Welcome to Growing Up! This is a journey that will follow the HTTYD gang monthly as they grow and develop alongside my friend group/second family. Each month, starting with today, I will post a new upload detailing something they do that mirrors an event my friends and I have held. I'm growing up with them :).

Tomorrow is my 16th birthday, but I won't have access to a computer, so I'll be posting next Thursday and today. After that it will be monthly, with some extra events in between.

Welcome, to Chapter One: Beginnings.

There was a tree on Berk. There were a lot of those, but this one was special. A great blast of lightning had struck it years ago, catching it and the house nearby aflame. The adults, for years, had condemned the whole area, claiming that Thor had stricken it for some great sin. What sort of sin a tree could commit, Astrid would never know. Long story short, some brave Viking child had ventured to it and found that, with a little wiggling, they could get inside the old hollow tree. Soon it was a little hiding place for all the young Vikings. A safe space only they knew about, where no fighting was allowed and people could tell their secrets without fear of punishment. After all, what respectable adult would go to a place Thor himself had forsaken? Usually the old tree stood empty and alone, light pooling down from a little hole in the top and bouncing along the endless, ever widening wooden walls. The entry hole was blocked by a ratty old blanket of yak's fur, probably ten years old. And, normally, the whole valley around it was silent. But not today.

Tuffnut and Ruffnut were the last to arrive, hiding in the big dead tree that all of their generation knew about. Astrid was already there, Snotlout and Fishlegs standing together by the far side. Shadows cast deep lines across Astrid's face. It smelled like earth and rot, but it was sheltered from the cold winds beginning to blow through Berk. Winter was here, and Devastating Winter was on its way.

"What are we doing this time?" Tuffnut asked. "Are we blowing up another giant dragon? Or maybe Gothi's hut?"

Fishlegs let out a little gasp.

"It wasn't me who put the dragon eggs in Mulch's hut, I swear! It was the twins!" Astrid rolled her eyes and stepped forward, pushing the twins and their rowdy insults away from Snotlout. "Shut up!" She sighed, and after a moment, they realized something must be wrong.

Astrid crossed her arms, struggling to keep emotion from rising to the surface. Why did that runt of a boy have to make everything so complicated? The others must've seen her expression, because everything quieted. Fishlegs stepped forward. "Do you guys know what tomorrow is?"

"Thorsday?" Tuffnut shrugged.

"No, you knucklehead. It's– it's Hiccup's birthday."

"His birthday? For real?"

"Yes. His sixteenth birthday." Astrid waited for the news to sink in but it didn't.

"Coming of age? When a boy becomes a man?" Fishlegs sighed. "Are all three of you brainless?"

"Yes, and we take great pride in that fact!" Tuffnut shot back. "But that's pretty cool for big dragon boy. So what is the village gonna do?"

"Nothing!" Astrid let some of her anger seep into her voice, pacing between the cramped walls of wood. She stopped at a small barrel she'd put there with Ruffnut a few years ago, when they'd both run away together. "That's the problem! No one's planning on doing anything because he's still unconscious, and–"

Fishlegs took over, green eyes shining in the dim, watery light streaming in from the very top of the tree. "And they don't think he's going to wake up."

"That's harsh." Tuffnut said.

"So, what are we gonna do about it?"

Astrid wheeled around in surprise, her braid smacking Fishlegs in the face. Now that they were older, it was getting harder and harder to fit the whole gang in here. "You want to help, Ruff? I thought I was going to have to drag all of you kicking and screaming!"

"And miss the opportunity to threaten some Council members? Are you crazy?" Tuffnut pulled an old mace out of the assorted weapons bucket, from back when they would spend hours up here pretending a Thing had gone wrong and there were enemies on every side. Hiccup had never been a part of those games. Astrid pushed away the guilt. "We are not threatening Council members, Tuffnut. We're going to hold a ceremony for ourselves."

"Oh." Tuffnut's face screwed up. "You mean we actually have to plan something? Less fun."

"You never know…" Fishlegs mused. "It might be fun!"

"Do we get to blow stuff up?"

"No, but there'll be mead."

"I'm in." Snotlout pushed himself away from his lounging position against the flaking bark.

"You're underage." Astrid returned.

"He is?" Tuffnut counted on his fingers. "Oh, yeah, he is! 'Cause he's like three months younger than Hiccup! Ha! Loser!"

"It's three months." Snotlout griped. "Not a big deal."

Ruffnut said, "Oh, but it is, dear fellow dragon rider! Maturity, status, chieftainship… a lot of things matter agewise!"

"As if anyone would want any of those stupid things…" Snotlout crossed his arms and his voice faded into a string of belligerent mumbling. Astrid opted to ignore him. "So we're doing this. Fishlegs and Snotlout are making the food, I'm talking to the Chief, and…"

"Us?" Tuffnut looked like a dog waiting for a bone. He got an elbow to the stomach from his twin.

"And you two are going to keep the adults off our tails." Astrid mentally facepalmed. There were so many ways this could go wrong. "I'm not getting put on trial for throwing a birthday party."

"So, tomorrow?"

Astrid thought for a minute. "No. We wait until the Council has their next meeting in a week. Then they won't be able to watch us."

"But then we'll miss the actual date!" Fishlegs complained, bouncing on his heels. Stickler.

"Doesn't matter." Astrid decided. "He wasn't even supposed to get a ceremony anyways. It can be a week late. Now, everyone know their assignments?"

"Yup!" The twins looked way too happy, but Astrid had more than them to worry about. "We can all go say hi tomorrow, but the official ceremony is next Thorsday. Got it?"

"Got it!" Astrid sighed as Ruffnut practically shoved Tuffnut through the blanket door, following after everyone else. It would be a miracle if they pulled this off.

Manhood. That was a word that made Astrid uncomfortable. But as she emerged blinking into the sunlight and looked towards the Haddock residence, she didn't think there was anyone better fit for it.

Did you plan this? She asked the gods as she meandered back to the village. A test, to see if the runt of the Hooligan Tribe was worthy to become the next chief? A streak of defiance lit her veins and eyes and she stepped a little faster. "Well," She muttered. "He's going to prove you wrong. Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third is a stronger man than you think. He's going to wake up." And she believed it.