2 months, 3 weeks and four days
Growing up, Hiccup had been a lonely boy. He had never been able to find his place among his peers. They partied and he played video games in his basement. They went out on dates and he went down the street to the comic book store. They were cool and he just wasn't.
Frankie Ingerman was his first human friend. He had met him in the department store where the blond boy worked. They had discussed everything from four-winged dragons to the most beautiful girls on campus, who they both knew they would never have a chance with. Frankie had offered to let Hiccup stay in his apartment, and the boy had agreed.
And then the Gods had decided that Hiccup was worthy of their wrath and sent a blue-eyed goddess to the empty check out lane where they had been talking.
Hiccup had gaped silently at her for at least a full minute before she cleared her throat and turned her icy glare on him. He snapped his mouth shut and trained his eyes on the floor, both terrified that this woman was capable of destroying him with her bare hands and in awe of her unearthly beauty.
The woman had rolled her eyes, pink lips pursued, and looked back at Frankie. The boy straightened up and gulped.
"Where can I find spandex shorts?" She sighed.
Frankie sputtered incoherently for a moment. "S-Spandex?" He squeaked.
The woman groaned and pushed her blonde fringe from her eyes. She narrowed her eyes at the cashier. "Look, I have volleyball practice tonight and I need those shorts. If you're just going to stand there and ogle me I'll go somewhere else."
Hiccup bit his lip. It was impossible to not imagine her wearing a pair of skin tight spandex shorts and running around the court, especially not with the way she was bending over the counter, giving him an excellent view of her perfect-
Nope. Definitely not going there.
He cleared his throat and looked around the store. Other than an elderly couple looking at garden tools, the store was empty. The doors were only a few feet away, maybe he could make a run for it and call Frankie later. But that would be almost impossible with what little traction his prosthetic provided.
The woman's eyes flashed at him. She looked him up and down and muttered something under her breath before turning back to Frankie, who pointed a shaking finger in the direction of the women's clothing department. She wasted no time in stomping away, although her anger was lost on Hiccup when he noticed the feminine sway of her hips.
The whole ordeal had lasted only three minutes yet she never left his mind. She sat in front of him in mythology, she lived across the hall from him with his roommate's sister, she always appeared at his favorite coffee shop. Wherever he went, she was there, whether it be in his thoughts or standing just across the room. He never once forgot about her during his first year at college, despite the fact that there was no way anything could work out between them.
And then something changed over the summer. He had met another girl, Cara, and things became ultimately better. She was so much like the girl from his mythology class; blonde, blue eyes, insanely smart, beautiful, terrifying. Cara loved to live her life on the razor's edge. She had always dragged Hiccup along on her adventures, and they had never turned out well. Once his mom had to bail him out of the police station after his crazy girlfriend took him to some party of hers. Things had never been the same after that.
But she was still his first girlfriend. She had defended him when Scott commented on his thin form. She never took shit from anyone, not even Hiccup, and he admired that about her. But she wasn't the girl from 13A.
They broke up after Cara found out that he still had feelings for his neighbor. She had declared that if he couldn't promise all of himself to her, she didn't want any of him. And then she had left and he never heard back from her. Of course he had tried calling, but she never answered. He had spent weeks mourning her despite how much stress their relationship had caused and how free he felt without her. But she had been his everything. His first kiss, the first girl in his bed, and even the first girl to smile at him. She would always have her own special place in his heart because of those things.
And now, sitting at his usual window table in the local coffee shop, he realized that he missed her. He missed how independent she had been, how she hid her problems and took care of them herself. It was horrible to compare her to Astrid, but he couldn't help it. He was stuck between a rock and a hard place, or rather, an angry pregnant woman and the rest of his life.
Things would be so different with a baby. It would be almost impossible to continue living in their respective apartments. They would probably have to move into their own, but that would cost money that they didn't have. Hiccup made barely enough at the garage to cover his part of the rent now and that was when three other guys were also pitching in.
And there was also the fact that he had never taken care of someone else before, other than his drunk friends. He had never even held a baby. What if he dropped it? What if Astrid decided she wanted to take care of things alone and left? What if he messed up so terribly that he made his own dad look like the picture father figure?
Hiccup sighed and took a sip of his coffee. He looked out the window and watched solemnly as a young woman pushed a stroller down the sidewalk. The man walking beside her had his arm around her waist and was saying something to her. They both laughed as they disappeared around the corner.
He looked down at his foam cup and thought. They couldn't have been much older than he and Astrid were. Was that what they would look like in a few months? So lost in their own happiness that they often forgot about the world around them?
Was that really what he wanted?
Sure, Astrid was beautiful and the thought of moving in with her made him grin like an idiot, but knowing that he would be a dad in a few months… he just wasn't ready for that kind of responsibility. He didn't want to repeat his own father's mistakes.
Hiccup reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone. He set it on the table and scrolled through his contact list, stopping when he came across a familiar face. It was a picture of Astrid on the day they all went to the beach, smiling and sticking her tongue out at him. The sunlight captured the gold in her wet hair and made it glisten like that of a goddess.
He smiled at the memory. Astrid had sat by their things for most of the day after she agreed to come over for Dungeons & Dragons. The twins saw this and dragged her into the water, and Ruffnut had held her underwater until she punched the other girl in the ribs and she was forced to let go. After that Astrid had stormed back onto the sand and glared at them. Later on Hiccup took a picture of her so that if "something happened on Saturday they would know who had killed him." She had laughed and punched his shoulder but said nothing.
Who would have thought things would take such a drastic turn? Hiccup still couldn't believe that she was talking to him, let alone carrying his baby. She was so different from all the other girls he had met, and he loved that about her.
There was no comparison between her and Cara. They were two entirely different women; one built up walls to keep everyone else out and the other invited them in with a smile. The difference was night and day; life and death; love and hate.
And that right there was his problem. He couldn't both love and hate someone, just as you can not have night and day at once. There was no choosing between them. He could only accept what he had and move forward. But where did he go when the only place he could go was back?
Astrid was an enduring woman. A bit stubborn and hard-headed at times, yes, but no less enduring. She prided herself in being able to handle any situation life threw at her.
So when she got a text from Heather about the big game that night, she wasn't worried. For the most part anyway.
She had read articles online about women that had miscarried after overexerting themselves in physical activities, like sports. Of course those women had been 4-5 months pregnant and running marathons or playing soccer, but did it make a difference? No matter the precautions she took, there would still be a chance of something happening, and there was no way she could ever play volleyball again if something did. Not to mention the fact that everyone would know about she and Hiccup.
And that was another thing. She liked him, like really really liked him, but she didn't want anyone else to know. She didn't want to hear their comments, or be rejected by her team for giving up her freedom for some geek.
Hiccup was a great guy. He was honest, cute, his puns made her laugh (especially the science ones), and he accepted her in ways that no one else ever had. But she didn't love him. He was just too different; they hardly had anything to talk about other than the obvious. Maybe someday she would, but until then she would be happy just being one of his friends.
But what about him? He had been avoiding her since she told him; two weeks ago. He had stayed in his room when she went over to his apartment with Ruffnut. When she called the next day, worried, he had cut the call short by saying that he was visiting his parents. He had ignored all of her texts and calls after that.
She probably had no reason to be worried. He was just adjusting. Soon he would call and things would go back to normal. Yes, that sounded exactly like something he would do.
But was it? What did she know about him anyway? She knew that his favorite color was green and his love to sketch had started when he moved with his parents to Nevada, and he had spent all of his time outside of school attempting to draw the trees in their backyard and the neighbor's dog. She knew that he hated his real name because it was a family name and he just couldn't live up to his great grandfather's accomplishments. She knew that his favorite season was summer because he had grown up in Scotland, where the winter weather was always unpredictable. But other than that he could be a perfect stranger.
She didn't know his middle name, or the reason why his family moved around so much. She didn't know why he was so distant from his parents. She didn't know how he had lost his leg. Those were some of the most important things she should know about him and she didn't.
And for some wild reason unknown to her she grabbed her phone off of the coffee table in front of the couch and scrolled through her contacts until she found his name. She held the phone to her ear and bit her lip.
The phone rang on the other end. And rang. And rang. Finally there was a beep and a recorded message of his voice was playing into her ear.
"Hi, it's Hiccup, leave me a message and I'll call you back later."
It was so nice to hear his voice again, even though it was a recording. Astrid frowned and ended the call. She fought with herself for a moment before sending him a quick text and setting the phone back down. She went into her bedroom to change into her uniform.
Hiccup watched as his phone lit up in his hand, Astrid's pretty face smiling at him. It continued to ring for a minute before it went silent. He sighed and stood from his desk chair, where he had been working on one of his dragon sketches.
His phone chimed with a new text. He unlocked the screen and read it, his heart sinking into the cold pit of his stomach like a dead weight.
I'm sorry.
Hiccup leaned against his desk. He had been avoiding her, yes, but the last thing he had wanted to do was cause her any pain. In fact, he had been hoping that she would just forget him all together and move on. Find someone who could make her happy.
He swallowed hard and typed out a response with numb fingers. He stared at the screen for a moment before sending it. He waited, but there was no response from Astrid. He turned his phone off and slid it back into his pocket.
He couldn't just stand there and let her suffer. But what was there for him to do at that point? She probably hated him, not that he would blame her if she did. Somehow he had to find a way to make it up to her. Suddenly he remembered. He unlocked his phone and started to type out a text to Ruffnut.
Astrid grimaced when she saw the scoreboard. DRAGONS 4 – BOG BURGLARS 9 it read. It was by far their worst game of the season. Her heart banged against her ribcage as she crouched and bumped the ball back into the air. Behind her, the crowd cheered.
On the other side of the net, Camicazi smirked. She crouched and watched one of her teammates launch the ball over the net again. Her blue eyes flicked to Astrid, silently mocking her.
Astrid grit her teeth and looked back at the girls behind her.
Her eyes fell on a figure standing near the blue double doors, his hands shoved in his pockets. He gave her his trademark lopsided grin and waved.
For a moment, Astrid was in shock. The world around her, the cheering crowd and her teammates arguing, melted away. It was like she had been pushed underwater, the noise becoming a low buzz in the back of her mind, but she hadn't moved. She smiled back at him.
Hiccup's face suddenly paled. His emerald eyes widened and he took a step forward, yelling and pointing.
Astrid's brow furrowed as she watched him. She turned around and could only watch as the ball smacked into the side of her head, the force sending her to the ground. Her head cracked back against the floor hard enough to make her vision go out of focus. There was a warm copper taste in her mouth as someone wearing a Dragons uniform rushed forward and placed a hand on her cheek, Hiccup's familiar face disappearing behind her back. Then everything went dark.