Set at the end of HTTYD 2. Before the dragon race at the end of the movie.
This is one of my favorite one-shots yet!
***
"Okay, Toothless. You remember the drill." Hiccup said to his dragon as he dipped his fingers in red paint and applied it to the Night Fury's head. Toothless warbled in agreement.
"Okay, remember, we missed the last race, admittedly that was my fault," Hiccup muttered. Toothless huffed, rolling his eyes.
"Oh, stop pouting. If we hadn't missed it, we wouldn't have found my mom."
The Night Fury growled in protest.
"Yeah, okay. The Drago part was bad. But," Toothless raced into the arena through the opened roof to meet Stormfly who was all painted and ready to race. "What? Where do you think you're going?"
"Hiccup?" The new chief swung around at the sound of his girlfriend's voice, forgetting that his hand was still dripping with paint.
A splash of red crossed her perfectly painted face, dripping down her cheeks like wax on a candle. Shades of crimson seeping into the fibers of her long blonde hair.
"Gulp." Hiccup said out loud before running as fast as his scrawny legs could muster. "Toothless!" He shrieked.
Toothless glared at him as if to say 'what did you do now?'
Hiccup jumped behind his dragon's back for protection.
"HADDOCK!" Astrid bellowed as she raced into the arena.
"Oh, sweet mother of Thor. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry." He pleaded for his life.
Astrid just let out a gentle sniffle. Then a sob.
Hiccup peered out from behind his dragon, to see Astrid Hofferson, crying.
"Astrid?!" He raced to her side. "I'm sorry. It was just an accident." He pulled her close.
She reached her hand behind her and dipped it into the bucket of blue paint she left on the table.
"Hiccup..." She sniffed. He pulled out of the hug and looked down at her.
"Yeah?"
"How did you fall for that?" She smirked.
"Wait, what?!" He thought.
Her arm swung around, slapping him in the ear with a handful of sky blue paint.
"Gotcha!"
"Oh, playing dirty now, huh?" Hiccup smirked mischievously.
He scooped a handful of red paint and threw it at Astrid. She returned the favor with yellow.
"Argh! That's nice leather, Astrid!" Hiccup moaned, brushing the paint off of his armor plate.
"And this is nice fur!" She pointed to her, now red, hood before scooping up more blue and throwing it low.
Splat!
"Hey, not the leg!" He warned. "It's not easy to cle-EEEAAAA!" He shrieked as he slipped on paint, landing on his tush with a thud. Almost landing in the bucket of red paint.
"Hahaha." Astrid couldn't help but laugh as she offered him a hand up. On the way up, he dunked his entire hand in the paint bucket.
Splat!
"Nhgh!" Astrid muttered. Straight in the face. "I'm so gonna get you, Haddock!" She smirked, wiping paint from her eyes. His eyes widened in panic.
She chased him around the arena. After a few minutes, she stopped in her tracks.
"Hiccup!" She gasped. He swung around to see her knelt on the ground staring blankly at a particular spot on the ground.
"What's the matter?" He approached with caution.
"Can I have a hug?" She smirked mischievously.
"What?!" She'd tricked him again. He may as well have the word gullible tattooed on his forehead by now. "No." He said, figuring out her devious plan.
Her gaze shot up to meet his.
"I'm sorry. What did you just say?" She wondered.
"No..." He winced, bracing himself for the beating he was certain was coming.
"Hiccup, what's the number one rule?" She questioned standing from the ground.
"What Astrid wants, Astrid gets." Hiccup remembered.
"Or...?"
"Or she will take it anyway and punish you for it later."
"Why, wait? When I can kill two birds with one stone." She smirked before tackling him to the ground.
Colors collided, mixing to make a multitude of new colors. It was a messy rainbow of fun.
Hiccup rolled on top of Astrid, sweeping her, now purple bangs from her face.
"Okay, you got me." He admitted. "I have learned my lesson."
"I'm not done teaching." She warned, rolling herself back on top of him. She rested her entire body against his, smothering him in paint from head to toe.
Hiccup decided he had suffered enough and tickled her mercilessly to the ground.
"Are you two ready to- oh." Valka froze as she noticed the mess that her son had made. She fought to hide her smile.
"Oh hi, mom!" Hiccup gasped, jumping off the ground to offer Astrid a hand up.
"This must be how Tuffnut applies his paint." Astrid chuckled brushed paint off of her skirt and sleeves.
"Nah, I pretty much just stick my face in the bowl," Tuffnut shouted from the stands above the arena. "It kinda burns when it goes up your nose but you get used to it. Just make sure you don't breathe it in, cause that-"
"How long have you guys been up there?!" Hiccup bellowed as he noticed his friends all watching the scene unfold.
"Long enough, my friend," Ruffnut admitted.
"Yeah, we saw the whole thing," Tuffnut added.
Astrid and Hiccup both turned crimson red. Thankfully the paint concealed their blushing faces.
"Go and get cleaned up you two," Valka suggested with a chuckle. "They can't start the race without you, son."
Hiccup and Astrid glanced at each other.
"Race you!" Astrid challenged.
"You're on!" Hiccup accepted and they both bolted to the showers.
***
