Note: a small part of this story was inspired by the lovely E. Wills. Go check her stories, they're awsome!

Stairs. Man, he hated them so.

Hiccup stood at the bottom of the steep stairway leading to the Mead Hall and looked up with great desperation. He could hear the happy chattering of Vikings eating, drinking and laughing through the closed heavy doors. He signed. Usually he hated the idea of asking for help, but his left half-leg was throbbing painfully and his stomach was rumbling with hunger, so he could really use a hand right now.

But there was not a living soul outside. He was the only one who was late for dinner, because, well, he was late for everything those days, considering the fact that he could barely walk in a straight line. It was only a couple of weeks after the Red Death, and Hiccup was still far from mastering the use of his peg leg. At most cases, he had Toothless to lean on, but right now the useless reptile was nowhere to be found. Hiccup had tried calling him several times, but it was in vein. The dragon has probably found a piece of grass and was busy rolling from side to side and rubbing his back against it with a happy grunt, oblivious to his young rider's distress.

Hiccup decided to give up. He couldn't imagine any scenario which did not involve him falling flat on his face while trying to climb those stairs. He thought of going back to his house and fix himself some dinner there, but then he remembered that his house was on the top of hill. Geez, why did the gods hate him so much?

He kept pitying himself for a while when he heard a familiar voice behind him. "What the Hel's wrong with you, Useless?"

Hiccup turned and found Snotlout standing in front of him, hands folded, looking bored and disdainful as always. Hiccup felt his heart sinking. Of course it had to be Snotlout, of all people. Dear Odin, this evening just couldn't get any better, could it?

"Oh, you know…" Hiccup forced a crooked smile and raised a hand to scratch his head, "J-just hanging around… enjoying the view…"

"Of the Mead Hall?" The bulky boy quirked an eyebrow.

"Well, Yes! I mean, it's a… it's a very impressive building, d-don't you think?" Hiccup blabbed. "Those fancy doors… so much history…"

Snotlout rolled his eyes. "Whatever, I wasn't listening to you anyway. Look, I've trained with Hookfang until late and I'm starving, so are you coming or not?"

"Umm…" Hiccup looked aside, wishing the ground will open its mouth and swallow him whole. "You know what? I'm actually not that hungry, so… yeah, I think I'll just stay here. You go ahead".

Snotlout frowned at him. "Seriously, just what the Hel is wrong with you?"

Hiccup opened his mouth to provide a clever answer, but his sore leg finally let down and he lost his balance, failing to hold back a painful cry. He was ready to hit the ground for the hundredth time today, but Snotlout was fast enough to catch his elbow and pull him back up.

"Dude, you okay?!" Snotlout's face became white as a sheet.

"Y-yes, I'm fine. Don't worry about it", Hiccup panted sharply. He felt his cheeks burning with shame and tried very hard not to look at the other boy. "It's that stupid leg again, 'is all… I was probably a bit too hard on it today". He gulped. "It's not that bad, honestly".

Snotlout simply stared at him and Hiccup had a hard time interpreting his expression. It was mostly confusion, but also… no, it can't be… concern?

Suddenly Snotlout stepped forward and kneeled on the ground, his back to Hiccup. "Come on, hop on".

Hiccup blinked. "Say what now?"

"I said, hop on", Snotlout repeated impatiently. He fixed his eyes at the sky and seemed to be struggling with every word. "It's not like I'm going to leave you standing here all by yourself like an idiot, right? So let's get this over with".

Hiccup was too stunned to answer. This had to be some sort of joke. Any moment now Snotlout will stand up, push him to the ground and run to the Mead Hall, laughing his ass out. But that moment never came. Snotlout remained kneeling before him, silent and serious. Thor Almighty, he was actually trying to help Hiccup.

"Okaaay…" Hiccup said slowly, still not sure what to make of this weird situation. "Are you sure I won't be too heavy for you?"

Snotlout sonrted loudly. "Nothing is too heavy for Snotlout Jorgenson", he announced with pride. "Especially not a skinny fishbone like you. Now hop on before I drag you there by the neck".

"Alright, alright", Hiccup gave up and took a clumsy step forward. "Well then… here I come". And he climbed on the other's boy wide back.

Snotlout stood up, grabbing Hiccup's legs tightly. He started climbing up the stairs, slowly but without apparent difficulty. "Geez, Hiccup, do you ever eat?"

"Well, I was in a coma for quite a while, so it was kinda hard for me to find the time", Hiccup said dryly. He prayed with all his might that no one was watching them right now. Gods, the twins were going to make his life miserable if they found out about this.

Neither of them spoke another word until they reached the top of the stairway. Come to think of it, there weren't so many stairs there. On a normal occasion, Hiccup would run all the way up. He remembered how Snotlout used to make him race him to the top, especially at winter, when everything was slippery and covered with ice. Needless to say, Hiccup has never got to be the winner of those races. One time in Snoggletog he slipped so hard he broke his nose. Snotlout found this hilarious, of course - he didn't stop bragging about it through the whole holiday. However, somehow he didn't seem to find the whole peg leg thing hilarious at all, and Hiccup wasn't sure how to accept that. He was not used to not being teased by the other teens, especially Snotlout.

Finally they reached the Hall's doors. Hiccup signed with relief and climbed off Snotlout's back, carefully testing his weight on his bad leg. Snotlout was busy stretching his back and avoiding Hiccup's gaze. For a few moments there was nothing more than an awkward silence.

"Sooo, that was, um… fun", Hiccup said with a nervous smile, scratching his head again. "I gotta say, Lout, I honestly think this is the nicest thing you've ever done for me. No, wait - this is the only nice thing you've ever done for me. So… thank you. I mean it".

Snotlout shrugged. "Don't mention it", he mumbled. "Besides, we're even now".

"Even?" Hiccup asked in confusion.

Snotlout frowned and looked aside. "Well, I'm just sayin'… you killed that dragon all by yourself and basically saved our lives and stuff, so I guess that we all kinda owe you".

Hiccup almost fell from his feet (well, foot) again. Did Snotlout just flatter him? This evening was getting weirder and weirder.

Suddenly Snotlout turned his head to Hiccup and glared at him decisively. "Well, not me. I don't owe you anything anymore. And don't you dare forget it".

"Oh, I won't", Hiccup answered quickly, still extremely confused. But then he decided it didn't really matter, and offered his hand to the other boy. "So... yeah, we're even".

"We're even". Snotlout took Hiccup's hand and shook it for a very short moment, then pulled it back hastily, as if afraid it will bite him.

They could hear people laughing and clinking mugs from inside, but none of them showed any intention to enter. They just kept standing there in silence. Then, they both spoke simultaneously.

"Maybe it's better we don't tell anyone – "

"You tell someone about this and I'll rip you other leg off".

Hiccup raised his hands in surrender. "I'll take it to my grave".