A/n: I've worked out a new order for the requests I've had, and trystrike's (aka: this one right here) is at the top of that list! Then it's movielover48's, a few from pooh sticks and TNT (I've sent all yours to the back of the list, so it'll be a few days until any more of yours crop up), then nothing - so far. There's also a few ideas of my own - they had to form eventually - that'll be making appearances, so there're a lot of chapters planned and ready to write!
Astrid tapped her foot impatiently. She was stood outside the hall, waiting for Hiccup. He's supposed to be here! she thought, slightly more angry than worried. It was odd that he hadn't turned up yet - he had to be awake; Toothless always got him up at a ridiculously early hour for their first flight of the day. Without the wake up call of a night fury banging on the roof or licking his face, Hiccup could sleep through the entire day. But Toothless was relentless, so that wasn't an option.
Maybe he fell asleep after the flight... Astrid mused. He has been pretty busy lately, it'd make sense if he was tired...
"Hey, Hiccup?" Astrid called out. "I'm coming up!" she warned, doing just that as she mentally crossed off a few more options from her list. He was definitely here, so he must've fallen asleep.
He was asleep when Astrid got to him, but it didn't seem like he'd woken up previously. She frowned as she watched him wriggle under his blanket, feeling slightly bad to wake him up.
She soon got over the feeling.
"Hiccup!" she hissed, shaking him now, "Wake up!"
"Hmmm?" Hiccup hummed sleepily, not bothering to open his eyes. "Toothless..."
"No; Astrid!" Astrid snapped. "Wake up! You're late!"
"What?" Hiccup asked, sitting up and suddenly awake. "Toothless..."
"I just told you! I'm - what are you doing?" Astrid's rage stopped short as Hiccup pushed the covers off himself and rushed over to the other side of the room, where Toothless lay. "What is it?" she asked, tone softening as she noticed Hiccup's panic.
"Toothless is too warm." Hiccup explained grimly. The dragon in front of him let out a weak cooing noise that Astrid couldn't translate. 'Hey, bud... It's me...'
'Hiccup...' Toothless moaned weakly, opening his eyes to reveal that they were clouded with pain.
"I'll... go get Gothi..." Astrid said awkwardly, suddenly feeling as though she was intruding. "And I'll tell Cloudjumper to take Toothless's place - and take your place, yeah... uhh... bye!"
With that, Astrid left. Neither Hiccup nor Toothless noticed her disappearance.
"I'm back!" Astrid announced brightly, closing the door for Gothi. "He's up there," she told her, quieter this time, as she started up the stairs. "Hiccup?"
"Oh! Astrid!" Hiccup said, looking at her with a startled expression. "Toothless, he's -"
"I know," Astrid chided, "I was there a few minutes ago. Are you okay?" she asked next, frowning at Hiccup's dazed look. Gothi coughed pointedly. "Oh, yeah. Gothi's here; everything's going to be fine."
Hiccup relaxed considerably at the mention of the village healer, smiling slightly up at the old woman. Gothi simply shook her head in response before looking over at Toothless. She'd become rather proficient at healing dragons over the years, after working out the differences in treatments between them and Vikings. There weren't may, to say that the two species were so dissimilar.
"I'm going now," Astrid told the two, looking directly at Hiccup to try to gauge if he was listening. His eyes, albeit slightly unfocused, were trained in her direction, so she assumed he was, and continued: "To run Berk for you, while you help Toothless. Come get me if you need anything, okay?"
Gothi nodded, and Astrid left the room. The healer moved over to Toothless's side and held a hand out to feel his temperature. She wasn't pleased with what she found, but knew it could be worse. Next she turned to Hiccup, shooing him away after communicating a need for water.
The younger Viking wandered out of the room, and Gothi tutted. Kids these days, overreacting and getting so worked up over a small illness.
'Come on Stormfly; you can help me!'
'No; I need to help the dragons.' Stormfly insisted stubbornly. After discovering that both of Berk's leaders would be out for the day, she instantly volunteered herself to help on Toothless's behalf. She supposed that, in all reality, it made more sense for Cloudjumper to become a substitute alpha, but she was still annoyed that her rider had picked someone else over herself.
'Then don't help anyone; go and try to calm Hiccup down - you know how protective he is.' Astrid snapped, having no time for her dragon's pettiness.
Stormfly huffed, taking off in the direction of the other riders and their dragons.
'Feeling useless?' Meatlug guessed. Stormfly grumbled slightly; her irritation wasn't helped by the fact that the gronckle's guess had been correct.
'I'll be fine.' she responded. 'Now lets see of we can't help Cloudjumper.'
Meatlug rolled her eyes at the nadder, taking off after her at a far more leisurely pace.
"What are you doing out here?"
"Gothi kicked me out. I might as well be useful..."
It seemed that Astrid's problems just wouldn't end; just as soon as she'd managed to get Stormfly to stop bugging her, Hiccup had turned up, looking no less worse for wear and blathering on about continuing his duties as chief.
"Clearly, you're too distracted." Astrid said shortly. "If you need something to do, why don't you go help out at the forge."
Hiccup looked at her contemplatively, about to agree to her suggestion -
"Hey, Hiccup!" A shout from a villager dashed those hopes, and Hiccup rushed off to fix whatever problem had arisen.
Well, at least he was out of Astrid's hair now.
Hiccup was most certainly not out of Astrid's hair.
Somehow, he'd managed to start three fires, seven fights, and Astrid was starting to rethink her plan to save him from the mob of confused, questioning Vikings that surrounded the dragons serving as a protective barricade. It was Hiccup's expression that forced her to continue, and she cursed the effectiveness of his lost puppy look as she had Stormfly lift him out of the situation, jumping from the nadder to face the masses herself.
At least Stormfly had something to do now.
If this was going to happen every time one of the two was out of action, Astrid realised, they'd need a plan for next time. She made a quick note to make one later before turning to the first villager, Bucket.
"My sheep turned into a dragon!"
Hiccup was very lucky that Astrid liked him so much. Very, very lucky.
Stormfly dropped Hiccup outside his house, which Gothi was just leaving. The elder used a series of hand gestures to explain that Toothless would be fine after a day's rest, then left, followed by the sound of Hiccup's gratuitous thanks.
Hiccup went straight inside, right up to Toothless - who was asleep again - and straight to sleep under his wing.
The next day, Astrid stormed over to the Haddock household, fully intending to grill Hiccup for the inconveniences he'd caused her the day before. When she came up to his room and saw him still asleep, mumbling into Toothless's scales as the dragon - awake and fully recovered - cooed comfortingly to him, she reconsidered.
She'd wait until after the morning flight to yell at him. After all, that's when their meeting was scheduled - if a day prior.