Disclaimer: I do not own or even claim to own the brilliance that is HTTYD.

A big thanks to everyone who Reviewed, Favorited, Followed and read.

P.s. I do not claim to know how zoo parks truly work, or how some animals react. I have exercised a fair bit of artistic license!

Please enjoy.

Dancing With Wolves

They waited until the end of the day before heading - reluctantly on Astrid's part - along to Roaming Ranch to the wolf enclosure. She wasn't sure how eager she was to see the wolf again. It seemed like forever ago she had stayed, like an idiot, between a loaded weapon and an enraged animal. But Hiccup had read her completely, and encouraged her with his warm hand and low voice. Still determined to prove her strength, Astrid pulled on her inner steel as she watched Hiccup clank beside her, at ease with himself. He seemed less tired; brighter. Or was she paying more attention? She couldn't tell. But it didn't stop the twist in her chest when he caught her staring, and sent a boastful wink. She glared that mocking expression away. The second he snapped his head back around she felt a resounding twinge of humour in her gut; lifting her lips at the reaction.

Still got it.

Instead of going straight to the wolf enclosure, Hiccup took a different path down towards the Medical Centre. Curious, she stepped up the pace to keep up with his excited strides, seeing the reason why as soon as she saw the top of the metal barred fencing. Toothless lay stretched over a tree bough in his home, tail flicking edgily as he yawned his boredom. The second he caught sight of his owner, however, sent him springing off the tree like a yo yo and gambolling over to the bars; crooning and chirping his happiness.

"Hey, bud."

Astrid pursed her lips to hide the wide grin that threatened to split her face. She felt so sappy around Hiccup it was unbelievable. Seeing the two best friends made her slightly envious, part revoltingly proud. Astrid gave a quick glance around them to check for any tourists that had managed to escape the security guard's notice. Since none were seen, she watched Hiccup open up the dual door system with first a keypad, then keys. Toothless crooned like a cat and twirled around his legs several times in pure joy, closing his eyes in ecstasy at the head rubs Hiccup happily gave.

"Hey, Toothless." Astrid couldn't help laughing as he gave her the same treatment, nearly knocking her off her feet. When she next looked up, Hiccup was wearing an odd expression that made her feel equally off centre.

"What?"

Hiccup brushed off her brusque manner like he always did. "Nothing. Let's go – Stormfly and Toothless know each other, so it'll be easier with him there."

Astrid frowned in genuine confusion. "A wolf and a panther?"

Toothless chirped in response, leaving them both to begin padding along the path in the opposite direction. Hiccup whistled a series of short notes, and he turned tail to shoot straight back to Hiccup's side like a trained dog.

Astrid felt her eyes pop. There was something amazing and faintly ridiculous about a one legged man and a panther acting like a dynamic duo. It didn't help Hiccup noticed every twitch of her reaction, and was rubbing his head again.

Stop making him nervous!

"Cool trick, that." The gravel crunched under her boots as she forced her shocked legs to move. "You'll have to teach me how to exert mind control over wild animals sometime."

"Gladly." Hiccup followed her closely; enough that his arm brushed hers and sent tingles of warmth down her spine. They walked in silence with Astrid cooling her expression the entire way; imagining herself to be calm and collected. For some reason, Hiccup had the innate ability to bring out two sides to her. One was the domineering side. The other was the sappy romantic Astrid never knew was there; buried deep under her own belief that to be respected, she had to be serious and successful. But Warrior Astrid always tended to crumble with Hiccup in the general vicinity. Now that they were...what? Dating? Embarking on a strange and frivolous quest for romance? Astrid had sections of her personality surfacing that she never knew were there. In a strange way, she was excited to see what else Hiccup would bring to the forefront.

The wolf enclosure loomed before them. While Hiccup and Toothless seemed restless with anticipation, Astrid was slowly realising her apprehension to being close to that wolf again. She hadn't really explored the park despite being here a while, being too busy in the office. Apart from Hiccup's first induction, she hadn't really been back to see the wolves yet.

"Here we are." Hiccup's voice was closer to her ear than she realised. Tilting her head, she gained strength from the calm expression in those green eyes. "She's in their bedtime enclosure – I'll close the gate between the two so that we can go in alone."

"Won't she attack you?" Astrid frowned as she followed Hiccup's confident strides through the Staff Only section of the enclosure.

"Stormfly isn't some feral beast." Hiccup's voice was reprimanding. "She is a creature who, like most animals, will leave you alone if you leave her alone. She recognizes me, and Snotlout, as people who look after her if she is hurt, and who feed her."

Astrid felt like she ought to have known that. But the memory of those flashing teeth was not one she would forget. "But she attacked me."

"That was handled badly. We backed her into a corner." Hiccup lead her through another double doored entrance to a small staffroom. One door led off to food stores; the other, the wolves night enclosure. "Wolves only ever attack when they are threatened, or their pack mates or young are in danger. Food is also a fight point – but standing in a wide open space, being quiet, non-threatening? A normal wolf would keep an eye, but otherwise ignore you. Stormfly is the alpha's current mate – she'll want to establish the pecking order."

Astrid mulled over this as Toothless yowled in response to the set of howls that erupted outside. Another spasm of nervousness followed Hiccup's hands sliding open the door to reveal a chain link fence on the other side, allowing for someone to walk a little ways into the night enclosure. She followed the duo into the pen, feeling the cold fingers of fear begin to slither around her throat.

"Don't worry." Hiccup murmured. She shot him a disbelieving look. "You'll be fine."

Astrid turned her attention back to survey the room. There. On a straw covered dais, that tawny coloured wolf watched her with a steady amber gaze. Her breath whooshed out of her lungs and tightened her chest. Stormfly was smaller than she remembered.

"Astrid." Hiccup's voice was low as to not add to the excitement. "I'm opening the cage, and then I'm going in with Toothless. Then you can come in. Okay?"

Astrid nodded, not having enough air to gasp a reply. She watched, transfixed, as Hiccup stepped in with Toothless and became someone else; a different person. His limp disappeared. His face lost that underlying current of teasing uncertainty. He became himself in this enclosure, surrounded by animals that by all rights, shouldn't act like they were friends. Stormfly eased herself up and watched him with a slowly wagging tail, body still in reaction to someone moving into her space. Hiccup moved fluidly and stealthily, drawing Toothless forward to sit next to him like an ebony statue.

For a moment, Astrid feared Hiccup was wrong. That Stormfly would attack. That he was somehow bluffing to make her feel better. But all worries were lain to the rest with Hiccup edging farther away from Toothless and sitting on his own haunches, murmuring under his breath. She wasn't sure if he was talking to Toothless or Stormfly – perhaps himself, he was so quiet.

Stormfly padded forward with a low head, sniffing tentatively at Toothless before licking his nose with the wolf equivalent of a grin. Astrid sighed a smile at the sight, coming down from her tense stance. Stormfly then approached Hiccup and butted his side to send him landing on his backside, tugging playfully on the straps of his suit with a fast whipping tail. There was playfulness Astrid hadn't seen before; an engagement with others that she hadn't seen when the wolf was scared. Hiccup was still speaking lowly, one hand coming up to gently caress Stormfly's side. He was too far away for her to hear, but Astrid strained her ears anyway, yearning to hear that raspy voice again. She felt like she was somehow missing on secrets.

"Now, Astrid."

Hiccup's voice was steady. She jerked back to the present and opened the door with shaking fingers, eyes never leaving the wolf. Those amber eyes watched Astrid intently as she slipped in before securing the door behind her, kneeling down and feeling exposed despite the fence at her back. A blink, several wags of her tail, and Stormfly was edging closer, sniffing curiously in her direction.

"She remembers you."

Astrid barely dared to breath as Stormfly stilled not a couple paces away from her. Toothless, upon sensing the seriousness of the situation, padded over to curl to Astrid's side like a limpet. He too remained still. Perhaps at the sight of another animal whose scent she knew sitting calmly by the stranger, Stormfly eventually edged forward and firstly sniffed Astrid's boots, working her way up until she stared, too close for Astrid's comfort, to her face. Automatically Astrid lowered her eyes. She saw through her peripheral vision Stormfly gaze at her for another moment, and then the wolf showed her teeth as she yawned and moved suddenly to pad in a circle, choosing to lie directly in front of Astrid like a guard. Hiccup hummed a small noise of contentment.

"She knows you." He beamed, huffing relief through his nose. "I'm afraid you're now an unofficial litter mate and toy. She's dominant to you, but she also remembers you defending her from Snotlout, who she has treated somewhat coldly since the incident."

"All that time ago?" Astrid was dying to bury her fingers in Stormfly's thick coat. She felt like she was flying with all the exhilaration racing through her.

"All that time ago." Hiccup echoed.

Astrid gave in to her temptation. Reaching out a shaking hand, she ever so gently brushed the edges of Stormfly's fur. The wolf never even moved. Bolder now, she began slow, faint strokes along her back, never getting too close to her head or her stomach. Astrid felt eyes on her and looked up to glowing orbs of green; approval leeching from every pigment.

"Why didn't you run?" His voice held a sort of distant wonder. "You've never dealt with these animals before. You had no reason to try and defend her."

She swallowed. The reasons were as intricate as her feelings for Hiccup; buried under layers of uncertain morals and random urges to protect those weaker than herself. Not that Hiccup was weak in any sense of the word. But he compelled a sense of protectiveness in Astrid that she never truly understood until recently – his actions and thoughts, hopes and dreams, were precious. When he got uneasy, upset or scared, she reacted accordingly. She would fight and protect.

"I don't really know." She whispered back. The moment was too wonderful to ruin with loud words.

"That's not an answer."

"What do you want me to say?" She rushed back. "I was too stupid to run away? That I couldn't leave her to be shot?"

"What made you think that she wouldn't attack you?"

"I didn't." Astrid answered truthfully. Stormfly stirred under her now unmoving fingers, leaving Astrid to hurriedly resume her gentle stroking. "But..."

"But?"

She raised her eyes to glare, but was stopped dead at the seriousness of his expression. It made her catch her breath deep in her chest and lower her eyes back to that coarse fur.

"She was scared." Astrid managed to get out. "She was more scared of Snotlout than of me. I saw something worth respecting."

"A scared animal is something to respect?"

Astrid frowned at Hiccup's flippant tone. "She knew she was cornered. But she didn't stop fighting; didn't give into her fear. I was scared for myself. But then I saw her." She gripped the fur tighter. "I saw my own fear. She saw me first, saw through me, before anyone else. It was something worth protecting."

Hiccup stayed silent. She looked over the two animals curled around her over to his still from; coiled like a spring on the ground, ready to bounce. His eyes were soft. That smile was back and in full force, spluttering her calming heartbeat back into an unsteady rhythm.

"W-Would you like to go to dinner this weekend?"

His voice was mostly steady. But there was a faint stutter in the first few words; nervousness beginning to leak into his posture when she didn't answer immediately.

Astrid was too busy looking. She saw him, too. Saw the bundle of nerves, the teasing, the fixation on mechanics, the love for animals and friends. The softness, the determination to fix things, the endless need to make himself be better.

He thought there was a chance she would say no. She reckoned there could have been a dragon invasion before she would have even considered denying his request. Rather than reveal her inner melting heart, she shrugged and nodded, allowing him see the small smile curl on her lips.

"I'd love to."

His answering grin was blinding.

Thank you to all!