#also it's late...so u can't blame me...for subpar articulation!

[bezzuba]

what does toothless think of astrid?

as the first openly, sincerely hostile monster-human he and hiccup swayed + convinced on the whole “everything [humans] know about [dragons] is wrong” topic, toothless respects and appreciates the hell out of astrid! she was the one who proved to him that hiccup wasn’t just a once-in-a-lifetime thing. she was the one who proved to him that humans can indeed change for the better. ( that’s not to say that hiccup himself didn’t prove anything to toothless; it’s just that hiccup is so kind and giving and empathetic and GOOD that toothless thinks of him more as a “too good to be true” miracle than an example of the virtue in humans. )

he values her input and judgement almost as much as he does hiccup’s. i say almost because if hiccup and astrid were to explicitly disagree on smth then toothless would be on hiccup’s side, no doubt or questions asked ( unless hiccup’s being stupid — e.g. “no i don’t need to rest despite my illness i’m fine to go flying!!” — in which case yeah nah bye hiccup ), but like…any instances where he’s on edge? where he’s agitated and feeling threatened and ready af to shoot? where he’s confused and feeling jittery and ready to do smth but unsure of what to actually do? he seeks for her…well, not guidance or permission or anything like that, just. confirmation. a compromise, maybe, if no confirmation is offered. he seeks for her knowledge and ideas on how to proceed in this situation as much as he seeks for hiccup’s and his own.

and it’s obv not the same now because he does get used to human touch but i like to think that immediately post-httyd, astrid was one of the only humans whose touch was actually welcomed by toothless. his underside and tail stayed off limits but he wouldn’t like…skirt out of reach or keep her in his sights at all times / constantly growl while she patted him. he welcomes all human touch now but she, the other Big Five riders, gobber, and valka and stoick but. y’know are still the only humans he trusts enough to let them touch his vulnerabilities + tail. ( hiccup is the only person — human or dragon — he trusts enough to relax around when he touches his vulnerabilities + tail. )

ofc, their relationship didn’t start off that way. toothless’ first impression of astrid was very, very, very poor indeed :’)

it was hate at second sight! hate! at! second! sight! he was already wary of her when she rudely intruded into his prison-made-den-home but then she Hurt Half Of Him For No Reason At All and wow! the resentment was so real he was 150% willing to maul her right then and there aslkdjl

for real though, the only reason he stopped and considered an alternative route ( i.e. make her Fucking Regret ) was because of hiccup’s insistence that she not be harmed + her very wise choice to not grab her axe and try attacking again. like. i joked about this with julie but his thought process during that entire scene was absolutely smth along the lines of:

AHH H HHHH!! ! YOU!! YOU HURT MY THING THAT I CHERISH!! YOU HURT PRECIOUS THING!! I WILL KILL YOU! !

HALF OF ME! STUPID STUPID, STEP AWAY!! ! AWAY AWAY AWAY!!!

[inordinate amount of internal + external screaming]

it would be so easy to kill it…! so…! EASY…!!

but precious thing does not want???? precious thing protects??

uGHhHghHHHHH

fiiiine, this monster that my precious thing protects and likes, i will not Kill or Hurt

I WILL MAKE SORRY-REGRET-SHAME.

I WILL MAKE LIKE-BACK.

and we all know how what happens after that!

toothless doesn’t…immediately like or warm up to her. he’s very vindicated and smug when she says “okay! i’m sorry! i’m sorry! just get me off of this thing!” ( which he hears as nonsense but her scent screams “FEAR-REGRET-DISTRESS” and her voice is full of REGRETREGRETREGRET, I SUBMIT! so. good enough ) and doesn’t really feel anything other than pleased satisfaction when they’re really flying, but. that moment where she leans into hiccup and trusts them both? where she carefully reaches down to pat toothless' side? where she is nothing but awe and wonder and admiration and you are amazing? there is…the slightest bit of joy. the slightest bit of relief. the slightest bit of hope and forgiveness and maybe you are not a monster.

their understanding of each other + their relationship only get better from there on out! she goes from monster to not-monster to friend to troopmate! they obv don’t get as close to each other as they do / are to their respective partners but toothless is not shy about his affections for astrid and would absolutely defend / aid her with all that he has.

also i wasn’t going to talk about this but i feel like if i don’t, somebody’s gonna jump into my inbox and bring it up anyways SO on toothless’ thoughts vis-a-vis astrid playfully / fondly punching hiccup from time to time: he’s fine with it so long as his tiny human isn’t actually hurt ( which he defs would be able to smell even if hiccup didn’t say anything ) because dragons? pounce on each other and wrestle and play-fight for fun / affection pretty much all the time?? they aren’t rough with each other but they aren’t gentle, either. toothless probably wasn’t appropriately gentle with hiccup at first until he realised he was actually hurting him with the force + weight behind all his bats and nudges and shoves and slumps. he’s softer now with humans in general ofc, but his idea of play and affection is still very physically involved so astrid being ( just the right amount of ) physical with her own displays of fondness doesn’t bother him.

ldkjfd this answer is very longwinded but i hope it satisfies you! as always, tl;dr:

toothless very strongly dislikes astrid at first

once he begins warming up to her though, he doesn’t stop ( warming up to her )

he adores and respects her a lot! she’s his favourite human troopmate ( where troop = a group of dragons who “flock together” ( i.e. protect each other, share food with each other, possibly share territory together, etc. ) simply because they really like + trust each other )