First of all, I really don't like the title of this chapter. It was the last thing I did for this chapter and I am not happy with it. So if you know a better fitting title, please tell me. Normally I can come up with something nice during writing the chapter, but this time nothing...
Second; I can't believe this story now has 300+ followers and nearly 200 favs. Thank you so much. I feel so loved TTwTT.

carl solo: D8 Don't confuse it with another story. I'll try to upload things faster, been really busy with just life, but I will try with faster uploads. I managed to put this up around a month after the after the previous one, I'll try to keep that up. That good?

tillerton: turkey? steak? In my eyes steak is better than turkey. I'm so confused and not getting the food reference.

wustenfuchs: why not 8D? Nah, it has a reason... sorta. Will be explained later.

lara5170: I already sent you a PM, but I just want to tell you I took your comment into consideration and edit a few things in this chapter. It also gave me some ideas for future chapters... though I probably made into the complete opposite direction than you want to see. Sorry. Things will get better, eventually.

Chapter 19 Still the same

The stares; full of disbelieve he was there. The whispering; often about how he was terrible and a traitor. The glares filled with hatred or distrust. It made Hiccup think back about all those years of torment he had lived through before he left this blasted place. He gave Toothless a pleading look in the hopes to convince him to leave after all. He really hated this. What he hated even more was that he wasn't able to move as fast as he wanted to. He used to just run where he needed to be, so to not have to hear the whispers or see the looks. Now he was forced to hear and see them.

However he refused to show his leg hurt, so albeit slowly he walked as normal as he could. At last they arrived at their destination it seemed, though he hadn't expected it to be a barn. The Hofferson barn to be exact. He gave Astrid a puzzled look, but she ignored it or just missed it as she opened the door and entered. When Toothless followed her inside, Hiccup sighed and did the same. He jumped when he suddenly stood face to face with a deadly nadder and fell against Toothless as he stared at the blue scaled dragon. Astrid chuckled as she petted the dragon. The very action made him gape. Of course he remembered her telling him about Stormfly, but he hadn't expected to walk straight into that dragon nor the closeness between said dragon and Astrid. She practically hugged the nadder, receiving a lick in the face. If he didn't know any better he would say she was just as close to Stormfly as he was to Toothless and had been friends with her for years.

Hiccup slid down to the floor as he watched the two. Glad to actually sit now, his leg was throbbing. The nadder eventually turned her attention to him.

"Do you really have your memories back?"

"Uhm… sort of," he decided to reply, again baffled to be able to understand the dragon language. One would think he would have been used to it by now. "I don't remember the being controlled by a dragon queen part or coming here or everything that happened during my stay on Berk, but aside from that, yes."

"Let me go get them something to eat," Astrid suddenly announced and left the barn.

Hiccup watched her leave as he wondered where she would bring him after this. It seemed like she had wanted him to meet Stormfly even though he already had… not that he remembered.

With a sigh he leaned backwards against Toothless thinking how confusing things were when you lose part of your memories.

"Can you still hear her?" Stormfly then asked and gave him a questioning look.

"What do you mean?" he replied as he tried to figure out what the blue scaled dragon was referring to.

"The queen. Can you still hear her words?"

Hiccup immediately sat up straight and gave the dragon an intense yet somewhat frightened look. He thought her words over and then thought about everything since the day he woke in Gothi's hut. Relieved he slumped back down and shook his head.

"No… well not so far that is," the last part he added with a hint of fear as he looked over to Toothless for answers, "how does that even work?"

The black dragon however seemed to be searching for the same answer himself as he shook his head.

"I don't know. In my knowledge a nest has an alpha, who is supposed to make sure the nest stays save. Not like our former queen, so to say, send dragons into danger and raid villages for food. That a human can fall under a dragon's control is beyond my understanding. Also, to this day I don't understand how I did not fall under her control again after meeting you… well until the moment you were under her control that is."

Hiccup frowned as he tried to make sense of it all, but couldn't really. He needed more information and right now he really was in no mood to figure it out anyway. It could wait till later, when he was far away from Berk and far away from the queen that had controlled him.

Astrid came back with a basket filled with fish. She kicked it over to dump its contents, a variation of fish, on the floor. Toothless stood up and eagerly started eating, sharing the food with Stormfly.

"Come on," Astrid motioned to Hiccup to follow her.

Confused about why she thought he would abandon Toothless he looked at the two eating dragons.

"Just go, I'll stay here," Toothless said with his mouth full.

Hiccup however remained seated, not really in the mood in going outside again and seeing people giving him death glares. Astrid didn't agree with that, grabbed him by his wrist and pulled him to his feet. Not too quickly, giving him the opportunity to put most his weight on his right leg. They didn't go far, much to Hiccup's relieve, though he was surprised to find himself inside Astrid's home. Whilst looking around a tad confused as to why he was there, he found himself a chair to sit on.

"You're putting your weight on you right leg," Astrid stated as she watched him.

"Is that a problem?" Hiccup asked as he sat down on the chair and gave her a slightly annoyed look.

"No, merely an observation. I take it putting pressure on your left hurts. I'm surprised you didn't sit in Toothless' back when we walked here."

Hiccup then realized himself he could have done that, it had just slipped his mind after that whole talk he had had with said dragon. Apparently his realization was written all over his face for Astrid chuckled. A tad offended he looked away from her, only to watch her again, this time curiously, when she disappeared out of the room. When she came back, she was holding a crate which she dropped on the table in front of him. His first reaction was to ask her what she brought that here for, but then saw his stuff. Everything. His compass, notebooks, clothes, pencils, ink and whatever other trinket he had collected during his travels. It was all there except…

"What about Toothless saddle and tailfin?" he asked.

She frowned and shook her head, "And risk you leave? You already tried once and your state of being was worse than it is now. Not a chance. I'll give you those back later."

He couldn't help but feel disappointed, but didn't try pushing it, knowing very well that even if he said Toothless wouldn't let him leave it wouldn't work.

Astrid sat down and watched him as he pulled out one of his notebooks and opened it. He unfolded the map inside and studied it with a frown. Sure he may be stuck here, but that didn't mean he was going to stay here forever. Once his leg was healed enough he would leave. No matter what Toothless had to say about it. He no longer belonged here on Berk, if he ever had at all. His eyes slowly went over the map as he tried to think of where his friends, the ones he had been traveling with, could be. They had a certain route, but would often drift off to other towns or cities whenever there was a dragon problem. Seeing as it had been two years since he left, something he still needed to remind himself of, it was hard to say where they could be. Frustrated he dropped his head on the table… well mostly the map. They probably thought he was dead. Perhaps they actually went to the town he said he would be going to, to ask around only to hear that he had left after a few days to test out his flight suit. If only he knew where they were, then he could ask a terrible terror to go there. Then again, he hadn't brought a terror with him when he left them. The plan had been for a month max, not two entire years! With a sigh he sat straight again ignoring Astrid's curious stare.

"So why am I here? As in at your place," he asked in the hopes she wasn't going to ask anything about the map or where he had been.

The question threw her of guard for a moment.

"Oh, right. Ever since you've been on Berk, you've been staying here."

With a dumbfounded look Hiccup stared at Astrid as he tried to keep himself from freaking out. Of all the places he could have stayed, he stayed at Astrid's? Plenty of questions came to mind, most of all why. Sure he knew about how she was responsible for him remembering again, but why does that include staying at her place?

"You-you're j-joking? Right?" he uttered eventually, cursing at the return if his childish stutter.

Astrid shook her head as her expression told him the return of his stuttering wasn't missed by her.

"No. It was my mom's idea, she didn't want you to stay at your dad's so…"

Crap, crap, crap, he thought. That meant he had to see her and deal with her on a daily basis. He had hoped, once out of Gothi's place he would be leaving the place. Toothless disagreed so he changed that thought to at least be somewhere away from Astrid, to keep him from thinking about the stupid things he had done when he had a high fever. Apparently he had no such luck. He really wanted to run even more now. Away from… everything. Mostly Berk… mostly the glares that were given to him. It seemed like people hated him more than ever. Yet…

Toothless words came back to him and how he had told the dragon he wouldn't run. He wasn't sure if Toothless had been right about Astrid being on his side, sure it seemed to be so far, but she might as well backstab him. Wouldn't be the first time he was to be backstabbed. He trusted Toothless judgement though, so for now he would suck it up. He took a moment to gather himself so not to keep on stuttering before he finally spoke again.

"Okay… so where do I sl-sleep?"

Well… almost at least.

"My bedroom," Astrid answered which was followed be a loud thud when Hiccup dropped his head on the table once more.

He placed both hands in his hair, trying very hard to calm himself. He was certain his face was bright red, which was why he was hiding it. Though dropping your head on the table was probably a poor way of hiding it.

"Who's freaking idea was that?" he asked with a higher pitched voice due to his panic. At least he didn't stutter, but he wasn't sure this was any better.

"My mother," came as reply after a moment of silence.

Hiccup sat up straight again and gaped at her, "Has your mother gone crazy?"

"That's what I and my father thought when mom basically dropped that idea," Astrid muttered.

He watched her avoiding his stare with a slight blush covering her cheeks. Apparently she was no fan of the sleeping arrangements and that thought somehow hurt him a whole lot more than it should. He was mentally telling himself to get over it, he never had a chance with Astrid anyway.

"You probably don't remember what happened, do you?" she then asked.

Slowly he shook his head, trying to talk as little as possible. He wasn't willing to risk stuttering or having a high pitched voice again and the risk for either was high, he was still in a somewhat panicked state. It had been ages since he had been this panicked and freaked out. He just hoped he wasn't going to fall on the floor this time.

Astrid let out a sigh and started talking again.

"Alright, well do know you were there. My parents sort of fought over the idea of you staying in my room. My dad wasn't a fan. Eventually the whole 'no sex' part was dropped and you looked clueless."

She let out a chuckle with the last sentence and Hiccup wasn't sure if he should be feeling offended or not.

"Anyway, mom eventually got it her way by basically," at this point Astrid shuddered, "seducing dad with simply kissing him."

He remembered her mentioning her mother doing that. The very act had resulted in Astrid snapping him out of the queen's control with a kiss. Well at least he understood why that had actually worked. There would be two reasons for it. The first being that he had been in utter shock. Which would then be followed up by reason number two. He might not have remembered, but he loved her. Feelings aren't memories. Feelings remain. Though he hated that feelings remained right now… or came back three fold, he was glad they did when now that he thought about it, it had saved her life back when he was under the control of the queen. He hadn't been able to kill her. If he had, he would probably kill himself right now.

He was taken out of his thoughts when the front door opened, letting in the cold air and a woman holding a dead, headless and feather stripped chicken. It was Ingrid Hofferson, who quickly closed the door behind her. Once closed her eyes traveled to Hiccup and Astrid.

"Ah, you're both here already. Good, good. Help me out with dinner, Astrid."

Astrid gave her mother a look of disbelieve.

"Uhm… sure… if you want the food to catch fire," she mumbled.

Hiccup did his best to not snort at the comment. Aside from it being somewhat sarcastic, which was new, it also was implying Astrid couldn't cook.

"You're peeling potatoes," Ingrid stated and pointed to the sack of potatoes in the corner of the kitchen.

"Because last time went swell when I peeled potatoes," Hiccup heard her mutter under her breath, but grabbed a pot and filled it with potatoes.

With annoyance that was dripping of her face she dropped the pot on the table, got a knife and started peeling. Hiccup simply watched and soon understood what Astrid had meant with her comment. When she was finished with peeling, if that is what you could call it, the potato, instead of the large thing it once was, was now so small one could easily snap it in two. At first he snorted at the ridiculous sight, trying very hard to keep it to himself, but utterly failed. In an attempt to cover his laughing, he covered his mouth with his hand and by then Astrid was giving him a look full of annoyance. It wasn't threatening, not even with the knife in her hand. It was then he fully burst into laughter, causing Ingrid to see what the fuss was about.

"How many times do I have to tell you, Astrid? Just the peel!"

"You know I can't do this," Astrid protested flustered, still attempting to glare at Hiccup.

"One day you need do this on a daily basis, Astrid. If you keep peeling food like that, you'll starve your family!" Ingrid frowned at her daughter, ignoring Hiccup's laughter who had now placed his head on the table.

"I told you before, I'm not ever getting married!" the force you blonde replied and slammed the knife on the table.

It caused her to cut herself, which she didn't notice. Her mother however did and started complaining again, this time about how she should be more careful. Hiccup managed to bring his laughing to a mere snort every now and then and watched Astrid being treated by her mother for her small cut as he leaned on one arm. It was interesting. Never had he seen this side of the girl. He had always thought she was good at everything. Flawless. He had been wrong and for some strange reason he was glad he had.

His eyes drifted to the remaining potatoes, basically all minus one. Since the Hofferson's were so nice to let him stay here, he decided that he at least could do something back, like peeling potatoes. He reached over to the pot and pulled it towards him.

"Hiccup, you don't have to," Ingrid started to protest, but Hiccup shook his head.

"It's fine. Astrid clearly can't peel potatoes and since you're letting me stay here I should at least do something back."

"But…" Ingrid started, yet Hiccup shook his head as he grabbed the first potato and the knife Astrid had been using.

With a sigh she let him and tended to her daughter. Hiccup had already finished peeling three potatoes when Ingrid returned to the chicken. Astrid huffed and leaned on her arm.

"Perhaps you should watch closely at what I'm doing, Astrid. You might learn something," Hiccup snorted.

At last his stupid stuttering was gone as well as that annoying high pitched voice. Just plain teasing... something he never did to her.

"You're just enjoying this aren't you."

"Me enjoying how you are incapable of doing something as basic as peeling potatoes? What kind of person do you think I am?"

Astrid rolled her eyes and Hiccup could only smirk. If things would continue this way it wouldn't be so bad. He just needed a few more days for his leg to recover… and probably get used to walking again, because that had really hurt.

About an two hours later the Hofferson family plus Hiccup were sitting around the table. Each having a bowl of food in front of them. Hiccup frowned at the bowl, really not wanting to eat anything other than another apple which he knew wouldn't come back up. However the content of his bowl was different than the others.

"It's just a very light chicken soup, Hiccup. Astrid said you didn't like to eat, because you think you might throw up again. You should be able to keep this inside. Just eat however much you wish," Ingrid said when she saw him hesitate.

Hiccup throw Astrid a glare, who simple ignored him and continued eating. Then he returned his attention back to the food, eventually deciding to give it a try. It wasn't like he could only eat apples the rest of his life.

"So how exactly did you meet that night fury friend of yours?" Fellman asked as he dipped a piece of bread in his broth.

Hiccup swallowed his soup, realizing his body was actually craving for this and really had to keep himself from eating it all very quickly, which would most definitely lead to him throwing up.

"Remember that night when I said I shot down a night fury?" he mumbled as he slowly took another spoonful, this stuff was good.

"Oh yes, how could one forget. Gave us all a good laugh. Still being used in stories to entertain the young ones to this da-OUCH, woman why are you kicking me?"

Fellman gave his wife a glare but got two glares backs; one from his wife and one from his daughter.

"Good to know that people still think of me as a pest or something to make fun," Hiccup bluntly stated and placed his spoon down.

Abruptly he stood up, "I'm going to bed, which apparently is Astrid's room which I take is upstairs, night."

He turned his back to the three surprised faces and walked up the stairs. Hitting his head at the top, he started cursing colorful in the different languages he knew. Rubbing the sore spot he entered Astrid's room and looked around. There was her bed, which to his surprise was quite big, two people could easily fit on that. When that thought crossed his mind he immediately started to blush. No wonder her father had said 'no sex', the bed was spacious enough for… Quickly Hiccup shook his head and started looking at the rest of the room. Eventually his eyes landed on a big pile of furs and blankets on the side of the room near the wall. Pretty much right across Astrid's bed. He blinked at the amount of it as he thought of how little he was given when living with his father. Real Vikings don't need no furs and blankets to keep themselves warm at night his father had always said. It had let to not being able to sleep due to being cold plenty of nights.

He dropped himself on the pile, took of his boots and crawled underneath the blankets. Nice and warm, he couldn't even feel the floor at all. Moments later he heard Astrid walking up the stairs. Not willing to go into a conversation about what just happened he closed his eyes and pretended to be asleep, which apparently worked, since she left soon after.