A/N – Whoo! Update! Thanks for the love, team. Each and every one of you amazing readers are fantastic, and deserve to find money in an old pants pocket.

Warning – smut incoming

X

Chapter 21

Hiccup offered his hut to his father and Gobber, but they declined.

"I'm not going to be sleeping, Dad," Hiccup said. "It's fine."

"No, no, we'll be alright on our own," Stoick reassured him.

"We've spent plenty of nights on the ground and another won't kill us," Gobber said, laughed, and then grew silent. "Hopefully."

Hiccup sighed. "We won't."

Stoick huffed. "If you try, Skullcrusher would…well, wake me up, or something."

"Yes, he would," Hiccup said. "So, you are fine."

Hiccup led the way out of the clubhouse and into the last of the twilight; barely a strand of light gleamed over the horizon. Millions of stars glittered above. He spotted Astrid with the dragons on the other side of a clearing.

"I'll see you tomorrow, Dad," Hiccup said.

Stoick hesitated, then nodded. "I suppose."

Stoick and Gobber headed toward the beach.

"Oh, gods…" Hiccup groaned into his hands. He rolled his head on his shoulders. He started toward Astrid, who spotted him first. She smiled, and his warmed his insides, but her smile waned.

"How did it go?" She asked it without joy.

Hiccup shrugged. "It depends. He didn't kill me, so, I guess it went well. He's…distant. I can tell he doesn't know what to think about me. He said I should stay away from Berk for a while. If they found out what happened, they might go crazy."

Astrid's brows came together. "I'm sorry. It could have been a lot worse."

"I know," he said. Toothless warbled and nudged his hand. Hiccup rested his palm against his dry scales.

Toothless hadn't given him reason to worry about his state. He'd been there regardless. Dragons had the capacity for unconditional loyalty, unlike people, and Hiccup hadn't been so grateful for it. He wrapped his arms around Toothless and hugged him close.

"Thanks, bud." He turned to Astrid. "What do you think about a flight?"

Astrid blinked. She turned toward Stormfly, who chirped. She nudged Astrid's shoulder.

"Yeah," Astrid said, patting Stormfly's snout.

"Don't worry," Hiccup said. "I can make a saddle for her in no time."

He hadn't lied; they had old saddles lying around the stables and plenty of supplies for new ones. He led Astrid and Stormfly to the stables, where he adjusted one of the older saddles and showed Astrid how to buckle it under Stormfly's belly. Stormfly bent down to let Astrid on her back.

"See? She's ready to go."

Astrid climbed onto the saddle.

"Quick notes," Hiccup said, holding onto the saddle so Stormfly wouldn't take off. "Let Stormfly do the flying. Guide her in the direction you want to go, but she'll do the rest. So, don't worry. She doesn't want to crash any more than you do."

"Okay," Astrid nodded.

Hiccup climbed onto Toothless's saddle, and took off from the stable runway. Stormfly followed. He glanced over his shoulder; Astrid clung to the saddle. Hiccup laughed. It didn't take long for Astrid for loosen her grip. A few laps around the Edge, and she laughed.

Astrid's laugher eased the rock in his stomach. He wanted to ask her about her family, about her home, but he didn't want to. She'd been skiddish of those questions from the start. If her family came from Berk, it wouldn't change anything. Would she be upset at what his father told him? Or would she open up and tell him more?

He didn't know what to do. If he couldn't go back to Berk…what would he do? He understood Astrid's reluctance to return home where she wasn't wanted. If Berk shunned him, a part of him would die. Berk was home. It was part of him.

The wind whisked away his thoughts. In the sky, nothing mattered. Everything felt far away and out of mind.

The moon had risen into the sky by the time they landed by the mountain springs. The humid air rushed out of the cavern, and burst into mist as it hit the cool air. The dragons played outside. Hiccup walked inside and slumped against one of the dry walls.

"Are you alright?" Astrid asked, quick behind him.

"I don't know…I'm just," Hiccup tried to find the word. "I don't know what I should do. Should I abandon my humanity and become a vampire fulltime? Should I hold on to what I've got as long as I can?"

Astrid hesitated. "I don't know the answer. I didn't have anything to hold on to."

"Astrid," he started, but hesitated.

"What is it?" She knelt beside him and placed a hand on his shoulder.

Hiccup heaved a sigh. "Was your dad's name Harald?"

Astrid blinked several times. She removed her hand from his shoulder, and sat back on her heels. Hiccup saw the answer on her face; confusion at how he knew such a thing; what to say to him; how to proceed with something she'd kept secret; anger at how he found out.

"He was," she said quietly. Her browns scrunched. "How do you know that?"

"My dad told me."

"How does your dad…"

"Astrid," Hiccup said calmly. He reached out to her arm and pulled it toward him, sliding his hands down her arm until he held her hand.

He told her all that his father and Gobber had told him. She didn't pull her hand out of his, but she looked to the ground several times, avoiding his gaze. Her shoulders slumped.

When he'd finished, she sighed. "What are the odds."

"Astrid?"

"I am a Hofferson," she said. "My dad is Harald. I know he had a brother named Finn that he didn't like, because their mother liked Finn more. I know she was Hildegard. It…fits, I guess."

Hiccup smiled, but Astrid frowned.

"This means that Berk is your home, too."

"How? I've never been there. The people there don't know me. The Hoffersons probably hate me. From what I heard from my parents, they weren't well-liked. It's not hard to see why. My father was bitter and my mother was…a whore, for lack of a better word. She used to joke that she didn't know who my dad really was, and Dad used to get so mad at her. I had blonde hair, like Dad, but my sister had dark hair, which my Dad took to mean that she wasn't really his. It made childhood fun."

"Astrid, if I go back to Berk, I want you to come with me," Hiccup said.

Astrid glanced up at him with wide yes. "Hiccup, I don't think that's a good idea."

"Why not? Berk is your home, like it or not. You're a Hofferson. You've got family there. You can see the home you almost had."

She squeezed her eyes closed.

"Astrid?" Hiccup asked softly. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset you. I just thought…maybe."

"I think you should let your dad and Gobber work their plan before you go to Berk," she said, eyes closed. She opened them. "It's safer than flying in without a plan."

"Astrid?"

"It's fine, Hiccup," she said, standing. She pulled her hand out of his. "I'm done with trying to fit in among people. It never works. Berk won't be any different. It's not worth getting your hopes up only to watch your dreams shatter into pieces."

"Berk is different," he said.

She didn't answer.

X

They bathed in the hot springs. They sat in separate springs with their backs to each other, within sight range. Hiccup glanced over his shoulder at her more than once. The water glimmered on her pale back. She pulled her hair over her shoulder, like she knew he watched, and he felt the effects she had on him. His heart beat faster. He couldn't think of anything else but her, and nothing else mattered.

"Hiccup?" Astrid asked, filling the cavern springs with her voice.

He swallowed. "Yeah?"

"What are you thinking about?"

"If I told you, you'd throw something at me," he chuckled.

She hummed a laugh. "Really? Is it that bad?"

"I wouldn't call it 'bad,' just…not entirely clean."

"Close your eyes," she said.

"What?"

"Just do it!"

"Okay," he said, closing his eyes. "They are closed."

"Keep them closed until I say."

"Yes, Ma'am."

Water splashed. Skin met the stone, a hand, then a foot, dripping wet. Footsteps padded across the stone ground, coming closer.

"Keep them closed."

"I am."

The footsteps stopped. The water in his spring moved. Hiccup sucked his breath back in. Gods help him.

"Are you okay?" she asked, so close that his heart might have stopped.

He nodded. "Yeah, I'm good, I'm…" He chuckled. "I can't breathe, but I'm good."

"You can open your eyes," she whispered.

His heart hitched. He hadn't seen a woman without clothes. He knew what lied underneath, but only in theory. He'd heard about things, had seen crude drawings, listened to lustful stories. Astrid sat in his spring, wet hair draping her shoulders like spun gold. The water came to her chest, covering her breasts. Her pale body shifted shape in the moving, steaming waters.

No clever word or wit came to his aid. He sat within her sights, motionless.

"Are you okay?" she asked. Her shy smile melted something inside of him, and he couldn't contain himself.

Gods, she was beautiful.

And he was…he didn't know. He'd never been naked in front of a girl, or anyone, really. He'd tried his best to keep his boney body covered up. He knew what it probably looked like, like a leather-wrapped skeleton. He didn't need anyone to solidify that worry with words.

And yet, Astrid didn't look at him with disgust or pity. Curiosity lit her eyes, with something wide and waiting behind it. Gods only knew what she thought.

They sat far enough apart that they did not touch. Hiccup scooted a little closer to her, and in response, she scooted closer to him. The met in the middle. Hiccup found the smooth skin of her waist, and ran his fingers along her sides. She held onto his shoulders, and leaned up to kiss him, and kept room between her chest and his. She ran her hands through his semi-dry hair, nudging his scalp with her nails.

Somehow, they'd backed up to the spring's side. Astrid, to keep the space between them small, straddled his lap, a thigh on either side of his, and Hiccup couldn't breathe. She sat far enough back she didn't touch his manhood, but it didn't matter. Her bare thighs touched his. Course hair that did not belong to him graced his thigh as they kissed. Her breasts, although distorted by the water, moved dangerously close.

It happened to be very lucky she had not sat closer to his groin. When they broke apart to breathe, his manhood stood as hard as it could have.

Hiccup thought of Gobber, of Gobber's outhouse, of the smell of a week-old pile of yak dung, of anything besides Astrid, or her breasts, or the smooth skin underneath his hands. She smiled at him. The remaining blood in his body rushed to his erection, despite his efforts.

"Are you okay?" she whispered. She wiggled, and her movement wiggled his legs, which wiggled everything else. He gulped.

It twitched, and he hoped more than anything she wouldn't notice. Then again, he wished she would.

"Hiccup?" she asked, leaning closer.

"I'm okay," he said, too high to be truth.

She raised a brow and grinned. "Really?"

"It's just…uh, I've not…well…and you…" How to say it? "You're really attractive."

She smiled, and if he was not mistaken, which he could have been – he had other things on his mind – a light blush flooded her cheeks.

"You're not too bad yourself," she said.

He laughed. "Now I know I'm dreaming. I'm still sleeping in my bed. Or in a coma. Because I know this isn't really happening."

"It's not?"

"Nope."

"And how do you figure that?"

"Because there's no way on Odin's green earth that I'm sitting naked in a hot spring with a naked girl that thinks I'm attractive."

She chuckled, and pulled her bottom lip into her mouth. Her fangs stuck out on either side, and it sent a shiver down his spine.

"Especially not with my…" he coughed his words out before he said it.

"Your what?"

His face burned. "Nothing."

She inched closer. She laid a hand on his chest. "Are you sure it's nothing?"

"Yup. One hundred percent," he said with a nod of his head. "Nothing at – ah!"

Astrid's hand closed around his erect self. In sure reflex, he closed his hand over hers, which caused another array of shocking emotions he'd never thought he'd feel. His breath came in torrents, batting against him without mercy. Astrid leaned in close, her lips grazing his cheek. She pecked him, a chaste kiss when compared to where her hand was.

"Are you sure you're okay?" she asked, a girlish giggle on her lips.

"Well," he started, swallowing hard, "to be honest…"

She laughed and kissed his cheek again. "Mamie told me once that if a man saw a naked woman and didn't get hard, then it'd be a problem."

He tried to laugh, but found his breath increasingly difficult to control.

Her hand moved, her fingers twitched underneath his. She leaned in closer to him. "I've never touched a man before."

"Congratulations," he said.

She kissed his cheek again. "Show me how."

"What?" he asked, turning toward her. A hungry curiosity shone in her eyes.

Shaking, he loosened his grip on her hand, and widened his fingers around hers. He ran both of their hands down his length and back again, until she had the motion. He released his hand. The surface water undulated with the action and occasionally slopped over the sides. Hiccup held in his moans as best he could, but he hadn't prepared for this. Astrid's hand pushed out sounds he didn't know he could make.

Astrid paused just long enough to kiss him. "You don't have to be quiet. No one's listening but me."

Hiccup took her lips in his own. Her hand paused, but he didn't mind. He traced her body from her waist to her chin, and held her jaw as he kissed her. They broke apart and she continued. It wouldn't take long, he felt it.

He slid his hands down her chest, and earned a shudder from her lips. He held her breasts in his hands, and it sent a fire through his limbs. He squeezed, and she bit into her lip. He ran his fingers over the center, and she made the tiniest of sounds, more erotic than anything he could have dreamed up, and he repeated his action to hear it again.

She worked him; they kissed; he touched her. He moaned into her, gasped as he felt it coming closer. He reached for Astrid's hand and gave her the last boost of speed she needed, then it erupted and left him feel wobbly.

Astrid released him, and left a long kiss on his lips. Hiccup held onto her, but his wobbly arms couldn't hold her as she moved. She sat beside him, legs draped over his. Shame crept up inside of him.

"Bad?" she asked.

"No," Hiccup said. "Unexpected, but not bad."

She leaned in, and he turned to meet her lips with his. He reached for her, flattening his hands on her waist. Astrid gently gripped his fingers. Her lips hovered over his as she moved his hand down her stomach.

Gods help him.

With her initiative, he reached between her legs, that she widened for him. With his other hand, he pulled her closer. Astrid leaned into him as he explored her slick, warm, and soft folds of skin.

"Show me how," he said in her ear.

She smiled, although her cheeks were red, and kissed him. She guided his hand, and pressed his finger into her.

"There," she said.

He ran his finger along the spot, and with her simple instructions, he touched her. He drank the sounds she made. She dropped her head onto his shoulder, and his other hand cupped her breast. She squirmed as if shocked, but moaned pleasure. When she finished, she latched onto the arm attached to the hand that touched her, and off her breath fell his name.

"Hiccup," she repeated, and collapsed back into his chest.

Hiccup kissed her neck, fought the urge to sink his teeth into her pulse, and hugged her limp body close to his.

They dried by lying on the cavern floor, side by side. Hiccup no longer worried about her seeing him naked, and spent much of the time memorizing the way the dim light danced on her skin.

He would find other things to remember and worry about, but right now, all that mattered laid beside him.