Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Day 45 of Spring, 888 CE
10:57 AM

Toothless’ Cove, Isle of Berk, North Sea Archipelago, Scandinavia

   Son of the Stoic, the Dragon Conqueror, Future Ruler of Berk, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III—these are just a few of the names that the main hero of our story has earned throughout his life. Some of the less flattering ones he faced from peers and enemies included Stoick's Little Embarrassment, Freak of Nature, Tiny Omega, Queer, and the Dragon's Girlfriend… The last one affected Hiccup when it first happened. 

   When he was growing up, he wasn't well-liked or popular. Even though his father was the ruler, he was seen as a nuisance and a pest. But in reality, he was trying to fit in with the other Vikings. Despite his father's repeated encouragement to be himself, Hiccup could still sense that sometimes being himself wasn't enough for his father. He craved his father's approval. That's why he pushed to go out and shoot down a Night Fury. As usual, he didn't listen when his father told him. His peers only ridiculed him more, mocking him about his Night Fury.

   Being a Berk Viking means you are fearless and show no mercy when fighting dragons or enemies. Yet yesterday, Hiccup proved he did not have what it takes to kill a dragon or a Night Fury. One Dragon could demonstrate his true capability more than any other Viking in the archipelago. No one has ever lived to see a Night Fury and tell the tale until Hiccup.

   "The gods hate me. Some people lose their knife or their mug. No, not me. I manage to lose an entire dragon…" Hiccup muttered to himself in frustration. He slapped a tree branch, only for it to slap back and hit him square in the face. Rubbing his nose, he suddenly noticed a deep splinter in the tree in front of him. It did not look natural. It seemed like something had torn through the ground, so he curiously followed the trench as it led up an embankment.

   Hiccup's eyes widened as he looked down to see a Night Fury. Following the disturbed earth, he gasped and ducked behind the embankment, even though he had been searching for it. After a moment of hesitation, he peeked over again and cautiously approached. The Dragon lay tangled the bola, unmoving. At first, Hiccup was frozen with fear, but as he got closer, that fear turned into amazement.

   "Oh, wow," he whispered, taking everything in before him. "I did it. Oh, I really did it! This changes everything! Everyone has to believe me now! Yes! I have defeated this monstrous beast!" He raised his hands excitedly before stepping onto the Dragon's leg and struck what he thought was a heroic pose… until the Dragon shoved him off with surprising force.

   "Whoa!" Hiccup yelped as he stumbled backward onto his rear. The Dragon wasn't dead. It was so calm now that it seemed to know it was already dead and no longer fighting. Hiccup reached for his knife, his hands shaking as he met the creature's deep blue eyes, struggling to find his courage.

   "I'm going to kill you, dragon," he said, trembling. "I'm gonna cut out your heart and take it to my father. I am a Viking. I am a VIKING!" Jogging in place, trying to pump himself up, Hiccup raised his knife in the air but froze right before the knife struck the Dragon's skin.

   The moment felt heavy. The Dragon flinched even though his eyes were closed. Hiccup let out a heavy sigh and lowered his hands to his sides. "I did this," he said softly, his voice trembling, tears welling up in his eyes as the Dragon looked just as scared as he was. He was not a dragon killer… he was not an anything killer. Hiccup raised the knives in his hands and struck down… but instead of stabbing the Dragon, he cut the ropes that bound him.

   When the Night Fury realized what was happening and felt the ropes loosening slightly, he rolled over, freeing himself from the bindings, and turned on Hiccup, whose reaction was slow. He punched and pinned Hiccup to the boulder. The Dragon snarled in Hiccup's face before noticing that he was whimpering, his eyes filling with tears. He flared his nostrils and inhaled deeply, his ears perked up as he nudged his nose against Hiccup's torso.

   "Uh… Ms. Night Fury," Hiccup whimpered, assuming the Dragon was a girl because it was so elegant… and he did not see any appendages. "You don't want to eat me, okay? I-I have terrible gas, I um! I eat a lot of smoked eels!" he said, and the Dragon tilted his head in confusion, like he was looking at Hiccup like he had two heads. He knew that looked good, being the odd one out. "Can… you understand me?"

   The Dragon snarled before freezing as he caught Hiccup's scent. His eyes turned into hearts... well, at least his pupils. That usually meant one thing for a Night Fury, and when the Dragon realized this, he became even more scared. He shook his head, lowered himself, and roared directly at Hiccup's face before jumping off and trying to fly away. With that, Hiccup stood up and started heading back home... but not before needing to change his pants and fainting from horror.

Chapter Text

Day 46 of Spring, 888 CE
8:32 PM

Meade Hall, Isle of Berk, North Sea Archipelago, Scandinavia

   It had been an extraordinarily long day for Hiccup, who was just under five feet tall and weighed a hefty 90 pounds, and he finally got his wish.

    “I’ve decided I don’t want-" Hiccup started before his father interrupted.

    “I think it’s time you learned-”

    “To fight dragons,” they said in unison, both exclaiming, “What?” confused.

   This was incredibly frustrating for him. Throughout his eighteen years, his father insisted he stay away from anything related to dragons, but-

    “Alright,” Stoick nodded. “You get your wish. Dragon training. You start in the morning.”

    “Can you not hear me?”

    “This is serious, son!” Stoick said firmly. “When you carry this axe, you carry all of us with you. Which means you walk like us. You talk like us. You think like us. No more of... this.”

   He gestured broadly at Hiccup’s entire being.

    “You just gestured to all of me,” Hiccup pointed out.

    “Deal?”

    “This conversation is feeling very one-sided.”

    “Deal?”

   Hiccup sighed. “Deal.”

   After that encounter with the Night Fury, he realized he could never kill a dragon, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t learn about them. Still, they were very hostile in the training arena, but maybe if he could earn the Night Fury’s trust, he might discover things about dragons while helping him recover. It was also hard for Hiccup to keep his mind from drifting to the second thing his father revealed to him.

    “Good. Train hard. I will be back. Probably.”

    “And I’ll be here,” Hiccup replied under his breath… “Maybe.”

   His father was a brutish Viking, but he had already lost his mother and didn't want to lose his father too. If no one else knew more than he did, then at this moment, he wasn't ready to be the ruler of Berk yet.

   "Alright. Where did Astrid go wrong in the ring today?" Gobber asked Astrid as they finished the week's session with a nice feast around the fire. Hiccup kept his head down, nervously waiting to be alone. He felt like an even bigger screw-up today than usual. 

    “I mistimed my somersault dive. It was sloppy and threw off my reverse tumble," Astrid responded with conviction.

   "Yeah, we noticed," Ruffnut quipped sarcastically.

   "No, no, you were great. That was so Astrid," Snotlout swooned with a smirk.

   Gobber nodded as he looked at Hiccup and sighed in pity, but he had to be just as strict and stern with him as he was with the others, or he would be singled out. "She's right. You've got to be tough on yourselves. Where did Hiccup go wrong?" Gobber asked, and Hiccup gulped, trying to hide better by slouching down and keeping his head low.

   "Uh, he showed up?" Ruffnut didn't hesitate.

   "He didn't get eaten," Tuffnut added with an in-sync chuckle alongside his sister.

   "He's never where he should be," Astrid stated pointedly. Hiccup tried to hide his frown and suppress his tears of frustration.

   "Aye, come on, I didn't think he was that bad," Snotlout said, and everyone raised their eyebrows and looked at him as if he were on something.

   "Are… are you teasing me?" Hiccup asked skeptically. "I was worse than a flaming yak."

    “I dunno, you can't be great on the first day," he shrugged. "Plus, you had a really good grip on that sword handle." He chuckled, high-fiving Tuffnut, leaving the others confused… all except for a blushing Hiccup.

   It wasn't just known that Hiccup was a little different; it was also known that he didn't particularly like girls. In Berk, Vikings didn't disapprove of or hate homosexuals. However, they still weren't openly accepted. If you were a woman, male Vikings often saw you as a fetish, and female Vikings found you disgusting. If you were a man, others saw you as weaker, especially if you were a bottom. You were also seen as someone who couldn't fulfill the basic human duty to procreate or as a nuisance because you wouldn't.

   Some Vikings sought to dominate because it made them seem more manly than others, and dominating the son of the most manly Viking in the whole archipelago was a badge of honor. For some, if they could make Hiccup fall in love with them, it would put them next in line for chief, since people didn't believe a queer could rule.

    “Thank you, Astrid," Gobber said for the semi-constructive criticism. "You need to live and breathe this stuff." Gobber handed Hiccup The Dragon Manual. "Everything we know about every dragon we know of," he explained. "You are encouraged to devise a tactic to kill the dragons. It helps you be an individual," he added, slapping Snotlout and Tuffnut on the sides of the heads for ogling over Hiccup. 

   Hiccup didn't realize how handsome he was. He inherited the best looks from both of his parents, mostly his mother's physique. He also disliked straight Vikings who sought to dominate just for the sake of it. As a queer Viking, he experienced this often, but he proved himself to be a strong Viking. Hiccup was so petite that his only advantage was his wit.

   "What… if this tactic involves me not killing dragons?" Hiccup said softly, and everyone heard him. He widened his eyes and looked down, trying to disappear.

   "I’m not following, Boyo," Gobber said, not amused if this was a joke.

   "Well… What if my tactic was training dragons and not killing them?" Hiccup asked, and he was met with looks from people as if he had two heads. "We have been attacked by the Outpost so many times. It's hard to strike back when we are at the same level. With dragons, you have height and class advantages," Hiccup explained.

   "Are you insane? Dragons will only kill you. They are untrainable. The book says to kill immediately," Astrid scoffed.

    “Huh, I didn't realize the Chief's Fruity Son was so chaotic," Ruff remarked, looking impressed.

   "Me, Likey," Tuff strained to smile as Hiccup rolled his eyes.

   "No, Hiccup. I know you're a gentle soul, but there are no training dragons — only killing. They are far too dangerous.

   "Dragons aren't monsters… they are animals. So are bears, lions, and alligators, but the Berserkers have them all domesticated," Hiccup said before noticing that they were still judging him. "Whatever… I will show you guys."

   "Just don't get us killed while you're at it," Astrid snapped.

   "I don't know about this, Hiccup. If you get killed, your father will revive you, then kill both you and me," Gobber said.

   "On Monday, I will take on the Gronkle and show you all. If I get it to listen, you will listen to what I have to say. If it doesn't, then I will kill it with my bare hands right then in there," Hiccup said.

   "Shit, you sound pretty confident for someone who was almost in a Deadly Nadder's stomach a couple of hours ago," Astrid rolled her eyes.

   "My father is an amazing ruler. He has protected Berk for years and years… but Outpost is improving. We need to think strategically, and I believe we can gain the upper hand by training an army of dragons, starting with the several we have in captivity."

   Thunder cracked outside as Gobber processed everything he had said. He had never seen the boy so confident. He almost sounded like Stoic when he and Gobber were Hiccup's age. "No attacks tonight… no training on the weekend. Get your rest and study up. Individual tests will be done by sunup on Monday."

   "Wait, you mean, read?" Tuffnut blinked.

   "While we're still alive?" Ruffnut chimed in, horrified

   "Why read words when you can just kill the stuff the words tell you?" Snotlout shrugged.

   Fishlegs perked up. "Oh! I've read it about seven times. There's this water dragon that sprays boiling water on your face. And there is this other one that buries itself for like a week."

   "Yeah, that sounds great," Tuffnut interrupted. “See, there was a chance I was going to read that…”

    “…But now…” Ruffnut trailed off.

   Snotlout grinned. "You guys read. I'll go kill stuff."

   Fishlegs tried again. "Oh, and there's this other one with these spines that look like trees." He stopped and turned toward Hiccup. "I… support your query… but there's no chance in Valhalla I'm going to do so… not even with a Gronkle."

   Meanwhile, Hiccup quietly stepped toward Astrid, handing her a book. "So, I guess we'll share?"

   Astrid handed him the manual coldly. "Read it… I already have my father's," she snapped before storming off.

   "Oh, all mine then. Wow, okay," Hiccup muttered. "So, I'll see you, uh…" The door slammed behind them. "Tomorrow."

   "Hiccup… I will try to let you try this tactic… but " Gobber gulped. "Not a word with your father unless somehow this works," he said before muttering how crazy he thought the boy was. Left alone, Hiccup flipped the hefty manual open.

   "Dragon classifications: Strike Class, Fear Class, Mystery Class…" He began reading aloud, swiftly turning the pages beneath his fingers.

   "Thunderdrum: This elusive dragon dwells in sea caves and dark tide pools. When startled, the Thunderdrum emits a concussive sound that can kill a person at close range. Extremely dangerous, kill on sight."

   "Timberjack: This gigantic creature has razor-sharp wings that can slice through full-grown trees. It is extremely dangerous and should be killed on sight... Scauldron: This dragon sprays scalding water at its victims and is highly dangerous... Changewing: Even newly hatched dragons can spray acid; kill on sight."

   "Gronckle, Zippleback, The Skrill, Boneknapper, Whispering Death. Burns its victims, buries its victims, chokes its victims, turns its victims inside-out. Extremely dangerous, extremely dangerous, kill on sight, kill on sight, kill on sight..."

   Finally, he reached the page marked with a black silhouette. "Night Fury: Speed, unknown. Size is unknown. The unholy offspring of lightning and death itself. Never engage this dragon. Your only chance: hide and pray it does not find you." Hiccup sighed, "This sort of seems biased," he said. "I have one right in front of me… no better learning than what's right in front of you."