A/N: 14 reviews for the last one? Holy crap, I love you guys!

By Artist-Writer-Lover-Fighter: "hiccup and astrid get to practice being parents by babysitting somebody's four-year-old kid. :3"

Finally, my babysitting experience will pay off!

–

Monster:

Hiccup whistled as he made his way toward his destination. It wasn't nice out—actually, it was freezing and the sun really didn't have much of a chance behind all those clouds—but he was in a good mood. Why? Simple. He got to see Astrid.

Maybe it was silly or annoying or just plain stupid, but he couldn't help himself. She was his girlfriend. He had a right to be excited to see her.

His first stop had been at her house, but only her mother was there. When he asked where she was, she said she was at the Carpenters' house, babysitting.

This had confused him. Since when did Astrid babysit? He wasn't even aware that she like children, let alone possessed the patience of looking after a hyper, four-year-old boy.

When he arrived at the small house, he knocked. There was a fumbling inside, along with a shouted, "Stay RIGHT there!" before the door opened to reveal and exhausted looking girl. Her hair had mostly come out of her braid, and she wasn't wearing her armor. She was also covered with something that looked like paint.

"...Astrid?" Hiccup said brilliantly.

"Hi. What are you doing here?" she asked, leaning against the door frame and looking a little calmer. He smiled.

"I was in the neighborhood. Heard you were babysitting." Right as the words left his mouth, a crash from inside the house stole Astrid's attention. Groaning, she turned, waving him inside to follow her. She ran around a corner, disappearing from sight.

Hiccup closed the door, carefully stepping over the mess that was probably a nice living room at one point. As he reached the kitchen, he realized what had caused the large noise.

Astrid was standing over a child with her hands on her hips. The four-year-old child with big, blue eyes and dark hair looked all too innocent, considering the mess of pots and pans surrounding him.

"Oh, Ryn," Astrid said helplessly. "What on earth happened?"

He didn't answer her, just pointed behind her at Hiccup. "Who's that?" he asked, popping a thumb in his mouth.

"You know who that is," she said. "It's Hiccup. You know, the one with the big, scary dragon? That eats little—"

Hiccup quickly stepped in, potentially stopping Astrid from giving Ryn nightmares. "Hi, Ryn!" he said, crouched to look at the kid in the face, which he noticed was also a mess. "What happened."

Ryn shrugged, not taking his thumb away from his mouth, and glared at Hiccup. Uncomfortable, he stood straight and looked at Astrid. "So, uh, should I leave?"

Her eyes widened. "Oh, gods, no! If you leave me with this Terrible Terror, I swear I'll spontaneously combust." She looked down at her feet before asking, "Can you stay? Please?"

He grinned. Astrid needed him for something, no matter how little the problem was. "Okay," he said. He nodded back to the living room. "Why don't we all go in there?"

Ryn hoped up from his spot on the floor, running to beat them both there. "So why'd you agree to this?" Hiccup asked curiously. Astrid sighed.

"Actually, that little booger's parents asked my mom to watch him. Before she left, I guess she figured I had no plans and told me to do it. So I would 'have experience when I 'spawned my own little monsters.' I said no, but, obviously, that didn't work out to well." She grimaced, trying to pick a piece of paint off her hand before figuring it was useless.

"And this mess?"

"Failures at entertaining."

Hiccup laughed, which earned him a punch in the arm. When they got to the living room, they were greeted with the scene of Ryn furiously scribbling on a piece of paper. "He doesn't seem that demonic," Hiccup commented.

"Just wait until he gets bored."

The sound of the teens approaching distracted the child, and he looked up. Once again, he glared at Hiccup before continuing his work. "I don't think he likes me," Hiccup confessed.

"Why do you think that?" she asked.

He frowned. "The kid keeps glaring at me! Just wait until he looks up; I bet he'll do it again." Astrid laughed.

Soon enough, Ryn grew bored with coloring. "I wanna play a game!" he demanded, jumping between Hiccup and Astrid, crawling into her lap and kicking the crippled boy in the process. Hiccup had the sneaking suspicion it was on purpose.

Astrid, not knowing what do to with her lap full of child, stared blankly. "Uh, okay. Go play a game." Ryn didn't look happy with that answer, but did so anyway.

Soon enough, he was back.

This kid was insatiable! He was either hungry, or full, or tired, or hyper, or bored, or way too amused! Every time the weary teenagers consented to his wishes, he's come back with something new to preoccupy their time.

"Oh, gods," Astrid moaned, slumping on the couch beside her boyfriend. "You can go now, if you want. You shouldn't have to suffer with me."

"You're overreacting," Hiccup said. In truth, he was just as tired as she was. Ryn was currently in his room, doing something or other, but being quiet. "He's just a kid, he doesn't know that he's being this, well, horrible. Don't worry about it."

She murmured something that sounded like "if you say so." She smiled, thinking of something and looking more awake. Grabbing the front of Hiccup's vest she pulled him to her quickly, crushing her lips to his own.

"Ew!"

The startled teens broke apart quickly, simultaneously looking up to see the person who interrupted them. It was no surprise, really.

"That's gross!" he complained, still standing far away from them.

"Is not," Astrid argued. "Don't your parents do it."

"Yeah, and it's still gross."

Hiccup scratched his head, amused. "Don't worry little guy. Astrid's my girlfriend, and, when you get one, you'll want to do the same thing."

Once again, Ryn glared. "She's not your girlfried."

He frowned. "Huh?"

"Astrid is my girlfriend!"

Silence followed the statement until Astrid also glared at Hiccup.

"I really hope you're not expecting any kids, because you sure as Hel are not getting them!"

–

A/N : Ah, kids. Gotta love 'em.

Someone asked why I spell "Hell" as "Hel." It's because, in Norse mythology, the abbreviated name for the goddess of the Underworld is "Hel." So I figured I'd use that :P

Up Next: The Elven-Spear's idea.

R&R!