Warning to all. This story is not happy. There is character death pretty early on and it's more about recovery than love and getting to know one and other.
Chapter 1
Hiccup was at work bored out of his mind, the light in the lobby wasn't working, and no one was coming in to make their loan payments. Looking back, he thought it was appropriate. He didn't like his job at the payday loan store, but the hours were good and once he was done with his tasks his time was his. He had texted Jack on Wednesday and they we planning on getting together sometime next week. Hiccup had put everything in the computer, and was thinking of taking a short break and getting on Facebook.
Neither Jack's nor Hiccup's family were okay with gay people and due to that fact his and Jack's relationship was only known to the two of them. Because of that they'd only become friends on Facebook a week ago. They had been texting each other like mad over the past eight months, but Facebook was more public and questions might get asked. But, when Jack had sent Hiccup the friend request; it took everything he had not to tap the confirm right away. He did it, after managing to wait about all of five minutes.
Hiccup pulled out his phone and opened Facebook. He scrolled through the posts reading them, when there were two in a row that worried him. Someone that Hiccup didn't know had posted to Jack's wall saying that he would be missed and R.I.P. Jack, the second was from Astrid. Her post said "WHY!?" followed by a crying emoji. Hiccup took a screenshot of the posts and texted it to Jack asking if he was okay. That was at 11:00 a.m.
An hour later, at 12:00 p.m., Jack still hadn't responded. It wasn't too out of the ordinary, sometimes Jack took forever to reply, but it still worried Hiccup. Hiccup sent another text simply asking, "Jack?"
At 1:00 p.m. Hiccup got back on Facebook. Ana, another friend of both Jack and Hiccup, had posted a link to the Lake City Post, the newspaper for the big city an hour away. It simply stated that Jack Overland, a 27-year-old man from Burgess had died at 10:58 a.m. The crop duster plane he had been flying caught fire, crashed, and Jack had been pronounced dead on scene. Hiccup stared at his phone in shock, he went to Jack's wall and saw that it was coved with posts says they'd miss him, and R.I.P. Jack.
Hiccup sent one last text to Jack, "JACK?!" with a crying emoji, before he broke down crying. He sat curled up in ball on the ugly orange couch, tears flowing out his eyes. He tried to scream or make any noise, but nothing came out. As he was crying, he felt not only the loss of Jack, but also the loss of the future that they could have had together. Hiccup was planning on asking Jack if they were boyfriends. He was almost certain that the answer was yes, but not anymore. He'd had wanted to move in with Jack one day and get married and live their lives together. He'd wanted to be able to see Jack every night and hold him when after nightmares. He'd wanted to be there for Jack and keep him safe. This proved one of Hiccup's greatest fears, that he at 22 could not keep Jack safe. Even though Hiccup and Jack had talked about Jack's future death. Working as a crop duster and a cop, Jack knew that he'd probably meet an early end, however he said he'd make sure that Hiccup would be taken care of. Hiccup had listened and prayed that it would be a long, long time away. It hadn't, and Hiccup wouldn't be taken care of.
Eventually he pulled himself together, enough that he stopped crying. He looked at the clock and saw that more than an hour had past, he then checked Facebook again, to see if it was really true. Unfortunately, it was. Hiccup unfollowed Jack, just to stop seeing everything that everyone was putting on his wall. He then deleted Facebook. The pain, the hurt, the anguish were too much to deal with right now. He'd download it again later, but right now it was too soon and fresh.
The rest of that Friday past so slowly. He logged on to a website where LGBT people could ask questions and get answers without bullying. He stated a new thread talking about what had happened, he hesitated before writing the title. He decided the go with the simplest and then logged off.
When it was time to finally close, Hiccup hadn't done very much the way of his tasks. He'd mostly just laid on the couch, staring hopelessly at the ceiling. He'd get up to help a customer when they came in, then return to his spot on the couch.
The next day, Hiccup did the same thing. However, he looked at the website for the Burgess Courier before going to the couch. It was a newspaper for the city where Jack was from and where Hiccup had moved for school, it had a short obituary about Jack, and said that the funeral arrangements were taken care of by a funeral home nearby. But, it didn't give a date for the funeral. He looked up the funeral home and checked their website, and they weren't open today nor tomorrow.
He went back to the couch. After an hour he remembered that the university that Hiccup was going to start at on Monday, had free counseling services. He found the page for the counseling services and wrote down their hours and where the offices were located. They didn't open until Monday. Hiccup prayed that he could make it that long.
While he was at the computer, he logged on to the website where he'd gone for advice. Five or six people including an admin had written something, most told him to go to the funeral. He read through all of them before writing that he would try, if it would work with his schedule.
On Sunday he was supposed to go down to Berk, to spend time with his parents and his brother Noah. They didn't even know who Jack was, let alone that he and Hiccup were dating. But, it seemed that Hiccup was able to hide his sorrow from them. Because they didn't ask him if anything was wrong or they knew by now that Hiccup would say that he was tired or that it was stress.
Come Monday, Hiccup wasn't looking forward to his classes, but he knew that it would be better to go than not. He decided to reinstall Facebook, and check the page for the funeral home. Looking at it on his laptop, it seemed that they posted the services they hosted. After signing on, he entered the name of the funeral home, and found their page. The most recent post was about Jack. There was a picture of him, with some text about when he was born, when and how he died, and a lot of the things he had done. It also, said when and where the funeral would be held. After reading all of it, he began to cry again and for some reason, he had a physical pain around his heart.
He went to his American Government class; it was very strange due to the fact that the professor wasn't there. Instead the TA ran everything while a video of the professor went over the syllabus.
His computer science class was also weird because there was Hiccup and four other students. Other than that, the professor was a good teacher. Right after that class Hiccup went to see the counseling office. He built his courage up, and went in. The gray-haired lady at the main desk was talking with a tall black woman. Hiccup waited until they were done, and then approached.
"Can I help you with something?" she asked Hiccup.
"Yes. I was wondering if I could sign myself up for counseling?" Hiccup replied.
"Um… we're a little busy here, trying to get set up for the semester, why don't you give me your name and number and someone will be in touch with you by tomorrow at noon?"
"Okay, my name is Harrison Haddock. H-A-D-D-O-C-K." Hiccup told her and then he followed up with his cell phone number.
"Okay, if you're in class, would we be able to leave a voice mail?"
"Yes. You will."
"Okay, have a good day."
Hiccup opened his mouth, intending to say 'I'll try', but instead, "You too" was what came out. He then got in his car, and was on his way to the bank to pick up the cash bag, when his phone began to ring. He pulled it out, and not recognizing the number, he answered.
"Hello?"
"Hello, may I speak to Harrison?" asked a woman's voice.
"Speaking."
"So, Harrison, this is Lisa and you signed up for counseling and so that I can place you with a counselor who would best be able to help you. I need you to tell me what is going on."
"Okay", Hiccup took a breath and told her, "I'm gay. I'm not out of the closet nor is my boyfriend and he passed away on Friday." Hiccup bit his lower lip to keep from crying.
"Oh, Harrison, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." She sounded genuine. "Okay, so your counselor will be named Monica, umm…. What time would work for you?"
"Um... I have class in the morning and I work afternoons…"
"Wow, you're busy." She commented.
"Yeah, umm… would Wednesday at nine work?"
"Yes, it would. I will also need your 900 number and an email address from you."
Hiccup gave them and went into the bank to get the cash bag. He opened the set of doors at the office and set everything up. He looked at all the work that he had put off from Friday and Saturday. He sat down and put everything in the computer while he still had the energy. After finishing he went and laid back down on the couch. Thinking about tomorrow. In the end he decided to ditch both his chemistry and English classes and go to the funeral.
This was going to be a one shot, but it started to get pretty long and I want to show Hiccup's road to recovery as I also go through it. My boyfriend passed away on the 19th and I wanted to show what it was like. I will update when I can.
Author's note: I choose not to give any phone number or email, due to the fact that you don't post that stuff online. Also at my school our ID numbers are 900 number because they all start with 900.
