A/N: This is my first published work. It takes place during the time skip in the first movie between finding Hiccup alive after the battle with the queen dragon and when he wakes up. Written from Toothless's POV.

Toothless hurt.

He had been sore and bruised before- the battle with the Monstrous Nightmare on Berk came to mind- but not like this.

Toothless groaned as he shifted slightly, pain lancing from his right side before settling back into an angry throb.

Despite how much he was hurting, he was immensely satisfied with himself. He and Hiccup had freed the nest, beaten the Red Death, and both of them had come out alive. Toothless regretted that his friend had been injured, but burn wounds were never too serious and he would be fine after a few days… Well, he was a human… Maybe a few weeks. Either way, Toothless wasn't too worried and was left to himself to stew in his agony.

"Toothless?" A voice called from nearby.

Toothless cracked his eyes open and saw the female, the one he and Hiccup liked… Astrid! That's her name.

'What is it?' Toothless cooed, showing that she had his attention.

"Would you like me to take your harness off? It's broken and Hiccup-" Something strange happened to her voice, "... Hiccup won't be flying with you for a while."

'Well I won't be flying for a few days either.' Toothless warbled back dryly. He could understand a lot more of the human's words than most realized, though it helped that Astrid motioned to the scorched saddle he wore. Toothless shifted himself to allow the girl to reach the connector pieces easier.

Astrid caught the message and began disassembling the leather and steel on him.

'You know, in a few days, you could get Hiccup to teach you to fly with me.' Toothless mused. 'Then I can show you all our Spots. Not every Spot, but I think you'll love the wind cliffs. That's where Hicc- YEAHOWWW!' Toothless howled indignantly.

He pulled his wing in to protect his side and back, almost clipping Astrid. 'What are you doing?!' He screeched.

Astrid gasped in fear and fell down, scrambling backwards.

Immediately feeling guilty, Toothless bowed his head and cooed an apology.

Astrid got back to her feet and, looking a little shaken, approached Toothless again.

She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "I'm sorry Toothless. Let me see it." She requested.

Toothless gingerly shifted his wing, feeling the throbbing intensify from his sudden movement a moment ago.

Astrid ducked under his wing and, more gently, probed Toothless's side. He whined when her fingers touched a particular spot.

'Yes. That. It hurts. Stop touching it.'

Astrid stepped away and came around the other side.

"Um… Stay here Toothless!" She said, running toward the humans' ships. Well, what was left of them.

'You seem to think I have somewhere to be.' Toothless grunted.

Astrid was gone for only a few minutes and came running back with a small bag over her shoulder. She set it beside her and turned to Toothless.

"Toothless, I need you to inhale. Deeply. Can you do that?" Astrid asked, kneeling in front of him.

'Sure I ca- No, actually I can't.' Toothless amended. He had begun to, but as soon as he exceeded the shallow breathing he had been doing, it felt like a gronckle was gnawing on his ribs.

"Come on Toothless, you need to do this. Now inhale!" Astrid instructed. She took a deep breath to demonstrate.

'I think I'll pass.' Toothless rumbled, looking away.

Astrid frowned at him. "Come on Toothless! Deep breath!"

Toothless's eyes came back to her. He gave a bothered huff but complied. He inhaled deeper and deeper until his face screwed up in pain. He let it go with a pained wheeze.

Toothless felt hands under his jaws as Astrid pulled his face to hers.

"Is that all you got? Do it like you mean it!" She shouted.

'Where is all this coming from?' Toothless complained.

Toothless inhaled slowly, deeper than last time, until he could feel his grip on reality slipping. Darkness crept in from the corners of his vision and he felt himself get heavy with exhaustion. His head touched the ground despite Astrid's efforts, and Toothless was fine with that. Already he could feel the pain washing away like water in a stiff wind. Unconsciousness was a welcome escape from the aftereffects of the-

Toothless remembered the first time he had sneezed fire out his nose. It's a mistake every dragon makes once.

Once.

This was ten times worse.

'SWEET MOTHER OF ALL DRAGONS ASTRID WHY?!' Toothless howled as tears automatically surged to his eyes and he recoiled away.

"I'm not going away until you do it right! Now inhale!" Astrid demanded, waving the foul, rancid pouch of Odin-knows-what threateningly.

'Why are you doing this?!' Toothless cried. 'Fine! I'll just do it fast!'

Before he could think about it, Toothless took a huge breath of air as if he were surfacing from a deep dive.

Darkness rimmed his vision until with an almighty crack that Toothless felt as much as heard, the pain all but vanished.

'Oh! Oh. Ohhhh wow.' Toothless gasped in relief.

"There! Isn't that better?" Astrid praised.

'You suck.' Toothless huffed.

"Here, I brought you a fish too."

"You're alright."

Toothless munched on the cod wearily.

Astrid dropped to the ground tiredly beside him and pet his neck absently. Toothless was too tired to be bothered about someone other than Hiccup giving him the pets. Besides, it was probably ok for Astrid to touch him.

After he finished his fish, Toothless rested his head in Astrid's lap, ready for a well-earned nap. Astrid sighed above him. Toothless was still figuring out human facial expressions, but when he looked up at her, he got a not-feeling-so-good vibe. He scented Astrid's breath that lingered in the air.

'Well no wonder you aren't so good. You haven't eaten!' Toothless realized.

"Uh, Toothless, what are you-" Astrid was interrupted by a wet slap on her knees. Toothless looked at her expectantly from his spot on her shins.

'I've never seen that expression before.' Toothless admitted.

He glanced at the half fish in her lap and back at Astrid, cuing her that it was for her.

A/N: This idea came to me while I was watching the movie again. Toothless took the hit from the Red Death's tail almost straight on. Hiccup wasn't even hit directly and was knocked out. I thought about it and was like, "There's no way Toothless didn't break a rib." And hence this. Loosely inspired by a scene in the last book of Suzanne Collins' The Underland Chronicles series.

All in all, I think it's a pretty good first publish.