Let's Give it a Year

Chapter 13

It had been hours since Hiccup had left, and the sun had already fallen beneath the horizon before he arrived back home. Walking through the door, he found the house to be eerily quiet. He wondered whether Astrid had already retired to bed and was currently asleep, however, as he walked past the living room beside the entrance hall, he heard muffled voices from within.

Opening the door, he found Astrid sat with her arms crossed watching the TV. Her gaze was fixed upon the screen and she didn't even react to Hiccup's presence as he entered the room.

Inside, Astrid was having an internal conflict with herself. She wanted to turn to him and ask him where he had been all day and make sure that he was okay, on the other hand, she wanted him to beg for her attention. So she decided to keep quiet until the words were rolling from Hiccup's mouth like a waterfall.

"Hey, Astrid. I'm home." Hiccup announced as he slowly approached the sofa where Astrid was sat, her arms still crossed over her chest.

Hiccup warily sat beside her and looked curiously at her position as she watched the TV. His eyes darted over to the screen to see an action movie playing, but Astrid wasn't showing any reaction to it at all. Was she even aware of what was on?

"So, what are we watching?" Hiccup asked as he sat beside her on the couch, her body momentarily moving due to the shifting weight on the cushions. But Astrid didn't move her gaze from the TV. "I think I've seen this before? Have I?" Hiccup leaned forward to grab the remote off of the coffee table and checked what was on and nodded to himself. "Yeah, I was right. It is this one!" He announced to himself, proud of his guess.

However, despite his random comments, Astrid remained silent. Hiccup tried to get Astrid to talk, at least a hum of agreement. But he got nothing.

"Astrid, are you okay?" Hiccup finally asked, reaching out to nudge her arm lightly. "Did I do something wrong?" He asked nervously, and that's when Astrid snapped. "Come on, tell me! If you don't tell me what I did wrong, how I am going to know why you're mad with me."

"Oh, shut up!" Astrid suddenly snapped, turning towards him with fury in her eyes.

She couldn't take the silence and the constant urge to talk to him that continued to grow within her. Her mission to make him pay by giving him the silent treatment had failed miserably. Astrid looked at Hiccup with a furious stare and it made Hiccup gulp as he felt an uncharacteristically strong sense of fear flowing through his body.

"What did I do?" Hiccup asked innocently. "What's wrong?"

"What's wrong? You come home after giving me the cold shoulder this morning, and you're asking me what's wrong?! You completely ignored our agreement!" Hiccup furrowed his eyebrows. "You told me that we should tell each other everything that is bothering us because we'll be living with each other for a while and will have to get to know each other. But you..!" Astrid rolled her eyes mockingly, "You were acting so aloof this morning, and then disappeared for the whole day without even telling me where you were going! Did you even think about how worried I was?" Astrid asked mindlessly, the words spilling from her mouth before she could stop them. "I was almost tempted to lock the door so that you'd stay outside."

Hiccup's eyes went wide at her words whilst Astrid scowled and folded her arms over her chest before her words sank in and she slapped a hand over her mouth and shook her head. Astrid turned away from him, her cheeks heating up and blushing like mad as she replayed the words over again in her head.

Did she just say that?

"You were worried? About me?" Hiccup asked excitedly, hopefulness filling up his chest.

"No," Astrid replied coldly, not wanting to look at him.

"But you just said you were"

"No, I didn't."