To Guest- YES THEY DID! :P
To say Stoick was happy was like saying dragons could fly- no duh!
The ex-chief went berserk. Hiccup had only ever seen him so happy once- when he was reunited with his thought-to-be-dead wife.
"Dad, calm down!" Hiccup laughed, grabbing his father's arm and drawing him to a momentary stop. "My gods, I thought old people were supposed to be slow!" Stoick frowned at him.
"Old?"
"Practically ancient." Hiccup agreed. Stoick playfully cuffed him about the head, pretending he was not at all amused. "Can you sit still for five minutes? You're making me dizzy." He put a hand to his head and then directed his father to a nearby chair. "Right, stay."
"I'm not one of your dragons, son."
"No, but I'm your chief, so stay. Good Dad." Stoick swiped at him again, but Hiccup artfully dodged him, laughing victoriously.
"Go and be with your wife!" Stoick called. "Make sure my grandbaby is OK!" His big grin returned and he sat, muttering to himself. Hiccup watched him carefully for a moment, deciding his father was going mad in his old age. "Go!" Stoick repeated, beaming.
"I'm going, I'm going." Hiccup jogged up the stairs.
His mother was teaching Astrid to sew baby clothes. That had gone down like a lead balloon.
"Calm." Valka reminded patiently. Astrid lobbed the misshapen clothing (being the nicest term) onto the floor, the needle clattering across the wood. "Yes, a perfect example of calm." Valka added, not looking up from the small shirt was sewing, all neat and perfect.
"Stupid sewing…" Astrid grumbled a string of curses, glaring at her work with such ferocity, Toothless slunk further into his corner, complaining. "It's your fault, Hiccup."
"Sorry for being irresistible." Hiccup muttered, moving forward to console his dragon. "Is grumpy dragon lady scary?" He fussed teasingly. A ball of thread bounced off the back of his head. Toothless cooed. "Yes, she is." Hiccup agreed, scratching Toothless under the chin and gaining a content growl.
He bravely picked up her sewing and examined it, accidently stabbing himself with the needle. "Ow, ow, ow…" Astrid snickered and then tried to look like she was still mad. Hiccup stuck his bleeding finger in his mouth and made a face at her. "Sympathy would be nice." He mumbled.
"Not going to happen."
"Knew you were going to say that. And what are you smiling for?" He asked his mother. "I didn't give you permission to smile." She rolled her eyes, dropping her better sewing into her lap to stare at him, unimpressed. "And don't look at me like that either!"
"You're not in another strange mood, are you?" Astrid sighed, massaging her forehead irritably.
"Maybe."
"I'm going for a walk."
"But…" Hiccup held up the terrible piece of sewing and then quickly concealed it behind his back at her brutal look. "Yes ma'am." She stomped out, Toothless bumbling after her and chortling. "She's going to kill me."
"And you're going to annoy her until she does." Valka added, returning to her needlework.
"Of course." Hiccup grinned. His mother shook her head at him, smiling.
"Here, what do you think?" She held up the small shirt.
"It's green! My favourite colour." He beamed at her. "Thank you, Mum." She waved it off and then waved him away.
"And if she's chopped you to pieces, I am not going out looking for them."
"Aah, ever the loving mother." Valka lobbed another ball of thread at him, but this time, he ducked. "Can't catch me!" He laughed, bouncing down the stairs two at a time. His father shot him a bemused look and- Hiccup was glad to see- was still in the chair. "See. Good Dad!"
"Get lost."
"I've got such kind parents."
"Is Astrid alright?"
"She doesn't like sewing. Where did she go?" Stoick shrugged and went back to whittling another wooden duck. "You've got hundreds of them." Hiccup reminded him. "What do you do with them all?" Stoick pretended not to hear him, so Hiccup took that as his cue to leave.
He rambled about the village, looking for his wife and his dragon. She knew how to fly Toothless in case he was too busy to do so, so there was a chance they weren't even on the island anymore. Unless her version of walk was fly.
"Hey, Hiccup!" Oh, perfect.
"Snotlout… so soon?"
"I heard that Astrid was pregnant." Snotlout declared, smirking.
"And where did you hear that?" As far as he knew, no-one other than the Haddocks and the Hoffersons knew.
"Well, I heard it from the twins who heard it from Fishlegs who heard it from his dad who heard it from Bucket who heard it from Gobber who heard it from your dad."
"That's just fantastic."
"Is it true then?" Snotlout demanded, his eyes glinting. "Can't believe you actually got her." He snorted. "I mean, look at you! She's mad!" He flexed his arms and Hiccup started to feel sick. "She's clearly missing the better deal."
"Oh yeah, she likes short guys who look like they've run into a wall." Snotlout gave a curt nod. Seconds later, he figured Hiccup had insulted him.
"Hey…" He clenched his fist and raised it, ready to hit him. Hiccup looked at him expectantly and Snotlout wavered. The perks of being the chief. "Stupid muttonhead."
"Aren't you supposed to be teaching anyway?"
"Ugh, who wants to teach those losers?"
"You do if you like flying."
"Wh-?"
"No teaching means no flying."
"You can't do that!"
"I'm the chief. I can do what I want."
"So, you could end the world?" Now the twins were here- oh joy. "Or make pigs fly?"
"I've always wanted a flying pig!" Ruffnut agreed. Her brother nodded eagerly in agreement and then they started talking together, asking Hiccup if he could do or make hundreds of stupid things, being the chief and all.
"OK, flying ban for all of you if you don't shut up quick." That worked like a charm. "Have any of seen Astrid?"
"She went that way." Tuffnut waved his hand in a not-so-helpful way. "What about a fire-breathing chicken?"
"Wh-? You've got fire-breathing dragons. Why would want a fire-breathing chicken?"
"Why not?" Ruffnut countered. Hiccup sighed and left them to witter on.
He found Astrid at her parents. Toothless was bouncing on the roof of Stormfly's old shelter. The Nadder squawked at him, annoyed and sleepy.
"Toothless!" The Night Fury chortled happily and Hiccup mimicked. He knocked on the door, immediately getting an 'enter!' from his mother-in-law. "Hello." He beamed. Astrid was sat at the table, sharpening two knives against each other. "The twins want fire-breathing chickens." He told her, bowing his head to her parents. It was always good to stay in their favour- he could see where Astrid got her communication skills from.
"You were over yesterday!" Astrid's mother, Hildegard (just go with it :P ) laughed.
"Well, I do have amazing in-laws."
"Suck up." Astrid muttered, examining the blades. Hiccup childishly stuck his tongue out at her and she replied similarly. "Tell your dragon to leave my dragon alone."
"I have."
"Oh, yeah. Toothless!" She called in a cruel mimic. "That really works." Hiccup just nodded, eyeing the knives anxiously. "Don't just stand there like a lemon, sit down!"
"You'll stab me."
"No. Not really."
"I'm so reassured."
"So, Hiccup." Hildegard smiled, her blue eyes so much like Astrid's in colour, yet warmer and friendlier (until you annoyed her). "Boy or girl?"
"Either." Hiccup answered, warily taking a seat next to his armed wife. She scraped one knife slowly down the edge of the other, making Hiccup cringe. He may work in the forges, but knives didn't usually make that noise. "Must you?"
"Yes."
"What about names?" Her mother pressed kindly. "Thought about those?"
"We came up with a list of names the other day. Astrid didn't really like the ones that I choose."
"They're not very scary names."
"With you as their mother, they won't need scary names." She held up her knife pointedly. "That was a compliment."
Ugh, I can't think. Is this OK? And can anyone suggest a decent Viking name 'cos I'm not entirely sure how to pronounce the ones I've found…
