fA/N: What is this! What is this crap! RAGGH, I'm not even done with The Strangers and I'm writing something else! AAAGH KILL ME! I should be finishing at least the first part of The Strangers done but no! I write this! I can hear it now, "I HATE YOU TRAVIS CHURCH." :( Forgive me and my whimsical writings.

HTYYD and its respective chracters are property of Dreamworks

All other characters are property of Travis Church

The air was hot, much too hot for the boy. He fell asleep when he touched down from the plane and waited in a charter bus for what felt like days only to wake up to this…Hellfire. Where he came from, the air was sodden and cold as the wind picked up the mist from the crashing waves. Here, the air was dry and hot.

He stepped off the bus and hated the sun and this strange place. It was hot, the people were strange, and he had never been so far away from home.

Remembering his purpose in this strange land, he took out the envelope that was sent to him about a month ago.

"As part of the International Outreach Program and our Foreign Relations Department, we congratulate you for your successes and achievements as a young adult. You have goals to achieve and, most importantly, a story to tell. We have reviewed your application and letters of recommendation and give you the chance to attend our prestigious university."

He paused for a moment to pick up the few bags that the bus driver unloaded and tried to find a place to sit. He was told that the landscape was very green and beautiful, and he agreed, but there were very few benches. Tired, he walked over to the nearest tree and sat underneath its shade so he may hide away from the relentless heat.

He took out another letter from his blue backpack and read it to himself.

"You shall travel half the globe and attend one of the premier universities as you pursue a higher education in a major of your choosing. But we understand that you must leave behind family, friends, and community..."

His heart ached with homesickness as he read that line. The images of his father, his friends, his girlfriend, and the little town he left behind. They all faded away when he left the tiny house he called home.

"But we offer you in exchange an F1 Student Visa, a plane ticket, a room in our recently built dormitory building for the next two years, and a full tuition at our university. The totals for your four year education here would amount to over two hundred thousand dollars. An opportunity like this only comes once a lifetime."

When he first received this letter it was a blessing, a free ticket, free housing, and a free education for four years! What luck! But here in this awful fire, he thought it was a curse. But regardless, he continued to read the letter.

"Our university only awards two of these scholarships to young individuals abroad who have a great talent and a bright future ahead of them. Our faculty agrees that you have potential unlike anyone else. This is not a gift nor is it a random handout. This is a chance to open doors that you have never seen before. Shall you accept, a representative shall be in contact with you immediately."

He opened his pack again for another letter, this time it was not typed but instead handwritten.

"When you arrive, go to student services or to the administration. Your room number is 218 in the Pomum Building. You shall have a roommate."

Realizing that there would be no help here, he threw on his backpack and grabbed his two suitcases.

"Should've just gone to Galway," he huffed.

"It wasn't all bad," he thought to himself. He passed by a very nice looking library and some students who were playing soccer, but he still wasn't convinced. The campus could have as many trees and fountains possible but it still made no difference. It was still hot and according to some random student, the administrative building was all the way across the campus green.

But then he began to walk through the green and his mind turned on its heel and began to curse the Earth, Sun and the architect who designed such a place. It looked about the length of ten soccer fields with two paths crossing each other. At the center appeared to be a large statue, but he paid no attention to the art. He only was focused on getting to Administration.

He was only half way through the massive open field yet he felt exhausted from the hike. A hike back home was refreshing and lifted a person out of their misery when the cool winds rushed about; this hike only made him sleepy and drowsy.

It took a bit of focus and awareness but he made it across the green. He refused to look back at the miniature desert he trekked across and walked into a brick building with large wooden doors.

Shoving the doors in, a blast of cold air slapped his face and taking no time to stay outdoors, he walked right in. The marble floors amplified the tapping of his shoes and suitcases while the long hallways sent the sound throughout the building. Murmurs bounced around the boy while the occasional burst of music would catch his attention.

Ignoring the call to go explore, he walked to a wooden desk and tapped a silver bell that rested on the edge of the desk.

"Please don't play with that," a woman's voice called out.

He looked around and saw a middle aged woman marching towards the desk, in heels. Already he felt afraid that she may pull out a ruler and strike him down.

"Well?" she said putting the pile of papers she held into some secret compartment. "What is it?"

He fished around in his bag for a different letter and handed it to her. The blue and yellow glossy embossed seal shone in the light of a desk lamp.

"Welcome, we award, please bring," she muttered parts of the letter aloud. "We will provide, Student's Visa, Relations Department. Oh!" Her face brightened up as her eyes caught some key word. "You are the international student! Here," she paused and sat down at the chair that was parked by the desk. She took out a manila envelope with the same yellow and blue seal that decorated his letters and handed it to him. "In here is your student identification, meal card, class schedules, dorm key, and other things that you will need. If you find anything that should be there, such as a parking permit or library card, go to student services and they will get what you need."

"Thanks," he said as he opened the envelope.

"You are assigned to the Pomum building, correct?"

"Yeah," muttered while packing the envelope in his backpack.

"Pomum is out these doors and to the right. Each building has its name in the front, so you should not miss it."

"Thanks," he picked up his bags and walked out of the Administration building.

As he closed the mammoth oak doors, he thought he heard something along the lines of, "welcome to Pomona."

He walked past the Vinis, Olea, and Ficus Buildings and began to wonder if he passed the dorm.

"I'd be so mad if I passed the dorm," he inwardly fumed. But when he looked up from the concrete walkway, his eyes widened as if he reached the holy land.

"Pomum Dormitory," was engraved in a stone arch that cradled grand wooden doors. He pushed the doors like he had done earlier and he was greeted with cold air with something else. But his head jerked backwards as he recognized the smell. Sweat, Lysol, sweets, perfume, and Axe deodorant.

He walked into the main corridor of the dorm and closed the door behind him. All Hell had been unleashed in this single house and called it home. He could barely manage the scent but he continued on. He pulled his luggage to a table with a blue construction paper sign draped in front that read, "welcome Pomum residents," in yellow paint. The afternoon light streamed from a window behind him and graced a dessert platter next to some maps of the campus. Suspicously, he took a cookie and thought to himself, "what hath God wrought?" He held the cookie to the light and inspected it, and decided to take another one. And another one just for the heck of it.

Following the signs up to the second floor, he lugged his bags up a single flight of stone stairs with much strain. It was a feat of endurance and persistence to say the least.

But when he rose to the second floor, he was certain that he was in the seventh circle of Hell. His jaw dropped when women in scantily clad shorts and skirts dropped their belongings and bent over to show what little they wore underneath. He was stupefied as guys slammed into each other's chests and shouted some stupid phrase that ran along the lines of, "red red down with the head!" Only was he brought back to life as volleyball hit him square in the gut, pushing him backwards and onto a door.

"Sorry man!" Someone called out.

Pulling himself up, he assumed a defensive position; briskly walking past the insane residents and maneuvering his suitcases around the boxes and crates of things that sat outside doorways.

He counted, "215, 216, 217," and then 218. He reached into his backpack for the manila envelope. He desperately searched for a key and when he found it, he thanked whatever God made keys.

In a flash, he opened the door and slammed it shut to protect his body and his soul from what depravity raged on outside. He took a deep breath and opened his eyes to his new habitat.

The half opened window shed light onto the light brown carpeting and a gust of warm air tickled his nose. He walked past the few cardboard boxes that dotted the main room and went over to the small hallway. He turned left at the end of the hall and turned the knob; seeing a bed with clothes and books already unpacked he decided that his roommate already claimed that room for his or her own. He turned to his back and found another room with an empty bed with a window to the side of it.

He set his bags down and climbed over the bed to make sure his window was shut; he already had his fill of the burning winds and anymore would just have pushed him over the edge. He sat down on the bed and kicked of his brown shoes and tore off his coffee colored hoodie.

"This is where I'll live," he thought as he sat down on the bed. His legs dangled as he said to himself, "I don't know how I'll fit in here, let alone live, learn, or even pass classes here!" He stood up and moved out of his bed and began to wander the dorm room.

He made a left and faced a white door, and with nothing better to do, he turned the knob. Daylight from a tiny window, positioned near the ceiling, danced through a clear shower curtain and onto a blue bathroom rug. The boy stepped on it and faced the wall mirror and began to assess himself.

He brushed his brown hair from his face and stared at himself. He brought a hand to his pink, almost rose, cheeks and began to trace the freckles on his face. Before, he saw stars and constellations in his face but now he only saw scars. His green eyes looked down at his thinly built body and as gave himself a smile, it died away quickly when he saw the gaps in his front teeth. He never had parents but at least he had a father, but the family he grew up with couldn't afford for orthodontics. The dentist that was in the town he grew up in just didn't have the tools for a procedure and the nearest one that did have the tools was three hours away.

Sighing, he left the bathroom mirror to its own devices and resumed wandering the dorm room. Realizing his own defeat, he sat down on the couch that was placed in the center. He tried to blend into the carpeting and bleed into the walls so that way he could just not exist in this foreign place. He just wanted to fade away and return home. He began to daydream the walls melting away and grass growing under his feet. Mist caressing his skin, the friends that knew his name, and the people making music with the familiar slang and accents in his ears. He dreamed of home.

But a few raps on the door dragged him out of his reverie and back to the university that he was now trapped in.

A boy with curly blond hair was laughing, and he envied him for that, and closed the door. His eyebrows raised when he saw the boy sitting on the couch and gave a tiny smile.

"Do you like my couch?" he said when he saw a boy in a green shirt on his off white couch.

"What? Oh," he began to apologize, "I didn't mean to"

"It's okay," he began "I actually bought it when student services told me I'd get a roommate. So," he said walking over, "I guess you're my roommate huh?"

"Yeah," he wasn't sure of the fist that extended from his body. Was that some sort of polite way of showing that he was about to punch him or was it something else entirely?

Unsure, he kept his arms to himself and pocketed his hands in his black jeans, which he now learned that the color black and denim is a combination not worth wearing here.

"Uhh, well I'm Tripp. Yes, my Dad had the balls to name me Tripp."

"I think my Dad takes the cake when had the balls to name me Hiccup."

He gaped and said, "that's sick! I've got a Hiccup!" He howled in laughter while Hiccup only eyed him suspiciously from the couch unable to see the humor in his name. "Hiccup Haddock right?"

"Yeah," the boy said now a little more at ease with the stranger.

"We're going to be awesome roommates! Did the hag at Administration give you the introduction?"

"What introduction?"

"Guess that's a no," he then plopped himself onto the couch and looked to Hiccup. "Hiccup Haddock, lemme be the first to welcome you to Pomona University of California."

A/N: OMG what is this. I took like 4 hours trying to do this Modern AU fic and I didn't even look at The Strangers. WTF :( But now that I'm done, I no longer have whims telling me to do crazy stuff like this. I think I might keep up with this fic to keep me going on other stuff than The Strangers. Yes, there's OC's so don't kill me. But this story won't be as epic or action oriented but instead it'll be more dramatic than anything else: romance, jealousy, a foreigner in a strange land; that sort of thing.

FUUUUU-I just realized that there is a Pomona University in Pomona, Ca and it's nothing like the Pomona that I wanted to make. So just ignore the fact that there is a real world Pomona U.

Rate, review, and give me your thoughts!