Disclaimer: I don't own How To Train Your Dragon or any of the associated characters or settings.

AN: Um, BEWARE: THERE IS SMUT AFOOT. That is all.

He was twenty-one and she was twenty. He'd been gone for three days. It hadn't gone well and he didn't want to think about it. He wasn't used to failure on Berk. He was starting to lose faith in other people. He was starting to wonder if he should just stay home. His disappointment with the results of his task were palpable, rolling around in his stomach like a two-day old fish. Hiccup simply didn't understand why some people, some Vikings insisted on being blind to the attributes of dragons even when he and Toothless were living, breathing proof of the goodness that could exist between humans and the reptiles.

He and Toothless had very nearly been killed this time. Already he could hear Astrid. No, he couldn't hear Astrid. He could see her eyes, that look that was part pity, part exasperation. She'd try to balm his wounded heart with words, or she'd try to distract him with jokes. He didn't want either of those things from her. What he wanted was there to be an understanding in the Archipelago. He wanted people to see dragons as he did.

On the horizon, Berk came into view, that damp, unchanging pile of rocks that he called home. Hiccup felt the same swell of mingled pride and longing as he always did when he returned to his island. That was where he belonged. The geography might never change, but the people had. He thought about his mother and the safe haven – the sanctuary – for the dragons. Berk was his sanctuary. Everything good about his life was waiting for him there – his mother, his friends, his tribe. Astrid.

He wanted her more than anything. Not her words or even her silent understanding. He wanted to hold her. Touch her. Feel her. Of all the disappointments he'd had in life, she'd never been one. Even when he'd thought she'd never be his. She was always exceeding his expectations. She was a constant source of amazement to him. He wondered if there would ever be a day when he returned and she wasn't waiting for him on the cliffs. He wondered what he would do if that day ever came. Probably fall apart. Probably become a shadow of a human being. Or a madman.

Hiccup had to laugh at himself. It was all he could do when his old melodrama came back like this. The gods hate me, he thought wistfully. He laughed out loud that time and Toothless tilted his head questioningly. Hiccup rested his hand gently on the dragon's head.

"Just losing my mind, bud," he said quietly.

Toothless warbled in agreement.

"Good thing I can always count on you to back me up."

Toothless released a gravelly laugh and dipped his flight path down and back up again until Hiccup was sufficiently jostled into laughing.

"Okay, okay! No more whining, I promise."

Toothless rumbled happily and evened out his flight. It was smooth flying into Berk, barely a cloud in the sky, the sun setting at their backs. As they grew closer to the island, Hiccup found himself searching for Astrid. She would know, she always knew but she never told him how. Hiccup had a theory that it was Stormfly who knew, but he liked to believe that Astrid just knew. He could see their house, still far off in the distance, and he stared fixedly at the door, waiting for her to exit.

Hiccup and Toothless were barrelling toward Berk with all the whistling speed a Night Fury had to offer, the wind cutting through the eye-holes of his mask. Blinking back tears, he still searched for Astrid. His heart started to hammer with an unpleasant pressure in his chest. She hadn't come out. Maybe his melodramatic fear was coming to fruition.

Maybe the gods do hate me, he thought miserably as he and Toothless landed in front of the house. Still no Astrid. He hadn't been gone this long before, would she have gone looking for him? Hiccup jumped off Toothless without preamble and strode purposefully into the house, not bothering to remove his helmet. He pushed the door open with all the impatience of a child at Snoggletog and found…nothing. There was no food brewing; there was no indication of life at all.

"Astrid?" he called as he climbed the stairs two at a time, banging open the door to their bedchamber.

The bed was there, empty and made up with light furs, ready for springtime on Berk. Still no Astrid. He rushed down the stairs, his anxiety rising. He knew it was ridiculous. He knew that he had no reason to believe she'd gone anywhere. No reason except for the fact that he was Hiccup and maybe Astrid – beautiful Astrid – had finally grown tired of him. Despite their friendship. Despite all they'd been through together. Despite the fact that three days ago on a bright morning, full of promise, she'd whispered the words,

"Go safely, my love. And may Hlín bring you back to me with all the haste of the gods."

Hiccup's skin tingled with the memory of her hot breath on his neck that day. He'd almost decided to stay, to make love to her, to never leave her side. Now he wished he had.

Hiccup kicked the front door open, Toothless' name on his lips, only to be met with a startled yelp. Hiccup's eyes widened when he saw his wife at the door, wide-eyed and clutching her chest. Hiccup swallowed. Knowing that she'd been agile enough to jump out of the way of the door he'd just kicked did not make him feel any safer. Astrid's wrath rivaled that of any god. There was a blessed moment of peace during which Astrid blinked at him and he stood achingly still as though he were a startled deer staring into the eyes of a Monstrous Nightmare.

Then her face twisted, her eyebrows coming down in anger, an expression he was used to seeing and Hiccup found himself grinning like an idiot under his mask. Because the twist of her lips and the stubborn set of her jaw meant that she was standing here in front of him and she hadn't decided that Hiccup Haddock wasn't worth her time. Because he missed her face, no matter the expression.

"What in Hel was that about?" she spat angrily, "And are you laughing?"

He was laughing. He couldn't stop laughing even though he knew it would likely lead to some form of physical assault.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," he said breathlessly, trying to swallow his laughter.

Astrid narrowed her eyes at him and stepped toward him. Hiccup stepped back instinctually, but she kept coming until she'd backed him into a pole.

"And what are you sorry about, exactly? Leaving me for three days to deal with tribe problems alone? Or maybe kicking the door of our home into my face?" she glowered at him and reached up to his mask, "I can't talk to you when you're wearing that thing."

With one very unkind motion, she tore the helmet from his head.

"Ow! Why would you do that?"

"Shut up," she hissed.

Astrid fisted the front of his flight suit and yanked him down into a hard kiss. She broke the kiss just as viciously.

"That was because I missed you," she said.

Hiccup relaxed against the pole although he really should have known better; he should have known that he hadn't escaped the "hatchet". Her fist landed heavily in his stomach and he doubled over, gasping.

"And that was for everything else."

Hiccup groaned. "I think I prefer it the other way around. Hatchet, then the honey."

Astrid hadn't moved and she looked down at him as though considering what to do with him next.

"Stand up," she commanded.

"Astrid—"

"Just do it."

"It'd be easier without the crippling pain in my abdomen."

"You should have thought about that three days ago."

"You're a cruel mistress."

Astrid smiled at that, a sharp, predatory grin. She slid her palms up his chest and Hiccup suddenly wished that he wasn't wearing the heavy layering of his flight suit. Her hands looped around the back of his neck, fingers slipping into his hair. She pulled his face down to hers again and kissed him much more gently than she had earlier. Hiccup relaxed into the kiss, his arms wrapping around her, pulling her body close against his. Her tongue teased his mouth open, danced with his own tongue, left him mad with want. Hiccup's hands were pulling at the back of the thin tunic she was wearing while Astrid's hands pulled at the buckles on the front of his flight suit.

"I don't know if I've ever told you," Astrid said, breaking away from him to focus on the buckles, "But I hate this thing."

"Ah, you don't mean that. You're just jealous. I'll make you one."

Astrid growled at him and Hiccup slid his hands up her arms. He leaned down and pressed his lips against the delicate skin beneath her ear. She paused in her struggles with the flight suit and angled her neck toward him. He kept kissing her neck, his fingers unclasping her hood and letting it fall to the floor. She'd all but given up on the buckles lost as she was in his kisses. His hand curled around the back of her neck, holding the weight of her head while he traced kisses along her jaw. His other hand worked at the stays of her tunic, pulling it open and exposing her shoulder to press light kisses along the skin there.

Astrid let out a roar of frustration and shoved him hard in the chest, pushing him away so that she could work at the buckles again. Hiccup looked down at her, an amused grin on his face.

"Shall I?" he asked, still grinning.

He received an irritated grunt in reply which he decided to take as an affirmative response. Hiccup made fast work of the buckles on his flight suit. Once he'd had them all loosened, Astrid pulled his armour off. Not gently; not nicely. Astrid wasn't exactly a nice girl, after all. The jacket of his flight suit fell to the ground with a clatter and Astrid pressed the palms of her hot hands into his chest the same way she had earlier, pushing them upwards with deliberate slowness. She smiled when he groaned and threw his head back, hitting off the pole behind him.

"Ow—"

Astrid silenced him with another bruising kiss to his lips. She trailed kisses along his jawline, down his neck, down, down, her tongue dragging across a nipple. Hiccup gripped her arms then and stared at her with wild eyes. Her eyes were nearly black with desire and he found he couldn't really take much more of this. Not after the last three days. He wanted to bury himself in her. He spun with her, pressing her back into the pole he'd just been pushed into. Astrid's hands locked onto his shoulders and he lifted her, her legs wrapping around his hips. Hiccup groaned into her hair as her lips made contact with his neck again, sucking, teasing. Astrid's hands were everywhere – sliding across his chest, tangled in his hair, scratching down his back. She slid her hand down his front, past the flat plane of his stomach, lower, lower, and gripped him with gentle pressure. Hiccup gasped into her skin.

"Gods, woman, you'll kill me."

Astrid smiled at him with heavy, hooded eyes. She leaned into his ear and whispered, "Then take me, Viking," before nipping his earlobe.

Hiccup struggled with her leggings, desperately tugging them down the length of her legs. Astrid struggled with his pants in much the same manner.

"You had to wear leather," she murmured.

"You had to wear leggings."

Their eyes met and they both laughed.

"Put me down," Astrid said, a giggle on her lips.

Hiccup set her down and she tugged at her boots and leggings, leaving them in an unceremonious pile on the floor. Hiccup was preoccupied with his pants and looked up to see her pull the tunic over her head. As always, he was breathless at the sight of her. He would never tire of her soft, pale skin, of rosy pink nipples and soft curves. He caught her hand as she worked at her skirt and she looked up at him questioningly.

"Leave it on," he said, his voice husky.

A slow smirk crept onto her face and she gripped his hips pulling him toward her. They kissed, this time lightly, teasingly. Astrid pushed Hiccup's pants over his hips while his hands were buried in her hair, loosening her flaxen braids, tresses cascading heavily onto her shoulders. Hiccup ran his hands down the smooth skin of her back, down her skirt and under, gripping her buttocks and lifting her. She wrapped around him again, pressed her warmth into him as he nipped the sensitive skin where her shoulder met her neck.

"Hiccup," she whispered desperately.

He pulled back to look at her face, he always wanted to look at her face. Her arms went over her head, gripping the pole behind her as he eased himself inside her. He watched her close her eyes slowly, rolling her head back against the pole, biting her bottom lip. He honestly couldn't think of a more beautiful sight than Astrid in the throes of ecstasy. Nothing compared to how she moved, how he felt inside her. There was nothing like the soft, mewling noises that only he could bring out of her. This was a side of Astrid that no one else got to see and he reveled in it.

Their passion was a rising, driving thing. He was trying to make up for the three days he'd been away from her and she was trying to make him make up for it with frantic, hurried movements of her hips. Pushing, thrusting, gasping, they reached a climax together that left Hiccup weak in the knees. Astrid curled her arms around his neck and kissed his temple with aching tenderness, her fingers toying with the damp hair at the nape of his neck. Unwillingly, they disentangled and practically collapsed to the floor, holding each other as though they were the only two people left alive.

Hiccup ran his fingers through Astrid's silken hair, comforted by her body pressed into his, her skin warm against his. They laid there for a long time before either of them spoke, languishing in the security of one another.

"How did it go on Odin's Landing?" Astrid asked quietly.

Hiccup sighed and shook his head.

Astrid drew circular lines on the centre of his chest, the touch of her fingertips sending shivers throughout his body. He took her hand in his and held it still against his chest.

"Not everyone is as forgiving as you," she said.

"Everyone here was."

"Everyone here trusts you."

"They didn't always."

Astrid propped herself up onto her elbow so that she could look into his face. "Hiccup," she said sharply.

His eyes locked onto her face – a worry line creased her forehead and he reached up to smooth it with his thumb.

"They always trusted you."

A half-smile pulled at the corner of his mouth. "This from the girl who told me to decide what side I was on."

Astrid's face slackened but she didn't look away. "I've always trusted you, Hiccup. I just…didn't want you to get hurt."

Hiccup couldn't fight his smile so he let it take free reign over his face, beaming at her. "My own personal shield maiden."

Astrid punched him lightly in the arm though she was smiling. "Hardly a maiden anymore."

Hiccup cocked an eyebrow and smirked.

"Don't look so pleased with yourself," Astrid said with narrowed eyes.

"But I am pleased with myself."

Astrid rolled her eyes. She laid down on the pillow of his shoulder and started drawing circles on his skin again.

"Hiccup, you know you can't save the whole world, right?"

Hiccup stared at the beam above them, his eyes following the grain of the wood. He thought of the past three days and the bitter disappointment they had brought him. Then he thought about coming home to Berk, the swell in his chest upon his return, the people who lived here in harmony with dragons, the wife he loved more than anything. He knew he couldn't change everyone's minds about dragons. He knew that there would always be those in the world – people like those at Odin's Landing – who would never see reason. He knew all this, but…

"I have to try, As."

Astrid drew in a big breath and sighed. There was nothing irritated or exasperated about it. It was a sigh and nothing more.

"I know you do, Hiccup."