A/N: Another chapter. Hope you enjoy, though the next one will be probably posted in the new year...Sorry for that!
Bitterness
It was a strange night for Astrid.
She didn't know, when exactly she fell asleep, or how. She was very restless, turning from one side to the other, while her dreams were confusing and felt very disconnected.
But when she finally awoke, about noon and the next day, it wasn't because of her dreams. No. It was a painful and bitter feeling in her stomach, that startled her all the sudden, letting her jolt awake in just a few moments. With dry eyes, she looked around, light blinding her, until she found a bucket next to the bed, which she, without thinking about it, took with both hands, leaning her head over it.
Hel...she never vomited like this before...
It had to be the mead, she had been drinking the night before. But...had it really been that much? She for sure knew, that she would never drink again!
With tears in her eyes and a disgusting taste in her mouth she looked up, set the bucket down again, before she wiped with one hand over her eyes and with the other over her lips.
She coughed, looking slowly around, the sourness of her own puke made her throat sting painfully, which made it hard to swallow.
Her mind still felt numb, while she tried to understand, where she exactly was.
It took her a few minutes to realize, that she was in her room, on her bed and the bucket next to her belonged to her mother, which she used for cleaning...Well...until now...
Still looking around, she saw the jug on her bedside table and wondered, how it got there. She couldn't remember, that she had taken it with her, when she reached her home. But probably she had been just to drunk, to remember.
Curious and a bit thirsty she reached for it with shaking hands, carefully smelling the content. Astrid was just to afraid, that she had taken a jug filled with mead from the mead hall the night before. But she felt pure relief, as she noticed, that it had been filled with water.
Carefully she brought it to her lips, drinking with caution, but stopping shortly after, when she felt her stomach revolting. As fast as she could, she set the jug back down, holding her stomach, rubbing it gently.
"Dawn mead...I will never drink you again!" the young General mumbled, while her stomach grumbled loudly, turning again.
While still massaging her stomach, she fell back to her bed, hoping that this lying position would help her to ease the pain.
But the more she was stroking over her belly, the more a strange and, quite confusing realization hit her, though she needed some time to understand it:
Why was she feeling her skin? Like...her naked skin...?
Confused she looked down on herself and her heavy eyelids shot open, being all the sudden very awake, as she saw her body, as the gods had created her.
She was naked! Very naked, to be exactly! She wasn't even wearing her breast wrappings, or undergarments!
But how?
And Why?
She couldn't remember, that she had taken her cloths off! Well...she didn't even remember, that she reached the house of her parents...
She turned to her side, very carefully looking over the side of her bed, searching with her eyes, until she found her cloths – carelessly thrown to the floor, as if she had been in a haste...
But why had she done that?
If she really had been that drunk, like she was currently felt unhappily sober, she should have fallen straight into her bed, without changing, or undressing.
Clearly, some puzzle piece was missing...
Something was odd...
Something...
Or...someone...
She gasped.
Hiccup!
She remembered, that Hiccup had brought her home late at night, brought her into her bed... And he...he had been in her bed, too. But...why?
Astrid felt a pain in her head, as she tried to remember each and every detail of the night before...
So...what did she remember? Like...the big celebration, because Hiccup made this awesome treaty for Berk. Then...Hiccup...talking and talking and even more talking with a bunch of people, especially the elders...And she had felt neglected and left alone by him. And that was the reason, why she had been drinking so much...like...too much...
Her stomach grumbled again and she held it, until things stopped turning inside of it.
But what happened then...?
Somewhere, deep in her memory, she remembered Hiccup, carrying her towards her home. And there was kissing...like...lots and lots of kissing. Very hot kissing... And memories of him, reaching her room, laying her on top of her bed... and Hiccup himself...somehow on top of her... Even more kissing...
By Freya and Thor and all the other gods out there...
Have they really...had...sex with each other? Like...real, naked, drunk sex?
Astrid gulped, though the disgusting, bitter taste in her mouth returned.
No...they wouldn't have done that! They have agreed to wait! To wait, until their wedding night!
But...it was the only reason, why she was naked...Was it?
"Oh Freya...please don't tell me, that this is real!" Astrid mumbled, covering her eyes with her hands, while more and more questions entered her head.
Why had they done that? Why hadn't they stopped? Had Hiccup been drunk, too? Why had he left? How in Hel would this affect their relationship?
This was beyond words! Absolutely horrible!
Yes, she had these desires for months now, and – yes – on the right day and with the right offer, she would haven given herself more early to Hiccup, than they had planed. But not in such an awful way!
But...why had he given in...?
Why...?
He would never to such things. He was far to kind and far to clever, to take any advantage of her, while she was drunk... The blonde woman knew that and loved the young chief for that.
'I want to feel you. All of you. I want to have passionate sex with you...all night long...'
She suddenly heard her own voice in her head. Her own words. Her own lust and longing...
And remembered more – remembered, how she persuaded him to sleep with her. How this...had been her fault! She had been the one, who had wanted it so much. She had been the one, who couldn't wait any longer! How she had been the one, who had ruined this special moment, for both of them...
She knew that, although there were still black spots in her memory...
More and more regret filled her. And sadness...
And Astrid knew, that it was Hiccup, who would take the mistakes, thinking, it had been his fault. But it wasn't! It was hers – and hers alone...
Oh, how she feared to see him again...
It was already noon, when Hiccup wondered, where his fiance was... Well...probably still in bed, yet he was very worried for her well being. He had never witnessed, that she had been drunk. This drunk, to be exactly!
He probably should have stayed to make sure that she was alright. But her willingness for sex was just too dangerous, for him to stay.
Also, what else should he have done? She had been naked in front of him, touching herself! In her private parts!
Hiccup sighed, tearing with his hands his hair, to prevent any erotic images form re-appearing. He might be alone in his workshop in that very moment, but just any minute, somebody could walk into him and he didn't want to see him in an aroused and flustered state. He was Berk's chief, after all!
It had been already hard enough for him to get rid of the images the previous night and even harder to get rid of his errect...problem...
He sighed again, knowing that it had been the right decision to leave, before something bad had happened. Sure, a very amazing, but also very bad thing...
The young chief just hoped, that they could just forget about the whole incident, although her nakedness would haunt his nights, until he would finally be able to see her again...naked...
With a long breath, he stood up.
The heat had gotten to his head and he needed some fresh air.
Also was his worry for his fiance growing bigger and bigger. He needed to see her – or at least make somehow sure, that she overcame the night in a decent state...
He walked out of his workshop, to be greeted immediately by Toothless, who clearly wanted to fly.
"Not now, buddy. First we need to see Astrid!"
Toothless grunted at these words and lowered his eyelids to give the dragon rider an annoyed look, as if he wanted to ask him:
"Will this always be like this, when you try to mate with that female human?"
Hiccups facial features sank, rolling his eyes at the winged reptile.
"Don't give me that look! It will only take a few minutes!"
Or hours..., Hiccup reminded himself, very well knowing, that they definitely should talk about the happenings from the previous night. Although, to be very honest, he dreaded this conversation already, before it even had happened...
"Common, Toothless. Let's go!" he said, trying to sound cheerful. But – who was he trying to fool? He felt miserable and it would only get worse – he already knew that...
Together with his black dragon, Hiccup walked slowly towards the Hofferson house, his heart beating louder and faster with each step. Yet, he tried to stay calm on the outside, smiling and waving at everybody who passed him and greeted him.
Then, all the sudden, he remembered the words, he had chanted in his mind:
"Stay focused!"Yes, that he needed to do – stay focused. Astrid was his fiance, after all! It would be an awkward and a very embarrassing talk, but it needed to be done! Also, he could and never would hide something from her – it was a compliment for her after all, if he found the way she talked sexy and that she was stunning, without any cloths on. He should tell her that, if the moment was right.
It didn't take him long, to reach her parents house and just in that moment, when he wanted to knock at the front door, it opened.
Astrid was just about to leave, while Hiccup felt relieved to see her awake and (thankfully) alive, although she looked a bit pale and had dark shadows under her eyes.
"Astrid!" He greeted her, very happy to see her.
He reached for her, trying to hug her closely, but she stepped to the side and, when she recognized him, lowered her gaze to the floor.
"Oh...hi...Hiccup!" The young General mumbled, before hurrying past him, petting Toothless on the head once.
"H-Hey! I wondered, how you feel this morning! I was worried, that the mead was just too much for you..."
"Ah...thank you. Everything is fine. I need to go. People...need me...!"
It felt like he was hit in the stomach (and not the good kind of hit, that Astrid would give him sometimes, or he had wished for in this moment). She wasn't even looking at him, avoiding his eyes and his touch.
And before he could do something – she was gone, leaving him by her door with a very bitter feeling in his stomach... And the feeling that doom dragged him deeper and deeper, to the very bottoms of Hel...
"What have I done...buddy?"
A/N: The ending was planned differently, but I liked it they way it turned out better. Also thanks to everybody, who read this. Hope you all enjoyed it.
