Song inspiration:

Romantic Flight, John Powell HTTYD soundtrack

Play it while you read :)

(Note at the end.)


"I want to change my vote." Fishleg's stammered on top of his Gronckle dragon, Meatlug.

The whole team was stationed at the top of a mountain cliff that was topped with pillows of white snow. Fortunately, the snowfall had lightened to a sprinkle since they had trekked to the top of the landform with other Berkians. The latter refused to let the heavy snowfall before deter them from having as much fun as possible on Snoggletog morning.

Ruffnut sat idly on Astrid's Deadly Nadder, Stormfly, and prepared for the most insane drop she could picture. The trees in the snow-covered valley at the foot of the mountain's slope looked like black specks on a white, Earth-sized canvas. She didn't care who won, as long as she ended up with at least two broken bones. Stormfly grunted when Ruffnut patted her flank and snickered excitedly. Stormfly's talons dug into the cliff-bed's snow to be ready to launch downward into the snow. Her rival was Toothless, Hiccup's Night Fury, because they had spent the most time together proving who was the strongest dragon out of the two of them. Stormfly bet she would dive gracefully onto her stomach to slide her rider through the snow at the fastest pace, and she could hear Toothless's grumble right then in her imagination at the moment she would fly past him and his master.

Snoutlout gripped the long, slender, and ribbed horns of his Monstrous Nightmare dragon he called Hookfang. Hookfang lit up the snow in front of his talons with a blazing fire-blast laced with flammable gel from his glands. The snow at Hookfang's feet slurried as Hookfang expected, all for his headstart when he would scamper past the cliff to nosedive past Meatlug, Stormfly, Toothless, and of course the Hideous Zippleback with two heads, Barf and Belch. The conjoined dragon brothers were both terrible at anything that involved rational thinking. Hookfang was sure they would be last. Hookfang snorted a hot blast of air at Belch's nose. Belch zapped Hookfang's yellow eyes with a fire spark, and Hookfang flinched, nearly blinded.

"Aye-get your dragon in line before I do it!" Snoutlout warned Tuffnut. "Like Gobber said-no cheating!"

"Cut it out, boy," Tuffnut softly pleaded to Belch. He nudged Belch's snout with the toe of his winter boot. Belch's head finally swerved away from Hookfang and returned to focus on the steep slope below his paws. Tuffnut countered to Snoutlout, "Since when do you listen to the rules?"

"Don't worry about that," Snoutlout said. He cracked his knuckles and proclaimed to Belch, "your tail is mine." Snoutlout called to Toothless, "and so is yours-buhhd!"

"I dunno, Snoutlout; Hookfang isn't exactly what I'd call competition," Hiccup laughed from another position before the slope, still finding Snoutlout's impersonation of himself ridiculous. "The Night Fury is one of the fastest species ever known. Can your dragon break the sound barrier?"

"Shut up and watch!"

"I'll take that as a no," Hiccup chortled to himself. To Toothless's ears, he whispered, "don't hold back." Toothless heard Hiccup's human language speak to him daringly, and he let out a confident screech. Helda saw the spine of Toothless glow neon-blue by her legs, and she instinctively clung to Hiccup's middle.

Fishlegs mentioned, "technically, a Monstrous Nightmare can break the sound barrier in a dive more than three-thousand feet. It's not really possible in lower altitudes."

"Save your nerd rant for the Edge, Fish." Ruffnut complained. "Can I go now?!" She yelled to Gobber.

At any moment, Gobber, who hovered at the side of the cliff on his own stout dragon, would yell "go!". Snoutlout knew Hookfang would race past everyone and even Hiccup and Helda, who balanced on Toothless together.

Belch shuffled eagerly to the edge and itched for Tuffnut's voice to give him a command to fly. Tuffnut felt an impatient tug in his hands from Belch's short, rod-straight horns that pointed in a diagonal from the middle of Belch's crown. He laughed a little in jest that Belch could never wait for too long. He expected Belch to disqualify him from the race anytime soon if Belch decided to leap without hesitation down the slope before any other dragon. Tuffnut saw Astrid struggle to keep Barf still.

"Don't fight 'im, Hoff," Tuffnut advised Astrid humorously. He added, "he'll just make it worse."

Astrid replaced her corrections with non-movement, and Barf's protest of being controlled by other hands than Ruffnut slightly subsided. Astrid straightened her dress lapels that were riding up by the wind gusts. She muttered to Tuffnut, "hey. About earlier..."

"Oh, it's okay." Tuffnut said hurriedly. He wanted to explain that none of them could expect things to run smoothly when they were still getting used to being in a relationship and that it was too early for angst to ruin a good thing. He wished to also say that he was having one of the best Snoggletogs he'd ever had, and it was a nice change to be independent of his sister for the day.

Instead, Tuffnut shrugged to dismiss Astrid's concern because he didn't trust that his words would correctly translate his thoughts like Hiccup could.

Astrid didn't know what to make of his gesture, but it seemed good-willed. She saved her apology for almost destroying their official first date.

Gobber saw the previous group of dragons safely end their sledding, and he judged it was time for Hiccup and the Dragonriders to zip down the slope next. He yelled, "go!"

"Guh-guh-go?" Snoutlout asked, suddenly alone on the cliff's edge. He peeked past Hookfang's paw and felt his gravity sink in his soul. Hookfang teetered.

"Yes, lad, now! You've to be last at this rate!" Gobber said.

"Is it too late to change my mind?" Snoutlout's voice wobbled. Gobber nodded pitifully.

Helda screamed joyously as Toothless jetted through the snow. Toothless beat his wings hard to curtail through a collection of pines and boulders. Hiccup shouted, "bank left!" right before another rockwork zoomed into their vision. Hiccup turned and saw Tuffnut's Hideous Zippleback launch overhead and plop at a distance in front of Toothless, sending a stream of upwelled snow behind its colorful tail.

"Augh!" Hiccup growled and laughed at the same time. Toothless's body bounced once when it skidded from a depression in the snow.

"Are y'going to let 'im past you?!" Helda's voice rang behind Hiccup.

"Not on my watch!"

Toothless skated to a natural ramp of rock and Hiccup and Helda were flown high in the air. Toothless flapped overhead above Barf and Belch, Meatlug, and Stormfly who were all still sliding through the fallen ice on the mountainside. Hiccup saw the finish-line was a mile away where many Berkians and their dragons had gathered after racing.

Meatlug grinned as she appeared above ground, and then she disappeared again, bobbing Fishleg's head through hills of snow. Fishleg started to shout when Meatlug almost missed a tree, but she was smart enough to stay in-air and fly past it.

"Good girl," Fishleg's sighed in relief.

So far, Meatlug's strategy was working. It was more logical to use the ground of the mountain slope as momentum to propel them forward. Like Toothless, using flight would be useless against the speed of the wind in their descent and would ironically slow them down.

Toothless pocketed his wings and skidded before Meatlug's path. Meatlug sneered when her vision became littered with snowflakes.

Fishlegs considered that he could be wrong. Toothless had used his flight to achieve a higher place in the line to the finish. Fishlegs was impressed that Toothless balanced his wings well enough to not be blown backward on the dive from the mountain.

Fishlegs skirted Meatlug to a smoother section of the mountainside. There, he and his dragon's strategy would be sure to sail them past Toothless and Stormfly.

Astrid called to Stormfly who had inched in her fast-moving peripheral vision, "hi, girl! You miss me?!"

Stormfly crowed happily at Astrid.

"See you at the finish line!" Astrid said to Ruffnut.

"Who says I'm going to the finish line?!" Ruffnut called. She slid on her own path down the mountain on her Astrid's Nadder.

"Is someone gonna remind her about the-" Astrid's out-loud thoughts were interrupted by an echo of Ruffnut's voice when she missed a gorge and fell with Stormfly miles down into an unfrozen aquifer.

"It happens to the best of us," Tuffnut said. He knew Ruffnut would figure out how to get out of there eventually.

"Quick-!" Tuffnut yelled. "Turn right!"

"Your right or my right?" Astrid said. She gripped Barf's antlers and prepared to direct him out of the way of a cluster of bare, frosty trees.

"My right!"

Astrid and Tuffnut directed their dragonheads opposite directions, causing the Hideous Zipple back to tangle their two heads. Barf and Belch used their motion to corkscrew ahead past the trees into a high hill of snow. Tuffnut and Astrid's yells were cut off into fallen, feathery ice.

Astrid saw broken rays of yellow sunlight through a heavy screen of crystals over her face for a moment. She heard heavy footsteps run towards her, and then she felt Tuffnut's fingers scrape snow from her face and neck. She saw Tuffnut's face clearly in the baby-blue colored sky. He looked panicked and his blonde dreads laddered own over her eyes.

"You okay?!"

"I'm fine," Astrid giggled. Tuffnut's face brightened. Astrid felt Tuffnut elevate her from the ground in his arms. Barf and Belch wobbled dizzily as they both shuffled from the snow.

Toothless sped past them, and Hiccup and Helda hollered victoriously. Astrid and Tuffnut laughed in defeat.

"I guess we lost," Astrid said.

"Who cares. I had fun," Tuffnut said. He helped shovel snow from Astrid's clothes. Astrid's pretty winter dress was sure to be torn somewhere, but luckily Tuffnut didn't find any shears. Astrid looked satisfied that her outfit was intact, too. Then, Astrid realized Tuffnut was still gripping her middle securely to his bosom.

She didn't mention it, but she noticed that Tuffnut's eyes could shift colors in different lightings. Now, they were an appealing tint of mint-green. She could feel her lips drawing closer to his, and she almost didn't stop them.


At the foot of the mountain, Fishlegs and Meatlug twirled to a stop first. After was Toothless, Hiccup, and Helda; and right beside Toothless' team was Stormfly and Ruffnut, who had miraculously discovered an escape from the mountain-gorge.

Helda laughed when Toothless nuzzled her dress in high spirits, and she petted him welcomingly on his wide, black jaws.

"Good flying, bud." Hiccup congratulated Toothless. Toothless leaped his weight onto Hiccup's knees and Hiccup wheezed roughly from his lungs at his dragons hundred-pound weight that overpowered his mechanical leg. Toothless purred sheepishly but felt better when Hiccup coddled him regardless of his carelessness.

"How's that tail?" Hiccup said. He was dismayed to see he would have to reattach his self-made wing on Toothless' tailfin. He got to work quickly while Ruffnut shared her experience on the cliff with Helda.

Last down the mountain was Snoutlout, who decided to race after all in full knowledge he would miss out on the fun if he didn't.

Fishlegs said, "so, you decided to show up after all."

"Dude, I got here before you did and I didn't even try!" Ruffnut laughed. Stormfly squalled above Ruffnut's head, exhilarated from the ride and proud of her second-place tie with Toothless.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah-save it!" Snoutlout yelled. Hookfang snorted ice-water from his nose. "It's just a race."

"As long as you're in one piece, Snoutlout, we're happy. That's all that matters." Hiccup assured his cousin. Snoutlout's sore-losing spirit lifted.

"Where's Tuffnut and Ashleigh?" Helda asked. Snoutlout, Ruffnut, and Fishlegs shared a surprising moment that they didn't realize they were missing.

"It's Astrid," Hiccup corrected nicely. He scouted the area with his eyes briefly, like Toothless. He saw no sign of the pair, but inwardly he knew they were okay.

"Did he go home?" Helda wondered. She hoped she could say goodbye before the Hooligan's Snoggletog Fest ended.

"Tuffnut wouldn't miss exploding dynamite for anything." Ruffnut pointed out. "He's probably at the dock already with Astrid waiting for us."

"Aww," Helda cooed. The thought was romantic.

Hiccup found it hard to believe he was content with Astrid being alone with Tuffnut. Yet, there was no mistake. It was the way he felt at that moment, and nothing appeared to change about it.

Hiccup took a deep breath of the winter air. Things were changing quickly. In one winter, he had lost Astrid all for his own fault. There was regret that still weighed on his heart about his decision, for he didn't wish Astrid had ever listened to him when he pushed her away because of his own fear of moving forward in his life past the version of himself that he had come to know so well. He couldn't see himself as chief before because recognizing it would mean realizing that his days of demystifying dragons would soon be a relic of the past that would only exist in memories. Now, things were different. The sun was setting, then, and it was almost time for Hiccup to head the closing ceremonies for the first time in place of his father, as Hiccup believed he could do with all of the pride of his being.

There would always be a Hiccup and Astrid. They weren't the perfect, life-long lovers from a legendary fable, like Hiccup now understood. Together, they had learned more about love than anyone else ever could have shown them. Perhaps they had taught themselves enough to be free to love other people as they continued to grow into their adulthood in the tribe. Hiccup felt in his soul that Fate was the real reason for his newfound friendship with Astrid, and he was grateful that it had evolved as it did.

Toothless whined at Hiccup's side, and the dragon's cat-like, green eyes roved over his master's daydreaming form that was bathed in streaks of sunset.

Hiccup noticed that Toothless signaled towards his friends who were waiting for him a length away. Hiccup chuckled in an admission that his thoughts had distracted him again and he petted Toothless between the eyes. He rejoined the Dragonriders as Toothless waddled behind his deep footsteps in the snow.


Farther up the mountain, Tuffnut gently distanced himself from Astrid's approaching lips. He helped Astrid stand and was careful not to prolong their heart-racing moment by letting her hands go once she was safely on her feet. Barf and Belch, as if on cue, scampered closer to their riders. Tuffnut touched Barf's and Belch's head to show his approval of their efforts, and he felt warm tendrils of air from his dragon's nostrils on his palms.

Astrid looked off into the distance and coddled her hair ribbon in place.

"You were going to kiss me again," Tuffnut sang like a riddle from childhood. He grinned to himself.

"And?" She questioned quietly.

Tuffnut answered with a light puff of air and shake of his head. Tuffnut noticed some other stray racers walking in a familiar path, and he suddenly had a new idea that would keep him from admitting his defeat to Helda.

The other Berkians he was watching were headed towards a mountain waterway that would carry them back to the central citadel and village square docks. If he and Astrid followed them, they could access the two-person riverboats that would be provided at the mouth of the river if anyone chose to row to the water ceremony traditionally, without their dragons. "Wanna go to the closing ceremony early?" Tuffnut offered Astrid.

Astrid recoiled from Belch's breath when his head got close to her face. She saw Tuffnut had caught her smiling with him again, and there was something nice about the way Tuffnut looked at her that made Astrid look away, at anything. "Alone?" Astrid inquired.

"Yeah. Why?" Tuffnut spoke in an interested tone. He had a lop-sided smile stuck on his lips. He picked a branch from a tree, and he bent the branch into thirds while he waited for Astrid's turn to try her hand at flirting back.

Astrid's heart began to thud again as she replied, "because." Because, she thought, I thought you would never ask me.

Tuffnut took an unconscious step forward when Astrid came near him. He looked down at her lips, ready to finish what she had never begun, and then he realized Astrid was only wrapping both of their hands together. Tuffnut heard Astrid release a punctuation from her lips that could have been a sound of humor.

"C'mon," she said, gently tugging him after her in the direction of the riverboats.

THE END

Words: 2917


Hi! Thank you for reading. It took about three months to finish this fic, and along the way I have been blessed with many helpful comments and messages. I came into this fandom extremely late, and I honestly feel sad I missed out on having the series as a growing part of my childhood. I can see why the HTTYD series was so loved. The music is uplifting and takes you into a new world, and the characters are just so memorable. I have watched Race to the Edge and I can even say that the characters get even better with time. I will miss the series and the three amazing movies. (My favorite film is the first, and I have to say the best song is "See You Tomorrow" and "Forbidden Friendship" and "This is Berk".) Goodbye, and thank you again for choosing to read this story. :)

-neytirisdad