#hiccup and fishlegs best friends 4 life

[dopscratch]

i kid you not when i say i looked up these two at 4 am hoping for some crumbs but jere you are writing a whole fanfic ( thank you so much🤩).

I personally haven't read the httyd books only the series and movies. If you don't mind could u give a mini summary as u plan to write after book 8? If not i hope you have a wonderful day/ night!

(If uave tons of other questions but don't want to spam so ill just leave this here)

AUDHJSHDHD thank you so much for sending an ask i literally have none ever HAHA

im glad you enjoy the concept :)

the books are very different fron the movies in a large number of ways! in the books, vikings stat out with dragons, and hiccup's main problem is training his own, which he can't do by the normal strategy of yelling- a) because he's not the best yeller and b) because his little green hunting dragon, toothless, is as disobedient as it gets (and smaller than everyone else's to boot!)

in the books, vikings typically have hunting dragon(s) which are smaller and usually dog-sized, as well as a riding dragon, which is larger and obviously ridable. hiccup's riding dragon is a scraggly feathery dragon called the Windwalker who was rescued from slavery :)

one of the biggest differences as well, is that dragons can speak. most are just as intelligent as humans, some even more so, and they're generally cruel by nature. their culture encourages them to act selfishly and it's worked out pretty well for them, hence why most vikings train theirs by fear or exerting power. hiccup, who is nerdy enough to have sat out where the wild dragons are and literally learned their language has been attempting to train HIS by speaking to them, which has some mixed results. windwalker is actually quite mellow and loyal, since hiccup's probably the first person to show him kindness. toothless is just a little brat with a stammer, but he does have softness in his heart deep deep down.

characterization-wise, everyone's a lot different as well.

hiccup, as stated before is a nerd who'll rattle off dragon facts in dangerous situations while fishlegs is more of the sarcastic romantic, basically think of it like the movies swapped their personalities. he also has bright red Heroic Hair that stands straight up and they robbed that from him in the movies and i will never forgive them. hes also an excellent swordfighter and its just about the only traditionally viking thing he's good at :). also, his mother is never kidnapped by dragons- but she IS gone often, out questing. her name is valhallarama and she is an absolute beast of a woman they definitley nerfed her when they turned her to valka

fishlegs is a skinny little loser (affectionate) who's allergic to dragons, has a plethora of other medical conditions too, and is acrually an orphan and was raised by a long-eared caretaker dragon. he's also hiccup's best and only friend at the start of the series. he's arguably worse at being a viking as hiccup is and they both bond over how they wish society would allow them to not be brainless fighters. his dragon is a lazy common-or-garden-or-basic-brown named horrorcow, she's both a pacifist and a vegetarian. when he was catching his dragon, he actually wanted to grab a nadder, which is long and serpentine because nadder is a pun on adder and i have no idea why the movies didn't see that

snotlout is hiccup's cousin and hates him more than anything in the world, and not in a ha-ha funny way either. he legitamately wishes hiccup were dead or never born because he hates to see this "runt" next in line for chief instead of him. he is constantly literally trying to make hiccup's life miserable or literally murder him and once again this is not played for laughs. his dragon's a mean monstrous nightmare- a hunting dragon only the chief and descendanrs of should have- named fireworm, and she is very full of herself. hookfang is actually one of stoick's monstrous nightmares!

another main character is camicazi, who appears in book 3 onward and she was so powerful they had to split her into three characters in the movies (she's sorta like if you took the thorston twins and astrid and mashed them all together, then added another sprinkle of chaos). she's a short little kid from another tribe of all-female warriors called the bog-burgalars and an excellent escape artist. she has a mood dragon- a serpentine, color-changing dragon named stormfly who can actually speak the human language too. she's not very helpful though since shes a pathological liar.

the main villain is named alvin the treacherous and he's a ridicuoulsly resiliant guy who reaaaally wants hiccup dead for a multitide of reasons we don't need to get into now since hw won't really appear in my work haha

i think ive gotten a lot of basics down, but obviously there's a ton more! in regards to knowledge for my crossover though thats essentially some of the main points you need to know. by the 8th book, hiccup has been on a multitide of adventures (and has nearly died or gotten eaten on all of them) but the world hasn't changed irreparably yet :). i plan on writing it in a way that can accomodate people with no knowledge of httyd, since most of it will be from the touden party's pov exploring the world! you'll be getting plenty of detailed descriptions of some of the dragon species as laios's nerdiness will help show

i would absolutely reccomend checking out the books, though! you can usually find them at your local library, and there's also the entire series of audiobooks on youtube! there's a very dedicated group of people on here who love the httyd books including me who would love to help you get into them as well, if that's what you'd like!

i'll round this off with a few of my renditions of some of the characters i've drawn :)

i hope this was helpful, and if you have any more questions, feel free to ask me! i love getting asks but never do lol

[wickedcriminal]

Some HTTYD Book headcanons! (A few full-series spoilers ahead)

Hiccup is ambidextrous (because he learned he was left-handed when he was 10, he can now write with both hands! He favors his left of course but it's good to have a fall back)

The Deadly Shadow is hypoallergenic. I don't really know how it works but it definitely it makes Fishlegs's life a little easier

Hiccup says "oh dear" and "oh my goodness" a lot, so I like to think he also says other old lady phrases like "good gracious" "dearie me" and "as I live and breathe". He also calls his friends "my dear", ala "my dear Fishlegs, my dear Camicazi" and "my dear little Toothless" (I'm especially fond of 'my dear little Toothless')

Since Excellinor is a witch and has the ability to prophesy, Alvin and even Fishlegs also have inherited a mild ability to see into the future, maybe via dreams or a sense of deja vu. Fishlegs doesn't figure it out until he's older, in which he picks up soothsaying as a side hobby and gets really good at it.

Fishlegs and Hiccup make songs together and sing them at parties. Fishlegs is a wonderful singer and can hold a tune very well.

Bog-Burglars are some of the best dancers in the archipelago, having some crazy and impressive moves due to being escape artists with impeccable balance and flexibility.

Camicazi never gets taller than 5"4

The trio get more tattoos as they get older. Camicazi gets colorful designs all over her skin that are inked with special oils from Stormfly that allow the tattoos to change depending on her mood. Fishlegs gets a neat, stylized lobster in honor of his mother, as well as a stylized three-headed dragon. And Hiccup gets three seadragon designs; the Wodensfang tattooed on one arm, Furious on the other, and Toothless over his heart.

An idea from @orangeblob79 is that Fishlegs uses a cane for his limp! I love this headcanon and have since adopted it

Likewise, @mrsnaildood brought up that dragonmark/slavemark ink is a super-permanent ink made by mixing dragon and human blood, and therefore dragons and humans fighting in the war and getting blood on each other would create permanent tattoo-like marks, which is SO fascinating and something I definitely subscribe to.

Hiccup does eventually get married, but it's for strictly political reasons. He has one biological kid and then adopts two more! I just feel like he'd really like kids. I also feel like he'd make a pretty good dad, seeing how well he managed to parent Toothless

Mermaids are in fact real. This one's random but Hiccup canonically wrote a book about mermaids so I vehemently believe they do exist in the httyd universe and that Hiccup met and studied them. I also like to think they're distantly related to dragons!

Toothless cat gecko. He purrs like a motorcycle and gives Hiccup head butts and rubs up against his legs or against his face if he's on Hiccup's shoulder. He also gets the zoomies and does biscuits which is REALLY ANNOYING because his claws are really sharp and shreds everything to ribbons. He also responds to pspsps but would NEVER admit it.

[seagreen-meets-grey]

When Lightning Strikes Ch. 17

When your life is nothing but a cloudless sky, lightning can come and strike you so unexpectedly, you won’t even know what hit you.

Or: When Hiccup and Astrid meet, it is as if lightning strikes.

[Chapter 1] [Chapter 2] [Chapter 3] [Chapter 4] [Chapter 5] [Chapter 6] [Chapter 7] [Chapter 8] [Chapter 9] [Chapter 10] [Chapter 11] [Chapter 12] [Chapter 13] [Chapter 14] [Chapter 15] [Chapter 16] [Chapter 18] [Chapter 19] [Chapter 20]

Crossposted on ao3 and ff.net

_______________

“I’m in love with you.”

Fresh raindrops were hitting the windscreen in an increasing rhythm, the backdrop to her thoughts.

“I’m in love with you.”

She turned on the wipers.

“But I can’t be your friend anymore.”

His voice was haunting her, words replaying in her ears over and over, accompanied by an electric jolt stopping her heart for a beat every single time. She almost anticipated a flash of lightning on the horizon, a crack of thunder rolling through her chest.

The drive back to Berk had never felt this long, the allowed driving speed never this slow. Eyes on the road, she fumbled for her phone, managing to connect it to the car one-handed. There was a call that absolutely could not wait.

It rang a few times, then cut off. Did she have no reception here? Didn’t he? Did he decline her call? Nervously tapping her steering wheel, Astrid flung the phone onto the passenger seat. She would try again if she got stuck at a traffic light. But traffic flowed freely and not much later, she parked in the same spot as mere hours before. She couldn’t believe so little time had passed since she had gotten ready for her lunch not-date (that had totally been an unofficial date).

Dashing through the rain, she quickly made it to the front door and rang the doorbell. But after fifteen minutes of repeatedly pressing the button, she concluded that he either wasn’t home or really did not want to open the door. She tried his phone again, but it just kept ringing and ringing. Which was weird, because he had specifically asked her to call him back, hadn’t he? Why would he not answer her calls now? Had he changed his mind, was he mad that she’d just left like that?

She racked her brain for where he could be, but the weather wasn’t leaving her a lot of options. He couldn’t be at work because it was a Sunday. She didn’t know where any of his friends lived. Hell, she only knew two names, maybe three if she counted the ex-girlfriend. Perhaps he’d gone to the forest again, despite the weather?

But his car was still parked to the side. Was he home after all? She tried the doorbell again, then rang for his neighbor. They could let her in so she could pound at his door, just in case his bell wasn’t working.

“Hello?” came a grumpy voice out of the speaker.

“Ah, yes, hi. I’m trying to get a hold of your neighbor, but he’s not opening. Could you let me in, please?”

“No.”

Briefly taken aback, she blinked a couple times. “I really need to–”

“I don’t know you. If they’re not opening, I won’t either. Good day.” The speaker crackled and went silent.

“Yeah, fuck you too,” she mumbled. “You got great neighbors, man.”

He still wasn’t answering her calls. At this point, she didn’t know whether to be annoyed or worried. Texting him a quick ‘where are you????’, she returned to her car and deliberated her next step. One option was to just wait here for him to get back. Call him over and over again until she got a reaction.

“Ugh!” With a frustrated groan, she threw her head back and closed her eyes. There was a way for her to reach someone who knew him, but even if she was successful, it would be a mighty awkward phone call and she would have to swallow a bit of pride.

“I’m in love with you.”

“Dammit!” She hit her steering wheel, accidentally setting off the horn. Hopefully, it had made Hiccup’s neighbor jump.

The next call went unanswered as well, but that only boosted her determination. There was no stopping her, not so close to her happy ending. She wanted to hear his voice, wanted to look into his wonderful eyes and scream at the top of her lungs, let out all her suppressed feelings that she’d been harboring for him ever since the moment his presence had first struck her like lightning. Three words, one breath. The clear answer he needed to hear from her, the one she needed to speak out loud.

She found Dagur’s contact in her list and sent him a short text, hoping he would help her out first and ask annoying questions later. And lo and behold, twelve minutes later, she had Heather Oswald’s number.

She picked up after the fourth ring. “Hello?”

“Hi. This is Astrid Hofferson, um... We’ve met a couple times, I’m–”

“Yeah,” Heather interrupted her in a tone Astrid couldn’t decipher, “I know who you are.”

“Oh, okay. Great. Uh, I’m looking for Hiccup, actually, and he’s not home or answering his phone. You’re the only person I could get a hold of who might know where he is or…”

“I have no idea.”

“Ah, well then, do you have an idea where I could look?”

The line went silent for a moment. “Without a clue about what’s going on, it’s hard to narrow it down.”

“Oh. Well, maybe–”

“Look, Astrid?” Heather interrupted her. “I know it’s not my place to say. But Hiccup is one of my best friends and he’s been pretty depressed because of you for the past two years. He… cares about you a lot.” Astrid tried to get a word in, but Heather didn’t let herself be interrupted. “I know you two are friends, but you’re not doing him any favors as long as you’re not honest with him.

“Heather, I-”

“Whatever it is you want from him, please tell him so he can stop driving himself crazy.”

“Yes, I know, that’s why I’m looking for him!”

“You are? Good. You might not be aware of it, but you have the power to absolutely break him. I’d rather you didn’t.”

Astrid gulped. “Yeah, believe it or not, he actually has the same power over me. Why do you think I’m calling his ex-girlfriend for help?”

Heather chuckled. “I haven’t heard from him this weekend, but I can think of a few others who might have. I can give you their numbers.”

“Thank you, seriously!”

“I’m doing it for him. Good luck.”

The line went dead and Astrid let out the tension in her shoulders with a sigh of relief. She didn’t have a new lead, but she had gained new options. And she’d just gotten the dad talk from her ex’s best friend’s sister.

Her phone buzzed with a few messages from an unsaved number, sending her a few contacts. She assumed the two people with Hiccup’s last name were his parents and decided to make them her last resort since there was no need to worry them about their son being uncharacteristically unavailable. Besides, they didn’t even know her.

Discovering she actually knew the other people Heather had referred her to, she decided to call Fishlegs first, hoping for not another lecture on how to treat one of his best friends. The one had been uncomfortable enough. The last thing she wanted to do was hurt Hiccup, even unintentionally. He was way too important to her, had taken root inside her heart the moment he’d first smiled at her.

She still remembered how he’d been able to make her forget about the sea of people around her in a matter of seconds, joking around about something trivial, grasping her full attention so easily she’d even blinded out her own fiancé, who’d been right there next to her. Looking back, she could only shake her head at her own stubbornness in admitting her immediate attraction and the connection that had been there from the moment their eyes had met. Her skin tingled at the memory of that bolt of lightning striking her to the core…

With a wince, she pulled herself from her daydream, concentrating on the task at hand and making the next call. Fishlegs picked up almost immediately, voice a little wary of the unknown number calling him on a Sunday evening. The horizon was darkening gradually, the last rays of sunlight drowning in the incoming wave of night, the streetlamps outside flickering on one after the other.

Fishlegs didn’t know where Hiccup was. “Maybe his phone is dead? He sometimes forgets to charge it before it’s too late.”

“Nope, it’s ringing. The signal’s getting through. Which means that’s not it.” She didn’t want to waste her time theorizing about why he wasn’t picking up. She wanted to find him, then she could ask him and punch him for leaving her hanging like this. “But do you know where he could have gone on a Sunday night while it’s raining?”

“Hm. You say his car is home?”

“Yes.”

“Well, Snotlout lives nearby, that’s an old friend of his–”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know him.” Tucking her phone between her jaw and shoulder, she started her car. “Where does he live?”

Fishlegs gave her the directions and offered to stay on the phone so she could keep him updated, but she quickly thanked him and hung up before pulling out of her parking spot. This was the worst scavenger hunt ever. At least she could cross calling Snotlout off her list.

Severely hoping to either catch Hiccup this time or at least get a solid lead, she pushed the doorbell ten seconds long and then hit it repeatedly in a short span of time until she heard the static of the receiver.

“Whoever the fuck you are, fuck you. Hiccup, is that you? I want my jacket.” Well, so much for finding Hiccup here.

“No, it’s Astrid, we met once, I think you tried to flirt with me.”

“Wait, the Astrid? Hot Astrid? Hot-strid?”

“Call me that again and you’ll find out how hot my fist is!”

“Okay, okay.” She noted with satisfaction how he was trying to cover up that he was intimidated. “What are you doing here? Came here to get a taste of the Snotman?”

Deciding to ignore his immediate new attempt at flirting (she would handle that another time, for sure), she just rolled her eyes. “Have you seen Hiccup?”

Expecting the same answer she got from everyone else, she was surprised when he said, “Yep. He was here.”

“When?” She jumped on the information, leaning closer to the receiver.

“I don’t know, some time in the past couple hours? I was busy, I don’t check the clock on a Sunday.”

“Did he say where he was going?”

“Out.” Oh, she wanted to break the door in and slap him.

“But where, Snotlout?!” A dog started barking very closely to the intercom, making Astrid flinch away.

“Shut up, Hookfang! I don’t know, he wouldn’t tell me. Sit, you dumb dog! He just came by for a jacket, he was kinda drenched. Pretty stupid, actually, because he had an umbrella and it wasn’t even raining when I looked outside.”

She bit her lip and frowned. So he was out somewhere, probably still in the rain. Great, so she just had to drive through town and search all the streets of Berk until she found him. At least she had some kind of solid plan now.

“Thanks, Snotlout.”

His answer was drowned out by the barking dog, then the intercom fell silent with a crackling static, but she was already sprinting back to her car. She tried calling Hiccup again, but then gave up with a groan; she wouldn’t reach him. He hadn’t read her text yet, either. So what now, call his parents if he had walked there? She didn’t even know if they lived in Berk.

Reaching for her phone again, she replayed his message. The butterflies tumbled through her stomach again when he said the five words she would never grow tired of hearing. There was the sound of traffic and rain in the background, but that didn’t help a lot, so she replayed it again. And there it was, another lead – he said he’d been at her parents’ place, looking for her. Of course! Maybe he’d mentioned more to whoever had answered the door.

She sped through town, parking right in front of the front door, something her father hated. But right now, she couldn’t care less. Fumbling with the keys for a minute, she pushed the door open and yelled into the house.

“Mom! Dad! Anyone?!”

Her father stuck his head through the door to the living room, glass of wine in hand, wearing his comfy couch pants. “Hello, daughter. We were wondering if you were still showing up for dinner.”

“Sorry, I forgot to cancel, I had something important to do.” She trudged down the hallway to the living room, leaving dirty footprints on the floor.

“Astrid, your shoes!” her father chided her, but she ignored it.

“Was Hiccup here?”

“Who?”

Her mother turned around on the couch. “Yes, your boyfriend was here. He was looking for you.”

Astrid scooched by her dad who almost spilled his wine. “When? What did he say?”

Wilma clucked her tongue in disapproval, shaking her head at her daughter’s wet shoes, two steps from the new carpet.

“Mom.”

Frederick put a hand on her shoulder, holding his glass out of her reach. “Why don’t you take your shoes off and join us? This crime thriller is very entertaining and there’s more wine in the fridge–”

“Mom!”

“Like I said, he was looking for you. I don’t remember when, but it was still light outside. He didn’t say what he wanted, though, and left as soon as I said you weren’t here.”

“Who?” Frederick repeated, confusion written clearly on his face. “The young man you spoke to earlier? What was that about a boyfriend?”

Astrid didn’t have time for explanations to be exchanged. “Which direction did he leave in? This is very, very important, mom!”

“What’s going on, dear? Why don’t you–”

Astrid rolled her eyes with an impatient growl, contemplating threatening to wipe her feet on the carpet if her mother didn’t just come across with the information, but figured that would only spark an entirely different discussion. “Mom, I swear – please just tell me, please!” The desperation had to be showing in her eyes because her mother gave in with a sigh.

“Down the street to Marram Lane, he was on foot so my guess is he was heading for the bus.”

That didn’t make her chase any less frustrating, but it was better than nothing. “Anything else?”

“No–”

“Okay, thanks, bye!” She dashed past her dad who took a surprised step back. Before the front door closed behind her, she could hear him complain about his spilled wine on the new carpet.

Jumping into her car, she deliberated showing Hiccup’s profile picture to every bus driver she could catch, until one of them remembered him and where he got off the bus. But chances were he’d taken the route home and was already back there while she was looking for bread crumbs all over Berk. So she decided on one last attempt. If he didn’t open his door now, she would go home and probably not sleep all night.

If it hadn’t been for the red light near the park, she would have missed it. Tapping her finger against the steering wheel, she absentmindedly glanced outside while waiting for green.

It was the jacket that caught her eye. Chipped print of faded red flames climbing up the dark sleeves, wide and short on a body too tall and lean for the cut. It was him.

The umbrella shaded him from the light of the streetlamps, but she immediately made out the wild auburn hair, the line of his jaw, the slope of his nose, eyes cast down. He was heading for the park, on a shortcut to his house that she couldn’t take with her car.

A honk from behind her alerted her to the green light and she stepped on it, crossing the intersection and pulling over onto the sidewalk as soon as she got the chance to.

She ran, only just bothering to lock her car. The rain was coming down in buckets and she splashed her entire right leg when she stepped in an overly large puddle, but that wouldn’t slow her down.

“Hey!” she yelled. “Hiccup! Wait!”

He had almost disappeared behind the next corner and a few trees when he suddenly stopped and turned around. “Astrid?”

Panting, she came to a stop. “Finally. I looked- I looked everywhere for you.”

“Oh- oh yeah. I’m so sorry.” He pulled his phone from his pocket and showed her the screen. There was a large crack right down the middle and her unsuccessful calls finally made sense. He hadn’t been suddenly ghosting her, after all. “Did… Um, did you get my…”

“I got your message.” Her instincts told her to just grab him and haul him in for a kiss like she’d wanted to for so long, but he’d asked her to talk and she wouldn’t make any rash moves; there was just too much on the line.

For a beat, he looked at her nervously, before he noticed the water running down her face, darkening her hair and clothes. He stepped closer, holding his umbrella over the two of them.

“Thanks.” She wiped wet strands of hair out of her face. Every now and then, a gust of wind blew cold rain underneath the umbrella like a lawn sprinkler that had lost its rhythm. She was exhausted. She’d had a very long day.

It didn’t escape her how his eyes briefly dropped down her face, awakening the memories of his lips brushing hers earlier that day, numbing the tips of her fingers for the fraction of a second, before he averted his face. “I’m sorry if I sprung all this on you, but…”

“No, I’m the one who has to apologize.” His eyes settled back on hers and the shiver running down her spine had nothing to do with the weather. “You were absolutely right, I had been running from my conflicts, and my feelings. I went home to talk to Eret.” She took a deep breath. “We decided to break up.”

His eyes widened in surprise. “Oh, I… Was… Was it true, then? About him and…”

“Dana? That wasn’t what I thought it was. You were right about that, too.”

“Well, I’ll have you know I am always right about everything,” he said with a one-shouldered shrug and the hint of a shy grin.

“Hmm, sure.” Her lips were twitching and the invisible string attached to her heart was pulling at her chest. The rain was cold and the heat his body was emanating was driving her insane. The proximity to him, the way he was looking at her, the light of the streetlamps reflecting golden specks in his deep green eyes sending a parade of tingles over her skin. “He hadn’t been cheating on me any more than I cheated on him.”

His brows furrowed; head cocked to the side ever so slightly.

“Emotionally. Not with Dana. And that’s only one of the reasons me and him didn’t work out.”

Shaking his head, his frown deepened. “So… What does that mean now? Astrid, why are you here?”

She mirrored his expression. “Because you wanted to talk–”

“No, I mean, why are you here? In the rain, soaked to the bone? You could have called later, or tomorrow, or any other time.”

“No, I couldn’t,” she replied, trying to lay all the sincerity she felt into her voice. “Like I said, I’ve been running away for way too long.” The world began to blur around her, the traffic and the rain faded, vision narrowing in on him, capturing his gaze so intently, it caused her palms to sweat and her hands to start shaking from the intensity. “I love you. Okay? I love you! I want to be with you, Hiccup! I- I love you.” Her heart was rapidly pumping liquid lightning through her veins from finally saying the words out loud.

The earth stopped spinning as she looked at him, waiting for a reaction. His lips were slightly parted, eyes posing as windows to his soul, alive and starry, burning into her like fireworks into the summer night. With bated breath, knees weakening under his gaze, she felt the electricity buzz around her, charging for the final blow. Seconds passed, small eternities, in which she couldn’t move, the current pinning her to the spot.

Then, he suddenly surged forward, grabbing her face with both hands, and lightning crashed through her as they finally connected in a blinding flash of blue and white. Her chest exploded; high voltage was coursing through her every nerve, every vein, blood alive, heart pounding in sync with his; it was like their souls were magnets, caught in each other’s magnetic field, too strong to disconnect.

Her heart was soaring, quaking, pulsating, the world empty but for them. Their heavy breaths and the deafening thunder in her soul the only sound reaching her ears. Space and time became foreign concepts, the universe narrowing down to where they stood, hands roaming over shoulders, necks, limbs and through hair, unable to linger, always seeking out more, lips chasing lips.

She had to hold onto him as the ground disappeared underneath her feet and she went falling, flying, tumbling through the clouds. Her stomach was doing somersaults, backflips, pirouettes; the lightning strike had left her blind. She couldn’t get enough of his touch, lungs screaming for air, but she couldn’t care less about breathing, reconnecting with his lips after every hasty intake of air, drowning in the feeling of wonder, of pure euphoria.

The only thing she knew to be real was the warmth of his body, the passion that let their lips collide over and over again until she felt dizzy from the lack of oxygen and the intense electric current running through their bodies like one.

Eyes still closed, they eventually parted for much required air, their foreheads touching, breaths mingling. Her hands were slowly sliding from his neck, resting over his erratic heartbeat, mirroring hers. His fingers trailed down her spine, settling around her waist.

“Did you feel that?” Her voice was shaking.

“The lightning?”

Her eyes fluttered open and her chest swelled with affection at the raw emotion in his eyes and the fact that he felt as much for her as she did for him. She nodded with a gulp.

“I did.” He lifted a hand to her face, gently wiping something hot and salty from her cheek that she hadn’t even noticed herself. “Is this real?”

“I certainly hope so.”

“Hey, if not, at least we’re stuck in the same dream, right?”

“Right.” Getting lost in his gaze again, she blinked when he suddenly cleared his throat and looked around, as if remembering that there was a whole universe out of their wonderful, perfect little bubble.

“We should probably go someplace dry.” The umbrella was discarded somewhere on the ground, dirty and forgotten. “I keep getting drenched today, how is that?!”

The laughter breaking out of her and the look he gave her in return were nothing short of breathtaking, and she wondered if she was ever going to get used to that, already addicted to everything about him, everything he was doing to her. “My car is back there.” She pointed in a general direction over her shoulder.

“Okay.” He leaned down and softly pecked her lips again, followed by another toe-curling, heart-stopping, world-shaking kiss, slow and deep, her fingers clutching at his soaked shirt. Their noses brushed, wet and cold. “Okay,” he repeated himself in a whisper and stepped away enough to entwine their hands, starting towards where she had pointed.

The skin of their interlaced fingers was frigid, but Astrid did not feel the cold. She just felt… free.

His thumb brushed over her knuckles as she steered him back to her car and the contact crackled through her nerves like an inextinguishable fire. Just this morning, she’d been shaken by her own confession to herself, still anxious over the fight she’d had with Hiccup the day before. Entire lifetimes had passed since then.

Glancing at him, she caught his eyes and the blinding smile on his lips. Oh, those lips. She had discovered a new drug and she was already high on it. With a weak fist, she punched his shoulder. “That’s for breaking your phone.” He blushed, rubbing his neck with his free hand. With her own, she fished her car keys from her uncomfortably wet jeans, pushing the button and glancing over him once more. “And what the hell are you wearing?!”

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- End of Part 2 -

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[howtowhumpyourhiccup]

Winter Whumperland Day 10: Ruin

Summary: Written for Winter Whumperland Day 10. Set in a Modern AU, follows up on Day 9 'Planned'. Darkness was all Hiccup knew during those first three months. Darkness and daily defeat. Ruin was his way back into the light.

Warning: Rape/non-con

Rating: Mature

Characters: Hiccup, Viggo

Pairing: Vigcup, past-Hiccstrid

Words: 4 356

Fandom: How to Train Your Dragon

Prompt: “Poisoned”, “Food deprivation”

Whumpee: Hiccup

Author’s Notes: After posting Day 'Planned', I decided to hold off on posting Days 10 and 11 until I finished Day 12, which still had such a long way to go. It still does, but I have since split Day 12 into two parts and part 1 is finished. So it felt right to post Day 10.

I think that this thing is the darkest fic I've written to date, the final chapter in Hiccup's story left unexplored. There is still plenty left, but those won't be from his perspective. ;D

Constructive criticism is appreciated.

Enjoy!

Ao3

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"Are we not as lively today as we usually are, Hiccup?" One afternoon in late August, this is the question Viggo asks. His gaze is indifferent, if slightly pleased, as it lingers on the young man sitting opposite to him at a table.

Hiccup looks a little lost as he sits there with him, a barely played chessboard between the two. He's hunched, appearing small, and tired. He's lost weight, but he's not as thin as he was a week ago, when he first left the downstairs area of the Grimborn home, the basement.

When a question is asked of him, he looks back at Viggo and realizes it's been a few minutes since he's made his move on the board. And yet, the older man isn't wondering why Hiccup is taking so long, knowing well enough what the cause for his downtrodden mood is.

He's feeling a little down, a little fatigued. It's not too crazy after what he's been through, after what he's survived and gotten out of. if anything, Viggo is pleased to see him this way. He's never liked Hiccup's 'loudness' from before, though others would argue that Hiccup isn't loud at all. Not in the way Viggo thinks.

"Um, I'm sorry, I'm..." Hiccup apologizes, but he's unsure what he wants to say. He hasn't just been spacing out during their game, he's been doing so throughout the day and during previous days, too.

Does it have something to do with the things done to him? He's certainly still recovering from it and not just mentally, his body is trying to catch up, too. Though his ribs and knee have healed and Viggo is putting enough food in him, he's still worryingly thing and that doesn't help his mental health. It all contributes to the tiredness that he feels.

"It's okay, my Dear, I know that you're having a hard time." Viggo understands, but he's only pretending to be nice, pretending to be concerned.

Hiccup looks down at himself, picking at the loose skin on his fingers. He's hurting, he feels like crying, he feels such shame and he can't see a single part of himself without remembering.

Without a doubt, Viggo can see the emotion growing in his eyes, can see a non-physical weight physically weighing him down. His response to that? Taking his glass of wine to sip from it. In his eyes, this is progress.

But as painful as those venomous memories are, they make Hiccup think of an important question.

"Can I- can I ask you a question?" Hiccup asks cautiously. There is something he needs to know, though he is afraid of the answer. He is very afraid.

"Make your move first, Hiccup, I don't appreciate to be kept waiting. After that, you can ask." Viggo responds, gesturing to the board, and so Hiccup turns his attention quietly back down to their game.

It's only because of Viggo that he knows how to play chess. He might've been a little curious at some point, he knows Fishlegs certainly has been, but it wasn't until Viggo came into his life that he learned how to play.

Maybe he could be good with a little bit more practice, Viggo is quite an experienced players, but his fatigue doesn't allow him to think of any good moves. When Hiccup makes his next one, it's the first one he can find. It might not be the best move, but he's not in the right mindset to even try to go for a win either. He's afraid of what'll happen if he does win.

Besides, he doesn't have the energy for it, he just wants to ask his question and have his answer.

Viggo hum disapprovingly and Hiccup holds his breath for one tense moment.

"Go on, ask your question." But fair is fair, so Viggo awaits his question.

"Do I... Um.. Do I have to ever, you know?" Hiccup can feel his heartbeat growing louder, can feel it pounding against his sternum. He acts subdued, but on the inside, he's full of turmoil and fright.

"Do I ever have to go back? Down-downstairs?" But Viggo is a patient man when Hiccup doesn't make him angry and he manages to ask. Hiccup fears the answer he may receive.

Viggo crosses his arms and hums as if in thought. It is nothing but an act as he already has his answer. He likes to keep Hiccup on his toes, likes to make him worry and stress. It's good, it's how Hiccup knows to behave.

"Well, no, not as long as you're a good boy. I won't have a reason to send you back if you listen and are good, do I?" That answer is barely comforting and Viggo's almost endearing smile doesn't help.

So long as Hiccup doesn't step out of line, he has nothing to worry about. So long as he listens, is a good boy, does everything that's asked and expected of him, he'll be okay. But then, what exactly is 'stepping out of line' to Viggo? Is it when he falls back into his old behavior? When he tries to escape? Or is it something as small as speaking out of turn?

Hiccup could ask, but maybe asking is considered stepping out of line and he doesn't want to risk that.

Thinking back to that place hurts so much and it makes him sick to his stomach. It's awful, so very awful. And the only reason he's sitting in the dining room with the afternoon sunlight filtering in through the window now is because he's given in to him.

He hopes he never has to go through something like that ever again.

"Oh my Dear," Viggo offers a hand and his support as he notices the tears growing in Hiccup's eyes. "My wonderful Dear."

He knows that he's hurting, that was the entire point of keeping Hiccup down there for the first three months of his time here. How can Viggo trust him to be a good boy upstairs if he hasn't learned to obey first? And learning to obey always hurts, learning to be his perfect partner hurts. His tears are a sign that it's working. This is a good thing!

Hesitantly, Hiccup accepts it and places his hand in Viggo's, the man squeezing his in return. Unless it's erotic in nature, Hiccup doesn't get affectionate gestures like this, so it's nice to just have his hand held for once.

Viggo's hand is warm, too. As much as he fears and hates the man, it's just nice to be held.

He knows Astrid liked to walk hand in hand with him, knows his friends liked hugs, he misses those simple things.

Hiccup's lower lip trembles, a lump in his throat, and the tears are impossible to hold back. The affection and thinking of his friends and girlfriends don't help. A thumb rubs the back of his hand comfortingly.

"It'll be okay, Hiccup. Just be a good boy and you don't have to go back. All you need to do is to remember that and listen." Viggo tells him, as if that is a reassuring thing to hear.

As long as he listens, he doesn't have to fear the basement. As long as he's a good boy, he doesn't have to worry.

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Ryker running Hiccup over with his car injured him gravely, but broken ribs, a dislocated knee, and a hurt hip only kept Hiccup from fighting back for so much. If Viggo has ever hoped that they would, he was wrong.

Once Hiccup got his bearings, once he comprehended the position that he's in, he has only one goal in mind and that is to escape.

The cuffs that were there when he first woke up were only used to keep him from flying into a panic and injuring himself further. The near panic attack Hiccup had was already enough to endanger him.

The next time and the next and every time he wakes up afterward, they aren't there. If he were healthy, maybe they would be used to tie him down, but he isn't and Viggo must believe his ribs enough to hold him down.

He was wrong, of course.

Hiccup is free to leave the bed. And though he can't breathe properly without the painkillers provided by his abductors, Hiccup has enough experience walking around with his bad leg that the dislocation of a joint meant little to him. He can jump and land wrong and it will pop out, this is nothing new to him.

So carefully and slowly, making use of the hours he's alone, he inspects every nook and cranny of the room they keep him in. When Viggo is at work, Ryker doesn't care enough to visit, so that leaves him with plenty of opportunities to explore.

The bathroom, while objectively nice, only has the bare essentials. A toothbrush, toothpaste, shampoo, body wash, a hairbrush, that sort of thing. None of them are the brands he uses, rather they are the ones his abductor personally prefers.

In his little living space, there is only the bed and that's that. The mattress is decent, the frame sturdy, and the covers and pillowcase soft. Though an asshole, Viggo has a standard he does not lower unless it comes to his murder cabin, which Hiccup won't know about for months.

Besides the bed, there is no nightstand, no shelves, and nothing to entertain him with. Either Viggo hasn't thought of it, didn't care, or purposely didn't want Hiccup to keep himself busy.

There is only the chessboard, the one thing he would sometimes bring down to the basement with him. It takes only a week for Hiccup to hate it with a passion.

But though they don't keep him confined to the bed, his injuries do keep him from doing much to escape. Exploring is one thing, but attempting to fashion some sort of weapon or lockpick or something to undo the hinges of the door is beyond him. What little he already does leaves him breathless.

Besides, it is in his best interest to reserve his strength.

Because when the hours pass and Viggo eventually comes home, he needs it.

In the beginning, they started out as touches. Hiccup could tell that this was purely because of his injuries. If he could breathe right, if his hip and knee could be used at all, his first days in the basement would've already been the closest thing to hell he's known in his short life thus far.

They were small things. Viggo would help him sit up, would give him his painkillers, seemingly normal stuff, but the hand would linger. It would be on his upper arm, his back, his side, eventually on his thigh. And even there, there's a journey closer and closer to his center.

They are discomforting and Hiccup moves out of his reach every time, letting out a discomforting chuckle each time. He just doesn't know how to deal with such intrusive attention.

And then, one day, Viggo dares a kiss and Hiccup punches him for it. His lips aren't wanted on his and Hiccup makes sure he felt it.

He has only been kissed without his consent once before and that was by Dagur. He'd been in complete shock back then, utterly frozen and defenseless. He'd promised himself since that kiss that he would never let anyone kiss him like that again. But Viggo has and so Hiccup acts accordingly.

But then he regrets it shortly afterward, of course. The sudden upwelling of violence makes his wounded ribs scream. He holds it, collapsing to his knees while Viggo stands over him and holds his lower jaw, flexing it angrily.

"I suppose it was foolish of me to think you wouldn't fight back, though you've certainly surprised me with the violence you appear to be capable of." There is venom in his tone and eyes, his anger barely restrained. His pride has been hurt.

Hiccup groaning and struggling to draw in any oxygen on the floor does nothing to him.

"But don't worry, it's been duly noted and will be dealt with appropriately." With those final words, Viggo takes his leave. Turning and walking away, locking the door behind him as he goes.

But as time passes, there is no retaliation, no punishment. Though Viggo has been angered, there seems to be no reaction of any kind. Hiccup thinks it strange, but he's never been kidnapped by an obsessed man before.

Dagur certainly tried once with his convincing a 15-year-old boy to run away with him, but he's nothing like Viggo. So Hiccup still doesn't know what to expect. If he had, that meant he would've seen the red flags, and that meant he might not even be in this situation.

And then, Hiccup is plunged straight into hell.

Because the next day, his breakfast is brought, as per usual. Though always cautious, Hiccup takes it and eats it because he wants to heal, wants to regain his strength, and that's when the trouble begins. He doesn't know what could've been used, but that innocent bowl of plain cereal was poisoned.

He remembers Viggo bringing it to him personally, his fond smile turning into a malicious smirk when Hiccup reaches the end of his meal. He takes the bowl back and then leaves, wishing him a "pleasant time" in the basement.

And now here he is, clutched to the toilet like his life depends on it.

Ever tried vomiting with two broken ribs? This is Hiccup's first time and he can attest to how excruciating it is.

Every lurch isn't just accompanied with the usual burning throat and foul taste, but also with the agony of his injured side forcible contracting together to get the contents of his stomach out of him.

His stomach, plagued by horrible cramps, wants to be relieved and at the same time, his lungs would love some air. They battle to have their needs met and that just makes the entire experience about a hundred times worse than it already is. A hundred times more traumatizing, too.

Sitting on his bad knee and hip helps little. With the urge to throw up, there is the urge to do anything but kneel in front of the toilet on the hard, tiled floor. About every part of this is pure, unadulterated torture.

To make things even worse, there is the constant fear of a broken rib moving and collapsing his lung. Ryker certainly wouldn't care enough to take him to a hospital in time and Viggo might rather want to clean his hands free of him than risk being caught as a kidnapper. They wouldn't come to his aid, they will let him suffocate to death instead.

Every time the urge to retch comes, he tries to suppress it. For the sake of his ribs, to have control over his own body again, sobbing, coughing his airways free. Every time he tries, it gets so much worse, but that makes him want to try harder, and so the cycle continues.

Time passes, the cycle is endless, the pain is torment and all Hiccup can do is beg.

"Please, don't make me throw up any more." He whimpers, everything hurting, throat burning, voice hoarse.

All day this cycle goes on and on. Every half an hour the urge strikes, until it continues long after there is nothing left in his system to give up, until all he does is dry heave in desperation, until the wee hours of the night.

Sweating, trembling, beyond exhausted,  and grossly sobbing and hiccuping, Hiccup still clutches to the toilet bowl hours after his tainted breakfast.

He wants it to end, he wants to sleep, but his stomach is still upset and he doesn't want to leave the safety of the bathroom.

It's been at least an hour since the last time he threw up and that means he's carefully allowing himself to hope that this is it, that this is the end of his suffering for the day. If he could, he would fall asleep right here on the cold floor.

His right side is on fire and his abdominal muscles are sore after the workout they've gotten. He can barely swallow, throated burned from all the stomach acids.

Conveniently, after not showing his face the entire day, Viggo decides now is the time to make his entrance. Hiccup could've used a little support during the day instead of being forced to go through those long hours of torture completely alone. He has pleaded for his mom and dad at some point.

Watching him shiver with a look of sadistic satisfaction, their gazes meeting, Viggo can see the pain and the tiredness in them. Hiccup's arm is on the seat, his head resting on the limb while he sits there limply.

"Learned your lesson?" Viggo asks with an air of arrogance to him. It's as if he expects him to fall to his feet and beg for forgiveness right then and there.

"Water? Please?" He asks softly, tone barely above a whisper.

"Hm-hm, have you learned your lesson?" Viggo repeats. If Hiccup wants to have that glass of water, he needs to earn it first.

"Please, Viggo. Please," Viggo, believing this to be an admittance of defeat, takes his suit jacket to lay over Hiccup's shoulder, he must be cold after all of that.

"Let us get you washed up and hydrated." He tells him, playing nice now that Hiccup's down and beaten. The dirty towel, used to wipe his mouth during the day, can be taken care of later.

But what Viggo doesn't realize is that Hiccup isn't a fast learner when it comes to things like this.

He doesn't throw up again, but it takes him a week to get better, which is nearly a week of lying in bed and recovering from whatever's been fed to him. Just sleeping and drinking and eating the few light meals his stomach can handle at that time.

But once he's there, when Viggo deems him healthy enough to try and force his tongue down his throat again, Hiccup still doesn't stand for it and shows his dismay by fighting back in any way he can.

So he's sick for a second week after his disobedience. Once he's recovered from that, a third week follows. Viggo quickly realizes he has to switch to a new tactic.

Because eventually those injuries heal and that means he can be a little meaner to Hiccup.

There is something Viggo wants from him and he's adamant about getting it.

Besides, with those ribs better now all that food, when not poisoned, is only good for one thing and that is all that extra energy that Viggo deems unessential.

So he cuts Hiccup off. When Hiccup rejects Viggo's hugely inappropriate advances once again, he's denied food for the rest of the day. The first time, he only misses dinner, so that means he's quite hungry by the time breakfast arrives.

But Hiccup automatically denies that meal, too, having learned from the three times he's been made terribly ill through poisoned food to be wary of breakfast.

Lunch comes and Hiccup accepts that meal, but it comes at the price of more of the older man's forceful affection, which he'd strongly rejected once again. At dinner he stays away, breakfast Hiccup misses on purpose, lunch is spoiled by Viggo trying to kiss him and pin him to the bed. It becomes a cycle, with lunch becoming the sole source of his food.

The three weeks of illness has severely weakened him, but by the day he grows even weaker, only given enough to not get him in trouble. That makes it so much harder for him to fight back and Viggo doesn't care if he loses a couple of pounds in the process. And with no injuries getting in the way, Viggo can afford to be a little rough.

If anything, it's fun to see how long Hiccup can keep this up. Everybody has a breaking point and his doesn't seem so easily reached.

"No, please, don't! Stop! Viggo, you're such a piece of shit, stop!" He would shout, he would push, he would kick, but his attempts weaken as his body does.

So naturally, the night comes when Hiccup can no longer fight back and he's run out of energy to do much of anything. By the time he's just shy of being nothing by skin and bones, he's tried everything he can think of to keep Viggo from stealing from him. The younger Grimborn even sports a deeply blue bitemark at some point, to which Ryker's only amused response is; "So he's kinky."

But while his attempts work to deter him for another night, it's not enough in the long run and the lack of strength has put a full stop to his escape plan, too.

Reserves empty, all out of tricks, too run-down to even sass, black and bruised all over, Hiccup eventually can't stop Viggo from taking what he's been after since the first day they met.

He forced himself onto him, raped him, and it's a first time he could've done without.

"Now was that really so hard?" Viggo asks him afterward in a mocking tone as he dresses, leaving Hiccup to curl up and hug himself. There is no comfort afterward and it's on purpose. Viggo doesn't even stay, making Hiccup wallow in the shame all alone.

That night he cries for his parents, pleading with them to come get him. He hasn't cried for them since a dragon attacked him and he had to be flown to the nearest hospital. But being pinned down and raped will certainly do the trick.

During his stay, Hiccup will have a hard time admitting it even to himself that it happened. The mere thought, while the memories are always there, is always cut short.

The next morning is his first breakfast in much too long and Hiccup cannot reject it, despite his fear. It's like a reward for losing.

No matter how awful accepting it makes him feel, he can't refuse. Viggo sits down on the bed next to him as he eats, much too close, his hand on his thigh, and it makes Hiccup sicker to his stomach than being poisoned made him feel. But he couldn't reject the food, couldn't ask Viggo to leave, because his body despairs for that food.

And then afterward, there is a new cycle, a new game. It's one of choice, if you will. Either Hiccup gives in or he starves. Wanting to live and make it out above else, he chooses the former.

That is how his three months in the darkness of the basement went.

In a way, anything after that is child's play compared to what he suffered downstairs. Perhaps, the time spend in the Grimborn home afterward, is time he spends gathering up the pieces of his shattered spirit to put back together again one by one until the holiday trip that leads to his freedom.

It's a shoddy job in the end, but he survives.

Viggo comes to get him on the anniversary of the third month of his abduction with more presentable clothes for him to wear. Something other than the hoodie, shirt, and jeans he'd been taken in, which were dirty and smelly by now.

There's a broken and dull look to Hiccup when Viggo tells him to wash up and dress in them. He quite likes the sight of it. He's fond, even.

The clothes don't fit, appearing to be too large on him. But is that really surprising when the sizes are based on a time before all that weight loss?

When dressed, Hiccup stands before Viggo, staring down at the first decent clothes he's had in much too long, the first clean clothes. They're not his, they're not even the kind of clothes he would wear during formal events. They're so ill-fitting they look almost ridiculous on him, too. That is, he would look ridiculous if the sight of him didn't spark the more natural reaction of; "Oh my God, get this man a doctor."

Viggo is fruitlessly straightening out his clothes that don't fit, but he doesn't seem to mind. Once they're about as neat as he can get them, he cups a hollowed-out cheek and brings Hiccup's face up to have their eyes meet. The entire time, Hiccup has his gaze downcast.

"I want you to know how proud I am of you, my Dear. You've learned your place." Viggo tells him, staring into eyes that are rather empty with a satisfied glint in his own.

When he draws his hand back, Hiccup's gaze is soon downcast again.

Stepping away from him, Viggo motions towards the door, the same one that's been locked for three full months, even whenever Grimborn was down here.

"This is a special day." Hiccup is told.

"You've earned this." He's told.

And now, Viggo wants him to take the stairs up.

The door is opened to him and Hiccup lifts his eyes up. He can see the stairs, can see more of it as it opens wider. There is the soft throbbing of longing in his heart, of excitement.

Is this really it? Is he finally going up there and leaving the basement?

The stairs revealed, Viggo puts a hand on his lower back to gently push him towards it. The steps are wooden, they're filthy, but they're the best stairs he's ever seen.

But even better is that the door on the other side at the top isn't just unlocked, it's open and Hiccup can see light coming in. Natural light! His eyes aren't used to that much anymore and it is blinding, but he refuses to look away and squints.

But it's open, he really is leaving.

The tears he wants to cry then are of joy. There's a spark inside of him that Viggo will come to regret.

He's survived and, in the end, he fights back.

He's not broken.

[yv-sketches]

Why I did not like Never and Forever’s ending

I was the first person on tumblr to get it and I’m afraid I’ve scared multiple people by saying something happens at the end. I’m very sorry for that, so I’ll do my best to explain why.

First off, I don’t dislike this book, and I didn’t write this to convince people to dislike its ending. In fact, I’m incredibly happy for every singe person who liked the ending better than I did.

Secondly, I know it is me. I am too old for this. I really ought to quit drawing characters from a middle grade book and do more important things with my life.

MAJOR SPOILERS UNDER THE READ MORE. Please do not click here if you haven’t read the book. I mean it, don’t click.

In my last year of high school (yes I am that old, I feel old too), I followed program for people who might want to study English at university. There was a fancy professor with fancy books and everything. The subject was Arthurian legend, and almost all of the the medieval stories were incredibly depressing and/or disturbing, so I’m stuck with a lot of cursed knowledge about king Arthur I would rather forget.

There is no historical Arthur, or a definitive version of the myths including him. If anything it’s more like a bunch of fanfics about original characters that got lost over time. BBC had their interpretation, Guillermo Del Toro has his, Disney has theirs and now Cressida wrote one.

Unless you know that medieval depressing stuff, which the target audience probably doesn’t, twoo’s ending is actually pretty sweet. The witches are gone, the fules kissed and no one is confirmed dead. Not even Sychorax’s suitors.

~

My problem is not with the reveal itself, but the way it was done.

Httyd 1 started with the prologue that foreshadowed the ending that would follow 12 books later. The first httyd book is riddled with clues and messages that connect to the final story. The two dragons biting each others tail on Stoick’s shield, the injury on Toothless’s chest. Small things that have a major impact once you know what they mean.

Twoo does not have anything like that. In the first three books, there were no hints, no clues, no red herrings to conceal the twist at the end. Not once was there a joke about ‘Once and Future Magic’, or a mention of the city Camelot.

(The warrior capital could have been called Camelot in a random sentence no one would pay attention to, or Xar could joke about how the person of destiny was the once and future monarch of the entire Wildwoods.) All I found was a magic sword and a bird named Caliburn. Caliburn was already a character, so I did not expect the sword to be Excalibur/Caliburn too.

When Wish put the sword in the stone, I did expect a link to the Arthurian myths. A promise that the sword would get out of the stone once there was a peaceful kingdom of Wizards and Warriors together maybe? Like httyd, it would be a hopeful ending that one day there would be a king/queen to rule over a kingdom without slaves mining iron or droods with scary prisons. I did not expect the characters themselves to end up in the Arthurian myths.

~

The Arthurian ending would make some great character arcs if they’d been written in from the start. Xar never gets magic, but he becomes a wise king, with a round table with werewolves and hobs as equals. It’d be a perfect ending for him. Morgana used to be a benevolent magician watching over Arthur, and that sounds exactly like Wish. Yes, she is the person of destiny, but she stays Arthurs magic protector and best friend. Also perfect.

Bodkin gets over his fainting thing and becomes a honourable knight? Hmm... He spent three books disliking violence and wanting to be a storyteller. He might have overcome his fear and beat the Nuckalavee, but being good at something does not equal liking it. There’s also the ableist implication that you have to get over a condition to be a worthy hero, and that doesn’t feel right at all. However, he is the epitome of chivalry, and he’s a Fishlegs-like hopeless romantic whose crush might unintentionally start a war.

This all makes sense, and it would have been an amazing conclusion. I think I would have loved the ending if there were pages in book 1-3 showing that Cressida’s Camelot was far less creepy. The tales of arcadia and BBC versions each have a kid friendly version for their story. If the series was set in an entirely different Camelot, one Cressida specifically created for her story, it would be amazing to see Xar become a great king and Wish the most powerful Wizard. Instead, Camelot did not seem to exist until halfway into book 4, so the only Camelot I thought of was of the disturbing medieval variety.

~

The last pages just leave us with the names. This was an original world with original characters, no reason to assume they would grow up to be Arthur, Morgana and Lancelot until the last 15 pages. Then the entire series ends.

The httyd characters got an ending that leaves them right where they are. Three children on their way to a brighter future, happy to be alive and happy to be together, and perhaps dragons will return when the world is a better place.

From How to Fight a Dragon’s Fury:

So that is where we will leave them, Hiccup and his friends: forever young, forever hopeful, singing their hearts out on the island of Tomorrow. BECAUSE... If it doesn’t end well, then it isn’t THE END

This is not possible with the twoo trio. Cressida told me exactly which adults they will grow up to be, and with all the terrible things that medieval people wrote about their characters, I also know there is no reason to be hopeful. I feel bad closing the book if that is how their lives will continue.

It does NOT end well, and it IS the end.

These characters deserved better than the fates assigned to them in the last few pages.

[aleteia-ff]

A Decade To Find You - 3

Also Read On: AO3 | FF.net

Thank you everyone for the support! Unfortunately, school started again, so this update came in a bit later, but I'm definitely finishing this story! My current expectation is that it will end at 5 chapters, perhaps 4. This one turned out a lot longer than I'd anticipated, hence me coming back from my earlier estimate of 3 chapters!

I hope you enjoy!

Summary: Astrid didn't think much of the guy she bumped into just after midnight on January 1, 2010. It was just a hasty apology, a quip and a lop-sided grin from his side. It wasn't supposed to be special.Hiccup felt the same way. That was, until he locked eyes with her again one year later. And the year after that. And the next.But somehow, their destinies only seemed to intertwine that one night a year... On New Year's Eve.

Hiccstrid, New Year’s Eve Fic. Spanning the entire past decade.

Chapter 3: New Year’s Eve 2016

December 31st, 2016

Life came with a lot of difficult choices. Hiccup knew that all too well. Batman, Superman, or simply admitting that the DCEU, especially after Suicide Squad, didn't quite hold a candle to the MCU? It was a shame, really. He'd always loved Batman, had reread many of his old comics since 2014, even saw the humour in George Clooney's Batnipples. But perhaps Justice League would prove everyone wrong in 2017. Hopefully.

At least it hadn't been difficult to choose between Team Cap and Team Iron Man. As much as he adored Spider-Man, his father's opinion was simply more important. And Steve Rogers was their guy.

He felt silly to be spending energy on those dilemmas, but after all the shit he'd been through, it was a breath of fresh air to be worried about stuff that was simple. To have his life on the rails, to no longer be forced to sort through his father's will and figure out how to handle all the insurance and ownership documents. He'd even felt comfortable enough to go and study abroad, having spent the best part of the last half year in Melbourne while Gobber, Snotlout and Uncle Spite took care of what was now his house.

Uncle Spite had told him that it was fine if Hiccup wanted to sell it, that he would find a trustworthy real estate agent who got him his money's worth. It would allow Hiccup to buy an apartment in Hopeless, closer to university, and leave Berk and all the painful memories there behind.

He'd seriously considered the change of scenery, because of course it was difficult to forget what had happened when so many people around him knew. Not just the small family that remained. But also Mrs. Ack from down the street, who kept bringing him leftovers, because his thin frame had led her to assume he wasn't feeding himself properly. The Bog family, who lived a few houses away and whose eldest daughter, Camicazi, frequently stole his garbage bags long and put them at the side of the street for the truck to pick up. Everyone knew what had happened to him, and wanted to do their utmost best to support him. He didn't need it, and had told them to stop several times, painfully elated and awkward, rubbing the back of his head so hard he was surprised he hadn't gone bald yet. But Berkians were stubborn, and persisted nevertheless.

And the more time he'd spent in Australia, the more he'd started to miss Berk. He didn't know what it was about the town that had been his family's home for seven generations. But the moment he'd set foot in it again after returning from the other side of the world, it had simply felt like home. And for now, he had no intention to leave.

He didn't know what it was, exactly. Tuffnut and Ruffnut weren't around much, their band now touring the country and only returning as a service to Gruffnut, who had given them the necessary spotlight by booking them last New Year's Eve - although the way the twins told the story, it was Gruffnut who owed them, not the other way around. Fishlegs was studying at the Hopeless Institute of Technology - the name of which was a HIT with students in exam weeks - like him, so Berk wasn't where they saw each other most. Hiccup had grown closer to Snotlout however, some of his cousin's obnoxiousness having faded after his father passed away. Or it was simply being channelled into the roles he played with Berk's local musical theatre company.

Still, Hiccup felt something was keeping him in Berk. He didn't mind it, not in the slightest, it felt good, like he'd finally found a fragment of inner peace. But he didn't know what it was exactly.

And he didn't have time to think about it, since a voice snapped him out of his tragically derailed train of thought.

"What's on the menu?"

He had only heard it one time before, seven years ago. Yet he recognised it immediately.

He turned his head, looking right into the beautiful blue eyes of the woman next to him. He had to look down at her now, unlike on the first day of 2010, but felt incredibly tiny nevertheless. He'd thought he'd blown it when she'd fled from him last year, having rejected her himself the year before that one. But here she was, smiling at him with a teasing smirk on her face and making the ground underneath his feet disappear, sending him into a free fall.

"Hey - uh - hey -" He laughed sheepishly when he finally remembered how to form words, rubbing the back of his head, and her grin only widened. "Hi," he concluded more sternly, as if it would miraculously make up for his earlier stammering.

She bit her lower lip, laughing still and making his insides contract because he'd thought she couldn't look cuter, a dark blue beanie pulled over her ears, but of course she kept surprising him. "Hey."

For all the times he'd imagined spending time with her, he now realised he'd put embarrassingly little effort into what exactly he would say to her when the stars finally aligned.

There were a million thing he could say, but now that he had the chance, he couldn't come up with anything. His eyes flicked back to the wooden stall in front of him, to the choice he'd been trying to make, and he finally realised that she had already asked him a question he still had to answer.

"All of this is on the menu," he told her, widely gesturing at the space in front of him, a holiday market stall selling all kinds of New Year's treats and drinks from around the world. "I don't even know half of it, but I figured I should try something."

"How about you let me pick?" she proposed. "And I'll pay for it too, in case it's horrible."

"Only if you have it with me," he smiled, her smirk contagious. "And let me buy you a drink in return."

"Deal," she nodded, instantly stepping forward to examine the shop's showcase, her brows furrowing as she focused. Occasionally, she made an adorable sound when she not-so-silently judged the different kinds of food, and Hiccup found himself staring at her, cherishing the moment.

Because she hadn't disappeared yet.

He quickly pretended to be studying the sign that listed the available drinks when she glanced over her shoulder, shooting him another smile.

"Glühwein?" he asked, his voice shooting up as if he'd gone straight back to puberty.

"Nah." She shook her head, looking away from a moment. "I don't drink." She paused before adding: "Not anymore."

"I can respect that," he nodded, thinking back to the times he'd seen her considerably less sober. Despite only catching a glimpse of her, he was sure just last year had been one of those. And he couldn't deny that while he respected anyone enough to let them make their own decisions, she hadn't looked as well as she'd done the years before. As if there had been a little less light in her otherwise bright eyes.

She pulled up an eyebrow. "Really?"

"Yeah," he shrugged, gesturing at his head. "Hangovers suck. Kills your brain too. And booze doesn't even always taste as good as people pretend it does."

"I'm glad you agree," she hummed.

"You make it sound like I'm special."

She took him in for a moment, as if she was seizing him up. "I guess you are. Most of my friends at university disagreed."

"Seems like you need better friends."

"Which is why I'm here." Her lips settled back into a smile. "And I think you still owe me a mug of hot chocolate."

He couldn't help but grin. "Sounds like a plan."

He ordered two mugs of hot chocolate with whipped cream on top while Hot Chocolate Girl - her name, he had to ask for her name - picked out a snack she liked. They walked away from the stall with what she laughingly informed him were called 'Dutch doughnuts' - huge balls of deep fried dough with raisins in them, covered in about a pound of powdered sugar.

He asked her if she wanted to sit down.

"Of course," was her simple answer.

They zigzagged through the crowd, her leading so he wouldn't lose sight of her - not again - until they reached one of the market's squares. He thanked the Gods Luktuk had gotten spiteful and had organised its own winter market this year. Meaning it was a lot less busy and that there were actually some free spots. He had already started to dread the prospect of having to go and sit back with Snotlout. Not that Snot wasn't good company, but from the corner of his eye he could easily see his cousin, already sufficiently drunk, draw Barney Stinson's hot-crazy scale in the air, challenging Fishlegs and the twins to determine where Hot Chocolate Girl would land.

So much for Snotlout losing some of his obnoxiousness.

They sat down across from each other at one of the wooden picnic tables, and for a moment, Hiccup felt himself caught in how unreal the situation felt. He had thought of this girl for years, imagined what she might be like, chased by the notion that seeing her every year on one specific day couldn't be a coincidence. And now he had the chance to confirm that suspicion.

He laughed at himself for his superstition. He had no idea if she even had the same ideas about him. But she chuckled, too, and their eyes met again.

"What's your name?" he asked, curling his fingers around his mug.

"Astrid. Astrid Hofferson." She - Astrid - slowly moved her spoon, mixing the cream into the hot chocolate. "You?"

He blinked, somewhere surprised that she didn't know it already. That he had forgotten that she knew as little about him as he did about her. "I'm -"

He was going to offer her the formal introduction he gave any stranger. But that didn't feel right.

"People call me Hiccup."

Astrid - such a pretty name - pulled up her eyebrow. "Hiccup?"

"It's a nickname," he shrugged. "People close to me have been calling me that for as long as I've known. I was quite small as a kid." He held out his hand next to the table, at the same height his hip would now be. "Dad called me a little Hiccup, and it stuck. First with my cousin, who was in the same class as me in elementary school… And you know how kids are."

"Assholes," she noted.

"Definitely."

She reached for her pocket, whisking out her phone. She bit her lower lip as she started to type. "Are you Hiccup on Facebook too?"

He gave her a sheepish grin. "No, I actually don't have Facebook. Nor Instagram. Or Snapchat."

"Whoa. What century did you come from?"

"I'm not much of a social media guy," he tried to explain. "Not a fan of Mark Zuckerberg getting his hands on all my data."

"Yeah, he is a bit of a creep," Astrid nodded. "Shame I can't go without Messenger."

"Call me old-fashioned, but I can give you my number instead," he proposed. "I do have WhatsApp."

She frowned. "Didn't Facebook buy WhatsApp like two years ago?"

"Just an introduction to how consistent my principles are," he quipped.

"At least you have some. I'm just a regular sell-out." She swiped around on her phone for a moment, before handing it to him. She had opened a new contact, the name already filled out.

"Fake Foot Guy?" he laughed.

"It's not much worse of a nickname than 'Hiccup'," she shot back.

She'd had a nickname for him too. "Can't argue with that."

He typed his number into her phone and handed it back to her, feeling awfully giddy at how easy it was to talk to her. Astrid tucked it back into her jeans, and pointed at the curious snack in front of her. "After you."

"Whoa, Astrid," he objected, putting his hands up in the air. "You picked it out."

"Fine, I'll be the brave one," she joked, and lifted the doughnut, making a toast with it. "Bon appetit."

She took a bite, looking pensive as she chewed calmly before finally publishing her verdict. "It's not too bad, actually."

Encouraged, he began to eat as well, taking a big bite to show he wasn't a coward.

"You're right, not as bad as it looks."

"You doubted me?"

"Not even for a second."

She shook her head at him, working the rest of the doughnut down with impressive speed. She propped her head up on her hand as she waited for him to finish, playfully cocking her head and tapping her fingers on the table while grinning to herself.

"Hey, at least I'm taking the time to enjoy my food," he defended himself.

"Oh, that's now why I'm laughing," Astrid grinned. "You just have some sugar on your face."

"Where?"

Astrid gestured to her own face, drawing a circle in the air. "Everywhere."

Way to make an impression, Haddock. He hastily grabbed his napkin, but when he looked back up he found Astrid leaning over the table, tentatively reaching out to him with hers.

He sat there, frozen when she carefully wiped the tip of his nose as if it was the most obvious, the most natural thing to do. With her so close, he could count the few freckles on her cheeks, her entire presence kissed by the sun in a way people in Berk so rarely were. His eyes fell to her soft, pink lips, slightly chapped by the cold, and he considered hooking his finger underneath her chin and finding out if she still tasted like sugar too. But he figured she always did.

It felt like it was supposed to. It felt right. As if he'd never done otherwise. As if he was lucky enough to get to gaze into her beautiful blue eyes every single day.

While the truth was that he hardly even knew her.

"What do you do?" he asked, his voice hoarse.

"Huh?" Astrid blinked, then looked at her hand, her eyebrows shooting up as if she hadn't realised it belonged to her. "I'm sorry -"

"No, don't be," he told her as she backed away, already missing the closeness and sheepishly cleaning the remaining sugar off his face to occupy himself. "I just meant, what do you do on, you know, other days than New Year's Eve?"

"Oh." She sat down, wiped off her hands and tucked some of her hair back behind her ear. "Mostly volunteer work, these days. Trying to help people where I can."

"That's great!"

"Yeah, it's very satisfying." Her voice trailed off, making him raise an eyebrow.

"Sounds like there's a 'but'."

She smiled slightly. "It's not exactly long-term. I need to find an actual job eventually so I can move out and become an actual adult."

"Any ideas on that yet?"

She shook her head. "That's the issue. I went to uni to become a doctor so I could help people, but it wasn't for me. So this past year, I've been trying to figure out what I want to do instead."

"I don't see how that's an issue."

"Because it's not the way it's supposed to go!" Astrid exclaimed. "I always thought gap years were a waste of time, and now here I am, doing exactly what I vouched I never would."

"Life hardly ever goes how it's supposed to," he shrugged, taking a sip. "And it doesn't seem to me like you're not doing anything."

She cocked her head at him. "What makes you so sure?"

Because I feel like I've known you all my life. "You don't seem like the kind of person to lie in bed watching Netflix all week."

"Of course not," she snorted.

"And you probably volunteer like ten, twenty hours a week…" he murmured, trying not to grin.

"Thirty. At least," she corrected him. "Fifty maybe, if there's a kickboxing tourney in town."

"Okay, public service announcement, don't pick a fight with Astrid," he quipped, painting the words in the air. "Although it's unlikely kicking your ass fits her schedule, because she works so godsdamned hard."

Astrid gave him a determined look. "I can always take time out of my day for special cases."

"Lucky me, people have been telling me I'm very special all my life," he mock-gaped. "What are the odds!"

"About the same as those of living in a town with one hundred thousand people, but nevertheless seeing the same person eight New Year's Eves in a row?"

He froze and looked at her, the way his blue eyes peered into his, searching for something. "You realised it too," he gaped, his voice suddenly a lot softer.

"Of course I did," she scoffed, rolling her eyes. "I may be a drop-out, but I'm not stupid."

"Didn't meant to imply you were, just…" he laughed at himself. "I thought I was the weird one."

"I don't think you're weird," Astrid reassured him. "Just a dork."

"Do you…" he started, his throat suddenly dry. "Do you think it's a coincidence?"

"That's what I'm trying to figure out."

He was staring at her again, wondering if leaning across the table and kissing her would be an acceptable way of 'figuring it out'. If she would find it inappropriate, or if she would wrap her arms around his neck and kiss him back until their position inevitably became uncomfortable.

He could get up and walk to the other side of the table, sit down on the bench next to her and pull her into his lap, curl his arms around her and hold her until the clock hit midnight. So she wouldn't vanish, not this year. Ask her to come home with him, or meet him again tomorrow, because they had only barely talked and he already couldn't imagine never hearing her voice again. Because it had been enough to catch a hint of how she was brave, passionate, selfless, and smart. And he wanted to know everything else there was to learn about her.

He was snapped out of it by Astrid clearing her throat. "So what about you?"

He blinked profusely and sat back, not even realising he'd been leaning forward. "Huh?"

"What do you do?"

"Oh, I -" He took a deep breath, trying to push away the heat in his cheeks through sheer force of will. "I'm still studying. Trying to become an engineer."

"What kind?"

"For a long time, I wanted to do something with aviation," he elaborated, studying her face for a trace of boredom but finding her eyes opening up instead. "Like, my room is full of sketches of rockets, air planes, flight suits."

"Flight suits?"

"Yeah, you know, so people can fly themselves." He moved his arms, demonstrating the idea until she laughed and made him realise how stupid he made himself look. "It'd probably be a regulatory nightmare though, given that airports already aren't happy with people flying drones." He grinned. "So naturally, I got myself one for Christmas."

Astrid leaned forward, giving him a knowing look. "Does it fly yet?"

"No, but -" He continued, despite Astrid's chuckles. "That's only because I'm making some modifications."

"Sure," Astrid teased.

"It's true! Sticking to the basics takes all the fun out of it."

"Basic planes do sound a lot safer to me, you know," Astrid countered.

"Well, you're in luck, because that's what I was getting to," he explained. "I've loved planes all my life but recently, I've been giving a lot of thought to this thing. You know, what gave me my superhero name." He grinned, vaguely gesturing to his left foot. "The longer I live with it, the more ideas I get to improve it. So maybe I should do that instead." He shrugged. "Help people like me."

Astrid smiled softly. "I think that's a wonderful idea."

"Me too."

He could only smile back as a silence settled between them. It wasn't uncomfortable - on the contrary, he felt he could do this all day, simply look at her, the sounds of the busy market around them seemingly non-existent. Suppress the urge to reach out towards her, unwrap her delicate fingers from around her mug just so he could study them.

He felt like Tarzan - minus the dreadlocks, broad chest and any other kind of muscle definition - wanting to pull off just one of the gloves of his Jane. Not that she was his, of course, he barely knew her name, for years he had known nothing more than that her smile warmed his heart and that every moment they shared seemed to last forever. Besides, he was a 21st century man who didn't believe women to be his property in any way. In fact, he didn't mind a woman who looked like she could kick his ass instead.

But he cherished the thought of carefully taking her fingers in his, treat them delicately despite her obvious strength, and press their palms flat against each other. To get a sense of just how real she was, her warm skin against his, treat her as if she was the first woman he'd ever laid eyes on. Because in a weird way, it felt like it. Then again, everything about this was weird, but in a way that made his heart beat faster.

He could do it. Take her hand, wrap his fingers around it and simply hold them. He would settle for that, and not let her go for the rest of the night. Not even when the fireworks started. He wasn't concerned with those. He was just wondering if they would also go off in his head the moment he kissed her.

Or he could finally realise he was staring at her like a fool, way longer than any sane person would. He blinked profusely, and she cocked her head at him, clearly amused as she took another sip.

He cleared his throat, trying to come up with something smooth, or another topic, but he found himself speechless. "There's so much I want to ask you," he laughed, embarrassingly awkward. "But I can't think of anything."

"Really?" Astrid teased. "Nothing?"

How old are you? Do you prefer dogs or cats? Sushi: overpriced raw fish or actually quite okay? How do you feel about Brangelina getting divorced? Who is your favourite character in Friends? Will you think less of me if I admit I exercised almost every day last Summer, but that ninety-nine percent of that was walking around town catching Pok émon? What even is Brexit?

Do you feel like there 's something here too? Do you like me, even a little bit?

"I just don't know where to start," he shrugged.

"Perhaps you could Google it," she grinned, seemingly content with letting him drown.

"You know, there are actually lists for that," he pointed out, pulling another useless fact out of his repertoire. "Questions to ask on dates."

"Oh?"

He treasured the fact that she didn't ask whether this was a date. So he leapt again. "Yeah. Like a list of 36 questions that 'guarantee' two people will fall in love with each other."

She snorted. "Now that sounds like yak dung." He opened his mouth to agree, but she added: "So go ahead."

He opened and closed his mouth a few times, like a confused goldfish, not having expected to get this far. "I don't know them by heart…"

"You don't do this often?"

He liked the twinkle in her eyes, the way she consistently teased and challenged him. No, he loved that.

"But there was this one question that stuck with me, regardless," he continued. "If you were able to live to the age of ninety, and retain either the mind or the body of a thirty year-old for the last sixty years of your life…. Which one would you want?"

Astrid answered nearly instantly. "Body."

Well, if I had yours, that's what I'd pick too.

"And that's not to sound vain," she elaborated before he could comment. "It's not about that at all, but the thought of becoming so old that I can no longer move around on my own, that I'd need help to get everywhere, or that I simply don't have the energy to do the things I love anymore… I'd hate that. I would lose my independence, my freedom. I don't know what it's like to be thirty yet, of course, but if I got to live the next sixty years feeling like I do right now, but with more and more experience as time goes by, I'd sign up for that." She grinned. "And of course, not getting any wrinkles, or menopause, is an upside too."

"Not sounding vain, right?" he quipped, earning him a punch in his shoulder.

"I gave you a serious answer!"

"I know, I know!" He put his hands up in the air. "But hey, don't blame yourself for being gorgeous."

She narrowed her eyes at him. "Hiccup…"

He liked the way she said his name. He hoped she would do it again. "Look, if you can't take a compliment, that's not my fault."

"Fine." She rolled her eyes. "You're not bad yourself either."

He tried not to bask in that comment, in the knowledge that she might like him, even a little bit. He did his best to wipe his grin off his face and continue where they left off. "But I get what you mean, I suppose. People say that you need three things to live a happy life." He counted on his fingers. "Time, energy, and money. If you're young, you have time and energy, but no money. When you're a proper working adult, you have energy and money, but no time. And once you've retired, you've finally got time and money, but no energy. So I don't think your choice is that strange at all. Let alone vain."

"Well, that's one way to get depressed," Astrid huffed.

He gave her a wry smile. "Leave it up to me to brighten the mood, I guess."

"No worries, it won't keep me up at night," Astrid shrugged. "So what about you? What would you pick? If you remembered the question, you probably thought about what you'd answer too."

"I did," he admitted, rubbing the back of his head. "It's… interesting, but I always thought the answer was obvious. Then you made some really good points, and -"

"And I'm interested in yourreasoning, not your backpedalling."

"Okay…" He shifted, pushing his bangs back. "I'd choose mind. I'd never thought about those things you mentioned, about the whole 'walking around with a walking frame' part of getting old. Especially with my leg and all." He vaguely gestured beneath the table. "Whenever I think about reaching those ages, my mind always goes to the documentaries, the news reports about people with dementia. Because I just find them so incredibly… scary."

Astrid nodded at him and he briefly chewed on his lower lip before he continued. "The thought of getting Alzheimer's, of digressing until you forget yourself and the people around you… I don't think it runs in my family, at least not the early version of it, as far as I know, but I know that doesn't make me immune and it's just -" He sighed. "I know we all die eventually, that's inevitable. But I wouldn't want to go like that."

"Me neither," Astrid softly said, glancing at her hands. "Can I still change my pick? No use in feeling fit if you don't remember what to do with it."

"Or we could team up," he joked, wanting her to smile again. "One preserved body, one preserved mind."

"Sounds like a plan," Astrid laughed. "When I'm old and senile, you just tell me what to do and I will carry you around when you can no longer walk yourself."

"Perfect!" he agreed, grinning. "Match made in heaven."

Astrid cocked her head, observing him as her lips settled back into a slight smile. "It'd seem that way."

Had they both just implied they'd still be in each other's life years from now? Was he reading too much into that? Into the way Astrid's eyes seemed to soften the longer she looked at him, in how he was struggling to remember the last time he'd felt both this excited and this at ease?

He should just ask her. Show that he wasn't afraid to step up and declare he liked her more than he should like anyone he'd talked to this shortly.

"Do you -"

He was interrupted by a loud crash, a shout coming from the other side of the square, the world suddenly larger than just the two of them. He twisted his head to see a guy with fiery red hair stumble backwards, reaching for his eye.

"Dagur!" Astrid jumped up, sprinting in the direction of the sound as the man - Dagur? - balled his fist.

And punched the guy Hiccup only now recognised as Snotlout right in his nose.

"Fuck," Hiccup muttered, rushing after Astrid.

Snotlout recoiled, grasping his nose, blood seeping out from between his fingers as he ran into Dagur shoulder first. Ruffnut and Tuffnut cheered as the two fell over, crashing into the bench Fishlegs had been sitting on until a second ago. What the Hel had they gotten themselves into?

Astrid reached them before Hiccup did, shouting in exasperation at the men rolling around on the ground. "What the fuck are you doing!?"

No one gave her nor the small crowd that had gathered the answer they were looking for. Astrid rolled her eyes, digging her nails into Dagur's leather jacket and pulling him off Snotlout with a show of strength that seemed to surprise Dagur too and left Snotlout on the ground, wide-eyed.

Dagur tried to rush back in, but Astrid yanked him back. "Nope, you're not ruining my night, not this year." She twisted his arm behind his back when he moved again, making him yelp. "You can go berserk in your own time!"

"It wasn't my fault!" Dagur sputtered, his left eye blue with something Hiccup didn't know was a bruise or a tattoo. "He hit me first!"

"You were asking for it!" Snotlout yelled, coughing as blood streamed into his mouth from his obviously broken nose.

"Nah." "Not really." The twins countered instantly, crossing their arms.

Hiccup rushed over to Snotlout as he got back up, and put his hands on his shoulders. "Whoah, Snot, calm down."

"Move over," Snotlout insisted. "Let me at him!"

"Dude, your nose's broken," he argued as calmly as he could, trying to use his height advantage to prevent Snot from moving.

"You know him?"

He looked back over his shoulder at a sceptical Astrid, her eyebrow pulled up, Dagur's efforts to squirm out of her hold futile. He didn't know whether to yell at Snotlout or simply stand there and be impressed with how well she handled guys two times her size. Make a bad and inappropriate joke about her handling him, sometime…

"My cousin," he shrugged, trying to make clear that he also didn't ask for this. Out of all the nights Snotlout had to be, well, Snotlout…

"Nice family you got there," Astrid snorted.

"Right back at you."

"Nope." Astrid shook her head. "Best friend's brother."

"Oh my Thor… You broke my nose!" Snotlout suddenly yelped, as if he'd only just realised it.

"Heh. You kind of sound like Hiccup, talking through your nose and all," Tuffnut commented.

"You gave me a black eye!" Dagur yelled.

"I'm gonna sue you!"

"Playing the lead role in a local production of Grease doesn't make you an American, Snot," Hiccup bit, trying to glance over Dagur's shoulder, where Astrid was trying to hold her grip. "Astrid -"

"Is there are doctor around!?" Snotlout whined.

"I hope so, cause you need one, to fix your head!" Dagur bellowed.

"Guys, fighting doesn't solve anything, please stop…" Fishlegs tried weakly.

Dagur surged forward with such force that the last thing Hiccup saw was Astrid tumbling backwards on the ground, right before Dagur collided with him and Snotlout. They landed in a pile of limbs, both real and fake, Hiccup's elbow landing right in Snotlout's stomach and Dagur's knee digging into his thigh. He cried out in pain, trying to push Dagur off him but ending up as the heavily abused third wheel, caught in the crossfire while neither Snotlout nor his assailant paid any actual attention to him.

"Alright, fine, then we'll try it this way."

His misery was interrupted by a few flashes of blond, followed by pained yelps from Dagur. Finally free, he sputtered and rolled off of Snotlout. He pushed himself up, glancing around to thank his saviour and finding Astrid next to him, perched up on Dagur, holding his arms behind his back as he was lying face down on the floor. Looking uncannily comfortable, as if she was doing this every day.

"We should probably get out of here before the cops get here," she casually remarked.

"If I didn't know better I'd think you were currently undercover," he grinned, distractingly offering Snotlout a not-so-helping hand while keeping his eyes on the most badass woman in the world. He was happy she wasn't with the police though. He didn't need the idea that she could end up like his father.

"You caught me," she laughed. "I'm trying to get a breakthrough in the curious case of cute guys who only appear on New Year's Eve."

He could feel his face change colour. Along with his hand when Snotlout gripped it, leaving it sticky with blood as his cousin hauled himself up.

"Geez, can no one hand him a tissue?" he asked, agitated. Ruffnut shrugged as if there was no other sensible option, zipped open her coat and tore off part of her shirt, handing it to Snotlout, who promptly pressed it to his nose.

"Astrid -"

"Oh Gods," Snotlout gasped, glancing at the piece of fabric and seeing how red it had gotten in mere seconds. "That's a lot of blood."

"- this is not how -"

"Am I dying?"

"- I thought this would go -"

"I'm definitely dying."

"- but thank you, and -"

"But I'm too young and handsome to die!"

"And I think you should get your charming cousin to the ER," Astrid smiled, softly patting Dagur's head when he struggled again.

"I'm sorry," Hiccup tried. So this was how it ended. His first true chance in seven years.

"I'll call you tomorrow," Astrid reassured him with yet another smile.

That phrase stayed with him as he told her goodbye, dragging Snotlout away from the crowd, the others following in his wake. It was echoing through his head when the clock hit midnight in the waiting room of the hospital and Snotlout lamented this being the worst New Year's ever, his complaints unheard because Hiccup himself simply disagreed. He was on cloud nine despite the hospital smell, despite having to explain to the twins that bringing booze into the ER to 'have a bit of a party after all' wasn't socially acceptable behaviour, despite being semi-traumatised by Fishlegs Googling every single medical condition a nosebleed could be a symptom of. No matter how often Hiccup pointed out that there was a direct correlation between the position of Snot's nose, the unstoppable force that had met it and the voluminous amount of blood.

Astrid's words were still with him when he woke up the following morning, feeling like he had a hangover despite not having drunk any alcohol. But in a good way. The best way. The kind that made him giddy and excited, anxiously glancing at his phone while he tried to go about his day.

And they didn't leave him until by the end of January, Astrid still hadn't called.

[tuffdwightwest]

Crash and Burn Pt. 4

Although Snotlout had seemed harsh, seemingly already moved on from Tuff and complaining that they needed to go home. The others had just went back to the search. Leaving him behind which admittedly he preferred cause he couldn't handle anyone seeing how upset he really was.

Even as a young boy, he was taught early that anyone could die at anytime. The life of a viking being a hard one. With them being friends with the dragons though and just how, kickass they all seemed. He forgot that life lesson.

And he was afraid.

He was afraid he had just lost his best friend. The twins had always been close to him. With them labeling themselves the Snotnuts. It was true a lot of the times they would wish death upon each other. Pranking or otherwise putting each other in danger, but Snotlout knew it was just how the twins showed affection.

Especially when the two mischief blondes were together. It was on the edge though that Snotlout felt his relationship with Tuffnut deepened. Or at least, he became more then just one of the twins to him. They still used their secret cave and often would hang out still. Talking about nothing and sometimes everything.

Snotlout had bared his secrets to Tuffnut. Tuff knew a side of him that none of the others even knew about. And the twin hadn't judged. Just had been there for him. Had been a friend.

Snotlout had noticed the Skrill turn away from him. Turning Hookfang around he didn't, at the moment, understand why the Skrill was crashing into the cave. It was only when it started to collapse and Ruffnuts ear splitting screech called for Tuff, that he understood. He didn't even remember landing before he already started digging. But even then Snotlout knew.

"Hes gone." He choked out. He was always a pessimist. He couldn't keep looking for the other. Not when he was certain there was no way he could have survived that cave in. That didn't mean he liked the role he was starting to take. But he just wanted the others to understand.

Tuff was gone. They needed to move on. He was gone.

He was dead.

----------------

A lurch sounded as the rock tilted slightly off of the Skrills wing. Not enough to remove it completely and gasping. Tuff fell hopelessly against the rock. "I'm sorry, I'm not... I'm really tired. I don't have the strength for this." Tuff panted. Flinching as the Skrill turned to look at him. Tuff swearing he could see the other. Despite no light.

Feeling delirious he shook his head, feeling tears prick at the corner of his eyes. Unable to stop the sob that escaped him. "We're gonna die down here." He whimpered.

The Skrill made a trill noise at that. Reminding Tuff of Toothless. That only made him sob louder as he finally broke down. For the dragons part it was surprisingly patient. Even nudging against the human. As if to tell the other to keep its chin up. The Skrill could smell the hopelessness on the other though. And more then that the dragon could smell... it.

The human wasn't gonna last much longer.

The dragon was surprised by how sad that seemed to make him. He still despised humans but this one had seemed interesting. They were both trapped. The Skrill had tried very hard to kill this one but now here the human was trying to help him.

It was honorable. For a human at least.

----------------

"Hes been stuck down there for almost two days." Fishlegs voice rang out. All the riders back together as they took a moment to rest and regroup.

Silence followed his words. Even Ruffnut didn't pipe up this time. Staring listlessly at the mountain.

Finally it was Hiccup who spoke, "If... anyone wants to head back they can." He whispered. None of the riders moved however. The finality of the statement making it all to real.

The air was tense before it was broken by a sob. Fishlegs falling to his knees as he started to cry, "Oh thor, why? Why?" He demanded. The display even cutting through the others as tears started to flow. All of them, even Astrid unable to contain the rush of emotion. Each of them leaning on each other for support.

All except one.

Ruffnut watched them all silently. Her face devoid of emotion even as her eyes hardened. She knew deep down her brother was still alive. She wasn't gonna give up. No, even if she felt the connection sever.... she would still find him. She wouldn't allow him to rot down there. She would find him.

"I'm coming Tuff." She whispered.

-------------

No more tears fell from Tuff as he leaned against the Skrill. Drifting in and out of sleep, the Skrill clearly doing the same. His thoughts trailed to his sister and the dragon riders. Thinking of them making him feel warm. Less alone especially when he closed his eyes.

He wondered if they were still looking. It felt like he was trapped down here for weeks but he doubted it was that long. He wondered if they really would miss him.

Remembering back to what Astrid said earlier. At the time it had hurt but he tried not to take it to heart. Alone with his thoughts now and close to death, he wondered if she was right. He was no good to the riders. He tried to make everyone happy but he couldn't even do that.

Whimpering. He tried to move off of that train of thought. Instead reaching up and touching the necklace once more. Thoughts of his sister making him smile again. Even if it was wistful. They had always said that they would enter Valhalla together. Live together. Die together. Yet at the crowning moment he was alone.

He wondered if the gods would let him wait for her. He didn't want to go in without her. No, he would wait.

[bi-bi-want-dragon]

Meet the Ingermans Chapter 4 Snoggletog and New Traditions

AO3 | FF.net

I have returned!!!  This chapter is a little almost companion-type chapter to "Snoggletog and Mommy's Axe" over in Life After They Left if any of you guys read that. And if not then oh well :) Also if there's anything specific you'd like to see between these two lovebirds, please let me know! I LOVE hearing what you guys are interested in!

Fishlegs bounded into the forge, nearly knocking over the Chief as he tried to stop against his own momentum.  Gobber and Hiccup both flipped their heads around as Fishlegs tried to catch his breath.

“Woah, Fishlegs!  You haven’t been eating those weird mushrooms at the edge of the forest again, have you?” Hiccup asked with a chuckle.

Fishlegs froze and met Hiccup’s eyes, pointing a finger at him.  “Never.  Again.  No!  I have to get Ruffnut’s Snoggletog present finished!  And you’re helping me, remember?”

“How could I forget?” Hiccup replied.  “You haven’t stopped talking about it since Nuffink’s nameday.”

“You know this is important, Hiccup.  I’m still not convinced Ruffnut is okay with all this baby stuff.”  Fishlegs’ glance fell sheepishly to the ground.

Hiccup shared a look with Gobber before walking over to his friend, grasping his shoulders.  When Fishlegs met his eyes, he said, “Fishlegs, this is Ruffnut we’re talking about.  She’s the stubbornest viking in all of New Berk next to my own bride, and definitely the loudest.  If she wasn’t okay with it, you would know.”

Fishlegs huffed but nodded his head in agreement.  “I still won’t feel better until I know it’s ready for tomorrow.  It has to be perfect, so Ruffnut can see without a doubt that this is our new family, and this is right.”

Hiccup nodded with a smile, setting aside a child-sized, intricately designed axe and pulling over the components of Fishlegs’ gift from the nearby shelf.  “Have you decided which one you’re going to design it after?”

Fishlegs smiled.  “Something like that.”

***

“I’ve tried, Astrid, but for the life of me I can’t think of what to give him.”

Ruffnut sat in a chair around the Haddock’s fire pit with Zephyr sitting quietly in her lap, absentmindedly running her fingers through the girl’s soft hair.  The moment Zephyr had seen her aunt, she had ripped her locks out of their signature pigtails, insisting that Ruffnut redo them (much to Astrid’s annoyance).

Astrid chuckled as she attempted to wrangle in a squirming Nuffink.  “You’re giving him a child, Ruff, is anything else really necessary?”

“You and I both know he’s at the forge with Hiccup right now working on something amazing.  And I’ve got yak dung for h-  Zephyr, kid, I told you I don’t know how to braid like your mom does.”  Ruffnut smiled down at the anxious little girl who was now patting Ruffnut’s cheek.

“But how come Momma knows a different way?” Zephyr asked.

“Because she knows the fancy way.  I don’t.”

“But...  But how come Momma knows it and you don’t, Aunt Ruffie?”

“Because she’s married to the Chief,” Ruffnut replied.  Zephyr opened her mouth, but wasn’t able to form her next question.  Her eyebrows pinched together as she tried to puzzle through the nonexistent connection between braiding knowledge and the royal bloodline.

Astrid chuckled again and shook her head before bringing her attention back to Ruffnut.  “Fishlegs is a lot like Hiccup, right?  He’s great at giving thoughtful gifts, but he’s not exactly a material person.  Remember my betrothal gift to Hiccup?”

“You mean the one you never got him?”

“Exactly,” Astrid confirmed.  “And he and I are doing just fine, aren’t we?”  Nuffink cried out in Astrid’s arms, leaning over as if trying to grasp the floor.  “Alright, alright, you little Terrible Terror,” Astrid muttered, setting the boy down onto the floor.  He looked around for a moment as if surprised he earned his freedom before rolling onto his hands and knees and taking off.  Zephyr laughed and hopped down off of Ruffnut’s lap, dashing after her brother.

“Thor almighty, how long has he been doing that?” Ruffnut asked, slightly horrified.

“Oh, he’s been getting better over the last moon or so,” Astrid sighed, shaking her head.  “That one’s going to give us trouble.  I have a bad feeling he’s got too much of Hiccup’s recklessness in him.”

“Then Odin help us all,” Ruffnur muttered as she rolled her eyes.

Astrid snorted.  “Alright, back to your problem.  Why don’t you just cook his favorite meal?  Something simple that he’ll appreciate.”

“You think that’ll be enough?”

“For Fishlegs?  All he cares about right now is that little bundle in your belly and you yourself.  He’s already the happiest man in the world.”

***

Favorite meal...  Favorite meal...  Ruffnut wracked her brain as she kicked through the snow, both freshly fallen since the highest sun today and tightly packed from the last few snowfalls as well.  She knew Fishlegs loved a good rabbit stew, but she wouldn’t call it his favorite meal.

She would make fresh bread tonight, and fresh yak butter as well.  She knew Fishlegs loved certain herbs folded into his butter, which she would add if they still had some from the last harvest.  But what to go with it?

Ruffnut took a slight detour home to stroll through the market, hoping something would spark some inspiration.  The markets were always more scarce in the winter months than in the summer, but that was to be expected from the lack of fresh produce to farm.  She was able to get her hands on some of the heartier produce that tends to store well through the frost, but still no thought as to what to cook with them.

Just as she was about to break down and settle for rabbit stew, a familiar smell reached her nose.  For a moment she was surrounded by the fresh wood of newly built stables and fish-filled buckets.  She could feel cool scales under her hands growing steadily warmer as the rancid smell of Zippleback gas enveloped her, followed by the explosion of embers as fire scorched the air.

“Feeling better, there, Miss Ruffnut?  Glad to see you roaming the markets again.”

Ruffnut opened her eyes to the smiling face of Garvin, taking his place behind the stand before her.  “Yeah, the morning sickness didn’t seem to hit me today...  Hey, how did you manage to get fish?  I thought we ran out already in the stores.”

“Oh, we did a while ago, but I managed to break through a bit ‘o the ice below the docks yesterday.  Caught quite the spread, if I do say so myself.”

“What’d you manage to snag?” Ruffnut asked, setting down her bundle of produce.

“Plenty ‘o catfish, cod, mackerel, a bit ‘o tuna...”  Garvin scratched his beard as he looked curiously at Ruffnut.  “Doesn’t Mr. Fishlegs enjoy pollock?”

Ruff sighed.  “He does, but I wouldn’t be surprised if you weren’t able to get any of that.”

Garvin glaced around before kneeling down to retrieve something out of reach.  “Funny enough, I was able to snag two.”  He stood with the fish in question wrapped in his arms.  “They’re a bit smaller than usual, but ‘s better than nothing.  I kept them just for the Ingermans.  A thank you for helping with the boys when my wife was ill.”

Ruffnut wasn’t sure what to say, but she was silently thanking Thor for the perfect meal for her husband that essentially fell into her lap.  “Thank you, Garvin.  You have no idea how much this means to me.”

Carrying her prize home, Ruffnut was suddenly quite excited to surprise her husband with an improved recipe she had been working on for a while now.

***

“Ruffnut, I tried to think of the best way to show you...  No, no.  Our families are blended now, so I just-  Ugh, no!  Stupid!”  Fishlegs tried time and time again to wrap the words together in the perfect explanation of his gift, but the words just wouldn’t flow like the descriptions on his information cards.  He could write decently about tangible things.  Feelings, though...

Maybe he was trying too hard.  Maybe saying a simple “I love you, Ruffnut,” and just handing her the package was the best way to go.  But that seemed so bland, so insignificant considering how important this gift was to him.

His focus was distracted as their hut came into view and a familiar smell wafted his way.  Something that hadn’t touched his imagination in a while suddenly crashed over him like a flood.  He was surrounded by musty rocks and lava, a metallic burning followed quickly followed by the sharp ting of rock forcing a molten material into just one of uncountable potential shapes.  The closer he got to the smell, the more evolved it became.  He picked up on the earthy smell of salt mixing with the cooking flesh of fish.  He chuckled quietly to himself, remembering the night of the twins’ salt-encrusted fish on their island getaway decades ago when the great beasts of the sky still roamed loyally at their sides.  Thankfully, the present smell wasn’t so salt-heavy; it actually smelled quite pleasant.

By the time he opened the door, shaking the snow and chill from his body, the rich scent of fresh bread and cooked vegetables enveloped him in a warmth transcended only by...

“Welcome home, love,” Ruffnut said, wiping her hands on a nearby cloth as she glided over to Fishlegs.  She pressed a kiss to his cheek as she unwrapped the furs from his shoulders.  Throwing the furs on their hook by the door, she eagerly wrapped her arms around him, not caring if she seemed a little desperate for his embrace.  “Happy Snoggletog.”

“Happy Snoggletog, my queen,” he said, his smile giving away his absolute pleasure in an instant.  “Though, you do know that’s tomorrow, right?  Where did you get this fish?  It smells fresh.”

Ruffnut tried to stifle her pride at the delighted glow in her husband’s eyes.  “Well, Garvin managed to snag some in a break in the ice yesterday.  I couldn’t bring myself to let that kind of Snoggletog opportunity slip by.  Especially not when he saved two polluck just for us.”

Fishlegs’ eyes grew wide.  “Pollock?  Really?  That’s hard to snag in the warmer months, let alone the winter.”

Ruffnut shrugged.  “Maybe we have Snoggletog a night early?  While we still have the time to be spontaneous?” she added with a chuckle, patting her stomach.

Fishlegs cradled her cheek in his hand and gently kissed her lips, wrapping his free arm around her back to pull her as close as possible.  “I love you, Ruff.”

She chuckled, cheeks growing warm.  “You’re not too bad, yourself, ‘Legs.”  She kissed him back.  “I love you, too.”

Now it was Fishlegs’ turn to fight the nerves.  He cleared his throat and picked up the forgotten box he had set down on a chair next to him.  “Well, since my gift is obviously this wonderful meal my beautiful wife made - which I am incredibly excited about, might I add - I guess I’ll give you my gift now while it’s still cooking.”  He held out the box gingerly, motioning with his head for Ruffnut to sit down.  When she walked over to the couch only to stop and stare at Fishlegs, he giggled.  He took his seat in the chair, patting his leg before opening up his arm.  Ruffnut easily found her favorite spot, sitting on his leg and leaning against his shoulder, his arm wrapped loosely around her waist and lips pressing occasional kisses to her collarbone.

He set the box in her lap, hiding his smile in her hair.  She carefully untied the strings, painstakingly choosing which corner of the box to open, inching her finger underneath the wood...

Fishlegs laughed.  “For the love of Thor, Ruff, just open it!”

Ruffnut mirrored his laughter, breaking into the box.  “Alright, alright.”  She lifted the lid and froze as the laughter slowly evaporated from her lips.

She lifted the small helmet from the box to inspect it closer.  It was small enough that she knew it wasn’t meant for her, but a child.  Their child.  A thought she only then realized she never had to herself until this moment.  Because the helmet didn’t just boast the horns like Ruffnut’s helmet, nor did it only show off the wings of the Ingermans.  Instead, the Ingerman wings were slightly more exaggerated to better stand out against the outreaching Thorston horns in a perfect balancing act.

When Ruffnut didn’t speak, Fishlegs did his best.  “I didn’t want our child to just have the Ingerman wings.  He or she will still be a Thorston, and I didn’t want them to forget that.  So...  I tried my best to combine the two.  The best combination of Thorston and Ingerman, proudly shown for all to see.  What do you think?”  he sheepishly asked.

Suddenly, Ruffnut was pissed off.  Not at the gift, no.  The gift was perfectly thoughtful and wonderful and more than she could have ever asked for.  She was pissed that she found herself fighting tears.

She angrily wiped them away, setting the helmet and box beside Fishlegs and burying her head on his shoulder.

“Babe?” he asked concerned as he wrapped his arms around her quickly.  “What’s wrong?”

“You made me cry, stupid,” she shot back.

Fishlegs chuckled, rubbing her back.  “You know I’ve always loved that soft side you try to bury,” he gently reminded her.

“Doesn't mean I like it,” she clarified.

He kissed her hair.  “But you like the gift?”

She pulled back to look her husband in the eye.  “I love it.  Of course I do.  I love you.”

“I love you too,” he said, brushing a bit of hair from her face.  He let his hand gently fall to wrap his fingers in her’s, lifting them to his lips.  The soft smile that graced Ruffnut’s lips melted Fishlegs’ heart.  She squeezed his hand and pulled their interlocked fingers slowly against her stomach, leaning in to properly kiss his lips.  She felt Fishlegs gently rub her lower stomach with his finger as Ruffnut relaxed into his embrace.

She wanted to savor this moment, but the tightness and burning came back to her throat as she found herself fighting tears again.  She leaned back and laughed at herself as she wiped the tears away.  “Well, um, dinner’s probably ready by now and I’m starving.”

Fishlegs offered an understanding nod.  He knew she still hadn’t matched his comfort level with their impending adventure in parenthood, but he also saw she was getting close.  “Then let’s eat, my love.”

Fishlegs carefully pulled Ruffnut to her feet and followed her to the kitchen to help put together their plates.  Ruffnut took a deep breath and tried to steady herself.  Obviously she had never been void of emotion, but she was still getting used to having her moods so drastically different from one moment to the next by the drop of a helmet - literally.

She was getting there, though.  Somewhere not so deep down, she was ecstatic about their little baby.  And not just because of how happy she knew Fishlegs was.

[generalhofferson360]

The Hidden World Thoughts.

You remember that moment near the end where everyone takes the saddles off their dragons?

That was the moment it really hit me...

it’s over.

I stayed in my seat throughout the credits, crying and trying desperately to hold on to the franchise for just a few moment longer. I honestly don’t think I’ve seen such an amazing, beautiful and emotional movie in my life. I cried harder than I have in a long time. It took me more than twenty-four hours to calm down enough to even think about this movie again to write this review.

Oh, and spoilers. Duh.

As much as it hurt, my favourite scene was the goodbye scene. It was so powerful and emotional, and brought me and everyone else in the theatre to tears. Jay’s voice acting was amazing, some of the best I’ve ever heard. It also spoke volumes that, even though we’ve seen the gang grow so much - and that they wouldn’t let this happen, Hiccup was ultimately willing to give up his happiness to allow Toothless his freedom and safety. His biggest insecurity during this film was that things would return to the way they were before he met Toothless, that he would return to being an outcast, and lose the respect he has gained over the past six years,  that he would lose himself.

Of course, we have seen the gang grow and change so much over the years, that we know they would never abandon him. None of them are the same people as they were back at the start of the first film. And neither am I. This franchise has taught me so much, about loyalty, acceptance, friendship and finding yourself. Personally, that’s something I’m still working on, but these movies have given me hope for the future. You may think that your life isn’t all that great right now, but look at Hiccup back when he was a teenager. It gets better.

Some other amazing scenes were that of the epilogue and credits. It showed how Hiccup has grown and changed throughout the films, and brought me to tears.

Anyway, some other, lighter things that I loved about this movie include:

- Tuff’s “beard”

- Tuff’s earrings

- Ruff being so chill about her being captured, and proceeding to roast Grimmel the entire time.

- Tuff’s nickname for Hiccup, and also deeming himself Hiccup’s best man.

- Hiccup and Astrid play fighting.

- The flashback scenes with baby Hiccup

- Literally the entire thing.

Anyway, now let’s talk about the few things I would change.

1) Astrid telling Hiccup “You gave him his freedom, what did you expect?” when Toothless leaves the first time. Now that probably isn’t the exact line, I was really emotional, and I need to see it again okayy. But I just feel like she would be more supportive of him, and empathize with him a bit more. She’s had to say goodbye to Stormfly before, back in Gift of the Night Fury, so she knows how hard it is to let go of your best friend.

2) Ruff choosing Fishlegs at the end of the movie and also Snotlout liking... you know who. I refuse to say it. Not the point. As an avid fan of Race to the Edge, I’ve witnessed first hand that Snotlout has a softer, more emotional side. This paints the illusion that he was never into Ruffnut, and that he was only chasing her because she was one of the last single girls. Also, back in the episode ‘Snotlout gets the Axe’, it shows how awful of a couple Ruff and Fishlegs would be. She would constantly be taking advantage of him, and I honestly just think he’s projecting his remaining feelings for Heather onto her.

3) Astrid’s hair at the wedding. I know this isn’t that relevant to the overall plot, but since this was such a great film over all, these are the only complaints I have. It just seemed like it was a lot thinner than it was in the past? Oh well, maybe I’m just salty from the lack of braid in her hair.

4) Some of the best  Rtte episodes, in my opinion, are the one which showcase the bond between Ruff & Tuff. I just wished that at the end of the film, when the twins were crying after saying goodbye to Barf & Belch, they would have hugged, or something to show their spectacular bond.

Those last two are entirely self-indulgent but.

Overall, definitely a 10/10. What did you guys think?

[tysonrunningfox]

Ripped: Part 11

Why are they like this?  Why?  What is even their issue?  

Ao3

Astrid is a believer in hard work.

There are very few obstacles in life that can’t be overcome with determination, willingness to get her hands dirty, and dedication to the cause. However, deciphering her feelings while sitting across a dingy bar table from Hiccup’s sharp jaw and green eyes, holding a beer she got from her best friend’s cousin who now only owes her forty-seven dollars while said best friend and Hiccup’s cousin hook up might be one of those outlying obstacles.

And that’s not even unpacking the fact that she only met Hiccup because he was giving serial killer tours to her apartment, the past tense being because a new set of twin murders interrupted his route with the promise of further interruptions. And then that gets even more complicated because not only did she and Hiccup kiss while she was at work, but later that same night she was with him when they discovered the second murder victim, seconds after she accidentally called him sexy.

Or not him specifically, but something he did, and that’s almost worse.

And she might be able to scrape together some plan of attack for all of that, but adding the fact that he also happened to discover the first body after a middle of the night private serial killer tour he gave her where they were caught trespassing and practically hugging on camera pushes it over the edge.

She’s lost.

And there’s the whole thing he’s been in custody twice in as many weeks but she still can’t stop thinking about how he looked at her, like he absolutely couldn’t handle not kissing her for another second. Even though she was being stubborn and loud and forcing her opinion on him. Maybe even because of those things.

Neither of them knew what to say while they finished their drinks and their interaction devolved into silence occasionally punctuated by people watching commentary. He offered to walk her home, but she took an Uber because as safe as Berk’s new condo developments brag about being, she doesn’t live in one of those.

She lives in yet another Grimborn murder site, likely on a list to be revisited.

Yet another complication.

“You’re thinking about that ship roster really hard,” Fishlegs sits down at his desk, flicking through his meticulously maintained planner.

She half wonders what Fishlegs would say about her current conundrums. He’s got the kind of analytical approach she can really admire, but his opinion of Hiccup is clear and deserved. It was Hiccup who pushed her against the bookcase and threatened his precious encyclopedias, after all.

“It’s complicated.”

“Want to talk about it?”  

She thinks a minute, “no.”

Astrid doesn’t want to talk about it. She wants to do something about it, she just doesn’t know what to do.

Hiccup (4:23pm): hey are you at work?

She hates how the silent implication makes her cheeks burn.

Astrid (4:24pm): yeah

Hiccup (4:25pm): oh cool, would you mind if I dropped by and got a copy of that Al, I. Safe picture to laminate? The one you gave me is wearing out quick and it’s smeared not that you care I’m sure it smeared in your fervent quest to prove me wrong

Astrid hates how she can’t deny that her stomach flips. If Fishlegs repeated his concern right now, she’s not sure what she’d say, but he disappeared into the back room to organize new donations.

Astrid (4:27pm): sure

Hiccup (4:28pm): be there in like 5?

Her heart stutters and she tries not to care. She can’t help but hate how she left it at the bar, the weird backward walk towards the door, the insistence that she get a ride rather than walk. And now she has to deal with another random, instantaneous meeting? She needs time and planning and for it to occur away from Hiccup’s undeniable pull.

She tries to focus exclusively on her work but every time she hears the door open she jumps and has to reread at least a paragraph. The first is the mail, the second is someone lost and hoping for the library upstairs, but the third is Hiccup, determinedly faking casual as he trots down the stairs with uneven strides she still wants to ask about.

“Hey!” He says too brightly and Astrid purposefully takes a second too long to look up.

“Hi.”

He pauses a couple feet in front of her desk and swallows hard. He shaved recently, and he looks younger and sharper and somehow more likely to catch her off guard.

“Are you doing something super important for the future of Berk’s history’s maintenance or…”

She can’t quite stifle her smile, “not really.”

“Great,” he grins wider, all crooked teeth and genuine excitement and everything would be so much easier if Astrid’s heart didn’t skip like a turntable in a hurricane. “So, Al. I, safe message? If you don’t mind…”

“Right, sure,” she stands up too quickly, chair rolling back a few feet and smacking into a bookshelf.

“No rush,” Hiccup laughs, shoulders rigid and hands waving at her chair, “wouldn’t want you to break something in your excitement to help me copy something.”

“I haven’t put it away since last week, I still need to talk to Fishlegs about how we’d recategorize it as Grimborn-related,” she ignores his comment about breaking things and leaves her chair where it is, leading him down the familiar aisle between old yellowed papers to the table she set her findings out on.

“Does that mean there’s a special stack you send Grimborn-ologists to so that you don’t have to talk to us?”

“Well, that would be my solution,” she flips carefully through the paper to the picture, trying not to think about the vague wrinkles in the print from his hand clenching as he kissed her. “But currently Fishlegs’s solution is to just send them all my way.”

“Let me guess, it’s been busy?” He skirts around mentioning the recent murders, but it doesn’t matter. Sometimes it feels like all she talks about lately, as she leads curious, insensitive people to documents she then has to make sure they don’t take as a souvenir.  

She nods, “I hate to say you’re right, but you are pretty well adjusted, considering the crowd as a whole.”

“What makes you say that?” He cocks his head, reverently taking the paper from her and following towards the copier. The encyclopedias mock her when his hand brushes against her arm.

“You know, there was the guy who wanted his girlfriend to lay on the floor to pose like Elizabeth Smith,” she wrinkles her nose, “but I don’t know how even that compares to the guy who got angry at me because I didn’t magically produce modern crime scene photos to compare to vintage ones. He claimed this was a ‘decaying institution’ because I explained we obviously don’t have access to current police case documentation.”

“What an idiot,” Hiccup snorts, “this is a historical archive, there are obvious environmental controls to prevent decay.”

“That’s bad,” she doesn’t understand how he can melt more stiff tension than she can think through with a bad joke, it must go hand in hand with how he made her feel safe in dark alleys when logic and reality continually affirm she was anything but. “Come on, that was lame.”

“It got a smile,” he says, self-satisfied but not smug, and his eyes narrow when he sees the copier, “we meet again, old friend.”

“What?”

“The copier and I have history, remember? I tried to copy a comic book three years ago and jammed it up,” he sets the paper down picture up on the work table and pats the top of the copier with a careful hand, “the foundation of Fishlegs and my blood feud, as you put it.”

“Right,” she takes the paper and carefully folds it back to align the picture with the corner, “maybe I should press the buttons then, I wouldn’t want to involve myself in that drama.”

The copier is probably older than some of the archive’s collections and it takes a minute to turn on, its wheezing fan turning the silence awkward as Astrid’s worries whir back to life along with it. Hiccup is alternating between staring at his feet and the side of her face, brows furrowed.

“Thanks for letting me come by, by the way, and for the picture. And for finding the picture, in the first place, even though you were only doing it to prove me wrong, which you did, it clearly does have punctuation—but that’s not what I mean.” He doesn’t pause to breathe so much as to let the mental gears behind his eyes rotate fully so that he can pick back up where he got off track. “I uh…I guess I understand all the very real reasons you probably want nothing to do with me—”

“What?” She turns to face him, frowning.

“I’m just saying I get it, and I appreciate you being cool about it even as I’m…practically having a spasm over here trying to talk to you,” he laughs, high pitched and nasal, his arms flailing and smacking the copier. It coughs and she has to press the start button again. “And considering the size and scale of ass I made of myself at Gruff’s the other day, I get that other things that might have ummm…been said or occurred are likely voided, as it were—not that there was any kind of contract when you said and did them, I was just amazed someone as, you know, astounding as you seemed to be starting to like me, maybe—”

“Hiccup,” she reflexively puts her hand on his shoulder, sure that if she doesn’t hold him down he’ll vibrate into another dimension, “I let you give tours to my apartment, do you think I’d do that if I didn’t like you?”

“Oh,” he thinks on that for a second, eyes darting to her hand on his shoulder, and she carefully retracts it, flushing as he half smiles. She gets that bone deep feeling she’s going to regret what she just said as he opens his mouth to say something, but then thinks better of it and presses his lips together in a tight line.

The copier spits out a single, un-smeared picture and he reaches for it, already leaning away from her like he’s planning a great escape. That isn’t allowed and she grabs it before he can, setting it on the small table behind her and crossing her arms.

“What’s your problem, Hiccup?”

“Problem?” He blinks, long eyelashes adding to the innocent façade, “I wouldn’t say I have a problem, I think I just—the long and short of it is I met someone really…amazing, but I pissed her off before I even officially met her and for some reason she forgave me enough to go on a private tour with me and it felt—I don’t know, like we—but it doesn’t matter, probably, because then there was a murder. Except maybe it does matter because then we kissed and it was,” he’s so red he’s practically glowing but his frantic energy is dissipating with every word, like he’s exorcising himself of it, “and then we found another murder victim, together, which isn’t my ideal date or not date or…activity.”

“Mine either.”

“It’s not the association I really wanted, you know?” He winces but his chuckle is real, “but at the same time I don’t blame you if you look at me and see, you know, a modern times Grimborn murder re-enactment scene.”

“I don’t,” she looks at him a little too hard, taking in his open, nervous expression and the hope there that he’s trying and failing to put out. “You know, your problem sounds pretty similar to a problem I’m having right now.”

“Yeah?” He isn’t bad at pretending to relax, but his stiff upper body doesn’t fool her, “did me blurting it all out like an idiot help?”

“Maybe,” her small smile feels tired, “at least we’re on the same page.”

“That’s all I’ve been hoping for since you found this picture,” he points at his copy, “which is still amazing, by the way, I don’t think I’ve said that enough.”

“Just another thing wrapped up in Grimborn.” She shakes her head, “my apartment, my job, my…” She looks at him importantly, fumbling for a word that could encompass everything he just said and the way she feels when she looks at him. Excited and comfortable at all the wrong times.

“So we just don’t talk about Grimborn then,” Hiccup shrugs, shoulders forcefully easy as he leans back against the copier, knuckles white where his hands are gripping his upper arms.

“What else are we going to talk about?” Astrid pulls the original Enquirer out of the copier and folds it carefully on the table next to it, trying not to feel his eyes boring into the side of her head.

She knows he doesn’t ignore advantages and this time it makes her hold her breath.

“We could talk about the fact that you like me,” his voice dips at the end, conspiratorial, and Astrid can’t shake the feeling that the papers are listening, adding information to their tightly stacked volumes and storing it for later. “I’m kind of still wondering how I managed that.”

“Who says it’s not your Grimborn knowledge?” She wishes he was wearing the hat. The hat makes him bold and winking and silly, an act she can act back at. He’s vulnerable in an unzipped jacket and band tee-shirt she wants to ask him about and it’s an invitation to be vulnerable too.

She usually clicks tentative yes on those, hoping people get it means no.

“I thought we weren’t talking about him.”

Astrid can imagine all of those stories in all of those papers, all the people largely forgotten and lost in their own environmentally controlled, ink preserving worlds, turning away out of a well-deserved kind of respect. She keeps their secrets legible after all, the least they can do is keep her secret.

“I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I can be a little intense,” she edges closer, finger messing with the copier buttons while she drags her eyes to his. Green even in the dingy corner of the room, soft and shy and locked on hers like he’s not going to let either of those things stop him.

“A little?” The corner of his mouth quirks into a quiet half smile, eyes squinting with that eternal curiosity that feels heavy and light and warm when directed at her. She could bring up Grimborn and re-direct it, but as convenient as that would be, she doesn’t want to.

“Most people want me to back off,” she tucks her hair behind her ear and watches him suppress a smile, “you don’t.”

“Back off? As in decrease the intensity?” He laughs, long arms flailing, hand brushing her arm and shrinking back, cautious and hopeful and jittery. “Never, why would—if anything increase it. More is better, right?”

She lets it hang long enough for him to get nervous, for the hope to condense into worry and indecision and the urge to open his mouth to keep convincing, “more intense then, is what you’re saying?”

“I umm,” he clears his throat, eyes scanning her face like he’s checking that she’s real and giving her reason to prove that she is, “wouldn’t mind. I welcome it, actually.”

Somehow, he still manages to be surprised when she grabs the back of his neck to pull him down to her, hands flailing and hitting the copier again when she kisses him.

Astrid will never admit to anyone, personalities trapped in hundred-year-old papers included, how many hours of sleep she lost not to thinking about murder, but to lamenting the fact that Hiccup kissed her before she kissed him. The cheek doesn’t count, that was impulsive and embarrassing and looking back with what she knows now, everything would be a lot less complicated if she’d acted on her full impulse then.

He wouldn’t have been stumbling on a body fifteen minutes later, for a start.

Kissing him first is better, she likes his shocked pause and sharp inhalation against her cheek before coming back to life with soft, careful lips.

It’s good for a lot of reasons that Hiccup recovers quickly from shock, but right now the only one that matters is his hands settling warm on her hips and pulling her closer. He kisses like he talks, meandering and endless, lips pressing trailing anecdotes along her jaw while she desperately wants him to get to the point.

The copier creaks and chimes when she leans harder against him, one hand in his hair and the other sliding under his jacket to feel the sharp lines of his shoulder blades. He feels stronger than he looks and his light grip on her hips feels teasing, half the story when she needs it all now. She nips at his lower lip to hurry him along and he manages to stumble while standing still, fingers digging into her sides for support at the sharp snap of breaking plastic behind him.

“Shit,” Astrid pulls back and Hiccup kisses down her neck, nose dragging along the collar of her shirt and making her shiver, “we’re breaking the copier.”

“I’ve fixed it before,” his breath is cool against the damp trail he left under her jaw and she closes her eyes, willing herself to pull back.

“Astrid is the one to talk about Grimborn with, it’s not really my specialty,” Fishlegs voice shatters the tension and she stands up too fast, straightening her shirt and wiping her mouth on the back of her hand.

Hiccup is not as quick, staring at her with a dazed, open expression, lips kiss swollen and hair sticking up on one side. She grabs his hand and pulls him away from the copier, swearing when one of the plastic trim pieces clatters to the floor, the clips on one side snapped off.

“Fix it fast,” she shoves it into his limp hands, trying and failing to pat down his hair as another voice joins Fishlegs’s.

“Ah yes, Astrid, I’ve been waiting to meet her,” it’s accented and polite, but something about it sends a chill up Astrid’s spine that has nothing to do with Hiccup struggling to make the trim piece stay in place.

“Oh?” Fishlegs is defensive, again, and she’s really going to have to talk to him about that.

“For the investigation.”

“Do you have duct tape?” Hiccup whispers, but it’s too late as Fishlegs is coming around the corner with a tall man in a gray uniform that matches the sinister undertone in his voice. Hiccup thinks fast and leans back against the copier again, holding the trim piece in place and waving at the newcomers.

“Hey Fishlegs,” he says brightly, despite Fishlegs’s scowl, and then his voice drops flat and unimpressed, “Mr. Grisly.”

“I should have expected to find you two together again,” the man in gray holds out his hand and when Astrid shakes it, it’s icy, not even vital enough to be clammy. “Mr. Grisly, head of the Neighborhood Watch Force, I’ve been invited to help investigate the recent murders and I understand you were unlucky enough to encounter a victim.”

“Yes,” she resists the urge to wipe her hand on her pants when he lets go, “I gave my statement to the police.”

“Of course, I’ve read it.” His grin is as dead as his touch, everything animated about him condensed in his eyes. “You have an interesting perspective on all of these unfortunate happenings.”

Saying luck and fortune too many times too close together makes them sound like badly veiled intention.

“I wouldn’t say I have much of a perspective at all,” Astrid shrugs, tucking her hands in her pockets, “all of it is in that statement.”

“You were hear to ask about Grimborn,” Fishlegs cuts into the conversation and Astrid is surprised that she doesn’t mind his protective tone for once, “I can actually help you with that.”

“Actually, I don’t think I’ll be needing your help, not with the real Hiccup Haddock expert right here.” Mr. Grisly gestures at Hiccup with those waxy fingers and he raises his eyebrows, shifting against the copier with a scrape of plastic that would be funny and awkward in any other tense situation. Here though, it just sounds like a pin dropping during a stealth mission, a weakness on display to someone looking out for one.

“I wouldn’t call myself a Hiccup Haddock expert,” Hiccup laughs, deflecting, “I know myself maybe a five out of ten at best, you might want to talk to Officer Jorgenson about that one.”

“I was speaking of the Viggo Grimborn suspect Admiral Hiccup Haddock,” Grisly’s chuckle is gravel thrown through a window, all solid malice and sharp edges, “although it does inform the current case to hear how clueless you are about your own actions.”

“Not my actions so much as my intentions,” Hiccup blanches, shrugging like there’s some hope of pulling this situation back towards the casual. “And my reasoning. Basically my trajectory in life, but I’m pretty solid on my own actions. What do you want to know about Admiral Haddock?”

“I’m just curious about the connection.”

“There’s no connection, the original book is fiction,” he elbows Astrid for corroboration, “right? You’ve read it.”

“Bad fiction,” she agrees and Mr. Grisly smiles.

“My favorite. Can you recommend me a version?”

“Uh,” Hiccup looks at Astrid out of the corner of his eye, realizing he’ll have to move, and she tries to look casual putting her hand on the piece of loose trim. Her fingers brush a little low on his back when she does and she can’t hide her blush with a stoic expression so she just tries to avoid Fishlegs’s eyeline. “Sure, I know where they are in the library upstairs.”

“How helpful,” Grisly’s approximation of delight is more menacing for his dedication to it.

“Anything for the investigation,” Hiccup steps carefully away from the copier and looks at Astrid seriously for a second, “talk to you later?”

“I’m sure you will,” Grisly and Fishlegs say in unison with exact opposite intonation, Fishlegs’s arms crossed as he purposefully stands in the way and forces Hiccup to walk around him on the way to the stairs.

Hiccup and Mr. Grisly are barely out of sight when the other side of the copier trim pops free, waving in mid-air.

“And he broke the copier, again.”

Astrid sighs, taking the trim piece off and setting it on top of the machine, “to be fair, we both had a part in that.”

“He broke the copier,” Fishlegs raises an eyebrow, “and I told you to check out a study room.”

“Nothing happened, we were just…arguing about Grimborn.” She rubs the back of her neck, willing the heat to dissipate from under her hair.

“Right, that always gives me a hickey,” he looks pointedly at her neck and she pulls her hair forward to cover it.

“It won’t happen again,” she nods, “and he said he can fix it.” She doesn’t mention the duct tape comment, there’s no way that would go over well. They don’t even have scotch tape at their desks because glue and old documents is such a bad combination.

“What do you see in that guy anyway?” Fishlegs oversteps, yet again, but Astrid’s almost glad that someone finally asked. “You used to be so determined to get him away from you, what changed? And why does he have to be here so often?”

The last question dents her last clinging scrap of resolve and she lets it go.

“Has anyone ever thought you were a little too academic, Fish?” She tries out the nickname, letting this feel like friendship even though that risks more awkward questions.

He snorts, “there was a time in elementary school that I legitimately thought my middle name was ‘get your nose out of that book, young man’.”

“One second it was something to be proud of that I was the first Hofferson to go to college,” she shrugs, faking noncommittal even though that word has never applied to her, “but when I came back having learned things, suddenly I was uppity, disrespectful. Hiccup…he seems to like it when I’m right. He doesn’t even mind when I’m loud about it.”

“Here I thought we were bonding,” Fishlegs smiles, “I thought you were finally going to admit you’re just fascinated with the top hat.”

“You caught me,” she punches him in the arm and he winces, “come on, that did not hurt.”

“I barely know you Astrid, and I’m as sure that you are freakishly strong as I am that you aren’t uppity or disrespectful,” he rubs his arm and weighs that, “well, disrespectful to priceless collections of Brittanicas, maybe—“

“Shut up about the encyclopedias or I’ll hit you again,” the threat is empty and friendly and final, getting Fishlegs off of her mind and letting her wonder about Mr. Grisly with her full attention. She doesn’t hesitate as much as she would have thought before texting Snotlout, hoping for a little illumination, as he doesn’t seem very good at keeping his mouth shut.

Astrid (5:02pm): some guy calling himself Mr. Grisly just came by my work

He doesn’t answer right away and she tries to focus on work, but documentation isn’t really holding her attention after all that happened in the last hour. Especially knowing Hiccup is just upstairs with ostensibly the creepiest man she’s ever met while her lips are still tingling from that kiss.

“So this is the glamorous job that lets you afford your own place,” Ruffnut interrupts, strolling down the stairs and perching on the edge of Astrid’s desk, wrinkling the corner of an old shipping manifesto.

Seeing Ruffnut hasn’t brought on so much relief since that first night in her apartment when someone downstairs started yelling murder.

“My job is to keep stuff like this safe,” Astrid pokes her friend’s butt until she scoots off of the paper and then sets a heavy book on it to press the creases flat.  “And my apartment is cheap.  What’s up?”

“Tuff needed to drop off a check upstairs so I thought I’d come say hi, like the thoughtful and attentive friend that I am.”  Ruffnut’s smile says otherwise and Astrid sighs, still ultimately glad for the distraction. Her eyes were starting to glaze over trying to find a reason to name a stupid shipping manifesto for thirty bushels of apples as important in any way, especially when so many other things obviously are.

“You’re here to brag.” Astrid doesn’t expect the flash of frustration, bordering on jealousy, given that she and Hiccup have been on however many not dates by now and Ruffnut is the smug one.

“I was going to say gloat but brag works too,” she laughs, “also, I did forget to get his number so if you could help me out with that…”

“You’re telling me you never found a moment of pause to get his number?”

“Nope.”

“Ok, gloat is a better fit, I see that now.” Astrid’s phone rings, Officer Snotlout Jorgenson flashing on the screen, “speak of the devil.”

“Wait, why’s he calling you?” Ruffnut tries to snatch the phone but Astrid beats her to it, “he should be calling me.”

“Then you should have given him your number,” she picks up, too aware of Ruffnut leaning down on the other side of the phone to listen, “what’s up?”

“I’m not actually a weirdo who calls people, I just don’t want a written record of bitching about Grisly as long as I have to see his stupid face at work every day,” Snotlout starts, “what was he doing talking to you?”

“Just asking about the investigation,” Astrid glares at Ruffnut, turning her office chair away so to try and minimize the eavesdropping. It seems smart given she can’t trust Ruffnut not to run around threatening disembowelment. “The investigation that you’re calling about, the one with the current murders and I happened to find one of the bodies, so it pertains to me.” She drives in the point.

“Duh, Astrid, keep up,” Snotlout laughs and she grits her teeth.

“Not having a problem with that, thanks, but who is this Grisly guy?”

“Thought you were all caught up,” he teases but apparently thinks better of it and continues, “no but it’s probably good you know because Hiccup won’t remember not to antagonize those NWF fucks—“

“NWF?”

“Again, since you’re so caught up, I’ll pause and explain that Grisly douche is the leader of these pseudo-police assholes acting like they own the place because a few condo developers are paying him out the ass to keep the streets clean, because apparently public cops aren’t good enough for rich people.”

Astrid groans internally, remembering Hiccup mouthing off while trying not to remember his mouth.

“Well, I wish I’d known that a minute ago because he left with Hiccup—“

“Shit,” Snotlout sighs, “I love the guy but keeping him out of jail is a full time job.”

“Ugh, you guys bonding over your boyfriend being an idiot is boring,” Ruffnut groans, “give me the phone, I’ll ask for his number.”

“No,” Astrid shushes her, but it’s too late.

“Is that Ruffnut? Is she there with you?”

“No.”

“Give her your phone, I have to tell her something,” he pushes and Astrid rubs her temple.

“Is it your number? Because then I could stop being your go-between.”

“Nah, it’s about last weekend—“

“No, I’m hanging up now,” Astrid doesn’t wait for an answer before doing exactly that and turning back to Ruffnut. “Are you done gloating?”

“Since I can tell you’re done listening to it, sure,” she shrugs, “the gloating was mostly just a bonus anyway, I was going to ask if you wanted a ride home.”

That’s almost sweet enough to mute her annoyance and she starts to thank her for the offer and decline, but then she thinks of what Snotlout said and the hollow, manic look in Grisly’s eyes. The idea of him being in command of people doesn’t scare her, but it makes her nervous. She’s never been less sure that this whole situation is only going to get worse and she hates it.

“Sure, I’ll take a ride, I was just about to pack up anyway.” Astrid declines an immediate call back from Snotlout and texts Hiccup instead.

Astrid (5:21pm): how’d that go?

“Sweet, more time to get that number out of you,” Ruffnut grabs Astrid’s bag for her.

“Not a chance.”

[ilovetuds]

So I'd like to write my opinion towards the so waited last movie of the loved franchise How to Train your Dragon, the post will contain Spoilers so if you didn't watch it yet I recommend not reading this post. I was quite disappointed with the movie but there were also parts I really enjoyed, like I said at the beginning its my opinion and I just want to share the cons and pros of that animated movie (AGAIN IN MY PERSPECTIVE), I just felt like it had more potential than what we got and it left a lot of unsweared things about the plot of the whole dragon universe created by them and felt a little lazy.

CONS:

1- This one made me feel uncomfortable, the whole snoutloud and valka ( Hiccup's mother) kinda romance, he was clearly into her and fighting to get her attention. Common if that's not at least a little bit disturbing? It's like one of your friends start to hit on your mom, its just weird. In the end of the movie we are not sure if they will have something or not, she praises him and he gets all lovey dovey. (FOR THOR NO, PLEASE NO) 2- OKAY THIS ONE IS THE THING THAT I WAS PASEKAEOSAKOEA (really annoyed), for me the last villain, the so called 'Night Fury' killer, the one who everyone was afraid of and said he was some master of the hunt, he was pretty shallow and dumb. His character was not really detailed and his reason to kill all Night Furys was even worse. He tells Hiccup when he killed his first Night Fury his whole tribe cheered because of that, so he just decided he wanted to kill all of them, I mean that's a good reason for a villain, pride or whatever you want to call it but not for the "ultimate villain", it's just really weak and lazy plot. Maybe I should put topics here about him, I watched the whole series and read the books so I might get a little into them now:

a. He doesn't look scary at all! I mean common when we had villains like Drago who had a really cool concept, a tough looking guy who called himself Dragon God or Dargo Bloody Fist, and the guy is 50 old! The guy enslaved dragons, controlled na Alpha dragon and he even rode Toothless. He was a hell of a villain he was really a madman. Now let's talk about Krogan, if you watched the netflix series you know him. The man is fucking awesome and you can actually fear him, he has a hell of a dragon as a 'partner', has a cool scar and a tough face, he's brave and fiercefoul, you don't want to mess with that dude. He ran to every fight with his dragon or without, let's not forget he captured a titan dragon! And his plans were smart too, it was a character that had knowledge and was a really amazing. We shall not forget about Viggo Grimborn, for me one of the best character in the series, you never know if you can trust him or not, he is the Crime Lord his whole appearence on the series was amazing, you saw him grow as a character and he had a lot of good plans and traps agaisnt the raiders. And we shall not forget about Johann, the man used the vikings for years and never revealed his true intentions, he was a master mind really good villain and a big plot twist in the whole universe. I could mention some other small villains here and there but my point is, all of them were really smart and were challanging for the gang to beat, with the so called "Night Fury Killer" was really dumb and he felt not so special, he had no good plan or a good reason for you to like, hate or fear him, he was just there because they needed to show the guy almost wiped all the little toothless off the earth. His character was really dissapointing to me.

b. We wanted to see new dragons, and especially new 'bad dragons' and we got some cool scorpion like dragons, nothing super creative and new, because we had the Triple Stryke already, (which is na awesome dragon). He had to drug those dragons to obbey him, which doesnt explain how they would listen to just him it made no sense at all. They were strong yea, but they were also dumb. Toothless got rid of 5 or 6 of them so easily it felt stupid. Like no challange whatsoever. 

c. His poison darts were na idea we seen in the whole franchise a lot, so nothing new, I know it is a movie for kids but his darts could be deadly, like when he shot the dragon who charged after him, it would add a lot more to his character as evil and na asshole if he killed the dragon instead of putting it to sleep, just looked really overused to me. d. Overrall it was a really wasted character, the movie felt way too rushed and we didn't have time to see and develop anything for him. It was just a waste of animation and plot. 3- The light fury, I know a lot of people must be loving her concept, desing and etc etc, after all she is Toothless's mate, but her character at least for me wasn't much likeable. It seemed like she was just put there to end the story and to show the whole thing about growing up, because you will start to get distant of a lot of your friends and things change, because it is real life, that's true and we get it, but she as a character, she has no story, no explanation and we don't even get to know more about her. Again it felt really rushed. Don't get me wrong, I know it would be a lot of things to cover in a movie, but the whole franchise was always about giving and learning about dragons and how they react and their characteristics, so when we get nothing explained or the whole let's study this dragon or Fishleg's thirst for knowledge ( I do know he tried to draw her but he gave up too easily and didn't really seemed that interested) is dissapointing... It was finally someone Toothless could relate to and not be the end of his species, the way they should've dealt with it should've been different. There was more promo than plot. FISHLEGS DIDN’T EVEN CARE TO NAME HER, THATS HOW SPECIAL SHE WAS.

4- Hiccup's friends, his friends weren't really that important and funny, I get this whole movie is supposed to be more grown up, but we grew up with them, it felt like they were more like background characters than secondary. I think there were less dialogs and interactions between all of them, kinda sad.

5- Again the movie felt really rushed I don't think they covered things that were important for the end of the plot and focused on shallow and stupid things.

6- The hidden world, I wanted to learn and to see more of the hidden world, how it worked, the new species there, something, anything. Instead we just got a grumpy toothless going back to the new Berk with Hiccup and a stupid chase. I found something really strange too, with that many dragons, there should've been an Alpha, another dragon other than Toothless, but it's too convenient that we learn that Toothless is also Alpha in the Hidden World, and not just that suddenly all the dragons see him as a superior. AGAIN RUSHED and lazy, IT WAS THE FUCKING HIDDEN WORLD OF THE LEGENDS....

7- If you watched the trailer you watched the movie. I dont know whats going on with some trailers nowadays, but they are showing too much and basically you can tell everything that it's going to happen. I think it's really dumb and disrespectful to the watchers. 

8- I know maybe you guys don't care but I really wanted to buy a new Toothless toy to put as a display on my computer, but the toys that were created for this movie, were really terrible looking and bad quality. And the new toothless (The huge one) is just the same as the other one from 2014, disapointing. 

9- They said all the dragons disappeared and bla bla, but we seen that there were dragons in the sea, in some islands really far far away and hidden caves all around the world. Maybe the dragons near Berk were gone, near the vikings but not all the dragons in the world. 

10- Where in the hell is Heather? Just that lol Where is Heather. Her dragon is sound and safe and didn't go to the hidden world. Neither did her brother's. Again a big flaw in the plot.

PROS 1- Okay I really liked the cinematography of this movie, you can tell how much they invested in it and how much they evolved, the animations, landscapes the dragons, the reflection on Toothless eyes were breathtaking. Amazing.

2- Toothless and Hiccup friendship, it is beautiful till the end, we love their friendship and how they interact with each other, theres no complain. Maybe we hate to see them getting apart because we realize that its what we are going to experience in some point of our lives, I thought I'd always see my friends from school and my friends that I had for more than 19 years, but time and life get in the way, friends will still be friends but you will likely see them less, which somehow make us sad. 

3- Astrid and Hiccup marriage, it was touching and cute, I did feel like it was more for fan service but it's alright, it was cute and they deserved each other. 4- Astrid Growth, she had na amazing develop as a character and being always there to help Hiccup was really a big plus for her. 

5- 'Mini meatlug' IT WAS ADORABLE ENOUGH SAID.

6- Hiccup realizing he had potential and with or without Toothless he would be a great leader, that is a really special moment in the movie and it's touching too, learning to believe in yourself and being independent.

7- Hiccup mother's appeared a lot during the movie, she had no super special scene but it was nice to see her and her adorable dragon. 

8- The new 'elk dragon' I'm sorry I don't know his name in english yet and I just wanted to write this fast cuz I mainly don't really have anyone who's a fan to talk about and I'm excited! Anyways, he is just so cuteee! 

9- The riders armors, it was a really cool idea and cool looking I approve that.

10- Toothless Babies, I really thought they would look cuter lol but I guess that's alright and we can't complain we got to see a nightlight fury babies for the first time so cuteee! Okaaaay if you guys want to add more points to my list or disccus about some feeel free! I want to talk about the moviee lol

[racetothedslides]

Aftershocks - Part 4

Preface: Though this fic takes place in the RTTE universe, it takes place in a different story arc. I found the idea of working with villains we already know the demise (or redemption) of and familiar plot points kind of boring, so the main antagonist is an OC. I more or less introduce things without exposition, but it shouldn’t be hard to follow, and characters, motives, and plot points will become more fleshed out as the story(s) progress. I prefer stories where you’re not supposed to know everything right off the bat!

Summary: When Hiccup takes the twins invulnerability for granted, Tuff ends up seriously injured. Now he must deal with the wrath and broken trust of Ruff, while questioning his ability to lead as the rest of the gang try to find some middle ground and are forced to see both Hiccup and Ruffnut in a new light.

Rating: Teen I guess?

Warnings (which apply to the story as a whole, not individual chapters): swearing, violence, injury, mild gore

@ashleybenlove !

Part 4, 1,315 words, Part 1, Part 2, Part 3

Compound fractured collar bone. Dislocated shoulder. Broken ribs. One lung full of fluid. Concussion. Gothi spelled it out for them, after doing what she could for the injured man. Hiccup tried to speak, to ask her what they needed to do next, but the pain in his throat prevented him from doing anything but cough, though it had been a day and a half since Ruffnut had choked him. It felt longer than that though, because he hadn’t been able to sleep. Gothi had taken a look at it, but simply shrugged, her eyes full of sadness. It wasn’t life threatening, but it was painful, yet there was nothing she could do. It wasn’t until Hiccup saw himself reflected in Snotlout’s frying pan that he realized his neck was a sick bluish, purple color, with the imprints of fingers clearly visible. 

Hiccup sat in his hut, wishing he could see his injured friend but…Ruff wouldn’t let him anywhere near her brother. Astrid paced beside his bed. 

“You couldn’t have known about the gas leak,” she said, “This was just supposed to be a routine mission. This wasn’t your fault…” But Astrid, as loving and steadfast as she was, could not keep the doubt from her voice. 

It was his fault. 

When they were kids, little kids, they had gone on many adventures. One time they went exploring near a stream and there was a fallen tree. It was a perfect bridge for four five year olds and two four year olds. Halfway across, Tuffnut slipped, falling and hitting his head against a rock. Hiccup looked at his friend in horror before he sighed and laughed along with his fallen friend who found the accident as funny as everyone else did. 

No matter what obstacle was in front of them, the twins always found a way to conquer it, until he was in charge of them. 

The door to Hiccup’s hut slammed open, causing Toothless to almost fall off his bed. 

“Your gronkle iron cup. Need it.” Said Ruffnut. Astrid positioned herself between her two friends. 

“Why?” Asked Astrid

“Because the medicine Gothi is trying to give Tuff is leached out by wood you IDIOT!” Ruff helped herself to Hiccup’s pantry before giving Astrid a seething glare and exiting the hut. She hadn’t even bothered to look at Hiccup, but she froze when Hiccup spoke. 

“I don’t deserve your forgiveness…” He said, “But please hear me out?”

Ruffnut stopped. She saw the marks around her friend (former friend?)’s neck. No. No, not by a long shot. She looked at him, surprised that she was enjoying the pain in his eyes. But it wasn’t enough, so she decided to kick things up a notch. She looked him dead in the eye as she said:

“Stoic would have never ordered us to do that.”

That was it. That was enough. 

Hiccup swayed back, and Astrid was at his side. Finally, the sobs came. They came from a place Hiccup didn’t know he had. Ruffnut all but ran from the hut, not caring about Hiccup or Astrid, or anyone, or anything. Her brother was a heap of pain, and she…

What was she? 

As much as she knew she should feel bad for almost killing Hiccup, she just couldn’t bring herself to feel anything about it. She had almost liked it. She had been startled by the fear in her friends eyes and wondered if they were afraid of her now, or if she was afraid of herself.Tuff had always been there to hold her back when she went to far, but now the break cables were cut and she didn’t know how far she’d go before she crashed. 

Ruff took the cup to her hut where Gothi was waiting. She thought about asking Gothi whether she was a bad person for choking Hiccup, but decided against it. Besides, she had other things to do. The small hole in her brother’s side, drilled by Gothi, needed tending to. They had to drain the fluid from his left lung as best they could. As soon as she was done with that, she grabbed the old blankets from under her brother and walked as quickly as she could to the wash station. It was probably a good sign that he still had to pee and crap, but it didn’t make the task any less disgusting. 

Hiccup watched as Ruffnut washed the soiled blankets. He and Toothless hovered above the base. 

“Toothless…” Said Hiccup, “What did I do? I’m supposed to lead this team, I’m…I’m supposed to be the next chief of Burk and…”

“And you made a mistake, just like all people do,” Said Astrid, appearing out of nowhere to fly by his side. 

“This isn’t just a mistake, Astrid,” Said Hiccup, “This is a crime, this is, this is my fault.”

“So what are you going to do? We’ve got Gothi here to take care of Tuff and maybe while the Twins are down Bucket and Mulch can stand in on zippleback duty?” Astrid said as she tried not to look at the ring of purple around his neck. 

“No…Astrid? I need you to take over Dragon’s Edge for a while. Please, I know you can take care of things, I just…” Hiccup choked, from the emotion or his throat, he wasn’t sure, “I just need to talk to my dad.”

“Ok,” Said Astrid, but Hiccup and Toothless were already a dark dot on the horizon. 

When he landed on Burk, the fact that everyone was going about their every day tasks made Hiccup angry. Of course they couldn’t have known what had happened, but it just seemed so wrong. He got to his fathers hut and threw open the door, relieved to see his father at his table, signing the renewals of old treaties. His father was much less relieved, seeing his son burst into his home with bruises around his neck. He was at his feet at once, asking who had done that to him, what had happened. Hiccup just sank into the chair opposite him in one fluid motion, holding his head in his hands. At a loss, the chief finally said

“Out with it, Son!”

And out it came

“Dad, I…I messed up. I was mad at the twins and gave them a mission, oh gods I’m so stupid. I told them to go to an unstable island and Fishlegs WARNED me but those two always make it through but they didn’t and now….now Tuff is hurt and Ruff…she did this,” He pointed to his neck and saw his father’s face fall slack, “and I don’t know what to do. This is all because of me. Dad, what did I do? I…why did I have to be your son? When I was born I was supposed to be a leader but…Dad, I can’t do it, I almost killed one of my best friends and now one of my other best friends…” Had Ruffnut tried to kill him? He wasn’t sure, but he knew he could have died. 

Sometimes, the best way to handle things is to go back to the basics. Stoic stood up and passed what was left of the food on his table to Hiccup. 

“Eat,” He said, “And rest. You’ll have a clearer head in the morning, and we can discuss matters further.”

Hiccup couldn’t eat the food placed before him, but as he climbed the stairs to his old room, Toothless right behind him, he began to feel a sense of relief. It was exactly as it had been when he was a kid. It looked and smelled so familiar. He buried himself in his old bed, his old blankets, and toothless leapt on his old stone slab. Things weren’t ok, but for right now at the very least, they were familiar. 

[seagreen-meets-grey]

When Lightning Strikes Ch. 3

When your life is nothing but a cloudless sky, lightning can come and strike you so unexpectedly, you won’t even know what hit you.

Or: When Hiccup and Astrid meet, it is as if lightning strikes.

[Chapter 1] [Chapter 2] [Chapter 4] [Chapter 5] [Chapter 6] [Chapter 7] [Chapter 8] [Chapter 9] [Chapter 10] [Chapter 11] [Chapter 12] [Chapter 13] [Chapter 14] [Chapter 15] [Chapter 16] [Chapter 17] [Chapter 18] [Chapter 19] [Chapter 20]

Crossposted on ao3 and ff.net

_______________

After he left Astrid on the porch, Hiccup avoided her all night. Every time he spotted her face in the crowd, her golden hair, her blue eyes looking around as if in search, he turned around and left the room. He was still a bit shaken, his heart drumming against his ribcage. He wanted to forget those strange little moments that had occurred between him and her, wanted to wash away the guilt fermenting inside him. But as he later realized, ignoring her and spending the rest of the night with Heather had been a futile attempt at doing that. Lightning had struck him, so hard that blue and white sparks were still flickering all over his body when he woke up the next morning, disoriented and confused, not just from the alcohol.

And no matter what he did, he just couldn’t forget her.

At first, he decided to leave this night behind. Block out each memory of thunder and light, of sparks, both pleasant and unpleasant. Pretending like nothing out of the ordinary had happened. Because it hadn’t. He’d gone to a party; he’d met a group of people. One of them was a girl with breathtaking beauty and a soul pulling at his heart strings. People like her existed, people with a natural spell about them. He shouldn’t worry about it too much, shouldn’t let his mind spiral further.

Because that’s what he was doing; he was spiraling into it. It had been a weird night and Astrid had momentarily confused him. His mind had jumped to conclusions too fast, his brain sending out the wrong messengers and producing feelings of guilt where there should be none. He hadn’t done anything wrong. Hadn’t cheated on Heather, hadn’t even considered considering it. He’d been drunk. Comfortable with a person he’d easily connected with. But his mind had latched onto it and was now tormenting him, because everything it told him he’d done, he’d always been afraid of doing. He never wanted to hurt anyone, never wanted to be the jerk.

He reminded himself that overthinking was one of his talents. And that, if he allowed himself to go down that road again, he’d end up falling into his own hole once more, and soon enough he’d have to make a new appointment with Dr. Mala. So he told his brain to shut up and forget that anything ever happened.

He lasted for about three weeks.

It happened while he was watching a movie with Heather. It was a lighthearted film, the protagonists clearly in love and fighting all odds to be together. After a long day at work, the movie was a welcome opportunity to unwind, so Hiccup used his girlfriend’s shoulder as a pillow and gradually drifted off towards the end of the movie. One of the protagonists had just held a speech about true love, the words sinking into Hiccup’s brain and getting lost in the haze of slumber.

Suddenly, Heather moved, the motion of her shoulder waking him. As he rubbed his eyes and slowly came back to the here and now, he had to blink a few times when he expected Heather’s hair to be silken and blonde, her eyes to be sparkling blue. For the fraction of a second, upon realizing he was looking at black and green, he felt something akin to disappointment, and that was all he needed to fully come to again.

“I’m going to bed,” he exclaimed, absentmindedly wishing Heather a good night and almost missing her response.

“Want me to come too, or can I watch this first?”

Hiccup shrugged and yawned. “One of us has to know how it ends, right?” The movie was almost over, anyway. And then she could come to bed, snuggle up to him and remind him that his tired mind was simply messing with him again.

But as soon as his head hit the pillow, he was gone, dreaming of dragons with snake eyes that wanted him to touch the treasure, eyes gleaming in anticipation of what was going to happen if he did.

_______________

It had been five weeks and four days that he’d met Astrid when he saw her again.

The day started like every of the last 39 days. When Hiccup got out of bed, Heather was already in the kitchen, pouring coffee into his mug as soon as he came from the bathroom. She was already dressed, grabbing her jacket from where it was hanging over a chair at the kitchen table.

“Morning,” she greeted him in a hurry, planted a kiss on his cheek that made his stomach churn with guilt, and flung her purse over her shoulder.

“Morning,” Hiccup yawned, running a still sleepy hand through his bed hair and letting himself fall onto his usual chair.

“Milk is almost empty,” Heather said as she put on her shoes, not waiting for a reply before she opened the door. “See you tonight. Love you!”

She was gone before Hiccup could answer, the sound of her heels disappearing down the hallway until he faintly heard the door to the stairway fall closed.

“Yeah…” he mumbled, slowly spinning the mug on the tabletop. It was a Star Wars-themed mug with the inscription Come to the dark side. We have coffee! that Heather had given him last Christmas. He stared at it with bleary eyes, still trying to escape the nightmare that had gripped him in his sleep with cold hands, after he had finally managed to fall asleep. Once again, he’d been lying wide awake late into the night, tossing and turning, Heather’s even breaths right next to him deafening to his ears.

He sipped at his coffee, the still hot liquid burning the tip of his tongue, like it so often did. This time, Hiccup didn’t even flinch. He deserved this.

Not exactly hungry, he used up the rest of the milk for his cereal and half-heartedly ate a few spoons full. He put the empty mug and almost full bowl in the sink, not bothering to clean anything. He didn’t have the energy; he’d lost it all to the nightmares.

“Maybe it’s just a phase,” he mumbled to himself as he headed to work. He continued to chant his mantra under his breath the entire morning, it’s just a phase, it’s just a phase, just a phase, ignoring the concerned glances from his co-worker. Fishlegs was his friend. He could see that something was bothering Hiccup. It was only a matter of time until he would finally confront him about it.

Fishlegs’ eyes were boring into the side of his skull. They burned through his skin, crossed the blood underneath, knocked on the thick bone that was his head. Just a phase didn’t open. Hiccup almost laughed as his mind put pictures to his thoughts. Fishlegs’ eyes were wearing khaki pants. Maybe Astrid would find it funny.

Hiccup groaned and let his head fall onto his desk with a painful thump, his forehead landing directly on his pencil. “Ow,” he made.

“Hiccup, are…” Fishlegs appeared in his peripheral vision, rolling closer on his chair. “Are you alright?”

Still with his face planted on his sketches, Hiccup sighed. “I’m in deep shit.”

“Do you want to talk about it?” his friend asked tentatively. Hiccup didn’t answer for a minute. He closed his eyes. His nose was uncomfortable on the hard surface. The pencil would surely leave a mark on his forehead.

“You know how I was at Heather’s brother’s birthday party a few weeks ago?” he asked, finally sitting up and facing the other man. He saw his eyes flick to his forehead for a split second.

“Yes, you told me about that. Or rather, you complained about the guy.”

“Well, I…” he hesitated, eyeing Fishlegs warily. How would he react? Would he judge him? Hiccup contemplated to simply wave it off, blaming his mood on something else, but when he tried to think of anything, his mind blanked, apart from the one image that has constantly been there for weeks. Blue eyes, like the sky, deep as an ocean. “I met someone.”

“What do you mean, you met someone?”

“I met a… a girl.”

Fishlegs’ face fell. “Ooh, I don’t like where this is going.”

“No, no!” Hiccup quickly put his hands up in a reassuring manner. “I didn’t cheat on Heather; I would never do that!”

Fishlegs still didn’t look happy, raising a brow and leaning back in his chair with his arms crossed.

“The judgmental energy isn’t helping me, Fish,” Hiccup said, rolling his eyes.

“Okay, okay, I’m not judging. I want to help you, so tell me what happened.” He still didn’t look convinced. Hiccup chose to concentrate on his pencil instead, rolling it between his fingers as he talked.

“Her name is Astrid. She’s the fiancée of one of Dagur’s best friends. Heather’s annoying brother,” he added at Fishlegs’ questioning look. “We had fun, drinking and playing stupid games.”

“And nothing happened?” When Hiccup didn’t answer, he made that concerned face again, voice rising a few levels. “You just said that nothing happened between you!”

“And nothing did! It’s just…” He sighed and tossed the pencil back on his desk. It rolled over the scattered sketches and was stopped in its path by his empty coffee mug with a short echoing clink. Occasional drops of rain that became more frequent by the minute were drumming against the window, for a while the only sound in the room. When Hiccup spoke again, his voice was quiet, the guilt seeping through, rasping at the edges. “I can’t stop thinking about her. I don’t know why; I only spent a couple hours with her. It’s unlike anything I ever felt for anyone, including Heather – and it’s terrifying me.”

“I don’t think you’re supposed to think about other women at all when you’re in a relationship,” Fishlegs stated, and another sharp pang of guilt shot through Hiccup’s chest.

“I know, I know. Maybe I’m just obsessing over it too much. But…” His voice became even quieter and Fishlegs had to concentrate on hearing what he said. “When I look at Heather, there’s… nothing. Familiarity, perhaps. But whenever I try to do something romantic or… you know, intimate… to bring back the spark, it’s not her who’s on my mind. Even if she’s right in front of me.” He sunk back into his chair, shoulders slumped, a deep frown on his face.

“Did you talk to Heather about it?”

Hiccup shook his head. “I don’t want to unnecessarily hurt her. Besides, I keep telling myself that I’m simply overthinking again. Maybe it’s just a phase that I’ll get over.”

“You know,” Fishlegs started carefully, “I don’t think such phases should come up at all.”

The statement rolled around in Hiccup’s stomach, razor-sharp thorns slashing his guts. He knew that his friend was right. But the mental defenses he had put up against the guilt wouldn’t crumble, the armor of the idea that it was a phase that would go by warding off sobering reality.

“I need some air.” He stood up and grabbed his jacket. The rain had turned into a consistent drizzle, the line were dark clouds met bright blue sky visible in the distance.

“Do you want some company? We could take our lunch break early.” Fishlegs half got out of his chair before Hiccup shook his head.

“No, I- I need…” He turned away, opening the door. “I need some time. I’ll figure something out.” And with that, he left, feeling the thoughtful eyes of his friend on his back until he turned around a corner at the end of the hallway. He took the stairs, darted out the front door of the building and kept walking, didn’t slow down, let his feet take him somewhere, anywhere, as long as they didn’t stop. Left, right, left, right, left, right, left, right, left, right.

He stared at his shadow, cast by the occasional ray of sunlight breaking through the blanket of clouds that followed him wherever he went. Left, right, left, right, left, right. His shadow led the way, the rest of his body followed. His surroundings shifted into a blur, his limbs moving on autopilot.

Fishlegs was right. He shouldn’t be thinking of another woman while he was in a relationship. It wasn’t fair to either of them, neither Heather nor himself. Oh, this was all so messed up! Why couldn’t he just erase all memories of Astrid and bring everything back to how it was? But the longer he entertained that notion, the clearer it became that he didn’t want that.

The rain didn’t let up, the air around him humid and warm. His hair was starting to get soggy, small droplets of rain trickling down his neck. He should have brought an umbrella. But a tiny part of him, a dark part he had banished to a corner of himself, couldn’t stop thinking that he deserved this – getting slowly soaked in drizzle, impossibly humid air making his clothes cling to his body, agonizing over his feelings.

When he looked up the next time, he had to reorient himself for a minute. He was standing somewhere in the middle of Berk’s famously long shopping street, an ice cream parlor to his right and a bookstore to his left. The lunchtime rush brought more and more people to the streets, creating long lines in front of bakeries and pizza places, a sea of umbrellas flooding the entire pedestrian zone.

Following his growling stomach, Hiccup strolled over to the next food cart serving crêpe. As soon as he swallowed his first bite, he didn’t feel quite as though he was drenched in his own misery anymore. Standing under a canopy, munching on his lunch, he observed the buzzing crowd. There were groups of people, friends, co-workers, mothers pushing strollers, people on their phone, people with shopping bags. He wondered if any of them had ever fallen for a person while they were dating another. How would they handle it? Did they simply get over it and move on? Did they end the relationship and got involved with the other person?

Not that that was an option for him. Astrid wasn’t just off-limits for him because he was with Heather; she was also engaged to another man, and happily so, judging by her dynamic with Eret at the party. The what-if, though, was flashing through his mind despite the armor that was supposed to protect him from the guilt that immediately reared its atrocious head again.

He really needed to sort this out, needed to–

His heart stopped. He was overcome by a feeling akin to the brief moment of shock when missing a step on hazardous stairs. Then his heartbeat accelerated, pounding in his veins, drowning out the voices and noises around him. Memories of tingling electricity spread in his toes and fingertips, the sound of phantom thunder resounding in his ears. His vision narrowed, eyes seeing only her. Astrid.

There she was, her own ray of sunshine, standing out from the crowd. Her expression was bright, the sound of her laughter resonating with the warm feeling that immediately spread in his chest. He couldn’t move, could only look at her, just like the first time he saw her. She had a bag flung over her shoulder, holding a marine blue umbrella in her other hand. Her attention was devoted to the man walking beside her, tall and strong and everything that Hiccup wasn’t.

All of a sudden, something in her expression changed. She came to a halt, angering an older man that had been walking right behind her and hurried past her after throwing her an annoyed look. Eret was already a few paces ahead of her when he noticed she wasn’t next to him anymore. Then, ever so slowly, she turned around, a confused scowl adorning her features. As soon as she locked eyes with him, the bright smile returned, and she waved.

Still too stunned to greet her back, he at least remembered the food in his hands and realized he was close to dropping it. Shoving the last piece of crêpe between his teeth, he tried not to panic as she came over, fiancé in tow.

“Hey, Hiccup!” she yelled, skipping a few small puddles and embracing him in a greeting hug. “So good to see you!” She smelled of something flowery and he tried to not inhale deeply.

He realized he’d never seen her in broad daylight before, where the sun breaking through the clouds illuminated her long hair so that it shone golden. The blue of her eyes seemed even deeper, and he discovered the faint wall of freckles that covered the bridge of her nose.

“Hi, Astrid. Hey, Astrid. Hi, Astrid. Hey. Hi, Astrid,” he stuttered, his efforts to keep calm evaporating into thin air. He mentally facepalmed. Smooth, Hiccup. But she didn’t seem to care, giving him a playful punch on the arm.

“Haven’t seen you in a while. How’s it going?”

You have no idea, he thought. “I’m fine, same old, same old…” He tried to not look her in the eyes, which was hard; his attention kept circling back to the miniature skies inside them.

“Hey, man,” Eret greeted him when he caught up to them, and Hiccup gave him a polite nod. He hadn’t really talked to the man much back at the party.

“Eret and I are out looking for wedding dresses and suits. I’m not much of a dress type but some of them were seriously beautiful.” He could imagine. The next second, he rather tried not to. Not while he wasn’t the one in the matching suit. “What about you?”

“Oh, I’m not the type for pretty dresses, either, and I don’t have the physique for it.”

“Ha, ha,” she tried to sound unimpressed, but the twinkle in her eye betrayed her. It made his stomach flutter and he kept fighting against the smile that broke out over his face as soon as he let it.

“I’m on a break from work. Clearing my had a bit.”

“Right,” Astrid’s face lit up in interest, “I never asked you what you do.”

“Well, currently, I’m illustrating book covers and the occasional children’s book for Dragon’s Books. It’s not what I always saw myself doing while growing up, but it’s actually not that bad.”

“Sounds neat. Anything I might have read that you illustrated?”

He shrugged. “Don’t think so. I haven’t been with them so long yet so I’m getting all the nameless works for now.”

“Try me.” She put her hands on her hips and leaned slightly forward, a challenging spark in her eyes.

“Have you heard of The Phantom of the Arena?”

She thought for a minute. “Sounds like The Phantom of the Opera.”

“It’s inspired by it.”

“Is it good?”

“Oh yes, you should read it!” The flutter in his stomach increased. He wanted to talk to her about books for hours.

She turned to Eret who Hiccup had completely forgotten was still standing there. His secret hope about geeking out with Astrid fell. “Let’s go to that bookstore at the corner!”

Eret shrugged with one shoulder, looking down at his watch. Hiccup noticed it was a Jaeger, displaying another difference between himself and Eret: wealth. While Hiccup’s dad kept telling him to just take his money, he wanted to earn it himself.

“If we wanna do that, we need to go now before we have to head back.”

Astrid turned back to Hiccup with an excited smile and hugged him goodbye. He tried not to hold onto her for longer than was appropriate. “It was great seeing you, Hiccup.” With that, she left.

He watched her go, arm in arm with Eret. His heart was still pounding so hard in his chest, he was sure it was visible through his shirt, like in a cartoon. His skin was tingling where she had put her hands when she hugged him. The prickling hadn’t stopped, little jolts of lightning flashing through his nerves.

For the rest of the day, he kept thinking back to every second of that short conversation with Astrid. Every smile, every look, every word they shared. It was a miracle he got any of his work done. Fishlegs tried to talk to him about his love life issues again every few minutes, but Hiccup was so absorbed in his thoughts that he didn’t answer. After a few failed attempts, his friend gave up.

He spent the entire bus ride home staring out the window, so lost in his predicament that he missed his stop and had to get out at the next one. The rain had let up, the early evening sun warming his neck as he walked the extra mile home.

It was scary how he didn’t even know Astrid past the few hours they spent together at a party and the few minutes today, but he’s never felt such a strong connection to anyone. He didn’t even know how that even made sense, because it couldn’t, could it? Everything about her kept drawing him in, from her mesmerizing eyes to the strong and self-confident woman that she was. He wanted to talk to her about things that he loved, wanted to hear about her opinions, her interests. Get to know her, be near her, be with her.

There didn’t seem to be a logical reason for all this, nothing he could figure out, like a puzzle or a mechanism. He couldn’t control it, couldn’t just fix this with a sleepless night worth of tinkering. He had to listen to his gut, or to his heart if he wanted to be romantic, and then hope that he didn’t destroy the scaffolding.

When he turned his key in the apartment door, his stomach was twisted in knots again, nerves tugging at his lungs. He closed the door behind him and threw his keys onto the small table next to the coat rack. As slow as possible, he took off his shoes, dreading the moment he had to face his girlfriend.

The clacking of fingernails on a keyboard sounded from the living room. Taking a deep breath, he hesitantly approached it. Heather was sitting on the couch, scrolling through something on her laptop, smiling at him when she saw him.

“Hey, how was your day?”

“It- it was fine.” He just stood there in the doorway, rigid, still wearing his jacket.

She looked back at her screen and suddenly, everything became utterly clear. The knot in his stomach was still there, but he knew that he had to do this, that this was what he wanted. He didn’t know if it was the right decision in general, but it felt right, determination replacing the feeling of guilt.

“I’m looking for cheap flights,” Heather said without taking her eyes off the screen. “We could go to Spain or Greece, maybe Rome. Just the two of us. Couple’s vacation, long overdue!” She finally looked up at him again. “What do you think?”

“I think…” He took a deep breath and stood up straight, voice as serious as his frown. “We need to talk.”

[howtowhumpyourhiccup]

Comfortember Day 4: Aerophobia

Summary: Written for Comfortember Day 4. Set after Httyd 2. Hiccup never thought he would ever be afraid to fly. Today, that is a fear he has to conquer.

Rating: General

Characters: Hiccup, Toothless, Astrid, Snotlout, Fishlegs, Ruffnut, Tuffnut

Pairing: Hiccstrid

Words: 2 029

Fandom: How to Train Your Dragon

Prompt: “Anxiety”

Whumpee: Hiccup

Author’s Notes: This was an interesting one to work on, mainly because you wouldn't expect Hiccup, of all people, to ever be afraid of flying.

Constructive criticism is appreciated!

Enjoy!

Ao3

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Hiccup has to take a deep, deep breath to calm his racing heart. The saddle creaking beneath him, the feeling of the handles in his hands, his dragon's powerful muscles moving, and the deep guttural sounds in his throat. He never thought any of these things would ever make him feel as nervous as they do now, but here he is.

"Are you okay, Hiccup? You know this can wait, right?" Hiccup looks towards Astrid as she sits on top of her own dragon when she talks to him. She and Stormfly are waiting for him and Toothless to take off.

Toothless gazes at his Rider from over his shoulder, crooning questioningly.

"I'm okay, I'm... I'm about as ready as I'll ever be." Hiccup tells the two of them and Stormfly, too, as her eye nearest to him focuses on him. She has quite bird-like behavior.

"Are you sure? Because you haven't flown in a long time. This is your first time since... Well..." Fishlegs asks as he worries. Not that Hiccup hasn't proven himself as the most veteran dragon rider, but it has been a while. And not only that, but it's what preceded the long period of no flying that plays a factor in Fishlegs' worrying, too.

Hiccup had a crash.

And while Hiccup isn't unfamiliar with crashing, that one had been particularly hard on him. A rogue dragon had ripped him and Toothless from the sky. A fall from that height should've killed him, but it hadn't. What it had was broken damn near every single bone in his body, his back included.

He still remembers waking up in the snow, his friends nowhere to be seen, Toothless nowhere to be seen. In pain and unable to move, he waited for hours in the cold until he was finally found.

By the time they did, night had fallen. And by the time they brought him home, there was some frostbite to treat due to the unbearably freezing temperatures. He hadn't been able to breathe properly either due to his ribs, which had gotten him sick on top of being terribly injured.

It had taken him a long, long time to recover from his injuries and still the hours of lying there, in pain and uncertain, haunt him. At some point early on, they even feared he would never walk again. His recovery has been nothing short of a miracle.

Today will be the first time he takes back to the sky and he's been both looking forward to it as well as dreading it.

Instead of answering Fishlegs' question about whether he's sure or not, Hiccup simply smiles his way. No, he isn't as sure as he would like to be, but what better time to fly than the present?

This past week or so, he's been nervous. Or rather, he's been anxiously awaiting this day to come.

He's been having bad dreams about falling again and again, his years of experience notwithstanding. And even when he's awake, whenever he thinks of the mere act of flying, there's a painful pounding inside his chest, it becomes hard to breathe, and he sweats heavily out of nowhere.

Usually, they come in waves of ten minutes to a full half an hour. Today, it's been present since morning.

Sitting on top of Toothless' back, Hiccup looks up at the sky he once called his home, too. Toothless is still patiently waiting on him to decide when they can take off, he won't do it unless Hiccup wants him, too. If Hiccup ends up deciding that taking back to the sky isn't for today, he will respect that as well.

He, himself, is itching to go, though. He's been grounded for as long as Hiccup has, barely using the automatic tailfin Hiccup told him to use while he recovered, stuck in bed for at least the first few weeks.

But he understands Hiccup's reluctance. If he were a human who survived a fall like that, he would be a little reluctant, too.

Hiccup takes his eyes off the sky and looks at Astrid and Stormfly who stand next to him and Toothless. Then he looks behind them, at the other Dragon Riders. They're all waiting, ready to take off alongside him and complete their group once more.

Having them all here with him just to help him feel safer, it makes him feel better about this.

So Hiccup turns his attention back to the cliff they're all standing on, one outside of the village.

There is no time like the present.

"Come on, Bud." His anxiety is still choking the life out of him, but he forces those words off his tongue. Toothless sinks to the ground, wings prepare for take-off, and his strong legs push him off towards the sky. The air catches his wings and they're off.

"Yeah, woo!" Snotlout can be heard behind him, his voice quickly cut off because of the wind in his ears.

Hiccup doesn't look behind him, instead focusing on keeping a tight grip on the handle and the quickly approaching clouds high above;

Toothless isn't planning on getting too high, just high enough that his Rider gets to feel that he's definitely back in the air again.

Once they reach the desired height, Toothless levels out and Hiccup allows himself to breathe. His heart is pounding in his throat, blood rushing to his ears, they're all things he hasn't felt since the first time he and Toothless flew together.

"Okay, we're up in the air." Hiccup wants to pet his Bud, but doesn't dare let go of the saddle.

"You doing okay?" Astrid asks as Stormfly levels off next to them. The other Dragon Riders are right behind them.

"Yeah! I mean, I definitely feel like my heart might actually give out on me, but yeah, I feel great!" Hiccup replies, his nervousness oozing out of every spoken word. Astrid smiles at him, seeing the stiff and not at all relaxed pose as he holds onto the handles of his saddle with a death grip.

"Just remember what you told us during our first lessons!" Barf and Belch come flying overhead, rolling through the sky. It's Tuffnut who talks to him.

"Just relax and let the dragon and the wind guide you!" Ruffnut reminds him, thoroughly enjoying the freezing winds of Berk for emphasis.

Hiccup chuckles breathily and watches them disappear from sight.

But she's right. He just needs to relax and then maybe this constricting sensation inside his chest will ease up on him. Maybe.

Toothless has a slightly more direct approach.

He roars and that's about the only warning Hiccup gets before he climbs higher with a plan in mind. That one warning is enough for his Rider, who's grip on the saddle grows with apprehension.

"Uh, what's Toothless doing?" Snotlout asks as the Night Fury leaves them all behind.

"Hopefully something that won't massively backfire," Astrid says with the beginnings of a scowl. She trusts Toothless, but the deal was that they would take this slow to avoid stressing Hiccup out as he transitions back from a life on the ground to one in the air.

His fear of experiencing another fall like the one that had grounded him for months was palpable to them all the past week.

Though he'd promised himself not to look down on his first flight, Hiccup looks back at his friends as they become smaller and smaller until they are mere dots in the distance.

"Are you sure about this, Bud? Toothless?" Hiccup has to shout in order to be heard and his dragon roars back affirmingly. To him, this is the best possible plan.

Hiccup can feel that his heart is ready to burst out of his chest and can't look at the height anymore, instead choosing to stare at his saddle, which he lies flat against to reduce the drag.

He closes his eyes, consciously breathing in and out to keep himself calm as he feels Toothless take him higher and higher. He can feel the rapid change in pressure.

And then he stops and Hiccup has felt the familiar feeling of passing through a cloud, his hair and face now coated in a thin layer of water droplets.

Toothless croons loudly and Hiccup opens his eyes, finding the two of them above the clouds stained with orange and yellow from the setting sun.

Hiccup holds his breath, but not because he's anxious. The breathtaking beauty of the sky has enraptured him once again and he realizes how much he has missed these views.

"And now down, Bud?" Hiccup asks with a tone that sounds a little more filled with hope than dread.

Upon hearing this, Toothless, filled with determination to correct a wrong, turns his nose down and dives. Wings folding, body straight, he dives as fast as he can and Hiccup is merely there for the ride.

Though his chest is ready to burst open from the pressure inside, Hiccup can't say it's from fear or the anxiety that's kept him hostage for the past week.

They break through the cloud barrier and the vast ocean comes closer and closer. Night Furies are fast and that means the grey body of water is coming even faster than with any other species of dragons.

Still, despite the speed and his fear, Hiccup lets go of the saddle with one hand and lets the wind guide him, exactly like Ruffnut told him to.

A rush is pumped through his veins, elevating him to a high nothing else can. Before long, a cautious grin presents itself on Hiccup's face in preparation for what's to come.

Once they get close enough to the ocean, Toothless begins to roll and roll, forcing Hiccup to flatten himself against the saddle or risk being thrown off by the sheer force of the wind.

Toothless unfolds his wings and brings them higher again, giving Hiccup a slight break before he makes a loop. The blood rushing to the human's head as he's thrown and dragged along. It's rough, it's wild, and it's soaring Hiccup's heart higher and higher into the sky.

Toothless isn't going easy on him and that he can hold on and predict every next move is a testament to Hiccup's skill as the most experienced of the Riders.

"WHOO, YEAH!" His voice rings out loud in the sky, reaching the Dragon Riders who they'd left behind as Toothless takes his human on a precarious mission to restore his love for the sky.

They watch and see Toothless' direct approach pay off, happy to hear those cheers of joy.

After taking his Rider on a wild ride, Toothless levels out again, panting from the exertion. Hiccup lets go of the handles to straighten in his seat, hands on his lap. He has to get the last of his rush out with laughter.

"Ah, that was great. I've missed this, Bud. I've missed us." Hiccup pets the Night Fury on the head, the affectionate gesture turning into a scratch behind his ear at the end.

Toothless rumbles happily, briefly shaking his body.

Hiccup smiles and gazes at their surroundings, at the ocean below, and the village in the distance. He can see people watching them from the edge.

"I guess we're not the only ones glad to see us back in the air again, hug, Bud?" He asks.

"No, you're definitely not," Astrid replies as Stormfly catches up. All the Dragon Riders do.

"That was quite a show, Haddock!" Ruffnut commends him.

"Yeah, really happy to have you back." Snotlout admits and Fishlegs and Tuffnut share this sentiment with him.

A grounded Hiccup just hasn't been the same as the Dragon Rider they all know and love. Now here he is again, the weight of his fear lifted by his love of the sky.

"You know, I don't think Berk expects me back for the next few hours. How about some tricks? A race?" Hiccup suggests and how can the Dragon Riders possibly refuse?

"Race!" The vote is unanimous and the decision has been made.

"A race it is!" Hiccup says and off they go.

[shipmistress9]

FTLOAP: Chapter 25: It Will Not Be Long, Love

Title: For The Love Of A Princess

Fandom: HTTYD

Theme: Hiccstrid - Medieval-style AU - Romance - Angst/Hurt/Comfort

Summary: Reduced to little more than a stable boy, Hiccup, despite his noble birth, has few prospects for more in life. But when he meets a girl who came to look at the horses, being a stable boy might not be enough anymore. Together, they have tough choices to make and great risks to navigate if they want to survive and be together.

Rating: Explicit

FF-net  -  AO3

Prologue; Chapter 1; Chapter 2; Chapter 3; Chapter 4; Chapter 5; Chapter 6; Chapter 7; Chapter 8; Chapter 9; Chapter 10; Chapter 11; Chapter 12; Chapter 13; Chapter 14; Interlude 1; Chapter 15; Chapter 16; Chapter 17; Chapter 18; Chapter 19; Chapter 20; Chapter 21; Chapter 22; Chapter 23; Chapter 24

Alpha/Co-author: @athingofvikings

. – * – _ . o O o . _ – * – .

AN: Remember how I said this would be the last chapter before the hiatus? Yeah, well... it's not. Once again, it turned into a ridiculous mammoth and i had to split it. But to fully concentrate on NaNoWriMo, I plan to post the second part of this last chapter on Tuesday or Wednesday... we'll see.

This week's title comes from the song 'She Moves Through The Fair' by Loreena McKennitt

. o O o .

The next two days were… awkward, to say the least.

Hiccup was acting strangely, but Astrid couldn’t tell why. All she knew was that something had gone completely wrong and that she had no idea what it was. To her, everything had been perfect. Her questions had been answered; she had no doubts anymore about their feelings being real, and her fears about whether she’d be able to enjoy Hiccup touching her had been thoroughly crushed as well.

If anything, she only wanted more. The way he’d made her feel, so light as if she was floating, as if her mind and body weren’t connected anymore, and as if nothing existed anymore but the sensations he elicited in her – she wanted more of that!

But it didn’t seem like she would get more anytime soon.

. o O o .

The day after Dagur’s accolade didn’t start that bad. Astrid woke to her stomach feeling like it was twisting in knots – for reasons other than her soulmate for once – but she hadn’t expected anything else. And in addition, she was once again looking forward to that day’s events.

This day was devoted to basic battle training and assessment of the new recruits, including a little demonstration that was Daniel’s favourite – shield walls against archers. It always was entertaining to watch how the young men, who usually assumed they’d be lone warriors on the battlefield, would try to charge an archery tower – sword raised, shield in hand, and a battle cry on their lips – only for them all to “die” when a padded arrow hit them.

Usually, Astrid would stand to the side with Eret and Dagur, making comments and bets on who would get the furthest. Watching men fight, for them to prepare for real battles, wasn’t her favourite freetime activity, but since Fishlegs would be busy treating head- and stomach-aches after last night’s feast, she had few other options. The fact that they would spend the day at the archery range instead of the garrison helped too. She still didn’t feel like catching up on her performance with bow and arrow, but she also didn’t want to hide anymore. She had her brothers who would protect her if needed, and she had Hiccup who, just by existing, made her life so much better – and that was all she really needed.

But the main reason for accompanying Daniel today was… well… Hiccup. His behaviour last night had been so odd, and she just needed to see him, his warm smile, had to know that nothing had changed.

When he showed up, however, it was as if everything had changed. He behaved… weird. There really was no other word for it, even though, to everyone else, he had to appear entirely as he was supposed to.

But he didn’t look at her.

Not once.

He greeted Eret and the others with an appropriate mixture of familiarity and formality, that absolutely suited them. When it was her turn to be greeted, though, he changed.

“Good morning, Princess Astrid,” he mumbled, bowing deeply. Astrid couldn’t even so much as catch a glimpse at his eyes as they were firmly cast to the ground at her feet.

“Good morning, Hiccup,” she replied, puzzled, but managed not to show it.

And then he left without giving her so much as a glance, no covert smile, no nod, nothing. It left Astrid confused as she followed him with her eyes. Sure, they’d agreed on being more careful when interacting in public, but this behaviour was still weird.

Practically all day, she had her eyes on him; first as he stood amidst a group of young men, fruitlessly trying to convince them to organise their charge at the tower, and later as he joined Daniel, Dagur, Eret, and a group of castle guards to demonstrate how effective an orderly turtle formation could be. But he didn’t look at her, not once, not even as they were whooping and cheering at their success.

Astrid thought it might be because of the official setting, that he was playing his role as nothing but Eret’s squire. But given how everyone else regularly looked in her direction under some pretence or other, his behaviour seemed weird. And it stayed that way. During lunch, he sat with a group of lads in a far-off corner of the archery ground, declining politely when Daniel invited him over, and even during the less organised archery training in the afternoon, he didn’t even glance once in her direction. Maybe it was because he was so focused on his bow and the target – he wasn’t the worst archer among the lads, but also by far not the best – but somehow Astrid felt more like he was avoiding her on purpose. Especially when, once the training came to an end in the late afternoon, he bid his farewell in an equally sober manner as his greeting, and practically fled her presence.

It confused Astrid. Sure, they had to keep up appearances when in public… but this went way beyond anything they’d done on earlier occasions. She’d at least expected a covert look, a short flash of a smile, just something.

She wanted to talk to him, wanted to sneak away once again and ask him directly, but didn’t get the chance. For some reason, Timothy’s chicken was going crazy and it took ages before they all settled for sleep – or at least the twins did. Astrid’s night was fitful, with her tossing and turning, unable to find a comfortable position in her feather bed, her lower body aching and her mind reeling.

And the following day was even worse. When Rachel came to wake her, she was still incredibly tired and feeling generally miserable; the thought of spending a couple of hours in bed with tea and a book felt like that might be the best thing to do. But when Daniel came to pick her up for one of their last days at the stables, she didn’t turn him down. She couldn’t! The previous day had been so weird, and despite her determination to not risk letting Daniel and the others notice anything, she still hoped to somehow get the chance to talk to Hiccup. Or to at least silently communicate through looks, exchange a reassuring smile maybe. Surely, he wouldn't be equally distanced as the day before when they were at the stables… right?

Her assumptions were true... to a degree at least. Hiccup wasn't quite as reserved, joked and laughed. It was almost like it always was. Except that it didn’t feel the same. Maybe he was just playing his role, kept his distance as they’d agreed upon. But it felt like more, like there was something concerning him, something that, again, kept him from even looking at her, much less talk to her. It was jarring, irritating, and so… so confusing!

At some point, the men decided to give their horses some exercise in the paddock outside. There had been no time to go for a ride during the previous days, after all, and after these first few days of training, none of them felt like riding out now. Astrid, however, decided to stay inside; the worst part of her moon blood might be over, but as always, it left her dizzy and tired. And in addition… in addition, she hoped for either Hiccup staying behind to keep her company, or to at least get a break without having to act as if everything was okay.

But neither of those hopes came true.

“I’ll stay with her,” Eret offered when Daniel threw her a concerned look, Trample tugging at his rope to finally get outside. “Hiccup, can you take Crusher as well? He and Markor should get along well enough.”

“Of course, Milord,” Hiccup replied, giving his usual exaggerated bow.

Astrid watched as they left the stable, slumping slightly back against the straw bale in her back.

“You okay?” came Eret’s inquisitive voice from the side.

She plastered a smile on her face, but for once not one that was meant to fool anyone – least of all her oldest friend. “Yeah, it’s nothing. Just the usual,” she explained, wrapping one arm around her midst in a telling gesture, and shrugged. It wasn’t even a lie, she told herself. It probably was nothing; she was just overreacting – again. Surely, once she got the chance to talk to Hiccup again, everything would be fine. Tonight, she thought to herself. She would find a way to talk to him tonight, no matter what.

Understanding dawned in Eret’s eyes. “Oh, I see. Want me to rub your back?” he asked.

With a smile, she nodded. As so often, the cramps in her stomach had shifted into her back by now, and this surely wasn’t the first time Eret gave her a light massage to ease them. He settled behind her, the movement of his broad hands and their warmth soon easing her discomfort, and she closed her eyes, focusing on the moment and forcing herself not to think. Absentmindedly, she reached for her chest, for the reassurance.

‘We are good, always.’

She would hold on to that.

“Interesting charm you have there,” Eret suddenly commented. When she turned to give him a questioning look, he nodded at her hand. Confused, she followed his gaze and noticed that she was absently fiddling with her key, the delicate chain wrapped around her fingers. Right… Today’s dress had more of a neckline than usual, pulling out the key had been no effort at all.

For a short instant, she worried about what to tell him, but then decided that, for once, the simple truth would be a good choice. “It’s the key to that small coffer Uncle Oswald gave me once,” she explained light-heartedly.

“I remember it,” Eret said cheerfully. “So why do you have the key with you?”

“Well, it contains all my secrets, so I prefer to carry the key with me at all times.” She winked, making Eret snort good-humouredly.

“Those all fit into that little box?” he asked a little disbelievingly, with a waggle of his eyebrows to show that he wasn’t serious. “I’m disappointed. I could have sworn you had enough secrets to fill at least half of Lake Vola.”

They both chuckled, and once more Astrid was grateful for having such a good friend. A friend who made her feel better for the simple purpose of her feeling better. A friend who accepted that she had her secrets and didn’t pry for them. A friend who, surely, wouldn’t betray her trust if she told him.

But no, she couldn’t do that. Not just because telling anyone would only put Hiccup in unnecessary danger, but also because telling Eret would put him into a compromising situation. She didn’t want to force him to lie too.

“Feeling better?” Daniel asked a while later as he and the others returned to find her enjoying Eret’s massage a bit more.

“Yes, a little,” Astrid replied, her eyes fluttering open. As if drawn by an invisible force, they landed directly on Hiccup, but she immediately looked away and at Daniel instead. It was enough, though; enough to see him finally look at her, enough to see the look of guilt and concern, covered by a soft smile – enough to confuse her even more.

“And we’re done just in time, I’d say,” Dagur chirped cheerfully. “We should go back, freshen up a little. We’re having a date tonight, after all.”

“A date?” Hiccup asked, one eyebrow raised.

“Right,” Eret grinned. “You’re coming too, Hiccup. No discussion, that’s an order.”

“Ahm… okay?” Hiccup made, clearly puzzled. He looked around from one to the other until Daniel took pity on him.

“We received an invitation the other day,” he explained. “Not exactly the usual procedure, but still one we hardly could turn down. What was her name again, Eret? Kayley?”

“It’s Cami,” Eret corrected with a wink.

Astrid’s shoulders slumped a little. Right… The men would be at Freya’s Temple tonight; she’d completely forgotten about that. Almost against her will, her eyes flickered to Hiccup for a split second. The urge to secretly return here again tonight, to talk to him and solve this weird tension between them, was overwhelming. But if he wouldn’t even be here… Well, she’d have to wait another day then.

The thought made her anxious.

“Okay, let’s go then,” Daniel announced once the horses were all back in their stalls. The way back to the castle was a strange experience. Never before had she made this way in Hiccup’s company, much less in such a weird atmosphere. Daniel, Eret, and Dagur were as cheerful as ever, making insinuating jokes that, under proper circumstances, surely wouldn’t be for her ears. Hiccup was eerily quiet though, walking next to them but not reacting to their jibes nor making any comments himself, and only threw her a couple of covert glances every now and then.  

It wasn’t hard for Astrid to guess what was on his mind. But as much as she wished otherwise – as much as she felt otherwise – they weren’t married yet. Wouldn’t be for a long time, in fact. It would be ridiculous to assume or even demand for him not to visit an Ástir for all that time. And she wanted him to know that.

“Well, I’ll leave you to it then,” she announced once they reached the wing with their private chambers. The smile, with which she looked at each of them, was genuine. “Enjoy yourselves!”

In turning, she caught the pained and torn look on Hiccup’s face, but quickly looked away. She wanted to give him a nod, some form of reassurance that she didn’t mind. But with all their eyes on her, that wasn’t feasible. So she just raised her hand to wave over her shoulder at them all as she walked down the corridor, mentally preparing herself for another lonely night of tossing and turning.

It would be a long night.

. o O o .

As Astrid vanished back towards her chambers, Hiccup had to fight not to stare after her. Although, truth be told, it was an easy fight – fueled by his guilt. Gods, he’d been so stupid...

“Come on, if we’re visiting the Temple, we need to be presentable.” Daniel said, grinning and clapping him on the shoulder.

Hiccup nodded, glad over this distraction as the lessons on decorum that had been drilled into him for the last... Gods, was it almost six years now?, came back with a vengeance. The Ástir might not charge a fee, but you did not disrespect the Goddess they served by showing up slovenly. There usually were basic cleaning accommodations to be found at the Temple, but it was considered a sign of respect to show up presentable already when possible.

The four of them made their way to the castle bathhouse, which was near the residential quarters, and entered the men’s changing rooms. Once inside, Hiccup made his way to the back of the rooms, pulled off his soiled clothing, stinking of the stables, folded them, and left them on the lower shelf of the small cubbyhole that he’d been assigned when he’d arrived some weeks ago; the upper shelf had another of his tunics and trousers from his last visit to the baths, cleaned, laundered and waiting for him.  

After getting a robe from the rack, he joined up with the other three, likewise berobed, and they made their way into the bathhouse proper.  

It was a nice enough bathhouse, Hiccup had to admit, finely appointed, with warm stones underfoot, artistic mosaics on the walls, and with candles in scones providing a sufficient and soothing amount of light. But the pools here were heated by wood-fires, and part of him couldn’t help but compare them to... to his family’s baths, heated by a hot-spring, and find these baths wanting in comparison.  

Daniel, Eret and Dagur were bantering as they entered the half-full hot pool, hanging their robes on the nearby hooks set there for that purpose; the other bathers waved hello, mostly to Daniel and the two ducal heirs, but continued on with their conversations.  

As the hot water hit his leg, Hiccup sighed in relief.

“Good to take a load off?” Eret asked with concern.

Hiccup nodded numbly; it had been acting up a lot more over the last couple of days – and he knew exactly why. Sure, the unusual activities of the last days played a part too, but he knew that wasn't the only reason. Guilt pooled in his stomach, but he put on his best calm face and laid back in the pool’s seat, letting the warmth of the water soak into him, and claiming the soap-on-a-rope as it was passed around.  Hiccup had to admit that much – the King’s bathhouse had some of the finest soaps he’d ever used.

Mostly, though, he kept quiet as the other three men bantered, feeling miserable.

Guilty and ashamed, but mostly miserable.

Gods, what had he been thinking?

Not now, he chided himself. He didn’t want to drown in his thoughts again, not now. Not when he was around people who could not – under any circumstances – know what he was thinking about.

About how soft their sister’s breasts were, how perfectly they fitted into his palm. About the moans she made when he licked her behind her ear. About how incredible it felt when her fingers dug into his back.

Thankfully, at least in the baths... that sort of reaction wouldn’t be commented on. Just the relaxing effects of the baths – or the thoughts of their upcoming visit to the Temple. At worst, he’d get teased.

But he couldn’t think of her like that! Maybe paying Cami a visit was a good idea after all. Not that he had any choice on the matter anyway, but still. He’d been reluctant, had wanted to find some way, any way out of it. But between Eret’s order and Astrid’s reassuring smile… Yeah, it probably wasn’t such a bad idea. It would at least take the edge off his desire, so that he hopefully could interact normally with Astrid again on their next meeting. Oh, how he longed to be alone with her again, to simply look at her, talk to her, to just be with her.

Daniel reached over and snagged the soap bar, which Hiccup hadn’t realized he’d been holding for this entire time, right out of Hiccup’s hands, the bar swaying from the soft linen rope that was embedded in it.  

He gave the prince a sheepish smile, and opened his mouth to apologize, but Daniel rolled his eyes and waved him down. “Don’t worry about it, Hiccup. You have one of the finest minds that I’ve had the pleasure of meeting, and I understand if your thoughts were somewhere else.” He scoffed and nodded his head towards Dagur and Eret, who were cheerfully sculpting the soap-foam on their heads into outlandish shapes. “At least I know your thoughts are more productive than these two thickheads!”

Hiccup chuckled weakly as Dagur and Eret protested playfully. Oh, if he only knew...

Daniel lathered up and sniffed. “Hmm... lavender. Nice. And that reminds me, I wanted to drop by the bakery before we head over to the Temple. I promised Kaden to get her some of those lavender-and-lemon cookies.”

“Oho?” Eret commented, wagging his eyebrow. “You sure there’s nothing more to tell?”

Hiccup cocked his head, listening in with interest. Everything was good so long as it kept him from thinking too much.

“Yes, I am sure,” Daniel sighed. “It’s probably like with you and this Cami. I know her, and I like her. I’m more comfortable with her than with anyone else I don’t know at all. But that’s it. She’s a friend, and I know she likes these cookies. So, I’m going to treat her to some of them. End of story.”

Hiccup had his doubts on the ‘like you and this Cami’ part, but quickly dropped that thought again.

“It’d better stay that way,” Dagur sighed, unusually sober for once. “Believe me, it would only make your life complicated otherwise.”

Hiccup gave Dagur a confused look as Daniel placed a clearly comforting hand on his shoulder. He looked like he also wanted to say something, but before he could do so, one of the castle pages came up, panting slightly and red-faced – and fully dressed. That was odd in the baths.

“Your Highness,” the page said, coming to a halt at the edge of the pool and painting a hasty but deep bow, apparently aware of the depth of the breach of manners he was committing by coming into the baths like this. “My apologies for the interruption, but I was sent to come get you immediately.”

Daniel blinked. “Whatever for?”

“I was bid to give you this, Your Highness,” he said, still breathing hard, and handed over a small scrap of paper, “by the warden.”

Daniel’s brow had been wrinkled in irritation, but he took the note and read it.  

Hiccup watched as Daniel’s expression went from curiously annoyed to angry to calm composure, and shared a look with Dagur and Eret.  They returned it, just as confused as he was.

Daniel looked up after a moment, and then hauled himself out of his pool seat, and, dripping slightly, pulled his robe on. When he finally looked up again to meet their puzzled gazes, there was grim satisfaction on his face. “It’s… Sorry, but I need to go and meet my father.” He paused, biting his lip, then slightly shook his head. “Can you relay my greetings to Kaden? And maybe get those cookies for her as my apology? But this is important and can’t wait until tomorrow.”

“Of course,” Eret nodded. They all knew better than to ask for details when the Crown Prince wasn’t sharing them by himself, after all. Daniel nodded gratefully, and before either of them could say any more, he headed off towards the exit.

“Okay? That was weird,” Dagur stated, forehead wrinkled in confusion.

“Indeed…” Eret agreed. “But I’m sure we’ll learn what it was about eventually.”

They finished up in the pool without further delay, the banter from before having left with Daniel. With their fresh but too casual clothes on, they stopped by at their rooms in the residual wing of the castle to get something more appropriate for the occasion. Hiccup changed quickly and checked himself to make sure his outfit looked decent; casual in boots, trousers, and a fine tunic and vest, but still far more elegant than his usual stable boy attire.

He stepped out to where Eret was waiting, and was greeted with a nod and a broad grin. “Great. Dagur is already ready too, he’s waiting outside. Come on.”

“One could think you're a bit eager to meet… Cami.” Hiccup remarked dryly, inspecting his fingertips to ineffectively hide his smirk – and also cover up his own nervousness.

“Well, I am looking forward to seeing her,” Eret emphasised. “Everything else…” he trailed off, shrugging.

Hiccup chuckled, but didn’t comment further. Who was he to tease his cousin about being eager to spend the night with his lover, after all? Freya, if he could, he’d turn on the spot and look for Astrid’s rooms without a second’s hesitation. But he couldn’t. Aside from the tremendous inappropriateness of such an action, he had his duties to follow in accompanying his master, and also had to... let off some steam.

. o O o .

“Wow, these cookies really are delicious!” Eret said; he received a couple of weird glances from passersby, but otherwise went without a reprimand for his behaviour. Hiccup would at least have expected a few giggles at the side of him trying to talk past his mouth full of cookies.

They had gotten the lemon-and-lavender-flavoured cookies Daniel had requested for his friend, but also a parcel of cinnamon-flavoured pastries for Cami. ‘I clearly remember her saying she’d like to try those,’ Dagur had said upon seeing them in the bakery, and Hiccup had to agree. He, too, remembered that conversation they’d once had, back in Eastervale. Back when his biggest problem had been to decide between becoming a squire or a stable master…

“Hey, they’re not for you,” Dagur chided, taking the parcel away from Eret to prevent it from being empty once they reached the Temple. Although, after glancing down at the delicious treats and swallowing, he handed them over to Hiccup. “Here, you take care of these. I don’t trust myself either.”

Hiccup bit back a sarcastic remark while Eret pouted, “Spoilsport,” and stuck out his tongue at Dagur when he was sure he wasn’t looking anymore.There was a playfulness in his tone though, a lightness Hiccup hadn’t heard during the last couple of weeks.

“I saw that!” Dagur commented nonetheless, making all three of them laugh.

It was a relaxed stroll through the streets of the capitol toward the Temple. Not many recognised them, not like when they were accompanied by Daniel or Astrid. They were just three young men, looking both important enough and intimidating enough to not be bothered.

“Oh, hey. That’s just what I’ve been looking for,” Eret suddenly exclaimed, and ran ahead without a warning. “Just wait here for a moment, I won’t be long.”

“Jewelry?” Dagur called after him, disbelievingly staring at the sign atop the shop Eret headed to. “I knew you were into some weird stuff, but that’s new.”

Eret, however, just snorted. “That’s not for me, idiot. I just wanted to get Cami a ‘Welcome to the capitol’ gift. I’m sure it’ll come in handy when she’s dealing with some of those stuck-up nobleman around here. Just give me a minute.” And with that, he was gone inside the shop.

Hiccup and Dagur shared a baffled look and a shrug. A minute of waiting turned into a couple more though, and when Eret finally returned, a small box tied shut with a bow in his hand, he found that Dagur had helped himself to an additional parcel of cookies of his own, from another nearby bakery, and Hiccup was carrying another additional parcel, if smaller than the ones filled with pastries. He smirked at Dagur, snatched one of the cookies for himself, and then nodded at Hiccup’s purchase.

“What’s that?” he asked, wiping away crumbs from the corner of his mouth.

Hiccup shrugged, a little self-conscious. “Well, since you both were about to bring Cami a small gift, I thought showing up empty-handed would be weird. So I got her a small something from that shop over there.” He nodded at a large window at the other side of the alley where small wooden statuettes of varying sizes and forms were at display. That was one of the amazing things about the capitol to Hiccup; with all of the glass they made here, glass windows were commonplace, such that even shops in the market had them.

“Heh, a good idea,” Eret announced cheerfully. “A bit of a personal touch to her new home. What did you get her?”

Hiccup placed the delegated parcels of cookies onto a rock nearby, certain they’d be safe from poaching now that Dagur had his own, and opened his purchase. Inside was a small but detailed carving of a running horse, made of smooth reddish-brown wood.

“Oh, she’ll like that,” Eret grinned. “She said the horses all around Eastervale would surely be what she missed the most.”

Hiccup nodded. “I know, I was there too.”

“Right…” Eret rubbed his back, a little sheepish, then suddenly paused. He leaned in to closer inspect the horse, and laughed. “It looks like Markor.”

Frowning, Hiccup glanced at the horse too – and had to agree. And while he often had arguments with himself in the quiet of the night, this was definitely an escalation from the back of his mind.

“True,” he said with a slight laugh, trying to cover up his sudden nervousness. “I didn’t notice; there were several horses of all kind, but this one somehow caught my eye, and…” he trailed off, shrugging. Anxious not to say something he shouldn’t. The truth was that, despite his sincere wish to get a gift for Cami to treat her, it had also bugged him that he couldn’t get Astrid any gifts. Just something small would do, something solid, as a reminder. Or as an apology for his utter stupidity... But that would be too noticeable, too dangerous. So he’d settled on just getting something for Cami, but hadn’t been able to keep his mind from whirling around Astrid anyway.

And apparently, that had even influenced his choice of gifts…

Shit.

. o O o .

As the three of them entered the Grand Aesir Plaza, Hiccup swallowed as carefully as he could manage, but Eret spotted his reaction. “Right, this is your first time here, isn’t it, Hiccup?”

Hiccup nodded, looking around at the glorious architecture on display.  

At the centre of the vast open square was a sacred grove of at least a dozen enormous trees and numerous smaller saplings, their leaves shed, but standing proud and tall. Statues of the Aesir, Vanir and some of the greater Jotunn ringed the grove.

But the outer periphery of the square was what really drew Hiccup’s attention. They’d entered through a covered tunnel, its walls and ceiling carved and painted with images from the sagas of the gods, and emerged into the square, giving him his first look at the place – an effect no doubt intended by the architect, and Hiccup had to give the him or her a mental salute for the effect.

The paving stones underneath their feet had the cobbles arranged in patterns of white, green and brown that suggested branches reaching out from the sacred grove and to the periphery. More trees grew in regular gaps in the pavement, and Hiccup noted that many of them were fruit trees, although the biggest and mightiest tree in the grove was a yew, still green and hardy despite the encroaching dark and cold. He remembered that this particular tree was supposedly almost a thousand years old, planted when the city was founded.

But the buildings... oh...

Where Hiccup had grown up, the temples were of wooden stave-and-post construction – built on vertical logs with one end sunk into a stone foundation and then a horizontal log across the top to connect them and form the structure. They could grow impressively complex, but they were still made of wood, of a tried and true – and boring and conservative – design.

Here, though... they had ventured into stone and glass.

Now that the initial shock had passed, Hiccup saw parallels with the newer wings of the castle, especially the residential wing, and he’d have to check later to see if the same architect had designed both structures – or maybe ask Daniel about it.  

A doubled columnade, connected by arches, ringed the vast space, creating a covered space that connected the various temples; the columns were carved to look like trees, and the arches to look like mingled branches. And the buildings themselves...

They were massive confections of intricately carved stone, with stained-glass windows filling massive portions of the open walls. Much like at the residential wing, Hiccup saw flying buttresses, but these were long and elegant compared to the much more muted structures at the castle. But their reinforcement allowed the piers to hold up most of the weight of the roofs, which enabled the architect to allocate all of that the wallspace to the massive glass windows, which glowed in the late autumn gloom from the lights inside.  

Undoubtedly, when the grand blots were held, this entire open space would be packed full of worshipers, many of them pilgrims from all over the kingdom, with the Fyrirs holding the sacrifices and prayers in the sacred grove itself.  

Suddenly a hand waved in front of his face.  “Hic?”

Hiccup blinked, and turned to look at Dagur, who wasn’t even bothering to hide his smirk.  “What?”

Eret and Dagur shared a grin, and Eret said cheerfully, “You’d think that you just saw a pretty Ástir do a striptease in front of you from the way that you reacted.” He reached over and gently poked Hiccup in the forehead. “And I don’t think it’s the... bust of Freya over there that caught your attention.”

Hiccup stuck his tongue out at the pair of them and they both laughed.  

They made their way in the plaza proper, and Eret and Dagur took turns playing tour guide; they’d been coming here since they were boys, so all of the wonder was long since worn off for them. In a bizarre way, Hiccup had found a second reason to be grateful that he hadn’t come to the capitol until he was an adult. The first was not growing up as Astrid’s brother, of course... but being able to appreciate such magnificence on their own merits for the first time as an adult, with all of the training and learning that had come with it, ranked on a good second place.

Much like the smaller temples elsewhere, the Temple complex functioned more as lodging, organization and work-spaces for the various Orders than as worship spaces, with the sacred grove fulfilling that function. So over there was the building that functioned as Frigga’s courthouse... there was the building where Freyr’s Order minted coins, blessed farming implements, and checked the weights and measures used by the merchants across the kingdom... there was Freya’s hospital for the sick – Hiccup saw a young mother carrying in a coughing child as they walked past – and right next to it was the home of the Ástir.

The door, carved and painted to resemble Fólkvangr, with Sessrúmnir visible in the distance, stood under a fifteen-foot-tall stained glass window of the goddess, riding her cat-pulled chariot, with Hildisvíni running at her side and wearing her cloak of falcon feathers – and nothing else – but before Hiccup could take a moment to appreciate either piece of art, Dagur and Eret each took one of his arms and practically hustled him through the door.

“Come back during the day,” Dagur said.

“It’ll look better, trust us,” Eret added.

Hiccup didn’t comment on their actual and rather transparent motivations, since they were right... and instead took in the foyer and the atrium beyond as they took off their boots and cloaks and handed them to an attendant waiting in the foyer, who took them and handed them small wooden chits with numbers on them.

Lush carpets were underfoot, insulating them from the cold stone, and, once past the foyer doors, Hiccup saw a cheery fire that burned in a large hearth which was surrounded by upholstered chairs and benches laden with cushions, most of them occupied. Tasteful sculptures of the goddess filled various niches in the walls, and Hiccup heard what sounded like running water. Turning towards the sound, his eyes went wide as he found the source – an honest-to-the-goddess waterfall inside the temple; water cascaded in a gentle flow down the stones of a five-foot-wide section of the wall between two windows and ended in a small pond on the floor.

“How...?” he asked, stepping towards it, but Eret’s hand clamped down gently – if firmly – around his upper arm, and he was pulled deeper into the atrium.  

Around the atrium, there were numerous groups of people, socializing, eating, or engaged in what looked like intense discussion. Some, going by their dress, were noblemen, while others were members of the Temple of various ranks, and others were more humble city folk.

“Good evening, Milords,” a silky voice sounded from behind him, and Hiccup turned with a start. In front of them stood a woman he dimly recognised from Eret’s accolade, but hadn’t cared to remember so far. The short blond hair didn’t make Freya’s Fyrir any less beautiful, and her robe of black satin and golden silk gave her an air of unquestionable dignity.

“Good evening, fair lady,” Eret greeted her, bowing deeply. Hiccup and Dagur followed his example.

The Fyrir nodded, then cocked her head with an unreadable look. “I see His Highness did not accompany you after all,” she stated. There was no question in her voice.

“Indeed,” Eret confirmed. “Sadly, urgent matters kept him busy. He asked us to deliver these–” he held out the box off cookies Daniel had asked them to obtain– ”to Ástir Kaden in his name.”

The Fyrir nodded once more, then lifted her hand to beckon toward a woman sitting in a nearby niche and chatting to a handful of younger women. She nodded, excused herself from the group, and came over, a friendly and curious look in her big brown eyes.

“Yes, Fyrir?” she asked in a melodic voice, light brown curls bobbing around her face with every movement.

“Kaden, my dear, these lords brought a gift for you.”

The woman, Kaden, turned, her puzzled eyes brightening when she spotted the box Eret held out for her. “The Prince sends his regards and his apology,” he announced formally. “He is tied up in his duties and won’t be able to make it here tonight. He wanted to make good on his promise, though.” He handed over the cookies, and Kaden’s smile grew a few shades warmer.

“Oh, that is very kind of him,” she announced, beaming. “Please, convey my honest gratitude toward him. My pupils and I will enjoy these greatly.” She was about to bob a curtsey and retreat when the Fyrir made her wait.

“I know that you are eager to return to your class,” Mala said, her tone somehow soft and firm at the same time. “But since you have more than enough time for them tonight, would you be so kind as to inform Cami that her visitors arrived?”

“Visitors?” Kaden’s eyebrows rose in surprise as she eyed Hiccup and the others, but quickly caught herself again. “Of course, Fyrir Mala. I’ll let her know immediately.” They watched her retreat and disappear up a flight of stairs.

While they waited, Hiccup went over and examined the waterfall, unable to help his curious nature. A few moments of examination revealed a pipe cunningly hidden among the stone that apparently led upwards.

“There’s a rainwater cistern on the roof that feeds it and several fonts in the building, if you were wondering,” the Fyrir’s voice came from behind him, sounding amused.

Hiccup turned, feeling a bit sheepish, but the Fyrir looked pleased. “Go, rejoin your friends. Kaden won’t be long.”

As Eret rolled his eyes at him, Hiccup returned to the pair of them where they’d snagged small bowls of light broth from a pot by the hearthfire. The Fyrir’s words proved to be accurate as Ástir Kaden returned down the staircase a few moments later, politely smiled at them as she walked past, and returned to her class, who cheered as they were offered the cookies.

“I’d say this is proof then that Daniel was telling the truth,” Dagur snickered as the young women passed the box around. “I mean, she wasn’t even mildly disturbed by him not showing up. And let’s be honest, a box of cookies is not that fancy a gift, but she obviously was happy enough. How does the saying go again?” He smirked. “Ah, yes. ‘A man is smitten with the Goddess’ chosen when the purse at his belt swells like the purse of his loins, and–

“–and the chosen feels the same when she finds room in her heart and her coffer for his boons,’” Eret finished. “Yes, yes, okay. So they’re not in love. Better that way anyway, I guess.”

There was an odd tone in his voice at that, and Hiccup gave him a curious glance; he was missing something.  All the saying meant was that you knew a man had fallen for one of the Ástir when his gifts grew extravagant... and she reciprocated when she kept them exclusively for herself, rather than sharing with the rest of the Temple. Like how the now-empty cookie box had been shared.

“Indeed,” Dagur agreed, then gestured toward an empty set of chairs. “But let’s sit down there. Walking here was exhausting.”

At that, Eret smirked. “What, you’re tired already? We didn’t even get started,” he teased. “How exactly do you plan to survive the next couple of hours?”

Dagur just cackled, and Hiccup couldn’t suppress some quiet laughter either as he followed them to sit down as well. Once seated comfortably, waiting for Cami to lead them to her rooms, he couldn’t keep his thoughts from running wild anymore though. He felt… torn. The prospect of spending a couple of… relaxing hours with Cami made him nervous in a way. Sure, this wouldn’t be their first time together, not by far. And being with an Ástir wasn’t meant to be romantic in any way either, not meant to replace the loving intimacy of a married couple. He should be looking forward to it, to get the brunt off the maddening desire raging within him. But he couldn’t shake off the thought that it was… not quite right. He couldn't stop thinking about Astrid,  about how much he would prefer to be with her tonight instead. But that was a thought that had no place at all in Freya's Temple, and he hastily fought to banish it into the depth of his chaotic mind, hoping for Cami to hurry to distract him.

He didn’t have to wait long, only a couple of minutes. By then, the three of them were engaged in a conversation about the benefits of short swords, when Dagur suddenly went rigid.

“Oh shit!” he cursed under his breath, making Eret and Hiccup look up at him in confusion. “And suddenly, I’m incredibly grateful for whatever prevented Daniel from coming with us,” he muttered, staring past them with wide eyes.

Hiccup turned in his seat – and froze as he spotted the young woman descending the stairs.

Her wild blond mane, usually only loosely bound if at all, was braided in a complicated pattern halfway around her head until it hung in a long plait down her back, ornate with colourful sparkling stones around a light coronet. She wore an elegant dress in varying shades of blue that highlighted her bright blue eyes, the wide skirts, embroidered with a pattern of swans, waving around her lower half like a waterfall. In addition, she wore elegant gloves that reached all the way to her upper arms, and she moved with an air of dignity he hadn’t seen on her before.

A part of Hiccup knew it was Cami, recognised her face between the costume. But for a moment, all he could see was Astrid, dressed as she’d been under that borrowed cloak, back at that first day at the stables.

. o O o .

This is a wonderful place to let this chapter end... don't you agree? O:)But again, this is not the last chapter before the hiatus after all. Keep your eyes open, there'll be another one, probably on Tuesday or Wednesday.

Next chapter

[howtodrawyourdragon]

Lost no More: Chapter 3 - Missing

Summary:  After three years Hiccup’s sudden disappearance remains unsolved. A grieving father is forced to move on for the sake of his village, a blacksmith has yet to choose a new apprentice, children grow up missing the face they’ve known since birth. The Dragon Master and a fated reunion may finally give them the answers they seek.

Author’s Notes: And these are all the chapters I have finished so far. Chapter 4 is what I will started to work on right at this very moment. Can’t say for sure when it’ll be finished

@coneygoil, @renkocchi, @softhairstark, @daglout, @just-call-me-emrys, @let-the-wind-carry-us and @only-girl-on-a-dragon if you guys are still interested and haven’t seen me post these chapters on Ao3.

As the sun set and the evening continued to pass him by, Chief Stoick the Vast was beginning to grow nervous.

His son had left the celebration in the Great Hall somewhere in the early afternoon and it would seem like he hasn't been seen since. It had been thrown in his honour as he was to be this year's champion for dragon training, but no one had stopped him from leaving.

Stoick hadn't been too worried at first. Remembering that Gobber had once told him about how the boy liked to disappear into the forests of Berk during the day to take a break from all of the overwhelming attention, the man had decided to leave him be. He believed Hiccup should get the peace and quiet he wished to have.

Besides, the boy needed to prepare for the exam tomorrow. He knew the Hofferson girl liked to practice with her axe in the forest in solitude, something he had heard from her proud parents a little while back. Maybe his son had developed a similar kind of habit.

The Chief had tried to both attend the celebration and tend to his duties as best as he could even with his head in the clouds. The sheer pride in his lanky son, Hiccup, was just indescribable. But now he was home earlier than usual to await the teenager's eventual return to fill him with words of encouragement and wisdom. However, it didn't seem like Hiccup was coming back.

The minutes stretched on and before long turned into hours. The sun sunk lower into the sky until it became too difficult to see outside without lighting the torches spread somewhat evenly throughout the village. And still there was no sign of Hiccup.

Stoick sat in his great chair, the fingers of his large right hand tapping impatiently on the armrest purely out of worry.

Gobber had once told him to have more faith in Hiccup, to not be so... overbearing and give him the benefit of the doubt. It was one of the reasons he had allowed Hiccup to even participate in dragon training in the first place, it was a gamble that had paid off. But it was getting quite late now, wasn't it? Surely the boy should've been back already?

Glancing over at where untouched food now sat cold on the table, Stoick decided that it wouldn't be such a bad idea to at least spring by the forge for a moment and see if his son wasn't still working on something there and had simply lost track of time. It had happened before.

Pushing himself up from his seat and grabbing his furred cloak on the way, Stoick quickly disappeared out through the front door.

Hiccup wasn't at the forge.

Stoick had gone there to check first, but all he found was a very drunk blacksmith limping and swaying his way to bed while singing incoherently. He never even noticed the Chief's presence.

Stoick had searched, but even Hiccup's own personal little study remained dark and devoid of life. He didn't seem to notice that some of the boy's things were missing. There was usually always a mess of papers and tools in there.

His concern gradually growing, Stoick had tried to tell himself that there was no need to worry. Perhaps the boy had returned to the feast or had simply gone to find his friends. He'd heard how his son was no longer sitting alone during meals, how the other kids his age sought him out. He was finally fitting in, like a growing Viking boy should.

Stoick decided to go searching for Hiccup in the Great Hall first, but that yielded no results as the only Vikings still left were either drunk or just leaving. There was no trace of a young, small boy or even the friends he had recently begun associating himself with. And with how little people had remained, they couldn't have hidden amongst the crowd either.

Knowing that there were still other places to look, Stoick left the Great Hall after a quick scan with his gaze to make his way to the Jorgenson household in the hopes of catching his son there. Hiccup and Snotlout were on better terms as off late. It wouldn't be too far-fetched to think he might be there. And if not, he could still check with the Ingermans, the Thorstons, and finally the Hoffersons.

Stoick the Vast didn't get very far before a peculiar conversation between five youngster took his attention away from his urgent search, but only because he had heard his son's name being spoken.

"I don't get why you're all falling for it. Don't you see that everything Hiccup does in the ring makes no sense?!" The voice of the Hofferson girl reached Stoick's ears and he looked over to see the group of teenagers he had been about to visit hang out not too far away from the Great Hall instead of returning home like they all should've at this hour.

"He doesn't use any weapons, almost always drops his shield, and yet he still wins! He barely even touches the dragons! And none of you think that's weird?!" Usually he would've raised an eyebrow at the distrusting words he heard Astrid speak about his son, but he was more concerned with finding Hiccup first.

He could speak to her about it once he found the boy and brought him home.

"Are you saying Hiccup is faking it? How would he even do that, Astrid?! Dragons literally drop before his feet!" Snotlout seemed to be disagreeing with Astrid and passionately defending his cousin, something that the other three were surprised to witness.

Snotlout's unspoken relief that Hiccup was a dragon killer just like him was more obvious than he wanted it to be. Everyone had seen him help Fishlegs put Hiccup on his shoulder to parade him around the Kill Ring after the announcement of earlier today. At least for a little while, Snotlout seemed to hold him in high regard.

"But he never even touches them! So how does he take them down?!" Astrid continued to argue, but the other teens weren't as ready to listen as she had hoped them to be.

"Yeah, so? Hiccup's always been weird," It was an odd thing for Tuffnut, of all people, to say.

"He probably just as a weird way of dealing with dragons." His sister, Ruffnut, finished for him.

Astrid was getting nowhere as she voiced her suspicions and it only served to frustrate her further, her temper not too fond of being tested to begin with.

That Fishlegs was remaining completely quiet wasn't helping either. And he was the only one who seemed torn between siding with Hiccup or backing Astrid up. He, too, had noticed how the heir's way of taking down the training dragons was a little... unorthodox.

A frustrated sigh left the Hofferson girl. She didn't see the Chief coming their way, but Fishlegs did.

"All I'm saying is that something doesn't make sense. I don't know how Hiccup cheated, but I'm gonna prove-"

"Astrid!"

Fishlegs warned Astrid to quiet herself before the five looked over to see their Chief and Hiccup's father storming over, though it didn't look like it was anger that drove him, relieving Astrid as she had feared the man heard her slandering words.

In fact, he seemed more worried than anything.

"Have any of you seen, Hiccup?" Rather than asking why these kids were still outside this late, all Stoick wanted to know were the whereabouts of his son and nothing more.

Astrid tried not to let her displeasure show as she crossed her arms and cast her look down to the grassy ground and away from their leader. As for the remaining four, they all stared at eachother in question. It was pretty clear that they had only one answer to give him.

"The last time we saw him was when he left the Great Hall hours ago, Sir." Fishlegs answered timidly and three of them seemed to agree, nodding. That was the last any of them had seen of him.

Their Chief's worried expression grew when he realized not one Viking on Berk had caught sight of Hiccup for hours and it unnerved them instantly.

It was also what urged Astrid to speak up, feeling guilt nag at her heart as this father was genuinely concerned for his only son's safety.

"I saw Hiccup go into the forest after he left the feast." Astrid pointed into the exact direction she had seen him disappear into, but that answer did little to help ease the father's worried mind.

Already all sorts of worst case scenarios started to fill his head, plaguing the overprotective parent's mind with whatever fate his only child could be suffering at this very moment or had suffered hours ago without anyone even knowing.

There were so many dangers in the forests ouside of the village of Berk. The wild boars roaming in the woods, they could be aggressive and especially unforgiving to a boy as small as Hiccup. Bears lived there and they were the kind that would tower even over someone as enormous as Stoick the Vast. Even the occasional dragon was sometimes seen out there in the wild.

Hiccup might have proven himself a capable dragon killer, but could he truly handle all those dangers by himself? Stoick gave himself a resounding 'no' to that question, though he had never said it out loud.

Even besides the wildlife, there were other dangers on the island of Berk. There were the wild rivers that could've swept him away and drowned him. Steep cliffs weren't an uncommon thing either and one unfortunate misstep is all that it took to send even a seasoned Viking to meet with a brutal fall. There were also poisonous berries and other deceptively innocent plant life, though Stoick knew his boy was too smart to be tricked by that.

Hiccup had proven to be capable of taking care of himself and he had been frequenting the forests outside of the village for years, even long before he was allowed to. He might know it better than anyone else on this entire island. Still Stoick felt that overprotective paternal instinct of him win.

He had to find his son. He had to.

After leaving the five kids behind to wallow in worry over their missing friend, Stoick the Vast gathered every able man and woman he could find.

Unfortunately, after the celebratory feast held earlier that same day, that meant not many were still up to the task of finding a small lost boy so late in the evening. Vikings were known for their drinking. Well, the Hooligans were at least. Many were too drunk to be of much help, if any. There had been a feast, after all.

"My son was last seen entering the forest outside of the village this afternoon, so that is where we will start our search." The Chief's booming voice shouted to reach every Berkian man and woman present in the Great Hall for this emergency meeting.

They had all gathered around the large fire burning in a great circle in the middle of the hall and listened intently. Their Chief had all eyes on him as he stood at one side of the circular table build around the large pit. Every single one of them wore a grave expression. Not because Hiccup was the one missing, but simply because one of their own had not come back home.

A Hooligan was never abandoned, no matter who they were. That Hiccup was their heir mattered little. Even Mildew would be searched after if he was the one who had vanished, just like they had dug him out after a terrible snowstorm had buried him and his sheep, Fungus, in their house far outside of the village.

"We don't know where my son spends his time during the day and we don't know where exactly he has gone off to. So I ask of you now, look beneath every rock and tree, don't pass up a single cave, check every cliff. My boy disappeared hours ago. He may be out there somewhere in need of our help." Stoick tried desperately to keep it together, tried to keep being the strong Chief his people knew him to be.

But knowing that he had no idea where his son was weighed heavily on him and all the fears haunting him did little to sooth him. Yet panicking would not help Hiccup in the slightest.

"Go now. We may not have much time." Stoick ordered his people and they did not hesitate to leave the Great Hall, muttering amongst themselves words he could not hear as they steadily left.

Without wasting any time did the still fairly large rescue team separate into several different groups of three to four Vikings as agreed upon earlier in the meeting. They each got a section of the forest assigned to them. Grabbing torches and axes, the teams left to their respective areas in the hopes of finding the lost boy.

As they searched, the worried father returned home on advice of some of the women, who suggested someone needed to stay at the Haddock Household in case Hiccup came back by himself.

Besides, even if he were to tag along, with which group would he even go?

Stoick waited in his house for hours on end, pacing restlessly across the room for most of it.

With each passing second he hoped someone would return to him with news of his son. He hoped Hiccup would nonchalantly enter through the front door and have no idea what was wrong or why the village was in such turmoil.

It would've been so much better than to sit there and wonder why the boy wasn't with him right now or if he was even okay.

He was a father who worried often for his son. Hiccup had always been such a small boy. Even as a baby was he smaller than the rest. Danger was drawn to him like moths to a flame and very rarely did he go out of its way. It also did not help that Hiccup was very curious by nature. And as smart as he was, his impulsiveness and want to prove himself had often gotten him into trouble he should've avoided.

It was why Stoick had always been so protective of him, but because Hiccup had been doing so well in Dragon Training, he had let him go for a little bit. Now the boy was missing and Stoick couldn't ignore the nagging feeling that this was somehow his fault.

Hiccup was his son, his responsibility, his to keep safe.

The only report that the Chief had gotten so far that wasn't a blatant 'Hiccup wasn't in this area either, sorry' was about a large cove that had many signs of a considerably sized dragon living in it.

Several scorched spots decorated the grass, lost black scales were strewn all over the place, there were half-eaten fish and the bones of small rodents littering the ground, there were the occasional claw markings on trees and rocks. They were obvious signs that a dragon had been staying in that cove and for a prolonged time too.

It were the black scales that worried him the most.

A black dragon. It was one Stoick didn't know and that made the absence of his young son even worse.

The mysterious dragon, Hiccup's disappearance, it was much too coincidental. Stoick felt a sickening feeling twist his stomach into a painful knot when he connected dots he hoped had nothing to do with eachother.

The cove they found was almost a good half hour away on foot too, a good long walk for a Viking. If Hiccup had screamed, no one would have heard him.

The only comfort Stoick had was that there had been no sign of blood. No signs that a scrawny teenaged boy had been ripped apart in that very place, only fish.

The dragon could've flown off with him, but Stoick tried not to think about that.

"Stoick!" The door burst open to reveal Berk's very own blacksmith hurrying inside, panting and leaning with a hand on top of his knee as he caught his breath.

Stoick had not expected to see him, but one look out the open door revealed that the sun was already rising.

An entire night of searching for Hiccup and they had come up empty.

"Stoick, is it true what 'veryone is sayin'? Is 'Iccup missin'?!" Gobber had been trying to sleep away his drunken stupor, but upon being awakened by this terrible news, had promptly jumped out of bed to meet with the Chief himself and see just how much of the story hadn't been made-up.

His old friend tried to fight the disappointment he felt as this meant there was still no news.

"Yes, it is, Gobber. The Hofferson girl, Astrid, was the last one to see my son and she told me she had seen him run off into the woods. I send a search party to find him. He hasn't returned, Gobber, and no one has told me any news either." The mountain of a man felt impossibly exhausted and he failed at finding the strength to even stand up from his seat at the table.

So tired was he after all the worrying, so paralyzing was the very fact that Hiccup was not with him.

Gobber could see it, of course. How could he not? So he pulled up a chair and sat down in front of the Viking Chief.

"Ye know... For as 'opeless as 'Iccup was, 'e's always been a smart boy, Stoick. I'm sure they'll find 'im safe and sound somewhere. No need to worry." The blacksmith attempted to comfort the man with a reassuring smile, but it didn't seem like Stoick was in a mood to listen.

"It's been an entire night and half a day, Gobber. Something is terribly wrong, I can feel it in my bones." The father's voice betrayed the utter concern he felt and Gobber just noticed he had been holding Hiccup's first Viking helmet in his hands.

What could he even say to help this poor man? His very own friend? Nothing would soothe his worries or ease his heart. Nothing, besides seeing Hiccup safe and unharmed with his own two eyes again.

It became quiet in the Haddock Household when neither knew what to say, but the silence didn't stay for long when someone burst in through the front door again and it was one of the Vikings who had left on the search.

He sounded panicked, his eyes were wide in shock, he struggled to catch his breath in order to relay his message to Chief Stoick until at last he shouted.

"Chief Stoick! The beach!"