magnetic_lord (magnetic_lord) wrote in madisonvalley, @ 2018-12-22 12:45:00 |
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Entry tags: | !closed, !completed gdoc, !log, [plot] future kids take 5, ~2018 december, ~25 points, ~~erik lehnsherr (magnetic_lord), ~~hiccup haddock (itwasallme) |
Who: Erik, Hiccup and Aurie
What: Someone is older
When: Saturday
Where: Erik's
Warnings: Not really
Status: Closed/complete
Erik hadn’t thought about the fact that Madison Valley liked to surprise them with possible future kids until he had been awakened by Aurie who was no longer a lisping toddler but a little girl of six or seven from her looks. She’d wanted to know why he wasn’t up to make breakfast and wanted to know if Dad was out with Toothless because maybe he could do it if he was going to sleep in.
Erik was first confused because he wasn’t expecting the older Aurie, and if things followed their usual course there might be other children out there, then even more confused because if her ‘Dad’ was out with Toothless she had to be talking about Hiccup. He wasn’t sure how he was involved but sometimes the children didn’t follow anything logical.
He got up to make breakfast so he could call Hiccup at the same time before Aurie decided to call him and see where he was. This was going to be a very strange conversation.
***
Hiccup had been up and feeding Toothless when Erik called, blissfully unaware of the future children that had descended on Madison Valley. He’d been certain that his translator wasn’t working properly at first, but Erik was insistent that Aurie was calling him Dad and wanted to know where he was. He didn’t understand it, but he wasn’t about to deny Aurie. They were slowly getting used to one another and he didn’t want this to become a setback in the future. Or in her past? He wasn’t going to think on it too much.
For the sake of time, Hiccup flew Toothless to Erik’s house and they landed in the backyard only minutes after he had hung up the phone. He was certainly feeling a little anxious as he dismounted and went up to the back door. This was so weird. Still, he resolved to make this as not weird as possible for the little girl and turned the handle to let himself inside.
“Morning,” he greeted, a little awkward even as Aurie waved at him with a bright smile.
“Hi Dad!”
This was so weird. Hiccup looked to Erik for help or at least direction on what to do next.
***
Erik wasn’t sure what direction to go. Things were going to be so awkward with this whole situation because they didn’t know what the situation was between them in Aurie’s potential future. At least with Charles he knew what was between them and could imagine something of that future. Hiccup he just had to assume was a good friend who helped raise Aurie along with Erik and Tefe, because he couldn’t imagine it any other way.
“I’ve told her the dome is doing strange things again.” It was the easiest way to let Aurie know that they wouldn’t remember or maybe act normal, it seemed she was used to it happening. “And then she demanded breakfast and Dad so I called you.”
Aurie grinned and held up a banana. “Papa said if I was going to be impatient to eat something healthy while I waited.”
***
Hiccup nodded slowly. “The dome does so many strange things,” he replied, more to remind himself than anything else. He wasn’t of the understanding that being called ‘Dad’ didn’t necessarily mean that he and Erik were in a romantic relationship together. It did bring some attention to what might develop between them, but that obviously wasn’t important right now. Aurie was important.
“Bananas are good, but-“
“Strawberries are better!” Aurie joined in, which made Hiccup just smile. Clearly it was something he said repeatedly. It was good to know his preferences didn’t change in the future and he felt a little more like this would be okay.
“Do you like Strawberries too?” he asked, wanting to get to know her better now that they could have an actual conversation.
Aurie nodded enthusiastically. “You bringed them on your dates! One time we had a contest and Toothless won!”
Hiccup just laughed. “Well, he would win, wouldn’t he?”
Aurie nodded. “Yep! But Papa came in second,” she added, giving her Papa a big smile. That had been a fun time.
***
“I can see where Toothless would win.” Erik’s smile was slightly pained but Aurie didn’t notice and he left her to her cereal to pull out what little he had stored for breakfast. There was a box of cheerios because as a toddler that was the favored snack but no milk so he ended up pulling out a pan and some eggs hoping that it would work.
Dates. What was he supposed to think of that? As far as he knew Hiccup was enthusiastically attracted to wild blonde girls if you took Astrid and his other time marriage to Star into account.
“Would you like some breakfast too?” He had a dozen eggs and probably enough to scrape together an omelette if Hiccup wanted one along with Aurie. Cooking was a good way to keep himself busy while his mind picked all of this apart. And since he was distracted most of the things were being moved by his powers and not his hands.
***
Hiccup was genuinely surprised that Erik could out-eat him in a strawberry eating contest, but he supposed one day he'd see it happen for himself. When they were dating. That was weird. He didn't like men. He was pretty sure he didn't like men. He knew for certain that he'd only ever be able to love one woman and that was Astrid.
Erik asking him if he wanted some breakfast too snapped him out of his thoughts. "Oh, I um. Yea, if you have enough," Hiccup replied, slightly embarrassed that he hadn't been paying attention all that much. Of course, when he looked over at the older man, he saw the display of his powers. He'd only ever seen it the one time, when Erik had accidentally attacked him. It was just as awe inspiring, albeit in a different way, to see it put to use in the kitchen.
Aurie caught him looking and giggled. "Papa's cheating!"
Hiccup just smiled though. He didn't really think it was cheating.
***
Using his powers just felt like using his arms and hands to Erik, he hated having to hide them in his own world to keep from being hunted. Some might say it was a waste to use them on something like cooking but to Erik they were a part of him, a natural extension of his senses and body, so it was no more a waste than using your hands.
“It’s not cheating.” She’d never thought it was cheating when he used his powers to move her toys or stack her blocks for her to knock down for the millionth time when she was little. “It’s a good use of resources. And I have enough to feed all of us.” He would just need to either bring back more food or stay at the other house while Aurie was bigger. She would want to spend time with Tefe and the others so maybe that would be easier.
Erik wasn’t even sure if he liked men. He had loved Charles but that had come naturally from their partnership and the way his friend had been able to share his thoughts and even from the way they’d fought. He had gone through a lot to get past his cultural taboo of same sex pairings and now possibly in the future he was dating another man. He really didn’t know what to think about that.
***
"Dad says helping's harder that way," Aurie replied, though she was looking at her dad curiously. Usually he agreed with her.
Hiccup cast a sidelong glance at Erik and then turned his attention back to the little girl. "I think your Papa is right. His powers are a gift." He was definitely curious about seeing more of said powers, but that hadn't seemed like a topic they could discuss and he wasn't interested in pushing Erik away. Maybe there could be an opportunity to learn more about his powers after Aurie returned to her normal age.
The little girl frowned and took another bite of her banana. Sometimes being in Madison Valley was stinky and Dad and Papa not being the same as she remembered them was super stinky. "Can we fly on Toothless when we go see Mama?"
Hiccup looked to Erik, deferring to him because Aurie was his responsibility first and foremost.
***
“She does have a point though. It’s harder for anyone to help if I’m doing things this way.” Erik was just used to doing things himself without help. And in the kitchen Charles had been zero help, in fact you only let him help if you wanted things burned or boiled over so he wasn’t used to helpers.
“You can.” He’d let Hiccup take Nina on the dragon so he would let him take Aurie. One thing he had seen when they were in the snow and when Hiccup brought the dragon over when they played chess was that Toothless was very careful of kids (aside from Star who was probably an adult on Berk and could take it) so he wouldn’t protest them flying. “But you have to actually eat food first.” He knew Aurie as a toddler would ditch the food for fun and he doubted she’d changed.
Mama had to be Tefe. Or at least he hoped otherwise there were more shocks out there to get used to.
***
Hiccup was still learning quite a lot about being self sufficient in this time period and cooking was one of the things that he was slowly getting the hang of. Very slowly. He was continually thankful that Toothless would eat just about anything, although some of his earliest attempts had been scoffed at even by the dragon.
He did wonder if Erik would end up teaching him more about cooking, but he kept any teasing comments to himself. "Breakfast is the most important meal of the day," Hiccup added, figuring it was good for the two of them to present a united front when it came to Aurie. Intuition told him that she'd go from one to the other to get the answer she wanted.
Aurie just sighed dramatically, which caused Hiccup to laugh.
"Don't worry, Aurie. You'll be over at your Mama's soon enough," he promised.
***
Erik was glad he’d only had eggs to make food with because by the time he’d thrown in a few slices of bread and toasted them he had Aurie’s breakfast ready and slid it in front of her to sit and eat. “Try not to inhale it.” A directive he knew would be ignored.
It didn’t take that much longer to throw more toast and an omelet on a plates for breakfast for himself and Hiccup. There was never going to be anything fancy about his cooking but it was fresh and hot which was all they probably needed right now although he was wondering if Aurie was going to choke she was eating so quickly.
“The dome has done this several times now.” And he loved and hated it. Being surrounded by children was something he loved but then they all went away. It was hard to have something knowing you didn’t get to keep it for very long.
***
While Erik finished cooking their breakfasts, Hiccup kept a stern-ish look focused on Aurie to ensure that she didn't eat too quickly. It only worked so much and she was nearly halfway done by the time his breakfast was set in front of him.
"Thank you," he said softly to the older man, and flashed him a reassuring smile before he tucked into his meal. This was very weird, but it was something they would muddle their way through together. Hiccup would absolutely want to talk about it, to solve things and push for answers, but he knew he would have to approach it carefully so that he didn't push so hard that he ended up pushing Erik away.
The opportunity came far quicker than he expected. As soon as Aurie swallowed the last bite of her breakfast, she brought her dish over to the sink, kissed both of them on the cheek, and ran out the door. "Race you to Mama's!" she called over her shoulder. She was on Toothless' back and up in the air before Hiccup could even really blink.
He looked nervously at Erik and then decided it was better for him to just put another bite of food in his mouth. It would be better if Erik made the first move.
***
When he saw the dragon take off with Aurie everything metal in the kitchen rattled until he clenched his hands and they instantly stopped. Trusting the dragon with Aurie and Hiccup wasn’t the same as trusting her alone on the dragon but he’d said she could. Obviously he was going to need to watch for leaving her loopholes while she was this age. But no matter his emotions he should have more control than he’d just shown. There would be no more accidents and injured people.
“I should warn Tefe.” He picked up the phone to text Tefe so she would at least know there was a dragon and aged up Aurie going to end up on her doorstep. And as soon as he did that he was acutely aware he was now left alone with Hiccup without any way of distracting conversations. Lovely.
“She’s going to be a challenge obviously.”
***
At the display of Erik’s powers, Hiccup only had concern for the other man’s wellbeing. This was an incredibly stressful situation and he understood that Aurie behaving as she was just made things worse. Or at least, far more complicated. He quietly ate his breakfast while Erik warned Tefe and ended up with a grin when he said she would be a challenge.
“She’s headstrong,” he agreed tentatively. He didn’t want to seem as if he was criticising how she’d been raised, regardless of whether or not he’d had a hand in it. Having a family was something he knew would be in his future, but Hiccup has just assumed it would be with Astrid. This was certainly unconventional in many ways, but not unwelcome.
“Is it...always like this?” It had happened before, he knew, but this was his first experience with it. “That it seems so...different from the assumed course of things?” Hiccup wasn’t sure how much to read into it.
***
Tefe knew that Aurie was coming on the dragon so there wasn’t much he could do at the moment even if what he really wanted to do was rush off after her to make sure she was okay. Instead he made himself sit and work on finishing the food he’d made. If this went the way it had other times it would be a really long day and he might not get the chance again for a while. He didn’t even really taste what he was eating, it was just something that needed to be done.
“I believe it’s different every time. They're all possibilities. The same children might show up again each time or they might never come back and new ones show up. I...suppose the futures change all the time.” So there might be nothing more than playing chess in their futures or there might be more. None of it really made sense right now.
***
It did make sense that the future changed as paths became clearer. Sometimes it was unclear where that path lay, even fifty feet ahead, nevermind years down the road. Hiccup knew he was currently taking a very long and winding road toward becoming Chief of Berk. If that road became even longer, he certainly wasn't going to complain.
"So it's...this..." Hiccup wasn't sure exactly what he wanted to say or how he wanted to say it. He tripped over his words often, usually when he got very nervous or unsure of things. Erik wasn't someone who made him nervous or unsure. He'd latched onto the older man as a way to assuage his own loneliness when Astrid and Nina were sent home. The idea that it could turn into something more was one that got him thinking.
"I'm happy with what we have," was what he ended up saying, for better or worse. It was the truth, though. Hiccup enjoyed their friendship and that meant more to him than some uncertain, ever changing future.
***
Erik wasn’t sure what Hiccup was saying but with the tripping over what he wanted to say and the declaration of being happy with what they had made Erik interpret it as Hiccup wasn’t happy with the idea that they could have a relationship of some sort other than being friends. And that was a good thing. Erik wasn’t sure how he felt about it himself and there were a lot of complications that would come of it.
“Don’t worry. It is only a possible future. It’s likely it won’t happen.”
***
Hiccup felt something he couldn't really identify when Erik assured him that it was only a possibility and likely a slim one at that. Whatever would or wouldn't happen would come with time and he would need to consider exactly what everything meant. What it could mean, anyway. It would be better to just focus on the here and now, so he just nodded and took another bite of his breakfast.
"Thank you for cooking. I can...help with Aurie while she's...this age. If it helps." Hiccup imposed only once a week, so anything more than that, he wanted to make sure was alright with Erik. There probably wasn't a whole lot that he could really do aside from being present, but he would happily do that if it would help.
***
“She thinks of you as a father, of course you can help.” One thing Erik wouldn’t do was try to separate them during this. It might be uncomfortable and make things harder to go back to being the way they were afterward but he loved Aurie and it would hurt her to be kept away from someone she thought of as a parent. She’d cried enough looking for Octavia.
“I am glad that she has so many people here for her.” He’d lost his parents and hadn’t had anyone to replace them. Thinking of it made him realize he didn’t know about Hiccup’s family aside from Astrid and Toothless and he almost asked. It was obvious he started to say something then stopped.
***
It was a relief that he could still be around for the duration of this, more so than he'd been in weeks past. He really liked being around the little girl because everything was reduced to the simple way a child saw the world. There wasn't anything to be afraid of until it was proven necessary to be afraid, kindness came in return to being given, and something as simple as running through the snow brought joy.
Hiccup agreed vehemently that it was a good thing Aurie had so many people who cared for her. Erik clearly had wanted to ask something, but stopped himself. Hiccup took another bite of his breakfast and then said, "I don't mind answering any questions you might have." It was a simple offer from a simple guy, but it was honest, too. Erik didn't open up easily about things and Hiccup would forever hope that if he opened up, the older man would in kind when he felt ready to.
***
Erik didn’t plan on offering up his own information in return but Hiccup hadn’t ever pressed a point if Erik didn’t want to talk about something. So there wasn’t really any harm he could see in asking.
“I just realized I didn’t know if you had family where you’re from.” Obviously he knew he had family at some point but he didn’t know if they were still around and how many there were.
***
Hiccup smiled a little, which he hid behind taking a sip of his milk. He didn't want Erik to think he was laughing at him or anything. It was just kind of funny that it took until now for them to talk about family.
"Well, my mom died when I was a baby. Dragons attacked our village and she died trying to keep me safe. That's why my dad was so focused on killing all the dragons. It's always been just me and my dad, and Gobber. He's my dad's best friend and the blacksmith for our village." He had his friends too, of course, and Astrid, but Erik had specifically asked about family and he already knew about Astrid. Bringing her up again just seemed unnecessary at this particular moment.
"My dad's the Chief. If I am returned to my world, I'll likely have to take up that post soon after." His father had been trying to get him to take on the role even before he'd arrived in Madison Valley and he just wasn't ready. Not yet. That sentiment likely showed in his expression.
***
Erik used to use a person’s background as part of figuring out how to manipulate someone or at least to know what made them react they way they did in case he ever did need to manipulate them. Now he liked to get to know a person without those clues, it was a more honest way of doing it.
“I take it you’re not looking forward to being the Chief?” He’d seen indications Hiccup could be good at being the chief but he hadn’t thought he’d like it and the expression on his face backed that up.
***
Hiccup chuckled and shook his head. "Not even a little," he replied honestly. He was always honest with Erik. "I'm not ready. I may do okay leading my friends, but our whole tribe?" It was obvious that he wasn't confident in himself as a leader. Sometimes, fighting the battles against an enemy was easier than trying to deal with the interpersonal squabbles that a Chief had to handle.
Even with that, he first instinct wasn't to fight. It was to protect, both his people and his home. Fighting was just sometimes the way to do that as much as he didn't want to hurt anyone. Some people were just too cruel for there to be any other solution. "I appreciate the space here, to be able to just be...me."
***
“You might not look forward to it but I think you will do well at it.” Erik had seen more of his personality through their games of chess and the visits that Hiccup made ever since Nina went home. He had a personality like water. Hiccup would give ground until whatever was in his way moved then he went right back to his original position. And he seemed nice but he could patiently wear away the stone in his way until it was gone and no one noticed.
In other words he was stubborn but more diplomatic about it than Erik who just said no and never moved.
***
It meant a lot to him that he had Erik's vote of confidence. Hiccup wasn't in the right frame of mind to process any further than that. They had more important things to deal with, such as the young girl they were responsible for. There was no way that Hiccup would just stand by and let the time with Aurie as an older child pass without participating fully the way she expected. At least part of the way she expected.
He finished his breakfast and looked expectantly at Erik. "I'll help you clean up and then we can go."
***
And Hiccup changed the subject so Erik let it drop. The idea was there, he might bring it back up later. “That would be good. Tefe will no doubt not be happy if we leave Aurie and Toothless there without her.” and he and the dragon could glare at each other for his actions in running off with the girl without them.