A/N: I don't know if you noticed, but I changed the summary of this story to match it's themes better. It is a Hiccup-runaway story, however, the focus will be on Hiccup and Stoick's relationship, NOT on Hiccup traveling everywhere, meeting new people, changing into an out-of-character version of himself, and then returning to Berk to help them fight the Queen while having drama with a mean Astrid turned love interest, while a jerk Snotlout tries to become chief, like all the other Hiccup-runaway stories I've read. That is NOT this story. This one will be very different.
—NO SOLICITING! I will not pay anyone to do concept art, comics, or animation for my fan fictions. What a silly thing to do for something I don't own. Anyone trying to get me to buy something in reviews or messages will be blocked! I can't believe that I have to put this disclaimer on my fan fictions now. Shame.—
—
Chapter 3:
Stoick knew something was wrong. He'd had a niggling feeling in the back of his mind all morning. Even if it was normal for him to not see Hiccup much during the day, he was still always aware of signs of his son. Whether it was hearing his voice in the forge, spotting him sitting alone at a table in the Great Hall, passing him while he lounged somewhere with his little notebook. Stoick had never admitted it, but he purposely watched out for his son while he was doing his duties, noting where he saw him most, just sensing that he was at least safe and taking comfort in that while he went about his day.
When Hiccup wasn't anywhere to be found, Stoick usually assumed he was out in the forest. There were a lot of safe, nearby places just inside the woods where he'd assume his son was spending some time, doing whatever it was he did— drawing, reading, taking a walk. He wasn't entirely sure why, but he just knew that wasn't what Hiccup was doing now, while he was missing.
Whether it was some kind of fatherly intuition, or the fact that this was Hiccup's day, something he thought his son had been dreaming of for years, and he wasn't there to enjoy it like he should be. Stoick knew that something wasn't right; shouldn't Hiccup be enjoying the attention, taking friendly advice from anyone who wanted to offer it, maybe showing off a little, and preparing for the big fight?
However, there had been no signs of Hiccup, anywhere.
Once they were all gathered for the ceremony, Stoick had delivered his speech about how surprised, and how proud he was. He had thought he'd see Hiccup in the crowd, and he'd meet his son's eyes, and they'd share a moment as he gave his speech, but Hiccup still wasn't anywhere to be found.
It was confirmed for Stoick. Something had happened to his son, something was wrong.
Stoick hesitated during his speech, leaving the crowd hanging on for his next words. Looking down at the ring, he could see Gobber shrug at him from the entrance, where Hiccup was supposed to enter from. He wasn't there.
People were beginning pick up on it, sensing something to be wrong. Stoick could hear the sound of the crowd shift from excitement, to gossiping whispers.
"I need everyone to listen!" Stoick shouted over the crowd, abandoning the rest of his planned speech. "We need to split up into search parties. We need to find Hiccup."
"He's not here?" People began looking around.
"Maybe he's just running late." Spitelout spoke up from nearby.
"Would you be late to an event as important as this?" Spitelout's wife, Frida, gave him a look.
"No, but this is Hiccup. Since when does he do what people expect?" Spitelout said in defense.
"He likes to train in the woods." A voice spoke up.
Stoick looked around for who had spoken, and wasn't surprised when Astrid stepped forward.
"So I've heard." Stoick responded, noting that her body language wasn't as confident as it usually was. "You think he's out there now?"
Astrid hesitated before she spoke. She'd been wondering where Hiccup was all day. She knew she had been near him the day before. She had sensed him there, but she hadn't managed to catch up to him. When he had been no where to be seen all day, not even out to flaunt his win and bask in the approval of the people he had wanted so badly, she had wondered if he had ever even returned.
"I saw him leave the party last night." Astrid finally admitted. "I, uh, I followed him. I thought I'd get to see what he was doing out there, to train. That maybe, maybe he'd tell me what he'd been doing to get so good." She paused as she met Stoick's eyes, not knowing why she suddenly felt like she had done something wrong. "I never caught up to him. He disappeared."
Stoick tried not to react outwardly, tried to keep his calm for the people. "Did you hear anything? Any sounds of dragons, or of… distress?"
Astrid shook her head slowly, beginning to realize just how serious the situation could be. Did Stoick think a dragon had hurt Hiccup, that he was out there in trouble? Or even dead? She felt a shock of horror erupt in her heart and begin to spread, a creeping cold that went through her limbs. She'd been out there. What if she could have helped him, but had given up instead?
"He won the honor of killing a dragon in the ring, but you don't think he can handle himself out in the woods?" An old, croaky voice asked, and Stoick immediately knew it belonged to Mildew. "Seems to me that he should be capable of killing dragons anywhere."
"Quiet." Stoick snapped at the old man who dared to looked offended. He didn't have time to put up with the crotchety old man, not in that moment. "We're going to organize search parties, to comb the woods."
Gobber was suddenly next to him, having made his way up from the entrance of the ring. Before Stoick could even begin to think through how to organize the search parties, his loyal friend was already calling out people to be the leaders of various groups, and telling them where they should start their searches.
Stoick was grateful that Gobber always seemed to know when he should step in. Everything was beginning to close in on Stoick, he felt a sense of panic creeping in, a deep fear of losing the only family he had left, threatening to take over and send him over the edge. He was fighting for control, to maintain the illusion that he was still stoic and calm.
He took a slow breath as he watched everyone break into groups, some would go search, others would remain behind and keep watch, or prepare to take care of the people who returned, wary from a long search. There were a lot of concerned faces, and Stoick was at least grateful to see that when it came down to it, his people did care about Hiccup's well-being. Though, part of him wondered if they'd have responded the same way before Hiccup had earned the honor of killing a dragon. If Hiccup hadn't proved himself, would they be rolling their eyes, groaning over the inconvenience to their day, of an obnoxious boy who couldn't stop getting into trouble?
Stoick felt a wave of shame wash over him, because he was entirely positive that that was how they would have reacted in the past, and he knew it was his fault. He would have reacted similarly.
He had been planning to fix things, to make life better for his son. He was going to be the example who taught others to treat Hiccup better, and now he was left wondering if he'd ever have the chance.
—
It hadn't taken that long for the young group of friends to get distracted and start arguing. In fact, Astrid was surprised they had gotten as far as they had. They'd been tasked with searching various areas of the village and nearby. If there was something dangerous in the woods, no one wanted the kids out there so they could disappear like Hiccup had.
They had checked maybe half of the barns by that point, and had a list of other random places to look, but Astrid knew it was pointless. She just knew that Hiccup wasn't in the village. She was convinced that he had never returned from the woods the night before and wished she could have joined some other search team. What if they weren't looking in the right places? She knew which areas Hiccup tended to go, because she'd tried following him on various occasions, and always lost him in the same spot in the woods.
Searching the village was a waste of time, but she figured that was the point, to keep them busy and out of the way. But she didn't like it.
"Mildew had a point." Snotlout said, kicking a rock, clearly bored of their task already. "We saw the things Hiccup did in the ring, he commanded a Zippleback into it's cage, he can drop a dragon with a single touch!" He was still in awe, and a little jealous if he was being completely honest with himself, of the things Hiccup had done during training. "He must have lost track of time or something."
"Dragons aren't the only danger out there." Fishlegs argued. "There are other wild animals, dangerous terrain, or even enemy tribes."
"In our woods?" Ruffnut asked, skeptical, eyebrow raised. "Other tribes?"
"Well, not living out there, obviously." Fishlegs rolled his eyes. "What if one of them wanted to take Berk's heir?"
"I don't know what's more unlikely, enemy tribes hiding in our forest, or enemy tribes thinking that they'd be doing us a disservice by taking Hiccup." Tuffnut stated, monotone, resulting back to his old habit of insulting Hiccup when the opportunity arose.
"It's not like enemy tribes know that Hiccup stopped being- that he used to be- that we now like-" Fishlegs paused, suddenly feeling like the sentiment he was trying to get across was disloyal to Hiccup. He'd never really been outright mean to Hiccup, but he'd never stood up for him either. He'd told himself that he was neutral, that he didn't want to get involved, but deep down, he knew he wasn't on the right side of things. That deciding to support Hiccup after he'd gained the respect of others, didn't cancel out the way he'd acted toward him before. "The point is, that he's Chief Stoick's son, and that is what makes him of value to them."
"He probably just chickened out." Snotlout rolled his eyes. "Whenever he took down a dragon, he was near it. I don't know what he did, I never saw it coming, and I was never around him, but I'm pretty sure he had to be near the dragon."
"That's an interesting observation." Fishlegs said thoughtfully. "I never actually saw what he was doing either."
"So, maybe it's not something he could do to a Monstrous Nightmare." Snotlout pointed out like it was obvious. "You can't touch one of those, they light themselves on fire! It's a whole other level of dragon, one we didn't train with."
Astrid gave Snotlout a considering look. It wasn't that she thought Hiccup was a coward, she was pretty sure he wasn't. Either he was brave, or just plain stupid, considering the amount of dangerous situations he'd gotten himself into in the past. What Snotlout had said that had peaked her interest was about Hiccup's techniques in the ring. He was right, he always got near the dragons. She'd never seen him actually raise a weapon, and the dragons would just drop. That, or he'd use some other kind of trick, like the reflected light off of his shield to distract the Terrible Terror, something she remembered doing to play with one of the village cats to entertain herself in the past and would have never thought to have applied to dragon training. Whatever he did do, it never involved lifting a weapon to them.
"Okay, but there's one flaw in your logic." Ruffnut said, holding up a finger.
"How did he simply command the Zippleback to go back into it's cage?" Tuffnut finished his sister's point.
"That's right, he didn't have to be near that dragon to do that. Maybe he could have done it with the Monstrous Nightmare." Fishlegs looked thoughtful.
Snotlout looked stumped, and he tried to come up with some kind of explanation. "I don't know!" He finally said in exasperation. "Maybe he's got the same kind of effect on all creatures, everyone wants to get away from him."
"Snotlout." Fishlegs sounded disapproving, finally standing up for Hiccup. "Even you wanted to sit with him in the Great Hall during dinner and talk about training techniques."
"Yeah, before we all found out that he's a quitter." Snotlout held out his arms to emphasize his words. "He let down the whole tribe, again. That means he really hasn't changed much at all, right?"
The four of them went silent, sharing uncertain looks. They all wanted to go on like normal, but they knew there had to be something more to the story. Besides that, they couldn't deny that they had wanted Hiccup around, they'd wanted him to join their friend group. So could they really justify being so disloyal to him after all that?
"Hey, where'd Astrid go?" Tuffnut asked, looking around.
The others perked up, suddenly wondering the same thing. None of them had seen her leave. It was just like how Hiccup had left them the night before. He'd been there one moment, then gone the next, and none of them save for Fishlegs who had spoken to him right before he had gone, had noticed him leave.
—
Astrid knew she was breaking the rules, but for once, she didn't really care. They'd been instructed not to leave the village, for their own safety, and normally Astrid obeyed, she was the good little warrior who did what she was told and trained hard to fight their enemy, like they were all supposed to do.
Maybe that wasn't the way to find Hiccup. You didn't find someone as unorthodox as him without bending the rules. You didn't understand someone like him by not asking questions.
It had suddenly occurred to her, when Snotlout had been making his points, that she had felt something the night before. When she had thought she was finally going to catch up to him, to finally confront him, instead he'd disappeared completely, and she had decided to give up.
She'd had a lingering feeling of guilt ever since they'd learned that Hiccup was missing, wondering if she had done something wrong. That maybe she hadn't been able to help him because she had decided to sink down next to that rock and have a moment of self pity— that was so unlike her— instead of continuing her search for him. Normally, she'd have trekked on, she wouldn't have given up so easily. If only she had stubbornly decided to keep searching, to keep tracking the mysterious boy, then maybe she'd have been at the right place, at the right time, to help him.
Those had been her thoughts until Snotlout had made a point that made her question everything. Up until that moment, no one had called Hiccup out for his odd methods. No one had pointed out that he didn't use the weapons to take down the dragons. Everyone just remained in awe that he seemed to have a way with them. Nobody pointed out that he didn't harm the dragons, that they were always okay in the end. No one realized that they'd never really even gotten a good look at what he was actually doing.
That made Astrid wonder, what exactly was Hiccup doing with those dragons? Did he really not want to fight that Monstrous Nightmare? Did he decide that he couldn't, because Snotlout was right, that was a dragon you couldn't touch, it wasn't a dragon that tricks would work on? A Monstrous Nightmare would burst out of its cage and go straight for you, Hiccup would have to actually fight it. And, maybe… he couldn't.
Astrid wasn't entirely sure why she found herself heading back to the same spot she'd been the night before, where she thought she had sensed him, but it just seemed like a good place to start. Thinking back, she was sure that he had been near when she'd plopped herself down by that large rock to sulk. She hadn't been alone, and at the time, she had welcomed the feeling of having someone nearby, but now, she was kicking herself for not analyzing the situation. When you felt like you weren't alone in the woods, that wasn't the time to be vulnerable, so why had she not acted on instinct, taken up a defensive position, searched for whoever was watching her?
Because it hadn't been a threatening presence.
Astrid paused, looking up the trail that she had followed the day before. There sat the rock, dividing the path that either led deeper into the forest, or back to the chief's house. He had been there, she was sure of it.
Hand running along the cool, bumpy surface, she stepped around it. Had he really been that close? Was this really all she would have had to do the night before, to find him?
She froze as she stepped to the other side, surprised despite herself, that her intuition had actually led her to something. Part of her had assumed that she was wrong, that she was making something of nothing, that the moment she'd had on the other side of that rock had been nothing more than a moment of weakness in which she was trying to find meaning. But, there sat something familiar on the other side, something she knew belonged to Hiccup.
It was a little book. One he was often seen scribbling, writing, or drawing in. She knew that worn, leather bound book even if she'd never taken the time to ask him about it, or to look over his shoulder into it, or even paid much attention to Hiccup, himself.
Slowly, suddenly feeling a tingling feeling of uncertainty and curiosity, she knelt down and picked up the book. She caressed the cover with a hand before flipping it open.
Astrid's eyes widened. This changed everything.
—
Hiccup didn't know where he was, not at first. He opened his eyes slowly, unable to focus his mind on figuring out where he was or how he'd gotten there. He was too caught up with the discomfort of pebbles underneath him. With the feeling of cold water lapping at his sides and legs as it moved with the tide. He was shivering, his head hurt, he could feel bruises forming.
His eyes opened to a white, foggy sky above him. It looked dreary, and cold. It could have been one of the many shores around Berk, but Hiccup knew that it wasn't.
His memory began to flood back in with the sight of his Night Fury who was suddenly blocking his vision, sniffing at his face and blinking at him, hot breath displacing his hair. Hiccup instinctually knew, Toothless was checking on him, had probably been watching over him for, however long he'd been there.
"The nest." Hiccup said in realization, barely more than a whisper. His eyes widened when he remembered all that had happened to lead to him accidentally finding the nest, to them trying to escape and, apparently, not making it.
Hiccup groaned as he lifted himself up and looked around. He was still on the island that surrounded the mountain of a nest. They were on the shores, as far away as they could be, without leaving, from the beast within.
"Did we land in the water?" Hiccup met Toothless' eyes, the dragon still watching him with concern.
Toothless let out a huff as he moved his head in an up-and-down motion, something he'd picked up on from Hiccup. A movement that he had learned meant 'yes.'
"You pulled me from the water?" Hiccup deduced. There was no other explanation, he was drenched, and cold. He probably wouldn't have survived an impact with the pebbly shores, or he'd have been more injured if he had. "Thanks, bud."
Toothless nosed at Hiccup's face, as if to assure him that he would always keep him safe, he would always be there. He was rewarded with a smile and a soft exhale of amusement from his rider. However, it didn't last long as something dawned on the boy.
"The riding gear." Hiccup forced himself to his feet, nearly collapsing back down when one of his legs gave out, but he stumbled through it and was at Toothless' side in an instant.
Toothless' ears shot up in surprise as Hiccup raced to his side, nearly falling over in the process. He turned his head, curiosity winning over as he watched Hiccup, obviously distressed.
"No no no, no!" Hiccup was running his hands over the line that lead from the pedal, to the prosthetic fin. "It's completely broken."
Toothless huffed in question.
"That dragon, the one that got stuck on the gear, he tore right through it!" It was becoming clearer in his mind, the adrenaline ridden event that had caused their crash. Hiccup met Toothless' eyes again, looking desperate and panicked. "I can't fix this without a forge."
Toothless' eyes widened as understanding sunk in. They were stuck on an island with the Queen.
—
Astrid felt like she was doing something wrong, again, as she sat by her window, using the light of the moon to illuminate the pages of Hiccup's book. All the notes he had taken were so detailed and artistically done. It was like a more advanced version of the Book of Dragons, except that it wasn't telling her how every dragon they knew of was going to kill her in a horrible way, it told her how to handle them, how to interact with, and… train them?
It was absolutely ridiculous, it went against everything she had ever been taught, it felt almost blasphemous, but, it also made so much sense. It explained how Hiccup had done everything he had done in the ring, which meant that it clearly worked.
The Hideous Zippleback that Hiccup had commanded back into it's cage? It was repulsed by eels, of which Hiccup had had on his person at the time. Apparently all dragons he knew of hated eels. Astrid nearly snorted in a cross between amusement and exasperation as she read about it. Had it really been that simple? Hiccup had shocked them all because he'd been wearing an eel as a scarf that day?
Dragons were afraid of eels. That alone could solve many of their problems. They could simply fish for eels and hide them in their food stores, or put them around their flocks. It would be incredibly weird, but if it repelled them, then great. They could wag the eels around instead of weapons, and the dragons would leave them alone.
Then there were the moments in the ring where Hiccup had somehow downed a dragon with his bare hands, doing something that nobody ever actually saw. Astrid had always been left utterly puzzled over that one. She'd be running in with her ax, and then the dragon would fall, Hiccup being revealed to have been standing behind it, looking at her, chagrined.
It turned out that there was a spot under the jaws of most dragons, that if one was crazy enough to put their hands that close to their mouths, you could scratch it and get them to fall into a stupor.
She almost wanted to slam the book shut in pure annoyance and frustration. That was it?! Hiccup had scratched under a dragon's chin and knocked them out, making her look like an incompetent fool, and beating her in winning the honor of killing a dragon in front of the tribe?
Astrid froze as it dawned on her. Killing a dragon in front of the tribe had not been something Hiccup would have considered an honor. He had written all about it in his book. He had taken the time to understand dragons in a way none of them ever had.
The most shocking thing in the book wasn't that Hiccup had tricked them with hidden eels, with a deeper knowledge of dragon behavior, or knowing secret spots to knock out a dragon with a mere touch. The most ridiculous, shocking, amazing thing had been the fact that Hiccup had shot down that Night Fury, had had the chance to kill it and win the favor of his tribe and chief, his father, and had instead let it free and fostered a friendship with it.
He had befriended and trained a Night Fury.
She wasn't sure how to feel about it. Clearly, the methods he'd learned worked. She'd witnessed it. He'd gone from completely useless in the ring to controlling dragons and knocking them out with a simple touch of the hand.
The book had notes about the Night Fury's tail, it had apparently been torn off when Hiccup had shot it out of the sky— because that had actually happened. There were notes and diagrams, drawings of what made up the tail fin. From what Astrid gathered from everything, Hiccup had made a prosthetic tail fin for the dragon and had mapped out the movements used in flight for different maneuvers. It was ingenious.
She hadn't known just how smart and capable he was. She knew that she wouldn't have been able to figure all of that out, but then, she wouldn't have even tried. If it had been her, she'd have killed the Night Fury and missed out on all the creature had to offer and teach.
Apparently, dragons weren't what they thought they were. At least, not all of them. That alone was a lot to take in, but it had planted a seed in her mind, and she knew she was going to pursue the knowledge she'd gained from that book, from Hiccup. She only wished that he was there, so she could ask questions. She wanted to meet this Night Fury— Toothless. That's what Hiccup had named him, because he had retractable teeth, something else he had learned. And to think, they didn't even know what the Night Fury looked liked, the only thing they had written about the beast in The Book of Dragons was "unknown."
As Astrid turned the book over in her hands, again, feeling the worn leather between her fingers, she got the feeling that Hiccup had left the book behind on purpose. He had been there when she had been looking for him, just on the other side of the rock. She had been so close, and she wondered how things would have played out differently if she had just walked around to the other side and confronted him with everything she had wanted to ask him. Maybe he would have shown her, maybe she would have been reluctant at first, and then, just maybe, she would have let him show her, and he'd have changed her world.
It was too late for that now, Astrid realized. Hiccup had left that book for her because he hadn't intended on returning. There was no way that he was going to kill a dragon in front of the tribe, not when he was discovering their secrets and training them, befriending them even.
Hiccup had gone into that forest to meet up with his Night Fury with every intention of leaving, and he had flown away to never be seen again.
It was an odd feeling to Astrid, realizing how much it affected her. Now that Hiccup was gone and she'd been given a glimpse into his life, into his mind, she somehow found herself missing him.
—
It had been a long day. One that had started out with so much hope and promise, and had quickly turned into a nightmare as a sinking feeling of horror and fear had continued to creep in as the day grew later.
In all of his imaginings for how the day would go, Stoick would have never thought that Hiccup would just disappear. Hiccup often wandered the woods, Stoick was aware of that, and he had always assumed that his son stayed relatively close, that he was safe. Apparently he'd been wrong.
Either Hiccup had gone further out into the woods of Berk than he should have on his own, or some kind of rare danger had come closer to the village than what was normal, because his son was no where to be found.
Stoick had been out there leading the searches, they had looked for hours, late into the night. People were getting tired, it was getting hard to see, it wasn't safe to wander certain terrain in the dark. He'd had to end the search for the night even though it had broken his heart to do so.
What if they had been close? What if just a couple miles further Hiccup was there, injured maybe, scared even if he wouldn't admit to it, and alone, hoping that someone would find him? Stoick hadn't wanted to stop, even if he had sent his people back to their homes to eat and rest. He would have continued on his own, but Gobber and insisted that it wasn't a good idea. What good would Stoick be to his son if he was harmed in his search for him? Stoick needed to be well rested and alert to find Hiccup. Eventually they'd be able to cover the ground of most of Berk, with the exception of the terrain that just wasn't possible to get to without some intense climbing skills, or wings, and Hiccup wasn't going to be in those places anyway.
"You need to eat something." Gobber said tapping the table in front of Stoick's untouched plate. "Keep your strength up."
Stoick let out a sigh. How could he be doing such trivial things such as having an evening meal when his little son was out there somewhere, alone, missing, in possible danger?
"Hiccup's smart, if he got himself into some kind of situation, I bet he knows what to do to survive." Gobber tried to offer some kind of comfort, but nothing he had said all evening had done anything to help Stoick to relax.
"What kind of situation do you think he got himself into?" Stoick wondered aloud. He'd been going through possible scenarios all day, trying to puzzle out where Hiccup would have gone, what dangers lurked in those areas, where those dangers would drive his son, what Hiccup could do to survive. Whether it was due to the dangers in nature, possible predators on Berk, a stray dragon that hadn't left after the last raid, or simply rolling an ankle while training and being unable to walk back to the village. It could be anything, really.
"Knowing Hiccup, I'd say a little stumble, possibly an injury that's preventing him from walking home." Gobber shrugged, echoing Stoick's thoughts. "I'm sure we'll find him tomorrow, he'll be embarrassed that everyone was looking for him and making a big deal out it, you'll get after him for not being careful enough, and we'll put all of this behind us. Worst that'll happen is people are upset about postponing the ceremony and having to get off their butts to hike in the woods."
Stoick finally took a bite of his food, thinking through the scenario that Gobber had just presented. Could it really be that simple? Was he making a big deal out of something that would be easily resolved the next day? It wasn't like Hiccup would purposely miss one of the biggest days of his life. The ceremony was what Hiccup had always wanted, he was about to get everything he'd longed for.
"He wouldn't miss the ceremony unless something stopped him from attending." Stoick thought aloud. "You're probably right."
"See? Everything will be fine tomorrow." Gobber tried to be optimistic, but he'd had a lingering feeling of worry all day. It was Hiccup, his apprentice, his best friend's son, and a dear friend. He cared about Hiccup as if he were family, and he practically was. Gobber hoped that he was right and Hiccup would be safe and sound at home the next day.
—
A/N: Thanks for reading! Sorry this chapter was a couple days late. I actually had it all done, but I forgot to post it!
—
Review Responses:
sup8pdct: Thank you! I really like Stoick and how he was finally willing to change in order to be a better father to Hiccup. Since things will happen very differently in this story compared to the movie, Stoick has started to realize the things he should have done better when parenting Hiccup before almost losing him to the Red Death. However, he still had more things to think through, but then Hiccup disappeared.
CHSHiccstrid: I've read a lot of Hiccup runaway fics too, and I find that a lot of them are very similar. I wanted to write one my way, because when I read those stories I'm always like, "Why didn't things go this direction?" "I wish things had happened this way instead." And, of course, I always want to see that Hiccup/Stoick interaction. That's the part that I'm most interested in when it comes to the Hiccup runaway stories, I just want to see Stoick's reaction to seeing Hiccup alive and older, and I want to read about them working through their issues! That's what my story will focus on. Chapter 8 of "Snoggletog Showdown" is up!
Romantica 21: Your feedback inspired me to change the summary of this story. I want people to know that this story focuses on the relationship between Hiccup and Stoick, not on Hiccup running away and having adventures. I'm glad you gave the story a chance! I agree, the usual runaway fics are very similar, they always follow the same pattern, and take forever to get to the part I want to see most- the reunion between Hiccup and Stoick! I started skipping to those chapters, when Hiccup returns to Berk, just so I could read Stoick's reaction, because that's all I wanted to see, I wasn't interested in all the stuff Hiccup does while away from Berk. And it's true, Hiccup is always out-of-character, and he often becomes someone I don't really like anymore, and that's always a disappointment. I'm trying to keep Hiccup in-character, but also account for how running away from what he knew, and feeling like he let his dad down, affected him and his confidence and self-esteem. I don't like when Hiccup is interpreted as being super cocky when he returns to Berk, or like a punk, or merciless, and I've seen all those versions of him in these types of stories before. Toothless is also usually out-of-character in these types of stories too, as well as Astrid, and Snotlout is always the jerk trying to take the throne of Berk. I'm glad you liked how Hiccup and Stoick are thinking about the other, they do love each other, but you're right, they aren't good at expressing it or communicating, and that is ultimately what led Hiccup to leaving. There will be plenty more Hiccup/Stoick emotions and angst and family bonding stuff to come! Chapter 8 of "Snoggletog Showdown" is up, by the way!