So this is a late Christmas fic. Let's just say it's for Three Kings' Day, which is in January.
To a wonderful writer, fellow fangirl, and fabulous friend,
Happy Three Kings' Day, Hannah!
Hiccup blinked awake, heart thumping. A dark shadow moved in a corner of his room and made a soft rustling sound. Two large yellow eyes blinked at his from the shadows. A soft rumbling sound—a growl?—reverberated through the darkness.
"Toothless!" he hissed. "I know you're awake, and I know you know that I'm awake. So we should probably just get up."
Like most things, easier said than done.
Hiccup rolled to the edge of the bed and fell on the floor. He continued rolling across the floor, still wrapped in his blanket, to reach his dresser. The tangle of boy and blanket thumped into the dresser, and today's clothes fell from the top of the dresser and onto Hiccup's face, along with the dresser itself.
Toothless caught it in time, before the boy was squashed, and gave him another one of his ridiculous grins.
"Okay! Okay! I know it was a terrible idea, but it was worth trying, right? Tomorrow we can try another system where I attach my clothes to a pulley on the bed."
His father's voice boomed through the house. "You won't have time tomorrow!"
"Won't have time… wha—? Oh!" Hiccup jumped up, forgetting that he was still wrapped inside the blanket. He hopped around untangling himself from it, while Toothless flopped around on the floor laughing.
When Hiccup finally rushed out of his room, dressed and with his satchel slung across one shoulder, he ran right into his dad. "Do you have to go?" Stoick asked for the millionth time.
"Don't worry, Dad! I'll be fine! Astrid will be with me!"
The chief of the Hairy Hooligans harrumphed. "Oh, Astrid will be with you. She's a fine girl and all, but you don't know what's out there…"
"We'll be fine."
Hiccup and Toothless stepped into the sunlight on the small island they called home. Hiccup paused to survey the slanting roofs, narrow streets, and roudy Vikings. Some had just returned from fishing trips, dumping still-wriggling fish onto the docks that always creaked with the weight. Even from up here, a whiff of the reek lingered in the air, as it did all over Berk. The narrow thatched roofs seemed like smaller imitation of the mountains, only with thatch instead of Vikings and grass. The narrow streets were filled with Hooligans being Hooligans. Most were practicing fighting and racing their dragons as always, but a few were sharpening knives and swords or fashioning armour. Some were even designing better dragon harnesses or fashioning wood carvings. (They had yet to share Hiccup's love of books, but they would learn.) And over all the noise and reek of Vikings, the roar of dragons could be heard.
Hiccup thought about the other islands, a few short dragon-rides away, exactly like Berk, only with non-Hairy Hooligan Vikings and no dragon riding. All these people fighting and fishing, since the first Viking to Ragnarok. Hiccup loved them with all his heart, the Hairy Hooligans who had survived on this cold, rainy rock. With the dragons, it was wonderful and delightful.
"That's it," said a voice behind Hiccup. "Our whole world."
He turned around to look at Astrid, fellow Viking, dragon friend, and explorer.
"Yep. I've always wanted to know what lies beyond these cold islands. What other people do with their lives. I wonder if there are other people and other dragons out there, beyond the open ocean. People that don't live on this island or the islands right next to it."
Astrid nodded impatiently. "Well we'll never know, if you stand here producing internal monologue from now until you turn into a moss covered stump. Come on!"
She grabbed his hand, and they ran down to the docks.
Note: This is actually not historically accurate, as Vikings were some of the greatest engineers and explorers of their time. But I really just wanted these kids to be the first explorers, since they were the ones who changed so much around Berk.