Hey everyone, sorry this is late. I did try to upload it last night but went down and kept giving me an error message whenever I tried to leave the homepage. But it's here now!
Also, I wanted to thank the people who have been giving me ideas for my series of one shots that relate to this story. Without you guys (and girls) I wouldn't have known what people wanted to see written. And in addition, for those following TUS it will be updating twice in the next few days :)
OK, story time!
The next morning, Hiccup woke first. When he did, he didn't move a muscle, not wanting to rouse Toothless. He was enjoying the moment, the closeness to the one he loved. Having never had a relationship long enough to get to a point like this, he wanted to savour each moment for as long as he could. Granted this relationship had moved faster than a normal relationship, but that was beside the point now. They were here and Hiccup loved every second of it.
The moment ended though about three minutes after it started. The moment Hiccup had regained consciousness, his head had moved ever so slightly. And with Toothless being as light a sleeper as he was, that was enough to wake him as well. Toothless had wanted to enjoy the moment as well however, so he just pretended to remain asleep. Unfortunately it had to end because Toothless (and by extension Hiccup) had plans that day, and they had already slept in longer than usual.
Wanting to alert Hiccup to his consciousness gently, Toothless started running his fingers through Hiccup's reddish-brown hair. Toothless actually quite enjoyed doing that, mostly because no matter what Hiccup's hair was always so soft and smooth. After a few more seconds of bliss Toothless decided it was time to get the day started.
"Morning Hiccup. Come on, time to get up."
Hiccup groaned in complaint and curled up into a ball on the bed, but when Toothless stood up he straightened out and sat up.
"Why?"
"We have somewhere to go. Come on, get dressed."
"What if I don't want to?" Hiccup asked, doing his best imitation of a child whining. He had a massive smile on his face, thinking his imitation was quite good.
Toothless spun around on his way towards his own room and said, "If you're not dressed by the time I get back, I'll be forced to dress you myself."
"Is that a threat or a promise?" Hiccup asked, now trying to mimic a sexy voice. He failed though and he couldn't stop a chuckle at the end.
"Just get dressed," Toothless laughed as he walked out of the room.
Hiccup picked out his clothes but just before he started getting dressed, he heard the water running in Toothless' bathroom. Deciding a shower was probably a good idea, Hiccup quickly jumped into his own and let the cool, cascading water fully wake him up. When he finished he discovered that he had actually finished before Toothless as his water was still running. Hiccup got dressed in a pair of brown jeans and a polo shirt before heading downstairs.
Knowing he didn't have much time before Toothless was done his shower and wanting to have breakfast ready for him, Hiccup quickly started to throw together some scrambled eggs. As he was cooking, he quickly glanced in the stainless steel microwave, and in the reflection he saw a dark, indiscernible shape sneaking up on him. He internally freaked out because the water in Toothless' shower was still running.
Nonchalantly grabbing a knife from the drawer next to the stove, he spun around and screamed, "Stay away from me!"
Jumping back out of surprise, Toothless raised his hands in defence and said, "Whoa whoa, settle down! It's just me!"
"Toothless? What the heck are you doing? I could have stabbed you! Do you want to get hurt again?"
"Hey, I just have to make sure you are on your game. If we are working together you need to be always aware of your surroundings. I must say you did quite well."
"Thank you. Now go turn off the shower water and let's have breakfast," Hiccup said with a satisfied smirk. So he was better than Toothless thought; that was a good thing.
When Toothless returned they sat down to breakfast, and Hiccup finally got to ask why they had to get out of bed that morning.
"Well I have something this afternoon and I don't know how long it is going to take, but I wanted to go somewhere with you first. If you're going to be working with me we need to have you develop some skills."
"What kind of skills?" Hiccup asked, curious and concerned at the same time.
"We're going to the gun range."
"Oh, uh, Toothless I don't think that's necessary."
"Hiccup, I know you had a lucky shot last night, but we can't just go off of flukes. You need to develop that skill in case you need to defend yourself."
"But Toothless, I…"
"No buts," Toothless interrupted. "Now let's get going."
Hiccup and Toothless piled into the Land Rover and started to drive. At the beginning Hiccup still tried to tell Toothless he didn't need to go, but with Toothless' unwavering insistence, he eventually just gave up. He decided he should bring something up that had to be dealt with though. He didn't want to reopen this wound so soon, but it would have to be done eventually.
"Toothless, about the money thing…" Hiccup started, but Toothless immediately interrupted.
"Keep it. If it makes you feel better, then it's ok with me. Just next time if you have a concern about something, tell me instead of going behind my back, ok?" Toothless asked with a gentile smile. Hiccup was glad to see that Toothless clearly wasn't mad about this anymore.
"Promise." With that, the rest of the ride was silent, except for the music playing softly from the car's radio.
Toothless pulled up to a plain, grey building out in the suburbs about twenty minutes later and the pair entered. Toothless had brought his own gun as well as one for Hiccup, so they immediately headed back to the firing range. Toothless had called in advance and gotten a private range for Hiccup and himself.
The room was long and the same shade of grey as the exterior. Hanging at the far end were two targets, and there were two counters separated by a divider at their end. There were also two pairs of ear protectors.
"Put these on," Toothless told Hiccup as he took out his own gun and handed Hiccup his. After Hiccup put them on, Toothless immediately fired six shots at one of the targets. Four hit the small red zone in the middle, and two hit the yellow zone surrounding it. Toothless, smiling to himself, took off his ear protection, and Hiccup followed suit.
"You need to be good with a gun. When you can match me, I'll consider you ready. Now let's get started."
Before Hiccup could start though, Toothless' phone rang. Hiccup held off for a minute while he answered. Again it was one of those phone calls where Toothless just grunted instead of speaking. When he hung up he turned to Hiccup.
"RD wants to see me now."
"Alright, let's go," Hiccup said, placing his gun down.
"Oh no, you're not going anywhere with me until your gun skills are to my satisfaction. I'll come back when I'm done to check on your progress. That button there replaces the target."
"Wait!" Hiccup said as Toothless started to walk out, "Just watch me do my first round. Please?"
"Alright, just one round, but then I have to go," Toothless said, putting his ear protection back on.
That was all Hiccup needed. Donning his own ear protection and pointing the gun, Hiccup fired off six shots just as rapidly as Toothless had.
Toothless was dumbfounded. Not only had Hiccup matched him, he had beaten him! All six shots had hit the red bullseye. He looked at Hiccup who just stood there with a satisfied smirk on his face, the same one from when Hiccup had passed Toothless' test earlier that day.
"I told you the gun range wasn't necessary," Hiccup joked.
Toothless still couldn't believe it. "Beginner's luck. Do it again," Toothless said as he pushed the button to replace the target. After another quick burst of six perfect shots, Toothless was floored. When he finally regained his ability to form a coherent sentence, he asked, "Hiccup, how did you do that?"
Putting his gun down, he said, "When my mom was alive, she was a cop too. That's how she met my dad. When I was young, my dad started getting promotions, climbing the ranks, becoming more famous and taking on higher profile cases. My mom was worried for my safety, especially because she knew she couldn't be around 24/7 to protect me. So, behind my father's back she made sure I knew how to use a gun with accuracy."
At the end of the explanation, Toothless realized that Hiccup was no longer smiling. Feeling bad that he made him bring up his mother, Toothless wrapped Hiccup in his arms and gently kissed the top of his head. When they separated a few seconds later, Hiccup was the first to talk.
"Well then. Now that I've matched you, I believe we have a meeting with RD?"
"Hiccup, you want nothing to do with RD. You don't want to come."
"But he'll find out about me eventually. And the less we hide the less mad he'll be. Probably."
"Then we'll just keep you a secret."
"Like we did with everyone else? They'll tell him if we don't."
"Hiccup," Toothless said.
"Toothless," Hiccup replied. "I agreed to do all of this because I don't want you alone anymore. What's the point if you're going to go off alone anyways?"
Toothless, unable to find a way to keep arguing that would eventually satisfy Hiccup, finally caved. Hiccup celebrated his victory internally as Toothless picked up their guns and they walked out.
The car ride to RD's headquarters was another hour away from the city. The entire car ride, however, only consisted of Toothless making sure that Hiccup still wanted to go through with this. Hiccup was set on doing this. He was becoming a part of Toothless' life and he wanted to be there for all of it, not just a part. Or so he had convinced himself.
They were driving down a country road surrounded by fields when Toothless took a right onto a dirt road. There had been trees bordering the main road, but this road was completely clear. The clear weather allowed Hiccup to see for quite a ways in every direction, including directly in front where Hiccup saw an older looking farmhouse. Another thirty seconds and they were pulling up directly in front of the house. Hiccup could tell it used to be painted yellow, but the paint was peeling and damaged so badly in some spots it was hard to tell. Several of the windows on both the first and second stories were cracked as well. All about the building was an aura of creepy that made the house seem like something out of a horror movie. As Hiccup was staring at the house, Toothless reached into the back and grabbed a briefcase before getting out.
With Hiccup sticking right next to Toothless, they walked up the creaky front steps to a porch Hiccup was sure would collapse at any second with the amount of rot he saw. After a few short knocks on the front door, the hinges creaked as it opened. Standing there was a large man that was as large as the doorframe. He wore black fatigue pants and a camouflage tank top. Quickly scanning the two visitors he reached off to the side and grabbed a large, grey, plastic tray.
As Toothless handed the man the briefcase he said to Hiccup, "Put anything metal you have on the tray." Hiccup took off his watch but he wasn't sure if he should give the man his gun. When he saw Toothless do it, though, he figured it was alright. After the man had received all the metal, the door shut again. This confused Hiccup.
"Don't worry," Toothless said, noticing Hiccup's look of confusion, "they are just inspecting the suitcase to make sure there isn't a weapon in there."
"But why did we have to give them all our metal?"
"There is a metal detector in the doorframe."
Hiccup didn't have a chance to respond before the door reopened and they were instructed to enter. Toothless went first, followed by Hiccup. When neither of them set off the alarm, they were given their belongings back (except the guns) and told to head upstairs. The man had a rough voice and was definitely to the point.
Looking around, the inside looked just as rough as the outside. The wallpaper on the walls looked like it was fifty years old; more of it was peeled than wasn't, and the carpet was stained and torn everywhere. Hiccup guessed that three quarters of the lights on the wall were burned out, and he swore he saw a mouse run across the floor. The house smelled even worse than it looked, with a scent Hiccup couldn't quite discern, not that he wanted to. At least the place looked like someone had dusted recently.
As they started walking up the stairs, Toothless turned to Hiccup and whispered, "Last chance."
Hiccup whispered his reply of, "I'm not going anywhere."
They turned right at the top of the stairs and walked up to the last door on the left. With the upstairs looking as bad as the downstairs, Hiccup didn't have much hope for what the inside of the room would look like. What he didn't understand though was why the man with the most power would work in such poor conditions.
Toothless knocked, and a deep voice from within called out, telling them to enter. Toothless pushed the door open and Hiccup followed him in, never leaving his side.
Hiccup gaped when he saw the room. So this was where all of the maintenance efforts for the house went. The room had a vaulted ceiling with a crystal chandelier hanging from it. There was a gas fireplace off to the left beside a closed door, and a wall of shelves off to the right holding various artifacts that seemed to be from different regions of the world and eras. Next to the magnificent desk was a table holding several crystal glasses and a crystal container holding a liquid Hiccup couldn't identify. It was most likely some sort of liquor. The speaker was sitting on a large leather chair that was facing the opposite way, looking out a floor to ceiling window that overlooked the back of the massive property.
"Hello Toothless," RD restarted. "I heard about your little mishap. I trust you are completely healed by now?"
RD's voice really made Hiccup nervous, but he did not regret his decision to be here with Toothless.
"Yes," was all Toothless gave in response.
"Good. And do you have my money?"
Without a word, Toothless walked up to the chair, handed RD the suitcase, and walked back to Hiccup. After a small clicking sound and a momentary silence RD continued.
"Excellent. Good job as always. Now one more thing before you go Toothless. Who's your friend?"
Hiccup was amazed. The man hadn't even turned around. How did he know he was there? It was just like when Stormfly knew he was outside the door. His thought process stopped however when RD started to turn around.
Hiccup would say the man was huge, but that would be an understatement. He was at least eight feet tall and four feet wide. The chair may have completely hidden him, but if he was any bigger it wouldn't have. He was wearing a maroon suit and tie, but the buttons on the jacket weren't done up. He had small, deep brown eyes and an oversized nose. That was all Hiccup had time to notice before RD got up and was standing right in front of him.
"This is Hiccup. He's my new assistant," Toothless said. Hiccup was glad Toothless had spoken; he didn't want to say anything right now.
"Excellent! Glad to hear you've finally taken on some help. I'm assuming you hired him after your little incident?"
Just then RD stepped between Hiccup and Toothless as he was circling Hiccup, and Hiccup had to fight the urge to visibly tense.
"Actually, it was the day before. He wasn't with me at the time, but he did end up probably saving my life." Of all the times to flatter him, Hiccup wished Toothless wouldn't have chosen right now.
"So, you saved the life of my best worker? Well, thank you very much," RD said to Hiccup. Fortunately Hiccup didn't have to say a word as RD immediately turned to Toothless. "I'm assuming you gave him a phone?"
"Yes."
"You know procedure then."
RD turned back to Hiccup and continued examining him silently as Toothless walked up to the desk and scribbled something on a pad of paper. Hiccup stood absolutely still, almost hoping that RD's vision was based off movement. Fortunately Toothless returned to Hiccup's side quickly and put his hand on his shoulder.
"Well, if that's all?" Toothless asked.
"Yes, yes," RD said, waving his hand. "See you next time."
Without another word, Toothless led Hiccup out. They silently continued downstairs, had their guns returned, and walked out to the car. Not a word was said until they were back on the main paved road.
"I told you you wouldn't want to come," Toothless said.
"Well I was going to have to eventually. But what was 'standard procedure'?"
"I had to give him the number for your phone. Whatever you do, don't miss a call from RD. Got it?"
"Got it," Hiccup said, not even questioning Toothless. He was using that tone of voice that you just don't question. They were silent the entire way back to the city.
When they got back to the city it was just past 3 pm. As soon as they entered the apartment and shut the door, Toothless' stomach gave a massive grumble. Hiccup couldn't help but laugh.
"Hungry are we?"
"I can't help it, we skipped lunch!" Toothless defended. "Are you hungry? I can call for takeout."
"No need for take-out. I'll just make something quickly," Hiccup said as he made his way to the kitchen.
Opening the fridge, Hiccup immediately froze. He may be good, but there was not enough in there for him to work with. Only a couple eggs, some jam, and a jar of pickles were left. He had forgotten his last trip to the store was quick because Toothless was still injured, so he hadn't picked up very much.
"OK, new plan. I'm going to run to the grocery store around the corner, then I'll make something. Do you want anything in particular?"
"I don't think so. But hurry, I'm withering away into nothingness!" Toothless said over dramatically.
"Yeah yeah," Hiccup chuckled as he grabbed his wallet. "I'll be back soon."
Hiccup made his way downstairs and over to the grocery store. It wasn't very large (it couldn't be, it's Manhattan), but it had everything Hiccup needed. Seeing as there was pretty much nothing in the condo, Hiccup decided to pick up a little bit of everything. He went through the vegetable and the meat sections before heading to the canned goods. It was there that it happened.
Turning down an aisle, Hiccup accidentally bumped carts with another shopper. He was about to apologize, but he stopped when he realized who it was. It was Stoick.
"Hiccup? What are you doing here?" Stoick asked. Hiccup was surprised to note an undertone of concern in his voice, but he was still definitely not happy to see the man.
"I'm shopping, what else?"
"I can see that. So, where are you staying son?"
If Stoick thought he could get back in Hiccup's good books by calling him son again, he was sorely mistaken.
"Don't call me that. You lost me as a son when you kicked me out of your apartment," Hiccup said, trying to remain at least calm.
"It's not my fault you started gallivanting around with that man!" Stoick said, clearly becoming angry.
As if on cue, Toothless suddenly arrived. He failed to notice Stoick standing in the aisle and immediately walked up to Hiccup, planting a kiss on his cheek and starting to talk.
"Hiccup! Glad I found you. Could you get… oh, hello Stoick." If Stoick was mad before, he was seething now.
"Toothless? Hiccup, what is the meaning of this?"
Hiccup decided to take this chance to really stick it to his ex-father. "Stoick, I believe you know Toothless. I'm living with him. He's my boyfriend."
Stock turned a shade of red that Hiccup had never seen before. "You're dating this monster? I should arrest him on the spot!" Stoick practically screamed. Toothless was about to speak up but Hiccup beat him to it.
"On what charges?" Hiccup asked. When Stoick had no response, Hiccup continued. "Now if you'll excuse us, we have some shopping to finish."
Stock stepped to the size of his cart and looked directly at Toothless. "How dare you corrupt my son you abomination?" Stoick screamed as he raised his fist. As he moved towards Toothless, Hiccup stepped between them.
"Hold it!" he screamed. When everyone was still, he continued. "First of all, do not call me your son. You never cared that much about me. In fact, Toothless probably knows more about me than you do. Second, if you touch him, we will be forced to press assault charges. I suggest you think this through carefully," Hiccup said, completely calm.
Stoick looked as if he was about to say something, but apparently changed his mind and settled with a simple, "Fine." Stoick huffed before heading back to his cart and walking off.
When Stoick was out of earshot, Toothless turned to Hiccup. "Are you alright?"
"Yeah, I'm fine," Hiccup responded. Hiccup continued up the aisle with Toothless by his side. They picked up the last few items together in silence before heading to the cash register.
"$97.22. Would you like cash back?" the cashier asked.
"Yes," Hiccup started before realizing his mistake. "I mean no! No, sorry," Hiccup corrected. Toothless was a little confused by the exchange, but he said nothing. Neither of them said anything after they paid and left the store.
As they were walking home, Hiccup broke the silence.
"Toothless, do you love me?"
Toothless was shocked to hear the question, but he didn't let it show. Without hesitation, he responded, "Of course I do Hiccup. Why would you ask that?"
"Well," Hiccup said, eyes focusing on the ground, "I can't seem to get what Stoick said out of my head."
Thinking back, Toothless knew exactly what Hiccup meant. Hiccup had told him about this conversation and he knew exactly how to answer.
"Hiccup, look at me." When he didn't, Toothless stopped them both in the middle of the sidewalk and forced Hiccup to look at him. "Don't let what he said get to you. I love you because you are you. I love you because you are kind and caring and gentle, even if you are freakishly good with a gun." Hiccup smiled at that one as Toothless continued. "I love you because of your gorgeous green eyes. I love you because you saved my life by doing whatever it took without thinking twice. I love you because I don't have to hide anything when I'm around you and you accept me for who I am. I love you because you make me a better person."
A light blush was starting to dust Hiccup's cheeks. If their arms hadn't been full of grocery bags Hiccup would have thrown them around Toothless. Instead he had to settle for a smile and an, "I love you too Toothless."
"I know. Now, let's get home. I'm still hungry," Toothless said with a smile.
So now we've met RD. Impressions?
Next chapter: OK I'm actually going to do something different this time. So for many, school has restarted. This includes myself. I have only new courses this semester, so I don't know what the work load is going to be like quite yet. So I'm going to promise JANUARY 17, but it should be up sooner :)
Toothless' hunger pains are kicking in. Help distract him from them with fan mail (or any type of mail)! The box below is express post right to him :)