A Welcome Surprise

by kwizjunior

A Sideshow Toothless statue—a collector's item renowned for exceptional quality—may be a hefty investment. But what if it could come alive? This one-shot is an adorable comedy with lots of wholesome moments, including some cuddling.

Summary: A Sideshow Toothless statue—a collector's item renowned for exceptional quality—may be a hefty investment. But what if it could come alive? This one-shot is a wholesome comedy with lots of fluff.

A/N: Just so you aren't wondering the whole time who the narrator is, it is whoever you want it to be. I wrote the character loosely based on my personality, but I recommend you pretend the narrator is an imaginary version of yourself.

Kudos to netWARIOR for suggesting the extremely fitting title and to RowanMackenzie24 for giving tons of helpful pointers. (Y'all are the best!)

There will be some vague symbolism that I wrote with many potential interpretations in mind. I'd love to hear how you interpret it!

o.O.o

Four hundred dollars.

Four... hundred.

That was when it truly came crashing down on me. Four hundred dollars was a lot of money. I could have gone to a theme park halfway across the country. I could have gotten a smartwatch. I could have gotten an electric piano that I so desperately wanted with that money, but no. Not me. What did I buy?

A Toothless statue, of course!

I rolled over in my bed to face the gently smiling source of my guilt, and surely enough, a wave of pride and joy overflowed from my heart at the sight of his beaming gaze, his beady eyes glistening from within the display case and washing away every hint of remorse from me. His polystone tail flowed gracefully around his crystal perch, leaving his head standing about a foot high and his wings prominently displayed.

Nothing else would have brought me such prolonged, wholesome bliss.

I pulled my blanket up to my armpit and cuddled my second-proudest acquisition—my unbelievably soft, homemade, six-foot Toothless plushie—a little harder, shamelessly trying to imagine the stuffed dragon purring to me. One of the wonderful things about having an enormous plushie is that you could always hug your problems to sleep.

What is another four hundred dollars, anyway?

I sighed with content into the winged fluff cloud that I was hugging, overwhelmed with comfort and happiness as I ran my fingers along the spines. He was so soft that I couldn't help but smile ear to ear as the plush conformed to my hands and face, the fleece sprouting between my fingers.

And he was mine—both of them, all mine! I squeezed my eyes shut and squirmed with joy at the thought, pressing my ear into the fleece and inhaling the fresh-linen scent of the dragon before sighing through my nose yet again.

It was going to be another good night.

o.O.o

Chittery chittery chittery chum.

.

Chittery chittery chittery chum.

.

I awoke the next morning to the sound of a Carolina wren singing just outside my window. I was still hugging my stuffed Night Fury when I peeled my eyes open, feeling very well rested and still quite content with my financial decisions. The statue had a few stray beams of golden sunlight falling onto it, clearly traceable to the blinds. I blinked, and my nose started to burn.

Wow, it's like... really dusty in here, isn't it?

Yeah, having traceable beams of sunlight is not exactly a good sign. Good thing I had a display case protecting the statue from the dust.

I released my grip on the enormous black marshmallow and stretched from head to toe, yawning and popping a couple of joints in the process. I rolled over and sat up, allowing my blanket to fall off of me, and faced the window—just in time to sneeze.

Phew! When did it get so dusty?

I couldn't remember a time when I had been surrounded with so much dust. I looked around the room for answers when I saw something that made me pause.

One of the seams on the stuffed dragon had broken open, revealing a sliver of white stuffing.

Oh, no!

I frowned and examined the tear. From the looks of it, I might have cuddled him just a little too hard. Maybe wrapping my leg around his tail was enough to rip it.

"I knew I should have double stitched," I breathed. Oh well. It seamed to be a fairly straightforward fix; it was just… inconvenient. I did make the entire plushie myself, after all.

The torn seam didn't explain the dust though; there was something far more mysterious at play. Perhaps it was the fact that I had been living without an air filter on my AC intake for a couple months? No... of course not.

Okay, yes. Yes it was. Whatever. I had already gotten the filter, but I didn't feel like putting it in, so I didn't. And no, I'm not lazy!

I donned my favorite slippers and trekked the six-foot hike to the sidewall grille, where I descended to my knees and undid the thumbscrews. I leaned over and retrieved the air filter, which had been leaning against the wall less than two feet away from the intake vent.

I won't bore you with the details, but thirty seconds later, the nightmare was over, and the air conditioning had a filter.

I got up and grabbed my feather duster before dusting off the display case. Admittedly, I might be a little lazy, but I was not going to let dust collect there.

Overall, it was not exactly an ideal start to the day, but it could have been much worse. It's not like the house was on fire or anything. Plus, any day I woke up hugging my stuffed Toothless was a good day. As I wiped the dust away from the glass, however, I noticed something far, far stranger than dust.

The statue blinked.

"What?" I said, rubbing the grogginess away from my eyes. That didn't make any sense. Statues... don't blink. Or, well, they aren't supposed to. I stooped over and scrutinized the statue, squinting and fogging up the glass with my breath. The shiny, yellow-green eyes beamed vibrantly back at me.

And then they blinked again!

I didn't know what to think. Perhaps if the statue wasn't of Toothless, I would have been a little creeped out. In that case, though, the blinking only made it all the more adorable. But it also felt too weird to say "aww," so I just stayed there, hunched over and breathing wordlessly onto the glass as questions filled my mind.

"Always full of surprises, aren't you, bud?" I eventually mumbled. It still felt wrong, but hey, at least no one heard me say it. Or so I thought.

I looked a little closer. The statue seemed a little bit more lifelike than I remembered, but I couldn't figure out why. That was, at least, until I noticed that he was... breathing.

The tiny rib cage expanded and contracted in deep, even breaths that flared his even tinier nostrils and condensed onto the glass. He blinked again, and a fleshy, pink tongue poked out and licked his lips. His pupils dilated and started to move around until our eyes met once again.

Ears perking up, he blinked twice before coming completely to life, advancing from his perch and crouching forward to sniff the glass.

Standing back up, he looked at me and tilted his head to one side. I just about collapsed right then. In hindsight, I'm surprised I didn't collapse. Any normal person would have, right?

Good thing I'm not a normal person, I guess.

I looked down at the very much alive Night Fury and felt the blood draining from my face as he sat down like the very good boy that he was and tapped the glass door of the display case with his paw.

Who was I kidding?

I collapsed.

o.O.o

Something small licked my cheek. I heard it sniff the region from my cheek to my ear and lick its lips before licking me again.

My eyes shot open in recognition, and in an instant I was sitting upright with my back against a wall, catching my breath and staring in disbelief at the creature that was before me.

"T-Toothless? I-is that you?" I asked.

He gave me a gummy smile.

I stared back at him for at least ten seconds before reality finally set in, and finally, my breath left me in a prolonged wheeze that faded to a whistle while I began to suffocate.

"OH MY GOSH," I gasped between bouts of laughter, "YOU'RE SO SMALL! LOOK AT YOU!"

I couldn't breathe. Toothless was the size of a kitten, with bat-like wings folded up near his body. He turned his face away from me and peered over his shoulder resentfully as I slapped the carpet, writhing uncontrollably.

I tilted my head back and squeezed my eyes shut, shaking and desperately trying not to wet myself. I hadn't gone to the bathroom yet, so…

"Wait here, Toothless!" I squealed as I stood up, failing yet again to contain my snickering. "I gotta pee!"

I didn't wait to see his reaction, but I couldn't help but imagine it clearly, and the image that came to me only made me snort and feel even more incompetent:

Meh, meh, meh...

I bolted to the restroom and locked the door.

o.O.o

"Toothless? Where are you bud?"

He was gone. It hadn't even been two minutes. What was I thinking, leaving a mischievous, fire-breathing, winged lizard alone in my house for two minutes? What could possibly have gone wrong?

I groaned. "Most people lose their wallet or their keys. Not me. I manage to lose an entire—?!"

I cut myself off when I realized I was accidentally quoting. Again.

Not to mention that I would lose both my wallet and my keys at least once per day, so it wasn't exactly a true statement either. But I digress.

I stood in my disaster of a room and looked around, contemplating what I could do to find him when my eyes crossed the massive black plushie with a ripped seam.

Right, I thought. I need to fix that.

I grabbed my sewing kit and picked up the plush toy, taking note of how much heavier it felt.

"Wow, bud, I guess you've packed on a few pounds! Who knows, maybe someday you'll be a real dragon!" I jested. I felt the plushie squirming a little bit as I placed it on the table, and I froze.

First, my Toothless statue comes to life. Now, the plushie too? Really?

Based on the way the day had gone thus far, pretty soon the fridge would start talking to the microwave.

I took a closer look at the injured toy. He would need more than a few stitches.

I'd rather not have him be alive and kicking for that.

I quickly got to work. The plushie began squirming uncomfortably and making sounds of distress as the needle punctured the fabric. "I'm sorry, I won't let it happen again! Just… hang in there," I grimaced as the movements became more and more desperate.

That was when a familiar black head poked out of the hole. He shook his head and sneezed, causing bits of stuffing to fall to the floor.

Oh. That's why it was heavier. And also why it was moving. And making noise.

"There you are!" I exclaimed. "What were you doing in there? How on earth did you even fit in there?!"

My dumbfounded questions earned some high-pitched snickers from the naughty dragon.

What happened next could be best described as 'Toothless struggling to escape from… himself.' Of course, I was grinning the whole time, despite the large amount of stuffing that was falling to the floor. Toothless was slightly less amused, obviously trying very hard to get out of the situation he put himself in, until he gave up, his eyes drooping with annoyance.

I fought to keep a straight face. "Wha… what's wrong, buddy?" I snorted. "Are you stuck?"

Grumble.

"It's okay, bud," I soothed, patting the plushie. "We've all been there, feeling... trapped in our own bodies-ss-s…" Snort. My voice went up an octave. "When that happens, we just need to… to push… througHHHH—!" A very long wheeze interrupted me.

He rested his chin on the outside of the plushie and glared at me. If he was trying to look intimidating, he was doing a spectacular job at failing. I dare to say he looked even more adorable than usual.

"You know what? Maybe I should just leave you in there, where you can't get into any more trouble," I teased as I put down the needle and caught my breath. "At the very least, I'd spare you the out-of-body EXPERIENC—." I ducked my head and wheezed a laugh that could cure cancer.

He groaned. Every time I saw his face, I just burst out into another fit of laughter. The annoyed look in his eyes said it all:

Dang it, human! Are you going to help me or not?

"Okay, okay, I'm done!" I chuckled. "I'm sorry, I couldn't help myself."

Regaining my composure, I cradled his very warm midsection in the palm of one hand and held down the plush toy in the other, pulling gently until both tail fins were free. In the end, he was slumped in my palm, tail drooping down my arm, purring like the pussycat that he was.

"I thought you were cute in the movies, but this is something else!"

I held him to my cheek and beamed. It was too much, getting to meet a miniature version of Toothless, in the flesh. This was the best day ever!

My favorite character wiggled a bit against my cheek, audibly licking his lips and sniffing the air. Despite formerly being a statue, he felt more like… a hairless kitten than anything: flesh and bones. When I felt him trying to spread his wings, I gave him some room and opened my palm. He glided to the floor and started sniffing like a bloodhound.

That was when it occurred to me that we were near the kitchen, and he was most likely smelling the food.

"You're probably hungry, aren't you?" I inquired.

He turned around and sat on his tail, innocently looking into my eyes and licking his lips yet again.

Yeah, that's definitely it.

"Okay, let me see what I have." I walked to the pantry and dug through it until I found a can of tuna. That seemed close enough to something he would like. I turned back and asked him, "Do you like tuna?"

He squinted and tilted his head.

"It's a kind of fish."

At the word, "fish," he frantically bolted to me and put two paws on my shins, looking up to me in expectation and licking his lips, his tail practically wagging. I suppose I should be more careful about saying the "f" word, shouldn't I?

"Alright, alright," I chuckled as I grabbed a dish and emptied the tuna onto it, "here you go, you ravenous beast…"

Thank God the can had a pull tab on it. Who knew such a small creature could be so impatient? In milliseconds, he was loudly slurping up the fish, smacking his lips, and squeaking with satisfaction. I was glad he liked it.

"You sure are a quick eater!" I said. "I suppose I should eat something too."

At that, his eyes rolled back, and he started retching.

"No… nonono! No! Toothless, no! Stop—!"

Splat.

"No, thanks!" I winced. "I'm eating cereal." I turned away and heard a sad rumble that made me pause and close my eyes, taking a deep breath and holding it.

If Hiccup did it…

I sighed very heavily. I honestly don't even like tuna before it has been mixed with digestive juices. But… if it makes him happy, wouldn't it be worth it?

I slowly turned around and stared at the tiny morsel of tuna sitting on the dish. It looked rather revolting, but the sad look in Toothless's eyes made me feel so guilty that I couldn't even think twice.

"Oh… alright."

I stooped over to pick up the hunk of fish with my fingers, but he slapped my hand away with his tail and hissed. I tried again, only to be met with the same rebuttal.

I frowned. "How am I supposed to eat it if you keep hitting me away like that?"

He stooped down and smacked his lips above the fish before backing away and returning his gaze to me.

A moment later, realization dawned on me. "Oh, I see," I nodded. "So you aren't just going to make me eat your vomit, you're going to force me to slurp it up like a vacuum cleaner."

His ears perked up a little bit, and his tongue gave me a little blep.

"Well… so be it."

I got on my hands and knees and practically inhaled the fish fragment, swallowing before I had time to taste it. The aftertaste made me shudder, but it was worth it. I lifted my head out of the dish and smiled goofily at the Night Fury, who was now very close to my nose.

He advanced and pressed his snout against the tip of my nose before closing his eyes, purring and humming with content. Not knowing how to respond, I watched him cross-eyed for a moment before my own eyes closed as well.

Through it all, only one thought filled my mind:

Boop.

o.O.o

As Toothless wandered around me, sniffing the floor, I was pouring milk into my cereal. Or, well, I thought I was, at least. As it turns out, I had been so busy staring at the black dragon at my feet that I had missed the bowl entirely.

On that note, the most embarrassing part was that he noticed first. It was after he had given me that 'what are you doing, you stupid human?' look that I sheepishly averted my eyes to see milk trickling onto the tile.

"Whoops!" I exclaimed as I uprighted the jug. "Are you kidding me? What a mess!"

It was quite an exquisite mess. Milk had seeped halfway across the counter, soaking a couple of irrelevant papers, and was streaming onto the floor in an elegant cascade of white. For a moment, I stood there in adoration of my stupidity before my senses got the best of me.

I ran out of the room to get a rag to mop up the liquid. By the time I returned, Toothless was gone.

Great. Where'd he go now?

I shouted his name a couple times as I sopped up the milk, but it was no use. He was gone.

The spill had only made me hungrier. Once I dried off the counter and the floor, I poured the milk again, being careful to pour it into the bowl this time, and engulfed my cereal in record time.

After I finished eating, I had two priorities: fix the plushie, and find Toothless. I decided to fix the plushie first so that he wouldn't be able to hide from me there again. Plus, I had left both the plushie and the sewing kit on the table earlier, so it felt like the obvious thing to do—especially given that if Toothless was in my room, looking for him was simply out of the question. I didn't mind sewing; I actually did it as a hobby for a while, so I figured it wouldn't take long.

I opened the sewing kit and threaded the needle with black thread before pushing it through the fabric, making sure to double-stitch the seam this time to prevent it from tearing in the future.

I hadn't done but three stitches before some dust fell directly in front of my eyes. I stopped mid-stitch and slowly lifted my eyes to the ceiling fan above me that was rocking and rotating gradually.

The cause of such a strange occurrence was not obvious to the untrained eye, but with my keen observation skills, I was able to detect the long, black tail that was clearly visible, dangling over the edge of the fan blade and swaying gently.

There you are, you little rascal.

"Toothless, you know I can see your tail, right?"

The tail disappeared.

"Oh my," I deadpanned sarcastically, "wherever did you go?"

Something grabbed my shoulder and made me jump. I turned my head to see—

"What the—!? How did you get down here?"

He lifted his head and snickered, brushing my back with his tail to keep his balance.

"Wow, that was actually pretty impressive, to be honest. You got me!"

A smug pose and a nuzzle against my cheek, and I was sewing again, this time with him on my shoulder, watching my every move.

He must have thought I made it look easy, as after I made a few stitches, he thought it would be a good idea to explore my sewing kit. He grabbed a vial of large needles and started trying to bite the lid off.

"Toothless, you need to twist the lid off, not pull. Like this…" I said reaching for the vial.

He let out a growl of avarice and started running around the table with the vial locked in his teeth, his claws skittering and sliding around on the glossy wood. His tongue lolled behind the vial as he very nearly fell off the edge more than once.

"Wait, bud! Stop! I'm not gonna take it from you, I promise!" I exclaimed. "I know better than to take a toy from a dragon!"

He skidded to a halt.

He actually listened to me!

I almost fell out of my chair in shock. Not to let a teachable moment go to waste, I reached out to him to retrieve the vial. I could feel the gears turning in his head as he spat the vial into my outstretched palm, with a couple strings of saliva attached.

I wiped the vial with a napkin and twisted the lid off, handing him the largest, dullest needle I had. In his little jaws, the needle was so large that it looked less like a needle and more like a small metal rod.

He looked at the plushie's head with a critical eye before repeatedly stabbing it like it was a pincushion.

"Yeah, that's it!" I laughed. "Just like that!"

I never could get the head quite right. Surely he could fix it!

I let Toothless "work" on the head while I finished stitching the base of the tail. I had to get some more stuffing to make up for what was lost when someone had decided to go swimming in it, but it was not long before I was tying a knot in the thread and calling the job done.

"And just like that! Good as new! What do you think, bud?"

Toothless paused his delicate work. He dropped the needle, and I spun the plush toy around until the repaired seam faced him. He inspected it before giving a "huff" of approval.

"Alright then, I guess that just means we'll have to take it back to my room."

I offered him a hand, and he jovially hopped right into it before clawing his way up to my shoulder, where he perched himself and purred into my ear. I picked up the plushie with both arms and walked to my bedroom, being careful not to trip on the enormous tail that dragged along the floor. When I arrived in my room, the familiar scene of disaster struck me as rather embarrassing.

"Sorry, bud. It's a bit of a mess in here. I never clean it."

What struck me as odd was the fact that I was standing in the midst of my room, apologizing to a dragon for how messy it was. He hopped to the floor and sniffed around, occasionally shooting faces of disapproval at me.

"I know, I know. It's kinda bad."

He smelled a dirty sock and gagged before shooting a plasma blast at it, causing a rather large spider to creep out of the sock.

He shrieked, and another well-placed fireball made quick work of that problem. He didn't seem to be satisfied with one blast though, as he just kept shooting blast after blast at the deceased arachnid, until all that remained were a few smoldering remains of charred sock fuzz and spider legs.

"Alright, alright, I think you got him! Can you not burn the house down? Please and thank you!"

He huffed and turned around, shooting another plasma blast at another sock.

"Hey! Stop that! No fire in the—" puff "—house…"

He looked at me, furious, his spines glowing electric blue.

"Clean your room," he growled.

"Ehehehe… what?"

"I said, 'Clean your room.'"

"Oh, okay mom," I blew out, rolling my eyes. "Just give me a—"

"CLEAN YOUR ROOM!"

"Okay, okay! Oh my gosh, just like… chill out, okay?" I said worriedly as I quickly started throwing my clothes into the hamper.

He snorted, and the blue glow faded. It didn't even occur to me that he literally just communicated with me until much later. I was more worried about whether or not he was going to burn the house down.

As I picked up the mess, Toothless innocently looked up at his display case and hopped inside.

"Wait, no! Don't go yet, there's so much I wanted to do with you! Please, wait! Don't leave me alone, please!" I nearly sobbed. "I could use your help!"

It was no use. He shot me one last look of disgust before returning to his happy, statue-like state.

Motionless.

Unresponsive.

Dead.

I gently brushed his ears as tears began to fill my eyes. He was no longer skin and scales, but polystone and paint.

Heartbroken, I closed the magnetic door to his display case and looked around at the newest source of my guilt.

Maybe I should clean my room.

o.O.o

Never, in a million years, would I have thought my room would have gotten so clean so fast, let alone with me being the one doing it. It only took me a couple hours.

Okay, that was a bit of a lie. The sun had already set by the time I was done.

Still, record time.

I threw out all the trash that had been cluttering the floor. I changed my bedsheets. I picked up, washed, dried, and folded all the laundry, and I put away what I could. As it turns out, I was able to fill an entire trash bag with clothes I didn't need, and I knew just where to take them.

When I returned from Goodwill, I vacuumed the floor. I vacuumed the window sills. I vacuumed the blinds. I vacuumed the vents. I vacuumed the lights.

Heck, I vacuumed the entire doggone ceiling.

Yes, it needed it.

For the record, I did find my keys, as well as my backup keys. I also found my wallet and my backup wallet. I put them with my second and third backups. And who knew I had so many pairs of underwear? I sure didn't!

My room felt like it had doubled in size since that morning.

And after all that, the dragon hadn't budged.

There was only one thing left to clean, and that was… myself.

o.O.o

"Toothless! You're back!"

The dragon flapped up to my shoulder and nuzzled my cheek before giving it a juicy lap of mouth water. I didn't care that I had just showered; he could lick me whenever he wanted.

I stood there for a moment and smiled as waves of accomplishment—and dragon saliva, for that matter—washed over me. I could not have been more proud of what I had done that day. Even if Toothless had not come back to life, it would have been worth it.

But he did come back, and that alone called for celebration.

"We should celebrate somehow, bud! What do you say? Are you hungry?"

Was that even a question?

o.O.o

It was on my second-to-last bite of homemade Teriyaki chicken that it occurred to me why Toothless had been exploring so much since he finished eating, and it made my heart sink. I looked with pity at the dragon, whose face was now buried underneath a newspaper, his ears sprouting from underneath the pages.

He must be lonely.

I let out a melancholic sigh. "I bet you're looking for Hiccup, aren't you?"

Toothless backed himself out from underneath the newspaper and made eye contact with me before tilting his head.

My jaw dropped.

"What?! Are you telling me you don't know who Hiccup is?" I asked, nearly spitting out my chicken.

His head tilted further.

"Well then… I guess we should fix that. Tonight."

I took my last bite, and I didn't skip a beat. It was not long before my plate was rinsed and I was curled up on the couch with a pillow on my lap for the Night Fury to lie on.

Surely enough, the dragon looked at me from the floor and blinked before making the leap onto the couch. I lifted my hand as he clawed his way between it and the pillow. At length, he settled down and purred, folding his wings and letting my hand stroke his back as the opening sequence began.

"Hey look! There you are, in the background!" I whispered.

He huffed. Of course he noticed immediately.

"Okay," I chuckled. "I'll shut up now."

"This is Berk. It's twelve days north of…"

o.O.o

Who would have guessed something could hold his attention for so long?

I won't go into detail about how he responded to every scene, but the way he reacted was, for the most part, just about how anyone would expect.

He hid his face behind his tail a couple times in the beginning, but every time my hand would run down his back, he would relax a little more.

When "Forbidden Friendship" began, I started tearing up, as usual. Seeing the beginning of such a beautiful friendship never failed to strike a chord. Toothless must have heard me sniffle quietly because he turned around and put two paws on my chest to lick my tears away.

Needless to say, I didn't mind.

Sometimes, when he was facing me, I could see him watching the movie in the reflection made by the window behind me. I supposed it was a good thing I accidentally left the blinds up.

Oh, and his reactions weren't always positive. When Stoick yelled, "Stop the fight!" in the Kill Ring scene, I heard a plasma blast charging up.

"Oh, no you don't!" I scorned, pinching his jaw shut with two fingers. He gave out a tiny squeak, and two puffs of smoke escaped from his nostrils.

When he saw himself get captured, hiding behind his tail apparently wasn't enough. He turned to me and buried his face in my shirt.

I put my hand on his back and soothed him. "Don't worry, bud. They don't kill you. It will get better."

And then he was in chains.

"I promise, it gets better."

And then everything was on fire.

And then he was drowning.

The dragon turned to stare expressionless at me with half-lidded eyes. It took everything in my power not to snort.

Just ten more seconds.

When he burst from the water in the movie, his wings fell, and his jaw dropped.

"See? You can trust me," I whispered.

His jaw snapped shut, and he glanced back at me for a moment, smiling, before returning his gaze to the screen.

He was a little tense for the rest of the battle scene, but nothing made his muscles tense up more than when Hiccup fell. He rested his chin on his paws and let out a very quiet croon.

I decided to remain silent this time, still gently stroking the spines on his back to comfort him.

When Hiccup was revealed, the dragon's ears perked up a little bit, and his tail swayed slowly.

He was smiling for the rest of the movie.

When the credits began rolling, he turned around and rested his chin on my collar. I leaned my cheek over to him.

"Thanks, bud," I said, wrapping my arms around him. It took all of my self-control not to squeeze.

We stayed like that for a couple minutes, listening to the closing music as the rolling credits illuminated the room.

I had never been so happy.

o.O.o

"Don't worry bud, there's two sequels, a couple shorts, and an entire series based on that movie. We can watch all of them together! I-if you want…"

Toothless yawned, crawled up to my shoulder, and leaned against my neck.

"Well… not tonight, of course… I mean, I'm tired too…"

When I felt like he was situated, I carefully stood up and walked to my room. I was once again taken back by how clean it was, and I intended to keep it that way.

When I saw the way he was looking at the display case, my eyes started to burn. I walked closer and opened the magnetic door, holding my arm out as a bridge for him to walk down. He advanced gracefully before turning around on his crystal perch.

"Well bud, I guess this is it," I said, my voice quivering. "You'll be back tomorrow, right?"

The unsure look in his eyes made my heart sink further. I held my palm next to his face, and he pressed into it, closing his glassy eyes for a moment.

He backed away and returned to his statue position.

"See you... tomorrow... I hope..." I mumbled.

He visibly stiffened.

How did I know that he would ever come back to life?

Oh, don't cry, dang it. Don't cry!

A single tear disobeyed me, and my breath shook as I stared into his unmoving eyes, my palm resting on the cool glass. The time we had spent together had been... amazing. I wished I could relive those moments over and over again.

After a minute, I sniffled and turned away to face my bed, looking at the plushie and the blanket that were inviting me to a peaceful rest.

I curled up in my bed and assumed my favorite sleeping position: hugging the stuffed dragon with the blanket pulled up to my armpits. I closed my eyes with contentment, but I could not stop thinking about the things that happened that day, and I wondered if they would ever happen again.

Once again, I imagined the stuffed dragon purring to me, and all my worries vanished.

I will see him tomorrow, breathing or not, and that's all that matters.

.

A few minutes later, just as I was on the verge of falling asleep, I heard the glass door of the display case squeak open. I opened my eyes to see that Toothless was no longer on his perch.

Oh, great. Are you kidding me?

"Toothless? Where'd you go?" I asked nervously.

Thud.

"Oh."

The stealthy dragon landed on the edge of my pillow and looked into my eyes, before he did something that I will never forget.

He wriggled between the stuffed dragon and me, and then he let out a happy sigh that tickled my neck. When I tucked my chin, two beady little eyes blinked back at me, with his head nestled between my rib cage and the black fluff cloud I was hugging. He licked his nose and slowly closed his eyes.

I smiled. "I suppose there's room for two of you."

He purred.

While we laid in my bed keeping each other warm, I closed my eyes very slowly to the sound of tiny, whistling nostrils, combined with the feeling of an occasional twitch of a paw against my shirt.

As I hugged him, it occurred to me that he was too small to hug me back, so he had settled for the next best thing. He let me do all the hugging, and I was more than delighted to oblige. I smiled even brighter at the thought.

"Sweet dreams, bud," I finally whispered.

Hum.

I didn't need any magical translator to know in my heart what he meant, and I took it as a compliment.

"Good night, Hiccup."