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

Chapter 34

Hiccup's P.O.V.

"So, who's up for dinner tonight?" I suggest and Astrid's friends murmur in agreement.

"Where?" Tony asks. We had made introductions after I came downstairs. I suggest the place I've taken Astrid and they exchange glances.

"Uh...okay," Criss says, as if she had no idea what I just said.

"So, Derek, what do you like about Astrid?" Marcy asks, soudning as if she couldn't believe anyone liked her friend.

"Well, what don't I like about her. Her hair is softer than silk, her smile is to die for, and her past...it intrigues me. Do you guys know anything about her past?" I ask.

"Heck no. She's too ashamed of it to tell even her closest friends. Guess we aren't that close," Joe says.

"Ha, yeah. Just one of the perks of being her friend. She doesn't think you care about her problems so she doesn't bother you with them," Roy says, laughter in his voice. I looked at the group in slight shock. What kind of people were they? How did she get friends like this. Suddenly, I felt the worst feeling in the pit of my stomach. Wondering why it was there, I looked around.

"Do you guys...feel anything?" he asked after a pause. The group of friends looked confused as they shook their heads. Then, the feeling worsened. I had heard about this happening in books and movies, but didn't think it would happen to me. And she had a thing for weapons. "I'll be right back," I said, walking up the stairs as the feeling became pain and the pain turned into dread. I went to Astrid's door and knocked. "Astrid?" I called, "Can I come in?"

"Sure," her voice said softly, almost inaudible through the roaring in my ears. I opened the door and walked in to find her on her bed, her back to me, leaning forward as she propped herself up on her knees.

"You okay?" I asked, walking toward her.

"Yeah," she said nonchalantly. When I got closer, I saw that she had a knife in her hand, a chunk of wood in the other. The wood was carved into a beautiful, well-detailed bear.

"Whatcha got there?" I asked as I sat next to her.

"It's a hobby I picked up. I only do it when...well, when I get close to..." she trailed off before sighing. I was shocked. I had never known she'd gotten close to it before.

"Well, I'm learning something new about you everyday huh? Like the fact that your friends don't care about you," I say and she pauses, in the middle of shaving a paw down to size.

"We're both learning," she said before I noticed red on her thumb.

"Is that blood?" I asked worriedly.

"The knife slipped, it's a paper-cut," she said, shoving the cut in her mouth to lick the blood away. I went to her bathroom and found a band-aid before wrapping it around her thumb. "Thanks," she said, not meeting my gaze.

"So do they really make you wanna..." I trailed off and she nodded with a sigh, swinging her legs onto the bed as she laid back and examined her bear, Stormfly curling at her side as Toothless rubbed against me.

"Yep. They're one of the reasons I am the way I am now. To tell you the truth, I have done it before. It was a way of controlling the pain I felt on the outside and inside. Them and the fact that my dad was always in the shadows, would just build up inside me and I wouldn't be able to release it in a safe way before I...it just felt like the blood was the anger and fear, exiting my veins. It was calming, some how. I started to carve bears when I felt like it and imagined them mauling all the people who use me for their personal gain. My dad used to say bears were my spirit animal, my guardian. I never really agreed with him, but I had always fancied the mammals. I haven't cut or carved since I moved to Berk. I'm surprised I'm still this skilled. We should keep the wood pile well-stocked for the next week or so," she said before letting the bear fall from her hand, lading next to her leg. I grabbed it and looked at it. The wood was white, making it look like a polar bear.

"Have you ever polished them?" I asked.

"Yeah. Sold them to get food and help my dad out."

"Can you make it through dinner tonight?" I asked.

"Yeah." I stood up and held my hand out, surprised when she took it. I pulled her to her feet and we went to the living room to see Roy and Tony wrestling on the floor.

Astrid's P.O.V.

"Okay, who did what to who?" I asked and the guys separated before scrambling to their feet. 

"Tony said you needed help, I told him you were tough and you were fine, then he attacked me," Roy said, taking me back. I looked at Tony to see him looking at me...worriedly.

"L-let's just get dinner over with, I'm kinda tired," I said,clapped my hands, and quickly walked outside, not fast enough to keep myself from hearing what Tony said next.

"Derek, is she okay?" he asked Hiccup and I felt two sets of eyes pierce my back as I got in hiccup's car.

"I don't know," I might not have heard it, but I could see his lips move. I've said those three words to myself in the mirror countless times to know what it looked like when someone was saying them. They were my words. I plugged my music in and waited for Hiccup to get here, nodding my head to Toxic. I take my earbuds out as Hiccup gets in and starts the car. "You're gonna tell me if you ever feel like cutting," he said, more of an order than a question.

"What?" I asked, very shocked and confused.

"Yeah," he said as he drove out of the driveway, "If you ever feel like cutting, even a slip of paper, you're gonna tell me."

"I haven't had those in a while," I told him.

"Well, you did tonight," he said as he pulled into the parking lot.

I'm sorry if this chapter was confusing, I wasn't sure what I was feeling when I wrote it.