Inspired by this picture: ask-viking-astrid. tumblr post /70340053496/ so-can-you-tell-us-what-made-you-change-your-mind (just remove the spaces)

REVIEWING REVIEWS:

halobeast-117: Thank you! And yes, the reno went well!

Arcawolf (for Chapter 8): No, no no, no, see, it's a joke. Kinda. It's a reference to… aw, forget it. And yes, there were no J's. It's a bit of an intentional inconsistency. Astrid's attitude is more sarcastic than anything towards Hiccup's smithing abilities. She has full confidence in his ability to fix things (so I would imagine).

And I will take your points into account. Thanks, again, for continuing to check over my work!

Cottonmouth25 and anyone who spoke similarily: BLRBLBRLRBLRBLRBRL

faisyah865: Yep. Right down there. *points* Just scroll, and off ya be!

AND EVERYONE ELSE WHO POSTED A REVIEW I'M REALLY SORRY IT TOOK SO LONG BUT MY ROOM IS FINALLY FINISHED YAY ME

And now… Hiccstrid.

Previously, on HTTYD 1.5: Hiccup was doing everything he could to ignore the fiery death glare Astrid was sending his way. Gobber wasn't really helping much. "OH, YE'VE DONE IT, LAD! YE'VE DONE IT, HICCUP! YOU GET TO KILL THE DRAGON!"

Stoick included his two cents with a proud, "Ha ha ha! That's my boy!"

Hiccup was suddenly hoisted up onto Fishlegs' back, as the other teens swept him away, cheering and chanting his name. He went along with it, trying to fake excitement at best as he could.

"Heh, heh. Oh yeah! Yes! I can't wait. I am so…"

"Leaving! We're leaving," Hiccup called out to Toothless.

He had finally had enough of this double life, and was leaving the tribe for good, before he got himself killed. Or worse.

He called out again. "Looks like you and me are taking a little vacation. Forever."

Setting his basket down, he checked it again to make sure he had gotten everything he needed.

"Oh man…"

Well, everything seemed to be in order. Still, there was probably one last thing he was forgett -

ssssssshhhhhIIIIINNNKKK. ssssssshhhhhIIIIINNNKKK.

Hiccup looked up into the silhouetted figure of Astrid Hofferson. The last person he'd expected, and the definite last person he'd want here right now.

"Waaauughh! What th- wha-what are you doing here?" Hiccup stalled, trying to look like he was doing nothing in particular.

"I wanna know what's going on," she stated matter-of-factly. Hopping down from the stone, she gave her axe a little twirl, hinting at threats to come. "No one just gets as good as you do. Especially you. Start talking."

"Oh, uh…" Hiccup stalled, attempting to lead her discreetly away from Toothless' den.

"Are you training with someone?"

"Training? Uhh…"

With a "It better not involve this!", she tugged at his strange apparel, yanking at leather… shoulder plates?

"I know, this looks really bad, but you see, this is -"

Astrid threw him to the ground, wondering what she had just heard. It… sounded close… and large, a little bigger than a yak…

"Ahh, you're right, you're right," Hiccup stammered, attempting to keep her away from that cave. "I'm through with the lies. I've been making… outfits! So, you got me." He tried to get her to turn around, putting her hand on his chest, to drag him off. "It's time everyone knew. Drag me back. Go ahead. Here we go…" Wrenching his hand over his shoulder, she dropped him with a vicious kick. "OWWW!" he whined, "why would you do that?"

"That's for the lies," she said.

On a whim, she unceremoniously dropped her axe handle between his legs. Just so he got the message to not lie to her again. "And that's… for everything else."

Rrrrrrrrr…..

"Oh man."

Hiccup got up, to see exactly what he could salvage out of this situation, until he was knocked down - again - by a very protective Astrid. "GET DOWN! RUN! RUN!"

Toothless charged. The little woman was attacking Hiccup! That wasn't right. He would save his friend!

"No, no no no no…" Hiccup yelled, attempting to defuse the situation. He ripped the axe right out of Astrid's hands, throwing it too far away, and putting himself between her and Toothless. The Night Fury calmed a bit, pushing against Hiccup, but not too hard.

"It's okay, it's okay!" he reassured the dragon. "She's a friend." Toothless calmed at that, but still… "You just scared him," Hiccup told Astrid.

"I scared him!?" At a grumble from Toothless, she asked, hesitantly, "Who… is 'him'?"

"Uh, Astrid, Toothless," Hiccup introduced. "Toothless… Astrid."

The dragon let this… 'Astrid'... know exactly how he felt about her intrusion.

At the beast's growl, Astrid sized the pair up, then promptly - ran.

Hiccup sighed. "Duh - da duh, we're dead."

Shrugging, Toothless waddled off. HE didn't care if he was found out. He'd just blast them.

"Whoa, whoa whoa, where d'you think you're going?" Hiccup asked the retreating scaly back.

Get to the chief. Get to the chief. Tell him about his son… and his son's Night Fury. For what else could the jet-black, killing machine be? Never mind the fact that Hiccup had stopped it with a word.

Jumping from a log, she was suddenly snatched out of the air. I'm too young for Valhalla! Only, when she looked up, it was much, much worse. A scaly, black claw gripped her arm, holding her gently but firmly.

"OH GREAT ODIN'S GHOST! OH, THIS IS -" Exhilarating? More like TERRIFYING!

"AAAAAAAHHHHHHHH - Augh!" she grunted, as she was unceremoniously dumped on a tree.

"Hiccup! Get me down from here!"

"You have to give me a chance to explain -"

"I am not listening to anything you have to say."

"Then I won't speak," he placated. "Just let me show you."

She looked down. Would she survive a drop from this high? Hmm… Better not chance it… Which, unfortunately meant getting on the dragon's back.

"Please, Astrid."

Even though every movement went against everything she had ever lived with since birth, she forced herself over to where the dragon was perched. Blowing a strand of hair out of the way, she reached for Toothless' side - Grrrrr…. - reached for Toothless' saddle, and there was Hiccup, offering his hand. She batted it away, and hoisted herself up behind the scrawny teen. "Now get me down."

Hiccup grinned to himself. Time to execute emergency plan A. A for Astrid.

"Toothless? Down. Gently." Now, time for some really good acting on his part. As Toothless spread his wings - slowly - Hiccup surreptitiously clicked the tail to position three (up) and twisted in his seat. "See? Nothing to be afraid of."

And with a tremendous heave, Toothless used the spring-coiled tree, and rocketed up into the air.

As Astrid screamed, Hiccup kept up the illusion. "Toothless! What is wrong with you? Bad dragon! Ah," he explained to Astrid, "he's not usually like this." They leveled off, but Hiccup knew what was next. "Oh no."

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!"

As Toothless dove for the surf, Hiccup took a calculated risk.

"Toothless, what are you doing? We need her to like us!"

Pushing up into the sky again, the Night Fury began to spin, Hiccup keeping the tail going as necessary - without Astrid's knowledge, of course.

"And now the spinning," Hiccup observed dryly. "Thank you for nothing, you useless reptile."

She could not take it anymore. "Okay! Okay! I'm sorry! I'm sorry. Just get me off this thing." She pressed her head into Hiccup's back, hoping desperately to find any comfort from the leather, and just forget about the world falling all around them.

With a *snap*, Toothless spread his wings, bringing the 'uncontrolled' dive to a quick stop.

"Is it over?" Astrid timidly called from behind Hiccup. The sudden stop had made her think that they had crashed, but when she could feel the wind still whipping her hair around, she guessed that the dragon had leveled off.

"Look for yourself," Hiccup said, not unkindly.

Opening her eyes, she looked around - and was instantly disoriented. There was no ground. It was just… clouds. And really close clouds, at that. If she reached up, she could almost touch one…

Hiccup glanced behind to make sure she hadn't fallen off, and grinned. That had been pretty much his first reaction to clouds. He gently pulled up on Toothless' saddle.

She gasped a little when the cloud dipped to meet her. Or did she rise to meet it? Putting her arm up, she felt – nothing! Just… dampness, like on a foggy day. Trusting the dragon and Hiccup enough, she put both her arms up and reveled in the new sensation.

They did a few languid loops, enjoying the scenery, not caring about anything. At. All.

When she had grown slightly more adjusted to the new sights, Astrid commented, "You know I'm still ticked at you for lying to me, right?"

"You don't think the axe handle was giveaway enough? Trust me, it was," Hiccup grinned over his shoulder. "And... I'm sorry."

"Yeah…" She remembered that Hiccup was the one who had fixed that axe handle, just so it would be stronger.

It had to be the altitude that was making her ears burn.

"That… may have been a little bit of an overreaction," she conceded.

You think? Hiccup looked over at her, letting the saddle go briefly. "Well, lesson learned. Don't lie to Astrid Hofferson."

She grinned. "Don't give me reason to use my axe."

Soaring through the clouds was easy work, Toothless figured. If he had both his tailfins, he'd be able to do this eyes closed and sleeping. As it was, he just relaxed and let the thermals take him where they willed.

He was glad the small female had calmed down. She seemed to be a lot nicer when she wasn't screaming or waving a curve-metal around. Or both. And she liked Hiccup. That was a good thing. Especially since Hiccup really liked her. He had mentioned her name once or twice, with almost reverence. What was it again, Astro? Asthma? Oh, yes, Astrid. Actually, the things Hiccup talked about with Toothless were divided fairly evenly between flying and Astrid. Toothless would provide his bachelor input with a grunt, shrug, or nod wherever necessary, and Hiccup would continue talking.

Sometimes Toothless wondered if Hiccup had any human friends at all.

There was Hiccup's boss, a metal maker by the name of Gobble, or something, and he seemed to be the closest thing Hiccup had to a friend. Apparently not even Hiccup's dad liked him, though Toothless couldn't quite sympathize there. He had never met his own dad, and hadn't known his mom long enough to actually remember her very well.

But this Astrid… she seemed to be very nice. Armored skirt and spiked shoulder plates notwithstanding.

"So… he's… Toothless, right?"

"Yep."

"So he doesn't have teeth?"

"Well, he has retractable teeth. Toothless?" The dragon twisted his head back to show her his empty gums, then extracted his teeth with a shunk, startling Astrid.

"How did you enslave him?"

"I didn't enslave him," Hiccup retorted vehemently.

"Remember that night when I claimed I had 'actually shot down a Night Fury'? Well… I did. So when no one believed me, I ran off alone, into the woods. I found him there, tied up in the bola net. And I was this close," here he held up a finger and thumb, very close together, "to killing him. I had the knife raised…" he dropped off, pondering exactly how much of his feelings he should spill to her – a complete stranger!

"But I didn't. I found out later that by shooting him down, I had taken off a tailfin." Hiccup gestured to the metal piece mirroring the natural fin. "So I made a replacement. And figured out how to get him to let me put it on. Once I figured out how to adjust it so that I could control how it moved, it was just a few more steps to a saddle and full outfit."

"So that's how you knew everything in the ring."

"Sorry?"

"How you were able to figure out what the dragons liked, what they didn't. You had a man… er, lizard, on the inside."

"Well… yeah. I doubt I would have survived the Zippleback if it wasn't for the fact that dragons don't like eels. I mean, it was going to kill me."

"So that's what you were doing…"

"Yep. I'm all in the open now," he griped, throwing his hands helplessly in the air.

Toothless snuffed, throwing in his two cents. "Yeah, bud, I know, but still. It's not like you could take on the whole village yourself."

"So he is a Night Fury?"

Hiccup looked over his shoulder, frowning. "Uh, yeah."

"Sorry I'm acting so slow, I'm still a little worked up from the near-death experience. And still trying to process that you have a pet dragon."

"He's… he's really my only friend."

Man, her ears were really burning. How high were they?

"I wanna show you something," Hiccup continued, after a bit.

"Not really going anywhere."

Pulling up above the clouds, Astrid could see it was really dark. And the stars were out, as they should… be…

Arvendale's Fire! But… that's not supposed to be for another year! Still… there wasn't any Flightmare in sight… so… maybe she could just enjoy it. It was very beautiful.

She watched Hiccup take Toothless down a bit, and as the clouds rolled away below them, she could see… starlight on the ground? Only… it was yellower… and familiar… She gasped. This was Berk! Well, it would make sense that she didn't instantly recognize it. She had never been this far up before. But… wow… she could see the Great Hall… there was Gothi's hut… that was her home. Her home. From, like, 300 gazillion feet up.

How do you thank someone for revealing a new dimension of life to you? She guessed a hug would have to suffice.

As Hiccup watched Berk sleep, safe and sound, he felt something tighten around his waist. It was thin, kind of warm… and it was Astrid Hofferson's arm. Both of them. Hugging him.

Huh. Wow.

It was, well, kind of nice. Better than an axe to the groin, for sure.

He couldn't help the stupid grin on his face.

Toothless dove through the sea stacks effortlessly, weaving a complicated mesh through the air. Hiccup had no worries about being spotted by the night guard; on a partially cloudy night like this, a Fury was next to invisible. He had already been able to perch on the night guard tower unseen; he had little doubt that they'd be safe this far up and away.

He really hoped Astrid wouldn't kill him for kidnapping her.

"Alright I admit it. This is pretty cool. It's... amazing!" she grinned.

She's not gonna kill me!

"He's amazing."

Well, she's not going to kill him.

We'll leave them there for now.

Sorry to keep you in suspense for so long! Hope the wait made the final product that much sweeter!