*dramatic music plays*
*author smacks stereo*
*relaxing music plays*
-HTTYD-
Eret scratched his head, pacing back and forth outside the crime scene. He was too used to outdoor Night Fury scenes; it felt strange standing in a carpeted room with a dead body now.
"Penny for your thoughts buddy?"
Teeny asked, pulling off his forensic shoe-cover bootees before he joined Eret outside. Eret reminded himself he couldn't tell Teeny everything anymore, like how he had almost become a Night Fury victim himself, or the whole bedding Hiccup and Astrid thing.
"Just... ok. Say the first was a copy cat, which the Night Fury seems to be telling us. How did they fake the brand? It's pretty distinctive. And which of the husbands should we be looking at as the bad guy here?"
"Whaddya mean?"
Eret scrubbed at his face.
"Well, if we assume him in there killed his husband... was it self defence or the end point of an abusive relationship? Judging by the violence in there tonight, my money is on the Night Fury saying that tonights victim is the real bad guy, but we have no proof otherwise."
Teeny nodded as he followed Eret's train of thought.
"We might. Post-mortem on the first guy should be done soon. Maybe that'll turn up old abuse signs for us?"
"Maybe. That still leaves the brand though."
"Just means we know what we're looking for. Night Fury was kind enough to ransack the place, but they left us a gift upstairs."
"A gift?"
Teeny nodded again, practically skipping.
"Yeah. That's what I was coming out to tell you."
Eret hastened to follow Teeny back in, climbing the stairs eagerly to find a duffel bag placed neatly on the bed, looking far too tidy against the absolutely destroyed bedroom.
"You've looked inside?"
"Yeah. Looks like all the evidence we woulda needed to after the vic for murder. If the Night Fury hadn't gotten there first. Gloves, clothes, all the good stuff. And this. Gloves?"
Eret gloved up and took the little evidence bag, looking at what was otherwise a pretty unassuming ring. And the little image engraved upon it was identical to the marks branded in to each and every Night Fury victim so far, save for the ambiguous cigarette burn early ones.
His phone vibrated in his pocket, and so Eret reluctantly handed over the bag to Teeny and removed his latex glove, opening the text he'd recieved. It was from an unknown number, but he was pretty sure it was Hiccup.
"I want to know where he got it."
It didn't take a genius - Hiccup wanted to know where the ring came from. It obviously wasn't his own.
"Anything important?"
"Huh? Oh. No. Let's make sure Forensics get in here and make sure nothing else was left behind."
The bloody footprints said that the murder came before the ransacking, which meant the Night Fury had been content in their safety despite any earlier ruckus. Which left Eret wondering how used to noise the neighbours were...
"We talked to the neighbours yet?"
"Nope. Waiting for morning... we need to get the body out before it gets light, the papers are gonna have a field day with this double hit in one house. And the copycat thing gives the Night Fury a big chunk of reasonable doubt when they get caught. How do we prove who did what? The brand was unique... until now."
Eret shrugged.
"Yeah. I suppose the angry response kind of says the Night Fury hasn't seen any other copycat killings yet. The message and the indoor location is unique, but otherwise this is every inch the Fury kill."
"Including some serious anatomy skill."
"What did they do?"
"Stabbed him specifically to silence the screams, then beat him to death. Still doesn't explain why the sound of all the bedroom ruckus didn't alert anyone..."
"We'll have to wait and see what the autopsies say."
When looking over the autopsy report for the first body later that day, Eret felt like he needed to ask where Hiccup got his information from. Between the neighbours saying they had ignored a lot of arguments from that house - complete with "don't call the police, I am the police" comments made by one of the murdered two - and the list of healed fractures that screamed domestic violence on the first body... it was little wonder Hiccup had been so happy to dispense his swift, bloody justice upon the second body.
"Wow. How did nobody see this?"
Eret sighed, taking coffee from Teeny as they pored over the report.
"People see what they wanna see. And nobody really thinks about DV in gay relationships. It's a thing men do to women, an automatic assumption. We never assume a woman beats her husband, or gay couples abusing each other."
Teeny winced.
"Yeah, guess you're right. We've done the same with murderers for almost as long as there have been police too. How many murders went unsolved cus we were always looking for a guy?"
"Too many."
At least Teeny was coming around on that - he'd baulked at the idea that the Night Fury could have been female early on. A lot of people had. Eret was pretty sure anyone who'd met Astrid during the course of their investigation probably thought it at least somewhat possible. That woman was feral, and Eret knew that intimately. He still absolutely considered her capable of murder.
He just knew she wasn't the Night Fury now.
"One of the more tech savvy guys found where he got this from. Apparently if you put 'Night Fury ring' into a search engine, with a little patience you can find people selling rings with the same sort of emblem on. Most aren't exact matches, this one must have cost him a bit."
Eret groaned.
"Spectacular. Now we get to hope nobody else tries to copy them."
"Internet."
Eret texted back to the unknown number in response to Hiccup, wondering when he'd actually start feeling the guilt he was certain he should be feeling by then. He doubted it would stay away forever. He wasn't that lucky.
"Imagine having the stones to try and mimic the Night Fury and thinking you'd get away with it."
"Didn't last long, from what I heard."
"Still, imagine your last moments on earth spent knowing who the Night Fury is."
Hiccup rolled his eyes as he scrolled through the forum lazily. He was just keeping himself occupied while Astrid hunched over her notepad, struck by a wave of inspiration and pouring it all onto paper, pen scratching away rapidly.
"Are you reading about yourself again?"
Astrid's voice signified she was done, placing her pad aside before she leaned in to see what he was doing.
"Good to keep track of what they're saying. And definitely to keep an eye on some... there's a couple who are getting a bit too interested, so I have to watch for them mentioning things that tell me where they are, since everything on this part of the web is anonymous."
She leant in properly, head resting on his shoulder.
"Why?"
"Well, if they're in the arse-end of Alaska, they're not really of interest. If they live in the UK, I'm keeping a bit of a closer eye on them. I don't want anybody interested in me."
"Except me."
He chuckled.
"You're different."
"Damn straight. Anyone on your radar?"
"A couple, but this one here..." he tapped the screen over a username, Astrid squinting at the dark font "FurysFirstFan. They post about wanting to meet me. A lot. And I've seen them around a few times, they're definitely British."
Astrid rolled her eyes, moving to stretch out lazily across the bed.
"He could just get himself arrested for beating his girlfriend or something, you'd be only too happy to meet them then."
"Yeah, but he'd not have long to enjoy meeting me that way. Oh, your name has come up a couple of times around here too."
"What?"
Astrid sat bolt upright, blinking.
"My letters to you have been noticed. It's more that they are talking about your books, details not in the papers and so on. Don't worry" Hiccup kissed her hair, rubbed her arm "I wouldn't let anything happen to you."
"That explains my rise in sales then, my serial killer boyfriends fan club are buying them up. Hey, could you do some letters about the copycat before I finish up the next book? I think the line I don't like copycats would make a great ending."
Hiccup nodded.
"Sure. Last one for a while though, I won't be able to type on that thing when I have surgery."
The scar tissue formed around his repeatedly broken fingers was becoming more problematic, and so very reluctantly (after wheedling by both his mother and his girlfriend), Hiccup had agreed to have a minor operation on one of his hands to see if it would help at all. He was warned his hand would be more stiff before it healed and they knew if it had done anything, which was why he was starting with his right hand - if it didn't help, or made it worse, Hiccup didn't want to lose the use of his dominant left hand. And that old typewriter was such a pain to use, he wasn't going to even try and type on it with the full use of only one hand.
He'd probably have to drop a murder in the healing time though, to avoid suspicion. He could wield most weapons one handed.
"I know. I promise to take care of you as much as possible."
"Thanks. They said they'll give me a special hand brace so I can still use my arm, cus I need to be able to lift mom up and stuff like that still."
Luckily, Hiccup was already used to doing things around the house one handed, from all the times his hands had seized up on him before, and as they'd been having treatment on and off for so long, he and Valka were on good terms with various medical professionals who knew Hiccup still needed to be able to care for his mother as much as possible. So they were being very accommadating.
"Are you done stalking people on the internet?"
"I'm not stalking anyone!"
"Yeah yeah, whatever. I need cuddles."
Laughing to himself at how precocious his girlfriend could be, Hiccup checked a couple more comments before closing his laptop and allowing Astrid the cuddles she so desperately craved (apparently). Said cuddling was very nice, admittedly. Astrid was sweet, nuzzling into him and kissing his jaw before she settled with her head on his chest with a soft sigh.
The next week saw several things for the couple; another night with Eret, where no mention was made of the double murder - one copycat, one Hiccup, nor Eret's part in exposing that to Hiccup in the first place. He was still annoyed people were selling rings like his fathers as 'Night Fury rings' on the internet, and had accidentally hacked in and wiped the computers of a couple of people doing so...
Hiccup managed to crank out the newest letter full of details for Astrid, who kissed him very very happily before going off on how she planned to work the details in to her current writing.
And they had lunch with Astrid's mother again. Not nearly as pleasant and comfortable as meals with his mom and Astrid, but she seemed to warm to him more than the last time they had seen each other. And Astrid let him run away to hide in the kitchen when babies came up in conversation.
How could Hiccup ever be responsible for a child? He was literally a murderer, his reaction to anger often one of violence. And even without that, he had someone to care for already.
Hiccup was very grateful Astrid was no more interested in having children than he was, and they'd even discussed the more permanent options of prevention for the future, rather than rely solely on Astrid's staying on birth control forever.
"She's gone, you can come out now."
Astrid retrieved him from the kitchen, approaching slowly to give Hiccup time to tell her not to touch him - he hadn't realised until then, but he was shaking.
"Is she ever going to stop saying stuff like that?"
"Eventually, when I tell her I'm going to have to avoid her if she keeps pestering me about it. I'll never let her pressure you love. She doesn't make choices for us."
Slowly wrapping her arms around his trembling frame, Astrid waited for him to calm down. He breathed in her comforting scent, tension slowly leeching from his muscles.
"What would I do without you?"
Astrid looked up at him, with her big blue eyes and sweet smile that made his heart flutter in his chest.
"Lucky for you, you'll never have to worry about that."
Later, when he'd calmed down - with Astrid's expert, naked help - Hiccup reluctantly peeled himself out of her arms, hunting for where she'd tossed his clothes to.
"I gotta get back for mom."
Hiccup didn't resent caring for Valka for a second. He did grumble inwardly about Astrid's boss giving her so many early starts lately though, as it meant less overnight stays. Astrid reached up and pinched his butt, giggling to herself as he turned around to raise an eyebrow at her.
"Don't you glare at me, you like that I like your butt."
Feeling his cheeks flush slightly at that very true fact and the memories attached, Hiccup resumed getting dressed. Astrid knelt on the bed still naked, looking very very tempting.
"Are you still picking me up tomorrow?"
"If milady wishes."
"She does. We're heading back to your place, so you don't need to bring food though."
"You sure?"
Astrid nodded, looking down to her bare belly and pinching a small amount of skin there with a giggle.
"I'm sure. I might actually go to the gym before bed tonight. I'm not giving up your cooking, so if I don't want to have to buy all my clothes in the next size up, I gotta work out."
Most of her clothes were quite snug-fitting, and Hiccup knew (from Astrid's complaints) that womens clothing was not very forgiving anyway. So he could understand her watching her weight a bit, even though he knew she wasn't judgemental about weight in general.
"You want a lift there?"
Astrid shook her head, but offered him a smile too.
"Nah. I need to clean up and get dressed, and jogging over there is a good warm up. Thanks though."
"Alright. Be safe. Let me know you got home ok, but I probably won't be up late tonight myself."
"Good. You need sleep. Love you."
She kissed him goodbye before heading in search of a wash cloth and her gym gear. Hiccup headed home himself, checked on his mother and put dinner on before jumping in the shower. Valka lamented with him over dinner about the awkwardness of his earlier brush with Astrid's mother, and reminded him there was less than zero pressure from her about grandchildren.
"It would be nice, but I completely understand why you don't want to go that way son."
"Thanks mom. You taking a bath tonight?"
Valka nodded, and so Hiccup helped her wash her hair, then helped her out of the tub when she struggled to get up herself before drying her hair so both could retire to get some sleep for the night. Astrid hadn't let him know she was back yet, but he knew she sometimes lost track of time at the gym - he'd once been waiting outside to pick her up, and Astrid swore it had only been twenty minutes she was late coming out, when in reality it was over an hour. With his phone next to him so he'd wake when she did send the message, Hiccup let the long day steal his consciousness.
Still no text from Astrid when he woke up. Hiccup did his best not to overreact - his girlfriend was a capable woman. The only person ever to survive being under the knife of the Night Fury. Her phone had probably died while she was at the gym, and she plugged it in when she got home and fell asleep before she had chance to text him. Hiccup left a text for her to get back to him when she had a minute, knowing that if she got home late, she'd oversleep and be in a rush for work.
Hiccup was definitely on edge by the time midday rolled around. He'd tried calling her, but got no answer. Something in his gut twisted oddly as he drove toward her workplace to pick her up, seeing no sign of that distinctive gold-blonde hair anywhere. Gritting his teeth against unexpected social contact, Hiccup got out of his car and headed toward the building on foot, and asked for Astrid at reception.
The answer was not what he wanted to hear.
"Astrid hasn't come in to work today."
-HTTYD-
I'm sure everything is fine Hiccup!