Chapter 21: Things Can Get Better

A/N: IM SO SORRY THIS TOOK SO LONG I'LL EXPLAIN AT THE END OF THE CHAPTER ENJOY

Astrid shut the door and took a deep breath, locking it behind her. She knew there was nothing to worry about. If there was, Valka would have said something. Everything is fine, everything is fi-

A crash of thunder cut off her thoughts and she flinched away from the door, walking back into the kitchen. Her breathing picked up and she realized that her hands were shaking slightly, she took a deep breath but it came out quick and shaky. Calm down calm down calm down-

The house seemed to shake as a gust of wind blew down the street and knocked over one of the chairs on the front porch with a loud crash. Astrid squeaked and jumped back from the door. She backed herself up against the kitchen counter and gripped it with both hands. A low rumble of thunder caused her to grip the counter until her knuckles turned white as she tried to steady her shaking legs.

She knew nothing bad would happen, Valka would have known, she would have told them if there was even a possibility of a major storm, she would have said anything at all. But, Valka had said nothing. So why was she freaking out-

Astrid's thoughts were cut short when a deep thump from upstairs drew her attention to the stairs. For a moment she figured something could have been knocked over, but no one was in the house but her and Hiccup; who couldn't even get up at the moment, let alone knock over something heavy enough to cause that noise.

Slowly and carefully, Astrid made her way up the stairs to Hiccup's room at the end of the hall, door ajar. She tried to settle her nerves before pushing the door open to find that the bed her and Hiccup had just been sitting on was now empty. His crutches sat next to his bedside table, untouched. Before Astrid even called out to see where he had gone, a shuffle was heard from beyond the now opened closet doors. When she had left the room, she was certain the doors had been shut.

Walking over to the closet half turned into jogging for not even a second before she reached the door. Peeking around it, she saw Hiccup crouched in the corner, breathing fairly quickly, ears covered and forest eyes wide staring back at her. Once his sight landed on her own, he untensed, moving his hands down to the base of his neck.

"It's, um… quieter in here." he mumbled, scratching his neck.

Astrid stood still in her place. She now understood that this storm was making him just as anxious as she felt. Why wouldn't it? They had both been trapped by that storm and traumatized by their experience under the old paper mill. Hiccup had drowned, lost his left leg and she just had to sit there and watch it happen. They weren't going to be over it right away. Not for a long while.

Eventually, they'd be able to sleep through the rumbles of thunder, watch the forks of lightning take shape in the dark sky and listen to the wind howl through the trees without the slightest flinch.

But this was the first time they were being exposed to those elements since the paper mill and the EF5 and it was terrifying.

A small, low rumble of thunder and the slight pick-up in the patter of rain on the windows caused both teens to tense. Astrid moved first, towards the closet doors and began to pull them closed.

"What are you doing?" Hiccup asked, curiously.

Leaving one door partially open, Astrid leaned out of the closet to reach a blanket that had partially fallen off the bed (most likely from Hiccups attempts at getting to the closet in a hurry) before tucking back into the closet and closing the door almost completely behind her.

"Joining you." she said, carefully leaning down to get under some of the shirts and sweaters hanging on the rack. Once she was on her hands and knees, she looked up at Hiccup in the near pitch-black pulling the blanket closer. "Move over."

Hiccup shifted himself closer to the corner to allow more space next to him, not much, but enough that Astrid could sit horizontal to him with her legs bent over his lap. When Astrid lowered herself fully on the floor, she accidentally sat on Hiccups fingers that he had put down to move him into the corner.

He yelped loudly, yanking his hand up and waving it in the air before inspecting his fingers as Astrid muttered a quiet 'sorry' before fully settling herself across his lap.

"Geeze," he hissed, holding his hand close to his chest. "You're heavy."

He realized his mistake too late. Astrid's signature glare was already staring back at him and before he could attempt to defend himself. her fist met his arm.

"Ow! Okay, I didn't mean it like that- I meant- I mean… you're boney and…" The fist was being raised yet again, a scowl growing as she prepared for another punch. "Wait-! Don't, I- I.. um.. Just-just forget I said anything! Yeah, just forget I said anything! Great idea!" Hiccups arms were in front of him, attempting to shield himself as he nervously chuckled awaiting a punch.

Astrid nearly laughed at the sight in front of her. "Fine." she said, settling back down and spreading the blanket over top of them both.

A loud rumble of thunder from the storm outside, though muffled more by the closet walls and doors, caused the two of them to tense slightly. They looked at each other as best they could in the dark, their eyes mostly adjusted at that point, before Astrid reached out and took his hand in hers, smiling as he squeezed it in response.

"You're right." she said. "It is quieter in here." She took a deep breath to calm the small tingle of anxiety in her chest and leaned her head forward to rest on Hiccups shoulder.

Hiccup shifted his head away from her slightly, the frizz from her hair tickling his chin, before resting his cheek on top of her head. "Yeah." he breathed, simply enjoying her company. After a moment, he turned his head slightly in an attempt to look at her. "How are you feeling?" he asked.

Astrid chuckled. "I feel like I should be asking you that." she joked.

"I feel like everyone's always asking me that."

"Well, how are you feeling?"

Sighing, he squeezed her hand a little tighter, running his thumb over her knuckles. "Honestly, I'm a little on edge." he replied. "But otherwise I think I'm alright."

Astrid lifted her head and looked up at Hiccup, seeing the small smile on his face. She returned it. "Good." she replied, putting her head back down and placer her unoccupied hand on his arm.

Hiccup scoffed. "You still haven't answered my question." he stated, waiting for her reply. He only received a hum from the blonde before he continued. "I feel like people aren't asking how you are enough. They usually only ask me. But I kind of get it. I drowned, I lost a leg and yeah, I may be feeling a bunch of survivors guilt because I somehow made it out of all that and others didn't but…" he paused to take a deep breath, getting slightly carried away.

"But I feel like people overlook the fact that you went through a lot of stuff with that with me. You… you had to look after me when we were stuck down there, you watched me drown, which I can barely remember clearly, after nearly drowning yourself a-and that has to be traumatic to some degree. My point is… I feel like you aren't asked how you are enough and I think you deserve to. Be asked that is."

Looking over at Astrid, Hiccup was surprised to see she was already looking up at him with a slightly shocked expression. For a moment, Hiccup thought he had maybe said the wrong thing until Astrid gave him a small smile.

"Well then ask me." she said cheekily, still smiling up at him.

Hiccup returned her smile softly, shifting to look at her better with their hands still holding each other. "Well then, how is the one and only Astrid Hofferson feeling?" he questioned dramatically.

Astrid shrugged her shoulders and spitting out a quick "meh" before snickering at Hiccup's shocked, confused expression. "But seriously. Besides being a little anxious, I'm fine." she responded honestly.

At this point, multiple rumbles of thunder and sounded outside as the storm began to reach its end but neither teens noticed. Content in each others company they managed to almost completely forget about the storm outside. If they could make it through this, they could make it through the next one. They could get better.

Things could get better from here.

…

When Tommy, Valka and Stoick returned home from grocery shopping, the storm had reduced to a light shower. The sun was starting to peek through the clouds and the rain reduced to light spitting. They had missed the larger part of the storm since they were inside the grocery store at the time, so they managed to get away with only slightly wet shoes from puddles in the parking lot.

When the trio entered through the front door, Stoick loudly announced that they had returned to the two teens who were presumably upstairs. After a moment of silence, Valka called out to them, yet again receiving no response.

"Tommy," she said, placing the grocery bags she had been carrying on the counter and moving to take the ones from Tommy's hands. "Could you run upstairs and check on them? They're probably sleeping but they need to eat."

After Valka had taken the bags from his hands, the dark-haired boy nodded and made his way towards the stairs. "Yeah, I'll go wake them up."

Tommy quickly climbed the stairs making his way to Hiccups room at the end of the hall, fully preparing to scare the two presumably sleeping teens. Quieting his steps as he approached the door, which sat slightly ajar but still hid the bed from view, he threw the door fully open.

"Get up, lovebirds!" he yelled in a joking tone before looking at the room in confusion.

The bed was empty. The soft blanket that was always on the bed was missing, the comforter half on the floor as though it had been thrown aside in a hurry yet Hiccups crutches remained propped in their usual spot. Tommy knew Astrid could have easily carried Hiccup anywhere they were trying to go without an issue, but where did they go?

Tommy leaned out the door, looking down the hallway towards the bathroom. The door was open and the lights were off. Where did they go? He thought, green eyes scanning the room again. His eyes landed on the closet and he sighed, wondering why he didn't think to check there first.

He threw the doors open and, lo and behold, there were the two missing teens. In the corner of the closet. Making out.

Astrid and Hiccup had broken apart and were now staring at Tommy like they'd been children caught stealing cookies. For a minute, no one moved. They all simply stared at each other until Tommy threw the closet doors from his hands and screamed: "I need eye-bleach!"

The two teens in the closet snickered before Astrid pushed the door back open and held her hands out to help Hiccup out of the closet and onto his right leg. Hiccup threw his left arm over her shoulder and she held his waist, keeping him upright. They nearly laughed again as they saw Tommy face-down on the bed, groaning.

"Oh, come on! You're such a baby." Astrid joked, walking Hiccup over to the bed and helped him sit next to his brother before joining him.

Tommy groaned again before yelling "You guys are fucking disgusting." into the sheets.

Hiccup laughed out loud before smacking his over-dramatic sibling on the back. "Says the guy who's always first to bring up a girls rack."

The black-haired boy remained face down on the bed, but raised a hand and pointing a finger up to the ceiling."That was one time!" he stated.

"It was definitely more than once." Astrid added, both her and Hiccup chuckling as Tommy's ears started turning pink.

"Tommy! Did you wake them up yet? We need help with the groceries!" Stoick's booming voice called from the kitchen downstairs.

Astrid looked at the two boys before standing up off the bed. Both Hiccup and Tommy looked up at her in confusion, Tommy moving to stand up until Astrid held her hand out to stop him.

'I'll go help. You guys chill here." she said, smiling before turning towards the door. She heard Hiccup about to say something and turned to face the freckled boy who still looked confused by her actions. "I've been hanging out here so often I figured I should help out a bit. Besides, I know how much Tommy hates chores."

Tommy rolled over and sat up the bed, holding his hands together as if he was praying. "You," he began, "are a Valkyrie among men."

Astrid rolled her eyes and walked out of the room, leaving the two boys alone.

"Are you coming after my girlfriend?" Hiccup jokes, shifting himself on the bed so his stump rested comfortably on the mattress. "And 'Valkyrie'? I thought I was the family nerd!"

The younger of the two chuckled, turning to face his brother on the bed. "Dude, no one in this family is nerdier than you. Not even Mom!" he replied, smiling. Looking down at where Hiccup's left leg ended, his face dropped a bit. "So…" he began, slowly. "How's the leg?"

Hiccup looked down at his stump, shrugging. "A little sensitive, but it doesn't hurt much right now." he answered honestly, looking up to meet eyes that matched his own. "Why?"

Tommy shrugged, looking away. "Just checking." he said. "I remember your leg hurt after you had the flashback a little while ago and… with the storm earlier and everything I just-"

"Tommy." Hiccup spoke clearly, hand on his brother's shoulder. "I'm fine. That's why Astrid and I were in the closet. I only got a little anxious. No flashbacks, no phantom pain." He waited until Tommy looked him in the eyes again to be sure he was listening. "Now stop being all sentimental it's weirding me out!"

The two laughed at that, Tommy shaking his head before looking back up at Hiccup. "Okay, but first," he began, confusing Hiccup until he spread his arms out to the side. "Awkward sibling hug?"

Hiccup held back a laugh before spreading his arms out as well. Replying with "Sincere sibling hug." and embracing his brother.

The hug only lasted a moment before they both lifted an arm and quoted "pat, pat" almost creepily in sync, causing them to chuckle. They remained in the hug for a moment, simply holding each other. They hadn't been as close as they had been lately so the hug was a small way of making up for lost time.

"Shit, I miss Gravity Falls."

Hiccup pulled away, holding Tommy's shoulders at arms-length. "Dude," he said, tone completely serious despite the lack of seriousness in the situation. "Moment ruined."

The teen then reached around his sibling, who had placed a hand on his chest and gasped dramatically, and grabbed his crutches before standing up and placing them under his arms. He turned back and smirked at the offended look on Tommy's face.

"Excuse me!" Tommy yelled, using an offended tone. "We were having a bonding moment! I was cradling you in my arms!"

"Nope, don't remember, didn't happen!" Hiccup supplied, humouring his brother from his position halfway to the stairs. "Now stop quoting cartoons and help me down the stairs!"

Tommy groaned in mock annoyance as he stood up of the bed. "Fine."

The older sibling sighed, shaking his head. "Why didn't you join the drama club?" he asked. "You may be decently serious eighty percent of the time but I swear the other twenty you are the most dramatic little shit on the planet."

"I like tech more than I like people."

"Mood."

A/N Wow this ending is pathetic but HEY I UPDATED AFTER 689 DAYS OF NOTHING I DESERVE AN AWARD HOLY SHIT!

SO a lot has happened since I last updated. RTTE is done, HTTYD 3 is less than 100 days away, Voltron is killing me, Trollhunters S3 KILLED ME and I am a mess of stress yEET

So I got really busy with school and stuff and I was in the UK for half of the summer in 2017 and then grade 12 happened and dance and I had NO inspiration to write even though I had ideas.

Thankfully I have an amazing friend like Jenny (httydobsessed13 on Wattpad, Insta and GO FOLLOW HER!) who stayed on my case about writing this chapter until I actually wrote a whole bunch. She helped me come up with a BUNCH of ideas as well as some of her own which are REALLY cool that I will work into the fic in some way. I might do them in the fic and make it longer or finish this fic with a chapter with them looking back on the day of the tornadoes from 10 years later and briefly mention some of the stuff and then do some one shots with all the ideas IDK WE SHALL SEE!

So life got busy, sorry for leaving for so long BUT remember that this story is still going unless I post saying it is DEAD! Hopefully I won't take too long next time but still.

Thank you guys for sticking around if you did, sorry this took so long!

Love you, Dragonites!

-TBBG