Let's Give it a Year

Chapter 41

The ride home was quiet as Astrid sat in the car with Hiccup, Hiccup at the wheel, and neither of them spoke for the entire journey. Astrid wanted to speak but just couldn't work out what to say. She had gone to see him earlier that day for no particular reason, just to see him, and now she could barely speak to him. However, Hiccup was also being uncharacteristically quiet.

"Okay, Hiccup!" Astrid announced as the car came to a stop in their driveway, the engine shutting off and the car going quiet. "Why are you being so quiet? Is there something bothering you? Was it something I said?" She asked, pleading with him to answer her roaring questions. She didn't know what else to think and her feelings were stirring up inside and they were starting to eat away at her. She just had to know.

"Okay," Hiccup sighed, lowering his head to rest onto the wheel of the car. "I've got a massive pile of paperwork to do, and it's about Thorald." Hiccup admitted sadly, not wanting to look over at Astrid as her mouth hung open in surprise.

"What? I thought you said we should stop investigating him? And you made me promise not to do it too! Were you lying to keep me out of trouble?" Astrid accused, slightly offended by his words and her eyes widening in shock and offence by his answer.

Hiccup turned to her in surprise and raised her hands up in defence, shaking them wildly as he replied to her questions. He was afraid she would think that he was excluding her from his investigations when that was the opposite of what he wanted to do.

"No, no, no! That's not what I meant. What I was going to say was that I couldn't work out how to ask you to help without sounding like I was begging... And without sounding like a complete hypocrite." He replied shyly, looking at her awkwardly as the words slipped out from his mouth.

Astrid smiled at his words and a small blush appeared on her cheeks as she realised why he had been so quiet. And it was because of her...

"It's okay Hiccup. You don't need to be scared of me, if you need my help I'm more than happy to help you. We're married after all." She smiled and hopped out of the car, making her way over to the front door and unlocking it.

"Right, we're married." Hiccup mumbled to himself as he reached into the back of the car to collect his briefcase. As he exited the car, locking it with the key as he walked away, he glanced back over to the door to see Astrid waiting eagerly for him to arrive. The scene made a smile appear on his face.

She looked beautiful.

Shaking his head out of his thoughts, Hiccup joined Astrid by the door and made his way into their home with Astrid trailing him inside. Upon closing the door, Hiccup dropped his enormously heavy briefcase onto the floor and dashed towards the kitchen for a cup of coffee, needing it for the work that lay ahead of him.

Astrid smiled to herself at his childlike behaviour and picked up the briefcase. However, she only tried to. As her hand wrapped around the briefcase to pick it up, the resistance and weight of the case almost threw her back out as the weight was unbearable and almost impossible to lift. She tried to lift it once more but nothing. She could barely get it to lift even an inch off the ground.

"How the hell did he lift this thing?!" Astrid questioned herself as she looked at the seemingly light briefcase that was trying not to burst at the seams from the amount of paper stuffed inside of it.

"Astrid?" Her name was called out from within the kitchen and caused Astrid to shrug and decide to leave the case alone. Walking into the kitchen, she saw Hiccup in his shirt and tie having taken off his blazer and he was stood over the coffee machine waiting for it to finish brewing.

"What is it, Hiccup?" Her voice caught his attention and he whipped around to look at her with a smile.

"Oh, err... I was wondering whether you wanted a coffee?" He asked nervously, not expecting Astrid to have joined him in the kitchen.