A/N Thanks to Anonymous Noob the 2nd, JEM48893, midnightsky0612, kimmadewdrop, and Guest for reviewing, to everyone who followed and favorited, and the 70+ people who've taken time to read this! You guys make my day! :)
Hiccup sat leaning against a tree, trying his best to not doze off while he waited to catch something in his troll trap. He was almost out of socks, and he was determined to catch one of those pesky trolls tonight. He'd been sitting there for three solid hours, and it was probably around midnight by now.
Suddenly the mechanism tripped, and he heard something like a muffled scream. Hiccup rushed out of his hiding place dragging a mace nearly as big as he was over to the trap, and inside he found… not a troll. "A dragon?"
It had an ugly, almost human face, with a horn that resembled a somewhat hooked human nose. Just above the nose on its forehead was a strange red lightning-bolt shaped marking. Its scales were dark, but the wings were shiny and metallic, folded on its back like a cape. It stood on its hind legs, and was slightly smaller than a Terrible Terror.
But before Hiccup could see any more of it, it sprayed gas in his face, which got in his eyes and burned like crazy. Hiccup screamed and jumped back, tripping and kicking over his trap, and releasing the small dragon, who darted back into the forest. Hiccup rubbed his eyes and tried to open them, but everything was pitch black. He'd gone blind.
After about thirty seconds of yelling for help, his vision began returning, although everything was still blurry. It took him another hour to get home, as his blurred vision and the starlit darkness made it difficult to see where he was going, and he kept crashing into trees, but eventually he got back, and managed to sneak upstairs to bed.
The next morning, when he tried to tell people what he'd seen, they only laughed, and told him he was crazy.
"A tiny dragon who steals socks?"
"The boy's gone daft."
"Everyone knows it's the trolls that steal socks."
So Hiccup swore to himself that he'd find the dragon and kill it, then bring it back as proof.
"You're not getting away this time!" Two weeks later, Hiccup was hot on the trail of the Socktroll. He was so close now! He could almost touch it!
And then, he tripped and fell, but never hit the ground. Instead he flew into the air, and found himself caught in a dragon trap, dangling upside down twenty feet from the forest floor. Hiccup tried to wiggle himself free, but it was no use. "Help!" he yelled, but he knew he was too deep in the forest for anyone to hear him.
Hiccup looked around for anything he could use to get down, when he saw a small dark streak race up the tree and disappear, then it was baring its teeth, slowly advancing down the ropes that held him. "Agh!" Hiccup screamed, and struggled harder, but that only agitated the Socktroll, and it began spraying its gas. Hiccup shielded his eyes with his free hand and felt the dragon bite his boot, and then another came out of nowhere and tore the boot off his other foot. The first Socktroll stopped struggling with his right boot and yanked the sock off his left foot, and both dragons were gone. Just like that.
At first Hiccup thought his toes were gone, but once he realized they were still intact, he was confused. Dragons were bloodthirsty attackers. Why did they only take his shoe and sock, and not his whole foot?
"Hiccup!" Stoick called his son for what must have been the hundredth time.
Gobber came running, out of breath. "Stoick, I've been all over the village. No one's seen 'im."
Stoick groaned. "Then search the forest, he's probably gone hunting for trolls again."
"Aye, Stoick." Gobber gave a mock salute with his hook, and started off in the direction of the forest with two other men.
"What am I going to do with that boy," Stoick sighed, and turned away.
As it happened, "that boy" was still dangling upside down from a tree with his bare foot sticking straight up. Hiccup had been there for nearly half an hour, and the blood pressure built up in his head was getting really uncomfortable. He'd just started to doze off when he heard a twig snap. His eyes flew open. Were the Socktrolls back? He looked behind him, and everything was upside down and out of focus, but he could still see what it was.
"Gobber!" Hiccup yelled.
Gobber nearly jumped out of his undies. "Beard of Thor! Hiccup, what are you doin' up there?"
Hiccup looked at Gobber. Was he seriously asking that? "Um, I got caught in a dragon trap."
Gobber sighed.
"Can you help me? Please?" Hiccup's head felt like it was going to explode.
"Don't you worry, Hiccup," said Gobber cheerfully. "I'll get ya down." He released the trap, and Hiccup came plummeting down. "AAAAGH…OOF!" Hiccup landed flat on his back, the wind knocked out of him. Gobber came over and hauled the boy to his feet. Hiccup swayed and shook his head to clear it as the blood rushed out and his face returned to its normal pale shade.
"Now then," said Gobber, "what were ya doin' all the way out here, eh?"
"I found a Socktroll!" Hiccup replied enthusiastically.
"Oh?" Gobber had always believed in trolls himself. "You found a troll, did you? Did ya get a good look at 'im?"
"Not a troll," said Hiccup, exasperated. "A Socktroll."
"Ah." Gobber, like everyone else, did not believe in Hiccup's "imaginary dragon". "Your father wants you, Hiccup. You'd better be gettin' home."
Hiccup sighed. For a second there, he thought someone actually believed him. He turned to go, but stepped on a sharp stick with his bare foot, and yelped.
Gobber turned around. "Hiccup, what in Thor's name happened to you now?"
"Nothing, I'm fine," Hiccup replied moodily. He pulled the end of the stick out of his foot, and it began bleeding, but he hardly noticed. Now he was mad. "The next time I see that Socktroll," he muttered under his breath, "he's dead meat."
Hiccup found his father at the docks. "Hey, Dad."
Stoick turned to face his son. "Where have you been all day, Hiccup? Oswald the Agreeable, Chief of the Berserker Tribe, is coming for a visit with his son." Hiccup's face brightened. "Can I trust you, just for one day, not to make a mess out of Berk?"
"Just as long as I can go crazy the day after that," Hiccup grinned.
Stoick sighed and started towards the village to oversee the preparations, and Hiccup gave a celebratory jump and ran home.
That night as he was lying in bed, he couldn't stop thinking about the boy that was coming. He wouldn't have any preconceived ideas about how weird Hiccup was. This might be his chance to finally have a friend! Sure, it would only be for a day, but it would be the best day of his life.
