Taming Hearts

Chapter Two: Dragon Day

The Haddock household had never been as frenzied as it was at dawn on the 25th of June, marking the twins' tenth birthday and officially opening them up to a lifetime of dragon training. Hiccup rose just before sunrise, his heart pounding in his ears and his spirits soaring. This was the day he would watch his children experience all the emotions he had felt when he had befriended Toothless. This was the day he would fly back to Berk with his children on their very own dragons rather than them riding with him or Astrid. This was the day his family would expand and he would begin building his own relationship with both dragons. After an agonizing decade, it was finally time. And he wasn't going to waste a second of it.

"Come on, Astrid!" he said cheerfully, shaking her warm body so that his wife would wake up. "It's time!"

"It'll be time when I can see two feet in front of me." Astrid moaned. Hiccup reached for a lamp. "With natural light."

"Suit yourself. But the kids'll be just as eager as me the second I wake them up." Hiccup chirped, hopping out of bed and having to shake his head repeatedly to clear it.

"Don't you dare. Come on, Hiccup, just a few more minutes. You've waited this long." Astrid put her pillow over her head.

"Astrid!" Hiccup whined, skipping around the bed to look his wife in the eye in the dim lighting. "Please wake up? Please? Please, please please?"

"Wake the kids up first, then wake me up." Astrid groaned. "At least let me get used to being alert."

"And you call yourself a morning person." her husband scoffed, clunking around the room without muffling a single sound.

Hiccup flew open the door, completely forgetting that he was still in his pajamas, and skipped down the hallway, pounding on the twins' bedroom doors. He heard an irritated snort from downstairs and knew that he had risen before Toothless would have wanted. He grinned. It wasn't every day that he was the one being annoying and waking up his sleepy friend.

"Wake up! It's dragon day!" Hiccup squealed. "Come on, get out of bed!"

Finn's door opened within seconds and the boy immediately pounded down the stairs to get breakfast over with. Adrianna was out of her room seconds later, her hair messy and still yawning as she followed her brother. Hiccup immediately ran into both rooms and grabbed the first clothes he saw, intending to take them downstairs so his children wouldn't have to run back upstairs to get dressed. He also took a hairbrush from Adrianna's nightstand and a piece of string. She would need to tie her hair back today.

By the time the kids were dressed and ready to go, Astrid finally came down the stairs. She took one look at the twins and immediately huffed a bit.

"You are not going out looking like that." she said flatly, taking in the sight of her daughter's bright red skirt and pink shirt. "You look ridiculous. Who dressed you this morning?" her eyes flew to Hiccup, who coughed sheepishly.

"I just wanted her to be ready..." he admitted. "I'll go get her something else to wear."

"No! No, you've done enough. I'll get something to go with that skirt." Astrid went back up the stairs, muttering something that distinctly sounded like, "Men."

Within a few minutes, everyone was ready to go and the sun had finally risen enough to give the family a clear view of the ocean so that they would know where they were going. The flight to Dragon Island wasn't very far but they wanted to be absolutely sure they were going the right way.

"So... last flight on our dragons with us. Take your pick." Hiccup said to the twins as they emerged from the house.

Finn bit his lip as he surveyed Toothless and Stormfly. Stormfly was the only dragon he had ridden by himself (Hiccup and Astrid wanted to make sure he and Adrianna could handle flying alone before getting their own dragons) but he had really enjoyed his flights on her. Adrianna had ridden on Erick's bright green Nadder a few times but, as much as she loved him, she didn't like flying on him. Erick was the only person who knew how to stop Charger from attempting to show off and making a fool of himself. No one on Berk had ever seen a more confident or, for that matter, more clumsy dragon. For this reason, Adrianna was keen to make her last flight a bit more special.