Hiccup was a little nervous, subconsciously scratching Toothless' head as he waited.
To be fair, it wasn't everyday that someone would be waiting in anticipation for a visit by a childhood tormentor, after having agreed to welcome him to their home several years after they'd last met. When they were kids, Dogsbreath wasn't exactly the pinnacle of innocence. Not to him, and not to anyone else, either.
It was kind of like having a second Dagur the Deranged, well, before he became an ally. Except that one was the psychotic Chief of a different tribe while the other was just a really mean kid.
One that Snotlout, for some reason, saw as a hero. Hiccup could see his cousin fidgeting about as he stood next to him on the beach- fiddling with his fingers and honestly looking more like Hiccup than, well, Hiccup himself. The only other time he'd ever seen him like this was back when Snotlout was crushing on Thor Bonecrusher.
On the other side of him stood the rest of the gang, looking like they'd rather be literally anywhere else than where they were now.
"So, uh.." Hiccup directed his gaze to the Twins as he attempted to break the ice, "You guys aren't.. excited for Dogsbreath the Destructive?"
"The destruction he does is boring," Tuffnut moped, surprising even himself with the coldness of his words, "No explosions, no fun."
"Plus, he kept saying the 'T' word whenever Tuff was around," Ruffnut grumbled.
Hiccup's confusion was made visibly evident, "The... 'T' word?"
Astrid rubbed her arm guiltily and whispered into Hiccup's ear, explaining what Ruffnut had meant and how Tuffnut apparently cried at the mere mention of tears.
"Oh!" Was all that Hiccup simply said, before his features shifted to one of mild concern, "Oh..?"
"Quit yapping, you guys!" Snotlout squirmed, looking up with Hiccup's telescope in his hands, "I think I see him!"
The group looked up, and the indistinguishable sight of a blue Gronckle alerted them to its presence.
And on the Gronckle was a man; tall, blonde, and hairy, with a ring through his nose and an unmistakably brutish attitude. It was none other than Dogsbreath himself.
"Seaslug, slow down!" Dogsbreath growled, pulling on the reigns of his saddle as the blue Gronckle came barreling into the beach. Unfortunately, the dragon didn't seem to hear him in all the chaos. The rider and his dragon braced themselves for impact as they crashed into the sand, several metres away from the Dragon Riders.
Without a moment's hesitation, Snotlout ran as quickly as he could towards the newcomers while they shook the sand off of themselves.
"Doggie!" Snotlout called, almost knocking Dogsbreath over with a hug.
"Have ye' gotten shorter, 'Lout?" Dogsbreath asked incredulously, nearly choking from the hug. Snotlout stepped back to look at the older viking.
Dang, he was tall. Really tall. 'Puberty did the guy good,' Snotlout thought with a twinge of jealousy, suddenly feeling incredibly self aware about his own short stature.
"So," Dogsbreath had said as he crossed his arms, looking around, "Where's 'ickle Useless, then?"
"Who?" Snotlout asked out loud, his mind blanking for a moment, before realising with a flash of guilt who Dogsbreath was referring to, "Oh, Hiccup and everyone else are on their way, you kinda landed way past where we were all standing."
"Alright, we're here," Hiccup announced, walking towards the two vikings with the other riders and their dragons in tow. Dogsbreath's eyebrows shot up in surprise at how tall Hiccup was, while Hiccup only offered him a hand.
"S-s-so, I- y- uh.." The young heir stuttered, silently cursing himself for his nervousness, "W-w-welcome to Dragon's Edge!"
Dogsbreath grinned, though nobody could really tell if it was sincere or just menacing, and shook Hiccup's hand a bit too aggressively for Toothless' liking.
"Pleased to be here, Use- Hiccup," Dogsbreath sneered, correcting himself as took a glance at the clearly protective face of the Night Fury. Dogsbreath was a bit duh-brained, but he wasn't that stupid.
"Great, he and Snotlout saw each other," Tuffnut deadpanned, "Can he leave now?"
Hiccup shot him an unamused glare, and turned back to look at Dogsbreath.
"So," He asked, retreating his arm and using it to rub the back of his head, "H-how.. how long are you staying?"
"A week."
Hiccup sputtered at this information, "A- a week?!"
The rest of the gang groaned at Dogsbreath's reply, aside from Snotlout, who looked like Snoggletog had come early. Hiccup was expecting a few hours, maybe even a day or two, but a week?!
"Ma' parents are goin' to need a while to build a new house," Dogsbreath explained, "And I'm certainly not gonna spend tha' week in my Aunt Stinkbutt's basement!"
"OhmyThorIhadthegreatestidea!" Snotlout all but squealed, "You could live in my hut!"
"Oh no," Astrid grimaced, putting a hand on Hiccup's shoulder, "You sure this is still a good idea, honey?"
"I-I-It'll be fine," Hiccup assured, though it sounded more like he was reassuring himself rather than anyone else, "...Probably."
Ta-dah, another chapter! Dogsbreath is basically gonna have Book Snotlout's personality in this story, just maybe less sadistic. I'm thinking just six or seven chapters for this one, I still wanna keep it short and simple so I can work on my Watching RTTE fic.
Don't worry, it's not gonna just be four chapters straight of Dogsbreath being mean and people being sad. Well, I mean, it is, but there's an actual lightly planned plotline to this, too. Hope you enjoyed!
