More Than Just A Bonny Face (Rewriting)

Acquaintances

     We are back at the cove, Hiccup and I. He comes more prepared this time. Instead of his dorky journal and a small dagger, he carries a shield and a dead fish. I stay behind him, poised and ready to fire.

     The fish is thrown, but nothing moves. The cove is peaceful and tranquil. It's beautiful. Almost perfect.

     We try to move forward but the shield won't fit between the entrance walls so we crawl underneath it. Hiccup picks up the fish and nervously looks around us to find the dragons. I can't see them either.

Hiccup gasps. I pivot on my heels and have my prepared arrow aimed at the menacing Night Fury as it climbs down from its hiding position behind a rock.

"Where's your buddy, Night Fury?" I say more to myself than to the dragon.

It dragons sniff at us and the fish, slowly approaching, then retreating upon seeing Hiccup's knife and my weapons. Realising the dragon feels threatened, Hiccup kicks his knife into the water. They both look at me, Hiccup nodding for me to drop my weapons, which I reluctantly do. The dragon softens and relaxes, sitting down in front of us and making a gentle calling noise. The Deathgripper blindly makes his way out from behind a giant rock.

I can't help but smirk at the foundation of friendship they have. "Clever boys."

Hiccup holds the fish out for the Night Fury to take, in doing so revealing a toothless mouth to us. That's strange. "Huh. Toothless. I could've sworn you had—" Toothless's teeth suddenly pop out of his gums and he snatches the fish, chomping it in half, scaring us both. "Teeth." Toothless corners Hiccup against a rock in hopes he will be fed another free fish. "Uh, uh, no, no, no. I- I don't have any more." Hiccup says as him and I walk back into a rock.

Toothless turns to me. Keeping my light blue eyes on him, I reach for my weapons and turn to the water. I fire at a fish, killing it instantly. I pull my arrow out of the lake, Toothless almost smiling at me like a human.

"You're gonna have to pay for this one," I say as a joke as I stupidly make an attempt for befriend the Deathgripper. He looks lost, frightened, and confused. "Hey, boy. It's okay." He looks in my direction. "Please don't hurt me." I hold out the fish for him and try to reach out for him. "I have a fish." He sniffs the fish. I touch his scaly face and leave the fish on the ground for him to eat. "I bet Toothless has been taking care of you, huh?" He leans into my hand.

What a marvellous creation.

"Hey, Hiccup—" I turn to my brother but I am met with Hiccup biting into half of a fish. I almost don't want to ask... "Where did you...?" He nods at Toothless and holds out the fish for him to take. "Okay, that's disgusting."

Hiccup smiles at Toothless, who tries to return it. The dragon snarls and flies away when Hiccup reaches towards him. The Deathgripper nudges me, like he's asking for more than my hand on my face. I sit in front of him and hold his face in my hands. He lays down, the subset reflecting in his angelic eyes.

"I get it. You've been outcasted because you're different. Nobody wants you so you give up trying and you fight alone." He only sighs in response, as if he's agreeing with me. "I bet even your own family didn't want you, huh?" I stroke his nose. "I won't let anyone or anything hurt you ever again, my sweet venom." The perfect name for his perfect beast pops into my brain. "I dubb thee, Vidar the Deathgripper."

Hiccup takes a seat next to me with a stick. "Like the God." He begins to draw.

"Well, he was the son of Odin and a giantess and the god of Vengeance, Justice and The Primitive Nature Personification." I watch Hiccup's stick leave trails in the ground to create a picture. "I feel like that suits him well."

After some time of us two chatting like old friends, the picture in the ground seems to be of Toothless. This is the most relaxed conversation I have had with Hiccup since I met my group of buds. I can't even remember how long ago it was. I quite like this better than our usual bantering and dangerous way of living.

If only Dad could see this.

"You always had a skill for portraits." I share a genuine smile with my brother. It's actually lovely to see him smile like this and not because of some sarcastic comment he makes.

But our bonding time is interrupted by the sound of a branch snapping and heavy footprints. Toothless appears beside us with a branch in his mouth, attempting to draw his own portrait. Vidar doesn't seem bothered by the rustling of the leaves and the sound of the branch being dragged about in all directions by the black wuss. Probably because he knows I'm here.

Toothless drops his branch and smiles proudly at his portrait, though it looks more like a maze. A+ for effort, I guess.

  As Hiccup begins to walk towards him, he steps on a trail left behind by Toothless. And he is not happy about that. It's like a prison and he has to escape without damaging anything. Hiccup steps over the lines to finally reach Toothless. He offers his hand to Toothless while looking away. The gentle dragon finally trusts Hiccup enough to touch his nose to Hiccup's hand, before snorting and running away.

"Progress." I smile to myself. "We're making progress."