What's this? Raz is making on more one-shots rather than working on her poor, neglected chapter story? YES I KNOW I AM SORRY. Well, not really... this was really fun to write... but I promise there is a new chapter for HS coming soon, hang in there guys! In the meantime, enjoy this lovely little piece of feels. I hope you like Hiccup/Snotlout friendship fics. In North's voice: "Of course you do."

Concussed Revelations

...

It happened on one of Astrid's training missions. Go figure.

But then, being Hiccup, it could have happened anywhere, really.

After her stealth training exercise at Dragon Island went awry, what with Tuffnut's inability to keep the dragons away from their trainers and the skirmish with Dagur the Deranged and his bloodthirsty Armada, Astrid insisted they reschedule in the name of Viking stubbornness. Obviously some cautions were taken to avoid any more mishaps. This time they would stay on Berk, and rather than cross the island, their object was somewhat simpler: stay alive for a night in the woods without your dragon. The catch? They were put in pairs.

"If we're ever split up, we have to be sure we can cooperate with who we're left with," Astrid explained to them the day before. "Some of us," she continued with a hard glare at the twins, who were at that moment engaged in one of their typical altercations, "May have some trouble with this. We need to be a team, guys. Every one of us should be able to work well with anyone else in the group. And that's why I will be randomly assigning the teams of two."

Her announcement was met with a groan from Snotlout, a nervous sort of squeak from Fishlegs, a bout of complaints from Ruff and Tuff, and a sigh of resignation from Hiccup.

No one could argue with her, however. Her logic was sound enough. Besides, not one of them was thick enough to challenge their most aggressive friend and risk the consequences of her violent "communication".

So it was that Snotlout and Hiccup found themselves trudging through the woods in the dark several hours later, each in a rather sour mood for being stuck with the other for an indefinite stretch of time. The atmosphere of their little camp was one of reluctant camaraderie.

The cousins had come a long way in their friendship from the days when Snotlout used Hiccup as the target of misplaced aggression. True, he still bullied the smaller boy inadvertently sometimes out of old habit, but a grudging respect had developed as he saw the progress Hiccup had made in discovering himself and contributing to the world around him. Their time together on Outcast Island a few months ago had sealed in that respect.

Even so... spending time together was not something they necessarily enjoyed, per say. They still had their differences, and- at least in Snotlout's mind- they were still rivals.

The wide birth of space they gave each other and the awkward silence that hung between them attested to these lingering contentions. So far things had gone relatively smoothly- Hiccup could only imagine how things were going for Tuffnut and Fishlegs- and they were setting up a place to sleep in one of the drier patches of grass in the clearing they had stumbled upon moments before. As part of the point of the exercise was being able to use their individual strengths to their advantage, Hiccup had immediately volunteered to take the technical tasks- starting fires, mapping their location, and taking charge in emergencies, for example- upon himself. Snotlout had not protested so long as he was allowed to handle the hunting and any other responsibilities requiring physical strength.

At the moment, the larger boy was quite enjoying himself by the stream they'd settled near. A crudely-made spear in his hand, he was poised over the gentle waters, dark eyes fixated on the lone minnow that he planned on making his dinner. Over by the trees, the squeak of Hiccup's prosthetic and the dull thud of his boot took turns across the mossy forest floor as he hunted for fallen bark and sticks dry enough for firewood.

"There's really not much here that's usable," the smaller boy observed to himself. Looking around, he spotted a few low-hanging branches by the stream that looked promising. He set down his armload of what he'd collected thus far and joined Snotlout by the water's edge.

"Shh!" Snotlout hissed over his shoulder, "Don't scare the fish away, Useless."

"If I could just reach it..." Hiccup muttered, tuning him out completely. The branch he wanted was just a bit further out over the water.

Carefully he placed one foot on a smooth stone in the river, testing its stability for a second before stepping out further.

"Gotcha!" Snotlout exclaimed, driving the makeshift weapon into his prey with a showy splash. He brought the wiggling creature up for Hiccup to see and laughed in victory.

Hiccup smiled. "Nice job, 'Lout. Now if I can just get a fire going to cook it." He hefted his own loot over his shoulder and stepped out to join his friend-

-when his metal foot slid on the wet side of a stone.

The small boy slipped awkwardly backwards into the stream, his skull striking an unfortunately placed rock.

Snotlout saw his fall almost in slow motion- the slip, the wide-eyed surprise on his cousin's face, the way his alarmed cry cut short when his head hit. He stood stunned for a moment; whether he was waiting for Hiccup to get up or ask for help or what, he wasn't sure. It was only when he saw the slow spread of red tint in the water that he was jolted to action.

"Hiccup!"

He scrambled into the water, doing his best to ignore the icy wetness soaking into his boots. Hiccup was still where he lay, but his fingers were flexing ever so slightly as though trying to build up the strength to get up. Oddly clouded green eyes stared up at nothing under heavy lids.

"Uhhnnn..." He moaned as Snotlout lifted him easily. Sheesh, didn't Hiccup ever eat?

Luckily when he'd fallen, the firewood in his arms had gone flying onto dry ground. As Snotlout passed, he leaned down and took the pile up in one broad arm. The other held his cousin securely over his shoulder.

He dropped the bundle in their designated fireplace, then carefully set Hiccup upright against a tree trunk. With alarm he noted the boy's eyes were still out of focus, and a trickle of blood was running down his temple.

"Hey, talk to me," Snotlout urged, waving his hand in front of his face. "Hiccup!"

Slowly the emerald orbs adjusted somewhat. Hiccup blinked blearily and looked around, finally meeting his cousin's gaze.

"Snuh-Snotlout..." he mumbled. The bigger boy sighed in relief. Hiccup's face then became screwed up like he was trying to remember something important. "I... I..."

"Yeah?" Snotlout encouraged.

"...I fell," Hiccup announced, as if it were a profound realization.

Snotlout blinked, taken aback. "No duh. I was right there; I saw. Now c'mon, I think you've got a head injury."

He kneeled by Hiccup's side and, with a tenderness he wouldn't have dared show to any other than his injured kin, prodded the boy to turn his neck, revealing a welt on the back of his head.

"Oh, man..." Snotlout muttered, beginning to worry. He was far from a medical expert, but even he knew the damage needed immediate attention. His head swiveled around in search of something that could help them when his eyes fell on Hiccup's satchel. He reached for the leather bag. Hiccup had to have some basic first aid kit or something, right?

Sure enough, in digging around in its contents he produced a roll of bandages and a small metal container labeled "for injuries" in Hiccup's neat handwriting.

"Oh, gross!" Snotlout exclaimed upon unscrewing the lid and getting a nose-full of the unexpectedly pungent smell of dragon's breath- a repulsive mix of fish and the acidic substance that coats their insides to make them fire proof. "Is this Toothless' spit?"

He recalled Hiccup's words when they'd gotten themselves stranded on their own and Hiccup had given him something fowl for his swollen tongue: "Night Fury saliva has incredible healing properties."

"Oden, Hiccup, how did you even figure that out?!" He mumbled as he reluctantly dipped his fingers in the goop and began applying it to the wound.

Hiccup remained still and appeared deep in thought. "Toothless," Hiccup repeated suddenly, as if Snotlout had said the word seconds ago rather than minutes. He opened his mouth and felt around his teeth with his tongue a moment before shutting it again and eventually concluding, "I am not toothless."

"Um... yeah." Snotlout was beginning to catch on that Hiccup was not all there. The blow to his head must have muddled things up in there. He hoped it wasn't serious, as they were pretty far from civilization at the moment. "There," the larger boy nodded in satisfaction as he tied the last of the gauze around Hiccup's head and stood back.

The smallish boy's frame was shivering slightly in the onset of the cold night, and he rubbed at his head with a slight wince of pain in his round-eyed gaze. Snotlout felt some sort of odd tug in his chest that the others had taught him to recognize as "caring." Maybe it was because his scrawny cousin just looked so... young. Defenseless.

Snotlout sighed and went about starting a fire to warm them both up.

It would have been a lot easier if Hiccup could have done it; he was the clever one, who knew how to do these things. But as Hiccup was out of sorts and Snotlout didn't trust him with anything that could start a fire, it fell to him to do it.

When at last a spark fell from the flint that took hold of the hard-earned branches and grew into a merry little fire, Snotlout sat back and smiled at his feat. He didn't realize Hiccup had been silent for so long until his small voice rang out, startling him.

"Snotlout?" The older boy looked up. "What day is it?"

"Don't you know?"

Hiccup's blank expression turned to one of confusion. "Should I?' He asked.

Snotlout rolled his eyes in annoyance. "It's Thursday, Useless."

"Oh." Hiccup nodded. "Thursday."

A few minutes of silence went by in which Snotlout went about preparing their fish to be cooked.

"Snotlout?" Hiccup asked tentatively.

"What?"

"What day is it?"

"It's Thursday!" Snotlout repeated in exasperation.

"Right," Hiccup agreed.

A few more minutes passed.

"Snotlout?"

"It's THURSDAY!" Snotlout practically yelled.

Hiccup looked startled. "How did you know-"

"Because you've been asking the same question every five minutes!"

"I... have?" Hiccup's eyebrows drew together in a confused expression. At Snotlout's curt nod he looked down and drew his knees up to his chest. He was still absently rubbing at his head with one hand. "Sorry," he murmured distantly. "I won't repeat myself anymore..."

"Thank Thor." Snotlout returned to cooking their meal. The meat looked about done. The scent filling the air was tantalizing; Snotlout's mouth watered. He withdrew it from over the fire and cut it into two portions with his dagger, handing one part to Hiccup and digging into his own.

Hiccup looked at the food that had been pushed towards him, then up at the boy stuffing his face, than back at the fish.

"Sorry," he said softly.

"For what?" Snotlout asked around a mouthful of fish.

"I... I feel like I've been repeating myself," Hiccup admitted, looking ashamed.

Snotlout just stared.

Hiccup poked at his meal.

"O-kaaay," Snotlout whispered to himself. Hiccup definitely needed a check-up. He scooted closer to the smaller boy, who looked up at his approach. "Hiccup. Do you know what day it is?"

Hiccup looked down at the dirt so his hair covered his eyes for a moment, then looked back up. "Monday?" He guessed.

"No, Hiccup, it's Thursday. Thursday. Do you know your birthday?"

"Pff, of course!" He answered, looking affronted almost. "February 29th."

"Good," Snotlout said slowly. "And do you know where we are right now?"

Hiccup looked around at the trees and the star-filled night sky."We're on a quest, right?"

"Close. We're on a training mission. Astrid's training mission. Remember?" Snotlout put his hand on his cousin's shoulder as the boy's gaze began to wander distractedly. Hiccup's attention returned to Snotlout.

"My head hurts," he told him matter-of-factly.

"Well, it would, seeing as you hit it," Snotlout pointed out.

Hiccup only looked at him, baffled. "When did I do that?"

"When you slipped on your metal leg!" Snotlout gestured to the appendage. He was losing patience.

Hiccup looked down at the artificial limb as if seeing it for the first time. A quiet minute passed uneventfully. Hiccup kept his head down and stayed quiet. The hand that had ceaselessly been rubbed at his head since his bandage was tied finally found rest in his lap. Snotlout cleaned up their fire pit then settled back next to his cousin to make sure he was still awake. Everyone knew sleeping too soon after acquiring a head injury was bad news.

"Hey, you okay in there?" He prodded, nudging Hiccup's knee. He examined the bandage on his head. It appeared to be holding.

Slowly the auburn head lifted. Snotlout was surprised to see that the boy had tears budding in his eyes and a look of tragic sadness on his face.

"Hiccup, what's wrong?" He asked despite himself.

"M-my... my leg," Hiccup whimpered. "It's gone."

Snotlout would have laughed out loud at the randomness of the statement if not for the pitifully distraught look on Hiccup's face as he stroked the stump where it met the top of the prosthetic.

"Oh," he managed instead. "I'm sorry." He patted his cousin awkwardly on the shoulder.

"You're sorry?" The sudden anger in Hiccup's voice was unexpected. "You're sorry?!" He was red-faced and on his feet in a moment, and yet the leftover tears from seconds before still rolled down his cheeks.

"Um... yes?" Snotlout replied, unsure what to make of the mood swing.

"Why," Hiccup demanded, pointing a trembling finger at him, "would you care?"

If anything could surprise Snotlout any further tonight, it was the light rush of guilt he felt at the venom and hurt in Hiccup's implied accusation. Normally he had no qualms about the way he'd treated Hiccup prior to the Red Death incident. What with how Hiccup had seemed to have moved on, and how he had become kind of like hero to the village (though Snotlout wouldn't admit that he felt that way)- it didn't seem like it was still an issue. Now that he thought about it, he never had made any sort of apology. His proud Viking side cringed at the thought of asking for forgiveness.

But seeing the raw emotion there on the face of the boy before him now, his usual sarcasm and tough front set aside and the real hurt finally showing, Snotlout almost wanted to.

Before anything more could be said, however, a look of exhaustion overtook Hiccup's frame and he wobbled dizzily. Snotlout stood to catch the boy when he toppled over weakly, the vacant look returned to his eyes.

"S-sleepy," he mumbled into Snotlout's shoulder.

"Yeah, me too," he whispered back. "Let's get some rest."

...

The next morning Snotlout woke to a long, low groan. He peeled his eyelids back and the morning sunlight streaming through holes in the canopy met his vision. Looking to the source of the noise he found Hiccup sitting up on his bedroll, a hand on his head feeling the bandages there and a look of bewilderment on his face.

"What... What happened last night?" He asked when he saw Snotlout looking at him.

"What do you remember?" Snotlout asked before yawning and sitting himself up.

"I was gathering firewood... and I think..." His eyes closed in concentration. "Did I fall?" He looked questioningly to his cousin again.

Snotlout smirked despite the delicacy of the situation, his own recollection of Hiccup's behavior the night before being too funny not to. "You fell in the stream and hit your head. Way to go, Useless."

Hiccup took in the information with a frown. Snotlout thought he saw him flinch slightly when he the nickname was mentioned. Maybe it was his imagination... but hadn't he always made a similar expression when Snotlout called him that? There and gone again in a flash, but there all the same...

How had he not noticed?

"Well, that explains why it still feels like my head is underwater," Hiccup remarked, bringing Snotlout out of his reverie. He looked back up at the smaller boy. "You found my first aid kit, obviously. Thanks for... you know." He indicated the well-tended wound and gave him an apologetic grimace.

Snotlout was very ready to retort that he better not do something stupid like that again, and to own up to how much trouble he went through to take care of him.

But an odd tugging deep in his chest stopped him mid-inhalation. Your conscience. He could practically hear Astrid teasing him.

Only for just this once, while he and his cousin were alone here in the middle of nowhere, Snotlout didn't brush it off as usual.

He put a hand on Hiccup's shoulder and smiled. "It was no trouble. I'm just glad you're alright." And he meant it.

Hiccup stared at him in shock for a moment before a smile of his own lit across his features.

"Oh, and Hiccup?" Snotlout added seriously.

Hiccup looked at him expectantly.

"It is now Friday."

...

Hiccup's inquiry as to why that statement was so funny would never be answered with anything more informative than a snicker, nor would Hiccup ever fully understand why after that day, Snotlout never again called him "Useless."

But Snotlout knew.

It just took Hiccup getting a concussion for Snotlout to realize a few things.

hehehehe there you have it! xD

I did some research into the symptoms of concussions. Apparently they can include extreme emotions and confusion. Just in case you thought I was making Hiccup OOC for my own sadistic pleasure. (Well, I still kinda was... whatever :P)

BTW- the part where Hiccup's repeating things is based on something that happened to someone I know when he got a concussion. He kept asking what day it was, and then after a while he started repeating, "I think I've been repeating myself," every few minutes, LOL. Not that minor brain trauma is ever funny, but, you know...

Hope you liked it! :)

RazPaz