"Wait! Boy, slow down!" Stoick called out as he and Gobber fumbled through the rocky tunnel. The little light that trickled in from the mouth of the cavern was barely enough to see by. Combined with the many formations of rock that impeded the larger men and they were left wondering what sane person would use this path.

"You two are really slow." Hiccup said from his perch on a ledge as he watched Stoick and Gobber shove themselves through a narrow opening between two natural pillars.

"This can't be the only way in! Maybe an easier to navigate path would be a better idea." Spoke Stoick, who was trying hard not to sound too enraged. Out of all possible entrances, this had to be the worst. He honestly considered if the boy was just playing with them.

"Well this tunnel is the only way in unless you have wings." Stoick and Gobber exchanged glances. The boy must have thought this was fun, to lead representatives from other tribes astray. "Unless you want to go in through the exit, but that's just impossible. It's an exit!"

"Is this exit 'ny easier ta navigate?" Gobber asked, exasperated.

"You can't get in that way, it's an exit. Hey! Where are you going?"

"Oh." A few minutes later, the group stood outside the exit.

"I told you, but would you listen?" Hiccup scolded the older men as they gazed up the steep slope of ice. "Let's go in through the exit! You think I don't know my way around my own home?" The ice slide may have provided a quick way to the beach, but getting back up was impossible. Hiccup has tried before for fun.

Stoick paid little attention to the boy, though. There was something a bit more concerning. He could have sworn he heard- there it was again! The sound of wing beats. A dragon was approaching, fast.

"Quickly, hide!" He ordered as he pulled the scrawny boy behind a fallen shard of ice. Gobber also ducked under the cover of the pile of ice. Hiccup took a peak from their position before ducking down again.

"That was close." Hiccup whispered. "I would have been in a lot of trouble if they saw me." The trouble the Vikings imagined and what Hiccup meant were two very different things.

In the sky, Cloudjumper let out an annoyed sigh. The ice was not enough to conceal three people, especially when two of them were over-sized. Or were they normal, and Valka was small? Regardless, the fact that they were even on this island was a cause of concern. Cloudjumper decided he Nightfury's meal would have to wait, and changed course. Valka, feeling her friend shift, quickly found the problem. She could only brace herself for the trouble she knew was coming.

"It's comin' toward us." Gobber reported.

"You ready Gobber?" Stoick drew his sword as the dragon touched down somewhere in front of them.

"Always." Gobber replied, reading his bludgeon arm.

"Wait, what are you doing?" Asked a genuinely confused Hiccup. Both men leapt out from their cover, charging an unimpressed Cloudjumper.

"Wait, stop!" Hiccup called as he dashed out after them. He caught up to Gobber first and grabbed onto his weapon hand. Stoick closed in on the dragon but before he was close enough to harm the Stormcutter, he found himself on his back with his breath knocked out of him, staring up at stars in the day sky. Cloudjumper had taken his feet out from under him with a quick sweep of the dragon's tail.

"'ave ye gone mad laddie?" Gobber yelled at the body clutching his weapon.

"Stop, it's just mom and Cloudjumper!" The men's eyes turned to the figure that had just dismounted the dragon, with a hissing black bundle tucked under one arm. The black dragon found its way less than gracefully to the ground as Valka realized just who it was that found their way to the nest.

"Oh, this is goin' ta be interstin'." Gobber said softly, seeing his friend's eyes widen.

"V-Valka? Yer alive!" The Stoick said, though it was a little more than a whisper.

"Stoick, it's been awhile." Valka spoke, not willing to look her husband in the face.

"Which means," Stoick's eyes flashed to Hiccup, who had taken to investigating the dejected looking hatchling. "You're both alive!"

"I'm sorry, Stoick. What kind of wife am I?" Hiccup was paying little attention. He pulled some dried fish from his pocked and poked it at the Nightfury. Both Cloudjumper and Gobber were more focused in the interactions between Valka and Stoick. "But how could I have gone back? There is more to dragons than the village could ever imagine! You have every right to be upset, but nothing you can say will convince me my choice was wrong."

Stoick said nothing at first. He took a few steps towards his long lost wife. Valka was ready for the worse. To be yelled at, shamed or berated.

"You're as beautiful as the day I lost you." She was not ready for that. Her defenses visible crumbled, and Stoick moved to embrace his lost love. After a few moments, Valka pulled away and was on top of Cloudjumper in an instant. Valka paused to take a deep breath before continuing.

"Let me show you my world." She spoke with conviction. Maybe, just maybe, everything could work out. There was a chance, right? Cloudjumper, purposefully not being gentle, grabbed the large man and flew into the nest with him.

"See, this's why I never married." Gobber said as he watched his frightened friend disappear into crevice in the ice. Hiccup, who was currently holding the Nightfury like a baby, considered the brawny man for a moment.

"There's probably other reasons." He said bluntly. One side of Gobber's monobrow raised. "Let's face it, that mustache can't be helping any."

A slight rumbling came from the little dragon. If Gobber did not know better, he would think the lizard was laughing at him. Hiccup knew that was exactly what the dragon was doing.

"Now what do you know 'bout facial hair, laddie?"

"More than you, apparently."

This is too good! The Nightfury could barely breath it was laughing so hard. Hiccup chuckled too, though Gobber could not say he found anything particularly funny about the little nuisance.

"Did yer mother teach you any manners?"

"Did your father teach you how to shave?"

Gobber's glare told Hiccup that it was time to find something else to do. He decided it would be a good time to find his mother and hurried off the entrance.

Wait, where are you going? I want more jokes! The hatchling roared indignantly.

Gobber decided he did not want to be alone near a dragon's nest and hurried after the boy.

A/N

First of all, I would like to take a moment to thank everyone who has followed of favorited this story. It really makes my day when I open up my email and find that so many people like my story. So, thank you all!

Now I have seen a bunch of these stories where Hiccup becomes some feral dragon boy, and some of those are still great works, but I wanted to go with something different. I want to show how Hiccup could have been if he had not been ridiculed his entire life. The result would be somewhere along the lines of an extremely sarcastic boy who does not always know when to keep his mouth shut, while at the same time being curious about everything around him. I also wanted to capture a bit of book Toothless as a younger, less mature movie Toothless

Sounds simple enough.

Anyways, see you next time,

Eonn