Chapter 1: The Candlelight Dance

Hiccup was more than nervous: he was terrified.

Today had marked the anniversary of the first Chief of the Hairy Hooligan Tribe, his ancestor, and he was in charge of making sure the celebration plans went smoothly. As the Chief's son, he was in charge of making sure everything goes according to plan, which was the easy part in his opinion. The reason why he was a nervous wreck was because he was supposed to dance with a girl in front of the entire tribe as part of the celebration festivities.

"This is one of those times that I wish I wasn't the Chief's son." Hiccup groaned to Toothless as they walked through the village, overlooking the preparations.

The Night Fury nodded his head with understanding sympathy as he affectionately rubbed his head against Hiccup's side.

Night was beginning to envelop Berk and the preparations were almost complete when he heard a familiar voice cheerfully beckon him, "Hey Hiccup! Come over here!".

He turned around to see Astrid standing at the doorway of the Great Hall and his heart instantly melted into a big puddle of warmth and affection. Everything about her was so divine that he almost mistook her for a Valkyrie. He knew she was the only one who would be willing to dance with him for the Celebration.

"Coming Milady!" He responded with a warm smile as he and Toothless jogged over to the Great Hall to see what Astrid wanted to show him.

She smiled at him warmly when he finally stood in front of her with Toothless at his side. "Whoa there, wouldn't want you to break a sweat now. I just wrapped up the preparations in the Great Hall with Stormfly and I think you're gonna like what we did."

He grinned back at her, "Is that so? Well I'll be the judge of that."

With Toothless by his side, Hiccup walked into the room with Astrid and had to admit she was right. He was truly impressed with her handiwork.

The walls were covered in ornaments and banners while the chandeliers were wrapped in fabric ribbons. Which gave it a elegant appearance compared to looking like pieces of old drift wood while the furniture was thoroughly cleaned to the point where it looked brand new. Astrid had truly outdone herself.

"Well? What do you think?" She asked as she playfully punched his arm.

Rubbing his arm where she hit him, Hiccup chuckled, "It looks great Astrid! You and Stormfly did a fantastic job."

He enjoyed moments like this where he could just relax and hang out with her without worrying about planning new lessons for the Academy or Alvin's evil schemes against Berk. It was just a moment between her and him and nobody else.

"So, I heard what you're gonna have to do for tonight's celebration." Astrid brought up after a moment of silence between them. "You have to dance with some lucky girl in front of the entire tribe."

Hiccup blushed and shuffled his feet, "Well it's not really my decision who I get to dance with, it's my Dad's. I honestly don't want to dance with anybody."

"Not even with me?" She questioned playfully, stepping closer to the young dragon trainer so they were inches apart. Making Hiccup's heart start to race in his chest.

He looked away from her gaze with a rising blush on his cheeks, "I-I mean I would dance with you!" he replied softly. She smiled at his shy-geek boy reply, the truth was he was still shy about advancing their romantic relationship and she found that part of him to be especially adorable.

Astrid turned around and walked over to the entrance to close the doors completely. Causing the entire room to become wrapped in darkness.

"Uh Astrid...what're you doing?" He finally asked, unable to keep the anxiousness out of his voice.

She walked around with a small flame as she lit the small candles that were placed on each of the tables around the great hall. When she had completed her round, the entire room was engulfed by a warm glow that illuminated everything in romantic atmosphere.

She stood in front of him and untied her braid so her long locks of golden hair gently floated upon her shoulders. She gave him a curtsy and smiled, "Well since you don't have a choice when it comes to the official celebration, how about a dance?"

Hiccup looked at her with a soft smile spreading across his face. After a short moment he walked up to her and wrapped a hand around her waist to pull her closer to his body. "I'd love too."

Slowly, they started to twirl and gaze into each other's eyes with desire as invisible music played through the air.

Astrid noticed that Hiccup had grown taller since their adventures finding new dragons and facing off against Alvin. Now he was the same height as her and she could've sworn he had even grew a little muscle since they started the academy. His sparkling green eyes drew her in and his soft brown hair complimented all of his handsome features he was completely unaware about. Everything about his appearance had confirmed the geek she had fallen in love with grew up without her even realizing it.

After dancing for a while, they slowly stopped and started to chuckle at the same time. Hiccup's stress about the celebration was lifted from his shoulders as he gazed at Astrid with grateful eyes.

She pushed a piece of hair away from her eyes and gave a little cough. "Well, it looks like you're feeling a lot better."

Astrid had no idea what would happen next as Hiccup leaned forward and kissed her tenderly on the lips. He had closed his eyes before locking lips with her but Astrid's eyes were wide with surprise until she slowly melted from his warm lips.

When they broke apart, Hiccup couldn't even look at her with his face as red as Toothless's prosthetic tail fin. "See you tonight." Was all he could manage to say before he left the Great Hall.

He left her smiling like an idiot and touching her lips like they were turned to gold. This was surely a candlelight dance that they would never forget.