Hide and Seek

A five-year-old Delvin walked through the streets of Berk, following behind his cousin Astrid as they searched for the other children.

Hide and seek as Hiccup had called it, was a game in which two Vikings searched for the nest of dragons, much like their parents did so. The two searched for the place where all the children would be and then upon finding them they had to catch them

Honestly, Delvin was unsure if Hiccup had truly learned of this game from trader Johann as he claimed or if he had just made it up as an excuse to be chased by Astrid, not that Delvin would ever tell her, he found hiccups in attempts to look good in front of his dense cousin immensely amusing

They had already searched feast house as well as most of the main sheep paddocks that they had established in the area of play and now only one place was left for them to search, Gobbers forge

Walking quietly alongside Astrid, Delvin sneaked behind the forge, raising a hand carefully to tell Astrid to be quiet before peaking through one of the many wholes in the walls of the shack. Looking carefully he could easily see the large lump that was Fishlegs and he could literally hear Snotlout bragging about how good his hiding spot was. "No Hofferson could ever find it" as he said, despite the fact that he was clearly hiding behind a weapon rack, an empty one

"The twins are behind the anvil" Astrid whispered to him from her spot next to him, pointing towards the spot, and sure enough there were two pairs of blond braids hanging over the metal anvil, looking almost like 4 ropes of wool

But where was Hiccup?

Looking carefully Delvin searched silently until he eventually spied a small patch of brown hair poking out from within the forge itself, a place only the small boy could hide with his diminutive stature

Looking towards Astrid who had also seen him Delvin motioned with her hands that she should go around and get them while he would get whoever strayed behind before grinning and knocking her fist with his own

The second she shot off to the front Delvin let out a loud "found you!" causing all of those inside to panic and even run, placing them in Astrids path, which was of course an instant loss

"Snotlout!" the boy yelled his name before running directly at Astrid, intending to tackle her, only to end up on his back as Astrid Flipped him with a casual kick to his ankles "Snotlout?" he asked as if anyone could understand him while holding his head

"RUNNN!" Fishlegs yelled, alerting the others, who had already begun to run, much to the boy's embarrassment, before he began to run as fast as he could, which wasn't very fast honestly, Astrid literally jogged up to him

"We give up!" the twins yelled at the same time before walking towards Astrid with arms outstretched, ready to be caught. Except just before she could catch them Ruffnut, or was it Tuffnut?, kicked her brother into the arms of Astrid and ran yelling "Lokied!"

"It's not even Loki day!" Astrid protested before pushing away Tuffnut, or Ruffnut, and chasing after her "all you did was lie!" she complained as she went in pursuit of one half of the trickster duo

"Whoo Go sis!" the other half yelled before walking over to the others in the "captured" section

"She handed you over faster than if you were a criminal! Haha!" Delvin couldnt help but laugh at him

"I am a criminal!" Tuffnut yelled indignantly "A Criminally insane prankster!"

Couldnt argue with that

Walking into the forge Delvin made his way towards the forge and the boy who hared his birthday. Hiccup hadn't moved an inch and looked like he hadn't even seen him, likely because he was starring at Astrid as she pummelled Ruffnut

"Stuck?" he asked, unable to stop himself from smirking at his friend's expense

Flinching in shock Hiccup spun to Delvin before blushing slightly and responding with a silent "don't tell the others…"

Delvin couldnt help but laugh at that before eventually helping him out of the forge witch held him captive

"Not a word" he promised as he walked out of the forge to the others. By the time he had gotten out, Astrid had already "beaten" the others into submission and had literally tied them up to keep them from escaping

"Another perfect round to us!" Delvin laughed as Astrid walked over and saw Hiccup trailing behind him, poor boy was covered in ash and soot from the forge. "any issues with them?" Delvin asked looking toward the other children

"Nothing you didn't already see" she laughed as she put a foot on Snotlouts knocked off helmet and struck a heroic pose, to which Hiccup let out a "wow" under his breath that only Delvin heard.

"Hofferson five?" he asked, holding up a hand

Hofferson five!" Astrid exclaimed as she high-fived him and gave a victorious grin and proceeded to tie up a now embarrassed Hiccup

"He's not even a Hofferson!" Snotlout yelled in complaint, obviously being his usual bad loser self. Which earned him a dirty look from Astrid

"More than you'll ever be" she growled at him, accidentally taking her annoyance out on Hiccup and tightening his ropes

"What does that mean?" the boy asked before beginning to tear up "does that mean you won't marry me!?"

"Very much so" Astrid responded, getting an approving look from literally everyone in the surrounding area as literally, no one wanted to hear of the idea that Snotlout might get a girlfriend

No one would ever hear the end of it

and finally, after the games and fun were over everyone went home, repaired their homes from the previous night where dragons had attacked, and wished their parent's good luck hunting dragons for the night

Such where the childhood days of a child on berk