Sorry it's late. I did write this chapter down but it got deleted by accident. I have to rewrite it again, I don't think it's as good as before but I tried. I hope you like it and I'll be back on track

Chapter 3

Hiccup didn't know what he was more worried about the next day, the swimming or the undressing. He got a large cloth and wrapped up a couple of apples, knowing that they were Merida's favourite. He and toothless arrived at the cove, they went toward the enterance and saw the Selkie, lying on the grass and the bright sunshine on her beautiful skin. Hiccup noticed Merida's hair was dry for the first time since he had met her. It was extremely curly and reminded him of dragon's fire.

He was mesmerised by her, until Toothless nudged him out of his trance. The two climbed down carefully, Merida sat up and greeted the friends as they came closer.

"So are you ready for your swimming lesson?" she said with a smile. Hiccup gulped,

"I still don't know Merida," he said.

"Come on now, you'll be with me".

"And another thing. I'm not...not" Hiccup began, but when their eyes met, he forgot his worries and started to feel calmer.

"It's ok, I promise it will be fine" , Merida said softly.

"OK" Hiccup replied feeling scared a bit nervous and a bit excited. Merida smiled before slipping into the water.

Hiccup was just about to remove his fur vest when he noticed Merida resurfaced and looked at him.

"Can you please not look" Hiccup asked. He never felt comfortable about his body because he didn't look like any of the other Vikings in the village.

Merida nodded and turned her head away but her curiosity made her turn back. Toothless saw this and lifted his wing, blocking her view. Merida annoyed slid her face into the water, blowing bubbles.

Soon Hiccup removed his vest, shirt and belt. When Merida saw him, her cheeks turned pink. She was used to seeing Selkie men and mermen bare chests but Hiccup's was different. Even though he was thin, he had some muscle building in his arms and chest. Probably from all that dragon training.

After taking a breath, Hiccup walked to the waters edge with Toothless following closely by his side. He sat down and took off his boot. Merida swam to him as he placed his fake leg down. She remembered Hiccup telling her about how his lost his leg.

"Did you make this?" Merida asked as she took his leg and looked at it closely.

"No, Gobber made it" Hiccup said with a smile.

She put the fake leg back down,while Hiccup pulled off his pants leaving him in his underwear.

"Are you going to...?"

"This is as far as I want to go," Hiccup answered. The young Viking pushed himself into the water. The water was quite warm, he took a deep breath."Ok, I'm ready..."

Quickly the Selkie took his hands and slowly pulled him gently into the water. Toothless watched, hoping that his best friend will swim again. They stayed close to the shore but Hiccup just wanted to go back, he told himself that he could do anything, and with Merida holding his hands, he felt like anything was possible.

"Ok Hic, start kicking," Hiccup tried to kick but he began to sink, swallowing water as he did. Merida never let go of Hiccup's hands, she felt him squeeze her hands in fear and desperation. He started to work his leg and managed to keep his head above the surface and relaxed.

"I...I'm doing it, ha! I'm doing it" Hiccup said excitedly.

Merida smile and laughed with him, Toothless jumped with joy at his best friend. Glad that Hiccup over come his fear.

"Ok, now you're afloat, let's try some actual swimming," Merida said, Hiccup couldn't help but smile because now he knew he could do it.

When the Selkie thought that Hiccup felt confident enough she put her tail under his body, he kicked and pushed through the water, he was a bit wobbly at first but he gritted his teeth and kicked and pulled with his arms, he was feeling more buoyant Merida lowered her tail, when he nodded to her, she removed it. She felt really proud that she had helped Hiccup to swim, he wasn't a great swimmer but it a good start.

"Well if we keep swimming like this everyday, you could be swimming like a Selkie in no time," Merida said as they swam to the centre of the lake.

Hiccup couldn't help but chuckled softly.

"Well, I have a great teacher,".

"Thank you kind sir" Merida giggled, she moved in front of him.

"Your welcome, I just thought I...I...I.." Hiccup realised just how close they were, so close their bodies were almost touching. They couldn't help but look in each other eyes. Merida really loved his eyes, they were a deep beautiful green. Hiccup just couldn't help but admire Merida both inside and out, he wanted to reach up and touch her cheek. Toothless watched the two from the rock. Was something growing between them, Toothless thought so.

Hiccup cleared his throat

"Well what's next?" Merida blinked and was brought back to reality.

"Did you used to dive?" He gave her a small nod, "Follow me," Merida said with a wink, she dove underwater as she had done many times before, Hiccup felt he had to be brave, held his breath and went under the water. He managed to open his eyes and discovered it was really beautiful beneath the water, the fish, the plant life and the sun shining through the water, was an amazing sight to behold. He turned and spotted Merida, rolling freely, her hair flowing everywhere, she was enjoying the freedom the water gave her. He watched and smiling dreamily at her, seeing her underwater was the closest thing to being in her world.

Merida swam to Hiccup giggling, he realised that she could speak underwater. Hand in hand, they swam together. Toothless could see them from the shore, it was a few moments until Hiccup needed to go back up for air. He surfaced took a huge gulp and returned to Merida. The Selkie Was nowhere to be seen, he looked around, he saw her smiling up at him for beneath.

Merida's body lined up with Hiccup's, unable to speak the two friends swam, played and explored for hours. Soon The couple resurfaced.

"That was amazing" Hiccup said catching his breath.

"See, I knew you could do it" Merida replied smiling with joy.

"Well, It not everyday that a human has a swimming lesson from a Selkie "

"Aaah, you're so sweet" as Merida said that, she accidentally splashed Hiccup.

"I'm so sorry" to her surprise Hiccup splashed her back, this led to them splashing, laughing and chasing one another. Hiccup managed to catch Merida, he wrapped his arms around her, she froze in his arms.

"Merida, is there something wrong?" Hiccup asked with concern. The Selkie didn't pulled away, she didn't know why, because she liked his arms around her. She loved his gentle touch, it made her heart skip a beat.

"I'm er..I er don't ..er know" she whispered as she turned to face him, she suddenly hugged Hiccup. He was surprised, but returned the embrace.

"It's ok, you can tell me if anything's bothering you" Merida smiled at his kind words, it was nice just to have someone to talk to. She could feel Hiccup shivering next to her, they swam back to shore and saw Toothless collecting wood to make a small fire. Hiccup wrapped the large cloth around himself, he and Merida sat next to the fire. The Selkie watched in amazement, she had never seen anything like it in her life.

"It's so bright" Merida whispered she reach out toward it.

"Don't!" Hiccup cried grabbing Merida's hand away from the flames.

"You'll get burned" they realised that they were holding hands, they looked at each other and smiled before slowing letting go. The two began swapping stories of how things worked in their worlds.

"So why don't you get cold?" Hiccup asked. Merida shrugged.

"I think we're just born like that, it helps especially if you live near the north and south poles" she took a bite of an apple.

"So why do humans wear so many clothes?" Merida questioned. Hiccup pulled the cloth closer.

"Well they keep us warm, protect us and...for er..modesty..." He turned red at this but Merida sweetly smiled. Just then Merida heard a bird and saw it disappear high into the air. Hiccup watched her, then he smiled as he remembered that Merida wanted to fly.

"You still want to Mer?" he asked. As he gestured towards Toothless.

"Want to what?"

"Fly of course"

"Honestly!" Merida asked her eyes widened excitedly.

"Honestly" Hiccup replied and began to dress. "You've shown me your world, so I thought I'd show you mine".

The Selkie was now really excited, she had dreamt about this for a long time. "Ok let's do it!"

"Great" he replied, he finished getting dressed and went to her "First things first, we've got to get you on Toothless" Hiccup put his hands underneath Merida's tail, Merida held onto his neck nervously. Hiccup began to lift, but it was hard to pick her up. Hiccup wasn't very strong and he had trouble carrying heavy things.

"Are you ok,Hic?" Merida asked in concern.

"Yes, I'm fine" Hiccup lied, not wanting her to worry.

"You sure?" she could see his face turn white, like the air was leaving him.

Seeing this, Toothless ran to Hiccup's side as he saw his friend's legs began to give. The Viking gently lowered the Selkie on the saddle making sure she wouldn't fall off. Hiccup then climbed on and got himself ready. Merida couldn't believe it, she was going to fly. She imagined the look on her family's faces if they saw her.

"You ready bud?" Toothless nodded as if saying yes. Before Merida could say a word, they were up and away. She wrappped her arms around Hiccup tightly, her face burned into the Viking's shoulder as they climbed higher and higher until they were high above the island of Berk.

The Selkie opened her eyes and she stared in amazement. It was so much more beautiful that she had ever imagined, Merida couldn't believe her eyes. Hiccup and Toothless smiled happily, she reached out to touch the clouds, it was like a dream that she didn't want to end. They flew toward the cliffs, near the rocks. When they got out to the sea, Toothless dove in and out of the water, the teenagers laughed as they were drenched.

Hiccup and Toothless displayed some of their tricks, like spinning, loop the loop, climbing up high and head diving. Merida loved the feel of the wind in her hair, going fast, ever wanting to go faster. The Selkie gave a huge 'Woo!' with her arms stretched out, Hiccup couldn't help join in and let out his cry.

The sun slowly set, the two watched the sight from Toothless's back. Merida placed her head on Hiccup's shoulder which he liked, he placed his hand on top for hers. It was a romantic sight.

They returned to the cove and said there goodbyes. As they walked home, Hiccup noticed his dragon was giving him a wide smile, like he knew something that Hiccup didn't.

"Can you stop that. It's making me uncomfortable" He said to Toothless. Merida came into his mind and he couldn't help but smile. Toothless purred and his grin grew bigger, the Viking saw the Night Fury and realised he knew why his friend was smiling.

"No,no,no,no,no,no,no." Hiccup cried waving his hands, but it only caused Toothless to smile even more.

"Toothless, we're just friends. She's a...and I'm a...' It was really hard for him to say anything because he wasn't sure himself. Hiccup sighed as he rubbed his hair.

"Look, even if we did really like each other, how could that work?"

It took a moment before Toothless's grin disappeared, he purred as if saying,

"I understand, I'm not going to do it anymore".

"Thanks bud" Hiccup said before scratching his dragon under the chin. They continued the journey home.

Hiccup couldn't help but wonder, was Toothless right? Was he in love with Merida?

He did like her and he really liked being with her but he wasn't sure. He just delt with one love problem and wanted to focus on training dragons, But little did he know that fate had another plans.