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

Chapter 44

Astrid's P.O.V.

"I was just sitting there, reading, and next thing I know my alarm was going off," I explained to Crimson as I cleared a table. She'd asked me why I seemed so out of it and I told her I didn't sleep last night, she asked why, and...yeah.

"Well, might I suggest you ask for a day off? This is the workaholic thing we're trying to break," she says.

"I'm hardly a workaholic," I say with a roll of my eyes as I fill someones coffee for them.

"Astrid, I have been in this business since I was 16. I'm pretty sure I know a workaholic when I see one," she replies. I ignore her and start to refill the muffin tin until she grabbed my shoulders and made me face her. "Astrid, I want you to listen to me very closely," she said, "You've been working every day for the past two months. You didn't take breaks. You came as early as you could and stayed as late as we would allow you. You. Need. To go. Home. I forbid you to come in for the rest of the week. And if you do, I can't promise you'll keep your job, understood?" she asks and I felt my entire being sink 6 ft.

"Why do you even think I need sleep? Or a break?" I ask.

"Yesterday, instead of using orange food coloring for the creamer, you used orange juice," she says.

"Fine," I sigh and she nods before taking the muffins from me, putting them on the counter, and taking my apron.

"Why don't you call Hiccup," she says, rubbing my arms and I sigh again before pulling out my phone and doing as she said. After a few rings, he answers and immediately says that he's on his way before hanging up. 

"Wow, I call him way too much," I murmur as I clock out and sit in a booth, crossing my arms on the table. Soon, Jess puts a to-go cup next to my elbow.

"On the house," she says and I thank her before swirling the beverage in the cup. Then, a honk sounded outside and I walked out before getting in Hiccup's car and handing him the hot chocolate.

"As a thank you," I say as he looks at me in confusion. He huffs in amusement before putting the cup in the cup holder and driving us home. 

"You hungry?" he asks as he pulls into the drive way.

"Not really," I say and he looks at me after he parks.

"Really?" he says, his voice betraying that he didn't believe me.

"What?" I ask.

"You skipped breakfast and lunch, and you're not hungry?" he asks.

"I've just lost my appetite lately," I say as I get out.

"I'm starting to worry about you, Astrid," he says as he follows me to the house.

"You and Crimson both," I say as I walk in.

"Was that exasperation in your voice?" he asks in shock.

"Yup," I reply as I start for the stairs.

"Would you mind telling me why?" I spun around to face him, suddenly at the edge of sanity.

"I'm tired of everyone worrying about me! I know how to take care of myself! I've been doing it for 12 years, for crying out loud! Now, I go on a small diet, and become less tired, and suddenly everyone's getting on my back about of my health!" I shout.

"It's not a diet, it's starvation!" he counters.

"It's a shrinking of appetite! You know, no one in my past nagged me like this, why are you?!" I ask.

"Because, unlike them, I care about you!" he shouts. I froze. What kind of "care" did he mean? In the past, care's meant a lot of things for me. It's meant "need", "hate", "uninterested". I suddenly realized what was going on. It was our first day as a real couple and we were already fighting.

"I-...I need to carve," I say, my voice tight as I held back fearful tears, running up the stairs to my room. I lock the door and go to my desk, opening the drawer I keep the wood in. I pull out a small log and take my knife before sitting on my bed, Stormfly curling up at my side with her head resting on my thigh as I crossed my legs. I hastily started shaving away the wood, not even knowing what the finale product was going to be. I knew this would happen. I just knew it. It always happens...

One hour later

I stared at the carving in absolute shock. This was the first time I was actually seeing it. While I was shaving, I just saw a chunk of wood, no shape, no body...just an every day piece of wood. And now I see something I never expected...correction: someone. Whatever. It's still keep-able. Wait, no! Shut up, Astrid, what are you thinking?! He'll get out of your life eventually, don't keep it! Throw it in the fire! I ignored myself and went to my walk-in closet before pulling back a curtain of shirts to show my polishing station. I might've used to sell my work, but I never destroy it. I grab the carving in a pair of tongs and put it into the polish solution before letting it sit there for a minute. I then poke around until I find it and pull it out before setting it on a shelf to dry. I turned on a fan and set it in front of the shelf to dry it quicker before hearing a knock on my bedroom door.

"A-Astrid? C-can I come in?" Hiccup's voice calls. I paused before pulling my shirts back into position, closing the door, and unlocking the bedroom door. I swear I have too many doors in this room.

"Yup," I called as I moved to my bed to clean up the shavings. Hiccup slowly opened my door and looked around, by my guess, looking for anything that might hint that I hurt myself.

"You okay?" he asks as he walks in, hands in pockets.

"I told you," I chuckle solemnly.

"Told me what?"

"We wouldn't last a week. We've only been public for a day and we had our first fight," I tell him as I swiped the shavings from my bed, into a trash can.

"Astrid. Look at me," he ordered and I paused before turning to face him. He was standing about two feet away and his eyes were looking at me with the same expression as when I wake up under his arm.  He then slowly folded me in his arms in a firm yet gentle embrace. "I'm sorry-" I pull away abruptly and made him pause.

"Would you stop apologizing?! It's my fault, just say it's my fault, blame me, hit me already!" At my words, his eyes flashed with anger while his face stayed appalled. I pointed at his gaze. "See? I can tell you want to hit me. Do it. Come on, your best shot; hit me. And if you don't think it's your best shot, you can try again until you get it right. Just do it. Do it already!" His gaze slowly softened as I spoke. He rose his hand and gave me the most gentle slap over the head you can imagine. "What was that?!" I cried.

"Me when I don't want to hurt you," he replies.

"You do want to hurt me! I can see it! Take your anger out on me, for Thor's sake! Give up on the bet! Whatever it is, you won't get me to do it! Doesn't that make you angry?!"

"You wanna know what makes me angry? The thought of someone treating you so terribly that it made you like this," he says. I fell back on my bed and buried my face in my hands.

"Hiccup, please,--just--do something," I plead. Suddenly, I felt arms snake around me and Hiccup rests his chin in the crook of my neck as he layed next to me, rolling me so I'm on my side. "What are you doing?" I asked as he ran his hand through my hair.

"You told me to do something. Something, is what I'm doing," he says before pecking my neck with his lips. I paused before wrapping my arms around his neck and burying myself in his chest.