A Discovery in the Woods
okay so I was in the httyd fandom literally like about five years ago and remembered how much Hiccup is lee material, and when @Amazingmsme sent in a prompt I couldn’t resist. Therefore I have some slightly cringy Hiccstrid (???) because they’re cute and I cannot help myself. This is probably between the first and second movie/ during when the TV show took place based off of my vague memories so oof. Possibly more coming soon because I love Hiccup with my whole heart ohmygod.
Hiccup felt his breath rattle in his chest as he ran through the forest, a smile painfully stretched across his cheeks.. He had to hide. He could hear the trees rustling back and forth as toothless followed him out.
Just as he finally thought he would have a moment to breathe, a thicket of trees and bushes he could crawl into finally coming into view, Hiccup was thrown forward and face first into the dirt.
There was a sigh of relief, and then a hand that appeared in front of his face. Astrid.
She looked confused for a second, then her face eased into a relaxed smile. It only took a few seconds before her face morphed once again into an annoyed frown.
“What are you doing Hiccup? I thought you were an intruder! Honestly I can’t-“
Hiccup pushed himself to his knees before finally accepting her hand up, “Can’t talk right now, gotta run. I’ll explain late-ER!”
Astrid was quick to back away as Toothless finally caught up to the teen, flattening him once again face first into the ground. Both were smiling as they wrestled in their game, Hiccup desperately trying to push the dragon off of him without any luck. She looked around, finding a rock to sit on and watch.
“Buddy wait! Toothless, not while Astrid is here- wait! Waitwaitwait!”
Toothless was nuzzling around Hiccup's neck, making the brunette throw his head back and forth. However when the dragon moved to where his shirt was riding up all previous struggles seemed like child’s play. His legs were kicking as much as they could underneath his best friend, hands pushing him away to no avail. His laughter bubbly and near constant, making the scene that much entertaining.
Astrid wasn’t completely sure what she was seeing if she were being honest with herself. She had more than one childhood memory resurface at the sight of hiccup sat underneath herself, the twins, or Snotlout, laughing his head off when they played.
She absentmindedly watched the play fight until she could hear her name being cried out for, Hiccup seemed to have given up on playing tough.
“Ahahstrid! Hehelp me plehease!”
Astrid decided to look a bit closer at the duo, it seemed like Toothless managed to worm his way under Hiccup’s baggy shirt, and had taken to exploring the sensitive skin.
Hiccup was still kicking and trying to push his best friend away, but it was obvious that his attempts were quickly losing their coordination and strength. He looked so small and young in the moment, his head thrown back, eyes squinted shut in his laughter. Cheeks pink and his hair a mess from his squirming. If Astrid could have this picture in her memory for the rest of her life she would.
However, the moment would have to come to an end. Hiccup let out a squeal and arched into the dragons mouth before once again begging for Astrid’s help, although she could barely tell what he was saying were words through his light and giddy laughter.
With a whistle and a few claps, Toothless has perked up to look at her, giving his rider a much needed break. The Nightfury made its way over to her, letting Hiccup recuperate and getting some love while they waited for his giggles to die off.
It only took a few minutes before Hiccup was making his way over to the two, his hair looking like a rats nest no matter how much he tried to tame it. His cheeks were still dusted pink when he slumped down next to Astrid’s rock and leaned up against her legs.
“So,” Astrid asked, breaking the silence. “Do you and Toothless play that game a lot?”
She watched as even the tips of his ears that had poked out from his hair blushed a bright red. “I- well, um.”
Astrid laughed, “Don’t worry I won’t let the others know.” She told him, reaching a hand down to flutter around his neck, “I might have to explore this a bit more though.”
Hiccup was quick to scrabble away from the offending fingers, his face glowing in embarrassment. “Well- um, I- it really isn’t anything needing exploration Astrid. So if you wouldn’t mind-“
There was a playful glimmer in Astrid’s eye as she rose from her seat. Toothless was quick to pick up on the shift, the air around them growing tense with anticipation and playfulness. Never one to hold his excitement for long Toothless had circled around Hiccup before nosing him forward, acting as a wall to hold him in place as Astrid stalked towards him.
“Hmm Hiccup, it’s just that you sure seemed to be having a lot of fun. I would hate to deny you something that brings you so much happiness.”
Hiccup couldn’t take his eyes off her hands, slowly rising till they were stretched out in front of her, fingers clawed and ready to attack at a moment's notice. He felt himself pushing back against Toothless in a desperate attempt to escape, only to find no give from the dragon behind him, traitor.
“Now, you just need to hold still and I’ll be done after I find every little giggle spot you have!”
Without giving a second for her words to register in the boys mind Astrid launched herself forward, hands quickly finding and digging into a prominent set of ribs.
To say that Hiccup screamed would be an understatement, but she wasn’t here for screams, it was the laughter bubbling up after that she wanted. The way that his breath caught for a second after before succumbing to the giggle inducing tingles shooting through his body had her full attention.
His hands quickly found her wrists and latched on. To Astrid’s shock he wasn’t pushing her away, it seemed more like he needed something to hold onto and ground himself. Before she could think too much on the idea, she felt him jump forward into her hands. Without noticing she had moved lower until her hands were around his hips and investigating the dips in the bones.
His head fell backwards and knees buckled as she pressed further, laughter moving from the soft giggles of before to cackles that had him gasping for breath.
Hiccup slowly slid down Toothless until he was barely upright on the ground. Astrid has a feeling she should give him a break, though he hasn’t said a word to stop her yet. That was more information she would pack away to think about later.
Instead she decided there was just one more place she would have to test before she finished their fun.
Her hands moved towards his center and for the first time since she had started she could make out words through Hiccups laughter.
“Nahaha nahat thehere! Ahastrid! Ihie- I cahan’t!”
“Oh, what do you mean you can’t Hiccup, I think you can, you’ve been doing so well so far. Just a little bit longer okay, I’ll stop after this.”
Okay so maybe Astrid was pushing it a little bit, but Hiccup really did look happy like this, and he wasn’t really telling her to stop either, just that his belly was a bad spot. Which aren’t the bad spots the best to go for? She would only do it for a second, just to see, she told herself.
Her hands formed a claw, vibrating into the softness of his stomach.
And oh boy did that gain a reaction.
Astrid didn’t have to force herself to stop, at least not when Hiccup was quick to kick her off of him.
She held her stomach for a second as she laid in the dirt, she hadn’t realized Hiccup would have been able to get that much force behind a kick. She looked over to him, he had curled into a ball holding his stomach as his body released the left over giggles.
She couldn’t help herself, laughing right along with him until they were both sitting up and stifling their chuckles.
Oh yeah, she was going to have to investigate that more later on, as for now it would be smart to head back, it wouldn’t be long before curfew. She reached a hand down to help him up, which Hiccup took without hesitation.
They walked side by side, only a few inches separating them as they watched Toothless run through the trees excitedly.
“So, uh, you won’t tell the others right?” Hiccup asked, a hand reached back to scratch at his neck.
She watched a blush dust his cheeks one more time as the sunlight was fading and bumped their shoulder together. “Don’t worry about it, I said I wouldn’t tell them, though I can’t promise I’ll hold them back if they do find out.”
She took off at a jog to catch up with Toothless, the Nightfury still had too much energy to settle down for bed.
“H-hey, wait up! What does that mean Astrid.”
She allowed herself a smile as she turned around to face him, jogging backwards as she called out to him, “Come on, we’ll be late if you don’t hurry!”
She turned back around and started to run forward with the dragon.
