E. Aster Bunnymund was not having a good day. He knew it wouldn't go well when the power went out the night before and he awoke to an alarm clock telling him he was two hours late for work. He didn't realize until he was nearly out the door that he was, in fact, almost an hour early and that his clock had reset itself sometime during the night. Things got worse when, not enough time to return to bed, he decided to make himself breakfast. He ended up with two pieces of burnt toast with peanut butter. He had no particular like of peanut butter toast, let alone burnt peanut butter toast, but he was out of jam. And of course, about five minutes into his twenty minute walk to work, the first crack of thunder sounded. Not even a minute later, rain began to fall in cascades from above. By the time Aster made it to work, he had nearly lost his shoe in the gutter, been attacked by a neighborhood Chihuahua, accidently elbowed in the gut by an elderly woman with very bony elbows, and splashed by passing cars twice. To say he was in a bad mood would be an understatement. Work didn't really go any better for Aster. It was one of those days when he wondered why he had ever wanted to be a social worker. It was all paperwork and people who should have never become parents. He wasn't paid nearly enough for all the work he did.
By the time Aster was on his way back to his flat, he was about ready to bite the head off of the next person to cross him. So when someone ran into him on the street near the barbershop, he was not amused.
"Oi! Watch where you're going wanker!" he spat, reeling around to face the offender. He was met with two pairs of green eyes. There were two young men, one maybe twenty and the other probably fourteen or fifteen. The older boy was tall with inky black hair and vivid green eyes. He wore a black military jacket and a pair of dark jeans that were just a bit too short for him. There was a bit of black ink peeking out under the collar of his jacket from some hidden tattoo. He was carefully helping the shorter one stand. Poor boy had nothing from his left knee down and had apparently taken quite a fall when they had collided so now of course he felt like a right ratbag. The boy was nearly lost in a work jacket several sizes too big with a patch on the right arm. He wore a work boot on his good leg and had his pant leg tied off beneath the other. His auburn hair fell messily on his forehead, covering a spattering of freckles that painted his skin like stars. While he tried to balance without falling back on his ass, the taller boy was all but growling at him, looking as though the only reason he hadn't jumped Aster yet was because he was supporting the shorter boy.
"Yeah, next time we'll just try and move out of the way faster, you know, with our crippled legs and all," the shorter boy said rolling his eyes and gesturing to the empty space below his knee. The taller one smirked, looking triumphant. Aster sighed and ran his hand down his face; sarcastic brat though he was, he had a point. Also, upon closer inspection, he saw a bit of plastic peeking out from underneath the hem of the taller boy's pants on his left leg. He had a prosthetic. They were both handicapped and he'd managed to barrel them over and take out a day's worth of frustrations on them.
"Alright, fine. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to knock ya over mate, or yell at ya and what not. It's been a rough day," Aster said with some effort, not really feeling up to admitting his fault but the shorter one looked like he was just a kid. He really wasn't planning on starting any fights with a kid. The taller, dark haired boy scoffed, rolling his eyes.
"It's alright, no harm done," the shorter one said, trying to shift his weight so he was more comfortable leaning against his friend.
'The poor bloke doesn't even have a pair of crutches with him,' Aster though, taking in the duo's appearance more carefully. Their shirts were thin and the hems were frayed, neither one looking warm enough for the quickly cooling weather. Their faces and hair were greasy though for the most part combed and well kept. Their shoes looked as though they would fall apart any moment. In all, Aster was fairly certain they were homeless. He'd seen the look before, and he'd seen kids like that fall pretty hard. Not all of his cases were success stories. In fact, more often than not they ended up helping no one. Eventually, the guilt got to him and he spoke up.
"What do you say, to make up for it, I buy you guys a meal or something," Aster shrugged, fully anticipating the suspicious looks that followed.
"We're," the shorter boy cleared his throat, "we're not prostitutes you know!"
He had not anticipated that. That was the first time anyone had accused him of…proposition someone like that.
"No!" Aster answered hastily, "I didn't mean that," he held his hands up to show he meant no harm. "Look, I just meant it looks like the two of you could use a decent meal and I feel bad for knockin' ya over like that."
The two looked at each other and had a silent argument he couldn't follow in the slightest. One of them would shake their head and the other would roll their eyes or sigh until eventually the shorter one turned back to Aster.
"Thank you, but we're fine," he said, shaking his head and sending his auburn hair flying as he did. Aster sighed, that wasn't the answer he'd been hoping for. He knew how sensitive these issues were and he knew forcing it would do more harm than good.
"Alright," he relented, "but listen. I'm going to give you this card, it's got an address for a place you can go if you ever need food or clothes or a place to sleep, alright mate? Promise me that if you ever get into trouble you'll go there and ask for Aster."
They looked at each other again, but the older boy reached out to take the card Aster offered.
"Thank you sir," the younger one nodded, his face reddening a bit.
"Oi now, stop getting all shy on me. What happened to the snarky bloke I met earlier?" Aster said, nudging the boy's shoulder lightly.
"He was run over by a large Australian man," he muttered and the taller boy snickered and, well, even Aster had to laugh at that.
"Right, well, take care of yourselves and don't go losin' that card there," Aster nodded, deciding he wasn't going to be able to do much else for them now.
"Er," the younger one stumbled over his words, "yeah, thanks. Don't, um, go running over any more cripples then."
"I'll do my best," he took a chance and ruffles the kid's hair, offering the taller one a smile, then turned to continue on towards his flat. The whole encounter had surprisingly improved his mood quite a bit, and he hoped it would not be the last time he saw the two. He was a bit worried about the kid's leg though. Ankle biter didn't have a prosthetic or wheelchair or even an old pair of crutches. He decided if they chose to visit the center he would have at least something ready for him, though he didn't know where he would get anything.
'Guess I could ask North,' he thought. The older man usually had a solution for everything, even if he got on his nerves sometimes. When he got back to the flat, he changed out of his work clothes and decided to go visit his friend for advice. He was never an easy man to find. There were only three places he ever frequented but he would flit between them with such frequency Aster could never pin him down. Given the time of day, Aster's best guess was that he would be at the small ice cream shop he owned as a side project.
North was a wealthy man, having inherited a factory back in Russia and amassing quite a bit of money. In his retirement, he came to America and spent most of his time in his workshop making toys and doodads for children. Some of it he would sell but most of it he would donate to children in need. Every Christmas he was their biggest donor, going as far as to dress up as Santa for the children, and the resemblance was striking. With his extra money (the lucky fucker) he opened up a small ice cream shop and worked it part time year round. Of course, going to find North at the shop meant having to deal with Jack.
Jack had been one of his cases at first, and right from the start they had butted heads. They found Jack unconscious on the iced over pond in the forest to the north of town with only a sweatshirt to keep him warm and no shoes on his feet. When he woke up and couldn't remember anything but his name they had sent him Aster's way. Boy did that kid have a mouth on him too. Always causing trouble and playing tricks. Underneath it all though, he was a kind bloke. Jack always took care of the younger children in foster care, himself being fifteen at the time. He loved to make them laugh and would do just about anything if it meant protecting them. Still, he was being sent from home to home, causing trouble everywhere he went and nothing Aster would say seemed to help. Though, he could admit, his temper certainly wasn't an asset in dealing with the boy. It wasn't until North took an interest in him that his life began to turn around. Aster remembered North saying all the boy needed was someone to believe in him so that he could believe in himself (or at least that's what he thought he said, it was hard to tell sometimes underneath the thick Russian accent). When North had first taken Jack in, the boy rebelled.
"I hope you don't expect me to treat you like a father, because you'll never be mine," he had said with petulance only Jack could hope to muster up. North was not fazed.
"Then you are mistaken," he said, placing his large hands on the boys shoulders. "I expect you to treat me like family, because from now on, I treat you like son. You must learn to like it."
Aster was sure he'd never laughed so hard in his life. Jack had come around with time though. Now he was working at the ice cream shop and even helped volunteer at the center with North.
When Aster reached the shop, a small place called 'The North Pole,' the clouds had cleared from the sky and the sun was beginning to fall past the horizon. A bitter chill still clung to the air and he would have been genuinely surprised to find anyone actually partaking in a frozen treat at this time of year. His assumption was right, as he walked he found the shop empty save for Jack behind the counter trying to balance a quarter on his nose.
"He Bunny," he said, his blue eyes (artificially colored with contacts) crossed slightly to try and look at the coin. The name came from his unfortunate surname. Bunnymund. He would have changed it if he didn't have so much respect for his parents. "Didn't expect to see you in here on a day like this. Couldn't live without me?"
"Whatever you say Frostbite-" an 'affectionate' nickname Aster had given the boy given the state in which the boy was found "-is North in?"
"Yeah, he's in the back. Why?" Jack gave up on the quarter and straightened out his neck, cracking it one way then another. He took a moment to fix his hair, bleached white shortly after he was put under Aster's care, in the reflection of the display before turning back to the social worker.
"Nothing really, just had favor ta ask," Aster shrugged.
"Whatever." Jack turned and called out for the older man, "Yo, North! Bunny's here for you!"
"Aster! Friend!" North came out of the back door, wiping his hands of some sort of grease, "what I can do for you?"
"Hey North," Aster held out his hand, knowing if he didn't take the initiative and turn their greeting into a handshake, it would end up as a bone crushing hug. Unfortunately he didn't have much of a choice either way, North stepped out into the customer area, laughing as he took his hand and used it to pull the smaller man into a hug, lifting him off the ground in the process.
"Air, North," Aster gasped, "I need air."
"Of course friend," North gave him one last squeeze then set him back on the ground.
"Good to see you too mate," Aster straightened his clothes out, "but I actually do have a reason for coming over."
"Yes, of course, what do you need?"
North squeezed himself into a booth and motioned for Aster to do the same. Jack stayed behind the counter, trying again to balance the quarter.
"I met these kids on the way home today, I can't be sure but I think they're homeless. Anyways, they were both handicapped, missing their left legs. The older one had a prosthetic but the other didn't have anything, like not even a pair of crutches. So, I remembered Jack broke his leg being an idiot a while back and thought maybe you'd still have the crutches."
"That is terrible news," North nodded solemnly, "I'm not sure we still have them.
"Jack," he called, "do we still have crutches in house?"
"What, I don't know. They might be in the basement. Why? Did Aster finally snap and break some poor bastard's leg?" Jack leaned over the counter so he could see the pair, dropping his quarter in the process.
North laughed, "No," he said. "Aster has case with handicapped child."
"It's not really a case," Aster shrugged, "I literally just ran into them. Honest to God knocked a child with one leg to the ground then yelled at him." Aster dropped his head into his hands, it sounded even worse when he said it out loud.
"Holy crap man," Jack snickered, "how am I the bad one?"
"It gets worse," Aster groaned.
"How can that possibly get worse?"
"I offered to buy them food and they accused me of soliciting prostitution. Like I would try and pick up some fourteen year old boy on the streets."
Jack was nearly doubled over with laughter now. "That's perfect, oh my God. I need to give this kid a high five or something."
"Ha-ha," Aster's voice full of sarcasm. "Anyways, the kid couldn't walk, the older one was practically carrying him, so I thought if I saw them again or they came to the center I could have something waiting for them. Crutches are better than nothing I guess."
"Of course," North nodded, "you are good man Aster. We will look at home and call you tomorrow if we find."
"Thanks mate," Aster smiled then moved to change the subject, "so how's the putting Jack through college thing going?"
"Is good! He is working hard at school and still has time for the shop. Money is not problem but he insists on paying for part of it."
"Can't be a mooch forever," Jack called.
"Yeah? And how much do you mooch with all yer hair bleach and fake eyes?" Aster asked, raising his eyebrows.
"Hey, I still have to look good. Beauty is costly, sir," Jack gave a little huff, making a show out of sweeping the hair out of his face.
"Whatever you say brat," Aster snorted. "You pick a major yet?"
"Nah, I'm still exploratory. Most of my classes are just plain boring."
"Just never become a social worker, trust me there." Aster wouldn't give his job up for anything, but that wasn't to say he would ever wish it upon anyone else. And as much as he antagonized Jack, he really did want him to do big things with his life.
"Why not? Apparently you make enough you can waste some on underage prostitutes, seems like a good life to me," Jack smirked, wiggling his eyebrows a few times.
"This is why I don't like ya, mate," Aster chucked a crumpled up napkin at the boy.
"You wound me so," Jack batted away the napkin then clutched his hand over his heart dramatically. "I will never be able to trust again."
"Good, I hope you become a hermit and never leave the house again."
Aster and North talked, with the occasional quips from Jack, until closing time when they went their separate ways. Aster returned to his flat and North drove himself and Jack home to their house just outside of town. Jack trudged around the basement until he found three porcelain elves, a giant fur coat that reeked of moth balls, and an old trumpet but no crutches. As a last resort, he ventured to the attic and, amidst cobwebs and dust, he found them leaning against the far wall. Unfortunately, there was a pile of cardboard boxes and trash bags blocking his way. Jack sighed, resigning himself to climbing over the mess. He made it about halfway before the boxes, softened from the humidity, collapsed under his weight. He cursed as he fell forward, scraping his arm against a nail and hitting his head on a beam.
"Fuck," he hissed, examined the scratch on his arm, "if I get tetanus from this, I swear I'll kill Bunny."
"Jack?" he heard North call from downstairs, "you are alright up there?"
"Yeah, I'm fine. I just tripped over some old stuff."
"Did you find crutches?"
"Yeah, I'll be down in a second. But if I have to get anything else from up here I'm going to be the one needing crutches."
Jack managed to get the crutches and make it back downstairs without further injury. North was waiting for him at the bottom of the ladder to the attic. He laughed when he saw the dust in Jack's hair and the bruise forming on his forehead.
"Let us never do favors for Bunny again," Jack said, handing the man the crutches, "I don't think I can handle it."
"Think of how that poor boy will feel though, to be able to walk again," North patted his back roughly, sending Jack stumbling a step or two forward, "all thanks to you."
"Thanks to Cupcake breaking my leg you mean," Jack said, smiling slightly at the memory. It wasn't really the poor girl's fault, but he never let her live it down. "I should probably go to sleep now. I have class in the morning."
"Alright Jack, goodnight," North ruffled the boys hair and sent him on his way, smiling as he watched him.
Aster saw neither hide nor hair of either boy from the streets for three weeks. He had picked up the crutches from North and had them waiting in his flat but he was beginning to think he wouldn't get the chance to offer them. Until one day, after work, he received a call from the center.
"Aster?" the soft voice of a volunteer asked over his cell phone.
"Yes, hello. This is Aster," he responded, a little impatient being called at such a late hour.
"Hi, this is Katelyn at Guardians Center. There's a boy here asking for you. He says you gave him our card and said to ask for you?"
"Is he by any chance missing a leg?"
"Yes sir, he is. I'm not entirely sure how he managed to make here at all, he was waiting outside when I got in this morning."
"He's alone then?" that was curious.
"Yes."
"Alright, I'll come over. Tell him I'll be there in half an hour."
"Of course, thank you."
Aster hung up the phone and started getting dressed to go out. He had already changed into clothes for sleeping and was about to hit the sack when he got the call. He grabbed the crutches and headed over to the center, stopping to grab a cup of coffee on the way. When he made it to the center a young volunteer was waiting for him. He led Aster to the back of the large open room where the young boy was sitting against the wall, weaving through the masses of people huddled around.
"Hey kid, was starting to think you'd never show up," Aster said as way of a greeting.
"Hey," he muttered back, not really looking up. In all, he looked a bit worse than last time. There was a smear of dirt on his cheeks and his hair was greasy.
"So, where's your friend?"
"Out and about," the boy shrugged.
"That so?" Aster raised his eyebrows. "Well, since you don't have your human wheelchair, I thought you could use something to get around." Aster held the crutches out for him and the boy's eyes widened.
"Crutches? How did you even…"
"Had a friend, well more of a pain in my ass, who had a pair he didn't need any more. Noticed you may have needed them and thought it couldn't hurt to offer." Aster set the crutches down on the floor and sat down next to him, grunting a bit when he did. "Ugh, don't ever get old kid."
"You can't be that old," the kid snorted, giving Aster a look from the corner of his eyes.
"Older than you-don't give me that look. Alright, I'm twenty-five, what are you? Fourteen?"
"Hey, I'm seventeen. How could you possible mistake all this manliness," he gestured to himself, "for a fourteen year old kid. I'm offended."
"Whatever you say," Aster laughed, "so, you got a name?"
"Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III," he said bluntly, avoiding Aster's eye.
"No seriously."
"Look, I don't go by my old name anymore, so I got a new one."
"And you couldn't have picked something normal like Steve or Bill or-"
"E. Aster Bunnymund?" and boy did that kid have a lot of sass stuffed into such a scrawny body.
"Hah, aren't you funny. At least I don't call myself Hiccup."
"And after all the trouble I went through to get here," 'Hiccup' rolled his eyes.
"I've been meaning to ask about that. Just how did you make it here?" Aster looked down at the space where his left foot would be then back up to his face.
"Toothless dropped me off here."
"Toothless? Let me guess, you're friend from the other day?" Aster laughed.
"You have a real problem with our names don't you? Yeah, that was Toothless." Neither of them said anything for a little while after that, though Hiccup would fidget every so often. He seemed to want to say something, but couldn't find the courage to do so. Finally the boy spoke up, "Hey," he smiled a little awkwardly, "do you mind if I try the crutches out?"
"Sure, go ahead," Aster said with a chuckle. He stood and brushed off the dust from his pants before holding his hand out to Hiccup. With some effort and help from Aster the boy managed to stand with just the wall as support. Aster picked up the crutches and handed them to the boy. Hiccup tried to balance against the wall and fit the supports underneath his arms at the same time. They were too tall for him and he looked ridiculous at first but Hiccup managed to find out how to adjust them so they would fit his height. When he finally got them adjusted correctly and could balance himself without the wall he gave this huge sideways smile that just kind of made warmed Aster's heart.
"Well, what are you waiting for?" Aster patted his shoulder (gently, he didn't think his sense of guilt could take knocking the boy over again), "start walking." And maybe Hiccup took that as a challenge because he laughed and began testing the movements of the crutches. He was slow at first, seeing how they moved and how he could balance, but he got the hang of them quickly and could soon navigate the room without falling. Aster just smiled and watched, glad now more than ever he had given out the center's card.
"This is great," Hiccup laughed and sat down, a bit out of breath, "I mean, it's not a proper prosthetic and it kind of hurts under my arms after a while, but I haven't been able to walk on my own since, well," he shrugged instead of continuing.
"Since when? How'd you lose your leg Hiccup?" Aster asked softly as he sat back down next to him.
"Hey now, I can't give away all my secrets right away like that. I have to keep that aura of mystery about or I'll lose all my fans," Hiccup scolded, leaning his head against the wall. He still wasn't quite able to keep the smile off his face. "But really, thanks. I guess it doesn't mean much, but, you know, it's nice or-wow I'm bad at this talking thing."
Aster had to laugh at that. This kid was layer upon layer of awkward and sarcasm all wrapped in a scrawny freckled body. "Yeah, you kind of are," he said, "but I'll forgive you just this once. Besides, it wasn't a big deal. The little pain in the ass didn't need them anymore; literally rotting away in the attic I was told."
"Still, do you think you could thank him for me too?" Hiccup was fidgeting again, picking at the hem of his shirt with his fingers and avoiding Aster's gaze.
"Nope, you can thank him yourself though. He works at an ice cream place, I'll take you there and even get a scoop, on me," Aster elbowed the boy playfully.
"I'm not five you know. You can't bribe me with ice cream."
"No? Not even a North Pole special sundae with all the toppings?"
"Not even for a North Pole special sundae with all the toppings. Though I could maybe, just possibly, be tempted with black raspberry. I have a weakness, what can I say," and there was that little awkward smile again.
"You have good taste, mate," Aster patted his shoulder, "that happens to be my favorite flavor. Tomorrow then, I'll stop by here after work, you had better be waiting, and we'll stop by and thank ol' Jack for his generous donation. Deal?" he held out his hand and Hiccup took it with an exasperated sigh.
"Deal."