A/N:I actually meant to get this out yesterday but it seems the universe was conspiring against me, in the form of a windy of a tree falling on power lines and cutting power to my entire suburb for like twelve hours and it was 43 fricken degrees! (Celsius.) I spent the day half melting and wondering if that was how I was going to die, fortunately the power did eventually come back, but it was like four in the morning when it did and I was very much asleep at the time, but hey, more chapters!
Hiccup pressed himself against a rock as he peered into the small cove he had found the Nightfury in the day before, glancing around slowly as he walked into the area, finding the dragon had apparently disappeared 'Did it finally fly away?' He thought when he heard something grate on the rock behind him, turning his head slowly and making no sudden movements he held a large fish out in front of him, the dragon's bright green eyes narrowed on him for a moment as it moved off of its perch, Hiccup took a deep breath as its nose lifted into the air in curiosity, sniffing at the dead fish, before it's eyes darted to his waist and it took a quick hop back, letting out a growl in his direction, Hiccup glanced down at the weapon curiously, keeping his movements slow and deliberate he untied the weapon from his waist and tossed it back into the cave he had exited, the dragon calmed the moment it felt no danger, it's pupils dilated and it hopped towards the boy, curiously smelling his clothing as it watched him.
Hiccup held the fish out towards the animal, it's mouth opened slowly revealing a gummed more suspiciously devoid of any teeth "Huh, Toothless I could have sworn you had," He cut off as a row of sharpened teeth clicked down and the dragon snapped the fish from his hand, the boy started and slipped falling onto his back with a heavy thud "Teeth." He finished almost silently as he rolled back to his feet.
The dragon tilted it's head towards him as it moved, Hiccup lifted an eyebrow at it moved towards him "Sorry, I only brought the one." He announced calmly.
The dragon paused, as if understanding, a strange noise escaped the dragon as it bobbed it's head, before a small section of half chewed, dragon saliva coated fish fell into the boys lap, Hiccup suppressed the urge to throw up as he watched the dragon carefully, it bobbed it's head forward and it's tongue snapped at its lip quickly.
Hiccup rolled his eyes as he lifted the piece of fish to his mouth slowly and bit into it, he winced at the feeling of the 'food' in his mouth, he made a quick hum "Mmm." He half smiled, forcing his body to not empty the contents of his stomach through force of will alone.
The dragon moved its head again and made a loud 'gulp' noise.
Hiccup paled and deflated slightly "Mmm," He hummed in annoyance before placing his fist against his chest and swallowing hard, he felt his body attempt to reject the food, he slapped a hand over his mouth and swallowed again "Ugh." He sounded in disgust.
The dragon watched him curiously, Hiccup let a small gap toothed smile fall on his face, the dragon watched the expression for a moment before its mouth opened slightly, what could only be described as a smile on the dragons face, Hiccup lifted a hand toward the animal slowly, it's teeth extended and it let out a growl, quickly moving to the opposite side of the cove away from him.
Hiccup sighed as he got to his feet 'baby steps then, okay.' He thought undeterred as he left the cove and returned to Berk.
He arrived in the square quickly enough, looking around at the people bustling around calmly as he made his way to the forge, he moved passed Gobber silently and into the back room, placing his helmet on his desk and retrieving his apron, he enjoyed the forge in the morning, it helped focus his mind on something other than all the contradictions between the dragons and what the Vikings had told him, he rubbed at his face and stretched as he made his way back into the forge.
Gobber and Hiccup had quickly fallen into an unspoken routine, Hiccup would move to the bellows and begin balancing the fire before as the older man took the more elaborate orders from the people at the front of the forge, Hiccup would then switch places with the blacksmith so he could fulfill those orders and Hiccup would take care of sharpening and hilt repair.
So when Hiccup sat down at the grindstone with a large axe in his arms, he was surprised when Gobber spoke "How are ye feeling today lad?"
"Better," Hiccup replied quickly "I don't think we will have a repeat of yesterday if that's what you're asking." He finished simply, the sound of metal on stone filled the air as Hiccup moved back to the counter and handed the man his axe, who examined the blade with a nod and sauntered off.
"Good," Gobber nodded "I know I said I'd help you with those wild instincts of yours, but I didn't expect something quite like that, you looked like you were about to seriously hurt your cousin."
"Just punch him," Hiccup shrugged "I doubt I'd go further than that, I do have a little bit of control."
"Aye, still, fortune favors the careful." Gobber replied sagely, closing his eyes as he nodded.
Hiccup chuckled "Wise old man doesn't suit you."
"It could, I'm wiser and older than any other man in this village," Gobber countered throwing his interchangeable hand at the boy, the tongs hit the wall above Hiccups head with a light thud "You had best start calling me Gobber the wise!"
Hiccup laughed "The village is doomed if it takes 'learning on the job' as it's training method." He replied sarcastically, a hint of seriousness in his voice.
Gobber gave a hearty laugh and the forge settled back into a simple silence.
"Alright, I'll take care of the rest you had better be getting over to the arena, we've an interesting day planned." Gobber warned, simply winking at the boys confusion.
Hiccup nodded his head, retreating into his office he retrieved his helmet and placed the apron on the hook before leaving with a final wave to Gobber, the man waved his hook back as the boy left, turning back to his work.
Hiccup arrived at the arena, surprised to find he was the first there and the entire place was built to reflect a large wooden maze, he sat with his back against the wall, beside a long line of shields propped against the stone and closed his eyes, breathing heavily in an attempt to further control his mind and avoiding any incidents like the day before.
Apparently the gods wanted to test the boy.
"Oh, It's just wild boy," Hiccup's left eye cracked open taking in the appearance of the new arrival, Snotlout snorted at him, wiping his nose.
"Sorry about yesterday, I was…tired." Hiccup responded, it wasn't entirely untrue.
"Oh, no, it's fine," Snotlout started defensively "I mean, I understand not everyone can be on top of their game all the time like I can."
Hiccup's open eye narrowed ever so slightly in irritation "Well, I hope we can avoid incidents like that in the future." He replied truthfully.
"Yeah," Snotlout pulled his arm over his head and stretched out casually "Right, another thing I figure I should tell you quickly."
Hiccup raised an eyebrow.
"Astrid and I are kinda a thing, so don't getting your hopes up too much." Snotlout announced cockily, pointing his thumb at himself.
Hiccup let a small smirk fall on his face.
"What, what's funny?" Snotlout asked, oblivious to the blonde walking up behind him, if her facial expression gave away anything, she had most definitely heard.
"What kinda thing would that be, Jorgenson?!" She demanded angrily.
Hiccup suppressed his laugh as the boy stiffened and then paled "Nothing, we're not any kind of thing, I wouldn't even call us friends." Snotlout spoke rapidly, the words tumbling out of his mouth in a constant fearful stream.
Astrid seemed satisfied as she moved passed the black haired boy she slammed the hilt of her axe into his stomach for good measure, Snotlout groaned and fell onto his side.
Astrid sat beside Hiccup quickly, removing a small stone she began sharpening the blade meticulously, eyeing Snotlout with a glare every now and again.
Hiccup suppressed a laugh each time the boy paled.
A few minutes after, Fishlegs and the Twins arrived. Each gawking at the large maze for a few seconds before moving over to join them.
"What happened to Snotlout?" Tuffnut asked curiously
"He said we were a thing." Astrid replied flatly.
"Yeah, the only one Astrid would want to be a thing with is Hiccup." Ruffnut teased
The girl's head didn't move and she continued sharpening her axe without responding, although Hiccup did hear her breath hitch ever so slightly.
"Wait, I'm confused, what thing?" Tuffnut asked watching his sister, the girl rolled her eyes and whispered something into her brothers ear, his eyes widened in realization "Oh, you mean how you want to be with fi-." A sharp elbow to the gut him off.
Gobber arrived before anyone else could speak "Today is about survival!" He announced loudly from outside the arena, drawing the teens attention, each of them quickly grabbed a shield as the man moved around the ring to a lever to one of the cages, a squawk from the inside indicated it was a Deadly Nadder.
Hiccup drew his knife slowly as he backed towards the entrance of the maze, Astrid only a step behind him, Gobber pushed the leave down quickly the cage snapped open and the dragon hopped forward, tail extending behind it as a volley of spikes flew at the teens, Astrid and Hiccup ducked into the maze to avoid them, the other teens blocked with their shields as they too entered the maze, the Nadder jumped onto the large wooden barricades and squawked down at them.
Hiccup rounded a corner and did a quick side step, Astrid stepped around the corner a moment after him and he grabbed her wrist, pulling her out of the way of a wave of fire quickly, she flicked her bangs out of her eyes and gave him a curt nod of thanks as the pair moved again, Hiccup's head watching the top of the barricades closely, the sound of another fire blast at the opposite end of the arena allowed him to relax slightly, but only for a moment as the twins raced around the corner at the opposite end of the small lane, Nadder fire cutting a path behind them, Hiccup glanced at Astrid for a moment before the pair split, Hiccup darting around a corner almost bumped into the burly form of Fishlegs, Astrid spun round Snotlout and continued passed him, the black haired boy followed after her closely, but far enough back she couldn't hit him.
Hiccup's head snapped up at the sound of a Squawk, Fishlegs moved passed him, the Nadder flung another volley of tail spikes at him, the stocky Viking blocked with his shield and darted around the corner, the Nadder's head train of Hiccup and the brown haired boy rolled his eyes in annoyance.
He dived to the left as fire incinerated the maze wall behind him, rolling to his feet he broke into a dead sprint, Nadder spikes painted the wall a hair's breadth behind him, he dropped into a slide to avoid the last few and dragged himself to his feet moving away from the best, the twins rounded a corner to find themselves face to face with the beast as Gobber spoke.
"Look for its blind spot, every dragon has one, find it, hide in it, then strike." Gobber explained, the twins froze, the dragon tilted it's head to the side and let out a confused squawk, wondering how the two Vikings had managed to disappear.
Ruffnut only managed to stay behind her brother silently for a moment "Ugh, do you ever bathe?" She kneed her brother in the back, the boy elbow backed
"It's not my fault, I'm letting my own personal musk set in." Tuffnut responded flatly
The pair continued to strike each other "If you don't like it why don't you just get your own blind spot?!" Tuffnut demanded
Ruffnut slammed her head against her brothers "How about I give you one?"
The pair split as the dragon spewed fire at them.
"A blind spot dragons have, a deaf spot, not so much." Gobber quipped chuckling to himself as he picked something out of his teeth.
Hiccup rounded a corner slowly, noticing Astrid and Snotlout crouched at the corner a little ahead of him he moved into a similar position behind him, Astrid peered round the corner carefully before whipping back and flattening her back against the wall, she glanced at the pair for a moment before nodding and rolling across the gap.
Snotlout followed and Hiccup peered around the corner, an action he quickly concluded was a mistake as the Nadder had heard Snotlout's roll and was looking at the corner as he did so, fire slammed into the wall where his head had been and he darted to his feet, disappearing back the way he had came, the Nadder's head came around the corner and Astrid readied her axe before Snotlout roughly pushed her aside.
"Whoa, watch out babe I got this." He boasted, flipping his small mace and tossing it, the weapon clattered against the wooden maze uselessly, the Nadder stopped for only a moment to look at the weapon before moving towards them.
Astrid just stared at Snotlout in disbelief, the boy glanced at her then at the dragon.
"The sun was in my eyes Astrid, okay? What do you want me to do block out the sun I can do that but I'm busy right now." His voice progressively got lower as he dodged out of the way of the fire blast, leaving Astrid to fend off the Nadder's attacks on her own, she ducked a weaved the deadly onslaught of attacks, the beast struck the maze with the blunt of its tail as it moved after her, Astrid darted up the now collapsing maze, landing on the top of a wooden barrier as it was unbalanced, Snotlout shoved passed Hiccup roughly and the boy struck the wall of the maze.
"Hiccup!" Came a loud shot of warning, Hiccup's head shot up as Astrid lost her footing on the maze wall and fell towards him, Hiccup sidestepped deftly and Astrid landed in his arms with a soft thud, axe blade hitting the ground with a metallic chink.
Astrid's eyes cracked open at the sound, she stared at Hiccup in surprise, she could see the smile on his face even through his mask.
"Dropping in?" He questioned playfully.
Astrid rolled her eyes and gave him a light back handed slap, it barely scraped against his chest piece as she pushed herself out of his arms and grabbed her axe, all the while fighting thoughts that would most definitely cause her to blush.
A squawk brought the attention of the pair back to the Nadder, Hiccup had dropped his blade when he caught Astrid, fortunately he still had a firm grip on his shield, he nodded to Astrid as the pair moved towards the dragon, he moved slightly in front of her locked against the shield as he eyed the dragon carefully.
It's tail snapped out spines flew at them, Hiccup battered them to the side and gestured with his head, the pair rolled out of the way of the follow up blast of fire, Hiccup slid to his knee and held the shield up like a platform, Astrid stepped off it into the air, bring the axe around the top of her head, Hiccup watched the dragon slowly, realizing it had already moved, he moved to Astrid's left and planted his feet on the upturned section maze, it's tail slammed into his shield and he was sent flying back, Astrid's axe missed the dragons nose by a hairs breath as Hiccup slammed into her side, the pair rolled to a crouched position as they landed, Hiccup winced as he heard the Nadder hiss at them, He stepped forward and spun, tossing his shield at the Nadder like a Frisbee, the shield intercepted the fire blast from the Nadder and exploded in its face, the animal squawked in pain as it pieces of metal and wood slammed into its face.
Gobber had entered the arena at some point and led the Nadder back to its cage, Hiccup stretched his arms above his head slowly, making sure nothing was broken, apart from some miner discomfort he concluded that at worst he'd have some bruising.
He turned to Astrid and held out his hand "Sorry, forgot about the tail."
Astrid took the offered hand slowly, now that adrenaline had worn off she was more aware of the boy next to her, her cheeks colored ever so slightly as she grabbed his hand and he pulled her to her feet.
"N-No, I did too so thanks." She internally growled at the damned stutter.
Hiccup removed his helmet silently and rubbed tiredly at his face, he looked at his hand after a moment, noticing a strange tingle in his fingertips, he frowned at the appendage and then look at the back of Astrid who was walking away from him and talking to Ruffnut about something.
'I didn't realize she was so…soft.' He thought, tilting his head to the side in confusion, 'Why am I realizing this now.' He shook his head roughly and placed the helmet back on his head as he left the arena.
The next morning he once again found himself in the Nightfury's cove, this time lugging a large basket of fish, he figured a larger serving might make the beast a little more inclined not let him stay long. He abandoned his blade at the entrance as he entered.
"Okay, Toothless," The dragon heard the voice and lifted its head at the boy as he set the basket down and kicked it over, fish spewed out of it "I've got salmon, some nice Icelandic Cod and a whole smoked eel."
The dragon took a quick sniff of the food before its teeth descended and a loud growl reverberated from its throat, he started and glanced at the eel, grabbing the thing by its tail he lifted it, the Nightfury let out a loud terrified shriek and Hiccup started.
"Okay, it's okay," He tossed the eel into the lake quickly "Yeah, I'm not much for eel either."
With the eel gone, the dragon began eating quickly, Hiccup moved around the beast slowly, getting a better look at the tail, he looked at the fin for a moment, at this distance he could tell that the fin had been severed in half by the crash, what he didn't know is how that would impact the Nightfury's ability to fly, he rubbed at his chin calmly, removing his journal he drew the other side of the fin quickly and pocketed the book, the Nightfury had finished eating and was now just eying him curiously.
It walked towards him and sniffed the inside of his pouch, nudging it with its nose, Hiccup glanced at where he had returned the book and pulled it back out, flipping to the picture of a Nightfury he showed it to Toothless slowly, the dragon looked at the picture curiously and sniffed, before concluding it didn't really care and it walked away.
It breathed a constant stream of fire into the ground and settled on the warmth slowly, laying it's head down and covering it with its tail.
Hiccup's curiosity got the better of him as he moved towards the dragon again, he reached for the tail fin slowly, before it moved down and the dragon gave him a low warning growl, Hiccup retracted his hand as if it had been burned and darted to his feet, walking away from the dragon.
Hiccup grabbed a long stick and sat down, removing his helmet he placed it on the ground beside him as he rested his cheek against his palm, he heard a tree groan and glanced at the Nightfury, currently dangling upside down like bat.
He chuckled to himself at the sight and began scratching against the dirt with the stick, first drawing the upside down Nightfury, he wiped it away with his boot after he had finished, he started scratching again, just the dragons head.
The dragon's ears twitched at the sound of the stick being scratched against dirt, it's eyes opened and it peered at the boy on the stone for a moment, before flipping around and moving towards him slowly, curiously peering over his shoulder.
Hiccup's nervousness didn't show as he continued scratching the image of the Nightfury, after a moment it seemed to get bored, he glanced around in time to see it walk off on its hind legs, another interesting sight that forced him to suppress a chuckle.
Toothless grabbed a hold of the branch it was sleeping on and yanked on it hard, it snapped away from the tree with a loud crack.
Hiccup watched the dragon curiously, as it moved back towards him, dragging the large stick through the dirt, it moved around him quickly, large spiral patterns opening in the ground, a set of leaves hit the back of his head and he ducked slightly, Toothless paused and made a small dot in the ground, it finished and placed the large stick against the ground, it's tongue flicked out over its top lip as Hiccup got to his feet, looking at the large scribble beneath him in surprise.
He moved to step out of it and his foot fell on the lines, a growl sounded and he lifted his leg quickly, glancing at Toothless, the growling stopped at a calm sound left the dragon, sound similar to a purr, he put his foot back on the line and it growled, lifted and the same purr, he set his foot back down and it growled again moving onto its front leg as if preparing to pounce, Hiccup smirked as he stepped over the line, moving through the drawing and avoiding stepping on it, he found himself at the edge, a sharp breath stirring the hair on the back of his head.
He looked up at the dragon, which peered down at him, with a slight turn of its head, Hiccup lifted his hand again, the dragon growled slightly and Hiccup retreated before the growling stopped quickly, however unlike the day before the Nightfury didn't immediately flee from him.
Hiccup took a quick breath and held out his hand, inclining his head slightly as he reached towards the dragon, he paused a few inches from it and the dragon glanced at him, then at the hand before leaning it's nose into his palm, Hiccup's eyes widened as the smooth scales met his hand, a small smirk fell on his face as he turned to look at the dragon, it's bright green eyes watching him. It shook it's head and snorted, his hand fell back to his side as the dragon moved away from him slowly, returning to the burnt patch of ground and laying down.
Hiccup stared at his hand and a grin form on his face as he left the cove.
He arrived at the forge a few moments late, having not left the cove as quickly as he had originally planned, he darted passed Gobber and pulled his apron on, tossing his helmet onto his desk quickly and replayed the events of the day before, he got the fire going quickly, although interrupting his usual routine, Astrid arrived with her axe, apparently wanting it sharpened, Snotlout followed a small distance behind her.
Hiccup smirked slightly as he took the axe and moved to the grindstone, Astrid leaned against a wall while she waited, Hiccup was hyper aware of every shift in the girls position, the slow hop from foot to foot as she searched for a topic to discuss, the slight rub of her arm when she couldn't find out anything she thought was interesting enough.
Snotlout continued to inch closer to her, Hiccup's eyes narrowed on the boy, not in anger, he just noticed, he shook his head abruptly as he refocused on the weapon 'Why would I care if he gets closer to her?' He questioned into the back of his own mind.
"Anyone else smell smoked eel?" Snotlout suddenly questioned
The room turned their noses in the air quickly, the boy was right it did hand in the air, Hiccup shrugged "There were a few when I went to get breakfast this morning, maybe the smells stuck on me."
He'd never tell them he figured the smell might be useful in today's test so he had wrapped one around his stomach underneath his armor, an action his kind of regretted every time the slimy dead animal rubbed against him.
He shivered slightly as the eel rubbed against his back, he brought the axe up and examined it, he handed it to Astrid after he concluded it was sufficiently sharp, the girl did her own inspection and Hiccup shot Snotlout a glare that caused the boy to put some distance between himself and Astrid, the girl missed the look as she turned back to the boy and thanked him.
At the realization she would be walking to the arena alone with Snotlout, Hiccup stiffened, annoyance evident on his face as he turned to Gobber.
"Off you go, I'll be there soon." Gobber waved off with a suggestive smirk, as he knew exactly what was on Hiccup's mind.
"Astrid," He called quickly, the girl paused and turned around, giving him a silent questioning look "I, uh, just finished up, why don't we head over t-together?" He asked, suddenly more nervous than he felt he should be 'What is happening to me?'
"Yeah, sure." Astrid responded calmly, even if she was curious at Hiccup's sudden change in character.
He nodded gratefully as he turned around, the immense relief that she had said yes was unmistakable as he retrieved his helmet and placed it on, he fell into step beside the other two as they moved towards the arena.
Hiccup racked the inside of his head, he was aware of his change in character, but he didn't know how to stop it or why it even started in the first place, the only thing he could remember being out of the ordinary was when she took his hand the da before, the tingling in his fingers had been a foreign feeling to him, the day after he suddenly felt possessive and nervous asking her if he could walk with her, he glanced at Snotlout quickly the black haired boy moved forward a few steps and turned in front of Astrid "When I win dragon training how about me and you go out?" He asked the blonde confidently.
Astrid rolled her eyes in disgust "You have a better chance getting killed than winning dragon training." She responded flatly
"So, is that a yes or a no?" Snotlout asked in confusion
Hiccup gritted his teeth a the boy "It's a 'no' you bumbling muttonhead!" He practically growled, his tone made the pair beside him start slightly, he took a deep breath.
"At least I'm pretty sure it's a no." He added, tone returning to neutral.
"Let me clarify for you," Astrid offered taking a she toward the black haired boy and slugging in the stomach hard as she could, he groaned in pain, the small half smirk staying on Astrid's face the whole time "Clarified?"
The boy nodded his head "Yep, got it." He announced, taking off towards the arena ahead of them.
Again, Hiccup felt relief, although he never thought Astrid would ever agree to go with Snotlout, any minute possibility that his Astrid would taken from him was…his thoughts trailed off 'Mine? My Astrid?' He clarified in his own head, the realization of what was happening to him hit him like a falling dragon, he stared at the blond girl walking a confident step ahead of him, she noticed his look and turned around, flashing him a rare smile and his heartbeat quickened against his ribcage "What?"
Hiccup snapped out of his stupor with a shake of his head 'Uh, Nothing, just thinking about…some things."
Astrid shrugged as the pair arrived at the arena, they quickly realized that the arena was devoid of any weapons at all, Hiccup was glad that he had something to distract himself, the Twins and Fishlegs arrived a few moments later, Hiccup distracted himself by talking to Fishlegs as Ruffnut walked over to Astrid.
"Did you do something to Hiccup?" The twin asked in confusion, glancing at the armored boy out of the corner of her eye, he seemed to regret bringing up dragons to talk with Fishlegs.
Even Astrid winced at the animated nature of Fishlegs talking, Hiccup did his best to appear interested.
"No, nothing out of the ordinary has happened since yesterday, he sharpened my axe at the forge," Astrid placed a finger against his chin "He keeps glaring at Snotlout whenever he gets near me, as if that's something new." She grimaced as she shot her own piercing glare at the boy.
Ruffnut frowned "So, What as the unordinary thing that happened yesterday?"
Astrid colored slightly "I held his hand," She paused "Only for a second, when he picked me up, you know, I didn't realize guys hands are so much bigger than girls." Astrid rambled in a hushed excited tone.
Ruffnut smirked "So, he held your hand and he's suddenly possessive?"
"That's one way to look at it I guess, why?" Astrid questioned
Ruffnut shrugged, doubting Hiccup would want her to spill the beans "I don't know, just an observation."
Before Astrid could question the other girl further, Gobber arrived, the one legged man moved around the arena, retrieving the weapons of the teens and replaced them with buckets of water, they eyed the man in confusion.
"Now, a wet dragon head can't light it's fire," He moved to the cage that contained the Zippleback "The Hideous Zippleback is extra tricky, one head breaths gas, the other head, ignites it."
He pushed the leaver and the caged smashed open, a cloud of green gas bellowing from it and surrounding the teens, slowly obscuring there sightlines.
"Razor sharp fangs inject venom for predigestion, or it might go with its ambush attack, crushing it's victims-" Fishlegs cut off as Hiccup spoke.
"Would you please stop that!" He growled angrily in annoyance.
Fishlegs pursed his lips closed, noticing the other boys agitation, he opened his mouth to say something but decided against it, opting to circle around the boys back and watch his blind spot.
Hiccup eyed the gas carefully, more worried about Astrid than himself, even if the thought was illogical.
Astrid and Ruffnut continued to circle each other as they watched for the Zippleback, the gas began to clear slightly and they heard a loud shout, the girls snapped to the source of the sound as a wall of water slammed into them, Astrid's breath drew in quickly as the ice cold water soaked straight into her tunic and hair.
The gas cleared enough to see Tuffnut and Snotlout, buckets obviously empty.
Tuffnut laughed "Hah, your butts must be getting bigger we thought you were a dra-." He cut off when his sisters bucket slammed into his nose.
"Not that there's anything wrong with a dragonesque fig-." Snotlout also cut off when Astrid punched him in the face, her own bucked splashed against the ground.
Hiccup and Fishlegs emerged from the gas at the scene, they could piece what had happened together, Fishlegs heard a sharp hiss from his left as a head emerged from the gas, he shifted his grip on the bucket and threw it on the head, it hissed in discomfort for a moment before gas leaked from its mouth.
"Oh, wrong head." He sounded as if it was an afterthought, the head sprayed him with gas and he bolted behind Gobber, Hiccup watched the dragon calmly, waiting for the second head to emerge as the first retreated into the gas.
A head emerged from the gas again, it twisted towards him slowly, his eyes narrowed on it carefully, before a single droplet of water fell from its head and splashed against the ground, Hiccup's face twisted into a small smirk, he held still as the second head slithered out of the gas, he threw the bucket at the beast, it surprised him when the first head cut into the waters path, the water splashed uselessly over the gas spewing head.
"Oh come on." Hiccup sounded in his nasally tone.
The dragon hissed and moved towards him, his foot caught a discard shield and he toppled backwards, Gobber bounced on his leg as he moved towards the boy before freezing.
"Back!, that's right back!" Hiccup shouted as he moved towards the dragon, it continued to retreat from him "Back inside your cage," He glanced at the people behind him as he stealthily removed the eel from under his shirt "And think about what you've done." He added in a whisper dropping the eel on the ground of the cage and closing the cage.
The group stared at him in open eyed surprise, not a sound could be heard in the arena until Fishlegs bucked fell out of his hands, the sound caused the group to start slightly "Maybe the Dragonboy of Berk was more suited to you than we thought." Gobber joked loudly, slapping Fishlegs on the back with his hook.
The group joined the laughter, including Hiccup albeit his laugh was slower and slightly nervous.
As the laughter died down, Gobber spoke again "Tonight we'll be eating up there, I'll answer a few of your dragon related questions if you have any."
The group nodded, a breeze blew through the arena, Astrid rubbed at her arms as her teeth chattered, the cold water and cold breeze not doing wonders for her comfort, Hiccup grimaced as he removed his chest piece, he pulled his thick undershirt over his head and handed it to the blonde, Astrid took the piece of fabric without fully turning around, until Ruffnut let out a loud wolf whistle from the other end of the arena, Astrid turned with a questioning glance, Hiccup gave her a small smirk, she could tell by the way he tilted his head to the side and his eyes glowed ever so slightly.
Her eyes trailed down his shirtless body, she certainly liked what she saw, whilst he looked skinny and slightly weak, his body was toned to almost perfection, she assumed I was from many years of training in the wild to hunt, her mouth watering view was taken from her when he pulled her armor back over his head and strapped it closed, he gave her a confused look when he realized she was just open mouthed gaping at him, his shirt held limply in her hand.
She shook her head and snapped out of her trance, he averted his gaze as he moved passed her, glad that his mask hid the bright blush on his face, not that he didn't enjoy her reaction to his body, it was still quiet embarrassing.
Astrid looked down at her wet shirt and quickly removed it, the icy breeze on her skin was worse, she quickly pulled the undershirt over her head, she suppressed a moan of relief at it's absurd warmth, it hung over her loosely, she was glad the neck was quite large enough to slink over her shoulder, even if it did almost hang low enough to show off her chest binding, she was glad for the warmth. She took a deep breath of in the comfort, a scent she could only describe as Hiccup filled her lungs and she shivered slightly 'He was right when he said that smoked eel smell stuck, it's still here.' She thought as she retrieved her axe and moved out of the arena.
Hiccup moved back to his home quickly retrieving another short, he slid it on and left for the point Gobber had directed them too, he was surprised to find Astrid there before him, still clad in his shirt, she held a large chicken over a fire, watching the meat cook idly, his shirt was just a little bit too big for her, the arms hung over her knuckles, leaving just a small amount of her slender finger grasping the stick, the neck dipped dangerously low on her chest, he sat beside her rigidly, she started only just realizing he was there.
Her cheeks colored slightly as she realized she was still in his shirt, it was just too warm, she had dumped her wet shirt in her room and pretty much ran up to this point "Sorry, I figured we were supposed to be quick, so I didn't bother changing again." She said quickly, using that as her excuse.
"Oh, uh, it's fine," Hiccup waved off, spiking a cod on a stick and handing over the fire "I have like twelve so it's not an issue."
She raised an eyebrow at the boy beside her questioningly, wondering why he was so rigid, she had been closer to him than this and he never seemed stiff, her mouth turned in a mischievous grin as her eyes glinted, she shifted closer to him ever so slightly "It's cold out tonight." It wasn't entirely untrue, it was cold tonight, although she couldn't really feel it as she inched towards the boy beside her.
"Y-Yeah," If he noticed her movement he didn't let on about it "It is a bit."
The other arrived soon after, Ruffnut took a single glance at the pair and sat on the opposite side of Astrid, Fishlegs sat beside her and Snotlout and Tuffnut took the small seats on the other side of the fire, Gobber was against the last to arrive, bringing more food in a cart behind him.
A night of questions and eventually Gobber was telling the story of how her had lost his limbs, Astrid had succeeded in her goal of getting as close to Hiccup as possible, even going as far as resting her cheek on his shoulder, the boy had eventually relaxed from the contact, he surprised her when partway through the story his arm slipped around her back and squeezed her hip lightly.
"And with one twist the Nightmare swallowed it whole," Gobber animated pointing at his hook "And I saw the look on his face, I was delicious," He paused for a moment "He must have passed the word, because it wasn't a month before another took my leg."
"How can you be sure it wasn't the same one?" Hiccup questioned jokingly.
Gobber opened his mouth to respond, but he had no real proof it wasn't the same dragon, he just settled with a shrug.
"Isn't it weird to think that your hand was inside a dragon? Like if your mind was still in control of it, you could have killed the dragon by crushing it's heart, or something." Fishlegs theorized, mashing his two chicken legs together for emphasis.
"I swear I'm so angry right now!" Snotlout growled, tossing his empty stick into the fire "I'll avenge your beautiful hand and your beautiful foot, I'll chop of the legs of every dragon I fight….with my face." He pointed to his mouth confidently as he spoke.
"No, it's the wings and tails you want," Gobber explained breaking a piece off his chicken "If they can't fly, they can't get away, a downed dragon is a dead dragon."
Hiccup's eyes widened with realization, the tail of the Nightfury he had broken, it really did need it too fly, his eyes darted to Astrid who was beginning to doze off on his arm, he stretched his arms in a yawn, the action jostled her awake.
"Right, get some rest," Gobber ordered simply "You'll need it, we are moving up the big boys soon, slowly but surely making our way up to the Monstrous Nightmare, but who will win the honor of killing it?"
"It's gonna be me, it's my destiny." Tuffnut announced confidently, drawing the attention of the group, Hiccup used the moment to slip away.
"See?" The male twin continued, lifting his shirt.
"Whoa, your mom actually let you get a tattoo?" Fishlegs exhaled in awe.
"It's not a tattoo it's a birthmark." Tuffnut responded.
"Uh, I've been stuck with you since birth and I that has never been there before." Ruffnut drawled.
"Yes it was, you've just never seen me from the left side before now." Tuff shot at her.
Hiccup couldn't hear how the conversation continued after that as he made a beeline to the forge.
Astrid noticed the absence of the warmth beside her and turned to discover Hiccup had already left without saying anything, she sighed and shrugged slightly as she made her way home, she caught sight of a light on at the forge, she could barely make out the boy moving hurriedly around inside, she smirked slightly to herself, wondering what he was making as she moved inside her home and fell on her bed heavily.
Hiccup smirked down at his small creation, he scrutinized it for a moment as he pulled it open and closed it, he slowly thought about ways he could get it on, he had just gained the dragons trust, he didn't want to do something to lose it after that.
He yawned tiredly as he made it home, a number of thoughts circling his mind, Toothless, the Academy, his mind settled on Astrid as his head hit the fur pillow beneath him, her warmth, her smile, a small smile fell on his face as he fell asleep.
A/N: This chapter crossed the seven thousand word mark! *Party poppers, cannons, confetti fly's everywhere.* well, a lot happened, Hiccup's crushing hard and appearances would say Astrid is too! I hope you all enjoyed this chapter and I will see you guys next time, peace!