𖣯 ✹ 🌷(úlfheðnar) ꏍ ！┈─❟
╰───►chapter eleven; hiccup
❝ test drive! ❞

"OKAY, there, bud. We're gonna take this nice and slow..."

The wind shook his grip a little in the saddle. Hiccup held on tight, his heart racing as he stared out at the horizon before them; endless stretches of ocean and sea stacks. The clouds parted from the afternoon sun, casting a shadow over Hiccup's cheat sheet that he kept glancing down at. Toothless warbled, if not just as nervous for this as he was. But he was also excited. His wings extended out, trying to keep the both of them steady as they advanced out towards the deserted north beach of Berk.

Hiccup was looking forward to today. Not only could he test out what he's been working on for a good month, but it also distracted him from everything that was going on in his mind. Like: why did Yrsa hate him all of the sudden? Why did she go from being his friend, and making his chest flutter, and laugh in a way that sent his knees weak, and then turn around and purposefully cause him trouble?

Because that was the thing. Hiccup started to feel weird around her. He started to grow flustered as he did with Astrid, but in a way that was also comfortable. Hiccup searched for Yrsa in the crowd; for her black curls instead of blonde. He always wanted to see her reaction, wonder whether she could hear his sarcastic mutters, hoping to hear her laugh like he did that one time in the Cove. Hiccup had started to see Yrsa Olofsdotter as someone else. Not as the girl he used to roll his eyes at and call crazy under his breath, but as someone kind, and mischevious with a really pretty laugh and even prettier hair with uneven bangs.

And then, he must've done something wrong, because it was like nothing even happened.

He cursed himself. He had told himself to come out here and not think about it, and yet here he was, thinking about it.

But it made him annoyed. What was her problem? What had he done? For sure, it felt like nothing, but whatever it was, it annoyed him more how it upset him than anything. He grew lonely in the Cove, Toothless warbled, always wondering where his other friend was, and it wasn't the same as it had been before. He couldn't hear her laugh, even if it was over him tripping on Toothless's tail trying to attatch his new one.

Stop thinking about it, he reminded himself. You have other things to worry about, like not falling off.

Hiccup's hair blew in the wind, and the chill hit his cheeks, but there was a part of him that loved it. His chest exploded with a thrill of: I'm about to fly on a dragon.

So, he fixed his gaze back on his sheet, finger brushing over the small illustrations he made himself. "Okay, here we go. Here we go. Position ... three━no━" he corrected himself, "━four." Toothless huffed as if to say, don't get this wrong.

Hiccup scoffed down at him and tilted his left foot back. The contraption attatched to Toothless's saddle clicked into place and his prosthetic tail fin snapped out.

They stumbled a little in the wind. Hiccup checked over his shoulder to see whether it worked, and nodded to himself, a little breathless in anticipation. Underneath, Toothless growled, determined. He shiftled his body and wings, glaring out defiantly towards the horizon.

And with a tilt to the side, they begun.

Hiccup felt a rush to his face as Toothless veered to the left, his body almost going completely sideways in the wind, and he had to hold on desperately to keep his back straight. The air chapped his lips, but he didn't care, he started to have a grin on his face as Toothless flapped his wings and they shot forward with a small burst of speed.

He checked the stability of his sheet, hoping it won't blow off in the wind before gripping on better with his hands. "All right," he murmured. "All right, it's go time ... it's go time ..." together, Hiccup and Toothless tilted downwards.

His tunic flapped as they descended, and Toothless let out a roar. Hiccup's eyes widened, and the grin grew on his face as he felt the wind rush at him. They dived down through a small sea of clouds and pulled up by the ocean surface, towards the sea stack maze ahead.

"Come on, buddy!" cried Hiccup, his heart rising with a feeling he's never felt before. An amazement, a sense of power ... of freedom. "Come on, buddy! We can do this!"

They glided in under an archway of sea stacks, and Hiccup craned his neck to see the birds leave their nests in flocks. He chuckled, amazed. It was working━this was working! All of the build-up, to this. To this moment. He pulled up, trying to steer around the narrow stacks, except he came up to short. Toothless grunted, annoyed, as they hit side on against the rocks before pushing off.

"Sorry!"

He tried to pull up again━

Thud! They hit the second sea stack.

"That was my fault!"

Toothless smacked Hiccup in the face with one of the flaps on his crown. The chief's son rolled his eyes, "Yeah, yeah, I'm on it. Position four━uh━three━" he fixed up his right styrrup and Toothless flapped his wings eagerly. Tilting up, they began to ascend into the sunlit clouds.

Hiccup didn't know how to describe the unreal feeling of flying. He didn't know how to speak of the way it felt in his hair, or underneath his tunic when the cool air hit his skin. He couldn't describe the way he could feel Toothless's wing muscles work hard to reach the break in the clouds, or the sight of his home getting smaller and smaller below him. It was something no Viking has experienced before; no one except him.

"Yeah!" he cried out into the sky and Toothless stuck his tongue out. He couldn't imagine what this must be like for him, after having thought he could never fly again, never spread his wings and feel the wind━but here they both were, proving what people thought to be impossible. "Go, baby!"

The clouds parted around him like smoke. He always wondered what they would feel like in his fingers, to sift through. They seemed so voluminous, so heavy, and yet when they brushed through, all Hiccup felt was wet and cold; the dazzle of slight rain that made him laugh with joy.

Soon, he was in a different sea. A sea of light blue and sunlight━a sea that until now, only dragons have sailed through; only dragons have tamed. Toothless continued upwards and upwards and upwards━Hiccup wondered whether they could reach Valhalla, or see the Gods looking over them. He sure felt like one right now.

"Oh, this is amazing!" he shouted over the wind, absolutely fearless. "The wind in my━CHEAT SHEET!"

The small square of parchment flung out of its hook. It slapped him momentarily in the face before he completely lost it. His fingers reached out to grasp it, but it was falling, lost in the wind. Hiccup's heart stopped, his stomach dropped━

"NO!" he shouted, desperately twisting his body. "STOP!"

There was a terrifying moment when Toothless did stop, and in the momentum, Hiccup felt himself lift up into the sky. He managed to grab his cheet sheet, but that was the least of his problems. For below him, falling back down, was Toothless.

He was detached from the saddle.

"AHHHHH!"

Both rider and dragon tumbled through the open air, metres from the ground. Toothless shrieked and cried out, his limbs and tail flailing in his attempt to try and fly. Hiccup extended out his arms towards the saddle, his cheat sheet clamped in between his teeth. He didn't like this feeling of wind rushing through his hair and clothes. He didn't like this jolt. No━because he was about to actually go to Valhalla!

"Oh, gosh!" he cried, flinging his body around. He hurtled down near Toothless. "Oh, gods! Oh, no!" he hit Toothless's wing, and was flung a little to the side. The Night Fury cried after him. Hiccup tried to stay calm, but he really wasn't feeling it. The ground was getting closer and closer, and Toothless was in now way close enough for him to rejoin the saddle.

This is it, he thought to himself. Great! Just great!

"All right━okay━" he tried, twisting his body yet again towards his flailing dragon, "━you've gotta kind of angle yourself. Okay━no, no, no━" Toothless began to spin around and around like a wheel, "━that's not what I━come back down towards me! Come back down━" the dragon's tail smacked him right in the cheek. "OW!"

He blacked out, but only for a second. Maybe it was the wind, or the sound of Toothless shrieking in his ear, but the world around him soon returned, and Hiccup had fresh determination.

Hiccup urged himself to go faster towards his falling best friend. Reaching out his hands, he grasped for the saddle that was only just out of his reach. Come on, he thought, Come on, come on, come on━

He cried in relief when his fingers latched onto the handles and with difficulty, Hiccup pulled himself down into the saddle. Still falling at what felt like a hundred miles per hour, Hiccup worked to reattach himself and straighten them up.

They were heading towards the island at a full horizontal dive now. The cliffs and mountains looked flat like they were just drawings on a page; drawings that will really hurt when we hit them.

There was a blur of green as they passed the mountain, darting down past the forest. Hiccup pulled back, a muffled scream echoing through his clenched teeth. Toothless flung out his wings in attempt to slow them down, but it did little work. The sea stacks below were covered in a blanket of clouds, Hiccup couldn't see where they were heading.

He pulled away the cheat sheet with one hand, trying to remember the positions. But he couldn't read through the blur and ripping parchment.

Either Hiccup was going to just have to go for it, or they were going to die.

It seemed possible either way.

The sea stacks were so close now, he could start to see through the clouds. Toothless screeched, and Hiccup felt his heart rise up into his throat━

He let the sheet go.

Click━

Just in time, Hiccup snapped the tail into place and they shot around the first sea stack. Hiccup barely had any time to think as he clicked into the next position and they spun around the second. The world around him was nothing but a ray of colours and jagged rocks, but he just focused on himself and Toothless. He focused on the movement of the dragon's muscles and his memory━he made this tail, he drew those positions, he knew how to use it. He had to trust himself, and he had to trust Toothless. To get out of this, they had to work together.

Hiccup's jaw was clenched so hard, it ached. His grip on the saddle was so tight, he didn't think he could let go even if he tried. In and out, in and out, they weaved. Through and around and up and down; the sea stack maze could have struck them almost twenty times, but they moved around it by slim chances, faster than Hiccup has ever gone in his life.

Maybe a bug or two got stuck on his face, but he didn't care. His heart was pounding, his breathing heaves━but he couldn't hear it over the rush of the wind around him, like a fanfare of yelling whispers that only edged him and Toothless forward.

Reaching a small gap, Hiccup didn't even think twice as he snapped the right position, and placed his body close against the saddle. They twisted and spun right through, not even a scrape getting their scales or clothing.

Hiccup and Toothless came out of the other side, alive and utterly free.

It took him a second to realise, but when he did━

Hiccup threw his arms out and shouted defiantly out like he was a dragon himself. "YEAAAHHHH!"

Toothless matched his triumph, letting loose a plasma blast that lit the afternoon sky around them in showers of purple and blue.

Hiccup's shoulders fell as he saw the ring of fire approaching.

He slumped, "Oh, come on."

𖣯 ✹ 🌷(úlfheðnar) ꏍ ！┈─❟

HE was glad that when his father turned up in the blacksmith shop, his hair was no longer singed straight and pointy back from his head. Hiccup didn't realise Stoick the Vast had come to visit him at first, slumped against his deck, bored out of his mind as he flicked up his pencil and watched it roll back down ... again ... and again ...

Usually, at this time, Yrsa would be around, and he'd be showing her some of his designs. She'd be sitting on the other table, legs swinging and listening. Hiccup glanced sideways at a drawing he had done of her the last time she was here━usually she always was grumpy when she posed, but Hiccup had drawn her when she wasn't looking, and there was a small smile on her face in the dusted charcoal.

Hiccup hadn't realised how much he really enjoyed her company now that she wasn't around anymore. He'd pick her over the attention he got from the others since he got good at Dragon Training anyday. Even if she was mean sometimes, and not at all easy ... she had become his friend; more than that, really, and it struck Hiccup suddenly when he wasn't expecting it.

He didn't care what he had done, or how mad he was at her for how she had been acting. He just wanted them to figure it out, just so they could be the way they were before. He wanted her grumpy self around. It amused him, made him smile and feel light in his chest.

He glanced around and jumped to see the face poking into the small door of his workship. A beard of bright red braids and a helmet that had to slip in sideways to fit.

"Dad!" exclaimed Hiccup, rushing to his feet. He scrambled to hide his drawings of Toothless and his tail, his heart racing to think how his father would react to see he had befriended a Night Fury. "You're back! Uh, Gobber's not here, so..."

The parchment shuffled under and over one another. He closed his book, chuckling awkwardly as his father pushed himself inside, shaking the wooden threshold of the door with his vast stature.

"I know," he said, fixing his helmet. "I came looking for you."

Hiccup was very surprised by that. He was always sure his dad loved him in his own way, but he wasn't someone to go out looking for Hiccup in the workshop. He was busy, and they weren't close; not like they used to be. "Y━you did?"

Stoick nodded, stepping closer. Hiccup shuffled nearer to his desk, hoping his small body could hide his drawings from his father's eyes. He shoved them back even further. "You've been keeping secrets."

"I━I━I have?" Hiccup's heart was getting faster. He tried to lean nochantly on the side of his desk only to slip and almost knock his head right against the edge. He steadied himself, propping a hand on his hip. He looked up at his father, who only just fit inside the small workshop. The horns of his helmet scraped the ceiling.

He narrowed his eyes, "Just how long did you think you could hide it from me?"

"I ... I ... I don't━I don't know what you're━"

"Nothing happens on this island without me hearing about it."

"O━oh?"

"So," Stoick stepped closer. Hiccup scrambled back, almost tripping. "Let's talk ... about that dragon."

Oh no.

Hiccup's grip on his journal fell, and it thudded to the floor. Luckily, it landed closed, but it didn't matter anymore. He had been figured out. His father had learnt the truth. Oh, gods, Hiccup was screwed. "Oh, gods. D━Dad━I'm so sorry! I━I was going to tell you━I just━I just didn't know how to ..."

He faltered. Because suddenly, his father began to laugh.

And it was a big laugh. A belly-holding, glorious holler of hysterics. Hiccup was very confused. He chuckled, very nervous as he tried to follow along. What was happening? "You're ... you're not upset?" he asked.

"What?!" let out Stoick amogst his laughter, holding his belt still. He was now grinning through his mighty beard. "I was hoping for this!"

"Uh ... you were?"

"And believe me, it only gets better!" said Stoick the Vast. "Just wait until you spill a Nadder's guts for the first time!" (Oh, Hiccup realised, feeling a little stupid he hadn't seen it before. This makes more sense) "And mount your first Gronckle head on a spear?!" He shoved Hiccup lightly on his shoulder, but it was enough to send him stumbling back into his waste basket of old drawings. The shelves behind him trembled at impact. "What a feeling! You really had me going there, son!" Hiccup struggled to get back out. "All those years," went on his father, "of the worst Viking Berk has ever seen ..." Hiccup faltered, trying not to show how his chest ached at those words. He managed to get back out of the basket and onto his feet again. His father's eyes were to the roof, he hand his hands together in prayer. "Odin, it was rough. I almost gave up on you," he looked back down at Hiccup, grinning, "and all the time you were holding out on me! Oh, Thor Almighty!" he sighed, finally finished.

Stoick sat back on Hiccup's chair. It creaked under his weight. "With you doing so well in the ring," he said, pulling the chair forward with a scrape on the floorboards. He leaned forward eagerly, smiling at his son. Hiccup hasn't seen that smile for a long time, and he almost felt bad that the reason for it was all from a lie he fabricated. "We finally have something to talk about!"

He sat there, waiting for Hiccup to say something. He didn't know what. A few thoughts came to mind, but then he realised that he had taken down those dragons peacefully; no axe-throwing, no gut-spilling, like his father wanted, and so he kept his mouth shut.

When his father realised he wasn't going to say anything, his smile faltered and he looked ... disappointed. Of course, Hiccup was used to a look of disappointment, but never over wanting to be close to his own son. It was always like: Hiccup, why can't you lift this axe! Or: Hiccup, stop looking for trolls! We're fishing!

His father instead reached for his pouch at his belt, and pulled out something. Hiccup's eyes widened to see helmet. "Here, I━uh━I brought you something," he fixed the right horn, twisting it back into place, "to keep you safe in the ring."

He passed it over, and Hiccup couldn't help but smile. He glanced down at the helmet; his very own helmet. "Wow," he let out, unable to believe it. His father rarely went out of his way to give him presents. "Thanks."

"Ah, your mother would have wanted you to have it." At the mention of his mother, Hiccup's shoulders fell, and he now held the helmet with much more tenderness. He didn't remember his mother, she had been taken by dragons when he was just a babe. Hiccup felt the metal, feeling a sudden attatchment to the present. "It's half of her breastplate━" he pulled his hand back immediately. Stoick tapped his own helmet fondly. "Matching set. It keeps ... it keeps her close, you know." Hiccup held the helmet back a little, not sure how he felt about wearing something made of his mother's breastplate. "Wear it proudly. You deserve it. You've held up your end of the deal."

Hiccup suddenly felt very awkward. He set the helmet aside. With a deep breath, he decided to throw his arms up and yawn. "I should really get to bed right about now..."

Her father immediately stood up, "Yes, yes, good," he nodded, glancing around for enough space to step out. "Okay, good talk."

"Yeah! Yeah, I'll━uh━I'll see you back at the house━"

"━we━we should do this again━"

"━Great, uh━thanks for stopping by━"

"━I'm glad to stop by━" Stoick hit his helmet on the support beams.

"━and━uh━thanks for the━"

"━I hope you like the━"

"━breast hat━"

"━hat." Stoick fixed his belt, nodding at his son who awkwardly stood by his desk. "Well, uh ... yup. Good night."

He left them, squeezing himself out of the door. Hiccup watched his father go and let out a long breath. His secret was safe, for now.

𖣯 ✹ 🌷(úlfheðnar) ꏍ ！┈─❟

a/n: if y'all don't hear test drive while reading the first half of this chapter I hath failed you all as an author I am sorry

also it's lockdown where I am so stay safe and healthy loves!