Hiccstrid Post HTTYD 2

This is my first attempt at a brand new idea thanks to hello-em75.

In this one shot I'm going to write about Hiccups reaction to Stoicks death after HTTYD 2, I know it's been a long time since the end of the second film. But here goes nothing!

Warnings for misuse of alcohol, which will be whiskey

Astrid had been out flying all day, her and Stormfly needed to spend some much deserved alone time after the incident, with Stoick. It took a lot out on her boyfriend she could tell, even if they weren't married.

As she landed on a sea stack and Stormfly ran off to play with the branches of a tree nearby, she probably did that to sharpen her teeth Fishlegs would know.. She sat down on the hot moss and looked out over the beautiful view and misty moors of Itchy armpit. She smiled to herself, reminding herself of what her boyfriend used to be like.

He would fly for hours on the back of Toothless, his chocolate brown hair flowing in the wind and she would run her hair through it and make him shake when her nails glided over the right spot in his scalp, she moved her fingers through the moss and she closed her eyes and the tidal wave of wonderful memories flowed through her.

It had been three months since then, Hiccup had definitely changed. Usually they used to talk about everything but since Stoicks death Hiccup would disappear for hours on end and return about noon to the trifling matters of the village he would usually brush everyone off with a gruff "I'm fine." But she could tell he wasn't, and it hurt her to see him like this.

This was the man she loved, no scratch that was passionately in love with and wanted to kiss his face off at almost every opportunity but he seemed to be avoiding her and all of their friends. He would usually talk to Gobber but he didn't have much to say about his conversations with Hiccup he would always say "he's dealing with it better than Stoick did with Valka."

One night she pressed the issue with Gobber, this ended with him explaining why half the villages stock of single malt whiskey had disappeared practically overnight. And for once it wasn't because Spitelout had a crazy idea about building a brewery.

Hiccup had been drinking bottles of it since Stoicks death, when Valka returned to her Island to get everything she had been collecting over the last twenty years Hiccup was found been dragged through the town square by Toothless holding a bottle the twins had given him called 'Thorston secret recipe.' Which contained a clear liquid. It had been demeaning at best, particularly when Snotlout had to help lug him back up the hill to his hut along with a concerned Toothless, who had no clue what had happened.

Astrid opened her eyes, she had been doing this for two weeks now. Flying away for tens of hours at a time, going to all of their old spots and hoping that he would be there.

"He's not here Stormfly lets head back." She turned around feeling pretty dejected and was about to saddle her dragon when she heard the signature woosh of Toothless above them. "On second though let's not head back, after them girl." Stormfly took off after Toothless keeping below the clouds which is where paws could be seen and she could not be, she was going to follow them and see where Hiccup had been going.

Unlike usual, the loud whoops of joy as Hiccup and Toothless could not be heard. They were both silent as the grave except for the cachink of various glass bottles Astrid assumed to be full of alcohol.

Suddenly Toothless shot downwards towards an island she recognised.

"The edge?" She muttered "We haven't been here for years."

Toothless landed abruptly, and almost bucked him off. With a hiss of hostility that she had never seen from him ever, except for when they were practically wild dragons.

She landed far away from the encampment, and dismounted quietly making as little noise as possible but still able to hear the conversations.

"Toothless we're here." He spoke, his voice stronger more masculine than before but the drunken slur could be heard still. Astrid snuck quietly around the corner watching him relight the fire inside the clubhouse.

He lit it with his flaming sword before he tossed it to the ground, with a clunk and a snap.

"Oh fuck it I don't care." She heard him mutter as he popped the cork on a bottle, Toothless wondered off shrugging off his saddlebags with a heavy grunt and headed in Astrids direction. "My life is fucking shit as it is."

"Hiccup what are you doing?" She muttered to herself. As Toothless came near to her he smelled her scent and almost bounded at her, his tongue lolling out and smiling.

She got down very quietly and snuck away, Toothless followed her more than happy to see her to the tree line.

"Hi boy." He almost grabbed on to her and wrestled her to the ground covering her in dragon kisses. "What's going on with Hiccup?" She asked sitting down on a log as he burned a nest for himself and snuggled his head in her arms crooning to himself.

"Yes it seems your happy to see me." She scratched his snout gently and he hummed.

She noticed the fact that Toothlesses saddlebags had been replaced with places to put about six large sized bottles.

"Has he been drinking Toothy?" She cooed at him tracing his scales.

Toothless grunted angrily, he seemed to hate those bottles as much as she did.

"How much has he had?" She looked down at the empty bottles.

"Oh my Thor? How is he not dead?" She sniffed them, that was the single most potent alcohol on Berk. The stuff her father used to drink.

The look on Toothlesses face seemed to say 'Destroy them.'

"I need to help him Toothless, I can't let him do this to himself. What happens if you aren't there and he's drinking at one of our allies." She shrugged standing up. Toothless fell asleep, he was exhausted after flying for three days straight. "He'd…" She didn't even want to go there the idea was unbearable.

She snuck back into the camp, her mind alert for the drunken slurring voice of her boyfriend.

"I can't believe this." The loud smash of glass on wood could be heard from a mile away. "I… Just… My… Owwww… Head." She heard him slump against the wall.

"I think I'm gonna be…" She heard the scrape step of his legs as he tried to walk as far as he could before hearing him vomit.

"Oh Thor Hiccup what's happened to you?" She whispered to herself.

"Who's there?" She heard him slur, before he passed out.

Astrid walked into the old clubhouse and was met with a ghastly surprise.

On almost every surface was bottles, tens of empty bottles. Some on the floor and a few piles of glass that were quite sporadic but the shards could be seen glittering in the moonlight.

"What have you done Hiccup?" She muttered.

"Astrid… Why… Are." He began before he fell asleep holding onto a half empty bottle of moonshine. She knelt down in front of him taking it as far away from him as possible.

She had barely seen her boyfriend in the last few weeks, and this explained it. He'd been taking booze and flying Toothless to the edge to drink away from everyone else, who would undoubtedly stop him when they thought he'd had enough.

She looked outside and was surprised to see a gronkle and Gobbers dragon flying towards the island. She waved to them and they landed quietly.

"We're looking for… Oh. I guess we found him." Gobber started, and shut his mouth when he realised what he was looking at "He hasn't taken this well has he."

"Holy Thor this place… Why has he been doing this?" Fishlegs looked around.

She raised an eyebrow at Gobber. Way to point out the obvious.

"Because!.." He jumped up. "I don't know, I feel…" Before Hiccup fell asleep again.

"So, what do we do?" Fishlegs interjected.

"I'm taking him back to his hut." She decided. "You and Gobber go and find some way of dealing with all of this glass."

"Righty oh." Gobber walked off to find a shovel.

"Do you think he's going to…" Fishlegs began.

"I don't know." She grabbed the unconscious chief around the waist and pulled him along.

Suddenly up in the sky she heard the distinct roar of Cloudjumper and they both looked up, Valka was standing astride Cloudjumper like some mythical creature in her armour.

Cloudjumper practically crash landed onto the wooden decks outside the clubhouse old hut. And Valka moved faster than Astrid had ever seen anyone move, except maybe Snotlout when Stormfly had shot a spike at him.

"Did you find him Fishlegs?" She went to the clubhouse first.

"He's with Astrid, down by his old hut." Fishlegs responded, he was going to help Gobber by clearing up all of the glass.

"Thank you." She almost sprinted down the long ramps.

"How's he feeling?" She put her hand on the side of his face. And she watched him react by murmuring the word "mum"

"We need to get him by a fire Astrid, and wake him up so he doesn't choke on his own vomit and try and dilute the amount of poison he drunk with water." She grabbed ahold of his legs and Astrid opened the door to his hut, quite in awe of the older womans strength, it was on par with her own.

They set him down by the fire inside his hut and they tried to wake him up, this mostly involved pouring buckets of ice cold water over him.

"How's it going Valk?" Gobber poked his head around the door.

"It's okay, he's not chocking on vomit at least. But the hangovers going to be murder." She managed to get him sitting upright against a wall while Astrid held his hand.

"Okay… What!?" He murmured opening his eyes. After about the sixth or seventh bucket of water.

"Hiccup we need to talk." Astrid said, looking at him as he tried to stand up.

"Whatever it is…. I will… Deal with.. It… Later." He then slumped against the wall again.

"Dear, we're really worried about you." Valka began.

"I'm… Fine… Seriously…" He slurred. "I'm… Not… Fine at… All."

"Yes we know that." Astrid said, stroking his hand and offering him a glass of water which he greedily drank.

"Why are you doing this to yourself?" She asked, while Valka made him another glass of water.

"I'm… Miserable all the… Time" he murmured "When.. I drink… It stops."

"Is it about Stoick?" She began to stroke his hair, his hair had lost its beautiful shine it was now more scratchy.

"No… Well yessss… It's everything… I… I need to sleep." He fell asleep in Astrids lap.

They managed to lug him into bed, before Astrid sat down in a chair against the door while the others spent the entire night clearing out glass bottles and smashed glass. Valka practically refused to leave and sat downstairs making pots of tea.

"So you must have dealt with this before?" Astrid asked trying to make small talk, early that morning.

"Yes, I've had to do this to myself.." Valka reminisced, "He's depressed Astrid, he wasn't ready to be chief."

"I know, it's taken a lot out of him." She responded. "Who's taking care of Berk?"

"At the moment… No one." Valka said. "I don't want to, but I think I should go back."

"Okay, take Gobber and return to Berk. I'll stay here and try to sort out this… Hiccup behaviour." She replied.

"Okay." Valka walked away, but turned around and looked sternly at Astrid.

"Hiccup loves you, I can see that." She stepped onto Cloudjumper as she prepared to fly back. "Bring my baby back to me. I lost him almost twenty years ago. I will not lose him again."

Astrid nodded and Valka rounded up Gobber and as they flew off Astrid noted the woman's face, she looked in pain almost.

Owing to the fact it was early morning and she'd been up most of the night, ensuring that he didn't choke on his own vomit or be sick somewhere. She was able to fall asleep in a chair looking at his bed relatively quickly.

After a few hours she awoke from her brief nap, with a sore back and her blonde braid a mess. However deep in his practically nocturnal slumber Hiccup had barely moved since they had pushed him onto his side during the early hours of that morning.

She stood up and walked over to his bed, on the way she noted the fact that the sky was no longer black, but a deep shade of blue, with a scattering of clouds.

He was snoring, if he didn't reek of booze and vomit and if his behaviour hadn't been so despicable recently he'd look cute. But then again just the look of his hair turned her off right now so the attractiveness of her usually handsome, cute and smart boyfriend was not a high priority. The highest priority was waking that boy up and making sure he wasn't feeling the hangover too much, she didn't want him suffering. Well at least more than the idiot was, purely the amount he'd consumed was enough to kill him.

She sat down near him, and put her hand on his shoulder and shook the sleeping dragon trainer awake. Very gently.

"Hiccup." She said quietly.

"Urgh! Astrid… What's going on?" He mumbled, trying to sit up. Before clutching his head and letting out a loud moan. "How much did I drink?"

"Enough to give me a heart attack." She muttered to herself. "Hiccup, why are you doing this to yourself?"

"I don't know how to handle…. Argh!" He shouted as he felt his brain being poisoned by the pure amount of alcohol he'd consumed.

"Is it your fathers death? Is it being chief? What exactly is the matter? Because it's not just me that's worried, almost every single person in the tribe…" She began, but he stood up and almost fell over as he'd forgotten he'd taken his leg off.

"You aren't going anywhere." She caught him before he hurt himself and helped him sit up. "Hiccup your not well."

"As I was saying, every single person in the tribe is worried about you and the fact you are flying around the island an hour before dawn and then taking care of eveything and then drinking until your almost dead and sleeping here. And Hiccup I'm really worried as is your mother, Gobber and Toothless."

"I'm fine Astrid, really." He shrugged.

"No your not Hiccup, your doing what I did five years ago. Your burying yourself in what your parents did and losing sight of who you are. Look at my uncle, when he was killed I promised I'd become the best dragon killer." She looked deep at his forest green eyes. "Hiccup doing this isn't the answer, let us help you."

"Astrid, I don't need…" Hiccup began.

"You do babe, your killing yourself and your hurting Toothless. It hurts both him and me to see you like this." She continued.

"I'm not…" He began "I'm just doing more than I…" He didn't finish, mostly because he knew she was right.

"Hiccup I love you, and I want to marry you one day." She said, looking at him like Valka did. "But you're a mess and I want to help you."

"Astrid I'm fine." He sat up and looked at her.

"Hiccup, you drunk enough to kill yourself!" She shouted.

"It doesn't matter, does it!?" He shouted back.

"Yes it does you're the chief!" She replied with equal volume. "And my fucking boyfriend! I can't allow you to do this to yourself!"

"Why do you care!?" He shouted collapsing.

"Because I love you, you… Argh!" She lay back, pissed off.

"Your the only one that does..." He murmured, turning away. "And you have a funny way of showing it."

"What's that supposed to mean?!"

"You wake me up after I'm supposed to go back to Berk." He responded "I need to be there to help the people."

"Hiccup, you are no use to anyone dead!" She responded. "And that's where your going to end up."

"Maybe I don't care! Maybe I just want to not have to deal with all of this… Every day!" He shouted back.

"What are you saying?" She asked quietly, so shocked that's how he feels.

"Do you think I enjoy waking up with a hangover every morning! No! It fucking hurts, I'm drinking because I'm a mess."

"But your not!"

"Astrid, When Toothless accidentally killed my father it changed everything. It's not his fault but… Whenever I look in the mirror and see myself looking back at me I hate myself because I couldn't see it coming." He lay back and began to cry, Astrid sat down on the bed. Feeling pretty terrible about the fight they just had. "I was so Naïve to believe that Drago could be changed, and that naïve stupidity cost my father his life… If I hadn't. I don't even remember it, it was all a blur now."

"Hiccup, your not naïve. You just look for the best in people." She smiled at him, and cupped his chin in her hands. "It worked for me, you changed my life through your naïve behaviour. You introduced me to a friend that I would have killed. Your absolutely amazing babe"

"But still…"

"Hiccup, look at me." His green eyes focused on her. "Your father died protecting you, he loved you to bits. You reunited him with his wife the woman he loved, if he could see you now he would be really upset. You know why?"

"Why?" He sighed, rolling his eyes.

"Because your throwing away, everything that you fought for. Your destroying yourself because you lost your dad." She began to stroke his hair, and a little smile appeared on his face. She was probably tickling him in his favourite place. "Hiccup, we know your struggling to Fill Stoicks boots."

"I am, but I can't…"

"Aside from how big his feet were, we are all going to help you. Your mum is back there right now helping." She smiled at him.

"She shouldn't…" He began, before he began to feel sleepy.

"She wants too, Fishlegs and Gobber and me too." She ran her thumb over his cheek, trying to keep him awake.

"They don't need too…* Yawn." He began.

"We all want too, and we are going to. I'm not going to let you drown in a puddle of your own self misery." She smiled. "I'm going to help you sober up and sort yourself out."

"Okay." And with that the young Haddock fell asleep in the arms of his love.

Astrid smiled to herself, she was going to help her boyfriend get better. She truly loved him, he'd made her better and she was going to make him better.

After all, that's what relationships are about. Making each other better :)