Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

As a young child, Hiccup couldn’t imagine his parents without each other. His father was chief of the tribe, and when talking to others, he was often gruff and stern. Hiccup might have been scared of him too, but he got a front row seat to his father’s warm side. At home, Stoick was a doting father and a loving husband. Not a day went by without Hiccup finding his parents giggling together or sharing soft touches as they went about their day.

Hiccup had already decided that he wanted that for himself one day even before he’d learned the words “relationship” or “marriage” or understood everything that came with him. If he could find someone to be with like his parents, then he’d surely be happy.

One day, Hiccup found himself scrawling across a sheet of paper. He wanted to recreate the dragon he’d seen the day before when peeking through the curtains instead of staying hidden like he’d been told to. It had been a large green one, and Hiccup couldn’t ask the name because it would reveal that he’d been breaking the rules. But a drawing could be just a drawing.

Valka was mending a piece of her leather armor on the other side of the table, humming to herself until Hiccup picked up the song and started humming along too. They’d repeated the melody several times when Stoick arrived, a scowl on his face like one of the villagers had annoyed him right before he arrived.

As soon as he caught sight of Valka and Hiccup, his expression softened.

“Is everything all right, dear?” Valka asked, standing to greet him.

“It is now, love,” he assured her. Reaching out, he captured one of her hands in his own and placed a kiss against her knuckles, which made her smile brightly.

Hiccup watched them for a moment. Stoick lowered himself into the other chair around the table, his hand still in his wife’s. Yes, Hiccup thought, one day he’d have that too.

Chapter Text

Young Hiccup was still rubbing sleep out of his eyes as his dad pulled on his boots. Being chief of the tribe meant being available at all hours of the day. Hiccup was used to it. He still had his mom around, and his dad was usually somewhere close by if Hiccup really needed him.

“Hiccup, come on,” Valka called. “Your breakfast is waiting.”

Hiccup grumbled to himself as he ambled over to the table. Still half asleep, he accidentally kicked the chair leg and all but stumbled into the chair. His dad chuckled and ruffled his hair.

“Go on and eat your food,” Stoick said. “That’s how you’ll get big and strong like your dad.”

Hiccup obediently reached for the food even though he didn’t feel awake enough to eat. Stoick stepped around the table towards Valka.

“I’ll be home later, love,” he said. “You know how to find me if you need me.”

“That I do.”

He bent down and pressed a kiss to her knuckles like he always did before leaving. Hiccup watched. It was a habit that had probably been there for a long time, but ever since the first time he’d noticed, Hiccup hadn’t been able to stop watching it.

His parents had the kind of thing he wanted one day.

Stoick ruffled Hiccup’s hair one last time on his way out, laughing when Hiccup grumbled over being jostled.

Just like that, he was gone, but the warmth stayed behind.

Hiccup walked hand-in-hand with Valka through the village, off to get an ax repaired by Gobber. As they went, Hiccup watched the other members of the village. Many of them would stop to nod at them in greeting as they went, but many more were too preoccupied with their own business to even notice them.

Off to the side of the road, Hiccup watched a woman pull a man into a kiss, and his eyes widened. It wasn’t that it was something new. He’d seen adults kissing before. He’d even seen his own parents kiss on the lips a couple of times, though it was nowhere near as common as the knuckle kisses or the cheek kisses. Still, he seemed to be noticing them more lately.

“Mom?” he asked, tugging on Valka’s hand until she glanced down at him. “Why do adults kiss all the time?”

Valka chuckled. “I don’t know if it’s all the time, but…” She tugged Hiccup to the side of the road, out of the way of traffic, and stooped down to his level. “Kissing is a sign of affection, Son. They do it to show that they love and care for each other.”

Hiccup nodded. That made sense. He could see the love in his parents’ eyes each time they kissed. Hiccup pointed towards the couple he’d just seen. They’d pulled apart but were still walking close together.

“Why did they kiss on the lips? Dad always kisses your hand.”

Valka laughed but didn’t give Hiccup time to question what was funny before she said, “It’s all different versions of the same thing, Hiccup. People each have their own ways of showing affection, and each couple decides what’s best for them. Your dad just really likes kissing my hand. That’s our way.”

She gave him one last smile before straightening up and taking his hand again.

“Come on,” she said. “I want to get this ax to Gobber before he’s too busy for the day.”

Hiccup followed along, keeping a lookout for other couples. He noticed a woman kiss a man on the cheek, and another pressed a kiss to their partner’s hand.

Maybe he was biased, but Hiccup felt like that was the best way.

Hiccup saw Astrid for the first time while spending time with Gobber at the behest of his parents.

In reality, he’d probably seen her before. Their village was small enough that he’d seen everyone in passing, and his father was becoming increasingly vigilant about teaching him everyone’s names, something that he said was important for a future chief.

But he’d never really noticed Astrid before. They’d never talked. She often spent time with the kids who threw weapons at each other without adult supervision, a situation that Hiccup liked to stay far away from.

She arrived at Goober’s just before lunch time. Up close, she appeared less threatening than Hiccup knew her to be. They were roughly the same size, but he knew she would take him easily in a fight. Despite that, there was something about her that drew him to her now that he was actually seeing her.

She blinked at him before quickly turning her attention to Gobber.

“My dad needs a new knife,” she explained.

Gobber, oblivious to the way Hiccup’s brain was recentering its focus, scratched at his chin. “I can do that. Tell him to come by tomorrow morning.”

Astrid nodded. Her gaze flicked towards Hiccup one last time before turning around and hurrying off towards a cluster of her friends. Hiccup watched her go.

Something inside of him felt strange, but he didn’t know how to interpret it. He didn’t have much in the way of friends, besides his parents and Gobber. Maybe that was it. He’d mostly been satisfied with that lot in life, but maybe his brain was trying to tell him that he needed a friend.

A pebble hit him square in the back.

“Come over here and help me with this kid,” Gobber called before grumbling under his breath about the low quality of some metal he’d been given.

For such a pivotal day in Hiccup’s life, it started like any other. He went to visit Gobber. He had started to suspect that his parents sent him there not just because of the promise of an apprenticeship but as a way to stop him from thinking about his lack of friends.

He was there, bored and watching Gobber work, when a house on the other side of the village caught fire.

A second later, there were dragons everywhere.

“Go!” Gobber shouted, pushing Hiccup towards the Great Hall. “Take shelter.”

Hiccup should have listened really, but he couldn’t stop himself. Instead of the Great Hall, he headed straight for home. It was where his mom had been when he’d last seen her, and though he knew she was a formidable warrior, he couldn’t shake his fear in moments like these. He didn’t want to huddle with the other kids in the hall; he wanted his mom.

He reached the house at the same time as the dragon. Valka caught sight of him, and her eyes widened.

“Hiccup! Take cover.”

That time he listened, cowering behind a nearby cart as his mother fought the dragon.

Then, suddenly, the dragon had her in its claws. Hiccup yelled and screamed, but he couldn’t stop a dragon.

Just like that, his mother was gone.

Everything changed after Valka disappeared.

For one, Hiccup didn’t have a mother anymore, but it wasn’t just that.

A few years after her disappearance, Hiccup showed Berk that dragons didn’t need to be their enemies. In no time at all, they went from having enemies who caught their houses on fire to friends that, admittedly, sometimes still caught their houses on fire.

Even more than that, Hiccup gained friends, and one of those friends was Astrid.

It was bizarre to think about how it had happened. One day, he’d barely been able to speak to her, and the next, they were best friends who talked about everything. It was incredible, and he appreciated every moment that they shared together, but as he got older, he realized that the feelings bubbling up in his stomach weren’t just platonic.

Since he was a little kid, he’d wanted what his parents had with someone. He increasingly realized that the person he wanted it with was Astrid.

But if you asked him what he was going to do with that information, he wouldn’t know what to tell you. One thing he was certain of was that he couldn’t ruin their friendship, even if it meant remaining nothing more than friends forever.

He and Astrid were the only ones in the Great Hall. That wasn’t unusual these days. Hiccup was getting used to never being entirely alone. No matter where he went, Toothless was close behind, but beyond that, even his friends always seemed to pop up, and Astrid was the most likely to be at his side.

Ostensibly, Hiccup was fixing Toothless’s saddle, which had become damaged earlier in the day, but he wasn’t making any progress. His fingers kept slipping, and a few times, he was sure that he’d made the damage worse, not better.

Astrid was eating across from him, and it should have been comfortable. Most days when they spent time together like this, it was comfortable, but every so often, Hiccup’s feelings would raise their head, and he’d start stumbling over his words.

It was hard to pinpoint what caused it to happen. He could have blamed it on something particularly impressive that Astrid said or did, but she was always doing and saying impressive things, and most of the time, he could hold it together.

It was probably more accurate to blame the daydream that had occupied Hiccup when he was trying to fall asleep the night before. He’d started imagining a future where he and Astrid were a couple, looking just like he could remember his parents being in his earliest memories, and the image of it had followed him into his real dreams.

Astrid finished off the last of her food, but she didn’t make any move to take her plate to be washed. Instead, she watched Hiccup work, and Hiccup became even more self-conscious.

“Do you need help?” she asked, one eyebrow raised in confusion.

Hiccup blushed with the knowledge that he wasn’t subtle.

“No, I’m okay,” he said. “I guess I’m just out of sorts today. Maybe I should take a break.”

Astrid nodded. “Good idea. You might just be too frustrated, and you can fix it once you’ve relaxed a little.”

“Yeah,” Hiccup muttered. “Frustrated…”

Astrid carried her plate away, and Hiccup watched her go.

Chapter Text

Astrid’s loud scoff prompted Hiccup to look up from the blueprints he’d been drawing for a new tail for Toothless. He followed her gaze to a couple sitting in the far corner of the Great Hall.

They were close together and holding hands across the table.

“Why do they have to make a scene?” Astrid asked.

It was quiet enough that no one could overhear them, but Hiccup's stomach sank.

“What do you mean?” he asked. They were in a corner after all. Most people probably hadn’t even noticed. “I think it’s nice.”

Astrid looked at him like he’d grown two heads. “Nice?” she said, shaking her head. “It’s embarrassing hanging off each other like that in the Great Hall.”

“Oh.” Hiccup tapped his charcoal pencil against the paper. “Yeah, I guess.”

He turned back to his drawing, his cheeks flaming.

When Hiccup did admit his feelings to Astrid, it was as awkward as he feared it would be, but it turned out not to bother him as much as he’d thought.

She kissed him without anyone else around, and everything felt right with the world.

Chapter Text

Hiccup twirled his spoon around in his soup, watching the ripples move across the surface.

“Dad?”

Stoick grunted just before he tore off a large piece of meat from his drumstick. Hiccup sighed. He’d been thankful for an opportunity to eat dinner with his dad at home where they could talk about things in private, but now that the time had come, he didn’t know how to phrase his questions.

“How did you know how to act with Mom?”

Stoick paused, looking at Hiccup over his drumstick. “What do you mean, Son? Is this about you and Astrid?”

Hiccup dropped his spoon into the soup. “Yes, it’s just…” He sighed and tapped his fingers against the table as he thought about the best way to express himself. “You were always kissing Mom’s hand or her forehead. How did you know that she’d like that?”

Stoick blinked at him like Hiccup had asked a truly baffling question. A blushing Hiccup picked up his bread and tore a chunk off just to give himself something else to focus on.

“Your mom and I were together for a long time,” Stoick said after a long pause. “It often felt like we’d always known each other deeply, including what we each liked. That’s not actually true of course, but it’s hard to think back to a time when it wasn’t true.”

That wasn’t the useful answer that Hiccup had been looking for, and Stoick saw the disappointment on his face.

“Astrid is a very straightforward girl, Hiccup. If you were to ask her what she likes, I’m sure she would tell you.”

Hiccup stared resolutely at his plate. He knew that was the answer. Astrid wouldn’t be impressed by him trying to guess her thoughts or by him assuming anything. Yet he’d somehow thought he could avoid the awkward conversation.

“Yeah,” he muttered. “Thanks, Dad.”

Hiccup thought about asking Astrid after that. He thought about it a lot. But each time they were alone, the words would die before he could get them out. No matter how hard he tried, he’d forget how to even ask a question.

Eventually, he decided to just play it safe. If Astrid wanted more physical affection, she could initiate it. He would follow her lead.

It worked until it didn’t.

One day, Astrid said something that made Hiccup laugh, and he felt so unbelievably fond that he took her hand and pressed a kiss to her knuckles without thinking anything of it until his lips were on her skin.

He froze as soon as he realized and looked up at Astrid in shock. She stared back at him, eyes wide.

Hiccup dropped her hand like it was lava and backed away. His cheeks were on fire.

“Sorry,” he gasped out.

And then he turned and ran with a confused Toothless behind him.

He could have taken to the sky, but she’d merely have followed him. On land, it was easier to throw her off, even if Toothless crashing into things behind him kept making him cringe. Eventually, he wound up at Gobber’s, crouched behind a work table with Toothless at his side.

It would have been a better hiding place if Toothless’ tail hadn’t been sticking out at the side, but he could hope that Astrid wouldn’t see it.

Gobber was less than convinced.

“If you were going to hide, why would you choose the place where you used to spend every day?” he mused, not bothering to keep his voice down as he hammered away at a sword. Hiccup scowled at him but remained silent.

“Oh, hi, Astrid.”

Toothless shot up to look over the work table, and HIccup didn’t know who to glare at: Gobber or his dragon.

“Hi, Gobber,” Astrid returned easily. “Have you seen my boyfriend?”

Gobber hummed, tapping on his chin. “Let’s see.” He drew it out as he walked closer to Hiccup, ignoring the young man glaring up at him. “Oh, yes, here he is.”

Hiccup reluctantly stood, his glare morphing into a nervous smile. “Hey, Astrid.”

With a hand on her hip, Astrid barged into Gobber’s shop. Hiccup was too busy panicking to notice Gobber disappear.

“What is up with you?” Astrid asked. “You just ran off.”

Hiccup scratched at the back of his head. “Sorry.” He leaned against the table, his shoulders sagging in defeat. “I didn’t mean to kiss your hand. It just…happened.”

Astrid stared at him like he had Toothless’ slobber across his face again. Hiccup swiped at his face to make sure it was clean, and it came back free of dragon slobber.

“Why are you apologizing about it?”

Hiccup gaped at her. “You said you didn’t like public displays of affection, and—”

“What?” Astrid’s brows knitted together. “When was that?”

“I don’t know.” Hiccup gestured into the air. “A few years ago.”

“Hiccup.” Astrid crossed her arms against her chest. “You can’t hold onto something I said years ago and take it as fact. Were we even together then?”

“Uh, no, but—”

“Have you been holding back this whole time?”

Hiccup gave her a sheepish smile. “Yes?”

Astrid sighed and rolled her eyes. She turned so that she was leaning against the table beside him. “For the record, I still don’t like some public displays of affection, but you can kiss me sometimes, you know? Even if a few people are around.”

Her cheeks were a light pink.

“Really?” Hiccup asked. “You’re not just saying that to make me feel less embarrassed?”

Astrid snorted. “No, I think you already feel embarrassed enough.”

Hiccup cringed. “I really do.”

Astrid linked her hand with his, giving it a squeeze. She lifted it to her lips, pressing a kiss against his knuckles. Hiccup stared at her in awe, and she smiled softly back.

“See?” she said. “It’s fine.”

Chapter Text

Zephyr ran up to Hiccup as he poured over the village’s register in the Great Hall.

“Dad!”

Hiccup looked up, smiling as soon as he saw her. Zephyr reminded him remarkably of Astrid, even if her hair was in a shade closer to his own.

He thought nothing of pushing his work aside as she climbed onto the bench beside him.

“Dad, how do you show someone that you like them?”

Hiccup’s mouth gaped open as he stared at her. Zephyr was growing older, but it hadn’t been until that moment of stunning clarity that he realized she was the same age he’d been when he’d first noticed Astrid.

“Oh.” It took him a second to collect his thoughts. “There are a lot of different ways. Just do what feels natural. As long as the other person is okay with it.”

Zephyr frowned down at the table. “How do I know what they like?”

Hiccup bit back a laugh. Zephyr wouldn’t understand that he was laughing because he remembered his own embarrassment when he was her age, and he didn’t relish the idea of explaining it to her at that moment.

“Ask,” he said gently, patting her on the back. “It sounds far more difficult than it is.”

She thought about it for a moment before giving a decisive nod.

“Thanks, Dad.”

She pushed up from the table, already hurrying off to find the crush in question.

Yep. She was definitely Astrid’s daughter.

Hiccup wasn’t looking out for Zephyr’s crush. He didn’t plan to hover or demand details. Yet he did stumble upon it by accident.

He and Astrid were walking across the village hand-in-hand when Hiccup noticed Zephyr approach one of the girls around her age. He stopped as he realized what he was witnessing. Astrid expressed surprise, but a second later, she had followed his gaze and caught on as well.

The girl Zephyr had approached blushed, just as nervous as Zephyr was.

“Does our little girl have a crush?” Astrid asked in a hushed voice.

“I think she does,” Hiccup said with a smile.

A blushing Zephyr turned, catching their eye, and she blushed even harder. Hiccup could hardly contain his smile.