Finding Yourself
Author:Nightstar Productions(Nightstar Fury).
Rated: Mfor Mature.
Pairing:Toothless & Hiccup.
Disclaimer:I do not own the HTTYD movies, Dreamworks Dragons series.
Chapter 9: Attracted.
Toothless couldn't believe where this field trip was located, at his old orphanage. And if he hadn't just been tackled to the ground by 12 little kids ranging from the ages of 6 to 10 he still might not believe it. He hit the ground with an 'oof' as the wind was knocked out of him. Focusing once more he saw the kids who had tackled him down, yep he knew them. "Tobias! You came back to visit, just like you promised!" One girl said.
"O–of course...I did. I never...break my promises kiddo." Toothless wheezed out.
"Children, I know you're shocked to see Tobias, as much as I am too actually but come off him now." The headmistress ordered gently, the kids climbed off as Hiccup offered his hand to help him up. Toothless took it brushing himself off and looking at the 60 or so kids in the main area.
"You alright, that was a hard fall." Fishlegs asked him.
"Yeah...just sore." Toothless twisted his back to crack it.
"Tobias dear, its good to see you again. I had no idea it was your class writing to us." Ms. Stone greeted me smiling.
"H–hey Ms. Stone...I didn't know either actually..." Toothless replied softly rubbing the back of his head.
"Tobias, you know these kids?" Mr. Fee asked curiously.
"Course I do. I grew up with them..." Toothless trailed off as one of the toddlers waddled over and Toothless picked her up as she snuggled against him sucking her thumb. "This was my home for 4 years..." Toothless admitted with a smile. It was now everyone realized that this wasn't a school, it was an orphanage and Toothless used to be here.
"Tooth?...This was...the orphanage you were living in? The one you told us about a few months ago?" Tyr asked.
"It is." Toothless answered as a few mouths dropped open.
"Y–you were an orphan?" Asked Camilla curiously.
"I was...about 3 months ago now." Toothless shrugged gently.
"But you said you were home schooled..." Allie, better known as Astrid by Hiccup said now.
"I was. Here. This was my home." Toothless replied.
"Are you staying with us again?" Asked one of the younger boys who was about 7.
"Sorry buddy, only here until 3. I gotta get home to my family...But I promise as soon as I get my license in a few weeks, I'll come visit more often." Toothless said softly ruffling his hair.
"Yay!" The kids cheered happily jumping around while Toothless placed the toddler down as he smiled at them. Yes this had been a huge shock but Toothless wasn't going to argue. He got to see his old friends again, although everyone know knew the truth that Toothless was an orphan but honestly Toothless didn't care one bit. Everyone came from different backgrounds and pasts, just because he was an orphan doesn't mean anything.
"Tobias!" Yelled a group of four 16 year olds. Toothless laughed as he gave them a bro-like hug and high fived each of them.
"Sup guys?" Toothless replied with a smile.
"Nothin much, great to see you man. Its been too long." Said one of them.
"Yeah it has, didn't know this was where our field trip was but damn if I'm not happy that's how it worked out." Toothless nodded.
"We were beginning to think you forgot about us." A boy with blonde hair said now.
"As if I ever could, I spent 4 years with you guys." Toothless chuckled. "Besides, I've been writing back." He added.
"Yeah we just got your letter actually. How long you here for?" Asked one with blue eyes.
"Just til 3." Toothless answered softly. He still couldn't believe this, he was home well second home.
"Well, I was going to offer a tour but since you're here now Tobias...would you like to take charge, there's an adoption day tomorrow to prepare for." Ms. Stone offered.
"A–As long as Mr. Fee doesn't mind...I'm kind'a his student right now and on school time." Toothless looked back at his still rather stunned teacher.
"Oh yes, that's fine." Mr. Fee said snapping out of it.
"Alright then. Follow me everyone..." Toothless smiled as two kids latched on to his hands and he led them inside. A lot of people were still in shock about all this. Tobias to them at least used to go here and all the kids recognized him right away, they hadn't even paid a mind to their pen pals were there. They all wanted Toothless, or rather Tobias. "Ms. Stone...Where am I taking them all? Cafeteria?" Toothless asked.
"Yes, that should be enough to hold everyone. Still such a helper to this old woman, if you need anything just ask dear." Ms. Stone said, Toothless nodded as he led everyone to the cafeteria. It didn't take long after everyone settled to match people up with their pen pals and as Toothless realized in the letters that his pen pal was the 13 year old who lost his parents in a fire and was placed in the orphanage two years ago. For 3 hours since arriving there the high school students talked with the orphans about whatever they could since there was limited time.
Around 12 it was time for lunch so all the kids were sitting with their pen pals and eating contently. Toothless was sitting with his pen pal, Hiccup, Tyr, and Fishlegs, their pen pals too. It was peaceful actually, no one was arguing or fighting around the room. Why couldn't it of been like this when he was here? Toothless heard someone tap a microphone to get their attention, he turned to watch seeing a few of the girls lining up. Of course how could he forget that during lunch some of the kids put on shows.
The boombox began to play a song Toothless hadn't heard since he was about 13. The Cotton Eye Joe and he already knew what was going to happen too he sighed closing his eyes. "You okay over there?" Hiccup asked him.
"Wait for it..." Toothless mumbled as one of the girls about 14 grabbed his arm and he cringed.
"Come on, Tobias! You gotta do it with us!" She pleaded.
"Fine...One time." Toothless sighed heavily.
"Want me to come too?" Hiccup asked, "So you don't have to be the only guy up there?" Toothless blinked a little but nodded, Hiccup got up and followed them towards the front.
"Hiccup...do you even know this dance?" Toothless asked suddenly. Hiccup pales instantly, nervously rubbing the back of his shaking head. "Its easy, I'll teach you. Ready..." Toothless said as Hiccup nodded and on the next beat Toothless started. "Alright, its mainly feet movement and get your hands on your hips like this." Toothless showed him, Hiccup copied and looked over to watch Toothless's feet movement. Hiccup blinked at the movement and how fast it was.
"I may of made a huge mistake doing this..." Hiccup went wide eyed, how the hell did Toothless keep up?
"Hiccup...Start with your left leg and bounce on your right like this. Follow the beat of the music." Toothless said as he showed Hiccup how to put his feet. "2 heel taps with your left in front, then 2 toe taps behind. 1 tap then lift in front of your leg, hit with your hands. 1 tap behind your leg hit with your hand." Toothless smiled at him showing each move for Hiccup. "See...1 2 front tap...3 4 back tap...5 6 front leg lift right hand tap...7 8 back leg lift left hand tap..." Toothless counted.
"Okay...I think I got it. So what's the rest?" Hiccup asked.
"Side step twice, spin around waving your right hand as if it were a lasso. Clap once. Then repeat. From the legs again. Ready?" Toothless chuckled.
"Yeah...Yeah I do. Lets do it." Hiccup smiled at him. The chorus started again as Toothless and Hiccup stood in line with the girls.
"Now." Toothless told him as he started and Hiccup did the same. Hiccup laughed happily, he was doing it on his own thank to Toothless teaching him so he didn't look like a fool up there. They did the same stupid moves for 4 minutes while the room was clapping to the beat and smiling having a great time. As the dance ended, Hiccup tripped over his feet and started to fall but Toothless grabbed his hand and pulled him back up smiling. "Don't worry. I won't let you fall." He chuckled.
"Thanks, that would of been embarrassing...That dance is fun. Its fast too...geeze." Hiccup panted as Toothless let his hand go once he was sure Hiccup was stable to stand then the two of them made their way back to the table smiling.
"That was awesome guys!" Fishlegs high fived them as Hiccup sat down.
"You did good for someone who has never done it before." Toothless said patting Hiccup's back.
"I don't dance...Well not like that at least, line dancing right?" Hiccup asked.
"Yeah, line dances are the easiest because everyone does them, and the music steps are easy to follow. They are made to follow the beat." Toothless smiled at him. While everyone was enjoying the next show, the fire alarm went off.
"Alright everyone, make your way outside. Just like in drills." Shouted one of the caretakers. Slowly but surely everyone began making their way to the main area and stood near the fence in lines according to age and gender. Toothless knew this process, its how they kept track of everyone because the groups were according to rooms which the caretakers had a master list of. The students of Berkian Academy lined up as their drills work as Mr. Fee was doing roll call. After 30 minutes the bell stopped and people began to make their way towards the doors but then suddenly a loud alarm bell rang out.
"Woah...That's loud...What is that, Tobias?" Toothless heard Snotlout ask who was standing behind Toothless.
"It's an emergency warning bell. Means a child is missing..." Toothless stated looking towards the orphans, that wasn't good at all. He moved from his group towards one of the caretakers.
"Where are you going?" Hiccup asked.
"Gonna see if I can help..." Toothless stated. Hiccup, Tyr, and Fishlegs got up to follow. Toothless approached Ms. Stone and her daughter, as well some staff members. "Ms. Stone, what's going on?" Toothless asked curiously.
"One of the kids isn't present. This isn't the first time however she's tried to run." Ms. Stone sighs.
"What do you mean?" Try asked.
"We got a new girl a few days ago, she went through so much. She's...acting like you did when you first came here...Quiet, depressed, wanted to be alone, acting out in anger...no family to take her, and no foster home will take her..." Ms. Stone explained.
"When did she go missing?" Toothless asked.
"When the fire alarm rang. She must of run when it went off...or she set it off to distract us. We locked everything down as soon as we found out." Said the daughter now, Rose.
"There's a girl on the roof!" Someone yelled out getting their attention.
"She's gonna jump!" Shouted another. Without another word, Toothless darted back in to the school. His friends followed him as he raced up the stairs leading to the room and burst through the door.
"Hey!" Toothless yelled at her, she turned around quickly with tears in her eyes. "Don't do it." He stated.
"D–don't tell me...what to do and not do...You don't know me!" The girl yelled at him.
"You're right. I don't but I do know this isn't the way...Please...Come off the edge." Toothless asked moving towards her slowly. Hiccup, Tyr, and Fishlegs had come behind him. Toothless shooed them away, "Go back down...I got this." Toothless said to them.
"Toothless this isn't our situation...Wait for the fire department..." Fishlegs said quickly.
"I will but she might not. Someone has to be up here to talk to her, to stall. So go...I can do this...Trust me." Toothless warned, they nervously looked at one another and then nodded leaving the roof area through the door.
"Ju–just leave me alone..." The girl cried looking back over the edge.
"You don't want to do this. I promise you don't..." Toothless eased slowly towards her with a hand out.
"You don't know what I want! Go away..." She closed her eyes. Below Hiccup, Tyr, and Fishlegs rushed out panting and backed up enough so they could see Toothless and the girl alone up there.
"What is he doing!" Mr. Fee exclaimed.
"Stalling for time...He's talking her down from killing herself." Hiccup breathed heavily. Now back with Toothless and the girl, he tried to get close again.
"I know you don't want to do this." Toothless said to her calmly.
"You don't know what I want! Stop acting like you care or you know what I'm going through!" The girl yelled at him.
"Look, you seem like a nice girl so why don't you just come away from the edge and we can talk about this...okay? I'm not gonna hurt you. I want to help." Toothless offered his hand to her.
"I don't want help...I don't want to live anymore, just go away and leave me alone...this is nothing to do with you. I don't have anything left..." The girl whimpered.
"That's not true. You got your whole life ahead of you yet, you don't know what life holds but I can promise you that you'll never know if you don't come down...Come on now...you don't want to do this. I know you don't...because if you did then you wouldn't of hesitated. You would of jumped as soon as you got up here...I can help you, but you have to let me. Please...Come down off that edge." Toothless tried again.
"You're distracting me!" She began to shake.
"I'm not distracting you, I'm trying to help you. I don't even know you and I want to help you, look at you. You're shaking up there, you're scared. You don't want to do this, you know that and so do I. So please give me your hand and I'll help you down..." Toothless stepped near the edge beside her. "Toothless." He said calmly, she looked down at him confused now.
"What?" She asked.
"My name...its Toothless Fury. What's yours?" Toothless asked her.
"Sto–Stormfl–fly...Na–Nadderhead." She told him now.
"See, now we know each other." Toothless offered a smile. "Listen...I know that I know nothing about you, Stormfly...But I think it'd be really cool if you...come down from there and told me about yourself so that maybe we can become friends." Toothless asked.
"And why do...you want to be friends with me. I'm a nobody...M–my mother is in jail for life, for killing my father who was...protecting me...No foster home wants me...and I don't...want to live the rest of my life in an orphanage. No one my age gets adopted...I'm 14..." Stormfly looked down sadly.
"I can tell you from personal experience that is not true..." Toothless told her.
"What would you know...You have parents, a home...friends..." Stormfly cried.
"Because my life got better, Stormfly. I used to be an orphan too...My parents died when I was 8 in a car accident. My dad died on impact, and my mom died later in the ambulance after saving me. No family came forward for me, and I didn't do well in foster homes...I came to this very same orphanage when I was 12...I lived among these people for 4 years...and believe me, I thought the same...that I'd never get adopted because of my age...but one day...I was proven wrong. Someone, a family who already had kids of their own...came here and adopted me because the kids wanted an older sibling. Now I have parents, siblings, and friends...Because I chose to live instead of give up the life my mother gave me, the one she died protecting." Toothless told Stormfly now.
"Yo–you mean...you wanted to die too." Stormfly asked.
"At first, yes. I wanted nothing more than to do the same thing you are doing now. I came up here a few times when I first came to the orphanage and just stared down. Thinking I had no purpose in life, no reason to keep living because I'd lost everything...but...I made friends here...and I was happy. I got adopted at 16, just 3 months ago in fact. What I'm saying is...your dad gave his life to protect you, Stormfly. So don't give up the sacrifice, he wanted you to live...so keep living. Like I do. I know it seems hopeless but if it can happen to me...then it can happen to anyone. So don't waste your life, you think you're down with no where else to go. But there is another way and its called up. All we can do is rise from the ground, bow our heads and tell ourselves that it won't be like this forever. So come on...give me your hand, and come down. You don't want to do this. As someone who has been where you are...I know you don't. Please, Stormfly..." Toothless said softly offering his hand again.
Stormfly felt tears roll down her cheeks as she faced him now putting her hand out to take his, as soon as they connected Toothless smiled at her. "Y–you're right...I–I don't want to die I just...don't wanna be alone..." Stormfly sobbed as she took a step to get off the edge slowly.
"You won't be alone. The people here are the best, and I promise you'll make lots a friends. And hey, I'm your first one. I don't live in Bashem anymore but I will still keep in contact with letters, and I'll be visiting too." Toothless said gently to her. She nodded as she wiped her bright green eyes and smiled small at him, she went to step down from the ledge when a strong gust of wind picked up and she lost her balance falling off. Stormfly screamed in fear as Toothless threw his hand out and caught hers, he grunted leaning over the edge holding her.
"Help me! Please help me!" She cried in horror.
"Hey! Hey relax. Its okay, Stormfly. I got you...I won't let go. I promise...Now come on, put yourself up." Toothless urged her, she took a few deep breaths and tried to climb up but she kept slipping.
"He needs help!" Fishlegs said in fear as they all watched from below.
"Come on!" Hiccup commanded them, before their teacher could protest they were back inside heading towards the staircase leading to the roof. Meanwhile Toothless was having a hard time keeping hold of Stormfly's hand.
"Toothless...don't let me fall please...I don't want...to die..." She cried out.
"Listen to me! I won't let you fall, I swear it on my life." Toothless said firmly to her, he leaned over more and lost his balance too. He fell over but held the edge with on hand, his other still holding hers. She screamed again, great could it get any worse? He heard the roof door slam open again.
"Toothless, its Hiccup, Fishlegs and I. Don't move and don't let go." Tyr said quickly as they leaned a bit to see their friend and the girl hanging there.
"Well no shit don't let go!" Toothless mumbled as he used his right arm to pull Stormfly up. "Stormfly, use that window ledge as a foot hold and pull yourself up. Come on, you can do this!" Toothless said confidently to her, she nodded still afraid and did what he told her to do. Slowly she began to rise up past him, in a quick movement he wrapped his arm around her legs and lifted more. "Tyr, Frank...Get her arms...quickly!" Toothless panted out of breath.
"Got it." They replied as they took Stormfly's arms and pulled her back over the edge on to the roof.
"What about you!" Hiccup asked him, "Pull yourself up." He said worried.
"Can't...I pulled my arm..." Toothless grunted a few times. Hiccup put his hand over and put it on his left arm which was holding on to the edge. "Hiccup you'll go over...You can't pick me up alone." Toothless retorted.
"Still gonna try, Toothless. You're my friend and I care about you so I'm gonna help! I got your back, I won't let you fall. Now come on, give me your other arm." Hiccup ordered him. Toothless forced himself to lift it as Hiccup took it when it was in reach as he pulled hard, Toothless used the wall of the building to get himself up higher. Hiccup grunted as he pulled Toothless over and they both fell back on the roof, Toothless on top of Hiccup both panting. "See...Told you I wouldn't let you fall..." Hiccup smiled.
"I–I'll never...doubt you again..." Toothless panted. "Thanks..." He added staring down at the forest green eyed boy under him, they looked in to one another's eyes longingly for a moment then both blushed as Toothless got off him quickly ignoring the pain in his arm. He grunted once holding his shoulder where the muscle pulled. Hiccup got up and helped Toothless to his feet as the now 5 of them all looked at one another smiling.
"You saved my life, Toothless..." Stormfly said softly.
"Well your dad protected you with his own so its my assumption that he wanted you to life. You wouldn't have jumped, Stormfly. Just like I wouldn't have 4 years ago. You would of realized it on your own, but never hurts to have a helping hand." Toothless told her, Stormfly hugged him tightly. He winced at the pain in his arm, she backed up quickly with worry.
"I'm so sorry..." She whispered.
"I'm alright, now...why don't we all get off this roof?" Toothless smiled, with that the 5 of them headed down to the main level and walked out the entrance to an applause from the orphan kids, their classmates, teachers, and caretakers. Ms. Stone and her daughter rushed over to Stormfly.
"Tobias...Thank you so much...We're so glad you were here today, you're so good at these things...Are you alright?" Rose, the daughter of Ms. Stone asked seeing him holding his arm.
"Ye–yeah...I just need to...si–..." Before he could finish the sentence he blacked out, falling unconscious and being caught by Hiccup and Tyr. Thankfully the police, fire department, and ambulance arrived just in time. An officer walked over while a stretcher was pulled over towards Toothless, Hiccup and Tyr helped get him on it.
"What happened here?" The officer asked.
"I–I tried to kill myself...b–but Toothless talked me down off the edge, then I lost my balance and he grabbed me...his friends helped us both back over before we fell..." Stormfly admitted sadly.
"He pulled his right arm when he went over under the weight...he blacked out just now." Hiccup explained to the officer.
"Right then. Are you any of you close with him? Just someone who knows him to fill in the doctors and to get a hold of his family?" The paramedic asked.
"I–I can ride with him. I have his mom and dad's cell phone numbers..." Hiccup offered, the paramedic nodded as Hiccup got in the back of the ambulance with Toothless. The doors were shut and the ambulance left for the hospital, Hiccup couldn't help but be worried for Toothless. He talked down a complete stranger from suicide and almost got serious injured or worse in doing so. Was there anything this man couldn't do? Hiccup found himself holding Toothless's hand on the ambulance ride as they were headed to Bashem Hospital for treatment. It was weird for Hiccup, for some reason he found himself admiring Toothless's features. 'He's...really handsome.' Hiccup thought, then froze. Did he just...call Toothless handsome? Yes. Yes he did and he wasn't about to take it back. Hiccup found Toothless to be extremely handsome and he didn't know why he was so attracted to him suddenly. He'd think about it later, right now...he was worried for his friend.