Runaway reader x hiccup haddock

A new/old friend

"What's...happening?" Fishlegs whispered hesitantly. He could sense the heavy tension hovering in the air the moment he walked in. It was so thick that anyone could hack it with an axe.

"They're having a staring contest." Tuffnut replied without looking away from the women in front of him, smart enough to whisper back.

While his claim wasn't technically true, the scene could have suggested otherwise. The two women in question had been standing in the kitchen for a good while, the dinner table acting as the line that separated both sides.

You were leaning against the kitchen counter, your arms crossed and your legs folded. The mystery girl, who still has her helmet on, leaned on the other side of the wall across you. Her hand propped against the curve of her waist.

Both of you would have been mistaken as being relaxed if it weren't for the loud silence and your cold glares which were locked on each other. Their audience could detect the hints of deeper frost beneath their otherwise cool exteriors.

"The girl's definitely winning." Snotlout smirked smugly.

"No way Y/n's losing." Ruffnut huffed defensively.

"This is not the time for bets!" Astrid hissed at their inappropriate argument, effectively shutting down the inevitable betting between them.

"Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if neither of them ever backed down." Hiccup piped in, ignoring Astrid's look of disapproval when he encouraged the topic. All he did was keeping his eyes on you.

He didn't recognise the woman in front of him. He couldn't find the same woman that had gradually warmed up to her guest and her childhood best friend.

All he could see now was coldness.

Sure, he had suffered a similar glare on the first day, but that was because you didn't know who he or the gang was. This time, you seem perfectly aware of who the mysterious woman is. He could feel the chill crawling along his skin, growing goosebumps, and he wasn't even your target.

"Glad to see nothing's changed." The woman mused, breaking the tension by unbuckling her helmet. The sight of a button nose with pouty lips revealed themselves from under the coverage of her helmet.

Pairing the mesmerising grey irises to her baby face, the young woman could easily be compared to an angle or a goddess, with the tip of her nose and cheeks flushed with red from the cold environment that dialled up the look of innocence.

Hiccup has to admit, she was beautiful. But looks can be deceiving, and the obvious tell was the smug smirk playing on her lips.

Somehow, your glare softened into an affectionate eye roll. "Can't say the say the same for me." You straightened and crossed the room, meeting the woman in the middle.

To the gang's surprise, the two women hugged in the middle of the kitchen, as if neither of you looked like you wanted to murder the other just mere seconds ago.

The hug was brief, barely lasting a second, but the fact that either of you, especially you, were willing to have any form of physical contact with the other, much less something as intimate as a hug, was shocking on its own.

"I'm still mad at you." You said stubbornly after pulling away.

"I'd be worried if you're not." The mystery girl smirked before she turned towards their wide-eyed spectators with her hands on her hips.

She studied each of them from head to toe, her calculating gaze lingering on a certain blond who glared back.

It was a familiar process. Hiccup recognised.