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Viggo laid back against the rocks, scanning the small letter in his hand, delivered via Terrible Terror of all things. He scanned the contents for the umpteenth time, its only contents being a set of coordinates, a date, and a time. He scoffed and stuffed the letter back into his boot with a bitter frown. “Of course he’s late…”
As if on cue, a faint black streak cut across the sky, blotting out the stars. Moments later, the Nightfury landed and the young heir of Berk slid out of his saddle. “You got my message!” He chirped, beaming playfully.
“And you seem to enjoy making me wait.” Viggo stood, arms crossed over his chest and brows furrowed. “What exactly did you call me out here for?”
“Maybe I just wanted to see you.”
“Our tribes are at war, and you call me out here for a secret meeting just because. What if I had been walking into a trap?”
“That’s more your thing.” Hiccup grinned and waltzed closer, leaning in so close that Viggo could feel his breath tickle his face. “Besides, if you really thought it was a trap, you wouldn’t have come alone.”
“I might be hiding an ambush.”
“Toothless would already be in a net.”
“You sound awfully certain of that fact.”
“Maybe it’s because I know you so well.” Hiccup’s voice was barely a whisper.
Something hot and possessive coiled in Viggo’s chest He shot his hands out and seized the younger man. His slim frame slotted so easily against Viggo’s body and their lips crashed together in a passionate kiss. Viggo was consumed by the taste of him, the feeling of Hiccup’s body in his arms. Viggo could feel the lean muscles all throughout his deceptively thin body. He wanted this young man more than anything, and this growing desire refused to be silenced by any logic or reason.
Hiccup was his. He would do whatever it took to achieve that.
When they finally broke apart, both gasping for air, Hiccup grinned, cheeks flushed red and eyes twinkling with mischief. “You’re blushing.”
Viggo rolled his eyes and loosened his hold, though didn’t quite let go. “You must have had some reason for calling me all the way out here.”
“Actually… I was hoping that…” Hiccup looked away and bit his lip. “I thought maybe…”
“Don’t get all shy on me now, we’re in far too deep for uncertainty.”
The young man huffed a laugh at his quip and flicked his gaze to the dragon waiting impatiently behind him. “… I want you to join me for a flight.”
Viggo froze, eyes blown wide. “You want- on your NightFury?!”
“Toothless already agreed to it if that’s what you’re worried about…”
“Toothless agreed- actually no, I’m not unpacking that tonight. Why on earth would you want me on the back of a dragon? Why would you expect me to agree?”
“I…” Hiccup sucked in a breath and leaned into Viggo’s chest, gripping his tunic. “I just… I wanted to show you what it was like… then, maybe…”
Viggo sighed and rested his chin in auburn hair. “Maybe what?” He prompted gently.
“… Just join me? We’re in too deep for uncertainty, right?”
“Using my own words against me, I see.”
“The only person you can’t argue with.”
Viggo heaved a long, exhausted sigh and shook his head. “Alright. I suppose one flight couldn’t hurt anything, provided your dragon doesn’t throw me off.”
“Just hold on tight, you’ll be fine.” Hiccup pulled away, ignoring Viggo’s stunned expression as he dragged himself into the saddle. The man turned to him with a bright grin and an outstretched hand. Viggo hesitated, immediately regretting what he’d just agreed to. This was a bad idea, he could feel it.
He looked Hiccup over again, oozing confidence as he sat atop the beast with a warm smile and a hopeful gaze. That hope could burn away any doubts if only Viggo would allow it. It was the same way he looked at Viggo the first time they were ever alone like this.
Viggo’s ship had been caught in a storm, and Hiccup had been out on patrol when he found Viggo clinging to a piece of driftwood in the waves. He pulled him from the water and brought him to this very island, and here they stayed for days while the young man nursed him back to health. He told Viggo he wasn’t going to let him die, even as hypothermia did its best to claim him. Something shifted that day, and Viggo didn’t know if its intensity captivated him or threatened to sweep him away.
Perhaps it was both.
The two began meeting here in secret after that. It started with Viggo sending a letter. He had only meant to repay his debt to the man, but when Hiccup arrived, with a gameboard in hand, Viggo simply couldn’t refuse. They played Maces and Talons until dawn, talking about everything and nothing, then met each other again on the battlefield.
Their nights alone on this island were a reprieve for them. They would play a game, and discuss everything and nothing at all. Neither spoke of battle plans or their conflict. It was an unspoken agreement that on this island, they were not leaders on opposite sides of a war, but men who simply shared interests.
Then it turned into more.
Hiccup had been the first to open the door. He told Viggo how his cousin had been making fun of his lackluster sword skills. Evidently no one else in his tribe really knew how to train him given his physical limitations. Viggo wasn’t sure what overcame him in that moment, but he offered to teach the young man. So between games, they sparred with sticks. Then Viggo stashed wooden training blades in the cave.
One night, Hiccup had arrived later than usual, and just as Viggo was about to tear into him for his tardiness, he noticed the barely concealed grimace as the man dismounted from his dragon. Viggo seized his arm and demanded to know where he’d been hurt.
It was in that moment he realized that at some point during their games and spars, he’d grown to care for the young man. Concern overcame him as he fussed over Hiccup’s health, insisting he remove his chestplate so he could get a look at the wound. It was a gash along his side, stitched but still fresh and healing. The red skin was puckered painfully.
Viggo made him rest by the fireside while he went to forage some plants for a poultice. When he returned to his tribe, he came up with a reason to delay their next hunt for a week and prayed to the Gods that it would be enough.
Their first kiss had come unexpectedly. They sat down to play and Hiccup had challenged him. If he won the game, Viggo would have to concede to any one request within reason. If Viggo won, it would be Hiccup who conceded a small favor. They could ask only for something that could be provided that very night.
It had been the most exhilarating game Viggo had ever played. The young man was determined to win, and try as Viggo might, he had been soundly defeated.
“It would appear you’ve beaten me, dear Hiccup. So, what is your request?”
“Kiss me.”
Viggo had not been so impulsive since his youth, but he could not refuse Hiccup. He could never refuse him. Even now, when the young heir sat on the back of a dragon, pleading with him to come for a flight, he could not bring himself to refuse. Everything in him screamed to stop, to say no, to put an end to this, because if he did this there would be no turning back.
“It’s okay, Viggo. I won’t let you fall.”
Viggo felt his gentle reassurance wash away the doubt in his mind. He looked into Hiccup’s hopeful gaze, and before the young man could falter in his resolve, he took his hand and climbed into the saddle behind him. Viggo snaked his arms around Hiccup’s waist and huffed. “If you drop me…”
“Just hold on.” Hiccup laughed and made sure Viggo’s grip was good, and his position in the saddle was secure before he leaned down and patted his NightFury on the head. “Let’s go, Toothless.”
Without any further prompting, the dragon shot off into the air at a terrifying speed. Viggo clung to Hiccup, biting back a horrified scream as the beast went into a spiraling manuever, pointed straight up. The absolute maniac he was hanging onto for dear life was laughing with a childlike glee as they twisted higher into the air. The wind rushing past his ears was so loud, it almost carried the cheerful hollering away.
They burst through the clouds and a cold mist prickled Viggo’s face and neck, sending another chill down his spine when they came to a sudden and jarring halt. Viggo kept his eyes squeezed shut even as their flight evened out to something far more gentle, bracing himself for the next stomach turning dive.
“Open your eyes.” Hiccup’s gentle voice carried a playful lilt to it.
“No!” Viggo snapped, clinging tighter. “You’re going to dive again, I’ve seen how you fly.”
The young man wheezed a laugh, bringing a hand to Viggo’s arms to pry them apart. “At least loosen your grip, you’re going to snap me in half.”
“You said you wouldn’t drop me!”
“I’m not. Just look, would you? This is what I wanted to show you.” Viggo could imagine the infuriating smirk on the man’s face when after a beat of silence, he piped up again. “Or is the big, bad Chief Grimborn too scared?”
“I’m not scared.” Viggo huffed, loosening his grip only enough to allow the younger to breath. “I simply have a stronger sense of self preservation than you.”
“Oh come on! Live a little.” Hiccup laughed and leaned into him. “We’re vikings. It’s an occupational hazard.”
“I’d like a word with whoever is responsible for filling your head with such a foolish notion.”
“Just look, would you? I promise you’ll like it.”
Viggo breathed deeply through his nose and cracked his eyes open, peering over Hiccup’s shoulder at the vast expanse before them. Above the cloud cover, on a moonless night, the stars glimmered radiantly, dotting the landscape like little shining promises. Below him, the clouds were so thick he couldn’t even see the ground beneath them. There wasn’t so much as a bird or even another dragon up here with them, in this sea of stars.
The sight left Viggo breathless. The only other time in his life he could recall feeling so small and yet so powerful was the first time his ship had been caught in a storm. They battled the wind and waves for hours, shouting orders as water slammed across the deck. They barely escaped with their lives, and miraculously, Viggo had not lost even one sailor to the deep. When the storm broke, the ocean was eerily still. He remembered standing on the deck that night, with only his brother at his side, while his men slept peacefully below.
There had been nothing but water and sky as far as the eye could see, and Viggo had felt triumphant. He was on top of the world, and nothing, not even the mighty Njord, could stand in his way. He could handle anything life threw at him, nothing was impossible.
It was the kind of feeling he felt he could chase forever and never experience again. Never in his wildest dreams did he imagine he would find it on the back of a dragon, flying with a man who was supposed to be his enemy.
It should have been impossible.
“Beautiful, isn’t it?” Hiccup turned around, and even on this dark night, without the pale glow of the moon to brighten his features, Hiccup’s brilliant green eyes glittered like emeralds. The freckles dotted his dimpled cheeks like the stars in the sky, and Viggo mapped them all, committing each small perfection to memory.
“Absolutely stunning…”
A lovely red flush spread across the young man’s face before he turned forward, murmuring something that was stolen away by the wind. When he finally spoke loud enough for Viggo to hear again, that shy hope had returned. “Would you like to keep going?”
Would you prefer to land?
Viggo gave the young man a comforting squeeze and leaned against his back. There was nothing to even consider. “Of course.”
Hiccup needed no further prompting before he nudged Toothless into their usual maneuvers. They swooped and spun, diving into the thick clouds that misted their skin before exploding out from the cover with a puff of fog trailing behind them. Hiccup was laughing, the sound so bright and free that it fed a swelling fire in Viggo’s chest.
Toothless roared and blasted through the clouds, sending a pulse of light through the sky that illuminated them in an ethereal glow, gone as fast as it came. Viggo laughed with him as they dove and spun, and reached his hand out towards the stars.
If only they flew just a little higher, he felt he might even be able to catch one of those distant, twinkling lights.
If only it were possible, maybe he could bottle it up and keep this night with him for eternity. The feeling of dew upon his skin and the wind in his hair. The sound of Hiccup’s enchanting laughter. The weightless feeling in his chest.
He felt as though he could truly understand why Hiccup fought so fiercely to protect these creatures.
Viggo wasn’t sure how long they were up in the sky, but whether it had been hours or mere minutes, it felt as though their time together ended far too soon. Toothless descended, landing gently on the stones, and Viggo slid out of the saddle, offering his hand to Hiccup. The young man laughed and took it graciously, allowing Viggo to help him out of the saddle. He lifted his arm, and watched Hiccup twirl with a playful laugh right into his hold.
The young man sighed and leaned his weight against him, relaxed and happy in a carefree way that Viggo had never seen.
He wished he were able to see it more often. “My dear, I must admit… that was truly wonderful. Tell me, what inspired you to share something so precious with me?”
Hiccup hesitated, still comfortable in Viggo’s arms, and looked up at him, pressing a soft, innocent kiss to his jaw. “... I thought I’d change tactics.”
“Is that so?” A smirk pulled at Viggo’s lips as he guided Hiccup down to sit, and Toothless wandered over. The dragon settled behind him with an exasperated huff and curled around the two men. Viggo hesitated for only a moment before he settled against the NightFury’s scales, surprised by the warmth the creature exuded.
Hiccup nestled against him, far more at ease with the dragon’s presence. He clasped Viggo’s hand and the older man smiled as he traced his thumb over the cuts and callouses that littered the young man’s hands. “I still have a war to win after all.”
A startled laugh burst from Viggo’s chest and he held Hiccup closer, heaving a tired sigh. “I see…”
That was his angle, then… captivate Viggo with the creatures he’d sworn his life to protecting. Ryker was going to be difficult to convince. He pushed the thought aside and nestled his chin into Hiccup’s windswept auburn hair and breathed in the comforting smell of coal dust and mist.