Update 11/24/2018: Fixed some typos and altered wording in a few sentences to make them clearer, beyond that not nothing really changed. I'd forgotten how perfect this chapter already was. Fun fact: I was a virgin when I wrote this chapter. Actually I was a virgin, full stop, when I wrote most of the smut in Persephone. I think only the final sex scene in the whole fic was written after I'd met my boyfriend and done anything remotely sexual.
I'm kind of surprised how accurate I was, given that it was all based on knowledge extrapolated from other fics, and not any experience on my part.
Warnings: Smut. SO MUCH SMUT. NSFW
Chapter 15: The Dragon Master's Whore
"It is very important that what we are about to discuss does not leave this room."
Stoick looked around at the apprehensive faces of those seated before him. To his left were Spitelout and Snotlout, the latter gripping the hand of his wife, who was scooted as close to the table as her enlarged belly would allow. Tuffnut was next to his sister, and Fishlegs further down. To his right was Gobber, and then the Hoffersons.
He sighed. "I know that a few weeks ago we received some, ah, unnerving news from our allies the Bog Burglars."
Arvid Hofferson scoffed. " 'Unnerving news', is that what we're calling it? I'd call it outright blasphemy." Stoick shot him a glare and Arvid was quickly shushed by his wife.
"Call it what you may," Stoick continued, "But Camicazi's news was troubling to say the least. We know that Astrid lives, and we know that for some reason, rather by choice or by force—"
"By force, obviously."
"Arvid, hush!"
"For whatever reason," Stoick raised his voice in hope of quelling anymore interruptions, "she appears to be helping the Dragon Master."
"We don't know that's what she's doing," Ruffnut cut in, frowning at the table. "Astrid would never turn on Berk. She fought dragons harder than any of us."
"Yeah," Tuffnut added, nodding enthusiastically. "She could be helping us for all we know. Maybe it only looks like she's helping him." Ruffnut elbowed his shoulder.
"How is releasing captured dragons helping us, idiot. My point is that we don't know what's going on. She's his captive; she's probably just doing whatever it takes to stay alive."
"Would you two be quiet?!" Stoick snapped, and the twins fell silent. "Camicazi's report alone is unnerving, but we have some more news that might shed some more light on what's going on." He surveyed the room again and sighed, his shoulders sagging. "But I have to warn you all, that what you're about to hear is…unsettling."
Glances were exchanged around and across the table, and Stoick looked to Gobber, who was holding a folded piece of parchment in his hand. "You're up."
Gobber nodded and cleared his throat to get everyone's attention. "Eh…" He unfolded the parchment and spread it out on the table. "So, ehm, I recently got a letter from an old buddy of mine from a little further south. He's a blacksmith down in Silverfin Shores. Anyway, here's what it says." He picked up the letter with his one good hand and began reading.
" Dear Gobber, I hope you are well, and I hope that rash cleared up, that's no fun place to have one. Eh, ignore that bit. Things are not so good here. We were raided again last night, and something has happened that I knew I had to write to you about immediately. You told me how your village tried to appease the Dragon Master's wrath by offering up a girl. I may have some news on that, but you may not like what I have to say. I swear on my life, on my shop, on that drunken night in that tavern on Greed's Rock all those years ago, that everything I'm about to say is true."
"What happened in that tavern on Greed's Rock?"
"Tuffnut, quiet!"
"I had left my shop during the raid to help with the fight, but had to return after a Gronkle bit the head of my hammer clean off. I was heading back through to the storeroom when I heard something moving inside. I thought maybe a dragon had got in; you know like one of them little green annoying ones, so I grabbed a sword and headed back there. Imagine my surprise when I turn the corner and see this young woman back there! Now if you're expecting this to be one of those stories the young men brag about during feasts that you know ain't true then you can stop because that ain't it at all.
"This young woman was maybe in her late teens: 18, 19, no older than 20, with long blonde hair in a single braid. Round face, big blue eyes. Pretty young thing. I don't think nothing of it at first. It's a raid, someone looting my shop, it happens. I didn't recognize her but it's a big village and we get traders come through so that don't mean much to me then either. She hadn't seen me yet because she was busy looking through boxes and things, like she's trying to find something. I was about to call out to her and ask her what the hel she thinks she's doing in my shop, when I hear another voice, a man's voice. She looks to the right, towards the back door—you remember how that old shop is set up, it's like a maze back there, which is why she didn't see me yet—and I'm about to say something again because one looter in my shop is enough, I don't need two of them, and that's when he walks in and I see him.
"He was in my shop, Gobber. The Dragon Master was in my shop." Gobber looked up for a moment to look around the table at the riveted expressions on everyone's faces before licking his lips and continuing. "I don't want nothing to do with that, so that's when I hide. I can still see them, but they can't see me, so I just decided to wait and watch and pray that monster didn't find me. So he walks up to her, and it strikes me immediately that this must be the girl you were telling me about, and also that she seems awfully calm. The Dragon Master starts talking to her, asking her questions about things she's supposed to get, and I have to say, I always imagined that his voice would be different. More menacing, but he just sounded like a normal man. He spoke perfect Norse, but the Young Man's Norse. You know, the way most of the younger generation is speaking now. So he's asking her about all these forge supplies, did she get this, did she get that. I don't remember exactly what he asked her, but he wasn't looking for nails or horseshoes. He was asking for the kinds of things you need for real proper smithing.
"Anyway, he's asking, she's saying yes or no or whatever, and then he says something real quiet that I couldn't hear. Next thing I know he's grabbing her by the hips and lifting her up on the worktable behind her and stepping really really close."
"I don't want to hear this," Ingrid interrupted, burying her face in her husband's shoulder.
"Actually I think you might," Stoick said in a low voice and gestured for Gobber to continue.
Gobber gave the Hofferson matriarch a long look before sighing and continuing. "What happened next I'll never forget. The girl pulled his mask up just a bit—not much, just up to about his nose, and it's tilted so I still can't see but just a bit of his face. From what I could see I think he was young. I mean, really young. Her age, maybe. Strong jaw, no beard, short brownish hair. Maybe freckles; hard to tell in that light. He looked normal, Gobber. We've all wondered if he's man or monster or something in between but he looked like any normal human. But that's not what I most wanted to write to you about. You see, she lifted up his mask that little bit, and then she kissed him. And I do mean those words in that order, Gobber, she kissed him."
"What?!" Gobber stopped reading, and looked up to see every pair of eyes in the room save Stoick's wide and pinned on him. Ingrid was shaking her head. "No," she said. "No, I don't believe it."
"Let him finish, Ingrid," Stoick said quietly, and nodded at Gobber.
"So I'm sitting there stunned at this point, and she's kissing him, and then the man steps closer and starts hiking up her skirt like he means to take her right then and there. And that's when I start to panic a little bit, because this is all a bit much for me, and I knock over something, a box of nails maybe, and they break apart and look around. They don't see me, but the girl pulls his mask down, and he lifts her off the table. I saw the Dragon Master grab one more thing off one of my shelves and then he was taking her hand and they were running out of my shop through that back door. By the time I was brave enough to get out from my hiding place the raid was over and they were both gone. I don't know if this is your Berkian girl, but I don't know who else she could be. And uh, then he goes on to talk about some other things but I think that's what's relevant."
Gobber carefully folded the letter back up before looking around at his stunned audience.
"So as you can see," Stoick began, his eyes on his great beard instead of his villagers, "Camicazi may not have been wrong to have her suspicions."
"I still don't believe it," Ingrid said, shaking her head and glaring at them all in a way very reminiscent of her daughter. "I know my Astrid; she's too headstrong and fierce a girl to turn on her people. If she's helping that monster she's not doing it by choice."
"And she's kissing him, what, out of fear?" Spitelout said, matching Ingrid's glare. "I think it's time we ask ourselves what Astrid really is: the Dragon Master's captive, or his whore."
"My daughter is no one's whore!" Arvid pounded his fist on the table.
Stoick held up a hand. "Arvid, as much as I hate to say it I think we might have to accept the possibility that she is. At the very least we have to admit at this point that Astrid's involvement with the Dragon Master might not be entirely coerced."
"Are we all forgetting that Astrid's not an idiot?" Ruffnut cut in. "She's smart. And she's always known how to use whatever weapon she's got available. She's probably doing whatever it takes to stay alive. And maybe, yes, that means kissing him." Ruffnut sat back and glared at all of them as if daring anyone to disagree with her. "Maybe her best bet to stay alive is to make the Dragon Master think she's on his side. Maybe she's biding her time. Maybe she's trying to gain his trust, learn how to take him down before she escapes." She crossed her arms over her chest. "Maybe she is sleeping with him, who knows, but who's to say she isn't doing it strategically."
"I don't know," Snotlout said, staring at his hands clasped on the table. "Astrid was always smart, yeah, but I don't know about strategic. She was always more of a, beat 'em down with an axe first, plan later sort of gal."
Ruffnut punched his shoulder. "She could be strategic when the situation called for it!"
"Aye, that she could," Ingrid said, sitting up straighter and pursing her lips. "I taught my girl how to look after herself, and that meant sometimes fighting smarter instead of harder. Whatever Astrid is doing, I know she would never turn on Berk."
"How do we know she wouldn't, though?" Everyone turned to look at Tuffnut, who shrugged. "I mean, we turned on her. It's not like she doesn't have a good reason to turn on us."
The rest of the table stared in silence for a long moment before Fishlegs said, "You know, for someone who normally has the intelligence of a Terrible Terror, you can occasionally be pretty insightful."
Tuffnut grinned at him. "I know, right!" he said excitedly. "I'm like, all or nothing, you know. A total idiot or a total genius. There is no in between."
"Can we get back to the topic at hand," Arvid growled, "Where you've just accused my daughter of being a traitor?"
Tuffnut's eyes widened and he sank back into his seat. "I'm not saying Astrid is definitely a traitor," he said, his palms up in defense. "I'm just saying that if she is, it's not like we didn't give her good reason to be one."
Beside him Ruffnut's eyebrows drew together and she nodded. "He's kind of right. If it had been me given up to be killed or worse, I'd be pretty pissed off too."
Arvid threw his hands in the air. "I can't believe what I'm hearing."
"Arvid, they've got a point," said Gobber, who'd been quiet up until this point, frowning at the tabletop. "Astrid was strong and smart and loyal, yes, but she also had a temper to be reckoned with. And let's not forget that the Dragon Master initially turned her down. If it weren't for Spitelout deciding on the ever diplomatic solution of murder he'd have left her here." His thick shoulders bobbed. "I think we might have to consider the possibility that that Dragon Master has shown her more kindness than we have."
The table went silent again, until finally a worried-looking Ingrid said softly, "She was so angry at us." Everyone looked at her. "She was furious."
"So…" Fishlegs said, tapping his fingers on the table. "What do we do?"
"For starters, we brand that treacherous girl a traitor."
Arvid jumped to his feet. "How dare you! First you call my daughter a whore, now you call her a traitor!"
Spitelout was soon on his feet as well. "Well if the helmet fits, Arvid! There's more evidence that she's working with him than anything else!"
"Quiet!" Stoick's voice boomed through the hall. "Arvid, Spitelout, sit down, the both of you." The two men took their seats again as Stoick got out of his. He sighed. "Without further evidence we can't rule out the possibility of coercion or strategy, but I also at this point can't rule out Astrid having turned on us. The question now is what are we going to do."
"I say we try to treat with him," Arvid said.
"Yes, because that's always worked out so well in the past," Spitelout muttered, and Arvid shot him a glare.
"Then we make him listen. Do something to catch his attention."
"Like what?"
"Snotlout," Stoick said suddenly, interrupting the argument and looking to his heir. "What do you think we should do?"
Snotlout started, his eyes going wide as he took in the rest of the table, all eyes fixed expectantly on him. "Um, what?"
"A chief has to make decisions in difficult times. What do you think we should do about all this?"
Snotlout swallowed. "I-I don't know." He looked between his father and his wife. His father looked disappointed, as he usually did when Snotlout floundered in the face of any chiefly duty, but Ruffnut just rolled her eyes and took his hand.
"I say we should try to treat with him. Or at the very least get his attention and capture him," she said, and not for the first time since they'd wed Snotlout heaved a sigh of relief at her intervention. "He's not anything supernatural. He's just some guy, which means we can talk to him if we can just get his attention."
Snotlout nodded eagerly. "Yeah, we should do that. We should try to get his attention, and then talk to him." He glanced at his father. "Or capture him. Or something." He looked at Stoick, who was stroking his beard thoughtfully. Ruffnut gave his hand a reassuring squeeze.
When he was young Snotlout had wanted nothing more than to be named heir. It had seemed like an inevitable thing, with how much of a failure Hiccup was at everything. Everyone expected it; everyone assumed that one day Hiccup would be passed over and the title of heir given to Snotlout, it was just a matter of waiting until Stoick made it official. Then Dragon Training started, and all of a sudden Hiccup, scrawny, weak, clumsy Hiccupwas doing better at it than all of them, and all those dreams of being chief one day were torn from under him.
And strangely, Snotlout had felt relief. He didn't want to be chief, he'd realized. He didn't want the responsibility or the duty or any of it. Let Hiccup have it all.
But fate had other plans, it seemed. A hysterical Astrid had come running into the village one evening, shaking and sobbing, and by the time they calmed her down and worked out what had happened it was already hours too late. Hiccup was gone, and officially Snotlout was heir. It had terrified him then, and it did not feel much less terrifying now, especially since Stoick was more actively grooming him for the role. "He wants to retire in the next few years if he can," Spitelout had confided in him. "He wants to be able to hand over the chiefdom sooner rather than later."
He was already dealing with the impending weight of responsibility of fatherhood hanging over his head. He didn't even feel ready to take care of one tiny human, let alone a village full of people.
Stoick nodded. "We're running out of other options. We got his attention once before, I see no reason we can't do it again. The only question is how." He looked around the table. "Any ideas?"
No one answered for a couple of uncomfortable minutes.
Finally Fishlegs sighed. "I might have an idea."
Xx
Astrid ran the comb through her long hair, satisfied she could finally pull it from root to tip without meeting tangles. She breathed deeply, the warm, humid air made her feel lethargic and lazy, unlike the biting cold air of the tunnels above. She could easily fall asleep down here, legs going pruney in the water of the hot springs.
The quiet was as soothing as it was rare. It was a lot noisier these days, with seven dragons running around instead of just one. Stormfly's hatchlings were growing quickly; Prim's crown of spikes reached Astrid's waist now. The adolescent dragons could fly easily on their own, and often hunted fish alongside their mother and Toothless. Scamp the Terrible Terror had been unofficially adopted into the clutch by the ever-maternal Stormfly, and would rough-house with his larger 'siblings' as if he wasn't small enough to be crushed under their feet. He went out on his own fairly often, but he returned every couple of days to enjoy a meal too big for him and to annoy Toothless.
If Hiccup's prediction was correct, the Night Fury wouldn't have to put up with it much longer. Stormfly's babies would strike out on their own in the near future, and Toothless could go back to scowling at Scamp when he tried to steal his breakfast.
It was dark down here; no light from above penetrated into these deeper caves, and it was already too hot for a fire, so the hot springs were lit by a string of lanterns that had to be lit by torch whenever someone came down here. They frustrated Astrid immensely, because they had been hung by Hiccup for his height, and she had to drag a stool down to the springs with her in order to light them.
It was peaceful down here, though. A quiet, dark, warm little escape from the chaos of the rest of the mountain.
There was a yelp behind her and she spun around to see Hiccup with a hand clapped over his eyes, a towel slung over the arm holding a lantern. "Sorry!" he said. "I didn't see anything, I promise."
Astrid rolled her eyes. "I know you didn't. You can put your hand down, I'm not naked." Hiccup dropped his hand and glanced over her. It was too hot to get fully dressed down in these caves; she'd only put on her skirt and her breast bindings. The rest of her clothes were drying on a nearby rock. She noticed the way Hiccup's eyes slid almost lecherously over her chest and bare stomach. She cleared her throat and started pulling her comb through her wet hair again. "What are you doing down here, it's my turn."
Hiccup approached her and sat his lantern and towel down by her side. "Toothless kept me out for an extra long flight today. We just got back."
Astrid nodded. "I was wondering why I hadn't seen you around. And you came down here when I'd be bathing because…?"
Hiccup paused with his hands on the hem of his shirt and looked at her. "I thought you'd be done. I wasn't trying to peek, I promise." Astrid nodded, accepting this, and Hiccup pulled his shirt over his head. He reached for the drawstring of his pants and Astrid's head whipped the other direction, a blush rising in her cheeks. She heard Hiccup's snort. "What, like you haven't already seen everything?" He sniggered. "And felt everything?"
Astrid pursed her lips and gripped the edge of the pool of water. "Well, yeah," she said through gritted teeth. "Aren't you embarrassed at all?" She heard the rustling of fabric and his pants landed in her lap.
"Oh yeah, because I've never been seen naked by a woman before in my life. And I've definitely never been seen naked by you."
Astrid sighed, a little miffed at his mention of other women. "Oh right. I bring the grand total up to what, five?"
The sound of movement stopped. "Yeah. Um, how many girls did I tell you I'd been with, again?"
Astrid frowned. "Four." She looked at him, for the moment too preoccupied to be thankful that he was still wearing his underwear. "Why?"
Hiccup swallowed and twiddled his thumbs, not looking at her. "I might…have kind of…rounded down, a bit."
Astrid's eyes narrowed. "How much is 'a bit'? How many girls have you really slept with?"
He paused. His eyes squeezed closed and he grimaced. "Seven."
"Seven."
"Possibly eight."
"Possibly—possibly? How 'possibly'?" she demanded.
Hiccup shrugged and gave her a sheepish look. "I spent some time out in the Byzantine Empire, and I was kind of seeing this girl there for a while, and she um…she had an identical twin sister, and…"
"Oh gods, you didn't."
"I don't know if I did or not," Hiccup said, running a hand through his hair and wincing. "There was alcohol involved, and, and, there's this stuff that they smoke out there. It's, it's strong stuff, and I really don't remember what happened to be honest. They were fighting, and I might have been revenge, I don't know." He sighed and shrugged. "I slept with one of them that night, but I honestly don't know which one."
Astrid laughed humorlessly and shook her head at her knees. "Gods. How the hel did you of all people turn into a world-traveling womanizer. Why did you lie to me?"
Hiccup was quiet for a moment. "I don't know. I knew you were gonna judge me for what I said, and I…I cared what you thought. I'd never been ashamed of all of that before, but I cared about what you would think about me." He sighed deeply. "I didn't want you to see me as a world-traveling womanizer."
Astrid kicked her feet idly in the water. "Why didn't you tell me the truth sooner?"
"I didn't know how. There was never really a right time. Are you mad?"
She stared at her legs for a long moment.
"Why did you do it? Not the lie, the…the everything you lied about."
Hiccup sat down next to her. "I spent most of my life being ignored," he began. "Nobody ever thought I was interesting, or funny, or attractive." I thought you were all of those things, Astrid thought, but let him talk. "And then I hit a growth spurt and my hair got longer and suddenly when girls met me they thought I was those things. It was nice to get the attention." He shrugged. "It was a nice distraction. It was easy. Drink myself into oblivion and find a girl to spend the night with. It was easier than thinking about some of the shit I'd seen."
They were quiet for a long moment before Hiccup nudged her hand with his own and asked, "Are you mad at me?"
Astrid sighed and shook her head. "Not really. I mean, it's not like I thought you were a virgin. You've just…you've just been seen naked by more girls than I thought you had."
He squeezed her hand. "If it counts for anything, out of all the girls who have ever seen me naked, you're definitely my favorite." He kissed her cheek and Astrid rolled her eyes.
"I'm probably also the only one who didn't want to see you naked." Hiccup laughed as he stood up, and Astrid trained her eyes on her own lap as she waited for the rustle of fabric to stop.
"And I'm sure you've been traumatized forever by what you saw."
There was a splash, and Astrid set her jaw and stared in the opposite direction.
Something brushed Astrid's foot and she jumped. She cast her eyes to the ceiling and kept them there, resolutely ignoring Hiccup's attempts to get her to pay attention to him. Finally he grabbed her knees and yanked her towards the water. Astrid screamed and grabbed the edge of the rock. Hiccup let go of her legs and fell backwards into the water, laughing. She glared at him, and his wet hair and his cocky smile and his wet shoulders. The water came up to the middle of his chest, and because of the bubbles and the steam rising off the water she couldn't clearly see his body below the surface. She wasn't sure if she was thankful or disappointed. It made her blush all the same.
Hiccup ducked under the water and swam towards her. He surfaced, just his eyes and nose above the water, and he watched her with a mischievous glint in those eyes. He popped up long enough to squirt a mouthful of water at her.
Astrid squealed. "Hiccup!" she shrieked, laughing as Hiccup disappeared under the water again. He was grinning at her when he reappeared on the other side of the pool. Astrid threw the bar of soap at him. "You're gonna get me all wet. Don't." Hiccup shut his half open mouth and swam up beside her.
"Fine. Killjoy." He splashed at her legs and she kicked back, giggling.
"You've been a lot more playful lately," she said, smiling at him. "How are you feeling?"
Hiccup nodded and lathered the soap. "I feel good," he said, shooting her a smile. "I mean, actually good. Not just, 'not feeling like I'm dying'." He paused, looking down at the soap in his hands. "This morning was a little rough. I think Toothless sensed it and that's why he wouldn't let me land. But it was good. I haven't flown as much lately and I needed it." He closed his eyes and sighed. "It felt good to be out there again. It felt better than it has in a long time."
Astrid reached out and ruffled his wet hair. "I'm glad to see you feeling better. You've been more like yourself. More like I remember you."
His smile faded and he turned the soap over in his hands. "I feel more like myself. My head feels clearer. I don't know, I didn't even realize just how bad things had gotten. But I feel good now. I mean I've felt like shit for the past couple of weeks, but now, I don't know." He shrugged and shot her a self-conscious smile. "I just feel better." Astrid returned his smile.
"I'm proud of you, you know," she said, her voice soft. Hiccup's smile widened and he avoided her gaze as he started lathering soap and pushing it through his hair. She had a sudden thought and cleared her throat to catch his attention. "Here," she said, scooting closer to the edge of the water and leaning over to take the soap from his hands. "Let me."
Hiccup blinked at her, his lips parted in a soft expression of surprise. "You'll get your skirt wet," he said, his voice low and tentative, like he wanted to say something else.
Astrid shrugged, her eyes locked on his. "I don't care. It needs washing anyway." She pulled her skirt up above her knees and tucked it around and under her legs and Hiccup turned his back to her, resting against the side of the pool and between her legs. She lathered the soap in her hands and pushed her fingers through his thick hair, her nails scratching lightly at his scalp. He hummed and his head lolled back, his eyes closed and a soft smile on his face. His hair was soft and silky and longer than it looked. She combed her fingers through it thoroughly, luxuriating in the softness and the small smile on Hiccup's lips. She massaged his scalp and watched as the tension left his shoulders and he relaxed against her, his arms rising to rest over her thighs. He tickled the inside of her knee and she tugged gently on a strand of hair in retaliation.
When she'd finished lathering his hair with soap she paused, not quite sure how to go about rinsing it. Ideally, this sort of thing was meant to be done in a basin, but she hadn't thought through how she was supposed to do it here. The thought had come to her that it might be a sweet gesture; a way to show him what he was coming to mean to her. Sensing her hesitation Hiccup pushed away from her and slipped under the water for a moment, then came up shaking his head like a dog, slinging water all over her and completely ruining the moment.
She laughed, shielding her face and slapping blindly at Hiccup's shoulders. When he stopped she fixed him with a look. "Do you have to ruin everything?" she asked, her stern look tainted by a smile.
Hiccup gave her a cheeky grin. "Of course I do, milady. Ruining everything is what I'm best at." He meant it as a joke, but that self-depreciating tone was accompanied by a sad slant to his eyes and it squeezed at her heart. She smiled and took his face in her hands, pulling him towards her as she leaned down to meet him.
"You don't ruin everything," she whispered, and caught the change in his expression just before she kissed him. It was an awkward angle, but Hiccup pushed himself up on his elbows so that she didn't have to bend over quite so far. Her hands slid to his neck and she traced her thumbs along his jawline, over rough stubble a few days too long. He hummed against her mouth and pulled away, sinking down in the water for a moment as he ran his hands up and down her calves, from her ankles to her knees and back, and then up along her thighs. He settled onto his elbows and reached up to kiss her again.
He kissed her slowly but deeply; his tongue a lazy explorer in her mouth. Astrid sighed, feeling warm and cozy and utterly content. Her feet grazed the sides of his waist, her toes dragging along the ridges of his ribcage. He smelled earthy; like one always did after bathing in the mineral-rich springs, but with the sharp bite of the lye soap still clinging to his hair. His hands crept around her back and pulled her closer to him, so that she was sitting on the very edge of the pool, her skirt pushed high around her thighs.
Hiccup broke away from her lips to kiss down her throat and began to suckle at her collarbone. Her eyes fluttered closed. Astrid felt warm all over; warm from his mouth nipping and licking, warm from his hands grazing the sides of her thighs, daring higher and firmer with each stroke. She liked being skin to skin with him. The feeling of his warm arms against her legs combined with the thick hot air made her feel lethargic and happy.
Hiccup's hands slid higher, his fingers finally slipping under her skirt and sliding up to grip her hips. His thumbs teased at her hipbones, and that cozy warmth began to morph into a buzzing heat. His hands traced the shape of her hips again and he froze, his mouth stilling against her chest. He drew back and she blinked her eyes open to look down at him.
"You're not wearing anything under this skirt, are you?" he asked, his voice low.
The corners of her mouth curled. "No, I'm not," she said, like an invitation, like a dare. She watched Hiccup's adam's apple bob as he swallowed. His thumb dipped into the crease of her thigh at her hip, right where the fabric of her underwear should be.
"You know, Astrid," he began, his eyes dark and never leaving hers, "You've done so much for me lately. You've helped me so much." His thumb brushed so lightly over the skin of her thigh that it made her shiver all over. His voice was husky when he spoke next. "I wish you'd let me do something for you."
That buzzing heat seemed to bloom through her whole body, stirring a broiling fire in the base of her stomach. She found herself nodding, found herself leaning back, hands supporting her, legs widening.
Beneath her skirt Hiccup's hand shifted, sliding over her leg, his fingers trailing through coarse curls. "Just tell me when to stop," he said, his eyes still locked onto hers, and Astrid nodded again. His fingers slid through the curls between her legs before withdrawing to tease up the side of her inner thigh, and Astrid's hand squeezed into a fist. The anticipation set her on edge; his light touches sparked fire between her legs and she wished he'd just touch her already.
His fingers teased her thigh again, and just as she was about to tell him to get on with it, his finger brushed her and she gasped. Her breath left her and refused to come back as he slid a finger through her folds. His thumb found that sensitive nub and she choked on her next inhale, her eyes sliding closed. He stroked her again, thumb still pressing hard, before a warm digit was slipping inside of her.
Astrid shuddered, her whole body beginning to tremble with the nerves and the sensation. His fingers were slow and gentle; applying enough pressure to have her toes curling but his motions were still lazy enough to keep her wanting.
He kissed the side of her knee, and then the side of her thigh, stubble scratching at her skin, and Astrid managed to drag her eyelids up long enough to look at him.
His eyes were nearly black. The low light gleamed off his wet skin and cast dark shadows that heightened the relief of his muscles. Astrid had another one of those moments where she wondered how the hel that scrawny boy from the forge had ended up looking like this. Hiccup kissed her thigh, much further up this time, and his tongue darted out to taste her skin just as a second finger joined the first and pressed deeper inside her. Her whole body shook. He kissed her again, and when she caught sight of his tongue glancing across the skin of her thigh her hips bucked into his hand. That tongue; gods, she wanted that tongue.
"Astrid?" Hiccup's voice was gravelly and strained and Astrid didn't bother letting him ask the rest of his question. She nodded, her eyes closing and her head falling back as she pushed her hips closer. His fingers curled and her elbows buckled and she lowered her back down to the stone floor. Hiccup's free hand began pushing her skirt up as his kisses moved slowly higher up her inner thigh.
His hand withdrew and Astrid's eyes blinked open to stare at the distant ceiling. Her heart was pounding and every part of her seemed to quiver. This was going to happen. He was going to do this, she wanted him to. Her fingers tapped nervously on the floor while she waited. Hiccup was still kissing his way up her inner thigh, the inches left to span felt like miles. His hands curled around the backs of her legs and hooked them over his shoulders. This was going to kill her. The longer he waited the more nervous she felt. Should she feel self-conscious about this? About him seeing everything? Was she supposed to do anything? Or just…let him do his thing down there. Maybe she should—
He pressed a hard kiss squarely to her center and her thoughts flew from her and a sharp gasp tore from her throat. Hiccup paused, giving her a moment to recover, though his hot breath against her most sensitive parts did little to ease the burn that itched under her skin. He licked her and she shuddered, her legs twitching in his grasp and her hands starting a futile scrabble against the stone for something to hold onto. She whimpered; his long, slow licks were simultaneously too much and not enough. His grip on her legs tightened, holding her hips still as he pressed his mouth against her entrance and thrust his tongue inside her.
She cried out and her back arched, the heat and texture of his tongue tortuously wonderful. Her thoughts stuttered and stumbled over each other. The twisting motions of his tongue had her rocking her hips into him one moment and writhing away from him the next. She wanted more. It was too much; she wanted him to stop right…never. Never wanted this to stop. The more she squirmed the more tightly he held her, the more pressure he put into his ministrations. Her head tossed this way and that as she gasped for air; her hair would be horribly tangled by the time this was over but she didn't care. Her hand found purchase on Hiccup's shoulder, her nails digging into his flesh and pulling him closer. She didn't realize one of his hands had let go of her hip until his thumb rubbed hard on that sensitive nub and sent shockwaves down her legs.
"Hiccup!" She yanked at his shoulder and he hummed a low moan that vibrated against her. It was all too much. Everything tightened and swelled, and she whimpered his name again just before it crashed. She sobbed, everything going black and white and hot and cold and tight and loose all in one terrible, wonderful moment.
She went limp, her legs slid off Hiccup's shoulders and into the water with a soft splash. The rest of the world filtered back into her awareness, and she heard Hiccup panting as hard as she was as he wiped his mouth on her skirt. Definitely would need to wash it, now. He pulled himself up enough to rest his head against her stomach, his arms curling under her back.
"Do you wanna keep going?" he asked, a hopeful note in his voice.
Did she wanna keep—but she'd already—oh. Her chest tightened as her fuzzy brain registered what he was asking.
"No," she said, without even having to think about it. She was still surprised at herself for what she'd just allowed him to do, but even despite what they had just done she felt a flicker of fear replace the sated warmth in her belly at the thought of letting him take her.
This had felt like…a gift. An offering, an act of worship. Something he gave without asking for anything in return. But giving all of herself to him...that still felt like a level of vulnerability she didn't think she could handle yet. And besides, now probably wasn't a good time anyway.
She thought about the herbs still growing in a cave a few stories up. She thought about checking on them later today, making sure they were still growing strong.
At first tending them had been something to do, even if Hiccup had no use for them. And she'd thought that at the very least she could consider it taking care of whatever poor girls fell for his charm.
Eight girls.
Eight girls who had been with him like that before her, and who knew how many more who had experienced what she just had. And still he claimed none of them had ever meant anything to him.
"Why do you wanna be with me so much?" she asked, fingers trailing across his shoulder blades.
Hiccup chuckled and pressed a kiss against her stomach. "Have you met you? Have you seen you?"
"Hiccup…" Astrid sighed. "Other than the way I look, why do you want me so much?" She combed her fingers through his hair. "You're used to...casual liaisons. Whatever we have, I don't want it to be casual." Astrid frowned up at the rocky ceiling. "We're beyond this being casual. I've never been with anyone like that before; it won't be casual for me. It'll mean something. I want to know it'll mean something to you too." Hiccup's head shifted on her stomach and she knew he was looking at her. "It's a big step."
Hiccup kissed her stomach again, making her shiver. "Today was a big step," he reminded her quietly, and Astrid nodded.
"Don't make me regret it." Hiccup's hand trailed light strokes up and down the side of her stomach. "I'm not another notch on your bedpost."
She heard Hiccup sigh, and then splashing as he pulled himself up and out of the water, crawling up her body to hover over her. His face filled her vision and she was struck by how intensely he was looking at her. His hands cradled her face and he bent down to kiss her forehead and then each cheek. He brushed her bangs back from her face and whispered, "Astrid, I think I'm in love with you."
Astrid squeezed her eyes shut and turned away, hands pushing lightly at Hiccup's chest. "Hiccup, don't," she whispered, shaking her head. She gave him an imploring look. "Don't say that now, not like this."
Hiccup frowned. "Why?"
Astrid sighed, a hint of exasperation in her expression as she frowned up at him. "Because even if you mean it you sound like you're just saying it to get me to sleep with you. If you really do love me then find a better time and place to say it."
"Fair enough, I guess," Hiccup said, nodding. Then he flashed her a smile. "But I do mean it." He kissed the side of her mouth. "I really do think I love you."
Astrid rolled her eyes and tucked a lock of hair behind Hiccup's ear. "You think you love me? How reassuring," she half-teased, not quite meeting Hiccup's eyes.
"Astrid," Hiccup murmured, words and lips soft against her ear. "You don't have to believe it now but I'm saying it now anyway: I love you." He analyzed her face. "Why does that scare you?"
Astrid sighed and pushed him off of her. She sat up, carefully avoiding looking down the naked expanse of his body. Hiccup rolled to the side and Astrid tossed a towel over him and the parts she was still too shy to look at.
"My parents always claimed to love me. Still didn't stop them giving me up." Astrid pulled her hair over her shoulder and began trying to comb through the mess. "They were more afraid of what would happen if they didn't. Love is supposed to be this great powerful thing that's stronger than anything but it wasn't stronger than their fear." Her hair was hopelessly tangled and her fingers snagged and caught and soon she was nearly yanking her hair out just trying to free her hands.
"Here, let me help." She looked to Hiccup, who had picked up her comb. Astrid shifted, pulling her legs out of the water and turning her back to him. Hiccup swept the mass of wet curls over her shoulder and began pulling the comb carefully through the very ends. "You're still angry at your parents, huh?"
Astrid shrugged. "I don't know if I'm angry, I'm just...sad? I guess? I don't know." She heaved a deep sigh. "I just don't know. It's just...it's a huge thing to get past. And I'm shoving all my trust issues off on you, which isn't fair, but I can't help how I'm feeling."
Hiccup stopped combing. "Hey," he said, voice firm but gentle, "You don't have to apologize to me for anything. After what they did to you, of course your head's gonna be messed up. Of course your heart is gonna be messed up. And we both know I did some things that didn't help." His hand brushed against her back as he pulled more hair towards him and Astrid shivered. "I want you to trust me, I want you to feel safe, and yes, selfishly, I want you to like me as much as I like you." He moved her hair to the side and kissed the back of her neck. "But I don't expect anything from you, Astrid." He'd freed all the tangles up to the base of her neck, and it sent a tremor down her spine when she felt the comb scratching against her scalp. "I don't want you to feel pressured. I don't want you to feel like you have to give me anything. Not your trust, not your body, not your heart." The comb slid smoothly from the top of her head all the way to the ends of her hair.
Astrid turned to look at him and Hiccup set down the comb. She scooted forwards, just enough to sit almost at his side and leaned in to give him a brief kiss. Her heart pounded in her chest as she whispered, "Thank you." Hiccup nodded, his hand rising to slide into her hair as he pulled her in for another kiss, longer this time. Astrid broke away sooner than he would have liked and he whined. She traced the line of his jaw, then down his neck and along his shoulder. "I'm not ready to give you everything," Astrid said, whispering to hide the nervous tremble in her voice. Her hand continued down his chest, over the smooth muscles of his stomach, and further down. "But," she continued as her hand slipped under the towel on his lap, "I'm ready to give you more."
Hiccup's whole chest shuddered as he expelled a shaky breath, his eyelids fluttering and his pupils dilating as she closed her hand around him. "Astrid," he breathed, half a question and half an oath. She stroked him once, experimentally, then again, watching his reactions.
"Is that good? I don't really know what I'm doing," she said shyly, squeezing harder to see how he'd react. That drew a short groan from the back of his throat, and Hiccup nodded, his eyes falling shut.
"Yeah," he managed, his voice strangled. "Yeah, that's, that's—here." His hand slid under the towel and closed over hers, adjusting her grip and pumping a little faster. "Like that." Astrid copied his movements, and after a moment of guiding her motions his hand fell away. She stroked harder, and brushed her thumb over the tip, dragging a low moan from Hiccup's throat. His head fell back and he moaned again when she repeated the motion. He grew hotter and harder in the palm of her hand and it made her curious. It made her wonder how this would feel buried inside her…
"Oh gods," he said, his throat bobbing as he swallowed. "Gods, I have been dreaming of this."
Astrid smirked and leaned forward to draw her tongue lazily up the side of his neck, earning her a shiver. "I know," she murmured, and that seemed to force all the air from Hiccup's lungs. He looked at her with wide eyes, still panting. Astrid bit her lip. "I saw you." His eyes widened further and since her admission seemed to have him twitching in her hand she decided it couldn't hurt to tell him the rest of it. "I watched you."
Hiccup bucked into her hand. "Gods," he gasped. "And—oh, and—did, did you—?"
She nodded and Hiccup groaned, his chin dropping against his chest. One of his hands tangled in her hair again and dragged her to his lips. It was a messy, distracted kiss, but it sent sparks crackling along the surface of her skin all the same. "A bit—ah—a bit faster," Hiccup whispered, and she obliged him. Soon his hips were bucking into her hand and he was gasping and moaning into her mouth. His hand fisted in her hair and he broke the kiss. "Astrid," he managed, "Astrid, oh." He threw his head back, his grunts growing louder and louder until he broke; a spasm wracked his whole body and her name tumbled from his lips.
Astrid pulled her hand away and rinsed it in the spring. Hiccup's eyes were still closed, his chest heaving, a thin sheen of sweat on his skin. She gently untangled his limp fingers from their place in her hair.
"You tangled my hair again," she told him, small smile playing on her lips.
"Sorry," Hiccup mumbled, his eyes opening. He looked more relaxed than she'd seen him in days, and that dopey smile on his face was nothing short of adorable. He looked at the towel on his lap. "Shit." He frowned. "I only brought one towel."
Astrid laughed and got to her feet. "I'll bring you another one."
"Hey, don't laugh at me, this is your fault."
"That's what you get for messing up my hair."
Xx
Hiccup was something else entirely when he was in the air.
Astrid watched him from Stormfly's back, taking things a bit slower as she and the dragon both adjusted to the newly-finished saddle. Above her head Hiccup and Toothless soared through the sky in the midst of their usual midair acrobatics. They dove past her and Stormfly, only to pull back up in a graceful loop. Hiccup looked more at peace than she had seen him in weeks; his head was thrown back, eyes closed and face towards the sun, a soft smile playing on his lips. Toothless twisted into a corkscrew dive, and Hiccup whooped as they shot downwards and then disappeared among the sea stacks below.
She and Stormfly followed, and she watched from above as boy and dragon wound through the labyrinth of rock columns at breakneck speed. It was amazing to watch, and all the more impressive knowing that effortless-looking maneuverability was the result of Hiccup and Toothless working together and constantly reading each other's movements, second by second. They were one being when they flew.
She had always known Hiccup was smart. Even when he'd invented something that filled the forge with smoke, or misfired and broke one of Gothi's shutters clean off. He was the only one on Berk who even tried to make the things he created. But on Toothless, one could see his true genius in action. From the prosthetic tailfin and rig he'd designed and made himself, to the instinctive way he knew how and when to push the pedals to put the fin in the correct position for each sudden twist or dive Toothless decided on.
They exited the maze of sea stacks and winged their way upwards. When they were close Toothless's wings pumped powerfully, and they shot by her, cutting it so close that she and Stormfly nearly had to dodge out of the way, only to be buffeted by the downdraft. When Astrid managed to push her hair out of her face she saw Hiccup looking back at her and laughing.
He and Toothless disappeared into the clouds and she and Stormfly gave chase, intent on paying them back their teasing.
Astrid had spent so long thinking about Hiccup in terms of that boy in the forge and whether or not he was still in there, and how much of him still remained in who Hiccup was now. It was time to stop thinking of him that way. It had been four years and so much had changed. There was so much more to him than she had initially understood, both good and bad. Compassion and cruelty, hope and pain, and she'd take it all.
The boy in the forge had caught her attention.
But it was the boy on the dragon with whom she'd fallen in love.
