As literally everyone who's read any of my stories will know, I am a huuuge family bonding fan. And I don't think there's nearly enough Hiccup/Stoick bonding on here.

Thus, I had to write some! With some good old hurt/comfort thrown in because, seriously I'm super predictable with my writing trends (lol).

This takes place shortly after the first movie, and features a disheartened Hiccup and remorseful Stoick.

Enjoy!

Hiccup laid his head on his desk, eyes half closed and not focused on anything in particular, as he flicked his charcoal pen up and down the slope.

It was too strange.

Years, years and years of being treated like nothing, living as the village screw up. And somehow, it all ends, just because he kills one giant dragon? It didn't make sense.

How could he believe it? It had to be a trick, a cruel joke. The people would drop the act, and it'd go back to the way it was before.

Certainly. That was what was going to happen. It… it would never last.

Hiccup flicked the pen too hard, and it rolled over the ridge at the end of the desk, dropping to the floor. He made no effort to pick it up, instead just continuing to stare unfocused at the wood.

Hero.

They'd called him a hero. The Pride of Berk. But he was sure it was all just a phase. No one could truly change that much, that drastically, that quick. Soon enough, it would be over…

Hiccup closed his eyes, taking long, deep breaths. He couldn't believe it.

At first, he was too overwhelmed by the sight of the town, dragons perched on rooftops and walking among the villagers. But now, he saw that as only a phase too. One of the dragons would do something, scare someone, and they'd be back to the war. It couldn't last.

Hiccup's eyes jerked open at the sound of footsteps pounding the wooden floor of his home. His father. He'd been acting so kind lately. It was weird. Unnatural.

"Son? You up there?" His father called up the stairs to his loft. Hiccup didn't answer. So, he soon heard more thump-thump-thumping coming up the stairs.

Ha, remember that? Taking that nice, rhythmic sound of footsteps for granted? Sometimes it hurt not to be able to hear that even sound coming from yourself anymore…

"Son, why didn' yeh answer me?" Stoick asked when he reached the desk.

"Oh, sorry, Dad, must've been asleep," Hiccup lied.

"Oh, come on, Hiccup, we both know yeh always wake the moment yeh hear me. Tha' is, if you were even sleepin' at all."

"Haha, you caught me," the boy said without emotion. "Now, I have some important… Pride of Berk-ing to do, so…" Hiccup turned away from his father, laying his head on the desk once more.

"Tha's actually what I've been meanin' to talk to yeh about, son…"

Why was he calling him "son" so much?

"Yeh've been actin' so… strange since yeh woke up. Wha's goin' on?" Stoick gently placed a massive hand on his son's shoulder, but Hiccup didn't react.

"Nothing. Everything's fine." He mumbled.

"Clearly not. Yeh barely ever leave the house. The only time yeh do is to fly Toothless, and even then, when the people try to talk to yeh… yeh just ignore 'em…" Stoick forcibly turned Hiccup so he was facing him, yet the boy still refused to look him in the eyes. "Please, son… tell me whatever is botherin' yeh. I… I want to help."

"Yeah," Hiccup said with ice in his voice. "Maybe you should've thought about doing that earlier." Before the chief could respond, Hiccup pushed himself up and stomped out of his study.

^[0]^

Toothless heard the door slam, snapping him out of his slumber. It wasn't hard enough to be the large, loud human, so it must've been his human. Toothless worriedly stood up and made his way to the door, sniffing the wood. He then heard creaking from up in his friend's loft, and turned to see the father human (Stoick, or Chief, the people called him) at the top of the stairs. Toothless grumbled questioningly up at him, but he didn't respond. Instead, he just had a lost, broken expression on his face. After a moment of standing there, he sighed and descended the steps.

The burly man shifted his gaze to Toothless, his eyes filled with sadness. Toothless, despite his lingering apprehension of this particular human, nudged his hand with his snout. The man, in response, stroked the dragon's nose with surprising tenderness.

"Oh, Toothless… what 'ave I done?"

"You hurt him… but you also are trying to make it right." Toothless crooned despite the human's inability to understand him.

"I failed 'im… made 'im grow up thinkin' he wasn't loved… Odin, forgive me…" Stoick sighed again, this time shakily, with emotions threatening to show. Toothless pressed his head into the man's hand again, looking up at him with large green eyes.

"Go find him. Tell him everything." The dragon rumbled gently.

The chief breathed a short sigh of gratitude, somehow understanding what the reptile was trying to tell him. "Oh, yeh magnificent beast…" he said, no malice attached to the nickname any longer. "My son is so lucky to 'ave yeh…" Toothless pulled his head back so the human could stand. "And I'm goin' to do wha'ever I can to make it right between us."

^[0]^

Hiccup kicked another rock in frustration, continuing his march away from town. He didn't know where exactly he was headed, just that he needed to get away from it all. The people. The questions. The attention. Even… even the dragons. He just needed to be alone.

What was his father's deal? Acting like he actually cares about whatever was bothering Hiccup? It had been a long time since he'd paid any mind to anything that didn't have to do with making Hiccup more "Vikingly". Whatever other problems he had didn't pale in comparison.

The boy made it back up to the rock he'd kicked, and went at it again. Only this time, he went to kick it with his real foot, losing his balance on the fake leg and landing flat on his back. He growled in frustration, not even bothering to get up. Maybe he'd just lay there all night. Sure beat any other options he could think of.

Hiccup was so lost in thought, he didn't even hear the footsteps coming up behind him. It was only when a voice spoke that he snapped out of his funk.

"Son? What're yeh doin' on the dirt?"

Hiccup sat up in split second at the sound. "D-Dad? What're you doing here?"

"I came lookin' for yeh. I was worried."

Hiccup sniffed in disbelief. "Yeah, well I'm fine, so you can just go back home and-"

"No. Yer not fine, Hiccup." Stoick said sternly. "And yer gonna tell me wha' it is tha's botherin' yeh whether yeh like it or not."

Defeated, the boy sighed. "You really want to know? Fine." The father waited expectantly. "It's you. And the village. Everyone!"

Stoick's expression changed, turning to one of worried confusion. "Why would we be botherin' yeh? We're all tryin' our best to make it right for yeh."

"Exactly! Why? What… what do you hope to gain from this?"

"Nothin'! We just want yeh to feel safe an'-"

"No, I meant what do you hope to gain by pretending?"

Stoick paused, trying to comprehend what his son had said. "P-pretendin'?" Was so he managed to say.

"Yeah! Pretending like you actually care." Hiccup looked at his father for the first time since he'd come across him. "Like it's not going to go back to the way it was before. Like the dragons aren't going to be sent away. Like you've actually made peace. Like I'm not the village screw up. Like… like you're actually proud of me..." Hiccup's voice cracked on the last words, and he looked like he was desperately trying to hold in his emotions.

Stoick didn't know what to say. He didn't know what to do. The only thing he could think of, could feel, was guilt. Guilt that he'd never treated his son with the love and respect he deserved. Guilt that he'd let his village go about their lives berating and sneering at Hiccup. Guilt that he drove his son to think that everything they'd been doing to make it right was just a cruel joke.

Stoick moved his hand to touch his son, but pulled it back, unsure of what to do. Vikings didn't show affection, they didn't show they cared. They were tough, hardened by battle, the fiercest warriors on Earth. And they didn't accept people who weren't those things. But Hiccup had proved them wrong. Proved him wrong. And the boy was paying the price for all those years of misconception.

Finally, the chief decided it was okay to put aside the hardened exterior for a moment. Without another word, the man pulled his son's body close, engulfing his slight frame within his own.

He felt Hiccup tense at the action, then slowly allow himself to relax before returning the embrace.

"Oh, son… I'm so sorry. Sorry tha' yeh had to live like that. Sorry I let yeh down, made yeh believe I didn't care. Sorry I didn't tell yeh… tell yeh I love yeh, Hiccup. If I could take it all back…" Stoick trailed off.

"It's alright, Dad."

Stoick huffed in disbelief. Leave it to Hiccup to say "it's alright" to something that clearly shouldn't be. His son was forgiving, something that was hard to come by with Vikings. How could he never have seen the value before? Instead, he was too focused on what Hiccup wasn't that he neglected to see what he was: a hero.

Not anymore. Never again.

After a minute longer in their embrace, Hiccup pulled away, wiping his eye. "Thanks, Dad. For everything."

"It's the least I can do." Stoick looked gratefully back at him. "Son, wha'ever yeh do, never stop being all of yeh."

Hiccup smirked. "Well sorry to burst your bubble, but that's a bit impossible now, isn't it?" He shrugged, still smiling. "But, hey, I'll do what I can with most of me!"

Stoick blinked, confused by the statement for a moment, before looking down at his son's grinning face. Finally, he laughed at the joke. "Alright, then how 'bout we get most of yeh back home, eh?"

"For once, I couldn't agree more. Toothless is probably going to have a meltdown if I'm gone for much longer." Hiccup accepted his father's outstretched hand and let him pull him to a standing position. "Useless reptile has separation issues, I swear."

Stoick chuckled again, then wrapped his arm around Hiccup as they started their trek back to Berk, as father and son.

FATHERLY STOICK IS BEST STOICK!

...anyway I hope you all enjoyed! I feel like the building of these two's relationship was largely glossed over in the franchise, and that's a real shame...