Hiccup woke early the next morning, he hadn't had such a refreshing sleep since he had arrived at the house.
He groaned out and flexed his back, cracking the disks in his spine as he stretched. Relaxing again, he noticed a heavy arm resting protectively on his stomach and grinned, it looked like Toothless had been getting comfortable during the night.
'He probably mistook me for a pretty girl' Hiccup mused to himself, his memory foggy from the night before.
He could remember getting into the bed and inviting Toothless in with him, but he couldn't remember much afterwards...
Sucking in a deep breath, Hiccup attempted to roll over to get a better look at his friend, but in his current position it was simply impossible to do so without waking the sleeping male.
Hiccup accepted defeat and instead opted to look over his shoulder. Toothless looked so peaceful; the worry lines in his forehead completely smoothed out and the childish smirk that always tugged at the corner of his lips was gone and replaced with a neutral line of tranquility.
Hiccup never noticed how long the man's eyelashes were until he glanced at the dark black contrasting against his pale skin; small puffs of air left his slightly parted lips, and in that moment Hiccup was certain that he was nothing short of beautiful.
Hiccup turned away and screwed his eyes shut, there was something seriously wrong with him for admiring his friend like he was a woman he had managed to bed.
He shook his head violently, the action stirring his friend.
"Mmm? You okay? Sommat happen?" Toothless mumbled and yawned loudly, he looked just as tired as Hiccup did and the auburn-haired youth toyed with the idea of them both reaching a mutual agreement where they fell back asleep.
"Come on; up!" Toothless patted Hiccup's side before cracking his back and sitting up slowly, inhaling deeply and looking for a drink.
"I don't want to" Hiccup whined, shutting his eyes and hoping that Toothless would leave him alone if he played the 'pathetic whiner' card.
Unfortunately it did not look like Toothless was in a sympathetic mood,
"Hiccup I swear if you do not get up in thirty seconds you will regret it" the playfulness in his voice rendering his threat empty.
"Bite me" Hiccup joked, his words muffled as he buried his face into the pillow.
Hiccup sat bolt upright as he felt a sharp nip on his shoulder,
"Ow!" He glared at the dark-haired male who was looking innocently out of the window.
"What the hell man?!" Hiccup swatted at the stands of hair in front of Toothless' eyes.
"What?!" Toothless shot Hiccup the look of pure charm before sticking out his tongue.
"You bit me!"
"You asked me to!"
Somehow the two ended up having a pathetic pillow fight with just one pillow and fell onto the floor, still in fits of giggles.
"You're ridiculous you know that?" Hiccup shoved playfully at the male sitting beside him,
"Speak for yourself" Toothless pushed back.
Before Hiccup could respond with any more witty remarks, a sharp knock at the door attracted their attention.
"Downstairs in ten!"
The two recognised the voice to be Snotlout's and decided that if he was summoning them then it was a serious matter.
"We should, um, yeah-" Toothless pointed at the door and they both rose to their feet.
Toothless fastened an armour plated vest on over his t-shirt and pulled on his army boots before turning to face Hiccup.
"Get your equipment" Toothless slung his machete over his back and picked up a bow and a quiver with twelve arrows which he also pulled onto his back.
"We need to get you some new gear" Toothless commented, looking at the sorry excuse of a knife he had provided the male who was currently trying to fasten it around his leg with no success.
"We'll get you some later, come on!" Toothless made for the door and Hiccup followed.
The two were standing in a crowded room with large maps pinned out on an enormous table in the middle.
The Boss was there as well and Snotlout and several other unpleasant looking people; Hiccup picked Tuffnut out of the crowd and dipped his head in acknowledgment to the blond who returned the gesture.
'To have this many people it must be serious' Hiccup ran his hand over the back of his neck in nervousness.
"What do you suppose is going on?" Toothless asked a woman standing next to them,
"Haven't got a clue, but whatever it is, I haven't seen the Boss look this irritated in a long time" she giggled as if the though amused her; Hiccup on the other hand couldn't think of anything more terrifying.
"Silence!" The Boss cut through the conversation in the room like a knife.
"Today we need to push back our perimeters, they're getting closer and we need to expand our territory or they will destroy us all!" He stabbed his buck-knife into the table, making Snotlout wince as it narrowly missed the back of his hand that was resting nearby.
"I need an elite squad to go out there and cull a number of them before returning safely back," the Boss informed,
"what about survivors?" One man inquired from somewhere in the back of the room,
"Leave them" the Boss replied,
"Why?!" The woman standing next to Toothless cried out, "we could use the extra help and-"
"Enough!" Everyone felt quiet, "more mouths to feed, more people to be concerned about, more weapons to provide!"
Several members of the room started glancing uncomfortably at each other, Toothless being one of them. He had brought a 'survivor' into the building and from the looks of it, he wasn't the only one.
"I expect the squad to have set out by twelve O' clock this morning, dismissed, as a reward you will not have to perform night duty tonight" the Boss turned and exited the room alone.
"You heard him, elites only" Snotlout stood at the front of the room.
"We should go" Toothless whispered to Hiccup,
"I'm not elite..." Hiccup bit his lip anxiously, "I'd die" he stated it, it was an obvious factor, he lacked the skills needed to survive out there.
"You're right-" Toothless sighed, "maybe I should go alone"
"Don't!" Hiccup hadn't meant to raise his voice like that, face flooding with colour he glanced down at the floorboards, "don't go..," he finished more unconvincingly.
"Hiccup, you're killing me here" Toothless whined impatiently,
"Please! I'll get stronger, I'll be able to go with you next time!" Hiccup pleaded; if Toothless died no-one else in the entire building would be sympathetic enough to offer him a place to stay. He would be thrown out onto the streets and left to die.
"Okay" Toothless' answer was relieving, "I'll wait"
"Thank you" Hiccup breathed out a sigh of relief and offered a slight smile to the other,
"Let's go get your some real fighting gear" Hiccup nodded and they both left the room unseen.
Okay guys short chapter! Sorry about that! Next one will be longer!
So I have no excuse for not updating; I suppose recent exams could be to blame but honestly I was close to abandoning this work, I guess I just didn't have it in me to forget this story considering it looks like people actually care about it...
So it's the Christmas break now and I should be able to write out a few chapters so I can upload them on a weekly(?) basis again...
Thank you.
~ Watermelon-Dragon-Chibi
