"Tell me a story," Toothless said one night when we were lying under the stars. All the other dragons had fallen asleep about an hour ago while Toothless and I wrestled with insomnia.

"About what?"

"Your childhood."

"Then will you tell me about yours?" He shuffled in his spot next to me in the grass. He'd rolled over to lie on his back like I was.

"Yeah, I'll tell you, but you go first." I sighed.

"You already know I'm from Terra Muerte. I hatched about two months after Sonto. My other brother or sister never hatched. With such a sickly brother they said I'd either die when I was still young or when I hit adult hood, which was five years ago as of 18 days ago. Sonto was supposed to die as well. It was odd. I was only half his size at the time, and even he was considered small for his size. I'm still small, but I'm done growing. I should be twice your size. And Sonto… he's half my size now…. Even when he was bigger than me I was always… protective. And being small, I was always… underestimated. So I took care of myself in a way. I taught myself to hunt on the ground, learning to climb up and down trees. When I was a month old I was already flying. We're born with giant but weak wings, floppy and useless until you build them up strong. I taught myself to hunt from the skies. I was always flying. Eventually the wet season was here, so space in the tree canopies was getting sparse. Males had started fighting for more space and territories. My dad had won out space at the cost of his own life. Mom was so devastated…." Toothless looked at me.

"I never knew my mom," he started, no longer meeting my gaze. I looked at him, but he showed no emotion. "My dad taught me what I needed to know and left, so I was on my own at two. I learned to never rely on anyone for anything."

"But what happened here on Berk changed your mind. You rely on Hiccup, and he doesn't let your down."

"Yeah." The night was quiet, even the insects were at rest.

"Who rode you before?"

"I told you I don't let humans ride me."

"You told me you don't let them ride you anymore." I looked at him and he stared back expectantly.

"Her name was Maricela. We were friends. She betray me. I haven't trusted a human since."

"Does this story include details?"

"No." Silence.

"You were really close. Weren't you?"

"She was my best friend for four years," I said as a fat human fist-sized tear rolled from my eye and, following the curve of my face, eventually fell to the ground. I heard Toothless shift beside me and knew he was looking at me. I rolled on to my stomach to rest my head on my forepaws. "Her people were looking to settle on Terra Muerte. We steered clear of them, everyone but me. No one but Maricela knew about the existence of dragons, and even then she only knew of me. The other humans went on unaware. We spent time together. She brought me treats, and I gave her my scales and took her to fly once. I don't know. I thought things were going well. I was wrong. She turned on me, she killed my mother, and she hurt my kind."

Toothless shifted onto his stomach and looked at me, I looked, and rested his forehead on mine and nuzzled lightly. I understood that, among humans, this is a sign of affection, but in all truth – for dragons – it's a way of saying, "It is okay. I understand. I'm here for you." I nuzzled back, saying, "We're in this together." I guess you could say that was where our relationship started.

101010101010

The first suitor that Sonto picked out for me was a nadder, as were the second and third. The fourth, fifth, sixth, eight, and ninth were a gronkle, a hideous zippleback, two monstrous nightmares, and a red devil respectively. I noticed a pattern of running through all the different breeds of dragon on Berk. It didn't even come as a surprise when Toothless was my final suitor. To add insult to injury, I was in heat so many dragons had been pestering me as it was and I was a little more than irritable.

"You don't have to do this. It can be one of those, 'let's not and say we did' moments," Toothless told me the morning I was to meet up with him.

"I can't. I'm a dragon of my word." He nodded his understanding. It was, without a doubt, kind of awkward. It's not every day you must try your best friend for a mate, but then again the bet was made before the pact of friendship that night we each learned of our pasts.

"What do you want to do?" I asked. He did the dragon equivalent of a shrug. There really wasn't much to do on Berk.

"We could break some rules," Toothless suggested. We only really had one rule. Hiccup and Bennta didn't like us to wander far from the village. I didn't like this rule. Why worry about two perfectly-capable-of-protecting-themselves dragons?"

"I'd like that," I said. We ran to the other side of the island, Toothless leading not just because he knew the way, but because he was extremely fast. Finally we slipped on mud and slid at least 100 feet down a steep hill into a mud bank near a cave. It was almost dark – for humans, I mean, dragons can see in the dark – except for the light glow of glow worms dangling on the stalactites. Little pools of water reflected the ceiling like mirrors and a beautiful whistle sound echoed through the cave every time the wind blew. It was the kind of setting you put two lovers in. I looked at Toothless, and… he looked different. Not how he was looking at me, but that was different too. I couldn't help but see him as an eligible male dragon while I was a female looking for my mate – which is more or less the case. He looked at me with sheer want. His ears lay flat and his body was rigid with restraint only a matured, young, male dragon could have. I sat on my haunches, hoping to hide my pheromones to make it easier on him. We may have been best friends with no love for each other that extended any further than a friendship, but Toothless was still a young, hormonal male. Our eyes stayed connected for what felt like the longest time, but I blinked and we snapped out of it.

Later that day, in my room I questioned the relationship I had with Toothless. At last, I reached the conclusion that I may have a crush on him, but I couldn't be sure. He was, after all, my first crush. I don't know. Maybe I should've seen it coming, for he was the only male dragon aside from my brother with whom I've managed to get along – considering he was about the only unrelated male who, upon meeting, didn't ask if he could mount me or try without asking. Toothless was already more of a gentle-dragon, and I couldn't say he wasn't exactly attractive. He was very handsome.

He also knew more about my past than any dragon except Sonto. I'd never felt comfortable enough to tell anyone else about my past relationship with humans and how that affected my relationship with Bennta now. As I mulled all this over, Sonto walked in. Something about his body language said he expected a different response to Toothless than the way I responded to the other nine dragons I had tried for mates.

"So how'd it go?" Sonto asked, expectantly, almost hopefully.

"It was…," What the best word to describe it? "Nice." He nodded.

"Good," he said and walked out, a pleased expression on his face. I wasn't lying. I genuinely could say I had a good time. We recounted primeravi – first flight.

~Primeravi~

Toothless and I returned to the beach near the village sometime around sunset to bathe in the sea and wash the mud from our scales. My scales glittered a golden, pearly color and reflected on the water sending glow around me. I began to clean around me, my saliva breaking down the mud caked into the grooves of my scales, while Toothless did the same. A while later we were bathed in moonlight. We sat on the beach cleaning each other. Well, I was done, but I was cleaning his back in the spots he couldn't reach. Playfully, I flicked my tongue under his chin. Like all dragons, it was his weak spot. He collapsed in a heap, and I laughed a little before lying down next to him. He rolled his eyes but had a contented look on his face. He blanketed one of his large wings over me, and I sighed happily, enjoying the warmth of another body and the beauty of the night.

"Toothless," I began, "What was primeravi like for you?"

"My first flight?" He paused, mulling his answer over. "Exhilarating. I never wanted to return to land once I got the hang of it. I was scared at first, falling head first off a cliff face. But when I just…"

"Let go?" I filled in. He nodded. "I know what you mean. Nothing is more terrifying than the feeling of vulnerability during that first freefall or the thought that you can't do it until you really start to feel the rush that says, 'I can do this,'" I recounted.

It was quiet for a moment after that. I'm not sure why but we just looked at each other. It wasn't awkward. It wasn't a stare down. It was a connection, and somehow I knew that he knew as well as I did that both of us would be doing this again."