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Disclaimer: I don't own Hiccup or Merida, obviously. I'm not making any money off this. Both characters and the movies they come from belong to Dreamworks and Disney, respectively. If you really want to see something to blow you away, go watch the movies. Then think about these two interacting. Then you'll see what I mean. Title of this snippet is from the HTTYD 2 teaser trailer music.
Beyond the Clouds
Merida was flummoxed. Though the dragon saddle was similar enough to a horse's saddle, Toothless wore nothing like Angus's bridle. There was nothing in front of her save for a broad pommel from which Hiccup attached the leather harness he made her wear.
The Viking, seated behind her, ran a hand once more from pommel, to strap to her harness and back again to make sure it was secure. Hiccup hadn't wanted to sit behind her but while cajoling and bribing hadn't worked, her innocent suggestion that she might accidentally slip had.
"Oi, stop worrying," she said, elbowing him in the side. "You've trapped me better than rabbits in a hutch. Now, show me how you tell Toothless to go."
Hiccup grunted and she could almost feel him roll his eyes from behind her. "I wish," he muttered underneath his breath. In a louder voice, he continued, "I just ask him to go. The rest is just kind of… instinct."
"What?" Merida asked but was abruptly slammed against him as the dragon took one great leap off the cliff. One moment they were diving head first into the blue, blue waters of Berk below. The next moment, Toothless's wings had snapped open and they were soaring upwards. Fingers clutching the broad pommel, Merida fought against gravity as Toothless streaked towards the clouds with powerful strokes of its great wings.
The princess shrieked in delight. They were fast, so fast that the wind scratched against her face and stung her eyes, but she didn't care. She let out a loud whoop of excitement as they accelerated, spun upside down, dove and looped.
After minutes of dizzying flight, Toothless leveled off and coasted across the sky as smoothly as if they were sailing a mirror-smooth lake. Below her, Berk stretched out like a storybook island. She turned in her seat and leaned so far out that Hiccup warned her to be careful. She only laughed at that, and he grumbled and tightened his arms around her.
"Let off, would you?" she demanded, eyes still focused on the vista stretched out below her. "You've caught me already."
"Close your mouth," Hiccup commanded, voice sounding strangely muffled.
"Why?" Merida asked. Hiccup didn't respond. She parted her lips but they were abruptly among the clouds and Merida got a mouthful of moisture slamming against the back of her throat.
By the time she stopped wheezing, they had cleared the lower layer and were floating beside hills and mountains of clouds. She felt Hiccup shaking behind her and she realized he laughing.
"You—!" she snarled, turning so quickly Hiccup didn't have a chance to jerk his head back. In one abrupt motion, they were so close their lips would have touched… if not for the helmet that covered his face.
The Viking froze, green eyes wide and surprised in the slits of his dragon leather helm. He must have slipped it on right before they through the clouds. His arms around her slackened but for once, she didn't wriggle or lean forward or to the side, almost pitching out of the saddle. He'd told her often enough in the past fifteen minutes to just sit still, would you but how could she?
It was breathtaking. Dragon flight was more than she'd dared dream, more than she'd wished for in the passing golden afternoons when he told her the story of the boy and the dragon with one tailfin. The Night Fury was elegance and power combined and when it took flight with its rider… it was freedom itself. She'd never wanted anything more.
Except maybe this.
She kissed him, soft as rain, brief as lightning and deep as thunder. It touched him, passed through him, and she felt him shudder against her back, could feel the earthquake pass from him to her and back again, until she felt like they were falling, diving back again through the clouds.
She felt his lips move underneath the helmet and she pulled away, just enough so that a hairsbreadth of space separated them. "Thank you," she whispered.
Author's Notes: This was really fun to write and not at all how I expected it to turn out. Thank you, freak4zelda, for giving me the prompt! Hope you enjoy it as much I did writing it. This will most likely be included in my fanfic but slightly modified. I think Merida and Hiccup had a rather big argument right before her first dragon flight so the mood might be a bit different.
On the upside, I finished Chapter 2 of the fanfic! Huzzah! I know that sounds lame, but considering that Ch. 2 is about 73 pages give or take, it's total progress for me, haha. Ch. 3 outline is rolling right out. Please feel free to give me any prompts. I need the creative juices flowing for more mericcup fluff to come.
If you want to see more, please check out my tumblr account (username nessalk). I usually post bits and pieces there before I brush it up and put it here.