A/N: Minor warnings for snot, runny noses, coughing on people and a big sneeze.
The disquiet in Berk about Toothless grew. The villagers were increasingly making it clear that they were not okay with a dragon living in the village. Ignoring the fact that he had been living in the village all winter and they had found the dragon amusing up to now. Stoick had been listening to the increasing complaints for three days; ever since the first raid.
"Hiccup, hold still," Stoick said while trying to get the clean diaper on him. Hiccup had just woken up from his nap and didn't want to sit still; apparently there were places to go and things to do. "There." Stoick finally got the diaper fastened and let Hiccup escape. "Gods, I can't wait till you're old enough to do away with diapers, you're far too squirmy for them. Toothless! No, bad!" He shoved the dragon away from the dirty diaper before putting it in the bucket to be cleaned later. He put a cover on the bucket and a weight on the cover to ward off curious dragons.
"Hiccup! Get off the stairs!" Stoick snatched his son off the steps before he fell. What was with him and trying to hurt himself? Hiccup reached for the stairs while bursting into tears.
"Yes, it's awful that I won't let ya hurt yerself. We're heading out anyway." He hoisted Hiccup up into his arms and grabbed a handkerchief from the shelf as Hiccup's crying dissolved into coughs. Stoick wiped Hiccup's runny nose; the boy seemed to have a cold. However, there was no fever or any symptoms other than coughing and a runny nose. Stoick had taken him to Thistleface earlier who had said it was nothing to worry about so Stoick decided to keep to his daily schedule. He grabbed a few more handkerchiefs and shoved them in his tunic.
"Come on, Tooth," Stoick said while putting his helmet on and opening the door. Forge first Stoick decided as Hiccup whined and pointed down, pushing against Stoick. "Not this time, Hiccup; let's get down the hill at least."
Gobber met them outside the stall; he must have heard them coming. Most the village probably heard them coming the way Hiccup was carrying on.
"There, happy now?" Stoick asked setting Hiccup on the ground next to Toothless. Hiccup blinked a few times and coughed as Toothless licked his face.
"Really Toothless?" Stoick said as he wiped the spit off his son. The dragon warbled and hopped around till he got to Gobber's feet. He sat next to Gobber the best he could, knowing he had to sit to get what he wanted. He was wriggling too much to pass for sitting, it was closer to hovering over the ground and Stoick hid his smile the best he could at the dragon's attempt. Hiccup joined Toothless and reached up not bothering to attempt patience,
"Baba!"
"You jus' want ta play with what's in here," Gobber said rattling a small box, "So don' go acting like yer happy ta see me."
Hiccup smiled and stretched up even more. "Baba." Stoick eyed the box with suspicion; Gobber wasn't the best at remembering to keep things safe around the baby.
"Ah, don't look so scared, Stoick." Gobber put the box down, "Jus some odds and ends, nothin' sharp." Baby and dragon were both investigating the box and its contents.
"If he gets hurt," Stoick warned.
"He'll be fine. You worry too much. Besides," Gobber stepped into the forge and came back out with a bundle of leather, "It'll distract the lad while I get this on 'im."
Stoick was handed a line of leather and Gobber knelt next to Hiccup with the harness, "Here, Bug, let's see if this fits. Yes, thank you," He took the piece of iron Hiccup handed him and put it back in the box, "Here now, give me yer arm, that's a boy. Uh, Stoick,"
"What?" Stoick asked while he went over the length of the line that attached to the harness.
"There's, ah, there's stuff leakin out 'is nose,"
"He's got a bit of a cold. It's okay." There was a buckle at the end of the line, presumably to attach to his wrist and leave his hands free.
"Stoick, it's gonna get in his mouth."
"Then wipe it off. Here," Stoick went to hand Gobber a handkerchief and saw his friend on the verge of gagging. Stoick couldn't stop himself from laughing loudly, "Don't tell me a little bit of snot is all it takes to turn yer stomach." He knelt down and wiped Hiccup's nose. Toothless ran by chasing an iron ball that was too small to use for a bola.
"Engh!" Hiccup said pointing at the ball.
"Jus' a second, Hiccup." Stoick got his other arm in and buckled the harness. "There ya go. Fits well, Gobber." Stoick watched Hiccup inspect the buckle with his little fingers.
"Course it does, I know what I'm doing." Gobber rolled the ball away when it hit his leg and Toothless ran away after it.
"Hiccup, why don't you give Gobber a hug to say thank you." Stoick said with a grin. Hiccup obediently reached up to Gobber, smiling.
"Now that's quite alright, I don' need a hug," Gobber tried holding the baby off, but runny nose or not he couldn't deny Hiccup his hug, "There are times I dislike you," Gobber said to Stoick over the baby's head as his friend chuckled. Hiccup quickly lost interest and let go.
"Toofess!" He ran over to the dragon who stopped when he heard his name, then crouched when he saw Hiccup running at him. They began a game of tag where neither one was it and Hiccup fell a lot.
"So, what else do you have to do today?" Gobber asked as they watched the babies play.
"Got a meeting in the Great Hall later. Other than that and little issues that come up, nothing." Stoick said. Hiccup was squealing with laughter, still coughing every now and then, and his nose was running, but Stoick didn't see that as an issue.
"Kids are disgusting." Gobber said.
"This coming from the man who hasn't bathed in how long?"
"I don't cough on people or let my nose run."
Stoick shook his head with a smile. Prunhilt walked by and glared down at the dragon as he pounced at Hiccup then dodged away before the baby could grab him. Both of the men kept an eye on her till she was out of sight.
"They all still havin' issues with yer little pet?" Gobber asked.
Stoick nodded. He picked Hiccup up when the boy fell and scraped his knee. "Yer fine, Hiccup." Stoick said as he wiped Hiccup's tears. Hiccup coughed on him, but Stoick didn't care as he bounced the boy in his arms until Hiccup wanted down again.
Gobber eyed him in repulsion, "Ugh, now yer entering the realm of disgustin'."
Stoick smiled as he smoothed Hiccup's downy hair before the baby ran back to Toothless to hug the dragon and cough on him. Toothless leaned away with his ears flicked back.
"He's not so bad," Stoick said watching the two. "They'll get used to him."
"Who? The baby or the dragon?"
Stoick glared at Gobber. "The dragon."
"Sure, sure." Gobber said, "He's like a scaly dog." Gobber kept his eye on Stoick as his friend watched the babies play. Stoick missed the little half grin, "Or Hiccup's brother."
Stoick's head whipped around, "What?"
"You know, they play together, fight with each other, nap together. They're like brothers." Gobber's knowing grin proved that his words weren't as innocent as they seemed; he knew what he was doing.
"They are not brothers." Stoick said. "That one," He pointed at Toothless, "Is a dragon. Hiccup is the heir to the tribe, which is at war with dragons. He does not have a dragon for a brother. Toothless is a pet."
"Sure, sure. Just a pet."
Stoick glared at Gobber. "He is. I gotta go." He scooped Hiccup up again. "Come on, Toothless." Stoick smoothed Hiccup's hair back as the boy coughed again. "Say bye to Gobber, Hiccup."
Gobber raised an eyebrow. "Say bye?"
"Valka wants him doin' it." Stoick shrugged, "You gonna be at the meeting?"
"Yeah, I'll make my way there."
Hiccup suddenly sneezed, spraying snot and spit.
"Oh, now he's really disgustin'." Gobber ducked back into the forge to get a bowl of water and a rag for Stoick to clean the mess up. "What are you laughing at, yer covered in snot."
"Did you see his face? He's never sneezed that big before, I think it shocked him," Stoick said, smoothing Hiccup's hair. Sure enough the baby was wide eyed and had his hands on his nose.
"Yeah, shocked him." Gobber handed Stoick the wet rag. "Don't trust babies Toothless," He said to the little dragon who was staring up at Hiccup, his own eyes wide. "They seem innocent and cute with their soft skin and new person smell, but they're not. They just want ta lure ya in. They're gross with their diapers and runny noses and drool."
"Quit yer belly achin'. Here," Stoick held Hiccup out to Gobber so he could clean himself off. Gobber backed up,
"Oh no, I don't want the little snot producer."
"Oh give it a rest, Gobber, I cleaned him up. Jus' hold him for a minute." Stoick pushed Hiccup into Gobber's arms.
"I don' trust ya," Gobber said to Hiccup. The baby reached up to pat Gobber's mouth, "No, don' go acting all cute with me, I know better." Hiccup smiled and babbled to him. "When's he gonna quit the fake talking? I thought he learned to talk already."
"Some words. He's still figuring sentences out. All in all he knows names and how to ask for what he wants, so long as he can do that with one word. He understands more than he can say." Stoick put the bowl and rag on a barrel.
"Ugh no, Hiccup; Stoick, he's gone and put his finger up his nose. Take him."
Stoick laughed as he took his son back, "At least somebody can get ta ya. No, Hiccup," he said, taking Hiccup's finger out of the boy's nose. "I'll see you at the meeting, then."
"Yeah, and I'll see you when yer son's outgrown all that." Gobber said waving his hand at the baby.
Hiccup was content to be carried to the Great Hall because he was inspecting the buckle of the harness, babbling to himself as he frowned. That was fine with Stoick; there were a lot of stairs to climb. Once inside Stoick took three benches, turned them on their sides, and made a little pen. He set Hiccup inside then lifted Toothless by the scruff and put him in it too.
"Toofess." Hiccup said hugging the dragon, "Dada, up." He reached out one hand to Stoick.
"Not now, Hiccup. You stay here with Toothless and be a good boy. Daddy's got a meeting. Here," He took the harness off then gave Hiccup a little wooden dragon on wheels that fit in Stoick's pocket. He should have asked Gobber for the iron ball for Toothless. Oh well, they could make do for now. "Be good," he said. What he meant was 'don't cry. Please don't cry.'
Stoick took a seat nearby. Some of the others were already there, but Stoick only nodded to them absently. He made sure he could see the makeshift pen and listened for any sounds of distress from his son. All he heard was some coughing, babbling, and chirping. They were fine.
What should have been a quick meeting took longer than expected. Everything was covered in good time and Stoick was almost about to dismiss the group when someone, hidden in the back, brought up Toothless. That seemed to make everyone think they could all share their grievances. As far as Stoick could tell they were all variants of 'It's a dragon.' And 'It's always in the way.' Stoick rubbed his temples. He'd had more legitimate complaints about the Thorston twins and they were only 20 months old.
"Alright, look, he'll stay in the house when Valka's home, but I can't leave him there by himself. No, he chews the chair legs and scratches at the door. I've already had to replace it once. If you all have such issues with him why am I only hearing about them now? No one seemed to mind him during the winter months."
"It's a menace, Stoick. Dangerous." A voice said from the back.
"Yes, Prunhilt. He's savage, just look at how savage he is with Hiccup." Stoick gestured to the pen where Toothless and Hiccup were still playing.
"Uh, Stoick," Spitelout said standing to see inside the pen, "They aren't in there."
What! Stoick stood in a rush to see inside the pen. The toy dragon was left on its side and there was a slight gap between two of the benches. They were gone. No dragon, no baby. Hiccup was missing. Oh gods, oh gods.
"Hiccup!" Sometimes the boy responded. "Hiccup!" Stoick moved away from the table they were gathered around and knelt to check under the others; listening for Hiccup's voice or a giggle or a cough. Strangely no sound came from Toothless, who usually responded to any call,
"Toothless!" Stoick paused to listen for the scraping of Toothless' claws. He couldn't hear them over the sound of others walking around and the scraping of bench legs as they were moved.
"Found them, Stoick," Ack called from the other side of the hall, "Yer boy's fine."
Stoick rushed over to judge for himself, only noticing now how everyone was spread out to look for Hiccup. Stoick got to Ack who was standing by the storage room. Inside was Hiccup with Toothless surrounded by a bit of a mess of food. Some half-eaten and spit out pieces on the floor, knocked over jars, an opened bag of grain. At least it was last year's food. Other than the grain and the preserves, which were fine in their sealed jars, none of it was needed now that the weather had turned.
"Dada!" Hiccup reached up with sticky hands, his nose was running again but his mouth was clean. Unlike the dragon's which was covered in lingonberry preserves and crumbs of grain. Stoick was too relieved to be upset; he grabbed Hiccup and held him tightly,
"Don't you ever do that again." He said into Hiccup's hair.
Hiccup was struggling against him, though, wanting down. The boy only liked cuddles before he went to sleep.
"Engh." Hiccup whined. Sticky fingers pushed against Stoick's neck. He was probably all sticky himself now. Toothless was winding around Stoick's feet, unsure why Stoick was upset, but unsettled by it all the same.
"Alright, out. Go on." Stoick nudged Toothless out the door into the hall, not putting Hiccup down. He did relax his hold, though. Using the last clean handkerchief Stoick wiped Hiccup's nose. He needed a wet cloth to really clean Hiccup's hands. One was supplied by Phlegma.
"Oh, look at the state he's in. And he's gotten you all sticky too. Hold on." She bustled away. Stoick wiped Hiccup's hands, the boy giggling as Stoick got between his fingers. The dragon should be cleaned too, or he'd be getting everything sticky. Stoick knelt down, sat Hiccup on his knee and pulled Toothless closer. Hiccup, of course, climbed off his knee, but Stoick had him confined between his arms with Toothless in front of him.
"Hold still ya little terror." Stoick muttered. The cloth was dirty though and all Stoick did was spread the mess more over the struggling dragon's face. Hiccup was trying to wipe Toothless' face with the rag too, which was making it all more difficult.
"Here," Phlegma came back with a bowl of water for the cloth to be rinsed. She also took Hiccup. Stoick thought about warning her not to, but washing Toothless was hard enough without Hiccup in the way. Of course, the baby started crying but Stoick ignored the boy knowing that he was fine. Gobber came up next to Phlegma holding out his arms.
"Come on, Bug," Gobber said, "No one wants ta hear ya wailing." The crying stopped so Stoick assumed Gobber was now holding the lad. After getting Toothless cleaned Stoick got the worst of the mess off himself and stood up. The Vikings around were all glaring down at Toothless, who hid behind Stoick when he realized he was surrounded by the villagers.
"Stoick, why don't ya take 'im back?" Gobber held Hiccup away from himself, out to his father. Stoick shook his head and took his son,
"Blood and gore you can handle, but a runny nose does you in?" He said wiping Hiccup's nose with the boy's sleeve. He was going to change the tunic when they got home anyway.
Gobber waved his good hand at Hiccup, "He doesn't wipe it, just lets it run."
Stoick said nothing else to his friend, just shook his head. "Alright, we're done here for the day." He told everyone before leaving the hall, Toothless at his heels.
Stoick finished cleaning up from supper and looked at the messy room. He opened Hiccup's toy chest and threw all of Hiccup's toys in it; sorting out the ruined ones
that Toothless had managed to wear down. The little dragon's teeth were starting to come in.
"Dada." Hiccup whined from the other room, drawing the word out.
Stoick closed the lid and went into the bedroom. Hiccup was standing on the bed, coughing. Toothless had buried his head under a pillow to drown out Hiccup's whines.
"Come here," Stoick said as he picked up his son and rubbed his back. Hiccup started crying. "Shh, shh, Hiccup. It's okay." Stoick bounced Hiccup and rubbed the boy's back as he went into the main room to put some milk over the fire. After adding honey Stoick walked around the room trying to soothe his coughing baby, cradling him and rubbing his chest. When the milk was warm enough Stoick poured it into Hiccup's horn.
By the time Stoick had coaxed Hiccup to drink the milk and got the boy back to sleep he himself could barely keep his eyes open. He smiled down at the sleeping baby cradled in his arms brushing Hiccup's hair out of his face. He should probably cut it a little so it wasn't in Hiccup's eyes. That was a bit of a big deal though; Valka should be there for Hiccup's first haircut. As tired as he was Stoick paced around a little more for good measure before laying Hiccup down next to Toothless. He took another moment to carefully tuck Hiccup in, rubbing his chest when the baby coughed in his sleep and pulling Hiccup's thumb out of his mouth. Part of the problem was Hiccup's stuffy nose making thumb sucking difficult, with any luck he wouldn't wake again that night as he needed to suck his thumb to fall asleep. The milk seemed to work too, Stoick noticed absently. He was looking forward to going to bed himself and not really connecting any dots; he'd think about it in the morning. The heavy cloak had just been draped on a chair when the call of "Dragons!" came. Stoick cursed; of course the devils would attack tonight. After throwing his cloak back on Stoick gathered up his baby, still sleeping thank Thor, and roused Toothless.
"Come on," Stoick said, grabbing his hammer with his free hand. The Great Hall was close, but the noise woke Hiccup, which meant he'd be wide awake when Stoick left him with his aunt in the Great Hall. Toothless, at least, seemed okay with being left in the Hall, maybe Hiccup would fare better with Toothless to keep him company. As Stoick left to join the fight Hiccup started crying. Maybe not. Stoick would deal with it later, one problem at a time and he knew how to deal with a raid.
A/N: I honestly don't know why Stoick keeps bouncing that baby. Hiccup never responds to it yet Stoick keeps bouncing him. Swaying/rocking works, and rubbing his chest or back but Stoick always starts with the bouncing.
That wasn't too gross, right? I kept descriptors at a minimum and it's typical toddler stuff. At least he isn't picking his nose and eating it. Yet. No, don't think Hiccup was that kid. Snotlout, yes, and the twins were probably picking each other's noses. So Hiccup's not bad disgusting wise. Yet. There comes a scene in part three that is quite gross and is based on true stories (family members and other babies I know have done this thing) and I totally see Hiccup as the type of baby who would have done it.
Next week is the final chapter of part two, just a heads up/reminder.
Hopelessromantic4life: lol yes, Stoick is pulling a bit of a Hiccup. He still doesn't like Cloudjumper though. He has ups and downs when it comes to the dragons.
KaliAnn: No, the harness is not for Toothless, lol. Valka is not overly impressed when she finds out, not upset but not impressed either.
A Random Person: timelines are easy to remember in Canada because the provinces are pretty much all straight down (except for the East Coast, but we're special in the Maritimes and Newfoundland is just Newfoundland with its own time zone even. Crazy Newfies.) The Territories follow the same pattern above the provinces. I moved across the country; that helps me remember time zones so I don't phone my grandmother at 11pm. I am in the middleish. At least near what we consider middle, though Ontario is closer to the middle when you look at a map. You have good detective skills as well.
Thearizona: In the second movie Valka tells Hiccup that Toothless is "your age" and we know that Hiccup and Toothless have been together for five years at that point. I'm combining that with the knowledge that larger reptiles take years to grow and mature to assume that Toothless is too little for Hiccup to fly on for several years. (I'm including dinosaurs in 'larger reptiles' because dragons are like flying fire-breathing dinosaurs. Check out the animal planet mockumentary on dragons, I think it's on youtube. Clearly fake, no academic in their right minds would EVER treat historic artifacts like he did, especially one of a kind artifacts that are so important. It's a fun take on scientifically "proving" dragons.) That and how tiny new hatchlings where in Gift of the Nightfury. Toothless could probably carry Hiccup sooner than 11 but I don't think that he'd want to and there's no getting that dragon to do what he doesn't want to do. I'm probably overthinking this…
Kas3y: Thank you, I love Stoick too, last few times I've watched HTTYD (It's for research I tell myself, and not the flying scenes so I can pretend I can fly) I've watched Stoick's face from the "You're not my son" scene to the "Lead us home, Devil" scene and oh the emotion, he's a great character. I also recommend watching Spitelout's face in both movies; wonderful unspoken sarcasm and sass. As for what they did to Stoick in the second movie, that's probably why I attached myself to this story so much. (SPOILERS) I'm a few years older than Hiccup and my Dad's funeral was a week or two before I saw HTTYD2 for the first time (that whole month is a bit of a blur, the funeral was June 6 I know that) and I didn't cry for Stoick, I grieved with Hiccup. I understood; I felt what he was feeling, I knew how hard it was, the feeling of having that security ripped away, like the roof of your house was ripped off and you were in the open, vulnerable. We knew my dad was sick by February but his passing was still a shock, we didn't expect it so soon. At least we had more warning than Hiccup. Don't get me wrong, I usually skip that part now or else I cry, but I like the way they dealt with it, the way they faced that grief. It was good to see that I wasn't alone in wondering what I was going to do without my Dad.
Dracologistmaster: Well, Stoick's getting used to Toothless, partly because he's seeing him less as a dragon and more as a pet, Toothless is small and has very few teeth. Stoick thinks he's okay with Cloudjumper but that's because Cloudjumper's not there. To be fair Stoick does try to get along with him to please Valka, at least, when he knows she's looking.