Hair
A/N: First fic in the RTTE timeline! Man, I didn't think I'd ever write one with late-teens Hiccup. I tried to write one when the first season came out, and then midway through watching the second season I had an idea for a Dagur-redemption one, but there was no good place to set it, so I kinda ditched it. Might come back to it if I ever find the motivation, but for right now, it's rotting somewhere in my HTTYD folder. Anyway, I just came up with this one off the top of my head after watching the first few episodes of the new season - Astrid states it's been months since the end of season 2, (I divide them up in thirteen-episode increments) but we don't see any change in the character design, and I guess I just based it off that. And you all know I'm utter trash for Hiccup/Stoick father/son, so of course it had some of that in there.
His hair, it's grown longer.
The once-vibrant red has faded; it's now a soft, muted auburn and it reaches nearly to his chin, falling thick and unkempt, down his forehead in a slant and just dusting the tips of his eyebrows, rough dark strands contrasting starkly against slightly sunburned skin.
His shoulders have broadened; he's still slim, at least by Viking standards, but there's not a hint of weakness in the muscular frame. He appears a bit taller, too, standing now at a height of six feet, or well-nigh. When he regards the other, there is an air of unfamiliar, yet not unwelcome, confidence in the half-smile on his lip – his eyes alone have not changed. There's still that same energy – that same life, that verve, that gusto – lending a sparkle to the clear green.
But strange as it sounds, it's the chin that makes Stoick stop and stare.
It's so simple, he thinks, and yet so enormous.
And it's sparse, and he knows that; it's scattered, and he knows that; it's wispy and he knows, and it's a soft, reddish color that blends in perfectly with the skin, but it's there, and it clings to the narrow, pointed chin – and Stoick is fairly certain the owner doesn't even realize it's there. His son is growing a beard, and he hasn't even noticed.
"Hey, Dad." Hiccup smiles, reaching up to scratch at his chin – his narrow, pointed, whiskery chin. When he pulls his long, thin fingers from the spot, there's a smudge of dirt there, and he doesn't know.
When Stoick finally finds his voice, it comes out wrong. "Your hair…"
"Oh. Oh, that?" The teen's hands fly to his head; the half-smile twists to form a sheepish, self-conscious grin. "That. That was the twins. I thought I'd gotten it all out, but I guess I missed some…"
It jolted him at first; but Stoick finds that he can't tear his gaze from the chin. He can't believe it's taken him this long to notice.
His boy is growing up.