Nighttime arrived and the two were back with the other students. They were on top of a watch tower with a fire in the middle for them to cook all of the food they had. Gobber was currently telling them a story of his past with a whole chicken on his hook.
"...And with one twist, he took my head and swallowed it whole! And I saw the look on his face, I was delicious! He must have passed the word because it wasn't a month before another one of them came and took my leg."
The group gasps.
"Isn't it weird to think your hand was inside a dragon?" Fishlegs questions, having the two chicken legs in his hands around, almost hitting Astrid. "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!"
"You have a weird imagination..." Hero mutters.
"I swear, I'm so angry right now!" Snotlout growls. "I'll avenge your beautiful hand and your beautiful foot! I'll chop off the legs of every dragon I fight, with my face!"
"No, it's the wings and the tail you really want. If it can't fly, it can't get away." Gobber informs, ripping a wing off of his chicken. "A downed dragon is a dead dragon."
Hero wasn't paying attention to his speech or really anything until Hiccup suddenly grabbed their wrist and dragged them to the bottom of the watchtower.
"Woah, Hiccup, what's wrong?" Hero asked, grabbing their friend's shoulder to keep him still.
"The dragon can't fly because his tailfin is missing and I feel really bad about it so...what if I made him a new one?" Hiccup suggests.
Hero's eyes widened as they crossed their arms. "Not like I doubt your craftsmanship or anything, but I don't think the dragon's going to just let you put some random object on him."
"Yes, I know that. That's why I wanted to ask you if you could create some type of distraction...please?"
"A distraction? You're asking a fisher for a distraction?"
"Not the type of distraction you're thinking of! To be more specific, I need you to gather as much fish as you can, put it in a barrel and take it to the dragons. It'll distract both of the dragons long enough for me to possibly put whatever tailfin I make on the Night Fury. Please, Hero, I want to help him.."
"You sound like every moron in a fantasy book but..." Hero takes a deep breath. "Fiiinneee...I'll do it."
"Yes! Thank you, Hero! I promise I'll make it up to you somehow!"
"Yeah, you better." Hero huffs. "Also you're helping me push the thing."
-----
"Koi!" Hero calls as they and Hiccup push a cart of fish to the edge of the clearing. The cart couldn't go through any holes so they were just going to deliver it from above.
"Koi?" Hiccup repeats.
"They're a part of the tidal class so I just named them after the Japanese fish. Now I just have to figure out what its gender is..."
"She's a girl."
Hero pauses and turns to Hiccup in confusion. "When in the hell did you have time to figure that out?"
Koi suddenly shows up in front of the two, cutting the conversation short. She looks at the fish in excitement.
"Hey, Koi, can you bring us down to the clearing?" Hero asks, concerning Hiccup.
"What!? I thought we were just walking back down?" He questions.
"They'd be done with the fish by then! This is the safest way! Besides, Koi's extremely friendly, she wouldn't let us fall or anything, right Koi?"
Koi just tiles her head but Hero uses that as an excuse.
"See?"
Hiccup frowns at Hero, sighs loudly and tips the wheelbarrow over, dropping all the fish to the bottom of the clearing. "Come on, let's go." Hiccup huffs.
-----
Koi was as careful as she could be, going down to the bottom of the clearing like she was some sort of elevator. Once she reached the ground she let Hero and Hiccup get off before she roared for the Night Fury and started eating out of the pile of fish.
"Toothless?" Hiccup calls, holding his tailfin in both hands. "We have fish for you and Koi!"
"Toothless?" Hero repeats.
"Well yeah. H-He has retractable teeth."
"So why not name him retractable."
Hiccup thinks about it for a second and shakes his head. "Doesn't sound as good."
Toothless runs over to them and immediately sinks his teeth into the pile of fish in front of them. Hero nudges Hiccup's shoulder and quietly motions to the dragon before walking over to Koi. Hiccup slowly walks around Toothless and crouches down to where his tailfin is. He sets the prosthetic tailfin next to it and tries to move it closer but is flinged off Toothless when it starts snarling and growling.
"Hero, what's going on over there!?" Hiccup shouts, backing away from Toothless.
"You don't like eels?" He could hear Hero say. "That's fine! I'll just..." He hears a swinging sound and something plopping into the water. "I'll probably just eat that later."
Toothless starts to calm down and go back to eating the fish, signaling Hiccup to continue.
Hero walks over to where Hiccup is and sits in front of him. "So...next time I don't get eels." They huff. "Probably reminds them of snakes."
Hiccup nods in agreement as he finally tightens the tailfin onto Toothless. He then sit back and admires it. "It's not too bad, it works..." He mutters.
Hero looks down at the tailfin and nods in agreement before looking back up and quickly grabbing Hiccup's hand. Hiccup doesn't have any time to question it when Toothless takes off to the skies. Hero's hand slips from his and he's left on his own.
"Oh, gods..." Hero mutters as Koi goes to fly behind Toothless.
"No, no, no, no, no!" Hiccup shouts but pauses when he sees the tailfin was shut. Toothless starts to fall towards the ground and Hiccup quickly pulls the tail fin open, letting Toothless fly back into the sky. "Oh my- It's working!" Hiccup shouts to no one in particular as Toothless and Koi goes back to the clearing and flies over the pond.
Hero was currently pulling the hood of their cloak over their head out of terror.
"Yes, yes! I did it!" Hiccup continues to cheer and Hero slowly moves their cloak over their eyes just in time to see Toothless swipe Hiccup off of his tail and into the pond. Shortly after Toothless falls in as well.
"Hiccup!" Hero shouts, running to the edge of the pond.
"Woo!" Hiccup shouts, bursting out of the pond while Koi flies down to Toothless.
-----
"Today is about teamwork!" Gobber announces as gas starts to fill the arena. Everybody has a bucket of water in their hands. "Now a wet dragon head can't light its fire. The Hideous Zippleback is extra tricky. One head breathes gas, the other one lights it. Your job is to know which is which."
Everybody got into their groups as the gas completely surrounds them. Hiccup was with Fishlegs, Hero was with Astrid and Ruffnut and Snotlout was with Tuffnut.
"If that dragon shows either of his face, I'm gonna..." Snotlout starts but suddenly notices something from the corner of his eye. "There!"
He and Tuffnut splash their water onto the shadowed figure and get a yelp in response.
"It's us, idiots!" Ruffnut shouts as the smoke clears to show the three teenagers they just threw water on.
"Your butts are getting bigger." Tuffnut comments with a laugh. "We thought you were a dragon."
"Not that there's anything wrong with a...dragonesque figure."
Astrid punches him in the face and Ruffnut throws her bucket at her twin brother. Hero just rolls their eyes.
Suddenly Tuffnut is snatched from where he was laying and into the gas, scaring the others.
"Don't move." Hero warns, trying to see where Tuffnut went. A tail comes out of nowhere and swipes under them and their partner's feet knocking them to the ground as Tuffnut runs out of the mist, trampling his sister along the way.
"Oh, I'm hurt! I am very much hurt!" He shouts.
"Chances of survival are dwindling into single digits now..." Fishlegs comments.
One of the dragon heads pops out of the mist and starts following behind Fishlegs who tried to run away. He then throws his bucket of water at it but the head just spits out gas.
"Oh, wrong head." Fishlegs comments before screams and runs away when the dragon starts spraying gas at him.
The other dragon head comes out and focuses on Hiccup who was the only one standing. It's mouth starts sparking.
"Now, Hiccup!" Gobber shouts.
Hiccup tries to throw his water onto the dragon but it barely makes it out of the bucket before splashing onto the ground making Hiccup deflate in his spots. "Oh come on..." He mumbles.
The dragon roars and jumps at Hiccup, making him fall backwards onto the ground.
"Hiccup!" Gobber exclaims, going to run towards him but stops when he sees the Hideous Zippleback starts to back away from him like they were scared.
"Back!" Hiccup shouts, forcing them back into their cage. "Back! Back!"
Everybody in the arena looks at the sight in awe and confusion as Hiccup gets the dragon to cower in the corner of its cage, secretly throwing the eel that was hiding under his vest in there. He then closes the gates and turns to the others, awkwardly wiping his hands on his vest as he notices the shocked expression he was getting. Fishlegs even dropped his bucket!
"Okay!" He suddenly says, walking over to Hero and grabbing their hand. "So are we done? Cause we've got things to uh...welp, s-see you tomorrow!" He quickly runs off with a confused Hero behind him.
Once they get to the Blacksmith's shop, Hero once again, has to stop Hiccup from moving by putting a hand on his shoulder. "Why are we here?" They ask.
"I was planning on making a saddle for Toothless." Hiccup explains, walking around the shop, grabbing all the equipment he might need. "You know, to help him with the tailfin and all that! It doesn't stay on its own and we don't have the equipment TO make it stay on its own so I thought-"
"So basically, for the tailfin to stay in place, you need to control it. And you can't control it unless you're on him." Hero summarizes, taking some of the equipment out of Hiccup's hands. "Gods, your empathy knows no bounds."
Hiccup gently smiles at them, appreciating the compliment as he gets to work building the saddle. Hero was watching on top of one of the counters. They never realized how much work went into making the simplest things.
"Can you make one for Koi as well?" They asked, making Hiccup pause. He turns to them in confusion and tilts his head.
"Why would she need one...?"
"She doesn't need one. I just...wanted to ride a dragon as well- and you said you'd repay me for all that fish! This is how you'll repay me! Here, I'll even help!"
-----
Koi was rubbing her back on the ground below her, trying everything in her power to push the saddle off. Hero just decided to sit in front of the dragon and watch in boredom. Behind them was Hiccup chasing after Toothless with his own saddle in hand.
After a bit, Koi stopped struggling and glared at Hero who smirked. "You done?" They ask sarcastically and Koi huffs, standing back up. "Good, then let me get on!"
Hero slowly climbs on top of their dragon and holds on tight to the saddle. "I don't feel secure...at all." They mutter. "Alright, Koi. You can move."
Koi readies herself before suddenly taking off into the sky, leaving Hero to scream and hold onto the saddle for dear life. Hero's legs fell off the dragon, leaving them dangling. "Too fast!!!" They shout, pulling themselves back onto Koi and pulling back on the saddle to stop her.
Koi misunderstood why Hero pulled on the saddle and flipped upside down. Again, Hero now had to rely on their upper body strength so they wouldn't fall to their death.
"No! Koi, Koi! Turn back around!" Hero shouted, pulling on the saddle once more, making Koi flip right side up. Hero lets out a deep breath and puts a hand to their forehead. "Okay...that happened. Let's never go that fast again."
Koi mumbles in response.
"I'm sure you agree with me." Hero sighs. "Alright, let's go back down..."
Koi flies back down to the clearing to see Hiccup and Toothless climbing out of the pond. Hero doesn't even question why they were in there and jumps off of Koi to immediately lay on the grass below them.
"Hiccup...I almost died..." They mutter, their voice muffled.
Hiccup walks towards them in confusion. "What? How? Are you okay!?" He asks.
"Koi went too fast for me and I almost fell off the saddle. I had to hold on as tight as possible so I didn't fall to my death." Hero lifts their face out of the grass and looks up at Hiccup. "I mean, I'm fine now, but yeah...can you make some sort of rope or something? To keep us attached to our saddles? Please?"
"If it's that bad then sure." Hiccup assures.
-----
The next day, with his newly made saddle, Hiccup decided to try riding Toothless again. They went outside of the clearing and into the forest. There was a rope tied around Hiccup's leg and he pulled it a bit too tightly, making Toothless stagger and fall into a tall field of grass. Hiccup lands a bit in front of his dragon and when he comes back to check on him he sees Toothless rubbing his body on the grass below him.
Hiccup pulls out some of the grass and examines it.
Back in the clearing, Hero was busy scratching Koi's back as the dragon purrs and grumbles, leaning into it. Hero then scratches Koi's chin and she collapses onto the ground in content.
Hero's eyes widen before a smile slowly grows on their face.
-----
They use those tricks in Dragon Training the next few days. Their popularity (mostly Hiccup's) skyrocketed and they couldn't be left alone for more than 2 minutes. Now when Hiccup tries to sit alone in the Dining Hall, everybody starts to swarm him and when Hero tries to go fishing, everybody suddenly wants to help. It was exhausting.
So exhausting that the next day, Hero and Koi were sleeping next to each other.
Hiccup and Toothless were still working on perfecting the tailfin but took a break to play around with each other. Toothless was currently chasing a light around the pond, not knowing it was coming from Hiccup's hammer.
Hero patted Hiccup's back when he used that trick in the ring the next day.
-----
Hiccup and Toothless were safely gliding with a rope attached to Toothless' harness. The wind was calm and allowed Hiccup to write a small guide on how to work the tailfin. But the wind starts to get stronger and stronger, making the rope snap and blow the two away. They roughly land onto the ground and Toothless sits up, dragging Hiccup along with him. Hiccup yanks the safety net he put onto the saddle due to Hero's request and realizes the hook was bent, leaving him stuck.
"Oh great..." He sighs. "I need to tell Hero..."
He gets back on Toothless and the two go back down to the clearing where Hero was training with their staff as Koi lazily watches before perking up when she sees the other two. Hero looks up as well and waves at the two.
"Hey, Hiccup! Did you finish the sheet?" Hero asks.
Toothless lands on the ground and Hiccup slowly gets off his back and pulls the safety rope, showing Hero the problem.
"Oh."
"Yeah."
-----
Hero suggested they go get the materials he would need and then come back. Hiccup agreed and stayed back with the other two dragons.
NIghttime came and Hero was sneaking past the villagers, trying not to draw attention to themselves as they walked inside the Blacksmith's shop.
"Now where the hell are those pliers?" They mutter, looking around the shop. There were tools and dangerous weapons everywhere, did they ever clean this place? Hero abruptly trips over a metal pipe and hits another tool on their way to the ground, creating a loud noise. "Are you kidding me!?" They quickly stand back up and rush through the shelves of tools, trying to move before someone starts wondering what the noise was.
"Hiccup?" They hear someone call. "Are you in there?" Oh gods, it's Astrid.
Hero finally finds the pliers and stuffs them in their cloak before exiting out the building to face Astrid who was looking at them in confusion.
"Hey, Astrid." They greet, not even trying to look happy. "Why are you here?"
"I was going to ask Hiccup some questions, but I guess I can ask you too." Astrid answers, looking at the inside of the shop. "What were you doing in there?"
"Minding my own business..."
"Hero." Astrid huffs.
"What? I answered your question, didn't I?"
"I knew you and Hiccup were being weird! When have you ever shown interest in building!?"
"Just now. What? You think I'm going to be as dumb as all of you for the rest of my life?" Hero teases. "If I wanna beat you, I gotta be smarter than you."
"I don't see how building some random mechanic is going to help you in Dragon Training nor help you get better than me."
"It's helped Hiccup this far, hasn't it?"
Astrid looks at them suspiciously "Hiccup hasn't used any mechanics."
Hero quickly realized their mistake and nervously laughed. "I'm talking about when he killed that imaginary Night Fury. It was a joke, Astrid. You need to use those every once in a while."
Astrid glares at Hero. "I'm going to win this competition, Hero."
"Right, right, sssuuurrrreee. You keep telling yourself that." Hero says, patting Astrid's shoulder. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have something to build." they then slowly walk away before running into a full sprint. Astrid just watches, squinting her eyes at the teenager.
-----
"I'm planning on doing a full test run with Toothless today." Hiccup tells Hero who was swimming in the pond with Koi. "Do you two want to come with?"
Hero turns to Koi who is staring back, mouth wide open into some weird grin. They then turn back to Hiccup with a tired smile. "I don't think I have a choice." They say.
-----
Toothless and Koi were soaring through the air side by side. HIccup sighs on top of his dragon and pats the side of his neck. "Okay there bud, we're going to take this nice and slow." He says before turning to Hero who was looking down at the water below them. "You ready, Hero?"
Hero looks up at Hiccup and gives him a thumbs up. "Yep."
Hiccup nods and looks down at his guide that he and Hero started calling the "Cheat sheet".
"Position three-no four." He quickly corrects himself, shifting the gear on Toothless' tailfin. Toothless relaxes his body and starts to gently glide, tipping himself a bit. Koi followed from above. Hiccup looks back at the tailfin, nodding to himself and glancing at Hero who stayed quiet so Hiccup could focus. "Okay, it's go time, it's go time..."
The two dragons glide towards the water and soar above it, going under an archway. Hero looks up at it in awe and smiles at the birds they fly under.
"Yes, it worked!" Hiccup says with a smile as Koi starts to leave Toothless' side and flies over the tall rocks in front of them. Toothless however, wasn't so lucky and rammed into both of them as HIccup winces.
Toothless glares at Hiccup and wacks him with his ear. "Yeah, yeah, I'm on it!"
"Don't give him a concussion on the first day!" Hero teases from above, laughing as Hiccup rolls his eyes and adjusts the tailfin once more. Toothless and Koi start flying upwards towards the sky and Hiccup loudly cheers.
"Oh this is amazing! The wind in my-" The cheat sheet falls from its clip. "Cheat sheet!!! Stop!!!"
Hiccup frantically reaches for the paper but it slips from his hands. Hero, who was below him, swiftly catches it but is knocked off their dragon when Toothless collides with them.
Hero screams as they narrowly dodge being impaled by one of the tall rocks. They then take their spear from their back and stabs it into the rock, stopping them from falling. "We might need to change the safely rope..." They mutter, struggling to stand on top of the spear. Once they do they look down to see HIccup had gotten back on Toothless but suddenly went into a cloud of smoke.
Koi straightens herself up and flies down to Hero who was looking in the fog in worry. Koi whines at them, gaining their attention and Hero immediately jumps back on her, pulling their spear out of the rock. "Come on, Koi! Let's try and find them." Hero orders, putting their spear back. Koi mumbles in response and dashes to where the fog is. Once they enter they see a maze of rocks and fly over it, examining it from above. When they see that nobody's there they leave the fog and are thrilled to see Hiccup and Toothless back in the clearing and peacefully soaring through the sky. Well maybe not peacefully.
Hiccup's face was full of soot and his hair was pushed back in such a ridiculous hairstyle that Hero could do nothing else but laugh.
Hiccup immediately turns around when he hears them and Toothless excitedly glides towards Koi.
"Hero, are you okay?" Hiccup asks, noticing the cheat sheet in their hand.
"Yeah, I'm fine." Hero reassures. "But I wasn't the one who had to fly in a foggy maze. How did you two survive that!?"
"Adrenaline." Hiccup responds, making Hero laugh. "A lot of adrenaline."
"Well then you must be feeling tired now, huh? Let's go find somewhere to rest."