Okay, first off, just to let you all know, I thought this story idea up before I realized that Astrid had technically already hugged Hiccup before [Around the waist during "Romantic Flight"], so just try to...ignore that while reading this story. I also hadn't even realized this until I wrote it, that there is no sort of dialog in this story at all. That is very rare for me, as I love dialog, lol. Anyways, thanks for reading! :D

I do not own How to Train Your Dragon or any of its characters.

He was waiting for her. She was unnervingly late. But that wasn't what was making him nervous. Today, Hiccup was so nervous, he could easily hear his metal prosthetic clacking away, because he was about to try something he'd never done before. That being, giving Astrid a hug.

It wasn't like she shied away from any sort of affection, of course. In fact, she'd kissed him more times that he could count; Which went the same for the amount of times she'd punch him, on such occasion.

It wasn't like Hiccup knew how to start it, either. Hugging wasn't exactly the viking way. Of course, neither was befriending a dragon, but things change, I suppose. The only sort of affection Hiccup could even remember was from his father. And usually that was just a slap on the back or a hearty handshake.

The first hug he'd even recalled receiving was from Toothless. It wasn't exactly a hug, of course, as it was coming from a dragon. But, nevertheless, the feeling of it was incredible. It never occurred to Hiccup how much love could be put into just one embrace. He wanted Astrid to feel the exact way he had. Well, almost the same.

Finally, Astrid showed up in the training ring, hopping off of his Night Fury's back and skipping over to her boyfriend. Closing his eyes, Hiccup walked forward, his arms spreading out an inch more with every step. Within seconds they had caught up to each other, and before he could try to slink out of it, he wrapped his arms around the tough blonde, shutting his eyes tight.

She seemed to be fine with it, at first, but the struggle came within seconds. She planted her hands on Hiccup's shoulders and abruptly shoved him as far away as her arms could reach. She quickly socked him in the arm. Hiccup automatically rubbed at the bruise, obviously expecting it.

But then, just as sudden as the punch, Astrid pulled him back to her and wrapped her arms tightly around his neck. It took a moment for Hiccup to process what was happening. Then he realized...She was hugging him. He sighed with relief and wrapped his somewhat scrawny arms around her body; His hands resting comfortably at her lower back.

It continued like that for a long while. Hiccup didn't even care that he could barely breath, as Astrid's tight embrace on him never wavered. He was happy. He had done it. He had hugged her. And she had hugged him back.

Soon, her head found its way to Hiccup's shoulder and rested there for the rest of the hug. He repeated the gesture on her shoulder. They stayed connected, but it soon made it into a more comfortable position as they relaxed their forms a bit more. A tear rolled its way down Astrid's cheek, but there was a soft smile on her face.

No one knows how long they stood like that, in the middle of the arena. It could have been an hour, or it could have easily been three minutes. But soon, they were joined by four other young vikings. The group made their way into the ring, talking and laughing about random nonsense, when suddenly they spotted the couple not too far away from them, locked in a such a way, they were almost confused as too what they were doing.

The words they were speaking to one another suddenly dried up in their mouths and the arena became eerily quiet. Hiccup hadn't even noticed their presence until suddenly, four pairs of arms-Big, small and hairy-wrapped around the current hug he was sharing with his girlfriend.

Nobody spoke. Nobody had to. They all just stood there, held extremely close in each others comfort zone. Feeling left out, Toothless made his way over and managed to wrap his large wings around the six teenagers.

His eyes searched for Hiccup, but he was buried deep beneath the rather awkward group hug they'd formed, his face covered in Astrid's blonde hair. The dragon shrugged to himself and settled on resting his chin on Fishlegs right shoulder and Ruffnet's left.

Several feet away from this odd sight, Gobber leaned against the main gate, an amused smile on his face. Dragon training was supposed to start nearly five minutes ago, but he didn't have the heart to disturb the teens and walked carefully out of the ring.

Needless to say, there wasn't one viking in the arena that day.

I was originally just gonna have this be a Hiccup/Astrid story, but then I had a brain blast and the other characters showed up. They wanted love, too, lol. Anyways, thanks again for reading! Comments are love. :]