Title: Bye Dad.

Summary: A Tale as old as time, and true as it can be. Both a little scared, neither one prepared… You know where this is going. Beauty and the Beast with a twist. Toothless/Hiccup.

Warning: Eventual slash, mature themes, I guess.

Disclaimer: What part of FAN FICTION is hard to understand? I don't own Beauty and the Beast, and I don't own How to Train Your Dragon. They belong to whoever they do. I'm not here to make money; I'm just here to entertain.

Hiccup arrived at his house just as Stoick finished packing his things. Hiccup was surprised. Were they going on a hunting trip? Stoick turned to greet his son.

"Ah, Hiccup, just in time! Did you get those extra arrows from Gobber for me?" He asked.

Hiccup resisted the urge to slap his palms to his face. He knew he was forgetting something. Stupid Snotlout, distracting him like that.

"Sorry, Dad," Hiccup apologized. "I guess I forgot." He looked at his shoes.

Stoick gave him a strange look for a moment, so quick Hiccup was sure he imagined it, before giving a big laugh that sounded fake and forced even to Hiccup.

"That's okay, Hiccup" He said "You'll remember next time." He gave Hiccup a pat on the head.

"I'm going dragon hunting, okay? Be careful while I'm gone." Stoick said as he was leaving. Hiccup couldn't take it anymore.

"Uh, Dad!" Hiccup winced at his own voice. That was loud. Okay. Deep breaths. "Maybe I could, I don't know, go with you?" He gave a half-hearted smile.

"Uh…you see…um," Stoick fumbled for the right words. He couldn't find them, so he just said.

"Maybe next time, Hiccup." And he left. Hiccup wondered why that answer still disappointed him.

PAGEBREAK

"What am I going to do with him, Gobber?" Stoick took another swig of his beer.

"Hiccup? That's easy; let him train with the others. We need more warriors to fight those Meatheads." Gobber replied.

"I'm serious."

"So am I!"

"Are you kidding? He'd be killed by the other children, never mind letting those Meatheads taking a whack at him."

"You don't know that."

"Yes, I do."

"No, you don't."

"Yes, I do!" Stoick sighed. "He has the… he was born different, I guess."

"How do you know that?" Gobber wanted to know. "You weren't there. You just found him in the cabbage patch, remember?" Gobber chuckled. That would never get old.

"You know how he is," Stoick was dead serious. "I take him on a fishing trip, and he nearly drowns looking for mermaids. He's just not reliable," Stoick tapped his temple with a finger. "Has the attention span of a sparrow."

"When he was just a baby," Stoick started. (Gobber rolled his eyes. 'Here we go…')

"When Hiccup was just a baby, Me and Valhallarama, we didn't know what to do. We decided to raise, well, a him, but he seems so unhappy. Maybe that was a mistake. "

"Now, don't say that." Gobber said. "It's like I told him just a little while ago, it's not what's outside that counts. I mean, take a look at that little girl Astrid. She could wipe the floor with any of the young lads her age."

"So, Hiccup's weak on the inside?" Stoick sounded more hopeless than ever.

"I didn't say that." Gobber sighed. "You've just never given him a chance, Stoick. He was sickly as a baby, so you protected him, I get that. But you have to let him do things on his own. Which is to say, stop bailing him out of his own messes. And let him at least train with a real sword, for Odin's sake"

Gobber took another sip of his beer, and choked on a small rock. They were silent for a while. Stoick because he was thinking, Gobber because he was choking.

"Maybe you're right." Stoick said as he pounded on Gobber's back. "You know, he always wants to go dragon hunting with me."

Gobber finally caught his breath. "You see? He may not want to fight the Bog Burglars, but he'll keep them dragons away."

"Tell him to meet me by the inland lake west of Raven's Peak in two days." Stoick smiled. "We're going dragon hunting."

PAGEBREAK

"Augh, I don't believe this." Hiccup ranted to himself. This was the worst day ever.

He walked through town for the second time that day, feeling foolish. How could he have forgotten to get his father's arrows? He was nearly shot by one this morning! He had his eyes set determinedly forward as he marched on to Gobber's blacksmith shop. He was there on most days, helping sharpen swords and fix broken shields. But winter was coming, so business had been slow. During winters, he only went there every other day, more to keep warm and experiment than anything.

'This is exactly why he still treats me like a little kid.' Hiccup thought sullenly.

Hiccup remembered a time when Stoick got angry at him for messing up. Nowadays, he didn't even bother. His dad treated him with this strange mixture of acting like he was waiting for Hiccup to fall short, but never being disappointed in him. That hurt. Hiccup briefly wondered what it would be like if his father actually had dreams for him, expected more from him than failure. Hiccup wondered if it was because he'd been born different.

He smiled a little and slowed down as he remembered the story his mother and father used to tell him every night before… well, Before.

Once upon a time, in a far away land, there was a cat, who could turn into a boar or a mare as she wished. But what she really wanted was to turn into a goat, for she was in love with a goat, who could run faster than the wind itself. But she could never tell the goat she loved him, for she lived in the clouds above, while he lived on the earth below.

The goat, she didn't know, loved her as well. But he could never tell her, for he was just a goat, and she deserved more.

At night he would wish on the stars,

'Please, please,' he'd say, 'I'd do anything for her, for she is my life and I love her. If I could speak to her just once, I would go to my grave content.'

The others who lived in the clouds heard his plea. So they stole her shoe, and dropped it to the earth, where the goat would find it. When she found her shoe was gone, she descended to earth to look for it.

'Where is my shoe?' she cried. The goat came forward, and said.

'Here is your shoe.' And he returned it.

He saw that she was the cat whom he loved, and she saw that he was the goat she loved.

'It is you!' they said. And they knew that it was fate that had brought them together. They made love, and had a child.

"And do you know who that child is?" Hiccup's parents would ask.

""It's me!" He would reply.

'The story doesn't make any sense.' Hiccup thought, now that he was much too old for fairytales.

The boy arrived at Gobber's blacksmith shop, surprised. He hadn't noticed how he'd walked all the way there.

"Hiccup!" Gobber said, surprised. "I was just about to come get you!"

"You were?" Hiccup was curious.

"Your father," Gobber said "Wants to take you dragon hunting the day after tomorrow."

"That's not funny." Hiccup drawled, Not Amused. "Seriously, did you need my help or something? Does someone want a new sword for their wall?" Designing and making weapons for display was one of the things Hiccup was very good at.

"I'm not kidding!" Gobber said, exasperated. "Why does everyone think I'm kidding all the time?" He wanted to know.

"You're serious?" Hiccup was stunned. A great big smile started to spread across his face. "That—that's Awesome!"

'Finally, he's giving me a chance!' Hiccup thought jubilantly.

"Bye, Gobber, I've got to get ready!" He said hurriedly as he left the shop. 'This is the Best Day Ever!'

"Hey!" Gobber called out. "He also said not to forget the arrows this time!"

A/N: Sorry for the late update. I made a first draft, but I decided Hiccup was too angsty, so I scrapped the entire thing and started from scratch.

The story's kind of taking a life on its own. And I didn't think mythology would play such a big part of it, but there you go. Those of you more familiar with Norse and Greek gods will probably see what's coming. I'm trying to drop as many hints as possible without spelling it out, so no one's blindsided.

To those of you wondering where Toothless is (Randomstrike, I'm looking at you.), I'm sorry it's taking so long. He's probably going to appear in the chapter after the next, but I'm not making any promises.

Oh, and the Green Death doesn't exist here so the dragons don't really "raid" the vikings, so they're more pests than anything. The same way wolves must be pests in, like, Russia or something. Or coyotes in Australia.

As always, feedback is appreciated. Special thanks to Alana-kittychan and Tiara shin for reviewing more than once!

Thanks to everyone for reading!