Chapter 6 – Stressed Out

*sings Stressed Out by Twenty One Pilots* LOL

Wooo this chapter is done! Y'all better thank my collaborator, Christine, for slapping me out of the writing slump I found myself in over the last few weeks. It was awful. But I'm baaaaack! ;)

This chapter…not a lot happens but let's just call it the calm before the storm shall we?

Hope you enjoy!

It was early. So early that the car Eret drove down the foggy cobblestone streets of Berk was the only car on the road. The rest of the country was enjoying the last bit of sleep they'd get before the sun rose and they had to face yet another day.

Hiccup was clutching a cup of coffee in his hands, hoping it would cure the exhaustion on top of the jet lag that was making him feel like a member of the walking dead.

"So why exactly are we having to get here so early?" Fishlegs asked from his spot in the backseat beside him, also clutching a warm cup of coffee and slurping it like his life depended on it.

"We have to meet with the inspector before the crew can begin the demolition this afternoon." Hiccup answered, picking through the papers in the binder resting on his lap with his free hand.

"But hasn't it already been inspected?" His friend asked him after he took a sip of his warm drink.

Hiccup briefly glanced over at the stout boy sitting next to him while biting his bottom lip, "Well…"

Fishlegs' green eyes that were once barely open and sleepy were now bright and wide and astonished, "You're kidding."

The Prince shook his head, "He has been to the orphanage to check things over but this will be the first time with me there too."

Being gone for an entire month before the renovation was to begin made having the things that were supposed to be taken care of before the construction started extremely difficult.

"And you're not worried about it?" Fishlegs knew his friend. Worry was apart of him. He worried about things that didn't even deserve the stress. But he seemed calm while flipping through the documents and refreshing his mind before they arrived at the construction site.

"If something was majorly wrong, they would've told me while I was gone." Hiccup mumbled as he read over the checklist once more.

Eret pulled up and stopped the car in front of the run-down orphanage. The tall and stocky inspector with a large beard reminded him of his father's except it was black instead of red.

The two young boys stepped out of the car and the larger gentleman immediately stuck out his hands, "Prince Henry, nice to finally meet ye'." His accent was thick, almost too heavy for him to be from Berk.

"Alvin, right?" Hiccup asked the man whose strong grip was cutting off the circulation in his right hand.

"That's correct, lad." Alvin nodded and released his hand.

Hiccup introduced Fishlegs to Alvin and then the group - including Eret, who was there to make sure nothing happened to Berk's heir - all walked into the dark and empty building after the short and sweet introductions with awkward chatter about the weather outside starting to grow chilly.

It was odd seeing the orphanage without the children running around and talking over one another, making it so loud it was hard to think at times. It almost seemed like a completely different place with no toys or furniture spread all around for the adults to trip over.

But it was the same place. The paint chipped walls and the scuffed up floors that would give you splinters if you walked over it barefoot would tell you that.

They walked throughout the home and the stuff that needed the most attention were things Hiccup already knew about, expected, and planned to fix anyway.

But if there was one thing Hiccup learned in school, it was that a rebuild never ever goes the way it's planned. He should've been expecting the additions to his already long list of things to do. The news shouldn't have raised his blood pressure so high that he felt a headache creep up as soon as the words left the older man's mouth.

During Alvin's first inspection, the one he did while Hiccup was in some other country, he found that the plumbing system was not only completely destroyed and worn out but also way too outdated to be used for such a capacity as this building. It had been leaking underneath the floor for years.

Hiccup looked beneath his feet at the section of the floor that had been torn up to reveal the rotten wood that was holding the building up, "All of the joists have to be redone." he stated, sounding exasperated.

Alvin nodded, "I rang your assistant about this weeks ago."

"Which assistant?" Hiccup prodded.

Alvin closed his eyes and thought for a moment. His hand was slightly waving around in the air as it would somehow help him remember the name faster, "He was a young boy. Gusto? No, that can't be-"

"Damnit, Gustav." Hiccup spit out.

"Gustav!" Alvin exclaimed, recognizing the name, "That's it!"

Hiccup closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. Being unaware of this information wasn't his fault and he knew that, but his mind kept him from believing it because it had a silly way of making things seem worse than they actually were.

And so he blamed this on himself. He blamed it on not being in the loop as much as he should've been. He blamed it on trusting Gustav to relay all the information and all the updates to him while they were gone. He was always too trusting and it always bit him in the ass in the end. And he blamed it on deciding to take a few days off to rest when he knew that craziness and work awaited him back on Berk.

He thought he'd gotten past running away from his problems, but this was just proof that he hadn't.

And while he was standing there stirring in his own disappointment and guilt, Fishlegs spoke up, "So, we focus on fixing the structural problems first...then we get back to the to-do list we already had."

"But the kids have to be moved back in before Christmas. This puts us at least two weeks behind." Hiccup stressed.

Fishlegs placed a hand upon his friend's small shoulder, "We'll figure it out," he spoke.

Hiccup met the eyes of his childhood friend, a corner of his lips turning up into a half-smile that thanked him for the support, "You sound certain."

"That's because I know you, and you always come up with a plan."

Hiccup waved his clipboard in the air, "But I already had a plan."

"Plans change and I know you know that better than anyone else," Fishlegs told him, looking at him with a creased brow and serious eyes that made it seem like he wished he had the superpower of making the other person think or feel whatever you want them to just by one stern look.

And his friend almost did have that power because he knew he wasn't just talking about when an assignment went wrong at school or when it rained on a day they were supposed to play outside.

He was talking about his decision to leave his life in Melody and all his plans he had there behind and move to Berk to become their Prince without knowing a damn thing about how to run a country.

He was talking about how he was supposed to marry Heather but decided that plan wasn't going to work and he married the person that he loved more than anything else instead.

Plans did change. They always changed. Nothing ever goes the way you plan it out in your planner or your journal or in your mind.

It sure didn't make it any less stressful though.

But if he wanted to show that he was a good leader and an even better problem-solver to the people of Berk who were looking at him to do a good job on this because he'd one day lead their entire country, then he better not stall just because one fixable thing went wrong.

"Thanks, Fishlegs." Hiccup smiled.

Fishlegs nodded once, "This is why you brought me along, isn't it? To keep your ass in line?"

Hiccup snickered, "Astrid may be tough, but she definitely can't do that job all by herself."

"It's a two person job, for sure." Fishlegs joked and laughed along with his friend who he was glad to see had lost the worry wrinkles in his forehead for the time being.

This was going to be a long and stressful next few months and maybe he was crazy and made a mistake by taking such a project on, but one thing he was certain he did right was asking Fishlegs to join him.

Astrid would've much rather been in her nice large and soft and warm bed rather than in the stiff and old seat in a room filled to the brim with the people of Parliament.

And it didn't help matters any that she had been late to the meeting because she once again woke up by her stomach trying to murder her as she emptied the contents of last night's salmon filet dinner that was left in her stomach.

It certainly didn't help that she was already in a foul mood - one look at her permanently scrunched up nose would tell you that - because her father was in the room and he hadn't looked her way once. Not even when she spoke up. Not even when she walked into the room after the meeting had already started and all eyes were on her. All except for the man who had blue eyes that were identical to hers.

And so she sat in the room during the two-hour meeting half listening to them discuss politics and half thinking about the role her father would play in her child's life. The child who'd probably be entering the world the same time the trees and flowers bloomed again.

Astrid never saw him being the type of grandfather that kept hard candy in his pockets and bouncing his grandkids on his knee.

She saw him being the type they'd see on holidays and birthday parties. They'd bring a gift and a hug and then stand in a corner asking for a drink after drink.

That's what she thought about when she wasn't listening to the King give a speech. She didn't know what she wanted but she knew she didn't want the rudeness and the negativity, which was the same attitude he brought towards her marriage. So, would he have the same outlook on her child? His grandchild?

It was something she'd have to talk to Hiccup about...well, first she had to tell Hiccup.

Astrid was so lost in thought - about her father and her husband and her child - that she was still sitting in the seat with her hand resting and absentmindedly rubbing her thumb over her stomach when most of the room had cleared out.

The only few people left in the room were some men whose name she couldn't remember and her father.

And the two made eye contact - identical blue staring at one another across the room.

Anything could've happened next.

But Astrid didn't expect her to be the one to walk out of the room without speaking one single word.

Hiccup didn't trudge into the bedroom until way past midnight. He and Fishlegs had stayed up - downing cups of coffee like they were two boys taking shots at a bar on their twenty-first birthday - making a new schedule because Hiccup wasn't going to go into this without something to look at and some kind of structure.

He had to be up in a couple of hours and it was almost pointless to sleep at this rate but he missed Astrid. He figured the best way to spend the last few hours of nighttime was curled up next to her in the bed they shared.

The lights still being on in their living quarters and the way Astrid was asleep on top of the covers made it seem like she'd tried waiting up for him but that exhaustion won in the end.

Hiccup quietly walked through the rooms switching off the lights, the last one being the small light on the nightstand next to his side of the bed. The room went dark as he carefully climbed in next to Astrid. He pulled the covers over both of them before brushing her hair out of her face with his hand and gently pressing his lips to her forehead.

And Hiccup wasn't sure if she woke up for a moment or not but as soon as his head hit the pillow and he took a deep calming breath from the comfort of lying down, she turned and slid over next to him into her usual spot curled up against his side with her arm draped across his chest.

And for the rest of the week, this was the only way the two spent any time together - curled up next to one another in bed and too tired to do anything but sleep.

I'm like…so EXCITED about the next chapter…and the next and the next…. Muahaha!

Please don't kill me for making you wait...I have to keep you all reading somehow, right? HAHA!

Hope you enjoyed! Thanks for all who read and comment. Y'all make me smile and less stressed out. HAHA!