20. Altercations
Hiccup was really bored. Eret and Storm had taken off only ten minutes ago, but glancing at them every other minute was way more entertaining than the silence that he had to sit in. The only one who wanted to talk was Fishlegs, especially now as he had Meatlug, he asked about everything. Fishlegs took their 'Your actions made your dragons leave' talk seriously, maybe too seriously. The poor man was afraid to breathe on his Gronckle in case the dragon didn't like it. Fishlegs asked a lot of questions, each one slowly making Hiccup more annoyed.
"Do Gronckles like foot rubs?"
"Maybe."
"How fast do they get tired?"
"Depends on what they're doing."
"Is Dark Deep real?"
"Yes."
"Have you been there?"
"Yes."
"Can I go there!?"
"I don't know."
"Oh… Will Gronckles eat any rock?"
"As far as I know, yes."
"Do they have a favorite type of rock?"
"Some have preferences."
"Does Meatlug have a favorite?"
"If she has, she hasn't told me."
After Hiccup nearly shouted at him because of his borderline stupid questions Fishlegs had taken out a notebook and started writing down everything he remembered. Hiccup felt a bit guilty about almost exploding at the man, but his irritation was greater, because no one should have to say 'No Fishlegs, Meatlug won't leave you if you don't find out what her favorite rock is by the end of week!'
Hiccup loved silence, he had forgotten that comparatively speaking both he and Storm were quiet individuals. But their silences were a comfortable, expected thing, and in the moment he felt like banging his head on a rock because this silence was uncomfortable and he had nothing else to do but wait.
He was fiddling with his wrist straps and he felt like he was being watched. Sparing a glance up, his suspicions were proven correct when he saw both Astrid and Snotlout observing him. Well, Astrid was observing him, Snotlout was trying to glare his head off. 'Wow, even when he doesn't know who I am he hates me,' Hiccup thought. After a few moments of staring back at them he raised an eyebrow in question, which made Snotlout drop his gaze and glare at the grass instead.
That left Hiccup staring at Astrid, who now had a calculating stare pointed back at him. They ended their staring match only when Skullcrusher landed in the clearing. Hiccup stood as soon as he saw Storm get off of the dragon, her body language betraying her foul mood. He gently steered her away from the others, who were ganging up on Eret asking him about his first flight.
He looked at her with concern, she lifted her helmet rubbing her eyes in frustration. Hiccup swiftly looked her over, but didn't find any indication of a physical fight, yet he knew that something had to happen for Storm to be in such a state. He sent a heated glare at Eret, turning in the man's direction ready to march over and knock him out. Hiccup was stopped by Storm yanking him back to her.
"He-he was great, did everything right," then she started harshly whispering. "I was the one who slipped up. I'm not angry at him or you, I'm angry at myself. Now we have a job to do, you-" she jabbed a finger to his chest, "- take Fishlegs and Astrid, I'll handle Shitlout."
"His name is Snotlout," he finally whispered. Storm shrugged, clearly not giving a shit, and joined the sitting circle that had once again formed. The gang were still quizzing Eret on his flight and paid no real attention to Storm as she pulled her helmet down and laid down, crossing her arms behind her head she just cloud gazed ignoring the sound of their talking.
"Fishlegs," Hiccup called, waving him over. "Your turn."
While Fishlegs was very cautious, his lesson when by quicker. At least the getting on Meatlug and taking off part was faster, the flying took the same time. In the time without Hiccup and Fishlegs, Storm had closed her eyes and to others it seemed like she was asleep. The conversation around her had come to a natural stop, so she could clearly hear it when Ruffnut started whispering to her brother.
"I think she's sleeping."
"Yeah, and?" Tuffnut whispered back, with a hopeful tone. They began whispering even quieter, but Storm got the gist of their conversation pretty easily. The twins wanted to scare her awake and have blackmail on her later, at which Storm raised an eyebrow, if she was really sleeping the only thing that 'scaring her awake' would accomplish, would be a punch in the face and a dislocated shoulder each. But she wasn't about to stop them, because she was still angry and punching something (or someone) was a good way to release some of her feelings. So she waited.
"Don't," she heard Eret say. "Don't try that, for your own sake."
"Why?" questioned Tuffnut. "Don't you want to see one of them scared? Because that would be awesome!" he loudly whispered, Ruffnut and Snotlout eagerly nodding their heads beside him, Astrid just watched the conversation, amused. Eret shook his head.
"For one, I don't think she's actually asleep-"
"I'm not." Storm interrupted, making the group jump, a small smile resting on her face.
"…and she would probably hurt you if you did that." He finished after a second of hesitation. The twins groaned, both glaring at Eret.
"You woke her up by talking!" Ruffnut accused. Storm sat up with a sigh, removed her helmet and stared at the twins with a tired look. The twins didn't notice it as they were still glaring at Eret. Storm spared a glance to the rest of the group who were observing her with curiosity, undoubtedly interested at what she would do next. Storm snapped her fingers, gaining the attention of the twins, who did their best to shift blame as soon as they noticed her looking at them.
"It was Snotlout's idea!" they both exclaimed, pointing at the alarmed man.
"No it wasn't," she saw Snotlout relax. "He isn't brave enough to try something like that."
Her words made Astrid snicker and Snotlout to let out an insulted 'Hey!'. She ignored him, gesturing to Eret.
"Listen to him, after all, out of all of you he knows me the best," she met Eret's stare head on, making the man lower his gaze. "Oh, and-" she leaned towards the twins, "- I'll be behind one of you when it's time for your lesson."
That made the twins share a panicked look, they had forgotten about that fact. They mutually decided that they wouldn't try to 'prank' the woman again, at least for that day. The sound of Meatlug's flying diverted their attention. The Gronckle landed and her riders got off, Fishlegs barely making it to ground before he started giddily telling others about his flight.
"It's my turn, right?" Asked Snotlout not listening to Fishlegs. The pair of dragon riders reluctantly nodded, Storm because she needed to fly with him and Hiccup was just sad for his sister. "Then sit back and watch Dragon boy, I'll show you a dragon rider."
The group stood away, giving him space and watched as he beckoned Hookfang over, by… yelling at the dragon, who did not take that well. The Nightmare went to him alright, and when Snotlout tried to put his hand on Hookfang for stability, the dragon set himself on fire, almost burning the man's hand.
"Hey, you stupid dragon! Watch what you're doing!" he then turned to the group, mostly focusing on Storm. "Don't worry babe, you'll get your hands on me soon enough." He winked and went back to yelling at his dragon.
The pair's blood was boiling. Yet they waited, knowing that Hookfang could take care of himself and until it came to blows, yelling would do nothing for the dragon, except make him more prone to acting against his would-be rider.
"Shouldn't we do something?" Astrid asked the pair, who shook their heads. Their stances were rigid, Astrid saw that they were ready to jump the second they decided that intervention was necessary.
Hiccup moved as soon as he saw Snotlout raise his hand in preparation to strike. He was in front of Hookfang in a flash, catching Snotlout's punch, twisting the man's arm behind his back and incapacitating him on the spot. Suddenly Storm was in front of him, the murder in her eyes mirroring Hiccup's, which Snotlout couldn't see.
"What the fuck is wrong with you?" she harshly shouted, sending shivers down everyone's (except Hiccup's) spines.
"It's not my fault the dragon doesn't recognize his master!" he yelled, trying to get out the hold that Hiccup had him in, it was becoming painful on account that the more Snotlout struggled, the more Hiccup tightened the hold to the point of nearly dislocating his shoulder.
"They are not thralls! They have no masters!" she shouted, not giving a shit about the audience.
"Then you're liars! You told us you can help, that you're some great 'Dragon demons', yet you do nothing about a disobedient dragon!" he shouted back, still trying to prove some kind of superiority against the visitors. Storm got really close to his face, her face was hardened in a murderous glare.
"Lose the attitude or lose a fucking leg." She growled. The gang were watching all this happen in various states of shock, not knowing if they should help Snotlout or not. They jumped when Hiccup tightened his hold on the man once more, producing a pained yelp from him, it was met with Fishleg's frightened cry, at which Meatlug flew over to comfort her frightened rider. Hiccup leaned down to Snotlout's ear.
"We've seen enough," he growled out, his tone matching that of Storm's. Hiccup pushed the man out of the hold, making Snotlout nearly stumble. Hiccup raised his voice. "You are way too egoistical to be riding a dragon and until you go down on your knees and beg Hookfang for forgiveness, in front of all of us, you're not getting a chance of even getting in the saddle. You are not to have any unsupervised contact with Hookfang, and if he rejects you, you're not getting another chance."
"Fishlegs!" Storm called, interrupting any stupid comeback that Snotlout was about to say. "Make sure he gets back to the village and report everything that happened to your Chief. Your lesson is done for today and he is suspended until further notice."
Snotlout stomped out of the clearing, Fishlegs trailed after him after saying his goodbyes to Meatlug. The pair took a deep breath, calming down for the moment. Storm went about removing Hookfang's saddle, while Hiccup spoke to the rest of the gang.
"Your lessons will still happen, but that-" he said, gesturing to Hookfang who was getting scratches from Storm, however he was clearly distraught,"- is what you don't do."
They were all silent as Hiccup went over to help Storm. The two of them did fast work of calming Hookfang down enough for him to go take a nap. The twins talked between themselves and decided to chance asking the pair to get their lesson next, as they were eager to go back to the village both to get away from the scary pair and to make fun of Snotlout. The pair easily agreed, telling Astrid, who had to have her lesson still, and Eret, who would have to wait for Astrid to be done so she would be alone with the 'demons', to wait.
Despite what had just happened both Ruffnut and Tuffnut were exited to get into the air and their lesson went off with little mistakes. After taking off the twins tried to go in separate directions, making Barf and Belch crash their heads together, which almost made the four humans fall, but afterwards they made their way around the designated sea stacks without a hitch. Their landing was a bit rough, but all in all neither Storm nor Hiccup had any harsh reprimands. The twins left with a quick hug to each of the Zippleback heads.
That left only Astrid who needed an assessment on her flying skill. Storm shoved Hiccup towards the viking, making it clear that he will be the one in charge of Astrid's lesson.
