Chapter 15: Start Of A Friendship?

Hiccup

Every time Astrid looked at me, she always had this dark hole in her eyes as if she were holding something back or something was killing her inside. Her smile hid the effect but I could still see it. I've been allowed to stay here for as long as I want and I appreciate it but I'm also worried. I've never actually been in the company of people my own age before so inside I could feel the butterflies twirling around rapidly inside my stomach and it was definitely uncomfortable. Astrid argued against me leaving her hut though for a while, she told me she wouldn't let me leave until she was absolute certain the scars had calmed down on my back. I kept refusing and telling her that I was fine, but she was too absolute in her decision to actually let me move from my place. So every day she would stay and keep me company, bring food and water and in a way it made me feel helpless, though I knew she was trying to help and I couldn't be rude to deny that.

Every now and again, Fishlegs would join her. Whenever he came, he always brought a load of books with him and we would scan through and I started to learn so much...so much more than I had in those repeated towers. There was so much about dragons I learnt as well and Fishlegs would go into so much detail about them sometimes I couldn't help but close my eyes and fall asleep; I didn't want to be rude so I always told him an excuse, I could tell he knew I was lying but he always shrugged it off and said it was okay and always mentioned that he understands why I must be so tired...but really, most of the time it really was him and his talking. Sometimes he and Astrid would bring another girl in here with them, her name was Heather. She had ebony black hair which was tied in a plait down on her shoulder, she had magnificent green eyes which clashed with my own and her attire was different to Astrid's. She wore mostly metal and the thing that always ran through my mind was whether or not it was heavy on her or if it was smashed to a thin line of metal which made it easier for her to proceed in.

Whenever, I had the chance to be alone, I always spent that precious time with Toothless. I could tell that he was getting annoyed slightly with me because he hadn't been out for a flight in a very long while. I knew that it was my fault so I even kept apologising to him, his reply was to just nudge me comfortingly as if to say that he understood, but I couldn't help but feel sorry for him. As of right now, I could see through the crack of Astrid's door the sun was beginning to set, it's light slowly but surely started to kiss the ocean's skin and it's light reflected through. It was admirable and fascinating to look upon; immediately blocking away those emotions Toothless knocked me over slightly, sharing his small gummy smile with me, but all I could do was sigh "I know bud; I'd love to as well." All I got was a nudge back almost knocking down "Toothless!" I looked at him raising my eyebrows slightly just as he cooed out towards the crack in the doorway. I followed his gaze before looking back at him releasing a small smile from the curve of my lips.

I slid off the bed and stood next to Toothless, he let me wrap my arm round his before we both walked over towards the door. I picked up his saddle which Astrid placed next to the door as she thought Toothless would feel uncomfortable with it on twenty four seven. I carefully attached it back to him and slid my prosthetic into the catch, settled myself down on the saddle and gave Toothless the nod before he took off against the sky in front of us. I suddenly felt free again, just as did after I left Viggo's compound, I knew that I wasn't a captive here but it felt nice to be back in the air once again so I could let everything pass me by. I could tell that Toothless was enjoying the fresh air because he wouldn't stick his tongue back in his mouth. It looked cute and funny at the same time so I couldn't help but laugh.

The more I stayed in the air and the more fun that Toothless was having, I started to get quite hungry. Astrid filled me in on the whereabouts everything was on the island and gave me a plan in case I got confused but it all seemed pretty simple to me. I saw the light emerge from inside the clubhouse which they called it and it was located at the top far side of the island. I patted on Toothless and he knew straight away what to do; he flew in the direction of the clubhouse and we landed quietly on the deck of the wood. "Astrid, I think he might find it a bit claustrophobic if he stays cooped up in your hut all day, every day, why don't you just let him get a feel for the place now," I could hear voices inside, the first one I noticed it to be Heather, "Yea Astrid, it's like you don't want us to meet him or something," that voice I didn't recognise but they sounded very arrogant and full of themselves and from that sounds of that I wasn't sure whether or not I'd like to meet them. "I'm not doing that Snotlout, and guys I just want to make sure that he's all better before you meet him, I mean he was in pretty bad shape and you three didn't help by knocking him out of the sky."

I could hear the irritation in Astrid's voice and I felt the butterflies turn in my stomach at the thought of her sticking up for me. "To be fair, it was Snotlout who actually hit him out of the sky, we didn't have any-," but they were cut off by Astrid "You guys are the ones who also implied it to happen Tuff," and with that I figured I'd make an entrance before something serious were to happen. "It's okay, I forgive you for that, you didn't know who I was," all heads diverted in unison towards me, each person's eyes were wide open staring at me in shock with nothing to say. Suddenly, Astrid pushed herself away from the table "Hiccup! You should be in bed...resting?" she really questioned her statement more than implying it and I noticed the more I stepped into the room, the red in her cheeks glowed brighter against the glow emitting from the fire. "I'm feeling better Astrid, thank you," she nodded at me holding at her hand gesturing the seat next to her; I slowly however, willingly took my place next to her and sat to face the three I had yet to meet.

"Those are the twins Ruffnut and Tuffnut, just call them Ruff and Tuff and that is Snotlout," Fishlegs introduced them each in turn; "It was totally them he shot you out of the sky by the way, you should watch out for their pranks they are completely insane," the stockier kid who I presumed to be Snotlout mentioned to me; I just nodded. "I must confess that is not true my fine fellow, we would never prank the guest of honour and I'm sure that he would love what we do unlike you un-amusable Vikings," I think Tuff was trying to be funny but I just couldn't really grasp the funny side of his joke. "Thank you, for letting me and Toothless stay here, it means a lot to us," I mentioned to all of them; I felt a hand suddenly be placed gently on my shoulder but because of the sudden shock of me not seeing it coming in jumped slightly at the touch. I hoped that none of them noticed but I was mistaken as they all looked at me with uneasy expressions. "You don't need to thank us Hiccup, you are welcome here as long as you want."

But that didn't shake the unsettling emotions I felt towards them all in the clubhouse. The more I hide the truth and the more I'm uneasy around them, the quicker the questions will start to flood in...That is something I am unprepared for.