To Guest- HHHIIICCCCCCSSSTTTRRRIIIDDD! Have you seen the movie?! They're so cute in it, I love it! :D And that last line- I've seen loads of fanart where Toothless is all possessive of Hiccup and it's so cute! :3
"Keep still."
"I am still."
"That's not still, Hiccup, that's fidgeting."
"It's my still." He protested feebly. "Stop… nick-picking…" He huffed. "Do we have to?"
"You want to get up again?" Astrid countered.
"Well, yeah… but I… quite… like it… when you're… running… around playing… nurse." He smiled sweetly. "You do care."
"If you don't shut up, I'll make sure I set your bed on fire too."
"You… won't…"
"Try me." She defied. His green eyes met hers, a fraction wider than usual, a gleam amongst them that she hated. "Don't you- I hate you." Even now, all these years on, he could worm his way out of her bad books with a simple, angelic look.
Sighing, she grabbed him by the wrist and shoulder, rolling him carefully onto his good side. "Now," She ordered, "Keep still."
"You're… going to… set me… on fire." He paled slightly. "Keeping… still… isn't… exactly on… my to-do… list…"
"Oh, you'll love it. Fishlegs! Valka!"
"I'm… going… off you…"
"Shame that." His mother and their fellow dragon trainer entered the room. Valka carried her herb box, a lit candle and some thin strips of wood. Fishlegs carried to big buckets of water.
"Hold him still." Valka instructed kindly, setting the box on the floor and lighting one of the wood strips. Hiccup tensed, his fingers curling around Astrid's wrist. Being a dragon trainer, he got burned all the time, but those were all accidents and not direct blasts of fire either- mostly smouldering debris.
This was different. This was an immediate burn straight onto condensed Zippleback gas.
The joys of being him.
Fishlegs held a bucket at the ready, fiercely concentrating on the flame. Valka took a steadying breath and moved the flame closer to the noxious wound.
It got alight instantly, only for Fishlegs to douse it just as quickly.
"Ow…" Hiccup complained, but he loosened his grip on Astrid's wrist slightly. "Did… it work?" Valka leant over the injury. "Please… don't set… me on… fire again…"
"I don't think we have to." Valka smiled, looking up. "Well done, Fishlegs. It worked." Hiccup sighed in relief. "But you still have to keep still, son. I need to apply a burn salve."
"No more… fire."
"No more fire." Valka agreed, drying the damage as best she could with Hiccup's spared blanket. "Astrid, would you mind getting him some soup? There's some already in the pot on the fire."
"Yes ma'am." Astrid squeezed Hiccup's hand reassuringly and then left.
"She's a good girl." Valka commented. Fishlegs turned pink and looked at Hiccup questioningly.
"What?" Hiccup sent an identical look straight back at his friend.
"Are you really going to marry her?" Fishlegs spoke in a voice lower than a whisper, but Hiccup still caught the words. "I heard you sent your dad to talk to the Hoffersons." Hiccup nodded and Fishlegs beamed broadly. "Does she know yet? Have you planned anything? What-?"
"Fishlegs." Valka intervened, smothering the cured injury with her variation of burn salve. It didn't sting as much as the other herbal concoctions had. "Hiccup needs his rest. And to talk to Astrid in private." She made a shooing motion with her hand. Fishlegs obediently left, but not before he sent Hiccup a final grin.
She clipped her herb box shut. "I need to go and restock. Again."
"Sorry."
"It's not your fault, dear." She ruffled his hair. "You just focus on getting better and-" Astrid reappeared, blowing gently on a hot bowl of soup. "And don't forget that thing we talked about."
"Yes, Mum." She smiled at him and left, resting her hand briefly on Astrid's shoulder in silent gratitude.
"What aren't you supposed to forget?" Astrid placed the soup on the bedside cabinet and helped him sit up.
"Oh, just a… thing." She raised her eyebrows, unconvinced. "Later. Feed me."
"No."
"So… says your… chief." She scowled and plopped into her seat.
"I hate it when you play that card."
"Feed me."
"Someone's feeling better." She muttered, but fed him the soup, spoonful by spoonful. His condition may have improved, but there was no strength to him whatsoever- not enough to hold his own spoon.
He managed half the bowl and then waved the rest away. "Are you sure?" He nodded, leaning back and closing his eyes. "Hiccup."
"Mm?"
"What did you ask your dad to do and what did your mum tell you not to forget?" He opened his eyes again and studied her carefully. She had seen that look before, an incredibly thoughtful one. Normally, he reserved it for dragons, old and new, but now she was getting it. "What did you do?" She narrowed her eyes at him doubtfully. "You've got something to do with that collection of shields they all got, haven't you?"
"Shields who got?"
"My family!"
"Oh." He smiled. "Those shields."
"What did you do?" But he wasn't listening, most likely thinking about those shields. Astrid had come home from teaching dragon training lessons all day to find that her family all had shields. She recognised the shields as Hiccup's work instantly, as they were similar to his one. Some folded out into crossbows; others changed and locked to make a well-balanced club or sword.
Smacking his leg, she drew his attention. "Explain." She demanded.
"I can't yet."
"Why not?!"
"Well… I could… but it's…" He made a face. "Not… official. Yet." He added hastily. "But I'm… pretty sure… I can tell… you… by the end… of the week."
"Oh, please tell me now."
"No."
"You're insufferable."
"Thank you."
"That's not a good thing!" He found the nerve to laugh.
"You love me for it."
"Don't remind me." He raised his arms as best he could, switching on his innocent-Hiccup face. She glared at him for as long as she could, but there was no resisting that face. "I still hate you." She mumbled, shifting to sit next to him and return his hug. "And you better tell me at the end of the week."
"Or what?"
"Well, you haven't seen my axe in a while."
"Oh." She tugged gently on one of his braids, fiddling with his hair to make another. "Must you?"
"I must." He sighed and rested his head on her shoulder. By the time she had finished the braid, he was asleep.
There! He's all better now! And a little bit of Hiccstrid, because I feel like it :D
