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rapunzel hums with muted laughter, hiding her smile against the rim of the tacky plastic cup in her hands. watching in rapt, amused attention as merida's brothers try to walk hiccup through the steps of some dance that's going around on tiktok. he's all gangly limbs and left feet, and his timing is shit. and yet, it's the happiest she's seen him in a awhile now.
"hey blondie," astrid hops up on the table beside her,
seemingly without an ounce of self awareness.
rapunzel smiles at her, charmed and pleasantly, blessedly tipsy. she swings her feet and tips her cup in welcome. "this is stuff is really good, astrid."
she snorts, "you're easily impressed."
shrugging, rapunzel doesn't bother to argue. it's mostly true in any case.
they're sitting in companionable silence for awhile, listening to the music Jack demanded he be in charge of. watching the party around them; merida, gobber, stoick and her mother yell at each other about the rules of some card game rapunzel patently refused to partake in. jack is hanging out with hiccup's cousins, discreetly sneaking around the fence to smoke. hiccup's mom is chatting easily with merida's dad, and rapunzel’s own parents.
there's decorations put up, that she and jack convinced stoick to spend a small fortunate on—curtesy of the dollar store. but she couldn't have expected how well it all turned out. everyone came, there was no screaming (well, the bad kind), and all of hiccup's horrendous tension from the past few months is melted away under the glow of everyone that loves him.
"did you get him a present?" astrid asks seemingly out of nowhere.
rapunzel hums affirmatively, "plane tickets. he wants to see the sequoia trees in cali and now we finally have the time. do you get him anything?"
"i figure an open tab is what all recently graduated college kids want."
she laughs warmly and leans into the other girl's shoulder. "that's it?"
"not all of us can freakily read each other's minds."
"it's not all that romantic," rapunzel rolls her eyes with a laugh, "he's been talking about it since our last road-trip."
"romantic? you two finally...consummate the marriage?"
a poor time for her to take another sip of the murky drink, as she comically started coughing in response to that little comment. astrid snorted, but begrudgingly reached over to pat rapunzel's back and help her work through breathing again.
"you're so annoying."
"am i? it's been two years, blondie."
everyone talked like that. like she and hiccup were enviable. like...like they were already together. married. written in the stars. and rapunzel—
she what? it's not like she didn't love hiccup. didn't. didn't want him. and it's not like she'd ever consider dating somebody else. the other offers she'd gotten at work or the bar hardly registered at all.
it's just... whenever she thought about it, wanting hiccup that way, it was like her heart seized in her chest. was it so simple? loving hiccup? surely it couldn't be distilled into wanting to kiss him. have him. it meant more. they meant more than that.
"it's not like we're waiting to be together or anything." rapunzel grumbled, suddenly much less tipsy and way more aware of the fact that the people in this room knew a great deal about her.
"you're already together," astrid huffed, "you do everything together. you sleep in the same bed—"
"oh my gods! not a lot! and it's not like that."
"why?" astrid asked, facing rapunzel. her piercing blue eyes piercing rapunzel to the brick wall behind them. "why not?"
and she tried. really, to find words that made sense out of her head. but what was there to say?
i love him too much to be with him?
astrid would have to cart her off to the nearest mental facility.
"i don't...it's just not like that, astrid. i can't tell you why."
"don't you love him?" astrid, like it was that simple.
"don't you?" she volleys back, heat behind her words. immediately she regrets it, wants to shove them back in. astrid's eyes are wide, hard suddenly where they weren't before.
"wha— what does that mean?" she's all but hissing. a flush to her cheeks that rapunzel would find charming in any other context.
her chest clenches, squeezing with a tension she doesn't recognize. but astrid deserves an answer. she sighs, all the fighting draining her from her.
rapunzel looks up at the few little stars in the sky, feels like a coward doing it, "i know what it looks like to love hiccup, astrid. i know what you look like, loving him."
she snorts, harsh and confrontational. rapunzel hopes this doesn't turn into a fight, they'd been doing so well. "you think you know everything?"
"no," rapunzel stresses, skirting her gaze down before quickly back up again, "no. it's just a feeling, astrid. an observation."
"you're so..." she’s revving up to say something mean, rapunzel's been on this side of her anger enough times to recognize the signs. "you're...gods, rapunzel. you have to make everything difficult."
a rueful smile twists her lips. she wants to laugh, but it'll come out hollow and self deprecating. "i've been told that, once or twice."
astrid does laugh, which makes the smile on her own face feel less like something ugly carved into her bones.
"i guess some part of me will always love, hiccup. he was the first boy i ever even looked at twice. but no, to answer your non question, i'm not still in love with him."
"really?" rapunzel asks, and the unanswerable tension in her gut feels more like breathless laughter than choking, all of a sudden.
"really. guess i'm always gonna be protective of him, though."
rapunzel snakes a hand down in between them, and blindly fumbles around for astrid's, until the other woman relents and lets her weave their fingers together.
she smiles, and tries to keep it out of her view. "that's not a bad thing, blondie."
astrid’s ensuing laughter is loud enough to grab the attention of their entire little graduation party. hiccup straightens, from where he was bent over one of the triplets phones, and watches with a broadening grin. it lights rapunzel up all the way from her cheeks to her toes. the smile she sends back is alarmingly shy.
gods. what's happening to her?
——
"c'mon, big guy. you've gained too much muscle for me to lift you anymore." rapunzel grunts, as hiccup's weight shifts across her shoulders while she tries to yank him up their stairs.
he hums the tiktok song beneath his breath, hanging his head so his breath fans out across her neck. "you noticed my muscle?"
his voice is rougher than normal, spoken with lips ghosting her skin. rapunzel cannot help the shiver that breaks out over her nerves. landing heavy in her gut.
she sucks in a long breath, and closes her eyes against the crashing trying to overwhelm her. "okay, you're banned from getting drunk ever again."
he snorts. "m'sorry, punz. you stayed so small."
there he is. goofy boy, the one that she can easily deal with. winding an arm around his waist, she pinches his side and snorts at the yelp she receives.
"keep moving, you freakish giant. we're losing momentum."
"mooooomentum," he hums to himself, "they want me to build rockets."
rapunzel laughs gently, and tugs him along their last stretch of stairs. damn broken elevator. "they sure do, bud."
he nods into her neck. she feel the indents of his lips, as they form a frown. "we'd hafta move, though."
"woah!" she gasps, as they almost go tipping back, her eyes fuzzy like something physical hits her. his words like a brick to the face. she's shaky all over, her fingers jittery with something unnamable and foreign. for a second, she has to pause. to regain her footing.
we'd have to move.
we'd. we'd. we. we.we.we.
"punz?" he shifts to catch her gaze. "y'okay?"
she has to snap her eyes closed to a second. filter out his words, the nameless thing he ignites in her. to put them to bed. she shakily breathes out and looks up at him, nodding. "yeah, i'm okay. we're almost home."
realistically she wants to tell him to stop talking, or they won't make it. but hiccup is a chatterbox when he's given alcohol in any amount. his normal mutterings entirely given way to a nonstop stream of his thoughts.
usually rapunzel finds it charming. enthralling to listen to. but if they have any chance at all to make it home, she'll have to tune him out. tonight has been too confusing and disorienting for her to do otherwise.
"right, punz?" he asks, clearly having asked a question.
but finally they're home. she dumps him on the wall next to their door and fishes around her bag for the keys. she wishes they could train toothless to open the door.
maybe pascal could manage it, if hiccup ever let him out of the cage.
"tank," he grunts, pushing a fist into her side. "s'a tank."
"you're not supposed to listen to my thoughts."
"don't think s'loud then," he huffs, and pushes his fingers into the meat of her waist.
she squeals a small laugh, and bats him away, "dude."
"hurry up."
"tickling me is not a motivator, you psycho."
"puuunnzzz," he whines, shuffling until he's draped over her back, getting a grunt of effort out of her in return.
she rolls her eyes, and pushes the door open, struggling to walk with an idiot twice times her size hanging off her back like a baby chimp.
"i'm serious. you're banned from drinking. you'll have to find a new scottish past time."
hiccup snorts and snakes his arms around her waist, laying his head on top of hers. "or you could grow."
she jabs an elbow into his side and smiles to herself at his grunt. of course, toothless runs into the room, trying to weave between their legs, and hop up for hugs.
"buddy, no. i've got to get your dad to bed and he's trouble enough. gimme a sec," she begs, gently shoving him down. hiccup makes no effort to lift himself from his perch.
"he can sleep with me," he hums instead, pushing her forward towards his room, like toothless isn't threatening to send them both crashing to the ground.
after a lot of starting and stopping and a firm voice, they finally all make it to his room. rapunzel eagerly deposits her drunk roommate onto his sheets and sighs happily at the weight literally lifted from her shoulders.
"you okay to change and stuff?"
hiccup sits up slowly, and beckons rapunzel forward.
she rolls her eyes, but obligingly stalks forward and lets him wrap his arms around her waist. he tugs her closer and buries his face into the warmth of her stomach, his arms lifting her shirt just a little.
it's the chill of the night air that sends shivers across her skin. that's all.
rapunzel cradles him there, getting her fingers into his hair. soft to the touch, small braids weaved by astrid sitting next to his ear. something liquid soft and adoring leaks into her bloodstream. all at once she's struck by how much she loves him.
hiccup hums something again, but it's too soft for her to make out. the base of it sings throughout her body, where his lips are laid to the skin above her belly button.
he presses small kisses to every bit of her he can reach. slow and languid. rapunzel's afraid her knees are going to give out. she's shaking all over. buzzing, to the touch, surely. drenched in all consuming, breathless, needy want.
"love you," he's back to humming. "love you, punz."
she tries for breath three times before it finally comes to her. her eyes slammed shut before she's even noticed it. she's dizzy by the time she returns it.
"love you, hiccup. get some sleep, 'kay?"
"kay," he agrees drowsily and falls backward onto the bed in inches. his hands lingering on her skin for long enough that she feels the imprint of them once he's finally gone.
"kay," she breathes and leaves without looking back. pressing his door shut quietly, so toothless stays there to sleep.
——
hiccup turned over in bed, a small grunt huffed gently through his mouth, searching for a warmth that has cruelly left him. he hesitantly creaks his eyes open, looking for rapunzel.
who’s not there. with some alarm hiccup sits straight up, squinting into the very dim light of the room, pre dawn.
“i’m over here.” her gentle voice called.
she was sitting on the one counter in their hotel room—the only viable seat aside from the bed. lightly swinging her bare legs, still wearing only the giant disneyland shirt hiccup bought because he’d drenched his own.
throwing his legs over the side of the bed, hiccup pushed himself up from the warm comfort of the slightly uncomfortable bed and slowly made his way over to his roommate.
sensing his destination, rapunzel put her phone and coffee to the side and slightly opened her arms. hiccup went, slotting himself between her legs. he rested his hands on the sides of her sides, and rapunzel wrapped her arms around his shoulders.
“what are you doing up?” he asked, his voice scratchy with disuse and sleep. he dug his face into her neck, and she let him be. carding her fingers through his hair.
hiccup realized a few months ago this was one of his favorite ways to be with her.
she leans her head on his, hugging him more tightly to her body. “reading.”
he snorted. lifted his his head just a bit, to press his cheek to hers. “come back to bed, please.”
“no can do,” she hummed, pressing a featherlight mollifying kiss to his cheek.
“punz,” hiccup groaned with only the hint of a whine, “it’s too early to be awake. especially for a vacation.”
she laughs lightly, patting the top of his back. “the california sunrise is so nice. i don’t want to miss it, now that i’m up.”
hiccup felt a sharp jolt in his chest—the same way he always did when she mentioned liking something about california. he swallowed, hoping to dislodge the pit now formed in his throat.
“yeah? you like it better than the east coast?”
“hard to say. i’ve only seen it the once. which is why you should go back to sleep without me.”
“but you like it, right?”
she huffed a small laugh, and pulled back enough to have their eyes meet. “you work for big sunset or something? what’s with the third degree?”
he sighed and lightly squeezed the skin of her thighs, hoping to gain strength from them. it was probably time he came clean. “the sequoia trees aren’t the only reason i wanted to come out here.”
rapunzel raises her eyebrows quizzically, “well yes, i assumed so. we’ve been here a week.”
hiccup mourns the loss of rapunzel’s thighs, as he moves his hands up to cup her face between his palms. he sweeps his thumb across her cheek, and watches in fondness as she leans into his touch.
“i want you to like california. i want you to love it, really.” he shudders through a breath, watching as understanding lights in her perfect wide eyes.
“you want to take the job,” she breathes softly.
he tilts her head up carefully, putting their foreheads together. “not if you don’t want to move. i can’t…i know that’s a lot to put on you and it’s not fair—“
“hiccup.”
“we can stay in new york. there’s amazing tech and mech engineering jobs there.”
“not building rockets amazing.”
“no job is as amazing you are.”
“hiccup—“ she chokes. sounding overwhelmed.
he squeezes his hands to her cheeks. pushing their heads together more desperately. “please don’t run away.”
rapunzel brings up her hands, and wraps them around hiccup’s wrists. “i’m not,” his breathing comes out barely, if at all. “hey. look at me.”
her voice is impossible to ignore. it always has been. he opens his eyes.
“i’m not leaving, i promise. i— i applied to art schools out here.”
he rears back. “you what?”
she laughs. it’s wet—her eyes big and glassy as she smiles at him. “i got waitlisted for cal-“
hiccup cannot help himself. he snaps forward and seals their lips together, jubilant and yearning. it’s only for a second but it wrenches a gasp from her lips. he does it again, just the little bit longer.
he doesn’t go far, slotting their noses together, “i’m in love with you.”
she pouts. the freckles on her nose crinkling. “you didn’t let me finish.”
“rapunzel.”
“sorry,” she laughs and darts forward the slightest bit to shyly press her lips to his. light and just barely, but she does do it. “i love you, too. but i got waitlisted for cal-arts.”
he grins. charmed and so full of adoration it feels like it’s seeping from his pores. he can’t stop smiling. “that’s amazing. you’re amazing. perfect. i love you so much.”
“hiccup,” she gasps again.
he smiles, kissing her cheeks. can’t help himself. “i’m sorry i kissed you.”
“i kissed you back, you may notice.”
hiccup laughs. breathless. “yes,” his voice is hoarse. he can’t stop thinking about it, “yeah. but we’ve never done that before. or talked about it. i don’t even know if you like that kind of thing.”
rapunzel shakes her head and reaches forward to pull him into a hug again. “i do. i…want you. i have for…i don’t know? forever? i guess i thought kissing you, or wanting you would somehow diminish my love for you. but honestly i’ve been in love with you my whole life, and i was scared that doing it differently would change it.”
hiccup presses a reassuring kiss to her jaw. “i get it. i had it in my head that romantic relationships end. but we’re not…” he searches for the unnameable thing between them, the indefinable he’s always searched for.
rapunzel pulls back. cupping one hand to his cheek. she’s smiling serenely. her eyes full of love. “we’re not just romantic. we’re everything.”
“rapunzel,” he gasps, wounded.
she grins. “i’m in love with you i plan to spend the rest of my life with you.”
hiccup’s going to cry, he’s so overwhelmed. he puts a hand to her jaw, and leans forward until their lips are brushing. “can i kiss you?”
rapunzel laughs. carefree and buoyantly. she fists her other hand in his shirt and laughs into his mouth. hiccup can hardly blink past his debilitating want.
“i basically propose to you, and you ask me if you can kiss me?”
“yes,” he hums, unrepentant.
she giggles. all bubbly sunshine warmth. his rapunzel. “yes, you silly man. please kiss me.”
hiccup sweeps his thumb across her bottom lip, looking into her endless green eyes. he takes his time leaning forward, takes his time nudging her nose with his own, until they’re at an angle. takes his time easing in until rapunzel’s lips part with a whine. takes his time, pressing in until their lips come together and apart; messy, wet, tender and gentle.
he takes his time licking into her mouth, savoring the feel of her, the taste of cheap coffee, the breathless noise ripped from her chest.
she balls both fists into his shirt, and pulls until there’s no space between them. she squeezes him between her legs, encouraging his hand back his favorite place, hiking her thigh up to his waist. rapunzel tries to deepen the kiss, hurry along her pleasure.
but hiccup stays the course, drawing out the moment, the sweet torture of it. he takes his time, sweet, open mouthed, heated and perfect.
because she loves him. she’s staying.
they have all the time in the world.