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hiccanna-tidbits · 2 years ago

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...so I meant to actually post this 5 days before Christmas. And then, for irony’s sake, 5 days after Christmas. But y’know. Life happens. It’s over a week after New Year’s and here we are XD

This is a secret santa gift for @siodymph! She requested an OG Big Four fic with the gang goofing off around a campfire and an emphasis on Hiccup & Rapunzel friendship, and my god, if I’m not going to deliver!!! Sio organized the whole gift exchange (which I’m sure was a ton of work!) so she deserves nothing but good things ;_____; I’m sorry it’s so late!!! I wanted to take the time to make it good, so hopefully it came out all right ^^; Apologies in advance if I overdid the general cheesiness or silliness, I kind of went ham on the fluff here akajnsdhaipsyfg

This was actually my first stab at writing a RotBTD fic without any of my ships in it, so it was kind of an interesting challenge :O Also my first stab at writing an emphasis on Hic & Punz being besties...which I should really do more, because they are just precious!!! Their friendship actually kind of reminds me of the dynamic I have with some of my irl female friends--and also kinda how protective I can get of my more femme, girly friends, which is why I did Hiccup’s POV.

Also he’s defs the one out of the main four I understand the most, since I too am cynical sarcastic nerd with an affinity for conventionally scary reptiles ajahadbpiybd

Fic under the cut! Moodboard pic credits available upon request, as always <3

***

Five Days Until Christmas

“And there were only five days left until Christmas…” Campfire light flickered off Jack’s hands as he waved them around. “And the reindeer were still on strike. Blixem made it clear that unless Santa gave them all two months’ paid vacation, they would not be pulling the sleigh anytime soon.”

“Well, that shouldn’t be a problem, right?” Rapunzel was unfazed. “Just give them June and July off. No one needs Christmas presents delivered then.”

“Ah, but you see.” Jack smirked, as though anticipating this very response. “Santa’s reindeer have to do intensive cardio training year-round so they can be fast enough to make it to every house on earth in one night. When you need to circle the globe in 12-ish hours, you can’t skip leg day once, let alone 60 times.”

“So Santa is screwed, then.” Hiccup leaned in, curious. “The strike’s already been going on three weeks, and the reindeer probably lost like…half their cardio training. Even if he did give into their demands, they wouldn’t be strong enough to deliver all the presents anyways.”

For a moment, uncertainty flashed across Jack’s face, like this was a detail he hadn’t considered.

“That’s what the elves tried to tell him.” Jack recovered in record time. “They said no matter what he did, Christmas was doomed. Maybe they should take a year off and try again next year.”

“But no!” Rapunzel gasped, hand flying to her mouth. “What about Claire, the spunky-yet-emotionally-damaged orphan? How will she get her raccoon plushie now?”

“That’s what Santa said! He was like ‘Ho ho ho, by god, we WILL fucking save Christmas, no matter what it takes!’ So he decided to go out and find a new, stronger team of flying reindeer, and train them on hyperspeed. But flying reindeer, as you might guess, are pretty hard to come by.”

“Ah like this gritty, swearin’ Santa.” Merida grinned, taking a gooey bite of her s’more. “Doesn’t take shite from anyone. Ah’d hang out with him.”

“Listen, no one messes with the man’s signature holiday.” Jack gave her a serious look. “And we’re all adults here. I don’t need to censor old Saint Nick.”

Hiccup raised his eyebrows. “Technically, not all of us are 18 yet, so…”

“Well, if my language offends you, Mr. Haddock, you could go back in the cabin and cower under your bed.”

Jack smirked, blue eyes conniving. Hiccup returned a grin just as shit-faced.

“No fucking way. Tell us how Santa saved Christmas.”

“If you insist.”

Jack leaned back on the campfire log, savoring the other three’s suspense. Merida gestured impatiently.

“So Santa knew the only place to find magic reindeer was the veeeery very top of the world,” Jack continued finally. “The true ‘north pole.’ Because, see, that’s where all the sky spirits partied, and sometimes their green strobe lights would brush up against the snow and grant local wildlife the gift of glittery floating. This was, of course, because floating gave them the ability to party harder than they ever could sitting on the ground.”

Rapunzel’s eyes lit up. “They could dance in four dimensions!”

“Not exactly.” Jack grimaced. “Even supernatural strobe lights can’t give you the ability to, uh…dance back in time. But you’re on the right track. If you’re suspended in air, right? The open space above and below you does give some extra space for busting sick dance moves.”

Merida started shimmying in her seat—a dance not quite as impressive as the ones the sky spirits could do, Hiccup imagined, but one charming enough to make Rapunzel giggle.

“So Santa set out on an epic journey, together with his most trusted elf advisor, Scronkley—”

“Why is his name Scronkley?” Merida demanded, crossing her arms.

Jack scoffed. “I don’t know, can you think of a better name, Red?”

She squared her shoulders, pursing her lips importantly.

“Elfner McElf…ington.”

Jack sighed. “Like that’s any less stupid.”

Merida answered with a glare. “Yer face isn’t any less stupid, Frosty.”

“All right, all right!” Jack raised his hands in defeat. “His name is Elfner McElfington.”

When Merida and Rapunzel cheered, Hiccup couldn’t help but join in. Their enthusiasm was contagious, even when discussing an elf’s name being changed to a different, equally asinine elf’s name.

“So Santa and Elfner McElfington set out on a long, arduous quest to a get a new set of the fabled hard-partying reindeer of the Far North. They traveled for 10 days and 10 nights—”

“Yeh said Christmas was in 5 days!” Merida butted in indignantly.

Jack waved his hands incredulously. “Do you want to tell the story, Mer?!”

Merida rolled her eyes. “Ah want yeh to write a coherent plot, Ice Pop.”

The white-haired boy let out a long, defeated sigh.

“As you wish. Santa and Elfner McElfington traveled for one day and night—transversing the crème brulee custard bog, scaling the great ice cream mountains, fighting their way across an icy plain belonging to a murderous polar bear cult, navigating the dense candy cane forest—”

“Hey!” Merida crossed her arms again, glowering. “Yeh ripped that straight from Elf!”

“Did not!” Jack returned her glower. “I’ll have you know Will Ferrell himself gave me permission to use that bit.”

“Oh, yeah? Should ah call him and ask?” Merida pulled out her phone threateningly.

Hiccup wasn’t sure what was funnier—the implication that Merida had Will Ferrell in her contacts, or her steadfast confidence that she would get a phone signal out by this remote cabin.

“Merrrr!” Rapunzel’s voice came out in a despondent whine. “I want to hear the rest of the story.”

Although Merida rolled her eyes, her scoff was fond.

“All right, Frostbite. Tell Punzie what happened.”

“So at last Santa and Elfner McElfington reached the northernmost dance party in the whole world,” Jack continued. “And what do you know—a herd of some of the most jacked, hard-working reindeer in the arctic circle were passing through, and happened to get hit with the magical rave lights—”

“Wait.” Hiccup frowned. “Weren’t they strobe lights?”

“Whatever, same thing.”

“But for them to be rave lights…don’t there have to be drugs involved?” Rapunzel tipped her head to the side, looking at the white-haired boy in confusion. “The sky spirits aren’t getting the tundra animals high, are they? That seems like some kind of animal welfare violation.”

“Well…” At this point, it seemed Jack had grown accustomed to being interrupted—and just figured out the best way to take said interruptions into account. “The sky spirits were getting a little high—because they were all adults, according to celestial law, and were fully able to consent to drug use—but they didn’t infuse any drugs into the strobe-slash-rave lights. So even if the lights came about because of drugs, they didn’t cause all who encountered them to be under the effects of drugs. You get me?”

“But we’re talkin’ flying reindeer,” Merida argued. “That seems like exactly the kind of thing drugs would—”

“That’s only because you don’t believe in the magic of Christmas!” Jack turned and jabbed an accusatory finger into Merida’s chest. “Shame on you!”

Rapunzel gasped. Hiccup turned, exchanging a disappointed look with her. They shook their heads, tut-tutting almost exactly in unison.

It was the result of over a decade of best friendship—a sixth sense about what the other was thinking. Hiccup and Rapunzel had been attached at the hip since before either of them could even ride a bike, latching onto one another on the third day of kindergarten (Rapunzel had spent the first two unsuccessfully trying to befriend the rest of the class and scaring them away with her intensity) and letting the glue hold into high school.

They’d met the other two freshman year—the annoying dipshits at the back of the class, emanating an energy the rest of their grade couldn’t handle. Rapunzel alone could keep up with Jack and Merida, although Hiccup certainly held his own more than his friends expected.

He smirked to himself, thinking back on it. No one ever expected the sarcastic nerd to also be a thrill-seeking adrenaline junkie.

It was honestly difficult to maintain a friendship with Rapunzel if you weren’t. Hiccup would know.

Not a single one of their friends was…well, calm, exactly.

Case in point Merida, who was now off on a spirited rant about how no one had more holly jolly holiday cheer than her.

“Yeh know me,” she was saying. “Ah’d drink champagne and eat petit-fours all day if Ah could. But Ah’m just sayin’ if Ah stumbled upon a bunch o’ flashy party strobe lights en the middle of nowhere and started seein’ flying reindeer—”

Hiccup snickered before he could stop himself. “Then that’s how you know the Christmas magic is working. Right?”

He turned to Rapunzel. Her blonde hair bobbed as she nodded eagerly.

“Luckily for Santa and Elfner McElfington, they were familiar enough with flying reindeer that they weren’t worried about being high when they reached the Northernmost North Pole and saw a bunch of caribou floating all over the place.” Jack shot Merida a smug grin, waving his hands around to make appropriate floating motions.

“Is that…”

Hiccup felt Rapunzel’s hesitant breath in his ear. He knew what she was asking before she even finished.

“Just another word for reindeer, yeah.” She relaxed against his shoulder, and he gave her back a reassuring pat.

Despite Hiccup’s best efforts (mainly sneaking her nature fact books like black market goods), Rapunzel’s mother had always kept her suffocatingly sheltered. Now in the tail end of high school, his best friend had a tad more faith in her knowledge.

Still, there were bits and pieces of the world she didn’t know. Pocket tidbits that had never quite made it to her, leaving her feeling like an incomplete puzzle when she stumbled upon “common knowledge” that she acquired just a little later than everyone else.

When the occasional insecurity flared up, she hid it away, tucking it out of Jack and Merida’s sight and only giving Hiccup the most discreet glance. Small things, usually, but enough to send Rapunzel’s mood spiraling if not handled delicately.

It was an honor, in a way—being chosen as the caretaker of inside knowledge. It made him feel like a spy, using a subtle, coded message to hook the right wires together and diffuse a bomb. But it also puzzled him.

Maybe Rapunzel was worried Jack and Merida would poke fun at her for being “out of the loop.” Hiccup doubted it, though—their friends were impish sometimes, but their teasing was never mean-spirited. In any case, Rapunzel usually had no issue shooting playful insults right back at them. Often even better ones than Jack and Mer had, to be frank.

Hiccup wondered if perhaps Jack and Merida were a little too accommodating sometimes. They were both more than happy to help teach Rapunzel about the world—catch her up on all the things her mother never let her experience. Perhaps their abundance of unending patience and softness came off as…

Well, a bit patronizing.

But Hiccup knew Rapunzel. She was too polite to say that, so she kept her uncertainty quiet. A secret only her best friend got to know.

She trusted him because she liked the way he handled things. Straightforward, pragmatic, no judgment passed (not even in the form of light teasing, when he sensed she wasn’t in the mood for it). It could have been nothing more than a preference for familiarity, but Hiccup liked to believe it was because his problem-solving skills weren’t half bad.

“Hiccup, are you there?”

He blinked. Jack and Merida were staring at him.

“Yeh looked like yeh were having war flashbacks,” Merida said.

Jack raised an eyebrow at Rapunzel. “What did you tell him?”

Panic flashed briefly across her face before she covered it with a giggle. “Oh, I was just messing with him. I asked him if he remembered to feed Toothless and he panicked.”

Jack turned to Hiccup expectantly. “Well? Did you feed him?”

“Nope.” Rapunzel answered for him, smirking. “I was spending the night at Hic’s, so I did, right before we left. That’s why he freaked out when he thought that I thought he was going to do it.”

It was something Rapunzel had grown quite good at, covering for both of them. After 12 years evading the interrogations of a crazy mom, she was able to seamlessly craft a lie that put both her and her best friend in the clear—on short notice, too.

It was admirable, although Hiccup always worried it fried her nerves.

“Yeah, she got me good.” Hiccup smiled meekly, hoping to add to Rapunzel’s credibility.

“So what happened when Santa and Elfner found all the floating caribou?” she asked.

And there came Part 2: Quickly Deflect the Statement and Change the Subject in a Definitive Yet Understated Way.

“I’m so glad you asked!” Jack seemed relieved to finally return to the yuletide tale. “So Santa sought out the fastest and buffest reindeer to recruit for his new team, selling them on promises of honor and glory for being, well…one of the flying reindeer who pulled Santa’s sleigh. But once they all flew back to Santa’s workshop…” Jack wiggled his fingers, making suspenseful music noises. “The training regimen began.”

His tone was foreboding enough that Rapunzel gasped, eyes wide with dread.

“How did they do?” she demanded. “Did they pass?”

“Santa was determined,” Jack said emphatically. “Between the journey to the Northernmost North Pole and the recruiting, the guy only had 3 days left to save Christmas. He was going balls-to-the-wall insane. We’re talking 16-hour training shifts with only 10 minutes for lunch. And!” He lifted a finger importantly. “He couldn’t risk feeding his sources of transportation any empty calories, which meant eggnog and peppermint-flavored protein shakes for every meal.”

Hiccup’s stomach roiled at the thought of such a beverage. So did Merida’s, evidently, if her absolutely horrified face was anything to go off of.

Rapunzel only narrowed her eyes in confusion. “Eggnog and peppermint isn’t so bad, right? Very Christmas spirit-y.”

“Ah, Punzie, yeh sweet summer child.” Merida looked at her friend almost sadly. “Protein shakes taste like sadness and washed-out adulthood. They can throw in as many fancy flavorings as they like, but it’s still gaena be the most disappointing thing yeh’ve ever put in yer mouth.”

“But you love working out.” Rapunzel’s confusion only deepened. “Don’t you drink them all the time?”

“When there’s nothing else available.” Merida shrugged. “Ef et were up tae me, though? Ah’d rather get my protein from literally anywhere else. That nutrient sludge tastes straight dystopian.”

Jack let out a dramatic sigh. “As much as it pains me to say someone agreed with Merida…the reindeer recruits agreed with Merida. They too did not appreciate the deceptively festive protein paste Santa was insisting they eat.”

“Deer of good taste.” Merida crossed her arms, grinning smugly. “And don’t yeh forget it, Frosty.”

“They also were not big on the endless, grueling exercise routines that supposedly were needed to boost cardio,” Jack added, looking only mildly peeved by Merida’s assertion. “This was feeling more and more like a thankless job, and the new reindeer weren’t sure preserving the yuletide spirit was worth exploitation and poor working conditions. Within only two days of training—one day until Christmas—the new reindeer organized a strike and joined the old team with picket signs in their antlers.”

Rapunzel’s hand flew to her mouth, eyes widening in horror. Hiccup frowned, becoming very concerned himself.

“So what was the backup-backup-plan here?” he asked. “This looks very bad.”

“Santa was kind of out of options.” Jack shrugged. “So really, the only thing left to do was sprint from house to house himself and hope the milk and cookies gave him enough calories to make it through the night. But you can imagine with his physique…” He patted his stomach sadly. “That didn’t go very well. He only made it to about 5 houses before he had to cancel Christmas.”

“Yer shitting me.” Merida leaned toward him, gaping. “Christmas was cancelled?!”

He nodded gravely. “Christmas was cancelled.”

Rapunzel wilted, letting out a whimper. “But what about Claire? Did she never get her raccoon?”

“Claire learned a very important lesson the next morning,” Jack said sagely. “Life is full of disappointments and Christmas miracles don’t exist. But years later, see, Blixem came to visit her, and she learned why she’d had her heart shattered into a million pieces that fateful December 25th. She did grow up to become a renowned union organizer—”

“How dare yeh! How could yeh do that tae Claire, yeh little—” Merida sprang to her feet, waving her marshmallow-laden prong about. Jack’s eyes widened in sudden fear.

Hiccup barked out a laugh as Merida lunged at the white-haired boy, face full of wrath. Jack scrambled up just before Merida drove a wet marshmallow into the middle of his hoodie and took off running behind the campfire log. Shrieking, Merida chased him around the firepit with the determination of a charging lioness.

The redhead jabbed at the boy over and over, Jack always managing to bounce away at the last second. Hiccup couldn’t stop laughing, shaking his head.

They weren’t actually going to hurt each other, as evidenced by giggles from both parties. It was all for show—and a very entertaining show, at that. Hiccup was enjoying every second.

It was only after a few moments that he noticed a lack of any Rapunzel laughter. He turns to see his best friend staring blankly into the fire, gaze far away and expression uneasy.

He nudged her side. “Trouble in paradise?”

Rapunzel started, whipping to face him with alarmed eyes. He chuckled, giving her back a couple reassuring pats.

“Take it easy, Gamora. Just your favorite annoying talking fishbone.”

She smiled apologetically. “Sorry, sorry. Guess I’m a bit tense.”

Her smile faded, melting into a glum look as she looked back at the fire.

“Well now.” Hiccup crossed his arms, putting on his most serious frown. “Who is responsible for Rapunzel Corona being sad on her holiday getaway, and how can I give them a stern talking-to? This is unacceptable.”

She turned back to him with raised eyebrows. “You really want to face my mother?”

He did not. He had spent an entire childhood bending over backwards to avoid any possible encounters with the woman.

It wasn’t hard to see why Rapunzel was scared of her.

Hiccup’s frown deepened, becoming more genuine as concern washed over him. “Is that what this is about? But the whole reason you came out here was to get away from her!”

“Yes, and what if she finds out?”

He raised his eyebrows to match her dubious expression. “What happened to ‘having a cover story that would have Sherlock Holmes himself fooled?’”

“It kind of…relied on her not looking into it when I said I’d be away for the weekend.” Rapunzel grimaced. “And I figured it’s only two days, she can go 48 hours without keeping tabs on me. But if she starts getting impatient and prying into where I am, I’m screwed.”

“What did you tell her?”

“Wellness retreat.” Rapunzel’s lips curled up in a small smirk. “Seemed like the kind of thing she’d approve of, considering how obsessive she is about doing yoga and jazzercise to ‘stay young.’ I basically said it’s a hiking excursion to keep ‘nice young girls’ healthy and petite and that they’d be feeding us nothing but protein bars and organic vegetable smoothies to keep our weight down.”

“Wha—but—I mean—you’re a twig!”

“Yes, well…best to let Mother keep thinking I’m not. She’s easier to get off your case when you agree with everything she says.”

A heavy silence fell over them, broken only by the scuffling of Jack and Merida’s roughhousing. Hiccup wished he could think of something to say, but he was coming up blank.

“I hate that she makes you feel that way,” he admitted finally. “Putting you down every chance she gets and acting like it’s proof you’re not ready to handle the world. She’s always going on about how weak and naïve you are or whatever, but come on. How does she expect you to ever get tougher and less naïve if she doesn’t even gives you the chance?”

“I’m not sure she wants me to.” Rapunzel shrugged. “I’m her only daughter, and…she needs someone to take care of her when she’s old. I guess that’s part of why she keeps me so close. But I just…I wish she would trust that I’ll be there when she needs me. I wish she would trust me not to abandon her. I would come back if she gave me more freedom, and it hurts that she doesn’t believe that. I know she’s just being overprotective, but—”

Hiccup shook his head, sudden annoyance overtaking him. “Doesn’t matter,” he cut her off. “She’s got to know she can’t keep you cooped up forever. And good lord, you’re 17! One of these days, she’ll have to trust you to have enough life experience to like…I don’t know. Step outside without fainting. I’m kind of shocked she’s even confident you’ll survive the walk to school.”

Rapunzel chuckled, expression brightening a little.

“Seriously, your mom’s in a losing fight.” Hiccup sighed. “Kids grow up. They move out. They get jobs and sometimes want to get married or live with friends or what have you. You’re going to be a full-grown adult soon, and your mom’s going to have to reckon with the fact that, legally speaking, she can’t keep you as this…hidden-away dependent forever. Especially not if you get emancipated. Either way, the cops are going to be onto her eventually.”

Rapunzel crossed her arms, staring at the snow below them. “I’ve never been able to change her mind about—well, anything. Maybe I could someday, but…not anytime soon.”

Another silence hung over them.

Rapunzel’s brow was creased, posture tense. Body language indicating the type of funk Hiccup knew all too well.

He needed to loosen her up.

“If it makes you feel any better…” She looked up, and he gave her a wry smile. “My dad thinks I’m on a post-season football camping trip.”

She gave him a puzzled look. “But you’re not even on the team.”

“I’m not, but…” His smile widened. “My dad is under the impression I have a lot of ‘very good friends’ who are. Maybe he believes that if I hang out with buff guys enough, they’ll transmit some of their beef to me through…diffusion? Or at least that being around this kind of kid will toughen me up.” He flexed a nonexistent bicep. “Make me live up to our Viking warrior ancestry a little more.”

“So…you’re equally screwed if you get caught.”

Rapunzel seemed to relax a little bit. Hiccup couldn’t help but smirk.

Classic schadenfreude.

“I am indeed.” Why not add to it? “If my dad knew Mer’s dad rented us this cabin so we could goof off all weekend, he’d throw a fit. Lazing around aimlessly isn’t exactly the pinnacle of virtue in the Haddock household.”

Rapunzel laughed. Hiccup felt a prick of relief as the light returned to her face, smile glowing to match the campfire flames.

“Oh, I know,” Rapunzel said. “But still…even around Christmas? Seems like your dad should give you a little break. Your grades are amazing, anyways. You’ve been working hard all semester, Hic—just not in the physical department.”

“Sometimes I think he wants me to be a catch-all.” Hiccup grimaced. “Brains and brawn, all in one. And, well…” It was his turn to look down at the snow. “It doesn’t sound half bad to be that guy, but it’s just not feasible to be some rippled muscle maniac and in the top 10 in our class. It’s like you and standing up to your mom, I guess. Maybe someday, but not anytime soon.”

Rapunzel chuckled. “We’re both getting them off our backs by telling them exactly what they want to hear.”

“Well, after all, great minds do think alike.” He thumped her affectionately on the temple.

“Kind of ironic, isn’t it?” She sighed. “We only conform to what they want when we’re using it to cover up that we’re doing the opposite.”

Hiccup laughed. “Hey, everyone knows the kids with the strictest parents are the sneakiest. Gotta learn how to trick them long enough to actually experience your life.”

Even though Rapunzel chuckled along, her smile started to dissolve. She turned away, firelight flickering through worried green eyes.

“I can’t stop thinking about her,” she admitted. “How furious she’d be. How betrayed she’d be. It’s all hanging over me like—I don’t know. Gathering blizzard clouds, I suppose.”

“Ah. Very seasonally appropriate.” He nodded in approval.

“Most wonderful time of the year, right?” She shrugged, tone unconvincing.

“Hey. If we go down, we go down together.” He smiled, throwing an arm around her shoulder and pulling her to his side. “That’s how it’s been since we were 6, and that’s how it’s going to stay. All right?”

Her smile came back. She nodded, melting into him.

“Relax, will you?” he teased, jostling her shoulder. “Miserable experience, you know, watching your best friend mope around on Christmas. Try to have some fun for my own selfish gratification, if nothing else.”

“It’s not Christmas.” She chuckled softly. “It’s December 20th.”

“Close enough.”

When the sounds of warfare across the firepit ceased, Jack trudged over with the chest of his hoodie splattered with sparkly green-and-white goop (Rapunzel had insisted they get the ‘holiday marshmallows’ infused with edible Christmas glitter for their s’mores).

“Fine, fine,” he grumbled, hands raised in defeat. “Claire gets the freaking raccoon. Dunder had it personally delivered or something.”

“Damn right she did.” Merida raised a finger threateningly, gaze boring into Jack. “And don’t yeh forget it, Snowcone.”

“I just think that—”

Jack didn’t finish, watching in horror as Merida raised her now-marshmallowless poker. “Say it, Frost.”

The white-haired boy heaved a deep sigh. “Not all Christmas miracles have to be crushed by the disappointing weight of reality, and the world is a much better place than a holiday spiritless ne’er-do-well such as myself gives it credit for.”

“That’s more like et.” Merida crossed her arms, grinning smugly. Hiccup laughed.

Leave it to Mer to never let Jack get away with anything.

“Don’t yeh worry, Punzie.” The redhead turned to Rapunzel, grin triumphant. “Ah made sure that little scamp isn’t about tae deprive more heart-warmin’ orphans of their presents anytime soon. Everything’s goin’ tae be fine.”

Rapunzel beamed. When she spoke, her voice was filled with more confidence than it had been all night.

“Yeah. I think so too.”

***

I do love the idea of Jack telling his friends stories with overly-dramatic embellishments <3 I’ve just always gotten the vibe he’d be a good storyteller. Not that he’d ever get very far, because Punz, Mer, and Hiccup are definitely the sort to ask obnoxious questions every 2 minutes XD

Rest assured, Jack wouldn’t usually screw over The Wholesome Orphan in his stories, but also!!! He needed to troll his friends a lil bit. As a treat!!

Felt a lil weird writing RotBTD content without Anna, since I realized I’ve...actually never done it??? Like I’ve written Jackunzel with Hiccup and Merida making cameos and not Anna, but I’ve never made everybody-hanging-out content without Anna XD I’ll just say she goes into another school in this AU and hasn’t met them (yet).

I’m so into the idea of Hiccup’s mind wandering off on these tangents and him just completely forgetting the physical world for a hot sec. Curse of the Creatives D: Also perhaps possibly maybe just a smidge of projection in there XD Anyways it gave me the chance to really delve into Hiccup and Rapunzel’s friendship over the years and sorta speculate what it would’ve been like if they’d grown up together, so that was pretty neat. Hiccup would very definitely smuggle her advanced academic materials like hard drugs XD

Oh, Jack and Mer...how I’ve missed their rivalry so XD Contrary to Old Fandom’s somewhat-flawed beliefs, I actually think they would clash because they’re so similar, not because they’re really different!!! The sheer amount of times these two would try to out-chaotic and out-Little Shit each other would truly be a wonder to behold. I do maintain that Merida would have 0 issue chasing Jack around with a marshmallow skewer, and I will swear to that.

#rotbtd gift exchange 2022 #rapunzel #hiccup #jack frost #merida #hiccup haddock #merida dunbroch #rotbtd #rise of the brave tangled dragons #the big four #tangled #httyd #brave #rotg #rise of the guardians #crossover

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