A/N: I've come up with an unofficial playlist for this fic aka the three songs I've been listening to on a loop as I write it. They're just as cheesy as you'd expect xD but they are as follows:

Unconditionally by Katy Perry

In My Arms by Plumb

You Are Loved by Josh Groban. Hence the name of the fic haha

Hiccup didn't used to drink when he lived with his parents. It was just another horrible habit Heather had brought on. He actually despised the taste of alcohol, but he did like the effects of it. No, he had become dependent on the effects of it. Sometimes it was the only he could make it through an evening with his girlfriend. That night, after Heather had gone out to party with some friends, he raided the liquor cabinet and drank until the soreness in his body began to fade. He drank until he felt dizzy, and then he drank until he was kneeling in front of the toilet, vomiting his guts up. Then he collapsed on the bed and cried himself to sleep, praying he would have good dreams for once tonight.

He didn't.

For the next few days, he lay in bed and tried to nurse his sore lower body. Everything down there hurt so much he could barely move without making himself want to throw up from the pain, and going to the bathroom was fiery agony. Luckily, Toothless was there with him whenever he could be, draping himself across Hiccup's stomach and soothing him with his warmth and company. However, he could only be with him when Heather wasn't there. She hated his cat and had threatened to kill him more than once, and Hiccup believed without a doubt she would do it. So, even though it hurt beyond imagining sending his best friend away, he had Toothless hide whenever she came back.

Christmas itself was grim and cold; there was no tree, no gifts, no sense of warmth or happiness to fill the apartment. If Heather wasn't verbally abusing him today, she was ignoring him. Her parents called her that morning, and to hear her talk with them set a deep longing throbbing in Hiccup's chest. Perhaps that's what possessed him to ask his next question.

"Can I call my parents?"

Heather looked at him like that was the dumbest question she had ever hear in her life. Hiccup ducked his head and apologized, then mumbled something else that she couldn't quite catch.

"Jesus Hiccup, quit the mumbling, it pisses me off," she growled.

"I said it's Christmas," he repeated, "I just wanted to say hello." Then he added more quietly, "I miss them."

"Of course you do," Heather said shortly, "You're such a mama's boy. I'm honestly shocked you're not still breast-feeding. Whatever, go ahead and call them, but keep it on speaker."

Hiccup eagerly yanked his phone out of his pocket, and with trembling fingers dialed his house number. God, he couldn't even remember the last time he had talked with his parents. They called him 10 times a day, but Heather didn't let him answer his phone. His poor mom, she had to be worried sick by now. Hiccup had a passing ironic thought that she had good reason to worry about him.

He waited with baited breath as the phone rang, and then nearly leapt for joy when he heard the phone pick up and his mom's voice on the other line.

"Hello?"

Oh, it was like the first spring rain after a long winter, a drink of water to a man dying of thirst. Tears sprang to his eyes and his throat tightened up at hearing the familiar voice of everything he had come to associate with safety and love, of cuddles and hugs after nightmares and a quiet haven in the stormy world. Hiccup wanted terribly to jump through the phone and dive into his mother's arms and never come out.

"Hey mom," he said thickly.

Valka gasped on the other end, "Hiccup! Hi baby! Where have you been, I've been trying to get a hold of you for so long and you never answer my calls. I've been so worried, are you okay?"

He swallowed hard, wanting so badly to scream No! I'm miserable mom, I want to come home! But Heather was staring right at him, so he pushed out the lie.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I'm sorry I haven't been answering, new job, you know, has me busy."

"Well, don't go that long without calling me again or I'll assume you're dead and call the police, understand?"

Being scolded had never felt so good before. "Yes mom. Anyway, I just wanted to call to wish you a Merry Christmas. Wish I could be there with you guys."

His mother replied, "Aw, love I wish you could be here too. I miss you so much. So does your dad, though he won't admit it, you know him. I've caught him more than once looking in the photo album and finding pictures from when you were little and crying over them."

He laughed, but it sounded hollow and forced. "Really?"

Valka paused. "What's the matter baby? You sound like something's wrong. Is everything okay with Heather?"

No, she beat and raped me a few nights ago. I still hurt and I drink now to dull the pain since I can't go to the doctor's, otherwise they'll find out what she does to me. "…Yeah, everything's great."

"Well, I still don't think you should have moved so far away with her. Oh, but your father tells me it's natural for young men to want to get as far away from their parents as possible. I understand that, I suppose."

"Heh, yeah, there is that. My job's pretty good here, too." There's a really pretty girl I work with that actually treats me like a human being. She really likes me, and I like her and we kissed. I'd give anything to leave Heather and be with her instead.

"I know," his mom sighed, "Are you sure you're okay? You sound tired."

I am! I'm so tired mom, I want to go home! "Nah, I'm alright. Work, you know."

"Yeah. Alright baby, well, answer my calls more often, okay? I miss you so much."

Hiccup swallowed down his tears and shook with the effort it took not to cry. "I miss you too, mom."

"Oh, Hiccup don't cry. You'll come and visit soon, right?"

Heather narrowed her eyes at him, and Hiccup shuddered, feeling pinned under her glare.

"Yeah, at some point."

"Well, the instant I see you I'm going to give you a big hug and I might not let go of you the whole way home."

"Alright mom. You do that."

"I will. Merry Christmas, baby. I'm sending a hug your way right now, alright?"

"Okay mom, thanks."

"Bye, Hiccup. I love you so much. I'll tell your dad you called."

No, don't hang up! Don't leave me, please don't leave me, don't leave me alone with her. Fly up here and take me home right now, you can hug me all you want, I don't care who sees. I wouldn't want you to stop anyway.

"Bye, mama. I love you too."

Then the phone clicked on the other line and went dead, but Hiccup still stared at it, stunned, staring at his mother's name on the screen. He finally leaned back on the couch and sighed heavily, his chest hitching with restrained sobs. Heather rolled her eyes.

"You know you're never going to visit them, don't you?" she said.

Hiccup blinked his tears away, feeling them run down his temples as he stared at the ceiling. His mother's voice rang in his ears and he held onto it desperately.

"Yeah."

000

The grocery store was such a normal place for people to commune. Yet it still surprised Hiccup when he saw Astrid there.

He heard her excited "Hey!" and then turned his head to see her trotting over to him, face shining joyfully. He would have smiled back had Heather not been there with him. He could practically taste the fury rolling off his girlfriend in waves when she caught sight of the happy blond girl.

"Funny running into you here, stranger," Astrid said once she stopped in front of him, "How's your vacation going?"

Hiccup swallowed hard and immediately lowered his eyes to the floor, cowering like a beaten dog. He could feel Astrid's confusion, almost see the smile of greeting sliding off her face to be replaced by a concerned frown.

"Who are you?" Heather asked suspiciously.

"Uh, Astrid," the girl answered, "I'm a co-worker of Hiccup's."

"Yeah? Well I'm his girlfriend."

The awkwardness was palpable as Hiccup imagined Astrid turning over in her mind that she had kissed someone who already had a girlfriend, and more importantly, hadn't told her that fact. So Hiccup was surprised by what Astrid said next.

"Well, that may be, but I'm just asking him how his vacation went. There's no reason to cop an attitude."

Heather laughed, and the sound was awful to Hiccup's ears. "I don't think I'm the one who's copping an attitude here, miss. His vacation is going fine. Now if you'll excuse us, we have a lot of shopping to get done."

He chanced a quick glance at Astrid's face, and her expression was contorted into one of strong annoyance. "Hey, I asked him, not you," Astrid said.

Heather was clearly on her last nerve. She didn't have many nerves to spare anyway, Hiccup knew. "Well," his girlfriend said sweetly, "He's not very socially adept. Trust me, I'm doing you both a favor by speaking for him."

Astrid spat in disgust, "What the hell does that mean? Hiccup's not a child. And besides, I think he's socially adept or whatever the hell you just said he wasn't. And you know what else? He's smarter than all of the people in our office put together."

"Oh sweetie, I think you've got him confused with someone else. Come on, Hiccup."

Heather took him by the hand forcefully and led him away, like he was a child. He looked over his shoulder at Astrid in time to see her eyes widen with surprise. She called his name questioningly, and Hiccup opened his mouth to respond. But then Heather's grip had moved up to his wrist, and she was squeezing it so tightly he swore he felt his bones creak. Hiccup winced and turned his gaze forward again.

"You don't need to talk to her," Heather growled, "Now, eyes on the floor. You don't need to look at any other girl but me."

000

Astrid watched the two of them disappear into the crowd, utterly shocked, confused, and angry. She had half a mind to go after them; she wasn't afraid to wrestle another girl to the floor. But the look on Hiccup's face stopped her in tracks.

He looked…terrified.

She had been trying to catch him all during break. They had kissed, after all, and then he had left without a word of when he might want to see her again. Astrid thought he had enjoyed the kiss as much as she did; he had hugged her, and the look on his face after they had broken apart had matched hers and it just made her want to melt into a puddle of babbling goo. So she was overjoyed when she saw him again, and had trotted over feeling like a giddy little girl with the intention of maybe inviting him out to dinner or something.

Then she had caught sight of the dark haired girl with him.

When Heather had said she was his girlfriend, Astrid's initial reaction should have been irritation. But the way she had said it, like she was the goddamn queen of Olympus, combined with Hiccup's cowed expression washed away any irritation she might have felt towards Hiccup for neglecting to tell her he already had a girlfriend. All she felt was concern for him, and the overwhelming thought that she shouldn't leave him alone with that girl.

She had heard Heather tell him that he didn't need to talk to her as they walked away, and the fact that he wouldn't, or maybe couldn't look Astrid in the eye made bile rise in her throat. The whole conversation made a tidal wave of expletives rise in her chest, and Hiccup's fear only added fuel to the fire.

A strange feeling rose in her then. The instinct to protect was prevalent in each gender of the human species: it was instinct in men to protect women, and instinct in women to protect their children. However, it was rare that a woman came to the rescue of a man, and this was true across the board for all species that identified as mammals. More often, history had ingrained in females to fear unfamiliar males because of the danger they could pose to themselves or their children.

But now only one thought filled Astrid's mind in that grocery store, something that shifted the course of her life from there on out.

Protect Hiccup.

000

It took all of Astrid's willpower not to call an ambulance the instant she saw Hiccup back in his office after the break. But she couldn't, not yet. She had come here for a reason.

First of all, she couldn't get over how thin he had become. He had always been scrawny, and that was part of his charm for her, but it was never an unhealthy sort of scrawny. Now, he looked like he would break in half if a strong wind blew through the office. His face was pinched, forehead tight and jaw tense, as if he were in pain and trying not to cry out from it. And above all, he looked exhausted. There were dark smudges under his eyes, and when Astrid approached, he was staring blankly off into space, his eyes shutting and then snapping open as sleep tried to claim him over and over again.

God, Astrid wanted to cry. She wanted to cry, pull him into her arms and promise over and over that she would protect him and nothing bad would touch him ever again.

Instead, she cautiously stepped up to Hiccup, trying not to startle him, and said softly, "Hey babe."

Hiccup jumped nearly a foot out of his seat anyway, his eyes going in and out of focus, before they landed on her and he relaxed again when he determined who she was.

"Hi Astrid," he smiled weakly, but genuinely, "Fancy meeting you here. Or, I suppose not, considering you work here."

He drew in a breath through his nose and rubbed at his eyes, trying to wipe the urge to sleep away from them. However, when he did, one of his sleeves slid up and revealed his bony wrist. Or rather, revealed the dark, finger-shaped bruises on his bony wrist. Astrid gasped sharply, and Hiccup must have instantly realized what he had shown her inadvertently revealed to her. He covered his wrist with his other hand and tucked it between his knees, not meeting her eyes and obviously too tired to come up with a good excuse as to how they had gotten there. Astrid gritted her teeth so hard they almost cracked.

"Anything I can help you with?" Hiccup asked, stiffly, too formally. She hated it.

"No, I was just coming by to say hi. And to make sure you were okay."

He shook his head, but still replied, "Yes." He shrugged his shoulders, the movement jerky and spasmodic.

Astrid came a little closer and leaned over him, trying to get a better look at his face. He refused to look her in the eye, but he didn't have to. His eyes were glazed, and he kept swallowing. "Are you sure?" she asked in the kindest, most tender voice she had ever used before, "You don't look good. Maybe you should go home and rest."

Before he could refuse her, her lips were on his forehead, soft as a whisper. When they pulled back, Astrid added, "You feel warm."

Hiccup seemed at a loss as to how to respond, because he kept stuttering and forming half-sentences, all the while becoming more agitated. His face became redder and one arm had come up to rub the other, and Astrid felt horrible for making him feel so flustered.

Just then, the doors to the office opened, and a dark head of hair bobbed over the walls of the cubicles that Astrid recognized. It made her lip curl back into a vicious snarl, and when Heather's face appeared in the office, she couldn't help herself. She placed a hand on Hiccup's shoulder and stepped between the two of them.

"What are you doing here?" Heather asked coolly.

Astrid shifted her weight and cocked her leg in that feminine way that meant shit was about to get real. "I could ask you the same thing. Who let you in?"

"That's none of your business. Hiccup called me earlier and told me he wasn't feeling well, so I'm here to take him home. Right?"

She looked expectantly down at Hiccup, who reflexively nodded obediently. Astrid wanted to vomit.

He stood up slowly, trembling as he did so, and made it to Heather's side. However, before he left, he looked his girlfriend in the eye, and then did the unthinkable in her presence: he turned his head and looked Astrid directly in the eye.

"See you tomorrow," he said, smiling a sweet smile that was for her and her alone, "Thanks for worrying about me."

Shit, he was leaving with her. It was now or never.

Not giving a flying rat's ass that Heather was standing right there, she sidled up to Hiccup and pulled one of his hands behind his back, pressing something into it and closing his fingers over it.

"Anytime," Astrid said sincerely, flashing Heather a nasty glare.

Then she backed away, and watched as the two of them disappeared from her view yet again, cradling the hand that had just held Hiccup's to her chest.

000

Hiccup felt the piece of paper Astrid had slipped him, and had every intention of seeing what it was. So, when Heather signed them out at the front desk, he took his chance and opened it. When he saw what was written there, he bit his lip and his chest tightened terribly.

On that tiny scrap of paper, she had written her phone number, as well a smiley face following the statement, Call or text me anytime, I'll answer. I'm really worried about you, babe. You're in trouble, aren't you?

He nearly broke down right there in lobby. Finally, someone had thrown him a lifeline, a way out. Now all he had to do was grab onto it tightly and not let go.