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

Chapter 21

Astrid's P.O.V.

I woke up in a hospital bed, a steady beeping sounding on the edge of my hearing. "You know, I thought of a way you can pay me back for the rent," a voice says and my head snaps to my bedside to see Hiccup sitting in a chair. He was looking at me with sly eyes as he held his chin in thought with his elbow resting on the armrest. I apply pressure to my right temple as pain spreads across my brain.

"Great. What is it?" I ask.

"You have to move into my house and let me take care of you. Because you are obviously getting abused at home, and you are struggling to keep yourself off the streets. And I also know for a fact that you don't have any food," he tells me and I sigh, guessing he had moved and the address would take me to his new home.

"No. Pick something else," I order only to have him chuckle.

"Too late; I already signed you out in my name," he says and I glare at him before a nurse comes in.

"How are you doing, Astrid?" she asks.

"Stabbed by a wine bottle, thank you," I spit, sick of the hospitals already.

"Well, the doctor's sending you home today. You can come back in about two weeks for a check up and to get your stitches out," she says, ignoring my hostility. That's when I notice that I'm not in a hospital gown.

"Great, can I go now? I don't wanna miss another day of school," I say and she nods before unhooking the tubes in my arms and turning off the heart monitor. I lift my shirt to look at my side, chuckling as I see the stitches. I could vaguely remember my mom shoving the glass into my skin, the sting of the excess alcohol in my blood, and my scream of pain. Hiccup leads me to his car and I get in before leaning my head against the window. "So catch me up. What happened?" I ask as he pulls out of the parking lot.

"Well, I was coming to your place to check on you, heard you scream, and saw your mom standing over your body. I called the police and she's now in jail until her trial. I know you didn't want the police to get involved but it turns out that she's committed murder before, and they were looking for her for a while. I'm not sure yet if you'll have to go to court so...we'll have to wait on that," he tells me.

"Oh, great I'm gonna get arrested!" I groan, shrinking into the seat.

"Did you know she committed murder? Did you know you were giving a criminal refuge?" he asks.

"N-No..." I say as he parks in front of the school.

"I'll be right back," he says and gets out before running inside the building. When he disappears, my phone rings and I look at it to see an unknown number.

A: Astrid Hollerkey.

M: Hi, honey, it's Mom.

A: What do you want?

M: I need you to bail me out of jail.

A: No.

M: Excuse me?

A: I couldn't even if I wanted to. You spent the very last of my money.

M: If you don't bail me, I will make your life a living ****.

A: Hard to repeat what you've already done.

I hang up before she can say any more. Hiccup gets in the car again and hands me my homework. "Okay, so you didn't know she was wanted, or that you were giving refuge to a criminal. So you'll be fine," he tells me as I go through the papers. I stay silent, thinking about what my mom could possibly do from a jail cell. "You okay?" Hiccup asks as he starts driving again.

"Oh, yeah-yeah. Fine, fine," I tell him distractedly.

"Are you sure?" he asks. I pause before nodding, brushing a bang behind my ear. After that, we drive in silence before pulling into the driveway of a...I was gonna say 'house' but it's more like a hotel/mansion. 

"Holy..." I murmur as Hiccup parks the car.

"Welcome to your new home," Hiccup chuckles before getting out. 

"Are you serious?!" I ask as I follow him to the door.

"Yep," he says, popping the 'p' as he unlocked the door.

"Okay, so am I staying in the basement, or what?" I ask and he pauses before turning to face me.

"You did not just say that," he says in shock.

"Um..." I had no idea what to say. Please, Thor, make him let me go home. I guess Hiccup realized what I was trying to do because next thing I know he was grabbing my hand and pulling me inside, while ordering me to "Get in here". The inside was huge. The ceilings were like 15 ft high and the walls looked like they were made of gold, and crystals.

"You're staying in a guest room," he says as he leads me to the stair case.

"Well, what about my stuff? It's still all at my apartment," I ask.

"Nope. Heather brought your clothes and personal stuff over while you were out," he tells me.

"Uh...o-okay," I say, not wanting to mention Stormfly, in case he didn't want her to move in as well. He opens a door to show me a room about the size of his old apartment. Maybe a little bit smaller. It had a queen size bed, a flat screen TV, a window door that lead to a balcony, and a set of chairs in the corner, like what you find in a hotel lobby. The carpet was fluffy and the walls were an earth-tone green. I waited for him to say this was his room but he said the opposite.

"This is your room, if you want to change the way it's decorated, let me know. My room is down the hall," he says.

"Can I get my bed back?" I ask.

"What you don't like queen size?" he asks with a chuckle.

"It's too big for me," I tell him with a glare in his direction. He lets a grin slowly crawl across his face. I cross my arms as he starts to snicker softly. "What's the joke?" I ask.

"Nothing. Uh, yeah, we can get your bed over this weekend," he says, stuffing his hands in his pockets and nodding. Then, I hear a purr from the chairs in the corner and look in the direction to see Stormfly stretching her jaws in a yawn.

"Stormfly!" I cheer as I run over and scoop her up.

"Yeah, you never told me you got a cat," Hiccup says as she crawls onto my shoulders.

"Uh...are you okay with her staying here?" I ask.

"Sure! She's already bonded with my cat. It'd be mean to separate them. Besides, I have a feeling she was one of the few things that kept you going with your mom," he says, his voice suddenly serious.