Hiccup and I shared an excited look before he nodded his head towards Toothless, and soon we were making our way to what I hoped was the dragon we'd been looking for.
Eventually we were huddled together in a cluster of trees, peeking out into a grassy opening in which the Night Fury I had spotted earlier was occupying.
"Okay, bud, maybe you should go out first," Hiccup murmured. Toothless and I both turned our heads to look at him with raised eyebrows. He glanced between us before widening his eyes a bit, shrugging his shoulders.
"What? Maybe it'll be easier if the dragons interact first," he explained in a hushed tone. I paused to consider his reasoning before shrugging back.
Toothless seemed to agree as well, and gave a small warning in the form of a croon before pushing his way out of the trees towards the other Night Fury, who was sat curled up on the ground, eying its surroundings. It sat up sharply as Toothless entered the opening, and I held my breath as the two dragons eyed one another. It was silent, and I could feel the tension in the air as we all waited for something to happen. I felt a warmth on my hand and glanced down, noticing Hiccup reaching to intertwine our fingers absentmindedly. I looked up towards his face but he was absorbed in the scene before us. I turned my attention back to the dragons, whom hadn't moved an inch. They were just staring, and I wasn't sure what was happening until Toothless' face lit up with a delighted purr. The opposing Night Fury tilted its head in response, and Toothless began hopping and crooning, wiggling around the dragon in such an ecstatic manner that I had to cover my mouth to keep from laughing. The Night Fury held an amused expression in its eyes and murmured a gentle noise at Toothless and his excessive energy.
"I have no idea what's happening but I think it's going well?" The end of Hiccup's sentence raised in a slight question, and he broke his trance from the dragons to look at me with a pleasantly surprised expression.
I laughed quietly, parting my lips to respond when we both turned our heads toward Toothless, who had stopped suddenly and turned his eyes towards the two of us before calling out. Hiccup's eyebrows furrowed for a second before he turned to me, gesturing towards the opening with his free hand. I took a deep breath before imitating his hand and then followed him when he began to make his way out. We moved as slow and innocuous as we could, but the moment we appeared in the opening, the Night Fury who had recently been entertained by Toothless sat up with a snarl in our direction. Hiccup stopped moving at that very second, and I stumbled a bit in an attempt to not crash into his back. He waited patiently as Toothless gave the Night Fury an assuring croon before hopping his way over to Hiccup and licking his face enthusiastically. Hiccup attempted to not squirm, only crinkling his nose and containing his laughter until Toothless moved to give me my turn of his loving saliva bath. The Night Fury watched with a confused yet curious expression until our eyes met, and I could see the recognition form as its pupils began to dilate before it shook his head, eyes returning to the familiar slits. We held a gaze for a couple more seconds until Toothless broke it by nudging Hiccup forward. The Night Fury snapped its eyes toward the boy, watching his every move.
"Are you sure this is a good idea, bud?" Hiccup whispered, but Toothless only nodded with a huff before nudging Hiccup forward once more.
Hiccup immediately went into dragon trainer mode as he strolled towards the dragon, radiating his gentle demeanor. He began murmuring sweet nonsense and assurances with his hand outstretched a bit, gaze entirely focused on the Night Fury before him. The dragon examined Hiccup with cautious eyes until he stepped directly in front of it and stopped, arm extended in the air. I held my breath again, unsure of what would happen. I'd never actually gotten to see Hiccup attempt to train any dragon before, despite knowing much of his process. The Night Fury seemed reserved for a moment until it just barely nudged its snout against Hiccup's palm before backing away quickly, flying into the trees behind it. Hiccup remained in his spot, hand still in the air as he stared silently in the direction the dragon had flown into.
"I don't..? I did exactly what I always do," Hiccup said in disbelief. Toothless began calling out into the trees, rushing over to the spot the other dragon had disappeared in before looking at Hiccup with slight disappointment.
"Well, did Toothless fly off the first time?" I tried, moving to walk over to Hiccup. He placed his outstretched hand on the back of his neck, sighing.
"No but.. I mean, it wasn't like he had the choice," he admitted, glancing at Toothless, who was still making noises into the trees.
"Maybe it's a Night Fury thing. You'll convince her eventually," I said, placing a hand on his upper arm. Hiccup paused before looking at me, tilting his head a bit.
"You think it's a 'her'?" he asked curiously. I stopped, biting my lip before shrugging.
"Did I say 'her'? Well, sort of, yeah.. I don't know. At least, I know I'm hoping it's a girl," I added.
"Why?"
"I can't be the only one wanting more Night Furies in the world," I said. Hiccup took a second before he understood what I meant, his eyebrows raising.
"Whoa, you mean Toothless and..? Okay, someone is getting ahead of herself," he protested with a slight laugh. I shook my head with a grin before exhaling softly, watching Toothless as he sat down on the ground and stared into the trees.
"Regardless of whether its a boy or a girl, Toothless seems to be missing them already," I pointed out. Hiccup turned around to see what I was talking about and a somber expression crossed his features before he wandered over, petting Toothless gently.
"Don't worry, bud, we'll find your new friend again. I am not letting you lose them," he promised before sitting beside Toothless, leaning against him. They sat there, quiet and thoughtful, and I was overwhelmed with pure adoration for the duo. I couldn't have managed a better pair to spend my time with.
---
Hiccup had intended to stay for a couple more days to try and help the Night Fury grow more comfortable with our presence, but we soon figured out that staying for another day, let alone three, would prove difficult in our situation. We had under-packed for the trip, and so ran out of food and water before nightfall that same day.
"I don't think trying to bring them back would be a good idea," Hiccup murmured in regards to our current discussion about the Night Fury. We were leaning against Toothless, who was huddled on the ground in a quiet slumber. I nodded, knowing that with the trouble we'd had trying to simply bond with the dragon, it'd be a whole new level of difficulty to bring it back to Berk.
"I think we should keep this between us for now," he added, and I looked at him for a moment before nodding again, a bit taken aback. I had honestly expected Hiccup to be informing everyone of his discovery when he found a new Night Fury, so this idea wasn't what I had expected. But I trusted him to know what he was doing, and thinking about it, he was probably right. Our tribe did get a little too passionate when it came to, well, everything. The conversation drifted off at that point as we did into sleep.
---
"Ah, Hiccup, (Y/N)! Where've you been lately?" Stoick's voice boomed as Hiccup and I attempted to rush past the small crowd of people bustling through the current path. We paused, and I noticed Hiccup purse his lips and furrow his eyebrows for a moment before he turned toward his father.
"Dad, hi! We've been nowhere. Just flying, no dragons found if that's what you're wondering," he said quickly, and I looked at him in concern. He seemed surprised at his own response but only watched his dad with an exaggerated smile.
"Which.. is why we have to go flying again, sorry." Hiccup added in an attempt to save himself from his mildly odd exclamation. Stoick gave him a dissatisfied look before crossing his arms.
"Wait, son, you just got back--"
"Yep, and now we're off again, bye," Hiccup interrupted, reaching for my hand to pull us away but Stoick stopped him.
"Hiccup. I know you're all into your flying and whatnot, but you still have duties to fulfill. As future chief, you need to--"
"Dad, I told you, we're looking for her dragon. When we were searching for Skullcrusher you took two weeks off," Hiccup pointed out in exasperation. Stoick only paused, raising an eyebrow at his son.
"You can manage without me, dad. We'll be back," Hiccup assured him in such a way that showcased his stubbornness. Stoick sighed before shrugging.
"Well, good luck then," he spoke towards me and I looked up, suddenly in the conversation.
"Oh, yeah, thank you," I said quickly, glancing to Hiccup.
"But when you get back, Hiccup, you need to--"
"Yeah, Dad, I will, bye," Hiccup interrupted, pulling me along toward his home. I glanced back to catch Stoick shaking his head before turning to respond to a villager who had been attempting to gather his attention the past few minutes.
---
"Why didn't you tell your dad?"
Hiccup and I were sat kneeling on the floor in his room as he rummaged through belongings. Toothless was curled up in the corner, watching us passively.
"I thought we promised not to say anything yet," he raised an eyebrow in response, throwing aside a shirt. I watched it land on the floor near his bed before turning my attention back to him.
"I know but I mean.. He's your dad," I said.
"He's also the chief. I'm not sure what he would do if we told him we found another Night Fury. Who knows? He might think we should tell everyone and then the entire tribe would find out," Hiccup replied with a shrug.
"Well, they're gonna find out eventually. I mean, to be honest, I figured you'd be telling everyone by now," I admitted.
'So did I, but now that we actually found one, I'm not sure that's a good idea at this point," he explained before he stopped searching through his stuff, zoning out a bit.
"Gods, I can't believe we found another Night Fury. I'm still in denial," he exhaled, shaking his head. I smiled, nudging his shoulder with mine softly.
"It's about time though, huh?" I said. He only turned to me with disbelief on his face.
"I can't believe you found it. Five years and I didn't find one trace of any others, and the one time I take you searching, you find one," he exclaimed. I raised my eyebrows, laughing slightly at his reaction.
"I know, maybe I'm like.. a Night Fury goddess or something. They just flock to me. Come my children," I said with a dramatic air, but Toothless decided to croon in response and stood up, waltzing over to nudge me with his snout. I started laughing as Hiccup just gave us both a playful glare.
"Both of you, shut up, and you, help me out," he added with a glance towards me as he attempted to constrain his chuckle.
"With what? I already helped you find a Night Fury, what more do you want from me?" I teased. He rolled his eyes, leaning back a bit and placing his hands on his knees.
"You're not letting that go, are you?"
"Never," I said, giggling as he shook his head.
"Okay well, O' Great Night Fury goddess, please use your special powers to find my journal," he mocked. I leaned against his shoulder, muffling my laughter until I took a breath, sitting up again.
"Are you sure it's not in your weird chest compartment?" I asked, poking him beneath his collar bone. He raised an eyebrow before passively batting away my hand.
"It's not there, trust me. I only took the map with us so I don't know where it is," he replied. I sighed before starting to assist him with his search. We succeeded in tearing apart his bedroom in an attempt to find it. Toothless rolled his eyes before disappearing downstairs, and I only watched him for a quick moment before turning to look underneath Hiccup's bed.
"How do you lose a journal?" I accused him. He raised his hands in confusion.
"I don't even know," he replied, looking thoughtful for a moment as Toothless strolled back upstairs with something in his mouth. He stepped behind Hiccup, who was still sat looking at the ground in thought. Toothless then dropped whatever was in his jaw on Hiccup's head as he started to speak.
"Maybe it's i-- ow, what? Hey, my journal!" Hiccup exclaimed as the book bounced off his head, landing in his lap. He turned to look up at Toothless, who was walking back over to his corner.
"Thanks, bud. Where'd you even find this?" he asked with a slight laugh. Toothless only rolled his eyes again before curling up on the floor.
"Seriously, how did he know where it was?" I added, looking at Hiccup.
"I dunno. It's a little soggy now but it's good and found so I'm not complaining," he shrugged, starting to flip through the pages. I looked around the room and exhaled loudly at the utter mess we'd made, starting to try and pick it up.
"How long are we staying this time?" I asked casually, collecting all of Hiccup's strewn clothing items. He remained flipping through his journal.
"I don't know, a week or so," he murmured absentmindedly. I nodded before looking down as I picked up a long sleeved shirt, remembering something.
"It's weirdly cold on that island. And did you see the mist?" I asked, thinking back to when we first found the place. Hiccup finally looked up, eyes widening as he realized I was trying to clean. He set down his book, standing up to take the clothes from my hands and putting them away.
"Yeah, I noticed. I just didn't have any explanation so I didn't say anything. It is pretty weird though, isn't it?" he agreed.
"I guess I'll just have to wear warmer clothes," I shrugged passively.
"You should probably go grab whatever stuff you wanna bring while I pick this up," he offered, collecting writing utensils off the ground. I nodded before rushing over to press a kiss to his cheek, pausing for a second before deciding to ruffle his hair.
"Hey, what... Why?" he laughed, moving to try and fix his disheveled hair.
"Has anybody ever told you that you have really nice hair?" I asked casually. He gave me a weird look.
"Yeah," he shrugged with another chuckle. I narrowed my eyes before nodding.
"Good," I said before pressing another kiss to his cheek and rushing towards the staircase.
"What..?" I heard him ask as I made my way downstairs, shaking my head with a smile.