#post thw

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It was the start of Freya’s Blessing Feast on New Berk.

For the week, in atypical Viking fashion, Berkians were celebrating love and fertility. The plaza was adorned with pale pink Freya flowers and other various decorations. Banquets were being hosted nearly every night in the Great Hall, and gifts were exchanged between couples, both young and old. Couples were being far more romantic in public, and it certainly felt like love was in the air.

And it was.

There was excitement in the air as well, for a certain young Chieftess. And it wasn’t just because of Freya’s Blessing Feast. It wasn’t even because her husband’s birthday was approaching two weeks after this five-day holiday.

Astrid Haddock had just received good news. Extremely good news. News that…she still couldn’t quite believe were real, considering how long they had been hoping for this – “they” being her and her husband, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third, Chief of New Berk and the Hooligan Tribe.

She had just gotten back from a visit to Gothi’s healing hut, but not for something she would normally go there for, like a wrist sprain or a cold.

No, no, no, this was for something else.

She had been feeling ill the past week, though. She was nauseous most hours of the day, and she seemed more susceptible to getting headaches. She thought she had just gotten a case of the flu or maybe even Eel Pox, so she just cut back on her work around the village (more like she was forced to do so by Hiccup, since Astrid always wanted to work and never wanted to stay in bed) until it became…manageable. Not better, because she never really got better, but once she could mask it from everybody.

She became fatigued a lot easier, and she was definitely more irritable than she already was on a normal basis. Everyone just figured it was because she had a nasty cold.

But it never really went away. Which was concerning, of course, but Astrid thought that it was just a particularly bad cold. Maybe it was the changing of the seasons. She didn’t know, but she wasn’t too-too worried about it.

And then…her cycle didn’t come for the month.

And her cycles were usually very timely. Rarely were they not on schedule; sometimes it was a day or two off, but never did it just…not come. It always came.

So, when she missed it, Astrid knew it was time to go to Gothi’s hut.

She had a thought in the back of her mind with what it could be, but she didn’t want to get her hopes up. She had been disappointed multiple times in the past year and a half, so she knew not to get too excited.

So…when she received the diagnosis, she thought Gothi was joking. She had just visited three moon cycles ago, and she was told “no” (or…more like she read “no”, since Gothi doesn’t speak). So, this had to be a joke, right? She was definitely reading Gothi’s writing in the dirt wrong.

But then, Sigrid, one of New Berk’s midwives, came in and told her Gothi was definitely correct, and she even congratulated Astrid.

Astrid…was pregnant.

After a year and a half of actively trying to conceive, and after a year and a half of constant “no, you aren’t pregnant”s…she finally got to hear what she wanted to hear.

She and Hiccup were actually going to have a baby.

It wasn’t a plan, it wasn’t something in the future, and it wasn’t some dream…it was now a reality – something that was actually, truly happening.

She couldn’t even really think straight as Sigrid explained that Astrid was going to need to stop by the healer’s hut about every moon cycle or so for check-ups, and Astrid couldn’t pay attention as Sigrid listed off all the tonics she was going to have to take and suggestions for teas she could drink to help lessen the morning sickness (more like “every damn hour of the day” sickness). Astrid’s mind was only occupied with one thing – she was finally pregnant, and she and Hiccup were going to have a baby.

There was a baby inside of her. She was pregnant. She couldn’t believe it! This was real! It wasn’t just something she and Hiccup talked about; it wasn’t just something she thought of when she was asked to watch someone’s child for the afternoon while they ran errands. It wasn’t just something she dreamt about. It was real.

And as she left the healer’s hut, she knew she couldn’t wait to tell her husband. Astrid knew of women around the village who surprised their boyfriends or husbands with the news in some elaborate way, but she and Hiccup had been trying to conceive for the past eighteen months, so she couldn’t even fathom waiting to tell her husband.

And luckily, when she left, it was right at the time of day when Hiccup would be returning home from work. He was probably about to get ready for the Freya’s Blessing Feast banquet that was going to happen later that evening. Astrid and Hiccup had planned on going to the hot springs together beforehand if Astrid was feeling well enough, so he was probably preparing for that.

Astrid nearly ran home, a bright grin on her face and a skip in her step. It seemed like any trace of nausea, fatigue, or headache had gone away, she was so excited and elated with the news that it just took over her entire body.

Sweet baby Thor in a thunderstorm, she was pregnant!

“Hiccup!” Astrid calls when she enters the house, not even slipping off her boots when she came inside the doorway.

Her husband appears from the kitchen, smiling and holding a bouquet of Freya flowers – not only the flowers used to celebrate the week, but also the flowers Astrid wore in her hair on their wedding day. So, of course Astrid loves them.

Hiccup holds them out, and Astrid graciously takes them in her hands. “Happy Freya’s Blessing Feast, Milady,” he tells her kindly.

Astrid’s cheeks turn a bright pink, but she leans in to press a short kiss to her husband’s lips. “Babe, they’re beautiful! Thank you!” She brings them to her nose for a sniff, even though the entire plaza smells of Freya flowers at the moment.

Hiccup grins, and he places a hand on her waist, pulling her close to him. “You look like you’re feeling better,” he notes. Astrid nods her head. “So…we’re still on for the hot springs before the banquet?”

Astrid nods again, and she sets down the flowers on a nearby table, making a mental note to put them in a vase later. Gods, her husband was adorable. He always liked to do small things like this, even when they were just dating or betrothed. He loved surprising her with little gifts and surprises.

And now she had her own little surprise for him.

She wraps her arms around his neck. “Yes, but…there’s something I have to tell you first.”

He raises an eyebrow. “It’s nothing bad, is it?” he questions, his thumb stroking the small of her back.

Astrid smiles and shakes her head. “No…it’s the opposite, actually. Consider it something like…a…Freya’s Blessing Feast present. Or an early birthday surprise.”

Hiccup chuckles, showing off the gap between his two front teeth. “What is it, Ast?”

Astrid ducks her head. She hadn’t exactly planned out what to say. “Um…well…you know how I haven’t been feeling well?”

“Yeah?”

“Well, I finally went to Gothi’s today when I had a break-”

“I don’t see how this can be good news, Hon-”

She flicks his ear. “Shush. Let me finish.” Hiccup’s mouth instantly shuts. She lets out a deep breath to try and calm her nerves before continuing. “So…anyway…I went to Gothi’s, and…both she and Sigrid said the reason I haven’t been feeling well is because…” She looks up into her husband’s emerald eyes. She can’t help but smile. “I’m pregnant.”

It seems to take Hiccup a few seconds to process the information given to him, since he just stares into Astrid’s eyes, not saying a word.

Astrid laughs. “Surprise?”

Hiccup’s eyes widen, and his jaw falls slack. “You’re…you’re…p-pregnant?” he whispers.

Astrid nods her head. “Sigrid said I’m probably close to a moon cycle and a half along, but-” Astrid is hastily interrupted by her husband slamming his lips against hers in a passionate, loving kiss. Astrid instantly sinks into it, her hands going into Hiccup’s hair, her fingers running through his auburn locks. He holds her tight to him, and he smiles into the kiss when Astrid tugs on one of the braids sticking out from behind his ear.

He pulls away with a smack, leaning his forehead against hers. “Oh my gods,” he breathes. “Oh my Thor…” He shakes his head in disbelief. “You’re…you’re pregnant.”

Astrid nods. “We’re going to have a baby, Hic,” she tells him.

It almost looks like tears form in his eyes as he places a hand on Astrid’s still-flat stomach. “Oh…oh my gods.” He looks at her deeply in the eyes. “We’re…we’re finally going to be parents.” He lets out a shaky breath. “Oh…oh my gods.”

“Please don’t pass out,” Astrid says with a laugh, holding on tighter to him when she noticed him starting to waver.

“Ast, Ast…you’re pregnant.”

Astrid laughs again, and she cups his cheek. “I know; I just told you that.”

Hiccup grins, and he can’t help but kiss her again, unable to resist. “This…oh my gods, Astrid! Return whatever you got me for my birthday; I don’t need anything else.” He kisses her for a third time, this time shorter than the others, since he quickly kneels down and kisses Astrid’s stomach, causing his wife to laugh. “Hey, baby! I’m your dad!”

“Hic, the baby can’t hear you yet, probably,” Astrid says as her husband stands back up.

“Don’t care,” he replies. For a fourth time, he kisses her, but this time, he lifts her up in his arms, and Astrid reciprocates by wrapping her arms around his middle.

He separates from her lips and kisses along her jawline and neck, and Astrid holds tight to him. “Hic, what about the hot spr-”

“Later,” Hiccup whispers, beginning to wo walk to the stair well. “We have some celebrating to do. Have to thank Freya during Freya’s Blessing Feast.”

Astrid just laughs as her husband takes them up to their bedroom, the flowers, the hot spring, and the banquet all in the back of their minds.

What a Freya’s Blessing Feast they would never forget.

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A/N: I hope you guys liked it!

Also, I've been rewatching RTTE, and it really makes me want to write some fics that would've taken place during that time, so if you have any ideas, please feel free to give them to me, because I'm drawing a blank!

Please be sure to let me know what you think of this fic!

And if you want to talk about dragons, feel free to message me!! my messages/my ask box are always open!

Whenever their parents aren’t home, Zephyr and Nuffink like to sneak into the attic.

It initially started out as Nuffink wanting to find his presents for his birthday (which subsequently also turned into looking for Snoggletog presents, since his birthday is so close to the holiday), but instead, he found a bunch of stuff from when Vikings and dragons lived together.

So, he couldn’t wait to tell his older sister, who then couldn’t wait to go up to the attic herself to see what she could find.

Their parents had spoken a decent amount about dragons, but nothing really in detail. They heard an abridged version of how Vikings became friends with dragons, but nothing really in detail.

And then, they found Grandpa Stoick’s Book of Dragons, which lead to the whole Snoggletog Pageant debacle. And after Zephyr and Nuffink realized how amazing dragons were, and after a little trip to the entrance of the Hidden World with their parents, all they wanted to do was learn about dragons.

At any given time, the two would be bombarding their parents with questions about the dragons. How many types of dragons were there? How many had they met? How many had they trained? Could they train every single kind of dragon? Was a Fireworm really the same temperature as the sun? Just how big were the Bewilderbeasts? Why was Toothless the most feared dragon, even though he’s so cute and fun? How do you really train your dragon?

And, of course, Hiccup and Astrid (and the rest of the gang, too; no one can escape the Haddock kids, to be frank) indulged the children with all their stories and tales, but even that didn’t settle the young children’s curiosity in any way. They wanted to know all they could about the dragons.

Which led them back to the attic. If the Book of Dragons had been up there, surely there had to be other pieces of information from when Berk had dragons.

And so, the next time their parents were out of the house (Gobber was babysitting them…or, well, he was supposed to be babysitting them, but he fell asleep the second he sat down; it was evening time, after all), Zephyr and Nuffink made their way up to the attic, knowing they could be as loud as they could, since Gobber slept like a rock. They had waited fifteen minutes or so to make sure Gobber was actually asleep, though, before they went up.

Everything was stored in chests and baskets, some things covered underneath blankets or sheets that hadn’t been used in a long time. It was all dusty and musty, and Zephyr kept feeling the urge to have to sneeze.

It was an open space, so of course Nuffink instantly forgot about why they were even up there and began to run in circles until he felt dizzy. He would fall to the ground, and after a few moments, get right back up, and the cycle would continue. Zephyr really didn’t pay much attention; she just began to sift through everything in the attic to try and find anything related to the dragons.

She knew there had to be a decent amount of dragon things up here. Her parents were the founders of the Old Berk Dragon Training Academy, the Edge, and they basically taught the entire village how to take care of their flying reptile friends. There had to be a lot of dragon stuff up here.

Fishlegs mentioned something of an updated Book of Dragons with…not as harsh things written in them as the one from Grandpa Stoick, so that had to be up here somewhere. Or maybe some dragon scales? Mom always talked about how pretty Stormfly’s scales were, and she heard that some of the Vikings kept the scales of their dragons. Maybe those were here, too?

She managed to come across some saddles, one of them with some kind of contraption attached to it. Zephyr assumed this was her dad’s saddle for Toothless. He had mentioned that Gobber, after the fight with the Red Death, created this…well, thing that, while Hiccup was riding Toothless, his prosthetic leg attached to the saddle, and with some pulleys and gears, he was able to control Toothless’ tail fin in order to keep him in the air.

There was also just a plain saddle, which Zephyr assumed was her mom’s that she used for Stormfly.

She found a bunch of maps of the Barbaric Archipelago and beyond, some drawings of different dragon species done by her father, and, indeed, the updated Book of Dragons, which she set aside to read later (definitely not when her parents put her in bed to go to sleep; no, she would never relight her candle on her nightstand once they finished tucking her in and saying goodnight so she could read way past her bedtime; no, she would never do that…).

And then, she stumbled across something.

She just opened up one of the chests, which had been hidden in one of the corners of the room. Her eyes widened when she saw what was in there.

“Woah,” she says to herself. “What’s this?”

All of a sudden, Nuffink appears at her side, holding onto his sister as he tries to peer into the chest. “I wanna look! I wanna look!”

Zephyr gently pushes her brother away. “Hold on; let me get the stuff out, first, Nuff!” she says, standing on her tippy toes in order to reach into the chest. Nuffink bounces on his toes excitedly as he waits for Zephyr to grab whatever was inside the chest.

She grabs one of the things inside and pulls it out, revealing it to her and her brother. They both give confused expressions when they see what it is.

It’s…a mask? Made of dragon scales?

It is all black, except for two strips of red above the eye holes. The front of it is hinged, so the person wearing it could lift it up, revealing their face. It had pointy things sticking along the top of it, too. It almost looked like Toothless’ nubs on his head.

It was certainly an interesting discovery.

“What is that?” Nuffink questions, reaching out to touch it.

“I don’t know,” Zephyr responds, shaking her head. “It looks like a mask, but I don’t know what it’s for…”

“It’s a weird mask!” Nuffink exclaims, jabbing at it with his finger repeatedly. “And it feels weird, too!”

Zephyr turns it around in her hands, trying to get a better look at it from different angles. “I think…I think it’s made from Toothless’ scales!”

“Toothless?” Nuffink asks, his green eyes shining brightly. Whenever anyone mentioned the Night Fury around him, he would get super excited. For a whole month after the Haddocks took their voyage, he begged and cried to go back so he could see Toothless, Light Fury, Stormfly, and the Night Lights. Especially the mostly white Night Light, whom he had named Pouncer. Nuffink claimed Pouncer as his dragon, even though dragons and Vikings don’t live together anymore. In Nuffink’s mind, Pouncer was his dragon.

Zephyr nods her head. “Look; it’s made from dragon scales,” she says, holding it out for her brother to see closely. Nuffink puts his nose up to it to look at it even closer. “And they look like Toothless’.”

“Did Daddy peel them off Toothless?” Nuffink asks, pouting his bottom lip.

Zephyr rolls her eyes and sets the mask down on the ground. “Dragons shed, Nuff.”

“What does that mean?”

“Their scales fall off,” Zephyr responds, grabbing the ledge of the chest and hoisting her top half into the chest to see what was inside it clearer. Her legs dangled outside of the chest.

“Is that a bad thing?” Nuffink asks, grabbing the black mask from the ground. He laughs to himself as he puts it on his head, and then proceeds to run around the room again, his arms flapping in the air. “Rawr! I’m a dragon!”

“No, it’s not a bad thing,” Zephyr responds, trying to grab another item that looks made from Night Fury scales, but her arms are too short to reach it. So, she pushes herself more into the chest, trying her hardest not to fall in. “It’s supposed to happen!”

“Rawr! I can breathe fire!” Nuffink shouts, blowing a raspberry into the mask instead of out into the air. He stops in his tracks. “Ew.” He then shrugs his shoulders and returns to running in circles, pretending to fly like a dragon. “Rawr! I’m a dragon! Rawr!”

Just then, right as Zephyr manages to grab the item she was reaching for, the noise of the front door opening and closing sounded throughout the house, which spooked Zephyr, causing her to yelp loudly and fall into the chest with a bang.

“Zeph? Nuff? What’s making all that noise?” Astrid calls from the first floor of the house.

“Are you okay? Oh, thank you Gobber for watching them. Kids? Where are you?” Hiccup says afterwards, the sound of them walking up the stairs following shortly thereafter.

“We’re up here! Rawr!” Nuffink shouts, though his voice is muffled from the mask. “I’m a dragon!”

Zephyr lifts open the lid of the chest, opening her view to the room again. “Nuffink!” she whisper-exclaims. She tries to duck back into the chest in order to hide from her parents, but Astrid makes it to the doorway before she can manage to.

“Kids, what is all this noise? Is someone getting hurt? There’s no playing Vikings and Dragons inside the house! We’ve told you this-”

Astrid halts in her track and speech when she sees Nuffink flapping his arms like a dragon while wearing the Night Fury mask. She turns and looks at the chest and finds Zephyr standing inside, holding onto a piece of Hiccup’s dragon armor. Zephyr gives a scared expression, while Nuffink doesn’t even notice that Astrid is in the room, since his eyes don’t quite make it to the holes in the mask.

Astrid smiles. “Oh my Thor; what have you two gotten into?” she asks, walking into the room, over to Nuffink. She picks him up in her arms, stopping him from his running in circles. She lifts up the front of the mask, revealing Nuffink’s face.

Nuffink laughs and smiles at Astrid. “Hi, Mommy!” he exclaims. “I’m a dragon!”

Astrid laughs. “Oh, are you now?” she says, smiling at her son. “I can see that! You make a very scary dragon, Nuff.”

“Rawr!”

At that moment, Hiccup makes it up to the attic as well, looking as equally surprised as his wife did when he sees Nuffink and Zephyr. He and Astrid make eye contact, and they smile at each other.

“What in the name of Thor…?” Hiccup questions, sauntering over to Zephyr. “Zeph, what are you doing in that chest?” He lifts up Zephyr and pulls her out, setting her down on the floor outside of it. “Well, scratch that: what are you two doing up here?”

“We wanted to look for dragons!” Nuffink exclaims, lifting a fist in the air triumphantly.

Zephyr crosses her arms sassily. “No, we…we wanted to look for more stuff about dragons,” she says.

Hiccup and Astrid look at each other yet again, and they share a life. “Zeph, you could’ve just asked us!” Astrid exclaims. “We would’ve been happy to show you this stuff!” She looks at her husband. “I almost forgot we still had these, to be honest.”

“What are ‘these’?” Zephyr asks, lifting up the piece of armor she grabbed from the chest. “Are they made from dragon scales?” She gestures to Nuffink’s mask.

Hiccup laughs and takes the armor from Zephyr’s hands. It’s the chest armor that goes with the Night Fury mask. The damage from the fight with Grimmel was evident, but there was even more wear-and-tear, with some of the dragon scales coming off and some new scuff marks here-and-there. But, it still looked nearly identical to how it was when Hiccup last wore it…like, almost ten years ago.

“Gods, I almost forgot about these, too,” he says, kneeling down by Zephyr. He turns to her. “This is armor I used to wear when we saved trapped dragons and trained them.”

“They were meant to make us look like dragons,” Astrid adds on, walking over. She sets Nuffink down on the ground, and the boy scrambles to get closer to look at the other part of Hiccup’s armor. Astrid places her hands on her husband’s shoulders. “We wore them so we wouldn’t scare the other dragons.”

“Because you looked like them,” Zephyr says, looking up at Astrid, excitement in her eyes.

Astrid nods her head. “We wouldn’t scare them off, that way.” She looks at her husband. “But we could scare off trappers, too, if need be.”

Hiccup laughs. “I mean, there was that Warlord guy who thought I was a demon,” he responds.

Astrid shakes her head and grins at the memory. It feels like so long ago that they were out riding on the backs of dragons, raiding Dragon Trapper ships, and living in a dragon-Viking utopia.  

She walks over to the chest Zephyr had fallen into, and she pulls out two more items. This time, they were Astrid’s mask and chest armor. The blue color of the Nadder scales had dulled over the years, but it was still so beautiful. Her mask, of course, represented a Nadder, with its spines (not venomous, of course) and the bird-like features.

Even looking at the armor makes Astrid miss Stormfly. Seeing her for the first time in 10 years just a little while ago made Astrid realize just how much she missed her precious girl and how she did miss having the dragons living with them. But, knowing the dragon was safe and thriving was good enough for her. All the dragons were better of there, and if Stormfly was happy, then Astrid was happy, too.

They have these memories with them, after all. And they can pass on the stories to their children, who can learn just how amazing and wonderful these creatures are.

“And these were mine,” Astrid says, showcasing the armor for her children to see. Zephyr and Nuffink’s eyes widen when they see them, and Zephyr reaches to take the helmet to look at it closer. “Your dad made them for me.”

“You helped,” Hiccup corrects, looking up at Astrid. “Don’t give me all the credit.”

“You designed it and built it, honey. I just gathered the scales,” Astrid says, flicking her husband’s ear playfully. She turns her attention back to her children. “Dad made armor for Snotlout, Fishlegs, Ruffnut, and Tuffnut, too. We all wore them when we went to save dragons from the bad guys.”

“It looks so cool!” Zephyr exclaims. “It looks just like Stormfly! You used her scales for this, too?”

Astrid nods her head. “And all of the armor was fireproof, too.”

“Because it was made from dragon scales?” Zephyr questions, looking at her mom with wide eyes, excited to hear all about this. She didn’t even notice that Nuffink took the mask from her hands to poke the spikes sticking out of the top.

Astrid grins. She looks down at the chest armor in her hands. “Exactly,” she says. She shakes her head. “Gods, I know I wouldn’t be able to fit in these anymore.”

“I think you could,” Hiccup says.

Astrid raises an eyebrow. “Um, not after having two babies, babe,” she says, shaking her head at Hiccup. She sets the armor on the ground, and then goes into the chest to see what else was inside. She gasps loudly when she sees something. “Oh, my gods, I didn’t think you kept this!” She pulls out another piece of armor – this time, the leather armor Hiccup wore when he was twenty years old. “I know you wouldn’t fit in this anymore.” She holds it up in front of Hiccup’s chest, noting how it was slightly smaller than Hiccup’s actual chest now.

“What is it? What is it?” Nuffink asks.

Hiccup laughs, and he takes the chest armor from Astrid’s hands. “It’s armor I wore before the Night Fury one,” he explains. “We weren’t really rescuing dragons yet, but we were training them.”

Zephyr points to the red symbol on the chest strap. “What kind of dragon is that? That doesn’t look like Toothless!”

Hiccup looks up at Astrid, who beams at him. Hiccup smiles back, and he turns back to Zephyr. “It’s a Deadly Nadder,” he says.

“But that’s Mom’s dragon!”

Hiccup laughs, and a small blush appears on his cheeks. He feels his wife put her hands back on Hiccup’s shoulders. “Yeah,” he replies. “I…I put it there to always remind me of your mother.” He looks up at Astrid, who smiles at him.

“Ew!” Zephyr exclaims. “That’s gross!”

Astrid laughs. “Oh, Zeph, won’t one day you want a cute boy to do something like that for you?”

“No!” Zephyr exclaims at the same time Hiccup says, “Cute?”

“Oh, come on; when you’re older, you’ll think differently,” Astrid responds. Zephyr scoffs and rolls her eyes at the thought.

Hiccup gets up on his knees and looks into the chest. “I wonder if the fli-”

He quickly gets interrupted by his wife putting her hand over his mouth. “Do not finish your sentence; I don’t want to give Zeph any ideas,” she whispers in his ear.

“Give me any ideas about what?” Zephyr asks, placing her hands on her hips as she looks at her parents with a raised eyebrow.

“Nothing!” Hiccup and Astrid both exclaim at the same time. Hiccup looks around the room, trying to keep his eyes away from his daughter’s curious glare. If they mention anything about the flight suits to her, they know within the next few days, she’ll be trying to make her own. And, frankly, Astrid had more than enough with Hiccup’s mishaps with creating the gear (before the designs were finalized and the gang all had their own, of course), and she knows Zephyr would go through the same trial-and-error process, and…yeah, nothing more needs to be said about that.

“Uh…uh…let’s see if Toothless’ old tail fin is in here, maybe!” Hiccup says nervously, trying to change the subject. He turns back to the chest and begins rummaging through it. “Or anything else in here! I’m sure we’ve got a few dragon training things in here to look through! Like…maybe the charts from when we were testing dragon speeds! Or…or some of Fishlegs’s notes about the Blue Oleander flowers!”

“I wanna know about this thing that’s going to give me ideas!” Zephyr exclaims.

“Uh…how about we look at the actual Book of Dragons, huh?” Astrid suggests, sitting down beside Zephyr. Nuffink crawls over and sits on Astrid’s lap as she grabs the Book of Dragons from where Zephyr set it down earlier. She opens it and hastily begins to flip through the pages. “We can look at…um…some Monstrous Nightmares…the Skrill, maybe? Oh, Nuff, I think you would want to hear about the Whispering Death! The Typhoomerangs are pretty cool, too. Oh, the map from Hamish the Second’s treasure was stuffed in here! That would make a good bedtime story, wouldn’t it? It’s close to time for you two to go to bed anyway, so why don’t you two get ready for your baths?”

“Yeah!” Nuffink exclaims, lifting his head high, causing the lid of the helmet to go back down, trapping his face in darkness.

Zephyr huffs and crosses her arms over her chest. “Fine. But I’m going to find out what you and Dad don’t want me to know about eventually,” she says. She takes Nuffink by the hand and leads him out of the room, the mask still on his head.

Once they’ve left the room, Astrid turns to her husband, getting up off the floor. “Hide the flight suits?” she asks, knowing Zephyr is going to come up here the next chance she gets to try and find them.

Hiccup lifts his head from the chest, revealing that he had gathered not only the flight suits, but also the blueprints. “Already on it.”

Astrid laughs. “She’s so your daughter,” she says, sauntering out of the room, patting her husband on the shoulder.

Hiccup blinks.

“Am I supposed to be insulted?”

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A/N: As always, let me know what you think! And of course, suggest any ideas for fics! I'm trying to plan a multishot idea to write to keep me busy, but until I have it sorted out, I'll be, of course, writing these one-shots!

Thank you for all the support, and I hope you all are doing well!

Astrid stands in the kitchen of her house, putting away the dishes from this morning’s breakfast. Zephyr had left the dining room a few minutes ago to get ready for schoolwork, and Nuffink was spending the morning with Grandma Valka, giving Astrid more space to teach Zephyr, since Hiccup was away.

Hiccup has been away all week for the annual chief meeting. Normally, Astrid would go with him, and the kids would stay with Valka while they were gone. However, Zephyr had gotten quite ill the day before Hiccup was to leave, so Astrid decided to stay back in New Berk with her and Nuffink so she could take care of Zephyr. It just worked out better that way – Valka wouldn’t have to fuss over Zeph, and Astrid and Hiccup wouldn’t both be freaking out because they were far away from their sick daughter.

Luckily, Zephyr seemed to get better day by day after Hiccup left for his chief meetings. She had been sick in bed every single day this week, not able to do any of her schoolwork or go out and play with her friends. However, today has been the first day where she seems to be back to her normal self.

Well…she’s a bit quieter than normal, but Astrid will figure out what’s going on with that sooner rather than later. She always does.

Astrid hears the soft sound of footsteps coming down the stairs, and she knows it’s Zephyr coming down from her bedroom. Astrid finishes putting away all the dishes, wipes off her hands with a towel, and walks into the dining room to see Zephyr taking a seat at the table, where they do her lessons on writing and reading.

“You ready to get started, hon?” Astrid asks, seeing that Zephyr has already opened her journal that Hiccup made for her, a blank page ready for her lesson for the day.

Zephyr is normally very excited to do her school lessons; however, right now, she’s slumped over, her cheek resting in her hand, and a frown on her face.

Astrid doesn’t even wait for her to answer. “Are you okay, Zeph?” she asks, confused. She walks over to her daughter. “Do you still feel sick?” She reaches over to feel her forehead with her wrist when Zephyr shakes her head, interrupting her from doing so.

“Is something wrong?” Astrid takes a seat right next to the seven-year-old. She places a gentle hand on Zephyr’s back, rubbing circles with her thumb. “Are you feeling okay?”

Zephyr shrugs her shoulders and sniffles, but Astrid is sure it’s not because of the runny nose she had earlier this week. That had gone away yesterday. Astrid looks closer and sees tears appearing at the brims of Zephyr’s eyes, which instantly makes her heart lurch.

“Oh, sweetie, what’s wrong?” Astrid asks, pulling Zephyr closer, placing the girl’s head on her shoulder, wrapping her arms around Zephyr tightly. She rubs her daughter’s arms gently and kisses the top of her head. Zephyr’s arms instantly go around her mom.

She mumbles something, but Astrid can’t understand her. Astrid tucks a strand of Zephyr’s hair that has come loose from her braid. “I can’t quite hear you, Zeph. What did you say?”

Zephyr sniffles as she shifts her head so her cheek is pressed up against Astrid’s shoulder. “I miss Daddy.”

Astrid’s heart melts when she hears the sound of her daughter’s voice cracking as she admits what is making her feel so down. Zephyr has always been a Daddy’s Girl. From the moment she was born, she has attached herself to Hiccup. She’s near him whenever she can be.

Whenever Hiccup comes home, Zephyr always runs up to him and gives him the biggest hug in the world, even if he had only been gone for an hour. When he’s working in his office at home, you can usually find Zephyr seated next to him or on his lap, either watching him work, doodling, or falling asleep in his arms. She sometimes even joins Hiccup while he’s at work around the village, holding tightly to his hand or sitting atop his shoulders. She enjoys it, even though she’s only seven and doesn’t quite understand what is going on when Hiccup is dealing with issues around New Berk. All she wants is to be with Hiccup.

So of course she’s upset that Hiccup hasn’t been home all week. Why didn’t Astrid even consider this to be what was bothering Zephyr? She’s gotten like this times before, but Astrid was just never around to see what it was like when Hiccup actually wasn’t there. She’s always been with him, no form of communication with their kids for an entire week.

“Oh, Zeph, it’s okay,” Astrid responds, gently rocking her daughter back and forth. “It’s okay, Zeph. I’m sure he misses you, too.”

Zephyr shrugs her shoulders.

“I’m serious, honey. Daddy always misses you when he’s not home.”

“But I want him here, Mommy,” Zephyr says. “You said he was going to be home by the end of the week, and it’s the end of the week.”

Astrid nods her head. “I know, honey, but we’re not sure when Daddy is going to be home. He might be home this evening, or he might be home tomorrow. It’s a long sail ride back home.”

Zephyr humphs.

“But he’ll be home very soon. We just have to be patient. There’s no way of knowing when he’s going to be home, unfortunately.”

“Why not?”

“It would take too long for him to send a letter,” Astrid replies. “He’s too far away.”

“Why did it have to be so far away?” Zephyr asks.

Astrid shrugs her shoulders. “It’s where the meetings have been for hundreds of years.”

Zephyr sniffles and rubs at her nose with her hand. “Well…how come Daddy can’t come home faster?” Zephyr asks, looking up at Astrid, her eyes glossed over with tears.

“It’s the way things are. I bet Daddy really wishes he could come home a lot faster. Coming home on a ship can take a really long time.”

Zephyr sighs, definitely not satisfied with that answer. Her shoulders slump, and she turns away from Astrid, not wanting to look at her.

Astrid reaches down and cups Zephyr’s freckled cheek. “I’m sorry, Zephyr. I wish he was home right now, too. I’m sure Daddy wants to be home, too.”

“Why did he have to go?” Zephyr questions, sniffling. She wraps her arms around herself.

“It’s a part of his job. He’s the chief, and this is what chiefs have to do.”

Zephyr frowns.

“What’s wrong?”

Zephyr shakes her head.

“Zeph, talk to me.”

Zephyr looks down at the floorboards.

“Zephyr.”

Zephyr reaches up and wipes some of the tears from her face. She sniffles. “Sometimes…sometimes I wish Daddy wasn’t chief,” she says quietly, almost sounding as if she was ashamed to admit such a thing out loud.

Astrid stares at her daughter for a few moments in silence, looking at the sad expression printed all over her.

“Oh, honey…” Astrid replies eventually, pulling Zephyr even closer to her, cradling the girl in her arms and kissing the top of her head. Zephyr starts fully crying at this point, and Astrid just holds her close to comfort her, her heart breaking for her daughter.

Astrid knows that this is probably incredibly tough for the little girl to go through. Every six months for a week straight, Zephyr doesn’t get to see her dad. She doesn’t have any communication with him, she can’t talk to him, and she has no idea when Hiccup is coming back home.

Astrid thinks about how much easier this would be if they still had their dragons. Back before Hiccup was chief, Stoick would have him accompany him to these chief meetings so that Hiccup would know what they were like for when he would take his place as chief.

Astrid didn’t go with them, obviously, since she and Hiccup weren’t married yet, so they relied on Terror Mail to keep in contact. And, riding dragons was a much faster form of transportation than sailing, so Hiccup was home a lot sooner than how long it takes now.

But, this is the way they live now. Things aren’t as easy. Things definitely aren’t easy for Zephyr and Nuffink. The two cried for at least an hour right after Hiccup left – Zephyr, especially. Astrid had to literally pry the girl off Hiccup’s leg so he could leave. The kids had to sleep with Astrid that first night because they missed Hiccup so much.

Nuffink was fine the next day, and Astrid assumed Zephyr would be, too. Astrid was apparently wrong.

And sometimes just having parents in charge of the whole village is tough. Sometimes Hiccup and Astrid are busy at meetings or dealing with issues around the village, and Nuffink and Zephyr have to stay at someone else’s house until they finish. Hiccup and Astrid try their hardest to include their children in their work, but it’s moments like these when Astrid feels so bad for her and Hiccup’s children.

Oh, if only Hiccup were here right now. He has first-hand experience with dealing with a parent as the leader of the tribe. He would know exactly what to say right now.

But he’s probably on the boat right now, in the middle of the ocean, heading back to New Berk. He won’t be home probably until tomorrow. Maybe tonight if they’re lucky.

But, Astrid supposes she’s also kind of had experience with this. When Hiccup first became chief, Astrid struggled with it all, too. There were days where she and Hiccup would barely speak to each other because of all the work that had to be done to repair the village. It was such a sudden change, since they had been basically attached at the hip prior to everything happening with Drago Bludvist and the death of Stoick the Vast.

She had to learn to accept that this was where Hiccup was meant to be, and this was where Astrid was meant to be, and everything was going to work out in the end. So, yeah, there were times where she wished she and Hiccup had a little bit more time for each other, but she knew that Hiccup was doing his job and was making sure that everything was going to be okay for the village.

And it did all work out. Look at where they are now – Chief and Chieftess of New Berk with two beautiful children and a happy village. They are so incredibly happy with their little family, and they wouldn’t trade anything in the world for what they have right now.

“It’s hard, Zeph, I know,” Astrid says, kissing her daughter’s forehead. “But this is Daddy’s job. Daddy is the chief, and he gets to take care of the entire village. He’s making sure that all of us are going to be safe and that everything is working for us. He’s making sure New Berk is going to be safe for you, and that’s why he’s gone.”

Zephyr hums. Her crying had calmed down slightly, but she was still sniffling, and a few tears were still falling down her cheeks.

“It is hard because Daddy isn’t here, I know. I miss Daddy so much, and I know you do, too. Daddy doesn’t like going away from you, either. But this is what he has to do. It’s a part of his job. He wishes he could stay home and be with you, but he’s looking out for the village and doing what he has to do. He’s making sure everything is safe for you and Nuff and everyone else in the village by becoming friends with other tribes. Does that make sense?”

Zephyr sniffles. “Yeah,” she replies.

Astrid kisses the side of Zephyr’s head and smooths over one of her braids with her hands. “I know it’s hard, but just know that Daddy loves you very much, and I know he’s looking forward to coming home to be with you.”

Zephyr smiles. “Thank you, Mommy.” She wraps her arms rightly around Astrid, and Astrid doesn’t hesitate to hold her close. “You’re the best mommy in the whole world.”

Astrid’s heart melts, and she almost bursts into tears when she hears those words come out of her daughter’s mouth. She reaches down and gently holds onto Zephyr’s chin and lifts her head so their eyes meet.

“You’re the best daughter in the whole entire world, Zeph,” she says, meaning it with her whole being.

Zephyr smiles. “Thank you, Mommy.”

Astrid tucks some of Zephyr’s hair behind her ear. “Can I ask you something, Zeph?”

Zephyr nods her head.

“Did you pretend to be sick to make Daddy stay home with you?”

Zephyr shakes her head. “I really was sick, Mommy. I promise.”

Astrid knows that Zephyr is telling the truth; the seven-year-old can’t tell a lie or keep a secret without either Hiccup or Astrid finding out right away because Zephyr would probably burst into tears without realizing it because she hates doing things that she knows will get her in trouble with her parents.

“Okay,” Astrid responds. She grins at her daughter. “I love you, Zeph.”

“I love you, too, Mommy. Thank you.”

“You’re absolutely welcome, honey.” Astrid glances over at the open notebook on the table. “How about we write a welcome home note and drawing for Daddy for our lesson today, huh?”

Zephyr’s blue eyes brighten at that idea. “Yes! Yes!” she exclaims, clapping her hands.

“How are my two beautiful girls doing this fine evening?” Hiccup asks as a form of greeting when he steps into his and Astrid’s bedroom after a long day of chiefly duties around New Berk.

He doesn’t hide his smile when he sees the sight in front of him. Astrid, his gorgeous wife who is in her eighth month of pregnancy, is seated on the center of their bed, with their three-year-old daughter, Zephyr. Astrid is braiding her Zephyr’s auburn hair in an intricate plaited hairstyle.

Astrid’s love of braiding other people’s hair has certainly not gone away over the years; in fact, it only intensified once their daughter’s hair started growing long enough for Astrid to braid. Of course, that doesn’t mean Hiccup escapes the small braids his wife puts in his hair. Astrid will still braid his hair when they’re lying in bed and catching up on the day or if they’re in a council meeting together and Astrid gets bored listening to building project plans.

“I traced my name today, Daddy!” Zephyr proudly exclaims, beaming at her father with her bright blue eyes and a big smile. She had spent the morning with Hiccup around the village, sticking by his side while Hiccup did his work. She is definitely a Daddy’s girl, and she loves to spend time with her father whenever she can. Hiccup dropped Zephyr off at the house after lunchtime to practice her writing with Astrid and to spend time with her mom.

Hiccup comes over and gives Zephyr a pat on the head, Zephyr squealing for her dad to not mess up her hair. “I’m so proud of you,” he says with a smile, pressing a kiss to her forehead. “You’ll be able to write it on your own in no time!”

“I practiced it a lot, Daddy,” Zephyr replies proudly.

Hiccup smiles at her and rubs her shoulder. “That’s wonderful, Zeph! So proud.” He looks over at Astrid and kisses her cheek. “And how are you doing, Ast?”

“Sore. Tired. Wish I could be up doing things,” Astrid replies, letting out a long sigh, which shows her annoyance and distress.

At the beginning of the week, Astrid had been having some contractions, which were usually nothing to worry about (just slightly uncomfortable sometimes), but these ones were particularly painful, to the point where she and Hiccup thought she was in labor.

However, the pain soon went away, but everyone was still quite worried about Astrid (especially Hiccup, which is no surprise). As to not cause any more problems with the pregnancy, Astrid was instructed to go on bedrest for at least the next week or so, which is definitely not something Astrid enjoys doing, considering how active she normally is, but if this is going to help the baby, then she’s willing to do anything.

That still doesn’t mean she enjoys it, of course. She wishes she was up helping her husband around the village or giving instructions to the A-team or training the young warriors around the village. But, if this is the healthiest and best choice for the baby, then she’ll stay in bed.

Hiccup gives her an empathetic smile and brushes some of her bangs out of her eyes, tucking them behind her ear. “I’m sorry,” he says. “Did Sigrid come and check on you today?” Sigrid is one of New Berk’s midwives. She helped Astrid deliver Zephyr three years ago, and she will be there when Hiccup and Astrid’s new baby is born.

Astrid nods her head. “She says I’ve started dilating a little, but it’s normal, and the same thing happened around this time when I was pregnant with Zeph,” she responds, tugging on Zephyr’s braid for extra emphasis, smiling to herself. “She said it’ll probably be a couple weeks until I actually go into labor.”

“What’s ‘dilating’?” Zephyr asks.

Hiccup chuckles and reaches over and kisses Zephyr’s cheek before turning back to his wife. Zephyr humphs, since her question wasn’t answered.

“So, everything is okay, then?” Hiccup asks, looking at his wife intently.

Astrid smiles and nods. “Yes, honey. Everything is okay.”

Hiccup puts his hands up in defense. “I’m just looking out for you!”

Astrid shakes her head and ties up the braid she created in Zephyr’s hair with a band she had wrapped around her wrist. She runs her hand along the braid, and then squeezes her daughter’s shoulder. “It’s all done, Zeph!” She leans back on the headboard and places a hand on her stomach.

“Thank you, Mommy!” Zephyr exclaims, feeling the braid for herself, shaking her head back and forth to feel it on the back of her neck and on her shoulders. She turns around in her seat and shows it to Hiccup. “Do you like it, Daddy?”

“I love it,” Hiccup replies, beaming at Zephyr. “You look beautiful.” He reaches over and kisses her forehead, causing his daughter to giggle. Hiccup smiles at her before turning back to Astrid. “Do you need anything?”

“Some water would be good,” Astrid replies, brushing some of her hair, which is let out from her usual braids, off her shoulder. “And a foot massage.”

Hiccup laughs. “Of course, Milady,” he replies. He presses a kiss to her lips quickly, pats her shoulder, and then motions to Zephyr. “You wanna be my helper, Zeph?”

Zephyr nods her head enthusiastically. “Yes! Yes!” she exclaims. She climbs off the bed, and Hiccup reaches down and picks her up, holding her close in his arms.

He kisses her cheek, and then looks over at Astrid with a loving smile. “We’ll be right back,” he says, winking at her. Astrid’s cheeks turn slightly pink, and she grins back at Hiccup.

Hiccup takes Zephyr downstairs with him to the kitchen, where they get Astrid a mug of water. Hiccup also prepares a mug of tea with some herbs that Astrid’s mother gave that might help her feel better. Giving Zephyr the water and holding the tea in his own hands, they return to the bedroom to deliver Astrid what she requested.

Astrid smiles when Zephyr hands her the mug of water, while Hiccup places the tea on Astrid’s nightstand. “Thank you, Zeph!” she says, cupping her daughter’s cheek for a brief moment before releasing to take a sip of the water.

“You’re welcome, Mommy!” Zephyr exclaims as Hiccup sets her back down on the bed. He steps away and begins to take off his armor, leaving himself with his tunic and pants on. He walks back over to the bed and takes a seat at the edge, moving aside the furs covering Astrid there to reveal her feet. Hiccup takes one of them in his hands and begins to rub and massage it to relieve the pressure Astrid was feeling there.

Astrid sighs a sigh of relief and reclines even farther back on the headboard and her pillow. “Oh, that feels wonderful. Thank you, babe.” Hiccup and Astrid have this routine, ever since she was pregnant with Zephyr, where, nearly every night, he’ll massage her feet. Even when she’s not pregnant and her feet aren’t swollen, he’ll still do the act for her. Astrid will return the favor by massaging his shoulders, which are usually incredibly tense from stress and chiefly duties.

Zephyr crawls over to Astrid and curls up at her side, resting her head on her mom’s shoulder. Astrid smiles and wraps and arm around her after pulling some of the furs to cover the little girl. “Mommy, when’s baby going to be here?” she asks.

Astrid looks up at Hiccup, who looks back at her, and they share a smile. “Soon, honey,” Astrid replies, running her hand up and down Zephyr’s back. “A few weeks, maybe.”

“Hopefully not any sooner than that,” Hiccup adds on. They don’t want to risk an early birth, especially considering that they are in winter. He would love to meet his and Astrid’s child, yes, but after seeing premature births and hearing stories about his own early birth, he knows it wouldn’t be safe for the baby or for Astrid.

Astrid nods her head knowingly. “Are you excited to be a big sister?” she asks.

Zephyr nods her head. “I wanna see baby.”

“Believe you me, I want to be seeing him, too,” Astrid responds, kissing Zephyr’s head and earning a laugh from Hiccup.

This pregnancy has just been particularly rough for Astrid, with morning sickness that lasted all the way up until the end of her second trimester (when she was pregnant with Zeph, she only had morning sickness during her first trimester), she’s been even more fatigued than what she thought was possible, and she’s had these contractions.

Plus, before this pregnancy, she and Hiccup had gotten pregnant when Zephyr was one-and-a-half, but Astrid unfortunately miscarried before she and Hiccup had even known they had conceived – only about a month into the potential pregnancy. It was hard, and it was incredibly stressful for Astrid, because she wasn’t sure if she was going to be able to have any more children after that, but they were blessed eight months ago to find out that a new Haddock was going to be joining the family just after Snoggletog.

Sure, the pregnancy has been rough, and yes, Astrid definitely wishes she wasn’t pregnant right now and that she just had their new baby here, but she is incredibly thankful that she and Hiccup got another chance to have a second child, because both of them wanted more than one child.

And, their dreams are going to be coming true within the next few weeks.

“But now would not be the best time,” Hiccup reminds her.

Astrid nods her head. “Of course,” she replies. “He’s not ready to be here yet.”

“Why not?” Zephyr asks.

“He’s still growing,” Astrid responds, rubbing Zephyr’s shoulder. “He needs to stay in my tummy for a little bit longer before he can come out and meet you.”

Zephyr nods her head knowingly. “I hope baby likes me.”

Hiccup laughs. “Oh, the baby is going to love you,” he says, looking at his daughter with such love and affection. “You’re going to be the greatest big sister the archipelago has ever seen.”

“Really?” Zephyr asks, looking up at Astrid.

“Really,” Astrid answers, kissing Zephyr’s nose afterwards.

Hiccup smiles at the sight of his little family. He can’t believe how blessed he is to have such a wonderful gift – an amazing, gorgeous wife who is a brilliant Chieftess and mother, an incredibly smart, beautiful, and talented daughter, and a new baby on the way, who is less than a month from joining the world.

He’s so lucky; the gods have certainly blessed him insurmountably with his family. His heart warms, and he can’t help but smile when he thinks about just how incredibly lucky he is. Words can’t even describe just how lucky he feels to be in his position.

“What are you smiling at?” Astrid asks, knocking Hiccup out of his train of thought.

Hiccup smiles at Astrid and pats the ankle of the foot he just completed massaging. “Just how much I love you.”

Astrid blushes slightly, but she kicks Hiccup in the shoulder. “You’re cute,” she replies. “I love you, too, babe.”

Hiccup gets on his knees and leans over, and, cupping Astrid’s cheek, leans in and gives her a short, yet passionate kiss on the lips, Astrid not able to stop herself from smiling into the kiss.

“Gross!”

Hiccup and Astrid pull away to see Zephyr covering her eyes with her hands, sticking her tongue out in disgust.

Hiccup chuckles. “Aw, and I love you, too, Zeph!” he exclaims, reaching over to tickle her sides. Zephyr instantly erupts in giggles and laughter, rolling away from Astrid. Hiccup leans down and also begins to press kisses to her face, knowing that his beard will tickle her even more. Astrid shakes her head, but also laughs at the sight, her heart warming.

Hiccup stops after a few seconds, Zephyr taking in deep breaths to calm herself down. Hiccup pats her shoulder and turns back to Astrid, a proud smile on his face.

Astrid shakes her head yet again. “You’re something else, babe,” she says, wrapping an arm around his back.

Hiccup smiles and kisses her cheek. “Hopefully that’s a good thing!”

Astrid rolls her eyes, but she doesn’t say anything.

Hiccup turns back to Zephyr, who has now returned her breathing to normal. “You doing alright, Bud?”

“Yeah!” Zephyr says, giggling.

Hiccup smiles. “Well, how about you and me go outside and build a Snow Viking so we can give Mom time to rest, huh?” he asks.

Zephyr instantly sits up, her eyes shining brightly. “Yeah!” she exclaims, jumping down from the bed. “Let’s do it!”

Hiccup and Astrid laugh at the sight. “Go get your boots and coat, and I’ll help you put them on,” Hiccup instructs. Zephyr nods her head enthusiastically and rushes out of the room to go to her own, which is just down the hall.

Hiccup and Astrid smile at each other. Astrid leans in and kisses Hiccup’s lips quickly.

“You get some rest now, okay? Both you and the baby need it,” Hiccup says, placing a hand on Astrid’s stomach, feeling the baby’s kick when he does so.

Astrid nods her head. “You’re the best,” she says.

Hiccup shakes his head. “That would be you, Milady,” he responds, poking her nose with his finger. Astrid scrunches up her nose in response, and Hiccup just kisses her cheek. “I love you, Ast.”

“I love you, too,” Astrid responds, running a hand through his bangs so she could see his eyes. “Now, go have fun with our daughter.”

Hiccup smiles at her, kisses her lips, and gets up from the bed.

--------------------------------------------------------

Hiccup hasn’t seen Astrid all day.

This was completely out of the ordinary. Even with the constant rush that came with basically restarting Berk (or New Berk, as they have now decided to call it, in order to make things less confusing when referring to Old Berk) and building a completely new village, they were still able to find time to be with each other at some point during the day, whether it be eating lunch together, going on patrol, or sitting with each other at the village-wide bonfires at nighttime.

But today, Astrid is nowhere to be seen.

And frankly, it concerns Hiccup a little bit.

He can barely pay attention as he deals with a dispute between Balder the Baldest and Halvar the Hardhead, who are debating who gets the plot of land closest to the pier for their house.

It’s been a struggle trying to get plots for houses situated, especially with how…well, awkward the land was, now that they didn’t have their dragons. They were high up on a cliff, which meant getting down to the water involved a long trek down some scaffolding to reach the pier. Hiccup’s stump definitely ached a lot the first few weeks after they finished building that (which, that and the pier, had to be the first thing built for New Berk, since…you know…they needed to get fish somehow).

Well, his leg has been hurting constantly since the loss of the dragons. Hiccup didn’t realize how much he used Toothless to get places until now. Even Gothi’s teas and suggestion for added padding in his prosthetic weren’t helping.

He’ll get used to it…eventually.

“I was in line before you!” Balder shouts in Halvar’s face. They’re at the front of the line at the table where Hiccup is seated at, where he is meant to be approving where people are living and helping with house plans. Instead, however, he is staring off in the distance, his head in his hand as he twirls his writing stick, the line being held up by Halvar and Balder’s banter.

Halvar jabs Balder’s chest with his finger. “That’s because you shoved me out of my spot!”

“That’s because I was here before you!”

“I was first in line this morning!”

“I was busy fishing!” Balder turns to Hiccup and points to himself proudly. “That’s why I should be closer to the pier, Chief! I provide food for the village!”

“I fish too, you nitwit!”

Thus began a fist fight between the two of them, which the group behind them didn’t help out with, since they instead encouraged it with their cheering for them…as Vikings usually do.

Never a dull day in New Berk.

Hiccup rolls his eyes, huffs, and stands up from his chair. “Guys, fighting isn’t going to sort this out,” he says with an unamused tone, placing his hands flat on the table.

“We’re Vikings! Fighting is how we solve all our problems!” someone yelled from the back of the crowd.

Hiccup sighs. “Of course,” he mutters to himself. This definitely isn’t something he wants to deal with today. “Why am I not surprised?”

He walks over to the two fighting men and steps between them, all while trying to dodge their blows and not get his head punched in. “Okay, for Thor’s sake, none of you are going to get the plot by the pier if you keep acting like this!” he shouts, feeling like he is a parent scolding their children. Though, to be honest, that’s what being Chief of the Hooligan Tribe felt like most days.

“Shut up, Chief Fishbone!” Halvar exclaims, trying to run at Balder.

Hiccup pretends he didn’t hear the insult. “There are plenty of open plots by the pier!”

“But I want that one!” they both shout, pointing in the general direction of the empty plot they both were aiming for. They begin to bicker with one another yet again, choosing now to slap each other in the face after each sentence. It really did feel like being a parent trying to settle a fight between their two young kids.

Hiccup rolls his eyes. Right as he opens his mouth to say something, he halts when he notices movement from the corner of his eye. He looks past Halvar and Balder and turns his attention ahead of them. He notices a familiar person rushing off away from the village, headed into the tree-filled forest.

It’s Astrid.

Hiccup steps away from the two men hastily, knowing he might miss her if he wastes too much time. He has to see her today. “Um…okay, Halvar, you get the plot on the western side of the ledge, and Balder, you get the one on the east. They’re both equidistant from the pier, so you both can have easy access for your fishing spots,” he says quickly.

Halvar and Balder both open their mouths to protest, but Hiccup is quick to interrupt. “And no whining to me about it; just finish up your house plans by the end of the week.”

Hiccup then turns to the crowd. “I’ll be back in, like, ten or fifteen minutes, and we’ll sort the rest of the plots out then.” Without even waiting for a response, he turns around and rushes in the direction that he just saw Astrid walking to, not even bothered by the sounds of the villagers calling his name and wondering where he’s going, as well as Halvar asking which way was west.

Despite how much his left leg (well, what’s left of it, at least) hurts, he runs out of the village and into the forest. He hasn’t explored it much yet, what with all the constant hustle and bustle of building an entirely new village, so he doesn’t quite know where this leads yet.

He does, however, spot Astrid up ahead of him, holding onto her arm as she walks towards a nearby cliffside that looks out over the ocean.

Hiccup slows down his trek and instead chooses to follow her quietly for a little bit, not saying anything or doing anything to try to catch her attention, as to not scare her, since she looks lost in thought.

He just admires her; he watches as her long blonde hair shifts and moves as she walks, the way she looks around at the unfamiliar surroundings of their new home. Hiccup can’t help but smile at the sight of her. Even though they’ve been together for three years, Astrid still has this way of making him grin like a lovesick idiot.

Astrid eventually stops, as though transfixed by the sunset up ahead. A cliff’s edge is only a few yards ahead of them. Hiccup hadn’t even noticed it; he had been too fascinated on Astrid.

He watches her in silence for a few moments, waiting for a moment to approach her without spooking her…until Astrid speaks up.

“I know you’ve been following me,” she says. She turns and looks at Hiccup after. The shade of her normally bright blue eyes is dulled, and she looks exhausted. She probably is; she’s been helping out so much around the village, and Hiccup knows she hasn’t been sleeping that well.

He doesn’t blame her; he definitely hasn’t been resting, either.

Hiccup laughs softly and rubs the back of his neck. “I’m, uh…not that sneaky, am I?” he asks, walking closer.

Astrid gestures to his prosthetic. “You have your bad leg. The one that somehow squeaks more than your other one.”

Hiccup looks down at his prosthetic leg, noticing how rusty and old it is. He never used it that much; he normally kept it in his study at the forge in case he ever broke or lost his other one, since he’s had too many encounters in the past where he’s left without his prosthetic. It’s not as glamorous as his other one was, with the interchangeable legs, but it works for what it was built for – to allow Hiccup to walk.

He still has yet to make himself a better leg, after he lost his usual one during the battle with Grimmel. He’s been so busy helping to begin repairs that he hasn’t even thought about making a new leg…well, he’s kind of thought about it – mostly when the pain becomes unbearable. He’ll make a mental note to make a new one, but then he’ll get distracted by a dispute or someone needing assistance, thus leading to him never actually going to the makeshift forge to build a new one.

So, he’s been stuck with this old prosthetic that he originally used as a back-up.

Hiccup chuckles and nods his head, walking over to Astrid. “Even my good one squeaked?” he asks curiously.

Astrid nods. “Not as bad.” She shrugs. “I always knew when you were coming, though.”

“I’m just that predictable.”

Astrid gives a small smile to him before she turns away and goes to sit on the ledge, Hiccup following closely behind her. “So…how has the chief been doing?”

Hiccup shrugs his shoulders before placing a hand on Astrid’s shoulder to help keep him steady as he sits down next to her. “Busy,” he says, even though she already knows that. It’s been his answer to that question for the length of time since they’ve been at New Berk…well, it’s been everybody’s answer. “Dealing with where people are going to be living, making plans for the new Great Hall, helping out Gobber in the forge whenever I can.” He shakes his head. “But once everything gets built, we should be back to normal.”

He glances over at Astrid, who nods her head knowingly. It sounds hopeful when Hiccup says it, but they both know that not only is it going to take a long time to build everything, but it’s going to be even longer until the village goes back to normal.

Neither of them say anything about it, though. They don’t need to.

Hiccup clears his throat. “And how has Miss Hofferson been doing?” He leans over and tucks a strand of Astrid’s blonde hair behind her ear, letting his fingers linger there for a moment before pulling away his hand to rest in his lap.

Astrid looks out to the vast sea, wrapping her arms around herself. “I’ve been fine,” she says quietly. She doesn’t elaborate like she normally does. She remains silent.

“Is…is everything okay?” Hiccup asks, furrowing his eyebrows.

Astrid sighs, her shoulders slumping. “It’s just…it’s just all different,” she answers. “I mean…a new village, a new house, no dragons…it’s all…different now.”

Hiccup nods his head, leaning back on his arms. “Yeah,” he replies. “It’s…it’s definitely different. Hard.”

“Yeah,” Astrid breathes. She shakes her head and pulls her legs up to her chest. She sniffles, which instantly worries Hiccup.

“What’s up?” Hiccup asks, looking over Astrid up and down. He notices her eyes looking down and glossing over with tears. “Ast? Are you okay?”

Astrid wraps her arms securely around her legs, burying her head in knees. “I just…I’ve been having a hard time adjusting…” Her sentence trails off, and Hiccup thinks he knows exactly what Astrid is referring to.

She misses Stormfly.

A lot.

Hiccup can relate with missing Toothless, obviously. Stormfly and Astrid were always together, just like Hiccup and Toothless. Stormfly was Astrid’s companion in everything, and they were truly best friends. Astrid cared so deeply for her Deadly Nadder, and Hiccup knew Stormfly felt the same way about Astrid. They had such a strong connection, and it…it really hurt to watch Astrid say goodbye to her.

The dragons were the Berkians’ best friends in the entire world for six years, and in a split-second decision, they had to give them up.

It was all for their own good, and it was what was inevitably going to happen, with how often Berk was being attacked for their dragons. But that didn’t make giving them up any harder. It hurt everyone so much to give up their companions so quickly, without too much time for a proper goodbye, and without much time to process everything. They just had to watch their best friends leave before their very eyes, and then go straight into the process of rebuilding their village, all while grieving.  

Luckily, Hiccup’s had his chiefly duties to distract him, but Astrid hasn’t had the same privilege.

Yes, Astrid is Hiccup’s second-in-command and has her own heavy workload herself, but Hiccup always has to be thinking about the village and looking at building plans and solving disputes and yaddah-yaddah-yaddah. The list goes on and on for Hiccup.

Astrid…unfortunately has a bit more time to dwell on everything that happened.

So, it’s definitely been affecting Astrid very differently than it has been for Hiccup.

Hiccup nods his head. “Yeah,” he breathes. “It has been hard.”

“It’s weird,” Astrid says, shaking her head. “Like, it’s all for the better, and we needed to do it, and I understand that, but…” her sentence trails off.

“It doesn’t make it any better,” Hiccup finishes.

Astrid nods. She sniffles yet again, but her tears haven’t fallen yet. “I just…wonder if she’s okay.” She shrugs and looks down at the grass, and she begins picking at it with one of her hands.

“I’m sure she is,” Hiccup replies, placing a hand on the small of her back. “And I’m sure she misses you just as much as you miss her.”

“I know,” she says. “But it’s just weird not having her here with us. She’s never there to wake me up in the morning. Or go on a flight with. Gods, I almost cried this morning because I looked at her saddle, Hic.” She scoffs. “Her saddle.”

Hiccup doesn’t say anything; he just rubs her back, his thumb moving in small circles.

“Gods…I thought I was doing okay, but…I don’t know,” Astrid continues, looking out at the ocean. “I mean, I was sad, yeah, but…I think it just all caught up to me today, and…I…I don’t know…I feel so weird about it all. It was the right thing to do, and I know she’s happy there, and I’m happy that she’ll finally be where she’s meant to be, but…I still…want her back.”

Hiccup nods his head, understanding exactly how she feels. In his dreams, all he was able to think about was Toothless, and how he wished he had gotten one more flight in before they had to say goodbye. How he wished they could rewind time to before all this Grimmel nonsense happened – when dragons and Berkians were together, in harmony.

Gods, he misses the dragons like crazy. He’ll find himself looking out at the sky, trying to catch a glimpse of a Terrible Terror or a Hiddeous Zippleback.

He never does, of course. All the dragons in the nearby vicinity left to the Hidden World with the Light Fury and Toothless.

But he still looks. It might be unhealthy, but he can’t help it.

One day, they’ll all fully accept what happened. One day, they won’t cry about the loss of their dragons. One day, it’ll be easier to talk about the memories of Old Berk or the Edge.

But for now, they’re still grieving. And that’s okay.

Astrid huffs, breaking the silence. “Everything is different, and...”

Hiccup reaches over and wraps an arm around Astrid’s shoulders. “I know,” he whispers before pressing a kiss to the side of her head. Astrid leans closer to him, resting her head on Hiccup’s shoulder. “It’s hard, and it’s a lot of adjustment we have to make, but this is what’s best for them. We’re all better off with this. They’re where they’re meant to be, in the Hidden World. And this is where we’re meant to be, even if it doesn’t feel like it yet.”

Astrid nods. “I know,” she whispers.

“And it’s okay to not feel great about it right now. It’s okay to miss them. I mean…they were our best friends. But…my dad told me when I was little that with love comes loss. Yes, it would’ve been great to keep them with us, but…that would’ve been selfish. They would’ve been unhappy if we kept them here, because the attacks on them and us would’ve only gotten worse. So…even though it hurt…I still stand by that this was what we were meant to do.”

Astrid reaches over and grabs Hiccup’s free hand in hers, intertwining their fingers.

“And it’s not like we’re never going to see them again. I’m sure we will one day,” Hiccup continues, his own eyes glossing over with tears. “I hope we’ll see them one day again. But for now, we’re protecting them by sending them there. It’s all for their own good. And maybe ours.” He shrugs. “We relied on them for everything. Now we can grow on our own.”

He shrugs. “I’ve…I’ve realized that recently, thanks to you.” Astrid glances up at him, looking at him with love in her eyes. “Took me long enough, I guess.” He chuckles. “I mean…I relied on Toothless for everything for six years of my life. Six years. Yeah, those six years were the best years of my life, but…I…I felt I was nothing without him and that I couldn’t do anything without him. I’m…I’m still trying to work on that, of course. That I’m someone without him, and that he didn’t make me who I am, but…that he helped me, you know? That all of the dragons helped us…that…they helped us become better people. But now…we can do that on our own. Even if it hurts sometimes.”

Astrid pauses for a few moments, taking in everything he just said to her. It was almost like he had read her mind, read her heart…knowing exactly what she needed to hear.

She misses Stormfly. A lot. And that’s okay. They were together for so long – six whole years of their lives. They became such a part of their lives that they relied on them for everything. And now, they can grow on their own, in their own respective places where they’re meant to be.

It’s going to hurt. It’s going to be painful to talk about them for a while. Astrid is still going to have moments like these for a long time. But it’s okay. It’s all a part of the process of accepting what happened and knowing that this is how it is meant to be.

“Yeah,” Astrid says evenutally. She lets out a deep breath. “You always know what to say, somehow.”

Hiccup laughs and shrugs. “I try.” He leans down and kisses her forehead softly. “And hey, if you’re ever feeling like this again, don’t be afraid to talk to me. I’m here to help you. I’ll ramble to you all day long if that helps.”

Astrid laughs and shakes her head. “I know,” she responds. “I just didn’t want to get in the way of all your work and everything.”

“Astrid, you’re my first priority!” Hiccup exclaims, pulling her closer to him. “I want to help you feel better; I can’t stand it when you’re feeling down. Don’t be afraid to come to me. I’m always here for you.”

Astrid smiles and punches his shoulder lightly. “You’re so cheesy.”

Hiccup laughs, happy that Astrid doesn’t seem to be as upset anymore. “You love it.”

Astrid rolls her eyes and leans in to give a short kiss to Hiccup’s lips, barely giving him a chance to kiss her back. “Whatever.”

“That kiss tells me otherwise,” Hiccup responds, sticking his tongue out at her.

He earns another hit to the shoulder before Astrid leans her head back on Hiccup’s chest. “Shut up.”

Hiccup laughs, which feels good. He hasn’t been doing that much recently. None of the Berkians really have been.

It feels nice to laugh. To smile. To remind himself that everything is going to be okay. They just have to get through this period of mourning.

And sitting here with Astrid is exactly what he needed, too. To take a break from the craziness of building a village and the sorrow of grieving the loss of the dragons. Being with Astrid rejuvenates Hiccup and always makes him feel better.

Hiccup smiles. “I love you, Ast.”

Astrid looks up at Hiccup and grins. She places a hand on his chest, and Hiccup lifts his hand to hold onto her wrist to keep it there.

“I love you, too, Hic.”

------------------------------------------------------------

A/N: as always, please let me know what you think!

and come chat with me about dragons!! my inbox is always open!!

Zephyr knew something was up.

She knew something was up the second when, while she was playing with her toys in her bedroom after lunchtime, her father, Hiccup, burst in the room without warning, announcing that she was going to be spending the rest of the day at Fishlegs and Ruffnut’s house.

He was normally at work at this time, out in the village doing his chiefly duties. He usually didn’t come home until dinner time, so it was a strange thing that he was even here. Plus, it was almost Snoggletog; it was less than two weeks before it, which is the busiest time for Hiccup, what with preparations all around the village for the holiday and for devastating winter, which would be coming shortly after.

So, he shouldn’t even be home, which was certainly strange.  

But the way he was acting was even stranger.

He was frantic; more than usual, at least. He was tripping over his words, and his eyes were wide, and he wouldn’t stop doing the shoulder thing that mom always makes fun of him for doing.

And when she asked him why she was going to be staying over there, Hiccup almost…froze up. Instead of being all jittery, he turned as still as a stone, and worry took its place all over his face.

“Uh…uh…y-your little baby brother or sister?”

Zephyr turned her head to the side. “Yeah?” she asks.

“Um…yeah, uh…they’re…uh…coming…a little bit earlier than we expected?” he answers. He gives a nervous smile.

Zephyr turned her head to the side, confused. “Then why do you look scared, Daddy? Shouldn’t you be excited?”

Hiccup laughed apprehensively and rubbed the back of his neck. Zephyr could see his ears turn red. “I…I am, Zeph! I’m really excited! But…the baby is just…coming a lot earlier than we planned, and…yeah.” He shakes his head. “But everything’s going to be fine, Zeph. You’re just going to stay over at Fishlegs and Ruffnut’s house until your baby brother or sister comes.” He held out his hand for her to take.

Zephyr reaches up for Hiccup’s hand. “When?” she asks.

“Uh…we’re not sure. Maybe sometime tonight. You might be asleep when they come. We’re not sure. But…you’re just going to stay over at Fishlegs and Ruffnut’s house until then.” He squeezes her hand.

“Can I see Mommy before we leave?” She stands up on her feet. Astrid had been up in her and Hiccup’s bedroom all day. Zephyr only saw her a little bit, when she and Hiccup brought her breakfast that morning.

Normally Astrid would give her lessons before lunch, but Grandma Valka had come over to do it instead, which was not a normal occurrence, unless Astrid was needed in the village. But she wasn’t in the village. She was in her room.

Hiccup anxiously shook his head. “Uh…Mommy is busy right now. But, you’ll get to see her later tonight when your baby brother or sister comes. I promise, Bud.”

“But-”

And without waiting for what Zephyr was going to say, Hiccup took her downstairs, got her bundled up in her winter gear and boots, and led her out of the house.

That was a few hours ago. Zephyr is still stuck at Fishlegs and Ruffnut’s house…with nothing to do. Her dad forgot to let her grab some of her toys to play with while she was over, so she’s left with almost nothing to do, save for the writing stick and paper Fishlegs dug out from his office for her to use. Which, she enjoys, but she just wished she also had her toys.

She couldn’t even go outside and play in the snow; Fishlegs and Ruffnut told her to stay inside and wait there. There wasn’t even too much snow that would normally make it unsafe to go outside and play! They were just being killjoys.

It was less than two weeks before Snoggletog, for Thor’s sake! All the other kids were outside building Snow Vikings and having snowball fights. But no, Zephyr had to stay inside.

And normally Fishlegs and Ruffnut would play with her while she was here, too. But they wouldn’t even do that! They just talked quietly to themselves, or Fishlegs would anxiously pace back and forth while Ruffnut banged her head on the wall…for some reason.

Why was everyone so nervous? Why was no one excited that her baby sibling was on the way? Zephyr was excited! She was going to be a big sister! Everyone around the village for the past eight months would come up to Zephyr and talk to her about being a big sister and how exciting it was that she was going to have a baby brother or sister.

But now, everyone was suddenly so nervous! This was like an early Snoggletog present for Zephyr! It seemed like she was the only one who was excited about it, though.

Eventually, when it was nearing dinner time, there was a knock at the door. Fishlegs was quick to get up from his seat at the dining table, where Zephyr had been sat at nearly the whole afternoon. He rushed over to the door, opening it up to reveal Hiccup. Zephyr immediately sat up in her seat excitedly when she saw him, but she frowned when she looked at his face.

Her dad looked tired. Like, even more tired than he normally did when he came home from work on any normal day.

What had he been doing while Zephyr was over here? Was her baby sibling’s arrival really that exhausting?

And where was Astrid? Was she still at home? Zephyr had been hoping that she would be there when Hiccup came to bring her back home. She wanted to see her mom so bad.

“How are they?” Fishlegs questions as Ruffnut basically runs down the stairs to hear whatever it is Hiccup has to say. She looked like she was shaking in her boots.

Hiccup lets out a long sigh and nods his head. “They’re both fine,” he tells them. He even smiles.

“Oh, thank Thor!” Fishlegs exclaims, his tense shoulders relaxing, and Ruffnut clasps her hands together. This is the first time she’s ever seen Ruffnut act normal…ever.

Hiccup breathes out deeply, and he runs a hand through his hair. “It was definitely rough, but they’re both okay, and they’re both resting right now.” He glances into the room. “Where’s-” His eyes land on Zephyr, who smiles eagerly and gets up from her seat and runs over to her dad.

Hiccup steps into the house and holds out his arms, and Zephyr rushes into them, allowing herself to be picked up by her dad. “Hey, Zeph!” he exclaims, pressing kisses to her cheek, his beard tickling her and making her laugh.

“What took you so long?” Zephyr asks him, gripping his shoulders.

Hiccup smiles and shakes his head. “We had to get your baby brother!”

“Oh, a boy!” Fishlegs squeals from behind Hiccup, a big grin on his face. Ruffnut smiles, too, and she hugs Fishlegs’s arm.

“Brother?” Zephyr asks, not sure if she heard him correctly.

Hiccup nods his head excitedly. “Yep, a baby brother, Zeph!” He kisses her cheek. “You’re officially a big sister!”

Zephyr’s mouth drops. “I have a baby brother?”

Hiccup laughs. “You do, Zeph! Do you wanna go meet him and see Mama?”

Zephyr beams. “Yes, yes, yes!” she exclaims.

Hiccup adjusts his hold on Zephyr and kisses her forehead. “Then, let’s go!” he replies. He turns back to Fishlegs and Ruffnut momentarily. “Thank you guys so much for watching Zephyr.”

“We’re happy to do it, Chief!” Fishlegs exclaims. “And whenever Astrid is ready for visitors, we’ll be over!”

Hiccup smiles. “Thank you,” he says again. Then, he turns and exits the Ingerman house, heading straight for home.

Well, now Zephyr was nervous. She was excited, too, but now…now she feels what her dad, Fishlegs, and Ruffnut were feeling for most of the day.

Was her little brother going to like her? Was her mom okay? Was her brother okay? She was feeling a mix of emotions.

But, her dad said that they were fine, so she should believe that. She just…was still nervous. She was a big sister now. Her mom and dad had told her that it was a big responsibility. And now, after months of waiting, she was finally going to meet her younger sibling…her little brother.

They made their way back to the house quickly. When they entered, Grandma Valka was in the kitchen preparing tea. When she heard them come in, she turned and smiled widely at the two of them, she and came over to speak to them.

“Astrid isn’t asleep yet,” she tells Hiccup, the volume of her voice quite low. She places a hand on his arm. “She should be getting some sleep soon, though. It would be best for her. She needs her rest.” She turns and smiles at Zephyr. “Are you excited to meet your little brother, Zephyr?”

Zephyr nods her head and smiles at her grandma. “Yes!” she exclaims.

Valka smiles at her, and she tugs on one of Zephyr’s braids. “Well, I know your mama wants to see you, so you’d better get up there, yeah?”

Hiccup kisses his mother’s cheek before heading to the stairs, taking them two at a time. When they get to the second floor, and before they enter Hiccup and Astrid’s bedroom, Hiccup turns to his daughter.

“We’re going to be very quiet, okay, Zeph?” Hiccup says, his voice hushed. “Your baby brother might be sleeping, and he needs a lot of rest.”

Zephyr nods her head obediently. Hiccup grins at her before going to the door to the master bedroom, which was partially opened. Hiccup peers in through the crack, and then steps aside, opens the door, and brings the two of them inside.

Zephyr sees her mother seated on the bed, her long hair messy and out of its usual braids. She was in one of Hiccup’s tunics, and she was leaned against the headboard. She looks exhausted, but she has a smile on her face as she glances up at her husband and daughter.

And in her arms…is a bundle of blankets?

“Hi, Zeph,” Astrid says as Hiccup and Zephyr come into the room. Her voice is hushed, and it sounds like her throat is sore. But she is smiling, which comforts Zephyr. “Come over here, honey.”

Zephyr looks at her dad. Hiccup kisses her forehead and then walks over to the bed, and he takes a seat beside Astrid, placing Zephyr on his lap. Astrid holds out her arms, and Zephyr leans over to look.

Inside the blankets is a very small baby.

A very small, pink baby with his eyes closed and little tufts of blonde hair. His arms were curled up against Astrid, and he did look like he was fast asleep.

He was so…small. A lot smaller than some of the babies Zephyr has seen around New Berk, like when she goes with her dad when he has to perform naming ceremonies and things like that. She was there at Snotlout and Minden’s baby’s naming ceremony, and their baby was small, but nowhere near as small as Zephyr’s little brother.

She…she has a little brother. She’s a big sister now.

Zephyr looks up at Astrid, who nods. Zephyr looks back down at her brother, peering even closer at him, leaning over Astrid’s arms. She watches as the baby lets out a small yawn, and then he curls up closer to the blankets.

“He’s my brother?” Zephyr asks softly.

“He’s your brother, Zeph,” Astrid says, smiling down at her.

Zephyr blinks. “He’s so tiny.”

Hiccup laughs softly and kisses her hair. “He’ll get bigger over time, Zeph. He was only born an hour ago,” he tells her.

“What’s his name?”

Astrid and Hiccup look at each other, smile, and then turn back to Zephyr. “Nuffink Finn Haddock,” Hiccup tells her. “But you can just call him Nuffink.”

“Nuffink,” Zephyr says, testing the name out. It was weird, but…she kind of liked it. She looks back down at the baby, who was still fast asleep in Astrid’s arms. “Hi, Nuffink!”

Astrid grins and kisses Zephyr’s head. “Do you like him?” she asks.

Zephyr nods her head. “I love him, Mommy.”

Hiccup and Astrid look at each other again, smiling. “Well, he’s here to stay,” Hiccup tells her. “Are you happy to be a big sister?”

Zephyr nods her head again.

Astrid brings Nuffink even closer to Zephyr. “You want to give him a kiss?”

Zephyr leans down and kisses Nuffink’s forehead.

“And tell him you love him?”

“I love you, Nuffink,” Zephyr tells the baby. She looks back up at Astrid. “I’m a big sister, Mommy!”

Astrid laughs and kisses Zephyr’s forehead. “You are, sweetie! And you’re going to be the best big sister in the whole world.”

Zephyr can’t help but smile at that.

She was definitely excited for this new member in their family.

Her little brother, Nuffink.

_______________________________________

A/N: I hope you guys liked it! I based the last little bit on an Instagram post from Dan Reynolds, when his and his wife's son was born, and one of their little girls was in his lap talking to the baby. It was really cute. Here is the link if you want to check it out :)

I think it's kind of an accepted thing in the fandom that Nuff was born in winter, and I always pictured him as being an early Snoggletog present for the Haddock family...and an early surprise in general, with being born around a month early. And I think it's technically canon that Zephyr was, like, 2 when Nuff was born, but I always picture her as being 3 years older than Nuff, so...I know that's not technically canon, but neither is Homecoming, to be honest. I mean, there was discrepancy over how old the kids were, with the script saying she's 5, but then the director of Homecoming said she was 8...I don't even know anymore lol I try to be as canon as possible, but with the kids...I think it's just up in the air with how old they are. No one really knows lol

Okay, enough ranting from me!

Let me know what you guys think, and if you have any more ideas for fics, please let me know! I'm about 2 weeks ahead of all my college course assignments, so I have plenty of time on my hands lol

Astrid huffs and rolls over on her sleeping mat for what feels like the millionth time in the past half-hour.

She just can’t settle her brain down. Her mind is racing a thousand miles per second, and she doesn’t know how to get it to stop.

She’s so tired; she’s absolutely so exhausted, yet she can’t seem to fall asleep. Even in her comfiest pajamas, wrapped up in warm furs, and with it being so late at night, she just can’t go to sleep.

She rolls over onto her back and stares up at the ceiling of her tent.

Just a few hours ago, after migrating to a new island, and after a long, difficult battle with Grimmel, and after nearly sacrificing his life for Toothless, Hiccup made the brave yet difficult decision to let the dragons go. Let the dragons leave the Berkians’ care to live in the Hidden World, where they can’t be hurt or hunted by humans anymore. Where they can be safe and live in peace and harmony, without fear of dragon hunters and killers.

It was tough. Heart-wrenchingly tough. But it was what needed to be done. It was what was best for the dragons, even if it might not seem like the best decision for the Berkians.

Because it is hard for them. They have lived with the dragons for six years, six whole years, and they’ve grown to love them and become bonded with them. They became inseparable – you couldn’t have the Berkians without the dragons. And within the matter of minutes, they all basically had to give up their best friends in the entire world.

All for good reason, of course. All for the good of the dragons and their safety.

But that didn’t make it any easier for the Vikings.

Astrid closes her eyes as the memory of Stormfly, her beloved Deadly Nadder, flying away with the rest of the dragons to the Hidden World fills her mind. Gods, she missed her so much. Her heart clenches at just the slightest thought of her. Her best friend in the entire world, gone. They might never see them again.

Astrid rolls over onto her left side.

And Toothless. Gods, that dragon, that useless reptile, changed everyone’s lives. Especially Hiccup’s, of course. The memory of him giving such a sad, longing look at Hiccup before he followed the rest of the dragons just makes Astrid want to cry.

And she did cry, earlier that day. Everyone did.

It was the hardest decision Hiccup had ever made in his entire life. Even harder than when he made the decision to try to show the Vikings that dragons were not enemies. This was so much more difficult.

But he was putting the dragons first, and that’s what he needed to do. He had been putting himself in front of their needs for a while, and he realized this was what was going to be safe for them. He couldn’t let them live in fear any longer. They needed to be where they were always meant to be – in the Hidden World.

She wonders how Hiccup is doing right now.

Immediately after the dragons left, he left to be by himself. Any normal time, Astrid would’ve joined him to make sure he was okay and to talk through everything with him, but this time, she felt he needed his time to be alone.

The village proceeded like normal, or as normal it could be without the dragons. They went back to setting up their tents, figuring out where gardening patches were going to be, finding the best fishing posts, preparing food, and just…trying to get back to how things were supposed to be.

Just…without the dragons.

And Hiccup never came back to the village until later in the evening, when most people were going to sleep. Before Astrid could even go over to him, Hiccup hastily went into his tent (or as hastily as he could on his backup leg, which Hiccup now has to use until he makes a better one), and he never came back out.

Astrid turns over onto her right side.

She sees her parents on their sleeping mat, somehow fast asleep. They’d been asleep for a few hours, and Astrid has no idea how they managed to do that. She’s been tossing and turning ever since she entered her sleeping mat.

Astrid sighs, feeling the urge to get up.

She pulls aside her furs and gets up from her sleeping mat. As quietly as she possibly could without waking her parents, Astrid exits their tent.

The fire that had been lit in the middle of what Astrid assumes is eventually going to be the town square is still partially lit from earlier in the evening, but the cold night air has cooled it down significantly. No one is out, which gives Astrid a sense of relief. If anyone saw where she was going right now, there would be no way for her and Hiccup to escape the rumors.

She wraps her arms around herself and makes her way to the tents on the outer area of the campsite they set up earlier. She spots Hiccup’s tent, the dim light of a candle lighting up the inside, and rushes towards it, trying not to make a sound.

Running on adrenaline, she approaches and, taking a deep breath, pushes aside the flap that leads into the tent.

There, Hiccup is, sat up on his sleeping mat, turned away from the entrance to the tent. A candle is beside his mat, and Astrid can only assume he’s looking in his journal or at the Book of Dragons.

Astrid clears her throat. “Hiccup,” she whispers.

Hiccup jumps in his seat, and he quickly turns around to look at who startled him. He looks shocked to see Astrid standing there, but Astrid is only focused on just how completely exhausted he looks. He has major bags under his eyes, and the green color of his eyes is just so much duller than they normally are.

“Astrid?” he says, his voice at a low volume, placing a hand on his chest to feel his beating heart from being scared. “What are you doing here?”

Astrid sighs and tucks some of her bangs behind her ear. “I can’t sleep,” she replies. She glances at him up-and-down. “And it seems like you can’t, either.”

Hiccup shrugs before gesturing for Astrid to come into the tent. Astrid does so, taking a seat on his sleeping mat directly beside him. She sees now that he was looking through his journal, looking at all the drawings he had done over the years of Toothless and Stormfly and all the other dragons they have encountered. Though, before Astrid gets a chance to look at it too much, Hiccup closes the book.

Astrid brushes some of her long blonde hair off her shoulders. “How…how are you doing?” she asks him, looking fixedly at him. Hiccup has his face low, not eyeing her.

Hiccup shrugs again. “I’m fine,” he says, though Astrid instantly knows it’s a lie. He looks over at her, and then quickly looks away.

Astrid blinks. “Really?” she asks, not even trying to hide that she is not convinced by his answer.

Hiccup reaches up and scratches the back of his neck. “I mean, um…y-yeah.” He clears his throat afterwards.

Astrid sighs. She slumps her shoulders. “You left so quickly after everything happened. I just wanted to make sure,” she says softly.

Hiccup shrugs yet again. “Yeah…just…wanted to get some stuff sorted out by myself.” He shrugs. His face turns bright red as he says this. If Astrid couldn’t already tell that he was lying (which she definitely could because she can read Hiccup like a book), that would’ve been an instant red flag.

Astrid shakes her head. “You know, you’re the worst liar,” she says. She reaches over and places a gentle hand on his arm. She can feel him shaking slightly beneath her.

“Seriously. How are you doing? You know you can tell me anything.” She moves even closer to him for extra emphasis. However, Hiccup doesn’t answer right away like Astrid would’ve liked. He just continues to stare at the floor of his tent, as if finding that the most interesting thing in the whole entire world.

Astrid grips his arm a little tighter. “Hiccup, you don’t have to pretend around me,” she says quietly, as if there were other people in the tent who could hear them. “I know you feel like you have to around the village, but…you don’t need to do that with me. Just tell me what you’re feeling.” She leans a little closer.

Hiccup sighs, and he closes his eyes, trying to find the right words to say. His list of issues is about two-hundred-thousand miles long, so he doesn’t even know where to begin. He shakes his head and bites down on the inside of his bottom lip before clearing his throat.

“I just…I don’t know what I’m doing,” he says. He looks over at Astrid, but then looks away, staring at the ground. “Um…I…I’m just…” He shakes his head, not sure what to say. “I’m confused, I’m upset…I feel like the whole world is relying on me, and that everyone needs me, and…I have to basically restart the entire village over again, and at the same time grieve the loss of my best friend, and…”

“Hey,” Astrid whispers, enveloping her arms around Hiccup. She brings him close to her, and she lays his head down on her shoulder, where Hiccup instantly buries his face in her neck. She holds him tight, running one hand through his messy auburn hair, her other hand running up and down his spine. “Hey, it’s okay.”

“It doesn’t feel like it,” Hiccup mumbles.

“I know it doesn’t,” Astrid replies. “It’s a lot. You’re dealing with a lot.”

“But so is the entire village,” Hiccup replies, pulling away from Astrid’s embrace, looking into her tired blue eyes. “The entire village is going through a lot.”

Astrid nods. “Yeah, and?”

Hiccup shrugs. “I feel like I’m being selfish.”

Astrid shakes her head. “You’re not. You’re just trying not to deal with your problems by bottling it up.” She pokes his chest. “Like you always do. And you know it never works like that.”

Hiccup shrugs again, looking back down at the ground. “I just…I’d like to be able to deal with my problems properly, but…it’s kind of hard to do that when the whole village is relying on me to tell them what to do.”

Astrid nods. “I mean, no one ever said it was going to be easy.”

“I know, but…” Hiccup sighs and closes his eyes again, trying to fight back the tears that are threatening to fall down. “…I just…I’d really not like to be chief right now, but…the entire village is dependent on me.”

“Yes, they are.”

“But I don’t want them to be.” He looks to the left. “Like…I don’t know if I can do it.”

“You can do it, Hiccup,” Astrid says, holding one of his hands in hers, intertwining their fingers. “You’ve done it for the past year, and you’ve done a good job.”

“It doesn’t feel like it,” Hiccup mumbles.

Astrid rolls her eyes. “You always doubt yourself,” she says. “Hiccup, you’re an amazing leader. You’ve done such good things for this tribe, and for the dragons.” Hiccup closes his eyes when Astrid says the word “dragons”. “And it’s going to be tough, and I know you don’t want to hear that, but it’s the truth. It’s going to be hard to get back on our feet and get this village running. But, you have to know that you can’t just hide away your feelings from me. That’ll only make things worse.”

Hiccup tightens his closed eyes.

Astrid shakes her head. “And you don’t have to do your work alone, either,” she says. “You know I’m here to help you lead. So is Gobber and Valka. Fishlegs, too. The twins and Snotlout on the rare occasion.” She grins when she manages to get a snicker out of Hiccup. “You can’t do it alone, Hiccup. You haven’t done it alone this entire year. It isn’t going to change anytime soon. Now of all times, you need us. And we’re here for you. You just have to ask.”

She looks over him, up and down. He’s opened his eyes, but there are tears forming. When Astrid sees this, she reaches over and, with her thumb, wipes away his tears.

“It’s all going to be okay, babe,” she tells him softly, now placing her hand on his cheek. “I promise.”

Hiccup closes his eyes, and he reaches up a hand to place it over Astrid’s. He lets out a shaky sigh. “I just…I miss him.”

Astrid leans over and holds him tightly, wrapping her arms securely around his torso. Hiccup buries his face in her shoulder again, and Astrid feels the fabric of her nightdress become damp from the tears Hiccup hastily tries to blink away.

“It’s okay,” Astrid whispers in his ear. “It’s okay.” She rocks him gently back and forth. “It’s okay, Hiccup. It’s okay. They’re safe now. They’re safe. No one can hurt them now.” Her heart clenches, thinking about how heart wrenchingly sad Hiccup sounded when he said those words. She knows exactly how he feels. She knows exactly what he’s going through.

They’ve just given up their best friends in the entire world. They may never see them again; it’s not safe for the Vikings to travel to the Hidden World, and it’s not safe for the dragons to come out of the Hidden World. They’re separated, possibly for good. In a split second, they were gone from their lives.

It’s all for their own good, Astrid has to keep reminding herself. It would be selfish to keep them here. They don’t belong here. They belong with their own. Not with us. We only bring them more danger. They’re safe in the Hidden World.

Hiccup shakes his head. He sniffles and lifts his head from Astrid’s shoulder the second Astrid’s thoughts stop, almost as if he had heard what she was thinking. “Gods, it’s been less than twelve hours, and I’m already having a mental breakdown over this.”

Astrid smiles and cups Hiccup’s cheek. “Well, it’s better to have it sooner rather than later,” she says, brushing Hiccup’s bangs out of his eyes.

Hiccup chuckles slightly at that. He reaches over and places a hand on Astrid’s knee. “Um…sorry.”

Astrid shakes her head. “Hiccup, you have nothing to be sorry for. It’s okay that you’re feeling this way about all of it,” she replies.

Hiccup nods. “It’s just…hard.”

“It is,” Astrid agrees. “And we’re going to need to take our time to adjust and to grieve, and that’s okay.” She smiles. “Just make sure to tell me whenever you’re feeling like this, yeah?”

Hiccup nods again. “Yeah,” he responds. He clears his throat. “Thank you, Astrid.”

Astrid smiles and presses a kiss to his cheek. “There’s no need to thank me.” She places her hand over Hiccup’s on her knee. “I’m here for you. I know what you’re going through, so you can always tell me anything.”

Hiccup leans over and kisses Astrid’s lips shortly and softly. Astrid smiles at him when he pulls away to look at her.

“How are you doing with all of it?” Hiccup asks, squeezing Astrid’s knee.

Astrid sighs and shrugs. “I miss her a lot,” she tells him, her heart clenching again. “But…I have to keep reminding myself that she and the rest of the dragons are safe now.” She shrugs. “It’s going to take a long time to heal.”

“It is,” Hiccup agrees. He brushes some of Astrid’s bangs behind her ear, as if to say, but we can do it together.

Astrid smiles at him. “Okay, enough of this; you, Mr. Chief, need to get some sleep. You look like you haven’t slept in ten years.”

“Oh, don’t make this about me, Miss Hofferson,” Hiccup replies. He pokes her nose. “You, my dear, need to sleep, too.” Astrid scrunches up her nose at him. Hiccup grins and kisses her nose. “Are you going back to your tent?”

Astrid glances at the entrance to Hiccup’s tent. She knows it would be smart for her to go back, but the thought of falling asleep alone definitely doesn’t sound appealing right now. She looks over at Hiccup, her eyes saying, do I have to go back?

Hiccup kisses her forehead. “You know you’ll have to sneak out before dawn to avoid anyone saying anything.”

Astrid nods. “It’ll be fine,” she says, lying down on the left side of Hiccup’s cot. She finds herself briefly thinking about how much easier it would be if she and Hiccup were…

No, now is not the time to be thinking about that. The time will come when the time will come, and for right now, she and Hiccup don’t need to add that onto the pile of things they already need to do. Plus, just a few days ago, she told Hiccup she doesn’t think they’re ready.

And then of course, the certain events of today (or, probably yesterday by now, since it’s probably after midnight), she…she’s beginning to reconsider her position on the matter.

But, she doesn’t need to deal with that for now. For now, they need to deal with grieving and with rebuilding the village. Those are the priorities for now.

Hiccup reaches over to his candle, and he blows it out, leaving the tent in darkness. “Are you sure?” Hiccup asks, lying down beside her.

“Do you not want me to sleep here?” Astrid questions jokingly.

Hiccup’s face turns bright red. “Uh, I didn’t…I didn’t say that, I, uh-“

Astrid laughs and places her pointer finger over Hiccup’s lips, keeping him from continuing to speak. “Gods, Hiccup, I was joking,” she says, shaking her head as she removes her finger.

Hiccup shakes his head and pulls his furs around him and Astrid. “You’re amazing.”

“And you’re tired, so go to sleep,” Astrid says, resting her head on his chest. “And if you’re up at dawn, make sure to wake me up so I can go back to my tent.” She lets out a yawn after.

“Of course,” he says, kissing her forehead before settling down on his cot. “Goodnight, Ast.”

“Goodnight, Hiccup.”

And the two, within a matter of minutes, managed to fall asleep. Yes, their dreams were filled with their dragons and with memories of the events of what happened just a few hours ago, but they knew that in the morning, they would have each other to aid in their recovery from this major change in their life.