The King of Dragons (a httyd fanfiction)

Chapter 15-Till the Talk

It was late afternoon when he and Astrid saw the small isle of Berk. Hiccup gave toothless plenty of pets even though they were still up in the air. thanking him for going for so long and congratulating him for doing so.
Astrid looked at the island with a smile, she was glad to be back home. She looked to hiccup and was about to say something when she stopped. A problem came to mind.
"Hiccup, where are you going to be staying now that you back on Berk?" She asked, a little concerned he was going to say-
"I guess the dragon ring," he confirmed her worries.
She sighed, "you can't, I mean, we have to keep that for training, don't we? And plus, it's the place the dragons can stay and not be bothered by us Vikings most of the time."
Hiccup seemed to slightly glare at her, and she realized her mistake.
"Well, us humans," she corrected herself.
Hiccup looked back to the island he'd come from and was finally returning to. He didn't know where he was going to be staying. He couldn't go back to Stoick and Astrid wouldn't have him stay in the ring.
"How about we ask your father, Stoick?" Astrid recommended, "I'm sure you wouldn't want to stay with him. But we could set you up somewhere until you have a house."
Hiccup sat in thought. He wasn't sure if he wanted to talk to him again, but he didn't have another plan.
"What do you think toothless?" He asked his flame-breathing companion.
Toothless looked at him and let out a happy roar, and sped up. He was scanning over the village, and hiccup pulled him up slightly.
"Slow down bud, I think I know where he is," hiccup directed toothless, and they went over and landed on top of the chief's house.
Stoick came barging out the door, about to yell at the top of his lungs at whoever, probably threw a poor sheep on top of his house again. Though he found himself face to face with an upside-down dragon, the night fury nonetheless.
"What the," was all he was able to mutter out before Astrid was lightly placed down on the ground, and the dragon dropped down in front of him.
"Good evening, chief of the hooligan tribe," hiccup's voice was laced with snark as he looked at him. It wasn't a rude tone, hiccup was even smiling in his banter.
Stoick hadn't seen him smile at all since he got back, and other than shocking him, it made him feel a bit better.
"Ah, hiccup, you came back from...wherever you went. And Astrid is alright," he responded quite joyfully.
Hiccup dismounted toothless, looking up at his father. He internally was still a little disappointed. Not because of anything Stoick had done, but because hiccup was still obviously shorter than him. He knew he was the runt but he had hoped maybe it would be less obvious as he got older. He'd always blamed it on being too far away to tell, or on toothless, But now it was undeniable.
As Astrid spoke it snapped him from his thoughts, "we came back from the King's edge. Toothless just decided that I should have come along."
"Oh. How fun. Wait who's the king there?" Stoick asked, looking at the two. Hiccup seemed to try and seem bigger but stepped back to toothless.
"My Dragon, toothless," hiccup pridefully spoke. Toothless sat a bit straighter, trying to look regal, but got easily distracted by a dust particle in the air. Hiccup kind of chuckled but then looked back to Stoick, and all signs of fun caved into an uncomfortable silence.
Astrid cleared her throat a bit, trying to break the awkward wall between them, "also, your son, hiccup, is like a king to all of them too."
Hiccup looked to her with eyes that pleaded for her to zip it, while Stoick looked at her with utter shock.
"No," Stoick muttered before turning back to his son, "really?"
"Well-I mean-yes but," hiccup stuttered out, trying to think of what to say. toothless nudged hiccup with a quiet trill, and hiccup took a big breath, "yes, I am."
"By Thor, that is amazing hiccup!" Stoick was genuinely proud of his son, "I want to meet all the people. Ha! They need to know who their great king's father-"
Hiccup put up a hand, and his father stopped. Stoick was perplexed, why stop the congratulation? What could be wrong, if they had just gone to see them.
Hiccup let out the breath he had taken in, but didn't drop the pride or dignity from his voice, "My people are dragons."
Stoick couldn't think of a word to say. Astrid looked to him expectantly, but nothing came, she looked back to hiccup and reached out a hand but he backed away. He turned his head from her and mounted toothless.
"I really should stay with them. But toothless needs to rest," hiccup spoke, mostly to Stoick, but then he looked to Astrid, "I'll be at the arena."
"Hiccup wait!" Astrid reached for him but she wasn't fast enough, toothless had already gone off. She groaned and looked to Stoick the vast, "if you are proud of him act like it, and maybe try telling him. He doesn't take the silence too well."
And she ran off after her friend before her chief could respond.
~
Hiccup got off toothless as he landed. He went to storm off but his dragon let out a groaned roar, and he turned back.
"What?" He spat, unintentionally directing his anger at toothless. Who whined slightly, backing up and looking away.
The rider realized his mistake and went over to his night fury. He let him and let out a quiet apology, "I'm sorry, bud. I didn't mean to sound so cross with you, I'm just mad at my father."
Toothless put his head under hiccup's arm, whining again, looking up at him.
"He doesn't accept you, or any other dragon for that matter. He just...well he doesn't understand me," Hiccup tried to explain to his dragon.
At this moment, Astrid had run-up to the previously used dragon killing stadium, now dragon training, but stopped to listen to what hiccup was saying.
"I want to protect you, all dragons. But how can I do that when my own family and friends are trying to hunt you down? My father has killed so many dragons, how can I change his mind?" Hiccup sighed, petting his dear friend, "we should go back to the edge...but I can't leave here now, I promised Astrid I'd stay...for the group, and her. I can't let her down, I just..."
Toothless trilled, moving his head from out of hiccup's arm. He sniffed the air a little.
"Yeah, you get what I mean. I just really do l-" hiccup stopped once toothless galloped out of the arena. "what are you doing?" He asked, his question soon answered as toothless dragged out a struggling Astrid. Hiccup held his breath for a moment, before letting out a worried, "toothless put her down."
He dropped her, and tilted his head at the rider, his tongue flopping out of his gum-filled mouth.
Astrid grunted as she hit the ground, before getting up slowly. She looked to hiccup who had the face of someone who just let a secret out they were told specifically not to spill. But he quickly changed it while walking over.
"Sorry about him, Are you ok?" He asked, and she nodded in response.
hiccup let out a sigh of relief, before questions raised to his tongue, "what were you doing listening in on me talking to toothless?"
"I was just," Astrid thought of a quick, and honest, an excuse for eavesdropping, "coming to try and stop you from leaving. from what you said I was worried you were going to."
"oh, right," Hiccup recalled what he'd said in his anger towards his father. He felt he'd always disappoint him. To hiccup, he felt he could never do anything right by Stoick. And if he did something that did get approval it wasn't true, or at least not as it seemed. Impressing a chief who was named Stoick the vast from his height, and being the best dragon killer in the archipelago was pretty hard to do when you are the runt of the group, and the inability to kill dragons. For once in his life, he felt like he was where he belonged, and his father still wasn't proud of him. What was he doing wrong?
"hey," Astrid pulled him from his thoughts, "you know that me and the others still trust and believe you, that dragons can be on our side."
"yes I know, but," hiccup trailed off, looking away from her. toothless came over to him, trilling before going more into the arena to find a comfortable spot to lay down.
"but," Astrid began to finish where he left off, "Stoick doesn't."
hiccup let out a groaned sigh, before walking over to toothless, who was now laying down, to unload the bags. there was a while of silence as he did so, Astrid just waiting for him to finally answer.
"you're not wrong. I just want him-"
he was interrupted by a loud horn being blared, but it didn't come from the island. It came from out in the middle of the ocean in front of berk, where an armada of ships collected. The chiefs of both the outcast and berserker tribes got word of the dragon king staying on the isle of berk and wasn't being killed. And they both wanted the night fury's head.