AN: So, my first How to Train Your Dragon fic. I hope that I haven't made any of them too out of character. It is going to be a short, probably three chapter story. I hope you enjoy. I don't own How to Train Your Dragon. Please follow, review, PM, etc.

"Uh oh," Gobber whispered, staring between the tense forms of father and son. He didn't like where this was going and he couldn't tell which one of them was about to be hurt.

It had all been going so well, the teens were training in the arena, practicing maneuvers with their dragons. "Now, attack," Hiccup ordered. There was a responding flurry of spikes and fire that struck with deadly precision, luckily, in the target cut outs they were using.

"Good," the boy commented, inspecting the thoroughly dead dummies. "Why don't we try mixing some attacks between the dragons so maybe we have a flaming Nadder spike or some cloak from the Zipplebacks before the strike." The teens drilled again, discussing the options amongst themselves before executing the maneuver with precision. It wasn't often that the training went off without a hitch, but today seemed to be a day where the sun was smiling kindly down at them.

Stoick looked on by the door, Gobber by his side. "Sure nice ta see Hiccup in his element," the blacksmith commented, gazing at the teen fondly.

"He's a natural leader," Stoick responded.

Gobber couldn't help but roll his eyes slightly. That was the only type of response to be expected from the chief. Nothing about Hiccup's new found confidence or how nice it was to see the boy happy.

"Hey dad, Gobber," Hiccup called, noticing the two standing there. He walked over, Night Fury trailing behind him like a puppy. "I think we made some real progress today," he continued, staring at the other teens with an almost unreadable expression. Was it pride? Satisfaction? Happiness?

"Ya did great!" Gobber replied, clapping the lad on the back. Hiccup shot him back a wide smile, green eyes twinkling slightly.

"You really did son," Stoick added in, staring straight ahead. His averted gaze didn't allow him to see Hiccup's smile falter.

"Thanks," the teen murmured.

The chief looked back down, startled by the less than enthusiastic reply. His son's face was lacking the good cheer it had worn just moments before. What had he said wrong? "I really do mean it Hiccup."

"Sure, thanks," came the gruff reply as the rider began to walk away. Stoick grabbed at his son's arm, turning him around.

"What?" he asked, more harshly than he intended, "What did I do wrong?"

"Nothing dad." There was a tense moment of silence where the two stared at one another and Hiccup was released.

"I want to fix this," Stoick said earnestly.

"There's nothing to fix." His dad's eyes widened slightly at the cold response. Hiccup groaned internally, that wasn't what he had meant. He could feel heat rising in his cheeks as he struggled to control his anger. This irrational feeling had been coming over him a lot lately. His father was trying to make amends, why couldn't he forgive and forget like always?

"Well clearly there is," Stoick hissed, patience officially wearing thin. "All I did was tell you I'm proud of you and you brush me off." The rising tone got the attention of the other teens and there was a long moment of silence.

"Uh oh," Gobber whispered, staring between the tense forms of father and son. His friend looked briefly back at him with confusion before his son exploded.

"You want to talk about brushing someone off! You have absolutely no right," Hiccup seethed, "The only time you ever took notice of me was when I screwed up. I'm sorry I wasn't the Viking you wanted me to be, that you weren't proud of me." Stoick's green eyes were almost comically wide by this time and the rant wasn't even half over. There was so much anger in Hiccup's voice that it didn't even sound like him. His words were being spat out harshly as if they burned, "Nothing ever worked! The only way I finally got your attention was by almost getting myself killed. Is that Viking enough for you? Well I'll tell you one thing, I don't care anymore. I sure as hell don't need your pride now after all these years and I sure as hell don't need you."

Hiccup's breath was coming quicker as he nearly quivered with rage. No one had ever seen him yell like that and the outburst was met with absolute gobsmacked silence. Green orbs suddenly lost all their fire as he glanced around quickly at everyone staring at him. Guilt flickered through his eyes as he jumped on Toothless and flew away.

"Well that was different," Tuffnut commented, pulling his sister's hair. The sound of their squabbling was the only one in the arena. It seemed to bring everyone out of their daze.

"What just happened?" Fishlegs called out to no one in particular.

"I think Hiccup finally lost it," Snotlout bluntly put it.

Astrid stepped forward, ignoring the frozen chief. "I'm going after him," she stated, already turning for her dragon.

"Remember," Gobber called, "He's like a dragon, build trust and approach with caution."

"Don't forget come to an agreement with Toothless," she muttered before flying off.

The sudden departure snapped Stoick out of whatever state he had been in. "What was all that?" he asked hoarsely.

"The Astrid part or the Hiccup part?"

"Both."

"Well," Gobber began, stroking his beard thoughtfully with his prosthetic, "the Astrid part was a conversation we have had about how to approach Hiccup. He's like a dragon really, liable to fly off if you don't do things delicately. Even more so since he got that dragon of his." He trailed off into silence. However, his friend's persistent stare caused him to keep going. "The Hiccup stuff, well that's just 14 years of repressed anger finally deciding to show itself."

"Thor, what have I done?" murmured Stoick. His green eyes gazed sadly skywards as if looking for divine help, or at least his son to come riding back down on his Night Fury.

"Doesn't matter what you have done, just matters what you're going to do. Hiccup's very forgiving."

"That didn't look forgiving."

Gobber paused, actually thinking about it. He shrugged. "True, never seen him like that before."

"What do I do?" Stoick asked, surprisingly quietly for such a large man.

"It's like I told Astrid, Hiccup is like a dragon. To approach him, ya have to do it carefully. First its about trust, then slow movements until you are sure he won't fly off. Only realized the similarity between dragons after we started training em."

The chief sighed, "I don't think he wants to talk to me."

"Just let him calm down first," Gobber instructed.

Stoick nodded mutely, green eyes still gazing sadly skyward. His friend gave him a rough pat on the back before heading off.