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━━ chapter twenty-one
how to find your dragon's girlfriend

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  "WHAT DO YOU mean gone?"

    "Vanished!" Hiccup flung out a hand and Snotlout's eyes followed it like some distant string was pulling his gaze towards it, expecting something to be there. Hott scoffed, not sure whether to believe it as he tugged a bucket of fish by the handle along the ground. Astrid watched him, incredulous. She mouthed, just pick it up! to which he stared blankly, before continuing to drag it along, this time purposefully letting it make an obnoxious scrape against the stone floor. She rolled her eyes and went back to scrubbing Stormfly's scales.

    "Into thin air," added Valkyrie helpfully. Hiccup nodded at her, gesturing back with a wave of his hand. They were spending their usual days in the Sanctuary, looking after not just their dragons, but any that were around. In the years past, the Frode business in caring for dragons when they were sick and injured had become so big, it incorporated into the Hangar to accompany for space. It was full-time work! Almost as much full-time work as having a kid, but definitely a close second.

    As Hott passed, Linnea looked up from her Viking rune cards from the forge that she liked to stack to point at him and say, "Poo Head."

    Valkyrie and Hiccup both frowned at her, not sure whether to be angry or surprised, wondering what caused her to state that so out of the blue. Linnea's uncle stopped right in his journey to the closest stall to stare at her, offended and state, "Hey. That's rude!"

    She just grinned, very happy with his reaction. "Poo," she said again before laughing. "Poo Head!"

    Val shushed her, gently brushing her hair off her face with a small scowl. "Don't say that," she muttered as Leith set down the bucket to state again:

    "I am not a Poo Head!" he gestured to his niece who was still grinning. "You're the━" at Hiccup's incredulous stare, Hott quickly corrected himself, "━Who told you to say that, young lady?"

    With no filter, the nineteen-month year-old answered, "Uncle Snotlout."

    "Snotlout!" both Valkyrie and Hott spun to the Jorgenson standing by Hiccup as he carefully worked to remove a splinter from a Gronckle's foot.

    Snotlout's eyes went wide, caught red-handed. Before Hiccup could scold him as well, he picked up the pace of his wagon and scurried along. The chief rolled his eyes.

    Linnea continued to smile, happy at everyone's sudden attention onto her. Hiccup pinched the bridge of his nose as she decided to then place the wooden number tags into her mouth. Valkyrie gasped and reached forward across Zephyr's head that lied in between the two of them. "Oh! Nope, no, no, no, give me that━no, honey, no we don't eat that━"

    But Linnea argued, whining and moving to get up on her feet, taking the block with her. As Valkyrie got to her feet to chase her, making Zephyr raise his head, disgrunted in being woken up, Fishlegs waved one of his new cards in front of Hiccup's face. Before he could get up and help Valkyrie, he was bombarded with the question:

   "What do you think?" he shook the card and Hiccup glanced briefly at the drawing of the Light Fury.

    "Uh━ah━" Hiccup quickly took it and pointed out the mistakes, trying to ignore the ... pig-like drawing Fishlegs had come up with, knowing he'll fix it later, "━stubbier ears. No dorsal plates."

    "Dad!"

    Recongising the sound of Linnea's cry, Hiccup jumped and glanced over. He sighed in seeing her upset over getting the wooden tag taken away and expecting him to get it back to her. Fishlegs made some quick adjustments and Asrifth travelled from the stalls to reach over him to grab his next set of tools, leaving Hiccup suddenly trapped. He threw his hands up, trying to manouver around. Meanwhile, Toothless was by the edge of the Hangar, basked in sunlight as he stared out towards the ocean, having not moved from that spot since they got here.

    "Dad!" continued Linnea, rushing towards him away from her mother who threw her head back, exasperated.

    "Hiccup, she wants you━"

    "Yeah, yeah, I'm trying━"

    Seeing him struggle, Snotlout cackled menacingly, "Hiccup Horrendous Hadddock the Third, at the beck and call of two girls."

    Hiccup sent him an unamused glare before finally managing to step away from the Gronckle and pick Linnea up who clung onto him and whined into his shoulder. He sat back down with her, trying to work with her against his chest and letting out high-pitched squeals which was her form of crying to get what she wanted.

    Valkyrie placed a hand to her forehead, glancing over at Astrid who watched her, very amused. Her gaze flickered over to the Twins who were quietly attending to Barf and Belch, but as soon as she did, Ruffnut immediately gave her one thumbs-up and one thumbs-down while Tuff blew a raspberry. She frowned at them, shaking her head, very confused. In response, she sent them an thumbs-down to which Ruffnut gasped and flung her very long braids over her shoulder back to Barf. 

    She still doesn't completely understand them, and so, Valkyrie just copied what they did in reponse. It usually worked. 

     Pocketing the wooden block, Valkyrie watched Linnea's eyes peak over her father's shoulder to stare at her, then scrunch up again and hide into the crook of his neck. Astrid chuckled at her as she grabbed the basket of Stormfly's shedded scales and made her way over to her friend, "She's so much like you," she told her in passing to the pile of blue Nadder scales they collected in larger barrels. 

     Valkyrie frowned after her, "Wait━a━are you━what's that supposed to mean?"

    "What a night!" laughed Eret as he rejoined them, hauling an entire batch of fresh hay into the stall beside Valkyrie. He dusted off his hands. Since leaving his trapper days behind him, Eret slowly has grown to be a favourite in Berk and the council. He was a great voice of reason for Hiccup alongside Astrid when it came to battle tactics and scouting missions. And Hott has grown rather attatched to him, now declaring Eret his best friend-beware-those-who-take-him-away-from-him. 

     Valkyrie reached up a hand as Zephyr came up to her, up from his nap. He nudged his snout against her palm, squawking a low and tender sound as he slowly curled his tail around them. As she did, she asked Eret, "You've never come across one before? I mean━when you were trapping?"

     Eret shrugged, "Nope," he gave Zephyr a hearty scratch on his neck and the Windstriker beated his tail happily. "Not anything of the sort."

     "So that's nothing in Bork's Papers," muttered Val thoughtfully, meeting his gaze, "nothing in the Book of Dragons, nothing in our notes from the Dragon Eye, nothing from you ... where have these Light Furies been?"

     "Maybe they're from the edge of the world," joked Eret and continued on to grab a second batch of hay, but Valkyrie pursed her lips, remembering Hiccup's elaborate plan to find the Hidden World. That place couldn't be real, otherwise they were sure to have found it by now━but then again, it seemed as if whenever they thought they had reached the edge of the world, there was always more out there. That line that dropped off was always so far away ... and then, somehow, they always ended back the way they came, like Astrid's aunt. Maybe, just like the edge of the world, this magical place where dragons lived in peace and safety together will always be further and further away every time they're close to reaching it. 

     But Valkyrie was yet to tell Hiccup that. She believed he deserved a day of excitement from a new dragon━especially one so close to Toothless. 

     Speaking of Toothless, the Night Fury had left his post by the edge of the Hangar, bounding into the Sanctuary with an impatient, guttural bray. He rushed over to his rider, nudging him with a gentle, but determined manner careful not to hurt Linnea but enough to make Hiccup chuckle in confusion, holding up a hand to stop the slobber dripping from the dragon's gums. 

     "Bud!" chortled Hiccup, letting Linnea reach out and scratch Toothless, now in a better mood. He sniffed at her with wide━almost longing━eyes before giving her hand a lick and she giggled. "What's gotten into you? What is all this slobbering and panting?"

     "Isn't it obvious?" Astrid laughed as she gave the Night Fury a scratch, too in passing. Spinning a little on her boots to walk backwards to Stormfly, she quircked a mischevious brow at the chief. "He's in love!"

     Hiccup blinked, taken aback. Valkyrie chuckled at his confusion to Astrid's manner, stepping over Zephyr's tail to make her way over to him. As she did, she caught his low whisper to Linnea and Toothless, "Trust me," he told them, in all seriousness, "relationships are nothing but pain and misery."

     Valkyrie gasped in mock hurt, swiftly punching him across the shoulder. "Don't listen to him," she cooed to Toothless, "relationships are amazing!"

     Hiccup frowned after her. He gestured an arm, "Do━do you see what I mean?" he defended. Valkyrie smirked, shaking her head with chuckles under her breath. "What did I just say?" 

     Linnea pouted and rubbed his shoulder helpfully. Valkyrie tried not to coo and pick her up to give her many hugs and kisses. 

     Toothless huffed, indigant with a quick shake of his head. He moved on to prance around Zephyr, the Windstriker watching him, incredulous. Hiccup's gaze followed him, frowning, "Am I not enough?" he called. 

     When the Night Fury didn't give him a single glance, Tuffnut snickered, "Ha! I think that's a no..."

     Hott leaned against the wooden support beam beside his older brother, Asrifth who watched over his wash bucket filled with tools. Both boys shared a chuckle at Toothless's nature who was suddenly enamoured by a pair of Nadders around the bend that had been spending the last minute circling each other with a dance to impress the other. 

     Hiccup looked a little bit like a lost child, glancing briefly at the Twins before turning to Linnea, silent as he fixed her flower crown. Valkyrie sighed and squeezed his shoulder, a short, you'll be all right before grabbing a scrub and deciding to help Asrifth clean the tools. Dragging a stool over, she sat down beside her brother only just eleven months younger. 

     All three siblings watched Toothless purr, curious at the way the Nadders finished, dipping their heads to touch horns━content in their satisfaction to the other. 

     "It's sort of sad..." mused Hott to which Valkyrie smacked his arm. He yelped, "Hey! What was that for?"

     "Have you seen Mak and Erik? They should be here for a shift," Valkyrie said instead and Hott shrugged, annoyed.

     "I don't know," he said, "probably off causing as much trouble as they can━you know, the usual."

      "No, I think Mak is off with his girlfriend," muttered Asrifth, checking a tool in the light. Not sastisfied, he gave it another rough scrub. "And Erik's helping Mum with Gothi━for once."

     Valkyrie gasped, her eyes wide, "No," she breathed. That didn't make sense. Mak wasn't supposed to have a girlfriend, he was still nine in her mind. She placed a hand to her head, suddenly feeling very old. "Who?!"

     "Ew," Hott instead turned up his nose.

     Asrifth stared at him, incredulous, "You can't say that. You're still head over heels for Astrid━"

     "Shut up," Hott covered his brother's mouth with his hands, glancing, anxious, back at Astrid giving Stormfly some chicken. "Shut up."

     Asrifth threw his hands away, "Grow up," he told him. 

    "You grow up."

    Fishlegs returned, hands covered in charcoal to show his revised design of the Light Fury card. He shoved it in Hiccup's face and the chief blinked, startled, "Something like this?"

    "Uh ..." he picked it up and tried not to wince. "You know what? Just trace your Toothless card and make her white."

     Fishlegs took the card back, a little hurt, "You could've led with that ..." but he hobbled off back to the table, starting all over again. 

     "Can you believe it?" Astrid decided to join the Frode siblings, a slight grin upon her face and a basket set against her hip, off to feed the Crimson Goregutter. Hott━immediately, like he had been electrocuted━shot up to listen to her. "Toothless has a girlfriend!"

     Hott furrowed his brows and the way she shared a smile with Valkyrie. "I ... I never took you for a romantic ... like ... ever."

    She scoffed at him, grabbing an apple and tossing it up before catching it again. Hott watched her, taken by the way she rolled her eyes. "But it's so sweet," she told him. "I mean ... look," she pointed back to Toothless.

     Everyone's gazes fixed on the Night Fury. Some cooed, others turned up their noses, wondering how the sight of him trying to copy the Deadly Nadders with his own shadow against the stone wall was sweet. Especially when he purred and rubbed the wall.

     "Okay," Tuffnut gagged, shaking his head. He pointed the brush he had been using to clean Belch's teeth, "That's just said. And weird."

     "Yeah," agreed Ruffnut, nodding to Hiccup. He glanced at her. "You better do something."

    "Seriously," added Snotlout, returning with a cart filled with dragon dung. Valkyrie covered her nose. Linnea hid her face again in Hiccup's chest, hating the smell just as much. "I'd rather shovel poop all day than watch that."

     "All right, all right," Hiccup caved in, finally pulling the splinter out of the Gronckle's foot and setting the tools down. Standing up, he passed Linnea over to Valkyrie who happily took her, even if she made a face, "let's head back to the woods and see if we can find her."

    As if knowing exactly what he was talking about, Toothless stopped. He glanced over and a bright, gummy grin formed on his face. Valkyrie smiled at the sight of it, chuckling at the way he danced on his feet and bounded off towards the exit, not even waiting for Hiccup to catch up. 

     The chief dusted off his hands and went to follow, but Tuffnut leapt to his side, clasping a tight hand onto his shoulder. Hiccup jumped, not expecting it. "Ah, good, a little privacy..." the younger twin sent a knowing glance Valkyrie's way. She sent him a dubious look yet again. 

    "Uh...?" Hiccup was confused.

    Tuffnut just shushed him, patting him comfortingly on the chest as if to say, it's okay, I know. He then threw a, "It's boy talk," over his shoulder to the others before leading Hiccup away.

    "What?" Hiccup glanced back, meeting Valkyrie's gaze with a, help, what's happening? She just shrugged, albeit very amused. 

    "Come on," they heard Tuffnut say as the two of them disappeared around the corner after Toothless. "Let's go work this out..."

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    a/n: hiccup and tuffnut's friendship in httyd 3 >>>>>>

    literally, it's one of the best subplots of the movie. 

    also, a lot of young dadcup this chapter because hiccup is the cutest dad there is lets be honest. 

    btw, hott and eret broship --