Already time to post again? I swear this week's flown by...

REVIEWS:

Tim2060: I love the idea of Hiccup using Toothless as a bed. They're too adorable! BTW, did you mean to review twice?

Kat the Neeko: So glad you're this excited about my work. I hope you had time to catch up on your important assignments, because here's another chapter to steal you away from them!

Shaonics6: That's too fast for the trying-to-be-realistic-if-you-ignore-the-giant-fire-breathing-reptiles fanfiction I'm aiming for. Instant best friends only happen in kindergarten.

Guest: I like expanding scenes that don't get much attention. That's one reason why I'm struggling with the sequel; HTTYD 2 has far less time to work with. It's probably only going to be 60k to 70k words at the most.

Was born to be a Titan

I stumbled away from another embarrassing experience with the Nadder, feeling eyes drilling into me. I'd made sure to stay at the very back as long as I could, then when I'd seen a stray blast that didn't look too strong and was close enough, I stumbled right into it—with my shield up, of course. On purpose. Yes, I was rapidly going insane.

"Hiccup, you're out!" Gobber yelled, and I gratefully moved away from the Kill Ring. A scrap of neon yellow caught my attention on the way out, and I stopped to stare at my piece of material that had somehow not been found, only the very tip flapping yellow in the slight breeze. Gobber had said we had a week to compete with each other, although he'd confessed that was because he didn't have many ideas for homework and needed each one to last as long as possible.

Shrugging—someone was sure to find it in the next four and a half days—I turned to go. The crowd who'd gathered to witness another spectacular show grumbled to themselves, and I hunched my shoulders up around my neck as I left, my cheeks burning with shame. It was strange that I wanted to be seen as incompetent after so many years of striving to be the best, but shining meant attention, and that was the absolute last thing I wanted.

Well, at least I'd come up with another idea for the tail fin during the lesson. The way Astrid had used her foot to jerk her axe from the floor into her hand, stamping hard on the blade to get the handle to jump into the air, had made me think. What if I used my foot to control the tail fin? It was that much closer, so it should be easier to do the detailed adjustments. The fluctuations would hopefully lessen if I tightened the rope and made it taut. Before that, there was one improvement I needed to make at the forge first.

Since Gobber was still busy watching Astrid and Snotlout play an unwilling game of keep away with the Nadder over Snotlout's shield, I decided it would be safe to get out the saddle I'd taken home yesterday.

It was right where I'd left it, buried under various strategically placed bits of junk on my desk, and I pulled it out, completely sure someone was looking over my shoulder the whole time. My palms were sweaty, my heart jumping guiltily, and I forced myself to keep breathing evenly.

A simple but hopefully effective hook attached to a thin leather cord would make a passable safety harness, and it was simple enough to make in half an hour. At least I would be less likely to fall off this time. I bent a small random stick of metal into two rings and sewed them onto the front of the saddle, then made sure the hooks slotted onto them easily. Success first time! I couldn't believe it!

Gobber's mismatched footsteps approached the front of the forge, and I grabbed the saddle and ran for it. Running actually helped a little, driving away the jittering nerves that coiled tightly around my spine.

"Hiccup?" I didn't turn back, even when he called my name. There was a dragon who was waiting for me, and I was actually looking forward to seeing him.

Grabbing a basket of fish from the stash behind the Great Hall, I guiltily looked at the storehouse. It wasn't as full as it could be, that was certain. One-ish basket a day was making a heavy dent in our fish supplies, and it strengthened my desire to get Toothless back in the air. Hopefully he could get some food for himself once he was in the air again, and maybe even return a little of what I'd stolen for him.

The walks through the woods were getting quicker and quicker, and it only took me about fifteen minutes to get to the cove that day. Toothless leapt on me from above, missing by a couple of feet on purpose.

"Yeah, I'm glad to see you too, bud," I said, smiling when he butted my chest with his head. "Eat up, then we'll try something different today."

The basket of fish tipped over the floor, and I wrinkled my nose at the fishy smell. It wasn't disgusting like the first time as I was slowly getting used to it, but I still didn't find the sight or smell appealing. Toothless shared precisely none of my reservations, and happily jumped on the food with a small purr.

I walked over to the small cave we'd found yesterday and pulled out the tail fin. It didn't need any modifications, I just had to strap it to him and attach the line to my ankle instead of my wrist.

"Can I put the saddle on you?" I asked, hoping to avoid a chase like last time. He rolled his shoulders in a noncommittal shrug, which I took as permission.

When the saddle and tail fin were on him and he'd finished eating, he crouched for me to get on.

"Thanks." I patted his side a little hesitantly. In so many ways he looked and sounded like an animal, but he was intelligent and compassionate like a human, and I didn't quite know how to treat him.

The line attached to the saddle slipped through my belt easily enough, and I secured it with a quick knot. Looping a slip-knot, an ingenious knot that got tighter the more it was pulled on, around my ankle, I decided I was as ready to go as I would ever be.

"Ready to go?"

He warbled happily and crouched. I tightened my grip around the saddle and braced myself for the inevitable jerk. Suddenly we were off, one massive jump followed by smoother wingbeats. It became far easier to balance once I realised the rhythm he was following and could start to anticipate what was going to happen next.

He growled at me, and I hurriedly glanced over my shoulder to see the tail fin half closed compared to his fully opened one. I stuck my leg out to one side, and almost slid off his back, yelping. My legs were very important to my centre of gravity, it seemed, and the foot-to-tail setup was already riddled with problems. Still, he rolled to one side slightly, and I managed to regain my balance.

"Thanks, bud. I promise we'll get there, but I don't think this is the right way. The control is still too hit-and-miss, and the balance thing could be a problem."

He pumped his wings harder and the slight change in rhythm caught me off guard. It took a moment of intense concentration to regain my balance without tipping us over, and when I looked up, we were clearing the lip of the cove. He roared happily, and I caught a snatch of intense freedom and release from him—at least, I think it was his emotion, not mine. Sometimes it was hard to tell.

Distracted by the scenery, the tail fin flickered closed behind me. I shrieked, choking it off, and clung to the safety lines so hard it left imprints on my palms. We went down in a mixture of frustrated roars and flailing wings, my stomach lagging a little behind the rest of me, making me queasy. The ground came nearer and nearer, thankfully covered in soft tall thick green grass, and we hit the earth with a painful jolt. I went flying over Toothless' head and landed a few metres away in grass that was almost as tall as me, skidding to a stop. At least my clothes were already green so grass stains weren't too much of a problem. I breathed a silent prayer of relief that I'd finally stopped bringing my fur vest to my meetings with Toothless. It always ended up soaked or dirtied somehow.

I stood up, sporting a few new places that would bruise tomorrow, and looked down. Skitr! My knot had undone, which was why the safety line had acted like simple decoration instead of keeping me safe. I'd need something more secure to attach myself to him next time.

Toothless!

Though I knew he would probably be alright, I couldn't help but worry. I pushed myself toward the direction I thought I'd flown from, stumbling to a stop as I emerged into a small clearing.

A twenty five-ish foot long dragon with a fifty-ish foot wingspan, the Night Fury was normally imbued with a natural sense of dignity and regality unparalleled by anyone—even my dad. Now, he was rolling in the grass, wings spread out haphazardly, tail twisting in every direction, purring and trying to get as much grass across his nose as possible, like a cat faced with catnip for the first time.

"Umm..." I stood there, unsure. Maybe this was a strange dragon ritual or maybe he'd hit his head when he landed. Maybe there was something about the grass that made dragons lose control—like mead. "Hey, Toothless?"

He completely ignored me, still sweeping his face across the grass. Note to self: don't come up here too often. "We should probably head back."

It was like he hadn't even heard me. I hesitated a second, then made my way through the tall grass to where his head was. His eyes were closed in what looked like bliss, nostrils flared and hungrily drinking in the air. The grass probably had a nice smell or something.

I reached out and managed to brush his ear with my hand. He jumped, startled, but his eyes stayed closed. "Come on, buddy, it'll get dark soon."

That might have been a slight exaggeration, there were still plenty of hours of sunlight left, but he was freaking me out. I wanted to get back to the cove. It was far more likely that someone would come across us in this field of grass than down in the hidden bowl of calm.

I absently twisted a strand of grass around my hand, thinking. How on Midgard could I get a one ton lizard away from somewhere he was obviously enjoying?

Snick! I looked down at my hand, to see the grass had snapped away from the stem and was wrapped around my fingers. I looked at Toothless, then back at the grass. That could work…

"Toothless, do you want some more grass?" His head snapped up and his eyes finally opened. I almost stepped away in shock, believing his entire eye had gone black for a moment. He blinked, frowning and squinting, and I winced as he tried to shrink his pupils for a moment. They flickered uncertainly before expanding to cover his whole iriss again. It looked painful. He raised a wing over his head to block out the sunlight, barely able to keep his eyes open for more than half a second at a time.

"Come on, we'll go back to the cove. It's a lot darker down there." I waved my handful of grass—I really needed a name for that—and his attention fixated on me. It seemed like all the grass he could have paled in comparison to the grass I was holding just out of reach. He slowly crept towards me, still blinking and squinting hard.

"That's it, come on," I coaxed, and slowly started moving backwards. He followed me, eyes nailed to the plant in my hand, and we emerged from the field step by step. He blinked again, shaking his head, then his pupils finally narrowed into almost slits.

"Better?"

He shook his head, stumbling sideways with a bark of surprise.

"Whoa, bud! Easy." I pushed the grass into my belt and moved around to his side, gently resting my hands on his head. "Follow me."

I looked into the deep woods and mentally accessed my map. We were… northish of the cove and westish of the village, I thought.

"The cove should be this way," I said encouragingly, slowly stepping forwards. My head suddenly plunged into my boots and I groaned, dizzy and disoriented. "Thor, it's like you had too much mead or something."

He groaned somethin, and snorted over his shoulder. The moment I broke contact, the stomach churning sensations vanished and the world was the right way up. "So what can you tell me about that grass?"

He rolled his eyes at me, pupils still thinner than was natural for the amount of light there was under the cool leafy trees. "Yeah, yeah, you can't talk. Let's see…" I needed yes or no questions.

"Does it do that to all dragons?" He stared at me blankly. "Does it make them all… relaxed and oblivious?"

He nodded.

"How about the after-effects?"

A quizzical warble.

"The stumbling and the weird pupil thing."

A shake.

"That's just you?"

A nod, then he stumbled again, grunting in surprise. I hurriedly returned my hands to their place on his head. "Easy, bud. I've got you."

He grumbled something like you'd better. I ignored it and concentrated on walking backwards without tripping over a stray twig or tree root.

It took a good half hour to get back to the cove, but his balance improved as we went and by the end he was able to walk relatively normally.

"Here we are."

I stepped forward, eyes flicking into the depths of the cove. The entrance was nearby, maybe twenty feet to my left, down a steep cliff dotted with small bushes and stubbornly clinging trees. Toothless stepped forward, plunging down, and a cry of fright died on my lips. He had wings, for Thor's sake!

The spray reached halfway up the cove walls as he dove straight into the lake. I turned and picked my way down to the entrance at ground level, almost-but-not-quite slipping and killing myself on the way down. My heart still pounding from the near miss, I stepped into the quiet cove.

He came to meet me, shaking himself dry as he went. I got spattered with water and glared at him. He chuffed in a satisfied way, then sat down next to me.

"Are you still mad at me for crashing us?" I asked carefully.

He hesitated, then shook his head. His shoulders drooped, and he rested his head on his paws dejectedly. Dense weight sank to the bottom of my lungs. If I hadn't shot him down, he'd still be free to go where he liked and roam with the wind. Instead, he was stuck on the ground, pining for the air, and I could only let him fly slowly and carefully for a few moments at a time—a far cry from what he'd done almost every week before.

"It's not fair, is it?" I said slowly, sitting down on the ground. He moaned sorrowfully, staring out across the pond. I hesitantly dropped my arm across his neck, and he took it as permission to rest his head on my lap. I let my fingers trace the scales on his head while he purred, if a little sadly.

"I promise, I will help you to fly again. Just give me more time."

oOoOo

I managed to avoid any more attention—positive attention, anyway—in Dragon Training for a miraculous period of three days. Snotlout and the twins were still on the lookout to catch me, especially since Snotlout wanted payback for the fish incident, but I'd managed to avoid them for now. Mostly, that meant spending hours and hours with Toothless, something I didn't mind at all. He was a wonderful companion even though we hadn't gone on any more flights, something he grumbled about a lot.

The tail fin and saddle were sitting in my room at the back of the forge, the next stage almost completed. I'd completely scrapped the idea of simply tugging on a rope, and was in the process of making a way to directly influence the tail fin with my foot, through the stirrup. It was the biggest and most intricate project I'd ever attempted, and looking at the whole thing made my head swim, even with the plans I'd drawn up. I mostly focused on the part I was building and ignored the rest. I could cope better like that. However, the late nights were taking their toll, and my head felt heavy and my legs were sluggish. I was ready to fall asleep the moment I hit my bed. The mace dragged painfully on my arms, and I let it thump against the floor, ducking to hide behind a waist height wooden barrier.

Tuffnut met the Gronckle in a collision that sent him tumbling straight into Ruffnut, and they disappeared in a mixture of blows and curses. That left me alone against the Gronckle, and I held the grass—I'd hesitantly dubbed it 'dragon nip' for now—to my nose and tried to detect what it was that calmed dragons. Still nothing.

I cursed my luck as the Gronckle spotted me, the only remaining human in the ring. Snotlout had almost got Astrid killed with his ego, and both Gobber and Astrid had almost killed him. I could see him out of the corner of my eye, sulking on the top of the ring. Astrid sat on the opposite side of the net, switching between glaring at him and studying me.

Buzzing wingbeats came closer and closer. I turned my face away and held up the handful of grass, praying the Gronckle would respond. If it didn't, I wasn't in any shape to escape it.

Thor, did it ever!

Flopping to the ground in front of me, it stared at the grass in disbelief for a few seconds then sniffed, long and hard. Its pupils widened, not as wide as Toothless', but probably as wide as a diurnal dragon's could. I rubbed the dragon nip between its nostrils, and it slumped in bliss. In that moment, I could have probably made it do anything I wanted it to. The amount of power I held frightened me, and I quickly moved my hand to one side in a wide loop.

The Gronckle followed the grass as I dropped it on the floor in front of it, then lay there, quite content, upside down on the ground.

A burst of cheers almost deafened me and I slapped my hands over my ears.

"Did you see that?!" Gobber yelled excitedly. "That's what Stoick's boy can do!"

I blushed to the roots of my hair and ducked behind the handy wooden barrier. Gobber yanked me out by the back of my collar.

"Gobber, please—" I choked, my vest cutting into my throat. "Can't breathe—"

He dropped me, and I crumpled to a heap on the floor, rubbing my neck. A hand appeared in front of my face, and I grasped it instinctively.

Fishlegs pulled me to my feet and I smiled politely at him. "Thanks."

I turned to go, but gulped when I saw the crowd of Vikings hovering by the entrance of the ring. It was only Gobber's strict rules that kept them from rushing in and crushing into me. I shivered. Dragons, I could handle. Adrenaline pumped Vikings? Not so much.

"Help…" I whispered quietly, and Fishlegs frowned.

"What?"

Rararararaaaagh!

The Gronckle suddenly rolled over and rose into the air again, the short stems of grass safely tucked inside its mouth. Gobber and everybody turned to stare at it, and I slipped out the gate while no one was looking.

I dashed through the crowd, taking advantage of my dwindling invisibility. People ignored me so often that a few successes in the Ring hopefully wouldn't affect my reputation as a reckless failure too much. Sprinting full speed into the forest, I disappeared at least half a kilometre into the trees before finally slowing down, my throat dry and painful, my lungs clutching desperately at the air and my legs like limp sheep wool. From there, it was a short stroll to the cove, where Toothless was waiting patiently for me, like always.

He crouched in front of me, ready to pounce and I laughed. I never felt threatened by him like the Vikings. He knew how strong he was and was always gentle with me. Sure enough, when he leapt into the air and crashed into me, I ended up on the ground but cushioned by a flexible tail. He drew himself up tall and stared down at me snootily.

I rolled my eyes at him. "Knocking over the village fishbone, who happens to be twenty times lighter than you, isn't a great accomplishment."

He snorted in comically exaggerated surprise and shock, then bent down and rested his head next to me on his tail, astonishing me with his flexibility. A small purr flickered into my ear, and I smiled. "At least I make someone happy."

A massive yawn suddenly forced itself out of me, and he drew back and tilted his head to the side questioningly. I recognised his 'tell me about the weird human stuff' look, and yawned again. "It's a yawn. People do it when they're tired..." I trailed off, rubbing my tired eyes. "Too many yawns—" My mouth didn't want to cooperate with my brain. I tried again. "I mean late nights…"

Rumbling disapprovingly, he twisted to the side and lifted me into the air with his strong tail. I could have tried to stand up on my own, but honestly, I was too tired to bother. He warbled worriedly, and I tried for a smile. "I only missed a few nights of sleep, bud. It's the only time Gobber won't see me making your tail fin, so I don't have much choice. I'll catch up when you're in the air again."

He shook his head and lay down on the ground, twisted onto one side. The supporting tail vanished from my back and I stumbled for a moment before regaining my balance, swallowing the yawn that threatened to burst my mouth. Something swept across the ground, knocking my feet from under me, and I fell on top of something velvety soft and warm. I summoned the energy to sit up to see what I was lying on. Toothless looked back at me, his wing stretched out under me, carefully cupping my weary body. I would have been surprised if sleepiness wasn't dulling my thoughts.

"Are you comfortable?" I asked groggily. This was really nice, but if it was a strain for him, I'd get up and sleep on the ground or something. He nodded, purring and warbling something I couldn't understand, and brought his single tail fin up to cover me.

"Well, if you're sure…"

He was very sure, gently pressing me down with one of his paws until I fell asleep.

oOoOo

It was getting dark when I woke up, the sky painted with magnificent purple cloud towers on a background of deep blue. The moon floated in its own milky light and stars looked enviously at its brilliance. My breath vanished at the sight.

"Wow…"

Toothless looked at me, his onyx scales matching the scenery perfectly. He looked at the sky with me, crooning something. He didn't notice, but his wings started to rise, as though he was ready to take off. I slid off his wing and sat next to him.

"I bet it's even better from the sky…"

He jolted as though I'd startled him, then nodded in agreement. My head felt clearer, the fuzz of tiredness gone, and I stood up, stretching. "I can probably finish the saddle and tail fin tonight, and I'll bring them tomorrow, okay?"

He grumbled a little.

"Come on, I got plenty of sleep just now! Besides, there hasn't been a dragon raid in ages, so everyone's getting more sleep."

Gobber had wondered why the dragons weren't raiding anymore—in fact, they hadn't raided since I shot Toothless down. "Do you know why the dragons aren't raiding us?"

He looked away, almost guiltily, and pointed a claw at himself. "Something to do with you." He clumsily mimed swinging a weapon. "The Vikings? Dangerous? Vikings are dangerous?" He nodded enthusiastically at the last one and motioned for me to go on. "Without you helping, the Vikings are too dangerous?" He nodded with finality.

"You're the special one," I laughed, and leant back against his side. He warbled tenderly and draped a wing over my shoulders. I hadn't even noticed the cold until then.

"I should probably go," I murmured eventually. "It's getting kinda late."

I stopped to wave at him from the entrance, and he crooned at me.

"I'll see you tomorrow."

oOoOo

The leather blurred in front of my eyes, and I rubbed them wearily. It had taken almost half the night to finish the saddle's complex gear system, but I ended up with three definite positions—open, closed, and neutral. The open position let the tail fin open almost fully, but it tilted up a little. Neutral was perfectly flat, and closed was steeply tilted so that from above it looked like the tail fin was closed. I hoped those three would be enough, but just in case, I'd used a free-moving gear for the tail fin and stirrup so I could do anything in between the fixed positions if I needed to.

The safety line was hanging loose and I moved to put it away. Oh, right—I needed to do something about that. Sighing, I pulled out the rapidly decreasing sheet of leather. Fifteen minutes to draw up a plan, half an hour to measure and cut out the pieces, almost two hours to sew it up, and I held up my safety harness, a bit like a back to front vest. There were two thicker straps down the back, laced together with thin cord, then they continued over my shoulders and crossed in an X-shape across my chest. The thick straps were sewn onto another strap that wrapped around my waist. It should do. I made a half-hearted attempt to hide it, then stumbled home, already half asleep.

oOoOo

In the Ring, the Zippleback hesitantly backed away from me and looked around for another target. There wasn't one. The twins rolled around, kicking and biting, on the floor outside the ring. Fishlegs had fallen prey to the Zippleback's whipping tail and lay unconscious on the floor. Astrid was still flying through the air from the dragon's last attack, and Snotlout sported a black eye—from Astrid's fist.

Lowering its head slowly, the Zippleback peacefully backed away into its cage instead of engaging me. Just before Gobber closed the door, it lowered its head in a bow. I stared at it in horror. I wasn't supposed to draw more attention to myself! That was not helpful!

I turned around, only to be surrounded by chattering teens. I gazed at Gobber pleadingly for help, but he simply crossed his arms and made an encouraging face. Swept along in a bodyguard of Snotlout, the twins, and Fishlegs, I was carried along—right through the crowd and onto the thin wooden platform they used to get back to the village.

"What was that? Some kind of trick? What did you do?" Fishlegs even had his notebook and a charcoal pencil out, ready to take notes.

Tuffnut shoved himself into my face. "How'd you do that?"

"It was really cool," Ruffnut added, and I tried to back away from their matching creepy grins.

"Hey, Hiccup, I've never seen a dragon do that before!" Snotlout said, hinting rather obviously that he wanted to know what I'd done. There were too many people, too many voices—inspiration struck!

"Oh, I—I left my axe back in the ring. You guys go on ahead, and I'll, ah, I'll catch up with you."

Running straight at Astrid, I twisted out of the way at the last minute. She was the only one who hadn't said anything to me, and she didn't look pleased at all. Having Astrid mad at me was the worst thing possible—if she was set on fire, she'd pass for a decent Monstrous Nightmare—and I winced, but kept running.

Of course, my axe had been melted on day two, but they'd all forgotten that. I twisted around at the Ring and headed into the woods, cutting through them to emerge by the forge. I took the usual detour to the storehouse and emerged with a basket of fish, then returned to the forge before Gobber returned from cleaning up the ring.

I couldn't carry the saddle, the tail fin, the connecting gear, the fish, and the safety harness, so I slipped off my fur vest and replaced it with the leather harness. It sat fairly well, and I took a few experimental stretches. Good enough.

Hoisting the basket of fish onto my back and the saddle and tail fin under one arm each, I dash-stumbled into the woods, where I hid the saddle and tail fin inside a hollow log. I'd have to make two trips, but that was better than staggering through the forest with something way too heavy for me.

The air was colder, letting my breath show in puffy clouds while I tramped quickly through the woods.

A small grumbling croon drifted through the air from my right as I squeezed the big basket of fish through the small opening into the cove. I leaned against the rock, catching my breath. Surely the fish hadn't been that heavy when I'd started!

Heavy impacts thudded through the ground to my feet and I snapped my head up, panicking momentarily. Toothless was rolling around on the ground like he was having a fit! I took five hasty steps forwards before I realised he was simply trying to scratch an itch.

I dumped the fish on the ground and stepped forwards. "I bet fingers are better than dirt."

He stood up for me, and I reached for the part he'd been scratching at, just behind his ear flaps. The scales were smaller there, about the size of my smallest fingernail, and I started scratching at random. He wriggled a little, uncomfortable. An itch started to develop on my back, annoying and only made worse by a small fly or something that was walking over it—I recognised the foreign feelings, dug my fingers in harder and sighed in satisfaction as the itch started to go away.

Down his left shoulder, a little closer to his head, under the chin—something sparked in my—his?—brain, and oh, that felt soooooooo good! Our contact broke as he slumped to the ground in bliss, a throaty growl of satisfaction thrumming through the air. I was left there, staring at my hands in astonishment.

It would be a good moment to go and get the saddle and tail fin, I realised.

AN: For anyone who's interested in stats:

GF is 2nd in length, chapters, reviews and views, but is 1st in likes and follows. 9 more reviews plus 918 more views and it will pass ICBFR (which is written terribly, don't go and look at it now if you haven't seen it yet) in both categories. It's scheduled to pass ICBFR in words, but will fall 1 chapter short (26 vs 27). I don't know if anyone finds this interesting, but I did.

~JustAnotherRandomPoster