I don't own How To Train Your Dragon, I'm just a fan :)

A/N: For anyone that is displeased by the way Hiccup is behaving, I would just like to remind you that Hiccup isn't perfect - he's a teenage boy with hormones. Everyone makes mistakes and that's what I'm exploring with him. People aren't perfect so characters can't be either.

Hand on my Heart

Chapter 7

Hiccup was still fuming in the morning. He had tossed and turned all night because of his argument with Cami. It was the first time they had ever properly argued. He looked out the window and dawn was just breaking. He realised that sleep was not going to come to him so he got up. He figured that he might as well start his exercise and training regime. Sure his head was pounding and his stomach sloshed but that was no excuse to skip his routine. He got up, dressed, grabbed his weapons and left his room.

Hiccup crept down the stairs and found Camicazi curled up on the couch he left her in. Toothless was still passed out on the floor. Usually he always heard Hiccup getting up and if it weren't for his heavy breathing, Hiccup would have been worried the dragon was dead. He left the house and headed towards the woods. He strapped the weapons on and started his run. The run that in the beginning took him two hours, now took him no more than 40 minutes usually. He figured it would take him a little longer with his hangover.

When Camicazi woke up her head felt like it had been trampled on and she groaned in discomfort. Her neck was stiff from the angle she had passed out in and she noticed Toothless was still in the same position as he was the night before. She couldn't help the smile that spread across her face, until she remembered the argument with Hiccup. She felt the strong urge to apologise and ran up to his room and burst through the door, only to find his room empty. She noticed all of his weapons were gone and she got a little worried. She decided to get dressed and go look for him.

Hiccup stood practicing his dagger throws against a tree. He managed to hit the same spot seven times in a row. He'd mulled over his conversation with Camicazi several times during his training. He couldn't understand why she was so annoyed at his reluctance to kiss her. She had never shown any interest in him in that way that he noticed and he didn't know what she wanted from him. Things had clearly changed between the two of them after spending so much time together but he didn't think they had become couple-like at all. It's not that he wouldn't be interested; it's that he didn't want to lose her. She was his best friend and if he got into a physical relationship with her, he would undoubtedly be the one to get hurt.

He had never gone any further than a peck on the lips and as girly as it sounded, he wanted his first time to be with a girl he loved, who loved him in return. And it wasn't that he didn't believe Cami capable of falling in love, he did, but she would never fall for someone like him. She'd no doubt be into someone like Snotlout who was always good at everything. He was just so angry because when left Berk things were simple... He loved Astrid and Cami was his friend. The change in his relationship with Cami had been happening gradually so he didn't notice and it took him by surprise. It was so frustrating that he yelled in anger as he threw the blade with full force into the tree. When he stepped forward to retrieve it, he found that he couldn't... It was lodged in the tree completely. He punched the bark next to it and crumpled on the ground, leaning himself on the tree and hiding his face in his hands. He wasn't sure if he wanted to go into a murderous rage or cry his eyes out.

"Nice throw." Cami said quietly and he peeked out at her from beneath his fingers.

"What are you doing here, Cami?" He asked her tiredly.

"I came to find you. I wanted to apologise for last night... I shouldn't have said that I thought you were using me. It's not how I feel and I shouldn't have lied." Cami admitted.

"I don't really want to get into it to be honest." He told her flippantly.

"Why are you being like this? Why won't you talk to me? Aren't we close enough that we can tell each other anything?" She pushed pleadingly, moving to sit across from him, cross legged on the ground.

"Why do we have to talk about any of it?" He snapped.

"Because I don't want you to be angry with me." She replied shyly which was completely out of character for her. Hiccup's features softened. He wasn't a mean spirited person and felt badly for snapping at her.

"I'm not angry with you. I'm just... confused." He admitted.

"What are you confused about?" She asked.

"Why am I the only one sharing?" He cocked an eyebrow at her.

"Do you always answer a question with another question?" She giggled. He didn't look amused. "Because I don't really feel like spilling my heart out to you for you just to tell me that it will always be Astrid." She said reluctantly, taking Hiccup by surprise.

"I told you what I felt about that last night." He reminded her.

"Refresh my memory." She deadpanned.

"You don't remember?" He asked quizzically.

"Of course I remember. I was just too shocked last night to ask you what you meant by it." She explained.

"Well..." He bit his lip. Was he really going to share this with her? "I could easily fall in love with you, Cami, but you are my best friend. You have to remember that Astrid is still technically engaged to me. So I'm confused. I don't want to take that step with you unless I'm sure that you are on the same page. If we were to go there, I'd want it to be real. I'd want a future with you. If not, then you would still be my best friend and I'd still have you in my life. If we just had some kind of fling, I'd be the one to get hurt and I wouldn't be able to just go back to being friends." He told her honestly.

"I'd never hurt you, Hiccup." She was trying not to tear up. "And you told me yourself that Astrid might move on. It's been nearly a year since you saw her and things change."

"Stop." He held up his hand.

"Why?" She asked.

"Because I don't want to know... Think about it. Think about it long and hard and once you come to a decision; then give me your answer. Until then, we'll just be friends as usual. Can you do that?" He asked her. The defeated and broken look on his face made her heart twist uncomfortably and she knew that she would never be able to hurt him.

"I'll think about it, for you, Hiccup. But I think I already know my answer." She admitted.

"Well, just wait until you can turn that 'think' into knowing for sure." He nodded to her.

"Fine." She mumbled.

"So are we all good?" He asked gesturing between himself and her.

"Always." She tried for a smile, but failed.

"Good. Can you help me get this dagger out?" He gestured upwards and upon inspection she laughed.

"You've gotten really strong, Hiccup." She said absently while thinking over his words.

"Thanks to you." He replied stiffly.

"Things aren't going to be weird are they?" She blurted without thinking and he burst out laughing. "What?" She snapped while he laughed. He grabbed her hand and looked into her eyes with a smile.

"I was thinking the exact same thing..." He marvelled. "We'll be fine."

"Yeah, well. I don't want things to be weird. You're my best friend too you know." She told him.

"I thought Axela was your best friend?" He asked surprised.

"And I was under the impression Toothless was yours... yet here we are." She replied.

"That's different." He smiled.

"Why? Because you could never fall in love with him?" She teased.

"Yeah... That'd be too weird, even for me." He laughed. "What about Axela?" He winked.

"Never know." She shrugged her shoulders and laughed when his jaw dropped in surprised. "Kidding."

"Shame... That would be... Hot." He stuttered.

"I thought you only saw her as a friend." She cocked her eyebrow.

"I do... but... you wouldn't understand since you aren't a guy." He laughed.

"I guess you'll have plenty to dream about tonight then." She winked.

"You little minx." He ruffled her hair.

"I still think you owe me a kiss." She said and he froze.

"Why?" He asked nervously.

"Because you embarrassed me last night." She said.

"Oh. I didn't mean to... Why were you embarrassed?" He found himself fumbling nervously and felt his heart speed up.

"Because you refused to kiss me, yet you kissed Axela when dared to." She replied self consciously.

"I'm sorry." He said as he stared at her beautiful face. He licked his lips without thinking about it and took a step closer to her. "Can I make it up to you?" He asked shakily. He wasn't exactly what one would call smooth.

"You'd better." She replied just as nervously. He looked down and noticed that he still held her hand so he took a deep breath and pulled her into his arms and cupped her cheeks. Before he could stop himself he leaned in and kissed her gently, once... twice... then he deepened the kiss, lightly brushing his tongue against hers the way Chum had told him to. She responded immediately with a small groan of pleasure. Quickly she wrapped her arms around him and he pulled her closer. It seemed Hiccup was wrong, he thought that he had stopped himself from feeling more for her but clearly he hadn't. This was incredible and he could feel the sparks radiating between them. Camicazi felt like she was floating. She'd kissed plenty of boys in the past and yet none of them made her feel like this. None of them made her stomach flutter.

They kissed for what felt like hours and seconds simultaneously before Hiccup pulled away. He stared at her and blinked rapidly as he came to terms with whatever had just transpired between them. Camicazi stared at him wide eyed and studied his face for his reaction.

"Say something." She whispered impatiently; she felt like she'd been waiting for hours before he said something.

"It seems I was wrong." He shook his head.

"Wrong?" She asked frantically. "Wrong about what?"

"I was wrong about my feelings. It's too late." He said reluctantly.

"What do you mean it's too late?" She asked fearfully. She wasn't sure she wanted an answer to her question.

"It's too late because I already feel more for you than just friends." He said as he yanked the dagger out with all his might, managing to pull it back out. "I'm going to head back and see if Toothless is up yet. If you're still coming, be ready to go after dinner." He said emotionlessly as he turned and walked back towards the village, leaving her standing there with a shocked smile on her face. She already knew she had feelings for Hiccup, she just had to figure out if she could change her ways before he changed his mind about her.

Hiccup arrived back at the house to find Toothless awake but as he walked over to the dragon he growled at him. Hiccup just laughed.

"It's your fault for drinking all that mead." He reminded his friend. "Why don't you eat something and drink a lot of water? That's what I'm planning to do." The dragon stared at him suspiciously. "Yes, I feel just like you do right now but I'm not being a big baby about it." Hiccup laughed and Toothless snarled at him. "Come on, Toothless. Let's go get some food, bud." He patted the dragon on the head and the two of them went down to the docks.

Hiccup felt guilty beyond belief. He had willingly and eagerly kissed Camicazi and he couldn't blame alcohol, it was all his doing. He was technically engaged to Astrid and here he was getting the kiss of his life from a girl that was his best friend. A girl who was not his betrothed. He knew that him and Astrid hadn't exactly parted on the best of terms. He didn't even know if she would ever speak to him again and it's not like their engagement was official, but he still felt horrible about it. Half of him was seriously self loathing at the moment and the other half was seriously falling for Camicazi. He just wished things had officially ended with Astrid before things began with Cami but obviously life never goes the way you think it will. He figured he had some serious decisions to make... if he wanted to be with Astrid, he would need to go back to Berk and see if the situation could be mended. But if he wanted to be with Cami, he would need to end things with Astrid properly. He felt seriously confused. Things used to be so simple when he was younger and he was convinced he'd never get married.

Hiccup and Camicazi took off with Toothless in front of the entire village. They waved them off with kind words of good luck and hopes for all of them to return soon. Bertha had even hugged Hiccup and told him that she would be happy to have him come back to the village permanently. That was a big thing for Bertha... She tended to not be as warm as she could have been and Hiccup was touched by her kindness.

They flew for most of the night, going in random directions for fun to see where they would end up. When they were all almost falling asleep, they decided to land somewhere. They found an island with a village on it and landed deep in the woods. They made camp in a small clearing with dense enough forest to hide should they need to and they fell asleep quickly. Cami and Hiccup wandered into the village after they'd had some fish to eat and trained a little. Both of them were acting like nothing happened between them and the other was grateful. They both needed more time to make such a life changing decision.

The village was less than spectacular. It was a poor Viking village with limited resources and their numbers were so small that they ended up sticking out and people were not very friendly. Hiccup wanted to spread dragon awareness on this adventure but the Chief was less than thrilled with his visit. He had heard of Hiccup as the Bogburglar's had, but he was convinced there was something wrong with a Viking that accepted a dragon as a friend and immediately treated Hiccup with distrust.

They decided to move on that day, figuring it wasn't worth the risk, staying on the island for any length of time. Camicazi was positively affronted of their treatment and wouldn't leave until she'd had a chance to exact some revenge. After dark, she snuck into the Chief's house and stole all his valuables, including all his pairs of underwear. Before leaving the village, she tied the underwear together and hoisted them up on the flagpole. The Chief would be in for a rude awakening in the morning and Hiccup could only laugh. Although he wouldn't have the guts to do what she did, he took a secret pleasure in it because he felt there was no need for the dragon intolerance now that the Red Death was dead.

They were flying again in no time and were nearing another island when they heard agonizing cries of distress and Toothless' ears perked up. Hiccup gathered it was some type of dragon and they decided to go see if he or she needed any help. It was coming from the wooded area of the nearest island they saw. It didn't have a village on it like the last island, but that didn't mean there weren't any people there.

"Hiccup, clearly something is happening. If there are people there and they attack us, can you do what's necessary?" She asked him.

"I'll defend myself if I have to but I would rather try and resolve the problem before it gets to that if possible." He told her confidently and she nodded. They landed close to where the cries were coming from. The three of them moved with stealth as they neared the horrible sounds. As they came closer they heard voices.

"Try and get the beast calm! It's breaking the ropes!" Came one voice.

"Why don't we try and knock it out so it stops fighting us?" Came another. Cami looked at Hiccup and nodded at him. Hiccup whispered to Toothless to stay out of sight unless it was necessary for him to come. They didn't know how many people were there and they couldn't risk Toothless being captured. They came out from behind the trees to see a beautiful golden scaled dragon being held down by ropes. Her legs were tied together and she had gashes all over her body.

"Get away from her." Hiccup seethed.

"And what are you going to do about it boy?" Laughed the bulky man holding the dragoness' head roughly while he attempted to keep her jaw locked to avoid her flaming them clearly. Hiccup scanned the area and saw only four other men.

"Why are you doing this?" Cami asked fiercely.

"It's just a beast. It's going to be sacrificed at my Chief's wedding." Another man said.

"Well I can't allow that." Hiccup stated and they all laughed.

"You're out numbered little boy. Run along and take the tiny whore with you." One of the men said smugly and Hiccup saw red. Before he had time to think he'd thrown a dagger into the throat of the man that called Camicazi a whore and he flew backwards and was pinned to the nearest tree. The four remaining men gasped then turned to Hiccup in a rage.

"I think you got your answer." He spat. The four men dropped what they were doing and drew their weapons. Hiccup reached over his head and pulled his mace out with his right hand and unsheathed one of his swords with his left hand. Cami was ready when he glanced at her.

"So, are you big tough oafs ready to go to Hel?" She laughed darkly.

"As if, you shrimp. You'll pay for what you did boy." One of the men said.

"Maybe." He shrugged. "Or maybe you'll join him." He smiled maliciously. One man ran at Cami and she despatched him quickly while the other three went for Hiccup. Hiccup fought them off and when Cami was done she sunk her sword into the spine of one of the men leaving only two behind. Hiccup fought expertly and more than ever in that moment he appreciated Camicazi for teaching him. Moments later the remaining two were dead, leaving Hiccup and Camicazi panting. She smiled widely at him, giving him an approving look. He looked over at the bodies of the five men they had just fought and had to run behind a tree to throw up. Soon he felt a small warm hand rubbing his back and holding his hair back as he threw up his dinner.

"It's ok, Hiccup. It's ok." She soothed.

"I... I... killed..." He choked out before heaving again.

"Hiccup, they were torturing that poor dragon. They deserved it." She soothed him. She expected something like this. He was too tender hearted but she liked the fact that taking a life made him feel like this. It showed his goodness. She also couldn't help the warmth she felt at him defending her. Not that she needed it; she was a Bogburglar after all and could look after herself. But she liked it all the same.

"I wanted to work it out." He said after he finished, wiping his mouth with his sleeve. "But after what he said about you..." He trailed off.

"They weren't the types to talk things out, Hiccup. You know that. Now we don't have time to deal with it right now. That poor dragon needs our help. We can talk about this later." She said softly while stroking his cheek.

"Right. Let's go help her." He said and she nodded. They walked over to the beautiful golden dragon and surveyed the damage on her. She had stopped crying and was watching them intently. Hiccup moved up to her head and slowly placed his hand it. "It's ok, beautiful. We won't hurt you, girl. Let's get you freed from these ropes, what do you think?" He whispered to her. She nuzzled his hand and crooned. "Toothless?" He called and watched the dragon enter the clearing where the golden dragon lay. Toothless growled at the way she was tied down then nuzzled her side to comfort her. "Ok, sweet girl. Camicazi and I are going to untie you now." Hiccup told her, looking her in the eye. She had relaxed considerably since he spoke to her. Hiccup and Camicazi started cutting the ropes tied around her front and hind legs, then worked to remove the weighted ropes from her wings. Lastly, Hiccup gently removed the ties on her muzzle and sheathed his weapons so that she wouldn't feel threatened. She spread her wings and stretched her legs, then lay back down but in a more upright position. Toothless sat down as well, so Hiccup gathered they would stay with the new dragon for a little while. Camicazi looked on at her in awe then joined Hiccup at her head and sat beside him. She stretched her hand out the way she had with Toothless and the female dragon immediately put her nose to Cami's palm.

"You're just gorgeous, aren't you girl?" She smiled widely. The dragon purred happily as Cami scratched her scales lightly. Then the strangest thing happened. Her scales began to glow a faint blue colour and Hiccup and Cami stared at her open mouthed. "How did you do that?" Cami smiled at her and Toothless dragon laughed.

"We should really name you..." Hiccup said absently.

"Stormfly." Astrid said immediately and the dragon purred loudly.

"I think she likes that name." Hiccup smiled. "Stormfly. It suits her."

"Why don't we stay with her for a few days? That way we can patch her up and make sure she starts to heal properly." Cami looked at Hiccup with a pleading look that he couldn't refuse.

"That's a good idea, Cami. She needs some care after the horrible treatment those guys gave her... But... We have to get rid of..." Hiccup looked at his knees.

"I'll take care of it, Hiccup." Cami said quietly.

"You don't have to do that." He squeaked back then grimaced at himself.

"It's fine; it's not the first time for me. You just stay here and keep Stormfly happy. We'll both do what we know, ok?" She smiled at him.

"I'll... " Hiccup was relieved that he could sit this one out but he felt badly that he was leaving Cami to do the ugly job of the clean up.

"Honestly, stop worrying about it, Haddock." She smirked at him.

"Thanks." He smiled weakly at her. Toothless had sniffed the dead bodies and realised quickly what the problem was and what his boy had done so he did the only thing he could do for him. He comforted him. He lay his big head on Hiccup's lap and snuggled into him. He'd smelled Hiccup's sick and knowing his boy, he was taking this badly. "I'm alright, Toothless. I... knew that this day would come at some point. I'm just glad that Cami and you weren't hurt." He told his friend but accepted the comfort nonetheless.

Cami dug graves for the enemy men and tossed them in, covering them swiftly. She wanted to get back to Hiccup and the dragons as quickly as possible. She didn't know what kind of shape Hiccup would be in. She hurried back to the camp site to find Hiccup curled up and boxed in by both dragons. She couldn't have been gone for more than an hour and he was fast asleep with Toothless' head on his lap and Stormfly's wing wrapped around him. Camicazi smiled widely at the sight before her. It seemed the dragons could feel his distress and were comforting him. She could tell that Stormfly was a kind dragon since she could befriend a human so quickly after being tortured by others just hours before. Of course... Hiccup wasn't just any human.

Tell me what you think :)