Seasons of Youth (RotBTFD)

Winter ❆ Part 1

The black felt letter board is almost completely covered by the poster. It had been put there just a few hours ago, yet everyone has already seen it and you could hear hushed voices in the hallways commenting on the news.

"A WINTER BALL?", Rapunzel pushes through the semi-circle that people had created around the letter board to see the poster. She comes between Jack and Hiccup, jumping up and down, in a frenzy.

"Apparently so", Hiccup shrugs with half a smile on his face.

"Lame", Merida mutters.

"We've never had a winter ball!" Rapunzel continues, looking her friends in their eyes, searching for a sign of excitement.

"It says here that it's in honor of Marble Hills Academy's 100th anniversary", Jack points out, wincing, "Damn, this school's old"

"This is so awesome!", Rapunzel shrieks.

Anna comes in between Rapunzel and Jack.

"Oh my, did you guys hear about the ball?"

"YES! How amazing is that?!", Rapunzel reaches for Anna, taking her hands in hers.

"This is the best news ever!", Anna whoops and they both start jumping and making little high-pitched happy noises.

Jack and Merida exchange a glance, already planing to spike the teachers' drinks and make things a bit more interesting at the ball, while Hiccup shakes his head, smiling.

"Hey, what's all the commotion about?", Astrid appears by Hiccup's side.

"WE'RE HAVING A WINTER BALL", Rapunzel and Anna scream at the same time.

Astrid takes a step back, from them both, spooked by their eagerness.

"That's, uh... quite unprecedented", she laughs off the initial scare.

"It's for the school's anniversary", Hiccup explains. He gazes at her, from the corner of his eye, thinking he wants to ask her to be his date.

"It's ridiculous and unnecessary", Merida adds, blowing a strand of hair out of her own face. "Wearing a dress is a bore."

"I'm not a fan of the whole school dance idea, either", Astrid agrees and Hiccup's heart sinks, "I thinks it's kinda foolish"

She'd probably laugh at my face if I asked her, Hiccup thinks, deciding to keep his mouth shut.

- ❆ -

"I think we need to have The Talk", Astrid states, putting down the last of her bags over the bed.

Merida frowns at her words.

Astrid had just finished bringing all her stuff from her old room and into Merida's. Drizella had left that morning, feeling very content with the fact that she'd now have a room all to herself, roommate-free. Meanwhile, Merida was also happy that she'd get a new and awesome roommate who actually understood and enjoyed the same stuff as her.

"What talk?", Merida asks, suspiciously.

"The 'what are our living habits and how can we best coexist' talk."

Astrid was feeling happy too. She felt like Merida was the younger sister she never had, and it would be nice to have someone to talk to about the same things she was interested in.

In that way, as Astrid starts opening her bags to unpack, it seams that her last months at Marble Hills are going to be a lot better than what it had been like up to that point.