Astrid waited. And waited. And waited.

She'd taken solace on their bed, recounting the evening's turn of events. She'd practically laid herself out like a Snoggletog gift for Hiccup to unwrap. Sure, she hadn't thought ahead of what would happen beyond some kissing and intimate touching, but she didn't foresee anything like what did happen!

Astrid sighed, crossing arms over her chest. She felt ridiculous now in the transparent nightgown that revealed every curve of her bust. The nightgown was meant to seduce her husband. A scoff ripped from her throat. It obviously didn't work on Hiccup, or maybe it worked too well. Astrid wasn't sure which.

Either way, Hiccup had fled the bedroom without a word of explanation. Astrid slammed a fist into her pillow. She had to hit something, or she would burst.

She watched the moon's glow creep across the floor under the windowsill. It was growing late, and she had no idea where Hiccup had run off to. She was tired of waiting for him. Astrid threw herself on Hiccup's pillow, hugging it tightly. Her lids sinking and breathing slowing…

Before being married, if someone had lain against her and held her by the middle, Astrid would have broken their nose with her elbow and flipped them out of her bed. Over the last couple of months, she'd grown accustom to the comforting familiarity of Hiccup's embrace.

She flinched just a tad as she returned to the waking world and drew in a deep within her lungs. Hiccup's chest was flush against her, but his bottom half remained a safe distance to not press into her. Astrid felt as if she were floating in a dream as Hiccup's fingertips gliding across her rib cage.

Astrid shifted onto her back to see him. Hiccup's hand splayed across her belly. He smelled of metal and embers, mixed with the familiar odor that lingered from his body when he worked in the forge.

"Where did you go?"

Hiccup bowed his head, sheepishly. "I climbed into the window of my old bedroom at dad's house to get a change of pants. Then I crafted a new set of utensils for us at the forge."

"Hiccup, we don't need a new set of utensils. It's only the two of us."

"Yeah, I know." Hiccup absently rubbed his thumb over the sheer material that still covered her belly. "I needed a distraction."

"A distraction?" Shame began to rise once more in her. "From what happened tonight?"

His thumb stopped its movement and he hesitated to answer. "Kinda. Yeah."

Heat seared Astrid's cheeks. She'd never experienced such a complicated and delicate situation as this. Training to become a shieldmaiden was a straightforward task. You build your strength, your ability to wield a weapon, and learn techniques and maneuvers that would aid you in battle. Navigating emotions and physical intimacy was like walking into a den of dragons without any knowledge of what dragons were capable of.

Astrid propped up on an elbow to gage his reaction, causing Hiccup's hold to rest on her waist. "Can we talk about what happened? I have questions."

Hiccup winced, his hand flinching from her waist as if he'd been stung. "Can we talk about it later? It's late, and I'm not ready to…have that talk."

"Fine," Astrid huffed, the word laced with bite. She didn't mean for it to sound that way. It was difficult processing these new emotions. She softened her voice at the other question eating at her, "Answer me one thing-are we okay?"

"Yeah! Of course, we are!" Hiccup rushed to get out. His fingers gripped down on her waist in the slightest curl. "Astrid, I lo—"

The space around them had been suddenly depleted of all movement or noise as if the world had frozen. Astrid was keenly aware of the throbs of her heart at the words she guessed had stopped on the tip of Hiccup's tongue. Even in the dark of the room, she spotted the shock on Hiccup's features. She granted him a small amount of time to finish his declaration.

But the rest never came.

"Let's get some sleep," Astrid finally dissolved the tense moment.

Hiccup eagerly agreed.

Astrid rolled back on her side with Hiccup spooned up against her back. His bottom half was, once again she noted, at a safe distance. Astrid rested her hand atop his, lacing their fingers together. She fell asleep with a biting frustration increasing inside her at the loss of the answers she desperately needed.

With training dragons to comply to human standards came the difficult task of keeping up appearances during regular dragon training. Hiccup decided to take some precautionary measures and train the dragons to "play" fight. That training had been complicated, to say the least. But somehow him and Astrid managed to prep the dragons enough to be convincing.

The Deadly Nadder that Astrid had adopted was persistent in playing fetch. During one training session, the Nadder was adamant about playing fetch with a broken axe handle she'd snatched up off the arena floor. Astrid smirked to herself as she slid the handle into Snotlout's vest while he was distracted. Snotlout ran screaming around the ring as the Nadder chased him to retrieve the handle, squawking happily as her clawed feet pounded the stone. Hiccup threw a glare her way, figuring out what was going on. Astrid mock-pouted at him when he distracted the Nadder with another 'toy'.

The dragons themselves seemed content, even if they remained most of the time imprisoned in the arena cages. Their bellies were full and all five of the dragons ate up the attention their two new Viking friends gave, proving to Astrid once again that Viking-kind had been wrong about dragons this whole time.

When they weren't training or working, Hiccup and Astrid spent their time with Toothless. The Night Fury would dash up to them as they entered the cove, laying on slobbery licks to their faces with his wide tongue. He'd bonded with Astrid quickly. They had an interesting relationship. While Hiccup and Toothless were prone to play and goof off and (to Astrid's amusement) cuddle together, her and the Night Fury had an unspoken understanding. They both cared for Hiccup in their own way, and just that shared affection for the boy bonded them. They'd share a "look" whenever Hiccup was talking something outrageous that he wanted to attempt. Toothless was on her side when it came to protecting Hiccup (even from himself) and Astrid admired the comradery her and the dragon had.

Three days had passed since the intimate evening had turned south. Astrid's patience wore thin awaiting Hiccup's explanation to just what in Thor's name went wrong. He talked to her as if nothing embarrassing had occurred between them, everyday life as usual, but something was off. He didn't initiate any physical affection as he had been doing for the last couple of weeks. It's like he'd reverted back to standing off and giving her the reins of their closeness.

Astrid had to get at least one question answered and she knew exactly who could help her. She fell in step with Ruffnut after leaving the arena and linked arms with the other girl, maneuvering her away from the brood of loud boys. She didn't need to worry so much about Hiccup anymore around the other teens. They'd grown quite smitten with her small husband, fawning over his techniques and trying to prod information on said techniques. Astrid shook her head. If only they knew…

"There can be only one reason why you're spiriting me away," Ruff quirked as her and Astrid strolled to a secluded spot along the path headed away from the arena. She threw Astrid a knowing smile. "You two got it on."

Astrid sighed. "Well—"

"Oh, c'mon!" Ruff freed her arm and rubbed her palms together. "Details!"

Once again, Astrid wondered how Ruffnut Thorston of all people was the one she chose to confide in. Then she remembered Ruff was the only other girl her age in the entire village. At least Ruffnut could be helpful at times, and Astrid was hoping this was one of them.

"A few nights ago, I dressed in that husband seducing nightgown I was given." The words sounded dumb coming out of her mouth.

Ruff nodded, enthusiastically. "Uh huh, uh huh."

"At first, Hiccup was shy like he can be, but he seemed to get into after a little coaxing. That's when I felt the bulge in his pants."

Ruff threw her arms in the air. "Finally!"

Astrid gave her an off-put glare and continued, "I touched it and he looked more like he was in pain, but he said it felt good." Her flustered state was returning anew with every word. "I kept touching him there and then he wet his pants."

Ruff's face dropped. "He wet his pants?"

Astrid suddenly felt secondhand embarrassment for her husband as regret set in. This was their private moment together and she was blabbing it out. "That's what it felt like. He seized up and was panting."

Ruffnut's mouth widened into a large oval. "Hiccup didn't wet his pants." She smacked Astrid on the shoulder with the back of her hand. Astrid gaped at her as if she were about to return the abuse. "He spilled his seed."

Realization struck Astrid square in the face. She'd heard that term. Her mother had mentioned it in the crash course of sex education one evening not long before the wedding. Ingrid didn't explain exactly what spilling of the seed entailed, only that it happened when a man sated his needs in the throngs of lovemaking and that it was the key ingredient to becoming pregnant. Astrid had only half listened, too squeamish to register the vital information.

Astrid's hands flew to her mouth. "That's what that was!"

Ruff gave an exaggerated nod. "Now you know."

"That makes way more sense." Astrid's embarrassment rose all the way to the tips of her ears. How could see not put two and two together? She was a tactical, resourceful warrior who could think quickly on her feet. Why didn't she figure out something blatantly obvious? One more example of why intimate relationships were more complicated than battle.

Astrid folded arms over her chest. "Me and Hiccup have a lot to talk about."

"It's a good thing you came to me first."

"How do you know so much about this, Ruff?"

Ruffnut shrugged a shoulder, acting modestly. "Unlike your proper mothering, my mom didn't skimp on any tiny little naughty detail. It's also interesting to learn how the human body works. Annnnnnd—" nothing good came out of Ruff exaggerating a word, "Tuffnut is grossly open about what his body can do."

A gag jumped into Astrid's throat at the very thought of Tuffnut and what his body could do. "I could have lived my entire life not hearing that." She shook her head to try and knock the thought out. The method was unsuccessful.

"Thanks, Ruff. It's kinda nice having someone to confide in."

Ruff bowed. "It's my pleasure. Although, if you keep coming to me for advice, I probably should start charging you."

All Astrid could do was shake her head and laugh. Now that she knew what had happened, she wouldn't blindly be going into a conversation with Hiccup about the subject. Now all she had to do was get him to talk.