Twelve: Misunderstandings
Hiccup lost himself in his work and time seemed to fly by until a buzz jerked him from his little world.
"Hello?"
An unfamiliar voice crackled through the intercom and he frowned and walked to the little unit that Astrid had explained to him the previous evening. Warily, he pressed the button.
"Um…hi. Who are you?"
"I'm Dagur. You must be Hiccup. Astrid said you'd be in. I'd use my key…but my arms are full. Can you let me in?"
"Okay," Hiccup said and unlocked the door. There was a pause as the man entered the building and then there was a knock on the door. Quietly, the auburn-haired man let him in.
The man who entered was holding a huge flatpack in his arms and he staggered before he rested it against the wall. Then he straightened up and smiled at Hiccup. He was a couple of inches shorter than Hiccup but very buff and powerful. His hair was cropped short and spiky on the top, a bright carrot red and his green eyes were sparkling. There was some heavy scarring on his right cheek and woad tattoos over his left eye. Hiccup noted he had a scruffy stubbly beard and he grinned almost manically as he offered a strong hand to the young man.
"Dagur DeRange," he introduced himself cheerfully. "I'm Astrid's security adviser." Hiccup took his hand and shook it as he frowned.
"You look familiar," he murmured as the buff man walked to the kitchen and found himself a bottle of water.
"I'm Heather's older stepbrother," he revealed. "You may have seen me hanging around when she was in Freshman year-before I joined the army." Interested despite himself, Hiccup walked over and poured himself another coffee.
"Really?" he asked. "That sounds very…"
"Boring," Dagur told him plainly and sighed. "Look-there was lots of marching and guard duty and sitting around…and then shorter periods of far too much happening." Hiccup frowned.
"I get it-you don't want to talk," Hiccup sighed as he turned back to the dining table and slumped in his seat. "I mean, I guess some of the exciting bits must have been quite traumatic?" Dagur cocked an eyebrow and nodded, walking confidently to sit by Hiccup-not too close but not opposite, encouraging conversation.
"Well, tours in Iraq and Afghanistan weren't much fun," he admitted. "I suspect my timing was spectacularly bad because it coincided with lots of insurgent activity and the worst of IS…so we lost a lot of good guys and saw some things no one should have to." He visibly shook himself. "But when I was…moved on, my sis found me this job so she could keep an eye on me." He chuckled.
"And why would you need keeping an eye on?" Hiccup asked suspiciously as the other man laughed.
"I'm supposed to be giving you some advice," Dagur pointed out by Hiccup sipped his coffee, still wary.
"I need to know if it is valid," he replied easily as he inspected the buff man. "I mean, you're not in the army now and your statement indicates you didn't leave voluntarily so I need to make sure I'm not being badly advised." Like I have been for years. Dagur stared at him for a long moment-and then burst out laughing.
"I'm going to like you!" he exclaimed. "I mean, my sis is pretty hard to impress and she thinks you're a smart guy…and Astrid is also my 'sister' and she's very fond of you…and as you're engaged, that makes you my…brother?"
"Oh Thor," Hiccup groaned as Dagur grinned.
"Brother…hmm, I like it!" he announced. Then he got up and dragged the huge flat package to the table. "By the way, sissy asked me to deliver this for you. Astrid got you this…I think it's for your work?" Eyes widening in shock, Hiccup realised the man had brought in a draughting table for him and he gaped as Dagur folded his arms and smiled at the other man's expression. "You're welcome," he said as Hiccup looked up.
"Um…thanks," he mumbled. Dagur smiled.
"You want a hand putting it up?" he asked and Hiccup nodded.
"I mean, it's not like I'm useless but it's heavy and…" Dagur grinned.
"And I hate leaving a job unfinished," he admitted, popping the tape and carefully peeling the cardboard back. "Now-where do all these things go?" Hiccup crouched down and frowned, grabbing the plans and then looking up in shock as Dagur wrestled the main table top out of the packaging and grabbed a table leg.
"Hey-we really should use the instructions," Hiccup said quickly and the man paused, inspecting him closely as he expertly read through the plans, nodded and grabbed the leg off Dagur, reversed the direction and fished out the enclosed key wrench.
"So…you do things by the book," Dagur said conversationally as he helped affix the legs and stabilise the table. Hiccup nodded as he fished out the bracing struts.
"Usually," he admitted. "I mean, I'm not talented or handsome or-or some sports star or person who gets away with anything. I'm just a nobody from a small island that most people can't even pick out on a map and with my luck, the moment I try anything, I end unto my neck in trouble." Surreptitiously, Dagur inspected him. Hiccup was focussed on his task, assembling the complex table with deftness and surety that Dagur would never have had in attempting the complex task, even if he had been using the instructions.
Not a nobody and definitely talented. You have confidence issues, brother. But why? And is it anything likely to bite Astrid on the ass?
"I need to make sure you are safe," the buff man told him as they finished assembling the table. Emerald eyes flicked up guiltily.
"Why wouldn't I be safe?" Hiccup asked too quickly and Dagur was certain that the tone was just a little more high-pitched than usual.
He's nervous.
"Astrid is a high-profile sportswoman and Archipelago icon," he explained carefully. "And she has a number of fanatical fans…"
"Which is a tautology," Hiccup said automatically. "Since the work 'fan' is an abbreviation of the word fanatic in any case…" Dagur raised an eyebrow.
"…some of whom may be immensely unhappy that the beautiful Astrid is suddenly engaged to someone they have never heard of…instead of them."
"What?" Dagur stared at Hiccup, who had put the final touches to the table.
"We haven't publicised it, but there have been problems," he admitted. "Before Dag the asshole two-timing Footballer, she had a stalker who bombarded her with texts, letters, flowers, photographs…and who broke into her former home and…well, he enjoyed himself on her bed…and left it for her to find." Hiccup shuddered.
"That must have been…distressing…" he managed to say. Dagur nodded.
"It was around the time I was suddenly unemployed…so when Heather called me, it was a good distraction," he admitted. "Astrid was almost freaking out and wanted the man arrested and castrated! Admittedly, Archipelago justice doesn't quite work like that…though it probably would have, in Viking times…"
"And Astrid is 100% Valkyrie," Hiccup smiled, his eyes drifting to the picture of the friends in Senior Year on the shelf.
"So she moved to this gated and very secure community," Dagur explained. "Even when she fell for that moronic Football player, she kept her home here-though she moved into his mansion when they were a couple. And when he betrayed her, she came straight back to her home." He walked to the kitchen and poured himself a mineral water. "In fact, you are the first guy she has ever brought back here."
"I am?" There was a slight note of hopefulness in Hiccup's voice that had the buff security man inspecting him closely.
And you definitely care for her.
"For sure. You should be proud-she must really trust you to have you in her personal space…" he said and watched the other man's shoulders slump slightly. He didn't understand what he had said but it was clear it had hit some sort of a nerve.
"Maybe," Hiccup commented absently. "I mean, we're old friends…"
"And how great you're getting married!" Dagur said eagerly, his face lighting up and offering the auburn-haired man a glass of fizzy water. "And I want to make sure you are safe-and are able to defend yourself." That almost had Hiccup dropping his water.
"What?" he choked. "You think I can't look after all this Vikingness?" Dagur chuckled.
"Astrid would be devastated if anything happened to you-because there are some very odd people out there," Dagur told him. "So we're going to work on some simple self-defence manoeuvres, brother."
"Could you maybe call me by my name?" Hiccup asked him awkwardly. "I mean, I don't have a brother and my cousin isn't the most sympathetic…" There was a moment where Dagur looked hurt, but then he composed himself.
"You sound like you can do with a brother-but I respect your wishes, Hiccup," he said pointedly. "We can use Astrid's yoga mat for practice…"
"What-now?" Hiccup exclaimed, backing away. He was having more than enough troubles coping with all the changes and the mental fallout from escaping Bella-but he wasn't sure that he was able to cope with being manhandled by this fit and very buff former soldier. "Maybe…you could explain things to me first? And what I can look out for and do to reduce the risk…rather than you throwing me about…" Dagur gaped.
"You thought I would hurt you?" he said and laid his glass down with a firm bang. "I-I…I bid you good day, sir!" And he turned to the door.
"Wait…" Hiccup said, suddenly alarmed. Had he blown his chances? Would Astrid dismiss him for upsetting her friend and security adviser? And though a part of him was still very worried by the deception, being rejected so quickly would just about finish him. "Dagur, I never meant to…"
"I said-good day!" the man repeated and let himself out without looking back. As the door slammed shut, Hiccup stared after him in shock.
"Bella was right," he murmured disconsolately. "I really am just a complete loser."
oOo
He was sitting staring out of the picture window when Astrid returned, his shoulders slumped and bag with computer packed and resting at his side. He was back in his old clothes and a bottle of brandy he had bought for cooking was sitting empty at his side.
"Hey," she greeted him warmly but when she got no response, she frowned and dropped her bag by the door, walking towards his drooping shape. "Hiccup?"
"Hmmm? Oh…hey, Astrid!" he said, jumping and looking guiltily at her. She frowned, seeing him looking uncomfortable. "How was training?"
"It was great…we worked on a lot of new plays for the upcoming match against the Visithug Vixens and we're trying out the new winger, Jannicke, because Ulrica has a slight Quad strain…" Her eyes sparkled and then she stopped, inspecting him. "How was your day?" He smiled.
"I think I upset Dagur," he said tonelessly. "I mean, he came here and helped me with the table but I sorta freaked when he wanted to teach me some combat and asked him to explain. And he…well, he walked out…" He sighed. "Sorry…" She dragged a chair up by him and sat down, staring at the sunlight reflecting off the water in the docks.
"Hiccup-you probably guessed but Dagur was medically discharged from the Berk Ranger Regiment," she explained. "Don't get me wrong-he served with distinction in Iraq and Afghanistan, supporting the wars in both and the fight with IS but in Iraq, his entire patrol was wiped out by an IED and ambush. He was injured-you saw the scars on his face?" Hiccup nodded. "Everyone else was killed. He fought like a lion and had all but driven them back when help finally arrived-but it was too late. The rest were dead, most of them blown to pieces. It turns out Dagur saw his best friend, Sparky, decapitated by shrapnel." She sighed. "He had a breakdown."
Unthinkingly, Hiccup took her hand, hearing the upset in her voice, his fingers sliding easily between hers and feeling relief when her hand curled around his.
"I-I didn't know," he mumbled. She nodded, squeezing his hand reassuringly.
"Heather was distraught when she heard he was injured-and especially when it became obvious he would never be combat-fit again. Psychologically, he would never cope…and though he understands, he's proud and doesn't want to admit to psychological injuries. He sees them as a weakness. So when I had some…security issues, I offered him a job. He will teach you some fantastic self-defence moves…but you were right to ask for an explanation first. Because Dagur is a buff, enthusiastic guy and…well, he could have tossed you around…"
"Yeah…" Hiccup murmured. Doesn't take much to beat me up.
"Look-we'll get him to come back tomorrow-and I guarantee, he will apologise to you for being touchy…because he knows he is! And then he can demonstrate a few moves that may come in handy…" she reassured him.
"…if some jealous fan, who thinks you should be with him instead of some auburn Berkian fishbone, decides to make an issue of it," Hiccup slurred. She frowned.
"Are you drunk?" she asked and he nodded without hesitation.
"I guessed you would tell me to get lost when I upset your friend Dagur so I just…well, drowned my sorrows in anticipation…" he mumbled.
"Hiccup-you're my friend too," she tried to remind him but he looked up at her with slightly hazy eyes and shrugged.
"Yeah…but not for the last four years," he reminded her. "You bumped into me in the airport-literally-and if you had been looking where you were going, I would be back on Berk and none of this would be happening. And you wouldn't give your former friend Hiccup a second thought amid your glittering life here!"
"Glittering life?" she asked him, her tone defensive. "Hiccup-I move between training and here with a few publicity commitments sprinkled in the middle. I sometimes-very rarely-go out in disguise with my friends on the team, or with Heather and Dagur…but this is it. It's hardly glamorous."
"Try my life!" he retorted, his inhibitions eased by the brandy. "Working my ass off to afford a one-bed apartment in a high rent area because I was told that was the only area she could possibly live in and support my girlfriend for who nothing is ever good enough! Always being told I'm a disappointment, that no one is gonna want me. That I should be grateful for being with her, no matter how cruel she is, how violent, how callous…and when she steals and spends my money or tells me my friends and family haven't called when she tells them not to and blocks their calls and persuades me all I have is her…well, it makes this look like Valhalla!" He pulled away from her and stood up unsteadily. Eyes wide, she stared up into his angry expression and saw something broken in his emerald eyes.
"Hiccup…" she breathed, rising to face him. He shook his head.
"I'm sorry, Astrid," he said suddenly. "I'm not the person you know…or want…or need…"
Instantly, she grabbed his face between her hands and hauled him forward to press a fierce kiss on his lips, silencing him immediately. His eyes fluttered closed and he kissed her back, finally surfacing for air, his hands gentle on her shoulders.
"Maybe you aren't quite the person I knew…but you are definitely what I want and need," she told him determinedly. "Gods, I knew Bella was a bitch but she sounds like an absolute nightmare! Are you okay?" He shook his head.
"Don't think I am," he mumbled. She wrapped her arms around him and felt him hug her back.
"No matter what happens, Hiccup-I am your friend," she reminded him. "I was a bad friend before but I'm back now and here I'll stay." He looked up.
"Thanks," he slurred and staggered back, blinking slowly. "And now I am going to throw up."
