Disclaimer: I don't own HTTYD or anything associated with it. All rights go to Cressida Cowell, author of the book series that started it all, and Dreamworks animation, who made the movies and series. I don't own any companies, movies, or songs mentioned in this fanfiction, either. This is a modern AU fanfiction. Enjoy!
"No! No, no, no! I won't do it and you can't make me!" Snotlout yelled, backing himself up against the walls as the mob of teenagers surrounded him. He had nowhere to go in the dark, cold alleyway he'd found himself in.
"You have to, Snotlout," a lanky brunette told him. If the light had been turned on, he probably wouldn't look so threatening, but the tapping of his prosthetic leg on the floor was making Snotlout lose his mind. He wanted to say something about it, but when he tried to, the raven haired boy next to him cracked his knuckles and grinned.
"Everyone's done it," a blonde femme fatale told him.
"It's an annual rite of passage by now," the blue-haired girl casually mentioned.
"You don't want to be the odd one out, do you?" twin siblings, a boy and a girl, cooed. In the dim light, Snotlout couldn't tell the difference between the two. Both of them had long, greasy, blonde hair. How was he supposed to know?
"Your reputation would plummet if you didn't do it," a tall, beefy boy explained, as if it was the most normal thing in the world.
"Don't worry about it too much; you'll be just fine," a chubby black girl told him. This made Snotlout rethink his earlier decision, but he snapped out of it. That was what they wanted him to think.
"I'm still not doing it!" he snapped. That was when Hookfang growled with frustration, and turned on the hallway light.
"Seriously, Snotlout, don't be such a Grinch. At least try to do something for charity like the rest of us," the red-haired boy insisted.
And Hookfang wasn't lying about how everyone had done something for charity. Hiccup and Toothless were sponsored to do public karaoke with songs from The Greatest Showman. Stormfly and Astrid were sponsored to do the chicken dance while wearing chicken onesies outside KFC. Fishlegs and Meatlug had a cake sale. The twins, along with Barf and Belch, collected the proceeds from a prank stall that had sold out in the space of an hour (turns out people will pay any price for a bucket of slime). Hookfang himself had donated food, but felt it wasn't enough. All the proceeds were going to a charity supporting homeless people at Christmas time. Snotlout was the only one left.
"But- but you've taken all the options!" Snotlout told them, like a drowning person clutching at straws. "If I do anything now, it will look like I'm copying you!"
"Then I guess you should do something different," Hiccup said.
"Like what?" Snotlout asked.
"How about for every pound somebody donates, a strip of duct tape is used to stick you to the wall?" he suggested. Everyone thought it was a great idea.
"Hookfang, you're a genius!" Snotlout cheered, hugging his brother tightly. "I'll do it!"
"I'm not sure if I should do it," Snotlout moaned.
"Oh, you'll be fine," Hookfang encouraged , punching Snotlout in the shoulder. "Besides, there has never been a case of somebody dying from duct tape."
"But this will be embarrassing!" Snotlout protested.
"Stormfly and I wore chicken onesies in public; you got off lucky," Astrid told him.
"And it's all for a good cause," Stormfly added.
"You know what? I think I will be the first to stick you to the wall before anyone else get here," Toothless decided, handing over a pound and cutting off a strip of duct tape. This was swiftly stuck to Snotlout's mouth.
"Aw, I wanted to do that to him," Hookfang whined.
"Do you have a pound?" Toothless asked.
"Yeah," Hookfang answered.
"Then use it!" Toothless urged. Hookfang grinned, threw a pound coin into the makeshift donation bucket and stuck Snotlout's arm to the wall. Soon, everyone was fishing pound coins out of pockets and purses so they could tape Snotlout to a wall. People who happened to walk past would stare, some laughed, but most just kept walking. Emphasis on most.
"Holy crow, guys! Are you sure that this is necessary?" Heather asked, Windshear in tow. "And I know that he has a big mouth, but someone's stuck him to the wall?"
"That's the idea," Hiccup explained. "Snotlout's doing this for charity, Heather. If you give a pound, you can take a strip of tape and stick him to the wall."
"What a good day to not spend my lunch money on food," Heather grinned, as she found a fiver in her back pocket. (For anyone who isn't British, a fiver is a £5 note, like a $5 bill for Americans.)
"But Heather, you'll go hungry," Windshear cautioned.
"It'll be worth it," Heather said through grit teeth and a wide grin, cutting off five lengths of duct tape and attaching a length of duct tape to each of his limbs and the final strip of duct tape secured his torso to the wall. Snotlout gulped nervously, and spoke the moment Heather peeled the tape over his mouth.
"Now I'm stuck here," he complained.
"Not yet, you're not. I need to get a few friends, but I'll be back," Heather told them, as she put the tape back over his maw and left with Windshear. Their presence was soon filled by three older boys, who all thought that Snotlout's predicament was just hilarious. The normally cocky teen turned red as he listened to their howls of laughter.
"See, I told you this was real!" a blond boy cried.
"What did he do?" another youth with black hair cried.
"Where are you getting the money from?" the leader, a tall kid with hair dyed green asked. His lackeys shut up immediately.
"It's for charity. For every pound you donate, you can use this roll of tape to stick him to the wall," Toothless explained. The green-haired kid thought as his friends howled with laughter, and then he started digging around in his pocket for money.
"Well, I've got £10 for you," he finally said, as the other boys choked down their laughter. "This seems fun, actually!" He handed over the money, and cut strips of duct tape and stuck them to Snotlout's body. As he did this, he hummed tunelessly to himself. "This is probably the coolest charity idea ever! I've only ever heard of cake sales and sponsored dinners and not-so-fun runs, but this is original! Bye!"
"Bye!" the gang called, as Snotlout moaned with embarrassment. He tried to speak, but all that was heard were muffled groans. Toothless teased him about it.
"Wow, I think he's losing his marbles," Toothless teased. "If he's freaking out now, I'm not sure how he'll survive the next few hours."
Snotlout groaned again.
As Toothless sagely predicted, Snotlout just about lost his mind. As people passed by, he was laughed at, asked questions and of course, covered in more tape. Heather, as promised, came back with an army of friends who all seemed to have a grievance that could only be solved with tape. Eventually, Hiccup held the bucket and deemed that they'd collected enough money. Snotlout sighed with relief as Hookfang, Toothless, Barf and Belch started cutting away all the tape. Finally, his humiliation would end and he could continue with his life. This was just an embarrassing footnote in the book of Snotlout Jorgenson's life . . . or was it?
"Ladies and gentlemen of Berk High School, I would like to thank you for the donations you made to charity," Gobber, deputy head of the school announced. "I'm sure that Berk's population of homeless people will be well provided for this Christmas. But most of the money, almost two-thirds of it in all, was donated by a small group of teenagers, and I'd like to honour them now. Will Henry and Thomas Haddock, Sally and Astrid Hofferson, Roberta, Terrence, Ben and Barry Thorston, Felix and Miranda Ingerman, Scott and Harris Jorgenson please stand up?"
The teens blushed as the school applauded them. Each of them got out of their chairs and saw nothing but smiling faces.
"Yeah, these teens have done a lot what with their cake sales, prank stalls, and the odder ideas of public chicken dances and karaoke . . ." Gobber let that final statement hang in the air as other students giggled. "Henry, Thomas, Sally and Astrid, I'm talking about you!"
"The karaoke was their idea!" Toothless shouted.
"And the chicken suits was your revenge!" Stormfly replied.
"So, do you think the daycare down the road is still open?" Hiccup asked loudly.
"I think so, yeah. If we take them now, we'll get there in time for naptime," Astrid answered. Toothless and Stormfly fell silent, their faces turning red.
"Thank you, Hiccup and Astrid. But none of these collected the most money, actually," Gobber mentioned. "That was done by Scott and Harris, whose original idea of paying a pound for tape to stick Snotlout to the wall really brought home the bacon!" Another round of applause started for the brothers, as Snotlout blushed and grinned. "Sally even gave us a picture of it. Here we are." Gobber continued his slideshow to reveal Snotlout duct taped to the wall. Hookfang was holding up a piece of paper saying I'M SO GLAD I SUGGESTED THIS. Hysterical laughter rang through the assembly hall as Snotlout blushed like mad.
"Hookfang, I. Am. Going. To. Kill. You," Snotlout muttered, as he turned a darker shade of red.
"At least I get to die with a smile on my face," Hookfang grinned.
"All of you, sit down!" Gobber yelled. "Organizing you lot is like herding cats! But a round of applause for 'em, why don't ya?" As the school applauded them again, Snotlout had one thing on his mind: revenge on Hookfang.
"Hookfang, what happened to you?" Toothless asked a week later, as his friend walked by covered on whipped cream, feathers and egg yolk. "Who did this to you?"
"Snotlout's fault!" Hookfang groaned. "Got me this morning. My brother is evil!"
"Where is he now?" Toothless asked.
"Don't know," Hookfang answered blearily. "Probably pranking somebody else."
That night, Hookfang slept happily, content that he wouldn't be pranked like that again. If Snotlout wanted to prank me again, it would have happened by now, he reasoned. He'd chugged a litre of Coca-Cola, brushed his teeth and gone to bed.
Meanwhile, Snotlout crouched on the floor, doing his best not to be seen or heard. Spying Hookfang's hand lolling off the edge of the bed, he used that to slowly ease it into a bucket of warm water. He couldn't wait until the morning for the results.
"Sweet dreams, Hookfang," Snotlout whispered. "Hope the bed bugs don't bite."
So, what do you think? To those who celebrate it, Merry Christmas, and to those who don't (like me), Happy Holidays! FT543 signing out!