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The average newborn viking is required to tolerate two things: proper grooming and loud noises. While the latter can become extreme to the point of giving a fully grown viking deafness, the occasional rough housing, war cries, and verbal arguments aren’t nearly as loud as the sound of a night fury piercing through the drafty air on a summer’s morning. The night fury in question woke to the peaceful early sunrise on an island he had never been on before and decided, then and there, that he could spend the rest of the day lazing around. Why not? The dragon wondered. We didn’t go flying yesterday, how about we do that again today? Toothless had everything planned out. Yes, dragons can plan for themselves too, but it seemed like his own rider had been thinking otherwise. Riding on his dragon with steadfast wit and prowess, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III, recently appointed Chief of Berk, was determined to get back home. After spending many snowy nights in the mountainous island of Endsmead, having to sit in talks with other chiefs and their tribesmen, he was itching to get home. Great was his desperation that Eret and Spitelout begged him to leave ahead of the scheduled departure date. He had a few “Go on, lad!” or “Don’t worry about us, chief!” and some “You did great out there. Now go home!” shouts from them. Hiccup was initially pleased to receive such support from his men, but after flying a few kilometers off Endsmead’s fishing ports he suspected that they were at their limits tolerating his restlessness. He would never admit it, but he might be the least subtle viking in the entire world. Yes, he may have nearly mastered the art of viking intimidation and he may have taken on his late father’s chiefly stance, but Hiccup always wore his heart on his sleeve. In fact, it has gotten so easy for him to show his emotions that he could tell the other chiefs would occasionally feel bewildered when talking to him. But Hiccup doesn’t mind. He just wanted to get home. He had officially self-diagnosed himself with severe hyper-homesickness around the second week of meetings and it didn’t help that he couldn't receive nor send terror mail during his entire stay. Berk was warmer than this place, he muttered to himself one time. During the night in his shared temporary hut, not once did his mind not stray to the possibilities of life in Berk. He first would imagine Snoutlout doing a great job (he hoped) in directing defensive orders. He believed that his cousin was becoming quite the right hand man and a good candidate to replace his father’s assistive role in the near future.Hiccup’s imaginations would then take him to Fishlegs, who might be losing precious sleep from finishing his upcoming new and improved pocket guidebook to dragons. Of course, Hiccup would then feel dreadful imagining what the twins were up to. Days after the battle with Drago, they became Berk’s official Disaster Risk and Reduction Management Team. They tested out the fragility and vulnerability of Berk’s infrastructures. As to how they tested, Hiccup would rather not go into detail. Hiccup then wondered where his mother would be. While Valka seemed well-adjusted to living with Berkians again, he would think she’s zipping around the outskirts of the village, ensuring both new and old dragons were safe. He doesn’t need to worry about her. And then there was Astrid. His and Astrid’s relationship was well past its giddy, puppy love stage. After years of being together, he still felt like his heart could jump out of his chest any moment. There had been nights in Endsmead where he would map out her whole day with complete rationales and timestamps. He recalled a midnight conversation with Eret about it. “You think they’re all snoring back home or are they still awake and partying because their chief is out?”Hiccup let’s out a soft chuckle.“Let’s hope that everyone but the twins are still awake. But who am I kidding? Tuff goes to sleep pretty early while Ruff doesn’t. Fishlegs doesn’t seem to ever sleep nowadays because of his book. I should talk to him about that sometime.” Hiccup replies while shifting his arms above his head.“Gobber sleeps way too early now. I think it’s a sign of aging. Snolout’s probably still awake because he’s too proud to let anything slip past his defenses.” Hiccup swears he heard Spitelout snort in his sleep, but then dismisses it after hearing his faint snores. Right before continuing, he sighs. “Astrid is definitely asleep.” Eret gives him a curious look. The man then sits up straighter and turns his head towards Hiccup.“You seem completely sure of that, ey?”Hiccup gives a soft smile and begins to close his eyes.“Oh, sure. She’s fast asleep after having to start her day at dawn to do routine patrols. Then, right before the roosters can start singing, she probably made her way to Snotlout’s to receive his nightly reports, and that’s even before making her way to my house to probably look for my mom so they could eat together in the Great Hall. Then she-”“Alright, I think I get the idea. Goodnight, chief.” Eret says in haste. Hiccup doesn’t get to finish but he feels appreciative nonetheless for being asked that. It was only after the fire had died down that he realized just how much he missed them all. Eret thinks that's when his restlessness started too. Toothless makes a noise, snapping Hiccup out of his flashbacks. The sun is high and the air becomes more sultry for his liking. Just as he was about to raise his helmet, a small dot appeared on the horizon. Then, at a visible distance, the cliffs of Berk began to emerge, and Hiccup had never felt more excited to land.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Hiccup and Toothless circled around the village's edge before completely landing on the grassy hilltops of its center. It would appear they arrived just in time for the Berkians to come out of their houses for the high noon lunch as many had already gathered around to welcome their chief and his dragon home.
Cheers and whistles sounded as both the young and old wanted to catch a conversation with Hiccup. Toothless gave a little warble, feeling overwhelmed by the greetings, before slightly bending down to let Hiccup disembark. He would have already bounced off to the stables if it weren’t for the loud nagging noise from a one-handed blond viking.
Hiccup slowly walks forward and smiles when he spots his old mentor pushing his way through the crowd.
“Alright, where is this boy? Tis ‘bout time he came back, ya’know. I don’t know how much more I can take of this disaster risk management nonsense from ‘em bloody twins!”
“Good to see you too, Gobber. Did you miss me?”
Gobber swings his hooked hand at Hiccup’s shoulder, which makes Hiccup elicit a soft gasp.
“Miss you? Who said anything ‘bout that?”
Before Hiccup can give a retort, the twins and Fishlegs come barreling towards him in a big, almost suffocating, hug.
“Ok, ok! It’s great to see you guys, too! Guys….GUYS! A little air, please!”
The three vikings let go of him before leaning down by his shoulder. The twins are the first to speak.
“My man, my bro, my king, Hiccup. It is with great joy and sadness that we see you in very much one piece.”
“Wha- what does
that
mean?” Hiccup stammers.
“Yeah, for a while Tuff and I were betting you’d come back with another metal leg or a metal arm. Would have been cooler if you had a completely different head. Tsk tsk. Such a shame.”
“Wow. I’m truly sorry to have disappointed you both. Again.” Hiccup deadpans before turning to Fishlegs. “What about you, Fishlegs? How are you? How’s the book coming along?”
“I’m managing, Hiccup. But oh Thor! I’m way behind schedule and I have around ten other dragons left to write before I can start reviewing it.”
Hiccup softly pats his back and gives him a stern look.
“I hope you get enough sleep now that I’m back. Can’t have you teaching the kids in the academy all sleep deprived and spewing nonsense. Speaking of nonsense, where’s Snotelout?”
As Fishlegs opens his mouth to reply, a red monstrous nightmare roughly lands beside Toothless. Its rider, who was clad in complete matching dragon-scale armor, falls off the dragon’s back and lands head first in the most ungraceful manner.
“Hiccup! Oh, thank Thor! I could really use a paid vacation leave like right now.”
Hiccup and Fishlegs rush to help Snotlout up. “Ha. Very funny, Snotlout. Where have you been?”
“Berserker island. They had some problem with a pair of Monstrous Nightmares. So, I went to help.” Snotlout says proudly.
As Hiccup was about to congratulate him, Snotlout looks at Fishlegs up and down before laughing out loud.
“Boy, Fishface. You look as tired as Astrid chasing away those suitors-” Snotlout covers his mouth with both hands and stares widely at the twins, who both were signaling him to stop talking. Hiccup snaps his head to Fishlegs and Gobber who both seemed suddenly distracted at whatever nonexistent thing was on the ground.
“Snotlout,” Hiccup speaks slowly with a stern tone in his voice, still processing what Snotlout had just said. “What suitors?”
Snoutlout uncovers his mouth and starts shaking his head. “Did I say suitors?! I meant, um…yeah…err, tutors! Yeah, tutors. She’s been chased by tutors! Those darn egg-heads!”
Hiccup almost sighs in disbelief after looking at the rest of his companions hastily nodding their heads in support of Snotlout's excuse.
Hiccup begins to feel a sense of panic inside of him as he thinks of multiple scenarios where Astrid could be getting suitors. He can’t confront Astrid about this if he can’t get the facts straight from his friends. So Hiccup does the one thing he had been doing for the past two and half months in Endsmead, intimidation.
He figures that targeting Snotlout would get him to uncover the truth the fastest. It was no use in doing the same to Fishlegs, who was very loyal at keeping secrets, or to the twins, who had the tendencies of twisting the stories to fit their chaotic nature. He couldn’t do that to Gobber either because, by the time Hiccup turned back, the old viking had already disappeared.
Hiccup crosses his arms and stares straight into Snotlout’s eyes. Then, he walks very slowly towards him.
Snotlout begins to frantically scramble, unsure of what his cousin and chief was up to.
“Hiccup! Hiccup! Hic! Chill! They’re all gone! Astrid chased every one of them off before we could even get to them!” Snotlout says while walking backwards in hopes of creating distance between him and Hiccup.
Ruffnut snorts, “Tsk! Yeah! There were only like twenty men from like a gazillion tribes who came over to see Astrid for themselves.”
Hiccup’s brain began to short circuit at the new information, which only made him walk even faster towards Snotlout.
“Good, gods! Someone stop this guy! Please!”
“Snotlout. What. Suitors.” Hiccup increases his pace with every pause in his voice.
“We all promised her to not tell you when you came home!”
“Snotlout!”
Hiccup stops inches away from Snotlout’s face as the latter had finally been backed into a corner of a house.
“Fine! A few weeks after you left, a bunch of guys from other tribes came over to ask for Astrid’s hand in marriage. Some came by boat, others by dragons. Now, for the love of Thor, can you not kill me! I’m too handsome to die!”
As Snotlout continues to cry, Hiccup backs away and runs back to Toothless. As he mounts the dragon he looks back up to Snotlout and the rest of his friends.
“Is there anything
else
I should know about?”
Snotlout catches his breath and squeaks out to him, “I don’t know if this helps, you almost gave me a heart attack anyway, but two attempted kidnappings and 4 brawls happened too.”
Toothless begins to spread his wings and lift off his front legs from the ground. Before he could fully flap them, Hiccup gives a cheeky grin and a small finger salute to Snotlout.
“Thank you very much! You’re getting that paid vacation leave soon.” A few seconds after he says this, he and Toothless fly off towards the woods, leaving a semi-drained but grateful Snotlout behind.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Hiccup was on a mission. A serious mission. He needed to find Astrid fast and thankfully, he was an expert on where she was at the exact moment, with rationales and timestamps. With each passing second, Hiccup itched to grab on to her, to know she was alright. He trusted her enough to know that she would never leave him for another man. Hel, he felt somewhat proud that every one of those suitors got rejected.
Deserved.
Hiccup thought out loud. Yet, despite that profound trust, he couldn’t help but feel wary of how dangerous some viking methods of courtship could be. Attempted kidnappings? Brawls? For sure due to Astrid rejecting them.
Hiccup was livid! No, scratch that. He was beyond livid. He was terrifyingly outraged. As he clenched his fists tighter around Toothless’ reigns, he spotted Astrid’s blond hair flit around the tall trees. He points at a clearing not too far from where she was moving for Toothless to land.
Astrid stops throwing her axe and runs excitedly to Hiccup. She smiles but stops mid way when she sees the scowl on his face.
“Oh, boy. They told you, didn’t they?” she questions him.
Hiccup stays silent and slowly walks towards her. Astrid begins to worry but stays firmly in place, waiting for him. Ready to face whatever he says to her. She can take it. She knows she can.
“Was it Snotlout? That muttonhead.”
Hiccup picks up his pace and Astrid isn’t entirely sure anymore if what to make of it.
“Hiccup. Just answer me, please.”
Just as she was about to make room for Hiccup to stand in front of her, she let out a faint gasp as he enveloped her in a soul crushing hug. Hiccup holds Astrid tight, hiding his face in her neck. For a few minutes, they remain in place with nothing but the sounds of the rustling leaves and rushing water from the small nearby creek.
Astrid sighs and hugs him back.
He shifts to whispers in her ear, “I missed you. I missed you so much.”
“I missed you too, Hiccup.”
Hiccup begins to sway both of them side to side, his head rubbing against her shoulder.
“I leave for a couple of weeks and I return to my fiance getting multiple marriage proposals? Did they do anything serious to you? Are you hurt!?”
Astrid laughs and moves back to look at his face.
“You’re asking
me
that? I think you should be worried about the suitors more than me. I gave them a run for their gold.”
“Yes but, milady. Attempted kidnappings and some brawls?”
“The kidnappings were not fun, I admit, but they were also poorly executed. As for the brawls, they only happened because Snotlout and the twins started them. They were honestly the best bodyguards I could ever ask for.”
Hiccup laughs in disbelief and laces his fingers with hers. Who was he kidding? This was Astrid Hofferson. The toughest, bravest, and most beautiful viking girl in the entire world. He knew he didn’t need to worry about her or any suitors that much. But that doesn’t mean he had to stop doing so anytime soon.
As the pair walked hand-in-hand towards their dragons, Hiccup gives Astrid a long kiss to her cheek followed by a peck on her lips.
“Well, I can’t wait to hear all about you chasing away suitors later.”
“It would be my pleasure, babe.”