Crazy Hair Day

"3 AM haircuts lead to a lot of questions, as Astrid learns."

Rated K

1,835 Words

Implied Hiccstrid

Hiccup, Astrid, Heather, Ruffnut

Modern + High School AU

May 26th, 2022

As much as Hiccups was the brains and the leader, he also tended to be one of the more fanciful and nomadic than the rest of the group. It was Astrid who remained level-headed and kept the group grounded. So, when Hiccup got a call from Astrid asking him to come over to her house at 3 AM, it caught him off guard. It surprised him, even more, when he found her in the bathroom with her hair down and scissors in hand.

Astrid's eyes followed Hiccup through the mirror as he walked into the bathroom. "What is going on here?"

"What do you think?" Astrid huffed, rolling her eyes.

"I think you're making a really stupid decision in the middle of the night with no one here to stop you." Hiccup swung his arms out. He paused to glance out the bathroom window. "Where is your family anyways?"

"Out," Astrid sneered. "They won't be back until tomorrow afternoon." Seeing her glare, Hiccup did not pester Astrid further about their whereabouts. "Look, I just need you here to help cut my hair. Not to give me a lecture."

"Why me?" Hiccup asked as he settled himself on the edge of the bathtub. Now only the top half of his face was visible to Astrid in the mirror.

"Well," she scoffed, "would you trust Snot or the twins to cut your hair?" She turned around to look down at Hiccup. "You're an artist and a builder. You're very meticulous with your work and you have steady hands. I'm sure you can cut a straight line."

Hiccup took Astrid's hands and placed them in his. "And what if I don't want to be a part of this? Forgive me, but I'd rather not have to deal with Monday Astrid yelling at me for not stopping her from making a stupid decision."

Astrid pulled her hands back but surprised Hiccup with how gentle she did it. It wasn't a yank. It was just enough force to free herself.

She turned back towards the mirror. "You don't have to help me. You can just go home and I'll do it myself."

"Fine," Hiccup relented. "But are you sure about this?" He stroked her long locks. They still held the wave from the braid she always kept them in. "How short do you want to cut it?"

Astrid laughed, grabbing her hair and folding it so that no hair went past her shoulders. "Here," she declared with a smile that only showed the tips of her teeth.

"Really?" Hiccup's eyes widened. "That is a lot of hair." He frowned and scanned the room before making eye contact with Astrid through the mirror. "You can do something else, like put it up differently, or maybe put a temporary dye in it, or cut off a little-"

"Hiccup," Astrid cut him off. She spun back around, this time grabbing his hands. In the dim light, he barely noticed the little puffiness and the tinge of pink in her eyes. "Don't worry. This isn't some spur-of-the-moment decision." She sighed and brushed her hair behind her ears. "I've been thinking about this."

Hiccup removed his hands from Astrid's to wipe a tear off of her face. "I know, it's just…" He paused to take a deep breath. "I mean, you've always had long hair. It's kinda what you're known for. You're Astrid; the girl with the long golden braid."

Astrid groaned, dropping her shoulders as she went back to studying her reflection. "So what? People change." She grabbed the ends of her hair and stared at the scissors on the bathroom counter. "It's just hair."

Before Astrid could grab the scissors, Hiccup had picked them up. Waving them at the annoyed girl, he said, "Are you sure? I mean, you love your hair. You spend a lot of time taking care of it."

"Yeah, which means I'll have a lot more time to do other things without it." Astrid snatched the scissors from his hands. "Why are you so obsessed with my hair anyway?"

Hiccup's eyes followed Astrid's fingers as she traced the blades of the scissors. "I don't want you to do something you'll regret. Hair takes a while to grow back."

Astrid put the scissors back down, turning and leaning against the bathroom counter. "I might regret it but, then again, I might regret not doing it." She brushed her fingers through her hair. "I am Astrid Hofferson. I'm not supposed to be afraid of anything."

"It's okay to be afraid."

Astrid looked at her feet and whispered, "I know."

Hiccup placed his hand on her chin, lifting her head so that she was looking him in the face. "You can tell me. Anything that is bothering you." Astrid huffed. "It is not like little miss perfect Astrid Hofferson to do something as wild as cut her own hair at 3 AM without telling anyone."

"I told you." She chuckled as she avoided looking Hiccup in the eyes.

"You know what I mean but…" Hiccup pulled his hand away from Astrid's face, which quickly turned to a frown. "I am sure you will look just as beautiful no matter what you do to your hair—or anything for that matter."

"Thank you." Astrid took the hair tie from her wrist, securing her hair a bit below her shoulders. "I am still cutting it," she assured him. "But I assure you that I have been thinking about it for a while."

Astrid picked up the scissors and began chopping through the large bundle of hair. "It's long and it's hot and it gets in the way." She paused for just a second when the first chunk of hair hit the floor, and Hiccup worried that she was regretting her actions. However, she very quickly got back to hacking off the rest of her hair.

"People judge me because of my hair, you know. I have these long, luscious, golden locks." Astrid stopped again to pat Hiccup on the head. "I'm sure no one has ever called you a dumb blonde. Or treated you like some vain pretty girl only obsessed with her looks."

Hiccup took the scissors from Astrid and pulled out the hair tie to see what damage she had done. "And I'm sure you told them off for being wrong. That doesn't mean you have to give in and change for them."

"No." Astrid grabbed the comb from the counter and handed it to Hiccup while her back was still turned to him. "But it all culminated, you know. And they weren't entirely wrong. Keeping hair that is this long healthy is a time-consuming task. And all I ever do is braid it the same way every day. I won't miss it."

Hiccup grasped Astrid's face from behind, spinning her to a different angle. "Are you sure about that?"

"We're going off to college." Astrid gnawed her lips at the thought. "I've been a good girl for so long. Perfect grades. Stellar athlete. I'm gonna be a real adult and I haven't done anything!" Astrid stared at herself in the mirror, as if she were talking to her reflection and not Hiccup. "I need some change."

"And you're sure this isn't some stress-induced impulse decision that you won't regret in a week?" Hiccup motioned for Astrid to hand him her hair tie. "Why not wait until you can get it done at a salon? By a professional?"

Astrid slipped the hair tie off her wrist. "Are you gonna ask me that same question a hundred more times before we're done here?"

Hiccup took the hair tie and twisted most of her hair into a bun, leaving a thin layer at the nape of her neck. "Nope, I'll stop." He began evening out the cut. "Besides, it's too late to back out now."

"You're a great friend." Astrid looked in the mirror and couldn't help the smile creeping on her face as she saw her new style.

Hiccup finished the first layer and undid the bun to let down the next one. "Is that sarcasm I hear?"

"No." Astrid let the smile grow. "I really do appreciate what you're doing. And I'm not mad about you questioning me." She shifted her gaze from her reflection to the ground. "I swear, it's… it's not just hair. I've never done anything crazy and it's just so stressful being perfect and everything." Taking a deep breath, she added, "This is me letting go of everything that's been weighing me down."

"And what is your family gonna think about it? Our classmates?" Hiccup smirked, but Astrid held a straight face.

"They're gonna freak," she mumbled. "My family hates short hair. And all the other girls on the soccer team have long hair."

"You're already better than all of them." Hiccup flashed a smile at Astrid. "This'll just make you stand out even more."

"We're already done for the year." She sighed. "And they're really not that bad."

"No, but you are Perfect—with a capital 'P'." Hiccup pulled down the last layer of her hair, slipping the hair tie back to Astrid. "They can't compete with that."

"Please don't call me perfect." Astrid gripped her hand so tightly that the whites of her knuckles were showing.

They spent the rest of the night in silence. Hiccup left half an hour later, once Astrid was satisfied with the cut and after cleaning up the mess left behind. She thanked him again as he said goodbye. Hiccup did not hear a word from Astrid for the rest of the day.

At school the next morning, Hiccup saw his friends clustered together. He quickened his pace to join them.

"Oh my gods, Astrid," he heard Heather exclaim. "I love it!"

"It looks a lot better than mine." Everyone laughed at the owner of the voice, Ruff, who had sloppily chopped off her own hair a few months back after getting gum stuck in it.

Hiccup pushed through the group but stopped when he saw Astrid. "Wow." Her hair had the same cut as when he left, just above her shoulders. However, the tips were no longer blonde. Instead, they were a mixture of blue and orange.

She smiled shyly, not showing her teeth, as she looked back at Hiccup. "I guess the cut wasn't enough."

"And what will your parents think?" Hiccup jabbed the girl in the ribs, and she punched his arm in response.

"They're still gonna freak." The bell rang and the group departed their spot, heading to class. Hiccup hung to the back with Astrid.

"It looks great." He assured her, as he noticed the girl looking at her reflection in whatever she could find.

"Thanks," she hugged him. Astrid was about to slip into her class when the rest of the group stopped as well.

"We love it." Everyone smiled at her and, as she had said earlier, she knew it wasn't a mistake. She walked into the class with the brightest smile she'd had in ages.

An anticlimactic ending, but I'm just trying to get back into writing right now.

Have you ever done anything impulsive or crazy to your hair?

Reviews

To Whiskerface: Thank you so much! I didn't even realize it was such a rare plotline. I came up with it from the desire to write a fic about birthdays and it went from there.