"Modern myth".
How to train your dragon, Toothcup.
By: Sinattea.
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Disclaimer: Cressida Cowell owns the book series, Dreamworks owns the movie. I own nothing but this AU.
Note: And three weeks later here we are! The suspense has come to an end.
Also, there are lots and lots of references in this chapter. If any of you knows said books I'd love to know in your reviews.
Read, read, enjoy, enjoy! ! !
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Chapter 19: Introductions.
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- Hey! Back off! ! That's my fish, Hiccup brought it for me! SHOO! ! – Toothless shouted as he ran towards the lagoon and the little dragons spattered all around, squeaking and shaking their wings - Ugh – he exclaimed when noticing how the cooler had been assaulted and all of his fish had already been bitten and covered in another dragons' saliva -. Well, I don't care: I'm eating it anyways!
Perhaps in his full dragon form it'd be less disgusting, but in the meantime he washed the fish in the crystalline lagoon (which was living-fish-free) and muttered angrily against the little dragons as a pouty child would.
Hiccup was petrified in his spot, the only thing about him that kept moving were his eyes, following Toothless and his rant.
The little dragons hid behind some rocks, staying as far as they could from the bigger dragon, but clearly feeling curious enough for not to leave the cove.
- I should've known they'd show up sooner or later… Of course they had to dare coming when food is involved… Well, next time I won't play dumb, I'll show them… – Toothless kept cursing under his breath and vigorously cleaning his fish.
- Toothless? – Hiccup called.
- Yes Hiccup? Argh, I should just dragonize and eat it now…
- Toothless!
- What?! – finally the dragon-boy reacted and bolted towards Hiccup, fish in hand.
- What's going on? Are those… are those dragons? ?
Toothless looked around as if he needed to confirm what those little food-thieves were.
- Yes, they've been spying on us for the last week, coming and going, but I didn't think they'd dare to show up – he said.
- You knew they were here?! – Hiccup exclaimed, slightly upset.
- Well, I had already told you there are more dragons and mythical creatures. They're everywhere – Toothless excused.
- And why hadn't you told me that there were dragons in Berk? ?
- Exactly because of that – Toothless responded when a glimpse of disappointment gleamed in Hiccup's eyes -. I knew that if I told you you'd want to see them, but they usually escape from humans, and if we couldn't find them I didn't want to see that disappointed look in you.
Then Toothless let his wings and ears down to reflect how repented he felt for his silence, and that gave him the looks of an appalled puppy so much that it was Hiccup the one who ended up apologizing.
- Oh, I see… Sorry.
- It's ok – Toothless quickly smiled, which made Hiccup realize that he'd been victim of those bright green eyes once again; he face-palmed mentally -. Besides, I wasn't sure they'd come any closer in my presence. We Night Furies are, well, some sort of royalty in the dragon society – Hiccup couldn't help but snort before that -. I mean it! – insisted Toothless, and after that his voice lowered and his words tainted with a bit of melancholy - At least they were… And I believe I made all the dragons in a mile around fear me when I… you know, lost control because of the… you know… – Toothless shook his tail meaningfully, and Hiccup understood perfectly what he was talking about -. They don't look afraid anymore, however.
- Why not? – Hiccup wondered, thinking that if he were the size of those dragons and saw someone like Toothless, he'd probably run away in fear.
Toothless scratched his chin with a claw.
- I guess it's because of you. They must be thinking that if I don't hurt you I'm not gonna hurt them.
That made sense. Surely a Night Fury looked a lot less terrifying with a leather saddle on his back and a scrawny boy caressing his head most of the time.
- Well, so, now that they're here, do you think that I can…? – Hiccup extended his hand towards the closest little dragon, but it got scared and flew away -. I need an incentive of some sort, I… Toothless, give me your fish.
- No! - Toothless hugged the fish possessively - It's mine! You brought it for me!
- I'll bring more for you tomorrow. I'll even cook it if you want me to – he negotiated -. Pleeeease! Pretty please?
Toothless had to struggle a lot to say no to that face.
- Your "puppy eyes" don't have the same effect as mine – he reminded, wickedly.
Hiccup crossed his arms in a fake pout.
- Then I'm gonna have to switch tactics.
- What do you mean "switch tac- - -"? ?
Before the dragon boy suspected Hiccup closed the gap between them and pressed his mouth hungrily against Toothless'. In less than a second they were hugging each other tightly, and Hiccup's hands played with the silky black hair, and dragonized hands rested on his hips.
Hiccup let out a moan when Toothless' tongue drew the silhouette of his mouth, making him feel more eager and prolonging their kiss more than originally intended.
When they finally pulled apart, gasping for air and giggling, they barely remembered what had happened or where they were, until they found themselves surrounded by a pack of tiny dragons whose enormous eyes were fixedly staring at them.
- Looks like we got an audience – said Toothless, chuckling -. Guess they've never seen a dragon been tamed before.
- You fool! – Hiccup laughed along, getting the double meaning -. Oh, look, apparently they don't care about the show: it's the fish at our feet they want!
- Oh, great, I didn't want it anyways – Toothless pouted. He hadn't even noticed he dropped the fish when Hiccup kissed him, oh well…
- Come here, little dragon, come…
And to Hiccup's surprise, this time one of them let him touch it, and after that initial proof of trust all of the dragons showed a lot of interest in Hiccup and began to sniff him and Toothless alternatively.
- They like you – growled Toothless, arms crossed over his chest, a glimpse of his fangs through his parted lips.
- Toothless? Is it possible that you're jealous?
- Oh- - -I, err… Sorry, natural dragon territorialism. Sorry – he mumbled, absolutely ashamed of himself, blushing bright red in what was a curious contrast with the black of his draconian features.
Hiccup laughed in the cutest of ways before that, and weirdly enough the little dragons seemed to echo his mockery.
- They're Terrible Terrors, by the way – added Toothless -. It's their species name.
- They don't look terrible to me.
- You've never had one of those biting your nose, and pray you never do – warned Toothless with a smile.
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After the unexpected event at the cove, going back to the school and gym routine turned out rather boring. Neither of them was in the slightest disposition of paying any attention to daily activities, since they both had way more important matters to think about.
Stoick noticed they both were completely absent during training (and Hiccup also during dinner), but at least didn't recriminate anything that class, which, considering that when students were outrageously distracted he could always take on a little revenge the day after, wasn't very good news. Hiccup, however, forgot to remember his father had that kind of habit.
There was only one thing keeping his mind busy, and (surprisingly) this time it wasn't Toothless, though they shared with him the scales and wings and the fire-breathing qualities.
- So, what other species do you know? – mumbled the brown-haired boy, making sure he spoke low enough to only be heard by the dragon's ears, while they were in the dressing rooms.
Toothless waited until he put everything into his sport bag before responding. Though it wasn't exactly an answer what he provided; he'd been thinking about it and really didn't want to have this conversation yet. How many more secrets was he laying on Hiccup's shoulders? How much dangerous information? Toothless wished, deep inside, that things didn't make it farther than "My boyfriend is half a dragon. Period", but there was no way to truly get to know Toothless without knowing the rest of the world he'd lived most of his life into. Hiccup had already figured that out.
- Do you really wanna talk about it now?
Hiccup immediately sensed that something was upsetting Toothless. Maybe he was still jealous in that dragon-territorialism manner, or maybe he didn't like talking about other dragons… Maybe Evelyn didn't like to have him talking about other dragons. But Hiccup needed to know; especially if he wanted to be capable of protecting Toothless. More than that: if Hiccup wanted to be with Toothless for real he needed to share his world, every tiny bit of it.
So yeah, to sum his long chain of thought up in one single phrase: he wanted to talk.
- Well, you have to go to work, and I'd really like to discuss it today. Come on, Tooth, it's me. You know you can tell me everything – he said, trying to push Toothless only with the honest interest in his eyes -. So how many?
Toothless gave in quite easily, frankly. He didn't want to hide anything from Hiccup. He wanted to keep the boy safe of course, but not at the price of secrecy between them. He was so bloody tired of it. Besides, the depth of their bond didn't allow secrets, or lies; lying to each other was like lying to oneself: it felt wrong and pretty much pointless.
- Most of them, you could say. I can pretty much tell you the names of every dragon known and where to find them – Toothless finally said.
He opened the door of the dressing rooms for Hiccup, like a gentleman does, then headed out of the gym with him.
- Will you teach me? – Hiccup asked shyly -. I'd like to know, to share your world…
"And be part of it, actually" he admitted to his thoughts. There was one last barrier standing in their relationship, and now that Hiccup had seen dragons flying above it he'd discovered that he could and wanted to break through and make it to the other side.
Toothless, nonetheless, was still giving too much of a thought to letting go that final barrier down.
- You know I don't want you to get involved in all this…
- I'm a dragon rider – Hiccup reassured with a bright smile -. And I might be mistaken, but I think that means I'm already involved. Like, deeply involved. Besides, I've seen Terrible Terrors. Seriously, nothing else out there is gonna surprise me – he added a tinge of humorous sarcasm that pulled a smile out of Toothless and seemed to relax him a lot -. Tell me.
The dragon boy sighed and nodded to himself, his mood now easier.
- Ok… Walk with me… and pay attention – he invited, and he and Hiccup walked side by side, pressing their arms together (they were tempted to hold hands, but thought better of it since they were outside Stoick's gym) -. First, there are the species that can be found in this part of Europe. I've caught glimpses of Hideous Zipplebacks, Monstruous Nightmares, Deadly Nadders, Gronkles… but I wouldn't be surprised if there were Whispering Deaths or Changewings farther north, near the beach.
- Zipplebacks and Gronkles? I've heard those names before! – exclaimed an excited Hiccup.
- Oh, I'm sure you'd come across them in many books or games. They always take inspiration from myths, and where do you think those myths come from? – Toothless continued counting with his fingers - Norwegian Ridgebacks, Chinese Lungs, Hungarian Horntails… People know more about us than they realize, except that they think it's just tales, and that's exactly what nowadays keeps us safe.
- "The greatest trick the devil ever played was making the world believe he didn't exist", right? – Hiccup cited, and Toothless couldn't help but love the way he always came up with that kind of intelligent remarks.
- Exactly… Dragons are smart, and careful, they won't let anybody see them if they can help it.
- But they let me see them yesterday – reminded Hiccup.
There was a small moment of awkward silence while they crossed a wide street.
- Yeah… And I'm starting to believe this is just the beginning of the sight-seeing – Toothless muttered.
- What you mean? There'll be more? ? – Hiccup got so excited before that thought that he lost focus on the world around him and ended up basically tripping with his own feet. Toothless raised an eyebrow at him.
- Well, of course! By now they all must be used to our presence, and now that they're over the "fear stage" they'll probably move on to the "curious stage". Just like yesterday. We gotta be more careful. Some species are far less aggressive than others, but that doesn't mean we can let every dragon come close. Some will trust you right away, some won't be that easy to convince, never mind their species.
- Ok, I get it… – Hiccup nodded enthusiastically - I can't believe this is all happening!
- You sound way more excited than I feel comfortable with.
- Jealous again?
- Worried, more likely – the other boy confessed.
Hiccup had officially been introduced into the world of dragons as part of a bigger myth, and from now on he would only learn more and more, and discover new things and creatures every day.
Maybe by the time Evelyn returned to Berk, he would know as much as her. Maybe one day, if Hiccup kept learning and insisting in protecting Toothless, he would join her and the others.
There was no turning back now.
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That was a curious thing. Ping made him think of Hiccup: so innocent, so young, and yet so determined to help a dragon at all costs. Except that now that Toothless thought of it, Ping had changed during the time she spent with Danzi, the dragon of the emperor; she'd become stronger, more confident of herself, braver… she was no longer the little slave girl that lived in the dry garden of an abandoned palace.
- Is that a new book? – asked Mrs. Evans as she swept the floor of the common living room. Toothless stood from the sofa and lifted the furniture so the old woman could sweep beneath; he'd been helping in any way he could to the cleaning routine ever since he'd found out that they were kind of related, and Mrs. Evans couldn't be more grateful.
- No, it's actually the one I was reading in New Year's Eve. I decided to reread the trilogy.
- Oh, I thought it was new, you looked so very absorbed in it. Must be quite an interesting book… Especially with that title – she pointed at the cover where "Dragonkeepers" was written in golden capital letters. Toothless hid the book below a pillow and grunted something about the lines of "discretion, please" - Sorry, it's none of my business. It's Evelyn's… and Hiccup's, not mine – she apologized -. I'll just finish this and I'll leave you alone; I'll go ask Mr. Boyd for the rent.
- Isn't it a little late to pay the rent? – mumbled Toothless as he recovered his comfortable position at the sofa, glad to change the conversation topic.
Though she had never openly admitted it, Mrs. Evans obviously knew about the whole half-dragon issue (or at least she let Toothless assume so when it was convenient), but that didn't make it any easier to speak it aloud.
The old landlady caught the message and derided the conversation towards the direction pointed by the boy.
- Oh, he needed the money to fix his car – and then Mrs. Evans started a long an unnecessarily detailed explanation of how they'd come to a good agreement about the rent delaying and stuff. By the time she was over with it, Toothless had fortunately forgotten her mischievous mention of the book title -… Usually you know I don't like delays, but this was a special case and I love his car, justifies the parking space in the garden. Actually, I think his car is the one spot of color in that garden…
- We should fix that garden one of these days – prompted Toothless -. I bet you'd like to have something green and… alive, for a change.
- Oh, I don't mind my wild, dry garden. With my pension I can either run a tenement house, or a nice garden, not both. And everybody, including you, prefers the house.
Toothless smiled apologetically.
- And what if I change my vote for "garden"?
- It's very sweet of you, Toothless, but that doesn't increase my pension. So I guess we are all sticking to the "house" option.
- And… what about Evelyn? – the boy said, scratching the back of his head as if to make his comment sound more casual than what it really was.
- What about her? – Mrs. Evans stared at him with eyes wide opened.
- Well, since I live here, I imagine she- - -
- No, no, no – interrupted the old woman -. I wouldn't feel comfortable taking Evelyn's money, she's worked hard to earn, maintain and increase her fortune. And it would be quite an easy path to track if she paid for a house in a city she has supposedly nothing to do with. Wouldn't you agree?
- Yeah… right…
Well, Toothless had never actually thought that that was the reason why Evelyn insisted in him getting a job whenever he was away from London. The angriest part of him always believed the financial limitations were some sort of punishment for all the times he'd run into troubles. For the last three years Evelyn would give him money every month for him to study and eat, but Toothless had to pay for the roof he slept under. Until then he'd assumed that Evelyn was just getting tired of covering his tracks every time he had to run away, but it might actually be the opposite: she'd been working harder to cover them.
After all, Evelyn had enemies of her own that she didn't want Toothless to get involved with. It wasn't easy to be a Valhalla.
- But do not worry, dear – Mrs. Evans went on -. Many a thing will change once she lives here. Life is going to be easier for you, I'm sure.
Toothless couldn't help but wonder if the dream of an "easy life" was possible for someone like him.
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At least he had Hiccup to forget about the complexities of his life and merely enjoy the time. Well, sort of… He kept insisting that he wanted to learn everything that there is to be known about dragons; and who's to blame him? Hiccup had been in love with dragons since his childhood; and, he was having a difficult time to admit it, but Toothless was grateful for Hiccup's geeky fascinations because surely they had played an important part in the whole "I don't care you are a dragon, I think it's cool and let's be together" development of their love story.
Actually, that weekend Hiccup made plans to visit Toothless at the tenement house (after a long session of online gaming with Fishlegs) so they could properly discuss the dragon subject in all its glorious extension.
- What's all this? – asked Toothless when the brown-haired boy arrived at his place carrying a big suitcase.
- I brought every book I own that contains information about dragons. Even borrowed some from Fishlegs – he explained as he dragged the case into the house.
- You're seriously excited about this… There, I'll take that – after the first two steps Hiccup failed to pull the suitcase up Toothless took it from his hands and effortlessly carried it all the way to his bedroom. What a funny déjà vu.
Giggling nervously, Hiccup followed, closely behind.
- I'm charging you an extra tip for making me work on my free day – joked Toothless, and the giggle turned into a laugh.
Even Mrs. Evans, who was walking by in that moment, laughed at the top of her lungs with that joke and teased Toothless endlessly about his bellboy job and his red uniform, until Hiccup managed to distract her with some comment about her soap opera and they could escape upstairs, out of the reach of her laughter.
Finally they made their way to the attic, entered the room and closed the door.
- Make yourself at home – invited Toothless.
Hiccup headed straight towards the mattress, sat down and shook off his shoes.
- Done – he smiled.
Toothless held down a cute snort in order to keep a bit of seriousness; after all they were to talk about serious business, and he wanted to match the atmosphere. Odin, it wasn't easy to keep a straight face with Hiccup there, looking so interested and eager to learn, like a young and adorable school boy; Toothless just wanted to go there and hold him tight.
Such thoughts, however, vanished from his mind when he remembered the last time Hiccup had been in that room, and what had almost happened that night… Feeling awfully ashamed of himself, although very careful not to exteriorize it, Toothless cleared his throat and rested his fists on his hips.
Suddenly studying dragons seemed quite appealing.
- Ok. So… where do we start?
- I was thinking perhaps we could read together and you could tell me which books I can trust and which I should burn.
- Good. Let's do that. Leave the burning part to me!
- If you insist… – Hiccup smirked.
Toothless began to pull books out of the suitcase and pile them on his desk, mentally reading the titles. Well, if there were such a thing as a dragon bible sort of thing, Hiccup probably owned it. And there it was! Toothless stared blankly at the red cover for an entire minute, his mouth shaped in a permanent gasp.
- "Dragonology"? ?
- By Dr. Ernest Drake – Hiccup quickly added -. Amazing book.
- Looks quite old… – Toothless pointed as he carefully analyzed the book: the smell, the texture.
- It was my mom's – Hiccup confessed -. I don't know how she got it.
- Maybe Evelyn gave it to her…
It that was the true story, Toothless wouldn't be surprised. Apparently Hiccup inherited most of his personality traits from the Valhalla side of his family.
- No doubt but there is none other beeste comparable to the mightie dragon in awesome power and majestie- - -
- And few so worthie of the diligent studies of wise men – completed Hiccup the quote.
- I think I'll like this book – the dragon boy decided, and placed it over the bed as the first in his "to read" list. Then he kept extracting books -. What else do we have here? "Inheritance" Cycle, "Dragonkeepers" trilogy – Toothless couldn't help but smile fondly and exchange an affective look with Hiccup, who smiled sweetly in return -, "A song of Ice and Fire", "Harry Potter" saga… Oh, hello there Tolkien! "Dragonlance Chronicles", "The Dragon book"… "The dragonbone chair"?
- That's from the "Memory, sorrow and thorn" series. You so have to read them.
- I think I will… – and Toothless bright-green eyes proceeded with their examination of Hiccup's personal library - Wow, seeing all this even I want to learn about dragons.
- Well, you only have to ask and I can teach you whenever you want – a falsely arrogant smirk curled Hiccup's lips. Both boys burst out laughing a second later.
Seconds later, nonetheless, Toothless' laughter faded away, a mask of sad melancholy taking over his expression. His fingers instinctually reached for his silver necklace.
- You know? Had you been there when Evelyn had me memorizing all those dragon facts, stories and legends everything would had been much better… I'm sure I wouldn't have made as many mistakes as I did… Like that factory, and- - -
- Hey, it's ok – Hiccup assured, pure solace and understanding in his voice -. I'm here now.
- I know you are.
With a silent, yet rapid movement, Toothless took seat next to the other boy, locked their eyes together, and after a wordless reassurance ("I'm here and I always will") leaned in to press his mouth to Hiccup's.
- Mmh… Toothless? – Hiccup whispered, eyes closed and lips parted.
- Yes?
- Remember when I said you could burn the books…? I didn't mean it. Don't do it.
Toothless chuckled and placed a loving hand on Hiccup's neck. It was only for those little moments with Hiccup that Toothless had been learning to actually accept himself as a half myth, a hybrid. If Hiccup liked him just the way he was, why couldn't he do the same?
- Let me burn only the ones with "dragon slayer" in the title… – he negotiated.
- No – Hiccup refused with a smile.
- Ok…
They kissed again, and Odin they'd both be lying if they said that, even after all that time, it didn't feel as mystical and sweet as their first kiss.
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Another note: Didn't you feel absolutely relieved when the suspense didn't lead to bad things happening? ^^ We haven't reached that part of the sto- - -SQUIRREL! !
Wow, it had been a lot since the last time Squirrel slithered in with his sneak-peeks.
Gosh! Am I cursi or what? Toothcup is still my Top OTP, followed by BunnyFrost and then all my others OTPs are forgotten. Though I guess that will change this weekend because I'm updating and watching BBC's "Sherlock" season 3 YAY! ! !
Because of that and my new job, next chapter will be up in two weeks.
Yes, I'm evil. SLYTHERIN, baby! ! ! ^^
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A gazillion thanks to my reviewers:
Musical Fangirl, YoshisSupport, stuart. tozer. 5,
AlexJohnD, Mousettezz, animelover56348, AliceCullen3,
Hotaru-chan, Elder The 1st, Toothless is best, Splendidguy44,
Kenya, littlerostte, Hi Mr Whale, sociallydsoryntd Dec.
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You make every chapter count! !
I hope everybody's year is great, taxes-free, unlike mine... I hate the president so much... *End of spontaneous political rant*
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