Well I promised some mini-Fables and my writing partner hasn't had time to write so I decided to just write these on my own. From this point on, I think the stories are going to be a combination of funny and touching. Because I keep getting these really sweet but not necessarily funny ideas. Though there will still be humor!

These are two stories I came up with yesterday. They're out of chronological order but I'm posting them in the order I wrote them. Enjoy!

Nothing

Aside from Stoick, Hiccup didn't tell anyone about his secret hideaway during days filled with too much stress. His childhood home stood deserted most of the time and, aside from the muffled noises of the village square, silent. He didn't like to venture in very often, only when he needed a break for a little while.

It had been a noisy week. Adrianna had been sullen and moody for what seemed like no reason at all. Attempting to get her to follow the simplest orders was more difficult than snatching a fish from a hungry Terrible Terror. She had done quite a bit of shouting and Finn had determinedly shouted louder than she so that he would be heard. All-in-all, Hiccup felt like he deserved this break as he walked through the front door.

There was something oddly comforting about his old surroundings. Stoick wasn't big on change and so, aside from a few modifications for the dragons, it stood exactly the same as it had been when he was born. He had vague memories of his mother sitting down on the very bench upon which he sat and telling him stories she had made up. When she died, the stories were some of the things he missed the most. Stories of trolls and dragons and the heroic Vikings who went up against them. Even Stoick would listen in, though he often pretended he was only in the room so that he could do a task that, in all honesty, didn't need doing.

But though both were gone, his mother to Valhalla and Stoick to a boring council meeting, they lingered like shadows in the flickering light of a candle. He could almost see his father telling him it was about time he learned dragon killing, could almost hear his own voice as he desperately attempted to change his mind. His mother's contended humming sometimes echoed when it was quiet enough. Hiccup sat still, a cup of hot tea in his hands, and closed his eyes, willing his mind to bring back all the sounds he remembered so that it would fill the quiet of the room.

"Poppy!"

Hiccup sighed deeply, a small smile on his face. Today just kept getting louder and louder. A second later, the door burst open and a tiny boy with red hair darkened the doorstep ever so slightly. He cocked his head like a confused Night Fury when he saw Hiccup sitting in front of the glowing fire pit.

"Well if I had known I would be having company, I would have made another cup of tea." Hiccup said cheerfully.

Finn grimaced. "Ew!"

His father breathed a laugh and surrendered to the fact that he wouldn't be getting much alone time that day. He patted the space next to him on the bench and Finn, after shutting the door, sat down and stared into the embers.

"Why are you here?" he asked, placing his head in his hands and both elbows on his knees.

"Well it's quiet here. And not at home. I was starting to miss it." Hiccup explained, placing his cup of tea next to him and emulating his son's pose. "Why are you here?"

"I wanted to talk to Poppy." Finn replied with a sigh.

"Oh?" Hiccup gently nudged the boy. "What about?"

"Nothing." Finn said through his teeth.

"Well Poppy's going to be gone all day. Mondays are always busier. More fights to break up and things to fix." Hiccup watched the embers slowly darken. "Things still break on the weekends when most of us are resting up for the next week."

"Oh." Finn sighed again.

"You can tell me, buddy."

The four-year-old looked up at his father for a few seconds, furrowed his brow, and shook his head. "No, I just have to talk to Poppy."

"Is it something about me or mommy or Addie?" Hiccup coaxed. Finn paused for a second before nodding. "Are you not happy?" The pause was longer before the subsequent nod. Hiccup put a hand on his son's back. "Me neither."

"But... but..."

"Oh I'm not angry at them." Hiccup backtracked. "I love your mommy and sister very much. But that doesn't mean they don't make me want to go away for a little bit so I can do... nothing."

The look of confusion crossed the boy's features once more. "What is doing nothing?" he asked.

"Well... I suppose it means going along, listening to all the things you can't hear, and not bothering." Hiccup smiled. "It's when people say, 'what are you two doing?' and you say, 'oh, nothing.' And we do it."

"Oh." Finn turned back to the embers.

"This is sort of a nothing thing we're doing right now." Hiccup nudged his son once more. "It's nice to get away from everything once in a while."

"I guess." Finn picked up a poker and started moving the embers around, enjoying the process of making sparks fly out of them and over the pit for a few seconds. "Why do you come here?"

"I grew up here." Hiccup breathed a laugh. "I used to sit just where you're sitting and poke the fire with that very poker myself when I was the same size as you."

"Wow. That was a long time ago!" Finn exclaimed, his blue eyes alight with mischeif.

"Watch it! I'm not that old!" Hiccup chuckled.

Finn giggled. "Okay." he conceded. "But Poppy is old."

"Oh yes. Your Poppy is a very old man." Hiccup agreed, his smile widening.

"So is this why my house is sometimes sweltering when I get back from work?" came a booming voice from the doorway.

"Oh no, that's just old age. Men your age are often confused." Hiccup called, knowing full well he deserved a good smack for that comment. Finn let out a laugh and covered his mouth with his hand.

Stoick stomped into the room and gave his son a withering look. "I'm not even going to dignify that statement with a response."

"Wouldn't that statement count as a response?" Hiccup dared.

He got his smack.

"Meeting ran shorter today so I thought I'd come home for a bit of relaxation. I wish I'd known I would have company." Stoick sat down on the bench across from his son and grandson, stretching out his muscles.

"You can relax. We're just doing nothing." Finn supplied with a grin.

"Nothing?"

"Yes, dad. I know you're not familiar with the concept." Hiccup winked and braced himself for another smack.

"I'll have you know that I did plenty of nothing in my day. And a whole lot more after you moved out."

Now Finn was laughing at Hiccup, who looked a bit sheepish. "Well raising me wasn't an easy task. I know that now. This little guy is hard work."

"No I'm not." Finn vehemently shook his head.

"Oh yes you are. Just wait until you have kids of your own." Hiccup chuckled. "But we love you anyway."

"I'm not having kids. I'd have to marry a girl." Finn stuck out his tongue in disgust.

Both Stoick and Hiccup laughed at this statement for quite a bit longer than Finn anticipated. What was so funny? Girls were icky!

"One day, you might not find them so bad." Stoick said, shaking his head with a smile still on his face.

"And your mommy was a little girl once." Hiccup added.

"Yes but she's mommy." Finn said as if this explained everything.

"Yes she is, little man. Maybe you should thank her once in a while." Hiccup put his arm on the boy's shoulder.

"I thought we were doing nothing." Finn reminded them. "I don't want to talk about girls!"

"Ahh. Of course not." Stoick winked at Hiccup, who shook his head in amusement. "That would be wasting our nothing time."

Finn smiled and went back to work poking the embers. For the next hour or so, three generations stared into the flames and listened to all the things they couldn't hear. And through the occasional crackling sounds and muffled noise outside, all three Haddock men heard the noises of times gone by. The ghosts that inhabited the old house were always present but it took a good deal of nothing to sense them. And by the time they had to leave, the Haddocks felt like it was the most relaxing and most enjoyable nothing they had ever done.

Mistakes

Things in the Haddock house weren't quite back to normal yet. True, Adrianna had finally begun to sleep in her own bed and her laughter became more frequent and less forced. But there was still an aura of uncertainty that hung over the house, of the fear that harm would befall the girl once more. Things that deviated from the norm and were once overlooked often made everyone, even Finn, a little bit jumpy.

After kissing Astrid goodbye and waving to Stoick, who was taking Finn away for their typical Thursday activities, Hiccup noticed that his daughter hadn't made an appearance. She was a late sleeper, something he was letting slide quite a bit more thanks to her frequent nightmares, but she still hadn't gotten out of bed. The young father had a strong feeling that something wasn't quite right.

He climbed the stairs slowly so that any sudden noises wouldn't distress his daughter. Lately, he found himself needing a few seconds to mentally prepare himself for dealing with Adrianna. He would take a broken child over no child at all but it was still greatly upsetting to watch her cope with something that shouldn't have happened at all. And that, perhaps, might not have happened if her father had been more diligent.

No, he thought. What's done is done. The person who is at fault is Trista and only her. I did the best I could with the information I had. It wasn't a comforting thought and, truthfully, he couldn't quite believe it yet, but he reminded himself of this as frequently as he could.

He gently knocked on his daughter's door and pushed it in. "Addie?"

The little girl looked up at him and immediately averted her gaze. She was sitting up, her blankets covering her legs and her hands gripping them very tightly. Even with everything that had happened just under a month ago, it was a bit out-of-character for her to refuse to look him in the eye.

"Addie, what's the matter?" Hiccup strode forward and got on his knees next to his little girl.

Adrianna shook her head and still refused to look at him. She looked like she was on the verge of tears.

Hiccup smiled at her. "Hey, whatever it is, it's okay."

Her daddy reached forward to tug the covers from her grip. She let out a squeak and held onto them so hard, her little knuckles were white. Hiccup was perplexed. She looked perfectly fine, albeit a little bit sweaty, so why was she holding her blankets with a death grip as if hiding something horrible? The answer hit him a second later.

"Addie?" he asked, his voice as gentle as he could make it. "Did you have an accident last night?"

He had apparently guessed correctly. The little girl's resolve finally broke and she began to cry into her hands. Hiccup immediately put his arms around her and let her cry on his shoulder.

"Aww, honey, it's okay. Accidents happen." he muttered, holding her tightly and feeling the jolt from each hiccup.

He had never seen her this... mortified. She had the coordination of a drunk Terrible Terror and didn't even seem phased when she tripped over something in front of people. In fact, she often laughed right along with them. But that was before her ordeal which, he thought, might have played a big part in what had happened.

"You're really embarrassed, aren't you?" Hiccup continued. He felt her head bob up and down on his shoulder. "Everybody makes mistakes, baby."

"B-but I'm not s-supposed to." she wept, her entire body shaking.

"Who told you that?" Hiccup pulled her away for a moment so he could look into her eyes. She sniffled loudly and he wiped away her tears as best he could. "Because that is just silly. Everybody makes mistakes. Finn makes mistakes. Mommy makes mistakes. Poppy makes mistakes."

Adrianna shook her head and covered her face with her hands. She looked almost frightened. No, she looked completely terrified. Like finding out about her little accident, which wasn't even a big deal in the grand scheme of things, was the worst thing in the world.

After a few seconds, she found her voice again. "D-don't let them t-take me away again."

"What?" Hiccup gasped, completely shocked. "Addie, what that woman did to you was wrong. Listen to me." he put his hands on her shoulder and waited until she met his gaze. "You were not being punished. You did nothing wrong. And no one will ever take you away again. No matter how many mistakes you make."

She didn't avert his gaze this time. "You p-promise?"

"I promise."

"You m-make mistakes?" she continued, now gripping his arm with her little hand.

Hiccup laughed. "Yes, Addie. I make mistakes. A lot. Every single day. I made a big mistake yesterday."

"You did?"

"I sure did. Erick's mommy wanted me to get her some flour from the food storage. You know how the bakery is aaaall the way across the village?" Adrianna nodded. "Well on the way back, right in the middle of the village and in front of everyone, the bag exploded all over me. I was completely covered in flour and I had to walk all the way across the village looking really silly and white." the little girl let out a timid giggle. "Oh I looked very ridiculous. Everybody saw me. Everybody laughed at me. But you know what I did?" she shook her head. "I made fun of myself. I laughed with them."

"Is that why your hair was white and you had to take a bath?" Adrianna asked.

"It sure is. I was embarrassed. Just like you are right now. Everybody saw me make that big mistake. But you know what?" Hiccup tapped her nose with his pointer finger. "You and me are the only ones who are ever going to know about yours."

Adrianna sniffled. "Not mommy?"

"Nope, not mommy. I'm not going to tell anyone." Hiccup kissed her on the forehead. "I love you, Addie."

"I love you too, daddy." Adrianna wiped away the last of her tears.

"Now let's get you all cleaned up and then we can make a snowman outside."

Hiccup ruffled her messy hair and was pleased to see his daughter genuinely smile.

Okay this doesn't usually happen to me but I had MAJOR warm fuzzies writing that last story. I seriously wanted to jump into the story and give Addie a big hug. Did I mention I love her? I really do!

And the first story was in response to the requests that Hiccup and Finn have some father/son time. Now that Under Pressure is finished (if you haven't read it yet, go read it because now you won't have to deal with cliff hangers), I can really take some time and map out the father/son elements of Stowaway.

I hope you all liked these two little stories! I've got a few more coming, most of which are funny!

~KateMarie999