Wow, I've had this saved in my Drive for nearly a year now, I forgot about it! Well, here's a short drabble about Hiccup and Toothless's first encounter...enjoy!
First Contact
The dragon spat out the remains of the fish onto the frightened human's lap. The boy just stared at it, then back at him, in confusion.
The dragon sighed inwardly. Humans. Didn't he know that the dragon was giving him a peace offering?
At last, with a little prompting, the boy seemed to figure it out. Hesitantly, he took a bite of the fish. The dragon raised its ears expectantly as the boy seemed unlikely to swallow. That was the proper way of accepting such an offering—chewing, then swallowing.
The dragon swallowed encouragingly, to show him what was expected. The boy groaned, but chewed and swallowed nonetheless.
The dragon thought that he liked it, as he turned his mouth up, like the humans did to show happiness. He had accepted, though the remaining fish stayed untouched.
To show that he wasn't angry, the dragon attempted to show his teeth and turn his mouth up, too. The boy was encouraged, and stood up, reaching out a hand to touch him, but the dragon remembered what he had been taught in the nest: Never trust a human.
Instinctively, he reared up and flew away, but with half his tailfin missing, it was a rough flight. And still, something bugged him—the human had spared his life, and he had accepted the fish... could the rule be broken? Was the boy an exception?
Is that drawing the human made supposed to be me? the dragon wondered as he stared curiously at the lines in the dirt. He frowned, then wandered off, grabbing a stick of his own and dragging it in the dirt. He would make the human a drawing of his own.
Is that drawing the dragon made supposed to be me? Hiccup wondered as he wove through the web of lines in the dirt. He stepped carefully, very aware of the dragon's growls if he dared touch one of the lines. His heart beat faster and faster, until he felt dragonbreath behind him.
The dragon's eyes widened in amazement as the human held out his hand a few inches in front of his nose. The boy was trusting him! He, who was of the rival race!
It took an immense amount of trust to do that. Humans were defenseless without their silly knives and bows, and the boy had none. The dragon could easily bite off the boy's head, or incinerate him with fire, or kill him in any number of ways.
But the dragon was so awed that he pushed his face forward until his nose touched the boy's hand. And in that moment, one brick in the wall between human and dragon crumbled away as the dragon realized that he, too, trusted the boy not to bring an army of armed humans to kill him. That trust bonded them in that moment, and the dragon's heart softened. Maybe there were exceptions after all...