Dawn spilled over the Island of Berk that early Day of Rest. High up in the clouds, a black form darted through the streaming rays of sunlight.

"Come on bud!" Hiccup yelled; laughing with exhilaration as his dragon shot up towards the rising sun. The wind whistled past the daring duo, but held no weight against the determined Night Fury. Flapping feverishly, Toothless let out a little roar.

"Almost there," his rider whispered, keeping his masked face fixated on their target. Far ahead, a tall rocky island cast a shadow over the open sea. At this precise hour ever morning, the dragon and his rider enjoyed watching the sunrise. However, due to a certain early-rising father, Hiccup had been unable to sneak out in time to catch the dawn.

"Aaaaaaaand—we made it!" Hiccup exclaimed, as Toothless landed sloppily on the small landmass. After his rider slid off him, the Night Fury grumbled huffily, and stalked off to lie on his usual big flat rock. Hiccup shook his head indifferently, removed his windbreaker mask and walked over to sit cross-legged in the grass.

By this time, the sun had already stopped its daily colorful light-show, so the 20 year old just relaxed and soon found himself submerging into one his typical day-dreams. He imagined himself and Toothless flying far away from Berk, leaving everything behind. Nothing but amazing adventures and new places were spread before him.

A voice calling his name interrupted his thoughts. Hiccup cracked open one eye-lid. Flying directly above him was a sleek blue Deadly Nadder! On its back was a beautiful blonde-haired blue-eyed female, waving at him happily.

"A-Astrid!" Hiccup cried, quickly scrambling up and running his fingers through his thick shaggy auburn locks. "There you are! I've been looking all over for you!" She replied, laughing. Astrid, also 20 years old, jumped off her dragon, Stormfly, and ran to hug the lanky dragon trainer. "Hey," he sighed contently, holding her close with his chin on her head.

"Guess what," she said, extracting herself from his embrace. "What?" he said, settling down with her in the grass. "You got back so late yesterday; I didn't get to tell you. I won the Dragon Race Tournament!" she said, grinning. "Really," Hiccup said, grabbing her waist and pulling her nearer to him, "Tell me about it."

"Well, it was really close. It was all the way at the end, and Gobber had just shot up the Black Sheep. I almost had it, and then Fishlegs busted through and stole it. But he just tossed it to Ruffnut—"

"Of course…" Hiccup muttered suggestively.

Astrid laughed. "Yeah, but, anyway," she continued, "then I dropped in right on Barf and Belch's back and ran right between their heads, and grabbed the sheep." Astrid began to get excited as she describing the event dramatically with her hands. "I jumped off and Stormfly caught me and I dropped the sheep in my basket. I ended up with thirteen points, and won!" She finished, a little out of breath, as if she could still feel the elation of succeeding in the race.

"Wow, that's great!" Hiccup cried, smiling. Then his face darkened. "I'm sorry I missed it," he said. Astrid sighed. "That's alright," she said. She paused. Then punched him gently in the arm.

"Ow! What was that for?!" Hiccup yelped, rubbing his perfectly well padded bicep, pretending to be in terrible pain. "That's for apologizing for missing it." She retorted. "I'm an adult, I can deal with it." Hiccup waited for a minute before saying, "What, no kiss?" Astrid rolled her eyes, and gave him a quick peck on the cheek. "That's for—" "Everything else," Hiccup finished nostalgically.

They stared at each other for a moment in time, remembering instants like this one from long, long ago. "Anyway," Astrid murmured, breaking the spell. "Back to what I was trying to say. It's okay you didn't come, because you had better things to do. You great explorer," she teased, smiling, "What dangerous and uncharted land did you discover yesterday? Squinty Eye Bay? Big Fruit Fly Mountain?"

"Itchy Armpit…" Hiccup mumbled.

Astrid chuckled, leaning her head onto his shoulder. "Honestly…"

They sat there for about a half hour, just enjoying each other's company. Finally, Astrid spoke up again. "So…do you come here every morning?" Hiccup glanced at her fondly. "Yeah. Toothless and I like to watch the sunrise. But this morning we were late, so I didn't get to see it." Astrid frowned.

"It was all because of my dad," Hiccup explained, rising from his seat. "I wake up, the sky's still dark, Terrible Terrors sleeping on the roof-top…" he began theatrically. "I saunter down to grab a quick breakfast, thinking all is right with the world, and I get, 'Son, we need to talk.'"

Astrid jumped in as Hiccup's reply, "Not now Dad, I got a whole day of goofing-off to get started!"

Hiccup mocked indignation, "First of all, I don't sound like that. An-and second, what are you doing with my shoulders?" Astrid shook her shoulders quirkily. "Oh, yeah, a truly flattering impersonation," He commented, chuckling, "Uh, anyway… 'You're the pride of Berk, son, and I couldn't be prouder.'"

"'Aww, thanks Dad, I'm pretty impressed with myself too!'" Astrid continued, waving her arms about.

"Whoa-what-when have I ever done that with my hands?" Hiccup exclaimed crossly, but smiling.

"You just did!" Astrid giggled.

"Oh-okay, okay," Hiccup said crouching down to her level, reaching out to grab her upper arms. "J-just—HOLD STILL. This's very serious." Astrid smothered her hysteria. He sat down close to her again. He looked wistfully off far into the distance, fiddling with a stick.

"I don't know what to do. My father…he wants me to become chief!" He peeked nervously at Astrid, "and start a-a family. But I…I don't feel ready! There's so many new places out there I've yet to discover, and if I become chief…I won't be able to leave Berk anymore. Not like I do now, anyway." Astrid nodded understandingly, fingering his hair.

"And I know this sounds ridiculous, but now that my dad has—well—liked me for the past five years, I feel like there has been so much pressure on me to live up to his great expectations. And if I become chief, those are some pretty big shoes to fill. Literally and figuratively," Hiccup said, laughing a little. "I don't know what my dad sees in me that makes him think I'll be a good chief, I really don't. I keep trying to figure it out, but…"

"What you're searching for…it's in here." Astrid said, gently placing one of her hands over his heart. Hiccup turned to her and smiled slightly. "Your dad knows what you could become. He's seen what you can do! Plus, you're brave and smart and strong—"

"Well, maybe now I am, but I was a weakling when I trained Toothless and conquered the Green Death!" Hiccup remarked. "That's what I'm saying! You were so young and puny when you totally DOMINATED A DRAGON QUEEN! I mean, imagine what you can do now you're older." Astrid protested.

"Well, really, it was all Toothless," Hiccup objected, "He did all that. I mean, I-I probably would never have even gotten your attention either if it hadn't been for him!"

"Hey! Don't be such a self-doubter." Astrid said strictly. Then she smiled sneakily. "As for not noticing you…Oh, I don't know…" she said, pulling a loose string from her shirt to tie off the end of a small braid she had done in his hair. "You're kind of the only decent guy on Berk. That's hard to ignore."

He rolled his eyes, but smiled none the same. He turned to face her. "I don't know what I'd do without you," he said. Astrid shrugged nonchalantly, brushing a wisp of hair out of her face. And at that moment, Hiccup had an overwhelming feeling of affection for this beautiful girl before him. He reached over and cupped her face in his callused hands. "Promise you'll never leave me," he whispered, stroking her cheek. She did not have a chance to answer.

Hiccup tenderly pressed his lips to hers for the first self-initiated time ever. When at last he pulled away, Astrid was left breathless. For a moment, she sat there shocked. Then she abruptly struck him on the leg. "That's for not letting me answer." Hiccup laughed. Astrid pushed him, and pinned his arms to the ground. "Hey—" he started. "And this," she interrupted, "means 'I promise'."

Hiccup was then rewarded with a rather long and passionate kiss.