What You Mean To Me
Pairing: HiccupXAstrid
Rating: M for Mature
Disclaimer: I do not own anything from HTTYD; not the movies, shorts, or series. I also don't own any of the songs I may or may not use. That being said, enjoy the story!
Chapter Twenty One: Turn Of Events
An interesting, confusing night this reunion was turning out to be for sure-and people honestly didn't think it could get any weirder or more confusing that it already was. First surprise of the night was learning that Dragon's Roar was performing live at the school for the reunion-playing old songs to represent the fact their band formed a little after this class of 2014 at Berkian High had graduated. After a while, the lead singer Dusk just stopped singing and missed his queue. He had the band stop playing then said he couldn't do this, after that he called Astrid's attention and said some things to her that originally made no sense to anyone-but after he started singing it became clear. Dusk was actually Hiccup Haddock, the son of Stoick and Valka who disappeared after graduation almost five years ago. No one had expected something like that to come out-in fact a lot of people were still in shock of it all. Hiccup didn't just stop at revealing himself as Dusk-he also went on to propose to Astrid, asking her hand in marriage with a promise of never hiding who he was again.
Astrid accepted and clearly they could figure out that her pregnancy was caused by him-but things weren't so easy now. Everyone believe Dusk was engaged to Heather, yet here, Dusk was revealed to be Hiccup under the wig and behind the face paint and now it was clear that he was just now engaged to Astrid. So, the question on everyone's minds was: what the hell is going on here? They wanted to know. Ruffnut, Tuffnut, Snotlout, Fishlegs, and even Eret were shocked more so-they knew Hiccup was the father of the baby Astrid was carrying, and he was also Dusk?!
"Astrid, I love you dearly but what the actual fuck is going on here?" Ruffnut asked, blinking in shock.
"It's a long story..." Astrid sighed heavily.
"Are you okay?" Hiccup asked softly as she nodded to him.
"Yeah, Iris is really active tonight-must be excited her daddy is around again," Astrid giggled. Hiccup knelt a bit and kissed her belly, resting a hand on it.
"Ease up on mommy, princess. Daddy's here now," Hiccup said gently, Astrid smiled as she relaxed-the kicking and movement beginning to lessen.
"Gonna be a daddy's girl for sure," Astrid blushed some as Hiccup stood up straight and kissed her forehead. Before another word could be said, the press and news crews were pushing through and rushing them-the band was faster and instantly had them in a circle to keep Astrid safe.
"Who is this woman?"
"Are you living two lives?"
"Why did you cheat on Heather?"
"Where is Heather?
"What's your real name?"
"And so it begins...Toothless, you and the band get Astrid on stage where she's safe. I'll deal with this..." Hiccup told his brother. "In order, that woman is Astrid living two lives-or...not anymore. I didn't cheat on Heather. Don't know where she is, also don't rightly care. And lastly, I'm Hiccup Haddock."
"Got it, bro. Come on guys...good to have you back, Astrid," Toothless smiled as they carefully moved her on stage, and oddly enough officer Solberg moved beside Hiccup to push the paparazzi back some.
"Hiccup?" came Stoick's voice as he approached with Valka beside him.
"Do not wanna hear it. You'll hear the truth with the others," Hiccup retorted.
"Chief, I'm afraid I'm gonna have to ask you to step away from Mr. Haddock. Two feet back please," the officer stated gently.
"I believe you work for me," Stoick crossed his arms over his chest.
"Actually he works for me, on my payroll. Officer Solberg is my personal guard," Hiccup replied as Stoick was a little astounded-however, he did move back with Valka.
"That goes for the rest of you. Move away from him," Brant ushered them back.
"Look...I know everyone has a lot of questions and wants to know what's going on, what my relationship is with Miss Hofferson, so on and so forth. If you will all calm down, relax, and hold questions until the end-I'll agree to tell you everything," Hiccup announced clearly.
"How much...is everything?" asked one of the reporters for Berk Eye News.
"Everything regarding Dusk, Heather, and Astrid. The rest is really no business of yours," Hiccup remarked coldly. "It's up to you and how badly you want your stories." The others looked at one another, taking seats at the tables set up in the room while the reporters set up their recorders, news crews had their cameras rolling with microphones out. "And I suggest you get comfortable like the rest-lot to get through," After that, the principal pulled over a few more chairs for them to sit down but still be close.
"You have the floor boss," Officer Solberg informed him, stepping to the side.
"Thank you, Brant. I got it from here, secure the outside." The officer nodded with a salute and headed outside to guard the main doors so no other fans came rushing in. "Listen up because I only want to have to explain this once. To begin for those who remember me from high school or my...parents..." he trailed off with a groan almost. "I left Berk the day after graduation, than moved to Archi for a year. I was working in a karaoke bar for six months or so while living in a motel room: Toothless found me there and recruited me to his father's studio where I met the rest of the band members. After a song or two, I became lead singer for it. Costumes, band name, all that was sorted out then. Not wanting to have any connection to my old life-I took the name Dusk. The remaining six months on Archi was making songs, preparing a CD-all that. I was living with Toothless and his father, unofficially adopted as Toothless Fury's brother, Gobber Craigsen's son. I became Dusk Fury," he explained.
"The rest of the last four years since the band's formation was gigs, concerts, tours...so on so forth. I'm sure most remember that about two years after everything started, Dusk began seeing Heather Lanvik. However, about seven months ago at the Berk concert to end the long tour around the Archipelago-she pushed me too far and I broke up with her, had her passes revoked and escorted from the building," Hiccup went on.
"What did she do?" asked the reporter from Berk Eye News.
"That would be classified information. I'll give you this, Miss. Lanvik was very opposed to the fact that six people from Berk were the concert competition winners and would be coming backstage after the show was over-these six were also coincidentally people I went to High School with. Before intermission ended, I pulled Heather aside and told her I was done with her-unable to put up with her clingy, obsessive, and quite frankly-her annoying behavior of never leaving me alone. When the concert was over, I changed out of Dusk's look-the face paint, and wig-occasionally the brown eyes. All to keep this identity of Hiccup Haddock a secret. I left Mead Hall and walked as myself to the bar-wanted to clear my head," Hiccup stated.
"Oh! Is there where you and Ast-" Ruffnut started as Hiccup was about to glare but Astrid beat him to it.
"RUFF! Shut up!" she said quickly.
"Heh, there's my Astrid. Fiery as ever," Hiccup chuckled.
"Hush you," Astrid blushed a bit.
"As you desire, milady." Hiccup offered a gentleman like bow to her-smiling as well.
"Just tell them your story so we can go back home. I miss sleeping your arms," Astrid told him.
"I've missed holding you at night as well." Hiccup replied. "Alright so, basically I was two drinks in when that lovely lady up there waltzed in-wouldn't you know it, fresh off a break up just like me. She got a drink, noticed me, we sat together and talked about how life had been since high school. She didn't know I was Dusk, obviously-it's not exactly something I just went around announcing to people I hadn't seen in years. Talked about our breakups, I slightly changed my story to avoid names and tipping her off. We got wasted, bartender-good friend of mine sent us both to my house in a cab."
"How did it go from talking to going to your place?" asked a reporter.
"Well, couple of drunk pervs wanted her when they caught wind of her not having a place to go that night. I told them I was her boyfriend and they backed off-then gave her the option to either stay with me in a motel for the night or my place but I wasn't leaving her alone while she was wasted. She chose to stay at my place. After getting there, we both admitted to liking each other back in middle and high school but never made a move. Without saying much else, pretty sure you can guess where it went from there," Hiccup informed.
"You went to sleep?" Valka asked slowly.
"Really, Mom? Let's just take in a few facts here. Wasted, admitting to liking one another all those years ago, alone in my apartment and now seven months later-she's pregnant with my child. What do you think we did that night?" Hiccup asked with an unamused arched brow and sarcastic tone.
"Well, I was honestly hoping you wouldn't say that you and her had drunken, unprotected sex..." Stoick said now. Hiccup closed his eyes facepalming hard with a sigh and shake of his head.
"It was protected, and yes we did have drunken sex. That's generally how one would end up pregnant! I know you didn't teach me much as a kid but I'm not as stupid as you like to believe I am, old man. Now will you shut up?" Hiccup grumbled out. "All that aside...the next morning-we were going to agree to just go our separate ways and act like it never happened. That was until my brother and friends barged into my apartment wondering where I'd been all night. My brother opened his big mouth and called me Dusk-this led into Astrid knowing that I was the lead singer of Dragon's Roar. I explained everything to her and she promised under contract that she would act like she never even saw me. She went home, I went to practice at my father's house..."
"I am your father," Stoick huffed.
"Not where it matters." Hiccup retorted quietly. "Heather wouldn't leave me alone so I gave up my apartment and moved back in with Toothless and Dad. Two months later, Astrid tracked me down and told me she was pregnant. We decided to keep the baby, and be together in a relationship in order to raise the baby-that if it didn't work out for any reason, we would find other arrangements and share custody. As for why you never saw her when I was disguised as Dusk-it's because I didn't want her getting hurt by paparazzi. I recalled a few times that Heather was hurt by overzealous fans and pushy press and I didn't want Astrid getting hurt period-especially while pregnant. So we kept our relationship Hiccup and Astrid only, not Astrid and Dusk..."
"Things were fine for a while, then Heather began stalking Astrid-threatened that she better watch her back before she got hurt. Hearing this, I had a restraining order put on Heather to stay away from Astrid, her school, and Gobber's place. A week before Thanksgiving, Heather cornered me at the store-gave me an ultimatum. Be with her or she'd tell everyone the truth about Astrid being pregnant-and nothing would be able to protect her. Now, she didn't want me-meaning Hiccup. She wanted Dusk and not because she loved me, she wanted the spotlight back, being the girlfriend of a celebrity. Basically to say, she didn't care if Hiccup was with Astrid but if I had to make appearances as Dusk-she demanded to be at my side. Wanting to protect Astrid and our unborn child, I agreed to her terms of: spending the night two or three times a week, letting her appear at Dusk's side for events, shows, whatever. Everything you have seen since then was just an act with Heather. She was blackmailing me with the safety of my girlfriend and daughter..." Hiccup explained.
"So all we saw the last few months, that was just an act to protect your family?"
"Yes. The proposal everyone saw that day of the CD signing, she planted that ring in my hand and knew I'd drop it because I didn't know what she put there. From standing up, I didn't know what it was until after I had knelt down to pick it up. As soon as I saw the ring inside-I realized what she did. To keep the act, I went along with it and then later on the bus scolded her for it and told her I was done being her puppet. She threatened to go to the press and then I threatened to throw her in prison for the blackmail, and the contract she'd be violating. I kicked her off the bus, and when I got home...Astrid was leaving me because she saw it on TV." Hiccup sighed some.
"She told me that even with Heather gone, it didn't change a thing. Everything thought Dusk and Heather were engaged so if I suddenly announced that Astrid was my girl, a lot of people would get mad or really confused-thinking she split Dusk and Heather up. Astrid told me that I'd been Dusk for so long, I forgot who I really was. And she wasn't far from the truth-I hated being Hiccup, I was invisible to most of the people in this very room. Astrid told me that if I wanted her to stay then I had to stop hiding behind Dusk. What a lot don't know is that you have seen Astrid from time to time, she was going by the name Dawn Winters-lyrical assistant to Dragon's Roar, wearing wig and contacts to hide her eyes. However, when she was leaving me she stated specifically that she couldn't be with Hiccup because he's always hiding in the shadows, afraid to show who he really was," Hiccup went on softly.
"I told him I didn't want a part time relationship, that I didn't want to know he was only Hiccup when not wearing that disguise. I wanted to be seen with him as myself, not Dawn. I didn't want to hide like he did. I said if he wanted to be with me then he had to be with me as I was no matter what we did or where we went whether he was Dusk on stage or Hiccup like now. That is what it would take for me to stay, for him to stop hiding. I asked if he could do that and he couldn't answer me. I made a remark that Hiccup never came back from Archi-Dusk did," Astrid smiled as she had gotten down off stage and slowly walked beside Hiccup to hold his hand.
"I told her I was standing right in front of her, as Hiccup-but she got me there too." Hiccup said.
"I said: No. You have black hair and brown eyes with face paint on. You're Dusk Fury, lead singer of Dragon's Roar. Sorry but I don't love you, Dusk. I've saving my heart for a handsome, smart, cocky, smart mouthed, auburn haired, green eyed young man who has a little scar on the right side of his chin who I haven't seen in a long time. If you ever see him, his name is Hiccup Haddock the Third and will you let him know I love him and would really like to see him again. He said I had his heart and I want to give him mind in return. I guess I'm hoping one day he'll come back to me and we can make our hearts, souls, lives one. And that's why you saw everything you did earlier which him taking off the disguise, to show me he was done hiding-that my Hiccup was back," Astrid said.
"And that's...everything. I've been planning this a few weeks actually...I knew she'd be here tonight, I'm the one who left the anonymous tip that Dragon's Roar would be at the school. I meant what I said. I wanted to show the world who Dusk Fury really was, and then I wanted to show everyone what this girl right here means to me," Hiccup smiled wrapping his arm around Astrid's waist.
"So, what happened to Heather?" asked a reporter.
"She's currently in a holding cell, awaiting arraignment on her charges..." came a familiar voice to Hiccup, he looked now seeing Dagur enter.
"Dagur, hey...how's it been? And...what do you mean she's awaiting arraignment. I didn't press charges on her," Hiccup stated as he shook Dagur's hand now.
"After you told me about what she did, I found a copy of the contract she was under. There was a loophole, she actually did violate the contract when she blackmailed you," Dagur said calmly.
"We looked over that thing a hundred times and found nothin'," Gobber remarked.
"You ain't me, sir. The contract says she was forbidden to talk about knowing Dusk's identity, and couldn't mention anything of his personal life. And something else there was that she was forbidden to blackmail Hiccup aka Dusk in any way, shape, or form for personal gain. She blackmailed you, threatened Astrid and your unborn child's safety, Hiccup. And she did it in order to have the spotlight back, that's personal gain. I contacted the band lawyer already, she confirmed it all and Heather was arrested a few hours ago," Dagur informed them.
"So she still screwed herself," Hiss chuckled a bit.
"But how did you find the loophole?" Astrid asked.
"The paper used it was like what the ones doctors use for prescriptions. Where there's hidden notes for pharmacies to confirm the legitimacy of where the prescriptions come from. It has to go through a machine for the hidden information to be shown. Once I saw it, I made the call." Dagur told her.
"You...had your own sister arrested?" Hiccup asked.
"What she did to you was wrong. Sorry, but I couldn't do nothing. She deserves what she gets, you don't know why she left Berserker Isle when she was eighteen, do you?" Dagur asked and Hiccup shook his head.
"Because she's a pathological liar, user, blackmailer. She's good at digging up dirt on people, she uses people to get what she wants, lies, cheats...she left Berserker Isle because we caught her," Dagur explained. "After she left we found a journal of her things-saying all the guys she'd been with since she was like fifteen. Using them for popularity, money,..." Dagur said.
"And I've officially heard way more than I wanted too. Thanks for going over things and I guess putting her away so she can't hurt anyone else..." Hiccup said calmly.
"Well, I better go for now-looks like you're pretty busy here. I'll likely see you in court-your lawyer has all the information already," Dagur said as they shook hands and he left after Hiccup nodded.
"I'm so ready for this night to be over..." Toothless stated coming beside Hiccup now.
"Tell me about it," Hiccup mumbled rubbing his head. "And why are you all still here?" he arched a brow at the paparazzi. "You got your story. Go away. Now." he ordered, they quickly scrambled to their feet and left the gymnasium.
"So what now?" the others from the band came over now and looked at him. "More songs?" Zap asked.
"Think you can wait a few more songs before we go home?" Hiccup smiled to Astrid-however, he noticed that she almost looked scared with a hand over her belly. "Hey, what's wrong?" he asked.
"Hiccup...we need...to go to the hospital now..." Astrid panted a bit, cringing in pain. "M-my...water just...broke..."
"B-But you're only...thirty-two weeks!" Hiccup said quickly as fear rose.
"Well, Iris doesn't want to wait!" Astrid whimpered in pain. Hiccup moved his arm to her back, then the other under the bend of her knee as he picked her up as he moved through the crowd that was making a path for him.
"Brant! Need a favor bud," Hiccup said quickly as the man turned to face him. "Can ya get us to the hospital, like on the double. Astrid's water just broke and she's two months early..."
"My squad car is right out front, sir. I'll give you a police escort, get her in back now-carefully..." the man said he led Hiccup to his car-then opened the back door.
"Go, we'll meet you there!" Toothless urged, Hiccup nodded as he placed Astrid in back then moved in beside her. Brant shut the door and got in the driver's seat, he flipped on the lights and sirens as they were gone. To everyone else-this was official the weirdest night ever. On top of everything else with Hiccup being Dusk Fury, Astrid being pregnant with Hiccup's child, and hearing the story-now Astrid's water had broken two months early. It was certainly confusing turned a scary turn of events.