Chapter Text
Hiccup stretches a little as Toothless wraps him in a large black wing. His eyes trace the stars above as the plasma heated ground below him keeps him warm. He churrs sleepily and gets a lick to his hair. He makes a warbly protest and Toothless laughs at him.
“~Little Queen.~”
The dragonese is soft and Hiccup smiles despite the teasing. It feels kinder than any of the teasing that had happened at Berk. Especially the teasing and pointed words before he slew the Red Death with his best friend and became leaders of the nest. The words of his fellow Vikings had made him alone before. So when the nest had moved to Berk, Hiccup had spent most of his time with the dragons.
He slept with them, ate with them, flew with Toothless and in packs. Learning the language of the creatures came with dedicated watching and practice, but it warmed his insides to be able to communicate with his friend and with all those who called him Queen. And the excitement wild dragons got from hearing him speak after smelling the nest’s scents all over him was always cute to see.
Hiccup turns and presses into Toothless’ underbelly. Warm. He had always been clod trying to sleep at night at Berk. The island was cold and wet, with the cold air burrowing into bones. Given his lack of muscle or fat, that cold enjoyed digging into him fairly frequently. The forge with its blazing fires and sparking metal and in his bed with six or so layers of blankets were some of the only places he felt truly warm. At least that had been true before he became the leader of a nest of firebreathing dragons. Now he forever is pressing into Toothless’ naturally warm scales or opening his arms to any dragon wishing to rub their scent markings against him and get scratches and love.
Toothless churs again, asking.
“~Sick?~”
Hiccup huffs out a negative and churs lazily. Dragons were such worrywarts all the time. The nest had insisted that at least twenty dragons travel with Hiccup to beyond the edge of the map after he had discovered the dragon eye while looking for scrap to use in new designs. They had set up a secondary nest on the island Hiccup had taken to calling the Edge. But now they worried that he was not doing well because there were none of ‘his own species’ around to watch him. Toothless had pressed the matter a few times. Hiccup feels like he is fine. He would really rather keep the Edge to himself as he had for the last lunar cycle.
But he should go back and check on the nest. Take a break from his mission to save and help all the dragons he can to make sure the dragons of the nest are still doing okay under the care of the lieutenants he left behind.
“~Visit home?~”
He chirps to Toothless.
“~Whatever Little Queen wants. Second nest will be safe. Lots of eyes.~”
Toothless sleepily replies. Hiccup agrees. They did have lots of eyes. Many were dragons that Hiccup had broken out of cages and traps with his bare hands. Some had limbs that Hiccup had forged himself to help them.
That had been a bit of a shock when flying out beyond the Archipelago. To find a tribe of dragon hunters operating with metal that Hiccup had never seen before. Metal resistant to dragon fire. He had vaguely heard of such tribes, but never knew much about them. His own tribe had fought dragons, but more in a self-defense sort of way. His father, father’s father, and on and on, had sought the nest to try to end the raids. But to seek out dragons who had no interest in interacting with humans or their villages was sort of a strange thing to see. Hiccup had made it his mission to save dragons.
The hunters thought he was a dragon. He had heard them whispering as much while sneaking through their camp to break open cages. Whispers of a small dragon riding a Night Fury. They did not know he was human. Probably for the best. They might get ideas if they knew he was human.
Dagur certainly did.
Hiccup shudders a little and gets another lick of his hair from his friend. He settles, feeling safe. Nothing could touch him while under Toothless’ wings. No safer place in the world.
Hiccup’s nights were often like this. Full of reflection and thought. Oftentimes designs would spin around while he also tried to analyze any issues that he had.
He would be visiting home tomorrow. He would be checking up on his nest, and seeing if any of the prosthetics would need to be replaced on any of the dragons or adjusted. And he supposes that he would need to speak with his father and the dragon riders. Hopefully, he could avoid any more attempts to convince him that other Vikings should come out to the Edge.
Dreamless sleep takes him as warmth swirls through his bones. Toothless purrs, the noise rattling Hiccup’s bones pleasantly.