It had been a slow day. Gobber was just looking around, hoping for anyone, anyone to come by and say they needed a saddle, or that their dragon was sick. He., he would take baby Thunderdrums over nothing.

No one came.

Gobber sighed. Having nothing to do meant that he had to get started on cleaning the shop, something he had been putting off since Drago attacked. That would mean that he hadn't cleaned up in say, two years. And it wasn't like there had been many cleaning sessions before that. By the time he was done counting everything and organizing it all, it would be time for him to do it again.

He found an old box that was labelled "Stoick", and deciding that he had done enough work (which was just thinking about what he had to do), he sat down and opened it.

There was a bunch of things in there, although most of it was rocks. Gobber smiled fondly. Him and Stoick had always collected rocks, the strangest, most exotic ones. Valka would have always been telling the pair of them to find a better place to store all the rocks the=an underfoot.

Slowly, Gobber softly took all of them out, intending to show the kids of the village some of the best ones. Some of them were perfect for sharpening blades.

At the very end of the box, there was a parchment, rolled up tightly. At this, Gobber's brows furrowed. That didn't ring a bell at all. He unrolled the parchment, skimming through what it said.

The man nearly burst his eyes out when he read it. This was horrible. This was so very bad. He ran from the forge, deciding to clean it later.

Hiccup had to know.

The chief pinched the bridge of his nose, breathing heavily.

"You're joking."

"A'm not," Gobber insisted, shaking the paper in front of Hiccup's face, "Stoick an' Arvid had a deal, lad."

Hiccup took the paper and skimmed over it desperately. "Gobber, there is absolutely no way my dad would make a deal like this." He stood up, agitated. "It's ridiculous!"

Gobber sighed and motioned for him to sit down. "They both thought they were gonna die. They did nay actually think they would live to have children."

"But then why not tell me?" He ran a hand through his hair. "Because in case you didn't notice, Gobber, they did live. And now - well, they're...gone! Without telling me nor Astrid that they they signed a deal for us to get married." He sat down, exasperated. "Married, Gobber," he said again, in case his mentor didn't hear it the first time.

"A'm sure he meant to tell ya, but then ya two were together. He mus' have thought ya would ge' married anyway."

Hiccup pointed at the contract. "Ten days, Gobber. Ten days, starting tomorrow, I have to somehow convince Astrid to marry me. All because a contract signed in blood can never be broken. Have you forgotten that we haven't spoken more than two sentences to each other in forever?" He started pacing. "Have you forgotten that Astrid Hofferson hates me?"

"An' you hate her?"

"Yeah," Hiccup said softly, facing the wall, not looking at Gobber. Ugly memories were forcing their way up to his head. "Yeah, I hate her too."

"Now," Gobber said, attempting to cheer him up, "I'm sure it's not tha' bad. You two were happy -"

"Emphasis on were. Gobber -" He looked up, trying to decide what was best to say. "I know what I have to do, but that doesn't make it any easier."

Of course it didn't make it any easier. Marriage itself was a difficult thing. In what world was he ready to share his life with someone else like that? There would be responsibilities, and the thought of the entire tribe pushing him to produce an heir was terrifying.

But the most scary part of this all was that it was Astrid. Of course, she would do it if their lives came into question, but then there was the other damned fact of the contract.

Astrid was not to be told. Was his father drunk when he had made this, thinking he was going to die? Or was he just stuck in some story, where the author needed a cliche way to add more drama?

What would happen if he was to break the pact? Hiccup thought long and hard about it. Thor himself would curse them, and probably the entire island along with it. It was all up to him. The groom was to wed the bride who hated his guts in ten days. And it wasn't like he was particularly fond of Astrid either.

Not after everything that had happened.

Hiccup stumbled into the arena, clenching his fists when he saw Astrid. Her aim had never changed; each small knife in her hand met it's target. Each one she threw swiftly, although why she was so tense was beyond him.

"Hey," he said quietly.

Astrid didn't seem to hear him. She hadn't even turned around. He looked down at his metal leg, it had clinked the whole way there.

"Hey," Hiccup said louder, stepping closer to her.

This time, Astrid turned. She had a bright smile on her face, which immediately turned into a frown when she saw him. Hiccup's stomach churned.

"What's wrong? Is someone attacking?"

"Nope." Hiccup leaned on the wall, crossing his arms. Oh boy. "Just dropping in to say hi."

Astrid's eyes narrowed. "Since when -" she began, as she threw a knife at the target without looking - "do you just drop in to say hi?"

"Since today!" he answered, his voice overly cheerful. She did not share his enthusiasm, however, and simply stared at him with an unimpressed look.

Hiccup cringed. This conversation was going exactly as he thought it would, like a complete disaster. Vividly, he remembered back when they were kids - there had been infinite instances when he just couldn't talk to her.

And then, of course, like a dull blow to the stomach, the memories of when they could talk to each other sprung back up, teasing and taunting him that she didn't like him like that anymore. He remembered their casual touches and the kisses on the cheek and the dragon rides together.

All that was gone. Their relationship was gone.

"I-it's just, you know, we haven't spoken in a while, and -"

"And," Astrid cut in, giving him a deathly glare, "whose fault is that?"

Her Berk Guard Look of Death™️️ was the worst thing in the world. No one escaped it, no one dared to glare back. Hiccup laughed fakely.

"I just...I was sitting in my room today…" He fiddled with his fingers, sighing. Eye contact was necessary. He looked up at her. "And I realized that...the torch...that I once had for you…"

Gods, this was difficult. Astrid looked half confused and half impatient.

"That torch!" Hiccup exclaimed, hoping the dramatics would somehow make this easier somehow. "It's fire never went out. I...I still love you, Astrid Hofferson."

Bad, bad, bad, bad idea. Her cheeks reddened with displeasure, and it spread to her ears. Kind of like how they did when she was being tickled - except then she didn't look as though she was about to scream at him (well, she did, but this time it looked serious).

Before Astrid could speak, Hiccup went on. "And! And - and - and...and," he said, holding up a finger, "I was really hoping that you would marry me. Is that cool with you?"

It seemed as though she was at a loss for words. Astrid's mouth opened and closed again, her brows furrowed and her fists clenched. Hiccup took a step back.

And then suddenly she was running towards him, with a single tear falling out of her eye. She was going to hug him, maybe tell him she felt the same way, probably scolding him for not bringing a ring.

Oh. Oh, she was drawing back her fist and he was slightly too close.

The contact that he was met with was certainly not a hug.

But then again, this was Astrid Hofferson - soon to be Haddock or soon to be dead - and to expect anything less than a punch would have been ridiculous.

Yes I KNOW I just started two new stories when I have three unfinished ones, but tHIS IDEA ISN'T LEAVING MY HEAD OKAY