Sorry for the wait! Here's the next chapter~ Quite a bit longer than the other ones, or at least I hope so. There's only one more currently written after this one, but I'll try to write the 6th one sooner rather than later!
The first thing Toothless felt was a gentle tugging at his hand, which slowly brought him back to consciousness, rubbing his eyes and grimacing at the feeling of bedsheet imprints on his cheek, hoping they would vanish soon.
The next moment he jolted, head whipping up to look at the no longer prone form in the bed, Hiccup now looking back up at him, a shaky hand pushing into his own, fingers squeezing between his.
"Hey bud."
Toothless squeezed his hand back, hard, shoulders shaking, letting his head fall forward in relief, resting it against Hiccup's chest.
"You'realiveIcan'tbelieveit."
Unoccupied fingers made their way into his hair, scratching gently at his scalp, reassuring the dragon that he was indeed alright.
"They can't knock me down that easily! I think I'll be just fine after a little rest and healing."
He nodded determinedly, wincing a moment later from the gash on his head.
"We'll have to talk to Stoick about getting that setup fixed so thi-"
A quiet knock at the doorframe interrupted them, and both looked over at the doctor, who walked in, giving them an apologetic look.
"My apologies, boys. I was walking past and heard the two of you talking, so needed to check on his wellbeing. You are, of course, welcome to stay, while I check." He spoke to Toothless, nodding gently, before grabbing a clipboard from the end of the bed and walking around them, examining the cast and bandaging, seeing if the headwrap needed changing or anything of the sort.
After several long minutes, he stopped pacing around the performers, coming to a halt.
"Alright, that should be good. There's only one problem…"
Hiccup tried to sit up a little straighter, listening intently.
"Your father said you had injured your leg fairly recently…along with the added trauma and breakage from your fall, when your leg heals up, you might need to rely on a brace. It might only be temporary, but if the injury is as bad as it looks…well…you might be looking at sitting in the wings during performances…
I'll go do some more tests and then come back when I know the definite answer, alright?"
And he grabbed his notes, and exited out the door again, closing it with a soft click behind him.
There was a heavy silence in the air, Hiccup's hand grasping painfully onto Toothless's, before he slid his other hand up through his shaggy brown hair, tugging it hard as though that would somehow reverse what had happened.
"This can't…I…Toothless, I have no idea what I'm gonna do…"
And all the dragon could do was slide his arms around the other, and just hold him.
Because this story can't always be happy, right?
Also, my apologies if any of this hospital stuff is inaccurate, I don't spend much time in them.