Published: 14ty/June/2021

Been a while, eh?
Feel free to point out any mistakes.

Summary:
Astrid, the rising journalist specialising in controversial topics, has finally landed a big gig! She gets to interview the big-shot movie star, Hiccup Haddock, after his next movie premier! What she was not expecting, was how kind he would be.

Httyd Characters appearing/mentioned:
Astrid
Hiccup
Tuffnut
Ruffnut
Fishlegs
Mala

My OC's appearing:
Thyra

Other characters/real life people appearing and or mentioned:
Tom Hiddleston (I'm obsessed, ok?!)
Djimon Houndou (voices Drago)
Robert Downey Junior
Tom Holland
Jeremy Renner
Chris Hemsworth

Please note: This one shot will also make reference to, like, movie studios(?) that exist in real life, such as Dreamworks, Marvel or Disney.

Ok, on with the One shot! Hope you enjoy.

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Astrid takes a deep breath, cracking her knuckles as she tries to get herself psyched up. She's not usually this thrown about these sorts of things, she's not nicknamed the Fearless Journalist for nothing! Some critics even call her the Rabid Reporter. But this guy is one of the big movie stars! He makes millions each movie! He's even been in big Marvel films! If she messes this up, offends him or something, it could really damage her career. No pressure. Did she mention she's doing it live?

"Miss Hofferson? We're live in ten minutes." A lady pokes her head in the door, a headphone with a mic attached sitting on her head and a clipboard in hand. She taps the clipboard. "I'd suggest getting onto set."

"Is mr Haddock here yet?" Astrid asks, grabbing her jacket from her chair and pulling it on.

"Yes, mam. He's still in his room," The lady responds. Astrid nods.

"Send Thyra in, I'll be on set in a few,"Astrid orders. Of course, she doesn't mean to come off so cold, she's just stressed, and focussed. Luckily, having worked around her for a few months now, the lady understands this.

"Right away, Miss Hofferson," The lady responds with a smile, backing out of the room and speaking into her headset.

Astrid sighs, looking into her mirror and fixing her hair as she runs through the questions in her head. You got this, Astrid.

A minute later, another woman enters, sipping on a milkshake. She's donned in security uniform, a badge clipped to her jacket reading "personal bodyguard of A.Hofferson."

"Hey, how's it going?" Thyra greets Astrid with a pat on the shoulder.

"I'm nervous, not gonna lie." Astrid responds, being truthful. Which is a privilege only those close to her receive.

Thyra gives her an encouraging smile. "Astrid, you'll be fine! You're Astrid."

"Yeah, but what if I offend him?"

"You won't. And if you do, it's not a big deal. Just move on from the question!"

"Or what if he offends me?! What if he's so—so rude!"

"Astrid, this is Hiccup Haddock we're talking about! No one has ever said a bad thing about him!" Thyra exclaims. "And if he does offend you, which is highly unlikely to happen...kick his ass."

"On live tv?" Astrid snorts. Thyra grins.

"Yep, it's sure to give your career a kick!" Thyra laughs. Astrid cracks a smile and shakes her head.

"Alright...I can work with that—" Astrid pulls her phone out and checks the time, "— for now, but we gotta go or we'll be late."

"Good, come on then." Thyra claps her hands together and then pulls Astrid out of her room.

***

"Ok, let's do this. You go on, then he'll be out once you finish your intro." The producer tells Astrid. Astrid nods, showing she understands.

"You got this, Astrid!" Thyra gives her an encouraging shout. Astrid chuckles lightly, happy to have her friend's support.

"Thanks, Thyra."

The producer opens a door and waves Astrid through. Astrid jumps slightly on the top, stretches her arms, gives a silent pep talk to herself, then strides through.

She takes a seat on one of the blue armchairs. The voice of the director echoes through the room in the background.

"Ok, We're live in 5..."

Astrid clears her throat.

"4..."

She breathes in slowly.

"3..."

She breathes out.

"2..."

She plants on a smile.

"1..."

She faces camera 4.

"Good morning everyone!" She greets flawlessly, "I'm Astrid Hofferson and you're watching Time to Talk. Today, we have a very special guest."

She turns to camera 2. "This guest has been nominated and won several international acting awards. He has starred in such movies as Under Water, Light the way and The Bodies Pile Up. His latest project was Marvel's A Dragon's Edge where he starred as the main character, the Dragon Conquerer."

She turns to camera 3 and grins wider, "Today we are joined by none other than Hiccup Haddock and of course Toothless!"

The small studio audience among the cameras whoop and applaud to show their enthusiasm. A tall man walks into shot with a black Labrador at his side. He grins and waves kindly to the crowd, before approaching Astrid. Astrid stands up and offers her hand to shake.

Hiccup gladly receives the firm handshake and Astrid gestures for him to sit once they let go.

"Hello Mr, Haddock, great to have you and Toothless here!" Astrid greets.

"Thank you so much for having us," Hiccup responds happily as he takes his seat. Toothless sits as his feet, quite content. "And please, call me Hiccup."

Astrid nods, that was the response she was looking for. "Ok, Hiccup. So, congratulations on A Dragon's Edge, that's quite a big role!"

Hiccup nods, chuckling. "Yes, thank you! A very big role, but a lot of fun."

"So, how was it? What kind of challenges did you face while filming?" Astrid starts them off.

Hiccup pauses to think. "Well, this movie was so much different to what I was used to. This one had a lot of stunts to perfect."

Astrid's eyebrows shot up. She'd watched the movie earlier today at the premier. "You did all those stunts?"

Hiccup chuckled. "Yes, yes I did. No stunt doubles. I had some wonderful stunt coordinators and fitness coaches to get them as exciting and realistic as possible."

"Wow. That's incredible. What would you say was the hardest stunt?"

"Oh. Well I can't say too much, because I don't want to give spoilers like our friend Tom Holland," Hiccup gives a cheeky grin, and Astrid chuckles, nodding in understanding.

"But I can say this! There's this one scene when my character, Jay, had to jump off the top of a, uh, moving train to do something, uh, related to plot, and uh, I—he, sorry, has to end up landing on, uh, a platform of sorts. It was quite difficult to perform because it requires perfect timing." Hiccup responds. Astrid smiles and nods, recalling the crazy scene.

"And how did you find your cast-mates? Any rivalries?" Astrid asks playfully. Hiccup grins.
"No, no!" He laughs, "They're all fantastic! Despite who he plays, Djimon Houndou is a great guy! Very funny. Oh, Jeremy Renner and I would, uh, get together and play some music between takes. And Rdj is, just, wow. Who knew one could hide food in so many places?"

"Oh, so the scene with the grapes was unscripted?" Astrid asks. Hiccup nods, chuckling. Toothless shifts, looking a little restless, so Hiccup starts petting him fondly as he speaks.

"Yeah, I'm glad it made it into the movie."

"What was the environment like on set? Toxic in any way for you?"

"Nah, the closest thing to it being 'toxic' for me was when my cousin kept starting prank wars with two of the stunt coordinators. One or two takes were definitely pushed back."

"Ok, we're getting a little more serious with the questions now, so if you don't want to answer jsut let me know and we can skip!" Astrid advises kindly.

Hiccup nods, running a hand through his hair. "Yeah, ok. Let's do this!" He says cheerfully.

Astrid nods and takes a professional tone. "This is regarding the recent allegations your colleague, Dawn Rachella who plays Drago's daughter, has made public. Ms Rachella claimed to have been treated poorly by her personal manager due to her gender. She claims she was discriminated against, bullied, and gas-lighted. What do you have to say about these allegations and what, if anything, do you want to do?"

Hiccup takes a deep breath, turning serious. "Dawn actually came to me personally when we'd just finished shooting our fifth scene together. She asked me to help her prove our mistreatment. I promise her I would, because I was horrified to hear about it! I helped her get camera footage, and roaped in a couple friends to get she witness accounts."

"Who were these friends?"

"Ruffnut and Tuffnut Thorstan, my manager Fishlegs Ingerman, and my cousin Snotlout. Along with Anthony Mackie, Scarlett Johansson, and Tom Holland." Hiccup responds, slightly reluctant, as if he doesn't want to expose his friends.

"What do you have to say about how ms Rachella was treated?"

"Do you mind if I stand?" Hiccup asks, reaching down and petting Toothless' head again.

"Of course, of course." Astrid responds. Hiccup stands.

"Discrimination. is. wrong," he says firmly. "and no one should ever be treated differently or undermined because of their physical appearance, ethnicity, gender identity, or sexual orientation. It is wrong, cruel, pathetic behaviour and I will not stand to see any one I know being treated this way!

"When people are discrimsted against, and on lookers don't do anything about it...then these on lookers become just as bad." Hiccup lifts up his left pant leg to show his prosthetic leg. It's not uncommon knowledge to the public that he has one, but he rarely ever speaks about it. "When I got this, I, unfortunately, was discriminated. I didn't see it at first...but some pretty amazing people helped me realise what had been happening was wrong, and they helped me out of it. I simply refuse to see anyone treated like that. It's not right.

"That's why I vow to stand by Dawn. That's why I vow to stand by my female colleagues. To stand by my male colleagues...That's why I promise to stand with everyone! I vow to stand with the LGBTQIA plus community. I vow to stand with the indigenous people from all over the world. I vow, to stand up against hate because for a little while there, I literally couldn't stand at all. And it wasn't just because of the leg."

Hiccup takes a deep breath and sits down again. Toothless climbs up onto his lap and settles there, so Hiccup strokes his fur.

"Wow." Astrid tries to gather herself, fighting back the tears. "Just...wow. Thank you, uh, for that."

Hiccup chuckles. And it's now that Astrid realises he is nearly crying too.

She clears her throat, trying to get back on track. "One thing more notable about your movie was the obvious difference in costume. More specifically, the female's. Can you tell us about that?"

Hiccup nods, brightening up. "Yeah, uh, part of the reason the costumes were so badass and, uh, less skimpy—if you'll forgive me for saying that— was because we worked closely with the female cast, the costume developers and the directors to ensure that the costumes could be realistic, comfortable, aesthetically pleasing, and family friendly. The end result was great! They costumes looked really, really badass and I can go on reassured that people can bring their entire family to the movies without worrying about the costumes being adult-friendly and not kid-friendly." Hiccup explains.

Astrid smiles in approval. "Lots of people have been speaking about the last minute cast change that set the production back a few months. Can you tell us about that?"

"Well, Helen Hull was set to play Mala, but Marvel studios, as well as DreamWorks, found that the domestic violence claims against her were going to be potentially damaging to the studios."

"What does DreamWorks have to do with it?" Astrid asks.

"Oh, Dreamworks worked closely with Marvel to ensure the movie would work well with DreamWorks's movie trilogy, Race against time, because it is set in the same universe." Hiccup explains, "Miss Hull's reputation would reflect very badly on both studios, especially since she was found guilty. That's why the wonderful Sue took over, and did an incredible job."

"I see. It's been estimated that you're set to make at least 35 million dollars from this movie. Any ideas what the money will go to?" She wants to know if he'll keep it to himself.

Hiccup grins happily. "Oh, man... ok, so, we've been waiting for a really long time to announce this! Let me, uh, just call Tom up. Do you mind?" He beams, pulling out his phone. Astrid shrugs. Who was she to stop him?

Turns out Hiccup must have spoken to the directors before hand, because as soon as he made a call, the projector behind them advertising the show switched to a face time call. A familiar man on the other side.

"Hey Tom!" Hiccup grins up at fucking Tom Hiddleston! Astrid's eyes go comically wide.
"Tom Hiddleston, everybody!" She announces to the cameras, getting control of herself. The crowd cheers loudly. "Thank you for joining us Mr. Hiddleston! (Tom: "call me Tom!") Hiccup was just telling me about an announcement you two have?"

Tom grins. "Hello, yes we do! We've been very excited for this."

"Yes, it's been a struggle to keep it a secret!" Hiccup adds with a chuckle.

"Ok, so care to tell us?" Astrid asks kindly.

"Well, do you want to or should I?" Tom asks Hiccup.

"Oh, you can go." Hiccup shrugs.

"No, please I insist!"

Hiccup waves him off. "Ok, ok, I guess I'll go then." He says calmly.
"If you don't want to I don't mind—"
Hiccup laughs, cutting Tom off. "Tom it's fine! I was joking."

"Oh, sorry. EHEHEHE." Tom laughs his iconic laugh.

"Anyway, I better break the news! So, ever since I worked with Tom in The Hollow Crown, we've been talking about starting our own charity together! It's taken a couple years, but we're launching it next week! It's called Valkarie, which is a bit of a play on words: my late mother's name, and Valkyrie." Hiccup explains. Astrid raises an eyebrow.

"We're geniuses, don't give us that look!" Hiccup adds, earning more laughs. Toothless jumps off his lap but still begs for pats.

"And what's your charity about?" Astrid asks.

"So, basically, it's focused on helping people who have suffered, or are suffering, domestic abuse, neglect, and workplace discrimination. The idea is that Valkarie is a kind of shield maiden, offering protection. We'll set up safe houses in every state. Every country. Every city if we grow that much." Tom explains.

"These safe houses will be hidden from public eye," Hiccup informs, giving Toothless a belly rub after he roles over at his feet, which makes the crowd awww. "You'll find them if you're looking for them. They'll be decked out with food, water, first aid. And security guards, who will protect you if your abuser comes looking. They can also help you reach out to the authorities."

"As for the workplace discrimination, we can help you prove it, get justice, and be comfortable in your work place." Tom adds. "We want to promote happy, healthy work environments."

Astrid nods. "Wow, guys. It sounds amazing. We look forward to it's launch."

"Thank you!" They both reply, and laugh.

"We'll live stream it from our socials, so keep a look out!" Hiccup adds. Tom gives a thumbs up for encouragement and grins in anticipation.

"Ok, we better let you—" Hiccup is cut off when Chris Hemsworth bursts into the room Tom is in. He's dressed as Thor and carries Mjolnir.

"Come, brother!" He booms in Thor's voice. "We must take over Midgard."

"Brother, you big oaf! Spoilers!" Tom hisses back in Loki's voice.

"Oh, my apologies, brother. We must go save Midgard." Chris corrects himself with a laugh and a wink. Tom facepalms.

"As you can see, I'm on set." Tom laughs. "But it's been lovely chatting with you both!"

"I'd love to do it again!" Astrid responds cheerfully.

"I look forward to it—" Tom is cut off again by a "BROTHER!" From Chris. Tom Chuckles, wave goodbye, then disconnects from the call just as Chris drags him away. The display returns to normal.

"Wow. What a wonderful surprise!" Astrid beams.

"They're like children." Hiccup laughs. Astrid chuckles.
"Well, Hiccup, I have just one more semi-serious question for you." She says, feeling incredibly pleased by his responses so far.

"Shoot!" Hiccup smiles.

"What would you say is the most challenging part of being a famous actor?" Astrid asks.

Hiccup hums, rubbing his chin, before opening his mouth and responding. "Well...I was just a nerdy, awkward, lanky kid from Berk who never expected to get this far. I was not, I sometimes feel like I am still not, prepared for are the media and the press. And the, uh, invasion on private life. I mean no disrespect by this, but it can be kind of frustrating, when every little thing you do in public is judged, dissected, twisted, and used against you. It has become increasingly hard to keep my private like, well, private.

"Don't get me wrong, I love making a difference, and I love acting! But sometimes I just, I'd like to take a step back to breathe, y'know? Except I can't because when I do, my back hits another camera, another critic, another article, and I'm exposed all over again.

"Life can be so tough. Sometimes you just wanna come to the surface to breathe before the pap drags you down for too long. It's why I sometimes take a few months off, off of social media, events, filming... I'm just a guy, really. Just a normal guy who's perusing my dreams..." he falls silent for a few seconds. But before Astrid can speak up, he rushes to add something.

"But, I love my fans!" He smiles, holding his hands out in a soothing motion. "They're all beautiful, incredible people and I love meeting each and every one of them! They're simply amazing, and I do everything I can to make them happy, to give them the content they want! It's why i keep fighting. I know I'm a role model, so I always keep fighting so I know they will."

Toothless gives a little bark, his tail wagging. Hiccup chuckles. "And Toothless too." He adds. He Leans down and plays with Toothless a little. "Aye, you big baby? Need the attention on you all the time, eh?" He teases in a baby voice. Astrid grins. This man is too pure to have a bad bone in his body.

Astrid smiles. "Well, Hiccup. Thank you so much for coming and chatting with me today, it's been a pleasure and an eye opener." She holds her hand out for him to shake, which he gladly receives. "I hope A Dragon's Edge goes great for you, and I wish you and Tom luck with your charity!"

"Oh, thank you so much for having me, it's been fun!" He grins. Astrid returns his smile, then turns to camera 4.

"And that's it, folks! This has been Time To Talk and I'm Astrid Hofferson. See you next time!" Astrid speaks cheerfully, grinning at the camera. The studio audience applauds.

"Aaaand, that's a wrap!" The director calls. "Great job, everybody!"

Astrid exhales, glad to know the pressure is gone. She stands up, offering her hand again for Hiccup to shake. "Thank you so much for agreeing to do this, mr Haddock."
"Hey, I told you to call me Hiccup!" He teases as he stands as well and shakes her hand, "and it's fine! I knew I could say know when you trenched out; your questions are always so interesting, if past interviews are anything to go by."
Astrid smiles, grating to hide her surprise when he revels he's watched the show before. "Really? I try to make them unique."

"Yeah, I loved seeing how you grilled Heather Osborn about her undercover life last month! You really brought out the truth." Hiccup says enthusiastically.

Astrid chuckles. "I thought I may have went to far with the question on asking about her moral standards..."

"No, no!" Hiccup waves her off with a laugh, "it was perfectly reasonable."

Astrid smiles. "Well... I guess you're right, Hiccup." She shrugs. She opens her mouth to speak when

"Astrid! We need to go!" Thyra yells, running up to her and grabbing her arm. "Come on, it's really serious!"

"Is everything ok?" Hiccup asks, concerned.

"Y-yeah, I'm sure it'll be fine, right?" Astrid responds, turning to Thyra, who just frowns and shakes her head.
"Come on, Astrid, I'll explain on the way." Thyra responds, dragging her away from Hiccup.
"Ok, ok!" Astrid responds, turning and smiling over her shoulder at Hiccup. "Bye, Hiccup! I'd love to do this again!" He grins at her.

"Me too!" He yells, just as the door slams behind the two girls. He stares, slightly confused. He kind of wants to go after her, to be honest, but he knows it wouldn't be appropriate.

He looks down at Toothless, who is already looking up at him. "That was...something." He mumbles, a small smile on his face. He's so used to interviewers being jumpy around him, treading lightly and trying all the can to not offend him. But that girl? She had fire. Toothless barks and wags his tail. Hiccup chuckles.

"C'mon, Bud. Let's go back to our room and FaceTime dad, I'm sure he was watching."

And with that, they walk out of the room too, with Hiccup wondering when, if ever, he'll see Astrid again. He had a smile on his face...he has to make a call.

———————

Ok I know the ending is really shit, but, idk. Couldn't think of anything else🤷‍♀️
I know the whole thing is shit. I know I'm a crappy writer and unreliable...
I haven't had much time to write lately, mid year exams are very close, and I've been mostly procrastinating on studying. I've been stressed, and not feeling like myself. The only time I can relax is when i'm with my friends because we can all have a stress feast together.

Hey, maybe I'll write a part two to this soon! Maybe, if I can find time that is.

Hope you enjoyed, though!
See you next time.