The Love of a Dragon

Chapter One: Hardly Realization

Hiccup POV

"For the love of Thor, why is this so weird?" I asked out loud. I was in Gobber's work place doing my job. I had been going on all day about something I found out about Toothless. I had finally learned how to understand Dragonese, although I couldn't speak it. I could only understand it. Just like Toothless understands English, but doesn't speak it.

So, I learned how to understand it, and one of the first things Toothless told me is that…well…Toothless is a girl. I have no clue how I didn't know that. I could have sworn she was a he. But ever since then, I've been finding it a little awkward around her. It was only a week ago though. This was the first time I had actually brought it up to Gobber. Earlier in the day I had muttered about it, and people looked at me funny but I ignored them. Gobber was the one person I could actually talk about things like this to. Toothless was the other exception but when it privately involved her, I had to go to Gobber. For some reason he has a soft spot for me.

"Well, you see lad, I think yer findin' it awkward because all this time you thought Toothless was a boy. She would nuzzle you, mess around, and even lick you. When you thought she was a male, it just seemed like…well, best friend kind of behavior. But now that you know Toothless is a girl, it makes it weird. But only because now when she nuzzles you or licks you, you might see it or think of it as 'more than a friend' behavior. Like Toothless has developed a stronger feelin' for you than mere friendship." Gobber explained. I thought about it.

"I think you're right." I said, blushing. "I guess it's possible for a dragon to feel that way for their trainer. Especially Toothless. She's always been ultra sensitive. But I don't think the trainer would feel that way about their dragon. I mean, I love Toothless, but not like that. And I don't even think Toothless loves me that way. I don't even have two legs. Stupid prosthetic." I muttered. I reached down to scratch it. It had been about nine months since me and Toothless defeated the Red Death (Also known as the Green Death) and I had lost my foot at the end of the battle when the dragon burst into flames and its tail hit me and Toothless, causing me to go unconscious. I remember how devastated I was when I found out about my foot almost the second I woke up. I had gotten used to it by now. I was able to run about as fast as the others. It didn't hurt anymore. Sure, it itched from time to time and got sore if I was on it for an unusually long amount of time. But everybody's feet do that.

"That's not true, lad. Just because you've got a prosthetic doesn't mean girls aren't going to like you. Let alone dragon girl." He laughed. "You're keeping all that….raw vikingness contained. Sound familiar?" I smiled. 'Oh, you sir are playing a dangerous game here…keeping all this raw vikingness contained! There will be consequences!' I had said on the night I shot down Toothless.

"Well you were playing a dangerous game!' I said.

"I took my chances. And I survived." He said.

"Yeah, but look at where I am now, eh? I defeated the dragon, became best friends with a Night Fury, and brought peace between dragons and Vikings." I exaggerated that last thing.

"Yes, but…"
"And I helped you find the Boneknapper!" I pointed out. "And that was not easy. Then again none of the other stuff was."

"Fine." He said.

"HA!" I shouted. Unfortunately, I had a red hot metal bar between some pliers in my hands and I accidentally dropped it. It crashed onto my real foot and it was so hot, that it burned the top of my foot right through my boot. The boot caught on fire. "ODIN!" I screamed. I started flailing my foot around in the air and the boot finally flew off. It crashed to the wall, while I fell backwards and crashed into the wall of weapons.

"Hiccup!" Gobber yelled. He grabbed a bucket of water that he always kept spare in case something happened. He dumped the bucket of water on the boot and the fire was put out. I looked down at my foot; a big red spot covered it. Oh well, it burned, but at least it wouldn't have to get cut off like my other one. I would just put some water and a bandage on it.

"Sorry, Gobber." I said. I pulled myself up.

"Well, you don't want two prosthetics do you?" He said. He went over and got a small cloth from a drawer and got it wet. "Here you go. Tie that around the burn and leave it on there for about forty-eight hours. Wet it when it starts to dry out again."

"Hey, can I get this fixed?" I heard someone say as I was finishing tying the cloth around my foot. I looked up and saw Astrid coming into the shop. She saw me and automatically worried. "Oh, um…everything okay?" she asked.

"Just great…" I mumbled. She set down her axe and rushed over to me.

"I'm fine!" I said.

"Okay! I was only trying to help." She glared. I softened.

"Sorry. I'm just a little upset with today." I said. She smiled.

"It's good." She punched my arm. I'm so glad that it wasn't weird between us. I'm just happy we could still be friends. Me and Astrid had been together for about a month, the point in which Toothless grew just a little grumpy. She likes Astrid and all, but she was pretty upset when we were dating, mostly because Astrid had me more than Toothless did. Like when Astrid would kiss me goodnight outside my house right in front of Toothless. I swear I saw a hint of sadness in her eyes.

"So can you get this fixed for me?" she asked.

"Sure. Give it here." I said. She handed me the axe. It wasn't that hard for me to lift. I was stronger now, although my skinny figure hadn't changed one bit. But I don't think I could see myself as a big buff guy. At least I'm not fat.

"Thanks. Back by tomorrow?" she smiled.

"You can count on that." I said. And with that, she walked out of the shop. "Shouldn't be too hard." I said to myself. Just a broken handle. I can just replace it.

When night came, I was about ready to fall asleep standing up. I was at work longer than usual.

"All right, lad. You can go home. I've kept you here long enough. Night." Gobber said. I dragged my feet walking out of the shop. About to fall asleep right then and there, I smiled when I saw Toothless walking towards me. Thank the gods.

Toothless POV

'There you are!' I thought. Hiccup had been gone long enough. I saw him trudging out of the shop, fighting to stay awake. His eyes met mine and he smiled. I rushed towards him just in time to catch him as he stumbled to the side. I put my neck under his arm. We started walking, but while we were, I noticed his good foot didn't have a boot on it anymore. A bandage covered a big part of it. I looked up at him with worried eyes. When he noticed me, he yawned.

"It's okay, girl. I just dropped something on it. It'll be better in two days. No big deal." He said. It kind of was a big deal to me. I freaked out about every little injury he got. It just meant he was getting closer and closer to killing himself everyday. One time he got a paper cut and I dragged him to the medicine man. He's bleeding, he's bleeding. Oh my gods he's bleeding. I had thought when I saw it. I still felt really embarrassed about it to this day.

When I was just about dragging Hiccup, I used my tail to pick him up and set him on my back. His head rested on my neck, and his arms wrapped around it. I purred quietly.

At least he knows I'm a girl, I thought. I couldn't stand being called a male anymore. I could hear Hiccup's heavy breathing and knew that he had fallen asleep. I wasn't aloud inside his house at night, I had to sleep outside, but I waltzed right in anyway. Stoick was sitting by the fire, and when he saw me he stood.

"Outside, Night Fury." He demanded. I used my tail to gently pat Hiccup to show him that he was asleep.

"Oh. Go on up then. But one night only." He said. He faced the fire again, but then turned around. "Thank you." I nodded.

When I took Hiccup up the stairs I once again had to use my tail to keep him form falling off. I nudged open the door and brought him to his bed. He gently rolled off my back and onto the bed. I lifted the covers up over him after I got his prosthetic off. I learned how to do that with my teeth without hurting him. When he got under the covers, I saw his eyes flutter open a little.

He saw me, and smiled again. Oh, I loved that smile of his. He reached out his arm and I went over and put my head under it. He closed his eyes again.

"I love you Hiccup." I said.

"Love you too Toothless." He breathed.

My heart leaped. Even though he only meant it in a friend kind of way, I couldn't help but imagine that he meant it as more.

Hiccup POV

"Oh, Toothless." I muttered. I heard the dragons intake of breath, and shouted, "NOW!" Toothless faced the dragon while we were still falling and shot one of her lightning hot and fast fireballs into the dragons mouth. Just in time, because her prosthetic tail fin was on fire. The dragon's mouth started smoking, and the wings started tearing up. The fire was burning it from the inside out. Toothless and I were pushed up past it by the force of it falling.

The dragon hit the ground and exploded into a mountain of flames. Me and Toothless were flying up it, just barely ahead of the flames. I tried to change the position of the tail fin, but when nothing happened I looked behind me and saw that it had completely burned and it fell off. The flames were gaining on us. I looked back to the front.

"No…NO!" I yelled as we tried to stop from crashing into the dragon's giant spiked tail. We failed in trying to stop, and hit it with full force.

Pain, in my left foot. Cracking bones, tearing skin. Dislocation. Then, scaly wings wrapping around my body, encasing my in a fireproof shield.

And we plummeted into the flames.

Still Hiccup POV

"NO!" I sat up in bed screaming. Toothless's head jerked out from underneath my arm. She whined.

"Oh gods…what in the name of Thor was that?" I gasped. I was sweating and could hardly breathe.

"What happened? Hiccup? Is something wrong?" Toothless worried.

"Just…just a nightmare." I said, giving a nervous laugh.

"About?" Toothless pried.

"About the Green Death. When its tail hit us." I said. I saw Toothless's eyes narrow. Gods, she was the one who had saved me. I assumed that I had somehow miraculously survived the fall. No one had told me it was her who saved me. I started scratching underneath her chin and she purred. Finally I just jumped at her (still in the bed) and put my arms around her neck and hugged her tightly.

"Gods Toothless. Thank you." I said.

"For what?" she asked, confused.

"For saving me. I swear if I had known it was you who saved me I would've thanked you as soon as I woke up." I said.

"Hiccup, you don't need to thank me. Besides, I could hardly understand English then. It wouldn't have mattered if you had thanked me or not. You living is the only thing that will ever matter to me." She said. I felt my face flush a dark red, and she used her front paws to hug me back. "And I suppose I should be the one thanking you." She added. I looked up at her big green and black eyes. "First, you shoot me down and take away my ability to fly." I winced. "Then, you free me and give flying back to me. You became my best friend, and my rider. The first person to ever befriend a dragon, a Night Fury. You taught me to love." I knew she only meant it in the way I love her. But there was just something in her eyes when she said it…

"Hiccup!" My father yelled. I sighed, pulling away from Toothless.

"What Dad?" I shouted back.

"Everything all right? I knew you were awake, so shouldn't you be heading on over to Gobber's by now?" He asked.

"Oh, uh, yeah! Thanks for telling me!" I said. "I guess I slept in longer than usual. Not by much though." I mumbled to myself. "Ugh, where's my prosthetic?"

"Oh, here you go. I took it off for you last night." Toothless said. She pulled it out from under the bed where it had apparently fallen.

"Thanks." I said. I put it on, and twisted it around to get the feel of it. It always felt a little weird when I put it on. But it went away after a minute. I don't really limp at all when it's on. I can walk pretty much normal. I did make a few tweaks to it though. Like I said I would before. I made it a little taller so I wouldn't limp so badly, because it was a little short when I first had it.

I walked out of my bedroom and down the stairs.

"C'mon bud!" I yelled. Toothless came charging down the stairs and ran straight under my legs, picking me up onto her back unstably. "Hey! Toothless!" I laughed, trying to steady myself as we burst out the door. "C'mon! Calm down! Seriously!" she slowed down, and finally started moving at a slow trot. "Thank you. I was about to throw up." She laughed.

"Hiccup! Yer late!" Gobber yelled.

"I know!" I said.

"Well then, get yer bony butt in here and get to work!" I walked over with Toothless. "Ya can't bring that beast in here, she's too big."

"I know, I know. Toothless buddy, you're going to have to stay outside." I said.

"Fine, but I won't enjoy it." She growled.

"Well, I don't enjoy going to work every day and all day, but we cant all enjoy everything can we?" I chuckled. And with that, I walked into the shop. Not five minutes after I walked in, I looked out the window and saw Astrid playing with Toothless.

"Oh, her axe…" I said. I couldn't remember where I had put it.

"Gobber, you have any idea where Astrid's axe is?" I asked.

"Uh, you mean the one hangin' on the wall right there?" he pointed.

"Well, why did you put it up there?" I asked annoyingly.

"I didn't. You did." He said.

"Wow, I must have been more tired than I thought last night." I said. I took the axe off the wall just as Astrid walked in.

"Hiccup? Can I get my axe back?" she asked. I came into her view from the other room.

"Yeah, here you go." I handed her the axe.

"Thanks. Hey… Fishlegs, Snotlout, Ruffnut and I are going flying later. You wanna come?" She asked.

"Sure! Wait, why isn't Tuffnut coming? Oh gods, what did Ruff do to him this time?" I said. I wasn't kidding. Ruffnut and Tuffnut were constantly trying to kill each other.

"She didn't do anything this time, surprisingly. He's just out with the flu or something. His dragon was sick and I guess if a dragon is sick then the trainer can catch it." She explained. "So, I'll drop by here when we are going, okay?"

"All right. I'll be here." I said. "See ya."

"Bye." She waved.

"Hey, Gobber?" I asked.

"You can go." He said.

"Wait. How did you know what I was gonna ask?"

"You might think you're off in your own little world with Astrid, but you're not the only ones here."

"Hey, you know I don't like her that way anymore."

"No, I know. You like someone else." Then, so quietly I could hardly hear it, he said, "Or something else."

"Excuse me?" I said.

"Oh, nothing." He smiled.

"Yeah, right." I mumbled.

The day passed by slow. I couldn't stop thinking about what Gobber said. What does he mean, "Something"? It makes no sense! Why wouldn't I like "Someone"? I mean, their people. Not animals, not dragons…

Oh gods.

Toothless.

He thinks I love Toothless! Toothless doesn't count as a someone, she's a something. I can't believe he would say that! I love Toothless, but not like that!

"GOBBER!" I yelled. I marched into the room he was in.

"What?" he said innocently.

"Why…I mean-back there…what did you...Why would you even suggest that?" I said. My face was red with embarrassment.

"Well, I see how you act around Toothless! You might not even know it yet, but I think yer developing a little crush on yer dragon. As weird as it may be, I think it's true."

"But I don't love Toothless like that!"

"Like I said. You may not even know it yet."

I thought about that.

On one hand, I love Toothless. But not that way. Even if I may not know it. On the other hand, what if Toothless really does love me that way? I mean, she did say that I was the one who taught her how to love…

No. She just meant it as a friend.

Oh, well. I'm not going to let that get to me right now. I'm going flying with Toothless, and that's all that matters. Well, I'm going flying with people other than Toothless also…not that I wouldn't mind flying alone with her.

I do that all the time.

Because she's my dragon.

And I love her.

But not that way.

SHUT UP! I thought. Gods, this is so annoying! Lets just go wait for Astrid outside.

"Gobber, I'm gonna go wait for Astrid outside. Bye." I said.

"Uh-huh. You go do that lad." He replied.

I walked outside and the first thing that happened was that Toothless attacked me and knocked me to the ground.

"Toothless! Ah! Wait! N-No!" I laughed. She licked my face billions of times.

See, this isn't so bad now is it?

Not really…

Oh gods.

What did I just say?

Gobber POV

Love is…enchanting, in its own way. If you're a young adult male, falling in love with a young adult female, then you act clumsy and stupid around her. And you think nothing in the whole world is more important than her. You would do anything for her.

If you're a young adult female, falling in love with a young adult male, then you're shy, and nervous. You get encouragement from your friend to even say "Hi" to him. You blush, and giggle when he messes up, because you find it cute. You buy presents, kiss him…if you get the chance. And you cry when he doesn't show up for one of your dates.

Now, if you're a teen boy, who is maybe, just maybe, falling in love with a female Night Fury dragon…then it's bound to be awkward.

And confusing.

And scary.

So good luck if you're that specific teen boy.

Namely, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III.

Chapter 2: It Could Happen. Right?

Hiccup POV

"Look out!" Fishlegs Ingerman yelled.

"Odin!" I screamed. I veered to the left. I hadn't noticed the gigantic stone archway I was about to run into. We barely skimmed past it.

"Gods, stupid! Look where you're going!" Astrid said.

"Sorry!" I shouted. Toothless smacked me with her ear. "Well, it's getting dark out!" I protested.

"But I can see perfectly Hiccup." Toothless said.

"I'm not a dragon though. Humans don't see as well as dragons do." I said.

"Really? I didn't know that." She said honestly.

"C'mon! I knew that ever since this sack started riding me." Snotlout Jorgenson's Monstrous Nightmare Tor snorted.

"Yes, but my Hiccup isn't as…naïve as Snotlout is, so I never noticed that they had worse eyesight than us." Toothless said defiantly. I gulped. My Hiccup? She put the word "My" in there. Oh…well isn't that normal? I guess.

I had been so distracted thinking about if I could be falling in love with Toothless. I had somehow decided that I very well could be. She is a very beautiful dragon. It really isn't that weird to think that I could be falling in love with her. Yes, weird enough to distract me from flying. But I still wasn't sure if I was. I was only partially thinking that I maybe could be.

"Hiccup? Are you feeling all right?" Astrid asked.

"Yeah, you have been acting kind of weird lately." Toothless added.

"Oh…yeah, I feel fine. I think I'm just a little over tired." I said. I could tell from the look on Astrid's face and Toothless's eyes that they didn't really believe me.

"All right…well…" Astrid started.

"Would you like to go home? I don't mind. I'm getting tired of almost hitting stuff anyways." Toothless made the noise she does for laughing.

"Actually, yeah. We are going to go home, okay guys? Sorry." I said.

"Aw, dude! Don't leave me here with these guys! Astrid is the only decent one here!" Ruffnut complained.

"Decent? Did you just call me decent? I will have you know that I am more than decent. Face it Ruffnut, if it weren't for me, you would probably be half way to the mental facility by now!" Astrid said.

"Okay, um…we're going to let you girls sort this out. Bye!" I yelled. "Lets go bud." I patted the side of her head. When we took off towards the village, I listened to Astrid and Ruff fight about stuff that didn't even have anything to do with what they were fighting about before. I sighed.
"Hey, Hiccup?" Toothless said.

"I'm fine so don't even ask." I grumbled.

"But, you're not. I just wanna help." She tried again.

"You can help by not helping. Other than that there is nothing you can do." I said.

"But..."

"I said leave it alone Toothless! What don't you get about that?" I snapped. I regretted it immediately. The black in her eyes narrowed and she looked away without saying anything.

"Gods, bud. I'm sorry; I didn't mean to snap at you like that. It's just; I've been really confused about something lately. But it's insanely private." I said.

"Well, you could have just told me that. If you said it was super private, I would have left it alone. And you're forgiven." She said.

"Good." We arrived at the village and the first thing I did was ask Spitelout where my dad was.

"He's out sailing right now. Wont be back for a while." He said. "Thanks." I replied. "You can sleep in my room tonight." I told Toothless. She happily obliged.

She bounded up the stairs in my house up to my room. I sat on the edge of my bed, not really ready to go to sleep yet.