Hiccstrid in Secret

This was Berk.

A small little island in the middle of the ocean in the middle of what could loosely be called nowhere.

On the island was a village built on the cliffside, and in that village was the Hairy Hooligan Tribe; a certifiable Thing of Vikings. If you asked Hiccup, "certifiable" would be written in bold, italics and bright red ink.

Hiccup's hair was tied back in a bun to keep it out of her eyes and to prevent it from catching fire. Again.

Hiccup was the only child of Chief Stoick the Vast. She was scrawny and she wasn't very strong or coordinated. She wasn't ugly, but she wasn't exactly blessed by Freyra either, having a plain face and puberty showed little sign of doing her any favors any time soon.

He never said anything, but she knew he was thinking it.

It was the day after another dragon raid and she did her duty: she endured her annual dad-scolding in front of the village, this time for setting fire to a house after tripping over and startling a Terrible Terror, and was sent to her house to the sneering and mockery of her peers.

Except for Astrid.

She just stared at her.

Very. Very hard.

After serving her sentence, Gobber came to retrieve her so that she could return to what she was good it: forge maintenance. While inventing was her passion (as disastrous as her ideas were), Hiccup was pretty good with swords when she was sharpening and repairing them. The village needed rebuilding and that included demand for nails, screws, building tools, farming tools and a lot of undented weapons.

"Hiccup."

The Viking princess (if that title even applied to her at this point) stopped hammering and looked up. Speaking with a stern invocation that remind her of her dad was Astrid Hofferson. While Hiccup was the least viking Viking on Berk, Astrid was a contender for the best. She was the best fighter and the smartest one in her generation in the Hooligan Tribe, though admittedly the competition isn't exactly tough.

"We need to talk."

Hiccup's face was flushed from the forge's heat, but her racing heart was

"Astrid, here for your father's sword?" Asked Gobber, who had just walked in from the back.

Astrid's gaze didn't stray from Hiccup, but she shook her head. She put her pride and joy - her family's double-edged axe - on the counter. It had a chip in one of its blade. An easy fix.

"Alright lass. Hiccup, you're up."

"Actually I need Hiccup for something," said Astrid.

Gobber gave her a look, then to Hiccup.

"Uh, yeah!" Said Hiccup, her eyes darting between the two in a **** search for answers. "The thing! We have that thing to do... things too!"

Hiccup grabbed her fur vest and tried causally exiting the forge, only to trip on something and fall back. Astrid grabbed her by the arm, hoisted her to her feet and dragged her off with one arm.

Gobber stared as this happened, cocking his eyebrow. He wanted to say... something, but instead he shrugged and yelled for Astrid to return her as soon as she was done with "things."

While the sight of Hiccup's heels dragging by an ornery looking Astrid drew a few eyes and fewer chuckles, the villagers were otherwise too preoccupied with their duties to pay it any mind. Eventually, Astrid brought her to a remote corner of the village just out of sight of the Great Hall's gates. A convenient place for anyone considering a premeditated ****, which Hiccup felt like was happening at the moment.

"U-Uh, Astrid? What--"

Astrid threw her against the stone wall, her palm slamming next to Hiccup's head with her other hand grabbed the front of Hiccup's shirt.

"What in Midgard were you doing out there?"

"I--"

"Were you trying to die? Was that it?!"

Astrid let her aggression out in the form of violently shaking Hiccup by the heim of her shirt.

"Astrid, it was just a Terrible Terror. I would have been fine," Hiccup tried to say, but Astrid was too upset to listen.

"And it spat fire! Never underestimate a dragon no matter how small or harmless it looks! Something could have happened and I wasn't there to protect you!"

"Astrid, I don't need--hmm!"

Astrid cut her off with a kiss. It was a deep, passionate kiss. She let go of her shirt and cupped the back of Hiccup's head, the two of them melting into each other, Hiccup trapped between the rock behind her and Astrid's studded skirt rubbed against her legs. She went from shocked by the sudden contact before moaning, deciding to just go with it.

Astrid always got rather handsy when she was worried like this.

---

Four Months Ago...

Hiccup and Astrid couldn't tell you exactly how it happened. They were friends when they were toddlers, but as they grew older, they drifted apart. Then in their teen years, as they developed into womanhood, something changed. When Hiccup saw Astrid walking with an axe over her shoulder, she couldn't help but blush at just how beautiful she was. One time, Astrid bent over to inspect something in her workshop and, while staring at Astrid's butt, Hiccup broke the axe she was in the middle of sharpening.

Gobber forbade her from using the sharpener for a week after he had to explain it to its owner.

As for Astrid, she never had a life outside of training to join the Berk Guard. Berk was a dangerous place and problems that couldn't be solved with a punch to the face or a precise knife to its neck were beneath her. After the first few times Hiccup's antics collapsed the village, Astrid felt a moral imperative to do something about it, either with a punch to the face or threats involving the knife in her boot.

When she found Hiccup, she found her behind her house, bawling her eyes out. Vikings didn't cry, especially after not being where she should have been and causing chaos in the process. Hiccup's face was tear-stricken, with an ugly bruise on her cheek. One of her hands was trembling over the side of her chest, as though she were kicked there.

Hiccup was obviously assaulted. No doubt by Snotlout and the twins.

Seeing the brunette, in pain and trembling at her like a helpless rabbit, her unshakable certainty flew right out the window.

Well, she was thinking of hurting her when she was looking for her, but now...

After that, Astrid took it upon herself to do something about it.

It started with Astrid offering to train her how to fight. And by "offering", she meant grab her by the arm and dragging her out to the woods to handle a weapon.

It took awhile to get used to Hiccup's snark and after the first few sessions, Hiccup stopped trying to run away. Astrid was too stubborn to let her.

"Astrid, why are you doing this?" Hiccup asked after they took a break.

"Hmm?" Responded Astrid, sharpening her axe.

"Training me. I'm hopeless."

"Maybe," said Astrid. "But so is this war. Yet we fight anyway."

"Yeah but, you didn't have to do this. You could have just left me in the forge like dad did."

Astrid paused. That one kind of stung, if not for the sad reality of it.

"I dunno. Maybe the next Chieftess of Berk should be able to take care of herself. Makes the tribe look good?"

"'Next Chieftess'," quoted Hiccup, this time with her trademark sarcasm. "Who are you kidding? I'd be lucky if I'm not sold to some Chief's son on some far-off iceberg as trade for a yak-skin rug."

"Hiccup, that's not happening."

"I dunno. Dad seemed pretty mad when I got ink over his old rug," said Hiccup.

"No," said Astrid, tempted to roll her eyes. "I mean you're not going out like that."

"No?"

"No." She put the axe and sharpening rock down and turned to her. "Look. We're different."

"Really? I you don't say."

"And I've tried very hard to try and get strong and win respect. When I was little, I told my family I wanted to be a Shieldmaiden. My dad liked the idea and my mom didn't. She wants grandkids."

Hiccup would be lying if she didn't want to know where this was going.

"We argue sometimes. They're proud that I can take care of myself and all my grandmother talks about is how I'm going to kill the Monstrous Nightmare at graduation, but things weren't always like that. I've been training my whole life to get to my skill level and there are some people who think I should stop and start looking for a husband."

"You'd think Snotlout would learn," quipped Hiccup. This time, Astrid found it a little funny

"What I'm saying is that if you want to help, start by thinking about where you're going. Maybe help us with putting out fires, I dunno. But in the meantime, we need to work on your form. It's shit."

"Thank you for your kind words," said Hiccup, though her spirits seemed to have lifted a little. "Look, Astrid... uh, thanks. You know... for trying. I mean it."

Astrid smiled,

"Any time."

Hiccup glanced downward and immediately looked back up, her face suddenly red. Astrid did the same and realized that her had somehow found its way onto Hiccup's. As though shocked by a Skrill, Astrid leapt to her feet and decided that break was over, her heart racing.

Hiccup looked at her palm, fingers still tingling.

---

Training continued for a week, but something changed. They both knew it, but neither of them would admit it.

While they didn't interact much in the village to begin with, here they actively avoided each other, worried one would say or do something dumb. During training sessions, at least one weird thing would happen that only served to make things weirder between them.

Astrid would be lecturing her on something, only to forget what she was saying when she would get lost on Hiccup's cute face. Hiccup would slip and say something inappropriate. One time, the two of them would spar with sticks (Astrid not confident enough to practice with swords) and Hiccup, in her reliably predictable clumsiness, would trip and land on Astrid, and it took Hiccup an embarrassingly long time for it to register that she should get off her. In Astrid's case, it took an embarrassingly long time for her to want Hiccup off of her.

It eventually got to the point where when the time came for another training session, Astrid spent half an hour waiting for Hiccup before finding herself knocking on the chief's front door. Gobber told her that it was Hiccup's day off. He thought it was unusual for Hiccup not spend her free-time tinkering like she usually did, so the only other place she could be was her house.

The Chief had gone onto another fool's errand with half of the village out looking for the nest, so Astrid decided to let herself into his house when Hiccup wouldn't answer.

"Hiccup!"

She marched up the steps and kicked the door open.

Hiccup was sitting at the desk next to her bed.

"Hiccup, you're late for training."

She made a point to pretend that Astrid wasn't there. Astrid walked up, crossing her arms and making herself seem taller over the brunette.

"Hiccup, come on."

"...I can't. I-I'm not..."

"Not what?"

"...getting better."

"What?"

"It won't work, okay!"

Astrid took a step back as Hiccup stood up right in her face. Hiccup looked angry, but she could see that her eyes were red, like she had been crying.

"I-I'm, I'm not getting better. Just... just stop it, okay?"

"What? You are! Of course you're getting better! What are you talking about?"

"I'm a lost cause, okay? I'm just a hiccup. I'll just drag you down to my level."

Astrid was completely lost.

"What brought this on? Was it Snotlout? I told that jerk if he thinks he--"

"It's not Snotlout. I just---I can't--" Hiccup looked to her hands looking for the words. "If you stay with me I'll just drag you down. All I do is make everyone's lives harder."

Viking didn't have a handbook for tact and sensitivity outside of literally knocking the sense into someone, but Astrid knew that wouldn't be helpful.

"Well, I'm not giving up and I'm not letting you give up either! Come on."

Astrid grabbed Hiccup's arm, intent on dragging her like usual, but this time Hiccup wasn't having it.

"Let me go!"

"No, I'm not doing that Hiccup!"

"You should!"

Hiccup dragged the doorframe with her free hand as she tried clinging.

"Come on Hiccup! Stop being a baby!"

"Let go! I mean it!"

"I'm not letting go!"

"Just give up, I'm a lost cause!"

"No you're not!

"Yes I am!"

"Why are you acting like this?!"

"BECAUSE I LOVE YOU!"

Everything froze.

Astrid looked at Hiccup.

Hiccup was crying again. Her cheeks were covered in tear and a little snot dribbled out of her nose. She furiously scrubbed at her face with her sleeve, sobbing and hiccuping as she tried to form coherent sentences.

"I-I love you and I don't want to make everything terrible like I always do and..."

As Hiccup tried in vain to explain herself with this hurricane of conflicting emotions in the way, all Astrid could do was stare slack-jawed.

When she first saw Hiccup, beaten and upset behind her house, Astrid felt lost. She started training Hiccup and she couldn't come up with a clear answer why. "Why am I doing this?" She would ask herself. Her normally steadfast mind was being clouded with strange, irrational doubts and it's been nagging at her for months.

But just now, seeing this display from the Chief's daughter, her heartfelt confession on repeat in her brain like an echo in a cave, that cloud cleared as though it never existed.

Oh.

Hiccup turned around to hide her shame.

"I think you should go," said Hiccup, trying hard to keep what was left of her composure.

Astrid didn't go.

Instead, she grabbed Hiccup by the arm, whirled her around to face her.

Stone-faced, Astrid grabbed the front of Hiccup's shirt, and with a swift tug, closed the gap between them and their lips met.

So this is what kissing is like, they both thought. It was a weird thought, just as kissing was a weird feeling. They both realized that all of the hype was certainly worth it.

The kiss ended and both of them where both redder than a Stoker-class. At some point Astrid had already let go of Hiccup's shirt.

They both stared at each other. The room was thick with tension. Neither knew how to respond. Eventually Astrid remembered how to blink.

"I--"

Astrid tried to break the silence, but Hiccup grabbed both sides of her face and kissed her again. Both moaned into each other, Astrid suppressing the instinct to shove her and instead wrapped her arms around Hiccup's svelt body. Their lips smacked and reconnected as one of Astrid's hands grabbed the back of Hiccup's head and clawing at her brown hair. Astrid felt the back of her head and shoulder blades hitting the wood of the bedroom wall.

Things were never the same, though Hiccup and Astrid didn't want it to be the same as before.