Hi guys!

Just to let you know, this was the first fanfiction I ever finished... I finished it in 2013/2014 when I was a high school sophomore, and now I'm a college sophomore! This was before the second movie was released, so it is not really canon complaint, but is very close. They are around 18 here. :)

Thanks for reading!

The five dragons landed with a thud that resounded into the crisp night air.

Hiccup, Astrid, Fishlegs, Snotlout, and the twins walked with their dragons into the academy after a night training exercise.

"Alright, so that actually went pretty good for once...Ruff, Tuff, don't make me take that back-" the Thorston twins immediately stopped their fighting-"We have our attacks down, but we still need work on stealth and defense. Snotlout, you need to-"

"Yeah, yeah, can we finish this tomorrow?" Tuffnut complained. "SOME of us want some sleep before more training at the crack of dawn."

Astrid sighed. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but I agree with Tuffnut-"

"Yes! Ha ha! See? She agreed with me! Ha! I-" she punched him in the face to shut him up.

"quiet, or I'll have Hiccup run more drills!" She hissed. He clamped his mouth shut.

"As I was saying," she continued, " we've been running both day and night drills all week, and I think we would all be a lot better rested, prepared, and energized if we took a break for one night." she looked to Snotlout and the twins, who were already falling asleep(though Tuffnut was total faking).

"You're right, rest would be nice. All right, see you all in the morning," replied Hiccup.

Everyone was almost out of the arena when Astrid turned to talk to Hiccup, but he was still in front of the chalkboard, musing over the scribbles on it.

"Hiccup, you coming?"

"Just finishing up, Milady; Go ahead."

"Need any help? You need rest too."

"Nope, it shouldn't take too long, I've got it. Go home."

"Ok; bye Hiccup."

"Bye." She walked out of the arena, mounted Stormfly, and took off.

When Astrid touched down just outside the arena the next morning, she already had a bad feeling. It was unusually quiet. By now, Hiccup was normally here setting up, and she normally found the twins pestering him.

She walked down the slight ramp, Fishlegs, who had just arrived also, right behind her. She heard snickering from the twins and Snotlout, who were grouped around something on the ground.

"Oh, Thor help me, if they've killed something ..." She muttered on her way over.

She stopped dead in her tracks when she saw what they were (quietly) laughing at.

There was Hiccup, fast asleep slumped against the wall. And his hair was braided, three French braids covering his whole head and trailing a couple inches behind.

She had to fight to keep her expression angry and not to laugh- her boyfriend looked absolutely ridiculous. She turned to the twins-

"What in Thor's name did you do to him?!" They lost it at her reaction, completely forgetting they were trying not to wake the sleeping eighteen year-old. Toothless growled from the shadows; Astrid hadn't seen the night fury until he made the noise, she had been too focused on Hiccup.

Tuffnut started, "Well, we came in and he was asleep-"

"And we were bored, so..." Ruff gestured to his hair.

"How did you get past Toothless?"

"He thought it was funny!" Shrugged Tuff.

" And we may have fed him a few cod, too..."Ruff said. Astrid rolled her eyes.

Hiccup stirred.

"No Toothless, " He mumbled. Astrid crouched down and shook his shoulder. "Hiccup, wake up!"

He shook his head and yawned. "Wha..." He looked at Astrid next to him, then his friends crowding around him. "Huh?"

She poked him in the stomach. "You're in the academy, and it's morning. Must've fallen asleep finishing up last night..." He stood up, then felt his head; it felt different. " what did you do to me?"

"More like what did the twins do to you." Astrid replied as she finally let out the laugh she was holding in.

"We braided your hair, duh." Ruff said, like the answer to his question was as obvious as a dragon in the main square.

"Why in Odin's name would you do that?"

"Because we wanted to get you back for last week."

Hiccup laughed, "ah, should have seen it coming!" After the twins' parents had left early in morning, Hiccup had booby-trapped their door for Loki's day. He put terrible terrors in front that wouldn't let the twins out unless they fed them. And unfortunately, the twins' food supply was in the shed attached to the side of their house with the only door outside. They yelled at Snotlout across the square, but he just laughed and kept walking. Astrid had walked by and asked why they weren't already at the academy, and almost choked laughing so hard at the situation her boyfriend had put them in. After 4 hours, they finally got Stoick to bring them some perch from their supply with a hearty laugh.

Hiccup pulled out the ties, ran his fingers through his hair, and shook his head. His hair was a bit crimped from where the braids had been, and it still looked a bit weird, but he just ignored it for now.

"Ok, since we've been doing drills all week, I thought you all might need a break-"

"Yes!"

Hiccup glanced at Tuffnut, then continued, "so today, are doing a scavenger hunt on berk. Your dragons can come with you to help you get a few of the items, but absolutely no riding or flying allowed. We will work in pairs randomly drawn from a helmet." He grabbed a helmet out of a corner with pieces of paper folded Inside. "Three people will pick to determine the teams." Hiccup held it out and Snotlout jumped to be first. He reached in and picked one up.

" it says Tuffnut."

Hiccup nodded; "We will figure out who barf and belch will go within a minute after the rest of the teams are picked," he said.

Astrid snatched a piece of paper and read it, then reached in again.

" you can't pick a new partner just because you don't like them!" Snotlout protested.

She held up the first paper so he could read it. "I got myself, you muttonhead." Snotlout muttered under his breath. She grabbed a new scrap and smiled."Hiccup," she read.

" You cheated! You just wanted to be with dragon boy all day!" Snotlout pouted.

Astrid rolled her eyes. How could I have cheated? The paper is folded and you can't see the names!"

"He-he could have folded his differently and told you which one was his!"

She rolled her eyes again and turned to Hiccup.

"That leaves Fishlegs and Ruffnut, and barf and Belch will go with them," said Hiccup. He passed out the lists of items to find and a basic map, and the teams read through it to familiarize themselves with the objects of their hunt. "Return here at sunset, and whoever has the most objects wins. Good luck."

"What do we win?" Snotlout asked. There was barely any point to competition if there was no prize.

"Losing teams clean winners dragon stalls for 2 weeks!" Astrid challenged.

Fishlegs suddenly spoke up. "Wait, since you made the list, wouldn't you have an advantage?"

"Not really. I made the list basically from memory or from books about Berk. And," he held up his left leg-"I can't run as fast as you guys can."

They nodded.

"Ok, start!" Hiccup said. Snotlout and Tuffnut, and Ruffnut and Fishlegs left immediately; Hiccup and Astrid stayed and discussed their plan of attack so they could get the most items in the most efficient way, then set off.

The teens collected items all day, with few hurried stops for a meal or rest.

At sunset, the six teens all return all around the same time. They counted they items in their bags- Tuffnut and Snotlout thirty-four out of fifty, Hiccup and Astrid forty-four, and Ruffnut and Fishlegs forty-one.

Surprisingly, Ruff and Fish made a pretty good team; Ruff returned quietly chatting -yet still making somewhat wild hand motions- with Fishlegs, and not trying to blowing things up like usual.

Hiccup filed away the teams into his memory- little to no fighting was good and these teams might come in handy.

There was not any cleaning up to do today, as they weren't actually in the arena for much time, so Hiccup left just behind the others. Astrid waited for him just outside. Since they became friends, and later, something more, they often spent time together after training if they could-which wasn't as often as Hiccup liked because of other responsibilities. At first, they would race or try to improve each other in some way, but it gradually morphed into talking, exploring, or just spending time together.

She bumped into his shoulder, getting his attention. "You know, your hair is getting pretty long," she commented as they walked," if you don't want that to happen again, you should cut it tonight."

"It wasn't that bad. Not the worst they could do, that's for sure. But you're right; it is getting long. I'll get it cut as soon as I can."

"You don't cut your own hair?"

"No," he chuckled a bit. " I tried when I was younger- ended up poking myself quite a bit and giving myself the worst haircut ever, and Gobber had to cut it all extremely short to fix it."

"I remember that!" She laughed.

" And trust me, Gobber is not the best at cutting anything. So after that my dad paid Mrs. Larson to do it."

Astrid reached up and ruffled his hair, and he laughed and shrank away before talking again. "Whenever I see she's not busy i'll get it cut, I promise-"

An idea struck Astrid. "What if I cut it?" She interrupted as they came to the outskirts of the village .

"Huh?"

" I'll cut it. So you don't have to wait."

"Uh,Ok...have you ever cut hair before...?"

"I cut my bangs all the time. It can't be too much different."

"If you mess up, you have to deal with an ugly boyfriend..." He joked.

"Good incentive, i'll make sure I don't," she said with a smile.

They quickly arrived at Hiccup's. she grabbed a chair from the table and made him sit, then ran upstairs and got the scissors off his desk.

"Ok, sit still." She stuck her tongue out a bit, and forms a plan in her mind of what she was going to do. she was going to take a risk and cut it differently than he normally had it- a little shorter in places, longer in others, and all over just messier and choppier. She hoped it would work like she planned; otherwise it could look like she just messed up terribly. She always thought his hair looked better after a flight, when it is more wind blown and out of place. She hoped this would make it look like more like that all the time.

After about twenty minutes, she looked at the front. Just one more adjustment -snip- there.

"Okay, it's done. Looks pretty good, if I do say so myself."

"It feels different..." He stood up and grabbed a mirror from a cabinet." It does look good," he said, standing up. " I guess that was enough motivation," he smirked.

"Well, I have to keep my image up, and that includes the image of my boyfriend," she joked.

He chuckled. "But seriously: thank you, milady."

"Your welcome. It's no probl-mmmm!" Hiccup cut her off with a hard kiss that she reciprocated. His arms went around her waist and her fingers ran through his hair.

When they broke apart, Astrid kept her hands entwined in his hair. She maneuvered to the side a bit, braided a small section behind his ear, and pecked his cheek.

"There." She said with a smile.

He looked at her with question in his emerald eyes. "What is that for?"

"Oh, I don't know, for fun?" she chuckled and shrugged.

"I'm not sure how a tugging sensation on the side of my head is 'fun'."

"Ok, for me, then. Leave it in for me."

"that's more like it. anything for you, milady." He bent his head down and kissed her quickly. "Race you to the cove," he challenged with a smirk.

"You're on."