A/N: YOU GUYSSSSS I AM ALIVE. It's been half a year. I know and I'm sorry. The Miraculous Ladybug fandom called out to me and then I got into a new school and course... But I PROMISED I wouldn't abandon Just Friends. I tried uploading this chapter yesterday but I couldn't for some reason. Anyway, here's Chapter 7.

Most days I'd be up early, rising with the sun, wide awake by breakfast time with the other riders. Some mornings I would spend with Toothless or Astrid, using it to catch up or spend some quality time with my best friends. On the rare occasion I actually decide to sleep in to a much more natural time, as it was so nicely put by both Snotlout and Tuffnut, the others typically try to spare me from the rude awakenings I've gotten so used to since becoming the head of the Berk Dragon Academy, even more so since coming to the Edge. But there are some days when some matters just simply need to be attended to immediately. In which case, the riders or their dragons would crash through my door, jolting me from whatever dream I may be in the middle of.

I try my best to ignore the endless knocking at the door, I really do. If it were urgent, whoever it is would've come barging in by now. Toothless groans quietly at the foot of my bed and covers his face with his wing, unsuccessfully blocking out the noise.

Maybe if I ignore them long enough, they'll leave me alone.

Knock knock knock.

I groan and kick the blankets off, exposing myself to the chilly air that hits me like a blast. A shiver works its way up my spine as I trudge down the stairs to answer the door.

Knock knock knock.

"I'm coming!" I grumble, not in the mood to deal with any early morning arguments. Surely Astrid could handle them for a while, right? After all, everyone knows she rises with the sun.

I pull the shutters up and come face to face with none other than Astrid herself.

"What?" Oh yeah, Hiccup. Way to greet your best friend who is perfectly capable of taking you down with her own two bare hands. "I mean, what's up?"

I step aside to let her in. She avoids eye contact with me as Toothless trots over to her side and demands attention. She strokes his scales absentmindedly.

I close the shutter and run a hand through my hair in a vain attempt to tame it a little. "Astrid?"

"Heather," she says, hesitantly. "She suspects."

I have the strangest feeling that I know where this is going. My hands fly up to hide my burning cheeks. "Suspects what?"

"Us," she cringes. She turns to face me, her face also taking on a light shade of pink. "I mean, there's nothing going on, but she still-"

"If there's nothing going on, why are you worried about what she thinks?" I can't help the twinge of disappointment but I push it to the back of my mind for her sake. "It shouldn't matter if there's nothing to hide."

"Well, yes, but-"

"Hiccup!" Fishlegs barges in. There's the wake up call from the riders. He tenses when he notices Astrid's presence in my hut. "Am I interrupting something?"

I let out a sigh and shake my head. "What is it now?"

"Snotlout," he deadpans.

"Wow, that's specific," I say with a yawn and a stretch. "I'll be there in a minute."

"Hiccup, can we talk more later?" She watches me with a pleading look.

"Of course," I reassure, squeezing her shoulder. "Dinner?"

She nods and walks out, Toothless on her trail. I follow closely behind after making sure my leg is in working condition. She calls for Stormfly and leaps up on her dragon, taking off hastily. Toothless warbles at me and lowers himself so I can hop into the saddle with ease.

"Alright, Bud." I rub the scales between his ear flaps. "Let's see what trouble they've gotten into this time!"

"Hookfang!" Snotlout's voice echoes around the Edge, startling every single Night Terror perched around the base from their peaceful slumber.

Toothless lands in front of Snotlout's door just as Hookfang takes off in a hurry without his rider. "Snotlout?" I jump off the saddle and steal a glance at Astrid. She shrugs. "Snotlout, is everything okay?"

"What do you think, Hiccup?" He snaps. "That dumb dragon just sneezed all over me!"

I pause in my steps and look around. True enough, it seemed Hookfang had a bit of a cold, judging from the mess of Nightmare gel that covered the walls surrounding his rider.

"Well, Snotlout, it doesn't seem that strange to me," I say. "You do have your namesake all over you." Astrid snorts.

"Not funny, Hiccup. Hooky has allergies," Snotlout growls. "But he doesn't usually take it out on me!" He wipes his hands on his pants, which, unfortunately is covered in even more snot.

"Maybe he's allergic to you," Astrid laughs, clearly enjoying the whole situation. "He never seems to have a problem when he sleeps in the stables."

"Help me get this off!" He whines, flicking whatever is on his hands all over the walls.

"How's Hookfang?" Fishlegs steps into the hut and pauses in his tracks.

"Alright, I knew Hookfang had a cold, but this is ridiculous," Fishlegs mutters to himself, stepping over the mess on the floor. "But I must say, this is a good look for you."

"Shut up, Fishface!"

"That's a huge mess," Ruffnut comments innocently as she steps into the room alongside her brother. They marvel at the mess in wide-eyed fascination. "You sick, Snotlout?"

"Yeah, I didn't know you were capable of such explosive sneezes!" Tuffnut chortles.

"Shut up and help me!" Snotlout wails. "Please?"

"Alright, alright. Get outside and wash yourself off." I lead him out. "The rest of us will help clean this up."

As expected, groans all around from the rest of the riders. "We can't let him do this alone!" More quietly, I add, "or we will hear about this all day."

"I heard that, Hiccup!" I roll my eyes.

"Just be careful, this stuff is flammable, guys," Astrid says. She points at the twins. "I'm looking at you, Tuffnut."

"So you want us to set it on fire?" Tuffnut chimes in excitedly. "Barf, Belch!"

Fishlegs slaps a hand over his mouth as Barf and Belch. "Unless you want this building to burn to the ground, taking us along with it, no."

Tuffnut sighs. "Fine. We will do it the boring way."

With that concluding his complaints, at least for the next five minutes, we spend the rest of the morning cleaning up the mess. Multiple times, Astrid glances at me exasperatedly, and I try to smile at her, but it isn't genuine, and she knows it. We all hate how the morning turned out to be.

"And we're done!" I dust my hands off as I lean back against Toothless, watching as Snotlout brings out the last of the flasks of Nightmare gel.

"That took forever," he groans, collapsing against Hookfang, who pulls back, causing Snotlout to fall flat on the ground. "Useless dragon."

"You know, H, I still think it would've been faster if we had just told Belch to spark," Tuffnut says casually, leaning his weight on my shoulder.

I catch a small flicker of light dancing in the corner of my vision. Wait-

"Belch, NO!"

BOOM.