HTTYD: You Don't Know the Meaning of "Nice"? (Hiccstrid)

Chapter 18

3rd P.O.V.

"Tell me about your parents," Hiccup says, making Astrid look at him in confusion. "Yes, it's one of the questions you have to answer honestly," he adds before she can ask.

"Um...W-well, my mom's living with me, my dad's in Outcast City," she tells him.

"What about their jobs?" he asks and Astrid stiffens like concrete.

"Please, don't make me-" she breaks off as Hiccup shows her his phone, once again holding Principals contact. He uses his other hand to wave her to continue. She then mutters something under her breath. 

"What was that?" Hiccup asks, turning his ear toward her.

"Um...W-Ones a druggie, the other's a drunk," she tells him reluctantly. Hiccup just looks at her; doesn't nod, blink, or let his mouth gape open in shock. His eyes were blank, dark and deep...intimidating.

"Why are you wearing the beanie again?" he asks. Astrid grabs her hat in a rough fist before throwing it at Hiccup's feet. His expression doesn't change.

"I may or may not have gotten them shot," she tell him quietly.

"Is that why you were late?" he questions.

She nods slowly.

"Why did you stay in the Starbucks Cafe on the night of the tornado?" he asks.

"I wanted to get my homework done, and was hoping it would take me all night to do so,"  she tells him.

"Who shot your ears?" Hiccup asks.

"My first one was from my dad. The other was done by my mom," she says.

"Why don't you tell people about this stuff?"

"Because I wanna deal with it the way I deal with it. If I tell others, they'll get the police involved and then I'll have to answer questions, I'll have to most likely go to court, I'll have to face threats from my parents and I might even get arrested for who my father is," she tells him, trying her hardest not to snap.

"Who's your father?" Astrid pauses in misery, not wanting to tell anyone, from who she was spawned. Hiccup holds his phone up again.

"Harry...Hofferson," she muscles the last name out as if it's a dagger, scoring her throat and protruding from her esophagus. The name that wasn't hers by blood. The name that brought such bad memories. The name that made her scared for her life. It was the name that she had hoped she'd never have to say again. It was the name that she'd seen on thousands of wanted posters.

"So that's your real name. Hofferson," Hiccup says slowly, leaning his arms on the table. Astrid had to bite her lip to keep herself from crying. 

"Legally, yes," Astrid says, her voice suddenly confident.

"What does that mean?" he asks.

"I have no knowledge of my real name. From what I've been told, neither my current first, and last, names are what I was given at my birth," she tells him and he nods in understanding.

"Ah, you're adopted. Why did you paint the lockers at school?"

"I was stressed," she tells him.

"So being wanted for vandalism is relaxing for you?"

"The thrill of the chase calms me, believe it or not," she was now gripping her arms in white knuckles, trying to release something.

"Do you need money for your rent?"

"I'm already in dept, if you're aiming to give me some, I'm not go-" she gets cut off as Hiccups hand snaps over her mouth.

"Remember how I said you had to do whatever I say?" he asks, not meaning for his voice to sound as threatening as it did. Astrid nods her head, his hand preventing her from answering verbally. "I'm going to take my hand back. You're going to tell me how much you're in dept, and how much you need for rent. No sugar coating it. And no bending the truth," he orders. He takes his hand away and Astrid pauses, finishing the math and trying to find a loop hole.

"Hang on, let me think," she says as he keeps his phone out. Finding no way around reality, she sighs. "I'm in dept by $75, and I need 400 for my next rent," she tells him reluctantly. 

"I believe last I asked, you had 600. What happened to it?" he asks.

"My mom happened to it. She spent it in a bar," she says.

H: "Whens your next rent due, when do you get paid?"

A: "It's due tomorrow, I get paid in two weeks."

H: "Why don't you ask someone for help? Like with your ear?"

A: "I can't afford it."

H: "Explain."

A: "If one asks for help, it is a sign of weakness. When one asks for help, one must always pay back the person that helped them. Those are the rules I've lived by my whole life, and they have served me well."

H: "Not very if you're in debt and struggling to pay your rent."

A: "Enough with the rent, please."

H: "Fine, how bout some easier questions."

A: "No more questions at all!"

"I'm afraid that's not how this is gonna work." Hiccup says before the waiter comes to take their orders. Slight anger sparks in his gut as she orders nothing but a salad. "Astrid," he says warningly.

"I'm not that hungry," she says, not changing what she had said.

H: "So, did you find out where that address would lead you?"

A: "No."

H: "Why not?"

A: "I haven't followed it."

H: "Any specific reason?"

A: "I don't have time."

H: "Because of your jobs?"

A: "*slightly snappy* My jobs are no body's business but my own."

H: "Do I need to make a call...?"

A: "I have answered your questions thus far.  Besides, if you go back on your word of 'you won't call Principal if I do as you say', then you will just prove that I am right. That humans are untrustworthy."

H: "You're a human too, how does that make any sense?"

A: "I never said I was worthy of trust. I wouldn't trust myself with a toothpick."

H: "Is there a reason why?"

A: "I'd rather not share."

Hiccup holds up his phone, making Astrid's brain almost shut down. She then rests her elbow on the table top and pinches the bridge of her nose. "Hiccup, I really don't want to talk about this stuff right now so please don't make me," she begs and Hiccup sees how unnerved she is.

"Okay, fine," he says in defeat.

Astrid's P.O.V.

My head was ordering my lips to move, my heart was telling my mind to shut up, my veins were trying to get my heart to stop producing blood, my eyes were fighting back against tears...the questions he was asking, I've never answered truthfully. It was always my word against theirs, and they never dug for the truth. Hiccup would. And the truth hurt...