"Berk could use a new blacksmith," Hiccup casually suggested to his newly obtained friend as they hoisted barrels of freshly caught fish out of the longboat.

Eret scratched his neck, unsure of whether to accept the young chief's kind offer.

"I don't have much experience in that department."

"Follow Gobber's orders slavishly and you will do just fine," Hiccup assured him. His gaze then flickered to the large burn mark on Eret's wrist. "I'll ask Astrid to knit you some gloves."

Eret nodded, a broad smile of gratitude spreading across his weary face.

"Good. I'll inform Gobber then. Come by our house before Nattmal tomorrow."

-x-x-x-

Astrid stirred awake when Hiccup slipped in bed next to her. She turned to face him as he placed an arm over her waist.

"Where have you been?" she whispered groggily, squinting at him in the dark.

"The usual nightly flight," he explained. "I lost track of time. Sorry."

His wife meekly nodded against his warm chest, starting to drift away again. He pulled her closer.

"All these new responsibilities that I have been given take so much of my time," he mumbled glumly to himself. "I can't neglect Toothless."

Astrid shifted in his grip, wrapping her arms around his lanky middle.

"I would never ask you to," she promised.

He leaned down to give her a kiss on the forehead.

-x-x-x-

Eret found life on Berk very adaptable. It helped having gained the friendships and approval of nearly everyone on the small island. As he fell into a routine, the days began blurring past him and his time spent working for Drago faded into a distant memory.

He slowly became one of Hiccup's closest confidantes and the reliability and trust only strengthened with time. He even began accompanying him and his cousin on several confidential journeys while warming up to the enclosed space of the blacksmith shop.

-x-x-x-

Eret just finished his chores for the day when the chief's wife decided to pay him a visit.

"Oh good, you are still here," she said with a smile he could not help but return.

"Well seeing as I practically live here that is hardly surprising," he replied, eyes twinkling with fondness.

"Don't get cocky with me," she retorted in a light friendly tone. "I need your help in the mead hall."

Eret sighed.

"As you wish, Axe-girl," he winked at her before stepping out.

Astrid rolled her eyes at the nickname he had chosen for her and followed him silently.

Outside his workplace, they spoke in a more reserved manner. It did not seem entirely appropriate to engage in playful, and sometimes borderline flirtatious, banter with her out in public.

Astrid led him to a disturbingly chaotic scene inside the hall. Eret's eyes widened.

"What in Thor's name happened here?" he nearly shouted feeling worn out just by the sight that beheld him.

"Your dearest and her equally insufferable brother put another one of their absurd hypothesis to test and this is the result," she gestured over the whole room.

Eret groaned. "She is not my-"

"I don't care," Astrid cut him off. "Just… help us fix this before my husband returns home."

"Demanding, aren't you?" he huffed, picking up bits and pieces of wooden chunk scattered over the floor.

"You should be well aware of that by now," she told him proudly, fighting back a smirk.

He merely shook his head at her.

-x-x-x-

The anticipation for the chief's arrival was great, specifically in the Haddock household. Astrid found herself incapable of sitting still. Her nerves were driving her insane. She tried staying somehow occupied to keep her cool but the quivering excitement never tampered.

She had resorted to chopping firewood when Eret passed by. He laughed at her fidgety movements.

"Not helping," she growled at him. He took a step back in caution.

"You know-" He started.

"Don't you dare say it," Astrid begged him.

"There might be-"

"No!"

"A delay, because of the weather," he spoke out hurriedly. "Sorry."

Astrid sighed, dropping her axe sloppily down on the ground. The disappointment was evident in her crystal blue eyes.

"What is on your neck?" she asked him after a moment of eerie silence. "Got to say, Ruffnut sure lives up to her name."

Eret snorted. "It was her brother… actually."

Astrid raised an eyebrow in surprise and slight amusement.

"Not like that!" Eret protested, "he accidentally nicked me during a spar."

"Oh." Understanding dawned her. "Well it's good that you two are getting along."

"I don't have much of a choice. It's a package deal, you see," he told her exasperatedly, almost slumping against a tree. "They are inseparable."

Astrid chuckled.

"Sort of like Hiccup and Toothless in a way," she mused out loud. "Incomplete without the other."

Eret nodded his agreement.

-x-x-x-

"But you just got back," Astrid's voice cracked uncharacteristically.

Hiccup announced he would be leaving again shortly. He was set to meet up with other tribal leaders to work out a peace treaty. Astrid knew it was important but a part of her felt he relished in his time away from Berk.

"I will be home again sooner than you know it."

Astrid shook her head. "Let me come with you."

"I can't. I need someone to watch over Berk while I remain absent," he argued.

"Snotlout, or even Eret-"

"They were not assigned the responsibility. We were. It would not look good on our family if we dumped all our obligations on others for selfish reasons."

Astrid's heart drummed violently.

"Spending time with my husband is considered selfish now?"

"This is supposed to a political trip not a vacation-"

"I know that!" she exclaimed. "I just…" She trailed off upon seeing the stern look on his face. I just want to be near you. I miss you. I miss us. She had wanted to say but left these inner thoughts unspoken.

Hiccup felt a flicker of guilt but before he had the opportunity to dwell on it, she left the room and his drifting mind became otherwise occupied.

The following night, she felt his arms encircle around her as they lay down. Instead of bringing her the usual comfort, she felt hollowness. She found herself dreaming of a different set of arms holding her. Anger had awoken treacherous thoughts in her mind.

-x-x-x-

Hiccup turned to his wife one last time. Lifting her chin up with his fingers, he kissed her chastely on the lips.

"I love you," he told her earnestly. Astrid sighed, pulling him into a tight embrace.

"Promise me you will come back soon," she whispered into his leathered chest.

"I promise," he vowed.

-x-x-x-

He hadn't kept his promise. It was nothing new but her heart still hurt. What was supposed to be a week long trip had turned into three months without as much as a letter. She was well aware of his whereabouts thanks to Snotlout who had returned just weeks after their departure. He informed her that Hiccup had extended his journey to explore islands farther away.

His adventurous spirit had appealed to her in the past. She even encouraged him not fully understanding that this would later have an impact on their relationship. As days ran by, she began questioning if she had made the right choice by marrying someone she could never truly have. His morbid curiosity and love for dragons clearly outweighed whatever feelings he held for her.

-x-x-x-

Snotlout knocked soundly on the door of the Haddock house.

"What do you want?" Astrid asked grimly, opening the door. Her flaxen hair was untidy and skin paler than usual.

Snotlout cleared his throat. "There has been an incident and we could really use your assistance."

There had been a dragonroot planted in the middle of the meadow. It had made the dragons go berserk and there were several injured parties. Including Eret who was bleeding heavily from his arm after being grazed by a Nadder spine and Tuffnut who was passed out next to him.

Astrid was fuming. "Whoever is responsible for this will pay dearly."

"I don't think anyone did this on purpose," Fishlegs tried to reason. "The dragons must have simply stumbled upon it by accident."

The anger bubbling up inside her did not dissipate at his remark but with everyone's eyes on her, she tried to appear calm.

"Alright," she took a deep breath. "Lets clean up this mess."

-x-x-x-

"I don't understand why you refuse to visit the healer," Astrid handed Eret a mug of ale and pressed a rag against his damaged skin.

"I have survived worse," he said, taking a gulp from his beverage. "Besides, it has stopped bleeding. There is no point now."

"Yes, there is," she frowned at him. "The wound might still get infected. Unless…"

"Unless… what?"

She snatched the ale from him and poured some of it on the rag. Eret hissed loudly when she pressed it against his skin again.

"There you go. All better now," she said, smiling at him sweetly.

He glared at her as she began bandaging him up but the corners of his mouth were itching to turn up. Her fingers worked skillfully as if she had done this numerous of times. Eret's eyes fell to her lips, caught between her teeth in concentration.

He did not know what possessed him when he leaned forward and captured them with his own.

Their lips moved slow and hesitantly at first before their kiss grew more confident. Eret pulled her closer, his arms enveloping her petite body in a tight embrace. He could feel her heart racing. They had shared hugs and innocent pecks on the cheek in the past but this was different. This was… wrong. Astrid's eyes suddenly widened in realization and she pulled herself away from him, her husband's name resting bitterly at the tip of her tongue.

Silence corrupted the room for a moment as they stared at each other, breathless. When Eret opened his mouth to speak, Astrid interrupted him.

"I think you should leave."

He nodded wordlessly and stood up from the chair he had grown quite accustomed to over the months.

-x-x-x-

Astrid avoided Eret as much as possible without coming off as too suspicious. When Hiccup finally made his way home, she had felt too guilt-ridden to hold any grudge against him. Her earlier irritations all but vanished. Hiccup did, however, not buy into her false charade. He sensed something was off the moment he looked into her eyes. Just mere hours after his return, he had her confess everything to him.

"I'm so sorry," she whispered. Tears prickled in her eyes, threatening to fall.

"So am I," he whispered back at her before standing up and heading for the door.

Astrid felt her chest heave when she heard it slam shut. In the end, it was all her fault. She had ruined their last chance at happiness together because of her insecurities. It was over now. She had lost him for good.

Sobs began building up inside her and were starting to escape when suddenly she heard the clicking sound of the lock to their bedroom. She lifted up her tearful gaze up to find him staring at her.

"I also have a confession to make," he told her, voice laced with emotion.

Astrid braced herself.

"All of this happened too fast. Finding my mother again only to have my father taken away. Chiefdom. Marriage," he paused. "We were right in not bringing a child into this yet."

She gave him a rueful smile.

"Toothless and I went farther than we have ever gone before. It was amazing." He sat down beside her. "I thought I could never get tired of this. Going forward. Never looking back," he continued, his hand now ghosting over the buttons of her dress, "but then I never thought I would miss you so much."

Astrid looked down, face reddening in shame. He grasped her chin, forcing her to look up at him again.

"I still love you," he reassured her. "I just don't trust you anymore."

With that she found herself pinned down on the bed as his lips travelled across her neck, leaving dark marks all over her delicate skin. The next thing she knew, he was fumbling with his belt buckle. Astrid bit her lip as he took her roughly.

-x-x-x-

Eret avoided eye contact with the chief now. He had attempted bringing up his dalliance with Astrid several times but whenever he tried to, Hiccup deliberately changed the subject. He never spoke of it or let him know he knew. Eret could see it in his eyes though. Whenever he thought he wasn't looking, Hiccup would throw him an occasional scowl.


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