Haircut

Hiccup Pov

Her hair was too short. Hiccup knew that, but wanted all those stares to move somewhere that wasn't her as she walked into the Great Hall with Toothless in tow. It was his fault. That dragon with the big eyes who cooed as he bounded over to the other dragons was the reason for the drastic cut. Useless bloody reptile.

"I hate all of you," she mumbled, falling into a seat beside Ash and burying her face in her arms.

The only other female laughed. "What'd we do this time? I don't remember doing anything stupid towards Hiccup… do you Tuff?"

"Nope."

She sighed and looked up from her arms. "You knuckleheads all wake up at dawn. I like this wonderful thing called 'sleep' you know?"

"Sleep's overrated, Cuz."

Hiccup humbly flipped him the bird, head still buried in her arms. "I told you not to call me that, Snotlout."

"I don't listen to anyone," she heard him reply proudly.

She rolled her eyes.

Lifting her head, Hiccup found everyone staring at her for some profound reason and she felt her cheeks heat up.

"Why are you all staring at me?"

"Your hair…" Ash mumbled, glancing at her before looking away again.

She groaned and ran a hand through the short tresses. "Whose fault is it?"

Gesturing to the dragons with her face covered with her hands, a collective "ahhhh!" was heard from their table.

"And how'd that happen?" Fishlegs asked, leaning forward in interest.

"He got the hiccups and burnt half my hair off." Oh the irony.

It was silent before the Tuffnut and Snotlout burst into laughter and she smiled as Ruffnut punched the both of them for her and offered her an apologetic manical grin.

She felt her hair and grimaced at the uneven ends. All the charred hair was gone, but the result was a choppy mess.

And she hated it.

Toothless bounded over with a dopey dragon smile and tried to lick her only to be rebuffed.

"No kisses, Bud."

Snotlout muttered something that she didn't catch, all of them laughing except for Ash who was strangely silent. She frowned and turned to the blonde warrior.

Gods he was cute. With all his nicely tousled blonde hair and those warm blue eyes of his that crinkled sweetly at the corners whenever he smiled at her. Or maybe it was also the little freckles that were on his sun-kissed cheeks and how he sometimes grabbed her out of harm's way. Maybe it was that he made her feel safe.

She managed to snap out of her silent adoration and asked what she'd been meaning to.

"What'd Snot say?"

"Not saying."

She huffed and slumped against Toothless who was sitting behind her quite happily, but still seemed confused that he'd been rejected. Poor sod.

"That reminds me; I made more Gronkle Iron!"

"Seriously?" Hiccup perked up and propped her chin on her now entwined fingers.

("How does that remind him about something dragon related?" Tuffnut asked his sister who simply shrugged it off)

He nodded eagerly. "I sent it down to the forge and-"

"Oh gods!" she jumped up and hopped onto Toothless' back.

"What is it?"

She gave them an apologetic smile. "Gobber needs me at the forge today! I need to go!"

The Night Fury started bounding out of the Hall and she called back to them, "SEE YA LATER!"

Hiccup sat in her chair with a groan, her skin wearing a harsh sheen of sweat, muscles aching and throbbing. The forge had been bombarded with requests for weapons with the new source of Gronkle Iron and only now at noon did she have no more customers. She slumped into her chair and groaned at the hair sticking to her neck. Normally she'd put it in a ponytail… but it was too short. Groaning, she pressed a warm hand to her forehead.

"Hiccup?"

She jumped at the voice of a particular blonde and tried to clean up the work bench that was covered in bits and pieces of everything. Some of her more… personal sketches were in clear view. Ash was not seeing those.

Especially when a majority of them were sketches of him.

Running out of her private workroom and closing the door, she managed to smile at the blonde who was holding a tray full of what must've been breakfast and lunch, tucking some hair behind her ear.

"Hello!"

He smiled a tiny grin and offered her the food. "I thought you might want some food after all the work."

"Thanks," she took some bread that he'd cut and spread some butter on it chewing thankfully.

"What's Toothless up to?"

Ash set the tray on the bench and leant against it with another small smile. "He was moping at the door before Stormfly started chasing him."

"Yeah," she mumbled guiltily, "I haven't been able to ride him all day… Gobber bailed and left, so I had to deal with more then twenty vikings who wanted new weapons."

He winced for her and she poked her head out of the booth to see Toothless now galumfing after Stormfly.

She grinned and turned to find Ash with a slight blush on his face. With a frown, she walked over and pressed the back of her hand against his forehead.

"Are you okay?"

"What are those?"

Hiccup hit his arm lightly, "That doesn't answer my question."

"What are you wearing?"

Hiccup glanced down at her attire; a loose sleeveless shirt, extremely short pants (which she dubbed as shorts) and her normal fur boot and prosthetic. She frowned.

"There's nothing wrong with this."

Ash frowned. "Aren't they a bit… short?"

"They're comfy and it gets freakishly hot in here; it's this or burning to death. Unlike you I can't go around taking my shirt off."

After a moment what she had just blurted settled in and she blushed, looking away and chewing on the last bite of her bread. Now Hiccup was thinking about him shirtless… not a bad daydream, but still.

Little hands appeared on the other side of the bench and a little helmet and sweet brown eyes peered over. Hiccup smiled and leant over with her arms cross. A little blonde girl with a lopsided too-big helmet stared up at her with a huge toothy grin. Almere Omerson.

"Hey Mere, what would you like me to do for you?"

Almere offered her a child-sized axe, "Could you sharpen this for me? Ma says that it's blunt."

Hiccup smile at her in a friendly way. "She'd right, sweetie. Now I'll go sharpen this for you."

Carrying the axe to the sharpening stone, she turned the handle a few times before setting the metal against the spinning wheel and saw the sparks fly. The little girl and Ash were looking at her. And she could feel the stares, but didn't worry. Almere was just curious like any other six year old girl.

But Ash? He was just interested in her work. Probably.

She twirled the axe to have the other side of the blade press against the spinning stone.

It was only a few minutes later that the axe blade was completely sharpened and she handed it to the blonde girl with a grin (the same little girl who was eating some of her bread that Ash brought). "There you go."

"Thank you! Do I have to pay? Ma didn't give me any money or anything to trade..."

Hiccup picked the girl up with the muscles in her arms groaning from the effort and sat her on the inside side of the bench.

"I won't make you pay… but I have a favour okay?"

Almere nodded and leant forward curiously. "What is it?"

"I want a big dragon hug."

The little girl grinned widely and threw her arms around Hiccup's waist, burying her little face into the older girl's chest. Smiling, Hiccup returned the embrace and wound her arms around Almere, resting her chin on the girl's head. She could feel her tiny heartbeat against her abdomen and counted the beats. It sounded like a little drum, being hit steadily by a muffled drum stick. The little drum heart.

Still grinning she released the girl and Ash (she'd forgotten about him somehow) knelt down slightly to be eyelevel with Almere. He offered the little girl once of the biggest grins Hiccup had seen him have before. It was wide and made his cheeks rounder and the curve of his cheekbones more prominent. She tried her best to not hypoventilate.

"Your ma is probably waiting for you."

She nodded and hopped off the bench onto the outside of the forge with her axe in hand.

Ash took her helmet before Almere could leave, the little girl frowning at him. What on Midgard was he doing?

"Shouldn't you thank Hiccup one last time?" he said with an attractively quirked brow.

"Thank you Hiccup!"

She smiled. "No problem, sweetie."

Ash ruffled the Almere's hair affectionately, before setting the over-sized helmet back on her head. They watched her run off, waving back at them briefly before running the rest of the way home happily swinging her axe.

"She's such a cutie."

As she turned she heard him mumble, "She's not the only cute thing around here."

Grinning widely at this she nodded and looked over to the Night Fury that she could see through the door.

"I agree; Toothless can be pretty adorable too."

"I didn't mean Toothless…" he muttered, running a hand through his bangs.

Hiccup looked over and frowned at Ash. Then she noticed him staring contently at her.

"AAAASSSSSHHHH! Stop looking at my hair!"

She buried her face in her hands and turned away from did everyone need to look at her? Gods, Toothless! He had to burn her hair didn't he? If he hadn't then she wouldn't be in this situation that made her feel intensely self-conscious.

"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to!"

"You still did!" she cried, "And it's bad enough that I can't put my hair up and it's sticking to my neck, but now everyone keeps looking at me! I don't like people staring!"

"It's been four years, Hiccup; and you've taken down the Red Death and saved Berk at least a dozen times. People stare because of your status… and your face."

She frowned at him. "M-my face?"

"Everyone in the village says that you're pretty."

"They don't."

"They do. Ruff is jealous, the little kids call you 'Pretty Hiccup' and everyone's parents ask about the 'gorgeous Haddock girl'."

She felt her cheeks darken and shook her head. "People wouldn't say that stuff about me."

Ash laughed and tilted her head up to look at him, his cheeks slightly pink. "I tried to tell you that you were cute a minute ago."

"I thought-"

"I wouldn't admit that Toothless is cute. He is, but I wouldn't say it in those words."

Hiccup managed to smile through her embarrassment. "You just did."

"Don't you get started missy."

She giggled, cheeks still pink. After another moment, she noticed the close-proximity and flushed crimson. He seemed to notice too, releasing her chin and backing away. He ran his hand through his hair sheepishly, muttering an apology.

Tucking some hair behind her ear, a moment later she found Ash doing something with her bangs.

"W-what are you doing?"

"You were complaining about your hair, so I'm braiding it for you."

She frowned and let his strangely deft fingers do there job. "And why are you braiding along my hairline?"

"Because it gets the front out of the way, now let me do my thing okay?"

Hiccup nodded slightly and watched him focus on his work.

Ash was completely engrossed in his work, that he didn't notice her contently staring at his face and trying to pinpoint every single freckle on his cheeks. They were like stars. Stars dotting his skin and making him less faultless, but still faultless at the same time. She loved his freckles. They made him more human. He was so unearthly that only his flaws made him seem normal.

His freckles and his recklessness were some of them… and his belief that she was cute.

That one was definitely on her list.

He finished the braid along her hair line, gathering the end of the braid and the rest of her hair into a ponytail a few inches above the nape of her neck, using a spare scrap of fabric to tie it and she swore that he tied it into a bow.

Very manly Ash.

Grinning at him, she thanked him.

"That's okay."

"Still hot though."

She turned away from him and collapsed onto a seat facing away from him. Cold wet hands touched her neck and she hummed.

"Thanks Ash."

He flicked some water in her face to make her shriek. "No problem."

"I hate you," she mumbled.

"You don't."

Hiccup turned to straddle her chair and looked at him challengingly. "Yeah? And how do you know that."

"Gut feeling."

"Sure," she got out of her chair and patted his cheek as she passed him, making sure to chassé out of the forge as best as she could with only one leg.

Swearing that she heard him mutter something, his footsteps caught up to her and she felt a grin grow on her face.

"Yes?"

"Don't walk off on me, Hiccup."

"And why can't I?" she asked with a cocked brow.

He grinned goofily at her, despite his constant calm and stoic exterior. "Because I don't like pretty girls running away from me."

Blushing, she managed to spit out, "You're talking to the wrong person, Ash."

Ash's lips lowered at the corners and he tugged on her wrist, making her stop. "Why don't you think that you're pretty?"

"Oh I don't know; my pegleg, my choppy hair, my nose, my freckles, my too much of this," she gestured to the terential curve of her bust, her hips and her thighs, "Why am I even talking to you about this?"

He shrugged, arms crossed over his chest and grinned at her. "Maybe you find it easy to talk to me."

"Probably," Hiccup said.

"Oh and Hiccup?"

She looked at him again. "Yes."

Ash was grinning at her in the sort of way that made her heart malfunction like one of her old war weapons. Maybe he shouldn't grin anymore. For the safety of her organs.

"For the record; your pegleg is awesome, your choppy hair suits you, your nose is adorable, your freckles are one of your best features and your 'this' is perfect."

Hiccup's cheeks burned, "T-thanks, Ash."

"No problem."

Taking a deep breath, she turned to him and clenched her fists.

"Why do you always say stuff like that?"

He frowned at her. "What do you mean?"

"You always say nice things to me and never expect anything in return. Why?"

Ash looked at her with this startled expression that suited him far too well. "Am I not supposed to say nice things?"

"I don't know!"

She put two fingers of her left hand in her mouth and whistled. Toothless came sprinting over with a goofy dragon smile one his face, Stormfly on his tail (quite literally).

Mounting the Night Fury, she murmured. "I'll see you at the Great Hall in half an hour."

"Okay."

She nodded to him and before she could fly off, Ash grabbed her wrist.

"And Hiccup?"

"Yes?"

He smiled at her. "Don't hurt yourself picking up little kids when you're sore; nobody likes watching you in pain."

"Okay," she murmured and flew off towards her house. That Hofferson boy was going to be the death of her. Friendly teasing (or that's what she thought it was), turned into this weird complex complimenting that made no sense.

And she knew that when he said, "nobody likes watching you in pain," that he'd meant to say 'I don't like watching you in pain'.

Gods, Ash, gods.

Geez Ash, messing with poor Hiccup's head! I love these two as genderbent characters! And if anyone's wandering why male Astrid is more laid-back, it's because I think if she was a boy she'd have a lot less to prove (less sexist issues) and would be able to be more relaxed, so yeah. So basically a male Astrid would be a lot less abusive during the httyd movie. Maybe during the scene when Toothless jumped out to protect Hiccup after he wins dragon training, Ash would've only been asking her questions in a harsh tone or something instead of hitting her.

I hope you enjoyed it! I love feedback too, so if you're bothered please review!

-Blue