Outburst

A/N This is just a little WAFF story I threw together in about an hour, as a break from the hard work (?) of writing serious multi-chapter stories. Enjoy it for what it's worth. If you don't enjoy it, at least I haven't wasted much of your life.

o

The teens had been planning this trip for weeks. It had been hard, arranging for all six of them to get a break from chores and lessons on the same night, but they'd worked it out. The twins had found the perfect camping site, on a cliff overlooking the seashore. They had tents and sleeping rolls, flint and steel for starting a camp fire, and food to get them through the night. They each had a choice selection of scary, heroic, and funny stories to tell around the campfire.

The only thing they hadn't planned on was a seventh member of the group. As they hiked uphill through the sparse woods, they heard the telltale sound of something crashing through the brush behind them. They all looked, and saw a long black shape running to catch up with them, letting out a happy yowl.

"Oh, no, not him again," Tuffnut moaned.

"Did your dad send him to spy on us or something?" Ruff muttered.

"Toothless, I told you to stay home tonight!" Hiccup turned to face his dragon. "This is our special night out, and... and... awww, man." He looked in those huge green eyes, and all his displeasure drained out of him. He just couldn't stay mad at him! "Toothless, please go back home."

The dragon butted Hiccup's good leg with his nose. He was very pleased with himself for finding the group and catching up with them. Hiccup knew a losing battle when he saw one.

"Guys, is it okay if he follows us for a while? He'll probably get bored and wander off; he won't be with us all night." The others rolled their eyes and kept hiking. They all knew from experience that it was no use arguing with a dragon. But Toothless was smarter than most dragons, so he was much more effective at being a pest.

First, he lay down to watch them, and he chose the exact spot where they wanted to build their fire. When they shooed him away from there, he almost knocked Tuffnut's tent over with his tail by accident. Tuff shouted at the dragon, waving his fists (something he wouldn't dare do at any other dragon). Then, when he saw Fishlegs working with the flint and steel to start the fire, he added a puff of his own flame, and when the fire flashed up, it nearly burned the big young man's eyebrows off.

The last straw was when he smelled something interesting in Snotlout's tent. Naturally, he stuck his head inside to investigate, and kept on going. Snotlout looked up and saw the front of a dragon sticking out the front of his tent, and the back of a dragon sticking out the back. No doubt he was leaving muddy dragon tracks all over his sleeping roll.

"Oh, for Odin's sakes, Hiccup!" he complained. "Can't you get your stupid lizard to leave us alone?"

"He's not stupid; he's curious," Hiccup tried to explain.

"It's not a he, it's an it," Lout cut him off. "Get it right, cousin. That dragon is a dragon. It is not a person. Okay?"

Something in Hiccup snapped. He got right into his bigger cousin's face and growled, "You don't know anything."

Snotlout started to say something, but Hiccup cut him off. "You don't know anything!"

"Toothless isn't just a lizard! He's the only one who was glad to see me when everyone else in Berk wished I'd go away, starting with you. He had confidence in me when the rest of you called me 'Useless'. He was there for me all the times when nobody else was." Hiccup's voice was rising. "Do you know why he hangs around me all the time? Because there's no place else he'd rather be! He accepts me for who I am, imperfections and all! He knows everything about me, and he likes me anyway!" He struggled for the words to finish.

"He's... he's... he's as much of a person as you are! No. He's more of a person than you are!" He spun on his good leg and stalked off into the forest.

"Whoo-ee, what brought that on?" Snotlout wondered.

"I think you did," Astrid replied heatedly, then turned to follow Hiccup.

He wasn't hard to follow. With his artificial leg, he couldn't walk quietly in the woods if he tried, and he wasn't trying now. He just stormed off a few hundred feet, then stopped and leaned against the nearest large tree. He knew he'd embarrassed himself in front of his friends, and he wasn't sure how he could arrange to rejoin them without looking totally stupid. When he heard Astrid approaching, he pointedly avoided looking at her.

She stopped about ten feet away, waited for him to acknowledge her, then closed to conversation distance when he continued to pretend she wasn't there. He didn't look mad or sad, just very, very upset.

"That was some outburst," she finally said.

"I don't know why I lost it so bad," he said, still without looking at her.

"They insulted your friend," she replied, as though it was obvious.

"He is my friend!" Hiccup burst out. "Why don't they get that?"

"They can't get it," she answered. "They don't know what real friendship is. Those guys think a friend is someone you go camping with, and trade insults with, and wrestle with, and on a good day they'll cover your back in a fight, but it doesn't go much deeper than that. I can see that it's a lot deeper with you two, but I don't know if I really 'get it', either."

She paused as they heard a familiar sound, the sound of something crashing through the brush toward them. Toothless didn't seem nearly so pleased with himself now; somehow he knew he'd done something wrong. He approached Hiccup with his head hung down almost to the ground, ears down, emitting a sad little moan.

Hiccup knelt and lifted the dragon's head until they made eye contact. For a moment, he forgot Astrid was even there. "It's okay, bud. Really, it's okay. You aren't the greatest camper, but..." He paused, not sure what to say next.

"...but he's the greatest friend you'll ever have," Astrid finished for him. "That's the part that the others don't get, and they never will. Maybe that's partly our fault; maybe if we'd treated you better, you wouldn't have felt like you had to open your heart to a dragon. But you've found someone your heart is safe with, and that's awesome, even if he is a little bit long and scaly. Some people never find a friend like that. Snotlout and the twins wouldn't dare open their hearts to anybody, certainly not their dragons; that's why they can't see what you two have got.

"Fishlegs knows there's something there, because he's got something similar with Meatlug, but it's not as deep. I love Stormfly, I smile when she comes running to meet me, but it's not the same, and I know it. Someday, I hope I have a husband –" she shot him a knowing look "– who's as close to me as you are to your best friend here, but from what I've seen, even some married couples never get that close.

"But whoever you marry, I hope she knows she'll have to share you. I hope she can see what the two of you mean to each other, and has the sense not to try and change it. Those guys up the hill are incapable of seeing that."

"So you're saying I shouldn't marry them?" Hiccup asked, with a trace of that wry grin that drove her crazy sometimes. At least he was back to his normal self. "I still think Lout ought to apologize."

"Can you see him apologizing on account of a dragon?" Astrid asked. He shook his head ruefully. She went on.

"Seriously, do you think Toothless cares one bit about what Snotlout thinks of him? If he doesn't care about little things like that, then why should you?"

There's one thing about Hiccup, she thought as she watched him. You can always tell what he's thinking. That's his "I never thought of that" face.

She glanced at Toothless. "Look at him, Hiccup! Can't you see the way he looks at you? You're his world! Even I can see that! Anyone who can't see that... they don't deserve the power to make you unhappy. So don't give it to them.

"I'm going back to the camp site now. If you come back, you better not come alone, no matter what Lout and the twins might want. You're a package deal, Hiccup. You need to paint a sign on your vest that says, 'Love me, love my dragon.'

"If you don't come back, I'll understand. But I hope you do. Both of you." After a moment, she bent over and kissed him on the cheek, then turned and ran back uphill toward the tents.

Toothless watched her go, and let out a confused little rumble. Hiccup also watched, but turned back toward his dragon. A half-smile played across his features as he rested his hand on the scaly black head.

"You know what I need, bud? I need a bigger tent. Something with room for a dragon inside." He rose and began walking back toward the camp site.

He glanced back. Toothless hadn't moved. The campers had made it clear he wasn't welcome among them.

"Come on, bud! You're with me." Always, he added to himself.

THE END