Work Text:
Another day. Another horrible, scorching hot day.
Hiccup’s least favourite season had to be the summer. For so many reasons-
The sweltering hot weather, the way the air got thicker and heavier, how uncomfortable and sweaty he felt when laying in bed on the rare occasions that he’d actually intend on sleeping instead of just passing out. How he couldn’t wear any short sleeved tunics- how he couldn’t bear to have people look at him without a shirt on. How most of his torso and upper legs were covered in burn scars.
So when summer arrived on the edge for the first time, he found himself unable to cope with it like he normally did on Berk.
He and Toothless exited their hut. As soon as they did so- the sun hit them. Hiccup could feel how the heat radiated off his skin. His disgusting scars and his disgusting coping mechanisms. He felt as his shirt almost immediately felt stuck to his skin, how the armour he had on felt more like he was voluntarily torturing himself instead of protecting himself.
Hiccup sighed. He tried to stay in the shade as much as possible as he groggily limped over to the clubhouse-
Wait-
Why was his limp worse than usual?
He stopped to look down at his left leg, specifically where it ended and his prosthetic began.
The heat was even fucking with his leg. Great.
He continued limping on, his usually somewhat baggy shirt now rubbing against his skin, his scars .
He and Toothless made it to the clubhouse. Apparently he was the last one to get up.
“Ohhh look who’s finally up,”
Tuffnut commented.
“Yeah- sorry just- slept in,”
“Hey- we all sleep in sometimes. Don’t worry about it,” Fishlegs smiled at him.
Hiccup smiled back
“Aren’t you too warm in that?” Astrid tilted her head slightly, gesturing to Hiccup.
“Wha- what no- uhm- I’m fine.”
“Dude- it’s like 35 degrees. You’re gonna make yourself sick.”
Hiccup was surprised at the temperature, not actually having thought about just how hot it was until Snotlout mentioned it.
“Y-yeah I’ll- I’ll change if I get too warm. I’m- I’m fine right now.”
He wasn’t fine. He was already sweating and feeling a headache coming on.
“At least take off your armour. That certainly won’t be any help today.”
He did as Astrid said, actually agreeing with her on that. He took his waist strap and vest off, as well as his shoulder guards, now only having his red tunic to cover his uncomfortable disgusting scar ridden-
“Okay- so what are we doing about that pack of smokebreaths on the other side of the island?”
Hiccup snapped out of his thoughts when he heard Fishlegs’ question. He soon realised that everyone was now looking at him for the answer.
He’s the leader. He needs to be strong. No- no faltering.
“Uhm- right. Yeah the Smokebreaths- first we need to actually find them, cuz they keep moving around the place… uh- twins- can you two go get some sort of metal that we have to spare?”
They both nodded
“Alright- and- uh- Fishlegs- can you be ready with the nets we have at the beach? Me, Astrid and Snotlout will round them up over there once we find them.”
Fishlegs nodded, patting Meatlug on her side.
Hiccup, Astrid and Snotlout soon got to work on finding the Smokebreaths.
They flew over the island for a little while. The whole time Hiccup could feel his dizziness creep up. His vision was nowhere near being anything of use to him and his arms and legs felt stiff and hot . Toothless could sense his rider’s discomfort, warbling in concern. His concern was met with a reassuring pat on the neck.
Thor- he felt so sick .
“So what’s our plan here? Just endlessly fly until we find something?
“No, Snotlout. The plan, like Hiccup has said about twenty times, is to scout the island out for any sign of smoke, and then if we don’t find any we then go and search on foot.”
“Right… and what are we doing with mr daydreamer over there?” He gestured to Hiccup.
Astrid was confused at Snotlout’s comment, looking over to Hiccup atop Toothless’ back. She saw how out of it he looked. He was slouched over, his face contorted into a grimace.
“Hiccup? You okay?” She continued to look at him, worry creeping into her system.
“Huh? … Oh! Yeah- I’m- I’m good. Why?”
“C’mon man- you’re obviously not. You look like you’re gonna pass out. And that’s just a whole different load of shit to deal with.”
“For once in my life I’m gonna have to agree with Snotlout. You need to go back to the edge-”
“No- no I don’t. We have- we need to find the Smokebreaths and-”
“Yeah and you can’t find things if you’re passed out dumbass.” Snotlout’s tone was one of annoyance, yet concern was present if you listened hard enough.
“Oh for the love of- I’m not going to pass out! I’m just tired .”
“No, what you are is overheating. Me and Snotlout aren’t overheating because we have the appropriate attire on for this kind of weather.”
“Look- let’s just- let’s just get this done with- get the Smokebreaths to Fishlegs- then- then we’ll go back to the edge. It won’t take long anyway.”
Astrid and Snotlout looked at each other. Annoyed . But they didn’t say anything else, both just glancing at Hiccup every minute or so to make sure he wasn’t gonna fall off or something.
The three of them continued gliding through the air for a while. Eventually Toothless spotted something. Smoke . He roared to get everyone else’s attention.
“What is it bud?”
“Oh fuck- we actually found them.”
“Come on then! Them little shits are fast, we could lose them!”
Astrid and Stormfly dived down first, swiftly manoeuvring between the trees to block the smothering smokebreath pack. Stormfly shot her spines, Hookfang blasted fire, eventually wrangling them into a group.
“ Yes! Okay- Hic- Hiccup?”
He wasn’t- he wasn’t there
“Oh for fuck- HICCUP! GET YOUR MUTTON HEAD ASS OVER HERE !
The Smokebreaths were regaining their confidence. Two dragons were not enough to round them all up and keep them in one place. But Hiccup and Toothless were nowhere in sight.
The metal stealing reptiles all eventually managed to escape, scuttling off into the forest.
“Where the hel is he?” Astrid looked over at Snotlout for an answer
“I don’t know! Probably passed out somewhere!”
“Stormfly, girl, can you find him?”
The nadder squawked at her rider. Sniffing the air, walking in a few different directions before she finally caught a scent. She quickly started moving in the direction of the smell.
Having a tracker class dragon is always handy, especially when your boyfriend is potentially unconscious in a forest.
Hookfang followed Stormfly, both dragons still having their riders atop them. They stopped in an opening in the forest’s canopy. A suspiciously night fury shaped opening…
“Hiccup!” They both yelled. Trying to find any sign of their friend.
They heard the oh so familiar roar of a night fury, the nadder and monstrous nightmare immediately following the sound.
They found them. Toothless looked unharmed, just worried. Hiccup however-
… was in fact passed out .
Astrid and Snotlout immediately dismounted their dragons, racing over to Hiccup.
“Oh you thick headed-” She stopped herself from insulting the unconscious body in front of her, opting to kneel down and turn him onto his back.
Out cold .
“Fuck- is he like- does he have heat stroke or something?” Snotlout asked
“Gods- he probably does . Uhm- shit.”
“How do we cool him down? That’s like- we need to cool him down-”
“Yes- I know that- uh- fuck- take his shirt off? I guess?”
Snotlout nodded. Astrid placed a hand in Hiccup’s back, propping him up. His head rested in the crook of her arm. Snotlout grabbed Hiccup’s shirt and slipped it over his head and-
They both gasped. Audibly
“Oh my fuck.”
Hiccup’s entire torso was absolutely covered in burn scars and little cuts and bruises. The oh so fine, freckled skin that stopped at his collarbone led into pale, patchy, red angry skin. Each individual burn mark had some other pattern, some other shape, never consistent, always differing- He had apparently bandaged himself over his chest and parts of his stomach, those parts looking particularly bad. What was more concerning was the fact that his ribs were clearly visible- And his arms - his wrists -
They felt sick at the sight.
The rest of the time they were silent . Astrid silently picked Hiccup up, holding him gently in her arms. They silently agreed that Astrid would carry Hiccup on top of Stormfly. They silently agreed that Snotlout would fly Toothless back and that Hookfang would follow them. They silently agreed to get back to the edge as quickly as possible.
The flight back was deathly quiet.
.oOo.
A few hours later…
His head hurt. He felt sick. He felt dizzy. Which wasn’t helped by the fact that his body had decided he was well enough to come back into the conscious world. He genuinely didn’t know that he could feel this much like he was about to die . But there we are.
His eyes fluttered open. He was in bed, in his hut. All- all 5 of his friends surrounding him.
What?
Why was-? Why is everyone here?
“Guys! He’s awake!” The excited voice of Ruffnut exclaimed.
“Hiccup- do you- are you okay? How do you feel?
“Astrid?- I- uhm- horrible . I feel-… horrible.”
“Yeah no kidding.” The relieved voice of Snotlout added. “You passed out. Y’know, like I said you would.”
“Oh… uh… sorry-,”
Hiccup attempted to sit up, but found himself being pushed back down by Astrid’s strong hand.
Against his bare skin.
He didn’t have his shirt on.
His scars-
“No no- you need to rest. You could have heat stroke Hiccup.”
“ I- okay- can I just-”
“Can you what? Do you need something?”
Hiccup didn’t respond to Fishlegs’ question
“I just- can- can I-”
He tried to sit up again, this time several hands touching him. His bare , disgusting, scarred skin . Pushing him down.
He could feel his frustration boiling. He just- he just wanted-
“Can I just- can I have my shirt-?”
“No- no Hiccup you need to stay as cool as you can.” Astrid attempted to reason with him, but she knew where this was going.
“No- no please I just- I just want my shirt-,”
“Why?”
Someone asked. He couldn’t tell who, he was panicking too much.
“P-please I just- I can’t-,”
“You can’t what?”
“Dude what’s wrong?”
“just relax,”
“calm down-,”
“No please- please stop- stop touching me- I just- I want my shirt-,”
“You’re too warm!”
“You’re ill,”
“ You’re ill, you’re sick, you’re disgusting, you’re stupid,”
“You need to take it easy for a while-“
“Don’t move you freak, stay down, you’re worthless, you’re-
Useless,”
“PLEASE- Please stop- I just- I just- please- I just- I just want my shirt- or or somethin- Please- I’m- I’m sorry-,”
His yelling had effectively shushed the entire group. Just stunned.
Eventually, Astrid spoke.
“Hiccup. Look at me. Look at me. You can’t have your shirt because you are too warm. You’re going to make yourself even sicker if you put a shirt on. It will be okay. Just try and rest. Don’t panic.
He stared at her for a few seconds. Still panicking. But… eventually… he nodded. He didn’t want to agree. He didn’t agree. He didn’t think he’d be okay. He knew he wouldn’t be okay. Because as soon as he healed up enough- there’d be questions- and they’d want answers. He’d have to lie. He’d have to explain with lies . Something he was horrible at doing. He’d have to cope with that. He’d have to lie to himself. Tell himself he was okay. Tell himself that it didn’t matter.
He didn’t appreciate the advice to keep his shirt off. In fact it horrified him. But it kept him alive.
Probably.