Upon arrival at his office, Hiccup found Dagur waiting for him, with a folder in his grasp.
"Good morning, brother. Got some forms for you to sign," he said by way of greeting, waving the folder around.
"Eret and Aage told you what weapons they want? They must be eager to get out of there," Hiccup shook his head. "Mad. They're both insane."
"What's wrong with that?"
"Quiet you. Give me that folder and skedaddle. It's too early for words."
Dagur passed him the folder, smiling as he did so. "We've got a meeting in fifteen minutes, so I think I'll just stay until you're done with these forms."
"Alright then."
Hiccup went in, sat down and opened the folder. He had just procured a pen when his phone buzzed.
He paused, took it out and turned on the screen, sighing when he realised it wasn't Astrid.
Then he tensed when he realised who had messaged him.
Cami.
Heeeeyyyy, babe. Missed you :))
He pocketed the device, only for it to buzz in his pocket scant seconds later. No doubt a follow-up message from his ex.
"You going to answer that?" Asked Dagur, standing in the doorframe.
Hiccup looked at him and shook his head. "Nope. It can wait, ideally forever."
The man shrugged. "If you say so."
"…and I'm done," said Hiccup, a few minutes of silence later, as he returned the forms to the folder. "Let's go to the meeting shall we?"
…
She pecked him on the cheek. "That's for finding me last night. And for dealing with those guys. Thank you. You… you did fight both of them, right?"
"I did, yes. Don't worry. They won't be walking around for a while."
She nodded, then quickly made to leave. "Good. Thanks again."
Her warm lips brushed his cheek softly and the cool air dried the spot as she left.
"Haddock, focus," his CO said sharply, and he blinked himself out of his imagined daydream. The rest of the people around the table were all looking at him expectantly. He cleared his throat and leaned forward, trying to shake off that lovely warm feeling while ignoring his heart as it beat a tad faster, but in a good way.
"Yes, as I was saying…"
…
"You were distracted in that meeting. Thinking of someone, boss?" Eret asked, smirking.
Hiccup successfully fought back a blush. "No," he replies firmly.
Aage, hearing this from across the table, snorted. "Sure. It was Friday yesterday, right? The perfect time to go on a date with your therapist friend," He added as he slowly grinned.
"Shut up Aage. Unless you want me to forget about the weapon mods you and Eret requested."
Aage's lips parted in mock horror. "You wouldn't."
Hiccup's lips curled up into a smile "Try me. Let's find out, shall we?"
…
Astrid opened her door to find Hiccup there. "Uh hey."
"Hello. I have a question for you."
"Okay…? I can answer it, but it's not time for your session yet, is it?"
"It's not," Hiccup confirmed. "I just thought that since I've told you about her, you could give me insight into the female mind."
Astrid stared at him, blinking. "What?"
Hiccup answered by holding up his phone for her to see.
Heeeeyyyy, babe. Missed you :))
Wanna hang out sometime?
Maybe we can get back to what we were?
Hiccup, say something.
If this is about what I did, we can talk about that… if we must.
Hiccup, call me. Seriously. We need to talk.
"Astrid, meet Cami Bogs. The last name is fitting since she's bogging down my phone with text messages as you can see."
Astrid snorted, but then winced. "That was good. Thanks for that; pain in my nose notwithstanding. However, you're overlooking a simple solution: block her number. I shouldn't need to tell you that."
"Yes, block the number of a thief. That would go down well."
"Touché. Call the police? Maybe they'll believe you… no probably not. Not without evidence at least, and she wouldn't obey a restraining order, would she?"
"She probably would for a time, until she finds a loophole."
"Hmm. Only thing for it then: you need to go see her."
Hiccup sighed. "I was hoping you wouldn't say that."
…
"Henry Haddock, what the hell are you thinking?!"
"Cami Bogs, whatever do you mean?"
"I mean not responding to my texts. Were you that busy?"
"Yes. I have a job to do, unlike you apparently."
"I'll pretend I didn't hear that. We need to meet up now. No more delays."
"Tell me why I should and I'll consider it."
"I'm moving to Berk and getting a restraining order against you. That enough reason for you?"
"Yeah, I think I've considered it now. I'm not meeting up with you. You can speak to my lawyer later; he will know all about your past misdeeds. Goodbye."
He heard a sharp intake of breath on Cami's end. "What? Hiccup, wait-"
He hung up, quickly shooting his lawyer a text before leaving his office and returning to Astrid's.
"How'd it go?" she asked, after opening the door.
"We've come to an understanding, I think. You want to maybe go on a date?"
Astrid blinked, a myriad of expressions crossing her face before she adopted one of shock. "Excuse me?"
"You told me the other day that you were staring my way just to keep an eye on me. I'm not entirely convinced. Regardless, ever since you kissed me on the cheek, I haven't been able to forget it. And since you know basically everything worth knowing about me, I thought… well, why not give it a shot? I can't say we won't fight again in the future, but I think it's safe to say that I've got your back, and you've got mine. So… eh… what do you say?"
"I think I'd love that. So come find me when your shift ends, okay? We'll have our date at your place; I'm not going to some restaurant with two black eyes."
"You say that, yet you came to work today. You didn't have to."
"That's not the same thing."
"I know. Just speaking aloud I guess. And thanks for agreeing to the date. This way, you get to stare at me up close, eh? I bet you can't wait."
Astrid bit her lip to hold back a smile. "Hiccup?"
"Yes Astrid?"
"Shut up."