The Sunlight Peeks Into This Love We Share

By Minlout3Heathlegs3RuffthrokFan

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A glint of sunlight peeking through the gap between the shutters made its way towards the direction of its victim's eyes, which were facing the beam of morning light. The sudden shaft of light made her eyelids twitch, and she squeezed her eyes tighter to shut the light out.

Unfortunately for her, the sudden arrival of light seemed to have alerted the charge growing inside her that it was time for breakfast, and thus made their hunger known with a solid kick, making the woman wince.

Minden had been pregnant for five months so far; and while her belly hadn't grown yet aside from a bump, the baby undeniably was, and was promising to be, a rather active child. And Minden couldn't for the life of her figure out whether it came from her or her husband, and concluded that she probably would not know at any rate until later in the pregnancy — if not after the child was born.

A small groan escaped her lips as another kick came her way, and she sank deeper into the pile of furs that she and Snotlout were snuggled up in — all hunted and tanned by her man.

Her man. Oh, how she loved those two words. Those two words temporarily dulled the minute pain that her child was giving her. These were two words she never thought would be uttered by her or anyone else in her lifetime, wholeheartedly believing that she'd spend the rest of her life devoting her life to Freya in protecting and raising the baby Razorwhips. Who knew that the Fates had a different plan in mind?

Said husband was softly snoring next to her, a thick, muscly arm anchored securely on her abdomen, yet not constrictively so for the sake of the passenger inside her. She could feel the child within her calm down when his meaty hand was over her belly, unconsciously caressing it. His hand was warm against her skin, and Minden melted at the touch. She shifted herself closer to him, wanting to be closer to that warmth. Wanting to be free of having to deal with breakfast and satiate her hunger... if only for a little bit, so she could enjoy the warmth of another human being for a moment longer.

His hold on her tightened as the slight movement from her caused him, by reaction, to bring her closer to him in a cuddle — an impressive feat, to be sure, for a man who was almost an entire head shorter than her! The action caused the little one to react to his touch with an affectionate... Minden couldn't tell if that was a hand or a foot that was poking her stomach strongly.

As she contemplated whether she should get up and eat something to quiet the child down, her nose made her aware of a savory aroma wafting in her nostrils. She opened her eyes to see a freshly baked loaf of bread — two, in fact! — wrapped in furs to trap the heat in.

Minden smiled. Her sister must've come by to give her the loaf when she was still sleeping, knowing of her morning cravings. Her sister, Linden, had recently married a baker and would often come by with a fresh loaf or two for the couple. She needed to thank her when she next sees her.

She left Snotlout shift away from her, the warmth temporarily leaving her with a cold void, before it came back. She turned to see his beefy hands tear an apple in half, and then in quarters, taking the seeds out as he did so.

"Sorry, I thought you were asleep," she said, her voice low.

Snotlout gave her a tired smile. "It felt like the baby was restless," he replied, "so I figured you were probably hungry. I had a few apples nearby in case that happened." Minden felt her heart swell with warmth, and she gave him a smile in appreciation. Despite how he looked and acted, he was very kind and considerate towards her. Just another reason why she loved him. "Though it seems like your sister came with food as well," he added, his head gesturing towards the two loaves of bread wrapped in furs.

Minden smiled fondly. "Yes, it seems she did. We'll have to thank her when she next visits."

Snotlout nodded. "We will," he agreed. He held a piece of the apple near her lips. "Now eat. We need to satiate the dragon that's in your belly." the grin that came afterwards caused her to snort in laughter. She complied and allowed him to put the apple in her mouth. The crisp and sour-sweet flavor of the apple gushed forth in her mouth, and she could feel her passenger leap with joy at finally receiving food. She had a feeling that apples were one of their favorites.

The next fifteen minutes had passed with Snotlout feeding her the apple pieces, and then feeding each other the loaves of bread.

"Remind me to ask my mother to set us aside some apple preserves," he said, breaking the silence. "We can add it on our bread next time."

Minden beamed. "That would be lovely." it had become a favorite staple of hers since her mother-in-law had first introduced her to it. She was never the same since. Snotlout knew of her love for his mother's preserves, and would always try to come back with some whenever he returned from his duties.

Snotlout sat up and reached for the beaker of water, grabbed a drinking horn, and poured in some water, giving it to her. "Here you are, milady," he offered with a wink.

"Thank you." a blush formed on her cheeks and she gratefully drank from the horn to wash the bread down and quench her thirst.

"Do you have any work today?" she asked him. With Hiccup now the Chief of Berk, Stoick having stepped down to retire, Snotlout, along with the others, had joined his Council. Hiccup promoted him to "Captain of the Fleet" and was his father Spitelout's lieutenant and successor-to-be as "General of the Interior", and part of the Chief's War Council. He was also one of the chief instructors for the Dragon Training Program for Young Riders along with the rest of the Gang. He often helped Fishlegs out whenever Hiccup and Astrid were too busy with their chiefly duties. For Snotlout, it wasn't uncommon to leave the house before the sun rose. He'll be running late around now if he didn't get going.

Snotlout grinned. "Thankfully, my docket's clear until midday. I had Gustav, as my second, to take care of the fishing fleet; there are no meetings until this evening, and there aren't any lessons at the arena until a little after midday." His smirk grew wider. "Which meeeaaans that you have me for the entire morning."

Minden mirrored the grin. She leaned forward to meet his lips, instigating mouth-on-mouth communication with him, and they gave each other a warm "good morning".

When they parted, she laid back down, scooting closer to him until their bodies met and body warmth blended together. "Would it be alright to sleep in a little more?"

A smirk wormed its way naturally on her husband's face. "I was going to ask if you weren't," he admitted as he snuggled closer to her and moved the furs back over them, allowing them to bask in the interior warmth once again. He kissed her on the cheek. "I love you."

"I love you, too."

Mornings off are a wonderful thing, Minden decided, her eyelids at last feeling heavy as sleep's embrace slowly brought her back into the realm of dreams.

And she hoped that, from now on, the sunlight would continue to peek in on this love that they share...

...As husband and wife.

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A/N: Originally, I had planned on posting this during Father's Day several months ago, but I had forgotten to finish and edit this and was left forgotten until I had taken it out of the WIP shelf to revisit it. So I'll be posting this now as an apology for not having written anything for the past 1-1/2 years. Yikes! Has it really been THAT long?! O_O

I plan on writing another Minlout fanfic for Thanksgiving and will hopefully have it ready to post by then. So be on the lookout. I also have some WIPs for other Minlout, Heathlegs, and Ruffthrok fanfics, though they'll be written and posted at a later date. After this and the Thanksgiving fic, I'll probably be able to post another 2 or 3 fanfics/poems before the new year.

I hope you guys enjoyed this Minlout story. Please let me know what you think, as well as any story ideas you might have that you'd like to see me write for any of these three pairings.

Again, sorry for not having posted anything in a long while. I plan on writing more fanfics from now on. So I'm back! ^w^

Minlout! Minlout! Oi, Oi, Oi!

— Minlout & Heathlegs & Ruffthrok Fan