Betrothal (a merricup story)

Sixteen- feeling hurt.

Jack sat in front of Hic, massaging his temple after he listened to his story. "Wow." He sighed. "You kissed Astrid?" He asked in disbelief.

"Technically, she kissed me. And she was drunk, but that's not the point!" Hiccup said. "Merida saw us. She ran off before I could explain, and I just-" he let out a yell of frustration, kicking at the chair leg. "Ow." He hopped around, wincing at the pain in his toe.

"You want to know how to fix it." Jack said. Hic nodded. "Well, sorry, but I can't help you." Jack admitted. "You screwed up real bad, Hic. I don't even know what she could be thinking about now."

Hiccup groaned, hitting his head on the table. "Boggarts...." He muttered. "And Astrid hasn't said a word to me either...I haven't even seen her."

"Isn't that supposed to be good?" Jack asked, eyebrow raised.

"Yeah, but I still need to talk to her about something she said..." Hiccup sighed, standing up. "I should go check on Toothless. I'll see you later, Jack." He walked off.

~~~

Merida lay on her bed, staring up at the ceiling glumly. "Meri?" Rapunzel walked into the room. "What's wrong?" She asked, worried. "Are you sick?"

"No." Merida shook her head.

"Then what is it?" She asked, sitting down on the side of her bed.

Merida sat up and looked at her. "Hiccup kissed that Astrid girl last night." She said. Punzie's hand flew to her mouth in surprise. "Maybe you thought you saw him-" Rapunzel started.

"I know what I saw, Punz. I'm sure I wasn't seeing things." Merida cut her off. "You know, I thought that maybe he was better than the others." She scoffed. "Yeah, right."

Rapunzel bit her lip. She was torn between telling her about Hic's true feelings for her, but she knew that it was something that he should tell her himself. "Meri, maybe you should talk to him about it." She said. "This might just be some huge misunderstanding."

"What is there to misunderstand?! There is nothing that you can possibly say to defend him, Punzie! Why are you even defending him?!" Merida yelled, standing up. "He kissed her, it's just as simple as that! If you're going to be on his side, then just leave me alone!" She stomped out of the room, leaving a shocked Rapunzel behind.

Merida stomped down to the stables, and over to Angus. "C'mon. We're going for a ride." She said, climbing onto the horse.

~~~

After shooting a few arrows, Merida felt a bit guilty for yelling at Punzie. "I'll apologise later." She murmured. She finally spotted the last arrow, and walked over. Maybe she had been overreacting...

A loud road interrupted her thoughts. She whirled around quickly.

And found herself face to face with a dragon.