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"—and with one twist, he took my hand, and swallowed it whole!" Gobber continues his story, some of the teens cringe. "And I saw the look on his face..."

He waves around the turkey on his hand. "I was delicious! He must have passed the word because it wasn't a month before another one of them took my leg."

(Y/N) rolls her eyes with a chuckle as the others gasp. She turns towards Hiccup and frowns, watching as he stares blankly into the raging fire.

She gently touches his arm, causing him to jerk his head back and look at her sheepishly. He smiles, nodding his head towards her and squeezing her hand.

They both smile at eachother, neither of them noticing the frowning blonde across from them.

"Isn't it weird to think your hand was inside a dragon?" Fishlegs questions, waving around his two large chicken legs.

"Like, if your mind was still in control of it, you could have killed the dragon from the inside by crushing its heart or something."

Gobber hums in disagreement, wiping his mouth before ripping off the wing of the turkey. "No, it's the wings and the tail you really want. If it can't fly," he wags the wing around, "It can't get away."

Hiccup and (Y/N) look at each other with wide eyes as a sudden realization hits them. "A downed dragon is a dead dragon." Gobber yawns, rising and stretching.

"All right. I'm off to bed. You should be, too. Tomorrow we get to the big boys, slowly but surely making our way up to the Monstrous Nightmare."

...

Hiccup turns to his friend, slightly nodding his head and rising, (Y/N) following closely behind. Their food lay discarded in their seats, nobody noticing as they take their leave.

"But who will win the honor of killing it?"

"It's gonna be me," Tuffnut smirks, leaning back. "It's my destiny, see?" Astrid looks up, her eyes widening when she sees the two gone. She rises and looks around, the others continuing their own conversation as she does so.

She raises a brow as she catches sight of them, Hiccup and (Y/N)'s hand joined as the two make their way to the house, laughing and giggling as they do.

Astrid sighs, shaking her head and making her way back to her seat, her mind elsewhere as everyone continues talking.

...

The two teens make their way to the blacksmith, Hiccup taking his journal out and sketching the Night Fury. He redraws the tail, adding details and notes to the left fin.

...

(Y/N) fans the coals as Hiccup uses the bellows to light them, heating up the metal piece, both nodding at their work.

She peeks over his shoulder as he hammers the hot metal into a small pole before dragging the barrel of water over, backing away as he dips the metal into it.

...

(Y/N) sets the metal along Hiccup's blueprints, nodding with a satisfied grin.

...

She then removes the nails from a shield, heating them up before beginning to shape them.

...

Hiccup quickly works on combining the pieces together as (Y/N) shapes the leather, lining it up with the blue print before nodding and handing it to the boy.

He smiles and nods, sliding it into place before holding the tail-fin open. Both nod, and he fans it shut.

...

Next day

"Hey toothless!" Hiccup calls out, his voice echoing due to the cavern. Him and (Y/N) make their way deeper into the gorge, searching for their dragons.

The boy slowly approaches the Night Fury, a basket of fish in his hands. "Brought breakfast! I hope you're hungry," he grunts, dumping the basket as Toothless eagerly sniffs at the air.

(Y/N) chuckles and makes her way around the two, a smaller basket of fish in her own hands. "We've got salmon, some nice Icelandic cod..and a whole smoked eel."

Hiccup lists off as Toothless picks at the fish. The dragon snarls, backing away from the basket, his eyes turning to slits.

Hiccup grabs the eel with a raised brow, making Toothless roar in fear with his wings spread. "No, no, no, no, no!" Hiccup frantically yells, tossing the eel. "No, it's okay. Yeah..we don't really like eel much, either."

(Y/N) nods with a frown, sighing as the Night Fury slowly relaxes. She looks around, searching for the Woolly Howl. "(D/N)!" She calls out, her frown deepening when she doesn't see him.

A low growl sounds from behind her, causing her to jump in surprise. She turns around, her body relaxing at the sight of her dragon, the Howl sat perched atop the broken tree branch, his (F/C) fur causing him to blend in easily.

"Hey buddy.." (Y/N) mumbles, bringing the fish up and showing it to the dragon. The Howl coos at the sight, jumping down and making his way towards her.

(Y/N) drops the fish onto the ground and crouches, watching as (D/N) immediately digs into the food. The girl carefully makes her way between his legs, grabbing his paw and bringing it to her lap.

"Don't mind me.."

...

Toothless munches on the fish, rumbling with satisfaction as Hiccup slowly walks around him. "That's it..that's it, just stick with the good stuff.." Hiccup says gently, jumping as Toothless rumbles loudly before eating another fish.

"And don't you mind me. I'll just..be back here, minding my own...business.."

He sets down the prosthetic tail-fin, slowly scootching it next to Toothless' tail and flinching when it moves. Hiccup glances at Toothless, sighing and nodding when he sees him eating.

...

(Y/N) quickly brought a few bandages and healing oils out of her bag, setting them down and taking quick glances towards the big creature.

The Howl only shifted his foot a bit to get comfortable as he kept chewing, not caring for the girl.

She makes quick work and picks the dragons paw up, examining it and cringing at the sight of dried blood and mud stuck to the wound.

"Ah jeez.."

...

Hiccup sighs as Toothless moves his tail again, gasping as his tail flickers up, causing the boy to jerk back. "It's okay!" He yells, grunting as he presses the tail down and yelping as Toothless wags it around.

He yelps again as he was dragged forward, Toothless shoving his head in the basket. Hiccup sighs heavily as he turns his body and scoots the tail-fin next to Toothless' tail, adjusting the buckles.

...

(Y/N) rubs a numbing cream onto her fingers, breathing in and preparing to press it on the wound. She brings her fingertips towards the wound, halting as (D/N) freezes and glances towards her.

The Howl blinks slowly at her, both the girl and dragon narrowing their eyes at eachother in a silent battle. "We both know how this is gonna go.." (Y/N) warns, her voice low. (D/N) rolls his eyes and turns, his body now sideways and his paw laid flat in the girls lap.

She smiles, nodding her head and continuing her work. The dragon grunts in discomfort at the stinging sensation from the cream, the girl huffing as his paw jerks up.

"This wouldn't be happening if you'd just left your bandages alone you know." (Y/N) argues, (D/N) growling and angling his head away, continuing to eat his fish.

...

Hiccup grunts, panting lightly as he begins adjusting the tail-fin. "Okay, here we go," he nods, tying the straps. Toothless sits up, the basket falling from his head as he wiggles his tail-fin.

His wings and mouth fall as Hiccup finishes adjusting the tail. The boy doesn't notice the dragons sudden change in attitude, continuing to mumble under his breath.

...

(Y/N) nods in satisfaction as she finishes wrapping the bandage, patting it gently before she rises, stretching and sighing as her shoulder popped.

(D/N) blinks his eyes open, purring gently as he lifts his head to stare at the girl. He looks down at his paw, a soft rumble from his throat as he examines the bandage.

"You take that off and that's it, I'm not helping a third time." (Y/N) jokes, bringing a hand up and patting the dragons head gently.

(D/N) purrs more, leaning his head into her hand and breathing deeply. He opens an eye to look behind her, his head jerking straight as he stares with wide eyes.

(Y/N) frowns, turning around and gasping at the sight infront of her.

...

Hiccup grunts, adjusting the leather one last time, not noticing Toothless opening his wings. He sits back with a sigh, nodding. "That's not too bad, it works." He praises, flinching when he hears a loud shout.

"Hiccup! Get off that dragon!" (Y/N) shouts, making him look at her before grunting with a scream as Toothless takes off. He watches as (Y/N) becomes smaller, holding onto Toothless' tail for dear life.

(Y/N) watches with wide eyes, (D/N)'s ears perked as he blinks rapidly at the sight. Both the girl and dragon look at eachother, their eyes seeming to twitch at the same time in annoyance.

"No, no, no, no, no!" Hiccup screams, pausing when he notices the tail-fin was fanned closed.
Toothless roars as he begins to fall, making
(Y/N) gasp and (D/N) roar as he takes off flying, racing to their aid.

The Howl flies under Toothless, pushing him up and growling as his friend kicks him in the face.

Hiccup manages to reopen the tail-fin, grunting as Toothless jerks up and begins to fly straighter.

(D/N) flies sideways, watching for a moment before flying down and returning to (Y/N)'s side. The girl grinning from ear to ear as she watches her friend fly.

He turns the tail-fin, directing Toothless to fly around and back down. Toothless soars over the pond, Hiccup looking at the tail with a grin.
"Yes, yes! We did it!" He laughs.

Toothless pauses, looking down and spotting Hiccup on his tail. He swings his tail around as he turns, trying to throw the boy off. Hiccup yell as he skids along the pond before falling in, (Y/N) wincing.

Toothless roars when he begins to wobble, his tail-fin shut. He skids along the water, falling in as (D/N) flinches before rumbling a laugh at his friend.

Hiccup resurfaces, wiping the water out of his eyes as he searches for his friend. He spots and smiles, (Y/N) sitting crisscrossed on the ground as she brings her hand in the air and cheers for her friend.

Hiccup brings a fist out of the water and yells, "Yeah!" (Y/N) laughs loudly, shaking her head as she stares at her best friend, a loving smile gracing her lips.

"Great job stick!"

——