ya i wrote a new note at the end of this as well as editing it

As they flew back to the nest in the cover of the clouds, Hiccup made a sketchy plan on how he would get Toothless past Valka and Cloudjumper, and getting back in without waking either of them up.

Hiccup didn't really want to go all out, just slip Cloudjumper a Sleeper Fish. I could try that with Mom, he thought, I'll just take up cooking for tonight.

As Toothless tucked his wings slightly and dove past the Stormcutter and his rider, Hiccup turned his foot to make the tail fan out more, barrel-rolling through a tighter space to get to the main cave faster. They glided into the cave they called home, and Hiccup was dismounted and walking toward a basket before Valka and Cloudjumper flew in.

"Toothless and I are goin' to go catch some fish with the dragons," He turned to his Mom. She took off her helmet and raised a brow.

"Isn't the King going fishing later?"

Hiccup shook his head, strapping the basket onto Toothless' saddle, so it would be behind him when he got on the Night Fury. "I saw the Alpha getting up when we were flying in. We better go now so we can keep up," He finished strapping the basket on and mounted Toothless.

The dragon gave a happy roar as they burst out, the dragon fanning his wings to catch an updraft as they flew behind the Alpha ducking underwater to swim out to the ocean.

"He's up to something, Cloudjumper," Valka stroked the owl-like dragon between the eyes as he purred.

"He hates going fishing. He'd never go voluntarily."

When Hiccup and Toothless got back the sun was almost touching the horizon. They were both soaked and smelled of saltwater.

When Valka saw the condition of the duo she laughed. "Took a swim, did you?" She took the basket of fish from Hiccup as he dumped water out of his helmet.

"Toothless thought it would be cute to take an unexpected dive. Thank you for nothing, you useless reptile," Hiccup rubbed Toothless' head as the dragon let out a sound that resembled a laugh. Toothless made sure to shake off some water onto Hiccup, who gave an audible sigh as he grabbed a cloth and started rubbing the water off.

Valka set the basket on a flat rock that resembled a table and got out a crudely-made knife. As she began moving to scale the fish, Hiccup slid and took the knife from her. "Ah, I'll handle it. You go on a flight with Cloudjumper."

As she was about to protest, Toothless began nudging her over to Cloudjumper. She hesitantly got on the Stormcutter's back, taking off and flying out of the nest. She muttered as she slid on her helmet, "Definitely up to something."

After setting some fish with a few Sleepers mixed in at Cloudjumper's usual spot and restraining Toothless from eating it, Hiccup put a few Salmon and a Sleeper Fish over a fire to cook.

Valka and Cloudjumper got back around the time the fish that was cooking was ready. He shoved a salmon and a Sleeper on a wooden plate and handed it to Valka, who thanked him. Cloudjumper was already digging into his small pile. Hiccup tossed a few bass to Toothless, since just letting him sit there watching the others eat was a bit of a torture experience.

After about an hour Valka was passed out against Cloudjumper, both of them seeming to snore fairly loudly. "Come one, Bud. They're asleep," Hiccup whispered as he got on Toothless. The duo flew quickly out of the nest and to the beach, hidden in the night sky.

Hiccup didn't dismount Toothless as they crept toward the camp from the forest nearby. Hiccup got off of the Night Fury as he ducked behind a tent. He saw that the gang and Gobber were sitting around a small fire. He accidentally leaned on his prosthetic and it made a small squeak.

He ducked his head behind the tent as Astrid whipped her head to look at his hiding place. She didn't even bother excusing herself from the group as she picked up her axe, stalking over to where Hiccup was hiding against the rough material of the tent. She aimed as she got close, and swung hard around the corner. She peeked to look, and saw her axe embedded in a small log leaning against the back of the tent.

As Astrid looked around a bit more, still not convinced it was just a darn log, Hiccup watched. Cocooned in Toothless' wings, they were nestled in a high tree branch. "I could've been that log," Hiccup commented quietly enough so only Toothless would hear. The Night Fury had snatched him up when the female human had closed her eyes to ready her weapon, shoving a broken log in his place.

The dragon grumbled when the blonde Viking walked back to the group, setting her axe by her side. Toothless already knew he didn't like her. He couldn't let Hiccup get too close to the other human if they did end up talking some sense into them... with her shimmering hair and attractive eyes, the female was pretty.

Too pretty. He wasn't risking losing his best friend to a mere human.

The dragon purred in question as Hiccup slid out of his grasp, landing on the ground silently in a crouch. He stood up straight, brushing off his suit. "What should I do, Bud? Take a careful approach or go right in there and hope I'm not impaled?" Toothless grumbled, trying to say 'neither.' Hiccup didn't understand, though. "First option it is."

"Take out their main source of light? Distract them and take their weapons? Or fly until they notice us-" He was interrupted by a growl from Toothless. "So, none of those. Well what do you thi-"

An axe whizzed right by his head. If he hadn't been wearing a helmet, the blade might've even nicked his ear. He turned to see the blonde Viking from earlier, and he saw the rest of them getting up to see what the commotion was. "Who're you? And why are you talking battle plans in earshot?" Her voice was rough and firm, but it had a tone of beauty within it.

"I-uh.. Toothless?" The Night Fury was nowhere to be seen. "Thank you for nothing, you useless reptile." He barely registered her sidling around him to grab her axe out of the tree behind him. He laid a hand on Inferno's sheath defensively, not planning on actually bringing the sword out.

"Who's 'Toothless'? And you never answered my question," She glared at Hiccup,holding her axe up to his throat. "Try anything and you'll be in Valhalla." He held his hands up in a sign of truce, gently pushing her axe out of his face.

"I want no trouble," He said, backing up as the axe resumed it's position at his neck. Where the heck was Toothless?

"I'll as you one more time. Who. Are. You?" He pushed him pack so we was pinned to the tree by her blade. She saw a glint of bright green eyes, and froze. Hiccup had bright green eyes just like those...

He laughed, covering it up with a cough when she glared daggers at him again. "If I told you my name, you'd laugh at me."

"Doesn't matter."

Hiccup narrowed his eyes. Yes, it does matter, Astrid. He didn't really recognize her fully until now, seeing her in front of him, axe aimed to kill. "I would tell you my name, but I don't want to be rec- I mean, I don't want any... complications?" Complications, he sarcastically applauded himself in his mind, great job with improvising there.

"Have fun in Valhalla, stranger." As she said that, Gobber, Fishlegs, Snotlout, and the Twins all advanced. Astrid raised her axe, but everything stopped when a high-pitched shriek filled the air.

ew when i first wrote this i still used "XD" without it being for irony

honestly i rly like astrid but she was a bully as much as the other kids, she was just slightly more sympathetic about it :/ but i mean as much as id hate to say it id probably succumb to peer pressure, like id imagine was the case with astrid tbh

technically im not spoiling anything since you know there will be hiccstrid in this ((unless u ignore the tags)) but when i was first writing this i was planning for there to be no hiccstrid and just have it be like this normal story :,) but then i started reading fanfics like those to see what they did and there was a bunch of "omg wheres the hiccstrid???? NO OTP?!?!?!?! angry emoji huffing emoji"

this probably makes no sense and ill end up coming back to this chapter AGAIN to edit this note out