Stoic rubbed a hand over one of his eyes wearily. The day was finally coming to an end, and what a day it had been. Hiccup had been found out to be looking after a Night Fury, and then he and aforementioned Night Fury had then gone on to defeat the biggest dragon Stoic had seen in the whole of his life, and he had seen a lot of dragons.
And yet, although Hiccup had saved hundreds, if not thousands of lives, people were still calling him taboo. Many arguments had been pitched against the teenager, with people saying the dragons had hand fed him their secrets, how to beat them and get Berk on their side before totally obliterating the village.
And then, of course, their was the fact that the boy wouldn't damn wake up. His leg had almost been burned to a crisp by the intense flame of the mother dragon, leaving him for a stump where the calf and foot of his left leg had previously been. Currently, Gobber was crafting up a replacement leg in his workshop, while the healer desperately bandaged the bloody stump, and that Hofferson girl came and dumped soup into Hiccup's mouth every couple of hours. And despite the fact that Stoic's heart was aching in worry for his son, the thing he was most worried about was that God-forsaken dragon.
The thing was, while the villagers were contented to wake until Hiccup woke up to kick him out, the wanted the Night Fury out, as soon as was possible.
The dragon had simply followed Stoic and the limp body of Hiccup into the house as though he had owned the place, which, considering he could burn it down any second he felt like it, Stoic felt pretty happy to let him into the cramped house. He had stuck to Hiccup closer than a dagger in a piece of wood and had crooned as Hiccup cried out in pain while the healer slathered potions onto what little was remaining of his leg. But it had been hours since then, and Stoic had long since decided he wanted the dragon out of his house. Now.
But the dragon refused to go. It wouldn't leave its perch in the house. So Stoic decided to wait.
six months later
The day had started like any other. That Hofferson girl had arrived at six AM sharp with a bowl of soup for Hiccup, and she had gone in to Hiccup's bedroom, to slowly stream it down the throat of his eternally sleeping son. His body was functioning, but the boy wasn't conscious, and the only movement he made was the steady rise and fall of his chest as he breathed. Stoic was getting ready for his day when that Hofferson girl shrieked, a high, shrill noise.
"Chief! Stoic! Hiccup- he's moving his hands!" Well, if that couldn't catch Stoic's attention, what could? Stoic rushed up the steps, damn, he couldn't be doing this much longer, and burst threw the door of his sons room. That Hofferson girl, Astrick, or something, was moving her fingers through Hiccup's hair as the boy was stirring, the bright, attention grabbing eyes of the Night Fury were visible in the dark corner.
But it was true. Hiccup, who had been unresponsive for so long, was waking. And Stoic watched as his eyes slowly blinked open, and he stared at that Hofferson girl, and yelped.
"Who are you? What are you doing?" Now, Stoic had imagined that his boy might do some funky things if he ever awoke. A sudden love for odd food, a rekindled obsession with his absent mother- but this? How could the boy not know that Hofferson girl, the one he had been so obsessed with, anymore?
The girl gulped, and tears came to her eyes. "Hiccup..." she said slowly, "please tell me you're joking."
"How do you know my name?" Hiccup said in a tone that was very un-Hiccup-like. "Where am I? Where's Toothless?" With each question, his voice became more and more frantic. "Why don't you tell me? Where's my leg?"
Stoic looked down at the tiny frame of his son, his eyes wild, his hair greasy and unkempt. It looked like Hiccup - there were the same green eyes that his mother had had, the same brown hair - but there was something wild about him. Something not human.
There was a yawn from the dark corner and a dangerous animal uncurled from its sleeping position. It blinked, the neon green of its eyes looking across the room, and then there was un-held-back joy in it's frame as it bounded across the room and onto the bed. The bed squeaked, then promptly cracked, the wooden legs collapsing. Stoic tried to pull the dragon off his son - his awake son - but was stopped by the laughter that came from underneath.
"TOOTHLESS!" Hiccup cried, and there was a bit of crying and laughing from both Toothless and the human. "Oh, Gods, Toothless, what happened?"
Toothless snuffled into Hiccup's neck, and both the girl and Stoic were left speechless as the boy and the dragon started to speak in come complicated language. The dragon made a deep growl and the boy responded by rolling his eyes and making a 'heh' sound. This obvious conversation, although it was in no language anyone else could speak, went on for about a minute before Hiccup's frame visibly relaxed.
He pushed the dragon off the bed. Stoic and the girl flinched, but the dragon made no angry moves towards them, instead licking Hiccup's face affectionately.
Stoic and that Hofferson girl had left the room because that's what Hiccup had literally demanded of them. Hiccup had said, "Please, leave, sir. And you too." He said, his eyes stuck on Astrid, distrustfully.
Hiccup tried to speak, and his voice came out as a high "hic-hic-hic" sound, but he knew exactly what he was saying. "Toothless, can you please tell me what's going on?"
Toothless snuffed, but Hiccup understood what he meant. "Hiccup! You've been asleep for weeks and weeks!" The dragon was scoffing angrily.
"What happened?" the boy enquired curiously.
The dragon snuffled, obviously wanting to avoid the topic. "Do I have to tell you?"
"Yes, Toothless," Hiccup said impatiently.
The dragon sighed, and finally began to give up the story of Hiccup's coma.
When Astrid re-entered the room later, the boy and dragon were curled around each other on the floor. One huge, ever so slightly see through wing let light filter through it, making
the dark form of Hiccup barely visible. He turned over in his sleep, slipping closer to the dragon.
Astrid breathed in meekly, her stomach twisting. She wanted to retch.
"Hiccup... Please go back to normal." She whispered.