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━━ chapter eighteen
a day in berkian utopia

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    THE CHATTER in the Great Hall was deafening on a normal day, but today, it seemed far worse. They all crammed in, Vikings and dragons for afternoon supper. Valkyrie was glad she and the rest of the team had their own table (perks of being close to the chief, she supposed), and she didn't have to deal with the smell of sweaty, exhausted Vikings after a full day of work on either side of her. Instead, she could sit down beside Valka, chatting aimlessly about things while also trying to get Linnea to eat her supper━which was proving to be quite troublesome. It was Hiccup's fault. Linnea wanted to do anything her father did, and Val was sure if he was the one sitting here, trying to feed her, she'd happily accept anything.

    Valka was chuckling at each failed attempt, which made Linnea do it more. Ever since she returned to Berk, Valka has been quite the friend to Valkyrie━and a big help especially in the role of chieftess, but also when she carried Linnea and gave birth. Valkyrie doesn't think she would have been able to get through the past━almost two years now? Odin's pants. All the ceremonies, and visits and 'motherly roles' that weren't around Linnea made Valkyrie nervous. Hiccup came home tired every day, sure, and that possibly made his roles much worse and harder, but the expectation that came with Valkyrie's she hated. She already had one kid, and Linnea was effort enough (and she loved it, honestly), but the looks of━could it be? Was she...? Don't make it too obvious!

    Everyone was eager to see another little baby running around and it terrified Valkyrie because she wasn't sure whether she was ready for that; whether Hiccup was ready for that ... whether any of them were ready for another. She was still sleeping with Linnea in her bed, she was still carrying her around everywhere she was able, she was still battling to get her to eat her peas━

    "Perhaps wait a little while," offered Valka, still chuckling at Linnea's actions. "See if she's a bit hungrier later. She's definitely got Hiccup's stubbornness, I see."

    "Oh, don't even get me started," said Valkyrie. She leaned in close to Linnea, eyes narrowed and cheeks puffed to which she giggled and pushed them back in. Around them, the rest of the table was rambunctious in its chatter. Ruff and Tuff were arguing across the food, Snotlout was jeering Fishlegs who was also feeding a child (except this one was Fishmeat and even more of a struggle), Hott was having a conversation with Asrifth, discussing the Sanctuary and such things. Astrid was sitting on Val's other side, sipping away at her soup and making faces at Linnea when she thought Valkyrie wasn't watching. She didn't realise the brief glances Hott made, his conversation faltering as he watched the way her scowl light up into a gorgeous smile each time she got a reaction. He still wasn't over her━gods, he'd never be over her, no matter how much he knew she didn't see him as anything more that Val's younger brother.

    But, of course, how wrong Hott was.

     "You know," went on Valkyrie, turning back to Valka, "if Hiccup was here, she'd eat. If Hiccup was eating peas, she'd love them. It's not fair. I thought mothers and daughters are supposed to team up!"

    Astrid snorted into her soup, "I remember when you got so mad at your mother you placed all her tunics out in the snow and she had nothing to wear the next day. She had to get a new tunic tailored."

    Valkyrie flushed, embarassed. "I━I━" she went even redder. "I was six Astrid!"

    "Oh!" Ruffnut somehow had heard the conversation over the table. She gestured her chicken leg Val's way. "Oh! Remember the time when we used to throw rocks at Sven's sheep?"

    Val frowned at her, "Ruff," she said slowly, "we never did that."

     Ruffnut sat back, "Yeah, I know that. I just thought we were sharing things we did. I remember when Tuffnut burned himself right on the━"

    "Okay," Asrifth held his hand up, looking suddenly very sick. "No one wants to hear that story."

    Zephyr poked his head down from behind Valka, sniffing at Val's soup. She smacked his snout lighty with her hand, "No, out━my food. I gave you half of my chicken before. This is just for me." He huffed in her face in response. Linnea immediately reached out for Zephyr. "Zeph!" she said, very proud of herself. But since she was still growing her little teeth, she couldn't pronounce the 'z' perfectly so it sounded more like: "Peth!"

    (It was adorable).

    Zephyr let her pet his snout, patient and careful━he was the sweetest dragon in the entire world, Valkyrie was sure of it. He loved Linnea with everything he held. He and Toothless were gentle, and they were perfect around her when she was younger, and still now. When she pulled, they didn't growl or snarl, when she climbed onto them (or tried to), they made no movement and made sure she wouldn't fall ... they surprised Valkyrie, and it only reminded her how lucky they were to have dragons like Zephyr and Toothless. For instance, they could've had Barf and Belch, who the latter head was currently having a wrestling match for Tuffnut's dinner.

    Suddenly, a massive Viking squeezed in between Valkyrie and Valka. Val gasped and nearly fell off her chair, clinging onto the wood to frown, "Gobber!" She turned to scowl at him, annoyed, but he was too buys chatting to Hiccup who took the seat beside him.

    "━You're supposed to be the generation that leads us into the future!"

    Hiccup glanced over Gobber to meet Valkyrie's gaze to say, Help me. She replied with holding up the spoon and gesturing to Linnea, payback for giving her your stubborness. Hiccup held up his hands, confused, what? He answered.

    Tuffnut's plate of food finally flung free from Belch's mouth━but with such strength, it flew from Tuff's fingers and hit Snotlout right in the face. Astrid leaded away, disgusted. Val sighed. Snotlout laughed, jumping onto his feet to declare, "Food fight!" he threw his chicken towards Tuff in retaliation, and it struck him square in the nose.

    Amongst the fight that commenced between Tuffnut and Snotlout, Zephyr slipped his head in and stole fish and chicken when other's weren't looking. Ruff had a chicken leg struck right onto the horn of her helmet and she ground, spinning around to shout at her brother, "Hey! Watch the hair!" Valkyrie had given up trying to feed Linnea her peas, especially when she got so frustrated she upturned them and they got onto the floor. At this, Astrid broke out into laughter and Valkyrie was a mixture of shock and anger (and the both of them). Asrifth passed Hott back his sketchbook within the chaos, the brothers quite calm. Hiccup ducked out of the way of a flying fish, just eating away at his soup. Fishlegs continued to feed Fishmeat with a little spoon, cooing and ignoring the fight around him. Potato flung and smacked Gobber in the face.

    "Urgh!" he let out, wiping it away and flicking it back onto the table. "Thor help us!" Shaking his head, he reached an arm to Valkyrie, tugging her into a side hold that she gagged at. Linnea made a sound of surprise, and sometimes Val wondered whether she was judging them. (Val didn't blame her) Struggling to get away, Valkyrie pulled at Gobber's arm as he began, "Time to stop worrying about problems out there━"

    "━Gobber━!"

    He pulled Hiccup to his chest with his other arm and the chief was stuck with a faceful of his tunic, desperately trying to break free (and breathe), "━and start sorting out the ones right here!"

    "Okay! Okay!" exclaimed Hiccup, his voice muffled. "I━I'll think about it!"

    But Gobber had a completely different idea. Leaning into them each in turn, giving them a shake at his side, he declared, "Hang up those saddles and have some more kids!"

    Valkyrie froze. The entire table went silent, hearing the last of his words. They stopped their food fight to turn and stare; Tuffnut dropped his plate of chicken. It clattered on the ground and Valkyrie went a bright red. Astrid's brows lifted, not sure whether to step in, or to stay quiet. She decided on picking up Linnea's bowl from the floor.

    "The 'K' word," gasped Tuff, horrifed.

    "Gross," said Ruff. "Unless it's mini Valkyrie━" she threw her pie at her brother. He fell back at the impact.

    "Start ruling like a proper royal family," went on Gobber and Valkyrie winced when he tugged them back in. Hiccup let out a muffled yelp. Gobber turned to Valkyrie. "Give him another kid, please━" she really hated this conversation, "━you're the only one with any sense around here! In knowing there's a future better than this, there's still hope━"

    Valkyrie threw Gobber's arm away, angry. She stepped out of his hold and away from the table, wanting to get far from this conversation as possible. "Wow!"

     "Gobber," muttered Hiccup, his ears bright red themselves.

    Valkyrie picked up Linnea, who immediately wrapped her arms tight around her neck. She could tell something wasn't right, and she wanted to be as close to her mother as possible. Val waved a hand back towards Gobber, storming off with a final, "━Not awkward at all!"

    "Valkyrie," he called, heading after her. "Don't be like that!"

    "No, I'm being exactly like that! Zephyr, come on!"

    Zephyr followed obediently, and Astrid glanced around quickly before whistling for Stormfly and rushing after the group of them, too.

    Tuff watched them all leave. He sniggered as he came up behind Hiccup, trying to break the awkward tension as the chief massaged his jaw, happy to be away from Gobber's stench and tunic. "Whoa," said Tuff. "That is a definitive no."

    Hiccup glanced up at him, confused as to where this was going. Before he could stop him, Tuffnut grabbed his head and pulled it straight into his braided hair at his chin. "Look, if you need a beard to cry on, just lean on my shoulder and you can cry into my full, thick beard."

    The chief sighed, annoyed. He's dealt with this for six years, he's used to Tuffnut's antics by now. But it was sort of comforting, in Tuff's own, strange way. "Oh, thank you, Tuffnut," he muttered sarcastically as his friend petted his hair. "Thank you. So much."

    He heard a familiar clearing of a throat and Hiccup immediately pushed Tuff away. Wiping at the hair around his face, he exclaimed, "Eret, son of Eret!" he turned to the ex-trapper who must have returned from his scouting mission down South-East. "What's the report?"

    "Two more trapper barges spotted in the Straight," Eret pointed a meaty thumb over his padded shoulders.

    Hiccup nodded, "So, we go after them."

    The answer was obvious, but Gobber's look as he returned (having no luck in going after Valkyrie, who with Astrid, Linnea, Stormfly and Zephyr, had snuck out faster than a mouse), Hiccup frowned. "What?"

    Gobber just sighed, shaking his head. He was disappointed, and Hiccup didn't know why. It annoyed him, and his jaw ticked. "One day," the blacksmith jabbed his wooden spoon that had replaced his prosthetic for the feast, "you're gonna pick a fight you can't win."

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    a/n: friendly reminder that in most viking tradition, the father was there with the mother at the time of birth in the same room and not waiting outside. he'd name the child, so basically, hiccup chose a flower name for their child because linnea reminded him of valkyrie and if that isn't goals i don't know what is.

     also i have free therapy for you:

     (btw, linnea would be a bit older in that drawing. it's rly hard to draw babies and make them look not like 2 or 3. i guess she's almost 2 years old so could work) 

     more astrid and hott moments coming next chapter i promise <3

    also i have this huge headcannon that's cannon in this book is that ruff and tuff both really don't like babies. like they find them disgusting which is ironic since they'd probably get along with kids rly well cos of their playful and energetic natures. but yeah, they don't like young kids, but then linnea is born and she's the exception because she's mini valkyrie and its the cutest thing. the gang just adore her (as they should). 

     though tuff definitely looked at linnea when he first was allowed to see her and said, "gross."

     ps, fishlegs was that person who wouldn't hold her because he was scared of dropping her, or holding her wrong, and just freaked out over it. (cos like me).

     and snotlout is the favourite uncle. it's the truth.

     (i have so many little drabbles about this like srsly).