Work Text:
Hiccup winced as he pressed the knife into his arm.
It always hurt, he never enjoyed it, and he knew no good would come from it but, for whatever reason, he just couldn't seem to stop.
This time, though, Gobber walked in on him.
To his relief, though, the Viking did not shame him for it, nor did he yell at him. Instead, with Hiccup's permission, he simply took the knife from him and got to work on wound care.
This wasn't the first time Gobber had found him, to be clear. There was a reason the blonde tried to keep him away from sharps as much as he could manage.
"You really gotta stop this, Hiccup" he said firmly, though Hiccup knew he was not angry. "It's not good for you. You could end up doing serious damage to yourself"
"I know" Hiccup said solemnly. Sometimes he did think about taking that knife to his wrist and ending it all, but he knew that he'd just be even more of a disappointment to his father and the town of Berk if he did that. "I'm sorry"
"Don't apologize, lad" Gobber said gently as he wrapped bandaging around his apprentice's arm. "Is there anything I can do for you, my boy? Do you need to talk or anything?"
"Can we just..." Hiccup sighed. "Can we just focus on work?"
"Of course, lad"