A/n: Hey, all. Long time no see? Just a quick thing I wrote (my first HTTYD fanfiction!) in my free time. I am still working on the next chapter of "Choices", but I hope to have that published by the end of this month. Things are winding up to wind down there. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this one in the meantime!
It was common knowledge around Berk that once Hiccup devoted himself to something, he'd work himself ragged. When he'd been training Toothless, he'd spent many a sleepless night in the forge working on design after flawed design of saddles to suit their purpose. Many a night owl had seen smoke rising from the Haddock house during his late teens as he stayed awake by firelight sketching and sewing different variations of his flight suit before finally settling on one that allowed easy and quick movements and adjustments, while still offering some padding and protection as well as storage. And the vikings of Berk had lost count of how many times he and his faithful Night Fury would leave the island during the early hours of the morning and return, exhausted but exuberant, with a new addition to the map sometime during the early hours of the next morning. It was therefore no surprise to anyone that once Hiccup was appointed chief of Berk, he did just that: worked himself half to death.
Astrid was rapidly losing count of the number of times her boyfriend limped to his home at the end of a long day, favoring his right leg, a tight expression on his face as he fought the encroaching grimace that his left leg was causing. Valka, too, had noticed the pain her son frequently returned home in, and she and Astrid had both tried speaking to him about it, though separately. Wearing his prosthetic for too many hours of the day, though he had designed it to suit his own specifications and had improved it greatly from Gobber's early model, hurt. Shins weren't meant to bear weight, but he had no other option, and Hiccup, being Hiccup, bore the pain as he had always done: silently, and behind a carefully constructed facade of smirks and sarcastic comments. Astrid, of course, saw right through this.
When suggesting, demanding, and attempting to force Hiccup to rest didn't produce the desired effect, she took matters into her own hands. Hiccup was quite shocked the first time he woke up, reached for his prosthetic leg with a weary sigh, and found instead an empty space with nothing but a note, in Astrid's handwriting, which said: "Day off. Mandatory." With a smirk, he glanced toward Toothless, a breathy laugh escaping him… before he remembered that he was supposed to oversee the Dragon Academy that day before holding council to ensure that their rations were in order for the coming winter.
He blinked, pondering his predicament, growling in frustration when he remembered that he had long since disposed of his old crutches, and couldn't fly Toothless without his leg… so he wouldn't be able to teach at the Academy unless he found it. Calling to Toothless, he seated himself on the dragon's back and Toothless, understanding his rider's situation when he realized the disruption in the usual morning routine, namely Hiccup's lack of lower leg assembly, amiably carried him down the stairs, out of the house, and into the village.
Hardly anyone thought anything of this, as the two were already inseparable, though a few heads turned upon seeing the two grounded, instead of soaring overhead. Hiccup, to his great relief, stumbled upon Fishlegs, who was more than willing to take over the Academy for the day, and Spitelout, who happily took over council monitoring for the evening, having been Stoick's second, and a great guidance to Hiccup during his early days as chief. But he never came across Astrid.
Hiccup's irritation abated as the day wore on, and as he climbed in to bed he realized begrudgingly that the really had needed the day of "rest". His leg felt better than it had in ages, the dull pulsing ache that accompanied too many hours of weight on a wooden stand finally easing and disappearing altogether. When he awoke the next morning, his leg was in it's usual spot by his bed, and he resumed his duties feeling refreshed.
It was only later that he realized his mother must have had a hand in it, as Astrid had somehow managed to take the leg from his bedroom during the middle of the night, and neither Toothless nor his mother had reacted or woken him beyond helping him get around the following day, short half of his left leg.
In typical Hiccup fashion, it didn't take long before another mandatory rest period was enforced. This time, however, was much more convenient to his schedule. The morning of his first chiefly duty free day in three weeks, his leg was once again missing from his bedside. For Hiccup, of course, a day "off" roughly translated to "helping Gobber in the forge and catching up on other activities that also technically count as work." This time, the note simply said, "Come find me." With a small smile, Hiccup once again ventured out on Toothless to find his lady.
He found her on the far side of the island, a picnic lunch spread out on the ground beside her, and there, in the center of the sheepskin blanket: his leg.
Dismounting from the Night Fury's back, he hopped the few steps to the blanket and carefully sank to his knees, reaching for his prosthetic. She snatched it just out of his reach, a mischievous glint in her eye, and handed him an apple instead. He took it with a smile, and, with a smile of her own, Astrid, too, began to eat as the dragons bounded playfully around them.
When they finished their meal, Hiccup smiled gratefully at her, reaching once more for his leg. She stood, leg in hand, with a laugh. Just as he opened his mouth to ask her what she was doing, she called to Stormfly, mounting her saddle and taking to the air, waving his substitute appendage in a challenge.
With a laugh, Hiccup mounted his own dragon, and, locking Toothless' tail, gave chase. Astrid, knowing the locked tail made flying more challenging on the Night Fury, went easy on him… but not too easy. Locked tail or no, after a few minutes of playful attack, Toothless' speed won out, and Hiccup's quick reflexes allowed him to retrieve his lost leg.
The two riders and their dragons returned home that night breathless with laughter and more relaxed than anyone had seen the pair in a long while. Hiccup gave Astrid a peck on the lips, and with a whispered, "Thank you, milady," escorted her safely home before retiring himself for the night.
The strange tradition carried on for the first year and a half of Hiccup's chiefdom. Every time he started to overwork himself, or get that weary hunch to his shoulders that Astrid hated oh so much, every time he started grimacing, flexing his long fingers as if he longed to rub the pain out of his left leg, every time he limped back to his house at the end of a long day, he would wake up and his leg would be "mysteriously" missing. And every time, it was exactly what he needed.
The "game" ended rather abruptly when Toothless, who decided that he rather enjoyed the commotion it caused, began waking Hiccup, prosthetic in his mouth, before darting off somewhere with it, leaving Hiccup and whomever else he could wrangle up on short notice to track, chase, and procure his missing appendage. Toothless quickly caught on that it wasn't as convenient for Hiccup as one might imagine. At least Astrid had planned her abductions in advance, getting Hiccup out of all of his responsibilities before essentially demobilizing him for the day. Hiccup remained the sole handler of his false limb after that for quite some time.
The misplacement of his leg began reoccuring about 2 years into his and Astrid's marriage. After a rather spectacular argument which ended with Hiccup having a very sore shoulder, and Astrid storming off to sulk, he woke to find his prosthetic once again missing. Calling out to his wife in question, he received his answer when he saw the self satisfied smirk on her face.
Hours later, filthy and exhausted, he returned home, leg retrieved from it's carefully hidden spot in the back of the dragon stables. This happened twice more before Hiccup concocted his own plan.
Gobber was startled awake by a loud, pointed knock on his door. Grumbling, he hauled himself out of bed, and made his way to the heavy wooden slab, heaving it to the side and taking in the disheveled sight of the chief standing before him.
Without a word, Hiccup, leaning heavily on a crutch, hobbled past him towards the fireplace. Collapsing heavily to his knees with a grunt, the younger viking gave Gobber a "gods help me" eye roll, held up one finger, begging the old smith's patience, and stuck his other hand up into the fireplace.
He retrieved what he was after, a bundle wrapped in one of Toothless' old false tail fins. With a triumphant smirk, Hiccup unwrapped it, and attached the spare prosthetic he had stored in Gobber's chimney.
Gobber had been warned that this might happen after Snotlout, Fishlegs and the twins had all similarly been disturbed from their slumber following a Haddock household spat.
Hiccup, crutch tucked under his arm, silently made his way out of the house, patting Gobber on the shoulder as he went.
And so it continued, until Astrid found out all of Hiccup's hiding places, and Hiccup learned a very important lesson: a shieldmaiden never loses.