#dagcupweek

 Hiccup and Dagur watched Toothless play with Sleuther and Shattermaster. There were various local Terrible Terrors nearby. Dagur had his arm around Hiccup’s shoulders.

 It was a sunny day with a light breeze, a nice day overall.

 Hiccup chuckled at a silly jump Toothless had made and exclaimed his name.

 Dagur nudged him.

 “Hmm?” Hiccup asked.

 “You know, I’ve never heard the story,” Dagur said.

 “Of?” Hiccup prompted.

 “Why you named him that,” Dagur said. “I mean, I’ve seen his teeth. They’re right there. He can be pretty scary with them. Are you being ironic or something?”

 Hiccup laughed.

 “So, when I was a young lad of fifteen,” Hiccup said. “And I shot him down, I went to the crash site to find him, considered… killing him. And I couldn’t. Obviously.”

 Hiccup took a breath, glanced at Toothless having fun, and smiled.

 “So, I set the good boy free. He yelled at me,” Hiccup said.

 “Yelled?” Dagur asked.

 “Roared in my face,” Hiccup replied.

 “Anyways, totally didn’t faint at all,” Hiccup lied. He winked at Dagur.

 Dagur chuckled.

 “Soon afterwards, I had a question gnawing at me. Why didn’t he kill me? Because Gobber had said in training that they always go for the kill,” Hiccup said. “So, anyways, I find him in the Cove, where he’s kinda stuck on account of the fact I shot him down. So, I go and feed him a fish.”

 Hiccup chuckled when he saw Toothless’s ear flaps perk up at the word ‘fish’.

 Hiccup gestured to Toothless to come over, which he did.

 “So, I have the fish in my hand, Toothless has his mouth open for it, and he’s all gummy,” Hiccup said.

 Toothless opened his mouth to illustrate the lack of teeth.

 “And I noted that! I made a ‘Toothless’ comment and then just as I was like, ‘I could have sworn you had teeth’, I didn’t even get to finish the sentence, because…” Hiccup gestured at Toothless.

 Toothless’s teeth popped back up from his gums.

 “He did that, and took the fish.”

 “So, it is kind of an ironic name,” Dagur noted.

 “I’m nothing if not incredibly sarcastic,” Hiccup said. Hiccup caressed Toothless’s face with his hand for a moment and then pulled his hand away.

 Toothless then looked at Dagur and made an encouraging coo at Dagur.

 “Dagur, please give Toothless the pats he so deserves. He’s such a good boy, and an excellent judge of character,” Hiccup said.

 “I’d be a fool not to listen to him, right?” Dagur said, to Toothless.

 Toothless cooed in response.

 As Dagur patted Toothless on the head with his free hand, Hiccup smiled fondly.

 “You know, Toothless letting you ride him to save me was such a big deal to me,” Hiccup said, softly.

 Dagur stayed quiet, continuing to pet the dragon, but eyes focused on Hiccup.

 “It was one of the things that had me unsure how I felt about the whole thing,” Hiccup said. “If my dragon was willing to trust you, despite everything, and I trust Toothless profoundly, by the transitive property, I should be willing to trust you.”

 He looked over at Dagur and smiled at him.

 “And here I am, sitting next to you, with your arm around me, and my dragon is making you pet him constantly,” Hiccup said.

Hiccup liked to think he was a calm person. He thought things through, or he tried to. He preferred to talk things out than use a sword. He would choose a shield over a sword any day and not just because of the dragon training classes he’d been forced to take. He would choose it because he would rather protect than attack.

Most of the time.

This was not one of those times. This was a time where he wished he had taken more sword classes but he was surprisingly doing well. He had been able to injure three guards and a forceful hit to the head with the butt of his sword caused one to fall unconscious.

He took a moment to breathe. The beginning of guilt began to creep its way into his head but he shook it away. Now was not the time to deal with his feelings. Now he needed to find Toothless.

He began to run down the hall but stopped when he heard slow clapping. “Hiccup, Hiccup, Hiccup,” Dagur said. He took a step each time he said Hiccup’s name. “I have to admit. I wasn’t sure you had it in you but I’m glad you do. It’s nice to know that out of everyone in the world I’m one of the first to bring out such a deranged instinct out of the runt, Hiccup Haddock.”

Hiccup’s jaw clenched and he pointed the sword towards Dagur. “Where is Toothless?” he gritted out.

“Well, he’s not dead.” Dagur used a finger to redirect the sword away from him but Hiccup moved it back to its original place. Dagur smiled. “Oh, Hiccup, you may be able to cut down strangers but me? No, no, no. We have a history. I’m not going away so easily.”

Then, faster than Hiccup could process, Dagur moved forward. His hand gripped Hiccup’s wrist and his thumb pressed down. Hiccup’s grasp on the sword was dismantled. It clattered against the floor.

Dagur used his grip around Hiccup’s wrist to pull him closer. He tilted Hiccup’s chin so he was forced to look at him.

“You couldn’t kill strangers. You could only knock them out or injure them just enough they couldn’t hurt you. Me? You won’t hurt me, not really, not in anyway that matters. No,” Dagur leaned close to Hiccup’s ear, his voice lowered to a deep whisper, “you’re too good for that.”

Hiccup glared at him as he pulled away but Dagur didn’t relent. Rather than that, he smiled and gave Hiccup a look he couldn’t place a name to. However, it didn’t matter. It made him deeply uncomfortable.

“Always the little good boy.” Dagur let go of one hand and used it to cup Hiccup’s face. His thumb began to trail down his face starting at his temple. “You have no idea what my father would have done to have a son like you, weak, decent,” his voice started out hard but grew softer.

His thumb brushed over Hiccup’s lips. Hiccup tried to jerk his head away but Dagur quickly moved to grip his chin. A firm grip on his face still, Dagur moved his thumb back to its place on Hiccup’s lips and he was forced to accept it, the feeling of Dagur’s rough fingertips caressing his lips.

Dagur’s voice hardened again, “Innocent.”

He pressed his thumb down. Hiccup tried to close his lips in a tight line but still, Dagur managed to breach his finger into Hiccup’s mouth. He thought for a moment that he should bite Dagur’s finger but the thought passed quickly. He wasn’t looking to go home covered in bruises because he would go home.

“Innocent as can be,” Dagur said in a slightly sing-song tune. He forced Hiccup’s mouth open fully, thumb pressing against the roof of his mouth to do so. “But don’t worry, I plan to change that last one soon.”

Hiccup felt fear make its way through his body. His blood seemed to freeze over as his heart stopped. No. No, Dagur wouldn’t? Would he?

Then again, he was Dagur. Dagur who had tied him to a tree when he was eight and left him there for hours. Dagur who had tried to drown him when he was twelve. Dagur who had started a war because he was wrong. Hiccup realized he never knew what Dagur would do, not really. He didn’t know Dagur as well as he wished he did because knowing Dagur might make his unpredictable movements easier to guess. Hiccup could only hope he wouldn’t do things that he didn’t want him to do. He could never really know.

Dagur did.

He pressed his lips forcefully against Hiccup’s and Hiccup froze. Then he. . . Then he remembered or more he saw Dagur’s sword which was strapped to his back. Maybe Hiccup could use this to his advantage.

He kissed back but didn’t close his eyes like Dagur had. Dagur made a noise of surprise and Hiccup reached with his free hand. He placed it on Dagur’s neck. Then he slid it down to his shoulder. Finally he was able to grab the hilt of Dagur’s sword.

In quick, mostly uncalculated, movements Hiccup drew the sword. He drew it and slashed at Dagur before he could react. He hit Dagur’s face and he staggered back, holding the wound. Hiccup turned and ran. He ran as fast as he could. His heart thumped harder and harder with each time his foot hit the ground.