have a wholesome filler chapter bc they deserve it 3
Anyways.
The sound of the air conditioner kicking on drew Hiccup from his sleep. He could see, behind his eyelids, a deep blue that indicated the skittish beginnings of dawn.
Burying his face into his pillow, he rolled over and stretched his fingertips to the other side of the bed. He found it to be almost-cold, and he squinted blearily into the night.
Astrid's side of the bed was empty, though the blankets were pulled up to the pillows carefully, protecting his back from any cold drafts. A soft smile crossed Hiccup's lips at the consideration, but it was gone after only a moment. He retracted his hand, fingertips dragging against the sheets as he sat up.
"Hey, shh…" A gentle whisper brought his attention back to the window, and there he found Astrid shrouded in that same timid light. Resting on her forearm was Stormfly, pressing her head against her rider's curled finger, "don't go waking them, now. They need their sleep…"
Stormfly squawked in quiet understanding, a whisper of a laugh left Astrid and she planted a kiss on her forehead. She turned back to the frosted window, and her face became obscured.
Grabbing his prosthetic, Hiccup slipped from their bed. The carpet muffled his footsteps as he joined her by the window, wrapping his hands around her waist and resting his chin on her shoulder.
"Happy Snoggeltog," he hummed, watching snow flicker under the streetlamps' beams.
Astrid hummed, leaning into him. She was just slightly chilly to the touch, and Hiccup hugged her just a bit tighter. "Happy Snoggeltog," She responded, turning to look at him, "did we wake you?"
Hiccup didn't lift his chin from her shoulder as he shook his head, "Just pre-trip jitters." He answered.
"It's only five," She supplied, twirling her betrothal pendant between her fingers, "you should try to catch some more sleep."
"I'm not the one that's gonna be driving" Hiccup reminded her, and though he tried not to grumble at that, it sounded like one anyway.
An almost-laugh left her at that, not much more than a pull of her lips, "I suppose that's true."
Maybe Hiccup was getting soft. He was used to Snotlout complaining about his decision-making, but Phantom was a different breed. Despite Hiccup's intention to travel without the use of planes, the ghost had managed to convince him that, at the very least, using a car until night fell would be safer.
Safer, perhaps. Ideal? Not in the slightest. Hiccup didn't think he would miss arguing with Snotlout's nonsensical plans, but here he was. Heading to Berk in a car .
There was also the slighter issue that they were bringing an outsider into the archipelago, but that was something Hiccup would have to suck up about. He didn't know who these "Guys in White" were, but he certainly didn't want to find out. And as much as he hated to admit it, they were going to need someone who actually knew how to avoid them. Them, and the other prospective hunters whose territories they'd be flying through.
The sun continued to breach the skyline, chasing the timid blue away in favor of bolder yellows and pinks. All in all, it was a pretty spectacular entrance for the winter solstice.
Kissing her shoulder, Hiccup ventured out, "We don't leave till, like, two."
"Yeah?" Astrid turned her half-lidded gaze towards him, and he offered a smile.
"Yeah," he confirmed, studying her face for a moment, "is there anything you want to do before then…?" He asked.
He watched as she turned back to the window. Watched as her face pulled into a tight smile. Watched as she shook her head gingerly. "Just make sure this trip goes as smoothly as possible for you."
Hiccup couldn't ignore the way his heart sank, if only slightly.
It wasn't that he was looking for an excuse not to go – though he could admit that he was nervous about what awaited him back in the archipelago. He'd just…he didn't know, he expected Astrid to be a bit more concerned about it. A trip to the other half of the world was hardly nothing.
"Can I ask you something?" he blurted, and she stiffened in his grasp. Stormfly squawked curiously.
She didn't answer, but she did turn to look at him expectantly, so after a moment's hesitation, he spoke, "I just…I'm wondering why you didn't volunteer to go with me." He admitted, shrugging miniscule-ly. His gaze wandered to Stormfly. "I mean – not that I don't want Fishlegs around, but…"
He trailed off, reaching a hand out to pat Stormfly on the head in a bout of restlessness, "I dunno, I just feel like we haven't had a lot of 'Hiccstrid' time lately, you know?"
She deflated, sinking into his chest with a weary sigh. "I know," she admitted. Her hand left her betrothal pendant and replaced it with his fingers. She squeezed, "I know, and I'm sorry, I just – I have a lot of things on my mind right now."
"That seems like an understatement," Hiccup couldn't stop himself from speaking, and her lips pressed into a thin line of agreement.
"It is," she said, "and I – I want to talk to you about it, I really do, I just…" Her brow scrunched together as she watched the snowflakes drift in the breeze. She shook her head, "I just don't have it sorted out enough up here," she gestured vaguely to her head.
"Maybe I can help?" Hiccup offered, loosening his grip so he could pivot around her. He managed to catch her gaze earnestly, "seriously, sometimes all you need is to hear your thoughts out loud."
His heart fluttered when Astrid didn't immediately turn away from him. He waited for a moment for her to speak, tilting his head to the side. "So…?"
She sighed. "So…" she parroted, looking back out the window. She scratched at Stormfly's beak, deep in thought.
Hiccup straightened up, waiting for her to continue. He could feel a twinge of anxiety in his gut as the silence stretched, and he crossed his arms over his chest to try and force it back. This was further than he'd gotten last time, that was a good sign.
Hesitantly, she began to nod, and then, in the half a second it took Hiccup to blink, she was pressing a gentle kiss to his lips, thumb grazing against his cheek.
He hummed in pleasant surprise, lacing his fingers in her free hand as she pulled away. She studied him with an adoring twitch at the corners of her lips.
"I love you, you know that, right?" She whispered, still close enough that her words ruffled his hair. Her thumb did not leave his cheek.
Hiccup nodded, tilting into the touch, "I love you, too." He muttered, bringing the back of her other hand up to his lips, "I love you so much, Astrid Hofferson. And I always will. No matter the timeline."
She didn't look very surprised at that fact, which Hiccup was immensely relieved about. Her smile simply grew, her eyebrows raised adoringly, and she hesitantly pressed her forehead against his. "Good." She whispered, her breath kissing his cheeks, "Then I need you to trust me."
Hiccup blinked his eyes open to meet her ocean gaze. It was pleading and stern, and filled with so much love that his breath caught in his throat. Because of course he trusted her. With more than just his life. There were more things in this universe that he trusted her with than things that he didn't.
"You know I already do," He croaked.
"I know," Astrid responded in kind, "Which is why I'm telling you, this is something I need to do on my own, and I will come to you when the time is right."
Hiccup bit the inside of his cheek. "And that's not now?"
Astrid shook her head with a small laugh. "Kind of a bad time to throw a war plan on you the day you're leaving, don't you think?"
That it was. Hiccup doubted that was by accident. "I suppose…" He hesitated. "...it's not – actually a war plan though, right?"
A chuckle left Astrid, she hit his chest playfully. "Wouldn't you like to know?"
Hiccup chuckled lightly at that, but he couldn't get his brow to unfurrow. There was a tangle of anxiety in his gut that her words had loosened. He sighed to rid himself of it, chewing on his lip in thought. He opened his mouth to speak, but Astrid beat him to it.
"I can't have you worrying over me while you're gone. You and Fishlegs need to have your heads screwed on right, okay? I'll be fine. Someone's gotta look after these knuckleheads, anyway." She nodded her head towards the door with a humorous lilt in her voice. Her eyes began searching his, and he promptly grabbed the hand that was still on his cheek and brought it to his chest.
He wanted desperately to say something, that he trusted her, that he was worried for her, that he loved her, that he wanted her to go with him, and that he wanted to stay in Amity with her, but he couldn't vocalize those swirling thoughts.
His conflict must have been evident on his face, because Astrid shrugged bashfully, "besides, I have prior commitments…"
Blinking, Hiccup reared back in surprise, "you do?"
A small, fond huff came from her, she nodded her head towards the door, "Sam asked me to teach her some fighting skills."
"Oh," Hiccup said, pleasantly surprised, "okay."
"Yeah," Astrid shrugged, "I can't afford to get rusty while we're waiting around."
Hiccup sent her a good-natured eye roll, sighing in relief. That sounded much more like her, he soaked in that small moment of normalcy like a dry sponge. "Maybe you should pull Snotlout into that." He jabbed, and she scoffed.
"Like I'll even get those earbuds off him long enough to ask…" Stormfly squawked as if in agreement, and she scratched at her head before looking out the window.
The sun had finally breached the rooftops. Reaching a hand up, he drew a heart in the window's frost.
"You up for some breakfast?" He asked.
"Now that doesn't sound half-bad," Astrid nudged his side playfully.
Before they'd even entered the kitchen, Astrid and Hiccup were met with the clinking of silverware and an oddly nostalgic smell.
Hiccup turned in surprise to Astrid, who mirrored his sentiment by speeding up.
Looking into the doorway revealed Sam with her hands tangled in a ball of dough and a steaming pot over her shoulder. A faint tune emitted from the radio as she kneaded.
"What's all this?" Hiccup asked, nearly causing the dough to topple onto the floor.
Head shooting up, Sam's eyes widened considerably, "oh, ancients – go away! You aren't supposed to see this!"
Astrid did not heed her request, instead moving to the stove, lifting the lid of the pot.
Sam squawked, and tried to grab the lid from her before remembering her dough-y hands. "Astrid!"
"Is this mutton?" Astrid turned in astonishment towards her, and she threw her hands in the air in defeat.
Taking that for what it was, Astrid turned back to the stew, "where did you get mutton from?"
" Why did you get mutton?" Hiccup asked the very-much-vegan Sam what was arguably the more important question.
With a hefty sigh, Sam turned back to the dough. Her kneading was much more violent now, "well, it was supposed to be a surprise…" She shrugged in some weird mixture of bashfulness and irritation, "I bought it. For Snoggeltog."
"What?" Hiccup blinked, setting a careful hand on the counter.
Blinking in alarm, Sam stuttered, "that's the name for it, right? I mean – I thought –"
"No, you got it right," Hiccup cut her off, "we just –" he shared a look with Astrid, who was cradling a spoonful of stew to her lips, "we weren't expecting all of this," he couldn't help the smile that pulled at the corners of his lips.
He spied what looked to be a list of sorts in interest. "How much are you planning?" He asked, picking it up and wishing, not for the first time, that he could read English. It wasn't a short list.
"Well, Tucker, Danny, Jazz and I figured you guys would want to celebrate with something that was familiar." Sam admitted, turning just in time to witness Astrid taste-test the stew, "I know it's not gonna be exact, but…"
"Sam, it's wonderful." Astrid chuckled, "thank you."
She smiled, turning back to the dough with a quirk in one corner of her lips. "Well, you gotta thank my grandma for that." she nodded to the stove, "I didn't touch the meat."
Astrid hummed humorously, glancing between Hiccup and Sam in amusement, "so is this doubling as a 'going away' feast?"
Sam glanced at her as she leaned against the counter, "Well, we don't want these knuckleheads to starve before they get there, do we?" she jabbed, and Hiccup scoffed in offense.
"Going away? What is this, a funeral?" Hiccup protested.
"Well, what would you call it, then?" Astrid tilted her head curiously.
"I dunno, how about just – food for the road?" Hiccup suggested rather strongly.
"That does make it seem less permanent," Sam agreed, hoisting the ball of dough up and giving it a firm slap, "seems dough-ed enough to me…"
She slapped it into a bowl and covered it with a towel. After throwing it into the fridge, she dusted off her hands with a wrinkle in her nose.
"Do you want help?" Hiccup asked, and when she glared at him, he cleared his throat, "just, you know, for authenticity's sake…"
"Do you have such little faith in me?" Sam snarked as she moved to the sink. Astrid also sent him a scowl, and he threw his hands in the air.
"What? Is it not in the Snoggeltog spirit to help a friend out?" Hiccup defended himself, "We came to make breakfast anyway. Might as well help out!"
"Yeah," Astrid admitted, though she didn't sound nearly as enthusiastic. It took a few seconds before a figurative lightbulb set off in her mind. She hummed in thought, "if only we had ingredients for some Yaknog…" She began looking through the cabinets. Hiccup's eyes widened in horror.
"Yaknog?" Sam repeated, drying her hands off, "what's…?"
She stopped short, noticing Hiccup's distress, and she cocked her head to the side in confusion.
Hiccup rapidly shook his head, raking two hands across his neck. Sam's eyes widened in understanding, lips quickly pressing into a horribly-concealed smirk. "You know what? I'll just add some eggnog to the shopping list."
"Good plan," Hiccup mouthed, sending her a thankful thumbs-up. She sent one back in solidarity as Astrid remained none the wiser from the pantry.
Despite Sam's claim that they'd already seen everything she'd planned, she kicked Hiccup and Astrid out of the kitchen as soon as they'd finished breakfast. After, of course, making them swear that they'd keep their mouths shut to the rest of the dragon riders. It wasn't all that hard – Hiccup and Astrid had retreated back to their room to begin packing. It was harrowing. Not in the sense of finding everything, but in the sense that there was very little to find.
It was not the first time that Hiccup was reminded of how short of a trip they'd been planning that fateful day. He hadn't even packed a change of clothes. Only what had already been in Toothless' saddle bag – the Dragon Eye II, a spare prosthetic, blanket, flint and steel, water flask, and a small medical kit.
Somehow, those all seemed archaic now.
"I don't think this is gonna get us to Berk," he admitted with a sigh. Toothless yawned, unbothered by anything other than getting back to sleep. Stormfly seemed to reprimand him, tugging at a strand of hair, and he jolted awake again.
Astrid hummed, setting his shield and quiver in the menial pile. "Well, if worse comes to worse, you can always hunt…"
Weighing both his coin bag and Inferno in either hand, Hiccup pursed his lips. "That's not very reassuring."
She only shrugged, like she wasn't expecting her statement to be reassuring anyway. "What, you getting rusty, too?" She smirked.
"Oh, very funny." Hiccup droned. He didn't want to think about the idea that, well, he probably was. He wasn't exactly the best hunter to begin with.
A knock on the doorframe drew their attention. Fishlegs, Meatlug resting on his shoulder, sent them a smile. "Packing up?"
Hiccup sighed dramatically, causing them both to chuckle.
"Yeah, we're struggling, too." Fishlegs commented, scratching Meatlug between her ears with a single finger.
"Why did I make us pack so lightly?" Hiccup complained, setting his items on top of the measly pile.
"Hey, we were planning for a short trip." Astrid soothed, placing a hand on his shoulder, "you couldn't have known something like this would happen."
"Yeah, but something always happens." Hiccup grumbled, crossing his arms over his chest and trying not to look too much like a pouting child. Toothless snorted in agreement.
"Hey, that's no way to start off a mission." Fishlegs chastised, " Especially on Snoggeltog."
"Oh, yeah!" Astrid turned, "Sorry, we were distracted. Happy Snoggeltog, Fishlegs."
"Happy Snoggeltog, Fishlegs…" Hiccup echoed, resting an anxious hand on his cheek.
A smile broke out on their friend's face as he scratched Meatlug on her head. "There we go," He chuckled, "now, with the formalities out of the way, what can I do to help?"
With Fishlegs' organizing abilities, Hiccup's nerves were sufficiently quelled. At least for the time-being. Considering they were still tasked with keeping everyone out of the kitchen, Astrid and Hiccup encouraged Fishlegs to stay in the lounge for a bit, under the ruse of checking the weather. Ah, meteorology. One of the 21st century's only no-strings-attached gifts.
Despite the generally positive forecast, however, Hiccup couldn't help but notice the solemn look on Fishlegs' face. "What's on your mind?" He asked.
Hiccup watched as his friend worked at his bottom lip – a nervous habit from their childhood that never left him. "Sorry, I'm just…a little wary, that's all."
"Well, Jazz's plan seem's pretty foolproof to me." Hiccup tried to soothe, though considering he didn't technically agree with the logistics of it all, it was hard to say if his words held any weight to them.
"It's not Jazz's plan I'm worried about," Fishlegs worked his fingers through Meatlug's fur anxiously, glancing at the doorway as if someone would overhear him, "And look, it's not like I don't trust her, and it's not that I don't have faith in her ability to keep secrets, but this is different than just explaining different dragon fire types, Hiccup. We're taking her to find the dragons ."
They both ignored Astrid's muttered interjection of " hopefully" rather willfully, and Hiccup hated to admit that he kind of agreed with him. Even back home, having dragons fall into the wrong hands was already an issue – and he hated even more to admit that his gullibility lent a hand in that.
That's not to say he thought Jazz was gullible , he just…he's learnt his lesson. At least, he'd like to think. From what he'd seen, it was probably for the best that they remained legends anyway. He didn't need first-hand experience with capitalism to understand the scythe it carried – none of them did. The 21st century was like Viggo's wet dreams on crack . Their dragons were no longer dragons for that exact reason.
However…the whole reason they'd been so secretive about them to begin with is because they had no reason to believe that the information was useful anymore (and in the event that it was, well… back to the wrong-hands thing). Now , they were taking her straight into dragon territory. "It would be irresponsible to not teach her some basic defense skills." He decided on, paying attention to how Fishlegs would take that.
"And nothing else?" Fishlegs emphasized, raising an eyebrow.
Hiccup caught Astrid's eye, nodding slightly, "not unless we have to."
With a sigh of, well.. Not-quite relief, but something similar, Fishlegs sank back into the couch, scratching Meatlug on the top of her head. "We can work with that."
"That means that you both need to learn to stop infodumping on whoever will lend a listening ear," Astrid snorted, and both men threw their hands up in the air.
"High King Daniel!"
Despite the title, relief is what flooded into Danny's chest at the voice, and he looked up to find Dora gracefully descending the entry staircase of her castle. The construction that he'd seen those months ago on the exterior had long since finished, but the scaffolding had moved indoors, to the impossibly large chandelier – and subsequent smaller ones – that accented the entryway.
He didn't actually understand why the workers needed scaffolding to begin with, considering they could fly. Though, perhaps they were merely makeshift shelves to hold the construction materials. Gravity was rather effective on inanimate objects in Dora's domain, and he could imagine that flying back and forth from the floor to the ceiling to fetch them would be inconvenient.
Dora turned her head to the chandelier as she neared with a pleasant hum. "Lightbulbs are all the rage right now," she supplied, "much less maintenance."
Glad to see that Thomas Edison rubbed off on the kingdom. His work certainly rubbed off on the Dragon Riders. Danny could almost hear Sam saying that Edison didn't technically invent the lightbulb, that some guy over in Europe or something had gotten around to it first, but he didn't remember much about that little factoid, so he pushed it aside.
"It'll make this place a lot less dimmer, that's for sure." He said.
Dora hummed in agreement, turning a crimson eye to him. Her aura flared in something akin to a shoulder nudge. "Though, I suspect that the intricacies of artificial light is not what you've come to talk to me about."
Her wording invited an answer from him, but it did not sound like a question. Merely a statement that let him know that he had information she wanted.
There was a miniscule spark of panic from her, more than small enough to be ignored, but Danny piped up anyway, "the amulets are fine."
That satiated her, and his core settled back down, allowing him to run over the plans that he'd made with Jazz over the last few days. "You have a couple hours or so? I could use your help."
He should have done this at least a day ago, but between finals and looking for any leads on Skulker he'd kind of had his hands full. Still, Danny's stomach was in knots at the possibility that Dora wouldn't have the time to test out the Dragon Eye.
Danny, admittedly, would have very much preferred to bring the device to her, but prying the thing away from the Dragon Riders would be like breaking fingers, and Hiccup wasn't going to have time to make another trip here. Especially not with his mind dead set on a mid-winter road trip. Still ridiculous, in Danny's humble opinion, but Jazz had managed to convince Hiccup that driving some of the length wouldn't be completely unreasonable.
He kind of felt bad, if he was honest, going behind his back like this. Danny wasn't any stranger to cabin fever, and if Dora's core worked with the Dragon Eye Lens, then that ruined any excuse they had to leave Amity.
But it also ruined any chances of them running into the Guys in White, so he didn't feel all that bad.
Dora looked at one of her handmaidens, positioned only a few paces to their left, with a completely silent conversation, before answering him. "I suppose I can rearrange some things. What do you need?"
Holding back a heaving sigh of relief, Danny made do with letting his shoulders relax. "Oh, you know…just some more time-traveling-vikings stuff."
Nodding like she hadn't been expecting much else, Dora turned with a strict-yet-gentle look to her handmaiden, who bustled off without another word.
"If it was anyone other than you, I would be leaving with an escort," She commented as they exited through the extravagant entryway and into the courtyard.
Danny rose into the air as Dora exchanged her greetings with a gardener, who was turning a gnarled, purple hedge into an intricate replica of a lightbulb – small, glowing concentrations of ectoplasm replicating the lightsource. Their movements were fast in the way that only an eternity of work could achieve.
"You seem rather anxious," Dora observed after a few minutes of silence, "I apologize for using your title. I forget you don't prefer it."
"What?" Danny replied, and then promptly shook his head, "Oh, no, it's not that, I just…" he trailed off, trying to find the right words, "just have a lot on my mind, recently…"
"On your mind, or on your shoulders?" Dora countered with a knowing look, and Danny sighed.
"Both?" He admitted, sounding entirely unsure. He shrugged bashfully, "I dunno." Those two distinctions didn't feel all that different at the moment.
"Must be a significant problem, then." Dora observed with that same tone she'd used earlier, imploring Danny to continue the conversation, "I take it the search for the Infimap has remained fruitless?"
"That's one word for it…" Danny grumbled, turning his attention to the green horizon so that he didn't have to look at her.
"Care to indulge?"
Another, somehow even deeper sigh left him at that. He glanced at Dora only for a second before deciding, well, it couldn't hurt to ask. "Have you heard anything from Skulker recently?"
"The huntsman?" Dora hummed thoughtfully, "I'm afraid I haven't heard of him in quite some time. My brother used to commission him…" She trailed off briefly before shaking out of her stupor, "do you suspect him? I've hardly pinned him as a thief…"
"Me, either…" Danny grumbled, feeling his nose scrunch in annoyance, "I mean, he's not! But he definitely has some sort of beef with the actual thief…"
"Beef?" Dora said.
"Uh – bad blood," Danny said, not wanting to explain the linguistics.
Dora hummed again. "So they have a history," She observed, prompting Danny to nod fruitlessly. "Have you spoken to his suitor yet?"
"No," Danny admitted, "But you're right, I should…" He did have a better relationship with Ember than with most other ghosts, so it couldn't end horribly, right?
As they neared his parent's portal, Danny pulled out his phone to text Jazz. Very quickly, he got an "all clear", so they passed through into the lab.
Checking the time, Danny found that it was a bit later than he wanted it to be. A sharp inhale through his teeth alerted Dora to this, but she only raised an eyebrow.
"I've gotta grab a few things," Danny said, "are you cool waiting around a few minutes?"
"Not in this place," Dora sniffed, reminding him very briefly of her royal upbringing. "I will wait outside, Daniel."
He couldn't exactly argue with that.
Danny entered the living room just in time to see Jazz, a couple large duffle bags at her feet, wriggle her way out of a crushing bear hug from their dad.
"Sweetheart, I really think you're going to need more than this," Maddie fretted, studying the not-insignificant size of Jazz's luggage. It wasn't necessarily wrong – a suitcase or two would have been preferable, but Hiccup had stressed packing as lightly as possible. Considering it took a lot of bribery to even convince him to let Jazz come, they weren't going to try and compromise.
Jazz placed her hands on her hips with a resounding huff, studying her baggage.
This did not seem very light, Danny couldn't help but notice. He quirked an eyebrow at her. Jazz was like their parents in that sense: preparing for every eventuality. Not that his core disagreed with her, but…
"Dann-o!" Jack bellowed, slapping Danny's back, "here to see your sister off, are ya?"
"Why wouldn't I?" Danny cracked a smile in Jazz's direction, eyes flickering to her with questions he couldn't ask at the moment, "she's leaving me alone with you two for Christmas. It's the least I can do, as her little brother, to talk about how she'll pay me back." He snarked.
"Oh," Maddie tsked, apparently finding his attitude unfair, "well, if your father would just admit – "
Aaand here we go again. Back with the annual Santa debate – and four days early, too. (Okay, well. That was honestly a new record for them considering that 'debate' typically began the moment the tree came out of storage, but still.) He can't believe Sam still wonders why he hates the holidays. Was it too late to switch places with Jazz?
"Hey, Mom," he interrupted their parents' bickering, "don't you think Jazz needs some sort of protection in case there's some sort of ghost attack in England?"
A knowing hum left their mother at that, and she sent a smug smile towards Jazz, who was sending daggers towards Danny that he chose to ignore.
"You're absolutely right, Danny," Maddie spoke in a tone that indicated this was not a new conversation, "Jazz should have a weapon."
Jazz threw her hands up in the air with so much force that they slapped when she hit her thighs. "Fine. I'll take a stupid ecto-weapon!"
That didn't so much satiate their parents as it did excite them. Danny bit his lip to hold back laughter.
"Excellent!" Jack clapped his hands together, "Danny, why don't you help Jazzypants pack her stuff into the car while me and your mom go scrounge around downstairs?"
"Sounds like a plan!" Danny gave a sarcastic salute as Jack and Maddie descended the stairs to the lab.
His face fell as soon as they were out of earshot, and he turned to find Jazz glaring at him.
"Don't look at me like that," She deadpanned, "you wanted this."
"I explicitly said that I didn't ," Danny glowered back at her, kicking one of the bags. A hollow, metallic clunk met his ears. "Jeez, what's in here, car batteries?"
Another irritated sigh. "I already have the peeler, but I obviously can't tell them that."
"Well, at least they think you're going through TSA. So hopefully you won't have to shove the Fenton Bazooka somewhere in here." He made an effort to shake dramatically as he swooped up the probably-not-car-batteries.
It didn't do much to fool Jazz, though. Her eyelids only dropped further. Dropping the act with a snicker, Danny began walking towards the door. It was only when the trunk of the car slammed shut that Jazz asked, "So where's Dora?"
Sending out his ghost sense, Danny located her a block or so away. "Waiting on us," he said pointedly, jiggling the handle of the car door – something Jazz found notoriously annoying. She slapped his hand away with a glare.
"Believe me, I wanna get out of here, too…" She grumbled just as their parents appeared at the front door with the equivalent of a TSA nightmare in their hands.
Danny cringed; Jazz gritted out of the corner of her mouth, "you think it's too late to drive off?"
"I'll run distraction," he only half-joked as Jazz put on a painfully fake smile.
Neither of their parents noticed their apprehension as they neared the car.
"Okay, Sweetheart," Maddie sighed in a slightly frustrated way, "It's not much, but we've packed you a thermos and an ectogun."
"We'd give you something stronger , but we don't want you missing your flight because of a few know-it-all agents." Jack scoffed like that was a completely logical thing.
Danny had to resist snorting. "Yeah, we wouldn't want that." He turned to give Jazz a pointed look, which she tactfully returned.
Maddie sighed, and there was a slight shake to her voice as she placed her hands on Jazz's shoulders. "Alright." She began, and a spark of her fear pulled at Danny's core. He crossed his arms over his chest, "You have your passport?"
"Yup," Jazz nodded, pulling it out of her purse, "right here."
"Ticket?"
"Yup," she said again, slightly more tense. She put her passport away.
"Wallet? I.D.? First aid kit? You know what, why don't we just –"
"Mom!" Jazz let out a light-hearted chuckle, "I'm gonna be fine. I'll text you when I'm through security, all right?"
Maddie tried to cover up a sniffle by rubbing her nose. She pursed her lips as she pulled her in for a hug. "...okay, sweetheart." She said.
Jack placed a hand on Danny's shoulder with a very similar look on his face. For a moment, he couldn't help but feel guilty – lying about the next…however many weeks.
His core began growing restless at the sadness in the air, and he frowned.
A heavy sigh left Maddie as she pulled back, her expression stitching itself back into a brave manner. "You call us if anything goes wrong, okay? And call us when you land! And when you get to the hotel."
"Or just whenever, who cares about international billing!" Jack initiated his own hug.
It was slightly more bone-crushing, if Jazz's tone was any indicator. "Of course," She grunted, "but you do know we're going to have a six-hour time difference, right?"
"Oh, when has that ever stopped us?" Jack laughed, and Danny had to agree.
Despite the festivities of Sam's Snoggeltog feast and the overwhelming logic of his plan (and that did not happen often), it appeared that Danny was right to be pessimistic.
If it was any consolation, Toothless seemed to be very happy that the trip was still on. Not that Danny couldn't empathize with that — he couldn't imagine not being able to fly anymore — but alas, that energy was not infectious. Even if his plan was a longshot, he was still banking on it. He hadn't even thought about the other possibility. Well, he didn't want to think about the other possibility.
"Well…thanks for coming all this way, Dora." Danny grumbled, trying to push back the headache that was building.
The princess hummed as she extinguished her flame. "I'll admit, I was expecting this outcome…"
Danny sent her a strange look, "why?"
Instantly, Dora shook her head, clasping her hands in front of her regally. "A simple hunch, I suppose. Still, it's nice to leave the castle every now and then. You lot have taken care of my amulets very well. Even you, Sir Snotlout." She jabbed, prompting him to grow red.
Sitting up on the couch, he clutched Hookfang close to his chest. "Wh — is it really that surprising to learn that I can be responsible?" He squeaked.
"Yes." The dragon riders responded. It was then that Hookfang took the time to slip up to his shoulder and nip him on the earlobe, effectively sealing the deal.
With a yelp, Snotlout ripped the ferret away, leveling him with his gaze, "You're supposed to be on my side." He hissed. If it was possible for a ferret to look smug, Hookfang managed it.
Snotlout promptly tossed him to the other side of the couch.
Hiccup shook his head in exasperation, catching Danny's eye. Not knowing what else to do, the ghost boy shrugged. Jazz would kill him if he didn't at least try to act enthusiastic. "Well, I guess that's it, then."
Still, Danny couldn't help but feel like that sentence sealed the deal. A spark of disappointment blossomed in his chest. The look he was getting from Astrid seemed to put a bullet into his acting career.
Jazz pulled out her phone with a not-very-disappointed tsk. In fact, Danny would almost call it happy, "We should probably pack up."
"And I need to return to my realm." Dora said, turning back to Hiccup with a curtsey. "I wish you safe travels, Prince Haddock."
He bowed in response, "Thank you, Princess."
The shock of seeing Dora bow – something he hadn't seen her do since her brother was reigning – pulled Danny out of his stupor. Shaking his head, he asked, "Do you need me to distract m – the Fentons?"
"I can manage just fine, thank you." Dora dipped her head graciously. She turned back to the dragon riders with a small smile. "I hope to see you all very soon. Hopefully, on your way home."
The princess bid her adieu, leaving everyone else standing around.
Astrid, of course, was the first one to take action. Nudging Hiccup, she nodded back towards their room. "Let's go get your stuff."
"And I will go get the car started," Jazz announced, fishing her keys from her bag. Fishlegs and the other dragon riders followed, leaving Danny, Sam, and Tucker alone in the room.
There was a bit of an awkward silence before Danny cleared his throat.
He jabbed his thumb out to the hallway.
"I'm just gonna…yeah."
Before he exited, he hesitated, darting back and snatching the last piece of mutton on the table.
Considering he'd never had it before, Danny couldn't tell if that interaction made the mutton taste better or worse. Regardless, he chose to focus on the flavor instead of whatever that was. He hated feeling so awkward around Sam and Tuck. He was working on it. He was, he just…
Grumbling, Danny swallowed. "Could use a little ectoplasm." He muttered, phasing through Sam's room and out to Jazz's car.
She popped the trunk just as he landed next to her, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. "So," she sighed, "I guess my flight isn't canceled then."
Danny couldn't help the frown that pulled at his face, and before he could wipe it away, one was already appearing on Jazz's face as well.
"Are you sure you're going to be okay?" She asked, grabbing his arms and plastering him firmly to the floor.
Grumbling, Danny let his gaze fall to the driveway. "Aren't you sick of asking that by now?"
"Yes," Jazz chuckled, and he could feel her knowing look, "but I'm your big sister. So I'm going to keep asking anyway."
Danny sent her a skeptical look, causing her to pull back and cross her arms over her chest, "I'm not gonna lie, though, I'm surprised you made it this far."
It was his turn to cross his arms. "What, are you saying I can't commit to things?"
"I'm saying that I'm proud of you." Jazz retorted, "and that I love you. And that we're going to be fine, okay?"
Danny bit his tongue to prevent sounding like a broken record once again, focusing very intensely on a spot of gum on the concrete. But he didn't know what else to say besides the words that made him a broken record, so he threw himself at Jazz, causing her to stumble just slightly.
"...you'd better." He grumbled, tightening his grip on her. "But seriously. You owe me a lot of souvenirs for the amount of Santa Carnage I'm about to endure."
Anyways I'm HCing that Snoggeltog is on the Winter Solstice solely so that it's not a total Christmas Ripoff "I love how you're pretending you're not gay when I've seen less fruit at a farmer's market." - user "moonwalkonmygrave" on tiktok Until next time, my lovelies ~Local Dragon Haunt