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This concept has been done a million times. Still wrote, still posting it, still can’t get enough Hiccstrid.
Season 2 or 3, sometime before they get together.
Astrid walked into the arena, twirling her axe and whistling softly. She was looking forward to target practice with her axe. Her favorite pastime, well maybe second favorite after flying with Stormfly.
Someone appeared to be using the arena already. It looked like every piece of training equipment they had was strewn throughout the arena, a pullup bar, an incline ramp, a shirtless Hiccup doing a wall squat.
Suddenly, it was very warm in the arena.
Hiccup saw Astrid and waved, standing up out of the squat.
“Hey Astrid.” He walked over to her, hands on his hips and breathing hard from exertion.
Astrid was breathing a little hard now too.
She’d seen him shirtless before, of course. She’d seen most of Berk’s male population topless, swimming, working on warm days. Vikings men were not known to be modest. So, why was shirtless Hiccup suddenly having such an effect on her?
“Uhhh, I was going to do some target practice, but you’re clearly busy, so I’ll just be going now.”
Astrid turned to go, but Hiccup reached out to gently catch her elbow.
“You don’t have to go. I’ll be done in fifteen minutes. Then the arena is all yours?” He smiled.
Astrid couldn’t help but return his smile. “Sure, I can wait.” She looked out over the setup in the arena again, curiosity peaking as her initial embarrassment faded. “What are you doing exactly?”
Hiccup sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. “Well, it’s Snot’s idea actually...”
Astrid raised her eyebrows dubiously.
Hiccup put up his hands in mock defense. “But it’s a good one nonetheless. He calls it ‘circle training in a pattern.’ He needs to work on the name clearly. But the idea is to do a series of exercises in succession to train more efficiently.” He gestured to the various pieces of equipment. Astrid could see they now made a rough circle.
“Huh.” Astrid would never admit it to Snot’s face, but the idea had merit. Leave it to Snot to invent a way to train in less time... so he could go take a nap.
“And it works. I’ve been able to make big improvements in strength, agility, endurance. Maybe I won’t be a scrawny fishbone forever.” Hiccup struck a dramatic pose to show off his muscles. The sarcastic look on his face clearly showed he didn’t think he was impressive at all.
The twinge in Astrid’s chest said that maybe he was.
“Anyway, back at it.” Hiccup shrugged, walked to the pullup bar, and began… actually doing pullups.
That was new. The last time Astrid had tried to train with Hiccup, he had barely been able to lift his body at all. Now he was getting his chin over the bar repeatedly. It wasn’t easy for him, she could see his back muscles straining with the exertion, his skin flushing, but he was doing it.
Astrid decided she would watch this training routine. Just so she could critique it later.
He had made big improvements in strength and agility. Astrid was impressed. He moved on to crunches and squats and some sort of weird jump down, do a pushup, jump up thing. He did each exercise confidently, if not always gracefully.
And Astrid found that she enjoyed watching him. Her heart beat quicker, heat in her belly and maybe lower.
She told herself that it was just the shock of seeing his changed body that was making her react this way. He definitely wasn’t a scrawny fishbone any longer. Training and age had changed him since the last time she’d seen him shirtless. He was still slender, but his muscles were defined now. His height had balanced out with the length of his limbs, giving him a very different build from the average viking, in a good way. He had a light bit of auburn hair across his chest. It grew thicker below his navel making a little trail into his pants.
Astrid shook her head, willing that thought away. She shouldn’t think about Hiccup like that. He was her best friend, her leader. And it was wrong to think about his body. It was disrespectful and a betrayal of his trust. She would have punched Snot for thinking about her that way.
She had kissed Hiccup several times when they were younger, and he had never made a move back. She shouldn’t be thinking about his body when he clearly only wanted to be her friend. And that’s all he wanted. Right? If he wanted something more, he would have done something by now. Right?
Yet, she couldn’t watch him without thinking about what it would feel like to touch him, to rub her hands over those shoulder muscles, that firm stomach, trail her fingers through the hair on his chest and below his navel. She felt warm and tingly in interesting places. She wondered if maybe he thought about her body. If maybe he had tingles. If maybe she should make a move.
Astrid was so lost in thought that she didn’t notice Ruffnut walk into the arena.
*****
Ruffnut smiled wickedly as she took in the scene. Astrid, a little flushed, staring at a sweaty, shirtless, exercising Hiccup. Ruff had to admit, it was a nice sight. Maybe a bit skinny for her taste, but the boy looked good, sweaty with muscles moving under his skin. She put two fingers in her mouth and let out a loud, long whistle.
Hiccup slipped from the pullup bar at the sudden noise, falling into a heap on the dirt.
Astrid was suddenly very interested in the sharpness of her axe.
Ruffnut sauntered over to the heap of shirtless young man and raised her eyebrows suggestively. "Looking good, Hic."
Hiccup blushed, even more red covered his cheeks and exposed chest. He stood hastily, snatching up his shirt. "I need… ummm...water. I need to go get some water."
As Hiccup stumbled awkwardly out of the arena, Astrid huffed and stood. She marched away angrily, throwing her axe into the target with a vehemence that made Ruff suddenly afraid for the integrity of her limbs. Ruff decided this was a very good time to make her exit as well.
Shaking her head, Ruff mumbled. "Loki, when are those two idiots going to end their misery and just do it already."
Constructive criticism welcome, comments make my day!