"Toothless? Come on out, buddy, I've got fish!"

Hiccup's calls bounced off the cove, falling on deaf ears. The young Viking frowned and fought to secure a better grip on the slippery basket tucked beneath his arm.

Foot squeaking all the way, Hiccup limped over the water's edge, where he usually fed Toothless all those months ago when they'd first met. Wary green eyes scanned the small grotto, searching for a very elusive black shape. Hiccup half smiled- perhaps this was the Night Fury's idea of a new game…?

In that case, he thought smugly, why not play along?

"You know what today is, bud?" He continued loudly. No response- except… If he strained his hearing, Hiccup sworn he could almost detect…giggles?

Uncertainty began to taint his tone, "It's your tail fin's birthday."

Pause. Hiccup's gaze lowered to the completely untouched sack of fish.

"…But of course you already knew that," He proceeded, closing his eyes with a sigh, "Because I couldn't find you anywhere in the village. So, this is the first place I looked."

"I know you're here somewhere, Toothless!" Hiccup's eyes snapped open, and he was beginning to appear quite frustrated.

As if to answer his aggravation, a deep growl sounded from behind him. Hiccup froze- then slowly turned around to see his best friend peering down on him with dilated eyes.

"There you are," He exhaled in relief, "I was getting worried there, bud."

Toothless let out a happy whimper, and then did something that made Hiccup's jaw touch the floor.

He spoke:

"Oh, what do you mean, 'worried'?" Toothless' jaw moved up and down, lack of teeth causing somewhat of a lisp, "It's not like I haven't disappeared before."

Hiccup had no reply. His green eyes were wide as saucers, and the blood was quickly leaving his face until he was more statue than Viking.

"T-t-t-t-t-" He stuttered, apparently unable to form the dragon's nickname.

Toothless seemed unimpressed. "Oh great, now your primitive mind has forgotten how to speak. All those hours I spent memorizing human speech patterns so I could talk to you…All wasted!"

"S-s-since when c-can you TALK?" Hiccup finally exploded, throwing his hands in the air in complete and utter exasperation. His face resembled that of a fish out of water.

Toothless continued to speak- in a voice that Hiccup was finding oddly familiar- "I could always talk. You were just too stupid to hear me."

"Okay, that doesn't sound fair." Hiccup replied with a scowl, and crossed his arms over his chest, "Your first act after learning to speak human is to insult my intelligence?"

The Night Fury grinned toothlessly.

"I don't know, Toothless," Hiccup breathed deeply in an attempt to calm himself, "If you keep being so snappy, I might be inclined to take home this giant bag of fish and eat it all myself."

"Oh please," Toothless chuckled, "I know you don't like fish."

"What the-?" Hiccup huffed, indignation lighting his cheeks, "Darnit, Toothless! How do-? Look, I-!" The Viking paused in mid-gesture, his index finger pointing straight up. At a complete loss for words, he simply let himself fall with a sigh.

"Are you done?" Toothless asked. The voice was so familiar…He'd never guessed the dragon to sound like that. He sounds almost like…Like a kid, trying to make his voice deep. No, no that wasn't right. For the life of him, Hiccup could not pin it down.

Hiccup lifted his eyes to the dragon's face, where it still stared at him with warm, dilated pupils.

"Something," He began profoundly, expression darkening with determination, "Is wrong here."

Hiccup charged from the cove as impressively as he could manage with one foot, and as he did so he declared: "And I'm going to find out what it is!"

Toothless waited until Hiccup's form had completely disappeared and he was certain that the boy was out of earshot before giving a small cry.

From a bush just behind the dragon, five Viking teenagers exploded into hysterical laughter.

"Did you see his face?" Tuffnut was in tears, and on the floor, "Did you see his face?"

"Hiccup's done a lot of stupid things," Ruffnut added on, through the giggles, "but man, he has never looked that stupid!"

"I think he bought it," Astrid laughed as she strolled towards Toothless, who watched on in silent amusement, "I honestly think he bought it."

"Yeah, he'll probably want to talk to you about it later," Ruffnut agreed, brushing herself off.

Snotlout inhaled and began in his best 'serious-Hiccup' imitation, "Astrid, you would not believe what just happened to me!"

The entire group erupted into another chorus of hysterical laughter. With the exception of Fishlegs, who appeared quite bashful.

"Okay, if he does that," Astrid coughed, grinning, "I wouldn't be able to keep a straight face after the first two words."

"Fishlegs," Tuffnut, finally pulling himself from the dirt, said in awe, propping his elbow on the stockier Viking's shoulder, "I never would've guessed you were such a talented ventriloquist!"

"Yeah, seriously, dude!" Ruffnut exclaimed, joining her twin on the boy's other side, "You had me going for a while there!"

"And we all know how tough it is to fool Ruffnut," Astrid commented good-naturedly.

The Vikings spent the walk home congratulating themselves on a well pulled off prank, and Toothless spent the evening chowing down on Hiccup's forgotten sack of fish.