Forbidden Friendship
Hiccup sat on the log alone. His life was circling the drain and he knew it. He had no one; no friends, not even a family. He wasn't enough for his father. He tried and tried but he could never hear the words he wanted...I'm proud of you. He was just a huge disappointment, to the village, his father, and even the dragon. All those years as a child wanting reassurance, recognition for his creations and his inventions, were returned with scorn and hatred. He'd grown up realizing he wasn't a real viking, but hoping all along that maybe he could change that and prove himself. When he couldn't bring himself to kill the Night Fury now napping peacefully behind him, he'd finally realized what the entire village had known for years; he wasn't a viking, and he wasn't a dragon slayer.
Sighing to himself, Hiccup dragged the stick across the dirt and began the outline of the Night Fury, simple lines giving shape to a more recognizable form. His eyes widened when he heard the exhale of breath from deep lungs behind him, his hair brushing across his cheek. Not sure if turning to look would chase the shy dragon away again, Hiccup self-consciously continued his drawing, very aware of the large presence behind him. Moving his wrist in arches, Hiccup filled in the eyes, Toothless sat behind him, entranced.
Head cocked slightly to the side, Toothless was intrigued and he watched in amazement as this human created a likeness of himself; A reflection he thought he could only see in calm pools of water. Lines that were arranged in a careful pattern in ways he'd never seen before. Ears pricked in attention, Toothless's focus wandered and he stomped off in search of his own tool. If this human could create, so could he.
Hiccup turned and watched in confusion as the night fury waddled away, confusion plain on his face as he saw the Night Fury tear an entire tree from its roots with his jaws. Determination set into the dragon's features, Hiccup watched the Fury twist and turn in fast, excited circles, dragging his drawing tool in the ground with him. Readjusting his grip and footing, Toothless inadvertently smacked Hiccup in the back of the head, nearly throwing Hiccup to the ground. Twirling and stopping to look back at the human boy standing in shock at his work. Placing another dab in the dirt where he wanted it, Toothless completed his design, discarding the tree with a huff of pride and a content nod at the work laid out before him. These scribbles were his and his alone.
Hiccup observed the swirls in the dirt around him, still confused, cautious eyes on the dragon ahead of him. The night Fury's eyes that were wide, expectant. Hiccup looked from the dragon to the scribble and gingerly placed a foot on a line. The effect was instantaneous as the placid dragon crouched with a viscous snarl. Hiccup jumped, removing his foot, and the dragon was at peace. Hiccup started to understand; foot down, snarl, foot up, purrs. Arms out to hold his balance, Hiccup's mouth curved up in a soft smile of understanding; the Night Fury was protecting his creation, his art. The scribble the dragon had used to express himself was important to him, and that was a feeling Hiccup could understand.
Hiccup felt the thrill that comes with learning as he lifted his feet carefully over the dragon's creation, twirling and spinning, focused on protecting what was important to the Night Fury. Dancing over the lines, carefully respecting what the Night Fury wanted.
Hiccup didn't even notice how close he came to the dragon until he felt a warm huff on his back, stiffening and turning to face a dragon his people had feared for centuries. A dragon the represented death and destruction. A dragon so mysterious no one had even seen one until him. A dragon that he hadn't been this close to since he'd freed him and believed he would be killed. This dragon wasn't just a dragon, he was the embodiment of nature itself, the soul of the sky and rage.
Eyes wide in awe, Hiccup slowly extended his hand toward the beast, and with it, his heart. He was only human, and to a human, nothing was truly real until you could touch it, and what Hiccup needed right then, was something real, a connection with the one thing so similar himself. Like Hiccup, this dragon was used to solitude, and had never had to trust before. Watching this frail human lift his hand to his nose, Toothless felt fear.
Toothless was one of a prideful, distrusting race, and he was confused why this boy still made him afraid, he saw no threat in this child and wanted nothing more than to be left alone. But his own actions had betrayed him, this human intrigued more than anything he'd ever witnessed. This boy had the chance to kill him, but had let him go, and even after Toothless had held his life in his fangs, the human had returned knowing there was no favor to return, no gratitude for a life spared.
While Toothless could have killed him, something inside of him had held him back, something he had never felt before. All these new things happening to Toothless were confusing and while his heart wanted to reach out to this strange child, all his instincts screamed at him to stay away, to stay free.
As Hiccup reached out to the only being left in his life he had a chance to really touch, Toothless snarled in warning, distrust clear in his eyes as he recoiled from the human. Hiccup's heart sank and he closed his eyes and dropped his head, all but turning away as his hand remained faltering in the air, fingers stretched with what he prayed was not false hope. Hiccup wasn't about to watch his hopes fade before him as he gave this creature he still didn't fully understand, his trust.
Toothless was confused again by this child's behavior, watching the hand before him with wide eyes. Why did this one gesture tear at him and compel him forward. Hesitating as he leaned forward, Toothless drew back slightly before giving into the trust the child recklessly threw at him. Closing his eyes, Toothless leaned into the small hand, surprised by it's warmth, the boy's hand a butterfly's caress on his nose.
Feeling warm, hard scales under his hand, Hiccup felt his heart lurch, almost sending him to his knees, leaving his chest numb and his lungs empty as the feeling settled in his veins like iron. If for a brief moment, Hiccup had connected with the first living being he could ever hope to be a friend. Looking up carefully at the dragon, Hiccup was afraid and filled with awe.
Toothless drew back in thought to this new feeling, wiggling his nose at the tickle of a new sensation as he stared as his hand. Remembering what he was and what he was supposed to be, Toothless snorted with a jerk of his head, whirling away, leaving Hiccup standing with his hand hovering in front of his chest, still unsure of what that first touch had really meant.
Eyes on the reclusive Night Fury, Hiccup could still feel the texture of those scales beneath his hand. The hope that had been dying inside him been rekindled by a creature that should have seen him as nothing but insignificant prey. Even if it was only a second, Hiccup felt the promise of friendship with a being composed of true power, and what Hiccup had recently learned, a soul.
