TW - blood, violence, injury, bullying

Hiccup fell heavily onto the floor. He was too scared to scream, or make any noise. The hit caused him to lose his breath, and he struggled to draw it back in as he slowly tried to pick himself up off of the floor once again. Even though he knew it was only a few seconds, it felt like it was hours before he heard Brock's footsteps approaching him again. Then, he felt the back of his zip up tighten from the strong grasp. His body rose up with a jerk, and he felt himself tuck inside himself again in the anticipation of another blow.

"Give Heather my message." Brock said ever so close to his ear, and then dropped Hiccup to the ground again, and rushed from the scene.

Hiccup could hear doors opening to classrooms, and he quickly started to gather up himself, his crutches, and adjust his book bag on his shoulders. He could taste metal. As he rushed towards the exit, staggering, he pulled his hood up and hugged it against his face. He was going into flight mode. In his head, his only safe place currently would have been Astrid's car.

Although he knew she was obsessive with locking her doors, he checked both the back and front passenger doors just in case. There was no use pulling on them. As he caught his breath, he could see from the window they were all locked. He lingered close against the car, trying to hide in plain sight from everyone. He reached up to his face, and wiped the stream of blood from his lip and chin. Then, wiped it against his jeans. He knew he was in shock. It was then his body took in an a deep breath, and he choked on it. Brock had knocked the wind out of him, and his body was trying to force it back in.

Hiccup could not believe that it was that easy. How? Brock came, he hit, and he was gone. It was as though the guy was an expert hitman.

He wiped another dribble of blood from his chin, and began to move his tongue along his lips to investigate the damage. Confirming what he'd already known, Brock had busted his lip against his front teeth. He quickly ran his tongue along his mouth to confirm they weren't chipped or broken in any way. He didn't think they were, thankfully. Going to the dentist was not something he wanted to do right now.

The sounds of happy teenagers on a Friday were drowned out by his panic. He hadn't noticed Cody Henderson getting into the car parked beside Astrid's until the engine kicked on, startling him. He hugged himself against the passenger side of Astrid's car, and leaned in to check the handle just in case his eyes had been playing tricks on him. He knew it would be locked. He slid himself over to the back passenger door and confirmed that it was locked as well. His eyes hadn't tricked him. He sighed in defeat.

She would be looking for him. They'd agreed to meet at her locker after school. Her locker hadn't been but down the very same corridor….Brock knew. Brock knew exactly where Astrid's locker was at. He had probably been waiting there for him, and heard the crutches clanking down the hallway…That was how he'd figured out how to get to Hiccup.

He felt another smear of blood trickle down his chin, and he caught it again with the back of his hand. He blindly stared at his hooded reflection. Astrid was taking a while. He needed to text her. She was probably waiting at her locker or heading towards Mr. Bryce's classroom to find him since he wasn't there.

Just as he was pulling out his cell phone, he heard the car unlock. She was close, and approaching. Without looking to see where she was, he pulled the back passenger door open to place his belongings in the back seat.

"I thought we were meeting at my locker?" Astrid asked. She had startled him even though he knew she was coming. She'd come along the other side of the car to place her own back pack into the backseat. She was trying to gain his attention, yet he wouldn't look at her. "Hiccup?"

Instead of acknowledging her, he pulled open the front door, and let himself into the car. He winced, but not at the pain from his attach, but from the thought of having to tell her. He was not ready for this again. He was tired of everyone worrying about him. Tired of seeing the pain and pity on their faces as they tried to take care of him. He'd watched the worry imprint along his father's features over the last two years, clearly aging him a little bit each year, now.

Astrid climbed in beside him and placed the key into the ignition. The day was still a little cold, and she wanted the heat on as quickly as she could for the drive. She adjusted the vents, and kicked the heat up a little bit to hopefully get them warm. She hadn't noticed yet.

Silence hung between them. He could tell by her nervousness she was worried he'd had a bad day. She sighed.

"I knew you were nervous to come back, but was the day so bad?" she asked. Oh, now she seemed annoyed that he wasn't talking to her. "I mean, isn't it nice to have sense of normalcy other than sitting at the house?"

He felt his fist clench. He was trying to bite his tongue now. After all, this wasn't her fault. He wanted the normalcy. After losing his summer from his accident, all he wanted to do was be normal. He could live without the insults plus the physical injuries, however.

She didn't put the car in drive. Instead, she continued to sit beside him. Even though it was only a moment more, the seconds felt like minutes themselves. He could feel the blood starting to dribble along his lip again, and he had no choice but to reach up and wipe it.

"Hiccup - " he heard Astrid say, only this time he could tell she said his name in a gasp. Her hand reached for his chest, and he looked down and quickly realized blood had already dripped onto his front. He braced himself. Ever so gently, he felt the hood fall from his head and down his shoulders as Astrid leaned in to look at him. He heard Astrid gasp again. "No…"

He groaned, and his head hit the back of the seat. "Can - can you just take me home, please?"

"Hiccup - we need to - "

"We don't need to do anything," he said, forcefully. "Please, just take me home."

"No," Astrid said. "C'mon, let's go inside and get you cleaned up and talk to - "

"No!" It was one simple word, and it came out in a yell. Immediately, he felt bad. His jaw stiffened, and he hoped that the yell couldn't be heard outside of the car. He didn't want to make a scene.

Her hand reached across his lap and he grabbed his wrist gently, turning it over so she could see the stains left on his hand. "Can you at least look at me?" she asked him. It took him a moment, but he braced himself, and opened his eyes to meet her's. He could see she was holding back emotions. Her eyes were watery, but she hadn't shed a tear - not yet.

Her eyes studied him quickly. Then, she went into caring-girlfriend mode. She reached into the glove compartment and pulled out a handful of unused Chipotle napkins. She leaned over, and began to help him wipe the blood, which was now smeared and almost dry, from his hands.

"I am sorry."

"You don't need to apologize," he said. She was looking all around herself, and a frustrated sigh escaped her mouth. He wasn't sure when, but she pressed something cold against his skin, and he realized she'd wetted down a few of the napkins with some water and was trying to clean him up better "Can - can you tell me what happened?"

He turned away and slumped over onto the door. His palms pressed into his eyes. "He knew where to find me. He knew exactly where I was heading after class. He was waiting."

"Brock or Rudy?" Astrid asked.

"Brock." He leaned back again in his seat, then turned to pull the seatbelt over his shoulder, making sure he didn't get blood on the material. "Can you take me home, please?"

He hadn't looked back at her. She seemed to hesitate for a moment, but then gathered up the used napkins, tossed them onto the floor board, and handed him the remaining dry ones to dab at his lips and chin. After placing the car into drive, he felt her hand settle against his thigh. She gave it a squeeze, and proceeded out of the parking lot.

….

At the house he swished some salt water around in his mouth a few times. Astrid brought him a cloth, which she wetted under warm water in the bathroom sink. She handed it to him, and stood close while he wiped his face, chin and lips of the remaining blood. After inspecting his lip, split in two places from his teeth, he stripped off the zip up, and then his own shirt since the blood dribbled through. He was rattled, and it was then he realized how much he was shaking. Add in the lack there of body coverings, he began shaking worse.

Astrid took the fabrics from him. "I'll see what I can do with these. How about you get that contraption off? Maybe you will feel better after a shower?"

Leaning heavily onto the sink, he nodded. "Okay."

"I'll get you some new clothes, okay?"

When he emerged from the bathroom fifteen minutes later, he wasn't expecting her to be sitting on the floor in the hallway. She wasn't looking at him. She was huddled up together, and he could tell by the stains on her cheeks she'd let a few tears pass.

She took his outstretched hand that he offered, and he helped her stand. She pulled him close at this point, and he leaned heavily against the wall to support himself and she. He wanted to comfort her. But, truth be told, her presence seemed to be more of a comfort to him. Just having her there to hold close, knowing she was there for him no matter what, now eased him more.

"What are you going to do?" she asked into his shoulder.

"What do you mean?"

"You can't keep dealing with this."

He nodded. "I'm trying to figure it out. I - I don't know what to do. I've been picked on and bullied before - but not like this."

"It's - it's almost like he's using you as bait." Astrid leaned out of his embrace a little bit, and wiped her nose.

"Yes, that is exactly what he is doing."

He leaned against her for some extra support as they made their way towards the living room. They sat in silence for a while, both lost in their own thoughts. Hiccup was exhausted, both physically and mentally. Out of habit, Astrid clicked on the television, and turned on a series they both had already watched together for a little bit of background noise.

They'd continued to sit in silence, and eventually curled up together on the couch. Her weight against him eased him more. It reminded him that he was not alone.

"You okay?" she asked, pulling the blanket down to keep warm.

"Yes," he said gently, ignoring the swelling that was coming to his lip. He hugged her close, leaned back against the couch, closing his eyes.

"You should probably take something," Astrid said, just as he was drifting off.

He hugged her closer, settling in more.

"I will in a little bit. Promise."

Hiccup felt a hand on his shoulder, stirring him from his sleeping bliss. Startled, he quickly accessed that he and Astrid had fallen asleep on the couch. He turned towards the hand, and was met with the eyes of his father looking down at him. Immediately, his face grew hot with embarrassment. He didn't like it when his father caught them doing more than just some innocent PDA. It happened occasionally. But, this…

"Uh - Dad - "

"You two all right?" Mr. Vast asked him, still keeping a grip on Hiccup's shoulder.

"Y-yeah," he replied, shifting where he sat, stirring Astrid. "Sorry - we must have dozed off - " He touched Astrid's shoulder to steady here from the sudden movement. When she came to, reality setting in quite quickly, her cheeks became crimson.

"Are you two sure you are okay?" Mr. Vast asked. He presented the bloody cloth to them both. Hiccup gulped. How stupid could he have been?! He'd left it lay in plain sight. "I found this in the bathroom sink." His eyes darted towards Hiccup's face. "What the hell?"

"Dad - "

"No, Hiccup. Your lip is busted and swollen…" He turned away from the duo, and returned a moment later with a bag of frozen veggies wrapped inside another dish cloth. "What is going on?"

Hiccup sighed.

"Hiccup - "

"I - It was Brock," Astrid blurted out.

Hiccup's hand met his forehead.

"He did this, again?!" Mr. Vast moved quickly, and Hiccup leaned towards Astrid trying to block her.

Astrid tensed beside Hiccup.

"Stoick!" Katherine had entered the house, and was holding a paper bag of what smelled like Chinese food in her hands. She glanced over at Hiccup and Astrid, and then she went to Stoick. "You need to - "

"Calm down?" Stoick said, very loudly.

Both adults disappeared into the kitchen. He heard his father say, "I'm calling the police - " And, Katherine's soft voice trying to get him to calm down. Panic set in more. His father was about to have one of his outbursts. It was something that he'd managed to protect Astrid from seeing for two years.

"Astrid, you might want to - "

Before he could finish, he heard items crash to the floor. Astrid tensed beside him. A lump formed in his throat.

"Stay here, please," Hiccup said to her, moving to stand, very stiffly.

"Hiccup - "

He squeezed the hand that grabbed his then to reassure her, and then headed towards the kitchen. There, he saw papers, bills, a few medication bottles, among some odds and ends that had been on the kitchen table, scattered all over the floor. He moved to want to start cleaning them up. This is what he would do after one of his father's fits. He never knew what was important and what was not. Once his father calmed he knew he'd apologize, and plead with Hiccup to forgive him.

"Leave it," Katherine said to him, firmly, placing her hand in front of him. Their eyes met, and Hiccup had never seen her face so set. Anger flooded through her eyes. It wasn't at him, he knew this.

Hiccup glanced up at his father, and realized he was leaning heavily against the counter working on trying to level himself out. There were so many voices speaking all at once, so many different things taking place. Even Hiccup wanted to shut everything out and make it all just go away. He needed to calm his father down.

"Dad, it isn't that bad - "

"Hiccup, two weeks ago I had a call come in from a deputy stating that you were in a fight. When Katherine brought you home, you were bruised, broken, and couldn't walk. And, you go back to school for one damn day - and you are already bleeding."

Katherine looked over at Hiccup. He couldn't meet her gaze. She was really looking at him, taking in the damage.

"Why didn't you call me?" his father said, practically pleading with Hiccup for a straight answer. His voice was much calmer now. He'd leveled himself out. The outburst wasn't as bad as he thought it would be, thankfully. He even felt Katherine's stance ease a little bit beside him. "I could have come to the school, picked you up - "

"Dad - "

"Does the school know about this?"

"No - " Astrid had arrived into the kitchen. Hiccup choked on his breath when he saw her. "He wouldn't go in and report it."

"Astrid, you shouldn't - " He wanted to tell her that she shouldn't be in the same room in the event his father started throwing items again. It was the one thing he didn't want her to witness in person. But, his father pulled his attention from her.

His father's lip curled. "Did this happen in the bathroom again?" Mr. Vast asked.

"DAD!" Hiccup yelled over him, silencing everyone else. "It happened as I was heading towards Astrid's locker. It was literally a just a moment before the final dismissal bell went off."

"And you walked right by the office and didn't say anything?" His father had turned and looked at him. His eyes were raging with fury. Hiccup, at this point, didn't know if his father was mad at Brock, or himself. He shivered involuntarily.

"I did go by the office, and you are right. I didn't report it or say anything," he said. "What else was I supposed to do?"

"Tell someone!" Mr. Vast blurted out. "Right away. For crying out loud, son. Didn't you learn from the time before last?"

His father's words cut into the wounds. Hiccup winced.

"Stoick," Katherine said, and Hiccup could hear the fear in her voice. "You need to remember, Heather didn't say anything about these kinds of things to me about this boy."

"You are condoning this? Not speaking out to us or telling us what is going on?" Mr. Vast said. "Just allowing this to be acceptable? Keeping secrets and hiding from me? My boy - "

"Stoick," Katherine said sternly, but calmly. Hiccup saw the fear springing up in her eyes. "I am not saying Hiccup did the right thing by not reporting this. But, you've seen what Brock can do. First hand. Give him an alliance with someone and he can do much worse damage. Hiccup is afraid - and I completely understand why he left without reporting it. Was it right? No! But, being attacked is not his fault."

Just then, the front door opened, again silencing everyone. Hiccup looked around, trying to figure out who would be coming through the front door. A second later, Heather appeared, a look of discomfort on her face.

"Did I miss a family meeting or - what?" she asked.

Mr. Vast sighed, and turned to look at Katherine.

"Surprise," Heather said with a nervous laugh. "Mom invited me to - dinner?"

Heather's interruption seemed to settle them all. Silence coated the house heavily for a very brief time leaving a shaky, uncomfortable presence in the air. While Katherine busied herself with picking up the kitchen, and then scooping out clumps of rice, and forkfuls of noodles, Astrid helped by spooning out general taos chicken and honey sesame chicken onto five plates. Hiccup's father guided him towards the bathroom to look at his face more closely in the mirror. Heather had actually gone and sat on the living room couch.

"It doesn't look like you need stitches - "

"Dad, it's fine," Hiccup said. "It could be worse, I know. But, please. I know you are angry. I know you are upset. But, I am asking you to just take a deep breath, and let this go for right now."

"How do you expect me to let this go?" his father asked.

Hiccup tried to bite his tongue, but instead anger surged through him then, and he couldn't keep himself contained. "I've dealt with these bullies in the past. At this level? No. But, you knew I was getting picked on in elementary school. By Snotlout and his friends. You told me it was just what boys did, pick on each other. Brock was one of those boys, Dad. He's escalated. His mind is set."

"He won't leave you alone," Mr. Vast said. "Not at this point. I mean, son, you do realize he could have given you a concussion, or broken your ribs again?"

Hiccup let out a breath. "Can we just get through dinner, please? Heather is here, and, I had no idea we would be having company."

"Is that why you and Astrid were all curled up on the couch?"

Hiccup growled. "Dad, don't read too far into that."

"Yeah, that was back when you guys were in puppy-love. Not making goo-goo eyes across the table at each other while we play euchre."

A hand mopped over Hiccup's face. "I can't win!"

"Are you sure nothing is going on like that?" Mr Vast asked him.

"Dad - seriously, you are picking now to ask me about these things? How about instead of bringing these things up that make you uncomfortable months later, bring them up to me when we don't have company? And, when I'm not dealing with someone who wants my head?"

"I've given you rules - "

Hiccup growled. "And, we follow them. I am sorry that you just happened to find us tired from all of the excitement of our long day at school, and shut down for an hour - "

The sound of someone clearing their throat brought both of them out of their bickering. Hiccup turned around, and it was Heather. She waved at both of them, uncomfortably.

"It's dinner-time," she said, forcing an uncomfortable smile. "Mom wants to know who would like an egg roll, too."

Stoick sighed, eyed Hiccup suspiciously, then made his way past both kids. They were left alone. Hiccup struggled meeting her eyes, and they exchanged an uncomfortable look.

"I'm sorry," Heather said to him. He could now see the worry in her eyes.

Hiccup tried to force a smile. "You can't help this."

She studied his face. "Tell me about this later, okay?"

He nodded. "I will try."

"Okay."

After a very quiet and uncomfortable dinner, Hiccup showed Astrid to her car. He could tell that she didn't want to leave.

"I'll Facetime you later, okay?" Hiccup said. After kissing her on the cheek and giving her one more squeeze, he watched her get into her car and drive away. Taking in a deep breath, he headed back inside to deal with the parents.

Katherine and his father had been standing in the kitchen when Astrid had left. When Hiccup returned inside, they were still lingering in the room. However, Mr. Vast was pouring two glasses of whisky over ice for himself and Katherine. It had been months since he'd actually seen his father drinking at the house. Glancing at the kitchen table, he saw Heather sitting in his seat, her pointer finger scrolling up and down the screen on her phone.

"Put the phone down please, Heather," Katherine said to her. Heather give a slight eye-roll before she placed her phone face-down. Hiccup actually had never seen her show any disrespect like this to Katherine, ever. She was one to speak her mind but not act with such sass like this.

Hiccup took a seat across from her, and let out a breath.

"Okay, so….clearly, Brock isn't going to leave Hiccup alone now," his father said after swallowing his large sip. "Outside of calling the school on Monday, I really do not know what else we can do."

Hiccup felt himself curl up a little more. He hated feeling like he was put on the spot.

"Heather, have you heard any more about Brock from anyone?" Katherine said.

"I told you before, Mom, I haven't heard anything at all. I haven't spoken to Brock or been around anyone he associates with since the night at the diner."

"Attitude," Katherine said calmly. She was now taking a generous sip from her own whisky glass.

"So, outside of Brock and Rudy getting suspended from school for their actions at the diner, and Hiccup having to spend two weeks at home, there has been nothing taking place?" Mr. Vast asked.

"No!" Heather said. "I have told both of you this."

Hiccup narrowed his eyes, then turned to his father. "Wait, neither of you have asked me about any of this."

They both turned to him.

"You aren't on social media," his father said.

"I am," Hiccup said. "I'm just not active."

His father narrowed his eyes. "Since when?"

Hiccup's insides squirmed. For some reason he felt like his hand was caught in the cookie jar. "Like - a year ago. I just don't get on very often."

"You haven't received anything from anyone, or seen anything pertaining to any of this?" Katherine asked.

"Not that I know of," Hiccup said. He resisted the urge to go through his phone right then. "Now, Astrid did. The first few days after the altercation at the diner, she was getting messages asking about how I was, what happened, etc. But, nothing else."

"No threats or anything?" Katherine asked.

Hiccup narrowed his eyes. "Why do I feel like I am missing something?"

Katherine turned to Heather. "So, you haven't told Hiccup, then?"

"He didn't need to know," Heather said. "You clearly didn't tell Stoick - "

"She did," Mr. Vast said over her, cutting off her sassy tone.

"Tell me what?" Hiccup asked.

Heather sighed. "I honestly thought it was just Sage getting the messages. I thought we didn't have anything to worry about -"

"We were wrong about that," Mr. Vast sighed, finishing his glass in one large chug.

"Okay, what is going on?" Hiccup asked. "What am I missing? Perhaps I should have known this before now?"

"I didn't want to worry you, or Astrid," Heather said to him.

"I seriously thought he knew," Katherine said. "Especially after the diner incident."

"What is going on?" Hiccup said. He was done listening to the back and forth. He wanted to know what exactly Sage was getting from whomever, wherever.

Heather threw her head back in frustration, and Hiccup could tell she was not wanting to share whatever information she had with him. "A few days after the incident, Sage started getting notifications on his Facebook Messenger. They were coming from fake accounts, so we thought. And, he didn't know he was receiving them until after the first few. Someone was making fake accounts and deactivating or deleting the profiles. There was never a picture, and the names were all very fake. We can only speculate from the messages who they were coming from."

Hiccup watched her flip through her phone for a few minutes, and then she slid it the few feet across the table over to him. "You can swipe to see them."

The first one read: "I know who you are, and we are coming for you."

The next one read: "Heather is too perfect to be with you."

The messages continued: "Break up with Heather or pay."

"Why is she with you?", and it was followed by a picture of Sage and Heather at a party.

There were at least six other messages. They were all threats or questions. Hiccup slid the phone back to her once he reached the final one, and his stomach turned.

"Sage hasn't had any issues. He just keeps taking pictures of them, and then blocking the accounts he is getting them from," said Heather. "Someone is stalking his Facebook. I'm guessing Rudy or Brock, but I can't be sure."

Katherine looked at Hiccup again. "Hiccup, are you sure you haven't gotten any of these random messages?"

Hiccup sighed. The truth was, he couldn't completely comment that he had not. He never checked Messenger, and the only time he really was on Facebook was when Astrid or he would get tagged in a picture and he would like it or heart it. His Facebook was, more or less, just something to keep in connection with Astrid on publicly. Even though the school knew they were together, he wanted whomever looked at her profile to see that he was with her. specifically. A picture, in his head, was not enough.

"I am sure," he said, finally/ It was not a lie. He checked messenger a week ago, and there was nothing. No random messages, or anything. But, perhaps because he wasn't that knowledgable with it, perhaps he was missing something.

His father sighed, and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Okay, well, we will see what Monday holds." He looked back at Hiccup. "Do you need any pain reliever of anything? Your face is starting to bruise."

Hiccup shook his head, now realizing he never did take anything after he told Astrid he would.

"Are we done?" Heather asked.

Katherine's eyes widened. She was clearly giving Heather her "mad mom" look. Five seconds went by, and she nodded. "Yes, I suppose so."

"Good," said Heather. She picked up her phone, stood up, and immediately grabbed Hiccup's arm. "You said you were going to show me your sketches earlier."

Hiccup made eye contact with her, and caught on. "Oh, yeah - my sketch pad is in my room."