Requested by we-are-not-the-losechesters. I hope this is what you had in mind. :)) Enjoy!
Ghost
Astrid could always tell when Hiccup was hiding something.
And it was difficult to see at times. I mean, there were situations where Hiccup was so obviously hiding something, even the twins realized it. But that was usually for silly things, like he'd accidentally set Snotlout's undies that'd been drying by the Forge on fire, or something equally as ridiculous.
Then, there were times that were severe. When something was hurting him- badly- and he refused to tell. She knew he hated being put on the spot, hated being the center of attention- especially the center of pity- and over the years he'd gotten all too good at hiding it.
But, she found a way to tell. Toothless. The dragon always trailed behind Hiccup when he was in turmoil, physical or not. Toothless could sense it better then anyone else, so Astrid observed.
Once, after a patrol on a rainy night, Hiccup came back acting completely normal. At first witness, you'd think he was fine. But with Toothless's constant crooning, or soft nudges at Hiccup's arm, Astrid knew something wasn't quite right. She asked, and he'd laughed it off, saying he was fine and why did she ask? Turns out he'd contracted a raging fever.
She had crossed her arms and frowned. It was almost scary how good he'd gotten at lying. Once upon a time, he'd have stuttered out the fib, giving away that there was indeed something wrong, and he was poorly hiding it.
But never had Astrid actually seen Hiccup admit when something was wrong. Someone would always have to ask, and even then, he wouldn't always admit it. It was one of those things that he was so gosh darned stubborn about. Like his Dad. Astrid had never seen Stoick say something hurt. Even that one time his arm had been burnt from the tip of his fingers clear up to his shoulder, he hadn't uttered a single complaint.
Astrid wondered if Hiccup was conscious of that fact, and hence he wanted to prove his father that he was just as strong. Astrid had thought he'd gotten over the whole "prove-I'm-a-true-Viking" thing, but maybe she was wrong.
Either that, or it was just him being stupidly stubborn. Could be a bad combination of both.
Either way, she'd learned that no amount of telling Hiccup to actually tell people when something was wrong would get him to do it, so, she adopted to other ways of finding out.
Hence: Toothless. A dead giveaway.
And that's exactly how she found out that Hiccup had phantom pains.
The first time it happened, Hiccup had walked into the club house, unusually quiet. None of the other's noticed, chatting amiably over the table as they ate their breakfast. But Astrid noticed how Hiccup's steps were short, how he boar a little falter when he placed his metal foot on the floor. She saw the shine of sweat beneath his hair, and how pale his face had become.
But what was the dead give away was how close Toothless was to Hiccup's side. You'd think they were glued together. The dragon's nose was pressed at Hiccup's left hip, and an occasional whine would rumble in the back of his throat.
She didn't know what was wrong, but she knew it was something. So, telling Hiccup she wanted to talk to him- in private- she led him outside the hut, Toothless following close behind.
"Something's wrong." She said firmly. Hiccup's face flashed to concern.
"What? Is it Viggo? Astrid, we need to-"
Before he could rush back inside with orders for the gang, she grabbed his arm. She was surprised to see he almost fell, and probably would've had Toothless not been so close by. His breathing was abnormally heavy.
"No, that's not what I mean… Hiccup, I know there's something bothering you- you're sweating buckets and I can feel the heat through your sleeve."
He looked away without a word. With a shake of his head, he said certainly. "I'm fine."
Astrid's heart ached for him, and yet, she couldn't help but feel hopelessly frustrated. Why wouldn't he just… tell her when something was wrong?
Grabbing his other hand (Which, she noted, was cold and clammy), she asked quietly. "Please, Hiccup, tell me what's wrong?"
He didn't say anything for a few seconds. The only sounds to be heard were the twins arguing from within the club house.
"M-my leg…" He finally whispered. Toothless warbled worriedly. Gesturing with his free hand towards his prosthetic, he explained. "I-it… sometimes feels like it's there… but, not there…" He shivered again, prompting Astrid to step a little closer. "I'm fine, truly, Astrid. It always stops after awhile-"
She jerked her head up. "This has happened before?" He pressed his lips together, a silent answer. "Hiccup… you need to tell us- any one of us- when stuff like this happens. It'll be the death of you." She tried to sound angry, but she truly couldn't, because she wasn't. Not really. Not when he was shaking so badly he could barely stay on his feet (foot).
Looping his arm over her shoulder, and wrapping her arm around his back, she began leading him towards his hut. Toothless didn't leave his side for a second, still pressed close to his left hip.
Astrid wasn't truly panicked until Hiccup passed out halfway to his hut. Toothless went absolutely berserk, jumping about frantically only to return to slobber Hiccup's face in dragon drool, before bounding off again in a frenzy. Astrid, as strong as she was, didn't want to hurt Hiccup further by dragging him to his hut. Slowly, she lowered him to the wooden walk way in the shade of one of the dragon's posts, letting his head rest in her lap.
She didn't know what to do. She'd seen phantom pains before. Her own father had had them with his missing hand. Some nights, as a little girl, she remembered hearing screams from somewhere outside. Her mother would always say it was a dragon in the night, probably wounded in a trap. But the older Astrid became, she realized that it had in fact been her father during bad bouts of phantom pains. She'd asked Gobber about them, and he'd explained it as "Ya feel like theh flesh is bein' ripped clean of yer bones."
And who knows how long Hiccup had been holding the pain in. He must be exhausted.
She didn't know how else to relieve the pain, besides being there to help him through it. She brushed her hand over his forehead, not happy with the heat that emanated from it. She hoped he wouldn't grow ill when the bout was over.
Lifting her head to make sure no one was watching, Astrid carefully pressed a kiss to his forehead, blushing sheepishly after doing so. She quickly cleared her throat and adjusted her position, trying to forget she'd done it.
It wasn't until late that night that Hiccup was finally up and about again without anymore pain then a slight ache. But, before he even left the bed, Astrid had threatened that if he did not, from there on out, tell them when he was having a phantom pain, she'd personally tan his hide when it was over. (Of course, she didn't really mean it. In fact, she was fairly certain that even if he did promise, he wouldn't hold up to it. Stupid Viking pride.)
Hope ya guys enjoyed that. Btw, I have tumblr again. I'm not on a huge amount, it's more or less there just to get prompts and stuff (It's a lot easier for me to see them when people send them through my inbox, rather then reviews here on FF) So if you wanna go follow me or whatever, the link is in my profile, or you can look me up under fan-writer02. :D
Thanks for reading, have a marvelous day!
-Kat
