Munitions stall, 2000 hours
Hiccup was dead tired. At some point after flying back to the cove, and then running back to town and avoiding everybody on the way to the stall, the last of his adrenalin ran out and he wondered why he hadn't simply gone home to bed.
He took his headset off and started playing with it while he rested his head on his desk. He was too tired to even think about anything; when the footsteps approached, he didn't immediately register that it wasn't Gobber until after he turned his head.
Suddenly adrenalin was pumping again.
"Dad! You're back!" Hiccup jerked out of his chair and straight to attention before remembering that his tablet was on with a spectacular picture of Toothless, and he dropped his hand to shut the thing off. "Gobber's not here, so…"
"I know," Stoik settled on a stool next to Hiccup, "I came to speak with you."
His voice was low and dangerous…this was bad.
"You've been keeping secrets…"
This was very bad. "I…don't know…" What you're talking about was how that sentence probably would have ended.
"I am the highest ranking officer in this corner of the world. Everyone reports to me. Nothing happens under my jurisdiction that doesn't eventually get back to me."
At this point, Hiccup thought that he might need a new classification for how bad this was. Scenarios started running through his head, mostly second-guessing himself and wishing that he'd rigged up a solo-flight mechanism as long as he'd had Toothless in the stall the other night…wait, there hadn't been time before Astrid found me…
"Now, let's talk…" Stoik shifted a bit, very blatantly barring the door, "About that dragon."
Oh, dear Lord – someone had found Toothless. Hiccup's shoulders slumped and he started verbally scrambling. "Dad, I'm so sorry, I wanted to tell you, but I didn't know…" then he stared in astonishment.
The big man was laughing. It was a nice-sounding laugh, considering that Hiccup didn't get to hear it often.
After a moment Hiccup started laughing along (he stopped fairly quick, since he sounded more like a tortured seagull than like actual mirth), and he asked hopefully, "So…you're…not upset?"
Stoik's laughter stopped immediately. The mirth didn't. "What? I was hoping for this!"
"Uh…you were?" Hiccup was starting to suspect that they were on different wavelengths. Again.
"And believe me, it only gets better! Wait until you spill a Nadder's guts for the first time! And mounting your first Gronkle head on the wall…what a feeling it is!" His massive fist shot out and thumped Hiccup in the chest, sending him toppling backwards to sit in an empty bin. "You really had me going there! After so many years of being the worst soldier this unit has ever seen…"
Hiccup had just managed to pull himself out of the bin. Now he was wondering why he'd bothered.
"Lord knows, it was rough, I almost gave up on you, and all this time you were holding out on me!" Stoik calmed down with a heavy sigh and added, "With you doing so well in the ring…we finally have something to talk about."
Right, except for one thing: we really don't. Telling his dad about what was really happening in the ring…he would have to bring Toothless into it. And now that he knew what General Stoik was on about, he knew that the big man hadn't changed his views any. It would be homicide.
Talk about long and awkward silences, though. Hiccup stood at attention, playing with his headset with one hand, while Stoik sat there waiting in anticipation. Eventually, though, he grasped that his son wasn't going to speak and started fishing in his bag.
"I brought you something…to keep you safe in the ring."
Hiccup's interest perked slightly. It was a helmet like the one his dad always wore when he went out; he studied the thing and played with the visor a bit. "Wow…thanks."
"Your mother would have wanted you to have it. It's got half of her breastplate built in."
Hiccup's hand jerked from the curving dome of the helmet like it had burned him and made a weird face at his dad, who knocked on his own helmet.
"Matching set; it keeps her close."
Waaayyy more information than I'd ever wanted to have about either helmet. Hiccup carefully set his helmet on the desk. Then he faked a yawn.
That did seem to end the conversation. They started a bizarre exchange of sentences, running over each other but ultimately saying the same thing ("It's getting late, see you back at the barracks, there's the helmet, bye."), before Stoik got himself out the door and Hiccup let out a heavy sigh of relief.
Well, I'm going to have to wear the breast-hat thing at least once…Hiccup's thoughts were interrupted by a crash from outside. My dad is too big for this shop.
Author's note: Wow, I actually did manage two chapters in a day! ^_^ The next one's going to be a great deal longer.