Dragon Treasure, a DreamWorks' How to Train Your Dragon fanfic by Raberba girl

Chapter 3 - Clean (rough draft)

Hiccup did not regret being taken away and brought to this strange place. The one thing he cared about - the one thing that was precious to him, the one thing that made his life worth living - was still here at his side, scales warm under his hand, so he wasn't too afraid.

He was, however, frustrated and confused. The television that had played almost constantly in the backstage area of the circus, the only reason Hiccup had as much language development or cultural knowledge as he did, had been his only window into a different world, an unfathomable alien place he had never expected to see firsthand. Yet here he now was, and it was even more weird and confusing than it had been on that small, distant screen.

Apparently, Toothless was supposed to make his pee spot in the backyard, but for no reason that Hiccup could see, Hiccup himself was supposed to use the bathroom every day now - yet he was never going to do a performance again? Hiccup didn't understand, but he didn't argue, either. He would obey any command, do whatever this man wanted, if it meant Hiccup was allowed to stay by his dragon's side.

Hiccup watched without speaking as the man, who said to call him 'Stoick,' showed him how to work the faucets and where the clean towels were and what outfit Hiccup was supposed to put on when he was finished.

Then, thankfully, Stoick went away.

Alone at last, at last, the first time during that entire crazy day when Hiccup didn't have humans looming over him, he immediately locked the door. Safe in his new cage, he collapsed, trying to muffle his wild cries so that Stoick wouldn't hear, wanting to bash his own head against the wall but knowing that the noise of it would summon the man back.

Hiccup pounded his head with his fist instead, nearly hysterical with a panic he couldn't explain. Toothless stuck his head into the crook of Hiccup's neck, blocking his reach before he could hit himself again, so he frantically clawed at himself, leaving scratches on his skin. Toothless firmly pressed him to the floor and then lay on him, licking at his face.

Hiccup trembled uncontrollably and gasped for breath, a little annoyed that he could no longer move enough to harm himself, but also feeling relieved to be held so tightly by the one person he trusted. The dragon's weight was reassuring, covering him like a shield, protecting him, reminding him that he wasn't alone. Hiccup started to breathe easier, and Toothless's tongue swiping across his cheek distracted him from the formless panic trying to take over his mind.

"Toothless," Hiccup whispered.

The dragon purred and gazed at him calmly, as if saying, "Ssshh peace love safe."

"Toothless-" Hiccup jerked his limbs, testing, but he was pinned and couldn't move. He knew that if his arms were free, he'd be unable to stop himself from striking himself or clawing at his own skin again, so he subsided. He lay quietly, waiting until Toothless sensed that he was truly calm, and was soothed when the dragon started licking him again.

"It's okay. Safe. I love you."

"Love you, too," Hiccup whispered. He was able to wiggle his forearm loose enough to stroke the dragon's scales.

After a while, when he was completely relaxed and starting to get bored, he jerked again, trying to get free. "Get off, Toothless. I'm okay now."

Toothless got up, nosing at Hiccup and then maintaining a steady stance as Hiccup climbed to his feet, clutching at the dragon for support. Hiccup sighed, then took his clothes off and used the toilet like he was supposed to and started experimenting with the single bathtub faucet handle, which was designed much differently than the faucet handles at the circus.

Toothless had always hated showers. He insisted that he could keep both of them clean without water, and especially without soap, a substance which he found absolutely disgusting.

"Sorry, bud," Hiccup said sympathetically, scrubbing his fingers through his hair so the water could reach all of it. "You heard what Stoick said, I have to wash every day now. It's okay, I'm still here. I'll always be here."

Toothless had learned long ago that trying to lick Hiccup in the middle of a shower did little good, because the constantly running water would rinse his marks away. It was awful if Hiccup happened to be using soap or shampoo at the time, because then Toothless would get a mouthful of the nasty stuff. Instead, the dragon tried to make do with extremely close proximity to his beloved human.

Hiccup had never in his life bothered to draw a shower curtain closed, because then it would get in Toothless's way, and Hiccup didn't quite understand what purpose shower curtains were supposed to serve, anyway. So water splashed all across the walls and floor as Toothless nudged him, paced restlessly, and shifted the front half of his body into the tub with Hiccup for as long as he could before he got too wet and too annoyed, and had to back out again.

At one point, Toothless determinedly crammed his entire body into the tub, which was much larger than the circus tub but still too small for a Night Fury. It was an uncomfortable fit, and there was no room left for Hiccup. Unconcerned, Hiccup simply sat on Toothless's back as he continued to bathe, sliding off again when Toothless couldn't take it anymore and had to climb back out.

Frustrated, Toothless buried his nose in Hiccup's dirty clothes, but the splashing water was gradually interfering with their comforting scent. Toothless had to move the clothes over by the bathroom door, out of range of the water. He came back and stuck his forepaws in the tub again, making an entreating whine as Hiccup leaned against his shoulder.

"Almost over, bud." Hiccup rinsed away the last of the soap, then turned off the water. Toothless wriggled eagerly, nearly knocking Hiccup over. "Whoa, wait! Toothless, stop! Let me get out of the tub first."

Once Hiccup was free, he let Toothless lick him. He wanted the dragon's scent on his skin almost as much as Toothless did; any kind of affirmation of the bond between them was comforting. "Okay. Now where did those new clothes go...?" Like everything else in the bathroom, the fresh clothes were very damp by now, but Hiccup put them on anyway. Then he puttered around, exploring this very interesting new cage and playing with Toothless, until Stoick's knock on the door startled him.

"Are you finished, Hiccup?"

"Y...Yes."

"All right, well, come on out. I ordered some pizza; let's eat it while it's hot."

When the door finally opened, Stoick stared at the soaked bathroom. "What happened in here?!"

Jolted out of his good mood by the displeasure in Stoick's voice, Hiccup cringed and shrank back against Toothless, hoping that Stoick wasn't as strong as he looked.

Stoick didn't hit him, though. The man simply looked at him, didn't say whatever he'd been about to say, lost the angry look, and finally spoke in a low, measured voice. "Looks like quite a mess. Help me clean it up, please."

Hiccup wordlessly took the towel that was handed to him and imitated Stoick when the man started mopping up all the excess water. The boy was quivering with worry and apprehension, wondering if he was going to get beaten after the cleanup or not. Toothless, responding to his fear, hovered close to him protectively, but the worried attention he kept giving Hiccup seemed to be a good sign. He would have been growling at Stoick if the man truly was a threat.

Once the bathroom was reasonably dry again, Hiccup swallowed and licked his lips until he managed to apologize. "I'm sorry for making you mad."

"I'm not angry, I just... Did you even use the shower curtain?"

Hiccup couldn't answer. His arms were clutching Toothless as he stared at the floor.

"It's all right, there's no harm done. ...Much," Stoick added, glancing ruefully at a small pile of books and magazines that were now water-damaged. "Just close the curtain the next time you shower, all right?"

Hiccup nodded, his heart aching for Toothless. It was bad enough having to wash himself while still giving the dragon access to him, but if he had to cut Toothless off-

"Hiccup, what's wrong?"

"I'm f-fine."

Hiccup flinched when Stoick very gently nudged his chin up, forcing him to meet the man's eyes. Stoick just looked confused and sad now, not angry at all. "Hiccup, I'm not going to understand what's wrong unless you talk to me. You're not in trouble, nothing bad is going to happen. Just tell me why you're upset, please."

"...T...Toothless..." Stoick waited patiently for him to continue, which gave him a little more courage. Hiccup took a deep breath. "Toothless gets scared when I wash all his smells off me. I-If I...if I close the shower curtain, he can't even reach me, he'll be even more scared and upset, he'll probably pull the whole thing down, and I...and I-"

"Why don't you try a bath instead of a shower next time?"

Hiccup blinked in confusion. "Huh?"

"You don't have to use a curtain for that. I'll show you how to draw a bath tomorrow. For now, how about that pizza, eh?"

In the kitchen, Hiccup stopped and looked at the tall stack of pizza boxes. (Stoick could eat at least one and a half full pizzas for a single meal, and wasn't sure how much the boy would want, and had figured it was better to order too much than not enough.) "Did you eat yours already?" Hiccup asked uncertainly.

Stoick blinked. Apparently the boy had never learned that people who ate a meal together typically ate together. "Er, not yet."

"Oh." Hiccup made a brief hand signal, then caressed the dragon's head when Toothless made a pleading whine in response. "Can we wait in a different room?"

"Wait for...what?" Stoick said in confusion.

Hiccup gave him an odd look. "Do I have to make Toothless watch? It's better if I distract him."

"Watch what? What do you think is happening here, Hiccup?"

Hiccup seemed to shrink, backing into Toothless with his eyes on the floor and his shoulders hunched. Toothless looked at him in concern.

"Hiccup," Stoick said gently, "listen to me. You had a very...unusual upbringing. I'm sure there are many things I think are normal that seem strange to you, and vice versa. It's all right. You'll learn, and you'll make some mistakes along the way, and that's all right. Please tell me what's bothering you so we can sort it out."

Hiccup's hand on the dragon was trembling, and Toothless stuck his head under the boy's arm to comfort him. Hiccup sucked in a deep breath. "We're hungry," he said in a low voice. "We'll eat whatever you feed us...but it's hard for Toothless to watch people eating when he can't. Please let me take him somewhere else until you're ready to let me feed him." His own stomach growled at that moment.

"...Hiccup, I don't quite understand what your expectations are, but my expectations are that you and I will sit down right now and start eating this pizza. I'm actually not sure what Night Furies eat, so I ordered a delivery of beef, pork, chicken, and fish. I was hoping you could tell me what Toothless likes best."

Hiccup stared at him, wide-eyed.

"Do dragons eat their meat raw or cooked?"

"...Th-The fish, he, please give, can I please have some fish? Please?"

"Of course. It's all right, Hiccup."

Once the fish had been placed before Toothless in a huge bucket, the delighted dragon buried his face in it, munching away happily. Hiccup looked like he was about to pull some fish out of the bucket for himself, so Stoick firmly but gently took the boy by the shoulders, steered him into a chair, and asked him which kind of pizza he liked best. Hiccup wouldn't give him a straight answer, so Stoick finally just took one slice of each type and piled them all on a plate in front of Hiccup. Hiccup stared at the food with that wide-eyed look again.

"Eat up. You can have as much as you want, there's plenty. And if we run out of pizza, I've got some canned food in the pantry that we can warm up."

"All of this is for me?!" Hiccup watched Stoick closely and didn't start to eat until Stoick did. Then he bolted down the first slice, but slowed down significantly on the second, and was only able to get halfway through it before he leaned back in his chair, looking unwell.

"Are you feeling all right, Hiccup?"

"I'm fine." Hiccup slipped out of his chair and went to curl up on the floor beside Toothless. Toothless turned away for a minute to lick Hiccup, and to set one or two limbs over the boy like an embrace and curl his tail around him. Then he went back to eating until he'd finished every fish in the bucket. Looking sated, the dragon lay his head down next to Hiccup's and exhaled a contented sigh.

They looked like they were prepared to fall asleep right there on the floor. "Hiccup," Stoick said, "get up, let me show you where the bedroom is. Oh, but first let me get some blankets for Toothless."

Stoick led them to one of the guest rooms, where he let Hiccup make up a nest for Toothless to the dragon's liking. Stoick took the opportunity to remove anything too breakable or valuable to risk leaving in the same room as a dragon.

When he returned, he found the boys curled up together on the blankets on the floor. Stoick suddenly realized that Hiccup had never had any intention of using the bed. "Er...Hiccup...I, ah, I suppose you can sleep with Toothless if you want to, but...the bed is for you, you know." He gestured at it.

"We're supposed to sleep on there?"

"I mean, not Toothless. There will be no dragons sleeping on any beds in this house. But if you would like to sleep on the bed, of course you are certainly welcome to."

"Please let me stay with Toothless," Hiccup begged.

"All right, all right, lad! You can sleep with him if you want. I'm just telling you that as long as the dragon stays on the floor, you can sleep on the bed if you'd like."

"..."

"All right, well...good night. I'll be in my office for a few hours, and my bedroom is right down the hall. Don't be afraid to interrupt me or wake me up if you need anything." Stoick stood there awkwardly for a moment, then turned around and left.

o.o.o.o.o

It was horribly uncomfortable. The house was so cold and unsettlingly quiet, and the nest of blankets had a terrible chemical smell, like perfume. Hiccup pushed some of them away, but he was so cold that he had to keep one for warmth, and the carpet smelled bad, anyway.

Toothless was disturbed by the lack of proper scent on his boy. The dragon spent a long time bathing Hiccup, covering him with good organic meaningful scents until Toothless had finally soothed himself enough to fall asleep.

Hiccup remained awake for much longer, huddled into Toothless as his mind raced with plans and anxieties and unhappiness. He missed the cage he was used to sleeping in, with its sturdy metal bars to protect him, the worn blankets that smelled comfortingly of dragon and sweat and dirt, the warmth that didn't come at the cost of this fake chemical flower smell, and the noises of the TV and of other people constantly in the background. (The sleek flat screen in the guest room looked so different than the battered little box at the circus that Hiccup didn't even realize it was a television, and it hadn't occurred to Stoick to tell him.)

Hiccup missed his home, but he was still with Toothless, and they were safe for now, and they had completely full bellies for the first time since either of them could remember. It was good enough. Hiccup buried his face in the dragon's hide and closed his eyes until he fell asleep.

To be continued...

Author's Notes: I found out after posting the previous chapter that there's a difference between an animal trainer, an animal handler, and an animal presenter. A trainer is someone who trains the animal to do (or not do) specific things, a handler is someone who basically takes care of the animal, and a presenter is whoever performs with the animal in front of an audience. Depending on the people and circumstances involved, there can be some overlap between two or three of the roles, but the roles themselves are distinct from each other.

In this fic, Hiccup is all three for Toothless (he is the dragon's primary caretaker, trainer, and performance partner), but that's not always the case in real life, especially in bigger circuses where jobs are more compartmentalized.