Work Text:
Viggo mentions the idea for the first time during one of their maces and talons games.
The game is not going well for him. Viggo's chief is securely protected, while his own is completely pushed into the corner. There's not much strategy to do or clever stunts to pull. His only chance relies on his opponent making a mistake and looking at Viggo's smirk, he knows it too. Maybe he could just make a point by moving other figures away from harm's way. Chief may die, but the tribe will persevere.
When the words come out of Viggo's mouth, the whole world stops.
He proceeds to explain his proposition while pushing Hiccup's chief away from any form of protection. All the profits and drawbacks, how would it work and what would be his job. It's not perfect, but it's obvious he thought about it. Hiccup feels nausea building up. How much did he think about this? For how long?
He automatically protests and nearly flips the table with the figures. It wouldn't be such a loss with Hiccup being only 2 rounds away from losing. His chief is cut away from everyone, dragon is too far away to do any substantial damage, his ships are locked on the other side and other figures are scattered around or already taken out. There's no way to win.
How dare he say such things? Does he really think of him that low? He thought- he thought Viggo was one of the few who saw him for his brain. He feels tears building behind his eyes.
Instead, he starts thrashing around and insulting Viggo with the best that he has. There are chains around his wrists tying him to the chair, so he can't do much. The dragon hunter is just enjoying Hiccup's pathetic outburst. The blurry vision prevents him from seeing, but Viggo's chuckles tell him enough. He won't be ridiculed like this.
He flips the table. The head of his chief roles down to his metal foot.
He still has scars from the followed-up torture.
After that, dragon hunters up their game. The realisation hits Hiccup like a cold bucket of water. Everything till this point was just hunters playing around and indulging them. Now the invisible wall that was holding them back disappeared. Their quests are failures more often than wins, and they always lose something no matter how successful they are. They gained more scars now than they ever did during dragon raids.
Then their intel started getting faulty. Even from trusted sources. There was always some information wrong, and it was driving Hiccup insane because he doesn't have the mental capacity to plan for every single scenario.
Hiccup has his suspicions, but he won't act on them until he has evidence.
He is just so tired. He can't stop thinking and analyzing. Even flights with Toothless are now just more time to strategize. It's driving him insane. He always prides himself on being the smart one and having the answer, but his brain feels like it's gonna melt.
He wonders if this is one of Viggo's strategies. In that case, Hiccup is tired of denying that it works.
He gets reminded of the proposal again after one particularly bad raid. Hunters have gotten hold of a death song and were luring wild dragons into their cages. They went in thinking there were approximately 20 hunters overseeing the whole situation. Hiccup planned on 40 and Ryker.
More than 70 hunters welcomed them with Viggo and Ryker at the front. They tried to escape, but the shape of the island was directly against them. The crescent moon had beaches in the widest part, while the ends went into high cliffs. Hunters with their arrows were all around them, and only Fishlegs with Meatlug escaped thanks to their immunity.
Hiccup was taken by Viggo, while his team was taken away by Ryker. They were all tightly tied up and chained, with gags to shut them up. Ryker especially enjoyed dragging them on their knees forward.
Hiccup watched from his place by Viggo's side. He wasn't tied in any way, only his weapon confiscated. The younger Grimmborn brother didn't even try to hide his smirk. They played this game so many times, that Hiccup easily falls into his role every time.
He screams after the riders, throws Ryker a dirty look, and has a small witty conversation with Viggo, who he then diligently follows into his personal tent where they play a game of maces and talons. Their score is currently tied up, but Hiccup knows Viggo was just humouring him in certain cases.
He stopped trying to run away ages ago. It never worked, and it resulted in more trouble and injuries than it was worth.
They fall into a familiar pattern of questions and omissions, strategies and metaphors, just him and Viggo.
Hiccup is in a bad place. Without noticing he's been played into a trap. Most of his figures are safe, he's even 2 turns away from taking Viggos chief.
The problem is, that his own chief has only 1 figure as a defence, and Hiccup has only now realised he's surrounded from all sides. He can't see a way to win this.
He considers losing. It usually means a round of torture, but Hiccup's so used to it now, that it may be a better alternative than the unknown that a draw brings.
On the other hand, it could end in a draw. Viggo usually gave him some sort of reward for winning. Anywhere from a compliment to a chance to see his riders. This reward occasionally gave them an opportunity to escape.
Was that always planned too?
They never had a draw before. Maybe they will just restart the game, but the Grimmborn isn't the type that enjoys draws. Maybe he will flip even more. How can he be sure Viggo won't turn the punishment into a reward to justify the result?
His musings were interrupted by screaming from outside.
Ruffnut.
In a panic, he stands up, but before he even takes a step a disapproving sound comes from Viggo. Hiccup freezes and turns his eyes towards him, still having his face turned towards the scream. The disapproving look tossed in his direction makes Hiccup embarrassed. Viggo knows him so well, what is that to say this wasnt planned too? What is he trying to achieve? Is this a test to see if he can control himself from saving his friends or goes back to the game to bet their lives instead?
Viggo moves his finger in an up and down motion. He hesitantly sits down, still not facing him.
The Grimmborn sighs from the side where he is from. Hiccup wants to turn his head but his body feels stuck in one place. The only thing worse than the current situation is the game in front of him.
After a few minutes of silence, his captor's attention has run out. Hiccup can see from the corner of his eye how Viggo crosses his arms against his chest.
He knows what is coming, but it doesn't stop the anxiety from bubbling in his stomach.
The proposal again.
But this time a bit different. A bit better advantages, few more disadvantages. More thought out. Hiccup pretends to think about it, not saying anything. He finally convinces his body to move and turns his head back, now staring at the game that is either going to end with him losing or a draw. He feels Viggos stare piercing through him, reading him completely.
The silence stretches. Hiccup is trying to maintain at least some resemblance of control. Viggo may already know his answer, but he will delay it for as long as he's able.
New voices start screaming.
The game ends in a draw. Hiccup agrees and Viggo takes him to a secluded location to negotiate the smaller details. They are covered by the night, only stars being witnesses to Hiccup's doom.
They decide to meet once a week. Hiccup has an array of excuses thought out and practised to come out believable. He takes it a step further. He leaves Toothless on a separate island from where he takes a boat to their meeting place. He makes an automatic tail disguised as their special semi-automatic one, so Toothless could escape in case things go awry. He doubts they will but Hiccup refuses to take a chance.
The meetings start off innocent enough. They just play games, usually maces and talons, but others too. They talk during them, from which colour is their favourite to the most effective strategies.
Hiccup actually loves those conversations and looks up to them. Viggo has an interesting worldview, and while it doesn't look like he will change his mind about dragons any time soon, his knowledge about other topics is vast. Hiccup is jealous. He was never allowed to travel far, and even with Toothless they have him tracked at all times.
Their conversations don't feel like information gathering. They feel like 2 friends meeting up and talking about anything that comes to their minds. Viggo challenges his thinking in ways he didn't think were possible. He never realised how much conversations like this are missing from Hiccup's life.
He doesn't want to insult Fishlegs, because he loves nerding out with him. It's just that Fishlegs misses the edge that elevates his and Viggo's conversation. He has the knowledge, but that's that. He doesn't question it further, he doesn't analyse it and gut it to its smallest part to understand every detail. He doesn't ponder about its placement in the world and how it could be used to its full potential. Nobody else except Viggo has that.
Hiccup's form of payment comes on their 4th meeting. Before that, it was just a kiss on the cheek or a quick hug. At most a chaste kiss on the lips. Viggo finally decided to take it a step further. They managed only one quick game of maces and talons before he was dragged into Viggo's tent.
The game ended with Hiccup getting quickly destroyed, with nearly all his figures taken and killed. His chief died alone and far away from everyone.
Is he really that weak?
He thought losing his first time would hurt him more. It was always talked about as this grand thing, a gift you should save up for your precious one. Instead, he only feels apathy. It wasn't bad, Viggo knows what he's doing. He's uncharacteristically gentle, and Hiccup wonders if all their meetings will go on like that. He-, maybe it wouldn't be so bad.
In exchange, Hiccup knows about the next death song dragon gathering. He knows where, when, how many people and how many cages and weapons.
The information is correct to the dot. Their plan went without a hitch, and now 28 dragons are free. 28! Their most successful run in a long while
Their meetings continue and Hiccup endures. Viggo requests more and more each time, and he allows it because he doesn't what to risk the fragile status quo. It's not that bad, his body feels good and the information has its worth in gold. Washing himself for hours after is just good hygiene.
Things are finally looking bright again. Their missions are successful with their newfound information, Berk is flourishing, and it's all thanks to Hiccup.
He thought the only sacrifice was going to be selling his body to the enemy, but that came with unexpected costs. His building romance with Astrid is deteriorating before his eyes. Every time she tried to kiss him, and even just hug him or touch him, he could only think back to his last meeting with Viggo. Then he flinches and is left feeling guilty over the hurt in Astrid's eyes.
Maybe it's better that way. He won't disgrace her in any way when he isn't with her. She deserves someone who will be loyal to her. Who can actually protect people without losing himself in it. Someone who is not Hiccup
His other relationships grow stranded too. He shies away from any form of touch. He tenses whenever he's in a room with someone alone. He can't sleep and spends most nights on Toothless back.
Others notice, of course, they do, but Hiccup is stocked with excuses said with such a conviction that even when they know he's lying they can't refute him. They stop trying after a while. He pretends that it's the best course of action for everyone and that it doesn't hurt one bit.
He has to hold himself back whenever his father or Gobber touch him. Even innocent pats on the head and hands on his shoulders remind him of Viggo. He cannot flinch and let them know. While his relationship with his father is stronger than ever, he's too scared to lose it. If Stoick knew, he would definitely be disappointed. Hell, he would probably wage war on Grimmborns and that's the last thing Berk needs.
And that's fine. Chiefs must make sacrifices and he refuses to make others suffer with him. Berk is finally back on its feet and prospering, the edge is safe and finally cutting down on the hunters, Viggo also gets his intellectual discussion and his feeble body, and Hiccup. And Hiccup.
And Hiccup gets a nice set of maces and talons as a gift for everything that he has done.