Chapter Five: Snogging on Snoggletog

The gifts were finally ready. The children left out their helmets in eager anticipation for Odin's arrival on Snoggletog night. But now it was the evening before Snoggletog Eve and Hiccup tiptoed down the stairs, a grin on his face and a hand on his mouth to keep himself from laughing too hard. Astrid was relaxing on the couch and staring into the fire. She turned to look at her husband and immediately knew there was a story.

"Okay who said what?" she asked as her husband sat down next to her.

"It was Addie this time." Hiccup replied, resting his head on her shoulder. "I was tucking her into bed and she looked me in the eye and said 'tomorrow is the day we say tomorrow is Snoggletog!' It was so adorable. How do we have such cute kids?"

"I guess we got lucky." Astrid sighed deeply, feeling warm and cozy next to her husband. "It'll be nice to have the day off tomorrow. The kids are going to love the Snoggletog Eve party."

"Think Gobber will have the bells attached to his arm this year?" Hiccup asked with a chuckle.

"Oh gods, the bells. I always forget that he does that. Do you remember how Finn managed to pop them off last year? Took forever to pry them out of his hands."

Hiccup laughed as silently as he could. "I remember that. Addie had her hands over her ears because of all the racket. But she brightened up as soon as we all started singing."

"Yes she did. She loves the singing. She'll probably be quite the singer later on." Astrid entwined her fingers with his.

"Probably." Hiccup replied, his mind beginning to travel far away from their conversation.

Right now, everything was perfect. The fire crackled and cast a warm orange glow around the room. Hiccup glanced up to see its effect on Astrid's eyes and felt like something was melting within him. The way her beautiful blue eyes reflected the fire was strangely intoxicating. She was a heavenly being, his Astrid, a gift he did not deserve. And it was Snoggletog that reminded him of all he had to be thankful for over the years. A beautiful wife who still surprised him after over four years of marriage. A little boy who was a handful but always made him laugh. And a little girl whose smile made him forget all of his troubles. He didn't deserve any of them. And yet he was given them anyway.

Yes, he was certainly a lucky man indeed.

Xxx

The village wide Snoggletog Eve party was a memorable occasion. The colored lights shone around the Great Hall, the roaring fires and body heat kept everything warm, and the Vikings were unusually cheerful. The children ran amok, drawing pictures and singing songs with their friends. The Haddocks arrived a little bit late and were immediately greeted with food and activities that they knew would last them most of the night. Sure enough, Gobber did attach bells to his left arm and was entertaining himself by running around and trying to catch the children in a strange game of what appeared to be jingle bell tag. The children shrieked with laughter and Finn immediately joined them. Adrianna gripped her daddy's hand and remained in the group of older Vikings.

Pretty soon it was like old times again with everyone from their old group sitting at a table with the next generation in their arms. Inga Jorgenson was asleep in the crook of Snotlout's elbow; he sent them all death glares as they sat down. No one wanted to make a lot of noise lest they disturb the month old baby and incite the wrath of her father. Fishlegs bounced Gunnar on his knee; the boy grinned as they sat down. Ruffnut was, as usual, picking on her brother and he was reciprocating her punches. It was quite a bit more subdued than when they were teenagers, more in good fun than anything, but it gave the rest of the group a feeling of nostalgia nonetheless.

Adrianna climbed onto Hiccup's lap, put her elbows on the table, and placed her chin on her hands. She loved to people watch and the Snoggletog Eve party was a good opportunity to do just that. Her mother slid into the seat next to them and began to rub her father's back. She barely noticed this because she was much more interested in staring at the one-year-old boy and newborn girl who were both so tiny. Was she that tiny when she was a baby? Her bright green eyes scanned the room and fell on a sandy haired boy she hadn't noticed before who didn't look too much older than her. He was sitting next to his mother and drawing a picture, ignoring most other people around him. She couldn't understand why he would do that. Parties were for meeting people and having fun! She had the odd urge to go introduce herself but then she locked eyes with Helga Ingerman, who was almost exactly a year younger than her. She slid off her daddy's lap and joined the other little girl in play.

A moment later, Snotlout and Ruffnut began snickering at Hiccup and Astrid. The couple looked around and saw Gobber holding Finn over their heads. Finn had mistletoe in his hand and was giggling with excitement.

"Oh is that how it's going to be?" Hiccup asked, staring up at his little son. "You sure you want to watch this?"

He didn't give the boy any time to respond before he immediately brought Astrid in for a very passionate kiss. Finn's face scrunched up in disgust.

"Ewwww!" he squealed. "You din' tell me they were gonna do that!"

"Well you wouldn't'a done it if I had told you that!" Gobber chuckled, finally lowering the boy. "But now you two have to pass it on." he added to Finn's parents.

"So we do." said Astrid, taking the mistletoe from her son.

She stood up and surveyed the table. She was pleased to note that Tuffnut's brand new girlfriend had sat down beside him but she decided not to be too cruel to the new couple. She held the mistletoe over Fishlegs and Ruffnut's heads and the two rolled their eyes a bit before kissing, both looking a bit sheepish at the applause they were getting. Finn stuck out his tongue and ran as far away from them as he could.

Of course, she hadn't considered that Ruffnut wasn't quite as kind as her. The moment she received the sprig of mistletoe, she immediately held it over Tuffnut and his girlfriend's heads.

"Uhh..." said the woman, whose name most of them still didn't know.

"Err... is that really necessary?" Tuffnut asked, his cheeks turning slightly pink.

"It's the rule, idiot." Ruffnut said gleefully. "Now shut up and kiss her."

It was extremely apparent that Tuffnut and his girlfriend hadn't kissed yet. But they both smiled and shrugged, deciding that now was as good a time as any to start. As the new couple kissed, Hiccup glanced over at Astrid, grinning knowingly, and she shot him a death glare as if telling him that if he spilled the secret of Tuffnut's first kiss, he would be choking on her fist in seconds. He winked at her to let her know that the secret was still safe with him.

When Tuffnut placed the mistletoe over Heather and Snotlout's heads, the two of them shared a kiss so passionate that it made the onlookers feel very awkward. This ended their little game.

Finn came running back with a scrap of parchment in his left hand and a piece of charcoal in his right. He grinned as soon as he met his mother's gaze.

"Yook, mommy!" he exclaimed, nearly running into her in his haste. "I dwew you a pictuwe!"

"Really?" Astrid asked, genuinely surprise. "May I see it?"

"Uh huh!" Finn immediately pushed the paper into her face.

Astrid took it and smiled widely. She had to stare at it for a few seconds before she realized what he had drawn. Two people (at least she thought they were people) were riding on the back of a dragon who was spitting fire. To the untrained eye, it would look like scribbles but Astrid was quite familiar with her son's drawing style.

"Is that you and me on Stormfly?" she asked him.

He brightened up, delighted that someone had figured out his artwork.

"Uh huh and we fighting bad peopwe, see?" Finn pointed to the scribbles at the corner of the page. Now that Astrid looked at it more closely, it did resemble people running away in fear.

"That's really good, Finn." she said, gently putting her arms around him.

Finn wound his tiny little arms around her and kissed her on the cheek. "I yove you, mommy."

"Hey, don't I get any of that?" Hiccup asked, pretending to be offended.

Finn stared at him for a few seconds, still smiling but his blue eyes sparkling. "Ummm... no."

"Ohhh I see how it is. Playing favorites, aren't you?" Hiccup narrowed his eyes at his son, who merely laughed instead of cowering in fear at his glare.

"Noooooo, I just yove mommy today." Finn extricated himself from his mother's arms and scampered away once more.

"Oooh, rejected!" Ruffnut quipped, crossing her arms and giving Hiccup an amused smile.

"I'll just go find Addie. She always gives me a hug when I want one. And even when I don't." Hiccup replied with a shrug.

"I wonder if Inga will do that." Heather said, stroking her baby's cheek.

"All right, everyone, settle down!" came a booming voice.

Everyone looked over at Stoick, who was dressed up a bit more than usual in festive clothing. He smiled down at them all from his perch on the far end of the Hall.

"The time has come for anyone who wants to say something or sing something to come forward!" he said, beckoning to them as if he hoped that they all would take him up on the offer.

Hiccup and Astrid exchanged looks. Neither of them could carry a tune to save their lives but they still looked forward to this moment every year. The more tipsy Vikings usually came up first and sang or said something they would regret by morning. Once in a while, someone would actually sing well and surprise them all. These instances were rare.

What they hadn't been expecting was for their little girl to run forward and stand up next to Stoick. She barely came up to the man's thigh and was almost invisible to the rest of the crowd so her grandfather bent over and picked her up, raising him onto his shoulders so that everyone could see her. She looked slightly awed at the sight of the Great Hall from nearly eight feet in the air but soon composed herself.

"Can I sing something, Poppy?" she asked Stoick, her eyes alight with wonder.

"Go right ahead, Anna." Stoick replied, gently tapping her knee.

The youngest Haddock took a deep breath and began belting out a well known Snoggletog carol. She garbled some of the lyrics and her occasional giggles interrupted some of her song but both Hiccup and Astrid stared in shock at their little girl. For a three year old, she had an extremely good voice and she was almost perfectly on pitch. Stoick swayed slightly in the rhythm of the song and everyone clapped very loudly when she finished. Hiccup, Astrid, and several others who knew her well gave her a standing ovation. Adrianna's face brightened up at the sight of everyone giving her praise for her singing and she was still grinning long after she was deposited on the ground by her grandfather. She immediately bolted to her father and threw her arms around his legs.

"Did you hear my song?" she asked into his knees.

"I sure did, Addie!" Hiccup picked up his little girl, allowing her to put her arms around his neck instead of his legs. "You were really, really good."

"I was?" Adrianna asked, almost as if she was hearing this kind of praise for the first time.

"Yes you were, sweetie." Hiccup kissed her on the cheek. "I'm so proud of you for standing up in front of everyone. Were you nervous?"

The girl shook her head. "Noooo. I like singing!"

"Daddy!" came a very sudden voice from just behind her father's head.

Hiccup turned around and suddenly had a mouthful of cream and a face full of pie. Finn was suspended in the air by Stoick and both were laughing uproariously.

"Oh I see how it is! No love for daddies! Just pies in the face!" Hiccup exclaimed, trying to act like this had been a horrible, traitorous thing to do instead of something he actually found quite funny. He heard a familiar hiccup and turned to look at his daughter, who was giggling behind her hand. "Even you? Really? I can't get sympathy from anyone!" He used his finger to wipe a bit of cream off his face and plop it on her nose.

"Food fight!" Ruffnut called gleefully, grabbing a pie and smacking her brother in the face with it.

It was instant pandemonium as most of the children immediately grabbed the creamiest, messiest pies they could and sought out their parents. This was a yearly thing as well but it was the first time Finn had ever instigated it. He was delighted to see what he had started, at least until Astrid managed to bean him on the top of the head with a berry pie, the dark purple juice now dripping down his face. At first, his mouth opened wide in shock but then the entire situation struck him as extremely funny and he found himself laughing until his sides hurt.

A few minutes later, Ruffnut clocked Tuffnut's girlfriend in the face with the same sort of creamy pie that had started the whole fight. The table went silent, feeling very uncomfortable. How would this relative stranger react? But then a glimmer of mischief appeared in her brown eyes and she immediately grabbed the nearest pie and exacted her revenge. Ruffnut barely blinked when she was coated with even more pie, instead she punched Tuffnut on the shoulder.

"Okay, I like her." she chortled.

"You don't even know her name!" Tuffnut elbowed her in the ribs.

"I don't care! She's awesome. Marry her already!"

What little of the woman's face they could see blushed a brilliant scarlet.

"We'll see." she said, sticking out her hand. "My name is Svala."

"Awesome! I always wanted a sister named Svala!" Ruffnut exclaimed, giving the woman's hand a very hard few shakes.

"You have not!"

"Have too!"

Hiccup turned away from the argument to face his little girl. She had gotten the cream off her face and was watching the craziness around her. She was laughing so hard, her hiccups made her entire body jolt every few seconds but she hardly seemed to notice. He placed her down on the table and she immediately stood up, trying to get a good view of everyone in the room. She noticed that the little boy across the room had finally looked up from his drawing and was also watching the spectacle in front of him. Their eyes met for a second and he gave her an awkward smile before immediately looking away.

It was at least an hour before the pie fight was over. More pies were coating Vikings than actually eaten but those who had been creamed the most had their fill of desserts by the end of the night. Even some of the dragons had gotten plastered with the confections, Toothless being no exception. He immediately bounded forward as things were settling down and licked the remaining pie off of his trainer. Hiccup recoiled slightly but then realized that it was already going to be difficult enough to wash the pie off; what was the harm in a bit of dragon slobber in the grand scheme of things? This seemed to signal the other dragons, who all bounded forward to clean off their respective humans.

Once everything had quieted down and all those who had wanted to sing or speak to the crowd had already done so, Stoick stepped forward and put up his hands to signal that it was time for an announcement.

"This has been one of the best Snoggletog Eve parties Berk has ever seen!" he boomed to cheers of assent. "It's time to wind down the night with a few Snoggletog carols! Adrianna, do you want to lead us in a rendition of Have Yourself a Merry Little Snoggletog?"

"Uh huh!" Adrianna squeaked, running forward as fast as her little feet would carry her.

Her grandfather picked her up and she began to belt out the lyrics to that famous carol, grinning the whole time.

The other Vikings joined in the singing and soon, Stoick placed his tiny granddaughter on the ground. She bounded back to the table and sat down, singing as loud as she could along with the others. As they worked their way through Jingle Bells, Odin is Coming to Town, and other holiday classics, Astrid began to notice that she was no longer hearing her daughter's voice. She glanced over at her little girl and smiled. Adrianna's head was resting on her arms and she was fast asleep. She wasn't used to being awake this late, despite having a tendency toward preferring the night to the morning. Astrid nudged her husband and pointed to their daughter. Hiccup chuckled and gently placed a hand on Adrianna's back.

"All right, Addie, I think it's time for bed." He whispered to her.

She yawned widely and nodded. Finn's eyes were drooping as well and so Astrid picked him up and the Haddocks finally left the Hall, waving to everyone as they went. It wasn't a long walk back but Adrianna nearly fell asleep in her father's arms in those few minutes. As soon as they entered their home, Hiccup immediately went upstairs to tuck his daughter into bed.

"I love you, Addie. Happy Snoggletog." Hiccup whispered, kissing the little girl on the forehead.

"I love you too, daddy." Adrianna mumbled, half asleep.

Hiccup breathed a laugh and went downstairs where Astrid was cleaning Finn up before putting him to bed. He was so tired, he didn't struggle and once the pie was out of his hair Astrid carried him upstairs to put him to bed. Hiccup padded up the stairs and went into his room, lying down on the bed and waiting for his wife to come join him. He looked up and noticed that the hatch on the ceiling was still open. He shrugged as Stormfly lowered herself into the room and warmed the rock bed they had left for her. Snoggletog was a time for family and the dragons were definitely included. He watched Toothless crawl through the hatch a moment later and hang himself upside down on one of the beams on the ceiling. Astrid entered a moment later and smiled fondly at the dragons, apparently coming to the same conclusion as her husband. She snuggled into bed with him.

Hiccup gently put his arms around her as soon as she was within reach. She sighed contentedly, cuddling up a little closer so that they would keep each other warm and cozy. As they drifted off to sleep, full of food and dreaming of the happy memories they had made that night, they couldn't help but think that this was going to be the best Snoggletog they would ever have.

Xxx

The young couple awoke early the next morning. Astrid began to slide out of Hiccup's arms and he moaned slightly, wanting to keep holding her for a little longer. She patted him on the head as she sat up and put on a robe. Hiccup finally dragged himself out of bed a moment later.

"I guess we should wake up the kids." Astrid said, wiping her eyes and yawning.

"Yeah. I can't wait to see their faces." Hiccup replied. His face then brightened with excitement. "Hey... how about we take their gifts to them when we wake them up?"

Astrid smiled and nodded. The parents crept down the stairs and grabbed their gifts. They went back up the stairs and Astrid immediately opened her son's room. He jolted awake at the noise and yawned.

"Happy Snoggletog, little man." She said, walking over and sitting on the edge of his bed. "Look what Odin brought you while you were sleeping."

She held up the perfectly crafted Nadder and the look on his face made the painstaking effort worth every second she had worked.

"Tool!" he shouted, taking the Nadder from his mother's hand. "It's just want I wanted!"

"Uh huh!" Astrid chuckled and ruffled her son's hair. "Let's go downstairs and see what else Odin brought..."

"No!"

Mother and son looked up, puzzled at the sudden exclamation from Adrianna's room. There was a loud thump and a horrible sounding moan. Astrid took Finn's hand and the two of them crept into the girl's room.

Hiccup was sitting on Adrianna's bed, his face a ghostly white and a slip of parchment in his trembling hand. Astrid scanned the room and realized with a thrill of horror that her daughter was not there. The stuffed Night Fury was on the ground, clearly dropped by its maker as he figured out what had happened. Astrid gasped. This had to be a joke. Where was Adrianna? What was on that parchment?

"Hiccup..." she muttered, her voice strangled.

Her husband looked up at her, an expression of shock on his face. His eyes were wide and with shaking hands, he gave Astrid the parchment. She looked down at it and her heart stopped, her insides froze, and she couldn't seem to draw breath.

HAPPY SNOGGLETOG... OR IS IT?
YOU WANT YOUR LITTLE BRAT BACK? COME AND GET HER! YOU KNOW WHAT I WANT! HURRY UP! OFFER ENDS VERY SOON.

Underneath the note was a crude drawing of a Skrill.