"Ready to go home, Bud?" Hiccup asked from his position on Toothless's back. Toothless gurgled a response.
As the chief leaned downwards, steering his Night Fury towards their home, the moon beams reflected off of the ocean surrounding Berk, shimmering as though the stars above had lowered themselves into the water. It would have been beautiful, if only Hiccup weren't too exhausted to enjoy it.
"Well, at least we can finally have some time to ourselves, eh Bud?" Hiccup opened the door, and almost screamed when Astrid was standing directly on the other side.
"Hey, Hiccup, sorry to scare you. I was just hoping to catch you for a few minutes, but I guess your chiefing duties kept you busy longer than usual, huh?" Astrid sighed, trying to force a smile.
"Oh, it's no problem. I'm always happy to see you, Astrid!"
"Yeah, I can see how tired you are. But I made something for dinner, I figured it'd be better than you trying to make dinner for yourself after you've already had a long day."
Hiccup grimaced, but tried to play it off as a legitimate grin, "Oh, Astrid, that's extremely thoughtful of you!" Astrid wasn't exactly known for her good cooking, especially after that one Snoggletog she made yak nog for the whole village.
"Eh, it wasn't much trouble. I just cooked up a few fish you had lying around," Astrid replied.
Hiccup silently breathed a sigh of relief. That was something he was sure she could do without ruining the meal.
Toothless raised his head, watching as Astrid and Hiccup said their goodbyes about twenty minutes later. Hiccup then trudged upstairs, struggling to stay awake, but Toothless turned and nudged the door open before Astrid could close it all the way.
"You going for a late-night walk, Toothless?" Astrid smiled, as the Night Fury nuzzled her hand, "That's nice, I could use some company. Stormfly already fell asleep before I even came over."
Toothless gurgled. He knew Astrid had been smiling and trying to keep the mood light all evening, but he could sense that she was actually feeling pretty low in spirit. Sad, even. Astrid must have sensed his concern, because she turned and tried to give him a reassuring grin.
"I'm fine, Toothless, nothing to worry about. So what if Hiccup's always exhausted? So what if his new job as chief takes up almost all of his time, even to the point where his days run later than planned, like tonight? So what if we haven't really spent much quality time together since just before we discovered Eret's dragon hunters? No big deal, I'm fine!" Astrid's voice had gone from calm to strained by the time she finished this rant.
"You so sure about that, Lass?" Gobber asked walking over. He had just been closing his forge up for the night, and overheard Astrid talking to Toothless.
Astrid sighed, "I'm not sure. I mean, I know Hiccup and I are really in love, and meant to be together, but... I don't want to constantly be pushed aside. But I don't want to get in the way of his chiefing either... Is it always gonna be this way?"
"Now now, Hiccup's new to this. His father just died, he has a big responsibility on his shoulders... he's afraid of the concept of letting his father down. But Stoick was the same way when he started out. Just continue to be there for him, and he'll come around," Gobber winked at Astrid reassuringly.
"Thanks Gobber. I hope you're right," Astrid smiled, then sighed again as she turned to resume walking.
After Astrid was out of hearing range, Gobber leaned over to Toothless and muttered, "Guess we'll have to do what we can to help them out, eh Toothless?"
Toothless purred in agreement before darting ahead to catch up with Astrid.
Hiccup dashed out of his house late the following morning, in a panic. He had been scheduled to do a quick patrol over the island at sunrise, then help one of the neighboring families repair their roof after an unfortunate incident with Snotlout and Hookfang had left it with a gaping hole. The actual incident had happened the previous day, but they insisted on waiting until Hiccup was available, because they were against allowing their chief to put Snotlout in charge of fixing their living quarters. But Hiccup had slept until almost noon, and now he was desperate to make up for lost time. He was relieved to see Toothless already saddled up outside, looking ready to fly.
"All right, Bud, let's get moving! Sorry, but we don't have time to eat," Hiccup clicked his leg into the stirrup, and Toothless's tail fin snapped open. But much to his surprise, Toothless absolutely refused to fly in the direction Hiccup was trying to steer him. In fact, once Hiccup was high enough, Toothless careened into a downwards spiral, then let off in the opposite direction.
"TOOTHLESS! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" Hiccup screamed as Toothless began to glide over the village, barely above ground level now, but extremely fast.
"Hiccup! What's going on? I can't find Stormfly!" Astrid called, before Toothless suddenly snatched her up in his talons, then curved upwards again.
"Ah, I see you two young 'uns are finally awake!" Gobber called cheerfully, as the two vikings screamed. Gobber, nice and relaxed, was perched calmly on Stormfly's back.
"Gobber, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" Astrid screeched.
"Taking over for Hiccup for the day. On Stormfly, because Grump won't even stir. Besides, I'm the blacksmith, I'm better equipped for repairing that roof Snotlout and Hookfang demolished. Anyway, you'll need this," Gobber held up a picnic basket, and Toothless tossed Astrid into the air, catching her on his back, then grabbed the basket in his talons. Hiccup and Astrid were too startled by Toothless's sudden moves to even notice the basket.
"Have fun!" Gobber quipped, trying overly hard to smile cheerfully as Toothless tilted towards the horizon, and Hiccup had no choice but to make the tail fin adjust accordingly.
"Where is he taking us, anyway?" Astrid questioned, after they had been flying for about ten minutes.
"I think- yep, looks like he's heading straight for Itchy Armpit."
"Why is he... Dang it, I should've know not to talk to Gobber..."
"Hm?" Hiccup grunted, turning to her, but before he could ask what she was talking about, Toothless put on an extra burst of speed, and Hiccup was forced to turn back around and focus on steering.
After a few more minutes, Toothless slowed down over Itchy Armpit's center, and lowered the basket to the ground before landing a few feet away.
Hiccup noticed the basket for the first time, "Hey, ol' Gobber left us some provisions. Guess he really wants us to have a day to ourselves, huh?"
"It's my fault," Astrid sighed.
"What do you mean?" Hiccup asked, turning to her.
"Oh, I was walking back home last night, and Toothless followed me, and I vented to him a bit, and Gobber overheard, and I wound up talking to him. I said that with all the chiefing you've been doing lately, I felt as though you no longer have time for me. But I didn't mean for him to go and do this!"
"Aw, Astrid," Hiccup sighed, coming over and putting his arm around her shoulders, "I'm sorry I made you feel that way. You know, I should lay off a bit. It's not like Berk's in immediate danger just because I took some time for you."
"Don't feel like you have to neglect your duties. They're important too," Astrid replied, alarmed.
"Oh I won't. My dad wouldn't be pleased if I let Berk fall to ruins because I was irresponsible. But he wouldn't want me to neglect YOU either. Gobber's got it covered for the day, so let's take advantage of it."
"I suspect Toothless helped set this up," Astrid chuckled, shooting the Night Fury a knowing smirk, which was returned with a gummy smile and gurgle.
"Well, let's see what Gobber filled our basket with," Hiccup started, opening the basket up.
"Fish, chicken, and more fish. I suspect some of those fish are for Toothless," Astrid narrated.
"I'd assume so, yeah," Hiccup agreed, tossing a fish towards Toothless.
"You know, the sun is setting. We should probably head back to Berk," Astrid yawned. She and Hiccup had spent the afternoon talking and eating, and they had nearly dozed off several times, just enjoying the sweetness of each other's company. But they knew they shouldn't stay away the whole night, not if Berk was still under Hiccup's authority or if Gobber was expected to keep it running. They both knew Gobber wasn't exactly the best at keeping Berk in top shape for long.
"Yeah, wait, where is Toothless anyway?" Hiccup groaned, standing up.
"Probably trying to give us some space, and making sure not to tempt us to leave any earlier than we are," Astrid chuckled.
"Yeah, I'll call him," Hiccup smiled, cupping his hands around his mouth. He barely finished his first call before his dragon was at their sides, tongue lolling and squirming eagerly. As happy as he was to help them out, hanging around on a small island without Stormfly or some other dragon to play with had left him pretty stir-crazy and bored.
The two of them packed up and settled themselves on Toothless's back, ready to head home. But Toothless took off in a slightly different direction.
"Hey, Bud, c'mon, we need to head home," Hiccup started, only to get slapped by his dragon's ear, "All right, fine, I'll let you lead."
Satisfied, Toothless tilted his wings into a slight bowl shape, and they began gaining altitude.
"He's still bringing us home," Hiccup realized, "He's just taking the long way."
Toothless continued to rise until they were above the cloud line. The orange hue of the setting sun lit up the clouds around them, splashed with streaks of pink and even light blue. The cool breeze that swept through the cloud line swooshed through their hair and battered against their faces. Without even thinking about it, Astrid leaned forward and wrapped her arms around Hiccup's waist.
Toothless began looping around, and by the time they neared Berk, the sun had completely set. The Northern lights danced through the sky, like a playful backdrop welcoming the two young lovers and their dragon back home.
"This seems familiar," Hiccup chuckled, and Astrid snuggled closer in response.
"Doesn't mean it's any less amazing," she whispered.
As Toothless circled around and landed near Hiccup's house, Gobber walked over, Stormfly at his heels. She broke off and raced over to greet her rider.
"I see you've finally taken advantage of having time off," Gobber smirked.
"Thanks for all of this, Gobber. I never meant to neglect her like that-"
"Hiccup," Gobber began sternly, "Astrid is someone special. Don't ever take her for granted. Stoick wouldn't want that."
"I know," Hiccup agreed.
"But all the same, you should go get some sleep. Tomorrow you'll have to be back on your chiefing duties, bright and early."
"Yep, you're right. 'Night Gobber."
Astrid walked over and placed a hand on Hiccup's shoulder, "Thank you for everything. Today was amazing."
"Thank Gobber and Toothless," Hiccup smiled, "If it weren't for them, who knows when I would've made time for something like this?"
"But it wouldn't have been anything special if you hadn't been willing to roll with it," Astrid countered, playfully nudging him.
"I guess there's that," Hiccup agreed, before he turned and went inside. After one quick smile, Toothless followed.
"Thank you Gobber, for everything," Astrid added earnestly, before boarding Stormfly.
"Ah, don't mention it, Lass," Gobber replied, waving his hand dismissively.
As Astrid flew away, Gobber added, to no one in particular, "I hope they're still thanking me tomorrow, when they have to fix all the damage I may have inexplicitly caused trying to fix that broken roof. Who knew building materials could be so fussy? Hope the dragon riders don't mind having to band together to repair an entire house. And the other rooftop across the way, which Big Bertha may have accidentally destroyed trying to launch some materials up to the workers on the roof we were working on... Oh who am I kidding? Hiccup'll have my head!"
With a sigh, Gobber walked back to his forge, nearly tripping over Grump in the process.