He was shocked, frozen in place like a Terrible Terror that was caught stealing fish. His arms were hanging lifelessly by his sides, like lifeless eels. His sword dropped from his hand, clattering on the ground before extinguishing as it retracted.
It was silent, very silent. You could hear a pin drop. The crowd was almost as shocked as Hiccup, staring in pure disbelieve as Astrid kissed Hiccup. Heather and Ragnar were looking speechlessly from the edge of the arena. They had expected something between the two, but this was definitely a daring tactic, even for Astrid.
Hiccup's eyes were open wide, in shock. He was looking straight at Astrid, who had her eyes calmly closed. He had actually been so distracted that he hadn't even had time to register the kiss itself. It was harsh, dominant, deep and long. It wasn't the constant stream of hungry kisses that he had seen hungry couples give each other over the years. This was a long and deep continuous kiss, like gently gliding on a dragon. It didn't end, it just kept going.
He closed his eyes, relaxing a bit and accepting the kiss. Before he had stood there shocked and stunned, now he was just a little bit less of both. He tilted his head and deepened the kiss, earning a soft moan from Astrid in surprise. She hadn't expected Hiccup to react so fast, but she didn't mind.
Hiccup inhaled through his nose, smelling a beautiful mixture of smells around him. The first and most prominent was their own sweat, they had fought for a bit and had both had quite some movement. But there was another smell, a faint and gentle smell, something along the lines of flowers and grass, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it.
It wasn't such a surprise that he couldn't think of it, he couldn't think of much at the moment. His mind was filled with just about everything from the past few years. The lonely nights he had during his time in the Roman Empire, the times he would watch her as a kid from the window of the store. How she'd throw the buckets of fire on the raging fires during raids, which was a futile attempt to douse the intense flames.
It all came back to him, the way he had missed her after he had initially left, how he remembered how angry she was when she discovered Toothless, and how he had taken her for a flight.
He had taken her for a flight?
He tried to focus his mind, which was surprisingly difficult with Astrid's body slammed tight against his, her hand wrapped around his neck, playing with his braids. Her other hand holding a tight grip on his collar, pulling his down a little bit. He felt trapped, but a good way of trapped. If you wished to live around Astrid Hofferson you would sometimes have to stand down, allowing her to take control. It was just how she was.
He was getting distracted again. He tried to focus, thinking back of the flight. It came back, slowly, and in parts. It was a lot to take in, the cold of the seas that Toothless had flew them through, along with the icy winds that high. Which was in sharp contrast with the warmth he had felt against his back and around his chest.
Astrid was also having trouble focussing, she was getting caught up in the kiss and almost forgot her plan. She opened one eye, looking past Hiccup to the ground just behind him, where her heavy axe still lay. She gave a last soft moan, having trouble finding the energy to part from the kiss. But she found it.
Hiccup felt a familiar emptiness when he felt her lips leave his, and that was the last signal he needed. His mind paced everything together, like a large puzzle, and the last piece had just been place.
He remembered the flight, the way Toothless was grumpy at first, understandable, and how he had calmed down after Astrid's apology. He remembers showing her the island and the short but eventful trip they made towards the dragon's nest. And he also knew why the loss he felt was so familiar. He particularly remembered the evening afterwards in the cove.
His eyes shot open, only to see that Astrid had more time to thing than him. He felt a cold metal hook behind his right leg. He looked at Astrid, who had a focussed expression and wore a sly grin. She gave him a powerful push. He wanted to step backwards, but the axe blocked his feet. He closed his eyes and prepared himself for the fall. In a matter of seconds his back hit the cold stone floor, and he landed with a grunt.
He didn't have time to do anything, because he quickly heard a soft sound of two steel points chipping into stone. He sighed, and slowly opened his eyes. Above him he saw Astrid, who was leaning calmly on the handle of her axe, a smug smile plastered on her face.
The crowd stated cheering, both to celebrate Astrid victory and also out of joy to finally see the two together. Along the cheering were a few wolf-whistles and a couple of suggestive remarks. They had been going around the town for a while now, but now the people who thought about these kind of jokes finally had the guts to shout them out.
Hiccup painfully tried to look around, but he couldn't turn his head far with the head of the axe keeping it in place. He could see a little bit to his left and right, and a tiny bit up. If he looked down he was looking straight at the axe, but after all, his gaze always landed back on Astrid.
Astrid looked away, searching for Gobber, who should be standing somewhere on the rim of the arena. She finally found him, bend over as he was holding his belly, laughing loudly.
"Did I win?" She asked confidently, looking down at the assassin who lay trapped on the ground.
"Hold on." The blacksmith said as he tried to make his way through the crowd. "I want to see this."
Hiccup let out a sigh, trying to wriggle his way from Astrid's grasp. It was a futile attempt, she was leaning on the handle of her axe, pinning it in the little holes it had chipped in the stone. It didn't move an inch.
"Any luck down there?" Astrid asked smugly, a large grin on her face. "It looks like you're stuck." He looked away, refusing to look at her, he saw Inferno lying no too far from his head. The head of the axe prevented him from grabbing it though. He looked back at Astrid, who was smiling at the crowd around her. Gobber came walking in though the entrance, heading over to the two fighters. He suppressed another laugh as he approached them.
"Well Astrid, looks like you got him." The smith said with a grin, looking at his former apprentice on the ground. His hood had fallen down, and he looked a lot less dangerous than he did before.
"Yep, I finally made up for last year." Astrid said with a grin, earning a laugh from Gobber. "Anyway, I suppose I've won?"
"Well, that depends, doesn't it?" Gobber said sarcastically, kneeling down next to Hiccup. "What do you say Hiccup, did Astrid win?"
Hiccup turned his head to Gobber, as far as the axe head would allow. He was thinking about making some remark about a tie, but he also realised that Astrid was in a position of power. And he lied if he said that he liked the axe on his throat.
"I think she's won." He said softly, looking at Gobber.
Astrid heard it, a smile creeping up on her face. But before Gobber had time to call the official win out towards the crowd Astrid signalled him to wait. "What did you say?" She asked with a sweet and innocent voice.
Hiccup sighted, refusing to look her in the eyes. "You've won." He said softly, looking at the wall at the far end of the arena.
He could almost feel how she put more weight on her axe, and how her sharp and persistent stare was aimed straight at him. "What was that?"
"You've won." He repeated, this time turning his head to look at her, his annoyance melted as he looked at her shining blue eyes. She was proud at herself, and she should be. And Hiccup had a feeling she wasn't just happy because she'd won the fight. "You've beaten me."
She turned to Gobber. That was all she needed to hear. She signalled him to call the winner, and already released some of the pressure on the axe.
"Alright lads and lasses, calm down everyone." Gobber shouted as he turned to face everyone. "The winner of the fight is obvious, Astrid!"
The crowd cheered, whistling and yelling loudly to celebrate the girl's victory. Astrid looked relieved, happy that she had finally won a match against Hiccup, and that she had finally found an excuse to kiss him. She pulled the axe from his throat, swinging it over her shoulder and extending her arm to help Hiccup up. He gladly took her hand, slowly getting up from the ground. His face was a mix of expressions, his eyes shone when he looked at her, but there was also a hint of insecurity.
"You cheated." He said softly, trying to hold a stern and angry expression. "That was not a fair move."
"Aaah," Astrid began, leaning her hands on her knees as if she was talking with a little kid. "Is the little Haddock pouting?"
"Little Haddock?" Hiccup laughed. "Are you calling a dangerous and deadly assassin a little Haddock?" He asked as he pointed at himself smugly.
"Well, that's a dangerous assassin that I just beat." Astrid said, giving him a gentle shove on his chest, releasing the spring-locked dorsal fin. It extended with a loud twang. It was silent for a short moment, before Astrid let out a long stream of laughter.
It was extremely funny for some reason, Hiccup just standing there, arms by his side, trying to look stern and dangerous, with a long red fin sticking out from his back.
"Very funny." Hiccup said annoyed as he twisted the little cylinder to retract the fin. Meanwhile Astrid wrapped her arms around her stomach, trying to stop the laughter. "Mature."
He noticed that his words weren't coming through, as Astrid was too busy laughing and muttering soft comments about the red fin that stood from his back.
Hiccup let out a heavy sigh, he wasn't going to stop the laughter any time soon, it would be impossible to start, and it was pretty cute. As a kid he hadn't seen her laugh that often, she was usually too busy training and looking tough. But he noticed that as they grew closer she relaxed and often dropper a bit of her tougher façade.
He grabbed her shoulders, at least holding her in place, but she was still bawling with laughter, her eyes shut tight. She opened them when she felt him touch her, but only to erupt in more laughter as she looked at his stern yet hopeless face. She got him, she got him good.
He tried to hold her still, but to no avail. Her giggles were causing her body to rock from side to side, making her jump slightly up and down, she was like a hyper-active dragon.
He decided to use her little trick against her.
This time it was Astrid's turn to freeze, and stand still in utter shock. Her eyes were open wide as she felt a rough hand on her chin, which had, without her realising, guider her lips to his. They were rough, and shook a little bit, before steading themselves slowly. She relaxed, her body almost going numb when he reached around her back with his arm. She returned to gesture, one hand grabbing his collar again and the other reaching behind him to tug on his braids.
His hair was messy and filthy, probably because of the dirt that was scattered across the floor of the arena. They could silently hear the crowd yelling and cheering in the back, but they both decided to ignore the masses of people. They could cheer and yell what they'd liked, it didn't matter to them. All that mattered to them was that moment, and the person standing in front of the other.
They were both in total bliss, their hands feeling like the warm glow of fire after a cold night of guard patrols around the island. They care for what happened around them, the entirety of Berk could sink into the ocean for all they cared, they only cared about the little bit of ground they currently shared.
Ragnar looked from the crowd, slowly trying make his way towards the couple to congratulate Astrid with her victory, although he also felt like Hiccup wasn't too sad about his defeat. He felt his arm being grabbed by someone however, his own girlfriend.
"Let them have their moment." She said as she looked at the two in the arena. "They deserve it."
He looked at his girlfriend, silently agreeing with her. But as when he looked back at the arena he felt a heavy hand land on his shoulder. A hand that actually covered most of his shoulder, like a warm heavy cloak. He looked behind him, seeing that the crowd that he had so much trouble navigating through had made easy way for a much broader person, the chief of Berk.
"Chief Stoick!" Ragnar said surprised, especially since you could usually hear or feel the chief coming from quite a bit away. "What brings you here?"
"Well, I never miss a fight from Berks most talented warrior." He began slowly. "And I know my son too, and felt like something was up." He added as he looked down into the arena, seeing Astrid and Hiccup standing in the middle of the ring. Gobber walking away waving his hands at the crowd, signalling that the fight was over and that this could take a while.
"You could say that." Ragnar added as he watched as Astrid tightened her grip on Hiccup's collar, pulling his head down a bit further so that she wouldn't have to stand on her toes. "Certainly been an interesting match."
"That it was." Stoick began, his voice deep but joyful, before quickly turning more serious. "Not the reason I truly came though."
"Trouble, chief?" Ragnar asked with a cocked eyebrow. "Ships on the horizon?"
"No, nothing life threatening this time." Stoick chuckled lightly, looking behind him to see that most of Berk was still watching for some reason, and that the rest of the village was awfully quiet. "Walk with me." He said as started making his way back through the crowd.
Ragnar turned to Heather, giving her a quick shrug before following closely behind the chief.
Stoick's abilities to cut through crowds was amazing, people parted like the sea for the bow of a ship. It was an astonishing sight. He followed in his wake. Calmly following closely behind the large Viking before the crowd closed behind him. It only took a short time before Stoick had safely navigated them out of the seas of Vikings, and they walked back towards the village across the sturdy wooden bridge.
"You wished to speak sir?" Ragnar asked carefully as he felt a plank squeak underneath him. He didn't pay it any attention. The old wooden bridge that connected the town of Berk with the arena had been scary at first, but after seeing countless hordes of Vikings and dragons walk across it he felt safe to say that the bridge would hold his weight.
"Yes, I did." Stoick said softly, the large and experienced chief had though deeply about the subject he was about to discuss, but he was uncertain about how to start.
"Should I be worried?" Ragnar asked to break the silence between the two. He was nervous, but when he looked at the chief he had the same nervousness, the tall man was fumbling with his hands, not able to keep them still.
"Absolutely not." Stoick said quickly. He stopped and turned to Ragnar, taking a deep breath before continuing. "I'm a father."
"I like to think so." Ragnar replied confused, not sure where the chief wanted to go with this talk.
"And a bad one." He added softly, loud enough that Ragnar could hear it clearly. The pain and remorse was clear in his voice, and the assassin felt sad for the large man.
"Well, I wouldn't say that." Ragnar said calmly, but he was interrupted by Stoick.
"I drove my own son away, forced him to befriend something he was taught to fear." Stoick said with a sad tone as he continued walking. "Only because he feared it less than his own tribe."
"No, that's not how it went." Ragnar wanted to begin, catching up with the chief, but he was cut off again.
"And I send him running, forced him to flee to a foreign land." Stoick added, continuing his own demoralizing rant. He stopped again, taking in a deep breath. "You've been more father to him than I've ever been."
Ragnar was frozen, surprised with the sudden compliment. Had he? He had taken care of him and helped him with wounds, but so had Hiccup when he was hurt. "We're more like brothers." He said softly. "But thanks."
Stoick sighed, sitting down on a stone wall that luckily managed to hold itself underneath the large chief's weight. "You know my own son better than I do." He said simply. "I want you to help me."
"What do you mean?" Ragnar asked as he leaned against a sign post that conveniently stood behind him.
"You've seen him grow, seen him develop." Stoick said as he looked towards the location where the arena was in the distance. "I don't believe you if you tell me that he was like this when he washed up on the shore."
Ragnar chuckled at the statement, he had changed a lot since that day, they both had. "Alright, you got a point there." He said with a smile. "But from what I hear he hasn't changed much from when he was here."
This time it was Stoick's turn to laugh. "That man who fights in the arena, challenging Astrid Hofferson like it's nothing." He began. "That doesn't look like my clumsy thin child."
"He changed alright, gained some weight, grown a bit." Ragnar explained. "But inside, he's still all Hiccup."
"What do you mean?" Stoick asked curiously, his entire mind fixed on the words Ragnar was telling.
"He invented a lot here." Ragnar said, and he could almost see Stoick face turn. He was reminded to the days he had to clean the mess of a dragon's raid and clean the mess Hiccup had added with it. His inventions were always so crude, large and dangerous. And extremely unreliable. "He still does, his sword, his suit, all his work."
"His inventions were death wishes when he was here." Stoick chucked, remembering the numerous Vikings that had fallen from his launchers. "They so complex and delicate now."
"That's just experience." Ragnar said calmly. "He almost killed me a couple of times in the last few years with that stuff, so that hasn't changed, he just got better at it."
Stoick chuckled softly, remembering the odd changes he had at visiting the forge, and seeing the shine in Hiccup's eyes when he worked at something. "But his sword, and that suit, they work so well."
"Not the first time." Ragnar said with a smile. "His suit saw him plummeting to the earth more often than not, and that sword lost me a set of eyebrows." He said, stroking his left eyebrow gently to make sure it was still in place.
Stoick was silent. What if he had given Hiccup more time? What if he had let him perfect his designs instead of cutting them off the first chance he got?
Ragnar took the silence as a sign to continue. "And forcing him to go to the enemy, that isn't what Hiccup does, he's just, curious." Ragnar explained, earning a surprised look from Stoick. "He found Toothless and he didn't kill him, so he looked further than just thanking the gods that he still had his life and running away."
"Sounds like that's a bad quality at times." Stoick added fearfully, sure, he got lucky with dragons, that showed. But he wasn't too sure about other times where Hiccup could get in serious trouble with that habit.
"Ooh it is." Ragnar said calmly. "Has a few scars from it too." He said as he gestured from his shoulder, trailing his finger sideways across his chest and belly. "Quite a nasty one."
"Continue." Stoick said softly.
"He never gave up on you guys you know." Ragnar said softly. "Always looked after you lot."
"Even when we took his friend." Stoick muttered softly. "And I casted him out, saying he wasn't my son."
"He still came back though, ready to fight for his home, his people." Ragnar said. "The more stories I hear from the time before I met him the more I find he hasn't changed that much."
"If you tell it like that it makes sense." Stoick said with a soft smile.
"And the more I hear about you," Ragnar began. "The more I learn he takes after his father."
Stoick let out a soft laugh. "Don't put your money on that." He said softly. "He takes more after his mother."
"Well, becoming an assassin hasn't been bad for him." Ragnar said with a smile. "And we had a good mentor."
"Mentor?" Stoick asked curiously. "Is there a third hooded hero who I need to thank?"
"You could say that." Ragnar says cautiously. "He took us in when we arrived in Roma, trained us."
"How did he, train Hiccup?" Stoick asked curiously. "I've tried it."
"He was calm, pushed us to do our best, but didn't force anything." Ragnar explained. "He could see that we were capable of more, but he never tried to force us to be something we couldn't be."
Stoick was silent, he could hear the difference between him and this Marcus.
"He didn't cross boundaries and borders, he shoved them ahead of us." Ragnar told Stoick. "He showed us that there was hidden potential in us, but that we had to find it ourselves."
"And then released you to the world when you were ready?" Stoick asked, interested in the man who had helped his son and his best friend. "I suppose I can't send a letter to thank him."
"Well, no." Ragnar said, trying to keep his face straight. "Marcus, well, he died."
"Ooh, alright." Stoick said softly. "That's a shame."
Ragnar felt his fingers tense and flexed them carefully. "It was." He chocked out, taking slow breaths to keep calm. "He has helped us immensely."
"Right." Stoick said, there was a strange tension with the boy he was talking to, but that was understandable with such a loss. "I better continue running the village."
"Sure." Ragnar said with a smile as the chief got up from the stone wall. "I better go do, things."
The moon was in the sky early, at the beginning of the night. It was a clear and beautiful, and slowly grew darker as the sun descended on the horizon behind him. It wasn't often that he found himself relaxed by stargazing, but tonight was one of those nights. He would usually spent his spare time by drawing, designing, or taking flights with Toothless. But tonight was different, he felt like the skies themselves had cleared for him, to allow him to rest and beauty of the coming night.
He had a clear view too, sitting on the thick wooden edge of the wooden bridge that connected the arena and the village. It gave him the perfect view of the clear sky and calm sea, and he could see for miles.
The sky was slowly growing darker, and the full moon was starting to replace the sun as the shining celestial object in the sky.
In the distance was the noise of the village, the soft sounds of living men, who calmly did their business. In the silence you could hear how they went on with their daily lives, slowly rounding up and closing shops for the day.
Today had been a crazy day, he had woken up on a sea stack quite a bit away from here, and hadn't even had time to relax until now. The day had been filled with all sorts of things, from travelling back to berk to getting trapped by toothless in the forge, and eventually, the fight with Astrid.
That had been something alright.
He needed to talk to her, to make sure what was going on. Were they 'a thing' now? He wasn't sure, he'd like it, he would like it a lot actually. It was one of the things that didn't ever seem to leave him, that seemed to follow him wherever he went. It didn't matter if he was in Roma, or in the archipelago. It didn't matter if was home or far away. The young and adventurous crush he had felt for her never seized to exist. It always came back, like a terrible terror that you fed a piece of food. It would come back for more.
He didn't mind, the warm and joyful feelings he got when he could see her smile made his day. And that wasn't about to change, but he wasn't sure how she felt.
Sure, she had kissed him, on the lips, out of the blue, but he was wondering if that was actually a tactic or if it was more than that. And she had allowed him to kiss her back, and hadn't broken the kiss afterwards. But he hadn't had a chance to talk with her about it. They had been pulled apart, much to his dislike. They had been driven apart by a lot of bystanders. Large groups wanted to congratulate Astrid, both with her victory and something else, and on their way out of the arena, they always managed to get Hiccup just a bit closer towards the exit, until finally he found himself standing on the other side of the bridge, large streams of Vikings still coming from the small arena.
He hadn't even realised that there were so many Vikings who had come to watch the match. And what surprised him even more was the amount that had apparently managed to gather around the arena on the small stone rim.
He had decided that he would speak her later, when they both had time and peace to do so. But unfortunately that had left him to think about the day on his own, and that had made him rather insecure.
Beneath him was the soft sound of the waves smashing against the rocks, the brute force of the water could smash ships into splinters. But even though it held so much power and energy, it sounded relaxing. He let out a soft sigh looking at the lone ship that was sailing on the sea, heading towards the port. A torch burned softly on it and he could see the occasional silhouette of a person walking in front of the torch, doing things around the small ship.
He felt a pair of hands grip his shoulders, and before he could react he felt his back on the floor of the bridge, his eyes wide open in shock. He looked up at Astrid, the moon behind her giving a soft glow to her silhouette.
"Thanks." He said sarcastically. "What did I earn that for?"
Astrid let out a soft giggle, stepping over him and sitting down on his legs that still leaned on the railing. "I don't know." She said calmly as she looked at him. "I got to make sure you know your place."
Hiccup chuckled softly. "Like the dragon race before the winter?" He asked, earning a mean grin from Astrid as she remembered how she had trapped him in the basket.
"No." She said with a stern expression. "That was because you cheated."
"In that case we're even." Hiccup said with a smile, wriggling his legs to make Astrid stand up, before quickly pulling them out from there to make sure he could stand. "Right?"
"And why would that be?" Astrid asked with a cocked eyebrow. "You cheated, I didn't." She stated sternly.
"Sure, this afternoon was a very fair fight." Hiccup said as he climbed to his feet, sitting down next to her.
"There are no rules against kissing your opponent." Astrid stated clearly. "So it was a fair tactic."
"There are also no rules about jumping from your dragon to grab sheep." Hiccup said calmly. "Still, you claim that I was cheating."
"Well, fine." Astrid said. "We're even."
"Good." Hiccup said, staring out towards the sea. Astrid eyed him curiously, wondering what he was thinking about. He let out a deep sigh, his eyes fixed on the small boat that was slowly getting further and further.
"What are you thinking about?" She asked as she gently leaned into him, the boy's gaze remaining fixed on the small vessel.
"What are we?" Hiccup asked calmly, looking at her.
Astrid looked back, surprised. "Even." She said with a mean smile. "I just told you."
"You know what I mean." Hiccup said annoyed.
"I don't know what we are." Astrid said, her eyes also wandering towards the sea.
"Do you want us to be something?" Hiccup asked curiously, looking at her.
Astrid looked at him, a determined look. She didn't say anything, a soft nod was enough for him to understand. A smile crept on his lips. "Ready for a fourth kiss?" He asked with a sly smile.
"You're counting?" Astrid asked surprised, feeling a little flattered. "And you're on four?"
"Well, I remembered a short flight a few years ago." Hiccup said casually. "Nothing too special."
"Nothing too special?" Astrid asked surprised. "You sure about that?"
"Pretty sure." Hiccup said calmly, not looking at her to avoid an angry scowl. He stared absently into the distance, hearing Astrid huff beside him.
He looked at her, and was welcomed by her angry stare. Luckily, he had learned quickly, and could tell the difference between her 'I'm going to kill you' stare and her 'I'm angry, but you'll live' stare. He leaned in and gave her a soft peck on her forehead.
"I'm joking." He said as he planted another kiss. And he could feel how she relaxed. "It was an amazing flight."
When he pulled back, she was relaxed. Her eyes were no longer set on killing him and she wore a soft smile. "Good." She said as she stood up. "I don't want an unfair boyfriend."
It was strange how one sentence could fill him with so much joy, her boyfriend. It sounded so strange, and yet so good. "Wouldn't dream of it." Hiccup responded dryly, standing up too. "Gods know that nothing goes unseen from you."
"And you know it." Astrid said in victory. She turned around to face him, and gave him a quick punch against his shoulder.
"Ow." Hiccup said in response. It didn't really hurt, it was just unexpected. "What was that for."
"That was for calling me a cheater." Astrid said sternly, pointing her finger at the young assassin. "And this," She began, leaning in and kissing the boy on the lips. Their warm bodies were pressed close together to prevent the cold wind that blew across the bridge from reaching them. They stood there in silence, in the soft flickering of a torch and the light of the moon.
"Is for everything else."
AN:
Well, here it is, long awaited and quite a bit too late. Sorry for that, I had some trouble writing this and only managed to go from 2000 to 5000+ words in the last few days. So yea. I'm going to try to go for two weeks again, but now that I've officially took a hiatus on TTTS I might be able to go weekly. Who knows? I don't, that's for sure.
Anyway, exams are up for next week. So that's sure to keep me busy for a while. Lovely subjects: Ship knowledge, Electro technical shizzle, two Match exams and one Navigation. Pretty fun and interesting, but also challenging.
Well, that's that. For now I just want to thank everyone for the waiting patiently and keeping up with my sorry ass. It's challenging at times I bet. :P
Take care!
R4y