A/n: More dragon cuties being dragon cuties... and a bit more excitement, too. Idea from Nathalie Shiffer again, so thanks!
"Woohoo!" Hiccup yelled, stretching his arms out as he flew above the clouds. He and Toothless had been out for about an hour now, performing complicated areal manoeuvres and flat-out speed runs. It was about time to be heading back, Hiccup realised sadly, patting Toothless to let him know that the fun was over.
Well, it wasn't quite over yet.
Hiccup locked Toothless's tail into place and leapt from his back, extending his arms as he attached the leather wings to his wrists. Letting out a yell of pure joy, Hiccup tilted himself in the air so that he was upside down, and smiled at Toothless. The dragon returned the grin, living up to his name as he showed his gums.
"Going good so far..." Hiccup decided, turning back around to check for any surprise sea stacks. Every time he tried to practise with the wings they seemed to appear, and he could never quite make the turn in time.
Luckily, there was no such distraction today, and Hiccup managed to remount Toothless and regain control of his tailfin before the two crash landed. Hands tightening around the handles, Hiccup narrowed his eyes and prepared for the sharp turns of the forest ahead. Sure, he could always pull back up and avoid it altogether, but what was the fun in that? Besides, he was close enough to Berk that a dragon was sure to come to his aid if he did fall.
Dragon assistance wasn't required, as he and Toothless made it through the mass of trees with ease. "Okay, let's head back..." Hiccup said reluctantly, bringing Toothless in for a slow dive as Berk came into view.
A sudden sea stack in his way stopped that plan.
"Really?" he asked sarcastically, unable to do much more as he and Toothless smacked into the rock. We must be close enough to Berk... Hiccup thought, letting out a desperate yell as Toothless failed to get a proper grip on anything, causing both dragon and rider to plummet towards the ocean.
"What is it, Cloudjumper?" Valka asked, noticing the way the dragon's ears twitched. Her and her dragon were out on their daily flight, a much less exciting affair than her son's, and much less dangerous. She concentrated on her hearing for a second, able to recognise a distant scream now that she concentrated. "Hiccup..." she murmured, not needing to prompt Cloudjumper into action. He flew straight after the source of the noise - he was highly protective of Hiccup, seemed to see him as his child.
Meanwhile, Hiccup and Toothless were enjoying a quick jaunt towards the sea. There were no rocks for them to land on, at least, but smacking into freezing water was never fun, especially when one of your limbs was made of metal.
Both were too dazed from the collision to do anything about their situation though, so it was into the water they went.
"Ah!" The cold snapped Hiccup out of his confusion, replacing it with blind panic as he struggled to make his way to the surface. Toothless was faring no better; he was above water, but struggling to get anywhere. "Toothless!"
The familiar screech of a dragon came as a reply, but it wasn't Toothless's voice. Cloudjumper?
Sure enough, Valka and her dragon had made a timely arrival, their appearance meaning that the two would be safe. Valka used her staff to fish Hiccup out, and Cloudjumper pulled Toothless out of the water and onto some rocks within easy flying distance.
"Are you okay?" Valka asked, checking her son over as he tried to warm himself up, "Were you injured? What happened?"
"A sea stack happened," Hiccup said dryly, gaining a laugh from his mother and her dragon. Over the time she'd spent on Berk, she'd spent a surprising amount of time helping Hiccup after he got into trouble from not noticing the rock formations when he was flying close to the sea.
"Of course," she laughed, dropping her son off next to his dragon. The pair shook themselves to get dry, then Hiccup jumped onto Toothless's back and they prepared to fly again. "You should probably get dried off before you get on with your other duties." she advised.
Hiccup groaned. In the middle of nearly drowning, he'd managed to forget about the rest of his tasks for the day. Perhaps if he played up his injuries he'd be able to - no, he reminded himself, a chief doesn't take selfish breaks.
As it transpired, there was no need for Hiccup to pretend to be hurt, or ill, to get out of work. Cloudjumper had followed him and Toothless home, overseen them getting dried, then absolutely refused to let either of them leave the house for the rest of the day.
It led to quite a few interesting situations, where people had to shout their problems up to his bedroom window so he could try to help them. The villagers understood the inconvenience though; they knew how overprotective dragons could get, and none of them wanted to be the one to tell Cloudjumper that Hiccup was fine, thanks, and he was needed outside for actual work.
"You're a handful," Hiccup sighed as he rested beside the dragon. Toothless had abandoned him a while ago once he realised that his dragon friend was only keeping his rider trapped within his own home, "you know that?"
Cloudjumper gave Hiccup a look. It wasn't a particularly emotive look, but he was getting better at interpreting the meaning behind dragon behaviour. He was getting me a day off... he realised, laughing slightly at the idea.
"Thanks," Hiccup said honestly, leaning back against the dragon and preparing to enjoy the rest of his unofficial day off.