All These Lights

headaches & hugs

It had been a week.

The Dublin shows were over and they were amazing. ('The perfect way to start a tour!' Tuffnut exclaimed at one point). The band moved on to London but not before taking Astrid to their favourite place in all of Dublin: Grafton Street.

She disapproved at first, since they were sure to get recognized, but she was soon face to face with four unrecognisable men, Hiccup once again clad in his glasses and hat. Astrid wondered why she ever questioned them.

They dragged her to into each of their favourite stores, eyes sparkling like a child on their birthday. Seeing them so genuinely happy made her happy; so much so she didn't get mad when Hiccup grabbed her hand and they all ran from security.

The boys gave her such a thorough and enthusiastic tour that Astrid couldn't bring herself to tell them she frequented the place whenever she had the chance to visit the country.

Then came another private flight to London, where the O2 arena awaited three Us Four shows.

"Hey, Astrid."

Astrid was in her bunk on the tour bus, trying to take a nap. She rolled over to see Eret standing there.

"Hey, Eret. What-what's up ?" She yawned, covering her eyes with her hand.

"Nothing much. I-I was just wondering, since we have a break the day after tomorrow, that maybe we could take some time to *ahem* relax... together," he asked nervously. He was aware of the fact that everyone was exhausted, himself included. Since touching down in London they were on the go, from radio shows to talk shows to TV appearances and, of course, the concerts. He figured that was one of the reasons Astrid was nursing a headache, this week had been difficult.

Astrid shrugged. "Yeah, that's a great idea. We could all use a day out and I'm sure the guys would appreciate it."

"No, I meant like, managers only. I thought we could use a break from these four, anyway." Eret trailed off.

"Oh," Astrid started, realisation hitting. "Uh, I don't know. I was planning on FaceTiming my family. They insisted on me giving them updates," she lied. No they didn't, they don't even want to talk to you right now-shut up, she told herself. "And then I have contracts to review. And I haven't told them about it yet so, I need to let them know sometime." Astrid sighed, she knew what he was doing, unfortunately.

Astrid was willing to admit that Eret was a kind man, and whomever would fall for him would be a happy woman (or man, she wasn't clear on that yet). What she did know for sure was that, that person was not her. And it had nothing to do with Hiccup either, she just wasn't ready. And Eret simply wasn't what she was looking for.

"You're right. You should tell them they have another act joining them for the next leg of the tour." Eret sighed. This was the part where being Astrid's assistant made him want to throw himself out of the bus. At the end of the day, she was still the one in charge and that would take precedence over even her assistant. His own hope used against him.

"Besides, our days off should be spent together bonding as a team. They're all still healing together, you know."

Eret sighed and sat down on the bunk next to her. He knew he was beat. "Yeah I totally get that." Eret studied Astrid as she got of her bunk and searched through her bag for something. She eventually produced a thick packet of paper (contracts) and sat back on the bunk. "Did you ever get in contact with that therapist friend of yours?"

"Zoë? Yeah I did."

"What'd they say?"

"Well, they were just made a fellow at Berserker University's Mental Health Research Centre, which is amazing. But it means they can't join us on tour like I was hoping." Astrid pouted slightly as she flipped through a few pages and signed the last one on the bottom.