=Normal POV=
(Friday, 7/26/19-4:30 pm)
(Berk, Archia Isle)
(Haddock Apartment)

Astrid and Hector enjoyed the rest of their lunch break together and then at 1:30 pm, Hector led Astrid back to her desk and the two shared a small kiss. Hector returned to his office and instantly went into a meeting. At 3 pm, Astrid let Hector know she was leaving and would see him at home later on. Astrid went to the store first to get a few items for the get together with friends; it was the basic chips, dip, drinks, and appetizer snacks. After grabbing that, Astrid went over the liquor store to get the alcohol Hector told her to grab, which was for them to enjoy. Once arriving back home, Astrid got everything put away, and sent out the message to their friends about bringing their own alcohol if they wanted. Astrid made herself busy with cleaning the apartment to get ready for guests. But now, it was 4:30 pm and Astrid was outside sitting up the tables with snacks, then drinks in the coolers. Astrid smiled, wiping her brow as she looked over everything; it looked great.

"Astrid! Hector, we're here!" Drew announced, coming through the back gate. Flynn walked through with Heather, next it was TJ and Roxanne. After them; Syrus, Alexia, Madison, and Evan filed in. Last was Cassandra and Theodore. Astrid was excited about being able to hang with everyone.

"Hi, guys and girls," Astrid greeted, hugging Heather, Madison, Alexia, Cassandra, and Roxanne.

"Where's Hector?" Theodore wondered.

"Still working until 5 pm," Astrid informed. "He promised not to be late if he could avoid it." She added.

"So just us for now?" Heather smiled as Astrid nodded.

"Make yourselves comfortable. There's snacks on the table, and drinks in the coolers." Astrid mentioned.

It was too much longer after that when Astrid turned on the music and everyone was making small talk with one another. Astrid only hoped Hector wouldn't be too late.

. . .

(6:15 pm)

Astrid was becoming a big worried, Just about two hours into the get together with their friends and Hector had yet to come home. Technically, Hector was only an hour and fifteen minutes late, but still. Astrid had been hanging with her friends thus far, Drew and Evan offered to handle grilling the burgers and hot dogs if Hector wasn't home by 6:30 pm. Only because it was getting later and some people had work tomorrow. Astrid didn't, and to her knowledge, neither did Hector.

"Have you tried calling him, Astrid?" Cassandra inquired.

"No, I didn't want to bother him if he's in a meeting that ran long," Astrid replied.

"Just shoot him a text then? I'm sure his phone is on vibrate or right next to him," Heather offered.

Astrid had been planning to do that, but she recalled earlier that Hector said he didn't always bring his phone into meetings because he'd forget it on his desk. It wouldn't hurt, so she might as well try. Astrid got her phone and pulled up the text messages with Hector, then tapped the text box to type out her message.

6:17 pm
Hi, babe. Just wondering if everything is okay at the office and maybe lost track of time? You're a bit late lol Our friends are here, Drew & Evan offered to grill if you're stuck there.

As soon as Astrid pressed the send button, the sound of flapping wings was heard and Toothless landed in the backyard with Hector, obviously, on his back. Hector was just checking his phone to see Astrid's message. "Oh, there you are." Astrid smiled.

"Yeah, sorry. Meeting ran way over, and then the printer had a meltdown while we were trying to get the documents signed," Hector replied. "I know I'm a more than a bit late, Ast. Let me change real quick, then I'll start grilling." He got off Toothless, walking by Astrid and giving her a light kiss on the lips while passing by to get inside. Astrid returned the gesture, then Hector disappeared through the sliding doors.

"We'll get the grill ready for him," Drew offered, heading to the object to clean it off with the wire brush and then after, Evan got the grill lit. Astrid pulled out the food from the inside fridge and set it on the grill's small preparation tray.

Hector finally came out, wearing a basic tee-shirt and dark blue jeans with sneakers on. "Okay, let's get grilling. I'm starving…" Hector sighed out contently as he reached the grill while greeting all their friends with hugs or handshakes. Astrid did get the seasonings and cheese ready for Hector, a joint effort. "Everything looks great, babe. Sorry I wasn't here sooner to help,"

"Hey, don't worry about it. Everyone knows and understand you're mega busy as CEO of a major company," Astrid said. "What matters is you're here now and we're all together to have a good time," She added.

Hector nodded. "Right, thanks, Astrid. I felt horrible for being this late."

"It's all good, baby. Maybe you should have Jason set a last meeting time? Like, if you want to be home for 5 pm, nothing else is scheduled past 4 pm, and there's even thirty minutes extra if you run over and then you're always home for 5:30 pm. Unless it's a dinner meeting, or something," Astrid suggested.

"That is a good idea. I had thought about it, but didn't want to limit my availability for the sake of partnerships and whatnot," Hector informed.

"That's fair, but you shouldn't have to run yourself ragged either," Astrid mentioned.

"True. Maybe I can do a bit of both, base it on who the meeting is with. Meetings with workers could have a limit, and maybe some partners, but others; I make exceptions." Hector shrugged.

"I think that sounds like a fair balance, Hector," Astrid smiled to him, laying her head on his arm a moment. "Anything you need me to get ready for you?"

"I've got all the cooking here handled, but maybe you can go get all the condiments, buns, and vegetables out?" Hector suggested lightly.

Astrid nodded to him, separating from his side to go into the apartment and grab the things Hector said she should have set out. Astrid was happy Hector was home now and things were fun for everyone. Once Astrid brought the things out, she got them set on the outside folding table and set up for easy procession to get food and grab a seat with not holding up the line too long. Soon it was 6:45 pm and everyone had a plate and were sitting on the ground on a blanket to eat dinner.

"So, now that we're not starving…How is everyone's lives going?" Hector asked.

"Syrus and I are finally dating," Madison smiled, laying her head on Syrus's shoulder.

"Good for you two!" Hector smiled.

"Yeah, we were wondering when that would happen. You've been close ever since Junior Prom," Astrid added with a nod.

"Yeah, we're happy," Syrus said.

"Flynn and I got our first apartment just before coming here. We both took Saturday and Sunday off to get things moved in." Heather informed.

"That's great!" Cassandra stated. "Are you guys close?"

"We're about ten minutes from Hector and Astrid's place here. Still close," Flynn mentioned.

"Details?" Roxy wondered.

"Two bedroom, one bath. One parking space and it's second third floor, but cheap." Heather replied.

"Only $750 a month with garbage, and snow remove included. We pay utilities and our personal bills." Flynn added. "We're excited."

"That's awesome for you two, and you've been together over a year now, haven't you?" Hector inquired.

"Yeah, we hit a year the week before Senior Prom," Heather beamed.

"I'll help you guys move in, if you need it. I've got the truck," Drew offered.

"I can help too, I also have a truck," Evan put a finger up.

"We appreciate it," Flynn nodded.

"Cass and I are dating," Theodore announced.

"Took you long enough," TJ teased.

"Oh, shut up!" Theodore glared.

"Come on, babe…It took us a while to come together," Cassandra put her hand on his arm.

"We all saw it back in middle school," Hector chuckled.

"It didn't help that my mom said no boyfriends until high school and by that point, I wasn't sure how Theo felt. Plus, he was with someone else until tenth grade. Then he was busy with baseball through the last three years, playing both school and outside school leagues," Cassandra reminded.

"And I never knew Cass liked me as more than a friend. We actually started realizing there was something mutual at your guys' wedding, but held off due to a busy senior year," Theodore mentioned, motioning to Hector and Astrid while referencing their wedding last August.

"That's great, you two." Astrid smiled.

"TJ and I are still holding off until I'm eighteen, but we do go on random dates," Alexia told everyone. Syrus mumbled something and Alexia glared at him. "Quiet, Syrus…Mom and Dad already said we could date now, it's personal choice to wait until I'm considered an actual adult."

"You know he doesn't like the idea of his little sister dating his best friend," TJ reminded as Alexia nodded.

"Roxy and I are dating, but you guys have basically been considered us together since sophomore year," Evan laughed as everyone else did too. "We're looking for a two bedroom apartment to move into,"

"I could give you mine and Heather's landlord's number. He's got other properties and some vacancies still," Flynn offered.

"That'd be great, thanks, Flynn," Roxanne smiled gratefully. Flynn nodded to her. "I'm also eight week pregnant with twins," She added.

"What!?" Heather, and Cassandra shouted in shock.

"Congratulations," Astrid smiled at Roxanne. "Are you excited?"

"Very, and somehow when I missed my period and took a test, I called having twins. Being a twin myself," Roxanne replied.

"That's good for you guys. Marriage in the cards?" Syrus wondered.

"We've discussed the topic, but nothing decided yet. We're more focused on getting a place and things ready for the babies first. I meant, yeah, we'll get married…But probably not before Roxy gives birth. It would be too stressful to throw wedding planning on top of things," Evan shrugged.

"Likely," Hector agreed. "Not that Astrid and I had much part in planning ours," He chuckled a bit.

"Maybe you didn't help plan much, but my mom tried to drag me to a lot of things for planning. And I picked out my dress," Astrid responded.

"I only chose my best man and groomsmen. I told my parents to keep me out of the rest under the reasoning that they weren't giving me a choice in getting married, so why bother having a choice in planning it." Hector stated.

"I don't blame you and I felt the same…But if I had to get married against my will, I wanted some say. I picked my dress, maid of honor and bridesmaids, also the cake." Astrid recalled the things she chose.

"Good choice on cake, probably something I would have picked. I think our parents wanted us to pick together, but since I refused; they left the choice with you." Hector informed.

"That's exactly what I was told. Your soon to be husband has elected not to make any decisions and leave it all to you," Astrid repeated. "I might have chosen the centerpieces, place settings, and mentioned a dinner choice of Chicken Parmesan," Astrid added.

"I assumed, Chicken Parm is your favorite," Hector nodded. "Will you two, at least, get engaged before the birth?" He directed towards Evan and Roxanne.

"We might. As said, its been discussed, but we're just looking for a place to live at the moment," Roxanne replied. "We'll let you know when we do the baby shower and gender reveal,"

"We'll mark our calendars when that information is relayed," Heather remarked gently.

"So, now that we've gone around the group…How are you two doing?" Drew motioned to Hector and Astrid.

"We're good," Astrid smiled, leaning against Hector.

"Just good?" Cassandra giggled.

"You're not just acting in case your parents are secretly watching? Things are actually good?" Flynn asked.

"We're together," Hector revealed.

"Well, yeah… You're married." Heather laughed.

"Married by force, and we are still married. But…" Astrid corrected.

"Astrid and I are actually together, willingly. Like dating, despite the marriage titles," Hector informed.

"What, that's great!" Drew and Theodore exclaimed, smiling wide.

"When did this happen?" Roxanne inquired.

"Uh, on August 7th, it'll have been a week officially. But August 3rd marks one year married." Hector told them.

"Hector and I know we're still married legally, and we're calling this dating…But at a point at which we're a couple who has been dating for about a year and spending the night at each other's places. In our case, each other's rooms," Astrid explained. "After a while, we'll probably just inhabit one room, considering ourselves dating, but living together," She added.

"The goal is to eventually just be a married couple. You know, working our way up…Willingly." Hector shrugged.

"I think that's awesome, you two. Progress from when you started," Evan snickered.

"Well, everyone had hoped we'd eventually learn to like one another, and that's basically what happened. We started out as strangers, forced to cohabitate and be married. Astrid and I hated the situation. We fought a lot because of it…But overtime, we started getting to one another better and eventually we started developing feelings for one another." Hector said.

"It's still good, guys. To go from last year with all the hate and anger to this…Actually being together willingly, with feelings." Heather smiled. "We're all happy for you."

"When did it happen, the feelings?" Theodore questioned.

"Well, for me…I'd feelings for Astrid long before the wedding. You all knew that, but after she rejected me…I buried them and moved on. At some point, when Astrid and I started getting along…They began resurfacing. When there was hope that things might be okay and work out with us married, they came back. I'd say it was probably after the Tristan incident, when Astrid told me that after she recovered from things, perhaps we could try things again." Hector stated softly.

"And for me, I did start developing feelings for Hector after the Tristan thing. They just grew over time," Astrid said. "We actually discussed all this the night of the graduation party. We decided to stop the arrangement altogether and take some time to settle into after school life with both of us working. We were basically agreeing to take things slow at a crushing on one another level, but not together yet."

"Then about a week after that office party to celebrate the merge on the 7th, Astrid and I sat down and decided to date within out marriage. Set the level of that we've been dating a while, and sleeping over in each other's room as if we were a couple doing it at each other's places. As we said, moving up to living together in the same room, then settle at just being married as we technically already are." Hector finished the explanation.

"So…When you hit that level, is there a possibility of kids?" Cassandra hoped.

"I don't know…Maybe?" Astrid blushed.

"We will likely have kids after that point…Lord knows our parents will start begging now that school is over and I'm settled into my job. But Astrid and I will probably consider getting a house before kids. This place is too small for kids, as the only other room is my office and I do need that for at home work situations." Hector mentioned. "So yeah, I will say once we're in the actually considering ourselves married spot, we'll get a house and have kids. No timeframe, but that is likely how it will go." Astrid seemed to nod and agree with what Hector said.

"So for now, you still only act married for work and public?" Drew asked.

"Depending on the situation, since we're dating…We call each other babe, baby, Milady…So it looks like we're together and people know we're married. It's not like we go around calling one another wife and husband. There's no reason to make extra effort to express the marriage," Astrid informed. "Know what I mean. Like…Hector used it earlier today at work when my manager kept calling me Miss. Hofferson, and I tried to tell her I was married and what my last name was…She kept stopping me until Hector cut her off and said my name was Mrs. Haddock, and his wife."

"Makes sense, using it when necessary, but the rest of the time…People just know you're together. So no need to act, really." Madison nodded, understanding.

"No, not really. Not like it was before when we seemed happier as can be and actually hated everything," Hector laughed a bit. "That was acting, this is just average relationship. Still married legally, but appearing as boyfriend and girlfriend. Only expression marriage titles when needed."

"That's awesome. Seriously, we're beyond thrilled everything is working out for you two." Flynn beamed.

"Now you two can screw each other instead of other people, like in your arrangement!" TJ stated.

"TJ!" Hector and Astrid yelled.

Roxanne, Heather, Cassandra, Alexia socked TJ in the arm. "Dude…" Drew, Theodore, Syrus and Evan sighed out, shaking their heads.

"To be fair, that was only put in place because Hector and I felt awkward about asking each other for sex when we hated the situation we were forced into. Okay…I felt weird about asking him," Astrid informed.

"We did it to each other, babe. I told you, enough blame on both sides. I could have made you feel like you could come to me," Hector reminded as Astrid nodded. "Regardless…The arrangement shouldn't have happened. I made a bad call in a pissed off state, and the grudged over the situation, but also felt like it was better for us to stay married, but screw others to give us freedom. And Astrid stopped things on her side after what happened with Tristan. I stopped after one of my hookups attacked her."

"Wait, you stopped after that?" Astrid looked at him, surprised.

"Yeah. I told you after Tristan I didn't want to do it anymore." Hector told her. "You insisted I did, for relief or whatever while you recovered and I couldn't go to you. I told you it wasn't fair for you to stop and me continue…So yeah, while I told you I'd continue…I never really hooked up with anyone. I had offers, and sometimes I went over with intention to do it, but never went through with it. It wasn't right, felt wrong. So I'd just say sorry but I wasn't in the mood or tired." He explained softly.

"Didn't you also stop cause-," Drew began.

"SHUT IT, DREW!" Hector said quickly.

"What was he gonna say?" Astrid asked.

"Tell you later…" Hector mumbled. "Anyway…Yeah, I stopped after the situation where Roseanne showed up saying she was pregnant with my kid and attacked you, then we had to go to the hospital for your ribs. I had one hook up after the Tristan thing, and that's when it started feeling weird, so I stopped," Astrid smiled a little. "Maybe because after the Tristan thing, my feelings started coming back and it was wrong to screw someone else when I knew I cared about."

"Sorry if I insisted so much," Astrid shrugged.

"It's okay. Nothing happened, so don't sweat it, Milady," Hector gave her a light kiss.

"Aww!" Cassandra, Heather, Madison, and Roxanna swooned as Astrid rolled her eyes after the kiss and Hector just laughed and put his arm around Astrid's waist and she leaned into them.

"Hector Haddock!" Shouted Spencer Haddock's voice as Hector blinked a few times.

"Dad?" Hector asked.

"Astrid Haddock!" That was Angela Hofferson's voice.

"Mom?" Astrid looked over to the gate with Hector. Sure enough, their parents were there.

"What is all this about you two acting married and having sex with other people?!" Spencer, Vivian, Angela, and Marcus came forward into the backyard, clearly angry.

Hector and Astrid just sighed, but weren't worried and would come clean about things. It's not like their parents could do anything now. What Hector and Astrid wanted to know more was why their parents were even there.