Hey everyone! So this chapter was finished up just today (school, OTL) so I wasn't sure if ADAMalchemist would have enough time to beta is and get it back to me to get in before the deadline. As such, I apologize for any horrendous mistakes that my own proof reading didn't catch. Enjoy!

Hiccup woke up Sunday morning, but immediately wished he could go back to sleep. Yesterday had been a disaster, and he did not want to deal with any of the possible consequences, repercussions, or anything else even remotely along those lines. He was pretty sure that Toothless would want to see him again after that, heck he knew for sure because he had mouthed it to him, and he also knew he wouldn't take no for an answer. Hiccup didn't think that Toothless would cause him any harm, but then again, he barely knew the guy. No, Toothless was too nice a guy and Hiccup hadn't done anything wrong. Right? Great, now he kind of wanted to see Toothless to prove his innocence.

After looking at the neon green glow of his alarm clock and reading 9:30, Hiccup tried to close his eyes and return to a state of blissful slumber, but his body would have none of that. No matter what he tried he only became more and more awake as time passed.

Hiccup finally caved to his body's demand to get out of bed, but that didn't mean he had to go through his morning routine very quickly. He actually made his bed today, making sure it was so well made he could bounce a quarter off of it, before proceeding to the bathroom. He made sure to watch the floor as he walked, and this time he managed to avoid slipping on the papers (how had they ended up back on the floor?).

As usual, Hiccup turned on the shower before brushing his teeth to allow the water to (hopefully) heat up. He applied the minty toothpaste to his toothbrush and slowly started brushing. Here Hiccup wasn't actually sure if his slow movements were to give the water more time to heat up or to delay him from having to face his day even longer.

Regardless, Hiccup finished brushing his teeth, stripped off his pajamas, and got into the shower, hoping for some hot water today. He did see some steam, so that was promising.

"Gah! Son of a," Hiccup started before vocalizing quite possibly every cuss he had ever heard, and most likely inventing a few new ones in the process. Hiccup could never understand how some days the water would be ice cold, but other days on the same setting the water would feel like lava from a volcano. At least he could make hot water more bearable by turning it down; not something he could do when the water was only cold. Subconsciously he chalked that up as a win for the morning.

Taking full advantage of the now warm water (and still wanting to prevent himself from having to face his day), Hiccup gave himself what was probably the most thorough shower of his life. It took him a good fourty five minutes, and he scrubbed every part of his body at least twice (including his hair).

The next excessively drawn out task Hiccup performed was breakfast. Since Hiccup had slept in a little by his standards, his father was already gone, with the newspaper in the recycle. And that was just the way Hiccup liked it. It was just easier when he wasn't there. Today Hiccup decided on a menu of pancakes and eggs.

By 1 o'clock in the afternoon Hiccup had run out of stuff to do. He had gone through his entire morning routine, had breakfast, cleaned up the dishes from said breakfast, and even vacuumed and dusted the condo. Now all he was doing was sitting lazily on the couch watching some random documentary on some near extinct animal. It was too boring for even Hiccup to pay attention.

Hiccup flicked off the television and swung himself off the couch. Glancing through the window and down at the street he noticed that it wasn't horrendously packed, and looking up at the sky he saw the weather was clear.

It was then that Hiccup reasoned that couldn't stay inside for the rest of his life, and that if he dealt with the Toothless issue sooner rather than later it would probably be for the better. Grabbing his zip up sweater just in case, Hiccup walked out of the condo door and walked towards the elevator.

Hiccup may have been going down in the elevator, but his pulse was going way up. He took deep, heavy breaths, and fortunately he was alone in the elevator or that could have been awkward. He was so wound up when the elevator dinged on the ground floor he gave a startled shriek. At least no one in the lobby let on that they'd heard.

As Hiccup walked out the front doors, he figured he would make it about three blocks before Toothless' car would be following right behind him. Just as he started walking, however, a car horn blasted, scaring him just as it had two days ago. When he turned around to look, he saw a slow moving Lincoln Continental holding up traffic. The licence plate was "AJD4961".

Hiccup couldn't help but be amazed. 'Three blocks. I didn't even make it three steps! Well, better get this over with.'

Hiccup walked right up to the car and yanked the door open, faking a sense of bravery, expecting to see Tuffnut sitting in the back seat again. He was slightly surprised that the back seat was empty.

"If you're going to get in, would you hurry up and do it? This guy's honking is giving me a headache." The voice was female, but it definitely wasn't Ruffnut. He hesitated, but then remembered that either way this was Toothless' car, so he'd end up at the same destination. Now all he could do was hope that his belief that Toothless wouldn't want to hurt him was right.

He climbed in and immediately after he shut the door, the driver gunned it. After Hiccup recovered from the lurch, he took the time to look at his new driver. She was blonde like Ruffnut, but she kept her hair in a braid. She was just as skinny too.

"Well, that was easy. Ruff and Tuff made it sound like it was so hard to get you." The girl said, eyes unmoving from the road.

Hiccup started a conversation before he could catch himself.

"Well in their defence at the time I didn't know who they were or what they wanted. Although the bag may have complicated things a little."

"Ugh, Tuffnut used the stupid bag thing again? It's so stupid. I don't know why he does that." Hiccup could tell that the exasperation in her voice was genuine. It made him wonder just how many other people Tuffnut had done that to, and just what their….fates….had been.

'Bad thought process, Hiccup. Back it up.'

"So, what's your name?"

"Astrid."

"You work for Toothless?"

"No."

"Barf and Belch?"

"No."

"So who do you work for?"

When Astrid spoke next, it wasn't an answer to the question. It was accompanied by a blast of the car horn and a call of, "out of the way, moron!"

Astrid never got around to answering Hiccup's question, and with her angered mumbling after the outburst, Hiccup figured it would be for the best not to interrupt. The car ride the rest of the way was silent, but at least Astrid had the music on. He hadn't noticed it before, but now that there was nothing else to focus on, he could hear Imagine Dragons coming from the speakers. He sit back, enjoyed the music, and waited to arrive back at the seemingly run down warehouse.

Hiccup saw all the same scenery on the way in this time as he did last time, except this time it wasn't raining. Even in the different light though he was able to pick out the building from down the street. Astrid drove around the back of the building, and the only difference from last time was that this time the door to the garage was already open. Hiccup thought that if he had a car collection like Toothless had he would definitely make sure that the door was closed at ALL times.

Astrid parked the car in the same spot at the back of the garage, and Hiccup got out right away this time. As he was getting out, though, he started to look around for the window that would show Toothless' office. He still vividly remembered the view from it from last time. Eventually he found it on the far wall. What he also found was Toothless standing just inside the window, hands folded behind him, and watching Hiccup with an unreadable expression. Maybe coming willingly hadn't been the best idea. Too late now. Better get this over with.

Hiccup didn't know what to feel when walking down the hallway. All the doors were once again closed, so he couldn't look into the rooms to take his mind temporarily off of what lie ahead. The walk to the office door seemed shorter this time, and when they arrived, Astrid just nodded towards the door and walked off.

Hiccup waited until she was down the hall before he started to reach for the door handle. Just before he grabbed it, he stopped himself. What was the etiquette in a situation like this? Toothless knew he was coming, but it was a closed door, so he should knock, right? After arguing with himself for a few seconds, Hiccup settled on knocking first.

"Come in," Toothless called from the inside.

Hiccup entered slowly and quietly, almost as if he was entering a room with a sleeping person in it. After clicking the door shut and turning around, he noticed Toothless was still looking out the window, not at him. Hiccup wasn't sure how to read that. He decided to stay close to the door in case he needed to exit quickly.

"Hi, Toothless. Um, you sent your car for me?" Hiccup was actually quite impressed that he managed to prevent his voice from cracking, squeaking, or doing anything else embarrassing.

"Yes, I did," Toothless started as he turned around. Hiccup could finally see his face, and Toothless was giving that same genuine smile that lit up his face and said he was happy to see Hiccup. At this sight Hiccup managed to breathe an internal sigh of relief. "Our conversation was cut short last time, and there is something else I want to say to you after yesterday."

And there went Hiccup's sense of relief right out the window. A nervous sweat managed to take its place almost instantly.

"Are-are you angry?" Hiccup asked, silently pleading for a no.

"Why would I be?" Toothless asked, almost amused that Hiccup would ask such a question. This just served to confuse Hiccup.

"Well yesterday, at the deli, surely you know the man I was sitting with," Hiccup started before being interrupted by Toothless.

"Yes, I know that your father is the head police detective on my case." Toothless couldn't help but smirk at the dumbfounded expression on Hiccup's face.

"How did you know that he was my father?" Hiccup blurted out before he could even think.

"Remember our first meeting how I told you I figured out your name?" Hiccup thought back and remembered the security guard or someone had given it to him. "Well he gave me your last name too, and I know all about Stoick. There may be eight million people in New York City, but I'd bet my car collection that there is only one Haddock family. The fact that I knew he was your father rather than just an uncle or something was just a calculated guess since you both have the same green eyes."

"Well I promise I haven't told my dad anything and I won't and wait a sec, how do you know my eye colour?"

"Don't worry, I believe you. And I noticed it at our first, uh, meeting, in Manhattan. You know, when I pushed you against the wall?"

Hiccup remembered that moment (and the related fear) extremely well. But in his fear, he had been too focused on the gun in Toothless' belt to notice anything else.

"Oh yeah. Then." That was all Hiccup could get out. It was silent for a few seconds, but then Hiccup got the courage to ask, "why did you want to see me again?"

"I wanted to thank you for yesterday. I noticed that your father was sitting so that he wasn't facing me. I'm guessing that wasn't a coincidence?" Toothless asked, letting the smirk from earlier return to his face and cocking an eyebrow. "But why didn't you sell me out? I mean it would technically have been the right thing to do, and you are the son of a cop."

Hiccup exhaled. "The truth is that you gave me no reason to. I mean sure you kidnapped me last time, but you did that to apologize. So I forgive you," he said, smile and confidence returning. "But that's not what I meant. I meant the first time you sent the car for me. Why did you want to see me again then?"

This time it was Toothless who exhaled, but as he did he moved and sat down in the large leather chair. As he did this Hiccup also took a seat in one of the armchairs.

"When you lead the type of life I do, anyone you come into contact with that isn't a, well, let's call them coworkers, just looks at you and practically trembles in fear. You were different. While you may have looked scared on the outside at our first encounter, when I looked into your eyes I saw amazement, wonder, whatever you want to call it, but it was the furthest thing possible from fear."

Hiccup couldn't believe what he was hearing. I mean sure the thought of seeing Toothless was cool, but all he remembered was the terror from that meeting.

"Which is why," Toothless continued, "I wanted to see you again. And now I wanted to ask you something. In my line of work, you don't meet too many people that you can actually become genuine friends with. I find you interesting Hiccup. In know friendships need time to develop, but because of my…position…I want to ask if you would even be willing to give it a try. Being friends."

Hiccup was speechless. Toothless, THE Toothless, was asking to be his friend? How should he respond? Heck, what would his answer be? He tried to form a coherent answer, but he couldn't even form a word.

He just kept spewing random sounds until Toothless finally said something. "I understand you need to take some time to think about this. So here," Toothless said as he pulled a basic flip phone out of his inside pocket. "Take this phone and call me when you have an answer. I'm the only number in there. I don't want you using your regular phone just in case your father did something to it without even you knowing."

Hiccup took the phone and tried to say something, but he was still speechless.

"Astrid will be waiting downstairs in the car you came in. She'll take you home. Take your time to decide, I'm not going anywhere."

Hiccup simply nodded and got up. He headed towards the door, opened it, but paused before stepping out. He didn't want to say goodbye because that would sound too definite, and he was still considering the friend offer, but he didn't want to say see you later either because that would imply he had already decided yes. Instead, he settled for a nod and when Toothless met that with a nod of his own, Hiccup closed the door and left.

Exactly five seconds after the click of the door had sounded, a woman in a strapless blue dress that stopped just above her knees stepped out of the bathroom. She tossed her long hair over her shoulder before going to occupy the seat Hiccup had been in not a minute ago.

"Alright Toothless, Astrid did your driving, so we're even. I don't get why you don't just hire somebody to do stuff like that for you like the rest of us do."

"You know why I don't do that, Stormfly."

"Yes, yes, but still." There was a momentary silence before she continued. "I know you want to be more than friends with that boy, Toothless. I may not have been able to see you, but I could hear you. And you had a certain something in your voice that isn't normally there. You like him, don't you? And you are trying to get him to like you back, aren't you?" Stormfly asked, a knowing smirk on her face.

"Whatever will be will be Stormfly. C'est la vie."

Next Chapter: On or before October 4Why sooner than usual you ask? Well, you'll see when the next chapter comes...

As for the last line there, it's a French expression. The translation is literal.

Want Hiccup to become friends with Toothless? Tell him in a review! It'll mean they'll spend more time together~!