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Length (this chapter): 500 words
Characters (this chapter): Stoick, Gobber, Valka, baby!Hiccup
Summary (this chapter): Baby Hiccup has collywobbles. Stoick has anxiety.
"Stoick, calm down. You'll split your skull, thinking too much. D'you want to end up like Bucket?"
Stoick ignored him and kept pacing, big hands clenching and unclenching. Behind them, a baby's muffled wails could be heard from inside the house.
Gobber sighed. "You're overreacting. It's just a bit of collywobbles. Every baby gets it."
"Every baby is not Hiccup," Stoick growled. "You know how small—"
The door behind them swung open and Valka all but sprinted through it, Hiccup in her arms and a look of desperation on her face. Her hair was slipping out of its braids and there were bruised circles beneath her eyes.
"You have to take him," she said before Stoick could open his mouth. "I've tried everything, but he won't stop crying."
Stoick reached out but then hesitated. "But he's sick, Val. He needs his mother. What if I—"
"You're not going to break him, Stoick!" Valka snapped. The baby screamed louder in response and she winced, softening her tone. "He likes it best when you hold him." Gobber did not miss the slight wistfulness in her smile as she said it.
Stoick looked at her for a moment and then reached out for Hiccup. His hands were bigger the baby's whole body, but they held Hiccup with a gentleness that would have shocked anyone who didn't know him well. Gobber found it rather endearing, though he'd never say it out loud.
Being in his father's arms was like magic. Almost instantly Hiccup's cries slowed and then, with an actual hiccup, they stopped. Fat tears still ran down his cheeks, red with crying and fever. But as usual, one tiny hand reached out and fastened itself to the unruly red beard, and his eyes fixed themselves on his father's face as if awestruck. And as usual, Stoick stared back with the same expression.
Valka and Gobber shared a sigh. "Well," said Gobber, "I think we can leave them alone for an hour or two." He nudged Valka gently. "You get some sleep. I'll make supper."
"Inviting yourself over again?" she teased with a smile, patting his arm as he led the way inside.
"Of course. You'd all have collywobbles if I didn't do the cooking."
As he moved to close the door behind them Gobber glanced back to see Stoick, face bent close to his son's, talking to him quietly. Hiccup looked as though he were hanging onto every word, green eyes huge and serious.
Gobber grinned at the sight. Inseparable already, those two. He'd never seen a father and son more made for each other.