Heart of a Dragon (A Hiccup x Astrid HTTYD AU Fanfic)

Chapter 3: Meeting the Hoffersons

I walked inside the house and I saw my dad, unpacking some of his clothes. "Hiccup, do you still remember where your room is?" he asked, "Uh yeah. Second floor on the right." I replied, "Uhm dad..." I followed, "Yes son?" he turned around, "I kinda found it outside. I felt bad for it, it'll die if I left it alone. Can I keep it?" I showed him the kitten inside the box, "Of course, if you want to. Just make sure to look after it." he told me, "Thanks dad." I immediately ran up to my room to make my new pet a warm bed. 

I played with him with my finger and I could it hear him purr, he suddenly grabbed my finger with his paws and started gnawing on it and I didn't feel anything sharp. 

"Huh." I carefully picked it up and looked at his mouth, "Toothless? I never knew that." I remarked as it continued biting me with its gums, I also noticed that it was losing some of its tail. 

I laid him back down to the makeshift bed and ran down the kitchen to get him something to drink, unfortunately we haven't gone grocery shopping yet so we have nothing so took some water and walked back up my room. 

"How is your new pet?" I heard my dad asked from the living room, "He's cool and toothless." I replied, "Toothless... Ha! I got it." I thought as I put down the bowl of water beside his bed, I made sure that the water is not deep enough for him to drown. 

"I'll name you 'Toothless'." I told him while he was laying on my hand, he purred, "It seems you like it." I said as I continue to watch after him before I went to bed.

I don't know if its the jetlag or the bed but I couldn't sleep. I checked my phone and it was already 4 in the morning, I checked up on Toothless and he was deep in sleep, "Good for you." I said before heading to the kitchen to get some water and I was surprised to see my dad there as well, sitting in the dark. 

"Couldn't sleep?" I asked, "Yeah. Jetlag maybe." he replied, sliding his glass of water to me and I took a sip. 

"We need to go grocery shopping tomorrow." my dad said, "I agree. We have nothing to eat and Toothless needs some milk too." I replied, "Toothless?", "Yeah, my cat's name is Toothless.", "Creative name, I like it. Just like 'Horrendous Henry Haddock III' but your mother was against it.", "Thank you mom." I said and my dad burst out in laughter, "How about we grab something to eat?" he suggested, I nodded with a smile. 

"We'll take 'Skull Crusher'." he went inside the master bedroom to get the keys, "'Skull Crusher', huh? It's been years since I last heard of that name." I thought, it was my dad's most prized possession, his dark purple colored pick up truck. 

"How are we sure that its even gonna start?" I asked as I got in, "I asked your Uncle Gobber to maintain him for me while we were away." he said with a grin in his face, he was extremely excited.

My dad started 'Skull Crusher' and it roared to life, literally roared. I was worried that it would wake up our neighbors but my dad was just happy hearing car revving. 

We headed out and ate at the very first restaurant we saw open. After we finished eating, the sun started to peek out the horizon. "Let's go. I want to show you something." he told me so we hurried to a cliffside, I got out and I saw the sun rising clearly in the sky. "I always brought your mother here." he told me, he put his hand over my shoulder as we watched the sun lit up the morning sky. 

As we were walking back to the car i noticed something etched on a trunk of tree, "Stoick + Valka" I read, "I miss you mom." I traced my hand over the carving before getting back to Skull Crusher. 

We got back to the house at around 6 am, I checked up on Toothless and got him some milk from the restaurant we ate at before dropping on my bed and closing my eyes.

I was woken up by a banging on my door, my door was about to pop out of its hinges because of how hard my dad was knocking. 

"I'm up." I shouted as I made my way to the door, "Clean up. We have some visitors." my dad said, I nodded and yawned, "Don't forget to brush your teeth." he added, I covered my mouth, "Hurry up, okay?" my dad reminded before leaving. 

I went to Toothless, "Good morning, my black furred glutton." I greeted as I saw his empty bowl, "My breath doesn't stink, does it?" I asked and Toothless hissed at me, "Alright. Point taken." I went to the bathroom and cleaned myself.

I walked downstairs and I saw a guy who seem to be my dad's age and also his wife I assume, who was the same age as my mom. 

"Good morning." I greeted, "Hello Hiccup. It's nice seeing you again." she hugged me and I stiffened, "It seems Hiccup doesn't remember us." the guy noticed, "They're the Hoffersons. Agnar and Asdis Hofferson." my dad introduced them, "Oh! I remember now, I used to stay at your house and drink Yaknog." I stated, "That's right. You were just a wee little lad when we last saw you." Uncle Agnar described.

"How are you?" Aunt Asdis asked, "I'm okay. Still getting used to the house again." I replied, "That's good to hear." she told me as we sat down around the dinner table.

"How is your daughter?" my dad asked, "Oh right. They have a daughter that I played with all the time." I said to myself, "Oh, Astrid. She's fine." Aunt Asdis answered, "Do you remember her, Hiccup?" Aunt Asdis asked me, "Uhm... Vaguely." I replied, "I remember one time, you gave her some flowers that you picked up from the side of the road then you asked us that when you two grow up if you can marry her." Uncle Agnar reminded me and I could feel my whole face heat up, "I did something like that?!" I blurted out and they burst in laughter seeing me embarrassed. 

"Unfortunately, she isn't home. She's busy training in basketball. It would have been nice for you two to catch up." Aunt Asdis remarked, my ears perked up upon hearing the word 'basketball'. 

"So your daughter play basketball at Berk Institute?" my dad chimed in, "Yeah. I know it's biased for me to say this since it's my daughter but she's really good." Uncle Agnar boasted, "Really?" my dad asked, "If you see her play, it will remind you of Valka back in the day." Aunt Asdis added, "Now, I'm curious." my dad stroked his beard. 

Uncle Agnar is also a former teammate of my dad while Aunt Asdis played with my mom so her saying something like that meant it must be true. 

"Hiccup is also playing basketball now." my dad announced and I almost facepalmed myself, "Really? That's amazing." Uncle Agnar complimented, "He's quite good at it too. He lead his school to their first ever inter-school championship." my dad added, "Wow! Greatness is really in your blood." Uncle Agnar patted my dad on the shoulder followed by them both laughing, "Maybe you and Astrid could play basketball together like back when your were just children. I'll tell her when she comes home." Aunt Asdis prompted, I didn't know what to reply so I just smiled at her.

I listened to them talk for about an hour or so before Uncle Agnar and Aunt Asdis left.