Will it be forever?

Chapter 15: Late Night

Astrid's POV

It had been a little over a month since Hiccup and I had returned from our honeymoon, and I hadn't seen much of him over the past weeks. Granted, it was understandable why he wasn't much home, having to catch up on his Chief duties and all that, but even with my help, it seemed like nothing changed.

I stirred my soup, my gaze traveling back and forth between the door and the bowl as I hoped to catch a glimpse of my husband. But much to my dismay, he was nowhere to be seen.

It was often like that. By the time I woke up, he was already out with Toothless or working, and by the time I headed to bed, he would still be cooped up somewhere, doing Thor knows what and not returning home before I was sound asleep. I was lucky if I even caught a glimpse of him around town.

"Astrid?" Ruffnut snapped her fingers as she tried to get my attention. I was immediately ripped out of my thoughts as I turned to her.

"Yes?" I asked, putting down the spoon as I watched the dragon rider lean against the doorframe.

She raised a brow as she gestured towards the dragons that waited patiently outside. "You coming or what?"

"What? Yes, of course! Just give me a second ..." I replied as I quickly dumped my bowl in a bucket of water and followed her outside, where the rest of the gang waited.

As I was scrambling out the door, the others took of, clearly not interested in the concept of waiting for me. I let out a grumble as I climbed atop my dragon, who squeaked happily as we took off into the sky after them.

I narrowed my eyes at my friends as Stormfly and I caught up with them. "Gee, you guys, thanks so much for waiting!"

"Oh, relax! It's not like you weren't going to catch up with us anyway!" Snotlout pointed out as I took the lead of the group, flying up front.

"Still, you could've waited." I spat at them before turning away from them to calm myself down.

"So, Astrid ... how are things with you and Hiccup?" Fishlegs changed the subject as he clearly noticed the tension growing in the group.

I sighed as I furrowed my brows. "I ... I don't really know. I haven't seen him much lately, he's just been so ... busy all of the time."

Silence fell over the group for a short while as my friends carefully tasted my words.

"Are you alright?" Tuffnut asked, for once not sounding like a complete muttonhead. I turned around to him with a frown.

I took a second to answer. "Yeah ... I'm perfectly fine, perfectly ... happy."

Another wave of silence washed over the group as I could feel their stares burning into the back of my head.

"You don't sound so sure." Snotlout noted.

"Oh, shut up, Snotlout!" I hissed at him as I shot him a glare.

"Astrid, what Snotlout is so delicately trying to say is that we understand that this upsets you, and we understand that it isn't easy for you to see Hiccup so rarely, seeing as we miss him too." Fishlegs said as he shot me a small smile, which I reciprocated.

I let out a sigh and turned my gaze to the night sky that floated by above us. "Fine, maybe I am a little upset about Hiccup barely spending time with me anymore, even though it's only been a month."

A look of concern was etched into Ruffnut's face as she and Tuffnut flew up beside me. "Want to talk about it?"

I took a second to think before slowly nodding my head. "Yeah. Yeah, jump on."

"See you later, bro!" Ruffnut announced to her twin as she neatly jumped from their shared dragon and over to Stormfly.

"Ruffnut!" We heard Tuffnut scream in the distance as we flew back in the direction of Berk. And with the sound of something big crashing down below the waves, we both fell into a fit of laughter.

Hiccup's POV

I glanced up at the moon above as Toothless and I stepped out of the Meade Hall. Great, yet another late night.

I rubbed my forehead as we sluggishly made our way down the steps, silently praying that Astrid for some odd reason was still awake, but as the front door creaked open, revealing a dark room, all hope left my body as I let Toothless slither in past me.

I was about to follow after him, when the sound of someone walking up behind me stopped me in my tracks. I raised a brow at the young lady making her way up the steps to my house.

"Hi, Chief!" Rebekah smiled, cheerful as ever as she waved at me.

"Rebekah? What are you doing out at this hour, shouldn't you be asleep?" I questioned her as I accidentally let out a yawn.

She shrugged as she met my eyes, another wonderful smile warming her already beautiful features. "I couldn't really sleep, besides, now's the best time for flying anyway."

I narrowed my eyes at her as I searched for her dragon, which was nowhere in sight. "From personal experiences I find flying to be better when you have your dragon with you."

She chuckled as she crossed her arms over her chest. "I actually just came back from the stables, which is why I don't have my dear dragon with me. But I wouldn't mind another late night flight if you offered ..."

I rubbed my forehead, quickly brushing off her suggestion. "Yeah, I think I'll pass on that one, Rebekah. It's probably best if we both headed home to our beds, seeing as the effects of tiredness will probably affect you too in the near future."

"Alright," Rebekah's smile was tight as she took a step away from me. "I suppose I'll see you tomorrow then?"

"Hm? Oh yes, of course. Have a good night, Rebekah." I told the younger woman as I stepped inside my house and slowly closed the door.

Rebekah turned to walk away before looking over her shoulder. "Have a good night too, Chief Hiccup, sleep tight."