Heart of a Dragon (A Hiccup x Astrid HTTYD AU Fanfic)

Chapter 30: I Dare You

I waited in front of my house and at around 4:55 am and five minutes later, I saw someone jogging towards my position . I knew it was Astrid since she was wearing the white hoodie she wore yesterday.

When I saw her, my mind immediately went to what happened last night. We greeted each other but the atmosphere was a bit awkward. "Let's go?" I asked and she nodded, we jogged side by side and I kept glancing at her.

"You might stumble on something if you keep looking at me." Astrid told me which caught me by surprise and I really stumble on a light post and fell to the ground.

Astrid burst into fits of laughter before holding out her hand.

"Told you." she reminded me before pulling me up, "Sorry." I told her while cleaning myself up, "So why do you keep looking at me?" she asked and I was embarrassed since she found out what I was doing so I started jogging away from her.

"Hey! Why aren't you answering?" I heard as she came up to my side, "It's nothing. Don't think about it." I replied, since we were both competitive, our supposed simple jog began becoming a race.

We were running around at full speed, wanting to beat the other. After an hour of running nonstop, we both sat on a bench in the town's park. We were sitting on both the end of the bench about a feet from each other.

It was still a bit awkward and I wanted to break the uncomfortable silence between us, "You want some water?" I offered, "Sure. Thanks." I stood up and went to a convenience store nearby.

"Here." I gave her a water bottle, "Thanks." she accepted the bottle and it was quiet again so I started looking around the park, seeing other joggers and cyclist circling around the park. "It's awkward, huh?" Astrid said and I immediately turned to her and I saw her looking at the bottle in her hands.

"Yeah... Sorry." I replied, "I didn't know how to act after last night. I never been kissed by someone other than my parents before." I added, I heard her gave a small chuckle.

I decided to close the space between us and initiate a conversation, "Uhm... So what are you gonna do after?", "I think I'll be going to Heather's. The twins and Amanda wanted to play some basketball." she replied, "That's cool.", "Why don't you join us?" she suggested, "Join you? No. It's okay. I'll train with Fishlegs later." I refused, "I understand." Astrid said.

"So where do you want to go now?" I asked her, "Oh yeah. There's this place that I always go to when I'm training, it's extremely good for endurance.", "Really? Let's go! Can we run there?", "It's doable, let's go?", "Come on. I already rested up quite a bit." I stood up and I followed Astrid.

We run for about 30 minutes before reaching some kind of road leading up to a mountain, I looked up and it's height is never-ending. "Welcome to Berk Peak." Astrid said proudly, I recognized the place, it was where my dad took me when we couldn't sleep.

"Woah! How many kilometers from here to the top?" I asked Astrid as we stopped at the very bottom, "About 5 kilometers of full incline." she replied nonchalantly, "5 km of full incline?" I asked again just to make sure that I heard her right, "Yup. I always run here during the start of the season just to get back my endurance." she replied, "Let's go? It has been long since I ran here again." she followed.

"I'm feeling competitive right now." Astrid declared suddenly and I looked at her with a smile on my face, "I know where this is going." I replied, "What's the bet?" I added, "Race to the top. The winner gets one wish." she offered, "One wish? Let's do it." I agreed, "On three... One... Two... Three!" Astrid exclaimed as we raced up the up hill slope of Berk Peak.

I was confident since I train my endurance and stamina the most, and I was able to take an early lead. 

I tried phasing myself so that I won't get tired early, "1... 2... 3... 4... 5..." I kept repeating in my head, I was running continuously for about 10 minutes and I was starting to catch my breath.

"Just how high is this Berk Peak?" I muttered to myself, "Getting tired already?" I looked to my left and Astrid is already behind me, "I was just waiting for you. It gets boring if I left you behind." I answered pridefully, I just heard her laugh as she started to sped up.

We continued running for 10 minutes more and I can feel my legs becoming heavy and the distance between us was already a good 3 feet with her in front of me, "I'm starting to get tired." I thought but I didn't want to lose to her so I tried catching up to her.

Another ten minutes passed, I already have my tongue out but I was still putting one foot in front of the other, Astrid now have a comfortable lead, "WOOOH!" I exhaled loudly and tried speeding up.

The gap between us lessen a bit but my whole body was already aching.

Astrid looked stable and not tired at all.

Five minutes more of continuous running and I saw the peak so with all the strength I can muster, I sped as fast as I can.

I passed Astrid but she started running as well, we were neck and neck but at the last second I lose the remaining strength and she reached the peak first.

I saw her triumphantly raising two fists in the air while I slowly walked to one of the benches located there and sat down, catching my breath.

"Hey, are you okay?" I felt a hand on my lap, I had my eyes closed since I was so tired.

"I opened my left eye and looked at her and she had a worried look etched on her face, "Should I call an ambulance?" she followed which made me laugh, "This is nothing. Don't worry." I replied, "By the way, I won our bet." she told me, "I just got sick of winning so I let you have this one." I joked which resulted to her punching me right on my arm, I didn't felt the punch since my body is already hurting all over.

"So how was it?" Astrid asked, "It was like hell." I answered, I heard her chuckle, "It will become easier if you frequent going up here.", "I'll try going here from now on." I told her in between gasping for air. 

Astrid's POV

While we were going down, I could see that Hiccup was having a hard time walking or moving anymore.

"You sure you're okay? You seem tired." I told him, "Me? Ha! I never get tired." he stubbornly declared before stumbling and falling down on his knees. 

I looked at him with my right eyebrow raised, conveying the message 'You're not tired, huh?', he looked at me and smiled, "Okay, I am tired.", I helped him stand up.

"I didn't realize the run up to the top will take this much out off of me." he said as we continued walking, "If you want to train your stamina and endurance, run up here and it will surely improve." I replied, I saw him slowing down so I decided to help him, I took his arm and wrapped around my shoulder, I saw his face in surprise.

"You don't need to.", "It's all right. You might roll down to the bottom if I don't support you.", "You know it'll be a much faster way to get down."  he joked, "Wait a minute. You know that this would happen, didn't you? This was part of your plan, wasn't it?" he looked at me, I just smiled while we continued walking down.

Hiccup's POV

It has been a long time since I have been this tired. "I need to train more." is what I was thinking, I saw Astrid glancing at me.

We finally reached the bottom and I moved my arm off of her shoulder, "Where are you going now?" Astrid asked, I looked at my phone and I saw that it was already 12 noon.

"I'm thinking of having lunch. You want to come?" I asked her, "Your treat?" she joked, "Sure." I said and she agreed, "There is nothing better than free food." she declared happily, and we managed to find a restaurant near there.

While eating we continued chatting with each other, "Oh yeah, what's your wish?" I asked, "It's not a wish more like a dare.", "Hit me.", "I dare you to score 40 points on your first game of the qualifiers." my eyes widened and my mouth dropped to the floor because of what she declared.

"That's... That's kinda hard." I told her, "I know you can do it." she replied, "What if I can't?", "Then I will dare you again and it will be harder than the previous dare. So what do you think?", "Let's do it." I agreed since she won the bet fair and square.

After having lunch, I headed straight home and into my bed to get a well needed nap, I slept for about 2 hours and woke up because of the sound of my alarm.