"Stoick... It's been a week already! He's part of us now," said Gobber to his best friend.
"He's not part of anything! He doesn't belong here! What if this is all a trick to learn more about dragon?!", shouted back the chief.
"It couldn't be! The boy is simply to sweet for that! Besides, he seems to be very good with dragon... Stormfly likes him!"
"There is something off about him... I feel it!"
"What? The fact that he's happy every day?! I have an answer for that one! *giggle*"
"Really?", said Stoick, raising an eyebrow and crossing his arms.
"Of course! It's because of Astrid! They're always together. They're either talking or playing games... You should see it happen!"
"That's what I'm worried about... He could ruin her amazing future here..."
"He's not gonna ruin anything! *sigh* Come on! I'll prove to ya he's not bad!"
A week had passed since his landing and Stoick was still suspicious. 'Hjalmar' couldn't possibly be his name! He was right, of course, but he was nowhere close to knowing his real name.
The two friends left the Great Hall and headed towards Gobber's forge. When the chief saw Astrid and the boy arriving from the forest, he stopped and tried to hide behind the blacksmith.
"You can't be serious, Stoick!", said Gobber, rolling his eyes. "You said I should see... them happen, so that's what I'm doing!", replied the chief. His hiding spot wasn't very good, because Stoick was a big and massive man. He could be easily spotted from behind Gobber. Luckily, the young pair didn't notice them. It looked like 'H' said a certain joke, because Astrid was almost crying of laughter.
Maybe Gobber was right... Maybe everyone was right! Everyone in the village liked him except Stoick. "*sigh* You were right Gobber... I think I overreacted a bit...", said the chief after some time. "See? Maybe if you got to know him, you would change your mind!", replied the blacksmith. Gobber started to walk towards 'H' and Stoick followed him.
"Oi! H! How are ya?", asked the one-handed man.
"Gobber! Hey! I'm very good! You?", replied the rider while laughing.
"Oh, I'm good as well! Listen, you wouldn't mind spending the rest of the day with Stoick, would you?"
"Um... Yeah, sure..."
"You could show him that you're not as terrible as he think you are!"
"You think I'm terrible?!", asked Hiccup to the chief.
"I don't know yet... Show me!", replied Stoick.
The boy said his goodbyes to Astrid and headed to his father's house. Stoick didn't know what to expect with him. He was almost sure they had nothing in common! They both denied to talk first, making the situation they were in very uncomfortable and awkward. The room was very silent and Hiccup was trying to avoid Stoick's deadly stare as much as possible.
"Why do you hate me?", finally asked the rider.
"I don't know who you are... You could be a hunter, for all that we know! I don't trust you," answered Stoick.
"Look... I know that your son went missing and that you don't like strangers bu-" "How do you know what happened to him?"
"Astrid told me... And please don't be mad at her! *sigh* I know it's hard to trust someone outside from Berk, but you can't blame anyone for his disappearance. If you feel like you have nothing left, I understand you. I lost my parents long ago, and I had nobody else to look after me. You have every single one of the Vikings on Berk to help you! I know we have nothing in common, I know that, but right now, let's put our differences asides and help one another..."
When he finally finished, Stoick realized that everything he thought about him was wrong. He, like himself, went through a lot of pain in the past. He was right as well! All those years, Stoick never realized he had all the help he could ever need right here, on his island.
"You know, you remind me of Valka, my wife... A dragon took her away 23 years ago. She always had the kindest heart of all...", said the man, smiling. Stoick could finally see that 'H' wasn't so bad after all...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I'm back in business, Baby!!! Hello. I'm back from the little country house and I'm at my uncle's house (with wifi), so I'm posting this new chapter! Thank you for all the views and votes and everything! I really appreciate them! See you soon with a new chapter 😊
-Maya's Stories
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~