It wasn't until I stood up for Hiccup when the teens were bothering him, that I started to think that, maybe, what I felt towards him could be something more than just sheer friendship.
Yes, it was true I had defended him in other situations, but this one was different.
It went a bit like this:
Waiting for Hiccup to finish Dragon Training so we could go to ride our dragons, I was sitting on one of the fences when I heard Snotlout (I hated that guy) and his two friends: Fishlegs and Tuffnut laughing at someone.
"Are you sure you're a Viking? 'Cause you don't seem like one" I turned around to see who they were bothering this time, and: Surprise! It was Hiccup, like always. They enjoyed, too much for my taste, telling him those kinds of things, and the worst part was that he didn't even bother to defend himself! He just stood there, answering their insults as the peacekeeper he was. Now, don't get me wrong, I had always admired his ability as a diplomat, but it wouldn't work in that case. Kids like Snotlout only answered to violence.
"Yes, thank you, I try my best" Snotlout snickered and I glared at him, although he didn't see me.
"Why are you even in Dragon Training? I mean, you shot down a Night Fury, so shouldn't that disqualify you?" he mocked and I laughed dryly; none of them believed the story of the Night Fury, and it gave me great satisfaction to know that Hiccup was telling the truth but, of course, they were too stupid to notice that.
Hiccup started to walk away, when Snotlout said something else "You don't even defend yourself! You truly are the worst Viking Berk has ever seen"
If I wasn't mad at him before, I sure as hell was after that.
"Hey, leave him alone!" I yelled standing up, and they looked my way, curious to know who had stopped their 'entertainment'.
"'Lex, it's alright, I got this under control" I didn't pay attention to Hiccup and approached them, while they laughed.
"Look, Hiccup, your girlfriend is here to protect ya!" I ignored that, and crossed my arms over my chest angrily.
"She's-she's not my girlfriend!" explained Hiccup for like the 10th time; they always made fun of him for the same thing.
Snotlout ignored him, and glanced at me with superiority.
"What are you gonna do?" he asked, getting close to me and looking at me in the eye. I didn't look away "Throw me to the lake? Pull my hair?" he truly didn't know what I was capable of, and that was the best thing.
"I-I would seriously think things through before asking those types of questions, Snotlout" said Hiccup with all the logic of the world, which made the teen laugh once more.
"And why's that?" he asked mockingly, while I looked at him disgusted.
"Back off before doing something you'll regret..." I warned dangerously.
"Uh, Snotlout, maybe she's right..." started Fishlegs.
Would you look at that, he wasn't so stupid after all! I couldn't say the same about Snotlout though, for he gave the blonde a glare which shut him up.
"C'mon, Fishlegs! You seriously can't be afraid of..." he scanned me with his eyes "A girl"
Had he really just said that?
"Careful what you say" I warned, raising my eyebrow.
"Oh, I'm so scared!" he said, making a fake frightened face.
"You should be..." muttered Hiccup, making the idiot stare at my friend mockingly.
"She's an even worse Viking than you" his expression changed to a thoughtful one "Although no one can be worse than you are" Hiccup rolled his eyes, ignoring him. I didn't understand why he let those people treat him like that, no one did that to me without losing one or two teeth in the process.
"I'm warning you..." I continued, getting tired of him.
"No, c'mon! I want to see what you've got!"
"You'd be surprised" said Hiccup. I stood there, glancing at Snotlout furiously. If looks could kill, he would already be dead.
Snotlout snickered, and then looked at Fishlegs and Tuffnut.
"See? I told you she couldn't do anything"
I had always tried to avoid it, but he was asking for it.
I patted his shoulder with my finger, he turned around and I punched him straight in the face. Hard. He fell to the ground, and deadly silence followed.
"Anyone else?"I questioned, staring at his friend who looked back at me frightened and stayed silent "Yeah, I didn't think so" I then grabbed Hiccup by the arm and dragged him behind me.
"You needn't do that, I-I had it under control"
"Of course you did" I said sarcastically. He always said the same, but that didn't stop them from bothering him "You can't let them treat you like that" I let go of him rudely, he groaned and I felt bad. But that was what happened when Snotlout got on my nerves. Every. Single. Time.
"W-What am I supposed to do?" he asked, rubbing his arm painfully. I ignored that action and looked at him.
"You have Toothless now, prove them wrong"
"Uh...Do you remember that I'm friends with the 'unholy offspring of lightning and death itself'? He'll be dead before I could even blink" he said and I sighed, that was true. I didn't want to put Toothless in danger, there had to be another way.
I looked around me for inspiration, until it came to me:
"Dragon training" I muttered, making Hiccup look at me confused.
"What?"
"Dragon Training" I said firmly "If you can't do it with Toothless, you can do it in Dragon Training"
"'Lex, you know how bad I am at Dragon Training" I smiled mischievously.
"That will change" I looked at the woods that led to the cove and, before I even knew what I was thinking, I turned to look at Hiccup "I will help you" he looked confused, and if I could have seen myself in the mirror at that moment, I guessed I would have the same expression.
"Why would you help me to be good at something you hate?"
That was a good question. Where did that come from? I hated everything that had to do with Dragon Training, then why was I doing that? I know it was Hiccup and I'd do anything for him, but I also had my limits. I wouldn't go as far as doing that unless...
Oh, gods.
Could it be...?
Could it be I had a crush on him? People usually don't act like themselves when they have a crush, and what I said was definitely not me.
I felt a shiver running up my spine at the only thought of ruining our friendship because of this, and decided I wouldn't turn my mind around it much longer.
"Because you're an amazing human being that deserves the whole respect of the world" I said, shoving my thoughts aside and turning towards the woods.
"Geez, thanks" said Hiccup following me.
When we arrived to the cove, our dragons were there playing with each other, and when they saw their owners, they immediately came to us happily and we rubbed their snouts.
"Anyway" I said, looking at Hiccup as we hopped on our dragons' saddles and flew to the sky "Do you know what dragon you'll have to fight tomorrow?" Hiccup looked ahead thoughtfully before turning towards me.
"Actually, no. Gobber never really tells us which species it's next, so that makes it as twice as worrying" I giggled "But, whichever it is, I don't want to hurt him. I don't want to hurt any of them" he added then, and I looked at him curiously "I want to find a way which doesn't involve axes, or daggers, or any kind of weapons" I nodded.
"Don't worry, we'll figure something out" he nodded too as he moved his feet to one side, and swooped down.
Did I forget to tell you? By this time, we were only training to ride dragons, and Hiccup was still trying to find ways to fly with Toothless' prosthetic tail. That time he had a rope tied to his leg, which he would move in a different direction every time he wanted to change positions.
"HICCUP!" I yelled, before he and Toothless disappeared out of sight. My dragon groaned worried "C'mon, bud! That way!" we followed the direction in which they had fallen, and then heard happy purrs. I hopped off of Thunderlight and followed the noise.
After getting through some high meadows, we arrived to the source of the purrs: Toothless was rolling around the grass, and he seemed quite happy. Thunderlight soon joined him making me giggle, before going to stand next to Hiccup.
"'You all right?" he didn't answer, he was looking at something in his hand; I looked too, and frowned "Grass?" I questioned confused. He then looked at me and smiled.
"Maybe I can use this to defeat the dragon tomorrow" I opened my eyes wide.
"That is brilliant! It might just work!"
And indeed, it worked. Hiccup told me so. As the teens were trying, in vain, to beat the Gronckle with spears, he just rubbed the grass on his snout and the dragon fell to the floor.
The next day, we were trying to discover a new method to beat them because he obviously couldn't use the same one, and we learned more about dragons throughout the whole process. We were scratching our dragons all over their body to see if there was any blind spot, and we found one right under their chins. That was the method Hiccup used on the next session with the Nadder.
As we continued like that, discovering new methods to beat the dragons without hurting them, he became the best student on the academy, and the teens didn't bother him anymore. They, literally, followed him everywhere, but Hiccup wasn't too keen on all the attention.
One day we were riding our dragons, Hiccup had finally managed to ride Toothless well, and we were having lots of fun.
Well, almost. Something was bothering me, and it had been bothering me for quite a while now.
"So, seems you won't need my help punching Snotlout in the face anymore" I said, trying to sound funny, but my tone was as serious as never before.
"Yeah, I guess so" he replied, chuckling anyway.
"How is life now that you have the whole village as your friend?" he shrugged.
"Good, I guess, but I preferred it much more when I was no one. At least then I could go to the toilet without them following me" that comment was quite funny, but I couldn't bring myself to laugh.
"I'm happy for you. Everyone in the village admires you now" I replied, smiling shyly "You went from 'The worst Viking Berk has ever seen' to 'The best dragon training student Berk has ever seen' in a few days" I stayed silent for a moment, before focusing back on our path "Who knows, you might even get a few new best friends" I added almost in a whisper. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw him staring at me in disbelief.
"W-what? Do you think they are my new best friends?" I didn't answer, and didn't dare to make eye contact with him "You seriously think that" I ignored him and swooped down, back to the cove. I heard him shouting something behind me, but I was too far away to listen clearly.
When I landed, I hopped off Thunderlight promptly. I knew Hiccup would be coming after me, but I didn't want to be there when he arrived.
If I tried to explain why I thought those were his new best friends, he would think I was being selfish, and he would be right on thinking that. I just couldn't force myself to do it.
I heard a screech and a flap of wings behind me. Too late.
"Why do you think that?" he asked, but I ignored him and started to walk away. He grabbed me from the wrist, though, and forced me to look at him. I also decided to ignore the spark I felt when he touched me, and focused solely on not making eye contact "Lexa, what's going on? Why do you think that?"
I stayed silent. I couldn't figure out what to say. What was I supposed to answer? Because they were hypocrites? Because they only started talking to you once you became good at dragon training? Because I was a selfish person who wanted all of your attention? Those answers would only make it worse.
"I..." I took his hand off my wrist softly "I just..." I sighed. I had to tell him the truth, it was the only way to explain it to him, because no other thing was good enough to answer that question "I just don't want to lose you" I finally managed to look at him, and he was gazing at me sympathetically "You, Toothless and Thunderlight are the only friends I have" now his eyes were shining with compassion "There's no one else in my life I truly care about, and...I don't know what I would do without you" that was a really selfish thought, and I felt bad the instant it came out of my mouth, but I couldn't take it back.
Hiccup didn't say anything, and that was what worried me even more "I know it's really selfish, and you're free to do whatever you want with your life, so just...Forget I ever said anything" I wanted to leave right then, in that precise moment, but I couldn't get my feet to move. I stood there, like a criminal waiting for their sentence.
"That-That's really selfish of you" he finally said.
I looked down to my feet. I knew it; he was going to hate me forever.
"You can't leave me alone with Snotlout and the twins!" I stayed some minutes in silence, processing what he had just said. Then, I giggled slightly.
"I wouldn't dream of it" the tension had loosened up suddenly. Hiccup always managed to do that.
"Good, because they won't be my best friends as much as they insist" I smiled "I've only got one best friend, who is standing right in front of me" Toothless growled jealously at his side, and Hiccup rolled his eyes "I meant human best friend, Toothless" he said, looking at him. I chuckled.
"Thank you" I said.
"My pleasure"
And that's when I realized, that my feelings for him went beyond our friendship.