Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It was shockingly refreshing, Snotout thought as he plopped down onto his bed, to be living away from home. The afternoon sun shone golden rays across the island, dusting the riders' huts in soft light. It had hardly been more than three weeks since the gang had settled on The Edge, just about all structures were built, all that were needed anyway.

Stupid Hiccup still refused to let Snotlout build a giant statue of himself, and he mused over how to convince him as he wrapped himself in the soft furs of his bed. His boots had been discarded somewhere in his room, so he made himself comfy, preparing for an afternoon nap. A great warrior needed his beauty sleep after all.

A twinge of guilt nagged at his chest, a small voice calling him lazy.
He ignored it, instead going back to his most recent conversation with his cousin.

“iT WoUld OnLy wAste tiMe, eNerGy, ResOuRces aNd spAce.” Snotlout mocked, turning over with a scoff and rolling his eyes dramatically. What would Hiccup know anyway.

~~~

He must have fallen asleep, because soon he was bolting upright in his bed at the sound of a knocking on his door. Adrenaline rushed through his body and his heart pounded painfully in his chest, he fought to breathe steadily. For a brief, terrifying moment, he was back on Berk, in his fathers house. The panic subsided when his eyes adjusted to the dark, and he remembered where he was. In his own hut. On the Edge. Away from Spitelout. Safe.

The rapid knocking continued as he pulled his shoes on.

He opened the door with a scowl, coming face to face with the most annoying human to over walk the earth; Tuffnut, who stood with that stupid grin as always.

“Wow Snotman, you look like shit.” There was no good reason for Tuffnut to look so gleeful, even if he did, in fact, look like shit. Snotlout scowled deeper, dropping his helmet on his head and shoving past the male twin without a word.
Said twin then clutching his non-existent pearls with a dramatic gasp.
“You’re so mean to me, Snotty.” He states before following.

The smell of chicken and fish wafted into his nose from the clubhouse, washing away any lingering grumpiness, and Snotlout plunked himself on a stool to wait for it to be finished.
He threw some playful banter at Tuffnut, the only apology the twin would get for earlier, and picked on Astrid as she sharpened her axe, who shut him up with her well known (but still utterly terrifying) death stare. He may be a moron, but he certainly knew better than to keep that up while she had an axe in her hands.

The food was soon served and Snotlout promptly tuned out Hiccups babbling about new dragon sightings. Then, he was out of the clubhouse, facing the cool night air. He found he didn’t particularly feel like going back to bed or being around the others as they figured out next month’s patrol schedules. So, he grabbed Hookfang from the stables to go for a fly.

~~~

The wind numbed his face and stung his eyes, but he didn’t care for it. Up in the clouds, away from everything else, Snotlout felt free. It was the one place he could fully relax, exist without judgement, without needing to prove himself to anyone. He almost couldn’t imagine how he would have survived if Hiccup had never introduced him to Hookfang. Though, he would never admit any of this out loud.

They ducked closer to the trees, on the other side of the Edge, still plenty away from the others, and Snotlout noticed some of the poles and trees the gang had used for training before.

“What do you think, Fangster?” He bent down closer to Hookfangs head, the dragon cast him a wary glance, "You reckon we could get some moves in?” His dragon only grunted a reply, and Snotlout dove with a grin. Winding between each tree, looping over the poles and dodging the obstacles that seemed to fall from nowhere in the dark. Adrenaline rushed through him, and he urged Hookie to go faster.
All was going well, it was almost perfect, but of course not completely. A stray terrible terror shot out in front of them as they reached the end, spooking Hookfang who tumbled to the ground, crashing both of them into a tree.
Snotlout groaned, laying upside down against the bark. It wasn’t the worst landing he had suffered but it still hurt.

Sudden laughter burst out somewhere in front of him, and he startled, scrambling to stand, the infuriating clucking of a certain chicken seemingly joining in.

Snotlout glared at Tuff, the twin doubled over and crying from laughter, Chicken at his side. His face burned and he opened his mouth to shout something, but Tuffnut recovered before he could.

“That has got to be the funniest shit I’ve seen all day!” He snickered, still giggling as he walked over to the very, very embarrassed Snotlout. “My Gods Snotty, how doth one manage to be so comical?” That stupid grin pissed Snotlout off.

“What the fuck are you even doing out here this late?” He snapped, ignoring everything Tuff had said.

Tuff simply huffed, still far too amused. “Going for a walk with Chicken of course! She gets quite fussy before bedtime.” Said chicken flapped into his open palm as the annoyance spoke. “We were lucky enough to witness quite a show just now, complete coincidence I assure you my Snotty fellow.”

“Yeah right, well I’m going to feed that goddamn chicken to Hookfang if you don’t FUCK OFF.” He knew he was being irrational, but Snotlout didn’t understand why he felt so embarrassed, he’s crashed so many times before in front of the whole gang, why would this be different? Why was Tuffnut pissing him off so much lately?

Tuffnut clutched Chicken to his chest with both hands, turning his torso away and gasping dramatically, feigning offence. “How dare you! Such cruelty, I simply cannot believe it!” And with that, he ran away before Snotlout could throw something at him.

Snotlout hopped back onto Hookfang with a grunt and flew back up into the clouds. Head reeling after the humiliating interaction.

Chapter Text

Snotlout muttered to Hookfang as he flew back to his hut, still feeling conflicted. He and Tuff had been closer as friends lately; they hung out far more often and usually goofed off anytime they were together. He’d even go as far as to say he liked spending time with Tuffnut. So why on earth was he feeling so… odd?

He shook the thoughts from his head. No point thinking about it, Tuffnut was just annoying him because of how much time they were spending together. That was all. There was nothing else to it.

Snotlout sighed deeply as he waited for sleep to come. It was nice falling asleep to silence, but he felt on edge, constantly waiting for the sounds of yelling and fighting, for his dad to barge in with some irrational problem. Snotlout slapped himself in the face a few times, his dad wasn’t here; he could fall asleep in peace.

~~~

Tuffnut walked slowly, hands on his head, whistling some random tune, Chicken by his side at every step. Every few minutes the scene of Snotlout crashing horribly played through his head, and he fought off bursts of laughter. Gods, that mental image was going to bring him joy for weeks to come.

He walked along a cliffside that dropped into the ocean, gazing at the water. He loved the waves. So unpredictable, so chaotic as they crashed against the rocks. He loved how peaceful it was on the edge, so quiet yet not empty. Critters scuttled underfoot, small dragons crashed through the trees. Not as busy as Berk constantly was, but not lifeless. It held so much potential. The limits to him and his sisters' pranks and chaos could be pushed without risk of causing serious harm, so few Vikings yelling at them to stop their mischief. The other riders hardly did, only when they thought it was getting dangerous. They scoffed and rolled their eyes, but Tuff got the sneaking suspicion that the twins' silliness was growing on them.

He pulled himself into a tree, facing the moon and overlooking the horizon. Chicken followed, settling in his lap, and he pet her absent mindedly. He didn’t think about anything in particular, just zoned out, feeling content and enjoying the cool night.
He kind of wished Snotlout was there, which was new, but they had been closer lately, so that could explain it. Tuffnut shrugged it off, settling into a more comfortable position in the tree. Ruffnut would probably come out to find him and drag him back soon, but for now, he was peaceful.

Chapter Text

Snotlout yelped as arrows whizzed past his head, jerking Hookfang to the side to avoid being hit. The dragon grumbled at the harsh movement, before swiftly diving to avoid another volley of arrows.
They’d been fighting off the dragon hunters nonstop for almost three hours now, or at least attempting to. They hadn’t been prepared for this fight. The twins had found them on patrol, or rather the hunters had found the twins. One of them was hurt, Snotlout knew that. The riders had been alerted to the attack by a loud scream and several explosions. Snotlout had been one of the first to launch off the ground and right into battle.

They had no armor, and just about no weapons, save for their dragons. Astrid had her axe, and Hiccup had his sword, but that was it. And they couldn't get in close without risking the arrows. Meetlug and Fishlegs occasionally dove down and knocked out a few hunters, but despite Meetlugs immunity to dragon root they were still arrows, and sharp ones at that. They had to hover above the fight for longer periods of time to recover, and they were wearing thin.

Snotlout risked a low dive, taking out some of the cannons and ropes with a heavy blow of fire. He heard Hiccup yell at him to be careful, but he ignored the one-legged leader's command. Maybe it was reckless of him, but they couldn’t afford this fight to go on much longer. The hunters got closer to The Edge by every passing minute, and the dragons wouldn’t hold out much longer, and he made sure to yell that back to Hiccup before diving again.

A familiar scream ripped through the air as Snotlout circled back out of range, and his heart dropped. He watched in horror as Tuff tumbled off his side of Barf and Belch, flailing around in the air as he fell. Snotlout was diving towards the falling twin in a heartbeat, ducking under him and catching the boy on Hookfangs back, half splashing into the water as he did. His stomach churned as he turned to check on Tuffnut, seeing the twin unconscious and limp.

He didn’t have time to try and check for serious injuries, he sped up, aiming for the cloud cover. He had to get to safety, had to get Tuffnut to safety. Then he’d blow those stupid hunter’s ships to pieces.

Hookfang screeched and thrashed, and Snotlout saw with horror an arrow sticking out of his shoulder. Shit Shit Shit. He cursed as his dragon dipped and began falling, trying desperately to get control of him whilst gripping onto Tuffnuts shirt to keep him from falling again.
A Nadder screeched just above him, Stormflys claws grabbing Hookfangs wings in an attempt to steady him. Snotlout winced in embarrassment; he was sure to get screamed at by Astrid for this. He tried to yell up at her, telling her to fuck off, that he could handle this on his own. He didn’t want anyone getting injured or captured because of his recklessness. But, that just riled up Hookfang, who thrashed so hard he knocked all of them out of the sky.

The last thing Snotlout saw was the rocky ground of some nearby island rushing up to meet him, before everything went black.

~~~

Astrid came too first, sitting up with a pained groan. Everything hurt. Her head was pounding, and she was bleeding from several scrapes. She looked around, fighting away the blurriness in her eyes. Stormfly wasn’t there, and for a heartbeat Astrid panicked, dread rising in her chest. They were in a cave, she spotted Snotlout not too far from her, Tuffnut sprawled out on top of him. They didn’t look injured, and they were beginning to wake up, groaning in pain.
The dust was everywhere, choking her when she breathed, and it was dark. They were in a cave and looking up she could see a small opening above them; too high to climb, and too small for a dragon to get through. Just as her worry thickened, she heard a small, familiar chirp, and Stormfly’s head pocked over the hole. Astrid softened, allowing a small smile on her face. Her dragon was fine. She saw Hookfang's tail flick over the opening, so he was fine as well.

She walked over to the boys, dragging Tuffnut off Snotlout and resting him nearby. He was stirring, but something had knocked him from his dragon, and Astrid saw with a sinking feeling in her gut that he had blood running down the side of his head. It wasn’t too much, but it was sure to hurt, even for a Thorston.

She stomped back over to Snotlout and promptly kicked him in the side. He was up in a heartbeat, coughing and curling in on himself, then glaring up at her.

“What the fuck Astrid, that hurt!” He rasped, still coughing and covered in dust.

“Good.” She said, her tone stern, “It’s what you get for getting us thrown out of the sky, and stuck in a dingy cave.”

At her words, he looked around; realizing that they were, in fact, stuck in a dingy cave. His gaze landed on Tuffnut, who was still unconscious, and she saw his face shift from frustration to worry. It took Astrid by surprise; he’d never seemed to care for either of the twins' wellbeing before. Or anyone’s for that matter. Replaying the battle in her head, she realized that he only got hit with a dragon root arrow because he dived for Tuffnut without checking for safety. A reckless move, but one made for the safety of someone else.

Astrid shook her head, it was probably for the “glory” of saving someone, or to get Tuffnut in debt to him in some way. Plus, the two were becoming friends, even Snotlout had some capacity for concern when his (probably only) friend gets knocked unconscious. Especially when that individual frequently takes hits to the head and recovers almost instantly.

She walked over with Snotlout, where she had laid Tuffnut down not too far away. His face twitched, a good sign she supposed. Snotlout crouched next to him, still looking far more worried than Astrid had expected.

She watched as he gently shook the twin, then frowned, glanced up at her slightly, and then punched him hard in the gut.

“SNOTLOUT.” She shouted, anger boiling through her.
“WHAT?”

“YOU CAN’T JUST PUNCH AN INJURED VIKING.”

“YOU KICKED ME!”

“YOU AREN’T BLEEDING FROM VARIOUS PLACES.”

“SHUT UP ASTRID-” Snotlout was cut off as Tuffnut punched him hard in the arm. He wobbled where he sat up, and he blinked drowsily, but he grinned at Snotlout, and at least he was conscious.

“Heyyy Snotman! Whatcha yelling bout?” The twin slurred.

Snotlout opened his mouth, maybe to answer, maybe to check in on him, Astrid didn’t care either way. “Tuffnut!” She gasped, drawing his drowsy attention, “Are you ok? What happened out there?”

“Huh? Ohh…” He struggled to stand, and Snotlout helped him out, grabbing onto his arm and keeping him stable. “Goot hit by a catapultt, then an arrow, hehe.” He looked down at his right arm, and Astrid finally saw the snapped off tip of an arrow embedded in the flesh. Fresh blood oozed from it, but Tuffnut didn’t seem to be concerned. All in all, it wasn’t a life-threatening injury, and Astrid relaxed. The dragon root would be making him drowsy; it was likely what knocked him out. As for the catapult, his skull was thick enough. She’d seen this man take several maces to the head and stay standing.

“Great, so Tuff is drugged up, and we’re stuck in a hole.” Snotlout sighed, pinching his nose.

“Yeah, no thanks to you.” Astrid shot back. “If you hadn’t-”

She was cut of by Tuffnut slapping a finger across her mouth to shush her. “Ssshhhhh Astrd, II’m pretty sure he saved my butt from drowning mm’kay?”

Anger flared in her stomach but she pushed it down with a deep breath. Tuff was injured, she shouldn’t scream at him. Even if he did very rudely half slap her in the face with his grotty hand. And he had a point, Snotlout DID save him, even if he got them all trapped.

Snotlout was now yelling at Hookfang in a poor attempt to make the dragon get them out. Hookfangs head MAY have fit through the hole, and his neck was long enough to reach them, however it would be a tight squeeze for both dragon and human… aaand he was flying away to spite Snotlout.

Astrid sighed, walking over to the opening above them and calling to Stormfly. Her dragon wouldn’t run away in disobedience. Speaking nicely but firmly, she ordered her dragon to find Hiccup, a command she had taught her specifically for moments like this.

Snotlout was glaring up at the hole, Tuffnut still hanging off him and chatting absolute nonsense. At one point Tuff slung both his arms around Snotlout's neck, leaning his full weight into the shorter man. Snotlout stumbled back and had to hold onto Tuff with both hands to keep either of them from falling, and Astrid was sure she saw his face go a little red.

She shook her head, sitting down not far from the light shining into the opening, but not too close to the boys, who were now roughhousing. At least Tuffnut was feeling better, even if he still needed medical attention. Astrid rolled her eyes, looking up to the cave entrance, and began impatiently waiting.