Chapter Text
“Toothless! I brought breakfast for you!” Hiccup said sing-songily as he entered the cove that the Night Fury was trapped in. He slid the strap off of his shoulder as he spotted the dragon bounding his way towards him. “I’ve got some salmon, some nice Icelandic Cod, and even a whole smoked eel.” Hiccup said, prompting Toothless to raise his top lip and let out a growl. Hiccup hesitated before grabbing for the eel. Toothless stretched his neck back, flaring his wings slightly before hissing once more. “Nonono, it’s okay!” Hiccup stammered as he tossed the eel away. “Yeah, I don’t really like eel very much either.”
”How about this one?” He asked, raising up a saithe from the pile.
Hiccup winced as he touched his arm once more, the Night Fury’s bite gleaming with an odd pulse within it as he recounted what happened once more. He knew that Toothless didn’t mean to bite him, but that didn’t excuse the fact that it hurt.
The Night Fury was so hungry that he could barely wait for the breakfast that Hiccup had brought, which was meant to be a distraction while he tried to put the artificial tailfin on, and he lunged for the first fish that Hiccup pulled out. Hiccup really shouldn’t have moved when Toothless did so.
That’s how he returned home with two new questions: how he was going to help Toothless fly—even without a tailfin—and how in Helheim he was going to have to go around treating the wound.
But first, he had to go to Dragon Training, and… hopefully survive.
…
Hiccup fell to the now-wet floor in surprise as the Hideous Zippleback lunged one of their heads towards him. “Hiccup!” He heard Gobber exclaim. His breath hitched as he pressed his wounded arm to the ground to stand up, yet for whatever reason, Hiccup felt he could do something about the two-headed dragon. “Back! Back… back!” He repeated, raising his hands and periodically making pushing gestures.
“Don’t make me say it again!” The Zippleback pulled their heads away in surprise, cautiously stumbling away from the scrawny teenager.
“Yes, good, back into your cage.”
After he barked orders enough times, the dragon had already been pushed back into their cage.
“Good. Now, think about what you’ve done.” He said, opening his vest and pulling out the eel from Toothless’ food basket and tossing it at the Hideous Zippleback. Oddly enough, Hiccup felt repulsed at the sight of the eel. Maybe he just didn’t like the feeling of the dead eel’s slimy, slightly rotting scales against his palm. Yeah, that’s it. He thought while the two-headed dragon focused on hissing at the eel as Hiccup reached for the cage doors.
By the time he closed the second door and turned around as he rubbed the feeling of the eel slime off his hands, the other teens looked at him in genuine surprise. Fishlegs had even dropped his bucket. “Hiccup, what was that?” Gobber breathed from the top of the arena.
He was just about to reply when the bite flared up again. “Gah,” He hissed, reaching for his arm, the bite seemingly pulsing angrily at him. “Uh, are we finished? …Is that all? ‘Cause I think I’m just gonna… yep! See you tomorrow!” Hiccup said, rushing out of the Arena.
As soon as he crossed the bridge back towards Raven Point, he anxiously pulled up his shirt’s sleeve. Toothless’ bite wasn’t infected, necessarily, but it seemed like, when he moved his arm, a strange trail of light green particles followed in the same path. Nonetheless, Hiccup was spooked. “What in Odin’s…?” He murmured, before turning around in surprise as a branch suddenly broke from the canopy and fell into the ditch a couple of feet away from him. Hiccup took a step back, raising his arms up to his chest.
I need to get back to Toothless. He thought, before shaking his head. I’m thinking crazy. Who am I kidding? I need to treat this bite. Maybe… maybe I can visit him after sunset. I guess I could work on designing something to help him fly.
…
For the rest of the afternoon, Hiccup was inside his and Gobber’s smithy, making drafts upon drafts for what he was going to do with Toothless. He knew he’d need a saddle, but what else? The leather sail on the tip of Night Fury’s tail couldn’t move on its own, so Hiccup was trying to think of something that’d be able to make it move.
He had just finished sketching what was probably the thirty-seventh idea when he heard the familiar hobbling of Gobber and his peg-leg. Almost on cue, the scrawny teen felt the rumble of his stomach, and sighed. “No building equipment for me tonight, it seems.” He muttered sleepily, the words meant for himself.
Hiccup suddenly snapped his head up when he noticed Gobber trudging his way into Hiccup’s small study room. The auburn-haired boy closed his sketchbook tight, pushing it and loose-parchment designs into a barely contained pile on the dimmest corner of his desk. “Gobber! Wait-” He exclaimed, lunging forward and moving him to the side. The older man had nearly stepped on a still-hot slurry of iron with his good foot. “Ah! Good save, Hiccup.” Gobber thanked him, before adding, “I’m ‘bouta set up the ol’ bonfire for a campout with er’one in the class. Want to join?”
“Eh, no thank you, Gobber. I’m getting pretty tired, so I’ll just get something at home. Thank you for, uh, for offering, though.” Hiccup said, a yawn escaping his mouth as he finished. “I’m gonna go ahead and head back. You have a good evening, Gobber!”
“You as well, Hiccup. I’ll come to check on ya after we’re done.” Gobber nodded, placing his bionic hand on Hiccup’s shoulder. Hiccup nodded, turning back around slightly so he could pick up his pile of designs. He heaved them up just as Gobber was on the other side of the doorway, and a sheet slipped out from the pile, somehow floating to a spot far ahead of Gobber.
Hiccup’s breath hitched as the prosthetic-bearing man paused to look down at the parchment. “Gobber, I-” He began, but was cut off when Gobber laughed playfully. “Is this a dragon’s sail, kiddo?” He asked, scooping up the parchment and bringing it out towards Hiccup. “I… so what if…” Hiccup stammered, trying to grab the page with his fingers without dropping the tower.
Gobber snorted, letting go of the sheet. “I ‘unno what yer doin’ most days, Hiccup, so who’m I to pry?”
“I… you’re not mad?” Hiccup whisper-exclaimed despite the two of them being the only ones within the building.
“Eh, yer ol’ mum had a knack for doin’ things like that. She ‘lways had a soft spot for them beasts. Must run in yer family.” Gobber explained, chuckling light-heartedly. “I’d gotten used to ‘er antics like that. Brings… brings back mem’ries, y’know?” Hiccup nodded nervously, setting the stack in a more secure and comfortable position in his arms. “Yeah, I guess. Uh, please don’t tell anyone… ‘specially Dad.”
“Yer secret’s safe wi’ me.” Gobber winked with a mock salute.
Hiccup chuckled before mumbling, “Well, see you tomorrow morning, Gobber,” and ducking under the prosthetic-bearing man’s arm, which lacked the usual odd tool. “G’night, Hiccup.”
Hiccup woke with a start. Hadn’t he just fallen asleep? He was overwhelmed with sudden vitality, more awake than he had since Toothless’ breakfast. With his eyes still half-closed, he put his head up, trying to sit straight in his bed, yet when he did, his head was met with a wooden support beam of the house. “D’OW!” He yelped, reaching his hand up towards his head.
He froze when he opened his eyes.
His hands were not hands. They were paws.
The paws of a Night Fury.
“I… HUH?!” Hiccup exclaimed, leaning around to try to look at himself. He was now adorned in smooth black scales, paired with a set of black, bat-like wings, and a long, thin tail decorated with two sets of sails. The… Night Fury fell backwards and out of his bed in shock, wings splayed out as he landed roughly. He scrambled to stand upright, his new tail lashing every which way as he tried to find his balance, before yet again locking up.
His human body still lay on his bed, unconscious, yet breathing deeply. “Oh, great Thor.” Hiccup hissed, looking down at himself again. “Why do the gods wish to punish me now…?” He asked himself, his ear fins subconsciously twitching in annoyance.
That was when his fins caught the voice of a familiar human voice. Gobber? The black-scaled dragon thought, bringing his wings and tail closer and, almost on a newfound instinct, trying to slink into shadow.
“Hiccup? Is everything alright in there?” The man yelled from outside. Though he desperately wanted to reply, Hiccup knew he mustn’t.
Before he knew it, Gobber had begun to open the door. No, nonononono. Hiccup’s mind screeched as he turned around and headed for the larger door at the back of the house. Hiccup tried opening it with the handle, but his paws were too clunky to get a good grip on the spherical handle. Damn it, He thought, backing away.
“Hiccup?” Gobber called again, creaking the door open wide enough to see the dragon. “What the-” The older man gasped at the sight of Hiccup’s scaly figure. “Oh, for the love of-” Hiccup snapped as he returned to focusing on the door as he threw his full weight at it, knocking a part of it off the hinges as it opened. He took one last glance at his human guardian and bolted out of the house, beelining for Raven Point.
Toothless had a lot of explaining to do. That was, of course, if Hiccup could understand him.