Let's Give it a Year

Chapter 33

Having both privately gotten changed out of their work attire in the car, Astrid especially wanting to get out of her tight skirt and into her baggy, comfortable jeans, the couple began their trek along the beach. Astrid had stormed off ahead of Hiccup, annoyed by his previous actions and for crashing the car into the beach. All she wanted to do was make this day a relaxing and soothing time for them both, what with Hiccup coming home late every night. But Hiccup had to just ruin it all.

"Astrid, come on! I said I was sorry!" Hiccup called out to her for the tenth time as they walked along the beach. His constant apologies had started to irritate Astrid as he tried to catch up to her, but every time he got close she would speed up.

"Sorry doesn't un-crash the car, Hiccup!" Astrid replied sarcastically, her voice carried by the wind as she trudged angrily through the sand.

"Astrid, please." Hiccup whined, his nasal voice closer than before.

Astrid turned around quickly and came face to face with Hiccup, his head looming a few inches over her own as she stood before him, not making eye contact. Her gaze fixed upon his chest for a few beats, a tense and uncomfortable silence settling between the two of them.

Finally looking up to meet his eyes, Astrid let out a soft sigh. Hiccup tilted his head curiously, trying to gauge Astrid's emotions and work out whether she was still angry at him or willing to accept his apology.

"Hiccup, just stop it. I know you want to feel better and that's why you're apologising, but I wanted to make this day a relaxing and easy day for the both of us. Now, look at us!" Astrid gestures to the two of them before looking out around her at the beach and the rising waves of the ocean.

"We're where you wanted us to be though, right?" Hiccup asked hesitantly, trying to see the silver lining in a fairly obvious failed plan. Astrid shot him an unimpressed look and made him regret offering that excuse. "I'll shut up..."

"Don't you dare try and spin this your way. It's because of you that we're in this mess." Astrid told him seriously, pointing a stern finger his way as she spoke before turning away and continuing her way up the beach.

"Astrid..." Hiccup called out calmly, a sense of sadness in his voice as he spoke.

Astrid turned around to face him, but he had stopped in his tracks and Astrid had to walk back towards him to be able to hear his soft words. Her brow furrowed and her head tilted slightly, a hint of concern behind her eyes as she watched him stand with his head lowered and his hands tucked into his jean pockets.

"I was scared." He admitted sadly, letting out a heavy sigh as his shoulders slumped with the large exhale. "I was, no... I am scared of everything. When I found out that you'd tricked me and taken me to the beach, I panicked." Astrid took a small step closer, Hiccup's gaze still focused on the ground. "I was afraid that another person I had come to trust had betrayed me. Perhaps you were working for your father and taking me out here to get rid of me." Hiccup suggested with a small chuckle in his voice, knowing how absurd the idea was.

But Astrid understood.

So many people around Hiccup and his father, so many that they trusted, were falling away from them. They were losing so many of their friends and advisors to her father. She didn't even realise that Hiccup had the small doubt that she was truly in his side. But she didn't hate him for it, in fact, she agreed.

No one could be sure of whose side Astrid was on.

"Hiccup?" Astrid called out, earning a glance from Hiccup in her direction. "I'm on my own side. Sometimes taking the leap to trust someone is what makes a great relationship. I trust you, can you trust me?" Astrid asked, holding out a hand to him to pull him along the beach towards the town with her.