Hiccup and Astrid

How to heal hiccups

After coming back from their picnic, Hiccup went to his house to have dinner, then decided to look for Astrid to ask her about something.
Hiccup walked through the cool forest, heading towards the clearing Astrid had established as her new training area. His ears perked up to the sound of angry shouting and he stopped, thoroughly perplexed as to what Astrid could possibly have to yell at. He flinched as an axe whizzed past him and lodged itself into an unfortunate tree behind him. 
His hand whipped to his head and he felt a tiny lock of hair missing, causing him to gulp as he realized just how close the axe had come to killing him. He walked over to the tree and began the laborious process of removing the deeply lodged axe. He had no doubt that it was Astrid's and that she had thrown it in a fit of rage. As to where said owner was, was a question Hiccup thought he was better off not answering. 
He cringed when he heard angry footsteps running through the woods towards him. He calculated the distance between the tree and the clearing and hoped he would never be on the receiving end of one of Astrid's tosses of an axe. The axe came out of the tree with ease and Hiccup grinned triumphantly. Suddenly he fell because of a rock, having the heavy axe falling on him. 
Hiccup lay panting, his back against the soft forest floor, the axe clutched tightly in both hands. He opened his eyes to see Astrid standing above him, anger glowing brightly in her blue eyes. 
"Hi, Astrid,"
He muttered lamely, before the fair haired Viking yanked the axe out of his hands and balanced it carefully against a pine. The girl then grabbed his arm and, in one smooth motion, returned him to a standing position.
Hic. Hiccup looked at Astrid and saw her blushing furiously, as though having the hiccups was some terrible disease. Hic.
Hiccup chuckled, and then covered his mouth with his hands to keep from breaking out in full on laughter.
"It's not funny, Hiccup!" Astrid shouted at him,
"I've had them all evening and it's impossible to train with the hiccups. I've tried everything to get rid of them!"
She growled with anger and punched the pine her axe was balanced against and kept on punching it as she hiccupped all the while.
Hiccup came up behind her and gently grabbed her hands.
"You're going to make them bleed,"
he stated dryly, as he turned her around to face him. Hic.
She wanted to punch the tree again. But Hiccup made her sit on the ground, before awkwardly setting himself down beside her. 
"Have you tried just relaxing and waiting for them to go away on their own?" he asked, in the dry, doting way he knew annoyed her. 
She opened her mouth to speak and then quickly shut it again. Her fist connected with Hiccup's shoulder, and then she sighed. Hiccup didn't even question why she had hit him, instead getting that watery look in his eyes that signified his sinking into the imaginary realms of his mind. 
"This reminds me of a story" he said mysteriously. 
"And that would–hic–be what?" Astrid demanded, annoyed that Hiccup was going off into a tangent.
"Well, many years ago a son was born to the chief of Berk. The chief and his wife had always hoped for a boy, but they had not even begun picking out a name for the child. The child was a strange boy, who came into the world hiccupping instead of crying. No one, not the parents, not the village healer or anyone else could figure out why the baby was born so strangely. The hiccups stayed and for days the baby was hiccupping, unable to eat or even sleep. A week passed and all he did was cry and hiccup, growing weaker every day. The baby's father, certain his son would die from the incurable hiccups, decided to name the child after the very thing that would cause its death. He christened his son Hiccup and the moment the water of blessing was poured over his head the hiccups stopped. The name stayed with the strange child and he grew up to be different from all the vikings on Berk. But he was glad to be different." 
Astrid chuckled at the story, and flashed Hiccup one of her rare smiles, a smile of pure joy, a smile that she reserved for Hiccup alone.
"You so made that up!" she accused him, taking his gesture of defence as a yes. She stopped right then and realized she hadn't hiccupped since the beginning of the story. 
"Hm, maybe you were right, Hiccup," Astrid started,
"Maybe all I had to do was wait and – hic – By Odin these hiccups will be the death of me!"
She finished in a shout.
She looked up from her tirade to see Hiccup sitting closer than before with a strange smile across his face.
"You know Astrid, there is one thing you haven't tried..."
"Don't count on it, I've tried everything, drinking water, holding my breath, waitin–"
Astrid's retort was cut off when Hiccup grabbed her and pulled her into a soft kiss. She did not know if it would cure her hiccups.
If her having the hiccups gave Hiccup the confidence to give her a kiss, well, then she decided she didn't mind having the hiccups so much.
He pulled away swiftly and Astrid gave him a sweet smile and he just stared back at her also smiling.
It was several minutes, the two of them just sitting there peacefully, before Astrid realized her hiccups were well and truly gone.
"My hiccups are gone!"
she exclaimed the obvious, getting up and going for her axe to continue training.
"Well, most of them..."
Hiccup muttered as he got up too.
It took Astrid a second but then she chuckled and, carrying her axe, came to stand by Hiccup.
"Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third, do you realize how stupid that was?"
Not that she didn't like it.
"You sound like my dad!"
he replied, in the voice he reserved for complaints.
It was just after that Astrid chose to punch him, softer than her previous punch though.
"That's for making up stories!"
"You look cute hiccuping, you know"
"Oh, really,"
she replied sarcastically,
She took Hiccup's hand and pulled him towards the village. It was later then Astrid had said she would be training for and she didn't need the whole of Berk to be sent on a search for her and Hiccup.
"Yes!" Hiccup retorted, "it happened to you a few years ago and even dad says so."
A mischievous smile crossed Astrid's lips.
"I think I should ask him. I'm also going to ask him where you learned to cure the hiccups like that."
Astrid hefted her axe across her shoulder and took off running for the village.
Hiccup froze, his mouth agape. "Astrid, wait! Astrid! My dad thinks I'm helping Gobber! Astrid!"
The blonde slowed, letting Hiccup nearly catch up, before dashing off again. She heard him yell frantically and she chuckled. She would let him catch up, but she wouldn't let him win. She chose the easiest route on Hiccup and took it. This is much more fun than training, she thought as she slowed just a little and let Hiccup come within a hairs breadth of catching her.

Hiccup was panting by the time he got the village, but he couldn't stop running. He forced himself forward, his metal limb clicking on the stone path. Panting, he bounded up the steps towards his house, where Astrid was poised to knock. 
"Astrid!"
He misjudged the last step and tripped, falling towards Astrid. She managed to catch him, but lost her balance and they fell into a tangle of limbs outside the door of the chieftain's house. They righted themselves quickly, sitting up against the door as they caught their breath.
Hic. Hiccup covered his mouth with his hands and blushed. Here we go again he thought as Astrid laughed beside him.
____________________________________
End.