Night Fury's Venom

We walked in silence, Toothless in the front, Stormfly the middle, and me in the back. Only the sound of crunching leaves and snapping branches entered my ears. Actually, I was the only one making that noise. Neither Stormfly nor Toothless made much noise while they walked. I grumbled under my breath and looked down at my paws, trying to step around what I thought would make the most noise. I didn't want to look incompetent in front of-

Wait... why did I care about that?

Something about Stormfly was different now. And it was messing with me a lot. I found myself trying not to act like... well, me when there was a chance she could be watching. It was very distracting.

Snap!

I grumbled to myself again, trying to step around twigs and try leaves. My face felt hot with embarrassment when Stormfly glanced at me curiously for a moment. I let out a shaky breath when she looked forward again. That was so humili-

I blinked. Crap! I just did it again!

"Need some help?" I jumped at Toothless's voice right beside me, landing on another branch and making it snap. I peeked at Stormfly nervously, glad she hadn't noticed. I mentally facepalmed. Why was I glad?! "I see what you're doing," he purred softly.

I shot him an annoyed glare. "And what do you think that is?"

"You won't like my answer," he hummed quietly. I raised a brow. "You want to impress her, don't you?" I narrowed my eyes. "Hey, hey, I know! There isn't anything happening between you two, blah, blah, blah! I get it! Just hear me out here..."

"There's nothing to talk about!" I growled, "we are friends! Just. Friends. This is all just some coincidence!"

"Yeah... I disagree with that," he replied smugly, "how about this, let's play a game. I ask you a question, and you have to answer me with the first thing that pops into your head. You are not allowed to stop and think about it. You want to prove me wrong? Then this is the way to do so!"

I stared at him for a few moments. "Fine. But when I prove you wrong, you have to stop teasing us."

"That's fair," he hummed in agreement. He narrowed his eyes in thought before smiling. "Alright, first question. Who do you love?"

"Astrid," I answered immediately.

He raised a brow. "I don't know who that is, but okay. Why do you want to be quiet while walking?"

"I don't want to be embarrassed in front of Stormfly," I grumbled, not liking where this was going.

"What does she mean to you?"

"I... don't know?" Toothless narrowed his eyes. "No, really! I don't know! She's confusing the Hel out of me! At one point, she might be playful and protective; the next, she's angry and worrying about something! " I ranted, "she hasn't been happy ever since you pushed me off into the cove! She's worrying over something that I can't figure out! Haven't you noticed?! It's driving me insane!"

I panted heavily, realizing I was just yelling. I flinched, turning my gaze to Stormfly and noticing she was staring at me with wide eyes. She heard all of that, didn't she?

Toothless snorted. "No, I haven't noticed. But you have noticed all of that about her. Obviously, you've been paying a lot of attention to her, hmm?" He grinned when I looked at him again. "That is quite the 'coincidence,' isn't it?" He purred.

"...go!" I knew that voice. Was that... Astrid?

I froze. "Uh, oh..."

(^-^)

"I'm bored!" Ruffnut complained for the seventh time within the hour.

"Hello, bored," Tuffnut replied, "I'm Tuffnut!" It was funny the first time but after the fifth...

"Will you be quiet?" Astrid snapped, "at least come up with something new!"

Tuffnut thought for a moment. "Uh... Hello, Ruffnut, I'm bored?"

Astrid suddenly swung her ax at Tuffnut. He yelled and ducked, the ax barely missing his head and slicing clean through one of his helmet's horns. Before she could try again, there was a roar in the distance, making all of us freeze. The roaring continued for a moment longer, getting a little louder before ceasing entirely.

We looked at each other in surprise.

"Let's go!" Astrid shouted, immediately disengaging from Tuffnut and running toward the roar. I had no choice but to try and keep up.