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crazy4dragons · 4 years

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A Sexy Evening

Heavy smut and dirty talk. Takes place in my Like Heaven modern AU, after Hiccstrid are finally married.

Like my writing? Buy me a coffee: https://ko-fi.com/crazy4dragons

“No bra, huh?” Hiccup mumbled as he tugged Astrid’s loose t-shirt over her head. His lustful eyes shifted from her lips, which were swollen from their heated kisses, to her bare breasts.

“We were grocery shopping,” came Astrid’s playful reply. “I don’t need to wear a damn bra while I’m out buying some cereal.”She ran her hands over her husband’s naked torso.

Her husband. She was still getting used to calling him that. And she was still getting used to signing her name as “Astrid Haddock” instead of “Astrid Hofferson.” The whole thing felt like a dream: sleeping with her best friend since eighth grade, admitting she was in love with said best friend (who confessed that he was also in love with her), and, finally, marrying him. Not much had changed, other than her last name and the sapphire ring on her finger. They still lived in their little apartment. They still split bills and took turns doing chores around the house. They still had plenty of sex. He still jumped in the shower with her when he didn’t feel like waiting his turn. She still stole his hoodies, and he still stole them back.

But there was just something about knowing he was bound to her for a lifetime that made their relationship just a little surreal.

“I remember the first time I saw you naked,” Hiccup said with a wink.

“Yeah, I was sitting on the floor of the shower drunk.”

“No, not that. Well, I do remember that, but what I mean is that I remember the first time I saw you naked when it wasn’t an accident. You know, the first time we had sex.”

Astrid pulled him in for a kiss as she hooked her thumbs in the hem of his boxers and slowly slid them down his legs, his erection rubbing against her thigh. “And?”

“And I was impressed with how beautiful and sexy you were,” Hiccup continued, cupping Astrid’s left breast in his hand. “But I was also impressed with how normal it felt. I mean, you’d think having your best friend naked in your bed would be awkward.”

Astrid giggled. “It’s only awkward if you make it awkward. And I didn’t give a fuck about being naked in front of you. The only reason I avoided it when we first moved in together was because I thought it would make you uncomfortable.”

“Hey, watch your language,” Hiccup teased, kissing the skin beneath her ear as he traced her areola with his thumb.

“To tell you the truth, I was lusting after you since junior year of college,” continued Astrid. “Every time I thought about having sex, I always imagined having it with you.”

“Pervert.” Hiccup bent down to kiss Astrid’s rosy nipple before moving to her other breast.

“Hey, I thought you were hot.” The blonde moaned as Hiccup ran his thumb over her swollen peak.

“Well, it’s flattering to know that I was in your thoughts all those times I heard you getting yourself off after we moved in together.”

“I tried to be quiet,” Astrid insisted. “And I tried to wait until you were asleep.”

“And when have you ever been able to stay quiet during an orgasm?” Hiccup asked, pulling off Astrid’s shorts and panties in one go.

“Shut up.” She delivered a playful punch onto his bicep before taking his erection into her hand and massaging its sensitive tip.

Leaning down, Hiccup swept a tongue over both of Astrid’s shriveled peaks before drawing one between his lips.

“Hey, I know you love my nipples,” Astrid began with a moan, “But do you think you could spread some of that love a little lower?”

“Mmm.” Hiccup pulled away, but not before pressing sloppy kisses onto each of the swollen nubs. An excited shiver ran down his spine as Astrid bent forward and teased him with the tip of her tongue. “Damn, milady.”

“You like this, don’t you?” The blonde drew his erection between her lips as her fingers massaged his balls.

Hiccup replied with a soft moan as he tugged on Astrid’s messy braid.

“Don’t pull my hair,” Astrid laughed. Pulling away, she leaned against the pillows, allowing Hiccup to admire her body.

“Very sexy,” Hiccup remarked, spreading her legs and kneeling between them. He began at her belly button, which was newly adorned with a diamond piercing, and left a trail of gentle kisses on her soft skin, her curly pubic hair, and her wet folds until he reached her entrance.

“Touch…my…clit…” gasped Astrid. “Please…”

Hiccup smirked as he stroked her folds, carefully avoiding her most sensitive spot. He knew just as well as she did that if he gave her clit so much as the gentlest stroke, it would send her over the edge.

Hooking her right leg over Hiccup’s freckled shoulder, Astrid whimpered.

“You’re wet,” he observed, dipping a finger inside of her. “Very wet.”

“Then get inside of me before one of us finishes.” Astrid swung her left leg over Hiccup’s other shoulder.

“Hey, don’t forget that I love you,” Hiccup grinned as he slipped inside of her. No matter how steamy their love-making got, he’d made it a new habit to tell Astrid he loved her during the process.

“Never,” Astrid mumbled, sighing in relief as Hiccup began to thrust back and forth. Closing her eyes, she reached down and rubbed her clit, partly to help herself finish faster, and partly because Hiccup found it sexy when she touched herself.

“You close?” Hiccup asked. “Because I’m —“ He broke off as a surge of pleasure tore through him.

“Almost,” panted Astrid, swallowing hard at the feeling of his fluids inside of her. She rubbed her clit faster as Hiccup’s thrusts slowed down. “Just don’t stop…keep going…”

To Astrid’s surprise, Hiccup pushed her fingers away and replaced them with his own, stroking her sensitive nub until she cried out in excitement, her back arching, her face twisting, and her toes curling. “Oh, babe,” she gasped, placing her legs back on the mattress and pulling him on top of her, their sweaty torsos touching as she kissed his shoulder.

“That was…” Hiccup started.

“Intense,” finished Astrid. After a few moments of enjoying post-orgasm bliss, she nudged Hiccup off of her. “I gotta go pee,” she said. “You know, before we get too cuddly.”

“No you don’t,” Hiccup teased, flicking her nipple with his thumb.

“Yes, I do.” She climbed off the bed and trudged into the bathroom. A moment later, she returned to find Hiccup lying on top of the covers, a wide grin spread across his face. “What?”

“I never get tired of watching you walk around the house naked,” he said.

“Glad to hear it.” Astrid curled against his side. “Because I don’t plan on becoming self-conscious around you anytime soon.”

“I’m a lucky guy, then.”

“That you are. Now are we gonna get under these covers and snuggle, or what?”

#hiccstrid #modern au #like heaven #married hiccstrid #hiccstrid smut #httyd

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shipmistress9 · 4 years

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HW2020 -- 6: Falling Slowly

Part 6 of my Hiccstrid week 2020.

Hiccup and Astrid have been best friends ever since they could remember, and nothing would ever change that. But why is it then that all she craves is his arms around her and that his smile suddenly makes her heart flutter?

. o O o .

I'm sorry. I thought I could do this alone, but I was wrong... I need you! Please?

Chewing on his lip, Hiccup’s gaze wandered from the message on his phone's display to his partially hidden coworker and then back to his phone again. This didn't come unexpected, not really, but… Damn!

"Eret?"

"Yeah?" came the muffled reply from beneath the car.

"I need to ask you for a favour."

Eret grunted, then pushed himself back into Hiccup's view, one eyebrow raised. "That sounds ominous. What's up, buddy?"

"Could you take over the rest of my shift?" He hated to ask, but there really was no other choice.

"Uh…" Eret glanced at the other car parked in 'Gobber's Workshop', the one Hiccup had been about to check for necessary repairs. "I guess I could? Care to tell me why though? Did something happen?"

Again, Hiccup gnawed at his lip before giving a slight shrug. "Well, no. Nothing life-threatening or something. I just got a message from a friend and… and I've gotta go and check on her."

"Her?” Eret's eyebrow rose even higher, a smirk tugging at his lips. “I didn't know you had a girlfriend. Why have you never mentioned her?"

Hiccup rolled his eyes. He could point out that this specifically was why he’d never mentioned Astrid. Eret certainly wasn't the first to draw this conclusion. The wrong one... He sighed. "She's not my girlfriend," he corrected, even as the words left a strange aftertaste. "We’re just friends. Best friends. We know each other since we were toddlers and kinda grew up together. Hiding beneath tables at garden parties and pretending to be adventurers and all that." A fond smile crossed Hiccup's face at those memories, but it disappeared directly again. "Anyway… she's having a rough day. I need to see how she's doing. Comfort her."

Now, Eret's smirk grew even broader, his eyebrows waggling. "Comfort her, eh? I've heard that one before."

"Not like that," Hiccup clarified, grimacing. Things between him and Astrid weren’t like that. He hesitated for a second, then added, "Five years ago today, her parents died in a car crash."

From one moment to the next all smugness left Eret's face. "Oh, shit. Ah, sorry, man. I didn't mean to… Yeah, I can take over your job there, no problem. I didn't have any plans today anyway. Go, she needs you more than I do."

"Thanks, I owe you one."

. o O o .

After a short detour to the local supermarket, Hiccup let himself into Astrid's flat. He had a spare key to her place, just like she had one to his.

"Astrid?" he called, worried, as he placed the bag with his shoppings in her kitchen.

"I'm here." Her voice was small and weak, coming from her bedroom.

Without thinking twice about it, Hiccup went toward her, finding her wrapped in her blanket, and climbed onto her bed next to her to take her into his arms. It wasn’t strange, not for them; they were so used to close contact. How often had they danced together at a club, just for fun? He knew everything about her, knew the scent of hair and that silvery clip she used to keep it out of her face.

But still… When she crawled right into his embrace, huddling against his chest without a word, something inside him fluttered. For the rest of the world, Astrid Hofferson was this incredibly tough woman who could take on everything, and Hiccup admired her for that. But she also had this other softer side, sometimes playful and sometimes vulnerable. A side she showed to nobody, not even to her occasional boyfriends – to nobody but him.

For a while, they stayed like this, neither of them speaking and the only noises his calm breathing and her occasional sniffling. Her near-silent tears seeped into his shirt, leaving a considerable wet spot as he stroked her back.

“I went to the graveyard,” she whispered eventually after what easily could have been an hour of companionable and comforting silence.

Hiccup nodded against her hair, waiting for her to go on. In the previous years, he’d accompanied her on these visits so he knew how emotionally loaded they were for her.

“At first, it was okay. I told them what I’d been up to over the last few months. But then…” She trailed off and gave a helpless shrug. “It became all too much,” she went on in a thick voice. “I felt so alone and… and I miss them so much!” She wrapped her arms around him, pulling herself closer to his chest.

Hidden between her golden tresses, Hiccup grimaced. “I’m sorry I wasn’t there,” he murmured.

Astrid shrugged again. “It’s okay. You had to work.”

Hiccup’s grimace deepened but he didn’t say any more. He’d offered to take the day off to support her. but she’d declined. Had said that she’d manage a day without him, that she would be fine.

He should have known better.

But this wasn’t the moment to argue about who’d been right. Astrid became fidgety and he knew that she was done wallowing. What she needed now was a distraction.

“So, I went shopping before I came here,” he announced in a lighter tone as he let his arms drop and sat back to look her in the face. “I brought ingredients for lasagna, cola, and snacks; how about a movie night? And a hot chocolate for afterwards?”

Astrid’s face lit up in a beautiful way as she beamed at him. “That sounds perfect!” Then she frowned. “I’m out of chocolate powder though.”

Hiccup grinned. “Don’t worry, I brought that, too.”

“The butterscotch flavoured one?” she asked hopefully, actually squealing a little when he nodded and threw her arms around his neck. “You’re the best!”

. o O o .

Still wrapped in her cuddly blanket, Astrid stood in the doorway to her little kitchen and watched Hiccup do his magic. In the three years she’d been living here now, he’d cooked here far more often than she had.

Today, something was different though. The sight hadn’t changed; it was still Hiccup, her lanky best friend ever since she could remember, turning here and there and humming a merry tune to himself. He’d done the same only last week, too. But still, something was different today and she couldn’t pin down what it was.

No, that was a lie. Somewhere deep inside her, she knew what had changed. That afternoon, when she’d stood at her parents’ grave and somehow had missed Hiccup’s comforting arm around her more than anything else, something had shifted inside her. And right now, as she watched him cook for her after he’d dropped everything to comfort her before, it was shifting even more. And more still as they devoured delicious pasta, watched some stupid movie, and imbibed happiness in the form of hot chocolate in her favourite flavour.

“You’re unusual cuddly today,” Hiccup noted after the movie had ended. He didn’t sound annoyed though, his arm comfortably around her shoulders. “Is everything all right?”

Astrid paused for a moment, then nodded. “Yeah, I’m good. Thank you, for everything.”

No, she couldn’t say what had changed, why his soft smile, the same he’d given her for all their lives, suddenly made her heart flutter.

Not yet.

But she would get there.

. o O o .

As so often, this one was inspired by a song. But it's an older German song and I doubt many know it. Congrats if someone recognises it though. ^^

* - . - * - . o O o . - * - . - *

If you want to support me you can buy me a coffee. I love coffee 😊 (Ko-Fi)

#Hiccstrid Week 2020 #Hiccstrid #fanfiction #httyd #Modern Hiccstrid #Fluff #Romance #Friends to Lovers #Falling in Love #Hiccup Haddock #Astrid Hofferson #eret son of eret

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slavicviking · 5 years

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If you're still taking mash-up requests, how about 32. Pregnancy fic and 45. Chocolates of Romance?

I did a thing *throws cheap confetti*

“It’s so damn hot.”

Astrid scrunches up her nose when there’s no reply. She shifts in her seat with a deep sigh and tries again. “Hiccuuuup.”

Still, no response. Not that that is particularly unusual - when Hiccup gets himself buried under all those extra projects for possible prosthetic prototypes he keeps volunteering for at work, it’s practically impossible to get him to unglue himself from them. They’re all his passion projects, he’s informed her with breathless pink flushing his cheeks and eyes shining with excitement. But her husband has the weekend off, she knows that much, so there’s no reason for Hiccup to be sucked in by some kind of a prosthetic-leg-shaped black hole.

Now that would be something.

Astrid sits up a little straighter on her end of the sofa, raising an eyebrow at the unusual quietness in their apartment.

“Shhh, baby, it’s okay,” she pats her belly when her daughters decides to remind of her existence with a subtlety that could only match her father’s. The girl’s gonna be world’s best soccer player, Astrid is pretty sure.

And suddenly there is Hiccup. In their living room. With at least a dozen of astrids. Which, first of all, very funny, Hiccup, hardy har-har. They’re not even in a bouquet, the dork just brought them in pots and there’s some soil on the carpet that someone will need to vacuum later-

But also-

“What.”

“Is that a questions? That sounds like it can be a question but the-”

“Hiccup.”

“That…that wasn’t a question,” he nods to himself, finger tapping his chin and she can almost - almost - see the wheels turning in his head. Except it’s ridiculous. Probably. Maybe a little adorable, too.

His thinking face makes her think in return, enough for her to throw a tentative glance at the calendar.

“It’s not my birthday,” she concludes.

Hiccup nods again and grins, this little shy, but slightly crooked, grin of his that she loves so much. He settles on the sofa beside her. “It’s not.”

She narrows her eyes at the chocolate box in his hands. She lets her eyes flicker back to the calendar. Hiccup’s face. The astrids.

Oh.

She buries her face in the pillows set by the armrest with a muffled groan.

“I forgot, didn’t I?”

Hiccup has the courtesy to look apologetic. “It’s not a big deal-”

“Hic-cup,” she straightens up and grips his shoulders, enounciancing every syllable. “You can remember not to forget your first wedding anniversary only once,” she shook him a little. “Once, Hiccup!”

He has the audacity to grin at her before he holds out his open palm. She blinks. Words made out of white frosting stare back at her from the little chocolate heart Hiccup supplied her with. She snorts.

“‘You’ll do’?”

Hiccup shrugs, that little shit. Her eyes roam over the obnoxiously colorful box before they both burst out laughing.

“That is so very romantic of you, I have to say,” Astrid giggles before plopping the candy into her mouth and kidnapping the box from her husband. There’s a breathless ‘hey’ in response but he’s not even trying to fight her grabby hands - he knows better than that.

“I thought you’d appreciate the sentiment-”

Thunk.

He quirks an eyebrow at her and slowly picks up the chocolate that she flicked at him. “‘I’ve had worse’. Funny.”

“I know, right?”

“Gimmie,” he laughs, outstretching his hands and wiggling his fingers eagerly her way. “My turn.”

“Nu-uh,” Astrid hugs the chocolates to her chest. “I eat for two. That means I get to eat twice as many,” she informs him and immediately follows up her promise with eating another heart. “Gods, those are actually good.”

“Duh,” and then Hiccup’s arms are suddenly wrapped tightly around her form like an octopus. He rests one of his hands on her belly and kisses her temple. “Love you.”

“Love you, too, babe,” she squeezes his hand before she takes out the crumpled box from under Hiccup’s arm. She twirls a chocolate heart between her fingers. “I love you so much you can get another one.”

He laughs into her hair and hugs her even tighter, quickly snatching up the ‘That ass tho’ candy from her.

“Likewise, Hofferson.”

The super awesome chocolate box

Thank you for asking ^^

#hiccstrid #hiccstrid fanfiction #httyd modern au #httyd #httyd fanfiction #meme ask #thank you for asking #anon #i hope it's okay #idk #i'm not feeling very confident rn

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coneygoil · 5 years

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The Home We Built Together, part 12

Two young Vikings. An arranged marriage. Hiccup always wanted to win the girl of his dreams, but not like this. Now he and Astrid must learn to live together and maybe one day, learn to love…

Writer’s note: I didn’t plan on this chapter becoming a monster at 2500 words, but here we are! Thank you to everyone who is sticking with this fic! You guys make my day :)

He liked her cooking. Granted, it was only broth from a nearly fool’s proof recipe her mother had given her (along with the already cooked ham bone her mother also supplied), but it was an accomplishment Astrid was proud of. And Hiccup had liked it!

Astrid was determined to not fail at her wifely duties. She expected to have the same kind of pride that swelled her chest and jutted her chin high like when she did well in battle training. But it wasn’t the same. Her chest didn’t swell; it fluttered like a tiny nestling on it’s first flight. Her chin didn’t rise in pride; instead, her cheekbones warmed and a smile tugged the corners of her mouth.

All these sensations were new and exhilarating, and sometimes downright confusing and frightening. Even with the uncertainty of how to respond to the new conglomeration of emotions, Astrid knew she didn’t wish for them to end. All this over Hiccup-clumsy-sarcastic-little-dork-Haddock.

They sat around the firepit as they usually did most evenings sipping on a warm drink – their unspoken evening ritual. Tonight was different. Astrid was the one to bluntly show affection (out of her duties she’d been trying but failing to convince herself), but tonight, Hiccup called her something that was not her name.

Milady. She knew what the term of endearment meant. It wasn’t a term you called just anyone. Hiccup looked like a deer caught in the glowing yellow eyes of a dragon. She had to stop him from apologizing. His sorrys drove her crazy, and her mood was too light to have it fall.

“I like it,” tumbled out of her mouth. She couldn’t quite meet his eye as he accepted the mug from her.

A strange air rose up around them, like the electrical currents gathering for an approaching lightning storm. Astrid glanced at Hiccup from the corner of her eye. His jaw was set and a self-confidence emitted from him that she’d only witnessed when he would tout one of his latest inventions. A mission was on his mind.

As Hiccup wiped his mouth on his sleeve and relieved his grip on the mug, Astrid’s heart quickened. Come on, Hiccup. Make a move. Make a move. He was going to. She just knew it.

Astrid’s breath caught as the walls reverberated with the sound of the Great Horn. Her teeth clinched. Damn dragons! Why, tonight of all nights?

His disappointment wasn’t lost to her. He wished her safety. Astrid caught the opportunity to make up for their interrupted moment by catching his hand and giving it an encouraging squeeze. Then she left, their lost moment lingering at the doorstep.

***

Mass Chaos was one way to describe a dragon raid. The cacophony of battle cries and dragon roars, along with wood crackling and sheep bleeping in terror mixed in the air. The intense blaze of fire all around stung the eyes and made it hard to see.

Astrid dodged an annoyed Gronkle as it buzzed by, a Viking hanging from its neck smacking the beast with his hammer. She paused in the middle of the path to regain her bearings. She’d lived through dozens upon dozens of dragon attacks throughout her short 15 years of life, but this was her first to take up arms and fight since training began. The glory of battle was slowly fading into a blur of disorientation. Fire brigade duties were far simpler and straight forward.

Every chance she picked to help an older Viking, they’d yell at her to go help someone else. As soon as she arrived, the next Viking would send her on her way to another fight. It was getting to the point of ridiculousness. Astrid was almost tempted to give up and go help the new crew of the fire brigade. Almost.

Astrid Hofferson – Haddock, she had to remind herself sometimes – did not give up.

“Night Fury!” a cry rang out from the chaos.

“Get down!” another warning from somewhere across from her yelled.

The telltale eerie whistle of the Night Fury’s dive cut through the air causing every Viking to duck, knowing ultimate destruction was afoot. One catapult tower exploded in a massive fireball as shards of broken wood and fireballs rained down. Astrid ducked using her axe as a cover for her head, and regretting that she totally screwed up the first rule in dragon training. Grab a shield.

The Chief barked orders as he hastened passed her, simultaneously unscathed by the explosion he just survived. Astrid was about to follow her Chief – and father-in-law, another fact she also had to remind herself about – when a familiar cry echoed down. She whipped around. Silhouetted against the night sky was a small, skinny figure being chased by a Monstrous Nightmare.

Dread made her heart leap into her throat and her entire body quailed. There was no mistake of who was being mercilessly chased.

“Hiccup.”

Taking off into a mad dash, Astrid blazed up the paths, dodging Viking weapons and dragon teeth. She had to get to Hiccup before the Nightmare did. She had to save him.

She spotted his slim frame pressed against an enormous fire pillar trying to hide from the terrifying dragon in pursuit. Hiccup was good at epic fails and this hiding spot was one of them. A fierce dose of adrenaline shot through her. A battle cry erupted from her lungs. Her axe clutched in both hands above her head, primed to chop off the Nightmare’s head.

The fiery dragon focused its attention on the new threat, snarling and baring its teeth. Astrid swung down, missing its long neck as the Nightmare’s head swiveled snake-like out of reach. A stream of red-hot flames spewed at her. Astrid barely leap out of the way, tumbling head over heels on the ground.

Rolling to her feet, she crouched in a battle stance. Monstrous Nightmares were revered as one of the most dangerous dragons. If she killed this dragon, she’d gain high recognition within the tribe. Being the Chief’s daughter-in-law, they’d probably even throw a feast in her honor.

None of that fueled her need to kill this beast. Protecting Hiccup was her only focus.

The Nightmare whipped its tail, annoyed by the gnat that was buzzing between it and its current prey. The flickering flames of the torch above doesn’t provide the best lighting as it begins to burn down. Astrid merely blinked and a spiky tail was slapping at her like a gigantic fly swatter. The grip on her axe handle was knocked loose sending the weapon spinning out of reach.

Astrid cried out, holding her right hand close to her chest. A sharp spike on the tail grazed her skin, leaving a slice across the inside of her palm. There’s no time to nurse the wound. Her mind is flooded with panic. She was left exposed without her weapon on top of being wounded. She darted her eyes about the rocky path, spying her axe several feet away.

Her back was to the beast. She had no idea where it was about to strike, or even if Hiccup was safe. She moved toward her axe in a frantic crawl. Her body moved on its own accord, the adrenaline and panic pumping in burst through her.

Astrid barely registers the battle cry of her Chief, and she flipped onto her bottom to find he was already taking on the Nightmare. She scrambled to her feet to get out of the way of the fight. In typical Stoick the Vast form, he pummeled the beast with his bare fists before it slicked off into the dark sky.

The fire pillar Hiccup had taken refuge behind suddenly fell over, the basket of flames rolling down the hill as recovering Vikings jumped out of the way. It rolled over a net full of Nadders, releasing the dragons from their captivity. Every eye was on the retreating dragons carrying away their spoils.

“Sorry, dad.” It was Hiccup’s pitiful voice that cut through the thick tension in the vicinity. Astrid locked eyes on him. Thank Thor, he seemed unscathed, but what wrath the Nightmare didn’t unleash on him, his father was about to.

Hiccup chewed his bottom lip then pointed behind him. “Okay, but I hit a Night Fury. It wasn’t like the last few times!” he explained as his father yanked him along by the collar of his vest. “I really did hit it! You guys were busy and I had a clear shot. It went down just off Raven’s Point. We can get a search party out there.”

Astrid’s back rose and fell in a seething breath, not only from the exertion from the battle but the ire that was rising up inside her at Hiccup’s words. He hadn’t listened to her. He was still up to the same old routine with his haphazard dragon killing inventions that caused more damage than good. The revelation stung more than the gash on her palm.

“Stop!” Stoick’s voice boomed through the crowd. It shut Hiccup down in an instant. The Chief’s face was weary, and it wasn’t for lack of sleep or pushed endurance. “Just stop,” he repeated softer this time. “What were you thinking, Hiccup? You almost got yourself killed. Again. A good part of the village is on fire now because of you! Every time you step outside, disaster happens.”

“But Dad, listen! I really did shoot down a Night Fury!”

Stoick pressed a hand to his forehead, pushing up his helmet an inch. “I thought in the last few weeks you were getting passed all-“ he looked at his son and waved an open hand at him, “-this.”

Hiccup rolled his eyes as if the statement had been exhausted before. “You just gestured to all of me.”

Ignoring his son’s indignation, Stoick continued, “Winter is at our doorstep and I have an entire village to feed.”

Hiccup’s eyes flick behind him and he leaned in closer. “Between you and me, the village could use a little less feeding.”

“This isn’t a joke, Hiccup! Why can’t you follow the simplest orders?”

“I can’t stop myself. I see a dragon, and I have to just kill it. It’s who I am, dad.”

Astrid glanced away, shaking her head in secondhand embarrassment. If only Hiccup knew how ridiculous he sounded. How childish he looked mimicking something like ringing off an invisible dragon’s head. She nearly stormed off right then and there.

“You’re a lotta things, Hiccup,” the Chief’s tone was eerily calm, making him seem even more treacherous than if his yells were shaking the cliffs. “But a dragon killer you are not.”

Astrid froze. Stoick’s penetrating gaze suddenly landed on her. “Astrid! Make sure he gets home. I have his mess to clean up.”

For the first time since they bid each other’s safety at home, their gazes meet. Hiccup’s bottom lip was caught up by his top looking more like the disappointed little boy from years’ past. Gobber smacked him on the back of the head, softer than what the weathered blacksmith could dealt. Hiccup hunched over. His eyes fixed on the ground as he followed Astrid away from the crowd.

Whispers floated their way as they walked away. Astrid glared side-to-side from under the long fringe of bangs. The rest of the village had no right to glower pity at her.

“Quite the performance,” Tuffnut remarked as they passed by.

“I’ve never seen anyone mess up that badly,” Snotlout added onto the mockery.

Her ire helped Astrid bite her tongue trying not to lash out in defense. Hiccup deserved the taunting for his idiot decision. At least, that’s what the red-hot coal burning in her chest convinced her to think.

Hiccup trailed behind as they trekked through the ravaged village, dodging debris and sporadic fires being doused by the new members of the fire brigade. The tension in the silence between them felt like an invisible stone wall. Hiccup’s footfalls remained one step behind her. More than once she recognized the shift of his hand reaching out then falling to his side with a light thud.

As they approached their home, remarkably unscathed by the dragon attack (the dragons were more prone to targeting the houses with livestock), Hiccup finally worked up the courage. “Thanks for saving me back there.”

Astrid kept her back to him. It was hard enough being angry with him and also relieved that he was okay. “That’s what I’m here for,” she said bitingly, “To keep you from getting yourself killed.”

She didn’t give him a chance to response. She reached for the door handle of their home and gave a sharp hissed, completely forgetting about her injured hand in the heat of events.

“Hey, what happened?”

Hiccup tried to take her hand to check, but Astrid cradled it to her breastbone. “Just a cut. It’s nothing.”

Hiccup’s eyes widened. “If it’s nothing then why is your hand bloody?”

“The Nightmare clipped me, okay? I’m fine.”

He tried again to examine her hand, but Astrid maneuvered away. He was concerned and she hated him for it. He had no right to be after the promise that was broken tonight.

“At least let me clean it for you.”

“I can clean it myself.” She wanted so badly to yell. She probably needed to drop her axe before she used it to threaten him.

Hiccup gave a third try to take her hand, this time succeeding in catching her wrist. “Please, Astrid. Let me make this up to you for saving me back there.”

Astrid yanked her arm away. “You’ve done enough, Hiccup!” she finally burst. Hiccup blinked at her in surprise. “I thought you were done with your dragon killing inventions. I thought you’d finally decided to grow up and start taking responsibility like the future Chief should!”

“I am, Astrid! A future chief needs to be able to kill dragons, and this is my way of doing just that!”

“It’s the wrong way, Hiccup!”

“I can prove to you that my way works!” He gestured out into the darkness as if the proof was hidden just beyond the night. “I can prove to you that I can be the Viking you deserve!” He’s at it again, attempting to grab at her. The slice across her palm forgotten to him over his incessant need for approval. “Come with me and I’ll show you. I really did shoot down a Night Fury.”

“Stop!” The fierceness of her tone caused Hiccup to stand straight and abandon his task. “Give it up! You’re a blacksmith.” Her axe was pointing at him, and Astrid knew she should have set it down. “Accept that maybe that’s what you were made to be, and leave the dragon killing to me.”

“Astrid-“

She tried to ignore the hurt and disappointment written on his face. He dug this hole knowing exactly what he was doing. “I’m going to check on my parents, see if they need help.” She glared as slicing as her axe was sharp. “Just stay here. If you can’t listen to your own father then at least listen to your wife.”

@martabm90 @chiefhiccstrid @justatranquilcloud @saieras

#httyd fanfiction #hiccstrid #arranged marriage au #the home we built together

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wilderwestqueen · 6 years

Text

A Pinch of Sugar and a Dash of Spite - Chapter Two

“Astrid Hofferson has better things to do than ruin your life.”

“Yeah? You could’ve fooled me.”

Hiccup Haddock’s just trying to sell coffee and stumble through presentations about Shakespeare, but one persistent rude customer keeps ruining his day. Astrid Hofferson would be the top of her class if it weren’t for one golden boy barista that needs to be taken down a notch.

[Coffee Shop AU] [Enemies-To-Lovers]

IN THIS CHAPTER: Astrid Hofferson continues to get under Hiccup’s skin. Also, we meet Hiccup’s manager.

Previous Chapter | Next Chapter | Start from the beginning

[AO3] [FF.NET]

as welcome as a bath mat made of lego

"And she's been coming in a lot?"

"Every day," Hiccup grunted, his voice muffled from the screwdriver wedged in his mouth. "I just wish I knew what I'd done to piss her off so much."

Hiccup was sitting cross-legged on the floor behind the counter, wrestling with the coffee machine in his lap. It had started sparking the day before, sputtering and refusing to function properly, before it conked out completely. Gobber had told them to leave it for an electrician, but Hiccup's frustration had built and built until there was nothing to do but take it out on the broken appliance.

Fishlegs chewed on his lip, casting a worried eye down from his position behind the counter. "I think you're making it worse."

Hiccup scowled, stabbing the machine twice with the screwdriver. "It's got to be something more than just me beating her in a couple of tests. She's got it out for me."

He put the screwdriver back in his mouth, attacking the machine with his fingers instead, attempting to rip the back end off by wedging his fingernails in between the cracks. It didn't work.

"Do you even know anything about electronics?" Fishlegs asked.

"I don't even know her that well. How is it possible that I've ticked her off that badly," Hiccup grumbled, screwdriver hanging on the edge of his lips, "when I've barely even exchanged two sentences with her before last week?"

"You're going to electrocute yourself."

"She's got all of her friends in on it, you saw them giggling when she came to get her drink today. She's got a vendetta against me, I swear," Hiccup said, stabbing the coffee machine again.

With a jolt and a clang, Hiccup managed to fling the casing of the machine open. Fishlegs' eyes bugged out as he watched Hiccup lift the screwdriver up, ready to descend it down onto the wiring.

"Hiccup, stop!" Fishlegs flew from the counter and forcefully snatched the screwdriver from Hiccup's fingers. "You're going to hurt yourself."

Hiccup gave a very long, tortured sigh, but he let Fishlegs rescue the machine, letting out a groan and resting his back against the counter.

Fishlegs tutted, running his little finger along the dent Hiccup had left. "You realise we're going to have to pay extra to fix this now?"

Hiccup said nothing, sticking out his lower lip into a pout and crossing his arms, childishly. He knew he was being ridiculous - the floor was sticky, there would probably be customers he needed to attend to soon, and it certainly wasn't Fishlegs' fault that he was in such a bad mood - but even so, he couldn't stop himself. Astrid Hofferson brought out the absolute worst in him.

"It's like dealing with a toddler," Fishlegs muttered.

He was about to chide Hiccup some more, but he was interrupted by a cough, and then an "ahem?" in a very familiar, unwelcome voice.

Fishlegs swivelled - somewhat ungracefully - around to greet the customer, his lips curling into a fake smile. "How can I help you?"

Astrid - Fishlegs had become very familiar with Astrid now, from Hiccup's descriptions, if from nothing else - smiled sweetly. "I need to speak to Henry," she said.

Hiccup's face twisted in horror, and he flattened his back against the counter, covering his eyes as if to hide himself. "He's not here!" he stage-whispered up at Fishlegs. "He's gone on his break!"

Astrid hadn't been alone today. She'd queued up with two other girls - both of them unfamiliar to Hiccup, but if they hung out with her, they were probably just as heinous. While she'd ordered, the other two had watched, while smirking. Astrid's drink today was a venti coffee Frappuccino with two scoops of ice, five pumps of frap roast, double blended. It had been so thick, he'd had to scoop it out with a spoon, and he was pretty sure that their blenders had met the same fate as the coffee machine he'd spent the afternoon wrestling with.

The last thing he needed was to remake that order.

Behind the counter, Astrid broke into a peal of laughter, and Hiccup's jaw clenched. He'd never thought laughter could sound so grating.

"So, is he going to hide behind the counter until I'm gone, or does he just enjoy sitting on a grimy floor?" she said to Fishlegs.

Hiccup scowled again - it was becoming a permanent fixture on his face - and dragged himself up off the floor to meet Astrid at the counter.

Henry Haddock did not look good. Usually, he looked rather placid and unimposing, with wide green eyes that were covered by a flop of brown hair. Instead, his hair was sticking up all over the place, there were dark circles under his eyes, and his shoulders were hunched beneath the loose black shirt he always wore for work. She felt a nasty, vindictive rush of pleasure at the thought of Henry having a bad day - it was nothing less than he deserved.

"What can I do for you?" he asked.

It was a standard, polite customer service line, but the sentiment didn't quite reach his eyes. He glared down at her, hands twisted into fists on the counter, his eyes darkly daring her to mess with him even more.

Who was she to pass up an invitation like that?

"I need another drink," Astrid said, not bothering to hide the smile playing on her lips.

Henry clicked his tongue loudly against his teeth. "What was wrong with your other one?"

Astrid shrugged. "Didn't taste very good."

"It's policy, Astrid, I can't make you something else just because you didn't like the first one. You already paid for it."

She rolled her eyes. "Henry—"

"—Hiccup," Henry said with a grunt. "My name is Hiccup."

"I can't believe you'd willingly call yourself Hiccup over Henry," Astrid said, "and I wasn't asking for another one for free."

She waved her wallet at him.

"Fine," Henry said, exhaling with more than a hint of exasperation. "What can I get for you?"

Astrid stroked her chin, her eyes flickering across the menu, as if deliberating very carefully. "I think I'll try a Trenta iced coffee cream, with twenty pumps of raspberry and twenty pumps of white mocha."

As he punched the order in, he looked up at her in disgust. "Twenty?"

"You heard me."

The two locked eyes for a moment, Henry staring at her with one eyebrow raised, the picture of disdain. Astrid held his gaze, resolute.

Henry was the first to look away, mumbling, "I don't know why I even bother to ask," as he tapped the rest of the order into the computer. "D'you want anything else with that? A slice of cake? A muffin? A shot of insulin?"

A splutter of laughter burst from Astrid before she could stop it. She smothered it with her hand, ignoring the look Hiccup was giving her. "Not today, thanks," she said, trying to stop herself from smiling.

He turned and let his back face as he made the order, while Astrid rocked from foot to foot and whistled a little tune. "Nice day today," she commented, her hands behind her back. "Good day for making coffee."

"Yeah," Henry mumbled, "you know what else it's a good day for?"

"What's that?"

"Leaving," he said emphatically, slamming her drink down onto the countertop.

Astrid didn't try to smother her grin this time, her smile stretching across her face as she picked up the cup. "Thanks, Henry," she said sweetly, before turning towards the door.

"My. Name. Is. Hiccup!"

It wasn't until after she'd closed the door behind her that she descended into giggles.

"If I close my eyes and don't look," Hiccup said, splayed across the sofa, his good leg flung across the back cushion, his prosthetic resting against the coffee table, one hand pressed over his eyes, "then Astrid won't be in all of my classes this semester."

She'd visited the coffee shop every day that week.

First, it had been a grande, quad, nonfat, one pump, no-whip mocha. Then, it was a vanilla bean Frappuccino, with five pumps of every hot bar syrup they had. She did all the standard things annoying customers did - demanding a grande in a venti cup, deliberately mispronouncing espresso, asking for free water - and by the time Friday rolled around, Hiccup was ready to pull his hair out. He'd skipped out early, shutting the coffee shop a good thirty minutes before it was supposed to be closed, and headed home. Fishlegs followed him, if for nothing else but to stop him from destroying something out of frustration, like the poor coffee machine.

It wasn't until Hiccup had freed himself from his prosthetic and thrown himself across the sofa, that he remembered he was supposed to check his class list for the new semester.

"Check for me," Hiccup mumbled, rolling over onto his stomach and pressing his face against a cushion. "I'm too afraid."

His laptop was open on the coffee table, and he nudged it towards Fishlegs with the tips of his fingers.

Fishlegs sighed, but he pulled the computer towards him anyway. "Alright," he said, clicking through, "Elizabethan literature, renaissance, modern and contemporary… sorry, Hiccup, looks like she's in all of them."

"You're joking me," Hiccup exclaimed, throwing himself towards the table and grabbing the laptop from Fishlegs' hands.

"It's kinda hard to miss, your names are right next to each other."

Hiccup checked it for himself, and sure enough, there were the names: HADDOCK, H and HOFFERSON, A, written next to each other in damning black script across his screen.

He groaned, flinging himself back onto the sofa. "This is the worst day of my life," he said, and then a horrible thought came to his mind. "Oh god, what if they make us sit alphabetically?"

"They won't make you sit alphabetically," Fishlegs said, "this is university, not pre-school."

Apparently, this was pre-school.

"Sorry!" Cathy, their seminar tutor, said brightly, "I know it's not ideal, but I find it's easier to learn everybody's names if I seat you alphabetically!"

Dr. Cathy Wainwright had been a lecturer and tutor since his first year, and despite her PhD and numerous accolades, she still treated everyone as if they were back in school. She looked a bit like a school teacher too, with tweed skirts and a pair of red-rimmed glasses that she had to keep pushing up her nose.

Despite her twee appearance, she had a sadistic streak, or at least Hiccup thought so, otherwise he wouldn't be sitting at a table at the front of the room, inches away from Astrid Hofferson. Cathy had lied – she knew everyone's names already. She'd done this deliberately to torture them.

He could feel the hatred radiating off of Astrid. She hadn't said so much as a word to him since he'd sat down, but he'd seen the subtle curl of Astrid's lips as he'd been assigned the seat.

What did I do to you? He wanted to scream it at her. What did I do to make you hate me so much?

He didn't scream at her though, he just watched her out of the corner of his eye as she drummed her blue-painted fingernails up and down on the table while they waited for class to start.

"Right!" Cathy said, clapping her hands together. "Who wants to start the discussion?"

Nobody in the room spoke.

"Come on, don't be shy!"

The class stayed silent.

Cathy put her hands on her hips. "If nobody is going to speak, I'm just going to have to pick someone at random and make them talk."

Oh, no.

She pulled out her paper-form register and let her finger trail down the list. "Let's see here…"

Not me. Not me. Not me.

Hiccup did everything he could to seem inconspicuous. He ducked his head down, stared solidly at his fingers.

"Ah!" Cathy said. "Henry Haddock! You're always very quiet, how about you start us off?"

Hiccup's heart sank. His hand instantly went to scratch the back of his head. "Er…" he mumbled.

He could feel Astrid's gaze hot on him, and although he wasn't looking at her, he knew her mouth had twisted into a smirk.

"Maybe you could give us some of your thoughts on Romeo and Juliet?" Cathy prompted.

"Well, I—" Hiccup began. He could feel the whole room looking at him. God, how was he supposed to form sentences when so many people were looking at him? "—I suppose it's a very romantic story—"

"—Romantic?" Hiccup was cut off by a very loud scoff from the person sitting next to him.

Astrid was looking at him incredulously, one eyebrow raised. "You think it's romantic?" she carried on.

"I guess?" Hiccup stammered, embarrassment creeping up the back of his neck. "Everything's against them, and they choose each other anyway."

"What good does it do?" Astrid said, firmly. "They die. I hardly see how that's romantic."

Hiccup felt the indignation burning his chest, and bit by bit, he stopped thinking about everyone else in the room, just about her. He wasn't going to let her make a mockery of him.

"Isn't it about throwing yourself into something, no matter the odds?" Hiccup said. "To be so passionate about something that even though you know the whole world's against you still give it a shot?"

Astrid eyed him for a moment, and then curled her lip. "No. It's a cautionary tale - don't fall in love, look at all the problems it causes."

"But don't you think that's a shallow reading?" Hiccup said. "To boil down one of the greatest tragic love stories to a simple anti-love statement seems a bit reductive, doesn't it?"

Astrid narrowed her eyes. "Let's see," she said, counting down on her fingers, "Romeo and Juliet 'fall in love'—" she aggressively air quoted as she spoke— "after one day, get married after two, attempt to run away and then botch their own fake suicides and manage to do it for real, all whilst getting three people killed along the way. I don't understand how that's not a cautionary tale about teenage love, how it doesn't work, and how you can't be in love after one day."

"That's just reducing it down to the basic beats rather than giving any consideration for what any of it means," Hiccup said, crossly. He could feel himself going red. "You put so much effort into explaining why you think Romeo and Juliet are idiots that you don't take any time to consider what the feud means for them. It doesn't matter how old or mature they are, they could have been in their twenties and had a courtship for years and it still would have ended the same way - it's not them as people, it's not their fault, it's the fault of the families, and of the feud."

Hiccup took a breath, and then realised that he and Astrid were practically nose-to-nose. He'd forgotten about the class full of people, and just now noticed that everyone was staring at the two of them.

Cathy was watching them carefully, a grin on her face. "Excellent points, both of you," she said. "I'd like to add a few words about the feud. Think about it: there are two families who have been fighting for so long - it's all they know, and it's all they know how to do. They haven't even considered that there could be another way - the Montagues hate the Capulets, that's just how it is. That's the real tragedy of the story, that it takes six people, including their own children's suicide, for them to realise that they don't even know why they're fighting in the first place."

Hiccup and Astrid eyed each other, and then both looked away.

"Right," Cathy said. "Anyone else got anything to add?"

The seminar continued, and Hiccup did his very best not to look Astrid's way again.

After it was over, Cathy pulled Hiccup to the side.

"I'm happy to see you in my class again, Henry," she said. "Even happier to see you participating! I don't think I've ever heard you speak so much."

Hiccup just shrugged.

"Y'know what I think?" Cathy said, "I think Astrid's really good for you."

"I don't—" Hiccup said sharply, and then stopped, when he realised he had no idea how to express just how wrong she was.

"I think you need her," she said, reaching out a hand to squeeze Hiccup's shoulder. "She's like your foil, she makes you work harder."

Bullshit, Hiccup thought to himself, thirty minutes later, still stewing and grinding his teeth.

Astrid wasn't good for him. Astrid made him question his morals, because he'd never considered murder so appealing until he'd met her.

He needed Astrid Hofferson like he needed several splinters up his fingernails.

Hiccup was still fuming about the seminar much later at his evening shift, storming around the store as he shut off appliances, cleaned tables, and swept the floor.

He slammed his mop into a bucket of soapy water with so much force that he almost spilled it everywhere.

"What's got your knickers in a twist?"

He'd been so focused on violently wiping away as much dirt as possible that he'd walked straight into his manager. He looked down at Hiccup, his hands on his hips, a half smile on his face.

"Nothing," Hiccup said, with a scowl.

"Well, you've wiped the floor at least three times over and if you grip that mop any harder, I'm worried you're going to break it."

Their manager was huge, thickset, with a scraggly yellow moustache; he would have been imposing if it weren't for the crinkles either side of his eyes and a quirk of a half-smile that softened his features and made him approachable. He spoke with a thick Scottish accent, and he'd asked all of them to call him Gobber. When they'd asked him why, he'd said, wryly, "that's a story none of you need to know."

"He's thinking about Astrid Hofferson," Snotlout called from his seat on the countertop, not looking up from his phone.

Gobber scowled. "Get off that bloody thing and do some work. What do I pay you for?"

"'Kay, sorry," Snotlout muttered. He made no sign of movement, still not looking up from his phone.

Gobber raised his eyes to the heavens. "Who's Astrid?"

Hiccup opened his mouth to answer, but Fishlegs, who'd been cleaning one of the coffee machines underneath the counter, popped his head up and answered for him. "She's this girl who keeps coming in to order weird, complicated drinks. Hiccup thinks she's got it in for him."

"She does have it in for me," Hiccup insisted. "She's deliberately trying to make my life difficult."

Fishlegs scoffed. "She's not trying to do anything."

"Are we talking about the same girl?"

"Remember," Gobber said, "everyone's welcome in Bean & Gone. We must treat every customer with the utmost respect."

"She's as welcome as a bath mat made of lego," Hiccup muttered under his breath.

Gobber cuffed him over the head. "What's got into you? I expect this from the likes of him—" he jabbed his thumb in Snotlout's direction— "but you're usually so polite. What's this girl done that's so terrible?"

"She just—" Hiccup clenched his jaw— "gets under my skin."

"Well, don't let it get to you," Gobber said. "We can't afford to get complaints. I have inspectors breathing down my neck every other day, we don't need to give them any extra leverage."

"Fine," Hiccup said, sourly.

"Which reminds me," Gobber began, "does anyone want to explain to me why the broken coffee machine looks like the last bastion of caffeine in a nuclear apocalypse?"

"It started sparking last week," Fishlegs explained, "And then Hiccup decided to let out his frustrations on it."

Hiccup flushed a bright red. "I was fixing it!"

Fishlegs raised an eyebrow. "You were stabbing it with a screwdriver."

"So?"

"It's amazing you didn't electrocute yourself."

"Guys, please," Gobber groaned. "I told you to leave it for the repair guy. You know it costs extra when it looks like it's been messed with."

"Sorry," Hiccup and Fishlegs mumbled together.

"And while I'm on the subject, we gotta talk about health and safety."

Snotlout let out a long groan. "Must we?"

"We must if you want to keep your job," he said, patience wearing thin.

Snotlout pressed his lips together into a thin line. "Fine."

"First of all, I've sent for an electrician to check the wiring. I know we've had a few power cuts here and there and I'm slightly concerned that it's going to turn into a bigger problem. If something happens when I'm not around, if anything starts sparking or you smell anything weird, report it immediately," Gobber said.

All three of them nodded.

"Next," Gobber said, "you guys have gotta be more careful of where you put things. For the love of God, Snotlout, you have to stop leaving delivery boxes on the shop floor, because one day someone is going to trip and hurt themselves. I don't care how difficult it is to carry them round the back. You do it."

Snotlout leaned back in his chair, his arms folded, and his chin practically touching his chest and his pouted. "Fine," he said, his lower lip sticking out.

"Good," Gobber said. "Anyway, I won't keep you three for any longer, just make sure you're in on time tomorrow, and no slacking off. I'm looking at you, Snotlout."

Snotlout had already pulled his phone back out from his pocket. "Yeah, bye."

He stood up and swept out of the room. The rest of them watched him go.

"Unbelievable," Gobber muttered, before turning his attention to Hiccup and Fishlegs. "Have a good night, you two."

Hiccup and Fishlegs bade their manager goodnight and gathered their things. On the way out, Gobber squeezed Hiccup on the shoulder.

"Don't let this Astrid girl get you down," he said, kindly. "It's not worth it, in the end."

Hiccup nodded but bit his lip.

It was a nice sentiment, but he had a feeling that it didn't matter whether or not he let Astrid get to him - that girl was going to find a way to burrow deep into his nerves and bring them all to the surface.

He was pretty sure that however awful Astrid had been to him so far, he hadn't seen the worst of it yet.

He couldn't have been more right because across campus it was time for Astrid's nightly contemplation about murder.

Her work with Professor Vaughn-Stretton was as frustrating as ever. Since the last time she'd tried to get him to read her work, he'd turned his nose up every time she attempted to get him to look at another paper. He was always too busy, he didn't have the time, "my work is just too important to leave right this minute!" he'd say.

She always asked the next day, and his answer was always the same. He'd suck in a breath, he'd give some excuse, and then he'd say, "ask me tomorrow, I'll get to it then!"

That's what he'd said tonight, and not for the first time, Astrid had to grit her teeth, put on a smile, and wonder why she put herself through this.

"Miss Hofferson, you couldn't be a dear and photocopy these sheets for me, would you?"

I'd like to slam your head under a photocopier.

"No problem!" she said, with a fake smile so big and forced that it hurt her cheeks.

Astrid stomped out of the room, her fingers curling around the sheets of paper so hard that she had to fight off the urge to rip them. Fortunately, her self-control and her fear of Vaughn-Stretton's wrath had her keep them in pristine condition by the time she got to the photocopier.

As she put sheet after sheet through the machine, she was reminded of something her mother taught her long ago.

When Astrid was a toddler, she'd been the type of child to throw tantrums. The kind of wobblies that could bring an entire pre-school classroom and its poor, underpaid teacher to their knees. One day, Astrid's mother had taken her hands and knelt to her level.

"Astrid, my dear," she'd said, "some days you're going to feel angry at everyone. Some days everyone around you is going to frustrate you so much that you just want to scream and scream and scream. But sometimes you can't scream. Sometimes you need to put on a smile, and a brave face and power through it."

Astrid had puffed her cheeks out and pouted. "How?"

"You have to think about what makes you happy," she'd said. "Instead of focusing on what's making you angry, you have to think about a place, or a time or a situation where you were happy."

The conversation drifted into Astrid's thoughts as page after page came shooting out of the photocopier.

Where was her happy place now?

She wouldn't describe it as happiness exactly, but it wasn't hard to recollect the last time she'd felt good – it had been a sadistic kind of glee, the kind of terrible satisfaction that came from messing with someone else, and as she gathered photocopies into her hands, Henry Haddock flickered in her mind.

There was something wonderful about bringing him down a peg. After so many hours of hearing stories about the golden boy who could do no wrong, there was a sadistic thrill in watching him struggle over ridiculous drink orders, and stammer whilst she grilled him in class.

Maybe that made her a horrible person. Maybe she was okay with that.

When she went back to Vaughn-Stretton's office, she found that was no longer angry when Vaughn-Stretton demanded something else ridiculous from her. Instead, she was thinking about all the different drinks she could order, all the different combinations she could try, in short - she was thinking about all the ways that she could make the boy behind the counter suffer.

Henry Haddock had no idea what was coming.

Previous Chapter | Next Chapter

#hiccstrid #httyd #how to train your dragon #hiccup x astrid

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astrxd · 7 years

Note

A temporarily blind Astrid Drabble?

A/N: Holy heck. I am, so terribly sorry that this took me so long to put out!!! I found it and decided to rewrite it aaaand,,, Well, this was the result! I’m so sorry that it took me forever to post this, @aracanabraeks!! :’)(I think this one might be a little heavier than what I usually write? I’m not entirely sure, but I feel as if it’s necessary to note that it’s not super light and fluffy, or anything!)

Blink

“Mostof the hindrances that you and your friends cause me are generally…unseen. And as the saying goes–an eye for an eye, no?” He’dsaid. “You needn’t worry, however. I’ve decided to be mercifulby letting you keep them, at the very least. How useful they’ll beto you is simply… undetermined.”

Therewas no ultimatum, no ulterior motive–Viggo wanted revenge for theRiders’ last stunt: the destruction of his marble stronghold. Theentire purpose of kidnapping Astrid was for the sake of making apoint.For the sake of gettingeven.

Hemade a formidable adversary, and part of that was due to the factthat he wasn’t afraid to employ tactics heavier on the…unscrupulousside…in order to get what he wanted. The fact that he so casually broughtthe Scourge of Odin back down upon the Barbaric Archipelago was proofenough, but yet another one of methods he utilized revolved aroundthe fact that prolonged and close-range exposure to an Armorwing’sflameresultedin (supposedly temporary)blindness–toboth dragon and viking. Such exposure was appropriately classified astorture.

…Andin both cases of blatant inhumanity, Astrid was a victim without a choice.

Thevery real threat of hurting Stormfly if she didn’t cooperate withthe Hunters was the only thing keeping her eyes open in the face ofthe Armorwing’s inferno. Every blink risked a scale off of her bestfriend’s back, a premature spine ripped off of her tail. Thistime… there was no way out of Viggo’s plot.

“Obedient,”he had mused from somewhere in the ship cellar, a tone of purecomplacency dripping from his voice, “I believe I expected a littlemore from you, Miss Hofferson.”

Shegrit her teeth and kept her hands–which had curled into fists–gluedto her sides.

Oneday, he would crumble at her feet.

Viggo’stricks were growing dirtier and dirtier, and the fact that Astridwasa prime target was–quite frankly–rapidly becoming veryirritating.

Shewas a pawn. A bargaining chip. She knew that, and while her capturehadn’t been her most graceful moments, she surely didn’t go downwithout resisting. In the end, whether or not she went with theHunters quietly or not didn’t matter, but it brought her a shred ofcomfort to know that she put up a fight. Of course, she promised togive them much morethanan axe to the gut and a kick in the groin when she recovered.

(…Ifsheever recovered. The thought made her heart sink impossibly further.)

Theyencountered her during her morning flight-slash-patrol around the island.

They’dtaken both her and Stormfly–again.

Theyhadn’t even bothered to restrain her, but they did disarm her–andtheyput her very own axe to her dragon’s neck.

Theyforced a captured Armorwing (who Astrid vowed to help free as soon asshe was able) to sustain its flame, only a few feet from her face.

Theygave her a choice that wasn’t even a choice.

Theygave her an option–lose her sight indefinitely, or leave with hersight and her life… but without her dragon.

Butneveragain.Never again would Astrid allow the Hunters to have Stormfly in theircustody.

…Andso she stood, in the center of the cellar, steeling herself for whatwas to come.

Shedug the soles of her boots into the grain of the wood and squared hershoulders, and she furrowed her brow in fierce determination from thevery, very beginning. The Armorwing loomed before her, and the heatimmediately bordered unbearable. It hadn’t been long before she felta sheen of sweat broke out across her forehead–but how hot her skinwas paler in comparison to the intense burnhereyes promptly experienced.

Theyquickly felt as if they were going to begin to shrivel at any givenmoment–but when she began to squint or nearly blinked, Stormflytrilled. Woefullytrilled.

ForStormfly, shechanted in her head.

Theentire time, the ones she held dearest to her heart were on her mind.It was from thoughts of them that she drew her strength, herendurance–that, and pure spite.IfViggo thought he’d be guaranteed some sort of twisted gratificationfrom seeing her suffer, then he was sorelymistaken,because she had no intention of expressing her pain. She was strongerthan this–stronger than him, and whatever he tried to put up againsther!

Andyet…

…Very,very soon came the point where Astrid grew numb to the dragon’sflame, but could hardly stand to keep her eyes open any longer. Hervision clouded and became glazed with white, everything becominglighter and lighter with each passing second. She initially refusedto give the onlooking Hunters holding down Stormfly the satisfactionof hearing her cry out in pain, and instead elected to bite down onher lip to muffle any shouts that threatened to escape–

Buteven the mightiest were susceptible to being felled.

Astrid,knees wobbly, ended up collapsing to the ship’s floorboards withinless than a few minutes,witha broken, choked, patheticgaspfor air that wasn’t heated. The sustained fire had done its job,but it also seemed to devour the oxygen in the air. Her firm resolvehad been melted by the Armorwing’s intense flames, and she resortedto pressing the heels of her palms against her eyes, as if doing sowould somehow numb the sharp, stinging sensation.

Itwas over surprisingly quickly, but every moment felt like absoluteHel.And the aftermath?

Excruciating.Every single secondofit.

Whenshe felt her dragon thunder towards her and curl protectively aroundher person, Astrid finally pried her eyes open and blinked. The sharpfwhipofStormfly brandishing her barbed tail filled her ears, but her eyes…

Shesaw nothing but white.

Theystung with both welling tears and the lingering pain of having staredat a bright source of light for an extended period of time–but shedidn’t cry. As soon as they oh-so kindlyallowedStormfly to escort Astrid back to their base, the Hunters made aquick departure in the opposite direction of the Edge… and that wasthat.

Hercondition served as a message. A warning. A taunt.

AndOdin knew what Hiccup would do when he found out.

Whenshe was safely on Stormfly’s back and well in the air, she stilldidnot allow herself to cry, because crying was givingin.She could not see the sun or the morning sky–she just assumeditwas still morning. She could not see their base in the near distanceor the rolling hills and trees beneath her. She couldn’t even seethe crown of spikes on Stormfly’s head, but she clung to thedragon’s neck with such dependency anyway. Astrid wanted to tellthe Nadder to take her somewhere secluded, but despite the dragon’sloyalty, she knew that Stormfly would take her to her friends. Itwasn’t until she reached a tentative hand to her face that sherealized that she was crying anyway. She tried to blink away thetears.

Intrusivethoughts swarmed her mind relentlessly–how uselesstosaid friends she was now that she couldn’t see, whether or notshe’d be able to see atallinthe future, how they would react. How Hiccupwouldreact. Just thinking about it made her feel guilty, as if somehow,she could have prevented this from happening.

Even though such wasimpossible, she knew she couldpreventthe impending carnage and cycle of revenge that was likely to takeplace when her condition was revealed, but how could she keepsomething such as being blindunderwraps? How could she pretend that her world wasn’t crashing down ontop of her?

Sheonly continued to imagine–no, predict–howher future was going to further fall apart.

Combatwould be next to impossible.

DragonRacing–if not just flying in general–was just… out of thequestion.

She’dnever see the sunset, or the exotic colors of every dragon theyencountered. She’d never see her mother or father or her friends oreven her future children–andit wouldn’t be because she wasn’t present, but it would be due toa physical incapability.

Everythingwas changing, all before her very eyes. The ones what she couldn’tseewith.

Evenafter Stormfly landed, presumably back at the stables, Astridcontinued to think.Her fingers trembled and her breaths were all ragged and strained,but she strove to find some reason deep within herself.

Wouldshe ever see again? Or was she stuck in a perpetually white world?The fact that she wasn’t seeing pitchblack waspromising, and it gave her a sliver of hope that she could somehowrecover. She clung to that shred of optimistic thought, because therewas still a chance for her to beat the odds and beatViggo,but as soon as she attempted to dismount Stormfly–

“Astrid!There you are!”

GreatThor.

Sheswallowed thickly and rubbed at her eyes as she slowly swung her legover Stormfly’s back. It was a motion she’s completed with suchease and confidence time and time again, but she’d suddenly…grown wary of her footing. All she wanted to do was curl up besideher dragon and reflect and be alone,butof courseHiccuphad to come around. Quickly attempting to recompose herself, heturned towards the source of his voice and blinked, thankful that herhearing was still intact.

Astriddidn’t know how long she could maintain the illusion that herencounter with the Hunters didn’thappenand that she couldstillsee, but she would try. She’d simply have to–for the sake ofkeeping order on the Edge. Her thoughts of her future and herhappiness be damned–they couldn’t afford to make any risky movesfor the sake of getting even, and getting even is exactlywhatViggo probably wanted them to do. If Astrid knew the Hunter’sleader at all, she knew that he tried to have everything planned downto the last confrontation.

“Hey,Hiccup,” she responded soon enough, offering a brief lift of herhand as wave. Her voice sounded unbearably tightandshe had no clue about how disheveled she may have looked, butStormfly ducked her head and nudged her shoulder so that she wouldface an entirelydifferentdirection.

Somuch for being secretive.

Astridplaced her palm on the Nadder’s horn for stability. She blinked.Her world went from white, to black, to white again.

Shecould only imagineHiccup’sperplexed expression. Literally. What he looked like at the momentwas a mystery to her and–

Oh,no.

No,no, no.

Whatif she forgets?

“…Astrid,is everything okay?”

Whatif she forgets what he looks like? His eyes. His smile–all of them.The goofy, crooked one and the jokingly serious one and the heartmeltingly adoring one and… What if she forgot her other friends,too? What they all look like? It was only a matter of time before anyand all hopes of her ever seeing again would be ultimately crushed,and then… And then she’d be stuck. She’d never see Stormfly orHiccup or her friends. She’d never see the sunrise or sunset orcoloratall–

Astridtried so desperatelytoremain composed and stay levelheaded, but with such a probablyreality looming on the horizon, how could she stay calmwhenit truly, finally hit her that her entire futurewasvery likely compromised? She relied so heavily on her sight thatliving without it…

…Wouldn’tbe living at all.

Sheblinked.

Suddenly,she felt her hair get tucked behind her ear and warm, calloused palmson either of her cheeks, and she stiffened, startled. The contactalone was enough to make her walls fall in around her, while herpreviously rigid expression crumpled into that of one conveyingagony.

“Astrid?Astrid,what–what happened out there? What did you see?”

Theirony.

Astridshook her head and barked out a single, humorless laugh. Her eyescontinued to burn with a dull intensity, partially because she wascrying even harder now, but she kept her hands to herself. The thingsthat she knewshecould do with her eyes closed now seemed to be completely foreign andimpossible–even throwing her arms around Hiccup in the way that sheusually did seemed hazardous.

Shesettled for squeezing her eyes shut. The darkness was comforting,because she could pretend that she was fine despite knowing shewasn’t.

“Astrid,look at me–”

“Nothing,”shefinally snapped, the sharp bite in her trembling voice evidently notdirected toward Hiccup. She pictured him wincing. “Nothing, okay? Ididn’t–I can’tseeanything.I can’tlookat you.” Astrid could hear Stormfly coo, and she imagined thatHiccup looked worriedly over at both of their dragons, seeking somesemblance of insight as he gathered her in an embrace.

“I–Idon’t–Astrid, what are you…?”

Shefelt his arms loop around her middle, so she managed to find hisshoulders. Astrid buried her face in the crook of his neck and simplystood there,leavingHiccup to try and decipher her cryptic response for the same amountof time it took for her to compose herself to the point where sheknewshewouldn’t break down. It was only when she became astutely aware ofthe fingers rubbing circles into the small of her back that she wasdrawn out of her bout of self pity.

Asingle name was enough to make Hiccup’s hold around her waist growsignificantly tighter. She was well aware of the shift in hisstature–from comforting to downright protectiveafterso much as hearing “Viggo” leave her lips.

“What,”Hiccup grit out, “did he do?”

Shetook a shuddery breath that wracked her chest and pulled her armsfrom around Hiccup’s shoulders. It didn’t make the pain subside,let alone help her fears for her future shrink, but the blonde soonset either of her hands on what she felt as the slope of Hiccup’sneck and slowly wrenched her eyes open. They stillburned.Everything was still bleary, still white.

Hiccupwas probably only inches away from her, but at the same time… Hewasn’t there.

(Butusing that logic, the moon didn’t exist and neither did theHunters. Astrid breathed deeply again. She blinked. It still didn’thelp.)

“Itwas an Armorwing,” she managed, willing strengthtoinject her quiet voice. Astrid knew that around Hiccup, there was noneed for her to remain strongindifficult times, but it was the only way she found herself capable ofspeaking to him. “Viggo–he, he wanted revenge. But you–youhaveto, to promise, promise me that you w-won’t do anything stupid.”

Astrid…Astrid was conflicted. On one hand, Hiccup had taught her thatemotion was natural,andthat they didn’t live in a world as brutal and ruthless as theyinitially thought. With the resurgence of a new massive threat intheir lives, however, that notion immediately caved in on itself.What wasshe,if not the resilient, hardy Hooligan that her people were known tobe? What happened to the viking who had so firmly believed inherself, and believed that she was stronger than anything Viggo triedto do to harm her?

“Astrid,”Hiccup said again, this time more sympatheticallyhurt,and it was as he’d said her name a million times over in the pastminute with different tones each instance. She knew that he wantedher to continue to explain.

“Hiccup,I’m–”

Shechoked on the next word, a sob ripping from her throat, becauseadmitting it made it real.Admitting it made it feel like Viggo won,and she’d be damned before she let something like that happen.Astrid felt Hiccup tense further, and she squeezed his shoulders,sniffling and breathing choppily.

“…Bl–ind.”

Itfelt like a massive wave crashing onto an unsuspecting shore. It hither like a Catastrophic Quaken barreling into her at full force,knocking the wind out of her lungs and sending her reeling.

Shewas blind.

Sheblinked. Astrid felt as if her mind was still foggy with disbeliefand sheer horror,but saying it out loud… It helped. Somehow, it helped, and deepdown, she knew that acceptingitwas the first step to overcomingit.

Hiccup’ssilence, however, was terriblyconcerning.Astrid lifted a shaky hand to thread her fingers through his hairwith slight uncertainty. She couldn’t use her thumb to smooth awaythe creases in his brow that she knew were there, so she had tosettle instead. His presence was grounding, and it made her thinkmore practically–it made her realize that the only thing left to dowas cope,notcry.

Ithurt, but knowing that he was worried about her… hurt more.

“Maybeit’s temporary–”

“Hiccup…”

“Wecan get you to Berk and have Gothi–”

“Hiccup–”

“Astrid,we can still–”

“Youknow,” Astrid interjected (again), “all I could think about washow useful those Deathsong amber goggles you made would have been,”she whispered, fingers curling at the hair at nape of his neck. Shethen pressed her palm to his cheek and leaned forward–he got thememo, thankfully, and their foreheads met. She thoughthehad his face committed to memory, but now that the situation requiredher to draw upon those memories, they were… Gone?

Notgone,but buried.

Byfear.

Byanger.

Byirrational thought.

Sheblinked. She smothered those feelings by reminding herself thatletting them fester would only make matters worse.

“I’msor–”

“Don’t,”Astrid interjected, both pleadingly and in warning. He wiped histhumb against the corner of one of her eyes, presumably to wipe awayher tears, but she squeezed them shut reflexively. “Don’tapologize.”

“…”

“What’sdone is done,” she said, her tone indicating that what she had tosay was final, though it retained its shakiness. Astrid tried sodesperately to sound okay,but…“Apologizingwon’t, c-can’t change–this.”Astridwaved a hand toward her face.

“Iwas… just going to say that–I, I’m here,Astrid. You were there for me, and… And now it’s my turn.”

…Itdawned on her then.

Thevalue she had was not determined by, nor was it reliant, the heightof the senses. Despite lacking her sight entirely, what she said wastrue–the only way to go about her life at this point?

Work past it.

Learna little morefromHiccup.

Swiftly,and with practiced ease, she pressed a kiss to the apple of his cheekbefore slipping out of his arms to find her dragon, ignoring thestrain of keeping her eyes open. The rough texture of Stormfly’sscales was beneath her fingertips in mere seconds–Astrid didn’thesitate once in pulling herself onto the Nadder’s back.

Shewasn’t okay. She was far from okay.

Butshe was guaranteed not to be okay for the rest of her life if she didn’t at least try to move forward.

“Whereare you–”

“Thefirst thing you did was fly,” Astrid reminded him, squaring hershoulders as she curled her fingers against the bar of Stormfly’ssaddle. She sucked in a deep breath. “And that’s exactly what I’mgoing to do.”

IfViggo Grimborn thought he could eliminate AstridHofferson fromthe game, he was painfully mistaken. Sightor no sight, she’d overcome the trials set out before her–shealways had, anyhow.

Sheblinked.

#DRABBLE #my writing #i'm sorry i actually kind of just wrote #and i didn't bother to establish a solid plot #blind!astrid rambling i suppose!!!#i dunno if it's t em p or a ry AHA ....#hiccstrid #hiccup #astrid #also lmao it got long im s orry #aracanabreaks

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