A/N: Hey guys. I am back and finally this story is going to go somewhere! Think of this as an Expresso-Shot update as its going to be the chapter that finally gets the story back on the track that I originally intended for it. Sorry for all of the short updates but I started the story towards the end of the school year and kept writing it in the summer which wasn't really smart on my end saying as how I usually write better during the school year for some reason or another.
Chapter Summary: Hiccup shows his mommy side more and finally decides to set the record straight with his dragon.
P.S AND PLEASE READ!: My tumblr name is scipunk63 and the reason why I tell you this is because I will be posting some fan art for this story. I am taking requests on pictures to draw also.
Sweet little Valka, wrapped in a little pink blanket and eyes heavy with sleep, listened with very little attention to the sounds of her mother's voice. Her mother, a young man by the name of Hiccup, slowly rocked the baby back and forth in a rocker that was about five times their size. The rocker was very old, and made of lead nails that showed their age by the way they creaked and groaned much like a human's joints would when they come to a certain point in their lives. Still, the sound proved to be a comfort to both the figures who heard it. For Valka it was shown in the way she let her eyes flutter opened and closed, and for Hiccup it was the way in which he spoke to the baby dragon. His tone was sweet and motherly, not an ounce of his earlier annoyance was present.
"I know, Val... Today was a really long day for you, wasn't it?" He cooed as he cradled the baby close, smiling softly when she yawned softly. "You're going to bed real early today."
His dark eyes suddenly darted over to opened window, which allowed the last of the sun's sinking orange rays to flood the room with dimming light. If he had to guess, then he would say that it was at least seven in the evening on a mid-summer's day. The breeze that drifted into the room was warm, but not at all uncomfortable as most summer winds would be. To them, this was quite an early time to turn in, but like Hiccup had said before, it had been a long day for the both of them. The fight with Toothless and the search for him is what wore Hiccup out, and Val's little fit and the return to the academy (where she was able to calm down by playing with the other vikings) is what did her in for the evening.
"I just don't understand why he got so upset." Hiccup muttered out-loud. "If this had happened a month ago, then I would understand, but today was just random."
Valka looked up suddenly, letting her large eyes flutter open. She didn't really want to talk about Toothless at the moment, mainly because after he yelled at her today it made her quite fearful of him. Shaking her head, she caught one of her curls in her mouth and began to nibble on it, trying to convey to her human mommy that she was hungry and they should talk about that instead. Luckily, Hiccup got the hint and carefully slid out of the large rocker and carried her over to the kitchen section of the main-room.
"Eh, I'll talk to him later about it." Hiccup said as he carefully adjusted the baby's position in his arms so that her back was now laying against his forearm instead of her stomach so she could see the food."Okay Val, what do we think sounds good tonight?"
Since his father and dragon weren't home yet, this meant that the two had some free-reign over what they ate for a quick dinner that night. Looking over their options, they ended up going with some fried chicken, a few biscuits, three eels for Val, a bottle of milk (again for Val), and a pint of rum (for Hiccup of course, for it would be a horrible idea to give it to Val). After gathering this all up and placing it on the table, Hiccup took a seat at the table and Val took a seat on his lap. After this, the little dragon selected an eel that she thought was a good size and took a bite of it, starting with the head of course much to Hiccup's amazement and disgust.
"I'll never understand how you dragons can eat raw fish." He muttered with a soft laugh, reaching over their little set up to where they had placed the biscuits and picking up one and tearing off a good chunk of chicken.
Valka watched in curiosity as the biscuit was broken in half and chicken was placed between the the now two halves of biscuit. Figuring that this was the right way to eat food, she mimicked Hiccup's actions by placing her eel on the table, and then taking a biscuit and breaking it in half. She then plopped the remains of her eel in between the halves and closed it up. Hiccup's sudden laugh above her caught her attention, and she turned to find him holding his sandwich with both hands. Figuring that he must have been laughing by the way she held her food in her mouth, she laid the food onto the table and sunk both set of her claws into it and attempted to pick it up like a human would.
"Aww, good girl made a sandwich all by herself." Hiccup cooed as he patted the baby's head and then returned back to his own sandwich.
Val gushed at the praise, and began to eat her food in careful bites like the older viking did. After that, she made two more mini-sandwiches with the rest of her eels and finished that up as Hiccup did the same with his. After that, Valka's bottle of milk was picked up by Hiccup and placed at the baby's mouth, who in turn happily drank the entire thing and found herself very sleepy once more.
"Well, I think its time we officially turn into bed then." Hiccup laughed as he finished off his own drink and then rose to his feet once more.
Valka cooed and nodded her little head before her eyes grew heavy once more. Sleep really did seem best right now, now that the sun had officially dipped below the horizon and a cool air began to flutter in through the window. The human couldn't help but shiver at it, and he wrapped a lanky arm around the dragon to keep her steady as he went to the window and attempted to shut the heavy pane with one arm, though due to not being the strongest viking there was, this was rather difficult.
"Need some help, son?" His father's deep voice came in through the front door as he entered, succeeding only in scaring the younger man.
"Gah! Dad, don't do that! I didn't know you came in." Hiccup scolded quietly, turning around suddenly from the window and wrapping a protective arm around the baby. "Theres a little thing called knocking, you know."
"So I have to knock in order to get into my own house?" Stoick mused, crossing over to the side of the room his son was on in long strides and promptly closing the window without issue.
"Well- I guess not..." Hiccup muttered sheepishly as he loosened his protective hold on the baby. "But you still should make some sorta indication that you were coming in!"
"I did by asking if you needed help with the window." The older viking laughed deeply, clapping a heavy hand down onto his son's shoulder and smiling brightly at the little dragon in his arms, who was calmly smiling back up at him. "You should be more like Valka here."
"Hows that?" Hiccup asked, shrugging out of his father's hold and starting for the stairs to go to his room.
"That fearless little girl didn't jump once when I walked in." Stoick beamed proudly, watching as the two went up the stairs.
"You're her grandfather, of course she didn't jump." Hiccup laughed, staying within ear-shot of his father by taking his time on the stairs.
"And I'm your father, and you were all like 'Gah! Don't scare me like that!' when I walked in." Stoick reminded him with a smirk, which only widened when Hiccup rolled his eyes.
"Surrre... Good night dad." He called down in a lack-luster tone.
"What? Headed in already?" His father asked in confusion. "But its not even ten yet."
"I know, but Valka had a long day and shes tired." The younger of the two said as he rubbed the baby's head lovingly.
"At the academy? How did it go anyhow?" The older viking sounded almost eager to hear.
"It was her first day and all, so I'd say it went pretty well." Hiccup began, purposely leaving out the part about Toothless. "Everyone was really nice about having her, so hopefully by the end of the week we should have her up in the air."
"Thats great to hear, son. I'm sure she'll be fine." Stoick said, nodding his head slowly but then suddenly taking notice of something. "And wheres your other dragon at by the way? Isn't he normally with you?"
Hiccup winced at this, as did Valka at the sound of the other dragon's name. Really, was a quiet evening at home really so much to ask for? They couldn't just deal with the argument in the morning after everything had cooled down? Apparently no, so Hiccup quickly covered Valka's ears with one hand and turned back to his father.
"Yeah, about that- There was actually a bit of an incident and um..." For some reason Hiccup was having a hard time retelling the story. "Toothless and Val got into a little bit of a fight an-"
"He didn't hurt her, did he?" The red-head snapped, anger already lacing his tone.
"What! No, no he didn't hurt her- Physically that is. She seemed pretty scared but he just growled at her." Hiccup half lied, for he didn't seem the whole encounter between the two. "So we got into a bit of a fight and we're ignoring each other for now."
"Why did he growl at her?" Anger was replaced with curiosity.
"I have no idea, hes just being a baby like usual." Hiccup muttered sheepishly.
"Does it have anything to do with what Atrids been saying lately? She mentioned something about replacements and jealously the other day."
"Heck no! Toothless knows that I would never replace him. I'm sure we were all just having off days is all." Hiccup half lied about the off day part.
"I'd still be careful the next time you have those two around each other. Jealous dragons are deadly you know... Its kind of like how women work an-" Hiccup's light chuckle suddenly cut his father off from speaking again.
"Dad, its all okay now... Except Val got a little worn out today, so I think I should probably go put her to bed." Hiccup muttered, carrying the baby quickly up the stairs. "Good night, dad."
"Oh... Well, okay then." Stoick nodded his head again, walking towards the kitchen section of the house now. "Good night then, son. And Valka for that matter."
Hiccup just caught that last part, and he smiled softly as he entered into his room and over to the bed. He set Valka down first, and watching as she happily curled up in the warmth of the bed-sheets on his bed and was knocked out no even a second later. The human laughed softly, and went to go change into his night clothes when he heard the door to his bedroom being pushed opened gently. Rolling his eyes, he didn't even need to turn around to know who it was.
"If you're coming in here to be a jerk again, then you might as well leave again." He muttered to the coal colored dragon behind him as he stripped off his vest and day shirt and replaced it with a more comfortable night shirt.
Toothless frowned and bowed his head, knowing that Hiccup probably wasn't in the mood to talk with him right now, that or he didn't want to start another argument with the baby in the room. The dragon knew the human probably wanted his space, though against his better judgement, he did go to the human and nuzzled the back of his knees gently. In response, the human huffed softly and turned to look down at the dragon, who was looking up at him with apologetic eyes.
"Look, I'm still mad at you for what you did today. Do you know how long it took for me to calm Valka down?" Hiccup scolded quietly, as to not wake up the baby. "I had to play eight rounds of dodge-rock just to cheer her up and it wasn't fun."
Toothless winced at Hiccup's angered tone, and not wanting to anger him any further, he simply bowed his head once more and waited for the human's next move. He was a bit surprised when he heard the other sigh heavily and felt a warm hand on his head. Looking up, the dragon saw a ghost of a smile on the other's lips and he purred softly in sight of it.
"I'm still not happy with you, but I'm to tired to really argue about it now... I'll get you back for it tomorrow." Hiccup sighed tiredly, letting his hand leave the other's head as he walked over to his bed to lay down.
Not happy with this response though, Toothless quickly rushed to block the human's path to keep him from laying down. Hiccup gasped and back tracked before he could trip over the dragon, and then put on a very annoyed face.
"Toothless, I'm tired. Let me get to my bed." He groaned as he tried to walk around him, only to be knocked flat on his back by the sudden swing of a tail. "Ugh! Fine, I'll just stay here in the floor."
The older dragon in the room walked over to Hiccup's side, laid down, and then laid his head onto the other's tummy and nuzzled him sweetly in his way of saying 'I'm sorry, so please don't hate me, and even if you do hate me don't sleep on the bed next to that thing.'
"Ha, cute, but I'm still not happy with how you've been acting." Hiccup muttered, rolling his eyes once again and trying to sit up. "Look, I know you're upset, even though I don't know why, but just know that Valka isn't going to replace you in any way. Except for right now when she took both of our places on the bed."
Toothless frowned, not very convinced by the other's words but he was happy to at least hear them. He then repeated his actions of nuzzling the other's stomach and looking up at him with puppy dog eyes. Hiccup resisted the urge to roll his eyes once more and instead tried to sit up once again and make it to his bed. The dragon then used his head as a weight to prevent Hiccup from sitting up any more than he already was.
"Fine, so I guess I'm staying down here for the night." Hiccup figured out loud with a defeated sigh. "Valka gets the bed all to herself tonight and I get to share the floor with you."
If Toothless could chuckle quietly, then he would have. He couldn't though, so instead he just grinned his usual grin and watched as Hiccup stretched out under him and tried to get as comfortable as he could and then shut his eyes. At this, Toothless couldn't help but a little bit triumphant. Sure, the baby got to be rocked and eat dinner with Hiccup (yes, he had seen that much, as he had gotten home before Hiccup and Valka did) but at that moment, the baby wasn't cuddling with Hiccup, because she was to busy sleeping on the bed.
"Night buddy." Hiccup muttered sleepily, before adding. "And good night Valka."
"N-neautk!" At that moment, both the figures on the floor could have sworn that what they just heard was an attempt of English, but they soon brushed it off as being nothing more but a squeak.
"We'll work on it later." Hiccup muttered softly, chuckling as he shut his eyes and drifted off into sleep.
Not even five minutes after that though, the young viking sensed something off in his bedroom, and with a gentle huff and without opening up his eyes, he spoke.
"Toothless, put the baby down." He muttered, remembering his father's earlier words about a jealous dragon, and decided that now would be as good as time as ever to finally talk to Toothless about earlier.
'I was just looking at her!' Toothless said quickly in his dragon language, and was only half lying.
His original intentions had been to either sneak the baby onto the floor so Hiccup could have the bed, or silently apologize to the baby as she slept. Though, now that Hiccup told him not to, he figured that he probably didn't have to apologize to the baby for now or put her on the floor, because a moment later, the human boy was on his feet and had a gentle hand on the other's head.
"Hey. Since I'm probably not going to sleep tonight with you in the same room, do you want to go flying tonight?" Hiccup asked gently, having missed his air time from the events of today and finding this to be the perfect opportunity to talk. "Its a clear night out tonight, and you owe me some air time anyhow since we missed today's practice."
'Thought I was grounded.' The nightfury grunted out, giving the human a certain look.
"You're still grounded by the way, but I'm making the exception just this once." Hiccup said in a good natured way, "So how about it?"
Looking up at the human, Toothless tried to suppress his signs of excitement as he rushed towards the door, followed by Hiccup. They then started quickly down the stairs and after a quick word to Stoick about where they would be going, the two were out of the house. No sooner had they stepped off of the front stoop were they both saddled up and ready to go. Toothless grinned from ear to ear and opened his wings and took off into the air with his human laughing softly. All of their earlier tension seemed to have melted away, only to briefly return when Hiccup opened his mouth to speak, once again finding this time to be the perfect time to talk to Toothless. After all, he couldn't stomp away if they were in the air, right?
"You know, I was telling dad about how Valka should be off the ground some time next week." Hiccup announced out of the blue.
'Oh, really?' Toothless grunted back in response.
"Thats just flying laps around the academy, which means we still have some time to ourselves before she gets to come with."Hiccup reminded him with a shrug. "Just thought I'd let you know, so you don't throw another tantrum."
'She started it!' Toothless growled, but not in a mean way.
"I know, but like I said, you two are going to have to learn to get along. You're both part of this family and you'll have to put up with each other." Hiccup reminded him gently, shaking his head slowly.
'She said that same thing! What family?' Toothless asked as best he could, raising an eye to look up at the human as best he could, though Hiccup seemed to translate this with no problem.
"I love both of you guys you know, so don't be thinking that I'm going to favor one of you over the other, okay?" The human called, patting the other's head gently.
'Why do I doubt that?' Toothless replied, not really expecting the human to understand but was surprised by the response he got.
"I've just been showing Valka more attention because shes my baby now, you know?" Hiccuped responded. "Its my job to raise her now... But you're still my best buddy, and the next time you feel like I'm ignoring you then just tell me, okay? I really don't want to start another fight with you."
'Neither do I, but last time I tried to tell you and you didn't understand it!' The dragon muttered bitterly, but still smiled at the rest of his friend's words. 'But I'll try next time with a different method, okay? Maybe one we'll both understand?'
"Good to hear. Now get your eyes back on the sky before we crash into something okay?" Hiccup laughed, hugging the dragon around the neck suddenly.
Toothless was a tad surprised by this, but did as he was told and set his eyes back on the path ahead of them, just in time for them to narrowly dodge a rock that had been ahead of them.
