"No! Get away from him!"

Hiccup awoke to the sound of rain pitter pattering on the roof above him. He opened his eyes slowly, but realized he couldn't see anything. It took him a minute to realize that he was under the protection of Toothless' wings, the old familiar comfort.

"Go on! Get out of here!"

Then Hiccup sighed as a thought crossed his mind, chief duties.

'Oh great. Another day of working my a-,' then he remembered, he chuckled out loud, 'oh yes! I forgot! Today's my day with Toothless!'

Suddenly Hiccup's mind flooded with millions of ideas and things he could do with Toothless. They could go exploring! They could go mapping! Finding new places! Flying! Or just spending time together at the grotto.

"Get away!"

With his ear pressed to Toothless' chest, he heard a slight whimper come from his best friend.

"Toothless?" Hiccup whispered, "You awake bud?"

There was no answer from the dragon, which concerned Hiccup because Toothless was always a light sleeper. Whenever there was some odd noise that sounded threatening, Toothless would be up and ready to face whatever it was. Especially after the battle.

"Toothless!" Hiccup half shouted, giving the black dragon a good shove.

Toothless woke with a start, blowing a tiny ball of fire from his mouth in surprise. The dragon felt a rush of nervousness as his rider was screaming his name.

Hiccup expected the Night Fury to be rather cranky over the fact that Hiccup had just woke him up out of an obviously deep sleep. But that wasn't the case. It shocked Hiccup to see that Toothless, the brave, mighty Night Fury, and Alpha of all dragons, looked close to tears and was whimpering ceaselessly.

It concerned Hiccup. He'd never heard Toothless whimper so! Let alone cry. He'd read before that dragon's possessed the ability to cry, but never had he seen one actually do so.

Toothless looked like he was in a state of panic. His ears folded back and his pupils dilated with emotion. Hiccup didn't know what to do! Toothless had never acted like this before.

"Hey bud, hey," Hiccup cooed, trying to calm his best friend down, "Toothless, Toothless, sh-sh."

Hiccup quickly rolled on to his knees to face Toothless. He placed his right hand gently and his left hand under Toothless' chin.

Toothless felt the tender touch and soothed almost instantly. He gazed into his riders forest green eyes with uneasiness. But then a sense of relief waved over him in a rush, like a very heavy weight was just lifted from him.

"Everything's alright bud, Hiccup breathed in a soft tone, "It was just a bad dream."

Hiccup truthfully didn't know what was wrong; he just guessed that it was a nightmare. 'Could dragons even have nightmares?' He wondered to himself. 'Toothless has been acting rather oddly lately… Wonder if something's bothering him?'

Hiccup didn't know how right he was.

The memories from the bad dream still remained in Toothless' mind despite the reassuring look behind Hiccup's green eyes. Toothless let out a grumble, he had the strong urge to give Hiccup a loving lick, but being a bit shaky from the dream and still blinded by guilt from the accident, he decided to not go through with anything that may annoy Hiccup.

Hiccup looked deep into his dragon's acid eyes. There was so much emotion in those big green orbs.

'He's so human,' Hiccup thought, smiling. Toothless really was so intelligent. He nearly was human. And his eyes had the most proof of that. They were so deep, so meaningful, so powerful, and so thoughtful. Hiccup would shudder at the thought of the pupils of the beautiful eyes reduced down to slits.

He remembered that horrible day. Oh the horror he felt. First he lost his father, and then he thought he'd never see his best friend again. He nearly gave up hope a few times. But how could you blame him? He'd lost two of the people closest to his heart. He never thought he could make it without his dad. But loosing Toothless too, that'd be far too much to deal with.

After all, even though sometimes overprotective, even though sometimes lacked principles on personal space, even though sometimes far too jealous and moody, Toothless, throughout the years, had proven far more than a useless reptile. Far more.

"You gonna be okay bud?" Hiccup asked, concern swelling in his voice.

Toothless gurgled and nuzzled his muzzle against Hiccup's chest, "Yes, I'll be alright Hiccup."

"Okay, good," Hiccup sighed, relieved. He removed his hand from Toothless' nose, but with his left hand he gave Toothless a tiny chin scratch. Toothless went limp with pleasure as Hiccup's fingers worked their magic on all the sensitive nerves under the dragon's chin. Hiccup chuckled at the dumb-struck expression on the dragon's face. Hiccup always knew just what Toothless liked.

Hiccup released Toothless from the pleasure trance and smiled, "So whaddya wanna do today? I'm all yours today, and tomorrow, and the next day."

Toothless blinked in surprise, 'He actually meant it! Just three days for the two of us? This is fantastic!' Toothless thought. He was so overjoyed that he couldn't resist giving another loving lick. Lately he'd seemed to really enjoy giving Hiccup dragon licks. He couldn't really understand why.

"Ah-Tooth-Gah! Toothless!" Hiccup laughed. He half expected the affection licks. He quite honestly didn't mind them. But the dragon saliva really didn't wash out.

"T-Toothless!" Hiccup whined with a smile. He reached out and cradled Toothless' head in his hands to stop the attack, "I know bud, I know, I'm excited too!"

The air and the light sprinkle of rain felt wonderful against Hiccup's face. The rush as the wind brushed through his hair, he felt unchained, so relaxed, all his troubles gone. He felt like he did when he was fifteen when he first found Toothless. He remembered how free the two were and all the adventures they'd been on. All of the carefree moments before Hiccup was always preoccupied with being chief.

"Wow, I really did miss this," Hiccup said, smiling fondly at the memories. He leaned down to the reptiles ear and whispered smoothly, "I missed you Toothless."

Toothless blinked, feeling an intense rush of heat flood through his body at Hiccup's quiet words. How strange. Toothless had never recalled feeling a sensation like that before, he worried that maybe he was getting sick. But he didn't feel sick. What was wrong then?

Ignoring the strange sensation, Toothless flew on and growled happily at Hiccup, "I missed you too Hiccup."

Sorry for the short chapter! And the very very long update time. I hope to write more soon! :D Luv ya all! ~A