Yay for first story :) So, I got this idea shortly after watching the new movie (so awesome!), and found it absolutely hilarious that Hiccup had gone from being one of the shortest vikings and being considered a bit of a runt to suddenly being the tallest of his group of friends, and I couldn't help but think how funny the growth spurt must have been. So, this story might not be the best, but I thought the idea was pretty funny. Hope you enjoy it :)

Growth Spurt

Bang!

Crash!

THUMP!

"Oww…"

Well, that certainly wasn't a noise Stoick was used to waking up to this early in the morning.

"Hiccup?" he mumbled, opening a bleary eye and raising himself from his bed, wondering what kind of trouble his son had managed to get himself into now. Especially at such a ridiculous hour. The sun had barely risen for Thor's sake!

When Stoick finally managed to get out of bed and trudge into the main room, he didn't know whether to roll his eyes or be absolutely worried. His lanky, eighteen year old son had clearly tripped down the stairs from his bedroom, and was now currently pushing himself into a sitting position after landing ever so (not) gracefully on his face.

"Hiccup! What happened?"

Hiccup grumbled as he sat atop the bottom stair, giving one of his usual shrugs. "Nothing, Dad. Just tripped over this stupid leg, again," he explained, tapping his prosthetic on the wooden floorboards grumpily.

Both Stoick and Hiccup lifted their heads when the front door creaked open, only to find Toothless nudging his way into the shack, crooning in concern for his rider. Stoick sighed, realising that Hiccup must have been on his way to one of his early morning flights before tripping.

His brow creased in concern and he pulled as his beard subconsciously. That was the third time this week alone Hiccup had tripped over his metal leg. He could not help but also think of how much his son had been awkwardly limping around the village too; bent over and leaning on one side like an aged man. Clearly the leg was giving him great pain.

"All right, c'mon then," said Stoick, quickly grasping Hiccup underneath the shoulders before hoisting him up, "up we get."

Slowly, he helped his son hobble over to the closet chair by the table with Toothless following not too far behind, keeping a close, bright green eye on his buddy, nudging one of his hands worriedly.

"I'm fine, bud," assured Hiccup as he sat down with a groan, rubbing an affectionate hand across the Night Fury's muzzle. "Really, it's nothing to worry about. S'not like I haven't done it before, you know me."

"Yes, but it's not usually this often," said Stoick, eyeing Hiccup warily. "Something's wrong with that contraption, take it off for a moment."

Unusually, Hiccup obeyed willingly and pried of his leg with another pained groan. Stoick frowned and motioned for Toothless to stay with his son while he went outside to fill a tub of water. Upon bringing it back inside and placing it atop some coals which the dragon quickly ignited, Stoick placed his hand in the water, waiting for it to heat to an appropriate temperature.

"Roll up your pant leg, place it in here," said Stoick, eventually bringing the hot water tub over to Hiccup. He frowned in concern, noticing the stump was raw red. That leg was way too tight on him. That much was given.

"Odin's beard," Stoick muttered, eyeing the prosthetic unhappily whilst Hiccup sighed in relief.

"Oh, gods, that's so much better!" Hiccup groaned, leaning back in his chair with closed eyes. Toothless crooned once more, though with a much happier tone upon noticing his rider's relief from pain, and nudged his hand once more.

"We need to get you a new leg," said Stoick, after a minute of silence. "Or at least adjust the stump to fit you better."

Hiccup nodded, opening his forest green eyes once more. "Yeah, I'll get onto it. I'll head down to the forge later and get Gobber's help on it."

"You best do it soon, son," agreed Stoick, picking up the leg and observing it. The boy had it since he was fourteen; of course it was in desperate need for an upgrade. The boy must have grown slightly out of it. On a normal circumstance, he would have smiled. It was about time his fishbone of a son began to grow out of his childish frame!

"Ok, when you're up to it, try standing on your one leg so we can see what need to be done."

It took a minute, and with a bit of help from Toothless, Hiccup was finally leaning across the dragon as he struggled to balance on his only foot. Stoick waited patiently for him to stand up properly, realising that his son was used to the support of his prosthetic to keep him upright.

When he did finally stand to full height however…

Stoick's eyes widened in surprise.

Well… that certainly explained the awkward limping.

"We're gonna need a bigger leg," muttered Stoick.

Since when the hell did his son manage to almost reach his shoulder height?!

He forgot to duck. Again.

"Ya keep on hittin' tha' pot every time, Hiccup!"

"Maybe you should hang it up somewhere else then where it can stop hitting me!" Hiccup grumbled at Gobber, rubbing his forehead and scowling at the swinging pot hanging from the ceiling of the forge.

"Or maybe ya should stop runnin' into it?" Gobber suggested with a laugh, to which Hiccup narrowed his eyes in annoyance.

Hiccup rolled his eyes and continued to move around the forge, picking up some tools. "Anyway, I'm gonna get back to working on my suit. I'll be in the back if you need me!"

Gobber chuckled again, pounding on a red hot iron rod. "Don'cha have enough leather on ya body yet, ya toothpick? Ya sure ya can handle the weight?"

"Leather! Knew I forgot something!"

"Oh boy," muttered Gobber, rolling his eyes with a sigh, wishing he hadn't opened his big fat mouth. Then again, he realised with a smirk, this could be fun to watch. Hiccup always struggled to reach the top shelf where Gobber kept the supply of leather hide.

"Ya want me to get it?"

"Nah, I got it,"

"Ya sure ya can reach-"

Gobber frowned when Hiccup simply strolled past him to the shelf, grabbing a roll of leather without even perching on his toes. Hiccup turned around, grinning cockily. "Yep, I'm pretty sure I can. See ya later, Gobber!"

Gobber's scowl deepened unhappily. The boy didn't even have to look up at him to grin anymore. It was directed straight now. They were practically at equal height now.

"Ya no good cheeky fishbone," he grumbled, but he soon chuckled as he continued to bang on the iron with his hammer hand. The boy had grown up way too fast…

"Hey, how's the weather down there?"

"Haha, yeah, how are the ants?"

Snotlout glared at the twins angrily. "Shut up, hair brains!"

"At least our hair is longer than your whole body!" Ruffnut laughed, stretching out a lock neck to Snotlout to test her theory.

"Yeah, our hair could be your brain," snorted Tuffnut, before frowning. "Hang on, could that happen?"

"Dunno, let's see," said Ruffnut eagerly, quickly wrapping a braid around her twins head before they both got into a scuffle. Snotlout only sighed, grumbling under his breath. It's not his fault he was so slow in catching up to height. Ha! At least he could grow facial hair before them all!

"Don't worry about it, Snotlout," said Fishlegs, approaching his friend from across the training arena. "It's not that bad."

"Of course it's not!" Snotlout yelled over the twins. "Especially not if you've always been the tallest! I mean, come on! I was the second, and now I'm the last! It's pathetic!"

Fishlegs shrugged. "I guess so. But I guess now you know how Hiccup felt before when you teased him for his size."

Snotlout gasped happily. "Yes, you're right! Hiccup! Oh thank Odin! At least I won't be alone in this stupid height, Hiccup will know what I feel!"

"What will I know?"

Snotlout whirled around at the sound of Hiccup's approaching voice (it was about time too, he was late for their class, not to mention he left him in the teasing hands of the twins!). "Hiccup, old buddy, old pal, you know how we're both-"

Snotlout's jaw dropped… no… NO!

He actually had to look UP at the future heir!

"No! NO! Dammit! How is this possible?! NO!"

Hiccup arched a concerned eyebrow when Snotlout lashed out, throwing his helmet across the arena before whirling around his hammer angrily.

"Uh, have a few more screws come loose, Fishlegs?" asked Hiccup, slowly edging towards his only sane friend. The twins had managed to tangle themselves in their own hair; Snotlout was still bashing the walls and yelling angrily.

Fishlegs nodded, barely noticing that Hiccup was now very close to surpassing his own height. "Yeah, sort of."

Hiccup couldn't help himself as he grinned. "Well, either that or his temper's gotten much shorter."

Even the villagers could hear the two boys' roars of laughter from afar that morning.

"Good afternoon, Milady."

Astrid groaned upon feeling a chin rest heavily atop her head. "Ok, I get it, Hiccup! You're taller than me now, you don't need to keep rubbing it in."

Hiccup had to laugh, pulling in his girlfriend for a hug and an affectionate peck on the cheek, which he had to lean down for. "I can't help it, it's actually kinda funny."

Astrid couldn't help but laugh. It actually was, if she thought about it hard enough. She remembered when they were first together, when she first hooked up with the absolute weedy little dork of the village – the one she used to have to slightly lean down for a kiss. When she turned around to look up at him, she was still amazed by the drastic change.

"Not for me," said Astrid with an amused smile, moving her hands towards his rugged mop of auburn hair and mindlessly tying a tiny plait into it. "Ruffnut's been looking at you all funny, so have a few other girls. I'm worried I'll have to start fighting for you now."

Hiccup smirked. "Why fight something you've already won?"

Astrid smiled even wider. His dorky crush was still present, as well as that dorky grin she had come to fall in love with.

"Fair point," she said with a shrug, eyeing his vest ever so slightly. A smirk tugged at her lips. "I can still beat you at some things, at least."

"Like what?"

Quickly, she tried to make a grab for his sketchbook inside his vest pocket, planning to run away with it and make him chase her. She gasped when his hand managed to beat her to it, which soon turned into an annoyed growl when he held it above her head.

"C'mon, Astrid, what's wrong?" laughed Hiccup as Astrid tried to jump for the book. "Can't reach?"

"HICCUP!"

Please review and let me know whatcha think :)