Chapter Text
Astrid hated painting. She loathed anything artistic actually.
But then she said the same about the heat 6 months ago.
She had asked Hiccup if he minded popping over to help her with painting her new living room. She had just moved into her new apartment in town and it was in desperate need of redecorating. But it was fairly cheap to rent, so she wasn’t going to be too picky. It got her out of the family home where she was constantly under the feet of her parents, and as much as she loved them, she was grateful for being able to finally get her own place.
Even if it did have fluorescent orange walls and ceilings.
Ceilings which were currently in the process of being painted over, with a much nicer and more neutral white colour by Hiccup.
He’d been so willing to help her and she couldn’t help but smile when he said yes to helping. The past six months had been amongst the best in her life, getting to know Hiccup, knowing the real Hiccup, and spending time with him had been amazing. He was amazing.
Astrid had been falling for her dorky neighbour more and more over the past weeks and months. And she was falling hard.
The domesticity of painting walls together in her apartment, gave her a feeling of contentment she’d never felt before. A few years back, she had travelled and seen amazing things around the world, searching for whatever it was she was looking for, like most young people did. The half a year Astrid had been with Hiccup, felt like a lifetime. And in her heart, with him, she had found it; she felt at peace.
Well. Her heart was at peace until the moment a certain auburn haired dork clearly decided it wasn't practical to paint a ceiling with a shirt on. Because when she turned round to refill her brush, she saw a green shirt tossed on the back of a chair and Hiccup was reaching up with his roller and resuming painting the ceiling.
Shirtless. God help her.
He’d taken up the challenge of painting the ceiling for her; with his added height he was able to use the roller without the need for a step ladder.
So he was stretched out. And in all his half naked glory.
Astrid had to mentally shake herself as her brush was still hovering above the paint tin, but she was struggling to think of anything remotely related to painting and her orange walls now.
Completely oblivious to his girlfriend’s state and what he was doing to her, Hiccup continued the task at hand and moved the roller across the ceiling.
God, Astrid get it together. You’re a 22 year old woman, not a teenage school girl.
She chided herself for getting flustered and tried to return her attention to the wall with her brush.
But she can’t help herself from glancing at him. He was just too lovely not to look at.
Almost completely forgetting what she was doing, she shamelessly let her eyes trail over his form. Damn, she was lucky. She could see all the muscles in his back flexing, as he reached different sections of the ceiling, giving her an excellent view of his backside as her eyes continued to move down.
In her own little world, she hadn’t realised Hiccup had finished a patch of ceiling and suddenly looked over in her direction, Astrid quickly averted her eyes, praying she wasn’t caught just openly staring at him.
She could feel Hiccup’s eyes still on her, so she chanced a glance at him and saw him looking at her. He’d brought his top lip between his teeth as if he was struggling to contain himself, gazing at her like something was funny.
“What?” She tried to keep her eyes on his face and forces herself to try and maintain control.
An amused smile begins to stretch across his face, “You do realise you’re just painting the same spot, right?”
Her cheeks start to turn pink without permission, she can feel it. She turns back to look at the wall and realises what exactly she’d been doing.
Shit. She’d literally been brushing the same tiny patch the entire time.
Cursing herself for allowing him to distract her, she attempted to compose herself, “Uh, yeah, I knew that. I was just-uh, making sure I covered all the orange? You know, gotta layer up the white so the orange doesn’t come through?” It sounded like a question but she hoped it would satisfy him.
“Really? So you’ve intentionally painted the same spot like ten times?” A knowing smirk starts to make its way onto his face. His eyes twinkling in amusement, as he crossed his arms over his chest.
Astrid’s eyes almost instantly dropped down to his chest and the display of his lovely arms for half a second, before she dragged them up again. And then she realised; he knew.
Not one for backing down, Astrid turned back again to the wall and lifted her brush, “Yes. It’s completely intentional.”
“Completely intentional?”
“Yep.”
“Uhuh.”
Determined to prove him wrong, turning her back to him, Astrid continued painting that small area and tried to focus on the wall and brush in her hand.
That was until, however, she felt two warm hands encircling her waist from behind, making her jump a little, tingles shooting down her spine at the touch, as he gently pulled her back to his chest.
“Hiccup,” Shooting him her best attempt at a playful glare over her shoulder, Astrid tried and failed to concentrate on the painting, “get back to work, you’re distracting me.”
“I can see that.”
She quickly turned her head to find Hiccup grinning at her mischievously, chin resting on her left shoulder.
Her cheeks were turning pink again, she could barely keep up the facade.
“Stop it, Hiccup.”
“Stop what?” Still grinning, he pressed a soft kiss to the curve of her neck, his breath tickling her skin and making her shiver.
“This.” She tried to wave her hand that wasn’t holding the brush back at him.
“You just gestured to all of me.”
“Yeah, well if it wasn’t for you, the wall would actually be more painted by now.”
“I thought you were covering up the orange with a million layers of paint?”
“Oh shut up, you.”
She’d had enough. Spinning round in his arms, Astrid didn’t give him a chance to reply. Slinging her arms around his neck she rose up and captured his lips with her own. Silencing whatever sarky comeback he was about to give her. He was still smiling even after she had pressed her lips to his.
Hiccup’s hands slid round to settle on her back, pulling her close till they were flush. His lips were soft and warm as they moved with hers, gentle, yet passionate, as he kissed her with such love and tenderness, Astrid thought her heart might burst.
She was revelling in the feeling of him pressed so closely against her. One of her hands moved down from his neck to his front and she was promptly reminded of his state of undress. Her palm slid across his chest and she was unable to resist scraping her nails lightly over the bare skin. And she couldn’t get enough of the low groan he made from the back of his throat or the way his arms tightened around her, when she did.
His lips massaged hers in a way that made her spine arch and toes curl. He drew her upper lip between his teeth, pulling on it gently as he nipped and teased, before sliding his tongue along the soft flesh in a soothing apology. Astrid’s mind blanked from there. Her hands had made their way into his soft hair and she tugged at the strands a little harder unintentionally.
Screw the painting, there were more important items on her to-do list now.
Her lip slipped out of his hold and he was about to pull away so they could catch their breaths, but she wasn’t having any of it. She kissed him again and he made a muffled sound of surprise and tried to speak in between kisses.
“What.” Kiss. “About.” Another kiss. “The painting?”
Astrid pulled away just enough to look up into eyes, their panting breaths mingling in the minute gap between their mouths. She saw the humour in the endless pool of green, but the desire and longing in his gaze couldn’t be denied.
“The painting can wait.” And her lips were on his again.
Okay, so maybe painting wasn’t so bad after all either.
Fin.