Omphalos (Hiccelsa)

Chapter 8

Hiccup, after tucking Ophelia in, went on two different adventures that night, making sure to give his future wife and mother a wide berth to talk about wedding things. He sure as hell didn't want to be anywhere near to make an awkward comment when his mother explained the wedding night.

He cringed.

For Elsa, it would be akward, but he didn't know people like he did. The people that would watch him were people that he grew up with. And being Chief, he'd already had to awkwardly sit in on a couple weddings. Including Snoutlout's, which gave them a closer bond than before.

Although he'd much rather talk to Fishlegs about wedding things and advice, Fishlegs was only courting a girl, insisting he'd marry for love. His father was in no rush to hurry him, and he wasn't made of particularly important genes to the community, so frankly no one cared. It wasn't the case for a brawny man like Snoutlout, though, who had been a married man for almost a year now. And his house had been impressive.

"Congrats dude." Snoutlout seemed to know that he was going to make an appearance at his house tonight, because he already had a cold drink waiting, "If you hadn't snatched her up, someone else would have." He said, as if that was supposed to comfort him.

Hiccup drew his mouth into a frown, but just shook his head. "I'm actually here to talk to you about building a house. I have no where to start."

"Well my father gave me tips-," Snoutlout said foolishly, but then realized his faux pas, "But I see why you're coming to me…"

Hiccup only wished he could ask his father how the magnificent house he'd called home for so many years was built by his bare hands. But alas, his mother didn't know, and Gobber said he built it all himself so he was stuck asking his second best option.

"I don't even know where to begin! What wood do I use? Where to I build it? How do I know it's not going to crumble?" He cradled his head in his hands, "Odin, what am I going to do."

Snoutlout asked his very pregnant wife to bring them some late night snacks. She was a thick-boned woman with large hands that almost seemed manly, but seemingly was very feminine and girlish, according to Snoutlout. And it had once again been a marriage of convenience, and Snoutlout wasn't going to offer up any romantic details about how he was falling in love or whatnot, so Hiccup tired to be perceptive and notice if their feelings had begun to change. He could not tell, and this made him worry that perhaps even after a whole year (almost with a child) they'd still be at odds.

"Well, my father gave me three options." Snoutlout held up four fingers, "Build from scratch, take a house of a recently deceased elder, or build on another existing structure." He put a finger down with each option, and two down with the last when he realized he'd miscounted.

"A house an elder used to live in?" Hiccup shook his head, "I'm desperate, but not that desperate." He said, to which Snoutlout laughed.

"I had hoped not. Especially for a chief. That'd be a girly way out." He snorted.

"And for existing structures? I wouldn't even know if there are any. At least none close to the village." Hiccup thought about a slice of solitude, and perhaps his younger self would have happily taken the broken down watchtower or something similar, but as a Chief he could not, "And I need to stay in the village anyway." He said grudgingly.

"Then I guess you have one option left." Snoutlout seemed to know that he was going to choose this.

"Then why give me two other options?" Hiccup said, mourning the second option which he could not do.

"So that you picked it yourself so you can't complain." Hiccup was more than slightly surprised. That was almost intelligent.

Snoutlout spent about an hour giving him helpful hints, also little insults to Hiccup the whole time, but in a more friendly way than a disrespectful way. It was a hard rock to swallow that Hiccup- the scrawny kid he'd picked on countless times- was now a respected Chief.