Disclaimer - any name you don't know belongs to me. the rest, unfortunately, do not. I wish they did.
This is my first How to Train Your Dragon story, I hope you like it. I don't know if i will do more. Let me know what you think of it. Reviews are greatly appreciated!
Stoic was worried. Something was wrong and he couldn't place his finger on it. It had not been easy for him since his wife had passed away. Some days were better than others. There was the Village to oversee and a scrawny son to look after. It was his son that was worrying him. Hiccup was a curious little boy who was always getting in trouble. At just four years old, he had already caused a whole house to be burned down. Now he couldn't find the little boy. He had searched the whole house. Finally he sat back to think. If he was a skinny little four year old boy, where would he hide? Hiccup knew the rules, when dad is not home, stay inside and play with your toys, do not wonder anywhere. If a dragon raid happens while you are home alone, go to daddy's bed and stay there until someone comes to fetch him. Hiccup had a hard time obeying those two simple rules. True, the boy was probably still sad and missing his mother, for the first two weeks after she had died, Stoic had sort of neglected the boy, it wasn't until Gobber turned up on his doorstep with the boy dangling from his hook as a hand that Stoic felt a stab of heart break. It seemed Hiccup had crawled outside and wondered among the village, grabbing food from anyone who would feed him. Now, Stoic was afraid for his son when he didn't know where he was. Hence, the panic was starting to set in. Finally, the burly Chief stood up, grabbed his axe and strode to the door, pulling it open.
"Hi Stoic, I think you are missing something!" greeted Gobber. He held up his hand to show the babbling boy hanging there. Hiccup looked up and his green eyes widened. He held out two hands towards his dad, a happy grin on his face.
"Hiccup! Where have you been? Thanks Gobber, where did you find him?" Stoic cried as he grabbed his son up. Hiccup giggled and pulled on his dad's beard.
"He was wondering around the Smithy, about to burn himself on the forge," Gobber said with a laugh. Hiccup giggled again and mumbled something while pointing at Gobber.
"Still not good at the speaking is he, or walking, he stumbled over his feet and nearly face planted into the fire!" Gobber laughed. Stoic frowned.
"Are kids meant to be good at speaking at this age?" he asked, his frown melting into worry.
"Sure, your nephew, Snotlout, is running around causing mischief with those horrible twins, and Astrid will tell you all about axe's and how they cut things, while Fishlegs will spout off all kinds of things about different dragons, I think that kid is even reading," Gobber rambled, he looked at Stoic and Hiccup and laughed. "Don't worry; I'm sure Hiccup will catch up soon!"
"Do you think I should send him to play with the other children? Maybe he gets lonely all day by himself with no one to talk to," Stoic mused out loud. Gobber nodded, he wanted to help when he could; it was hard work for Stoic to look after a little boy by himself, though he had been doing an ok job for the last two years. But it was true, Hiccup was miles behind his peers when it came to talking and walking, even growth. But if Stoic wanted to send him to play with the other children, Gobber would just have to keep an eye out on things. Maybe he could suggest Astrid or Fishlegs as a good play-mate; they were not as rough as Snotlout and the twins.
"Come on, let's go to the Great Hall for dinner tonight, Hiccup can meet his future play-mates tonight!" Gobber suggested as he edged Stoic out the house. Stoic nodded. And so they made their way down the path towards the Great Hall. Hiccup laughed and babbled all the way.
"Evening Stoic!"
"Hi Gobber, Stoic, how's things?"
People greeted the village Chief and the blacksmith as they entered the hall. Stoic spied Krisa Hofferman sitting near by with her daughter and made his way over. His wife had been good friends with Krisa and he supposed that was a good person to start with, Hiccup and Astrid had often played together when they were little babies.
"Evening Krisa, how are you?" greeted Stoic as he sat down. He placed Hiccup on his lap and Gobber went to fetch them some meals.
"Hi Stoic, I'm good, oh is that Hiccup? He has grown up lots! Is he causing more mischief now he can walk? I bet he talks your ears off, he always was a chatter box as a baby!" Krisa said turning to the Chief and his small son. Hiccup ignored her and concentrated on playing with a fork.
"Yes, this is Hiccup, still causing mischief. He doesn't talk though. I'm a little worried about it, and he doesn't walk very well, he is very clumsy, I was wondering if you could help us?" Stoic asked. Krisa laughed and held out her arms in a question if it was alright to take the boy. Stoic paused before handing over his son. Hiccup let out a squawk as he was handed over but was soon distracted by the beads around Krisa's neck.
"Hi Hiccup, do you remember me? Probably not, you were just a wee tyke when I last saw you!" Krisa said as she removed the beads from Hiccup's fingers. Hiccup let out a squeak of protest and grabbed for them, babbling something in a grumpy voice.
"Hiccup stop that! Sorry Krisa, he should know better, here Hiccup, have your fork back," Stoic apologised as he put the fork in his son's grabbing hands. Krisa frowned. She had a lot of work to do. It seemed that Stoic was not really sure what he was doing, and Hiccup had a short attention span, as the small boy giggled and played with the fork, sticking it in his mouth to chew on.
"Ah Stoic, I would be happy to help, but I will need to work with both of you at times. How about you bring him around tomorrow and he can spend the day!" she suggested. Stoic nodded just as Gobber came over with two plates of food. Hiccup spied the food and squealed in delight. He wriggled out of Krisa's lap and climbed back onto his dad's lap before sticking his fork into the plate and picking out some fish to eat. Krisa smiled to see the big tough Chief sitting and eating, sharing his food with a small scrawny child with large green eyes. The main problem was that Stoic did not talk enough with his son. He spent time with him sure, but he didn't really spend time with him being a father. The child seemed eager to spend time with his father or with anyone who would give him some attention.
"Mama, who is that baby?" asked Astrid beside her mother.
"That's not a baby that is Hiccup, he is coming to play tomorrow, so you be nice to him," Krisa said with a smile as she picked up her daughter to leave the Hall.
"But he can't talk! Babies can't talk either, so I think he is a baby!" Astrid said with a firm nod of her head. Krisa laughed at her daughter's logic. Life seemed so simple when you were four turning five. Tomorrow was going to be interesting.