The Journey Into Us

Pairing: Hiccup X Toothless
Rating:
M for Mature

Disclaimer:I do not own anything HTTYD-related.

Chapter 45

=Normal POV=
(Wednesday, 1/28/2020; 10:30 am)
(Barbarchi City, Archipelago)
(Trayden's Apartment)

The last few days were spent with Trayden and Blake catching up from the last few months that it was believed Blake was dead overseas from an IED blast. The males continued to share the one bedroom, with Blake on the pullout bed. Obviously, the two males shared the whole apartment and worked together to keep it cleaned and stocked with food. Trayden liked the arrangement, but knew it was only until Blake found a new apartment to live in. Currently, the man was looking for a new job. Something easy, but would make him the money he needed to support himself. Trayden was sitting at home today, he'd cleaned up a bit and was now folding the last of his laundry load. Trayden wasn't sure when Blake was coming back, and he also didn't know what he was going to do with the rest of his day.

I should message Hunter and see what he's up to. I don't want him to think that he's been forgotten just because Blake is back. Trayden thought as he smiled some, got his phone to message Hunter.

~Hey, what's up?~

Trayden hoped he'd be available to talk, Trayden kind of missed their conversations. They had talked a bit over the last couple of days, but more of basic talk to check in on each other and see what they were doing. As Trayden was taking a drink of his water bottle, his phone buzzed with an alert, and checking it, Trayden found the reply from Hunter.

Hunter's Cell, 10:35 am
Hi! ^_^ Was totally not staring at the phone wondering if I should message you or not. And not much, sitting around and bored with trying to find music for a few more routines. What about you?

~That's right, you're opening again soon. I keep forgetting it's the end of January. Lol. I'm also sitting around. Blake is out looking for a job and possible apartment choices, so kind'a bored. Need some help with music, I can call or come over to help? Or you could come here if you want. If we can't think of anything, Blake could potentially lend some suggestions too.~

Hunter's Cell, 10:37 am
Oh, that sounds great. You can come here, if you want to. I've got the dancers here, for practice, but only until noon. We've been at this since 8 am. Blake can come too if he wants, or welcome to come later since you said he wasn't there right now.

Trayden smiled, he was glad to get to go over to Hunter's. He had made some decisions that he did want to tell Hunter that he liked him, but wanted the right time to do it. With others around wasn't how Trayden wanted it to go.

~Kay. I'll leave word with Blake and drop by to help. Maybe we can hang after they leave? I miss you and last time we tried to hang everyone showed up /~

Hunter's Cell, 10:38 am
Yay! And totally fine with that. I was going to ask if you'd like to stay once they leave anyway. So yes, we can absolutely hang. Miss you too, handsome. Now, hurry up! Kidding on the rushing, of course!

Trayden laughed a little, getting up and finishing his drink then preparing to get his stuff to leave. As he was grabbing his wallet and keys, Blake came through the door. "Heading off?" Blake asked.

Trayden nodded. "Yeah…Hunter sort of enlists my help with music for the dance routines he does with some of the people you met on Sunday," He explained.

"Oh?" Blake grinned. "What kind of dancing? I don't think you mentioned that when we talked about your boy crush," He teased as Trayden blushed a little.

Clearing his throat, Trayden looked at Blake with a smile. "Hunter is…A male stripper. He's been doing it since he was eighteen, working in the strip bar that Gregory owns. He just jumped in and helped one time and it stuck. That's how he met Dev, Eli, Jay, Bry, and the girls too." Trayden enlightened. "Greg had the joint remodeled after the New Year, and advised Hunter come up with some new material to mix with some of the old favorites. They started having trouble finding music and I got involved on New Year's Eve during the party with some of my ideas. Now Hunter asks for my expertise when they get stuck," He continued with a shrug.

"Well, that sounds fun. If you need help, message or call me!" Blake offered.

"Hunter invited you to come along," Trayden stated.

Blake laughed some and shook his head. "Nah. You go help him out because something tells me when practice is over, you and Hunter are going to practice moves of your own," The male smirked.

Trayden's face lit up with embarrassment. "BLAKE!" Trayden scolded.

"Was I wrong?" Blake wiggled his eyebrows at Trayden.

His cheeks were red from blushing. "I told you that it's never just agreed we'll hook up…We only hang and if things end up there, fine…If not, we're just chilling as friends." Trayden muttered.

"I know, but it's so fun to mess with you and see you get all worked up over someone. You never did that with girls in the past, or even guys when you had that bisexual phase. So this is a bit exciting, little brother," Blake revealed. Trayden still stared at him, unamused until his phone alerted him of a message. Looking down to the device, he found a message from Hunter and didn't realize his face changed to a smile.

Hunter's Cell, 10:45 am
So…You coming? You never said for sure, so just confirming? XD

~Yes, I'm coming. Sorry. Blake just walked in, was telling him where I was going and now he's being mean to me .~

Hunter's Cell, 10:46 pm
Aw, my poor Tray. Come to me, you'll be safe. Lol! What's he doing that is mean?

~I'll tell you later when there isn't an audience on either side…On my way.~

Trayden slipped the phone away, seeing Blake right next to him and smirking. Trayden figured out right away that Blake was next to him and had seen the messages. "Go on…Run to him," Blake teased.

"Oh, shut up!" Trayden shoved him playfully. "I'll hit you up later, pain in my ass,"

"Bye!" Blake waved as Trayden snatched his keys off the counter and headed out the door. Trayden went right to the elevator, got on ground level, then exited the building to get to his car. Buckling up, he started the vehicle and headed for Hunter's.

. . .

(1:15 pm)
(Hunter's House)

Trayden finally arrived at Hunter's house, and the man was instantly opening the main door and coming out to see Trayden getting out of Blake's jeep. "Did you decide to come together? Or Tray finally get a new vehicle?" Hunter wondered with a smile.

"No, no. I'm just dropping him off," Blake stated gently.

"What happened?" Hunter asked when he saw Trayden's less than enthused face.

"Tell ya inside. Thanks, Blake…" Trayden smiled a bit.

"No prob, little brother. Everything good? Message me when you want to come back, unless you're spending the night." Blake questioned.

"I'll hit you up later with that information," Trayden replied.

"Got it. Have fun!" Blake waved, got back in his jeep and headed off.

"Come on, seems like it's serious. I know relaxing on my couch with a beer can fix that," Hunter invited, leading Trayden inside his home and then closing the door before continuing forward into the living room. Hunter grabbed them both a beer and the two male sat next to one another, but facing the other. "Here you go. Now, talk to me? Your last message was about three hours ago that you were on your way,"

"I was on my way when I said…About four blocks from here at the intersection near your job, it was my green light and some four door truck cut across, smacked into my car on the passenger side," Trayden informed.

"Oh my gods!" Hunter gasped.

"No serious injuries, couple scrapes and some bruising that will clear up in a few days. My car is…Gone," Trayden mumbled.

"A-Are you sure? I've restored cars in accidents before," Hunter offered.

"No, it's gone, Hunt. The back wheel is fucked, all the windows broke, the frame…It was marked as totaled by the tow-truck. It would cost more to fix than it would be for me to find another car. My phone was among the broken stuff. I guess I was half unconscious when police and paramedics arrived. I knocked out on the ride to the hospital, woke up to Blake and my family in the emergency room. Statements and the usual shit for an accident report. I was checked out released. Blake took me to get a new phone, I have it, just not set up yet. He asked if I wanted to go home and rest, but I said I wanted to come here to see you…So yeah. That's why I was late…" Trayden explained.

"Odin above…" Hunter said, still shocked. "You should have gone home to rest,"

"I knew you'd panic if I didn't tell you what happened as I'm hours late arriving. I saw how you got on Christmas," Trayden gave a small smile. Hunter stopped whatever he was about to say, and nodded, understanding that it was true.

"You could have messaged me when you got the phone set up." Hunter countered finally.

"I know…But like I said, I wanted to see you anyway and I'm not severely injured or concussed." Trayden stated.

"Well, I guess I'm honored that you still wanted to see me," Hunter chuckled some. "I'm glad you are okay."

"I'm sorry that I missed helping you and the others with music," Trayden glanced down.

"Hey, don't even worry about it. The others weren't really focusing anyway and when you didn't come by 11:30, I just sent them home." Hunter smiled. "We have enough new stuff for a great show this year anyway. The extra was backup, in case special events or surprising the audience. We're good to reopen in a few days," He informed. "Will you be joining on opening night?" Hunter hoped.

"In what context do you refer to me joining?" Trayden wondered.

"Coming to see it, or possibly working with," Hunter shrugged, leaving it open to either.

"We agreed that next time we hang out, you'd have to tell me more about the job before I made that choice." Trayden reminded.

"Ah, we did say that last Sunday, didn't we?" Hunter nodded. "Well, what do you want to know?" He inquired.

"Anything and everything I'd need to know to make the decision. I told you to entice me," Trayden giggled a bit. "So, pitch it to me." He added.

Hunter laughed a little. "Want me to use my work announcer voice or normal conversation?" He joked, just to lighten the mood because he felt that Trayden was still pretty bummed out to have lost his car earlier in a freak accident.

"Whichever you want, I like both," Trayden smiled.

"We'll go normal so I don't throw it before work in four days," Hunter remarked gently. "I already talked to Greg about this too, so if you decide to join our lovely little Fantasies' family, you've got the job secured." He informed as the heads up. Trayden nodded, understanding. "So working for Wild Fantasies, you already know there is set up, operational hours, and break down every shift from your previous job with the bar. The two main types of the strip show and the bar." He began.

"Got that much so far," Trayden replied.

"Bar work has it's subcategories of bartending and server. Bartender is obviously much like you've already done. Serving is also something you're familiar with. The only difference is that we have separate servers for delivering food and drinks. It's just easier that there is no issues with servers who are under drinking age have to find someone to deliver the drinks to a table and that the server doesn't have to go all the way to the kitchen. Little bit easier," Hunter explained softly.

"Good idea," Trayden complimented.

"So you get the bartending side as you've done it for so long. The show side has multiple spots too. Performer, technical support, music, costume change and fixing." Hunter mentioned while Trayden nodded that he did get the bartending part and was somewhat more interested in the show sector as it would be new for him. "I don't expect you'd be doing any dancing unless you suddenly got into the idea of taking your clothes off for strangers and letting them touch you. As I told Ethan, you only get out of hotseats if you're in a relationship." Hunter continued his explanation.

"No matter how much I come out of my shell, I'd likely never do that. Only…Because of who my father is. Almost everyone close enough recognizes me as one of the mayor's children." Trayden blushed a bit.

"Understandable, but the idea with you working in the show would be like…An assistant to me," Hunter chuckled. "We've had a lot of issues with the music system messing up while no one is there to watch it, and it's interrupted shows plenty of times. So in the show perspective, if I was out performing on stage or with hotseats, you'd be managing the music to make sure nothing happens. It sucks for me to have to stop what I'm doing to go back and fix it and it sucks for whoever was enjoying their hotseat moment, make sense?"

"Perfect," Trayden nodded. "I do know my way around most sound systems. Basic issues are song file corruption, loose wire, faulty equipment," he listed.

"Yes, very good. And while I do a general check over of everything, I often get pulled away to help with costume fix or running through moves that might have needed a little work and ran out of practice time. So…In this sense, you could help me with the checks and sort of double check me. I know nothing is perfect and there could be issues still, but with you running all that, I don't have to leave my spot and ruin the experience," Hunter mentioned calmly, and smiling. And the times I'm not performing, you could bartend, or help with preparing the others to go out. Making sure everything stays organized and so on,"

"Guess it seems pretty easy," Trayden stated. "So how do hours and everything work?" He questioned.

"Well, you wouldn't be expected to join practices unless we needed some extra help, like today with maybe more music options. So you get out of those, unless you want to join as part of the show crew. I'm sure you've noticed that when we're practicing, only the dancers are here. The rest don't come unless it's a party." Hunter said as Trayden nodded to him, having realized that. "Show-wise…You'd be looking at coming in maybe half an hour before we open to the public, give that second look-over, review the schedule, and potentially jump into help with costume fixings. That is meant as it a zipper, buttoning, etc.," He enlightened.

"But you said you set your own hours, so would I go times you're not there?" Trayden wondered gently.

"You'd probably be on a set your own schedule type thing as well," Hunter informed. "We do have other staff that work as assistants, but none really work with the music as the set up is mine. It's basically my child and no one touches it unless I trust them not to screw it up. So for the show, if a day hits where maybe I'm sick or have something to do, say an appointment, house needs work…I could go in for a few hours to set up the system to play their set, excluding my own numbers. If that makes sense?" Hunter said.

"So days you didn't work with the show, I don't work?" Trayden arched a brow.

"No, you could always hit up Greg and ask if he needs an extra set of hands. You could side manage the show if I wasn't there and something did go wrong. If one of the others had a mix up or something and you were there, you could jump into handle it." Hunter stated. "You'd never be stuck on a position indefinitely. If you bartend, Greg would likely be there, and another employee, so if you had to dart over behind stage, you wouldn't get yelled at for not being in your place. Get it?" Hunter smiled.

Trayden nodded. "I suppose so. So you're saying the other assistants would be there if a day off was needed or something?" He wanted to confirm.

"Like a cover system. And there could be times you come for a bit, then maybe you have an event with your family for your dad and need to bail. That cover thing is for those situations. And as I mentioned, even nights you work full shifts…We all work together to clean up and close the place. Unless we're staying late to celebrate a good night or something…We're all usually out by 12:30-1 am. And coming in…The earliest I've been there is probably 2 pm. Again, you will not work crazy hours with us. You won't be asked to work before begins, or ends. You won't work every single day. It's strictly your decision and by no means required to take a cover shift. Believe me, Greg does have others he can call, but he'll call his most reliable first," Hunter explained.

"Seems fair," Trayden responded.

"Oh, and here's the more enticing parts!" Hunter beamed. "You can have shift drinks, spread out and water in between. Basically, don't get to the point you can no longer work your job. Depending on the length of your shift, you get more than one break. So…Example being. Say you come in for just…Four hours, you get one half hour break, unpaid. Work between five and seven hours, you get a fifteen minute paid break and one thirty-minute unpaid. Eight or more hours, you'll get two fifteen minute breaks, paid and one hour unpaid. It usually goes paid, unpaid, then paid again. If you happen to work twelve hours…You get the two paid fifteen minute breaks, and also the hour unpaid, but the hour is split up into two parts," Hunter informed happily.

"Does sound nice having adequate time to relax during a shift," Trayden agreed with the idea, becoming more interested.

"Oh, and get paid about $16 an hour, plus tips you make working bar or server. Working show it's flat rate $12 an hour, plus tips you'd get as a dancer, which you don't have to worry about. But then the bartenders make $7 or $8 an hour, plus their tips. Servers make about $5 or $6 and tips. But Greg decided to just round it off to one even rate because we all work together to make the business run," Hunter enlightened. After a moment of pause, Hunter leaned closer as Trayden felt his cheeks heat up. Hunter pecked Trayden's lips gently, then drew back. "Have I…Enticed you?" He asked, hoping hard that he did.

Trayden giggled and smiled. "Yes, yes…You have enticed and convinced me to take your offer," He gave in.

"What part was the deal-breaker?" Hunter pushed.

"When you kissed me just now," Trayden replied.

"I figured that might do the trick," Hunter grinned as Trayden shook his head. "So congratulations, Mr. Raseri. We'd love to have you aboard our Wild Fantasies team. Please join us, February 1st for our grand reopening and your training. Wear something comfortable and casual, bring your ID or license, and social security card." He said in a somewhat formal and cheerful voice.

"Yes, sir," Trayden answered as the two laughed again, then took a drink and just like that it was the start of any other hangout they had.