Author's Notes:

A itty bitty little bunny sneaked into my head one night and the result was this little ficlet. A very quick post-movie, one-shot.

So enjoy!

A Father's Place

A sharp, strangled noise of pain startled Stoick from his somewhat melancholy contemplation of a crackling fire. It pierced the nightly quiet of the chief's home as it did most nights, nowadays.
Stoick closed his eyes slowly with a pinched expression, aching so badly for his son to be without the pain that now haunted him. Though he might long for it in his heart, Stoick did not rush up the stairs to comfort his young son. The results of the first night of this ritual deterred the chief's first reaction now. That first night had been a truly awkward and slightly traumatizing experience for all involved, what with Stoick's distinct lack of comforting experience, the still wary relationship between the chief and dragon that taken up residence in the home and Hiccup's guilt and embarrassment at his weakness over an injury that was well on its way to being healed.

So now Stoick waited.

He knew that black devil (the description had a slightly fond tone to it now) would be with his son, comforting Hiccup where he could not (not a lick of jealousy coloured the chief's thoughts). In a few moments, Stoick would climb the stairs to check his son, after the initial terror and pain of the nightmare had been soothed by the dragon.

And so, Stoic was found a few moments later cautiously poking his head into his son's room. The room was lit only by the luminescent moon that hung outside the open window. By the moonlight, Stoick could see the dark outline of the beast lying neatly on his son's bed. It's toxic green were wide, pupils blown huge in the darkness as its head rose from it had been resting beside Hiccup's. A deep thrumming purr permeated the silence of the room. A gentle flare of nostrils on a quiet sigh invited Stoick to venture further into the room. As he crept to the side of his son's bed, Stoick could see more clearly how the two had arranged themselves on the bed. . The dragon had arranged itself to lay sternal on the bed parallel to the length it with its haunches tilted away from the boy. The far wing was tucked tidily to the creature's side, while the other was draped softly over the pained boy. In fact all that could be seen of Hiccup was the side of his head and face firmly nestled into the pillow, cheek pressed to the dragon's foreleg. Stoick could see one of his son's hands was curled over the beast's leg and pressed tightly to its chest, no doubt feeling the dragon's heartbeat. As Stoick considered his son, the dragon slowly lowered its head to rest on the pillow above Hiccup's, jaw pressed gently to the boy's crown, eyes still fixed on the large chief. Alien eyes that radiated quiet understanding.

Stoick carefully touched his fingertips to his son's hair, allowing himself the private reassurance that his son was alive and whole (mostly). It should have been his place to ease his son through the pain of his first war wound but somehow how he instead found himself watching from the sidelines. His place in this part of Hiccup's life had been usurped by this black devil and yet he couldn't find it in himself to be truly angry at the beast.

So instead Stoick let out a soft breath and withdrew his hand and with one last look at his son and black dragon retreated from the room to return to his quiet solitary contemplation in front of the fire.