in-universe drabble as a break

also because friendmom #3 fINALLY SAW BOTH FILMS

PROUD OF YOU MOM

And I once again own nothing.

In the air around Dragon Island, two restless young adults with a disturbing knack for getting into serious amounts of trouble were reenacting-or pre-enacting?-a solemn vigil in the name of the chief.

They'd cast off a rag doll in the shape of a human-and 'shape' is used very loosely here-on a 'ship' made of twigs and leaves. The girl was standing atop a Deadly Nadder, walking from its back end to its front.

(She'd been the most eager to learn the trick from her soon-to-be mother-in-law, because, well, it was her, and she loved being five steps ahead in everything.)

Her voice was respectful and a bit on the overly-dramatic side, but hey, it was a reenactment, so she could do whatever she wanted.

"May Valhalla accept you into it's large, shiny gates, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III. You were frail and weak-"

"-I'm not actually dead yet, Astrid-"

"-Shut up, I'm not done-You were frail and weak, but you had a heart of gold and I loved you anyway-"

"-Awww, thank-"

"-Shush-But you're about to be burned now, because you were dumb and disobeyed your mother. We'll miss you, Hiccup. But hey, I'm chief now, so whatever."

"So heartfelt," Hiccup said, frowning. "How moving."

Astrid shook her shoulders, grinning. "'So heartfelt. How moving.'"

"You get a real kick outta that, dontcha?"

"Me and Ruff, yeah," she replied with a smile. "So now what, Mr. 'I'm-Chief-And-I-Think-This-Is-A-Good-Idea-So-I'm-Doing-It'?"

Hiccup pouted, slouching on his saddle. "Did I really say that?"

"Something like that, yeah."

He lay back down on Toothless, patting his friend's side.

"Next time, bud, just drop me off the cliff."

"Ngrooooo."

Astrid laughed-high and hearty. "Don't worry, if he doesn't, I will."

"You are incredibly supportive, milady."

She dropped down to her saddle, nudging Stormfly to pick up some speed. "I'm one of those things! Race you home!"

Hiccup obliged with a shake of his head, narrating the race with an announcer's voice. He almost forgot he was in trouble.

"What did I say?"

"...Thaaat I should've brought you with me?"

Hiccup was smiling unconvincingly at his mother; the latter had had her students leave the Dragon Academy before having a stern talk with her son.

Valka shook her head. "I said that you shouldn't go after the Skrill in the middle of a thunderstorm-which you already knew was a bad idea to begin with, son, you do have a metal leg-to test it's shot limit."

"But... Science!" the young man half-yelled. "I just thought we could use what we learned-aaandddd you're giving me The Look, so I'm just gonna throw in that Astrid went with me."

Valka's jaw dropped. "You put Astrid in danger for the sake of an experiment?"

"Ah-ah-ah, she's a Hofferson! She loves danger!" Hiccup countered, wagging his finger. "Besides, she's been dating me for the past five... six... years. Which she did WILLINGLY. And I'm the poster boy for all things danger-related."

His mother raised an eyebrow.

"...In that I attract all the danger-related things," he added hastily. "Not the point. The-the point is, we're back, we're safe, and you can go back to teaching that new batch of riders, because I'm definitely going back to the smithy to... conduct... customer service. Because I'm the chief. Yeah."

Valka nodded at the gate of the Academy, and the young chief rode out on his Night Fury, left foot latched and heart heavy.

"You think she knows, bud?"

"Groo. Ngrooo."

He reached for the pouch on his saddle, flipping a small metal ring around in the air.

"It would've been amazing," he said, reaching for another object-a translucent bulb with wires inside it, "if the Skrill lit up the island, you know?"

"Ngrooooooo," Toothless purred, nodding his head.

Hiccup sighed, putting on his helmet. "Well, back to the drawing board."

(They spent the next few of days collecting light bulbs off the island. Slowly, the words 'Will you marry me?' disappeared one letter at a time, until Dragon Island was completely clear of any lightning-attracting material.)

hehehehe