A/N: HAPPY NEW YEAR!

"Well…it's that time of year again, bud." Hiccup sighed, talking to Toothless, it was New Year's Eve today, and right now the lanky teen was preparing for the annual celebration in the Great Hall. The whole village had been decorated, painted and cleaned, the buildings were all repaired and everything was absolutely perfect. Almost. This upcoming year was to present Hiccup with many challenges; he would be helping his dad in his chieftain duties to prepare for when it was his turn to be the leader, for this year he'd be coming of age. On the second full moon of the year he'd become of age, he had another one-and-a-half months of almost- freedom before he'd be confined to the Isle of Berk permanently, only to leave with his father for meetings, fishing trips, and varies other duties that leaving the island may apply to. Now that he thought of it all like this, he really wasn't feeling the festive spirit.

"Hiccup!" Stoick the Vast called up the staircase, his voice still booming when it penetrated Hiccup's bedroom. Hiccup looked back to Toothless and shrugged; the dragon motioned for his rider to go and see what his father wanted with his head, Hiccup pulled on his boot and loosened the strap to his prosthetic slightly as the flesh it was supporting was aching terribly. "Hiccup, come here!" Stoick yelled again, Hiccup groaned;

"I'm coming, I'm coming!" Hiccup plodded down the stairs, running a hand through his messed up hair. Stoick raised an eyebrow when his son came into view; the beefy man was standing near the fireplace, hands upon hips.

"I hope you're going to make yourself a little more presentable before we leave this house." Stoick stated, Hiccup looked confused, he followed his father's gaze and saw that his tunic was inside out, he only had some of his leathers on, the majority weren't fastened tightly enough and were hanging limply from their supposed place, the leather armour he wore on his upper body was all unfastened and he looked tired.

"Oh…" Was the best Hiccup could manage, Stoick gave a single laugh.

"Splash your face with water; you look tired, and please try to neaten your hair, I want you looking presentable tonight." Stoick said sternly, Hiccup began unfastening all his leathers and dropping them onto the table,

"Why do I need to look so presentable?" Hiccup moaned, Stoick sighed heartily.

"Why wouldn't you need to look presentable? Hiccup, today you're going to be seen by everyone in the village as a man rather than a boy, soon you're going to be eighteen and old enough to assist me in my duties. You need to show the people in the village that you are bothered about everything going on, therefore you need to look your best so that you can get their attention!" Stoick explained. Hiccup shifted his weight as he pulled his tunic over his head and began turning it inside out,

"But dad, the village have seen me my whole life; they already know what I'm like!" Hiccup protested as he pulled his tunic back over his head again. He reached for the rest of his uniform and began putting everything in the right place

"Hiccup, please stop fighting me, this is important, your future depends on this! You have the opportunity to become the greatest chief this island had ever known, you already made a great start by restoring peace to Berk!" Stoick stepped towards Hiccup slightly as he tried to make his point.

"Yeah but I wasn't intentionally trying to make a mark or whatever, I- Ugh… I-I just don't want to be stuck here, I love flying and being able to travel, soon I'm not going to be able to do any of that!" Hiccup angrily pulled on the straps along his right arm, trying to tighten everything and look "presentable". Hiccup struggle to fasten the left ones as he'd recently burned his fingers on a hot piece of metal when he was in the forge, not to mention that it wasn't his dominant hand. Stoick stepped forwards to help,

"Son, I'm sorry but it's just part of the responsibility, you're still going to be able to go for flights but very short ones around the island. You're right in the fact that you won't be able to travel, unless of course it is absolutely necessary. Hiccup, your people are going to need you and you're going to have to be there for them to rely on, you should be happy for this job, it's amazing to- Oh how do you even fasten these things!" Stoick cut himself short as frustration gained on him when he found that he couldn't fasten Hiccup's armour due to the fact it had a little "Hiccup Flair" thrown in as he'd been the one to make it in the first place.

"Argh, give it here!" Hiccup groaned he pushed his hair from his eyes as he looked down, he fiddled with the armour but it stung his fingers when he made contact with the suborn material. Suddenly, the door was opened, it was Astrid- looking very excited mind you- until she saw Hiccup fiddling with armour and realising that she may have just walked in on him changing.

"Ah, Astrid!" Stoick greeted, maybe she'd be able to do Hiccup's armour for him. "All excited for the New Year I see!"

"Yes, sir, the village are waiting in the Great Hall for you and Hiccup. I just came from there, myself." Astrid explained, still holding on to her smile although her face was tinting red with embarrassment.

"Well, I'll get going down there then." Stoick began to walk towards the door, Astrid also turned to walk, "Oh, and Astrid?" Stoick asked with a smile,

"Yes, Chief?" Astrid asked, thinking that she was going to get told off for barging into the chief's house,

"Could you give Hiccup a hand with his leathers, I think it needs a women's touch to fasten it." Stoick winked before making his way out of the door and closing it behind him, leaving Astrid and Hiccup to themselves. The blonde Viking made her way over to Hiccup, who had now looked up, embarrassed that Astrid was going to have to help him. She placed a gentle hand on top of Hiccup's arm.

"May I?" She asked, forcing a smile, Hiccup gulped and nodded, he looked down at Astrid's head as she worked at tightening the straps, she soon figured it out- Hiccup could tell as he felt them secure. Hiccup turned bright red as Astrid moved onto the straps and buckles on his stomach and chest.

"So- So you looking forwards to the New Year?" Hiccup asked, trying to start a conversation. Astrid nodded her head,

"Yeah, I mean who knows what this year will bring, and to make it better I officially become an adult this year, I can do anything I wish to do, I could go into any type of work. And I don't even have to start that work properly for another year; I'm looking forwards to the opportunities!" Astrid almost squealed in excitement, Hiccup hummed in thought.

"I wish I could do whatever I wanted…" Hiccup sighed, staring downwards towards the floor. Astrid finished fastening his armour for him and put a hand on his shoulder.

"Being chief won't be as bad as you think, I mean, all the people you've helped with their dragons so far, it feels good doesn't it?"

"Well, yeah."

"Just think, you'll be doing that for your job- you'll be making people happy, welcoming children into the world; helping solve problems. Hiccup you'll be amazing." Astrid opened her arms and welcomed him in for a hug, Hiccup smiled slightly and accepted the offer; he pulled himself into Astrid's arms and rested his head on top of hers. Astrid loved it when Hiccup hugged her; it made her feel warm and happy, her heart fluttering a million miles a minute.

"I wish I could be that sure." Hiccup whispered, he pulled out of the embrace before running his hands through his hair and breathing in sharply as his leg spasmed; of all the ways of telling the time this just seemed to be the worst one. Astrid noticed the pain and decided to take his mind off it,

"Hey, have you got any spare cord or string or something?" Astrid asked as she looked at his hair, Hiccup furrowed his brow before turning and walking over to a small basket near a shelf; he lifted the lid and pulled out thin leather cord. He handed it to Astrid and she smiled back at him.

"Turn around, I want to try something." Astrid laughed, Hiccup obediently turned around and Astrid began tugging on his hair, he then saw Toothless staring at him with a teasing, knowing expression on his face. He was sitting on the other side of the fire place watching intently.

"I wish I knew what he was saying," Hiccup muttered under his breath, "Then maybe I'd understand what was going on up there!" He laughed bringing his hand to his head, he found a small braid. "Huh?" Hiccup asked,

"Your hair was really messy at the back, I gathered the long strands and created two tiny little braids, don't worry though, it's not visible unless you're really close up. It makes your hair look nicer though!" Astrid laughed. Hiccup turned around to face her,

"Why thank you," Hiccup nodded, "Now let's get going to that celebration, my dad'll kill me if I'm any later."

"Okay, C'mon then!" Astrid grabbed Hiccup by the hand and dragged him out of the house, dragon in tow.

When Hiccup had first walked through the doors he figured that it might actually be alright, celebrating the New Year and everyone he walked past greeted him. Then as a couple of hours passed he began to tire and his leg began hurting, his head began throbbing and he was tired as anything, if his leg wasn't hurting so much then he'd be out flying but he didn't want to risk anything. Hiccup just carried on with the flow of things, maybe it'd take his mind off of things; he looked around for something to do or amuse him. He first saw the feast, if he ate any more he'd surely throw up, then the mead; He didn't want to get drunk like half of the village right now, next the dancing; He didn't even think twice as he crossed that one of his list, then he spotted something quite amusing indeed.

Toothless was drunkenly wandering around stealing Vikings mead, effectively getting drunk- this was an amusing sight. The black dragon let out quiet little burps every now and again whilst drinking mead when the Vikings were looking the other way, at least somebody was happy. He carried on looking around, Ruffnut, Tuffnut, Fishlegs, Snotlout and Astrid were to the left side of the hall; they were dancing around and daring each other to do stupid things- there was no way Hiccup was getting involved with any of that. Hiccup was about to walk over to sit with his father when his leg began playing up again, it was trembling and crying out in pain at the weight put on it, Hiccup gritted his teeth and turned to sit on a far table on the right side of the hall alone. Once he finally sat down and swung his legs over the side of the bench he had no idea what to do. The tall boy knew that he shouldn't just sit here and waste the last hour of total freedom on feeling sorry for himself but he also knew he could do very little in the situation he was in.

Hiccup knew that every night his leg hurt, so why didn't he tell his dad, maybe then he could've stayed home. Maybe. Why couldn't he just have a say in life, why couldn't he have the freedom of choosing what he wanted to do with his life, why did he have to pursue a path already carved for him. All the other teens had a choice in the matter, there were also jobs incorporating dragon's now, they could be a dragon trainer, a flying instructor for the children just getting their dragons. Yet none of this would be possible without Hiccup, and he wasn't even allowed to run the Dragon Academy full time any longer. Hiccup's fists shook on the table as he thought of all the things he was going to have to sacrifice as of becoming and training to be chief, all the things he was never going to get to do, all the responsibilities. No-one even understood, there was no-one who would understand what Hiccup was going through, Stoick just yelled and told him straight what he was going to have to do and to stop being selfish.

Hiccup moaned in pain as his leg gave another jolt of pain, he'd had enough now- he needed to get out of here for a while, he knew that soon his leg would hurt even more- damn night pains. The green-eyed Viking could feel anger building up inside him, he desperately wanted what he couldn't have so without thinking he yelled a single angry noise and lobbed a wooden cup with such force at a wall that it splintered, Hiccup stood up and punched the table angrily before kicking it with his good leg and standing there panting. Angry tears fell from his eyes and the entire village turned to look at him, Hiccup could tell by the silence, he could tell as the hairs on the back of his neck pricked up. The angry teen turned to face them,

"What?!" he roared, too consumed in sadness and anger to think, before he knew what was happening Astrid had ran up to him and was standing before him, her eyes shining with concern. She wrapped an arm around his waist and took his hand with the other.

"C'mon, Hiccup, let's sit outside for a little while." Astrid whispered, guiding him through the crowds of people, Hiccup raised his left hand to his eyes to wipe away the tears and quickly- with Astrid's help- made his way outside. The two sat down on a nearby hill. "Hiccup," Astrid spoke up, taking his hand in hers.

"Y-yeah?" Hiccup stuttered, staring out into the distance.

"What's wrong? I could tell something was up when we were back at your house." Astrid said softly. Hiccup sighed heftily.

"It's a number of things really, none of which you'd understand properly." Hiccup said, still looking away.

"Then help me understand, I can tell you need to let it all out. C'mon, out with it." Astrid urged, not wanting Hiccup to explode again from bottling everything up.

"Well I'm still not exactly happy about having no freedom in my choice, I want to be able to do whatever I want to do with my life, I want to travel, see new lands, explore. But no, I have to stay and take over chief duties, I want to be free with Toothless, I'm sure he's not going to like being refined to the islands… I'll have to make another new tail for him, oh wait- I can't do that because of other things I have to do! It isn't fair! I'm going to make a horrible chief! I don't want to running after the village all the time, I'm no good at that sort of thing, if anything goes wrong I'll be blamed!

Anyway how can I do any work at all when I've had no sleep? My leg never seems to cease hurting! It's too cold, and I keep growing so that's not stopping anytime soon. It hurts so much, I thought after all these years that it would have stopped hurting, but it still does! And as stupid as it sounds sometimes it feels as though my foot is still there, it hurts knowing that it's gone. I want my dad to understand all this but all he ever does it yell! Oh, I just want freedom from everything!" Hiccup finished his rant and turned to look at Astrid, "I just want someone to understand, too talk to…" Hiccup whispered. Astrid kneeled forwards and placed her hands on his shoulders.

"As long as I'm here, you'll always have someone to talk to, Hiccup. And besides; I still think you'll be a great chief. All I'm saying is that if you play your card right and follow the year through, you may surprise yourself, you may even find things to do you thought you couldn't. I think you're being a little hard on yourself, just carry on as normal and see how it takes you. Okay?" Astrid smiled, Hiccup nodded and looked down. Astrid lifted his chin, "And don't forget; there's still time to celebrate…" Astrid smirked mischievously, Hiccup looked to her confused.

"Astrid, there's only a few minutes left until New Y-" Hiccup was cut off when Astrid's lips crashed down onto his own. Hiccup place a gentle hand onto her face when the initial shock was over and gently returned the favour, Astrid took hold of the braids she had made earlier and deepened the kiss before they slowly pulled away- smiling.

"Hiccup?"

"Uh- huh?" Replied Hiccup, still a little dazed.

"Would you like to be my official boyfriend?" Astrid asked, Hiccup's eyes widened at the offer and he almost choked on his own spit as he fought his brain for an answer, he nodded his head wildly and smiled like an idiot.

"Y-Yes, of-of course I will!" Hiccup finally found his words; Astrid blushed and leaned into the taller boys ear,

"Like I said; follow the year through, who knows what'll happen." Astrid whispered before leaning in for another kiss. In the background the bells began ringing, it was the New Year, a new start. Hiccup found his freedom in Astrid, and Astrid freedom in Hiccup.

Maybe this year wouldn't be so bad after all.

Whilst the couple were still kissing, Toothless had staggered outside; he warbled drunkenly to Hiccup and attempted to walk towards him. The drunken dragon ended up rolling down the stairs and giving a content sigh before falling asleep on his back, Gobber trailing after him. Also drunk.

Hi, people of FanFiction! I hope you enjoyed this little New Year's story I put together, I'm sorry if it is a little odd or dodgy, but I hope you like it all the same.

Please review if you like it, I love me a good review- like many authors; they motivate me to keep writing.

WritingBolt.