Disclaimer: How to Train Your Dragon belongs to Dreamworks, not me.

sleep headcanon: Before Valka was taken, she used to get so paranoid about what might happen if baby Hiccup stopped breathing in the middle of the night, so she used to tuck him in between herself and Stoick. After she was taken, Stoick used to do the same, partially to watch over his son and partially just to have the company. When he grew up, Hiccup preferred sharing a bed over sleeping alone.

Stoick set his helmet down carefully and tiptoed over to the cradle. "Hello, little one," he whispered, kneeling down beside his sleeping son. Hiccup, just a few days shy of his first birthday, was fast asleep, small fists clenched beside his round cheeks. Stoick ran a gentle hand over Hiccup's soft hair. He'd been born with a faint dusting of red hair, like his, but now that he was a little older it was growing in thick and dark brown, with the softest tint of red- like his mother's.

Stoick adjusted the blanket around the baby and stood up slowly. He prepared to go to bed himself, hanging up his cloak and his armor, but before he blew out the candle he looked back at the cradle.

"Might as well," he said to himself, and he carefully lifted the baby in his arms. Hiccup roused a little, squinching up his small face. "Now, now, none of that, little one."

Stoick laid down on the bed, setting his baby son down beside him, and blew out the candle. Hiccup settled down easily beside Stoick, his thumb finding his way to his mouth. Stoick watched him for a bit, eyeing the tiny rise and fall of his chest, and allowed himself to doze off.

twenty years later

"Hiccup," Astrid whispered. She shifted her shoulder, rubbing against his cheek. "Hiccup."

The newly appointed chief of Berk slept on, his mouth open and drooling slightly. Hiccup snored with his cheek pressed to the crook of her neck, his arms tucked tight against his chest. "Babe," she said, a little louder. "Babe, it's time to get up."

He roused a little, nuzzling further against her shoulder. "Can't," he mumbled.

Astrid sighed. "Well, I have to get up, at least," she said.

"Can't," he said. "'m cold."

For emphasis he burrowed closer, snuggling his head against her collarbone and tucking under her chin. Astrid smoothed his untidy hair. "You're always cold," she said.

"You're warm. Stay."

Astrid played with his hair, untangling the knots he'd gathered overnight. She liked Hiccup like this, with his thick drawling just-woken-up voice and his soft heavy weight against her. But she'd never tell him that. "Fine," she said gently, her fingertips stroking the soft skin at the nape of his neck. "Ten more minutes."

He kissed her collarbone in drowsy gratitude and sank back into sleep. Astrid kept playing with his hair as she counted the freckles on his shoulders, and if she let him sleep for thirty minutes instead of ten...he didn't exactly need to know that.

Author's Notes:

Hark! A drabble series!

I've gone for so long without writing that it honestly feels like muscles have atrophied. So I'm doing this drabble series to sort of help me along while I develop followup chapters to my previous oneshots. These are all going to stick pretty closely to canon, and I've written about eight of the fifteen so far. There's also a good chance that I'm going to do a modern Hiccstrid series and an Elsa series with the same prompts when this one is done!

But yes, if you've read some of my other HTTYD works, I'm developing a bunch of things. There's going to be at least two more chapters of "Like Real People Do" (all sorts of shenanigans with Anna and Elsa and Kristoff, and then the wedding), at LEAST one more chapter of "Haunt Me in Colors I've Never Seen" (Astrid meeting Stoick when she goes to see Hiccup HAS to happen), and at least one more chapter of "The Mermaid and the Dragon" (because I really want to see the two of them adjusting to life as adorable humans). And then beyond that, I've gotten an adorable prompt for Hiccup and Astrid being costars in the school play (I'VE PICKED THE PLAY AND THEY'RE GOING TO BE SO CUTE OH MY GOD also I'm making a cameo and it's going to be great) and I'm seriously considering a story about what would happened if Valka had never been taken in the first place. So yeah.

But please, if you don't mind leaving a review? It would really mean a lot. Over the past few years my self-esteem has plummeted while my anxiety has skyrocketed, which is a pretty crappy combination. And if you look at the post dates of my other stories you can see it's been a while since I've written anything- it's been a really shitty couple of years. A kind message would really mean a lot.

And as always, my askbox on tumblr is always open! It's themetaphorgirl, if you'd like to pop by.

Next chapter: sad headcanon