Hiccup never thought he would see his best friend in such a state.

Living with dragons had put a few things into perspective for the young dragon rider. Studying the behavior of dragons and learning of their ways helped Hiccup learn even more about the magnificent creatures. Every new detail he learned, it seemed five more followed it, trailing that one new detail. They'd learned so much about dragons so far, between him and the other dragon riders. Heck, they had an entire Dragon Academy they used for all their research.

Hiccup had to admit, it was pretty fun, discovering new things about dragons and updating the book of dragons (seriously, they had to take out all of that "Kill on sight" nonsense. Hiccup still couldn't believe that had ever been written in the dragon manual). There was always so much to learn.

But in all their discoveries so far, Hiccup had never actually seen a dragon get sick before. He figured they had powerful immune systems, and with the firepower most dragons were born equipped with, Hiccup guessed most germs the dragons did manage to catch were burnt out before the illness actually set in.

Except, now, he was wondering what illness was powerful enough to lay a dragon low for days. Oddly enough, even after everything Hiccup and the other riders tried, the dragons only grew sicker. Hiccup didn't even know what to do anymore, or what his next move should have been.

Not until they found some sort of cure.

Hiccup had been running himself ragged; he couldn't remember the last time he'd slept, or the last time he'd actually eaten a decent meal. All his spare time was spent at his house, and when he wasn't there with his sick best friend, he was scavenging everywhere he could think possible for books on a cure.

He went to Gothi; she let him borrow all the books he wanted, and Hiccup read until his eyes were bloodshot and irritated. Even after that happened, he forced himself to keep his face buried in his research until he passed out, waking up the next morning just to repeat the previous cycle.

He had to find the stupid cure for that stupid illness that was infecting all the dragons.

More importantly, infecting Toothless.

He thought about it. He thought about it until his head hurt and his brain felt scrambled. He tried to find the solution of the sickness; he tried to find the cure. He tried to at least think up what it was and what had caused it, but with no results, he was finally beginning to despair.

His father was due back any day now, and Hiccup didn't know what would happen to his father's dragon. Would Thornado catch the same sickness the other dragons were infected with or not? Hiccup didn't have the will to ponder it any longer than just a second.

Hiccup tapped his charcoal against the table in the Great Hall, a book open in front of him. To the left of the open book, a stack of four books were piled, waiting to be searched, and to the right of the open book, was another similar pile consisting of three books that had already been searched thoroughly for the solution to their problem. He didn't know what time it was. Maybe around midnight, at the very earliest. Candles, almost out of wax and wick to burn, lit the area just enough for Hiccup to read without straining his eyes.

He fingered the corner of the page as he finished reading the last few words before flipping the page and continuing his investigation. Cure, cure, cure, cure, cure, he had to find a cure for the mysterious illness that was striking the dragons.

Hiccup hated seeing Toothless sick; he absolutely hated it, and worse, he felt helpless because of it. He couldn't do anything to help the dragon until he found the cure. He'd thought previously that a midnight flight would at least help Toothless' spirits, but Toothless hadn't even been willing to stand up, much less launch into the sky and soar.

Hiccup looked back down at the paper and continued reading, although he was skimming everything, looking for keywords: cure, illness, and dragons, but so far, he hadn't found anything of great importance.

And worse than that, the words were beginning to blur. His eyes were beginning to droop, and the words suddenly grew bigger and bigger until-

He fell face first against the book and jerked himself awake again. He'd been at it too long, and he knew it, but he wasn't about to give up now. He thought about it. He wanted to; part of him did, but the other part of him kept thinking about Toothless. He didn't know whether or not the illness was deadly.

He didn't know how much time he had until the sickness was incurable.

That made him keep working. He continued scanning the paper with his eyes, trying to find what he was looking for...but...at the same time…

He slammed the book shut in frustration and put his hands over his eyes, his elbows digging into the table. He wanted to keep working, but his body had other ideas. He knew that if he didn't get home soon and rest, he would pass out again. The first time he'd passed out, it'd been right in front of Astrid, and Astrid had kind of panicked.

And besides...he wanted to check on Toothless again, of course...

So, as reluctant as he was, Hiccup stacked the books, blew out the candles, and headed towards home.

His house, where he knew his dragon was resting, sick as he was. Hiccup was always torn in two: finding the cure and being with his best friend were two things Hiccup simply couldn't do at the same time. If he took the books with him to study at home, he would be too busy worrying about Toothless to actually work, and studying anywhere else led to Hiccup and Toothless being separated.

Hiccup just hoped they found the cure soon. That was all he really cared about at the time; finding the cure, saving his dragon, and the other dragons who had been infected by the virus.

Hiccup pushed the door to his house open. The fireplace was going; he must have forgotten to put it out. In fact, he didn't remember even lighting it recently. Maybe Astrid lit it for him, or maybe Gobber came over and did it, who knew.

He certainly didn't, nor did he care. It warmed the establishment, and that was really all Hiccup cared about. Slowly, he turned towards the staircase, and climbed up the steps.

Toothless was exactly where Hiccup had left him, curled into himself with his tail wrapped around his body like a tired kitten. Toothless didn't even open his eyes or lift his head to show that he acknowledged Hiccup's arrival. The only action from the dragon was a twitch of his ears, and Hiccup was pretty sure even that move was involuntary.

As Hiccup stepped through the doorway of the loft, Toothless finally opened his eyes, lifting his head in Hiccup's direction. Smiling faintly, Hiccup collapsed in front of the dragon, his hands on either side of Toothless' face. The dragon's scales felt warmer than usual, but Hiccup made no comment.

"Hey, bud," he whispered. Toothless cooed back, almost as if saying the same thing. "How you holding up?" Toothless lowered his head, resting it in Hiccup's lap. Hiccup sighed heavily and rubbed Toothless' head gently, trying to keep himself from panicking. "Yeah. I know, buddy, I know. I know it's bad. I'm sorry."

He didn't know what else to say, or what else to do. Slowly, he shifted, moving to rest against Toothless' side, as he had done so many times since the dragon had taken ill. He hardly slept, but when he did, it was always right next to Toothless. Right next to his best friend, that way Hiccup could monitor his condition and get Gothi if he worsened.

Toothless had grown rather accustomed to the sleeping arrangement as well after a few days, and he didn't complain, even once. Instead, he lifted his wing and wrapped it around his little rider, almost protectively.

Hiccup sighed yet again and shut his eyes. This was where he felt most comfortable, with his best friend, embraced safely in his wings. Hiccup always felt most comfortable when he was with Toothless, and he was pretty sure it was vise versa for the dragon.

Especially after the Red Death went down. There were times, after the battle, where Hiccup would wake up with nightmares, or Toothless would wake up with nightmares, and they would find security in each other's presence. Toothless, because he had almost lost Hiccup in the fiery inferno, and Hiccup, because he knew his best friend survived as well.

Hiccup still knew he needed to find the cure. He knew he needed to save his friend, and he knew that he would. He would find a cure. He would save Toothless.

Just...maybe right now, it was okay to rest. Maybe right now, it was okay to take a break and stay with Toothless for the night. Maybe it was okay.

Besides, with how exhausted he felt, he knew studying right now wasn't the best idea he'd ever had.

"I'll find the cure, Toothless," Hiccup promised, his voice barely rising above a whisper. "I promise you, I will find the cure."

Toothless ruffled Hiccup's hair with his breath and licked the boy's forehead. Hiccup didn't even scowl, as he would have done any other day. He simply sighed.

"Goodnight, Toothless," he whispered.

The dragon purred back.

Author's Notes:

I have no idea where this idea came from. I really, truly, honestly have no idea where it came from. While "Dragon Flower" had to be one of my least favorite "Riders of Berk" episodes as far as plotline goes, it has to be one of my favorite episodes as far as Toothless and Hiccup go.

It was so sad, really, especially seeing Hiccup's first initial reaction to Toothless being ill. And then later on in the episode, with Hiccup constantly hovering over Toothless...I don't know. I love seeing Hiccup and Toothless' friendship in the TV series, and I was really glad we saw some in "Dragon Flower."

I'm hoping to see more rider and dragon bonding in later "Race to the Edge" episodes, because it's awesome to see Hiccup and Toothless interact with each other. I especially like the playful banter:

Hiccup: I should seriously get my own set of wings.

Toothless: (cooes)
Hiccup: Oh quiet, you. Don't even start.

Or:

Hiccup: What's the matter, bud? It's just an empty cage.
*bird flies out of cage*
Toothless: *growls*
Hiccup: Okay, now it's an empty cage.

So, yeah. I love Toothless and Hiccup bonding, a lot. Maybe that's where this idea came from. :) So, I've had a few people wondering when I'm going to update my "How To Train Your Dragon 2 - AU", and it's going to be in October (or maybe, if you guys are lucky, September 12th, which is my fanfiction anniversary). I don't think I'll be writing that wedding scene in the chapter I post then. No, I've had a few more ideas for chapters to go in between, so the wedding scene will be in October, and there might be a bonus chapter posted on September 12th.

I've had a few more ideas, I don't know if I'll use all of them (or any of them), but if you guys want, there can be a chapter September 12th, and then the wedding scene will come in October (maybe around October 5th or whatever, yeah).

I guess the real question is, do you guys want a bonus chapter this month. Let me know. :)

Until next story!

-BeyondTheClouds777