A/N: So bit of tone shift in this chapter and some of you might not like what I did but I assure you it is necessary and will set up some wonderful friendship scenes and build toward other things as well, which since this is a Hiccstrid story I'm sure you all can guess what that means. On with the responses.

Surayo- Can't call them strangers, can't call them 100% friends yet either, somewhere in the middle, but that changes in this chapter.

CB73- Hayden might not have a had a good time while he was away but as this chapter will show Ashley didn't either and perhaps neither of them were ready to see what the results of their time apart. I'm planting a lot of seeds that will addressed later on in the story, glad to see that you are speculating at what might have happened, maybe you are right, maybe only half right, guess we just have to wait and see.

No Account- See I like that idea of a sparring match but for much different reasons. As you will see in this chapter.

supersandman86- Like I told CB73, I'm planting lots of seeds and that will be addressed eventually, for now though Hayden and Ashley have something more important to worry about.

YouYou098- Wonder away and at all the things, but this chapter will have you wondering about someone else entirely.

Glad for all the reviews and don't be afraid to leave one as you can see I read them all. Don't be afraid to check out my other stories and leave a review on them. Loving all the favs and follows keep those coming.

To my Fiancee who is away for her last semester of college. I love and miss you.

Your Friendly Neighborhood Mexican ;p

Disclaimer: I own nothing... Sadly

October 21st, 2019

The lunch that Ashley had with Hayden yesterday went far better than she could have ever hoped. They friendship had been brought back from the dead, she had learned a little bit about him, and shockingly it turned out that WRX that was in the parking lot belonged to Hayden. Ashley threatened/made him promise to give her a ride in it before the year was out.

Hayden gave her a devious smirk at that and warned her that she asked for it. They exchanged numbers since they would be in contact for the foreseeable future and being friends again probably helped.

It was Monday morning now and Ashley was pulling up to school in her trusty Civic when she spotted an already familiar WRX parked in the spot next to her. As she pulled up next to the car she could see Hayden sitting on the hood talking with Heather and Rebecca. Well talking was being kind it looked more like an interrogation and when Hayden looked over at Ashley as she pulled his eyes pleaded her to come and save him. Ashley laughed to herself as she grabbed her backpack and exited her car to save her friend.

"Alright guys what are we doing to Hayden here?" Ashley asked jokingly, knowing full well what was happening.

"Oh nothing, just getting to know Hayden a little better is all." Rebecca replied in sickly sweet voice.

"Getting to know me better, the damn CIA could take lessons from you guys for interrogation techniques." Hayden quipped out.

Ashley laughed at the quip as she shook her head and gestured with her hand for Heather and Rebecca to back up.

"While I appreciate you, guys watching out for me, I can take care of myself thank you very much. Now are we going to stay out here and continue to get cold or head on inside." Ashley stated more than asked as she bowed slightly waiting for her friends to lead the way.

Heather and Rebecca turned around and lead the group toward the school doors, while Hayden looked over to Ashley and mouthed a thank you to her. She nodded her head and turned to face the school as she relished in the feeling of walking to school with her best friend for the first time in years. It felt as if nothing had changed even if everything had changed, but she still wouldn't change anything, she was surrounded by her friends and that was all she could ask for.

The sound of a button clicking and someone inhaling through… something broke the silence and drew the attention of all three girls. They all turned toward the sound and discovered that it was Hayden taking hit off a vape mod. The girls had seen them around the school and all over town and never really took interest in them, they didn't hang out with the people that did them and they thought it was too close to smoking cigarettes.

They watched as Hayden blew a cloud up into the air away from them and soon realized that they were all staring at him when he arched an eyebrow at them in confusion.

"You know I had been told that I was attractive before, but I didn't realize I was that good looking to get three girls to stare at me like deer in the headlights at the same time." Hayden laughed to himself as he took another hit of the device.

Shaking themselves out of their stupor and blaming the cool air for the fact that all their faces turned a few shades darker and not because Hayden had called them out. Rebecca and Heather each grew fairly annoyed at Hayden for not mentioning that he vaped when they were 'talking' to him earlier. They began to chastise him for doing it while Ashley was still staring in shock. Hayden looked over at Ashley and waited for her to come out of her shock, it took a moment but when Ashley finally did Heather and Rebecca and ended their tirade and waited to see what would happen.

"I told you things were different, that I had changed, well this is one of those changes, sure you can handle it?" Hayden asked in a cool voice as he waited for her answer.

His posture, his eyes, and his voice told Ashley that he was going to hold his ground no matter what her answer was. He was right and had warned her that he had changed, Ashley looked down at the device in his hand and looked back up at his face. She still saw her friend, her friend that simply had a new interest, or at least it was new to her. He was allowed to try new things and if he enjoyed it who was she to tell him he couldn't do it.

"I'm not going to tell you not to do something Hayden. You enjoy it, I think, and unless it's going to kill you than I don't mind it." Ashley said with a shrug of her shoulders and smile.

Hayden smiled as he took another hit and blew the cloud high into the sky above them. While the other girls were still a bit put off by it, Ashley was slightly excited, it was something new to talk and ask Hayden about, another thing to build their new friendship on. She filed the new piece of information away for a later time and walked on toward the school with her friends.

They walked to their lockers and pulled out the books they would need for the first half of the day. Ashley was surprised but all around pleased when she saw that Hayden's locked was across from her own and just a few lockers down. It did sting her a bit that she didn't realize that he was that close for so long, but she shook her head and told herself it didn't matter anymore, they were friends again and she was going to make sure it stayed that way. She smiled to herself letting the feelings of dread wash away as she grabbed her last book and stored it in her backpack and closed her locker, she wished she would have kept the locker door open.

"Hey babe." A smug, and highly irritating voice sang out.

Ashley groaned out and rolled her eyes as she let her head hit her locker. Steven Jorgenson was one of, if not the most irritating person on the face of the earth. He was a football player and thought himself much better than he actually was and blamed everyone but himself for his shortcomings. He was dumber than a box of rocks and thought that every girl would just fall head over heels for him.

Ashley made the mistake of going on one date with him last year just to shut him and Rebecca up. She regretted it instantly as the bastard was not only late, but did nothing but talk about himself and disregard anything she had to say. She ended up slapping him and stormed off telling him to shove it. If she was honest it was worth the stares she got from that restaurant to see the look of shock on his face. Or it would have been if he had gotten the message.

With a resigned sigh, she glanced over at Steven who was wagging his eyebrows and doing his best to put on a seductive smile. It looked incredibly creepy and made Ashley shudder with disgust. She adjusted her backpack and turned away from him to walk to her class, she made it three steps before she felt a hand on her shoulder holding her place.

"Hold up there babe, aren't you going to say hi to me?" Steven asked in his trade mark 'I'm the best' tone.

"Let go of me Steven." Ashley commanded.

The tone of voice seemed to have no effect on Steven as he used his grip on her to launch himself around her form and place himself in front of her. The same creepy smile still plastered on his face.

"Oh, come on stop playing hard to get I know you want me, now how about a good morning kiss." He suggested as he pressed his lips together.

"How about you fuck off, I'd rather kiss the gym floor." Ashley answered with disgusted shudder.

Steven really was thick headed as he still didn't get the hint and instead took a step towards Ashley.

"How long are you going to fight this, huh? You already went out with me once." He continued.

When Steven took a step closer it sent a shiver of fear down Ashley's spine that she hadn't felt in years. She took a step back as he stepped closer and tried to find her voice again though it didn't have the same bite to it as before.

"I-I-I'm warning you Steven, leave me alone or you will regret it." Ashley stammered out.

Steven took the stammering the wrong way and thought it was Ashley fawning over him. He was about to close the distance when a looming presence over both of them appeared from behind them and casted a shadow over them. Ashley looked behind her to see Hayden looking down at Steven with a murderous glare and his fists clenched. His face was taught with anger, his eyes looked ready to kill to Steven, his backpack was on the floor leaned up against the lockers, and he had moved one of his legs in front of Ashley's so he could step between them in a moment's notice.

"Ashley, is he bothering you?" Hayden asked.

His tone was surprisingly soft and caring not matching his stance or features at all but it managed to calm Ashley down. Hayden must have been watching the entire scene and Ashley couldn't help but feel safe that someone was looking out for her. She looked up at Hayden to find him looking down at her, the murderous glare gone, his face had softened to one of concern and calmly waiting for her answer. She nodded to confirm his suspicions and on a dime the air around him did a 180 as his face flipped back to the murderous glare that would make a serial killer crap their pants.

"Leave. Now. Steven." Hayden seethed out.

Ashley was stunned that Hayden somehow knew Steven but at the moment that was secondary, she just wanted Steven gone.

"Get the fuck out of here Hayden and go play on the mat wearing your skin-tight fairy suits. Can't you see you are scaring her, oh and how did the tournament go this weekend?" He asked with a sneer, showing he knew how it went for Hayden.

"The tournament went fine, how is that football scholarship you didn't get, and the championship you didn't bring home?" Hayden shot back.

A crowd had started to gather and a series of 'oh snaps' and 'oohhh' broke out after Hayden's remark. Steven went red with anger and went to retort but found nothing to fire back with.

"Now I believe she said to leave her alone and now I'm telling you to leave her alone. Get out of here before you embarrass yourself." Hayden promised/ threatened Steven.

The threat didn't faze Steven at all and looked around and just laughed at Hayden. He turned around and made to leave but whipped around throwing a punch at Hayden. Expecting something like this to happen Hayden swatted the punch away and ducked underneath Steven's arms as he slid along his knees and ended up behind Steven, he wrapped his arms around Steven's waist, dropped his own hips, moved onto the tips of his toes, dropped his shoulders, popped his hips forward and hoisted Steven over his head as he delivered a German Suplex. Steven landed on his shoulders and head before Hayden let go and allowed the momentum to roll Steven away.

The crowd had all gone silent and were staring at Hayden in shock. No one more so than Ashley. Hayden had never been violent before and sure while he was a wrestler now and violence was part of the sport, this was off the mat far away from the sport. Hayden seemed to be unaffected by all the attention and had gotten back to his feet staring a fiery hole through Steven, who looked equally shocked and almost scared of Hayden.

"I hate bullies, and people who can't take no for an answer. This is your only warning. Stay. Away. From. Ashley." Hayden seethed out every word with a slow, measured, and downright terrifying tone.

Steven couldn't nod quickly enough and scampered off before anyone could say anything. The crowd had yet to clear out and Hayden had enough of them rubbernecking.

"Something I can help you all with." Hayden stated with an emotionless tone.

The crowd cleared out as quick as it formed and soon left Ashley, Hayden, Heather, and Rebecca in the hall. Ashley was trying to settle her heart beat and take in everything that had just happened. Hayden protected her and pretty much threatened Steven, which was very new and only caused more questions to form in her mind about what happened to Hayden for him to have such a volatile reaction. She froze when Steven got too close, something she vowed would never happen again but the memories wriggled their way forward and she couldn't help it. She tried to calm her heartrate and breathing but it only served to make her hyperventilate.

Heather and Rebecca started to speak in soft tones trying to calm Ashley down. They started to breath in slow deep breaths trying to get Ashley to copy them. It seemingly had no effect and the girls turned to Hayden for help.

"Hayden, help." Heather pleaded with him.

Heather's plea broke Hayden out of his own rage clouded trance as he turned to see Ashley absolutely terrified. It scared him to see her like this and caused him to wonder what on Midgard had caused her to react like this. He could worry about that later though right now she needed help.

He walked over to Ashley and bent down one knee and looked up at her. Ashley's eyes were wide with terror and her quick and uneven breathing shuddered through the air. Hayden gently grabbed her wrists which bought her eyes into focus on him. In a soft tone, Hayden began to calm Ashley down.

"Sssshhhh, it's okay Ashley. Everything is going to be okay. He's gone, everyone is gone, it's just you, me, Heather, and Rebecca. I need you to do something for me, I need you to count to ten and take a long deep breath. Can you do that for me?" He asked softly.

Ashley managed to nod and followed his instructions, as she exhaled she felt the cool shape of a water bottle be place in her hand and looked down to see Hayden pulling his hand away from placing it in hers. Getting the idea Ashley took a small sip from the bottle and took another deep breath. It took five minutes in total for Ashley's breathing to get back to normal and for her heartrate to return to normal.

Hayden stepped back and let Heather and Rebecca dote and worry over Ashley. Hayden leaned back against the lockers and kept his eyes firmly on Ashley. It appeared that her statement yesterday that he wasn't the only one who could have used their best friend these past number years had a much darker meaning behind it than he thought.

Heather and Rebecca had taken a step back from Ashley who in turn took several steps toward Hayden and soon wrapped her arms around him, bringing him into a bone crushing hug. Hayden was surprised at first but carefully returned it.

"Thank you." Ashley whispered out.

"What are friends for." Hayden replied softly as he looked down at her with a small smile.

Ashley turned her head to look up at him and smiled to see him smiling back at her. She broke the hug and took a step back and took a few more deep breaths before declaring that she was okay to go to class. Rebecca and Heather followed her as they had class together which left Hayden to leave in the other direction and realize that he wasn't the only with secrets and wasn't the only one who had changed. This Ashley was different too and something had caused that to happen. Hayden clenched his fists at the thought of something happening to her to cause a reaction like that. He didn't know what it was and was unsure if he wanted to but whatever it was he would help her get over it and make sure that the Ashley he saw yesterday at the restaurant was the Ashley that was always around. After all that was what friends were for.

A/N: Looks like Hayden wasn't the only one who had a rough time while the other was away. What happened to Ashley to turn her into a petrified mess like that? I will tell you all right now that it was not 'that' I can't write that and won't even try to. Now we have something new to explore and build their friendship back up on and perhaps more, and how about Hayden dishing out some punishment to Steven, to those of you who know what a German Suplex is, you know that they hurt like a bitch. See you all next time, be sure to leave a review, peace.