After dinner was eaten and now dirty dishes were put away, Hiccup decided to lay down near the fire place while curled in Stormfly's embrace. Aubrey and Halden were still staying with each other for Snoggletog break, so it was just Hiccup, Astrid, and Ingrid at the Hofferson house for the time being.

One of Hiccup's stuffed dragons, a blue-ish green one which resembled a Deadly Nadder, lay curled in his rough hands while Hiccup himself was being protect by Stormfly. Astrid sat next to him, absentmindedly scratching her Deadly Nadder behind the ears who's head was in her lap.

"It's odd how attached you are to those stuffed animals, but kind of cute in it's own way." Astrid said as she leaned her head on Hiccup's shoulder. Ingrid was already in her room reading a book before going to bed. She was going to check on Hiccup's temperature before actually falling asleep though.

"I don't know why I am. I think it's a part of the dragon side." Hiccup mumbled, gripping the stuffed dragon tighter but not enough to damage it. He purred when Astrid reached up to scratch the spot just below his dragon-scruff, a part of skin that could either cause extreme pain, paralysis for a short period of time do to instinct, or when scratched the right way, comfort.

Astrid nodded her head in understanding, leaning further into him so he'd lay down with his head propped up by Stormfly's front foot. The Deadly Nadder nudged Hiccup curiously, sniffing him to make sure he was okay as if he was her own hatchling like Toothless used to, then she lay down her head with her wing covering his and Astrid's legs, her nose pointed towards the fire so she could watch the sparks from the fireplace.

Hiccup let one wing drape over Astrid's body, only leaving her shoulder and head free. He held her close with said wing, allowing her to tuck her head under his chin.

"Thanks for helping me with all of this Astrid. It means a lot to have a family like you guys." Hiccup said sincerely, humming a dragon's-coo in the back of his throat with his dragon-side's vocals.

Astrid smiled warmly and leaned closer to Hiccup. They were both leaning against Stormfly's front foot, so she was mostly laying down, but she was still able to lean upward enough to gently kiss his nose. Then she brought her right hand up, her thumb brushing over the scar crossing his right eye.

Hiccup's breath hitched and his eyes went wide in reflex for a moment, muscles tense and heart racing. Then he began to relax a little, leaning into her hold while shivering in his skin do to the memories that plagued his mind.

If there were two scars he hated people touching or getting close to, they would be his amputation sight and his eye-scars.

"You're doing better with this. Trusting me to touch you." Astrid said in a quiet voice. Her thumb brushed up towards his eyebrow, then came back down to very tenderly touch his scar again which traveled in a thin line across his temple. Her hand remained on his cheek where she felt his rough, now warm skin. He was letting his plasma energy out little by little as fear overcame him.

There was something else though. Another emotion in his eyes that wasn't fear or hesitance. She couldn't quite pin-point it, but it kind of resembled love combined with something else.

Hiccup held her tighter with his wings when she said these things to him. He cooed and purred, shivered more fiercely do to her thumb constantly touching his eye scar. His leg was also hurting again because he really did need to remove his prosthetic to relieve his tense muscles, but he still refused to even after so many days for fear of needing to get away quickly.

"Thanks...I think."

Astrid smiled at the slight sass in his voice, kissing his nose again before pulling her hand away so he could rest easy. She lay so her head was on his chest, reveling in the warmth his wings produced. He wasn't growing cold, which meant he was gaining his strength back and able to manage his own body heat more often.

The young couple lay like that for a while. Astrid didn't mean to when she fell asleep in Hiccup's arms. The Dragon Boy was still awake, but he didn't try to move away from the lightly-snoring Hofferson in her arms.

After about half an hour, Ingrid walked into the living room to take Hiccup's temperature. She froze in her tracks and was taken back when she saw her own daughter sleeping in Hiccup's wings while he purred soothingly to her, Stormfly's left wing still covering him.

The Deadly Nadder sensed one of her three riders in the room and looked up with a chirp to acknowledge Ingrid. Hiccup looked up when he felt her moving, and smiled warmly when he saw Ingrid coming over. Of course he was tense at the idea of her using medical equipment on him, but that was mostly pure instinct after so many years of being tormented and hurt by said equipment.

Once Stormfly knew the two teens in her wings were in no danger she lay her head back down and closed her eyes to go back to sleep. Ingrid walked closer once the Deadly Nadder was content with having her there, knowing that having a pet Nadder meant you had to obey certain rules among them, including their protective instincts over young ones.

Hiccup was slightly hesitant as usual when the electronic thermometer hit his skin, but when Ingrid pulled away to check the numbers he relaxed.

"You're still at the normal temperature for a regular human so that's good. You're maintaining your own body heat well." Ingrid kneeled down so she could brush a hand through Hiccup's hair playfully who chuckled and let out a squeak which one couldn't tell was from his dragon or human vocals.

Once Ingrid pulled away she looked at Astrid who was still sound asleep. She then looked at Hiccup, catching his gaze. He was smiling almost proudly, obviously happy with himself for protecting her like he was.

"Did she fall asleep like this?" Ingrid was mentioning the wings wrapped around her while she was laying her head on Hiccup's chest.

"Yeah. We were talking about my stuffed dragons with Stormfly. I guess she got tired after helping with dinner." In response all of the noise that was going on Astrid shifted in her sleep. She moved up Hiccup's body a little and tucked her head under his chin, clinging to to the loose skin at the base of his wings where scales met his spine.

"Okay. Well if you don't mind I'm going to walk her to her room so she can sleep in her own bed. Do you want to stay in here so you're near the fire place?"

Hiccup nodded his head in agreement. He preferred sleeping in Stormfly's arms over sleeping in his bed. Bold was a heavy sleeper so he wouldn't be wondering where he was.

As expected, Astrid fought slightly when she was first woken up out of fear because she was in an unfamiliar environment, but once she saw her mother she allowed Ingrid to lead her to her bedroom.

Hiccup would be lying if he said he didn't miss the comfort of Astrid next to him, but he knew it was a human thing for there to be a natural rule against males being able to sleep next to a female who wasn't a sister. Males were allowed to sleep with males, but not females with males it seemed.

It didn't take long for Hiccup to fall asleep wrapped in Stormfly's wings. The Deadly Nadder would occasionally nudge and hum to him in an attempt to sooth the sleeping ill boy.

She'd seen how Toothless was with him, and now that the Night Fury was gone Stormfly knew she could get closer to Hiccup because it was very unlikely he would ever be leaving like he was once planning to. This little dragon-if a bit different than normal dragons-needed another adult figure now that his Night Fury brother/father figure was gone.

Of course the humans would be able to take care of him like they did their daughter, but they just didn't know exactly how to take care of an adolescent dragon who had been through as much as he had been through.