Dear Readers,

OHAI ! LONG TIME NO SEE! Really, it's been forever, and honestly, I don't have a good excuse for having retreated into lurker mode for the past two - yes, TWO - years. TWO YEARS since I've actually written and posted anything. I bet my followers thought I'd died - did you think I died? I was just being lazy. Really, really lazy. Plus life is annoying and doesn't leave much time for me to write fanfic anymore, which sucks. SO I'M SORRY I DISAPPEARED. BUT I'M BACK NOW, OKAY?! And I'm so happy I am. You have no idea how refreshing it was to finally get back into the swing of writing fanfic again. I'm so happy I feel like throwing a party. Yay! And I owe it all to the HTTYD franchise for being so addictive and plotbunny-inducing and turning me into a keyboard-happy fangirl again.

I could say more about "OMG SO MUCH HAS HAPPENED EHRMAGERSH TWO YEARS OF HIATUS WHAT IS MY LIFE" but I won't waste your time. Basically, I've been re-watching Riders of Berk since buying the DVD sets (obsessed much?), and since this is the only month I'm off from acting school this year, I actually had time to start writing the RoB Hiccstrid fanfic I've been wanting to write since the series first premiered. And since the HTTYD 2 teaser is now out, plus the aged-up designs of Hiccup and Astrid, I've been on an HTTYD/Hiccstrid high for the last month and my lazy self finally decided to stop being lazy and actually write. Each "chapter" is going to be a oneshot based off each episode of RoB, focusing specifically on Hiccup and Astrid. Despite the fact that I love the TV series to death, one thing that's been bothering me about it is the ambiguity surrounding Hiccup and Astrid's relationship - sometimes they act like they're together, and sometimes they don't - and I wanted to try and find a way to logically work through that episode-by-episode. So while each oneshot will technically be able to stand alone, there will be some elements that will unfold chronologically and connect the oneshots together (hopefully you'll see what I mean once I write more). The show seems to be trying to develop the Hiccstrid relationship more slowly rather than jumping straight into something romantic like we initially assumed would happen at the end of the first movie, so the progression of these ficlets is going to reflect that gradual development (so be patient - they'll get all lovey-dovey with each other eventually :P).

Anyway, if you're a TL;DR kind of person, then I'll just finish my shpiel here and let you read the story. Honestly, I had no idea this first installment was going to be this long. For some reason when I write, stuff just spontaneously starts overflowing onto my keyboard. Yay me. Well...that's it for now. I hope you like it! ENJOY!

Best regards,

Pooka

The Honey and the Hatchet

I. How to Start A Dragon Academy

Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III was excited. More than excited, in fact. He was ecstatic. Bursting at the seams. Thrilled, overjoyed, euphoric, on cloud nine – he was practically trembling with every synonym for "excitement" one could think of. His father had granted him and his friends permission to start a dragon training academy. Even after the defeat of the Red Death, Hiccup never imagined that Stoick the Vast's newfound acceptance of the dragons as fellow citizens of Berk would lead to something like this. A training academy for dragons and riders alike on the island that had once held one of the most notorious reputations for dragon-slaughtering among all the Viking tribes. He could hardly believe it. And his father, who had previously never trusted Hiccup with any potentially dangerous responsibility for fear of his son's imminent injury or death, had inaugurated him as the academy's headmaster.

It was almost too much for Hiccup to take in at one time.

Of course, earlier that day, before the whole village, he'd done an excellent job of masking just exactly how excited he was. An entire childhood's worth of conditioning himself to publicly suppress any emotion that could be construed as un-Viking-like wasn't going to disappear overnight. But now that the impromptu celebration for the academy's installation was over (the Vikings had a knack for finding excuses to drink extra mead) and Hiccup and Toothless were finally alone in the comfort of their own room, the young man could barely contain himself any longer.

"Can you believe it, bud? Our own training academy!" Hiccup let out a whoop of delight and hobbled awkwardly around the floor in an attempt at a victory dance. "This is gonna be amazing!"

Toothless observed his companion's odd flailing and noise-making with amusement and satisfaction. He wasn't quite sure what an "academy" was, but whatever it was, it was making his boy exceptionally happy. And anything that made Hiccup this happy gave the Night Fury good enough reason to feel the same. Besides, watching the young Viking twirl around his room in such a ridiculous fashion was rather entertaining.

"There are so many things to do, so much stuff to think of – oh I have got to start planning!" cried Hiccup, leaping onto his bed. "Lessons, equipment – but I can't now. I'm just sooo—gah!" He thrust his arms out on either side of him and flopped down on top of his blanket. Then, after a few seconds, his torso shot upright again. His green eyes were open wide and nearly wild with glee.

Toothless pricked his ears up in curiosity.

"Hey, do you wanna go for a ride?!" Hiccup half-squealed. He jumped off his bed and bounced up to his friend in a joyful frenzy. "Let's go for a ride! There's no way I can sleep now anyway. Come on!" He began hopping around the room again, his prosthetic clinking happily with every step.

The Night Fury furrowed his brow at the sudden request as he remembered the slumbering chief downstairs. Toothless did not understand everything the humans did or said, but one thing he had come to understand very well in the past few months was that the big-bearded one was not in favor of his son parading around Berk after midnight. The dragon gurgled firmly and glanced downward in response to Hiccup's eager face, hoping the boy would get the message.

"Oh, what? Dad? He sleeps like a rock! The only thing that would wake him up is a battle and we're definitely not going to do anything like that. Come on! I can't stay in here anymore! Let's fly!"

Toothless groaned and rolled his eyes. This was ludicrous. As much as the dragon wanted to share in his companion's excitement, it was the middle of the night, and the events of the day had made him fairly exhausted. Couldn't they go for a joyride in the morning? He was going to fall asleep soon anyway. The Viking with a bucket on his head had had the brilliant idea of letting the dragons share whatever that sweet liquid stuff was that the humans enjoyed drinking, and now the after-effects were finally catching up with the Night Fury's body.

"Aw man, come on, Toothless! Just one little ride! Please? I can't sleep!"

Toothless warbled disapprovingly and yawned. His head was starting to swim. Next time the Vikings threw a party, he was definitely not going to drink a whole barrelful of that liquid, no matter how good it tasted.

"Ugh, really?" moaned Hiccup, disappointed. "Fine, I'll just have to find something else to do with myself – oh! I know!"

The Night Fury lifted his head. Now what?

"Don't wake Dad, whatever you do. I'll be back. I just have to – umph!" Hiccup hoisted himself up on his windowsill from his bed and pushed the shutter open. "Are you sure you don't wanna come?"

Toothless huffed and laid his head down again. He hoped Hiccup wasn't going to get himself into any trouble. The dragon wasn't looking forward to having his sleep interrupted by a midnight rescue attempt.

"Okay, whatever, but you're missing out!" Hiccup called, before disappearing onto the roof.

Knock-knock. Knock-knock. Knock-knock-knock.

Astrid Hofferson stirred in her sleep. She was currently dreaming of something rather pleasant that in broad daylight she would never admit to anyone, and the strange knocking sound was starting to become a nuisance.

"Go away," she mumbled drowsily. "I'm busy."

Squeeeaaak.

"I said gooo."

CRASH!

In a split second, Astrid bolted out of bed and flung herself in the direction of the noise, which happened to be a now overturned table beneath her window. Even more of her belongings clattered to the floor. There was a moment of confused shuffling, scraping, clanging, and wrestling before an all-too familiar voice cried out and stopped Astrid's arm mid-punch.

"ASTRID! IT'S ME!"

Astrid froze and blinked a few times, squinting her eyes in the darkness to see whom she'd pinned to the floor. "H-Hiccup?!"

He grinned sheepishly at her. "Hi."

She landed her punch in Hiccup's arm, causing him to yelp loudly in pain. "How did you – what the Hel are you doing in my room?!"

"Y'know, if you don't want boys sneaking in here in the middle of the night, you should think about locking your wind—OWW!"

She'd punched him again.

"You didn't answer my question!"

"Okay, okay! I just came over to see you—that's all! Let me go!"

Astrid relaxed her grip on Hiccup's arm but didn't release it. "That's it?"

The russet-haired boy winced at the pain in his arm. "Yes."

"In the middle of the night." The blonde scowled at him.

"Look-I-couldn't-sleep-and-Toothless-wouldn't-go-f or-a-ride-and-I-needed-to-get-out-so-I-came-to-see -you-and-I-couldn't-exactly-knock-on-your-front-do or-because-it's-midnight-and—"

"Astrid?"

"Oh, shit, it's my mother – hide!" Astrid hissed, grabbing Hiccup and shoving him towards her bed. He managed to crawl beneath it just as the door creaked open.

A blonde Viking woman with bleary blue eyes poked her head through the doorframe. "Astrid? Are you alright?"

"Yeah, Mom, I'm fine," Astrid answered, flashing her mother an innocent smile. "I was just…getting a drink of water and I bumped into the table."

"Oh, alright," Mrs. Hofferson replied. "Just be more careful, dear." And with that, Astrid's mother closed the door.

After several moments of waiting to be sure her mother had gone back to sleep, Astrid motioned for Hiccup to come out from under the bed. He crawled out, still wincing because of his arm – Astrid had punched him twice, after all – and slowly stood up.

"Well, that was close," he quipped with a grin, trying to ease the awkward silence. Astrid glared.

"Are you crazy? What the Hel do you think you're doing sneaking into my room in the middle of the night – I didn't even think you were up to sneaking into girls' rooms in the first place!"

"Hey, you can never underestimate what a guy is capabl—OUCH! Stop doing that!"

Astrid crossed her arms and glared at the boy even more fiercely. "I think I have a right to punch you as much as I want. I'm feeling kind of violated right now, if you haven't noticed."

Hiccup frowned quizzically and opened his mouth to ask what she meant when it suddenly dawned on him. Wow, was he stupid. He'd been so excited about the academy that changing into his nightclothes hadn't even occurred to him. But Astrid, who had most definitely not been up prancing around her room like a drunken idiot, was dressed in nothing but a nightdress, and her hair was loose, cascading down her back and shoulders in soft golden waves. Speaking of which, the little slivers of moonlight peeking through her window shutter were casting a rather beautiful shine on those waves – and wow, her hair was a lot longer than Hiccup had realized, and when it was down it really framed her face well, and it especially made those blue eyes of hers pop—

"OWW!" Hiccup stumbled backward onto Astrid's bed at the impact of the kick. "What was that for?!"

"You were staring!"

"I—uh—I was not!"

"Yes, you were!" She kicked his good leg again for good measure, earning another pained "Oww!" from the dragon trainer. It was bad enough she'd been dreaming about making out with him seconds before he'd come crashing through her window. And now he was right there in front of her ogling her in her nightdress. Astrid's face flushed in embarrassment and she prayed to every god she could think of that he couldn't see how red her face was growing.

"Okay, I'm sorry I came – I just – I couldn't sleep, alright? And Toothless didn't want to go for a midnight flight." His eyes darted away – he was obviously now embarrassed too – and he rubbed the back of his head like he always did when he was nervous.

Astrid relaxed a bit as a grin crept onto her lips. Hiccup's awkwardness was too endearing for her to stay mad at him for long. "Why couldn't you sleep?"

At that, he turned his head back around to look at her, and his eyes lit up. "I was too excited. About the dragon training academy – oh, Astrid, it's gonna be awesome!" The night's previous joy suddenly seized him again and he jumped up from the bed. "I can't stop thinking about all the stuff we're gonna be able to do and my dad's actually putting me in charge of something and—"

Hiccup continued rambling on and on, skipping around Astrid's room, as the girl watched him in awe. She'd never seen Hiccup this excited and unable to keep still. His face was beaming so brightly that it could have rivaled the sun – that she had seen before, but not coupled with this hyperactive hop-dance-arm-flailing thing he was currently doing. He looked like a happy little bunny. It was absolutely adorable, and Astrid couldn't help but let her grin widen at the sight. He was being so unbearably cute, and she just wanted to grab him and kiss him right there and then and—no. She was not going to indulge that train of thought again. She really had to curb her habit of spontaneously kissing him – they weren't even going out. Well, not officially anyway. Ever since the fight with the Red Death, the pair had spent a substantial amount of time together and had grown to be very close—albeit competitive—friends. Which would have been fine and dandy the way it was if Hiccup didn't have a knack for being so awkwardly lovable and Astrid hadn't developed random urges to kiss him at his most adorable moments. But as it was, Hiccup wouldn't stop being, well, himself, and Astrid had let a few kisses slip because she just couldn't restrain herself. Not that he ever complained. But in the back of her mind, Astrid knew this undefined friendship-with-occasional-lip-locking was going to cause problems at some point and she simply had to keep herself from jumping on him and kissing him again. But gods, he was hopping around her room like a baby Nadder and his smile was making her stomach lurch in all kinds of ways she'd never considered, and—

"Astrid!" Hiccup had suddenly grabbed hold of her hands.

"Wha—what?"

"Come with me."

She raised an eyebrow. "Where? And why?"

"I don't know!" He squeezed her hands and Astrid's stomach did a little back flip. "Somewhere. Let's celebrate. Our own training academy!"

"Hiccup, if you've forgotten, the whole village just spent half the day celebrating already—"

"Yeah, but…I can't sleep! I need to go somewhere. Let's go!"

"You want me to sneak out of my house in the middle of the night to go frolicking through Berk with you because of—" Something dawned on her, and she suddenly frowned at him. "Speaking of sneaking out, you're going behind your father's back again, aren't you? He never lets you stay out this late!"

"So?"

"Sooo that's the third time this week! You just got granted the opportunity of a lifetime and you're going to risk pissing your dad off because you're too excited to sleep? What if he finds out and changes his mind? No more training academy for us!"

Hiccup rolled his eyes. "Come on, Astrid, he's not going to take the academy away from me—us—just over me sneaking out at night. We need the dragons trained anyway. And besides, the other two times I went behind his back this week were what got us the academy in the first place, remember?"

Astrid kicked him again.

"GODS, will you stop trying to maim me more than I already am?!"

"Hiccup, you do realize that sneaking into a girl's room at night, dancing around like a lunatic, and then begging her to sneak out with you to do Odin-knows-what is a bit…odd for you?"

"Well, yeah, but I'm—"

"Excited," Astrid finished. "Yeah, yeah, I know." She paused, then her grin returned. The same part of her that wanted to kiss him was relishing the idea of sneaking around the island with him at night. Who knew when she'd get the opportunity to do this again? He'd never been like this before and there was no telling when he'd be like this next. She might as well go along with this strange, hyper-excited version of Hiccup for the time being – it couldn't hurt, right? Well, unless I "accidentally" kiss him again, she thought, but his offer was too enticing. It was worth the risk of her losing her grip on herself for the umpteenth time.

Besides, she just couldn't say no to that face.

An hour later found Astrid (in her day clothes that she'd shooed Hiccup out of her room to change into) lying atop a cliff overlooking the ocean. Hiccup lay next to her, finally having worn himself out. The pair had spent the last hour running, skipping, and jumping through the woods, hooting and hollering their throats hoarse. Hiccup had nearly tripped over many a tree root in the process, fallen flat on his face while attempting a cartwheel, and managed to crash straight into a bush full of rather confused Terrible Terrors who'd spent several minutes squawking indignantly at the Viking boy and trying to singe his hair. Astrid couldn't remember the last time she'd laughed so hard. She'd made a mental note to find and record every possible way to make Hiccup this exuberant again, because quite frankly, gallivanting through the forest with him in the middle of the night was a Hel of a lot of fun.

"Wow."

The blonde Viking turned her head towards her friend. "What?"

Hiccup laughed. "I can't believe I just spent the last hour acting like a drunk pirate."

Astrid poked him in the shoulder. "Neither can I. You are really excited."

"I dunno what's gotten into me."

Astrid rolled over onto her side and propped her head up on her hand. "Whatever it is, I like it."

Hiccup glanced up at her. "Ha, really?" He looked genuinely surprised. "I thought I might've scared you."

She smirked. "Me? Scared? Of you?"

"Oh, way to boost a man's confidence, Astrid," he deadpanned.

She slapped his arm playfully. "I'm kidding, you dork."

"I know, I know." He smiled and closed his eyes with a contented sigh.

Now that Hiccup wasn't looking at her, Astrid took the opportunity to stare at him. For the first time she noticed that his cheeks had lost some of their roundness and that his jaw line was starting to become sharper and more defined. She wasn't quite sure how she felt about that. On the one hand, she (especially the butterflies in her stomach) enjoyed imagining what he'd look like in a few years, after he'd have passed his yet-to-come growth spurt. But on the other hand, she adored the boyish innocence of Hiccup's features, and the thought of him outgrowing them left a bit of an ache in her heart.

Without warning, Hiccup's eyes snapped open again, and he caught Astrid staring before she could divert her gaze. "What?"

Astrid's face flushed. If there was one thing about Hiccup's face that hadn't changed (and Astrid hoped never would), it was the vibrant emerald color of his eyes. Gazing at them for too long was a dangerous risk – every time she had allowed herself to get lost in those eyes she'd ended up kissing him.

"Astrid, you okay?"

Astrid coughed and quickly glanced away. "Yeah…fine. Tired." She hoped to Thor that once again that Hiccup would remain oblivious to the sudden redness in her cheeks.

"Hey, Astrid?"

Although she probably shouldn't have, Astrid locked eyes with him again. By Odin, he had beautiful eyes. Hypnotic, almost. "Yeah?"

His lips curled into a broad smile that sent Astrid's heart somersaulting into her throat. "Thanks for coming out here with me," he said softly, his voice almost a whisper.

She grinned. "I had fun," she whispered back. Don't think about kissing him, don't think about kissing him, don't think about—

Dammit. She was kissing him.

She really needed to learn how to control herself.

The next morning, two drowsy Vikings – one with an axe strapped to her back and one with a metal foot on his left leg– arrived late to breakfast in the Great Hall.

"Oh, look who's finally here," snickered Ruffnut with a wicked grin. "Were you guys"—she wiggled her eyebrows suggestively—"up late?"

A second later, the twin was choking on a mouthful of Astrid's fist.

The first day of training went rather smoothly after that, and aside from several large yawns from two of the academy's members (and a large bruise on a third's lip), there was no indication that the previous night had been anything but ordinary.

A/N: Soooo...how was my first foray into the land of fanfiction since two years ago? I hope Hiccup wasn't too OOC. I'm not exactly sure how I ended up writing him to be so hyperactive - as I said, when I write, stuff just seems to happen, and when I'm done I can't explain how it happened (LOL). Also, kudos to anyone who caught the teeny bit of foreshadowing of HTTYD 2! Along with that, there was some foreshadowing of how Hiccup and Astrid's relationship will play out in later ficlets *cough*HeatherReport*cough* - so stay tuned! Thanks for reading, and please leave a review (constructive criticism is fine, but flames will be deleted). 'Til next time - fly high, faithful riders!