Stoick fell asleep before the storm ended.
After their…moment, the boy had explored the cave, pestering Hiccup with more questions than he knew how to answer. Hiccup had kept up as best he could, until he'd finished a long explanation about Toothless' tail and been greeted by silence. When he looked over, terrified that the boy had wandered off, he found Stoick asleep with Toothless curled around him.
He'd thrown a blanket over the child—though he knew Stoick probably didn't need it sleeping so close to a dragon—because that seemed like something dads did. Hiccup didn't exactly have a normal model to go on. He and his own father hadn't really connected until his teens. His dad had always been so busy running the village and fighting off dragons and keeping Hiccup out of danger.
Sleep wasn't an easy find that night. Most of it he spent watching his son—his son—and Toothless sleep and trying to figure out what to do next.
He was so lost. Hiccup had no idea how to be a father, much less to a nine-year-old. Most dads had some time to get used to the idea and figure things out before their kid got to be too old. But he hadn't been a father yesterday.
Scratch that, yes he had. He just didn't know it.
Had Astrid known?
No, she would have told him. Wouldn't she?
Should he have waited to spring this news on the boy? Stoick seemed to be taking it well so far, but Hiccup remembered the brave face he'd put on to impress his own father. Maybe he should have tried to find Astrid first.
If she was still alive.
Hiccup shuddered, turning away from that thought. For ten years, the idea of Astrid back home on Berk kept him going. Astrid wouldn't give up, so he wouldn't give up either.
She had to be safe. The world was too cruel otherwise.
# # #
Hiccup opened his eyes to find Stoick standing over him. He didn't have to look outside to know that the sun was barely up.
"I'm hungry," Stoick said. "And so's Toothless."
Hiccup groaned. The little bit of sleep he'd gotten had been filled with terrible dreams. This boy and his mother had played central roles.
"Do you always get up this early?" He rolled his shoulder, biting his lip as the pins and needles spread down from the joint.
Stoick nodded.
"Well," Hiccup said, suppressing a smile, "you don't get that from me." He fished a loaf of flat bread out of a basket.
"Mom says I'm just like you," Stoick said, tearing a piece of and sticky the chewy stuff in his mouth.
"Does she now?" Hiccup said.
"Uh-huh," Stoick said around a mouthful of food. "Mostly when I'm in trouble."
Hiccup did laugh at that.
Maybe he could do this.
He had sudden sympathy for his mother, who had been confronted by a full-grown son after twenty years on her own. Looking at his own son now, he could imagine how she had felt. The guilt. The uncertainty. The need to make things right.
Maybe he should follow her example.
"Do—do you want to see the other dragons?" After all, if there was one thing he had going for him, it was dragons.
"There are more dragons?" Stoick's wide eyes brightened, like the sky at noon.
"Didn't Ast—your mom tell you that I went away to save the dragons?" Hiccup stood, grabbing a long stick of wood from the fire and gesturing for Stoick to follow him. Trying to keep the nine-year-olds shorter legs in mind, he led the way through the cave. Toothless followed behind them, his claws scratch-scritching on the stone floor.
The island that Hiccup and the dragons had made their home on had many cave networks. Most of the habitable ones were on the other side of the island, but they had decided against settling there for various reasons.
"What's that?" Stoick asked. They were getting close to the main cavern and sounds carried down the tunnels.
"That is the sound of a snoring Gronkle."
Most dragons kept an Astrid-like timetable, getting up with the sun. Toothless was often up and about on the island long before Hiccup opened his eyes. A few, however, many of them older dragons, liked to sleep in a little. They didn't stir until the sun was pouring in through the hole in the cavern roof.
Hiccup held a hand out, stopping the boy. "You ready, bud?"
His son nodded, his gaze fixed straight ahead on the softly lit entrance. The boy was bouncing on his toes, an action Hiccup felt himself fighting at that same moment. Toothless grumbled and shoved them both into the daylight.
"Whoa," Stoick cried. He ran forward, forcing Hiccup to run after him.
"Not so fast," Hiccup said. "These dragons haven't had many good experiences with strangers over the last decade. Stick with me, why don't you?"
"Okay, Dad."
Something in Hiccup's chest —he was reasonably certain it was his heart—flip-flopped. Though, it scared him how easily this child had accepted him, he was glad the boy wasn't fighting him. Of course, not many people could offer a giant black reptile as proof.
Stoick kept turning this way and that, trying to take it all it. He stretched his arm towards the dragons flying overhead, naming them as he pointed. A small piece of Hiccup was sad that Astrid wasn't here to see this. He could see her, eyes as bright as Stoick's were at this very moment and proud smile on her face. And then, she would have turned to him, her smirk asking if he saw how well she'd done with their son.
"Hold on," Hiccup said. "There's someone you should meet." Hiccup whistled, eyes peeled for the particular dragon he was looking for. She wasn't inside the cavern with the other dragons who were warming up, but he heard her respond. And then she flew through the roof with a lazy loop.
She landed in front of them with a hop, claws digging into the dirt.
"A Deadly Nadder," Stoick said, his voice soft.
Hiccup stroked her nose. "Stoick, I'd like you to meet Stormfly. She was your mom's dragon. Stormfly, meet Astrid's son."
The Nadder cocked her head at the familiar name. They'd spent a lot of time, Stormfly and him, talking about Astrid. Well, he'd done all the talking, but Stormfly was a very good listener.
Now she looked at Stoick, peering down at him with first one eye and then the other. Stoick pressed up against Hiccup's side, his hand gripping one of the buckles on his much patched riding gear. Hiccup supposed the Nadder with all her sharp teeth and spines was a little more intimidating than Toothless would be with when his eyes were all big and green.
"It's okay, she won't hurt you. Give me your hand." Hiccup took the boy's hand, keeping one of his hands on Stoick's shoulder as he walked both of them closer. Stormfly bent her head down, nostrils flaring as air whooshed through them. She did not move as they inched forward. "Okay, that's good. Now just wait."
Stoick didn't move, round eyes watching the Nadder. With a cooing noise, she pressed her nose to the boy's palm, closing her eyes.
"She—she likes me?"
"Of course she likes you. What's not to like? You're a Haddock."
Stormfly tilted her head, exposing the soft spot right underneath her jaw. Eyes still impossibly huge, Stoick reached for it. He gave it a tentative scratch and Stormfly made a happy gurgle. The boy grinned.
"Do you think Mom would let me have a dragon?" he asked.
"Uh…" Astrid's hand in raising Stoick was apparent and he didn't think she'd object, after all she was only a few years older when she got Stormfly. Still, the idea of Stoick riding around on a fiery beast, doing who knew what scared Hiccup a little. How had his father kept from having a heart attack? Hiccup found a new appreciation for his own father. "I think that's something your mom and I will have to talk about first."
Stoick's face fell. Hiccup's brain scrambled, trying to figure out a way to bring that endearing smile back. How had Astrid refused this kid anything?
"But, uh, I bet she wouldn't mind you flying with me and Toothless."
"Really?" Stormfly was forgotten as Stoick threw his arms around Hiccup's waist and hugged him. He didn't seem to notice Hiccup's awkwardness as he stood with his had frozen in the air, not at all prepared for this kind of attack. "Can we go now?"
Hiccup shrugged. "What do you think, Toothless? Are you ready to go flying?"
The dragon rolled his eyes.
Hiccup picked the boy up and placed him in the saddle, swinging in behind him. "Alright, now hold on tight to those handles," he said.
"What happens if I fall off?"
"I'm not going to let that happen." Not a chance.
"What happens if you fall off?"
"Toothless knows what he's doing, he'll take care of you. Now lean forward."
The dragon spread his wings, stretching them once before taking off. They shot up into the air and right out of the spacious hole. Stoick yelled and covered his eyes, but Hiccup had him tightly around the waist. This boy wasn't going anywhere.
As Toothless evened out, Stoick slowly uncovered his eyes.
"Whoa. Everything's so small." He twisted around. "How high can he go?"
"You want to see?"
Stoick nodded.
"Alright, hold on then." Hiccup patted Toothless' head. "Show him what you've got, bud."
His son grabbed the handles as Toothless twisted, shooting upwards with powerful strokes of his wings. He looped and dove down to skim the water with first one wing tip and then the other. Then they headed up again, breaking through the clouds. Stoick let go with one hand, reaching to touch the soft looking clouds, gasping when the cold droplets went right through his fingers.
Hiccup smiled.
Spiraling around, Toothless brought them back to the cavern.
"That was awesome!" Stoick jumped down. "First we were like, whoosh," he used his hand to mimic Toothless' take-off, "and then he were down by the water and the spin. Dad the spin!" He ran around the dragon, arms spread.. Stoick skidded to a stop, whirling on Hiccup. "Mom said Toothless couldn't fly without you, but you don't have any pedals or anything like she said."
Hiccup bent to pick up Toothless' tail. "I managed to fix it so he can fly, see?" He pointed to the mechanism that allowed Toothless to operate the fin on his own. It had taken time to find or make the tools he needed, but eventually, after years of scavenging shipwrecks, Hiccup had built a pretty decent forge. For here anyways. "Now all he needs me for is to make sure it doesn't get rusty."
"But you didn't come back."
Hiccup felt his heart break. If he had only known...
"I couldn't come back, kid," Hiccup said. Swallowing, he knelt in front of his son. "As far as I can tell, Loki's Gate only goes one way. Trust me, if I could have gotten back to Berk, I would have."
"That's what Mom said."
Hiccup nodded. "Your mom is right."
Stoick watched the ground, scuffing his shoes against the rock floor. "Dad…"
Breathe, he told himself, just keep breathing. "Yes?"
"Do you think Mom is okay?"
"Your mom is the toughest person I know. I bet she's just fine." Hiccup wasn't sure how he managed this around the rock in his throat. Astrid was Astrid. No one could beat her. She was untouchable.
She was also human. No human could breathe underwater. And if she had made it to shore, she was going to be in for a nasty surprise.
Stoick voiced the question that Hiccup had been pondering since last night. "Do you think we could look for her?"
"I think someone should," he said. "But I think someone needs to stay here too. Just in case she comes looking for you. What do you think?"
"I could stay," Stoick said.
"That sounds like a good idea," Hiccup said. "And I bet Toothless would hang out with you here."
The Night Fury was scratching his head with a back paw. He froze, back leg in the air and glared at Hiccup. Toothless hated being left behind, even now that he didn't need Hiccup to fly.
"It'll be loads of fun, right, Toothless?"
"But who will you fly?"
"Who better to look for your mom with than your mom's dragon?"
Toothless grumbled. Hiccup knelt next to him, scratching him beneath the chin as he leaned close.
"Please, bud, you know I can't take him to the other side of the island and I wouldn't trust anyone else," he whispered. Hiccup leaned back to make eye contact with Toothless. The dragon blinked, then gave him a rough, wet lick right up the side of his face. "Toothless says you'll have a great time."
He whistled for Stormfly again. The blue dragon spiraled down towards him.
"You two stay out of trouble," Hiccup said as he jumped on. "And don't have too much fun without me."