Chapter 7

The following day found Hiccup groaning into his mattress as he was assaulted by Zephyr's enthusiasm. It was Sunday and after their bowling night yesterday he thought the kids would be without much energy. His little girl was currently bouncing on his bed in a beige tutu and thighs.

"Munchkin...." Hiccup groaned as Astrid next to him was completely out of it. She was still snoring away with all the mattress bouncing going on. Oh how Hiccup envied her. Last night after the first slice of pizza the ladies had ordered a cheap bottle of wine while Hiccup got Dagur and himself some beers. The kids of course stayed with soda. As more and more pizza disappeared they had to order a second one. Dagur opted to go with the Hawaiian variety, drizzling some BBQ sauce over the pineapples. Zephyr at first had balked at the idea of BBQ sauce on a pizza but soon was also munching happily along. If only he could get her to eat her broccoli with such gusto.

"But daddy, you promised to help me practice for the recital!" Zephyr said as she shook his shoulder. "I need to get these positions right!"

Hiccup's muffled groan could be heard from his facedown position on the bed but he knew he had promised. Zephyr was a ball of energy and both Hiccup and Astrid had decided to let her try some sports to work that energy off. Baseball hadn't worked, tennis had been a disaster, Soccer was......... uhm.... Let's just say Zephyr had her mother's aim and less mercy. Hiccup had balked at archery lessons and had steered his wife and daughter away from the country club Stoick and Valka were part of. Music was a big no no. Hiccup still remembered cringing when Zephyr tried the violin, the viola and surprisingly the trumpet. Astrid had drawn a line there as her ears couldn't take it. And then two years ago when Zephyr was six and Nuffink was 4 they went to an outdoor winter play of the Nutcracker and Zephyr absolutely fell in love with ballet.

She wore her parents down and when they finally caved in they signed her up for lessons at a local Ballet studio that was above the gym Gobber owned. She's been at it ever since, which unfortunately leads to the current morning situation.

Hiccup managed to drag himself out of bed, ignoring his still snoring wife who was spread out like a starfish and hogging blankets. He looked at the clock and groaned '7:58 AM'. No one should be this hyper this early on a sunday morning but Zephyr lived to defy the norm.

"Where's Nuff?" He asked as he rubbed the sleep from his eyes.

"Snoring I think," Zephyr said as she was bouncing on the heels of her feet. And of course his youngest was. He got that from Astrid, dead to the world unless enticed by coffee or chocolate.

Hiccup had donned a rope and padded downstairs with his daughter skipping ahead. She had already set up a portable bar in the middle of the living room for practice. "How long have you been up?" Hiccup asked as he finally noticed that Zephyr seemed wide-awake and dressed. His sleepy brain needed to catch up.

"A while," Zephyr said as Hiccup sat down. As he was the one usually taking his daughter to ballet class, with the exception of this month as he had an important project, he knew quite a bit of the positions she was talking about. He and Nuffink usually stuck around for Zephyr's practice, with his son either playing a game on Hiccup's phone or doing homework. At first it was awkward as the people who usually stuck around were the moms and he was the odd dad out but soon he had struck up a relatively good acquaintance with the ladies though some could be quite competitive.

Hiccup watched as Zephyr went through the motions. First came the five basic positions that had been drilled into her at day one and she had that under her belt already. The demi-plie and the battement tendu also went well but Zephyr seemed to be struggling on the pirouette still.

"Arrrggg...." Zephyr growled as she kept trying the pirouette again and again. "Why can't I get this?!"

"Munchkin maybe you should take a break," Hiccup suggested. "You won't get it if you're this stressed."

"But I need to get it," Zephyr grumbled. "Dad, I really need to get this or everyone might laugh at me. Angela already does."

And there was the reason really. Angela was Zephyr's arch-nemesis in ballet, and it took Hiccup quite a few days to wrap his head around having an arch-nemesis....... In ballet. The girls were roughly the same age and had joined the lessons at the same time but there was always a competitive edge between the two. One always tried to outdo the other. It's the reason why Astrid didn't like Angela's mother. Hiccup had steered clear of the woman but Astrid had butted heads.

"Angela's pirouette is perfect and she's going to nail the showcase." Zephyr sulked a bit. "Meanwhile I get dizzy just trying it."

"Well munchkin you aren't Angela are you. You must have some moves that she can't do,"

"Something she can't do?" Zephyr questioned aloud. "You mean like a move we haven't learned in class yet?"

"I guess," Hiccup said. "Have you learned a move that hasn't been taught yet?" It was a stretch asking but knowing his daughter she might have picked up on something as they often came early and she watched the intermediate class ending.

Zephyr thought for a moment before something clicked. "I saw two I liked...... but..." She was a bit hesitant.

"But...." Hiccup urged her.

"I haven't really practiced those but I know Angela doesn't know then and she'd eat her shoes!" Her exuberance was returning and she went back to stand by the bar to show her dad.

Zephyr did a new type of pose, putting her supporting leg in a demi pointe position before lifting her other leg behind her and her arms above her head. Hiccup realized that he had seen this position before in the intermediate class though apparently he hadn't paid as much attention to it as his daughter had and who proclaimed proudly while holding the position that it was called 'Attitude'.

Hiccup clapped as Zephyr took a bow. "That looks great munchkin," he said.

"Daddy I saw one more!" Zephyr proudly proclaimed and Hiccup was somewhat curious as to what she had picked up just from watching. His eyes widened slightly when even he recognized the move she was going to try. The Temps Leve was a hop from one foot with the other raised in any position but as his daughter was trying to show him the move they both realized quite too late that the living room didn't have enough room itself. So Zephyr ended up crashing into the couch where Hiccup sat, landing nearly on top of him, knocking the wind out of him. For an eight year old she was already slightly too heavy to sit on daddy's lap.

The ominous crash of porcelain that followed had both Hiccup and Zephyr freezing in cold blood. The duo looked to the table next to the couch to see Astrid's large porcelain swan on the carpet in pieces. The couch jostling had apparently caused the side table to wobble too, sending the swan careening off of it. Zephyr stared wide-eyed and Hiccup blanched. Astrid loved that swan. His wife was going to kill them.

"Honey what was that noise?" Astrid asked from upstairs as she had taken that particular moment to wake up.