Here's Chapter 36, which was really just an excuse to write some everyday domestic Hiccstrid, really get back to the basics of this story, you know? In which Astrid tries to get into healthy mental habits and Hiccup is the unapologetic cat lady he is
Chapter 36 - Vanilla Cold Brew and Pasta Sauce
Summer had arrived on Berk, as unlikely as it felt every year.
Every year, without fail, the islanders had gotten so used to the biting wind, cloudy sky, and nine rainy months out of the year, that they never quite expected summer to make its rounds again. And yet, every year, without fail, summer came.
Today, summer had brought seagulls swarming the sky that was the colour of Hiccup and Astrid's new front door. The birds greeted Astrid in an ear-shattering cacophony just after 5:20am, as she stepped outside and pulled the front door closed with a click and pressed shuffle on her running playlist. Once she'd skipped the first five songs, she put her phone back into her pocket and started her morning jog. It was a gorgeous morning – still crisp, but already light, the remnants of the pink and orange sunrise still hanging around the horizon, whispering in the low clouds over the sea.
Astrid turned into the side street that led away from their cottage and towards the sea, checking her watch after she set it to the running setting. By the time she was back from her run and had showered, Hiccup should be almost home, which would leave her with just enough time to make him his night shift tea. Every morning he'd returned from night shifts in the past few months, Astrid had sat in the kitchen, already dressed for the day, with a cup of coffee for herself and a steaming cup of tea for Hiccup, with extra sugar.
As the sea came into view, the rising sun shimmering across its surface, Astrid took a deep breath and picked up the pace, as the street was starting to curve downhill. She'd been working on slowly working her lung capacity up back to normal, and as a result, was now starting to be able to run an uninterrupted fifteen minutes again. Still not the 30 to 40 minutes she had been used to before the fire, but still better than nothing. Plus, she kept seeing results every week. Most mornings now, she started off with a run. Especially the mornings Hiccup was gone - sometimes, during his off-days, they spent most of their mornings until Astrid had to go to work lazing around in bed (amongst other things). During those days, Hiccup would wrap his arms around her tightly anytime she would attempt to get out of bed and bury his head between her shoulder blades, pulling her back down towards him.
Astrid smiled at the thought. When she felt her lungs starting to burn and felt the now all-too-familiar wheeze creeping into her breathing, the smile melted off her face and she furrowed her brow in frustration, slowing down to a brisk walk. "Come on," she muttered to herself and stomped down the street. Hiccup would probably look at her with that soft, loving way he would look at her, take her face into his calloused hands and say something stupid like, 'Honey, don't be so hard on yourself' or, 'You just have to take it step by step'. Astrid grunted in frustration and huffed out a breath. It still hurt. And whilst her instinct was to try to punish herself by starting to run again, she also begrudgingly followed Hiccup's advice. She'd heard him say that kind of things so many times now (which was definitely not because she kept pushing herself beyond her capacity), and she'd be lying if she pretended like they weren't slowly sinking in by now. Or that she didn't appreciate them. In truth, Astrid wished she could just think like that about herself organically, without Hiccup having to remind her to be kinder to herself.
And yet, here she was, absolutely furious with herself that her lungs weren't back to normal yet. The after-effects had taken longer to disappear than anticipated after her initially quick recovery at the hospital, even the doctor had admitted that at her most recent check-up appointment. This had, of course, only made her internal monologue worse. Had it not been for Hiccup and his relentlessly gentle 'I-love-you-so-I'm-going-to-make-you-be-nicer-to-yourself' phrases of encouragement, Astrid was sure she would have already been back to A&E multiple times by now.
When she started to cough, she forced herself to stop, turn around, and start walking back. The walk back up the hill made her wheeze just the same, even though she was deliberately (and annoyingly) slow. With a frustrated huff, she unlocked the front door and stumbled back into the house, slamming the door behind her. She just caught a glimpse of Toothless, who let out a startled "Mrrp!" and ran away from the door at top speed.
Astrid chuckled and dropped her keys on the little dish they kept on the shoe rack by the front door. She made her way into the kitchen, noticing that Toothless' food bowl was already empty, and put the kettle on after checking her watch. She'd not taken nearly as long as she'd anticipated, which maybe wasn't too bad. She could read a bit before work and wait for Hiccup to get back home.
She scooped a couple of teaspoons of matcha into a bowl and added some sugar. Hiccup had been getting into iced matcha lately (which had earned him some good-natured teasing from Gobber at work) and had already whipped up three different kinds of syrups for their drinks.
The kettle beeped.
Astrid prepared the matcha and added some of Hiccup's vanilla syrup to a glass. As she took the milk out of the fridge, she grinned at the pot of cold brew he'd made her the afternoon before with a little tape label with a scribbled heart on it. Sweet, she thought. I can have a vanilla cold brew. How fancy.
Speaking of fancy, on Hiccup's insistence, they had kept his kettled that had different temperature settings so it was 'perfect for all kinds of tea', according to him. Just as she was plopping some ice cubes into both of their glasses, she heard Hiccup's keys turn in the door. In the distance, she heard Toothless bounding down the stairs. Astrid smiled to herself. Every single day (or night for that matter), Toothless would greet Hiccup at the door and push his forehead against him until he held his forehead down to his level. Mostly, he'd be stood up on the shoe rack and meow at Hiccup until he properly said hello to him.
Hiccup popped his head through the kitchen door and grinned at the side of Astrid, her back turned to him as she was preparing their drinks. He wrapped his arms around her and rested his head on her shoulder, closing his eyes.
"Good morning, milady."
Astrid grinned and leaned her head against him. "Hey," she said softly. "You smell like smoke."
He chuckled. "It's my job to smell like smoke."
"Is it weird that I kind of like it?"
Hiccup shrugged in response. "I could see why you do. I think my nose has become so used to it I don't even notice it anymore, to be honest."
Astrid offered him an understanding smile and just pointed to the counter behind her. "I've got something to bring you back to life."
Her boyfriend cracked a relieved smile at that and planted a big, purposefully sloppy kiss on her cheek and forehead, wrapping his arms around her again. "You're the best."
Astrid chuckled and they cheersed their glasses, both taking their first sips at the same time. Hiccup sighed contentedly and his whole body seemed to decompress against the kitchen counter.
"I'm so lucky," he sighed, took another sip and watched Astrid hop onto the kitchen counter, where she sat facing the window that looked out towards the sea. They sat in silence for a while
Hiccup was against the counter, his eyes trained on Astrid intently as he finished his drink and set it back down.
"I've been thinking," he intoned and smiled softly when she looked up at him, interrupted from staring out of the kitchen window towards the sea.
"Hmm?"
Astrid met his green eyes and smiled at him. Hiccup shifted from one foot to the other, almost looking nervous and set his glass down on the counter.
"I, uh ..." he cleared his throat and shifted his weight again, trying to avoid her now slightly concerned gaze. "I think I'd like to get EMT certified," he said then after a short pause. He exhaled when Astrid's face lit up at his words. She got up and bounded towards him, wrapping her arms around him, and making him stumble backwards against the kitchen counter.
"That's amazing, honey!"
Hiccup's face broke out into a huge grin, showing off the gap between his two front teeth. Of course, those were her first words. Why had he been so strangely anxious to share this with her?
She let him go and stood back half a step to study his face. "What made you think about doing that?"
Hiccup hesitated. "Honestly, ever since ... the fire, I, uh ... I've honestly never felt that helpless. It felt awful, not knowing what to do beyond my basic training. I never want to experience that again, not with anyone, especially not with you if anything ever happened again. And, look, I know that's completely irrational but it's just not let me go since the fire. And, I guess, I just want to be prepared just in case. I want to help people. More than I hopefully already do. I just think becoming a paramedic as well is just going to make me even more useful. I don't know. I mean, maybe this is stupid, maybe-"
The words felt clumsy and almost hurtful to him, but Astrid didn't seem to pay that much attention. Her hand reached for his, her thumb stroking the back of his freckled hand, interrupting his nervous rambling.
She didn't quite know what to say. She felt torn between pride in his decision and pain at the way he'd arrived at it.
In the end, she said, "Babe, it's not stupid. It couldn't be further from stupid, actually."
He met her gaze, almost reluctantly, almost looking ashamed. Astrid took his other hand and leaned in.
"Think about how many more people you'll be able to help," she told him, and Hiccup knew she was fully earnest, knew this was the only thing going through her mind right now. And somehow, it made him love her even more.
Wordlessly, he pulled in and clung to her, one of his hands smoothing down her hair, still tied up in her running-ponytail.
"I've been thinking the same thing, by the way," she said into his chest after a while, almost too quietly to hear. He pulled back slightly, his expression asking the question. Astrid hesitated.
"About ... something like this happening again. Not necessarily to me, but just ... at the school. Or at the council. I don't know. I've felt so irrational, but anywhere I go I'm just expecting fires to randomly sprout out of nowhere. It's ... kind of been making me nervous going anywhere without you, to be honest. Having you with me always feels so much safer."
She pulled back now, her blue eyes meeting his, waves crashing against the shore in their intensity. "You ground me so much, Hiccup. You make me feel so safe. You did from the moment we met. And I know that when you're certified, maybe ... maybe you'll feel as safe in yourself as you make me feel."
Hiccup didn't know what to say. Perhaps he did, but the words got stuck in his throat again as they so often did. Instead, he wordlessly pulled her into another hug, hoping it would somehow be enough.
In the end, the words that escaped his chest were, "You, too. You're my anchor, Astrid."
She smiled into his shoulder and pressed a kiss against his sood-covered t-shirt. They stayed in their embrace for a while, swaying back and forth, seagulls crying outside as they flew past the kitchen window. After a while, Hiccup was starting to feel the effects of his third night shift in a row kick in and tried to stifle his yawns, which made Astrid chuckle lightly. Her hand found the back of his hair, gently stroking his head.
"I think we'll better get you to bed, huh?" she whispered and all he could muster was a nod, his head so heavy against her warm shoulder.
And so she led him upstairs, past his jacket that he'd hung up on a chair in the dining room, and her running shoes in the hallway by the door. Astrid helped him out of his clothes, offering him his pyjamas, knowing he'd forego his shower until the afternoon once he'd slept for a few hours. She pulled down the blinds and, in the dark, tiptoed over to their bed to tuck him in and pressed a lingering kiss on his forehead, smiling when his fumbling, tired hands found the small of her back in the darkness, pulling her flush against the edge of the bed.
"Good night, my love," she whispered and pushed his hair out of his face. He smiled sleepily and mumbled back, "I'm so lucky."
"Sleep well. I'll see you when you wake up."
She knew he was telling her to have a good day, but it only came out as incoherent mumbles. Astrid got up, grabbed her clothes for the day that she'd laid out the night before, and headed to the bathroom to shower to get ready for her day, just as his had ended.
By the time Hiccup woke up, Astrid had already been back from school for almost an hour. He padded down into the kitchen, where he found her toiling over a steaming pot of something. She beamed at him when she noticed him, his head popped through the kitchen door, still in his work t-shirt.
"This is a nice change," Hiccup remarked, his voice soft and appreciative as he went over to Astrid and kissed her on the cheek. "Whatcha makin'?"
"Just some pasta sauce," she said cheerfully and Hiccup breathed a very sneaky sigh of relief. Can't go very wrong with a tomato sauce, he thought. Outloud, he said, "Oh, nice. That sounds perfect, actually, just what I want after a shift like that."
She shot him a concerned glance and wrapped an arm around his middle. "That bad? I never asked you about it this morning."
Hiccup sighed and ran a hand through his still-smoky hair. "Yeah, there was a fire down at the industrial estate, a warehouse. No injuries, but it was a lot of surface area to cover." He pressed a kiss on her head and breathed in her warm scent, the tension slowly but surely starting to dissipate from his shoulders.
"I'm gonna go take a shower, my love. I feel disgusting," he murmured and grinned when her hand wandered down to squeeze his butt.
"You don't look disgusting," Astrid smiled at him and stroked his cheek, her eyes warm and full of love, much like the sauce bubbling away on the hob. "Go relax in the shower. I'll put the pasta on in a bit, so dinner will be ready when you're done."
Hiccup sighed contentedly and gave her another kiss. "Amazing. Thank you."
She hummed and turned back towards the hob to stir the sauce. Hiccup returned to the living room, where he'd unceremoniously dumped his bag on the floor earlier this morning, picked it up and plodded upstairs, his aching muscles begging for a hot shower and some stretches.
Back in the bedroom, he found Toothless lounging on the bed. His cat jumped up as soon as he saw him and let out an excited meow and pushed his hand into Hiccup's armpit as he leaned down to pet him. Hiccup laughed and decided a few moments spent cuddling couldn't hurt before he took his shower and saw down to let Toothless sit on his lap.
"Hey, bud," he whispered and pressed a kiss on his soft little head and leaned his forehead against it, closing his eyes for a little while. Toothless nuzzled himself against Hiccup and turned over on his back, letting him gently stroke his belly.
"Have you had some treats yet?" Hiccup asked and immediately, Toothless spun back around and leapt off of him, landing on the floor with an excited meow. "Are you sure Astrid's not given you any when she got home?" Hiccup asked suspiciously. Toothless put on his best, raspy, desperate meow performance he knew would get Hiccup to relent.
"Fine," Hiccup sighed with a grin and pulled the pack of emergency salmon treats he kept in his bedside table out and offered some to Toothless, who happily munched away.
By the time they sat down for dinner, Hiccup was freshly showered and already felt a lot better. After having inhaled his giant portion of spaghetti (Astrid's tomato sauce being surprisingly palatable), he felt fully restored. Astrid's amused gaze glinted at him from across their round table.
"Better?" she asked and chuckled when Hiccup leaned back and rubbed his belly contentedly.
"Much better. Thank you for making dinner, my love. It was delicious."
"I'm glad. Who'd have known, right? I can make something edible that doesn't burn the kitchen down."
"Hey, come on, careful what you say about the love of my life-"
"Who you didn't meet because of a kitchen fire?"
"Well, I mean the first one was an electrical fire, to be fair."
"Yeah, but the second one wasn't. I was too zonked to realise I left my pizza in the oven."
Hiccup shrugged and grinned. "Hey, that's what you get for working late nights at a bar to save up for your dream and financial freedom."
Astrid tapped her foot against his ankle and chuckled. "Fine, you got me. I'm an amazing cook and have never set anything on fire because of incompetence, ever."
They sat in comfortable silence for a while, watching the sun slowly adopt a golden hue that grazed the rooftops and chimneys of their street.
After a while, Astrid sighed. "I've got some papers to grade tonight."
Hiccup frowned and raised an eyebrow at that. "I thought you vowed to stop taking your work home with you?"
"Did I? I don't remember," Astrid said, looking away from him, suppressing a smile. Hiccup chuckled.
"Well, hey, you lasted a good two weeks. I'd say that's a good run."
"Okay, fine, I gave in to my FOMOW, okay? My students are expecting their papers to be graded in a timely manner, and I'm not gonna pull a 'Sandra' and take a damn near month to do it! So anyways, Mr. 'Overloads my schedule with too many night shifts semi-illegally', I'm gonna go grade my papers after dinner and there's nothing you can do about it."
"Except bring you tea and biscuits."
She paused. "Except bring me tea and biscuits. Correct."
Hiccup chuckled. "I'll clean up the kitchen as well. Since you cooked."
"Thanks, babe. Sorry I left such a mess."
"Hey, wouldn't be a you-dinner if–alright, I'm sorry, I'll stop with the cooking jabs."
She glared at him and kissed him on the cheek when she got up. She took the plates and carried them over to the sink, turning back to grin at him briefly, making Hiccup's heart flutter in his ribcage as she made it stir sometimes, still, even after more than a year together.
His voice soft, he promised her tea and biscuits once she'd settled in and got up to start tidying the kitchen.
Later, Hiccup found Astrid not in her office like he'd expected, but curled up on the sofa, her notepad on her knees. She sat at an angle, facing the window next to the fireplace, her face and pulled-up hair basked in the glow of the slowly setting sun.
"Here you go, my gorgeous," Hiccup murmured and set down the plate with biscuits and her tea next to her on the little side console they kept by the sofa and planted a kiss on the crown of her head. "Biscuits and tea as ordered. Let me know if you want any more."
Astrid looked up at him, her eyes radiant in the glow of the sunset. "You're the best."
"No, you're the best."
She chuckled and crinkled her nose at him. "And we're cheesy. You gonna go back to sleep or do you think you'll stay up for a bit longer?"
"Hmm, I think I might read for a bit and have some cuddles with Tooth. See you later? I promise I'll stay awake so we can cuddle."
"Sounds good, baby. I'll see you in a bit, I should be done in about an hour or so. That's about as much as I can take of averagely worded essays on Russia from 1855-1992."
"That's fair. I think I'd have tapped out around two paragraphs in, at most. And that's coming from the guy who loves writing incident reports after call-outs at 3 am."
"Well, considering I was barely even woman enough to go down your pole at work, I think we both chose our careers fairly well," Astrid mumbled, her voice muffled with the lid of her purple pen (she refused to use a red pen for grading) between her teeth.
Hiccup chuckled. "We sure did, honey." He gave her another kiss on the top of her head. "Don't stay up too late, okay? And don't forget your tea."
"Promise," she replied, her eyes glued to the paper. Hiccup smiled softly and yawned as he headed over to the kitchen to turn off the light, tiredness settling deep into his bones again.
He thanked his lucky stars that starting tomorrow, he'd have his four days off. He could finally hang up those pictures in the bedroom that Gobber had given them, from the day they moved in.
As Hiccup padded up the stairs, Toothless following him, he thought about how he'd never hung a single picture in his old flat and how grateful he was that he finally did.
I hope you enjoyed reading this one! I hope this bit of mindless fluff helped if you had a dumb, hard or stressful (or good!) day and I hope you all have a good week! 💗