=Normal POV=
[Friday, 9/23/2022-7:30 pm]
[Isle of Berk; Hiccup's House]

So far, the party had been going great except for the little mishap where Astrid cut her hand because of Snotlout's comment regarding that she could be pregnant and that's why Hiccup went with getting a three bedroom, two bathroom home. However, Hiccup did drop some serious hints that it wouldn't be him and Toothless living there alone forever, and when that situation changed; he was ready to accommodate more people. But Hiccup and Astrid both assured that Astrid was not pregnant, and added in that the two of them had not even had sex. Everything was cooled down now and everyone was having a good time sitting around Hiccup's house; they were all enjoying the food and drinks while talking about whatever came up as the topic. Hiccup had music going in the background, and a slideshow running from his laptop on the big screen TV showing pictures of completely random moments over the course of Hiccup's life; at least from the time he was a teenager to current.

"I can't get over that you still have all these," Astrid giggled, looking at some of the pictures.

"Why did you think I'd get rid of them?" Hiccup looked at her.

"Because we broke up after graduation; figured you would have deleted everything about you and me," Astrid shrugged.

"No, I just moved everything into a folder and labeled it; Hiccup & Astrid. Broken up or not; I still had a lot of memories growing up with you as my friend that I wouldn't dare get rid of," Hiccup chuckled.

"You were such a dork until high school," Astrid said.

"Well, you hung out with you me and allowed it, so that makes you an enabler," Hiccup responded.

"You were so cute, how could I stop it?" Astrid remarked.

"Oh, I was cute then, but not now?" Hiccup asked.

"Nope, definitely not cute anymore. Now you're just straight hot as hell," Astrid smiled.

"Aw, Astrid," Hiccup jokingly got bashful.

"Uncle Hiccup," Dagny asked.

"Yes, Princess?" Hiccup replied.

"Can we watch how you met Toothless? You said we could a couple weeks ago," Magne stated.

"I did say that, didn't I?" Hiccup smiled as he moved to the computer and started searching files. "It's not the full experience, but my dear team decided to capture the moments they deemed funny," he added. Hiccup located a video labeled; Becoming A Dog Handler. Hiccup clicked on it as the video loaded and he grabbed the remote to turn it up, then pause the music. The video started with Hiccup entering the canine training area main office.

"Can I help you, soldier?" the man behind the desk inquired, looking up slightly from his folder on the desk.

"I'm Specialist Hiccup Haddock; I was sent over by Captain Bludvist of Alpha Company to get a dog," Hiccup replied. "Sir," he quickly added.

"Ah, yes. The Dog Whisperer I've heard so much about," the man stated.

"Not…The title I would have chosen for myself, but okay…So what now?" Hiccup asked. The man stood up, offering his hand to Hiccup.

"I'm Master Sergeant Eirik Matheson," Eirik introduced as Hiccup shook his hand. "I'm in charge of this training facility here on Caldera Cay,"

"Pleasure to meet you, Master Sergeant," Hiccup replied.

"Well, let's get you introduced to your dog, Specialist Haddock," Eirik stood up. Hiccup nodded and followed him out.

Most of the next part of the video was walking towards the kennels, and Hiccup being told the rules of having a dog. Hiccup, obviously, listened intently as they reached the destination and entered. Inside the kennels was a lot of dogs on either of the room laying in their cages and being well-behaved. Passing one of the cages, a large black husky came out of the shadows, barking loudly. Everyone could only assume that this was Toothless.

"Woah," Hiccup backed up a bit.

"Don't mind him," Eirik said.

"Is that even a dog? Looks like a wolf to me," Hiccup replied.

"Half husky, half wolf. A hybrid; we've had him for two years; rescued from a black market exotic animals pet adoption," Eirik explained as the dog was staring intently, growling. "We've been trying to rehabilitate him, but he's ridiculously aggressive, even for our senior trainers,"

"Why keep him if he can't be trained? Having an aggressive dog is bad enough, but having a hybrid is worse if this animal ever decided to attack someone because is resorted to it's primal instincts," Hiccup informed.

"You know your animals, kid. I'll give you that," Eirik nodded. "Aggressive, yes. But trainable. He's let out with the other dogs in the field, usually keeps to himself in a shaded corner. But…One day; he made his way into the training area where other dogs were being worked with. This dog was the only one to run the course solo, finding all the hidden dummy grenades, IED's, etc. He even jumped in a typical soldier drill and protected the team from an ambush. All he did was give an alert-style bark. He's got potential if we could get past the aggression, but the last person who tried to work with him…Well, the dog has the bite force to break a human's arm bones. That happened five months ago, and he hasn't been out of the cage since. Everyone is just…Too afraid to work with him," Eirik explained.

Hiccup sort of stared at the dog a few moments. "Seems lonely," he mentioned.

"Yeah, well anyone who gets too close, as you saw; gets barked and glared at. For now, we're just leaving him be and feeding regularly," Eirik mentioned. Hiccup inched closer to the cage as Toothless growled more. "Don't push it, Specialist," Eirik warned. Toothless growled lowly and then finally barked several times, snapping for Hiccup. "Hiccup, I know you have a gift with dogs, but I told you, even senior trainers who have been doing this job ten to fifteen years haven't been able to work with him. Come now, the dog you're working with is right over here," Eirik ordered.

Hiccup took a long glance at Toothless before giving in and following the command.

The video shifted to later on outside as Hiccup was working with a German Shepard on the course. Hiccup did surprisingly well and was with a group of other people working with their dogs.

"THE WOLF IS LOOSE!" someone shouted. Hiccup sort of stood there while everyone was actually running to take cover as Toothless came barreling through the area. The dog Hiccup worked with bolted away.

"Haddock, get clear," Eirik demanded, running forward. Hiccup finally snapped out of it as he went to run, but Toothless knocked him to the side as a smoke bomb went off where Hiccup would have stepped. Hiccup crawled out of the smoke coughing as Thuggory got next to him.

"Odin above…Hiccup, are you alright?" Eret inquired.

"Yeah…yeah, I'm fine," Hiccup caught his breath and got some help from Thuggory to stand. Toothless came out of the smoke slowly.

"Restrain that animal," Eirik ordered. "He purposely dragged Haddock into danger,"

"What?" Hiccup said. "No…No, that's not what happened!" he informed quickly.

"Specialist Haddock, this dog knocked you into a smoke bomb!" Eirik remarked.

"No, he didn't!" Hiccup yelled back.

"It went off as soon as he grabbed you. This is the last straw; he's more of a danger than an asset," Eirik stated.

"Master Sergeant, listen to me!" Hiccup tried as a group of soldiers restrained Toothless, muzzling him.

"No. Enough is enough…We have to put him-," Eirik began.

"You most certainly will not put that dog down!" Hiccup argued.

"Haddock, that's enough," Drago ordered. "You don't make the call,"

"Sorry, Captain…But I can't stand by and do nothing when they're gonna put down an innocent animal," Hiccup said sternly. The area went quiet. Hiccup had refused a direct order from his captain.

"He's hurt too many people; we can't work with him. And he's too dangerous to just be let free," Eirik informed.

"For Odin's sake; he didn't hurt me!" Hiccup glared. "That dog didn't shove me into a dangerous area…He knocked me away from it when I ran into it…He pushed me away from the bomb, and then let me hold his collar to guide me out of the smoke. This dog saved my life, or rather, would be life had we been deployed and that was a mine field…"

"He…Saved you?" Eirik arched a brow.

"You questioning what I told you? Yes, he did, so I'm not gonna let you put him down when he's innocent," Hiccup informed calmly. "Release him,"

"You don't make that decision," Eirik glared.

"You're hurting him! He's whining. Release the dog," I said again. The soldiers let Toothless go as he shook free and growled.

"Well…He's helped us before," one soldier said.

"But he still can't be worked with. We've been trying for two years, and one or two good deeds does not change the fact he's aggressive and injured several people," Eirik responded. Hiccup got closer, trying to remove the muzzle. "Leave it alone, Haddock,"

"Just give me a fucking chance, would you?!" Hiccup snapped. Hiccup turned his attention back to Toothless. "Here…Let's get this off of you," he reached for the muzzle as Toothless growled and tried to bite him, but couldn't. Hiccup stayed firm, facing Toothless. Others had backed up in fear, but Hiccup held his ground, narrowing his eyes a bit. "I think I got this dog figured out," he said, keeping his eyes on Toothless. "You think I'm afraid of you?" Toothless snarled more. "Well, I'm not, so cut the tough dog act," he remarked. "Sit down," Toothless didn't respond. "Sit. Down." he ordered again. This time, Toothless ended up sitting down. "Now…Lay," Hiccup told him. Toothless glared almost. "I said lay down," Toothless eased himself down and laid there. Hiccup crouched a bit and worked the muzzle off. "There…Now, isn't that better?" Toothless got up, intently staring at Hiccup.

"I know you came from a bad place, bud…But I'd never hurt you, and I don't think you want to hurt me," Hiccup said calmly. "I feel like you're not that bad if you saved me, and maybe the reason you're regarded as mean is because everyone is too firm with making you listen, but showing fear, so you don't trust them. I'm not scared of you. I trust you. Now, will you trust me?" Hiccup closed his eyes and turned his head away. Toothless eyed him, then sniffed his palm before closing his eyes and pressing against Hiccup's open hand.

"Well…I'll be damned," Dagur chuckled.

Hiccup opened his eyes and smiled, starting to pet the top of Toothless's head, and around his ears. Toothless sat down, panting and wagging his tail contently before moving in to lick Hiccup's face. "Ugh…Ew, but I love you too," Hiccup tried to wipe the saliva off. "Master Sergeant Matheson…As good as the other dog you picked for me is…I think I'd like to take him instead, if that's alright,"

"I mean…The dog sort'a picked Haddock anyway…And seems to only listen to him," Drago shrugged.

"I suppose…It is the most progress we've ever seen out of him…We'll test things and see how it goes," Eirik informed. "For now, Specialist Haddock, you are assigned to this dog-,"

"Toothless," Hiccup said.

"Excuse me?" Eirik blinked.

"Toothless. His name is Toothless," Hiccup corrected. "If he's going to be mine; he will have a name. He's not dog, hybrid, or wolf…His name is Toothless,"

"Very well," Eirik nodded. Hiccup only smiled and Toothless rubbed his face to Hiccup's affectionately.

The video ended there as Hiccup closed it down and restarted the slideshow. Ironically; the first picture to come up was one of Hiccup in full gear overseas with a smile, sunglasses on, and on one knee with Toothless beside him.

"Seems he connected with you because you did what no one else would do," Valka said.

"I showed him I wasn't scared like everyone else was. I understood Toothless suffered a bad past before being recruited into the military's dog program; a handler has to trust their dog as much as a dog needs to trust their handler. You can't give trust when you're scared because it means there is no trust. Toothless has incredible protective instincts and detection senses for bombs, gunshot far away we can't hear, sensing or smelling others close by that we don't see…Toothless is an elite military dog, he's Special Ops too, like me," Hiccup said. "I just don't think anyone was able to see past the aggression; he was feared, so no one wanted to be around him. Even other dogs ran away. I didn't have that problem, so he chose me as his handler because I did what no one else would. I showed him I wasn't scared, and trusted him,"

"I remember you telling me that you ended up adopting him as yours, why was that a process?" Astrid inquired.

"During the second tour; I got hurt pretty badly and had to leave the base overseas for two months to heal," Hiccup said.

"Is this when you were shot in the left leg?" Eret wondered.

"Yeah, that was the one. It should have ended my military career, but I healed so well and was able to pass all the physicals to remain active duty. Anyway…Toothless…Unfortunately, had to stay in Afghanistan while I was away. The tour ended while I was recovering; I wasn't allowed at the military base until I was considered fully recovered. Toothless…Got reassigned to another handler while I was out. As there was speculation on if I was getting a medical discharge; I fought to keep Toothless with me. He wasn't supposed to be adopted as a normal pet; Dogs returning from war can suffer PTSD as any human soldier can. There was fear he'd react and attack someone to protect me, or just lose it entirely. I had to go through a lot of outside the military channels to get him back. It took a couple months, but I finally got him,"

"And Toothless stays active as long as Hiccup does," Dagur nodded.

"Unless something were to happen to him, or he just gets too old to continue his duties," Thuggory added.

"But he'll always be mine, even if he retires before I do. And that's all I cared about," Hiccup reminded. Toothless got up, moving to Hiccup and setting his head in Hiccup's lap. "Besides…He doesn't listen to anyone but me, so pointless for him to have been with anyone else,"

"Yeah…Getting him to follow orders while you were recovering proved difficult," Eret muttered. Toothless growled at him. "Easy, Almighty Toothless,"

Hiccup laughed. "Oh, he's nothing but a big softy, huh? Isn't that right? What would we do without our Alpha Wolf?" Hiccup said, coddling his dog as if it were his child almost. Astrid thought it was adorable, but mainly because Toothless responded to it by panting and wagging his tail at the praise. "Missions were so much easier with him on the team,"

"Can't dispute that," the three males nodded.

"Astrid, did you really help Hiccup with all this house stuff?" Ruffnut inquired calmly.

"Yeah, I did," Astrid nodded to her.

"How come she got to help and not us?" Tuffnut laughed. "We offered to do it all,"

"One, I would have had to pay you-," Hiccup started.

"Didn't you have to pay for all this anyway?" Fishlegs inquired.

"Two," Hiccup said, then paused. "Astrid knows my style a little more than you guys do," Hiccup chuckled. "And three, it takes the fun out of showing it off if you got to see it through the makeover phase," he added.

"So you and Astrid together did all this alone?" Adelaide smiled.

"Well, we had some help when the moving truck came with the rest of my stuff. Few extra hands to move bigger pieces into place, but after that; yes," Astrid nodded. "But Hiccup did most of it,"

"I told you earlier that it was a joint effort," Hiccup sighed.

"But Hiccup, I got sick for a couple days, and worked the week after. You did all this; I just picked a few things at your request and cleaned a bit," Astrid said.

"So; it was still together that we did it. You helped me clean rooms as we did them, you helped me pick just about everything. Living room and dining sets, the outside patio stuff, the dishes and cups, the pots and pans, the décor…You helped me paint. You did a lot more than just pick a few things. And the biggest part is that you were just with me; I've genuinely enjoyed the last two weeks of all this work because I got to do it with you," Hiccup held her hand. "I'm honestly happy that I can wander this place and know my girlfriend helped me design it all from start to finish,"

Astrid blushed intently. "W-Well you're welcome then," she said. Hiccup kissed her lightly.

"So, what are ya gonna do this next week, son? You mentioned being on vacation until the second, right?" Stoick inquired.

"Uh…Actually, Astrid and I decided last minute to go camping for my last week of vacation," Hiccup stated calmly.

The room was quiet, all of them staring at Hiccup and Astrid. "Camping?" Calder asked.

"Yeah, we're going to Dragon's Edge from…Tomorrow to the 2nd of October," Astrid interjected. "It was Hiccup's idea while we were working on the house,"

"We're leaving tomorrow at 10 from Berk Transport Center, taking a schedule seaplane flight at 11 am and should be on Dragon's Edge and checked into the campground by 1 pm; I would think," Hiccup informed. "We thought it'd be nice to just take some time off together with the dogs," he added.

"So you two are just…Going camping for eight days, by yourselves with Toothless and Stormfly?" Heather arched a brow.

"Well, I mean; we're gonna enjoy the activities at the campground, and I think we're taking a few days at the theme park too," Astrid nodded.

"That's right, babe," Hiccup replied to confirm what Astrid said.

"Dude, you should have told us; we could have all gone," Snotlout mentioned.

"I said it was a last minute idea that we chose to do like…Two days ago," Hiccup responded. "And when discussing things; we didn't think everyone would be able to get the kind of time off on such short notice," he shrugged. "And we sort of intended it to be just us; use the time to…Really reconnect after eight years, talk more without work or daily lives getting in the way,"

"But it's cool. You guys are all welcome to come visit us on Friday or Saturday night; we can do a big cookout or something. Just bring your own chairs," Astrid laughed a bit.

"I guess that sounds alright," Gobber chuckled.

"Let us know if you need us to bring anything," Asvora smiled. "And do have a good time,"

"We will. It's been so long, so it's gonna be a blast," Hiccup smiled. Astrid laid her head on Hiccup's shoulder, yawning a bit. "Someone's getting tired," he teased.

"Shut up," Astrid mumbled.

"We should get going anyway; it's late and you two have your trip tomorrow," Valka informed.

"And this has definitely been fun," Mala stood up, catching the hint Valka was going for. Mainly that it was getting late and now that it had been revealed Hiccup and Astrid were going on what appeared to be a private vacation; they should be leaving to give the two time to wind down and get some sleep their trip.

Dagur rounded up Magne and Dagny to leave as Heather said goodbye to Hiccup and Astrid, then Fishlegs. Dagur and Mala said their goodbye with the kids and left first. The Jorgensons and Minden were next; then Eret, Camicazi, Thuggory, Ruffnut, and Tuffnut. Astrid's parents followed suit, and then of course, Hiccup's parents and Gobber. When everyone had left, Hiccup locked the door. It took the next forty-five minutes, but Hiccup and Astrid cleaned up the house and then used the bathroom and got ready for bed. The two of them made sure their suitcases and other small items for the camping trip were set by the main door to grab on their way out tomorrow. Hiccup and Astrid climbed into bed together and snuggled up, around this time tomorrow morning; they'd be on their way to Dragon's Edge for a much needed and wanted vacation together.