"He's going to fall down."

"He's not going to fall down."

"He will when he tries to get down from that window sill. Why aren't you more worried?"

"Because evidently I know more about cats than you do. Allow me to demonstrate."

Astrid watched curiously as Hiccup approached a cupboard attached to the wall near the kitchen door. Opening it, he took out a packet of cat food, the contents moving around as he did so. Then he closed the cupboard again and returned to Astrid's side, by the table in the middle of the room.

"What are you going to do with that?"

"This," he shook the packet of cat food. "Toothless, want food?"

Now Toothless's attention had been drawn from the moment Hiccup had picked up the packet of cat food, thanks to the noise it had made. So his eyes were already on Hiccup.

But when his owner called his name with a query and held the food up, he went for it.

Astrid's jaw dropped in surprise, not expecting to see the feline place his two front paws on the window and pitch forward, using his paws to slow his fall until he was a third of the way down and jump the rest of the way.

"Wow," Astrid murmured to herself, marvelling at what she had seen, all the while Toothless approached and started to paw at the food packet, standing on his hind legs to do it.

Hiccup turned away, tearing open the packet as he approached Toothless's food bowl - which was still half full - and emptied the contents into it.

Toothless jumped down from the table with a meow and hurried over, quickly beginning to eat.

"And that is how you get Toothless down from the window and feed him at the same time. Voilà."

"Thanks for showing me, babe," smiled Astrid. "It was interesting. Which reminds me; there's something I want to show you too."

"What?"

"It's a surprise. Grab your coat, we're heading out."

…

The sun was glinting off the small lake's surface as Hiccup peered over the cliff and at the trees that surrounded it, with a few boulders thrown in for good measure.

He glanced back at Astrid over his shoulder. "The Cove? That's it? That's what you wanted to show me? Astrid, I've been here before…"

Astrid met his incredulous stare with a smile, gesturing to their surroundings. "I want you to draw me. Here on this cliff, with my back to the lake."

Hiccup paled a little. "You want me to draw you? Well I don't uh- I don't exactly know how to draw…"

Astrid said nothing, but bit her lip and turned away, walking backwards to her car. Opening the boot, she took something out before shutting the boot again and walking over to Hiccup again, just far enough to toss the object in her hands at him.

He caught it and found it was a well-used sketchbook.

An awfully familiar sketchbook. One could even say it was his.

Her face adopted a smirk as she crossed her arms playfully. "You were saying?"

Hiccup blushed, embarrassed. "You didn't look inside, did you?"

Her smirk stretched into a grin. "I did. You had it bad as a teenager, didn't you? But the question is, were those drawings of me before or after Cami?"

Hiccup's blush could now put a tomato to shame. "Before. D-do you have any pencils? Going to need them and I want to get this over with…"

Astrid stepped up to him, frowning now. "Hey, I don't mind- about those drawings I mean. The attraction is certainly mutual now."

"I know," sighed Hiccup. "But I thought I had gotten rid of this book. You… you weren't meant to see. Cami doesn't even know about this book or I would never have heard the end of it. You'd probably have heard sooner as well…"

"Well forget about her. I'm not Cami. I would never do that," Astrid glanced around. "It's why I brought you here, with nobody around to hear us."

Her hands curled into fists by her side. "Actually, I might just kill her."

Hiccup took her hands in his, dropping the sketchbook on the grass-covered ground. Easing her fists open, he wove her fingers with his. Then he pecked her on the lips. "Don't. She's in the past. So are these drawings that you found out about. If we both focused on the past, we'd never move on. I'd still be mad at my dad and Cami for what they did."

He kissed her again, a second longer this time. "Don't become me."

He bent to pick up the discarded sketchbook, but Astrid had other ideas. With both hands, she stooped to grip the front of his shirt and pulled him back up. Then she wrapped her arms around him and kissed him soundly.

"When did you become so wise?" she murmured.

"Started to, thanks to you being with me. Still a work in progress, not quite there yet."

They slowly separated, and now Astrid wore a blush, though it was faint by comparison. "I-I'm no king solomon myself either babe."

Hiccup shook his head, smiling. "Doesn't matter. We have each other. We'll figure stuff out, together."

Astrid held up the hand with her engagement ring, beaming at him. "Together. Till death do us part."

Hiccup had the sudden urge to kiss her again.

So he did.

When they separated for the second time, both were out of breath.

"So, about that drawing you wanted… The light is just right for your hair…"

"My, my hair?" Astrid mumbled, blinking owlishly at him.

"Yes. It's… uh-" he was a little dazed from kissing too. "If you pose just right, it'll look like you have gold on your head."

Another blink, but then her eyes widened. "Oh! Yes please! Where do you want me?"

"Step back a bit. A step or two. And now, tilt your head a little to the left. Perfect! Let me take a picture with my phone. Stay as still as you can, milady."

Once that was done, Hiccup snatched up his sketchbook. "Let's hurry and get this done, before the sun sets completely."

Astrid nodded and sped in the direction of her car again. She was quick to return with a bag containing a pack of pencils, and Hiccup swore he would be old and grey and never see her move as fast as she did that day.

"You really want this drawing, don't you?" he asked when she all but shoved the bag into his waiting hands.

"Hiccup, I will pay you to shut up and start drawing."

He simply laughed. "Well that answers that. Don't worry milady. I will draw you like one of my french girls."

He was rewarded by another faint blush crossing her face. "Shut up. Draw."

"One sec." Dropping his sketchbook on the ground again, he strode over to her. Reaching behind her head, he took hold of her braid and started to unwind it.

"What are you doing?"

"Undoing your braid," he said, answering but not answering her question.

"But why?"

"I'll tell you later."

When her hair was free, he arranged it so that it covered her shoulders and concealed some of the back of her neck, like a mane of gold, then stepped back to observe how it looked.

"Not quite right…"

Returning, he moved some of it so it framed her cheeks and her temples.

"Perfect," he noted with a nod and a smile, then picked up his sketchbook yet again.

Opening the book and taking a pencil to a clean page, he began to draw.

"Hiccup?"

"Hm?"

"Let's get married here. Right here, on this cliff overlooking the cove."

"Whatever you decide I'll go with. Remember? Regardless, it's hard to beat that view."

"That's certainly true."

"Although, I think I've found a creature that beats it," he continued, winking at her.

Astrid snorted. "Stop, I'll get toothache from all the sweetness."

Hiccup smirked. "That's my second job. It's what I'm here for."

"And the staring? Now I know what you felt, all those weeks ago…"

"Not the same thing, milady. Now stop talking; I need to focus…"

With a nod she fell silent, and soon it was just them on a cliff overlooking the Cove and the warmth of the setting sun against her back while he scratched away at the page in his sketchbook.

When he was done, he flicked the cover of the sketchbook back into place, concealing his artwork.

Astrid pursed her lips at not being able to see it at first, but then shivered.

The sun had set by this point and the wind sent a stiff breeze their way.

Tucking his book under an arm, he wrapped Astrid up in a hug to help her keep warm then kissed her again.

"Let's go home," he said, taking her ring hand in his left. "Together."

Astrid smiled as they made their way to her car. "You really like that we're engaged, don't you?"

"Is it not obvious already? I'll try and do better then."

Astrid giggled, then stretched to kiss him again.

"Don't you dare stop being you."