Got a request for this... not my usual work but hey.
Hiccup testing a flight suit... I went for a setting somewhere between RTTE and HTTYD 2, but the suit he uses is the one from the movie.
-HTTYD-
Dragonfly one had been pretty flawed. Dragonfly two had been better. Dragonfly three had its ups and downs.
Dragonfly four had made Hiccup realise something when he was struggling with the locked up calibration of the spring coil for the steering fin.
If he wanted to test this with Toothless, he needed to do something about his dragons tail. Toothless couldn't fly without Hiccup... it seemed such a glaring error now he realised it. But Toothless had flat out rejected the automatic tailfin he made that Snoggletog... .maybe he could make it lock into one position, without his feet in the stirrups. Just for emergencies... and solo flying. And solo flying emergencies.
"Toothless, come here bud. I gotta do some work on your tail system."
The dragon loped over obediently, letting Hiccup work his straps and pulleys and saddle off. It always left the dragon looking oddly naked, as his saddle system was so much more complex than other dragons to account for the stirrups needed to control his tail. Toothless watched in fascination as Hiccup whistled to himself, hopping back and forth from stirrup to tail mechanism and back again to see how best to fix it.
It needed to not be so tight Toothless couldn't move his tail at all, or he may as well not bother, but the fin needed to stay in place. It also needed to be able to flex, or it wouldn't be much good for anything other than locked up gliding.
It was his own fault really... he had been the one to damage Toothless' tailfin to begin with. Two days of fiddling, cursing when he burnt or cut his hand, scribbling out wrong plans and working so much he could barely stand later, it was done.
"Alright. Ready for a test flight?"
As ever, he got an eager response from his dragon. He just about managed to dodge his dad as he and Gobber arrived in the forge, boy and dragon dashing off before they could be landed with tasks that weren't flying. Hiccup patted down his leathers, feeling all the wing material was in place. Maybe they should practice lower down than they usually flew...
Nah.
"Up we go bud!"
Toothless crooned, darting up into the air and Hiccup moved the stirrups, found his tail worked just as well as the previous model had for changing when Hiccup pressed the pulleys right. The better part of the new one was the bit his prosthetic attached to was new, and fit his new leg much better - he had outgrown the old ones from when he was a skinny teen boy.
"Ok then. Dragonfly four, maiden tail voyage."
Toothless would complain, Hiccup was sure, but if his tail worked Hiccup was bringing out the wings.
Adjusting the stirrup to make Toothless' tail stick up the best way , Hiccup reached down and pulled a lever. Taking a deep breath, he pulled his leg out of the stirrup. Nothing terrible happened, so he peered around at the tail. Fixed position... perfect. He had Toothless do a few minutes gliding alone first, checking it didn't flop in the wind or be too rigid for the dragon to fly, then he unhooked his belt suit.
"Race ya down buddy!"
Toothless yowled in annoyance when Hiccup slid off his back, not strictly against the free dives but he liked a little more warning, and he wasn't totally used to the new tail yet. Even so, he matched Hiccup's dive, batting him gently to make Hiccup revolve in mid-air. It had to be done just right, or Toothless would make him so dizzy he fainted.
Taking a deep, steadying breath, Hiccup reached for the straps on his legs and pulled. These wings were painstakingly measured the gap completely, a few inches off in places but the glide was so much smoother than the previous ones, and Toothless made a fine job of keeping up when Hiccup switched from vertical plummet to horizontal glide. His eyes burned a little from wind, making a mental note to come up with a flight helmet of some kind.
Gods, he loved this. Hitting the trigger for his steering fin, Hiccup let himself just coast along the wind, Toothless at his side chortling to himself at his human flying. Hiccup looked down, taking in the scenery. Cool air rushed past him, stinging his cheeks and turning his hair even more chaotic than usual, but the sun turned the sea to liquid gold and he could see islands in the distance, clouds closer than most Vikings would ever see them, smell sea air and clean wind.
Tilting himself to one side, the suit let him but it wasn't as streamlined as he hoped. He would need to test whether that was his inexperience or a flaw in the calibrations. When he began to lose some altitude, he flipped over on his back - still gliding, thankfully - and called out to Toothless.
Hiccup hadn't thought to account for rescues in his locked tail calculations.
Luckily, his dragon came through and managed to catch Hiccup safely, landing on the nearest sea stack to take stock of how their joint maiden flight went. Toothless also slapped him with an earfin, no doubt as scolding for the impromptu separation.
"Sorry bud, but I had a good feeling! And it worked! How was the tail? Too stiff? Just right? Sure I can't convince you to have an automatic one again?"
Smack!
"Guess not."
Tucking his wings away was relatively easy, though Hiccup resolved to practice tucking them away more neatly siw the stitches wouldn't get pulled, and it wouldn't bulge at odd angles or shapes.
"Let's get home, I think we earned ourselves a good dinner."
"Hiccup!"
Sat astride the Rumblehorn, his father hovered over where Hiccup and Toothless were, meaning they couldn't escape without being chased.
"Yes dad?"
"Did you forget you were supposed to be working with me today?"
"Uh, yes?"
Cowed, Hiccup saddled his dragon and followed his dad back to Berk. All the while, he was cheering on the inside.
Dragonfly Four, maiden voyage: Success!
-HTTYD-
Short and sweet ( hopefully). And of course, I'm always open to requests. Inbox requests are anonymous (and preferred so I can ask about specifics. I love specifics.)