Disclaimer: Dreamworks reserves rights to characters from their film "How To Train Your Dragon", on which this fanfiction is based. No copyright infringement intended.

This is a multi-chapter fic, ship of Toothcup IN WHICH TOOTHLESS IS HUMAN god you perverts (I'm talking to you Brent). It therefore contains SLASH, which means boys will be loving each other in all manners. If this doesn't sound like your cup of tea, then please click the "Back" arrow on your browser and continue perusing the many other menus of fanfiction offered by the internets. Thank you and enjoy!

THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS SMUT. You have been warned.

Day 3

Hiccup groaned and buried his face in his bedding. Someone was making a stupid amount of noise for so early. The room was still damp and cool, the sun barely having been out long enough to warm the air and dispel the humidity. That same someone then thought it was the best idea ever to jump on him.

"Hiccup! Get up!"

Hiccup groaned again and flipped over on his stomach as best he could with a rambunctious teenaged male straddling him. "Ugh, why?" He had rarely been a morning person. Only on special occasions, like when his pet dragon needed fixing. Last he checked, his pet dragon was –

"Come ooooonn!" Toothless yelled in his ear.

Hiccup sighed explosively and turned back over. Toothless was all bright-eyed with barely contained excitement, practically bouncing up and down on Hiccup. Bouncing up and down, in a very awkward position. If he didn't get off soon -

"Okay, okay! Just – get off! Why are you so excited?" Despite himself, Hiccup felt a grin twitching at his lips.

"I wanna go flying!" said Toothless. He ran to the window and pointed, arm bouncing up and down.

"Er, but - "

"They're all going out! I heard them talking last night at dinner."

Hiccup blinked the sleep out of his eyes and tried to register what was going on. "Flying? But - " I'm supposed to fly with you! Well, there had been that one time with Astrid's nadder, but…

Toothless grinned and started tugging at Hiccup's foot. "Come on, we can share a nadder, if it makes you feel better," he said.

And it was weird, how Toothless could sometimes read his mind like that.

Hiccup let himself be pulled out of bed, straightening up before he hit the floor.

It was another perfect day for flying. The skies were blindingly blue, absent of clouds. The surrounding sea was mildly choppy with white caps here and there, and the dragons all seemed to be in a good mood.

Hiccup and Toothless met the rest of the gang down by the docks. Hiccup had managed to find a nadder on the island willing to accept a rider. He was a bit nervous about piloting a dragon other than Toothless, but in this unique occasion that luxury was gone. Hiccup was curious to see if the deadly nadder would be able to tell if his friend's form was the result of sorcery, and that his true form was that of a dragon. Toothless was practically beside himself in excitement. Hiccup could tell just from a glance that his friend's competitive streak would come out; he would be analyzing the nadder's form and flight techniques, and in the end would undoubtedly announce himself the more graceful flier. In Toothless's defence, Hiccup could admit that night furies were more graceful in the air than most other species.

Hiccup calmed the nadder and then mounted it, grabbing hold of the reigns. He extended an arm down to help Toothless up. "You'd better hold on to me," he said, leaving no room for Toothless to voice the argument tightening his mouth. "Look, I've got experience riding a dragon, thanks to you. And you don't. So come on,"

Toothless pouted and sniffed. He winked at the nadder (who all of a sudden looked uncomfortable and may have just realized that his second guest was really the offspring of death and lightning itself, magicked into the disguise of a human) and allowed himself to be pulled up by Hiccup.

"So where are we goin'?" Snotlout yelled out to the group, patting his monstrous nightmare's shoulder.

Astrid shielded her eyes from the sun with her hand as she gazed out past the island. "There's a dragon colony not far from here that Gobber wants us to check out!"

Fishlegs perked up, excited by the prospect of different species. "Oooh, I wonder what we'll find! Maybe some timberjacks, they have these razor sharp wings that can-"

"Sounds cool, let's go!" Snotlout yelled, drowning out the rest of Fishlegs's enthusiasm.

"That human has an interesting talent for judging the skills of dragon species," commented Toothless.

Hiccup snorted, amused. "Yeah, he's a weirdo."

"Like you," Toothless offered in full compliment, the words caught in a smile.

Hiccup pretended to be offended. "Who me? Naaaah, no way." He tugged on the reigns, and the nadder prepared to take off after the rest of the group. "Hold on tight!"

Toothless wasted no time in carrying out Hiccup's command. His arms snaked around Hiccup's waist, chin resting comfortably on Hiccup's shoulder. As soon as they were cruising in the air though, Hiccup heard Toothless laugh out loud and felt him release his waist to throw his hands in the air, clearly enjoying himself.

"This is amazing! I can just relax and let you do all the work!"

Hiccup snorted again. "It was like that at first with you and me, remember?!" Hiccup yelled over the wind.

Toothless punched his shoulder lightly. "Yeah, when you were still working out the kinks in that first tail!"

"That hurt you know, when you slapped me in the face with your ear! And your tail!"

"Hey, it's not my fault you made me stall and then fell off! That was terrifying!"

Hiccup smiled at the memory. In hindsight it had been amazing, that first test flight with Toothless. At the time though, spinning and falling in the air a thousand feet above icy cold waters had been extremely terrifying. Breath-taking, but terrifying.

The nadder put on a burst of speed, gaining pace to catch up with Astrid.

Toothless gave a short cry of surprise at the jolt and then quickly wrapped his arms around Hiccup's waist.

"Hey hey! Hold on, eh?" Hiccup said, worry in his voice.

"I don't like how this thing flies! It's too jumpy! Also too colourful!"

Hiccup smirked. There we go.

They all flew for about an hour before they found the dragon colony of which Gobber spoke. The colony's habitat was a small rocky island, shaped like a crescent, in the center of which was evidence of a glacial fjord. The group could see upon inspection three species of dragons. There were caves inundating the crescent, inhabited by a different species of dragon than lived on outside by the water. The third species seemed to prefer the exposed plateau at the top of the island. The Vikings didn't want to disrupt the peaceful existence of the fjord island, so they stayed in the air, circling the island instead of landing.

Hiccup reached into his furs and took out a brown notebook. He and Fishlegs had, for the last year, been working on a sequel to the Dragon Manual. The first volume was outdated and biased towards the earlier and more hostile Viking-Dragon relationship, and needed to be revised and updated to represent a more ecological study of the dragon populations. No longer did every entry end with "Extremely Dangerous, Kill on Sight", but instead with "Approach with Caution". Hiccup scratched a few things in the notebook, sketching what he could see of the dragons on the island.

On the second lap around the island, Toothless gasped and pointed. "Wait wait, go back!"

They all turned towards Hiccup and Toothless, curious as to what he'd seen. "Woah, what'd you see?" asked Snotlout.

Toothless squinted in the distance. He nudged Hiccup to bring the nadder closer to the island. They were about a ten feet away from the closest cave when he gasped again.

Astrid gasped. "Oh, wow! I've never seen another night fury before!" she said, surprise in her voice.

Hiccup leaned forward, eager to get a glimpse at the reclusive species. "In the cave?" he asked Toothless.

He nodded, his eyes wide. He seemed to be in a bit of a daze. "I think… I think it's a female," he said. He craned his neck forward, trying to get a better look.

The night fury was lying in the cave, apparently sleeping. Suddenly, it opened its eyes. From their distance, Hiccup was surprised at how vibrantly blue they were. Immediate comparisons in the dragon's appearance to Toothless lent that the individual was smaller in size, with slightly smaller ears, and a shorter tail. Otherwise, he couldn't tell the difference between the two.

"How do you know?" He asked, raising his voice over the wind.

The night fury's head perked up at the sound of his voice. Her eyes squinted and her pupils narrowed, her gaze darting back and forth between them all, like she was simultaneously curious and suspicious of her audience. She rose up on her legs and inched her way to the entrance of her cave, curiousity getting the better of her. Their nadder didn't seem to want to get any nearer. With a whoosh of its wings it moved backwards about a foot.

Toothless clicked his tongue and kicked the nadder with his good foot. "Hey, quit it! I wanna get a good look at her!"

Tuffnut whistled. "Ooh la la, Toothless has a little cruuuush!"

Toothless would have blasted the idiot off his zippleback if he could. For lack of a better option he just growled at him, flaring his nostrils.

Without warning, the night fury took off from her cave, flying over all their heads. They all watched her go. Hiccup smiled, glad that the night fury population existed outside of just Toothless. Of course he'd always assumed there would be more than just his friend, but until then that assumption had never been confirmed. But then of course, if Toothless was the only night fury, he would have produced offspring by now, if what he'd said about male dragons was true. Hiccup wondered if she had been the only one on the small island, for he could spot no other night furies.

Again, his friend seemed to read his mind. "We're a pretty solitary species at maturity. We like our space," said Toothless with a shrug.

"Let's head back!" cried Astrid.

"Aaaw, but I want to see the other species up close too! What if-"

"Can it, Fishlegs! We've gotta go help the others with the boats!"

Hiccup felt Toothless tense behind him. "Boats? Fishing again?"

Hiccup shrugged and tried to keep his voice relaxed. "Eh, not sure. Could be that we're building another one."

Toothless glared suspiciously at the back of Hiccup's head. He inhaled deeply and just let the sensation of flying, of the cool air whooshing through his hair and past his skin, take over everything else. He wrapped his arms around Hiccup, fully trusting his friend's skills as a pilot, and enjoyed the flight back to the Isle of Berk.

When they got back to Berk, Hiccup tossed Dragon Manual v2.0 to Fishlegs for him to scribe his own annotations.

"So, fishing again?" Toothless asked, sounding put-out. "Don't you humans have enough from yesterday's trip?"

Upon seeing his son's return, Stoick meandered through the large gathering of Vikings to Hiccup.

"Successful trip, son?" he said in his gruff voice.

Hiccup noticed he was avoiding looking directly at Toothless. He turned to look at his friend and noticed Toothless had his arms crossed and was glaring at the chief, lips curled in a sneer, threatening to bear his teeth.

"Wha – stop that Toothless! Geez, what's with all the attitude?" Hiccup said. He forced Toothless's arms to his side.

Toothless smirked. "How do you know I'm not glaring at you all like this all the time? Human faces are just more expressive," he said, barely containing a snigger.

Hiccup rolled his eyes and stepped in front of Toothless, blocking him from his father's view.

"Yeah, it was good. We spotted a scaldron, and I think maybe we discovered a new cave-dwelling species," Hiccup reported. He nodded his head over to the Dining Hall, where Fishlegs was surely sitting at a table, scribbling their findings into the Manual's sequel. Hiccup's eyes shifted to Toothless before he said, "And uh, we spotted a night fury too," he paused, "a female one. We think. Er, Toothless thinks."

Stoick's eyes widened a bit. "That's - that's good then! Good trip, then," he said a bit awkwardly.

Hiccup resisted the urge to sigh. It was always like this. The gang would have orders to go inspect a random dragon colony and report their findings, and add them to the Dragon Manual v2.0, and it all seemed fine, but then if they actually managed to discover any new species, it always made Stoick and Gobber visibly anxious. There had only been a few times when they'd actually encountered new dragon species, but every time their reaction was the same: a mixture of anxiety, stress and curiousity. Hiccup supposed that the three-century long conditioning that dragons were bad and only caused problems would not let up after only a year of delicate peace-keeping.

"So - er, is there a fishing trip?" Hiccup asked, eager to break the tense silence. Toothless was glaring at Stoick again. Hiccup wanted to hit Toothless. He knew now that no matter what excuses his friend gave, the former dragon was just annoying Stoick because he could.

Stoick blinked and cleared his throat. "No, there's a storm rolling in," he said, gesturing towards the crisp cloudless blue sky (Hiccup hadn't yet grown into the apparent Viking talent of predicting the weather). "The ships won' be sailin' today. We've enough to eat from yesterday's haul anyway. But we'll likely need to set out tomorrow. Winter's comin', y'know."

Hiccup almost felt the relief flood through Toothless. He noticed that the glaring stopped, to be replaced by an easy grin. Hiccup wouldn't be surprised if his friend hugged Stoick in his relief that he would not be getting on a boat any time soon. The Viking shook his head and snorted, amused. Yeah his friend may look completely different, but he was still the same temperamental Toothless.

Stoick opened his mouth to add something more to their conversation, but his attention was stolen by Gobber, who had just exited the Dining Hall.

"What now?" Toothless said, practically bouncing up and down on the balls of his feet.

"Man your mood changes fast," Hiccup commented, laughing and shaking his head. "Stop almost killing my dad with your evil death glares!"

Toothless barked out a laugh. He linked his arm with Hiccup's and proceeded to march them off in a random direction. "Okay okay! S'not my fault he's always so serious all the time," he said. His face pulled into a serious grin in mockery of the expression worn by not only Stoick but by the majority of Vikings in general.

Hiccup chuckled despite himself. As they were walking he noticed that – well, that they walked together rather well, despite both having metal contraptions for left feet.

Hiccup nodded down towards Toothless's aforementioned foot. "How's it working out for you?"

"Great, as your devices usually do," he answered, giving Hiccup a cheeky grin. "Wanna properly test its strength?"

"What do you - oh no, no Toothless, come on, that's not –"

"Come on, just get on!" Toothless had crouched down, his knees bent at a ninety degree angle, his back facing Hiccup. He motioned with his hands for Hiccup to get on his back. "It'll just be like old times!"

Hiccup did a quick scan of their surroundings. Nobody was watching them – yet. This was sure to end badly.

"Come on, you've ridden me loads of times!"

Hiccup went red in the face. "Will you stop saying that!" he hissed. "And that was different, you're – you're the exact same size as me and, okay, maybe you have a lot of strength still but-" Hiccup bit his lip, considering letting his best friend give him a piggy back.

Out of nowhere, Ruffnut ran over. She gave an unusually girly squeal and violently shoved Hiccup out of the way. "I'll go for a ride if he's too chicken!"

Toothless immediately straightened up and glared fiercely at the twin. "I wasn't offering you, you filthy girl," he bit out.

Smiling her best seductive smile, Ruffnut pressed up against Toothless. "I bet you like that, don't you dragon boy? When your women are filthy,"

Toothless flared his nostrils and wished he could blast this silly girl's head off. "That doesn't even make sense," he growled out. "Why would I like my mate to be covered in dirt?"

Ruffnut snorted and laughed in disbelief. "What?! Oh Thor you're thick!"

Hiccup cleared his throat and got up from the ground. "Ruffnut, butt-out okay?"

The blonde sniggered and turned away from them. "Whatever! Enjoy your ride," she said, turning back and wiggling her eyebrows suggestively at Hiccup.

Toothless pursed his lips as he watched her go. When she was out of sight, a grin transformed his face and he once again knelt down, offering his back to Hiccup.

"This again? Oh fine," Hiccup said, his tone only slightly disparaging.

It took a few adjustments for Hiccup to rest comfortably on Toothless. He was careful not to have his metal foot bang against his friend's thigh.

"Am I too heavy?" he asked in a worried voice.

Toothless laughed. "You're joking! I barely even feel you! It really is like before!"

Hiccup grumbled incoherently, trying not to be too offended.

"Where do you wanna go?" Toothless said. He was walking at a normal pace, towards the forest north of the village center. He hitched Hiccup higher up on his back, getting a better grip.

"You seem to already be heading in the direction of the cove, so just keep going," Hiccup said. He turned back to look at the sky. Far off in the distance he could see a front of cumulus clouds, a sign of the impending storm in his father's prediction. The storm would most likely bring torrents of ice cold water and hail. "We shouldn't stay out too long though," he said. "Storm'll be here soon."

"So?" Toothless said. They moved farther into the trees, Toothless being cautious of the roots and rocks in the path.

"Trust me, getting soaking wet as a human is a lot less convenient than as a dragon. Water doesn't just bounce off of us. Our clothes get wet and take forever to dry,"

Toothless looked down at this clothes. "Ah, right. Bit annoying, these. I feel so constricted in them… Can't you just remove them for the rain?"

"And be naked?! Hm," said Hiccup in a mockingly thoughtful way, "freeze to death or be wet. I think I'll keep the clothes on, thanks. Anyway, people usually stay in the Dining Hall or in their houses during storms to avoid both problems."

"I've been curious about my form beneath these clothes anyways," Toothless said, continuing as if Hiccup hadn't voiced his opinion on the matter. Toothless stopped suddenly, causing Hiccup's chin to bump against the back of his head. "Hang on! I've never even seen you without clothes on!"

"S-so? Why do you want to?"

Toothless turned to grin at him. "I'm curious!"

Hiccup struggled for a moment, his brain trying to find the words to tell his friend that he was not having this conversation. "Hey - hey why don't I give you a ride?" He said, desperate to change the subject.

Toothless narrowed his eyes at him, not missing a thing. "Sure," he finally said, eyes brightening. "But I'll probably crush you."

Hiccup slid off of his friend's back and knelt in front of him. "You have been eating a lot lately. I did say to lay off the fish," he said. "Come on, get on!"

Toothless smacked him lightly on the head. "I'm a growing boy," he said in self-defense. Hiccup snorted in disbelief. Toothless hopped onto Hiccup's back and together they swayed as Hiccup tried to regain his balance.

"Oof!" Hiccup exhaled.

"I'll get off," Toothless said immediately, preparing to dismount.

"No, no it's okay! Don't get off," Hiccup said, slightly breathless. And for the first time ever (and probably the last), Hiccup was the one giving Toothless a ride on his back. He couldn't stop grinning at the completely surreal moment. Hiccup took a tentative step forward, made an adjustment, then pressed onward. "There!" he said, pride shining through his voice.

Toothless hugged his arms around Hiccup's chest and smiled into his neck. "This is so weird! Never thought I'd be up here," he said. "Think you can make it to the cove?"

"Odin no!" Hiccup said, laughing breathlessly. He made it five more paces before he unceremoniously dropped Toothless to the ground. "Sorry! Couldn't-" he inhaled deeply – "couldn't give a warning,"

"Your laboured breathing gave you away," Toothless said. He ruffled Hiccup's hair as the boy panted. "I'm impressed you made it that far, honestly. How's your foot?"

Hiccup threw a scowl at his friend before bending over to inspect his device. "Seems to be okay," he reported happily.

Toothless gave him a grin before bursting off into a run, quickly covering the one hundred feet or so between them and their destination.

Hiccup caught up and entered the cove just as Toothless was removing his thick fur coat. Hiccup stopped abruptly, eyebrows scrunched. "Er, Toothless, what are you doing?"

His friend turned mid-shirt removal. The shirt was removed and revealed Toothless grinning from ear to ear. "Come on, you too!" he said. His hands began working on his pants.

"Are you insane?!" Hiccup hissed. "It's – it's freezing out! Toothless, you can't possibly think this is a good or smart idea!"

Toothless raised his arm, sniffed his armpit and scowled. "Surely you noticed the horrible scent reeking off me when you were on my back! Human bodies are so – productive," Toothless said with a grimace.

"I've gotten pretty used to bad scents, living with Vikings!" Hiccup approached Toothless and crossed his arms, getting goose bumps just looking at his exposed friend.

A cool breeze rushed through the cave and Toothless shivered. He lowered his arm and peered at it. "Neat! The hairs on my arm are pushing up! I miss my scales," he said, mouth drawn down in a pout. Despite himself, he began shivering slightly. Ignoring his body's message, he pushed down his trousers.

Hiccup clapped a hand over his eyes. "You are such an idiot! Don't blame me if you die of hypothermia!" Eyes covered, Hiccup wasn't aware that Toothless was naked and now standing directly in front of him.

"Ah, that's so much better! I feel free again," Toothless said, his happy sigh caught in a shiver. "I want to see you too," he added, fully expecting Hiccup to comply.

Hiccup flinched backwards when he felt hands at his waist. "No, seriously Toothless, please just – just put your clothes back on!" And Hiccup knew that, maybe if they were on some tropical island somewhere, and it wasn't almost below freezing out, that maybe – Hiccup squeezed his eyes tightly closed and lowered his hand to arrest the movement at his waist.

"You - You're the exact same build as me, just - look at yourself and you'll know what I look like," Hiccup argued.

Hiccup sensed that Toothless was no longer in front of him.

"Toothless?" Slowly, he opened his eyes and scanned his surroundings. The discarded clothes were still on the ground. "Where – Oh Thor, you idiot!"

Toothless appeared, his head poking out from the surface of the pool four feet from where Hiccup was standing.

"When did you – Get out! No, listen to me, you will actually die!" Hiccup stomped over to the pool, stunned and in pure disbelief at how idiotic his friend was behaving. "And you probably can't even swim in that body!"

Toothless shook his head (and tried to stop his body from shuddering with the cold). "I'm n-not getting out until – until you sh-show me!" He waded around the pool, keeping his head above the water.

Hiccup slapped a hand to his face and then pinched the bridge of his nose. "I can't believe this," he muttered. "Fine, but it'll probably be the last thing you see before you freeze to death!"

Toothless glued his eyes to Hiccup as his friend rushed to remove his clothing. He could admit that his human companion might possibly be right – he would have to vacate the pool in another few minutes if he wanted ever to fly on his own steam again.

Hardly believing the situation he was in, Hiccup made quick work of removing his clothing. In under a minute he stood there, at the edge of the pool, completely naked, trying to keep himself from wrapping his arms around his shaking torso.

"There, are you h-happy now? You big idiot," Hiccup bit out, teeth beginning to chatter. He was already reaching for his tunic.

Toothless stepped out of the pool and nodded, unable to speak for shivering. He had definitely never been so cold in his life, but it had been worth it. He tried to communicate that to Hiccup in the usual way, with his eyes, but the other boy was looking away.

"A-all your h-heat," Toothless began, pausing to collect himself, "is in your f-ffface!" Uncontrollable laughter bubbled from his throat as he stood there, shaking.

Hiccup shot him a stony glare, careful to not let his eyes wander. "I h-hate you," he snapped, blushing even harder.

Toothless laughed, knowing (hoping) that Hiccup didn't mean that. He snatched his clothes up from the ground and began putting them on. Or at least, he tried to put them on. He actually had never dressed himself before, as the sorceress had conjured his form completely dressed.

"Er," he said, slightly uncomfortable. "T-taking these off was easy, but I'm not s-s-sure how to…"

Hiccup was already dressed, having wasted no time. He had even stopped shivering. Toothless, who was still soaking wet (and still horribly naked) was not so lucky. He was standing there, holding his tunic, looking a bit lost. And terribly cold.

Hiccup felt his anger die away, despite his best efforts to sustain it. He sighed. "This is what you get for doing something so stupid."

"It w-was worth it-t," Toothless said with an almost dreamy smile.

Hiccup was seriously beginning to wonder if the sorceress had altered Toothless's brain along with his body. "Alright, fine, I'll help you, but only because your lips are turning blue and I'm not strong enough to carry your dead body back."

And at that moment, it began to rain. Not just a soft, nice rain, no – the skies had decided to unleash upon them a torrential downpour of icy cold water, complete with hail and everything.

"REALLY?!" Hiccup yelled into the sky. He clenched his hands into fists and angrily punched the wall of rain falling all round them. Hiccup had been so – erm, preoccupied – with his friend's antics that he'd not noticed how very dark the sky had suddenly become. "We need to find somewhere to hide!"

"Wait-"

A fork of lightning split open the sky, followed much too closely by a violently loud crack of thunder.

"No! Now! Look there, that little outcrop of rocks!" Hiccup shouted urgently, pointed to their left. He tugged Toothless by the wrist, leaving his pile of clothes. They were already soaked through and would only make the boy colder. He would finish being angry with his friend later - right now they needed to wait out the rain in a dry place and conserve what little body heat remained.

There was just enough space for the two of them to half-lay beneath the roof of rock. Beside Hiccup, Toothless shuddered through a whole-body shiver, almost doubling over. Another loud crack of thunder split their ears, and Hiccup feared for a second that their shelter had also split.

"I- r-r-regret n-n-nothing," stuttered Toothless through clenched teeth. He pressed his body flush against Hiccup, desperate to keep his body from shutting down. "H-human bodies are s-so fffffrag-g-g-gile!"

Hiccup sighed and, knowing longer he no longer had any choice, reluctantly peeled off his wet clothing. In early childhood it was important to be taught that the best way to defend another body from hypothermic shock was to share body heat without any barriers, including clothing. Especially cold, wet clothing. He laid the clothes flat on the rocks next to him, keeping them out of water's way. Twisting only his torso and averting his eyes, he pulled Toothless into a tight embrace.

"This is ridiculous," Hiccup muttered. In the past year he and Toothless had gotten into some tricky situations, but nothing of this magnitude. Certainly nothing life-threatening - at least not since their epic battle with the Red Death. "You'd think you'd retain some kind of fire breathing, or warming or something other than dragon strength," mumbled Hiccup. Yes, he definitely hated that sorceress at the moment.

"H-how… how l-long…" Toothless's sentence ended prematurely, dying on his lips as another shudder stole his body. He gasped and wrapped his arms around Hiccup, pressing his cold face into the relative warmth of the other boy's neck.

"Not too long. These storms are intense but short," Hiccup answered, his voice muffled by the violently loud rain. As if on cue, an intensely loud clap of thunder confirmed the truth in Hiccup's words.

"I'm s-s-sorry," Toothless admitted after a few minutes. It had been so quiet that the confession had almost gone unnoticed, the sound of it lost in the rain and rumbling thunder.

Hiccup held his friend tighter, keeping him still through another body-heaving shudder. "You owe me big time after this, buddy," he said quietly.

After that Toothless was silent for a long while. Hiccup's head was resting on his friend's shoulder and he was gazing out at the rain, almost hypnotized by the never-ending downward torrent of water and hail. The sky flashed with another bolt of lightning. The answering thunder followed shortly after, but not as quickly as earlier, a sign that the storm was passing on to harass another location. Absent mindedly, Hiccup rubbed his hand up and down his friend's back. He was still trying to ignore the fact that he was hiding from a storm, underneath a sad excuse for a shelter, with his friend who, three days ago, had been a dragon. Oh, and that they were both wet and naked.

"Hey, Toothless…" Hiccup said. He poked his friend in the shoulder. "Toothless?"

No answer.

Hiccup frowned and a sinking feeling in his gut told him that his friend should definitely not be asleep right now.

"Buddy? Come on, this isn't funny, wake up," Hiccup urged. He slapped his friend's cheek lightly. Still nothing. Hiccup sighed in frustration. He could tell that his friend was still breathing. Maybe he had genuinely fallen asleep and there was actually nothing to worry about?

But then Toothless shuddered again, and his lips were still blue-ish, and – no

Before his mind could interfere, Hiccup cupped his friend's cheeks and kissed him full on the mouth. Hiccup's stomach jolted, mostly with concern at how damned cold the other boy's lips were beneath his, and with unexpected pleasure (but mostly with concern!). Hiccup had thought that maybe Toothless had just been faking sleep to get Hiccup to kiss him awake, but the other boy had still not woken. Hiccup turned his whole body into the embrace with Toothless and kissed him again, putting more force into it. It had to work, this was the closest he had ever been to anybody, and he didn't have much more warmth to give, but –

Toothless gave a quiet groan and pressed his lips into Hiccup's. And damnit all if that wasn't the best sensation in the whole entire world. Only because it meant that his friend was not dead. Nothing else.

Hiccup broke away, torn between jumping with relief and smacking his friend. "You dummy, it is absolutely not okay to fall asleep right now!"

Toothless smiled at him, looking drowsy and very happy. "Not okay? That was more than okay," he said, his words a bit slurred.

Hiccup leaned back a bit, his face serious. "This isn't a joke! Why is everything a joke to you?"

"I wasn't joking," Toothless argued, his voice slightly husky. He leaned forward into Hiccup, pressing him against the rock wall behind them. He pressed their chests together and, now panting slightly, pressed a series of kisses to Hiccup's neck.

Hiccup squeezed his eyes closed and bit his lip, not moving, not knowing what to do exactly. It was still too surreal; he didn't have enough to base a decision on. His gut instinct was telling him that, embarrassment aside, if he really wanted to be warm, doing – this – with his friend was the most effective method. What exactly 'this' was, Hiccup couldn't define.

"What-what are you doing?" Hiccup asked, trembling voice cracking on the first 'what'.

A bubble of nervous laughter fell out of Toothless's mouth to land on Hiccup's ear. "I have no idea. I've never… this form makes me want to do things…"

That, Hiccup could understand. He imagined every teenage boy could understand.

"I – I think humans are the only species that have physical displays of affection," Hiccup wondered aloud, talking because he was nervous. It was a bad habit. The echoing rumble of distant thunder seemed to agree with his hypothesis.

"Hmmm," Toothless mumbled. In a bold move (because Toothless had never been shy), Toothless moved to straddle Hiccup. They both gasped at the sensation of naked skin pressed together.

Hiccup dipped his head into his friend's shoulder and shuddered, but it had nothing to do with the cold. In fact, he felt quite hot all of a sudden. He swallowed nervously and slowly hugged Toothless close to him. Toothless resisted, leaning back, meeting Hiccup's eyes.

Hiccup gasped. Toothless's normally bright green eyes were almost completely black. A low growl began emanating from Toothless's chest and his breath quickened. He exhaled sharply out is nose, nostrils flaring. He grinded himself against Hiccup and they both groaned at the raw contact.

"Ah…" moaned Hiccup. His head fell against the rock, breath coming in huffs.

"I… I want to see you, I want to touch all of you," Toothless demanded, gasping as he rocked harder and harder against the other boy. "What happens – what happens when-aaaaah…"

Hiccup swallowed and licked his lips. He wasn't sure of the question and so didn't know which words to answer with. So they fell back on their default of wordless communication.

Toothless captured Hiccup's lips and Hiccup, gladly accepting defeat, opened his mouth for him, letting their tongues slide against one another. Hiccup moaned and his stomach flipped as unprecedented pleasure bled through him. He was harder than he'd ever been in his life. He raised his knees up on either side of his friend and placed his hands on the ground for better leverage. The kiss was messy and wet and hot all at once, and nothing short of perfect. Toothless pushed his hands through Hiccup's hair, then let them wander down his neck, his shoulders, his back, his hips, all the way increasing the pressure with his nails, leaving flushed red trails on the pale skin. He growled against Hiccup's lips, sucking on the bottom one, making it swollen and wet. Hiccup arched his hips into Toothless's hands. He shuddered as Toothless grabbed at his cock, pulling at him roughly with clumsy movements. Hiccup didn't care, it still felt bloody amazing. He reciprocated and felt immense satisfaction as Toothless broke from the kiss to growl in pleasure, Hiccup's comparatively more practiced hands pulling and tugging at the other boy's erection.

Toothless leaned forward and sunk his teeth into the juncture between Hiccup's neck and shoulder. He sucked and licked and bit from his neck to his ear lobe, sucking hard, wanting to lick and mark every single inch of his human. An intense pleasure was building in his gut, coiling around, promising a release that he had never felt before. So lost in his pleasure, his hand fumbled to a stop near Hiccup's cock. He shook and thrust into Hiccup's hand, moaning against the boy's bruised neck.

"Ah – something's – Oh, ooooh," Toothless moaned and gasped as he bucked into Hiccup's hand. "What-"

"Yeah, yeah – just – go with it," gasped Hiccup. He raked his nails down Toothless's back, eliciting the loudest groan from him yet.

"Again – do – again," Toothless bit out from behind clenched teeth. He placed both hands on the wall, a hand on either side of Hiccup's head, his forearms flexed. He rose up on his knees and Hiccup didn't break his pace. Hiccup raked his nails against Toothless's back again and with a loud cry, Toothless came all over Hiccup's flushed chest.

Toothless collapsed against Hiccup, breathing hard and groaning. Hiccup rutted against him, still achingly hard and not turning back now. His boldness only increasing, Toothless wasted no time and began kissing his way down Hiccup's body.

"Wait – no, you don't have to-" Hiccup shut his eyes, too embarrassed to look. His mouth opened in a silent scream when he felt warm lips press against his cock. He stuffed a fist in his mouth and arched into the sensation, craving more but at the same time not daring to hope.

"I bet you wish I really was toothless, huh?" Toothless mumbled, looking up at Hiccup with a devilish smirk.

"Oh God," Hiccup moaned, mortified. And then Toothless licked him, hot wet tongue sliding from root to tip, and he came the hardest he had ever come in his life. "God, where did you – why – I can't… I can't…" Hiccup lost himself in trying to form a sentence; his brain was mush and was not allowing anything more advanced than incoherency. Where the hell had Toothless seen that before?

Toothless dragged his fingers through the layer of semen on Hiccup's chest and sat up, peering at his fingers curiously. Hiccup groaned and covered his face with his hands, embarrassed enough to die.

"This is your seed!" Toothless proclaimed, amazed at his discovery. "And, well, I guess some of mine too…"

"Ugh, just shut up," Hiccup said weakly.

"Blech! Nope, I don't like that!"

Hiccup spread his fingers apart to peek. Toothless was shaking his head, grimacing. He leaned out from underneath the rock shelter to swallow a mouthful of rain, swished it around in his mouth and spit.

"Did you just…"

"Doesn't taste very good," Toothless said, as if he was maybe referring to a piece of fish and not a mixture of their ejaculate. "Really bitter… and salty."

"I don't want to know," groaned Hiccup, covering his ears.

Cleaning themselves was extremely convenient, given that they were already naked, and the rain was still sprinkling down. After another few minutes, the rain had completely stopped.

"We should go back now," Hiccup stated, frowning at the sky. Most of the cumulonimbus clouds had moved on, leaving in their wake a perfect blue sky exposing a vibrant sun. The best part about violent thunderstorms was the crystal clear aftermath. "It's gonna suck putting on our clothes, but we don't really have much choice."

Hiccup walked out into the clearing, his soaking wet clothes in hand. He shivered as he dressed, grimacing at the discomfort of putting on cold, damp clothing.

Toothless glared at his clothes. "I hate these things. Why do you even wear them? Doesn't make sense."

Hiccup shrugged. "We just do. It's been that way forever."

Toothless sighed and decided just to let this one go. The social customs of humans were apparently never ending and complex. Fortunately, he would be subject to them only for a few more days.

Looking over at Hiccup, Toothless smirked. He walked up to him and adjusted his shirt and fur vest to better cover his neck. "You'll want to cover that up, I imagine," he said, not hiding the annoyance out of his voice.

Hiccup looked down and gasped, blushing as he noticed the extremely evident line of hickies in between his ear and shoulder. "Thanks a lot! Geez!"

"I like it. I marked you for everyone to see," said Toothless, smiling.

Hiccup glared at his completely oblivious friend. "Yeah well of course you like it - you don't have to show yourself in the village with bite marks all over your-"

"Wanna pay me back?" Toothless asked, wiggling his eyebrows. Hiccup just ignored him, red in the face.

Toothless huffed angrily, patience suddenly gone. He huffed again and stomped off, moving to exit their cove. "Let's go. We need to change into something dry."

Hiccup rolled his eyes and moved to follow, ignoring his friend's little outburst. "Oh so now you're concerned about your body," he said flatly. "If I get sick and die from this little escapade, I'm blaming you."

"Don't worry. I told you my saliva fights sickness, and I think you received enough of it," Toothless replied, giving him a sly grin. "Hah! You blush so easily!"

"Shut up," Hiccup said, punching Toothless lightly in the side.

Hiccup became more embarrassed the closer they got to the village. Everyone would see the hickies on his neck, and no one except for the youngest of Vikings would be ignorant as to what they meant, or from whom he had received them. Hiccup was suddenly wondering who would win in a fight: Stoick or Toothless?

"I think I'll just live in my room for the next week," Hiccup said in a light tone of voice that hid nothing. They had reached his room in desire of warm clothes. Hiccup turned, his back facing Toothless, and wasted no time in undressing, this time not minding as much since they were inside where it was actually warm, and more importantly, dry. "Here," he said, throwing some spare furs at Toothless. He didn't turn to look as he heard Toothless removing his damp clothes. He heard them fall to the ground with a wet flop.

A crazy idea entered Hiccup's mind as he put on dry clothes…

"You know what? Screw it, I am getting you back," Hiccup said, suddenly feeling unusually bold. He grabbed Toothless and shoved him to his bed, leaning over him. Before Toothless could say anything, Hiccup had his mouth latched on right below the other boy's ear, making sure the hickey would be extremely visible above any clothing line.

Instead of objecting or trying to throw Hiccup off, Toothless groaned and hugged Hiccup closer to him. He raised his knees up, one on either side of Hiccup and bucked up into him.

"Shh, don't make any noise," Hiccup whispered into his ear. He bit down hard on the other boy's earlobe and then moved to give him another hickey. By the end of it, his mouth was slightly sore.

He sat back and admired his work. "There, now we're even." He got up off the bed before Toothless could physically persuade him to go any further. He couldn't believe he'd just done that.

Hiccup shook his head, dispelling the extremely out of character fantasy. Maybe he could… No. He turned to find Toothless standing there, still naked. "Wha- Oh. Right. You still need help."

Toothless shook his head and shrugged. "Nah I think I got it, watching you. These go like this, right?" He sat down on the bed and attempted to put on the pants. And actually succeeded.

Hiccup raised his eyebrows, impressed.

"All good now?" Hiccup asked, waiting near the door.

Toothless grinned at him, visibly prideful that he'd successfully dressed himself. His eyes shot to Hiccup's neck before he could stop himself and his grin widened. Hiccup shoved him in the shoulder.

"I'm just going to do what I do best. Melt into the surroundings," Hiccup said, face set in a determined glare. They exited the little house and made their way to the Dining Hall. The sun was setting by the time they reached the building, and they could hear voices inside. Dinner was not for another hour at least, and Hiccup's stomach grumbled in impatient expectation. Being cold for so long worked up an appetite. Engaging in certain – activities – didn't help, either.

"You're making a big deal out of nothing. I saw – what's her name – Mildred? last week with the same markings on her neck," remarked Toothless off-handedly.

Hiccup scoffed. "What – what are you, some kind of spy now?"

Toothless shrugged. "I notice things. She was near the sheep pen with her mate and they were-"

Hiccup flailed his hands around, spluttering and shushing his friend. "I don't need to know! And why were you even near the sheep pen? Where was I?" They were standing in front of the half open doors to the Hall now, Hiccup in absolutely no hurry to enter.

"You were in the workshop, I don't know what you were doing," said Toothless a little shortly. "I wasn't going to touch any of the sheep. Why are you so – worked up over this? Mating isn't something to be embarrassed about."

Hiccup sighed in frustration and pulled up the fur vest to better cover his neck. "Let's just drop it, okay? Come on, let's go in." Hiccup grabbed his friend's wrist and entered the Hall. For the first time he was thankful of the dim lighting in the spacious room. Like a magnet, Hiccup's eyes focused on Mildred, a middle-aged woman of the village, and his face lit up like a tomato. He tore his attention away when she gave him a questioning look. Laughing, she turned back to her husband. Self-conscious, Hiccup's hand flew to the left side of his neck.

Beside him, Toothless exhaled loudly. "Sorry. If I'd known it would bother you this much, I wouldn't have done it," he muttered grumpily.

Hiccup blinked at him with wide eyes. "What? No, no I'm not-" he sighed and brought his voice down to a whisper, "I'm not offended," he said. "It's just – it's not exactly acceptable for a young boy to be with another boy alright? If my father finds out… Well, you know how strict he is! He freaked out about me having a pet dragon. Imagine how much he'll freak out if he knows about…" He gestured to Toothless and back at himself, and then pointed to his neck.

"Maybe you can change things around again?"

Hiccup gave a sad laugh. "Yeah, but the prerequisite is an epic battle involving sacrificial limbs. Much easier said than done."

Toothless scanned the room for the Chief Viking, who appeared to be absent. "So then we'll just keep this a secret, and then when I change back, it'll all be normal again," Toothless said, sounding annoyed. Damn these humans were blind and closed-minded. "What's it to him, anyways? It's not hurting you; you should be able to do whatever the hell you want."

Hiccup snorted and grinned. "Try telling him that. But I did go after you, didn't I? If I had been that scared of him back then, I would probably have just left you there in the forest," he said. He knew he was lying before he'd even finished the sentence.

Toothless looked at him with pity in his eyes. Pity that such an honest creature could so easily lie to himself and his best friend. "No you couldn't have."

Hiccup placed a hand on his friend's shoulder. "Damn straight. Anyways, it's kind of hard to keep this is a secret when my neck is now actively advertising it."

"So… you're not offended then?"

There was such a raw sadness and fear in Toothless's eyes that Hiccup felt he had no choice but to hug him.

"No," whispered Hiccup into his ear. "Not at all. Actually, uh, I wouldn't mind if-"

"Hey, you lovebirds gonna join us, or do it standing up?"

Hiccup choked on his own spit and quickly pulled away from Toothless.

"Do what standing up?" snapped Toothless.

Ruffnut gave a scornful laugh.

"Thor be damned but I despise that annoying creature," Toothless growled, shooting daggers with his eyes.

Ruffnut was smirking at them, her eyes light with that constant amusement at all the things around her.

"You're just jealous," Toothless bit out scathingly. He went over to their table with Hiccup and sat down, Toothless next to Astrid (compared to Ruffnut, Astrid was a much better choice of a mate for his human) and Hiccup next to Fishlegs. Hiccup was slouching, trying to make himself as small and invisible as possible (but sadly not succeeding).

Ruffnut looked mockingly impressed and nodded. "I thought that'd be obvious by now."

Fishlegs poked Hiccup in the shoulder. "I have an idea for the manual," he said, bouncing with excitement.

Hiccup turned miserable eyes up at him. "Yeah? What is it?"

Fishlegs seemed to be impervious of Hiccup's 'don't-talk-to-me-I'm-trying-to-disappear' aura. "You should interview Toothless and transcribe it to the night fury section!"

Despite himself, Hiccup sat up straight, perking up at the idea. "You're a genius!" He leaned forward to Toothless. "Hey, buddy, you up for that? It'd be the only opportunity ever to do that!"

"And he could tell you about the other dragons he knows too!"

Toothless shrugged and smiled. "Sure. But as I said before, we're a solitary species. We don't really associate with other-"

"Hiccup."

"- dragons much, so-"

"Hiccup, what happened to your neck?"

"- I wouldn't really be able to help with the other entries much-"

"Toothless! Shut up for a second!"

Astrid was practically undressing Hiccup right there at the table.

Hiccup pulled away, covering his neck and trying to shrink himself. "N-nothing! What? I don't even – have a neck! What are you talking about? Hey, stop it! Shove off!" He stretched out his arms against Astrid, blocking her attack. He tried to adjust his fur back in place but - "Gaaaaaaaooowh!" - She was twisting his arm now, a favourite move of hers.

"Tell me! Who punched you?" she asked, sounding genuinely worried. "Or strangled you, or – who did it!"

Hiccup almost laughed in relief. He heard Toothless snort and promptly kicked him underneath the table.

"Uh – right – it was Toothless! We were just – heh, you know, playing!" Hiccup leaned over and ruffled his friend's dark hair, making it look even more fly-away. "You know how two boys can be!"

Astrid raised an eyebrow in disbelief. "Playing? In a thunderstorm?"

Ruffnut smirked and gave a low whistle. "Is that what you boys call it now? Playing?" She gave an 'oof!' of surprise when Toothless kicked her beneath the table. Tuffnut sniggered behind his hand. Snotlout was lost in confusion and Fishlegs was completely self-absorbed in the brilliance of his idea to enhance the Dragon Manual.

"Uh yeah, we were down by the cove, and we got caught in it," Hiccup said, happy to at least be telling the truth about something.

Astrid rolled her eyes. "Whatever," she mumbled.

"Really?" Toothless laughed in disbelief. "I mean, come on, I knew you humans could be blind but-" He shut his lips tight at the look on Hiccup's face. He cleared his throat. "When's dinner?"

Ruffnut narrowed her eyes at him, then shot them to Hiccup, whose eyes were steely, then down to his bruised neck. She turned to whisper into her twin's ear, whose face fell and turned green. Of course, her brother had assumed they'd all been joking and the innuendos had no sustenance behind them. His eyes flicked back and forth between Hiccup and Toothless in disbelief.

"Why?!" he mouthed at his sister.

"It's hot!" she mouthed back.

He pretended to vomit all over her and she punched him in the face.

They all sat there in semi-awkward silence (Hiccup still trying to disappear), until Stoick added his commanding presence to their group. He had just come over from overseeing the dinner preparations. He clapped a hand on his son's shoulder, nearly pushing him into the table.

"I'd like to speak with you, son," he said, his voice betraying nothing. Stoick's eyes were looking anywhere but at Hiccup's neck.

Hiccup swallowed and his face paled. He hitched up the furs a little higher, even though it was useless by now.

Nothing happens on this island without me hearing about it.

"O-okay," he said, his voice wavering. His wide blue eyes jolted across to Toothless, who stood immediately, mouth set in a tight frown, green eyes blazing and clearly ready for a fight.

"You stay here," Stoick commanded, stern voice leaving no room for objection. Growling deep in his chest, Toothless sat back down.

Stoick lead Hiccup out of the Hall, a hand on each shoulder.

When Stoick closed the Dining Hall doors behind them, Hiccup knew he was in trouble.

For a moment neither said anything, and the awkward tension built so thick that Hiccup could hardly breathe. It felt similar to the time when Stoick had assumed Hiccup's success in dragon training would offer them conversation topics, but both had struggled to converse.

Hiccup fidgeted with his shirt sleeve and avoided meeting his father's steely gaze.

"Son, look at me," Stoick said, voice unusually gentle.

Hiccup sighed and drifted his eyes upward. Might as well get this over with. "Look, Dad, it's – it's only temporary, and-" And he really didn't know how to express himself to his father of all people, because he didn't even know what he was feeling himself. He blinked and sighed again. "I… I don't really know what I'm doing."

Surprisingly, his father chuckled. Hiccup's heart skipped a beat. Maybe he would actually survive this conversation?

Stoick sighed, sounding somewhat tired. "Look, I-I've always known yer a bit – well, different, son. What with the dragons an- and everythin',"

Hiccup flinched and lowered his eyes again. He hoped he wasn't going to be disowned like last time. A heavy hand came to rest at his shoulder again and Hiccup looked up, hardly daring to hope.

"But yer still my son, got it?" Stoick looked like he was struggling, his mouth trying to decide between an encouraging grin and a serious frown.

Hiccup's mouth was tight and for some absolutely stupid reason, tears were threatening to spill out of his eyes. To save whatever dignity he had left, he blurted out: "I like girls!" Hiccup was suddenly very glad of the closed doors.

Stoick glanced at Hiccup's neck and his eyebrows rose up. "Oh! I thought-"

And this was getting extremely awkward. "Er – no, no that was Too-"

"Right then!" Stoick interrupted, not being able to hear his son actually voice the truth (a father could only handle so much). "Right, well, just – glad we had this talk."

"Er, right. Yeah. Thanks," Hiccup said. Could someone die of awkwardness? Perhaps he would be not only the first Viking ever to ride a dragon, but also the first human being to parish from an overdose of embarrassment? He was extremely thankful though, that his father had accepted his – his intimacy with a dragon-turned-human-for-a-week. The man had really changed, and Hiccup was proud of that. "Thanks Dad," he said genuinely, smiling up at Stoick.

Stoick clapped his hands together and nodded. "Dinner," he announced, pushing open the doors.

I have the best father in existence. The grin on Hiccup's face, and his unharmed person, was enough to calm Toothless into remaining seated.

"So he didn't disown you?" asked Toothless, shooting a wary glance at Stoick.

"Nope!" And Hiccup was so happy that he bent down and gave his friend a big hug. He ruffled his hair and pressed a kiss to his forehead. Now it was Toothless's turn to blush.

Everyone at the table watched, wide-eyed.

"You guys are so disgusting," Tuffnut said with a grimace. "Like, I can't even – just, no."

"I think it's sweet," Fishlegs said in a dreamy-voice.

Snotlout nearly choked on his drink. "Wait." He slammed his tankard down and pointed between Toothless and Hiccup, eyebrows furrowed. "Wait – wait, what? You guys are – WHAT?!"

Toothless smirked at Snotlout and pulled Hiccup into his lap. "You're eating dinner like this," he said sternly. Snotlout started making incoherent noises of general disbelief.

"Nah, I think we might kill Snotlout," said Hiccup, laughing. He slid down beside him, next to Astrid.

Astrid barely acknowledged Hiccup, staring down at the table, scratching aimlessly at the wood. Hiccup felt a pang of guilt in his chest. Surely she understood that this – this thing with Toothless – would not be permanent? Hiccup had never been good at relationships before (he'd never really had one outside of Toothless), but he promised himself then that he'd make an effort for Astrid. Before the manifestation of Toothless's wish, Astrid had made a few advances on Hiccup, but never anything beyond a kiss on the mouth or an affectionate punch to the shoulder. Feeling him staring at her, Astrid turned to look at him. She opened her mouth to say something-

"… tomorrow? Hey, Hiccup, are you listening?"

Someone nudged his shoulder, interrupting his inner turmoil.

"What?" Hiccup said, distracted. He held Astrid's gaze for a second longer and then turned to Toothless. "Sorry?"

Toothless's green eyes darted behind Hiccup to Astrid (he didn't miss anything) then back to Hiccup. "Do you want to work on the book tomorrow?"

"Uh, I think my Dad said we're going fishing tomorrow," Hiccup replied.

Toothless's posture fell and his bottom lip stuck out in a pout.

"Speaking of fish, let's get some," said Tuffnut. He grabbed Ruffnut's arm and they all got up to fill their plates.

"Do we have to go?" Toothless grumbled as they sat back down.

Hiccup frowned. "I dunno. I guess not,"

"Yeah, you're pretty useless on the trips anyways," Astrid said.

Hiccup was secretly pleased that her comment rested on her normal amount of venom (even though he felt he deserved much more). "True. I'll ask if we can-"

Gobber stalked over to their table, a chicken leg in one hand. "Hiccup! Don't think yer getting' off easy just because your dragon's turned human, now. I've got some orders to fill for the shop," Business done, he stalked back to his own table.

"… Or we could just work in the shop?" Hiccup finished, sounding both relieved and put-out.

Toothless seemed to like the idea of more chances to watch Hiccup do what he does best. "Sounds good to me! How long will that take?"

Hiccup shrugged. "Depends on what needs making. We'll just have to work on the book the next day." That'll be Day five, he added silently, keeping track.


Thanks for reading! Hope that wasn't too weird for you... :P Next chapter up soon :3