Family

When Astrid and Hiccup returned a few hours they were rambling about beehives

"It makes sense, their the workers and she's the queen" Astrid was saying to hiccup as they landed a few meters from Delvin, looking a mix of shocked and excited "it controls them!" she exclaimed before hopping off toothless and beginning to jog in the direction "we have to tell your dad!"

"No!" hiccup exclaimed, grabbing her by the arm with an alarmed look on his face "we can't tell anyone!"

"Tell stoick what?" Delvin asked as he walked over to the two lovebirds, drawing their attention to him and causing them to each shoot him a look. Hiccup looked surprised Astrid looked a mix of happy to see him and still hurt by what had happened earlier

"We found the nest" Hiccup exclaimed, he looked even paler than usual "after i caught up with Astrid and we talked, toothless started acting strange and led us to an island!" He began to recount giving a few hand gestures as he spoke "the dragon's arent eating the food! They're only taking it in the first place because if they don't they'll get eaten themselves!"

"Well… that's…" Delvin tried to speak but he was honestly speechless. What hiccup was saying was nothing short of insane, not only had he found THE nest, the one place Vikings had been hunting for over 300 years but the dragons had supposedly all this time been victims?! "Are you sure? I mean did you see this "queen" Astrid mentioned?"

"Yeah it was bigger than anything I've ever seen" Astrid pitched in, her cheeks were flushed red from the cold, causing Delvin to chuck her his jacket without a word as she explained "we only saw its head and that alone was big enough to swallow entire dragons whole"

"Odin almighty" Delvin couldnt help but mutter as he sat down on a nearby rock and put a hand to his temple. Although a moment later a thought entered his head that caused him to chuckle slightly, making the pair look t him like he'd gone insane "haha sorry it's just that… i always wondered why I've never seen a dragon actually eat any of the food they stole haha" he couldnt help but giggle, wiping a small tear from his eye before standing up and looking towards Astrid and hiccup

"So what happens now?"

"I guess i have an exam tomorrow huh?" hiccup said as he gulped nervously and looked at the ground

"What are you going to do?" Astrid asked, putting a hand on his shoulder, a gesture Delvin immediately took notice of and couldnt help but smirk at. Looks like things were going well between them

"Probably something stupid" hiccup grumbled as he looked at toothless patting his head.

"Alright then" Delvin gave hiccup a pat on the shoulder before beginning the walk back towards the Hofferson house, he'd sent Snap-pine back to the pit hours ago. As he stumbled off but he turned back when he heard the sound of boots crunching behind "

"Wait up," Astrid said as she jogged over to him, her cheeks were even redder than before, despite the fact that he had given her his jacket, and when Delvin looked over, seeing the form of hiccup holding a hand to his cheek with a shocked expression Delvin knew and couldnt help but grin

"Shut up" Astrid ordered him as she caught up to him, seeing the grin on his face. Once she caught up to him she began to walk beside him, matching his slower speed step for step as they slowly trudged back to the village

However after a few minutes Delvin turned to her and sighed "I'm sorry for keeping hiccup a secret from you" he said, causing Astrid to pause momentarily as she looked at him before looking at the ground, clearly still hurt that he kept secrets from her and had lied

"You lied about having been training with him as well" She noted, trying to sound indifferent as she spoke, he couldnt see her face but he could hear the catch in her usually strong voice

"And I'm sorry for that too" Delvin apologised, walking beside her awkwardly as he used his halberd for support, moving through the trees, not making eye contact "although in my defense i believe what i did was for the best, but lying to you of all people… i regret that deeply"

"Why did you help hiccup?" Astrid asked, turning to him fully and looking at him directly "why would you help him even if it meant that i would lose my chance to be the best in the class, to become equal with you?"

"It was for berk more than anything else really" Delvin answered with a shrug telling the truth

"For berk?"

"Yeah," he said nodding before walking forward, he pushed his way through a few branches, holding them so Astrid could get past "did you know that when i was born and my mother Named me to be the son of none she expected me to ridiculed for it?"

"Realy?" Astrid asked, eyes widening slightly, especially since she had never heard anyone ever mock him for his name, aside from the once and a while taunt about him not being a real Hofferson

Delvin nodded "yeah. Mom spent a large amount of traveling in her life, that's how she met my father actually" He told her, Astrid nodded, already knowing that much of his mother's story, especially since she had spent many hours of her childhood begging for her auntie Hilde to tell her stories of the world outside berk "and in nearly every place she went names always meant something, they always had meaning. So when she never gave me the last name she worried for the worst, even though she knew she had a good reason for it"

Delvin looked towards the dim lights of the village as they exited the main section of the woods "but berk never did anything to make me feel unwelcome, even though i was half foreign, half a viking"

"You're twice the Viking that most people could ever hope to be," Astrid said grumpily, punching him in the arm "and don't you forget it"

"I won't" Delvin laughed, before turning once more to the lights of the village "but either way Berk means more to me than i could ever say… so when i learned that i could help both my friend and berk by turning Hiccup into a celebrity, making the people feel confident for their future chief i did so without hesitation"

From there they walked in silence, just a self-made brother and sister pair on a walk in the night

"Hofferson five?" Delvin offered, putting his hand up

"Hofferson five" Astrid agreed, high-fiving him, the hurt forgotten