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“I almost can’t believe we went through all that just to get… this,” Hiccup comments, sitting on the edge of his bed. It’s nighttime now, moonlight streaming in the window. It’s been a very long past couple days, with them flying all the way out to Breakneck Bog and encountering a group of fog breathing dragons that Toothless has never seen before. It would have been a more interesting meeting if one of them hadn’t yanked Hiccup off of him by his foot and nearly ended with them both dropping into the ocean. He's still annoyed at them for that. But at least they got this… thing, that seems important to Hiccup.
Toothless comes over, sniffing at the stuffed animal. Stuffed animals are a strange human concept. It took him a while to understand what they even were. But that Hiccup used to have this to sleep with, even years ago is almost funny, seeing where they are now.
Toothless yips softly, nosing him.
Hiccup pets his head. “And I really can’t believe I used to be scared of this thing,” he says with a laugh, his other hand lightly tracing over the dragon.
Toothless nuzzles a little closer.
It’s hard to imagine anymore, where they both started. With Hiccup terrified of dragons and Toothless no less terrified of humans. He’d thought he was going to die that day, when he’d been shot down. He’d fought against the net for hours until he was too exhausted to move and then he’d just… resigned himself.
And then Hiccup had freed him. The moment he’d first let Hiccup touch him was maybe the first moment he felt like he belonged somewhere in his life and he knows how true that is for Hiccup, too.
It’s strange sometimes, to think of the… similarities. It’s something Toothless knows Hiccup doesn’t fully realize but he does.
He was young when he left where he once lived with the other Night Furies, but not too young to know that he’s always been the smallest and weakest there. Just like Hiccup is among the humans.
No one ever paid attention to him. no one ever really… cared. And Toothless knows how true that is for Hiccup. Even now that Hiccup has human friends, Toothless really doesn’t like some of them very much, like the girl who always hits him.
And Toothless never had siblings, even though he was probably the only Night Fury who didn’t, just like Hiccup seems to be the only human who doesn’t have siblings.
Toothless’ father was the alpha, much like Hiccup’s is the leader here. They also seemed to have identical temperaments. His father had been… pushy and it felt like he was angry half the time at Toothless, while nice to everyone else. Toothless sees so much of that with Stoick and Hiccup. He wishes there was something he could do protect him from that, not that there really is.
One of the things Toothless remembers about his father the best is that he hated humans. He doesn’t think he’d mindlessly kill them anymore than any dragon would but he also certainly would never hesitate. Not the way Toothless did. Or the way Hiccup did, despite how Toothless knows Stoick once hated dragons as much as his father had hated humans.
And this stuffed dragon is from Hiccup’s mother, who was killed by dragons when he was young. Toothless still faintly remembers the last time he saw his own mother. She flew away one day and never came back. Humans, he’d been told. That was really what started his own terror of humans.
One day, Toothless had been out flying himself, far far away from his island. He hadn’t really wanted to go back, not that he had anywhere to go anyway but still. He’d just wanted to know what it would mean to be free, even if felt wrong to think that about his own family, his own kind.
And then he’d first felt the call of Red Death and he hadn’t been able to shake it off. He doesn’t even know the way back to his own island anymore. It’s like the day that Hiccup came to find him so they could run away from Berk together, except then that girl had showed up and changed all that. Toothless doesn’t doubt that if not for that, they would have flown away together and Hiccup may have lost any chance at ever seeing Berk again.
They’re… the same, in more ways than Hiccup will ever know.
“What do you say we go flying again, bud?” asks Hiccup, hand lowering to scratch Toothless’ neck.
He yips affirmatively.
Hiccup gently sets the stuffed animal down at the head of his bed, something distantly longing in his eyes but with a faint smile before he turns back to Toothless, swinging onto his back and Toothless jumps out the window, wings catching the air as they take off.
When Toothless first lost his tail, he’d known he would never fly again. Or at least, that’s what he’d thought, until Hiccup had attached his new tail for the first time.
It’s not the same as flying on his own but in some ways it’s also more… Something he’ll forever do with Hiccup, and the blind trust that it means they both have to carry between each other isn’t something Toothless could say he wishes he didn’t have. He’s never felt that connection with anyone before.
That they both have a missing piece of themselves forever lost is another thing that’s the same. Hiccup may not be dependent on him to walk but it’s still a part of him that’s forever lost, something that Toothless wasn’t able to save no matter how hard he tried.
Toothless never truly had trust or friends or family or love until Hiccup. And he knows Hiccup can forever say the same about him. They were always alone until they found each other. And now, they’ll be with each other forever.