wandering hearts | hiccup haddock iii

ix

The guttural sound of regurgitation was not pleasant, especially when you're about to bite into a steaming, freshly cooked fish. In fact, it almost made [Name] lose her appetite altogether.

She side-eyed the Night Fury and the saliva-covered fish head that now laid on the ground next to her. Her expression was as repulsed as Hiccup's had been when he actually had to eat a part of one. He held back a shiver at the memory, sitting next to her as they rested from the flight test. It had gone swimmingly, save for the almost dying portion of the journey.

Toothless let out a curious thrum in question, attention on his slimy uptake. Hiccup lifted the fish he was currently roasting over a small fire.

"Uh, no thanks, I'm good."

At his polite denial, the dragon centered his sights on the lass leaning against his strong neck. She shook her head.

"Still finishing mine," she said, somewhat relieved. "Thanks, though, Tooth."

She scratched behind his ears in return for his sweet but ever so disgusting offer.

He purred slowly before rattling his head from her grasp and getting back to his meal. She was about to follow suit when sharp cries resonated from above.

Hiccup looked somewhat alarmed as Toothless growled behind him, curling around his fish protectively as [Name] watched, wary as a flock of Terrible Terrors scattered towards them, landing clumsily. She didn't want to end up like Tuffnut with a bloody, bitten nose from dragon training.

One came dangerously close to her, eyes set on Toothless' dinner. The red Terror froze from taking another step when its massive counterpart snapped at it in warning. That left an opening for one of the little green rats to swoop in and drag away the slobbery fish head. Toothless didn't seem terribly upset over the stolen, sloppy seconds. He did, however, lean his head back when a fish from his pile stuck up straight in a suspicious manner.

[Name] curled around him to watch the odd dance of the dead ocean-dweller before jumping back. Another Terror had emerged from the other side of the pile, puppeteering the dead meat. She wasn't afraid of it so much as the quick lunge of Toothless as he fought for his food. Once again, she was reminded just how dangerous of a creature he could be if threatened.

The thought quickly dissipated as he won the small game of tug of war, swallowing his fish greedily as the Terror growled preparing to blow a stream of hot flame. [Name] braced for another round of heat, hoping her hair wouldn't end up as singed as Hiccup's. This time she'd be on the receiving end as he'd taken the brunt of it during their flight not even a half hour ago.

Surprisingly, the little Terror didn't even get a chance to produce a lick of flame as Toothless shot right before its exhale, singeing him from the inside out. The sight of its swollen belly and Toothless' taunting drones had her giggling which quickly turned to full-on laughing as the Terror billowed out a cloud of smoke, stumbling away in defeat.

"Heh, not so fireproof on the inside are ya?" Hiccup humored the small dragon, tossing his meal towards it. "Here ya go."

The Terror didn't waste time in gobbling the entire thing down, wandering over towards Hiccup with wide eyes. [Name] waited for it to turn and snatch up her food, but it merely situated itself on the other side of Hiccup, nudging under his arm to lay by his side.

Shocked and amazed, the boy gently stroked the winged reptile in awe.

"Everything we know about these guys...is wrong ," he murmured, utterly gobsmacked.