Author's Note: From this point on, Living Vicariously has been beta read by the extremely helpful FizzlemcSchizzle. Any increase in writing quality is probably a result of that.

To the guest who wrote: "Can't wait for more! I wish you wrote Httyd 3 instead of Dean!" If HTTYD3 ends on a note I don't consider worthy of the series, I was already planning on writing my own version. So, in a way, I will be. Hopefully, I won't have to.

Hiccup was neither surprised nor enthused when Toothless insisted he at least jog back to the village. With a saddle and a large basket. After having recently run to the point of exhaustion. Toothless said that it would be good practice for the next morning when he would have to do it with a full basket. Hiccup tucked his arm through the shoulder strap and slung the basket against his back.

Toothless looked him up and down, sizing him up. 'Ready?'

Hiccup breathed. In and out. "Yup."

He started jogging. Being in in the middle of the forest, he quickly reached a point where usually he would have stopped to find a way through.

'Jump the log and move to the left as you go.'

He followed Toothless's instructions and, to his mild surprise, barely cleared the log, managing to not stumble horribly. However, he forgot the second part and clipped the tree with his shoulder, dropping like a pile of rocks. He was so embarrassed that he got up and kept running with no prompting from Toothless. Messing up because of a lack of coordination or bad judgment was one thing. That was what he was trying to improve, it was going to happen. He didn't want to mess up because he forgot to pay attention.

'Good. You kept going.' Toothless was happy to see Hiccup wasn't discouraged by his early mistake, and he wanted to be sure Hiccup knew that. His voice had a strong overtone of approval to it.

Hiccup didn't spare the breath he would need to respond. Maybe he should try to figure out if he could talk to Toothless by thinking like the dragon did with him. It would certainly come in handy if he could. He made it about halfway back to the village before Toothless told him to slow to a walk. He had avoided countless obstacles, and only messed up when he didn't put enough force into a jump or leap. Toothless was sticking to simple commands for now, but he promised to move to more interesting maneuvers once Hiccup was coordinated enough. With the saddle growing constantly heavier in his hands, Hiccup had no objections to the idea of walking the rest of the way back. For a creature many times larger and with many more limbs, Toothless actually made a good trainer. It seemed he really did know just when to stop him. Hiccup felt almost back to normal by the time he got close enough to the village to have to sneak the rest of the way to the forge.

After hiding the saddle once more, along with the basket for good measure, Hiccup ventured into the main area of the forge. There were two bent swords to be straightened and sharpened, though how they got so mangled without any dragons to fight was beyond Hiccup's desire to speculate. He figured he could probably attribute it to some result of Viking stupidity. He absent-mindedly began heating the forge, having decided to mend the swords while he worked on the adjustments to the saddle. The adjustments were simple, just a tether attached to the saddle itself, with the other end connecting to Hiccup's belt. It only took a few hours to make the adjustments and fix the swords, but with his late return from the cove, it was getting dark as he finished.

He went to the Great Hall and sat alone, as usual, to eat. He did his best to ignore the dead glare coming from Astrid, who was sitting at a table not too far away. Apparently, she was going to keep holding onto that grudge. Great. Yup, definitely Viking material.

'Why do you like her?'

"Wait, what? How did you know that?" Hiccup really didn't want to have this conversation, and not just because he would look strange mumbling to himself in the middle of the Great Hall, with nobody in earshot.

'It isn't difficult to tell, your eyes wander towards her whenever she's around. You do realize she hates you now, right?'

Hiccup was sure she didn't hate him, she was just a bit upset right now. "She doesn't hate me..."

'If you say so. I know what I can smell, and that is most definitely hate.'

Hiccup was surprised, to say the least. "You can smell emotions?"

'Not directly, but the scent of most living things changes as their emotions do. It's more like you put out a smell based on what you are feeling. That, along with body language was mostly how I understood you as well as I did the first day in the cove. Together, they say quite a lot.'

Hiccup tried his best to absorb this information. "So what exactly is Astrid feeling?"

'Ever since that Zippleback, frustration and a lot of hate.'

Hiccup believed Toothless, but hate seemed a little strong for one incident in the arena. He said as much, still muttering under his breath to avoid looking even weirder that he already did.

'It does seem to be a bit much. Maybe she's got something else going on?'

Hiccup would ponder this when he had a chance, but not when his legs quivered and his belly sagged with food. He yawned and made to leave the Great Hall.

He had just made it to the steps leading down to the rest of the village when Toothless spoke up. 'You're being followed.'

Hiccup kept walking, not very worried. His house, by virtue of being the chief's, was on the slope of the hill leading up to the Great Hall and was the closest house to the Great Hall. He could get there in no time. Still…

"Who is it?" he furtively whispered.

'I can't tell from sound alone. They're trying to be sneaky. It isn't anyone with a peg leg, that's about as far as I can guess.'

Well, Hiccup guessed that ruled out Gobber, at least. He made it to his house, put his hand on the door, and turned to look around. Not a single person in sight. He shrugged and headed inside. Most doors on Berk didn't really have a bolt or lock because that would be cowardly in the eyes of a Viking. However, the Chief was at times responsible for safeguarding the valuables of visiting delegations from other tribes, so a lock was in place as an appeasement to them. He couldn't have used it if his father was home because Chiefing duties kept him out to all hours of the night some days, and he would have been locked out. Hiccup dismissed the unidentified follower from his mind and headed to bed. He had plans for tomorrow, and he wanted to be fully awake and ready by sunrise.

As it turned out, Hiccup woke up even earlier than he had planned. By sunrise, he had already filled the basket of fish and was just setting out into the woods. He made it about five minutes in before Toothless woke up.

The dragon took stock of where Hiccup was. 'You were supposed to be running today.'

Hiccup had forgotten about that, but he did have an excuse. "You were asleep, and I still need you to direct me if I'm going to be running."

Toothless snorted. 'You don't need me to direct you to run. I'm directing you so you can work on your reflexes and agility. Because I'm deciding what path you take, you have to react as I talk instead of knowing what's coming up. It's more effective that way.'

Hiccup started jogging, gradually speeding up as he found his stride. The rest of the trip to the cove was a series of obstacles that Toothless would sometimes steer him towards, and other times away. Hiccup was sure there was some logic behind the dragon's decisions, but he couldn't spare the breath to ask. He made it to the cove in record time despite having to walk a third of the way. Toothless was still holding to his promise to not overwork Hiccup. He was tired, but not so much so that he couldn't catch his breath, and he knew that he'd be mostly back to normal in a few minutes.

They were ready to try out the new steering arrangement before an hour had passed in the cove. Hiccup climbed onto Toothless, this time with the rope attached to the artificial tailfin and his foot, not his hand. Hopefully, this angle would work better for the rope.

'Ready?' Toothless looked back at Hiccup, taking in the latest method of controlling the tailfin.

Hiccup finished checking the knot of the rope on his foot and straightened up. "Ready."

Toothless took off, and Hiccup was much less surprised by the sudden force this time. They had two goals for their time in the air today. First, test the new steering arrangement. Hiccup moved his foot and immediately could tell that the tailfin was now much more sensitive. So much so, he realized, that it might become a problem. His foot didn't have anything to rest on and he had to hold it still with the rest of his leg or risk accidentally adjusting the tail. He would need to add something to the side of the saddle, to rest his foot on. Maybe a pedal of sorts, so he wouldn't have to tie the rope to his foot...

For now, he could make do, even if his leg was starting to go numb. With the fin held in its default position, Toothless was able to glide over to their next destination. Almost. Hiccup's leg was jostled, jerking them into a sharp turn.

Toothless was only able to turn what would have been an out-of-control free-fall into a hard crash-landing.

Hiccup was thrown forward, and his tether's first test in holding him to the saddle was a miserable failure, the line snapping instantly. He was going to have to fix that at some point. Somehow, he managed to land on his feet and stumbled forward.

Hiccup gulped as he frantically looked around for his charge. The tall blades of what smelled like garlic grass greatly limited visibility. Was Toothless hurt? Dead? Where was he?! After casting about, he finally found the dragon and his worry was replaced with confusion, which in turn was replaced with amusement.

Toothless, far from being hurt, was currently rolling around in the grass ecstatically, purring loudly and snapping at the grass playfully, his eyes closed in bliss and every limb thrashing aimlessly, from wings to tail. Hiccup simply stood and stared, not bothering to hold in his laughter now. This was a far cry from the mostly serious, sarcastic creature he was used to.

Toothless opened his eyes, and with massively dilated pupils gazed in Hiccup's general direction. His mouth was slightly open, and his ears were pinned back against his head from rolling around, a few strands of the grass hanging loosely from various places. After a few seconds of eye contact, Toothless purred loudly and continued to roll around, apparently attempting to make contact with every single blade of grass in the field.

In a moment of curiosity, Hiccup carefully accessed Toothless's sense of smell, picking it out alone from the bundle of senses in that corner of his mind. And he almost threw up. Whatever effect the garlic grass had on Toothless, it clearly wasn't something that carried over to humans. That massively overpowering odor was not at all pleasant for Hiccup, magnified through Toothless's far more sensitive nose. He quickly returned to his own, thankfully much duller sense of smell.

Hiccup waited a few minutes, but Toothless showed no signs of getting tired of the grass. He eventually decided more drastic measures were required, or they'd be stuck here all day- not that Toothless would mind. He grabbed a large handful of the grass and approached Toothless's head. He waved the grass under Toothless's nose.

The dragon opened his eyes, pupils as round as possible. He followed Hiccup's hand with his nose, apparently now oblivious to the fact that he was surrounded by a field of identical grass, fixated on this specific handful.

Hiccup slowly backed out and away from the field, Toothless following on shaky legs. He somewhat regained his composure, and once Hiccup put the handful of grass inside his tunic, away from Toothless, the dragon stopped where he stood and dropped. He was still awake and his eyes were open, but he wasn't moving, except for his pupils, which were slowly shrinking to something approaching normal.

"That was weird." Hiccup was still amused by the effect this stuff had on Toothless, and he made sure to remember where this field was, for future reference.

Toothless, on the other hand, was less than pleased. 'I hate that stuff.'

Hiccup smiled broadly. "Really? didn't seem that way a minute ago."

Toothless stood and began to walk again, directly away from the field, his eyes troubled and tail drooping. 'No, really. It makes you lose all control over yourself. I don't like that feeling. It's way too similar to what the Queen did.'

Hiccup's smile faded as he considered this. "That makes sense. I didn't think of that." He abruptly moved over to Toothless, who still looked a bit sad, or maybe depressed by the memories. He pulled the dragon into their version of a hug.

Toothless returned the gesture. After a minute, he spoke, his voice much less depressed. 'What was that for? Not that I'm complaining.'

Hiccup smiled. "You looked like you needed a hug. So, why not?" After a minute, he remembered something he had wanted to ask Toothless before he realized how the grass had affected him. "Does the grass do that to all dragons?"

'As far as I know. I haven't exactly had a chance to test it out.'

Hiccup considered this. Maybe he did have a use for the grass in his tunic after all.

The rest of the day passed pleasantly. Hiccup and Toothless hung around in the forest for a while, Toothless enjoying a personal change of scenery before they headed back. Even though Toothless was a bit reluctant to voluntarily trap himself again, he knew the cove was safe and hidden. It was only temporary.

Hiccup thought that with this latest addition to the saddle he had planned, he would have a working foot-tail system. All that would be left would be learning to use it efficiently and Toothless could take to the air. Later, Hiccup ran back to the village and spent some time in the forge. Gobber was there today, and that meant Hiccup had to sneak parts of his latest design in along with the forge work. Fortunately, he was practiced at this, as he had been building contraptions for years under the blacksmith's nose. As such, the rest of the day passed quickly enough. Gobber did have some news, though. There would be dragon training the next day.

Hiccup woke up the next morning before daybreak again. He rushed to leave the house, knowing he needed to hurry. If Gobber was going to hold training in the morning, Hiccup wanted to have enough time to grab some fish, run to the cove to drop them off, and run back. The running wasn't optional; if he didn't make very good time he would be late for training. But Hiccup was willing to risk being late to avoid Toothless going hungry every other day. He barely made it to the arena in time, and he was already worn out. That didn't bode well.

Of course, everyone else was already there, and they all saw Hiccup run up the bridge to the arena.

Snotlout was the first to comment. "Whatcha running from Hiccup? Must be something pretty bad if you come running towards the cages of vicious dragons, and me."

Hiccup panted. "Who says I'm running from something?"

Snotlout scoffed. "Please. The only time I've seen you run that fast was during the last raid. You know, the one with the Monstrous Nightmare that you led into the center of the village?"

Hiccup didn't answer. Partially because it wouldn't change anything, and partially because he was secretly pleased. His running was definitely improving his stamina if he had run all the way from the cove to the arena and was still going fast when he got there. He didn't even feel that tired.

Snotlout had no idea why Hiccup didn't seem as insulted as usual. He was even more confused to see a small smile before Hiccup turned to face Gobber.

"Am I late?"

Gobber scratched his chin with his good hand. "Nah, we were just about to start. Now all of ye, get in there!"

The teens moved into the arena, and spread out, facing the cages. Hiccup had his dagger, as usual. However, he also had the garlic grass from yesterday hidden in his tunic. He would use it if he got the chance. Astrid turned from her place halfway across the arena and glared at Hiccup. She hefted her ax menacingly, before turning to resume staring at the cage doors.

'I think she wants you to stay away from her.'

"That was pretty obvious."

'You shouldn't though.'

"Wait, what? I want to avoid getting killed, by either the dragon or Astrid!"

'She's trying to get you to back down. Do it, and she'll just keep pushing you around.'

Hiccup laughed mirthlessly. "If I do that she'll hate me even more."

'But she might also respect you if you stand up to her. And I don't think there's a way to both get her to not hate you and stay safe in here. You'll use what you know, like the grass, and it'll make her mad because the only safe way to use your tricks is to make them look real, which will show her up. That's a given. You might as well. Besides, it isn't exactly a good quality to hate people who are better than you. She should know that.'

Hiccup considered that and realized that Toothless had a point. He couldn't see a way to do both. But he still wanted to try. He decided to stay out of her way if possible, but he would use the grass if he could.

The doors of one of the cages slammed open and the Gronckle barreled out, just like the last time. Only, this time there were no shields conveniently lying around. The Gronckle took in its surroundings and made a beeline for Snotlout. It slammed him so hard he was sent flying and didn't even wait until he hit the ground to start searching for a new target.

Astrid was sneaking up on it, creeping into striking range.

At that moment, the Gronckle saw Hiccup.

'Get ready. It's going to charge you just like it did Snotlout.'

Hiccup subtly grabbed the grass with his unoccupied hand, under the cover of getting into a fighting stance. However stupid that looked with just a knife. He would have brought a small ax he had for training, but he hadn't wanted to slow himself down running with even more weight. So he just had his knife. And the grass.

As the Gronckle barreled at Hiccup, he held out the handful of garlic grass and closed his eyes, hoping it would notice the smell in time. It definitely did, because it stopped right in front of Hiccup's outstretched hand. Nobody could see him from behind the Gronckle's considerable bulk, so Hiccup rubbed the grass on its nose. Overwhelmed with the sensation, it collapsed onto its side, revealing a very furious Astrid on the other side of the ring. All in all, it hadn't been thirty seconds since the Gronckle was first released. Hiccup had ended the match before it could even start. And he had done it in a way that must have looked like he knocked the Gronckle out with his bare hands.

Gobber looked almost crestfallen. "Well... I guess training is over. No one can wake this lump of rock, and have ye ever tried to move an unconscious dragon? They go limp, ye see, and it makes 'em really hard to carry..." He was rambling, waving his hook for emphasis as he talked.

The teens were eager to get out of the arena before Gobber thought of something else for them to do, so they headed for the door. Even Hiccup, who wanted to make the trip back to the cove as quickly as possible. That didn't mean they had forgotten what had happened, as Hiccup was currently hoping.

They surrounded him just outside the arena, on the bridge connecting it to the rest of the village. They almost all spoke at once, with only Astrid holding her silence.

Hiccup only heard Snotlout clearly, because he was the loudest. "How exactly does Hiccup the Useless, of all people, punch out a dragon?" His voice was suspicious.

Tuffnut answered first. "How do we know he punched it? Maybe he kicked it! I mean, no one saw him."

Ruffnut punched Tuffnut, almost knocking him off of the bridge. "Stupid, you can't knock out a dragon by kicking it."

Snotlout shouted, frustrated. "And Hiccup shouldn't be able to do it at all!"

During all of this, Hiccup had been trying to subtly slip away. He finally succeeded when Snotlout and Tuffnut started yelling at each other, opening up a space behind Snotlout for Hiccup to slip through. He made it to the village before any of the teens noticed he was gone. Except for Astrid. She saw the whole thing.

Hiccup was halfway through the village when Toothless spoke up. 'Turn around for a second.'

Hiccup did. He saw a few villagers, a few chickens, Astrid walking towards him, Ack talking with- Wait, Astrid walking towards him?

'You should make yourself scarce.'

Hiccup agreed wholeheartedly. He ducked behind one of the fish storage warehouses and quickly moved around to the back. From there, he took off, heading towards the nearest edge of the village.

'She's still on your tail, don't go to the cove.'

Hiccup didn't dare look back, but he increased his speed. He broke into the forest and bolted in the opposite direction to the cove. Even he could hear Astrid behind him. She wasn't a quiet runner, and by the sounds of it, she was in a full out sprint. He wasn't sure what she intended, but he wasn't going to risk being caught by an angry Viking with an ax. The problem was, he still wasn't faster than her. At least, not in the village... "Toothless... tell me... where to go... obstacles slow her... maybe more than me..."

He was hoping that Astrid wasn't agile enough to compete with him when he had the advantage of a little practice and forewarning running at full tilt through the dense forest. Toothless began instructing him immediately, directing him around and through places that he wouldn't have known were even passable. Having an angry Astrid with an ax behind him was a great motivation, and the adrenaline was very helpful in sharpening his reflexes.

Hiccup moved quickly, ignoring the developing pain in his side, following Toothless's directions. But Astrid was still following him. A minute in, they ran out into something of an open patch in the forest, caused by a steep hillside devoid of trees. And on Berk, the words 'steep hillside' implied a place just sloped enough to not be called a cliff. Hiccup saw it with something akin to hope. If Toothless could direct him up the near-cliff, Astrid would either have to go around or follow behind, slowing her down.

Toothless knew that too. He directed Hiccup straight at the hill, pointing out exactly which parts of the hillside looked stable, and which did not. He wasn't at all distracted by the stress and physical exertion both runners were enduring, so he could calmly determine where Hiccup needed to go. And Hiccup needed the help. This particular hillside was extremely unstable, made primarily out of weak sandstone deposits. Any weak point would crumble at the slightest pressure, providing no support whatsoever.

Following Toothless's detailed advice, Hiccup began the half-run, half-climb up the hill. He was surprised by just how many potential handholds Toothless passed up. He would have grabbed half of them without a second thought. But he trusted a detached third-party's judgment over his own given he could barely see at the moment. The combination of dust from crumbling stone and the harsh sunlight present here was blinding him. He faintly heard a series of sounds behind him. His best guess was that Astrid had grabbed a weak supporting ledge, and when it crumbled, slid back down quite a way. Her cursing was the loudest thing in the otherwise near-silent chase, punctuated by panting and the noise of rock shifting underfoot.

Toothless was actually surprised by how well Hiccup was doing. Hiccup had made it up the hill without faltering and kept on running without stopping. That surprise quickly turned to horror a few minutes of hard running later, when he saw what he had unwittingly directed Hiccup towards.

The path to either side was blocked off by underbrush too thick for a human to move through easily, if at all. The natural path Hiccup was following was, in fact, a seasonal riverbed, the result of the yearly flow of water from the peaks of Berk down to the ocean in the spring when the snow briefly melted. As such, this path only led one place. Unfortunately, this particular runoff stream didn't lead to a nice beach. Berk was an island of cliffs, and this particular stream ended by flowing off of a particularly high one. In essence, it was a dead end. And if Astrid hadn't been left far enough behind by the hillside, there just might be an emphasis on 'dead'.

Astrid ran doggedly through the forest, persevering despite the many hang-ups and stumbles that came with running through a dense forest at high speed. Or, should have come with running through a dense forest at high speed. She had been catching up to Hiccup, intending to make it clear to him that she was going to win the training, and that if he got in her way again (she considered distracting the dragon at a critical moment 'getting in her way') she would make him regret it. There was too much at stake for her to let some clumsy fishbone ruin her chances.

Well, he was supposed to be clumsy. But when she had followed him into the forest, he hadn't slowed down to deal with the tangled undergrowth or avoided it, he had sped up and run straight through it. Astrid tried her best to follow, but Hiccup seemed to know what was coming and he didn't stumble or slow down once as he led her through increasingly tangled and obstructed paths. She was tripped up by unstable footing and forced to slow for obstacles she hadn't seen in time. That Thor-forsaken hill had slowed her down far too much, with all of its treacherous ledges and crumbling handholds. By the time she had reached the top, after several setbacks, Hiccup was nowhere to be seen. She had kept going. He had to be ahead of her somewhere. But she couldn't pick up his trail. She had never been great at tracking, and the way Hiccup had run, he avoided almost everything and didn't leave anything for her to track. No broken branches, no footprints in patches of mud, no nothing.

She eventually had to admit defeat. She wanted to scream in frustration, but that would have given her position away to any potential predators. She turned and began to make her way back towards the village, seething all the way. Her legs ached, scratches ran along her arms, legs, and face - courtesy of various branches she hadn't noticed in time, her eyes were stinging from the dust of the crumbling sandstone, and to top it all off, she had absolutely nothing to show for it all. Not a suitably threatened Hiccup, no advantage in training, nothing. Although... Now she knew something no one else did. Hiccup was pretty fast in the forest. Which was really weird, because he had always been clumsy. There had been no sign of clumsiness as he avoided her; he had made it look easy! She wondered if that was what he spent his spare time doing now. Running randomly through the forest.

Hiccup stood silently in the dead end, ready to bolt the second he heard sounds of pursuit, through the thick undergrowth if need be.

Toothless listened through his ears, confident he would hear Astrid before Hiccup, even if they technically were both using the same ears.

After a minute Hiccup relaxed. He had lost her. He spent a few minutes just quietly walking through the forest, in the general direction of the cove. He wasn't worried about getting lost, having explored the entire island quite a few times over the years. With no friends who would deign to hang out with the "worthless little fishbone", Hiccup spent a lot of time just wandering the wilderness. He made it back to the cove in good time, though he was still worn out from the chase.

Toothless, on the other hand, was overflowing with adrenaline of his own for which he had had no outlet, given his part in the chase was to give instructions not run like his life depended on it. The moment Hiccup entered the cove he was there, running in circles around Hiccup. He needed a way to let off some steam, so he left Hiccup and ran a lap around the cove at full speed. But he didn't stop at just a simple circle around the pond.

As Hiccup watched, Toothless used his powerful hind legs to propel himself off of the ground, and onto one of the cliff faces walling in the cove. He held there for a split second, completely vertical on the wall, before pushing off and gliding out into the middle of the pond. He immediately upon hitting the water dove down, and Hiccup lost sight of Toothless entirely for a short time. A few seconds later, Toothless launched from the water on the other side of the pond, gaining several feet of air in the process. With that out of his system, the dragon settled for running at top speed in random circles.

Hiccup could only watch in awe as Toothless sped past, moving far quicker than anything he had ever seen run, and turning almost instantly at random intervals. He knew then that there was no way he would ever match a Night Fury running at full speed. He doubted any human could.

Hiccup considered his performance in the forest. It had been sufficient to lose Astrid, but it was nothing compared to this. Toothless was far more powerful and agile than Hiccup ever could be. He wondered in a sudden wave of guilt how impressive Toothless had been when he had both tailfins. All of this, combined with the extra options flying gave must have been awe-inspiring when Toothless decided to cut loose.

Once Toothless had used up some of his nervous energy, he returned to Hiccup. He stood in front of him, quivering slightly.

Hiccup laughed a little at that. "Gee, you would think you were the one running from an angry Viking with an ax!" His words were humorous, but his tone was almost sad. He saw now just how little his friend would actually need him if it wasn't for his tail, which was Hiccup's fault. And how much he relied on Toothless. It wasn't a fair trade at all.

Toothless immediately picked up on the change in tone. 'What is it?'

Hiccup blurted out the only thing that summed up what he was feeling. "Why do you even care about me? You're so much better in every way. Stronger, faster, everything. I can't even run away right without your help."

Toothless was so shocked his mouth hung open a little bit. His ears dropped, and his eyebrows slanted in confusion. 'Hiccup?' This was not at all what he had been expecting after a successful escape from a dangerous enemy. He had been expecting excitement, not self-pity.

Hiccup asked a question that had been lurking in the back of his mind for a while now, unacknowledged. "Would you even care about me if your tailfin was still whole? If somehow it grew back right now, what would happen? Am I just your friend because I'm trying to help you, and keeping you alive in here?"

Toothless knew what the problem was now. 'No, we would still be friends. And I am not better than you. We're just different. I'm stronger physically, but…' He carefully lifted a paw and tapped Hiccup on the forehead. 'You're stronger here. And I don't make friends easily.' He looked down. 'Or really at all. Not something that happened in the nest, under the Queen. All energy went into staying alive and out of sight.'

Hiccup sat down, staring up at the dragon in front of him. It felt appropriate, given the situation. "I still don't get it. Why do you care?"

Toothless didn't like Hiccup staring up at him, as if he was looming in judgment. He set down on all fours and made sure they were looking at each other straight on. He chuffed thoughtfully. 'First off, why shouldn't I care? What do you think is wrong with you, that no one should be your friend without some ulterior motive? Can't it just be because I like you as a person?'

Hiccup broke their eye contact. "No one else does." There were fifteen years of isolation and rejection in those quiet words.

Toothless huffed. 'That's their loss. And their blindness. There's absolutely nothing wrong with you.' He snorted in aggravation. 'I've seen the rest of your village. I wouldn't be friends with any of them if they had done exactly what you did.' He didn't really know how to explain that any more clearly, but it was true. 'I already don't like most of them, and it has only been a few days.'

Hiccup grinned a little despite himself. "I figured as much. The dragon doesn't like a village of dragon killers. What a shock." He thought about what Toothless had said. "I don't know, really. This just doesn't feel right for some reason. No one else, not even my own father, can stand to be around me for long. Even Gobber gets tired of being around me after a while. And yet the one person who has all the reasons in the world to hate me doesn't. He wants to be my friend, even when he has to protect me all the time because I'm too weak to protect myself."

Toothless moved closer. 'You need to forget everyone else. Right here, right now, I am your friend because I want to be, and I don't mind protecting you in the slightest. That's what friends do, and you're risking your life to keep me hidden and alive, so it is in no way unfair to me. Get that through into your intelligent but thick head, and stop belittling yourself.' He wanted Hiccup to just forget his past entirely if it caused this much doubt and pain. But that wasn't possible, so he'd just try to make sure Hiccup knew this as strongly as he remembered past pains. To emphasize his words, he put his chin on Hiccup's shoulder and purred softly.

Hiccup took those words to heart. He still didn't feel entirely comfortable with Toothless always protecting him in some way, but he would someday figure out a way to do the same. Because that was what friends did. "Okay. And thank you."

Toothless didn't stop purring. 'You needed to hear that, I think. No need to thank me.' He inhaled deeply. 'Why do you smell like the sea? You haven't been anywhere near the ocean.'

Hiccup laughed softly. "That would be sweat, not seawater. It happens when humans get overheated. Saltwater comes out of our skin." The sudden change in conversation was strange, but they both had said what needed to be said, and that was it. "The running I just did made me sweat enough to find puddles in my boots later."

Toothless rumbled in amusement. Hiccup seemed to be feeling better. Maybe now they could get back to what should be a moment of happiness. He suspected this wouldn't be the last he would see of Hiccup's past tormenting him with doubt, but he'd help Hiccup deal with that when the time came. 'You did great! Now do you see the benefits of running?'

Hiccup laughed again at the dragon's excitement, genuinely happy now. "I guess I just needed the right motivation. Does this mean I don't have to run to the cove anymore?"

Toothless narrowed his eyes slightly. 'No. Now we start with the fun stuff, like what you did today. Besides, it saves time, and you can still stand to improve your stamina.'

"Fine, but no more running today. My legs can only take so much."

Toothless nodded, an exaggerated gesture coming from a dragon whose head was the size of Hiccup's torso.

"In a few minutes, we can go..." Hiccup remembered something. "Aw, I was in such a rush to get you your fish and get to the arena on time, I totally forgot." Toothless looked confused for a second, but then he realized what Hiccup forgot.

'The saddle.'

Hiccup nodded glumly. "Yup, left it in the forge."

'Once you really finish it, you should just start leaving it here' Toothless suggested, not very disappointed. The excitement of the chase was almost as good, though he wouldn't want Hiccup to have to do that every day. Still, he needed to burn some more energy.

"Well, what do we do now?"

Toothless stood on all fours and stretched. 'I have a few ideas.'