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Hiccup doesn’t show up to school.
At first, Astrid’s not worried, considering it’s fairly normal for him to take sick days. She simply shoots him a text and copies Fishlegs’ chemistry homework instead.
Then, he takes a few more sick days. As in, four more school days– and then, he doesn’t show up to their weekly movie night at the twins’ house. That’s when she knows something’s wrong.
The following day, she calls Snotlout to discuss, and, rather frustratingly, he doesn’t believe her.
“I’m telling you, something’s wrong,” Astrid says into her phone, gritting her teeth, and Snotlout sighs on the other end. “Astrid, he’s probably just grounded again. You know how his dad–”
“Yes, I know, which is why I’m telling you if he was grounded he would be showing up to school.” Astrid rolls her eyes, gesturing wildly even though he can’t see her. Snotlout is silent, and then he mutters, “Okay. If he doesn’t show up on Monday we’ll go to his house.”
“I can go over now,” Astrid says, immediately regretting it when she remembers her grandparents are visiting and if she even tries to walk out the front door she’ll be scolded by at least one person. This is a time for family, of course.
“Sure,” Snotlout says, and Astrid bites her lip. “I actually can’t. I don’t know why I said that.”
Snotlout groans, mumbles something vulgar, and then hangs up on her. Astrid swears at the phone and throws it across the room onto her bed.
On Monday, Astrid catches the bus with Heather, who seems equally concerned about Hiccup. She mentions that they were in the process of making plans to catch up when he stopped showing up, that he hasn’t been replying to her texts, and Astrid’s worry grows tenfold.
“I think there’s something seriously wrong,” she mutters to Heather as they walk the halls, and Heather’s eyes widen. “What, like– what do you think happened?”
Astrid spares a quick glance around, and then whispers, “You know he’s been suicidal before. And his family is so private with all the politics, I just– would we even know if he was–”
Heather smacks her arm. “Don’t even say that, he’s– I’m sure he’s fine. Snotlout’s his cousin, if he– if something happened, he would know, and he would have told us, right?”
“Yeah,” Astrid says slowly, “yeah. Yeah, you’re right. I’m just… I’m really worried about him, and it’s been so busy, or I would have gone to his house to check already.”
Heather squeezes her hand, and they go their separate ways.
Carpooling is, obviously, a nightmare.
“Shut up!” Snotlout yells, and Astrid groans. “Okay, I’m the only one here with an actual car, so me, Astrid, Fishface, Heather, and Tuffnut can take it, and we can stow Ruffnut away in the trunk.”
“Hey, fuck you–”
“Snotlout, you can’t even transport passengers under the age of twenty for another few months,” Fishlegs reminds him, and Snotlout swears. “Okay, then what?”
“How about we all take the bus?” Heather suggests earnestly, and Tuffnut throws an apple core at her.
“We’re all able–bodied individuals,” Astrid says. “It’s, like, a twenty–minute walk to his place. We can do that.”
Snotlout glares at her, crossing his arms. “Fine, but when I’m right and there’s absolutely nothing wrong, I’m going to kill you for making me walk that far.”
Astrid smiles sarcastically at him, and they set off.
Upon arriving at Hiccup’s house, they notice that Stoick’s car is gone, but Hiccup’s is still very much parked on the street in front.
“Fucking weird,” Astrid mumbles, and Snotlout clenches his fists. “He’s fine. He’s fine.”
Astrid elbows him and walks up the stairs, knocking on the front door perhaps a little too aggressively. Tuffnut follows, hands her a key, and she squints at him. “Why do you have a copy of Hiccup’s house key, Tuff?”
“In case of emergencies,” he says innocently, and Astrid huffs. “Do you have one for all of us?”
“Absolutely,” Tuffnut replies immediately. Astrid chooses to ignore it, turning the key in the lock and beckoning the others in.
The house is a mess, a layer of dust covering the floor, and Astrid’s stomach falls further down as she remembers that Hiccup always cleans. In fact, she can’t remember ever being here when it’s dirty, and Snotlout inhales shakily beside her. “He’s fine.”
“And what if he’s not?” Astrid says lowly, pushing past him, walking through to the living room, and up the stairs to Hiccup’s bedroom.
She knocks, gentler this time, the others crowded around her, and there’s no response. After a few seconds, she quietly opens the door to see Hiccup lying in his bed with the covers bunched up around his waist. His eyes flit upwards as they enter, and Astrid has a brief moment of panic before deciding to sit down on the very end of his bed.
“Hey,” she says after a few seconds, and he doesn’t respond. Snotlout follows suit, squeezing in next to her, and Hiccup shifts very slightly.
Fishlegs swallows loudly, and says timidly, “Hiccup? Are you… are you okay?”
Hiccup looks away, seemingly focusing his eyes on the drawer handle of his nightstand, and Astrid reaches a hand out, and then hesitates. “Hiccup, is it okay if I touch you?”
Hiccup’s eyes widen, and he manages to inch even further away from her– Astrid takes this as a no, and withdraws her hand. “Okay. That’s fine.”
Everybody is silent for a moment, and then Tuffnut whispers something in Ruffnut’s ear, and she hisses back, “Dude. He can’t speak.”
Astrid gives her a look, and says gently to Hiccup, “Are you able to speak right now?”
It’s barely perceptible, but she manages to make out a small nod, and she shifts a little closer to him. “Do you want to?”
He doesn’t say anything for a moment, and Heather opens her mouth to speak, but then–
“He left.”
Hiccup croaks the words, his voice breaking at the end. “He left me. He left. He left. He left.”
Snotlout gives Astrid a panicked look, and then says quickly, “Your dad? Hiccup, did your dad leave?”
Hiccup nods, and Snotlout says, “How long?”
Hiccup doesn’t answer, and Astrid swears under her breath. She moves closer and closer to Hiccup, not planning on touching him– but then, his hand shoots out and grabs hers, and he grips it so tightly she feels it might break. She doesn’t care. She strokes his fingers, runs her thumb along his knuckles, feels how his hand shakes.
Snotlout looks on, horrified, and Astrid glances back at him, her face equally worried.
For a while, they stay like that, Fishlegs awkwardly fidgeting in the doorway, the twins speaking in hushed tones, Heather tidying things up around the room, Astrid holding Hiccup’s hand, and Snotlout watching.
“New York,” Hiccup whispers, and everybody turns to him. “He went to New York. He didn’t leave me any food or money. I didn’t know what to do.”
Nobody knows how to respond to that, and after a moment, Snotlout chokes out, “Hiccup, come on. You– you need a shower, okay?”
Hiccup nods blankly, and Snotlout pulls him up from the bed and slowly walks him out of the room.
As soon as the door clicks shut and their footsteps disappear, Astrid grabs a copy of Fahrenheit 451 off the nightstand and throws it across the room. “Fuck!” she yells, burying her head in her hands. “I told him, I told Snotlout, I told him there was something wrong–”
“He didn’t want to believe it,” Fishlegs says quietly. “There’s been so much, Astrid, you know that–”
“We should have checked on him sooner,” Astrid whispers, feeling her body begin to shake with anger and adrenaline. “We should have known he wasn’t okay, we should have known this would happen–”
“How could we know?” Ruffnut says. “How could we possibly know, Astrid?”
Of course, there are several reasons running around in Astrid’s head, but she’s too frustrated to articulate them, and she compensates by throwing another book. The Great Gatsby, she notices as it hits the wall, and she lets out a small sob. “Why is he reading The Great Gatsby? It’s notoriously bad–”
“Astrid,” Heather says calmly, sitting down next to her and placing a hand on her shoulder, “you’re right. We should have come sooner. But we didn’t, and we can’t change that now. All we can do is make sure he’s okay, which I think should first involve figuring out where he’ll stay.”
Astrid nods. “He can’t come to mine, my grandparents…”
“I would, but my mom is already arguing with the landlord,” Fishlegs says sheepishly, and Heather tilts her head at the twins, who both shrug in unison. “He wouldn’t last a second in our house, dude,” Tuffnut mutters, shaking his head.
“Well,” Heather says briskly. “Snotlout’s dad is an asshole, so I guess that leaves me and Dagur. We have a spare room, so.”
“Okay,” Astrid sighs. “Okay, that’s good. That works. Okay. We should pack a bag, right?”
They do, and when Hiccup and Snotlout get back from the shower, Astrid hugs him tightly and kisses his forehead and rocks him back and forth and whispers I love yous in his ear as the others pack around them.
They all pile into Hiccup’s car, with absolutely no regard for the law, both of the twins sitting on the car floor. Hiccup holds the stuffed cat his mother left him, and Snotlout eyes Astrid through the rearview mirror and mouths I’m sorry, and Astrid gives him a small smile and mouths back, it’s okay.
She knows Hiccup will be okay. Even if it takes a while.
She’ll make sure of it.