Chapter 6

Hiccup moaned, as he rolled to his side in his sleep. His body felt stiff, like he had been nothing but a statue for weeks. Didn't help matters his mind was hazy, and his tongue felt oddly fuzzy. Gradually, despite the urge to keep his eyes shut, Hiccup forced them to crack open.

First observation, he was in his hut. Second observation, Toothless was snoring next to his bed. Nothing new or strange there. However, his third observation of seeing Astrid sitting in a chair next to him as she read a book hinted something was amiss.

"Astrid? he asked, his voice cracking slightly. Man, he was dying for a drink.

Astrid paused and looked anxious as she turned to him. "You're awake," she stated as she set the book down. "How are you feeling?"

Hiccup groaned as he sat up holding his head. "Like the twins had used my head for a hammer, what happened?" He rubbed his eyes. "Last thing I remember was us arguing over my flight suit."

Toothless raised his head, looking equally thrilled as Astrid slowly smiled. "Wait," she said as she leaned forward. "You mean the one we had over breakfast?"

"Uh, yeah?" Hiccup replied. "What else would I be...um Astrid?"

He trailed off and blushed as Astrid felt his forehead.

"You're fever is gone," she muttered and then grasped Hiccup by his face. "Quick question, who is standing in the room with you, right now?"

"Um, you," Hiccup said, wondering if Astrid was the one with the fever, "and Toothless."

The Night Fury tucked his head under Hiccup's arm happily. Astrid on the other hand grinned joyfully as she let Hiccup go and rushed to poke her head out the door. "Guys! Hiccup's back to normal!"

A series of fast pace feet echoed throughout the fort and Snotlout was first to reach the hut.

"Please, tell me this isn't a prank!" he demanded as Fishlegs and the twins joined in. "My back can't take another 'ride' if you're joking."

"Uh...what?" Hiccup asked, but his question was tossed aside as Toothless cheerfully licked his face as if he hadn't seen Hiccup for a month.

"Nope, he seems back to the usual and mostly sane Hiccup," Astrid replied as she ushered them inside and folded her arms.

"Uh, can we really say 'sane' since that flight suit of his started this whole mess in the first place," Ruffnut asked.

Tuffnut held up the chicken who gave a loud bawk. "The chicken agrees with this statement," he said in a firm tone.

The other dragons had poked their head in the door and each gave a growl like they agreed with the bird.

"Okay," Hiccup said as he held up his hand as he gently shoved Toothless away. "Will SOMEONE please tell me what's going on?"

"You got yourself poisoned, that's what!" Snotlout stated as he jabbed Hiccup's chest with his finger. "And nearly drove me crazy!"

Fishlegs sighed as he shoved Snotlout out of the way. "What he means is that when you crashed in your flight suit, you landed in some poisonous flowers that made you sick with a fever for the last week."

Hiccup's eyes widened. "Flowers...wait, the one with the strange petals?"

He gulped when the group and Toothless nodded. He rubbed his neck. Hiccup had fuzzy memories of hands giving him something to drink, and there was one memory of Astrid talking to him in a comforting tone...but he couldn't recall why exactly.

"How close to being a goner was I?" he asked.

"Thankfully, you weren't," Astrid replied. "According to Gothi, the flowers weren't lethal, but there was no cure. All we could do was give you medicine to keep your fever down and have you sleep through most of it."

"Yeah, although it might have been faster if we had been allowed to try our family cures," Tuffnut said as he held a fist in the air.

Hiccup paled at the suggestion and looked to Astrid. "Please tell me you didn't let them."

Fishlegs gave a wince. "We were mostly successful."

"What do you mean mostly-wait, nevermind, I don't want to know," Hiccup replied as he ran a hand through his hair. "So, you all had to take care of me for the last week?"

"Yup, you got it," Astrid stated and patted his shoulder. "And it wasn't easy."

So, all of his friends got to see him at his worst, and if that wasn't bad enough he could barely remember any of it. Terrific!

Toothless grunted and batted Hiccup's hand with his nose. Hiccup saw the worry that had lingered in his dragon's eyes and for the first time, he caught the same uneasiness in his friends. Whatever had happened, one thing was clear, he had caused his friends to worry and that wasn't fair.

Hiccup sighed as he started to pull the blankets off of him. "Thanks for taking care of me, guys, seriously, I mean it. Looks like I put you guys through a lot," he started to pull back the sheets. "And I'm going to make it up to you all by-"

"NO!" all four teens cried in unison, and even the dragons outside the hut let out roars.

Snotlout snarled as he stomped forward. "YOU can make it up to us," he said as he shove Hiccup back into bed, "by keeping your butt in bed, and don't leave for two days at least! We are NOT risking you having a relapse!"

Hiccup grunted as he struggled to sit up despite the pleas of his lethargic body. "Snotlout, I'm fine!"

His cousin cut him off by pinning him to the bed and drew his face so close their noses almost touched. "Listen, Hiccup. You owe me BIG time! Got it?! And you will pay me back by staying in this bed, or by Thor's hammer, I swear I will tie you to it!"

Hiccup blinked stunned and was only awoken by his stupor when he swallowed. "Uh...okay, I promise to stay in bed."

"Good," Snotlout hissed as he let go of Hiccup and let him drop to the bed. "Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to do some much needed stress relief fishing with Hookfang."

"Yeah, you'll need the fish since I'm suppose to be cooking tonight," Ruffnut replied with a grin. "And since you lost the bet-"

"Yeah, yeah," Snotlout interjected as he left. "Cooking will be a breeze compared to dealing with 'Captain Vali'." He cast one more look at Hiccup. "And you better still be in bed when I get back!" Snotlout said in a threatening tone as he shut the door.

Hiccup asked, glancing to Toothless for an explanation and scratched his head. "Captain Vali? Who's that?"

"Ooh," Tuffnut said as he looked to the other teens. "Can I be the one to tell him? Please!"

"I'll tell him," Astrid said as she shoved the teens to the door. "Go play in your boar pit."

"Good idea," Ruffnut replied as she let herself be pushed outside. "We haven't been in it since this whole mess started."

"And that's just a crime in itself!" Tuffnut agreed as they left.

Fishlegs sighed as he patted Meatlug. "If you two aren't needing us, Meatlug and I are going to our rock garden to meditate. We're overdue for some much needed relaxation too."

Meatlug gave a content growl and followed her rider outside. Hiccup didn't say a word until the door was shut, and only he, Toothless and Astrid were left alone in his hut. He was starting to fear of what he was going to learn, but he had to know.

"Astrid," he said, slowly, "what exactly did I do while I was sick?"

Astrid sighed as she pulled her chair closer. "The thing is Hiccup, your high fever also gave you some delusions."

Hiccup's body stiffened. "Like eel pox level delusions?"

Astrid gave a mocking laugh. "Worse than eel pox."

Hiccup froze, and debated if he wanted his next question answered. "How much worse?"

Astrid then gave a bit of an evil grin, which filled Hiccup with dread. "Where do I begin?" she said mockingly and then snapped her fingers. "Oh, I suppose I better start with Captain Vali, eh, Toothless?"

Toothless nodded as he took a comfy seat next to Hiccup and set his head in his rider's lap. Hiccup sat silently and listened. He started to stroke Toothless, but was forced to stop as Astrid continued her story. He had his face buried in his hands when Astrid told of how he had acted like his own father, and even mistaken Snotlout for Toothless in his fevered state and tried to ride his back. By the time she told the part of Hiccup actually thinking he was a dragon, his entire face was bright red and he dove under the safety of his covers to hide.

"Hiccup?" Astrid asked as she poked at him. "You okay?"

"Oh, fantastic," Hiccup grumbled. "I'm just planning to hide here for the rest of the year and possibly my life."

"If it makes you feel any better," Astrid replied. "It was really funny watching you try to ride Snotlout."

Hiccup moaned as he buried his face into his pillow, hoping it could somehow hide him from the world.

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A day later, after Hiccup agreed to not leave his bed both for his health, and wishing to hide from his humiliation, Astrid was humming to herself as she washed Stormfly's scales.

"Almost done, Girl," Astrid replied as she started to rinse. "Then you and I will go a flight around the island."

Stormfly growled softly as she rubbed her face against Astrid's chest. She laughed and wrapped her arms around the Nadder's neck. Suddenly, a roar was heard and she turned her head to see a familiar Rumblehorn flying towards the island.

Astrid finished cleaning and waved as the dragon and his rider landed. "Hey, Stoick," Astrid greeted her chief. "I thought you were away at a meeting."

"I was," Stoick said as he climbed off Skullcrusher and patted his head. "I just got back last night and Gobber filled me in." He frowned in concerned as he rubbed his hands together. "How's Hiccup?"

"On the mend," Astrid replied as she started to lead him towards Hiccup's hut. "He no longer has a fever, but it was a LONG week." She shook her head. "You would not believe some of the stuff Hiccup did."

"Oh, I can." Stoick stated as they reached the hut. "I am his father, remember?" He chuckled. "You should have seen what he was like when he was eight years old and got the eel pox."

Astrid paused and raised an eyebrow, but decided to save the question for later. They entered the hut and found Hiccup quietly sketching in his bed. Toothless waved his tail in greeting and snorted at his rider to look up.

Hiccup looked slightly dazed until he spotted his father. "Oh..uh, hey, Dad." He tucked his drawing to the side. "What are you doing here?"

"Doing my duty as a father and checking up on my sick son," Stoick stated as he pressed his hand against his forehead. "And looks like you don't have a fever." He frowned. "But you look pale, have you been eating enough?"

Hiccup rolled his eyes. "Dad, I'm fine-"

"Snotlout and I have been making sure he eats," Astrid said, "and if we don't Toothless growls at him until he does."

Toothless gave a proud smirk and a small chuckling sound.

Hiccup sighed as he slumped. "Oh, please, continue to talk like I'm not even here."

"Sorry, Son," Stoick replied. "But you do have a bad habit of not taking proper care of yourself, especially when you get into your inventing streaks."

Astrid suddenly narrowed her eyes at the flapping piece of parchment in the bed. "Speaking of which...what exactly are you drawing there?"

Hiccup's look of annoyance vanished and he gulped as he tried to keep his drawing behind his back. "Oh, uh nothing special. Just uh...sketching a Thunderdrum you know-Wait! Astrid!"

She seized the drawing and groaned when she saw it. "The Dragon Fly 7?!" She waved the parchment. "I thought I made it clear you were banned working on this for the next month!"

"I know, I know," Hiccup stammered as he tried to take the paper back. "But I got a really good idea on how to make the wings stronger and had to get it down-"

"The only thing that is 'down' is you!" Astrid stated firmly, "or trust me Toothless will sit on you to keep you grounded."

Toothless growled as he grabbed the parchment from Astrid's hand and proceeded to walk away it in his mouth.

"Hey! Give that back! I'm working on that!" Hiccup replied. He attempted to climb out of bed, but Astrid's glare made him motionless.

"Or I...could stay right, here and read," he said as he slowly pulled his legs back under the blanket.

"Reading would be a good idea," Astrid said as she handed him one of his books. "And if you don't stay here and read, I'll get Fishlegs to recite his poetry to you."

Hiccup shuddered and sighed. "Fine, I'll be good."

Stoick laughed and patted his Astrid's shoulder. "Must say it's reassuring to know I left my son in good hands."

"We try," Astrid said with a shrug, "but he does keep us on our toes."

"Don't I know it," Stoick commented.

Hiccup sighed as he reached out and stroked Toothless's head. He gave a small smile. It was good to have friends that cared for him...even if it was annoying when they bossed him around.