Hiccup took the flight home with his parents the next day, still an emaciated, exhausted emotional wreck, but he didn't feel as frightened anymore. He had three people and one cat holding him up, and that was more than he had had for years.

Once he returned home, he slept and slept like he hadn't slept in years. It scared him at first that no matter how many hours of sleep he got a night, he always needed a nap or two during the day, and then he was still tired enough that he went to bed early, but he was told this was normal. When he wasn't asleep, his mother was spoiling him rotten, cooking copious amounts of all his favorite foods and forcing them on him every chance she got. And when she wasn't around, Astrid took her place, or worse, when both of them were around, they double-teamed him.

In that aspect, Hiccup recovered quickly, and he could see the relief in his parents' and Astrid's faces when all of his bones began to disappear under layers of fat he had desperately needed. His bruises faded in time as well. Eventually, he filled out completely and his color became healthy once more, and Astrid definitely noticed the difference. That first morning he had come out of his room, noticeably ruddier and seemingly five pounds heavier overnight, Astrid had taken his face in her hands and kissed him very soundly, not caring that his parents were eating breakfast right behind her.

"Hello gorgeous," she had said, and Hiccup's face went completely red even as he laughed like a giddy little boy.

Hiccup often felt bad that he had taken Astrid away from her job, but she informed him that she was actually doing her a favor.

"The only reason I took that job because it was the only place out of hundreds I applied to that wanted me," she had explained, "I'm not going back there. Now that I'm here, I'm actually much closer to my parents."

He had been reassured by that, and had said feverishly that he was never moving that far away from his parents again. The two of them still agreed that they needed to find jobs while they were here, and eventually find a place together. Everything was finally looking up for the first time in forever.

Until the first time Heather had texted Hiccup.

Then the floodgates opened. That text led to at least two hundred a day, twenty calls, all with messages that differed in mood. They ranged from Hey, call me, I miss you to If you don't answer I'm going to show up to your fucking house and murder everyone there, to Baby please answer me I'm miserable I can't live without you I love you so much.

After that, Hiccup's anxiety level shot through the roof, his entire body constantly tense against his will in preparation for Heather to show up at his door. She was several states away, but his terrified mind didn't understand logic. He jumped a foot in the air at every loud noise, flinched every time someone made a sudden move, and apologized profusely for the smallest, stupidest things. He began to resemble an abused dog; he'd walk around everyone like they were going to shout at him at any moment, refusing to meet anyone's gaze, and there was always a subtle quiver to his frame that spoke of his ever-present fear.

Fear of rejection. Fear of pain. Fear that behind every kind face, even those of his own parents, was an ugly mask of hate.

That was probably around the time the night terrors started.

Oh God, they were awful. The first one happened while Astrid wasn't home, but Valka and Stoick had filled her in. Hiccup had been watching t.v and had fallen asleep without meaning to. Not too long after, he had woken screaming at the top of his lungs, and when his parents had gone to console him, it was impossible. He had fought them with everything he was worth, his eyes open but not seeing them, and in the end his father had to restrain him before he hurt someone or himself. When he snapped out of it, his body going limp after tiring itself out, he didn't remember what had happened. He seemed so lost and confused, and the adrenaline still flowing through his body made him shake horribly. His mother laid there with him on the couch until Astrid returned, and when she did she could hear Hiccup moaning that he felt very sick and very faint. And indeed, when she caught sight of him, his face was white and waxy, and even his fingertips had been drained of color.

From then on, Hiccup had been too afraid to sleep on his own. It physically pained Astrid to see him come to her or his mother, red-faced and embarrassed, and ask if they could spend the night with him. Or, sometimes, Astrid would wake in the middle of the night in the guest bedroom to Hiccup crawling in bed with her, obviously ashamed of himself and ready to release his torrent of "I'm sorry"s. But usually Astrid would shush him the moment he opened his mouth to speak, and simply open the blankets for him. He would dive in without another word and spend the night clinging to her like she was the only thing he could depend on in life anymore.

The night terrors escalated and went from being an every-once-in-a-while occurrence to a nightly terrorist. A full night of sleep became a distant memory for everyone in the house, but for Hiccup most prominently. He never remembered what the actual dreams were about, or at least that's what he said, but Astrid could take a guess.

Heather's stalking escalated as well, until he and Astrid finally, to their utter shock, ran into her one night. It turned out that she flew up, unable to wait and finally growing desperate enough. However, she wasn't too happy when he rejected her and plainly told her that she couldn't control him anymore, not to mention there was an emergency restraining order enacted against her and she could get into a lot of trouble if they reported her. At least it seemed she was angry when she slammed him face first into a brick wall and began snarling obscenities at him, telling him he was a spineless piece of shit, always had been always would be, and he'd come crawling back to her when he wanted a real woman again. Astrid had leapt on her, snarling like a wildcat, and thrown her off, threatening to call the cops. After that, Heather had left, baring her teeth and promising to have Hiccup persecuted and thrown in prison to rot.

Traumatized afresh, he had relapsed quite severely after that. The final straw had been when she had caught Hiccup forcing himself to vomit his lunch in the toilet. She had practically yanked him away and wrestled him to the floor, where she held him so tightly he couldn't move. And, with the greatest of efforts, she ignored his pitiful begging to let him finish.

She sat there with him on the cold tile floor, their combined heavy panting the only sound in the entire house, for what seemed like an eternity and a second at the same time, before she finally asked him why the hell he was doing something so stupid.

"Because I fucking give up," Hiccup moaned forlornly, "I'm tired of this. I'm so tired, Astrid!"

"I know." She started to rock him back and forth as she felt the cracks in him begin to form.

"I'm tired of feeling guilty, I'm tired of feeling like a mentally unstable pain in the ass to my family, I'm tired of making my mother cry almost daily, I'm tired of making my dad hold me down so I don't hurt anyone who's just trying to help, and I'm tired of you wasting your energy on caring about me when I've done nothing to deserve it."

Before she could retort, Hiccup finished in the quietest of whispers to the ear and loudest of shouts to the soul, "I'm done…let's just find a way for me to die so everyone can find some peace."

That was the moment she heard the cracks widen before he finally shattered. It scared Astrid more than she could say that she couldn't find it in herself to yell at him and instead just broke down crying with him.

Needless to say, after that, Astrid talked Hiccup into going to see a therapist. It was the first time in a long time they began to see a remarkable improvement. And of course, Astrid always seemed to know ingenious ways to get him to practice what the therapist told him to do at home.

"One thing at a time he said, remember?" Astrid said gently when Hiccup began to grow frustrated that he wasn't improving faster, "He wants you to focus on fixing one thing at a time. You're not going to get better overnight, and it's going to take a lot of work."

Hiccup raked his fingers roughly through his hair and huffed, "But how am I supposed to change my way of thinking? This 'cognitive-behavioral' therapy seemed a lot easier on paper."

Astrid sighed and carefully grabbed his forearms, pulling them down and forcing him to face her. His eyes immediately went to the floor, and she lowered herself so that she was in his line of sight and began to rise; a trick she learned that could get him to look her in the eye again and to lift his head. The therapist said that confident posture was an important step in making him feel confident on the inside.

"Well, let's pick one thing you want to fix," she said, and she was more proud of him than she could say that he held her gaze.

Hiccup blinked rapidly and screwed up his face into a thinking expression. "Well, I guess I want to stop feeling guilty."

Astrid nodded, "Okay, so we just have to get you to stop saying you're sorry so much. How about every time you don't say you're sorry for something that wasn't your fault, you get a reward. It'll be like how they train dogs."

Hiccup rolled his eyes, but he was smiling when he said, "Oh, so I'm your dog now?"

She laughed as she added, "Yup. Now we just have to find out if you're motivated by food or playing."

He snorted and shook his head. Then, Astrid said seriously, "No, I mean it. What kind of reward would motivate you? What would you be willing to work for to get? Hmm…I know. How about every time you do what you're supposed to, you get a kiss. Every time you do apologize, no kiss."

Hiccup looked so hurt that she started laughing again, doubling over when he said in a wounded voice, "But Astrid, that's not fair!"

She straightened up and tapped his chest with one forefinger, saying impishly, "Yeah it is. You want your reward, you're going to have to work for it."

He sighed heavily through his nose and groaned in frustration. Astrid "aww"-ed in sympathy, before reaching up and patting his head, saying, "Poor puppy." She leaned in, offering a kiss, and Hiccup begrudgingly leaned in to accept it. However, she quickly placed a couple of fingers on his lips and moved her head away, trilling "Ah ah!" Like she was disciplining a puppy for taking a squat on the floor.

Well, never let it be said that Hiccup wasn't as determined as Astrid Hofferson.

But just as Hiccup began to flourish under the guidance of his therapist and the motivation that Astrid (and later, his family as she figured out how to incorporate them as well, and they were more than willing to help) offered, the date of his hearing drew near. And before he knew it, it was time to fly out.

Sleep was impossible the night before, only coming to him in fits and spurts. By the time he finally managed to doze, it was time to leave the hotel, and he was an exhausted, pale, jittery wreck. Luckily, his parents, Astrid, and their lawyer did most of the talking, and Astrid held his hand the entire time while his mother held the other. Everything was culminating and would come crashing down in either victory or defeat, and all Hiccup could do was stare at his shoes and try not to throw up because Heather hardly took her eyes off him the entire time. She was obviously ignoring the poisonous looks Astrid was sending her, but oh boy if looks could kill…

Long story short, Heather was found guilty, but shockingly wasn't sent to prison, not even when Stoick nearly blew the judge's head off reminding him that Heather had tried to kill his son. But the judge explained to him again that he didn't think Hiccup was in any danger of dying of the basis that Heather was simply not strong enough to suffocate him, and he didn't want to send a woman to jail if he didn't have to. So the restraining order was simply kept in place and she was put on probation.

"The American justice system is a load of horseshit," Stoick growled as they stormed out, beard bristling. Astrid whole-heartedly agreed.

"I accidently dinged a guy's car once backing out of a parking spot," she explained on the walk back to the car, "He called the cops on me. Some old white dude with a stick up his ass. My car was actually more damaged than his. The cops still grilled me, and I was so scared I stared crying; I'd never been in trouble a day in my life before then. Yet this jackass cop had the balls to ask if he'd dealt with me the day before when he couldn't have because I was at college that day. I hope he felt good making a girl cry, I hope that must made his fucking day."

Stoick had placed a fatherly hand on her shoulder, and said it was lucky for the cops he hadn't been with her that day. "I probably would have ended up in jail for what I would've done," he confessed, and Astrid laughed.

But that was then. This was now, and now, Hiccup was facing a bit of a dilemma.

The year following the trial had been very good to him. With Heather out of his life and not allowed to return to it by law, the biggest stressor in life had been removed. And with that stress gone, Hiccup finally obtained the sleek, filled-out look of a young man just beginning to enter his prime. He found his own sort of confidence, a quiet sort where he always knew what he was doing but didn't feel the need to let everyone else know too. The humbleness remained, although Valka assured Astrid that that had always been there long before he met Heather. Best of all, he happily met his girlfriend's eye as often as he could, and he laughed every day and smiled just as much.

He and Astrid did finally manage to find jobs and a place to live that was close enough that Hiccup could visit his parents as often as he wanted. Now that his life was becoming settled, he could focus on becoming closer to Astrid, and she didn't seem to mind at all.

Which brought Hiccup back to his dilemma. He sat on the by now familiar couch of one of the many rooms his therapist saw his clients in, legs bouncing up and down and hands pressed between his knees.

"So what's up?" his therapist asked, "We haven't seen each other in a while. I noticed you didn't bring your partner in crime with you today."

"Yeah," Hiccup mumbled, smiling nervously. Astrid usually attended every one of his sessions as a form of support, "I left her home on purpose because I'm sort of planning a surprise for her. But…I found out I'm having a, uh, problem I was hoping you could help me fix. Maybe."

He pressed his mouth into a thin line, effectively cutting himself off.

The therapist leaned forward, placing his elbows on his knees and saying, "Alright, I'll see what I can do. Lay it on me."

Hiccup took a deep breath and exhaled harshly, his cheeks puffing out. "Well, I think I've come a long way from where I was when I first started seeing you. Don't you think?"

He nodded. "I do. Of course, that's mostly up to you, but I do think you've come a long way."

A slight, vulnerable blush began to color Hiccup's cheeks as he said, "So, because I feel like I'm doing so well, I think I'm ready to take the next step in my relationship with Astrid. I…I want to try making love to her."

His therapist's eyes widened and he sat up in his chair. "That's good! I'm glad you're feeling so confident!"

"But…"

"But? Is this the problem you wanted help with?"

Hiccup nodded and swallowed hard, the action sounding rough and loud in the quiet room. He squished his hands between his knees together in earnest, forcing his legs still and squeezing his eyes shut. He blushed harder than ever, his ear and neck turning bright red. Then, he mumbled in the quietest voice he could manage and still be heard (he really didn't want to have to repeat this):

"I have trouble getting erections."

There, it was out. His heart had lodged itself in his throat and tears of mortification were forming in fat little droplets on the corners of his eyes, but it was out. He wiped at his eyes with his sleeve furiously.

"Hey now, it's alright," the therapist said kindly, "You don't need to be embarrassed about something like that. I understand why you are, but actually in people with cases like yours it's pretty normal."

Hiccup sniffed. "It is?"

The therapist nodded. "Oh yeah. Those who've experienced sexual abuse, like you, understandably often have trouble performing sexually later in life, even with someone they love. However, I have to make sure first if you're sure this isn't a medical problem."

Hiccup shook his head immediately and assured him, "Oh no, I already went to the doctor just to make sure, and they said physically there's nothing wrong with me. In fact, they suggested I go to you because their next thought was that this was something that had to do with my abuse."

"Alright. Do you think you can tell me why you can tell me why you're having trouble?"

Hiccup sighed and put his head in hands, and then leaned over and put his elbows on his knees, before answering, "Well, it's not that I don't ever…you know, get aroused or anything." He liked his therapist, he trusted him and everything, but God he wished he could crawl in the deepest, darkest hole in the world right now rather than talk about erections. "But, every time I do, it's like I just start to…fade out, or something."

His therapist regarded him critically. "What do you mean by 'fading out?'"

"I don't know. I just sort of…like, the instant the mood hits, my mind just goes blank. Like I blacked out for a minute, and then I suddenly come back to myself and don't remember what happened. And I can't stop it, no matter what I do. And Astrid and I have tried to be, you know, intimate in that way before, but every time she touched me like that, I'd fade out, or I'd get too scared to keep going. I hate it."

He put his head in his hands in despair and continued, "I want to give this to her. Astrid's done so much for me, and she tells me I don't owe her anything, but I don't care. I want to pay her back at least a little. I want to make her feel good, and I want to show her how much she means to me. Also, I think if I do this, I can get over that last hurdle…that'll be it."

"You think it'll show you that you've fully healed, in a way," his therapist finished.

Hiccup nodded, "Yes."

There was a moment of silence as his therapist mulled this over, before he smiled and said, "If you think you're ready for it, I think this is a great idea. Thus far your only sexual experiences have been with Heather, correct?"

"Mhmm."

"Then I think it's a good idea to replace those negative experiences with positive ones. That way, you can start to associate sex with love instead of abuse. After all, that's what sex is supposed to be; another expression of love. It's not supposed to be used to dominate and control someone."

"Yeah I know."

"And Astrid's a wonderful person. She swears a little"-

"A lot," Hiccup corrected.

"I was trying to be nice," his therapist said, "The point is, I know she'd never force you to do anything you didn't want to do. The moment you told her to stop, she would."

Hiccup emphatically agreed, "Oh I know. And I think the reason I fade out like this is because it was the way I'd deal with Heather when she wanted to be intimate. It's like my mind would just block out what was happening so I wouldn't remember it."

"It sounds like this was your mind's survival mechanism," his therapist decided, "A way to cope with the abuse. And it became a conditioned response over time, as much as your flinching was and all the apologizing. But now it's become so automatic that you don't know how to turn it off."

Hiccup agreed, "That's exactly it. So do you think you can help me?"

His therapist leaned over a placed a sympathetic hand on his knee, before catching his gaze and holding it. "Well, right now you're looking me in the eye, and you certainly couldn't do that when you first started seeing me. I remember that you thought you'd never be able to look anyone in the eye again. If we can fix that, we can fix this as well. You're pretty stubborn, Hiccup. At least Heather wasn't able to take that away from you."

Hiccup lifted his chin just a little higher, feeling warmth spread through his chest when he said, "No, she wasn't. I won't let her take this from me either."

000

Exactly two weeks after that meeting with the therapist, Hiccup felt he was ready, and asked Astrid if she would like to try making love. Well, "asked" really wasn't the word. More like, sputtered half sentences for five minutes and nearly fainting on the spot, and then Astrid had to put two and two together and translate what she thought he was talking about.

Oh, but he didn't want this to be just any old romp in the sheets. No, he had to get all chivalrous and romantic on her.

"I want to make a day of it," he explained, still cherry red all the way down his neck but smiling, "We'll spend the whole day with it being just us, and we can do just some nice, romantic stuff, like take a walk by the lake or something, or…you know. Whatever you want. I guess I just want to build up my confidence a bit more, get us both in the mood and…yeah." There was a very embarrassing quiver to his voice now, so he just stopped talking before it got worse.

Astrid rolled her eyes, but she was smiling too. "So you want to spend the day romancing me and seducing me, and then ending it with bedding me?"

Hiccup shrugged, but realized she was teasing him, and he answered, "Well, yeah. You think it'll work? You think you'll let me 'bed you' by the end of the day?"

She leaned forward and kissed his cheek sweetly, and said softly, "I think you've got a good shot."

They did end up taking that walk down by the lake just as the sun went down on a day of awkward romancing. At least, to anyone else it would have looked awkward, but since awkward was Hiccup's medium, he rolled with it and made it seemed like he meant to do that. All in all, according to Astrid, his plan was a success.

"You're such a sap, Hiccup," she said fondly, taking his hand in hers as they walked across the wet sand, "Don't ever change."

He laughed softly, and nuzzled her forehead, trying to block the wind blowing at them over the water. "Yes, m'lady."

The water on the lake had done an interesting thing this year. The drought had made it so the water receded quite a bit from the shore, opening up shallow sand-beds normally hidden by the water. It was high up enough to walk on, and Hiccup had ripped off his shoes embarrassingly fast when Astrid suggested they take a walk down by the beach. The sunset was bright orange and blinding, but it was pleasantly warm. There were kids squealing all over the place, but they thought it only added to the ambiance. They were told to "get a room" on more than one occasion when Hiccup felt confident enough to kiss Astrid passionately in public, but Astrid promptly flipped them off in their general direction with her lips still glued to her boyfriend's.

They had disappeared into their own little bubble of light and love that no one could penetrate, and Hiccup could feel the ache of his inner wounds being smothered by a blanket of warmth. His heart had found its home at last.

"What do you think?" Hiccup murmured, pulling them to a stop, "Should we head home?"

Astrid looked up at him, meeting his gaze. His eyes were gilded by the blinding orange of the setting sun, and his hair was a mess from being played with the high winds, and he was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen.

"So you can have your way with me? Yes," she assented, and placed her head under his chin, gazing out across the water.

Hiccup ended up watching the last rays of the sun go down with her, holding her against him protectively. He could feel his chest swelling with so many emotions he was sure they would rise up his throat and choke him. He had never felt closer to anyone in his life, and didn't know what to say to thank her. If not for Astrid, there was no doubt in his mind he'd be dead, either by Heather's hand or his own. How could he begin to say what he wanted to? "Astrid?" he said tentatively after a minute.

"Mmm?"

In the end, words were useless, he supposed. He would just have to show her when they got home.

"Thank you," he said, and kissed the top of her head.

000

In the end, it had all been worth it.

Although at first, Hiccup felt like a lecher, especially when they began to get undressed. He happened to have the misfortune of glancing at Astrid, who was getting undressed behind him in their bedroom, as she was bending over. Her pants were off by then, and the sight of feminine folds pushing at her underwear with her rear end right above them made his heart race faster than it ever had in his life. This woman held a power over him that he loved and was terrified of; she could destroy the higher being in his brain until all that remained was the disgustingly primitive equation of "receptive female with butt in the air" plus "pointed toward virile male" equals "mount."

It should have disturbed him that he didn't have a problem with this perverted thought at all, but it didn't. Especially not when Astrid glanced at him over her shoulder with a smirk, rear still up in the air. She knew exactly what she was doing.

It was funny. Astrid was the virgin, but she had no problem stripping down. However, when she sat back on the bed, she did avert her eyes from Hiccup's gaze when it landed on her. After a moment though she cautiously lifted her eyes, and the utter adoration and worship in the look he was giving her washed over her like cozy tide.

Her body was hitting all the right notes in Hiccup's now primitive-acting brain; wide hips and full thighs for adequate child carrying and bearing, an equally luscious behind with a few stretch marks he couldn't wait to get his hands on, pretty, small breasts with rosy nipples to accentuate them, and a few fat rolls on her belly that he thought were quite frankly adorable.

She was so gorgeous to his eyes he thought for a second he wasn't worthy to be in her presence.

Astrid sniffed and grinned playfully, motioning to his balled up shirt in his hands. "You're shirt's off, but do I get to see the rest? I've spanked your ass plenty of times, but now I want to see it."

Hiccup snorted, and after that undressing wasn't so bad. He just hoped she liked what she saw, though in his mind he didn't have much to offer a beauty like her. His insecurity must have shown on his face, because Astrid was holding her arms out for him with a look of sympathy on her face.

"Come here, babe," she said, and he happily accepted the hug, appreciating the fact that Astrid was easing him into the carnal experience rather than throwing him head first into the deep end. He sucked in a breath when he felt her bare breasts brush against his chest, and heard a shuddering exhale leave Astrid when her sensitive nipples touched the warm skin. She raked her fingers up his neck and backwards through his hair, making him shiver.

"You're beautiful," she assured him, leaning back and kissing his ear, "You may not think anyone thinks you are, but you shouldn't care about anyone else. As your girlfriend, as the person who will hopefully being seeing your naked body on a regular basis, my opinion should be the only one you care about. And I don't know about you, but what I see makes me want to ravish the shit out of you."

That made him smile and relax a little, and to Astrid's utter surprised delight, gave him the confidence boost he needed to crawl up fully onto the bed and push her onto her back, before plunging his tongue into her mouth.

This was wonderful; When he was with Heather, Hiccup always felt forced into having sex with her, from the way she kept going on about how they had been dating for a month now and how he owed it to her. He felt violated whenever she undressed him and that was why his mind created the oasis for him to delve into during these sessions, so he could go somewhere peaceful to escape the violence.

Now that he was here and doing this with Astrid, he found he didn't want to escape. He wanted to stay in the here and now, with Astrid gently tilting his head back and running her tongue wantonly up his throat, with her hands eagerly kneading his rear and her hips helplessly rutting against his, sensitive folds instinctively searching out his length and trying to slip him inside. Hiccup's mouth watered with the desire to swallow her whole. His lust made him want to take everything that she was and keep it safe inside him, to nourish with his air, keep her warm with his blood and comfort her with his heartbeat. From the way she was clinging to him so hard, desperately pressing their bodies together because she felt they weren't close enough, it seemed like she wanted the same thing.

For a while, her hands were everywhere on his body, searing hot and leaving goose-bumps all in one motion. Her lips couldn't seem to stay off the thin, sensitive skin of his neck, probably because she liked how it made him groan and shiver. He felt her map his broad shoulders which tapered off into his v-shaped, lanky torso. Her fingers traced over the faint suggestions of his ribs and explored his smooth belly, which had thankfully come a long way from its deprived state and now actually sported some pudge around it to match Astrid's. Her hands then caressed his bony hips and reached her goal, and the instant her hands wrapped around his length, Hiccup's first thought was Holy shit I actually have an erection followed by an immediate realization that Oh my God, that feels way too good, she keeps doing that I'm going to come in ten seconds.

"Astrid," he breathed, "Astrid, hold on a minute."

Her hand stilled and she gazed up him worriedly. "You want to stop?"

Hiccup explained, "Well, I want you to stop doing that, but only because I'm not going to last very long if you keep doing what you're doing."

"Oh…alright." She seemed confused and disappointed at the same time, but she removed her hand reluctantly. "But I want to make you feel good, Hiccup."

"I know, and I have no problem with that, believe me. But you've spent most of your time since I met you trying to make me feel good. Can you…will you let me make you feel good? Please Astrid."

She regarded him steadily for a moment, her chest still heaving, and it was all Hiccup could do not to stare as her breasts moved steadily up and down. But she seemed to understand, and was willing to do anything to ease his mind.

"Alright," she relented, "But then it's your turn."

He smiled wide, far too delighted that she was giving him this chance. She obediently leaned back against the pillows while Hiccup situated himself between her legs, placing her thighs on his shoulders laying on his stomach. He could see her eyes dilating with excitement, a subtle quiver in her thighs as she watched him intently. Without a word, he dipped his head and brushed his lips against her outer folds, nibbling slightly. Her sharp of intake of breath spurred him on to take the plunge and shove his tongue between her folds.

Hiccup took her by complete surprise, and she jumped with a loud gasp. He brought up one of his hands to spread her folds more effectively, baring her completely to him. After a moment, he had to bring up the other hand to still her writhing hips. She probably couldn't help it, and that only made it more erotic. Hiccup's pulse began to pound in his head, and more importantly his groin, especially when she raked her fingers through his hair and tugged. The primal, rough action made Hiccup quite excited, and so did Astrid's high pitched moans and gasps. He worked her from her entrance all the way up to her clit, swirling and sucking and even grazing his teeth across the sensitive, melting flesh slightly. Arching her back, Astrid shoved his face even deeper between her legs, and Hiccup actually moaned at the action. He quite liked being used by her to further her pleasure.

When he thought he tortured her enough, he finally laved at her clit with intense fervor until she was flooding his mouth and nose with her juices. Hiccup backed away, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand, pulse leaping in his neck and erection throbbing almost painfully hard. While Astrid lay there, panting and shuddering in the aftermath of her orgasm, he crawled up to her and nuzzled her neck, leaving sweet, open mouth kisses against it. She weakly reached a hand up to stroke the side of his face, and Hiccup felt like a dog that knew it had performed the correct his master and was waiting to receive his treat. And Astrid didn't disappoint him. She abruptly sat up and forced Hiccup back onto his knees, all warm and loose and every one of her nerves aroused and hypersensitive. She sat in his lap and frantically rubbed her slick folds over his length, placing kisses all over his face.

"God, Hiccup," she panted between kisses, "Oh God, please let me fuck you. Let me…"

She cocked her hips, positioning the tip of him at her entrance, and Hiccup let out a shuddering moan. For one solitary second, he felt himself slipping, felt the world fade out, but he forced himself to bury his nose in Astrid's neck and take a deep drag of her scent. It brought him back to himself, and reminded him why he was here; to love this woman with every fiber of his being in every way possible, and to make her his as much as she had made him hers, to make it so she held his soul in her palms along with his heart.

With some finagling, Hiccup finally positioned himself and speared her, letting her sink slowly onto his length. He couldn't help it; he let his head fall back and a moan of utter ecstasy escaped him. Reality had disappeared and his every thought became the tight, slick heat that engulfed the most sensitive part of his body, and the impassioned expression of Astrid Hofferson when he began to move.

It was slow at first, and then became faster when she begged him to go faster, harder when she demanded he go harder. When her demands were more than he could handle, he put her on her back, hooked a leg over his waist, and thrust into her with everything he had. Vibrations ran up her body, their hips made a smacking sound as they slammed together, and a wet, sucking noise came from between their legs. Hiccup had never felt more powerful, or more blessed in his life than he looked down and saw the most beautiful woman in the world writhing beneath him, her nails raking down his back and her hips meeting every roll of his. He lowered himself slightly and crushed her body to his in an embrace, burying his face into her neck and snarling in her ear, blown away by the painful, wonderful forging of their souls together.

And when his vision was blinded by white, his ears filled with their combined cries of release into the void of the past Hiccup cast behind him, he knew at last that he was loved beyond every doubt he had ever had.

A/N: That thing that happened to Astrid with the cops? True story, happened to me. Well, here's the end, folks! Hope you all enjoyed the ride as much as I enjoyed writing it! Thanks again for all of your wonderful support, I appreciate it so much!