Note: I am the worst at writing long chapters… I can barely write anything over 1000 words.
A week had passed and it was the night of the festival. Everyone was dressed in extravagant clothing and had smiles on their faces.
The vikings were all headed up to the Great Hall together in their families, where the chief and heir would be waiting to greet each clan.
Inside the Great Hall, just in front of the large doors, Stoick was sitting on his chair with Hiccup standing next to him. Hiccup was dressed in his new clothes, standing tall and proud as a chief should be.
The musicians had finished setting up their instruments and were now just rehearsing some of the songs they would play.
After a little while, Stoick ordered for the doors to be opened and to let the vikings in. The large doors creaked loudly as Gobber opened them slowly, revealing a long line of viking families on the stairs.
He allowed the first family in to the hall.
"Good to see ya chief, you too Hiccup," Hagard said, speaking for his wife and children.
"Good to see ya too Hagard, how are the little lads?" He asked smiling at his two little boys.
The boys were shy, but were taught not to show any weakness to their chief. Hiccup just frowned as they tried to put on a brave face from behind their mother's dress.
The vikings talked for at least two minutes.
Finally he shook Stoick's hand and patted Hiccup's back. The family then walked past them to the back of the great hall.
The Haddocks had to repeat this about a million times over. Greeting every family was getting a bit boring for Hiccup, but he didn't say anything to disappoint his father.
Occasionally, things would get a bit awkward for Hiccup when the the Jorgensons or Ingermans would walk in, but he could live with that.
Hiccup was very impatiently waiting for everyone to enter so he could go do something else. He was especially waiting to see Astrid, since he hadn't seen her all week.
Finally, after a painfully long introduction with everyone else, the Hoffersons walked into the Great Hall. There he saw Astrid's parents and Astrid herself. He couldn't take his eyes off her.
His eyes trailed every part of her beautiful dress, he looked at her hair, which wasn't tied this time. He looked at the fabric on her dress and felt like he had seen it somewhere but couldn't place it.
She smiled at him gracefully and he smiled back.
She stood there and admired his attire. He looked soo good in it but yet it was still soo 'Hiccup.'
It looked painfully similar to something but she couldn't remember what.
After a moment of silent thoughts, the sudden realisation dawned on them both.
They were wearing matching clothes.
"DAD!" Hiccup cried, as he turned his head to face his father. "You planned this, didn't you?"
"MOM" Astrid whinged, "You knew all along, right?"
The parents all the shot each other knowing glances and smiled slyly.
"Alright you two," Stoick said with an awkward cough. "Off you go."
The two of them walked off quickly, trying to get away from their parents as fast as possible. They walked over to one of the tables where their friends were seated.
The other riders saw them coming over just stared in shock.
"Why are you two dressed the same?" Snotlout asked.
"Not our idea!" Came the answer from both of them.
"Oh My Thor!" Heather squealed as she got up from her spot next to Fishlegs. "Look at you guys, all dressed up in matching clothes!"
"Trust us, this wasn't planned." Hiccup stated quickly.
"Yeah, yeah whatever,' Ruff interrupted. "Can we eat now?"
"Um, Ruff?" Fishlegs spoke up, "I don't think it's a good idea to eat before a dance…"
Ruffnut just huffed.
Hiccup and Astrid breathed a sigh of relief that they had changed the topic. Hopefully they had already faced the most embarrassing part of the night and the rest would be a bit more dignified.
The two of them awkwardly sat down at the table with the gang but soon relaxed and laughed along with their friends.
The gang all sat around the table, talking about whatever came to mind. Every so often, silence would fall upon them but it wasn't uncomfortable. It felt nice to be at home, with their family and friends, all safe and sound.
"ALRIGHT LISTEN UP!" Stoick's booming voice echoed through the Great Hall.
The teens all jerked their heads towards the sound of their chief.
"Is he always that loud?" Astrid whispered to Hiccup.
"Well… Gobber did used to call him 'Stoick the Deafening' back when he was screaming out orders during dragon raids."
Astrid just rolled her eyes.
"I'd like to start off the dance festival with a little 'thank-you' speech." Stoick started.
"Wake me up when it's over." Snotlout said, while yawning and resting his head against the table.
"First off, I would like to thank you all for organising this entire event yourselves. It was a huge effort and I'm glad to see it all paid off."
"I'd also like to thank the dragon riders for coming home for the festival. I know that they didn't want to be here but I couldn't be happier knowing my son and his friends are on Berk and safe."
"Tonight, Hiccup and Astrid will be leading the dances so don't get in their way." He laughed.
'Yep,' Hiccup thought, 'Tonight would be more embarrassing than I assumed.'
The Berkians cheered as the pair walked towards the centre of the Great Hall. A huge space was cleared of tables and chairs, giving the vikings enough room to dance. There were lanterns lit all around them and the vikings made a large ring around the pair almost as if to enclose them incase they tried to escape…
Hiccup and astrid both shyly stepped on to the dance floor, trying to find one inch of this hall where someone wasn't eyeing them down. Everywhere they looked, they could see vikings smiling and cheering them on. Though the cheering gave them a bit of confidence, it was still a nerve wracking thing to do.
Neither of them had practice in dancing but once the music started, they locked eyes, locked hands, locked hearts and fell into a steady rhythm. They were standing face to face, moving their feet in sync with the music.
Suddenly there was no need for practice, they might not be the best at dancing, but nothing had ever felt soo right. They say that practice makes perfect, but this was perfect without practice.
Note:
I am so SOO sorry! I say that I'll update soon and leave the story for like 2 weeks…
I don't even have an excuse, I swear, every week I open this story and stare at it for five minutes before deciding I don't know how to finish this…
But today I made my self stare at it until I finished it!
I'd say there is one more chapter after this. But I won't say that I'll update it soon…