Won't Give Up [Book 4]

~2~

Astrid gets doused with water when Tuffnut jumps into the pool. She glares at him when he resurfaces.

"What?" He asks oblivious.

She shakes her head as he is not worth the time, and turns away. She spots Hiccup sitting on the edge of the pool. So she swims over and splashes him. He yells in surprise and tries -but fails - to shield his face. "Astrid!" He yells. She laughs and walks over to the edge, pulls herself up and plops down next to him.

"Why don't you get in?" She asks.

Hiccup shrugs in response. "Never been the best swimmer and missing a leg doesn't help with that."

"I am pretty sure you won't drown. You swam before. And you are tall enough where you can touch the bottom. You are tall enough that the water doesn't even reach you shoulders." She says. He looks over at her. She leans up and quickly kisses him. He looks surprised when she pulls away.

"Please? Please go swimming?" She begs. "Well, I am making you. You want to know why? Because I was begging and I never beg. So get your scrawny butt in the pool." He snorts but complies.

They swim for a few hours before they start to get cold. They climb out of the pool and Snotlout suggests going in the hot tube. (A/N: If y'all have a problem with Snotlout having a pool and a hot tub, remember this: I have a pool and a hot tub. I already had someone in my earlier stories complain about a character complaining about a lot of stairs and I don't want to have to deal with that again.)

Tuffnut helps Snotlout get the cover off and they climb in. All but Hiccup. They look at his curiously, waiting for him to join.

"What's the temperature?" He asks.

Astrid goes over to look. "103. Why?"

"Then I can't go in." He says and sits down on the edge of the hot tub.

"Why?"

"I'm a red head." (A/N: Hiccup is a red head. Don't argue about this with me...)

"And you can't get in because..." Tuffnut says.

"Because he is a red head, he is more sensitive to the cold and hot water." Fishlegs explains.

"But why can't you get on the hot tub?" Tuffnut asks yet again.

"If I go in there, my skin will burn."

"Oh." Tuffnut says quietly. " If I were a red head, I would get in anyway..." He mutters to himself.

Astrid looks at Hiccup and thinks about how in one way or another, he is always the odd one out.

But not this time.

Astrid stands up and gets out of the hot tub. She gets her towel and wraps it around herself and sits next to Hiccup. He looks at her confused.

"I won't allow you to be the odd one out all the time. And besides... I was never a fan of hot tubs."

(A/N: I wanted to add in somewhere where Toothless runs into the pool and swims with them but didn't know how to add that in...)