9/29/10
Welcome Home - Where Hiccup gets the jitters, Astrid gets a present, and Toothless gets very hungry. (This chapter may actually drift into rated "T" territory for lots of innuendo.)
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Hiccup stood at his threshold and waved wearily as the final well-wishers shuffled back to their residences. The last one out the door was of course Stoick, who with a great slap to Hiccup's back had said none-too-quietly, "Make me proud tonight, Son." The cool night air was only beginning to counter the heated blush that had brought on.
He was still light-headed from being the center of attention the entire day, as well as the countless tankards of ale and mead he'd ingested. The entire village had turned out to throw Astrid and him the wildest wedding Berk had seen in decades - though if Gobber could be believed, it still paled in comparison to his own parents' day. There had been dancing, feasting, dragon racing and other more traditional activities throughout the long day. The Thorston twins had added their own brand of celebration by stealing the new couple's swords and hiding them Odin-knew-where. Looking for them was something Hiccup was going to have to do in the next few days, he thought wryly.
With a deep breath he closed the door and leaned against it, just taking in the silence as he glanced around the dwelling. It was little more than a single large room sectioned off into living, eating, and sleeping space. It would be expanded as needed per Berk tradition: there was no sense in wasting labor and materials on unnecessarily large homes that would in all likelihood need to be rebuilt within the year. Though dragons were no longer burning down the village buildings with regularity it remained a practical custom.
Astrid was in the cooking area picking up after their guests. He watched her for a moment, just smiling at the thought of her. Her hair hung loose and free down her back giving her a softer air and as she gathered up a few stray mugs her lips moved as if she were singing softly to herself. On the table lay her bridal crown, made of intricately woven flowers; he had had to remove it from her head in front of their guests as the final rite of marriage, a symbolic gesture for what was to come. His heart pounded in his chest as he glanced away from her to the bed set in the back corner. Nearby was a large, dragon-sized bear skin already set up, though it would remain unoccupied this evening, Hiccup noted with a twinge of sadness. Toothless would spend one last evening curled up next to the hearth at Stoick's home…
He drew in a deep breath. His childhood home, the only place he had ever known, was now behind him. His memories there were long and varied, some good, many bad, but it had always been his place of retreat when the teasing had gotten intolerable, a place of warmth during Berk's harsh cold, and at one time, many years ago, a place of love. Mostly it was familiar. This new place was different and strange and unknown. Its very newness was almost unwelcoming, but he realized it was up to them – he and his new bride – to turn it into a home, one he was sure would always be filled with love.
"Hey," Astrid said, drawing his attention.
"Hi," he breathed and grinned at her.
"Are you going to come in, or should I bring you a blanket?" Her head was tilted and the smallest smile played across her mouth.
"Yeah, of course, I'm here. Inside. With you. In our house. Together."
He took a few steps forward and she met him in the middle, laying her hands on his chest. "You're nervous?"
"Me? What? Are you kidding?" he said with a shrug, then, "I'm actually kind of terrified."
"It's okay," she said softly, glancing down. "We don't have to do anything if you don't want to."
"Well, we kind of do. It's the law. And as the future chief, I need to set a good example." She met his eyes and they both broke into giggles, relieving the tension that had been building. He slipped his arms around her and pulled her close, kissing her hair. "Finally alone," he murmured rocking her gently. "I didn't think I'd ever get to just hold you." She made a soft sound and nodded against his shoulder. She shivered against him.
They broke apart and he took her hand, walking towards the bed. "I have something for you," he told her, motioning for her to sit. She obliged, folding her hands in her lap patiently. Hiccup hadn't had any real time to unpack his personal belongings. Pawing though his satchel, he found what he was looking for at the bottom and carefully pulled out the square of folded cloth, holding it in his palm gently. He turned to her, still bent down, and presented the small package.
"What is it?" she asked without moving.
"A gift." He tried offering it to her again, but she remained motionless.
"But I didn't get you anything," she said softly with a frown.
"It's okay," he insisted getting off the floor and sitting next to her on the bed. He took one of her hands and placed the present in it. "Open it."
Carefully, her eyes darting back and forth between the gift and Hiccup, she pulled back the corners of the cloth until it was completely uncovered. Lifting it closer to her face she poked at it curiously with her other hand before finally picking it up. Dangling on a thin rope-like silver chain were three delicate rectangles of silver, and in the center of each one lay a bright blue gem, the same shade as her eyes. Discarding the cloth wrapping, she carefully held it up, admiring it. "It's beautiful," she said with a shake of her head. "Where did you get it?"
He leaned closer, placed a quick kiss on her shoulder, and said, "When we stopped to trade this summer. Oh, Astrid, you wouldn't believe how amazing this town is. People and things beyond imagine. I'll take you there someday, I promise. While I was looking around I saw it, and it just made me think of you. Cost every last coin in my pocket, but it was worth it. Here, let me," he said gently taking it from her. She twisted to the side and lifted her hair, allowing him to clasp it around her neck. When she turned around to face him, he smiled at how nice it looked laying against her skin. He brought his hand up and gently brushed his fingertips across the center stone. "I should have given it to you tomorrow, but I just couldn't wait."
When he looked up, he saw that she was gazing intently at him. "Thank you, Hiccup," she said and then quickly licked her lips.
"No, thank you." He reached up and laid his palm against her cheek, leaning forward to kiss her. "Thank you," he murmured against her lips.
))((
Toothless woke up to a grumbling stomach. He blinked sleepily next to the cooling hearth as he noted that the great fireball had not risen in the sky yet. Hiccup did not like being roused for breakfast before it did, so he laid his head back down on his paws only to bolt upright again. He hadn't seen Hiccup return to the nest yet. He knew the Vikings had had a big celebration the day before, and had actually enjoyed many of the festivities along with them, but then Hiccup had told him to go home, that he would see Toothless later, and so Toothless did. He could vaguely remember the large, furry-faced one enter with loud grumblings and a noisy belch late in the night, but Toothless had ignored him as he had never shown appreciation for a proper dragon greeting in the past. After that, nothing.
Toothless sat up and sniffed deeply. Old smells permeated the nest, many of them Hiccup's, but nothing fresh. He stood up on all four feet and had a full stretch before carefully ascending the stairs to the top of the nest. He didn't like the stairs, which his claws often slipped on, but this was important. He had to locate Hiccup and then he needed large amounts of fish.
At the top of the stairs he paused and sniffed. To his left was definitely Fur-face's domain so he moved to his right, poking his nose at the door, annoyed with the swinging wooden barrier Vikings used to seal off their territory instead of a well-placed scent mark. Once inside the smaller room that was full of old Hiccup smells he chuffed inquisitively. Things seemed to be missing leaving the room empty and cold, like a long-abandoned bear den. He trotted to the bed-nest and poked at the bare mattress with his nose: no Hiccup.
If the Night Fury could have produced a frown he would have at this point. There was no Hiccup and if there was no Hiccup there was no fish and there was no flying and there were no scratches and laughs and…
Toothless moved back out of the room and sat in the hallway. From the other end the loud growl-snorting sounds of the fur-faced one drifted out. Toothless thought he might have some answers at least and pushed his way into that room. At the bed he regarded the tall mound of furs as it gently raised and lowered. Finding Fur-face's head at the top, he approached and mrrred in the man's ear followed by a quick lick of the tongue. This would always waken Hiccup, but in response, the big man's hand reached up as if swatting an insect. More insistently, Toothless called louder. The Viking muttered in his sleep and rolled away from Toothless. This annoyed the dragon who then placed his front feet on the edge of the bed so that his head was directly over the man and roared into his ear.
"Yea-AW!" Stoick yelled in shock as he sat upright in the bed, striking out instinctively, one hand landing a direct hit. Toothless cried out in surprise and leapt backwards, trilling in irritation at the man who was blinking and looking around. "What on Odin's great earth!" he shouted and then must have spotted the pair of golden eyes in the dark. "You!"
Toothless crouched down, blinking. He didn't know why the man was so angry. After all he had tried being nice at first, having learned over the years that Hiccup was always more pleasant when woken up that way.
"Vile beast," Stoick muttered. "If Hiccup hadn't needed his privacy tonight…"
At hearing Hiccup's name Toothless perked up and walked towards Stoick, head tilted, with a questioning muttering. While he did this his stomach gave another loud grumble.
"Of course, ye be wanting your food. Well don't look at me. Hiccup will come for you later." He stopped and did something Toothless didn't see very much - he grinned. "Of course that might not be for some time now that he's gotten a proper taste of the lass." The grin was quickly replaced by the more familiar snarl. "Now be gone with ye. I need my sleep." He gave one last regal sweep of his hand and then lay back down on the bed.
With a huff, Toothless left the room and returned to the lower floor. Hiccup was definitely not in the nest, and Fur-face didn't seem concerned with his absence, which Toothless assumed meant that Hiccup couldn't be far or in danger, but that still left the question of where he was, and, more importantly, how would Toothless get his breakfast? At the outer door, he gently lifted the latch with his teeth and allowed it to swing open. He trotted out into the cool early morning air, giving himself a quick shake as he decided on a course of action.
There was one other Viking in the village that would be just as concerned as Toothless about a missing Hiccup. In fact she and Hiccup had been practically inseparable the day before so it was possible they were still together, no doubt playing that silly mouth game they always seemed to be doing, which never looked all that fun to Toothless. Quickly Toothless made his way through the meandering pathways to Astrid's nest. Happily he chirped the Deadly Nadder that lived in the attached barn; she was the only dragon he regularly spent any time with, and as a result he had taken a fondness for her. They touched noses in greeting for a second before Toothless moved to the door. Surely if she were here, then Astrid must be as well.
He was well aware that entering another's territory without permission was a serious offense, even for humans, but this was a special case, he felt. His Hiccup was missing, he was hungry, and something had to be done about this – now!
Using his teeth, he again lifted the door's latch. The Nadder squawked at him and flapped her wings, but he ignored her and entered the dwelling. Immediately he started sniffing about, disappointed that there were only trace Hiccup smells here, hardly enough to even notice. Still he was inside, so some investigating was in order. First he investigated the large basket in the corner that held a laughably small amount of smoked fish. Toothless wrinkled his nose a bit, much preferring the raw variety, but hungry dragons couldn't be choosy, so he gulped down what he could. It made a small dent; smacking his lips together he continued nosing around the nest until he came to the stairs. Sniffing he caught Astrid's scent and slinked up following it. Her room, he found, was just as empty as Hiccup's had been and he sighed dejectedly. Why would his people have just abandoned him so suddenly? Someone had to know.
The next room was still occupied by a couple of sleeping Vikings. He only had a passing familiarity with their scents, but assumed they were Astrid's family, so surely they would have some answers. Politely he mrrred to the one closest to him, a female with hair as golden as Astrid's. She stirred slightly and opened her eyes only to notice the dragon staring directly at her. Screaming, she sat up, clutching her covering to her chest.
"Odin's beard, Ingrid!" the man next to her shouted. "What has gotten into you?"
"Aldrik," she said softly. "There's a dragon in here."
"What? Has that blasted Nadder come snooping around?" he said as he sat up and looked over her shoulder. His hair was dark brown, grown out to his shoulders, and he had a full, if short beard. "Well, well, well," he said, laying eyes on Toothless. "Isn't that…?"
"Toothless," she confirmed easily for him, considering there was only one Night Fury in the entire village.
"What in the world is he doing in here?"
Ingrid cast a derisive glance over her shoulder, "Wild guess? He's looking for Hiccup."
At hearing the name, Toothless waved his head eagerly. At the same time his stomach gurgled once again.
"But why here?" Aldrik asked.
"Who knows?" Ingrid said, covering her mouth as a yawn erupted. "Just take him over there, will you. I have to start cooking."
"What? I'm not going over there now."
"Why not, they're probably just sleeping."
He snorted. "Oh really? Don't you remember our honeymoon?"
She paused and looked at him with a slow grin. "Yeah, we didn't sleep for three days," she replied with a sigh.
"Exactly! A father does not need to walk into that."
"Coward!" Ingrid said and elbowed him in the chest. "If she were a son you would be proud as a peacock. I'm sure Stoick is walking on air."
"Well she's not a son, she's my baby girl," Aldrik grumbled.
"And you gave the boy your blessing. Now get out of here before I take my axe to you!"
Aldrik muttered indignantly as he pulled on his clothes and boots, and then stomped around the bed. "Out with you!" he ordered Toothless who followed him out the door.
"Oh, and tell them breakfast is in an hour!" Ingrid shouted down to him as the man and dragon left the home.
The eastern horizon had become a soft pink band as the sun was beginning its ascent into the sky. Aldrik yawned and stretched as he walked up the winding paths, calling out greetings to those who were out taking care of the pre-dawn chores. Finally they came to a small hut and the man took a deep breath before pounding on the door.
Toothless pranced for joy when he heard a familiar voice call out from inside, "Uh, who's there?"
"It's your father-in-law. I have your dragon out here, if you can tear yourself out of bed," he answered sullenly.
"My-my dragon? You mean Toothless?"
"Do you have any other dragons?"
Toothless glanced from the man to the door and moved closer. He could hear rustling noises inside, soft voices.
"O-okay, just-just give me a minute," Hiccup said, rather out of breath in Toothless' opinion. He wondered if the boy was sick.
"No, I will not give you a minute! Get out here right now!"
Toothless couldn't understand the man's pique and decided to take matters into his own paws. For the third time, he reached his mouth towards the door latch.
"No, you fool!" the man cried at him, brushing him away from the latch. "We do not need to see that."
This attitude really perplexed Toothless, and he sat back on his haunches with a huff. Eventually the distinct thumping of Hiccup's metal leg could be heard and the door swung open. Hiccup ran a hand through his hair, which was messily sticking out in every direction, and he blinked groggily. His tunic hung loosely around his waist and the strings of his trousers were untied as if they had just been thrown on. "Uh, good morning, sir," he said politely before looking at Toothless. "Hey, buddy. I was going to come get you in a little bit. What's going on?"
"Hel if I know," Aldrik muttered. "Woke up to him sitting in our bedroom."
"Oh, well I-I'm sorry about that. He must have been confused. I'm sorry he bothered you."
"Whatever, it was time to get up anyway," the man replied dismissively.
"Morning, Daddy," a soft voice called from inside.
The man coughed and said brightly, "Morning, Baby. Did you have a nice night?" The words had barely left his mouth when he blushed red above his dark beard and stammered, "I mean, I don't need to know, I just…"
She laughed and replied, "It was fine, thanks."
"Good. All right. Oh, uh, your mother wanted me to tell you that breakfast is in an hour."
"Okay. We'll see you then."
"Right. Okay then. Hiccup," he said to the boy with a quick nod of his head.
"Bye, sir. Thanks again for bringing Toothless home," Hiccup said, giving him a quick wave before Aldrik turned to walk away. "Well, Toothless, you might as well come inside and see your new home." Hiccup moved back inside and Toothless didn't have to be asked twice. Happily he skipped into the new dwelling and started poking around. Maybe Hiccup had a nice basket of fish for him! The small nest he walked into was far inferior to the other nest, and Toothless couldn't understand why Hiccup would be here instead, other than the notable lack of Fur-face.
He peeked into the kitchen area but was only rewarded with a sneeze when he sniffed too strongly at a jug of sweet mead. Giving up on that part of the shack, he moved to the back where a bed-nest was. On it was Astrid, one hand casually holding up the covering to her chest as her long but equally messy hair spilled over her shoulders. He walked to her side and she gave him a friendly scratch. "Good morning to you too," she said with a smile. "Welcome home." He gave her a thorough sniffing. It wasn't uncommon for the two of them to have traces of the other's scent lingering, especially considering how often they spent with their mouths together, but now she was practically bathed in Hiccup's scent. It was as if…
Toothless suddenly sat back in understanding. The previous day had been one long intricate mating ritual, not unlike Zipplebacks who often took several days finding the right mate both heads would approve of. He moved forward and poked his head beneath the bed, wondering where they had put the eggs.
"Hey, buddy, come over here. This is where you'll be sleeping."
Toothless slinked around the bed to where Hiccup was standing next to a large animal skin. He sniffed at it and then sat on it, curling his tail around his feet. It was soft and pleasant. "See, isn't that nice," Hiccup said with a smile. "This is where we're all going to live now. A family." Hiccup turned and grinned at Astrid who smiled back. Toothless just hoped the eggs would show up soon. They were acting like Deadly Nadders for whom mating was as much about gazing at one another as making offspring, which became impossible to stomach after a while.
Hiccup knelt on the bed and wrapped his arms around Astrid and the two of them began doing the mouth thing which made Toothless roll his eyes. Astrid's hand disappeared beneath his tunic and she reclined back onto the pillows, pulling him with her. He was making some mumbling protests, but none of them heartfelt. Toothless and his empty stomach had no patience for these antics so he padded to the bed, opened his mouth wide – with teeth suitably retracted – and clamped down onto Hiccup's derriere.
"Gah!" Hiccup shouted as he jumped up, rubbing his backside. "All right, all right. Feeding Toothless comes first." He went about the motions of making himself presentable: tying the strings of his leggings, fastening the belt around his waist, and running a comb through his hair.
Astrid had rolled to her side. "While you're doing that, I'll go get Azura and bring her here. You're sure the shelter is finished?"
"Checked it out myself yesterday morning; it has every amenity a dragon could want," Hiccup replied. "I'll even bring her back some fish."
"She's going to be jealous that Toothless gets to be in here while she's stuck outside."
"Not much we can do about that. There's hardly room for one dragon inside, and she's already used to living in a barn."
"Unlike your spoiled reptile," she countered with a raised eyebrow.
"Yeah, well, what can I do," Hiccup said with a shrug. "Besides, you know Toothless is different. I thought we'd already discussed all this."
"We did. I'm not arguing." She stretched her arms over her head. "So I'll just meet you at my parents then?"
"Sounds good. Um, why do we have to do that?"
"Because it's tradition. You still need to give me my morning-gift and the key to the house. And it'll be fun; Dad's going to be positively squirming. Besides, one more morning I don't have to cook is a good thing."
Hiccup chuckled. "Yeah." A pillow flew at his head. "I just meant you look so fantastic like that, you shouldn't have to get up and make breakfast," he said quickly while slipping on his vest.
Astrid made a face at him, and grabbed him by the vest as he bent down to kiss her goodbye. "I'm going to miss you," she whispered.
He just grinned and brushed his lips over hers. "Okay, Toothless," he said heading out the door. "One fish breakfast coming up."
Happily Toothless pranced after him.
A/N I'm not sure why I always have to write Stoick and Toothless with so much animosity. I guess it's a cross between old habits die hard and a friendly rivalry. Still, I think I owe Stoick his own chapter to make up for it. I really don't write him enough anyway.
