A bit EmmerzK wrote for Stowaway inspired me. Enjoy!

The Mud Bath

Fearless Finn Haddock was a rambunctious little boy on the best of days. For this reason, he almost always needed supervision. Left to his own devices, he was likely to wander off and get himself into trouble. This was already something he'd done on multiple occasions so Hiccup and Astrid thought it was best to assign the dragons babysitting duty when they needed to run an errand. Toothless and Stormfly's enthusiasm fluctuated quite a bit. Some days they were quite happy to babysit the bright eyed toddler. Other days, they would rather eat a whole basket of eels than chase the little boy all over Berk.

Today was one of those days in which Toothless rather enjoyed the little boy's company. It was fun to chase him around and keep him distracted from all the sharp objects and large rocks of which he would immediately try to jump off. The boy had turned three about a month ago and since then, his speaking was getting a little bit better so Toothless at least had an idea of what was running through his head when he was misbehaving.

"Toofwess!" he called, running away from the dragon as fast as his little feet would carry him. "Catch me!"

Toothless grinned and pursued the boy, careful to remain behind him but slowly gain on him until his nose was periodically bumping up against Finn's back. The toddler giggled loudly every time the Night Fury did this and Toothless liked that sound so much that he pursued the boy far outside of the limits his rider had set up. Soon they were in an unfamiliar clearing. Toothless looked around, feeling a bit sheepish and hoping he'd be able to find his way back.

"Wun, wun!" Finn hopped up and down in front of the dragon. "Catch me!"

Toothless grasped the boy's shirt in his gums so that the game would be over. He had to think. How was he supposed to lead his rider's young back to the house when he didn't even know where the house was? He snuffled and watches as the child made a beeline to a very large black... thing in the middle of the clearing. Toothless crept forward to investigate and managed to stop the boy from jumping into it before inspecting it.

The rain the previous day had left a very large mud pit. In fact, the middle of it was deep enough for the small boy to wade. Toothless was about to grab Finn's shirt again and get him away from the mess when the redhead leaped out of his reach and landed with a squelch on his bottom. He let out a squeal of delight.

"Yook Toofwess!" he grabbed a huge handful of the stuff and let it run down his fingers. "I aww messy!"

And messy he was. Toothless glared at the toddler through narrow eyes. He took several steps forward to attempt to retrieve him and suddenly slipped in the substance, landing face first into it. Letting out a growl of frustration, he wiped his eyes off. His legs were covered in the stuff... and it was quite nice, actually. The warm summer weather had made the mud very warm and it was like taking a hot bath. Toothless splashed in it, spraying mud in all directions. He looked over at Finn, a gummy smile on his face.

"Pway with me Toofwess!" the toddler called again, overjoyed that his daddy's dragon had figured out that getting dirty was a lot of fun.

Toothless backed out of the mud, making Finn's face fall a bit. Seconds later, when he had gotten a good distance away, the Night Fury wiggled his hindquarters and ran at top speed into the mud. Once he had submerged all four legs, he slid next to the young, sending a tidal wave of mud all over him. Finn screamed with laughter and splashed in the stuff with his little fists.

"Again! Again!" he squealed.

Toothless laughed at the sight of the toddler once he had gotten a good look at him. Finn was covered head to foot in the substance. His once bright red hair was now a sludge brown and dripping all all down his face. His green tunic was now the same color as his hair and arms and legs. The dragon was going to have a lot of explaining to do when he got back... and he didn't care one bit. This was loads of fun! He was so fond of this little boy and they were having the time of their lives out there.

When the time finally came for the muddy dragon and boy to return home, Toothless was slightly concerned that he would lose Finn because he was now the same color as the ground and trees. Finn stayed close by, however, hoping for a second adventure.

Berkians stopped to stair at the pair of them as they walked by, tracking mud everywhere they went. Gobber laughed to himself as they passed the forge. He so wished he could see Hiccup and Astrid's reaction to them but he was a bit behind on his work. There would be many, many more funny moments to come.

Stoick the Vast had gotten up on the wrong side of the bed that morning. The council meeting had gone on rather long as he took his frustration out on just about everyone there. Hiccup had tried to make himself look invisible but this only made the chief round on him too. After bellowing orders for the last few hours and terrifying a group of rowdy ten-year-old boys, Stoick decided that he hadn't lectured his son enough so he set off toward the Haddock home as soon as possible.

His granddaughter was sitting outside the house when he arrived. She was completely distracted by the doll she was playing with, which had a blue nightie and restitched legs. It wasn't until Stoick was only a few feet away that she noticed him.

"Poppy!" she shrieked in delight, sending the doll flying in the opposite direction.

The little girl bounded forward and threw her arms around one of her grandfather's legs. Stoick, despite his sour mood, felt a tiny spark of happiness at this affection.

"Hello there, Adrianna." he patted the girl's head. "Is your father home?"

"Uh huh!" Adrianna said, letting go of his leg at last. "Look what I founded out in da gawden!" she pointed to Astrid's garden, which was surprisingly well kept considering how young her children were.

"I need to talk to your father." Stoick boomed.

Adrianna took no notice, instead scurrying over to the garden and picking up a rock. "Seeeeee?" she chirped, handing it to her Poppy.

"It's a rock." Stoick said in a slightly exasperated voice.

"Noooo it's a dwagon wock!" the child was hopping from foot to foot as if she had been bursting to show this to him all day.

"Well... that's nice." Stoick sighed and looked at the rock again. For a moment, he couldn't figure out why his tiny granddaughter had been excited about this find... but then he noticed a tiny fossil in it, apparently left by a Fireworm long ago. "Oh I see." he handed the rock back to the girl. "I'm sure your father will like it."

"No, it's for you!" Adrianna shoved the rock back into Stoick's hand.

Before the chief could respond, the door opened and out came Hiccup, grinning at the sight of his father and daughter spending time together and marveling at just how tiny she was compared to him.

"Dad!" he greeted. "Never thought you'd show up..."

"Hiccup, we need to talk." Stoick boomed at his son in a voice that, at one time, would have made him cower in fear.

"And I'm sure it will be a wonderful discussion." Hiccup deadpanned.

Stoick huffed and opened his mouth to reply when Hiccup caught sight of two brown blobs approaching the house, one very large and the other small and hopping around like a hyperactive Terrible Terror. At the sight of his son's diverted attention, Stoick turned to look just in time for Astrid, who showed up at the door a moment later, to figure out what had happened.

"Ohhhh Finn!" she exclaimed.

Sure enough, it was Finn and Toothless who had arrived and both were completely covered in dark, wet mud. Hiccup sighed deeply. If it were someone else's child, he would have found this amusing but his son had such an aversion to bathing that it would be a real hassle to get him into the tub.

"Finn's all diwty!" Adrianna giggled and hiccuped loudly, covering her mouth with her hand.

"Yes he is, Addie." Hiccup bounded forward, his eyes on Toothless, who grinned. "Toothless, what in the name of sanity possessed you to think that this was a good idea?"

Toothless stopped walking and stared at his rider with narrowed eyes. He sighed. He didn't like lectures.

"You know you're not supposed- what are you doing?" With a gleeful sparkle in his eye, Toothless tensed his muscles and began to shake his head. "No! Toothless, don't you dare- GAH!"

The Night Fury shook his whole body, mud flying in all directions and coating everything within a few feet of him. Finn howled with laughter as his father put up his arms to block his face from the dark brown substance. Unfortunately, his leather flight suit wasn't so lucky.

"AWW COME ON!" he bellowed. "I JUST WASHED THIS!"

Toothless chortled defiantly as the laughter of Astrid and Adrianna joined in. Hiccup looked sadly at his flight suit and tried to brush the dark mud off of it. He was only successful in getting his hands covered in the stuff. He turned back to the house and Astrid let out a shout of laughter at the sight of him. Adrianna was covering her mouth with both hands, her whole body jerking with hiccups.

"Yeah that's right!" Hiccup attempted to keep a straight face as the hilarity of the situation began to dawn on him. "Just laugh at my misfortune."

Finn scampered over and put his arms around his father's leg. "Toofwess made you messy, daddy!" he reiterated.

Hiccup patted his son's head, a tiny smile finally forcing its way out of his face. "Yes. Yes he did, buddy."

The two of them sauntered over to the house. Adrianna took a step back, her green eyes alight with laughter.

"Addie, hey, how about a nice big hug?" Hiccup threw out his arms and began to pursue the toddler.

"NO!" Adrianna squeaked, running as fast as she could into the house and hiding under the kitchen table.

Hiccup pursued his child but Astrid stepped in front of him.

"You are not tracking mud in the house!" she said sternly.

"Aww come on-"

"No, I am not going to spend the next few days attempting to scrape dried mud off the floor." Astrid flapped her hands to shoo him away without touching him. "Or, rather, you won't want to spend the next few days doing that because I'm not touching it."

Hiccup crossed his arms in a pout but stepped away from the house. Finn giggled at his mother's insistence, glad that it wasn't him to whom she was speaking that way.

"Hey Anna, do you want to splash water on your daddy?" Astrid called into the house.

Adrianna toddled forward excitedly. Hiccup's eyes widened dramatically.

"Oh no!" he shouted when Astrid filled a bucket with water and handed it to the girl. "Not the water!" he pretended to flee in terror so his daughter would have to chase him down. She caught up with him seconds later and splashed his right leg. "GAH!" he fell down dramatically.

Suddenly, they heard a booming laugh. Stoick's sour mood had finally dissipated at the sight of his son and grandchildren having such fun. He couldn't even remember what he'd gone to the Haddock house to tell him. Something insignificant, he supposed.

"Here, Astrid, let me get the water." he said through guffaws.

Hiccup, Toothless, and Finn stood next to each other on the front lawn a few minutes later. Stoick, Astrid, and Adrianna all had buckets of water (Stoick's was technically a barrel) which they poured on the trio's heads. Mud came running down their bodies and puddled at their feet. Toothless glared at Astrid, who had soaked him, but acknowledged that this was probably better than his original plan, which was to attempt to lick all the mud off. Stoick doused Hiccup in one go and Adrianna was delighted to pour water onto her brother's head. Once they were finally clean, Astrid allowed them in the house (after taking off their boots and leaving them on the front porch).

Hiccup and Astrid invited Stoick to stay for dinner, an invitation he heartily accepted. He sat down on the couch and watched all the excitement going on around him. Finn had begun to run in circles around the fire pit and the kitchen table, babbling excitedly about everything he had done that day. Hiccup and Astrid worked on dinner, smiling fondly at their rambunctious little boy. Meanwhile, Adrianna snuggled up against her Poppy to watch everything rather than participate in the action. The evening's excitement had worn her out.

There was something about children that seemed to disarm everyone around them. And the Haddock children, Finn with his propensity for getting into mischief and Adrianna with the little discoveries that made her so very happy, disarmed even the toughest of people. This was why, though he would never say it out loud, Stoick simply adored the two of them. They could turn any bad day into a good one with their enthusiasm. He was so looking forward to watching them grow up.

Oh the ending was horribly cruel, I know, but think of it this way: Stoick does watch them grow up from above! In fact, I really want to assure the readers of that at some point in the series but I haven't found a place for it yet.

Anyway, the rest of this fic was fun to write. I kind of feel like it's choppy but it's been a while since I've written about the twins as toddlers and these little cutesy scenes are getting harder and harder to write what with all the angst I've been planning. But this series was due for an update.

Don't forget to review!

~KateMarie999