After growing up together, after being the first Berkians to ride dragons together, after defeating the Red Death, establishing the Dragon Academy, and protecting their village together, Hiccup, Astrid, Ruffnut, Tuffnut, Snotlout, and Fishlegs had spent a lot of time... well, together. And so, when they began to take up residence on Dragon's Edge (together, if you can believe it), they had all been quite surprised by the revelation that there were still things they didn't know about each other.

Living on the Edge meant close and unbroken proximity. It meant planning together, building together, eating and drinking together. It meant sleepy half-conversations over breakfast, goofing off in the late afternoon, and loud chatter around a roaring fire to keep the night's darkness and silence at bay. In short, their relationship was now less like 'friends', and each day something closer to 'family'. And though it had been surprising at first, they were now learning things about each other nearly all the time - eating habits, routines, quirks, and tells.

And sleeping habits.

The twins, for instance, had been a great surprise. Known though they were for their mischief, madness, and general all-round obnoxiousness, Ruff and Tuff were almost eerily still in their sleep. The constancy of their noise and activity throughout the day made it near impossible to imagine a Thorston twin being anything close to motionless. And yet, they slept both still and silent, remaining in almost the exact same position in which they went to sleep. (Hiccup, on seeing this, had been alarmed enough to ask Fishlegs uncertainly, "Umm... are they okay?".) But eventually, the other teens figured that this was the twins' way of storing their energy, so they could be crazy from dawn 'til dusk, and then some.

Hiccup, on the other hand, moved around a lot in his sleep. This peculiarity was reflected in Toothless as well, which often resulted in much amusement for the other dragon riders. Throughout the night, as both would shift in their sleep, the night fury and his rider could be found in varying and sometimes ludicrous arrangements, with Hiccup sleeping sprawled across Toothless' back, or Toothless in deep sleep, nearly entirely on top of his rider's equally-unconscious form. (Astrid had one particularly laughable memory of waking up to find Hiccup curled comfortably atop Toothless' broad head, his prosthetic dangling dangerously close to one of the night fury's eyes.) But this constant movement had a useful side, too; when Hiccup was still, the others knew that something was wrong.

But as for knowing when something was wrong, nobody beat Astrid - even, it seemed, in her sleep. A lifetime of honing battle reflexes and sharpening senses meant that Astrid seemed to be conscious of everything, even while unconscious. As an early riser, she was the first to sleep, but she somehow appeared to react to the others' late night conversations and actions. Hiccup remembered one night, when Snotlout had been particularly irksome, glancing over to see Astrid sleeping quietly, frowning in annoyance. Indeed, her sleep reactions were so acute that Tuffnut had once suggested chucking an axe at her face, just to see if she would sleep-dodge it. Hiccup and Fishlegs had been quick to point out the potential flaws of that plan, and the ensuing discussion rose to a volume that had Astrid awake and angry in seconds. "Will you guys be quiet? I'm trying to get some sleep here," she had snapped. "And Tuffnut," she added, as she resettled against Stormfly's wings, "if you even think about attacking me in my sleep, I promise you'll never sleep comfortably again."

Fishlegs was arguably the most normal when it came to sleeping. Occupying the figurative middle ground, Fishlegs didn't move around nearly as much as Hiccup, nor did he remain eerily still like the twins. Instead, he slept quietly and calmly, with only the occasional shift or snore. He was, however, a very deep sleeper, often falling asleep within seconds of laying down. Fishlegs also had a strange ability to sleep practically anywhere. After a long day of hard labor or intensive research, it wasn't unusual for the other riders to stumble upon a sleeping Fishlegs - asleep on the Clubhouse floor, balanced precariously on a tilted chair, slumped against a shaded tree, or passed out at a desk, using the Dragon Eye as an impromptu pillow. It was common practice, on these occasions, to simply go and find Meatlug, who would wake up her rider and fly him to their hut, where he could sleep on an actual bed.

Snotlout might have held the title for the most normal sleeper; he slept fairly quietly and mostly still, too. This apparent normalcy was ruined, however, by his dragon. Hookfang, as it turned out, was a fitful sleeper, waking up at random intervals during the night. It was a rare occasion when the monstrous nightmare managed a full night's sleep. The problem with this, however, was that Hookfang seemed stubbornly insistent that Snotlout be on the same sleeping schedule. And thus, Snotlout's would-be normal nights were spent being rudely awoken a few times a night, hot dragon breath in his face, or a tail poking him persistently in the side. Even worse were the times Hookfang decided to wake his rider by flaming up. This resulted, predictably, in immediate chaos, during which all the other riders and dragons were woken up, too. "Thanks a lot, Hookfang," Snotlout would snap irritably. But he would soon fall back asleep against Hookfang's warm scales, apparently at ease. Either he had gotten used to his dragon's crazy schedule, or... he simply couldn't find fault with Hookfang for wanting his rider's company.

For all of the dragon riders, life on Dragon's Edge was... shall we say, educational. But discovering each other's quirks and idiosyncrasies - becoming aware of all the little innumerable differences between them - strangely served to bring them closer together. They began to know and understand each other on a deeper, personal level.

So, when Snotlout's hut caught on fire in the dead of night, it was not an emergency; it was Hookfang waking up.

When someone walked by Meatlug and greeted her simply with a location, it wasn't a mark of questionable sanity; it meant that Fishlegs was asleep at that location, and Meatlug was going to pick him up.

When Astrid smiled at someone's joke while sleeping, it was not a trick of the light. And when Hiccup slept without assuming a hundred different unlikely positions, he would still be feeling sick the next day, even if he wouldn't admit it. And when the twins were still and silent, it was only a brief respite; they would be back at their crazy antics with the sunrise.

And if the dragon riders could tell all these things just by each other's sleeping habits... well, maybe they did spend too much time together.

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(A/N: Hey, thanks for reading! Hope you enjoyed it! I was considering doing a follow-up about the ways in which the dragon riders wake up… Anyone interested?)