Chapter 20 – And the winner is...

It was the day of the party. Thuggory had already called for the musicians from the underground hall and practiced with them some pieces. He may not be a dancer but his extraordinary talent for technical comprehension and sense of music compensates for that. Eret was astonished when Ruffnut actually did know how to dance tango, and that perfect as well. She did not even try to touch him although he still doubted her. She did not grab him or jump at him and it was relaxing for once in a while. He knew that all that peace would be gone the moment the party ended, which caused him to sigh occasionally. Meatlug came up with a choreography rather fast, given the time that she had left, and showed it to the rest of the group, with Hookfang as her partner. After that, it was a fast process of learning and remembering. One day, Hiccup had bought a new dress for Astrid with the excuse that it was a spare since he knew that she would not accept it otherwise.

The girls were assembled in Heather's room, getting dressed up as they prepared themselves for the party. Heather wore a red dress that went down to her feet, the straps going from under her armpits way up around her neck. It lay tight on her body while there was a slit at both sides of her legs, giving her the necessary mobility for the dance. She wore a necklace with a ruby around her neck as well, emphasizing the dress even more. Meatlug found herself in a white dress that went down to her knees, flouncy and loose. The straps were wide and lying around her shoulders. She too wore a necklace, the same as Heather with the only difference that the gem was not a ruby but a white prehnite, a bit transparent even. Stormfly wore a light orange dress, covering her breasts while it also went to the knees. It had only one long sleeve while the other arm was unoccupied. She wore a necklace with an orange topaz. Ruffnut, always bragging how sexy she actually was, wore a purple dress. It lay tight on her body as well, emphasizing her breasts, while it went down loosely on her legs. The front just went up to her knees while the back of her dress was longer, reaching down to her heels. Although it was only the lower part of her dress. The back of her was completely bare. The straps of her dress reached over her shoulders, down her back in a cross, ending at the fabric on her waist. Her necklace held an alexandrite.

They were all taking turns to change in the bathroom upstairs while the guys were occupying the bathroom downstairs. Astrid was the last one to take her turn and when she finally opened the door to Heather's room, the girls held their breath. She wore a simple blue dress that went down just to her upper thigh. It only had one thin strap hanging over her left shoulder, decorated with several quillings. The fabric lay on her body as if the dress was made just for her. You could already feel her curves just by looking at it. The back of her dress was longer than the front, flowing down her legs like a river.

"Jesus, Astrid! You look gorgeous!" Heather complimented her, still staring at her with her mouth slightly agape. Astrid grinned widely as she looked at the other dresses. "You look just as beautiful. Although I would have never expected to see Ruff in a dress in my whole life. I shall remember this day," Astrid joked, which earned her a punch on her arm from the blonde. "Anyway, can someone help me with the necklace?" she asked and Meatlug volunteered to take on the task. Soon after, Astrid wore a necklace as well, a blue sapphire shining in the middle of it. Everyone let their hair fall down, the side braided into a crown around their head. Later they helped each other with their make-up before they got into their high-heels.

"I still wonder where you guys got all these dresses and necklaces. Isn't it expensive? Because it really looks like that," Astrid said, a bit uncomfortable to wear something that looked more expensive than her house altogether.

"Let's just leave it at 'We have our ways', alright?" Stormfly said, not willing to tell her the truth yet. The girls then all went downstairs to present themselves to their dance partner. The guys were all sitting on the couch, talking to each other to pass time. They had been waiting for over an hour, actually. They all wore a black smoking, without a fly though. Instead, they each had a tie in a matching color with the gems of their dance partner. When they heard the clicking steps of high-heels, they all turned around on reflex, just to freeze at place, staring at the gorgeous girls that descended the stairs. Meatlug chuckled when she saw Hookfang actually widening his eyes. He normally did not show his emotions, but this time it seemed like something had actually surprised him, him! Eret too was astonished by Ruffnut's appearance. She was normally like a raging storm, never actually caring for her looks until it was really necessary. And here she was looking like an elegant lady. Either the gods had played tricks with him or he really did feel how his heart beat a bit faster. Barf was oblivious though. He had already seen all of them, except Astrid and Ruffnut, in a bikini anyway. He knew how beautiful they all were. Toothless and Stormfly locked their eyes, giving each other silent compliments with their eyes and smiles. He made a note to himself to rip that dress off her body on the same night.

Hiccup was sitting there, his jaw dropped and his eyes wide. He did know that blue looked good on her but he did not know that it looked that good. Astrid noticed his stare and smirked. She walked towards him, swinging her hips ever so slightly on purpose. When she stood in front of him, she raised her index finger, positioned it under his chin and moved her finger up in order to close his mouth. "You're drooling," she teased him with seductive smile. Hiccup then snapped out of it and shook his head, blushing furiously. The group snickered and grinned as they watched the two lovebirds flirt with each other.

"Y-You look beautiful," he stuttered and gave himself mentally a face palm for actually stuttering. Astrid smirked and pulled herself back from him, "You look good too." Hiccup smiled sheepishly at that comment and looked into her eyes. There was a glint hidden in her eyes, a spark that was reserved solely for him. He gave up. It was too much to hide his affection and he assumed that most of the Crew already knew anyway. So he stood up, went up to her and lay one hand around her neck. He angled her head in a way she would have to look up to him and kissed her – slowly, gently, softly. Astrid widened her eyes in surprise but obliged nevertheless. She leaned into him and returned his kiss just as gentle. They were interrupted though.

Eret had thrown his arms into the air and cheered, "I won! Yes!" Several curses followed that cheer. A lot of Shit!'s and Fuck!'s and Damn!'s could be heard as Astrid slowly pulled away from her beloved, irritated at the outburst. "O… kay? What is going on?" Hiccup asked, dragging out his sentence slowly in order to process the event that was happening – which he clearly did not seem to know about. The couple heard Stormfly muttering nearby, "Couldn't you have waited two months? Shit!"

Toothless decided to explain the situation to them and cleared his throat.

"Well, it was pretty obvious that you two would end up together. We noticed the first time you introduced her to us. You looked like a love-struck fool while she looked like a jealous fiend. So, they decided to bet on how long it would take you to officially get together. And as you can see, Eret had won. Everyone bet fifty bucks on that, which means that Eret just earned 300 dollars." Hiccup and Astrid looked at each other before they turned back to their friends. Astrid was not mad, she really was not, but she somehow got the urge to pay him back. She smirked when an idea struck her and she waved Ruffnut to come closer.

"What is it?" the blonde asked curiously.

"Make sure to waste his money on the date," Astrid whispered and both girls began to grin mischievously as they watched the bulgy man kissing the box that seemed to hold the money that was bet on them.

"With pleasure," Ruffnut purred.

Hiccup turned to glare at Toothless who just raised his arms in defense, "I didn't bet on you! I was sleeping! And I could care less about your relationship with her." Hiccup just nodded and glared at the others who in response just turned their heads away in order to avoid his death glare. They had no time to discuss that further though for Hiccup's phone rang. Everyone went quiet as Hiccup picked up. "The limousines have arrived, sir," Hiccup heard an elder tell him. "We're coming out," he responded before he hung up. He then sighed and turned to his friends, clapping his hands. "Well, let's go."

When everyone came out of the alleyway, six limousines were already waiting for them. There was a crowd around the vehicles, wondering what was up. Their question got answered when their eyes lay on the group. Hiccup held out a hand to Astrid who gladly accepted. They both got into the first one and the driver close the door. There were other drivers holding the door for the dance pairs as they got in. The last limousine was for Thuggory, Belch and Tuffnut. Technically, Tuffnut was not a part of the Crew but he did know how to go about the technical stuff. He was given the task to record their dance too, just as something to look back to. When the last door close, all the vehicles began to drive into the same direction, following the limousine in the front.

Astrid looked out of the window before she turned back to Hiccup who sat beside her. She bit her lip and frowned. "This must be expensive. Is… he paying for this?" she asked, not sure if the driver could hear them. Hiccup leaned back and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Technically, it's me paying for all this. But yes. You know who the source is," he answered quietly as he looked out of the window.

"Why? I mean, he doesn't have a reason," she wondered. Sure, Hiccup was the son of the richest man in the city, but he got disowned. How in the world could Hiccup still get his hands on the money? Or rather, why did his father allow him to use it? It did not make any sense at all.

"Hey, um… would you mind if we discuss this later? I'm not exactly in the mood to talk about it. It might throw my concentration off," he admitted bitterly.

"Okay…" she answered quietly. It seemed like her voice betrayed her since Hiccup turned his head to her, worry written all over his face. He cupped her face and gave her a short kiss before he pulled away again, inches away from touching her again. "I will tell you. I will. But not today, okay?" he asked her and she just nodded before she leaned in again, kissing him gently. She wanted to be more aggressive but it might ruin her make-up so she just held it in. Time seemed to stand still as they kissed. They did not notice that they had arrived until the driver cleared his throat rather forcefully. They both turned to look to the front mirror where they met the eyes of the driver. "We have arrived, sir," he said simply before he went out to hold the door open for them.

Hiccup was the first one to step out and held his hand out for Astrid to hold on. She took it while the other hand dragged her dress up a bit so she would not step on it or stumble over it. She crouched to step out and when she raised her head, there was a gigantic building standing in front of her. Astrid realized that she was standing on a red carpet and that Hiccup was holding his arm out a bit for her to take it. He smiled as she grabbed his arm and leaned on him. He leaned a bit towards her and simply said, "Welcome to the Grand Hall."

A/N:

Whoa. 20 Chapter. To be honest, I didn't expect to hold out this long. Honestly said, I'm someone who never gets to finish something that I've already started (unless I willpower forces me to do so). I think it's mostly because of the nice responses that I get from you, which motivates me every single time. I'll be honest though. Since I already have the basic plot in my mind, I think it will take at least another 20 Chapter to have this story nearing its end. It might even reach 100 chapter. It depends on how I will work on the details I think. But for the time being:

Thank you for reading again! And I hope you enjoyed it.

Date of Update: 11th October 2015

~ KeGzZ