AN: Yooo, so this isn't an au or anything but for the sake of the fic we're gonna pretend that "to heather or not to heather" took place before the "maces and talons" two-parter, and this is set a few days before the events of "enemy of my enemy". I probably exacerbated hiccup's obsession with viggo a bit for the sake of the fic, but from where he stood in enemy of my enemy, I do think he could have been acting like this. Leave a review if you feel like it.

It was, without question, an absolutely beautiful day upon Dragon's Edge.

The final few remnants of the winter had at last been swept away by the gentle spring breezes, and a scant handful of brightly colored flowers had sprung into tentative bloom along the extreme edges of the woods. The sky had turned a bright and breathtaking cerulean, banishing the last of the smoky gray hues of the colder seasons, and sun poured forth in balmy golden rays down upon the long emerald grasses, blades bending and dancing in the warm, mild winds.

Hiccup could almost feel those winds, ruffling and tossing loose strands of his thick hair, slipping and stealing through his fingers, trifling with the edges of his sleeves as he soared with Toothless through those clear sapphire skies…

The heir to Berk shook himself and stifled a yawn, fighting to refocus upon his previous task and shoving all temptation to the back of his mind – later, perhaps. For the time being, he leaned over the vast map spread out across the whole of the modest oak table, and scrawled a few additional, hasty notes in stark black ink upon the yellowed parchment. Another mellow, pleasant breeze gusted through the open window, stirring at the paper.

Later, the dragon rider reminded himself, reaching to smooth the rumpled corners of the map. Later, when he'd double-checked the fences and fortifications they'd erected at the edges of the island last week; later, when he'd directed a few Night Terrors up into the watchtowers; later, when he'd served his shift of patrol duty, later when he'd ensured that all weapons were in serviceable condition, later when he actually felt like he'd made any sort of headway on anything at all…

The thought sent Hiccup sinking farther back into his seat with a sigh, raking long fingers roughly through unkempt auburn hair – he wanted, desperately so, to believe he had shored up the Edge to his utmost; that maybe the dragon sentries and double patrols he'd been taking on as of late were making a difference, however small; that their island was protected, that they weren't defenseless, that he was doing this right, that he had rectified his mistakes…but it was there. He was there—he was always, always there—and Hiccup could feel him—could see him—almost felt he could reach out and touch him—that twist to his mouth and tilt to his chin—Viggo—and Hiccup had—he hadn't done anything—he hadn't been able to do anything—might as well have given the man the Dragon Eye on a silver platter—he hadn't done anything—he had failed.

And it didn't matter, nothing mattered – the snow melting in the grasses, the winds flurrying in through his window and swirling around the little hut, the deep shadows under his own eyes, the scratches and bruises and bone-deep aches when he pushed himself a little harder than he ought – none of it mattered, none of it would ever matter—he could never, ever let himself fail again.

A sudden, strident creak upon the wood planks behind him pulled Hiccup sharply from his thoughts; he tensed and stilled, fingers clenching and momentarily twitching in the direction of the sword beside his desk—stop it, stop it, he scolded himself, stop panicking over every little thing. He pushed his chair back from the table and turned to face Astrid, standing in the center of the hut with a grin on her face that suggested she was very pleased with herself.

Behind her stood the other riders – Heather and Fishlegs kept exchanging bewildered glances, as though neither one was quite certain how they had wound up here, and Snotlout wore his usual smug self-confident smirk as visibly as the helmet atop his head.

"What—what are you guys doing here?" Hiccup got to his feet, puzzled eyes sweeping swiftly over his fellow trainers. Exactly why they had brought themselves up to his hut wasn't precisely clear, but if it meant the lot of them had trudged resolutely uphill for a good mile or more, it must be pretty serious.

Astrid's first words, however, was quick to dispel his alarm once more. "We're taking a break."

"Oh." Hiccup blinked, momentarily nonplussed. "Uh, that's great, but you know you guys don't have to tell me—

Snotlout snorted indignantly. "Yeah, because we totally dragged ourselves up here in hopes of soothing your tyrannical, paranoid rear—

Astrid quelled her fellow rider with a swift, sharp glance before returning her attention to Hiccup. "Look, we're going to take a break – have a few dragon races, maybe run through a round of Beat the Dome – and we wanted you to come with us."

"No." Cool mist curling around him, sinking down through his armor—seeping into his skin—he couldn't move—foolish—stupid—failure… "No, thanks." Hiccup turned abruptly away from them, fixing his eyes once more upon his map. "I've got a lot of work to do."

"Hiccup." Quite without warning, Astrid appeared beside him, slamming her palm forcefully atop the parchment, fingers splayed to conceal the hand-drawn islands from his view. "C'mon, if we're tired, then you've got to be exhausted. I mean, when's the last time you just flew? No—no drills, no test runs, no searching for some guy who doesn't want to be found?"

"Astrid—

"Or what about the last time you slept? When's the last time you slept for more than, oh, I don't know, four hours?"

"That isn't—

"Look." She planted herself solidly between the table and the boy and placed a hand on her hip. "Losing the Dragon Eye was a huge blow – to all of us. But you don't see any of the rest of us running ourselves into the ground, or beating ourselves up over something that we can't change anyway."

This accusation struck far too many nerves for the redhead to comfortably ignore. "Okay, first of all, I haven't been beating myself—

"We've done everything we can. The island is completely shielded from every side, the dragon sentries are doing way better than…some of our…human ones…" Her gaze flickered momentarily to the twins. "…and all our patrols haven't turned up a thing! You can break your back trying to protect this place, but you can't do it like this." She paused to push her hair back from her eyes. "Come with us."

"She's right, Hiccup," Fishlegs added, in a significantly gentler tone. "We're as ready as we'll ever be."

Hiccup glanced ruefully out the window. "I…no, I really need to finish this up. Maybe later."

These words seemed to cheer Snotlout considerably. "Does this mean we can use that brute force we talked about earlier?"

"Ooh! Ooh! Let it be us! Let it be us!" Tuffnut jumped eagerly up and down, waving his arms wildly about.

"We're experts at brute force," Ruffnut confirmed.

"No one is using any brute force," Hiccup interrupted.

"I will," Astrid declared, jabbing the redhead roughly in the chest with her finger. "If I have to."

"No, this is—this—I'm done here," Hiccup gave the girl's hand, still directed at his chest, a gentle, dismissive swat. "Go have fun, do whatever you want but don't let the twins blow anything up, and make sure Snotlout doesn't kill himself—oh, and mind the defenses—

"Hiccup, I did not come all the way up here," Snotlout began, dark eyes flashing, but Astrid cut him off before he could finish with a bellow of her own.

"You are going to take a break!" She dealt him another sharp jab in the side. "And then you're going to go to sleep!" A third swift prod at his hip to emphasize the final word, and he found a smile stretching at his lips, quite against his will; Astrid appeared too annoyed to notice, yet she followed him step-for-step as he backed away. "And you're going to stop worrying and stop blaming yourself—" another fierce dig at his side "—and you're going to have fun or—why are you smiling?"

"Stop!" Hiccup finally managed to grab her hand, reluctant grin still playing around his mouth. "Just quit poking me!"

The sudden, rather mischievous gleam in the girl's eyes let him know he had just said the wrong thing; without warning, her other hand crept up to his ribcage, scratching energetically at his side.

"No, no—" his smile turned quickly to a full, uncontrollable chuckle, and he took a hasty step away from her, crashing back into the opposite wall. Oh, no. The redhead looked desperately round the cluttered hut – by a serious stroke of misfortune, he had backed himself straight into a corner and, when he glanced hopefully to the other riders, he saw next to no sympathy in their eyes. In fact, they all appeared to be converging upon him, Astrid at their head – even Heather was wearing a slightly impish smile. "Wait—wait, wait, wait, wait, guys, hang on…" he shot Toothless, lashing his tail a few feet away, a swift, frantic look, but even the Night Fury had abandoned him now – that was amusement in those reptilian eyes, or he was a yak's uncle…

Hiccup didn't have any more time to think before his teammates pounced, fingers digging, sudden and merciless, into his hips, or probing maliciously at his stomach or slipping ruthlessly up under his arms; he swatted stubbornly at their hands for a moment or two before realizing this was utterly ineffective, and putting all his thoughts instead into escape.

"Guys!" he managed, in between his fits of indomitable laughter. Oh, wow, they were all really, really good at this… "Guys, guys, c-can't we—can't we t-t-talk about this—no, no, no, no, stop it stop it stop it!" He shied reflexively away from the fingers skittering viciously along the back of his neck.

"This isn't really the brute force I was expecting," Snotlout objected, prodding – with entirely too much glee, considering his complaints – at his cousin's exposed abdomen.

"I'll take it," Tuffnut threw in, fingers scribbling callously over the helpless rider's hip. "This is the longest we've ever been in the same room without him yelling at us."

"Stop—stop—stop," Hiccup panted, pushing fruitlessly at their arms once more. Gods, he could hardly think past the sensations besieging him; whenever he began to believe that he'd regained some semblance of control over himself, somebody would deliver another evil prod to one of his sweet spots, and he'd lose his mind all over again.

"Nope," Astrid cheerfully refused him, giving his underarm a wicked scratch as she spoke, and sending him into another round of hysterics. "I said you were going to have fun, remember?"

"Stop it—Astrid—quit it—Fishlegs!" Hiccup glanced hopefully toward the most sympathetic of the riders. "Fishlegs—you and I—we're friends…right?"

The blond boy sent him a quick, apologetic look before reaching down to deliver a cruel swipe to the back of Hiccup's knee.

"Fish—Fishlegs!" The redhead cried, stung by the betrayal and kicking his good leg in a wild and unsuccessful attempt to free himself. "Stop it—seriously—guys—stop! Stop it!"

"What's in it for us?" Ruffnut demanded shrewdly.

"Total and irrevocable control of the Edge?" Snotlout suggested.

"Toothless!" Hiccup called pleadingly, twisting to look at the dragon.

The Night Fury merely fluffed his wings and let loose a laugh of his own, looking extremely pleased with himself.

"Toothless—can't believe you—fed you cod yesterday—ungrateful…" He broke off with a yelp, dissolving once more into helpless snickers as Ruffnut resumed tickling the back of his neck. "Please! Please stop, please!"

"I dunno, Hiccup," Astrid's hands mercilessly attacked every ticklish spot they could find on their journey from underneath his arm down to his stomach. "Didn't I say something about a break?"

"I can't—do that—I have—stuff—to do," he gasped for breath, cheeks hot from the exertion of his escape attempts as he gazed imploringly up at her. Odin have mercy, because he was about to die if they didn't stop.

"Oh, that's a shame," she countered, but her sentiment didn't match the rather delighted grin on her face at all. She ran her nails lightly just above his waistline, and he burst into full, fresh laughter.

"No no no no stop stop stop please…" he sent Toothless one final, desperate glance but the dragon still looked entirely too entertained by the whole situation. The sight, and the sensations exploding unbearably all over his body, broke the last of his resolve. "All right! All right, all right, I'll t-take a br-break! Just—please—stop it!"

The tickling slowed a moment before sputtering, wholly and ultimately to a decisive halt.

For several moments Hiccup lay, drawing in great gulps of air after his unexpected torment, smile still pulling unconquerably at the corners of his lips. Thank all the gods in Asgard they'd stopped, though his skin still tingled uncomfortably every few seconds.

The other riders surveyed him with varying degrees of unsettling amusement but all remained silent, allowing him to catch his breath.

Once he had done so, and risen to readjust his awry armor and flatten his flyaway hair, Fishlegs blurted, apprehension evident in his voice, "Hiccup, we're sorry we went that far, but we had to do something! You wouldn't listen to us!"

"I'm not," Tuffnut broke in. "I'm not sorry. That was great, can we make it a weekly thing?"

"Do you think we really might have gotten the run of the Edge?" Ruffnut put in wistfully.

Hiccup ignored them. "No, Fishlegs – you guys are right. Maybe I just need to take a step back from things for a little while." Cool mist curling around him, only this time he pushed the thought back. "Maybe I could use a break."

Astrid broke into a smile and bumped his shoulder lightly with her own. "Knew you'd come around. So about that dragon race…"