Age 19

Astrid threw the battle axe. Trying—and not succeeding—to see the target instead of her boyfriend's head. Thunk. The axe bit deep into the wood too far from the center for Astrid's liking. With a growl of frustration, she stomped over to the stack of barrels and wrenched the axe from the wood. The barrel had been Hiccup's head, he would be dead now. But it wasn't. So no one died.

"Not this time, idiot," she muttered. "But what about next time? Who's going to fish you ass of the next time?"

Stormfly squawked as Astrid swung around, jumping out of the way of the razor sharp edge as Astrid returned to her spot. Everyone had wisely cleared the training arena, they knew Astrid desperately wanted to pound the yak pie out of someone—out a very specific someone—right now. In the morning, Astrid knew she'd regret those actions, so she was staying far away from Stoick's house and Stoick's son.

Stormfly tilted her head, watching Astrid with first one eye and then the other, her usually colorful scales turned soft grey in the moonlight. The dragon let out a low croon, which Astrid knew was supposed to be soothing.

Astrid was not soothed.

She shook her finger at her dragon. "That son of a—He's lucky he just got a broken arm." She whirled, hurling her axe again, missing the barrels completely.

Stormfly hopped over to where the axe lay in the dirt. Scooping the handle into her jaw, Stormfly waddled back to her normal spot (a spot usually out of the reach of target practice) and placed it gently on the ground. The Nadder gave Astrid a reproachful look before carefully folding herself on top of the axe.

There would be no more axe-throwing tonight.

"Of all the sheep-brained, stubborn things to do," Astrid said, flopping down next to her dragon. "Who jumps off the back of a perfectly good dragon? In the middle of a fight?" They'd nearly lost the fight with the Outcasts, thanks to Hiccup.

"He's a Viking," came a gruff voice. "It's in our blood."

Astrid groaned, wondering how long Stoick had been standing in the shadows at the entrance. "How is he?"

"Well, he's down an arm for now, but he'll be good as new in a few weeks' time." Stoick walked over to the barrel Astrid had been aiming at and ran his thumb along the deep groove she'd just left. "You could go see for yourself, you know."

"That's a bad idea," Astrid said, shaking her head. "Later. After I get over wanting to punch him in the face."

The big Viking laughed. "That sounds a bit like overkill, Astrid."

She shrugged. It was overkill; which was the whole reason she was here and not there.

Stoick shook his head, sighing. "My boy and his fool schemes. He said it worked quite well for the first bit."

It had, right up until he collided with a flying and crashed into the ocean. Toothless had twisted around to help Hiccup, but whatever set up they used to keep the dragon gliding hadn't been made for such a sharp turn. Toothless lost control and fell into the drink right behind his rider, narrowly missing the Outcast boat.

"If we hadn't been so near Berk, I don't know that we could have gotten them both back," Astrid said softly. What if it had just been her and Stormfly? She wasn't sure they could have gotten both of them. As it was, Astrid dived after Hiccup. By the time she and Stormfly surfaced with her unconscious boyfriend, Snotlout and Hookfang were already dragging the black dragon to shore. "We had a plan."

"He saw his opportunity," Stoick said. "He took it. "It'll be a good quality someday when he's chief."

Astrid sat up. "He can't be chief if he's dead."

Stoick knelt down next to Astrid's dragon. "May I?" Stormfly eyed him for a moment before lifting a wing so the chief could retrieve Astrid's axe. Stoick hefted it, tossing it in his hand like it weighed no more than a dagger. Pulling his arm back, he threw.

He didn't do much better than Astrid had done.

Stoick looked back at her, a wry grin on his face. "Sometimes that is what it takes to keep the village safe, Astrid." He pulled at her axe. It was buried so deep in the barrel that hHe had to brace his other hand against the wood to keep from knocking down the whole set up. "My own father died protecting this village from the dragons. He never hesitated."

Astrid shuddered. She didn't like this conversation.

"But there is also a time and a place for such bravery," he said, holding the weapon out to her. "And you are right, that was not the time or the place for stunts."

Nodding, Astrid took her mother's axe.

"It's good to know that Hiccup has you watching out for him, Astrid. You've always made a good team."

"Th-Thank you, Chief," she said. She knew he approved of her relationship with Hiccup, but this was the first time he'd said anything of the like to her face.

"Stick around and maybe he'll make it long enough to learn some wisdom."

Clutching the axe close to her torso, Astrid nodded. "I plan on it, chief."

"Good," Stoick said and he left.

After a moment of thought, Astrid slung her axe into the holster on her back. Time to head home…right after she'd paid a brief visit to the chief's house. Just to be sure.

Here's another little drabble for you. Wrote this before I'd seen RTTE, but I still think it's accurate. It was fun to explore the dynamic between Astrid and Stoick a little more. Current headcanon is that Astrid and Hiccup officially started dating sometime around 18/19 (so around RTTE, which I assume we're going to see), but clearly their really, really close friends by that point anyways. And totally adorbs. Anyways, enjoy. It's looking like I'll have another Hiccstrid fic for y'all here in the near future, like a real one with an actual plot.