Tangled Vows

Chapter 36

To say that Hiccup was distracted that day would be an understatement. Hiccup was barely even present in reality that day as he was constantly lost in his own thoughts, the sound of Astrid's words circling his mind and taunting him. He was stuck in a constant state of shock and confusion, only being shocked out of such a state by an impatient customer who noticed his plight.

Yet, none really investigated it and left Hiccup to figure it out by himself.

Luckily, the store had been relatively quiet that day, so not many customers wandered in to see Hiccup's mentally deteriorating state. The sky outside was as grey as Hiccup's mind, and everything seemed to be falling apart around Hiccup, but he did little to rectify it. Rain pelted against the windows, and the waves of the ocean crashed heavily against the shore.

All this ambient noise was interrupted by the bell of the store ringing as a new customer wandered their way inside. He shook himself off, brushed off the stray raindrops from his coat, and took his time to peruse around the store.

Once he was done, he strode over to the counter and finally saw the distress hidden behind Hiccup's eyes, and the distant look etched across his face. Waving a hand in front of Hiccup's face did little to rouse the man from his thoughts. So, he was forgiven for slamming his hand heavily down upon the table and shaking the store to its core from the noise.

As a result, Hiccup was jolted free from his mind, and his eyes landed on the figure of his best friend, standing and waiting to be served.

"Fishlegs? What are you doing here?" Hiccup asked curiously, having not really noticed his appearance in the store a few moments earlier.

Fishlegs was bewildered by Hiccup's obliviousness and was tempted to slap the man across the face and bring him permanently back to reality.

"I'm here to buy some things that I need. But, Hiccup... What's going on? Why do you look so... out of it? What happened?" He asked probingly, hoping that it might stir up some vague answer, even if Hiccup wasn't prepared to give him a real one.

"Nothing," Hiccup shrugged off his friend's concern. "I'm fine." His answers seemed stiff and forced, as though there was another real answer hidden beneath those words.

But Fishlegs knew better than to push it too far.

"Okay..." He replied sceptically. "Oh, hey!" Fishlegs announced, a thought suddenly occurring to him. "I missed you at the party. I saw you get dragged away by Astrid, but then you disappeared. What happened?"

Hiccup saw the moonlight, he felt the cool air of the clubhouse, and he felt the sweet taste of Astrid's kiss. It lingered in his mind, cursing him for eternity as he struggled to escape.

With a heavy sigh and a faint groan, Hiccup collapsed his head into his hands and tried to rid himself of the memory. he shook his head slowly, regret and fear rushing through his body as he remembered the way that Astrid had stormed out of the house that morning.

She couldn't even look at him.

It had been two days since then, and yet she still couldn't stand to look at him. Perhaps she may continue to avoid him forever.

"What?" Fishlegs asked again, watching as Hiccup slowly dragged his hands down his face. "What did you do? What happened?"

"Astrid an I... kissed."

"What?!" Fishlegs yelled loudly, his voice almost breaking the glass from its insane pitch and volume. Hiccup winced slightly from the intense decibel, and ushered him to quieten his voice. "Oh, right. Sorry." He quickly apologised to Hiccup, lowering his voice immediately. "But, seriously? You kissed?"