First of all, I own nothing. HTTYD belongs to Dreamworks and Cressida Cowell.
Teaching Astrid how to fly Toothless
Summary: Something I always missed in the show was Hiccup teaching someone (especially Astrid) how to fly Toothless. Yes, he did it with Stoick on ep7 of RoB, but something like that never happened again even though some riders had already flown Toothless… So that's my view of him teaching Astrid to maneuver the pedal.
(Set after RTTE s4)
Teaching Astrid how to fly Toothless
"Almost three days away… The guys must be freaking out by now…" Hiccup wondered out loud and a bit concerned.
"I just hope they didn't send a message to Berk to ask for help or to tell them we're missing or anything like that… My parents would kill me if they knew I was away and alone with my boyfriend for that long…" Astrid joked.
"Hey, I am nothing but a gentleman!" The boy praised himself putting a dramatic hand on his chest and making the girl chuckle. A gush of wind passed through them and Hiccup had to adjust the tailfin naturally to balance it; flying was like second nature to him, but the movement made him winces. "And we weren't alone; we had Toothless and Stormfly with us. Besides, if it weren't for that storm, we'd have already been back on the Edge by now…"
"True, but they probably didn't even see that storm…"
"Yeah…" He shifted trying to find a better position for his leg, but he didn't have any luck.
Both took a few days to explore the south region, now with Viggo and Ryker gone, it was safer to do it for a little longer. They wanted to be back sooner, though, they planned to stay away for only a day or so, but the weather had different plans…
Now, they had been flying for hours with nothing but ocean beneath them for a long time, until they spotted a small island, which meant they were getting close; if they hurry, they could be back on the Edge before sundown. However, Hiccup had something else in mind.
"Hey, let's stop on that island for a while… We need a break."
"Break? What break? We don't need it! Let's go back at once, we stopped just a few hours ago to eat lunch…" She said almost missing Hiccup and Toothless descend, totally ignoring her. Astrid huffed and leaned to the left to follow them.
The landing was worse than he anticipated and soon he took his feet out of the pedals taking a deep breath.
"Hiccup, if we keep stopping, we won't get there today." Astrid said as Stormfly landed next to Toothless. "We need to…" She was about to continue, but he interrupted her.
"Yeah, I know… Look, you can go ahead, I don't mind. It will be good for them to know we're okay."
"What? And leave you here, alone? Hiccup, I know you like to explore and all, but it's not safe by yourself. Even without Viggo and Ryker, there could still be hunters out there, not to mention wild dragons…"
"Yeah, I know, don't worry, I'll be fine. I'll reach the Edge by midnight."
"Hiccup, are you sure you're okay?"
"Sure, it's just…" He stopped midsentence when he looked at her incredulous blue eyes and crossed arms. "Fine, the problem is my leg. I stayed with the prosthetic for too long, I'm supposed to take it out for a few hours a day, but since we didn't know if we'd need to run or get up in the air out of a sudden while we were exploring I kinda didn't take it out… I though I could make it back to the Edge, but I really need a break… Sorry…" He looked away, embarrassed as he unbounded the ropes that kept the prosthetic in place so he could slowly remove it.
"Hiccup…" She said in a low and understanding tone. "You don't have to apologize. If I were in your place and for some reason needed a break, you wouldn't have a problem with it. You know you can tell me anything."
"Funny you saying it, would you tell me if you needed a break?" Astrid opened her mouth to answer, but couldn't bring herself to say anything. "Yep, that's what I thought… Let's face it, we both have deep stubbornness issues…"
She shrugged. "True…"
Hiccup slipped out of the saddle and jumped on one foot to a nearby tree so he could sit by its shadow. Astrid sat by his side.
"But are you okay? Do you need anything? Please don't be difficult now, we're both stubborn, we've been through this already."
"I'm fine, really. I just need a time off."
"Well, at least we don't have to worry about Viggo anymore. And we haven't seen a hunter since the Shellfire incident, so I guess we're safe." The girl mumbled and agreement as she watched Toothless lay down by his other side. "Oh, no, I know that look. What's wrong?"
"Nothing's wrong. I was just wondering… You're right. We are lucky now, but what if we weren't? I mean, we could be in danger kinda like when Toothless and I were stranded in that island with Dagur a few months ago…"
"Hiccup, this is a totally different situation. Besides, you have Stormfly and me this time. And if I recall correctly, you could have had us that time as well if you weren't so stubborn and waited for me before you went wandering like a crazy obsessed person…"
Hiccup's eyes widened and he tried to laugh, scratching the back of his head uncomfortably.
"Really? I… don't… remember… that…"
Astrid raised an eyebrow and sighed. "You know what, just forget about it. If something like that happened now, I could just ride Toothless in your place and we'd be out of here in no time."
"It's not that simple, Astrid. I mean, yes, you could probably hold the tailfin just enough to be out of here or for a short distance, but more than that? I highly doubt it… It took me a while to really get the hang out of it. Maneuvering the tailfin is harder than it looks, even the slightest change in the wind can make a difference."
"Really? That much?"
"Yeah. It might be small, but the tailfin is what controls the flight, every stir relies on it. To go up, down or to the sides, basically everything is on the tail… I learnt it the hard way when we went flying for real the first time and we almost fell and died on some sea stacks…"
Astrid narrowed her eyes and tried not to look as surprised as she was. How come he never told her this before? She'd demand details later, right now; she had something else in mind.
"But I've seen him turning not necessarily with the tail fin… Like when you guys are falling or when he turns by leaning one way or another…"
"There are also different kinds of turns. I mean, sure he can do a lot of things even when the tail is locked up, but it's harder and demands more strength and time. And let's not forget he can barely get off the ground without it…"
"Indeed… You know, in this case, maybe you should teach someone to properly maneuver it just in case something happens and you can't control it."
Hiccup sighed deeply.
"I taught my dad once, remember? Right before he got Thornado. It didn't go very well…"
"I meant me, Hiccup. Really, sometimes you can be so dense and naïve…"
"What? No I can't…"
"Anyway, it's not like I'd try to steal Toothless away like Stoick did, I have Stormfly. But, you know, if there's an emergency, it'd be good to know we have someone who's able to fly our most powerful dragon."
"True… Okay, you win, I can teach you on the way back to the Edge, how does that sound?"
"It's fine for me. What do you think, Toothless? Can I ride you back to the Edge?" The dragon cooed and smiled in response. "I knew you'd say that."
Two hours later, Hiccup was feeling well enough to put back the prosthetic and so the two of them went up on Toothless. For the first time, Astrid sat in front of the lad and they adjusted the pedal so she could control it. If something went wrong, she'd take it off and he'd assume the riding.
Stormfly followed them loyally and would catch Astrid if she fell, but there was no need to go after Hiccup, he'd just find his way back on Toothless's saddle to continue flying.
"Remember, the tail controls everything…"
"Babe, I got this, you said that plenty of times already and if I hear this again, I'm going to push you away and ask Stormfly to fetch you."
"Fine, I guess I'll just have to keep my mouth shut…"
"If you can do that…"
Hiccup huffed in response, crossing his arms. The girl's heart raced in excitement. She had flown a lot over the past three years and she could fly almost any dragon that would allow her to ride, and she also flew on Toothless plenty of times before, it was the first dragon she went on, after all. But never before she had that much responsibility on her hands. Or foot, to be precise. If she failed, they could have a serious fall… It couldn't be that hard, could it?
Okay, so far so good… She thought looking at the deep blue ocean beneath them.
A strong gust of wind disturbed the nice and calm flight and they swung on the air for a few second before she could stabilize it again.
"See what I mean when I said it makes all the difference?"
"Hiccup, you know I love you but if you don't shut it and stop distracting me, I'm definitely pushing you off of Toothless."
His jaw dropped and he was mute for so long she had to turn to see if he was conscious, nothing but the heat of his body telling her he was still actually there.
"Y-you just said… You just said you loved me…"
"Don't be silly, Hiccup, if you don't know that by now…" She glanced at him. "Stop looking at me like that; I was just stating a fact… You should have known that…" Astrid was so embarrassed it as a good thing he was sitting behind her so he couldn't see her blushing.
Hiccup smiled.
"Well, you know, I was still hoping I'd be the first to say it, but I guess you won… Again…" He mumbled almost as embarrassed as she was. "Anyway, just move a little bit the pedal and we can make a turn to the left. Like this."
He showed her, ignoring his warm cheeks. It was annoying to be that embarrassed after a couple of weeks dating Astrid and over three years after their first kiss… Both hoped it would stop eventually, until then; they'd just have to change the subject…
Astrid complied and they turned.
"Not bad at all. Now, to the other side." He praised and she did was she was asked again, moving the pedal to the opposite way. "Pretty good, too. Now, why don't we try to put some speed into it, shall we?"
"Of course. That'll be fun, right, Toothless?"
The dragon cooed playfully and flapped his wings faster, adding speed to the ride. Astrid kept turning one way or another, up and down, she even did some barrel rolls, the first was a bit sloppy, but she fixed it by the second. It was too easy to do that on the air, with nothing to block their way, now, it was time to make things a bit more interesting.
They zigzagged through some sea stacks along the way and continued their way until they saw the Edge's island at the distance.
"Now let's try some low level evasive maneuvers?"
"Sure! I'm getting the hang of it. You made it seem much more difficult than it is, you know…"
"Yeah, try doing it without the tips I gave you…"
"Seriously, Hiccup, sometimes you can be so smug… Now shut up while I drive." He rolled his eyes in silence and they descended to ground level to zigzag around the trees.
"Come on, bud, faster!"
Toothless sped up and Astrid struggled to keep up, that is until they accidentally hit a tree and the three of them flew forward a few meters. Dragon riders should be used to some falls, Hiccup was the most used to do so, willingly or not, and as the gentleman he was, he tried to hold her and receive the worst part of the impact. He also felt a bit guilty for asking Toothless to go faster, so it was the least he could do.
"Ouch… Everybody in one piece?" He asked sitting up.
"I'm fine… I didn't go that bad, did I?"
"Of course not, you were much better than I anticipated, but couldn't turn in the last minute. If you practice just a little more, you'd be almost as good as me." There was a small smug smile on his lips. "Maybe you should ride Toothless whenever I'm out for some reason."
"I guess it's not such a bad idea, right, Toothless?" The dragon cooed in response as he approached. Stormfly landed by their side. Astrid petted the dark dragon. "You know, I was wondering… Why did you decide to make the tailfin prosthetic in the first place? I mean, we were in war with the dragons at the time."
"Well, you know I couldn't or wouldn't kill them, so when we were at champions tower and Gobber told us that a dawned dragon was a dead dragon, I found out I didn't really want him to die nor wanted him stuck in that cove. And so I needed to do something about, and I did."
Astrid smiled at him.
"Don't let it get over your head, but I just wanted to tell you I admire you for that. You befriended our enemy and helped him get back on his feet, or should I say, sky. No one would ever have thought of that, let alone risk himself to learn how to fly. It makes you unique."
"Thanks, Astrid. I really appreciate it. It makes me feel worthy of the strong warrior girl that I've always admired. Just don't let it get over your head." He imitated her with a grin that made her roll her eyes.
"Okay, Dragon Boy, I think we should go back now, before they freak out…"
"Totally agree."
"By the way, are you okay? Your leg is fine to fly, now?"
"Yeah, and it's just like a two-minute fly there. Walking is still way worse than flying." He sat on Toothless as she jumped on Stormfly.
"Okay, just remember that I'm here if you need anything."
"Don't worry, Astrid. I wouldn't forget that. And I'm pretty sure you know I'll always have your back, too." And so he took off in his dramatic way; the girl watched them for a moment and petted her dragon.
"He's a show off… Let's go get them, Stormfly." The Nadder screeched happily and followed the Night Fury into the sky.
Thanks for reading and please review on your way out! :D
And check out my other HTTYD fics! I have one shots and long stories, too!
If you liked it, please consider helping me on Patrion, the link is on my profile :D