The next morning, Hiccup and Astrid had woken very embarrassed and apologetic. Stoick had caused them to turn an even deeper shade of red when he had greeted them with his twinkling know-all gaze, and the suggestive wriggling of his eyebrows. 'Just Friends!' Hiccup had desperately mouthed to him when he wouldn't stop with the shoulder nudges, (which nearly sent Hiccup flying off his crutches) and the not-so-hidden innuendoes all during breakfast.

Astrid had finished her food, then practically ran from the house, only pausing long enough to mutter 'Bye. Hope your leg is better soon', to Hiccup before she left. As soon as the front door had closed behind her, Hiccup had immediately turned on his father, throwing his hands in the air in exasperation.

"Great dad! Now I probably won't see her for the rest of my life!"

Stoick only laughed. "She'll be back! Wild elephants wouldn't keep her away!"

And of course, she had come back. Although she had been quite reserved and shy to start with. But it hadn't taken long before they were back to 'normal', although they had avoided talking too much about what had happened between them.

Two weekends later found them in Hiccup's soft top jeep, hurtling along the freeway with the top down. Astrid had her hair in a tight braid, but it was no match for the wind which mockingly picked out stray hairs and whipped them madly around her face. She turned to Hiccup to yell, "You're all about the wind in your face, aren't you? It's all about flying, no matter what vehicle you're in. I swear if Toothless was a dragon, you'd be flying all the time."

He grinned at her from the driver's seat. "You got me! A dragon sounds pretty cool too!"

He indicated to the Volvo behind them, being driven by Fishlegs. "You know, you could have jumped in with Fish if you wanted a less hair-raising experience," he teased.

Astrid put her two hands out as if she were weighing something, "Safe…Exciting…safe…exciting. Nah! Exciting wins hands down for me!" she yelled back. It was a bit hard to have a conversation with the wind snatching her words away.

"Woo hoo!" yelled Tuff excitedly from the back seat, next to Toothless. He was pushing his face into the breeze just like his canine companion, his long blonde dreadlocks dancing wildly behind him. He even tried sticking his tongue out like a dog, but it had dried out pretty quick, so he pulled it back in again.

Snotlout was in the following Volvo with Fishlegs at the wheel and Ruffnut in the passenger seat. He had wanted to be in the jeep, but there was only room for one more after Astrid and Toothless. Snot had lost an arm wrestling competition to Tuff for the last seat, after Ruff had surprised him and kissed him on the cheek. He was still fuming over it.

Ruff only giggled at him. "Hey, you got to sit here with me didn't you? Plus when was the last time you got a kiss from a girl? So you won, right?"

Snotlout thought about it. Yeah, he did get kissed. So maybe he did win! He relaxed and sat back, ready to enjoy the trip.

They were headed for their favourite spot further up in the mountains. Hiccup often came up here with Toothless to indulge in his favourite hobby, animal photography. He had built a few hides out there and he liked to check them out occasionally to make sure they were still in working order. Astrid sometimes came with him, but every now and again the whole gang would come too.

They always had a great time, but it was always a noisy trip with the twins and Snotlout along. They did not have the word 'quiet' in their mentality. That just meant 'shout louder' to them.

They were planning to hike in, checking Hiccup's hides as they went, then camp at their favourite spot next to a crystal clear mountain stream before hiking back out the next day. They had been doing this since they were kids, and knew the area like the back of their own hands. Well...most of them did.

Eventually, the cars turned down the dirt side road that lead them to their walking trail. As Tuff choked and spat out the dust kicking into his face from the track, he realised that the back seat in a topless jeep was probably not the best place to be. When they pulled up, Tuff blinked the dust out of his eyes, and wiped it off his face before getting out to help Hiccup put the soft top back on and lock the car. The others helped unload the Volvo.

When everyone was ready, Hiccup picked up his backpack and threw it over his shoulders. "Ready?"

"Blah! Blah! Blah! Of course we're ready! Let's go!" shouted Snotlout, taking off in the wrong direction.

Hiccup shook his head, and silently took the lead down the correct path. Fishlegs called after Snot, "Uh, are you coming with us?"

Snotlout scanned around, realised he was going the wrong way, and quickly jumped back onto the correct path. "Yeah, I'm coming. Just testing to see if you knew where we were going, that's all. Congratulations! You passed!"

Astrid and Ruff were walking side by side. They rolled their eyes at Snotlout and giggled.

"I'm sure Snotlout would get lost in his own house if he didn't have a map at the front door," Astrid muttered to Ruff who sniggered. "I know, right!"

"I heard that!" retorted Snot. "I'll have you know the map is in the living room," he added triumphantly.

That just caused the girls to laugh harder. Tuff sniggered and Hiccup shook his head.

Fishlegs sighed and spoke to the canine walking beside him. "Can you make sure he doesn't get lost, again, please Toothless? It took forever to find him last time." Toothless gave him his best tongue-lolling grin.

Hiccup called back to Snotlout, who was attempting to push his way towards the front of the group. "You know, if you actually paid attention to where we are going, instead of telling us about your 'fascinating physique' you wouldn't get lost so much." But his words fell on deaf ears, as Snot flexed his muscles and admired himself. He nearly collided with a low hanging branch, but a "Heads up!" from Hiccup warned him to duck just in time.

Tuff gave a disapproving grunt, as he had been waiting for the crash. Fishlegs sighed at the dreadlocked blonde, "I'm sure there will be another one."

Sure enough, moments later Ruff held onto a branch till she walked past, then let it go, catching Snot right in the gut.

"Oomph!" he grunted. "Hey! I saw that! You did that on purpose!" he scolded Ruff.

Ruff turned her not-so-innocent eyes on him, "Oh, were you right behind me? I'm sorry! Not!"

She turned forward again and sniggered. The twins loved to tease and make fun of Snotlout on their hiking trips. Really, you would think Snot would have learned after all these years, but no…. his vanity and self-inflated ego kept him right out there as an easy target.

The walking track started off wide enough for two people - or one person and one wolf - but it quickly became single file only. The group settled into an easy walking pace, chatting and teasing each other along the way, only stopping to admire the view or to rescue Snotlout again.

They fell into a natural order, with Hiccup up the front, and Fishlegs at the back. Ruff, Tuff and Snotlout were usually changing positions in the middle depending on what the twins were doing to Snot. Astrid always started at the rear, but then ended up towards the front with Hiccup. This hike would take a few hours, but they had plenty of time to enjoy it all.

Astrid caught up with Hiccup and happily walked behind him. She liked to keep tabs on his gait as they hiked. She was always concerned that his leg would start to bother him, and she wanted to pull him over as soon as she noticed him limping or favouring that leg. Especially as it had only just finished healing. But for now, he was doing just fine.

After an hour, they arrived at the first hide, high in a solid tree. It had small pieces of timber nailed to the side to act like a ladder, which led to a tiny platform hidden between the major branches. It was covered in a mixture of netting, twisted tree branches, and pieces of timber. One person could fit up there almost comfortably, two at a squeeze.

Hiccup took his bag off his shoulders and placed it on the ground. He opened up a few pockets to find the items he needed, some nails, rope and a hammer, then headed up the 'ladder'. Toothless whined and paced around the base of the tree, when his attempts to follow Hiccup upwards, failed. Hiccup reassured him, "It's okay, Toothless. I'll be fine. I just need to do some repairs and I'll be straight back down."

Astrid watched as Hiccup climb the side of the tree, anxious that he might slip. But he didn't. Her neck was starting to hurt from craning it so far backwards when he eventually disappeared inside the hide.

Suddenly he yelled, "Watch out!" as a small bag of nails come tumbling down from the sky. Astrid leapt backwards and the bag landed on the ground in front of her with a 'thud'.

"Are you okay, Hiccup?" she called out.

"Yeah, I accidentally knocked the nails over the side," he yelled back. "Are you okay?" he asked.

"Yeah, you missed me! You'll have to do better than that next time," she teased. He gave a chuckle.

She noticed his leg start to emerge from the hide to descend back down the tree. "Wait! I can bring these up to you," Astrid offered. She heard relief in his voice, "That would be great Astrid. Just watch the steps up, okay?"

"What? You think this is the first tree I've ever climbed?" she teased.

His voice came through the branches again, "If this was your first tree, you sure picked a doozy. This one is very tall and has a couple of rotten branches for steps. Please be careful, Astrid. I mean it."

She chuckled at his concern, "I'll be fine. I'll be up there in a jiffy."

"What's a jiffy?" he questioned.

Astrid put the bag of nails into her jeans pocket and started to climb.

"It's in between a 'heartbeat' and a 'tic'."

"Well, there's a new way of measuring time they never taught in school. Must have missed that subject," he drawled back at her.

She had gone about six feet up the tree, when she found the wobbly steps that Hiccup had been worried about. She took note of where they were so she wouldn't get surprised on the way back down. Half way up the tree, a voice called out from the ground. "Nice butt, Astrid!" She turned to glare back at the offender but Hiccup beat her to it. "Snotlout! Go find something else to do and stop staring."

Astrid giggled to herself at Hiccup defending her. She'd been ogling his butt when he had climbed the tree first. She wasn't about to admit that to him though. Tuff's voice rose up to her, "Woah! Did the tree just tell you off, Snot?"

"That was just Hiccup, spoiling my fun," fumed Snotlout.

"The tree's name is Hiccup? Huh! What are the chances of a tree having a name, and its name being Hiccup?" wondered space cadet Tuff.

"None, you idiot! Hiccup is up there. In the tree. Trying to tell me what to do!"

Astrid heard him say in a lower voice which perhaps was not meant for her ears, "I'm still going to have some fun anyway. And spoil Hiccup's day!" She was a little concerned about that. Snotlout often failed to think about the consequences of his actions and sometimes others got hurt. Usually Hiccup.

She kept climbing up the tree, hanging on to the small branches and pieces of timber that Hiccup had securely fastened to the tree. She made it to the underside of the hide, and looked up to find Hiccup's face smiling down at her through the entry point. "Welcome to my humble abode m'lady!" he teased. "If you ever wanted a house with a view, than this would be it."

"Million dollar views, I would imagine," she quipped back.

He continued, "Only the best that money could buy!"

"I'll give you ten dollars for it," she pretended to flash some cash at Hiccup.

"Sold! To the highest bidder!" he exclaimed. "And you are the highest bidder, by at least ten feet!"

"Oh, hardy ha har!" Astrid rolled her eyes at him. "If I'd known you were such a comedian, I would have let you get your own nails!" she told him with a smile, handing him the packet.

"Now, are you going to invite a lady in, or are you going to let me stay outside?"

"Mmm. It's a bit of a squeeze in here, but you can come in if you're any good at playing 'twister'. 'Cause that's how it will be," he warned.

She just climbed further up, "Move over buster. Coming through!"

"Don't say I didn't warn you!"

He had been right. It was a tight squeeze. It took a bit of awkward manoeuvring, but finally Hiccup sat on the floor with his legs spread wide, his left knee bent upwards, and Astrid sat on the floor between his legs. Hiccup had his left arm resting on his knee behind her back, and had to lean in close to her. They could see out the small window and the view really was breathtaking.

The tree itself was towards the edge of a rise, and the valley below seemed to stretch out forever. It was a perfect spot to watch birds of prey spiralling lazily on the updrafts, searching for their next meal.

"Million dollar views doesn't give it justice, does it?" murmured Hiccup from behind her.

Astrid felt her cheeks go red, and her mind go blank as she felt his warm breath blowing against the nape of her neck. She couldn't help but notice just how close their bodies were, as she shook her head dumbly in response to his question. She felt a little mortified, and betrayed, by her own body as her skin tingled all over, in response to his closeness.

Her eyes closed momentarily and she unconsciously exposed her neck a little to him, as the unbidden thought came into her mind of what it would be like if he were to lean forward slightly and brush his lips up against the patch of skin he was currently breathing on.

Astrid snapped her eyes open, horrified at where her thoughts had taken her. Hiccup was her friend, and she had no business thinking about him like that. The air inside the hide was quite hot and humid, but Astrid was glad of the temperature as an excuse for her flushed cheeks.

"View's great. But we haven't got all day to sit around. I thought we were here to work," she told him gruffly, trying to shake herself mentally back to more stable ground.

He started a little at her words, as if his thoughts had been elsewhere, then nodded. "Sure...um...okay. I need you to...umm...hold this loose piece here while I secure it. Okay?" he asked nervously.

She nodded, but flushed again as she realised the two would be compelled to twist around each other to manoeuver into a more useful position. They bumped and nudged each other as they got to work securing the loose timbers, until the very last piece. She had to lean over him, while doing her very best to keep their bodies separated.

Hiccup inhaled sharply, the sweet smell that was purely Astrid, filling his nostrils. He couldn't get enough of it, and he found himself struggling to keep focused on his work, and not on the blonde bombshell currently draped over his shoulder.

Astrid was forced to continue to lean up against him while he secured the timber, which seemed to take an excruciatingly long time. Astrid wasn't sure her red cheeks could take much more. Her hair felt like it was melting onto her face from the humidity and steam that seemed to have enveloped them, as she fought to keep her breathing even. Finally, he told her in a low voice, "It's good now,… you can let go."

Astrid pulled herself back off him so fast, you would have sworn that a snake was trying to strike her. He refused to look at her as he told her that was the last piece. Astrid swallowed hard, in an attempt to gain some normalcy in her voice. She didn't particularly notice the difficulty he was having as well, or she might have paused to wonder what was happening between them.

Hiccup tried to apologize, "Uh, sorry….about that…and ...ah, thanks…" he mumbled. Astrid pushed back the limp hair on her forehead, her eyes diverted away from his, "Yeah, ….okay….no biggie." Her mind was swirling and she felt a little lightheaded. Which was probably not so good, considering how high from the ground they were.

Down on the ground they could hear Tuff singing, "Hiccup and Astrid sitting in a tree, K..I..S…" He didn't get much further, as Hiccup 'accidentally' dropped the bag of nails again and Tuff had to jump out of the way.

"Hey! You didn't have to nail me…See what I did there? I made a joke!"

"Yes, yes, we got it," groaned Fishlegs. He called back up, "Are you almost finished, Hiccup?"

"Yeah, we're coming down now," he yelled back, his voice having returned to normal, although there was an odd note in it that only Astrid noticed. She wondered about it, as he glanced up at her and smirked, "After you, m'lady?"

Astrid poked her feet out first, and climbed carefully backwards down the tree, grateful for the cooling breeze on her red cheeks. Snotlout was waiting eagerly at the bottom and Tuff was grinning like a fool off to the side a little. Astrid narrowed her eyes. What were those two clowns up to? She kept climbing down, only pausing to make sure Hiccup had safely exited the hide as well.

She remembered there were a couple of loose timbers towards the bottom, so she was feeling for them with her toes. She waved them around searching for the next step but couldn't find it, so she stretched down a little further. She found it, but realised too late that it was not going to support her. She gave a surprised scream and heard "Astrid!" as she fell off the tree. To her shock, she felt arms grabbing around her waist as her back slammed into someone, before they were both knocked flat to the ground with a loud grunt.

Fishlegs squeaked in the background, "Are you okay?"

In a split second, she rolled off Snotlout and jumped back up to her feet. Thanks to Snot being her 'air bag' she hadn't been hurt, but Snotlout had copped the brunt of it. He was winded and likely to end up with a few bruises to boot. Astrid glanced up into Hiccup's very worried face to reassure him she was okay. He kept climbing down, trying to hurry. "Be careful Hiccup!" she called.

Tuff sniggered at Snotlout struggling to catch his breath on the forest floor. "I thought she was supposed to fall for you, not on you!" Astrid narrowed her eyes at the two of them. Had they sabotaged the tree? She deliberately stepped on Snotlout as she went to investigate, making him groan some more, and noticed that one ladder step had been removed and the other loosened.

Ruff yelled at Snotlout, "Way to go, you lunatic."

"You idiots! Did you do this?" Astrid threatened the incapacitated Snotlout with the broken step. By now, Hiccup had reached the missing steps and was forced to jump the rest of the way down. He landed heavily on his good foot, and fell to his knees with a grunt. Astrid rushed over to help him back up and to check that he hadn't injured himself. His face was black as thunder as he towered over Snotlout, and even Tuff shrank backwards.

"What were you thinking?" he roared at them. "Were you trying to get Astrid killed?" Even though he himself could have been injured, he was only thinking of Astrid.

"No," whimpered Snotlout. He staggered to his feet, shrinking under Hiccup's wrath. "I was going to catch her and 'save' her and be her hero," he finished lamely. Tuff didn't help, "Astrid was supposed to fall for Snotlout."

"Of all the idiotic, senseless, boneheaded, most dangerous things you could have done … this was certainly up there. She could have been seriously injured you moron! We're too far away from anywhere to get any help." He paced in front of them, running his fingers through his hair, frustrated beyond belief that Snotlout and Tuff, (he wasn't getting out of it) could do something so incredibly stupid!

Astrid was fuming over Snotlout's idiocy as well, but she was more concerned over Hiccup, as she noticed he was now limping. She had never seen him so angry and it worried her. She stood in front of him and placed her hands on his chest, surprised for a moment, remembering how firm, and how good he felt. He stared straight into her blue eyes with his anxious green ones. "Are you sure you're okay?" he asked, taking hold of her upper arms with his hands. She felt her skin jump where he touched her. This was getting ridiculous, she thought to herself irritably. She needed to gain control over herself. He was her best friend after all. And he could have been hurt in that fall, she reminded herself.

She answered in a level voice, "Yes, I'm fine. I'm more worried about you. Did you hurt yourself when you jumped?"

He shrugged off her concerns, "I'm fine. Nothing important." Astrid felt a twinge of frustration.

"But it is important!" she insisted. "We've still got a long way to go, and I don't want this weekend to be spoiled for you. It was meant to be fun, remember?"

He glanced over her shoulder at the two guilty looking muttonheads and snarled, "It's a bit late for that, isn't it?"

"Don't fuss about them. They're just doing what they always do," Astrid said firmly, drawing his attention back to her.

He regarded her with utter grief in his eyes, "But you could have been injured...badly." He released her arms and turned away, running his hands distractedly through his hair again. Astrid noticed they were shaking.

"But I wasn't," she replied gently, placing her hand on his shoulder and ducking in front of him, forcing him to look straight at her. "And I got my revenge, Snotlout is the one who suffered the most. He's going to be feeling those bruises for a while yet!"

He lifted the corner of his mouth in a small smile. "That's true. Plus I did see you step on him."

She smirked. "That's better. How about we keep walking and try to forget about this episode for now. Okay?"

He forced out a long breath, and finally nodded. "Okay. We can do this. But I want you walking up front with me, just in case."

She smiled warmly at him. "I will be happy to oblige, sir!"

He chuckled at her, regaining some of his former composure. "Alright, let's go." He scowled at the two guilty parties. "But some repairs need to be done first."

After Snotlout and Tuff repaired the damaged steps, the group set off again. Hiccup flashed a warning glare at the two men as he led Astrid back onto the trail in front of him. He wanted her as far away from Snotlout as possible.

The mood amongst the group was fairly quiet at first, but it didn't take long before Tuff and Ruff were back to their old tricks, focussing all their deviousness on Snotlout again. Hiccup and Astrid were at the front of the group as Hiccup was keen to keep a little distance between them and the others. Tuff, Ruff and Snotlout were in the middle, and Fishlegs brought up the rear with Toothless racing between them all.

The group hiked on for another two hours, only pausing for lunch. It wasn't a difficult walk as they were progressing at a steady pace, and the incline was a gentle one. Hiccup's good humour soon returned and he was able to joke with the rest of the group. Astrid was glad that he was feeling good again.

It was early afternoon when they finally reached the campsite.

"We're here!" Hiccup called out.