This is edited version for better language. Updated 22.10.2017. Unfortunately my original comments on reviews did not copy here.

Original version was beta-/proofread by toothlessgolfer.

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'Can you hear me now?'

Hiccup looked at the black dragon standing about dozen meters away. Toothless was hard to see even from that distance in the darkness after sundown. Dark or not Hiccup could sense his friend's presence and general feelings. Yet the dragon didn't react or answer to his thoughts.

'Toothless?'

When he still didn't get a response, Hiccup walked back to the dragon. His small hand touched black scales while two pairs of green eyes met each other. The smaller pair showed clear disappointment.

'It's still not working. Maybe we can't talk without touching each other.'

'Don't give up Hiccup. Maybe I couldn't hear what you were saying but I did feel your mind reaching to me. It will work.'

'I hope so. It would be lot easier and it's almost impossible for me to do anything to other dragons if I have to touch them first.'

'I don't want to even think about what would happen if you tried.'
Hiccup smiled at Toothless' comment until the smile was broken by a long yawn. Afterwards Hiccup "spoke" to Toothless again.

'Let's keep trying then. It's your turn bud.'

'No.'

'What do you mean?'

'It is already late. The sun went down long ago. You should go to sleep.'

'Don't worry I can still continue for a while longer.'

Hiccup tried to step back in order to return to his earlier spot, but was stopped by a large black wing that extended in front of him faster than Hiccup could react. Toothless, who had risen to stand on his back legs, used both his wings to pull Hiccup closer against his stomach and within firm hold of his forelegs. Soon the boy was completely covered in the black scale cocoon he had gotten so accustomed to during his days and nights in the cove.

'We have practiced enough for today. You should rest.'

'When did you become such a mother hen?' Hiccup asked jokingly.

'What do you mean with that?'

'Well, you are constantly worrying if I'm safe or that I drink and eat enough and now you are telling me when to go to sleep.'

'Is that bad thing to a viking?'

Hiccup turned his face up to meet its scaled counterpart. Toothless seemed curious and a bit worried. He was probably afraid he had done something bad for Hiccup. Silly dragon. The boy smiled and leaned against the warm black hide, closing his eyes in contentment at where he was.

'No, it's not… It is actually nice to know that someone cares enough to do those things. There haven't been who do so since my mother died.'

Toothless carefully lowered himself to lay on his side while keeping Hiccup in his protective embrace. He purred softly knowing it would help the hatchling to calm down and fall asleep. Soon he could hear Hiccup's breathing evening out and feel his conscious thoughts drifting away as the hatchling drifted to peaceful sleep. Hiccup's last words were occupying the dragon's mind. Toothless already knew Hiccup had been lonely but couldn't help being stung in his heart when he was reminded of this. He knew what it was like and hated that Hiccup had to suffer the same. The gentle frail thing held in his claws deserved the best the world had to offer.

Hiccup had said it made him like mother hen. He still didn't completely understand where that came from. How could someone compare the mighty Night Fury to a chicken? Then again, if it meant the things Hiccup had said it did, Toothless wouldn't mind. He wanted to do all those things. It wasn't even just because he liked Hiccup and longed for his companionship anymore. Whenever the hatchling was in danger or hungry, Toothless couldn't help but worry about it. It had become like an instinct to him.

The dragon turned his large head deeper under the black wings to bring his snout right above Hiccup's head. He breathed deeply inhaling Hiccup's scent in the progress. After their days and nights together Hiccup already had Toothless' own scent on him. It warned anyone with good enough sense of smell who they would have to deal with if they as much as threatened the hatchling. Alongside that there was still that lovely scent of Hiccup. It was mix of unusually clean Viking, fire, smoke, and forest, that sent Night Fury's protective instincts to overdrive. Perhaps Hiccup wasn't completely wrong with what he had said and his size wasn't the only reason Toothless kept thinking him as a hatchling, his hatchling.

Toothless' feelings intensified when Hiccup shifted in his sleep. A small hand moved unconsciously over his chest until it met Toothless' leg. For a moment, the dragon thought he was pressing down on Hiccup too hard, but Hiccup grabbed his leg and pulled closer to his chest. Two thin arms curled around the scaled leg holding it close. Toothless smiled gently. 'Don't worry Hiccup. I'm not going anywhere.'

After another peaceful night of watching over Hiccup's sleeping form, Toothless noticed the slight colour change of the sky warning of approaching sunrise. It was time to wake up Hiccup and then have some sleep for himself. He turned his head for umpteenth time to look at the small form under his protection, grinning while wondering how far he would have to go this time to wake up Hiccup. He started by nuzzling Hiccup's head but the only reaction from the hatchling was a hand on his snout. As much as he yearned for the touch, Toothless still had to complete his task. Hiccup trusted the dragon to wake him up in time not to be late from watching the dragon training. Toothless didn't see any use for that but apparently Hiccup could get in trouble if he missed it. Thereby a large wet tongue approached Hiccup's face while dragon's toothless grin widened. It worked as well as every other morning.

'Good morning to you too Toothless', Hiccup greeted his friend while wiping saliva off his face.

'Good morning Hiccup. Did you sleep well?'

'Shouldn't you know if I didn't. You stayed awake and watched over me the whole night as usual didn't you.'

'Yes, like a mother hen.'

Toothless had learned enough about Hiccups facial expressions that he didn't need to sense other's thoughts to know that the hatchling was surprised at his choice of words, thoughts.

After his normal morning rituals, mainly washing his face, Hiccup headed back to the village. Usually it was a relatively sad moment, as he would have rather stayed with Toothless than returned to the village, even if the dragon would sleep half of the day. This time Hiccup was in lot better mood, because he was planning to finish last parts of Toothless' flight gear that day. He would still have to learn to control it, but that didn't bring down his good mood. Toothless would be able to fly again soon.

Hiccup jogged back home, stole yet another basket of fish, and had a quick breakfast for himself with a smile on his face. If someone had seen him they might have found it odd, since traditionally he had been seen walking in the village head down either cursing his life or thinking up some new invention.

Hiccup noticed the other teens heading for the kill ring after leaving his home, and followed them from a safe distance. He didn't want to have his good mood ruined by a fist in the face. He was still just close enough to hear what the others were talking about, Vikings weren't known for speaking quietly, and Hiccup was happy to notice that no one was bullying Fishlegs. The large boy had tried the tips Hiccup had given him and they all worked. There were eels which effect Hiccup supposedly found out observing dragons raiding their storehouses and newly named dragonnip. Hiccup had told Fishlegs that he had seen bunch of terrors flying into a field of the grass and getting nearly knocked out by the grass. It had worked well enough on the Gronckle the previous day. Hiccup was confident, and Fishlegs was hopeful, that it would also work on whatever dragon Gobber would put the trainees against this time. Turned out that it was the Nadder's turn.

The training started much like every other time. For a moment the twins seemed to have the dragon cornered, but it was too quick for them and two siblings ended up crashing into each other. It didn't take fortune-teller to know what that lead to. Next Astrid charged at the dragon and almost scored a hit driving her opponent back, but she also had to withdraw to evade spikes from Nadder's tail. Hiccup was watching from outside the cage as usual. There were some other Vikings, who were watching the village youth train, but they had all gathered on the side of the ring closest to the village. Hiccup was standing on the opposite side watching the dragon closely. He still hadn't even managed to properly talk with Toothless without physical connection, but still tried to reach the Nadder with his mind. So far he had had no success.

Then Snotlout managed to gain the dragon's attention with his loud boasting. The brutish boy got thrown into the wall by a swipe of the dragon's tail, again. This attack brought the dragon right in front of Hiccup. Its large blue head turned towards the small Viking while sniffing the air. The look in the dragon's eyes changed momentarily and it moved closer. Hiccup understood that it was trying to smell him. Something had gotten its attention. It had to have been because of Toothless since Hiccup had just spent a night encased in his wings. The question was whether it was a good or bad thing to smell like a Night Fury.

At least the Nadder didn't seem to act threateningly. It looked a bit curious. Hiccup could feel it was curious and surprised. He could feel it! Smile crept to his lips again. Now he knew for sure Toothless wasn't only dragon he could connect with. His hand slipped past the chains that kept the dragons in the arena and extended it in front of that blue snout. The others didn't see him from behind the dragon so this was his chance. The blue scales were only centimetres from his open palm. In the last second, a large mass of Viking and artificial limbs known as Gobber crashed into the scaly neck and pushed the Nadder away. Hiccup yanked his arm back out of surprise that soon changed to disappointment. Gobber drove the dragon back towards the other trainees before turning towards his apprentice.

"Are you okay Hiccup?"

"Yes" The boy answered, his previous smile being replaced by a more common frown.

The training ended sometime later. Fishlegs had pushed the dragonnip against the Nadder's snout when the dragon charged him. One deep inhale and the dragon became very dizzy. To everyone else it seemed like Fishlegs did that by punching the dragon. His size made the thought believable enough in the eyes of other Vikings. After that spectacle, people started flowing away from the arena and Hiccup did the same. He made the mistake of walking past the kill ring gate. Gobber had to hurry somewhere so Hiccup could have just sneaked away without meeting the other teens who were now leaving the ring. Snotlout was first one to notice him.

"Hey useless, how does it feel to be first Viking who Gobber had to save without even being inside the ring?"

"Well… I like to do something special every now and then. Glad you enjoyed it," Hiccup remarked in traditional Hiccup style. It helped him handle the treatment he got, although this time the words stung a bit less than usually. He knew things weren't what Snotlout thought and thought of his black friend always helped Hiccup feel better.

"Then why don't you do something special and stay out of the way of those better than you."

Snotlout pushed Hiccup aside and the smaller boy fell on to the slope that led down to the ring. This and Snotlout's comment earned approving chuckles from the twins and even Astrid had small grin on her face. Hiccup couldn't help but wonder how different their expressions would have been if Toothless was present. The only one who didn't seem happy about Snotlout's actions was Fishlegs who seemed both unhappy and unsure. Then he took a deep breath and came to help Hiccup get up. Grins on others' faces turned into scowls, especially Snotlout's.

"Let's go. Let losers stay together."

The group walked away not caring about Hiccup and Fishlegs anymore. Later didn't seem to know how to manage the situation. Hiccup had more than enough experience of the poor treatment, but Fishlegs had always stayed quiet and avoided bullies until now.

"You shouldn't have done that. Being seen talking with me is bad enough but outright siding with me is like asking to be bullied no matter how well you are doing in training," Hiccup warned.

"I know. That's why I didn't dare to do it before."

"I might be selfish with this, but I have to admit I'm glad you did this time." Hiccup lifted his hand on Fishlegs' shoulder.

"You know Hiccup. I think I am too."

They walked back to the village together safe distance behind the others.

"Umm, Hiccup, what happened with that Nadder? It didn't seem to be attacking you."

"Oh yeah it didn't. Actually it didn't even seem that threatening." Hiccup answered a bit startled that Fishlegs brought this matter up.

"That is strange. Usually dragons go for the kill."

"Aren't they supposed to always go for a kill? That's what Gobber said?" Hiccup tested the other boy knowing better than anyone that Gobber's claim wasn't true.

"I know. That's what we have been taught but it seems bit too absolute. I guess there can be exceptions."

"Maybe it didn't think I'm a threat. I mean… usually when dragons face people they are big Vikings with lot of weapons and shouting. I'm just this," Hiccup used both his arms to gesture at himself.

"Maybe."

Fishlegs fell silent for a while after that except for some barely audible mumbling. Hiccup recognized the look on his face and let Fishlegs think through what had come up. It was something many people in the village and especially in their age group were incapable of. Hiccup wished the other boy wouldn't immediately start questioning him more about what had occurred. Luckily, they were already arriving back at the village.

"Well, see you later. I have some work in the forge."

Hiccup ran off before Fishlegs had a chance to react and headed straight for the forge, his excitement from the morning returning. Toothless could fly again when he finishes this work. Hiccup could finally fix the damage he had caused to the one who had since become his best friend.