Happy Birthday, Hiccup!

A little book-verse oneshot. For those of you who can't do math, Hiccup is 32.

Yucky!

As soon as he heard the tapping at his window, Hiccup knew Toothless had returned.

Why he couldn't use the dragon flap in the door like every other dragon, Hiccup didn't know, but he wasn't about to leave his dragon out in the freezing cold snow. So Hiccup pulled his fur waistcoat a little bit tighter around him and opened the window.

Toothless darted in, flapping around the room a bit and shaking off snow all over Hiccup's bed before falling dramatically to the floor.

"Are you alright, Toothless?" Hiccup asked, leaning over and picking up the small green dragon.

"T-t-toothless' wings don't w-w-work when it's c-c-cold," the little dragon informed him, blinking big emerald eyes at him. "Toothless needs a n-n-nice warm fire."

Hiccup hid a smile, tucking the dragon into his waistcoat and then sitting by the fire. After a while, Toothless stopped shivering and started to uncurl, and finally crawling out from Hiccup's waistcoat to perch upon his head.

"Any particular reason why you're not in hibernation sleep?" Hiccup asked, reaching up to give him a scratch.

Toothless seemed to forget that his wings didn't work, and darted around the room in excitement, cockadoodling with pride. "Toothless is the best dragon!" He sang, landing in Hiccup's lap again. "Hiccup loves Toothless the best!"

Hiccup grabbed him, holding him close his chest. "Shhhh! You'll wake up the kids!"

The little dragon grumbled, but stopped his commotion. "Toothless not like Hiccup's k-k-kids. Toothless thinks they're nasty and stinky. S-s-steal Hiccup, t-t-too!"

It was, in a way, partly true, so Hiccup didn't argue the point. "What have you got there, Toothless?" He asked, noticing the small brown parcel Toothless had clasped in a claw.

This must have been why Toothless was so proud of himself, as he started singing and crowing all over again until Hiccup reminded him that waking up the kids meant he'd have to see the kids, which sobered Toothless up enough to where he could tell Hiccup what he had brought back.

He dropped the small package into Hiccup's lap. "For H-h-hiccup." And then, to clarify: "For his e-e-eighth birthday."

For a long moment, Hiccup sat there, speechless. He was completely flattered that Toothless had actually remembered his birthday, let alone got him something. It wasn't exactly dragon nature to be the gift-giving type. Or the remembering type.

"Oh, Toothless, thank you," Hiccup felt like his cheeks might burst, his smile was so big. That explained why the little dragon had been gone all day. The Viking had woken up with an empty spot on his bed that Toothless always occupied. He hadn't given it much thought: the dragon was probably off wrecking havoc on the kitchens with Stormfly or in some other mischief.

But no. He had spent the day getting something for Hiccup.

Hiccup was flattered and flustered nearly to tears. After nearly twenty years with the little green dragon, Hiccup knew Toothless almost as well as he knew himself. So he politely asked if Toothless could help him open it, since his hands were tired from doing kingly things. Toothless was all to happy to oblige, and ripped through the paper with a single claw swipe.

Firstly, there was a pen. It was one that Hiccup knew well, as it was his own. It had been a gift from Camicazi, one that she had burgled off a monk in some far-off land. He used it often, and had thought he had misplaced it when he had gotten out his ink to write in his journal just that morning.

Though it was already Hiccup's, he understood the gesture: Toothless had really tried to give him something he would love.

"It's very nice," Hiccup remarked, and Toothless swelled with pride before pulling out another item.

A rock.

But when Toothless put it into his fingers, Hiccup realized there were bits of metal sticking to it. This was his father's magic rock.

"For remembering."

This rock had been around for as long as Hiccup could remember, in his fathers room, in Toothless' stomach (long story), and all other places. Hiccup had thought they'd lost it long ago, but apparently Toothless had found it.

Tears came to Hiccup's eyes once again as he remembered the late Stoick the Vast, who had been struck in battle the year before. It was the way his father would have wanted to die, but Hiccup still missed him- everyday.

"It was a b-b-bad gift," Toothless said, misinterpreting Hiccup's silence for displeasure. He took the stone from Hiccup's fingers.

"No, Toothless, it's wonderful."

There was only one thing left.

Oh, Thor.

"How on earth-" Hiccup didn't know how Toothless had done it.

Because in his fingers was a small scrap of paper with charcoal scribbled all over it. And if one held it at an angle and squinted the left eye, you could see a human boy with a dragon on his shoulder.

"Toothless there, and Hiccup there." The little dragon looked very pleased with himself, going back and forth from looking at Hiccup's smile and admiring his own drawing.

The Viking shook his head- dragons that could draw. Who would have known?

Toothless crowed again, and Hiccup picked him up and held him close. The dragon squirmed, squeaking and trying desperately to tell Hiccup how much he hated being cuddled. The man didn't believe it for a moment.

Hiccup showed him how much he appreciated his gift by giving the dragon a kiss on the snout. "Yucky!" Toothless squealed, wiggling, but not enough to work himself free from his human's arms.

And then Toothless butted his cheek up against Hiccup's when he was sure no one else was in the room. "Yucky," Hiccup teased, so Toothless licked him.

This soon turned into their regular tickling game, and eventually Toothless went limp and floppy with laughter and exhaustion.

"Now, carry poor T-t-toothless to bed. Toothless' wings don't w-w-work when it's cold," the little green dragon demanded.

Hiccup smiled. Even after twenty-two years, some things never changed.

So now both Toothlesses are artistic! Gosh my babies I love them

I thought I should do bookverse because I just bought "A Hero's Guide to Deadly Dragons" (no, not again, I do not own multiple copies of the books just so I can get the different covers) ((yes I do)), and I just... So yep. Precious babies, these two.