Chapter 2
...
Astrid sighed as she finished re-braiding her hair for the fifth time. Hiccup would be coming to her door at any minute, and she wanted to look perfect (well, as close to perfect as she could get) for their evening together. She'd always grown up being told that she was the beauty of Berk, and for the longest time, she'd believed that she was indeed attractive. But recently, and especially after what had just happened at the hot spring, a sense of self-consciousness had settled in.
She wasn't sure why she cared so much about Hiccup's opinion. She was a shieldmaiden. She was first committed to defending Berk, and now the Edge. It was her duty. That was why she'd joined the Berk Guard, and started her auxiliary team of dragon riders - to put more effort into protecting the two islands she cared about the most. She didn't need a man. She couldn't need one. She couldn't even want one. She had to stay dedicated to being a warrior.
But Hiccup...Hiccup made her rethink all her decisions. He made her feel things that she didn't want to feel. He made her worry about whether or not her hair was neat. He made her want to dress in something more girly than her usual armor. And then he'd seen her naked, and all she could think about was whether or not he'd liked what he'd seen.
After placing her braid over her shoulder, Astrid used her hands to try smoothing the faint wrinkles out of her top.
Knock, knock.
"Come in!" she called, rushing into her tiny living room. Her heart beat violently against her chest as she caught sight of Hiccup standing in the doorway with Toothless beside him.
"Good evening, milady," the auburn-haired Viking greeted with a grin. "You uh...you ready?"
"Uh...yeah," Astrid agreed hesitantly, playing with the end of her braid. "Let me just...let me just go grab Stormfly."
"Oh, erm..." Hiccup paused. "I was...I was actually hoping that you'd...that you'd ride on Toothless with me?" He gave the Night Fury a pat on the head, causing him to let out a purr.
The blonde blushed. "I...I can," she said with a shrug. "Do you...do you need me to bring anything to eat, or do you have it covered?"
"I got it," he replied. "Let's just...let's just go."
Without another word, Astrid followed her friend outside. There, the two of them mounted Toothless and rose into the air.
"You okay?" Hiccup asked after a spell of time had passed. The blonde wasn't cuddling into him like she normally did when they rode on the same dragon. She hadn't said anything, either, but was instead just silently sitting behind him.
Astrid bit her lip. "Yeah, I...I'm fine. Just...tired. That's all."
Those were the last words uttered before the two landed on a small, vacant island. The ground was covered in green grass, and there was a gentle river in the midst of trees and shrubs - a river that almost resembled the hot springs on the Edge.
The blonde blushed as, for the millionth time that day, the incident at the hot springs replayed inside her head.
"Here we are," the auburn-haired Viking announced, climbing off of Toothless.
Astrid silently followed him as he walked over to the trees. There, she helped him unpack the picnic things that were in Toothless' saddle bag.
"Astrid," Hiccup began once he was seated in the grass. "Can I ask you something?"
She gulped. What did he want to ask her? Would it be something about seeing her naked earlier? It had to be. What else would he be asking about that he seemed to think was so serious? "Uh...yeah...sure," she finally choked out, mechanically sitting down across from him.
"Are you...are you mad at me?"
Biting her lip, Astrid shied away from his gaze. "Of course not," she quickly replied. "I wouldn't have come out with you tonight if I was mad at you."
Silence settled over the pair for a minute.
"I...I'm sorry," Hiccup eventually said. "I...I should've looked away as soon as I saw you."
The blonde's face turned bright red. "It's not your fault," she insisted. "I should've...I should've known better than to erm...to uh...to take a bath there. I should've just...just done it inside my hut. You know, like everyone else does. Well, except...except you."
"I've always liked the outdoors." He handed a chicken sandwich to Astrid.
"Thanks," she said, taking a small bite out of the crust. It wasn't that she didn't like the food. No, Hiccup was way too good at cooking for her to dislike anything he made. It was that the awkwardness she was stuck in was ruining her appetite.
"You okay? Are you sure you're not mad?"
Astrid sighed. "I'm not mad," she assured. "It's just...it's just that now you know what I...what I look like naked, and..." With burning cheeks, she broke off.
"If it helps, I...I...well...I erm...I think you look just fine...um...naked."
She raised an eyebrow. What in Thor's name was that supposed to mean? Did it mean he thought she looked good? Or did it mean he simply found her body bearable to look at? If he'd only found it bearable, though, why wouldn't he have looked away sooner? He had to have liked it.
"And uh...well..." He continued. "Well...if we...if you...if you marry me, like my...like my dad expects...it won't matter anymore because uh...well...you know." He paused to take a deep breath. "You know, because speaking with probability in mind, we'll be sharing a bedroom, and a washroom, and chances are that um...that I'll see you getting dressed, or undressed, or in the tub are...are considerably big...and well, my dad also expects an heir, so you know, I'll erm...well...the point of going through that process is to uh...to...well, you know...share yourself."
The blonde put down her sandwich. "Hiccup, I'm a shieldmaiden. Why would your dad expect us to...to marry?" She spat out the last word. "That's the most ridiculous thing I've heard. Are you sure that you're not the one who wants to...who wants to...to marry me?"
Now, it was Hiccup's turn to blush. "Yeah, you uh...you...you got me there, Astrid. But my dad...my dad...well, he doesn't think it's a...he doesn't think it's a bad idea, and -"
"Do you not know what a shieldmaiden is?"
"I uh...I...of course I know. But I've also...I've also always been about bending the rules."
"Believe me, I know." Astrid rolled her eyes. "But this isn't something to bend the rules with, Hiccup. There's a big difference between being a virgin shieldmaiden who's never even...never even touched herself...never kissed anyone, never been in a relationship -"
"Are you forgetting about all those times you kissed me?"
"I was fifteen and careless," the blonde insisted. "A child being a foolish child. Now, I'm a woman. I'm mature. I know my role, and I know the rules of the game."
"Okay, okay. Let me back up a little. What if you just gave relationships a chance? You know, did sort of a trial with me. Not marriage, but...but courting. Just courting." Hiccup paused. "With clothes on, of course."
Astrid was silent. Courting didn't sound too bad. It didn't sound too bad at all. And it wouldn't really be harmful, would it? She wouldn't be having sex. Great Odin, she wouldn't even have to kiss him. She could stick to hugs. Hugs were safe. And friends hugged, right? Of course they did. She already hugged Hiccup sometimes. The others, not so much, but she'd always been closer to Hiccup than to them. But then there was the problem of what would happen next. What if he asked her to move beyond a trial and into something more solid? What if she fell in love? And what if he asked her to marry him? The idea had obviously crossed his mind already. What if she ended up abandoning all that was sacred to her and becoming a wife and mother? She'd be labeled as Berk's most foolish shieldmaiden. Besides, she couldn't imagine herself being pregnant, giving birth, and raising babies. No, she wasn't cut out for that. Although she had to admit, their babies would be awfully cute, with their messy auburn hair and bright green eyes. Or would they take after her and be blonde with blue eyes?
"Oh, gods. I...I'm sorry," he apologized, rubbing the back of his neck as he spoke. "You don't have to if you don't want to," he quickly added.
"That's the problem. I want to, Hiccup. I...I like you. I like you a lot." She blushed. "And I'd love...I'd love to court. But my duty to Berk is to be a shieldmaiden...to be a warrior for Berk."
"I wouldn't mind having a warrior girlfriend. Or a warrior wife."
"But if it comes down to marriage, I'll have to give you an heir. And if I have a baby, and Thor forbid we'd have to go through a few daughters before we'd have a son, I'd be stuck as a housewife. Actually, whether we'd have kids or not, I'd still be stuck as a housewife. You're eventually gonna become Chief, and you'll need me to cook and clean for you because you'll be too busy. And we both know that I can't cook."
"Astrid, if you think I only want to be with you for your cooking -"
"If it's not so that I can cook for you, is it because you saw me naked and want to have sex with me now?"
"I wanted to have sex with you since we were fifteen," corrected Hiccup.
The blonde reached across the picnic blanket to slap her friend's arm. "Fifteen? Hiccup, I was barely even a woman then."
"Well, in my defense, I was a teenage boy. My hormones calmed down since then. But anyway, I don't want to be with you just for sex. Of course, if I marry you, it'll be something that I...that I look forward to, but there's more important things on my list, like having you as a second-in-command when I become Chief, and going on adventures with our dragons, and fighting alongside you in battle, and spending nights sitting by the shore and talking, and having you sleep next to me, and just being best friends."
Astrid bit her lip. It all sounded so tempting, and clearly, Hiccup had thought through what he wanted things to be like if he married her. And she'd be lying if she said that she'd never fantasized about marrying him, although she'd never admit it - not even to herself. "I...I think we should change the subject," she suggested. "How are your battle plans going? Are you and Toothless training on anything new?"
