Regrets

Hiccup watched as Snotlout and Tuffnut escorted the man out of his house and towards the prison cells. He'd finished his duties as chief early for once and decided to come home to surprise his wife of two years, only to find her in their bed with another man. The chief, now 26, shut the door and took a deep breath, the woman he'd be dissolving his marriage to in the morning let out a quiet a sob and he held up a hand to silence any excuse she might have. "Please just save it. I'm tired and want to go to bed; I'll deal with our divorce and his punishment in the morning. I'll sleep down here with Toothless seeing as you've already defiled any form of haven our bed might have once had." The Night Fury in question snarled at her for the first time since he met her, bringing a slight yelp from her followed by the sounds of her running up the stairs to where they had slept in an attempt to feel safer.

With a sigh Hiccup trudged to the door that led to his late father's room, he'd barely stepped foot in there after his death, but tonight he needed the comfort that the memory his dad often held. The former chief's scent still lingered in the old room, Hiccup's mother also couldn't bring herself to sleep in the room where her late husband had slept, a mix of guilt over leaving him for twenty years and mourning caused her to build a separate hall near the stables where she felt more comfortable being near the dragons. It made sense with her role as the stables caretaker given her experience in living among them for so long. Sleep however would be staved again, as a creak from the door upstairs signaled his soon to be ex-wife poking her heads out again, "Hiccup…" she started in an uncharacteristically soft voice, time had taught him well that she was almost always sure of herself when faced with something. "You weren't supposed to find out." She whispered bitterly.

Any exhaustion he had faded away as pure unbridled rage filled him; he wasn't supposed to find out!? Had she really just said that like he was in the wrong here? SHE wasn't supposed to have an affair with another man! Hiccup rarely showed anger, his time as the village outcast and the last six years had made him incredibly humble and only Snotlout could push his buttons back when they were teens building up the dragon academy (thankfully time, marriage and Hiccup being chief had worked to mature his cousin), but his wife being caught cheating and trying to blame him for finding out? That pushed him over the edge, he whirled around and stomped out of the comfort of Stoick's room, marched up the stairs and got right in his wife's face. "Don't you fucking dare try to turn this around! I wasn't supposed to find out? How about you own up to the fact that you fucking cheated on me! I'm your husband; check that, I was your husband! I go deal with the details right now, and you, you can get the Hel out of my house!"

His episode clearly unnerved her as she didn't say a word back, but merely did as he said following his pointing finger out the door with Toothless giving her another snarl. He heard her Nadder make a disgruntled noise at being woken so early in the evening and moments later the flapping of wings to signal she and was gone, Hiccup wasn't sure where exactly she would go, but in that moment he really couldn't be bothered to give a damn. The young chief looked over at his best friend and constant companion who was still growling slightly at the doorway where they'd last seen her, while the dragon might not understand the concept of marriage, he did know that Vikings tended to commit to one mate, and his rider's mate had broken that commitment. The pair waited a few minutes until Hiccup was sure he wouldn't see were she had flown off to before they soared over to the Ingerman hall, he knew it was late and Fishlegs was probably asleep already but his still boiling anger wasn't going to let him sleep anytime soon, best to get the divorce started now.

Few a few knocks a woman a couple years younger than him opened the door while rubbing her right eye, Katrina the Curious had married Fishlegs not long after Hiccup himself had wedded and they were surprisingly happy together. She was in her nightgown which confirmed Hiccup's suspicions that the couple was already in bed. Upon seeing the chief at her door the younger woman straightened herself, "Chief! I'm sorry Fishlegs didn't say you were coming by. Please come in."

"I'm sorry to wake you Katrina. This actually wasn't a planned visit, is Legs up?" The young wife nodded and went to retrieve her husband while Hiccup stood at the door, he knew he'd been invited in and Fishlegs was happy to have anyone from their group in his hall, even Ruffnut after she finally picked Snotlout over him, but right now he needed the chill in the air to wash over him and soothe some of the burning in his blood.

"Hiccup? What brings you by? I thought you were turning in early tonight to spend time with-"

"Yeah that's the reason I'm here Fishlegs, mind joining me in the Great Hall? Something important that I personally can't put off until morning has come up." Hiccup cut him off not wanting to hear her name. If he did he would think about her and what he found her doing and with who, which would only serve to piss him off even more. The large man nodded and went to put some clothes on as walking around in just his pants would get very cold, Meatlug waddled over to the door and licked Hiccup's hand affectionately and then hovered outside to play with Toothless while they waited. It only took a few minutes to walk to the Great Hall with the dragons in tow, but it was the silence Hiccup traveled and sat in that made Fishlegs noticeably uncomfortable. "I walked in on her with another man." Hiccup said finally and rather bluntly, normally he'd handle this with more tact but he had no patience for it since she said he wasn't supposed to find out, "Other than you only Snot and Tuff know, and I told them to keep it quiet until I announce it to the tribe and I was going to wait until morning to get the divorce started but she tried to make it seem like she was wronged by me finding out about her affair!" He slammed his fist into the table, not even giving a notion that he was aware his knuckles were bleeding.

Fishlegs opened his mouth and closed it a few times before finally taking a deep breath and sighing, the rest of the night was spent with them drafting the details of the chief's impending divorce

When she walked out of her home that morning the woman was surprised to find a large crowd gathered outside the Great Hall, apparently there had been a last minute meeting of the council and the chief early that morning and people waiting to hear what it was about. Rumors were going about saying the chief had been heard yelling about something in his hall the night before; she didn't care to speculate as rumors were beneath her and the chief didn't deserve to have gossip about him being spread.

It wasn't long before the doors flew open and Toothless was seen speeding out into the sky with Hiccup on his back. Gobber hobbled out a few moments later and shouted for everyone to get on with their lives and that the chief was taking a personal day, the village grumbled but went to about their business nonetheless. The woman looked to where the chief and his dragon were fading into a black speck in the sky and simply turned on her heel and made her way to start the tasks she had to do for the day, perhaps Fishlegs would know what the issue was, seeing as he was one of Hiccup's advisors in addition to second in command of the Dragon Training Academy.

Sadly, Fishlegs was less than forthcoming on the details. Snotlout and Tuffnut seemed to know as well, but Ruffnut's unborn child decided to it was a good time for their mother to go into labor and they spent the majority of the day in Gothi's hut. She also noticed that the chief's wife was absent from the academy today as well as Eret, who had become very close friends with Hiccup after the events with Drago, which considering both of their positions in the academy was an odd thing to happen. The chieftess and she were admittedly not that close, when they'd parted ways as teens it was as something akin to friends but that changed when she and Hiccup married. After that the two women were distant to each other and it affected her friendship with the chief as well, her feelings for the lanky boy she had when they were younger hadn't changed since then, but because of his wife they'd barely spoken outside of necessity after the engagement was announced. Not seeking him out then was one of her biggest regrets

So imagine her surprise when she came home that evening to find a small green Terrible Terror sitting on her table with a note attached to his leg.

Sharpshot was a rather common sight in the village, Hiccup's personal message delivering Terror was often seen flying missives or personal messages to people when he was busy with another issue as chief. However she herself had never received one from him, and yet here was the small dragon when the chief was taking a personal day. She approached the Terror who licked it's eye as she got close before lifting it's hind leg for her to untie the message, she removed the parchment and opened it to see what was written on it. There was but a single word.

Cove.

It was pretty well known that the cove where Hiccup had trained Toothless had become a sort of sanctuary for him when the pressures of being chief began to weigh on him, he'd go there either alone or with Toothless and have some time to himself and come back relaxed and refreshed. One thing he didn't do however was invite people there, so why was he sending a message to her to meet him when they'd hardly spoken in the last couple of years? Before she even had a chance to think of the implications she was outside and climbing aboard her dragon and taking to the skies. The sun was lowering on the horizon and there was no one else in the sky save for a few dragons making their way to the stables, most Vikings either in the Great Hall for a drink or having dinner in their homes, she directed her dragon towards Raven's Point and they shot forward with a renewed curiosity as to why Hiccup sent that message to her, and the answer was waiting in the cove.

They circled the clearing of trees a few times when they reached it; she looked over the side of her dragon to see if he was in fact there. Sure enough in the pale moonlight was a large black lump with a spot of red and near the small pond was a lone lithe figure, the light glinting off his iron appendage just barely visible. Her dragon dove downward and landed with hardly a sound, the woman dismounted wordlessly and approached the man she had once called her friend. He made no indication that he had heard her or even knew she was there, so she stopped short of him, just an arms length away and if things were different she could reach out and touch him. Her dragon had moved over and got comfortable next to the alpha dragon, somehow despite their riders drifting apart the two dragons had a solid friendship, it was something she envied really. After several more minutes of awkward silence of him just looking out over the pond, he finally spoke.

"Why haven't we really talked in the last few years?" It was a question that carried more weight than a casual listener would think. They both knew why, his wife. That woman was well aware of the feelings she harbored for the chief and made sure it wouldn't interfere with her marriage, so she forced them apart and they had just let her, years ago she would've fought, but the wedding came at a time were she was upset with Hiccup and by the time she had come to her senses he was lost to her.

"You know why." She responded after a minute, he gave a light scoff, not of anger more of exasperation.

"As of this morning I'm divorced."

The sudden change in topic threw her for a loop; an apology was halfway to her mouth when what he said sunk in. He was divorced, no longer married. Is that why he called her out here? To tell her that his marriage was over? That could easily be conveyed when it was announced to the village. A small voice in her head told her that maybe, just maybe she could be with him now; but she shook the notion from her head, it had been two years and she had forced herself to move on. While it wasn only knowledge to a precious few she had started seeing Eret, they'd been together almost five months now and she was thinking of letting things get a bit more serious between them soon. It often baffled her how the two men could be such good friends when she and the chief practically avoided each other like the plague. That voice kept nagging at her, saying how Eret was nothing more than a distraction so she could try and ignore the feelings for the lanky man in front of her with his back to her, and that even the degree of success she'd had would crumble now that he was divorced. "I'm sorry chief-"

"Please don't call me that, you know I hate it when you call me that." He cut her off before she could finish what she was saying. It was true she did know that he hated when those closest to him called him chief over his name, Gobber had said his father was the same way. But did she have the right to be considered close to him? It's true they had been close once, but his now ex-wife had brought an end to that hadn't she? He continued before she had a chance to recover. "Last night I finished my duties early, and when I arrived home I found her in our bed riding another man as if she were trying to tame a wild dragon." She cringed a bit at the detail he used, normally the Hiccup she had known would've stammered and tripped over his words trying to convey the slightest detail about sex, however now he spoke the words with indifference and a hard tone. She reminded herself that he was probably still pissed off, after all he'd discovered this only 24 hours ago.

"Chi… Hiccup, I'm so sorry. I can't imagine how you feel. It must be hard to see the person you love like that with someone else like that." She apologized, in truth she did have an idea how he felt, after all she had to watched him marry another woman when she wanted nothing more than to kiss him in front of the entire village. He laughed, not the warm happy laugh that was normally associated with him, but a cold uncaring laugh.

"You know what the best part is? She actually said I wasn't supposed to find out, as if she did nothing wrong. Can you believe that? I had half a mind to sic Toothless on her." He said, arms gesturing like they always did and she would've smiled were it not for the depressing subject matter. The dragon is question perked his ears up at the mention of his name but otherwise remained curled up beside her own dragon.

"Who on Berk is stupid enough to have an affair with the chief's wife?"

He stiffened at her question, becoming nervous suddenly and turning to face her for the first time while rubbing the back of his neck. "It… It was…" he lowered his hand, took a deep breathe before he met her gaze with an apologetic one of his own. "It was Eret." Toothless let out a low growl at the sound of the man's name while the two riders just looked at one another, her eyes wide with shock and his with sorrow; it took a moment before she found her voice.

"I don't believe you." She said. She couldn't, things with her and Eret had been good, maybe not as good as they could be but still good. "You're lying."

"When have you ever known me to lie to hurt someone?" She knew he was right, he never lied out of malice, he usually lied to cover for others or to mislead someone who meant Berk harm. He took a step closer to her and she realizes it's the closet they've been physically in years, she takes a step back in response. "I wouldn't tell you this if it wasn't true, I know you and Eret were or are together. He's in the prison cells right now waiting for the punishment the council wants to give him, if you don't believe me you can go ask him, or Tuff, or Snotlout, they all know and I asked them not to tell you because it should come from me."

"And just why should it come from you? Ruffnut, Snotlout, Fishlegs, anyone else could've told me just as easily!" She shouted. She knew she had no right or reason to get upset with him; he was doing what he always did which was putting others before himself, yet she was overcome with anger. Anger at Eret for cheating on her, anger at Hiccup's ex-wife for cheating on him, anger at Hiccup for telling her, but most of all anger at herself for wanting to embrace him despite it all.

"Because…" He started bringing her attention back on him, "… Because whether you like it or not we both have to accept this. Things are changing and we can't just stubbornly ignore it."

"Maybe you can't but I sure as Hel can, and you still haven't told me why it had to be you that had to tell me about this whole situation! We've been just fine not talking to each the last two years; why should that change now huh?"

Hiccup sighed and looked down for a moment, before meeting her gaze again. "You know perfectly well why I had to be the one to tell you. It's the same reason you came out here after two years of silence between us."

"How do you know I wasn't just curious?!"

"I know curiosity better than most; it caused me to train a dragon. It didn't however lead me to meeting someone I thought was married in the middle of the night at a remote location!" He shouted back

He was cornering her. She knew that was what he was doing; it only made her angrier. "Well you're not married anymore, so I guess you're wrong then!"

"Did you know that when you mounted your dragon and flew out here? I doubt it!"

She opened her mouth to argue, but quickly closed it when she realized he had a point. She had no idea about the development in his or her own relationship when she hopped on her dragon, her only thought was that he wanted to talk to her and how excited that made her feel. She snarled and marched right up to his face. "You can be so infuriating at times I swear I could punch you!" She backed it up by actually punching his arm.

The second her fist landed the hit, his other arm wrapped around her waist and pulled her flush against him and his lips found her own. Her brain shouted to push him away and punch him again, in the jaw this time, but her traitorous heart sped up and her hands buried themselves in his hair of the own accord. She was kissing him back with every once of energy she could find and despite what she was trying to tell herself she loved every second of it. He pulled away, but didn't release her, "I've wanted to do that for two years." He said softly, resting his forehead against hers, she let him. "That's why I had to tell you by the way, because despite everything you may think. I still love you, Astrid."

This seemed to snap her out of whatever daze the kiss had but in and she shoved Hiccup away from her with a scowl. "Oh you still love me huh? So much that You ran off and married Heather after that last fight we had!?"

The frustration that he'd had with her earlier seemed to have dissipated with his surprise kiss; he merely regained his balance and walked over to her. "You think I wanted to marry her? Astrid, the council forced me to. They said either I had to find myself a bride or they would. I wanted to marry you…" He trailed off, it was true everyone had known he wanted to marry her; they had been inseparable for years since the defeat of the Red Death and even closer when they'd finally started dating. Astrid had even been Hiccup's biggest supporter after he was made chief, in fact they were found in his bed together more than a few times those first four years before everything changed for the worst. "But you said no."

"You knew I wanted to be a maiden warrior Hiccup." She said looking down, somewhere behind her Stormfly let out a loud huff as if she was annoyed by her rider's claim.

"I thought you had changed your mind when we started dating, aren't maiden warrior's supposed to swear off love and sex? I know for a fact you have your father's blessing, but you never came for mine. Did you think I wouldn't give it if I thought it would make you happy?" He asked her, she kept her gaze focused on a small rock near the water's edge when his foot and prosthetic came into her vision. He pinched her chin between his index finger and his thumb and lifted it so she was looking at him again, his eyes filled with care and sadness at the same time. "Say the word right now and I will announce you to the entire village after I break the news about Heather and Eret."

Suddenly the thought of swearing off love and marriage seemed far too high a price when he was looking at her. She knew she could ask him to throw himself from a cliff and he would without question, but she couldn't bring herself to ask him to announce her as a maiden warrior. He wasn't wrong, maiden warriors were supposed to forego love and sex, and she had already experienced both with the man still holding her chin. Knowing now she couldn't swear off those things when he was here and still just as in love with her as she was with him, so she latched onto the only change of subject she could, "What's going to become of them?"

There was a small flash of relief on Hiccup's face when she didn't ask him to announce her; they both knew it would break his heart to do it but that he would if it made her happy. "Eret will be exiled; the council wanted him executed, especially after news came from the healer that Heather is pregnant." Astrid's eyebrows rose and Hiccup knew the question before it was even asked, something he missed dearly since their relationship was forcibly ended by his arranged marriage. "It's Eret's, seeing as she and I haven't been together since Snoggletog. Spitelout wanted to have him executed by Skullcrusher, but I decided to have him placed on his boat and shipped away out of respect for the short lived friendship we had. Heather will be staying however." At this particular bit of information Astrid's brows furrowed, "I can't in good conscious send her away while she's carrying a child, the baby didn't do anything wrong. So she'll be moved out to Mildew's old cabin and when the child is born we'll see where things stand." Hiccup explained, causing the blonde warrior to just give him a small smile. He was always helping others, Eret having an affair with Hiccup's wife was one thing, but getting her pregnant is paramount to treason, since Hiccup had no heir despite two years of marriage, so it's not too big a leap to say Eret was trying to place his own child on the throne to Berk.

"If you want to confront Eret about his… involvement, then I suggest you do so after you leave here. Tuffnut insisted on guarding him with Barf & Belch." Hiccup added. There was a moment of comfortable silence, something neither had realized how much they had missed until it settled over them, then Astrid took a deep breath and broached a still lingering question.

"Is the council going to force you to marry again?" They both knew the answer, they'd give him time to move past the affair, time to heal from the wounds it left and then they'd start to pressure him to wed again.

Hiccup breathed a laugh, just barely audible, before he pulled her into a hug which she returned without a second thought. "They sure as Hel can try, but I'm not making the same mistake twice." He whispered in her ear, as if someone was watching them.

"What do you mean the same mistake?"

He pulled back just enough to kiss her again, a short chaste kiss, but she still managed to return it. He looked into her eyes so she could see the truth as he spoke, "Marrying a woman who isn't you."

Astrid's mouth went dry and her body froze, she wanted to back away from him, yell at him, hug him and kiss him again all at the same time. The stubborn warrior in her wished she had asked him to announce her, while the woman who still loved him was high on the thought that he refused to marry again if it wasn't to her. Hiccup could clearly read her conflict and held her closer, "I'm not asking you to marry me." He reassured her, "Not yet at least, you know I want to marry you, but I would never force you into it. I just hope I can have you in my life again, whether it's like we used to be or just as friends again… I need you in my life Astrid I don't care in what role as long as you're there and don't mind that I will always love you regardless."

That did it. Astrid reached up to cup his cheek and brought his face down so she could kiss him, and when her tongue asked for entrance he welcomed her with his own. When they finally broke apart it was only because they both needed air, but they clung to each other as if the other would fly away should they let go. "Take me to see Eret" she said when she had recovered enough to breathe properly, their lips still kiss swollen and cheeks flushed. At Hiccup's questioning look she explained, "I need to hear him admit to the affair. It's not that I don't believe you Hiccup; I know you'd never lie to me about something like this despite what I said earlier. And either way, after what's happened here I can't be with him anymore because I'll always want to be with you. But I need to know why he did it, you know?" He nodded and they made their way over to the dragons, Toothless hobbled to his feet and shook away sleep while Stormfly followed suit. Hiccup swung his leg over the Night Fury and to his complete utter and pleasant surprise Astrid climbed on behind him and wrapped her arms around his midsection. He flashed her one of his trademark lopsided grins that she had missed over the years just before they launched skywards.

Stormfly seemed pretty content to lazily fly behind Toothless just following her rider, but the two humans were preoccupied with the feeling of their bodies pressed against each other to notice either way. Toothless decided to take a leisurely pace back to town, whether that was because he was taking them on another romantic flight like he had over ten years ago or because he was still sleepy was unclear, Hiccup figured he was just being a lazy reptile, but was happy for the prolonging of just them in the sky together. Astrid felt the same, her chin resting on his shoulder much like it had during that first flight when she stopped denying her feelings for the man currently in her arms, she just smiled when he turned his head and kissed her hair like he had before their relationship was forced to end, both by her own stubbornness and the council's insistence that the chief marry. Her smile only grew as she realized that Hiccup would wait for her this time, and that the wait might only be for as long as was considered proper before he could marry again if they stayed close again, something she was going to make damn sure happened. She had two whole years of regrets to make up for after all.

They landed outside the prison and as Hiccup said, Tuffnut was sitting there with Barf & Belch, in his hands was his favorite weapon 'Macey'. Upon hearing the dragons land Tuff looked up to see the two of them climbing off Toothless and even he was smart enough to know that was odd after the last few years. "Wait have I been breathing Barf's gas again, or did you two actually show up on the same dragon together?" Tuffnut asked while scratching his helmet with Macey, Astrid rolled her eyes while Hiccup stifled a laugh.

"While I'm sure you've been breathing in Barf's gas at some point Tuff, we did show up together on Toothless." The chief answered, as if to prove he was telling the truth he laced his fingers in hers causing a small smile to break out on Astrid's face, the likes of which their group of friends hadn't seen since the couple broke apart. "She's here to see Eret; I'll take over watch for a few minutes Tuff, why don't you got grab a drink and snack? She should be done by the time you get back." The male twin looked between them a few times before shrugging and making his way towards the Great hall while whispering sweet nothings to his weapon and responding for it in the grating voice he still made for it, his dragon trailing behind him while the heads look at each other in confusion of one of it's riders antics. Once Tuffnut and the Zippleback rounded the corner and the two were alone again with their dragons Hiccup turned to Astrid, "Do you do want to do this one on your own or together?" Astrid knew he wanted to be with her when she questioned Eret, it was practically written in his eyes as he gazed at her. She popped up on her toes and gave him a quick peck on the lips.

"I want you to go with me… but I think we both know I need to do this one alone, at least at first." She told him giving his hand a reassuring squeeze. Hiccup let out a small sigh, but nodded his understanding before He trekked by to Toothless and Stormfly to take watch while Tuffnut was getting his drink and likely a snack as Astrid pushed the prison door open. She walked past the first cell, both Heather and Alvin had pulled stints in it when they were teens still building the Academy, but Eret wasn't inside. She found him locked in the furthest cell back, where the light barely reaches, Astrid grabbed a torch so she could see him clearly; she needed to see his face when she asked him why he did it. He had his back to the door, his shirt had clearly been pulled on haphazardly, his pants were on backwards, and his usually well groomed hair was disheveled. After taking a moment to steel herself, Astrid spoke. "Why?"

Eret seemed to perk up slightly at her voice, but his shoulders drooped when her words seemed to have sunk in. He turned to look at her, and she could just make out him taking in her appearance, eyes lingering on her lips. No doubt her lips were still slightly swollen from kissing Hiccup, something she could say no one else could do better than him, while Eret wasn't a bad kisser she never felt the same spark(read: lightning strike) that she did when Hiccup kissed her. A scoff brought her out of her mental comparison of the two men kissing prowess and focused her attention on him. "Why am I in here?" Well I'm sure if you ask the chief he'll be happy to tell you, if you haven't already by the looks of you."

Astrid balled her fists; she knew Eret could be confrontational when he was agitated, but she wasn't the one who had been sleeping with someone else. "Why were you sleeping with her? Did you think at all about the consequences?"

"Well why souldn't I have been sleeping with Heather? We'd been together five months Astrid and you barely let me even touch you! I heard the stories about you and Hiccup when you were together, Hel I saw you leaving his house early in the mornings after he was made chief! I know you were sleeping with him, but you keep me at arms length! So why did you do that!?"

Astrid opened her mouth to yell at him what he clearly lacked knowledge of, but Hiccup's voice cut through the air and answered for her. "The others probably failed to mention that Astrid and I had been together for two years before we even considered taking that step in our relationship, we were barely eighteen our first time and that was two years before we even met you. You expect her to just drop her skirt and shoulder pads after five months?" Hiccup came to stand next to her, but kept his hands to himself, clearly trying not to appear confrontational. He spared her a glance, "Sorry, I heard shouting and came to make sure everything was alright."

"Well aren't you two buddy buddy again. Had I known this would've happened I would've chosen to fuck Ruffnut instead." Eret spat behind the bars, despite his attempt at insulting them he still shuddered at the thought of sleeping with Ruffnut.

"I thought you'd be smarter than to cheat on Berk's best warrior personally. I can't say I was overly surprised when it was discovered you impregnated Heather." Hiccup countered, causing Eret to stumble back. It was likely he was never going to be told, Hiccup had heard about the many women (plenty of which were married) he'd charmed and bedded from his time as a sailor and the chief figured he probably had several bastard children he didn't know about and it was time he learned what happens when you fool around with married women. "That's right, Heather visited the healer this morning complaining of morning sickness and they found her was three months pregnant."

Eret backed up a bit more his mouth flapping uselessly as words fail him. Hiccup places his hand on Astrid's shoulder and give her a nod when she looks at him, understanding what he meant even without speaking she stepped up to the bars and spoke again as he turnedturned around and left them alone again. "Just tell me why you cheated, and why of all people you choose the chief's wife and I'll leave. I'm pretty sure we both know it's over between us."

Sobered by the news of Heather's pregnancy, Eret complied. "Like I said, I was tired of waiting to move forward with you and have sex. Heather and I talked some when we had stall cleaning duty together and she told me how Hiccup and her weren't exactly happy and she knew he still cared about you, one thing led to another and next thing you know she was screaming in one of the dragon pens."

"But the last time you and Heather had stall cleaning duty together was… three months ago!" Astrid yelled as she recalled the information in her head, she wrote the schedule herself being head of the academy. "You mean to tell me that you've been sleeping with that whore for the majority of the time we were together!?" Her shoulders heaved with every breath and it takes every once of self control not to rip open the barred door and tear him limb from limb. No one cheats on a Hofferson. She knows Hiccup will be back any second because of her outburst and that Eret is already being exiled, which also means Skullcrusher will be taken away from him, but she wants to leave a mark as a reminder that you don't mess around with Fearless Astrid Hofferson. Hiccup's hand returned to her shoulder, she was so engrossed in her anger that she hadn't heard him returning. She hated that he could dissipate most of her rage with just a touch and a look.

"Come on Astrid. I think you got what you came for." His tone was apologetic; even though he was glad he could be with her again his eyes burned with desire to run his sword through the man who hurt her. She let him lead her out in silence, and the moment the door closed behind them he wrapped his arms around her in a comforting embrace that she gladly accepted. Neither knew just how long they stood there just holding one another, but when they finally loosened their grip and kissed again they heard a woop of joy come from a returning Tuffnut.

The next morning saw the entirety of the Hooligan Tribe in the Great Hall awaiting to hear the announcement the chief had to make. Astrid stood off to the side as Hiccup took his place at the chief's table and raised his hands to quiet the villagers so he could speak. "Everyone, I'm here to explain why I had to take a personal day yesterday. I'm sorry to tel you all that the night before I found my wife of two years having any affair with Eret, Son of Eret." The crowd roared to life, a few shouting that it wasn't possible but most of the crowd calling for Eret's head, when Hiccup couldn't silence them with a raise of his hands he had Toothless fire a plasma blast out the open doors, the explosion did the job. "Now… as of yesterday my marriage to Heather as been dissolved and Eret has been in the prison since I caught them in the act. Their punishments have been decided and I expect everyone to respect the choices the council and I made. Eret is to be place on his boat and exiled, never to return to Berk, Heather will be staying since we recently learned she has been found to be pregnant with Eret's child." Another round of shouting came up but quickly died when Hiccup climbed onto Toothless' back so he stood above everyone in the hall. "I know many of you are upset about that, but I will not send Heather away while she is carrying an innocent life. Dragonback is too bumpy right now and devastating winter will be here soon so she can't travel by boat, she'll take up residence in Mildew's old cabin so she's out of sight and mind and the baby can grow. After the child is born she may leave if she wants, however should she choose to stay I don't want her actions to taken out on the child, he or she is innocent in all this and should be treated like any other child."

The villagers all mumbled many of the women shaking their heads at Heather's poor choice but respecting Hiccup's order to not make the child suffer for them, the men still seemed to want Eret's head but trusted the chief to do what's right. "And before you all go I have one bit of good news to share with you all. The one good thing to come out of all this." Astrid's head snapped back to Hiccup, the only good thing to come out of the whole ordeal that she could think of was they had admitted they still care for one another. Her eyes widened just a bit as he continued, "Although my divorce is still fresh I was able to reconnect with someone very special to me." He smiled her way and jerked his head in a 'come over here' fashion and Astrid's legs carried her over without her consent, "I was able to become friends with Astrid Hofferson once again!" He place his left hand on her shoulder and everyone in front of them was wearing wide knowing smiles.

"Oi, I don't think friends shove their tongues down each others throats like I saw you two doing last night!" Tuffnut's voice came from the back of the crowd, prompting several of those gathered to laugh heartily and couple in front of them to turn beet red.

'Alright, I'm just gonna have to kill him' Astrid thought and was about to go and punch a certain male twin in the face when Hiccup's other arm came around and pulled her into a kiss. Before any other thought could be made in her head she responded and brought forth cheers from everyone and several jubilant roars from dragons, including Stormfly and Toothless. 'Well… maybe after another kiss.'

FIN

A/N: So this is a one-shot I wrote after seeing a few stories where Astrid cheats on Hiccup with Eret(and often because he just said she was beautiful, seriously? it doesn't work when Snotlout does it so why should it work with a British version of him?). Being a big time Hiccstrid shipper I couldn't stand it since in the show, HtTYD2 and after the romantic flight Astrid is always on Hiccup's side and proven time and again to be extremely loyal to him, willing to go behind Stoick's back and even defy his orders in the sequel shows her faith is solidly with Hiccup. So when instead of leaving reviews telling the writer to go learn something about her character I decided to write this. I think as much as Hiccstrid care about each other it wouldn't be out of the realm of possibility that Astrid would be stubborn about giving up her dream, or that Hiccup would forced into a political marriage as chief, that said I couldn't not have them end up together, to borrow from Foxy's Girl: They are the cutiest. And for those of you that wish to find the people who enjoy steamrolling over Astrid's character until there is nothing recognizable, I suggest you start with the story 'secret affairs' by blueberrytoastertart, they claim to not condone cheating but the story glorifying it would suggest other wise(which is a real shame because they are a talented writer and have a few great Hiccstrid stories).