=Normal POV=
(Sunday, 6/16/19-9:00 pm)
(Berk, Archia Isle)
(Haddock Apartment)

The graduation party continued on after Hector and Drew returned from Hector looking over Drew's car. No questions were asked, the friends knew why Drew pulled Hector away with something mechanic-related. The only part that sucked was the friends didn't know what was said, and to keep Hector's trust, they knew Drew wasn't going to reveal anything. The two were practically brothers and Drew knew that what Hector revealed to him was private; they had a history as many things to one another. Drew only wanted Hector to be happy, and he hoped that Hector took the advice to speak with Astrid so the two of them could maybe work things out and have a chance at making the marriage work. It was clear from the two different stories that Dagur got, Hector and Astrid had feelings for one another, and he hoped that with him setting the foundation; Hector and Astrid would talk soon. It was late now, Hector and Astrid were just arriving back at the apartment. Hector would have work tomorrow, and it was sure to be a busy day, but he still wanted to sit down with Astrid. There was no telling when there would be available time anytime in the next month. Hector had a lot of settling in to do at the company, so he felt tonight was best to have a serious talk with Astrid.

"I don't know about you, but I think a shower and relaxing in bed until I fall asleep sounds like a fantastic idea," Astrid stretched a bit, smiling. Hector didn't answer and Astrid noticed it, she saw the look of deep thought on his face and instantly, Drew's words about sitting down with Hector came to mind. He wasn't instantly rushing off or seeming like he needed to get away, so this was a good chance to talk, right? "Hector?" Astrid asked, turning to face him.

"Hm?" Hector replied now.

"Is…Everything alright?" Astrid wondered gently. "You've been very quiet this evening since we left the park," She mentioned.

"Sorry, guess I just have a lot on my mind," Hector shrugged. "What did you say?"

"It…Was nothing of importance. I had just said that a shower and relaxing in bed until I fall asleep sounds good. How about you?" Astrid smiled.

"Yeah. Yeah, sounds great. You go ahead first," Hector suggested. Astrid couldn't just walk away, they needed to talk about prom night. There had to be something on Hector's mind, and she wouldn't sit quietly and potentially lose a chance to tell him how she felt. Sighing some, Astrid looked down. "What's wrong?" Hector saw the shift in her mood.

Summoning her courage, she looked at Hector. "There's…Just been something on my mind, but…I don't want to upset you by bringing it up," She admitted.

"Astrid…I told you that you could talk to me about anything," Hector reminded. "I…Won't get upset as long as you're honest with me. This is…Good. Communication is good, so," He paused, sitting on the couch and motioning for her to come sit with him. Astrid went over and sat beside Hector on the couch, she kept her hands in her lap, fiddling with her fingers. "Tell me what's up, please?" He asked.

"Okay," Astrid let out a breath she'd been holding in. "Uh…I-It's about a couple weeks ago," She waited a few moments, glancing to see Hector's reaction. "The…Night of the prom…" She continued. Hector already saw where this was going and thought maybe they were both facing the same problem with not knowing how to take that night. "I…Want to know why when we were about to have sex…You ran away from me…" Astrid finally got out, looking at Hector now.

Hector somehow felt like that would be the question and he still didn't know how to answer it, other than honestly, but how would that look for him? Either way, it took some courage for Astrid to bring it up to him as something that was bothering her and he knew after escaping her room that night she would be confused and maybe hurt. Well, they needed to talk about this, so he needed to be honest too. "Because it wasn't right," Hector told her. "It wasn't right for us to do out of the blue like that,"

"What do you mean?" Astrid asked.

Hector took a breath. "After we got married, a lot of things got said. But neither of us kept to them, as far as working together to make things work. In the start, you were the angry one always picking fights and never helping. And when you almost cheated, I was the angry one trying to find any way out of the marriage. After everything, I think we both reached the same conclusion that things shouldn't have reached this point. We should have…Done more of this," Hector motioned to them being on the couch.

"Sitting down and talking. Communicating," Astrid nodded.

"Right," Hector agreed. "But that's just the thing, Astrid…Aside from a few little chats after big situations, we haven't talked at all. We talked once at the wedding, agreed to work together. We had many arguments over you not working, not helping around the apartment. We fought when I caught you about to cheat, we fought when you saw Selena smack my ass at school…When I learned our friends knew about things. With all that, we never sat down and had a real discussion about the matters that caused those fights. And we didn't really start getting along until after you were almost hurt by Tristan, then again by Roseanna…" Hector stated.

"Well…After the Tristan thing, I needed time to get myself together anyway. What he did scared me, and made me afraid to keep hooking up with any other guys because…You'd been right. That time, you were here…But if there was a next time, maybe not and things could be worse…" Astrid reminded softly.

"But you also told me that you were thinking about wanting to try again, and would let me know so we could talk…I figured we'd have that conversation before attempting to sleep together for the first time since the wedding last August…" Hector informed.

"Is…That why you ran away from me a few weeks ago? Cause you didn't want us to have sex before we talked about things? I-I remember you said that you couldn't do this right now…" She recalled lightly.

"It's…Part of it," Hector admitted. Should he tell her the rest? That he got scared when his feelings rose from the grave he buried them in on that night?

"I'm sorry…" Astrid lowered her head some. "I-I was the one who threw that kiss on you…And started everything. I knew we had to talk, that I wanted to bring up the subject of trying again…But after all fun we had at prom…I just don't know what took over me,"

"Hey, hey…It's okay," Hector told her. "That's…What's been on my mind lately, why I've been so distracted and…Distant from you." He mentioned. "I…Needed time to figure things out because I didn't know what came over me either," Hector added. "What…Happened that night, Astrid…" He began, but stopped to consider his next set of words. If they were being honest, he couldn't not tell her.

"I realized what happened to me with you," Astrid suddenly spoke up.

"You did?" Hector asked. Astrid nodded. "Will…You tell me?"

"I-I realized that I wanted to try again because I…started feeling something for you," Astrid confessed as Hector stared at her, not expecting such a reveal. "It was little at first, and started when you protected me from Tristan. Things…Grew after Roseanna told me she was pregnant. I too, in the beginning, believed it and remember being so shocked and also…Afraid to lose you if it was true. I even called her out on it before she started attacking me," Astrid explained while Hector only listening. "I told her that she was lying and it wasn't true…But you came out and defended me again. Making sure I was okay, giving me a chance to explain things instead of instantly taking her side…" Astrid fiddled with her hands more. "It hit the hardest when we were at the hospital and you told me you turned down Selena's offer…Having chosen to stay with me. Same thing on prom night, when you told me that with us not fighting anymore, you like being around me…I-I thought if I showed you that I wanted you, you'd want me too…"

"Astrid…I did want you. And you have no idea how bad…But everything you just told me is why I stopped things," Hector told her calmly as Astrid looked at him.

"So you…Stopped because I began feeling something for you…Liking you? And you didn't want that," Astrid closed her eyes.

Hector quickly put his hands over hers as she looked at him again, and he saw the hurt in her eyes. "I stopped because it wasn't right for us to do before we talked. Before we had this very conversation we're having now…" Hector told her. "I also stopped because I felt something and…" He took a breath and let it out. "It…Scared me."

"What…Scared you?" Astrid questioned.

"Realizing you wanted me. Realizing how…Well everything had been going for us, and that we could have had it in the start if we'd…Put our hate aside of the situation and came together willingly," Hector stated. "I got scared because the moment I realized you wanted me and I wanted you, willingly, no forced anything out of acting or legality shit…Something I thought I buried came back," He enlightened.

"What came back?" Astrid pushed gently.

Hector sighed. "My feelings for you," He admitted. Astrid looked stunned. "Years ago now, or so it seems, I had a huge crush on you and it took my everything to get up the courage to ask you out…And you rejected me. That hurt…" Hector explained. "So I figured you'd always hate me, not…Find me worthy. And I buried the feelings I felt for you."

"But you're saying they…Came back?" Astrid repeated as Hector nodded to her.

"Yes…And because of how fast it happened, I got scared. That's…Why I retreated from you. I needed time to figure things out. It…Hit me tonight that what made me stop was because I was afraid to feel anything for you again. Afraid of it taking just that one instance where you kissed me to make everything rise from the grave…" Hector told her.

"You were…Afraid to feel anything towards me because I hurt you last time. And again when we got married, that I showed you nothing but anger and hostility…" Astrid understood.

"I've spent all this time trying to figure out what made me scared, and the answer had been so easy…But it made me see that we needed to sit down and talk, which is…What has been on my mind all night. How to have this chat with you…Seems you sort of felt the same way," Hector shrugged.

"Where do we go from here?" Astrid wondered now.

"Do you still want to do what we said we would during dinner at the wedding reception? Work together in this marriage?" Hector inquired.

"I do…How are we doing it? Same way we agreed?" Astrid wondered.

"You're going to have to be specific because we had a lot of different agreements since getting married," Hector pointed out. "How about, for now, we just go back to how it was set for when we returned to school, the day of the party when everyone came over to see the place?" He suggested. "Keep up the image of a happily married couple in public, and be friends who live together," He said as Astrid's face fell a little, having hoped that Hector and her might actually try to be a couple since they had feelings for one another. Hector noticed her quietness. "It's…Just for now that we do this, Astrid. I know there is mutual feelings between us, but those are…Undefined on where they are at. Neither of us know where we stand with feeling something for the other and I think that we should hold off on jumping into anything more than being friends who live together until we know where those feelings lie," Hector explained.

"Okay? We're both unsure about things right now, but understand we feel something. If we try to rush this, we're only gonna ruin it. You still need time to figure out the depth of your feelings and while I mostly know where mine are…" Hector paused. "I'm still dealing with the hesitation of letting you in fully, the fear of being hurt again. So I just think it would be best for us to approach this slowly, and call it, for now, crushing on one another. Maybe we…Pick some random time to go out for dinner, or see a movie. Little outings to spend time together, but not dating. I mean, I know we're married, but…I don't think either one of us is ready to take on jumping head first into being married behind closed doors. We tried that before and the hate of everything being forced to marry caused us to fight, and led you to almost sleeping with someone else. Because you were scared and felt awkward about asking your husband to satisfy your sexual desires," He reminded gently. "That wasn't to take a jab at you or anything," He added quickly.

"I-I know and I see the point you were trying to make," Astrid replied, nodding in agreement. When put the way Hector explained it, he was right. They tried to be a married couple immediately following the wedding and both of them were still lost in their hate of the situation, so it failed and made things tense between them. "So we're going to stay friends, who are married and living together? Continue to public eye marriage, just friends and roommates who have crushes on one another and go on dates at random? Maybe end up…Dating, where we'd be a real couple. Well, willing relationship, I guess?" She asked to confirm the suggestion Hector made.

"Yes, that's what I'm suggesting. For now. Like any other two people who have crushes and waiting to see where it goes. Things go good like that, we can date at the…I guess it would be considered the like stage." Hector responded.

"And what of the part before senior year when we agreed to…Have sex at random?" Astrid's cheeks burned with embarrassment. She didn't want to make it seem like all she wanted was sex, but she wanted the terms of their plan defined.

"I think we should just…Leave that alone for the time being. People who aren't…Together in a relationship shouldn't engage in those things. I know we're married, and also that we've had hookups…But I feel like if we're actually going to give this a real shot, we shouldn't step beyond the boundaries in place if we weren't already married and deciding to see how it goes between us with mutual feelings of…Attraction. Know what I mean? Back to the let's not rush things before we're ready thing." Hector offered. "I'm not saying we can't have sex until a time hits, if we get there, that we're actually behaving like a married couple. I'm just suggesting we hold off for a bit. Alright? It gives us both time to be ready if we wait until we're…Dating." He made air quotes around that last word. "I wouldn't want to have sex with you when we're…Just friends, in this situation where we're trying to work our way up to being a real couple, with feelings involved. I…" He paused.

"Don't want it to be like we're just hooking up cause we can?" Astrid tried, feeling like she understood what he was getting at.

"Yeah." Hector nodded. "Is…That okay with you? To wait a little longer?"

"It's fine with me, Hector." Astrid smiled. "And…This works out because now that high school is over, we're…Both going to be working full time and another part of relationships is…Balancing things, right? In the same sense you said about rushing things, we don't want to put too much on us when there's already a lot going on outside our home-life,"

"Right, exactly. That was going to be the next thing I brought up as a reason why we should take it slow. I know you're pretty settled in your position at work, but starting tomorrow morning; I'm in fully control of the company and it's gonna take me a little bit to get into the swing of things. Not gonna lie that I'm ridiculously nervous about it," Hector admitted.

"I'm sure you're going to do great once you get used to everyone coming to you instead of our fathers, and I know it's likely unpredictable, but if you can get on somewhat of a routine, things might be easier." Astrid encouraged.

"I appreciate that. I'm just really gonna need your help with the apartment, Astrid. You won't work the same hours or days that I do, I'm not gonna be home a lot while I get used to all this. I'm…Probably going to get home late, or have to go to lunch and dinner meetings, there's a possibility of traveling too-," Hector listed.

"Hey, we'll figure it out. Okay? We'll work together, find a good balance for work and home. I'll take care of things here while you work, I promise not to leave everything on you again. That was wrong of me to do in the first place, and I am still really sorry for putting all that stress on you, and making things hard…" Astrid glanced down a little.

"I forgive you. And I'm sorry for all the times I lost my temper with you. I normally don't have such a short fuse, but with everything going on…The stress, I just started snapping at everyone. I shouldn't have verbally attacked you just because I was pissed at all the work being put on me. For you, it was just the marriage to me…But on my side, it was the marriage, the school, workload when you lost your job, dad's nagging about the company…" Hector sighed.

"We both did things we shouldn't have, and I think what matters is that despite all that…We've stayed together and started to work things out. Maybe it was meant to happen, stuff happening for both of us to see that we weren't going about it the right way. So I think we're both gonna be fine as long as we work together, stay open, honest, and communicate." Astrid told him. Their hands were still linked together.

"I agree with that fully," Hector smiled some. "So, obviously, it goes without discussion that if we're going to give this a go…The prior arrangement stops here. No more hookups…"

"Fine with me. I was getting bored with them anyway, at least up until the night Tristan tried to hurt me over…" Astrid blushed. "Calling your name…Then it was more fear. Most of what I needed to focus on with me was my developing feelings for you."

"Well, you know I wanted to stop things after that whole incident…For the sake of your safety. You insisted I keep doing it, and even after Roseanna physically harmed you over me…To be honest, I haven't wanted to do it. I did cause you were pushing it, but I wasn't enjoying myself. It was, as you claimed, boring. With us getting along, and knowing you told me you wanted to give things another try for us working together in this, I guess I lost interest in the others. That's also when my feelings started resurfacing." Hector said. "So…Are we on the same page with all this? Agree to stop the arrangement to hook up with others, take things slow at the crushing level? Leave the past behind, and start this on a clean slate?"

"Agreed," Astrid replied with a smile. After a small shake of their hands, the two hugged.

Both Hector and Astrid were optimistic and hopeful about things between them. It was nothing big yet, but felt that things were going to be good from here on out. After the hug, Astrid went to go shower and get ready to relax for the night. Hector only changed in his room, knowing he'd shower tomorrow morning. There was no point discussing if they should sleep in the same room since things were left at taking it slow and two people with a crush didn't instantly sleep in the same room. Yes, they were married, but they were trying to let things come together normally rather than forced. The marriage was really just for show, but one day, it could be something that was real if things went the way both of them were hoping it would. The rest of the night was peaceful, and there was anxiousness for tomorrow to start on their fresh slate.