The Journey Into Us
Pairing: Hiccup X Toothless
Rating: M for Mature
Disclaimer:I do not own anything HTTYD-related.
Chapter 41
=Normal POV=
(Sunday, 1/25/2020; 11:00 am)
(Barbarchi City, Archipelago)
(Trayden's Apartment)
Trayden had a good time the rest of Saturday with Hunter, they just talked about happier topics after Trayden had told Hunter about Blake death and meaning in his life because Hunter could tell that things were still fresh to Trayden and didn't want to stay on it. After all, the man had just been killed overseas less than a year ago, so Hunter didn't want to keep Trayden in a sad mood. It made sense why Trayden lost his drive with music stuff, the loss of the person who was basically his older brother and mentor for music things was gone, so Trayden's drive for it seemed to be gone as well. Trayden did spend the night, but they stayed sober and didn't do anything sexual. Trayden had gotten home at 8:30 am, needing to shower, check on his place and prepare for his mother's birthday party at 4 pm at Meade Hall. Trayden was actually annoyed because his siblings were still trying to get him to take part other than managing the music from his phone. He had yelled at them to cut it out and leave him be because it wasn't happening. That happened first thing this morning and one of the reasons that Trayden left Hunter's earlier than normal, because he was aggravated and didn't want to rant to Hunter.
Trayden finally settled down onto his couch after a shower and making something for breakfast around 9:30 am. Trayden tidied up, and had his clothes for the party set out on his bed. There was nothing left to do but sit around and watch TV until it was time to go at 3:00 pm, he was going early to make sure everything was set up with instruments, microphones, sound system, and whatnot. While relaxing on the couch, he felt his phone vibrate and reached to the end table to pick it up and check. A message from his father.
Dad's Cell, 11:01 am
Morning, son. I'm not going to try and get you to perform like your siblings. They told me about it upon getting home last night, so I know better. But for what it's worth, I don't think Blake would want you to give up something you both loved just because he's gone.
Trayden sighed, tapping the box to reply.
~Dad…You just said you weren't going to try, and saying that is a way to try and get me to change my mind. Now, what do you want…~
Dad's Cell, 11:04 am
You're right, I'm sorry. Anyway…There's going to be a lot of food and drinks at the party, more than what we originally planned for people who were going to come to it. Mom suggested letting you kids invite your friends. You know how we are, if they are your friends then they are family. Blake being the best example…Moving on! Invite your friends to come, mom said you can invite your school friends and the strippers. Sorry, didn't know what else to call that group. Love you! See you at 3ish.
Trayden rolled his eyes, but guessed it wasn't so bad. This likely meant some of mom's friends couldn't come and they had space to fill and figured her children would be bored and didn't want them to be. Trayden shrugged and pulled up the messages with Hunter to let him know about the invite, then Hunter could pass it along to the others. Trayden recalled Hunter saying that Sunday was typically their rest day from work things.
~Hey. Not sure if you're sick of seeing or hanging out with me yet, but my mom's party is down quite the number of people and there will be a lot of food meant to feed a good portion of people that will be missing. Music and food, feel like bringing your work crew to Meade Hall around 4 pm. Dad said he and mom wanted to extend the party invite out to the friends of their kids. So yeah…Invite extended to you and the others. I'm gonna message the school gang too.~
Trayden sent it off and then set the phone in his lap while taking a drink and started channel surfing to kill time. At this rate, he would end up setting an alarm and taking a nap. Half an hour later, Trayden got a response from Hunter, and smiled, secretly hoping Hunter was down to come if not the others.
Hunter's Cell, 11:35 am
Lol. I am appalled you would even consider that I'd get sick of hanging out with and seeing you! I'd never, Tray. Seriously, I'm never bored and it's always a good time. As for the invite. Hell yeah I'll come. The others will too. Sorry for late response, I was waiting to see if they were down too. Save time in waiting for replies to let you know. Is there any particular dress code?
Trayden smiled, happy Hunter was going to come, and the others too. He'd already heard from his school friends, they were obviously down for it. Trayden focused on his message.
~Casual dress, Hunt. Jeans or dress pants, polo or button down shirt. If you really want to feel fancy, button down with a tie. But no real dress code, just nothing ripped or too revealing.~
Trayden went back to watching whatever he'd found on TV. It wasn't a usual for him, but it would do to kill time until 2:45 when he left to arrive at the location for 3 pm.
. . .
(4:00 pm)
(Meade Hall)
Trayden did end up falling asleep after messaging Hunter that he was going to relax until the party, admitting he was a bit more tired than he believed from staying up until 1 am with Hunter on Sunday morning. Trayden made sure to set his alarm for 2:30 pm to give himself time to use the bathroom, change clothes, and then get out the door by no later than 2:50 pm. Trayden reached the hall for 3:05 pm with traffic, finding Dexter, Lyla, and Natalie there with Cole, Ava, and Erik in tow. The instruments were being set up, so Trayden gave his wave greeting and got to work on microphones, and sound things. His parents arrived at 3:45 pm, along with other guests and some friends. Erik's girlfriend and Ava's boyfriend were among that pack of people too. Trayden did shoot them a smile and promised to be over soon as he was helping with more set up. When 4 pm came, Hunter and his group strolled behind a worker for the hotel.
"Here you are, ladies and gentlemen," The worker smiled, bowing out and walking away.
"Great. Thanks!" Hunter replied to him. Trayden smiled and walked over.
"Glad you could make it," Trayden said.
"Wouldn't miss a party with you for lap dance from Jay," Hunter joked.
"HEY!" Jason whined as Trayden stifled a laugh.
"Well, then I'm honored," Trayden remarked. "Come on. You don't have to meet any of my parents' friends. Just them, I promised they could meet my new friends," He led them in more to his parents. "Fair warning, my mother is a super happy individual and she'll act like a grandmother who hasn't seen family for a month," He warned as the group with him chuckled a bit. "And if you hurt her kids, she'll turn into an aggressive, mouthy, mama bear."
"It's no problem, Tray. She's your mom and it's her party. Let her be," Hunter replied. Trayden nodded, reaching his parents.
"Mom, dad…As promised," He got their attention when they finished greeting other friends. "These are my new friends," He added.
"Oh, wonderful!" Rachel beamed.
"It's an honor to meet you both, Mr. and Mrs. Raseri," Hunter greeted, shaking Dustin's hand, then Rachel's, who ended up just hugging him. Trayden only watched through all the introductions, and loved the reactions of his friends who all were hugged by his mother.
"We're pleased to finally get to meet you all. We've heard so much from Trayden about you, and from his siblings too who got to spend the night at your house, Hunter. I must again, thank you, now in person for allowing," Dustin said to Hunter.
"It was no trouble at all, Mr. Raseri. Trayden is one of my best friends, there isn't anything I wouldn't do for him. Just the same as I'd do anything for the rest of my friends." Hunter replied respectfully. "And a happy birthday to you, Mrs. Raseri. From all of us at Wild Fantasies,"
"Thank you. And please, call me Rachel or mom," Rachel giggled. "If you're friends to my children, then you are family,"
"And everyone can call me Dustin, same rules as my wife. Friends are just the family you chose to add to your life," Dustin nodded. "Now, run along and have fun!" He chuckled.
"Fun is what we do best," Devon gave a thumbs up as Dustin and Rachel headed off to continue greeting or speaking to other guests.
"Your parents are awesome," Thaxter mentioned.
"I wish mine had been that cool with my friends growling up," Bryan laughed a bit. "My dad is Victor Grimborn and works alongside my uncle, Ricky Grimborn. They're both private investigators for Grimborn P.I." He paused. "Well dad is the P.I. Uncle Ricky is the officer who works with him,"
"So they work with the police and likely know Shane and Addilyn's father, Chief Jorgenson?" Trayden questioned and Bryan nodded.
"My mom is Mayoress of Meathead Island," Thaxter shrugged.
"Mine is mayoress of Bog Isle," Chelsea informed. "Don't know my dad. Mom had an anonymous donor for In-Vitro,"
"My dad is a top doctor in the Archipelago," Natalie smiled. "Mom works as a doctor too, Obstetrician," She added.
"Never knew my mom, dad said they divorced shortly after I was born. And dad was military, Navy to be specific and was killed in some ship accident when I was eighteen," Devon remarked.
"Mom died giving birth to Olivia and me. Dad works as Chief of Outcast Police Division," Oliver said.
"Eli and I met in the orphanage," Jason stated.
"Jay's parents were killed in a car crash when he was three. Mine died in a house fire when I was five. We ended up in the same place and got adopted separately, but stayed close," Eli explained.
"My…Mother was a Veterinarian, and my father, a military man," Hunter mentioned calmly, but Trayden and the others knew that he despised talking about them in any way. Trayden had to assume that it was just for job comparison as it was the topic they ended up on. "And yet, despite all the different backgrounds, we ended up meeting and becoming strippers," He laughed.
"Background doesn't matter," Trayden smiled. "Just like dad said, friends are just family you choose to have in your life." He repeated. "Come on, I'll take you over to the others. Made sure you'd have tables next to one another when I got here at 3 to help set up music and whatnot," The group nodded and walked with Trayden to the other friends, who all greeted one another. Trayden had his place at the head table with his family, but was right next to the others and Hunter obviously chose the seat closest to him. The food was buffet style, and the tables were arranged so that everyone was facing the entertainment area and dance floor. Right now, everyone was just hanging around and chatting.
Around 4:15, everyone had arrived according to Dustin and he went to the microphone to address the guests. Unfortunately, the man was struggling with getting people to settle down and getting the device to work. Dustin motioned for Trayden to come up to him and Trayden excused himself from his friends to go see what his dad needed. "What's up, Dad?" He asked.
"The microphone isn't working and I can't get everyone's attention without it," Dustin explained.
"I'll fix the microphone," Trayden stated.
"How will everyone hear me over all this?" Dustin inquired.
"Just stay put and gimme a sec," Trayden mumbled as he took the microphone off the stand, then faced the guests. Trayden set his middle and thumb finger to the corners of his mouth and gave a loud whistle, the room went silent almost immediately. "Still works as good as it did at Andy's bar when he needed to make last call," Trayden chuckled to himself. "Good to know," He shrugged and looked at the microphone, finding that his father didn't turn it on. He flipped the switch and handed it back before beginning his was to his friends.
"What was wrong with it?" Dustin wondered.
"It was OE, Dad," Trayden replied, still walking.
"What's that mean?" Dustin questioned further.
Dexter sighed and shook his head. "OE stands for Operator Error, Dad," He informed. "Trayden's just being a smartass,"
"Rather be a smartass than a dumbass," Trayden countered, reaching his group of friends and turning to face forward again. "You didn't turn the switch on for the mic, Dad…That's why it wasn't working," He sighed.
"Oh! My bad then…" Dustin laughed a little, rubbing the back of his head with a nervous smile.
"Carry on," Trayden told his dad.
Dustin nodded and went about giving his opening words about thanking people for coming out to celebrate his wife's birthday. It was the big fifty. Dustin had turned that age last July in 2019 on the 29th being that he was a few months older than his wife. The ending speech was that he loved his family, a happy birthday to the love of his life, and that he hoped everyone would enjoy the entertainment which everyone close to them would remember as Furies Roar. Trayden about groaned, but kept it to himself and went with an eye roll instead. All said and done as Dustin left the microphone on the stand while Dexter, Ava, Erik, and Cole took their spots, then Natalie, Lyla, and the Raseri's twins' boyfriend and girlfriend. Trayden had already informed friends of their names. Erik's girlfriend's name was Nova Riddari, and Ava's boyfriend went by Fredrick Knight. Cole was single, but had brought a female friend named Elizabeth Gunvaldsen.
All these people hailed from Eyja Nott, and grown up knowing one another. Everyone lived close to one another, so it made it easy to do family picnics and become a growing group known as Furies Roar. The only one not up there with the rest was Trayden, who knew that Blake would want him to keep doing it, but Trayden just didn't have the drive and it still hurt to know Blake was gone. Maybe one day, the desire would come back, but it likely wouldn't be today. Unless Trayden got some kind of sign that he should, it wasn't happening. So Trayden sat with his parents, and friends watching the others perform Dinner would happen around 5 or 5:30, everyone was just waiting on the catering service to arrive and set up, so it was entertainment, talking, and dancing if anyone wanted. The liver performances would happen all night, breaks would be needed, so then it would switch to just DJ style of playing pre-recorded songs from a phone or computer.
Trayden had his hands in his lap, and felt a hand on his. He looked over to see that hand connected to an arm belonging to Hunter. No words needed to be said, Hunter was trying to comfort him and silently say that he was right there for him. It was small, but it meant a lot to Trayden. He adjusted his hand so that they were now holding hands, linking up their fingers to secure the hold. Trayden gave him a look that read thank you. Hunter only smiled and gave a small nod to represent you're welcome and anytime. The two looked back to the show, not wanting to draw attention to themselves, but it was steadily becoming clearer to Trayden that Hunter might feel something towards him just like Trayden was feeling for Hunter.
. . .
(6:30 pm)
Two and a half hours into the party and things had been fine. The catering service arrived at 5:10 pm and everything was set up fifteen minutes later. People had gotten their food and music played off the laptop Trayden brought with a specific playlist for this event. After the meal was over, an array of dessert items were put out to replace the food. The best part of these treats is that all of it could stay wrapped and snacked on as wanted by guests. With it being 6:30 now, people had their time to start digesting and be able to pick back up with moving around to conversate or dance. Furies Roar was back to doing live songs they knew or could manage. Most songs were light instrument playing or singing with the music only audio. Some were full song and singing, then there were a few that they had to turn down requests for because they needed Trayden and he refused the request many times since the idea was brought up. After the last one, he actually got annoyed and went outside for air, and that's where he was now.
"I told you kids not to push him with it," Dustin sighed after Trayden refused to take part in the show for probably the fifteenth time that night.
"We just don't understand why he won't. He used to be all for it, as in the one saying let's do it," Erik mentioned to his father once Trayden walked away saying it was hot and he needed some air.
"You have to consider, kids, that the loss of Blake hit Trayden the hardest," Rachel reminded. "It hasn't even been a year, and Blake was the one who got Trayden into everything," She added, frowning some.
Hunter and the friends were right there and listening to everything. It was fairly hard not too with the closeness. Music was being handled by the laptop to give the band a break. "What are they talking about?" Addlilyn inquired.
"Who is Blake?" Thaxter questioned.
"Why would Trayden refuse to take part over this guy?" Alyssa wondered. "Is he an ex we don't know about?"
"Trayden wouldn't keep something like that from us. We know all his exes, there were never mentions of a Blake," Shane remarked.
"It wasn't an ex," Hunter sighed.
"And how do you know? We've known him longer…" Tyler said.
"I told you that Trayden and I get into long, deep talks about our lives and aspects of life in general," Hunter countered, folding his arms over one another. "Trayden has never been with a man, not while bisexual or gay," He added and closed his eyes. "Blake is an old friend of Trayden's from Eyja Nott. They were best friends, and last May, Blake was killed overseas on his second tour of duty." He explained calmly, and quietly. He knew Trayden hadn't told any of their friends yet, but Hunter hoped that this would save them from asking Trayden when he returned and possibly making the situation worse. "This is the friend that Trayden told us about at the New Year's celebration, the one who got him into fully understanding music. Apparently, also the one who Trayden started Furies Roar with. It was just the two of them, then grew out to the rest of the Raseri siblings, Natalie, Lyla, and everyone else we've seen tonight." Hunter continued. "When Blake died, it hit Trayden hard and he's thus since lose his drive to do anything musically-related other than listening to it,"
"And he told you all this?" Devon asked calmly.
Hunter nodded. "Last night after everyone left my house. I noticed he was looking down and offered myself to be there to listen if he wanted to talk about anything. So he just told me about the situation earlier that day with his siblings trying to get him to join in on today's activity," Hunter mentioned. "Blake died back in May in an IED blast. His body was never found, and Trayden hasn't been able to mourn much as he got busy with work in June, and he was dealing with the breakup from his ex, Rosanna," The friends stared at Hunter, surprised that Trayden told him, but not them. It was more of the school friends, though. The dancers were surprised at the reveal of Trayden's current mood, but they didn't care Trayden told Hunter something and not them. "So that is what Tray is upset about. He doesn't want to perform because it's still fresh, the loss that is, and it hurts him to do all the things he did with Blake right now while he's still mourning and getting through the loss," Hunter remarked gently. "Also, I only told you so you wouldn't pester him to tell you when he gets back…So respect that and don't bring it up," He added firmly. "I don't like seeing him like this,"
That comment was the one that made the friends realized that Hunter definitely had to feel something for Trayden as more than a friend. Now, the questions remaining were if Trayden felt something for Hunter, and if so…Where would their feelings take them? The guess was that Hunter and Trayden would end up together, dating as a couple. And secretly, the friends all hoped that would be the case.
