Dragon tales
Story 3- Flying as One- part 1
"Hiccup."
"No."
"But Hiccup-."
"I said no."
"Hiccuuup."
"Jaaack."
"Come on, Hiccup."
"No, Jack."
"Hic-"
"No, no, and still no."
"Please."
"No."
"Hiccuuuup."
"Noooooo."
They'd been going on like this a very long time. Hiccup sat at his desk, Jack lying on the bed (currently on his back- head flopped off the bottom of the bed to moan at him in the most ridiculous way possible). Hiccup was half absorbed in an inventory list for the everything stored in the great hall, going over the final checks to make sure they had everything before the storm hit. This was the last thing he had to do before he made his way over to the hall itself- where many of the dragons, and all the Vikings, were bunking down for the worst storm of the year. Big Bertha.
Jack, of course, was flying straight out into the heart of it, for the mad, life threatening thrill ride of the year. The current argument was over the Sky Dragon begging the Viking to go with him. It wasn't going well. He'd been at it at least an hour... okay, maybe seven (twenty if you counted the day before) and they were still going. Because, as incredibly persistent Sky Dragon was, Hiccup was adamant he was staying.
"Yes!" The dragon continued- and he wouldn't stop until he got his one legged friend to say the same. Hiccup sighed, taking his attention away from the ridiculously long scroll of parchment for the hundredth time.
"Jack, for the millionth-"
"Only millionth?" He smirked. Hiccup seriously fought the urge to groan- Thor almighty this Sky Dragon could drive him up the wall sometimes.
"As the future chief, I have to stay with the people of the village. Dad needs all the hands he can get." He told him.
"He's got Valka. Take a break this year." He moaned.
"No Jack." He said, with finality.
Jack huffed.
"Ever since the preparations started, you've been all serious and grumpy." He complained. He knew Hiccup was denying it- and would do so even if he told him- but he was really hating all this work he was taking on. It was getting him down (not to mention making him no fun). Regardless of what the young Viking said, he needed a break. But he wasn't listening.
He dropped the argument for now, and fidgeted over onto his front- looking down at the parchment in front of him, then searching and stretching to retrieve the pencil (which had got flung off the bed at some point). Hiccup was in the process of teaching him to write. He'd taken a sudden interest in it recently, for reasons unknown to the Viking. Speaking a language was one thing- knowing letters, and spelling and all the rest of the writing package, was a whole lot more difficult.
"How do you spell borrowed?" He asked. Hiccup didn't even look up.
"B. O. Double R. O. W. E. D." He recited. Jack looked down, thick charcoal pencil ready... only to find it hovering without a clue what to write.
"...Which one's B?" He asked. Hiccup was past the point of sighing again at this point.
"Second left on the top row." He told him, referring to the alphabet sheet he'd given him with all the Norse letters written across it (which Jack insisted all looked like weird trees). The Sky Dragon tugged the crumpled sheet out (from where it turns out he'd been lying on it), looked at it, and promptly copied the inscription indicated on the yellowed paper.
Another pause.
"Which one's O?" He pondered. Hiccup couldn't remember exactly where that one was, unfortunately, so he had to get up- which he did very irritatably- and stab his finger at the appropriate letter.
"That one." He said, slumping back down into the chair as he waited- daring him to say another word, as he thought furiously to himself. Of all times the Sky Dragon chose to want to write. Any other time, he would've been ecstatic the Sky Dragon finally took an interest in something so studious and human. But he had to do it now. At possibly the busiest time in Berk's whole year, when they strapped down for the worst storm of the year (and Berk had some monsters). Of all times.
It seemed the Sky Dragon was remaining silent though. He looked back at the list- did they have enough dragon nip? He wasn't sure they could have too much in case one of the dragons got a bit scared of the storm (not thinking of any rider's Monstrous Nightmare in particular).
"Which ones the double R?" Jack asked. Hiccup slammed his head into the desk. Sometimes he wished he kept a stash of dragon nip up here for knocking out annoying, white dragons.
"There is no 'double R'. You do the letter 'R' twice." He mumbled, through the desk.
"Well, there's a double U- why not a double R? Letters are stupid." He decided.
Hiccup gathered the last remnants of his self control. Odin's beard, this Sky Dragon stressed him out. No, it was not the workload, as he was continuously implying. He was doing fine- it was him giving him a headache all the time. Why couldn't he go annoy someone else for a change? What was he writing that was so important he absolutely had to have it done before the storm set in?! Every time he asked, he was told something different. It was an apology. A diary entry. A book. A recipe. Something to stick on Snotlout's back. A plan of a new invention. A love letter. It got to the point where he gave up asking because it was obvious he wasn't going to tell him the truth.
"... Which ones the R?"
RIGHT- THAT DID IT!
Hiccup opened his mouth, ready to say goodness knows what- but it was going to be incredibly satisfying- when. "Wait. Got it." He informed. Hiccup fumed silently, as he crushed his pencil almost to the point of breaking. Damn Sky Dragon, wasting his time! He was almost at the end of this list now- and he'd been checking the amount of dragon nip for the past minute!
...
'... Which letter was next?' He asked- as if doing it mentally made it any less infuriating.
That did it! He stood furiously, towering over the Sky Dragon, who blinked innocently up at him- then at the last minute changed his mind. Settling for savagely flipping the alphabet over, and slashed the word 'borrowed' into the parchment so hard it was a miracle it didn't rip. Then, he turned and went back to his desk- Jack's comment of 'wow- stroppy' (which he tried and failed to hold back) doing nothing to ease his temper. He sat down- hard. Jack seemed to wisely be keeping his mouth shut, and his thoughts to himself. He silently copied down the word that looked like it had been carved with a knife. That was better, Hiccup thought, returning to his list with a huff. Now what about spare medicinal herbs...
Jeez, for most of that he'd just been joking around. Jack thought. He was genuinely that stupid when it came to the letters, but the Viking didn't even crack a smile when he gave him the 'double R' joke. He was definitely overworking himself- Stoick himself said so, but he refused to listen to any of them. Jack knew why he was being so hard on himself- he was trying to take the pressure off his dad, so his parents could spend more time together. But he was rejecting all forms of help- and seemed to be attempting to pull off the huge operation of preparing the whole island for the storm, alone. It was a full village job- not one Viking.
Just amongst some of the jobs that needed seeing to there was: putting anything not needed in the great hall in a safe place; sorting out what was and wasn't needed in the great hall, and how much they'd need; working out how many dragons would to fit in the hall with all the Vikings; putting boards on the house windows and doors, and placing sandbags by the doors. Everything that needed doing, Hiccup had done most- if not all- of the work involved.
It wasn't just for his dad, though. He was trying to prove he was up to the job of being chief. But, even Stoick accepted a village's worth of help for Big Bertha. Hiccup was driving himself mad with it all. He was snapping at everyone given the slightest chance. He was never smiled- and constantly muttering on about what needed doing almost obsessively. He needed a break- and he was going to give him one, whether he liked it or not.
Hiccup still fumed at the desk, tense as a dragon trap about to spring... and guess who was the lucky dragon about to deliberately step right in the middle of it.
"Hiccup, fly the storm with m-."
Hiccup's chair flung back. Now he was in for it.
"That is it! I've had enough of your stupid questions! Go ask Astrid to help if its so damn important! I'm more than a little bit busy right now- the storms hours from hitting and I've still got way too much to sort out. So- no! No matter how you ask me to go out there and freeze my butt off and get absolutely drenched- which sounds simply delightful by the way- I WILL NEVER SAY YES!" He screamed, eyes attempting to burn a hole through the Sky Dragon's stubborn head.
He expected Jack yell back or just leave- he didn't care which. No, actually, he wanted him to shout back. Let him yell! He had so much he wanted to shout at him right now- just give him that opportunity. Go on- he dared him to shout back! Except, he didn't get what he wanted. Jack didn't shout back at him- he didn't even get up and leave- the Sky Dragon's reaction wasn't at all what he expected.
A victorious grin lit up his face in an instant.
"You said yes!" Jack declared, grinning victoriously as his twisted logic defeated Hiccup's protests.
The Viking didn't even have time to point out he literally just said the exact opposite. He couldn't even protest, as he suddenly found the chair which he was sat on had suddenly decided to vanish and abandon him. Had the Sky Dragon not pulled this stunt more times than he could remember, he would not've have stood up automatically- he was far too used to the prank to fall for it this time. But the Sky Dragon wasn't finished. Even as he feet found the ground and took his weight, he realised the wooden floorboards weren't as firm as they used to be. His metal prosthetic slid out from under him on some cleverly placed ice, and was tackled towards the window that had, conveniently, blown open. The very same window that the Sky Dragon jumped out of on a daily basis (and he got the sinking feeling it also fit Hiccups too). He was shoved out of the window, and would've completely flipped out if, less than a second later, strong, scaly hands (or paws or whatever) hadn't grasped round his waist, turning his fall into a flight.
He couldn't believe this was still happening. He was twenty years old- a chief to be- and that Sky Dragon was still kidnapping him like he was still sixteen years old. He wasn't in the best of moods to begin with, but now he just completely lost his temper and abandoned all self control. He screamed, loud and shamelessly like he was attempting to communicate with Snotlout on the other side of the island, as he pounded on the snow white scales- throwing a senseless fit of rage at his complete inability to do anything whilst he was stuck suspended in the Sky Dragon's grasp.
"LEMME GO! PUT ME DOWN! I MEAN IT! I'M GONNA KILL YOU!" He raged in pure tantruming anger.
A part of his mind registered the bits of parchment the Sky Dragon held delicately in the tips of his jaws, which were soon released to flutter past him and blown with a casual gust of wind towards the great hall.
"JACK! TAKE ME-!" And then he caught a glimpse of the mysterious message Jack had writing on his piece of paper, as it flashed through his mind.
'I borrowed yor sun for a fyu owers wil bring it bak'
... That was what he was writing?!
Somewhere, through the ridiculous spelling and the horrendous grammar, was an "I.O.U 1 Hiccup" How in Thor's name had he-?.. That sneaky little snow rat. He growled furiously at his captor as he realised the idiot's stupidly brilliant plan. He'd left the biggest word last to avoid any kind of suspicion. That little-! He let his mind indulge in some colourful curses as his rage became too strong to think clearly- although, miraculously, his mouth was slightly more controlled- yelling and screaming and cursing the Sky Dragon's name, as he carried him out to sea.