An Old Flame (Hiccup/Astrid)

The wind whipped passed her hair. She had left it out just for the occasion…

In hindsight, she was a mad woman standing off the side of a bridge, looking for an escape from life in a way many people frowned upon.

But the therapy didn’t help, the smiles and “you’ll get through this” didn’t help. She knew what lied behind all of their faces. Their fake, plastic faces with even more artificial words. They didn’t really care about her…none of them did. Not since her father left and her mother lost touch with reality. Lost touch with caring about her own daughter….

Astrid had no one. Nothing but the cold metal beneath her fingers as she hung on.

In her sight, she was at the edge of the world…her world.                                  

And then a harsher wind smacked her face, pushing it slightly to the right and she saw a figure standing not too far away from hers. Lifting a brow she could’ve cared less, but the wind seemed to pin her vision down to stare….it was a boy, gripping the bridge with the same look in his eyes.

“Hey!” Astrid called out, her voice sounded loud yet shaky. The boy looked up at her, rather miserably. Was that how she looked?

“Hey…” He chewed his lip, his hands still gripping the metal behind him. There was something off about the way he was leaning. How he favored his right side, and she noticed that he had his left pant let rolled up…a prosthetic leg in place of skin and not even bothered to be covered by a shoe. She gasped.

“Why…why are you here?” She asked. It was obvious they were both going to do the same thing, at least she wouldn’t feel crazy while she jumped, knowing someone else had the same intentions.

He let out a small breath of a laugh, still not looking at her. “Why do you think?”

“Everyone’s fake…all of them, they don’t care…” Astrid decided to elaborate on her own influences instead. There was no reasoning behind it other than she felt the need to chat before dying. It was rather silly. “They think I’m so perfect but they don’t know a thing about me…they don’t want to know me…none of them…”

Another breathed laugh came from him.

“You think that’s funny?” Astrid’s blood began to boil, and after she spent so much time trying to calm it…stop it…

“Actually, yeah, I do.” The boy smirked. “You’re Astrid…Astrid Hofferson, right?”

“Y-yeah….how do you…?

“I was in class with you from 3rd to 7th grade…” He answered, looking down at the ocean. The sky was grey and the winds were salty and rainy.

Astrid didn’t know what he was getting at, but the more she tried to look at him—even scooting over on the bride a few feet to get a better look—the more she could connect the dots.

Hiccup Haddock. School weirdo, nerd, square, loner. His father was one of the most respected people in town, but his son was nothing more than a worthless addition to the family. He disappeared from her class after 7th grade, an event Astrid just thought meant he had been moved to another class, but as she looked down at his leg once again she remembered a report on the news:

13 year old teen boy gets into fatal accident. Doctor’s are looking for a new leg for him…

That was him…

That was Hiccup….

“I had a crush on you for all that time.” Hiccup continued. “Since the first time I saw you, I thought you were so beautiful….but you never even noticed me…not even once….”

Astrid blinked, she wasn’t sure if it was the salt in her eyes or the story making her eyes water. She would’ve wiped them away but she couldn’t bring herself to let even one hand go from the bridge. It was her last tie to life…bitter, tortuous life….

“I…” Astrid opened her mouth but barely any words came out.

“Don’t bother.” Hiccup swallowed. “Everything’s been in such a downhill spiral since then…since the accident…my leg…I don’t even know how I went this long…”

Suddenly Astrid just felt silly. Here he was with a real reason to jump and she was just jumping because she thought no one wanted to really know her…when in retrospect there was always someone who did.

Moving a few feet closer there was barely any distance between them, and Hiccup finally met her eye again, they were blank, determined, she got a little lost in them.

“No one cares about me….” He told her, a thick voice, filled with years of agony beyond compare to hers, and it was that alone that made her let one hand go from the railing…

…and grabbed his hand.

“I care….” Astrid told him, giving his hand the most reassuring squeeze she could underneath her shaking fingers. What was she doing? She didn’t even know, but something inside her was fading…while something else was being ignited.

The small two words alone seemed to light a fire within Hiccup as well, a small flame burned behind his dead eyes, filling them with life…purpose.

There was little either of them could think to say, but they both looked down at the water beneath them, what once drew them in now seemed less appealing. The warmth of each other’s hands versus that cold metal was more than a sign.

They were at the edge of the world…together…

One stare and the flames behind their eyes both flickered at the same time, communicating with each other and Astrid gave Hiccup’s hand another squeeze as he laced their fingers together.

“I care about you too…I always have…” Hiccup said softly, his words almost inaudible over the waves crashing beneath them.

“You….you think we can do this…?”

“Leave this behind?” Hiccup said, squeezing her hand again, they both looked back at the waves and without future words they climbed back up the bridge.

The zooming traffic on top of the bridge almost broke their ears but with hands still connected they walked along the side of the road and when they made it back to solid ground Hiccup turned to face her, his eyes practically shining.

He opened his mouth multiple times to speak, but he was probably at a greater loss for words than Astrid was….She just covered his mouth with her fingers, leaning forward and giving him a hug. It was the kind of hug that she’s remember the rest of her life…cause she could feel the last flames of life they had both been carrying in them all that time growing. Burning hotter…thriving.

“I have ten dollars in my pocket.” He whispered to her yet not letting go just yet.

“I have five,” she replied.

“Dinner?”

“Dinner.”