Hiccup had been afraid of Toothless when they first met but curiosity had overcome that fear and with each dragon they came in contact with he had a healthy respect for the strength they harbored- he’d probably always be a toothpick by Viking standards even if his tribe came to accept him as one of their own (in a sense). How easily he could be torn askewer by powerful talons… BUT he knew he knew there was more to all dragons than the threat they possessed. They weren’t so different from them and vise versa. It was the emotion he first saw in Toothless’ eyes as he had held that knife over his bound body that made him realize this. That urged him to try and make things right despite his terror at teeth and fire and the existence of a nightfury in general, when there was said to be nothing more dangerous in their book of dragons.

He saw the hurt in this dragon’s eyes and while he hadn’t been the one to inflict it he still felt inclined to right the wrong that his own race had done. Not all humans were bad, same as dragons. And as she pressed her head against his palm he felt a swell of relief. Before a bristling of surprise at her eagerness to rub her scales at his skin. She was enthused but he was hesitant, worried she might regress if he returned the favor. He curled his fingers and carefully began to scratch. “Hey now, your going to make Toothless jealous.” He joked and paused to look at the muzzle, sliding his hands closer to the metal before stilling at the angry flesh puckering around the edges. He did not think he would be able to pull it off and there was some sort of lock on it. He fingered the mechanism. “I think I can get this off, I just need some pliers.” He mumbled thoughtfully before looking towards the direction of his village. He wondered if he could take her or if all the hustle would be too much- It most likely would but could he trust that she wouldn’t take off if he left her here?

Well… Toothless and him could always track her down if it came to that. How well could a multi color dragon hide anyhow? He stepped back. “We’ll be right back.” And took another step backwards, moving towards Toothless now. “I’m just going to get something to get that muzzle off.” He said, mostly thinking out loud to himself as he climbed onto his nightfury’s back with his prosthetic clicking into place.