The Journey Into Us

Pairing: Hiccup X Toothless
Rating:
M for Mature

Disclaimer:I do not own anything HTTYD-related.

Chapter 38

=Normal POV=
(Friday, 1/23/2020; 9:00 pm)
(Barbarchi City, Archipelago)
(Hunter's House)

The night was going great, Hunter and Trayden were just talking about whatever while listening to music for background noise. The two definitely got on the subject at past relationships because why not. There was no harm in it, so the conversation were mostly about when these relationships took place, and what happened in them, then what caused the break up. However, that only went on for a little bit before they switched topics to something else. The unfortunate part of the night was that the friends showed up unannounced, but did message Hunter first and ask if it was cool to hang there for a bit because the weather was getting bad and everyone was urged to get off the roads immediately because the storm was starting. It was at blizzard risk, so that was no joke and Hunter obviously wouldn't endanger his friends by sending them off to go home when they were closest to his house. So now, it was basically a lockdown at Hunter's place, leaving Hunter and Trayden to behave themselves. It wasn't off the table that maybe they'd have sex later, but it would be well after everyone went to sleep because Trayden learned that Hunter's bedroom was soundproof. The only issue would be making sure no one saw them go in together.

Everyone was sitting around, music still going. Hunter had the fire going and it was warm in the house. "So…Tray, I think your dad just called state of emergency with the storm," Hunter pointed out after checking his phone.

"What?" Trayden moved to get his phone, which had been charging on the counter. Trayden picked it up and noticed it was fully charged, but still off. Trayden powered it on and waited for everything to load as he sat back down on the couch. Of course, tons of missed messages and calls. The first urgent alert was what Trayden paid attention, and Hunter hadn't been wrong. "Well, you're not wrong," He finally said. "They've been trying to reach me since 8 pm,"

"You should call them back, we can be quiet," Hunter suggested.

Trayden nodded as he pressed call back and set it to his ear. "Dad?" A pause. "I can hardly hear you, hang on," Trayden pulled it down and tapped speaker. "Can you hear me now?"

"Much better, son. Thank you. Anyway, I was asking if you're alright. You haven't been answering messages," Dustin asked.

"I'm fine. Sorry for not replying, my phone was dead and on silent while charging, also not next to me," Trayden informed. "You guys good at home?"

"We're alright. No idea where your siblings are," Came his mother, Rachel's, voice.

"Uh, shouldn't they be home, with the exception of Dexter?" Trayden wondered.

"Your mother and I went out for dinner, got home before everything started," Dustin began.

"But we had Dexter watching the younger siblings at his place, and he said they were going over to his girlfriend's. We've tried to call the landline and all cell phones, no one is picking up," Rachel added.

"I'll check in on them," Trayden offered.

"No. No, I don't want you out driving, son. It's too dangerous," Dustin said firmly.

"I don't need to drive, I'm literally a few houses away at Hunter's. I'll go over and check in, then get back to you," Trayden replied.

There was a sigh. "Go, but be careful," Dustin finally agreed.

"Got it. Talk to you soon," Trayden responded, then ended the call.

"You're not really going to walk in this, are you?" Devon questioned.

"Don't have a choice, that's my family," Trayden grabbed his backpack, and located his clothes from before to change into. Trayden went off to the bathroom to do just that, then came out and went to get on his boots and jacket.

"Take my coat, Tray. That isn't going to be enough," Hunter stood, fetching his coat from the hall closet. "Be safe and message if you need anything,"

"I will, thanks," Trayden zipped up and flipped up the hood as Hunter let him out.

. . .

(9:30 pm)
(Lyla's Place)

Trayden found his siblings, sure enough, over at Dexter's girlfriend's house. Her parents were out of the Archipelago for two weeks, and if things couldn't get worse, they'd just lost power. Trayden already checked in with his parents, and was keeping them updated. Now with the power out, Trayden knew they were going to get cold and the temperature was sure to drop as the night continued.

"We need to do something Rachel…Our children are going to freeze," Dustin remarked to his wife.

Trayden was getting a headache. Not only were his siblings at Lyla's place, but so was Natalie and her little brother, Skyler since their parents were away for the weekend and Natalie was babysitting him. "Look, why don't I just call Hunter and ask if it's okay that I bring everyone here over there? Hunter's house is heated by fireplaces, and I'm almost positive he has a generator too. I'm sure he won't mind,"

"Do you think he'll agree? You mentioned you were already there, and your friends too," Rachel inquired.

"Only way to know for sure is to ask…" Trayden sighed. "Just let me call and see?"

"Alright, do it. But call me back as soon as you have an answer," Dustin remarked.

"Got it," Trayden replied and ended the call and then dialed Hunter's number, setting it to his ear. "Hunter, hi," Trayden paused. "Yeah, I have them and a few unexpected extras too. Everyone is okay, for the time being. Hey, I, uh, I need a favor…" Trayden waited for Hunter to ask what it was. "Can I bring them over, like all of them? Lyla's house has no power, and there's no heat…" Trayden listened as Hunter told him absolutely bring them over. "A-Are you sure? There's like, eight of them…" He informed and Hunter only said it was no problem at all. "Thank you so much. We'll be over in the next ten minutes. I gotta call my dad back and they have to get ready to leave," Hunter said okay and he'd make sure there was warm drinks and the heat up for them, then the call ended.

Trayden had the others get ready to go outside and pack an overnight bag while he called his parents back, then informed Hunter was okay with things. Trayden said he was going to walk them over and they'd stay put for the night. Once Trayden got off the phone and everyone was ready, the nine of them made their way outside into the cold where thankfully the blizzard hadn't hit, but there was heavy snow and it was definitely getting colder. Reaching Hunter's house, Trayden knocked a few times and was happy to see Hunter.

. . .

(9:45 pm)
(Hunter's house)

"Come right inside," Hunter greeted with a smile. Trayden let the others go ahead of him, all taking off their shoes on the provided space for wet shoes, and Hunter taking their coats with help from Devon and Bryan to get them hung in the guest foyer closet. Trayden was last in to remove his shoes and Hunter's jacket. "You alright?"

"This isn't exactly how I thought my night would go when we decided to hang out…" Trayden admitted.

"It's fine, Tray. We're still having a good time, this doesn't change anything. It might work out better, with your siblings here…The others will have to behave and everyone will get bored and go to bed earlier. It's already nearly 10 pm, so we could stay up a bit to talk or do something else," Hunter smiled softly.

"That's still not the point," Trayden sighed a little.

"Hey," Hunter leaned in and kissed Trayden semi-deeply and held it a few moments before breaking the action. Trayden gave a small whine, wanting the man's lips back against his, while also remembering how incredible their night together had been last week. "Everything is okay. I'm not gonna a little bad weather or extra guests ruin my plans to spend time with you and having people over had never interfered with a good time," He winked and Trayden blushed a little. "So don't pout," Hunter poked his nose with a smile. "You're making it real hard to not whisk you off to my bedroom right now and rocking your night for a few hours," He added.

"You're insatiable," Trayden rolled his eyes, but smiled.

"Only around you." Hunter chuckled. "Told you once, no one else riles me up and makes me want them quite like you do,"

"I don't even do anything," Trayden remarked.

"Exactly," Hunter winked. "You make me crazy, and you don't have to try. Just you is all it takes. You being you." Trayden blushed more. "Now, come on," Hunter smiled and led Trayden into the main area where his siblings and the extras were keeping warm in front of the fire. "How is everyone doing here? Dry and warm?" He asked gently as owner of the house checking on his guests.

"I think we're all doing good now," Thaxter reported.

Trayden saw Lyla, Dexter, Natalie and his twin siblings, Ava and Erik, nod to him while Cole and Skyler were focusing on warming their hands. Trayden got his phone to text his parents, and update them that everyone was safely over at Hunter's house and warm. The response was a little comical too.

Dad's Cell, 9:56 pm
Good, we're happy to hear it. Please tell Hunter thank you from us, and also, I give you permission to smack your brother, Dexter, upside the back of the head for not following my instructions to keep your siblings at his apartment. Let us know if the situation changes at all, and we'll hopefully not have more problems tomorrow. Tell those from our family that we love you all and will see you soon.

"My dad says thank you from him and mom," Trayden told Hunter.

"It's no problem at all. I'm not about to let you or your siblings freeze," Hunter replied. "I have more than enough room here," He added.

"Even with our friends present?" Trayden questioned.

"Of course. There's the two guest rooms, an office, and the spare room upstairs that Greg uses when he stays over. And there is always right here in the main room too. I got pillows and blankets stashed in the garage. Might even have a few cots and sleeping bags," He informed while patting Trayden's shoulder. "So don't worry. We're all going to be fine," He reassured.

Trayden nodded to him. "I believe you. Now, excuse me while I go kick my brother's ass. Dad's orders," Trayden moved over to Dexter and smacked him right upside the back of the head.

"Ow! What the fu-," Dexter held his head and glared.

"Watch your mouth, little brother," Trayden cut him off from finishing the word. "There are still kids present," He added. "We need to talk," Trayden grabbed his arm and practically dragged him off into one of the guest room, then closed the door. "Dad to told me to smack you for not listening to what he said. You were specifically told weather could get bad and keep our brothers and sister at your apartment, not drag them out to your girlfriends' place," Trayden remarked. Dexter mumbled a bit.

"Yeah…Well I wasn't even supposed to originally watch them. Mom and dad wanted you to, but you wouldn't answer your phone," Dexter tried to deflect the conversation.

"Doesn't matter what the original plan was supposed to be. And for the record, my phone has been dead since about 4 pm. I only just got it on the charger when I got to Hunter's two hours ago." Trayden scolded, folding his arms over one another. "What would you have done had I not been this close? Let your girlfriend and our siblings freeze to death? Did you have a plan if the weather did get bad, and can still get worse?" He continued. "Don't blame your mistakes on me. You're almost twenty, Dex. You need to grow up and take responsibility for your actions and tonight your actions endangered our brothers and sister," Trayden glared. Dexter sighed and looked down.

"I'm sorry, okay?," Dexter said. "I only went over to see her because she was upset about something that happened when she was leaving work. I guess her ex showed up and giving her a hard time…Trying to get her back, touching her arms and face, moving too close when she moved away. He told her that he always got what he wanted, and she was scared to be at her house alone,"

"That isn't helping your case any, Dexter. Now you're telling me you purposely took our siblings over to a place where your girlfriend could have been attacked by a crazy ex-boyfriend," Trayden scoffed.

"No, no…I went over when she called the police to report him. I stayed with her while they kept an officer on her place and the rest went to arrest find the guy. Once they had him, the cop left and I just stayed to console her. Natalie came with Skyler a bit later on because you know they're best friends and Nat was trying to cheer her up. By the time we saw the weather, it was too late to leave. I did tell dad what was going on, but only got as far as saying we were at Lyla's. My phone had died before I could explain. The twins didn't have theirs, and Cole was grounded for a week from his. I think Natalie and Skyler's weren't getting service. Lyla's was dead and that happened right before you showed up, then we lost power…" Dexter explained.

"Regardless…It was still dangerous, Dex…Things could have been a lot worse if Hunter didn't tell me that dad called stated of emergency and I went to check my phone. It was charging and still powered off from when it died. As soon as he mentioned you being at Lyla's, I offered to go over and check in, so I guess it's a damn good thing I didn't just say I'm sure they are fine." Trayden remarked. "We'll explain things dad tomorrow, pending weather and how things go with getting Cole, Erik, and Ava home. But I'm being serious…You need to grow up and not pass blame. Understand?" Dexter nodded to him. "Good. Now, let's get back to the others," Trayden sighed and opened the door to exit and join the rest. Dexter returned to the fire as Trayden just leaned on the wall.

"You okay?" Hunter questioned, coming beside him.

"Yeah, I'm just glad they're all okay," Trayden smiled. "Thank you again,"

"Anytime," Hunter replied.

"So…Are these all your friends, Trayden?" Ava wondered curiously.

"Mmhm," Trayden nodded to her.

"Can we meet them?" Cole asked.

"I suppose so," Trayden moved over to stand behind them. "There's Thaxter, Bryan, Nicole or Nikki, Chelsea, Devon, Elijah or Eli, Devon, Olivia, Oliver, and Jason," Trayden pointed to each person he named off. "And this is Hunter," He added. "You know the rest of them," Trayden chuckled, referring to Hailey, Ethan, Alyssa, Ford, Shane, Tyler, Rylee, and Addilyn.

"And these are all your siblings, Trayden?" Olivia questioned.

"Not all them," Trayden replied. "Mine are and in order…This is Dexter, then the twins, Ava and Erik, and finally, Cole,"

"Oh, I see how it is…You don't love me anymore," Natalie teased.

Trayden rolled his eyes. "I do love you, but if we're going off biologically related, we aren't," He stated. "This is Natalie, and her little brother Skyler. Natalie is basically a little sister me, our families lived next door to one another on Eyja Nott," Trayden explained. "And next to Dexter on his right is Lyla, she's his girlfriend," He added after a short pause in introductions.

"Well, now that everyone knows one another," Hunter stated, moving up beside Trayden. "I think we should figure out sleeping arrangements because my assumption is that no one is going anywhere tonight with the storm and state of emergency," He informed.

In agreement, everyone sat down to discuss how things would go for the night. Most of it was easy because the boys never cared about sharing one room, and neither did the girls. The only change up were Trayden's siblings, Natalie, Skyler, and Lyla. The girls, Lyla, Natalie, and Ava would be rooming in Hiccup's office. There was a futon in there, so Hunter set it up in bed form with pillows and blankets. Lyla took the cot option, and the boys, Dexter, Cole, Erik, and Skyler would be upstairs in the room above the living room, that you had to use the garage stairway up to reach. With all those places set, the question finally got asked where Trayden would be sleeping then since all other rooms were at full occupancy.

"I'll just sleep on the couch," Trayden responded once asked. "It's pretty comfortable,"

"Yeah, you were out like a light on New Year's Day," Thaxter snickered with a few of the others. Trayden rolled his eyes, he only slept in because he stayed up later to help Hunter clean up a bit, then waited to fall asleep.

"Trayden and I went to bed last that night because we cleaned most everything up from the party. Originally, it had just been me cleaning, but Trayden offered to help since he was still up anyway. We both didn't really get to bed until about 3:30, probably 4 am by the time we knocked out," Hunter informed.

"Oh, that explains why everything was cleaned when we woke up," Devon pointed out.

"Tray and I stayed up for an hour or so cleaning everything up. All that needed to be done the next morning was splitting up food, taking out the trash, dishes, sweeping, and vacuuming. Which takes hardly any time at all," Hunter shrugged.

"Agreed," Trayden nodded.

"Chores take forever," Erik mumbled.

"Not when you have a friend," Trayden and Hunter said at the same time, then laughed. It was the same as it had been before, Hunter and Trayden being on the same wavelength with their thoughts or how they felt about something. And it was steadily becoming more clear to everyone now that Hunter and Trayden could be closer as friends than anyone would have first guessed given the two met almost two months ago come February 2nd. Everyone was suddenly interested in seeing how close and where things might end up.