"Yeah, it is." Toothless circled around Hiccup. "We're all alone here." He brushed himself against Hiccup. Hiccup ran his hand down the dragon's side and sighed.
"As much as I love the idea you're having, I don't think that we can do that right now." Hiccup caught the dragon's head in his hands. "We're supposed to be right behind them and this spot isn't as secluded as I'd like." Toothless licked Hiccup from chest to chin.
"Let them watch. The others won't care."
"The other humans will. We've already had one close call with me pinned under you. Don't need to add mental scarring on top of it. Besides, didn't I have to turn you down before for something similar. The humans' being a little too close for comfort." Toothless huffed. "I know it's been a while. Trust me, I really wish that I didn't have to keep turning down your advances. I want this just as bad and turning you down is breaking my heart. But right now I can't be out of commission. I can't be laid up for a day or two recovering right now. I need to be able to walk in a straight line, or at all right now. Something that becomes very difficult, or even impossible after we're together."
"It's never as simple as we say it'll be, is it? Hands and mouths still somehow ends up with you stuck on me, having to wait out my knot." Toothless smiled. Hiccup shuddered at the thought.
"We have to stop talking about this now or I'm gonna have to turn away from the humans when we get back." Hiccup turned his face away embarrassed. Toothless licked at his neck again.
"Fine, fine." Toothless grumbled. Hiccup caught his chin before the dragon could turn fully away.
"How about this. Since we plan to have a bit of a contest tomorrow anyway. If you bring back the biggest kill, we'll stay behind and I'll let you go wild with me." Hiccup ran a finger along the Night Fury's throat. "Whatever you want, however you want, no safe word, no restrictions. You, me and whatever horrible things you come up with to do to me. How's that sound?"
"It sounds like you won't make it through the night." Toothless growled deeply.
"Mated to death, not the worst way to go." Hiccup smiled. The dragon laughed.
"No, I suppose it wouldn't. But given our record you'd end up dying from blood loss from all the scratches and nips before anything else."
"Especially if you re-opened my marks for the up-teenth time. I'm just gonna end up with a big circle scar and people aren't even going to be able to recognize it's supposed to be my mating mark."
"It is hard not to mark you each time." Toothless admitted. "Most dragons don't do that, so I don't know why I always feel like I need to. Maybe it's something about you being human initially, I don't know. I wish I had a better answer for you to be honest."
"That's fine bud." Hiccup reassured. "At this point it might as well be that I should expect to happen. Plus since I'm, whatever I am, I heal quickly enough that It's not a huge deal. A bit sore and some loss of mobility in my arm for a day or two but I'm not worried about it. If there's something in that big ol' head of yours telling you to do it, then do it."
"Thanks for understanding." Toothless smiled.
"Of course, big guy." Hiccup kissed his dragon's snout. "Love you Toothless." He whispered. Toothless tried his best to reciprocate and press his lips against Hiccup's forehead.
"I love you too, Hiccup." Toothless broke away and shook his head. "Alright anymore of that and I'd have to be the one to turn away from the humans when we get back to camp. So let's get this wood back shall we?" Toothless eyed the pile still waiting to be moved. Hiccup chuckled as he moved over the pile as well.
"You think you can carry any of this in your mouth?" Hiccup picked up a bunch of the smaller pieces and visualized if Toothless could carry them.
"Maybe I could do a bigger piece in my mouth and we could figure out some way for me to carry the rest with my front legs or something?"
"No, no that's fine, I figured that I would just put a good bit of this on your back and hold it still while you flew. If that's fine?"
"Yeah sure." Toothless laid down while Hiccup grabbed as much of the wood as he could in his arms and climbed on the dragon's back. When he was secure Toothless picked up a larger piece and they were off.
As they landed they spotted the dragons relaxing and the humans trying to look like they were doing more than also relaxing. Toothless set down next to the pile that the others had made and allowed Hiccup off his back. He put his wood down and then walked over to his father and Skull Crusher.
"Thanks for helping with that, you two." Hiccup complimented.
"Of course Hiccup." Skull Crusher grumbled and bowed his head slightly.
"It's good to see the beasts in action." Stoick crossed his arms. "Gives me ideas on how they can help."
"Already trying to figure out how to best use them huh?" Hiccup asked.
"I believe that I'm fully realizing what you've been saying. Having people befriend dragons makes them easier to work with. But being able to tow the line between friend and pet tends to work best. They want to be respected but also enjoy a good belly rub. I've also realized why you'd want to put young children and young dragons together. It create that bond you were talking about, achieving a level of respect that would be less likely to occur by simply pairing people randomly. I wonder if there would be a way for us to have each side select each other. Guaranteeing a mutual friendship. It would also allow the language barrier to be broken down faster having the dragons grow up around us. See it at work in this little group has been eye opening. Your plan is actually quite genius." Stoick complimented. Toothless groaned.
"Gods above there's two of them now."