#fishlug

The night was not young. Maybe it had been once upon a time, when they first went flying. But they had been out all for hours by now, and the moon had begun to set. Hence why Hiccup and Toothless were flying back to the Edge.

“Another successful night, huh bud?” the viking asked, a weary yet pleased smile on his face. He should really start planning these nights on closer islands. Flying back home was not pleasant when everything ached, pleasurable or not.

Still, it was worth it. It had been ages since the two of them last had a guaranteed safe moment alone. They both had desperately needed it. Maybe Hiccup more than Toothless…as much as he loved his friends, people were just…difficult, sometimes.

“Ah, jeez, bud, easy on the landing!” Then again, most people weren’t getting destroyed by a dragon every month.

There were benefits though. Hiccup never went unsatisfied. Nor did Toothless, he was sure. And they never took all that long anyway, and the aching went away after a soak in the thermal pools in the mountains…a whole lot more pros than cons.

“Come on, bud,” Hiccup mumbled as Night Fury and rider started to walk to the stables. Nights like these, Hiccup liked to make sure the other dragons were alright. Call it a habit, after Mildew’s bullshit on Berk. 

A low croon broke his thoughts. He glanced over at his dragon, but Toothless had eyes elsewhere. Hiccup followed his gaze, half tempted to reach for his sword, but the lack of worry from Toothless didn’t really ring any alarms. What did, however, was the bulky Gronkle and equally large rider that had frozen right in front of them. The two riders stared at each other for a long while, while their dragons got together and started talking in low growls.

Eventually, Hiccup cleared his throat, looking away from Fishlegs and fixing his eyes squarely on the stables, just nearby. “Uh…out for a walk, Fishlegs?”

The blond viking nodded quickly, trying to adjust his night tunic with the subtlety of a Quaken. “Y-Yup! Just…admiring the sky! Me and Meatlug. Absolutely just that.”

Hiccup nodded absently, barely noticing as he too adjusted his tunic. It was looser than his normal outfits, not to mention short-sleeved. He knew precisely how many teeth marks were visible in the dim lantern light. He could see a similar mark where Fishlegs’ tunic rode up, not quite big enough to cover his full form. Or the Gronkle marks.

The two riders remained silent for the rest of the walk to the stables. It was brighter there. The moon shone fully onto the ledge. Their dragons had followed, conversation finished as they went back to their riders. Toothless was quick to start nuzzling Hiccup, almost as if they were alone again. A quick glance upwards showed Meatlug doing what had to be the same with Fishlegs, though the two were always openly affectionate so Hiccup couldn’t fully tell. It didn’t matter though. He already knew. Fishlegs already knew. Clearly the dragons had just talked about it.

Hiccup sighed, running his hand through his hair. At least it was Fishlegs. He couldn’t imagine something like this with any of the others. 

“So, uh…we gonna talk about it, or just…accept it and move on?” 

Fishlegs looked at him, face vaguely pink in the moonlight. He must’ve been even worse off than Hiccup. Made sense, in a vague way. If Hiccup was right about his theories with all dragons of the Boulder Class—

“M-Move on with things sounds great to me,” came the response, interrupting his thoughts once more. 

The one-legged viking nodded once more. The four of them stayed outside still, until Fishlegs couldn't handle it anymore and blurted “We should discuss it later though! F-For information, a-and research, and, uh…” He trailed off, avoiding Hiccup’s eyes.

Toothless perked up a little, as did Meatlug, and the two wandered together towards the stable doors, leaving their riders once again without social shields. Hiccup could only shuffle his feet, tapping his metal leg out of habit. 

“Sure, yeah, sounds great…not tonight though. We, uh, should get some sleep.”

Fishlegs nodded quickly, looking away as he mumbled vague agreements. A few more minutes of silence go by, before they both make their way to the stable doors. Stopped just before they get there by the doors opening and a certain loud voice whispering.

“Hookfang, I swear to the gods, if you bite me one more—” Snotlout snapped his mouth shut, staring down the other two riders with an impressively blank expression considering who it was. Or maybe there were micro emotions there, Hiccup couldn't tell. He was a little focused on—

“Oh my Thor, Snotlout!” Fishlegs exclaimed, hurrying to the other rider in an instant. “You’re bleeding a lot, oh Thor, this isn’t good, come on, I’ll get you some bandages and we’ll clean these up and— wait, are those—”

Snotlout yanked himself away, usual bravado back, if a bit more flustered than Hiccup was used to seeing on the shorter viking. Made sense, though, it wasn’t everyday Snotlout was without a shirt, bleeding from shallow claw and bite marks. If Hiccup didn’t know better, he’d say the poor guy just lost a fight with his dragon.

“I’m fine, Fishface. More importantly, how come both of you are up this late? It’s like midnight or something.” Oh there it was. Honestly, Snotlout was surprisingly the most motherhen of all the riders. Which Hiccup appreciated sometimes, even if it did kinda annoy him on the rare occasions both Astrid and his cousin decided to start nagging him to eat.

The three riders stared at each other, before finally something new happened. Hookfang stepped out of the stables, rumbling lowly in greeting to the other two dragons and just settling down behind Snotlout. Who proceeded to blush even more than Fishlegs, even if he never let his expression change.

“...whatever. Nobody says anything to anyone. I’m going to bed. You two should too. And, uh…” Finally, the shortest of the trio looked away, unable to keep up his act. “You two should start getting them to bite you closer to your middle. It’ll look weird if the others see a bite on one of you two.”

Before Fishlegs could sputter a reply, before Hiccup could try and protest what was clearly the truth, Snotlout hopped onto Hookfang and the pair took off towards their hut. Leaving the original four by the stables. The riders glanced at each other, looked away again, got on their dragons and rode off too.