In November my laptop crashed and I had to wait until TODAY before I could write again. Pushed this one-shot out in just a few hours because I had a lot of motivation to get out of my system. :'D

Enjoy! Constructive criticism is appreciated! :D

Clipped Wings

"No! No, no, no, no, no! Bud! Not now!" Hiccup shouted as laughter erupted from his vocals. He lied in the grass on his back, fighting against a foe he simply could not win from.

His hands pushed at the Night Fury's much larger head while he stood over him, but Toothless showed no mercy as he used his dry scales to tickle the sensitive spots on his new friend's upper body, licking whenever and whatever he felt like. Loud purring and crooning told him mercy was not an option.

This had been a playfight not too long ago, but it had turned into a tickle fest as soon as the dragon noticed that Vikings apparently had ticklish spots too.

Hiccup's hair was matted down, his tunic was drenched by now, he was dying for a soak in the lake of their secret cove.

"Mercy! Please! I'm begging you!" The boy shouted again before rolling onto his front, hoping to finally be given peace.

It was only then that Toothless decided to generously grant his request. He held his head up high as he looked down on the human fledgling, arrogantly stating "there, now thank me for my kindness". Hiccup was steadily coming to understand his expressive facial features.

"Okay, okay, fine! Thank you!" His laughing had not died down yet, but he managed to eventually push himself up in a sitting position.

He took a look at himself, at his arms and torso, he took a few locks of hair covered in slimy saliva and pulled a face of disgust.

"You are disgusting. You know that?" He told Toothless, who simply released a noise that sounded very similar to a laugh. So that must be it, Hiccup had figured. A laugh. Dragons laughed.

He smiled a bright and genuine smile, his eyes squinting a little. He couldn't remember the last time he had this much fun before he had the incredible fortune of meeting that flying lizard.

But he had a job to do. He needed to try and get all of this off before heading home. Astrid was growing more suspicious every day, he couldn't afford to give her another reason to corner him somewhere for a lovely interrogation.

"Yeah, yeah, you laugh all you want! Just wait until I use my human tongue and give you a taste of your own medicine!" Toothless made a face at that statement, trying to mimic his.

Chuckling softly, Hiccup went to his knees and made his way over to the lake, already removing his leather harness and green tunic.

"Oh Gods..." He muttered in dismay, not liking the slimy feel no matter how much he already loved that useless reptile in the weeks that they have known each other.

Toothless found himself a good and nearby spot to lie down in as Hiccup's leather coverings fell to the ground. He planned on lying his head on his front legs and having a quick nap to restore his energy. Today had been his first day back in the sky and it had been an eventful one. He needed his rest.

He almost let his eyes slipped closed when something on Hiccup caught his attention.

Clearly the boy needed to eat more, Toothless could see his ribs when he stretched to pull his tunic over his head. The little reddish spots that he had come to enjoy seeing on Viking's face ran down most of his back and arms. He found that to be a nice discovery. They were like the dark patterns on his own hide. There were a very nicks and scrapes here and there, like he was sure any boy his age would have after such rough play.

But none of them could compare to what drew his attention the most as Hiccup freed himself of two layers of clothing.

There were two jagged scars on his back.

Toothless' head shot back up and he stared with two narrowed pupils, frozen. Those scars were alarmingly big for someone that small and he felt a twinge of worry, a twinge of shock, a twinge of anger. They weren't emotions he was unfamiliar with, just the subject that they now surrounded.

"Oh come on, that's never gonna get out!" Hiccup muttered to himself as he tried in vain to get the stains out of his tunic. And it was his best one too. He did not fancy the idea of returning to the village and heading straight for the seamstress to ask for a new one. His father wouldn't appreciate it either. If he ever came home.

Toothless barely heard him speak as his focus was entirely on the long scars staining the boy's back.

They were still so pink which meant they weren't that old, they had quite a length, they were too wide for a surface as little as that. They were also very much uneven and looked like they could've been deep back when they were fresh.

Toothless didn't like the sight of them. Not on what was essentially still a child, not on his new friend, on the one Viking who cared.

Once finally able to move, the Night Fury pushed himself up to all fours and made his way to the human teen cautiously. As if Hiccup was suddenly as delicate as flower, like simply gazing at him would hurt.

Up close they were even more terrible. They must be so sensitive too. Lime green eyes had difficulty looking at them, but at the same time they also couldn't stop staring.

Toothless crooned questioningly as he nudged Hiccup's back softly. He wanted answers.

The human boy turned to look at him, wearing an equally confused gaze.

'What, Bud?' It seemed to say. Toothless was gradually learning to read his expressions aswell. This particular human has such a telling face.

The tunic now lowered in his lap, Hiccup watched as the dragon crooned again and carefully nudged a certain spot on his back.

"Oh, those!" Despite the pain he must've endured, the traumas attached and the trouble they may still cause, Hiccup still smiled and chuckled nervously.

"I actually forgot about them. Don't worry about those. I got them a few years back when I didn't listen to dad again and ran outside during a raid to try another one of my inventions. I ended up getting hurt by a Nightmare trying to snatch me up. As if I could ever be a proper meal. I was lucky Gobber was around." He tried to keep the mood light, but he was cringing at his own actions.

Toothless wasn't sure what to make of this confession. His Viking boy had already almost died once before they even met and it hadn't happened too, too long ago either. It was an unsettling thought.

Growing silent, Toothless didn't push the matter any further and Hiccup went back to trying to wash his clothes as if nothing was out of the ordinairy. The former went back to his previous spot to lie down on again, the latter's words on repeat in his mind.

Making himself comfortable, the dragon felt his gaze pulled towards the scars again and came to a strange thought.

Wings.

It looked like this boy had lost his wings.

They were right at his shoulderblades, the place where the base of Toothless' own wings were, and they looked like some of the wounds he had seen on dying and deceased dragons who had fallen victim to the human hunters' tactics of grounding their kind permanently.

It fit, he supposed. The longer the thought stayed with him, the more he mulled it over, the sooner he realized that it wasn't so strange.

They had flown for the first time that day. Together, as Hiccup was partially in control of the left tailfin he had made to replace the one that was lost.

It took a bit of getting used to and the human clearly needed more practice, but when they fell from the sky, when Toothless tried in vain to slow them down, as they were about to be crushed by the seastacks in their way... Hiccup had helped him steer his flight as if he was born to do so. Pure instinct.

The Night Fury made peace with the notion as he lied his head back down and closed his eyes after one more glance at those scars.

Whether he ever had real wings or not, there might be more dragon than Viking in that boy. Toothless wondered if he knew.