Fanfic / Hitchups

Hitchups is a How to Train Your Dragon fanfic written by The Antic Repartee.

Can also be found on deviantart here (includes art!)

"You are so busted."

When Hiccup hears these words and watches as Astrid runs to the village, he briefly entertains the idea of jumping on Toothless, going after her and catching her before she reaches her destination. Maybe if he shows her all the wonders befriending a dragon can lead to...maybe if she understood... then maybe she could see that thousands of years of Viking teachings were wrong. Maybe he wouldn't be forced to leave the island...

Nah, as if he has any chances of convincing her.

"Com'on bud, let's head south for now. I think I can survive a little easier in a warmer climate."

Based on a What If? scenario, Hitchups tells the story of Hiccup the Outlaw, the Rider of the Dragon, who leave his village of his own will. Travelling south, what once was a nomadic outcast life quickly becomes an epic adventure of two friends braving the vast world. However, one day the little boy will have to come back to Berk.

As the author says: "This is not a romance fic. This is adventure, this is friendship, this is drama, this is humor, this is family, this is fantasy, this is experience. [...] There will be gods. There will be mythology. There will be Berk. There will be decisions. There will be mistakes. There will be consequences. There will be loss. And, most of all, Hiccup is going to grow up."

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Tropes contained in Hitchups:

• Acceptable Breaks From History: Many encountered characters didn't live at the same time; the author knows this, but decided to put them in for the giggles.
• Animal Talk: The dragons can easily communicate with each other and sea serpents but don't seem to understand other animals and no human can understand them. The only exception is Hiccup, but even then it is only with Toothless due to the bond they share. This could change with possibly more people learning to understand the dragons they have bonded with.
• Arranged Marriage: Between Snotlout and Camicazi, to the girl's displeasure, as Hiccup found out, painfully. When Camicazi lies to Hiccup about taking contraceptive, and has his child, Snotlout nullifies the marriage with relief.
• Badass Adorable: Camicazi is a capable fighter all while looking cute.
• Babies Ever After: Camicazi in Without A Hitch conceives a child with Hiccup, a little girl named Alivia.
• Be Careful What You Wish For: Astrid only wanted to best Hiccup in training, and she outs him as a fraud. This makes her the prize Dragon Training pupil, like she wanted. Only problem? Being the best trainer means nothing when your mother is sick, the dragons are coming in droves that you can't fight off, and the village has an Elephant in the Room about Hiccup leaving.
• Bittersweet Ending:
  • Hiccup and Toothless defeat the Red Death, as they do in canon, but Hiccup insists on leaving Berk and Walking the Earth since it's no longer home, and he and Toothless have been cursed with immortality. Stoick is heartbroken but resigned.
  • In Without A Hitch, Hiccup and Toothless outlive everyone they know, and Berk falls into the sea thousands of years later. Then during Ragnorak, Toothless dies, and Hiccup barely keeps himself alive without his best friend. Fortunately, they reunite in death.
• Bow and Sword in Accord: Hiccup's weapons are a bow, a sabre and a dagger.
• Character Development:
  • Hiccup chooses his own path with Toothless, which leads to him meeting different peoples and learning from them, eventually becoming a badass. He also becomes less impulsive as a result, and more adept in planning strategy.
  • Astrid's character is given more emphasis to it — instead of as in the movie, where we don't really know Astrid that well, this story takes her and rounds her out, meaning at first she is rather well... unlikable, but as the story progresses she and her struggles and goals become more sympathetic.
  • Toothless also matures, coming to trust in Hiccup as a team mate rather than someone who needs to be protected.
• Chekhov's Gun:
  • Astrid's axe. The Vikings in Miklagard attempt to use it to execute Toothless. Later on, when Astrid is sparring with it, she remembers the scar on Hiccup's back that's identical to the axe marks.
  • Hiccup's bond with Toothless. It saves their lives several times, like at Miklagard where it saves Hiccup from an otherwise lethal injury.
• Chekhov's Gunman: Gudrid, the wisewoman who serves as a mentor to Hiccup. She ends up being Gothi, the village Elder from his time who dies after he returns to Berk.
• Chick Magnet: Hiccup in this story. Several young women and even a few supernatural females in the story have been attracted to him. Some have even fallen in love with him. Because he is shy and modest, it is usually the woman who makes the first move. However, his shyness and evasiveness can make him inept with handling the advances or returning the affection.
• The Chosen One: Hiccup is the Chosen One of Thor, much to his surprise.
• Cliffhanger: Oh so many. And very good at making readers go "Tell me what happens next, please!"
• Coming of Age Story: The story shows Hiccup travelling the world and growing up from boy to man away from a village where he couldn't be himself if he wanted to be accepted.
• Cuteness Proximity: When Toothless acts cute, he causes the the Bog Burglars to go from fierce warriors to affectionate patters, to Hiccup's surprise.
• Deadpan Snarker: Toothless can be very snarky.
  Hiccup: "...we'd have to be trying to ignore the signs."
  Toothless: "When the signs are pointing to your imminent death, it's time to start ignoring them."

  Hiccup: "There's a Human Manual?"
  Toothless: "No! You gullible idiot. But if there was it wouldn't be very flattering!"
• Doorstopper: The story has reached completion with forty chapters and 330,217 words — this fanfic is essentially a novel!
• Dragon Archer: Once he learns how to use a bow, Hiccup is quite comfortable firing arrows on dragonback.
• Dragon Rider: Hiccup of course, but after he come back to Berk, many other young Vikings quickly become one. The first were Astrid and Tuffnut.
• Elephant in the Room: After Hiccup leaves, the village doesn't really speak about his leaving out of respect for Stoick. Gobber tries to hide a sword with Hiccup's trademark detailing, though Stoick notices it, and Gobber discusses this trope.
• Energy Bow: Framherja fires bolts of lightning.
• The Exile: Hiccup is self-exiled in this What If? fic.
• Fan Art: Several, the author has gathered these here. There is also plenty of art made by the author herself here. The author put some of these as the first thing people see when they read Hitchups on deviantArt.
• Fanservice: The scene with Hiccup bathing in the pool and being found by Astrid, who is highly amused by this pleasurable find — as are the (female) readers. This also happens "off-screen" when Hiccup gets spanked and startled by a tree limb when intruding in a forest occupied by hamadryad beings.
• First Love: Hiccup is this for Gudrid.
• Foil: Camicazi is this for Astrid, who is likewise for her. Ironically, Astrid is (canonically) the expy of Camicazi herself. On the male side, Hiccup and Snotlout, when he come back to Berk.
• Forgiveness: Though he won't admit it, Stoick is terribly worried about Hiccup. In time he wants him to come back, to stay on Berk permanently despite Hiccup exiling himself.
• Forgiven, but Not Forgotten: Hiccup tolerates the Vikings of Miklagard after they capture him and Toothless, manhandle him roughly for being snarky, split his back open while trying to kill his dragon, and then help him heal after Framherja appears and the Empress gives him and Toothless her protection. He's still surly around them, not willing to make small talk and such. Harold eventually gets him to mellow, but it takes a while.
• Gilded Cage: Hiccup's life in Miklagard while he and Toothless are grounded. He and Toothless have the empress's protection and are given fine rooms and luxuries, but he has to spend most of his time recuperating and unwillingly receives a haircut. Not to mention a revolution approaches.
• Guilty Pleasure: Camicazi enjoys sewing but she would die a crone's peaceful death before admitting it to anyone.
• Heartbroken Badass: Toothless' attraction to a Night Fury dragoness leads to a tragic outcome for him, losing not only the chance to win her affection, but also losing his freedom.
• Healing Factor: Subverted. Even though Hiccup had an accelerated rate of recovery, the large amount of time he spent in bed recovering after Taking the Bullet caused him to lose a lot of muscle mass, forcing him to work hard to get it all back.
• The Hero's Journey: Hitchups is all about Hiccup leaving behind everything he has ever known to explore the world before eventually returning to save his home.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: Hiccup and Toothless. By the author's own words, "They’re brothers from another mother."
• I Got Bigger: Hiccup got a lot taller after hitting puberty.
• Intellectual Animal: Toothless in this story. Part of the story's humor comes from his often denigrating comments about human anatomy versus dragon anatomy. Actually, Night furies have a very complex social structure, complete with relationship pairings and rituals.
• Lady Land: The Bog Burglars are all women and men are only allowed on their island in highly-restricted circumstances.
• Memento Macguffin: Astrid's axe represents the bond between her and her mother and Hiccup took it with him when he left and is eventually involved in his severe injury at Miklagard.
• Missing Mom: Hiccup lost his mother after she fell from a dragon. Her death had a profound impact on both Hiccup and Stoick, leading in part to the awkwardness surrounding Hiccup and Stoick's dysfunctional relationship. If Val had been there, she could have been the mediator between father and son and probably understood Hiccup better.
• Mugging the Monster: Some would-be thieves who learned that Hiccup has a dragon. The Væringjar also learn to THEIR shock that Hiccup has some very divine people who would like to see him live.
• Mythology Gag: Several to the books, and the movie itself. Examples:
  • Hiccup being referred to as Hiccup the Useless, as well as the other titles some of the other Vikings got.
  • Fishlegs getting a Basic Brown dragon.
  • The Meathead clan getting to the Green Death in a similar way to how Berk did it in the movie.
• Not Brainwashed: Hiccup tries to desperately tell the Miklagard Vikings that Toothless hasn't hypnotized him into flying with him. They don't believe him until he nearly dies from the axe blow meant for Toothless, and Toothless in turn remains defensive and bossy while Hiccup is recovering.
• Our Demons Are Different: Of the mind-controlling, winged and scaled variety. Hey, Green Death!
• Parental Substitute: Gobber is this to Hiccup. Here's the in story reason:
  "A world-travelling mother who counterbalanced her absence with trinkets, a chief for a father, present only in proximity... it was no wonder Gobber knew Hiccup better than either of his parents had."
• Post-Kiss Catatonia: Camicazi had a moment of this after the "Shut Up" Kiss mentioned below.
• Punctuated! For! Emphasis!: Camicazi does something like this after hearing that Hiccup doesn't regret leaving in the first place.
  Camicazi: "I! Am! Marrying! Snot! Lout!"
• Raven Hair, Ivory Skin: Gudrid.
• Razor Wings: Astrid's dragon, the Timberjack that Hiccup freed, as well as every other Timberjack for that matter.
• Recursive Fanfiction: This story has a spin-off oneshot focusing on Hiccup and the Elder called "''The Elder's Prediction''".
• Screw the Money, I Have Rules!: Hiccup is insulted when the Miklagard Vikings offer to give him back his rubies and let him leave the city alive while they keep and kill Toothless.
• Sequel Hook:
  • Hiccup is cursed to live forever, thanks to Loki. He and Toothless survive to the present day.
  • Astrid knows that her axe was used to give the blow that scarred Hiccup's back.
  • Hiccup at some point returns to Berk and the Bog Islands to spend time with his child Alivia.
  • Astrid also will eventually challenge Snotlout for his position as chief since she sees herself as a more competent leader.
• She Is All Grown Up: Although, it did take Hiccup getting drunk to realize/accept this of Camicazi.
• Ship Tease: Plenty, the most notable ships teased being Hiccup/Gudrid, Hiccup/Camicazi, and Hiccup/Astrid.
  • Victorious Childhood Friend: Camicazi, in the post-fic one-shot.
• Shown Their Work: The author has done her homework about the historical period and the encountered languages. It shows when we have some pleasant surprises like accurate French or Hungarian. Still, it is the current version of these languages, not necessarily the ones spoken during that time period.
• "Shut Up" Kiss: Hiccup does this to Camicazi when she was ranting on his actions.
• Star-Crossed Lovers: Hiccup and Gudrid.
• Taking the Bullet: Hiccup interposed himself between Toothless and an axe.
• Tomboy: Camicazi and Astrid.
• Throwing Down the Gauntlet: Snotlout challenges Hiccup to holmganga for leadership of their tribe sometime after he returns because Hiccup is inadvertently gaining support for the title.
• The Time of Myths: The setting of the story.
• Took a Level in Badass: Hiccup, but only after a training by a Hungarian seer and having matured a little.
• Walking the Earth: Well, Flying The Earth, the result of Hiccup's self-exile with Toothless. It helps Hiccup to grow as a person.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: As part of a running gag, Toothless expresses his interest in eating the messenger hawk Hiccup uses for communicating with Berk.
  *Averted*
  Bersi: "All I know is our fastest messenger hawk wasn't around when we needed tae contact Mogadon about that treachery incident. Now I'm nae pointin' fingers—"
  Hiccup: "It was him."
• What If?: Bread and butter of this story.
• Will They or Won't They?: Once Hiccup is back to Berk, he engaged into that sort of relationship with Astrid.
• You Can't Go Home Again: Even when Hiccup returns, he realizes that he can't stay on Berk. He's changed too much, and he has his mother's wandering spirit. His father reluctantly accepts that.

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