liwrio

So two amazing artists @mellidraws and @syverlee made GORGEOUS figure skating AU art for Hiccstrid and I just… had to expand:

The ten year-old figure skater in me is screaming. And has now taken over. *cracks knuckles*

Astrid and Hiccup have gone to the same skating club since they were super young

Astrid’s mom put her in skating lessons as soon as she could walk

Stoick owns the rink and Hiccup loves watching Astrid skate

The day she dress-rehearsed her first solo (at six), Hiccup brought her a single flower he found somewhere

Growing up, Hiccup picks up drawing and his favourite thing to sketch is Astrid but he just can’t get the anatomy right

At 10, he starts practicing secretly by himself, to learn how the movements feel so he can improve his art, showing up at the rink after hours

Gobber catches him one day and decides he’s really good an makes him come up with a program for the Spring competition (Star 2 - Junior Category (These are Canadian categories))

It’s a surprise to everyone when his name is called on the PA to skate. Even more so, when he wins second place

Astrid is there (competing at a higher level obvs) and gets defensive of her title bc if he improved so much in such a short period of time, he’d be caught up to her and maybe even pass her in no time

Thus commences the rivals dynamic

Anyway, they grow up competing against each other, even though they’re always in separate categories (mens and womens), every new achievement is a bragging right.

The day Astrid lands her double axel is the day Hiccup tries for the double axel - double loop combo, despite only having ever landed the second jump 5 times. They’re constantly at odds with each other

UNTIL one day when they’re sixteen and Gobber has had enough. He pulls them aside and starts ranting about how he can’t take it anymore and shoves an Ice Dancing flyer in their faces

(for those who don’t know, figure skating is solo and ice dancing is partner dancing)

They’d had danced some over the years but it was always because they’d had to. They had passed all the other required dances at 14 from the waltz to the willow, to whatever the hardest one is (I wouldn’t know, I stopped halfway) Now they just needed to overcome their rivalry and come up with an original program to compete in their neighbouring city’s competition.

They win it like it’s nobody’s business and Stoick sees lots of potential in them and has them start training more intensely

This is giving me ABSOLUTE Tessa and Scott vibes, but actually with romance because oh whoops… Astrid starts crushing on her partner. And Hiccup never got over his, but the competitiveness overtook it for a while

Now they’re head over toe-picks for each other and heading into nationals