Stupid Love - Chapter 24

Pairing: Hijack

Word Count: 1797

Warnings: Puppies and then sadness

Hiccup stared blankly out the window as the rain pelted against the glass, the sound just barely louder than the whirring of the equipment around the hospital bed.

He had to have been doing this for hours now, just leaned back in the uncomfortable, all-white bed, with absolutely nothing better to do. You can only play Candy Crush on your best friend's phone so many times before you're sick of it forever.

He sighed, glancing back over at the closed door to the hallway. Astrid had left a couple hours ago, with a promise to return with food and a surprise. Hiccup grimaced as he remembered his last surprise was a card from dad. Yeah, he'll definitely get well soon… As soon as he gets a new foot.

Hiccup sighed louder. The bitterness of his own thoughts was exhausting. He was fed up with all this blaming himself for dumb things. Yes, he screwed himself over with his own stupidity, but he was tired of his own brain yelling at him about it. There's nothing he could do about it now, right? So why doesn't his brain just shut it already?

A rustle of papers and someone-a woman-speaking out in the hallway interrupted his thoughts. Hiccup looked back at the door. Maybe something interesting would happen; at least, that's what he hoped.

The voice had quieted down almost instantly and then footsteps walking away must have been the woman going further down the hall.

Well, so much for his daily entertainment…

The rain was still going, so Hiccup turned his head to stare out the window again. Boy, what excitement…

He kept thinking he heard more footsteps out in the hall, but now he couldn't care less. He might as well just wait for Astrid to come back and hope she has something interesting to tell him.

Rolling thunder rang from outside in the rain and Hiccup continued to stare out the window. A thunderstorm would be a little more interesting to watch, he supposed.

"Hold on!"

Hiccup sat up. That was definitely Astrid's voice from out in the hallway. He heard a bunch of footsteps and then someone stopping right in front of the door.

"Okay, okay, let me…"

Hiccup leaned on the side of the bed, trying to hear better, but then he heard something like a metal grinding noise for a moment and then a snap? He grimaced, confused. What the hell was Astrid doing?

Astrid was saying something, but it was too quiet for him to understand. He thought he heard a giggle, too. He kind of wanted to call out to her, but he could be patient. Probably. Maybe.

"I got it."

The doorknob jiggled a bit and then the door creaked open.

"Hiccuuup…" Astrid stepped into the room, holding her arms to her chest.

Hiccup's eyes immediately widened as she walked over to the bed and dropped the black blob in her hands onto his lap.

"Toothless!" Hiccup smiled wider than he had in weeks. "Aww, come here, bud!"

The goofy little puppy rolled on the blanket for a moment and then bounced in Hiccup's lap, jumping his way up onto his chest to lick at his face.

Hiccup laughed. He needed this. He really needed this.

"Ohhhh, you little monster, look at you!" he reached down and petted at Toothless' head and then starting poking and wiggling the puppy's ears. "You've gotten so much bigger, oh god!"

He let Toothless yip and then fake-tackle him, and Hiccup just kept laughing as Toothless rubbed his snout against his face and neck. How adorable could this dog be?

Astrid walked over to the other side of the bed, watching and shaking her head with a small smile on her face.

The door creaked open some more, but Hiccup just pushed his nose down for Toothless to nip at and giggled as Toothless licked his face instead. Astrid took a seat in the chair next to the bed, and Hiccup noted the sudden silence in the room.

Toothless glanced behind him and bolted to the edge of the bed.

"Haha, Toothless…" Hiccup leaned forward and reached out for the puppy when he realized the figure standing in the doorway.

He looked up. Leaning against the frame with a distant smile on his dumb face stood Jack.

Hiccup couldn't believe it. Jack was here?

How did Astrid even get him back into the hospital if he was supposedly banned from it, anyway?

Hiccup looked down at the puppy pawing at the bed sheets and realized she must have pulled a lot of strings to get the dog into the hospital, too.

When he looked up at Jack again, he was glancing at Astrid warily. Hiccup turned to see Astrid give a firm nod to Jack, and then Jack let out a quick sigh and stood up straight.

"Hi," Jack said quietly, give a quick little wave with only two fingers and stepped closer to the bed.

Hiccup wasn't sure if he felt happy just then. He was excited to see Jack again, but he had also been hearing nothing but how much Astrid thought this mess he was in was Jack's fault for the past while. He missed Jack, sure, but all these other emotions-his impatience and boredom, his anger and sadness, his self-pity, empathy, everything-it was overwhelming. He wanted to be happy, and he could feel the tug at his lips to smile, but it didn't seem to be doing much.

"You're here," Hiccup finally let out. He hoped it would sound elated, but it felt more like a simple statement and nothing more.

Jack stared at him, or rather, stared at his leg...or where the end of it should be. He looked like he had so much to say, but he was staying silent.

Hiccup was uncomfortable with all this, to say the least.

Jack sighed after enough silence, and finally met Hiccup's gaze.

"I know…" he paused, like he wasn't sure of what he was about to say, "I know it's not enough, but...I'm so sorry, Hiccup."

Hiccup had never felt more confused. Was that it? Jack was just feeling guilty? That was perfectly fine! Hiccup reached out a hand, wanting to touch him, tell him that whatever was going on in that brain of his was probably dumb and he shouldn't be listening to it. But Jack stood there, just out of reach, stiff and staring.

Jack looked...sad, for lack of a better word. Hiccup could feel it. Toothless, curling into himself near the edge of the bed, seemed to be able to feel it, too.

Jack spared a glance over at Astrid before speaking again.

"She's probably right, you know," he said. "It's probably better if we just avoid each other from now on."

Hiccup let his arm fall. Jack didn't continue, didn't bother to explain himself. Hiccup stared at Jack's hurt expression, from the side, since apparently he couldn't be bothered to even look at him anymore.

It felt like something broke inside of him.

Was it his guilt? Even if all this happened, Hiccup could forgive him; didn't he know that? All he had to do was TRY. Was he just giving up? Hiccup couldn't believe it. Jack wasn't even going to try and fix what he'd done?

What? Because...because he'd gotten hurt? What the hell did that even matter?

"You can't be serious," Hiccup snapped, his voice echoing a moment from how loud it suddenly became.

Toothless jumped from the sudden noise, and Jack reached down and pet the puppy, scratching behind his ear, still not looking at Hiccup.

"Why do you think this is even a good idea?" Hiccup asked, his voice sounding angrier by the second. "What would this even accomplish? You're just gonna make a mess and then just leave it? You're not even gonna try to help? That's it?!"

He kept asking, but he never received an answer. Jack had put up a wall between them now and he wasn't going to let Hiccup through.

Hiccup scooted forward, reaching up again to touch him.

Just as Jack flinched away, Hiccup grabbed ahold of his sleeve. Jack didn't look at him, but there was a pause. Hiccup could feel it for just a second. Maybe he could change his mind. Maybe he could convince him to stay.

And then Jack yanked his arm away harshly, and stepped back. He took one last look at Astrid and then walked out, not closing the door behind him.

Hiccup let out a shaky breath before gripping the sheets under him. What the fuck was that about?! Why did this happen?

He immediately glared over at Astrid.

"What did you do?!" he growled.

Astrid looked apologetic for a moment, but then instantly glared back at him.

"What? You think that whole act was MY idea?" Astrid defensively remarked. "I had nothing to do with that! I got you your dog, Hiccup. That was the deal."

Hiccup's glare faltered. She was right. He had asked her to do something and she did it, it wasn't like she told Jack what to say.

"I just… All I did was tell that idiot that I needed Toothless for you, and he was fine with that," Astrid continued, as if she actually had to explain herself.

Hiccup listened intently, though.

"He actually didn't want to come here at all, and I was cool with that at first, but I figured he should at least say goodbye like a decent person and not just leave you wondering what happened… I didn't want you to go looking for him or something, you know? That would just make things worse."

Hiccup stared back down at the bed sheets.

"I'm sorry, Hiccup," Astrid finished.

He didn't look back up.

Was that all true? Jack didn't even want to see him again? Just because Hiccup had gotten hurt? That was so STUPID!

Toothless pawed at the end of leg where his foot should have been, and Hiccup grimaced. Not from the pain, but the memory.

Jack had used his head, he had to admit. Whatever he was thinking, the logic was probably too overwhelming to ignore. Hiccup couldn't blame him for regretting what he'd done.

But what about him? What about how Hiccup felt? Shouldn't he get a say in all this?

Toothless nuzzled at the end of his leg and then flopped over on his back, wanting Hiccup to stop his ruminating and rub his puppy belly.

Hiccup sighed, reaching out to pet the silly dog, and fighting back the somberness quickly taking over him. It was quiet, and he could hear the rain coming down on the windows again.

Was this really it, then? It's really over? No more Jack?