Cheers

A/N- So this is my happy holiday gift to all my readers on FFN! I'm not sure what everyone celebrates so happy Chrismakwanizika to you all!

I'm not going to say much about this except that it came of a discussion about holiday prompts with Gumdrop Boo and I am happy to say there is a visual version of this story (I'm not sure when it'll be up)- but it'll be on ch4rms (Gumdrop Boo's DA) profile at some point. Please don't nag her either, art takes time!

This is also part of the 20 by 20 Challenge. See previous stories for rules.

I have some other prompts I will be filling over the next week or so (and I will be updating "Always" and "The Cove" soon as well).

Happy Holidays and warm wishes to you all and your families!

Best,

-Don ^_^

It had all started with an idea. As with most of Hiccup's "ideas" of late, it seemed like a good one at the time. Even though he'd gotten past the point of having mild calibration issues that caused head injuries or burning down half the village, he still hadn't mastered one art.

He threw down his gloves in frustration and sucked on his fingers. They were red and he was sure one or two of them had third degree burns at this point. Nothing was impossible after defeating a nearly fifty foot dragon and losing a leg, right?

Wrong.

"Here, Bud, you can eat this too," Hiccup said as the Night Fury lifted a chocolate coated muzzle from a bowl of what looked like ashes, but was yet another one of Hiccup's unsuccessful attempts at making brownies. Hiccup suppressed a snort of laughter at his dragon. It looked like Toothless had tried to make a chocolate strawberry out of his snout, except that it was huge black chocolate dipped strawberry. Hiccup pushed the newest failure towards the Night Fury who let out a groan.

"What, you said you wanted to help," Hiccup said, waving the spatula at his friend. Toothless snorted smoke and narrowed his eyes at his rider. "Sure, that's not what you meant." Hiccup grinned and ducked as Toothless launched himself at his rider, upending one of the pans onto the floor with a loud clang and then turned his head up right before one of the bowls fell onto his head.

That was when Hiccup lost control of himself. He bent over, laughter filling him and his sides were in knots within moments. They were now in a smoke filled kitchen with burnt batter splattered all over the floor. Odin, if Stoick were to walk in and find the house like this-

"Son?" Hiccup's laughter cut off abruptly.

"Thor, it's my dad," He scrambled to hastily clean up the batter and Toothless turned his head, warbling in confusion. The thud of booted feet announced Stoick's presence even before he spoke the inevitable question.

"What in Thor's mighty beard is going on in here?" Stoick boomed and Hiccup jumped, more out of habit than anything else and hid the bowl he was holding behind his back. Toothless then let out a low rumble and without warning his nostrils widened.

"Wait, Toothless, don't-" But before Hiccup could say anything more the dragon let out a sneeze and the bowl went flying off his head and landed on Stoick's. As the batter dripped down the man's face, his lips formed a deep scowl before it reached his lips and he smacked them.

"Hiccup, is this brownie batter?" Stoick asked, lifting the bowl off his head and staring at his son as though he'd sprung two new heads. Hiccup gulped. There was nothing worse than being caught in the kitchen cooking, especially when it was clear that he had failed. Hiccup still despised failing at anything.

"It was supposed to be," Hiccup said with a low sigh. Here it comes, He thought, The long lecture about messing things up and not using the kitchen when he's not around. Being the village hero hadn't given him diplomatic immunity, though Hiccup wished it had at this very moment.

"Odin, you have your mother's genes," Stoick said and shook his head as he rested his head in his palm. Hiccup blinked in confusion and Stoick smiled and clapped his son on the shoulder with a bellowing laugh. "She couldn't cook or bake for all Frigga's power."

"Wait, does that mean-?" Hiccup stared at his father open mouthed. Stoick scowled.

"Don't be giving me that look, Boy. Now who do you think has been cooking all your meals?" Stoick grumbled some things under his breath that Hiccup was sure weren't for public ears. He decided at that moment to not mention that he found it completely and utterly impossible that Stoick could cook, let alone cook well.

"What's the occasion, anyhow?" Stoick asked, eyeing Toothless suspiciously. "You're not trying to eat us out of house and home, are you, Beast?" The Night Fury growled indignantly. "Well, be off with ye, the kitchen's no place for a dragon." With one last snarl in Stoick's direction, Toothless plodded off for his favorite place by the hearth and promptly curled up for what Hiccup guess would be a long nap.

"Er, no reason, Dad," Hiccup said with a grin, "I was just trying my hand at baking, yeah, that's it, I was baking… um… outfits!" He resisted the urge to smack himself for saying the first word that popped into his head. Mentally he kicked himself over and over again. Now all he could hope was that his father wouldn't catch on the blatant lie. Fat chance of that, Hiccup thought dryly.

Thankfully Stoick didn't say anything in response, but his dubious expression and raised eyebrow told Hiccup he'd blown his own cover with flying colors. "So you're making it for your lass." Hiccup winced. He didn't really think Astrid was his. She didn't belong to anyone, least of all Hiccup. Not that he could keep her to himself or force her to be his as she would break all his bones first.

At least she'd softened somewhat. She didn't seem as eager to punch the daylights out of his arm every time she saw him or before she kissed him. Though she certainly hadn't stopped punching or hurting him altogether. He wondered why she still felt the need to do that even though they'd been together for almost two years since the battle with the Green Death. Moreover he didn't understand her as well as he would have liked to at this point. So his baking might have been a subconscious effort to offer a truce and maybe get her to talk to him more.

It was surprising how little he actually knew about the real Astrid and was slowly discovering that most of the things he thought he knew about her turned out to be misinterpretations. He couldn't tell if she was trying project a false image of herself to the rest of Berk or if that was actually how she was in reality. Either way, he was beyond confused and it didn't help matters that he still had to get control over his own life.

Training to be Chief wasn't one of the most enjoyable parts of becoming the village hero and finally earning his father's respect. He hadn't really had any expectations for it in the first place since he hadn't thought he'd amount to the job. But now that he was in the midst of the training, he found he didn't like how little time he got to himself. It was hard to spar with his father or anyone else while other Vikings casually stopped and watched him like he was some awe inspiring spectacle. In those moments Hiccup felt more pressure than he ever had as the screw up child of the Chief.

Gods, he couldn't stand the pressure. Sometimes he wished he could take up an axe and hurl it at a tree like Astrid could without really looking. There was also no way he could admit that he wished he was as strong as she. Such an admission would probably constitute as pathetic and humiliating. He'd had enough of those two things to last him multiple lifetimes.

"Son, are you listening to me?" Hiccup blinked and Stoick sighed. He couldn't tell if Hiccup was truly baffled by the baking or if that was just a ruse to avoid something else that was on his mind. Raising such an introverted child wasn't something Stoick was prepared for. Yet here he was trying to understand Hiccup better than he had as a father in the past fifteen years. He placed a large hand on his son's shoulder and with a deep breath spoke again. "You might want to try using that," Stoick gestured a beefy hand to one of the shelves. He reached out and took it down and brushed the dust off the leather cover. With sigh he pressed the book into Hiccup's hands.

"It was your mother's," Stoick said and for a moment Hiccup heard hesitation in his father's voice. "She would have wanted you to have it." The younger Viking gently eased the book open and began leafing through it. All the pages were filled with sketches of the wildlife, people, and he noticed immediately that there was a particular subject that kept appearing. He lifted his head up to ask his father about it, but when he looked around, Stoick was nowhere to be found.

Why had dad waited so long to give this to me? More importantly, why had he decided to give it to Hiccup now of all times? There were so many questions floating around in his mind and when he couldn't come up with any solid answers, he placed the book on the counter and picked up the spatula once again.

"Here goes nothing," Hiccup said and rolled up his sleeves before mixing together the ingredients for another attempt at brownie batter.

Astrid was halfway up the hill to the Haddock lodge when she saw the smoke coming from the window. What was Hiccup up to now? When she heard the loud yell from inside, she bolted up the hill as fast as her legs could carry her. She was at the door and didn't bother to knock as she skidded to a stop in the doorway of the kitchen. Hiccup lay on the floor, his entire body covered in black goo from head to toe.

"Hiccup, what in the name of the gods are you doing?" She demanded as she grabbed his arm to haul him to his feet. Hiccup stared at her as though he'd just registered that she was there.

"Astrid! Hi, hi Astrid, hi Astrid," He grinned toothily and she had to sigh. He was an open book when he started babbling. Though it was nice to hear the same words he'd spoken when she discovered him in the cove that day. With a brow lifted suspiciously she folded her arms across her chest in hopes that she'd manage wrangle the truth from him.

"Um, nothing, just you know, working on a new invention for the village," Hiccup explained, hurriedly hiding the blackened bowl behind his back, Toothless grunted and rolled his eyes at his rider. Everyone knew Hiccup was a horrible liar.

"In the kitchen?" Astrid questioned, not believing his excuse for one minute.

"Yeah, the forge doesn't work for this… um, thing," He nodded to affirm his statement, "Yeah, it doesn't work."

"Right," Astrid said with a glance down at Hiccup's apron. Were those flowers embroidered in it? She shook her head. "Well, I'll leave you to your… thing." Astrid then walked into the den and gave Toothless a questioning glance to which he just snorted in what she supposed was a dragon's equivalent of a sigh of exasperation. Was it just her or did Toothless' breath smell like chocolate?

With a final shrug she exited the Haddock home.

With evening came Hiccup's hundredth try at making the batter. He was sure that he had used up all the flour and definitely all the butter in the entire house and maybe for the entire year in his endless attempts.

The door banged open and Hiccup nearly jumped out of his boots, which was saying something because one of his legs was metal, as the loud voices of the three other male trainees wafted over. "Hiccup, we've got some-" Snotlout stopped in midsentence as he saw the giant mess of black goo, flour and burn marks on the ceiling.

"What in Hel are you doing?" He asked his cousin. Hiccup didn't manage to respond before Tuff offered his own response to the mayhem that was the Haddock kitchen.

"Are you wearing a flower apron?" Tuff snorted with laughter and only stopped when Hiccup chucked an over mitt at his friend. "Ow, I am hurt, I am so very much hurt!" The boy ran from the room while Fishlegs surveyed his surroundings, still the only one who hadn't commented on Hiccup's mess.

"Baking something for Astrid, huh?" Fishlegs finally stated. Hiccup reddened a little and then nodded. Snotlout put the two bottles of ale on the counter and shook his head at his cousin.

"What are you doing baking? Just give her some mead, it works all the time for me," Snotlout said. Fishlegs uncharacteristically glared at Snotlout and then returned his attention to Hiccup.

"Here, I'll help you," Fishlegs said and set about gathering the ingredients together. Snotlout rolled his eyes.

"You two are hopeless," Snotlout said and took a glass from the counter and poured some of the mead into it. Hiccup was pretty sure his uncle didn't know about the mead or Snotlout wouldn't have come into Hiccup's house so jovial.

As it turned out, Fishlegs had experience with baking and not only that, he was good at it. In a short ten minutes there was a pan with a smooth thick brown batter on the counter and even Snotlout and Tuffnut had to admit it looked good.

"Well, it'll take a while to bake, so we should wait," Fishlegs said and began to look around at the mess. "Do you want help cleaning this up?"

"If you want to," Hiccup said. Snotlout pushed in between the two boys.

"No! We have to drink this?" His words all ended in a question and he swayed slightly whenever he moved. "Here." He pushed a bottle at Hiccup, who looked more than a little bit frightened of it.

"Um," Fishlegs said, "Shouldn't you stop drinking now, Snotlout?"

"No!" The dark haired Viking yelled and then held out his glass, "Fill me up." Hiccup and Fishlegs exchanged looks before obliging the other Viking.

"We can't let him finish the entire thing," Hiccup said under his breath. Fishlegs nodded in agreement. Tuffnut returned to the kitchen and took the bottle from the others.

"Then let's drink it ourselves," Without waiting for a response from either of his friends, he poured another glass and downed it. Hiccup sighed and took a glass for himself and Fishlegs. The three sat down on the floor and each took turns pouring glasses of mead.

When Stoick the Vast returned home, he was surprised to find that not only was the kitchen in disarray, but there were three children that clearly weren't his sitting on his kitchen floor with two empty bottles of mead between them.

"Hey Dad!" Hiccup exclaimed and waved his hand at his father, "You look," He hiccupped, "Funny."

"Hiccup," Stoick said with a scowl, "How much did you have to drink?"

"Dis much!" Hiccup spread his arms out in each direction and then waved them around before giggling. Stoick rubbed his face with his hand. He turned to see the oven and crossed over to remove the tray from it. The brownies were ready and he briefly wondered how much of it was done while the teens were drunk.

"Alright," Stoick said and scooped up both Fishlegs and Snotlout in his arms and deposited them on the couch in the den. They both turned in their sleep but didn't stir. Tuffnut moaned and stretched himself out across the floor before he too was picked up and placed on the comfy chair in the den. Once he was sure that the teens were resting in their respective locations, he turned to his own son. Hiccup was still giggling occasionally and grinned broadly when he saw his father.

"Dad, guess wha.." He smirked, "I brought down a Night Furry!" Stoick could only stare as Hiccup gestured to Toothless. Clearly the mead had done something to Hiccup's head. His arm dropped and in minutes he was asleep with his head resting on his shoulder.

Stoick turned to see the leather bound book on the counter. He picked it up and smiled at it. He opened the cover to stare at the little note tucked into the pocket, its edges sticking out just enough that someone would notice it was there:

Dear Stoick,

By now you already know that I haven't long to live and you're probably worrying about how you'll raise our Hiccup on your own. I don't think you give yourself enough credit as father as you do as a Chief.

But someday you'll realize that the two aren't all that different and they never have to be.

Promise me you'll look after Hiccup and make sure he's safe. I know this will be hard, knowing who we are. He'll probably want to run off and you're likely to get mad at him for doing that. We both know that you'll want to protect him and keep him close.

Being safe doesn't always mean keeping close to what you know. Most of all, remember that I will always love you no matter what you do.

-Valhallarama

Stoick gripped the paper in his massive hand and then looked down at his son. There were times when he almost broke his promise to her and let Hiccup get hurt. He didn't know whether to be angry or scared whenever Hiccup stepped outside the house. More than anything he was confused as to what he should feel about Hiccup's past failures. She'd said he wouldn't follow the norm, but just how was he supposed to know how to accept that?

"Dad?" Stoick turned his head. "Are you mad at me?" Hiccup stared up at his father, his eyes red and blurry from the mead. Still there was a vulnerability in his eyes that was unmistakable. Stoick knew now more than ever that his wife knew more about their son than he did those many years ago. How, he wasn't sure, but he did know now what he needed to do about it.

"No, Son," Stoick said with a shake of his head and smiled, "You just rest now." Hiccup nodded.

"… Love you, Dad," Hiccup's head once more sunk onto his shoulder and Stoick leaned down to kiss the russet colored hair on his son's head.

"I love you too, Hiccup," Stoick said quietly. Then he squared his shoulder. There was once last thing he could do before things really got out of his hands completely.

The loud banging on the door was enough to stir most of the Hofferson family out of their supper.

"Who could be out at this hour?"Astrid's father questioned. He made to get up but Astrid stood up.

"I'll get it, Father," She said and made her way to the door. He sat back down with a smile.

"Thank you, Astrid," He then turned back to his wife to continue their conversation. Astrid reached the door and opened it with small start at seeing the massive form of the chief in the doorway.

"Chief, is there something wrong?" She questioned and then immediately felt fear rise in her stomach. "Is Hiccup okay?" Stoick laughed and held up one of his hands to stall any further comments.

"He's fine, Astrid," Stoick replied gently, "I came to deliver this to you." The Chief held out the pan wrapped in a cloth. She took it and lifted the cover. She glanced back up at the man.

"Did you-?" Then she understood. All afternoon Hiccup had been trying to bake these for her. That's why he'd been acting so strangely. But why had Stoick come to deliver it and not Hiccup?

"Are you sure he's okay?" Astrid repeated. For the life of her she couldn't fathom why he wasn't here to deliver the goods himself. He'd spent all day on them after all.

"Quite sure," Stoick replied with a nod, "He'll be along shortly I expect. I wouldn't ask him too many questions about how he managed to bake those." With a last nod in the direction of her parents before he walked back towards his lodge leaving Astrid to contemplate just what he'd meant by those words.

"Astrid!" She turned to see Hiccup running as fast as his prosthetic could carry him across the snow. He had hastily donned a fur coat and was otherwise completely exposed to the winter winds. "Did my dad come here?"

"He just left," She said and then frowned, "How did you manage to make these?" She lifted the pan of brownies.

"Um," Hiccup said, "You know, I don't actually remember… I wonder why?"

A/N- Fin. ^_^ Cheers to you all. Oh, and if you've got some writing you're particularly proud of and you have a Deviantart account, please join "FeaturedFanFiction" on DA. It's a group I formed that only accepts the best of the best in quality fan fiction. =)