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Chapter Eleven: Astrid x Eret: My Eyes on You
(You have one eye of your own, and one of your soulmates. When you meet eyes the first time, yours match)
The neon lights at Cove actually matched the music, unlike most of the other clubs Astrid had danced in. She was impressed, especially since Hiccup has always been so secretive about his jobs. She adjusted her loose crop top to make sure it covered her red sports bra (even though it wouldn’t matter soon). Just to be safe, she also retied her pants strings to her capris.
“Astrid!” A loud voice yelled. She turned to see a curly haired redhead, who was enthusiastically waving her over. “Over here!”
“Merida!” Astrid cried, rushing over to hug her friend. She brushed her fingers through her bangs quickly, just loosening the strands. Merida’s own hair was a huge puffball, just barely pulled back into a ponytail.
“Hic’ told me to let you in,” Merida grinned, bright blue (matching) eyes flashing. Hiccup and Merida had met at a dance gig, and since they’d realized they were Soulmates, they’d been practically inseparable.
Astrid grinned and let the other dancer let her inside. She combed her bangs again, careful to keep her left eye hidden. Most people displayed their soulmate eyes, just because it was the norm. Astrid wasn’t one of those people, and instead felt more awkward about it.
Merida slipped through the crowd, leading to blonde to the rest of Hiccup’s friends, who’d already started half dancing to the music. Astrid was the only one of the high school crew to make it out, but Jack and Rapunzel had the same amount of energy to make up for it.
Up on the DJ stand, Hiccup had really kicked into gear, throwing up fun beats and mixes for the partiers to dance to. Soon, Astrid was dancing with Merida, then switching over Jack and Rapunzel as the other duo switched too.
Merida and Astrid had very similar styles. They hit moves hard and powerfully, but Astrid was a perfectionist and over-practiced, and Merida had a tendency to get bored and switch up her styles, which led to a bit of a mishmash. As she really got into it, Merida just let her body do whatever, and Astrid could tell that Hiccup had thrown in some songs that really got her into the mood.
Jack moved so quickly it was like he was flying. He and Rapunzel danced in sync a lot, but on their own, Jack could dance circles around any partner. He was almost a blur of blue - his thin sweatshirt and glow stick covered wrists melding with the neon club lights.
Rapunzel had a lackadaisical vibe. She just spun and closed her eyes, doing whatever her body wanted and going with the flow of the people and songs around her. It didn’t mean she was a pushover at all, and her bright green eyes were always alert and careful.
“Okay everyone,” Hiccup’s voice cut through the music, and the crowd went a little more quiet. “It’s time for the some battles to start,”
“Battles?” Astrid asked, nudging Merida with her elbow.
“Dance matches,”
“Cool,” Astrid grinned. “Is there a signup…?”
“Meri, no!” Rapunzel cut in. “Not on her first night!”
“She’ll be fine!” Merida protested. “It's jus’ a few dances,”
Hiccup interrupted and called the first pair, and Merida took the moment to drag Astrid over to the DJ booth and sign her up. Hiccup almost protested, but grinned and fit Astrid into an empty spot.
Since she was such a last minute signup, she had to wait her turn until close to the end of the first lineup. Both Merida and Rapunzel were right. It was a pretty brutal group, but nothing she couldn’t handle.
Jack faced off against a tall girl with platinum hair. His quick moves contrasted her precise elegant ones, and the crowd voted him the winner, where he bowed overdramatically before bouncing over to his girlfriend again.
Rapunzel lost her battle against a breakdancer wearing a maroon vest and harem pants, but bowed gracefully, directing the attention to him. Merida won her battle against a boy with a tall african american boy. He shrugged it off and she moved onto the next round as well.
Finally, it was Astrid’s turn. Chomping at the bit, the blonde rolled her shoulders and stretched out her hamstrings before bouncing into the ring.
The man standing across from her was tall. His arms were thick with muscle, but not in a bad way - just something that showed he probably had a physical job. He wore a muscle tee and baby sweatpants, a spray painted baseball cap pulled low over his face.
“Heyyyyyyy,” Hiccup called over the mic. “This’ll be a good battle for you tonight! It’s the trapper versus the nadder everybody!”
“He’s tha trapper cause he always tricks his opponents,” Merida whispered.
“Yeah?” Astrid shot back, adjusting her bangs. “I’m the Deadly Nadder,”
The dance battle started. Astrid grinned at the song choice - Queen by Loren Gray. Hiccup knew her well.
Astrid started, performing one of her regular sequences with accurate precision and practice. The Trapper watched approvingly, face hidden by his baseball cap. Once the floor was handed off to him, he started to dance.
His moves were just as good as Astrid’s. They were scarily similar, but the twist at the end upped the ante and proved his skill level.
Then it was back to her.
They went back and forth like that for the whole song, each showing off more and more until the song was at its end point. Knowing this was her last chance to pull through, Astrid set herself up to perform her best move.
A one handed air flare.
It was difficult, and she hadn’t practiced it as much as she would have wanted to, but it was doable.
Astrid mentally prepared herself, then threw herself backwards into a roundoff before throwing her body into the air flare.
She spun and landed solidly in front of the Trapper just as the song ended. When she looked up, she was less than six inches from the man, and she could see straight under the brim of the baseball cap.
And her bangs had been pushed back.
His eyes were split - and gorgeous.
One was brown, but the other… was a familiar blue. Astrid watched in shock as her opponent's blue eye was leached away by brown, and watched as his mouth dropped open a little in surprise as the same happened to her.
“Well miss,” The man said, voice deep and a little out of breath from the dancing. “I’d say that was one of the most exciting battles I’ve been in,”
“One of?” Astrid shot back. The trapper smiled.
“Let me buy you a drink, miss…”
“Nadder,” Astrid smirked. “But my friends call me Astrid,”
“Eret,” Her dancing partner smiled. “Now, what shall I buy you?”