Fire and the Thud [Hiccup x Reader]

Fright Lined Dining Room

Hiccup held the newly finished saddle under his left arm, pushing out of the forge with the intention to give it to (Y/N) as soon as he found her. It was around noon, so presumably she'd be home, and so he decided to make his way towards her aunt Erica's house. He followed the familiar path, barely needing to pay attention to where he was going at this point. Instead, his focus laid upon potential places his girlfriend would be hanging out at if she wasn't home. He began to absentmindedly fiddle with the string around his middle finger which held his arm-piece in place, mind listing through (Y/N)'s favourite hiding spots.

He didn't see the villager rushing towards him until collision, a surprised noise pulled from his lips as he stumbled backwards. The saddle slipped from his grip and his eyes glanced down a second before he bent for it, apologies rushing from his mouth as he returned his gaze to the person he'd run into.

"Ah, no worries, Hiccup! Is that for the Night Fury?" The villager, a familiar face but a name not quite yet coming to Hiccup's memory, eyed the saddle which was now back in Hiccup's hold once more.

Hiccup's stomach dropped for a moment, eyes widening as the villager's words rolled through his mind again. For that second, he was scared that somehow Frostbite had been discovered, but he pushed away the worry as he reminded himself that they probably just meant Toothless. It only steadied his heartbeat slightly, but he ignored his concern to instead focus on remembering the villager's name.

"Uh, yeah it is," Hiccup paused but quickly managed to recall their name, "...Igar."

The man gave a grin, an excited gleam in his eyes and Hiccup couldn't keep himself from adding onto his side of the conversation.

"Toothless is growing out of his old one, so..." Hiccup lifted the saddle a bit for emphasis, praying that Igar didn't hear the awkward tone in his voice.

The short laugh that erupted from the villager startled Hiccup, and he furrowed his eyebrows in response, unsure of what earned the laughter.

"Alright, Hiccup.. Whatever you say." Igar chuckled again, before nodding and backing away to make his leave. Hiccup watched with confused eyes, shaking his head lightly as he worked through their conversation. He had no idea what had just happened, nor why the villager had reacted like he had. His only option was to continue making his way to (Y/N), but instead of his mind being occupied by where she might be, it was now concerned by what Igar might have meant.

---

"Hold on!"

I shouted downstairs as the sound of knocking floated up to my room. I already recognized the noise, matching it to Hiccup's usual knock. I assumed it was a tad weird to be able to know who was at the front door by how they essentially punched the wood, but it must be a side effect of hearing it often for the past several years.

I hopped on a single foot towards the staircase, pulling on my other boot before making my way down. The knocking began again a few seconds before I reached the door, and I rolled my eyes, pulling it open quickly.

"Somebody's awfully impatient," I announced as I spotted Hiccup, hand still midair before he pulled it away, giving a chuckle in reaction.

"Sorry, you were taking a while," he said with a shrug.

"Apologies for not flipping down the stairs to open the door for you." I shook my head, giving him a playful once-over before moving aside to let him in. He stepped forward, leaning down to press a kiss to my cheek before entering. I closed the door behind him, turning to watch as he wandered further into the house.

"So the weirdest thing just happened," he said once he stopped walking, spinning around to face me. I crossed my arms, raising my eyebrows in a gesture for him to explain.