Accident-Prone: Set after RTTE S4. When Hiccup is knocked unconscious in an accident, Astrid and Stoick both decide to watch over him. But during their time together, they reencounter all the other times Hiccup has gotten hurt before, and soon realize just how accident prone he is. Requested by yesthenLucky9

*cough* So. Um. I know I haven't been updating much recently, and I have TWO reasons why. WARNING: ABOUT TO GO INTO RANT TIME. READ AT YOUR OWN RISK. :P So, I just started a writing camp recently, which takes up a good portion of the day, and I don't have a lot of time to write. SECOND REASON… I found out the reason behind my headaches. But, in fact, it doesn't have to do with my head at all. You see, I just have been diagnosed with mild scoliosis. For those of you who don't know what that is, let me explain: scoliosis is a curvature of the spine, where your spine is slowly turning in one direction, not being even in your body. The curvature tightens the diaphragm of the body, which ALSO makes it hard to breathe, which means my brain's not getting enough oxygen, which induces the headaches. *deep breath* So. Yeah. Now you know. *shrug*

OKAY RANT TIME, OVER, HERE'S THE NEXT PAINFUL ONE SHOT, REQUESTED BY THE AAMMAAZZIINNGG YESTHENLUCKY9! *claps wildly* ALL RIGHT THEN, LET'S GET TO IT! WHOOP WHOOP! (Side note: Let's say the Riders didn't save the Edge, and are now living on Berk for this one-shot. Okay? Okay! :D And P.S. I don't know a lot about head wounds, so bear with me through these medical facts which I either ignore or screw up. *shrug*)

Stoick always cherished those first few minutes at the table alone in the mornings. The world was peaceful around him, the sun's rays were just beginning to shine, and chiefing was the last thing on his mind.

As there was a half hour or so before Hiccup usually appeared downstairs- the boy was exhausted ever since the Edge had been lost-, Stoick wasn't surprised that there was no sign of the boy as he finished his breakfast meal. He thought he would go and wake Hiccup a few minutes after, when suddenly there was a horrendous smashing sound from upstairs, and then eerily... nothing.

"What in Midgard...?" Stoick muttered, jumping to his feet. After racing up the stairs and flinging open Hiccup's bedroom door, he looked in stunned disbelief at the scene that greeted him. Hiccup was sprawled against the wooden floor, the left side of his forehead bleeding heavily with a gaping wound, and Toothless was nearly in a fit.

"Hiccup!" the chief heaved, storming over to his limp son.

The boy didn't move as Stoick took him in his arms, and his head only lolled unconsciously when he was shaken. More blood dripped out of the forehead laceration, and Stoick struggled to figure out what had happened.

"Hiccup?" he whispered, voice low and panicked. "Son, can you hear me? Hiccup?"

The young man finally groaned, his eyelids flickering but not opening. "D-Dad…?" he murmured, obviously in pain. "I… fell… hit head on d-desk… gods, it… it hurts…"

Stoick's gaze lifted up to examine Hiccup's bed stand, and he bit back a curse when he saw one of the sharp edges on the side smeared with blood. Hiccup's blood. His boy's blood. A protective feeling invaded his senses, and he slowly lifted Hiccup off the floor, expression grim. "Don't worry, son. I'll get you right away to Gothi, and then-"

Hiccup let out a loud moan, nearly breaking the chief's heart at the pained sound. "Dad," Hiccup said in a hoarse voice, "hurts… when you… move… ohhhh…" He fell silent, and Stoick wasn't sure if he had fallen unconscious again or was simply too weak to go on.

Toothless was in a panicked frenzy at his rider's condition, and looked ready to tear down something at any moment. Stoick wasn't much better, either. He still didn't know if Hiccup was going to be all right, or if he had a head injury that could prove to be a serious problem. "Oh, son," he murmured, gently sliding Hiccup back down into his soft bed. "Please be alright… hold on..."

Suddenly, there was the rushed opening of the front door downstairs, and he heard the familiar voice of Astrid ring out. "Hey, Hiccup! The gang's waiting for you outside! You ready for some more training today down at the Academy?"

Relief filled Stoick. Astrid was here, and so were the rest of the teens. That meant that they could go bring Gothi to Hiccup, as the boy was clearly too unstable to move to her with his head wound. Stoick knew that such injuries were nothing to be trifled with.

"Astrid, lass," he called down, stroking Hiccup's still-bleeding forehead with a gentleness unknown to him until now. "Get up here- quick!"

After a slight, panicked pause, he heard Astrid flinging herself up the stairs in a hurry, then diving into Hiccup's room where both Stoick and Hiccup were. Her blue eyes widened in fear at the sight of her unconscious boyfriend, and she looked up at Stoick's grave expression. "What happened, Chief?" she breathed.

Toothless roared, interrupting them. After hushing the dragon, Stoick bit down on his lip and met Astrid's gaze. "No time to explain, lass. Hiccup can't be moved- his injury is too dangerous. One of you needs to fetch Gothi."

Astrid nodded wordlessly, backing up in the doorway. "I'll go and tell the others." She looked back over to Hiccup, swallowing her terror. "Hang on, dragon boy." And then she was gone.

"Can't they get Gothi any faster?"

"Chief, you need to relax. We both do. H-Hiccup will be fine… we just have to wait until the others get Gothi and bring her here."

The unnerved father stopped his pacing, looking up at Astrid who pressed a cloth to Hiccup's oozing forehead tenderly. The gash just above Hiccup's left eye was still bleeding heavily to Stoick's utmost horror, and didn't show any signs of stopping soon. At the very least, Hiccup was concussed.

Or worse.

He swallowed, just about to resume his pacing when Astrid began to speak. "This almost reminds me of the time when Hiccup was still unconscious after he was brought back to us when he defeated the Red Death," she said bitterly, dabbing the bloodied cloth at Hiccup's forehead more forcefully. "He was asleep for days… always moaning, bleeding out of cuts we hadn't known he had, and just so… silent." She shivered, the unwelcome memories shifting throughout her mind to torment her.

Stoick paused, then allowed himself a nod. In a gruff tone, he added, "I don't think Hiccup will be asleep that long again…" His words drifted off, tired and full of grief. "...hopefully." In truth, this situation was all too similar to the Red Death incident. He feared that everything would play along just the same way it had before. Hiccup would fall into a deep slumber for days… at times barely breathing… and then… then….

"Of course, he hit his head instead this time," Astrid continued. "I don't think that's ever happened before to him before- at least around us-… though quite a lot of other things have."

Despite the black mood around him, Stoick faintly smiled. "Indeed. Only shortly after that, he had to protect Toothless from Mildew- that old bastard-," he added with a hint of maliciousness in his tone, "and the poor lad ended up being struck by lightning."

Toothless moaned from the other side of the room, remembering the incident. His rider had almost died protecting him. And now here the boy lay, possibly at death's door, and he couldn't do a thing about it.

"But not before Hiccup and I got stuck in that avalanche," Astrid said in a joking tone, but to Stoick it seemed to have an entire different effect.

The chief's head swerved to her, and he gasped. "What? An avalanche? Why didn't I hear of this before?"

"It… wasn't important," Astrid offered weakly, but her cheeks had reddened. During her and Hiccup's time under the freezing snow, they had been uncomfortably close at times. For body warmth, they kept telling the other teens. But no one quite believed them.

Stoick sensed the young woman's discomfort, and didn't press the subject. He looked back over at his son, whose chest barely rose and fall with each breath he took. The chief frowned. He knew that if someone hit their head in a certain place, then some parts of the body could be completely shut off. He only hoped and prayed that that part wouldn't be his lungs, or airway, or a vital organ.

"Then Hiccup got kidnapped by Alvin, and was taken to Dragon Island, alone," Astrid sighed. "He… he gave himself up for me. I swear, it was one of the worst moments in my life, going on with his crazy plan… but, I guess it all worked out in the end, didn't it?"

Stoick nodded, expressionless. "That it did."

The blonde hesitated before continuing on. "Stoick, Hiccup's going to be all right. Think of all the other times he's gotten hurt. He's ended up fine before."

Stoick looked down at the floor. "Yes… there was the one time where Hiccup set off to prove himself to me after that portrait of him as… well, a buff man, and he got stuck in that cave-in." His voice dropped noticeably, almost cracking with the fear rising up inside him for his son's well being. "He turned up fine then, though. He… he pulled through."

Astrid nodded, and lifted the bloody cloth off of Hiccup's forehead. She was about to dip it in the bucket of water next to her to wring the blood out, when Hiccup groaned from his bed. "Ast…d..." he croaked. "Dad… ohhh, my head…"

"Son." Stoick strode over to his boy's beside, fearing for the worst. "Hiccup, can you hear me? It's your father. I need you to open your eyes... Hiccup, please, son, open your eyes." When no response came from Hiccup except his pained moaning, Stoick wilted in sorrow. "Hiccup, come on. You can do it," he urged. "Just open your eyes."

"Dad…" Hiccup's voice trailed off, and the boy fell limp again, his breathing more ragged than before.

Astrid dunked the cloth quickly in the bucket of water, wetting it in rapid time. She pressed it against Hiccup's forehead a moment later, and looked back up at Stoick with concerned eyes. "Don't worry, Chief," she assured him, though her tone said differently. "He's just in and out of it. He'll wake up soon. I know he will."

"But what if he doesn't?" Stoick pressed. "What if he… he…"

"Chief, remember that time when all of Berk was sick with Eel Pox, and Hiccup had to go off alone to Eel Island to get the last ingredient for the cure?" Astrid interrupted, dabbing at Hiccup's forehead with the cloth.

"Yes, I remember," Stoick said impatiently.

"Well, Hiccup told me about something that happened while he was on Eel Island. Toothless accidentally ate half of an eel, and he went wild. He started shooting out of control, and then ran off into the woods. When Hiccup followed, Toothless was blasting everything in sight. And just when he thought it was safe, that Toothless was out of shots…" She paused, meeting the chief's eyes. "One of Toothless's plasma blasts hit Hiccup's shield, and threw him back against a tree. He was knocked out for a little awhile, but when he came to, he was fine, no permanent damage. And he was able to save Toothless afterward."

Stoick's brow lifted in surprise, and he looked over at his son in wonder. "Why didn't he tell me about this?" he murmured. "He was shot by Toothless… knocked out, even…"

Toothless growled in protest. It hadn't been his fault.

"That's just the point, Chief. If Hiccup can survive a blast from a Night Fury, he can survive this." For no reason at all, Astrid, a second later, started to laugh, and Stoick turned to her with a shocked expression. His son could be dying, and she was laughing? "I'm sorry, Chief," she choked out between fits of giggles. "But Hiccup's just so… accident-prone, I guess." She burst out into laughter again, tears gathering against her blue eyes.

Stoick paused, and for a moment it seemed as if he would erupt into a fit of anger, but then he smiled. "I guess it is true, lass," he nodded. "Just a few months ago, he was taken by those Bounty Hunters, and then nearly killed by Ryker... that nasty scum..."

Astrid shivered at the memory. "Yeah. Barely after that, he almost drowned saving the Submaripper dragon. He… wasn't breathing when we pulled him out of the water." All humor faded from her countenance as the memories swarmed back into place. "I thought… I thought he was dead. I thought we were too late…"

Stoick's expression softened, and he felt yet another tie of connection between the two. They were both so alike in many ways: true warriors at heart, had leadership flowing through their veins, and would do anything to keep their friends and family safe. Secretly he hoped that Hiccup would someday propose to the lass, so he could call her his daughter-in-law and clap her on the back like true family would.

Hiccup's not going to be able to propose if he doesn't pull through this, Stoick then reminded himself, feeling the familiar wave of distress that crashed upon his shoulders. "Now, where's Gothi?" he demanded, not wanting to dwell upon Hiccup's condition any longer. "My boy is hurt, maybe dying, and-"

"Chief, we're here!"

The flapping of dragon wings was heard from outside the hunt, and one by one Stoick and Astrid heard the dragons land with a thump against the lawn. The patter of frantic feet against the wooden floor as the group raced up the stairs with Gothi didn't even make Hiccup stir.

But, to Stoick's infinite surprise, the Riders had not brought Gothi along with them. Instead, it was a young woman- another healer under Gothi's training. "Gothi was helping deliver a baby up in the north side of the village," Fishlegs explained nervously, his eyes studying Hiccup with concern. "So we had to get another healer."

"Though these two muttonheads almost scared her off," Snotlout muttered darkly, his head nodding over at Ruffnut and Tuffnut.

Tuffnut feigned a hurtful expression. "Who, me? No, I would never cause trouble."

"That's right," Ruff agreed. "We would never stick a mouse down the back of someone's shirt just to see how fast they could run."

"Never," Tuffnut echoed.

"Nevermind that- help Hiccup!" pushed Astrid, having heard enough, and she practically dragged the healer over to Hiccup's beside as worry consumed her.

The healer placed herself at Hiccup's right side of the bed, and studied the heir with a large frown. She bent over steadily and inspected the gaping wound that Hiccup had received, which was stretching over his left eyebrow. "He'll need stitches to stop the bleeding from getting any worse," she said after a tentative moment. "But that will only fix the outer damage. Meanwhile, the inner is… well…" She coughed. "There's no telling what lies beneath the skin yet."

"What do you mean?" Stoick asked, too confused and worried to focus clearly. "He'll… he'll be all right, won't he?"

The healer sighed, and nodded. "He'll live, but…" She gestured to the head wound Hiccup was suffering from. "That gash above the optic nerve…"

The group held its breath, waiting for the news.

"He may be blinded, Stoick," the healer said softly, her face twisted in pain. "I'm sorry this had to happen. But there's nothing we can do for him if he is blinded. Only help him cope with it, if he can. He may regain his sight eventually, perhaps in a few months to a year, but definitely not anytime soon. And it's not too likely either. Again, I'm…" She swallowed. "I'm sorry."

Stoick felt the world around him nearly shatter in disbelief at the news. No. His boy couldn't be blinded. It wasn't possible. He'd always be the lively son he knew- so full of adventure, love, and freedom. Nothing should have been able to stand in the way of that. How had one simple fall come to this?

Hiccup stirred slightly from the bed, letting out a groan. The healer sucked in a breath. "Everyone, stay calm. I think he's coming to..."

Stoick barely heard the woman as he pushed her out of the way, eyes full of panic. He knelt beside Hiccup as the boy continued to moan, his eyes clearly moving from underneath their lids. "Hiccup, open your eyes," the chief ordered. "Come on, now. We're all waiting for you."

"D-Dad?"

Hiccup's eyes finally flickered open, but the pupils did not focus on anything around him.

Stoick positioned himself so that he was looking straight at his son, and breathed out. "Yes, that's right, lad. I'm here." He patted Hiccup's limp hand, giving a sad smile. "Can you see me, son?"

Hiccup almost didn't seem to hear him, and only blinked slowly. "Dad?" He sounded confused.

"Hiccup, listen to me- if you can see me, blink your eyes."

Hiccup stared straight back at Stoick, no recognition in his pained gaze. "Dad..?" His voice was weak, and cracking as well. It hurt Stoick's heart to hear his boy in a state like this.

"Son, if you can see me," the chief repeated gently, his words slow, "blink your eyes two times."

The young man in the bed hesitated, and his lips formed a silent, Dad, before he resumed his sleepy expression. Stoick felt his heart clench in fear, and judged by the other Riders' slightly muted gasps, he knew they were just as horrified.

Then Hiccup lowered his eyelids once, and opened them back up again to reveal two shiny green spheres looking over at them. The air held its breath as Hiccup weakly closed his eyes again, and then repeated the opening process.

"Dad," he whispered, his hand shakily making its way up to his father's face.

Stoick gripped his son's hand as it met his cheek, and leaned into it, flooded with relief beyond words. "You're going to be all right, son," he choked out, but it was more to himself than to anyone else. "I promise."

Hiccup cocked his head. "Dad…?"

"I'll have to put him to sleep, now," the healer rushed, pulling out a jar of sleeping powder from her leather medical bag. "At least while I stitch his wound up. After that, well…" She smiled, nodding at everyone. "I think he'll be all right, although pretty much out of it for the next few days. But he'll come back to his old self soon. Lots of bed rest afterward, though. I don't want him leaving this bedroom for at least a week, and he won't be able to fly for three after."

Even in his pained state, Hiccup murmured, "Not… fair… m'fine… I am..."

Everyone laughed, including Stoick. Hiccup seemed more confused than before. "Why… you all… laughing?" he croaked out, cringing at the pounding pain in his head. "I really… am fine…" His eyelids flickered drowsily, and he found himself unable to keep them all the way open. "Just… want to… fly Toothless…"

"You get some sleep now, son," Stoick ordered, patting Hiccup's slightly twitching hand with a gentle authority. "I want you nice and rested up so you'll be able to heal faster."

Hiccup's eyes gleamed. "If I rest… can I go flying in two weeks instead of three, Dad?"

The chief chuckled, smiling. "We'll see, son. We'll see."

"We'll have to keep an extra eye on you, though," Astrid quipped, putting a hand on her hip. "Seeing you as accident-prone as you are."

Hiccup grinned. "But you still know you love me, milady."

"True."

He yawned, too tired of battling against unconsciousness any longer. "You'll all… stay with me… till I fall asleep?" he murmured drowsily.

Stoick was surprised with Hiccup's sudden openness, but reminded himself that it was because of the head wound. Still, though, he was touched with his son's words, and nodded. "Yes, lad, We'll stay right here with you."

And as Hiccup drifted off into a bliss, long, healing sleep, he knew that his father and friends would be there for him when he woke up in the morning.

Hmm hmm, serious feelsies in here. Should have warned you, but I wanted it to be a (hopefully welcome) surprise, mwahahaha.

Okay, so, I'm too tired to go on a rant of how much I love Hiccup!whump, or how much I adore giving him head injuries (I think this is like the 9th time I've given him one- I stopped counting a while ago-), so, I shall bid farewell (with a HUUUUGGGGEEE thanks to yesthenLucky9 for requesting this, because I loved it), and I hope you all enjoyed it. :)

And if you could leave a review, that would be wonderful. I've been feeling kind of down lately, what with my camp going seriously downhill (I was singled out for being the only Republican in the writing class. Yipee), and it would mean the world to know what you guys think of this one-shot. :) So please, feel free to click that text box below, and even just put in a, "asdfghjkl," before sending off the review. I'd be plenty happy . :D

Well, have a wonderful, whumpy day!

Your good friend and fellow whump lover,

-Purple. :D