They left the beach with their hands tangled together, fingers interlocked, as close to each other as they could get, Astrid's head rested in the crook of Hiccup's neck. The music back at the reception had slowed down, people had moved to take hold of their respective partners, swaying gently to the rhythm. The barn was lit up by fairy lights, the white silk that Astrid had thrown over the rafters practically glowing in the light.

Hiccup's parents were in the centre, holding close to each other as they danced, acting as if all the world was no longer there. People's heads turned, however, when Hiccup and Astrid entered, and Hiccup knew in that moment they had been the subject of all the town's gossip. Stoick tore his eyes away from Val and noticed Hiccup and Astrid in the doorway. He gave them a nod, and looked at them expectantly, asking a question with his eyes.

Hiccup wrapped his arm around Astrid's waist and pulled her close, the smile on his face strong enough to light up the whole room.

A grin spread across Stoick's features.

All the guests seemed to have noticed too, because all at once, a cheer rang out through the barn. Astrid pressed her smile into Hiccup's shoulder, and Hiccup's cheeks turned pink from all the attention. For once, though, he was happy for it to be on him. In this moment, with his heart beating wildly in his chest, he would have been happy to shout it to the whole world that he was in love with Astrid Hofferson, and Astrid Hofferson was in love with him. The world was slowly sliding back into place.

When the attention finally lifted off them, Hiccup offered his hand to Astrid. "Care for a dance, Miss Hofferson?"

"How could I refuse, Mr Haddock?"

They spun around together on the dance floor, laughing into each other's shoulders as they stepped on each other's toes; Astrid at least managing to be graceful while Hiccup was all limb. She mumbled words to him, telling him where to put his feet as they danced, but it was no use; Hiccup's dancing skills were catastrophic.

She let out another laugh, her eyes glittering, and Hiccup didn't care that she was laughing at him, he just basked in it, thinking to himself that if he could spend the rest of his life making Astrid Hofferson laugh like that, then he could die happy.

"You're still horrible at this," Astrid said, still smiling.

"I know," Hiccup said. "Do you want to stop?"

"No."

"Me neither."

Eventually, they did stop, both of them gasping for breath. They were the second-to-last off the dance floor, beaten only by Stoick and Val, who seemed not to suffer from aching legs or sore toes, too lost in each other to care. Hiccup and Astrid stumbled over towards the tables, dropping down into chairs and nursing their sore feet.

"Well, that's officially more exercise than I've done in years," Hiccup muttered, tipping his head back against the back of the chair.

Astrid giggled. "I'd believe it," she said. "I've seen you run. You're like a walrus crossed with an ostrich."

"Don't be mean to me," Hiccup whined, screwing his eyes shut and tipping his head back. "I'm too tired to think of a comeback."

Astrid laughed again, and Hiccup felt his insides fill with a delicious warmth that he couldn't quite get enough of.

"Alright, no more dancing," she said, and pulled him up out of the chair, looping her arms easily with his. "but you promised me that this would be worse than the reunion, I want to see this for myself. Introduce me to some people, and I'll try and keep a straight face while you tell me their names."

Hiccup craned his neck and scanned the crowd. "Snotlout has a friend named Dogsbreath."

"Well, now you're just making this up."

"I am not!"

"Who in their right minds would willingly let themselves be nicknamed Dogsbreath?!" Astrid said, trying to keep the laugh out of her voice.

"You'll believe it when you see him," Hiccup muttered. "He's that sort of guy."

"This entire family is mad," Astrid said. "Completely mad."

Hiccup grinned. "You haven't even seen the half of it."

He let himself be swept up by Astrid into the crowd, ready to mingle with the other guests.

They did indeed meet Dogsbreath, and he was as unpleasant as his name. After a few short grunts from him and thinly veiled insults, Hiccup found himself whisking Astrid away as quickly as possible. Dogsbreath's tendency for the unkind couldn't bring Hiccup down for long, though; he'd been on a high for the past few hours and he never wanted to come down.

He and Astrid met guest after guest, and this time, it wasn't uncomfortable when they cooed and asked probing questions. For the first time, they found themselves blissfully happy with the attention. They fielded question after question, even managed to dodge the really personal ones without descending into blushes, and all the while, they never let go of the other's hand.

At one point, they noticed Alvin sitting at table, glaring at them. Astrid put on her sweetest smile and waved at him. His stink-eye shot daggers at them all the way across the room, before he stormed off out the door. Hiccup held in a laugh.

The best came with Old Wrinkly. He gave the couple the brightest smile, eyes twinkling under the lights.

"I knew you'd work things out," he said.

Hiccup scowled. "You said it was improbable."

"Not improbable," Old Wrinkly said, eyes still shining. "Inevitable."

Hiccup couldn't help himself then, he stepped forward and threw his arms around his grandfather, squeezing him tight. There was something about today that made Hiccup really want to take each of his family members and pull them into the biggest hug.

It really was a good day for love.

In this moment, Astrid thought to herself, nothing could be more perfect.

Hiccup was happy, his eyes were warm and bright, and he'd been smiling more than she'd ever seen him smile. And, she realised as she sat quietly watching the wedding wind down, that she had never been happier either. She was settled in the corner of the barn, sitting at one of the tables with a glass of champagne, contentedly watching as Stoick and Val circled the floor again.

Hiccup has been gone a while. He'd excused himself a while back, disappearing out into the darkness outside the barn, and she hadn't seen him since. She'd only just begun to wonder where he'd gone, when he came barrelling back into the room, grinning madly, eyes lit with the kind of mischievous glee that Astrid had often seen whenever Hiccup was causing trouble.

"Astrid," he said, swallowing a laugh. "C'mere."

She followed him out the room, and watched as he fell apart into giggles once they'd left the barn. "Hiccup?" she said, raising an eyebrow. "What's going on?"

"It's Toothless," he said, clutching his stomach. He was grinning so hard his cheeks must have been aching, and when he managed to speak, his tone was utterly gleeful. "He's-" his sentence was interrupted as he spluttered into laughter again— "well, he's done a poo in Alvin's hat."

That sentence was so nonsensical that Astrid spluttered, her hand covering her face. "He's done what?"

"He's-"

Hiccup didn't get to finish his sentence. They were interrupted by a roar of, "HICCUP HADDOCK!"

The two jumped, and saw the figure of Alvin storming up towards them, barely a shadow in the dim light. As he got closer, his face was illuminated by the outside lights, his eyebrows screwed together and his eyes flashing in the darkness. He looked furious.

"C'mon," he said, still laughing as he grabbed hold of her hand, and pulled her away.

The two ran, still giggling as they heard Alvin scream abuse from behind them – "I'll get you Hiccup Haddock! You better watch yourself!"-all the way back to his parents' home, where Toothless was waiting on the porch, licking his paw rather proudly.

"Good boy," Hiccup said, sounding positively delighted, still trying to hold in giggles while he scratched behind Toothless' ears. "Good cat. Best cat."

Astrid looked down at the boy she loved so very much, a smile stretching across her face as she said, "do you think he put it on?"

The look in Hiccup's eye was so hopeful that Astrid dropped to the floor laughing, her hands pressed over her face, as she giggled so hard that tears streamed out of her eyes.

Yeah. It was a good day.

As the night slipped on, and finally, the last of the wedding guests trickled home, Hiccup and Astrid found themselves back at the house, feet sore from the dancing, barely able to keep their eyes open, but wonderfully, blissfully happy. As they trailed up to Hiccup's room, he realised the best thing about finally being together: he no longer had to worry about sleeping arrangements. For all this time, he'd constantly been worried about stepping on Astrid's toes regarding the bed. He worried all the time about rolling into her, about waking up entangled in her limbs, and then having to detract himself in the morning and pretend he hadn't been enjoying it.

Now, when they slipped into bed, Hiccup was free to pull her close and wrap his arms around her. Astrid bent her head into the crook of his neck, her blonde hair tickling his skin, the smell of her shampoo filling his nose. Her fingers curled around his chest, and she leaned up to kiss him gently.

"I love you," she mumbled into his skin.

"I love you too," he whispered, and wondered how he'd managed to get so lucky.

Tomorrow, they'd fly home, back to the city, back to their normal lives. Whatever the new normal was, Hiccup was looking forward to it whole-heartedly. A world where he was allowed to hold Astrid in his arms and kiss her whenever he liked, was a world he never wanted to leave.

The next morning they woke up tangled together, and neither moved away.

It wasn't perfect.

It took talking, so many late-night conversations where truths were admitted, and insecurities were shed, sometimes ending in kisses and cuddles, other times with tears and hand holding. There were arguments too, days when the tiffs were bad, and doors were left slammed, but they always made up the next morning, and their relationship was stronger because of it.

The road to happily ever after was paved in good communication and understanding.

A month after the wedding, Hiccup and Astrid found themselves standing on the doorstep of his parents' second home, back on the mainland. Hiccup had a hand on Astrid's back – it had already become so natural for him - and the two smiled as they waited for Stoick to open the door.

It was the first of the weekly family meals Hiccup had promised to his father, and, to his surprise, he had found himself really looking forward to it. The hole in the relationship between Hiccup and his father had slowly been mended, and he found that after a while, all that dread he'd had about seeing his father had simply melted away.

"Your tie isn't straight," Astrid commented, just as the door opened.

Stoick opened the door to see Hiccup elbowing Astrid in the side. He beamed down at the two of them.

"Had enough of each other already?"

Astrid's eyes shone as she flashed Stoick a smile, looping her arm through Hiccup's. "Never," she said, ruffling his hair. "I'm too fond of him."

Hiccup grinned. It didn't matter how many times he heard it, it still made his insides turn to mush.

"How have you been?" Stoick said, as he shut the door behind them, ushering them both into the hallway, "how's having a real relationship treating you?"

Hiccup scowled at his father, but Astrid smiled as she bent her head to rest it on Hiccup's shoulder, her hand sliding down to lock fingers with him. "It's been fantastic. How was the honeymoon?"

"Delightful!" Val said, as she hurried out of the kitchen to grab hold of Astrid and kiss her on the cheek. "It's so lovely to see you two again, come in, come, come, I'm sure you haven't eaten properly in the last month, come and get a proper meal…"

Hiccup and Astrid caught each other's eye and grinned.

"Better than you'd think," Astrid said, and then her voice became somewhat peeved,"he doesn't let me anywhere near a kitchen."

"Astrid, you are smart, beautiful, and talented at many, many things," Hiccup said, "but your cooking is more effective than cyanide."

Astrid elbowed him in the ribs – "hey, it's not like it isn't true!" – while Stoick guffawed and Val hid a smile behind her hand.

"Just like your mother," Stoick said, looking down at Val with a fond smile, "one hour in a kitchen and she could bring down whole cities."

It was Val's turn to act annoyed, whipping Stoick with the end of a tea-cloth.

Stoick smiled, eyes glowing as he looked at his wife. "It's like Hiccup said—" he pulled her towards him and pressed a kiss to her cheek— "Smart, beautiful, talented – but no cooking ability whatsoever."

Val swatted at him, but she was smiling the whole time, and she let herself be pulled into a kiss.

"So," Astrid said, as they settled down to dinner (thankfully prepared by Stoick), "what's new with you two? What's happening now that the honeymoon is all over?"

"Y'know, moving on to new pastures, thinking about new job opportunities," Stoick said, and then gave a pointed look at Val's stomach. "New family members."

Hiccup spat out his drink.

"What?!" he spluttered, almost comically. "You're not? No. No. No? You said-"

He stopped when he saw that his parents were laughing.

"One was enough, Hiccup, really," Val said.

"You caused us all sorts of trouble," Stoick said.

"We were thinking of getting a dog," Val added, an amused smile on her face.

Hiccup, meanwhile, was almost hyperventilating, wiping spittle off his face, his mouth still gaping open. "Don't do that," he said, "there are only so many surprises I can take!"

Astrid let out a giggle, and soon his parents joined in, and Hiccup couldn't help himself, the laughter was infectious. The whole group was laughing, and that was how the night continued, with laughter and jokes, and conversation. Looking around at the group, Hiccup thought to himself that he'd never met finer people, and he wondered how he'd let himself drive such a wedge between him and his parents, and why he'd ever done it.

They were, after all, two of the best people around.

FIVE YEARS LATER

The summer had been a hot one, and the days had been lazy.

When Stoick and Val had offered them a holiday out on the Isle of Berk, Hiccup and Astrid had graciously accepted. Hiccup's parents had moved back to the island, after much begging on Val's part - the island was her home, her true home, and now that she trusted that Hiccup was in good hands, she no longer felt the need to be constantly checking on him, but she'd demanded that he visit Berk often - "I'll pay for your flights, just as long as you come as see me as much as possible, and bring Astrid too!"

Hiccup and Astrid had decided to spend the whole summer there, staying in Hiccup's childhood home. Both of them worked freelance now, so the need to stay in the city wasn't as strong, and so, for a blissful three months, they spent their time on the beach, or revisiting old haunts.

On their last night before they went home, they'd found themselves on the beach, the very same place where they'd finally told each other how they felt. That night, as the sun slipped down below the horizon, they watched as the sea kissed the shoreline, reflecting the last dregs of summer into the air.

"Hey, Hiccup," Astrid said, her voice quiet amongst the gentle sound of the waves splashing back and forth. "Will you marry me?"

fin.