#gustav larson

The girl pranced around the room in the helmet, which was much too big on her, and Hiccup felt a pang in his heart as he watched her. It wasn’t that long ago that his father had gifted it to him, back when he believed that it was his destiny to become a dragon fighter. Seeing the little girl in the helmet made him wonder what the world would look like when she was older and what destiny awaited the next generation of Vikings. The thought was an anxious but exciting one. 

“Okay, Missy!” Hiccup said, scooping her up in his arms. 

She giggled, and it was a pleasant sound to his ears.

“Let's go meet up with the other Vikings,” he said.

Toothless lowered himself to the ground so that they could climb onto his back.

“Maybe Astrid is done with axe throwing for the day, and we can go visit her,” Hiccup said.

 “Astrid! Astrid!” the little Viking exclaimed.

 Hiccup chuckled, “I know I’m excited to see her too.”

He secured the young Viking onto the saddle on his Night Fury. Then, he settled in behind her. Once they were in place, Toothless took off gracefully into the sky.

The girl squeaked with excitement as the dragon soared in the air. It was only a short flight to the others’ huts, but the Night Fury couldn't resist showing off. After his third consecutive tale spin, Hiccup chuckled and patted the dragon.

“Okay, bud. Those are enough tricks for the day,” Hiccup proclaimed as the dragon snorted sheepishly and landed gracefully in front of Astrid's hut. She was already standing outside of it with an expectant, yet intrigued look.

 “I thought you were taking the day off," she said, attempting but failing to keep the amusement out of her voice.

“So did I,” Hiccup said with a laugh, “But someone had other plans.” 

He took the young girl upon his shoulders, piggyback style. 

She laughed and gleefully shouted, “Again! Again!” 

Astrid’s face broke out into a grin. 

“Who might this be?” she asked, clearly fascinated by the toddler.

“She's Gustav's sister and has certainly grown up from the last time we saw her on Berk. Toothless and I are babysitting her. but she can be a bit of a handful," he admitted.

Astrid laughed. “Well, it must run in their family because I remember a certain someone left me in charge of watching an overenergetic Gustav a while back.”

Hiccup grinned sheepishly, recalling that day. The little girl bounced upon Hiccup’s shoulders. 

“Fly! Toofess! Fly!” the child said, throwing her arms around Hiccup’s head and accidentally covering his eyes in the process.

“Well, it looks like she had a nice flight. I guess it's true that a girl never forgets her first ride on a Night Fury,” Astrid said with a knowing smile.

Hiccup brought the little girl down, and before he knew it, all the other riders were flying in their direction. Clearly, they heard the commotion and were intrigued to see what was happening. Seeing their reactions was amusing. Fishlegs was eager to read dragon books to her. The twins tried to teach the already hyper toddler some new tricks. Snotlout pretended not to be interested, but he would make funny faces at her every so often to make her laugh. The entire day was full of chaos, and before they knew it, their activities were interrupted by a loud whoop as a teenage Viking came into view. It was Gustav. 

“Guess who mastered the most epic dragon flying tricks ever?” he proclaimed.

As he and Fanghook landed, the young girl went running towards him and clapped excitedly. Gustav ruffled her hair playfully, and she laughed. Then, he looked around the edge tentatively as if he expected to see something. 

“Everything seems to be in order around here,” he said, almost incredulously as if he didn't expect that to be the case upon his return.

“Not that I doubted it or anything,” he added, immediately trying to cover up his astonishment.

“Well, I guess we better get going. Mom is making her famous Yak noodle soup,” he said. "Say your goodbyes now sis. Thanks again Hiccup."

Toothless growled.

“And Toothless,” Gustav quickly added.

The little girl ran toward Toothless and blew him a kiss.

“Bye, bye, Toofess!” she exclaimed.  

Her expression turned a bit teary-eyed as she ran over to Hiccup, who picked her up in his arms to give her a hug as she cried, “Cuppy!”

Hiccup smiled and gave her a squeeze.

“Goodbye now! You be sure to stay out of trouble back on Berk. We're going to need you to be a strong dragon trainer when you grow up. I want you to go and learn all you can about the dragons back on the isle. Do you think you can do that for me?” he asked.

The girl nodded and gave him a hug. Everyone cooed at the scene, even Snotlout, who tried to disguise it as a cough. Before they knew it, Gustav and the girl were flying into the sunset, on their way home.

After the commotion died down, the riders were ready to go have dinner and call it a day. Only Hiccup, Toothless, Astrid, and Stormfly remained. As she was about to hop on her dragon, Astrid smiled knowingly as Hiccup watched the now empty sky.

“I guess there's really no such thing as a quiet day on the edge, huh?” she asked, and Hiccup smiled.

“If there's one thing I learned, it's that you will certainly make a great father someday,” she said.

Astrid took off into the evening sky, leaving Hiccup with flushed cheeks and a smile upon his face. Maybe today's adventure in babysitting wasn't so bad after all.

Taken aback by the young Viking’s nonchalant and eager behavior, all Hiccup could muster was, “Um…yeah! It's quite a surprise to see you here on the edge.”

“What? Can’t a guy come visit his old buddies?” he replied in a tone that was uncharacteristically too friendly by normal Gustav standards.

“Well, of course but,” Hiccup began but Gustav cut him off.

“Great! As your friend, I think it's only fair that you grant me a favor,” he said.

Hiccup and Toothless exchanged looks as if to say “that explains it.” 

“Yours truly was looking forward to trying out some new tricks with Fanghook, but we have some unexpected company," he admitted.

Hiccup raised an eyebrow in concern and asked, “Are Viggo and the Dragon Hunters after you?”

Gustav laughed. “Nah! That's not it.”

Then, mumbling to himself he said, “But this may bring just as much chaos to the edge.”

"Then, what is it?” Hiccup asked, still not certain what Gustav was asking him to do

“Oh, little sis!” Gustav called out.

Suddenly, from underneath Fanghook's wing appeared a young girl, no older than three. She scrambled to her feet and went running toward Hiccup and Toothless.

“This is Hiccup and Toothless, and they will be watching over you today while I master some epic flying tricks,” Gustav said, while Hiccup and the night fury stared back, flabbergasted. 

“Wait! What?" Hiccup exclaimed, but before he could protest any further, the girl went running toward him and hugged his metal leg. 

“Cuppy!” she said, and then, went to hug Toothless.

“Toofess!” she cried out, and the joy on her face caused Hiccup to sigh and give in.

 “For how long will this babysitting be for?” he asked. 

“About a couple hours,” Gustav replied as he jumped up on Fanghook and began to take off before Hiccup could protest.

“Thank you! You're the best” he called out and sped out of sight.