Dragon Island Apartment Block - 9:25am
Hiccup was still groaning as he got out of the elevator and walked down the hallway. The fresh air from the bike ride back had at least stopped him from feeling actively nauseous, but he still had a splitting headache and, despite having cycled home without a problem, most of his strength and energy felt utterly depleted.
"Ah... g'morning, lad..."
"Oh, uh... hey, Phlegma... morning t'you too, ha ha..." he wheezed out weakly as he passed her, finally reaching the door to his apartment and unlocking it.
Astrid was up, unsurprisingly, as Hiccup heard the sound of the shower in the en suite turning off, before her voice called out "hey, babe!"
"Oh. Hey!" he called back. "What time'd you get up?"
"About a half hour ago... I've had breakfast, but there's some for you in the fridge, still..."
"Aw, thanks, milady... ha ha..." he chortled as he stood at the kitchen counter and poured himself some coffee, giving Astrid some privacy as she got dressed.
He hoped that she wasn't expecting him to actually have the meal she made there and then, as he definitely had to wait a while to actually eat something since he still didn't feel so well.
"It was that Ruffnut place again today, right?"
"Yeah... ha ha..." Hiccup tapped his finger nervously on the table as he thought about what else to say. He knew that if he stayed silent, she would just keep asking, so he decided to be slightly less vague than his standard RBC-related answers. "See, they uh... they just found out Heather and Cami are trying to work for Mom and, uh... well, they wanted to ask me what to do about it..."
"Huh... what'd you tell them...?"
"Eh... basically, the slightly blunter version of no comment, I guess... by the way, what time do you start filming HK today, Astrid...?"
"Eleven. Heading there in about five minutes..." Astrid called back. "I finish at eight, so... ugh... look, Hiccup, I'm probably gonna be in a bad mood when this is over, so... so maybe I should just stay at my own place tonight... for your sake..."
"Uh... well, sure. Yeah. Whatever..." Hiccup cleared his throat as he put his drink down, laughing as he said "I mean, it's not like you're under lock and key here, Astrid..."
"Ah ha ha ha!" he could hear her laughing at his remark, and through the open bedroom door he saw her shadow on the wall as she put on her chef's jacket and buttoned it up. "Well, no, I didn't mean it like that, it's just... alright, look... according to Gustav, I have a habit of throwing and breaking stuff when I'm doing Helheim's. Normally, I don't think twice about it, cause it's in my own place, and... listen, I don't want you to see me when I'm mad, okay...?"
"Well... thanks for being considerate..." Hiccup chuckled as he finished his drink and put the cup in the sink for washing later.
Astrid froze suddenly when she came fully-dressed into the living room and saw him, going wide-eyed with a gasp as she said "oh my gods..."
"Uh... wha... what's wrong?" Hiccup asked worryingly, before glancing to see his reflection on the side mirror and realising that his face was still a notably paler shade than usual.
"Hiccup, you... you look like a ghost... what the Hel happened?!" Astrid took on a more concerned tone as she took Hiccup's hand and led him to the couch. "Come on, sit down... you didn't catch the flu, did you...?"
"Nah, come on, I'm fine now, I... I just..." Hiccup sighed with a chuckle as he sat down, while Astrid shuffled close next to him. "I uh... I just had a bad reaction to something in their office..."
"Oh, man... y'sure you're okay?" Astrid affectionately tussled a few strands of his hair as she said this.
"Yeah, of course, I... look, it's all out of my system now..." Hiccup said, before the negative side of his brain thought along with our last week of meals...
"Alright, well... I'll call you later, then... love you..." Astrid kissed his cheek before she put on her shoes, grabbed her coat and handbag and she left, shutting the door securely behind her.
Gee... had no idea she felt like such a hostage here... the negative side of Hiccup's brain thought, prompting the actual Hiccup to groan as the more positive side rebutted with fuck you, you know that's not what she meant!
Yeah, yeah... the negative thinking side responded. Still... considering what she was like with Mom when they got in that fight, I'd hate to see Astrid when she's really pissed.
"Yeah. Dodged a bullet, there... ha ha..." Hiccup sighed as he closed his eyes and set about trying to recover his health through an hour-long snooze.
