Author's Note: I've been working on the idea for awhile on what kind of kids Hiccup and Astrid would have, and it resulted in this. I imagine Hiccup is the kind of dad that enjoys teasing his kids a lot.

Like Father, Like Son

The door to the great hall was gone. Hiccup wasn't imagining things and he knew he wasn't sick. The door was most definitely gone. A wood pile sat at the bottom of the steps. Hiccup could hear Gobber give orders along with the sounds of hammers and axes. Whatever had happened, at least they seemed to be in the middle of repairing. Although, Hiccup would still like to know what exactly he had missed.

Tuffnut frowned as he scratched his chin. "I can't put my finger on it," he said with his arms folded, "but something's different."

"I believe," Eret said in grave tone. "It's the scorch marks, smell of ash and the lack of the door on the great hall where there use to be one."

"Oh, yeah," Tuffnut said with a slow approving nod and a thumbs up. "Looks good!"

"I think you'll be changing your tune when winter sets in," Hiccup muttered, dryly as he adjusted his fur cape over his shoulders.

"Whatever," Tuffnut said as he started to walk off. "If there was a fire, I need to find Ruffnut for details."

"Glad to hear he has high priorities," Eret grumbled.

"You wouldn't believe it, but it was worse when he was a kid," Hiccup said with a half smile.

"How could it be worse?"

"He and Ruffnut would personally start fires."

"Ah, point," Eret replied with a nod.

Hiccup frowned as glanced down to Toothless, hoping for some bizarre reason he could provide an answer. Unfortunately, the Nightfury looked as equally confused as Hiccup. He noticed even Skullcrusher seemed baffled by the display. They hadn't been gone that long, only for a few days for the meeting of the chiefs in hopes to calm the feud between two tribes. Hiccup would have like to think it wasn't a long enough period for trouble to happen on Berk, but he knew from experience that was an idle dream.

"Okay, so first things, first," Hiccup stated stepping forward to the work site, "I need to find out what happened and to do that I should first locate Astrid-"

"Daddy!"

He gave a grunt as his leg was grappled by a small body. Hiccup glanced down to see a familiar grinning face staring up at him, while never letting go of her wooden toy Timberjack dragon in her arms. "Hey, Sweetheart," Hiccup said as he scooped up his four year old daughter.

The girl giggled as Hiccup tried to brush her tangled red curls out of her eyes. "I shot an arrow!" she stated, proudly.

"Oh, wow, that's great," Hiccup said, as he glanced around and still saw no sign of his wife for an explanation. "Thora, what happened to the great hall?"

"It caught on fire," Thora replied with a serious nod as she pointed to the hall with one hand and hugged her toy to her chest with the other. "I wanted to help put it out, but Mommy, Gobber and Grandma said I was too little."

"Fire, huh," Hiccup muttered. That would explain the scent of ash and scorch marks. "Was it a dragon?"

Thora shook her head. "No, it was-" She gasped and covered her mouth with her hand. "Wait, no, I'm not suppose to tell you. Mommy said she wanted to tell you when you got home."

"Ah, I see," Hiccup said with a sigh. His gut feeling told him it was because it wasn't a dragon that had set fire to the hall, but one of his own children. He cast a sideway glance to Eret and assumed by the disgruntled frown he was coming to the same conclusion. "Thora, where is Mommy now?" Hiccup asked.

"Helping Grandma in the stables," she replied as Hiccup set her back on the ground.

"Can you go get her for me?" he asked and lightly ruffled her hair.

"Okay," Thora said cheerfully and patted Toothless on the nose. "Bye, Toothless! Play hide and seek later?"

The dragon growl softly and licked her cheek, making the girl giggle. "Ew! Dragon slobber!" she replied, beaming like the sun as she ran off.

Hiccup patted Toothless's head. "I know you think of my kids as your own, but could you not feel the need to give them a bath?"

Toothless gave a huff as he rolled his eyes, clearly not understanding how hard it was for a human to wash off dragon spit.

"Speaking of children," Eret said, touching Hiccup's shoulder. "I should check on my family."

"Good idea," Hiccup replied, running a hand through his hair. It was probably going to be grey before the day was over. "I'll come find you once I know what's going on."

Eret nodded as he left with Skullcrusher close behind. Hiccup then turned his gaze to the work site. Among all the grunting builders, he spied a 12 year old boy and girl he'd know anywhere. The boy looked closed to cursing as he dropped the piece of wood and ran his hands through his short blond hair that matched his mother's. The boy's twin sister, who had inherited her father's reddish brown hair, was currently attempting to fix her long braid before attempting to pick up the axe.

"Stoick! Asta!" Hiccup called as he and Toothless approached. The children froze, then each whirled around staring wide eyed at Hiccup.

"Dad!" both of them cried in unison.

Stoick chewed his bottom lip as he gave a nervous laugh. "You're ah...home early."

"Yeah, I am," Hiccup said, flatly with a sigh. "What happened?" He should wait for Astrid, but part of him just wanted to see how exactly his children would explain this mess.

The twins gave uneasy glances with each other. Each gave a reluctant nod, coming to a silent agreement, and Stoick spoke first. "Dad," he started, "it was an accident. It wasn't suppose to get out of hand."

"That's not an encouraging introduction, Son," Hiccup said with a raised eyebrow and Toothless added a disgruntle growl.

"It wasn't his fault, Dad!" Asta said and fiddled with the tip of her braid. "I miscalculated and I totally should have included the wind risk as a factor."

"That still doesn't answer my question," Hiccup said, although he was slowly picturing what had occurred.

"What they're trying to tell you is that one of our precious children nearly burnt down the great hall." All three heads turned. Astrid was letting herself be pulled by Thora and gave Hiccup a half smile. "Luckily," Astrid continued, "we only lost the door."

"I can see that," Hiccup muttered, darkly. "Was anyone hurt?"

"No, thank the Gods." Astrid then led Thora to Asta and Stoick and patted the twins on the head. "Take your sister and go help your grandmother, I need to speak to your father."

"In other words," Stoick muttered as Thora took his hand, "so you and Dad can plot punishment without us in earshot?"

Astrid raised an eyebrow and folded her arms. "Well, if you want to stay that badly I can send you to help Fishlegs." She grasped her chin. "It sounded like Meatlug ate too many volcanic rocks again, and he could really use a hand to clean up her-"

"No, no, we'll go see Grandma," Asta cut as she grabbed her brother and sister's wrist. "We are gone and out of sight!"

Hiccup chuckled slightly as he watched his children race off to the sanctuary of the stables. Astrid sighed as she greeted Toothless with a scratch under his chin and then gave her husband a kiss. "I had hoped we would have this cleaned up before you got back."

"What? And miss all the fun?" Hiccup responded as they started to walk. "So, how exactly did this happen?"

"Before I get into that," Astrid said as she frowned concerned. "How did the meetings go?"

Hiccup ran a hand through his hair. "Well, I got good news and bad news. The bad news is, those rumors Johann about those two chiefs close to declaring war on each other were true."

Astrid cringed. "Oh, great, that's just what we needed."

Hiccup nodded in agreement, especially since Berk was an ally of one of those chiefs and would be expected to help out if they did go to war. "Yes, but that's where the good news comes in. There isn't going to be a war thanks to Tuffnut."

Astrid frowned as she wrinkled her nose puzzled. "Tuffnut, prevented a war?" She waved an arm. "How exactly? I know you brought him for entertainment, but-"

"Well, that's the thing," Hiccup explained as he raised his hand, "the chiefs were about to declare war on each other, but Tuffnut's poetry was so mind boggling bad, it distracted them long enough to forget what they were fighting about, especially when they both agreed in unison on how terrible it was."

Astrid gave a snort. "Who knew Tuffnut's poetry would be useful."

"I know," Hiccup said with a nod. It had been a long shot, Hiccup hadn't been entirely certain it would help. Yet, after seeing Fishlegs and Snotlout forget about arguing after hearing one of Tuffnut's recent ballads, he figured it was worth a try.

"You realize he won't be letting that go for a long time," Astrid commented.

"No, but I'd rather deal with that then worrying about getting involved in a war," Hiccup said, "and speaking of local problems which one of our dear children do I have to thank for the fire?," Hiccup replied. "I'm currently betting Stoick from what Asta was saying."

"Actually," Astrid said with a forced half grin and tugged Hiccup's arm to force him to halt. "It was Rune."

Hiccup's eyes widened slightly and even Toothless gave a startled growl. "Rune? Our quiet little Rune?"

"Yup."

"But he's the sensible one!" Hiccup replied in shock. Despite being younger than the twins, Rune would be the one that tried to keep his siblings out of trouble. Although that would explain why Stoick and Asta spoke they way they did. The twins were protective of their little brother and sister. "How did this happen?"

Astrid sighed as she folded her arms over her chest. "From my understanding, Helga dared Rune to shoot a fire lit arrow and it was suppose to hit a stump, but Rune got startled and it hit the great hall instead."

"Of course," Hiccup grumbled as he massaged his forehead. Helga was probably the most trouble making kid after their own twins, granted that did just proved she was Snotlout's daughter. "And where is Helga now?"

"Gathering wood with Snotlout," Astrid said, "but she doesn't need a lecture. Trust me. She got a full one already."

"By Snotlout?" Hiccup asked, surprise. He didn't like to show it, but Snotlout tended to be a softie when it came to his girls.

"No," Astrid replied, "Ingrid."

"Ow," Hiccup said with a sympathetic wince. Ingrid's glares were legendary in Berk and Hiccup could only imagine what it must be like for Snotlout when he got those glares from his wife. "Full glare and all?"

"Yup," Astrid replied, "and Helga is going to help her bake bread for the next five days straight."

"Ow, I almost feel sorry for her," Hiccup replied with a smirk.

It was said Ingrid's glare was so fierce she could force yeast to rise with a mere blink. Ingrid had such a sweet personality though. It was hard to picture, and thus many people assumed it was merely a rumor as a result of her being proclaimed as Berk's top bread maker. However, Hiccup would fully believe that considering he'd seen the woman stare dragons into submission. He still wasn't sure such a woman married Snotlout, but he suppose it would take such a powerful glare to get Snotlout under control.

"What about Rune? This doesn't sound like him." He asked with a concerned frown. "He knows better than to take one of Helga's dares." Especially after that girl thought it was a brilliant idea to dare all the Berk kids into tickling Hookfang. Helga was lucky she only half of her hair had burnt off that day.

"I agree," Astrid said as she stroked Toothless's head. "I tried to asked him once we got the fire put out, but he ran off to his 'secret hiding place'."

"So, he's in the cove," Hiccup concluded. Rune always ran there when he felt like he wanted to be alone. "And you haven't brought him back yet?"

"Thought I would give him some time to himself first, he honestly did look mortified." Astrid placed a hand on Hiccup's shoulder, "I was actually about to go and fetch him, but since you're home early-"

"I'll talk to him," Hiccup said as he already started to climb into the saddle and gave Astrid a kiss on the cheek. "I'll try not to take long." He gave a sly smile. "After your day, it sounds like I owe some 'stress relief' tonight."

Astrid laughed as she wrapped her arms around Hiccup's neck. "The last time you gave me what you call 'stress relief' we ended up with Thora."

"What?" Hiccup said as he shrugged. "Don't want to go for number five?"

"Solve the problem with number three and we'll talk, Babe," Astrid said punching Hiccup in the arm, but then frowned. "Seriously though, I am worried about him."

"You and me both," Hiccup said as Toothless spread his wings. "Be back soon."

Within seconds, Toothless took to the air and Hiccup gave a wave as they headed to the cove.

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No matter how old Hiccup got, the cove would always be a memorable place for both him and Toothless. It was this quiet, little hideaway that had changed their lives forever. He found it rather amusing, and strangely fitting, that his children often used it as their secret hideout.

From the air, Hiccup spotted his son on the ground below. The boy jumped in alarm and dove behind a cluster of rocks as Toothless landed. "They always try to run, don't they, Bud?" Hiccup asked as he dismounted.

Toothless growled in agreement as he sat and swished his tail back and forth. Hiccup glanced over to the rocks. He could go over and drag his son out, but that wasn't Hiccup's way. Besides, even if he did that, it would probably make the boy refuse even more to tell him what was wrong.

"Rune," Hiccup called out, staying where he stood. "I know you're here. Come on out!"

There was the sound of feet shuffling from behind the rock, but there was still no sign of his son. Hiccup sighed, feeling like he was trying to coax out a cat. "Rune, no matter how quiet you are, I'm not going anywhere."

Hiccup had hoped that would result in Rune surrendering, but the boy stayed put. Rune was equally as stubborn as Astrid and Hiccup himself. The boy would stay there all day if he wanted. Thus, it was time for Hiccup to use one of his creative parenting methods. Hiccup smirked as he kneeled and patted Toothless's head. "Hey, Buddy," Hiccup whispered to the Nightfury and pointed to the rock, "mind getting him for me?"

Toothless gave a delighted grin and quickly bounded forward. Hiccup smirked as he watched the dragon dive behind the rock. "3...2...1," he said, softly counting on his fingers and then pointed directly at the rock.

"AAAHH!" Right on cue came a cry of distress along with the slobbering sounds of a dragon licking his victim.

"No! No! Ha ha! Toothless, knock it off! That tickles!" Rune cried out between screams and laughter. "No! Ha ha! Not my hair! DAD, CALL HIM OFF!"

Chuckling, Hiccup approached and peered over the rock. Just as he intended, Toothless had Rune pinned to the ground and was happily licking the boy like he hadn't be washed in a month.

"Dad!" Rune pleaded as Toothless licked his short reddish brown hair. "Make him stop!" he whined.

"Oh? What was that?" Hiccup said, looking around like he was alone and cupped a hand over his ear. "I must be hearing things since there was clearly no one behind this rock."

"Okay! I surrender! I surrender!" Rune declared as Toothless licked his cheek.

Satisfied, Hiccup tapped Toothless's head. "Okay, Bud, that's enough."

Toothless blinked, gave Rune one more lick at his face before climbing off looking quite proud at the job he did. Rune moaned in disgust as he shook himself to rid of the dragon drool and cringed as spit still clung to his hands. "I'll need like three baths."

"It doesn't wash out," Hiccup said as he reached inside his pouch and handed him a cloth. "Here, wipe off your face at least."

Rune took the cloth and thoroughly attempted to wipe off the drool as Hiccup took a seat beside him. "So, I hear you had an eventful day," Hiccup started as he took the cloth and covered Rune's head with it to dry off his hair. "I mean, this doesn't top the adventure of you, Stoick and Asta trying to ride that wild Thunderdrum, but it's up there."

Rune grunt was muffled beneath the cloth. "Why are you home so early?" he asked.

"Don't change the subject," Hiccup said as he gently dug his fingers into Rune's scalp. Dragon spit coated hair was a lot harder to wash out when it dried. It would become stiff and hard, and often last for days. The only person that seemed to enjoy it was Ruffnut's son who would purposely take dragon spit and sculpt his hair into different shapes. Thankfully, none of the other children on Berk seemed eager to join in on the idea. Truthfully, Hiccup could never see how shaping your hair like that could be considered fun.

"There, that should do for now," Hiccup replied as he removed the cloth. "Now, mind telling me what happened?"

Rune meekly raised his head and hugged his knees to his chest. Toothless gave an encouraging nudge and Rune responded by stroking the Nightfury's head. "I took a dare from Helga."

"I know about that," Hiccup said as he scooted closer, "but why did you take it? That's not like you."

"I know," Rune muttered as he stared at his boots. "It's just...she kept teasing me, and it was so embarrassing."

Hiccup raised an eyebrow. "What was?"

"Thora shooting an arrow!" Rune spat out in a low moan.

"Wait," Hiccup said as he frowned in confusion. "You were embarrassed by Thora shooting an arrow? Why? She missed?"

"No, she hit the target dead on!" Rune cried throwing his hands up in the air. "Right after I could barely pull the drawstring." His body shook flabbergasted. "She's not even five, Dad! And yet, my baby sister is better at shooting arrows than I am!"

Hiccup gave an understanding nod. Now it was all coming together. "Thora was probably just lucky," he explained. Granted, Hiccup did feel pride for his baby girl to do such a feat, even if it was only by luck, but that wouldn't help Rune right now.

Rune scoffed bitterly. "Tell that to Helga, she wouldn't shut up about it. So I said I could shoot any arrow. She said I couldn't, and before I knew it she's daring me to shoot a fire lit arrow."

"And you it hit the great hall?" Hiccup concluded.

Rune winced. "It was suppose to be a stump. Stoick gave me tips, while Asta was standing by with a bucket of water to put it out." He leaned back against Toothless and let the dragon wrap his tail around him. "But then, just as I was about to shoot, Gobber came out asking what we were doing-"

"And you missed, hitting the great hall," Hiccup concluded with a sigh. Now all the pieces were coming together. While Stoick, Asta and even Thora showed they had inherited their mother's ability for physical combat, Rune had proven to take after Hiccup in that regard.

In fact, when Rune was born, the boy had been very close to being named a 'Hiccup' as well. He had been the tiniest baby among his children and there were times Hiccup worried he wouldn't survive the harsh winter he had been born in the middle of. However, Valka claimed he would be strong just like Hiccup and he did. Yet, even with that said, he and Astrid agreed Rune was a better choice for a name.

It maybe tradition to name the 'runt' Hiccup, but it would be confusing to have two Hiccups running around. Besides, their generation was about changing tradition, so why not add it to the list? However, while Berk may have changed since Hiccup's youth, that didn't mean it was any easier for a small viking.

Hiccup's smile soften as he pulled Rune close and patted his head. "So, just exactly how long did you plan to hide here?" he asked.

Rune shrugged and barely raised his head as he leaned into Hiccup's side. "I don't know, the rest of my life?"

"I think that's a little extreme," Hiccup said with a laugh. "You're just going to have to face the music."

"But everyone's so mad at me," Rune replied as he shut his eyes.

"Yeah, but they'll get over it, especially once they finish fixing the great hall." Hiccup used his free hand to brush Rune's bangs out of his eyes. "Besides, you're hardly the first person to set fire to the great hall."

Rune stared confused. "I don't remember Stoick, Asta or any of the other kids setting fire to it."

Hiccup gave a snort. "I'm not talking about them, I'm talking about me."

Rune raised his head in shock. "You did?"

"Around your age," Hiccup replied. "In fact, I'm wondering if I shouldn't consider this a right of passage."

Toothless gave a snort and a disgruntled look as he buried his nose into Rune's hand.

"How did you almost burn down the great hall?" Rune asked and he gave a curious frown that Hiccup much prefered to see on his son.

Hiccup gave a forced laugh and sucked the air between his teeth. "Well, I'll say this much. It may involved a water bucket"

Rune's eyes widened as he tilted his head in confusion. "How do you set something on fire with a water bucket?"

"Turns out quite easily when you try to invent an automatic system to fetch water from the well and bring it to the great hall," Hiccup explained as he rubbed the back of his neck. "Turns out, having long ropes that connect from the great hall directly to the well makes it a prime target for dragons to shoot at."

Rune snickered and covered his smile with his hand. "Was Grandpa mad?"

"Furious," Hiccup said as he waved his hand. "I was banned from the great hall for a month, had to eat in my room." Oh, his father was probably laughing at him from the afterlife right now. Hiccup did recall his father hoping he would have a son that 'caused him as many grey hairs' as Hiccup did for him.

"Anyway, my point is," Hiccup continued, "at your age I was called the worst viking of all of Berk."

"Dad, that's rather hard to believe considering everyone calls you 'Dragon Master'," Rune said skeptically, "even with those stories Mom and Gobber tells us."

Hiccup raised an eyebrow, tempted to know what 'stories' Gobber and Astrid had been telling the kids behind his back, but he dropped it for now.

"Well, it is true and that's what I'm trying to get at," Hiccup explained. "Don't worry about the stuff you can't do. Focus on what you can, that's what I had to learn."

Rune chewed his bottom lip as he hugged his knees to his chest. "But I can't see myself being a great dragon rider like you."

"And I'm not asking you to," Hiccup said, earnestly. "There's only one me and there's only one you," he emphasized by tapping Rune on the nose. "Just focus on being you. You'll figure out who you're suppose to be eventually, I promise. Okay?"

"Yeah, okay," Rune said as he stared up at the sky. He then paused as he casually looked back to Hiccup and cleared his throat. "So, does this mean you're not going to punish me since you did the same thing when you were my age?"

"Well, I'm not going to banish you," Hiccup said, thoughtfully. "But I think your mother will agree sending you to be Gobber's helper in his forge for a week will suffice."

Rune gave a defeated sigh, but nodded. "Fine, I guess that's fair."

Hiccup chuckled as he wrapped his arm around Rune's shoulder. "Glad that's settled," he said and then frowned. "Although, I can't deny I am still a little surprised," Hiccup admitted as he brought his face closer to Rune's.

"You were really that embarrassed by Thora hitting the target?" He could understand Helga's teasing getting to Rune. However, when it came to his brother and sisters, he was usually so proud of them when they showed off their skills.

"Well, I normally wouldn't let it bother me so much," Rune said and then blushed, "but Birna was watching and I didn't want her to think I was a wimp."

"Birna?" Hiccup asked. Eret's daughter? Why would that matter- Then the meaning of his son's blush struck him. He blinked stunned. "Ooh," Hiccup said with a chuckle. "I get it."

Rune frowned. "Dad? Why are you laughing? It's not funny."

"Sorry, sorry," Hiccup said, unable to hide his smile. "I just didn't think you were old enough to have crushes yet."

"DAD!" Rune cried, blushing deep red and buried his face into Hiccup's side to hide. "I-I'm not...I mean…"

"Son, take it from me," Hiccup replied as he forced Rune to look up at him, "there are far better methods to impress a girl than taking on a dare."

"Like what?" Rune asked.

Hiccup opened his mouth, but then shut it immediately. "You know what, I believe I should leave that territory to your mother." Honestly, he still wasn't exactly sure how he got Astrid interested in him.

Rune sighed as he started to climb to his feet. "So, I guess you have to take me back now?"

"We will," Hiccup said as he grasped his son's hand and pulled him back to the ground. "But first, did you do any more sketches, while I was gone?"

He watched happily as Rune's face brightened at the question. "I tried drawing Stormfly," he said as he reached into his pouch for his sketchbook. "But I can't get her head or feet, right."

"Let me see," Hiccup said, he carefully undid the binding and started to flip through the pages of dragons, trees, sheep and anything else Rune had tried to draw. He then landed on the page of Stormfly. "Not bad, Kiddo," Hiccup said as he ruffled Rune's hair. "Might find it easier if you start with an oval shape for the head over a circle."

"Okay," Rune said and then flipped the page. "I did a really good one of Toothless." The grinned proudly as Hiccup admired the sketch of Toothless eating a fish. "See! I got his eyes right!"

"Yeah, you did," Hiccup said, and then grasped his chin. "Although, the real Toothless's tail would be wagging."

Toothless snorted and promptly whacked Hiccup with his tail.

"What?!" Hiccup laughed as he batted the tail way. "You totally do, Great Alpha."

Rune giggled along with Hiccup as Toothless glared at the two of them.

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That night, Hiccup did his nightly routine before retreating to bed. First, he peeked into the girls' room and it was just as he expected. Asta was sound asleep, with the book she had been reading dropped to the floor.

Quietly, he crept in to retrieve the fallen book and ensured Asta was tucked in before kissing his daughter on her forehead. He then spied his youngest daughter. Thora too was asleep, clutching tightly her stuffed sheep toy, with the small Terrible Terror she had adopted and insisted they name "Cuddles" sleeping at the foot of her bed.

Chuckling softly to himself, he pulled the covers up to her chin and kissed her forehead. He glanced over and saw Cuddles glancing at him with a hopeful look.

"No," he whispered, firmly. "I'm not kissing you goodnight." He may be a dragon rider and the legendary Dragon Master, but he refused to give dragons goodnight kisses...Well, maybe Toothless, but thankfully the Nightfury has never asked.

Cuddles snorted offended before quickly settling back into his slumber. Hiccup shook his head as he left and silently shut the door behind him.

He then went to the expansion of the house where the boys' room was located. His home was twice the size it was from when he grew up. Although, after the twins were born, he, Astrid and his mother knew they would need the extra room and he was glad for it.

The door creaked, reminding Hiccup he really needed to oil the hinges, as he entered. He was relieved to see both boys were asleep. They had a habit lately of secretly staying up to plot whatever latest crazy plan they had in their heads.

He crept in and checked over Stoick first. He noticed the boy had, again, kicked the blankets off himself. With a sigh, Hiccup tucked his eldest son in and kissed his forehead. Stoick stirred slightly, but he didn't awake.

Hiccup then turned to Rune and wasn't surprise to see he was, as usual, sleeping with a piece of charcoal and his sketchbook in his hands. Hiccup did his best to gently pry Rune's fingers off his sketchbook and uncurled his fingers off the charcoal. He sent it to the side before he proceeded to ensure Rune was tucked in and kissed his forehead.

His routine done, Hiccup left the room, walked by the room where his mother slept and into his own bedroom. Astrid was sitting up in bed combing her hair as Toothless raised his head in greeting from his rock bed.

"Kids asleep?" Astrid asked as she set her comb aside and settled under the blanket.

"Yup," Hiccup said as he patted Toothless and scratched the dragon's favorite spot under the chin. "No, late night planning tonight."

"Good," Astrid said as Hiccup climbed into bed next to her. "I don't want any of them plotting anything until the great hall is fixed."

Hiccup nodded in agreement and wrapped his arm around her. "Oh, did you know Rune has a crush?"

Astrid smirked and shrugged. "Well, yeah, he's had it bad for Birna since last spring."

Hiccup blinked shocked and raised his head. "Wait, you knew? How?"

"Women's intuition," Astrid replied, kissing Hiccup's cheek. "Also, he's been stammering and blushing a lot more around her lately. He couldn't make it any more obvious."

"Oh, right, of course," Hiccup muttered, unsure how he missed the signs. "I just can't believe he's that old already."

"Well, they are going up. Won't be long before you have to scare off potential suitors for Asta and Thora."

"Oh, it won't be me," Hiccup replied as he gestured to the Nightfury. "Toothless and I already agreed that will be his territory."

Toothless raised his head, grinned evilly as he growl like he was saying "Darn, right! No one gets close to my girls!"

Astrid shook her head as she pulled Hiccup down and cuddle into his chest. "Well, glad to hear you and Toothless are doing a fine job raising our children," she said in a teasing tone.

Hiccup smiled as he hugged her tightly. It was moments like this he lived for. Laying in bed contently with his wife, knowing all his children were safe in their beds. There were times Hiccup wished his father had lived to see his grandchildren, but something told him his dad's spirit knew all about it.

Taking a deep breath, Hiccup then took Astrid by her shoulders and brushed the bangs from her eyes. No matter how old she got, Astrid would forever be beautiful to him.

"So," he said slowly and waggled his eyebrows at her. "Want to go for number five?"

Astrid snorted and promptly hit her husband with her pillow. "Go to sleep," she ordered.

Hiccup laughed as he shut his eyes and went to sleep hearing the light snores of both his wife and his dragon.