Disclaimer: Yeah, I own HTTYD. Because I'm definitely from DreamWorks. *sarcasm*

Author's Note: Thanks so much for the reviews. Keep 'em coming, please! School is looming over me. Bleh. Hopefully this story will be finished soon. Enjoy!

Okay, so Hiccup was still really weird. Since when had Astrid ever been particularly attracted to the so-called normal Vikings from Berk? She had always considered Hiccup anti-social, but she didn't like people very much herself. She was sort of an outsider as well. No wonder he'd fallen for her. She couldn't say she had too but there was definitely something different about her.

She was very surprised with herself. Alone in that room she had no one else for company but that dragon. Hiccup really had done a good job patching up its tail. It must have gotten messed up when she shot it down. It was an impulse, jumping onto Toothless' back like that when he was about to take off. Maybe Hiccup wasn't really that bad. After all, he had managed to convince a very fierce and stubborn group of Vikings to change their ways and live with dragons!

Thanks to Hiccup, almost everyone on the Isle of the Bog-Burglars had a dragon of some sort. The only person left was Astrid. She had always found Deadly Nadders to be clever and stealthy trackers… If she had the option, that would be her dragon of choice.

One morning about a week after Hiccup's show in the arena, Astrid heard a knock on her door. She rose from bed and answered it. It was Hiccup.

"Hiccup?" She asked in surprise, but more surprised that she found herself absentmindedly trying to fix her hair, "What is it?"

He usually was so busy helping the Bog-Burglars out with their dragons or talking with Big-Boobied Bertha late into the night that even though he and Astrid were staying at the same house, they seldom saw each other. Astrid wondered why he wasn't busy.

"Hey, Astrid, uhhh… did you want to, ehm… pick out your dragon?" He asked awkwardly.

"Sure, I'd love to! Hold on a moment, I- need to get dressed." She hastily shut the door in his face and dressed in some of the clothes Camicazi had lent her. They were all too small but it was better to wear that than the only thing she had that did fit her, her wedding dress.

When she opened the door again, to find Hiccup twiddling his thumbs nervously, he made a Hiccup noise and stared at her exposed belly. "Uhh…"

Astrid rolled her eyes and pushed him out of the way. "Don't say anything." She warned, brandishing an axe that she found laying on the floor in his face.

"Put that away, Astrid," Hiccup said calmly, trying not to look intimidated by her, "No weapons in the arena, remember?"

"Right," she said sheepishly as he took it from her. She felt positively naked. Not only was she wearing clothes that made her feel so, but the thought of no weapons in a ring full of dragons made her slightly afraid.

As they walked down to the arena together, Astrid worried. Toothless was a different type of dragon. He'd already been trained. What if her dragon would behave differently?

Hiccup asked her, "Astrid, is everything alright? You seem…nervous."

"I'm fine," she said, her voice an octave higher than it usually was and blushing.

Great. Now even Hiccup knows how cowardly I am.

She stopped when she was about to enter the arena. Hiccup had taken his own idea of training Toothless in the arena and others used it as a space to train their own dragons. Vikings were flying their dragons within a reasonable height, trying to get used to the sensation of being many feet up in the air.

Hiccup took her hand and led her into the arena over to a gaggle of available dragons. For some strange reason, she did not let go. Instead, she squeezed his hand tightly. He was the only thing here to protect her from getting mauled by a dragon. She noted that Toothless wasn't following Hiccup as he usually did.

As they drew within a few yards of the dragons, they noticed her and blinked at her. Hiccup withdrew his hand. Astrid hurriedly grabbed his and whispered in his ear fearfully "What do I do now?"

"It's okay," he said, withdrawing his hand much more smoothly this time, "stick your arm out." Hiccup put his hand on Astrid's arm. She hesitantly extended it. "That's it, Astrid, you've got it. Now relax, and let him come to you."

She gulped and chanced a look into the yellow eyes of an approaching red Nadder. They stared back at her, curiously. She shut her eyes and waited.

In a few seconds, she saw that the Nadder had placed its face in her hand. She looked up at it in disbelief. No. She hadn't just… But she had. She stared up into the face of the Deadly Nadder. He was purring softly.

"He really likes you," said Hiccup.

Astrid drew her eyes from the hypnotic stare of the dragon and looked at Hiccup. He was grinning at her. She grinned back. "Hiccup, did you see?" she said, her excitement building, "I just touched a dragon! I touched my first dragon!"

His smile became sarcastic. "Does that mean Toothless doesn't count?"

"Yes, I mean, no- I mean… he was your dragon." Astrid stuttered.

"And now this one is yours." Hiccup said. He grabbed her hand and hurried to the Nadder's side. "Jump on."

"So soon?" Astrid asked in surprise, "How long did you wait until you started riding on Toothless? Didn't he just fly away before you could sit on his back?"

"We injured his tail, remember? He can't fly without help."

"Oh. Yes. We did. I forgot. But- this one can fly without help. What if he takes off before I'm ready?" She asked.

"Nothing's going to happen. He trusts you." Hiccup assured.

"You're sure?" she asked.

Hiccup nodded. "Positive. Relax."

Astrid closed her eyes and tried to be as calm as possible. She felt the warmth of Hiccup's hand in hers. Eventually, when her breaths were slow enough, he withdrew his hand. She opened her eyes.

The Nadder knelt down. She hesitantly put one of her legs over the dragon's back. She cautiously sat down upon its scaly back. The Nadder stood up. Unlike being on Toothless, there was nothing to strap her in if she were to fall.

"But there's no saddle. What if I fall off?" She asked.

"You won't fall off." said Hiccup who looked much smaller than he usually did, "You have to trust him. You do trust him, don't you?"

Astrid took another deep breath. "Yes."

"Just let him know when you're ready to go."

In an attempt to gain the face she lost while being afraid of her dragon, she put on a Viking face and dug her heel into the dragon's side. "YAAAAAAAAHHHH!"

And her Nadder zoomed off. The ground was much farther away than it had been seconds before. She could feel the beast's muscles in its back move as its wings flapped up and down. The cold wind rushed past her face. It felt as if she had left all her fear back on the ground.

Flying hadn't been nearly this much fun when she had ridden Toothless. Maybe because she was so scared. But this was different. This was her own dragon. After a moment, Hiccup whistled and the Nadder pulled into a dive. Astrid thought she would fall off. Her knees tightened. Soon, they were both back on the ground.

She hopped off her Nadder's back with glee. "Hiccup! Did you see that? I flew my own dragon! How high did I go?"

Hiccup looked much more impressed than Astrid had ever seen him with a Viking. "You two went higher than anyone I've ever trained."

"That doesn't count you and Toothless, does it?" She asked, putting her Viking face back on, trying not to be too impressed with what Hiccup had showed her to do.

Hiccup laughed. "Toothless trained me, Astrid." He corrected.

"How come you two didn't go up in the air that soon?" She challenged.

"We were the first ones to do it, both hesitant, almost as afraid as you were to fall."

Astrid felt something scaly nudge her. It was her Nadder. She stroked him. He wasn't at all as bad as Gobber had told her in dragon training. So much had changed since then. Three weeks ago, she would have rather eaten dragon poo than known that now she and Hiccup were staring at each other with smiles on their faces, she thinking him… brave.