Happily Never After

Part 8

Part 7: Benefaction

It was the evening of the Charity ball and Hiccup was pacing at the bottom of the stairs. He was clad in a form-fitting tuxedo that had a set of engraved emerald cufflinks attached.

"Hiccup, I'm ready," Astrid announced as she came down the staircase. Hiccup looked up and his jaw dropped at the sight. If this was a movie then the song Pretty Woman would have been playing in the background. Clad in a black sleeveless evening gown that was adorned with black lace around the neckline and a slit on the right side that went up but stopped just short above her upper thigh made Hiccup gape. Astrid's impromptu shopping trip last week with Heather and Alexi, who had reached out behind her mother's back, had bore fruition. Her hair was done up in an intricate bun-braid type thing, he didn't know what it was called but she had placed several pearls in her hair to accentuate it. The entire ensemble was complimented by a pair of elegant silver earrings, that matched the silver bracelet on her left arm and anklet on her exposed leg.

"Well... what do you think?" Astrid asked Hiccup as she did a little twirl in front of him.

"Hummmmm... ah... uhmm.. Hmmmm rrruuuu," Hiccup uttered, completely slack-jawed. He was used to seeing his roommate dressed in pajamas, sportswear, scrubs, and band T-shirts so this was quite the sight.

"Hiccup... Earth to Hiccup," Astrid said as she waved a hand in front of his eyes and Hiccup realized that he had been spacing out. A bit embarrassed Hiccup uttered "You look amazing,"

"Shall we?" He offered his arm to escort her to the limo his parents had sent. Astrid took the offered arm while hanging her small black and silver-lined purse across her other shoulder. Astrid had forgone the use of foundation to hide the wound. It was mostly gone after a week but the skin was still tender.

"You know, I can't wait to meet your mother," Astrid said once they were downstairs and Hiccup was helping her slide into the backseat. "Maybe we can swap recipes sometimes," When Astrid said this Hiccup nearly hit his head on the doorframe. He played it off as an accident but inwardly he was begging the Norns to be merciful.

The venue for the Charity ball was one of the many hotels Stoick owned. When the limo got there Astrid was clearly nervous upon seeing the paparazzi snapping pictures like crazy. "Hey, it's fine. Just follow my lead," Hiccup stated. Astrid nodded as she knew he could deal with them.

Hiccup slid out gracefully and held his hand out which Astrid took. "We're just going to walk up to about mid-carpet, strike a quick pose and go inside." He whispered to her as his arm steadied Astrid around her waist. Astrid decided to focus on Hiccup when they posed and she let out the breath she'd been holding when they got inside the opulent hotel.

"Are you alright? Your first red carpet can be quite something," Hiccup tried to comfort.

"How are you used to this?!" Astrid asked once she caught her breath.

"I've had to walk that carpet since I was ten," Hiccup told her. "How much do you know about my family?" he asked.

"Just that your mother likes sponsoring charities and your father is this big media and real estate mogul," Astrid answered. "Berk was a pretty small town when I was a kid. It only expanded into this big city after you guys moved here and started buying up land."

"Right... Uhm... okay... So the whole red carpet thing...," Hiccup embarrassingly explained. "The fortune was inherited from our Great grandfather," He told Astrid as he led her towards the ballroom. "He was living a pretty humble life prospecting for gold when he struck oil instead. My grandfather used that family fortune to create movie studios and the like when Hollywood was bustling. Dad expanded the business by adding real estate development to our name.... And... he may have also produced several movies, one of which was where he met mom."