MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE! And for those of you who don't celebrate, HAPPY WHATEVER-DOESN'T-OFFEND-YOU EVERYONE! Here, have a chapter!
When Toothless awoke the next morning, two things were different from when he fell asleep: Hiccup wasn't there, and he was under the covers. Without moving he pulled out his phone and checked his messages. There was one text, and when he unlocked his phone he saw it was from RD.
Heard it went sour. Did you leave evidence? Were you hit?
Toothless knew better than to ignore a text from RD, so he immediately punched out a response. It was short and to the point since that was the best way to communicate with the man.
No evidence. Stabbed, fifteen stitches.
It wasn't thirty seconds before the response came. RD was many things, and one of them was definitely efficient.
Good. One week.
Well, at least one week was better than last time. Glancing at the date on his phone, Toothless saw he'd have until Monday to get the money. That was plenty of time, so for now Toothless figured he'd get up and enjoy his free time.
That was a mistake. Toothless hadn't noticed that there was a little bell right next to his ankle, and as soon as his leg moved it knocked it over. Toothless froze, and as soon as it hit the ground and rang there were frantic footsteps up the stairs. Fewer than five seconds had passed between the bell hitting the ground and Hiccup flying into the room.
"And what do you think you're doing?" Hiccup asked with his arms crossed.
"Um, getting up?" Toothless responded.
"Oh no you don't," Hiccup said walking over to Toothless and pushing him back down. "You're not going anywhere today. I don't care if I have to superglue you to the mattress, but for the next twenty-four hours you are not leaving this bed. Got it?"
"Seriously?"
"Got it?" Hiccup asked, a little more forcefully this time.
"Yes," Toothless said, defeated. Clearly the expression should be 'hell hath no fury like a Hiccup scorned'.
"Good. Now that you're up I'll go get you something to eat."
As Hiccup walked out, Toothless glanced at the clock. It was already past noon. He couldn't believe he had slept that long. Oh well, nothing he could do about it now. He turned the TV on to some stand-up comedy show while he waited for Hiccup to return.
Hiccup returned rather quickly, in his hands a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, some scrambled eggs, and a glass of orange juice.
"You're not eating anything?" Toothless asked.
"I already ate."
Toothless nodded in understanding as he took the food from Hiccup. Before he started though Hiccup helped Toothless push himself up into a properly seated position.
"I'm sorry it's not much, but I didn't realize how much of the stuff in the fridge was actually past expiry. I didn't realize when I went out last so I didn't buy everything. I was actually hoping to talk to you about that." Hiccup said, having given Toothless back his debit card since last time.
"I'm two steps ahead of you," Toothless started, putting the sandwich back on his plate. "Just let me get my…" Toothless stopped talking when he reached for his pants pocket, only to find out he had no pants on. Cautiously lifting the blanket, he saw he was clad only in his boxers.
Toothless turned to Hiccup, but before he could say anything, Hiccup started to explain.
"Let's just say you can't control your bleeding very well. They're at the cleaners downstairs."
Even Toothless had to chuckle at that one. Although he was amazed Hiccup got his pants off of him without waking him. The pain medicine really must've done a number on him. He mentally noted not to take it again if it knocked him out like that.
"And don't worry," Hiccup continued after a brief moment, "I told him it was my blood and it happened because my nose started to bleed after I sneezed really hard."
"Smart and sexy, I know how to pick them." Toothless said.
Hiccup blushed a little at the complement, but to distract from the red tinge of his face he asked, "What were you looking for before your discovery?"
"My wallet."
Hiccup walked over to the dresser and picked Toothless' wallet up off the top of it before heading back to the bed. Toothless took the wallet and after a moment pulled out a card which he handed to Hiccup.
"You're giving me one of your credit cards?" Hiccup asked, confused.
"Look closer."
Upon further inspection, Hiccup noticed it wasn't Toothless' name printed on the new Visa debit card, but his own.
"It's connected to my account, but it's your card," Toothless explained. "You can put whatever you need to buy on that card. Or whatever you want for that matter."
Hiccup was stunned. He had to admit though, he felt a little bad that Toothless was trusting him so much as to give him his own debit card attached to his account while he was secretly taking some of his money as a fail-safe.
"Oh, wow, Toothless, are you sure?"
"Of course I'm sure," Toothless responded, "Besides, you're going to have to go places without me eventually, am I right?"
"You're right, there are places I need to go, but they can wait until tomorrow. Until then I need to keep my eye on you so I can make sure you don't move."
"Ugh, fine. But you'll at least keep me company, right?"
Without a word Hiccup walked around the bed and sat down next to Toothless, who immediately put his arm around Hiccup's shoulders. If he had to stay in bed for a while, he could do it with these conditions.
"Oh, and Hiccup, there is something you should know."
"What's that?" Hiccup asked.
"Well, word travels fast among the faction leaders, so odds are that they already know I've been injured. And we all sort of stick together, so there is a good chance that all five of them may come over here today. In fact I'll practically guarantee it." Hiccup tensed a little at being in the same place as all of those people at once, but he hid it well as Toothless continued. "When they come you can just stay in your room when I go to get the door…"
It was here where Hiccup interrupted, saying, "Oh no, you are not leaving this bed. I don't care, I am going to answer that door and they can come up here."
"Hiccup, think logically. If you answer the door how am I going to explain you being here?"
Hiccup had thought about this exact type of situation ever since he had moved in, so he had his answer prepared. "Toothless, I've actually thought about that. When I moved in with you, and even more so when I became your boyfriend, I accepted that there are limits to how long you'd be able to hide me for. I also figured that the less time you hide me for the less reason any of them would have to be angry. I'll just have to hope none of them take an instant dislike to me."
Toothless looked Hiccup straight in the eye when he asked, "Hiccup, are you absolutely sure about this?"
"I am," Hiccup said.
With that, Toothless embraced Hiccup in a hug and gave him a quick peck on the lips before pulling away.
"Alright then. Now before they get here I should probably change into something a little more decent."
"I'll get something for you. You finish eating."
After a couple minutes Toothless had finished eating and Hiccup had managed to help Toothless get dressed without moving from the bed. Then, as if it was planned, as soon as Toothless was dressed the doorbell rang. At the sound they both turned to look at each other.
"Last chance," Toothless warned.
"Stay," was all Hiccup said. He then continued to drop off the dishes in the kitchen and walk to the front door. With a deep breath he opened it.
Hiccup was impressed that he managed to keep a straight face. Toothless had said they'd all stop by, but Hiccup didn't expect them to all come at once. When he opened the door he was immediately face to face with a blonde woman in a green and blue dress. Fortunately she was the first to speak because Hiccup had no idea what to say.
"Oh, you must be Hiccup. I'm Stormfly. I assume Toothless is up in his room?" Hiccup just nodded and she turned to the people behind her to continue. "Alright people, this is Hiccup. Make nice." Turning back to Hiccup she added, "It's nice to officially meet you." Hiccup gave a small smile and she walked in. The others behind her followed one at a time, introducing themselves.
First in was a set of twins that Hiccup recognized as the people Toothless was sitting with when they'd had their awkward meeting at Katz's Deli. They introduced themselves as Barf and Belch. They were both wearing the same green and yellow suit Hiccup remembered from the deli and they were both surprisingly skinny.
"I'm Barf, and this is my brother Belch," said the twin on the left.
"Hey, I wanted to introduce us!" said the one on the right.
"Yeah? Well you should've spoken up sooner."
"I was about to but then you opened your fat ugly mouth."
"Well yours is fatter and uglier!"
"We're twins you moron."
The two then started to walk further into the condo, still bickering and occasionally shoving each other a little. Hiccup had to work to keep his chuckle in.
Next was a shorter, heavier set woman wearing a brownish pant suit. In her hand Hiccup noticed a package of Pop Rocks. She gave Hiccup a large smile that made him feel a little more at ease.
"Hi there, I'm Meatlug," she said in a soft voice that could be called calming. "It's nice to meet you. I've heard about you from Stormfly. If Toothless gives you any trouble you just let me know and I'll put him in his place for you," she said, and Hiccup just nodded and smiled. She seemed far too sweet to be involved with all of this.
The last person was a man who was quite tall and lean, but he was the kind of person you just knew was strong physically. He wore a maroon coloured suit. The way he carried himself intimidated Hiccup the most out of anyone, but he had kind eyes.
"I'm Hookfang. Nice to meet you." Short and to the point, but he seemed nice enough to Hiccup.
They all followed Stormfly upstairs. Hiccup was actually quite pleased with how well that went, even if he didn't actually say anything. Everyone seemed nice enough. The only thing that irked him was that Stormfly seemed to know who he was and that she was spreading news of him around. And it seemed as if she was expecting him. He'd have to ask Toothless about that later.
After closing the door and watching them disappear upstairs, Hiccup silently followed. He wasn't sure what to do with himself, and while he was pretty sure he shouldn't eavesdrop on the conversation, his curiosity got the better of him.
Hiccup crept up the stairs after he heard the door close. Making sure to avoid the squeaky first step, he made sure he was entirely silent.
"Hiccup seems nice enough Toothless. Although he seemed a little surprised. Did you not tell him we were coming?" Stormfly asked.
"Well he didn't know you knew who he was before just now, so you using his name down there may have startled him a little. I hadn't told him that you were stalking us. I just hope he's not mad at me thinking that I've been mentioning him to everyone."
So that's how Stormfly knew his name. Hiccup should have suspected that even Toothless couldn't keep him entirely secret. Of course he would be followed at all times. He couldn't get mad at Toothless for that.
"Well I think he's kind of cute," said Meatlug.
"So how are you feeling?" asked Hookfang.
"Trying to change the subject?" Toothless asked, and Hiccup could hear the smile in Toothless' voice. "Hookfang, are you jealous of my boyfriend?" With that, everyone (except Hookfang, Hiccup assumed) laughed. "But I am feeling better, thank you. There is still some pain when I move but Hiccup won't even let me out of the bed so I don't have to worry about that right now."
"He won't let you out of bed?" asked one of the twins.
"Wow, you're whipped!" cracked the other.
The men in the room (except Toothless) all laughed, until Hiccup heard three sharp smacks and three groans. It was Meatlug that spoke next.
"There is nothing wrong with listening to the person you're with! In fact, Hiccup's right. Toothless shouldn't be moving for a while."
"Thank you Meatlug," said Stormfly. "But Toothless, I would like to know how you ended up in this situation."
Toothless sighed. "There's not much to say. I went for RD's money at the store, the owner pulled a knife, I tried to remain civil but he slashed at me, so I shot him in the leg and got out of there."
It was here that Hiccup stopped paying attention. A store owner, shot in the leg, where had he heard something like that before? Then it hit him: the newscast on the night Toothless came back injured. It had mentioned a store owner that had been shot in the leg, and it was breaking news so it would have just happened. The reporter had barely even gotten to the scene. As to how that made breaking news in New York Hiccup didn't get, but it didn't matter now. Hiccup was too busy trying to reign in his racing mind. What if they connected Toothless to this? He remembered Toothless said not leaving evidence was his specialty but this was clearly a special situation. Hiccup knew Toothless said he didn't want to take in someone else to help him, but he couldn't help but think that if he had had someone with him that things may have turned out differently.
Hiccup didn't realize just how long he had been thinking, but it must have been a while as suddenly he heard farewells being said from within the room. He bolted down the stairs as quickly as he could while being silent, again avoiding that bottom step. He jumped over the back of the couch and turned on the television, which turned on to the news channel fortunately.
Not a few seconds later, he heard the footsteps of everyone coming down the stairs. He looked over the couch to pretend like he had just noticed, and everyone waved to him on their way past. Everyone, that is, except Stormfly. As everyone else walked out the door, Stormfly walked directly up to him.
When she stopped at the back of the couch, she leaned in close and said, "Toothless had no idea at the time that I knew about you two. Don't be mad at him. And next time, if you want to listen to the conversation, you can come in to the room. No need to eavesdrop." With a wink, she left too.
Hiccup was dumbfounded. How had she known? Did she hear him? He hadn't even heard himself! She must've been as good as Toothless. Hiccup was even less surprised now that she had known about them already. But regardless, that was in the past now. After the front door closed for the last time, Hiccup turned off the television and went back upstairs to Toothless.
Toothless stayed in bed for the rest of Tuesday at Hiccup's request, except of course for the occasional bathroom trip. Toothless was left alone for about half an hour when Hiccup ran out to replace the stuff from the first aid kit and grab a few quick groceries (and add some money to his fail-safe fund unbeknownst to Toothless), but he decided that he shouldn't push it; Hiccup may magically know he moved for a reason other than the bathroom somehow.
On Wednesday, he was allowed out of bed but Hiccup refused to let him go down the stairs. That limited his physical activity to walking around the upper level. Toothless didn't understand that logic at first, but he listened nonetheless.
On Friday, however, he finally understood. Friday was the day that Hiccup allowed Toothless to do the stairs for the first time. When Toothless started the stairs, he realized how much pain it caused. The wound really was on the worst part of his side. He finally made it down, but he didn't go back up until he had to at the end of the night. After helping him down the stairs in the morning, Hiccup had run out to restock on cleaning supplies, as well as to add to his secret cash fund once more.
On Saturday Toothless spent the day watching television, but Hiccup made his first trip to the bank. He had finally saved up a decent amount of money from the cash back scheme (at least enough for a cheap room for a few nights if he needed it) and decided to put it in an account. He had considered just keeping the cash, but he figured that a card would be easier to keep hidden than several hundred dollars. Fortunately he found an offer at a local credit union that had a low enough minimum balance that he wouldn't have to worry about a service charge. And just to make sure to keep his plan a complete secret, he made sure that all communications including statements would be emailed to him, rather than mailed traditionally. That night he hid the card in the same place he had hidden the cash: under one of the legs of his bedside table.
When Sunday finally rolled around, Toothless knew he had to go out again for RD. After all, the deadline was the next day. Toothless made sure that Hiccup would have no idea what was going on; he didn't want Hiccup to worry. They spent the entire day together, but at six Toothless decided he couldn't put it off any longer. He waited until Hiccup started doing the dishes from dinner.
"Hey Hiccup, I'm going out for a little bit."
"Where are you going?" Hiccup asked. His voice didn't seem to show any concern, and that made Toothless feel better. The last thing he wanted was for Hiccup to be worried.
"Just to the post office," Toothless lied. "I need to go check my PO Box."
"Alright, see you soon."
With that, Toothless left. When he got down to street level, he looked to the right where he would be walking if he was headed to the post office, but he turned left. It took him precisely three minutes to walk to the convenience store. When he walked in, the owner immediately turned hostile.
"You again? What are you doing here? Get out of my store!" the owner practically screamed.
"I'm just here to get the money you owe."
"I owe nothing!"
"Come on, I don't want this to get violent."
"That's what you said last time!" the owner said forcefully before he came around the counter, showing off his leg in bandages.
"I was just defending myself," Toothless stated, voice even.
"Yeah? Well defend yourself from this!" the owner yelled as he pulled a baseball bat from just around the corner. He swung it at Toothless who ducked while simultaneously trying to pull out his gun. Unfortunately the twisting motion irritated his injury, and that made him pause for a moment. That pause proved fatal as he didn't have time to defend himself from the uppercut that the owner threw with his other hand. It was surprisingly strong and Toothless went flying backwards. The owner must have swung the bat with his less dominant hand expecting Toothless to dodge, and then hit him before he could recover.
On the floor, Toothless put his hand to where he thought his gun was, but he most have removed it before the punch and dropped it when he was knocked back. When Toothless looked, it was in the hand of the store owner. Toothless knew this was a bad situation. He should have just waited until the injury was better and dealt with RD himself.
"I'd ask if you have any last words," the owner started as he took the safety off, "but men like you don't deserve that dignity."
Toothless braced himself as he heard the gunshot.
The End...KIDDING! There's nothing quite like the gift of a cliffhanger. Enjoy! XD
french girl: Bien sûr plus, toujours plus, jusqu'à la fin de l'histoire!
Jayalaw: I just wanted to let you know that the one shot you gave me the idea for is done. However, I am going to delay posting until after chapter 19 because there is an interaction I have planned for that chapter that I want to put in the one shot as well. So it'll be up early January :)
DragonDude23: Due to what I said to Jayalaw above, your idea has been pushed up. It should be up before the next chapter!
Next chapter: On or before December 30
I don't want a lot this Christmas, there is just one thing I need
I don't care about the presents, underneath the Christmas Tree
I just want this for my own, more than you could ever know
Make my wish come true, all I want for Christmas, is reviews :)