Hello friends! I don't have a lot to say this time, just that I wanted this story to come off as more humorous and lighthearted than anything... hope you enjoy!

Of all the days for this to happen, today was quite possibly the worst day.

Not only was it Hiccup's first birthday on the peaceful, dragon-allied Berk, but it was also his first actual birthday in four years. The day was February 29, an unusual day that only came around every four years, and also the day that Hiccup happened to have been born. And now, here he was, laying flat on his back on the stairs outside his house, not wanting to sit up and examine the now very apparent pain in his right leg.

Because he knew exactly what he would find.

This was a pain he'd felt once before, when he was much younger, on the day he'd been tracking a troll through the forest and fell off a ledge. And what had happened then? He'd broken an ankle.

Ohhh, the gods hate me.

Resigned to his fate, he finally forced himself to sit upright, eyes squeezed shut as a new wave of hurt ran through him, and dared to look. Sure enough, even with his boot still on, he could tell the angle his foot was sitting at was not normal.

Great.

And of course, he'd already sent an impatient Toothless to the Great Hall, because he thought he was taking too long to get ready. Hiccup gritted his teeth, then pulled the shoe off, crying out at the movement. And it was even worse than he thought.

"You've got to be kidding me…" the boy groaned, then glanced back toward his house. It was definitely closer than the Great Hall, but there were still a good five stairs between him and the door. Including the Thorforsaken third step that had been the cause of all this. It was just his luck that he could manage to break his one and only ankle in the dumbest way possible.

Seemed about right for a day as special as a boy's sixteenth birthday.

The funniest part was that it wasn't even his fake leg that had slipped. Even after all the mishaps during Snoggletog with the ice, this time, he'd actually managed to stay steady on the stupid thing. Which unfortunately led him to let his guard down on the other side.

What to do? Hiccup wasn't entirely sure he could make it back down on his prosthetic alone… but then again, he'd never been in a situation to have to try before.

Carefully, he got to a standing position, but immediately realized it was going to be much harder than he thought. The moment he tried to hop forward, the little balance he had slipped away, as did his leg out from under him.

So that wasn't going to work.

Hiccup was just beginning to accept that he may be spending the day like this when the sound of an echoing door at the top of the hill grabbed his attention.

Ah, even more luck. Now he'd get to explain to whoever found him lying helpless on the stairs just why that was. As the footsteps moved closer, he quickly realized there were not two, but in fact, four of them. Even better. It was two people he'd have to face.

But, to his surprise -and immense relief- he was soon met with the wide green eyes of his Night Fury looming above him.

"Toothless! Oh, thank Thor…"

The dragon grumbled worriedly at his human, stepping around and sniffing every inch of him for signs of injury. Once he got to the boy's ankle, he shrieked, then returned to Hiccup's field of vision and began furiously cooing and grumbling at him.

"What did you do? Are you okay? What happened? Can you walk? No, wait, of course you can't. How am I gonna carry you? I don't want you getting hurt more!" Toothless looked around the area frantically, then gave his human one more screech and took off back toward the Great Hall.

Knowing Toothless was off to get his father, Hiccup forced himself to sit up, and hopefully look a little less helpless of a sight.

A minute later, the telltale roar of "HICCUP!" sounded, and Stoick appeared at his son's side. "Toothless was inconsolable, which can only mean something happened to you. What's wrong? Why're yeh on the ground?"

Groaning, from both pain and embarrassment, Hiccup just said, "Foot…"

...Which led to a shriek from his father that sounded suspiciously like Toothless. "Beard of Thor! How'd yeh manage that? Never mind, tha's not important right now. Let's get you inside."

Gently, the man hooked an arm under Hiccup's knees, holding his injured foot so it wouldn't be jostled too much, and wrapped his other arm around Hiccup's shoulders.

And that was when Hiccup's day got even better.

"Stoick? What's going on? We heard you yell."

It was Astrid's voice, followed by the mumblings of the other four teens.

Which, of course, led the chief to turn around and display a pain-stricken Hiccup with something very obviously wrong with his leg right to his friends.

"Oh, gods! Hiccup! Are you okay?" Astrid said, running forward. Which prompted Toothless, who by now was in full-blown protector mode, to jump in front of her and roar, spreading his wings to shield his ailing human.

If Hiccup could have just evaporated into smoke at that moment, he would have.

Why did it always have to be like this? Why couldn't he catch a break?

Ha. A break.

The teen mentally slapped himself for that joke.

The next hour was a blur. Once Stoick had, in the most embarrassing way possible, of course, explained to the teens that Hiccup had broken his ankle, they sent for Gothi and -thankfully- left him alone.

The elder arrived, and set his foot with a splint in a procedure that he was pretty sure broke every other bone in his leg, and left him in much more pain after then before.

As for his father, while Hiccup was grateful for how caring the man was (especially since he used to not seem to care at all), he was even more grateful when a fight broke out in town and Stoick had to leave.

At least now Hiccup could wallow in misery with just himself and Toothless.

Speaking of Toothless… the dragon had been rather silent for quite some time… Hiccup craned his neck to get a look at the stone slab his Night Fury should have been, only to see it empty.

When had he slipped out? Hiccup was sure he wouldn't have missed the giant reptile slinking away… then again, given how he was practically blinded by pain during Gothi's treatment, maybe it wasn't that far of a stretch.

But why had he left? It didn't seem like Toothless to leave Hiccup alone in a time like this… And even if he wanted to try and search for him, his dad had already hidden his prosthetic from him (something about "always being an escape artist", and "never resting when he needs to", blah blah blah).

Hiccup huffed and let his head fall back against his pillow, crossing his arms. Which of course made him grimace as the jolt panged into his ankle. Wonderful. He couldn't even be mad without it hurting.

Just when he thought his birthdays could finally be something to celebrate, huh? Looks like this would have to go into the books as another disastrous one… Hiccup shut his eyes, hoping to maybe fall asleep and just get the day over with.

...When a sudden whoosh sounded from the window, and a gust of wind rustled his hair. His eyes flew up just in time to see a steak of black cross above him, and hear the telltale thud of Toothless landing on the floor.

"Toothless! Where were you?" Hiccup said, forcing himself into a sitting position. "You left me alone!"

Toothless just grinned, though there was something off about it. Normally, he grinned openly, showing off his gummy smile. But this time, his mouth was closed, as if he had something in it.

"Uh, Bud? Whatcha got there?"

In response, Toothless nudged Hiccup slightly over in his bed, then dumped the contents right beside him. A pile of what had once been herbs, with an intoxicatingly sweet scent.

"Dragon nip. How thoughtful," Hiccup said, mildly disgusted but amused nonetheless. Toothless licked his human's face, then crooned as if to say, "that's not all!"

The Night Fury jumped down from his friend's loft (during which Hiccup brushed the half eaten plant onto the floor), returning a moment later with yet another item in his mouth. This time, it was a length of rope, probably leftover from his last saddle modification. Toothless grinned once again at his rider, then began dutifully winding the rope around his front right leg. All Hiccup could do was stare as the dragon tied his own leg up and looped the rope around his right stirrup, securing it there, so his paw no longer could touch the ground.

"Toothless, I don't see your logic."

Toothless glared at him. How could he not? It was obvious! Now he had a broken leg too! To demonstrate, Toothless took a step forward, showing his friend how he couldn't use it.

"You're ridiculous," Hiccup told him, but his smile betrayed the words. "How do you expect to get around like that?"

"I don't!" Toothless crooned. "Now we're the same!"

And just like that, Hiccup found himself laughing. "You know you still have three good legs, right?"

Toothless thought on this for a moment, glancing back toward the main level of the house, but before he could make a move, Hiccup stopped him, still laughing. "Bud, if you really wanted us to be even, you'd literally have to tie up all four."

Yeah, maybe he shouldn't do that. So instead, Toothless just half walked, half hopped over to his human, and began licking him all over.

"Are you seriously going to stay like that?" Hiccup asked once he got a moment to breathe. His response was yet another slobbery lick. "Yeah, I'd expect nothing less," he chuckled. The Night Fury just continued with his display of affection, knowing that for the first time, his human couldn't escape it. But, just as peculiarly, for the first time, his human didn't seem to want to.

Finally, after he was satisfied, Toothless curled himself around Hiccup's bed, laying his tail on the side of it so his friend could have something within reach to pet.

"Thanks, buddy… for everything."

Toothless purred in response, then settled in as he felt Hiccup begin softly stroking his tail, just as he wanted… only to be rudely interrupted by the sound of the front door flying open and the voices of the teens began floating up the stairs.

"Hey, Hiccup. How're you feeling?" Astrid asked.

"I've been better…" Been worse, too.

"Well, hopefully we can change that." Astrid turned back to the others. "Guys?"

Fishlegs stepped forward, handing Hiccup a plate. "Your dad thought you'd still like some of your birthday dinner. Yak stew and fresh bread. Your favorite."

"Oh, and your dad also said he and Gobber would have your gift ready tonight," Snotlout said. "They were gonna have you come and get it, but, y'know." He gestured to Hiccup's legs and laughed, only to get an elbow in the ribs from Astrid. "But, I mean, we're all really sorry about what happened. You shouldn't have to spend your birthday this way."

Hiccup looked down at the plate of food, then back at his friends, then over to Toothless (who was watching the whole scene with an amused expression). And suddenly, he found himself smiling, then chuckling, then full on laughing.

It was absurd. Just six months ago, he never could have imagined his life would be anything like this. He never thought anyone would think he was someone worth celebrating. But now, here he was, in a less than ideal situation, with one leg broken and the other not even entirely there, but somehow, it was the best birthday he could have imagined.

"Thanks guys. I don't know what I would have done if you weren't here for me…" Hiccup said, and he meant it.

"Of course!" Astrid said, giving him a playful punch in the arm. "Just don't go breaking any other bones to get this kind of treatment," she laughed.

"Believe me, I wouldn't dream of it."

"Oh yeah, and we got some fish for Toothless, too," Ruffnut piped up, immediately causing said dragon to jump up… and for everyone else to stare.

"Hiccup… what's wrong with your dragon?" Tuffnut asked, bewildered, which was an expression he didn't wear often given the shenanigans he and his sister got into.

"Ask him, he's the one who thought it was a good idea."

Toothless grinned gummily at the group as a whole and went to demonstrate his walking… Only to fall flat on his face at the first step, which sent everyone into a fit of laughter (much to Toothless' chagrin).

"Toothless, you really don't have to do that," Hiccup said, only to get an angry glare from the Night Fury in response. "Fine, but I literally can't help you if you get yourself stuck somewhere."

Toothless silenced his human with a lick, as the rest of the group settled around his room with their own food.

And as Hiccup looked around at the faces of his friends (human and dragon, of course), he couldn't help but feel complete.

Maybe he didn't have such terrible luck after all.

Awww it's so sweet... I really needed to write some fluff...

I hope you all enjoyed this! I have a similar one planned for gravity falls, too :)