=Normal POV=
{Wedesday, March 9, 2022-2 pm}
(Archian Preparatory)
At the end of the day, Hiccup told his friends to help Astrid to his Jeep, and he would meet them there after getting a few things he forgot in the stables when he quit last Friday. Not arguing; the friends did what Hiccup asked while he wandered to the Dragon Training Field. Hiccup reached the stables and moved behind the back of it and slightly into the woods where the school cameras wouldn't pick him up.
"Johann," Hiccup said. There was some rustling as a man came out; he had brown hair, brown beard tied into a knot, and mustache. Also, there were blue-silvery eyes.
"Ah, Master Hiccup. So good to see you again, lad," Johann said.
"Likewise. You brought what I asked for?" Hiccup inquired. Johann opened his satchel, pulling out a yellow folder, and handing it to Hiccup.
"I trust it is the type of information you were looking for. I didn't have many chances to catch your targets," Johann stated. Hiccup flipped through the folder, and though there wasn't much; it would be enough to do what he was planning. Hiccup hid the folder away in his backpack and held his hand out to Johann.
"It will suffice," Hiccup said as Johann shook Hiccup's hand. "Excellent work as always; I knew I could count on you," he added.
"I'm pleased to hear that," Johann nodded as they pulled from the handshake.
"Payment for the task will come tonight at 6 pm," Hiccup stated.
"I look forward to it," Johann enlightened.
"Until next time, Johann," Hiccup remarked as he gave a whistle and Toothless came to his side. Hiccup threw his leg over the saddle. "Let's go, bud," Hiccup told his Night Fury. Toothless purred; then shot into the sky as Johann made his way into the shadows with a grin.
. . .
{Friday, March 11, 2022-11:55 am}
(Archian Preparatory Cafeteria)
On top of planning Astrid's 18th birthday party surprise, Hiccup was hard at work between his job and setting up the ultimate means of revenge on Eret, Nadia, Gruffnut, Thuggory, Camicazi, and Ragna that was sure to make them never doubt his ability to make things happen again. And today, Hiccup was setting it in motion. Hiccup carefully planned exactly how he was going to do things, but he wouldn't release all his blackmail at once; just a small taste of what he had to scare them and see if that worked to make them back off. Hiccup learned what upset Astrid more than the beating she took from the popular girls; they had destroyed her phone, and Astrid had messages on there from her parents. Hiccup had taken the phone from her, promising to salvage all he could. Astrid didn't have high hopes, but she let Hiccup try anyway. Of course, Hiccup managed to get everything back and put it all on a new phone he bought for her. Hiccup planned to give it to Astrid on her birthday and hoped she would like it.
Currently, it was the start of lunch hour, and Hiccup was ready with his first attack. Using his temporary phone that he got just for this situation; he prepared a mass message to go out to the entire senior class. When the time was right, he would press send and just watch everything unfold. Hiccup would destroy the phone when his work finished and make sure it couldn't get traced back to him. Hiccup sat with his friends, just waiting for the moment to strike. Hiccup saw the populars making their way to the cafeteria now as Hiccup pulled the phone out slightly but kept it under the table as he pulled up the message and hit the button. The message sent as he quickly hid the device and just sat back while a bunch of phones began to ding or vibrate with a new alert.
The room began to go quiet, murmuring, or laughing among themselves as they look at their phones. As the populars walked into the room to get at their table, people started laughing at them, pointing and whispering too. Hiccup relaxed a bit, waiting for it to happen.
"It's priceless…" someone whispered.
"Never knew cousin Gruff was like that," Ruffnut said, looking at her phone with Tuffnut.
"What are you losers going on about?" Gruffnut growled at them.
"Heh, guess he doesn't know he's the ass end of the joke," Hiccup said calmly with a shrug of his shoulders.
"You got nothing on me, Hiccup," Gruffnut stated coldly.
"Maybe not me, but everyone else does," Hiccup countered. Gruffnut glared at first; then more people began to talk.
"Who would have thought he'd be gay?" another giggled. Suddenly, Gruffnut's eyes widened.
"And such an obedient pussy too?" was said.
"No wonder he hangs around them; he'll do anything they say," came more laughter.
"And here we always thought he had a stick up his ass," someone said. Gruffnut bit his lower lip.
"No stick, just dick," more laughed.
Not understanding, Astrid looked at the screen of her phone finally. Instantly, her eyes widened in shock. What everyone was laughing a video collage of Gruffnut with another man, though, the second male's face was blurred and couldn't no one could identify who it was. There were pictures of Gruffnut making out, wearing a collar, dressed in barely anything and posing. There were even some of both males dressed, but the other one behind Gruffnut as Gruffnut had a pleasured look on his face, tongue out of his mouth, and enjoying what he was getting done to him. There were video clips, hearing the male tell Gruffnut what to do, and he'd listen and do it without arguing.
Astrid's eyes instantly went to Hiccup, who was the only one in the room who had a content, relaxing look on his face. Did he have something to do with this? She wondered. Gruffnut quickly backed away from the remaining five popular students.
"Gruff? What's wrong?" Nadia asked. Gruffnut shook his head, still moving away as the laughter continued.
"Hey, dude!" Thuggory called to him.
"I-I gotta go," Gruffnut turned heel and ran out of the lunchroom as fast as he could.
One down, five to go. Hiccup thought as he began eating his lunch. Astrid eyed him carefully but decided to let it go; Hiccup wouldn't have done something like that, would he?
. . .
{2:15 pm}
(Archian Prep; Main Office)
Gruffnut had not been seen since 12 pm. The group of populars tried to call and text him, but he refused to answer. However, none of them knew what happened to make Gruffnut leave so suddenly. Hiccup and his friends had left to do training at Hiccup's house as they had for an entire week now. The five remaining popular students were in a Study Hall until the principal, Mogadon Meatsen, thought of something to remedy the trainer situation, and as it was; he was still trying to get Hiccup to come back, but having no luck. At the moment, though, something else had been brought to Mr. Meatsen's attention, and he called Eret, Nadia, Ragna, Thuggory, and Camicazi to his office.
"I wonder why we're being called in…" Nadia wondered.
"You don't think Hiccup told Thug's dad about what we did to Hofferson on Wednesday, do you?" Ragna asked.
"He said he wouldn't," Eret stated.
"Yeah, well; I don't know what to make of Hiccup anymore," Camicazi shrugged.
"Every time we turn around; it's something new," Thuggory sighed. "Well, let's get this over with," he added while opening the door and the five of them walked in to see Mogadon waiting for them, and looking less than pleased. "Hey, Dad. What's up?"
"All five of you, in my office, now," Mogadon ordered. Nervously, the five of them moved into Mogadon's office and found a spot to stand as Mogadon closed the door and took his seat at the desk. "Do you five know why I called down here?"
"No, sir," they replied together. Mogadon turned the monitor of his computer towards them, then used his mouse to click play on the video he had up. It showed them cornering Astrid outside the office, giving her a hard time, and demanding she makes Hiccup come back as a trainer.
Instantly, the five knew they were in trouble because of someone recording what happened. "The worst part of this isn't even that Miss. Hofferson is being bullied by the six of you; it's that I didn't listen to Mr. Haddock when he said you were bullies and didn't want to deal with it anymore. Now I can see why he quit, and I am very disappointed in all of you. As well, I'm ashamed to have defended you and come to find out his accusations are very much true,"
"Now, there will be repercussions for this behavior. You are all suspended for a week, and upon returning, you will be serving five office detentions. During all this time; you will come up with suitable apologies to both Miss. Hofferson, and Mr. Haddock. Your parents have already been informed, and I will need to discuss with Stoick when would be an appropriate time to have you come by to deliver those apologies," Mogadon informed sternly. "And you will personally be asking Hiccup to return as the dragon trainer, and with any luck; he might agree,"
"Yes, father," Thuggory responded. The rest nodded.
"Wait, what about Gruffnut; he was in on it too," Eret said quickly.
"I'm afraid Mr. Thorston is no longer a student at this school," Mogadon informed, taking the five students entirely by surprise.
"D-Did he get expelled?" Camicazi asked softly.
"No. There was a humiliating situation earlier during lunch that caused Mr. Thorston to go to the Guidance Office, and drop out of Archian Preparatory. I'm afraid I don't know much about the matter, but as Gruffnut is over eighteen; he was free to leave when he wanted without parental consent," Mogadon stated.
"What was humiliating? We were with him and just ran off when people we laughing about something," Ragna asked. Mogadon sighed as he sat back in his chair.
"As I understand it; a video circulated the Senior Class at lunch showing Gruffnut's…Sexual Orientation as a Homosexual," Mogadon stated, shocking the teenagers. "Yes, and I believe that Gruffnut was not ready to…How do you kids say it these days? Come out of the closet?"
"What…Was the video? We never got anything?" Nadia inquired. Mogadon located the video on his computer and hit play as the five teens were able to see it clearly why everyone had been laughing at Gruffnut. Not only was Gruffnut gay, but very submissive, which was something they didn't expect from Gruffnut since he never acted that way around them.
"We don't know who sent the message out; it came from a number no one recognized," Mogadon stated. "Now, you're suspension begins Monday. I would advise you talk to all your teachers, and collect the assignments you will miss while you're gone," he added. Nodding, the teenagers left the office knowing their punishment.
"Who would have that kind of information?" Eret asked while they walked to their Study Hall room.
"Someone aiming to get back at him perhaps?" Nadia offered.
"Or at us…" Thuggory interjected. "Don't you think it's just a little odd that Gruffnut gets outed as a submissive gay at lunch, drops out, and then suddenly we're all in my dad's office to get smoked for bullying Astrid two days ago?"
"…Didn't Hiccup say to be careful because we never know who is watching and would turn it in?" Camicazi questioned. The five looked at one another a bit worried.
"I'm sure it's nothing. Hiccup would never go out of his way to do all this; he just wants us to back off Astrid," Ragna remarked.
"And he told us to leave him alone too, or he would start telling people things he knows about us…" Thuggory reminded.
"You know…Maybe this is a chance for us to…Try and redeem ourselves. You know we've already had to apologize to Hiccup once for the Nightmare thing," Camicazi suggested at they all looked at her confused.
"Are you serious?" Eret stared.
"Just…Hear me out, okay? We got busted once, and almost got Hiccup killed. And he got hurt to protect us when he didn't have to. Hiccup let us stay at his house for two days and was pretty…I don't know…Cool with us for how we've treated him," Camicazi continued.
"I get what you're saying, but I don't think it will be enough. We brought up his wife and daughter…That's why he flipped on us," Nadia stated.
"Well, we've got a couple of weeks to figure it out. We're suspended starting Monday, and then following that; we're serving detentions. Sadly, Hiccup's been right about a few things since we learned everything about him, and we have been mean for no reason…Hiccup never did anything to us," Thuggory reminded.
"We just turned into jerks," Ragna sighed. "Let's go finish off the day; then we can figure out how to handle this. It might be worth mentioning to your dad, Thug, that Hiccup refuses to let us over the house unless our parents are with us,"
"I'll let him know tonight," Thuggory nodded. After that, the five of them entered their Study Hall.
. . .
{3 pm}
(Student Lot)
The five students miserably walked to the parking lot to leave the Archian High campus for the weekend, and then the whole of next week due to their suspension.
"Well, guess we'll try to stay in contact with our phones?" Eret asked.
"It's all we can do. I'm grounded," Camicazi sighed.
"Same," Nadia put up a finger.
"I'll third that," Thuggory added.
"I'm sure I'll hear it when I get home," Eret muttered.
"Two weeks for me," Ragna said. After that; they prepared to leave but stopped when all five of them got a text message. All five checked their phones to see a message from a number they didn't recognize. Individually, they checked what they had been sent. Camicazi saw a picture of herself taking a pregnancy test with the result as positive, also shots of her in the parking lot of a doctor's office holding a sonogram. Instantly, she bit her bottom lip. How could anyone have known she was pregnant? The scary part was seeing the message attached; I wonder who the father is. Eret or Thuggory? Then she saw pictures of her at different times with both men in compromising situations.
Nadia opened her message to see pictures of her with Thuggory and Ragna making out. Her message read; I wonder what your friends would do if they learned you're secretly bisexual and have done things with Ragna.
Eret opened his message to see pictures of him with Camicazi in compromising situations and the words underneath reading; Oh, I bet Thuggory, your best friend, would love to know you're sleeping with his girlfriend? I wonder how he'd take it? Eret gulped a little, staring at it.
Ragna saw pictures of her with and Nadia, almost nude, making out, and feeling one another up; she paled almost. Wouldn't Eret like to know that you are into girls, and only slept with him to try and convince yourself that you aren't a lesbian. Also that you've been making out with his best friend?
Finally, Thuggory looked at his phone screen, shocked to see what was there. Pictures of him and Nadia borderline having sex at school. I wouldn't want to see what happens when your girlfriend would do if she saw you fucking Nadia on school grounds. Oh, or maybe your dad would like to know about that? Thuggory tensed a bit. All five of them looked at one another but never saying what they saw in their messages. About a minute later, they all got another message at the same time.
298-014-3015[3:07 pm]
I took the liberty of messaging you individually and the others you are standing with haven't seen what I sent you. Maybe now you can see that I'm a man of my word and will tell everyone your dirty little secrets. This is your FINAL warning; back off my friends and I. And so help you Odin, if you touch Astrid ONE MORE TIME; I will personally ruin your lives just as I did to Gruffnut. One press of a button and the entire Senior Class will see everything you do now, pics included. And the police will know you put it in Astrid's head to kill herself last week. She didn't tell me, but as I told you on Wednesday; watch what you say and do because you never know who is watching. Have a good day! :p -HH.
HH were the initials belonging to Hiccup Haddock. The five didn't move or even respond. Camicazi personally knew that she just had that sonogram done on Wednesday after school, and for Hiccup to have access to that; he worked fast.
"Safe to say that we aren't safe if we don't stop as we discussed earlier. Hiccup is the one who humiliated Gruffnut in front of the senior class and made him drop out," Thuggory said.
"Sadly…I think it's time for a change of pace…As fun as it was in the beginning; it's clear that Hiccup isn't going to stand for it anymore," Nadia informed her friends.
"I would rather be on his good side if this is what he was able to do in just three days…" Eret admitted.
"We'll deal with things in two weeks. In the meantime, let's focus on giving the best apology we can, or he'll never buy it and think it's a trick," Ragna mumbled.
"And he could rat us out to our parents, or his uncles Alvin and Spitelout, who are both of the police force and one of them is Chief of it," Camicazi said. With the five of them in agreement; the split off and began their journeys home.
. . .
{4 pm}
(Berk; Haddock Manor)
Everything was in place, and all Hiccup needed to complete the party was, of course, the guest of honor, Astrid. Hiccup had sent Astrid upstairs to get something for him while Stoick and Valka confirmed to Hiccup that the Ballroom was ready for the party. Snotlout, Fishlegs, Dagur, Heather, Ruffnut, Tuffnut, and Minden arrived when Hiccup gave them the clear to come through. Everyone got ready as Hiccup met Astrid in front of the doors.
"This is what you asked for, right?" Astrid inquired holding out the box to Hiccup.
"Yes, thank you," Hiccup smiled.
"You're welcome," Astrid replied. "Well, I'm gonna get some sleep; I'm kind'a tired," she said.
"Wait!" Hiccup stopped her as she turned to face him again. "Uh…Why don't you come with me into the Ballroom for a sec? We…Changed the curtains by the windows, and I want a female opinion on how it looks. Dad thinks it's too festive. Mom says it's just right. I say it's fine too, so dad thinks the decision is biased…Help?" he lied as Astrid arched a brow, but shrugged and nodded. Hiccup smiled as he opened the doors.
The lights flipped on as everyone jumped out. "Surprise! Happy birthday, Astrid!" they all cheered laughing. Astrid jumped a bit with a hand over her heart but in total shock.
"Wh-What's all this?" Astrid inquired, still stunned to see how the Ballroom looked. The food, cake, music set up, banner, streamers, her favorite colors, etc. Everything looked fabulous, and Astrid couldn't believe it.
"It's a party for you, Ast!" Heather exclaimed.
"B-But why? My birthday was on Wednesday…" Astrid reminded.
"Did you think we wouldn't throw you a party to celebrate being eighteen?" Minden giggled.
"Hiccup's been working on this since Wednesday, a party for you since we know you've been kind'a down lately. We just wanted you to feel welcome, safe, and loved by all of us," Dagur informed. Astrid wanted to cry as she looked at Hiccup who came beside her with a smile. Holding out his arm, he looked at her.
"What do you say? Let's party?" Hiccup asked. Astrid linked her arm to his and nodded.
"Let's party," Astrid agreed. Seconds later, the music started, and everyone had a feeling it would be a fun night.
