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Hiccup was very new to this whole soulmate thing. It had been difficult enough waking with one less limb, but waking to find out that he and Astrid were soulbonded just added to the stress. It wasn't that he wasn't happy that Astrid was his soulmate—he was ecstatic, if he was being honest—but he was upset that his pain was now hers.
And there was a lot of pain.
He'd been unconscious for two weeks, apparently, and she'd been suffering all that time. They had feared he wouldn't wake.
But now he was awake, awake and most definitely still suffering. Healing from an amputation wasn't easy. Gobber was a huge help to him, and was over the house most of the time.
Astrid spent a lot of time with him too, and Hiccup couldn't blame her. Being apart must be difficult for her. Hiccup knew the source of his pain, but anything new was probably alarming to Astrid.
Now, they were sitting outside on Hiccup's front steps together, trying to soak up some sun. Hiccup had felt off all morning, but he hadn't wanted to say anything about it. He didn't want to ruin the flight he and Astrid had planned.
But something just didn't feel right. He was having a lot of pain in his lower abdomen, and at first he'd thought it was stomach upset, but now it was wrapping all the way around his hips to nestle itself in his lower back. That was certainly something he hadn't felt before.
Hiccup stood with Toothless' help, wanting to get going. Maybe the flight would distract him from whatever this was.
He'd barely been up for a second before he found himself doubling over with his hands on his lower abdomen, groaning.
Astrid was up in an instant, taking him by the arm.
"Hiccup! What's wrong?"
"I… Just…" Hiccup tried taking deep breaths, but it was difficult. He didn't know how long it took, but eventually the pain subsided enough for him to straighten himself out and catch his breath.
He then raised an eyebrow at Astrid, looking her up and down.
"You… don't feel it?" he questioned. She looked more tired than her usual self, but other than that seemed fine.
A look of realization crossed Astrid's features, and she slapped a palm to her forehead.
"Ugh! I'm so sorry, Hiccup! It's… I forgot to mention it. New to this whole… soulbonded thing, you know?" She was blushing a little, of all things, looking a tad embarrassed.
Hiccup didn't know how to respond. He was confused. What was she talking about?
"I'm, uh, on my moon's blood," Astrid said. She was looking at the stone steps they stood on, playing with her bangs a little. "I forgot to mention it."
Hiccup gave her a horrified look that she missed, and Toothless rumbled, tilting his head. He was getting incredibly good at following human language, be it spoken or otherwise.
"It's that bad?!" Hiccup cried incredulously. How was Astrid walking, standing, talking? How was she not curled into a fetal position in bed? How was she not showing any pain at all?
"Uh…" Astrid shifted her feet a little, still definitely feeling awkward about this. Hiccup wasn't feeling awkward. He just felt bad. "For me, at least."
"So, it's not this bad f-for everyone?"
"Apparently not." Astrid still wasn't looking at him. She blew out a long breath, then sat back down on the steps, face in her hands. "I'm sorry, Hiccup. I should have said something. I…" She pulled her hands away and looked up at him, despair written all over her face. "I wasn't ready to talk about this."
"Well, then you don't have to talk about it." Hiccup sat down beside her, found one of her hands with his. He was glad she didn't pull away. He was, admittedly, rather confused. Was she sick somehow? Was there a sickness that made moon's blood worse for some people than others?
But that wasn't his business right now. Yes, they were soulmates, and it would have to come up eventually, but Hel, they were only 15! It could wait.
"And you don't have to hide it either," Hiccup said, giving her hand a squeeze. "If you're in pain, you're in pain."
Astrid huffed a bit of a laugh, but squeezed his hand back. "Says the guy walking on his amputated leg when it's hurting more than usual."
"I, uh…" She'd definitely caught him there. He was being hypocritical. "Okay, okay. We should just, you know, not try to hide our pain from each other."
"Yeah," Astrid agreed. "It is kind of a moot point, isn't it?" She looked down at their joined hands. "Still want to go on that flight?"
Hiccup nearly choked at the next spasm he felt in his abdomen, and Astrid grimaced and winced.
"You're crazy," Hiccup gasped out. He was relieved when the spasm ended. "How about we, um, just stay on the ground today?" It was very much not like him to say that, but with the pain in his stump and the added pain of Astrid's moon's blood, flying felt like it would be impossible.
Astrid actually looked relieved that they wouldn't be doing physical activity, a thing Hiccup didn't think he'd witnessed before. "Astrid" and "rest" weren't usually words that went together.
"That's a good idea."
The both of them doubled over at another spasm. Damn, how did Astrid deal with this?!
"Yeah," she went on, voice tight with pain. "A really good idea."