Summary: One of the occupational hazards of being a Dragon Rider: Terrible Terror Belly Traps.
Fandom: How To Train Your Dragon
Pairing: None
Word Count: 1246
Rating: General
Warnings: Mild blood and scratches
Disclaimer: I don’t own the source material in this fanfic. That’s to whatever company or person owns it. I would never claim to own it.
Notes: There are probable influences from fandom and whatnot in this story. Shoutout to @jayalaw who made a comment about belly traps and Terrible Terrors in a Discord that made me want to write this. The setting is during HTTYD1, post-Defenders of Berk’s Worst in Show, and during Race to the Edge. AO3.
And it is below.
Hiccup sat with his back against Toothless, the little Terrible Terror cuddled up to him. Hiccup gave soft pets to the little dragon, pleased that the dragon trusted him enough to be practically napping.
The little Terror eventually yawned and stretched in front of Hiccup, showing the dragon’s belly.
“Are you sunning yourself, huh?” Hiccup asked.
Hiccup gently placed one hesitant, careful hand on the dragon’s soft scaly belly and—
Wham!
Talons and mouth grabbed his hand.
Hiccup yelped and Toothless growled deeply at the Terror.
“Toothless!” Hiccup scolded, as he pulled away from the Terror.
Hiccup checked his hand and arm. He was fine. Scratches maybe but not enough to draw any blood.
“Set a little belly trap, huh?” Hiccup asked, holding out the hand, and letting the dragon headbutt him.
Sometime after the Dragon Riders’ competition with Terrible Terrors, Astrid was in the Academy with her axe and whetstone while Stormfly napped next to Meatlug. Fishlegs was nearby.
Also nearby, Terrible Terrors.
Several of them were lying on their back, clearly intent on sunning their bellies.
Setting aside both axe and whetstone, Astrid carefully approached the nearest Terrible Terror, wanting to give the dragon a pat. These dragons knew them well.
Seconds after her hand started to move across the belly, the Terrible Terror grabbed her hand with their claws and their mouth, sharp teeth and sharp talons biting against her skin.
“Ow,” Astrid said, flatly. “No, you stop that.”
Fishlegs looked up from reading his book and gasped.
“Oh dear,” Fishlegs said softly.
“Give me my hand back, please,” Astrid said, patiently.
“Are you okay?” Fishlegs asked.
“This?” Astrid said to him, before directing her next comments to the dragon. “Hey, come on, you quit that.”
Astrid then carefully but quickly pulled her hand away from the dragon.
She showed Fishlegs her scratched up hand like it was a trophy to her. There were a few droplets of blood with some scratches but nothing that would necessitate stitches.
“It’s only fun if you get a scar out of it,” Astrid said.
“You saying that again?” Hiccup said, having flown into the Academy with Toothless.
She showed him her hand and with the other hand, pointed at the offending Terror that was still hanging around her.
“You got belly trapped, huh?” Hiccup said.
“Yup!” Astrid said.
The two of them looked at Fishlegs, who looked back at them.
“What?” Fishlegs asked.
A pause.
“Wait, you guys want me to give my hand to a Terrible Terror? That sounds like something Snotlout and the twins would have concocted,” Fishlegs said.
“Well, if memory serves, Tuffnut’s been attacked on the nose by Terrors, so has Ruff, and Snotlout seems to be a magnet for Terrors being bitey,” Hiccup said. “And Astrid and I have been recipients of the Terrible Terror belly trap. Kind of an occupational hazard at this point.”
Hiccup paused.
“And their bellies look so enticing, too,” Hiccup said.
There were at least three Terrors that were showing off their bellies to them.
Astrid watched as Hiccup and Fishlegs stared at each other and then at the same time, reached out to touch a Terror on the belly (not the same Terror), and both Terrors went for the hand.
“Thank you,” Hiccup said, very kindly, to the Terror.
Toothless was growling at the Terror.
Astrid and Hiccup both looked at Fishlegs, who was watching the Terror go for his hand with interest.
“They’re bitey about it but they’re clearly engaging in play with us,” Fishlegs said.
“Yeah!” Hiccup said, nodding. “It’s kind of a game for them.”
Astrid chuckled.
“Okay, stop growling, you,” Hiccup said, to Toothless, after he pulled his hand away from the Terror.
Fishlegs pulled his hand away, and left the Terror to their business.
Hiccup looked at Fishlegs’ hand. The scratches did not break skin.
“Hey, look!” Tuffnut exclaimed. “The Terrors are showing their bellies!”
Hiccup looked up from rereading their current notations from their version of the Book of Dragons.
Some of the local Terrible Terrors were all relaxing in the Academy, and all of the Terrors were lying on their backs, showing off their bellies.
Ruffnut and Tuffnut were both near the dragons.
Hiccup mentally debated between daring the twins to do it and telling them not to.
But Hiccup was starting to come around to the idea that telling the twins not to do something was almost the same as daring them.
He watched as Ruffnut and Tuffnut sat down near some Terrors, who seemed perfectly happy to be near them, and held out their hands towards two separate Terrible Terror bellies.
“I wouldn’t do that,” Hiccup said.
Ruffnut scoffed and then chuckled.
“And why not?” Tuffnut said.
Hiccup watched carefully, as in almost unison, both of them brought their hands onto the belly of the Terrible Terror of their choosing and just as he expected, the Terrible Terrors grabbed them with talons and teeth.
Ruffnut let out a high-pitched but very brief shriek and Tuffnut exclaimed something he said a lot: “I am hurt! I am very much hurt!”
Hiccup let out a sigh, but continue to watch them.
Ruffnut was now giggling a little, and moving her hand around.
Tuffnut was not doing either but he seemed amused by the Terror.
After a few more moments of this, Hiccup said, “Alright, that’s enough.”
“Aww,” Ruffnut said.
But both she and Tuffnut stopped what they were doing.
Hiccup watched as the Terrors righted themselves and then climbed into each of their laps, looking for pats.
All he found himself thinking of was the Terror that had cuddled up to him, that had been his “everything we know about you guys is wrong” epiphany with dragons.
He watched them happily for a moment.
“That right there?” Hiccup said softly. “The Terrors just… sitting in your laps? That’s why we train dragons.”
“Again!” Snotlout shouted.
Hiccup looked up from his doodling to see Snotlout with his hand touching a Terrible Terror belly, who was happily grabbing his hand with talons and teeth.
They were in the Clubhouse on Dragon’s Edge.
Hiccup sighed.
“It’s been years, Snotlout,” Hiccup said. “You know that they do that. It’s a game with them.”
Toothless made a laughing noise from his throat.
“Oh, you laugh when it happens to him? But if it’s my hand, you get all growly?” Hiccup said to the Night Fury. He made a tsking sound at the dragon.
Snotlout huffed.
Snotlout half-considered calling the Night Fury a mean name but Hiccup would likely object.
“Hey, stop biting already!” Snotlout said, soon afterwards to the Terror.
Hiccup sighed again.
“Pull your hand away!” Hiccup exclaimed.
“You pull your hand away!” Snotlout retorted.
Hiccup shook his head and got up to where Snotlout was sitting.
“Hey, there, that’s enough, huh?” Hiccup said, to the dragon.
Hiccup pulled Snotlout’s hand away from the dragon. Hiccup followed this up by picking the dragon up and setting the dragon on his own shoulders.
“Let me see your hand,” Hiccup said, gently.
Snotlout showed him his hand. His hand was fine.
“Hey, there, you going to let us pet your little head, hmm?” Hiccup asked the Terror.
Hiccup reach out with his opposite side hand, his palm open and once the dragon accepted his hand, he gave the dragon’s head a pat.
“Don’t bite Snotlout,” Hiccup told the dragon as Snotlout’s hand slowly moved towards the dragon.
“It isn’t unusual for Catalina to carry around flightless baby dragons or lazy terrors her own size on her back. The terrors will bring her shedded dragon scales after. Maybe as a gift, maybe as some sort of display of gratitude. Who knows.”
-Ana Curiman on her grandniece Catalina Curiman, year 2006, Neuquen, Argentina
A HTTYD: Wayra concept art, also a piece for college. Just so you know, I’m in the process of writing a first draft!
Six year old Catalina and a pair of funky terrors. They’re collecting dragon scales!
TERRIBLE TERRORS, they’re just so smol and fiery and you can keep them in your lap or put them on your shoulder or even just let them crawl around on your head and chill and I JUST REALLY LOVE TERRIBLE TERRORS OKAY, LIKE I HAVE A LOT OF LOVE FOR THEM (and the close runners up would be deadly nadders and stormcutters!)
9) Which score was your favourite?
The httyd 2 score because it was the first movie soundtrack to EVER make me cry and also is what got me so bothered about movie scores in the first place - basically it just gives me a lot of nostalgia lmao
15) Favourite moment from the third movie?
OH GOD, OH WHY - there are so many, Tuffnut’s pep talk, Ruffnut annoying Grimmel, Astrid’s little speech, the ENTIRE hidden world sequence. It’s all amazing… buuuuut if I had to pick one, I’d have to go with the end scene where we see older hiccstrid and the kids for the first time and Hiccup get’s reunited with Toothless, and they all go flying, because I have never cried so many happy tears in my entire life :’)
