relief and upon overhearing hiccup suggestion he tries to yet again endorse him for the job and besides it'll be a lot easier now that one of them is already accepted the task "lass, you should try listening to him, oi… if ya want to get scouted that badly then he's the right Viking for the job"
Astrid upon hearing gobbers honest opinion finally considers the thought but she needed something like an insurance what if he really wasn't all that great of a trainer so she asks him "did he really get someone to the nationals?"
And so gobber all so giddily says with one hand placed on his chest "aye… Vikings honor"
But still it would take more than just petty promises to convince this girl to think otherwise, she further probes the idea and asks gobber another skeptical question "how can I be so sure you're not just saying that to make me accept him"
With this gobber hit a slump, she had a fairly valid point he has been known to on some occasions lie a few times so he doesn't really blame her for asking this. After looking at astrid then changing his view towards hiccup he pauses for a while and proceeds to stroke his mustache, hiccup in turn noticing gobbers gaze shifting from astrid onto him gets a very bad feeling in his stomach, oh and gobber thinking? His recent ideas haven't really been the best lately but before hiccup could reminisce to all of gobbers past "brilliant" ideas, gobber finally spoke up "You've got a point there… hmm… how bout this, if he ends up wasting yer time then you have my permission to do anything ya want with him…"
"w-what!? W-wait, gobber I didn't sign up to be someone's punching bag!" hiccup quickly exclaimed but as fast as hiccup responded astrid gave her reply immediately as well "You've got yourself a deal"
"W-w-hat!? Great NOW you're ok with it?" Hiccup asks astrid in a seemingly surprised manner all the while gesturing to her. Astrid on the other hand just smiles while cracking her knuckles saying "what can I say? Gobbers really convinced me"
"Whet cen e sey Gebber really cenvenced me" hiccup says imitating astrid's words in a nasal tone but astrid just smiles all the same, obviously hiccup could sense her irritation towards his actions and so he quickly goes over to gobber to plead his case
"Gobber! You gotta be kiddin me?" He says holding on to gobbers hand and hook but gobber just says "ya said it yourself lad just give it a try… besides this'll be good motivation for both of you"
And just like that hiccups fate was sealed either to train her to her heart content or to get beaten also to her hearts content, astrid still putting on a smiling face giddily says "I feel motivated already heh"
And hiccup who no longer has any fight left just rides the situation and lifelessly says "y-yeah me too… yay…"
End of chapter Seven