Movie night. Dagur was already feeling excitement coursing through his veins. He would get to spend time with all his favorite people. It was also the first time he had done something like this. They normally watched movies on their own, then came back to discuss them. The redhead was quick to volunteer his and Mala's place when Hiccup finally mentioned the entire gang coming together to watch a movie. Dagur wanted it to be perfect so that this was not a one-time thing. He had sodas, snacks, and blankets ready.

"I can help with setting up," Mala offered, for the third time.

Dagur just shook his head. "You're good, Malapoo. I've got this covered. Just sit back and relax. When everyone gets here, it'll all be ready for them and we can start." He let out a wild cackle in joy. "I hope this becomes a new Friday tradition."

Somehow, the young man's smile got wider when he heard the doorbell. He hurried to the entrance. Hiccup hardly saw the door open before he was being pulled into a bear hug.

"Hey, Dagur," he said, chuckling.

"Hey! Come on in."

Dagur opened the door further and let go of Hiccup to give Heather an equally big hug. The friends went into the home, eyes widening. They were looking at what must have been a minimum of twenty different bags of pretzels, popcorn, chips, and more. That excluded the dozen or so different kinds of sodas.

"Did you buy the entire snack section of the store?" Heather asked.

Dagur sighed sadly and shook his head. "No, someone got there first, so they were out of a few things. I should've gone earlier."

"I'm pretty sure this is fine," Hiccup assured him.

Snotlout happily flounced into a big chair and grabbed some of the sour cream and onion chips. "Remind me to crash here if I'm feeling snacky. This spread is great!"

He frowned and moved the bag further from Ruffnut's hand when she started reaching for his chips. Tuffnut joined her in the snack thievery attempt, eventually getting Snotlout to slide out of the chair and onto the floor for safety from them. Dagur turned to his brother.

"I never asked. What are we watching?"

Hiccup pulled out a DVD with someone on the cover who had a determined expression. In the background, there seemed to be explosions. He shrugged as he handed over the case.

"Everyone's been trying to see this new action movie."

"No one wanted to see the documentary," Fishlegs commented, pouting slightly.

"And we will continue to not want to see that, Fishface," Snotlout told him, putting a handful of chips in his mouth.

"You don't know what you're missing."

"And keeping it that way is my goal."

Hiccup rolled his eyes at the two while he put the disc into the player. "Everyone ready?"

Confirming that they were, the friends got settled. Hiccup and Astrid sat together on a smaller sofa; the twins shared the one chair they had stolen; Snotlout decided to sit on some blankets; Fishlegs sat near Heather; and she was on Dagur's left while Mala was to his right. He happily put an arm around them both. As the movie played, the group was filled with oohs and aahs. Fishlegs covered his face whenever someone was blown to pieces.

"You okay, Fishy?" Dagur asked, seeing him hiding under a pillow.

"Yeah, I'm fine," came the shaky reply. "It's just a few organs where they shouldn't be."

"It definitely could've been more." Dagur grinned and pointed to the screen. "Like right now. That looks like a long intestine!"

Fishlegs groaned and Heather elbowed her brother.

"Oh, sorry, Fishy."

Dagur's attention quickly returned to the screen. The main character and villain had just begun fighting.

"He should've done an uppercut there," Astrid commented.

Dagur agreed, but he was too engulfed in the process to respond. He watched each movement closely. Mala side-eyed him, noticing his focus being locked.

"Hopefully, this won't be something I need to worry about," she thought.

When the movie ended, a grin spread over the redhead's face, confirming that she did indeed need to be worried–just not for herself. Dagur went over to Snotlout and got in a fighting stance. The Jorgenson blinked at him.

"What are you doing?"

"We're about to recreate that fight."

Snotlout's eyes widened. "What? Why me?"

"Fishlegs wouldn't want to, the twins would cheat, Astrid and Heather would think it's a waste of a time…" He glanced at them to double-check and saw them nod. "See? And Hiccup would die. Don't try to kill my brother."

"What about Mala?"

A smirk crossed Dagur's face. "That wouldn't work either. I always want to kiss her when we spar, then that would mess up the choreography."

"We don't even know the choreography!"

"Yeah, I do. I memorized it."

Snotlout sighed, then stood up. "Of course you did. Alright, let's go."

After several new bruises, Snotlout made the time out signal with his hands. Dagur crossed his arms.

"You were supposed to counter with a kick."

"You said it too quickly," the shorter man said.

"If I say it slowly, it'll mess up the timing."

Relenting, Snotlout gave in and got back to the fight. He was seeing stars by the time everyone was ready to leave.

"I could drive you back," Dagur offered.

"No!" Snotlout insisted. "You've almost killed me once tonight. I'll make it back myself. It's just every other object that's doubled anyway."

He left with the others and Dagur waved goodbye. He smiled happily at Mala.

"I think that went well."

The evening went well enough for it to be done again. This time, Hiccup and Astrid hosted. The genre was comedy and the twins were oddly silent.

"What's with Boynut and Girlnut?" Dagur asked.

Hiccup sighed. "They're saving their voices, so they can laugh without getting laryngitis."

"But they wouldn't–"

"Believe me, I'm not the one you need to convince."

The twins excitedly waved to everyone as they came into the home, staying true to their temporary vow of silence. When the movie started, this ended and they began laughing dramatically. The others laughed in milder ways, but Dagur struggled to match his laugh with theirs. A scene played where the main character got put in the hospital and he started laughing. The friends turned to him with confused expressions. Dagur noticed and stopped.

"What? He's probably broken at least half the bones in his body."

"Yeah, that's why this part isn't supposed to be funny," Heather told him.

"Are you sure? He looked like he was made out of string."

"Pretty sure. That was just a bad CGI effect. This is still setting up for when the rest of the comedy starts."

"Oh."

Dagur went back to watching. The next time he laughed, someone lost their job. He received another odd look and sighed.

"So, that wasn't supposed to be funny either?"

"No," Hiccup said. "We're entering one of the low points."

"Why is there even a low point? It's a comedy!"

Mala put a hand on his shoulder and he took a breath.

"Okay, I'm calming down. I'll laugh at the right spots."

Dagur stopped watching the screen. Instead, he watched his friends. All he had to do was time his laughter with theirs. Of course, they came to a part of the movie where no one found it overly funny, so he was getting frustrated by the lack of cues. He brightened when he saw Fishlegs open his mouth, but he was just saying something quietly to Snotlout. Dagur frowned, then got back to his studying. Hiccup's mouth opened, but it was to yawn.

"Laugh!" Dagur ordered.

The others jumped and turned to him.

"Huh?" they asked, shocked.

"I can't laugh with you if you aren't laughing at all!"

"Alright, Darling," Mala said, taking his arm and standing up, "let's grab something to drink."

They left the others so that the redhead could cool down. Once Dagur was calmer, they went back. Just as they did, the rest of their friends started laughing at a scene. Dagur gave up and plopped back down, snuggling up next to Mala. They all discussed the movie afterwards, but Hiccup went over to his brother.

"Next time, we'll try a dark comedy. That might be more up your alley."

Dagur nodded and gave the group parting hugs. It was not the very next time that they watched one of those. Instead, Fishlegs hosted and was playing a romance movie. Snotlout was rolling his eyes the entire time, but he still was paying attention and the others heard him say "aw." Watching the movie made Dagur more of a cuddlebug and he held Mala close. Whenever the main characters would kiss, he kissed her. A devious twinkle also shone in his eyes as the main couple left a room.

"We know what they did in there. Bet you two are extra familiar with it," he said, winking exaggeratedly at Hiccup and Astrid.

They both turned beet red, making the older friend laugh.

"That wasn't one of those scenes, Dagur," Hiccup said, covering his blushing face with a hand.

"Ooh, they didn't have that glow you're used to seeing. Good point. I didn't even think of that. Guess I underestimated you."

Hiccup sank more in the seat, frowning at the twins as they snickered. "Don't encourage him."

Several more suggestive noises were sent his and Astrid's way. Heather started to feel a little bad, but she felt worse for chuckling at their mortified expressions.

"These scenes aren't even raunchy, Dagur," Astrid said, frowning.

"Anything can be if you squint hard enough."

The blonde hit a pillow against her head. Dagur had one more time before he would need to move very fast.

"You came!" someone on the screen commented.

"That's what Blondie said," Dagur stated, grinning.

"That's it!"

The redhead quickly got up and sprinted out of the room, Astrid right behind him.

"Don't kill him," Hiccup half-heartedly requested. He looked at Mala who did not seem like she was fazed by the hunter and hunted. "You're not worried?"

Mala took a sip of her drink. "I told him on the way over to not antagonize Astrid. Now, he will learn to listen to my advice."

Soon enough, the two friends returned. Astrid looked calmer and Dagur looked like a puppy who had just been chastised. He did not make any more remarks. A scene played where one of the leads started acting goofy in love.

"That's Dagur when Mala does literally anything," Astrid said.

The redhead chuckled but still blushed a little. When the main characters finally had their romantic evening, Astrid looked at the married couple.

"This would be the rest of the movie if you two were in there."

Dagur turned deeper red and Mala began blushing as well.

"I believe I am becoming a casualty of this," she said.

"You didn't stop him before, Mala. Hiccup and I had the first half of the movie to deal with Dagur, so you now have the second half of the movie to deal with me."

The husband gave Mala an apologetic smile. They also kept giving Astrid more material to use by continuing to kiss during the movie. When the couple was driving home, Mala glanced at Dagur.

"The next time we watch a romance movie with the others…"

"I won't tease Astrid. Just Hiccup."

Mala decided that was as much of a win as she was going to get. Fortunately, she did not have to worry about that for any time soon. The next movie night was an adventure flick that Heather hosted. Its characters seemed to go all over the world, finding something more dangerous each time. This made the friends wide-eyed in awe at the exploits. Everything seemed to be going normal, so Hiccup realized that he should have known better. There were some comments during the movie, they discussed their opinions after it ended, and nothing else happened…until the animal trainer checked his phone the next morning. He had twenty missed calls from Dagur. Worried, he called back.

"Brother!" the redhead happily greeted. "Someone was sleepy."

"I had my phone off. What's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong. I just wanted to ask if you'd be cool heading to a desert like they did in the movie last night. I'll pack all the supplies we need."

Hiccup looked at the phone like his friend could see his questioning expression. "Um, no, I'm okay."

"Aw! I've already got it planned out."

"How did you do that? We just saw the movie. Have you seen it before?"

"No, I just started working on this immediately. We can go tomorrow and I'll have you back home to Blondie by the weekend."

"I can't be there during the week. I've got work."

"Not this week."

Hiccup became quiet, then spoke. "Dagur, why don't I have work this week?"

"Because I'm a very persuasive person and convinced your boss to give you a paid vacation. That's also why we should do it this week."

"You're not that persuasive."

"I got you the vacation, didn't I?"

"Did you threaten him?"

Hiccup was met with silence on the other side of the line.

"Brother," he scolded.

"Okay, a little…but it wasn't anything too bad! He won't take it out on you or anything. He knows that if he does, then I'll also do everything I said I'd do if he didn't give you the vacation."

Hiccup rubbed the bridge of his nose. "I can't leave Toothless here and it's not easy traveling with jaguars."

"Bring him over here. Mala said she'd watch him. Our back yard's big enough."

"She agreed to this?"

"She knew I wouldn't stop. Too bad you don't seem to."

"I'm going to work this week, Dagur. It looks like I'm also apologizing to my boss. Talk to you later."

Hiccup got off the phone and got ready for the day. Just as he left the house, he jumped. Dagur was on the porch with puppy dog eyes.

"Please! It'll be really fun! I won't let any scorpions sting you!"

The taller man sighed heavily. "You really aren't going to give up on this?"

Dagur shook his head, starting to look more hopeful.

"Fine, let me pack."

"Already done!" Dagur declared, holding up a bag.

"Wh-how did you get that?"

"I was inside earlier this morning. Figured it would scare you if you saw me waiting in the kitchen, so I decided to come out here. We should take you shopping. You just have green and red shirts."

Hiccup considered retracting his agreement to go, but he knew it was pointless. By that time the next day, they were in the desert. Hiccup reminded himself to not put on another adventure movie unless he knew Dagur would be out of town. The next movie they saw was film noir. The twins hosted this one. They just had big, single chairs, so each one of their friends got their own. The siblings were in the middle of channeling their Sleuths Extraordinaire personas.

"You see, Dear Brother," Ruffnut said, putting on a dramatic air, "it only makes sense if the true killer is the dame. She appears to be innocent because the detective would not expect to be outwitted by her."

"Now, now, Dear Sister," Tuffnut replied, with the same tone of voice, "that is what the writers would expect us to believe. Thus, the actual identity of the heinous crime-committee must be her employer."

"You're both wrong," Dagur said, tightly holding a big container of popcorn. "The killer's the detective. They just don't want us to think that, so they show the movie from his perspective. That's why he's the narrator, but he's unreliable."

"No, you're all wrong," Astrid said, facepalming. "They revealed the killer in the last scene."

"Or did they?!" Ruffnut asked dramatically.

"I think not!" Tuffnut added.

"We can't trust anyone," Dagur said, frowning. "Everyone's got an agenda."

Tuffnut stood up and nodded. "Well said, my deranged friend."

As he spoke, the blond's eyes were on the popcorn. He tried to reach for a handful before Dagur noticed, but the redhead moved the container and frowned.

"You'll lose a hand like that, Tuff," he warned.

Tuffnut feigned hurt, but his eyes gave him away. He was looking behind them at his sister who had also moved. Ruffnut had grabbed a fishing rod and was aiming the hook for the popcorn container. Heather tried to signal for her to stop, but she did not. When Dagur saw the hook, he grabbed the line, yoking the twin over. Ruffnut yelped, then did so again when she and Tuffnut were tackled.

"I tried to warn you," Heather said.

"Like I said," Dagur stated, getting off of them, "can't trust anyone."

He felt this way for the next three days. Snotlout made the mistake of visiting. Mala let him in, but she tried to tell him what was going on before he got too much further. He did not notice and went over to Dagur.

"How's it going?" he asked cheerfully.

The redhead just regarded him suspiciously. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Snotlout paused, scratching his head. "What all could it mean?"

"It could mean, 'how are you doing' or 'have I been able to lull you into a false sense of security so that you won't expect what I do next?'"

The visitor's eyes widened. "Definitely not that second one."

"But you didn't confirm that it definitely was the first one. Knew it!"

Mala started leading Snotlout of the home. "Do not take it personally, Snotlout Jorgenson. He is just a little paranoid because of the movie."

"Still?"

Snotlout got his answer when Dagur gave him a hard squint. He mouthed the words, "I'm onto you."

"Okay, still," Snotlout said. "I'll catch you both later then. Good luck with…all that."

"They're playing the long game, Mala," Dagur said, once the door was closed. "Can't let them think they've tricked us."

Mala sat down with him and gently held his face in her hands. "Dagur, they are our friends. They are not conspiring against us."

"But what if they are?"

"Then, I promise that I will make them pay."

She gave her husband a kiss on the cheek and he relaxed.

"Don't be too ruthless with them. They're still our friends after all."

Mala chuckled and assured him that she would not. This got Dagur back to his version of normal. Up next, Snotlout hosted movie night. It was a drama film. The others thought it was a little melodramatic, so he tried to master his poker face when they got to the sad scenes. Someone was in the middle of professing what was formerly assumed to be an unrequited love to a character who was about to die. Snotlout looked towards another sofa and saw Dagur hugging a pillow. His eyes were watery, so Snotlout started scooting over.

"They'll never be together now," Dagur tearfully remarked.

Snotlout nodded, finally paying heed to the lump in his throat. "They didn't even know they were loved until it was too late to enjoy it."

The rest of the friends struggled to hear the scene as the two continued to weep on the sofa.

"It's not that sad," Ruffnut commented, rolling her eyes.

"That's just because your heart is made of stone!" Snotlout exclaimed, using a tissue to wipe his eyes.

The twin let out a groan and tossed pillows at the pair. They were undeterred and leaned on one another, shoulders shaking. When the movie ended, the friends started returning home and Dagur grinned at Mala.

"I'm glad we started these new hangouts," he said. "I wonder what we'll watch next time."