Sorry for the delay, but the wedding did get in the way.
I think my desire to get on the C.O.P.E. course greatly influenced this.
His dad had always said Hiccup had the attention span of a sparrow. Which was probably true, though Hiccup himself had to admit that he did not always have a chance to observe sparrows before he found himself looking at something else entirely. He was getting better, though; several years before his exasperated father had instructed him in a technique that would hopefully get him to focus on something for an extended period of time. Drawing was a fine technique that had Hiccup so excited over possible results that sometimes ten whole minutes would pass before a distraction came. The necessity for caution and prudence in the forge had also done its job. Hiccup felt he was nowhere near as unmindful as he had been when he was younger and thought his attention span would only increase with age. But his dad just did not see it that way.
It was not as if Hiccup had ever purposely tried to be troublesome. He just couldn't help it. He saw things and when he saw things he liked to stop and look at them. It was not his fault there were so many things to see and so many things to think about. The way he saw it, he was being observant, learning the lay of the land, insignificant details that might prove less so later. Were these not skills that would be useful to a strong Viking warrior? And Hiccup was determined to become the strong Viking warrior that would make his dad proud. But it seemed the harder he tried, the greater the disaster and the more he found himself thinking about something else entirely. A fight would then ensue, Hiccup would do something vaguely rebellious, get distracted…. And thus would go the cycle.
So it wasn't any surprise the new evening found Hiccup gripping rope tied to a loose board on the roof. Even without his dad physically around Hiccup was ever so slightly bitter. It had started in training, when Snotlout had made some snarky comment about how much of a waste Hiccup was as the chief's son. Hiccup was still moody about that by the time he made it home and not having a father around to say anything to the contrary didn't help things. So he had stomped about outside for awhile before remembering how his father had not believed him about the dragon. Which had led to thoughts about the dragon. Which led to a mental argument about whether or not he should go look at it again. But a rainstorm appeared to be coming in and he could just see himself slipping off a wet rock right into that dragon's jaws. Which had prompted him to go inside, during which he had noticed the loose board on the roof. If he fixed that and his dad actually noticed, that would definitely be worth something. Maybe. But a rope seemed to be a good idea. Which meant that five minutes later any repairing was out of mind and he was joyfully dangling fifteen feet off the ground.
Okay, so maybe it wasn't the most exciting thing anyone in the village had ever done, but a few fierce hops from the roof and right off its edge had to be worth some sort of thrill and affected Hiccup accordingly. It was like something the carpenters and builders in the village would do. Nothing fancy, just part of a hard day's work. Not that blacksmithing wasn't, he sharply reminded himself. But this was new and this was different. And hel if he were not to enjoy the rush and flip of his stomach as the rope slid under his loosened grip and his body plummeted so far before he stopped…
"What are you doing, Useless?"
Oh Thor and all his curses. Hiccup closed his eyes and sighed. Nothing like a voice one did not want to hear when life was for once feeling good.
"Good grief, dude," Snotlout said with a barking laugh. "Did you fall?"
Did he? Here he was, in the rain, dangling from a roof. No other reasonable assumption could be made. Not when it was Hiccup. He let go of the rope and only let the length tied around his waist support him. Maybe that would look a lot cooler. Lazy, breezy, dangling. Nothing big going on. Did this every day. "No, I did not fall." He hated talking to Snotlout. No matter how cool he tried to sound, he failed and managed to draw nothing but more laughter. The bad kind. "No falling here. I was… climbing." How was he supposed to explain jumping off a roof with a rope?
Snotlout stood watching him, pure amusement on his face, his massive arms crossed over his chest and the usual sneer on his mouth. "You climb houses? Hah! Gotta be improvement from trying to climb up the stairs!" He laughed at his own joke.
Hiccup sighed and pulled himself upright. He was getting dizzy anyway and any show of bravery was not working. "Didn't you trip down the stairs before? Several times?"
It was growing too dim to see if Snotlout blushed or not, but the sneer faded, at least. "I told you, it was a practiced fall!"
"Every time?"
"Yes!" There was a long pause. "Anyway, just wanted to say you climb houses like you fight dragons. Terribly."
Hiccup bit his lip and climbed the rope back up towards the roof. "Thanks for the qualification there."
"What?"
"Never mind." Hiccup grabbed the edge of the roof and pulled himself up. The rain was coming harder now, leaving little puddles here and there where the roof wasn't quite so smooth. Maybe he should just get down and go inside, go to bed, pretend his cousin wasn't there. But turning around revealed that Snotlout had not left his spot.
"Can I try?" Snotlout asked, almost timidly?
Hiccup paused in untying the rope. "Um… sure."
Five minutes later had Snotlout balanced precariously on the roof, with more terror in his eyes than Hiccup had ever seen. Hiccup handed him the rope to tie around his waist. "Afraid of heights?"
Snotlout shook his head. "Do I look like I'm afraid of heights?"
As tempting as it was to contradict him Hiccup resisted. "No. I'm just saying. You look green. Maybe you're coming down with—"
"I can't balance!" Snotlout declared loudly.
"What?"
"I can't balance," came the repetition. "I mean, I can, but it's hard. Really hard. It's inner ear trouble. I can't help it."
"So… you climbed up on the roof?"
"Of course." Snotlout finished the knot with a flourish of loose twine. "I'm not afraid."
Indeed, he didn't look all that afraid. Figured, Hiccup thought. Everyone was braver. And the green had faded from Snotlout's face as he edged toward open space.
"Yeah." Hiccup's voice was bordering on whiney, and he could hear it. He had no right to say that. But he knew perfectly well that in the morning this would all be Snotlout's brilliant idea. That was, if Snotlout found it fun. "You just… fall. Or you can put your feet against the wall. Anything, really."
"Huh," Snotlout said with a snort. "Easy. Totally easy. I'll just—" The sentence ended with a scream five seconds after Snotlout tumbled off the roof's edge, and the snap of a rope might as well have been thunder.
Maybe sometimes it was helpful to be scrawny.
Hiccup looked down to where Snotlout lay in a heap, rubbing his head. "Are you all right?"
Snotlout just glared.