It's been a while! Hopefully cheers up lockdown for a few people (and those not on lockdown too. I hope it cheers everyone up!)

-HTTYD-

"Moooooooommy?"

Astrid looked down to find her half-asleep child peering up at her. Although, half-asleep Alexis was still more energetic than mostly-awake Maddie. Hiccup was stirring pancake mix, unmoveable grin on his face. He was visibly in quite the chirpy mood.

"Yes munchkin?"

Wrinkling her nose, Alexis yawned a little before continuing with the urgent question.

"What were you and Hiccup laughing about last night?"

Hiccup choked, disguising it as a cough as he hurried to place down the bowl and spoon he'd been using. Astrid cleared her throat before answering.

"We were watching a funny movie in bed."

They weren't. They were doing something slightly more adult, which had been a little awkward, as many first times with new partners could be, and that had led to lots of giggling from the two of them, obviously not quite muffled enough to stop a child overhearing, presumably on a late night trip to the toilet. Had Astrid been so distracted she hadn't heard a flush?

Still, it had been a very nice evening, and as it turned out, Hiccup was adorably affectionate and tactile after sex. Even more so than he usually was. It ought to be illegal for him to be so cute at his age, but when he was cuddling her and nuzzling his ridiculous bed-hair against her neck, Astrid melted a little bit.

"Is that pancakes?"

"Yep!"

"Awesome!"

They were, indeed, awesome pancakes. Astrid knew she was incredibly lucky to have a boyfriend that cooked, and enjoyed doing it. She watched him appreciatively, grinned when he stopped to kiss her before putting a plate down in front of her. He split the batch into two small so Alexis could have chocolate chip and Maddie could get blueberry and chocolate chip, then finally got his own.

"Lex, easy on the syrup. Your dentist already gives me dirty looks."

"But it tastes so nice!"

"I know, but if all your teeth fall out you can't eat big pancakes anymore."

With sighs and pouting, the syrup was relinquished. Astrid got kitchen cleaning duty while Hiccup got children cleaning duty, followed by getting everyone dressed for a morning walk to burn off some child-energy. That, and Astrid got to feel so absolutely contented walking hand-in-hand with Hiccup as their kids tottered about just in front, occasionally turning back to smile at them.

In fact, Astrid was in such a good mood she didn't even mind that when they got back, the kids wanted to watch Frozen. Again. Hiccup made them all hot chocolates, and so she felt pleasantly warm and soft inside, followed by snuggling up on the sofa together so she got to feel soft and warm outside too. Well, Hiccup wasn't that soft to lie on, he was quite lean, but he had a cute little tummy that was comfy. Either way, she was happy.

"When is dad coming to get me?"

"Same time as always, you know what he's like Lexi."

Nodding, Alexis climbed up on the sofa and did her best to institute herself in the cuddles going on, which had Maddie clambering up to join them too. To his credit, Hiccup didn't complain about effectively being sat on by two children, chuckling at smug little smiles from said children.

"Comfy up there?"

"Yep!"

"You're not as squishy as mom here."

Alexis poked him in the chest, which made both adults giggle.

"No, no I'm not. I think I'm more squishy here though."

He poked himself in the stomach, grunting when Maddie shifted to sit on it, giggling to herself.

"Mom doesn't have a squishy tummy."

Maddie pointed out, and Astrid had no trouble believing that.

"Yes, but that's because Mala actually enjoys exercise. One of the first things she did when moving was look up the closest gym. I enjoy pizza. And cake. Speaking of eating, you guys are gonna have to shift your little butts if you want lunch some time today."

"What are we having?"

"Hmm. Hey, Astrid, do you have flour in?"

"Somewhere, yeah, why?"

Managing to extricate himself from under precocious children, Hiccup straightened up and stretched.

"Because that means I can make pizza dough. Wanna make our own pizzas?"

"Yeah!"

He let them 'help' make the dough first, but t fell to Astrid to keep them out of the way long enough for Hiccup to slice up all the ingredients necessary for toppings afterwards. Still, it was a fun (and messy) afternoon well spent, which meant Astrid had to hastily bathe her flour-and-tomato covered child before she handed her over to Viggo that evening, because he probably wouldn't appreciate wearing her lunch. Seeing that that was necessary, Hiccup began making goodbyes.

"We better get going Mads, Alexis is going to her dads today."

"I knowwww."

Maddie hugged Astrid and thanked her for letting them sleep over, Alexis chattering a mile a minute about how they should have sleepovers all the time. Astrid saw the sparkle in Hiccup's eye as he winked and grinned and agreed.

"We shall see you next week then. Have fun with your dad Alexis."

"I will! Thanks for feeding me Hiccup."

He chuckled and ruffled her hair, ignoring the flour that the motion dislodged, Maddie patting ineffectively at the flour on the leg of his jeans and only succeeding in adding little floury handprints to the mix.

Astrid couldn't stop grinning herself when he kissed her goodbye, Hiccup's knack for making her feel giddy as a schoolgirl kicking in.

"See you at the gates milady."

"You shall indeed. Come on munchkin, bath time."

"But mooooom-"

"No arguments."

Chuckling, Hiccup mumbled "good luck" under his breath as they headed out, turning back to throw her a smile before he was focused on getting Maddie safely strapped in to his car. As she dumped Alexis in the bath to scrub off various pizza components, her daughter had a question.

"Did you and Hiccup have a fun sleepover too?"

Biting back a laugh as she thought about just how fun their sleepover was, Astrid nodded.

"We certainly did."

-HTTYD-

Stay safe everyone! This little blended family want you to look after yourselves!