𝙃𝙞𝙘𝙘𝙨𝙩𝙧𝙞𝙙 --> 𝙊𝙣𝙚𝙨𝙝𝙤𝙩𝙨💞

𝙎𝙡𝙚𝙚𝙥 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙖𝙧𝙘𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙮

Astrid lied awake in her and Hiccups bed. She knew his cheifing was important, but she much preferred sleeping with him over sleeping without him.

Eventually she managed to get herself to sleep.

—

She was walking around town the next day when she finally spotted him.

"Hey babe!" She greeted the young man.

"Hi!" He put on the most awake face he could.

Astrid kissed him on the cheek and took his hand in hers.

"Did you sleep last night? You didn't come home."

"Yeah, sorry. I fell asleep in the great hall. I had all this paperwork to do." He waved his arms around dramatically, pulling Astrid's hand with his.

She giggled at him.

"Did you sleep okay?" He asked, tucking a hair behind her ear.

"Yeah, but I sleep better with you." She smiled.

—

That night Astrid got comfy in bed again. Without Hiccup. Again.

And that morning she woke up without Hiccup. Again.

She got dressed and left the house. Determined to find him.

She walked around the whole village, but he was nowhere.

No one had seen the Chief or his Nightfury all day.

She walked through the forest. Hoping to find him.

She suddenly stopped walking. She could hear something hitting a tree over and over.

Astrid walked towards the sound, and before long, she came across Hiccup.

"Hey," She cautiously approached him.

He froze. An arrow pulled back in his bow. He was taking long deep breaths, as if he was out of breath. His eyes concerntrated on the tree infront of him.

Astrid took a step closer and noticed his knuckles were painted red.

Just as she opened her mouth to speak, Hiccup let the arrow fly, it thudded into the tree infront of him.

Astrid walked towards the tree and pulled out five closely struck arrows.

As she did so, she noticed a beaten up part of the tree which was covered with small spots of blood.

She assumed he had tried close combat before his archery.

Astrid walked back up to Hiccup and handed him the arrows.

He he lined one up as she spoke.

"You didn't come home last night either."

"Yeah I did." He said before letting go of the arrow. He picked another up while adding on the what he had said. "I slept on the couch." He pulled the arrow back.

"What? Why?" Astrid asked confused, watching another perfect shot land in the tree.

"You were sleeping. I didn't want to disturb you." He explained.

"You wouldn't have disturbed me." She murmured.

He rushed his third shot. It landed a foot above the other two. She saw his expression twist into a frustrated one as he picked up a fourth arrow.

"What happened to your fingers and your knuckles?" She asked. She already knew, but she wanted to hear him say it.

"My fingers have blisters from the bow." He told her. He let his fourth arrow fly, this one landing nicely like the first few. He picked up his last arrow and pulled it back.

"And what about your knuckles?" She asked, gesturing towards his sliced and bruised knuckles.

He let his last arrow fly before walking to the tree.

"You can't keep ignoring and avoiding me you know?" She called after him.

"I'm not." He replied simply, yanking the arrow out that had landed rather high up the tree.

She had to admit. He was good with a bow and arrow. She would hate to be on the other side of him when he let one of those go.

He had been practicing since he was little, since he never had the strength to even pick up any of the other weapons.

"Yes you are." She disagreed.

"How? How am I avoiding or ignoring you?" He asked, walking up to her.

"You just ignored my question about your knuckles and you haven't come home, or slept in the same bed as me for three days!" She reasoned.

"Fine." He admitted, placing his arrows down.

"I got frustrated and took it out on the tree." He started. "And I haven't been home because I'm busy, and I don't want to wake you up in the middle of the night with all my problems when your clearly sleeping peacefully." He explained.

Astrid stayed silent and Hiccup picked up and arrow. He didn't line it up in his bow, he just held it.

"When I was younger I used to come here all the time. And I sat by that tree. Almost every afternoon." He pointed to a very thin and somewhat short tree with his arrow. He picked up a rock and used it to sharped the tip of his arrow, just like Astrid did with her axe. "Do you know why?" He asked her.

Astrid shook her head.

"Because that tree reminded me of myself." He lined the arrow up in his bow and pointed it at the tree he had struck before. "All these other trees were all the other Viking men. And I was just a wimpy twig."  He suddenly changed where his arrow was pointing and let it go. It flew and perfectly hit the wimpy tree, sending a split down the whole side. He picked up another arrow and sharpened it. "So I came here every afternoon. I'd carve small things into. Things the other villagers had said." He flung the second arrow into the tree, just a bit higher, slicing the top half of the tree in half.

Astrid didn't know what to say.

She walked towards the tree to pull his first arrow out when she noticed it landed right in the middle of a drawing he must have carved.

She pulled it out and could barely make out what it was.

It was a heart, and inside the heart was a small engraving:

H
+
A

She stared at the now split heart, arrow in hand, before turning to where Hiccup was no longer standing.

Did he mean to hit that? She knew he was a good shot. But surely it was a coincidence.

Right?