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“Hiccup Haddock, why is your truck at at your house?” Astrid demanded.
“Coz it’s not.”
“Where is it? Where are you?” Astrid began to jog home from the road Hiccup lived on.
Hiccup was silent.
“Hiccup, tell me where you are or I swear to every god I can find in that stupid sky I will-”
“I’m running away.” Hiccup said abruptly.
Astrid stopped running. “You’re running away?”
Hiccup sighed and Astrid was sure he would be running a hand across his face as he tried to work out what words he wanted. “That makes it sound so childish.”
“Well are you? Are you being childish and running away on a whim?”
“I’m leaving home.” Hiccup said decisively.
“Why? Why are you leaving home? Where are you going? What are you going to do?” Astrid began running again.
“I’m running away.” Hiccup sighed. “Leaving home would have to be a pre-mediated decision. This is not. This is rash and reckless and mad coz I’m full of emotion and-”
“Where are you?” Astrid demanded. “I’m coming to find you.”
“I;m at the gas station on the road out to the hills.” Hiccup said quietly. “Parked round the back.”
“Are you going anywhere anytime fast?” Astrid asked.
“No.”
“I’ll be there in ten minutes.” Astrid put her phone in her pocket and ran in the last of the afternoon light before the sky turned grey and blue and purple before exploding and splattering into black and stars. Her feet smacked against the pavement again and again and again; she panted past the last row of houses before land turned to grass and moss, stumbled on a pothole by the side of the road as she jumped out of the way of a passing car and felt her heart hammering in her chest from more than just exertion as she caught sight of the roof of the petrol station; grey plastic and bright lights sticking out against a backdrop of green and grey hills spiraling their way up into mountains.
She slowed her pace as old tarmac turned to new and she looked across the station for Hiccup’s truck. The tailgate was sticking out from behind the main building; where you went for cash and air and water. She jogged past the pumps and the bags of firewood for sale, then turned the corner and saw Hiccup’s truck.
“Oi!”
Hiccup turned his head when he heard her shout and opened the door of the truck.
“How long id I take?” Astrid asked, panting and putting her hands on her hips. “Hey Toothless.”
Toothless, Hiccup’s enormous black Newfoundland, jumped onto Hiccup’s lap from the passenger seat and wagged his tail at her.
“Toothless, get off. You’re too heavy.” Hiccup tried in vain to get Toothless of his lap while Astrid walked around to the other side of the truck and got in.
Once she was sat down, Toothless did a 360 on Hiccup and the gear stick so that he could lick Astrid’s face in greeting. Astrid stroked his head and looked over her shoulder to the back of the truck, which was full of bags and blankets and a couple of boxes tucked into the footwell. “So why are you running away?” Astrid asked flatly. She gave Hiccup her best ‘tell-me-or-else’ look as Toothless lay down, his head over her lap and his back legs on Hiccup’s.
Hiccup pursed his lips slightly and rested his elbow on the windowsill and his face on is hand. He stared to of the windscreen. “I had an argument with my dad.”
“You have arguments with your dad all the time.” Astrid pointed out. “How is this one so different to tall the hundreds of others that you put all your worldly possessions bar your anvil into your truck and drive out here?”
“I can’t stand it here.” Hiccup said suddenly. He scowled slightly.
Astrid blanched. “You love berk more than anywhere else on the planet.”
“I know!” Hiccup slammed his hand on the dashboard, making Toothless jump. “Sorry, boy.”
“If you can’t stand it here, why haven’t you left before?
Hiccup hung his head and started picking at the stitching on the chair. “This is my home. And l love everything about it except my dad and-”
“Every time you go anywhere all you can think of is him?”
Hiccup nodded. “I want to see the world but I don’t want to go to it. I want to come back here. But I need to go. I need to go where he isn’t an extra cloud hanging over my head.”
Astrid took another look at Hiccup’s bags. “Are you really going to leave now?”
“Yeah.”
“Okay.”
Hiccup looked at Astrid, puzzled. “I thought-” he wined. “Can we have this conversation in the back? My leg’s…”
Astrid nodded. “Toothless, off.”
She put Hiccup’s things on the passenger seat and piled them up in a corner of the back s there was space for them to lie in the back, with Hiccup stretching his leg out. Toothless curled up on the passenger seat and went to sleep.
“I thought you’d try and persuade me to stay.” Hiccup said softly, reaching out for Astrid’s hand.
“Why would I try and persuade you to stay?” Astrid asked incredulously. “There;s no reason for you to stay here/”
“What?”
Astrid shuffled around from her sitting position with Hiccup’s back on her shoulder so she was balancing on the sear and a rucksack and could look Hiccup in the eye. “I’m coming with you.” she said like it was the most obvious thing in the world.
“What?”
“I figured that I was the only reason for you to say here because I’m the only bit you can’t take with you if you want to And you’re my only real reason for staying here.” Astrid kissed his forehead. “Did you really think I’d let you go without me?”
Hiccup pulled her into a hug with far too many elbows and uncomfortable angles. “You sure?”
“Course I’m sure.”