Author's Note: So, I bid you all welcome to my first HTTYD story. I attempted to keep the characters as close to their personality as possible. Please, read and review! Flames will be doused with llama spit. Rating is for future chapters.

How To Trust A Hiccup

"Oh, come on, just try it." Hiccup urged, his arms held out before him in a welcoming gesture. The blonde haired girl could only turn her head and huff with indignation. "What makes you think the dragon will listen to me? You're out of your mind Hiccup. Absolutely out of your mind."

Hiccup could only smile. "I take that as a complement."

"You would." Astrid half smiled, though she came off a little less than friendly. Toothless passed a glare towards Astrid, and if looks could kill the girl would have keeled over in an instant. She paid the dragon no mind as she placed herself delicately on a nearby rock.

The scrawny male sighed; time and time again Hiccup made attempts to help Toothless bond with Astrid, and it always ended in a horrible and sometimes painful failure. He knew that if he could get Astrid on the dragon with him, then she should try and do it on her own. It seemed to be a never-ending cycle…probably because Hiccup was too stubborn to give up, thus resulting in said cycle. Grunting, he patted Toothless on the head and came to stand behind Astrid. She was sulking.

"Astrid, are you ever going to try?" Hiccup pleaded. Astrid shook her head.

"No…Toothless had a hard time flying me when I was with you." Her cheeks began to burn at the memory of taking a moonlit flight through the starry sky with Hiccup. It felt magical…aside from the twist and turn part. That Astrid could do without.

Hiccup frowned. "So…you don't trust me." His voice was sullen and low. It hurt him that the girl who believed he could defeat the Green Death now refuses to trust his own dragon. Astrid could only turn and look at him, enraged.

"What does this have to do with trusting you, Hiccup?"

Astrid was indeed angry. All he could do was gulp. "Everything, Astrid. It has everything to do with trusting me."

"How does me not wanting to fly Toothless have anything to do with you?" Hiccup sighed and turned his head, a slight shimmer of tears in his eyes. "If you can't trust my bud, how can you trust me?"

Astrid opened her mouth, inhaled, and shut it again. How come he always had to sound so…so smart? It was irritating. And those puppy-dog eyes, matched with his quivering lower lip, only fueled the fire of irritation. Grunting, she turned and looked his way. "I'm sorry, Hiccup. I want to trust him. I do."

"Well, until then I don't see how you can trust me. Do you trust me?"

"…I…"

Hiccup sighed and shut his eyes. "I see." Toothless made what sounded like some sort of growl; he was feeling protective of Hiccup, and did not like to see him upset. Astrid felt horrible, and regretted ever saying a word.

"…please, I didn't mean it like that."

The young male turned to look at the girl who captured his heart so long ago. He did not want to feel hurt at her lack of trust, and perhaps if she were someone else he may have shrugged it off, but it was quite painful.

"Then how did you mean it?"

"I…I don't know. It's not that I don't trust you."

"So you trust me but you don't. Boy, you're great at making total sense." Hiccup rolled his eyes.

Astrid huffed. "Yeah? Well, you're great at being…incredibly…annoying!" It would have bothered Hiccup, her calling him annoying, had he not been so angry with the situation already.

"You're even better at lousy comebacks!" Hiccup retorted, green eyes dark with agitation.

"And you are…you're…" Astrid bit her lip, tears of frustration burning her eyes. "You're irritating!"

Toothless emitted a low grumble in his throat, a warning to the female that if she kept it up she would no longer exist in the foreseeable future. "Irritating and annoying is practically the same thing!" Hiccup replied. "Glad we know what you really think of me."

Astrid's nostrils flared. "That's not what I really think of you!"

"Then why—"

"Because I'm scared to trust you!"

Silenced hovered over them like a thick, suffocating fog. It took a few moments for Astrid to realize what she had said, and even then there was nothing more to say that would lift the heavy weight pressing on them. Toothless backed away noiselessly, finding interest in the lake and darting fish in the shallow water. Hiccup blinked before breaking the silence, "Scared…?"

Astrid clenched her fists. "Yes. I'm scared. Are you happy now? Me. Scared…of you."

Hiccup smirked. "While in any other circumstance I would normally be pleased that I'm so awesome even you quiver in fear…" He started, attempting to remove the unease between them. "I don't want you to be afraid to trust me."

"Well, I am." Astrid stated sharply, her eyes searching the ground for some sort of distraction.

The boy crossed his arms. "Any particular reason why? Other than the fact that I'm naturally scary."

It took a moment for Astrid to compose her thoughts. Why was she afraid? She took a quick glance at the Dark Fury, who had his face submerged in the lake with a toothless smile as he chased the silver fish. The secret hideaway was completely oblivious to her nervousness; birds chirped and the wind blew the warm scents of summer. Sighing, she locked eyes with Hiccup. "I can't explain it Hiccup…all I can say is I don't want to get hurt."

"I would never hurt you," Hiccup cooed, his voice gentle as he took a few wary steps towards her.

"How do you know?" Astrid hugged her legs to her chest. Toothless was now above water and keeping his attention on them, eyes squinting.

He sighed and took a seat beside her, his hand itching to hold hers. "Because I'm me. I would know if I was going to hurt you…in which case I wouldn't tell you I wouldn't hurt you."

"You never make sense."

"I'm pretty good at that," Hiccup replied with a smile. "It's one of my many…talents."

Astrid laughed softly and stood up, turning to go towards the lake. Picking up a nearby rock, she skipped it across the water. It bounced several times before sliding silently under the ripples. Hiccup followed her and looked over at Toothless, who kept glancing at the blonde with big eyes.

"Toothless won't hurt you."

"Did he tell you that?" Astrid asked, skipping another rock.

"You've ridden him before…you need to trust me on this."

Astrid turned to look at Hiccup with a solemn look on her face. "I've never ridden him alone."

"You gave me a chance…so why not him?"

Another moment of silence as she bit her lip in thought. Then, briskly she moved to stand in front of Hiccup. The boy could not help but carry a dumbfounded look on his face at her close proximity. She'd been close to him before but now…it felt different. The air was different. "Give me some time, Hiccup. In time I can fly him on my own."

Hiccup smiled faintly. "Is that a partial showing of trust?"

Astrid glared. "Don't get all happy just yet."

"I'm not, I'm not…just, appreciative is all."

"How can you be appreciative if I haven't done anything yet?" Astrid asked with a skeptical look on her face.

"Because I know that you will. And Toothless is thankful too."

The blonde raised an eyebrow. "So now you can read minds?"

It was not that she did not have a bond with her dragon, as it was quite strong, but she had not reached the point of friendship that Hiccup and Toothless shared with one another. It was as though Hiccup had some sort of device that allowed him to read the dragon's emotions. Then again…Toothless was quite the animated creature. Even Astrid could sometimes read how he felt without being psychic. Other times she drew a blank.

"Oh yes, I'm quite good at it too." Hiccup boasted with a toothy grin. "Like right now I'm thinking…that you want to go for a swim."

"What? When did I ever—"

Without any fair warning, Toothless came up from behind, hooked his claws behind Astrid's shoulders and dropped her in the lake. Hiccup was rolling on the lake shore in laughter, his dragon perched on a rock with a satisfied smirk on his face. Astrid came up for air and flailed around for a moment before taking off towards the shore. "You'll pay for this Hiccup!"

"Is that a promise?" He yelled to her from the shore.

"This is not a good way to start off this whole trust thing!"

Hiccup could only smile more; he was happy to know that if Astrid did not even partially trust him or his dragon, she would not have been around in the first place. As Astrid neared the shore, he took off running, Toothless gurgling with amusement from the rock.

"Oh, I actually believe it is! Trust me!"

End Note: I'm not sure when the next chapter will be up, but hopefully it will be sometime soon. If I get enough reviews I'll work harder to get it out at an earlier time, but even then with how life is I can't make guarantees. Hope you enjoyed. =] Don't forget to leave me a little review.

~Evilmoose~