Uncle Gobber: Chapter 16

Firstly - this was written on a borrowed computer.

Secondly - this is the last chapter.

Thank you, everyone, for your reviews, reads, follows and favorites! I am very grateful and very lucky! :)

Hiccup began showing encouraging signs over the next few days – he was awake for longer periods of time, his constant shivering stopped and his forehead got cooler and cooler until at last Gobber deemed him free of fevers.

A few hours after that, Gobber convinced Hiccup to drink some water and eat a bit of broth, as Hiccup had had next to nothing to eat or drink over these last few days.

"I'm not really hungry," Hiccup protested, but Gobber still set a cup of water and a bowl of stew in front of him and announced to Hiccup that he had to eat something.

He hesitantly took the first spoonful of broth and set the bowl down again to talk to Gobber, but, within a few minutes, Gobber looked around again and noticed that the bowl was empty.

By the next morning, Hiccup's hair had once again gained its copper sheen and there was more color in his cheeks.

He still looked tired and ill, but well enough that he could pass for having come down with a nasty cold, if Stoick came back too soon.

The moment Gobber thought of Stoick, he glanced worriedly at his apprentice, who had pulled out his sketchbook and was absently scribbling away in it.

Every time Gobber had tried to bring up Stoick these past few days, Hiccup had shut him down and he seemed to be growing more distant with the blacksmith as Stoick's return drew nearer and nearer.

He scooted closer to Hiccup and put a hand on his shoulder, offering him a little smile and Hiccup glanced up, surprised that, now that he was feeling better, the blacksmith was still showing him the same gentle affection he had been.

He poked absently at the page his sketchbook was open to, and mumbled, "We should probably get to sleep soon, huh?"

"Yep," Gobber responded easily. "We probably should."

"Um…are…are you going back to your house tonight?" Hiccup blurted.

Gobber shrugged. "I don't think so, not until I'm sure you're completely better. 'Sides, your house is quieter. Nice little break from the forge."

Hiccup drew his knees up to his chest. "Yeah," he whispered, picking a piece of lint off the blanket that Gobber no longer felt guilty letting him have, "quiet…" his voice trailed off, and for a second, Gobber thought he wasn't going to complete his sentence and then Hiccup picked it back up again. "It's lonely."

Gobber glanced at his apprentice in surprise, but Hiccup wasn't looking at him. He leaned forward to blow out the candle, their only source of light.

A few minutes after Stoick docked was when the complaints had started, and, since then, they hadn't stopped.

"—He wearing pink shoes—

"…'I believe in fairies'…"

"—With ribbons on his helmet, Stoick, ribbons—

"…Holding a cardboard sign…"

"Yes, it said 'stop if you think I'm cute, didn't it, Spitelout?"

"If you stopped to read it—

"SHUT UP OR I'LL POUND YOU!"

"YOU DON'T HAVE A HOPE OF POUNDING ME!"

"I'D LIKE TO SEE YOU SAY THAT TO MY FACE! I COULD POUND YOU WITH ONE HAND BEHIND MY BACK!"

"WELL, KISS MY BIG ROUND, HAIRY VIKING—

"Okay, okay!" Stoick cut smoothly through the arguing and complaints. "What is going on?"

Spitelout hurriedly answered. "Your son and Gobber…they've gone crazy these past few weeks…and then they locked themselves in your house during a rainstorm and haven't been out since."

"What exactly do you mean, they've gone crazy?" Stoick asked.

"Well," Mr. Ingerman answered, "your son was holding a sign out in his front yard that read, 'stop if you think I'm cute'. Oh, and he did the Can-Can kick while he held it."

"WHAT?!" Stoick demanded, hoping dearly that he had heard wrongly.

"Yes, and then Gobber…he was wearing all pink, Stoick, like, all pink— Spitelout began. "And…er…he began talking about 'true natures'…"

Stoick took a breath and vowed to himself that he would get to the bottom of this. "Anything else?" he braced himself for the worst.

That night, as Hiccup, Gobber and Stoick sat around the kitchen table in the Haddock house, Stoick set his mug down and glanced meaningfully over at his son. He never had the best time communicating with his son, but today he was determined to get the truth out of him about his strange behavior this week. "Hiccup?" he asked casually, staring into the depths of his mug as if it held all the secrets of the universe.

"Yeah?" Hiccup looked a little nervous, as if he expected to be yelled at. He drummed his fingers restlessly on the table. Stoick suspected he looked ill and he certainly appeared to be in dire need of a good meal or two. He also looked like he could use a good night's sleep – there were circles under his eyes.

"So…did anything interesting happen while I was gone?" Stoick began in an innocently curious voice.

"Uh…what…what sort of—

"Like, maybe, did you and Gobber…get into any trouble, maybe?"

Stoick thought his son's cheeks colored momentarily, and, when he looked at Gobber, his lips twitched. The blacksmith also looked like he was fighting a smile.

And then the boy simply shrugged. "Nah," he said. "Nothing interesting."