Merida sat in her criminal justice class and tried very, very hard to pay attention. She had a date with Hiccup later, and her thoughts were scattered, but this was the last week of class and the review for the final was kind of important.

Despite her best intentions, she kept worrying and wondering. And she was not enjoying it.

Hiccup had recovered from being freaking stabbed and was teaching the second half of his architectural course. If possible, he was even busier than before and they were lucky to spend even a few hours together during the week.

During questioning by the police, Rapunzel's "mother" had let slip that Rapunzel wasn't her biological daughter and had, in fact, been kidnapped as a baby. The hunt was on for her real parents, who were hopefully kind and loving and not prone to pulling out knives when things didn't go their way. The girl herself was still going to classes, trying to live as normally as she could while holding out hope for a healthy family life in the future.

And Merida went to classes. And now she was almost done with classes. And then it'd be out into the "real world." The children's camp she helped out with sometimes had offered her a full-time position as an archery teacher, so she wasn't too concerned on that front. It was the rest of it all that was setting her mind spinning.

Because the end of the school year meant the end of how things were now—and possibly the end of her relationship with Hiccup.

It hurt her heart to think of that, though. Without Hiccup...well, she'd be fine, obviously, but she loved being with him. His dorkiness. His brilliance. His rare but intense temper. How earnest he was.

But...that would mean "making it work." Compromising. Giving up some things. Asking Hiccup to give up things. It had been pretty easy so far. They had the same schedule as far as holidays went, and they lived around the same place. They hadn't come across anything dealbreaking or gotten into fights they couldn't work through. But what if they did?

It ran on a loop through her head. Did she want to keep dating Hiccup after she graduated? Was it worth the risks?

Those thoughts followed her all the way to the cafe where she was meeting Hiccup. The same cafe where they'd gone on their first date, where they'd shared stories and kisses over snack platters and hot drinks. It felt like an eternity ago and only yesterday all at once.

She found him at their usual booth and settled down across from him. He smiled up at her and tucked away a stack of to-be-graded papers. "I just ordered us the usual, if that's okay?" She smiled and nodded—they'd been here often enough that they had their favorites.

The wait for the food was filled with easy conversation, just about school and how stressful everything was. The food arrived and they stopped talking by necessity. It was after they'd finished off the snack tray that Hiccup went really quiet.

"Where...where do we go from here?" he said after a while.

"Uh, we could go back to my—"

"No, no. Sorry. I mean, where do we go in the future? What are we going to do? About...us?"

Ah. There it was. Apparently she wasn't the only one thinking about this. She found herself shrugging. "Well, I've got that archery thing in Fairfield."

He nodded and looked down at his empty mug. "Yeah. And...I have a paid internship opportunity in New York. That's, uh...well, those are pretty far apart."

Merida pursed her lips. This was it. The start of the big compromises or the end of it all. "There's always video chat, you know."

He smiled, but his eyes were sad. "I guess. How's the reception out in little old Fairfield?"

Merida snorted. "Well, maybe not, then."

They were quiet for a while. It wasn't an awkward silence, but it was full—full of thoughts, feelings, and things unsaid but very much real.

Merida took a deep breath. She felt a little light-headed, but strangely calm. "You know, Fairfield isn't the only place hiring archery teachers. And I haven't accepted the job yet." She'd been too nervous, too unsure of what the future held to give the camp a yes or no. She'd never felt like this before. Why was this conversation so nerve-wracking? Why was it so hard to find the words she wanted?

"Oh?"

"Aye. And I can teach hand-to-hand or gunmanship. Even equestrian lessons. I could work almost anywhere there were kids." Wow, she was so light-headed that she was starting to not be able to feel her fingers. She clasped her hands tightly in front of her.

HIccup bit his lip. "I guess New York isn't the only place with architectural firms. I mean, it's still a city kind of job, but there are lots of cities."

"Might take a bit to find a real job, too," she added, her heartbeat growing more noticeable.

"It'd probably be a good idea to find a cheap place and a roommate. To cut on cost." His long fingers seemed unable to keep still, and his cheeks were starting to flush ever so slightly.

She smiled and it felt incredibly fragile on her face. "Probably someone you know, if you can. To have a friendly face around. And someone you can trust not to mess with your things."

He snorted. "Well, that rules out Jack for sure." Merida laughed. After that frantic first day running to get to class on time, Hiccup had taken to setting his phone alarm instead, safely locked behind face recognition phone tech and tucked under his pillow. He also sniffed every bottle of shampoo before he'd use it—North had decided he liked having white hair and kept dyeing it after that particular prank, but Hiccup wasn't so keen.

Hiccup spun the mug around in his hands. "You're...still planning on going home for a bit after graduation, right?" She nodded. "Maybe we could...work out the details while you're there. You know, find a place that...works for both of us." His forest-green eyes met hers and she remembered the first time she'd seen them—how they reminded her of home. How they had become her home.

"I'd like that, my dear wee lamb."

It was a risk. This commitment to each other, the things that would stand in their way, and the possibility for heartache were all very real.

But as they looked at each other over the table, as they reached out to clasp hands and tangle their feet together under the table, she couldn't help but feel like they were taking the first steps of a grand adventure. And there was no one she'd rather have by her side than him.

—THE END—

Author's Note: And we're done! Thank you so much for reading.

I thought this would be a good place to share some of the "behind the scenes" stuff of this story:

The first chapter was inspired by the song "Everything Has Changed" by Taylor Swift and Ed Sheeran. Green eyes and freckles? Immediately thought of Hiccup.

Every character was borrowed from an animated feature—even the ones mentioned only in passing.

As with many stories, there's a whole lot of information I've written and planned that didn't make it into the actual story. Snow White and Giselle's animal shelter, Hiccup's running prosthetic with a skull pattern on it, and Merida's massive fight with her mom when she was 16 that pretty much changed her life are some examples.

I think it's fitting that I finished this story just a bit after I graduated college myself. Fiction mirrors life, or something like that.