Yes. It took my almost exactly one year to update this fic, but at least I'm finally getting some work done on it. :)
The outline for the rest of the fic is done, too, so the end is in sight!
This is about the only fic I'm still updating on .
Constructive criticism is appreciated. Enjoy!
Response to Lalitha: Actually it is perfectly possible for any capable of becoming pregnant to be pregnant and have none of the symptoms, including a lack of a baby bump. This is actually something called "cryptic pregnancy". So far my research in this topic has helped me learn that there is no known cause.
Unexpected To Say The Least: Chapter 9 - The Talk(s)
When Chief Stoick arranged a moment for his son and Unn to talk, it was with the intention that Hiccup would have someone who has a better understanding of what he's been going through. Someone who will help him have an easier time getting out of this depression that he's in. However, now that they're together, neither of the two are all that sure what they should talk about or where to even begin.
Hiccup is neither an open person, nor too private of one. It depends highly on the context, the topic, the person he's talking to, that sort of thing. And although he's supposed to converse with this woman, he hasn't made it a habit to talk about his troubles with someone he doesn't usually come clean to. Sometimes he won't even tell his friends about what's on his mind.
They sit on opposing chairs at the fireplace in near silence. Unn's seven-month-old, named Jorgen the Second, after his grandfather, is sitting on a bear fur and is eagerly smashing two wooden blocks together. He's between them, but a safe distance away from the fire and both dragons are keeping an eye on him.
The boy takes after his mother greatly, but the nose is definitely his father's.
Hiccup likes watching him, smiling at the child. It's like getting a small glimpse into Vigi's future. As for his own boy, he's with Toothless instead of in his arms.
"I'm sorry, I don't have much to share," previously, the crackling of the fire and Jorgen's playing used to be the sole noise breaking the silence, but Unn speaks up to break the ice. Her voice is soft and sounds almost timid. With the way her hands rest in her lap, she looks nervous.
"That's fine, I really don't need anything and neither does Toothless, we just ate," Hiccup assures her and it's no lie for the sake of a formality. Due to how late they got up that morning, Stoick let them all sleep in after the night they had, their breakfast was late as a result. Toothless murs in agreement.
"Plus, Toothless can be such a picky dragon," at this does the Night Fury protest, his pride taking a hit, but Hiccup and Unn have a laugh about it, which helps relax the mood.
It feels good to be able to lighten the tension for someone for once, instead of saying something stupid and ending up hurting them.
He's been so stuck in his sadness and his guilt and his nightmares that he's just been so down the entire week with nothing to help lift his spirits. How sad to be gifted a child, one he decided he wanted the second he held him, and to not be able to enjoy his time with him at all and all because there's this depression following him everywhere he goes.
But he's made a joke, has helped someone laugh and relax, and that feels good. Maybe this talk is good for him in more ways than one.
"Your father has told me you were in need of a talk, from one fresh parent to another. He said that, perhaps, my experience with my inexperience would be able to help you with your troubles," Unn smiles kindly at Hiccup as she begins the talk he's come here for.
Stoick doesn't usually open up to anybody about anything other than to Gobber and maybe his son, though he tends to shield him a bit more. He's a proud man who doesn't want to bother his only child and who takes his duty to protect and provide seriously. To have him come over to her house and make such a request is no small thing, so Unn was surprised to find him on her doorstep yesterday.
Hiccup huffs. Oh, where to even begin?
He feels like he's already done so much talking with his dad last night, what more can he say?
"I'm just having some trouble adjusting, that's all," he ends up telling her, which isn't a lie, but it also doesn't do the past few days much justice.
"Everyone in the village has heard that Vigi surprised you," she continues, treading carefully into what seems to be a sensitive topic for Berk's heir. And if he's anything like his father, then Hiccup might be a little hesitant to open up.
"Yeah, well, I didn't exactly have a bump, did I? Or the sickness, or a different appetite, don't think I was all that fatigued either… I had none of the symptoms. I-I don't know why or how, if I did something wrong, I just don't know," Hiccup shrugs, lost.
He's done a lot of thinking about that as well. Was it the stress? Vigi definitely predates Viggo by at least a few weeks, or so he thinks after counting back. Was it the stress from the Dragon Hunters and Dagur? His villains, even the dead ones, are giving him trouble now.
But either way, thus far, not many have disputed Hiccup's story, which spread like a wildfire around the island. They've all seen the lack of a baby bump and weight gain, but even so, the occasional claim that he was somehow hiding his son because it's a child out of wedlock still makes it rounds. As if hiding his own son simply because of that is something Hiccup would do.
"He's smart! And he's done strange things before!" They say to excuse their opinion, but then there are also the same people still refusing to believe that metal naturally attracts lightning. Just because they don't understand why yet doesn't mean that it's not true.
It makes no sense, but Hiccup refuses to waste what little energy he has on straightening either of those matters out.
"No wonder you're having trouble adjusting. I can imagine how hard it must've been, I had months to prepare myself and you had nothing," that and neighbors to help her out. Although, Hiccup has people of his own. It helps that his father, the chief, accepts the child and plans a naming ceremony soon.
Hiccup nods and thinks back to when Fishlegs first gave him the news. It felt freaky to feel something move in his lower abdomen as it contracted with pain, it didn't feel natural. He can imagine this is experienced differently by people who go through a normal pregnancy, who don't get bombarded with feelings and experiences, whether for better or for worse.
But then, Vigi isn't an active child either. He's only a week old, but even before he was born, his lack of movement contributed to him going completely unnoticed.
If Hiccup doesn't wrap him up properly, his feet and hands are so, so cold from the inactivity. He went to Gothi about it in a full panic a day or two ago, believing something was seriously wrong with him. She had to reassure him that this is completely normal, that it will go away once he begins to move around a bit more. His father backed her claim up when Hiccup asked later, remembering Valka having similar concerns with him, and it made the worry go away. Though it still nags at him occasionally.
He glances back at Toothless, who has the boy safely between his forelegs for the first time since Caldera Cay, when Hiccup was exhausted to the point of passing out. The dragon has his paws wrapped around him, infinitely more comfortable with this responsibility than Hiccup could've hoped. But then, he's had months longer than his Rider to prepare himself mentally for this.
Vigi is awake and lies on a corner of the same bear fur Jorgen is playing on and salivating fistfuls of. It was hard for Hiccup to leave him there and he's once again itching to hold him. But if he picks him up now, Bud is going to be sassy with him. Dad gave him permission to be.
Realizing the conversation has fallen still and reading the longing on Hiccup's face, Unn scoots forward a bit on her chair and decides to ask further.
"You know of my husband, don't you?" She resumes with a question. "You know how he…"
Realizing she can't say it, Hiccup nods with an expression of sympathy. It hasn't even been a year yet since her husband left for a fishing trip and never made it back home, she can't quite talk about it yet.
"I'm sorry we weren't there to help search for him," Hiccup feels the need to apologize.
He and the Dragon Riders hadn't been on the Edge for that long and the A-team had been even younger. The search for her husband, Bard, had been one of their first missions and coming back from it empty handed had not been pleasant. A short while later, Unn and Bard's only child was born.
Unn nods, accepting his apology, but her expression of pain doesn't change.
"When I had my boy, I told myself that he wouldn't need to miss his father. I would tell him all about him and I was going to fill in the hole his… his death left us with. My neighbors, the village, wanted to help out, but I wasn't letting anyone into our lives. It was just me and my boy, my Jorgen, that was all we needed," Hiccup watches her expression of pain be joined by a light smile at the end.
"It was hard as a new mother, it still is. I had my son to take care of, work around the house, and I still needed to earn my keep as a weaver. I didn't sleep much at night and during the day I was too tired to function. I was a wreck," Unn admits and Hiccup looks off into the fire. That last part sounds awfully familiar.
Though his father, Gothi, and his friends have forbidden him from doing anything in favor of getting him back on his feet properly, which is fine by him as it means more holding Vigi time for him, he can relate to having no sleep and being tired during the day. And maybe a little too well to the want to do everything Vigi related by himself.
"And then, one day when Jorgen was three months old, I was bringing laundry down to be washed when I slipped and fell. I was tired, so tired, and I had still refused to let my neighbors take care of my son while I did my housework and I fell because of my stubbornness," Unn continues.
"Yes, I heard about that, you broke your ankle in that fall," Hiccup remembers and she nods.
"Gothi says it will never be the same again and I was lucky. My son was strapped to my chest, if I hadn't dropped the laundry and caught us both on the way down, it could've ended much worse," she remembers sitting on the floor of her home, unwashed clothes all around her, her ankle on fire, and Jorgen in hysterics held to her chest. She cried then and realized that she could never do this on her own.
If she can help Hiccup realize the same before he has to take a tumble, then she'll be a happy woman.
"I can only imagine," Hiccup says and glances at the dark-haired boy, who has fallen on his back and is now quietly staring up at the ceiling while licking the corners of one of his blocks. What a life of luxury does he lead.
Toothless sniffs him, wondering if that's allowed, and Sniffer whacks him with her paw. How embarrassing for a Night Fury as proud as Toothless, but he doesn't retaliate, instead laying his head down.
"Bud," Hiccup sighs and looks back at Unn again.
"So what did you do?" He asks, though he has a feeling he knows the answer. There's a reason his father sent him here.
"I had no other choice but to take a step back. My neighbor on the right, Inge, stayed over while my ankle recovered, I had no other choice but to entrust my son and a share of my responsibility with her and others," Unn tells him.
"So you tried to do everything in your power to carry your own strength to compensate for the absence of his father and it led to you breaking your ankle and forcing you to rely on others anyway?" Hiccup asks for clarification, leaving out the part where a three-month-old could've died for the mother's sake.
"Yes, but what does my story mean to you?" Unn asks softly.
"To me, it means that if I keep overcompensating for our lost nine months that I could've spent protecting my son, I'm going to end up hurting the both of us eventually. Him especially," Hiccup contemplates out loud. His father has told him a story with a very similar lesson, when he told him about his late mother and how her fear of losing their son dragged her down to her lowest of low, to the point that she could no longer care for him.
Unn's story is another important example that Hiccup needed to hear. And this one is coming from someone who can better understand him and what he must be going through, someone who has been there instead of having seen it from the sidelines.
He does have to do better, just not in the way he previously thought.
"And not overcompensating sometimes includes letting him go, I guess," Hiccup admits with a shrug. His dad knew yesterday that their talk wouldn't quite sink in yet, that is why he hoped a talk with someone who has been in his position very recently would help.
It does. It pains him to think about it, but it helps.
Unn lays a hand on his shoulder, she sits close enough to do so.
"You won't have to let him go for another few years or so, but it would be in Vigi's best interest to trust people other than yourself, too. I bet that your friends feel awful about missing those months as well," that probably isn't far from the truth. And unlike him, they can't make up for that time either.
There is the simmering sense of added guilt upon this realization, but at least now he fully realizes that his current path is wrong and that he needs to mend it now.
"I think it is also important to let go of your guilt," Unn surprises Hiccup by bringing up guilt, like she can read what he's feeling right off his face.
"I know it's there because it was there for me and I need you to try and let it go. All you can do is try your best and we have nothing to complain about on that front," she elaborates on why she thinks it's important.
Hiccup nods in agreement. What he needs to do next seems clear now. Well, for the most part.
"I need to let go," of two things, as a matter of fact!
"And I need to make it up to Ruff," somehow, at least. He's not entirely sure how to go about it yet.
"Thank you, Unn. Really, you can't imagine how much hearing from you has helped. I think my dad appreciates it, too," Hiccup thanks her.
"I think your father also wanted you to know that there's no harm in taking a misstep once in a while, that you can both still be okay when you make a mistake," Unn says wisely. It's a lesson she had to learn herself. It's probably one every parent needs to learn at some point.
"You're right," that would be Stoick's intention, to show Hiccup that this mistake doesn't mean the end of the world. None of them do.
"If you need me for anything else, I'm here for you. For both of you," she tells him and Hiccup smiles at her.
With this conversation having both eased and motivated him and with a new friend who understands him, Hiccup feels like he can return home.
Upon returning home with his two Buds, Hiccup is surprised to find that his father is home as well, much earlier than he's supposed to be.
"Ah, there the three of you are! How was your talk?" Stoick greets them from his chair, where he is whittling a small dragon figurine.
At first, he thought about whittling a tiny axe, but Hiccup might not be so happy with that, much like his mother before him, so a dragon it is.
Either way, he's taken a little break from chiefing to catch his son at home and ask him how his visit to Unn's went.
"It went really well, actually," Hiccup replies and takes a stool to place near his father. Once again, Tiny is tied with a sling to him.
"It helped to talk about this with someone who's been in a similar position I'm in right now. I think I feel a little better right now," he's grateful for Astrid and his dad to try to do the same thing, but Unn is someone who has been there. While unfortunate, that kind of experience is invaluable to someone like him.
"That's good to hear, I'm glad it helped," Stoick nods approvingly, it's about time Hiccup started to feel better. It's been a week, it's about time. He doesn't deserve all this strife.
"Yeah, I think I can try to let go a little more," Hiccup admits, looking down at his little spawn sleeping in his arms. But he can only let go just a little bit more for the time being, this is still too new of a thing. This is something that needs to be handled through baby steps.
"Then what are you doing?" But Stoick asks that and halts Hiccup in his way.
He's surprised and glances at his father uncertainly.
"I'm… What? I'm sitting, I guess?" He's confused, what is his father going on about? He took a stool, what does he think he's going to do with it?
"I believe I have a better idea. Has Vigi been fed?" Stoick asks him as he gets up, hands pushing down on his knees.
"Uh yeah? Just now," Hiccup watches his father, unsure of where this is going. Unn allowed him to have a moment before he left. They talked for a good long while and Vigi was hungry by the time he decided to leave.
"Good! So you can leave!" His father springs this change of plans onto him, the whittling knife and figurine placed carefully on the table before he goes over to take his grandson, but Hiccup straightens as well, drawing back.
"Le-leave?! Where to?! And why?!" He asks in surprise. He has nowhere that he needs to be going to right now, so why should he leave? And doesn't Gothi want him to rest? She hasn't even told him he could fly Toothless or return to forging yet!
"While you were out talking with Unn, I was out talking with Gobber. There are saddle designs that need drawing and you need to learn to let go of that boy of yours. So," Stoick takes a brief pause. "you better get going before I drag you out myself."
"But… right now?!" Hiccup asks as it's all going a little fast for him. He just had his talk with Unn about how damaging the need to overcompensate for something can be, can he not just have a moment to let it sink in first?
"Yes, right now," his father is insistent and he holds his hands out, expecting to be given the week-old boy.
A grimace on his face, Hiccup stares his dad in the eye and then at his hands. His hold on the baby wants to tighten again.
His original plan was to go home and stay there, because not leaving the house is totally normal behavior for him, but his father thinks differently and he's raising an eyebrow impatiently.
"And you're sure he'll be okay?" Hiccup asks, trying not to make his stalling too obvious.
"Yes, son, I'm sure," is Stoick's simple reply. There's no arguing about this, he knows what his son is trying to do.
And so, with some difficulty, Hiccup gives the boy up to his father.
Due to the difference in size, Stoick can't wear the sling, but he holds the boy comfortably close to his beard. Vigi looks so small in his hold.
Hiccup gives him a look. So small…
Then his father makes it worse by spreading a fur on the ground and placing Vigi on it, there where Toothless settles as well. Have they been conspiring together behind his back? Clearly, the dragon knew exactly what he was expected to do.
"Good, that's a start," Stoick says and then takes a moment to smile at his grandson before looking at his son.
Throwing an arm around Hiccup's shoulder, Stoick pulls him close and at the same time turns him around to face the door, which is about the last part of the house that he wants to see right now.
"What do I even do outside?" Hiccup asks, looking to his father for an answer.
"I told you, go to Gobber, watch him pound some metal or draw up some saddles, you haven't been to the forge in a long time. Only for an hour, no longer," he suggests. The time limit should help convince him, an hour isn't that long.
"Yeah, that sounds like something I can do," Hiccup decides, straining his neck to look at his baby boy.
The dragon is nosing his belly carefully, a purr from deep within him resonates happily.
Vigi stretches his short limbs and his tiny toes and fingers. His eyes open to look at the vaguely black blur that is Toothless. He only catches his eye because he's just so black compared to the rest.
He will be okay, he's safe here.
"Ha, good man! Now go! Before you change your mind!" Stoick gives his son a hard clap on the shoulder and Hiccup stumbles in the direction of the door. Well, he supposes it's a good thing no one has begun to treat him any differently because of all of this, whether they agree with Vigi's birth or not.
It is with some reluctance that Hiccup eventually walks out through the front door, but when he does, Stoick and Toothless both feel relief. Perhaps, they might be pushing it a little, but at least they got Hiccup out the door and away from Tiny at long last. The fresh air and the breather will do him some good.
Hiccup now stands outside of his home, feeling a little bit lost. This despite the fact that his father told him what he can do in the hour he now faces.
He glances back at the door before a hand lifts to fumble with the sling still wrapped around him. His dad didn't even take the time to remove it, he just pushed him out with it.
Figuring he's not getting inside his house now, Hiccup turns away from his home and makes his way to the forge.
Just as Chief Stoick practically ordered him to, Hiccup went to his usual place of work and met with Gobber, who was expecting him.
Shortly after he arrives, the blacksmith puts him to work at his desk with parchment and a charcoal pencil in front of him. Just as he was told to do, he's to spend the next hour simply drawing up saddles with the demands of their customers in mind. Hiccup supposes he looks forward to it, he hasn't drawn in a while.
Maybe he should draw Vigi when he gets the time, have a memento of what he looks like right now. His art has never quite been the usual Viking style.
"So how is the little tyke?" Gobber asks in between the hammering of a hot, bent blade. "Tiny was it?"
Hiccup shoots his mentor a look. "Tiny" is spreading more than the boy's actual name does.
"It's Vigi, actually, and he's fine. Sleeping well, eating well. Dad and Gothi say that he's doing good," but he responds and doesn't let his annoyance show through. Knowing Gobber, he might have just done that on purpose.
"Ah, good to hear! I'm glad the little troublemaker is doing well!" The blacksmith smiles as he continues to hammer away until the blade can't get any straighter. When he's satisfied, he places it in a tub to cool, the liquid fizzles aggressively.
When the blade is cooled enough, he dries it off and puts it away to continue drying so he can work on the next order. When orders are piling up, he tends to work on multiple projects. Hiccup hasn't thought much about it, but there must be twice as much work without him around.
The next item on the list is a hammer. Or what's left of it at least. The head is still in perfect condition, it's the shaft that needs replacing as it's broken in two at the top.
"And how are you, laddie? How is parenthood treating you?" Gobber asks as he searches amongst the scraps and then the reserves to see if he has any replacement shafts on hand. Sometimes, when an order goes wrong or gets canceled, he can end up with some extra parts.
"Eh, fine? I guess? Despite the nine months of blissful ignorance, I'm happy to have him with me," Hiccup responds as his hand, and the charcoal pencil within it, glides across the parchment. It feels good to be doing this again, it's therapeutic.
"But?" Gobber asks, throwing a non-suitable shaft to the forge floor. It's a hazard in their workspace, but he'll pick it up later.
Hiccup glances at him. Of course, he would know something is wrong. Either he figured it out or his dad told him.
"I'm just working through some stuff is all," Hiccup admits. He's always been able to talk with Gobber about mostly everything.
"Ah, I figured! What have you done about it?" There's a victorious shout, but is it because he knew or because he found the right fit? Or, he assumes it's the right fit. He can only be sure when he hammers the rest of the broken shaft out of the hammer head and tries to fit the new one inside.
"I've been talking about it. With Astrid, dad, and-"
"Yeah, but have you done something about it? Talking is fine and all, it's the Hiccup way, but does Hiccup have enough with just talks this time?" His mentor asks and he finds that he has a fair point.
Talking things out is his way of solving most things, but is it enough to fix everything this time? He knows he needs to let Vigi go, in both his heart and his head now, but his reluctance is only part of the problem. There is also the source, which is the amount of danger his baby was put in even before he was born without his knowledge.
And knowing that Dagur is an ally and the Grimborn Brothers are dead is only helping him so far. Their change of allegiance and deaths do nothing to erase the peril that has already happened and nearly stole his boy away from him before he got to know him.
It's making him angry and sad just thinking about it.
Then, a hammer is placed in his view. Hiccup gazes up at his other father figure.
"I know that the old bag said you need to take it easy, what with your pregnancy being unheard of and all, but I think sometimes you need a good pounding to get all those frustrations out! That's what I told Stoick as well!" He tells him and then follows the shaft and the detached head.
It's quite ironic, Hiccup finds, as a good pounding is probably what put him in this position in the first place. He refrains from telling this to his mentor blacksmithing.
"Now go on! There's some useless scrap metal that I've been meaning to give to Grump. You take care of this job while I go feed him," he pushes Hiccup's chair closer towards the anvil with him still in it.
The hammer and the parts are then dropped on the anvil in front of him.
"I guess it won't hurt," Hiccup says as he stands. He agreed to Gothi's order to take it easy and stay out of the air because his situation is, indeed, strange and shouldn't be taken lightly. It's exactly why he's tiptoeing around. But fixing one hammer shouldn't put his health in danger, right?
Hiccup dons his apron and thick gloves and gets to work. Gods, his last time in a forge feels like it was a lifetime ago.
And maybe it was. It's only been a little over a week, but his life before Tiny already feels like it was forever ago. And even before then, as Toothless realized his due date was coming closer, he tried to tell his Rider what he could and couldn't do. After four years on Berk, he noticed that pregnant humans don't do much in the weeks leading up to the birth of the human offspring, he probably tried to make Hiccup take his rest as well.
Hiccup doesn't like to rest, he always needs to keep his hands busy with something, but he realizes he would've liked that time off. Just savouring what little time the baby would've still spent inside of him sounds good to him. It's another thing he was robbed of.
Aligning the wooden shaft with the empty hole in the hammer head, Hiccup makes his first strike. He does it with confidence and with ease, trusting in his skill that he won't hit his hand.
"What're you thinking of, son?" Gobber asks, taking a seat. He returned from Grump quickly and now it would seem that he is up for a talk after all.
"About what I've missed. I didn't get to sit around and just be together with him, neither did Toothless or any of the other Dragon Riders. I didn't get to feel him once!" Maybe it's his flair for the dramatic, but he flips the tool in his hand once before striking again. This time harder.
"Go on."
"Toothless and the other dragons knew this entire time what was going on. They tried to tell me, but I just couldn't see it. I don't know if I just didn't understand or if I was too stressed to figure it out!" He's ranting, throwing his left hand and his shoulders around before he hits again. There's an annoyed expression on his face.
There's no talking now, no words of encouragement or comfort, just anger and the desire to release it all.
Gobber is waiting and watching.
"An-and then there was this whole thing with Dagur and then the Dragon Hunters!" He hits extra hard when he's reminded of those two. Dagur may have turned over a new leaf, but that didn't mean Vigi's birth didn't open up some old wounds.
"Do you remember when that bounty was on my head? I got beaten and thrown around, that masked man that took Dragon's Edge from us dragged me around with a chain around my neck! And-and Ryker. I know that he's dead and I know that he didn't know, if he had maybe even he would've held back, but he still punched me in the stomach! Hard enough to make me pass out! I don't pass out easy!" He faces Gobber for that one, waving with the hammer. Annoyance has officially turned to anger.
"He could've cost me my son, too! On several occasions!" A harder hit. It's not for nothing that he dreamt of Ryker specifically coming into his room and stealing the boy away from him.
"And Viggo, do you remember that incident in the Straits of Baldur, when I nearly drowned? According to Astrid, I wasn't breathing! Did Vigi get any air in that moment? Does a baby need air in the womb?! I don't know!"
"All I know for sure is that they! Could've! Killed him!" Each word spoken is a harder strike on the new shaft and then it's done. The broken hammer has been fixed. Hiccup's hands fall on the anvil that he leans on, slightly out of breath.
His arms shake, but it isn't from the force of the strikes. After years of forging, that doesn't bother him anymore. This is purely from the emotional release.
Gobber was right, this was what he needed.
"Wow, when you pent up, you really pent up, don't you?" Gobber asks with a light tone and Hiccup huffs, but in a manner that betrays his amusement.
He nods. Yes, he does pent up. Too many times he's accused of being an open book by… Well, by pretty much everyone. But there is still so much he keeps inside of himself.
Gods, he really needed this. It's a shame he can't go flying with Toothless afterwards, Gothi will have his head if she spots them in the air. He's lucky got away with this.
And although he can't usually help but take off either, Toothless won't help him take to the skies either. After nine months, he's glad his human is finally taking proper care of himself.
But Toothless isn't here now to stop him from forging.
"Is there any other work that needs doing?" Hiccup asks, facing the other man.
By the time he's finished taking his pent-up anger out on metal, half of the orders thus far have been taken care of in record time and Hiccup is a sweaty mess.
He drops down on a chair, tired from the exertion of energy combined with his short nights. Lifting an arm, he smells his armpit and recoils from his own scent.
"Oh Gods, I need a bath," he mutters. He can't return to his son like this, he'll just get his stench all over him, too.
Bellowing with laughter, Gobber looks at the next item on the list, a minor saddle repair.
"You did go to town! Did it help?" He asks, swinging the saddle in question over his prosthetic arm.
"Yeah, it did. Thank you for letting me do this," Hiccup thanks him. He can't express how much he appreciates it. Many people are helping him out today.
"Of course! Everybody needs a good pounding once in a while," Gobber says and finds the leftover scrap metal he can still use to replace one of the missing rings on this saddle. It needs some new leather there, too.
Hiccup gives him a smile, then stands.
"I think it's well over an hour now, I think I'm heading home," he says. Plus, he wants to take that bath, he feels filthy.
"Sounds like a good idea. The little laddie might be getting hungry again, not that I know when week-old babies need to be fed. I was there a lot when you were a babe, but feeding you was not one of my responsibilities," Gobber says.
"Uh yeah, I know," the young man answers awkwardly while the blacksmith briefly wonders where the time has gone. Yesterday, Hiccup was but a wee boy himself, now he's all grown and has a child of his own!
And several different partners who could be that child's father.
Which brings him to his next question as Hiccup is on his way out.
"So which of the Riders did it, lad?"
Surprised, Hiccup whirls around to face him.
"Wha-what?" He asks, stunned.
"Haha, you can't hide anything from me, Hiccup. I've been noticing things between the six of you for months, didn't mention anything to your father besides the occasional hint that he didn't get through his thick skull," Gobber chuckles. He was very much unlike Stoick, who only caught on after there was a baby as proof.
"The occasional hint?" Hiccup asks, a little bit troubled by this statement.
"About how his son may possibly desire more than one partner as chief and how, despite the way of his birth, he may possibly not stick with just men or just women," he says, to prepare the man. But alas, Stoick never got what he was on about. Until Tiny, then all of Gobber's "nonsense" suddenly made sense.
After his son came out for who he truly was, the matter of his future was rarely discussed beyond the fact that he would still take over from his father as chief. Stoick was at a loss on that front and simply waited for Hiccup to show him the way.
But then Hiccup stayed quiet and now there's a baby. Though to be fair, said baby's father had no idea he existed either.
"Huh, well…" Hiccup leans with a hand on a table, unsure of what to say. If there's anyone he can tell, it's Gobber, right?
"It could be Fishlegs… Or Tuffnut… Or, you know, Snotlout… One of those three," he says hesitantly, attempting and utterly failing at acting casual.
Of course, Berk has her suspicions by now, but before Tiny, what they did on the Edge stayed on the Edge. So it's still a little bit awkward for him to talk about.
Gobber gives him a knowing look.
"We were busy, were we?" He asks, causing Hiccup to flush on the spot.
"Uh, well, that's- that's one way to phrase it," Hiccup responds and awkwardly crosses his arms.
Gobber chuckles again, then comes over and pats him on his shoulder.
"But tell me, what is going on between you and your friends?" He asks, because he does want to discuss it if Hiccup feels like it. He has the sense that there may be some unresolved emotions there.
"I… I don't really know," he begins. "I mean, we do like each other, maybe a little bit too much, but I don't know what exactly to call whatever's going on between us."
And he really doesn't. He doesn't think any of his friends really know what to call this thing that's between them. It led to a child, that's about all he knows.
"Hmm, are you sure that you don't know? Whatever the six of you were up to at the Edge, it wasn't something small. You have Tiny to show for it," Gobber makes a good point. If it was something small, something as simple as maybe liking each other a little differently than friends do, would it be enough to lead to the birth of a child?
Hiccup finds himself thinking, re-exploring feelings he thought he understood months ago.
"What we have is unconventional," he says.
"Hiccup, your everything is unconventional. Conventionality went out the window the second you were born," his mentor reminds him and Hiccup has to give him that one, too.
He has always lived his life separate from the normality his village was used to. It's more than just being in a relationship with five of his friends. It's how he chose his mind over brawn, it's him meeting Toothless, it's how he got his village to accept him for who he is. In the end, it helped his Dragon Riders be less conventional, too.
Just as Gobber said, there is very little that's the "norm" about him, so why should any of his relationships be dictated by what's considered that by others? It's not like there haven't been chiefs in the past who had more than one partner at the same time.
Hiccup didn't even realize this was something he worried about.
"What do you really feel, lad?" Gobber asks.
"I love them," he says. After this realization, it becomes easy to admit that.
"And what do the others feel?"
"They love me and each other."
"Then let me tell you something, son, that's all you need. I know that there are some people who have been giving you trouble for Tiny's birth, but you don't need them and their opinion doesn't matter. All that should matter is that you have a son and that there's love between the six of you," Gobber says and throws an arm around him. He's often brash and rude, but he has his moments of sensitivity, sometimes more than others.
Hiccup smiles at him.
"You're right," he says. And he'll bring it up with the other Riders as well. Maybe it's time they stop tiptoeing around the word "love" and finally admit to one another how they feel. If anything, Vigi deserves a complete family and that family won't be complete without the other Dragon Riders. What his village thinks doesn't matter.
He supposes he has been thinking of them as his partners already.
Though he knows the feelings have been there for a very long time, his heart swells with the love he feels for his team.
After his enlightening talk with Gobber, Hiccup quickly bid him goodbye and left the forge for the day. He was only supposed to be there for an hour and not a minute more, although he did end up staying a little bit longer than that.
Leaving the forge, he goes straight home, eager to be reunited with his boy. They haven't been apart for very long, but it felt like an eternity to him and he's excited to put an end to it.
It doesn't take him long to get to his house, stopping to greet some people along the way and answering their questions about the well-being of the new Haddock. He arrives at the steps to his front door feeling much better than when he left.
He still needs that bath, though.