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It was a hot summer day on Dragon's Edge, but thankfully, there was nothing to do today. The six teens and their dragons had poured their energy into preparations all week, getting ready for a potential attack from Viggo. They had gathered supplies, forged Gronkle iron, trained nonstop, and came up with new plans, good ones. Now, at last, they were done.
Inside the clubhouse, the twins lay sprawled out on the floor by Barf and Belch, limbs thrown carelessly to the side, Snotlout sat atop the clubhouse table, fanning himself with a flimsy paper fan, while Hookfang lay on the floor beside him, eyes half-closed in a peaceful nap.
Astrid, full of energy, paced around the clubhouse. With each step, Stormfly followed her. Fishleg busied himself with smashing ice in the corner, planning to make cloths filled with ice in them. He would fold them with the ice and then hand them to his friends; he didn't want them to get heat sick. Meatlug, curiously tilting her head, watched her rider.
Meanwhile, Hiccup sat quietly at the table, poring over their carefully laid out plans, a furrow of concentration marking his brow. Doubts nagged at him—had they missed something? They couldn't afford to make one mistake and the weight of responsibility pressed heavily on his shoulders. At his feet, Toothless lay curled up, deep in sleep.
With a satisfied grin, Fishlegs approached the rest of the group, carrying the cool cloths he had prepared. He handed one to each rider, who looked curiously.
“Huh? What is this?” Tuffnut asked, scrunching his nose in confusion.
“I don’t know, but it’s cold so who cares” Ruffnut replied, letting out a contented sigh as she took the cloth and placed it on her forehead.
“They’re pieces of cloth filled with crushed ice,” Fishlegs explained, “I didn’t want anyone getting heat sick, so I thought this might help. Just put it on your forehead, like Ruff is doing.”
Everyone complied, contented sighs slipping from their lips as they felt refreshing cold against their skin. “Finally, something cold! I felt like I was melting,” Snotlout said dramatically, wiping an imaginary bead of sweat from his brow.
“Quick, put the cloth down!” Astrid shot back teasingly, a mischievous glint in her eyes.
Hiccup chuckled, and laughter sounded through the room from everyone else, “Shut up, Astrid,” Snotlout muttered under his breath. “This is really nice, Fishlegs. Thank you,” Hiccup said, rubbing the cool cloth against his face, the relief washing over him.
“No problem! They were pretty easy to make,” Fishlegs replied warmly.
A small “hm” escaped Hiccup as he scanned the plans laid out before him, his brow furrowed in thought.
He wondered if he should have everyone train again, but they already trained so much yesterday, and everything was almost perfect. They got their maneuvers just right, the timing was just a second off, they knew the plan well and worked very hard to get it right and now, as he glanced around at his friends, he realized he couldn’t bear the thought of making them train in this heat. They would definitely get heat sick.
Just then, as if she read his mind, Astrid settled beside him, placing her hand gently over his. “Hiccup, we’ve done everything we can; you should relax now,” she encouraged softly. He let out a long sigh. “Yeah, you’re right. You all deserve a break,” he replied, leaning in to kiss her cheek, the warmth of her presence grounding him.
“You do too,” she whispered, her eyes meeting his with understanding.
“I know, and I have something in mind,” he said, rolling up the maps and plans.
She raised an eyebrow, curiosity sparkling in her eyes as she waited for him to elaborate. “Hey everyone!” Hiccup called out, raising his voice “What do you say we put our cove to use?”
The group turned to him, confusion etched on their faces. “Hiccup, I swear to Thor if this is about another training exercise—” Snotlout began, but Hiccup quickly cut him off.
“No, no, Snotlout, it’s not a training exercise. You’ve all been working incredibly hard, and with this heat, I thought a refreshing swim in the cove might be just what we need. But if you aren’t up for it…”
Before Hiccup could finish his sentence, the group bolted toward the door, their dragons following eagerly, leaving Hiccup and Astrid standing side by side, arms crossed and shaking their heads in amusement.
“Well, I guess that was a yes for the cove,” Hiccup said, a small smile creeping onto his face. Astrid chuckled lightly, nudging him playfully. “Come on, let’s go!” she urged, Together they walked to the cove eventually catching up with the others.
When they got to the cove everyone shed their armor and their boots, the girls took off their leggings but left their skirts for modesty, the boys took off their tunics, well except for Tuffnut who left his on.
They all ran in the water, even the dragons joined them, Tuffnut was slowly walking into the water, hands to his chest and eyes looking down "Uh, Tuff are you gonna take off your tunic?" Snotlout asked him with a raised eyebrow, Tuffnut went wide-eyed for a second but quickly put on a smile “Uh no I'd rather keep it on” Tuffnut replied.
“Why?, We all have our tunics off” Snotlout pressed, genuine curiosity in his tone, Tuffnut fidgeted, unsure of how to answer, while his sister glared at Snotlout with an angry expression, her protective instincts flaring. “Snotlout, maybe he’s just not comfortable. Leave him alone,” Hiccup scolded, stepping in to defend Tuffnut before walking over to him.
Hiccup pulled Tuffnut close to him putting an arm around his waist “Come on Tuff, the water's nice, it feels refreshing” he reassured him, Tuffnut looked to Hiccup and back to the water, it did feel nice, but he was scared of going too deep, he couldn't swim.
Nonetheless, he nodded and let Hiccup lead him deeper into the water, the others watching them, amazed at how gentle Hiccup was with him. When they got to about waist deep, Tuffnut grabbed on tighter to Hiccup.
“It's okay I got you, are you sure you don't want to take your tunic off, when it gets wet it might weigh you down,” Hiccup told him gently and Tuffnut looked around at his friends and his sister who were looking at him in concern.
He was worried about them seeing his scars, but when he looked at them he realized they all had their own scars. “You know we wouldn't judge you if that's what you're worried about,” Hiccup said softly, "yeah Tuff, you have nothing to worry about, we're your friends we don't judge” Astrid chimed in and everyone nodded with agreement, even Snotlout.
He thought about it, he trusted these people with his life, why would it matter if they saw him with his tunic off “Well okay, I just have a lot of scars” he said quietly “We all do Tuff, it's the consequences of being a dragon rider, see my scars?, they're all over me” Hiccup said showing off his scars.
“Yeah dude, look at mine, Hooky made sure I was covered in em, i even got some burn marks from him,” Snotlout said and Hookfang huffed, blowing hot air on him “Hookfang” Snotlout said angrily which got a little giggle out of Tuff.
One by one everyone showed Tuff their scars, the girls even lifting up their tunics slightly to show theirs, Snotlout was told to look away when they did to which he muttered “not fair” under his breath.
Eventually, Tuffnut felt comfortable enough after all the support he was getting, he felt like he could breathe again. Finally, he took off his tunic throwing it on shore and cheers sounded from his friends, encouraging him, telling him he's beautiful, Snotlout may or may not have called him sexy, he turned red from embarrassment but said thank you and let Hiccup lead him further into the water.
They went to where everyone was, it was pretty deep in but Hiccup held on to Tuffnut and Tuffnut could still feel his feet touching the ground so he wasn't panicking yet.
Ruffnut splashed water at him “Hey!” he yelled playfully and splashed water back which turned into everyone splashing water at each other. Eventually, Hiccup let go of Tuffnut but Tuff was more confident in the water now, so he didn't mind.
They stood in the cove until sunset, having water fights and talking about nonsense, talking about the memories they made on the edge, the good and the bad, having random competitions to keep themselves busy, and when the sun finally went down it was less scorching outside, they dried off with the towels they had left nearby, gathered their belongings and headed back to the clubhouse for dinner and a game of maces and talons.
The summers on Dragon's Edge may be brutal, but the six teens still found a way to make the best out of it, With the sounds of water splashing and laughter filling the air, the riders and their dragons couldn't be happier to call The Dragon's Edge their home.