A/N: Last chapter! It has been quiet around here; I'm sorry if there's anyone who've been expecting an update sooner. This has taken me so long to complete; what was intended to be a 30 day challenge turned into a 3 month long process. First challenge that I've ever managed to complete. Better late than never.

*NSFW* ahead; last prompt was 'something sexy' and it comes with a pinch of angst. (I have a feeling I'll come back to this chapter to edit/rewrite at some point.)

I hope you've enjoyed the stories. If you've ever left a review, gave me criticism, favorited and/or followed, thank you! As always, let me know what you think.

Turned out, not everyone was alright.

Being surrounded by loss and pain had strange effects on one's heart and head; it kept them busy, for starters. Ruffnut had spent hours hunching over one miserable body after another, attending to their wounds, not feeling sorry for anyone, not wasting time with useless sympathy when she could actually help. Her education on the matter was not developed enough for her to take full charge yet but she was given no choice. Victory came, albeit with a price; they knew this all along, they had experienced it before. However it had a different weight on their chests, to be the generation experiencing it first hand, taking the blow to slow it down for others. Their parents' war had not become theirs but they had their own battles to fight.

Occupational hazards. Nobody bothered to complain.

The population of Gothi's house had been increasing dramatically as the old crow attended to the more impressive scars in making around the village, while Ruffnut did her best to ignore the ache in her neck. Her attitude was not improving but she doubted people came expecting kind assistance; her benevolence was saved for the young ones and dragon babies. Cuts and some guts with little glory ended her long day. After sending the last of their patients, all she could spare was a nod when Gothi told her to get some rest after she sorted the place out before she left to take care of a young boy.

An intense craving for reckless adventures with little costs was growing somewhere in the back of her mind but she had to ignore it as she burned the last of ruined rags stained with blood and worse. Fighting the stinging eyes, for a moment she wished she had had a blow to the head so she would have an excuse to sleep for a few days but it was better to be on her legs than down in a bed.

She was considering not bothering going all the way down to her house when steps approached in the quiet of the night, making her groan inaudibly. She wanted to help. Tomorrow. But it was not a fresh cut, nor an infected wound. Just a face she happened to kiss the day before.

Snotlout messed his helmet-free hair and looked around as if he was just seeing the place. It was the same cluttered, herb smelling, creaking floored flat they knew; only more stains - she was working on the delicacy of carrying certain liquids. Ruffnut's bloodshot eyes grazed the top of his head without meeting his gaze and focused back on the knives and the whetstone. One more task. And then rest.

Before she could part her chapped lips, he talked.

"Long day?"

"Obviously…"

That was the side effect of impulse actions; they always came with a talk afterwards, whether it be a scolding or questioning.

The sound of whetstone started to fill the room as cloudless night sky hung outside the window. Both of them kept their silence; Ruff couldn't tell why she was suddenly feeling smothered by his presence. Her skin felt heavy and itchy with the weight of unspoken expectations, she wanted to be left alone. Yet it was going to be a decision between utter silence or making the first. When she asked, her voice carried not only fatigue but her tension: "What do you want?"

Insisting on not looking at Snotlout, she kept running the stone over the edge of large knives that cut, chopped, sliced and minced many ingredients for salves and medicine. Metallic sound repeated a couple more times before the answer came. She almost wished she hadn't spoken; now the air was almost pregnant with a long conversation she was not up for and Snotlout was clearly ready to chatter.

"What do you mean- I don't want anything. I came to see you."

"Why?"

"Why?"

"Yeah, why? What do you want?"

"Seriously? I wanted to talk!"

The thought of sitting down and talking about feelings and relationships made her feel like she could gag. At the pit of her belly, a hot thick liquid was filling her up with scorn and something more restless, almost fiery. Her sudden anger was pointless and she knew it, but she did nothing to repress it. A furious wind fluttered the worn curtains and Ruffnut slammed the whetstone down, her lips thinning into two sharp lines. Him standing there, all expecting and unassuming, was building a wall that could crumble down any second like day-old bread. She turned to him, with all the weariness of the past few days dripping down her face. She didn't want to talk, she wanted to vent. Let something out, stop doing what she was told and take her claws out. If participating in a conversation was what he wanted, that was what he'd get.

"One kiss. One kiss and you are standing here like a needy new born! What do you want?! I was tired and a little emotional, okay? That's it."

"What? The fuck, Ruff, I didn't even say anything!"

"You didn't have to!"

"What's your problem?! I didn't even make you kiss me; you kissed me yourself. I am not here to ask big questions or anything, if that's what's ruffling your feathers."

"Don't talk to me like a child."

"You're the one snapping at me for nothi-"

"Not nothing!"

"WHY ARE YOU SO ANGRY?"

"I DON'T KNOW!"

Anxiety leaving a sour taste at the back of her throat, her tongue turning into dry leather, her rootless anger being revealed… Everything annoyed her. She didn't want to talk when all the rattling, shivering, screaming, violent ride of her wartime mind was letting her down and forcing her to sit. She held onto her anger because she had things to do and for the meantime, anger kept her going. She could work with it, it was good enough. All of these tender gazes and mellow talks made her uneasy; so she pushed him back as he stepped closer and grinded her teeth, almost spitting out the words.

"Don't!"

"Ruff-"

"Leave or I will cut you."

Her sincerity was clearly lost on him because he grabbed the knife from her hand and slammed it back on the wooden table, unafraid and obstinate like the stupid viking man he was. She pushed him back again but it made very little difference. He was still standing there, demanding answers, waiting for something other than her inexplicable fury.

"Why are you so angry?"

"Because you are a moron."

"Why are you mad at me?"

"Because you're an annoying shit."

"Well, you kissed this annoying shit."

"Go away."

"No."

Too close, they were standing too close. Snotlout could easily smell the day on her and she could feel their fingers touching next to the knives. He was too close. Her mind was full of words, full of imaginative insults to hurt his ego, break his dumb spirit and make him step away for good; make him hate her even. Her unjustified rage did not cut him any slacks but before she could make use of any of the speeches brewing in her head, Snotlout pulled her close, locking her lips to his own.

A muffled groan of resistance rose from her throat but she melted into the kiss anyway, allowing him to run his fingers through her thick mane. Wet, needy moans filled the small space between them; behind her closed eyes she could imagine his frown as she listened to his frustrated sigh. A terrible mixture of conflicting emotions was stirring her insides, making her let out a breath of defeat, so desperate for rest and for a clear head. It was Snotlout's mumbling that brought her back to the room.

"Where's she?"

It took a few blinks to get who he meant.

"Watching Rolvson's boy. Fever."

It turned out to be sufficient explanation; Snotlout did not question the possibility of uninvited company any longer. As their kiss got deeper, hungrier with the end of words, he inhaled her scent, his fingers still lingering in her impossible hair. Soon they would be finding their way to her narrow waist to study the movement of the lean muscles while Ruffnut tugged at the collar of his shirt, demanding more of him. Despite her earlier wrath, she now felt like she could turn the build-up of the rotten day into something exhilarating. She lacked the nervous excitement; this wasn't foreign to either of them. Always in the shadows, desolate corners but always in a heat of urgency, almost immediate need would she want him; only to deny it the next day. She couldn't bother with appearances this time, the memory of the relief she felt when she saw him standing alive and well was not far enough for her to act skilfully

A soft, girly sigh tickled Snotlout's ears as Ruffnut's fingers dove under his top and travelled his torso, leaving faint red nail marks behind them. With the fire getting weaker, constellations seemed to be their only source of light soon, which neither of them whined about. He was used to watching her in the cold hues of night, washed in blues and greys. He wanted to see her, not just follow the lines and curves or her body and think. He tore his mouth off of her lips and gently bit the soft pale skin of her long neck, making her pant and reach for more. He couldn't tell when he wiped Gothi's knives off the table and sat Ruff on the weary wood like she weighed nothing. She took no time to wrap her legs around his waist, forcing him to press himself against her, already aching for more. Gentle and tender was seldom her way but after the slender hands took away his tunic and threw it away, their touch was familiar, warm and oh so welcome. Neither of them took the time to fully explore and linger on to make sure one another were truly desperate for more. He pulled her closer and nearly ripped the tunic off, exposing pale breasts, ribs narrowing down to her waist where he could trace her lean muscles, claiming every inch of her body as his own, for as long as their moments lasted. He adored her body; how it moved freely with such elasticity and strength. He loved how it grew hot under his touch, and moist, damp, stiff, limp. He missed her touch and her breath in his neck, how she moaned and whimpered and hissed. He was damned for life for all he cared; she had ruined him for other women and he doubted she even cared.

Uninvited, he moved from her neck to the peaks of her breasts, tasting the sweet and the salt of her skin, sucking out all that burdened her enough to threaten to cut him. Hasty were her hands, having enough what was uncovered and now reaching for his pants, untying fast with a greed he was accustomed to. Still in loss of words and commands, she stole a deep gritty moan from him the moment she grabbed his length, already so ready, so greedy for her. Grasping the base of him, she freed him from his clothes and rubbed him until he had to grab her wrist and stop her. "Keep doing that and I won't last long." His panting interrupted several times but it seemed enough to make Ruffnut smile for the first time, which made his belly simmer, made him more eager to leave her shaking, unable to do anything but to gasp for air under the weight of divine exhaustion. Shaking the smile off her face as soon as his fingers found their way to the slick flesh, dripping with expectation put a smirk on his face, smug enough to annoy her mid-moan. That voice could add years to his life if he were to hear it every Thor-damned day. He knew a couple digits were far from satisfying her from the writhing of her hips, pressing herself lower, deeper. He expected her to play around more, make him ache, bring him to the edge over and over again, only to leave him hanging; but instead, she wetted her lips, grabbed his face and pulled it closer. Her irregular breaths were hidden in her whisper. "Fuck me. Fuck me good."

Maybe it was the need in her voice, maybe it was the fact that they had both spent shitty few days and needed a way out. Maybe it was something more intimate that made him shiver from head to toe, he couldn't tell. But hell would be over him if he denied her demand. He surged his hips forward and filled her, enjoying every drip of her moan and the feeling of utter wholeness. The nails pulling him closer, scratching his waist, her body refusing to lie down and their faces still close, panting, biting, licking and tasting each other as much as they could… All of it surrounded him up like steam from the hot springs as he did what he was told and fucked her hard. Every small scream, every involuntary movement was a triumph that forced him to go deeper, go faster.

Ruffnut didn't bother to pull the loose strands off of her face as she bit her lower lip and closed her eyes without noticing. She didn't want to hold back, she didn't want to be quiet but even in the midst of everything wet, sloppy and messy, what must be kept private was still at the back of her mind. So he drowned her voice in raspy moans and sharp sighs while Snotlout found his way to every right spot over and over again. Oh how well he had learnt her… She wanted him deeper, closer, all around and in every gap; and Snotlout forced his tongue in her mouth, stealing all the air from her lungs and swallowing her moans. Their lips crashed at each other like waves just as naturally and unapologetically. Her mind was a land of "yes" and "more" and she would have told him if her mouth was free to talk. Yet soon, all words let her down, her hands searched something to hold on to while every bit of burden in her chest left its place for what is vibrant, white-hot and for a moment, infinite. She barely noticed Snotlout's deep, tired moan and his shaking knees; she was too caught up in her own relief, how the tension seemed to leave his shoulders and how good it felt to rest her head on his shoulder, slouching forward while wondering how they managed not to break the damn table. Many heartbeats and carelessly worn clothes later, it was Snotlout who found the energy to speak, albeit still out of breath.

"You think anyone heard?"

Now that they were lying on the floor, still trying to find the drive to get up and climb down the tower, she was blissfully limp and almost asleep. She mumbled.

"We'll find out tomorrow…"

Giving up on the stairs and calling it a night was still an option she was considering.