Suddenly married (slow updates)

Chapter 1

My first httyd fanfic, even though I've been a fan for a decade (since the first movie)

— THIS WHOLE STORY WILL BE THIRD-PERSON POV—

Hiccup nice was near perfect.
At the age of 19, it had been 4 years since he was able to change his own life and subsequently the life of everyone else on his island, Berk.

Infested with dragons for centuries a war has raged, man against beast, as far as he could remember, but just by one fateful encounter in the forest, he was able to change everything.
Now instead of fighting dragons, the villagers of Berk lived peacefully in harmony with them, riding them and keeping them as pets.

It was Hiccup and his dragon Toothless that had been able to prove it to everyone.
Dragons weren't just vile beasts.

Ever since then hiccup's life had been relatively peaceful, minus the Alvin incidents a few years back.
He'd even made friends.

Life was perfect.
What more could he need?

Certainly not the news his father was about to bring...

"Hiccup, son...we, uh..we need to talk" Hiccup's father, and the chief of Berk went outside, stopping his son just before he was about to take flight, going on his traditional morning flight with toothless.

"Can it wait?"

"No, I've already put this off for too long, besides, you'd probably like to know as well"

Hiccup raised an eyebrow and looked down at his dragon nervously, he never liked that tone, he knew it meant that it was serious.
Most times his father would be like this it would mean that it was something hiccup wouldn't like to hear.

Slowly he swung himself back over toothless's side and down on the ground, looking nervously between toothless and his father.
"Well? What is it?"

"Inside, please"

"Okay?"
Hiccup followed his father inside and sat down in front of him.

Stoick immediately grabbed a piece of ice and put it to his head, already experiencing a headache.
"Listen, son, you're an adult now, and you're the son of a chief. There are certain responsibilities, though there is one that I have failed in preparing you for"

Hiccup remained quiet.
His father couldn't be talking about passing on his title, could he?
He was still in a good age, and Hiccup wasn't at all prepared to be chief.
"And what's that?"

"Marriage"

"...come again?"
Why would his father say that?
Hiccup didn't even have a girlfriend so why would he so suddenly need to be prepared for it?

Stoick coughed once, clearly due to the awkwardness in the air.
"You don't have a girl that you like do you Hiccup?"

"Who would that be?"

"...Ruffnut?"

"Absolutely not!"

"Good, that will make this significantly easier" Stoick sighed. "Hiccup, when you were born Berk was in trouble, on the verge of a war with another island to the south"

"Okay?"

"To put our differences aside, and to put down our weapons we needed something to connect us"

"I really don't like where this is going"

"So negotiations went back and forth, and eventually we settled...you were actually supposed to have married the daughter of that chief last year, but due to the new situations with the dragons I gave them time to reconsider, but-"

"You're setting me up for an arranged marriage? With a woman, I don't even know!?" Hiccup stood up, immediately infuriated with the idea.
"I mean...wh- that's crazy!" Hiccup started pacing around the room. "And how could you not have told me!? It's my right to know!"

"Hiccup you were just a child"

"Yeah, but I haven't been a child for a long time!" Hiccup shouted but then let out a deep sigh.
"I just...I'm not gonna listen to this" Hiccup said and without another word, he went outside, got on top of toothless, and flew away.

It wasn't so much that he was fleeing from the subject, he just needed to clear his head.
Arranged marriages weren't so uncommon in Viking culture, but hiccup certainly didn't think that he would be affected by it.

He was hiccup! The scrawny kid that nobody liked until 4 years ago, not even his dad!
What good was he when it came to securing peace? Surely it was only his title as the son of the chief that was useful.

Hiccup leaned back so that his back was against toothless, laying on his as the wind passed over and beside him, ruffling his hair and trying to clear his mind.
"Then again...how do I know?" He wondered.
He wasn't chief, so even if he was undeniably angry, he couldn't put himself in his father's shoes.
He couldn't know how hard the decision was to make, or how important it really was to make.

Toothless let out a low rumble from deep in his throat and glanced back at his rider, as if trying to comfort him.

Hiccup gently patted toothless.
"Yeah...I just hope she's nice. I don't know if I can handle being married to someone I don't like, or worse, someone who doesn't like dragons"
It was hand a joke, half-truth, because dragons had become such a big part of Hiccup's life, and Toothless meant the world to him. He wouldn't give that up for an arranged marriage.
"But hey...who knows, maybe it won't be so bad" Hiccup tried to lift his head, trying to the positives in the situation he was in.
There was no getting out of it, he knew that, so he could at least get the best out of the situation.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

"You can at least tell me about her" hiccup pressed his father for more information once he got home.

"Right right, well her name is Astrid, Astrid Hofferson, and she's your age, 19"

"Yeah?"

"And she is beautiful, very beautiful"

"That's not important" hiccup sighed.
Beauty was a plus, but it wasn't of any importance to him. He would much rather know her personality than the color of her eyes and hair.
"What's she like?"

"Oh, yes...I haven't met her until she was here when she was little but-"

"Wait she's been here?"

"Yes"

"So I've met her?"

"I think so, when you were about 5 years old"
It was interesting, but ultimately not so important.
"But what her father told me is that she is a woman with a strong personality, but when she warms up to someone she is very sweet and gentle"

"Mhmm" Hiccup rubbed his temples.
It wasn't much information, but at least it was something.
"And you don't know how she feels about this while marrying a stranger thing?"

"Uhm...no"

"Of course not" Hiccup sighed deeply.
He wondered if she had also been kept in the dark just as he had, if so he at least hoped she wouldn't be hostile.
"You know what I'm just gonna...yeah I'm gonna hit the hay early tonight"

"Right" Stoick nodded.
"Sleep well, son"
His voice was gentle, and a bit awkward, because he truly did feel bad for his son.
He had always loved him but their relationship had always been a bit strained, Stoick being too overprotective and all, but after the red death incident they had grown much closer, and Stoick sure hoped this wasn't gonna ruin it.

In spite of actually feeling tired Hiccup couldn't sleep. His mind was spinning and even though he was laying down he felt dizzy.
"It's gonna be a challenge...but hey, I like challenges, right?" He mumbled to himself.