Hey peoples! ^^ So, I actually had a very rough time coming up with the overall concept for this fic, cuz my brain was seriously just dead for the longest time. And then school came and along with that, stress. So... it's a miracle that I finally got everything for this planned out and even the first chapter written out. Anyways... I'd like to thank a VERY good friend of mine, spirit sl, for helping me out when I came to rough patch with this story. She helped me out a lot, and I doubt I would be posting this up without her, so I want to give the greatest thanks to her. And I hope you all enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do NOT own How to Train Your Dragon, any of its characters, locations, or anything involved with the movie and/or the books. The plot of this story, however, is mine.

Chapter One

The feel of the wind rushing through his hair was welcoming. He closed his eyes as the black dragon beat its wings harder, gaining more and more speed. He felt at home up above the clouds. It was the one place where he could be truly free. Soaring in and out of the clouds with his reddish-brown hair whipping out behind him… this was where he belonged.

He was born into a dragon-killing tribe of Vikings, expected to grow up to be just like his elders, which he had been dying to do… until he actually got the chance to become one of them. The Night Fury had been so helpless, so vulnerable, so… killable. Hiccup had been right there with his dagger raised above the dragon's heart, but hadn't been able to kill the reptile. In that one split second where Hiccup had lowered his knife, his whole life changed. Choosing to befriend the dragon, keeping the friendship a secret, killing the Red Death after it had been revealed; the whole island of Berk was changed. Dragons were no longer hunted and killed, but taken in and adopted as pets. For Hiccup, his dragon was no less a member of the Haddock family than he or his father, Stoick. After the Red Death had been defeated, the entire Viking village looked at Hiccup as a hero, and Stoick was finally proud to call him his son. Hiccup knew that, with his new title as an actual Viking, he would someday replace his father as chief of the tribe. He was both excited and nervous.

Hiccup smiled as he and Toothless soared over the village where they lived, seeing all of the other Vikings rushing around, trying to complete their day's errands before darkness filled the sky. It had been one of the rare sunny days for Berk, and so the sunset was one of the majestic, beautiful ones, casting rays of pink, orange, and yellow throughout the sky. The ocean water surrounding the island looked like juice that came from some kind of tropical fruit, the colors were so bright. His grin spread as he remembered that this was what the sky had been like the first time he had taken Astrid on a ride with Toothless over a month ago.

As if she knew that he had been thinking about her, the teenage Viking rocketed past Hiccup, letting loose a loud, glorious laugh. Hiccup's jade eyes widened in surprise for a moment, before he, too, laughed. He reached his hand up and patted Toothless' head gently, and the dragon snorted in reply, seemingly happy to accept the challenge that Astrid had offered.

There was no doubt that the Night Fury was faster than the Nadder, and so Hiccup and Toothless quickly zoomed by Astrid and her dragon. Both Vikings laughed again as Astrid's Nadder pushed forward, trying to keep up with the other dragon. Hiccup slowed Toothless down to allow the Nadder to catch up, and they flew side by side through the pink clouds, letting their laughter eventually die down.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" Astrid murmured, her eyes on the clouds surrounding them. Just as she had done on their first flight, she stuck her arm out and began streaming it through the soft clumps of puff. She didn't seem to mind that her arm got pretty wet as she continued to trail it through the clouds.

"Sure is…" Hiccup responded, his eyes locked on Astrid. She didn't notice where his gaze was kept, as her own wasn't even focused on him. Her arm was back at her side, her hand holding the reigns that allowed her to control her Nadder, and her eyes were staring down at the multi-colored ocean water. She looked preoccupied, like her thoughts were giving her stress. Hiccup wanted to ask her what was wrong, but he didn't want to pry or seem nosy.

"Life is life, right, Hiccup?" she suddenly asked, looking over at him. He raised one of his eyebrows in confusion, and Astrid chuckled lightly. "Nevermind," she muttered, looking back down at the water.

"Is there something you wanted to say, Astrid?" Hiccup asked her, honestly curious now. He didn't realize that he was leaning over towards her and her dragon until he felt the two hooks, which kept him safely latched onto the saddle, tugging at the belt around his waist. He straightened up, clearing his throat as subconsciously as possible.

Astrid sighed.

"Nothing really," she replied. "Just that… well, life is so different now. What with the dragons being our allies rather than our enemies and everything." Hiccup's eyes were staring at her face, though she pretended not to notice. He saw something in her eyes… something that said she wasn't telling him what she was honestly thinking about.

"Yeah… life's much better," Hiccup told her, tearing his eyes away from her face. "Not having to constantly rebuild our homes or hope that our sheep will reproduce." Astrid laughed at his words.

"I didn't say life wasn't better," she stated matter-of-factly, still chuckling lightly. "I'm glad that you decided to be stubborn and save Toothless' life rather than end it." Toothless gave a grateful grunt, agreeing with her words. Hiccup smirked at his dragon.

"Yeah, I'm pretty glad I did that, too."

They continued on for a short while in silence, Astrid returning to gaze at the clouds surrounding them. Hiccup's mind was buzzing, trying to figure out what Astrid would even want to keep from him. Ever since the Red Death had been defeated, the two of them had become much closer than before, telling each other almost anything. They had become the best of friends, and, even though Astrid had kissed Hiccup the day he had woken up, they hadn't pronounced their relationship.

At least… not in public.

Secret kisses, stolen in the moonlight before rushing back to their homes; holding hands as they walked through the forest with their two dragons; offers of helping fix riding gear in private always accepted…. Nothing related to their relationship was ever shown; to the entire village, they were just pals. Though the entire village had seen them kiss a month ago, everyone thought it had merely been an act of generosity and thanks. Especially now, since Astrid and Hiccup didn't let on about their true relationship. As much as Hiccup wanted to get their relationship out in public, he knew that at the moment, the best thing was to keep it between themselves.

Astrid made a sudden dive, shooting down towards the water, slicing through the clouds like a knife through a soft stick of butter. At first, Hiccup didn't even notice, because he was too lost in his thoughts. But he was suddenly yanked back into reality when Toothless turned downwards, darting down towards the ocean. They quickly overtook Astrid and her Nadder, and they all four dived into the icy ocean water. Both dragons came back above the surface with a large fish in their mouth, which they both gobbled down whole before taking off back into the sky again. Their riders merely came up soaked and laughing.

"Good catch, bud," Hiccup congratulated, patting Toothless' head again. Toothless let out a throaty chortled noise, as if he were trying to laugh. Hiccup chuckled, looking over at Astrid. His eyes lost their humor when he saw the expression on her face. "Astrid, what's wrong?" he asked her. She turned her eyes over to him.

"Nothing's wrong, Hiccup," she told him, and he saw the honesty in her blue eyes. But he saw something else there as well, though he couldn't put a label on what it was. "I'm just… thinking."

"Can I ask what about?" Astrid sighed at his question.

"Reia, and Toothless, and Grool, and Blaze, and Javo and Yavo." She spoke the teenager's dragon's names with awe in her voice, and Hiccup felt confused at that particular tone she picked. "I don't know exactly what I'm thinking about them, I just can't get them to leave my mind. The training dragons we used to practice on to know how to kill them… except for Toothless, of course. How did things change so radically in such a short period of time?"

It was Hiccup's turn to sigh.

"Astrid, I hope you're not saying that you don't like the change," he murmured, staring straight ahead. He was careful to keep his eyes away from hers.

"I'm not saying that at all," she snapped, a bit harsher than she intended. She didn't notice Hiccup flinch slightly. "I just said earlier that I agreed that life was better, didn't I? I'm just… overwhelmed at how it happened so quickly."

"Well, it took a couple weeks, technically…" Hiccup responded, still not meeting her eyes. "But… wouldn't you rather it have taken weeks than months? Or years?"

"I suppose so…"

Astrid turned her head to look over at Hiccup, but failed to get him to turn to look back at her. She sighed again, looking forward.

"It's getting dark," she murmured, pulling slightly against Reia's reigns. "We should start heading back." Hiccup looked around and noticed the dark blue beginning to invade the bright sky. He silently agreed, also turning Toothless back in the direction of the village.

"You wanna go riding again tomorrow?" Hiccup asked quietly as they landed near the edge of one of the cliffs. They both hopped off of their dragons, Astrid helping Hiccup unhitch his prosthetic left foot from its metal stirrup.

"I don't know," Astrid answered as they began walking back towards their homes. "I was actually thinking that, maybe, we could just take a little walk? Ya' know, maybe go to yours and Toothless' canyon or something." Hiccup let a smile slip onto his face at the idea. They hadn't been to the canyon since the night that Astrid had first found out about their alliance.

"I'd like that," Hiccup said, turning the smile over to her. Astrid returned it, and, before they were in view of the village, she grabbed Hiccup's collar and pulled him close to her. She pressed her lips softly to his in a quick kiss before letting go. Hiccup wasn't quite ready to be done, though he still felt dazed, as he did after every time the two of them kissed.

"I guess I'll see you tomorrow, then," Astrid whispered, a blush lighting up her cheeks. Hiccup could feel his own blood bubbling under his skin.

"Uh… y-yeah," he stuttered, wiping his shaking hands against his shirt; when had they become so sweaty?

Astrid grinned, causing her angel's face to look even more beautiful.

"Great," she said. "See you then." She turned and began walking in the direction of her house, while Hiccup mumbled out a quiet, "Bye." Toothless nudged his rider's elbow gently from behind, and Hiccup turned to look at the dragon. Toothless gave a wide yawn, and Hiccup let out a chuckle.

"Alright, bud, let's go." Hiccup placed his hand on the dragons neck as they both began the walk up to Hiccup's house, in the opposite direction that Astrid had taken. Hiccup's house was at the top of a steep hill, and Toothless often had to slow his pace to help Hiccup if he ever needed it. That prosthetic on the boy's foot made climbing the hill noticeably more difficult.

Hiccup saw his father taking a bite out of a cooked fish, sitting around the fire in the middle of the large entrance room, when he walked into the house. Stoick looked over at his son, gulping down the bite of fish he had in his mouth as Hiccup closed the wooden front door after Toothless slid inside after him. Hiccup looked back at his dad, gave him a small smile and one weak wave, and then headed for the staircase on the side of the room.

"How were the skies, son?" Stoick asked, his eyes following Hiccup towards the stairs. The teenager stopped on the second step, turning his head to look into his father's waiting eyes. He sighed.

"They were fantastic, Dad, really bright," he answered, picturing the clouds in his head. "You know… you'd be able to experience them yourself, if you got yourself a dragon." Stoick huffed, turning back to the fire. "I don't get it, Dad. You like Toothless, you're fond of all the other dragons in the village, and you're constantly asking me what it's like to go flying. Why don't you just get a dragon?"

"We don't need another dragon around since you have that Night Fury," he stated in a hard voice. "I have nothing against dragons, nothing at all, I just can't really picture myself riding one."

"You'd find it easier to picture it if you actually went out and did it…" Hiccup muttered, beginning his climb up the stairs again. Stoick didn't object to his son's statement. He continued staring into the fire, chewing on his smoking fish.

Hiccup collapsed on the bed in the far corner of the room that made up the second floor of their house. The wool- stuffed cloth he used as a mattress was soft under his back, and his feather-stuffed pillow welcomed his head with comfort as well. Toothless curled up on the rug on the floor directly in front of the bed, closing his eyes in exhaustion. Hiccup put his hands behind his head, propping one leg up while crossing the other leg over it, moving his foot in circles as he sunk into his thoughts and stared into the ceiling.

He didn't know why, since it had happened many times now, but every time Astrid kissed him or he kissed her, he couldn't help but feel a warm, tingling sensation surge through his body. Maybe it was because he had had feelings for her for such a long time and, to finally get the feelings in return, he couldn't fight the urge to be happy about it. He loved her, he knew it. And the thought of her loving him back still hadn't completely registered in his mind yet. A girl like Astrid loving a guy like Hiccup? He wanted to splash himself with cold water just for considering it.

It's just a crush, he kept telling himself. She'll get over it soon enough.

And then there was the fact that she was obviously keeping something from him. She had been thinking of something more than just the dragons earlier… something she didn't want Hiccup to know about. It had to be something important, since they hardly ever kept secrets from each other anymore. Hiccup racked his brain, trying to come up with something – anything – that Astrid would possibly want to keep from him. He came up with nothing.

With a frustrated sigh, he lowered both of his legs, pulled the large quilt over himself, and closed his eyes. He could hear his dad shuffling around downstairs, probably getting ready to head to bed himself. Hiccup honestly wondered what his dad had against getting a dragon of his own…

The young Viking yawned and, much sooner than he wanted to, slipped into unconsciousness to the light snoring coming from Toothless.

Not as long as I wanted the first chapter to be, but as we get more and more into the story, the chapters should start to get longer. I hope you enjoyed Chapter One, and I'll get Chapter Two up as soon as I possibly can! Please, please, please leave me a review, telling me what you think! Liked it? Hated it? Constructive criticism? Just let me know! No flames, though, please. ^^;

~ Taylor