Hitchups

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

"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."

Tropes used in Hitchups include:

• 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 Snoutlout and Camicazi, to the girl's displeasure, as Hiccup found out, painfully.
• Badass Adorable: Camicazi
• Badass: Hiccup eventually becomes this.
• Bow and Sword in Accord: Hiccup's weapons of choice 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. 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.
• 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.
• Cliff Hanger: Oh so many. And very good at making readers go "Tell me what happens next, please!"
• Coming of Age Story
• Cuteness Proximity: When Toothless acts cute, he causes this in the Bog Burglars, to Hiccup's surprise.
• Deadpan Snarker:

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: Hiccup, once he learns how to use a bow.
• 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.
• Energy Bow: Framherja
• The Exile: What Hiccup becomes 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.
• Fan Service: 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 Snoutlout, when he come back to Berk.
• Good People Have Good Sex
• 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.
• Hero's Journey
• 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
• Memento MacGuffin: Astrid's axe
• Missing Mom: Hiccup lost his mother after she fell from a dragon. Her death had a profound impact on 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 learned 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.
• 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.
• Raven Hair, Ivory Skin: Gudrid.
• Razor Wings: Astrid's dragon, the Timberjack that Hiccup freed, as well as every other Timberjack for that matter.
• Reality Ensues: 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.
• Recursive Fanfiction: This story has a spin-off oneshot focusing on Hiccup and the Elder called The Elder's Prediction.
• She's All Grown Up: Although, it did take Hiccup getting drunk to realise/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, but not the ones spoken at that time.
• "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.
• This Is Sparta: Camicazi does something like this after hearing that Hiccup doesn't regret leaving in the first place.

Camicazi: "I! Am! Marrying! Snot! Lout!"

• Tomboy: Camicazi and Astrid.
• Throwing Down the Gauntlet: Snotlout to Hiccup.
• 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.