I would like to apologize to all of you for the late update with this story. I appreciate that you've been following it or had the story as a favorite or both, so thank you very much. It would also mean a lot if you could please give a review, so I'll know that people still love this story and want it to be continued.

Chapter 12: The Beautiful Drawing

When Hiccup and Toothless flew back to the cove on that very same day, the two of them landed on a wide space which was not so far away from the mailbox. Hiccup looked closely at it and smiled to see that the red flag was standing up, and he quickly unhooked himself from Toothless' saddle and got off the dragon to walk over to it. He opened the door to find a big basket inside, and so when Hiccup carefully pulled it out of the mailbox, he instantly became interested with whatever was underneath the basket. Hiccup also saw a folded note on top of the basket, and at the same time, he could smell the mysterious gift that Rapunzel sent him, but he thought that it was best to read the note first.

Dear Hiccup,

Me and Pascal tried some of your lemon bars just earlier today, and they were absolutely delicious, but we're not going to eat them all, so that's why we're going to save the rest of them for another time. I read the note you sent about me having to make something for you so that we would be even, and that's why me and Pascal got busy in the kitchen to bake a batch of chocolate chip cookies for you. I'm don't know if Toothless will be able to have some, but I'm sure that he'll enjoy the taste of them if he can, so anyway, I made a total of about twenty cookies, giving you and Toothless to each have about ten. I went through your last long letter again, and it's got me thinking for a while of what could be the next activity for us, and I've decided that it should be drawing.

I'd really like to see what the cove looks like, and from the way that you talked about it, I can only imagine that it's truly a beautiful place for you and Toothless to spend time together. How about this, after you send me a self made drawing of you and Toothless in the cove, then I'll send you a painting of the tower where me and Pascal live in. Just like with the baked treats, you can go first with a drawing of your own, and once I've received it, I'll get started on my painting, but please send me a note to remind me, otherwise I might probably forget. Thank you so much for the lemon bars, Hiccup, and when you write back, make sure to include of what you and Toothless thought of our cookies, and that would be great!

Sincerely, Rapunzel

Once he was done with reading the note, Hiccup closed the mailbox, and lowered the red flag down before walking back to Toothless while carrying the note in one hand and the basket with the other one. Toothless was soon rushing over to his friend when he could easily smell the cookies from under the basket, and Hiccup knew right away that his dragon loved the smell from the way his tongue was hanging out.

"Easy there, bud! If you must know, Rapunzel and her friend liked my lemon bars so much that they wanted to give us their own tasty treats, so first, let's take a look, shall we?" Hiccup asked, while giving a grin.

The Night Fury quickly nodded his head, and he tried his best to keep himself perfectly still as he watched his best friend pull the napkin off from the basket, which finally revealed the warm and fresh cookies. As hard as he tried, Toothless couldn't have any more patience and just when he was about to run toward Hiccup and take the basket from his grip, he was stopped when Hiccup put up his palm in front of his sight.

"Don't you worry, bud." Hiccup said, as he brought his palm back down. "You're gonna get some, but it would be a good idea to save the rest of them, just like Rapunzel is doing with my lemon bars now." He added.

Hiccup thought for a moment before reaching down into the basket and picking up about two cookies, and brought them up to his nose for a better smell of them first.

"Alright, bud, now listen very closely," Hiccup said, as he brought the cookies down from his face. "We're each going to have just one cookie, or maybe even two, but only if the cookies are that good, understand?" He questioned.

Toothless did another nod of his head, and watched as Hiccup threw one of the cookies up in the air, also being in the dragon's direction, and the dragon kept his eyes on the cookie before finally catching it with his mouth. Once he saw that Toothless had easily caught his cookie, Hiccup took a bite out of the one he was holding in one of his hands, and he literally almost dropped the basket he held in the other right when the taste buds kicked in.

"Oh my gods, that is so good!" Hiccup exclaimed, as he just couldn't believe that Rapunzel could be able to bake such delicious-tasting cookies, but baking must have been one of the things she learned to do over the years.

Toothless was beginning to think that Hiccup wasn't looking, as his eyes were constantly opening and closing, he crouched down on the grass and started to crawl towards the basket of cookies by taking very small steps. Just when the dragon had managed to touch the basket with one of his claws, he turned his head to see Hiccup giving him a hard and serious look, while still eating his cookie, before moving the basket out of Toothless' reach.

"Sorry, bud, but you're not going to have any more of these, at least, if you keep it up with being so impatient and sneaky like that, so please wait until I'm done with my cookie so that we can have another one at the same time, okay?" Hiccup asked.

Toothless let out some kind of a whiny sound, which was like as if it was coming from a dog who was awfully wounded, or just didn't want his friend to leave him all alone.

"Don't worry, bud, I'm not going to take any longer," Hiccup said, as he put the cookie up to his mouth once again. "It will just be one more minute, I promise." He added.

With that said, Hiccup put the rest of the cookie in his mouth, and to the dragon's displeasure, he took a while to enjoy the flavour of dough and chocolate before swallowing.

"Alright, bud, now that I'm done with the first cookie, each of us can have a second," Hiccup announced, as his hand went in the basket to grab two more cookies for them.

Just like he did earlier, Hiccup threw one of the cookies in the air and in Toothless' direction, to which he caught easily, while Hiccup took a bite of the cookie he had in his hand. While the smell of the cookie alone made Toothless feel like he was about to faint, the taste of it had caused him to imagine as if he was already up in the beautiful skies of Heaven. Hiccup couldn't help but laugh for a little bit when he saw his best friend's state of happiness, especially with the way that Toothless was rolling around in the grass on his back.

Hiccup assumed that the dragon was possibly dreaming the cove, or even the clouds high above both of them, were filled with lots of chocolate chip cookies just for him to eat. As much as he wanted to approach Toothless, and tell him that he would see him later, Hiccup thought it was better to quietly leave, so he could put the rest of the cookies in his house. After he was finished with eating his second cookie, Hiccup carefully took small steps backward, so that he could keep his eyes on Toothless, and make his way out of the cove at the same time.

Once he got himself at a very far distance away from the Night Fury, Hiccup changed his movement from slow walking to fast running for the entrance to the quiet clearing. Hiccup decided to carry the basket of cookies over his left shoulder as he climbed the stone ledges back up to the forest, and he turned to have one last look at Toothless before going any further. He eventually burst into laughter for quite a while, and Hiccup was careful not to drop the basket by accident, since he didn't want Rapunzel to be making another batch of cookies, if the ones he had with him were on the ground.

When Hiccup was done laughing, his mind went to the basket, and he began to think of an explanation for anyone who saw him as soon as he came back to Berk, and unfortunately, he came to the conclusion that there wasn't a good one. Once again, he would have to be very careful and sneak through the village until he arrived at his house, and do the same when leaving to meet up wit Toothless at the cove. Most certainly, Hiccup didn't want to be confronted by Astrid, and deal with another interrogation of being asked where he's been and what he's been doing with all of his time.

Just as Hiccup reached Berk, there didn't seem to be anyone in sight, but he still remained cautious though, doing a routine of taking a few steps and stopping to look around. To his luck and relief, he managed to avoid being caught by any of the villagers, and he quickly went up to his room, and started to search for a safe spot to leave the basket. It didn't take long for Hiccup to find a good place for it, and so he crouched down on his knees to the wooden floor and moved the basket until it was under the center of his bed.

After that was finally dealt with, Hiccup found a charcoal pen and a sheet of paper which was large enough for him to make a drawing of the secluded and beautiful clearing, as well as another sheet to make a note for Rapunzel. With the pen, and two sheets of paper in his hands, Hiccup began to go down the stairs when he thought that he heard a knock be made on the other side of the front door. He put all of the things that he was carrying on the dinner table before walking over to open the door, and he was quite surprised to see that it wasn't Astrid who was there.

"Oh, Hiccup, I was actually worried for a moment that you wouldn't be here," Fishlegs said. "I was hoping if you'd like to hang out with me, Snotlout, and the twins." He requested.

"I would love to, Fishlegs, but I really wanted to go out into the forest and do some drawings of nature itself, you know, like the trees and all of their leaves." Hiccup replied.

"That's okay, maybe the four of us could come along and help you out, with making sure you don't trip and fall, and giving you a boost to get up in trees." Fishlegs suggested.

"It's nice of you to offer that, but I can't imagine either the twins or Snotlout would ever enjoy doing things for me while being in the middle of the forest." Hiccup responded.

"Alright, Hiccup, we'd love to see what you've drawn when you get back, but if you ever change your mind, just make sure to find any one of us and let us know." Fishlegs said.

"Don't worry, I'll keep that in mind." Hiccup replied, and just when he was about to turn around and go back in his house, he stopped as a thought quickly came in his head.

"Hold on, Fishlegs, before you go, could you please tell me if you've seen Astrid lately, because I haven't seen her anywhere in the village last time I checked." Hiccup mentioned.

"I think that she's either still training with her axe in the kill ring, or she's probably doing that while being out in the woods, which I believe is actually a much better area. Why, were you planning to look for her?" Fishlegs asked.

"Oh no, I wasn't, and because I know that Astrid hasn't exactly been in a great mood ever since I've begun beating her in dragon training more often, she's become the last person that I want to see from now on." Hiccup explained.

"Honestly, I don't blame you, and even though I can understand Astrid being upset, considering that she used to be at the top of the class before, I just don't get why she can't ever be the slightest bit happy that you're doing better?" Fishlegs said.

"Me neither, and I have to say that I'm not interested with finding out anytime soon, but anyway, it was nice talking to you, Fishlegs. I guess that I'll see you later?" Hiccup replied.

"Yes, so if you're still in the woods when it gets dark, then me and the others will just meet up with you for dinner at the Great Hall, and maybe you could tell us of how you've improved in Dragon Training?" Fishlegs suggested.

"You never know," Hiccup responded. "Maybe I will, maybe I won't, and that's all I'll say for now." He added, while trying the best he could to play coy about the subject.

"Okay then, so it seems like we'll just have to wait until tonight to find out for sure. Anyway, I hope that you have a lot of fun doing art in the woods." Fishlegs said, before leaving.

"Whew, it's a good thing that it wasn't Astrid at the door, or else, I would've been. . .on second thought, it's better to just stop thinking about that." Hiccup thought to himself.

After he closed the front door, Hiccup walked over to the dinner table, picked up his pen and sheets of paper before heading out the back door of his house with both of his things. If Astrid actually was somewhere in the woods training super hard with her axe, then Hiccup would have to be extra careful so that he wouldn't manage to get spotted by her. However, she would've caught sight of the big basket he was carrying earlier, or even heard the laughing he made, so he seemed sure that Astrid was either in the ring or at her house. Since Hiccup didn't believe that there was any reason for him to be worried anymore, he was able to enjoy the walk all the way back to the quiet and peaceful clearing.

When he finally reached the entrance and passed through it, Hiccup could be able to see that Toothless wasn't sprawled out on the grass, as he was now taking a nap. After Hiccup carefully went down the stone ledges, he started thinking for a moment about going over to the dragon and waking him up, but quickly decided that Toothless would need the rest if they were going to do another flight. Hiccup figured that the plan right now would be for him to make the drawing and send it to Rapunzel first, then lay against Toothless and take a nap of his own, so he could pass the time in waiting for Rapunzel to send her painting to him. Now, Hiccup was thinking that in order to include the lake in the drawing, he would either have to stand on a very tall rock or go back out through the entrance and find a spot where he could manage to see the clearing from above.

He decided to choose the latter, even though that meant he had to get back out of the cove, and so while still carrying his things, Hiccup climbed up to the entrance, and after doing that, he went around to look for a good view of the clearing. Luckily for the teenager, it didn't take so long for him to find one, and he immediately went to work on the drawing, taking his time with it, while occasionally looking up at the cove so that he wouldn't mess up on any part of the drawing. Once Hiccup was finally finished, he made his way back down to the grassy floor of the clearing and walked over to the mailbox, but before he put the drawing inside, Hiccup wrote a note for Rapunzel with the other sheet of paper first. Hiccup was positive that Rapunzel would absolutely love his drawing, considering that he spent somewhere between half an hour and an entire hour working on it. After he put the drawing into the mailbox, with also the note being on top of it, Hiccup raised the red flag before he walked over to the spot where Toothless was sleeping, laid down next to the dragon's chest, and closed his eyes, eventually falling asleep.