For the rest of the day, the staff and owner at Stoick's Place are much busier than usual... not cooking, but cleaning...
12:22pm
Astrid casually strolled into the kitchen where Elsa and the other cooks and waitresses were steaming, washing and dusting every inch of the cooking area, with Valka mopping and scrubbing the floors with all of her strength.
"There y'go, guys! Clean kitchen, clean food... I want this place spotless, y'hear me!"
"Yes, Chef!" they all called back in-sync before they kept on working.
ASTRID: I have to be honest, it's almost kinda nice seeing Valka cleaning up... she's finally showing some actual skills in a kitchen...
13:43pm - The Back Alley
Astrid leaned back against the wall with a lollipop in her mouth, watching as Hiccup carried out the trash bags that were filled with the mouldy, rotten food from the pantry and brought them all to the large, green dumpster beside her.
"So... how many?" she asked while Hiccup brought them out two at a time. He laughed weakly, saying "uh... nine bags... well, y'know... I filled them to the literal brim, so at normal trash bag capacity it'd probably be even more..."
"Hm..." Astrid said, though she was paying less attention to that and focusing more on what Hiccup looked like wearing a T-shirt instead of a suit.
She found herself surprised by his build. He wasn't really scrawny at all, but rather lean and toned, especially on his arms. And it was clear that the trash bags were heavier and more fillled than they really should have been since he was clearly tiring himself out throwing them in.
Astrid hadn't even noticed that in her ogling over him she had bitten down hard onto the lollipop and split it in two in her mouth, before Hiccup eventually broke the silence by saying "if I'd known Mom was leaving all this shit lying around, I'd have cleared this out before you could say Gobber's your uncle... ha ha... hoo... gotta admit, though, I've probably worked out more right now than all the combined time I've actually spent in a gym..."
"Well y'know if you get sweaty and need to take your shirt off, that'd be just fine..." she said in a casual yet flirty and almost excited tone, though Hiccup still froze with wide eyes as he looked at her.
She chuckled, saying "what? Ha ha... I th... um... I... I was kidding! Ha ha... gods... I know this place is in the shit, but I thought you had a sense of humour, Hiccup! Ha ha ha!"
Hiccup chuckled nervously, saying "yeah... ha... yeah..." before grunting as he threw the rest of the trash bags in. "Alright... that's the last of it..."
"Ah, great!" Astrid shot up quickly, adding "why don't just go to your mom in the kitchen... I've got something for you guys..."
ASTRID: Yeah. I flirted with him... pft... so what? I mean, I... I uh... oh come on... I was just being funny and... well, he seems like a really nice guy, really cute, and uh... and he's obviously not that confident, so... well... well, I dunno, maybe it could make him feel better or something...
14:00pm
Valka, Hiccup and everyone else who worked there were sitting at the back of the now clean kitchen, all of them being confused, exhausted and absolutely filthy.
"I gotta give you guys credit... you really fixed up your workspace... and I know for a fact that if you keep it to this standard, then you're all gonna love working here..." Astrid started her speech. "In a lot of the restaurants I've got on this show, I usually have to have contractors come in and completely redo the place, but wow... never thought it'd look as good as it does, to be honest..."
Valka grinned proudly as she patted Hiccup on the back, but Astrid took on a more stern tone as she said "but now it's time to focus on the things that are actually gonna get the customers coming back to Stoick's Place... and it starts with a complete overhaul of the menu..."
Coming up... Valka gets a much-needed education in fine-dining...