Guest - I love Young Dracula. It's got a similarity to HTTYD... actually, a couple. What makes the main guy different saves the world, and he doesn't find out he's like his mother until he's a grown up. Instead of dragons, there's fangs, blood, a bit of murder, some cross dressing, this weird pseudo-incest undercurrent in a few characters relationships and lots of hot people in black... oh, and its meant to be a kids show! Haha!
Warning for perhaps overly broad yet specific information pamphlet.
-HTTYD-
He froze when a voice answered.
"Hello. I'm looking for Henry Hofferson?"
Hiccup wasn't sure how he knew, but the soft, accented voice on the phone was absolutely his birth mother. Astrid watched him blink and move his mouth soundlessly, plucking the phone from his hand.
"Hi, I'm Astrid. Is this Valka?"
Hiccup was still staring. That was really her on the phone.
"Oh, no this is the right place. He's just a bit awkward and forgot how to speak. He definitely wants to talk to you."
Never had he been so happy for his unshakeable sister, taking over before he scared the poor woman off.
"You back on earth yet Hiccup? Ok, cool. Here you go."
Hiccup took the phone, holding it to his ear with an encouraging look from Astrid.
"Sorry about that."
"No, it's totally fine. Did I hear the young woman call you Hiccup?"
"Oh. Yeah. Nickname. I was a weedy kid. And teenager. And kind of still am."
Her voice was sort of haunting but rather beautiful. Why was he stuck with some awkward babbling sound instead?
"I see. I'm sorry it took me a while to call, I only made it back to somewhere with a telephone yesterday and it was three am in England at the time."
He had been convincing himself she had changed her mind all that time for nothing.
"Oh? Where were you before that?"
"I work with endangered species, I spend a lot of time out in the wild."
"Wow."
They talked easily, words flowing once they started and Astrid smiled as she watched him relax slightly. His sister squeezed his hand supportively, pottering around the kitchen but not leaving despite the fact she was probably bored out of her mind.
"I uh..." Valka even stammered and hesitated the same way Hiccup did "I'll be back in the country next month. I was hoping... maybe you would agree to meet me?"
Hiccup's heart kicked in his chest. Could he handle that?
"Yeah. I think that would be ok."
"Oh thank Odin" Hiccup blinked - was she from a Viking line like the Hofferson family? "I was so worried you wouldn't even want to talk to me."
Hiccup shook his head, then realised she couldn't see him.
"I confess, I only found out I was adopted a few months ago and I was pretty surprised..."
"Really?"
"Yeah... it's complicated. I will tell you all about it in person if you want. I feel weird talking about it on the phone."
"I would love to know anything about you Henry" he was going to have to correct her sometime "anything at all."
He found himself smiling - Valka sounded genuinely excited at the prospect of meeting him, knowing him. His concerns felt eased.
"I'd like that too."
"I need to get going or I'll miss my lift, but... would it be alright if I called you again when I'm free for longer?"
"Absolutely."
"Any particular times best suited for you?"
Hiccup eyed his calendar, relaying dates he was more busy.
"Evenings work best because I won't be out or worried about picking up Astrid. I uh, I'll let you go."
"I'll call you soon. Goodbye Henry."
"Yeah. Bye."
The phone clicked dead, leaving Hiccup staring at the phone in shock. Astrid waited only a minute before pestering him.
"Well?"
"Well what?"
"How was it?"
Hiccup found himself smiling again, feeling lighter inside.
"It was... amazing. She works with endangered animals and that's why she didn't call right away. I don't know how to explain it, but her voice just kinda puts me at ease?"
"I thought the same thing. Her accent is really exotic, you wouldn't know she only went to school in Scotland or something, she's all mysterious. Her voice makes me think of an elf in Lord Of The Rings."
"Once I got past the awkward shock, I found her real easy to talk to. She wants to call me again, and meet me when she's back in the country."
"Oh, that's great!" Astrid smiled genuinely "I'm actually happy for you."
"Seriously?"
"It's not like you're trying to replace mom. You just want to know where you come from, and she made you smile. I'm totally coming to get a look at her though."
"Of course. I wouldn't have had the nerve to even offer contact without you keeping me sane and strong Astrid."
His little sister grinned, throwing her arms around him.
"We're in this together bro. Now... food and tv?"
"Sounds good."
Astrid made drinks and picked what to watch while Hiccup cooked homemade hamburgers and chips, both relaxing with their food on trays as the tv played.
"Man, these are great. Better than cheap fast food any day."
"Yeah, but that's much faster to grab. These take fifteen minutes prep and not everyone wants to handle raw meat."
"Eh. I'm glad I have you for that to be fair."
Hiccup rolled his eyes but smiled fondly, watching Astrid swirl her chips in garlic mayonnaise before tossing them in her mouth. Taking a swallow of his banana milkshake, Hiccup felt surprisingly buoyant. Astrid wasn't upset about him meeting his birth mom, and she was an animal lover who sounded super excited to meet him.
Him. Awkward bumbling one legged Hiccup.
Of course, Valka didn't know he wore a prosthetic. She didn't even know his parents were dead.
"Hey, so... I'm staying at Heather's tomorrow night. We have college work to do."
"Mhmm. College work. You do what you want Astrid, just check in at least once in the evening so I know you made it and you're alright."
"I will."
"And leave any laundry you want doing out so I don't have to go in your room. I've already lost one limb."
Astrid grinned, nodding as she finished the last of her dinner. They laughed at the end of an episode of Dragons, cleaned up the kitchen and whiled away the last of the evening drinking hot chocolate and eating leftover cake. Hiccup went to bed in a better mood than he had in a while.
The nerves returned the next day when they went for joint therapy - it was now fortnightly, with a view to monthly or stopping altogether when Astrid turned eighteen.
"So, any new developments?"
"Hiccup spoke to his birth mom."
They hadn't talked about him being adopted in joint - only his PTSD sessions had broached that topic.
"Oh? Would you like to elaborate Hen- Hiccup?"
Mock-glaring at Astrid, Hiccup leant back in his seat.
"I found out quite recently that I was adopted as a baby. As I turned eighteen, I had the option to find my birth mother. She works out of the country but I had my number passed along to her... we spoke on the phone for the first time yesterday."
The therapist nodded, humming as she made a note.
"Was this a positive or negative experience?"
"Quite positive. Once I remembered how to talk, we had quite an easy, fun conversation. She wants to meet me when she's back in the country."
"I'm very pleased for you. You can of course seek advice from me or either of your other counsellors about adoption and ensuing emotions... I think there might even be a leaflet with various resources in out in the waiting room."
Hiccup picked up the mentioned pamphlet, pocketing it without more than a cursory glance until they got home. Astrid grabbed her bag and gave Hiccup a hug, then dashed outside to where Dagur was waiting to pick her up - it was on his way back from work and saved Hiccup the drive. He appreciated it doubly as his leg began to ache, taking himself for a long hot bath before he went back out to the adoption leaflet.
It had a sort of surface talk about adoption, how it shouldn't change a relationship between adopters and adoptees, and that not everyone was prepared to meet their birth parents or the child they gave up.
Each section had a couple of links to web pages for more information, the one at the very bottom of the list confusing Hiccup greatly.
"Genetic Sexual Attraction? What the fuck?"
There was nothing around it, just the words and a web URL. Hiccup's curiosity got the better of him eventually, typing the three strange words into his laptop. He debated entering it for several minutes before finally clicking 'search'.
"Genetic sexual attraction (GSA) is a contrived term for an overwhelming sexual attraction that may develop between close blood relatives who first meet as adults."
Hiccup frowned. Was that really a thing? That was still incest right?
Morbidly curious, Hiccup began to click on a couple of links. Some were weird - sensationalist and rooting through people's privacy. At first he didn't think that bad, but then he saw that GSA was largely considered to be involuntary, simply a collection of crossed signals with overwhelming emotion and a biological drive to find 'mates' with similar characteristics to themselves. Then he felt bad for the people with their names splashed across the internet - how did you ever shake the label of having sex with your brother or sister?
He tried to think of Astrid as anything but a sister and promptly felt sick. He closed the browser down and wiped his history, just in case Astrid clicked on that. The leaflet went in his room - the other resources were possibly helpful.
Hiccup meandered around the house, playing with Toothless and then lazing about the place. He wondered what he did with his time before Astrid was his primary responsibility. With nothing to do but think, the bizarre phenomenon of 'GSA' bugged at him. He knew that there were people who didn't know they were related finding out when they were married and so on, but Hiccup felt that was different to going in knowing they were your blood.
He eventually settled on one particularly odd thought.
"Forewarned is forearmed."
He really didn't expect such a bizarre thing to even occur to him, but at least Hiccup knew he would have to sever many if not all communication with Valka Haddock if such feelings started to occur.
He still bet it wouldn't happen, but his life the last few years had taught him nothing if not practicality and 'anything can happen'.
He wasn't going to bring it up with Astrid though. That would make awkward dinner chat.
"Did you know meeting birth relatives as adults can make incest happen?"
"Oh really? Pass the sauce."
Yeah... not gonna happen.
-HTTYD-
Uh, I'm sorry I'm such a perverse sick bastard but Hiccup and Valka were made for a GSA storyline.
And this chapter is super short but I didn't want to dull the first phone call too much.