To Be Loved the Way You Love Me

Life on Berk turns upside down when a sixteen year old boy traveling with a dark past, a world of hurt, and a Night Fury washes up on its shores. The love-starved boy will only tell people one thing about his past: His name is Hiccup. But where did he live before? And why doesn't he trust anyone?

Chapter 21: If I Could

I actually had this title idea in mind :D also, I'm gonna try to finish this before, but just in case I don't, a warning: if I don't finish this before November, I will be taking a month-long break for Nano Wrimo. I do it every year and it's become a sort of tradition with me. It's not November or Thanksgiving or Christmas without it, you know what I mean?

When I woke up the next morning, it was to the sound of Gobber yelling for me.

"Hiccup!" he called. "Hiccup!"

I opened my eyes, reluctantly about to call back, but before I could even get a word in edgewise, Toothless shifted suddenly beneath me and then ran out from underneath my head, roaring and growling wildly.

"Hicc—AAH!" I heard uneven footsteps running as fast as they could and Toothless' pattering feet, along with a lot of excited roaring and a not-so-manly Viking yell or two thrown in there.

This was quickly joined by a couple ominous thumps and as I kicked off the blanket, I thought groggily to myself, they could be an orchestra. "And this track, kids, is called, 'How the Vikings died off!'

The thought brought a smile to my face as I ripped apart the curtains that separated the room I'd been sleeping in from the rest of the forge.

When I looked out, I saw upturned tables and Gobber running around the forge, being chased by Toothless.

I shook my head, smiling to myself. "Toothless!" I called over his excited roars. "Stop it!"

Gobber quickly sheltered beneath a worktable. "You heard the lad!" he called, in what would've been a fearless tone had his voice not trembled slightly halfway through.

Toothless leaned forward and opened his mouth, preparing to take Gobber's prosthetic leg in his teeth.

"Toothless!" I repeated and Toothless looked around at me, his eyes going wide and shiny, the way they always did when he wanted something from me.

He knew I would bend over backward to give him whatever he wanted when he used those Bambi eyes, so I focused instead on the cowering Gobber as I said, "Below the belt, bud. Let him go."

This was what I meant about him being bloodthirsty. He liked the thrill of a chase and he'd proceeded to scare Gobber, even after knowing the man wasn't a threat.

Toothless reluctantly spat out Gobber's prosthetic, scaly shoulders hunched as he came back over to stand by my side.

Gobber fixed his prosthetic back on the way it had been, panting slightly. "Thanks, Hiccup. I had it covered, but thanks anyway."

"Yeah, apparently not," I replied. "Or was that sheltering beneath a worktable just a ploy?"

"Go to hell," Gobber mumbled, stumping over to the upended worktable and successfully turning it back over. He then chucked all the fallen weapons and tools back onto it, and turned to me. "Well."

"Interesting start to a day," I commented, turning away under the pretense of grabbing my vest so he wouldn't see the fact that a smile threatened at the corners of my lips.

I was careful not to glance at Toothless, either, for fear I would start laughing.

"Very," sniffed Gobber.

I wiped at my eyes and walked back over to the worktable, glancing over at his weapons pile. "Do you want some help, Gobber?"

"Sure, lad," Gobber responded happily.

"You're the stupid one."

"No, you!"

"No, you!"

"No, you!"

"Can we please stop fighting?"

"NO!" shouted both twins, for once united on something.

I shook my head, pulling my plate closer to me. "Of course they can't."

The husky blonde boy had introduced himself to me as 'Fishlegs'; I was eating lunch with him, Astrid, Snotlout and the twins.

"I wonder if it would kill them," Astrid muttered and we shared a smile at the question.

"Yeah, maybe," I told her.

"I wouldn't mind it if it killed Ruffnut," Tuffnut – or Ruffnut – or whichever one it was…the boy… said. "But I would mind if it killed me."

"I'm too pretty to die," the girl twin sighed tragically.

"That's right, my queen," Snotlout cooed.

"I thought you were doomed to flirt with Astrid forever?"

"I've moved on," Snotlout informed me loftily, but his dark eyes rested on me for a long second before he said that and I briefly wondered if he thought of me as competition before my cheeks heated at the idea.

"Hallelujah," Astrid muttered and I smiled, shaking off the previous thoughts.

"I've made a decision," Gobber announced, watching me fetch him his hammer prosthetic. "I'm going to keep you around and instead of Hiccup, I'll call you 'Legs'. And whenever I need something, I'll just say, 'Legs!' and you'll come running." He grinned, pleased with himself. "What do you think?"

"I think not," I replied, handing him his hammer prosthetic. "But for as long as I'm here, maybe I ought to. You probably do have an ordeal just getting up and walking around every day, huh?" I gestured awkwardly to his leg.

Wow. Way to be insensitive, Haddock.

Gobber smiled, to my relief. "I adjusted. I always do."

"Still," I muttered, watching as he screwed his hammer back on the base. "Shouldn't I do what I can?"

"No," Gobber replied, as if I was being stupid. "I'm a Viking. Everything is hard."

I wasn't sure I was completely happy with his explanation – a lot of explanations on Berk seemed to have the core excuse of, 'I'm a Viking'.

I picked up a block of metal, tossing it into the furnace and shrugged off my vest, hanging it on the nearby hook. The forge always got hot this time of day, even though it was now officially autumn.

Gobber had already broken the news to me that by the time winter rolled around, you didn't take off an item of clothing for almost anything in that month, especially not on Berk.

I noticed Gobber fiddling with his key to the forge and I glanced around at it curiously before shrugging it off and turning back to the furnace, rolling up my sleeves before doing anything else.

I darted into the backroom, drawing the curtain closed behind me and glancing at Toothless. "Stop looking at me like that. I'll tell them the truth, okay? Right now, Gobber's working. It wouldn't be the best time to burst in there and say, 'Hey, I'm an Outcast!'"

Horrified with myself for speaking the words so loudly, I bit my lip and dropped my voice, dropping to my knees beside Toothless, scratching him comfortingly behind the ears. "'Sides, it's not like I plan to stay here."

Toothless just stared at me, like a sarcastic response was teetering on the tip of his tongue.

"It's not," I repeated. "Although…" I glanced out the window at the setting sun. "It'd be nice…if, you know, I could."