Author's Note: I'm blown away by your response! You guys are amazing. Not so much bare skin in this chapter, but we'll get there (wink, wink).

Chapter 3

Hiccup

Hiccup was tired.

He'd spent two days following his dad around the village, preparing for the arrival of some woman he'd never met from the Hysterics. Then he'd had to keep Astrid from murdering two of their own dragon riders, because no, they really could not afford to decimate their ranks, even if they deserved it.

Not that falling into a pool with naked Astrid Hofferson was exactly a bad thing, but when Hiccup had dared to imagine seeing her topless for the first time, he hadn't anticipated having so much water in his lungs. Astrid had seemed to brush the incident aside—at least as far as Hiccup was concerned—and he was not going to let it get to him.

They were better than that, he and she. Professional.

And he had bigger problems: they were down a dragon.

"What do you mean I can't ride her for five days?" Astrid yelled.

Her temper hadn't softened much since the hot springs, and Fishlegs seemed to recognize his precarious situation as he coward before her.

"Gothi's seen several dragons with these purple spots," he whimpered. "She needs rest."

"Stormfly is fine!"

The dragon chirped happily at Astrid's side as if insisting that she was. Fishlegs looked around nervously. His salvation came from Spitelout meandering up the village path towards them.

"Oh, thank Thor," Fishlegs muttered before calling out. "Spitelout! Will you tell these two that Stormfly is in fact ill and cannot be ridden for two days."

Spitelout planted his hands on his hips and stared down the dragon in question.

"No doubt," he said. "My wife's dragon had those same marks only a week ago."

"Aaarh!" Astrid groaned, face to the sky as if complaining to the gods.

"Only thing that sped along the healing was the leaves of Freyja flowers," said Spitelout.

"But those don't grow here," Hiccup said. "It's at least an hour to the closest island with them."

Spitelout glanced at the first pink streaks of sunset in the west.

"Then you'd best get going before dark," he said.

"I don't have a dragon," said Astrid.

"Hiccup can take you," Fishlegs said, smiling nervously. "I mean, I would offer, but I promised Gothi I'd continue my studies with her, and we're only here for so long, and—"

Raising a hand, Hiccup cut him off. "It's fine. I've been trapped on the ground all day. Toothless could use a nice ride."

Astrid gave him a relieved smile. "Thanks, Hiccup."

"Come on, bud," he said, calling over Toothless.

"You two have fun," said Spitelout as Astrid swung behind Hiccup in the saddle.

Hiccup cringed at the lilt in his uncle's voice: Ruff and Tuff had no doubt told the entire village what had happened.

Toothless leapt into the air. As they gained altitude and the island fell away, Hiccup shifted in his seat, trying to ignore the warmth pressed against his back. Leaving Berk behind, Hiccup found it much easier to stash away his embarrassment. It was only Astrid behind him. They'd taken hundreds of flights together.

"We don't fit as well," he said over his shoulder.

"What?"

He glanced back with a smirk. "We don't fit as well as we did the first time—you know when you were clinging to me as if death itself was chasing you."

"In my defense, I'm fairly certain Toothless considered letting me plunge to my death that day."

The dragon warbled, and Astrid leaned around Hiccup to glare at the beast.

"You know it crossed your mind," she said.

Hiccup chuckled when Toothless huffed and turned his head away to ignore her. An island rose before them, a collection of sea stacks bathed in the orange glow of sunlight that sparkled off the ocean.

"I can't believe it can still be so magical," Astrid said after a moment. "So many years later, and I still can't get over flying."

Turning a bit to catch a glimpse of her, Hiccup found Astrid's face open and full of emotion as she watched the columns of clouds above. She wasn't like this often. Astrid liked control, and she didn't let it crumble often—except to rage, maybe. Then you prayed to Odin you weren't in her warpath.

"I know what you mean," he said, and her gaze fell on him.

"Thank you," she said.

"For what?"

She swept her hand outward, gesturing to the landscape. "We wouldn't have any of this without you."

Shrugging, Hiccup turned back around. "Eh—it was a bit of dumb luck I didn't die before figuring it out."

He couldn't help the smile tugging at his lips, though.