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Sometimes Hiccup Haddock had a very one track mind. When he got really focused on something, it was often really hard to snap him out of it. Today was one of those days. He was in his hut working on the Dragonfly. He'd left the door open, that way Toothless could come and go whenever he wanted. He'd been so focused that he hadn't noticed the various occasions when Astrid poked her head through the door to check on him. Every single time she did, Hiccup looked the same—sitting on the floor, bent over blueprints and mechanical parts.
Astrid checked on him several times, and the last time had been just after midnight. It was now morning, and lo and behold, Hiccup was still working on the Dragonfly. She scoffed and shook her head. Judging by the dazed look on Hiccup's face, he'd been up all night. She couldn't have that. They needed their top rider in top condition. Astrid entered the hut and approached Hiccup, who didn't even look up. Toothless did though, warbling softly at her presence from his bed.
“Hey,” said Astrid, trying to ensure her voice was loud and stern enough to be heard, but not angry. Hiccup still didn't look up.
“Hey!” Astrid tried again. Still nothing. Finally, she took her axe handle and bumped him on the head with it. It was a gentle blow for Astrid standards, but clearly it still hurt. Hiccup jolted and tenderly rubbed the top of his head.
“O-Ow! Astrid, what's the big deal?”
“You didn't sleep at all, did you?” Astrid said simply, crossing her arms and popping her hip out to the side.
“W-Why, what time is it?” Hiccup stuttered, taking a glance out the door.
Astrid rolled her eyes. “It's morning, muttonhead. And you've been working since breakfast yesterday morning, so I take it that's a no.”
Hiccup hopped up from the floor, swaying just a little as his sleeping leg got used to sensation again. He now saw the bright light of day outside, and smiled sheepishly at Astrid. “W-Well, uh, no… Yes. Um, I don't think I slept.”
“Didn't think so,” said Astrid. She examined Hiccup further, noting the dark circles under his eyes. “You worked through lunch yesterday. And dinner. Have you eaten anything? Drank anything?”
Hiccup just stood there staring at Astrid with his infuriating little “I'm in trouble” smirk. She didn't miss how he awkwardly shifted his weight from foot to metal foot. She pressed a hand against her forehead in irritation, groaning along with the gesture.
“Come on, Hiccup, let's get some breakfast. You can't expect yourself to finish your ‘genius inventions’ with no brain food.”
“Right! Yeah, brain food, okay… Uh, c’mon, Toothless,” Hiccup replied, patting his thigh to get the attention of his dragon. Toothless stood up and followed Hiccup and Astrid out of the hut. They all made their way to the firepit in the clubhouse, which Toothless conveniently lit with a plasma blast. Astrid quickly set about making breakfast for herself and Hiccup, a few grilled cod. Hiccup sat fidgeting on one of the log benches. He felt something was off, but he couldn't quite place what. That happened a lot when he got hyperfocused. He had a tendency to accidentally ignore his needs, and he now had to figure out which of his needs was bothering him at the moment. He was quite hungry, but he didn't think it was that. He was also really thirsty, but that wasn't what was bothering him either. He internally shrugged. He supposed he'd just solve both of those things. Maybe it was the combination.
Astrid dropped a plate into Hiccup's lap, and then dropped a fish onto the plate. Then she shoved a canteen of water into his hand. Hiccup had to scramble to make sure nothing fell onto the ground.
“Now eat,” she ordered. She stood with her arms crossed, glaring down at Hiccup. Clearly there was no room for argument. Once Hiccup picked up his fork and started eating, Astrid sat down next to him and started doing the same. They sat in comfortable silence, broken only by the sound of chewing and clacking cutlery.
“I can't tell if you're mad or not,” said Hiccup after a minute or two. He didn't look over at Astrid, but he knew she was listening.
“I'm not mad at you. I know you don't mean to,” said Astrid, but there was still an edge to her voice. “I'm mad because it happens so frequently, and you treat it so flippantly.”
“Well, that's because it happens frequently. It's never been that big of a problem before.”
Astrid scoffed and rolled her eyes. “Mhmm, like that time you forgot to eat for three days and passed out on your way to the Great Hall?”
Hiccup, proven wrong, resigned to saying nothing more, simply continuing to eat.
“That's what I thought,” said Astrid smugly.
Another minute passed in silence, with Hiccup occasionally fidgeting in his seat. Soon, Astrid piped up again. “Okay. How about we go for a fly after breakfast? Then you go to sleep for a bit, and I'll wake you up later.”
Hiccup smiled. “Eh, I could get behind that.”
Once they were finished eating, Hiccup and Astrid saddled up their dragons and mounted them. It wasn't until they were hundreds of feet in the air, already flying high over the sea, that Hiccup figured out what need it was that was making him feel weird. He was absolutely bursting to pee. The need hit him so suddenly he had to lurch forward on Toothless, who growled softly in concern.
“D-Don’t worry, bud, I'm fine,” Hiccup assured him. Boy was he glad that Astrid was flying ahead and didn't witness that unflattering display. He was debating how seriously he wanted to take racing her today in his current condition when a sudden twinge of pain made the decision for him. He wanted a nice and easy flight. With a small burst of speed, Hiccup and Toothless caught up to Astrid and Stormfly.
“H-Hey Astrid, I might just take this flight easy! I'm actually pretty tired,” said Hiccup, yelling so she could hear him over the wind rushing around her ears. Astrid looked over, slightly concerned at first before her expression was replaced with one of empathy.
“Okay! No problem, Hiccup!” she said, shooting him an understanding smile. Both of the riders decreased their speed until they were gliding leisurely, high above the water. But while their speed decreased, Hiccup's discomfort certainly increased. He wracked his brain to try and figure out exactly how he'd ended up in this situation. He hadn't drunk anything in the past eighteen hours or so, other than just a few minutes ago, as a result of his hyperfocus. He was definitely dehydrated, but unfortunately, that didn't matter. His bladder had had plenty of time to fill, in spite of the lack of water in his body, since his last bathroom break after breakfast yesterday. Yesterday. Oh, Thor, this wasn't good… Hiccup sucked in a gasp at another sharp pain, and Toothless groaned with concern in his dragon way.
“Yeah, I don't know about this bud. Might have to make a pit stop,” said Hiccup. “Hey Astrid! I'm landing!”
“Why? Are you okay?” she asked, brows furrowed. Hiccup couldn't help but blush in embarrassment.
“Uh, well, as it turns out, there's another need I accidentally neglected…”
Astrid just stared at Hiccup for a moment. He was fidgeting on top of Toothless, moving his thighs up and down just enough that she could see it. He'd been fidgety all morning, but he was always focused when he was flying… She was looking at an angle, but she could still see Hiccup's clearly uncomfortable posture. Ohhhhh, that was it.
“Ugh, of course there is…” Astrid groaned. “Hiccup, this really isn't healthy!”
“Oh, honestly Astrid!” Hiccup complained, drawing out the syllables and swaying his head in annoyance with each word. “Can't we talk about this later?”
“Yeah, yeah, whatever! Just land before you hurt yourself!”
She didn't have to tell Hiccup twice. He was already diving towards the beach on Toothless. Left in the dust, Astrid scoffed. It must have been urgent to warrant that.
Hiccup and Toothless slowed down as they approached the beach so they could land safely. As they grew closer, Hiccup could see that the beach looked a little weird. The sand was darker than it was supposed to be. And lumpier. Just before they were close enough to land, Toothless growled and bolted away. The sudden jerking movement wasn't too kind to Hiccup's bladder.
“Whoa, whoa, Toothless! Come on, turn around! What's the matter, buddy?” Hiccup sputtered, one hand letting go of the saddle grip in favor of holding himself. He really didn't know how much longer he was going to last. Hiccup squinted down at the beach and soon realized what the problem was. It was littered with dead eels. They were washed up all along the length of the narrow beach. There was no way Toothless would land anywhere near it, and the trees on the other side of the beach were too densely packed for the dragon to land there either. They'd have to find somewhere else. Astrid pulled up beside Hiccup and Toothless, and Hiccup quickly moved his hand back to the saddle grip.
“What's the matter?” she asked.
“Look at the beach. Dead eels everywhere. Toothless wouldn't land.”
Astrid looked down at the beach. “That's really weird. What are they doing there?”
“I don't know,” Hiccup replied. “But you know what this means, right?”
“Typhoomerangs. If they're not already here, they will be soon. Let's head back to the base.”
Hiccup's eyes widened, and he hunched over a little. “Oh, Thor’s beard, let's worry about that in five minutes. I need to land, right now.”
Astrid rolled her eyes. “Right, right. Better hurry up,” she teased.
Hiccup looked around, bordering on frantic, for a place to land, and managed to spot a clearing in the trees. He pointed to it. “There, Toothless!”
He and Toothless shot off towards the clearing. “Gently, bud, land gently please,” Hiccup pleaded. He was back to holding himself. Toothless landed as gently as possible, and Hiccup tried to jump off, but he forgot to unlatch his leg. And that's what resulted in him hanging off the side of the dragon, trapped by his metal leg.
“Son of a half-troll rat-eating munge bucket!”
“That's my line!”
Hiccup looked up to see Astrid and Stormfly flying in place just above Toothless.
“Oh, this is so embarrassing…” Hiccup groaned. “Astrid, d-do you think you can help me out here?”
“Yeah, I suppose,” said Astrid with mock begrudging. Hiccup squirmed pathetically, half laying on the ground and half upside-down. He watched (with an upside-down view) as Astrid landed Stormfly and slid off her back.
“Careful Astrid, you're moving awful fast over there,” Hiccup sassed. Astrid stopped in her tracks and crossed her arms in annoyance.
“Do you want my help or not?”
Hiccup's eyes widened with panic. “Yes, yes! Yes, please still help me! Oh, I can't take this…”
Rolling her eyes, Astrid approached Toothless. She carefully unlatched Hiccup's leg from the custom foot pedal, and in an instant, he scrambled to his feet. His eyes darted all around the clearing, looking for a suitable spot.
“Don't thank me,” said Astrid, shaking her head in disbelief. She'd seen Hiccup frantic before, but not quite like this. This must have truly been urgent. In fact, he was actively squirming around in desperation. Astrid's face heated up from second-hand embarrassment. Under normal circumstances, Hiccup would never have allowed himself to be seen like this.
Hiccup was a flurry of motion as he ran for the treeline, already working on undoing his pants. He was in unbelievable pain—nothing compared to the phantom pains he sometimes got in his stump, but the pain and pressure in his lower belly at the moment were definitely up there. If he didn't do something about this now, Hiccup would surely wet himself.
Once he was behind a tree, concealed from Astrid's view, Hiccup finally managed to free himself from his pants, and barely a second passed before he was letting loose. He didn't even get that instant relief—his bladder had been stretched beyond its normal capacity, and it took a moment for it to truly start emptying. Once it did though, the relief was impeccable.
Astrid timed it in her head, and by the time Hiccup emerged from behind the tree, it had been a whole two minutes. She was baffled. Hiccup never allowed himself to be so physically vulnerable around anyone. Whatever he just went through had to have been agony.
“You okay?” she asked once he returned. He rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly, his face flushing just a little.
“Uh, y-yeah… Um, thanks for that back there. You won't mention this to anyone else, right?”
Astrid chuckled and shook her head. “No, Hiccup, I won't. But if it ever happens again in front of any of the others, I'm not covering for you.”
“Right… Anyway, let's get back to base,” said Hiccup. “We have Typhoomerangs to prepare for.”