Hiccup and Astrid

Astrid's diary

Having Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III for a friend had its drawbacks. For one, it meant having to listen to him when he started rambling enthusiastically about his latest ideas and inventions which no one understood a word of until they were actually real and usable. Then again, Astrid knew she could always shut him up with her most effective weapon: her lips. And there was much to bet that Hiccup had figured this out a long time ago, but anyone who would be caught saying the son's chief complained about it would immediately be considered an absolute idiot and a filthy liar. 
Astrid didn't mind. For having Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III for a friend also had a fair number of advantages. He was very smart, very sweet, very brave, intuitive, perceptive, honest and polite to a fault, persistent, had a good sense of humor - which proved to be pretty contagious once you got the hand of it –, could design and fashion almost everything out of leather, metal and wood, had become very good-looking indeed in her opinion...

…and last but not least, he was clean.
Yes, that was definitely one of the best things about Hiccup. Astrid perfectly remembered the time she had burst in on him when he was having a bath – she did not know about that, mind you – after getting out of a long day at the forge. The young man had been totally horrified and while the both of them had felt their respective cheeks burst into flames, she had the time to secretly enjoy the sight. It's not like he had been standing naked in front of her; no, she had only seen Hiccup's upper body emerge from the steaming water, apparently he had Toothless warm up the water for him. Hiccup had been the first one to snap out of it and had started yelling at her for intruding on what he called his 'private space' without even knocking on the door, something she could not exactly disagree with. After blurting out a rather amused apology, she had exited the room and patiently waited alongside the equally amused Night Fury for Hiccup to be ready and come out. Out of pure curiosity, she had asked him how many baths a week he had, and had been positively struck speechless by his shy answer: three of four times a week. Feeling like he needed to justify himself, he had argued that it was all part of being a blacksmith, and she had laughed uproariously, pointing out that she was pretty sure it had been a rather long time since Gobber had had a bath for the last time.
Snotlout and Tuffnut had also found out about Hiccup's bathing habits, and seemed to take great delight –especially Snotlout- in making fun of him, telling him that he was being girly, to which Hiccup invariably retorted that, as far as he was concerned, he didn't smell like a crate of two-years old fish that even dragons would not consider edible.
Yes, Astrid thought as she smiled to herself and let all the muscles of her body relax into the warm ,welcoming water of the hot spring she and Hiccup had discovered a couple of weeks ago and made a point to keep secret, definitely no complaints.
Astrid had spent most of the day practicing her axe-throwing skills and sparring moves with her precious, beautiful axe. Hiccup had planned to come with her in the first place, but Stoick the Vast had wanted his son to accompany him to a meeting on berk. Astrid knew that he was probably bored to death by now, and she couldn't help but sympathize with him. Learning to be a good chieftain sure didn't look nearly as exciting as a single flight with Toothless. However, Astrid also knew it was necessary for Hiccup to learn all that Stoick could teach him about his future responsibilities to the village, and she was sure the young man would turn out to be an extraordinary leader when the time came, although she hoped it would not come too soon.
But for now, she simply enjoyed soaking in her own bath. Wash-day was a tradition for all Vikings, and although some of them had obviously broken up with it, Astrid was not one of those. It suddenly occurred to her that it might even be the one and only tradition Hiccup had never broken up with, up to the point that he probably had had more baths in his whole life than all people his age put together. Astrid chuckled and began humming an old song that told about dolphins she had learned as a child, all the while brushing the soap she had brought with her against her smooth, soft skin. Looking up, she noticed the sun was setting. She would have to get back to the village soon.
The wind blew softly, and she shivered slightly. From the corner of her eye, she took a look at her Deadly Nadder, Stormfly, who patiently waited for her on the spring's shore, eating a bunch of fish they had caught earlier. She smiled, not noticing how the wind suddenly blew stronger until a colorful movement in the air caught her eye. And then, Astrid's jaw simply dropped as she unbelievably stared at her own shirt as the fickle wind carried it away. There was a moment of silent before the young woman started barking swears words and orders to Stormfly. The dragon took flight immediately, beatings her wings as powerfully and quickly as possible, and deftly caught the fabric between her jaws. Her very sharp jaws. 
Astrid simply looked at the torn shirt Stormflu had brought back to her, covered in saliva and completely un-wearable. 
"Thank you very much, Stormfly."
The dragon crooned happily, not discerning the sarcastic tone in her human's voice. 
"By all of the Gods, this is just what I needed! How am I going to get back to the edge now?!?"
Stormfly tilted her head in confusion, squawking.
"I wasn't talking about HOW we will fly there!! I was talking about-"
"Astrid?" a voice the blonde Viking knew all too well echoed suddenly from the other end of the hot spring, "Are you over here?"
Hiccup!! 
Shock, embarrassment and horror plastered on her features, Astrid desperately tried to find a way she could hide from her upcoming friend, but she already knew it was useless. So, she did the only thing she could and sank further down in the steaming water while Stormfly emitted a series of squawks that would inevitably lead Stoick's son towards her naked form. Gods, Astrid all of a sudden perfectly understood how Hiccup must have felt that day, when he had been in the very same situation, and she certainly did not laugh at the irony of it. And he was getting closer.
"Astrid? Where are you?"
Do not respond, do not respond, do not respond.
"Astrid? Come on, I know you're somewhere…around…here…"
Why is he hesitating? He hasn't seen me yet.
And Hiccup found himself staring at the pile of clothes on the spring's shore, clothes he knew belonged to the one Viking he loved more than anyone else, and time got slower and slower and slower as he lifted his head up and his gaze met what he thought was the most beautiful thing he had ever, ever been given the chance to glimpse. He was just as speechless as she was,
Astrid did not dare to utter a single word, feeling herself burn under Hiccup's intense gaze, although a tiny voice at the back of her mind told her to take pride in the pure admiration that had filled the green eyes that observed her. She would never know how she did, but she did hear him swallow thickly and mutter something under his ragged breath. The wind blew softly, and she wasn't quite sure if it was really responsible for the shiver that ran down her spine. And suddenly, unexpectedly, Hiccup turned his back on her.
"What happened?" was the simple question he asked. She sighed audibly.
"My shirt was carried away by the wind. Stormfly caught it, but…"
"…But you can't wear it."
"Yeah."
Hiccup's body became rigid, and Astrid didn't know what he was going to do. Sure, he was adorable, but he was still a boy.
Hiccup gripped his red tunic and pulled it over his head, and it was her turn to swallow.
Her contemplation was shattered when he began to take cautions steps backwards, not looking at her, and she suddenly felt a rush of love for him, for the way he respected her no matter the circumstances, and a pang of guilt shot through her as she dubbed herself stupid for thinking even a second that he, out of all people, would take advantage of her. He remained silent, carefully knelt beside the rest of her clothes –a maneuver that she knew was difficult for him because of his prosthesis- and slowly deposited his tunic on top of them. 
"You can wear this. I'll just…take my vest and go behind that boulder over there, and you tell me when I can come out, okay?"
Yep. The biggest idiot in Viking history, that's me.
"…Okay. Thank you, Hiccup."
"You're welcome."
Astrid watched as he disappeared behind the boulder he'd mentioned, limping slightly, and a tender smile spread across her face. She stepped forward, emerging from the warm water, and started putting her own clothes on, and eventually the red tunic he'd given her. It was a strange yet very pleasant sensation to feel the fabric that usually covered his skin on hers, even if it left one of her shoulders bare. The tunic smelled like him, was soft and warm like him, and, on her, it was a proof of utter respect and love. 
She went to him, and he smiled his lopsided smile at seeing her like this, not caring about how cold he himself felt with only his vest on.
She hit him hard on his arm
"Ow, why would you do that?"
He said rubbing his arm
"That was for...you know"
He stared at her as she headed toward toothless
"what are waiting for, let's go back to the edge"
"Aren't you riding stormfly?"
"I'm still angry, unless you don't want me riding with you"
"It's an honor"

While flying back Astrid kissed Hiccup on the cheek
"What was that for?"
"Consider it a pay back"
Hiccup smiled

"As you wish, Astrid, as you wish"
============================
Done
;-)