'It' him. It IS him. He's alive! HICCUP'S ALIVE! And Oh THOR, Hiccup's HOT!'

Astrid let out a small squeal and overloaded with emotions, fainted on the spot, landing in a heap on the floor.

Hiccup stared wide eyed up at the window through his newly acquired hole in the wall. And he saw Astrid staring back and then collapse onto the floor. He grabbed his helmet, and hastily put it back on and ran out of his house to the Hofferson's, knocking thrice.

'Uhg, what am I doing? How do I explain knowing she fainted? Ok, uhm, I can just ask to talk with her and then tell people she's fainted'

Three seconds later the door is opened by Ingrid Hofferson, Astrid mother. She towered a good head above Hiccup and looked down upon his helmeted head and asked, "Well what do you want at this late an hour then?"

"Uhm, sorry to bother you, I just wanted to ask Astrid something, but, uh it can wait until morning" Hiccup asked nervously, Astrid's mum still scared his even now.

"Oh well, you're here now." She turned and yelled into the house with her loud booming voice, "Astrid! The dragon master wants to talk to ya!" After a few seconds there was still no reply. "Astrid!" Ingrid yelled again, but again to no reply. "Uhg, hold on a second" She said, closed the door and was heard heavily walking up the stairs to Astrid's room.

Hiccup sighed in relief as the heavy steps retreated. A few minutes later, Ingrid was back and she reopened the door.

"I'm sorry, you'll have to wait until the mornin' to talk to Astrid, she seems to have dozed off already" She said chuckling.

Hiccup strained a laugh as he said "Oh ok, sorry for wasting your time", but she didn't seem to notice.

Hiccup walked back to his new house, mind churning. 'Could she have recognised me? Ugh, of course she had, why else would she have fainted upon seeing me, who she had believed to be dead for over a year? Oh no, what if she tells someone?'

He was still turning over his options as he got into the house and absentmindedly sat down in a chair, oblivious to the cold blasting through the huge whole in the wall.

Toothless sensed his worry and came over and put his head in Hiccup's lap comfortingly. "Oh hey bud" Hiccup said, still lost in his thoughts, and rubbed Toothless' snout.

The dragon gave a content snort and lay down, still with his head on Hiccup's lap.

Hiccup turned over and over in his head what be should do and came to the conclusion trusting her not to tell anyone would be the best decision. 'She wouldn't give away who I was if I asked her to keep it secret would she? And she was always pretty good at keeping secrets.'

He eventually fell into a fitful sleep (despite the mini earthquakes emanating from the Hofferson's house), his mind plagued with thoughts of Astrid.

Astrid woke up to see her mum standing over her looking worried. "Are you alright?" She asked, "You've been asleep for nearly 14 hours."

"14 Hours!" Astrid yelped.

"Yeah" Ingrid confirmed, "And you've been saying 'Hiccup' over an' over again in yer sleep. Even the dragon master was worried about yer."

At the mention of the dragon master, Astrid sat bolt upright, 'Hiccup. The dragon master. *Hiccup* is the *Dragon Master*. Unless it was a dream, it could have been a dream'. She trued to convince herself it was a dream, but to no avail. 'Well no harm in checking is there?' She told herself, and attempted to get up.

But she was pushed back down onto the bed by the stern hand of her mum.

"Nope, Gothi says you had a pretty hard hit to your head and that you should stay in bed today."

"Uhg, but mum!"

"Uh uh, You. Are. Staying. There."

Knowing it to be entirely futile to argue with her mum, Astrid just lay back into the furs on her bed. "Wait, did you say Hi- the dragon master was worried about me?"

"Yeah, be came by last night wanting to speak to ya urgently but you were already asleep" Ingrid laughed. "An' then he came by again this morning so it must be pretty urgent."

'So it mustn't have been a dream then.' Astrid pondered. 'But there must be a reason he didn't tell people who he was, so let's ask him about it before doing anything rash'. "Well can I see him then if it's urgent?" She asked.

Ingrid looked unsure but relented to Astrid's pleading look. "Fine, but not for long" and she walked out and down the stairs to go find him.

A few minutes later, Astrid heard the door open and shut and two sets of footsteps approach her room. One set was the heavy methodical plodding of her mum, the other the nervous, fast paced gait that she remembered of Hiccup.

Her door was opened and the dragon masters helmeted head popped through, followed by his lean but muscular body, covered entirely by black leather. Ingrid said "I'll leave you two to talk, I'll be just downstairs", closed the door behind her, and was heard walking back down the stairs.

After a few seconds of silence, Astrid asked, "So is it really you? H-Hiccup?" Her voice catching slightly.

He was silent and unmoving for a few moments but then responded by taking off his helmet. Both teens stared at each other, seeing each other properly for the first time in over a year.

Astrid noticed how his tousled hair was raggedy and stuck out more than it used to, but it was still the same bell-shaped, auburn head of hair that she remembered. And now she was closer to him, she could see his small scar on the right side underneath his bottom lip he had got as a baby when his mother had been killed in the dragon raid. She also liked how the leather fit to his now slightly more muscular and lean build. 'Oh, why does he have to have such a nice ass' her thoughts unhelpfully supplied as he turned around, briefly showing his leather-clad backend as he sat on the bed next to her.

Hiccup saw how she still had her hair in a French braid on the left side down her back while her fringe was cut shorter than it used to. She still had a spiked skirt and her tight blue top, on which Hiccup's gaze lingered for slightly too long, that only accentuated her figure.

Hiccup cleared his throat and blushed, and started staring down at the floor.

Astrid just kept staring at him, almost unbelievingly. "Hiccup, Wh-why did you only just now come back? I-I I've missed you, Hel, I grieved you. We all did. We-We thought you were dead Hiccup. Taken by the d-dragons, just like your mother." She finally said, stuttering slightly, holding back her sobs.

Hiccup looked up at her tear filled eyes, but couldn't hold her gaze and dropped it back to the floor.

"I'm sorry Astrid. For everything" he said quietly, still gazing at the floorboards. He started to get up, but Astrid then threw herself forward onto him, pinning him to the bed and sobbing into his shoulder. Hiccup wrapped his arms around her shoulders, comforting her.

Due to Astrid now nearly laying entirely on top of him, Hiccup was finding his tight-fitting leather armour to be a tad restricting in places, and he just hoped Astrid wouldn't notice his arousal.

"Oh Hiccup, my Hiccup, my Hiccup... You came back..." Astrid mumbled. Hiccup realised that this was the first time he had seen Astrid cry. Whenever she'd been hurt in combat or dragon training she'd always just grit her teeth and keep going, never showing weakness. But now Hiccup found himself with the usually stoic warrior bawling into his shoulder.

Heavy footsteps rung out from the stairs and Astrid quickly resumed her stoic persona while sitting back, wiping away her tears and any signs of her sadness along with it. Hiccup stared at her for a few seconds, astonished at her abrupt change in demeanour. But then quickly grabbed his helmet and got it on just as Ingrid pushed through.

"We should let Astrid get her rest now, I think".

"Mu-um!" Astrid complained, "Oh yes, of course. Sorry to bother you", Hiccup said, standing up. As he left through the door, he raised his hand in a brief farewell which Astrid returned.

Hiccup gazed around the Hofferson's house properly for the first time in a year as he ambled through. He could see that it still wasn't the most lavishly decorated of houses, but the rugs were patterned and covered large portions of the wooden board floor. It was evident that while the Hofferson's weren't the wealthiest of families, they certainly weren't poor. Fine tapestries hung on the walls, depicting acts of great valour. These hung next to what could only be called an armoury. Enough swords, axes, maces, and an assortment of other weaponry; hung on the walls to outfit half the village if the need arose. Each weapon glinted, the metal polished, the wood waxed and the edges sharpened.

The few chairs situated around the room were also furnished with plenty of wool and furs to make them warm and comfortable; which mirrored how Astrid's bed had been. Most of the chairs were placed nearer to the firepit, which itself was placed in a well built, stone alcove in the wall.

Not much had changed from the last time he had been there, but he did notice a new picture upon the wall. It was a drawing of Astrid, set in a simple wooden frame.

Ingrid came down the stairs behind him then and saw him admiring the picture.

"Like that picture lad?" She asked, "Astrid drew that one herself. Take it off the wall and have a closer look".

So Hiccup carefully unhooked the frame from the hook on the wall and admired Astrid's drawing. It was a fascinating almost cartoony drawing that still managed to perfectly portray her. He turned it over in his hands and nearly dropped the picture in shock.

On the reverse of the paper there were some more of Astrid's sketches.

"Ah yes," Ingrid sighed over his shoulder, "Astrid did have a fascination for Stoick's boy. Don't really know what she saw in him to be honest with you, but she liked him nonetheless. Tis a shame he got snatched by those bloody dragons".

Ingrid then looked up and saw him standing there, "Oh right, sorry, still got some pent up resentment for th' dragons myself. No offence meant to ya dragon master", she said chuckling.

Hiccup stood bewildered, staring at the sketches of... Him.