Hiccup's Guardian
A/N: Short little drablish one-shot that just popped into my head while I was watching G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra with my dad and little brother (don't ask hoe my brain came up with this while watching that, but whatever).
Summary: Gobber knows and understands more than he lets on. A short study on the relationship between Gobber and Hiccup.
Rating: T
Warnings: None
Word Count: 240
Gobber knows more than everyone thinks he does. He knows the other kids bully Hiccup. He knows they ostracize him. However, Gobber knows he can't entirely blame the kids – after all, if there's one thing he's learned from looking after Hiccup, is that they hear and see what adults say and do and they copy –or try to copy – what they see and hear. So, if Gobber wants to blame anyone for Hiccups lack of confidence, it's the adults of the village. And because he knows this he knows what to listen for. Not that it does Hiccup any good the he hears about it. Gobber may be Stoick's best friend, but he didn't have the power to make the village back off – unfortunately he knew Stoick wouldn't be helping hiccup in that regard anytime soon.
So, because Gobber knows, he's going to do his best to look after Hiccup, and while he's busy running after the lad and making sure he's being taken care of (which he swears is harder than fighting dragons and is more stressful than any fight he's ever been in) he wonders if it means something that he, Gobber, is doing a better job of raising the chief's son than the chief himself.
As Hiccup stumbles into his line of sight covered in soot and hair sticking up at odd angles, Gobber decides he doesn't mind being a stand-in dad for Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III.