Whump Server Prompt: Crash landing

Summary: Takes place during Httyd 1. Toothless knew crashing was already a painful experience for a dragon, but for a human, it could be dangerous. Especially for a fifteen-year-old boy like Hiccup.

Author's Note: Another whump prompt from the Httyd whump server that I'm a part of! This time it's "crash landing"! For once, I decided to whump smolcup.

Constructive criticism is appreciated! It's past midnight!

Enjoy!

First Crash

Learning how to fly was a process that came with its ups and downs. Creating a tailfin light and strong enough for a Night Fury to use was one thing, but then getting that tailfin to cooperate was an entirely different story.

Originally, it wasn't Hiccup's intention to reach for the skies himself. What he wanted was to correct his wrong and help the Night Fury he'd hurt to be able to fly again. The goal was to see Toothless fly and when Toothless would no longer need him, Hiccup would let him go.

Though, there was the anticipation, the excitement, whenever they came so close.

Of course, flying also meant accepting that the occasional crash could happen. They were both new at this, figuring each other out, working out how this "flying with two as one" thing was supposed to work.

One time, it ended quite badly.

"Hey, we're doing it, Bud! We're doing it!" Hiccup's excitement that their take-off was a success made Toothless' heart soar, too. The human juvenile had an effect on him, the dragon started noticing this long ago.

Toothless roared, sharing his enthusiasm as they passed rows of trees. He knew Hiccup responded to vocal noises. It made sense, Hiccup used his voice all the time.

However, their joy was short-lived as Hiccup pushed the stirrup down just a tad bit too much and ended up smacking the Night Fury's prosthetic into the branches of a tree they passed. It collapsed and the wind pushed them off balance.

"Oh no." Was all Hiccup managed to say when the two of them were brought back down to the ground, not even a full minute after taking off.

Crashlanding always hurt and Toothless knew this more than any other dragon ever since a certain Viking decided to shoot him out of the sky. He wasn't looking forward to his inevitable collision with the ground.

It was hard, just like he expected it to be. The ground was unforgiving.

When he finally stilled, after slamming into another tree, there wasn't just the pain, but he was upset as well.

He was mad at Hiccup. For taking his tailfin, for making flying something he needed to relearn, for causing them to crash again.

It lasted for a solid second. Then he realized the boy was no longer on his back or even near him.

There would certainly be bruises, but Toothless was otherwise unharmed and he quickly got up to his feet, immediately scanning the area for Hiccup.

There was a fallen tree obscuring his view on one side and Toothless decided to check behind it. That was where he finally found the human youngling.

He was lying on his front, limbs splayed out. Toothless could tell he was still alive, but blood was staining his hair and face and that was a reason for concern. Jumping over the tree, he quickly approached.

Hiccup's eyes were closed, he was unconscious.

Toothless crooned worriedly, nuzzling his boy's cheek in an attempt to wake him up. For as angry as he could be at him sometimes, he didn't want the human to be hurt. They were friends.

Thankfully, Hiccup stirred.

"Bud?" Toothless purred, at least Hiccup wasn't unconscious for long. He felt like that must be a good sign, though he knew very little of humans besides the sad fact that they weren't fireproof.

With a pained groan, Hiccup rolled onto his back and Toothless stood over him, blocking out the sun. Hiccup grimaced. Everything hurt.

"You know, if we're gonna do this whole flying thing, we probably shouldn't be making a habit out of crashing, right?" He asked, finding some way to lighten the situation even with his head pounding.

Toothless grumbled. Of course, they shouldn't be crashing. What a time to realize this.

He sniffed the blood covering Hiccup's face and found the source to be a headwound. Hiccup tried to wipe it out of his eyes and looked at his hands. They were wet and stained.

"Oh, Gods..." He groaned and sat up, his brain throbbing terribly inside of his skull. He held his head, hoping that the feeling and the dizziness would cease soon. He suddenly felt very nauseous as well, like he was about to throw up any second.

Toothless stepped back to give him some space. Should he be doing something? Did the human need his help? He wasn't sure. He decided to wait and see.

Moving his legs, Hiccup could feel something wasn't quite right with his left. But it wasn't until he tried to get up that he realized his ankle was broken. He yelped and held it, butt back on the ground.

Toothless was watching him closely, realizing that the face he was pulling was one out of pain. Reminding himself to croon in order to communicate with the Viking, he drew his attention and got a teary-eyed look from him.

"I'm fine, Bud, don't worry. I just need to get back to the village." He wasn't looking forward to it, he could already see the sneers and hear them blaming him for getting into trouble again as someone helped him to Gothi's.

Even though, his reputation had become significantly more positive ever since he started acing dragon training, that was still the reaction he expected to get.

Using the fallen tree to get up, Hiccup knew he wasn't going anywhere with his left ankle the way it was. Trying to break off a branch that was just tall enough for him, though, that wasn't quite so easy either.

"Oh, come on!" Toothless watched him push and pull in his efforts to remove the branch, all while trying to keep his weight off his injured foot. He wasn't so successful, doing this only seemed to be hurting him more, so Toothless decided to intervene.

Using his head to pull Hiccup away, Toothless got him to lean on him. He needed to hold onto the dragon in order not to fall and jostle his ankle too much. Or his head for that matter. Everything spun when Toothless removed him from the tree.

"Toothless?" But he figured out what Toothless must be trying to do.

"Are you helping me back?" He asked, but instead of being answered, Toothless walked into the direction he knew the human pack to be settled at, taking a minor detour around the downed tree.

Hiccup held onto him and the saddle. He needed to be fast if he didn't want to end up on the ground.

They were about half an hour away by foot. Quickly realizing that this would be a distance difficult for Hiccup to walk with his ankle in this state, Toothless convinced Hiccup to get back in the saddle.

He "convinced" him by throwing Hiccup onto it. It got him to let out an unpleasant cry of pain, but Toothless wasn't quite sure how to tell him otherwise. He could understand Hiccup, most of the time, but Hiccup was still learning his way, his language. There was no way to tell him. Not yet, at least.

"You could've warned me, Bud." Hiccup told him once he allowed himself to breathe again, shaking from the pain.

Ah well, at least he was in the saddle. The stirrup, though he couldn't use it, gave his ankle some much-needed support. Letting it hang there would've only hurt it more.

With Hiccup secure on his back, Toothless brought him home.

There were some obstacles the dragon needed to climb over, but nothing that required the aid of a complete tailfin. Having Toothless to help him back homemade what should've been a half an hour or longer of slow, painful limping a fast ride home. And in the meantime, Hiccup took his mind off his injuries by familiarizing himself with the Night Fury's movements.

It wasn't easy. His head throbbed awfully and it was hard to think, but it was all he could do to try and pass the time. For as swift and smooth as Toothless could run, every slight jerk upwards caused his head to feel like it was reeling back and his stomach like it was about to rid itself of his breakfast.

After a couple of minutes, they reached the outskirts of Berk and Toothless slowed to a stop. He looked up at Hiccup, wanting to know if he wanted to be brought closer or if he could make this distance on foot.

"This is far enough, Bud. Thanks." Hiccup told him gratefully, petting the top of his head. He didn't want the Night Fury to get any closer than he already was. He'd be endangering himself if he did.

Toothless watched him dismount, nearly falling to the ground when he accidentally put weight on his injured foot. He couldn't use it at all.

Toothless brought that fact up by headbutting him. It was strong enough to knock him off his feet if Hiccup hadn't been quick enough to hold onto him.

Hiccup let out an awkward laugh, as if his ankle wasn't on fire, and let go of the Night Fury.

"I'll-I'll be fine, Bud. I'll make it." He reassured him and worked on removing the saddle. He wasn't sure when he would be back with injuries such as these, but it might be a long while. By the time he could return, the leather saddle would only chafe the dragon's hide.

Putting it down and nearly falling over as his head injury left him dizzy and with a double vision, Hiccup faced the dragon again. He looked worried, though Toothless couldn't quite tell yet.

"Listen, Bud... I know this is your first time out of the cove, but be careful, okay? Most of the people here don't wander into the forest, but there are a few who do. Like, this one girl you need to be careful of. She likes to train all alone in the woods." Hiccup wasn't quite sure who he was protecting.

Hiccup doubted Toothless would look at any Viking teen and go "oh, they must be harmless!" as he did with him and he knew for sure that Astrid would, at the very least, look at Toothless and come back running to tell dragon killers that there was an unknown dragon closeby in the forest.

Hiccup just hoped Toothless knew how to stay safe. He wasn't an idiot, but that didn't make Hiccup worry any less for him.

"Um... Bye?" Hiccup awkwardly spoke with a hesitant wave and Toothless sat down.

"Toothless, go." The dragon cocked his head to the side.

"Go!" Hiccup repeated and pointed into the direction of the forest. Toothless responded by gesturing into the direction of the village. They were close enough that they could catch a glimpse of the first of the houses in the far distance.

"You're staying until I'm in the village?" Hiccup asked, wanting to be sure he got that right. Toothless repeated the gesture in the exact same way.

Hiccup couldn't help but give him a cautious smile. Toothless wanted to make sure he got home safe before he left. It made him feel good to know that the dragon cared for him as much as he did. He was deeply touched.

Briefly, there was the urge to hug him, but Hiccup managed to suppress it. No use scaring Toothless off with his overzealous affectionate gestures.

"I'll see you soon." He told him instead, his heartfelt smile never leaving, and turned to limp into the village. He hoped he would be back soon. He would hate to keep Toothless out of the sky for any longer than he needed to be.

He wasn't far anymore and still it took him, in his opinion, much too long to reach Berk. It almost hurt too much to walk, all that kept him going was that he simply didn't have any other choice. And the apparent fact that Toothless wouldn't be able to rest easy if Hiccup didn't make it to his people.

His knee buckled, he was too dizzy, but he got caught before he fell to the ground.

He held onto what turned out to be a wooden prosthetic hand. Looking up, it was his mentor blacksmithing that kept him from falling. Hiccup was surprised to see him, but he wasn't complaining.

"Hiccup? By Odin's ghost, boy, what happened to you?!" Gobber asked, there was shock and worry in his voice.

"Ah, well, uh... You know me! Fell down a ditch! Like an idiot." He did feel that way. He should've known to be careful with Toothless' prosthetic. It was a sensitive thing, it needed to be handled with care.

"That's okay, lad. Come here. Let's get you patched up." Gobber spoke softly and caringly threw an arm around the boy to support him on the way to Gothi's.

Toothless stayed and watched from the treelines until Hiccup was out of sight and he left, heading straight for the cove.