I'm a lazy turtle, I know, for not updating my multi-chapter series, but the muses are buggin' me to no end, and ideas kept popping up about HiccupxToothless friendship, so I just can't forget them. And here we are, guys and girls! Another of my little inventions.

Enjoy!

Disclaimer: Me no own nothin', not even a Toothless plushie...Shame. Real shame.

Contract of Trust

Summer on Berk was a vacation to all of their inhabitants, and there was no need to go anywhere. The season itself is a blessing already.

Although the weather was still a bit chilly, it was one sky warmer than the other ten months of the year. The real summer only lasted for two months on Berk, every year, and if they were unfortunate, summer will miss Her ride and never come until the year after. That meant a year on rations and hunting on land, since stormy months weren't few on the ocean surrounding the Viking village, either.

But this year, they were lucky. There had been a heat wave, perhaps, and the lovely summer was looking like She would stay a bit longer than usual. That meant a lot of things: dates for the teenagers and the not-quite-old folks of Berk, longer play time for the kids so they could ride the dragons (on the ground, mind you – kids under twelve aren't taking to the air on a dragon. Stoick's rule), and prolonged, ripe hunting trips for the weathered Vikings so that they could come back to the city hall and bellow about their kills with pride and all that junk. It also meant more time bonding with your dragons. All day, everyday in the past three months, there was not one day where a dragon with a rider wasn't seen in the sky. Teenagers chased and played air-tag with each other, dragons roaring their challenges of races and the kids all climbing onto their rooftops to watch their older peers fly.

All in all, it was wonderful.

But you know, some dragons needed their breaks, and since one of their tailfins was gone, they depended on their one-legged humans to help them fly, but the dragon didn't have the heart to yank the human away from his little date with an axe-swinging-Viking-in-the-blood girl, who he fell head over heels in love with. So the dragon had to find something else to waste away the time.

0o0o0o0o0

Toothless leaped over the rocks and then made a dive down the steep walls of the ravine in the middle of Berk's forest. When he did, he opened up his wings and let himself glide as much as he could to the ground below, and he landed in a slight crouch next to a willow tree.

It all looked familiar here, the Night Fury mused, stalking toward the willow tree and burned the earth with his blue fire, then lied down on the warm patch of heated ground. It looked exactly the same as when he met that human hatchling, now his rider and his first, only and dearest friend. The tree, the fish-filled lake, the large space…Heck, he only needed a little human clad in a green tunic, fur coat and boots and he would relive that day once again, the day when the boy had come and had offered him the fish.

They had come a long way since then, though. No longer were there awkward moments between them; no longer were there hand-over-the-fish-and-get-lost exchanges. Now every time they saw each other, one would rumble an affectionate greeting and the other would laugh and scratched his friend and asked how was his hunt with nothing between them except for the joy and relief of seeing the other still safe and pleased. Then the human would saddle the dragon up, would climb in there, would give a nudge of the knee, and they will take to the sky. There, between the clouds and the stars, they will be one.

With a contented sigh, Toothless lied down completely and watched with puppy-like green eyes as birds fleeted over the lake, on the branches of the willow and the trees nearby, singing their little melodies and tending their youths. Predator or not, Toothless was – is – still very observant, and he did enjoyed the arts of nature, the world where Thor had created, with all the beautiful little things in them, all the tiny details that made the place as close to perfect as one could ever get.

As he observed the winged, feathered creatures on the branches, a thought suddenly flashed back to the Night Fury, a thought he'd long since cast aside in favor of other thoughts, like how to make the perfect face to get Hiccup to fly with him one last time before the sun sinks behind the sea.

He'd allowed himself to be ridden.

Now, if you don't know a thing about dragons, you would have at least know that all of them had a sort of pride that prevented them from doing certain things – to be ridden like a pack mule, for instance, and Night Furies just happened to be one of the strongest opposes to this little shame.

To ride a dragon is to be accepted by it, to be recognized as its bonded. It was pretty simple when it comes to most dragons world-wide, actually: dragon likes you, you're lucky; dragon doesn't like you, you're their food. Simple and ironic.

And yet here Toothless was, letting himself being saddled, letting a skinny, not strong enough to hold a battleaxe human pet him, feed him, joke with him, climb on him and guide him through the sky. If any Night Furies have been around, it would certainly have been frowned upon, and the quickest way to release a "blinded" brethren, as the Night Furies called their bonded cousins, was to kill the bonded, the shame. The rider.

Since when had he changed so much? Toothless wondered to himself, sitting perfectly still under that willow, his eyes searching the ravine that was filled with memories. Since when had he been so attached to that human hatchling, had worried about him like he was a friend, a brother? Heck, since when had he accepted a name a human gave him?

They had had distaste against each other when they first met, or in Toothless' case, at least. Well, you'd all rather be angry if somebody took away your leg or in this case, tailfin, and render you an invalid, wouldn't you? Every creature on earth had that. But now that he thought back about it, Toothless still couldn't find the reason why he'd let the hatchling go when he'd had him under his claws, pinned against a boulder, at his mercy and rendered useless when Hiccup had first cut him loose. Why hadn't he? He knew full well that his instincts had screamed for him to eat that human, to tear him apart, to send him back to his creators. He had, after all, tried to kill the Night Fury. But no, he'd roared into his face and flew away, leaving the human unharmed.

And that was way before the first time the human hatchling fed him and showed what an over-curious he was and not a threat at all. That was before Hiccup had shown Toothless that he had a soft heart, that his eyes weren't fueled with that crazy adrenaline, that battle-lust, in a fight. After a week with the hatchling, Toothless couldn't imagine the kid swinging an axe around and yelling a battle cry. Seriously.

Maybe he'd just spared the hatchling because he owed the boy his life, for freeing him again…Toothless considered thoughtfully. But then that would not have made any sense. Hiccup had taken his flight away from him, so if he'd killed him there and then, they would be equal. And even if he'd been a little panicked and out of his mind at that time, his instincts would have been enough fuel to do what he should have – then, of course. Now Toothless could not even raise a claw against the little one. One look from those petrifying emerald eyes, one pleading look, one soft, reassuring word and Toothless rolled over like a dog.

There goes the Night Fury pride…

And then comes the whole fiasco with the saddle, the prosthetic tailfin and then the last straw – the acceptance of Hiccup as a rider, as a bonded.

Oh, sure, Toothless had fought like Hel was about to take over when Hiccup brought that saddle to him that evening. He'd jumped around, absolutely refusing to let that gigantic symbol of disgrace be put on him, a Night Fury. But then the next morning, the hatchling had used a more persuasive approach, a basket of delicious fish and a few gentle, irresistible but reasonable words, and poof, Toothless' pride fled like a frightened jay bird.

Of course, Toothless was grumbling like a disgruntled noisy horse when Hiccup fastened that saddle onto him, had tried a few methods to throw the hatchling down and had succeeded, although he was careful to do it on water for he did not wish for the little one to be harmed. But every time the hatchling was thrown down, he burst up to the surface again and more determined than ever, making Toothless let him ride again.

Day after day, that pain of being ridden, being humiliated by acting as a mount (which had started out alarmingly small anyway) started to dampen more and more, with every single times Hiccup succeeded in maneuvering him, and even Toothless began to hope. He could take to the sky again, true and free like he once was.

Ahem, correction – true and not quite free like he once was, since he had to carry a human on his back. Yes, boohoo and all, but Toothless was getting rather used to that familiar tiny extra weight on his back, and even more frightening, he found that he didn't mind much.

When night fell and when Hiccup had to come back to his dwellings, the Night Fury had questioned himself again and again to exactly why he had allowed himself to be so. Why had he accepted such a twig of a human to ride him as Hiccup did? The little one was weak to the bones, for the love of Thor and Odin and all of the gods. So what had kept the dragon from tearing him apart all these times? He had been suppressed by fear in the case of the Dragon Queen, had been suppressed by helplessness and hunger when he accepted foods from Hiccup, but this – there was nothing to fear from the skinny hatchling. So what was stopping him from doing what his natural instincts tell him to?

Oh, that's right…the dazzling smile, the gentle voice and the strangely fascinating crooked grin Hiccup flashed at Toothless more and more often, and every time he did, the dragon's heart leaped in joy and he was pleased that he was given that little grin. But that wasn't all. The hatchling had shown the Night Fury love, true love, not because he needed the dragon to be alive, not because there was a use to Toothless. He just helped him because they were friends.

If anybody had told Toothless before he met Hiccup that he would be a mount for a skinny, weak human hatchling, he would have eaten that one right away and savored on chewing that one's bones slowly. And if anybody had told Toothless before he met Hiccup that he would be attached to a human to the point of no return, that one had better pray he has a fairly easy death.

But now…Toothless pricked up his head to look at the sky once again, to watch the fluffy clouds rolled overhead, to see the vast clearing of light, beautiful blue in the distance, and he smiled that smile he'd copied from Hiccup. His rider. His friend.

Oh, well, the contract was signed one way or another. It was signed the moment Hiccup had maneuvered him out of that jungle of forest in the mist way back then. It was printed in blood and confirmed by fear of loss the moment Hiccup fell into that storm of fire as they brought the Dragon Queen down, and it was executed the moment Toothless had risked that death fall for his rider. Now it was in full power, and it would not change until the day both of them move to the Beyond, and even after that, it will remain the same. Dragon and rider. Rider and dragon. Viking and Night Fury. Hiccup and Toothless. The contract was for eternity. Nothing would shatter it. Neither of them will allow it.

There was nothing to worry about anymore. Everything is as it should be, down to the once-proud Night Fury's rider. So Toothless lied his head down and closed his eyes, bathing in the sweet summer sunlight, waiting for the moment when Hiccup and Astrid would come to him, calling his name and requesting a ride, grinning.

Toothless was contented to wait as long as he must, because Hiccup will come for him. One way or another. It was a part of their contract.

And that is the end of that. For now. Until my next idea of the wonderful bond between our favorite dragon and rider, folks! Remember, reviews make me write more, so leave a word or two behind as proof that you have read it!

~the Apprentice