As always, I own nothing.

I have used the text itself to response to some reviews. Whatever I don't address will be explained in a note at the end.

A Tuff Song to Hear

Hiccup wandered to the table where his dragon riders ate. Snotlout kept laughing at everything Ruffnut said and paid her over the top compliments, while everyone else rolled their eyes.

Eret and Reed Erickson sat at the table with them, the two men finding amusement in Snotlout's extreme efforts. Tuffnut and his new female companions sat near the men, absorbed in their own conversations.

Hiccup maneuvered his way between Snotlout and Ruff, thinking Snotlout probably suffered enough humiliation for the night and Ruffnut wanted space. The two of them had grown closer in the past few months, Hiccup and Astrid even suspected they might be secretly dating, but for some reason Ruffnut suddenly cooled toward him. Astrid brought it up once, but Hiccup said he wanted to see it play out before getting involved. With his rise to chief, they had other things to worry about.

"Tuffnut do you have any more songs? Maybe something not about my underwear fetish?" Hiccup said.

"Chief, first, happy your coming to terms with it-"

"I don't have a-"

"Second, I thought you'd never ask. I actually came up with something today. About today actually-"

"Oh great," Hiccup rolled his eyes.

"And Ruffnut has been learning the fiddle, so I have another song we've both been working on that we'll perform."

Snotlout leaned behind Hiccup to look at Ruffnut, "Beautiful. Talented. More reasons we should be together."

Tuffnut replied, "Well, I am all these things, but I'm even less into you than my twin."

Everyone at the table laughed. And Snotlout shot him a I-wasn't-talking-to-you look.

"Tuffnut, ease up and go entertain the people, it's what I keep ya around for," Hiccup stood and yanked Snotlout with him, "You, come with me. We need a drink." He'd had so much himself, he'd forgotten his goal of getting everyone else to drink less.

"I don't want to drink more, I'm still sick from earlier," Snotlout whined.

"Nonsense, my dad always said the best cure for a hangover was drinking till you forgot about it." Although, Stoick had also told him to switch the kegs at parties out around 10PM. A little Haddock trick handed down for a few generations: when the party started, put kegs out filled with regular potency ale and mead, but after 10PM –when people had reached a steady drunken level – put out kegs that were water down. No one ever noticed, and only Alvar who was in charge if the drinks knew. And Hiccup knew, and as much as he needed a few drinks to unwind tonight, he knew this would hurt tomorrow. He had a few hangover in his life and preferred not to have too many more. He promised himself this would be the only one this week, especially since it seemed to upset Astrid – was that why she was mad?

As the two stumbled back to the kegs, Hiccup asked, "What's up with you and the twins? I though you and Ruffnut had a thing going. And you and Tuffnut falling out?"

"Hiccup, I'll never get women. She seemed interested, she even said we could maybe tell people were a couple. Then one day, she went off and called me immature and said 'grow up'."

"Yeah, Astrid just threatened me because some girl was fliting with Tuffnut and talked to me – is that strange?"

"Astrid threatening people – that's normal – threatening you, not really…"

"Yeah, that's what I thought, so I walked off to let us cool down."

Snotlout looked at the ring of girls surrounding Dagur. "Do you think if Ruffnut thought someone else was into me – like if I could make her jealous - she'd turn around?"

"That's a bad idea…and if she's not interested in you anymore, which, it seems she isn't – you can't make her jealous. And you can't make her like you." He looked over at Astrid and wondered if she thought he was flirting and that upset her? He wanted her to be happy, if he knew what he did wrong an apology would quell her anger. Maybe the alcohol and stress were affecting him and he did something he missed? He kept himself in control, but his snippy attitude could have been toned down. And somehow, she seemed insecure lately. Normally she didn't care what other girls said, why tonight? And why did she even mention it? After all he had to talk to people and be charming, not his favorite duty as chief, but it came naturally. Maybe, she felt the stress too.

Hiccup looked back at Snotlout, "Maybe she is done and wants to move on. If you do, you can all go back to being friendly. And it will be one less thing I have to worry about."

Hiccup pulled him over to Dagur's group and made a point of getting Dagur to introduce the girls to Snotlout. The girl who had approached him before, kept touching his arm.

Hiccup looked back to where Astrid sat, she had moved away from her seat and stood in a corner with Heather and Fishlegs. He felt bad and he didn't know why she got upset. He tried to give her an apologetic sad look, which she missed.

He looked at the girls standing there with their tight dresses and overextended smiles, to him none of the girls in the room compared to Astrid. Not Brie, who could be her twin. Not Ingrid, who almost was her twin. And certainly not the loose girl who kept brushing against him and probably saw him as interchangeable with any other guy there.

He thought about Brie again for a moment – did he almost slip up earlier? Had she been hitting on him? No. He told himself he had been exhausted and Gunnar's comments about his dad, unnerved him and rubbed at his guilt more than he realized. Brie looked like Astrid, she was a poor substitute for a split second that would have never gone further, and fate must have known this, because when he needed her most, Astrid appeared– pulling him from dispair. Besides, he figured, Brie had to be terrified of her, such a timid girl would never risk the wrath of a force like Ms. Astrid Hofferson.

He switched places with Snotlout, pushing him closer to the flirtatious girl who kept pushing her chest forward. Hiccup told the girl about Snotlout, his cousin, a productive advisor on Berk's council, and a Dragon rider on a Monstrous Nightmare. Her attention switched, especially when Snoltout started complimenting everything about her.

000

Tuffnut stood in the center of the room and stoked the audience with a funny song about losing his boots that day to a wily boar, who would now roam the forests and forever be known as the Booted Boar of Berk. It was a cute song, with only subtle references to Punch and Puke, with a refrain that got the audience involved and everyone laughed.

When Tuff finished, Hiccup decided he should seek Astrid and talk to her.

As he moved from the group, Ruffnut joined her brother in the center and they silenced the crowd "I want to be serious for a moment," Tuffnut announced.

The crowed mumbled with skepticism.

"Trust me, I'm the most surprised by this. Anyhow, I wrote this song a while ago, when we all lost someone dear to us. My sister, Ruffnut, here is going to help me out. I don't say this often, but I don't know what I would do without her - I'd probably take her clothes that fit me and double my wardrobe. Not her underwear though, that's only a Hiccup thing –"

People laughed and Hiccup grabbed a rib bone off a plate and threw it at him.

Tuffnut dodged it, saying, "We love you, Chief. This song is for you. And Stoick. I know he's watching from Valhalla, right now. But this is where he wants to be. To see his son, our friend, a brave leader, and someone who went beyond all our expectations, except his, because he always knew what you could be."

Hiccup swallowed hard. He felt a stabbing in the empty place in his chest where his heart should be. He didn't expect this. He expected people to mumble regrets, pat him on the back, and act like everything was fine. Tuff's bringing it up before everyone, acknowledging it when he wasn't prepared and had too much stress and alcohol - it tore at him. However, it was about to get worse.

Ruff started with a sweet solo, she must have been practicing for longer than he thought because each note wept out like tear from the heart. Her singing voice had a surprisingly pleasant grainy tone, which gave the song a sense of life lived wisdom. Slowly, Tuffnut started adding notes on his guitar, also sad and long, finally with his rich voice he began to sing.

The song was a story of a boy and his father, two people alike in ideals, but different in executions, always wanting to do the right thing, but never able to agree, until the boy almost died in battle, but then the father sacrificed himself so his son could go on - to be a better man and fulfill his destiny. The song finished and teary-eyed crowd cheered.

However, Hiccup wasn't in the hall for the end of the song. He felt sadness well up inside him like the embers of a forge the moment it began. When, eyes shifted to the musicians, he slipped out the doors.

Words can form stories, build relationships, and change people's minds, but they can also crush a gentle soul.

He heard the whole song. All of it. Punishing him. Making him feel the pain he kept to himself. Crashing on him like waves on rocks. Outside from the eyes of Berk, he sobbed, hidden in the shadows, back braced against the outside wall, silent uncontrolled sobs shaking his whole body as tears burned his eyes. He stayed there, until the song was over. Until the crowd finished their applause. Until Toothless found him, forcing him to hid the tears and spare the dragon's feelings. Until he could contain himself enough to walk away.

000

There was some negative response to previous chapters and I hope that some changes I made to this chapter address those. Some issues will be solved later. A good story doesn't dump the whole plot and its solutions at once. Remember, HTTYD did not start out with Hiccup and Toothless as friends with everyone loving them, they went through a lot to get there.

Thanks Balthazar – 1066. You get me and this story! Yes, it is all about the difficulties of the roles these people have to play. I've always wanted to do a story that embraces the struggles people have when changing places in life – I think the hardest times people face can be when they get out of school and hit the real world, High School is hard socially, but outside things get hard emotionally, financially, and mentally – but I've seen people get through that and I wanted to show that and the successful outcomes.

ShipMistress – Thank you. As you know, I admire your work. I suggest folks who are looking for something more upbeat read your story "I Should Go". Thanks for your confidence in me, I hope I live up to it.

I want to answer the comments and explain the issues that upset people, this is not an angry rant. For those who get the story, skip this and wait for the next chapter. It is my effort to logically engage people who might be angry and explain my motives. There are some spoilers below:

-Hiccup does NOT cheat, nor will he ever in this story, this is all above. You might have thought I was going in that direction because, if you didn't there'd be no suspense. It is in Astrid's head because she is insecure about changing her role in life and she hasn't talked it over with Hiccup. If they talk, they will feel better – they will have to talk.

-No one in Berk is watching Brie with Hiccup, because they know he won't cheat. Only Astrid worries about this because Gunnar told her sister to mess with her head. Hiccup also knows he won't cheat (see above)

-Astrid does not know about Gunnar's abuse towards Ingrid yet because Hiccup has not had a chance to tell her (he has been super busy, and that's not a 'By the way, Honey, real quick…' type of conversation), they have no time to talk, and that is one of the thing that is causing them problems. Also, he doesn't want to stress her out. She'll find out soon.

Hiccup's drunkenness is addressed above, this is a onetime thing in this story, he'll drink again, but pace himself and won't get drunk.

Equality of women in Viking society and slavery are issues that will become more important as the story progresses. Not just because of Astrid, but there will be some cute scenes about Ruffnut and Heather that will catalyze changes and push other tribes to do the right thing. I bucked tradition to fit the story. I think you are missing the point – it's about how women need to come together and support each other when their lives change – that will happen, but they have to have a path to get there. (reminding me if anyone loves great films – A Path Appears – so good if you are interested in women's issues)

Hiccup and Astrid will have a few arguments in this story, but they are strong and it's not about the fight, it's about coming back from it and building paths to solution together. The disagreements will define their relationship and set expectations of who they are to each other. They love each other very much and feel comfortable enough to argue and approach each other to work it out.

Genre – I categorized as I did, because romance (love) and friendship is what is going to get everyone through problems. Hiccup needs Astrid and their friends need them and they need their friends. Yep, everyone else in this story is going to have issues, ones they can work through – together (adapting to new roles in life are hard and these characters are all changing). If you can't handle that, don't read. I can only pick 2 categories, maybe I'll change to drama, but tragedy would imply an unhappy ending. I already know how this ends, so it's not a tragedy. Spoiler alert - after all they will go through, every non-OC will get a happy ending. Also, there will be cute fun scenes to bring the story back up to a high.

Not every story will go the way you want at every moment. You have every right to comment on things that bother you, but please do so in a considerate manner. Sometimes a word or a situation taken out of context or by itself can be misunderstood or might have been poorly written, and if I wrote things poorly and the things above were not clear - I apologize. This story can be a bit more cerebral and goes to dark places – the issue of slavery is dark and the Viking era was not a clean happy one and relationships and people grow stronger by being tested, so they have to have conflict.

If I strayed from the usual characteristics of the characters, it is because they are in an extreme situation and will have to cope with what I gave them. They will get back to being more true to themselves.

If you do review to please be respectful and constructive. If you don't like, stop reading or PM me for a summary to see if you can handle what's to come.