flambert roommate au where robert doesn't join the SDN, but is looking for a place to live, and flambae is in the phoenix program but it doesn't pay well so he's looking for a roommate to split rent.
robert isn't having much luck bc he doesn't have much money, has a dog, and is not a people person. chad isn't having much luck because he's a meta with fire powers and a picky hothead. somehow, robert ends up responding to the roommate ad and shows up at chad's apartment. as long as it allows beef, robert is all set, so he really doesn't care who the guy renting it is. he looks a bit familiar tho, but he can't put his finger on it.
(i imagine either flambae wore a mask, changed his hair, or it's a plain clark kent situation where robert just doesn't recognize flambae without the suit)
chad sees this scruffy twink of a guy with his adorable football-shaped dog, and tho they already started sniping at each other, chad can tell the guy is fine with metas, low maintenance (he has no idea), and minds his own business, and that's all he needs. robert signs that afternoon.
of course, robert finds out chad is flambae not long after, and he has a small freak out, but it's been years since their run in and as long as chad doesn't know he's mecha man, they should be good, right? still, robert is on edge for a good while.
meanwhile chad is asking prism advice on how to ask out the life-weary twink in his apartment without seeming like a creep.
robert enters through the double doors and greets the receptionist, dropping beef off at chase's cubicle before making a detour to the coffee machine in the breakroom, then sits down at his desk. when he looks up, he can see a bunch of thin cracks in the wall. ugh. maintenance must be slacking.
the z-team is being a nuisance, like usual, but robert gives as good as he gets. if the insults are a little more pointed today, he doesn't pay attention to it. if the team is acting a little odd, he blames interpersonal drama. he waits until midday, when the team comes back to the office, then chews them out for their performance. like usual.
he gets into an argument with invisigal, which is nothing new, but she seems oddly disinterested, her insults particularly mean. maybe she's having a bad day? he tries to ask prism, but she ignores him in favor of her phone. the team is acting weird.
punch up seems to be in a bad mood too, for some reason. coupe isn't at the office at all. flambae gets so mad about his missing noodles he kicks a dent in the fridge and swipes everything off the counter, then threatens to burn robert when he says something about it. sheesh.
sonar is the only one left in the breakroom as robert stands among the mess. he says robert's name, trying to get his attention, but when robert answers, sonar doesn't seem to hear him.
"robert?" sonar asks again.
"yes, sonar, i heard you the first time."
"robert? can you hear me?"
robert looks at him, confused, and a little annoyed. they're standing only a few feet from each other. "what the fuck is it, sonar?"
"robert?" sonar sounds... worried. "robert, can you hear me?"
>>>
it's a normal day at the SDN office.
robert enters through the double doors and greets the receptionist, dropping beef off at chase's cubicle before making a detour to the coffee machine in the breakroom, then sits down at his desk. there's a bunch of thin cracks in the wall. ugh. maintenance must be slacking.
the z-team is barely listening, abandoning tasks and sniping back at him. they keep calling him weak, annoying, useless, they ask for another dispatcher. robert doesn't know what crawled up their ass and died this morning, but it's annoying as fuck. he thought he built a better relationship with them. he feels a headache come up.
during lunchtime, sonar and coupe get into an argument, but when robert tries step in, they turn it on him. flambae has decided robert stole his noodles, and shoves him hard into the counter. fantastic.
he tries to talk about it with chase, voicing his complaints about the z-team. chase tells him they should have cut all of them and thrown them in jail a long time ago. it's... a weird answer, it rubs robert the wrong way. they've made a lot of progress, right?
"you're gonna end up like your father," chase says, "he was just as indecisive. and look where that got him."
robert feels stunned. he can barely get his reply out. "what?"
chase is quiet for a moment. his brows knit to a frown. he looks up. "robert. you have to--"
>>>
it's a normal day at the SDN office.
robert enters through the double doors and greets the receptionist, dropping beef off at chase's cubicle before making a detour to the coffee machine in the breakroom, then sits down at his desk. when he looks up, he sees the cracks are bigger, webbing out. is maintenance not going to fix that?
the z-team is chaos, shouting over each other, like the loudest voice will win. sonar keeps diverting his course. invisigal refuses every task. prism doesn't stop calling him a bitch, and flambae joins in. he can't reach blond blazer. waterboy stutters so bad he's unintelligible. robert's headache is getting worse.
conversation falls quiet when he enters the breakroom during lunchtime. the z-team ignores him, for some reason. he wasn't even that hard on them. golem shoves him over, and everyone laughs. robert is about to get back at them, when invisigal appears and pulls him out of the room. she seems nervous.
"this team is driving me up the wall," he says. "glad to see you've decided to be less of a pain today."
invisigal looks at him, intently, like she has trouble seeing him. "robert. you have to wake up."
robert huffs out a humorless laugh, holding up his paper cup of coffee sludge. "working on it."
"no, robert," she says. "this isn't--"
>>>
it's a normal day at the SDN office.
robert enters through the double doors, greets the receptionist, then goes to drop beef off at chase's desk. but he's stopped before he can put his chubby pet down.
"keep the dirty mongrel with you," chase tells him. "don't want his filth at my desk."
robert stands there, mouth open. "excuse me? what the fuck did you just-"
>>>
it's a normal day at the SDN office.
robert enters through the double doors and greets the receptionist, who doesn't greet him back. it's quiet at the office. he drops beef off at chase's cubicle. his headache is worse, throbbing. he foregoes the coffee.
the cracks are bigger, drywall is flaking out. nobody else seems to care.
the intercom doesn't work, or maybe it works, but no one answers. robert presses the buttons, talking into the mic. only after a few minutes does the team come in, and robert lets them know they're late. it gets him an avalanche of noise and cussing for his troubles. it worsens his headache.
malevola's mic crackles, pitched with static. she tries to say something, but no matter which buttons he presses, he can't hear her.
during lunchtime, robert tells the team to get their shit together. they don't take it well.
"who the fuck do you think you are? you fucking stuck-up asshole."
"that's rich coming from the whiny bitch who can't even function without his daddy's robot suit."
his headache pulses. "shut up."
"you're just jealous because you fucked up your father's legacy. crawling over here to beg for handouts. you'll never live up to him, everyone knows that."
"useless. so useless. what do you even hope to achieve? fucking nothing."
"you're worthless, a waste of fucking space. should have done everyone a favor and died right, mecha failure."
robert's head throbs. he balls his hands to fists. "shut the fuck up."
"robert?"
he turns.
prism is looking at him. her form seems to waver a bit, like shimmery light. "robert?"
robert stares at her.
"robert, listen to me, you're--"
>>>
it's a normal day at the SDN office.
robert's headache is worse. he walks up to chase's cubicle, but chase doesn't look at him, doesn't say anything. robert's hands are empty. he doesn't know why he went there in the first place. he sits down at his desk. his head hurts.
the cracks are big, very big, all over the wall. something drips out of it, some black kind of liquid. it looks almost like blood.
the z-team is being destructive; they bust up the piping system of a building, destroy a shop to stop robbers, mess up a public speaking conference. flambae is inactive, nobody tells him why. he's pretty sure some of them are drunk. they don't listen to him.
robert leans down to pet beef, but beef isn't there. he tries to ask chase, but there is no answer.
the doors to the office space bust open, slamming the walls. flambae storms in, tearing between the cubicles with a kind of reckless disregard that is unusual, even for him. robert is fed up. he's angry, his head hurts, he's tired.
he shoves away from his desk. "what the fuck do you think--"
flambae stops right in front of him, the look on his face is... off. worried, almost. he looks harried. somehow, his suit is even stranger against the office backdrop than normal, like it doesn't quite fit.
"wake up, robert, fuck!" flambae snaps. he reaches out his hands, but it's like he can't quite reach robert. "it's not real! it's killing you! none of this is--!"
>>>
it's a normal day at the SDN office.
robert sits in his chair. the cracks have reached the floor. he thinks his nose is bleeding, but he isn't sure. blood drips all over his keyboard. it's black. he can't find beef. chase still doesn't talk to him.
blond blazer is standing beside him. the look in her eyes is disappointed. "i thought you'd be better than this," she says. "we needed a hero. a real one."
"i am," robert says. "i am a real hero."
she shakes her head. "you failed. you're not enough."
during lunchtime, the breakroom is empty. he makes his coffee alone, takes one sip, then empties it in the sink and dumps the cup into the trash.
flambae is leaning against the counter. "i am going to break all of your teeth, mecha bitch," he says. "you are gonna wish you died when your trash suit fell out the sky."
"we went over this, flambae," robert says. "stop, or i will--"
"no one will help you," flambae continues, "such a nuisance. i will do everyone a favor by finishing what your cowardly ass started. everyone will be better off."
"yeah, well, get in line," robert says. he can't come up with something better. his mind feels like sludge.
flambae huffs. "better if you saved me the trouble and did it yourself."
they stand in silence for a moment. robert is leaning back on his good leg, leaving his side open in case he needs to duck and throw a punch. nothing. flambae stares at the ground, like he's thinking.
"this is not good, bob-bob," he says then, soft, his tone a 180 from a minute ago. he looks up. "just don't listen to... don't listen, okay?"
robert huffs. "when do i ever?"
flambae looks sad. robert doesn't think he's ever really seen that before. for a moment, it seems like flambae wants to say more.
soooo, thinking about an early!rtte au where hiccup is sliiiiightly unethical, trading rare night fury scales for materials he needs for his inventions, maybe a few coins here and there, allowing himself to essentially get scammed because he knows the trader is far less likely to yap about it to others if he thinks he's getting a bargain out of it.
hiccup pretends he's just a middle man, an employee to a "mysterious supplier" (aka toothless), bc that allows him to play dumb about where he's getting these scales from.
but of course ~someone~ finds out, and one day at the markets hiccup is approached by a man who is interested in the scale supply. this, of course, is viggo, who quickly found out someone was selling the scales of a presumed extinct species of dragon and honed in on it like a bloodhound. bc it's set early in rtte, the hunters and riders haven't interacted before yet.
they have a little convo, and viggo tries to sweet talk hiccup, telling him he's being massively underpaid, and hiccup just kind of shrugs with a "yeah, duh, but i need the materials", though part of the deal was hush money, which, obviously, didn't last all that long. hiccup kind of sullenly remarks that the trader was supposed to keep his mouth shut, to which viggo replies, "my dear, no one can start selling night fury scales on the open market without people finding out about it."
this turns into viggo trying to poach hiccup and his ~mysterious supplier~ for himself, making hiccup better deals, but hiccup just keeps massively underselling himself because it's only a handful of scales and he needs materials, not money. viggo is very bemused (but also amused) with the situation, because this is the first time he's tried to haggle to pay more.
buuuut where i was going with this: viggo and hiccup start a tentative "partnership" where hiccup sells his dragon paraphernalia to viggo, and viggo gets him whatever he wants ("i can get you the finest silk from overseas, polished ivory, a pot of exotic spices" - "i just need wire, really. and a piece of leather"). but! hiccup only knows viggo is a businessman of some kind, someone higher up, but has no idea viggo is actually a dragon hunter.
alsooo for misunderstandings: since hiccup is from a frugal background and berk didn't have much wealth, and because hiccup is often covered in bruises (from playfighting with toothless and doing dumb stuff like testing a flightsuit by jumping off a cliff), viggo thinks hiccup is being mistreated by his "supplier/employer", which to him is another opportunity to try and manipulate hiccup into working for him.
of course eventually the cat comes out of the bag and viggo finds out hiccup is best friends with the source, whoops.
timeloop au but it's written from the pov of the character not stuck in the loop. one day you wake up and someone you know is acting different. things are happening and somehow they seem to be in the middle of it. they seem to know everything. it doesnt feel right. they won't answer any questions, saying it should work 'this time'. you don't know what 'this time' means. you try to go along but you're always ten steps behind. they tell you things, don't drink that, go left, let's stay home today. the day feels like a dream, like they planned it out for you.
maybe it's your friend, who seems to break under the weight on their shoulders, staring at you with hollow eyes, full of fear. maybe it's your enemy, showing a strange amount of care for someone they vowed to destroy only a single day ago. and they know things about you, things you're sure you never told them, things that were your secret. how do they know? something bad is happening, or is going to happen, you can feel it.
but nothing happens. the day, the mission, the event, it passed. you worry the threat is still there, but the other person is relieved beyond compare, ecstatic. you don't know about what. nothing happened. they won't tell you, but things are different now. things aren't like they were before, and you have no idea what happened.
I know it's the wrong timeline, but imagine if in the lycanwing episode, they had gone to Viggo for help out of sheer desperation.
If Tuffnut doesn't accept any of their help, it's time to get more drastic. None of them can figure out what dragon caused that bite mark, but you know who might? An expert dragon hunter. So, Hiccup goes to Viggo, he lays out the deal and says they need help with a dragon they can't identify, and in exchange they might be willing to leave some of the hunters' ships alone for a while. Viggo, intrigued (and flattered Hiccup is recognizing his expertise) agrees, and goes back with them to the edge.
They go to the stables, where Tuffnut is locked in a cell. Tuffnut, being Tuffnut, sees Viggo and immediately starts wailing that they've SOLD HIM to the DRAGON HUNTERS, how COULD THEY, they're going to HAND HIM OVER to VIGGO. Hiccup tells him to just stick out his arm.
Tuffnut: FINE, i'll show him, and then you will all believe!!! he will prove the truth you are too blind to see! HERE IT IS
Viggo: oh, that's a canine bite
Tuffnut, Hiccup & Fishlegs:
Viggo: you can tell by the u-shaped pattern and the circular marks of the canine teeth next to the smaller imprints of the molars. i'd say it was a wolf, most likely.
Hiccup:
Viggo:
Hiccup:
Tuffnut: now that you mention it. it was large and furry and walked on four legs. it didn't have any wings either. i always thought that was strange for a dragon, haha!
god!hiccup au where he created the dragon eye as a gift to a friend of his, who was as drawn to and fascinated by dragons as hiccup was, who had studied them for years and seemed to understand their worth as hiccup did. hiccup made for them a tool to store his knowledge, to pass it down for many generations, to share with others.
but that friend betrayed him.
when hiccup returned to the human realm, he discovered the corpses of his brethren, stripped and sold for worthless currency. his friend was using the dragon eye to hunt them down.
the rules of gods dictate that they cannot harm or interfere with humankind. hiccup can't burn down his "friend's" village, can't even harm the man himself for his betrayal. but he can curse them, he can vow that no member of their family, not a single descendant, will be free, not as long as they continue to hunt and harm dragons.
hiccup vows never to let the house of grimborn know peace.
.
viggo grimborn has a peculiar birthmark, like his older brother, their father, and his father before him. it is the mark of grimborn, they say with pride, for every member of their family carries it. all except one of viggo's cousins, who left the family young and pursued a life of literature, who was shamed for never having killed even one dragon in his life.
some say the mark is a curse, for the direct descendants of grimborn are destined to die by a dragon. every single one of them. only those who die young by illness or accident seem to escape it. ryker thinks it's but superstitious nonsense, they are hunters who take risks, and they who take risks can fall prey to what they hunt. viggo doesn't feel much for either side, whether mark of pride or brand of death. it's there, just beneath the crook of his elbow, and he doesn't think much of it.
the ancient dragon artifact was lost on a hunt of his great-uncle, going down with the ship. some say a mighty sea dragon swallowed the ship whole in its pursuit of the grimborn curse, since great-uncle lars fit the age, but nothing was certain. not too long after, his grandfather was killed by a monstrous nightmare, and viggo nearly bled out from the claw marks in his neck.
he doesn't think the curse is real, but fourteen year old viggo still doesn't understand how the dragon had managed to appear out of nowhere.
years later, their father dies as well. he was out on a hunt, and something got the better of him. specifically him. cousin lars thinks it was the curse. ryker shoved him for it. viggo didn't say anything. he never liked his father anyway.
one day, he meets a clever young man with gold green eyes, who rides a night fury and treats it like a companion, who found the artifact and is using it to help dragons. it's almost endearing how naive it is. viggo manages to get the upper hand and demands it back. the boy seems furious about giving up his new toy, stating it isn't his, and it almost makes viggo laugh. the artifact, the dragon eye, has belonged to his family for generations! he doesn't deign the boy with an answer—he simply takes what's his.
later, when he's rubbing absent-mindedly at the birthmark that almost feels like it's burning, he thinks a bit about the boy's expression, and wonders what else had been hidden in those eyes he hadn't seen.
.
the boy, hiccup haddock, is peculiar. he flies on dragons and treats them as equals, he has startling green eyes that in some lights almost seem to glow, and when he opens his mouth there is a flash of sharpened canines, longer than viggo has seen them before. he is smart, resourceful, and determined to take back the dragon eye. viggo doesn't let him, of course.
another member of the grimborn household finds his death by a dragon, months later. viggo doesn't believe in the curse, but he wonders if he might have set ryker up for this when he decided to chain the shellfire.
.
the day before his brother died, viggo stood with hiccup at the cliff's edge and mentioned his family's bane. hiccup, uncharacteristically, hadn't replied at all.
.
if krogan and johann had taught him anything, it was that standing beneath a ruthless leader only inspired contempt, and not an ounce of loyalty. he should have known that. maybe if he had realized that sooner he wouldn't have been in this situation. maybe he would've still had his brother.
the second thing is that dragons, truly, were magnificent creatures capable of surprising him again and again. the monstrous nightmare saved his life, and viggo didn't expect how guilty he felt knowing he wouldn't have done the same if the roles were reversed.
he would now.
he looked the creature in the eye and realized they were truly not so different.
and, it seemed, as he felt the arrows pierce his back, that the grimborn curse wasn't real after all, unless his sacrifice for a boy and his dragon counted as death by a dragon.
then he doesn't die. hiccup saves his life in turn, in a way viggo isn't able to comprehend, but has come to expect from the enigma named hiccup haddock. on their way back, as his thoughts start to float from whatever pain medication he was given, he says that perhaps it was the curse that saved his life, not allowing him to die unless it is by dragon. hiccup, again, for some reason, doesn't say anything.
it's fine. viggo has long learned that nothing about hiccup haddock is even remotely normal.
.
viggo is allowed to recuperate at dragon's edge, as hiccup argued his knowledge of the dragon flyers is invaluable. viggo knows as well as hiccup that there is nothing he can give that would be of any real worth.
days later, when viggo is finally well enough to walk, he meets hiccup at the cliff, the same one they had stood at the night before the shellfire battle. some of the cliffs have crumbled under the assault of the dragon flyers. they stand in silence for a while. hiccup seems to be deep in thought, quiet, before seemingly coming to a decision and turning his green-golden eyes on viggo.
hiccup looks young, but his eyes are beyond age, as vast and ancient as olden oceans.
"i was betrayed, once," hiccup says then, "and i vowed not to rest until i felt the debt had been repaid."
revenge. it doesn't sound like something hiccup would do—but then again, when has viggo ever known what to expect from the extraordinary?
hiccup exhales, deeply, as if there was a burden on his shoulders he carried for too long, finally lifted from him. hiccup looks at him again. "you saved me in those caves, saved toothless. your loyalty to the skrill astounded me. perhaps it is time for me to let go of the past."
it doesn't sound like hiccup at all. viggo opens his mouth to ask, but then hiccup reaches out and takes his wrists, holding it lightly. it only lasts seconds, then hiccup releases him, his smile woeful in the last light.
"don't make me regret it," he says, before he turns and walks back to the base.
.
that night, as viggo readies himself for bed, he looks at his arm and halts.
thinking about a really self indulgent au where hiccup is captured by the dragon hunters in their base, and a small group of them take the opportunity to get some payback. toothless can hear the sounds of violence from the other side of the camp, and starts thrashing against the chains.
viggo and ryker, who were in the vicinity of the night fury, see this and are a bit confused. viggo realizes quickly that the only reason toothless would act like that is if hiccup's in danger, and internally he just groans and curses because by thor can't anyone here follow simple orders??
the three hunters who beat hiccup up are gone by the time viggo and his men get there, and though hiccup luckily isn't too injured, they did bruise his ribs and caused some injuries to the face. ryker asks if viggo wants to put a search party on the deserting hunters, which could take a while, but viggo has a better idea. one of the hunters left their weapon behind, splatters of hiccup's blood still on it, and viggo takes it with him.
ryker is confused, and even more so when viggo goes to the night fury and holds up the weapon in front of it. the night fury's pupils draw to slits when it smells the blood, before it scents the hilt where the hunter held it. viggo just smiles, and says he expects the dragon knows what to do. then he orders ryker to have the night fury be released.
for a moment, ryker considers mutiny as well, but whatever, whatever, if this is what viggo wants then he guesses this is what they're gonna do, just don't start crying when the night fury kills them all! the hunters undo the chains, and the night fury just stands there for a few, achingly long seconds, before it sprints off into the forest, tearing away from the camp at break neck speeds.
"well," ryker says, "guess it's gonna take us an entire day to get that dragon back."
viggo just smiles and tells him to be patient.
they wait in silence, and wait and wait. minutes go by, but just as ryker is about to ask what the hell they're waiting for, there's a chorus of blood curdling screams from the forest, followed by the unholy shriek of an angry night fury. there's a blast that lights up the trees, followed by more screams. then, it goes silent.
a little later, the night fury reappears from the forest. there's blood dripping from its maw, a fierce look in its eyes. it walks right up to viggo, and spits out a dismembered hand onto the ground in front of him.
flambert get together sickfic where robert gets sick after walking home through the rain without a proper coat (he has none ♡), and still goes to work the next day with a throat ache, fever chills and a headache.
he stays at the office because it's heated and dry (which is apartment is not) where he's then pestered by flambae, who soon figures out robert is sick. when robert tries to walk home through the rain again, he's instead pressured into flambae's car and driven to his apartment. flambae goes into said apartment, sees its pitiful, freezing, barren, bed-less state, and decides to drag a feverish robert back out. instead, they go to flambae's apartment.
normally, robert would have protested, but he's very sick, and out of it, so he just lets flambae shove him into his own apartment, forcing him to shower ("you're not getting all that dirt and sweat into my nice couch, bitch"), dresses into spare clothes that aren't his, and then drops down on the bed made on the couch. he falls asleep before flambae has finished his own shower.
that night gets a little worse with the fever, and the subsequent bad fever dreams, and chad gets to hold a cool cloth to robert's burning forehead and watch him sigh softly and relax beneath his hand, witnessing a rare moment of vulnerability that will surely not change the way they see each other!<3
