Hiccstrid Modern One Shots

It Should Be Me

This is a repost/re-write of an old one-shot.

Hiccup and Astrid have been friends for years, but now that Astrid's dating Eret, everything seems to have changed. All Hiccup can do is look on as another man dates the love of his life, always wishing he could be in their place. 

Ever since Astrid had started dating Eret, things had been... different. There was no other word for it. Hiccup felt like nothing was the same anymore. All their usual vague flirting attempts and loving hangouts at random hours of the day, as well as spontaneous sleepovers where they'd stay up talking until the early hours of the morning, all of it was gone. Hiccup felt more lonely than ever now that Astrid was dating someone that wasn't him.

Was he jealous? Obviously, he was. Hiccup wasn't about to deny that. But could he do anything about it? No, of course not.

It had been a week since Astrid had told him about her new boyfriend, and Hiccup had been mindlessly counting the days. At first, it was because he was waiting for her to come back to him, to realise her big mistake and return to Hiccup's side, where he believed she was meant to be. However, as the days wore on and the days reached double digits, Hiccup realised that his fantasy would remain as that: a fantasy. He had to stop dreaming that Astrid would return to him, that she would stop pretending to love someone else and come to his side instead.

Astrid wasn't his property. He didn't own her feelings, and he certainly had no say on who she was meant to be with. This was the mantra that Hiccup would tell himself each day. Astrid had made her choice, and sadly, it wasn't him.

"Hey, Hiccup!" Astrid greeted Hiccup as she came to sit down beside him at the cafeteria, where Hiccup had been lost in his mindless bubble of despair and heartbreak. His internal monologue had been interrupted by her voice, and he instantly forgot what he had been talking about.

All attention was on her.

"Hey, Astrid, how are things with you?" He asked casually, as though he wasn't burning up on the inside for even attempting to ask such a question. Astrid just smiled and rolled her eyes, amused by something that she remembered from the other day.

"Oh, I'm fine. I went out on a date with Eret the other day, did I tell you?" Hiccup felt his heart plummet to the bottom of his stomach, but his smile didn't fall. Instead, he braved a smile and shook his head to allow Astrid to continue. "Oh, well, it was hilarious." She began laughing before she had even started her story.

This was the usual thing; Hiccup had to sit and listen to Astrid's story about another funny thing that Eret did whilst out on their dates. Hiccup hated every second of it, but he endured. He had to, it was Astrid. Although the stories about their dates would be dull, and often rather unamusing, they made Astrid happy and – for Hiccup – that was enough. Hiccup would never stop and tell her that he didn't want to listen, that he hated listening to her stories about Eret and that literally any other story would keep him more engaged than that, but he wouldn't. Astrid wanted to talk about her boyfriend, and who was Hiccup to stop her.

It wasn't as if they had ever dated and he could say anything about it.

"It was hilarious. I've never seen Eret more embarrassed than that. He was completely drenched in the stuff, and I couldn't stop laughing for, like, 10 minutes straight." Astrid was still giggling even now, as though the event was still unfolding before her.

However, when she noticed that Hiccup wasn't laughing along with her, she turned to see his dull expression and vacant eyes. Waving a hand in front of his face, she saw no recollection of her existence beside him, nor that she had been talking to him for the past few minutes.

It was strange that Hiccup wouldn't be paying attention to her. Astrid always knew Hiccup to be someone who would have your undivided attention, he would be the one who would listen to every word that fell from your mouth, even if you didn't want those words to be heard, Astrid always admired him for that. However, he seemed more distracted than usual as he sat with her in the cafeteria, avoiding her eye and every word that spilt from her mouth as though he dreaded to hear the next. Astrid didn't like it at all. Reaching over the table to him, she slapped his arm and brought his attention back to her as he met her eyes instantly.