Short but sweet prompt including post it notes.
If you don't know what post-its are... Google it.
-HTTYD-
They've always done it. As long as either can remember. They were probably keeping the entire Post-It note business afloat.
Hiccup kept every one. Astrid did too.
It probably started in a practical manner, with something they shouldn't forget. If they looked through the aging piles they might find out, but that was years ago now.
Hiccup left them in Astrid's lunches for work, always drawing an axe and a little heart in the corners. Astrid stuck them to his bedside table if she had to leave for work on his lie-in days.
They had left them as little love tokens before they lived together too; some just simple "see you soon" messages left inside cupboards as a sweet surprise. Some left in less obvious places with not so sweet and not-for-public surprises.
Astrid had even once stuck one to Hiccup's face with the words "I'm pretty" written on it. Hiccup retaliated by sticking one to Astrid's pyjama top saying "I'm a pain in the butt" while she slept. That had initiated a war... a war that only ended when it became clear Hiccup's skin reacted to the adhesive and they stopped before scars were formed.
"It's only fun if you get a scar out of it" didn't apply to post-its, Astrid agreed.
As they got older, they became more practical again, little notes about the kids school plays and who needed a haircut stuck to the calendar. Hiccup never failed to doodle on the corners though, and they never failed to make Astrid smile.
Arguments and tense silences almost always ended when one left the other an "I'm sorry" note, or if Hiccup was really in the doghouse, an "I love you" where the kids would see and promises of Astrid's predilections satisfied where they wouldn't.
There would be "your mom called" stuck to the phone, "take the bins out" on the kitchen side above said rubbish bin.
Astrid once even stuck "Euston, we have a problem" to their kids fishtank when something in the filter system broke and the fish didn't make it. She replaced them with plastic fish and it took their son Erik two months to notice. Their older daughter Alex didn't notice until Astrid replaced it with a crowd of toy dinosaurs.
Hiccup did the same thing every anniversary - post-it puzzles that led to gifts and surprises, one memorable time being when he proposed entirely through a rainbow assortment of sticky bits of paper.
She said yes, so it couldn't have been too bad an idea.
By the time their kids had left home, post it notes became essential as memories began to wane, but neither forgot to collect every single one. They started reading things like "glasses on the bedside" because Hiccup always took them to read in bed and forgot them when he got up the next day. Astrid found no less than six aimed at her saying "keys where you left them" because she was always losing them despite their designated hook.
When Astrid had to take medication as her health started to fail, Hiccup left "take your meds" in case she forgot, and when Hiccup's sight worsened Astrid wrote in bigger letters and thicker pens to help.
There were no post-it notes in hospital when Hiccup held her hand as Astrid took her final breaths, returning to a home that felt empty and cold without her light to fill it. Their adult children fussed around him, but he just wanted to sleep. As he laid in the bed they had shared for decades, Hiccup's eyes squinted and made out one last sticky note on the edge of his bedside.
He had to peel it off with shaking hands, holding it to his face and even with his glasses it took a few minutes to realise what he was reading. He smiled despite the tears threatening to blur his already fading vision.
"Meet you on the other side babe."
-HTTYD-
I'm still on hiatus but I knew I could write this prompt in no time and I also kinda needed to see if I could write something.
I mean it sucks but I wrote something.