A/n: Movielover48's idea this time. We're nearing 50 chapters too, which is amazing. (I didn't expect it to get that far!) I'll have to come up with something special for the 50th chapter.
Five years of peace, five years of living amongst dragons, and five years of the strongest friendship Berk had ever seen.
Hiccup couldn't believe that it tomorrow (five years ago) was the day he'd battled the green death, ended the war between Vikings and dragons on Berk and become a Viking hero. And he'd only had to kill a dragon to do it - the irony was by no means lost on him for that.
A lot had changed in Berk in that time. The entire village had been rebuilt, it had become a dragon sanctuary in place of the bewilderbeast's, and everyone had a dragon now. The villagers had changed - mainly for the better; they'd become more accepting and friendly, while still keeping their usual Viking 'qualities' of stubbornness and a love of violence. And, of course, some people weren't there anymore. But this was a time of celebration.
Hiccup smiled at the bittersweet memories of the past years as he gazed down on Berk. Looking at it from such an angle always made him think, especially when riding on the back of his best friend. 'Let's go, bud.' he encouraged, leaning forwards as Toothless dropped into a steep dive.
All thoughts left his mind as he moved through the sky, whooping in delight as he and Toothless swerved around rocks, brushed against the water and touched the clouds. Hiccup stood up on Toothless's back as the night fury sped up, surfing on his dragon's back as he started another dive, this time straight down into the middle of the village. At the last moment the two pulled up, stopping hard enough to nearly send Hiccup careening over the edge of the saddle and over a cliff edge. Instead, he barely kept his balance and jumped from Toothless's back, running with him back to their house.
"Typical." Valka laughed as she watched her son disappear off. "Not even a hello. Coast's clear!" she shouted to the other Vikings, "We can start getting ready now!"
"Hiccup!"
Hiccup looked over to the cove's entrance. "Oh, hey Astrid..." he said, pushing himself up to go over to her. "What's up?"
"Are you coming back to the village?" Astrid asked, ignoring his question.
"Umm... sure. Right now?" he checked, "'Cause me and Toothless were about to try this new trick where he -"
"Yes, right now." Astrid cut him off. "Come on!" she said, grabbing his hand and tugging him towards the exit.
"Okay..." Hiccup agreed confusedly. "Hey Toothless - whoa! slow down! - we're going back! Come on!"
Despite appearing very excited to lure Hiccup back to the village, Astrid disappeared the moment she arrived there, leaving Hiccup and Toothless alone. It was an odd kind of alone - usually, alone meant 'in the presence of at least three other people/dragons that aren't paying attention' when he was in the village. Now, there was absolutely no sign of life.
"Astrid?" Hiccup asked tentatively. No reply came. He edged further into the village, eyes darting around to try to see someone. "Where are y-"
"Surprise!" Hiccup jumped as he heard the chorus of voices, then saw the entire village jump out from behind various houses to land in front of him. He tumbled back into Toothless - who looked as confused as him - in his shock. As the two tried to get an understanding of what was happening, the crowd started laughing.
"You should see your face!" Astrid giggled, coming to the front of the gathered Vikings and dragons. Hiccup rolled his eyes at her amusement, but couldn't help smiling himself. "So, do you like the surprise?"
"Yeah," Hiccup laughed. "You got me. What was that for?" he wondered.
"Your party!" Fishlegs announced, shoving a gronckle out of the way to reach the three friends. The rest of the dragon riders came through after him.
A party in my honour... Hiccup thought incredulously.
"What are we waiting for? Let's celebrate!" Snotlout ordered, pointing dramatically to the hall.
For a people who found joy in beating each other up and valued people's ability to pound others into the dirt, Berk sure knew how to throw a party. Loud music blasted out that even louder Vikings sang along to, dancing to the beat of rarely-used instruments. Toothless was in the dancing crowd, in his own circle as people tried to avoid being taken out by his swinging tail. The only person crazy enough to try to approach the dragon was Hiccup, who was dancing along with the night fury despite his leg ruining any hope of the dance being graceful or in rhythm.
After the fifth time he got smacked into someone by Toothless's wild moves, Hiccup decided to sit down. He found Astrid, already sat at a table, and dropped down onto the bench next to her. "It's a great party." he complimented.
"And you have great moves." Astrid joked. "It was a joint effort - mainly my and Valka's work, but the dragons certainly helped."
Hiccup nodded. He'd been cornered by no less than ten dragons during the course of the evening, each of whom had given a very energetic thanks to him for all his hard work, some even going so far as to start shouting about how amazing he was to the surrounding dragons. "Not dancing?" he asked, breaking the comfortable silence.
"No," Astrid responded. "Why dance when you can watch everyone else make a fool of themselves?"
"How about you do both?" Hiccup offered, standing up and extending a hand.
"Maybe I will." Astrid grinned, taking the hand and following Hiccup into the crowd.