I look over to Fishlegs, whose face is grim and mouth set into a straight line.
"Fishface." He looks over, frowning.
"What?" Meatlug snorts, pulling away from me.
"Geez, didn't mean to get you upset. I was just wondering, what's the point in going after Hiccup?" His mouth flies open, whipping his head around to face me.
"What the hell is that supposed to mean?!" I lift up my hands, holding them in front of my face.
"Hold on, just hear me out!" He nods, obviously ticked off. "They always go after each other like this, since they're crazy, but they always end up coming back home safe! This keeps happening, one of us is gonna get left behind or something." He looks down, then up at me, nodding.
"Fine. But after two days without seeing the lovebirds, we go after them. Deal?" I nod, and he turns back to the twins, yelling. "Alright guys, we're heading back!" Ruffnut yells, and Tuff pumps his hands into the air.
"ALRIGHT! The lovers finally get their privacy!" Ruffnut crosses her arms, pouting.
"Not fair! I wanted some action, and listening to him talking about Chicken all the time is driving me insane!" I roll my eyes, then pull Hookfang back to line up with the two.
"Ruff, you can hang out with me. Tuffnut can do weird stuff." She smiles, obviously grateful to finally act semi normal, when Tuff intercepts.
"Hey, we Thorstons have to do stuff together! Right?" He sticks out his bottom lip, looking to his sister with genuine pain. She furrows her brow, trying to look away, but Tuffnut and Belch are moving closer and closer, advancing on them. Finally she yells, slapping Tuffnut.
"Fine! You're so mean! I just want some time alone!"
"Being with Snotlout isn't being alone!"
"It's different!"
"How?!"
"TEARS!" Tuffnut begins to hyperventilate, tearing up. I sigh, and leave them to their bickering to line up with Fishlegs, who is already working on how long it'll take to get back to the edge.
"So?" He side glances me.
"What?" I poke his shoulder.
"Come on, let's just turn back. We'll be back by sunset, and Heather should be landing around then." He looks at me, confused.
"What about Heather?" He forgot?
"You don't remember? We arranged for Heather to visit the edge a few weeks ago, we assumed Astrid was gonna be here. Let's hope she is." I chuckle, but Fishlegs frowns.
"We gotta go back! Come on, you guys are so slow!" Meatlug turns and whizzes by the twins, who are now engaging in an amusing fist fight, in which no fists are involved. They stop momentarily to speculate the blonde Ingerman heading back towards the edge, then continue to fight. I sigh, heading back towards them. Hookfang huffs, obviously annoyed by the bozos as well.
"I know dude. They're so weird." They look up to see us passing, Ruff crying out,
"Hey, where you going?" I look back, winking.
"If you were listening, you would know that we're going back to the edge!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I peer over my shoulder momentarily to see Astrid stick her tongue out at me. I duck as she taps the back of my head, tightening her grip on my waist.
"What?" She giggles, and burrows into my shoulder.
"Nothing. You're just so warm." She's practically melting into me, moaning as she wraps her legs around my waist to obtain more heat. (I didn't mean for that to be dirty, I know what you were thinking!)
"Is that so?" She simply nods, then closes her eyes and rests her cheek onto my shoulder. I can practically see Ingrid gagging from behind us, but that's fine.
"Love is so strange." Astrid cracks open an eye, rolling it at me, then shoots back,
"Just like your view on love." Ingrid cracks a smile, then continues to look down onto the pink and orange tinted clouds, streaking the sky like toy stuffing thrown onto water, floating silently and slowly.
I sigh, and Astrid does too. I rest my head on hers, just before she steals a lick on my ear.
"You're so weird." She smiles, closing her eyes again.
"I don't care. One day, when we're married, I'll get to lick you on the ear whenever I want, and you won't be able to escape me." I snort.
"That's just downright creepy. And you can do it anyway." She hisses, so Ingrid can't hear,
"I don't care, I wanna have privileges for when you finally ask me." I laugh, and kiss her on the cheek. She smiles, tightening her grip on me again, legs and arms wrapping me in a blanket of Astrid.
Nightwing soars above us, on the right side of Toothless, loyally following him. We glide through clear skies, above a thin blanket of clouds covering the calm and glistening waters.
Since nobody could ride Nightwing, we're all piled onto Toothless, but nonetheless, he's still just as strong, and doesn't falter at all.
I sigh, glancing down through the spaced clouds to the dark and quiet waters, watching as foam peaks at gentle chops, then melts away back into the green and frosty ripples. Clouds are dancing along the waves, just skimming the surface of the horizon, painted with the soft and gentle colors of the sunset.
Astrid sighs as well, looking up to me dreamily. I'm sure she's thinking the same thing.
"It's beautiful." She stares into the mellow ball of fire, which is fizzing out slowly as it dips below the surface of the ocean, leaving us for another night of rest.
"It is. Just like you." She smiles, then closes her eyes again, falling asleep along with Ingrid, forever silent as we dance along the clouds.
Good night, beautiful dancer.
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We're restless, the only ones still awake as the moon shines softly, a pale disc against the ink bled sky of midnight.
Fishlegs has his arm around a slumbering Heather, while the twins and Snotlout left earlier. We're simply sitting there, watching the still horizon for any sign of Hiccup and Astrid.
I drearily gaze up into the moon, confused when I see a dark splotch, slowly growing larger and larger. I point up to the moon, and Fishlegs smiles after following my finger up into the night sky. They're back.
We run out to the stables to greet them, carefully taking Toothless to the stables to rest, with Nightwing following him close behind. Fishlegs stays to put them to sleep and feed the dragons, while I help the girl Hiccup called Ingrid prepare a place to stay.
Hiccup had silently slid off of Toothless, carrying a beautiful blonde very gently and lovingly away, simply hissing a few words about Ingrid, and then heading towards his hut. I can see in his eyes how much he cares for this girl, and I honestly feel kind of left out, but also happy for him, to have finally found what he had been looking for for so long.
I look over to Ingrid, who is simply standing in the doorway of my little guest hut. My throat goes hoarse, and I start sweating.
I hate talking to people, I'm really awkward and fidgety. She looks at me, and attempts a smile, dropping it quickly. She's obviously uncomfortable too.
"Umm, so, I guess you could, um.." I take in a deep breath. Breathe, Sven. "You could sleep here. It's a guest hut, so I'll just sleep with Hiccup, I'm sure he won't mind." As soon as the words leave my mouth, I regret them, because I have the feeling Astrid will be taking my spot on his couch. Or in his bed. Depends on how close they are.
She nods, surveying the room carefully. Just before I leave, I feel a soft touch on my arm. I turn to see her, slightly dimmed by the shadows, blushing and smiling gratefully.
"Thanks." I stutter on my words, unsure what to say.
"Uh- umm, you're welcome?" She giggles, then closes the door.
"Goodnight." I simply stand there, dumbfounded, staring at the closed door. Why do I have to be so awkward?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I gently set Astrid down onto the couch, covering her with a mountain of blankets. I turn to go back to my room, then stop. I slowly change directions, cautiously making my way back over to her.
I know Astrid. She would be embarrassed if someone mentioned us sleeping in the same bed, but if we were in private, she probably wouldn't mind. According to her words, sex will have to wait until after marriage. And I agree. But of course, that doesn't include simply resting.
I contemplate this for a bit, wondering if she'll be mad if waking up in my bed.
I could easily leave her here and not worry about it, but for some reason, I really, really, really, really want to have her close tonight.
With that thought made up in my mind, I gently scoop her off of the couch, and turn back to my bedroom. I set her down onto my bed, the side on which I would usually have problems with my leg in the morning, then quickly change out of my flight suit and into a thin shirt.
When I look back to her, I feel a sharp pang in my chest.
The moonlight coming in from a high window falls onto her porcelain like skin, illuminating every curve and breath from her body. Her hair wisps out from her braid, obviously not paid attention to in the last few days.
Everything about how she looks is perfect, and I'm not sure if I deserve her anymore.
I've been wanting to ask her to marry me for some time, but I'm too scared. She might say she loves me, but is it true? I have the ring carefully tucked between pages of a secret sketchbook, prepared, but never touched by sunlight. Every day, for a year now, I've been looping that ring in and out of my fingers, then placing it right back into the pages, too nervous to do anything.
It's never the right time. Our relationship seems so perfect right now, but things can easily change. After marriage, people become altered. It's as if everyone becomes more muted, more serious, less fun.
I never want Astrid to lose her spark.
I climb into bed, carefully setting the covers over her as to not wake her up. Just as my eyes are closed and I'm drifting off to sleep, I can feel a small amount of warmth snuggling into me.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I feel drowsy, but refreshed.
I also feel warm.
And I feel happy.
My eyes drift open, to see a room that isn't mine, it isn't a prison cell, it isn't a cave, and it isn't Hiccup's living room.
It's his bedroom.
I look up to see Hiccup, his arm around me like a bear, eyes shut and mouth slightly open. I giggle at his face. It's not funny, just cute.
Sunlight pours in from above, bouncing off of his eyelashes and giving them a glow, while parts of his hair are illuminated and look a fun reddish brown, glowing amber like a Deathnote's.
Then his breathing slightly changes, and one eye peeks open. He looks down at me, then smiles. I smile back, and he kisses me on the forehead, pulling me closer. As I snuggle into his shoulder I whisper,
"We have to go. People are gonna start thinking things." He groans, sliding under the covers and burrowing into my stomach.
"Whyyyyyyy?" He whines, reminding me of some children back on Berk.
"Because. And by the way, why am I in your bed?" He pokes the top half of his head out from under the covers, concealing his mouth. Then he whispers,
"I was hoping you wouldn't notice." I giggle, then poke his nose. He tries to bite my finger, so I shriek and leap out of bed. He pouts, crossing his arms and pretending to be upset. "I didn't want you to go."
"You tried to bite me!" He sticks his tongue out at me.
"Still."
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HI!! Alright, I have some things to say.
First, I literally suck. I'm so off of the update schedule! It's supposed to be every other day, and I'm sorry for not doing that 😰
Second, for the school play, we're doing Madagascar, and I got Melman 🤗 so, yay me!
And, third! Being in eighth grade, second trimester, we have a lot of homework to prepare us for high school, so I'm under a lot of stress. I'm sorry if that changes the schedule or anything, but I hope you guys understand, and keep reading!
I love you guys!! BAI
~Emmathepug