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crazy4dragons · 4 years ago

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I’m Fine

Astrid says she’s fine, but Hiccup knows she needs a little extra care before going into battle. Hiccstrid. Rating: G (pure fluff!) Set after Astrid’s rescue in RTTE “Night of the Hunters.”

Written for March of Dragons ’21. Prompt: Rescue (Mar 22-24).

“Dragon hunters…” Astrid mumbled, pressing a hand to her throbbing head. “They have Stormfly.” Her eyes widening, she tried to jump off the mattress, only to be stopped by a gentle touch on her shoulder.

“Take it easy, Astrid,” Hiccup soothed, easing her back against the pillow. “You had a rough day out there.”

“Uh, no offense Hiccup, but I don’t think we have time to take it easy,” Fishlegs ventured cautiously. “We don’t know where the dragon hunters are and —”

“Shut up, Fishface,” Snotlout cut in. “If Hiccup says it’s best for Astrid to take it easy, then it’s best for Astrid to take it easy.”

“And since when did you listen to Hiccup?” Tuffnut asked, crossing his arms over his chest.

“Yeah, when?” echoed Ruffnut.

Hiccup sighed. “Stop,” he ordered. “Everyone stop. Give Astrid some space.”

The dragon riders stared back at him.

“Go!” he insisted, prompting Fishlegs and the twins to spring into action. “Saddle your dragons and start looking for signs of the hunters. Astrid and I will follow when she’s ready.”

“I’m ready now,” the blonde insisted, pushing Hiccup’s arm away from her. “I need to find my dragon. I need to —” She attempted to stand, but her pounding headache, along with the fact that she hadn’t eaten in almost twenty-four hours, caused her to collapse back onto the sheets, which were wet from her still-soggy clothing. Someone — she guessed Hiccup — had helped her out of her boots and armor while she was unconscious, but she was still in her leggings and tunic from that morning.

“Don’t worry, Astrid. I’ll find Stormfly for you,” Snotlout boasted, pointing to himself. “Anything for my favorite Viking lady.”

“I believe I asked you to saddle up your dragon,” said Hiccup, narrowing his eyes.

“Gods, you’re bossy,” muttered Snotlout, turning around and following the others out of Astrid’s hut.

The blonde stared blankly into space, her head buzzing. “Hiccup?”

“Yes?”

“I’m fine. I swear.”

“Look at me, Astrid.” Hiccup rested a hand on hers. “It wouldn’t be very practical for you to go out and face the dragon hunters in this condition.”

“I said I’m fine!” she snapped.

“Shh,” he hushed, pressing a soothing kiss into her hair. “Let’s first get you a drink of water. And then you’ve gotta get out of these wet clothes and into a hot bath before you catch a cold.”

In an instant, he was gone, presumably to fetch her water and draw a bath. Astrid took the opportunity to peel off her soggy things, barely noticing the new cuts and bruises she’d acquired during her adventure. Naked, she wrapped up in a spare blanket that was within her reach from the bed, breathing a sigh of relief at the feeling of the cozy furs on her clammy skin.

“I have Toothless heating your bath.”

Astrid jumped at the sound of Hiccup’s voice, which interrupted her as she was about to doze off. Propping herself up against her pillow, blanket still cocooned around her, she took the cup he offered her and pressed it to her lips. At first, she took only a sip. But then, quickly realizing that her mouth was parched and her throat scratchy, she downed the whole thing.

“You want more?” Hiccup asked, taking the empty cup.

She nodded.

“Got it.” With that, he was gone again, returning a moment later with a refill. “I see you got out of your wet clothes,” he noted, nodding towards the pile of soggy garments on the floor. “I’ll take them to the wash bin for you if you’d like.”

A light blush covered Astrid’s cheeks at the realization that her undergarments were resting on the top of the pile. “No, uh…it’s alright. I’ll get them later.” She tugged the furs closer to her body as she drank.

“Okay,” shrugged Hiccup. “By the way, how do you like your baths? Bubbles, oils, just water…”

“Bubbles,” she mumbled.

“Bubbles it is. I’ll go finish that for you. And while you’re washing up, I’ll change your sheets and grab you some hot mutton and tea, okay? I have leftovers at my hut from dinner last night.”

Astrid nodded, prompting Hiccup to disappear again. By the time he returned, she’d finished her second cup of water, and the pounding in her head had decreased just enough for her to stand.

“You gonna be okay getting downstairs?”

She shrugged.

“Here.” He wrapped an arm around her shoulders, guiding her while she shuffled downstairs and into her small washroom, which was little more than a closet. She didn’t need that much space; after all, it was only her living in the hut. And besides, most of her baths were taken at the secret hot spring she’d discovered soon after moving to Dragon’s Edge.

She managed a small smile at the sight of the steaming tub. It looked so inviting, brimming with hot water and bubbles. Hiccup had done a good job preparing it.

“You’re good from here, right?” he checked, rubbing the back of his neck. “I mean, I don’t want to intrude on your privacy or anything.”

“I’ll be fine,” Astrid assured.

“Alright, I’ll leave you to it, then. Do you need anything before I go? A towel, maybe, or clean clothes?”

She nodded towards the small stack of towels tucked away on a shelf. “I’ll be fine,” she repeated.

“Well, I’ll see you in a little bit. Enjoy.” With that, he turned and stepped out of the room, closing the door behind him.

Once alone, Astrid quickly unwrapped herself from the furs and sank into the bath, a sigh of relief sweeping over her as the warm, bubbly water lapped at her skin. But now was no time to relax; she needed to wash and get dressed as quickly as possible so she could go back out and find her dragon before it was too late.

The thought of Stormfly made her stomach knot, and tears suddenly sprung to her eyes. She shouldn’t have listened to Hiccup. She should’ve gone out there as soon as she was conscious. But in the back of her still-foggy mind, she also knew that he was right. A weak, dehydrated Viking was hardly fit to be a Viking at all.

“Astrid?”

Hiccup’s voice, accompanied by a rap on the door, snapped her out of her thoughts. “Yeah?”

“I’m heading to my hut to grab you some food. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

She nodded.

“Astrid? Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” she insisted, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand.

“Alright, well I’ll be back. I’ll have Toothless stay behind in case you need anything.”

Astrid heard the click of his metal leg as he walked away, followed by the sound of her front door opening and closing. Sniffling, she began to scrub the salty ocean water and debris out of her hair, a task that took longer than she expected. Once finished, she started on her body, rising from the water to properly scrub. It was then that she became aware of the little scratches all over her arms, the nasty scrape on her right knee, and the large bruise on her hip, presumably all from struggling to grasp the log in the water.

As she made a mental note to clean out her cuts with some ointment, she heard the door creak again. “Hiccup?” she checked. She guessed by Toothless’ silence that it was indeed just his rider returning, but she wanted to be sure of it.

“Yeah, it’s just me,” Hiccup called. “You doing alright?”

“Mmm-hmm.” She sank back into the water. Between getting hydrated and soaking in the bath, her throbbing headache had now subsided to a dull pain that she was sure would fully vanish once she had something to eat.

After rinsing off, Astrid climbed out of the tub and wrapped a fluffy towel around her shivering body. She hoped it was just the cool air hitting her dripping skin that was making her chilly; a fever wasn’t something she had time to handle right now, not with Stormfly missing.

Opening the door, she was met with the sight of Hiccup standing over the fire, heating the mutton and preparing water for tea.

“Feeling better?” he asked.

“Mmm-hmm,” Astrid mumbled through chattering teeth as she blushed and dug her bare toes into the rug beneath her feet. Being a warrior, she’d learned to embrace her battle wounds. But for some reason standing in just a towel in front of Hiccup, her scraped arms and knee left exposed, prompted shyness.

“Cold?”

She nodded.

“Go get dressed,” he urged. “I wasn’t sure if you had any clean battle clothes, so I brought one of my tunics. It’s on your bed if you need it.”

Astrid nodded again and quickly shuffled up to her room, silently thanking Hiccup for keeping the fire going in there. After cleaning out her cuts and bandaging her knee, she put on a set of clean underclothes, then slipped into a pair of her wool leggings and Hiccup’s tunic, which was just a bit large on her. Noticing that the boots she’d worn earlier were still soggy, she pulled out a spare pair and carried them downstairs, along with cozy socks.

“You’re just in time,” Hiccup said, holding up a steaming plate of mutton. “Come eat.”

Astrid placed her socks and shoes by the door and took a seat at the table, the sight of food suddenly making her realize how hungry she was. Grabbing a fork, she dug into the tender mutton.

“Is it good?”

She nodded as she took a sip of tea.

“I can braid your hair for you while you eat if you like,” Hiccup ventured cautiously. “I mean, you probably want to get out there and help the others look for Stormfly as soon as you can.” He bit his lip.

Astrid glanced down at her loose tresses. Until that moment, she hadn’t even realized that she’d forgotten to put her hair up. “Yeah, that would actually be nice.”

Hiccup silently pulled a chair behind her and, sitting down, parted her locks into three sections. He’d never braided hair before, but having woven braids into leather belts and vests he’d sewed, he managed to nearly replicate Astrid’s everyday look.

“There,” he announced, standing up and placing a hand on her shoulder.

“Thank you.” The blonde pushed her empty plate aside and swallowed the rest of her tea before turning around and offering a small smile.

“You don’t have to thank me,” Hiccup insisted, his cheeks turning pink. “I’m here for you, Astrid. Always.”

Maybe her brain was still foggy from the accident, or maybe she was feeling bold, but some sudden emotion prompted her to cup a hand under his chin and deliver a quick peck onto his lips.

A wide, crooked grin appeared on Hiccup’s face. “What…what was that for?”

“For everything,” Astrid replied, grabbing her axe. “Now let’s go get my dragon back.”

#hiccstrid #fanfic #my writing #rtte #httyd #hiccstrid fluff #marchofdragons21

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seagreen-meets-grey · 4 years ago

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When Lightning Strikes Ch. 9

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 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

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“Hey.”

His touch and voice tore Astrid from her thoughts and her mind blanked for a second. Up close, she could see the many freckles on his face and the strands of hair that stood in every direction. When she caught his eyes properly, she steeled herself.

“Hi.”

He started balancing back and forth on his heels, casually putting his hands in the pockets of his jeans, dropping the two packed sandwiches he’d just held. “I thought I saw you at the park yesterday.” He ducked down to pick up his food, coming up with a red face.

“Oh, right. I was…” – running away from you – “in a hurry.”

She watched as he absentmindedly grabbed something from a shelf next to him and ran his fingers over the print. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she registered it was women’s shaving cream.

“Yeah, me, um, me too. I mean–“ He put the item back and ran his hand over his neck and the gesture was so familiar, she wondered how she’d come to learn to associate it with him during the handful of times they met. “I was there with my friend, and… Oh my god, you met him, I’m so sorry, I don’t know what he said to you, he just doesn’t hear how stupid and obnoxious he sounds most of the time, and he doesn’t mean to, at least not usually, and I’m sure he didn’t want to sound like a creep or anything, and I really hope he wasn’t being terrible, because he can actually be nice, and I’m rambling, do you want me to stop talking, I can stop talking, I can – I’ll just stop talking.”

Maybe it was the awkwardness, the hands flying roller coasters through the air, and the genuine concern about annoying her, or maybe it was her lack of sleep from last night, but she couldn’t stop the amused grin from blooming on her face.

“It’s okay, I don’t even remember what he said.” She reached out and gently socked him on the arm. “Haven’t seen you in a while.”

He exhaled in relief and properly smiled at her for the first time. It was that lopsided smile and the kind gleam in his eyes that still kept haunting her in her dreams and fantasies that she just couldn’t seem to ban from her mind, no matter how hard she tried. But she had to make peace with that. She’d had to accept that one of her favorite shows had ended in an, in her opinion, not so perfect way, and she couldn’t do anything about that as well. (If she turned a blind eye, the comparison might even work.)

“It’s been what, one and a half years? How- how’s everything? How’s um… How’s Eret?”

„Good. It’s… We’re good. He’s on a work trip.” Why was she so nervous? Maybe it was the effect of those green eyes and that smile that made her fidgety and stumble over her words.

He was about to respond when she held up her hand in an emergency decision. “Look, I have to go.” Didn’t need to make up a reason, right? “But maybe we can talk later?” She fished her phone from her pocket and created a new contact before handing it to him. “I don’t have much to do this upcoming week and since my best friend is on vacation in Europe, having a friend around would be nice.”

For a moment, he stared at the device a bit dumbfounded, then his fingers tapped a series of digits and he handed it back. “All your friends are on vacation in Europe?”

“No, just that one. But everyone else is kind of busy.” Did that sound like some kind of excuse? She hoped not.

“Oh, okay. Well, I’ve got work, but not all day, so…” Before he could start rambling again, he stopped himself by pressing his lips together and nodding a few times.

Giving herself something to do that didn’t include looking at his soul-searching eyes, she fumbled with her phone, opening up a new chat and typing in a simple “hi” and a friendly emoji. “Check your phone.” Looking up again, she gave him one last smile, then she grabbed the next best item from the next best shelf and brushed past him on her way to the door.

“Um, don’t you want to pay?” he called after her. Right, crap. The cashier looked up from his magazine at Hiccup’s words and watched her warily with narrowed eyes. Wordlessly, she hurried over and fumbled a bill out of her wallet on autopilot, taking the change and stuffing it in the pocket of her pants. Then she left with a quick wave over her shoulder. Hiccup was still standing there, holding his sandwiches in one hand and the other frozen mid-air in a waving gesture.

Only when she was back at the house did she realize she’d bought shaving cream with a raspberry and cheesecake smell. With a groan, she tossed it into her duffle back. She hated that artificially sweet stuff. She’d have to go back to the store to get what she’d actually come for tomorrow. Hopefully, she wouldn’t run into anyone else that she knew.

After several hours had passed and her phone hadn’t chimed once, she huffed and turned it off. Her heart shouldn’t be beating so fast every time she checked it for new messages. She wasn’t a teenager waiting for her crush to text her, although the sentiment didn’t seem too far off, her age aside. But she would rather punch herself in the face than admit it was true. If anything, she was waiting for a friend to contact her. Nothing more.

It was the only truth that she’d ever allowed herself to believe. At times, it sounded almost like a mantra she kept repeating, in yet another sleepless night after she woke from the same old dream. She knew that Eret could tell something was off with her, trying to concentrate on throwing these thoughts and feelings out of her mind and unintentionally growing distant while fighting her inner battle of guilt and stubborn loyalty to her principles. Whenever Eret realized he couldn’t get through to her during these phases, he grew distant himself, and it usually ended in either a big fight or a steamy reconciliation.

She guessed it had only been a matter of time until they’d end up where they were now. But she didn’t want to remind herself of last week, instead nudging her thoughts in a more flowery direction. Like to last winter when she went to Austria, high into the Alpines, feeling like she was in a whole other world. Almost touching the sky, her steps painting shapes into the white wonderland, the air frosty and revitalizing.

Then she came home, back to Eret, back to the life she chose, back to the routine that would slowly make her restless again. Make her feel like there was more to her life than Eret, although she quickly made herself brush that thought aside. For the most time, everything was fine and she was glad she married him. It was what she’d always wanted – a secure life with someone she loved and who she knew loved her, a life she was comfortable and familiar with.

But after a while, that restless feeling would return, and she booked her next ticket. Sometimes, her husband would accompany her on her adventures and they were twenty again, their relationship new and exciting. Other times, however, she went alone, glad to get away from it all. It was like a never-ending cycle of comfortable domesticity and the longing for more.

For some reason, sitting on her parents’ couch, waiting for a text from a guy she shouldn’t be so excited about texting, felt like another adventure, like that something more she was always desperate to reach. It shouldn’t.

She could feel herself drifting off into dangerous territory again, fields upon fields of what-ifs, throwing her about like a churning ocean as soon as she dared to step onto the soil. The only other pressing matter on her mind was no good alternative to mull over, though. It just made the ball of nerves in her stomach tighten until she couldn’t sit still anymore, so she jumped off the couch and went for another run. Maybe, if she drove herself to exhaustion, her mind would become pleasantly blank.

The exercise helped. Soon enough, she could hear her blood pumping through her veins, could feel every short breath in her lungs, every muscle in her body. Her feet were pounding onto the asphalt and dirt paths that lead her all around the neighborhood, until she reached the house again, panting and refreshed despite the sweat running down her skin. She felt right again, like everything was how it was supposed to be.

Only after she took a long shower and dragged dinner with her parents out into the late hours of the day, she turned her phone on again. It chimed, several new messages popping up. None from Eret. A few from Ruffnut, asking for a video chat. One from her assistant trainer, telling her that the Berserkers, their rival swim club from the next town over, had opened up a spot for Berk’s junior team to train in their swimming hall, the small one reserved for the swim club only. It was good news, very good at that. Not only could she finally go swimming again, but her team had the chance to train again as well, to get ready for their next meet with the Berserkers and Bog Burglars.

Taking a deep breath, Astrid put her phone away and rolled onto the other side of the bed, burying her nose in the pillow with the small smile on her lips wavering. No further messages.

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The berries in Hiccup’s sundae were swimming in a sea of melted ice cream, splotches of whipped cream giving the sad picture a moldy flair. Around him, the sound of chatter and spoons clinking against glass provided his ears with white noise; not even the voices of his friends discussing some trivial matter reached his ears.

His eyes were glued to the little text box on the bottom of his phone screen, his fingers hovering above the letters of the virtual keyboard. The screen went dark from inactivity and his reflection stared back at him, adorned by greasy fingerprints in the shape of his unlock pattern.

“Hiccup, you still with us?” The sound of his name finally pulled him out of his thoughts. When he looked up, three pairs of eyes were looking at him expectantly.

“Huh?”

“You kind of spaced out there for a while.” Fishlegs pointed at the phone in his hands, trying to get a look at the screen but giving up when he saw it was dark.

“Oh. Sorry. I was just… Never mind.” He laid his phone next to his sundae and started stirring the warm, sugary soup with the long spoon, frowning at the viscous consistency. Just when he had brought himself to eat a spoonful of ice cream soup, his phone chimed and he dropped the spoon as if it were burning hot. It fell back into the sundae, splashing purple-pinkish soup on his shirt.

His shoulders sagged when he saw it was a text from his dad, replying to his last message with a simple thumbs up. With a sigh, he went back to stirring his soup, ignoring the curious looks of his friends.

“Did something happen?” Fishlegs asked, concern lining his voice. “Are you waiting for an important call?”

Hiccup shrugged in the most casual way he could. “Nah. It’s just the old question of who’s going to text first, me or her.”

His friend’s face lit up in understanding, then went back to a slight frown. “I thought you quit online dating.”

“I did.”

Leaning forward, Heather pushed her empty sundae cup away from her and placed her elbows on the small table. “Enlighten us. We want details.”

Hiccup sighed. “It’s not like that. She’s… a friend.” Heather didn’t look convinced in the slightest, her eyes boring into him like an aggressive x-ray. He quickly turned to the man sitting next to her. “So, Cam. How was London?”

Cam, a young man with blonde hair that went down to his shoulders, scratched his beard as he put on a reminiscent smile. “Not as rainy as we thought.”

“As you thought,” Heather interrupted him and set her eyes back on Hiccup. “And you stop changing the topic!”

But Hiccup kept his attention stubbornly on Cam. “Heather mentioned you guys saw Romeo and Juliet at the theater?”

With a wary glance at Heather who was still not done with the subject, Cam nodded. “The interpretation was a little unusual, with a lot of slang and modern topics. Not quite the classic Shakespeare experience, but it was a really funny performance.” He grinned. “During an intermission, there was this group of teens who asked me if I was related to Kurt Cobain.”

“What did you tell them?” Fishlegs asked.

“I wanted to spin some story, but then someone,” he threw a pointed glance at Heather, “butted in and had lots of fun talking about how I just needed a haircut.”

“You’re welcome,” Heather said in a sugar-sweet voice, prompting a discussion over Cam’s hair that Hiccup didn’t bother listening to. He was too pre-occupied with trying to find a nice way to draft a text message in his head. What was he supposed to say to her? Did she even want him to text her? Maybe she’d given him a fake number so he’d leave her alone. Despite the warm weather, he suddenly felt cold.

“Earth to Hiccup, you’re doing it again.” Apparently, Hiccup’s crisis over texting a girl was more interesting than Cam’s Kurt Cobain hair. Such a pity.

Once again, the attention of the whole group was on him, and he knew that especially Heather wouldn’t give up until he told her what his problem was. He shoved his phone back in his pocket where it would hopefully stop haunting him, at least for the moment, and rolled his eyes. “Like I said, she’s a friend and we’re not dating.”

“Yet,” Cam commented but Hiccup pointedly ignored him.

“Then why are you so nervous about texting her?” Fishlegs asked.

Hiccup scratched his neck. “It’s complicated.”

“Why?”

One look at his friends and their attentive expressions and he realized he wasn’t going to get out of this so easily. He fiddled with the paper napkin under the sundae cup, ripping off a piece and rolling it to a ball between two fingers. “Because,” he mumbled, so quiet the others had to lean in to understand him, “she’s in a relationship and we have something like history, mostly on my part.”

“Oh,” said Cam.

“History?” it came from Fishlegs.

“What kind of relationship?” asked Heather, her eyes narrowed, the answer already in the back of her mind, poking at the surface behind a suspicious expression.

Hiccup sighed. The only person who hadn’t been there when the whole Astrid fiasco had started was Cam, and he didn’t feel like explaining the entire thing to him. So he just threw Fishlegs and Heather a meaningful look and clarified, “I mean that she’s married.”

“Oh,” said Cam again, none the wiser.

“Oh,” said Fishlegs, knowingly, and with a pitying frown.

Heather rolled her eyes. “You’ve got to be kidding me. Still?!”

About nine months ago, Heather had called him one night, and the next morning they’d gone out for breakfast and talked for hours. About them, their relationship, the past, the future. He had told her the whole Astrid story and she had listened. She had apologized for being so harsh to him, but she’d been hurting, and Hiccup knew that. She also told him about her recent breakup and it had felt like something heavy had been lifted off his chest when they’d talked it out and realized that after all this time, they were still friends. It was that day that Hiccup noticed the guy shyly looking at her from a few desks over every once in a while, his long blonde hair falling into his face.

“Yes, still, unfortunately. I can’t exactly turn that off, you know.”

“Stop sassing me, Hiccup, and tell us what happened.”

“Less than you think,” he said and recounted his two encounters with her over the past two days.

“Just that we’re clear,” Fishlegs started when he was done, “we are talking about Astrid Hofferson, right?”

“Yes,” Hiccup and Heather confirmed in unison.

“Who?” asked Cam.

“The reason Hiccup and I broke up.”

“Hey!” Hiccup exclaimed. “You know that’s not all true.”

“Weeeeell…” it came from Fishlegs in a high-pitched voice, prompting Hiccup to roll his eyes.

“She wasn’t the whole reason, just the catalyst.” He nodded in Heather’s direction. “And you know that.”

“Yeah yeah, whatever, it’s in the past,” she said with a dismissive wave of her hand. “Fact is, you can’t keep waiting for a girl who’s as unavailable to you as her. She’s married, Hiccup. She made her choice. Move on.”

“But what if she likes him too?” Fishlegs threw in.

“Then she’s still married. And it wouldn’t be Hiccup’s problem, it would be hers.”

“It would still concern him,” Cam countered. “And isn’t it his problem already?”

“Well, yes,” Heather said, “but it wouldn’t be his choice to make, is what I mean.”

Hiccup wiped a hand over his face. “Then what do I do?”

Heather shrugged. “Easy. If you still feel like you need to, you text her a universal ‘hey, how are you’ and then you move on with someone else. My brother’s been seeing this guy for fun recently, no strings attached, and it helped him move on from his previous relationship. Maybe that’s something you could try, just hook up for sex, without any hopes or expectations going in, and maybe you’ll find someone you really like.”

“You brother is gay?” Fishlegs asked, slight surprise coating his voice. “I didn’t know that.”

“Took him a while to figure it out, but yeah, very gay.”

“Honestly,” Hiccup murmured, “that doesn’t surprise me in the least.”

“Right?” Heather chuckled. “So, what do you think? Have meaningless sex and find some love?”

Hiccup’s smile disappeared. “I tried to date other people, Heather. It never worked out. I just can’t forget her.”

“That’s why I said go in without expectations, because you’ll immediately start comparing the poor girl to someone you can never have.”

“First of all, how is me going in without trying to fall in love with someone going to help me forget Astrid? Second, I’m not the guy for casual hookups. I want something real, and no matter on how many dates I go, no matter how much effort I put into moving on, I can’t find that with anyone else because all I can think of is her.”

Especially now, with the invisible weight of her phone number in his pocket. He flopped back into his chair, suddenly exhausted. He’d lain awake for hours last night, contemplating whether it was actually a good idea or not to text her, the tips of his fingers tingling from simply reading her name in his contacts and the simple ‘hi’ she’d texted him to give him her number. Which she’d done on purpose, which in return had to mean something, didn’t it? And she had basically asked him to be her friend…

Cam let out a low whistle. “Sounds like you have it bad, man.”

“I collectively only spent about six hours with her, and I fell in love with her.”

Heather huffed. “Oh, please. In love? What’s her favorite color?”

“Blue,” he answered quick like a shot. “But she also likes soft gold tones.”

“Did she tell you that or are you just guessing?”

Suddenly taken aback, Hiccup racked his brain for the memory and came up short. “I don’t…” He couldn’t remember her ever sharing this particular piece of information with him, and yet he was so sure that he knew. How?

“Look, there’s no logical explanation for why I feel this way. But it… It’s like…” Gesticulating, he searched for the right words. “It’s like I’m the land of the dinosaurs and she’s the meteor that crashed and changed everything. Like I’m a ghost town and she’s the magic that strikes like lightning and creates new life.”

Cam was picturing his words, Fishlegs nodded the way he did when reading and trying to understand poetry, and Heather just raised an eyebrow at the analogies.

“And now… Now I have the chance to truly get to know her, even if all I can ever get from her is friendship.”

Heather considered this for a moment. “You’re really serious about this, aren’t you.” He nodded with a grave smile. “But you don’t even know her.”

“Maybe if he gets to know her,” Fishlegs pondered, “he’ll realize that she’s not that great.”

“Maybe,” Heather mused. “And then you’ll get over your infatuation.”

“You’re always so supportive.”

“Hey, I’m just looking out my friend because I don’t like to see him hurting.”

“The same goes for me,” Fishlegs added. “If you think it will make you happier to text her than to cut her from your life completely, I think you should just do it.”

Cam fished his phone out of his jacket, pulled up a video and wordlessly held it in Hiccup’s direction. “JUST DO IT!” Shia LaBeouf screamed at him. Heather pinched the bridge of her nose in fond exasperation.

Fishlegs gave him two encouraging thumbs up. “Just text her hi.”

Hiccup looked between his three friends, ignoring Shia who was still screaming at him, and willed the ball of nerves in his stomach to go away. It was just a text, a simple electronic message that he probably attributed more meaning to than it actually held. He could still back out. Could resolve to hearing about Astrid and her life from Heather who’d know from Dagur who’d know from Eret…

But the prospect of a life completely devoid of her felt worse to him than just being her friend with the additional pain of never being able to be with her the way he wanted to, although that would go with the first option as well. So maybe getting to know her was the only way to go from here, since being without her hadn’t been of any help so far. And maybe, even though he doubted it with all he had, he would get over her as soon as he knew her better.

He took out his phone and weighed it in his hand for a minute, like weighing out his options, until Heather snatched it from him. “I still don’t like the thought of you getting hurt through this more than the other way, but…” She held the device directly in front of his face. “Just goddamn text her so you can get to know her and stop putting her on a pedestal.”

Taking a deep breath, he unlocked his phone, pulled up his chats, selected hers, and before he could overthink it, he typed in a simple ‘hello’ and a smiley face and hit send. Only a few seconds passed until he started wondering if perhaps he should have send more, like an explanation why he waited a day to text her, or his name because she’d already deleted his number, and that reminded him that this might not even be her real number and he was already spiraling.

“Did you do it?” He glanced up at Fishlegs who was once more trying to get a peek of his phone screen. Hiccup decidedly turned it off and shoved it back into his pocket.

“Yes.” He pointed at the warm ice cream soup before him. “And now I need another one of these.”

It was late when he turned his phone back on, the nerves in his stomach tangled like his father’s knitting yarn after his cat had declared it its mortal enemy that had to be defeated in a life or death encounter.

The breath in his lungs turned to stone when his notifications appeared. A couple new mails, ads from applications he never deleted, and a handful of new texts he skimmed with lightning speed. Group chats, colleagues, Snotlout, Cam with a Nirvana gif and the same old Shia video, and– the frown on his face turned into a wide smile. One new text from Astrid.

#httyd #hiccstrid #fanfiction #hiccup haddock #astrid hofferson #fishlegs ingerman #heather #when lightning strikes #modern au #a bit of angst with a dash of drama #or the other way around #maja writes #ff #fanfic #how to train your dragon

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bi-bi-want-dragon · 5 years ago

Text

The Little Things

From Meet the Ingermans

FF.net | AO3

A/N: More Ingerman family fluff for you! As always, let me know what you think, and feel free to let me know what you'd like to see from this sweet little family in the future!

~~~

“Do you have to go?” Ruffnut pleaded with her husband, swaying with their daughter in her arms.

Fishlegs chuckled. “I don’t think Hiccup would appreciate me taking more time off. It’s already been a month.” He closed the distance between them as he pulled his tunic over his head. “I think I’m convinced you and Nutmeg are okay.”

“But I like having you here,” Ruffnut pouted playfully.

“You won’t be alone,” he said, kissing her cheek. “And besides, Astrid’s coming with Nuffink and Zephyr.”

“Astrid can’t do the things you can for me,” she said, wiggling her eyebrows.

Fishlegs choked on air. “Heh, um, you know” - he cleared this throat loudly - “you keep that up, and Nutmeg won’t be an only child for long.”

Ruffnut rolled her eyes and stepped to the side. “Alright, alright, get out of here. Go do your job,” she teased.

He smiled and leaned in for a long, slow, lingering kiss. “I love you.”

“I... Uh, love you too,” Ruffnut sputtered, trying to reign in the onslaught of not-so-ladylike desires that crashed over her.

Fishlegs chuckled and kissed the top of Nutmeg’s head before stepping out the door. “Astrid will be here soon!”

Ruffnut shook her head with a smile as the door shut, followed closely by Nutmeg’s quiet squeak that quickly grew into a cry.

“Oh, baby girl, I know,” Ruffnut cooed, swaying her way to her favorite chair by the fire. “I don’t like when Daddy leaves either.”

As her daughter quieted, Ruffnut stilled, trying to place the unfamiliar sound slowly filling her home.

Wait.

That was silence.

And she didn’t want to immediately sleep through it!

Moving painstakingly slow so as to not jostle and frighten her infant, she lowered herself to rest in the oversized chair. She sighed a quiet breath of relief and pulled her knees up, resting Nutmeg against her thighs.

And then there was a soft knock at the door.

So much for peace and quiet.

The door slowly creaked open. “Aunt Ruffie?”

“You guys can come in, Zephyr,” Ruffnut quietly replied over her shoulder.

“Oh, um... It’s just me, Auntie,” Zephyr said shyly, stepping inside and closing the door behind her.

“Where’s your mom and Nuffink?”

“Um, well... Nuffy wasn’t being a good boy today...” Zephyr started, craning her neck to try to see the new baby. “And Momma didn’t want to bring him here and scare the baby... So, um, so Daddy brought me before he went to work.”

Ruffnut wasn’t sure if she was relieved for Astrid’s thoughtfulness or disappointed in the lack of entertainment. “Well, don’t be a stranger, Zeph,” she teased. “Come over and meet the baby.”

Zephyr smiled and stepped further into her aunt’s home, slowing her walk as she stepped around the chair. Her eyes widened when they finally found the sleeping baby, and she giggled behind her hands.

“Come on, snuggle up,” Ruffnut coaxed, freeing one arm and patting the open space next to her. “I know you want to.” She extended her arm in a further invitation.

Zephyr giggled again as she climbed up onto the couch next to Ruffnut, who secured her free arm around the girl to make sure she didn’t fall. Zephyr grabbed Ruffnut’s shoulder to steady herself, and used her other hand to reach out to the baby. She stopped herself, though, remembering how fragile her little brother was a year earlier when he was born.

“It’s okay, you can touch her,” Ruffnut encouraged. She extended her legs slightly, enough that if she lifted her arm from her daughter she wouldn't slide off Ruffnut’s thighs in her deep sleep. “See? Feel her hair.” Ruffnut demonstrated softly stroking the infant’s head. “Feel how soft it is?”

Zephyr looked to her aunt, who nodded in confirmation that, yes, it was really okay, before reaching out to lightly pet the baby’s head. She giggled quietly and let her hands fall to pet her little arms instead. “She looks so squishy!”

Ruffnut laughed quietly. “Yeah, she does, doesn’t she? A lot different from baby Nuffink, huh?”

“Maybe. But not anymore,” Zephyr said, scrunching her nose. “He’s very squishy now.”

“Oh, is he?”

“Uh-huh,” Zephyr confirmed, before turning a little more somber. “But he wasn’t before. He was tiny. Teeny tiny.”

“Yeah, he was. A lot smaller than her, huh?”

“Yeah,” Zephyr said quietly, remembering how scared her Momma and Daddy had been that Baby Nuffink wasn’t going to be okay. “But... But, she’s going to be okay, right Aunt Ruffie?”

Ruffnut’s heart swelled. “She’s going to be just fine, Zeph, don’t worry. Just like Baby Nuff is now, right?”

Zephyr took a deep breath and nodded. “Right.” She looked back down to the baby and smiled again. “What’s her name, what’s her name?!”

Laughing, Ruffnut said, “Uncle Fishlegs named her Nutmeg.”

Zephyr smiled a big, toothy grin at Ruffnut before turning back to the baby. “Hi, Nutmeg!” She said, and then leaned in and lowered her voice just a little. “We’re going to be best friends.”

Ruffnut bit her lip and tried to hold back tears, ignoring the fact that she still seemed to be a little off from the pregnancy hormones - even after not being pregnant for a month.

Zephyr continued, “And you’re really gonna like Nuffink. He’s my little brother. He’s... Kinda silly and crazy right now, but I’m sure he’ll calm down...” Zephyr stared off into space for a moment. “Eventually...”

Ruffnut snickered. “Is Mommy having trouble with the new baby?”

Zephyr nodded. “He walks now!”

Ruffnut shuddered internally. She did not envy the Haddocks.

~~~

Fishlegs was only half listening to Hiccup as he talked about a book collection of some sort on his way home. The first full day away from his wife and daughter had been an agonizing one, and he was sure everyone noticed. He was more distracted than he was present the entire day, but was so busy from being a month behind that he didn’t have time to go home for lunch to see them.

“Legs?” Hiccup’s voice broke through. “Don’t you think?”

“Huh? Oh, yeah, right, that’s great.”

“The fact that we don’t have traders coming as often is great?” Hiccup clarified.

When did they get on that topic? “Oh, uh, no, no it’s not.”

Hiccup chuckled. “Thinking about Ruff and Nutmeg?”

Fishlegs sighed. “I’m sorry, Hiccup. It’s just-”

“I know, trust me, I get it,” Hiccup reassured him with a pat on the back. “The first day away is always rough. You don’t have to explain to me.”

Fishlegs smiled at him. “Thanks, Chief.”

Needless to say, Fishlegs was overwhelmingly relieved when he finally opened the door to his home, quickly finding Ruffnut and Zephyr cooing over a happily squirming Nutmeg.

They looked up as the men entered the main room, Zephyr’s already-bright eyes shining more. “Daddy! Look at Nutmeg!”

Hiccup laughed. “I see! Did you have a good day with Ruffnut and the baby?” he asked, beckoning her over with his hands.

Zephyr hesitated for a moment, looking down at Nutmeg.

“Zeph, baby, we’ll be back to see Nutmeg in no time,” Hiccup laughed again. “But right now Mommy needs our help with Nuffink, don’t you think?”

Zephyr patted Nutmeg’s head and sighed. “The work of a sister is never done, is it, Aunt Ruffie?”

Fishlegs and Hiccup snickered as Ruffnut smiled and said, “No it is not, Zephyr. No it is not.”

Zephyr ran to the door and took Hiccup’s hand. “Come on, Daddy! Momma needs our help!”

Hiccup looked back to his friends and rolled his eyes, waving as he shut the door behind him.

“Did Hiccup tell you Nuffink can walk now?” Ruffnut mused.

Fishlegs thought for a moment. “Well, that’s not all that strange. I mean he did just turn one-”

“By himself?” Ruffnut added with a mischievous smile.

“You mean-”

“Literally just stands up and walks like it’s no problem? Supposedly,” she shrugged.

“Oh, oh good. Odin help us all, we’re done for,” Fishlegs prayed as he joined Ruffnut.

Ruffnut laughed and leaned back into him, pulling Nutmeg to her chest. “That’s what I said, too.”

Fishlegs happily wrapped his arms around Ruffnut and caressed Nutmeg’s check. “How did my lovely ladies do without me today?”

“We missed you a lot.” She turned her head to kiss his cheek, but he was faster. He caught her lips in a quick kiss instead, making her giggle, before leaning in for a deeper one.

“I missed you both, too,” he said softly.

Fishlegs wasn’t sure if it was his exhaustion seeping into his bones or if he had simply spent more time working today than he thought, but the rest of the evening flew by far too fast for his liking. Dinner was finished and cleaned up in no time, the fire slowly dying, the sun long gone from the sky. Before he knew it, Ruffnut was standing and stretching, musing that it was getting late.

Fishlegs softly replied, “You go ahead and go to bed, love. I think I’m going to stay up for a bit.”

Ruffnut was going to protest, but then she caught the soft smile and glimmer of adoration in her husband’s eyes as he looked down at their sleeping girl. So instead, she simply leaned over to kiss him, whispered, “I love you,” and went off to bed.

As silence fell over the house, Fishlegs watched the quick rise and fall of his daughter’s chest as she slept in his arms. It was such a simple sight, and yet one that he never grew tired of seeing. Not after the image of her still and blue body laying limp in Tuffnut’s arms was seared into his brain. Not after those agonizing hours of Ruffnut fading in and out, followed by the even more agonizing minutes waiting for Nutmeg to take her first breath. No, each breath she took was precious, and it was a sight Fishlegs prayed he would continue to see until he breathed his own last breath. It was a sight that he refused to take for granted.

Ruffnut told him that she didn’t even remember the stretch of time between her birth and her first breath. She simply remembered the pain ceased, and then her daughter was in her arms, pink and breathing and lively. And Fishlegs thanked the gods every day that Ruffnut was spared the torment of those few minutes. She had been through enough, she didn’t need that memory on top of it.

Fishlegs smiled. “You’re so beautiful, baby girl,” he whispered, leaning over to kiss her head. She squirmed slightly in his arms and yawned but otherwise didn’t react. Though it was enough to bring a small happy tear to Fishlegs’ eye. “I promise, I’ll protect you. I’ll always keep you safe. I’ll always fight for you.”

He smiled. “And I’ll always love you. You’ll always be my baby girl. The strongest of the Valkyrie and the sweetest of the Vikings. More than you may ever know. But I’ll know. And that’s all that matters.”

She yawned again, and then her eyes fluttered open. Her face scrunched up as if she was about to cry, but then softened. She seemed like she was exploring her father’s face.

Fishlegs smiled. “Hello, beautiful.”

She blinked as he spoke, eyes continuing to trace his face.

Fishlegs chuckled. “Curious little one, huh? You get that from me.”

She started to turn her head side to side, but her gaze kept returning to her father’s face, staring up in wonder.

And Fishlegs started to cry.

He laughed at himself as the tears fell down his cheeks. “Oh, look at me. All you have to do is look at Daddy and I’m a mess. Completely at your mercy.”

She brought her hands to her mouth, but her eyes never left her father’s face.

“Gods, I love you so much.” He brushed her cheek with his thumb, which she turned into. “You may not know what that means yet, but I promise you will. That’s all you’ll ever get from your mom and I. More love and support than you’ll know what to do with.”

She yawned again, eyes fluttering between opened and closed, caught somewhere between wanting to sleep and wanting to investigate her father more.

Fishlegs smiled. “You can be whatever you want to be, and your mom and I will still love you with all of our hearts.”

She closed her eyes again, but this time they stayed closed. Fishlegs took a few more moments to watch her, to make sure she was still breathing, to make sure she wasn’t leaving him anytime soon. And eventually he was satisfied enough to carry her to their room and lay her in her cradle. He was going to leave it across the room where she normally slept, but after a moment of deliberation, he couldn’t help pulling her bed right next to the bed he shared with Ruffnut.

He knew she’d be okay, that she would continue to breathe through the night just like she had for the last month. But he also knew that if she was anything like her mother, she’d make use of her independence in no time. So for now, while she was still so small and dependent on her parents, Fishlegs would take advantage of the chance to keep her close. And he prayed that even when she did grab ahold of that independence, she would still love him too. And maybe stay relatively close. At least.

#meet the ingermans #fishlegs #ruffnut #nutmeg #zephyr #httyd #fanfic #httyd fanfiction #post httyd 3 #randis fics

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the-dragon-central · 5 years ago

Text

Hey everyone! @astrid-foreverythingelse again! This ended up quite a bit longer than I thought it would, but since I have it all finished now I figured I would post it all instead of making you guys wait for a third part. So here's the second and last part to Wild Life! See Part 1 (along with the request description) here if you’d like!

~~~

“Will we get to see Windshear next time?” Zephyr said, disappointed.

“Maybe, sweetheart. Windshear is very sensitive, though,” Astrid explained. “She doesn’t like anyone but Heather.”

“Don’t worry, honey, you’ll get to see some more big cats today. I promise,” Hiccup assured her. “But right now, we need to check on Eret and his favorite animal.”

Nuffink gasped. “The rhino?”

“That’s right, bud, the Northern White Rhino!”

As they pulled up to the next enclosure, they quickly found Eret under the shelter with the large rhino, tending to wounds on the docile beast. Eret turned at the sound of tires crunching across the gravel, and a smile crossed his face. “Well, if it isn’t the Haddocks! How are we doing this lovely morning?”

“Just fine, excited to show the kids around the sanctuary,” Hiccup explained, helping Zephyr out of the Jeep. “Would you mind- Woah, Nuffink! Slow down, bud!” he cried as Nuffink slipped out under Zephyr and rushed to the fence, eyes wide with wonder and legs bouncing with excitement.

“What’s his name, what’s his name?!” Nuffink cried.

Eret laughed and guided the rhino closer to the fence, allowing his audience to take in his full glory. “This is Skullcrusher, our second-newest resident. He’s a Great White Rhino with many battle scars, but he’s quite mild. Very protective as well. He only uses his strength when he needs to.”

“What happened to him?” Zephyr asked, catching up with her brother.

“Well, you see, some hunters tried to get ahold of him. This horn of theirs,” Eret said, tapping Skullcrusher’s front horn, “can catch a hefty price as many people believe it has medicinal benefits.” At the tap of his horn, Skullcrusher turned his head towards Eret and affectionately bumped his head against him. Eret chuckled and pet the animal as he continued. “This big guy has survived many an attempt to capture him, but he suffered some severe wounds. We brought him here to fix him up and hopefully send him back soon.”

“You’re gonna send him back to the wild?” Nuffink asked, sounding disappointed.

“That’s the hope,” Eret said with a smile. “Not all of these animals are meant to stay here forever. The ones that we can send back, we do so gladly. They belong back in their home.”

Astrid and Hiccup stayed back at the Jeep while the kids had their mini lesson with Eret. Astrid leaned closer to Hiccup. “Should we tell them why he’s named ‘Skullcrusher’ or just let that one slide?” she asked with a devious smile.

Hiccup’s eyebrows furrowed and he shivered slightly. “Alright, kids, time to move on!”

“Already?” Nuffink complained.

“I know, bud, but we’re losing daylight. We still have four more animals to go!”

“Who’s next, Momma?” Zephyr asked, jumping up into the Jeep.

“Well,” Astrid groaned as she helped Zephyr up, “it’s sort of two animals in one.”

“What does that mean?” Nuffink asked from Hiccup’s arms.

“I don’t think you’ll believe us until you see it,” she replied.

The two children tried to pry out the answer from their parents through the entire short drive to the next enclosure, but their parents only answered with, “You’ll see.”

They pulled up to the enclosure entrance right behind another vehicle, finding Ruffnut and Tuffnut unloading packages from the back of the car.

“New menu today?” Astrid asked as Hiccup unloaded the kids.

“Hopefully the last new menu,” Ruffnut replied. “We’re running out of food to try out on them.”

“They definitely earned their name,” Tuffnut added sarcastically.

“What name?” Nuffink asked.

“Nuff! What’s up, little man?” Tuffnut cried, starting an odd and over-complicated handshake with him.

Zephyr scrunched her nose in confusion before shaking her head and turning to Ruffnut. “Yeah, what name?”

“Barf and Belch,” Ruffnut said. When Zephyr only responded with a bewildered look, she added, “Yeah, that’s right. Barf and Belch. Want to know why?”

“Not really,” Zephyr said, clearly disgusted.

“Yeah!” Nuffink cried at the same time, clearly interested.

Tuffnut laughed. “They just hate everything we give them to eat. They’re super picky. We can’t find a food to give them that they won’t, well... Barf up or belch for hours on end after.”

“Want to see them?” Ruffnut asked. She and Tuffnut gathered their bags of goodies with Astrid and Hiccup’s help before leading the family into the enclosure. Nuffink and Zephyr hesitated, having never actually entered an enclosure before.

Astrid turned around. “It’s okay,” she encouraged, “You have to come in to see them. We have them sort of... Locked away.”

Zephyr and Nuffink shared a look before shrugging and following the adults.

“What kind of animal are they anyway?” Nuffink asked.

“A cobra,” Tuffnut quickly replied.

“Woah, cobras. Cool.”

“Not cobras. One cobra,” Ruffnut corrected.

“But you said-”

“You’ll see,” Hiccup and Astrid snickered simultaneously.

They came to a smaller enclosure that almost resembled a very large shed. It wasn’t until they walked inside that the kids realized the top of the shed was open, hidden by a thick canopy of trees. Immediately inside the door they stepped into what appeared to be an observation room overlooking a dense forest space.

“Wait here, we’ll get them to come out,” Tuffnut said. They dropped all their goodie bags but two and disappeared behind another door.

“Where did they...?” Zephyr began.

“You’ll see,” Astrid and Hiccup echoed.

Tuffnut tapped on the glass from within the enclosure, startling the children for a moment. He laughed and waved before walking off with his twin sister towards a small cave structure. They each threw a piece of meat in front of the mouth of the cave and waited, calling out the animal’s names.

They didn’t have to wait too long before a cobra with two heads slithered out of his hiding place.

Nuffink and Zephyr’s jaws instantly dropped. Zephyr scrubbed her eyes with her fists and took another look, not believing what was in front of her. Nuffink looked overwhelmed with all the thoughts running through his head as he tried to riddle through the scene unfolding in front of him.

“Pretty cool, huh?” Astrid asked.

“How...” Zephyr started, so many questions flooding her brain that she didn’t know where to start.

“We’re not sure how he’s survived so long with two heads. It’s unheard of,” Hiccup began. “Naturally, once people heard that an animal like that existed, it was a race to get to it first. And not everybody cared if they brought the animal back alive or not.”

“Somehow he managed to escape every time,” Astrid continued. “He was very lucky that a merciful man found him. But by then Barf and Belch had so many wounds and scars that he was barely alive. The man tried to nurse him back to health, but wasn’t experienced with caring for animals. He was wealthy and widespread enough to have some international contacts that knew of us and we gladly took him in.”

“We built this special enclosure just for him so we could keep him out of sight,” Hiccup said. “When people ask, we just tell everyone it’s an open enclosure waiting for a new animal. We’re afraid that if anyone knew he was here, it’d be dangerous not only for him but the staff and other animals too.”

“Well then why is there glass in here, Daddy?” Zephyr asked.

“Well, it’s not everyday you have to care for a two-headed animal,” he explained. “Barf and Belch really only allow Ruffnut and Tuffnut into their enclosure, but we had to be able to study them and learn how to take care of them. So we built this observation room that wraps around the entire enclosure.”

Tuffnut and Ruffnut turned and waved to the family as the rare snake enjoyed his new meal option, the children staring wide-eyed and gape-mouthed into the enclosure.

~~~~~

“What’s next, what’s next?!” Nuffink cried, bouncing in the backseat of the Jeep.

“Nothing as exciting as a two-headed snake, but we just have a few more animals to check on,” Hiccup teased. “Would you like to visit Great Uncle Gobber?”

“Uncle Gobber lives here?” Zephyr asked.

“He may as well,” Astrid playfully muttered. “No, sweetie, he likes to take care of Grump. Grump is a Bornean sun bear.”

“What’s that, Momma?”

“Well, you know those silly little black bears with the really really long claws and tongues that you like so much?”

Zephyr giggled. “Yeah!”

“That’s what Grump is!”

As the family pulled up to the next enclosure, they found Gobber scratching his head and staring at an unmoving mass of black fur on the other side of the fence splayed out haphazardly across a rock. Gobber shook his head before turning to greet the Haddocks. “Zephyr, Nuffink! Enjoyin’ the tour?”

Nuffink nodded excitedly. Zephyr, on the other hand, had her eyes glued on the bear. “Is... Uncle Gobber, is he... Is he dead?”

Gobber laughed as he closed the distance to the Jeep, scooping up Zephyr and carrying her to the fence. “Not at all, lassie, far from it. Dumb bear is jus’ lazy as a dragon after too much dragon nip.”

“Dragon nip?” Zephyr asked with a scrunched nose.

“Here we go again,” Hiccup chuckled, bringing Nuffink over to join his sister with his wife following closely behind.

“Dragons exist!” Gobber cried. “They steal ya’r legs! But only the left ones,” he added to Zephyr, who replied with a giggle.

“Yes, Gobber, we know. And then they disappeared underneath the earth never to be seen again, right?” Astrid teased.

Gobber glared at Astrid as Zephyr turned her attention back to the bear. “Uncle Gobber, are you sure he’s okay?”

He laughed and whistled before yelling, “Ay! Grump! Git up, already!”

Nothing.

“Grump!” Gobber growled.

Grump’s eyes flickered open, followed by a large yawn that left his tongue hanging out of his mouth. Just as Gobber opened his mouth to sarcastically praise the lazy beast, he lifted his body just enough to flop back down onto the rock with his backside facing the humans.

Gobber scoffed. “Lazy animal.”

“Uncle Gobber? What happened to his claws?” Nuffink sheepishly asked. When the bear lifted himself up momentarily, the children got a better look at his injuries. What claws were left were chipped or broken off, and they could make out thin breaks in his fur that indicated healing gashes in his skin.

“Well,” Gobber sighed, “Probably another animal or some hunters got ahold of ‘im. He made it, though, doin’ jus’ fine now. But ‘e’ll have to stay here for the rest of his life.”

“Why’s that?”

“He’s got no claws to defend ‘imself now, and they not growin’ back too good, either. Then again, ‘e probably wouldn’t defend ‘imself even with the claws,” he added with a grumble. “Bear’s got too lazy to care. All ‘e does is sleep and eat!”

The children continued to watch Grump closely, searching for signs of life, as Gobber turned to Hiccup and Astrid. “Have ya shown ‘em your animals of choice yet?”

“We’re going to see Stormfly next, and then Toothless and Luna are last,” Astrid explained. “We figured we’d round out the day with our own animals.”

“Who are they?” Zephyr mused back to her parents, eyes still glued to the lazy bear.

“Well, they’re the animals Mom and I work with the most. They take best to us, like everyone else has their favorite animals that we visited today,” Hiccup explained. “They’re enclosures are right next to each other, so we can visit both of them at the same time. Stormfly and Toothless get along really well, and so do Toothless and Luna.”

“What kind of animals are they?” Nuffink asked.

“Do you want to go find out?” Astrid asked, aware of the day’s end drawing near.

Nuffink looked up to Gobber. “He’s really not going to do anything, is he?” he asked, gesturing to the bear.

Gobber shook his head. “Not a lick.”

Nuffink jumped away from the fence. “Yep, let’s go!”

~~~

Hiccup stopped the Jeep at a dividing fence between two enclosures; but unlike the other enclosures the kids saw that day, the entrance to these straddled the intersection of the dividing fence and the outer fence. Astrid climbed out quickly, falling into a pattern she obviously was used to. Hiccup encouraged the children out of the Jeep and brought them to the fence. “Wait here,” he smiled as he followed Astrid into the enclosure.

“Stormfly!” Astrid called. “Come here, girl!”

Hiccup knelt next to the fence opposite the kids as a hush fell over the trees. Everyone stayed perfectly still, patiently waiting.

Hiccup sensed the apprehension in Zephyr and Nuffink growing at the gentle padding of paws drawing nearer. They scanned the tree line fervently while keeping a nervous eye on their mother.

“Come here, girl, it’s okay,” Astrid encouraged, the smile on her face evident in her voice as well. She carefully lowered herself to the grass, reaching out a steady hand. “I see you, Stormfly, come on out.”

Nuffink and Zephyr looked around, now confused as to where their mother saw the animal.

“Daddy... Where is she?” Zephyr whispered.

Hiccup gently hushed his daughter, smiling as he pointed to the trees directly in front of Astrid.

Astrid turned her head at the quiet interaction behind her. She waved at her children before turning back to the ghost in the treeline. “It’s okay, Stormfly. That’s my own pack. They’re safe.”

Nuffink and Zephyr carefully scanned the treeline again, frustrated that their parents saw something they obviously did not. Suddenly, Zephyr gasped quietly. Nuffink looked at her confused and tapped her arm. Zephyr wrapped her arm around her brother and pointed at the trees just off to the left of where they were standing.

The face of a wolf with unusual coloring was watching the family carefully, eyes shifting every so often between the three figures by the fence and her usual caregiver in the grass. Her face was mostly white fur, but a start black patch ran down her nose, and another covered from the middle of her head across her right ear and eye, down her right cheek, underneath her chin, and up across her left cheek, disappearing behind the side of her face. She slowly emerged from the shadows of the trees, silently approaching as if she were gliding over the grass rather than stepping on it. Her head cocked to the side in curiosity, eyes locked on the children as she walked in a confident line towards Astrid. As she stepped away from the brush, her body of black fur could be seen, interrupted only down her spine by the same white color that dominated her face. The white fur on her back seemed to jut out in either direction like spikes, and continued from the nape of her neck until it mixed with the black in her tail.

The wolf nuzzled her head along Astrid’s shoulder, eyes still locked on the children with a curious tilt. Astrid combed her fingers through Stormfly’s fur and looked back to follow her gaze. “Aren’t they beautiful?” she whispered to the wolf. “I’m so proud of them. And they love animals just like me.”

Stormfly turned her head to sniff Astrid’s cheek. She licked Astrid’s chin, making her chuckle. “You can meet them, it’s okay. Go see Hiccup.”

Stormfly hesitated at first, looking back to Astrid but taking a few steps towards Hiccup and the kids.

Astrid laughed. “Go on, I’m coming.”

Stormfly seemed content with that response; she turned towards Hiccup and trotted his direction as he held out a welcoming hand. “Hey, there, Stormfly,” he said, scratching behind her ears. “Long time, no see, huh?” He looked to Zephyr and Nuffink, who were now frozen with fear. “Come here,” he encouraged, “put your hand right up on the fence, flat, just like this.”

Hiccup laid his hand flat against the fence, which his children cautiously mirrored. As Zephyr and Nuffink placed their hands against his, he slowly used the opposite hand to guide Stormfly to the fence. Hiccup and Astrid watched Stormfly closely as she sniffed their children’s hands through the fence, ready to react if they needed to.

But the gentle wolf - just as Hiccup and Astrid anticipated - simply nuzzled her nose against the children’s hands before gently rubbing her head against the fence.

Zephyr’s mouth dropped open in awe, while Nuffink laughed and daringly stuck his fingers through the openings in the fence.

“Hey Hiccup,” Astrid called out as she approached her family. Stormfly perked up at the sound of her voice and sauntered over, weaving between her legs. She gestured to the enclosure next door with her head as she reached down to scratch behind Stormfly’s ears. “I think someone’s getting a little jealous of all the attention over here.”

Hiccup rolled his eyes and stood, turning around to find a black jaguar bouncing excitedly on the other side of the fence. The children looked quizzically at their mother first before following their father’s gaze. Hiccup held out his arms. “Hey, bud! Did ya miss me?”

He walked out of the door in the fence, planning to step into the jaguar’s enclosure. The jaguar, however, seemed a bit too excited to give him that chance as he pounced on his entrance. Hiccup placed his hands on his hips. “Toothless,” he chided, “step back.”

Toothless growled playfully and gave Hiccup a wide berth to enter the enclosure, seemingly bowing his head in shame as he sat back on his haunches.

“Toothless?” Zephyr asked her mother, who was now sitting on the ground leaning against the fence with Stormfly curled in her lap. “Why Toothless?”

Astrid chuckled. “You’ll see. Poor little guy.”

Zephyr raised an eyebrow but didn’t question further.

Astrid sighed. “Come on, girl. Let’s go say high to Toothless.” Stormfly looked up at her caretaker before standing and stretching, patiently waiting for Astrid to follow suit. She walked along the fence, waving to her children to follow from their side as well. Finding a better spot in the corner of the fence separating the outside world from Stormfly and Stormfly from Toothless, she sat down and let Stormfly curl up again in her lap. Zephyr and Nuffink turned their attention back to their father as he entered Toothless’s enclosure, stepping past the point where the dividing fence intersected with the outer fence to get a better look.

Just in time for the black jaguar to pounce on their father.

“Daddy!” the children cried as the big cat wrestled their father to the ground, opening his mouth and closing his jaw securely around their father’s shoulder.

Or so they thought, at least.

Hiccup was laughing the whole time, through the tackle and pounce and bite. “Toothless!” he laughed as the jaguar nawed on his shoulder. “Stop scaring my kids, you useless cat!”

Toothless purred happily as he burrowed his head along Hiccup’s neck.

“I know, I know, I missed you too! Can I get up now?” Hiccup requested. He arched his back so he could tilt his head back enough to see his children (be it upside down). Nuffink’s eyes were open wider than his mouth somehow, but Zephyr’s eyes were full of tears as she clutched the fence separating her and her father.. “Zephyr, baby, I’m okay! It’s alright! See?” He freed his hand to point to his shoulder. For further evidence, he pulled at his shirt collar to reveal the smooth, intact skin.

Toothless started licking Hiccup’s face, attempting to steal his attention back. “Agh! Toothless!” Hiccup cried as Toothless started soaking his shirt collar. “You know that doesn’t wash out! I just saw you yesterday! What is your problem?”

Astrid laughed from the other side of the fence. “He’s showing off for his audience!”

As Hiccup continued to struggle with the jaguar, Stormfly lifted her head and let out a warning bark towards Toothless. Toothless immediately jumped up like a child being caught in a forbidden act and looked around for the source of the noise. Eyes falling on Stormfly staring intently at him, he sheepishly rolled off of Hiccup and bounced in a circle as his caretaker got back to his feet.

Hiccup jogged over to his children. “Deep breath, Zephyr, I’m okay!” He knelt down in front of her and let her inspect his shoulder closer. Nuffink leaned in curiously to see the proof himself. “See? I call him Toothless because he doesn’t have any teeth. And he never closes his jaw hard enough to hurt me. He looks big but he’s pretty young. He just likes to play.”

Zephyr released an amount of air the Hiccup didn’t realize her little lungs could hold for so long. “Oh... Okay,” she breathed.

“That’s awesome!” Nuffink exploded, jumping up and down. “Well, not that he doesn’t have teeth. But that you wrestle with a giant cat!”

Hiccup laughed. “Jaguar, yes.”

As if on cue, Toothless pushed his head between Hiccup’s legs, curiously sniffing at the fence and the children behind it.

“See? They’re little kids, just like you,” Hiccup said. “Only they’re better behaved,” he added under his breath.

Zephyr giggled and Toothless cocked his head at the new sound. He leaned forward and sniffed the fence again before lifting a paw to swat playfully at the metal, making the rest of the family join Zephyr in her giggling.

“Hey Toothless? Where’s Luna, bud?” Hiccup asked, almost as though he knew the answer.

Toothless looked from Hiccup to the open space behind him, and then back again.

“Go get her, bud!”

And with that, the jaguar took off and disappeared into the trees.

“What happened to his teeth?” Zephyr asked after a moment.

“He was extremely malnourished,” Hiccup explained, watching the trees where Toothless disappeared. “We’re not sure if his teeth rotted because of the malnourishment, or if he was malnourished because he was missing most of his teeth. The few he had left by the time we got him had to be removed because they were so far gone.”

“That’s sad...” Zephyr thought.

“How come he listens to Stormfly better than you?” Nuffink accused.

Zephyr laughed as Hiccup threw Nuffink a playful glare. “Well, he’s not a baby, but he’s still young. He’s probably as big as he’ll grow, but he’s also only a few years old. Stormfly is an adult wolf who lost her pack. She got really depressed because of it and wouldn’t take care of herself. She came to us because of the injuries she suffered, but she stayed because every time we tried to release her, she would just lay there and not do anything. We put her in the enclosure next to Toothless just by chance, but she made quite the unique bond with him.”

“Honestly, we should have seen it coming, based on her history and his age,” Astrid added. “With Toothless being so young, she naturally grew to look after him. And Toothless took to her almost instantly as a mother figure. We actually bring Toothless into her enclosure quite often now to let them bond while we can supervise. Which is why they still have separate enclosures. That, and because of Luna.”

“Who’s Luna?” Zephyr asked.

“Well, hopefully we’ll get to show you,” Hiccup said, turning back to the trees. “She’s an albino leopard. But she’s an amazing hider. And she doesn’t come out often. She was a pet to an exotic animal enthusiast who abused her pretty harshly.”

“Well, where is her home?” Nuffink asked.

“Here,” Hiccup said.

Nuffink rolled his eyes. “No, Dad, where is her pen?”

Hiccup smiled. “Here. With Toothless.”

Toothless bounded out of the trees excitedly, running up to Hiccup and knocking him over. Hiccup hit the ground with an audible oof. “I hope that means you found her,” he said, a little winded from the fall. “Because if not, that was just rude.”

Toothless bounded back to the trees and back again, as if coaxing Hiccup to follow. Once Hiccup stood and started moving his direction, Toothless sat back and watched the trees where he came from.

“Luna,” Hiccup gently called. “Hey, girl, you there? It’s Hiccup, it’s okay.”

It took a few minutes of encouragement from Hiccup’s end, but eventually a white face slowly emerged from the lower branches of a nearby tree.

“There you are!” Hiccup happily said. “You can come out, it’s just my family. No big crowds today, alright?” He pulled something from his pocket and held it out towards her. “Do you want some fish? I know it’s your favorite.”

Luna bounded down out of the trees carefully, eyes on Hiccup until she spotted the children behind him. She hesitated for a moment, but then a light breeze drifted the scent of the fish piece in Hiccup’s hand her direction. Hiccup knelt down to be closer to her level. She continued out of the brush, her eyes never leaving the children as she sniffed Hiccup’s hand and accepted the gift. As she carefully took the fish with her teeth, Hiccup allowed his hand to drift down her jaw and scratch under her chin. When she seemed to accept the gesture, he lifted his other hand to pet her head and down the back of her neck. “Good girl,” he whispered.

Zephyr leaned over closer to her mother and softly asked, “Why do they get to share a yard?”

Astrid shrugged. “Honestly? After we got Luna here, she kept finding a way to sneak in. See that enclosure over there?” Astrid pointed to the fenced-in area on the opposite side of Toothless’s enclosure. Zephyr nodded. “That was Luna’s. But every day when we got here, somehow she would be in Toothless’s enclosure, snuggled up next to him, just snuggling the day away. We still can’t find exactly how she did it. But we noticed that after spending all that time with Toothless and seeing how much he trusted your dad, we finally had a caretaker that could get close to her and, well, actually take care of her. So we gave up and let her stay with Toothless. He obviously didn’t mind.”

The attention seemed to be too much for Luna; she froze from the moment Zephyr asked her question until she stole away back into the trees again.

“Aww,” Nuffink said, pouting out his lower lip.

Hiccup stood and brushed off his knees, walking closer to the children again. “I’m sorry, bud. Like we said, she doesn’t like people.” Suddenly, Hiccup’s face bursted into a smile as he shared a look with his wife. Astrid raised an eyebrow. “How about we make it up to you, Nuff?”

“How’s that?” Nuffink asked, cocking his head to the side like a curious animal. Toothless mirrored the motion behind Hiccup.

“Would you guys want to play with Stormfly and Toothless?”

Nuffink and Zephyr shared a wide-eyed look.

“Of course!” Nuffink cried.

“Can we, Daddy?!” Zephyr asked at the same time.

Hiccup glanced back to Astrid, who was already standing and walking back towards the treeline towards a makeshift gate that was obviously added to the fence after it was built. Toothless, no longer paying attention to Hiccup, bounded over to the gate and sat on the ground inches from the opening, recognizing the movement.

“Come on,” Hiccup smiled, slipping out of Toothless’s enclosure and opening the gate to Stormfly’s. Once the opportunity was actually given to the two children to follow, they hesitated. Nuffink took a deep breath and willed himself to follow his father. Zephyr, not wanting to be outdone by her little brother, sort of stumbled in after him.

Astrid waited a moment to open the gate for Toothless, carefully watching Stormfly’s reaction to the children. Already semi-acquainted with these new humans, she curiously trotted over to them. Zephyr and Nuffink hid behind their father as the wolf approached them. Hiccup knelt down to the ground and held a welcoming hand out to her. She nuzzled her head against him with her eyes on the children, head cocked to the side and eyes scanning their bodies as if analyzing them. As if she sensed their apprehension, she lowered her head and closed her eyes, taking a careful step towards Nuffink.

He pulled back for a moment, finding himself leaning into Zephyr’s chest. Stormfly stopped moving and dared a glance at the children. Seeing them frozen in place, she instead lifted her head and slowly approached them, gently sniffing the air. As she drew closer, she first sniffed Nuffink’s chest, and then Zephyr’s hand that was perched on his shoulder. Nuffink started breathing quicker, alerting Stormfly to fear rising in him. She slowly leaned towards him until her head rested against his chest, and then lifted her muzzle to comfortingly lick Zephyr’s hand. The two slowly relaxed, and Nuffink found himself moving to the hug the soft fur of the wolf’s neck. Zephyr let her own fingers dip into the fur of her head and slide down Stormfly’s neck, repeating the motion again and again.

Satisfied with how the two did with Stormfly, Astrid chuckled as she opened the gate for Toothless.

And he was not at all so careful with his approach.

Bounding towards the family, he tackled Hiccup again, who let out a surprised yelp. Zephyr and Nuffink gasped, and Stormfly expressed her annoyance with a huff.

“Not again!” Hiccup groaned.

Stormfly released herself from the children’s grasps and sauntered over to Toothless and Hiccup, barking at Toothless again. He reluctantly stepped away from Hiccup and sat in the grass. Stormfly huffed at him, to which he lowered his head so far he was nearly laying on the ground.

Which Stormfly took as the perfect opportunity to lay over top of him.

Toothless huffed and laid defenselessly under the wolf, despite the fact that he could easily overpower her being twice her size. Stormfly gently bayed to the children, encouraging them to come closer and meet the overly-energetic animal she was currently perched upon.

The children laughed and approached the two animals, Toothless happily watching from underneath Stormfly.

As Zephyr and Nuffink interacted with the animals, Astrid joined her husband still sitting on the grass. She leaned her head on his shoulder and sighed happily. “We did pretty good with those two, didn’t we?”

Hiccup chuckled. “Much better than I thought we would. And it seems like they like animals as much as we do.”

“Shouldn’t be too hard to get them into the family business then, huh?”

Hiccup smiled and kissed Astrid’s hair. “Not at all.”

#finished-prompt #httyd #httyd au #httyd fanfic #fanfiction #fanfiction au #the dragon central

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astridthevalkyrie · 5 years ago

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Writing Challenge: Day 5

Day 5: Coffee Shop AU

Time to write my favorite ship again!

@ashleybenlove @natsukazesan If you guys are still interested!

From the moment he walked in, Astrid’s gaze kept finding its way to him. He didn’t come up to order anything, just sat down at one of the tables, taking his sunglasses off as he stretched out. Waiting for someone.

Waiting for a date, based on the way he was dressed, and the thought disappointed her for some reason.

Whatever. She did have a job to do, and the woman who wanted extra extra caramel (because apparently if she ordered with just “one extra,” then no one made it right) was getting impatient. Astrid put the regular amount of caramel in, just to be spiteful, and handed it to the woman, who took a loud sip and claimed that the extra caramel made all the difference before leaving.

“And here I thought giving our customers a placebo was against the rules,” Ruff mused thoughtfully.

“I’m feeling more bitter than usual today.”

Her friend snorted. “And I’m sure that had nothing to do with Haircut over there.”

Astrid gave her a good jab in the chest with her elbow. As Ruff dramatically clutched her breast and wailed pitifully, Astrid felt thankful that it was such a slow day, otherwise they might actually have gotten in trouble for these kinds of hijinks.

“You think he’s waiting for a girlfriend?” she mused.

“Of course.” Ruff scoffed. “Or a date, at least. With a face like that, I expect at least two girls to show up at different times.”

But no girl showed up at all. Half an hour passed, as the poor guy kept checking his phone, texting a few times, and then continuing to stare sadly at the door.

He looked so pitiful that Astrid couldn’t help herself.

“Here,” she said, as a way of greeting, plopping a drink in front of him.

Haircut looked up at her, raising a brow. “What is it?”

“The sweetest crap we have here.”

Despite his sadness, he grinned. “What, do I not look like a black coffee guy?”

“I can almost guarantee your regular order is an iced caramel macchiato.”

That got a chuckle out of him - Astrid felt victorious. “You’re not wrong. How much?”

“On the house.” She waved a hand dismissively.

His face fell, and shooting a light glare at the cup, he pushed it away. “I look that pathetic?”

“You look thirsty,” Astrid said honestly, and when she saw the corners of his lips turn up in a half smirk she rolled her eyes and added, “Not like that, get your mind out of the gutter.”

Something shifted in his eyes and he looked up at her, smiling in a way that made her heart flutter ever so lightly. “Steve Harrington.”

“Astrid Hofferson.” She held her hand out.

Steve shook it amusedly, lingering just a second too long on her fingers. “So, since I’m very obviously and painfully being stood up, would you like to have coffee with me?”

Astrid tried her best not to grin. “I don’t know if you noticed, but I’m working.”

“You’re talking to me.”

“We provide excellent customer service here.”

This time he actually laughed, standing up - holy Thor, Astrid had never not minded feeling short until this very moment - and leaning over her. “So how about when your shift is over?”

“Well, I’ve still got a couple of hours, I don’t know if we can permit you to stay that long to wait.”

“Maybe I can get your number.”

Astrid smirked. “Maybe I already wrote it on the cup.”

“Opportunist,” he accused.

“And proud of it.”

“Okay, well then, Astrid,” he said, her name rolling off his tongue oh-so pleasantly, “I’ll see you after your shift.”

She winked and saluted, making her way back to the kitchens, where Ruffnut was mock clapping. Astrid raised her hand, and took her rightful bow.

(She wondered if Ruff would still be clapping when she asked her to cover her last hour so she could go home and get some makeup on. Eh, she’d get over it.)

#httyd #stranger things #stevestrid #STEVESTRID STEVESTRID OI OI OI #thirty day writing challenge #valkyrie stories

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ashleybenlove · 5 years ago

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Title: Cuddles, Interrupted

Prompt: No prompt.

Fandom: How To Train Your Dragon

Pairing: No romantic pairing but could be read as Hiccup/Astrid/Fishlegs/Snotlout/Ruffnut/Tuffnut (polyamorous gang)

Word Count: 1004

Rating: General

Warnings: No warnings

Disclaimer: I don’t own the source material in this fanfic. That’s to whatever company or person owns it. I would never claim to own it.

Notes: There are probable influences from fandom and whatnot in this story. This story is based off a post I made about Toothless disrupting a sleeping snuggled up gang. Tagging @randomlifeunit (who expressed interest in a fic) and @evilwriter37 (they made a comment about Toothless belly flopping on all of them and that’s essentially what happens.) The title is a reference to Girl, Interrupted, though only in the sense that the titles are similar (I have never actually seen that movie.) This takes place during Race to the Edge. This is also on AO3.

And it is under the read more.

Hiccup released a happy sigh.

He was quite literally in the middle of them all. He couldn’t leave this cuddle even he wanted to. And he honestly didn’t.

Hiccup had, to his left: Tuffnut with an arm around Hiccup’s torso, Astrid snuggled close to Tuffnut, and Ruffnut was snuggling Astrid. Astrid had herself a Thorston Sandwich. On Hiccup’s right, he had Snotlout, also snuggling him. Snuggling Snotlout, was Fishlegs, who was lying on his side. And yeah, there had been a bit of a fray amongst the five as to who would get to be next to Hiccup.

Though, at this point, did it really matter? He was pretty certain all of them had been next to him cuddling at some point by now. He was not really particular about which of them got to be next to him, because they were all good choices. He’d be happy no matter what.

They were all excellent cuddling partners.

He turned his body just enough so that he could lie on his side, letting Snotlout snuggle closer to him while also facing Tuffnut.

The only way he could be more cozy or warmer is if he was cuddling Toothless or wrapped up in his wings.

Hiccup drifted off to sleep, snuggled right in between five of his favorite people.

Hiccup abruptly felt a part of a literal ton of draconic body weight on his body and as a result, let out an “Oof!”, pulling him from his sleep.

There were sounds from his five cuddle partners that indicated that perhaps the same had happened to them and they were objecting to this.

Hiccup blinked his eyes a few times before he fully opened them.

He was still in the cuddle with the gang.

But Toothless was lying across all of them.

Just lying on them.

Toothless’s torso between his forelegs and hindlegs was covering most of Hiccup from the chest down. A sleepy glance at Snotlout indicated Toothless’s back paw was resting on Snotlout’s bicep and he stared at Hiccup like this was somehow his fault. Part of Toothless’ tail was resting on Fishlegs; he looked mildly inconvenienced.

So, this meant that Toothless’ head was in the direction of… Ruffnut?

And it was that moment that he heard Ruffnut make a “Hey!” exclamation from that general direction.

Next to him Tuffnut laughed. He could feel Tuffnut’s morning breath on his face. Well, it was slightly better than dragon breath. Maybe not exactly morning, either. One of the Clubhouse doors was open and it was still dark outside.

“Hey, Hiccup, your other half just licked my other half!” Tuffnut exclaimed. He laughed.

“Don’t you put that on my face, Ruffnut!” Astrid exclaimed before she let out a disgusted noise.

“Toothless, why would you lick me? I’m not Hiccup!” Ruffnut exclaimed.

“Hiccup, tell your dragon he woke us up! We were cuddling!” Snotlout exclaimed.

“T is very rude and I have a talon on my chest,” Tuffnut said.

“I think it’s sweet, he wanted to join us,” Fishlegs said.

“And none of us can move because T is very heavy!” Tuffnut exclaimed.

“Stop caressing him and talk to him!” Snotlout exclaimed to Hiccup. Snotlout moved his arm the barest amount to tap Hiccup on his side a couple of times, trying to get his attention.

Hiccup had been gently moving his hand across Toothless’s scales. He couldn’t help it. It was how he told Toothless he loved him.

“Hey, bud?” Hiccup said softly. “You know you’re a big boy, right?”

Toothless crooned. Hiccup heard it in Ruffnut’s direction and he felt the sound vibrating from Toothless’ body to his body.

Immediately after, Ruffnut dramatically exclaimed, “Toothless breath!” She groaned. “Oh, why, T? Right in my face!”

At roughly the same time as Ruffnut’s exclamation, Astrid made an “Ew!” sound.

“Says the woman who uses fish oil in her hair,” Tuffnut said to his sister.

“You’re all being dramatic!” Hiccup exclaimed. “I’m sure Ruffnut’s hair smells nice and so does Toothless’s breath.”

“Hiccup,” Astrid said. She looked directly at him. Or as well as she could with Tuffnut in her way. “I smelled Toothless’s breath too. And I smell her hair too. Plus, he’s still lying on top of us. We’re not being dramatic.”

“Tell Toothless he woke us up!” Snotlout exclaimed.

“You know he can hear you?” Hiccup said. He could see Toothless’s flaps move indicating he was listening.

“We were having a nice cuddle,” Fishlegs said.

“Tell your other half to move!” Tuff exclaimed.

Hiccup sighed.

Immediately after he sighed, so did Toothless.

He tried again.

“Hey, bud,” Hiccup said, his voice soft. He patted Toothless’ belly. “I love that you wanted to cuddle with us, truly. But you’re very heavy. And you woke us up, we were sleeping.”

Toothless cooed at him.

“I know, you love cuddling with me, I love it too,” Hiccup said softly. Hiccup hummed softly. Hiccup knew that the gang would loudly object if he went with Toothless to their hut and cuddled for the rest of the night. And he didn’t want that. So. “How about you move so you’re either at our feet or at our heads? Hmm? Does that sound good?”

Toothless cooed again. A moment later, he rolled off of them so he was lying on his back at their feet.

Hiccup looked up.

He snorted.

Toothless quickly righted himself as if this had not happened at all, and walked over to where Hiccup’s head was situated, looked down at him.

Hiccup looked up at him, patted his cheek affectionately, and then Toothless licked him right on his face.

The gang laughed at this.

“Thank you for that, bud,” Hiccup said.

After that, Toothless laid down with his head very close to Hiccup’s head, so that Hiccup felt each breath he took.

A quick glance in Ruffnut’s direction and then Fishlegs’ direction told Hiccup everything he needed to know: Toothless had encircled them.

It made for a very cozy scene as they all drifted back to sleep again.

#how to train your dragon #Race to the Edge #Hiccup and the Gang #hiccup #astrid #fishlegs #snotlout #ruffnut #tuffnut #toothless #hiccup and toothless #otp: we can do this. you and me. as one.#ashleybenlove fanfic #fanfic

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httyd2014 · 6 years ago

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Character Review of HTTYD 3

This is Part 1 of a two part movie review of How To Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World. Next up is the plot review.

As of March 3, I've seen it four times. The first was the February 2 early showing, the second and third were on opening weekend in a regular AMC theater, and the fourth was in IMAX yesterday, which, like, I'm bothered by the fact that this third movie in the franchise only has limited IMAX screenings whereas the first two were released in all IMAX theaters, and released in 3D to boot. But anyway, character review: (Also, spoilers abound, so only read this if you've seen it already)

He was at his BEST. That speech he gives to the Vikings in the great hall after Grimmel burns his house down gets more chilling and chilling with each viewing. Years ago when Dean Deblois was dropping hints over what to expect in the sequel, I got the impression that the arch of the trilogy would end with Hiccup's coronation as Chief at the end of the third. Instead, not only is he thrust into the role early thanks to Stoick's heartbreaking death, but we get to see him grow and struggle in the role of Chief, and I thought that character arch was pulled off sensationally. Although he takes after his mother's idealism in his attempts to save all innocent dragons from the hostile Trappers, he also embraces his father's lesson from the sequel that his first duty is to protect his people from harm and danger. His speech in the great hall encapsulates that beautifully with one powerful line after another.

Hiccup is truly the leader of his people by the end of this movie, and not only that, but at least from my perspective, he's also imminently relatable. He genuinely struggles with himself and questions whether he's capable of doing what needs to be done as Grimmel and the legion of Trappers advance on New Berk. That lack of internal belief he carried around inside him as a scrawny 15 year old boy before he shot down the Night Fury is still there, six years later, as a handsome 21 year old chief. His internal struggle really showed his humanity, and in my opinion, it was Hiccup's journey that drove this third movie more than any other character, including Toothless. Which brings me to our beloved Night Fury:

Ok, so I must confess, I wasn't totally satisfied with how his character was portrayed. What made Toothless so amazingly endearing in the first one was how he struck such a PERFECT balance between being this fierce, ferocious beast on one hand, and being this adorable little puppy dog on the other hand. For the most part, he kept that balance in the sequel, particularly at the end when he challenges Drago's Bewildabeast and becomes the new Alpha of all dragons. In this one, however, I honestly didn't get the sense that Toothless truly was the "Unholy Offspring of Lightning and Death Itself" like the Viking legends said Night Furies were. Even during the above scene in the clouds where he does the Lightning Bolt thing and goes into stealth mode, it felt more like a cheap trick to impress Luna than a symbol of how utterly deadly he can be, and sure enough, he only uses it that one time to get those four Deathgrippers off his back. To me, all those puppy dog moments - of which there are MANY in this one - are less adorable because they aren't contrasted with enough moments of genuine fierceness. Simply put: I liked Toothless a lot more in the first and second movies than in the third one.

That being said - and I'm going to repeat this in the plot review - the flaws in his character are made up for by the ending. He does the most human thing we've EVER seen him do when he literally gives Hiccup a big bear hug as they say good by. I put my hand over my mouth to control my emotions when I saw that! And then during the final scene where Hiccup visits him after 5 or 6 years, Toothless does a very animal like thing by failing to recognize Hiccup at first, which, as a big fan of the Jurassic World movies, reminded me of how the velociraptor Blue didn't recognize Owen after not seeing him for a year, thus putting Owen in a dangerous situation. But then as soon as Hiccup does the Forbidden Friendship thing, BOOM, Toothless's eyes widen like the sea, and he embraces his dear friend that he can't see every day anymore. To me, that was totally in character of who Toothless is as both a deadly Night Fury, but also the best friend a human could ask for.

I'm gonna say this straight up: If Captain Marvel, or Star Wars, or Ghostbusters, or whoever, is going for the narrative of Strong, Female, Characters that do Strong, Female, Things, they already have an archetype that everyone loves, and her name is Astrid Hofferson. She is the true embodiment of a strong, female character, and I thought everything that made HTTYD fans love her in the first one was on display again in the third one. I was worried about this too, because in the trailers, it looked like Deblois might have been relying too heavily on the mythos of the first one, specifically the talk on the cliff, which from the trailers looked copied and pasted into the third one. However, it came off SO much better on film than it looked in the trailer, including one of my favorite lines from the entire franchise:

"But you know what? I am the person I am today because of you. And I have watched you doubt yourself every day ever since."

Astrid does what a good woman is supposed to do for her man: Be there for him when he falls down, comfort him with kind words, and remind him of who he is and what he can do. And she does all that in addition to being the warrior princess that Tuffnut correctly described her as. She fulfills the old saying, "behind every great man, stands a great woman." The talk on the cliff in this one is JUST AS GOOD as the same talk in the first one. It didn't come off as contrived or forced like I thought it would. Another favorite part of mine was during Hiccup's speech where she throws her axe on the table and demands that the Vikings hear out his plan to abandon Berk. She does that despite explicitly disagreeing with that plan earlier, which means that she was willing to stand by her man and her Chief even though she herself wasn't enthusiastic about the plan at first. Overall, I felt that the Hiccstrid relationship drove this story almost as much as the friendship between Hiccup and Toothless, and it did it without devolving into cliched romance.

She was good...at least when she had actual time onscreen (more on that in the plot review). I LOVED how she developed a relationship of sorts with her future daughter-in-law by encouraging Astrid to comfort Hiccup when he was doubting himself. I remember thinking to myself in the theater, "wow, Hiccup has two incredible women in his life! What a gift." I also liked how she automatically became an authority figure on Berk despite being gone for 20 years. She basically plays the role of General by scouting out Grimmel's advances towards New Berk and by bailing out Hiccup and the gang when Grimmel outfoxes Hiccup by trapping him on his ship. Between Valka, Eret, Astrid, and Gobber, it's really cool to see how Hiccup has a good leadership council behind him.

Believe me, his character is SO much cooler if you've seen Game of Thrones. I can't emphasize enough how Kit Herrington's personality comes alive in Eret. In this one, my only complaint is that I wish we saw him more in combat fighting along side Gobber and Valka, although even as an adviser to Hiccup, he plays the role really well. A part of me wishes he gave Hiccup and Stoick more of a challenge when he was working for Drago in the 2nd one, because his knowledge of the world outside Berk is impressive, not to mention he's a natural leader, as he demonstrates during the speech in the great hall when he augments Hiccup's points. Whatever goofball traits he had in the sequel are gone in this one, and I liked that. Unfortunately, I can't say the same about...

Ugh. The teens could have disappeared entirely and it wouldn't have effected the plot at all (Grimmel would have found New Berk eventually. Ruffnut's stupidity simply allowed him to find it faster). There was absolutely no character development from any of them, and in Snotlout's case, he outright devolved. The primary reason I didn't think HTTYD 3 was an A+ movie is because the teens would not shut the hell up. I did NOT find most of their lines or antics funny, I found them distracting and annoying. These characters reached their apex in Gift of the Night Fury, and they never got better after that.

Is Gobber. Good man, good leader, kind of paranoid. His shining moment in this franchise remains his eulogy during Stoick's funeral. In this one, you could tell that Deblois didn't really have anywhere to go with his character, so he added a subplot with the constantly appearing Hob Gobblers, which to me was what Legend of the Boneknapper should have looked like. One thing I do wish is that we saw one quick appearance of the Trolls alongside the Hob Gobblers on New Berk, as that would have been an amusing validation of his line to Stoick from the first one.

He gets two WONDERFUL flashbacks with Little Hiccup.* But, there's one error that was made during those flashbacks, and I apologize in advance to everyone who has already pointed it out: Stoick's beard should have looked scruffier and redder like it does in the first one when he's younger, as opposed to straight with grey spots like in the second when he's older. His beard is straight with grey spots during the flashbacks. Assuming that wasn't an oversight by Dreamworks, I'm guessing they did it that way because it was easier to animate. Which is understandable, but still, I'm a stickler for consistency. (The missing tree branch in front of Hiccup's face in the first one still jars me every time I see it).

*My gods, every animation studio from Dreamworks to Disney to Pixar has MASTERED the art of creating adorable children. It never ceases to amaze me

Ok, WOW, I loved him as a villain! He was everything Drago Bludvist wasn't: Cunning, crafty, smart, and above all, relatable. Grimmel is what Hiccup possibly WOULD have become if he stuck his knife into the downed Night Fury. Both of them are cerebral, and both of them play this delightful mind game where they try to anticipate each other's moves and countermoves, which Grimmel wins more often than not. As Gobber said to Hiccup, "one day, you're going to pick a fight you can't win." If Drago made Hiccup pay for his idealism by costing him his fathers life, than Grimmel makes Hiccup pay by costing him his Dragon-Human utopia. Grimmel's actions cause Hiccup to eventually accept the painful truth that humans living with dragons every day is not possible without resorting to war and death to keep that utopia a reality. When a villain can change things like that, then you have a damn good villain, and not just a guy who gets in the way periodically like Alvin and Dagur from the TV show.

Additionally, I thought Grimmel was so much more personable than Drago. His talk to Hiccup in the house evoked the same feelings in me as the talk between Evelyn Deavor and Elastigirl in Incredibles 2, which is to say, I was relating to what BOTH of them were saying to each other. It was like the Light and Dark sides that exist inside all of us were speaking to each other. Whereas Drago was just pure evil and brute force, Grimmel was genuinely compelling and interesting. I would have liked Deblois to take a different story arch with this third film than just throwing another disposable villain in the mix, but as it is, Grimmel was a worthy character.

In Summary

Hiccup and Astrid were spectacular, Toothless was very good but could have been better, Valka, Eret, and Gobber played their roles well, and Grimmel was an excellent bad guy. The only downside was the Teens. If their comic relief was cut, or if they were actual characters, this could have been an A+ movie from start to finish as opposed to A+ at the end and at specific parts in between (like the speech and the talks on the cliff).

#httyd 3 #the hidden world #hiccup #toothless #astrid #valka #stoick #eret #Gobber #grimmel #characters #review #hiccstrid #night fury #dean deblois

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dragonprincess68 · 6 years ago

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Secret Odin

@dragonsandreverie I’m your secret Odin! Sorry my gift is late. I’ve had it done since the 9th, but my computers been acting like a piece of crap and it was originally saved to just my computer. I understand if you think I’m a horrible person for not letting you know anonymously that your gift was going to be late. Anyway, here’s my secret Odin gift for you. Hope you like it. I made sure not to add spoilers for you.

All was calm and uneventful on Berk the last week. This was unusual for the gang. However, Hiccup was busy with a few visiting chiefs and Astrid was helping Valka find the hunter ships to raid nearby. Ruff and Tuff had surprisingly run out of tricks to play. Especially when the gang knew they were plotting and planning. It had been a year and a half since both Fishlegs and Snotlout had fallen for Ruffnut. Ruffnut thinks back to the time she was married to Fishlegs. Sure it was fun, but a part of her felt that- knew that he only liked her because Heather hardly came to Berk unless there was an emergency on Berserker Island. It made sense to everyone though because Dagur taught her nothing before leaving for Defenders of the Wing.

After breakfast Ruffnut finds herself in the stables watching Hiccup teach Snotlout how to keep from setting himself on fire again. After all it was the fifth flight suit in the past month despite there only being two missions.

“Come on, Snotlout! This is important! I can't keep making you flight suits! I'm far too busy,” Hiccup explains.

“I don't entirely get it though. Besides, you should've tested it to see if it was fire-proof before giving it to me,” Snotlout responds.

“How you manage to set yourself on fire is beyond me. I made all your flight suits with dragon scales! You won't be burned alive if you take care of your flight suit. That means no more wearing it around town to scare visiting tribes, children, small dragons, or Fishlegs. And no more washing it in old bath water,” Hiccup tells his cousin.

“It's called reusing water. One visiting tribe called it “recycling” if I remember correctly,” Snotlout remarks.

“Its also called gross,” Ruffnut finally speaks up. Both men look over at her as she grabs a fish from a nearby barrel and brings it to a groggy Hookfang. The arguing had woken the dragon and at the moment he was tempted to eat Snotlout if that meant he'd shut up and let him sleep.

“Just take care of this flight suit Snotlout. No more terrorizing people while just wearing it through town. I'm late for a meeting. If either of you see have something urgent to tell me- matter of life or death urgent, you know where to find me. Once my mom and Astrid get back, let them know where I am. I a want full report of what happened on the search so we can make any other raid plans,” Hiccup says before mounting Toothless and leaving.

“So... you set yourself on fire again?” Ruffnut asks jokingly.

“Dragon scales my butt! I wouldn't have set myself on fire so many times if he actually tested these,” Snotlout responds setting his new flight suit to the side.

“He did. Once he made his he tested it, then got the idea to make us flight suits too. I only remember because Astrid was with him when he tested his with a bucket of water in case he set himself on fire like the muttonhead he is. Once Astrid set the bucket down, Tuff and I grabbed it and threw it on them. The next two days we avoided Astrid like the Scourge cause we thought she was going to kill us. Each flight suit is tested on each dragon. I'll admit, it looked cool seeing Hiccup try blowing up Tuff and my flight suits in the arena,” Ruffnut laughs.

“Why wasn't I there when he tested five with Hookfang. Did he try dragon-napping Hooky from me?” Snotlout questions.

“You made excuses almost every single time. First time you were convinced Hiccup was going to hurl you off a cliff. Plus, you also were trying to convince me to go out with you. You told Hiccup “take Hookfang because I have a hot date”. You were right about your date being hot. Second time you were being treated for burns the same three days it took for him to remake and retest your flight suit. Then the third time Tuff and I tied you up and basted up in chicken fat so you spent the entire day being chased by Nadders. Stormfly led the chase too. Fourth time I think was when you were again convinced you were dying because of Gustav and I since Tuff was home sick. This last time he tested it on Barf and Belch, Meatlug, Toothless, Stormfly, a few other dragons- including Gothi's Terrible Terrors, and then Hookfang. As much as we treated that guy like crap, he still tries to take care of us,” Ruffnut explains.

“I'm also his number one. His successor,” Snotlout boasts.

“If that means his cousin then that's also true,” Ruffnut remarks.

“You know you're close to not getting a second date,” Snotlout challenges.

“There was going to be a second date? After a month? Gee, I'm luckier than Astrid who gets a breakfast date after a dinner date with Hiccup the night before,” Ruff teases.

“They act like a married couple. They might as well tie the knot. Gobber said something about needing to ask them when they were. I think he found out that they sneak out in the middle of the night. That and when either of them leave Berk without the other one they seem to take forever to say goodbye. As if they were never seeing each other again. I mean, after being apart of Dagur and Mala's wedding it can't be like they hate weddings. They made out during the ceremony! I still can't believe she chose him,” Snotlout sulks.

“You were the one to fail the trials. Besides, no offense, but you'd e the crappiest king in the history of the world if you ended up winning the trials. She also seems happier with Dagur anyway. Besides, when Heather came to visit a few days ago Astrid and I thought it'd be a nice idea to do something as a group of girls and what not. Well, don;t tell anyone else, but Heather told us that Mala told her she was having a baby. She just didn't tell Dagur yet because she wasn't ready for all the excitement from him,” Ruff reveals.

“I bet you that if they have a boy Dagur will suggest “Hiccup” and if it's a girl he'll suggest “Heather”. I mean, it's Dagur and those are the names of his favorite people other than himself and her,” Snotlout laughs.

“If she's in her right mind then she'd say no,” Ruffnut responds. The two walk slowly outside. Their hands close to brushing against each other. Snotlout hesitates a moment before looking at Ruffnut again.

“So, it's been a year and a half since Fish-face and I fell- started fighting for you and your hand. If you had to choose between the both of us, who would you pick? And this will stay between us,” Snotlout vows.

“When Tuffnut “married” Fishlegs and me, there was that feeling I could see in him that makes me wonder if he still loves Heather. I mean, he almost had a panic attack when Tuffnut announced that we were actually married. At least he wasn't actually because then I'd be Mrs. Fishlegs Ingerman and everyone on Berk would be telling me I need to start pushing out kids despite knowing I'd be a terrible mother. I prefer hearing my mom and her “better get married soon. I mean, I was at least engaged to your dad when I was your age” rather than “married two years and no kid? Better have them now before you're too old to have kids”. I mean the feeling that he still likes Heather could be heartbreak because she started dating that guy that moved to Berserker Island about a year ago. Plus, he's also an easy pushover. He did everything I told him to do. I know you wouldn't. However, you're a giant flirt. So, I don't know. If I had an axe or crossbow to the head then probably you,” Ruffnut responds.

“I knew it,” Snotlout whispers to himself.

“You'd have to understand that if anything happened to Tuff, I'd be there for him because he's my twin brother. And I can't move from Berk without him,” Ruffnut reminds him.

“I know. I remember that time you became a Wing Maiden and the time with Throck. I've also known you since you were born. And if you think about it, the both of us almost had to move to Defenders of the Wing Island. I almost became king and you almost married Throck,” Snotlout remembers.

They walk not knowing where they were going. They only realize when Hookfang finds them. They fly around Berk feeling what they could only describe as what Hiccup and Astrid must feel when they fly around Berk during sunrise and sunset. The amount of love there seemed to be scared Ruffnut. Sure, Snotlout was a flirt and a piece of her worried that if someone as pretty as Heather or Astrid came along there was the feeling he'd leave her because because she'd been told by her brother that she wasn't pretty and no one made comments about how she was pretty like they did with Heather when she visited or when Astrid stood next to Hiccup. She tried her hardest to push away the thought, but it still haunted her. She was scared to ask anyone for advice because of the outcome. She wondered why she was scared. She hardly got scared. They reach the Thorston hoe and before she goes inside Snotlout takes her hands and kisses her on the cheek. She wasn't sure how long this slight nightmare was going to last, but she began thinking of ways to trick people praying she'd forget about her feelings if she could. She vowed to herself to not tell another soul or she'd risk heartache. One that could ruin a friendship. But deep down she loved Snotlout and no one could take that from her.

#secret odin #httyd #no spoilers #ruffnut #snotlout

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mysterious-prophetess · 6 years ago

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How to Train Your Dragon 3 Review

More spoiler oriented review of HttyD3

So, after my previous post (x) went up, I wrote this document as I said I would.

So, firstly Characters more in depth:

The side characters—They grew, to a degree but in reality they are mostly static. Especially Ruffnut. She and her brother haven’t really changed all that much, but that’s ok. Snotlout’s growth was minimal.

Eret grew the most of the side characters but that was basically him ending up as the oldest member of the crew and therefore being team big-brother.

Hiccup: Naturally, as the protagonist, he grew the most. He had to learn how to let go of the life he’d grown accustomed to as the Chief’s son, free to roam, and become the Chief and settle down. He also had to learn to let go. That I think also helped him with finally understanding that he was enough, and that letting go is just as important as standing up.

Astrid: She didn’t grow as much as Hiccup did, but she found her way forwards and found her voice again to lead Hiccup out of his funk.

Valka: She took over Stoick’s role of advisor/mentor figure.

Grimmel: I hated and loved this character. If I ever met this guy —were he real— I’d high five him. In the face. With a steel folding chair. Twenty times. However, he was a good villain. Was he powerful? No! He was clever. Just like Hiccup. He’s a dark reflection of Hiccup in ways Drago couldn’t be.

I almost wish we’d gotten some sort of flashback sequence of young Grimmel leaning over a night fury a la Hiccup and we’d seen him raise a weapon before the shot cut away with the sound of the weapon hitting flesh. It’d be a nice visual parallel.

Other things about the movie I enjoyed.

The visuals were, as usual, stunning.

The music was good.

The Stoick and kid Hiccup flashbacks were soo cute.

I did totally call that Hiccup was going to send Toothless and the dragons away to the Hidden World, though. Even before I saw the movie. Trailers and the fact the line “There were dragons when I was a boy” I think was in a trailer gave me the clues I needed. Didn’t lessen that moment any, but I saw it coming.

OMG THE HICCSTRID WEDDING AND BABIES!!!!! AHHHHH!!!!!!

AND THE FURY BABIES OH MY HEART!! ESPECIALLY SINCE TWO WERE TUXEDO PATTERNED!

(I have a cute tuxy boy kitty so I’m biased towards that coat pattern)

The fact they gave us this happy ending whenever I was expecting something bittersweet e.g. Older Hiccup never sees Toothless again, makes me sooooo happy.

See that Square Enix? You can give your protagonist a happy ending!

My favorite scene was the moment where Hiccup is freeing the Light fury and as he and Grimmel fall, Grimmel rips off Hicup’s gliding wings, and whenever Lightfury saves him, he undoes his prosthesis made specifically for dragon riding visually showing Hiccup’s days as a dragon rider are over. It was…..beautiful and poetic.

This movie was the best way to end this trilogy. My hat’s off to you Dean DeBlois and Cressida Cowell too.

This is the best of the three. Hands down.

#how to train your dragon 3 spoilers #httyd3 spoilers #httyd 3 spoilers #how to train your dragon three spoilers #how to train your dragon the hidden world spoilers #review

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maedarakat · 7 years ago

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Discarded

("A Gruff Separation" AU - Hiccup adopts the Twins after they fail Agnut’s administration of the Induction Trials and get disowned by the Thorston clan.)

----

Green eyes surveyed the scene - which was pitiable by any comparison. Hiccup looked away from the slumped, exhausted forms of his younger friends and to Agnut, scowling.

“Okay that’s it, I’m calling it - the Trials are over for right now.”

“Well, yes, unfortunately,” Agnut nodded. “Because it’s clear they lack the stamina and strength to be Thorstons. With a heavy heart, I must declare -"

“A re-trial!” Hiccup said firmly. “It’s not fair to say they failed when you know their cousin ran them completely ragged with his lies!”

She sighed. “While that may be true, the High Council will only say that cleverness is also an important factor in becoming a Thorston. They were both fooled by their cousin, Gruffnut, and his forged scroll. That certainly does not work in their favor.”

He made a noise of frustration. “I can’t say Chief Stoick is going to agree to your assessment of failure -“

Agnut blinked and reached over to primly seal Hiccup’s lips shut between thumb and forefinger.

“Young man,” she drawled, “Pulling rank on me is not effective, nor appreciated.”

Her eyes softened at the sight of her younger cousins, both groaning and trying to help each other sit up. She pulled Hiccup a bit further away from the group by his arm.

“Especially ineffective,” Agnut whispered, “because it doesn’t matter what I report back to the Elders. The Thorstons have long doubted whether these two are a good fit for the family. It would honestly be far kinder to announce their failure and let them muddle along.”

Incensed, Hiccup folded his arms. “I have to say we’re in agreement on that one particular thing. The Twins certainly do not need a family that holds trials to accept their own flesh and blood!”

“It’s the way it has always been done with our clan, a tradition that has been stubbornly passed down through equally stubborn generations. Not even the Chief can interfere in private clan matters.”

Scowling, Hiccup didn’t answer. His arms were still crossed, signifying his refusal to budge.

His father might not be able to change the Thorstons but that wasn’t going to stop Stoick from raising absolute Niflheim on the Thorston Elders. The man had already done it more than once on the Twins’ behalf.

The most striking in Hiccup’s memory was the time Hardsell had forced Tuff to chop wood in a blizzard, barefoot and wearing only his underthings.

Stoick had come in like a lion the moment he discovered the cruelty - delivering a vicious uppercut to Hardsell’s jaw and laying him out cold. He had then carried Tuff, wrapped in a bear fur cloak, through the knee-high snow to his own warm hut, with Ruffnut in tow.

Just thirteen, Hiccup well remembered his father’s angry ranting to Gobber about the draconian punishment, while he sat next to the blond twin - pale and blue-lipped on a pallet by the Haddock’s hearth. In comparison to his father, Hiccup hadn’t known what to do then, other than help Ruff rub warmth back into her brother’s thin, shivering body.

As Hiccup watched Agnut make ready to leave, he was disheartened to think there wasn’t much he could do this time either.

He walked back to the Twins, swallowing past a lump in his throat at their pained, tired expressions.

“So, I guess we failed after all,” Tuff muttered, leaning against the wall of the Clubhouse. His face was smeared with soot and covered in scratches, and he was holding what looked like a broken wrist close to his chest.

Ruffnut was now laying with her head in her brother’s lap, arms wrapped around her stomach. A surprise blow with the wild Nadder’s tail had sent her somersaulting backwards into a tree, with a force that had made Hiccup worry for her ribs.

He knelt next to them, gently running his fingers over Ruff’s side. “Don’t worry about it. I’m not going to just stand aside and let your own family kick you guys out.” His gentle ministrations brought an uneven giggle from Ruffnut.

“You tryin’ to tickle me happy, Hiccup? Not that I mind at all, please do go on.” She cheekily lifted her tunic a bit higher. Hiccup sighed but continued to examine her ribs.

“I’m just checking for broken bones, Ruff. That dragon really got you.” There was bruising, but nothing felt out of place and she didn’t cry out when Hiccup added a bit of pressure. That was good at least.

Tuff wasn’t so lucky, he hissed in pain as Hiccup felt along his forearm. Something gave slightly, making him tense and yelp, snatching back his arm.

Toothless burbled his concern and loped over to the Twins, nuzzling Tuff’s cheek. The dragon sat closer, curling his tail and a wing around both of them.

“Thanks T, I’m good. Just a little fracture from that fall,” Tuff shrugged.

And burns from the brush fire they had to rescue an infuriated boar from, and cuts from the Nadder spines - all without mentioning Tuff’s heart-stopping fall down the cliffside as he ran along the edge, dodging flaming ballista spears. Thank the Gods their Zippleback had flown swiftly to save him, even if the interference had disqualified him from winning.

Hiccup now understood why early grays had crept into his father’s hair and beard, and he’d be surprised if they weren’t in his own hair by this time tomorrow. “You guys need some rest and recovery. I’ve half a mind to take you to see Mala’s healers tomorrow.”

“No offense, H, but we kind of just want to go to our huts, close all the windows and pretend we aren’t alive for a few days,” Tuff sighed. “Possibly even weeks.”

“That sounds like a terrible plan,” Hiccup said, unable to keep the worry from shaking his voice.

“Hiccup, I know you care. It’s sweet and it honestly makes me want to cry,” Ruffnut said, and her voice was warbling just a bit on that note. “But this has been the worst birthday we’ve ever had, and - and I - “

She hitched and buried her face against Tuff’s thigh. He leaned over her protectively, looking both ill and defiantly brave as he sheltered her from sight. “Could you help me carry her?” Tuff asked, sounding frail. “We need - we need to just be somewhere dark.”

“You guys want to sleep in my hut?” Hiccup offered, without hesitation. He paused, uncertain if that was too awkward. He needn’t have worried, Tuff actually brightened at that.

“We can sleep with you and Toothless? Word on the street is that he purrs.”

Toothless certainly didn’t seem bothered by the idea, trilling softly in response. He gently nosed Ruff and got his head beneath her arm, encouraging her to stand up. Between Tuff and Hiccup, they got her into the Night Fury’s saddle and walked together toward the hut.

Hiccup was additionally distressed to see Tuffnut moving with a limp, and a long gleaming gash showed through his ripped leggings. Wordlessly, Hiccup put Tuff’s good arm over his shoulders and steadied him with an arm around his waist.

The Twins had already been injured and exhausted after Gruff’s fake trials, which had led to their many missteps and injuries during Agnut’s trials. Had the twins not been in such bad shape, Hiccup had no doubt they could have passed with flying colors.

Tuff had dodged all the spears but he’d twisted his ankle in the Titan Zippleback cave which caused him to fall off the cliff before reaching the finish point. Both he and Ruff had already gotten burns from the explosion that rocked the cave earlier (the same one that had made Hiccup’s heart nearly stop with terror because he had no idea if they’d been killed by the blast.)

It had made trying to save the boar particularly hellish for them, and the boar had escaped their hold, rendering the second leg of the Trial a failure.

The last task - getting a spine from a sleeping Nadder - had also gone horribly wrong, all because they were too exhausted to sneak up as silently as they usually could have.

This was all Gruffnut’s fault. Hiccup swore if he ever saw that jerk again, he was going to punch the guy straight in his lying mouth. Part of him even considered writing to Dagur and Heather in the interest of tracking Gruff down for a friendly little ‘chat’. Dagur had a deep dislike for traitors, after all.

Hiccup’s thoughts were darkly protective as he helped Tuff up the stairs. Toothless had gone ahead of them with Ruff and waited patiently as she got out of the saddle, wiping her eyes. She stumbled towards Hiccup’s bed and fell down across it, burying her face in a pillow to muffle her crying.

“Sis,” Tuff croaked, and Hiccup noted with guilty surprise that there were tears streaking his friend’s face. He’d been so concerned about their physical injuries, he hadn’t even begun to worry for the emotional impact of this awful day. Hiccup helped Tuff lay down next to his sobbing twin, watching as he wrapped his arms around her, pulling her into a close hug.

Toothless warbled sadly, looking every bit as helpless as Hiccup felt. He scratched his dragon’s head and walked over to sit beside them, pulling a warm fur up to their shoulders. “Can I get you guys anything to eat or drink?” Hiccup asked. Usually the Twins were delighted by free food.

“We’re not hungry,” came the unified answer. Ruff reached up to pull the hide further over both their heads.

Okay, well that was definitely worrying. Hiccup bit his lip. “I’m going to go talk to Gobber before Agnut leaves. I-I’ll give you some time to be alone.”

And maybe he’d bring some food anyway. Yak chops and figs, if he remembered their favorites correctly.

“You’ll come back soon, right?” Tuff’s voice asked plaintively.

“I won’t be long at all. Just a few minutes and I’ll be right back,” he assured them, getting up. “Until then, Toothless will stay with you.”

They didn’t answer, but Ruff sighed shakily and reached a hand from under the fur to pat Toothless’ head. The Night Fury nuzzled her palm then laid his top half over them, beginning to purr as loudly as he could manage.

Hiccup took that as his cue to sneak out. He had to ask Gobber some questions, and he had a feeling he wasn’t going to like any of the answers.

----

“Of course I’ll be letting the Chief know everything,” Gobber had assured him, his tone somber. The blacksmith’s eyes had tracked the Twins’ departure to Hiccup’s hut with concern. He had seen all of them grow up, and Hiccup knew he cared for Berk’s own pair of rascals just as much as Stoick did.

It was just as Hiccup feared; having failed the Trials, the Twins were truly alone. They would have to give back everything the family had ever given them, possibly even their clothing, and they could no longer visit their own home. It was coldly and brutally unfair.

“Aside from that, should the Thorston family Elders should happen to need anything from my forge, I’ll be sure to inform them the waiting list is at least a few months out.”

Hiccup smiled faintly. Of course Gobber would.

He could also have said he’d do their jobs and repairwork shoddily, but both of them knew Gobber would never lessen the quality of his work for any reason. No, he would just make them wait an absurdly long time for it - which was just as disruptive a punishment.

“In the meantime, you take care of those two. Let your father hammer some sense into those stubborn Elders, and I’ll keep you updated.” He climbed onto Grump, and gave Agnut a hand up. She nodded to Hiccup as she seated herself behind Gobber.

“Haddock,” she said, before they took off. “I want you to tell them that I’m sorry. Please let them know I still consider myself their cousin.”

“Really? So if they need anything, you can lend them food or money or a place to stay?” Hiccup asked flatly.

“Heavens no! The family strictly punishes anyone who takes in a disowned ex-Thorston. I’d be disowned myself, along with my little ones. I don’t like it either, but that’s the way it is. I truly wish they had passed the Trials.”

“I’m sure you do,” Hiccup sighed, knowing it was pointless to lash out at Agnut. She was part of the problem, but not the root of it.

He waited for her and Gobber tp leave before walking to the Clubhouse kitchen to round up some food. Fishlegs had beaten him to the task, unsurprisingly.

“Here,” he said, holding up a big basket. “Heather told me her yak chop recipe a while ago and Snotlout still had some extra figs from the last time he went to the Northern Markets. I wrote to Heather and Dagur already and told them everything.”

He looked worried, but Hiccup smiled and clapped his friend on the shoulder. “Hey, well that’s good. It saves me from writing a very incoherently angry letter.”

Fishlegs huffed. “Oh, trust me, my letter was pretty blistering. I can’t believe that Gruffnut! And seriously - the Thorstons are really disowning their kids just because of some stupid Trials?! If you have a baby, then that baby is yours no matter what! My mom would never make me prove I was an Ingerman.”

Hiccup sighed. “I know, Fishlegs. Hopefully my Dad can make them see that. But like Agnut said, he can’t force them to change their traditions. We all just have to be there for the Twins right now. Make sure they eat, heal, and rest. Maybe even distract them a bit.”

The larger boy nodded, looking thoughtful. “You’re right, Hiccup. I’ll go see if I can work on some salves for their bruises and cuts.” He hurried off and Hiccup watched him, turning to go back to his hut.

He drew water from the well, determined to make them at least drink before going to sleep, and carried both bucket and basket through the door. Abruptly he stopped in his tracks when he saw the gold hair laying in a pile on his main floor. What on earth? Hiccup went up the stairs, setting his burdens down as he saw the Twins sitting upright.

Ruff had unbraided her hair, and it was still long, though not as long as it had been. She’d cut it to the middle of her back, and its natural curl was starting to return prettily. She was sitting behind Tuff now removing the beads and unbraiding what she could.

“Guys?” Hiccup asked, moving toward them.

“Hey,” Tuff responded morosely. “She’s helping me because . . .” He held up his injured wrist, grinning lamely.

“Why are you - you know you can wear your hair however you want to, right?”

“We actually can’t wear anything that ties us to the family - hairstyles included. Tomorrow we have to go to the Northern Markets and do a complete wardrobe change. Trade in our old stuff, you know. It won’t be so bad, there’s some new things I’ve had my eye on. I always wanted to try out that black leather vest with suede fringes.”

“You’d look awful in suede,” Ruff sighed. “You just like saying that word.”

“True. It is one of my favorites,” Tuff agreed. “Right up there with ‘fringes’.”

Hiccup shrugged, not quite sure how to take their change in mood. He picked up the basket. “I know you guys said you weren’t hungry, but -”

Tuff’s grey eyes widened and he lifted his head, sniffing. “Do I smell . . .?”

“Figs?!” Ruff dove over his shoulder for the basket, snatching it and nearly toppling her brother onto the floor. Tuff recovered and whirled around, and both of them descended upon the food.

“Ahh, not in the bed, come on - use the table,” Hiccup scolded. He sighed as they completely ignored him, but relented with a shrug. It didn’t look like there’d be any crumbs, and he was right; soon enough the basket had been emptied and Ruff was rapturously licking sticky fig seeds off her fingers while Tuff gnawed ferociously on a yak bone, stripping off the cartilage with his teeth.

Hiccup sat down next to them, and was surprised when they cleared the bed without needing asked - putting down the basket and flicking off stray blond hairs from Ruff’s impromptu haircut.

He was quite suddenly made part of a sandwich, Ruff on his left and Tuff nestled on his right, resting his swollen forearm over Hiccup’s stomach.

“Ahh,” Hiccup murmured in sympathy, reaching down to gently examine his younger friend’s wrist. “Definitely broken.”

His fingers lingered uncertainly, unsure if he should warn him first or just do it. Tuff sighed, and hid his face in Hiccup’s shoulder. “Go ahead,” he muttered. “Just be quick please.”

Hiccup did his best and with a sharp crack, set Tuff’s wrist. A pained yelp was quickly followed by a low sob. Tuff slid down to hide his face against Hiccup’s ribs, clinging tightly to him like some lanky frightened octopus. He remained so for a few moments, even as Hiccup rubbed his back and murmured reassurances. Tuff relented finally and let Hiccup get up to retrieve some pieces of kindling and linen to make him a splint

Toothless crooned a soft good night, hopping up on his own bed to make his usual circle of fire. After he finished wrapping Tuff’s wrist, Hiccup laid back down between them to make himself comfortable, oddly well used to sleeping with people in his bed. This was hardly the first time the Twins had crashed with him, but it was the first time they’d been invited to.

He watched Ruff fall asleep first, then Tuff, before finally succumbing to his own exhaustion.

It had been a long, hard day and they all needed some sleep.

-----

Unsurprisingly, Hiccup woke just before dawn to sobbing.

He’d blinked awake muzzily to realize his arms were empty and that it somehow wasn’t correct for them to be. Sitting up, he saw that it was Tuff’s turn to break down. Ruff was leaning against him with an arm around his shoulders and murmuring as soothingly as she could. Hiccup was at their side before he was fully articulate.

“Tuff? What - what’s up?”

“I thought he’d changed, I really thought this time he’d - I thought he cared for us! But he just -” the boy managed in between hitching breaths.

Oh. Okay, well, there was reason number four-hundred and eighty-three to punch Gruff in the face the next time Hiccup saw him.

“Don’t worry about Gruffnut. He’s a scam-artist and a jerk. Didn’t he also fail the Trials?”

Wait, that didn’t come out right.

Tuff started wailing even harder and Hiccup groaned an apology, sitting up to rub his back.

“No, no, it’s not what you said - I just never realized how alone he must have felt all those years. I mean, no wonder he was a drifter . He - He didn’t even have a home to come back to -”

Ruff groaned and slapped her forehead. “Tuff, for crying out loud! The guy completely screwed us over, you can stop worrying about him. He’s fine! And we will be too. If he can do it, so can we, right? Remember saying all that, about the hut with a divider?”

“Yeah, I was just saying all that because I didn’t want Gruffnut to see us freak out! N-Not that I don’t have a few ideas for what we can do - I mean, I’m good at reading runes, finding clams and diving for abalone and oysters. And you can weave baskets out of anything and read palms and tell fortunes! W-We can make a living off that at the Northern Markets, right? Selling our wares and various talents?”

Hiccup wrapped his arms around the Twins. “Don’t worry about that, guys. Absolutely no-one is going to make you leave Berk.”

“But we can’t live in our house,” Ruff said. “And since our parents were only staying together for us, I bet they’ll finally going to -“

Tuff gave a questioning whimper, looking at her in horrified suspense.

“. . . Buy that new baby yak calf they were talking about last winter,” she covered, grinning weakly. “Can’t have too many yaks, right?”

Tuffnut sighed, sounding relieved, and missed Ruff shaking her head at Hiccup over his shoulder as she gave a thumbs down on the chances of their parents marriage lasting out the month.

“Oh Thor,” Hiccup muttered, rubbing his temples. “What I’m trying to say is you guys won’t be alone through this.”

“We know Hiccup, and thank you,” Tuff said. “It’s nice to know we’ll always have friends in these trying times. Whether it’s a couch to crash on, a basement to hang in, even a designated window to peer in sadly while you enjoy Snoggletog dinner with your family.”

“What . . . of all the ridiculous - you are my family!” Hiccup nearly shouted, with a ferocity that startled even himself.

The Twins stared at him, too stunned to make any sort of comment, and Toothless raised his head to chirp in surprise.

Hiccup stammered, face reddening. “I - I mean, you’re all more than just my friends - and that includes both of you. You guys are like the annoying little brother and sister I never had, and I’m not letting you go cold or hungry, or homeless. We’ll figure this whole thing out in the morning, but until we do, you will always have a home with me and Toothless.”

Neither Twin spoke a word, but they did tackle him into a warm hug, nearly sending all three sprawling off the bed.

———

“You can’t be serious,” Astrid said, eyes wide.

“Oh, I am.” Hiccup barely looked up from the grinding wheel, honing the edge of his sword. Astrid avoided the sparks but came around to stand in front of him.

“I know you want to help, but this is a huge decision. You’re likely going to be Chief someday!”

“That’s not decided yet,” Hiccup shrugged. “What’s decided is that the Twins are not going to be living on the street.”

“Of course not, but it doesn’t have to be you! I’m sure plenty of other Berkians will agree to house them until they find their own way,” she argued.

“Really? Name a couple.”

Astrid crossed her arms, fuming for a moment, then sighed. “Okay, you’re right. No-one else is coming to mind. Mostly because the Twins only seem to listen to you, even if barely.”

“They listen to you too,” Hiccup said, though he was smirking faintly. “When you aren’t being a - how did Ruff put it? A major buzzkill.”

She huffed, but couldn’t keep back a smile. “A buzzkill, huh? And what does Tuffnut say about me?”

“That you need to take a very long nap. Possibly smoke some dragon nip.”

Astrid huffed. “Fine. Just so you know, if either of them ever call me ‘Momstrid’, I’m going to punch them in the ear.”

“I wouldn’t be surprised by that in the least. Feel free to practice on Gruffnut or any other member of the Thorston family.”

She paused, folding her arms. “You’re really upset by this. I mean, it is upsetting, and I’m worried for them too, but . . . . this feels personal.”

Hiccup stopped what he was doing and looked up at her. “Astrid, I love my dad, okay? And everything that happened between us is in the past and we have a good relationship now. But I will never - ever - forget what it felt like when he said I was no longer his son.”

Wincing, Astrid moved toward him, gently touching his arm. She said nothing, letting him continue.

“The Twins just lost their entire family. They may joke and act like it doesn’t bother them, but I know better. It’ll be hard and insane and I’ll probably tear all my hair out by the end of the week, and yes, I’m aware I probably should have talked this through with you first, but -”

A kiss to his cheek quieted him. “Hiccup, you’re always going to do what’s right before you consider whether other people will be happy with it. That’s one of the things I like about you. What can I do to help you guys?”

Hiccup smiled gratefully, relieved she understood now.

***

The Twins’ family was like a pack of vultures. There was no kinder word for it.

Hiccup should have known something was up when Tuff and Ruff started taking things from their hut and hiding it in various corners of his room.

That morning he’d come upstairs to find Tuff nailing a floorboard back down. He’d grinned sheepishly, but finally confessed what was going on.

“Upon disownment, the entire family gets to go through the belongings of the failures,” he explained. “So in a few days, this island is going to be swarming with Thorstons fighting over all our stuff. We’re just hiding things that you guys gifted us with, and also stuff we can’t bear to part with, like Fluffers and my new favorite axe. Also, would you please claim Chicken and her little babies are yours? So nobody tries to eat them?” He clasped his hands together pleadingly, though he hardly needed to.

“Tuff, none of that’s going to happen. They are not coming to this island. I’ll write to the Chief and-”

“Way too late for that, H. Look out the window.”

Hiccup did and scowled as he saw a flock of dragons heading for the Edge, with all sorts of riders - most of them tall with similar hairstyles to the Twins.

“Okay, scratch that. They’re not landing on this island.” Hiccup walked out of the hut and whistled sharply. A few moments later Tuffnut curiously followed him outside.

A white shape flew over to Hiccup, who gave Smidvarg non verbal instructions with his hand, pointing at the approaching Thorstons.

Smidvarg gave a screech and flew off to gather his flock.

“What did you tell him to do?” Tuff asked, having missed most of the signals Hiccup relayed.

He had his answer as mere minutes later, a flock of Night Terrors began to relentlessly divebomb the approaching dragons and their riders.

There was a great deal of shouting and Ruff ran up to them, also watching wide-eyed as the beleaguered Thorstons tried to bat away their attackers and keep a hold on their dragons. Their progress on the island was halted; none of the Night Terrors would let them get a single wingbeat closer.

Finally, the flock turned back, heading South to Berk. The Night Terrors followed for a bit and then returned. Smidvarg landed on Hiccup’s arm, crowing proudly. He churred contentedly as he received a fond scratch on the crown of his head.

“Wow. You really mean business. Nobody’s ever done that before.” Ruff asked Hiccup, quietly.

“Yeah. I mean, I thought the offer was a nice, well-meaning but empty gesture we were supposed to politely turn down,” Tuff chimed in, “But now . . . you really want us to live with you?”

Hiccup gave them both a smile. “I want you to join my family. It’s not quite adopting you - I mean, that would be awkward.”

“Indeed it would. What would we call you then? Dadcup? Daddock?”

“Ha, ha, please never call me that. I wouldn’t hear the end of it from Snotlout. But from now on, you guys can both call me brother.”

The Twins exchanged glances, and looked back at him, both looking nearly overwhelmed.

“Your Dad won’t - “

“He will let you move in. Just let me handle it. All you two need to worry about now is taking care of yourselves and your dragon. You still need to heal and rest. If you’re up for it, we’ll head for Mala’s island tomorrow morning.”

Again, Ruff and Tuff exchanged glances. “Well, I don’t see the harm in it. I’m simply dying for another coconut.”

“And we can see if Mala’s killed Dagur for real yet,” Ruff grinned. Tuff elbowed her, scowling. It resulted in the usual scuffle, which Hiccup knew better than to intervene in.

-----

Mala and her healers did what they could, applying a pain-relieving salve from dandelion heads and arnica flowers for both Twins, making sure fractures were properly set and gashes stitched. They’d had to give Tuff a few bites of sage fruit so he could remain calm, as he absolutely hated needles.

He wound up needing to eat the whole thing just to remain still, and as a result was more than a bit dazed when he and Ruff got let out.

Ruff smirked at her grinning brother, smoothing her tunic over bandaged ribs. “How you feeling there, bro?”

“This planet is so beautiful. I’m so glad we’re on it.”

“Ooookay, Boynut, yeah. We’re on a pretty great planet.” Dagur commented, largely amused. He whispered behind his hand to Hiccup. “What’s a planet, little brother?”

“Hey, wait a second! If Hiccup’s our brother and your his big brother, does that make you our big brother too?” Ruff interjected.

“Uh . . .” The Berserker suddenly looked hunted. Heather put a hand over her mouth to hide her grin.

“We’ve never had a big brother! Just a few older cousins.” Tuff walked toward him with open arms. Dagur stopped him with a hand on his face.

“Nope, no - you’re Hiccup’s little brother, but I’m not your big brother. And if you ever prank me - ever - I’ll hang you from a coconut tree by your ankles.”

“Just what a big brother would say!” Tuff cried rapturously. He ducked under Dagur’s hand and hugged him tightly around the waist. The look on Dagur’s face made Hiccup, Heather, and Mala burst out laughing.

“What’s wrong, Dagur? Don’t like being called brother incessantly?” Hiccup teased, failing to keep a smirk off his face.

Dagur snorted, shook his head and relented. “Fine. Come here, Girlnut.” Ruff gleefully ran over and he picked both of them up, hugging them until their joints cracked.

“Berserker Spine-crusher Hug! I love it!” Tuff gritted out.

The others were still laughing as Dagur set the Twins down. The Berserker gave Heather a crafty look. “And you know this also means Heather’s your big sister.”

Heather stopped laughing and yelped as she was suddenly tackled in a hug between both twins, lifting her off her feet. It was Dagur’s turn to burst out laughing as she glared at him flatly, but she couldn’t keep the corners of her mouth from turning up. Heather wrestled her pinned arms free and hugged the twins around the shoulders as they set her down.

Mala beckoned to Hiccup, wishing to talk to him aside.

“Am I to understand the family of Tuffnut and Ruffnut no longer want to claim them?” she asked, looking puzzled. “How is this allowed on your island?”

“Well, it’s not normal. But from what I’ve seen, the Twins are better off without them. Doesn’t really stop the sting on their end, but . . . I think they’ll be okay. We have our own family, all of us riders.”

“I understand. Even here, not every family is happily in tune with each other. The families you find can often be formed with stronger ties than bonds of blood. I believe the Twins will be happy to live with you, though it may take some adjusting.”

Hiccup watched as the Twins ran past, Ruff triumphantly holding up Heather’s axe as she shouted indignantly and chased after them. Dagur was laughing too hard to help her much.

“Oh, I’m sure they’ll be plenty of adjusting. But we’re all going to be there for the Twins, and I know they’ll always be there for us. They’re the heart of the group. At the end of the day, no matter how rough it’s been, they’re always there to cheer us up. And they’re often brilliant - some people can’t see it. I can’t imagine what our group would be without them.”

“You care for them, but not just as a leader,” Mala smiled. “And what do you think your father, Chief Stoick, will think about these ravens of mischief moving into your home when you return to Berk?”

Hiccup laughed wryly. “Ohh, there’s going to have to be a few arguments here and there, I’m sure. But Dad would never turn them away either . . . especially not now, when they need us the most.”

He watched them fondly, glad the Twins were smiling again, despite everything. Hiccup couldn’t think of a single thing worth more than that.

End.

#rtte #tuffnut #ruffnut #hiccup #family of friends #httyd

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kingofthewilderwest · 7 years ago

Photo

Let’s clump some of these together to make it less of a dash spam, and because lots of these are about the same characters! :)

Some more thoughts of Rufflout and Rufflegs.

Rufflout

Send me a ship and i’ll rate it