Babe

Summary: When Astrid called him babe, I fangirled out. But how did Hiccup act the first time? What did everyone else think? In which, Astrid calls him Babe for the first time, and Hiccup hardly knows what to think. Or the times everyone else heard the nickname for the first time. (Limited HTTYD 2 spoilers. If you haven't seen the movie, then you should skip number 8)

iHeartRadio channels listening to when writing: Fall Out Boy, The Script, Jason Aldean, Panic! At the Disco

1. Hiccup

Hiccup didn't notice her at first, his attention solely focused on the saddle in front of him.

Astrid considered making a lot of noise on her way over to him so he knew she was coming toward him, but in the end she decided it was funnier to startle him.

Placing her finger to her lips to signal to Toothless to be quiet, she tiptoed across the forge, doing her best not to trip on the spare parts strewn across the floor haphazardly.

In the 6 months since the Red Death fight, he'd gotten surprisingly muscular. He wasn't beefy, but he didn't look so much like a toothpick either. Not that Astrid really minded either way.

His back to her, he leaned over the leather, nimble fingers sewing the various pieces together. Astrid loved to watch him work, but if she stood there for too long he would notice her and she would lose the prime opportunity to scare him.

She placed her fingers on the small of his back and leaned into his ear and whispered, "Babe."

Hiccup would forever swear that he did not nearly jump out of his skin. But Astrid her own problems to deal with, and hardly noticed his reaction.

Where had 'Babe' come from? She swore, she was not planning on saying that. It had just kind of slipped out.

She attempted to play it off. "Whose saddle are you working on?"

Hiccup stared at her for a few seconds, his eyebrows drawn together in thought. Did Astrid mean to say that? he wondered. Does she regret it. He decided it would be less awkward if he just answered her question.

"It's for Ruffnut. She burned her last one."

"Shocker," Astrid commented dryly.

Noticing the shadows slanting across the worktable for the first time, he asked, "What did you come down here for? And how late is it?"

Grateful for a new topic, Astrid answered, "To make sure you didn't forget to eat supper. Everyone else is the Meade Hall."

He tried to wipe the soot off of his face with his tunic, but succeeded in only smearing around even more.

Astrid chuckled and grabbed a rag from the table an tried to help him clean up. He had grown a couple of inches taller and now she was reaching slightly to clean his face.

Once the dirt was gone, she went to remove her hands from where she had them on his face, but Hiccup grabbed her wrists, an used the leverage to pull her closer to him.

Astrid wondered when he'd gotten so bold as she slipped out of his grasp.

"Astrid," Hiccup whined.

Smiling, she punched him on the shoulder. "Come on," she said and grabbed his hand to pull him towards the Meade Hall. Just outside the hall, however she stretched up to give him a quick peck on the lips, before leading the way inside.

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2. Fishlegs

Fishlegs and Hiccup were in the Arena fitting Meatlug with her new harness. Her old one had snapped from being used so much, and Meatlug hadn't liked the way it had fit her anyway.

Astrid strolled into the Arena, Stormfly following close behind. Spotting the two boys, she smiled and headed their direction.

"Hey, Babe," She called. Hiccup barely flinched and the term of endearment. Astrid had been going out of her way to call him that all the time lately.

Fishlegs was another story, however. His mouth was slightly agape.

Had Astrid just said that? He mused, fairly confused. As long as Fishlegs had known Astrid, which was a pretty long time, she had never once used a cute name for anyone. She would shorten their names sometimes, to Fish, or Ruff, or something like that, but not a nickname.

It was actually pretty amusing to analyze Astrid and Hiccup together. They acted like totally different people when they were together, and not like they had change their self to get the other to like them. It was like they were more comfortable when it was just the two of them. Astrid was surprisingly supportive of Hiccup, and Hiccup opened up to her more completely than he did with anyone else.

And no, Fishlegs definitely did not internally squeal when Hiccup kissed Astrid's cheek.

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3. Ruffnut

Ruffnut was smashing her head into Tuffnut's when Astrid and Hiccup came in, and so she ignored them at first, but when Tuff passed out, he was really boring, so she wandered over to the table that the couple was sitting at.

They were talking together animatedly, Hiccup's hands and arms flailing about as he attempted to emphasize a point, Astrid laughing and mimicking him.

That was weird. Astrid was usually the boring one. Unless she mad; then she would hit random things for no reason. Ruffnut loved when Astrid was mad.

But Astrid wasn't mad now. She was...laughing...with Hiccup?

Weirdest. Thing. Ever.

Although, Ruffnut did have to admit that Hiccup had been getting steadily more attractive this past year.

Ruffnut froze when Astrid said, "Babe."

What did she just say?

Hiccup responded to whatever Astrid had been saying, so Ruff had to assume that Astrid had been talking to him. Had Astid always called him that? Was it more recent or since they had started going out?

Wait. When did they even get together?

Tuffut stumbled back up. "Awesome," he slurred. "Let's do it again!"

Ruffnut complied and forgot all about Astrid and Hiccup. Until Tuffnut fell over after only one more head butt.

Was that Hiccup and Astrid together? Why was Astrid laughing with Hiccup? Were they...together?

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4. Snotlout

While Snotlout hadn't given up completely, after a little less than a year of Hiccup and Astrid being together, he didn't really think that Astrid was ever going to go out with him.

He'd moved on to bigger and better things. Like being the best dragon rider ever.

"Again," He insisted. He knew his monstrous nightmare was tired, and he was sure Hiccup and Toothless were too, but if he wanted to be the best, he had to push himself.

"Snotlout," Hiccup scolded. "You're going to kill Hookfang if you don't let him rest."

Snotlout didn't want to agree, but he also didn't want to hurt Hookfang. He was his best friend.

He pretended to think about it for a moment before agreeing. "Fine."

As they circled closer to the ground, Snotlout could just barely make out Astrid waiting on the ground for them. Seeing a smile ghost Hiccup's lips, Snotlout rolled his eyes. "Lover Boy."

Toothless snorted and grumbled something that sounded along the lines of, "Yeah, you're one to talk."

Once they dismounted, he heard Astrid call out, "Hey, Babe. Where've you been?"

She was clearly talking to Hiccup, and Snotlout was slightly taken aback. He had no idea Astrid liked to use nicknames. He got a punch in the gut from her every time he had called her Sweetheart, Princess, or Baby.

He scrunched his nose, and facing Hiccup, he made a gagging motion. Hiccup just laughed, and gave him a friendly push.

"Who knew you thought nicknames were gross. I thought you were all for them," Hiccup mused aloud.

"Yeah, whatever. Come on, Hookfang. I'm going to puke if I see them make lovey dovey eyes at each other one more time."

Snotlout could hear Hiccup's and Astrid's laugh resounding behind him as he meandered out of the Arena and back to his house.

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5. Tuffnut

Most things outside of violence didn't interest Tuffnut. He had a short attention -

TERRIBLE TERROR!

Tuffnut followed the little green dragon through the woods. The Terror kept slowing down to let Tuffnut catch up, and then as soon he had almost caught it, it would go back to flitting between the trees out of his reach.

Eventually the Terrible Terror flew off through the tree tops, and Tuff tried to throw branches to knock it out of the sky, but they kept falling down and smacking him in the face.

He was getting ready to climb a tree and then jump off it and grab the Terrible Terror from the sky, when he heard voices. Looking over the edge of a drop-off into a cove.

Seeing Hiccup and Astrid down there, with their dragons playfully fighting, Tuffnut forgot all about the Terror and decided spying on the two Vikings would be more fun.

"-you're father?" Astrid was saying.

Hiccup shrugged. "Better than they were a year ago. He still makes it a habit to ignore me when I'm trying to tell him things, especially important things."

"You'll get used to it, Babe," Astrid said smirking.

Hiccup grinned and said, "Ha-ha, very funny."

Tuffnut got up bored and wandered away, looking for a good rock to hit his sister in the head with.

Hiccup and Astrid were really boring and never said anything interesting, he decided.

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6. Gobber

Gobber could tell Hiccup had been in an extraordinarily good mood lately, and he had an idea what was up.

"Things going well with Astrid, eh?" he asked the young boy.

Hiccup smiled and nodded, and glint in his eyes.

They continued to work on saddles in silence, until Astrid entered the forge.

"Hi, Babe," she said, walking in like she owned the place. Well, she did go there more than anyone besides Hiccup and Gobber. "You ready to go flying?"

Gobber raised his eyebrows at the pet name Astrid had evidently given Hiccup. The boy shrugged back in response, and then turned his attention to her.

"Give me one second," He said, and disappeared behind the curtain into his little room in the back, carrying a handful of spare parts. He returned a few seconds later, this time empty handed.

"Ready," he announced.

Astrid grabbed his hand, and tugged him out, Toothless following not far behind, eager to go stretch his wings.

Gobber chuckled to himself. Ah. Young love.

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7. Stoick

Everyone was in the Meade Hall, happily eating, except for Hiccup. He was in the Mead Hall, but his nose was in book, pencil flying across the paper as he added new dragons to his dragon manual.

Stoick walked right up next to him, but the boy hardly noticed. "Hiccup," he said, but was still ignored.

Astrid was on Hiccup's left, with Fishlegs on his right. On the other side of the table, Tuffnut sat directly across from Hiccup, with Ruffnut on one side, and Snotlout on the other.

When Astrid noticed Hiccup was being oblivious to everything, she gave him a little nudge. "Babe. You're dad wants you."

Babe?

"Huh?" Hiccup asked, confused. He looked around, slightly disoriented, before noticing Stoick looking over his should.

Why was Astrid calling him 'Babe'? Am I behind everyone else? After all, no one else even looked in their direction when she had said it.

Snotlout was is a very aggressive arm-wrestling match with Tuffnut, Ruffnut was cheering for one of them to break their arm, and Fishlegs was trying to impress Ruff with some not very interesting dragon facts.

Well, it wouldn't be the first time Stoick had hardly noticed the little details of Hiccup's life until they were smacking him right in the nose.

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8. Valka

Valka could definitely tell that something was up between Hiccup and Astrid. While she'd only just met him again after 20 years, she still had a mother's instinct.

When Stoick had been killed, Astrid was the one Hiccup went to for comfort, and she gladly gave it to him. There was something there between them that reached beyond just friendship.

So Valka honestly should not have been surprised when she heard Astrid call up to Hiccup during the battle with Drago Bludvist:

"Take 'em down, Babe!"

Valka suppressed a smile and the urge to say: "Aww."

But she could not hold in her grin when Hiccup kissed Astrid after Toothless became the alpha and he was about to be made the Chief.

Her mother's instinct was never wrong.

A/N: Hey guys. So yeah, there's that. I loved writing the first one, and writing Ruff's and Tuff's was a bit a challenge, but fun.

I hope you enjoyed. Head over to my profile, check out the poll, leave a review, follow, favorite, shoot me a PM. Whatever you guys want.