Unfortunately, I don’t have enough time to write just now, so the next chapter of The West Princess is still in progress. I’m really sorry for that... But there’s an excerpt from it!
“Snow can fall any time soon.”
The princess’ hand with a spoon froze by her mouth.
“Snow?”
Hiccup’s eyes widened. “Don’t tell me that you’ve never seen snow before!”
It was Astrid’s turn to chuckle. “Of course, I have. Just not that early. The weather in Dauntenerk is mostly warm and sunny, so snow usually melts the day it fell.”
“Then you’ll see a whole new world soon,” the prince smiled and glanced to his pocket watch.
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
This is the first part of the 3rd chapter. It's over 6K words as I 've managed to put only a half of planned events in.
Today I'll also post an excerpt from the second part on my tumblr (@msdownwithlove) as part of the Six Sentence Sunday.
The big question has been already asked and the loud “yes” has been screamed but the grand event itself needs a lot of planning … or it does not?
A small one shot I wrote over the summer. Rated T. Hope you like it:)
Read it on AO3 or here:
"When should we set the date?" Hiccup asked quietly. His right cheek was pressed to the golden crown of the love of his life while his left hand was running up and down her naked back.
"Must you be in such haste to get rid of your bachelor status?" Astrid mumbled sleepy; her eyes still closed in utter bliss as she was enjoying his soft ministrations.
"I'm in haste to finally call you my wife," he whispered emphasizing his last word in that unique way that always made her completely boneless and light as her soul was soaring on the cloud nine. Never in her life was she so happy.
"I like the sound of that."
"So, when do you want to marry me?" he asked again and she just knew he was smiling from ear to ear.
It had been a week since he had proposed and she had said yes; seven glorious days of celebration, of getting used to being not just boyfriend and girlfriend but being engaged. In fact, nothing had changed in their lives as they had been dating and living together for three years by now but it was a big step forward. It was official now.
"I’ll sign papers any time you want, Babe," Astrid promised, smiling in return, and left a ghost kiss on his chest.
"Woah, woah, wait a second!” said Hiccup, somewhat taken a back. “What do you mean by ‘sign papers’?
He rolled his girlfriend on her back which made her wince and groan in protest as her naked skin touched the cold sheets. She felt his penetrating gaze even through her closed eyes, so she had no choice but to open them.
Blue met green expecting sadness, disappointment and even frustration but they were just confused. Hiccup stared at her a few more seconds as if he was waiting for her to say "sorry, I am just kidding" but when it was clear that she wasn't, the serious conversation was inevitable.
She knew she had to say something, explain herself and prove she wanted to be his wife more than anything in this world. She loved him, nothing could change that, and she couldn't wait to spend her life with him as his wife, to love and to hold, to bear and raise their children, to grow old by his side.
And it was possible without a so-to-called wedding.
"I've never worn white, Hiccup," she said quietly, her eyes penetrating his. "While other girls grew up dreaming about it, the thought of being squeezed in a tight and heavy dress makes me sick to the stomach. And then I would have to walk down to the aisle, terrified of falling while everyone is staring at me. To look at their faces, not always knowing who that person is, to smile and accept their congratulations, then answer their awkward questions and nodding at their unnecessary pieces of advice… I can’t do this."
She did imagine such picture in her head so many times before but recently it was just getting more and more terrifying. She could take a lot, to face any troubles and get through them as a warrior but not a wedding ceremony though.
Hiccup rolled off her on his right side yet his arms were still around her. She listened to his steady heartbeat, basking in the heat of his body and feeling safe like she never did before. She already knew he would understand.
"Are you afraid of getting marrying?" He simply asked, his hand in her hair again.
Astrid turned her head and hid her nose in his chest breathing his sent in and out. Her quiet 'no' was muffled by his skin and like a tickle ran down his spine. "Publicity?"
She nodded and leaned back to look at him.
"I don't want to spend lots of money, nerves and time on just one day that will be still important and wonderful without a dress, a cake and guests," she confessed. "I'm doing it for me, for you and only with you."
She didn’t get why everyone was so exciting about a ceremony and regret no money on it, trying to make it as bigger and preposterous as they could afford. In her eyes, it seemed like a way to prove her relatives and friends she happened to fall in love and how much her lover would do for her. But it wasn’t guests she wanted to please. It was and would always be Hiccup.
So, if he would insist on the grand event, she would go through it. Even if it would make her unhappy.
"But if you want..."
Hiccup pressed a finger to her lips shushing her.
"No, I don't. You and your wishes are all that matters to me,” his lips touched hers. “If you want it to be just the two of us, then there will be two of us in our kitchen signing the papers the day we want. Though our families will be so furious at us for robbing them of a great feast they have been planning for so long and saying about it post factum."
"I love you," she beamed at him.
"And I you," he smiled back. Their lips met again. The kiss was soft and tender that swept all her worries away and made her heart flatter.
“We don’t say a word to our families until the deed is done, do we?” Hiccup asked as they parted.
“We don’t,” Astrid whispered and left a kiss on his cheek. Then she giggled remembering something. "My dad will be so sad he won't have an opportunity to buy a tuxedo he dreams about."
“Hey, we can always buy him one as a gift,” her soon-to-be husband suggested as he pressed her closer to him and started kissing down her neck. "But I do not regret preventing a long and embarrassing speech my father is famous for," he added between kisses.
“He will give it to us anyway,” Astrid laughed running her fingers through Hiccup’s hair. She closed her eyes again, enjoying the magic his lips were working on her body. “But I doubt our parents will talk to us after we’ll tell them. So, we’ll have some peaceful time to relish our honeymoon.”
Yes, their parents would be really mad at them but a big wedding wasn’t and isn’t a proof of love and happiness. Beautiful words and loud vows, the prettiest dress and lots of guests are not that important or extremely needed to be shown to everyone. After all, happiness loves silence.
”Happiness loves silence” a quote from a poem by Yuriy Kalugin.
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
Chapters: 1/3
Fandom: How to Train Your Dragon (Movies)
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III/Astrid Hofferson, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III/Heather, Astrid Hofferson's Father/Astrid Hofferson's Mother, Heather/Snotlout Jorgenson
Characters: Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III, Astrid Hofferson, Stoick the Vast, Astrid Hofferson's Parents, Heather (How to Train Your Dragon), Snotlout Jorgenson
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Arranged Marriage, Alternate Universe - Medieval, part 2 of the west princess series
Series: Part 2 of The West Princess
Summary:
"She was born to be more than a princess from west. Her strenght is unique and her heart is as beautiful as she is," prince Hiccup was told before he discovered her heart was the hardest one he had ever seen.
I don't know if there are any folks who are wondering where new chapters for my fics are, so I'm leaving a small note just in case.
I am currently writing The West Princess' new chapters (!). Have finished none of them though😅 The very next chapter is almost 3,8K words and I haven’t even started the wedding itself, let alone the wedding night. Moreover, it's not an easy one and I want to get it right. Without being distracted by writing Chapter 6 or Epilogue itself😣
However, I hope I will be able to update soon^_^ And to post some sketches I made for The West Princess!!!
Another “what if” for Hiccup and Stoick, set before the first movie. There are a lot of wonderful works, dedicated to them but they all have some sort of happy ending. And I was in the mood for angst, lots and lots of angst – I just couldn’t stop thinking what would happen if Hiccup wasn’t so stubborn.
Warning: character death.
He’s lost the will to live.
Hiccup knew that day would come eventually. He patiently waited for it. And when it was finally there, all he could think about was a simple question: what took it so long? He was ready for that every day of his miserable life.
“Gothi”, asked the familiar voice somewhere near him. His dad, he recognized. “Can you cure him?” Fear made words tremble but hope helped them leave the Chief’s lips.
Hiccup Haddock the Third had no strength to open his eyes or even say something. He already knew the answer the elder was scrawling on the floor. Still somebody had to translate it for the Chief, to announce his biggest and the last failure as the heir of Berk.
“No”, Gobber whispered, “there is nothing she can do. He’s lost the will to live.”
Hiccup felt no pain, his body relaxed and comfortable on the mattress under the warmness of furs as twisted minds disappeared in heavy fog of high fever. Yet his heart was in great agony. There were so many things he had to say to his dad but he doubted Stoick would ever listen to him. He never did; even his son’s sincere apologies. The boy so wanted to tell he was sorry for not being the real son of a Chief, for not trying harder, for failing him over and over again. And he wished his father would forget him as soon as possible and hoped everyone else would.
After fifteen years of ignorance, abusing and humiliation the Chief’s son was glad it was coming to an end. Maybe there, in Valhalla, he would find a loving mom he missed so badly or at least one friend just to talk to. And they would never blame him for his skinny body, his clumsiness, his shyness, his uselessness, his inability to kill a dragon or his attempts to be a Viking he’s supposed to be. They would never blame him just for being him. He dreamt of that change.
“Son,” his father called but he was already gone.
The boat vanished over the horizon, taking the Chief’s son to his first and final journey to the great beyond. People of Berk watched him till the end as the act of support for their Chief. Stoick the Vast neither spoke about his son nor mentioned him after that. No anger could defeat the illness which took his boy and no tears could undo what was done.
Some people lost their knives or their mugs – that was a usual thing for Vikings as well as for tribes to lose their heirs and for fathers to lose their sons. Hiccup wasn’t an ordinary Viking - he lost the will to live.
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
Summary:
From the very first encounter Astrid and Hiccup aren’t fond of each other. After her sister’s and his cousin’s wedding they are forced to spend Christmas, Easter, Thanksgiving and all family birthdays in the same house, hating each other from opposite sides of a dinner table. After one of these evenings Astrid has got a very important personal thing of her enemy by accident and revenge seems so sweet to her. However her whole life is in Hiccup’s hands as well and he knows exactly what he’s going to do with it…
Well, it’s been a while... and I’m not that depressed as I was in spring. But I’ve managed to use my depression in a productive way!
As you can see, I’ve made New Chapters Tracker to share my progress.
By the way, yesterday I finished the draft of the 3rd chapter for The West Princess. It’s over 6K words and I had to split this one in 2 parts. I hope to publish the 1st part as soon as I edit it.
Another Cinderella Story (AO3 | FF.net)
Once upon a time there was a girl whose name was Astrid Hofferson and who wanted to attend a big Christmas party for a chance to meet her prince.Classic story about Cinderella, a prince and a crown-shaped birthmark Cinderella needs to find before midnight.
4 out 9 chapters are written.
The West Princess (AO3 | FF.net)
"She was born to be more than a princess from west. Her strength is unique and her heart is as beautiful as she is," prince Hiccup was told before he discovered her heart was the hardest one he had ever seen.
3 out ? chapters are written.
With a single button hit (AO3|FF.net)
From the very first encounter Astrid and Hiccup aren’t fond of each other. After her sister’s and his cousin’s wedding they are forced to spend Christmas, Easter, Thanksgiving and all family birthdays in the same house, hating each other from opposite sides of a dinner table. After one of these evenings Astrid has got a very important personal thing of her enemy by accident and revenge seems so sweet to her. However her whole life is in Hiccup’s hands as well and he knows exactly what he’s going to do with it…
Resurgam (not posted yet)
There were thousands of places Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third would like to explore when he was a boy. At the age of six, then eight and finally ten he was full of dreams and enthusiasm to conquer this world with his undying desire for knowledge, to discover every secret hidden deep in the woods, high in the sky or in the depths of the ocean, to become as great as his father Stoick the Vast was. However, here he was at the age of eighteen, known as Hiccup the Useless, the worst Viking in Berk, who couldn’t lift an axe nor kill a dragon and had no friends or a girlfriend. Stoick seemed to give up on Hiccup whereas the young man started to hide from the world in a forge, too ashamed to show up in public and hating every new day with everything he had.
The good wife (not posted yet)
Series of one-shots. Pure Hiccstrid.
Untitled work (not posted yet)
The idea I don’t know how to describe yet but the first chapter is written.
