As the weeks passed, things had changed more as Hiccup and Thorve decided that the second idea was a bit too much at the moment as it would mean remodeling the village a bit. Something they need permission to do, but the first they asked Gobber to help and within two weeks, the two had made a pump and uses it like how Hiccup would describe a firehose, able to spray a stream of water as long as someone pumped this which made cleaning the pier's easier and when a fire broke out, it was used by Hiccup and Thorve to put it out before the buckets could even help.

While with Toothless, more progress had been made with the flying and Thorve discovered dragons loved to be scratched. Something she used on the nadder during one training, getting her a lot of attention. Soon vikings were starting to come up to their table to talk to them whenever they sat down and, for the first time ever, interested in what they were making next.

"Do you really ignore all of this attention?" Thorve asks as she tries to ignore the looks from outside the forge before ducking into her little room to escape it all.

"Yeah. I just try and focus on the work. How comes that new armor you are making for that one?" Hiccup asks.

"Well…I need your measurements again," Thorve says blushing as she holds up some rope with lines on it.

"Give me a bit. I have to finish making these glass flasks," Hiccup says letting the glass start to cool and making sure none became dented or warp.

"Okay. I'll wait," Thorve says going back to drawing.

Hiccup shakes his head and smiles. Thorve was a bit more confident than when they started out in the academy and it showed. Her family was showing her a lot of respect and they were proud of who she was becoming. Even Snotlout praised his cousin.

Thorve sighs as she erases part of the drawing as it wasn't fitting well enough before a tap on her shoulder made her jump and look to see Hiccup standing there smiling a bit. "Don't do that," she says getting the rope.

"Ready to measure?" Hiccup asks.

"Just shut up and lose some weight," Thorve says wrapping the rope around various areas.

"So how are you with all this new attention?" Hiccup asks.

"Uneasy. It's…hard and I will rather be a nobody again," Thorve admits not looking at him as she kept measuring.

"You were never a nobody to me. You were my friend," Hiccup says as she finishes.

"You hardly gave me the light of day back then. But I guess that bump to the head changed that," Thorve says starting to write down the measurements and drawings.

"I was too busy thinking about making a mark. Though you can't say you weren't guilty of that yourself," Hiccup says.

"I can't deny it…but…I guess that dragon changed us," Thorve says rubbing her head.

"That all you need?" Hiccup asks.

"What?" Thorve asks confused as she slowly turns to look at him.

"Is that all you need for now on your little secret project?" Hiccup asks.

"Oh…yeah. Sorry," Thorve apologizes as she returns to drawing.

"I will come to check on you for dinner, ok?" Hiccup asks.

"You…you don't have to. I kinda want to finish this up," Thorve says looking at him a bit and tapping the paper.

"Still going to," Hiccup says.


The weeks seem to fly as Hiccup and Thorve kept working and interacting with Toothless, discovering that dragons are playful and love to chase after the reflection of light. A fact Hiccup used on the terrible terror to get it back in its cage during one lesson. Astrid in this time seemed to be frustrated as, one day while hunting in the forest, Hiccup came across her training hard and looking like she was taking anger and frustration out on the trees before slipping away. Letting Astrid tail him for a bit so Thorve wouldn't be spotted until Astrid finally lost sight of his boar skin cloak. Now they also had made progress in figuring out how to fly on Toothless, but an accident happened that made them have to take Toothless into the village to get herself out of the harness she had made and, while doing that, Astrid came along and Hiccup ran interference like he had been doing a lot of in recent times. Allowing them to sneak Toothless out without her getting suspicious.

"Be careful. I really don't want a hard-headed viking like her finding Toothless," Thorve reminds, measuring Toothless's body with the made saddle and fitting it on.

"Hey. I distracted her so you two could get away unseen. She is also very frustrated not being at the top of the class I think. Girl pushes herself to be the best too much," Hiccup says.

"Her family has a history of that. What did you expect?" Thorve says feeling around the seams.

"Well, she is your crush," Hiccup says smiling as he checks the cooking boar.

"She is not!" Thorve says frustrated as she pulls a little hard and makes Toothless cough and chokes. "Sorry," she apologizes as she loosens up the bonds.

"Boar is almost done and it has been a good last few months, don't you think?" Hiccup asks.

"Define good?" Thorve asks finally undoing the belt and takes the saddle off.

"Well, we made some things that worked how they should and everyone likes them, we have learned a lot about our friend here, and the village respects us more," Hiccup says taking the boar off the fire.

"Okay. That can work. Go on girl," Thorve says pushing Toothless to the boar as she seems eager for the meat.

"We also best get back for the day," Hiccup says as they store the saddle and stuff in a small cave Toothless had been using to sleep in while she ate.

"Yeah…you think we would ever be found out?" Thorve says worried as she looks to Toothless eating away happily as the new terrors they picked up on that day's flying slept in the cave in a pile.

"Maybe one day," Hiccup says leading her away as what neither knew is that Stoick had returned from his expedition that day while they were out so it was a surprise for Hiccup when he got home to find him there sitting by the fire. "Dad," Hiccup says surprised.

"So…I hear you have done many things while I was away," Stoick gravels as he stood up from his chair.

"Uh…yeah…so how did your trip go? Any luck?" Hiccup asks, trying to come up with a list of excuses.

"Not even close," Stoick informs.

"Ok, so…you want to talk about something?" Hiccup asks.

"Yes. New weapons and systems to help the village. Doing so good in dragon training. And finally, late night walks with a certain girl. Nothing happens in this village without me hearing about it," Stoick says frowning.

"Ah ha. Well, I can explain those claims," Hiccup says before Stoick examined the boar skin cloak he was wearing.

"And I hear you have been hunting boars and learning herbs from Gothi," Stoick adds.

"Well…yeah," Hiccup confirms.

"Good on you son. I am proud," Stoick says smiling now.

"Really?" Hiccup asks surprised.

"Yes and this finally gives us something to talk about," Stoick says taking a seat again and Hiccup joins him and the two talk about hunting and exploring Berk for hours before finally heading off to bed. Stoick though, more light-hearted than ever.


The next few days seemed a bit more hectic as, with his father around, Hiccup and Thorve weren't as free as they were with him gone. Now with him keeping an eye on everything, but it allowed Hiccup to show him his idea on a sprinkler system that would run over the building in the village to start pouring water on them immediately if need be. Stoick's reaction was a bit on the skeptical side, but he didn't entirely dismiss it since Gobber had helped on the idea. Thorve though found herself with less time as Stoick took to acting more like an adopted father to her. Looking out for her and trying to teach her more things while Hiccup kept working.

"I can't handle it Hiccup…I barely have time to make the things Toothless needs," Thorve says almost exhausted.

"Well, dad always did treat you like my sister. Now he is stepping up more with us doing so good in the training," Hiccup says while trying to brainstorm.

"I just want to get away from it all," Thorve wishes while rubbing her head.

"We will head into the woods tomorrow to 'hunt'," Hiccup informs.

"Thank goodness," Thorve groans as she puts her head down.

"…he may also suspect we are…seeing each other," Hiccup informs.

Thorve blinks before picking her head up and looks at him. "Uhhhhhh…"

"He mentioned going out with walks at night with a girl," Hiccup informs.

"Are you sure he isn't talking about Astrid?" Thorve asks, almost blushing now.

"Unsure, but it could be either of you and me or could be we have the same crush," Hiccup teases.

Thorve stares at him before sighing as she didn't want to dignify it.


"So what are we doing today Thorve? Working, checking our inventions, or something else?" Hiccup asks as they walk the village in the morning before Stoick had gotten up.

"We should make rounds on the inventions," Thorve says.

"Maybe so. Don't want others to bother it in fact," Hiccup confirms leading her to the forge.

"We are going to have to teach people how to work and maintain them," Thorve says.

"You're right," Hiccup says as he spots Astrid with a determined look on her face. "Looks like she is heading out to train."

"Yeah…" Thorve says distantly as she watches Astrid.

"You know, you could sneak up and keep watching her. Maybe even watch her train, see how those muscles of her work," Hiccup says teasingly.

"Hiccup!" Thorve yells blushing and pushes him away.

"Alright. Hey Astrid!" Hiccup calls.

"Hiccup!" Thorve shrieks as Astrid turns to them and walks over. "No! No! Hiccup is just messing around!" Thorve yells embarrassed now.

"Astrid, you mind helping us? We are going to check the stingers and could use some to fire them," Hiccup calls.

"No, we don't! Ignore him!" Thorve panics as she glares angrily at Hiccup and tries to hit him as he holds her back with an arm's length away.

"What do you say?" Hiccup asks.

"Why not? I could be using those things in a panic," Astrid says walking past them to the forge as Thorve stops for a second and stares at her, her eyes trailing down, before realizing what she is doing and smacks Hiccup across the head.

"Alright. I will get the tools. Can you find some targets for it?" Hiccup asks smirking.

"Yeah. I can try," Astrid says as Thorve kept glaring at Hiccup angrily.

"See you at them. Set them up on the dock. We will be aiming from the top of the cliff," Hiccup says.

"Sure," Astrid says going to find some targets to shoot.

"Hiccup…I will kill you. Maybe even get Toothless to maul you," Thorve whispered glaring at him.

"No, you won't," Hiccup says smiling at her.

"Yes, I will. I will talk to Toothless first and make her maul you," Thorve huffs

"No, you won't," Hiccup says before hugging her.

Thorve growls before huffing and crossing her arms and turning away. "I will kill you."

"We shall see. So what do we need…ammo, should probably also draw up instructions on how to make stinger bolts, tools for maintenance…" Hiccup says letting Thorve go.

"A bigger head so I can kill you?" Thorve snides.


"Ok. A few targets to hit on the docks ammo here…I will go down to see their firing accuracy. Thorve, you mind running Astrid through on how to fire it?" Hiccup asks.

"What?! Why not you?!" Thorve complains glaring at him.

Hiccup says nothing as Thorve gets he is trying to arrange some alone time with her and Astrid.

"Oh, that little low life, cheating, know-it-all, forger…" Thorve curses as Astrid raises an eyebrow to her.

"Are you going to show how to use it or not?" Astrid speaks behind her and makes Thorve shriek in surprise before trying to look calm and innocent.

"Oh yeah. Sure. Sure. Step right up," Thorve says stepping aside nervously as she sweats and blushes.


"Well, I wonder how she is doing with Astrid," Hiccup says as he watched the targets. Some life-sized dummies with shields.

A twang was heard and he waits to see the arrow hit the dummy but it instead sailed past his vision and hits a dock post right next to him. "Eh?"

"Wow. This is really accurate," Astrid says smiling as she looks to the stinger.

"Yes. Yes, it is," Thorve says smiling innocently while giving an evil smirk towards Hiccup.

"Yeah. Let's try aiming at the targets like an invading warband!" Hiccup calls to the top of the cliff where the two were, unsure if they could hear him.

"You know, let's try to hit the smaller points of the target," Thorve says as Astrid reloads and aims the stinger down to the target's heads.

"So what is he yelling down there?" Astrid asks firing at a dummy.

"I have no idea. He's probably telling me something. Can you hit besides his head again?" Thorve says, grinning evilly behind her innocent smile.

"I can try," Astrid says as the stinger was reloaded again.

Hiccup freezes as another arrow hit besides his head into the dock post. "I may have pissed her off," Hiccup says trying to smile at them as he sees Thorve snickering a bit behind her hand.

"Nice. This will definitely help in an attack. Accuracy like that is a bit unmatched," Thorve comments smiling.

"Yeah, but it takes a few moments to reload. Not catapult long, but it takes time," Astrid says as they move on to the next stinger.

"We can work on it," Thorve says blushing a bit before stopping and glaring at Hiccup as he seems to be smirking at her. "Shoot near him again."

"We can't keep doing that," Astrid says before firing and the shot goes way off target from where she was aiming.

"Yes we can," Thorve says stepping up and looks at the stinger as she moves it around. "That was weird. Try another while I look at this."

"Alright," Astrid says.


"So how did it go?" Hiccup asks.

"That was terrible," Thorve mutters angrily as they head into the woods.

"Oh, come on. You got some alone time with Astrid. You two had to have bonded a bit," Hiccup says.

"She was interested in the weapons more than me," Thorve huffs before realizing what she said and tries to wail on Hiccup as he kept her at an arm's length away. "Why you…you made me say that!"

"No I didn't and now let's get to Toothless," Hiccup says picking up the pace.

"Hey! Get back here! I'm not done with you!" Thorve yells chasing after him.


Toothless pants happily as the boar and fish cooks over the fire pit and look around quickly and lean in to take a bite before a smack on the head made her stop. "No. Bad girl. Wait for your food to cook," Hiccup warns as he waves a stick at her.

Toothless growls as she rubs her head.

"Hey, there Toothless. Are you doing well?" Thorve asks scratching Toothless.

Toothless croons and leans around to let her get better access as she pants happily.

"I see you two have bonded a lot while I was covering," Hiccup says.

"And you hardly have," Thorve points out as she gives a scratch to a certain spot and sends Toothless limp to the ground.

"Well, let us change that, shall we?" Hiccup asks before putting a whole fish in Toothless's mouth and starts petting her softly.

Toothless growls softly before swallowing the fish and nuzzles his hand back happily.

"You know Hiccup…you should really start flying with her," Thorve says as she goes to the boar and turns it around.

"My thoughts exactly. Have fun cooking the boar," Hiccup says getting in the saddle.

"Wait…what?" Thorve tries to ask before looking to see both Hiccup and Toothless have left. "Hiccup!"

"What do you think Toothless? Show me what you got," Hiccup says scratching her head and making the dragon smirk before she started doing all the tricks she could. From loopty loops to dives and to flying above the clouds giving him a wondrous sight to behold.

Toothless gives a questioning growl to him as she seems to have held the smirk and now a raised questioning eyebrow.

"You are quite the dragon. Now let's head back for some boar before it gets cold, ok?" Hiccup asks.

Toothless licks her lips happily before quickly turning and flying right for the cove, landing and bounding quickly as she runs up to the fire pit before stopping as Thorve seems to have fallen asleep beside it and curling up. Toothless growls questionably towards Hiccup and nods her head at her.

"I will take care of her. You eat, ok?" Hiccup asks getting off and walks over to her before picking up Thorve and carries her to the wall before setting her against it and joining her by letting her use him as a pillow.

Thorve groans and slowly wraps her arms around him. "Tooth…Hic…"

Hiccup smiles as he pulls her close and soon feels more weight and sees Toothless laying on them, covering them up with her body.

Toothless growls, seemingly smiling, as she wraps her body around them tightly before sniffing Thorve and nuzzles her a bit and lays her head on his lap.

Hiccup chuckles as he places a hand on Toothless's head and pets her while wrapping an arm around Thorve. "Two hot girls." One smack by Toothless's tail on the head later. "Ow."

Toothless seems proud of herself as Thorve smiles in her sleep.


"Have a nice nap?" Hiccup asks the waking Thorve.

Thorve groans and rubs her eyes. "Wha…Hiccup?"

"You fell asleep," Hiccup informed as Toothless laid on her back.

Thorve yawns and looks up to him. "I did? Couldn't remember…but I think I burnt the boar…"

"Toothless didn't mind. So maybe you didn't," Hiccup says rubbing her back.

Thorve yawns again and tries to look behind her and see Toothless resting peacefully against her. "Hiccup…I know why I am doing this…why are you?"

"It's called being there for someone and bonding with Toothless," Hiccup says.

"But you didn't bring her down…you have no reason to do this at all," Thorve points out as she looks back at him.

"I did. You were there sleeping alone with no comfort," Hiccup said.

"I would have been fine…still…what's making you help? I don't see anything you would get out of this," Thorve says looking down a little.

"Besides helping a cute girl you mean," Hiccup says scratching Toothless.

"I have no idea which one you are talking about," Thorve says a bit annoyed at the double entendre.

"Ok, serious answer. It's probably because I can help that I do it," Hiccup says as he helps her up.

"And how do you know that? For all I know, you could be finding ways to control Toothless," Thorve points out as she looks to the sleeping dragon. "Sorry. I'm just worried about her…and you for being so abrasive against everyone at the classes."

"Toothless is different and I am learning to defend, not kill," Hiccup says trying to ease her fears.

Thorve tears up a bit. "I just don't want to lose both of you."

"It's ok," Hiccup says hugging her.

Toothless suddenly croons softly next to them and Thorve looks to see her looking worried at her before nuzzling her neck.

"And Toothless has our back," Hiccup says smirking.

Thorve giggles a bit and pets her head before smirking a bit. "If I didn't know better, I would say you the boyfriend for both of us."

"Let's not give dad any ideas," Hiccup says shaking his head as Toothless seems to laugh.

"What? Too scared to be a mate to a proud dragon?" Thorve teases as Toothless starts to roll across the ground laughing.

"Come on you. Back to the huts," Hiccup instructs pulling her along.

"Get the mating flight ready Toothless. You are going to have a new proud mate," Thorve calls teasingly to Toothless who kept laughing in growls while Thorve is pulled away.

Hiccup groans. "Girls."