Hiccup was nervous as he walked through his front door. His father may not have been home since two days ago, but that did not mean he doubted his father would jump out from the shadows and beat the life out of him. He waved goodbye to Jack and Ombric, giving a small smile of gratitude for bringing him home. And for feeding him. And showing him what it was like to be loved.

They smiled and waved back, shouting good night from the open passenger-side windows. Hiccup closed the door to the house as soon as they left his sight. He was so happy it was Friday night. Hiccup would love to see Jack again, but he did not want to be brought into the light only to be shoved back into the darkness.

Hiccup woke to the sound of angry cussing from downstairs. Confusion had its hold on Hiccup's brain before he realized who was yelling: his father. He was terrified. He didn't want to move. If he did, he was sure Stoick would hear, come up the stairs, break down the door, and kill him.

Carefully, he crawled out of the hallway closet that was his bedroom and went downstairs. Quietly. He should not be seen and should not be heard.

Hiccup sat in class, ignoring the pain in his knee and stomach. He was sure his father had busted his left knee. All the pain was making him feel sick. He could only hope no one noticed him limping.

"Listen up, class!" Mr. Mildew said, clearly bored. "We 'ave a new student with us today."

Clearly trying to hide but not able to was a rather... husky student behind Mr. Mildew. The blond boy looked nervous. Hiccup felt bad for him.

"Say 'ello to everyone," Mr. Mildew's voice almost sounded sadistic. It made sense, considering how terrible a person (and teacher) he was. Mr. Mildew loved it when his students suffered. Hiccup especially.

"H-hi, e-e-everyone." The poor boy's voice shook with every syllable. "M-my name is F-Fishlegs."

"Why don't you tell the class a little somethin' 'bout yerself?"

"W-well, I-"

"Alright, now go sit in the empty seat by Hiccup," Mr. Mildew said, clearly knowing how much of an asshole he is but not caring in the slightest because, really, why should he? He is the high school's math teacher.

Hiccup kept a firm grip on the sink. His world was spinning. Knee throbbing as it tried its best to hold him up.

I just got to get through this. It will be over soon.

Hiccup did everything he could think of to get the dizziness to stop. He wished he had something to eat. That would have gotten rid of the dizziness. His father would never allow him to have it, though.

Darkness crept into his vision painfully slow. His legs gave out beneath him. His arms couldn't hold him up anymore.

"Hiccup?!"

Hiccup felt quite cozy, despite the pain in his head and basically the whole left side of his already-broken body. He didn't want to open his eyes. He was quite content where he was against something warm and soft...

"Hiccup? Hiccup, can you hear me?"

... And apparently noisy.

Hiccup cracked an eye open to see who was talking to him.

"Fishlegs?" Hiccup croaked. His voice sounded weak even to his own ears.

"Oh, thank Odin you are awake! Are you alright?"

Hiccup just stared at him, then glanced around at his surroundings. Apparently, they were still in the bathroom.

"I... I think so," Hiccup said.

Fishlegs sighed with relief. "Oh, thank Thor."

Hiccup pushed himself up, ignoring the way Fishlegs held out his arms in case Hiccup fell again (he didn't). Once he stood up, he brushed some dirt off, most of it being imaginary. Once Hiccup deemed himself good enough, he walked towards the door, keeping his back toward Fishlegs.

"Where are you going?" Fishlegs asked, making Hiccup stop.

Hiccup turned around. "You're right. I shouldn't leave without thanking you. So, thank you."

And with that, Hiccup turned around to continue walking...

... walking right into Jack. Who desperately needed to pee. Not that that bit of information is important.

"Sorry!" Hiccup panicked. Great, now he must think I am a clutz!

"Hic, what are you sorry for? It's just me!" Jack said. "Besides, it's not every day I get to bump into a cutie like you!"

Hiccup blushed at that comment. He wasn't sure if he should be angry, confused, or happy by the... compliment? Was it a compliment? Or was Jack making fun of him. This wouldn't be the first time another male had done this. Hiccup wasn't able to fight him off. His father had blamed Hiccup for the incident.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to make you feel uncomfortable," Jack said, noticing Hiccup's (mixed) reaction.

Hiccup opened his mouth to soothe Jack when they heard someone clear their throat. And that someone was Fishlegs.

"I-I should get going now. This conversation clearly does not include me," Fishlegs said.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Jack said. "Why don't you join Hiccup and I? Maybe I can introduce you to some of my friends. I feel like we could all be acquaintances at best."

"I g-guess that doesn't sound too t-terrible," Fishlegs muttered. "C-count me in."

"Hooray!" Jack shouted, jumping in the air while doing a fist pump. "But first, I really need to pee!"

Hiccup stood in wonder, starting to question how anyone could see this man as appealing.

You know you like him, though.

Hiccup sat right in between Jack and Fishlegs. The rest of the table was filled with some friends of Jack (basically some other soccer players from both the boys' team and the girls' team). There was North (the Russian one), Pitch (the vintage goth one), Sandy (the short and mute one), Bunnymund (the Australian one), Snotlout (the arrogant but secretly kind one), Toothless (the emo one), Hookfang (the very horny one), Tuffnut (the troublemaking one), Ruffnut (the other troublemaking one), Astrid (the badass one), Stormfly (the girlfriend of the badass one), Meatlug (the very sweet one), and Lightfall (the quiet one). They were all so nice, even going as far as to try to share some food with him when they noticed he didn't have a food tray (and he couldn't tell the lie he had eaten already).

Jack's friends were attempting to make small conversation with Hiccup and Fishlegs, though at some point, Hiccup and Jack were having their own (whispered) conversation.

"Are you sure you don't want anything?" Jack asked. Hiccup detected an unusual amount of concern in Jack's voice. "Not even some juice?"

"I'm okay, really," Hiccup assured. "I just forgot to bring some money today. I can wait until I go home to eat something."

"Fine," Jack said, finally caving in. Hiccup moved his focus away from Jack and onto the rest of the group, trying his hardest to listen in on the group to see if he could learn anything about them that he could use later.

"So, Hiccup," the one named Toothless said. From what Hiccup had been told by Jack before they reached the table, he was the emo one of the group. "You doing anything later?"

"I'm afraid so," Hiccup replied to the emo. Hiccup got to have his fun last night. He had so much fun it was all he could think about. So he hadn't been able to get any of the chores around the house done. Hence why he had his new rib and knee injuries. Even though one would not notice it was dirty. But somehow Stoick knew. That scared Hiccup more than the beating itself.

"Damn," Toothless grumbled. "I was totally looking forward to you joining us later tonight. At least we have Fishlegs joining us."

Astrid looked over at Hiccup, studying him. She looked away so she could pull out a notebook and pen. Once she had found a blank page, she started to write something.

"Here you go!" A small apple juice box and something wrapped in tin foil was placed in front of him. Hiccup looked at Jack, watching as he suddenly sat down next to Hiccup.

"What's this?" Hiccup questioned.

"Food. I am not going to have you starve on my watch," Jack said. His serious expression and tone - something Hiccup had never seen before, even when just being a wallflower - made it clear to Hiccup his stance of making sure Hiccup ate something. Hiccup thanked him and ate.

Hiccup didn't fail to notice the way Astrid snuck Jack a note made from the same paper from her notebook.

Hiccup was ready to make his thirty-minute walk back home. Actually, scratch that. He was ready to just already be home. He was scared. And he had every right to be. He hadn't had any experiences with Heather all day. He hasn't even seen her.

Maybe she is sick today?

She is the devil, she never gets sick.

"Haddock!"

Speak of the devil.

She stormed right over to Hiccup, eyes dangerous peridot tempests.

I'm going to die.

"Who the hell do you think you are?!" She spat. "Who the hell do you think you are, stealing my boyfriend?!"

"What-what are you talking about?" Hiccup asked. Heather suddenly grabbed Hiccup by the shoulders, only to push him into the door of a random locker. A cry of surprise and pain left his mouth.

"Don't play stupid with me, slut!" Heather snapped. "You think wiggling your pretty hips and flat ass is really going to keep him attracted to you forever? Well, guess what? When he realizes his mistake of leaving me, you will be a rotting corpse in a ditch for the rest of eternity! I'll make sure of it! I don't need you trying to steal him from me again. Do you understand?"

Hiccup stared into Heather's eyes with terror and confusion. "H-Heather, please, you have to believe me when I say I do not know what you are talking about," Hiccup whimpered out.

It appeared to be the wrong thing to say. Hiccup didn't have enough time to blink when the punch connected to his face.

Stunned, Hiccup let the blood from his nose drip down his lips, down his chin. It felt like a lot of blood, too.

Heather threw Hiccup to the floor in her rage. Only to pounce on him and continue to deliver swings. Hiccup could only raise his arms and squeeze his eyes. As suddenly as she was beating his face, she suddenly stopped. Hiccup cracked an eye open to see what she was planning.

"Ugh, I cannot believe I soiled my hands with your blood," Heather scoffed. She immediately walked away, hips swaying with sass and frustration.

It took a while for Hiccup to get up. Not only did his ribs and knee hurt, but now his face did, too. He didn't want to think of what else would hurt when he got home.

"What happened to you?" Stoick snapped, his pale green eyes burning a hole through Hiccup's face, the topic in question.

Hiccup didn't want to answer the question. If he told his father a girl had beaten him up because he had "stolen her man," he would be murdered. If he came up with a lie he had tripped and fallen on his face, he would still be murdered. Mostly because his father would know the injuries are vastly different than that.

"I asked you a question, boy," Stoick said slowly, teeth clenched together.

"I.. I-I tripped..." Hiccup hunched his shoulders, trying to look smaller.

Stoick stood up. Hiccup stood still.

It wasn't long until Stoick's fist made contact with Hiccup's face.