A week later, Hiccup was deemed fit enough to leave the comfort of Gothi's cottage and be moved elsewhere. Toothless had barely left his side the entire time, keeping watch over his rider as though making sure they wouldn't be separated for five months again. Astrid came up the stairs leading to the elder's house, finding him paying attention to the conditions she gave him in the sand she wrote in before he bowed his head in thanks for everything she'd done. One of his hands was on Toothless's back, using it to keep himself propped upright as he turned around, pausing when he saw her there. He grimaced a little before he covered it up, though she still saw it and he reached up to rub the back of his neck with his free hand, suddenly awkward.

"Didn't know you were coming to see me, princess. Do you always make house calls?" It was obvious that he was trying to reassert himself as a cocky warrior, but to be honest it was a little painful to watch, especially when she knew how physically weak he was right now.

Playing along, she crossed her arms and rolled her eyes. "Only special cases. Don't think yourself lucky." Astrid raised an eyebrow as she shifted to the side so that Toothless could help him walk past her before she fell into step beside them. "The elder let you leave so soon?"

"No strenuous activity," he drawled, nearly stumbling before Toothless rightened himself in a way that caught him. Murmuring out a thanks, Hiccup gave the Night Fury's neck an idle scratch as they continued on their way. "I'm not allowed to start getting my strength back up to scratch until a couple more days have passed."

She frowned, saying nothing even though it was obvious he hated being weak like he was right now. The way he scowled at every little thing he couldn't pick up and things like that. She crossed her arms behind her back, tilting her head. "What are you going to do now? You can't possibly be thinking about camping in your condition."

"Why not? It's the only option I have." Well, that was a lie, but he wasn't ready to move into Stoick's house. Not by a long shot, even though the offer still stood in spite of his transgressions.

"You could move in with me." At the look she got from him, Astrid tucked her hair behind her ear. "I'm an orphan, so it's just me and Stormfly. Both of my parents were killed during the war with the dragons when I was younger. Your mother and mine died fighting back to back."

Hiccup stopped walking at the new information, looking at her with one wide eye. His fingers shifted along Toothless's back before he reached up with his free hand to ruffle the back of his hair. "...What was she like? My mother? Fa...Alvin never said much about her."

She stared at him, though honestly she could understand how he'd never heard anything about her. Alvin had probably focused on building up his hate for Stoick, considering that Valhallarama was long since dead. "She was an adventurer, an amazing warrior." She smiled slightly. "I can't remember much about her since I was young when it happened, but I remember her eyes. They were always laughing and full of life." Astrid looked out across the horizon. "She was always off questing, but she always came back with tales of the things that she'd seen, trophies and treasures the likes of which none of us had ever imagined."

Watching the look on her face, Hiccup couldn't help but feel a little jealous that Astrid had known his mother. He followed her gaze, fingers sliding across Toothless's scales in a soothing manner, mostly for himself. "The only mother I remember is one of the female slaves Alvin had raise me for the first couple of years of my life." He couldn't see her looking at him because she was on his blind side, but he knew the expression that was probably on her face. "We don't...the Outcast tribe doesn't have any women. Any that we do have are slaves we take from other tribes, mostly for pleasure rather than actual breeding."

Well, that certainly explained why he'd found it so hilarious that she was the dragon conqueror. She pursed her lips together, reaching to take his hand and making him jump a little given he couldn't see her out the corner of that eye. "You don't have to keep using 'we', Hiccup. You're not an Outcast anymore."

"Part of me always will be, though. I can't just forget a way of life, Astrid." He turned his head to look at her properly, raising an eyebrow. "I'm sure part of you still remembers how to kill dragons."

She winced and bit her bottom lip, glancing away. It was true that she still did. Every time Fishlegs would prattle off about dragons, part of her would be thinking about how they were killed. She looked back at him after a second, squeezing his hand. "Then I guess both of us aren't as perfect as we thought we were," she said softly.

When he smiled at her, she couldn't help but think that was probably the first time he'd ever actually smiled so genuinely at her. He pulled his other hand away from Toothless's back, reaching up to cup her cheek, brushing his thumb along the scar. "I didn't mean for that to be permanent," he said, inspecting the mark that mirrored his own on his right cheek. The blade of his knife was slimmer than a Nadder spike though, so her scar was thinner than his.

Astrid had the decency to flush a little before she reached up to tuck a strand of hair behind her ear with her free hand, glancing away. "I don't mind it," she said, feeling a bit awkward now. She let her hand drop to her shoulder, eyebrows drawing together in a small frown. "You didn't call me princess," she noted, pursing her lips together.

Hiccup turned his head away, letting go of her chin and dropping his hand to his arm where he rubbed it. "Calling you princess was a way of reminding myself not to get too attached. I was on a mission to learn your secrets so that I could utilize them back on Outcast Island, to train dragons for an army that would let Outcasts rule the skies. Getting attached was...not something I wanted to do." He shook his head, pulling his hand away from hers. "You were an obstacle, not a person. You might have been the dragon conqueror but all I saw was a woman who didn't know her place."

"Until you fell in love with me, right?" At Hiccup's silence, she let it sink in. "Just like you didn't realize dragons were living creatures until..." She didn't let herself say Fenrir's name, not knowing how he'd react, remembering the overwhelming expression of sadness and grief she'd seen on his face that day.

"Yeah." His voice was thick at the memory but he swallowed it down, closing his eye before he cleared his throat. "So...uh, about staying with you. You sure you don't mind?"

The heavy moment was gone, the air replaced by an awkwardness and she ran her hand along her arm, tilting her head. "I wouldn't have offered if I did. And once you're back to full health, I'll help you get your training back up too. We might ride dragons now but it's always good to keep our physical skills up if we get separated from them."

Toothless gave a grumble and shook his head at the awkwardness as though saying 'Humans!' in exasperation. There was a moment of silence between them, looking at each other before Hiccup coughed into a hand, gesturing down the path. "Uh, ladies first."

"Right, right." Astrid brushed her bangs away from her eyes before she started heading down the stairway again, hurrying in front of him while Hiccup started following, once again using Toothless to help himself walk as a small smile curled across his lips.

Over the next month, the atmosphere around Berk changed whenever Astrid and Hiccup were in the same area. The village was small, so of course information and rumors spread fast. The fact that they were two teenagers, unrelated and unwed, living in the same house, was more than enough to stir up the gossip meter that the villagers of Berk kept suppressed so that they didn't appear to be brown-nosers like the Bog-Burglars. The village was especially protective of Astrid, considering that they had all had a hand in bringing up the Hofferson girl after the death of her parents. It takes a village, as the saying goes.

Once Hiccup had gotten the clear from Gothi, the duo started his training to get him back to where his strength had been, though of course it wasn't going to come back easily. Being a runt and having had thirteen years of training be washed away by malnourishment, it soon became evident that maybe Hiccup wouldn't get back up to the standards that he held for himself. They worked on his blind side, which proved to be even more difficult since previously he'd favored his left hand despite being a bit ambidextrous. The one thing that separated him from other hiccups who would have given up, though, was his stubborn attitude and determination. Eventually they worked out a system where Toothless would fire a small warning shot to his left, which he'd pick up through his hearing, and soon he was able to pick up the sound of Astrid's axe sweeping through the air on his left side.

The initial animosity that he'd been met with during the first few weeks of living in Berk again after his last infiltration dissipated after he started pulling his own weight around the village. Gaining a job as Gobber's assistant definitely helped, though there were still some who didn't trust him. Snotlout being one of them. Hiccup made a face after his cousin as he left the workshop after dropping off a weapon, picking it up from the bench and turning it around in his hand with a couple of light twists in the air. "What's his problem anyway?" he asked with a raised eyebrow over his shoulder to Gobber before he moved over to the sharpening wheel, starting it up with a sweep of his free hand over the surface. "I already told him I wasn't interested in becoming chief months ago."

"Ah, well, that's where it gets complicated." Gobber thumbed his nose. "See, the Jorgensons have always believed they've been the rightful heirs of Berk, rather than the Haddocks. Both lines descend from Grimbeard the Ghastly, the last Great King of the Archipelagos. Grimbeard had three sons, two of which founded Berk with me great grandpappy Bork. When you were, er, well y'know, Snotlout was picked to take over as heir being that he was the closest relative fit enough to lead the next generation."

"Idiot couldn't lead his way out of a maze of Fireworms if his life depended on it," Hiccup said with a roll of his eyes as he turned the blade over to start on the other side. Since becoming Gobber's apprentice, he'd started saying things rather than thinking them, at least in the privacy of the workshop.

The older viking chuckled, raising an eyebrow. "Aye, that he couldn't. Even though you said you wasn't interested in becoming chief, you're still a threat to his title. Snotlout, eh, he can be a bit of a handful with his attitude, but that's just the way Jorgensons are. You gotta take 'em with a grain of salt. Spitelout's a bit hard on the boy, which doesn't really help matters I guess." With a shrug, Gobber went back to his work, leaving Hiccup to his thoughts.

So it seemed like they weren't really all that different. Granted, Snotlout had grown up on Berk, but the both of them had had unreasonable expectations thrust on them at a young age by fathers that pressured them. They both used their cockiness to hide what they were really feeling...or at least that was the way Hiccup saw it. He didn't know if that was true or not of Snotlout, but it certainly seemed like that on the surface.

"Why's everyone been so cheerful lately?" he asked as he drew the sword close, examining the sharpness of the blade by nicking his finger on the edge. "There something going on?"

"Thawfest is next week!" At the blank look on the boy's face, Gobber sighed. "Didn't nobody explain Thawfest to you? It's our annual sporting event where the kids compete for the title of champion. Of course, the Jorgensons have been the victors ever since Thawfest began." He rolled his eyes before looking over his shoulder at Hiccup. "You should enter."

He looked up, raising an eyebrow as he pursed his lips together in a wry smile. "I'm not a Hooligan, though. Would I even have a right?"

"Boy, yer a Hooligan through blood." Gobber lumbered over and tapped his hook hand against the teenager's chest. "In here. Official member of the tribe or not, you were born here. I say that's as good enough a Hooligan as anybody else."

Hiccup looked down at the hook hand resting against his chest before he glanced back up, biting his bottom lip. "Well...I guess if it's okay..."

"What's he doing here?"

Hiccup raised an eyebrow at Snotlout as he stepped up to join the other viking teenagers, taking position next to Astrid. Toothless sat down with a heavy thump behind him, huffing in response to the boy's question as Fishlegs and the twins gave each other looks. "I'm competing," he said with a small roll of his eye, turning his attention back to the podium where Stoick and Gobber stood, about to announce the beginning of Thawfest. He'd barely spoken to Stoick since waking up in Goti's cottage a month ago, but he swore he saw a twinkle of pride in the chief's eye, feeling a small measure of warmth flood through him.

"He can't do that!" Snotlout looked over his shoulder to his father for help, but it seemed like Spitelout was just as speechless as he was.

"There's no law that says you need to have been raised in Berk to be a participant in Thawfest, only that you were born here," Gobber stated, giving Hiccup a slight wink. "Double-checked the rules and everything. The boy will be allowed to compete."

"But he won't be able to do the Parent-Child Marathon," Spitelout said, crossing his arms over his chest next to his son. "The rules do say you need to compete in every event but the tie breaker." There was a small snort from the older man as though to say why did they have a need for a tie breaker? "The boy doesn't have parents."

The crowd of vikings shushed when that was said, all eyes on Hiccup as though waiting for a reaction. He kept his expression schooled, hands on his hips, and if there was any doubt inside, it didn't show. He gave a small shrug at the assessment, opening his mouth to respond when-

"He does have parents." Murmurs rose up as Stoick stepped down from the podium, crossing the floor of the arena to stand next to his son, who looked up at him with a bit of shock. Stoick was looking over him, however, and directly at Spitelout as he mimicked his brother's stance, crossing his arms. "I am his biological father after all, and there's nothing in the rules that doesn't say I can't." He glanced back down at Hiccup with a softer expression and a raised eyebrow. "If he'll have me, of course."

The vikings around them outside the arena started talking as they waited for Hiccup's assessment of the situation, a silence falling as the crowd grew so quiet you could hear a pin drop. Finally, he nodded, smirking eagerly as he held out his hand for Stoick to shake. The grip that met his was strong, maybe stronger than Alvin's, and his father chuckled before clapping him on the back as the crowd started to roar back to life.

Thawfest was on!

From that moment on, Thawfest training took precedence over everything else, and Hiccup was subsequently kicked out of Astrid's house. "But only for the next couple of weeks," she explained to him cheerfully as boy and dragon stared at her incredulously. "Just so we don't peek at each other's strategies. I'll be training with Johanna for the Parent-Child Marathon. You should take this opportunity to get better acquainted with the chief since you'll be racing together. See you at Thawfest!" After that, she shut the door in their faces, leaving Hiccup and Toothless to share a look.

As it turned out, Stoick had planned a camping trip for the lead up to Thawfest. "A little bonding experience for the four of us," he said, gesturing to the Thunderdrum at his side who he'd introduced as Thornado. Apparently he'd acquired the large blue dragon in the months Hiccup had been back on Outcast Island. Well, it seemed like it would be more of a bonding experience for Hiccup with the chief and his dragon, considering Toothless seemed comfortable around Thornado.

They set up camp far outside the village on the other side of the island, where they were bound not to be disturbed. With drinking water coming down to them from the thawed snow on the mountainside and the stream full of fish, the first night was just awkward. Or at least that was how it seemed to Hiccup as he picked at his cooked fish.

"Everything okay with your food?" Stoick raised his eyebrow after watching his son pull off a bit from the stick. He was amazed by the way he ate everything, even the head and eyes! Hiccup glanced up from where he was about to start on another one, mimicking the look on his father's face.

"Uh, yeah I guess. Why do you ask?"

"Most people leave the head intact, son." He chuckled at the confused look on the boy's face, like he didn't even know he was doing anything wrong. Not that he was, but Stoick just felt like pointing it out.

Hiccup shrugged, turning the stick around in his palm and watching the firelight from their campfire reflect off the flesh. "We never really had much food on Outcast Island," he explained, remembering saying the same thing to Astrid months ago. "Crops didn't grow well. Any food we did get was raided from ships that sailed into our waters. Or other humans." Looking up, he saw the look on Stiock's face, an expression of shock clear across his features and he shrugged again. "Why put good meat to waste? It was just going to rot in the ground."

"I had heard that the Outcast tribe was cannibalistic," Stoick said, stroking his beard as he tried to digest the information. His son, a cannibal. He gave a small snort, closing his eyes. "Well, I certainly hope I don't wake up hog-tied to a spit roast."

"I don't think you have to worry much." Hiccup inclined his head. "If it's any consolation, living in Berk last time waned me off it. I couldn't even eat a heart without wanting to throw it back up and it took a couple of mugs of mead to keep it down. Besides, I think my desire to kill you isn't as strong as it used to be."

The chief burst out laughing at that, disturbing the dragons from where they were resting nearby. "That's good to know. That's very good to know. Because we're going to need each other during the Marathon."

The boy leaned forward in his seat on his log, arms draped over his knees as he waited for his father to calm down. Stoick's laughter was so much different to Alvin's, with a lighthearted tone to it that the Outcast chief didn't have. "So what kind of strategy do the Jorgensons come up with? They don't seem like the very smart kind to me."

"Hiccup, that's your uncle and cousin you're talking about." Stiock raised an eyebrow at him, but that was all he said in defense. He slid his fire poker into the ground, placing his hand on Thornado's head to apologize for the interruption before he steepled his fingers. "My brother is our strategist when it comes to war. No doubt he's cooking up a few ideas right now."

"No doubt in regards to taking advantage of my blind side," Hiccup said a little bitterly, passing the rest of his fish to Toothless who swallowed it down in a great big gulp. "Astrid and I worked on it while I was recovering, but it's...not perfect." He winced at the admission. "I still miss things, and Toothless isn't going to be allowed in the race so I can't rely on him to shoot near my left side when something's coming for me from that direction."

"You'll have me watching your left side." The elder Haddock nodded as his son looked up with a bit of surprise. "The Parent-Child Marathon is all about trust. We'll be putting our lives in each other's hands at various points in time and we'll need everything we can to beat the Jorgensons."

"Then we'll need a plan that will combat theirs at every turn." Hiccup ran his thumb along his jaw in thought before he grinned, baring his teeth. The firelight made him look as vicious as he used to be, and he steepled his own fingers, tapping his index ones to his nose. "Tell me about any weaknesses or injuries they have..."

Author's notes: since we don't know much about Astrid's family at this point in time, I'm taking creative liberties as far as this fic is concerned. Now, Thawfest was one of my least favourite episodes but it was needed for the fic, thus I added in an extra challenge as well (also I will forever be disappointed that it wasn't spelt Thorfest like I kept hearing, goddamn accents). Hope everyone's been enjoying thus far and thanks for reading :B