Brothers: Forbidden Friendship (rough draft)

A DreamWorks' How to Train Your Dragon fanfic by Raberba girl

Christmas gift for my friend Anna~

Summary: "Forbidden Friendship" from Toothless's point of view.

o.o.o

Hungry hungry so hungry fish fish bad fish flee away from me SO HUNGRY those birds shoot them out of the sky but the SUN I HATE TOO BRIGHT, I can't aim I miss they flee and LAUGH AT ME, I'm SO HUNGRY, I want FOOD-

Something.

Coming.

I don't know what it is but I'm scared, scared distressed too many bad bad very so much BAD things happening to me, hide hide kill I HATE THIS-

A thing. Little. Human but- ?

CONFUSED.

I smell his human smell but he's alone, so small, barely any weight for his footsteps to make sounds.

FISH.

I smell it, I NEED IT, but there's only one and the human thing is too close and he is hunting.

He's hunting, but he is very bad at it, prey will sense him coming before he even knows they're there, and then he is frustrated silly I don't want to be amused right now, his shell got stuck.

He comes into this bad trap place anyway. Soft and defenseless, if his flesh was good to eat I would kill him right now and it would be very so much easy, but human meat is yucky. This bad thing, I will kill him and then I will feel safe to eat that FISH.

He claims the fish first, this very stupid human, he thinks he can protect that thing I want from me. I want it and he is very weak and I will take it, but if he claims it even though he's so weak, maybe he is strong in a way I don't know? I remember once, fighting those strange foreigners, they were small and I thought they were easy to beat but they shot bad something at me, not fire, it hurt hurt hurt, I thought they were weak but they were strong instead and I didn't know, this human is like that? This human is not like that?

He is hunting/frightened. Why is he frightened if he's hunting?

If he's frightened, he doesn't have a hidden strength; he's weak for real. Weak and STUPID, to claim my fish when he can't protect it.

I will take my fish. I won't even have to kill him, he is so weak I can eat it right out of his paws and he can't stop me. Look how frightened he is, stupid thing didn't even know I was here and now he's more scared. Very much easy.

"I challenge you," I say, soft because I know this weak scared thing will not fight-

He does not say "I submit!" He does not say "I challenge you!" He does not flee.

He says "Offer," THIS CRAZY THING!

!?

Mine?! Mine?! No fighting no dominating no chasing, he gives? He gives like a queen who says "I will provide for you" to her flocklings, he gives like a friend who says "I will share with you because I love you," why does this enemy-human give instead of lose?!

NO. NO, IT'S A TRAP, THIS SNEAKY HUMAN BAD THING, HE DOES HAVE A HIDDEN-WEAPON, THAT BAD METAL. Sharp blades, they hurt, I've seen my flockmates bleed, he wants to lure me with fish and then hurt me with that bad human thing, this is deception, he LIES! I hate humans!

"...No," he says with his strange little paws. "Reluctant, CAREFUL." He uses the very tips of his soft little talons, he makes the blade go away from him like he thinks it is bad, too. "That bad thing, I throw away."

...Safe?

Maybe he's not human. His smells say he's human, but it is a person who says again, "Offer," who threw away the tiny bit of strength he had so I would be safe. This strange safe thing with FISH. It's confusing, confusing, but my stomach is empty empty empty and I need/want that fish, he chitters softly as he gives, I will take it. Yes. It's good. Strange and scary but I think it's good.

MEAT SLIDING DOWN MY THROAT. FISH TASTE ON MY TONGUE. SO SO SO SO SO SO SO SO GOOD.

More?! More?!

He squawks and backs away as I look for more, the scent is still on him but it's too light, there is no more.

His chittering is meaningless and his body talks strangely: "Nervous, don't touch me, I want to stay here but don't touch me." It's a very strange fear, this doesn't-want-to-run fear. He wants something.

He wants food, of course. He hasn't eaten recently; he brought me fish but he's hungry, too.

Fiiiiiiiiiiine, this very strange Interesting Thing that offers, I will offer back...

I sit back, Interesting Thing is sitting in that weird way. It's uncomfortable, so it must be a word. I'm saying his word for "I want to stay here but don't touch me."

I forgot, Interesting Thing is very stupid. He comes into dangerous places with no shell, he hunts even though he's bad at it, he lets his own prey sneak up on him, and now he DOESN'T KNOW HOW TO EAT. The fish is RIGHT THERE IN HIS PAWS but he's not eating it. I'm so hungry and he's hungry, why doesn't he eat?!

Maybe he is a baby? No, his body says he is a juvenile, HE SHOULD KNOW HOW TO EAT BY NOW.

Maybe he's so stupid that his packmates feed him. Maybe they put food right in his mouth so he won't die. I think I will have to put the fish in his mouth, what a stupid creature this is...

No, no, he did it! He put it in his mouth but HE'S NOT SWALLOWING, how can anyone live so long without KNOWING HOW TO EAT?

"Swallow," I say.

There. That good fish in his stomach. What a very much stupid person.

"I threaten you," he says, except he says it VERY SO MUCH WEIRD so it's not really "I threaten you." I don't know what it means, but he's not angry. His shoulders slump and his eyes are not alert. He doesn't feel like he's in danger anymore. Maybe this is a good word, not a challenge word or an angry/upset word.

I say his strange word back to him. I don't want to threaten, so I have to say it without teeth. When he responds, maybe I will learn what the word means.

No no no I DON'T LIKE THIS WORD bad word, he thinks I gave him permission to approach! His strange paw too close to me, NO. I will not say that word anymore, whatever it is, it's bad! I do not give permission!

I'm done with Unsettling Thing. I'm so tired, it's so late and too bright, I will rest now. I can't sleep until Strange Thing goes away, but I don't want to talk to him anymore.

I make a bed for myself, and the heat seeps up into my hide and soothes me. Soothes my body, but not my heart; I am lonely, I miss my flockmates and I miss the sky and I'm still hungry...

A day-creature bird chips. She can fly, I envy her, her wings are whole but mine are broken, she is free but I am trapped-

HEY.

Strange Thing says "I am not a threat," he is cautious but friendly now that I'm not approaching him, but I already told him we're finished. I have to say it louder so even a stupid person like him will understand: "NOT INTERESTED. LEAVE ME ALONE."

...I don't think Strange Thing even knows how to talk. He didn't know how to eat and now he doesn't know what to talk, I said very clearly "GO AWAY" but he acts like I said the opposite!

No, he knows. He pretended he didn't, but he knows because all I do is look at him and he says "No no no I am good I wasn't approaching you I'm going away, see? I'm good!"

I'm not safe on the ground. Strange Thing is too weak and not-threatening to hurt me, but he will try to touch me without permission if I let my guard down, so I must sleep high where he can't reach. I'm very tired.

o.o.o.o.o

Waking up...fish, I smell old fish that's gone now, I smell-

He's still here.

Strange Thing. He's over there by the water, saying quietly, "Lonely, bored, waiting, sad."

...I am those things, too. Both of us are Lonely Bored Waiting Sad.

What is he doing? I go to look, he is making marks in the dirt, but he doesn't know how to make marks. He doesn't know how to eat or talk right, of course he doesn't know how to mark right, either; they're only scribbles.

I will teach him how to mark like I taught him how to eat, but what can we mark? There is no food here, this is no one's territory, there are no females ready to mate nearby.

But I must mark something to teach him. I will mark that there are two of us who are lonely together. I'm marking those and I think of more things to mark, this bad trap place that other dragons shouldn't come; I mark that I am confused because Interesting Thing is confusing...

It feels strange to mark like this, when there is no one to see but Stupid Thing, but I like it. I like to mark how I feel and what's happening to me. Maybe that's why Interesting Thing was making his nonsense-marks, to put his feelings instead of messages in the ground.

I like my marks, I like them very much more than any marks I ever made before, or anyone else's marks. They are good marks. They have a tiny bit of me in them, like I called to the sky and my voice is still here, calling and calling even though I finished, and Interesting Thing is here to hear me.

"Confused, curious?" he says to my marks.

Then he STEPS ON ONE.

"Stop that," I growl.

"Sorry!" he says with his shoulders and forepaws, but he doesn't even know what he's sorry for until he looks at his stupid hind paw and moves it OFF my mark.

"Good."

"...This is bad?"

"YES, STUPID; MOVE YOUR PAW!"

"This?"

"STOP IT."

Finally he puts his paw right. Cheeky little runt was TEASING ME, I don't like it... He is brave, though, to tease me when I'm so much stronger.

He picks his way carefully across my marks...his little forelegs almost look like wings when he holds them out like that. He is a very strange not-dragon.

He got too close to me... His shoulders say he didn't mean to, but he barely backs away. He reaches again, why does this person want to touch me so much?! He is not my friend, not my flockmate, not even a dragon! He's not allowed!

...

Then he says.

"I give you my trust."

So much trust.

He reaches and he says he trusts me not to kill him, he says he will die reaching, that's how much he wants me to reach back.

...That's what it is. He wants me but he wants me to want him, too.

Why does he like me so much when we are strangers?!

Why does he like me so much when we are enemies?!

We are strangers, he's not a dragon, but he's reaching and he's trusting, his delicate little paw so close and no eyes to threaten, I won't give myself to a stranger, but...I can give. Just a little bit. To this trusting, offering person. He won't hurt me.

His paw smells like fish and wood and charcoal. It feels cool and so soft against my nose. It doesn't move or threaten-

But EYES, you sneaky thing you looked at me when I wasn't looking, you tricked me! Strange, stupid, probably wasn't trusting after all, he's stupid enough to give himself just because he doesn't know any better, he'd put his neck right in my jaws, just wanted to touch my scales, would give up his whole body and his life just to explore something interesting, like a stupid little hatchling...!

Finally he goes away. But I think about him, thinking and thinking about his nice smells and his trust - his stupidity is a kind of trust. He says, "You won't hurt me." He says, "I can be as stupid as a baby with you, but it's okay because you won't hurt me."

Why was he reaching? Why does he want me?

...Why am I glad I reached back?

o.o.o

Author's Notes: If I ever get around to writing that "HTTYD1 from Tooth's perspective" fic, I'll integrate this story into it, along with my "Tooth's backstory" fics. For the time being, this will just be a standalone.

This scene, even from Tooth's perspective, has been done a MILLION times before in fanfiction, so I worried for a long time that I wouldn't be able to put a fresh spin on it. I was pleasantly shocked when Anna's request finally prompted me to make the attempt, and the story flow was really good the entire time; I'd been worrying for nothing. XD Hopefully my version of this scene was unique enough to be interesting. Let me know if I succeeded or not!