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Toothless knew his touch better than anyone's, and trusted it more than anyone's. Yes, Hiccup had been the one to shoot him down, to come close to killing him, but he hadn't. He'd helped him instead. And now they were friends. Closer than friends.
So Toothless was fine with it when Hiccup decided to make him a new set of tail fins. Hiccup had explained to him that each one could bolster certain parts of his flying in different ways.
Toothless sat patiently as Hiccup attached the new tail fin. He grumbled a little bit when it touched his scars, as they were aching today, but he was fine, he figured.
"What do you think of it, bud?" Hiccup asked once the new prosthetic was attached, not noticing his grumbling.
Toothless swept his tail into view. He hadn't actually seen the tail fin yet, and was surprised to see that it was yellow. Yellow. What had happened to the red?
Toothless made a sound of playful annoyance. He hadn't realized what color Hiccup had painted this one, and he wasn't sure he liked it.
"What? It's that bad?" Hiccup asked, coming around to his front.
Toothless pawed at the tail fin to show his displeasure. Hiccup laughed and shook his head.
"No?" Hiccup asked. "It's a stealth tail!"
Toothless made a sound that translated to: " Yellow isn't stealthy ."
"No, no, I mean like, it'll help you fly quieter and smoother."
"Then why did you pick yellow?" Toothless asked, knowing Hiccup would understand him, though they weren't speaking the same language. It was their language though, and so they each understood it.
Hiccup laughed. "Fine, fine. We can try a different one. I think you'll like the colors on this next one more."
Toothless let Hiccup take the tail fin off, now realizing that his scars hurt worse than he'd first thought. There was a terrible ache in his tail, and he pulled it away from Hiccup once the tail fin was off.
"Everything alright, bud?"
"Hurts," Toothless warbled.
For a moment, Hiccup didn't understand, (they were speaking different languages after all), but then it seemed to click.
"Oh!" He nodded, knelt down by Toothless' tail. "I'm sorry, bud. You should have told me you were hurting."
Toothless huffed, telling him he had thought it hadn't been bad enough to interrupt this. Apparently it was though.
"Let me get your salve," Hiccup said, rubbing the center of his tail gently. Toothless made a small cooing noise, then settled down onto his stomach. He could use the relaxation, he figured.
Toothless' salve wasn't hard to find. They kept it relatively close to hand, as Hiccup did with his. It was a mixture that Gothi and Hiccup had worked on together that helped the pain in his tail.
Hiccup sat with the jar, and pulled Toothless' tail into his lap. Toothless closed his eyes as Hiccup began rubbing the salve over his scarring.
His touch was wonderful: gentle, but also firm enough to get out any knots in his muscles. Hiccup could never hurt him on purpose, or even by accident.
Toothless purred as Hiccup massaged the scars on his tail. It was nice to have his prosthetic off, to have Hiccup taking care of him like this. Granted, Toothless took care of Hiccup in return, so it was only fair.
Toothless tried his best to say: "I love you" in Hiccup's language. His tongue and mouth weren't shaped the same way, and his vocal cords weren't made for it, but he really did try.
Hiccup smiled widely. "I love you too, bud."
Toothless gave him a goofy smile with his tongue sticking out at the response. So Hiccup had understood him. He curled his head closer to Hiccup, nuzzling his nose against his knee. He wanted to return Hiccup's affection, his touch.
Once Hiccup was done rubbing the salve into Toothless' scars, he laid down on his back beside Toothless, running fingers idly over his side. Toothless liked that a lot.
"So, really no yellow, huh?" Hiccup asked after some comfortable silence.
Toothless warbled again. "No yellow."
"Alright, alright. I'll repaint it. Has to be different than red though so I don't mix it up with your other tail fin."
To show that he was okay with this idea, Toothless leaned over and licked Hiccup's hair. Some of it stuck to his tongue, as humans shed like other furry animals, but he didn't care. This was Hiccup.
"Bud, I just washed that!"
Toothless cooed in amusement. He knew that. He nuzzled his face against Hiccup's, breathing in his scent. He was sure some of his own scent was mixed in with it.
Toothless wrapped a leg around Hiccup, pulling him close.
"I have things to do," Hiccup told him.
Toothless pulled him closer.
Hiccup chuckled, buried his face against him. "Okay. I guess they can wait." Hiccup slung an arm over Toothless as best as he could. "Love ya, big guy."
Toothless gave a contented smile, and closed his eyes, ready for a nap.