Against All Odds - Hiccup X Reader

Chapter 3 - A Tough Confrontation

Ugh, I get up groggily and open the door to be faced with a masked dragon hunter- I shouldn't have opened the door so quickly, how awkward is it for anyone to see me this messy?

"Uhh" the hunter stutters, also aware of the awkwardness of the situation, he probably doesn't want to end up like the last hunter to show up at my door- the one with the book.

"Yes?" I ask sternly, diverting from the situation.

"Master Viggo would like to speak with you." He states.

"At this time?" I question, staring blankly into air so he knows it's not directed at him. "Tell him I'll be there." I confirm.

"Yes madam." The hefty man affirms.

I giggle at the small interaction once I've closed the door. The man was obviously weirded out by seeing me so informal and ordinary. Most hunters are used to seeing me kind of perfectly all the time.

I swap my pyjamas for some more suitable clothes, and I head to my fathers office. It's the place he uses to hold one on one meetings; not as formal as the meeting room, but not as private as his study or bedroom.

I knock on the door three times. "Come in," he answers. "Welcome, daughter. You must be wondering why I bothered you so late." I shut the door behind me as I face him. He's sitting behind his desk directly opposite the door.

I don't know whether it's because there's no natural light to reflect into the room or because I haven't visited here in a long time, but I remember this room as being better lit. This time, there's just a couple candles sitting on his desk and bookshelf. He must've decided to call me in last minute.
"Couldn't this wait until tomorrow?" I ask, doing my best to sound awake.

"It could, but I couldn't sleep after noticing your odd behaviour around a certain girl on the ship for the past few days. Especially since I happened to witness your little interaction one morning..."

He's being confrontative, but it's subtle, so I can't be directly confrontative back. His little mind games are too energy consuming for my sleepy mind, my eyes start wandering around the room. I catch the maces and talons board sitting on the floor by a bookshelf. For a second, I consider changing the topic to that, but I know there's no point in it.

I feel a little offended since it sounds like he was spying on me, and I want to ask him about that, but I that will sound disrespectful. Everything's disrespectful to him nowadays.
"I don't know what you're talking about" I lie. I know he'll sense my lies- but can he really prove it if I just keep denying?

"Oh come on now, I've been your father for the past seventeen- almost eighteen years: you'd trust me to know how you normally act, wouldn't you?" His responses are just too quick and smart. He's only my father anyways; not my enemy. I give up and admit my thoughts on Heather.

"Okay," I get ready, sitting down on one of the two fancy chairs facing each other in front of his carved wooden desk. "I've just been getting an off feeling from her. I don't know exactly what it is yet, but I thought I could keep an eye on her until I figured it out."

"Let me tell you now, you cannot. If you have any concerns about anyone, you come and tell me. What you don't do is go around investigating people as you wish as an inexperienced teenager with no knowledge of how to handle or control people."
Ouch. Harsh. I open my mouth to argue back but he cuts me off again.
"Do you think these low class hunters aren't watching your every move? You make them feel threatened already just by being my daughter. Keep doing things to make them more uncomfortable and you might find yourself dealing with an unpleasant situation soon."

"But I know how to defend myself- you know I could shut most hunters on this ship down in the blink of an eye, is this conversation really necessary?" I cut him off this time before he starts rambling on about fear and respect again.

"I don't have a single doubt about your fight tactics, abilities, and strength." He answers, is it a compliment? "But things like these take a toll on your reputation, dear. The more you get involved with the people below you, the less power you hold over them. You and I both know how important holding up a good reputation is, don't we?"

"Yes." I give in. "Fine."

Seeing how defeated I look, he feels the need to add on a little more: "Trust me, I'm doing this for your own safety. From now on, I'm asking you to keep out of my business and authority."

"Yes." I answer, still feeling kind of defeated, but at least I can see where he's coming from.

We just sit there in quiet for a few moments before I bring up the maces and talons board I saw earlier to ease the weirdness.

"You've been playing a lot more maces and talons lately than you normally would." I try to ease the conversation.

"I see you know me just as well as I know you." I see a slight tinge of smile forming in his face.
"You're right, my latest rival turned out to be a tough one" His expression fades. "Regardless, I'll have him figured out soon." All he talks about these days is this new 'rival' of his. I can't imagine what type of person could puzzle and infuriate my father in this way.

"Hey, why don't I help with the recent attacks you've been failing," I shoot my shot- I'm never allowed to come along on the attacks. His expression changes at my word of choice.
"I don't 'fail', my daughter. Nothing you don't succeed at is a failure. It's a lesson to be learnt so you can come back stronger. Don't forget that."

"Okay." I make a mental note not to repeat the word 'fail' around him again instead. "Well, as I was saying, don't you think it's time for me to join you guys in the battleground? You said yourself that you have no doubt I could beat anyone in a fight."

"Not just anyone, dear, that's not what I meant- we'll talk about this later. Go to sleep now, I'll make sure you won't be woken up early in the morning."

"See you tomorrow." I mumble as I walk out the door.

***♡***

I can't believe my dad shut me down like that, although he did sound caring which made it easier to take in.
The thing with him is you can never know when he's being genuine except for when he's being mean.

He's only made me feel bad subtly in the past. I've seen him disrespecting uncle Ryker much worse and more openly, so I'd argue that I'm on his better side.