Work Text:
General Hofferson
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He had his head in his hands when she came into the room. Arms full of parchment, a pencil tucked behind her ear. A few other people meandered around the Great Hall, doing this or that, but he knew the sound of her footfalls as she approached.
“Alrighty, chief.” She hooked her ankle around a bench and tugged it closer before dropping her workload onto the table next to him. Pages fluttered, one in particular attempting to swoop gracefully to the floor, but she snatched it before it could hit the ground. “I hope you’ve been practicing your signature.”
“Let’s put it this way,” he sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose and sitting up just enough to face her, “If I ever fall off of Toothless and end up with terrible amnesia, the one thing I won’t forget is my name.”
Some days, running the village was as easy as breathing. His dad had taught him more than he’d thought, and the people respected his opinion more than he’d expected. Most days, though, most days it was like this. A thousand questions– some he knew the answers to and some he didn’t. A handful of disasters that needed fixing, and quick. Fires in the dragon stables. Holes in the fishing boats. Fights between neighbors nearly coming to blows. And then the paperwork. Mountains and mountains of paperwork, all written in stiff formal language and requiring his close attention. He was finding more and more often that he had to read in bright light, and that the runes would blur unless he held the pages a certain distance from his face.
His head buzzed. His eyes burned. Everything in him felt weary and heavy and overwhelmed.
“Considering the number of adversaries you’ve made since we were kids, you might want to forget that, should you end up in a strange place with amnesia.” Astrid gave him a wink and a nudge, climbing over the bench to sit. She had her hair in several braids, which meant that she’d been either bored or stressed during her own meetings.
“What do we have here?” He raked his fingers through his hair and inched his chair closer.
“Hang on, I’ve got it organized…” Astrid thumbed through the documents with careful consideration, separating the stack into smaller piles. She spread them out so that they were lined up in front of him, smallest to largest, and then reached over the table to pull his candle closer.
“Okay, so– this is the family register for the Johansens. They had twins, so you’ll need to pick two names instead of one. I thought it’d be easier for you if you could pick from old family names.” Flipping the couple of pages over, she slid them away from the rest of the lineup. “This is a letter of request from the islands of Pudge. They’ve been struggling with migrating changewings, and the acid is ruining their crops.”
“Are they wanting food or help with the dragons?”
“Both.”
“Marvelous.”
“Yeah, I already sent for a couple of barrels of fish to be salted just in case. This.” Astrid turned the letter over and moved it aside. “This is a proposal from a few of the villagers to chop down part of the forest near Raven’s Point. You had to go manage the Thornston thing, so I told them to put it in writing for you to peruse.” Straightening, she began to list out points on her fingers. “The pros: more space, which we desperately need for the dragons; lumber for trading; not to mention–”
He should have been listening. Gods, he knew that would come back to bite him in the ass. But his head was already at capacity, and the sound of her voice was so soothing. He could’ve drifted off right there.
Hiccup found himself unable to look away. Her eyes, big and blue and intelligent, were so expressive and thoughtful. The slope of her nose was smooth and dainty, despite having broken it in a sparring match when they were seventeen. And her lips– nearly the most distracting of all– looked so kissably soft, even as she spoke about politics and the most boring of subjects. It was outrageous that he should have a general so beautiful. He wanted to run his hands through her hair, play with the ends that were curling lightly at the middle of her back.
His dad was right. She would be the perfect wife. It wasn’t just that she was easily the most beautiful woman on the island that had him entranced. It was the way she approached his job. She balanced so much, from training the A-team to fielding complaining villagers, to reading and organizing his mail and helping with his schedule. He couldn’t even remember the last time he’d seen her take a flight with Stormfly just because. She stayed just as busy as him, if not busier, taking his island and breaking them into manageable little stacks for him to review and approve.
It was the candle she pulled closer, knowing he was becoming crosseyed in the dark. It was the family registry that he wouldn’t have even considered to pull out, making his task as simple as throwing a dart at a list. It was the fish that she’d already sent to the kitchen, knowing that he was too soft-hearted to deny a plea for food from neighboring villages, and the way she explained the proposal with patient logic and easy-to-follow points. All these little things that she did to make his life as smooth as possible.
“Hello?” A finger was snapping in front of his face. “Hiccup? You in there?”
He came to, blinking, and then let his mouth twist lazily upwards. Without looking, he reached for the proposal and turned it over. Then he extended his hand to her cheek and cupped her face in his palm.
“Have I told you lately how amazing you are?”
Those eyes– almost too big to be considered conventionally attractive– searched his face warily. Amusement crossed her features, but she didn’t quite allow him a full smile.
“I’m just going over your paperwork.” She leaned into his touch nonetheless.
Hiccup shook his head. His fingers slid into her hair, his thumb brushing fondly at her temple. “You’re keeping me sane.” Shrugging, he sat forward on the edge of his chair. His other hand went to her knee. “I don’t know how you do it, day in and day out. You’re like a gift from the gods.”
Her lovely mouth finally broke into a little smirk. “You’ve been in here too long. You’re getting delirious.”
“Deliriously in love with you,” he countered. He wished they were alone. Wished he could kiss her like he wanted without regard for anybody else in the hall.
“And you’re going to be deliriously behind if you don’t focus.” She reached over to turn the proposal back over, clearly not done with the subject, but he placed his hand over hers to stop it.
“Thank you,” he said. He made sure he had her eye contact. “For believing in me… For everything…”
After a moment of silence between them, it was like the clouds in her face parted for the sun. She replied with a warmth in her gaze, a tenderness that felt almost too intimate for the Great Hall.
“I will always be by your side,” she whispered, keeping her voice too low for any eavesdroppers to hear. Her fingers laced with his. “Always and more.”
His heart seemed to beat stronger when she looked at him like that. Like steel, it’d been formed in the forge and set in the cool water of her ocean blue eyes. His thoughts cleared, his resolve fortified. As long as she looked at him like that, he could do anything.
Hiccup leaned forward and pressed a firm kiss to her forehead. Savored the heat of her skin against his lips. Then, with a sigh, he untangled their hands and flipped the proposal back over.
“So,” he began again. “The woods off of Raven Point.”