Betrothal (a merricup story)

Seventeen- you

Merida gaped at the huge dragon in front of her. It was huge, almost twice the size of Toothless. It growled at her, taking a step forward. She backed away, wondering if her arrows would do any good against that. Probably not.

A loud screech caught the dragon's attention. "Merida!" She looked up. Toothless swooped down, and Hiccup grabbed her arm, pulling her on. "Hiccup?!" Merida gasped. "Where did you come from?!"

"Sorry, I'll explain later." Hiccup said. "Right now there's a dragon on the loose..." He dropped Merida off at the edge of the woods. "Don't follow us." He ordered, flying back to the dragon.

"Princess?" A voice called, walking over. Merida grimaced, turning around. Her eyes widened at the Viking girl. "You're- Astrid?!" She exclaimed. Astrid blinked.

"Um, yeah. How'd you know my name anyway?" Astrid asked.

"You kissed Hiccup last night." Merida said flatly.

Astrid stared at her, mouth wide open on shock. "Excuse me?!" She said. "Kiss?!!" She shook her head. "Anyway. We should get you out of here first." She said. "Come on. I'll take you back to the castle."

Merida made a face. "I don't want to go back yet."

"Then I'll take you to the Viking camp. Ok?" Astrid said, looking annoyed.

"Fine."

~~~

The Viking camp was noisy and lively as Merida walked through it. Snoutlout was walking with them, trying to flirt with both Merida and Astrid. Merida grit her teeth, getting more and more irritated by his flirting attempts by the minute. "Is he always like this?" She hissed, glancing at Astrid.

"Only every single day." Astrid said. "C'mon, my tent is this way."

"Oh, great, we're going into your tent?" Snoutlout smirked.

Astrid lifted her tent flap. "No. The princess-"

"Merida." Merida interrupted.

Astrid rolled her eyes. "Fine. Merida and I are going into my tent." She said, giving Merida a not so subtle shove into the tent. "While you can go and do whatever it is you're supposed to be doing." Astrid said, letting the tent flap drop, closing off the tent entrance.

"So...." Astrid turned to Merida. "I kissed Hiccup?" She asked.

"You honestly don't remember?" Merida asked.

"No. All I remember is having a lot to drink." Astrid said, picking up a small knife. "Oh boy. This is embarrassing." She cursed, tossing the knife into a trunk.

Merida looked at her. "Do you love him?" She asked.

Astrid looked at her. "I can't say I do." She admitted. "But I did like him. For a while."

"And...now?"

Astrid thought about it. "No." She replied. "I don't. So I'm still not sure why I did....that." She grimaced. "I guess being drunk affects my brain. Did that ease your thoughts, princess?"

Merida glared at her. "Seriously. Stop calling me princess." She said. "But...yeah. I guess it did."

~~~

Toothless landed in the middle of the camp, the dragon landing next to it. Hiccup climbed off Toothless's back, and brought the other dragon over to it's caretaker. "Be careful with this one, he's still a bit excited." Hiccup warned before setting out to look for his father. "Dad!" He yelled.

Stoik looked over at his son. "Good job bringing him back, son." He said.

"Thanks dad. Where's Merida?" He asked.

"She's over at Astrid's tent. I think Astrid has something to tell you too." Stoik said. Hiccup gulped and walked over to said tent. Astrid was standing outside the tent, and looked up as he walked over. "Hey." He said nervously.

She grabbed his shirt, pulling him forward. "I kissed you?!" She hissed. "Is that true?!"

"Erm...yes?"

Astrid groaned. "I really need to start setting limits for drink." She muttered. "Look, I'm sorry about...kissing you. I was really drunk and I wasn't thinking straight. Anyway, why didn't you tell me I did such a thing?"

"Well, it seems a bit difficult to bring up such a subject suddenly in public." Hiccup said. "I mean, what was I supposed to say? 'Hey, just a question, but do you remember last night's kiss?'"

"I don't know, you could've at least mentioned something!" Astrid said. "But never mind that. You've got a princess waiting inside there for you." She said. "So you'd better not keep her waiting." She shoved him into the tent.

Hiccup half stumbled into the tent. "Yeesh, you didn't have to shove me..." He muttered, straightening up. Merida stood in front of him. "So...." Hiccup trailed off. "Um, hi?"

"Answer this question. I can understand her being drunk and all, but why didn't you push her off you?" Merida asked.

"I was shocked!" Hiccup said. "And she'd only just kissed me for about, five seconds, when you noticed. My brain was having a hard time making sense of the situation at the moment."

"Do you like her?" Merida asked, curious.

Hiccup blinked. "No, I don't." He said. "Why would you think that?"

"I don't know." Merida said.

"Meri, I'm pretty sure I don't like her that way. And anyway, there's.... Someone else that I like." Hiccup said slowly.

Merida looked at him. "Really? Who?"

He took a deep breath, looking her in the eyes. "You."