It was 5:30 pm when the president had finally arrived as Troy only took notice of Hunter leaving his seat and hooking an over the ear microphone to his ear and standing up to get over to the dance floor and stand in sight of everything. The only indication Troy had that something was going on was Salvatore giving Hunter a nod after checking his phone for an alert that came through. Troy had to wonder if this is what Hunter got pulled away for earlier by his dad. Either way, Troy was just sitting down and watching, trying not to look at his friends who were pretty upset about Troy's lie a month ago. He had been asked right out if he was dating Hunter and he said now, so even if his friends accepted his sexuality; they might leave over his lying to their face. Troy was going to explain things before, but Hunter showed up and seemed to shut the conversation down with it not being the time and Hunter would be right. It wasn't the time with things just about to begin. What got Troy the most was everyone who did know the truth in their friend group had his back when the others were pissed Troy didn't say anything to them. It proved what Hunter said, his real friends would support and accept him. However, things were still up in the air with how the others would take everything. Right now, they just wanted to know why Troy lied and Troy technically gave them that answer during lockdown; he'd been scared of their reactions but knowing Hunter was in danger showed him there were bigger things to be afraid of.

Troy figured the others found the information, proven that they though he was joking. Troy would hate it if he lost some of his friends, but in the end it would have been his own fault for lying. At the same time, they should hopefully understand that he'd been scared to face their judgement, which Hunter already mentioned and they didn't seem to have a reply to him asking if they were in Troy's position would they have just come out or been scared of what their friends thought to the confessions Troy gave them. Who knew, Troy was just ready to enjoy the night and be happy he had Hunter back. Right now, Hunter was standing ready and flipped the switch on the receiver which appeared to behind his jacket and hooked to his belt.

Hunter set his fingers to the corners of his mouth and gave a loud whistle to bring the room to silence. "Good evening," Hunter stared with a smile. "Welcome mayors, family, and friends to the annual presidential visitation. For those returning, welcome back. And for those here for the first time, we're sure you'll be back. Tonight we come together to honor our very own president of the Archipelago for his wonderful work in leading us this year and I'm certain main more to come. I think I can speak for all here and say that our president has done a marvelous job and we're beyond grateful and happy to have him leading us into all of our tomorrows as we continue into the future," He told everyone. "Now, without further ado, it's time to bring in our guest of honor. Please stand and give a round of applause to our very own Jasper Morgan, President of the Barbaric Archipelago!" Hunter announced.

The double doors to the room opened as everyone was on their feet, clapping, and cheering while a man entered the room wearing a black suit and the infamous Archipelago flag pin on the left of his jacket. Jasper made his way into the room, and everyone he was in reachable distance got a handshake from him while he came up beside Hunter. The man shook Hunter's hand proudly with a smile. "Let's bring in the family," He told Hunter gently.

"Of course, Mr. President," Hunter bowed his head. "Welcome to Archian City, Mr. President. We're all so honored to have you join us on this fine Saturday night, but I'm sure that while we all love, look up to, and respect you; things just would be right if we didn't bring in those who fully supported you in getting to where you are now. Everyone please welcome First Lady, Miranda Morgan. First sons; Zackary, Dylan, and Ronald Morgan. First Daughters; Marie, Sarah, and Stephanie. The president's parents, Logan and Michelle Morgan. First brothers and sisters; Nicholas, Alexander, and Jessica. First mother and father in law; George and Betty Knight. Sibling in laws; Xavier, and Camilla. Nieces and nephews; Christopher, Kristina, Caitlyn, Jamie, Maggie, Issac, Joseph, Irene, and Marcus. And of course, who can forget the grandchildren. Kylie, Jordan, Iris, Ryan, Tiffany, Samantha, and Oscar."

Troy was really impressed the Hunter knew the whole family off the top of his head, but he didn't know why he was surprised; Hunter had a near genius IQ and almost photographic memory. Hunter mentioned this was an annual event, so it probably got hosted every year and Hunter had been to this event ever since his father became mayor. However, there was someone there that Troy recognized and so did all his friends. Marcus Knight had come through with the nieces and nephews group, so he was obviously the president's nephew through his wife's siblings, probably Xavier's side since he still had the Knight last name. Did Hunter know Marcus was part of the First Family? Maybe he did and that's why he didn't look happy right now. Or was faking it convincingly enough.

Hunter handed a spare microphone to Jasper as he stepped back and turned his own off. "Thank you, thank you. It's always a warm welcome when I visit. I thank my town and city mayors for going out of their way to get all this set up once a year. I may lead you all, but it's definitely my privilege to have such loyal followers. I would be president without all of you and a leader is nothing without the people he leads. I'm the blessed one to have all of you, and of course, my amazing family." Jasper announced. "I can only promise to continue to do my best for you all moving forward. Thank you again for the continued love and support. And with that, I say we get this party started. Let's have a good night!" He called out as everyone began to clap and cheer again. Jasper handed the mic back to Hunter as he turned it off and then the president and his family went to take their seats at the provided tables for them.

Hunter flipped his microphone back on, resuming his original position once everyone got to their seats and sat down. "Well, Mr. President…For all you do for us, I think we can have a fun night for you. Ladies and gentleman, for those of you who know me; you know what I'm about. For those who don't…My name is Hunter Haddock, second born son to Mayor of Berk, Salvatore Haddock. For those wondering why I'm the one up here doing all this; the entertainment had to cancel last minute and my dad knows I can rock a party so he asked if I wouldn't mind running this show. I'll be running music from my computer, and I'll be doing live performances. If you have requests for either, let me know. If I can do them, I will. There's a bar in the back, both alcoholic and non-alcoholic available. Along the right side here is a table of snacks. Dinner starts at 6:30 pm, so until then…Get up, wander around, chat with one another or hit the dance floor. It's going to be a good night." Hunter said before flipping off the microphone and pressing the space bar on his laptop to get some music playing for background noise.

Hunter went back to his table and sat next to Troy. "Your dad asked you to handle entertainment tonight?" Troy chuckled.

"Yeah," Hunter nodded. "The other DJ had an emergency and couldn't do it, but dad knows I've filled in for some of his events on Berk when things went wrong." He explained.

"Did you know Marcus was going to be here tonight?" Troy wondered softly.

"Yes…" Hunter mumbled. "It's one of the reasons I asked dad if I could invite my friends to this, so I didn't have to deal with him unnecessarily." He admitted. "As long as I'm performing or with all of you, he won't come near me. Nor would he risk a scene in front of his uncle,"

"Smart," Troy smiled. "Is that Jay's family over there at table eight?" He questioned.

"I invite them to everything, considering each other family still and all." Hunter shrugged.

"Does Marcus know about Jay passing? Cause if he tries anything with you, I'll deck him this time." Troy stated.

"Don't know if he knows or not, but I know he knows who Jay's parents are and seeing him not here might make him curious. And no, you will not, babe. Your dad would arrest you for assault. Marcus won't do anything to risk embarrassing his uncle, especially if I threaten to reveal what he did to Jay." Hunter smiled. "It's all good, love," He leaned over to give Troy a light kiss. Troy smiled and returned the action; it was a quick one due to where they were, but there was no harm when there were plenty of other couples around.

"So how long until you end up performing?" Shane decided to ask.

"Dunno. Dad said maybe one per hour unless asked for more," Hunter replied to him. "I've got some time since everyone is talking and getting reacquainted."

"Cool." Addilyn smiled. "We're glad you and Hunter are back together, Troy."

"Yeah, but now I get to warn him not to hurt you again or I'll pound him." Shane remarked.

"No you don't," Hunter rolled his eyes. "No one gets to do that."

"Well, you're older brother already did, babe," Troy chuckled.

"What?" Hunter looked at his boyfriend.

"Zayden warned me not to hurt you again or we'd have a problem. He did it after your dad called you to him." Troy informed.

"Zayden…" Hunter looked to his older brother.

"What? Someone had to do it. Might as well have been me, the older brother who protects his family." Zayden stated.

Hunter shook his head and sighed. "No one else needs to warn Troy not to hurt me. Good Odin above…"

"At least you know they care, Hunt. It's okay, I didn't mind or take it personally," Troy reassured. "I was sure someone was going to say it at some point, if that makes you feel any better."

"Not really, but as long as you're okay then I'm good." Hunter replied as he pecked his boyfriend's cheek, continuing to hold his hand.

Some time passed bringing the hour to 6:00 pm. With thirty minutes until dinner was served, it seemed most people were up and talking, or sitting at each other's tables to talk. Very few were on the dance floor, which was fine too. Hunter was chatting with his cousins, Troy, his siblings, and Troy's siblings since they were all at one table. Except Zayden, who sat with the adults at the table next to them. Of course, the table with his and Troy's friends were close, so they got into conversations with them too.

"So…Is it later yet?" Roseanna decided to lean towards Hunter.

"You're not gonna just let it go, are you?" Hunter remarked.

"I think we deserve to know. We're supposed to be friends, and friends don't keep secrets like this." Tucker mentioned.

"Troy," Tristan said as Troy looked at him.

"Talk, please?" Serena asked.

Troy sighed. "What do you wanna know? Why I didn't tell you?"

"Yes," Star folded her arms.

"Hey, stop. This isn't even a conversation for right this moment, but you're not gonna let it go so could you please just act like you're fine and we're having a friendly conversation?" Hunter remarked firmly. "Understand? I will not have you making a scene tonight. Or I will personally act as security and throw you out. We clear?

"Crystal," The others replied.

"Plain and simple…I didn't tell you because I didn't want you to walk away as my friends if you didn't accept me being gay." Troy told them. "I told you all this during lockdown before going to find Hunter. I was scared, so I never said anything until that day when I realized there were far more scarier things than having you all leave me behind over my sexuality." He said. "I really don't know what else you want me to tell you."

"We're your friends. You shouldn't have been scared of us rejecting you over sexuality." Nadine informed.

"Why would you even think that?" Griffin wondered.

"Maybe because you were always talking crap about gays and bisexuals after Hunter came out so openly back in September…" Troy said.

"He's kind of got a point…" Blake mentioned.

"Hey, you were in on all that." Tristan accused.

"I was not." Black argued. "I may have been standing with you all and listening, but I never agreed with it. Nor added anything negative about it. For one simple reason, I'm bisexual myself. I was one of those people Hunter mentioned his first day in class that kept it to themselves for fear of being bullied over it." He confessed.

"Oh, so you're keeping secrets too? I'm your girlfriend…" Olivia huffed.

"What did I say about this getting out of hand?" Hunter warned.

"Sorry…" Olivia stated. "But seriously?"

Blake nodded. "I got other secrets too, want those while we're all into confessing?" He asked.

"What else are you hiding?" Hank blinked.

"The people you know as my parents and siblings aren't really my family. Just adopted by them," Blake shrugged. "My parents abandoned me years ago. Troy's family fostered me for years until I was adopted. I'm unofficially, a Raseri. I'm also a year older than all of you." He stated.

"Okay, I knew about you being older…But wow. You're adopted?" Olivia said gently. Blake nodded. "I'm sorry, baby. That your family abandoned you…"

"It's fine. I'm over it," Blake replied. "But come on…Everyone has secrets. Troy had a valid reason for not saying anything."

"I guess," Thaxter replied.

"But we wouldn't have judged or rejected you, Troy." Satomi mentioned softly.

"Again, how was I supposed to know that with how you were all talking?" Troy asked.

"Fair point…" Sean shrugged. "Sorry we made you feel like you couldn't tell us."

"Yeah. We're fine with it," Brady smiled.

"Appreciate it." Troy replied with a light smile.

"So you all good now?" Hunter inquired.

"Yeah, it's cool. But I just wanna know…How long you two been together?" Brandon inquired.

"Oh. January 17th," Hunter responded.

"A…Month after you lost Jay? Not to bring it up and hurt you, or any kind of guilt thing…" Kody questioned.

"I will always love Jay. No matter where I go, what I do, or who I'm with in life; Jay's place in my heart can never be replaced. But…I know he's gone and he's not coming back, so all I can do is continue living my life as it comes. When things with Troy happened, I told him right off the bat I hadn't been ready to move on, but just a little while later; I did feel ready to. I just go with the flow and at that point…I moved on. Jay told me to be happy, he wanted me to be happy." Hunter explained.

"I know Hunter will always love Jay and he'll always have some bad days. And he knows it's fine with me if he ever needs a couple hours or days to himself to mourn." Troy added in.

Hunter leaned against Troy's shoulder with a smile. "And you'll never know how much I appreciate that, love,"

"I have a good idea," Troy replied. "Love you."

"Love you too,"

"You told him you love him?" Blake beamed.

"Well, he knew that when he broke up with me," Troy chuckled. "Hunter said it back to me last night when we were out to dinner to talk about things."

"Awe." A few of the friends smiled.

"You two going to prom together?" Amy asked.

"Yeah, we are. I asked Hunter to that last night too." Troy replied to her.

"So you told him last night that you told everyone, Troy? And then you guys decided to go to dinner and talk?" Steven questioned.

"No, not at all. I mean, I did tell Hunter that I told everyone I was gay during lockdown…But Hunter is actually the one who asked me to dinner before I said anything about that." Troy revealed.

"I'd been doing a lot of thinking after lockdown and I realized that life was too short to be upset about Troy not saying anything. That's why we broke up, because he hadn't spoken up about being bisexual," Hunter informed.

"Wait, I thought he was gay…" Star blinked.

"Well, when Troy first settled with attraction to males; he set himself at bisexual," Hunter explained.

"But after you kissed me last month, Star, I realized I didn't feel anything towards women anymore and so I said I was gay," Troy finished.

"Ah, okay. Anyway…So you took the first step, Hunter?" Roseanna mentioned.

"Yeah. I was the one who told Troy that he had to be ready to tell others and it wasn't my place to rush things along for him. So I decided after we did the Rewrite The Stars song last night that I wanted him back and I would be fine with keeping things a secret until he was ready to come out. But then he informed me that he had told everyone during lockdown. We laughed about it; he told me he loved me and I said it back." Hunter shrugged.

"And out of sheer curiosity…Troy, how did you originally come up with the notion you were bisexual when you'd been straight all your teenager life?" Tucker wondered.

"Oh…Well, all the bullying I gave Hunter made him confront me in the bathroom one day at school and in the middle of his rant…I kissed him. It was to shut him up, originally, but it was that moment I realized that I had liked it…So started the questioning for a couple months." Troy replied.

"When was this…Like November?" Chad inquired.

"Yeah, somewhere in there." Troy nodded. "Hunter is the one who helped me figure everything out, and here we are now." He smiled. "Couldn't be happier,"

"Me either," Hunter agreed.

Soon, the friends who learned during lockdown just smiled and laughed a little. "Think we should tell them?"

"Yeah…" Others nodded.

"Tell us what?" Hunter and Troy asked together.

"Wish you hadn't kept it a secret for so long thinking we'd reject you, Troy…Cause in all honesty, we knew something was up ever since that kiss in the bathroom in November." Brady said.

"What?" Troy and Hunter looked at them, surprised.