Disclamer: I don't own the characters of How To Train Your Dragon
A.N. if your gonna be one of those reviewers who asks "if I like writing tragidies" the answer is yes. So don't be that asshole plz. I write about situations that have either happened in my life, or that I think are important, and needs to be shown what it can do to someone, and the best way I can do that is through my writing.
Every day Astrid passed by the same sight, and every day it got harder and harder to bear. Astrid wasn't known to be in touch with her feelings, but whenever she saw this boy, this beautiful yet broken boy, she felt something in her shatter a bit.
The boy was a stranger, a random person who sat on the side of the street. His face was always hopeful, his lips always smiling, but his eyes showed the truth. The green eyes were shadowed with demons that she couldn't see, and every day they got dimmer and dimmer. It was painful, watching this broken boy slowly wither away, but Astrid knew she could do nothing to help.
The first time Astrid noticed the boy she'd barely spared him a passing glance. It had been the hair that caught his eye in the first place, a brown like melted chocolate that couldn't possibly natural, but the boy was just another man begging for money instead of working for it. She'd scoffed and kept walking.
The second time she'd paused at the corner and watched as person after person strode past the boy, not even glancing in his direction, and she felt something like pity for him. That day she dropped a dollar at the boys feet and kept walking.
The third time she passed the boy, there were bruises on his neck and arms, and he was missing his left foot,and a crude prosthetic had been given to him to replace the missing foot but the smile was still in place. This time Astrid noticed a small black kitten sitting at his side. She didn't stop, just dropped another dollar.
It had been a month since the first time she'd seen the boy. She no longer just walked past; she would stop at the corner shop and watch him. The boy was thinner, his clothes hung off his too small frame, and yet the smile never left his face. Sometimes, after he'd collected some money, he would rub the cat's head and vanish into a nearby store only to return shortly after with a bag of cat food. Kanda found that interesting. He valued the cat's well-being above his own.
After that Astrid started leaving more money. Sometimes she would give him some food as well. The boy would thank him, and smile. The smile was different than his usual smile, it didn't quite reach his eyes, but it made them spark. It made Astrid realize something. She wanted to bring life back to those eyes; she wanted to save the boy.
It had been a couple of months since she first saw the boy, but this time she didn't just walk away after leaving the food. She hesitated for a moment, and that was all the boy needed.
"Thank you so much," the boy said, his voice was a bit hoarse, but his smile was genuine. "You've saved my life." He bit his lip for a moment and Astrid felt something simmer in her chest, something she didn't want to think of naming. "I know you probably don't want, or need, to know this, but my name is Hiccup."
Hiccup. A name to the face. Astrid knew she shouldn't stay to talk, that she shouldn't get close to this boy, but something in her made her stay where she was.
Hiccup was still talking, babbling about something or the other, and Astrid sighed. "You don't shut up do you?"
Hiccup sputtered and his face turned red. "You're not very nice are you?"
Astrid arched an eyebrow and couldn't help but chuckle. This boy, Hiccup, whom she'd never spoken to and didn't even know, this boy was able to do something that no one else could accomplish. He'd made Astrid laugh. Hiccup huffed and Astrid smirked.
"Astrid," she said. "My name's Astrid."
After that Astrid would stop to talk to Hiccup. They'd share a coffee or a sandwich. Astrid would make excuses about it being too big for her to finish on her own, and although Hiccup clearly saw through the lies he accepted the food. The boy was like a bottomless pit, he didn't just eat the food, he inhaled it.
Astrid got to know Hiccup. He learned that Hiccup was 15 (almost 16) and that the cat's name was Toothless.(despite the fact that the kitten clearly had teeth) He learned that Hiccup was on the street because his father had died and no one would take him in. She wanted to ask about him but he could tell it was a subject Hiccup didn't want to talk about so she stayed silent.
She found it hard to act like her usual self and found herself smiling at nothing, or at least letting her lips quirk up in what was considered a smile on her face. As the days passed his friends started to grow suspicious in her change of behavior. Snotlout made jokes about her acting like someone experiencing their first love, and when she didn't outright deny it they demanded to meet the lucky guy. Astrid refused and argued against it. It wasn't that she didn't want them to meet Hiccup, she didn't care that Hiccup was homeless. Hiccup was her secret, her happiness, and she didn't want it ruined by their judgments, but they didn't give up, and she had no choice but to bring them along.
Snotlout's reaction to Hiccup was to sit down next to him and offer him a bite of muffin, which he regretted instantly when half the muffin vanished in Hiccup's mouth.
Tuffnut's reaction was to mother him. She fussed over his appearance and worried about his health.
Neither of them seemed to care that he didn't have a home, and when they walked back with Astrid that night they seemed honestly happy for her.
After that Astrid went alone, but Hiccup told him they often stopped by to visit. He was wearing a new, snug sweater given to him by Tuffnut, and Snotlout had let him borrow a couple of books so he didn't forget how to read. Astrid felt jealousy flash through her when she thought of other people pampering Hiccup.
Astrid started to realize that Hiccup wasn't just some boy on the street anymore. Hiccup was the thing that occupied all of her thoughts. Everything Astrid did she did in an attempt to make Hiccup smile. It was around that time that he decided to ask Hiccup to move in with her.
"You need a roof over your head and I have an extra room in my apartment," she said. "My roommate moved in with her fiancé and the place is too big for just one person."
Hiccup gnawed on his bottom lip, a habit he seemed to do when he was thinking. Whenever he did that Astrid had the strange desire to nip that bottom lip between her teeth.
"That would be asking too much of you. You've already done so much for me."
Astrid sighed; Hiccup was too selfless for his own good. "I'm asking you to move in with me because I want you there. Of course that means you're going to have to find a job because I will not be covering the rent on my own."
Hiccup mulled it over before a small smile spread across his lips. "Alright. Yeah. You have to give me a few days to take care of things though."
Astrid felt her own lips quirk up in a smile and when she went home that day she didn't think it could get any better.
When she looked back he wished time had frozen on that perfect moment.
Two days later Astrid rounded the corner and froze midstride. She could hear Toothless mewling loudly and watched as Hiccup struggled against a hand clamped around his arm. She didn't think, just started running, pushing whoever was dumb enough to get in her way, and the green eyes turned to him, wide and scared.
"Hiccup!" The name tumbled from her lips and she reached out, their fingers brushed and then Hiccup was shoved into the car. The door slammed shut and Hiccup pounded against the window, his mouth moving in soundless screams. Astrid whirled on the man and threw his arm out in a punch, but the man caught it.
The man smirked down at him, and used his grip on his hand to push him to the ground. "You're pathetic," he spat. "Falling in love with this idiot. You don't know anything about him." With another sneer he turned and slid into the car.
Astrid scrambled to her feet, desperation racing through her veins and she yanked at the handle. Hiccup was crying and he pressed his hands against the window. He was saying Astrid's name over and over again and Astrid pounded against the window with fists.
Then the car was screeching into the road and out of sight. Astrid could do nothing but stare after it, her eyes wide and her heart pounding. Toothless mewled and wound around her feet, staring up at her with wide eyes. She picked the cat up and stared after the car.
She felt something inside her shut down, something she hadn't realized was there until she met Hiccup. She saw those green eyes slowly start to brighten with life. She saw that smile, that beautiful smile, spread across those lips. She imagined holding Hiccup in her arms and kissing him.
Her arms tightened around Toothless until the cat let out a yowl and she loosened them. She felt a coldness creep into her bones and she knew.
She knew she would never see Hiccup again.
A.N. sorry for the OOC ness of the characters, but I needed to do that in order to portray properly the things I saw everyday when I was in high school.