It had been a month since Hiccup found and saved the white haired stranger. It hadn't exactly been a calm and easy month for Hiccup. First he had gotten lectured by Astrid because he forgot to tell her that she would be responsible for the dragon training during the time he had to take care of the stranger. Then he found out that no one wanted to watch over the stranger when he wanted a break which meant that he couldn't take Toothless out to fly. Said dragon was quite pissed at Hiccup right now. He also found out that the stranger didn't like the heat too much, if the tons of sweat rolling down his face were any clue. The upsides of the month? Hiccup had succeeded in getting the dragons inside the house again just a few days after he had taken in the stranger, though they were very cautious around the man. The stranger also seemed to heal quicker than they thought. The downside? The stranger still haven't woken up.
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Hiccup groaned as he was shaken awake by Astrid.
"Come on sleepyhead. You are going to kill your neck if you continue to sleep like that." Astrid said with a chuckle. Hiccup sat straight up as massaged his neck. He had fallen asleep in the chair. Again.
"I think it's too late for that Astrid." Hiccup said and stretched his back and arms before returning to massage his neck. Astrid rolled her eyes and kissed Hiccup. Hiccup smiled in the kiss and kissed back.
"You know, I miss my boyfriend." Astrid said after the kiss and looked longingly an Hiccup.
"Sorry Astrid but I don't dare to leave him alone for a long time." Hiccup said and scratched the back of his head, feeling guilty. He turned and looked at the stranger.
"Come on Hiccup. He hasn't woken up for a whole month. His condition is stable enough for you to leave him for an hour or two. It's not like he is going to wake up the moment you take away your eyes from him." Astrid said and hugged Hiccup loosely from the side.
"You have a point in that." Hiccup said and looked at Astrid. They smiled at each other and kissed again. They didn't know for how long they had been kissing when Toothless , who had been sleeping in a corner, growled. Hiccup and Astrid broke apart and looked at Toothless.
"Toothless? What's wrong bud?" Hiccup asked when Toothless looked at them and growled slightly.
"Why are you growling at us?" he asked but got no answer from Toothless. Astrid turned around to look behind them.
"He is not growling at us Hiccup." she said and Hiccup turned around too. He was met by a pair of crystal blue eyes. The white haired stranger was sitting up, the blanket had fallen down so he would have been bare chested if it hadn't been for the bandages, and he was staring at Hiccup and Astrid. Hiccup and the stranger stared at each other and Hiccup felt how his cheeks was heating up. Who knew how long the stranger had been staring at him and Astrid making out. Hiccup then realized that Toothless was still growling. He turned to the growling dragon in a try to get away from the stranger's stare.
"You can stop growling now Toothless. We know that he is awake." he said but Toothless didn't stop. He was staring threateningly at the stranger as he growled.
"He is our guest Toothless! And you don't threat guests!" Hiccup said and rose up and got to the dragon. He patted the dragon's snout in a try to calm the dragon down but it only lessened the intensity of the growling, not stopping it. The stranger had looked curiously at Hiccup when he had talked to Toothless but his eyes moved to Toothless when the dragon stood up and took a protective stance in front of Hiccup.
"It looks like Toothless is ready to kill him." Astrid said and looked worriedly at Hiccup.
"I already figured it out Astrid." Hiccup said and tried to walk in front of Toothless but the dragon would have none of it.
"We need to calm Toothless down!" Astrid said and hurried to get some dragon nip. But before she could get it something strange happened. The stranger locked eyes with Toothless and stared at him with a stern look. Toothless stopped growling and stared back. Hiccup and Astrid paused in their movement and looked between the dragon and the stranger.
"Am I seeing right?" Astrid asked and looked at Hiccup.
"Is he staring down Toothless?" she asked with disbelief. Before Hiccup could answer, Toothless broke the eye contact and went back to his corner. He laid down and glared at the stranger. The stranger grinned, obviously quite pleased with his little victory. Astrid and Hiccup stared at the stranger, they couldn't quite understand what just happened.
"Astrid... Could... Could you go and get the doctor?" Hiccup finally said and Astrid nodded and hurried away. Hiccup turned his attention back to the stranger. He was trying to get out of bed.
"No no no! You should stay in bed!" Hiccup said and walked to the stranger and pushed him down back in bed. The stranger glared at Hiccup and tried once again to get out of bed.
"No! Stay in bed!" Hiccup said and held the stranger down. And thus began Hiccup's struggle to keep the stranger in the bed.
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"You are not supposed to lie on the patient." the doctor said when he and Astrid finally had arrived. They had found Hiccup laying on top of the stranger and an amused looking Toothless when they had arrived. Hiccup and the stranger broke their stare down at each other to look at the doctor and Astrid.
"Finally! Help me kee-aaah!" Hiccup half screamed as the stranger took the opportunity to push Hiccup off him and down to the ground when Hiccup got distracted. Toothless' laugh could be heard and both the doctor and Astrid looked unimpressed at Hiccup who was lying on the floor, groaning. The stranger sat up and it looked like he was dying of laughter but no sound came from him. Hiccup sat up and glared at the stranger who was still silently laughing.
"At least he is not trying to get out of bed." Hiccup mumbled and rose up.
"Why were you lying on top of him Hiccup?" Astrid asked with a raised eyebrow. Hiccup dusted himself off.
"Because he wouldn't stay in bed and he is really strong! I had to use my body weight and pin down his arms in order to keep him down!" he exclaimed and the stranger made an innocent face as Hiccup threw a glare at the stranger. The doctor walked to the stranger and the stranger immediately became cautious.
"So let me see the wounds of yours. If you won't let me check on you, I'm afraid that you will be forbidden to leave the bed." the doctor said and began to check the stranger without waiting for an answer. The stranger looked annoyed but let him do that.
"Soo... Have he told you his name?" Astrid asked and looked on as the doctor worked. Hiccup shook his head.
"He haven't made a sound. I think he is mute." he said as he looked at the stranger.
"What?!" Astrid said and looked at Hiccup. Hiccup nodded.
"As I said, he haven't made a sound. Didn't you notice that he was laughing his ass off but still no sound left his lips? And when I was wrestling with him in order to keep him in bed, he didn't grunt or made any other sound like normal people would have made. He was completely silent." he said and furrowed his eyebrows.
"When you point it out..." Astrid said with a nod. Both fell silent when the doctor finished up.
"His wounds looks fine. Keep him in bed for three more days-" the doctor began but paused when there was a creak behind him. Everyone looked behind the doctor to see the stranger trying to sneak away. The stranger paused when he noticed that they had seen him and the four of them stared at each other. Toothless watched curiously at them. Then the stranger tried to run away but the doctor was fast enough to grab the stranger's arms and lift him back into the bed. He made sure that the stranger would go nowhere before he turned to Astrid and Hiccup again.
"Or at least, keep him from moving around too much. I want to check him again after three days. Now, I have to go and amputate a leg that have been badly infected." the doctor said and left them without any other word.
"He certainly likes to leave before any questions can be asked." Astrid said and shook her head.
"You are right about that." Hiccup said and looked at the stranger. The stranger had crossed his arms and pouted.
"Anyway, I better get going. Your real babysitting begins now." Astrid said and gave Hiccup a quick kiss on the lips before she started to leave.
"What?! You are just going to leave me alone?!" Hiccup exclaimed shocked.
"Yup! He isn't my responsibility. And I'm not ready for kids." Astrid said and walked out of the house. Hiccup stared after her.
"Traitor." he mumbled and rubbed his temples. Then a rumbling was heard. Hiccup blinked and slowly looked at the stranger. The stranger was looking down at his stomach, holding it with one hand while holding himself up with the other and he had a purple-ish blush on his cheeks. The rumbling came once again and the stranger's blush became more intense. Hiccup felt a smug smile come to his lips and he chuckled.
"Hungry?" he asked with his smug smile and the stranger shot him a glare.
"I will go and get you some food if you promise to stay in bed." Hiccup said and the stranger continues to glare at him. But the glare got interrupted by a third rumbling and the stranger averted his eyes from Hiccup to a wall. He then gave a small nod and Hiccup smiled in triumph.
"Toothless, make sure he doesn't go out of bed while I'm getting his food." he said and walked away to get some food to the stranger. The stranger and Toothless looked at each other and Toothless gave a short warning growl and the stranger responded with baring his teeth in an attempt to growl back but, once again, no sound left his lips. Though Toothless seemed to get the message and the two went back to staring at each other.
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After some time Hiccup came back with some bread and yak milk. He was surprised that the stranger was still in bed but he was quite happy that he didn't have to chase the guy around.
"Are you having a staring contest with a dragon?" Hiccup asked as he walked to the stranger. Toothless and the stranger broke their eye contact and both looked at Hiccup. The stranger lighted up when he saw the food and almost snatched it out of Hiccup's hands when the food got in reach for him. Hiccup chuckled at the act but frowned when the stranger paused in his actions and sniffed on the food. The stranger tasted a little bit of the food but spat it out almost immediately and made a disgusted face. He gave the food back to Hiccup who had to grab the food in order to prevent it to fall down onto the floor when the stranger just let go of the food.
"This is fresh bread and yak milk! There is nothing wrong with it!" Hiccup exclaimed and glared at the stranger. The stranger shook his head furiously and refused to take back the food. Hiccup gave up on trying to make the stranger eat the bread and the yak milk.
"Alright. I'll go and see if we have anything else." he said and walked away. This continued for a while, Hiccup offering some food and the stranger refusing to eat what Hiccup had to offer.
"Why do you refuse to eat?! Aren't you hungry?!" Hiccup snapped when the stranger refused the fifth offer of food, some chicken. The stranger glared at Hiccup.
"I will not go and get you any other food! Eat that or starve!" Hiccup said and the two stared at each other. Hiccup broke their staring contest and turned towards the door when he heard Toothless' footsteps coming from that direction.
"Toothless?" he asked when the dragon walked into the house and towards them.
"When did you leave?" Hiccup continued as he looked at Toothless. Toothless rolled his eyes and turned to the stranger. The stranger looked curiously at Toothless and lighted up when Toothless dropped a salmon in his lap.
"A fish?" Hiccup questioned and looked at the stranger as he without hesitation picked up the fish and began to eat it. Hiccup stared in disbelief as the stranger ate.
"Fish? You wanted fish?!" Hiccup exclaimed, not believing it. The stranger didn't respond, he just continued to happily eat the fish. Then the stranger paused and looked at Toothless, down at his fish and then at Toothless again. He then proceeded to tear the remaining fish in half and offering one of the halves to Toothless. The dragon looked at him before taking the bit and ate it. The stranger grinned and patted Toothless' snout before returning back to his fish. Hiccup would have sworn that if the stranger had a dog tail, it would have been wagging like crazy. Hiccup sighed and sat down beside the bed and looked at the stranger.
"Now that you have gotten some food in your stomach maybe we could try to figure out how you can communicate. You obviously can't talk. How about writing?" Hiccup asked and the stranger shook his head and finishing his fish.
"No? That's a problem. Then what about hand signs? We can easily teach you that." Hiccup said and the stranger shrugged his shoulders like he didn't care.
"Okay. We go with that. The next problem is what to call you. I can't call you 'you' or 'stranger' all the time. And since you can't talk or write we have to give you a nickname. Hmm... How about Fishtail?" Hiccup said and the stranger quickly shook his head.
"You are right. Sounds too much like Fishlegs. Dogtail?" Hiccup tried and got a blank face as an answer.
"Alright. Not Dogtail. Eyefish?" he tried again and got an annoyed look. Hiccup sighed, this was going to take a while.
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Name after name came but none seemed to be in the stranger's taste. And now was Hiccup running out of ideas.
"Thorin? Fredrik? Odel? Jokul? No wait, not Jokul. The winter god would be angry." Hiccup said more to himself than to the stranger. Hiccup didn't notice how tense the stranger became when he said 'Jokul'. The stranger looked nervously at Hiccup but he was deeply in his thoughts.
"Bert, John, Gerd-no, that's a girl's name-, Kristoff, Patrik?" Hiccup continued and stared at the stranger. He became silent for a little while as he stared intensively at the stranger.
"How about Jack?" Hiccup finally said and the stranger raised an eyebrow before he shrugged. Hiccup breathed out in relief.
"We take that name then. At least you don't hate it!" he said and smiled. The stranger, Jack, rolled his eyes and scratched Toothless under the chin. Toothless purred in bliss.
"You certainly have a way with dragons. Most people outside our village are either afraid or want to kill the dragons." Hiccup noted and Jack shrugged his shoulders and continued to scratch Toothless under the chin.
"I will take you tomorrow around the village because I suspect you won't stay in bed otherwise. So stay in bed the rest of the day and night and we will be out all day tomorrow." Hiccup promised and Jack thought about it before he nodded.
"Good. Alright, now we can begin to teach you the hand signs." Hiccup said and went to work.
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When Hiccup, Toothless and Stoick had gone to bed, Jack stayed up. He looked at the door longingly and a very very weak, barely audible, longing sound came from his throat.
Woho! Third chapter done! You guys have no idea how much I laughed while writing this chapter xD I hope that you enjoyed this chapter too!
Anyway, I'm going to continue to ask the previous questions. Yes, you are able to 'vote' again on your favorite level even if you already had said you opinion on the second question!
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1. Later in the story, Jack will get a dragon. But I don't know what kind of dragon. What do you suggest? I have scauldron and flightmare as suggestions so far.
2. Jack's kind will get a bond with their mate when they have chosen who are going to be their mate for the rest of their life. What I need help with is how this bond is going to affect Hiccup. I have ideas for every level(but level 1 & 5 is more boring and too extreme in my opinion) so I don't know which one to choose. Tell me what you think!
-Level 1: Hiccup isn't affected at all. All that connects him with Jack is his love for him.
-Level 2: Hiccup will have these feelings that tells him that he should stay with Jack and take care of him and protect him. He will feel if Jack is in danger and is going to do his best to help Jack.
-Level 3: Hiccup will under extreme feelings get scales on certain areas on his body and, depending on the situation, dragon eyes and claws. He will not be able to control this compleatly. He will have feelings like those in level 2, but a bit stronger.
-Level 4: Hiccup will under extreme feelings turn into a half dragon. He will not be able to control this. See level 5 for description. Depending on what feeling he have, he might or might not be able to controll himself. If he feels rage, he will be a dragon in his mind. If he is really sad he is still Hiccup but with a half dragon appearance. He will have feelings like those in level 3.
-Level 5: Hiccup basically can become a half dragon. When he learns to controll it he can, at will, become a half dragon with wings(but unable to fly), a tail, claws, scales and dragon eyes. He will have feelings like those in level 3 and Hiccup will act on dragon instincts depending on what feeling he is feeling and on the situation. So basically, he will be a half dragon.