Dragon Treasure: First Halloween (rough draft), a DreamWorks' How to Train Your Dragon fanfic by Raberba girl
Summary: Hiccup & Toothless's first Halloween in the real world.
o.o.o
Hiccup seemed mildly curious about the concept of Halloween when they explained it to him, but when he found out that Toothless would not be allowed to go trick-or-treating with him, he immediately lost all interest.
It took a lot of coaxing to get him to plan a Halloween costume, and even then, he seemed more interested in simply having a project to occupy him than in the idea of putting the costume to proper use. He spent several days working slowly but very carefully to sew along the lines that had been marked for him on the black wing-shaped pieces of cloth. On October 31st, he put on the black clothing, wig, wings, and tail, and submitted to having his face, neck, and hands painted until he looked like a human version of Toothless.
Then he refused to leave the house.
"Well," Valka finally said, "I suppose you can help us hand out candy..."
"Maybe you'll feel like heading out yourself once you see how much fun everyone else is having," Stoick suggested.
The first time the doorbell rang, Toothless trotted up to investigate, with Hiccup at his heels. As soon as Stoick opened the door, "Trick or treat!" wasn't even completely out of the children's mouths before they caught sight of the Night Fury, screamed, and ran away.
Toothless stared after them, head plates cocked in confusion. Then he looked at Hiccup, who was laughing. "You scared them, buddy." Toothless made a questioning noise. "You scared them! They thought you were a monster~"
Toothless trotted away again, returning to the squeaky toy he and Hiccup had been playing with before the interruption.
A few minutes later, the doorbell rang again. Toothless barked and headed back to the door. Just as before, the trick-or-treaters took one look at him, emitted piercing shrieks, and ran.
"We're going to have a lot of candy left by the end of the night, aren't we," Stoick remarked.
This time, Toothless didn't leave. He stayed in the living room, peering out the windows. As soon as he saw another group of trick-or-treaters approaching the house, he whirled around, eagerly galloped to the door, waited impatiently for Stoick to open it, then snapped his wings open and unleashed a mighty roar in the children's shocked faces. When the children fled, he retracted his teeth into a grin.
"This is amazing!" Valka cried in delight, her camera rolling. "Look how quickly he figured out the pattern! He turned it into a game, completely on his own initiative! And those sounds, I've only ever heard Cloudjumper make those sounds before, and only after I'd known him for many months - that's not a dragon sound, he's imitating human laughter! Just like he learned how to smile from Hiccup, now he's laughing like we do! He's trying to use our own 'language' to tell us humans that he is amused, this is fascinating!"
"You are never off the clock these days, are you," Stoick chuckled.
"When I'm literally living with a Night Fury? Never."
By now, both Toothless and Hiccup were crouching eagerly at the windows, waiting. As soon as the next batch of visitors headed their way, they tensed in preparation, then barged into view when Stoick opened the door and roared in unison.
"Oh sh-!" These trick-or-treaters were teenagers, who shrieked surprised profanity but didn't flee very far. Staring, unable to believe their eyes, the bravest of them edged back toward the house, staring at Toothless, who was now grinning again with his tongue lolling out of his mouth, looking very pleased with himself. "It's a dragon! It's a freakin' dragon, man! Holy...!"
The teens grew brave enough to pet and croon at Toothless, who basked in the attention. Hiccup basked right along with him, and proudly answered all the excited questions being thrown at him. Then the teens took their candy, shouted some more in delight, and finally left, talking excitedly about the Night Fury until they were out of earshot.
"I like Halloween," Hiccup giggled.
"Well, at least you found a way to have fun..."
When Stoick saw the next group approaching, he said quickly, "No, Hiccup, hold him back, there's a toddler with this group, it'll be too much for that little one."
Toothless whined and struggled, then obeyed sulkily when Hiccup ordered him to lie down. He was soothed a little when he was rewarded with a treat and caresses. "Next one, bud," Hiccup crooned. "Don't worry, we'll get the next group."
The next time the doorbell rang, it was actually one of the previous trick-or-treaters who had been scared off the first time. When Toothless came roaring at him, the boy, looking thrilled, yelled and jumped back, but he didn't run far. His mother screamed as he hid behind her, then stared in shocked confusion as Toothless dropped the ferocity, grinning and chortling. The little boy laughed in excited relief. "I TOLD you there was a dragon, Mama, I TOLD you~!"
"That's a real dragon?!" the mother shrieked.
"It's all right, he's very tame," Stoick hastened to assure her. He crouched down beside Toothless and held out the candy basket invitingly. "Come on over, son, we've got some treats for you. Don't worry, he won't hurt you."
"He's a nice dragon?" the boy inquired shyly, starting to edge closer.
His mother seized him in a panic. "What are you DOING with a real dragon in your house?!"
"It's okay," Hiccup said, starting to look a little offended. "We're just playing. We're supposed to scare people on Halloween, right?"
"And before you ask, I've got a permit," Stoick said. "The police know about him, and he's a service animal for my foster son. He's very tame."
Restless from all the talking, Toothless trotted out into the yard and sniffed at the boy, who giggled and tentatively patted him. "Look, Mama, he's a nice dragon." His mother scooped him up and carried him away. "Bye, dragon!" the little boy called, waving over his mother's shoulder.
"His name is Toothless," Hiccup called back.
"Bye, Toothless~!"
Toothless barked, then went back into the house and resumed lying in wait.
The next group that rang the doorbell included a toddler again, but this time, it was one who was already familiar with Toothless. The mother chatted with Stoick and Valka as her frightened four-year-old cowered behind her, and her two-year-old happily patted at the Night Fury with sticky hands. "Toofie."
Toothless warbled in greeting and licked her face.
"Hi, Jessica," Hiccup said.
The little girl pointed at him. "Dragon!"
"Yeah, I'm a dragon for Halloween."
The next visitors were the teenagers again, this time with a couple of friends who were not in costume. The trick-or-treaters exploded with laughter as their newcomer friends screamed and ran halfway across the yard before they realized they were being made fun of. "Motherf-! That's an effin' dragon, man! STOP LAUGHING, MAN!"
Late that night, Hiccup curled up on the living room floor with his head pillowed on Toothless, munching on leftover Halloween candy after he'd given the dragon a dog chew. Valka was eagerly reviewing the new video footage she'd collected. Stoick, rather than watching the Twilight Zone episode which was playing on TV, was smiling at his foster sons. "That was better than you thought it would be, eh?"
"You said I had to leave Toothless to go trick-or-treating," Hiccup accused.
"Well, technically you didn't go trick-or-treating..."
"Next time, I'll make a costume for Toothless, too," Hiccup said. He yawned and scratched the base of the dragon's wing. "Happy Halloween, Toothless." Toothless warbled back in satisfaction.
o.o.o
Author's Notes: Even though Toothless isn't technically a service animal, there are some circumstances where it's easier to call him one, especially in cases like this when the distinction between a service animal and an ESA isn't important.
I know this is a month late, but I didn't get the idea for it until Thanksgiving 2015. (I'd actually been brainstorming ideas for Christmas fics, but got an idea for a Thanksgiving one and a Halloween one instead. ^^; I might, if I have the time and inspiration, do a whole bunch of holidays fics in the "Dragon Treasure" AU.) I drafted it as soon as we got home from celebrating Thanksgiving at my sister's house.
For the record, I loathe Halloween, both because the "celebration of the demonic" aspect of it is against my religion AND because I developed a phobia of trick-or-treaters a few years ago. (Trick-or-treaters [in proximity to me, not far away or in fiction] genuinely freak me out regardless of how they're dressed, I have no idea why. *sweatdrop* I also don't know why I developed the phobia as an adult, because when I was a child/teenager, I enjoyed trick-or-treating as much as any other kid.) But I guess, objectively, there's nothing wrong with the dressing-up-in-(non-demonic)-costumes-and-collecting-candy aspect, so I hope it's okay for me to post this...
I have been slowly but steadily catching up on e-mail! :D Thank you to everyone who has reviewed and/or sent me messages, I love hearing from you!