Haha I love HTTYD but I've never written a fic for it! Thank goodness I'm changing that~

It should've been pretty clear that Hiccup wasn't exactly fit to be a leader at the time, really.

Oh yes, he was an excellent peace maker in times of much strife but the issue was that there wasn't any large issues around for Hiccup to do anything significant for.

Now, one would think that this was the opposite of an issue and they'd usually be right. The problem with Hiccup, though, was that all the problems were people problems. Small scale things that required much talking with petty and stupid people.

The problem was that Hiccup generally was socially inept and disliked talking to people.

Oh, when the stakes were high, or the issues involved dragons, he could easily use his peace making skills.

But normal issues...? It was much harder for him to deal with them, and he found himself stretched thin as he tried to solve every issue in the town

It didn't help that he was getting to spend less and less time with Toothless, less and less time flying free. Less and less time being happy, relaxing, and it was starting to show on both the dragon and his rider.

Thank the gods that Astrid noticed, and decided to intervene. She was truly a blessing.

Her intervention was slow, so as to keep it hidden from Hiccup. Of course he was a selfless idiot who would stress himself out and say nothing over it, not allowing anyone to help, not even her. Of course. She loved him, but he needed to learn to let others help him when he was drowning.

She took a subtle approach, slowly offering to take more and more of his burdens, more and more of the tedious work. In return, he helped her with the job she did— one that they both actually liked. Together, they took care of Toothless and Stormfly, trained more often, and gathered food for the tribe in the forest and the ocean using their dragons.

Overall, Hiccup was far happier, showing his goofy grin more and more often.

And really, Astrid was relieved as well. Not only had Hiccup clearly been unhappy, but so had Toothless. He was had become extremely restless, often barging in on Hiccup and refusing to leave his side.

Now, though, Hiccup and Toothless were regularly exploring, charting new islands and dragons, as Hiccup so greatly yearned to do. He could not be rooted to one place for too long, hence the pressure of being chief had done him in.

And hey, Astrid found she had a hidden talent for leadership. Oh yes, Hiccup was far better when it came to the dragons, but he was absolutely horrible at managing other people.

Perhaps his gift with the beasts wasn't really a gift, but merely just a shift in talents— his people skills were nonexistent, replaced with dragon skills. At least, that was Astrid's theory.

The pair ruled well, both being chieftains in their own right.

Hiccup commandeered the dragons, solving their issues and exploring the lands beyond Berk, and having many adventures. Astrid commandeered the village, warrior spirit demanding respect as she solved many issues both large and small on the island.

They were an unstoppable team.

Hmmmm I don't really like this but this idea has been rolling around in my head forever, so.