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“Wait,” Hiccup said, stopping in his tracks and putting his hands up in front of him in a ‘pause’ manner. “Are you flirting with me?”
Though his tone was incriminating and accusatory, there was no denying the note of amusement -- and confusion -- that it held. Coupled with the glint in his eyes as he lifted an eyebrow… As a result, Astrid couldn’t help but cautiously slide her gaze toward Hiccup as he looked at the other viking they were conversing with.
The viking, who was from a completely foreign tribe.
That they just so happened to come across during one of their mapping expeditions.
…Who was also so obviously hitting on Hiccup.
She couldn’t blame the girl. When a mysterious, handsome, green-eyed dragon rider with a charming smile swoops into your village, trying to catch his eye was a pretty reasonable way to respond.
Yeah, it happened sometimes (the foreign tribe thing, at least), especially what with how far they had been travelling from Berk. It was impossible for them not to come across other villages, but when they did, it was always… interesting, to say the least.
Once most people got over the fact that they rode dragons -- which took a varying amount of time, depending on the tribe -- they were relatively easy to befriend. For the most part. Some situations required a little convincing, and others… Well, others were just overall less than savory experiences. For example, there had been one (several) incident(s) in which entire villages either completely evacuated the premises or armed themselves from their eyebrows to their pinky toes.
And that’s not even an exaggeration.
It became something less than out of the ordinary rather quickly. On this hand, however, the almost immediate acceptance of the average Berkian’s dragon-training ways yielded very intriguing results that were a little surprising, if Astrid were to be frank. It was one thing to propose a diplomatic alliance with the Hairy Hooligans of Berk, but it was an entirely other thing to propose a diplomatic alliance in the form of a nuptial union.
In other words?
Marriage.
The Mugtrock chief offered them food, resources, and even suggested a brief tour of the island to clue them in on their own dragon situation. Apparently, there had been ulterior motives present. While she couldn’t fault the tribe’s chief for wanting to ally with a people who had dragons on their side, and while she still couldn’t fault his daughter for finding Hiccup attractive, that didn’t mean that she had to like it.
And Odin, did she not like it.
All they had been doing was walking throughout the village (which was a lot less mechanically advanced in comparison to Berk, Astrid noted pridefully in her head) with the Mugtrock chief’s daughter walking backwards and acting as their tour guide. Astrid and Hiccup walked alongside one another, flanked by either of their respective dragons. Then -- oh, then -- the chief’s daughter, Eir, dropped a comment noting how impressive and admirable Hiccup was for accomplishing the feat that he had.
Astrid didn’t disagree. She stood firmly beside the prospect that Hiccup deserved every ounce of praise that he received, but it had been the daringly suggestive quirk of Eir’s mouth and the exaggerated flutter of her lashes that made Astrid’s skin begin to crawl. Like an entire colony of Fireworms scuttling across a boulder over and over and over.
It was tempting to slip her hand into his, as a silent way of staking her claim, but she refrained. Astrid was prideful, not petty. Most of the time.
…Fine. So, maybe there had been literally no verbal suggestion of a marital union between the Mugtrocks and Hairy Hooligans -- not yet, at least! Astrid simply had an immediate feeling that the way that Eir was making goo-goo eyes at Hiccup was enough of an indicator of how the rest of the hour would play out, and a Hofferson always trusted their gut. Whether Hiccup noticed the doe-eyed looks he was receiving or not, he didn’t address them at first -- he only acknowledged the more direct attempt of them all: the remark about how great and worthy of honor he was. That’s when he asked her outright -- ’was she flirting with him?’
The way Astrid impulsively narrowed her brows at the girl would have been great evidence to support any claims of how she felt about the exchange taking place, but she was protected by the fact that the conversation didn’t require her input -- therefore, nobody was looking at her. Stormfly and Toothless seemed to exchange the briefest of glances, ever the terribly intelligent creatures, then the former of the two gently sidled up against Astrid’s shoulder. She responded with a silent scratch under the Nadder’s chin and retained her calm exterior… Even though a hardness set in her eyes.
She had to admit: Eir was pretty. She had strawberry-orange hair pulled back into a bun and loose strands of it framing her face, and the contrast between it and her light eyes was striking.
But Astrid wasn’t jealous. There was nothing -- no, no reason for her to be jealous. Astrid wasn’t even perturbed enough to be considered irritated, either! She knew very well as to where she stood with Hiccup, and she knew that he knew where he stood with her, too. There was too much trust between the two of them for Astrid to feel threatened by another girl blatantly eyeing her boyfriend.
“Well,” Eir said, looking much too smug for Astrid’s liking as she tucked a lock of hair behind her ear and glanced over her shoulder as a precautionary before stopping, too. “I’m jus’sayin’ that you seem pretty great, Hiccup.”
Ooh. Emphasis on great. Astrid was so moved.
…Okay, so she didn’t feel threatened, but she did feel a little irked. She simply wasn’t used to these forward advances on her boyfriend -- they were well-established on Berk, and nobody would dare try to get between that, lest they lost their right minds. Now, though, they weren’t on Berk, and Eir dared.
But Eir didn’t know any better, and Astrid wasn’t going to be irrational.
“I… thank you, I think? That sounds a little, um--”
“It is true though, isn’t it? You’ve done so much for your people. I’d love to hear more,” Eir continues hopefully, while toeing the earth with her shoe, “so if you would like to, possibly, stay a while…”
Hiccup glanced over at Astrid, and the silent question in his bright green eyes was evident.
‘I’m not making this decision without consulting you,’ it said, much to Astrid’s satisfaction. She glanced over at Eir, mulling over the two options before them, then slowly nodded her head.
‘I’m not worried -- I trust you.’
“Stormfly and Toothless could use the break,” she then notes, and the Deadly Nadder coos in what comes across as agreement. “How about you three go ahead, while I work on getting our dragons a late lunch?” Astrid suggests, drawing her hand along Stormfly’s cheek. From her peripherals, she spots Eir seem to perk up at the suggestion, and the blonde is more than aware of why this was so -- a moment alone with Hiccup was on the horizon for the chief’s daughter. Astrid did her best to suppress the knowing smile tugging at her lips as she pitches the idea to Hiccup.
“I’m sure that one of the fisheries down at the docks would be happy to spare some of their catch if you say I sent you,” the Mugtrock chief’s daughter adds, clasping her hands in front of her. Hiccup had given Astrid an odd look, as if suggesting that they briefly split up was absurd, but it doesn’t take him very long to concede.
“…Alright, then, milady,” he said, firmly nodding once, and the use of his nickname for her makes her chest buzz with a happy warmth. There stills appears to be a shred of apprehension in his eyes, but it doesn’t phase Astrid -- she knows that she can handle herself, and Hiccup knows that, too. “We’ll catch up soon.”
“We’ll be fine, Hiccup,” she assures him, and she can’t help but roll her eyes and push her lips into a teasing pout. “What’s the matter? Is Berk’s chief worried about--”
Astrid takes his hand into hers and issues it a small squeeze as she speaks, but Hiccup surprises her by cutting her off and pulling her in for a swift, chaste kiss.
(He was a lot bolder with expressing his affections, she’d give him that -- not that she minded, of course. She most definitely, one hundred percent, did not mind.)
The teasing words dissolve on her tongue as soon as Hiccup’s lips touch hers, similar to the ugly green monster that had been festering in the pit of her stomach. Astrid settles her hand on one of his cheeks, happily returning the kiss, but they simultaneously part only a moment later -- practice has allowed them to easily gauge how long of a kiss is “long enough” when they’re around other people, so even though another second is spent just gazing fondly into one another’s eyes, they break away before it becomes too awkward for any spectators.
“I’m more worried about what havoc you’ll wreak on these innocent people,” he shoots back. Astrid scoffs and swats at his shoulder as she slips out of his embrace, but she’s still smiling.
“Oh, please -- don’t flatter yourself, babe. I’m not the one they need to worry about. Keep him out of trouble for me, Toothless,” Astrid snorts, having jokingly saluted the Night Fury as she stepped away from Hiccup and toward her own dragon. Hiccup rolls his eyes, Toothless gives warbled laugh, and after mounting Stormfly, Astrid promptly looks over at Eir to apologize for that scene…
…And when all the blonde saw was a look of understanding and unyielding respect on the other viking’s face, Astrid figured that the Mugtrocks would make better allies than she initially thought. She could definitely get behind supporting the tribe of someone who was courteous about these sort of things.
As she takes off, she barely hears Eir and her boyfriend pick up on their conversation with the wind whipping in her ears, but she’s pretty sure that she picks up something along the lines of “So, can I be invited to the wedding?”
(If Hiccup doesn’t say yes, then Thor help her, because she will.)