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When Hiccup opens his eyes to the sound of seagulls squawking outside his window and the occasional snore from Toothless, he wonders with a yawn what part of his strange new life will sink in first: the dragon that sleeps by the foot of his bed or his new leg that steps on the bedroom floor every morning.
He supposes it’s like how Gobber once described a night of drinking at the tavern. Waking up to Toothless peering down at him from the ceiling rafters of his room, or being crushed by his weight as he jumps into bed with him and licks his face, even though his sturdy Viking-crafted bed creaks ominously and Hiccup complains about his fish breath first thing in the morning, and knowing his friend is a part of his household now, no longer hidden but accepted as his companion—he imagines it’s similar to how a rush of joy from a large swig of mead and a dance with fair maiden as your comrades cheered you on would feel like to regular Viking.
The thrill of their friendship and the potential they have together bubbles up in him at odd moments. He finds himself smiling at Toothless as he does mundane things like swatting a pebble in the corner of the room, or stretching his wings, or messily eating table scraps.
Then it’s time to get out of bed, and while still half asleep, his metal foot hits the floor with a thump. Then harsh reality, like the hangover that follows, hits him. As a kid, he had grown up around Gobber and a bunch of other people in the village who had missing limbs. He had learned quickly that it didn’t ruin a life; it just changed it. Dad had always said that losing a limb in battle was a great honor, and when Hiccup began his recovery, Dad had regaled him with tales of all the people in his family tree who had also lost limbs.
The citizens of Berk have always been hardy folk, and though curmudgeonly, the community has always cared for those who need help. He knew his dad and Astrid and the whole of Berk were ready to support him, although the gifts they had started leaving at their doorstep in thanks for saving the village were going a bit overboard. Along with the ways Berk is being reshaped to fit the new dragon residents, his home has also changed to accommodate his new leg; the wooden floor of his room, once sturdy but uneven in spots, has been refurbished to be totally flat.
But still, the learning curve for a skinny kid who had never been a warrior before their injury is proving to be much steeper than what most amputees in his village had dealt with. He only learned to run a mile without passing out and other basic athletic skills through training with Gobber and the other kids during the Trial of Flame. He had felt darn proud of his improvement, but now he sometimes feels he’s lost the progress he made to catch up to the others as a warrior.
He had made the mistake of getting back in the saddle with Toothless immediately after waking up from his coma; his happy-to-be-alive flight had resulted in him passing out from exhaustion an hour later and worrying the healers that he could have another infection. Gobber and his Dad insisted that Hiccup continue his bed rest while slowly beginning monitored daily exercise as he adjusted to his new leg.
Gobbers' prosthetic work is fantastic. He said he made changes and improvements based on his own design and that the current leg should fit nicely into adulthood. But it's still a piece of heavy wood and iron attached to his body, despite being as lightweight as possible. And as weightless as he had felt during that flight with Toothless, like his leg didn’t make a difference, it will take a while for him to build up the muscle to carry himself on his new leg on solid ground like usual. It gives him tinges of regret that keep him up some nights, that he had forced Toothless into a similar position of learning to live with his damaged tail. Toothless never shows any residual anger toward him, so he hopes his friend considers them even after Hiccup fixed what he broke.
He glances at the bedside table and sees that his dad has set out porridge and a small loaf of bread for him this morning. The idea of his father bringing him breakfast in bed would have been unthinkable three weeks ago, but his defeat of the Red Death and his injury has changed his dad. He’s been gentler and more patient with Hiccup than Hiccup has experienced in years. His loud, bold dad has been quieter and more hesitant around him as he heals. Hiccup was unconscious for three weeks after the battle, and Astrid said his dad spent the whole time by his bedside, when he wasn't overseeing Gobber’s remodeling of the village to include Toothless and the other dragons.
From his bedroom, he can hear footsteps at the door, and Astrid appears moments later, having let herself in. Even in Viking households, that might be considered rude, but his dad adores Astrid, and Hiccup is always eager to see her, especially when she has brought more dragon books from the great hall of record so that he can research while stuck in bed. The pile of books she is carrying now is vast and unwieldy, but she makes her Viking ancestors proud by carrying it with minimal strain.
It’s still early morning, so Astrid looks a bit sleepy, and her braids are a bit messy, like she did them in a rush out the door. Seeing the rare sight of Astrid a bit disheveled and vulnerable gives Hiccup a sudden surge of energy, as if he could jump out of bed and dance. Still, he refrains, as he would only embarrass himself by falling on his face.
“Good morning.” Hiccup says, his voice still a bit scratchy from sleep. Astrid grunts in response, focused on not dropping her armful of books.
Toothless awakens at the sound of his voice, but not the sound of a potential intruder. So much for being a guard dragon. Useless reptile. He doesn't rise from his spot at the hearth but observes passively.
Of course, he may have recognized her voice and decided her presence wasn’t worth rousing himself from his cozy place. Toothless trusts Astrid implicitly now, as he trusts Hiccup. But their friendship is still growing.
Hiccup has fretted since they returned to Berk about his two friends getting along, but Astrid said she understands that they got off to a rocky start. Hiccup doesn’t believe any start could be as rocky as shooting someone from the sky. Astrid says it might be like her mother’s cat, who protects their pantry from vermin, and only allows her mother to pet him since she rescued him when he fell down a deep well as a kitten, and runs and hides from anyone else. He’s heard that some animals bond with only one person and can be territorial at times. From just the beginning of his experiences with dragons up close, that definitely seems true for some of them.
Astrid and his dad said Toothless stayed by his bedside, ever watchful and sensitive to his breathing as he worked through fevers caused by infection from his injury and the surgery to place his new leg. His dad said he had to promise Toothless that the healer was only helping Hiccup before Toothless stopped glaring and growling at her from the corner of Hiccup’s room as she attended to him while he panted and thrashed in bed. Toothless trusts his dad after he saved him from drowning, so he listens to him most of the time, although at times he defers to Hiccup. Dad is thankful to Toothless for saving his son and also takes any opportunity to boast that only a chief’s son could be worthy of riding a Nightfury.
Astrid says that Stormfly sometimes gets jealous and possessive of Astrid's attention, though she’s trying to train that behavior out of her new companion. Hiccup has the idea to write a guide on how to train and housebreak a dragon, as much as that may be possible.
There was so much more to learn about the inner lives of dragons, and thankfully, he has a test subject in Toothless as well as books, so he doesn’t need to leave his room to sate his curiosity, or his growing agitation at his slow recovery would be much worse.
Astrid drops the books on the bedside table so hard that it makes his breakfast plate rattle. The stack must have been even heavier than it appeared.
“I got the books you wanted, and some Fishlegs recommended. The one about dragons of the Far East was behind a really huge spider web, and this other one on Sea Dragons smells like feet, so you owe me,” she says with mild annoyance.
Astrid is fearless in battle but also vocal with complaints. Spiders and gross smells were not something most people would be prepared to deal with early in the morning, even fierce Vikings.
But Hiccup enjoyed it when she spoke her mind. It was one of the many reasons Hiccup admired her, and it had been essential in giving him the push to keep going when he lamented to her on that cliff about the mess he made by keeping Toothless a secret.
“A bit of research, then you owe me some laps around the room before midday,” Astrid reminds him.
Hiccup nods. After about a week of this new routine, he's found it pretty agreeable. Sometimes he finds himself pleading with Astrid to go easy on him, although he knows she won’t give in, and she wouldn’t be the Astrid he admired if she did. Astrid doesn't coddle, and she doesn't let him mope.
He picks up a book that is indeed heavy but manages to hold it with one hand and the spoon from his porridge with the other. His father always complained about him bringing a book to the dining table. As he digs into his bowl and begins reading in perfect tandem, he sees Astrid roll her eyes good-naturedly and then swipe half the loaf of bread from his plate and sit by the hearth with her feet propped up on the chimney.
Toothless lazily rises from his bed of clean straw and an old blanket, which, according to his dad, has been passed down their family line for generations. That might be why it smells like goats. He scratches his hind quarters in a remarkably feline manner, yawns with all his hidden teeth showing, then stamps out of the room. Most likely to hunt for breakfast fresh from the ocean, as he does most mornings, unless he feels lazy and tries to beg for handouts from the island’s grateful fishermen.
At the beginning of his recovery, Hiccup worried that Astrid would get bored coming to see him every day to watch him read, then help him limp around the room like a newborn calf. But Astrid had been very patient so far. She sits with him and tells him news of what’s going on with the rest of Berk as they integrate dragons into their society, and asks for advice on how to bond with Stormfly. When she does grow bored, she just quietly shines her shield and sharpens her axe. The Vikings of Berk are not known for quiet contemplation, so this comfortable silence between them feels special. It is nice to spend time with her in less life-threatening situations. He aches to get back out there and go flying with her and Toothless again.
Sometimes, if Hiccup reads something exciting or interesting in his research, he shares it with her by reading aloud. He can get a bit carried away, as most of the information is not as interesting to a non-dragon enthusiast, but Astrid is usually tolerant of his rambling.
Sometimes he shares fun facts such as:
“Hey, listen to this, it's been discovered that the Rhinoback species of bog dragon is weak against cheese. Can you imagine winning a battle against a dragon because you had cheese on your breath?”
And sometimes he finds something that sets his mind ablaze with possibilities for adventure and opportunities to help the village that make his impatience to be fully healed even more pressing.
“This book says that of all the known dragon species, the species we know the least about is sea dragons. When I'm back on my feet, I think Toothless and I should try to map out as much dragon population in the ocean around Berk as we can. Making allies with the dragons living in our waters could help increase our fishermen's catch, as long as we’re fair about how much we take from the dragons' waters.”
“Let's get you back on your feet for a whole day before you make any big plans,” Astrid points out sensibly to this idea.
Dad invited Astrid to dinner a few nights ago and said what a blessing Astrid was, that she spoke her mind and kept Hiccup from getting too wrapped up in his own head. He said Hiccup’s mom had done the same for him. Hiccup had coughed nervously into his mug and noticed a subtle blush on Astrid's face.
Toothless returns a while later, looking satisfied and soaking wet and thankfully not dragging his prize into the house. He and his dad had found the remains of dead fish by their front door or stored by the hearth for later a few times, and along with Toothless’s size being cumbersome in the small hut (resulting in some smashed furniture), it had tested the limits of his father's new acceptance of dragons.
Hiccup is pacing around the room as his friend returns. He has used up all his research time and is now doing his promised exercise. He had convinced Astrid to agree to read aloud the last few chapters of the book he has been reading as he circles the room.
Invigorated by his breakfast, Toothless begins trailing behind him as he walks, a giant scaly shadow like when they followed each other through the mazes they had drawn in the sand at their hidden lake, where they had slowly gained each other's trust. As they walked together, their footsteps quickly fell in tandem. When they move in sync like this, he thinks he doesn't mind if he ever walks normally as long as Hiccup is beside him every step.
They turn in unison to Astrid as she begins to recite the symptoms of Vorpentitis, the poisoning sickness caused by the Venomous Vorpent. Reading about dying from dragon poison is not ordinarily something that would make one smile. Still, there in the firelight of the hearth, he can see her smiling slightly as she watches Viking and dragon stride along together.
The sight of her smile gives him a surge of excitement that helps him make it across the room in just a few bold steps, but just when he's a step or so from her side, his foot goes out from under him; it’s not even his iron foot, it’s his regular foot, which is more embarrassing.
As he falls over with an undignified yelp and the clatter of his iron foot scraping the floor, he hears both Astrid and Toothless react with alarm and rush to him.
It takes a moment to catch his bearings, but he's ok, he’s in one piece, and he’s kneeling in a puddle he hadn’t seen in his path. Astrid has hold of one shoulder while Toothless is pressed against the other, trying to nudge him upwards.
“I'm fine,” he grunts, though he knows from experience that sudden jolts to his new leg can cause sores and bruises to the still-healing stump, so that's going to be unpleasant later.
Astrid begins to pick him up before he stops her.
“I can do it,” he assures her, trying to save his pride even though he would love to keep leaning against her and stay this close, where he can smell the sea salt from the island air in her hair. She has her own ride now with Stormfly, but he wonders if he can still convince her to fly with him and Toothless again as soon as he's fully recovered so he can get this close to her without embarrassing himself in the process.
Astrid lets go of him as he begins to rise, but she still hovers close. Once he's upright, he dusts himself off and coughs awkwardly. Astrid doesn't fuss further. Instead, she goes to Toothless’s bed, retrieves the blanket there, and sets it down on the spot where he had fallen, soaking up the seawater that Toothless must have dripped across the floor, like an unwitting booby trap for his human companion to slip on.
Astrid isn't always very emotive, but she's certainly protective and steadfast in her caretaking.
“Let's save the trip hazard training for when he's a bit sturdier,” Astrid says pointedly to Toothless.
Toothless looks chastened, and he trills guiltily, a rare emotion for such a mischievous and bold creature.
“It's ok, buddy,” Hiccup says soothingly, scratching Toothless around his neck.
“You both have to be more careful,” Astrid says sternly.
Astrid had quietly confessed after he awoke the first time that she's haunted by that day with the Red Death like he is. It was a comfort to know he wasn’t the only one with night terrors from that day. But it’s been a few days since he had a nightmare about falling into a mountain of flames. He’s found that asking Hiccup to sleep closer to him seems to soothe his dreams.
“I’m alright. I’ve got you two to help me,” Hiccup says softly. He takes a chance and reaches for her hand, and she allows it. When it matters, even a formidable Viking warrior like Astrid can be soft.
They squeeze hands for a second, and then the moment is over.
He assures Astrid he's alright to continue his laps, and after a while of walking about without further incident, she calls for lunch.
They sit in the main living quarters and share a stew that Gobber delivered to their door the day before. It would surprise anyone who knew him that Gobber was a heck of a cook, but Hiccup’s dad says that Gobber stepping in to help feed the Chief and baby Hiccup after they lost his mom had kept them from starving.
Hiccup and Astrid laugh as Toothless grows bored of watching them eat and attempts to clean both their bowls. Toothless's appetite is relentless, and Hiccup is trying to curb his bad habit of being interested in human food, which isn’t appropriate for a dragon’s diet. This is complicated by his dad being overenthusiastic about sharing not just their house but meals with the creature who saved his son’s life.
As he sits with his friends, he begins to feel the effect of his earlier exertion in the dull ache creeping up his leg, but seeing Astrid smile as she coaxes Toothless to sit still and leave their bowls alone—Toothless trilling and begging as if he was starving and not already full of fish—keeps him going him for the rest of the afternoon.
It will take time, but with his friends by his side, he knows he can take flight again soon.