In The Archipelago's Secret Service

10: Pizzas and Plans

Hiccup watched the suds roll and boil in the washing machine and rested his head against the stained wall of the basement laundromat. Today really couldn't get much worse: not only was he suspended and officially on his final final final warning but he no longer had a job to be suspended from...and he had the girl of his dreams and the people who got him suspended staying with him. He glanced back at the washing machine and noticed the suds were looking distinctly pink...

"Oh Thor...no..." he breathed, realising he had put his best red shirt in with Astrid's pale blue outfit... He slid down to sit on his heels, his back against the wall and head in his hands. He had ruined Astrid's only clothes and she was going to kill him. Maybe he could just run away now...

Wearily, he trudged up the stairs to his apartment, let himself in and took a sip of his tepid coffee. Astrid stared at him.

"Okay-why do you do that?" she asked him directly. He looked up with a sigh.

"Do what?" he asked.

"The whole pathetic defeated thing?" she asked him bluntly. "I mean-I was there in the cafeteria...and you were amazing! You looked around, planned an escape, executed it without hesitation and saved all our lives...then rescued the senior command staff...and you still walk around liked a kicked dog." Green eyes flicked up defensively.

"Prefer cats," he murmured. She stared sharply at him so he gestured at the picture of the little black cat and the collar. "Fury, my little cat. Had him since I was about four. He died two months ago...sarcoma...bone cancer." She inhaled.

"I'm sorry," she murmured. He shrugged, staring at his coffee.

"I may have turned your clothes red," he confessed. She stared at him and sighed.

"I needed to get some more clothes anyway," she sighed. "I'll head to the bank and see if they can issue me new cards." He nodded.

"You-you're still welcome here," he said awkwardly, toying with his mug. "I mean, you're practically my only friend in AI6...when we had an AI6." She smiled and bounced up and down on the couch. "Hmm...a bit soft...I'll have backpain by morning!" she complained. He looked up and sighed.

"You could have my bed," he said hesitantly. "Um...it's only a single but I can put the clean sheets on and...yeah..." She stared at him: he was blushing but it was a genuine offer. She shook her head and gently grasped his shoulders.

"That's really sweet, Hiccup-but I can't steal your bed," she told him. "Look-you've had a bad enough day. I'll be fine." He gave a small shrug.

"The offer's still there," he said, "though I have no idea where I'll put the twins." She grinned.

"I can offer a couple of suggestions," she murmured. "I..."

Both froze at a knock on the door and Hiccup reached under the table, drawing a service pistol from a holster taped there.

"Who's there?" he asked, cringing back out of direct firing line from the door. There was a pause.

"Me," came a nervous male voice. "Erm...kind of weighed down here, Hiccup..." The auburn-haired man flicked the safety on and unfastened the door, admitting a husky blonde man, wrapped in a bulky brown duffle coat and hanging onto a computer bag with another bag slung over his shoulder. Fishlegs scuttled in as Hiccup fastened the door again. He stared at the shape of Astrid perched on the couch and inspecting him carefully. "Who-who...?" he squeaked and then realised who he was looking at. "Oh my Thor...this is the girl from the Gym!" Hiccup face-palmed as the temperature in the room dropped by about fifty degrees.

"What?" Astrid said in a subzero voice. Hiccup paled.

"Astrid-this is my friend who I mentioned in passing while we were trapped, though possibly not my friend or even alive for much longer if you get your hands on him-and I may have mentioned that you work in the PT department, are really fantastic and are about the only person who treats me like a human being..." he said urgently. "I did NOT ever call you the girl from the Gym. EVER. At all. Oh Thor, protect me now..."