This Can't Happen

"I like to know my enemies motives."

"So I'm an enemy?"

"I don't know," He wiggled an eyebrow to her. "Are you, 'cause I was kind of hoping we could be friends?"

"You're such a freak."Astrid spat at him, turning her body completely away from his line of sight.

"And, you know what?" Hiccup said, leaning back on his hands behind his head against the wall of the cave. "I'm okay with my freakiness. One day I'm going to be the fiercest dragon slayer on Berk and everyone's going to know that I'm the greatest Viking by just being myself." Astrid was still in her movements, still not looking at him.

And then Hiccup smiled devilishly. "You on the other hand," He said a little louder to get Astrid's attention. "You try so hard to be what everyone thinks a Viking should be."

"And that's not what you're doing?" Astrid tried to stump him.

"We both want to be Vikings, but our biggest difference is I'm not going to change who I am to become one, even though I might want to."

That's when Astrid looked over at him. Her eyes were wide and her face was stiff, like she was hiding something.

"I never knew you thought like that." She told him quietly.

"There's a lot about me you don't know about me, just like there's a lot about you that I don't know."

"There's not a lot to me." Astrid answered quietly again, but this time her voice was thick with emotion.

"I think there is, you've just got to let it out."

"But then I won't be..."

"Won't be what?" Hiccup baited. "Accepted?"

He hit the nail right on the head there and although Astrid didn't answer him on that matter any further he knew that he was right on the money.

Without preamble, Astrid stood, shivering violently as she walked over to the other side of the cave and stood near Hiccup (who was comfortably wrapped in his blanket of furs).

"Can I sit here?" She asked him tentatively. Hiccup just nodded and opened up the blanket so she could come inside. She was just as stiff as she sat next to him and refused to lean further in so Hiccup could completely close the front of the blanket.

"Um," Hiccup tried to close the front, anyway, and finding trouble in doing so he attempted to call Astrid's attention on it, but she was determined to be stubborn again.

"I don't hate you, you know." She said instead of moving in closer and that statement took Hiccup's mind off the blanket issue completely. The cold air just suddenly seemed irrelevant.

"What?" He asked in disbelief.

"You heard me," she looked up at him with a smirk, copying his on previous words. "It's just that no one else hangs around you, so..."

"Neither do you?" He finished for her.

"Yeah," she gazed up at him in shame. "Pretty shallow, huh?"

"Of course," He answered without thinking. But when he saw her head fall lower he sighed. "But, I understand."

"You do?"

"You are who you are, Astrid, I can't tell you to hang around me just so you can be made fun of by everyone else."

"How can you say that?"

"Because, I'm used to it, believe me."

There was a pregnant moment of silence between them as they seemed to fall into their own thoughts. The snow pattered against the roof of the cave like heavy rain drops and the whistle and howl of the winds added a noisy and chilling calm to the fire-lit cave.