Well, here's the next one! I'm a bit behind. I'm still working on chapter 15 so it might be Monday before I update unless my pounding headache subsides. I've been dealing with it since Sunday morning. I'm so glad to have gotten so many reviews! When I get a new one I practically fangirl squeal! Anyway, if I get 6 reviews FROM DIFFERENT PEOPLE on this chapter, I'll post a new chapter that day. I'm testing you! Do it or I stop! Enjoy this chapter! You'll love me for it!

Something soft smacked you in the face, "Wake up! No sleeping in!"

You sat up and threw your pillow at your sister, "I guess I deserved that, but that still wasn't nice!"

"Neither was you smacking me with a pillow last night, and yes, you did deserve that." She tossed you a small leather-bound journal. "Take notes. It makes Hiccup feel important. Plus, you'll need them later."

You stared at the small book confused, "What are you talking ab-" It quickly donned on you. "Oh no! You're not seriously telling me to let him teach me are you?!"

Astrid nodded as she put on her boots, "Of course! He's giving you the chance to do something he's never let anyone else do except for his dad! Even when his dad did it, he wasn't happy about it! Now, he's practically begging you! Do it! It'll be good for you, good for him, and most importantly good for Toothless!"

"I don't want to!" you whined. She gave you a look. You growled in frustration as you fell back on the bed. Another pillow whacked you in the face. Immediately, you sprung up, "I'm up! I'm up! Sheesh!"

Astrid was poised with another pillow in hand, "Don't make me do it again."

You held up your hands in surrender, "Okay! Okay! I'll do it! No more pillows! A pillow fight is one thing, but fighting with pillows is a completely different story!" You stood up and put your boots on as well as you got ready. "Don't expect me to be the perfect student. I was never very good at anything that didn't involve healing or crafting."

She rolled her eyes, "Neither was Hiccup. He couldn't fight a dragon to save his life, but he's the one that taught all of us to ride one."

You shook your head, "I can't believe I'm going to do this."

"We better get going before Hiccup tries to find his own way down the stairs, because he'll find a way down one way or another." Your sister threw you a satchel.

You opened it to find four slices of bread, some berries, some greens, and some pieces of meat. "What's this for?"

The two of you made your way down the stairs and out into the village. "Well, if I know Hiccup, you two will be working all day. I figured you might get hungry or at least need an excuse to stop for a while," she said with a laugh.

You laughed with her, "Well, I appreciate it. Thank you."

"You can thank me when you ride that dragon for me."

"Deal," you chuckled.

You and Astrid knocked on the door to the Haddock home. Stoick opened it only a moment later, "Good to see you girls. He's awake and ready."

You both smiled at him as you spoke, "Thank you Stoick. We'll make sure he's back here before sunset."

Stoick laughed, "I don't doubt it. He'll have you training 'til . It's all he could talk about after he woke up."

You grimaced, "Looks like I'm in for a long day."

Astrid and Stoick laughed. "Anyway, thank you Stoick. We'll go get him."

"Good luck (Name). You'll be needing it." He gave you both a small smile before he left to take care of his duties for the day.

You both could hear Hiccup's voice from upstairs, "You two are tormenting me on purpose!"

You and Astrid looked at each other for a second before laughing. "If you want us to torment you, then we'll just stay down here for a while. Toothless! Where are you Buddy?" you called up. The Black dragon came bounding down the stairs and tackled you. You noticed he was already saddled. You laughed as you got up and scratched his neck, "Atta boy."

"Hey," Hiccup called, "that's my best friend! You can't just steal him like that!"

"I think I just did!" you yelled back. "I think we'll just be leaving you!"

"You wouldn't do that!" he called back.

"Oh yeah?" You looked at Astrid and winked. "Fine! See you later Hiccup!" You opened the door and Toothless and Astrid walked out. She was laughing and faking a conversation between the two of you as you closed the door.

"That's not fair! (Name), Astrid, don't leave me here!"

You could hear Astrid laughing outside as you bust out yourself, "You are so gullible!"

Hearing a loud thud and grunt, you bolted up the stairs. You stopped at the top to see a smirking Hiccup sitting on the edge of his bed. Looking at the floor you saw a large book a couple feet in front of him, "Looks like you aren't the only one who can pull a prank."

You gave him a murderous look, "That wasn't funny. I thought you had really fallen. If you'd messed up your arm or leg any worse, you'd probably end up needing a new prosthetic."

"Well, if you'd really been allergic to those berries the other day, you might not have made back," he said solemnly.

You smirked, "Alright, you got me there." You put your hands up in surrender before offering your right hand to him, "No more pranks until your healed, from either of us. Deal?"

He reached out his good arm with a halfhearted smile, "Deal."

"Would you two just come down already? I've got chores to do and you two have training," Astrid said walking up the stairs.

You and Hiccup smiled at each other. Carefully he pushed himself off his bed still holding your hand. He was determined to do most of the work himself and wouldn't even let his father bring him down the stairs. He put his arm around your shoulders and you wrapped yours around his waist to keep him steady. He hopped fairly well to the top of the stairs and paused. Astrid stayed only a couple steps down just in case, but he could manage it. You were impressed. He had good balance for the most part as he hopped down the steps only needing you for your shoulder, but he would have done just as well with the wall. When the three of you had reached the bottom of the stairs, Hiccup leaned against the wall breathing heavily. "Thank you, Astrid, (Name). If I had tripped I would have had to lay there 'til my dad got home without you two." He smiled at both of you, but his eyes landed on you for a long moment.

You both smiled at him. Astrid walked toward the front door, "I'm going to go get a few things and meet you three at the academy." She turned and disappeared without another word.

Hiccup leaned against the wall, "The gear is on my bed."

You nodded and ran up the stairs returning shortly with the gear slung over your shoulder, "Ready to go?"

He smiled at you, "Thank you for everything. You don't know how much this means to me."

You shrugged, "Don't worry about it. You're the one stuck with the horrible student." You chuckled and shifted the gear on your shoulder.

He shook his head, "No, that you came to help. I know I pushed you too far last night. I know I made you uncomfortable. Thank you for giving me another chance."

You gave him a soft but warm smile, "Like you said, you're my friend. If you can get over that leg, that arm, my pranks, and my insults, then I can open up to people and give them a chance."

"One step at a time. That's how you overcome any situation," he said with a smirk.

You decided it was time to really open up, do something you didn't normally do. You stepped forward and wrapped your arms around Hiccup. He froze for a moment and then relaxed wrapping his useful arm around you too. "Thank you Hiccup. Thank you for understanding."

He smiled as you stepped back. "Anytime (Name). Step by step, I think you can let people in." He smiled widely as he shifted his weight back onto his leg, "Speaking of steps, or in my case hops, we better get to the academy before Astrid does." He chuckled and held out his arm.

You quickly stepped under it and put yours around his waist again, "You know, I'm putting you on Toothless while we walk back. If I don't, we're going to be walking for hours."

Hiccup feigned hurt, "I take great offense to that. You don't-"

"Think you can handle it and blah, blah, blah, blah. I do, but you are too slow. That, you can proudly take offense to." You pulled the door open and held him up as you closed it behind you.

"If you think you can go faster, why don't we have a hopping race?" Hiccup gave you a mischievous smile.

"Oh, no. You aren't getting hurt again, not on my watch." You called for Toothless who came bounding over. Carefully, you helped Hiccup get situated in the saddle. "We can race, after you're healed. Until then, you're stuck with me walking you everywhere." You started to lead Toothless toward the academy.

Hiccup smirked. "Sounds perfect to me," he mumbled to himself.

You stopped in your tracks for a second before continuing. You glanced over your shoulder catching a glimpse of a red-faced Hiccup. You floundered for a new topic to ease the now awkward tension between the two of you. "So, how long did it take for you to learn how to fly Toothless?"

Hiccup chuckled nervously from behind you, "Well, I had to learn on my own so it took a few weeks. Since I know what I'm doing already, it will probably only take you a week, maybe less if you're pretty good at it."

"Well, I think I can handle it." You walked backwards as you placed your hand on Toothless for guiding directions, "After all, I do have the 'best dragon trainer on Berk' as my teacher."

He stuttered slightly, "As of right now, I think I'm probably in worse position than the twins."

You laughed, "Well, maybe if you had thought through moving that boulder alone we wouldn't be in this mess."

"Hey!"

"It's true! It took both of us to move those boulders before. What made you think you could do it by yourself?" You continued to stare him down.

"Well, um...I...uh...I didn't want to wake you," he said as he looked off to the side avoiding eye contact.

"And why not, huh? You could have saved both of us a lot of trouble." You tried to look him in the eye, but he refused to look at you. You could see his face getting red again. "Well?"

His face was bright red and seemed to be getting worse still, "I thought...well...I thought..."

"Oh, just spit it out already," you said starting to get irritated.

He looked you in the eye for a short moment with a small smile on his red face, "I didn't want to wake you because you looked cute when you were sleeping."

Your eyes widened and your jaw dropped as your heel found a large rock. You fell flat on your back floundering for a response. He did not just say what you thought he said. You had heard him wrong. Your mind was playing tricks on you. He didn't like you. He liked Astrid. Sure, they were going through one of those on-again-off-again things, but that didn't mean it wouldn't work out for them.

"(Name), are you okay?" Hiccup asked awkwardly looking for a way to get down from Toothless's back.

You realized how long you had been sitting there, "Oh! Yeah! I'm fine. Sorry, about that." You jumped up quickly and dusted off before you continued walking. Desperately, you hoped he'd drop your previous topic and start a new one. If the day continued to go just as awkwardly, you might either die of embarrassment or end up trying to learn how to fly Toothless by yourself.

Well, shout-out time again!

TheTripleThreat: I have to confess, I stole that line from a Disney show called Liv and Maddie. I loved the quote and thought it fit them perfectly.

happymiki: Don't worry! I'm writing! Did you say your brother's a big fan? If so, say thanks for me!

Adsdragonlover: Glad you liked the stone story. It'll come back later. It's kind of a key piece in part of my plans. Thanks for the complement. Much appreciated.

Light to Shadow: As always, your reviews make me smile. I will definitely keep writing. This story won't end for a long time. I promise. I've got too much planned, and more if you all decide you want it. ;)

Anyway, I'll keep working on the next chapter when my head starts to calm down, but I couldn't disappoint you guys by not putting one up. I'll have another chapter up as soon as I can.