Disclaimer: I don't own How To Train Your Dragon, and knowing my luck, I probably never will. All rights go to the author of the books, Cressida Cowell and the company that made the much-loved films and series, Dreamworks. This was set in the Dragons: Riders of Berk series.
"No! It's crazy! I can't do this!" Hiccup protested, as he stared into the indomitable eyes of his father. "For Thor's sake, Dad, I have a dragon training lesson to give today!"
"And I promised the girl's parents that you'd babysit for them today," Stoick replied, in a tone that would allow no arguments. "It's only for a day, son. I had to deal with you for fifteen years."
Hiccup blushed. "Dad!"
"Besides, this could potentially be a part of your lesson today. Most of the villagers are worried about their dragon harming their children while they're gone. Teaching the dragons how to behave around a child will help deal with that fear," Stoick added. As if on cue, Toothless padded into the dining room and happily started playing with Hiccup.
"Hey, you're right! I could start by testing it on Toothless!" Hiccup exclaimed. "Where do I go to pick her up?"
"Her parents are waiting for you in the Great Hall," Stoick answered. "They want you to come without Toothless, though. They're worried it will scare Freya."
"Freya?" Hiccup repeated.
"That's the baby's name," Stoick clarified.
"Oh, right," Hiccup said. "I'll get her." Toothless tried to follow him, but he was stopped. "No, bud. You stay here and wait for me. And with that, Hiccup walked out through the door. Stoick smirked to himself.
"Stoick the Vast, eh?" Stoick muttered to himself. "Should've called you Stoick the Persuasive. Never mind. It's too late now."
Collecting Freya turned out to be a relatively uneventful trip. He had to answer a few questions from the villagers about why he was holding a gurgling baby girl in his arms, and he explained that he was her babysitter for the day. Once he got home, he noticed that Stoick was absent (not a surprise), but Toothless was still there. The Night Fury attempted to jump on Hiccup so he could start another wrestling match, but Hiccup wasn't in the mood.
"Not now, bud," Hiccup told him. "Tiny bundle here." That's when Toothless noticed Freya. His green eyes dilated, and he tried to nudge the baby's face with his snout. Freya was confused, but figured that she was safe so long as she was being held, so she placed a hand on Toothless' snout. Hiccup gasped as Freya and Toothless initiated the dragon training lesson most adults struggled with. Then Toothless decided that Freya looked a little bored, and he stuck out his tongue. Freya giggled, trying to mimic the same look on her own face. Hiccup smiled at the adorable scene.
"Come on, you two. We need to get to the arena."
"What does this have to do with anything?" Snotlout asked, staying away from the baby. "This is a dragon training lesson. None of us will be playing babysitter for her."
"Actually, Freya will be a part of the lesson," Hiccup clarified. "Most of the villagers are worried about their dragons harming their children while they're gone, so teaching the dragons how to behave around a child will help. Remember, now the dragons are here with us, a good deal of them are now living in their rider's house with their children."
"I'll hold her while you're talking!" Fishlegs volunteered eagerly. Hiccup obliged and handed Freya over, but the moment she was in Fishlegs' arms, she started crying. It started as just tears, but soon she progressed to outright howls that made everyone cover their ears.
"What did you do?" Astrid asked, as Freya continued to bawl.
"All I did was hold her!" Fishlegs insisted.
"Oh, you must have done it too tight!" Astrid scolded. "Give her to me." But being held by Astrid made no difference.
"Oh, what do you two know, anyway?" Snotlout scoffed. "No female can resist me." Freya freaked out about being held by Snotlout, and she hit him with her tiny baby fists. The twins cheered and laughed at Snotlout.
"Wow, she hates you," Tuffnut commented.
"Clearly, she should stay with us for a while," Ruffnut claimed. "We'll keep her." But no matter how many times Freya was passed to Ruffnut and Tuffnut, her cries never ceased. In fact, they seemed to be getting louder.
"She must have been crying because of how ugly you are!" Tuffnut accused, laying Freya down.
"Funny. I was going to say the same thing!" Ruffnut grunted, punching her brother right in the face. A fight soon started, both twins rolling around on the floor kicking up dust. Astrid and Hiccup separated them, bringing them far enough away from each other that they wouldn't hurt one another.
"What were you thinking?" Astrid hissed. "You could've hurt Freya!"
"I couldn't have done that!" Tuffnut protested. "I put her down right . . . over . . . there?" He trailed off once he realised Freya had gone missing.
"She can't have gone too far, could she?" Hiccup asked, panicking. "All right, let's check the arena to see if she's still there, find out which direction she went -" Hiccup was suddenly interrupted by the happy giggling of a small child. "What was that?"
"It sounded like Freya!" Astrid gasped. Apprehensive, the teens tiptoed towards the sound of oblivious giggling . . . and saw the most adorable scene ever.
Toothless was playing with Freya, and apparently had been since Tuffnut put her down on the floor. She was giggling as Toothless pulled funny faces and walked on two legs pretending to be human. Hiccup wondered how they didn't notice this earlier. Toothless wasn't exactly a tiny dragon.
"Seems like someone here knows how to care for a baby," Astrid calmly pointed out.
"Interesting," Fishlegs mused.
"So Toothless is a better babysitter than we are?" Tuffnut moaned loudly. "Not fair!"
"How do you know this, bud?" Hiccup asked, taking Freya and rocking her from side to side. Toothless put a paw on Hiccup's shoulder.
"Oh, you learned from watching Hiccup?" Astrid asked. Toothless shook his head.
"You saw the other Vikings doing it?" Fishlegs asked. Toothless shook his head.
"Then how did you learn?" Hiccup asked, incredulous. That's when Ruffnut and Tuffnut started laughing. The other riders started giving them odd looks.
"What's so funny?" Astrid asked.
"Methinks we knoweth why Toothless is so experienced witheth the child," Ruffnut declared.
"Why do you sound like an old person?" Snotlout asked. The twins ignored him.
"Behold, the moment of truth!" Tuffnut yelled, turning to Toothless. "Toothless, do you know this from having to care for Hiccup?" To everyone's shock (and Hiccup's embarrassment) Toothless nodded vigorously. There was silence throughout the arena. Then the twins started to laugh. Then Snotlout, Fishlegs, and finally Astrid. Even Freya came down with a case of the giggles, while Hiccup turned beet-red.
"Oh, this is ridiculous," Hiccup rationalized, trying to regain control. "Toothless couldn't possibly have learned how to play with a baby from living with me. I'm not even a baby! I'm a - WHOA!" Suddenly, Hiccup tripped over his own feet and felt the floor rushing up to meet his face - but then it stopped. Confused, Hiccup looked around him, and saw that his friends were laughing hysterically, and the only reason he hadn't fallen flat on his face was because Toothless caught him just in time. Of course. "Thanks, bud," Hiccup muttered.
But Toothless didn't just help him up. He carried Hiccup over to Freya and placed him down there. Astrid and Fishlegs were recovering from their fit of laughter, but Snotlout, Ruffnut and Tuffnut were still laughing. "Oh, are you putting him there so you can keep an eye on both of them?" Snotlout howled. Toothless ignored him, and continued to play with Freya, who now thought Hiccup was going to be her new playmate. She crawled her way over to Hiccup and tried climbing on him.
"You wanna play?" Hiccup asked. Freya eagerly nodded, and Hiccup picked her up. But that made her cry, and Hiccup panicked. "What do you want to do?" Freya pointed down. "You want to sit down?" Hiccup asked. Freya smiled and nodded. "Then we'll sit down." Hiccup smiled as he put Freya on the floor, and then scooped her up and placed her in his lap. Freya giggled and clapped as Toothless leaned in and nuzzled her, then did the same to Hiccup.
"Toothless, I'm not a baby! You don't need to treat me like this!" Hiccup protested, as Astrid walked over. "Astrid, thanks for helping me out. Can you please tell Toothless that I'm not a baby?"
"Toothless, you can't treat Hiccup like this. Freya is the one who needs looking after," Astrid explained. Toothless nodded and let Hiccup go. But once Hiccup started to walk away, Freya screamed and wailed. Everyone groaned as they put their hands over their ears. For Thor's sake, she was worse than a grown Thunderdrum! And Hiccup would know; he lived with one!
"Hiccup, stay with her!" Snotlout groaned. "There's only so much crying a man can take!" Defeated, Hiccup trudged back to the smug Night Fury and the oblivious, happy baby.
"What do you want to play, Freya?" Hiccup asked, wearily. Freya clapped and giggled. She babbled incoherently, pointing up.
"Why is she pointing up?" Snotlout asked. The answer came when a Terrible Terror flew past, and she followed it.
"You wanna fly?" Hiccup asked. Freya giggled and nodded. "You wanna fly with me and Toothless?" Freya squealed and hugged Hiccup. "Okay, Freya. Time for your first flight."
The pair took off almost immediately, Hiccup holding Freya tight so she didn't fall to her death. But it seemed that Freya liked the feeling of being in the air, and eagerly pointed out all the dragons that passed her in the air. Hiccup swore that Toothless showed off to impress her, doing barrel rolls and loops that made her squeal with glee. They touched down when the sun began to set and Freya started to yawn. The trio touched down at the Great Hall and walked inside to hand Freya over to her parents.
"Oh, you brought her back!" Freya's mother cried, hugging her fatigued infant daughter. "Hello, sweetie!" Freya seemed to wake up a little, smiling sleepily as she hugged her mother, then whining as she squirmed and leaned towards her father, who took her from her mother's arms.
"Freya, do you know who we are?" her father asked. Freya took a moment to think, her infantile brain whirring as fast as it could.
"Dada!" she announced, pointing at her father. "Mama!" she shouted, turning her tiny, pudgy index finger on her mother. Both parents held back tears of pride and joy.
"Now, Freya, I want you to think. Who took care of you today, when we were gone?" her mother asked. Freya thought for a moment before giving an answer nobody expected.
"TOOTHLESS!"