.

As a dragon, and a Night Fury to boot, Toothless’s natural instincts were those of complete loyalty and devoted protection. If something were to harm his allies or riding partner in any way, he would always take immediate action against it. Dragons always protected their own.

It might have gotten him into trouble now and again, but he never regretted his instincts and never would. If it meant that Hiccup was safe, then it was always worth it.

Now, as he sat there watching while nurses fussed with the tiny new life that had arrived, he felt a familiar stirring in his bones.

When Merida had announced her pregnancy there was a lot of celebration and planning that Toothless really wasn’t part of. And why should he be? He was a dragon, and dragons didn’t have much to do with human babies. He and Hiccup went on a daily ride as usual and not much had changed for the dragon.

Everyone was excited and showed it in his or her own way. Stoic and Fergus took Hiccup on a ‘fatherhood talk’ which nearly made him freak out about the whole ‘becoming a parent’ thing, but with Elinor in charge of the preparations things went calmly and smoothly, even with a few bumps here and there.

This made the panic when the time to give birth actually came all the more amusing to the dragon.

The night had seemed to go on for hours as loud screams came from the room where it was all happening. At one point Toothless tried to nose his way in, responding to Merida’s screams. He was pushed out pretty much right away of course, so Toothless decided to simply wait like the others.

Finally, a new, high pitched cry joined the noise, and it all transformed into cheers and sighs of relief from both sides as Elinor came out and announced “It’s a boy!”

A short time later, Toothless entered the room that had been prepared for the baby to give his own inspection while Hiccup cared for an exhausted Merida.

Childbirth was never easy, and Elinor had ordered the servants to let her rest while the babe was cleaned and checked to make sure it was healthy. The loud cries it made told them that its health was good, and it they placed it in a soft and warm bassinet.

Those strong lungs reminded Toothless of Merida.

Toothless had liked Merida, she was bright, warm, strong, and smelled like a mix of the stone castle she lived in and the forests that she explored and spent time in. Her scent and Hiccup’s mingled so well that Toothless found himself pushing the two together before they admitted how they felt.

Her horse Angus had helped, Toothless liked that horse a lot. He was funny.

Only a little while ago she was screaming herself as Elinor and the midwife gave her directions and Hiccup held her hand and allowed it to be squeezed into submission. Getting the baby out of her body was apparently painful, but she soon reveled in the child she and Hiccup had created before falling back into the bed and letting herself pass out.

And now Toothless was doing the same, sitting in the nursery and watched the activity around him.

All for Hiccup and Merida’s precious child.

The nurses were a little nervous about him being in with the baby, but Hiccup assured them that with Toothless in the room where it was being kept, nothing would happen to the child. Ha! As if Toothless would ever allow harm to befall Hiccup’s offspring.

They knew he was tamed and would never hurt the child, but still, humans were humans.

Elinor said that the baby had been a boy, but they had yet to give him a name. One would be given soon enough, but after Merida was awake and more coherent. Hiccup stayed with her as a slightly frazzled but proud Elinor went to deliver the news to the rest of the castle.

As the nurses and midwife kept an eye on the child, Toothless peeked into the bassinet, ignoring the gasps of the women as he moved and stared down at the itty bitty human.

The nurses watched in silence as he inspected it.

It looked so strange and tiny in the basket that Toothless wondered how something so small could be alive and cry so loud. Baby dragons were certainly different than baby humans, much more fragile.

He gave it a sniff and immediately regretted the decision. Even though the baby boy had been cleaned, it still had a strange smell that left a weird feeling in his nose that he didn’t like, though the dragon could spot Merida’s scent in there so it wasn’t too terrible.

One of the younger nurses giggled at Toothless being bothered by the smell, and Toothless gave her a look that only made her giggle more.

He rolled his green eyes, or did the dragon equivalent of it anyway, and looked back into the bassinet. The sight that greeted him caused him to make a noise of surprise.

The baby was looking at him.

Big eyes of a dull green color stared into his bright reptilian ones, and a long silence occurred. It was only a moment before its eyes closed again, but it was a remarkable thing.

It reminded Toothless of when he first met Hiccup.

Though he was scarcely aware of what it was, Toothless felt a stirring of something warm and heavy inside him as he continued to watch the baby. The best thing he could use to describe it was his instincts kicking in again. They were similar to the feelings he felt when he had first bonded with Hiccup, yet different in some way.

Toothless wasn’t sure how long he stared at the little one, but a voice soon snapped him out of his reverie and made him pull away from the basket.

“Uh, can I be alone with Toothless and the baby for a moment?”

It was Hiccup.

The nurses understood, and scurried out of the room as he entered and stood next to Toothless.

“Hey bud.” He said. “Merida insisted that I see the baby while she sleeps, she had a long night and deserves it. Elinor is watching over her, so she’ll be okay.”

They both looked at the little life before them.

“I can’t believe I’m a father.” Hiccup said in a very small voice. “I mean, I knew it was happening, but it really hasn’t hit me till just now. Look at him Bud, he’s so tiny. I’ll bet he’s even tinier then I was.”

Toothless looked at the expression in Hiccup’s face. It was strange, a mix of so many other things that didn’t seem to add up. Toothless saw joy, fear, nerves, and giddiness in his partner’s face. It was a strange combination.

“I love this child.” Hiccup said, tears now welling in his eyes, “So much.”

Toothless nuzzled Hiccup’s hand, and received a gentle pat on the nose before Hiccup wrapped his arms around the dragon’s neck in a hug. After that the two watched the child in silence.

All the years they had known each other Toothless had only seen that specific look on Hiccup’s face one other time, when he got married. Toothless knew that Hiccup loved Merida, and that he loved this child. He also knew that he loved them both too.

It wasn’t just instinct that made Toothless come to his next conclusion.

He would protect this child just as he did his father and mother, and as he would any future children they would have, for as long as he lived.