It's a Scary World Out There
Warnings: Rated T for child abuse, substance abuse, mild language, violence and angst. Not slash.
A/N: Well, I've been wanting to write an HTTYD/RotG crossover for a long time and this is finally the result of my very first and millions of other ideas for it were dismissed. Now, as stated above, this is NOT a slash fic, not even close, and, while there is no Tangled, aspects of Tangled, or characters of Tangled in here in any whatsoever, the title is inspired from Mother Knows Best (one of my personal favorite songs :) I really feel that that song shows the depth of Mother Gothel's evilness and heartless cruelty, that line especially. I wanted to really impress upon people how scary and dark the world Jack and Hiccup live in really is and this chapter is merely meant to be a set-up for that, to show how well Hiccup hides it.
"Nice dragon."
Hiccup Overland looked up quickly and moved even quicker; it was really quite impressive for a boy currently making a 'D' in gym class.
Out of habit, he raised his arms to protect his head, sending his pencil flying out of his hand, across the distance separating him from the pretty, blonde girl less than two feet away and, thanks to his rotten luck, struck her squarely on the ear.
And then, as he slowly lowered his hands, he realized there was no danger; he was just doing what he did best, which was making a complete fool of himself. He scrabbled for his pencil, determined to apologize to whoever had startled him so badly – he couldn't recall their face, only their shocked expression when the pencil hit them in the nose – and felt his cheeks beginning to heat. It seemed that no matter how hard he tried, he never quite fit in anywhere.
Gee, I wonder why, sneered his inner sarcastic as he grasped gratefully at the thin wooden stick beneath his fingers. And then he raised his emerald gaze to meet the icy blue eyes of – gulp! – Astrid Hofferson and he suddenly knew the day was about to get a lot worse.
Astrid Hofferson was a big deal.
In the little town of Berk, she held the top spot for prettiest, most popular and most athletic. Her musical voice ensured that when she talked, any boy with hormones listened. Her long legs ensured that when she walked, they turned their heads to stare.
Seeing as Hiccup most definitely fell under the 'boys with hormones but no way to deal with them' category, he had harbored a hopeless crush on this girl for pretty much forever.
"Mind if I sit here?" There was no friendliness to her tone and he could immediately see why; he was still leaning down to grasp his pencil, gaping at her with his mouth slightly open.
"Everywhere else is full," she added in a slightly sharper voice – as if there was any way that Hiccup didn't know that. He surveyed the rest of the bus miserably, but it was true; the girl of his dreams was standing a mere foot away from him and he had no choice but to endure an awkward bus ride with her. He was busily asking himself if it was a blessing or just a terrible curse when he realized he had his backpack up on the seat beside him, ensuring himself that nobody would sit there.
It wasn't like they tried to; sure, there were a couple kids in his class that offered him sympathetic smiles when Snotlout Jorgenson shoved him in a locker and he managed to gasp his way out or when the other boy gave him a black eye or broken nose, but nobody ever offered to help him. Nobody wanted to be associated with the loser, with Hiccup the Useless. He set his backpack down with a solid thunk on the bus floor, clutching the strap a little tighter as he watched Astrid gracefully seat herself. He found himself fascinated by the way she was crossing her legs.
Her blue eyes drifted back to her seatmate's notebook and she took in the really rather awesome drawing of the dragon once more before turning her attention to other matters.
"Thought you didn't ride the bus," Hiccup mumbled, by way of making conversation. And then he nearly face-palmed. Duh! Way to sound like some sort of stalker, Overland!
Astrid, as if thinking the same thing, raised her eyebrows coldly and his blush went deeper.
Great. Just great. We're not even out of the school parking lot yet and I'm already making a complete fool of myself.
In his defense, he was shy and his hormones were raging and she was pretty. In his defense, he had never really had much experience with the opposite sex. In his defense…in his defense…oh, forget it. Let's be honest, Hiccup forgot his own name around Astrid Hofferson. His tongue forgot how to move, his brain forgot how to form coherent thoughts and his heart more than made up for it by beating at nearly double its regular speed.
His green eyes traveled over her again, taking her in appreciatively. Maybe it was shallow, but the reason he had even started liking her in the first place was because she was just so pretty. With her blonde hair, blue eyes, and smile that he felt was sure could melt glaciers in Antarctica (or maybe it just melted his heart – he wasn't sure on that score), she was a girl that was very hard to miss. Her performance on the Berk High track team drew her even more attention; her dedication to her athletics was another thing that had made him like her.
Was it shallow to have liked a girl because she was pretty? Hiccup wondered, trying to turn his gaze to the window, worried he was staring openly. Didn't fathers normally tell their sons what they were supposed to look for in a girl when they reached the proper age, or what? Was a nice chest on the list, or maybe a pretty face?
Astrid had obviously decided to grace his last – and rather feeble – question about riding the bus with an answer. "I normally don't," she responded coolly. "But both of my parents are too busy to pick me up. Not that it's any of your business."
Hiccup winced inwardly at her harsh tone. "I…uh…right. Sorry. No more questions."
Astrid rolled her eyes, reaching up to swipe her bangs out of her face, turning away from her awkward seatmate. She could feel him sneaking peeks at her every couple seconds, but she refused to acknowledge him, instead letting her attention wander around the rest of the bus.
There was Snotlout Jorgenson, tapping the new foreign exchange student – Henrettia? Hera? – on the shoulder and frantically scribbling down his number on a piece of paper while boasting loudly that his football coach had told him he was the best player he'd seen in a century.
There were the identical twins, Ruffnut and Tuffnut Thorston, decking each other over the heads repeatedly while nodding eagerly at random intervals in Snotlout's story; behind them sat Fishlegs, who was buried in a book, barely paying attention the mayhem on the bus.
Astrid relaxed as she sensed Hiccup shifting his gaze to something else; as she heard pages rustling, her curiosity overcame her coldness and she looked over to see if he was reading anything interesting.
Again, she was met with the strangely lifelike eyes and glistening black scales of a dragon, its stern green gaze reproaching her, almost, for ignoring him.
Why should I try and talk to this boy? she demanded furiously of the dragon. I don't even know him!
Great. Just great. She sighed inwardly. She was talking to inanimate objects now.
She sneaked another peek at him, and then dropped her eyes to his artwork. He was good at what he did, she thought grudgingly to herself.
As she became aware that the bus was slowing, his fingers grew stiller and stiller on the pencil until he'd stopped altogether. The bus pulled up in front of several dingy-looking houses and she watched Hiccup heave his backpack onto his shoulder.
"E-excuse me," he stuttered shyly. She tucked her feet up onto the seat to allow him to pass. She watched him disappear into a crowd of kids. She watched through the window as the others split into groups of twos and threes; she watched Hiccup as he stalked off away from the others alone, head bent down against the unseasonably cold September breeze.
The bus doors closed again and she set off, driving slowly away.