Hello Everyone! Sorry for the wait, I'm back now after finals and some much-needed time spent resting. I should be able to post more regularly now (but no promises). Anyone else really excited that HTTYD finally surpassed High School Musical in the movie category? No? Just me? Well, I won't go on any longer, hope you enjoy the chapter!


Chapter 22: Partners

The continuous click, click, click of the windshield wipers seemed impossibly loud to Hiccup, they completely drowned out the sound of the soft pitter patter of raindrops outside the car. The weather was warmer now, at least warm enough for it to rain. Not ideal circumstances for a visit to the junkyard, but their conflicting schedules made that the only day available. Hiccup drummed his fingers on the steering wheel, his eyes drifting to the woman sitting in the passenger's seat. Astrid sat there, a piece of hair fell from behind her ear as she looked down at her phone, fingers typing away at expert speed. He squeezed the steering wheel, he wished he could kiss her right now, and he wondered what it would feel like.

Astrid looked up from her phone, tucking the fallen hair back into place. "Sorry, I had to send an email to Magnus, it's a work thing."

"No, that's fine. I mean we're waiting around anyway."

She rubbed the condensation from her window and squinted as she looked out. "Where is Fishlegs anyway? How long has it been since you texted him?"

"A few minutes, I think he's gathering Meatlug's stuff."

"How much does he need?" she asked. "We're only gathering supplies." Astrid sighed and turned back to Hiccup. "Thanks by the way, I don't know how else we would've gotten custom saddles for the dragons. We can't exactly buy one on eBay."

Hiccup smiled. "Don't mention it."

"I'm surprised you'd know how to make saddles. You're a mechanical engineer after all, this isn't exactly up your alley."

He shrugged sheepishly. "Well I had to choose something to major in, mechanical engineering is just the field I ended up with. I've been interested in making all sorts of things my whole life."

Astrid chuckled to herself. "Yeah...now that you mention it, I do remember you making quite a few different...things when we were in school. Not completely sure what any of them were, but they were interesting to say the least."

"None were exactly crowning achievements, most only awarded me an invitation Headmaster Heyral's office." He looked over at her. "I didn't think you'd remember stuff like that." Or someone like me he thought.

She smiled. "You did start quite a few electrical fires in the school, I'd say something like that would be pretty memorable."

Hiccup laughed. "Fair enough."

There was a thunk as Fishlegs hastily opened the car door and climbed into the backseat, a large box wrapped up in his arms. His hair was wet, and he was breathing heavily.

"What took so long?" Astrid asked, twisting around in her seat so she could face him.

"Sorry, I was making sure everything was okay for Meatlug. Preparing a few blankets so the box was comfortable, putting a tarp around it so everything stays dry, getting rocks in there in case Meatlug gets hungry. You can never be too careful."

Astrid's eyebrows knitted together in confusion. "I thought Meatlug was better now?"

Fishlegs nodded. "Oh she is, I only wanted her to be as comfortable as possible."

Hiccup and Astrid looked at each other. "Her?" he asked, turning back to Fishlegs.

"Yeah, I called Gothi to come take a look at Meatlug when she started to get better. Gothi inspected her further, told me Meatlug was actually a female with the capacity to lay eggs," he explained.

"Wow...and the other dragons?" Hiccup asked.

"The last two are both males, and they're still recovering," Fishlegs said. "Gothi brought an incubator for me to put them in, it seems they enjoy the warmth. Considering how well it went with Meatlug I'm sure they'll be better in no time."

"That's good," Astrid said.

Hiccup nodded and started the car, the engine rumbling back to life. "We should get going, you said you had to drop by the office this evening right?" he asked, turning to her.

"I do, but you don't have to rush, I can go tomorrow if necessary. You're doing us a favour after all."

He smiled and began pulling out of the apartment's roundabout. "No worries, we're doing this together for the dragons right? The more we have the better our chance of getting the machine back."

The car pulled out into the street and began driving towards The Edge. The rain eased up as they neared, though the sky stayed dark and grey. By the time they had arrived, it was about ten o'clock and barely spitting.

Ruffnut and Tuffnut buzzed them in, and they rolled their way into the parking lot, ground muddy and wet from the rain. Stormfly's tiny head popped out from Astrid's jacket and she gently pushed her back inside. "Soon, soon," she whispered as the twins headed out onto the porch to greet them.

"Keep them hidden," Hiccup said quietly before climbing out of the car. Astrid nodded, zipping up her jacket as she opened the door.

"Hiccster! It's been awhile, where have you been?" Tuffnut called out, approaching the car. His eyes drifted towards Astrid as she climbed out of the passenger's seat, a smile crept across his face. "Astrid…" he looked back to Hiccup and winked, "fancy seeing you here."

Hiccup sighed. "We're here for some parts, the three of us."

Fishlegs awkwardly shuffled out of the back, arms clutching the box tightly. He smiled and gave a small wave to them. "Hi."

"Is that fishface?" Ruffnut called as she walked over from the porch, eyes squinting so she could see him better.

Tuffnut looked around at the three of them, clearly confused. "Yeah it is," he replied. "You guys been getting together without us?" he asked, slightly offended. "Don't tell me Snotlout is back there too?"

"He's not," Astrid answered, "and we're working on a project together, it's related to the lab."

"The lab?" Ruffnut said stepping beside her brother. "Sweet, what kind of project?"

Astrid scowled. "It's confidential."

"Aw come on," she whined.

"It's also time-sensitive."

Ruffnut frowned and crossed her arms. "Alright, be a party-pooper," she said. "Whatever you find, bring it on up to the main building and we'll cash you out."

Everyone nodded, and Astrid, Hiccup, and Fishlegs headed off towards the back of the scrapyard to find the parts they needed. Hiccup led them towards where he had remembered the leather pile being. The pile was mostly pieces from old car seats, but after a little digging, they were able to find a few discarded saddles to use as the bases. Astrid and Fishlegs continued looking for other parts while Hiccup worked on the first saddle. Sewing old pieces together and reshaping them with his heat gun. After a few hours of work, Hiccup had managed to mostly finish the first saddle.

He stood up, patting the dust from his pants. "Looks pretty good," he said, glancing over his handy-work. "Do you think it'll work?" Hiccup turned to Astrid.

"It should," she said. "I mean, you used the measurements I gave you right?"

He nodded. "How about you test it?"

"Now? Here?" Fishlegs asked, nervously glancing around the scrapyard. "Won't somebody see?"

"Unlikely, this place has pretty good tree-cover. Besides the only people around are Ruffnut and Tuffnut, and they never stop arguing with each other so we'll definitely hear them coming."

Astrid scooped Stormfly out from her jacket, placing her onto the ground. "I'm good to go."

"Are you sure this is a-" But it was too late, Stormfly had already begun growing in size, and before he knew it, she was towering over them.

Fishlegs stumbled backwards, catching himself on an old couch. Though Hiccup and Astrid had become accustomed to the dragons in their full form, Fishlegs still wasn't used to how large they became. "She's...tall, isn't she?"

Astrid eyed Hiccup and smiled. "You're surprisingly brave, Hiccup. I was terrified the first time I saw a dragon."

He laughed awkwardly. "I'm not brave. I guess...I guess I've heard so much about them by now I was prepared to see one."

"Tell that to Fishlegs," she retorted, gesturing to their nervous friend standing nearby.

Hiccup just quirked a small smile, his eyes moving to the ground as he muttered, "Really, I'm not brave," under his breath.

Soon they began the process of attaching the saddle on Stormfly's back. It was a bit of a struggle, her shape was nothing like Toothless' much straighter slimmer frame. Though Hiccup managed to fit it on with a little bit of struggling. "It's not a perfect fit, but you can try it out for now," he said. "I'll bring it home tonight for adjustments."

Astrid brushed a hand over the leather straps and buckles. "It looks sturdy enough to me."

"It's sturdy, but it's not a perfect fit. Stormfly won't be comfortable wearing it for extended periods of time, but if you want to take her for a quick ride she'll be fine."

"Fly? Right now?" Fishlegs asked, looking between the two.

Astrid grinned, grabbing her shiny blue motorcycle helmet from nearby. "That's what we came here for isn't it?"

"We were here to get our saddles started, not to fly."

"How are we going to know if the saddle suits us if we don't try it out?"

"Shouldn't we-" His eyes shot towards Hiccup then back to her. "Shouldn't we wait until The Night Fury and Toothless are here? You know, encase you fall?"

Astrid shrugged. "I'll fly low, I've got this don't I?" she said, knocking on her helmet.

"Make sure you attach the bungee cord to your belt, that way you'll stay on even if you slip," Hiccup told her. Astrid had given much information to him about Toothless' saddle in order to help him build her one. Though he obviously didn't need it, it was nice that there was less he had to pretend not to know about.

Fishlegs moved closer to Hiccup as Astrid mounted her dragon. "You're awfully calm about all this, aren't you worried she'll get hurt?"

"She's smart, she'll be fine. Besides, The Night Fury taught her a few things already, this isn't exactly her first time. C'mon, let's work on your saddle while she's up there, we don't have much time left." They watched for a brief moment as Astrid and Stormfly leapt up and soared off into the sky, just above the treetops. She looked happy up there, it reminded Hiccup a little of himself when he first learned. He stared at her smiling face a moment longer before moving back towards the scrap pile.

"You should tell her," Fishlegs said to him as he rummaged through the pile of old leather scraps.

Hiccup sighed. "Haven't we been over this enough times?"

"This isn't like how it was back in high school, you two know each other, she respects you, she likes you for who you are, the Hiccup you."

"Those are two different types of like, Fish. Just because she can be friends with me doesn't mean she'll ever be interested in me that way. The way she is with him."

Fishlegs shook his head, confused. "Him? Why do you insist on talking about The Night Fury like he's a different person? You and him are the same."

Hiccup scoffed. "That's where you're wrong, we couldn't be more different."

"Hiccup-"

There was a great gust of air as Stormfly swooped down and landed on the ground with a thud. Astrid looked exhilarated, she was out of breath and her hair was windswept. "You did a great job with the saddle, it works perfectly."

"That's good to hear," he said. "Take it off, I'll adjust the fit on Stormfly and return it to you when I can."

"Before I do that," she began looking over them, "do either of you want to come on a ride with me? It's the best feeling, I swear."

"Is that a good idea? What if she can only carry one person at a time?"

"Well Toothless has flown with both me and The Night Fury on him, and if anything he's smaller than Stormfly," Astrid said.

Fishlegs shook his head. "I don't know..."

"Fine. Hiccup?" she asked, turning towards him. He smiled dumbly and nodded. "Great, let's go." Fishlegs seemed utterly flabbergasted as the two climbed up onto Stormfly's saddle again and jumped back into the air.

With his arms clutched carefully around Astrid's waist, he remembered what it was like the first time she took him on her motorcycle, but it also felt reminiscent of the first time he had taken her on Toothless. Either way, he couldn't help but smile and laugh along with her.


There was a loud buzzing sound as the heavy metal gates slid open for them. The guard led them along the halls until they reached the visitation room, opening the door to reveal Dagur already sitting in the seat across from them.

"Knock on the door when you're finished," the guard said, letting the door slam behind them.

"Heather," he said, smiling. It looked like he had wanted to stand and hug her, but the cuffs holding him to the table prevented it. Then his eyes reached Astrid, and he suddenly looked apprehensive. "...is this another lawyer? Because I told dad that-"

"She's not a lawyer," Heather quickly corrected. "I may have mentioned her a few times, she's my friend, Astrid Hofferson."

Dagur's eyes darkened. "Heather...what did you come here for?"

"You know what we came here for," Astrid said, crossing her arms and taking one of the seats across from him. Now that she was closer, she could see the faint, nearly healed bruising around his face and on his arms.

He looked back to his sister. "I already told you, I told you what you wanted to know, more than I should have. I can't tell you anymore about them."

"Yes you can," Heather snapped back. "I appreciate your concern for me and dad, but I'm already involved and you can't change that. Even if you could, if the brothers finish the machine, dad and I won't be safe, nobody in Berk will."

"We're looking into getting Heather and your dad protective custody, but you have to give us something, anything," Astrid said.

Dagur scoffed, leaning back in his chair and glaring at Astrid. "Looking into isn't fucking good enough, if I tell you anything they're going to try and murder my father and my sister, what fucking part of that don't either of you understand?"

"Dagur!" Heather hissed. "Don't you speak to her like that, you're the one who helped the people who kidnapped her, and then you helped the people who stole her uncles plans. Why can't you try to do something good for once?"

His eyes lowered.

Astrid calmly leaned forward. "Listen, the guards think we're here to discuss your trial right now. Nothing you say will be public or used in court. The brothers or whoever, they'll never have to know you were the one who said anything." Dagur slowly looked up towards her. "All we're asking is you give us, and only us, anything you can that might help us stop them before they do any real harm. This isn't about your trial, it's about more than that now."

He looked over to Heather again. "...And you're looking to get protective custody for dad?"

"Dad...and me."

"You'll go?"

"If necessary, yes."

"But if you help us catch them before they suspect anything, they won't have to," Astrid told him.

Dagur sighed, running his fingers through his hair. "Alright...alright."

"What do you know, Dagur?" Heather asked, moving to sit next to Astrid.

"Viggo and Ryker Grimborn, that's them," he began, "they were alone when I started working with them, Viggo was the brains and Ryker was the muscle. They didn't tell me much about their plans, they only told me one step at a time, so I don't know much of what they'd be doing now."

Heather reach over the table and touched his hand. "That's alright...do you know where their hideout is? Where they might try to build the machine?"

He sighed and nodded. "There was one place they had…"

The heavy glass doors slammed behind them as Heather and Astrid walked back out onto the bustling streets of Berk. "We have the location...now we need to get everyone on the same page for an ambush, who do we have?" Heather asked, turning to her friend.

"Hiccup made saddles for Fishlegs and I, then there's The Night Fury, you...and that's about it."

"Fishlegs rode a dragon?"

Astrid shrugged and they began walking down the street towards the Terror Mail building. "Not rode per say...but he has the capacity to ride in the future. I mean, you should see him with Meatlug, it's adorable."

Heather looked off in thought, slowly nodding to herself. "Well, that's pretty good, we may not have an army, but three dragons isn't half-bad. Does The Night Fury know about you and Fishlegs having ridable dragons now?"

"Yeah, I've told him," Astrid said. "As for the ambush, I'll talk to him tonight about it so we can get moving as soon as possible."

"Tonight? That's fast considering he doesn't have a cellphone. You two have been seeing a lot of each other haven't you?" she asked, nudging her friend with a cheeky smile.

"You could say that," Astrid replied nonchalantly.

Heather's grin only grew wider. "Did something happen that I don't know about?"

"You could say that," she repeated, this time her attempt to hold back a smile failed, and she pursed her lips to subdue it as best she could.

"Oh my gods, something did happen! You didn't tell me?" Heather exclaimed, grabbing onto Astrid's arm and stopping in her tracks.

"There's been a lot going on lately, and I didn't really have the chance to talk about it."

She squeezed her arm tighter. "When? Where?"

Astrid turned towards her. "The day we got Meatlug."

"Him?"

"Me."

"No," she replied, shocked.

"I couldn't help myself, he's such a sweetheart when you get to know him. He's...really genuinely brave and kind, all he wants is to help the dragons, help people. That's rare these days."

Heather smirked. "So you're telling me you didn't decide to date the masked vigilante because he's super hot and a badass?"

She couldn't help but laugh, before continuing down the street. "I mean, the badass part didn't exactly hurt his chances, but considering I've never seen his face I can't really say I'm with him for his looks."

"Wait," she said catching up to her friend, "you've never seen his face? What if he's horribly disfigured or something? What if he's secretly an alien?"

Astrid averted her gaze for a moment. She knew in a certain sense that he was basically an alien, who knows what he really looked like. But somehow that thought didn't bother her much. "Then I guess we'll have to figure that out together."

"Shit...you're serious about him."

She smiled to herself. "Yeah, I am actually."

Heather linked arms with her. "You have to tell me everything." Astrid only chuckled to herself as they continued on down the street towards their building. She couldn't help but think it was nice to feel normal, at least for a brief moment. It seemed like forever since she and Heather had chatted about boyfriends this way.

All the questions began to make Astrid wonder if she and The Night Fury were boyfriend and girlfriend. Though they had discussed and made their feelings quite clear, they never really said what they were to each other. She wasn't even certain he understood what it meant to be boyfriend and girlfriend.

"...and the dragons?" The Night Fury asked.

"Stormfly is strong, I've flown on her a few times now. Hiccup has finished our saddles and I'm ready to fly her when we ambush the brothers." Astrid paused, biting her lip. "Meatlug is strong too, though I'm not certain Fishlegs is ready to fly her yet. You should've seen him the first time I made him...he was petrified."

He nodded. "It's only natural." Then he turned to her, and though she could not see it, she could hear the smirk in his voice. "For some people anyway."

Astrid couldn't help but laugh. "I can't tell if you're trying to brag, or compliment me."

"Can't it be both?" he asked, shrugging cheekishly.

She paused again, staring into the sheen of his helmet. "Night Fury...what are we?"

He hesitated. "...What do you mean?"

"Where you're from you must have some concept of girlfriends and boyfriends, lovers, you know." Her eyes never faltered. "Am I that...for you?"

"I…" he seemed nervous, starting to turn his face away from hers.

With a hand she moved it back. "If I'm not, you can tell me to my face. I won't be angry, but I need to know."

"I'm...whatever you want me to be, Astrid," he began, his voice anxious and small. "I had hoped we were...lovers…" It was adorable to her how embarrassed he sounded as he choked out the words. "I always assumed that if you liked someone, and they liked you back, that's what you became."

Astrid smiled and kissed the side of his helmet. "Then that's what we are." His gloved hand moved to caress her cheek, and she could feel his eyes burning into hers, she only wished she could see them. She what colour they were.

Something high-pitched cut through the soft sounds of the city around them. A siren. They looked over the rooftops until they found the flickering red lights zooming across the cityscape. It wasn't too far, they could fly there in a few minutes.

"I should go." The Night Fury moved to mount Toothless, who sat curled up on the far side of her roof.

Astrid tugged on his sleeve. "Hold on. Wait for me to get Stormfly, I'll come with you."

"You don't-"

"We're partners aren't we?" she interjected with a cocky smile.

The Night Fury chuckled. "Of course we are. You'd better hurry, Toothless is the fastest there is."

"Was the fastest you mean," she said before jumping through the skylight and rushing to her room to grab Stormfly and her helmet.

Once she reached the rooftop they quickly flew off into the night, soaring towards the red lights in the distance. They scanned the city below as they flew, it wasn't quite seven yet so the streets still bustled with people rushing home for the evening. Neither could see any smoke or hear any commotion that might lead them to the distress faster than simply following the police cars.

"This is…" The Night Fury said to himself as he looked down at where they were heading.

"Do you see anything?" Astrid asked.

"It looks like they're heading towards the university," he told her.

She looked ahead to where the campus was, and they did seem to be heading in that direction. Towards Berk University. The reason why she couldn't think of right away, but when it hit her, it hit her hard. "Oh no, Hiccup." Her head whipped around to look at him. "That's where Hiccup works, and Gobber too! What if they found out they were working with us?"

"How would they know that?"

"I don't know, but we need to hurry," she said, urging Stormfly to soar faster towards the university, The Night Fury close behind her.

As they grew closer, the sound of occasional gunshots could be heard below. They followed the sound until they reached one of the far research buildings. A few police cars had already made it on site and were having a shoot-out with a few men in masks. By the looks of it, the police were out-manned and out-gunned. Astrid gasped, at a second glance she recognized one of the officers as Snotlout himself, struggling to keep going as he bled from a wound on his side. "That's Snotlout!" she exclaimed.

"We've got to help, Toothless, blast them!"

"Wait!" Astrid called out. "They're right next to their cars, you could cause an explosion!"

"What do we do then? If we fly too low they'll start shooting at us."

She looked down at the men, quickly counting out how many there were. "I think I've got a plan...Stormfly, spine shot!" Stormfly whipped her tail around shooting out several spikes and hitting each of the shooters with one.

The Night Fury's head whipped around. "When did you learn to do that?"

Astrud shrugged. "A few days ago."

"Oh, shit-" he said, noticing as one of the men pulled the spike from his shoulder and made a break towards the edge of campus. Toothless dove down, landing with an incredible thud and stopping the man dead in his tracks.

Stormfly landed next to him a few seconds after. "I'll ask this once. Would you rather deal with us, or them?" Astrid asked, gesturing towards the officers as they ran towards them.

He fell to his knees, hands up in defeat.

Moments before the officers descended upon them, Toothless and Stormfly leapt back up into the air and flew away. Snotlout, clutching the wound on his side, watched them from the ground below.