Author's Note: Hey, everybody! Welcome back to another edition to "Sticks and Stones!" =D I'm really surprised by how many favs and follows this story received after just a couple of days! X) Thank you so much, you guys! I'm really glad you all are enjoying this so far! =D

So! Here's the next one-shot for "Sticks and Stones!" I hope you guys enjoy it! =D

Summary: Toothless is a Night Fury, so he should be treated with respect. So, when Hiccup begins to unintentionally ignore him, Toothless decides to try and gain his attention. (Post HTTYD.)

Pay Attention to the Night Fury

"Come on, Bud, I'm sorry!"

Toothless didn't move.

"Please, can you come out now?"

Toothless still didn't move.

"I'll give you extra fish tonight! I'm really sorry for whatever I did!"

Toothless growled at Hiccup. His rider was so clueless. He didn't even know what he had done to offend him, and he had the nerve to come and apologize without knowing what he was apologizing for! The Night Fury curled into himself and swept his tail in front of his face to avoid Hiccup's gaze. The auburn-haired teen's shoulders slumped, and he sighed.

Astrid entered the former kill ring and looked over to where Hiccup and Toothless were. She walked up to them curiously, wondering why Toothless was curled into himself and why Hiccup was repeatedly saying he was sorry. Astrid stood behind Hiccup, and she cleared her throat, alerting the young viking to her presence. Hiccup turned around.

"Oh, hey, Astrid," said Hiccup rather glumly.

"Hey to you as well," said Astrid. She crossed her arms. "You know, you could've greeted me more cheerfully."

"Sorry," Hiccup said. "It's just…" he sighed and gestured to Toothless. "My stubborn dragon won't move, and he isn't listening to me. I think he might just be being moody—"

Toothless tightened into his ball at the word "moody."

"Or he's actually upset with me," said Hiccup, noticing how Toothless stiffened at the word.

Astrid nodded. "Well, what did you do?"

"That's the thing. I don't know what I did," said Hiccup. "I guess I must have offended him somehow, but I can't think of what I did in this entire day that caused offense to my dragon."

Toothless grumbled from where he sat as if to say, "Well, you did do something, and I'm not moving until you apologize for it."

Hiccup frowned in frustration. "It's getting dark, and my dad doesn't like it when I get home late. Plus, I promised I'd take Toothless on a flight before then, but it seems like he doesn't really want to do that right now."

"Well, what did you do today?" asked Astrid. "Think back and go through everything that you did that leads up to now. Maybe you'll catch what you did that offended Toothless."

Toothless grunted. "Smart girl. You should listen to her, Hiccup."

Hiccup glared at his Night Fury and then turned back to Astrid. "Okay, well, I woke up this morning like usual…"

…

Hiccup yawned as he sat up in bed. The sun was streaming through his window, and he could faintly hear the sounds of birds chirping outside. The young viking smiled. He deemed that it was going to be a wonderful, normal day despite the fact that he had a busy schedule.

After recently making peace with the dragons, the vikings of Berk had been trying their best to learn the creatures' ways. What they like, what they don't like, what places they prefer to sleep—everything that they could learn about the dragons so they could make them comfortable. Since Hiccup had the most experience with dragons, he was often called by various viking families who were having dragon problems and such. Hiccup had managed to calm down aggressive Terrible Terrors, catch hiding Zipplebacks (who proved to be extremely good hiders), and even soothe a Deadly Nadder who had been crying for days on end.

Like the first time they had seen Hiccup train a dragon, the vikings were amazed and continued to ask Hiccup for help whenever they needed it, which the young viking didn't mind. Sometimes, things would get too busy, and Hiccup didn't manage to make it to everyone, but he tried his best to help as many people as they could so that they could help others if other vikings needed help with their dragons.

Hiccup stretched and pulled himself out of bed, almost forgetting to strap on his prosthetic leg until he felt his left leg's absence. Hiccup sighed and strapped on his prosthetic. It had been a few months since the battle with the Red Death, but he still wasn't entirely used to the piece of metal that now served as his left leg. Hiccup stood up and ran downstairs to eat breakfast, leaving a very appalled Toothless upstairs. The Night Fury couldn't believe that Hiccup had just left without even saying good morning or giving him a pat on the head in greeting. And they didn't even go on their usual morning flight! Toothless grunted and picked up the saddle and tailfin in his mouth and walked downstairs. The flight must have slipped Hiccup's mind. He had been busy lately, but the young viking still spent as much time as he could with his dragon.

Toothless walked downstairs, hoping that the flight had popped back into Hiccup's mind, but he arrived downstairs just in time to see Hiccup leave. Toothless dropped the saddle and tailfin and frowned indignantly. His rider just left the house, completely forgetting about their flight, and didn't even say good morning! How rude!

Toothless walked out the door and followed Hiccup. The Night Fury nudged Hiccup's back and warbled. Hiccup turned around and he smiled.

"Hey, Bud!" said Hiccup. He gave Toothless a quick pat on the head before walking off toward the village once again. Toothless was shocked. That was it? A quick, simple greeting and then nothing?

Toothless continued to follow Hiccup through Berk, deciding that he would just follow Hiccup around and try to get his attention. Besides, how hard is it to notice the unholy offspring of lightning and death itself walking right next to you?

…

Hiccup had a lot of things to do. He had to visit two families who had been having trouble with their dragon's, and then he had to head to the forge to catch up on work that he missed while he was out and help Gobber with some orders. Apparently, vikings have been ordering new weapons for more friendly uses like to teach people how to fight and defend instead of killing dragons.

While Hiccup thought that the new high demand for weapons was unnecessary, he still wasn't going to let Gobber go through making lots and lots of weapons by himself. He wanted to help him out, and he had to be at the forge on time before large crowds of vikings swarmed it, waiting to pick up newly sharpened weapons or completed ones.

Hiccup arrived at the first house and knocked on the door. This family had said that they owned a Terrible Terror who was causing a lot of trouble. They weren't very clear on what trouble exactly, but it must have been serious because Hiccup could hear shouts and cries coming from inside. Some items crashed to the ground as well and Hiccup winced.

Looks like they'll have some extra cleaning to do, thought Hiccup. He waited patiently and after a moment, a young girl came to the door and opened it. Her brown hair was disheveled, and Hiccup spotted that there were a couple of breadcrumbs scattered in her hair and on her clothes. Splotches of what seemed to be soup were splattered on her skirt and boots.

"Hey there," said Hiccup. "I'm here to help with your Terror problem."

"Oh, thank Thor!" the girl exclaimed. She dragged—literally dragged—Hiccup inside and quickly shut the door. She led Hiccup into the dining room and explained her family's situation on the way.

"You see, our family took in a Terrible Terror because they're cute and supposedly easy to take care of," she explained. "But this one keep on eating everything! Anything that it can get its claws on!"

For such a young girl, she explained things quite well. She led Hiccup into the dining room and Hiccup stared at the mess that laid before him. The girl's parents watched the light purple Terror sit in the center the table, chomping on an apple. The entire room was splattered with various food stains, and the chairs were turned over. The parents were covered in food as well, and Hiccup noticed claw marks on the cupboards and pantries.

"I hope you don't have any food," the young girl said. "Because if you do, he will do anything to take it from you."

Now that sounded scary. Hiccup nodded and he looked up at the parents.

"I'm guessing that he's been kind of ruining your family dinners," said Hiccup.

The mother nodded. "He's usually so sweet, but when it comes to food—"

"He's a savage!" the father exclaimed.

"I wouldn't say savage, more like…hm…rough," said the mother.

Hiccup turned his attention back to the Terrible Terror. He had an idea, but he would need everyone to work together for it to work.

"Okay, everyone," said Hiccup. "First, we need to get this guy contained. Then, we can get to work on the continuous eating problem."

The family nodded and Hiccup asked, "So, do you guys have a cage or something that we can contain this guy in?"

…

Toothless sat outside of the hut, waiting for Hiccup to return. He wondered what was taking him so long. Usually when Hiccup helped villagers with their dragon problems, it only took him a few minutes. But it had been over ten, and Toothless was beginning to grow a little impatient. They still had a flight to go on, and the Night Fury wasn't really in the mood to wait.

Suddenly, various crashing sounds came from inside the house. Toothless listened curiously and he cocked his head. The loud noises ceased and Toothless could hear Hiccup explaining some things to whoever lived inside. After some time, Hiccup stepped out, covered in breadcrumbs.

"And don't forget to make sure that he knows what he's supposed to be eating!" Hiccup called back into the house before shutting the door. Toothless sat there, waiting for his rider to say that it was time to fly, but he only dusted off the breadcrumbs he was covered in and continued on to the next house. Seriously?

Toothless followed Hiccup to the second house. From what the Night Fury had heard, this family owned a Gronkle who wouldn't stop spewing lava. Toothless watched every single attempt that Hiccup, the husband, and wife made to get near the dragon, and Hiccup was eventually able to calm it down. He explained to the two that they shouldn't feed the Gronkle so many rocks and make sure not to leave any lying around. The couple nodded and thanked Hiccup, and the young viking left the house. Toothless walked up to him and blocked his path, clearly agitated that he wasn't getting any attention. Hiccup bumped into Toothless and backed up.

"Toothless? What's wrong, Bud?" asked Hiccup.

Hiccup didn't notice that he had been ignoring him? Toothless grumbled and gestured to the sky and spread his wings, telling Hiccup that he wanted—no, needed—to go on a flight. Hiccup had forgotten that morning, and Toothless wanted him to make up for that and how he wasn't paying attention to him.

"We'll go on a flight soon, Bud, I promise," Hiccup said. He looked up into the sky and his eyes widened. "Oh no, I'm going to be late!" Hiccup ran off toward the forge, leaving Toothless behind.

At this point, Toothless was extremely annoyed. He was a Night Fury! He was the unholy offspring of lightning and death itself, and he should be treated as such. He deserved some respect!

Toothless decided that if Hiccup wasn't going to pay any attention to him, he might as well try to get it. The Night Fury bounded to the forge and slipped inside, walking past Gobber and headed over to where Hiccup was working on sharpening a sword. As Toothless walked over to Hiccup, he accidentally knocked over a couple of tools and inventions to the floor and crushed a paper that looked somewhat important (even though Toothless had no idea what it said). Hiccup looked up from what he was doing and sighed.

"Toothless, you need to be more careful," he said. Toothless frowned. Oh, so now he noticed him.

Toothless crooned apologetically and Hiccup returned to sharpening the sword. Toothless watched as Hiccup worked with weapon after weapon, either fixing them or simply sharpening them. Toothless wished he would go faster so that they could go on their flight, but Hiccup was trying to work thoroughly, which seemed to Toothless like slowly. Very, very slowly.

Finally having enough of waiting, Toothless decided to try and help Hiccup out. He scanned the shelves and spotted a tool that looked like it could be useful. Toothless couldn't quite reach it the way he was standing, so he stood up on his hind legs and snatched it off the shelf. Toothless triumphantly smirked to himself and turned around, still standing up straight, and accidentally knocked over a couple of weapons that had just been sharpened. Toothless winced and went back down to all fours and tried to hide the mess. He used his paw to bat away the weapons, but he only made them dirtier.

Hiccup returned from the other room with a couple of papers in hand and spotted the knocked over weapons and even messier working area. Toothless turned around, accidentally sweeping the papers out of Hiccup's hand with his tail.

"Toothless!" exclaimed Hiccup. Toothless stepped back and crooned an apology and Hiccup bent down to pick up the papers.

"Why don't you go and wait at the Ring?" said Hiccup. "We'll go on a flight later, okay?"

Toothless was upset. Hiccup just wouldn't listen to him. The Night Fury tossed the tool in his mouth to the side and stormed out of the forge, heading for the Ring just like Hiccup asked. And the young viking didn't even think to question his dragon's odd behavior.

…

"When I finished in the forge and came back here, I found him like this," said Hiccup as he gestured to Toothless. The Night Fury was still curled into himself, his back turned to Hiccup. The Haddock sighed.

"I said I was sorry, but Toothless isn't budging. I thought he was upset because I was a little late to getting here and—"

Astrid raised her hand. "Hiccup, sometimes I can't believe how clueless you can be."

Hiccup blinked. "W-what?"

"It's clear why Toothless is upset with you," said Astrid. She looked over to the Night Fury and continued, "He isn't listening to you because you weren't listening to him."

"Me?" asked Hiccup.

Astrid rolled her eyes. "Yes, you muttonhead. You didn't say good morning to him when you woke up, you barely took notice of him the entire day, and when you finally did, you sent him off," Astrid crossed her arms. "It's a simple payback situation. You didn't listen to him, so he isn't going to listen to you until you apologize."

Hiccup turned back to Toothless as the realization suddenly dawned on him. He hadn't been paying attention to Toothless for practically the entire day. He must have felt really frustrated when he sent him off to the Academy, finally taking notice of him, just not in the way the Night Fury wanted.

Hiccup sighed. "Toothless…I'm sorry, Bud. I didn't realize that I haven't been paying attention to you until now. I'm sorry for not giving you any attention, and we can go on a flight right now if you want."

Toothless peaked out from his tail and grumbled, telling Hiccup that he was missing something. Hiccup rolled his eyes.

"Oh, almighty Night Fury, I am so sorry for disregarding and disrespecting you. Will you please accept my sincere apology and take on my offer on going on a flight?" Hiccup said.

Satisfied, Toothless stood up and crooned. The Night Fury gave Hiccup a slobbery lick and went off to fetch the saddle and tail. Hiccup laughed as he wiped off the dragon slobber, and Astrid grinned from his side.

"Thanks, Astrid," said Hiccup. "I'd probably still be standing here apologizing to Toothless like crazy if you hadn't stepped in."

Astrid smiled and patted Hiccup's shoulder. "No problem, Hiccup. I'm happy to knock some sense into you whenever you need it."

Hiccup smiled and Toothless returned with the tailfin and saddle, and Hiccup quickly put them on his dragon and hopped onto Toothless' back. The two took to the skies and went on a nice, long flight.

And Hiccup made a silent promise to himself that he would always pay attention to his dragon, no matter what.

Author's Note: Ah, I just love Hiccup and Toothless' friendship. It's a really amazing bond. =D

I hope you guys enjoyed this short story, and I'll see you in the next part of "Sticks and Stones!" =D

Until the next chapter!

-BeyondTheMoon1203