With the good always comes the bad and unfortunately with the twins the bad comes more than the good. Leave it to them to find a way to nearly ignite the entirety of the forge while making their suits, but it was my fault. I left them close to the furnace with minimal supervision. Almost as bad as the time Snotlout literally did ignite the forge back on the edge while trying to be helpful.
Luckily, Astrid, Eret and Fishlegs had actually taken my instructions to heart and finished their prototype suits before the twins forced an impromptu evacuation and screaming Gobber. I may be chief and have my own space at the forge, but it was still his forge; as far as I was concerned. This, of course, meant that we'd be unable to properly test all our prototypes at the same time, and while waiting for Dagur and my mother to return, I gave everyone time off. Astrid, Heather and I ended up having lunch back at the house while waiting which gave them more time to talk.
"So, Hiccup?" I hear Heather call to me as I'm preparing another batch of food.
"Huh, yeah?" I ask, shuffling some plates and yak meat.
"When did you and Astrid get so serious that you live together?" She asks and I nearly trip as the words enter my ears, stumbling and nearly dropping a plate. This, of course, prompting both girls to laugh. I glance at Astrid who has a beaming smile as she just looks at me. She was encouraging this.
"Uh, uh, why? I mean, we don't officially. Well, we do, sort of. It's not like it's a secret. I mean.." I stumble through my words looking back at the firepit and flipping some yak meat as they laugh together again. Glancing to Astrid, I shake my head. "You know, you're enjoying this a little too much." I state and she shrugs with a smile.
"Eh, maybe." She admits.
"Well, what about you Heather? I saw you hovering over Eret." I retort and get her to blush as I get to laugh this time, even Astrid laughs a little.
"Truthfully, it probably wouldn't be a good idea with Eret, but I won't rule anything out." Heather admits as I finish the food and bring it to the girls at the table.
"Why's that?" Astrid asks, genuinely. They hadn't gotten this far in their private talks it seems.
"I'm on Berserker Island to much, covering for Dagur when he goes to visit Mala. I'm not overly concerned about it though, if a spark happens it happens." Heather answers and we both nod as Astrid grabs a trio of mugs. Filling it with mead and passing it out, I feel both girls eyes on me as Astrid rests her elbows on the table and stares me down.
"Alright, Hiccup. What got you riled yesterday?" Astrid asks practically out of the blue mid-meal, I shrug.
"It's not a big deal." I mutter and Heather sets her mug down.
"I can leave if you want?" Heather asks and I shake my head.
"No, it's not a secret or anything. Krogan just got under my skin and made me drop my guard. He talked about my father's death like it was a fond memory even though he hadn't been there; he joked about it." I state and see their eyes lower. Astrid's drifts to where Stoick's chair sits and nods slowly.
"I know that's still fresh. I wish Dagur and I could've been here on the celebratory feast." Heather admits and I nod.
"Me too. It's okay." I state and Astrid shakes her head.
"Hiccup, it's not okay. Krogan keeps crossing a line; he needs to be dealt with." Astrid says softly and I reach across the table and grab her hand and nod.
It's then we hear the sound of the Triple Strike landing outside and its familiar triple clacks of the tails.
"Brother! Are you here! I see three Dragons out here!" Dagur's voice calls out, referencing Toothless, Stormfly and Windshear who were all eating their own mound of fish.
Getting up, I open the door and let him in. "How was the scouting? Where's my mom?" I ask and he shrugs, walking in.
"She went to the Dragon pens. No ships in the Hysteric Straights. We did a fly by to Berserker Island too just to see if they went that way and nothing." Dagur explains as I lead him to the table and give him a plate. He glances at me, Heather then Astrid and shrugs. "Who knew Hiccup could cook. Learn something every day." He says and starts chowing down.
"So, Dagur, how are things with Mala?" Astrid asks and he pauses and glances at her before looking to Heather.
"Is this what you've been doing? Gossiping? Come now, Sister." He says with a sigh then breaks out into his usual laugh. "We're great! We don't get to spend every moment together like you two lovebirds, but she comes to Berserker Island for about a week, I go to Defenders Island, then I go back for another week and she comes back the following. So, we see each other a lot, but with two islands so far apart and us both leaders, it's impossible for it to be 100% unfortunately." Dagur states and I nearly choke on my drink when he mentions Astrid and I. Dagur clasps Heather's shoulder and merely sighs.
"Alas, it looks like my Berserker Sister hasn't found a suitor of her own yet." He finishes and Astrid and I both glance at each other as a wicked grin creep over us both.
"Well, actually." Astrid begins before Heather hits her shoulder with a scoff. Dagur glances at the girls then to me and I shrug.
"We might've found—" I begin in Astrid's stead and feel the swift kick from underneath the table as she hits my ankle and glares.
"Alright, spill the beans." Dagur states and Heather laughs it off.
"They're just trying to match me with people. I'm fine. No suitor." Heather states and Dagur tilts his head and shrugs, taking another bite.
"Whatever. This is good, Hiccup. I'd wager it's almost as good as Heather's." He adds and we spend the next hour or so laughing across the table. Gobber was going to send for me when the forge was back up and running.
It was good, if not relaxing, to just hang out with these two when it wasn't directly related to dire needs or the like. Dagur spent time describing how he and Mala were co-ruling two tribes, how the Defenders had taken to him and how Mala had grown fond of the Berserkers. There was supposedly a talk of migration, combining the tribes together. Though that talk was in its infancy and was little more than pillow talk as Dagur put it. He continued to bug Astrid and I about our wedding date, to which Heather was all to pleased to help him, much to our own dismay. Soon enough though, a loud thud was heard as Grumpy landed and Gobber's voice called out.
"Hey Chief! It'sa ready to go!" Gobber calls out as I get up and get the door. "Oh, a little party in here, eh?" He asks and I shake my head and laugh.
"Thanks, and no. I'll make sure the twins don't wreck it again." I state and he nods.
"You better! I know yer the chief and all but that's my forge! Okay, I'm off to the Hall." Gobber says and just waves us off as he climbs aboard Grumpy and they take off.
"Alright, let's round the gang back up and finish the mark one prototypes. Dagur, Heather, you're welcome to join and watch. I've got a few tests planned." I state and they both nod as we make our way to our dragons. Splitting up, we round up the gang and meet back at the Forge.
It was another couple hours after the Forge was running again that the twins and Snotlout finished their suits. Hiccup was working with Snotlout directly, Fishlegs and I were helping the twins. We continuously had to dissuade them from making any more alterations to their suits while Snotlout was annoyed he was having to make his own.
"Seriously, why are we doing this? You could've done all this in half the time." Snotlout states and I hear Hiccup sigh.
"Because, Snotlout, you guys have to be able to repair them yourselves, and they are unique to your own dragons. Now let's see it." Hiccup states and Snotlout groans but holds up his completed prototype and nods. The twins had finishes right before then as Hiccup grabs his suit. "Alright gang, change into your suits and meet me at the Academy. No breaks, we've got some testing to do." Hiccup orders and, barring a few minor grunts of protests, everyone nods.
Heather and Dagur head up there as Eret, the twins, Fishlegs and Snotlout all fly to their respective houses. Hiccup and I head to ours. It was a work in progress, to mentally call his house our house even with our parents blessing to continue staying together. It honestly gave me butterflies a little every time I said such to myself or heard it out loud.
With our suits in hand as we enter the house, we just strip in the main room and start changing into our suits. I must've not been paying attention, because as the last shred of my clothing leaves me and I'm in nothing but undergarments, I feel Hiccups hand find my hips as he pushes me against the wall and locks lips with me. Pressing his body to mine I completely melt into the kiss, it was payback for earlier in the forge. I didn't even have a chance to catch my breath and as our lips part, I feel my breathing heavy as I bite my lip and smile towards him.
"You know we don't have time; no breaks, remember?" I whisper and he nods. I know he heard me, he acknowledged it but his hands still remain on my hips as he just leaned and slowly started kissing my neck. Lightly closing my eyes, I laugh softly and let loose a slight moan as I feel him gently bite. "Hiccup." I say softly and he pauses, looking at me. "If you don't stop now, I won't let you stop if you keep going." I warn him with an obvious desire in my voice. He just lets out a long sigh and lightly pecks me on the lips.
"Decisions, decisions." He murmurs and I laugh, though my smile fades when I feel the pressure of his body pushing against me lighten as his hands leave my hips. Now standing apart, he looks back at me with a smile. "You almost look disappointed." He teases and I frown.
"Just a bit. You have become a relentless tease, you know that?" I retort and he shrugs.
"Just an appetizer for later. I'm thinking we can visit the Spring at dusk" He states and I feel my lips curl into a light smile as I nod slowly.
"I'm thinking that I like your thinking. Maybe your mother or Fishlegs can show Heather the dragon pens when we're out." I add and he smiles as we both slowly start getting into the dragon scale flight suits.
"I like that idea." He adds a moment later as he finishes suiting up. He comes over to me and helps me finish suiting up with a smile as I glance at him. "What? This suit, it" he pauses, his hands resting on my hips. "It looks really good on you." He finishes and I smile, leaning in and pecking him on the lips.
"Alright, enough teasing for now. Let's go before anyone gets suspicious." I say and he smiles.
"We'll probably beat them anyways." Hiccup retorts and I nod with a laugh as we exit the house, hop on our dragons and fly out to the Academy.
As usual, Hiccup was correct. We did beat everyone except Dagur and Heather; his mother had showed up as well. Eret was closely behind us along with Fishlegs. Snotlout came next and the twins finally arrived a few minutes later. Standing in the center of the Academy with our respective dragons in a circle, Hiccup steps into the circle and pulls out a jar.
"Alright gang, this is our first test." He states, uncapping it and pouring the now visible Monstrous Nightmare Gel onto the ground. He looks to Toothless and gives the dragon a nod and he shoots a light plasma blast which ignites it into a rather large flame-like wall. "We are going to walk, and I mean this, walk through fire." Hiccup finishes. There are immediate sounds of protest followed by maniacal laughing from the twins.
"It seems good Chief Hiccup has finally joined us in our worship to Loki. Either that, or he has finally joined us in our love of fire, death, and blood. Either way…" Tuffnut explains before bashing his head with Ruffnut.
"Good for us!" Ruffnut finishes as Hiccup sighs and I just watch.
"Alright, guys. It's serious. Watch me." Hiccup begins and centers himself on the long side of the fire, after putting on his helmet, and steps into it. His hue in the dark scaled suit vanishing in the flames before reappearing on the other side.
"Bravo, Bravo good sir!" Tuffnut states
"We demand an encore! For Science!" Ruffnut adds as Snotlout runs up to the fire.
"Pfft, big deal. It's just walking through fire. I walked across lava. Piece of cake." Snotlout states as Hiccup smiles and waves his hand.
"Show us." He says and I smile. I can see the apprehension form on Snotlout's face as he takes in a deep breath and walks in. No sooner than he walked in do we hear him start to scream.
"Oh! Ow! Ow! Fire! Hot! What!" He exclaims as he reemerges with several burn marks around his knees, his elbows and varying other places. Hiccup's hand meets his forehead as he sighs.
"Snotlout, did you follow my plans? I had outlined how to fireproof everything." He asks and Snotlout scowls.
"Yes! Of course! If it wasn't for the twins almost blowing up the forge, maybe I wouldn't have been distracted." He states and the twins laugh as he looks at them. "Alright, muttonheads. You go." Snotlout states and they both grin.
"With pleasure, Brother Snot! Watch, and behold, the magnificence of science!" Tuff exclaims as the two approach the fire together.
"This will truly be a day to remember, Brother Nut." Ruffnut says as she dons a helmet.
"Spoken well, indeed! Sister Nut!" Tuff answers as they enter the flames. They vanish in the fire for a few seconds and I can see Hiccup almost want to go push them out before they jump out at Snotlout, Ruff on Tuff's shoulders and them both smoldering. Snotlout jumps back in an angry scream as the twins laugh.
"Loki'd!" They say together.
"Oh, come on. It's not even Loki Day." Snotlout retorts as Ruffnut approaches him with her finger to his chest.
"Every day is Loki Day." She says simply and the two walk back to their place.
Eret moves through next with no issues at all, even takes a moment to pose in success as Fishlegs follows with also no issues. I end the trip and walk through. It was weird, I could feel the fire around me but the dragon scales seemed to diminish the heat inside the suit; I wasn't even sweating. The Deathsong Amber was holding up nicely as well and I could see clearly as I walked through. Exiting the other side, I almost walking into Hiccup who took my hand and smiled.
"Alright, everyone but Snotlout passes the first test. We have to finish dragon proofing your suit and not forget anything." Hiccup states and Snotlout just shrugs and crosses him arms.
"Okay, gang. The next test—" Hiccup begins before being interrupted by Sven running in.
"Chief! The pirate friend, er, Vern. He's awake!" Sven says and Hiccup glances to Eret and nods.
"Alright gang, break. Eret, let's go talk to your friend!" He says and Eret nods with a smile. Hiccup turns to me and gives me the 'come on' nod, inviting me to go with him. "Dagur, Heather, you too. I don't want to crowd him, so that'll be it. Everyone else, take a breather. Snotlout, go work on your suit. I'll brief you all when we get back." Hiccup finishes and there is a collective acknowledgement and a couple groans as the group breaks up. It was time to go talk to Vern.