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Chapter Text

Sixth Year should only be about stressing and studying for Highers, and in Hiccup’s case Advanced Highers for Design and Manufacture.
Sixth Year should not be about plummeting straight down after being knocked out of the sky in dragon form, prosthetic leg (and therefore tailfin) torn off with one well-aimed spell.
“Aaaaaaaaa—!” screamed Hiccup, flailing wildly in midair. It was fun to dive as a dragon, to aim down and tuck his wings in to speed up, body straight and narrow, plunging down steep cliffs and pull up just in time to skim the surface of the lochs. To actually do it, in human form, with no position and wings to cushion the fall, well, Hiccup is not recommending this method of escaping a battle with an angry dragonhunter.
“—aaaaaaahelp-help-help-He—”
Something tackled him from the side, great claws clutching his body and squeezing just a little too tight for Hiccup to breathe properly. He’s lost too much breath screaming and the claws are positioned almost exactly on his lungs. 
“Astrii—d, ‘elp,” he managed to choke out, but the wind and the angle of the flight drowned out any voice he can muster. Above him, Astrid grumbled something in reply, and the claws loosened just enough for him to take a big gulp of air.
While flying on his side. In midair. Close enough to the ground that his gulp of air turned into a hacking cough to spit out the insects he accidentally inhaled and subsequently choked upon. Hiccup all but clawed at his throat to spit the disgusting bugs out and wiggled so much that he began to slip from the dragon’s claws.
In response, Astrid tightened her grip, and Hiccup’s breath was once again stolen as Astrid glided down to the ground at a steep angle. He panicked, struggling against the claws, and the claws suddenly opened all the way out. He managed to get a yelp out before hitting the ground on his left side. The momentum of his fall rolled him across the grass, and Hiccup, beaten, tired, missing a prosthetic leg and having eaten some insects while being rescued, also got a dizzy brain for his efforts.
“Uuugh,” Hiccup groaned, and sat up. This was a Big Mistake, as his fall, the insects, and his roll along the grass all combined to make the contents of his stomach very unhappy, and he threw up his breakfast of supermarket sushi all over the ground next to him. Then he leant back and curled up on the ground, because throwing up was painful and he’s going to have some bruises from Astrid’s claws.
‘We really need to work on Astrid’s catching skills,’ Hiccup thought, wincing from where the claws dug in his chest and back. Footsteps pounded against grass, and suddenly Astrid was there, in her human form, helping him sit up.
“Hiccup! I’m sorry—are you alright?” she asked worriedly. 
“Glurgh.”
“What?”
“Erglgerhg!”
“Hiccup, what are you—”
“Erglming!” Hiccup yelped, in all his bruised throat glory, and took Astrid down with him as he ducked from the gout of flame Grimmel sent in their direction. Astrid swore. 
“Stay there, don’t move. The others are coming,” she ordered, standing up as if to transform, “I’m serious, Hiccup, you can’t exactly fly right now!”
‘No! You’ll be hurt!’ Hiccup wanted to say, but all he managed was a weak “murgle-burg!”
Astrid took a running start, and just like that, Hiccup’s gaze was filled with a blinding light, where Astrid’s braided hair turned into spines, wings burst out from her back, and the clothes mysteriously disappeared as scales replaced skin. The pure white of her scales contrasted greatly with the angry snarl on her dragon face, and she rocketed up in the distinctive violet blur that only Night Furies can create. Her transformation had always taken his breath away. She’s so…ethereal.
Grimmel’s staff swung down, and the bright light of the freezing spell she barely dodged made Hiccup scramble up, ignoring the slight dizziness in his head. Astrid needs his help, and not for the first time, Hiccup cursed his disability. He looked around the grass for any sign of his prosthetic, but there was nothing out of the ordinary in the grass mountainside, only a few patches here and there of dodged spells burning marks onto the soil. 
“Looking for this?”
Hiccup turned, and his eyes widened. There stood the Thorston twins, Ruffnut standing with a smirk on her face, and Tuffnut behind her, holding a badly damaged, midnight blue prosthetic leg.
“You could have told us you were a dragon, dude, not cool,” Ruffnut complained, grabbing the leg from her brother and handing it to a stunned Hiccup. “You would have been less lame and more interesting.” “I don—”
“Oooh!” Tuffnut pointed behind them, jumping up in excitement, and Hiccup turned back just in time to see Astrid take the chains off the Gronckle, and Chris, also known as Fishlegs, detransformed and started screaming as he fell. Astrid dove down to rescue him, ignoring Grimmel who was also falling due to his dragon being unexpectedly humanized. 
“Oh Fishlegs,” Ruffnut sighed, before clapping a heavy hand on Hiccup’s shoulder, making him cough.
“Hurry up and beat the lights out of that weird guy, all right? We’ll get Fishlegs. Come on, Tuffnut.” “But I want to see the battle!” 
Ruffnut grasped her brother’s ear and pulled him with her, leaving Hiccup to figure out what to do with the prosthetic. The mechanism to attach it to his foot was broken, but the belt to secure it to his fin was somewhat intact. It wouldn’t stand up to another spell, but Astrid was there, risking her life for him. He can’t just sit here and let the dragonhunter shoot her down, he has to do something!
Hiccup pulled himself on two arms and one leg, shaking his head to remove the headache that built up there. He adjusted the prosthetic into what he called Dragon Mode and spread the tailfin out. It was, as he expected, singed along the edges, but it would have to do. He concentrated on the knot of power that was always present in his chest, the one that whispered to him ever since he was born. Power washed over him like a great tidal wave, and Hiccup let himself get carried away with it.
Transforming was different for every dragon. Their ancestors used human disguises to blend it better with humans during a time where dragons were hunted down. Some feel the transformation like putting on a shirt; others feel like stripping off clothes. Astrid once admitted to Hiccup that her transformation felt more like pulling a sword out of a sheath, while Hiccup always felt his transformation like the smooth grind of gear against gear.  After a brief second where he had to adjust having dragon vision once again, Hiccup quickly rolled on his back and used his claws to attach the artificial tailfin to his tail.
Far above them, Astrid screeched. It wasn’t one of victory.
‘No!’
Hiccup launched himself up, careful not to graze the tailfin. He could not do steep turns with this faulty tailfin, so he had to be careful. Grimmel already had a significant advantage, that he had a captive Gronckle and that he had magic. And Hiccup had committed one major design flaw: his artificial tailfin was bright red, which in retrospect may not be subtle at all when it comes to angry dragonhunters. He needed to be careful…until he saw Astrid.
Astrid, who had a worryingly large hole in her left wing. Astrid, who slowed to a steep decline down to the ground, obviously bracing herself should she ever transform back to humanity.
Hiccup’s gaze was filled with purple fire.
The dragon’s spines went rigid. Blue light ringed the edges of each spine, starting from his tail all the way to his head, and Hiccup’s mouth was filled with blue fire. Earlier, they had been caught off-guard— no one really expected their stern, long-winded Maths teacher to be a dragonhunter, much less someone who can fling rocks at them with a wave of a big stick—but now Hiccup was angry. 
He let loose the fireball that built up in his mouth, creating another just as the first hit a shimmering shield. The second detonated at the ground next to Grimmel, sending chunks of soil, grass, and smoke in hi direction. Enough for a cover as Hiccup flew as fast as he can next to Astrid.
Astrid stumbled as she hit the ground in a roll, transforming back to humanity and clutching her arm; Hiccup saw the large red bruise on her left bicep, and he snarled. Grimmel took this opportunity to sweep his arm around and cause giant ice spikes to form in a ring surrounding the three of them.
On one side, Grimmel was there, hair singed, and suit ruffled with dirt. On the other side, Astrid was in human form, glaring hatefully at Grimmel while clutching her arm. Next to her, Hiccup was in dragon form, guarding over Astrid and keeping his tailfin close and as hidden as possible.
“What a wonderful time to be a dragonhunter.” He said, and despite themselves Astrid and Hiccup both rolled their eyes. Was this guy seriously going to monologue like he does in their classes?
“Imagine, two of my students, dragons!” he laughed, and Hiccup drew back at the sound. “The engineering genius, and the football queen. Truly a wonderful time indeed! And both of them Night Furies!
Tell me, Hofferson, Haddock, how did you two do it?” Grimmel asked, walking slowly towards them. “How did you both turn into Night Furies? Did you coordinate? No one at school thought you two were together!”
‘We aren’t together,’ Hiccup thought, but his claws dug into the soil as he readied another fireball. The ice spikes would take some time to be broken down, and the flying…well, flying was sort of out of the question now.
Grimmel batted away his fireball, redirecting it to the sides as he continued to talk. “What cursed magics did you to pretend to become us, creatures? What did you sacrifice to become the beings of darkness as you are?”
“Is he serious?!” Astrid exclaimed, and would have thrown her hands up if she wasn’t bruised. Grimmel was getting close now, and Hiccup threw yet another fireball, discreetly inching backwards. They were getting cornered, and as they experienced earlier, physically fighting was not an option. 
In the distance, something popped, like someone removing the cap off a cola.
Hiccup’s eyes widened, and he extended his wings to cover Astrid as the blob of molten lava hit the ground in front of Grimmel. Even through the smoke and debris, he could see how the liquid could have splashed all over his body. No matter, this was the distraction he’s been waiting for.
Hiccup formed several fireballs and started frantically shooting at the ice spike behind him. Astrid had transformed again, apparently rejuvenated, just as the ice spike cracked, hissed, and fell apart in a shower of steam and broken ice shards. He immediately scrambled out of the ring, Astrid at his heel, and together they turned to look at Grimmel.
He was nowhere to be found.
White dragon looked at black dragon in confusion and dread.
To the left, Chris reappeared, looking both confused and scared. He was the one who threw the molten lava blob, and he looked like the effort of chewing that many rocks were more than he can take, given how he looked as green as his dragon form.
“Uh, where did Mr. Grimmel go?” he asked, clutching his stomach and groaning.
As if on cue, Hiccup and Astrid detransformed at the same time. The tailfin fell, and without any support Hiccup all but collapsed into the ground. However, a hand on his back prevented him from being a human puddle on the floor.
Astrid Hofferson looked at him up and down, as if checking him for any damage. Then she looked back to where Grimmel had been, at the crater of molten lava, and looked extremely worried.
“We’ll—we’ll find him,” Hiccup offered, feeling more than a little bit useless during that fight. “Sorr—”
“What are you sorry for?” Astrid asked him, before letting go of his back. He had to support himself on his two arms, but that was okay. He was looking at Astrid.
“You saved my life, Haddock.” Astrid said, “Thank you.”
Despite the pain, the humiliation, the chaos of today, Hiccup still found Astrid’s smile to be brighter than the sun.
Looking at the carnage of their battle, however, Hiccup wondered how he could explain this mess to his dad…

Chapter Text

Sixth Year started by Zack saying, “Great news, cousin, the neighborhood princess is also going here!”, to much applause by his gang and jeers to Hiccup. “Of course,” he added, “that means no one here is allowed to mess with her, alright? She’s going to be my girlfriend.”
‘Will she accept someone whose name in primary used to be Snotlout?’ Hiccup thought, having never seen this ‘neighborhood princess’ before. Still, he endured Zack’s taunts with silence and nervous smiles, not wanting to get dunked in the toilet before class even started. He had plans this year, most of which involve getting out from this town and away from his dad’s influence. Having secretly applied for Advanced Highers, he needed to concentrate on that as well as his current classes if he needed to succeed as an inventor. 
That all fell apart as soon as Astrid Hofferson walked into their English class.
Something twinged in Hiccup’s chest, where the knot of power that is his dragon form resided. As Astrid was introduced as their new classmate, he sat in confusion as his instincts told him to get closer to the new girl, despite having never known her before. 
“She’s hot,” Zack said, not so quietly.
Astrid smiled sweetly. “Jorgenson. Or should I say Snotlout?”
From the raucous laughter of the class, Hiccup concluded that she’d fit in just fine. And she did; she would ascend the ranks of the female football team, despite the efforts of Reyna “Ruffnut” Thorston to beat her in being the co-captain, she would ace all of her exams and be the school’s favorite, and she would constantly refer to Zack as Snotlout, so much that his reputation would suffer greatly. 
But nothing would beat the Hall Incident.
Hiccup wasn’t looking. He never does, not when he’s attended this school his entire life, since he started secondary school. He knows where to go, what paths to take, which shortcuts to help in against being late. Being an inventor required a degree in mechanical engineering, at the very least, and he had no intention of losing a chance at a scholarship in Glasgow or even London. Whatever his dragon instincts might be saying, he loved creating and tinkering with his projects more.
So when he turned the corner to find himself smashing lips first into Astrid Hofferson, he was very much distracted. Worse still, it was lunchtime, and rumors were floating around that Hofferson kicked Zack’s arse in fencing, which he was good at and bragged about to anyone. Hiccup hadn’t heard of anything from Zack lately, which meant that rumors might have some truth in it. 
He was already spluttering a lot of “Sorry, I’m so sorry,” and “I didn’t mean it, I swear,” to her when she laughed. Out loud. In the middle of the hall.
Everyone turned to them, Zack and his gang included, and Hiccup’s ears turned red. But he didn’t stop apologizing.
“I’m really sorry I didn’t mean it I swear I just wasn’t looking—”
“What’s your name?”
“—really sorry, I—what?”
“Your. Name.” Astrid said, emphasizing each word.
“Uh, Harold. Harold Haddock.”
“Hiccup!” Someone yelled in the background, and the mass of students laughed. Hiccup frowned at his feet.
“What’s Hiccup?”
“My, uh, nickname.” Hiccup replied, before opening his mouth to say something that would definitely distract her and make her forget that she ever heard that his name was Hiccup of all the stupid nicknames. But she was looking around them, at the other students that gathered in the hall.
“Well? What are you waiting for? Don’t you all have classes to attend to?” she all but yelled, and the students scattered like wind. 
“Why Hiccup?” she asked when there were only a few stragglers left.
“It’s uh, it’s because I hiccupped a lot as a kid.” Hiccup wasn’t about to tell her that the reason he was named Hiccup is because he had a bad habit of hiccupping in dragon form as a child, and that led to more fires than Stoick and Valka probably should have put up with. It was embarrassing to admit that that the nickname had grown on him, but still. “Y’know, because I stole too many eggs…ha, ha, ha…” “Oh.” Was all Astrid said.
Expecting this reaction to his lame hiccup joke, Hiccup turned to go, ignoring the pang in his chest to stay longer in her presence, but then she said, almost whispering,
“I think it’s cute.”
When Hiccup turned around, she was already gone. But the knowledge that she thought his stupid nickname was cute made him feel like he was on Cloud Nine, and just like that, Harold “Hiccup” Haddock III had a crush on Astrid Hofferson.
He tried. He really, really tried. Focusing on his projects always worked; Gobber was more than happy to give him the spare room in his repair shop, but as soon as she walked inside the room, he would go tongue-tied and silent in her presence. It’s frustrating, but she’s so bright she can light up any room she walks in. Every time she’s in his line of vision he basks in the content feeling his chest emanates, like feeling whole or coming home. It’s maddening, and distracting.
Especially when he needs that scholarship. He needs that Advanced Highers. Hiccup blows out an exasperated groan in the back room of Gobber’s repair shop, and stubbornly ignores the lost feeling in his chest. 
“What is it now, lad?” Gobber yells, almost drowned out by the sound of welding metal.
“My leg!” Hiccup lies and grabs his pain ointment just in case Gibber checks in on him. 
The older man never did, and Hiccup goes home that night, satisfied with his work but still feeling that ache in his chest.
As a dragon, he would do loops inside their aerie, under careful watch by her mother in her dragon form. The prosthetic leg works well, but what he needs is to adapt it to turn into a fully-functioning tailfin when required. He’s doing one more sharp but short dive when the Stormcutter dragon cuts him off and leads him down. 
“You’re distracted,” Valka noted, once they’ve both transformed back.
“What? Noooo…” Hiccup drew the syllable out as he inched his way inside, hoping to avoid this interrogation.
“Is it about the Highers? You’ll do more than fine, Hiccup.” Valka said, “And if you didn’t, it’s not the end of the world.”
“It’s not that,” Hiccup hedged, gathering up his notes on his aerial maneuverability. Pens go here, notebooks go here, where’s his cellphone… “Is it,” Valka paused, “is it a girl?”
Hiccup yelps as his shock causes the items in his arms to drop to the ground. “What do you mean? No…? Ha, ha, ha, why would even think that, Mom,” he laughed nervously.
“You’re a terrible liar,” Valka sighed, before brightening up again. “So tell me about her. Is she beautiful? Have you talked to her? Of course, you’ve talked to her—”
“I kissed her,” Hiccup blurted out, hastily snatched his items up from the ground, and ran away from where her mother transformed back into a dragon just to do a victory loop-de-loop.
Later at dinner, Hiccup’s hopes for a quiet night were dashed when Valka gleefully informs Stoick that their boy fancied a girl.
“About time!” Stoick boomed, grinning, “When I was your age, I didn’t know Valka was a dragon, but I loved her as soon as we met! Why, it was like destiny was pulling us together…”
Hiccup tuned out the rest of his father’s words. He’d heard this story before, where they met while Stoick was herding sheep to be eaten later and Valka had come over to steal some for her own meal and somehow, despite all their arguments, the two fell in love. It was all very romantic, and not at all like what he felt for Astrid.
…or is it?
“Wait, wait Dad, wait,” Hiccup interrupted his dad’s recounting of their first flight together, “how did you know Mom was your Mate?”
“It was like an invisible pull,” Stoick said, poking one stout finger into Hiccup’s bony chest, “where our dragon’s power resides.”
“Our ancestors made it so we can find Mates without needing to shed our disguise,” Valka elaborates.
“So we know who’s a dragon and who isn’t?”
“Essentially, yes.” Her mother answers before going on about the destiny and shared future of dragon Mates. Hiccup nods absently, but he’s stuck on the last part.
Tomorrow at school, Hiccup resolves to confront Astrid. Maybe he’s overthinking things. Maybe he’s just attracted to her like any boy is attracted to a girl, but if his parents are right, then maybe, just maybe, Astrid is a dragon too.
But honestly? His luck really isn’t that good.
Before he can think of how to ask Astrid, the principal comes into their room and introduces Mr. Grimmel, the new Maths teacher.

Chapter Text

It was Astrid who figured it out first. Actually no, Hiccup was just being stupid. Grimmel was an exacting teacher, prone to making monologues and going on and on about religion, so much that it hurt to stay in the same room with him and not sleep or run away. The itch to get closer to Astrid was especially strong today, and he refused on account of well, he’s pretty sure she’d going to punch him if she wasn’t a dragon. Or maybe stare at him like he was insane. So after escaping Grimly, he all but ran to the nearest forest and transformed into his Night Fury form, grateful for how relaxing it is to spend time in his true form.
He did not count on finding another Night Fury.
Hiccup reared back on his haunches as the other Night Fury, with the coat of white and an angry snarl on her face, began to breathe fire at him.
The fire washed over him, and suddenly he was grateful for every time her mother breathes fire on him to get him used to the temperature. His scales blocked him from most of the heat, but they were Night Furies. Rarest of the dragons. The heat of their dragonfire was hotter than any other dragon.
As far as he knew, he was the only Night Fury on British soil. So who was this other dragon?
The other Night Fury (‘Light Fury’, Hiccup thought, finding the pun unreasonably funny) snarled at him again. In response, Hiccup rolled on his back, baring his soft underbelly and letting his tongue roll out in  playful motion. To his delight, the Light Fury just looked confused.
‘Friend,’ he tried to say. ‘Friend, friend, friend.”
Her body language read, ‘Confused. Not enemy? Same dragon?’
‘Yes, yes. Same dragon!’
‘Same dragon heart pull?’
Hiccup blinked. ‘What does dragon heart pull mea….oh no.’
He righted himself and sat down, eager to confirm his suspicions. “Astrid?”
The Light Fury reared back and spat out another fireball at him, which he absorbed mostly, but some ended up on the trees behind him and despite the cold weather of Scotland he isn’t going to risk a forest fire. He whacked his wings on the burning branches to stamp out the flames, but when he finished, the Light Fury was gone.
‘Well, that won’t do at all,’ Hiccup thought, and went back to school. Sure enough, Astrid was there, chatting with the other girls on her football team, looking like she never left. But Hiccup’s chest ached once again, and this time, he knew.
“Haddock.” She said, once she finished her conversation with the other girls. “Need anything?”
Hiccup took a deep breath. Then another. Then one more for courage.
“Dothewordsdragonheartpullmeananythingto—”
“Slow down, Haddock. What was that?”
“I said, do the words ‘dragon heart pull’ mean anything to—”
“YOU?!”
Astrid’s voice caught the attention of every girl around the field with how loud her voice is, and they stood in stunned silence at each other before Astrid dragged Hiccup away from the field and into the sports inventory room.
“You’re the Night Fury.” Astrid started, staring hard at him. Hiccup can’t meet her intense gaze, but he did scratch the back of his head in embarrassment. His chest sang with contentment, and he felt calmer than he really should be at that moment.
“Uh, well, yeeess…?” he said in reply. Smooth, Haddock.
“You’re a dragon too?”
“Yeah. Yeah I am.” 
“You can fly?”
At this, Hiccup was confused. “Of course...?”
“Teach me.”
“Wait…what?” Hiccup was shocked; he has never encountered a dragon before that didn’t know how to fly. “You don’t know how to fly…?”
Astrid straightened up, as if to brace herself for a hit, verbal or otherwise. But all Hiccup could do was stare at her.
“Sure,” Hiccup finally answered. “Sure, I’ll teach you.”
Well, if nothing else, then he’d feel a lot better if he spent more time with Astrid, considering the pull between them.
In the months following this confrontation, Hiccup would spend his days in school, his afternoons in
Gobber’s shop, and his evenings teaching Astrid how to fly. School was more or less a routine at this point, and Mr. Grimmel stopped being relevant as soon as someone reported him to the school admin for not really teaching Maths properly, which was a relief, really.
With every lesson, the dragon in him sang, Hiccup pined for Astrid, but she seems to give no indication of this no matter what he said. So he remained silent. And life went on.
Which brought him to the here and the now, staring at the carnage of the mountainside, with an ice wall and gouges in the grass, and three dragons amidst all of the chaos. Oh and their weird, cringey Maths teacher was apparently a wizard and a dragonhunter. Go figure. 
“We’re doomed,” Hiccup said.
“No, we aren’t, Astrid shot back, but in the months they spent together, he could hear the change in her tone as clear as day. Unsure, it said to him.
“Well, what are we going to say to the school, ‘oh our maths teacher somehow figured out that there are dragons in this school so he captured one and used it to find the others, who also happen to be both Night Furies, which are definitely not the rarest dragons in the world’,” Chris rambled, throwing his pudgy arms up in exasperation.
“We could lie…?” Hiccup suggested, and Astrid gave him a baleful look.
“How’s your leg,” she asked, so suddenly that Hiccup took a while to answer.
“Oh, uh, nothing I can’t fix at Gobber’s shop.”
“Okay,” Astrid said, just before she kisses him on the cheek.
Hiccup freezes. Chris, for his part, abruptly turns and heads back to the ice wall.
“What was that—”
“I survived Mr. Grimmel because of you, Hiccup. For your lessons. And well, I’m tired of pretending that I don’t like you.
“You were pretending?!”
Astrid nodded, while Hiccup is aghast at this. For months—months!—he was trying to put forward that hey, maybe he liked her, and that maybe she liked him back, maybe they could spend more time with each other than the lessons. 
“Oh.”
“Yes.”
“Uh, then can I kiss you?” Hiccup blurted out, and then followed it with, “Sorry if that seems too abrupt, I mean, we already did kiss before and I felt the pull way back when you arrived at school and we fought a wizard together—”
Astrid cut him off with a kiss.

Chapter Text

“I didn’t tell her!”
“And I should believe that?” Zack scowled, boxing Hiccup in with his arms. Honestly, they were unreasonably big, but maybe that’s because as a Monstrous Nightmare, his wings are really big as well. Though it wouldn’t explain why Zack is stout while his dragon form has a really long neck.
“I’m serious! You know I’m studying for my Advanced Highers this year,” Hiccup pointed out as his eyes searched for an exit.
Zack exhaled. “Look, Hiccup…”
Hiccup gulped.
“Cousin. How could she have known that stupid nickname if you didn’t tell her?”
“I don’t know, ask the hundred other people in this school who were also with us in kindergarten!”
It looked like the effort of thinking about it was taking a toll on Zack’s brain, so Hiccup, desperate to escape being beaten up or stuffed in a toilet, decided to offer their other neighbors to the proverbial altar.
“You know the twins weren’t there in the classroom, right? They were late, like always. They could’ve gotten to her before she entered the classroom. Also, Tuffnut invented that nickname, didn’t he?”
Zack scratched his chin as he considered the possibility. Hiccup resisted the urge to roll his eyes at the new growth of a moustache on his face, as if it made him more handsome instead of being a giant prick.
“Huh, you’re right, Hiccup. They weren’t there at all,” Zack conceded, but then he leaned in really close, so much that Hiccup could smell cigarette smoke and sulfur on his breath. Sometimes, Hiccup wondered just how Zack hasn’t revealed the existence of dragonkind when he doesn’t even try.
“But I find out that you’re the one who told her…”
Zack shook a threatening fist at him. Hiccup pressed himself closer to the wall.
“…you’re going to regret it.”
Zack grinned nastily at him and started to walk away, but because Hiccup really can’t keep his mouth shut, he yelled back, “You can’t even catch me as a dragon!” and promptly bolted from the quadrangle.
No one was around at this time anyway, so the dragon remark would not be noticed, but the resulting bellow of his cousin would definitely be, and he sprinted straight across the field to avoid his cousin’s headlong charge. Hiccup laughed as he ran back to the main building, certain that he would be paying for that remark later, but only as a human. In dragon form, a Monstrous Nightmare could never hold up to a Night Fury. Not even one with a prosthetic tail. Speaking of prosthetic…
His mad dash had used up all the oil in the knee joint, which meant he had to swing by the lockers to get some. Hiccup decided to spare himself the trouble of grinding out the knee joint and simply limped to the lockers. Zack wouldn’t follow him here, not when it’s too crowded and the old hall monitor, Gothi, watched him like a hawk. Gothi raised Stoick, his father, and will look out for Hiccup too, for which he was eternally grateful for.
She also happens to be a Terrible Terror, but a skirmish with a Snow Wraith had stolen her voice in both human and dragon form. Hiccup waved at her, and she raised her staff back in a ‘hello’ gesture.
His locker had lost its hinges and the lock itself during his many years in this school, to be replaced by an alarm he designed himself. Zack once tried to open it by force and he activated the entire sprinkler system, which got him suspended for a week while Hiccup only got a slap on the wrist. Hiccup chuckled to himself; good times.
“What’s funny?”
“Ah!”
Astrid Hofferson, the new girl, was looking at him. Hiccup stared, wide-eyed, as his heart seemed to beat double time in his presence, and the knot of power in his chest pulsed warmly. The urge to get closer was growing, and Hiccup curled his hands around the door of his locker as he tried to steady himself.
“Wh-what?”
“You were laughing. What’s funny?”
“Uh, well…I just remembered the one time my cousin tried to get inside my locker and accidentally set off the sprinklers.”
“Your cousin?”
“Zack,” Hiccup clarified.
“Snotlout?” Astrid asked, and the way she said the horrible nickname made Hiccup want to laugh again, before remembering exactly why he was in the lockers in the first place.
“Oh yeah!” Hiccup all but yelled, before wincing in embarrassment. “Sorry, I mean, Hofferson, who told you about that?”
“About…?”
“The ‘Snotlout’ thing.”
“Ah.” Astrid leaned back against the lockers and crossed her arms. “Why do you want to know?”
“N-nothi—”
“It’s Snotlout then. Ugh.” Astrid shook her head in disgust, and Hiccup was distracted by the way her golden braids shook as she moved. “Is he a bully?”
Hiccup shrugged. Honestly, Zack was arrogant and proud, but everyone, his parents included, thought that it was just the influence of his father, Sean Jorgenson, who was a piece of work in his own right.
“He’s worse when we were kids, but he’s better now,” Hiccup said, honestly.
“That’s just an excuse,” Astrid scoffed, but then she looked at him properly, as if she’s examining him for any damage. Hiccup resisted the very dragon urge to present himself and preen for her.
“Did he do anything?”
“No, he just asked who told you that.” Hiccup answered, hedging the truth a little bit. After all, that really did happen, there was just a lot more posturing and threatening involved.
“What does he care?” Astrid muttered angrily and opened her own locker. Hiccup took this opportunity to pry his fingers off the locker’s edge and grab his oil, as well as the rest of his schoolbooks.
“What’s our first subject?” Astrid asked, her voice muffled by the twin metal doors between them.
“Maths, I think.” Hiccup squinted at the schedule haphazardly posted on the door of his locker. “Yeah, Maths.”
“How’s the teacher?”
“Mr. Bludvist can be a little strict.”
“How little?”
Hiccup winced. He braced his prosthetic leg on the handle of the locker below him and poured oil on the edge of the ball joint, twisting his leg left and right to make sure it was fully functional. Upon returning the oil, he found Astrid clutching a stack of books, looking curiously at his prosthetic. He expected her to ask about it, since people usually do, but she merely stared at him steadily.
“I asked, how strict is he?”
“So long as we sit down and follow his instructions while making as little noise as possible, he’s fine.”
“…and if we don’t?”
“Mr. Bludvist has been rumored to have beaten up kids before.”
Astrid blinked.
“Sorry, what? What the bloody hell kind of school is this?”
Hiccup shrugged again. Books in bag, check. Oiled up leg, check. Pretty girl that makes him want to dance around her in dragon form, double check. Also, the swearing is hot. Astrid led the walk towards the classroom, with Hiccup at her right and a few students loitering at the edges of the hall. Some of them were shivering, he noticed, and he caught a few wisps of their conversation.
“—so scary!”
“He’s a psycho, that’s why—”
“Why did they ever hire him…”
“Is that Mr. Bludvist?” Astrid asked him quietly.
“I…don’t think so?” Hiccup was used to Mr. Bludvist and his heavy handedness, but he hadn’t ever reduced someone to tears like that girl being surrounded by her friends. Hiccup couldn’t make out the individual messages with how low they were whispering, but they were definitely first slot Maths students.
As they walked towards their classroom, Hiccup was abruptly reminded that a, he had pissed off his cousin, and b, it was about the girl next to him. From the voices inside the classroom, it was clear that Zack had arrived before him.
“Uh, Hofferson, I think I need to—”
“Your cousin?” Astrid finished, raising a single golden eyebrow. Hiccup nodded. She waved him away and stepped inside the classroom. Hiccup’s inner dragon mourned, but he shoved it down as far as he can and waited.
From the other end of the hallway, the principal was walking towards him, as well as another tall figure. Hiccup’s eyes widened. There was only one way the principal would come out of his office, and that is to personally introduce new teachers to the students. He hastily stepped inside the classroom, almost tripping on the slight incline, before yelling.
“Incoming!”
Everyone froze. There was a beat where everyone stared at Hiccup and Hiccup stared back.
Then Chris shoved his definitely-not-stolen-at-all books in his bag, and there was a flurry of movement as chairs were straightened, trash was picked up and thrown in the trashcan or shoved in bags, hairstyles were fixed, and people sat down and tried their best not to look like they’ve been halfway to start dancing on the tables like this was a club and not an academic institution.
“What happened to Mr. Bludvist?” Zack hissed at him in confusion, but before he could reply, Hiccup was distracted by the principal’s entrance. As usual, Principal Clodgall was short and looked like a used car salesman, but all the attention shifted to the person that came after him.
“Mr. Grimmel, this is Class 6A. Students, meet your new Maths teacher.” Principal Clodgall said, his voice coming out in a monotonous drone. If he didn’t do this for every new teacher, Hiccup would suspect that he hates his job. But no, he just speaks that way all the time.
Mr. Grimmel’s most noticeable feature is his chin, long and pointed like his face had been stretched downwards. The next feature is his shock of white hair, which he looked too young to be the owner of. Hiccup squinted at the roots of his hair; either he did a very good job of dyeing his hair, or his natural hair color is actually white. Evidence for the latter appears to be his eyebrows, which are also white.
“Hello, my children.” He purred, and Hiccup’s dragon senses just about exploded.
He sat up, straightening his back out of instinct, and his eyes never left the new teacher’s profile. In his peripheral, he could see that Zack had also straightened up, as well as Chris and a few other disguised dragons in this class. He angled his head to the left, still not removing his gaze, and found the same reaction with Astrid.
There was something wrong with the new teacher, and all of them knew it.

Chapter Text

“Honestly, we should have known by then,” Astrid said, while they were lounging on one of the many hills that dotted the Highlands. “The whole dragon thing—”
“and Mr. Grimmel being a dragonhunter?” Hiccup added, looking at her curiously. “When?”
“First day of class.” She answered, flicking a stray leaf at him. “We all sensed it. I just didn’t realize you and about half the people living in this town were dragons.”
“Eeeh, well, y’know, we have history…? Hiccup mumbled out. “We’ve been here a long time.”
“Huh,” Astrid said. “Must be nice to have history like that.”
Hiccup frowned. “What do you mean?”
“We’re nomads. The entire Hofferson clan never stays in one place. Mother says it’s because most of us are Deadly Nadders and don’t really stay in one place, but I think it’s because of the humans on our home island.”
“Home island?”
“Yeah, Iceland.”
Hiccup’s eyebrows shoot up. “Really?”
Astrid looked at him curiously. “Yeah, really. Wow, your clan never had to move from the Highlands?”
“No,” Hiccup shook his head. “When the Clearances came, we just pretended to be one of the Queen’s Men. At least, that’s how my father tells it.”
Astrid fell silent for a while as she chewed that over. Hiccup fidgeted with his brand-new prosthetic leg, repaired just days after they fought Mr. Grimmel.
“I’m the only Night Fury in my clan,” Astrid said, so suddenly that Hiccup almost flinched.
“Well, yeah, we’re pretty rare—”
“No, Hiccup,” Astrid cut him off, and her pretty blue eyes were locked on his, unwaveringly. “You don’t understand. I’m the only Night Fury in my clan. For generations since we left Iceland.”
There was absolutely nothing Hiccup could say to that.
“Wh-what do you want me to say?”
“Doesn’t it bother you?”
“What?”
“That we’re the only Night Furies in the world.”
“Are we?”
“My mother says they’ve never met another since our ancestors left.”
“I met your mom,” Hiccup pointed out. Astrid shoved him lightly, but there was a hint of a smile on her face. He decided to count it as a victory.
“Oh, you know what I mean.”
“Yeah. Yeah, I do.”
Astrid stared at Hiccup. Hiccup stared back.
They hadn’t really talked about the kiss. There was the matter of reporting the entire incident to Hiccup’s dad, introducing the Hoffersons to the rest of the Berk clan, Hiccup’s Advanced Highers, and many more things to be done. This is the first free time they’ve ever had, and they spent the first hour practicing how to clutch a person properly in their claws. Which, in all honesty, is more out of routine than anything else.
“Do you think…” Astrid chewed her lower lip, looking apprehensive. “Do you think destiny exists?”
“Not really,” Hiccup replied.
“We came here because of a freak storm. We were supposed to be in the Outer Hebrides by now.”
“I’ll be sure to thank the storm, then.” Hiccup replied, words spilling out of his mouth easily.
Astrid gave a bark of laughter, and whacked Hiccup’s arm. “Hey!”
Hiccup grinned. His inner dragon wanted to soar.
“Do you think it’s a coincidence that we met?” Astrid said, sitting back on the grass.
Hiccup shrugged in reply. “If it is, then I suppose I’m extremely lucky.”
“That was…almost smooth,” Astrid acknowledged. “What happened to awkward, stuttering Hiccup?”
“He got shot by his Maths teacher in midair,” Hiccup replied, without thinking, and both of them winced as the memory. “Sorry,” he offered. Astrid waved it off.
“I’m sorry, too.”
There was a beat, before. “I don’t like destiny.”
“Huh?”
“I think we should work for what we have, not because it was already written for us. Don’t you think?” Astrid asked.
She was going somewhere here. If it was what Hiccup was thinking…
“What do you mean?”
Astrid huffed and threw her hands up in exasperation.
“A date, Haddock! I’m asking you out on a date!”
Oh. That was…not what he was expecting.
His inner dragon screamed with delight.
“Uh…”
“What, Hiccup?”

To be continued

Chapter Text

A week after the fight with their teacher-slash-dragonhunter Grimmel, the police finally let them go. It was a tense week of explaining the whole story to the Dragon Court (an experience Hiccup isn’t willing to repeat ever again) and lying through their teeth to the human authorities. Somehow, the latter is something that Hiccup felt more guilty about than anything else in this entire fiasco. 

Hiccup wasn’t grounded, but at this point he’d prefer being grounded to being trained. Stoick and Valka somehow got it into their heads that Hiccup had attracted the attention of the dragonhunting community as a whole and rallied the whole aerie to start preparing for war. While Valka focused on making sure Hiccup was adequately prepared to defend himself should the worst come, Stoick was establishing ties with the neighboring aeries and often left on long flights to negotiations. This meant that Hiccup was entirely under the mercy of his mother.

“You need to put more power into those flaps! You’re a Night Fury, not a Timberjack!” Valka called out, standing on the edge of the cliff. It’s hard to project her voice over the whipping of the winds, but Hiccup heard it anyway. The Night Fury in question grumbled in reply and tried to keep himself aloft on the gale winds rising below him, courtesy of the huge underground vents in the Scottish Isles.

‘I’m fine!’ he wanted to say, but he needed to concentrate on making sure he flew over the winds without flapping. Plus, he needed to save his energy for when his mother decides to… There!

The Cloudjumper shot forwards, talons outstretched, and the Night Fury screeched as he dove down into the vents. The rising air fought him at every inch, but Hiccup was used to this and flapped his tail to propel himself downward, entering the cavern depths. 

The Scottish Isles were once home to thousands of dragons that carved their way into bedrock and made large nests in the tunnels. When the dragons migrated into the human world, they left these large caverns behind, perfect for training young dragons to fly and older dragons to learn combat tactics. Exactly what Hiccup and his mother had been doing all day.

Once he breached the end of the tunnel, it was easy to glide out of the way of the blasts of cold air coming from every crevasse and navigate the darkness. A Night Fury’s eyes were well-suited to the dark, but his mother had years of experience in hunting down dragons. Even now, Hiccup could feel the way Valka used her powerful wings to send out gales of air in every direction, scoping out anything that went against the generated air currents. For example, his wings.

Not even a moment after Hiccup angled his wings downward to land, he felt a large rush of displaced air on his scales and banked away just in time to see Valka hit the wall directly next to him with long, sharpened claws. Hiccup took advantage of this to try and move into one of the long tunnels, only for Valka to launch herself forward with a screech and physically block his path, forcing him to look for an escape once again.

What followed was a brief chase in the cavern depths, with the Cloudjumper’s natural maneuverability quickly overcoming the Night Fury’s agility. Hiccup swung around a large stalactite intending to cut off his mother by performing a bootstrap turn, but Valka used her claws to pivot and quickly followed suit. Hiccup could feel the snap of displaced air as Valka tried to bite his tail, and the instincts of fear it triggered had him turning in midair and building a fireball in his mouth. Big mistake: the Cloudjumper only ducked low enough to let the fireball pass and flapped her wings hard.

‘No!’ Hiccup internally groaned and was not surprised when the wall of air hit him and quickly sent him careening downwards. He tried to flap his wings and right himself, but a large shadow descended over his head, and he knew the game was up. Hiccup was dragged out of the caves with his mother’s claws hooked firmly but gently around his midsection.

Well, at least he lasted a few more seconds than the last time.

“You need to stop trying to fight like a Windstriker, Hiccup,” Valka chided him as they landed on the windy cliffs once again. “Night Furies can match Cloudjumpers in speed, you could have outflown me.”

“I know, Mom,” Hiccup sighed. 

“You shouldn’t have entered the caverns.”

“Yes, Mom.”

“Night Furies are better in the open sky.”

“But Cloudjumpers are even better,” Hiccup argued, but he wilted in the face of his mother’s raised eyebrow.

“Indeed, but the lesson here is training your instincts to make better choices. You still follow the Night Fury instinct to look for dark spaces and try to camouflage yourself.”

Hiccup groaned dramatically and flopped back into the grass. Valka laughed at her son.

“Hiccup…”

He looked frantically around for a distraction, which is hard when there is nothing but the grass, the soil, the sea, the sun…

“Mom, what time is it?” he asked hastily, cutting off what is sure to be another lecture on how to best utilize his dragon form.

Valka narrowed her eyes at him before pulling out her phone. “It’s nearly four—” Hiccup’s eyes widened, and he shot up from his position.

“Thanks mom this was fun I learned a lot really but I need to go meet Astrid no—!”

His own words were drowned out as he transformed into his dragon form and launched himself off the cliff, ascending into the clouds and disappearing from view.

Valka sighed, this time wistfully. Hiccup was growing up so fast, and he took after her too, with his lanky build and his speedy dragon form. He even has a prospective Mate! It took Valka years to accept that someone like Stoick could be her Mate, but she never regretted it accepting him since. Astrid, from the moment that she met the girl, looked every bit as capable as she was said to be, and Valka had no doubt that she would be a capable Mate to her son. Still, there was time. They were young yet, and if Stoick was right and there was war on the horizon, then Valka would set aside her hopes for a peaceful life and train her sweet son for battle.

 SHAPE  \* MERGEFORMAT

The late afternoon sun cast beautiful orange rays on the clouds, and Hiccup was not paying attention. 

Instead, he was frantically flapping towards his and Astrid’s agreed meeting spot, the forest next to the school. It was where they had first met each other in their dragon forms, and it was where he spent his afternoons teaching her how to fly. They had agreed to meet at half-past four, but his mother’s chosen training grounds was so far away from the mainland that he had to use his full speed just to reach the forest in time.

The wind was good; it wasn’t actively fighting him to today so he’s free to speed up as much as he wants, but the cloud cover thickened the closer he got to major cities and descending in a cloud full of smoke and other disgusting things would not be appropriate for his and Astrid’s first date.

Hiccup banked right, closer to the skyline, to get cleaner air and descend in a hidden location. Apart from a few startled seagulls, he wasn’t expecting much company, with most air-loving dragons like his mother preferring the morning light to the afternoon sun. Therefore, he wasn’t expecting Astrid’s Night Fury form to drop right next to him, cruising at the same speed and flying so close their wingtips could touch.

Naturally, Hiccup panicked.

The Night Fury let out a screech of surprise and tried to flap backwards in shock. His prosthetic, unable to accommodate the loss of momentum and the sudden motion, failed to compensate for his flight. With his tailfin unresponsive to the curve of his tail, Hiccup began an extremely embarrassing freefall.

‘AAAAAAAAAA—!’ Hiccup screamed, and his Night Fury throat turned that into a warbling yell.

The sensation of falling while facing upwards into the clouds was only fun when he had his extra attachment to his tailfin that allowed him to manually pull his tailfin using his mouth and angle him upright once more. 

His mother had told him not to bring it, stating that he needed to learn how to fly unaided as much as possible “in case something happens.” Thus, all he can do was flap uselessly while Astrid rocketed downwards.

Night Fury dragons were often lauded for their impeccable scales and seamless blending with clouds no matter the time of day, and Astrid was no different. The late afternoon sun cast orange rays all over her alabaster scales, and Hiccup paused in his endless mental screaming to remark, ‘Oh, she’s beautiful…”

Then something hard smacked into his back, and Hiccup went right back to screaming.

A gust of air was his only warning before something big and hard hit him on his left side, and Hiccup instinctively flapped his wings to get away from his assailant, still screaming.

‘Stop it! Hiccup! It’s me!’ Astrid yelled back, and Hiccup forced himself to relax in her grip. Unfortunately, paying attention to him ended up diverting Astrid’s attention from her flight, and the ground was rapidly approaching. In a different panic this time, Hiccup curled his wings over Astrid just as they hit the treeline.

With a noisy crash, the two dragons ended up tumbling head over tail into the forest, limbs hitting various tree trunks and burying their heads into the rain-soaked soil.

‘Owww,’ Hiccup groaned. Far to his right, Astrid let out a rumbling moan.

The black-scaled Night Fury was used to these kinds of crashes, however, and Hiccup immediately righted himself to check for broken limbs. Once he was sure that he had no serious injuries, he crossed the distance to Astrid in one leap and began scanning her for injuries.

Apart from a lot of soil and leaves stuck to her scales, the light-scaled Night Fury was also similarly unharmed, though she appeared dazed by the impact. Understandable, she was carrying him after all. Hiccup nuzzled her head in comfort before nudging her limbs away from their skewed position.

‘Astrid?’ he lightly bit her ear. ‘Are you okay?’

One black pupil opened to stare at him incredulously. 

Hiccup licked Astrid’s face in commiseration and slight amusement before helping her stand upright. The soil around them was disturbed and muddy, so they took a moment to shake themselves down before moving to an undisturbed area of the forest.

As if on cue, they both transformed into their human skins.

“I’m sorry!” Astrid burst out. Hiccup merely grimaced, rubbing his left arm in embarrassment. 

“No, no it was my fault, I didn’t bring my tailfin support either.” He said, but then brightened as he realized something. “You reached the stratosphere!”

Astrid blinked. “I did?”

“Yes! That’s the layer above the clouds!” Hiccup grinned at her. “Congratulations, Astrid

Hofferson.”

“…oh. I did,” Astrid said, blankly, before a smile slowly crept up her face. “I did it!” “Yes!” 

“I did it, I did it!” Astrid jumped up in joy and threw her arms around him. Hiccup met her with equally eager arms, and there was a beat where everything faded away and there was only the two of them in this secluded forest.

Astrid rushed forward; Hiccup rushed forward too, and they met in the middle with their lips. By the gods, Astrid tasted like mint and stardust, and Hiccup wanted to have more. His arms snaked around her waist, and his heart pounded with excitement as she tilted her head and made the kiss so much better.

They only broke apart once the need for air became too much, and Hiccup was sure that Astrid had never looked more beautiful than today.

“Hey,” he said dumbly.

“Hey,” she replied, equally breathless. 

Hiccup would have kissed her again, but Astrid stepped back, her cheeks flushed red. Her chest was heaving, and Hiccup was sure that he was in no better state. The knot of power in his chest felt so full it might burst, and he felt like doing somersaults in the open sky. Hiccup couldn’t stop the stupid grin that came to his face, but Astrid’s own flush faded into a confused frown.

“Hiccup?” she asked, peering over his shoulder. “You have feathers on your back.” “What?” Hiccup swung a hand back and grabbed some of the debris stuck there, and true to what Astrid said, there were indeed feathers mixed with the leaves on his back. Hiccup turned red and hastily tried to brush himself off as much as he can while Astrid looked on in amusement. With the way she landed, most of the debris stuck to her had been on her wings, and her arms were easy enough to brush off.

“Why do I have feathers…” Hiccup mumbled.

“I think you hit something on the way down,” Astrid said, lifting one bedraggled feather and staring at it curiously.

Hiccup frowned. “Yeah, I think I did. Where…?”

A few minutes later, the two dragon-shifters were staring down at the remains of a lone swan, neck broken in two, and feathers torn out from impact. The weight of a falling dragon was enough to smash it on the field, but the grass bore most of the blood spatter.

“Hiccup,” Astrid said, after a minute of Hiccup staring horrified at the corpse. “That’s a royal swan.”

If possible, he turned even paler. “Royal swan?”

Astrid nodded solemnly. “Property of the crown, yeah. I’m fairly sure killing one still counts under royal treason.”

Hiccup’s eyes were very wide.

“W-we need to bury it!” Hiccup burst out. 

Astrid nodded again, the corners of her mouth turning up a bit.

“Oh no, we just avoided the police, we can’t lie to them again!” Hiccup said, now truly panicked. “We can’t go to jail!”

“’We?’ You’re the one who crashed into it,” Astrid pointed out, now actively fighting her smile.

Hiccup paused. “You’re right,” he said slowly. “We need to hide the evidence!”

Astrid jumped back as Hiccup abruptly transformed into his dragon form and shot a large blue fireball straight into the bloody mess. The smell of burnt meat made her wrinkle her nose, but then she looked at Hiccup’s half-terrified expression and burst into laughter.

“Why are you laughing? Astrid?” Hiccup asked once he turned back to his human form.

“Astrid?!”

“Y-your face!” Astrid managed to gasp out. Hiccup looked at her then back at the halfcharred mess in confusion.

“Wha—oh.” Hiccup closed his eyes, and a smile broke out on his face. “I overreacted,

didn’t I?” 

Astrid grinned, finally over her laughing fit. “Yeah, you did. Also, we’re not in England yet. This is Galloway, I think.”

“Does that law only apply to England?” 

“Yeah, silly,” Astrid said. She chuckled again, causing Hiccup to groan out loud. “Yeah, yeah, I hope my embarrassment was good enough entertainment,” he mock groused.

Astrid laughed again. “It was!”

Hiccup was about to retort but Astrid’s eyes were shining even in the dim light, and his heart soared. 

If he could make Astrid laugh every day for the rest of his life, he’d consider his life fulfilled. Is this what having a Mate is like? If so, then he needs to pay more attention to his parents’ stories.

Hiccup glanced towards the rapidly darkening sky with a smile and for the first time in a long while, he thought the future had never looked so bright.

————— ————— ————— ————— ————

“—and that’s the story of how Hiccup accidentally killed a royal swan,” Astrid finished. Ruffnut took an obnoxiously huge slurp of her milkshake in response. Astrid glared at her.

“Did you ever finish your date?” Ruffnut asked.

“Yeah, we did. We—”

“I’m still hung up on the whole ‘teaching you how to fly’, Astrid. You mean you’ve been around the guy for like three months and you haven’t shagged him yet?” Ruffnut shakes her head. “Man, if I was you I would have tapped that ass a long time ago—” “Ruffnut!” Astrid hissed.

Ruffnut raised her hands. “I’m jus’ saying, he’s out of that weird stickboy phase he used to be in. He’s cool now, man, and pretty soon every girl from school is going to fight you for him.”

Astrid snarled at the thought. Ruffnut just raised an eyebrow. Astrid reined her dragon instincts in and tried to look semi-normal again. The café was thankfully busy enough that nobody would give them a second glance, but Astrid still disliked being gawked at.

“You’re right. I just…” Astrid trailed off. “It’s hard to explain.”

Ruffnut shrugged. “Sounds simple to me.”

“I just don’t know if I’m genuinely attracted to him or if I’m just being led around by my dragon form!” Astrid scowled. Ruffnut only hummed.

“So like humans then.” Was her only response.

“What does that mean?” Astrid demanded.

“I mean, Hofferson, that inside every human is a beast that only comes out when we think someone’s really, really hot,” Ruffnut explained, using the empty milkshake cup to emphasize her point. “Sometimes we don’t want that flowers shtick, we want to get down and dirty, plowed into the bed, rawed good and—”

Astrid slapped a hand over her teammate’s mouth as several other café-goers turned in their direction.

“Gods, Ruffnut, would it kill you to be decent in public?” Astrid snapped. The blonde just laughed, ignoring Astrid’s building anger. 

“I’m just saying, Astrid, that if you’re confused about which is which, maybe you’re going about it the wrong way—”

“It’s not like that!” 

“Isn’t it though?” Ruffnut retorted.

“Sex isn’t what he wants!”

“You’re sure about that?”

Astrid resisted the urge to punch her teammate. “Thorston, I know you’re used to sleeping around with every guy that crosses your eyesight, but Hiccup isn’t like that. I’m not asking about whether I want to sleep with him, I’m only wondering if I’m attracted to him because well, we’re both Night Furies, and…” she trailed off into silence. Ruffnut rolled her eyes and pulled out her phone in clear dismissal. 

Astrid leaned back in her seat with a sigh. What did she want, anyway? The pull in her chest draws her closer and closer to Hiccup, but they’ve barely known each other. She’s not one to believe in fate, but the attraction to the other Night Fury came so hard and so fast that she didn’t exactly have time to doubt her decisions. That, and this dragonhunter business.

Then again, maybe that was the point. Maybe she shouldn’t doubt it; Hiccup was nice and sweet and unlike any boy that she had dated before. He also makes for a very handsome Night Fury, and his scales complement her so well—

Astrid abruptly stood up, pushing the still-full coffee cup away. “I need to go.” This café is so crowded, and she needs to take a nice long flight to clear herself of these conflicting feelings.

Ruffnut shrugs and grabs her coffee cup. “Suit yourself, Hofferson. Either stake your claim or watch as he gets taken by someone else, secret dragon or not.”

Astrid doesn’t bother that with a reply and leaves the café quickly. Ruffnut rolls her eyes and moves to follow but before she can stand, a man sits down across her.

“Hello, Rowena Thorston.” The man’s right eye was as clear as milk, yet they pinned her in her spot. “Do you mind if we talk?”

Chapter Text

The thing about Hiccup, Zack mused, is that he’s weak.
Before that runt of a cousin of his managed to fix his tail, everyone knew that he, Zack Jorgenson, was in line for the chief of their village. He, with his classical draconic look and his unique lineage, had been trained to carry the burden and glory of being the chief of their little dragon outpost ever since he had grown his spurs. His father had told him as much, since Hiccup had been crippled and his inventions a dirty little reminder that he would always be more human than dragon to the rest of the clan.
And now…
Zack kicked a stray pebble from the side of the road. Hiccup fought one, just one dragonhunter and he’s back to being the heir? Never mind that he didn’t even kill the hunter, leaving him to go back and report their existence to his dragonhunting friends; according to Fishlegs, he also found his Mate? Unfair, Zack thought, kicking another pebble aside.
How was he supposed to know that stupid Mr. Grimmel was a dragon hunter? He would have torn him from limb to limb had he known, Zack thought. A lone dragon hunter so close to a dragon village is just asking for a death by either fire or very sharp teeth.
Zack snarled, the sound echoing in the empty forest. The worn-down path leading to the school extension would be completely covered in snow come winter, so Zack took the opportunity to walk along the packed ground before the snows fall. Due to rumors he’d started himself, barely anyone came to the abandoned extension anymore, tales of large beasts and unfriendly fae scaring away the other students. Zack started the rumors because he wanted a safe place to transform and train if he needed to, but with Hiccup’s reinstating, what good was there to continue training?
The autumn leaves crunched underneath his feet as he tried his best not to stomp and shout like a toddler. What good is he now to the village? The spare? Zack doesn’t like the thought of that; he’s second to none! As it should be, before Hiccup mucked it all up. He could be the village marshal like his father, but then it wouldn’t be an improvement on anything, it would be just more of the same: Jorgensons always second to Haddocks. His grandmother marrying his grandfather gave him this golden opportunity to take over and lead the village as he desired, but now that he’s been effectively displaced, what can he do now?
Zack shakes his head. The broad side of the extension slowly comes into view past the ash trees, and footprints indicative of his earlier visits here abruptly transition into large, menacing, powerful dragon claws. He glanced back towards the school. The sun was setting, and he was out of the sightline of any windows. Perfect.
Transforming into a dragon always takes the breath out of him, literally and figuratively. Zack knew he isn’t the biggest in his class, but he’s certainly the most muscled from all his training as chief as well as the different raids his father allows him on. His dragon form reflects this; Monstrous Nightmares are among the most powerful Western dragons, despite their weak looking limbs. There’s a reason his dragon form still graced the sigil of England until today. With black spots over auburn scales over well-toned flesh, no one can mistake him for anything but the most feared dragon form in medieval England. He looks just thin enough to be considered weak yet is fast enough to keep up with a Night Fury in a swoop. Monstrous Nightmares are well-named; they were the scourges of English towns, burning villages and farms to the ground and indiscriminately killing whenever they pleased. Zack was proud to be a Monstrous Nightmare, like his father and his grandfather before him. Even Hiccup being a Night Fury wasn’t enough to dispel the support that came with Zack.
But then Hiccup fought that dragonhunter, and suddenly everything was about him.
It wasn’t until he was halfway done with his transformation when he saw someone in the distant treeline. It might only be a trick of the light, but Zack had heard enough stories about dragonhunters not to dismiss it. He immediately surged forward, propelled by his large, still-forming wings, and his claws sank into wood as the intruder dove behind a tree.
His features were indistinct in the darkness of the late afternoon forest, but Zack didn’t need to identify him. His features would melt soon under point-blank dragonfire anyway.
“I—”
Zack sprayed the tree and his surroundings with fire.
When the tree his claws were in disintegrated into a pile of ash, Zack stopped his assault and snorted out a puff of air to clear the smoke. He might need to flap his wings later to dissipate the black smoke rising above the treeline, just to be safe.
In the intruder’s place was a single note, untouched by his flames. Zack can read well enough in his dragon form, and he crouched down to look at the note.
There was a time and a place listed. Zack transformed back to his human form and picked up the note, turning it all around to make sure that it was truly unharmed. Huh.
Well, Zack doesn’t have anything else to do on this Saturday.

_________________________________

When Ruffnut walked out of the café, it was with a business card clenched in her right hand and her cellphone on the left, with a picture of her brother taken candidly from inside a known drug trafficking club.
Her expression scared the other customers that walked out of the café, and they gave her a wide berth as she stared angrily into the pavement in front of her.
Ruffnut’s braids whipped around as she began an angry walk down the sidewalk. In the abandoned building just across the café, a pair of eyes tracked her every step.

______________________________

Dragons are cold-blooded. Hiccup doesn’t deny himself the need to fly out into an especially sunny part of the UK and let himself soak in all that sunlight. The perpetual rain that his home was known for, however, made this a rare treat, and better enjoyed with friends as they lounged about lazily and talk about everything and nothing.

This time, however, he has Astrid.

The two Night Furies were sunning themselves in a particularly flat spot above a loch, wings and limbs stretched out to take advantage of all the sunlight they could catch. This weekend was shaping up to be one of the sunniest on record before winter could truly set in, and Hiccup was glad that he got to spend this with his Mate.

His Mate. It wasn’t official yet, but he can’t deny the pull in his heart and the longing that runs in his veins in both dragon and human form. Hiccup knew that Astrid had his reservations with this whole Mate thing, being adopted from human parents, but he felt confident that he was going the right path. It’s like one of his inventions; sure, they blew up a lot but even before they explode or melt down, but he got the basics down and could grasp what went wrong easily. It’s just a matter of knowing how things work. 

…Granted, he hadn’t had much experience in having a relationship, but he knew Astrid, he knew his parents (no matter how embarrassing they act sometimes), and everything else, he has the internet for. He’s got to have done something right, from all that research. 

The Light Fury turned on her belly to face him, and there was something so earnest in her eyes that Hiccup immediately followed suit, pulling his wings closed in an effort to scoot closer to her.

Astrid opened her mouth, revealing rows of hidden teeth, and on instinct Hiccup stood straighter because that’s a sign of asserting dominance. He watched her mouth hang open for a few seconds before snapping it shut, clearly changing her mind. 

Then she transformed, back to her human form and human clothes and Hiccup was sad to see her luminescent scales fade to the dull human skin before he followed suit, folding his now-human legs on the flat stone. Low tide meant that the waves that normally lapped against the cliff’s edges would not be a problem in hearing, though the strong wind might have other ideas.

Hiccup cocked her head. “Astrid?”

She was pensive, staring out in the expanse of Loch Lomond, and the expression on her face was unreadable.

“Hiccup, what if we aren’t Mates?” she asked in almost a whisper.

He recoiled at the question, shaking his head.

“No, Astrid—”

“Hiccup.” Astrid cut him off. “Just answer the question.”

He swallowed. If he and Astrid aren’t Mates, then what are they? He’s spent long enough with her that he can recite her likes and dislikes from memory on demand though with how fast he fell for her, he wasn’t sure if they could ever be just friends.

Hell, Hiccup wasn’t sure if he wanted to be just friends with Astrid, with how strong their Pull is and how well they complement each other. No, the very thought was impossible to consider. But Hiccup is also an engineer, and inventor, and so he tries his best. If they aren’t Mates, then what is this feeling that Hiccup gets when he’s next to Astrid? Why does his heart yearn for her touch, for her smile every single day he wakes up? If they aren’t meant to be connected, then why did Astrid go to his school instead of the myriad other schools in the area who will take better care of her, cultivate her skills and nourish her talents better than some school north of Glasgow?

Why does he feel bereft and lost whenever he thinks of Astrid not being there by his side? Why is he attracted to every curl in her sun-kissed blonde hair, every dimple and every magnificent scale, the shimmer of her wings as they flap and soar above the clouds? When they kiss, why does her body fit his so well, his hands feel like coming home when they rest on her hips, like they were made for each other? Why do their dragon forms match, if not to dance in the skies in perfect harmony, the colors contrasting and complementing each other in a magical and awe-inspiring daze?

“…I don’t know,” Hiccup finally concluded.

Astrid looked at him, acknowledging his lack of words, and continued to stare into the calm waters of the loch. The earlier air of relaxation is gone, and Hiccup feels like he’s falling without his wings, headed for an abyss from which he could never fly back up.  “Why…why would you think that…?” Hiccup asked, curling his prosthetic leg to lay on the floor instead of following the instinct to curl up.

Astrid sighed and shook her head. “It’s just…”

The sun was covered by clouds once again, leaving a gray cast all over the landscape.

Astrid absently poked a blade of grass for a few seconds before continuing,

“We don’t choose who we love, don’t we?”

Hiccup felt a swooping sensation in his gut and a lump formed in his throat, but he swallowed it down and steeled his nerves. True, he had thought it might be like that, and found it equally absurd, but they’re not humans. They’re only dragons pretending to be humans, and dragons have Mates. It’s as simple as that. But he can see where Astrid is coming from, and he knows that she’s simply overwhelmed by all she’d ever learned these last few months.

“Astrid, didn’t we learn in History that Ancient Greeks believed Zeus split his creations, the humans, and sent them far and wide, away from their other half? That we have to go and find them to be able to feel fulfilled?” Astrid nodded.

“Well, it’s just like that,” Hiccup finished, somewhat lamely, but he pressed on. “Our innate magic is Zeus, and that is how we’ve spent the last million years on Earth: trying to find that elusive person we want to spend the rest of our lives with because our magic will be perfect in each other, prefect for each other. For me, it’s you, and I don’t think anyone else will make me feel the way I feel for you, Astrid Hofferson.” Hiccup tried for a smile, but it fell flat when Astrid abruptly stood up.

“I need a break.” She announced. In a matter of seconds, a white Night Fury fell in freefall over the edge of a cliff, pulling sharply upwards and flying almost desperately towards the other shore of the loch. Away from his words. Away from Hiccup.

The young dragon slumped over his chosen stone, mulled over his words, and wondered what he did or said wrong. The sky remained cloudy and gray as time passed, and eventually Hiccup was turned away from waiting for her to return and set a heavy heart to flying to the aerie alone.

 _____________________________________

Principal Mala looked up at newcomer as she closed the door behind her, soft footsteps echoing in the immaculately clean office.

“You must be the new student,” she greeted warmly. Green eyes peeked at her from under deceptively long lashes, and Principial Mala could already feel that this new student was destined to win a thousand beauty contests and break a thousand hearts.

“Thank you for meeting me this late in the semester, Principal Mala.” Her Irish lilt wasn’t a surprise, given that she came from MP Alvin Ivar’s own family, no matter how estranged. 

“I hope you’ll find this modest school of ours a welcome change from the last, Miss Oswald,” the principal said, nodding to the newest member of her family.

“Don’t worry, Principal Mala,” Heather Oswald, younger sister to Dagur the dragonhunter, said modestly, “I’ll be sure to enjoy my brief stay here.”

Chapter Text

Biology class started with Principal Mala walking in with a black-haired girl trailing behind her. Hiccup looked up from where he was poking at the microscope to exchange glances with Chris, his current partner: the principal doesn’t usually go to individual classes.
“Good morning students! Please welcome your new classmate, Ms. Heather Oswald,” Principal said, clapping a hand on the girl’s shoulder. “I know it’s a bit late in the term, but I hope you welcome her into our fine school.”
The girl’s bright green eyes seemed to search the classroom for something or someone while the principal talked with their teacher. Hiccup became very aware of the empty seat next to him and tried to discreetly put his bag there, but to no avail—her eyes met his and gave him the feeling of a deer in headlights.
Of course, once the principal had explained the situation to the teacher, he immediately directed her to take a seat, and she beelined for the seat directly next to him. Hiccup didn’t want to be rude, so he tried to smile at her as she sat down—only for the girl to direct her most blinding smile at him.
“Hi, I’m Heather,” she said, sticking out her hand. Hiccup wavered between shaking her hand and edging his seat away from her, but he eventually settled for politeness and shook her hand.
“Hic—Harold,” Hiccup said, trying not to blush as he nearly said his stupid nickname to the new girl. The girl’s grip seemed to tighten as her green eyes bore into his, and he almost had to pull his own hand away from how long she was willing to hold his.
Behind him, Chris also stuck out his hand.
“I’m Chris! How’d you come in so late in the term?” Chris asked, and Hiccup caught a flash of displeasure on her face before she covered it with a smile. Heather shook Chris’ hand for far shorter than she did Hiccup’s, before angling her body to face Hiccup.
“Oh, I had to transfer here due to, um, family problems,” Heather blushed, the color rising to her cheeks. “It’s a long story.”
“So…” she said, after a pause where the three of them couldn’t think of anything to say, “…what are we doing now?”
Hiccup and Chris shared a glance: one questioning, one pleading.
“We’re identifying the different fronds on the underside of ferns…” Chris said, launching into an explanation about their current lesson. There was something unsettling about the way the girl’s face seemed disappointed by Chris talking before she was nodding and smiling enthusiastically to his explanation. Hiccup took a moment to examine his own reactions. Is he really going to be unsettled about the presence of a new girl?
She seemed perfectly normal, after all.
In the other table, Astrid tried her best not to embed the scalpel into the new girl’s neck. She settled for glaring viciously at the back of Heather’s head. To her side, Ellen removed the microscope from Astrid’s immediate reach in case she tries to climb over the table and attack the new girl.

“Hey Harold!” Heather called out from the other end of the hallway. Hiccup cringed. To his side, Zack guffawed.
“She calls you Harold?!” he said, before laughing. Hiccup totally didn’t mean to slam his locker closed, but he marched away from his cousin’s laughter all the same. Heather skidded to a stop in front of him, coming from a short run through the crowded hallway. When she stopped, her face was almost indecently close to Hiccup’s, and he hastily backed away for some space. Heather, on the other hand, remained where she is, smiling.
“I think I’m lost, Harold. I was on my way to the cafeteria…” she trailed off, looking hopefully at him. Hiccup very nearly took a step back.
“Sorry to disappoint you, beautiful, but no one here calls him ‘Harold’, Zack said, swaggering up and almost shoving him backward. “Hey there, my name’s Zack.”
His short cousin had tried to strike a pose to impress Heather, and Hiccup would have laughed out loud if it weren’t for the growing crowd listening to them. So, word had spread around about the newcomer. Heather, for her part, stuck out a hand.
“I’m Heather,” she said, but there was something clipped about the way she said it that made Hiccup frown. Of course, she hadn’t met Zack yet—he was stuck in detention when she was introduced to class.
“What a beautiful name for a beautiful girl,” Zack said, leaning forward, and fought the urge to facepalm as Heather leaned back in reply, clearly confused.
“Um…”
No one was coming forward to help her, and Zack was clearly either going to scare her off or get slapped, so Hiccup stepped in.
“You were looking for the cafeteria?” he asked. Heather nodded, her eyes brightening.
“I’ve been going around in circles…”
“I can take you there,” Zack bragged, but Heather faced Hiccup fully.
“Can you…” she trailed off, chewing her lip. Hiccup nodded to her unspoken question. “Sure,” he said, but before he even took a single step forward, Zack surged forward, almost blocking his path.
“What? Him?! This runt? You’re picking him?” Zack demanded. “Over me?!”
Hiccup resisted the urge to punch his cousin and settled for wishing that the floor could just swallow him whole.
Heather looked unsure. “But I don’t—”
“His name isn’t even Harold, it’s Hiccup! Hiccup the useless, Hiccup the weak, Hiccup the one-legged—”
“That’s enough!” Sir Frederick said, striding down the hall and scattering the students who were watching from the sidelines. “Such abhorrent behavior! Mr. Jorgenson, you’re going with me to the principal’s office!”
Zack paled. “What? But I didn’t—”
“You’ll make your excuses there, Mr. Jorgenson. Now apologize to Ms. Oswald and Mr. Haddock.”
“But—”
“Now!”
Zack turned to Hiccup and bit out a sorry between gritted teeth. He did the same to Heather and tried to march away with his head held high, but Sir Frederick grabbed the back of his shirt and frog-marched him back down the hall. “As for the rest of you, don’t loiter in the halls!” he said, led the protesting Zack away. Whispers immediately followed in their wake, and eyes were looking furtively at Hiccup and Heather.
“That wasn’t very nice,” Heather said. “Are you okay?”
Hiccup stared at her. “Why are you asking me? You’re the one who had to face him!” “Yes, but he insulted you,” Heather retorted.
Hiccup tried to wave it away. “He’s my cousin; I’m used to it.”
Heather frowned. “That doesn’t excuse what he said.”
Hiccup only shrugged in reply to that. “So, uh…still looking for the cafeteria?”
It was strange to see Heather’s almost haughty features transform into an eager smile.
“Yeah I am. Can you show me…?”
Hiccup smiled. “Of course.”
As Heather began to animatedly tell a story about herself, the crowd had lost interest in the altercation and were loitering around as high school students do. In the brief clearing of teenage heads, Hiccup saw a flash of hurt blue eyes.
For a moment he wanted to stop, to confront Astrid, but he remembered that she wanted him to stay away, and so despite the ache in his heart, Hiccup turned his head to pay attention to Heather’s story.

Ruffnut Thorston looked out into the busy streets. The sidewalk was filled with people rushing back and forth, eager to get to their destinations in the early morning light. The cup of coffee she’d bought laid untouched in front of her, steaming softly in the airconditioned café. It was, by all accounts, a peaceful and relaxing morning.
The man in front of her, however, had no such respect for the atmosphere.
“The video?”
Ruffnut grunted and all but tossed him the flash drive. It hadn’t taken her a second’s contemplation before putting the incriminating video in there, because no matter how stupid Tuffnut is, he’s still her twin brother.
The man caught it with reflexes that betrayed his age. Ruffnut focused on the oiliness of his face than how dangerous his eyes looked.
“My thanks, Ms. Thorston.”
Ruffnut bared her teeth at him. “And my brother?”
He smiled unkindly. “Safe.”
“If anything happens to him…”
“I doubt you can do anything to stop me,” the man cut her off, “but a deal is a deal. Now enjoy the rest of your day, Rowena Thorston.”
By the time the man had left, Ruffnut’s coffee had grown cold, along with the sick feeling of betrayal that settled in her stomach.

Hiccup must be taunting her.
After that scene in the hallway, Hiccup was always accompanied by that girl. In the cafeteria, going home, partners in the classroom, partners in the lab…
…God but she looked like a limpet with how much she clung to his arm.
And through it all, Astrid gritted her teeth and ignored them.
Because she left. Because she ran away.
Because she was also confused. Because she was scared. Because damn it all, her stupid, dragon instincts—!
‘Your fault,’ a nasty voice in her head whispered. ‘If you’d just told him…’
“Shut up,” Astrid snapped, and Ellen, her current research partner, looked her oddly.
“I didn’t say anything,” the redhead pointed out.
“Sorry,” Astrid said, sulking back in her chair.
Ellen rolled her eyes. “If this is about Haddock, I suggest to just get it over with—either kiss him or move on, or whatever.”
Astrid’s voice rose high. “I’m not—!”
“Girl, you look like you’re about one second away from beating the lights out of Heather. And while yeah, she hangs around him a lot, I don’t think they’re together. At least, not yet,” Ellen said, side-eying Astrid.
“Why would I care about them?” Astrid hotly replied.
“Why indeed,” Ellen muttered under her breath. Astrid heard it, of course, and decided to ignore it, focusing on their research instead.
…But then images of Hiccup and Heather filled her brain, pushing all other thoughts to the wayside. Suddenly, Astrid couldn’t bear the thought of another girl pressing her claim to her Mate.
The scrape of her chair as it was dragged back was loud in the empty study area, but Ellen didn’t bother looking up from where she was scribbling away.
“Just chat me when you get that out of your system, alright?” Ellen said, “We still need to finish this. Oh, and if I’m not mistaken, Hiccup’s in the library.”
Astrid fought the urge to snap back at her, but then thought better of it and settled for a glare, which was ignored. The sound of her feet padding along the mostly empty study hall gave her enough distraction from what she wanted to say to him. Truthfully, Astrid isn’t good with these kinds of conversations; true, she kissed him, and they definitely felt attracted to each other, but…
“I’m afraid,” Astrid said. There, she’d said it out loud. It’s an admission to herself. She doesn’t really know if this is it; if this is truly love and not just two similar dragons attracted to each other by the quirk of their biology. She doesn’t want the shallow kind of love; she wants someone that can have her back when she needs them, someone who can hold her close when she stops feeling so strong. Astrid wants someone to rely on, someone she can share her life with.
Hiccup can do that. Hiccup already did that. Hiccup helped her learn how to spread her wings, he taught her how to soar and breath fire and blend in with the clouds, and he never left her, even when they were attacked by a dragonhunter. He could’ve just left at any time; save his own skin and leave her to her own, but he didn’t.
And he wanted more too. What he said on that cliff…it was really just the same things she wanted. She was just…afraid.
Astrid thought back to the way Heather held on to Hiccup’s arm, and bile rose in her throat. No, she couldn’t just let him go.
Never let it be said that Astrid Hofferson went down without a fight.
She threw open the library doors. “Hic—” Heather was kissing him. Heather was kissing him.
…Oh.
“I’m-I’m sorry,” Astrid stammered.
Heather pulled back with a squeak of surprise while Hiccup all but leapt away from her.
“Astrid!”
“I’ll…I’ll just go,” Astrid said, and turned on her heel.
“Astrid, it’s not what you th—” She ran.
Astrid could hear him struggling to run after her, his prosthetic clicking in the marble floor, but she didn’t bother slowing down, running full speed across the barely lit halls of the schools. She even ran past Principal Mala, who yelled at her to slow down, but her voice disappeared as Astrid rounded the corner and threw open the doors towards the football field.
She quickly scanned the field for other people, squinting through a haze to see if there is anyone else. Once she confirmed that the field was empty, it was the work of a few seconds to transform into her dragon form and launch herself up through the clouds. It wasn’t until she was halfway home that she realized that the haze in her eyes was her own tears.

The envelope was unmarked, left on his desk like most of his files. Alvin Ivar glanced around the room, wary of any surveillance devices, but a quick sweep relieved him of his suspicions. Perhaps the envelope was an update on the workings of the
Buckingham Palace; his spies must have infiltrated the inner sanctum of the royal family already. And ahead of schedule too! Alvin quickly picked up the folder and turned it over.
There was a dragon’s head stamped on the center.
Alvin’s eyes widened in glee.
He quickly slit the envelope open, and two pieces of paper fell out. One was the coded coordinates for the drop off point of his special spy, and the other… The other was a list of pictures of the dragons in their human form.
He quickly put the list facedown on his desk, while he viewed the coordinates. Hmm, it seemed like it would be difficult to access, but she wouldn’t be his special spy if she didn’t take all the necessary precautions.
Once he was sure that everything seems to be in order, he called his associate on his personal mobile.
“I have the list,” he said, instead of the greeting the receiver. The answering silence told him everything he needed to hear. The dial tone after the silence was his final confirmation.
Alvin resisted the urge to cackle in glee. After all these years, their efforts were not in vain. They chose well in their professions, had been patient with their plans, and now all their planning was coming to a head. It was proving to be more fun than a game of chess with a grandmaster, for there wasn’t an empty title to fight for in this case.
No, the true prize was far, far greater than the title of Grandmaster.
Alvin’s eyes flicked to an empty spot in his office, where a secret door was hidden. And behind that door…was a dragon’s worst nightmare.
Oh, this was going to be so much fun.

Chapter Text

A familiar whistling sound quickly grew in her peripheral, and she banked sharply to the left to avoid him. True enough, a black blur shot past where she had been, but it quickly did an about-turn and headed straight for her. Astrid called up that ever-present fire burning in her gut and blew a fireball in his direction, only for him to sail over it as if it’s just an errant wave in a surfer’s path.
‘Astrid!’
She did a barrel-roll into a cloud to obscure her presence and used the air pockets to sink deeper into the cloud layer without disturbing them too much. Her white scales blended in well, even with the setting sun, and so Astrid flew in a slow circle inside a particularly fluffy cumulus to clear some space for her to hover.
Outside the protective cover of the clouds, she could occasionally see flashes of black and blue, and Astrid grimaced as it wove in and out of sight, as Hiccup looked for her.
‘Astrid!’
She could still hear him. Why could she still hear him?
‘Astrid!’
She grimaced and closed her eyes.
‘Astrid!’ There.
Astrid shot forwards, using all of the speed she has in her to fling herself in the opposite direction of the black Night Fury, and her wings flapped aggressively as she tried to put as much distance between as she can. It wasn’t until she was halfway across the Isles that she even dared to slow down, and by that time Hiccup was nowhere to be seen.
Her wings hurt from the effort, so she chose to land in a mostly intact forest, hoping that the canopy would hide her if he ever came this way. The grass was soft as she collapsed in exhaustion, wings flopping uselessly into the ground as she spread them out.
Hiccup wasn’t her Mate. Hiccup had Heather now, because Astrid was such a coward she didn’t tell him what was bothering her and ignored him until he looked for someone else. The pull in her chest was false; Astrid imagined it to be something like human attraction and believed that it will fade with time.
At least, she hopes.
The setting sun cast strange shadows across the hooded forest, and Astrid finally let go of her dragon form once the shadows started covering bits of the forest from her view. It wouldn’t do to have a late-night walker stumble upon her in all their exhausted glory. She knew she looked like a mess with bits of the forest stuck her neck and back, but she couldn’t care any less. Her room in her house called to her, and she was eager to freshen up, go to sleep, and have a good cry about her own cowardice later. Much later.
The first glob of slime hit her directly in her back and sent her tumbling down into the forest floor. She barely got out a scream before the second hit her directly in the face, and the sulfur smell quickly overwhelmed her senses. She could feel her hands and feet getting similarly hit by slime before the blackness overtook her vision and she lost consciousness.

Heather watched the Night Fury wrench himself away in disgust at her actions before he leapt at the door, calling out that blonde’s name all the while. Gods, but she has him wrapped around her finger. It should be sweet, but Heather has seen enough to know that men like him are equally capable of violence along with sickening sweetness.
She uncurled herself from her languid position and closed the library door. Haddock will not be returning anytime soon, and the library was empty; for extra measure, she put herself into the chair closest to the door and grabbed a large book as a prop. It wouldn’t do to have anyone walk in and find her suspicious; her constant act as Haddock’s starry-eyed new girl would only work if everyone thought of her in a certain light.
With the stage now set, she dug around her bag for a tube of lipstick, but instead of uncapping it, she popped off the bottom lid and shook out the gem contained within.
Once it hit her skin, Heather’s vision was filled with a green overlay, one that revealed the constant fire that burned in the bodies of every dragon in this school.
There was someone else in the library.
Heather froze.
She knew the library was empty; she had checked and double-checked before she maneuvered Haddock here, how did he…?
The gem was quickly hidden away, the lipstick quickly ‘applied’ before being stashed away in her bag, and she smoothed her expression into a friendly-but-lost face before approaching the other occupant of the library.
When she rounded the stacks, she immediately recognized him: Chris Ingerman,
Haddock’s constant shadow. ‘Best friend’ would be more appropriate, except that he didn’t react when Haddock cam tearing out of here, so…
…ah. Earphones. Well, that would explain it. That, and the very large encyclopedia he was treating like a pocket-sized novel with how wide his eyes were. And he was actually reading them!
Heather cleared her throat. He didn’t react. Huh, maybe his music was really loud. Time for a more direct action.
She poked his arm.
Chris let out a startled yell, and Heather had to duck away with a squeak as the thrown encyclopedia nearly took off her head.
“Ah!”
“Eek!”
Chris hastily stood up. “Oh no, are you okay? I’m really sorry for that, I knew I should have—”
Heather pretended to be flustered as she shook her head. “No need, it’s my fault. What are you doing here, research?”
Chris shook his pudgy head. “No, uh, I just like reading.”
Heather directed a disbelieving look at the thick encyclopedia, lying forlorn on the floor.
He flushed. “It’s my hobby. Look, I’m really, really sorry I—”
She held up a hand and flashed her most brilliant smile. “You’re forgiven, don’t worry about it.”
Chris shook his head. “I don’t think so. Heather, right? I’m Chris,” he said, sticking out his right hand. Heather reached out a hand to shake it, but as their fingertips touched, a jolt ran up Heather’s spine.
No. No, no, no.
Chris only frowned down at their hands. “Well, that’s weird.”
Heather quickly rearranged her face from a look of horror to a sheepish delight, but inside she was screaming. Of all the times to meet her Mate…!
“Anyway, let me make it up to you, Heather. There’s a fish ‘n chips bar round the corner next to the school, have you been there?”
She shook her head, quickly wishing that she had just ran away instead of checking out this intruder in the library. But as they say, in for a penny, in for a pound.
“I…haven’t?” Heather said hesitantly, and Chris smiled, his cheeks flushed with color.
“Great! Let me just return this and we can go,” he said, and it would almost be sweet if it weren’t for the sinking feeling in her stomach.
Heather watched him walk away and wondered if it would be kinder to set him aside now than risk being eliminated by her patron later.

By the time Hiccup had landed in their aerie, it had long grown dark, matching his mood perfectly. The Night Fury landed silently on the balcony to his room, transformed to human, and flopped face-down on the bed.
Then he shot up with a speed that betrayed his dragon form, ran to the bathroom, and practically scrubbed his lips dry.
“Hiccup? Is that you?” His mom’s voice echoed from downstairs. Hiccup, in lieu of answering, only rapped on the wooden wall support with his knuckles.
It took a while to get the taste of soap away from his mouth. It took even longer to feel clean and remove the feeling of Heather’s lips against his.
By the time he had come out of the bathroom, his parents were in his room waiting for him. There was a tray of food on his desk, his latest inventions gently moved aside. Stoick’s bulky form looked so out of place in Hiccup’s cramped bedroom, and Valka’s rawhide cloak blended poorly with the slightly steampunk vibe he had going on.
The expressions on their faces were concerned, and that was all Hiccup needed before he threw himself into his mother’s arms and let the tears fall out.

Zack pulled the rucksack over his shoulder, careful to look left and right before crossing the street. His parents thought he was just practicing night flights, but he was really arranging a better future for himself, one that he deserved.
The man was waiting on the corner of the street, his collar turned up and his hair a different color than before. The smirk on his face was evident even from blocks away, and for a moment Zack considered throwing the rucksack at his feet and roasting them both alive, but no. Here was his chance to be better than Harold Haddock, to be greater than anyone else in the village, and put his name up there with the great dragon legends.
All he had to do was give this man the layout and the location of the village.
“Here,” Zack said, throwing the rucksack to the man.
He caught it with a deft hand but didn’t bother to open it.
“Thank you, Mr. Jorgenson.” The man’s oil-slick voice echoed into the empty street.
“Yeah, yeah. You’re sure Hiccup will be gone?”
The man nodded. “Events have already been set in motion. These,” he held up the rucksack, “will only be hammer to the anvil.”
Zack nodded. “Right, that’s it then,” he paused, before continuing with a smirk, “Sir Grimmel.”
His former Maths professor smirked in reply and began to walk away. Zack watched his steps gradually disappear into the late evening fog and be swallowed by the everpresent haze. Then he turned his hood up and began to walk home, whistling softly as he went.
Is he betraying his village? Zack doesn’t think so; after all, Hiccup committed a crime by letting himself get drawn into a public battle with a dragonhunter and not killing him. The fact that said dragonhunter had contacted him and promised him eventual leadership of the village in exchange for information on said village was beside the point; he was only setting himself up to rise in the wake of the Night Fury’s fall.
And if the guilt that gnaws in his stomach would just stop doing that, then his life would be perfect.

The video was published at midnight. By the time the clock struck 1AM, the video had hit 1 million views. By the time it reached Hiccup’s little village, it had hit 7 million views and articles have already been published.
By the time the first rays of light had reached the aerie, the whole village was in an uproar.