Stoick looked closer at Hiccup's planters.
"How long have these been growing?" He asked. Hiccup took a moment to think.
"I don't know. Maybe a month. Thinks grow pretty quick here since it's always so hot and wet. Plus they get sun all day being up here.
It's been nice getting variety into my diet again. Eating just meat and fish for the last couple years was fine but it was getting boring. I don't know how the dragons eat the same things their whole lives.
Maybe they just eat to survive more than eat to enjoy it. I don't know. I'll ask Toothless when I get a chance." Hiccup pondered while Stoick chuckled.
"As talkative as ever."
"Oh? Uh, sorry. The dragons like to talk. I guess I've picked that up from them."
"Oh no you didn't. You've liked hearing your own voice ever since you were a little kid. Some nights you'd somehow never run out of things to say. You'd tell stories about all the adventures you'd go on. All the monsters you'd slayn. Every dragon head you'd put up on the wall.
You know the funniest thing about this whole thing is? You used to tell me that you wanted to be just like me when you grew up. Be big and strong and lead us to a future with no dragons." Hiccup hummed at his father.
"Yeah well, look where that got me. We're nothing alike."
"Do you really think that?" Stoick asked. Hiccup stood up and looked his dad in the eye.
"After I was exiled, I wanted to be nothing like you. You're whole life had been fighting and pushing things away. Pushing away the dragons, other villages, even your friends sometimes. And I understand why. To prevent people from dying. But you want to separate, and I want to bring everyone together."
"You act like Berk has no allies. Like I don't work to prevent war. You act like I stay in a bubble when I'm home. Like I don't care about the world as long as my people are safe. Maybe you should think about what makes us similar instead of trying to distance yourself from others like you. It's not you against the world, or well, for you it sorta is but you get it. You, me, Alvin, Dagur, we all have the same thing in mind. We lead our people the way we think is going to be most effective. What is going to make it the easiest way to survive. The only difference between you and the rest of us, are the pieces you're playing with. So stop trying to separate yourself from all the others who have the burden of leading and realize that you're just like everyone else in your position.
On top of that Hiccup, you don't exactly live somewhere that makes it easy to bring everyone together." Hiccup hummed.
"Until very recently I wanted Berk to be my home." Hiccup admitted. "But when I was there last time I didn't feel any connection to it anymore. I'm happy about that. But what I really realized was that it didn't matter where I was as long as Toothless was with me." Hiccup looked at the dragon who'd just made his way up with wood in his mouth. He was followed by a couple others who were also bringing up pieces for Hiccup. The wood was placed down in a pile near Hiccup. At the back a Terrible Terror brought up his bag of tools and that was placed near the pile of wood. The group left as quickly as they came, all except Toothless who posted himself near Hiccup.
As Hiccup searched through the pile of wood he was brought. Toothless and Stoick had a stare down. Hiccup plucked pieces from the pile and began seperating the pile into smaller piles. After creating some of the smaller groups Hiccup stood up and finally looked back at what Toothless and Stoick were doing. Hiccup rolled his eyes.
"What are you two trying to prove? Which one of you is more fearless, or more hard headed?" Toothless broke his gaze from Stoick.
"He was staring at me. So I stared back."
"That's probably cause he still considers you his biggest threat."
"I'm no threat to him as long as he follows the rules you put in place." Toothless soothed.
"Yeah, I know that. But to him you're still The Night Fury. Doesn't matter how many rules are in place. You're a threat to him."
"Well at least one us is. You're only a threat to yourself." Toothless chuckled. Hiccup waped him on the snout.
"Meany." Hiccup stuck out his tongue. They both started laughing.
"You going to be up here the rest of the day? Doing your boxes?"
"I was sorta planning to yeah. Why?"
"Just wondering. With the humans here everyone is focused on that, so I have nothing to really do. So I'm probably just going to stick up here with you if that's okay."
"Why wouldn't it be okay?"
"I just didn't know if you wanted private time with your dad or something."
"Oh, yeah. No that's okay. Whatever he has to say or that I say you deserve to hear too. You're my mate after all, I want you there for everything." Hiccup smiled. Toothless shivered.
"Gods I love you Hiccup." Toothless breathed. Hiccup gave him a big smile while taking the dragon's chin in hand. He gave Toothless a couple kisses on his snout.
"I love you too Toothless. Now go before all I want to do is be held."
"I wouldn't mind that. A nice nap in the sun with my mate. Mmmm. That'd be nice."
"Another time Toothless. I have to get these boxes done and I'm sure my dad has a thousand new questions that he wants to ask." Toothless took a few more seconds of looking at Hiccup before ripping himself away. He walked over to where Hiccup was going to sit and laid down nearby.