Too Many Teeth

Chapter Two

Hiccup tightened the straps on the leather harness, checking over the gear one last time. He’d figured out the problem with the sticky tail fin and fixed it. At least, he hoped he had. It would be embarrassing to take a spill in the middle of a race. Snotlout would never let him hear the end of it, and the thought of Astrid seeing him make an idiot of himself made his cheeks burn. He was glad she hadn’t been there for the fish incident, even though there was no doubt that Gobber had described everything in great detail.

            He wished he knew what was going on between him and Astrid. There was that kiss after the incident with the Red Death, but since then things had been…confusing. They were friends, he knew that much, and occasionally she’d reach out and grab his arm, or look at him for a little bit longer than usual. But did that mean anything?

            They spent a lot of time together, racing their dragons, sitting next to one another at the table. She was constantly punching him. It left him covered in bruises but he didn’t mind, since he was fairly certain that was her way of flirting. He sighed, checking over the straps one more time, more for something to distract him than anything else.

            The arena was mostly empty, save for him and Toothless. There were a few Terrible Terrors sparring in the center of the ring. The tiny, lizard-like dragons were blowing puffs of fire at one another, skittering back and forth and screeching playfully. Roughly half the ring was blackened from Hookfang’s unfortunate sneezing incident, and a few Vikings were on the top of the wall, hammering new boards on where sections were growing singed and brittle. Sooner or later, they’d have to figure out how to fireproof it more effectively.

He’d come an hour early just to make sure he had sorted out the problem with the tail fin. They wouldn’t be winning any races if they crashed into a tree in the middle of everything. Toothless turned to look back over his shoulder, regarding him with quizzical green eyes. The snow was collecting in little drifts along the dragon’s broad snout and Hiccup laughed, brushing it off.

            “Okay? Let’s give it one last try before we race. I don’t want us falling out of the sky again, as much fun as that was this morning.” He patted the dragon’s neck, and Toothless stretched his lips back, the equivalent of a dragon smile. It would be intimidating to anyone who didn’t know his dragon. Hiccup laughed.

            He grasped the saddle and swung himself up, and Toothless lurched forward, running a few steps before launching into the air. Holding his breath, Hiccup stepped down on the shifter as the dragon banked sharply to the left. There was a clicking sound, and the tail fin adjusted itself. They flew a few more laps, and he shifted through the different settings until he was satisfied that the tail fin was working fine. He sighed and patted Toothless on the shoulder “Looks like we’re all set, bud. Bring ‘er down.”

            They circled the arena once more, and then set down, Hiccup holding on tightly as he was jostled in the saddle. It was always a little rougher landing if Toothless didn’t have much room. He slid out of the saddle, surveying his handiwork, nodding to himself. It would do until he got a chance to talk to Gobber about it. He sighed, thinking he’d probably have to put up with the blacksmith telling him fish jokes for a little while.

            “Hey, Hiccup! Incoming!”