#kworking

“Because you didn’t follow orders and you were in the wrong place!”

Hiccup heard the words, tried to register who was saying them, what was going on. There was an awful pain in the left side of his body, a burning that reached from his neck and shoulder down to his hip, over his arm and hand. It felt like some places on his left side had been spared, but not many. He was laying on his stomach and the top layer of his clothes had been removed.

“He just got right in front of me!” Hiccup was able to recognize that yell as Snotlout.

“Well you shouldn’t have been there anyway!” That was Astrid, evidently furious, nearly shrieking.

Hiccup groaned, trying to express his pain, to get their attention.

“Hey, I was just-”

“Snotlout, shut up!” Fishlegs shouted. Then much more gently he said, “I think he’s waking up.”

“Yeah,” Hiccup croaked out. “Yeah, I am.” He shifted a little, opened his eyes. He couldn’t see his friends because of the way he was positioned, and there was no way he was moving, so he was just met with a familiar-looking wall. He was in his hut back on Dragon’s Edge. Now more awake, he was very confused. “What the Hel happened?”

“Snotlout and Hookfang barbecued you,” Ruffnut answered. Apparently all of them were gathered there.

“Because he didn’t follow your orders and was in the wrong spot,” Astrid said nastily. Hiccup knew she was glaring at Snotlout.

“Don’t blame me! Hiccup was in the wrong spot!”

“Guys,” Hiccup moaned, really not in the mood to hear their fighting. His mind was working slowly and he was trying to make sense of what they’d said. It appeared that he’d accidentally gotten in the way of a blast from Hookfang, because Hookfang wasn’t supposed to be there in the first place. He moaned again, this one mostly born of distress. He would have pinched the bridge of his nose if he could. Out of all the ways he could have gotten hurt in battle, this was probably the most ridiculous. He wasn’t feeling mad at the moment, though he probably would be later.

“How’d we even get back here?” he asked weakly. “Toothless…” He trailed off. Where was his dragon? But then there was the sound of heavy footsteps that he knew so well, then a soft cooing sound. Toothless appeared in his vision, close to his face. Hiccup attempted a smile. “Hey, bud.”

“Astrid jumped off of Stormfly and landed on Toothless before you guys could fall too far,” Tuffnut said. “It was really awesome.”

“Yeah, and then she flew you back here,” Ruffnut added in.

“My clothes?” Hiccup asked. He still had his pants at least.

“Had to cut them off of you,” Fishlegs answered. “To get a look at the burns.”

Hiccup swallowed roughly. “How bad is it?” There was a slight whimper in his voice. He was afraid to know, and he was already getting tired of dealing with the pain though it had hardly been five minutes since waking.

Fishlegs made a little squeaking sound. “Not so bad.”

Hiccup sighed, grimaced. “Don’t lie to me, please.” He met Toothless’ gaze, just to give himself a bit of comfort. His right arm wasn’t damaged, so he reached out to touch his head, and he leaned into the touch.

“It’s pretty nasty, Hiccup,” Astrid told him, sounding a little solemn. “We should probably get you to Berk.”

Hiccup closed his eyes, lowering his hand. Flying to Berk sounded like the worst possible idea at the moment. He was hurting too much. He just wanted it to stop. He didn’t say anything, didn’t know how to respond. He was shocked by this sudden turn of events. This morning he had been perfectly fine, and now he was lying practically immobile with burns all over his left side. The pain heightened a little bit, a reminder though he didn’t need one. Tears pricked at his eyes.

“Hiccup?” Astrid prompted. He’d been silent for a while.

“No,” he responded. “I-I can’t fly to Berk. Th-there’s no way.”

“Then what-” she began asking, but was interrupted by Fishlegs.

“We can go to Berk and bring Gothi here. Well, one of us at least.”

“I volunteer Snotlout!” Ruffnut cried.

“Why me?” Snotlout asked defensively.

“Because this is your fault you egocentric asshole,” Ruffnut responded angrily.

“Could one of you just go?” Hiccup asked. The pain was making him miserable and irritated - their arguing was the last thing he needed at the moment.

“Fine, I’ll do it,” Snotlout said grudgingly. It was easy to picture him crossing his arms.

“Thank you,” Hiccup breathed, glad that he didn’t have to fight with anyone. “Now just, leave me alone to rest.”

“Are you sure?” Fishlegs asked.

“Yeah, do you need anything?” That was Tuffnut.

They were definitely reluctant to leave him, but he just wanted to be alone with Toothless so he could cry without feeling humiliated. It felt like the fire was still on him, relentless and impossible to get rid of.

“Please,” Hiccup implored. “I-I want to be left alone.” There was a sob climbing up his throat, but he quelled it, making an odd choking noise. His tears fell freely.

“Alright, Hiccup,” Astrid said. “Just don’t be afraid to ask for anything.”

“Get some rest, my man,” Tuffnut told him.

They filed quietly down the stairs and then out of the hut. Toothless warbled, nudged his face.

Hiccup gradually began to let out what he was feeling. He wrapped his right arm around Toothless, began letting out tiny whimpers and sobs. The pain just kept going and going, like an endless fire that refused to stop eating away at him.

Now he was angry with Snotlout. This was his fault. He put him in this agony.

Hiccup yelled. There were no words, only anguish, anger, and frustration. Toothless made a concerned sound.

He cried harder after that, even when the sobs racking him made his burns hurt more. He cried until he couldn’t anymore, until his energy was spent and he’d shed his last tear. He now had to deal with his torment in silence.

Silence, eventually, led to sleep.

Hiccup had to be held down while Gothi applied an herbal salve to the burns. He was positioned on his right side, Tuffnut holding his legs and Astrid his arms. Gothi was small enough to fit between the two of them and do her work.

And her work hurt. Badly. Every touch brought pain like he wouldn’t believe; he’d flinch and groan and scream. He even struggled, wanting to be free of this torture. The logical part of his mind - the part that knew that this was all to help him - had been turned to ash by the raging burning that had overtaken him. How was this supposed to help him if it was hurting so much?

“Argh! Stop it! Please!” Hiccup thrashed against the hands holding him, tears running down his face.

“Hiccup, calm down!” Astrid cried. “Please, we’re trying to help you.”

“Then make it sto-op!” he sobbed. “Please make it stop!”

“Mon ami, this would be over faster if you stopped struggling,” Tuffnut said with a grunt, putting more pressure on his legs. “Plus, Gothi looks like she’s getting mad, and no one likes it when she’s mad.”

The hand applying the salve drew away from him, and Hiccup sobbed, panted, tried to catch his breath. The intensity of his anguish steadily decreased back to its constant, abysmal burning. He felt like he was going to lose his mind if it didn’t all stop now.

His arms were released, then there were hands on his face, cupping his cheeks. They were cool and soft against his feverish skin.

“Hiccup, look at me,” Astrid said gently.

He made himself open his eyes, blinking tears out of his vision. Astrid was looking at him with such care and concern that his splintered mind almost made some type of confession of love come out of his mouth. He whimpered instead.

“Just take deep breaths, okay?”

Hiccup tried, but he couldn’t get his breathing under control, couldn’t make himself stop crying.

“Hey, do it with me.” Astrid’s voice had a soothing tone to it. Her thumbs stroked his wet cheeks and he gave a small nod. “In…” She drew in a deep breath through her nose, and Hiccup did his best to copy her. “Out…” She blew out through her mouth and he did the same. “In…” She didn’t continue her cues after that, didn’t need to. They were both just staring at each other, breathing in sync. Hiccup felt a calm take over his body.

It was shattered as Gothi continued what she had been doing. Agony flared through him and he squeezed his eyes shut, releasing an anguished scream. He managed to keep himself from struggling though, and Astrid didn’t have to go back to holding his arms. She kept stroking his face, and that helped him till it was finally over.

Tuffnut let up on his legs. “Phew!”

Astrid pulled her hands away from his face, and he nearly whined at the loss of contact. It had been nice.

“Hey, I think Gothi wants you to sit up,” Astrid told him.

“Okay,” Hiccup grunted. He felt Astrid’s hand under his right shoulder, helping him up as he swung his legs over the side of the bed.

There wasn’t much talking as his wounds were bandaged. Then he was left alone to rest, laying on his back and staring up at the ceiling. He wondered when Toothless would be back. Fishlegs had taken him out with Meatlug to help fortify one of the watchtowers, knowing that had he been there, nothing would have gotten done. He would have guarded Hiccup aggressively even though Gothi and his friends had been helping him.

There was a knock on the door after a few minutes. Maybe that was them.

“Come in,” he called hoarsely, voice spent.

Whoever it was came in, ascended the stairs.

“Uh, hey, Hiccup,” Snotlout said sheepishly.

Oh great. Snotlout had avoided seeing him since he’d brought Gothi back from Berk, and Hiccup wasn’t in the mood to deal with him. Anger flared in him and he sat up.

“What is it?” he snapped in a very unfriendly tone.

Snotlout looked down, scraped his foot against the floor. “I, um…” he cleared his throat, lifted his head. “I wanted to apologize.”

Hiccup’s eyes widened a little in surprise. Admitting that he was wrong wasn’t much like Snotlout, but then again, his mistakes didn’t usually result in something this bad. He didn’t know what to say.

“I’m sorry, Hiccup. Like, really sorry,” he said emphatically. “I’ll never disobey your orders ever again.”

“Thank you.” Hiccup looked away for a moment, worked his jaw. He certainly wasn’t feeling ready to forgive him just yet. “Apology accepted.”

“So, do… do you forgive me?” Snotlout asked nervously.

“Not yet,” Hiccup answered honestly.

“Yeah, I wouldn’t forgive me either,” Snotlout said in clear upset.

“But I will eventually,” Hiccup assured him.

“Oh, okay.” Tension very visibly left his body. “That’s a relief. Is there anything I can do to make it up to you?”