A little boy sat down in his wheelchair with both hands holding onto one side. His mother and speech/animal therapist had been trying to teach him to sit down on his backside with both hands on the wheels or at least arms of the chair. Hiccup Haddock, now four and a half years old, didn't like sitting still though and was always on his knees, crawling around in the small chair and waving to nearby animals.

Hiccup didn't talk much now, same as before. Just like he did almost half a year ago, the boy only knew words like 'ma' and recently learned the words 'yes' and 'no'. Valka had found out when her boy spoke, even when saying such simple words, he had a hard time pronouncing certain things. For example the last 'M' in 'Mom' was hard to pronounce, and if he was exited he'd repeat the 'y' in 'yes' numerous times before actually getting to the 'es'. Same concept with the 'N' in 'No'. Mala, Stoick, and Valka didn't know if the speech difficulty was because Hiccup got himself over exited when speaking, or if there was something deeper going on within his brain. Either way, the doctors had confirmed speech delay was common with Neurofibromatosis type one.

"Hiccup, can you just try sitting down?" Hiccup understood quiet a few words to an extent, but there seemed to be only a select few that he fully understood. Full sentences usually had to be followed by gestures to help him understand. Single words though seemed easier. Words that Hiccup did know were 'try', 'animal', 'dog', 'mom', 'dad', 'help', 'hurt', 'headache', 'sit/sitting', 'chair', 'desk', and 'park'. These were the vocabulary words that the four year old knew so well he could connect them with pictures. The big problem with learning new vocabulary words was getting Hiccup to actually pronounce them though.

Hiccup looked up at his mother with big forest green eyes. He wore a simple short sleeve shirt and shorts, today being one of the more rare heated days in Defenders City. He frowned with a sigh, though sat down as instructed. Both the woman pushing his chair smiled, before Mala kneeled down and made Hiccup laugh with a fist bump.

The trio consisting of a mother, son, and therapist walked through rows of dog, bird, cat, badger, etc. cages, along with snake, frog, salamander, and fish tanks. Mala worked part time at the preschool during the week, the animal shelter here in defenders city weekends. She was a therapist full time, though ran her own sort of business online. If her clients needed her, she'd make an appointment, though there was no set schedule. A true born multitasker for sure.

Today Mala was using animals in an attempt to get Hiccup to want to cooperate with the speech therapy rather than just going along with everything said to him. At first it seemed like a great idea. What problem developed along the way? Well why as the four year old liked birds and cats, he seemed to have a fear of most other larger animals.

As Hiccup's chair was wheeled along a pathway leading through the dog kennels, he quickly covered his ears and whined out in an attempt to stop himself from hearing the barking. The boy had quiet enjoyed the birds up front, so Mala wanted to show him the larger cages of them in the back. Problem was, to get to the larger birds they had to pass the dogs.

After several attempts to comfort her boy and stop him from crying, Valka decided to simply lift him out of his chair and carry him the rest of the way. Hiccup wasn't too heavy to carry, his body size closer to a new toddler than a four year old young boy do to the smaller genes running in her side of the family. The boy imediatly buried his face in his mother's shoulder, before using his right fist and lightly tapping his temples.

"You have a headache Hiccup?" Valka tried to confirm her son's silent words. The boy made a grunting sound in response, slowly nodding his head as a tear trickled down his cheek. His mother imediatly felt pain for her son, and rubbed his back soothingly while instinctively shielding every bit of him she could with her arms and shirt from any dangers around.

It seemed like the walk through the dog's side of the shelter took forever, mostly because Hiccup wouldn't stop squirming. Mala pushed his chair and tried to shush the untrained dogs who were barking. Just as the three neared the end of the row, something seemed to catch Hiccup off guard. One of the dogs, isolated from the rest, made such a high pitched whine it sounded more like a whistle. When Hiccup shouted loudly do to the pain in his head, his own whine sounded equal to the mutt's.

Irritation in his eyes, Hiccup looked over his mother's shoulder and pointed to the medium sized black mutt in his isolated cage accusingly. Valka turned around, her son following the movements. She looked at the four year old in her arms, raising an eyebrow. "Oh...he can't help it my boy." Hiccup looked down sadly, catching onto the tone of his mother.

Suddenly the black mutt barked again. This time it was quieter, but he still made a high pitch noise that worsened Hiccup's developing migraine. The boy pointed to the dog once more, before glaring slightly. "No!" He shouted, surprising both his mother and speech therapist. Hiccup never really talked without someone coaxing him, even the simple words. This was a first.

The dog in his cage barked once more, seeming just as defiant as the four year old Haddock. Hiccup squirmed in his mom's arm, trying to get her to let him go. "You can't crawl on this dirty ground." Valka tried to tell her son, only to be completely ignored. Mala smiled warmly, before reaching into a bag she had over her shoulder. It was similar to a leather purse, though was sown into her black uniform.

"I figured he might want to see the animals, most kids do. This' clean so he won't get those hands cut or dirty." Mala lay a long foldout orange mat on the concrete ground lined with cages, before Hiccup was gently sat down on it. The four year old crawled over to the black dogs cage, causing the mutt to back up a few paces. The dog was about two times the boy's size, obviously still pretty young. It's back came up to Valka's knees, it's neck oddly long and able to extend high enough for his ears to reach her waist. Hiccup didn't seem fazed by the size at all, and reached into the cage. The mutt cowered back a little more.

Hiccup giggled when the dog backed up, thinking this some sort of game. When the mutt's tail hit the back of the wall, it yelped knowing it was corners. In response, Hiccup held his head with both hands, yelling out once more. Another tear trickled down his cheek and he lay on his side. Valka imediatly tried to grab for her son, though Mala stopped her.

"Hang on a minute. I really want to see what happens. This could help us." Valka raised an eyebrow, at first instinctively thinking Mala crazy. Her son needed help! Then she saw what the therapist was talking about. The isolated black dog saw the small child in a state of distress, and slowly approached while whimpering, knowing he'd done something wrong. That's when Valka noticed the medium-small dog was missing it's back left leg, causing it to have to limp. That must've been why it was separated from the rest. He was small and vulnerable. In a way...it resembled Hiccup. A little boy who was smaller and more vulnerable the rest. Who didn't have friends because he was too busy trying to figure his own little world out.

Hiccup flinched when the black dog sniffed his hair, before looking up. The cages above him blocked out the light his head was sensitive to, and the dog was now quiet. Hiccup sat on his knees once more, swaying a little do to pain induced dizziness. He smiled weekly and reached out his right hand to lay on the mutt's mouth. The dog obliged out of slight hesitation, pressing his head against Hiccup's hand through the bars of the cage.

Valka and Mala smiled at the sight in front of them, and decided to let the dog out. Mala had him on a leash, and Valka held Hiccup in her lap. After both little boys got used to each other, they met halfway in the middle of the mat, both of their guardians letting go. The second Hiccup and his new found friend could move freely, the black mutt offered the four year old a place to rest his head. The boy smiled and curled up against the dog's side who lay down as if completely trained and docile.

Mala and Valka watched the sight in aww. The young mother had tears in her own eyes. Ever since her son was around two and had started having migraines, leg pains, and an inability to let out his energy properly, she rarely got to see him so peaceful. Hiccup didn't care about his inability to walk, the pain in his head, nor anyone around him. He simply buried his face in the loose fur of the young dog beside him, breathing slowly and cooing in his own little language. The dog himself simply lay there contently, occasionally sniffing his new boy and mostly looking around as if on guard watch.

After a few minutes, Valka kneeled down on the mat and pet the dog on the head gently. The mutt then did something extraordinary. He seemed to try and mimic Valka's smile, though instead of his teeth showing in a 'cheese' gesture like with a camera, her simply pulled the sides of his mouth up and squinted his eyes. His teeth seemed to almost push back, being completely taken from view.

"His previous owners named him Toothless." Mala explained after seeing Valka's shocked state. The other woman looked up confused. "They took him from their family members who were abusive, hence Toothless' hesitation to interact with humans. They couldn't keep him do to having to move out of the city, and dropped him off here knowing we have a policy against euthanizing our pets." Mala continued. Valka seemed to understand, before smiling down at Toothless who went back to blowing warm air in Hiccup's hair.

"Toothless. An odd name for sure, but the name doesn't matter." Valka looked up at Mala, hope filling her eyes. I know we didn't come here looking for any kind of service animal, but do you think if we re-homed him he could help Hiccup?" Mala looked at the boy and dog a little longer, before nodding confidently.

"I think that'd be nice. You'll have to agree to help him up stairs, to his food, and use a harness when taking him on regular walks though. We in Defenders city believe all innocent living beings should be given not just a second chance, but a new beginning when injured like Toothless here. It'll be hard because his disability but..." The therapist kneeled down, rubbing Hiccup's shoulder who was tense do to his headache. Toothless seemed to be helping with that though. "You've already dealt with similar." Valka nodded, giving Mala a brief hug.

The rest of the day after Hiccup's migraine finally became bearable, he was wheeled around with Toothless walking with a harness by his side. Mala had tried to teach the boy name's of animals, gestures, and people. Unfortunately the four year old had a harder time learning than ever, but at least enjoyed it thanks to his new pet and best friend.

Mala and Valka set up appointments for Hiccup every week or so. Stoick came to some when he was home, though that was rare. The man was always working after all. After about a few month's worth of visits, Mala had taken a different approach. At first Hiccup refused to learn anything involving sign language, but using Toothless as a sort of reward got him on track fairly quickly. He knew how to say a few more words such as 'restroom' and could say some of the words he knew but couldn't speak before without much trouble. For the most part though he used basic sign language. Phrases such as 'I need help', 'I'm feeling *insert emotion*', 'something hurts', and 'Let's go' were often used by the end of the fourth month.

The end of the fourth month was the first month he was to start kindergarten.