Stranded:
"Of course, you'd just have to get us trapped in here," Astrid said with an eye roll as she crossed her arms over her chest and narrowed her eyes.
"Yeah, uh...sorry about that." Shyly looking away, Hiccup placed his hand on Toothless' nose. "It's okay, buddy," he reassured. "We'll make it home somehow."
"Um, excuse me? We're stuck in a cave in the middle of nowhere with three feet of snow on the ground and a whole lot more coming down. I doubt we're gonna even be near home anytime soon." She stomped over to Stormfly, who was crouched beside Toothless. "Hiccup, I told you not to go exploring with a storm approaching."
"But you offered to come."
"Was I really supposed to let you get stuck out here alone? I would've been worried sick waiting back home."
"You would've been worried, Astrid?"
Suddenly realizing what she had just said, she turned away and stroked her dragon's side, hiding her reddening face. For the past year, since the time at which the dragons had arrived on Berk, she and Hiccup had taken a liking to one another. Although they were not officially together yet, as he was too shy to ask her to be his girlfriend and she was waiting for him to toughen up and throw her the question, they were definitely more than just friends. They were always hanging out together, sharing just about all their worries and secrets with one another, and had even exchanged a few kisses here and there.
Hiccup smiled to himself as his dragon nudged him with his nose and let out a soft, contented purr.
"You know, soon either it'll be dark or the snow will be too heavy for us to get any light in here," Astrid pointed out.
"We have the dragons," he reminded her. "It'll be fine."
"Do we have food? Water? Blankets? It's freezing here, and we're bound to get hungry or thirsty at some point."
"Any water we need is right there." He pointed toward the growing snowbank at the cave's entrance, then opened Toothless' saddle bag.
"You're expecting me to drink something that touched Thor knows what?"
"It's survival. We gotta get used to these things. I mean, we never know -"
"We never know when you will get us trapped in a cave?" She sighed.
"On the bright side, I have two blankets in here and some dried fish." He tossed her one of the blankets before wrapping up in the other himself.
"Do you realize that your father is probably worried sick right now? My parents must be, too."
"Maybe you should've stayed behind. Then you all could've been worried sick together."
Letting out a frustrated sigh, she walked over to Hiccup and punched his arm. "That's for taking me on this stupid journey." She smacked him again. "And that's for getting me stuck in here."
"Ouch!" He leaned against Toothless to prevent himself from falling over. Although Astrid was the most delicate-looking girl in his group of friends, she was definitely the toughest and the most stubborn.
She laughed.
"Usually, this isn't how it goes," he groaned, finding his balance again. Under normal circumstances, her first punch was followed by either a kiss or a tight hug.
"If you think you're getting anything sweet from me now, you're way wrong, you dumbhead."
...
Night fell. As the dragons softly breathed fire for light, Hiccup and Astrid sat against the icy stone wall, both of them exhausted, but not having a decent place to sleep.
