Work Text:
How Hearthstone hadn’t passed out yet, he had no idea. If the runes hadn’t done it, dropping into a sunless world surely should have been enough. It wasn’t quite what he had in mind when he ran from home.
In all honesty, Hearth wasn't too worried about where he would end up while on the run as long as it was as far from Alfheim as possible. He just wanted to leave his house and his family behind and never look back before his sudden burst of courage ran off and he crawled back into his room before his parents got home, praying to the gods that they didn't find out about him attempting to run away.
In retrospect, maybe he should have been a little more selective about that. He hadn't considered he could be thrown into a world of complete darkness-- or, at least, that's how it felt after living his whole life in a world where the sun never set. He also hadn't anticipated falling right on top of someone.
Hearthstone immediately got back to his feet, which was a bad call because he instantly felt dizzy. He wasn’t sure what was the cause of it; the usage of rune magic, the lack of sun already taking its toll on him, just Yggdrasil-induced jetlag, or just a combination of all of them. He could tell that whoever he'd landed was trying to talk to him, but between the darkness and the way his head was spinning, Hearth was finding it hard to concentrate enough to read their lips.
He wanted to apologize, but in his experience, very few people were familiar with ASL, and didn't really take it well when he tried to communicate with them that way, so no matter what, he was always hesitant to even try.
But that was at home, where his father would force him to use a white board to communicate, a board Hearth had made a point to leave behind. He couldn't expect to have a better life away from his parents if he continued being afraid of things they had told him was wrong or unnatural, so he took a deep breath.
‘Can't hear you. I'm deaf.’ He signed. The sign for deaf was a small arc from near his ear to his mouth. Sometimes, it got the message across even if the other person didn't know ASL, other times people just scoffed and walked away from him.
Most of the time, Hearth appreciated the latter outcome. If they still insisted on talking to him after understanding he was deaf, they'd likely just start yelling in his face, hoping that would miraculously solve the problem. Hearth particularly enjoyed pretending he had no idea how to read lips in those situations.
To his surprise, though, the other actually replied in sign language, after a brief second of just staring at Hearth, his mouth hanging open in an "o" shape.
‘I'm sorry. Didn't know.’ He signed, ‘ Now, what the Helheim was that? Don't you watch where you're going?’
Hearth was so dumbfounded that it took him a second to process what the other had said.
‘You know ASL?’ He asked, ignoring the other's protest about falling on top of him. He could get back to that later, right now he had a more important issue in mind.
‘Never met a dwarf that understood ASL before? Of course I do!’ He replied, as if as if the answer to Hearth's question was obvious.
Hearth wanted to argue that he never ever met a dwarf at all, let alone one that he could communicate with. He chose that was not relevant for right now.
Shaking his head, Hearth continued. ‘ Sorry for showing up like that. Accident. Just dropped from Alfheim. Are you okay?’
‘I'm okay.’ The dwarf took a moment to look at Hearth more carefully. ‘ You're an elf. You need sunlight. I should be the one asking if you're okay.’
Hearth shrugged. ‘ I'm fine.’ That was a lie. His eyes were more used to the low light, but his dizziness was still there, he felt like he could pass out any second now. At this point, ‘I’m fine’ was mostly a reflex response for whoever bothered to ask-- mostly Inge, who never really seemed to believe him, she knew too well what Hearth’s situation was, but even if she knew the answer he’d give her, it never stopped her from asking, in the hopes he would finally open up. It never happened. ‘Is this Nidavellir?’ He asked, not feeling like dwelling on his life in Alfheim too much.
‘Yes. Svartalfheim, to be exact.’ The dwarf explained. At least that explained the no sun situation. ‘What are you doing here anyway? I thought elves weren’t big on leaving Alfheim.’
‘They aren’t.’ Hearth signed. ‘I ran away.’ He added tentatively. The dwarf raised his eyebrows at him, Hearth chose to ignore him. ‘I’m H-E-A-R-T-H-S-T-O-N-E’ He introduced himself, spelling the name to the other, in an attempt to change the subject.
‘B-L-I-T-Z-E-N.’ The dwarf-- Blitzen replied. ‘Are you sure you’re okay? You look paler than elves usually do.’
Hearth wanted to argue that if elves never left their realm, Blitzen had no way of knowing how pale they usually looked, but before he could, he lost his balance and fell to the ground.
Then everything went darker.
When Hearth finally woke up again, for a terrifying moment he actually thought it had all been a dream. The light hitting his face was too bright for it to be anywhere in Nidavellir. Maybe he hadn’t even made it out of his backyard, now why he’d been laying on the grass outside surely would be fun to explain to his father.
He tried sitting up, but he promptly hit his head on something, which shouldn’t be the case. A second later, whatever was above him opened up, and Hearth was relieved to be welcomed by Nidavellir’s darkness again.
Perhaps it wouldn’t be the case for most people, let alone elves, but for Hearth it meant freedom. The thought alone was almost enough to make him cry. He wouldn’t have his father making him feel even worse about something Hearth already felt terrible about. He wouldn’t have to pay a wergild to be free of his family-- he was already free.
As for where exactly he was, that was a question he did not have the answer for. As he looked around, he found Blitzen. The dwarf waved at him while his other hand rested on the wall-- Hearth figured there was a secret switch controlling whatever device Hearth had spent the night, and Blitzen just flicked it.
‘Sorry about that.’ The dwarf signed. ‘I guess I should’ve put a switch inside, too.’
Hearth looked back at what he was laying on in confusion. Did Blitzen build it for him ? He knew dwarves were great a crafting, but that would have been really nice of him, and niceness never came without a price, at least not for Hearth. He had no idea how he could even begin paying Blitzen back for possibly saving his life.
‘Why?’ Hearth asked.
Blitzen seemed confused for a second. ‘Well, it’s inconvenient to have to wait for someone to open it up. It didn’t occur to me last night.’
Hearth shook his head. ‘No. Why did you build this?’
The dwarf frowned. ‘You were dying.’ He answered, as if it was obvious. ‘You needed sunlight.’
Well, Hearth couldn’t argue with that logic, he chose to drop the subject, at least for now. He climbed out of the tanning bed. He couldn’t even believe how well it had worked-- Hearth felt better than he had in years, though it was barely only about the bed. He felt like a weight had been lifted off his shoulders-- in a way, that was true.
‘Thank you.’ He signed.
Blitzen smiled in response. ‘Anytime. I made breakfast. Hungry?’
Hearth wanted to say no. Blitzen had already done too much for him as it was, he didn’t want to push it. What he should do was be on his way. He couldn’t stay in the dwarf world for long anyway, the sooner he was gone, the better for everyone. But then his stomach chose that moment to growl, and only then Hearth realized how hungry he actually was.
Well, he doubted he could get very far on an empty stomach, especially in Nidavellir. So he accepted the food.
They didn’t talk much while they ate-- admittedly, Hearth didn’t feel much like talking, so he made a point of keeping his hands busy and avoided eye contact.
Eventually, Blitzen did catch his eye for more than a second, so the dwarf took the opportunity.
‘Why did you run?’ He signed. ‘Is Alfheim that bad?’
Hearth sighed. Maybe he did owe Blitzen an explanation, even if he still kept parts of it to himself. ‘For me. I don’t fit in very well.’ He explained before pointing to his ears to underline what he meant.
Blitzen nodded. He didn’t seem surprised. ‘So where are you going?’
Hearth hadn’t actually given that much thought. His plan had been mostly go as far from Alfheim as possible, try not to die while at it, maybe learn some rune magic in the process. Where he’d be going was never something that he was too concerned about. Leaving his home had been his biggest worry for months, and he was still having a hard time believing he actually did it.
‘I don’t know.’ He admitted. ‘Didn’t think I’d get this far.’
‘You’re welcome to stick around here for a while, if you want.’ Blitzen offered.
Hearth took a second to make sure he hadn’t misinterpreted, or that the dwarf had made a mistake while trying to communicate in sign language. Maybe he actually meant Well, you can’t stay here, so leave as soon as possible . That would make a lot more sense.
‘Can’t. You’ve already done more than enough for me, I can never repay you. I can’t ask you for anything else.’ He replied.
‘You’re not asking, I’m offering. And who said anything about repaying me? I just want to help.’ Blitzen signed. ‘But since you’re asking, I wouldn’t mind some help with the rent if you decide to stay for long.’
Hearth frowned. That was never how it worked for him-- or perhaps he just wasn’t used to people trying to be nice . Now, that was a disturbing thought.
Hearth pursed his lips. ‘Are you sure?’ He asked. ‘I don’t want to bother you.’
‘You won’t.’ Blitzen assured him. ‘Either way, up to you.’
Hearth considered it-- he had nowhere else to go anyway, and he doubted anywhere would be quite as bad as he had it at home. Maybe it would be worth a shot.
‘Alright.’ He agreed. He was determined to leave the second he found some other place to go, though. ‘I promise it won’t be long. Only until I figured something out.’
Blitzen smiled. ‘Don’t worry about it. Take as long as you need.’ He signed. ‘But, since you’re staying, we need to do something about your clothes. I can’t be caught with someone dressed like that. It would ruin my reputation.’
Hearth looked down at his clothes in confusion. He hadn’t given much thought on what to wear when he left-- he just went with what he’d usually wear; a black leather jacket and motorcycle pants. He didn’t see anything wrong with it.
Blitzen noticed his confusion. ‘Black clothes, the platinum-blond hair. Too monochromatic. you need something extra. Like a splash of color.’
Before Hearth could reply, the dwarf ran off to his room. When he came back he had a red and white striped scarf in his hands-- surely he meant it when he said a splash of color . Blitzen directed him to a mirror and handed Hearth the scarf.
He put in on, and he had to admit, it didn’t look as bad as Hearth would have thought. He actually liked it.
‘Makes a bold statement, don’t you think?’ Blitzen signed.
‘I like it.’ Hearth smiled. He couldn’t even remember the last time he had done that.
Maybe his life was on the right track after all.