Part 8: Revelation

"Delise, what are the odds?" Hiccup asked un-emotionally as he stared down the woman that addressed him. Astrid looked from Hiccup to the drop-dead gorgeous woman across from him and frowned. "Darling aren't you going to introduce us?" She asked, trying to diffuse the tension that a person could cut with a butter knife right about now. The other woman sported deep crimson hair and green eyes and Astrid was pretty sure that dress costed more than her yearly salary.

"Astrid, Delise, Delise, Astrid," Hiccup muttered.

"Well this is a surprise, you have arm candy," Delise smirked as she turned towards Astrid. "Or are you arm candy Hiccup?" The other woman looked Astrid up and down before asking "So what do you do? Actress? Model? I haven't seen you on the runway during Paris Fashion Week, like at all..."

Astrid blinked, if that was supposed to be a jab she didn't get it. She just stared at Delise as if she had grown a second head. "I'm not a model nor an actress though I thank you for thinking that. You know, maybe I should get into modeling as apparently I'm easily mistaken for one,"

Hiccup nearly choked at the comment as he saw the shock on Delise's face. That insult definitely didn't go the way the other woman wanted it to. He covered it with a strategically placed cough.

"Then what is it you do?" Delise asked with a raised brow.

"I'm a dental hygienist," Astrid deadpanned which threw the other woman for a loop.

"Wait what?" Delise uttered. "A.... dental hygienist?"

"Come now Delise, aren't you being rude? I've introduced my date to you but you haven't even mentioned yours," Hiccup stated as he saw that line of conversation going south real quick.

"Right...," Delise said, looking at her date for the night. "Hiccup you've already heard I found my soulmate... well this is him. This is Jacob. Mummy just got him a position at our company. He'll be the managing Director of Sales next month,"

"Whatever you say Delise," Hiccup stated.

Astrid frowned when the other woman was trying to flaunt her boyfriend. The man looked bored, as if he'd rather be anywhere else but here. She couldn't understand why nepotism was anything to boast about either. At least Hiccup was trying to start out on his own.

"But Hiccup, I was really surprised you lowered your standards so much since we dated. I mean, a dental hygienist...," She smugly turned to Astrid and asked "What did he do? Ask you out while getting his teeth cleaned?"

"No, but you shouldn't look down on our profession," Astrid just smiled innocently. "It is after all us dental hygienists that help make sure you models have those pearly whites. Too bad veneers can't cover your awful personality," She said this effortlessly and was even happy that she got a small snigger from Jacob and a more prominent one from Hiccup.

"Why I've never!" Delise uttered as she turned cold and angry at Astrid.

"And you never will," Astrid quipped. "Find such an interesting man like Hiccup, I mean. Now come on darling, you promised to show me your favorite tiny sandwich." With that Astrid started to lead Hiccup in the other direction. "Perhaps we should find someplace to sit down," She suggested after they were out of earshot.

"Right... uhm...," Astrid noted that he seemed a bit out of it as he spoke. "The hotel has some smaller conference rooms," He then suggested. The pair left the ball but their departure didn't go unnoticed.

After Hiccup and Astrid arrived in one of the smaller conference rooms he flopped down in one of the chairs and sighed. Hiccup's back was to the door and Astrid hopped onto the long table next to him. "You alright?" She asked with a worried frown.

"I just... need a minute," He mumbled. "Seeing Delise is.... Ugh. I thought I would get over it after a few years but clearly...,"

"You want me to go back out there and hit her over the head with the salmon filet?" Astrid asked. The image caused Hiccup to actually choke as he was going to say something else.

"As much fun as that sounds I doubt you'd like being bailed out of police custody afterwards," He actually laughed.

"Something's clearly up. What exactly did Miss Uppity out there do to you all those years ago?" Astrid asked but then backtracked as she saw Hiccup's despondent face. "It's alright if you don't want to tell me," she quickly added. "I just thought talking about it might help,"

"You asked me last week why I was so cynical about the soulmate stuff. Well Delise is the main reason why," Hiccup stated. "The whole thing happened before I got into college."

"This happened around the time I was 16, almost 17," Hiccup explained as Astrid listened with rapt attention. "After my 16th year when I didn't get my mark things were a bit.... Awkward around my dad and I. I think dad had hoped that he could use his connections to help me find my soulmate once I got my mark. Mom tried to keep things cheerful and suggested that she had a friend from her crochet club that had a daughter my age. I decided to accept the invite to meet. Enter Delise,"

"She was fine at first. Telling me how she was going to become a model in the future and how we'd make the perfect power couple. I guess at that age I was still somewhat naive because I thought she was endearing. We went on quite a few dates and I, like a dimwit ignored the red flags. She would often criticise my choice of food at a restaurant, saying how as a future model she couldn't be seen with an out of shape guy... etc etc,"

"That's awful," Astrid commented.

"At that age I chalked it all up for her being concerned with my health." Hiccup sighed. "Delise had brought up her mark previously and during that time I was still very private about being Markless. It was... different... I guess, at that time I too had to come to terms with the fact that I'd never get my mark or a soulmate. One day out she brought it up again and was wondering if we'd stay together even if we had different marks. I ended up blurting out that I never got a mark and that's probably when her whole demeanor changed. She tried to keep it well hidden but I could sense her pulling away a bit."

"What followed was her canceling on me a couple of times but by then I was applying to Universities left and right. When I got accepted I told my parents and they held a garden party to celebrate. I sometimes wish they hadn't because then I'd still be living in my own little world,"

"I went to the bathroom and as I walked past one of the rooms guests were in I heard her voice. She was in one of the guest lounges gossiping with her friends. The door was ajar so the voices carried."

"Geeze Delise you're in such a pickle right now?" A female voice uttered. "You just bagged yourself a rich guy and then your soulmate shows up out of the blue. The son of one of your gardeners no less,"

"We all know how your dad is. He'd want you to date that guy," Another stated. "Can you imagine having to date a peasant?"

"Relax ladies," Delise replied. "I highly doubt the Haddock heir is going to dump me over a little thing like a soulmate. He's probably desperate as hell to be with me, given that he's Markless afterall,"

"What?!"

"No?"

"THAT Hiccup Haddock? Markless?!" One of the other ladies asked as gasps and giggles permeated out the door. "But... he's so well put together. Never would I have thought he'd be so desperate," the statement was followed by a giggle.

Another uttered "My parents always told me the Markless are bottom feeders, ugh, disgusting really. All he's got going on for himself is the family fortune now. You'd have to have really done something so terrible in a past life that you'd never get a mark,"

"I know right?!" Delise laughed. "And I got him wrapped around my finger," She made a twirling motion with her hand. "I can just keep him as a side piece while I deal with this soulmate thing of mine," she said so nonchalantly that Hiccup saw red. His knuckles were white as he grasped the doorknob.

"You should keep him on a leash," Another woman stated. "These Markless need a firm hand or they'll just sleep with whoever gives them attention. I don't get how the Haddocks even put up with having such a disgrace of a son,"

"I should have kicked the door open then and there and confronted them but I..... I just couldn't," He told Astrid. "Instead I ran up to my room to cry,"

"No one would blame you for reacting like that," Astrid softly spoke as she placed a hand on Hiccup's shoulders. "No one," she repeated.

"I broke up with Delise the following day and that went as expected, meaning it was a total train wreck. She called me everything under the sun including a good-for-nothing manwhore." Hiccup muttered darkly while Astrid gaped.

"And you saw her after all this time?" Astrid then asked as her hands were balled into fists. Maybe she should go hit that woman with the salmon, police report be damned.

"There were other instances through the years that I saw her but this was definitely the first time she'd brought her soulmate out in public. She went on and on about how she'd train her man to be better than me. Poor guy, I hope he dumps her soon. Frankly he looked miserable,"

"It's understandable that you wouldn't want to date after all that," Astrid told Hiccup. "Is this what you wanted to explain to your parents later tonight?" To that question Hiccup nodded.

"I love my parents but I just couldn't bring myself to tell mom that the daughter of one of her friends was like that. All the crochet club members get along really well.... I mean like really really well. So well that a lot ended up being bridesmaids to each other's weddings. Imagine me telling mom that. She'd raise hell, heck she'd probably kick Lucifer off of his throne to command his army of Darkness."

"So I kept it to myself. For all my parents know it didn't work out with Delise because she found her soulmate." Hiccup sighed before raking a hand through his hair. "But them trying to set me up on blind dates hoping I'd meet someone has gotten pretty bothersome. I just.... Don't immediately want to date,"

As Hiccup finally got all of this in the open there was an audible gasp from behind them causing the duo to turn around to see Valka eavesdropping near the door. A hand was clutched to her mouth in shock and Hiccup could already see her eyes clouding in righteous anger.

"Mom... now calm dow-AH," Hiccup was stopped mid-sentence as Valka rushed into the room and enveloped him in a hug, effectively squishing Hiccup to her bosom.

"My poor baby! You should have told me sooner!" She uttered while Hiccup struggled to breathe.