How to Be a Dragon Star 1

Chapter Ten - Estrella

Later that night, Hiccup was bored. Training was over for the day, he'd already visited Toothless, he'd had dinner, and there were still some hours before he should go to bed.

He sat at his workbench in the little workshack, absently sketching a picture of Toothless to add to his stack of drawings. They all featured Toothless. Toothless flying free, without Hiccup's help (that one was more of a dream); Toothless sleeping, his tail curled around his nose; Toothless popping out from behind his little rock shelf, his ears perked up, excited that Hiccup had arrived.

Maybe he should go visit Toothless again now. Who said he could only visit him once a day?

Yeah, I'll do that.

Hiccup sighed and stood up. He turned around... and laid eyes on his father.

"Dad!" Hiccup exclaimed startled. He quickly stepped in front of his haphazard drawings of Toothless and tried to scrape them out of the way without Stoick seeing. "Dad! You're back! Uh, uh— Gobber isn't here, so...."

"I know," Stoick said softly. Something about the way he was staring at Hiccup was different. As if Hiccup held the secrets to the universe. Hiccup wasn't used to being looked at like that, and he felt very unnerved. "I came looking for you."

That settled it. The unnerved feeling solidified. Hiccup gulped. "Uh, you, uh— you did?"

"You've been keeping secrets." It wasn't a question, it was a statement.

"Um, I-I have?" Hiccup knew it was a lame response, but his mind was in the strange state where it was both blank, and racing.

"Just how long did you think you could hide it from me?" Stoick said. His face was shadowed in the dim lamplight, but his green eyes penetrated through the shadows. They looked very menacing.

Hiccup forced himself to focus on Stoick's nose instead. It was round, like his son's. It wasn't flaring, though, which was a good sign.

"I don't know what you're..."

"Nothing happens on this island without me hearing about it." Stoick was putting emphasis on every word.

"Oh?" Hiccup said, simply because he couldn't think of a better response.

"So," Stoick said, sitting down on a small stool (which looked like it would break any moment under his weight). He folded his hands, leaned on his knees, and stared directly at Hiccup. "Let's talk about that dragon."

The last hope of it all being a misunderstanding faded away. Hiccup's hand, which had finished pushing away all the drawings, slipped off the table in defeat. "Oh, gosh," he said. The quickest way to repent, he reasoned, was to express complete regret, even if he didn't feel it. "Oh, Dad, I— I'm so sorry. I was going to tell you, I just didn't know how to—"

Stoick interrupted him by jumping to his feet and breaking into a fit of laughter. Laughter. He laughed so hard that he threw his head back. His shoulders shook. It was the jolliest laugh Hiccup had ever heard from him, and he would have never expected it to occur in such a situation.

Hiccup forced out a couple of painful chuckles, still very unsure of what was going on. "Heh-heh-heh— you're not— upset?" he asked uncertainly.

Stoick abruptly stopped laughing and stared at Hiccup like that was the most preposterous emotion he could be right now. "Upset? How could I be upset? I was hoping for this!"

"You... you were?"

"And believe me, it only gets better!" Stoick cried happily. "Just wait 'till you spill a Nadder's guts for the first time! And mount your first Gronckle head on a spear... What a feeling!" He continued on with his laugh, now sounding slightly insane. "You really had me going there, son! All those years of the worst viking Berk has ever seen, and now look at you! You're conquering the ring! Odin, it was rough; I almost gave up on you; and all the while you were holding out on me! You're running circles around those other teens!" He finally broke his rant and sat down on the little stool again. It creaked in protest.