(A/N) My first story on this account. I myself have Asperger Syndrome and have worked with special needs kids. This is a one-shot about nine-year-old Hiccup. He has something resembling lower functioning Autism but nobody on Berk knows it because of their lack of mental health knowledge. They have never heard of the diagnosis before and some consider what we would now call Autism a simple curse by the Gods. If I write more chapters on this story later on you'll see Hiccup being rejected by some because of this.

I do know that the first case of documented Autism happened way later than the viking era, but there's no telling if there was such thing as Autism before hand and no one ever recognized it because of religion, culture, environment, behavior, and other things leading to a different name for it. None the less, the same symptoms would've occurred.

Forest green eyes opened wide as he looked around the room. Curiosity filled his mind and he reached out. Small, freckled hands held onto the wooden leg of the table next to him. The nine year old's father stoked the fire pit with a poker and looked at his son.

"Hiccup...you need to learn how to speak and leave the house son." Stoick the vast, a tall, large man with flaming red hair told his son. Hiccup looked at his father with wide, confused forest greens. He pointed to the table he was holding and went back to rubbing the smooth wooden surface of its leg. He hummed something to himself and sat on his knees. The boy was hardly a quarter as tall as his father.

Stoick sighed and set his poker down. With two large, beefy hands he picked up his small son. Hiccup shrieked and grabbed his father's index fingers. Stoick sat back down and held his boy in his lap. The nine year old Haddock boy snuggled his face into his father's fur vest. He became overstimulated by the texture rather soon though and was squirming in his father's hold.

"No Hiccup you need to stay here." Stoick stated firmly. His son was always wondering off, didn't speak, tended to get into danger, and couldn't stay in one place. The father knew that Hiccup would have to become chief one day as he had no wife to produce another heir and Hiccup was the first born. This was always the tradition.

Unfortunately Hiccup at his young age and differently functioning mind didn't care the least about what his father was saying. A part of Stoick wondered if the boy could even understand his words. Hiccup leaned forward towards the orange flames of the fire interested. The chief pulled his son away just in time with a gasp.

"See what I'm saying son." Stoick said in a worried tone. His eyes held concern and fear for what just almost happened. "You need to learn to hold still and communicate. You're going to get yourself into trouble with the dragons one day and not be able to call for help."

Hiccup turned to look up at his father with anxious eyes. He flapped his hands at his sides. His thin, undersized wrists rubbed together and he began chewing on his hand. This was something he tended to do when he was confused. Stoick had once thought nothing of this behavior but one day Hiccup had to be taken to the healer after an infection formed in one of the bite marks. He was instructed to break the boy's habit.

"No son." Stoick said and pulled his son's hand away from his mouth. Hiccup shouted and pulled his hand back before biting one of his fingers. Stoick growled in frustration and grabbed both of the boy's wrists, holding them at Hiccup's sides.

Hiccup shrieked and tears formed in his eyes though didn't fall. He kicked out his legs and knocked over a stool near them. This was common ground and Stoick immediately restrained his son with both large arms wrapped around the boy. This had been practiced numerous times and it was the only way to keep Hiccup from destroying things or hurting himself.

When Hiccup was around five Stoick had disciplined his boy for throwing these 'tantrums'. One day he was talking to his friend Gobber-the village blacksmith-and came to the conclusion that yelling and 'time out' wasn't solving the issue. At first the man saw the behavior as defiance and went to setting his son in a large chair so he couldn't get down. This wasn't extremely good parenting skills but when there was a dragon raid going on there was really no choice.

Then Stoick learned that setting his son in high places wasn't going to work either. It became apparent that Hiccup wasn't just 'acting out' but there was something deeper. No one knew what it was at the time, though Stoick learned that when his boy wasn't able to knock something over or hitting and biting something, he'd hurt himself. Once he had this information, Stoick knew that when his boy was upset there was no other solution than to simply restrain him.

Stoick-being the village chief-had to go outside during dragon raids. During these times he'd leave the boy with Gobber. When Hiccup was six and everyone knew that time-out wouldn't keep him safe, Gobber had to come up with a solution to keep the boy still because Hiccup would often begin hurting himself or wondering out of the forge.

Eventually Gobber had come up with the idea to make Hiccup his own custom 'safety clothing'. Two metal plates similar to arm guards were measured to fit the boy's arm length. Once that was done Gobber took sheep wool and leather and sowed them into two rectangles which could fit thickly around the metal. He also made a leather vest with straps.

When Hiccup was upset and Gobber didn't have time to calm him or keep him still do to his job, the blacksmith would help Hiccup fit his arms into the braces and strap the vest around the boy. He'd then sit the boy in a tall chair with a metal bar which hooked and unhooked from front of the arms of the seat. Something similar to a high chair for babies. Eventually the boy would calm himself down or fall asleep.

Stoick continued to hold Hiccup in his lap who was still thrashing. The boy's eyes were angry and he squirmed as if he was on fire. The father tried to shush his son while restraining him but nothing helped. Eventually Stoick put the two braces over his son's arms along with two small black gloves. He didn't let his son go but held him by the waist instead of the arms. The boy immediately put his hand back in his mouth, biting down as hard as he could on the leather. For some unknown reason this calmed him and he fell back against his dad with now tired eyes.

"Can you at least try saying my name my boy?" Hiccup looked up with half-lidded eyes full of confusion. He didn't seem to understand.

"Just say Dad Hiccup." Stoick tried. Hiccup didn't move but was now staring intently at his father with his gloved hand stuffing his own mouth.

"D-ad." Stoick repeated himself in a long voice. He pointed to himself and loosened his grip on the boy. Hiccup cocked his head to the side and mumbled against his hand. He was nine years old but sometimes acted like he was a toddler again.

"Dad. Say 'Dad'." Stoick tried to be a bit more stern now. Hiccup's eyes seemed to brighten and he smiled against his hands. He moved his head forward and forced out a sound. "ad" He seemed to try to say. Stoick realized how much it sounded like 'Dad'.

Stoick smiled and brushed his son's bangs out of his face. He said the word again and Hiccup suddenly threw his arms out to the side in a surge of energy. "A!" He pronounced the '-a' in 'Dad' but at least it was something louder. Stoick smiled and hugged his son deciding that he ought to give the nine year old a break.

Hiccup didn't seem to like the hug and he squirmed again. Stoick sighed and set the boy back down near the table in his original position. Hiccup giggled and continued observing the table leg as if it was the most interesting thing in the world.