Unexpected

Welcome

Chapter Eighteen: Welcome

When the twins had gained enough weight that the healer thought they would be able to go home, Hiccup and Astrid were ecstatic. For about ten seconds. And then they suddenly realized that they had a nursery waiting for one baby. They hadn't been expecting two. When they eventually entered their home, untouched for a few weeks now, they looked at each other.

"I guess they can share the crib for now." Astrid said, gently rocking their son so that he would stay asleep.

"Yeah for now. They're not going to stay this small forever." Hiccup replied, grinning as their daughter suddenly sneezed but still managed to stay asleep. "And we're going to have to build a wall in the nursery to give them separate bedrooms."

"That's not a big deal, Hiccup. It'll be done in a week if everyone helps out." Astrid stared into the face of their sleeping son, a small smile tugging the corners of her mouth.

Hiccup loved watching her rocking one of their children like that. He had never seen that expression on her face until their babies were born but it was one of complete, perfect happiness. She had somehow gone from wishing they weren't having any children to not being able to be away from them for more than half an hour at a time.

Not that he blamed her. He felt a physical ache in the pit of his stomach whenever he wasn't in the same room as his children. Whenever one of them cried, it was almost a race between him and Astrid to reach the child first. With Hiccup's hand bandaged and often throbbing, he usually lost.

After only a few weeks, the babies already had different personalities. Within the first night, Hiccup and Astrid had noticed that the boy's cry was loud and jarring, not something they enjoyed waking up to, but the girl's was quieter and she made a funny hiccuping sound between wails. Astrid joked that it was a sign that their daughter would be a daddy's girl. But Hiccup didn't need a sign to know that. He could already tell from the fact that she couldn't seem to keep crying when she was nestled in his arms. The boy seemed to have a similar affinity for his mother. The boy was a morning person, preferring to wake his parents up at the crack of dawn while the girl was an evening person, waiting until almost midnight to settle in and fall asleep. These differences were minor but the new parents had a distinct feeling that their son and daughter's personalities would only differ more as they grew up.

The next day was a big one for everyone. After weeks of waiting (quite a bit longer than usual), the Haddock twins would be officially welcomed into the Hooligan tribe by their grandfather. Hiccup had been looking forward to this day for months. He'd already gotten his best outfit all ready to wear in front of the entire tribe.

"They won't even remember it." Astrid said, rolling her eyes as Hiccup straightened his shirt and attempted to tame his hair. "Calm down."

"This is a big deal, Astrid. We're getting in front of everyone. This is the first time most of the tribe has even seen our babies." His eyes suddenly widened. "Have we bathed them?"

"Yeah we did. They don't even smell like babies anymore." She watched him as he suddenly rushed across the room and grabbed a clean rag. "Oh don't polish your foot again; no one's going to notice it."

Hiccup snorted, trying to keep his laughter quiet so he wouldn't wake his children. "That's quite a statement. Imagine hearing that out of context!"

Astrid chuckled as silently as she could. "I think it's about time to go."

"Yeah... looks like it. Do I look okay?" Hiccup asked, finally deciding that his prosthetic was shiny enough.

"You looked fine half an hour ago. Now you look too dressed up." Astrid placed her hands on her hips but still smiled at her husband.