#nottmodr

Blonde Frustrations

Part Two to Lighten Up

The closer they got to Berk, the more dread Hiccup felt at getting there.

Blonde. It looked so foreign, so strange on him! He'd have to see Gothi, find out if there's a way to reverse it. If he had to wait until it grew out...he'd have to consider building himself a helmet.

"Are you seriously still moping about your luscious locks?" Ruffnut asked, half hanging off of Barf. "I think it looks pretty great. It's a whole new you!"

Hiccup groaned, "I don't want a whole new me, Ruff! Believe it or not, I actually liked my hair as is."

"Fine then, grumpy pants. If you're that unhappy about it," Tuffnut pursed his lips in thought, "We'll just tell your dad you stayed on the Edge. And we'll say that you are our third twin, Grumpnutt!"

"That--that's not how it works, Tuff..."

"Of course it is! Come on, it's a great plan!"

"Really guys?" Fishlegs chimed in, "Look Hiccup. Don't worry, I'll find a way to help get your hair back to normal."

"Thanks, Fishlegs."

They flew in silence the rest of the way. When Berk came into view, Hiccup felt his stomach twist. Astrid flew up alongside him, "Stop worrying. It's not like you're going to get punished for having a different hair color!"

"Punished? No, I'm not worried about that..." What he didn't want to admit was that it was the very likely possibility of being laughed at that was bothering him.

He could see his father ready to greet them below, Gobber standing beside him. Landing, Hiccup dismounted, turning to face his father.

Stoick's eyes widened, "What in the blazes happened to you, son?"

"That's not your son!" Tuffnut declared, "that, good sir, is our third twin, Grumpnutt!"

"Tuffnut!" Hiccup shot him a look, "Again, that's not how it works. But, but that's beside the point... I'm not going to pretend to be someone else, alright?"

"Suit yourself."

Shaking his head, Hiccup turned back to his father and Gobber, "Uh, the twins, they swapped my soap. It only happened just yesterday."

Gobber laughed, wrapping an arm around Hiccup and pulling him close, "Ya look like the son I always wanted!"

"Gee, thanks, Gobber..." Untangling himself from the blacksmith, he ran a hand through his hair. "Think there's a way to reverse it?"

Stoick stroked his beard, "You're asking the wrong Viking, son. If anyone knew if it were possible, it'd be Gothi. This isn't really her specialty though..."

"It's worth a shot though, isn't it?"

"I suppose so, son. If anything, it will grow out in a few months time."

"I don't exactly want to deal with this for months..." Hiccup sighed. "Maybe it'll fade."

"Not gonna happen," Ruffnut shook her head, then pointed at Hiccup's hair, "It's Thorston-proof. That color will only leave when it grows out."

Hiccup whipped around, "What?! Ruffnut! Why didn't you say something sooner?"

"You were already freaking out! What was I supposed to do?"

"Maybe give me all the information?!"

"Enough, you two," Stoick stepped between them, eyeing the twins, "The deed is done, and will not happen again, understand?"

"Hiccup, come with me. We have a lot of work to do."

"Yeah. I'm coming." The teen sighed. He'd be blonde for quite some time, unfortunately...

Oh gosh, I don't know what the top one would be!

I mean, I'm still pretty interested in doing a fairy prince!Hiccup AU which I suspect would be very self-indulgent and probably not appeal to a ton of people 😂

Probably some sort of soulmates play where Hiccup and Astrid meet and it makes him human!sized, and all the mess that comes with that.

I couldn't resist 😅

lmao 🤣 I should have predicted that was coming, haha

I know the ask game is just for you to tell me, but for fun...here's a little synopsis of how I would see that theoretical AU going 😂 :

There's good and there's bad, but overall I don't love it.

The good: I adore some of the Hiccstrid scenes we got in that movie. The scene on the cliff? Beyond adorable, I love seeing them playful with one another like that. The heart-eyes in the midst of battle? Incredible.

Tuffnut trying to give Hiccup advice is one of the most hilarious additions possible. I nearly spit out my drink in the theatre when he told him to 'lose the limp' 😂

The animation was beautiful. You can really see how far Dreamworks has come in that film! (The wedding!!!)

The bad: Lol. Blatant character assassination? Almost every character is done dirty by this film, but Hiccup may be the worst offender. Just a few highlights of that:

All the knowledge and respect he's shown to have had for the varied species and needs of dragons seems to fly out the window completely. Overcrowding Berk rather than returning them to the habitats he knows suit each unique species? Absurd.

Abandoning Berk at the first sign of a threat? Nonsense. Hiccup would have died to defend the Edge and their way of life, I have no doubt he'd have done more for his actual home. Having him runaway without taking a stand to defend his home didn't make any sense, especially since Berk is all he has left of his father. (And Grimmel is such a lackluster villain. RTTE Hiccup would have wiped the floor with him).

He honestly comes across as a weak and barely respected leader, and I hate that. After everything he's been through and fought for, he's shown his leadership and earned Berk's respect 100 times over.

The ending. It's been said 1000 times over, but the ending ruins the heart of the story. There so much great messaging throughout the franchise about learning to coexist, finding peace between the species and standing up for what you believe in – all to just be like 'oh actually, nevermind' at the end. Awful. Though I understand the attempt at a 'if you love them, let them go' storyline – it doesn't work.

Seeing Toothless choose the Light Fury over Hiccup after like 5 seconds? When they've spent YEARS together – fought, bled and nearly died for one another? I'm not buying it.

Walking back directly to Hiccup's house, she opens the back door to find him sitting by the fireplace in his armchair looking at a document.

Perfect. He was distracted. Now was her chance. She reaches into her satchel and pulls out a handful of catnip. With swift steps she rushes to Hiccup and places it right under his nose, and waita to see his reaction, seconds stretching to hours.

His ears pinned back and he sat up straight as Astrid rushed towards him. "Astrid? Is--oh."

Hiccup froze in place, the scent of the catnip already taking effect. He looked up at her slowly, his tail swaying in the air behind him. There was a dazed, far away look in his eyes. "Huh. Your eyes...they have flecks of silver in them..."

"It, it's so beautiful..." He went to reach up to touch her cheek, only to stare in surprise at his hand. "That looks weird..." Brows furrowed, he took a closer look at his hand, which in reality, looked completely normal.

"Did you ever notice how weird hands are?" Turning to look at his palm, he curled his fingers inwards before fanning them out again, "I can move each finger individually...or not at all..."

The fire crackled, getting his attention. Pupils dilating, he got to his feet to go towards it. "So warm...don't you love being warm, Astrid? So much better than being cold..." Stretching out on the rug by the fire, he went to lay on his back only to wince, and stare at his tail, "Whoa! Easy there, I almost squashed you..." Giggling to himself, he curled up on his side, the end of his tail tapping the rug beneath him.