Title: A Pretty Smile

Summary: Valka wandered into the forge bored because the two people she knows most are there. She gains a glimpse of their lives prewar. Gobber sees that she doesn't feel as though she belongs and does what he can to rectify the issue.

Prompt: On a Date

Word Count: 1,119


She watched the blacksmith merrily sung whilst he worked. Next to him Hiccup worked on sharpening an axe.

"Ah, Valka! Rare to be seeing you down here," He commented. He stood up properly and quickly exchanged the working tool for the normal hook he had for an arm. "What can I be helping you with?"

"Nothing in particular. I don't need a weapon sharpened, just walked down for the company," she explained with a smile.

"Good, because then I would have sent you to that son of yours!" Gobber said. "Ah Grump! You've let the fire go down again?! I'll light it this time. Wouldn't want your lazy ass to set it on fire again, would we?"

Valka watched entertained as Grump struggled to spin himself using only his back legs in an attempt to get to the fire before Gobber. He wasn't fast enough however and the one legged man got the fire and managed to get the flames up to a manageable standard again. He spun back around to continue their conversation just as Grump lit the fire for him.

Without even looking up from what he was sharpening, Hiccup pulled a rope and water poured all over the various burning objects around the fire.

"Were any of those important?" Valka asked hesitantly.

Gobber shook his head. "No. After the important stuff burnt for a while we realised that we had to leave it somewhere else, however…" he trailed off looking down. Valka came inside properly and peered down beside him.

"Isn't that one of the rods from Toothless' saddle?" she asked. Gobber's' eyes widened and he make a killing motion.

"What?" she asked, really confused. "It looked similar but can't be it because it wouldn't have been left there, right?"

Hiccup looked up at the commotion and turned pale (-er) at the sight of the sight of the rod that was bright red now. "Is that…" He hesitated to ask.

"Uh, yes. It is," Gobber confirmed.

Hiccup jumped up and pulled it out with his bare hands. Two seconds later it was thrown back into the air again as he realised how much of a stupid decision that had been. It landed on one of his drawings which in itself managed to catch fire almost at once. It was Gobber this time that put the fire out. Hiccup sighed. There went that concept drawing.

"Was that important?" Gobber asked jovially. Hiccup growled and stalked into one of the back rooms of the forge.

"Is he upset?" Valka asked confused.

"Nah. He'll get over it… Soon… I hope… Anyway, any other reason for you to grace us here?"

"I was bored wandering around. There is much to do here, but until I find out where I fit, there isn't anything for me really."

"And that big beastie of your's doesn't help that matter either?" Gobber said. Valka paused to work out what he was saying before her face lit up.

"Did you just call Cloudjumper a big beastie?" she asked Gobber, who had his chest puffed out in pride at getting her to smile. It was such a pretty smile. Then he realised what he had said, and then what she had said.

"Uh, no?"

"It's ok. I wont tell if you don't," she offered cheakilly. Gobber grinned in retun.

"Do you mind if I just do a little saddle work whilst you're here?" he asked. She shook her head.

"I'd be interested to watch you do it actually. Some of the saddles I've seen are quite complex."

"That'd be your son's work then. He works on those ones. I just stick to the normal dragons, not unlike lazy bum in the corner over there," he said and scratched behind Grump's ear with his hook. After the dragon had had enough for the moment he switched his hook for an easily maneuverable charcoal pencil. As she watched he threw a piece of leather over a measuring wood and begun drawing. She watched this for a moment before looking around some more.

"Remember the first time we met?" Valka said suddenly, now peering at the latest blueprints Gobber had in front of his designing space.

"And when it was interrupted by Stoick grabbing me in a head lock and saying 'that's my wife you're talking to, you one legged bastard'," Gobber returned without looking around. She could hear the grin in his voice.

"I had really forgotten that he had said that line." Her eyes grew dark, contemplating many thing, most of which weren't happy. Gobber sighed looking at her. She had changed whilst she had been away, but was still the same. Her smile lit up everywhere and the way she was able to calm everyone down in the midst of conflict…

"Let me take you somewhere?" he suddenly blurted out. Valka spun around to face him and tilted her head a lot like Cloudjumper.

"Pardon?" she asked.

"Let me take you somewhere. Just the two of us to escape all of this for a moment."

In the background, somewhere still within earshot obviously, Hiccup chocked on nothing in particular.

"When?"

"Well, when are you free?" Gobber washed his remaining hand to the best of his ability before changing to a clean hook.

"I don't have anything to do here," Valka reminded him and drifted off again into another fit of remembrance. Gobber frowned. He was attempting to get her to stop doing that and in the process caused it.

"Great. Hiccup, mind the fort?" he called before sending a grin at Valka and walking out.


An hour later Astrid walked into the forge expecting to have to pull her boyfriend away from the current thing he was building. Instead she found him holding an axe that had been sharpened beyond use. She peered into his face and saw that he was seeing nothing in shock. Sighing, she took the axe off him, meeting no resistance and dumped the closest bucket of water over him.

"Astrid! When did you get here?" he said, still looking shell shocked.

"Unfortunately too late to save that axe. You know you're now going to have to make another one, right?" Hiccup looked at the axe and swore.

"What caused you to be so shocked? You look as though you have seen one of the Valkyries with your own two eyes."

"Gobber just asked Mum out on a date," Hiccup stuttered out. Astrid spun around fast and knocked one of his hands with the spikes on her skirt. Her boyfriend pulled away quickly and found another bucket of water to place his now bleeding hand in.

"Are you serious?" she asked. Hiccup nodded. "Wow… wait, isn't that a rod from Toothless' saddle?"


I didn't realise until I started writing that it's really hard to write Gobber successfully… well at least for me it is. Tell me how I went here?

OTP Challenge found from bookloverforever2002 who is writing amazing Hiccstids. I did adapt some of the prompts to fit more because I like to have things a little more historically accurate (not majorly, but just a little).

Alyss Mainwaring