Astrid and Stormfly swooped through the clouds and spiralled through the sky. Flying always made Astrid feel so alive, it reminded her of the first time she had flown with Hiccup, when he had taken her for a ride on the sunset. She had been so afraid of dragons before, but in that moment she had felt so safe with her arms wrapped around him. Astrid smiled and closed her eyes at these happy memories, but as Stormfly looped over the water she saw the reflection of a small, brownish dragon hovering over them. In the background she could hear some of the villagers yelling and screaming. Astrid had no idea what was going on and figured a rogue dragon must have reached Berk. She leaned in and whispered to her dragon "Easy girl. No sudden moves." Stormfly understood perfectly and glided silently underneath the dragon. Astrid slowly rose to her feet and steadied herself to jump when she got a horrible surprise.
"HICCUP? What are you doing?" she gasped as her face turned white. Astrid had no idea how he was staying in the air like that. He was wearing his normal riders vest but recently he also had started wearing large leather arm warmers rather than his normal bands wrapped over his arms. These were covered with hooks and tassels and as Astrid looked further down his body she noticed he had leather leg warmers of a similar design, but with a zip at the side on each one. Right now the zips were undone and masses of leather flaps rose up of the zips, supported by impossibly thin metal wires running along the seam of each, joining the flaps together just like a wing. There were more hooks on the end of each wire and these were all linked to the hooks on Hiccup's arm warmers. Hiccup himself had his arms stretched out and he was lying horizontal in the sky to the water, his legs out straight behind him and his head facing the horizon, eyebrows down. His eyes were streaming with tears and Astrid couldn't tell if he was upset or it was because of the wind. Maybe it was both.
When Hiccup heard his name he immediately swung his head round and his body twisted with him. Bad idea. A sudden gust of wind caught under his right wing and caused air resistance on his side which sent him hurtling head first into a sea stack. He smacked against his head and neck and blinked rapidly in a gaze. He stuttered "A-Astrid?" before realising the wing had now ripped where a metal rod has snapped and poked out through the leather. Hiccup tried desperately to steady himself but the wing could not operate and catch the wind, instead drooping and causing Hiccup to plummet out of the sky. Astrid snapped out of her daydream and commanded to the Nadder "Stormfly, fetch!" The pair rocketed towards Hiccup, who was now flailing his arms in a hopeless attempt to stop himself from falling. Astrid couldn't help but smirk lovingly at this sight, for Hiccup looked just like his clumsy, fourteen year old self again, with gangly legs and freckles. But she focused, knowing she had to catch him.
Astrid balanced cautiously on her feet with arms stretched out in front and a glare fixed at the falling boy. You can do this, you can do this, she thought to herself. For him. Then without thinking the blonde leapt into the air and latched onto Hiccup's legs, landing back on Stormfly with a thud. The two Vikings were both panting and lying on their side on Stormfly's back. Slowly, Hiccup opened his eyes and sat up, staring bewildered with his mouth open at the girl in front of him. Her plait had been torn out as she caught Hiccup and her hair flowed loosely over her shoulders like a perfect silhouette. Her shirt had risen up at the back, revealing soft, ivory skin and as she breathed in and out rapidly her muscles quivered and accentuated her curves. Hiccup forgot himself and whispered "So beautiful" not acknowledging that he had said this out loud. Astrid turned to him and he saw her blushing for the first time. She stared at him with wide eyes and glowing cheeks until she remembered what had just happened and leaned over with a scowl, punching Hiccup in the arm. "OW! Astrid? What the heck?" Hiccup complained rubbing his throbbing arm. "That's for scaring me and almost killing yourself." She retorted. "I wasn't killing myself I was testing my flight suit. I need to make something that can let me change direction though, maybe a fin on the back..." Astrid smiled as Hiccup rambled on about his new invention. She loved when he was talking about some science-y thing or another, his arms would make all sorts of funny gestures and his jaw and cheek muscles would tense as he talked strongly and confidently. Astrid quickly shut him up however and leaned in gently, planting a single kiss on his lips, with Hiccup's hands coming to rest on her waist. Astrid pulled away and whispered "That's for everything else." Hiccup smiled and his eyes lit up like shimmering emeralds. The two were lost in a haze until they heard Stoick's booming voice from the edge of the cliff. "Come on, I think we should get out of here." Astrid smiled. "I couldn't possibly agree with you more." Hiccup replied.