Night Two: Stupidity
It was late before Hiccup returned home. What a day. He closed the door behind him and sunk to the floor. Who cared about chairs and tables and other wooden furniture that any self-respecting dragon would destroy in a heartbeat? The floor was good enough for Hiccup, and surprisingly comfortable. A good wood had been chosen for the planks of the floor. Not that Hiccup knew what wood or even cared, but right now it was good.
He was not going back to dragon training. Ever. Dragon training was over. He was just going to have to find some way of explaining that to his dad. Yep, that would be a conversation for the ages.
Hi, son. How were the past few weeks of the dragon training you have been wishing forever for?
Hi Dad. What dragon training?
You know, the kind that prepares you to take your place as an amazing Viking just like everyone other brawny giant in this village.
Oh, that dragon training…
Didn't we make a deal? We don't break deals.
Well, Dad, you see… the first day I was nearly blasted to death by a Gronckle. I know you would have preferred me dead than to see me quit dragon training, but hey, that's that.
Hiccup closed his eyes and breathed in the sawdust smell of the floor. That would be one crazy conversation. He could feel the disappointment from wherever in the sea his dad currently was. Disappointment that his son had spent dragon training curled up in fetal position. Disappointment that his son was now on the floor.
The man could tell everything. It was eerie. Hiccup sighed and stood up. Oh, well. The Gronckle had nearly fried him. He had barely been able to pick up a shield. There had been the way everyone had stared at him in disgust and pity after Gobber had seen fit to rescue him.
What if they all just voted him out? He was pretty sure Astrid would be worth two votes to that effect.
Then there had been the other dragon. Hiccup pulled out his notebook, then realized he couldn't see it. Stupid fire had gone out and… well, Hiccup just wasn't interested in starting another when he could just blindly climb up the stairs and maybe make it to bed.
It didn't matter. He knew what he had drawn. The grounded dragon, the way it had looked at him. If looks could kill.
He knew perfectly well looks couldn't kill. With the way Astrid sometimes glared at him, he would have been dead a dozen times over by now.
Astrid. He wanted to go somewhere really obscure and scream his head off. Dragon training should have been it. The way to prove to Astrid that he was more Viking manliness than she could handle. Impressing her hadn't quite happened during training.
Hiccup was just as broken in the impressing-girls field as that dragon was in flying.
The missing tail came to mind.
Not only had he brought down a dragon, he had accidentally injured it. It would have been cool if it had been intentional.
Like being under the fire of a Gronckle. That would have been cool if it had been in the heat of battling the thing, not in a training arena. He should have been in the wilderness, saving Astrid from a dragon and having it corner him. One awesome burn to show off.
If he had lived.
He still didn't know what to think. The Gronckle had gone for the kill, the Night Fury hadn't.
That didn't mean the Night Fury wouldn't later.
He kind of wished he had down about "going for the kill" before he had been dumb enough to free the thing.
Gods. He was going to die one way or another. By one dragon or another. And Astrid wouldn't even notice he was gone. His face dropped into his hands. He needed air.
He pushed the door open and stepped back outside, hoping no one was watching. Last thing he needed was for all the eyes and ears his dad had certainly left behind to spot him sneaking in and out at all hours of the night. But the night air was cool, refreshing. He could think.
He could handle dragon training. He just didn't have to do anything terribly exciting. Just follow instruction and hang in the back. It was all he needed to do. Nothing more. As for the Night Fury, well, he could solve that problem by ignoring the thing! It was trapped, it couldn't fly out. Therefore, it couldn't get to him.
Problems solved.
He walked down the hill toward the rest of the village. Sometimes living on the hill was embarrassing. Like he needed any more reminders of the discrepancy between himself and the ideal chief's son.
In the moonlight, he could see Astrid's house.
He stopped where he was. What was she doing inside? Sleeping? Sharpening a weapon? Doing something else?
For all he knew, she could probably see him.
He turned and ran home.
How stupid was he being? Very stupid. He recognized that. Normal intelligent people didn't wander in and out of their houses all night. They didn't stare at the houses of the most beautiful girls in the village. They were smarter than that. They at least pretended to be normal.
Hiccup was so glad his dad was not present.