chapter word count: 596

noir heart: eighty-eight

"Guys, all my findings are in my report," Hiccup says in his characteristic slightly-nasal drawl, scrutinizing his clipboard carefully as he scribbles down notes from the latest stiff brought in. Gang member, judging by the specific tattoos all over his body. Gunshot wound to the head, execution style. "You didn't need to waste your time."

"Humour me," Jack says as he casually looks over the morgue. So clinically clean you could eat a three-course meal next to a homicide victim, and not catch a thing...if you were so morbidly inclined. Judging by the lack of rumours, Hiccup has never done such a thing - but there's a few signs that he's been up to something intimate before Jack and Aster walked in. Flushed cheeks and necks tend to standout against steel and white lab coats. He would chuckle dirtily, but the dull ache in his right shoulder is distracting the hell out of him, so he firmly applies the heel of his left hand into the joint and rolls his shoulder.

It's something that, with a curious glance over his spectacles, Hiccup notices. "Something wrong?"

"Nah," Jack says dismissively, but instantly stops the rolling and shoves his hands in his pockets, "Officer Hofferson just reminded me of how much she doesn't like me with a nice little shoulder bump in the corridor outside."

Hiccup grunts, then clips the pencil to the board and places it neatly on the stiff's chest so he can fold his arms and give Jack an emotionless look. "Yeah, well, you're pretty much persona non grata in the precinct, acting without having all the facts and all. Especially with what you did to Arnulf."

Jack stiffens, and fixes Hiccup with a stony glare. Fists clenched in his pockets to such an extent the nails dig into his palms, he growls, "That's funny, coming from the guy who's been having sex with Officer Hofferson, against the rules, and in his office."

Stupefied, Hiccup's eyes widen, and his mouth goes slack. Aster's head whips between them in complete surprise. "How the bloody hell d'you know that?"

Without taking his cold glare off the tomato masquerading as a medical examiner, Jack reels off the list of observations he took as soon as he walked in. "One - Officer Hofferson's a stickler for getting her uniform just right, and the top two buttons of her shirt were undone. Two - there's a hickey just above your collar, you were flushed red as soon as we walked in, and I can still smell her perfume in the air. Three - there's a nice little handprint on the window of your office."

Jack steps forward, and leans toward him just enough to prove a point. "But all of that's redundant - because you really should have found a better place to hide her bra."

Lips half-curled in a crooked smirk, Jack's eyes flick just once to the drawer of the desk in Hiccup's office behind him, where a black and red strap dangles from the uppermost one. Astrid has taste - that's a Victoria's Secret.

Hiccup ducks his head and scratches the nape of his neck with one hand whilst resting the other on his hip, and nervously clears his throat. Casting a victorious look at Aster, Jack has to suppress a chuckle at how he's looking at everything but Hiccup with an awkward grimace.

"So," Hiccup says with an oddly cracked yet high-pitched voice, "Aurora Mills, right?"

this love has taken it's toll on me, she said goodbye too many times before...stabby-stabby-carvey-carvey...

One more day!

special thanks to: maravillakatana47, hornedgoddess, anastasia, doomstone, ghost angel14, vrupd.1992, oninoko and stefalove for the reviews!