Hello everyone! Just a note; I will be changing my username soonish so keep that in mind if you're ever looking for me by name. The reason I say soonish is because I'm going to change it after putting a similar message on my other fanfiction so I can reach as many of my readers as possible. Obviously this won't be a issue for anyone who follows me or either of my stories, but for anyone without an account or who reads my stuff but isn't following me; BEWARE! I WILL BE UNDER A DIFFERENT NAME!
Anyways…
Chapter 4: They Grow Up So Fast
"Hey there bud." Hiccup said with a smile as he reached into the terrarium so that the creature, now named Toothless, could climb into his hand. "How are you this morning?" Toothless just made a quiet purring sound and paced around in his hand happily. "Let's get some breakfast, shall we?" Hiccup walked over to the pantry, Toothless still in his hand, and grabbed a can of tuna and a loaf of bread. "Toast for me, fish for you."
He put Toothless down on the counter and plugged in the toaster, sticking two pieces of bread inside. Then he opened a drawer and took out the can opener, placing it beside the can of tuna before moving over to the fridge and looking inside. "What do you think? Jam or butter?" Hiccup nodded. "I agree, jam is better." He said grabbing a jar of jam and walking back over to the counter. Once there, he noticed Toothless struggling to pull a small table knife towards the toaster. Hiccup smiled. "Thanks bud." He said crouching down slightly to look at Toothless better. "You're a smart little guy aren't you?"
The ding of the toast caught Hiccup's attention and he stood up straight to grab a small plate from one of the cupboards above his head. "Maybe I can teach you some tricks? How would you like that?" He glanced over to Toothless, only to find him climbing into the toaster in an attempt to retrieve his toast. "Toothless, no!" Hiccup yelled rushing over and plucking him out by the tail. Much to his surprise, Toothless was completely unharmed. "You're surprisingly hard to kill you know that?" He said letting out a sigh of relief. Hiccup place Toothless back down onto the countertop. "You must be really heat proof or something." Hs scoffed. "Too bad, it doesn't get very hot around here."
Hiccup took the can opener and cracked open the can of tuna, putting a small amount onto the plate and pushing it towards Toothless. "There, that should keep you out of trouble for a little while."
It was then that Hiccup's phone began buzzing inside of his pocket. He pulled it out and looked at the caller ID, it was Fishlegs. Hiccup put the phone to his ear as he grabbed another plate from the cupboard.
"Hey, I'm almost out, I just need to eat breakfast."
"It's happening soon dude, you better hurry up."
"What's happening?" He asked gingerly taking his toast from the toaster and placing it onto his plate.
"They're going in."
Hiccup stopped in his tracks. "They're going into the room? Already?"
"What do you mean 'already'? They should've gone in weeks ago, after what happened I'm surprised they're only going in now."
"When?"
"A few hours, tops. It's just a few people in suits but they're hoping they can gather more information about the lifeform. Everyone's going to watch, you should get here as soon as you can."
Hiccup glanced over to Toothless, who was still eating the tuna. "Ok, I'll be there in twenty."
"Awesome, see you then." click.
He wasted no time, he quickly picked up Toothless, placed him into his pocket, grabbed his coat and whipped out the door. This was it, he had been waiting weeks to finally be able to return Toothless to the lab and now was his chance. He just had to let Toothless out when they opened the first airlock door, or maybe give one of the people going in a pat on the back with Toothless in his hand, and bam, he would be home free. He would finally be able to breathe easy...right? He should feel excited to finally be able to return Toothless, just having him was dangerous, and not just dangerous for his job. This was the moment he had been waiting for this whole time, but suddenly he didn't feel so good about it. What would they do to Toothless once they found him? Would they do experiments on him? Dissect him? Hiccup shuddered at the thought.
As he walked into the lab he couldn't help but feel the creeping feeling of dread coming over him. He didn't want to return Toothless, he was afraid of what they would do to him, he was afraid he would never get to see the small creature again.
"Hey, you made it, they're almost ready." Fishlegs said grabbing Hiccup's arm a pulling him towards the airlock door. Everyone was crowded around it, exited smiles on their faces. Three men in suits marched out from down the hall, the only one Hiccup recognized was Finn, who stood at the front of the group. "Finn's going in?" Fishlegs whispered. "He's the head physicist, shouldn't he be letting someone else go in? Someone more expendable?"
"You're honestly surprised?" Someone else whispered back. "You should know by now that Finn would never let anyone go in without him."
They continued whispering to one another, gossiping about how reckless it was for him to go in. Hiccup didn't notice any of it. He just stood there debating with himself. He kept visualizing walking up to Finn, wishing him luck and giving him a small pat on the back and sticking Toothless right to his back, but as Finn and the others got closer and closer to the airlock, Hiccup's body refused to move. No matter what he told himself, he couldn't bring himself to let Toothless go. He wasn't ready to let Toothless go, it was too soon, far too soon. Finn stopped at the door, gave everyone a triumphant wave, and walked through the airlock door with the two other men, shutting it behind him, and there it went. Hiccup's chance had come and gone, and even though he missed it completely, he somehow felt a great deal of relief come over him.
"You alright?" Fishlegs asked, looking over at Hiccup.
He nodded. "Yeah, just, nervous."
"Yeah, me too. Do you think they'll find anything?"
Hiccup shrugged. "Who knows."
Hiccup kicked his shoes off shutting the front door behind him, and looked over to where Toothless' terrarium sat on the kitchen table. He put his hand into his pocket and scooped Toothless out, then walked over to the terrarium and placed him back inside. "I guess you're staying with me now." Hiccup looked around the room. "I'm probably going to need to find a more permanent location for you now." Toothless pressed his front feet up against the glass and looked to Hiccup. "Do you have anywhere in mind?" Toothless backed up and paced around. "Alright, alright." He said with a laugh, before plucking Toothless out of his terrarium and placing him onto the floor. Toothless started walking around the apartment, looking around and sniffing anything he came in contact with. He stopped right below the large window in the living room and stared up at it, making soft noises and shooting the occasional glance over at Hiccup. "You've got a good eye there." He said smiling down at Toothless. Toothless looked up at Hiccup and attempted to imitate his smile, but his lack of teeth made it look very awkward. Hiccup chuckled in response.
Hiccup then went to work trying to find something for Toothless' terrarium to sit on, he didn't have a whole lot of furniture lying around so it was a little difficult to find something not in use. He finally settled on taking his bedside table and moving it to the living room. "We're going to have to buy a new table once we have the time." Hiccup said as he dragged the bedside table in from his bedroom. He shoved it right under the window and beside the sofa, then backed up to look at the placement. "I mean it's not the best looking place for it, but hey, it's not only my apartment anymore right?" Toothless made a cooing noise in response. Hiccup walked back to the kitchen table and picked up the terrarium with both arms, propping it up onto his chest and began walking back over to the living room.
BAM BAM BAM
Hiccup nearly dropped it he was so startled by the sudden sound.
"Hiccup! Big news!"
He groaned. "Come on Fishlegs, I just got home."
"It's really exciting! They were able to get more samples of the molecule and-, open the door I have some with me!"
Hiccup quickly stumbled into the living room and put down the terrarium. "Hold on, I'm moving some stuff right now." He said as he looked around at the floor, trying to locate Toothless, but he wasn't where he last saw him.
"Ok well-, oh wait, the door's open." Hiccup's head snapped around to the door and watched in horror as Fishlegs let himself in. Toothless, where was Toothless? He couldn't see him anywhere. Fishlegs looked over to where Hiccup was standing. "Did you get a pet or something?"
"Uhh...yes."
"Cool." Fishlegs walked closer and leaned forward slightly in order to see inside of the terrarium. "Where is it? Can I see it?"
"Well, not yet." Hiccup said. "I'm planning on getting a pet, I haven't bought it yet."
Fishlegs stared in through the glass. "Hey...isn't this your old turtle's stuff? You still have all this? So are you getting another turtle?"
"Um...well actually I was thinking of maybe a salamander?" Hiccup said, trying his best to act natural. "I haven't decided yet."
Fishlegs nodded. "Salamanders are cool."
"...are you hungry? I haven't eaten yet, so maybe we could grab a bite and you could show me these new findings there." Hiccup suggested, gesturing towards the door.
"Actually I think it's better if we stay here, this stuff is top secret." Fishlegs said. "But we can order in, where are your flyers?" He moved towards the kitchen but as he did, Toothless scuttered across the floor and right under where Fishlegs' foot was about to land.
"Fishlegs stop!"
He stopped mid step, looked down at the scaly black creature beneath his foot and let out a horrified high pitched scream before falling backwards onto his butt. "What is that?!" He screeched.
Hiccup dove to the floor, grabbing Toothless with both hands. "A salamander, it's my salamander!"
"Last time I checked, salamander's don't have wings!"
"Well...uhh...this kind does…?" Fishlegs just stared at him, disbelief and shock written all over his face.
"Is it from the lab or something? Is there some experiment going on that I don't know about?"
"...Yes."
Fishlegs scowled. "Fine, if you're going to be that way, I'll ask Finn about it myself." He said standing back up.
Hiccup rushed over to him and grabbed his arm. "No, no, no, don't do that."
"Then what is it?"
He sighed, dropping his shoulders and releasing Fishlegs' arm. "Ok, don't freak out." Hiccup said putting his hands up defensively
"You saying that is already freaking me out!"
"...I went into the room the day the machine turned on."
Fishlegs furrowed his brows. "What does that have to do with…" The sudden realization hit him like a slap in the face and he gasped in horror. "No."
"...Yes."
Fishlegs jumped to his feet, his shock turning to anger. "You did not take a...and you kept it? What if it was…? You could be dead and...everybody thinks that it's...and...UUGHH!" He was so angry he couldn't even finish a thought, he just kept yelling in fragmented sentences. "Why would you take something like that out of the lab?! Do you have any idea how irresponsible that is?!"
"I didn't take it out okay? I was only in the room for a few minutes, it must have latched onto me or something." Hiccup explained in a relaxed voice, hoping that it would calm Fishlegs down, it did nothing of the sort.
"Then why for Thor's sake do you still have it?!"
"...I was going to return it...but I just couldn't." Hiccup said sighing. "I was afraid of what they would do to him. They would probably do tests on him, I couldn't let that happen."
"Of course they would do tests on it, it's a alien lifeform, we have no idea what it's capable of!" Fishlegs pulled a small vile of liquid out of his pocket and showed it to Hiccup. "I came to show you this. It's the molecule, we just found out it has traces of radiation. That thing could be radioactive for all we know, you can't keep it here."
"Toothless isn't going anywhere, if we give him to the lab we have no idea what they'll do to him, and they obviously won't tell us because they never tell us anything." Hiccup said shaking his head. "He's intelligent, Fishlegs, he's not just like any animal, he smart and loyal and caring."
"You're right." Fishlegs said. "He's not like any animal, he's an alien lifeform, not a pet. You need to grow up Hiccup, this is how science works. When we discover something we have to do tests on it, especially when it could be dangerous."
"Toothless is not dangerous."
"We don't know that. Even if he's not hostile, he could be carrying a pathogen or a parasite or who knows what else. You're endangering the entire human species!" He cried out, throwing his arms into the air. "We have to take him to the lab!"
Hiccup shook his head. "No, there has to be another way."
"Give it to me!" Fishlegs yelled as he tried to grab Toothless out of Hiccup's hands but Toothless scuttered away quickly causing Fishlegs and Hiccup to both fall to the ground.
"Ugh!" Hiccup grunted as Fishlegs fell on top of him. "Get off of me!"
Fishlegs rolled off of Hiccup and into a sitting position on the floor. "Where did it go? Where did it go?" He asked looking around, it was then that he noticed that the vial containing the foreign molecule had fallen and shattered onto the floor, creating a small puddle. "Oh no, no this is bad. We have to call the lab right now, we still don't know what that stuff can do." Fishlegs said getting up.
"Wait, wait, it's fine, it's just a little we can clean it up, I'll get some gloves." Hiccup said standing and grabbing Fishlegs' arm.
"Just a little? It's irradiated material, Hiccup, that stuff is dangerous! You do realize radiation never leaves your body right?"
"It's like a teaspoon's worth of liquid, you need a crap ton more than that to kill a person."
"Radiation builds up in your body! If we get too much over time, we die!"
"Yeah, because I'm sure you're exposed to radiation so often. Besides it's not radioactive, it's just been irradiated, you said so yourself."
"That's not the point, it's-" Fishlegs stopped mid sentence and stared down at the ground. "Um, that's not good."
Hiccup turned to look where Fishlegs was staring and saw Toothless standing in the middle of the puddle licking up the liquid from the ground. "Toothless, no!" Before Hiccup could move an inch, something incredible began to happen. Toothless began growing...and growing...and growing at a incredible rate. He grew so big that he nearly filled the entire living room, he couldn't even open up his wings properly he was so large. His tail stretched out all the way into the bedroom and his head nearly hit the ceiling. Hiccup and Fishlegs had to look up at him, his green eyes, now enormous, looked down at them as if everything was normal.
"Hiccup…" Fishlegs said quietly.
"Yeah?"
"Did you know he could do that?"
"I did not."
"...I see."
Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed and please remember to leave a review, I love to read your feedback :D
