Three little kids sat on a round rug in the center of the living room floor. A little six year old girl colored pictures of warriors in a coloring book, trying to explain her drawings to her deaf-blind friend even though he couldn't understand hardly any of it. Laying on his stomach with his stuffed dragon in hand was her five year old friend who she'd recently met. The three kids were having a playdate at the Haddock household with Valka Haddock watching over them.

Astrid, Fishlegs, and Hiccup all smiled and played with each other despite all having different versions of fun. Fishlegs liked toys with certain textures and liked to throw them into the wall. Once he'd studied and thrown them all away, Valka would go grab them and hand them back to the boy who studied them once more as if they were brand new. Astrid liked coloring, though in frustration would often break half a box of crayons by the end of the day. Hiccup, who was nearing his sixth birthday rather soon, enjoyed keeping to himself and hanging around his own little world.

After putting some dinner in the oven, Valka Haddock walked to the group of kids to check on her son. She kneeled next to Hiccup who was escaped from reality once again, eyes zoned out, and expression tired. He'd tried to ignore the outside world often recently. It seemed as the boy was getting older, he was realizing that he wasn't like other kids. He no longer liked going to school events since most kids didn't know sign language, the main language he spoke do to having speech development difficulties as a result of his diagnosis. It never really seemed to bother him that his legs didn't work right before, but ever since he entered kindergarten he became almost self conscious about his wheelchair, having outbursts if anyone else touched it. As a result, fellow kids who were just as confused as he was would grow frustrated towards him. This meant Hiccup was bullied in a way and therefor developed a disliking for other kids thanks to being isolated from the 'normal' crowd at such a young age. Now that it was the summer before he started first grade, he had a little more time to just relax. The problem was, for Hiccup 'relaxing' was escaping other people or ignoring them.

Today was a break. A break from the world, a break from other kids, and a day Hiccup could just relax with his two closest friends. Valka kneeled down next to her son, taking his hand in hers which reached up subconsciously when she was near incase he had to sign. The boy lay on his stomach, facing away from his mom. He seemed to be listening though.

What's wrong? Do you not want to play? Valka signed to her son. Hiccup turned to watch her sign, before sighing tiredly. He reached up and held onto his mother's fingers with a small hand. The five year old then used his other hand to sign in reply, stating that he was tired and no he didn't want to play.

Astrid watched as Hiccup communicated with his mother, and was confused as to how Valka managed to understand everything the boy was saying. She crawled next to her friend, laying a hand on his back. "What are you doing with your hands?" She asked confused. Hiccup tried to sign an answer, though Valka stopped him. "She can't understand sweaty." She said to her boy who grunted in annoyance before laying back down. Toothless woke up from a nap, sensing his boy's frustration, and curled around the five year old while trying to comfort him.

Valka turned to face Astrid, placing a hand on both of her shoulders. "Hiccup can't talk like you can Astrid. He communicates by using sign language. Sign language is like the English you and I speak, but instead of talking with his mouth, Hiccup has to use his hands." Astrid was a bit confused by the answer, but looked at Hiccup curiously.

Suddenly the oven went off, signaling the food was done and Valka needed to take it out. The mother checked on the kids one more time, before heading into the kitchen. Once her and her friends were alone, Astrid crawled to sit beside Hiccup, laying her hands on her hips.

"What does she mean 'you talk with your hands'?" Astrid questioned her friend. When she didn't get a reaction, the six year old girl lay down on her stomach to mimic Hiccup, her face inches from his. Hiccup flinched in surprise, before giving his friend a crooked smile. Toothless perked up his ears, nuzzling Astrid with curiosity.

"You have to be able to say something Hiccup." Astrid questioned her friend once more, curiosity sparkling in her eyes. Hiccup looked at her with an eyebrow raised, before lifting his hand to grab hers. Their hands pressed together in the air, fingers intertwining. The both lay facing each other, trying to read the other's thoughts to an extent.

"I-I can." Hiccup said in a quiet, annoyed voice. He signed the words as he said them against Astrid's hands. The girl's eyes squinted in confusion, before she mimicked her friend's movements against her hand. They pulled apart, sighing contently in sync.

"Why don't you then?" Astrid asked, her voice quiet to meet her friend's tone. Hiccup shrugged his shoulders, pressing his cheek further against the carpet as if to comfort himself against the stress. "It's hard." He said after a long pause, signing the words as he said them.

"What do you mean it's hard to speak? I can speak just fine, and the only reason Fishlegs here can't is because he can hardly hear. That's what mom and dad said anyways." Astrid explained her confusion so quickly that Hiccup lost track. He bit his lip, shrugging his shoulders.

"Y-You...You are being h-hard to understand um...Astrid." Hiccup tried to piece his sentences together, having a hard time in the process. He signed at the same time, and his words were so slurred they were hard to understand. He'd space out in his attempts, becoming frustrated. His attempts were stressing him out, and he held his head as the situation caused it to ache.

"You okay?" Astrid asked, quickly lifted her hand to move Hiccup's which was holding his head tightly. When the boy didn't move or respond, she gently brushed her fingers through his short auburn hair in an attempt to sooth him like her mom would do for her when she was hurt. She just didn't understand this. How could something as simple as talking be so hard for her weird friend? Perhaps it was like when her mom once tried to teach her to spell. No matter how hard Astrid tried, she just couldn't remember all the different letters and syllables, let alone put them in the right patterns.

"I-I d-don't um...t-talk this m-much at a...time." Hiccup whimpered and stuttered in response to Astrid's previous question. A tear trailed down his cheek as the headache became worse, and Astrid imediatly became worried for her friend. This wasn't right. Her friend only cried when he was hurting.

"Valka! Hiccup's hurt!" Astrid shouted to the woman standing in the kitchen. Valka imediatly responded to the call for help, running up to Hiccup to and scooping him into her arms. Hiccup whined loudly as the motion made his current headache worse, before burying his head in his mother's shoulder. Toothless quickly began barking, looking upset that Valka had taken his boy from him. The mother tried to tell the dog to stop, but Toothless didn't stop until Hiccup reached out for him. Valka lay her son down on the couch nearby, and the dog imediatly jumped up to comfort his boy, whimpering in worry and sadness.

"What happened?" Valka asked, picking up Fishlegs who had started wailing do to his senses being overwhelmed by the sudden commotion. She tried to sooth the confused boy, sympathizing with his inability to understand sudden movements and the muffled sounds he could hear with his hearing aid on, though the device didn't help much.

"He was trying to tell me why it's hard to talk, then told me I was hard to understand. After that, I think his head started hurting like it sometimes does at school." Astrid explained with guilt filled eyes, worrying she'd done something wrong.

Valka raised an eyebrow confused. What did the little girl mean? "What do you mean he was trying to talk to you? I can't ever get him to talk without some sort of argument. Not more than a couple words anyways." The mother questioned Astrid, looking at her whimpering son and sitting down to rub his back.

"He told me he can speak, but it's hard to. He then said he doesn't talk much at a time, before his head started hurting." Astrid said quietly. She climbed onto the couch as well, laying her head on Toothless' side. Hiccup lifted his head which was buried against Toothless' fur to look at Astrid. The girl smiled warmly, touching Hiccup's head and using her fingers to guide it to her lap like her mom always did when she was sick. They both lay their in quiet, Valka watching from a distance with surprise and fascination.

That girl sure is something special. I'll have to ask her to help me with him at a later date. Perhaps...she could be something more than what the doctors can offer. Valka thought to herself with a smile, remembering in her years helping younger kids in special needs groups how much of an impact friendship could have.

(A/N) I know it's kind of short, and it's been a while since I updated. Sorry for the wait, and please review if you enjoyed!