How to Train Your Dragon (c) DreamWorks Animation and Cressida Cowell

Necessity

"We just found the dragon's nest. The thing we've been after since Vikings first sailed here. And you want to keep it a secret to protect your pet dragon?" Incredulity dripped from her voice. "Are you serious?"

Hiccup's mind barely registered her words. He remained turned away from her, still coming to terms with the horror he had just witnessed. Never had Berk seen any monster comparable to the demon whose mere head struck terror in the hearts of dragons themselves. And it was the dragons the Vikings feared. He nearly laughed aloud at the irony. Instead, he turned to face her, marveling at his own confidence with which he stood and met the gaze of the most promising Viking of their generation.

"Yes." His features were set in a stony grimace, his shoulders uncharacteristically held back, and he held her gaze long enough for her to understand that his resolution was irrevocable.

"Okay," she allowed. Shock was evident in her voice and Hiccup could not fathom why her words would bear evidence of that particular emotion. Perhaps anger would have been understandable; she must feel some resentment towards him for fundamentally cheating her out of countless victories in dragon training. Even hatred he would not have blamed her for. But shock? Surprise? This was the village accident-waiting-to-happen she was standing across from. The antithesis of all things traditional, acceptable, or remotely Viking-approved who she recently discovered have been harboring a centuries old enemy. She should have known to expect the unexpected from him at this point. "Then what do we do?"

He took that back; it should have been him expecting the unexpected from her. Never had he imagined a day would come when Astrid, epitome of all things Viking and traditional, would look to him for a course of action. And of course he didn't even have one. "Just give me until tomorrow. I'll figure something out." Gods, that was lame. Could he give no better reply the first time someone actually asked him for his input? With that response, it was certainly going to be the last. Hiccup grimaced and took to fumbling with his riding harness in the silence.

"Okay," she said again, and Hiccup was surprised to hear the shock present in her tone earlier had shifted. Despite Hiccup's uncertainty, calm trust now permeated her response. Before he could ponder the transformation in her regard for him, he felt a jarring pain in his left arm. He spun to face her, bewilderment forming his features. "That was for kidnapping me," she explained in response to his dumbfounded expression. Rubbing his arm, Hiccup turned to make eye contact with his dragon to gage his reaction to the girl's sudden hostility. Toothless, however, did nothing more than acknowledge him with a grunt then turned to continue drinking from the lake, obviously content to remain uninvolved. Useless reptile.

Hiccup exhaled and turned back to the girl. She looked atypically abashed, glancing sideways at the ground and gently brushing her bangs from her eyes. The silence hung with the glowing moonlight in the still night air of the cove. When she suddenly reached for him again, Hiccup tensed and braced himself for the pain of another blow. His eyes opened with wonder when he instead felt her lips on his cheek. She pulled away just as quickly as she had leaned in. "That was for…everything else."

Hiccup found himself quite incapable of a response. She barely allowed him time for one had he not been rooted to the spot, for she immediately turned to leave. It was not long before she broke into a run. And then she was gone.

Yet Hiccup could still feel the warmth on his cheek where her lips had been, even if only for a brief moment. There was no heat or passion behind her actions, not like he used to dream about when he gazed at perfect Astrid swinging her hips, calmly strutting away from an fireball. No, the warmth left on his cheek by the girl who agreed to board her sworn enemy and fly with him was subtler. It held a humble gratitude, something Hiccup didn't realize she was capable of feeling until now. He allowed himself a wry grin as he stared in the direction she had left. Despite everything he thought he knew about traditionalist, Viking-way or no-way Astrid, he realized that he and Toothless truly had managed to open her eyes. Now he just had the remainder of his village to see to: namely, his father.

At that thought, Hiccup felt his optimism stagger and fall. It was not until his dragon appeared at his side looking off in the same direction as he was with an innocent curiosity that Hiccup was temporarily distracted from troubling thoughts of his father. He glanced at his dragon, whose wide-eyed gaze after the girl told him that Toothless' thoughts rested on the girl who had run off and the strange mouth-contact she had given his human. Hiccup chose to react with snippy sarcasm. "What're you looking at?" he griped. Toothless merely gurgled innocently and continued to stare after the girl, ill-contented with his human's lack of explanation. Well, he would just have to deal with it. Hiccup would spare no further thought on the subject. He had a much more pressing matter to concern himself with.

Hiccup groaned as the enormous weight of his task the next day hit him like a bola to the stomach. "Toothless, what are we going to do?" Hiccup asked as he turned to walk towards the lakeshore. "We've only got one shot at this and I have no idea how to make sure I do it right." He settled himself at the water's edge and hugged his legs to his chest to rest his chin on his knees. He watched as moonlight glistened and jumped across the subtle ripples in the water, but the calm glow of the cove did little to quell his anxieties. It was not until Toothless, who had decided to follow his boy down to the water, settled himself at the boy's side Hiccup felt his worries begin to recede.

He set to scratching the dragon's neck as he leaned back against the warm scales. Toothless purred and settled his head onto his forelegs, obviously enjoying the pampering after carrying two humans around most of the night. In the soft light, with a dumb smile plastered on his maw, Toothless positively resembled a giant puppy. Hiccup allowed himself a short laugh, moving to scratch lower on the dragon's neck. "Why can't they see you guys like this?"

His mood dampened when he realized a Viking would never willingly behave in a manner necessary to receive this treatment from a dragon. One absolutely had to advance in a nonthreatening manner; it required moving slowly, approaching completely unarmed, and thoroughly thinking before acting. The polar opposite of general Viking demeanor. The most crucial element to relating to dragons, Hiccup realized as his stomach lurched, was blind trust. One had to be completely confident that no harm would come to either party. Couldn't be wary. Couldn't be on the defense. Trust in the dragon as well as trust in oneself, despite uncertainty of the outcome.

At this, positive relations between Vikings and dragons appeared even more impossible and out of reach to Hiccup than before. With this realization and absence of even the beginnings of a plan of action for the following day, Hiccup ceased scratching Toothless' scales and caved to the overwhelming desire to put his head in his hands. Toothless perked up and gurgled at the sudden absence of hands on his neck and craned to nudge his human with his nose. Hiccup pulled his fingers through his windblown hair before released a long held breath and turning to face Toothless. The dragon's eyes bore into his own with an understanding of the boy that transcended all language barriers between them, an understanding he had never seen in any human regard him with before. Probably because almost no one cared to look. And of those who did look, none cared to understand Hiccup for who he really was or was meant to be. Not Astrid tonight, and certainly never his father. The first time his father had really even looked at him was because he thought Hiccup was finally becoming the dragon killer he had always expected him to be.

Hiccup was not meant to be a killer. Nor a great traditionalist Viking warrior. Becoming closer friends with his sworn enemy than he ever had with a human had at least taught him that much. Toothless was able to regard his Hiccup for who he was, not who he was expected to be. Toothless trusted him. Hiccup reached again to scratch the dragon's scales. Most importantly, Toothless was his best friend.

"Wish I could just show the village what we have, bud," he lamented, absently scratching circles on the dragon's hide. Aware of his human's unrelenting fretfulness, Toothless decided it would certainly be best for the both of them to get some well-deserved sleep. The dragon again let his head rest on his forelegs and curled his tail around the brooding boy, who was subsequently shaken from his thoughts.

"Toothless, I can't sleep now," he sighed, instantly understanding the dragon's actions. "I still have no idea what I'm going to do tomorrow and I…" he found himself cut short when Toothless' tail tightened around him and the dragon released a discontented grumble, which Hiccup immediately took to mean 'No excuses. I insist that you stop driving yourself crazy and sleep. Now.' Hiccup exhaled and consented, situating himself against Toothless' side. He absolutely needed sleep; he would undeniably need all his energy in the ring tomorrow, whatever he decided to do. He also knew he absolutely needed to stay with his best friend. Even the thought of going home and trying to sleep in his tension-filled house in the mental state he was in made him dizzy. His father would assume that his son the warrior needed to spend the night in solitude before his celebratory dragon kill. Hiccup snorted dryly at the unexpected usefulness of his father's one-track mind.

Toothless gurgled, still dissatisfied that the boy was not trying to sleep. "Okay, okay, I'm sleeping now. Closing my eyes." Hiccup scrunched his eyes closed for effect. "See?" He lifted one lid to gage the dragon's reaction. Toothless made sure his human was fully aware of his disbelief with an unconvinced smirk, but resigned himself to sleep nonetheless. Hiccup laid his head down as well and closed his eyes. The tail wrapped around his torso reassured him that he was safe for the night. For the first time that day, Hiccup genuinely smiled. This was what he needed to protect: not his pet dragon, but the best friendship he could have ever hoped for. He would do what he had to the next day to keep Toothless safe. He was willing to face his entire village, including his father, to show them they were wrong. For both of them.

He had to try.

Oh hey there internet, how've the last six years been?

Lots and lots of introspection/character exploration here along with a distinct lack of action. Not everyone's cup o' tea, but I needed to explore more characterization and language control first time back in the ring.

I wanted to explore Astrid's motivation during the whole "mah worldview has been altered" sequence as well as Hiccup's brain afterwards and how his appreciation for Toothless gave him the courage to face a whole village of pigheaded Vikings with his blasphemous new ideas ^_^ Constructive feedback is thoroughly appreciated!