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Chapter Text

'Do you have the hand warmers? What about the sleeping masks?'

'Check and check,' Ragnar answered his wife as he looked through his suitcase again. He looked up with a content smile after a moment. 'That's it, babe, we've finished packing! Finally!'

Aslaug scoffed. 'Don't cheer for us too earlier. We haven't checked the kids' suitcases yet.'

Ragnar let out a low grunt. 'They are adults, they can pack their suitcases themselves. I won't check every suitcases this year again.'

Aslaug raised her eyebrows at her husband. 'If you think so... Maybe we should really let them deal with it if they mess up. Someday they have to grow up anyways.'

'Exacatly,' Ragnar huffed and bent forward to nuzzle his wife's cheek.

'Fine, enough cuddling for now,' Aslaug commanded softly and stood up from the floor, the suitcases still lying open between her and Ragnar.

She walked down into the living room where she found all her four children that still lived at home. They laid stretched out on the sofa in the most awkward positions, but nothing could actually surprise Aslaug anymore. A Christmas movie was blasting from the TV, but all of her children were actually only looking at their cellphones.

'Stop lying around here now,' she ordered and turned the TV off with the remote control.

Ubbe and Saga looked up at her immediately, the other two didn't.

'Hvitserk, Ivar, really, stop your ridiculous games now,' she groaned annoyed.

Finally, both boys obeyed, even though she could see that it was not really voluntarily.

'Good, now that you're all listening, I only wanted to announce to you that your father and I won't control your suitcases this year, so it will be up to you what things you have during our holidays and which not. I recommend to really think about your packing again. Also, as soon as you're done with packing, I want you to bring your suitcases to the car. We're leaving in two hours.'

Ubbe, Hvitserk and Saga immediately jumped up from the sofa and rushed upstairs, leaving Ivar alone with their mother.

'Are you done?' Aslaug eyed her youngest son critically.

Ivar nodded and finally sat up from his awkward lying position. 'I'm always the first, I guess.'

'And always the most considerate.' Aslaug smiled proudly at him and pressed a kiss to his forehead then. 'Don't tell the others, but you're my favorite,' she whispered to his head.

'I know,' he replied with a smug grin.

Ubbe came down the stairs with his suitcase at first. He peaked through the half closed living room door then and nodded at Ivar. 'Done, Nugget?'

Ivar nodded only and watched as Ubbe disappeared. A minute later the older brother came down with Ivar's suitcase and he brought the two suitcases to the car then.

Saga followed shortly after, having way more trouble carrying the suitcase than her older brother, but when Ubbe saw it, he rushes to help her.

The two of them already settled down in the living room with Ivar and Aslaug again, while Ragnar placed the rest of the luggage in the car, when Hvitserk came down the stairs finally.

After he had placed his suitcase in the trunk as well, he joined his family to watch the end of the Grinch with them.

At some point, Aslaug had left her family for a short while. Even though she had told Ragnar that they would let their kids deal with their own messiness, she felt a bit of compassion for them, and so she went to the car to check her kids' suitcases.

Hvitserk's suitcase laid at the top, so it was the first one she opened. When she lifted it down from the pile of luggage, she was already surprised how light the suitcase was.

Only when she opened it, she let her face sink into her hands for once and only stared at the mess in front of her.

Silently, she went inside again and sat down on the sofa to face all her children again.

'Are you sure that you've packed everything you'll need in the mountains into your suitcase?' She mustered them all, especially lying her eyes on Hvitserk.

All her kids nodded their agreement, so she let out a sigh after a moment and stood up again. 'Then still come with me now, Hvitserk,' she muttered.

Hvitserk suddenly blushed, all eyes trained on him, except from Ragnar's which were well trained on Aslaug.

'Wait! Did you check their suitcases?' Ragnar asked shocked. 'We said we won't do it this year!'

'Yeah, I know babe, but I really couldn't stop myself. I have only opened Hvitty's suitcase yet, but-'

'Why only mine?' Hvitserk protested angrily, a bit of shame coloring his tone as well.

Aslaug sighed. 'First of all, yours laid on top. And also, even if yours was the one in the deepest spot, I had opened that first. Hvitserk, baby, why did you only pack sweets in your suitcase?' Her voice and expression softened, but the heat and shame in Hvitserk's face increased.

'You did what?' Ubbe huffed.

Ragnar stared at his middle son now, too. 'Hvitty, what did you do?'

Hvitserk stared at the wall in from of him, neither answering, nor looking anyone in the face.

A deep crease emerged from Ragnar's face as he looked at his wife again instead. 'What did he do?'

'He only packed sweets in his suitcase. Marshmallows, mostly,' she sighed and sat down on the sofa in front of her son. 'Baby, what did you think you're doing there?'

Hvitserk met her gaze now finally, but he only shrugged in response.

'Why would you need that much sweets? And especially marshmallows?' Ubbe huffed.

Hvitserk didn't meet his gaze, still looking in the soft eyes of his mother. 'Just in case I get hungry,' he mumbled, mostly to himself.

'Dude, there's something that's called meals. Mom and Dad won't let us starve,' Saga stated flatly.

Ivar nudged Saga's arm with a smug grin. 'You forgot his stomach is like a bottomless pit.'

Hvitserk narrowed his eyes at his siblings' comments, but never looked away from his mom.

Aslaug ignored her children as well and only stared at Hvitserk, now rubbing a thumb over his cheek. 'What did you think you would be wearing, huh?' She asked, her voice still soft.

Hvitserk hesitated. '... mostly... mostly Ivar's clothes, I guess.'

'What?!' Ivar let out shocked. 'No way, get your own fucking stuff, you idiot!'

Hvitserk shrugged. 'Then Ubbe's clothes,' he mumbled.

Ubbe scoffed. 'Don't even think about it, Serk. You're not wearing my clothes.'

Finally, Hvitserk moved as he turned around. 'Then Sigurd's clothes,' he mumbled to himself again.

Saga let out a long and annoyed sigh. 'Dude, just get your ass up to your room and pack your own clothes in the suitcase instead of marshmallows.'

Hvitserk hesitated, seemingly unsure if he should move.

Finally , Ragnar gave in and hoisted his own body up from the sofa. He walked towards the door only with a grunt as Aslaug called after him.

'Babe, where are you going?'

'Packing Hvitserk's suitcase,' the father let out with a growl.

Chapter Text

'Fine, Ubbe, Saga and Hvitserk in the back, Ivar in the middle,' Aslaug commanded as the family had finally made it to the car.

'Are you ready?' Floki called from his driveway over the fence between the two properties. He waved and giggled happily while Helga and Angrboda loaded the luggage in the trunk.

'Almost, yes, just have to get all those people in the car,' Ragnar huffed as he walked closer to the fence. 'Keep it to you, but I think this trip will be even more chaotic than all those years before.' He let out a playful sigh, making Floki giggle again.

'Ragnar!' Aslaug called from behind. 'Come on now, Athelstan is waiting.'

Ragnar rolled his eyes at Floki. 'I have to keep going, I guess.'

'Then get your ass in that car finally, so that I can get my ass in my car, too.' Floki giggled again and waved at Ragnar as he left for his car again.

Ragnar slumped down on the passenger seat with a sigh. He turned around to his children and hold his thumb up with a questioning gaze at Ivar who sat on the middle seat behind his father.

Ivar lifted his own thumb with a reassuring smile, so Ragnar turned to his wife, placed his hand on her thigh and squeezed it softly.

'Then go,' he murmured and laid back in his seat.

The next moment, Aslaug started the engine and left the driveway, Floki's car follow neat behind the 12 seater of the Lothbroks.

The two vehicles came to a stop at the end of the street again in front of Athelstan's house where Athelstan and Alfred already waited with their luggage.

Athelstan placed the luggage in the trunk while Alfred climbed in the vehicle next to Ivar, Athelstan followed his son and took the empty seat on Ivar's other side, ruffling his hair.

'Hey, Ragnar, Aslaug,' Athelstan greeted the two and squeezed Ragnar's shoulder from behind with a sunny smile.

Ragnar winked at Athelstan in response. 'Make yourself feel comfortable in our bus here, it's gonna be an eight hour ride, more if we get stuck in traffic jam.' He looked over at Alfred. 'You, too. Not that your memories of your first Lothbrok family vacation won't be fine.'

Ivar scoffed and whispered to Alfred. 'It's not really like any of the trips had been good so far.'

'I heard that, Nugget!' Ragnar grunted from the front seat without even looking at his son. 'And it's not true, Alfred, don't believe him. Our trips are always wonderful. Aren't they, kids?' Now Ragnar turned to look past Ivar and at his other children.

They heaitated, then Ubbe shrugged slightly. 'I guess,' he muttered.

'But you like them, Saga, right?' Ragnar asked with a scowl.

Saga raised her eyebrows. 'Uhm, yes, they're fine,' she mumbled hesitantly.

'Hvits?' Ragnar looked hopefully at his last child and finally he got a more positive response.

'I love the hikes! And the ice skating! And the food! It's brilliant out there!' Hvitserk cheered happily.

Ragnar couldn't help the grin that appeared on his face, almost splitting it in two halfs. 'Finally one of my children found some reason in what they say.'

Ivar scoffed. 'Reason? Hvitserk? Are you talking about another Hvitserk?' He asked his father with a sly grin that disappeared immediately as Hvitserk's palm landed on his neck a second later.

'Hvitty!' Ragnar scolded immediately with a stern expression to his son. 'No fighting in the car now! You can break his every bone as soon as we arrived, but I don't want any fistfights in here.'

Ivar turned to Alfred again who had to suppress a smile. 'Don't believe this idiot, you know he's insane,' he grunted silently: 'The trips are okay, though. It's mostly the rides that are the worst. Especially with this idiot behind us now.'

Alfred couldn't help the chuckle that escaped his lips at his best friend's words. He turned around to face Hvitserk who was now fiddling with his cellphone, while he was constantly wiggling his right leg, almost kicking against Ivar's seat in front of him.

Alfred's eyes moved to the middle seat which Saga occupied. She was also fiddling with her phone, but he couldn't help to stare at her for a moment longer.

'Alfie,' Ivar muttered and shook his shoulder now. 'Hey, are you in there?' He poked his index against Alfred's head as he finally looked back to Ivar.

Ivar scoffed. 'Geez, I've said your name a million times now. Stop staring at my sister, she's already your girl.'

Alfred only hummed in response and laid back in his seat. This would be a long and tiring ride.

Chapter Text

By the time the traffic jam in which they had gotten earlier solved it was dark outside already.

The sun was long gone and then moon had risen, but was mostly hidden by the many clouds in the night sky.

Everyone except from Ivar and his parents had fallen asleep in the car. Aslaug and Ragnar had switched seats before which meant that Ragnar was now driving. Fortunately, the streets leading up to their holiday destination were now mostly empty and even the highway was now only occupied by few cars.

Ivar had tried to fall asleep like his siblings, but as longer as he had to sit still in his seat and as colder as it got outside and also in the car, the ache in his body and especially in his legs had grown.

He shifted uncomfortably around and groaned in pain as he tried to find a better seating position, but nothing helped. He had already removed the braces around his legs and had tried to stretch his legs as much as possible, which was in his seat in the middle better possible than in any other seat in the vehicle, but still not enough for the pain to actually disappear.

Aslaug looked through the rear view mirror back at her son and watched him for a moment as he snarled, while he moved his aching body only by inches.

'Are you okay, baby?' The mother asked silently to not wake anyone up, a crease of worry displaying on her face.

Ivar drew in a sharp breath as he moved his right leg, the one which was even more stiff, with his hands. 'No, not really,' he sighed then and let himself fall against the seat. 'Do you have my painkillers in your purse?'

She turned around to her son, compassion showing on her face. 'No, baby, I didn't put them in my purse.' She placed a hand on Ivar's right knee and started rubbing the spots she knew would be the most aching and sore while she looked up at Ragnar. 'How long until we're there?' She whispered to her husband.

Ragnar raised his eyebrows and let out a long and deep sigh. 'Without any more traffic jam at least three hours. He should drink something, he's probably dehydrated.' Ragnar grabbed a bottle of water from beside his seat and handed it Ivar without even looking away from the street once.

Ivar grabbed the bottle reluctantly and with a scowl. 'I don't need water, I need painkillers,' he grunted silently.

'Sorry, Nugget, I have no painkillers for you. You'll have to wait until we arrive. You'll have to take all your meds then anyways.'

Ivar let out an annoyed groan. He grabbed his left knee that his mother didn't occupy and started rubbing from his knee up his thigh, kneading the spots that hurt the most.

'Can I at least get out the car for a few minutes, please? I need to move,' he asked, the pain and anger clearly in his voice.

Ragnar sighed and grabbed the steering wheel a bit tighter. 'I'll stop at the next rest area, you can get out for a bit then.'

They drove for about another twenty minutes and Ivar was slowly getting mad from the pain, fighting back the tears while his mother tried all her best to release as much pain as possible.

As Ragnar finally pulled in the rest area, the car drove over a small bump and creaked, which made Hvitserk and Saga wake up and made Ivar flinch as the pain shot through his body.

'Are we already there?' Saga asked with a yawn as she slowly opened her eyes.

'No, baby, Ivar just has to get out for a moment. Keep sleeping, we'll soon keep driving,' Aslaug told her daughter and when she turned around she saw that Hvitserk was yawning as well. 'You too, Hvitty, yeah? Keep sleeping.'

Hvitserk blinked a few times at his mom and smiled then warmly at her. 'Nope, I'm awake now. Not tired anymore.'

'Great,' Ragnar sighed lowly. He turned to look at his wife and nodded at her then. 'Ready?'

'I don't care if you're ready or not, just get me out of here!' Ivar grunted from behind his parents. He had already stripped his braces over his legs again.

Ragnar obeyed his son and climbed out of the car. While his wife grabbed Ivar's crutches from the trunk, he opened the car door at Athelstan's side. Ivar already extended both his arms for his father and with a little effort Ragnar managed it to lift his son up and carry him over Athelstan without waking the man up.

Floki had followed Ragnar's car and waited patiently in the parking lot now, he was used to sudden stops when Ivar's pain got too much.

The father hold his son in a tight wrap before Aslaug came and handed Ivar his crutches, then Ragnar released a bit of his strength around Ivar, without letting him go completely.

'Are you alright walking alone?' Ragnar asked Ivar critically and only when Ivar nodded, Ragnar let go of his son.

Ivar started hobbling over the parking lot with loud groans and painful sighs while Ragnar walked slowly beside him to make sure Ivar was alright.

Hvitserk had by now also climbed out of the car and was now leaning against the vehicle.

Aslaug squinted at him as she still faced Ivar. 'Do you need to go to the restrooms?' She asked then as she saw that Hvitserk was uncomfortably shifting around.

He nodded and when Aslaug signed him where to go, he made a leave and rushed away towards the building at the rest area.

'Ivar, do you need to pee?' She called over to her younger son, but after a second of conversation between father and son Ragnar only waved his wife that Ivar didn't need to go to the restrooms.

Hvitserk came back a few minutes later, fidgety and too energetic for Aslaug's taste.

'I'm thirsty,' he complained as he made a turn to open the trunk.

'Hvitserk, hands down!' Aslaug snapped to catch her son's attention.

It worked and he froze in his movements, staring at her like a kid caught with its hand in the cookie jar.

'You don't open the trunk now, that's too loud.' She searched for something in her pocket and handed him a few coins then. 'Here, go buy you and your brother something,' she sighed and waved towards the little shop that was opened 24 hours each day.

After Hvitserk had left, she turned back to Ivar who was now almost by her side again, grimacing in pain with each step.

'Isn't it better now?' she asked worried.

'Hardly,' Ivar grunted between gritted teeth and grabbed his father's arm for stability. 'Can you please search my pain meds in our luggage?' He looked up at his father with pleading puppy eyes.

Ragnar let out a long sigh and nodded then weakly. 'Of course, get in the car, I'm getting your meds.'

Ivar did as he was told and heaved himself on the passenger seat that his mom had occupied before because he couldn't climb over Athelstan on his own again.

Hvitserk returned while his father rummaged through their luggage.

'Is it bad?' The older brother asked as he handed Ivar a can of coke.

Ivar only hummed in response and took a long swig of his coke after opening it.

'No, not that suitcase, this one,' the brothers heard their mother giving orders to their father.

Ivar sighed again, kneading his knees with narrowed eyes. He finally looked up at Hvitserk who was shifted from one to the other leg again and again and almost jumped or walked in his spot.

'Bro, you making me nervous, stop that,' Ivar grunted through gritted teeth.

'Huh?' Hvitserk asked, but finally came to a halt as Ivar grabbed his arm.

'Hvits, I would like to saw my legs of right now and you're not helping me with showing me how fine you can wiggle yours,' Ivar snapped at Hvitserk, but his gaze softened as he saw his brothers eyes flicker nervously around. 'Hey, hey, it's alright, okay?'

Hvitserk needed a moment to catch himself again, then he nodded and his eyes finally came to a rest as they met Ivar's eyes. 'Sorry, I'm overtired. Is it really so bad?'

Ivar nodded slightly and he looked down at his thighs again as he rubbed his hands over them again.

'No, not there,' Aslaug snapped at her husband, she was also slowly losing it.

Hvitserk took another look at Ivar's painfully grimacing face, eyes closed by now. He walked around the car to his parents and tried to whisper, which he didn't master in the slightest, his whole body still wiggling restlessly. 'Can you please hurry up, Ivar is in pain,' he told his parents, taking another swig of his coke then.

'What do you think I'm doing here, Hvitty?' Ragnar suddenly snapped as he turned from the luggage to Hvitserk.

Hvitserk didn't meet Ragnar's gaze, still moving restlessly on the spot, now digging his nails in the flesh of his own palms.

Ragnar groaned as he watched Hvitserk. 'And did you really have to buy coke? You're a pain in the ass anyways when it comes to car rides, did you also have to buy that sugary stuff?'

Before Hvitserk could respond, Aslaug grabbed his hand and scowled at Ragnar. 'Now leave him alone, Ragnar. Find Ivar's meds and don't annoy us.'

She turned to Hvitserk with a softer gaze and squeezed his hand. 'And you put down that can of coke now and then you go and run around this parking lot until I tell you to stop. You're not getting in our car again if you're so fidgety and restless. Excitement and exhaustion are no apologies.'

Hvitserk did as he was told, making Ivar groan in annoyance as he saw his adult brother run around the parking lot like a lunatic.

'Did you really have to tell him that, Mom?' Ivar called to his mom.

Aslaug came around the car to Ivar and signed him to be silent. 'What should I have done, baby? I'm sitting in front of him for the rest of the drive and I'm not putting up with his kicking feet in my back.'

Ivar rolled his eyes. 'You should have been stricter with him when he was little.'

'We were stricter with him than with all of you!' Aslaug scoffed, but was immediately distracted by the grimace Ivar made as he rubbed his knee. Her gaze softened again and she moved her hand to rub her thumb over Ivar's cheek. 'Sorry, baby, we can't find your meds in your suitcase right now. We will look for them again as soon as we reach our destination, yeah?'

Suddenly Ivar's eyes extended and he was pale. 'M-my suitcase? Didn't you put my meds in your suitcase?'

Chapter Text

'Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck!' Ragnar growled against the steering wheel after he had slammed his hands and face several times in it, silently, though, to not wake anyone up.

He lifted his head up again and looked at his wife who stood beside him in the opened car door with a scowl.

'And what do we do now?' He asked, desperation clearly written in his frowning face.

Aslaug gritted her teeth. 'I don't now, but this shouldn't have happened,' she grunted: 'I told you I wanted to check the kids' suitcases.'

'How could I have known that both of you thought that the other one would pack Ivar's absolutely essential medications! It was way more likely that you both have packed them into your luggage!' Ragnar growled back, slamming his right hand again against the wheel.

'Don't blame me now! Why didn't you put them into your suitcase?'

'Stop!' Ivar suddenly said loudly, ignoring the sleeping people around him. Both his parents turned to their son on the co-driver's seat.

'Fighting doesn't change the situation now,' Ivar muttered in an attempt to talk some reason into his parents. 'Fact is that I need those meds. And I need them as soon as possible because I still want to be here on my next birthday.' He paused and looked at his parents who both started to sport even more worries on their faces. 'I don't blame you because, as mom said, I could have taken them with me, too. But it doesn't matter why we don't have them here now at all. We just have to find a way to get me these meds.'

'We could drive home,' Aslaug said with a look at Ragnar.

Ragnar sighed. 'Do you really want to drive home these... what? At least five hours now? And then, do you expect all of us to get in the car again and drive another eight hours again?' He scoffed.

'I can't stay in the car any longer, too,' Ivar added, straight forward and without any hint of emotion.

'Then what? Search the next hospital and hope they can help us?' Now it was Aslaug's turn to scoff.

'They can't just give us any meds,' Ragnar muttered, sunken in his own thoughts.

Aslaug shook her head. 'I can't believe we forgot his meds. I mean how could we? We are his parents!'

'I even thought I had seen the little basket where we store them in empty,' Ragnar mumbled. 'I have taken out the emergency contact list of his doctors and I was sure the box was empty, so I didn't even give a second thought about it.'

Aslaug narrowed her eyes and turned back to Ivar. 'Baby, have you taken them to your room?'

Ivar shook his head as if this question was the dumbest he'd ever heard. 'What would I want with them in my room?'

'Then why was the box empty?' Ragnar asked confused and suddenly it all dawned on them.

'Saga!' Ivar was the first one to put their suspions into words. 'Mom, go wake her up!'

Aslaug did as her son told her and walked around the car to the door that Hvitserk had left open. He was still running over the parking lot like a lunatic, though slowly and tiredly now.

Aslaug softly nudged Saga's arm. 'Baby, wake up, please,' she whispered.

Saga stirred and finally woke up when Aslaug nudged her again. She blinked a few times at her mom and yawned then. 'Are we there now?' She asked hoarsly.

'No, we haven't even moved yet,' Ragnar scoffed and when Saga squinted at him confused, Aslaug explained.

'We can't find Ivar's meds. We thought we had left them at home, but-'

Aslaug was cut off when Saga suddenly pulled a box of pills from the pocket of her jacket. She shoved the box into Aslaug's hand and pulled a few more boxes out then.

'Why did you take them with you?' Ivar asked confused while everyone eyed Saga with arched eyebrows.

Saga shrugged. 'Ten minutes before we left I thought about the drive every year and every year you have too little pain killers for the drive. So I thought I'd pack a few for you, just in case. After looking in the basket I realized that no one had packed even one of your meds, so I took them.'

'Why didn't you tell us?' Aslaug asked surprised.

Saga huffed. 'I wanted to scare you a bit. Because now I'm sure that you'll never forget Ivar's meds again.'

Ivar looked at his twin sister in disbelief, but couldn't hide the smile tugging at his lips. 'You're as cunning as I am, and every other day I'd kick your ass, but I won't do it today because first, I can't even get up from my seat anymore, and second you just saved my life. So thank you, I guess.'

Saga huffed. 'Any time, you idiot.' Her face changed into a confused grimace. 'But you still have to tell me one thing.' She paused and waited for his nod. 'Why the fuck is Hvitty running in circles around the parking lot?'

Chapter Text

They arrived at the cabin after midnight. It had started to snow earlier and now the whole driveway was covered in a thick layer of snow which made the paving stones slippery.

The two vehicles came to a stop next to Sigurd's old car that he had bought from an old lady a few months ago.

Ragnar left the car and stretched himself first, then he went up to the cabin and unlocked the door while Aslaug tried to wake everyone up.

Floki followed his old friend to the cabin and helped him pushing the frozen door open.

'That used to be easier,' Ragnar groaned as they tried to force the door open.

'We just used to be stronger' Floki gave back with a giggle and finally, the door flew open with a creak.

Ragnar let out a content sigh and looked in the dark cabin. 'Sigurd could have made a fire, though.'

'If he had done so, you would have scolded him for making fire on his own,' Floki giggled and walked past his friend into the cabin where he turned on the electrical lights. 'Well, let's get in then,' he announced with a content smile before he went back to his car.

Helga already handed him two suitcases and also Ragnar had went back to his car and grabbed his and Aslaug's suitcases now.

'So, this is the famous cabin then, huh?' Athelstan asked as he unloaded his and Alfred's luggage next to Ragnar. 'And you really come here every year?'

'Pretty much, yeah,' Ragnar huffed: 'for the first time when the twins were about four, I guess.' He grabbed his kids' luggage and shoved it over to Ubbe who had just appeared next to him, yawning and with messy hair.

Ubbe grabbed two suitcases and disappeared, revealing Hvitserk behind him who grabbed the next two pieces of luggage.

Saga and Alfred had now also climbed out the car and everyone except from Ivar was now unloading the vehicles and carrying the luggage in the cabin.

When Ubbe came back after carrying the two suitcases in, he stopped next to Ivar, who still sat on the front passenger's seat. 'Need a hand, Nugget?'

'Do you have a pair of legs, too?' Ivar joked, but immediately extended his arms for his brother.

Ubbe bent down with his back to Ivar with a low chuckle and grabbed Ivar's arms as they were slung around his neck.

He carried his little brother inside then and Aslaug followed with his braces and crutches.

Ragnar was the last one to get into the cabin, his family gathering in the living room that was just behind the entry.

'Well, Sigurd's probably asleep, so don't be too loud, please. Rooms as always, Hvitserk and the twins together, and Ubbe with Sig and Angie. Alfie, you can choose where you want to sleep, but if I find you in my daughter's bed I'll chop your hands off.' Ragnar shot Alfred a warning glare and the boy was not sure if his godfather meant what he said.

'OK, it's alright,' Athelstan chuckled: 'Alfie will behave just like a fine gentleman and in turn his hands stay where they are, alright?'

Ragnar's eyes twinkled as he looked from Alfred to his Dad, a wicked smile tugging on his lips. 'Of course, I'd never do that to Alfie. Right, Alfie?' Ragnar ruffled Alfred's hair and the boy had a hard time not to flinch away.

'Enough now, Ragnar,' Aslaug scolded her husband. 'I'm tired, so let's all just get to bed and unpack tomorrow.'

Everyone did as Aslaug said and within minutes the house was dark and calm again.

Alfred had gone with the twins and Hvitserk, though. Their bedroom was the only one that was downstairs and it was the biggest bedroom, too.

Floor and walls were covered by beautiful dark brown wooden panels that gave the room a somehow romantic touch. Across the door was a hug window through which one could see the backyard of that cabin. Left from the window stood a bunkbed. The bed's wood was covered with stickers, and colorful bed sheets just like plenty of stuffed animals were placed neatly on the beds. Another, single, bed stood at the head of the bunkbed, it looked just like the other two beds. Across from the beds were two big drawers that were covered with stickers and toys as well.

Alfred let out a chuckle as he entered the room behind Hvitserk who carried Ivar on his back.

'What are you laughing about?' Saga asked, teasingly in her voice.

Alfred grabbed her hand and squeezed it. 'I'm just amused about your... nursery?'

'Shut your mouth, we moved in this room when we were children,' Saga bit back playfully and placed a kiss on Alfred's cheek.

'And Hvitty had this one year where he had plastered everything with stickers,' Ivar explained with a painful grunt as Hvitserk let him down on the single bed.

'Don't blame this all on me here! I was a kid, I didn't have money to buy stickers, it's Helga's fault!' Hvitserk retorted and flicked Ivar's ear.

'He's right, I forgot Helga thought it was a good idea to give millions of stickers to a twelve year old Hvitserk,' Ivar explained to Alfred as he rubbed his ear and scowled at his brother.

'The toys are all Ivar's, by the way,' Hvitserk said hastily to pay Ivar back, he shot his baby brother a smug grin.

'Boys, can you stop fighting now?' Saga sighed then before anyone could say even more. 'I'm tired, so let's just get to sleep, yeah?'

'There's only three beds,' Ivar said, matter of factly.

'Yeah, I can see that, too, Einstein!' Saga snapped back.

'Dad will kill you and Alfie if-'

'Yes, Ivar, I know this!' She groaned, then she thought for a moment and looked up and down between her two brothers. 'You guys... I owe you one, but you have to keep it a secret...'

Ivar and Hvitserk looked at each other and raised their eyebrows.

'Yo, what is it?' Hvitserk asked then with a nod at his sister.

She hesitated. 'We, uhm, Alfred and I, we would like to sleep close to each other, right, Alfred?'

The younger boy nodded eagerly and squeezed his girlfriend's hand again.

'We could... I mean, we should sleep in the two lower beds. One in the single bed and one in the lower bunk bed. If we sleep with our head to each other, we can actually touch, see, there's no wood between the two beds.' She pointed at the two beds and she was right, there was no backrest at the feet of the two beds, but the two mattresses actually touched.

'And where do we sleep while you have your little rendezvous down there?' Ivar asked with a scowl and a waving motion at him and Hvitserk. 'The lower beds are our beds after all.'

'You, uhm,' Saga hesitated as she mumbled through gritted teeth: 'you sleep with Hvitty in the upper bed?'

'Now way!' Ivar immediately let out at his sister, sincere shock in his face.

'Oh, come on, Ives, it's not like you've never done that! You and Hvitty practically grew up sleeping in the same bed! It was sometimes hard for me to believe that I was your twin and not him!'

'No, way, Saga! I'm not sleeping in this bed, I can't even get up there on my own! You're not taking the decision when I go to bed and when I get up again from me, not for two full week!'

The twins stared at each other, both stubborn and not willing to let go when Hvitserk spoke up shyly.

'Uhm, Saga, I won't sleep in this bed either.' He shyly looked away from her.

She groaned angrily. 'Why? Why the fuck can't you just support me once? What is your damn problem with sleeping in this bed now?'

'Saga, you know he always falls out of bed in unknown spaces,' Ivar muttered back, squinting up at his brother who was now uncomfortably tugging at the sleeve of his hoodie.

She slapped both hands to her face and sighed loudly. She peaked through her fingers then and looked at her two brothers. 'You're unbelievable,' she muttered: 'this isn't an unknown space, we come here every year twice. If Hvitty can't stay in bed like a normal human being during a night, he should probably not sleep in our room at all. I don't want to wake up just because he makes noise falling out of bed. And if you can't climb up a bed yourself you should not sleep here either.'

Both brothers stared at their sister in disbelief for what felt like an eternity, then Alfred tugged gently at Saga's hand.

'Come on, baby,' he whispered, but she only pulled her hand away and kept staring sternly at her brothers.

'It's alright, Alfie,' Ivar stated then after another moment of silence. 'Hvitty and I will just sleep in the living room then, right, Hvitserk?' He looked up at his brother who responded with raised eyebrows, but in the next moment he bent down in front of Ivar to lift him up and the two brothers left the room then.

'That was not nice, Saga. We didn't need to sleep so close, you know?' Alfred mumbled to his girlfriend, but she ignored him and only slumped down on the single bed and covered herself with the blanket, face turned to the wall.

Alfred only sighed and laid down in the other bed then. He didn't want to interfere with the Lothbrok sibling fights.

Chapter Text

Ragnar woke up early. He was used to getting up early because he usually wanted to go for a jog before waking up his children and going to work then, but today he didn't feel like jogging, especially not because it hadn't stopped snowing since last night and the streets were covered in snow now.

So instead, he stumbled tiredly in the kitchen and made coffee for himself. With his coffee he wanted to watch the news then, so he walked towards the living room, but was surprised as he saw a figure lying next to the door.

With arched up eyebrows, Ragnar silently made his way over to the person and was not really surprised when he recognized the figure as his middle son. Rolling back his eyes, Ragnar kneeled down on the floor and softly shook Hvitserk's shoulder with the hand that wasn't occupied by his mug.

Hvitserk jumped awake, flinching a few inches away from his father who couldn't help the scoff escaping his lips. The boy sat up then.

'What are you doing here, Hvitty?' Ragnar asked with a slight grin.

Hvitserk needed a moment to gather himself, he rubbed his eyes and yawned loudly before blinking a few times at his father. 'We had a fight with Saga last night.'

'We?'

Hvitserk waved behind him where Ragnar could see Ivar neatly tugged under a blanket on one of the sofas.

'I understand.' He huffed. 'But what are you doing here?'

Hvitserk frowned. 'Uhm, sleeping? Isn't that obvious?'

'I don't mean what are you doing in the living room, dumbass,' Ragnar scoffed and waved his hand over Hvitserk the next moment. 'I mean what are you doing here on the ground, almost in the kitchen. You know there're two sofas.'

Now Hvitserk finally realized that he was sitting on the cold wooden floor without a blanket or pillow within reach. He sniffed. 'Must've fallen down the sofa,' he mumbled to himself and turned around to the sofa across the room where his pillow and blanket laid on the floor in front of the sofa.

Ragnar sighed and stood up again, carrying his mug over to the sofa where he slumped down at the edge then. He observed Hvitserk for a moment. The boy didn't move, sitting with his back to the father and just staring at his own feet.

'Hvitty, come here now,' the father scoffed then and patted the cushions beside himself.

Hesitantly, Hvitserk rose from the floor and tapped over his father, sitting down awkwardly at the other edge.

Ragnar watched his son, amusement rising in his chest at the awkwardness of his boy. He scoffed again and poked Hvitserk's elbow now.

The boy looked up at his father, still tired and sleepy.

'Now lay down finally, or I'll change my mind,' the father scoffed and pointed at his lap.

Reluctantly, Hvitserk looked from Ragnar's lap to his face and back again, waiting until Ragnar rolled his eyes with a huff and nodded.

The son rested his head in his father lap then and closed his eyes. He could feel the sleep overcoming him again as a warm blanket covered his freezing body.

It only took Hvitserk few seconds to fall asleep again, feeling safe and warm in his father's presence.

Ragnar couldn't help the smile that slowly appeared on his face as he looked down at Hvitserk and then over to Ivar who sobbed on his pillow like a baby.

Most of the time his kids annoyed him to insanity, and these two were extraordinary complicated and hard to handle most of the time. Ragnar even doubted that they would ever become completely independent from their parents' or siblings' help and support, but in moments like this he wasn't particular sure if he even wanted these two to really grow up.

Sigurd had moved out only a few months earlier, and he lived with his boyfriend and the little son of his boyfriend now. Ubbe was now planning to move out, too. And Saga wouldn't stop talking about universities in England since she had started her last school year.

Ragnar was sure that he would slowly lose all his kids to an independent life, and he knew that this was normal and good, but he couldn't help the thought that he would miss them and that he was even happy that Hvitserk and Ivar were a bit more dependent on their family and would probably not move out all too soon. They were simply not the people to go their own way without their parents or siblings at their side. At least he hoped so.

Ragnar had slung his arm around Hvitserk's shoulder when he felt the boy move to the edge of the sofa again, and he had just enough strength to keep his son from falling down again. He shook his head at Hvitserk in amusement.

He sipped his coffee and watched the news, without volume, though, to not wake up his sons, when Aslaug came in the living room with only her bathrobe slung around her body.

She narrowed her eyes at Ragnar and let a small chuckle escape her lips. She pointed at Hvitserk with a frown while she still stood in the door frame and Ragnar didn't know how to answer other than with a shrug and an eye roll.

She huffed and came silently closer, sitting down in the loveseat between the two sofas. She smiled and Ragnar who echoed her smile and when both of them turned towards the TV, she carefully extended her arm and starting scraping Ivar's sculp softly, making him stir, but not wake up from his slumber.

'Why are they here?' Aslaug whispered to her husband then.

Ragnar shrugged. 'Hvitty said something about a fight with Saga. I guess she kicked them out then. She probably wanted to have the room for her alone with Alfie.'

Aslaug's eyes widened and she froze in her movements for a moment. 'But you won't kill Alfie, will you?'

Ragnar snickered silently. 'Of course not. I like Alfie, you remember? I'm even not against their relationship anymore. Saga grows up, she's eighteen now and soon she'll graduate and go her own way. I can't always dote on her like a mother hen. And Alfie's a good boy after all.'

Aslaug nodded, smiling. 'You're right, she has to make her own decisions now. She's a good girl. Besides, we have enough to do with these two here anyways,' she chuckled and pointed at their sons.

Ragnar let out a long sigh. 'Enough is a weak word for these boys. Ivar and his meds last night? Geez, the last time I was so frightened was probably ten years ago. And Hvitty?' He scoffed. 'I found him lying in the doorway, he had fallen down the sofa and had rolled over to the door somehow without even waking up. He's lying in my lap for only twenty minutes or so now and you wouldn't believe how often I had to keep him from falling down already.'

Aslaug chuckled and smiled down at her older son. 'He's something special, that's for sure.'

'They all are, even those who are not worrying us all the time,' Ragnar joked.

Chapter Text

A few hours later, after everyone had gotten up and already had breakfast, Ragnar had invited everyone to a small hike through the nearby forest.

Aslaug had stayed in the cabin with Ivar, and Ubbe had also declared that he would stay in the cabin with his brother.

Ivar was moody and annoyed, not only because he was angry that his family went out for an activity he couldn't participate in, but also because his bones still ached because of the long drive and the uncomfortable night on the sofa.

To cheer him up, Aslaug decided to bake his favorite pie- apple pie- and asked her sons to help her which they agreed to.

Ivar sat on the kitchen counter and was mixing the ingredients of the pie filling while Aslaug and Ubbe stood next to him and were busy putting the dough into the form and cutting out small circles from the dough that they would use as a cover.

'Will we eat the pie when they come back or can we have it before and hide it from everyone else, so that we have more?' Ivar asked his mother with a smug grin.

'You spawn of Satan,' Ubbe scoffed and nudged his little brother. 'We will share, look how big the pie will be!' He pointed at the form and Ivar narrowed his eyes on it.

'It's not that much, not for so many people at least,' he muttered and went back to mixing the apple sauce, raisins and cinnamon.

'One slice per person, that must do it,' Aslaug stated and poked Ivar's nose with her floury finger. 'We will have roastbeef for dinner, so nobody needs to suffer hunger.'

Ivar sniffed his nose at the flour. 'What about those who eat no meat?'

'What, is my little brother now converted to the dark side? Is he a vegetarian now?' Ubbe teased.

Ivar scoffed. 'Not in a million years. But Floki and his family don't eat meat anymore, you remember? They saw this gross documentary about the production of meat and now they don't even eat mom's brilliant roastbeef anymore.'

'It is their decision, honey,' Aslaug told her son as she started cleaning up beside him. 'I won't force anyone to eat my roastbeef. If Floki and his family don't want to eat it, I don't see a problem. I will cook potatoes and vegetables, too. And gravy. They can have some of that.'

'Oh, a real feast, I see what you're doing there, Mom!' Ubbe huffed and was only met by Aslaug's frown. 'Uhm, you know, making unforgettable family memories now that we're finally all together again. You probably even want to use your cooking skills to keep Saga and me at home, correct?'

Aslaug scoffed while she kept wiping the kitchen counter. 'You have a lot of fantasy, Ubbe, but I really just want to feed my family. And now get your brother down here.'

Ubbe did as he was told and lifted Ivar up, balancing him on his hip like a child that weighted nothing while Aslaug was cleaning the counter top.

'I just say that because you're making apple pie for Nugget now, roastbeef is Sig's favorite and I even found ridiculous amounts of marshmallows in the trunk which are probably for Hvitty. Seems like you're trying to please each of us with our favorite foods. I just wonder what special dish you're planning for me.' He placed Ivar back on top of the counter as his mom had finished cleaning up.

She wiped her hands on her apron and snickered. 'No, Ubbe, I'm not trying anything like that. The pie is actually for Ivar, but only because I wanted him to have some fun, too, while the others are hiking. The roastbeef was actually a request of your father and not from Sigurd, and the marshmallows are for our bonfires and they are for everyone. But good that you told me about them, I think I have to hide them better. Hvitserk should not eat so much sugar all the time, so if you catch him eating the marshmallows, you both are allowed to stop him with all your force.'

'Sounds good,' Ivar huffed and grinned to himself before he looked up again. 'But if the pie is really for me, I think I should eat it alone, too.'

'You should not eat so much sugar, too,' Aslaug told him and poked his chest. 'That is not good for growing boys.'

'I'm not growing anymore!' He protested, but when Aslaug started tickling him he flinched and couldn't help the laughter.

'Of course you're still growing, your brothers still grew when they were past your age,' she told him and kept tickling him.

'Enoug, enough!' Ivar yelped breathless.

Aslaug stopped and winked at him, her face full of love for her son.

'I still don't think that I will grow more, so I can have all sugar in this world!' He huffed and grabbed the bowl with the pie filling.

Ubbe snatched the bowl from him and started spreading the filling on the dough. 'You know mom's right, I grew until I was like twenty or something. Hvitserk also grew at least until his first year at the university. And I'm sure Sig grew from the last time I saw him, so there's hope for you, I guess.'

'I don't need hope, I'm your size,' Ivar scoffed. 'Even if I won't grow another inch, it's totally fine for me, I'm still taller than most people with my affliction. And I don't have any chest or head deformities. I'd say I'm like the jackpot winner among the lottary losers.'

Ubbe couldn't help the laugh escaping his lips at his brother's comment, but Aslaug shook her head at her son and clicked her tongue.

'Don't say such things, Ivar, you're prefect the way you are.'

'What?' Ivar couldn't hide the genuine amusement in his face. 'I'm not at all perfect. My bones snap like twigs without warning and they pain me everyday. I can't walk, so my family goes on a hike without me and my mom and brother must stay behind with me.'

'I didn't have to stay here, Nugget, I wanted to,' Ubbe told Ivar with his stern listen-to-your-big-brother expression.

'Of course you wanted! It's totally unrealistic that you rather wanted to spend the day with your able-bodied siblings and catch up with your little brother whom you haven't seen in three months, and you just stayed behind because your mom physically can't handle your disabled brother,' Ivar laughed sconfully.

Ubbe glared at Ivar, almost angry. 'Don't be so bitter and ironic, this all is not my fault. And I really wanted to stay here, but not out of pity or because mom can't lift you up, but because I actually wanted to spend some time with my baby brother before I move out soon.'

Ivar scoffed. 'I'm not bitter, I'm not even angry. Not really, at least.' He thought for a moment, then he spoke up again, much softer now. 'I know that I'm not perfect, but that's okay. Nobody is, right? You aren't, and Saga isn't, Hvitty's beyond therapy and even our perfect little Sigurd has his flaws.'

Ubbe nodded, also regaining his chill. 'Everything you said is totally right, except from one thing.' He paused and wriggled his eyebrows at Ivar then. 'I am perfect.'

Chapter Text

They came back just before dawn. Ubbe and Ivar had snuggled up on the sofa with a bowl of popcorn and Rocky VI blasting from the old TV when they entered the cabin, freezing and soaked from the snow.

'Oh, that looks just like what I want to do next!' Athelstan stated happily as he looked at the two brothers under the warm woolen blankets while he took of his boots.

'What is this smell?' Ragnar asked into the room and Aslaug came from the kitchen, holding up oven gloves and smirking at her husband.

'The pie is ready every minute,' she announced and walked back into the kitchen.

'Oh, yes, pie!' Hvitserk cheered and rushed after his mother, still wearing boots, coat and wool hat.

'Hvitty, wait, your boots are wet!' Ragnar called after his son, but he had already disappeared in the kitchen.

Ragnar sighed annoyed and kept undressing himself.

While everyone settled down in the living room with Ubbe and Ivar, Ragnar walked to his wife in the kitchen.

She was about to get the pie out the oven and Hvitserk stood behind her, jumping up and down like an excited child.

Ragnar went to him and smacked his head. 'Look what mess you've made, you idiot. Now go take your boots off and then you clean this mess here up.' He pointed at the snow puddles Hvitserk's shoes left everywhere he went.

Aslaug looked at the ground, too after she had taken out the pie and only scowled at Hvitserk.

Grimacing, the boy headed out the kitchen.

Ragnar shook his head, but couldn't help the chuckle. He eyed his wife as she cut the pie into pieces. 'Why do we deserve such a fine meal, my Lady?'

Aslaug scoffed at the name, not looking away from the pie. 'I made it with the boys, to cheer our youngest a bit up.'

'Did it work?'

'Do you see any broken windows or chairs?' She turned to Ragnar and pointed at a tray on top of the kitchen table. 'Put plates and forks on the tray.' She went back to cutting the pie. 'How was your hike?'

'Uhm, fine, I guess. Sigurd told us lots about the NMH, it sounds really amazing and just like our Sigurd.' He huffed as he went to a cupboard to take out the cutlery. 'Saga and Alfred always stayed half a mile behind us,' he chuckled: 'obviously they didn't want to walk with their Dads.'

'It's just natural, I was the same with my first boyfriend.'

'I know, but I think it's cute,' Ragnar snickered as his wife looked at him in surprise.

'And I have the feeling that Angie mind have started to be interested in our wild one.' Ragnar winked at his wife.

'Angie and our Hvitserk?' Aslaug asked surprised. 'But Angie's like... ruly and... calm... and Hvitty is...'

'Unruly and uncalm?' Ragnar huffed.

'Yeah.'

He let out laugher and turned back to his work. 'Opposites attract each other I guess.'

'What do Floki and Helga say about this? Hvitserk is almost seven years older than her after all. Or haven't they noticed yet?'

'Oh yes, they totally did! Every tree Hvitserk climbed up Angie stood under and talked to him while he recklessly tried to break his neck. They noticed at the first tree.' Ragnar couldn't stop chuckling.

'And?'

'Oh, I think they're cool with it. You know, they really love all our boys and I guess they're just happy that it's one of them and not one of these drug dealer boys from school.'

'And what do we think about this?' Aslaug asked then, placing the pie finally on the tray.

'I don't know what my beautiful wife thinks, but I take it as a chance of calmness for the restless mind of our little maniac.'

Aslaug hesitated.

'Huh, what does my beautiful wife think?' Ragnar asked and cupped her cheek with his big hand.

'I guess this could be good for him after the break-up with Thora. It's been five months and he hasn't even thought about dating ever since, so yes. Yes, I think we should support that.'

'Great, now we just have to tell Hvitserk that we just promised him to a young lady.'

Aslaug arched her eyebrows confused and Ragnar couldn't hold back the laughter. 'Besides everyone else, this poor idiot hasn't noticed yet.'

Aslaug rolled her eyes, but a small smile tugged at her lips. 'I could have guessed that myself.' She snorted in amusement then and grabbed the tray before she walked towards the living room. 'Bring drinks, please.'

Ragnar did as he was told and grabbed a bottle of water and the coffee his wife had just brewed before they had come back to the cabin.

They came into the living room just to find Saga and Alfred cuddling on the sofa, stealing soft kisses from each other.

Sigurd sat next to Saga, fully ignoring her, and was talking to Ubbe and Ivar now.

Athelstan was in an apparently fun conversation with Helga and Floki sat motionless beside his wife, observing his daughter sitting on a seat who was in turn staring at Hvitserk who kneeled on the floor in front of the fire and threw little snippets of a tissue that he had ripped into pieces in the heat. He was still wearing his coat and hat, but had now at least taken off his boots.

'Pie's ready,' Ragnar announced and with a look over his children who barely reacted he sighed. 'Also for the young lovers and the little arsonist among us.' He sighed again as no reaction came from his middle son. 'Hvitserk!' He snapped then and scoffed as the boy flinched.

The parents set up the meal and handed everyone a plate with pie before they sat down themselves.

'So, Sigurd, Dad told me you like it at the NMH?' Aslaug asked between bites. She had still barely overcome Sigurd's move to Oslo.

He nodded eagerly and took a sip of coffee. 'It's great, really. Fantastic teachers, nice students, the class is amazing.'

'Do you never miss home?' Helga asked.

He thought for a moment, then he shook his head. 'Not really, there's too much that happens around me everyday. And I don't live alone after all. But it's much quieter at home, though.' He chuckled.

'What, your lover and his little kid aren't as loud as four siblings?' Saga joked and made a mocking frown.

Sigurd huffed. 'The two of them are quieter together than my ex-roommate on his own!'

'Hey, I'm not that loud!' Hvitserk complained from his spot on the floor and pointed his fork at Sigurd, catapulting pie over the small coffee table as he did so. 'At least I'm not snoring like you,' he added mumbling.

'Yeah, but mostly because you barely sleep at all,' Saga teased and flicked the crumble of pie her brother had lost back at him.

'And when you sleep you talk in your sleep,' Ivar added mockingly.

All the while, the parents caught Angrboda staring at Hvitserk and blushing evrytime he spoke up. After a while, even his siblings noticed and started shooting each other meaningful glares.

Chapter Text

After the meal, Aslaug and Ragnar went back into the kitchen and cleaned everything up, Helga and Athelstan followed them.

Floki on the other hand went outside to prepare the bonfire for the night, and the kids stayed in the living room and played candyland.

They all sat around the small coffee table and actually got to play every few minutes when the siblings stopped insulting each other or flicking each other's ears.

Alfred and Angrboda were both used to the sibling squabbles and were more amused than anything, though they tried to stay out of the mini fistfights mostly Sigurd and Ivar initiated.

After the game was halfway over, Ubbe suddenly rose from his seat. 'I'm going to get some snacks. Serk, can you help me, please?'

Hvitserk darted up and out of the room behind his older brother, only coming to a stop when Ubbe grabbed his shoulders and chuckled. 'Hvitserk, you are my little brother and I love you, but you're an idiot.'

Hvitserk frowned. 'What? What do you want now, huh?'

Ubbe snorted. 'You poor blind fool. You haven't noticed yet that Angie is literally staring at you all the time, have you? She's looking at you like you were her prey or something.'

Hvitserk raised his eyebrows surprised and scratched his head, still wearing the wool hat. 'I haven't noticed. And what should I do now?'

Ubbe snorted. 'This is something you should know.'

'But I don't, so help me, big brother!'

'Okay, okay, fine,' he thought for a moment. 'Do you like her, too?'

Hvitserk shrugged and groaned. 'How do I know?'

'Well, try to find out if you like her or not. Then you come back to me, deal?'

Hvitserk nodded hesitantly. 'Can we get snacks now?'

After the game was over, everyone went their own way again.

Saga and Alfred disappeared in their bedroom giggling and her brothers didn't feel the need to check on her. By now, Ivar was used to his best friend spending most of the time with his twin sister. It wasn't particularly okay for him, but he had accepted it and now just swallowed his disapproval.

Saga's brothers and Angrboda stayed in the living room for a while longer, but then decided to go out again, this time with Ubbe and Ivar.

They put on their boots and coats again and went then out to get their old sledges from the shed in the garden.

Ivar could barely hobble through the snow with his crutches and the cold only worsened the slowly increasing pain in his limbs, but despite the pain and his parents' pleading he had wanted to go outside with his brothers.

While Ubbe and Hvitserk were gone to get the sledges, Sigurd stayed in the driveway with his little brother, looking out for him, just in case. Angrboda stood beside them, but was totally focused on the two young men rummaging in the shed a few yards away from her.

The two brothers returned with four sledges and Ubbe helped Ivar sit down in one of the plastic sledges, draping a blanket over Ivar's legs then while Sigurd went to bring Ivar's crutches back inside the house, he wouldn't use them during their sliding after all.

Ubbe pulled Ivar in the sledge and everyone else grabbed a sledge themselves, and then they started walking off towards the hill they always went to for sliding.

'OK, who's up for a little race?' Ubbe asked as they reached the top of the hill. He was a little breathless after pulling Ivar the whole way up.

'Me!' Hvitserk squeaked excitedly and jumped up and down happily.

Angrboda stood beside him and eyed him intensely, blushing a bit at his reaction, and she then joined his little cheer, earning confused looks by the other three brothers.

'Well, it's really not a big deal,' Sigurd scoffed. He was mostly only amused by Angrboda's new found interest in his brother.

Ivar on the other hand was already annoyed that the girl practically clung to Hvitserk and echoed every bit of nonsense his brother initiated.

'Then get in the sledges already and stop this ridiculous... whatever you're doing...' Ivar muttered and waved at Hvitserk and Angrboda.

Both obeyed and the other two also sat down in the sledges. Ubbe squeezed himself behind Ivar and the other three got their own sledges.

They rushed down the hill a couple of times until each of them was soaked to the bones and freezing.

In the end, Ubbe jumped out of the sledge as they reached the bottom of the hill and looked over his fellow sledge riders.

'Alright, let's get back to the cabin, it's freezing cold.' He paused for a moment, a sly grin tugging at his lips. 'Hvits, can you get out of the sledge for once, please?'

Hvitserk frowned at his brother, but did as he was told then, though he was a bit surprised as Ubbe slumped down in Hvitserk's sledge.

'What is your mission now, huh?' The younger brother demanded, softly nudging Ubbe's shoulder and shaking him then.

'Get us back you restless fruit loop,' Ubbe huffed out between laughter as his brother kept shaking him.

Hvitserk froze in his actions for a moment, tilting his head at Ubbe and grimacing then. 'How am I supposed to get all of you back if you're sitting in the sledges?'

'You need something that's called strength,' Sigurd teased and threw a tiny snow ball at Hvitserk.

'Hey, you-' Hvitserk already wanted to attack Sigurd and pay him back with loads of snow when Ubbe grabbed his wrist.

'Go on, I'm tired of pulling Ivar all the time. Now it's your time to show us your muscles, little brother,' Ubbe huffed and wriggled his eyebrows before he squinted at Angrboda.

Hvitserk cleared his throat and regained his coolness quickly. 'Of course,' he mumbled and handed then everyone the rope of the sledge in front of them.

In the end, Angrboda's sledge was the one directly behind Hvitserk who was now pulling at the rope with all his strength and actually got the sledges move slowly.

Getting back took them twice as long as going to the hill, but after a good march for Hvitserk and amusing chatter for the rest of them they finally reached the cabin.

Hvitserk collapsed breathlessly in the snow, staring in the dawning sky above him.

Ubbe grabbed Ivar and carried him on his back past Hvitserk, ignoring the boy on the ground. And even Sigurd just walked past his older brother and only acknowledged him with a soft kick against the leg.

Angrboda was the only one who didn't just walk past him, but instead she stopped as she stood directly above him, smiling down, she offered her hand and pulled him up on his own feet then again.

They stood close to each other and only looked into each other's eyes for a moment as suddenly they became aware of the smell of dinner around them and the creak of a window sounded through the front yard.

'Dinner's ready, come inside!' Helga called for the two young people and without another second of hesitation, Hvitserk darted off to the front door.

He looked back, though, when Angrboda didn't follow immediately. 'Are you coming?' He asked and with a small smile and slight nod the younger girl followed.

The parents had set up the big dining table and everyone already sat around the table, waiting for the two latest additions to take their seats.

'And how is living with your boyfriend anyways, Sigurd?' Helga asked as she filled his plate with potatoes.

He took the plate back. 'Uhm, actually pretty amazing. Arvid's great. And Leo is, too. I never thought that being a Dad was this... amazing.'

'You aren't a Dad, Sig,' Saga stated flatly and grabbed the bowl of vegetables.

'Of course I am not his biological Dad, Arvid is after all,' Sigurd huffed and took a bite of his roastbeef. 'But when Leo's with us, I take care of him just like Arvid. Leo trusts me and besides, he knows me most of his life, he even refers to us as his 'Dads' when he's in pre-school.'

'Ugh, why can't there be just one generation in our family that goes without way too early fatherhood,' Ragnar groaned, mostly to himself, and put a broccoli in his mouth then.

Sigurd huffed. 'Well, as I said, I'm not his real Dad. If Arvid and I break up, Leo stays with him and I have no responsibilities for this boy.'

'You want to break up?' Aslaug asked shocked and with wide eyes at her son.

'No, mom!' Sigurd chuckled. 'I said 'if' we break up. I'm not planning anything like that and I'm sure Arvid isn't either.'

'But why's he not here with us now? Saga brought her boyfriend after all,' Ivar teased.

'That's something else, you idiot, Alfred is friends with all of you, and also his father is my godfather,' Saga snapped at Ivar, reaching over the table to smack his head.

'Saga!' Aslaug scolded her daughter, but looked at Sigurd then with an expecting glare. 'Why isn't he here? We surely would have found a space for him and Leo.'

'Oh, really?' Sigurd scoffed. 'Where would they have slept? With me in my single bed with Ubbe and Angie in the same room? Or with Hvits and Ivar in the living room? Oh, or better with Athelstan on the mattress in the library?'

'Don't be so ironic,' Ragnar grunted. 'We just want to meet Arvid again. We have to make sure our son's safe at his side. And we haven't met Leo yet.'

'Oh, I don't think you want to meet Leo. He's like a pre-school version of Hvitserk on drugs.'

Hvitserk scowled af his brother and even took a bit of potato and flicked it at a laughing Sigurd.

'Shh, shh, shh,' Aslaug made and placed her own hand on top of Hvitserk's hand.

Saga scoffed. 'That is impossible, after all we've got the pre-school version of Hvitserk on drugs constantly around us and I've heard it was a limited edition with just one exemplar.'

Now, Hvitserk turned scowling to Saga on his left, but Aslaug fixed his hand on the table, so he couldn't attack his sister.

Ragnar eyed his children, then sighed and leaned back in his chair. 'How's it even possible that every conversation in this house always radiates around my children's wrong behavior? You all are older than Alfred and Angrboda and yet I have not seen these two causing any trouble around here.'

'That's because we have Hvitty and the twins among us,' Sigurd mumbled as he was focused on his food.

Ivar snorted suddenly and all eyes landed on him, expecting him to throw a knife at Sigurd next. Instead, a slight smile appeared on his face. 'He's not wrong, though.'

Now it was Ragnar's turn to snort out a laughter and only seconds later the whole table erupted in laughter.

Chapter Text

'Ragnar, bring a few blankets, please,' Aslaug called to her husband as she stepped outside the back door and walked towards the bonfire, carrying two big bags of marshmallows and a bowl of crackers.

Her friends and children already sat around the bonfire on the old garden chairs they had taken out the shed before. Each of them was holding a stick already and waited for the marshmallows.

When Aslaug sat down between Helga and Ivar, she handed around the sweets, so that they could all start roasting their marshmallows.

Ragnar came a moment later with a bunch of wool blankets. 'Who wants a blanket?'

'Give us one please,' Saga said and extended her arms. Ragnar handed her the blanket and she draped it over herself and Alfred next to her.

'Ugh, Dad, you can't let that happen! They're sharing a blanket!' Ivar yelped mockingly, teasing his sister who stuck out her tongue at him.

Ragnar smacked Ivar's head and let a blanket drop on his lap then. Ivar took it with a grunt and tugged himself in.

The family soon started lots of conversations and everyone was somehow distracted from the other people.

'Hand me the marshmallows, Hvits,' Ubbe spoke up then not looking away from the fire, but Hvitserk didn't even react to his brother, instead he was putting marshmallows on his stick, he had by now spiked eight marshmallows on his one stick.

'Hvits,' Ubbe said again and now looked up, narrowing his eyes as he did so. 'What the heck are you doing there?'

Hvitserk's eyes shot to Ubbe, no hint of emotion in his face readable.

'Hvitserk, what are you doing there?' Ragnar said as he also looked at his son now.

The boy stared at his father like a kid caught with the hand in the cookie jar.

'So, enough sugar for you now, you give that stick to me and you can have my marshmallow,' Aslaug commanded and grabbed the stick from her son, shoving her own stick with only one marshmallow in his hand.

'Mom, give that back, that was mine!' Hvitserk complained, reaching for the stick but Aslaug hold it back. 'Mom, I'm 22, you can't ban me from eating anything!'

'Of course I can. I will not let you add so much sugar to your fidgety self, that is for sure. I want to sleep tonight and not look out if you're climbing up any trees or something.'

Hvitserk grunted angrily, but then got up from his chair, tossed the stick of his mother to the ground and stomped angrily away.

All eyes followed him.

'He's unbelievable,' Aslaug muttered and lifted up the stick from the ground.

'He's not, he just wants his sugar. You're restricting him more than all of us, you're always observing every step he makes. Lately, it's even worse than what you do with Ivar,' Sigurd told his parents then and only shrugged when both stared daggers at him. 'Just saying,' he mumbled to himself.

'Sig's right, you know?' Ivar mumbled after a moment of silence. 'You're always hovering above him lately. You didn't do that so much in the past.'

'Nugget, would you please not judge or question our parenting skills?' Ragnar asked sharply. 'Not as long as you don't have experience with... this...'

'What is 'this'?' Saga huffed.

'What about too much teenage energy, kids that move out, a daughter who will comment on everything, a son that almost kills himself by losing his meds, and a son who gets himself high on sugar? We shouldn't forget the emerging love interests around us.' Ragnar looked over to Angrboda who blushed now.

'I-I'm not-' She mumbled, but was interrupted by Floki.

'We all know, honey. And you don't need to be ashamed. Go, find him for us, yeah?' He grabbed his daughter's hand and squeezed it.

Reluctantly, and with everyone's stares at her back, Angrboda slowly rose from her chair and walked away from the bonfire.

'You really have become a bit much,' Athelstan said then after another moment of quietness, and Ragnar and Aslaug glared at him in turn.

He raised his hands in surrender. 'You know, I don't have that many children as you, and I definitely never have any issues with Alfie, not like this at least, but even I can see that you're only doting on him so much because you're afraid to lose him. But what you do doesn't work, it even scares him away from you.'

'Why are you doting on him so much?' Helga asked then carefully.

Ragnar and Aslaug shared a look, then Ragnar sighed.

'After Sigurd moved out, Ubbe started talking about moving out. He's only looking for a place now and then he's out.' Ragnar looked over at Ubbe who stared emotionlessly in the fire. 'Saga talks about moving out now, too.'

She stared down at her feet.

'One of the negative effects of your older kids staying home up until their twenties is that you're at a higher risk to lose all children then at once,' Aslaug explained. She placed her hand on Ivar's knee and smiled sadly at him.

'A few weeks ago, Hvitty started reading estate announcements in the newspaper and he's super interested in Ubbe's moving plans, we think that he wants to move out soon, too,' Ragnar explained with a worried frown on his face. 'He hasn't said anything about it yet, but we're sure it's only a matter of time.'

'And then when they're all gone, Ivar moves out, too and soon we'll have an empty house,' Aslaug mumbled and squeezed Ivar's knee again. 'We're not ready to let them go, but if we have to let them go, we have to make sure they can take care of themselves.'

'Like packing a suitcase or baking a cake or knowing their limits of sugary treats,' Ragnar added, a soft chuckle coloring his tone. 'But with Hvitserk it's like talking against a wall. He's never listening and if he'd live on his own he'd either starve to death because he forgot to eat or he'd die of a sugar intoxication.'

Aslaug nodded. 'If he wants to move out we have to make sure that won't happen. Our other kids are safe, at least as soon as we taught Ivar to take his damn pills with him. We will even deal with it as soon as Saga gets pregnant in her first year at the university, but having one die because he locked himself out and froze to death? No, we don't want that.'

'Excuse me, I won't get pregnant so soon!' Saga protested.

'Of course you won't, baby. You're obviously very well educated in this are,' Aslaug mocked her.

'I am! And if I'm not it's your fault!'

'That is something we'll deal with later, Aslaug, now let's get back to Hvitty,' Ragnar joked and ignored the angry glares of his youngest daughter.

Aslaug just snickered, but got up from her chair then and walked over to Saga, pulling her from her chair and sitting down with Saga on her lap then. She cuddled Saga and peppered her with kisses, ignoring Saga's protests.

'Why's it her now getting all the attention again?' Ivar moaned annoyed and scowled at his twin sister.

'You're such a drama queen,' Ubbe snorted, but Ragnar couldn't resist his youngest son and so he went over to him and pulled him on his own lap, cuddling him then, too, even though Ivar tried to wriggle out of his father's grip.

'I thought this is what you wanted, you giant baby,' Sigurd teased.

Ivar scowled at him. 'I didn't want to be handled like a baby, I just wanted to be the center of attention, like always. You should know by now how my world works, Sig.'

Ubbe snorted again. 'You lucky bastard, you should try being the oldest once in your life time. Up here, we don't know what attention is.'

'But you're not the oldest, Gyda is,' Sigurd stated flatly.

'You know what I mean. Oldest of us.' Ubbe rolled his eyes and threw a cracker at Sigurd.

'Oh, must be horrorful to have your own bedroom. To be the first one to own a car and to always be the boss when our parents aren't with us. Sounds terrible.'

'Well, the twins have their own bedrooms as well. And having a car is only fun if you don't have to pay for it yourself. And being the boss is pure horror with younger siblings like you guys. It's constantly like being the leader of a suicide commando and all I can do is to make sure you at least die in an interesting way.'

Everyone stared at Ubbe for a brief moment with wide eyes. Then Floki breathed out: 'That was dark.'

Ubbe couldn't help, but shrug. 'What can I say? They're either getting themselves in trouble or each other. It's a miracle that we all made it to eighteen.'

Chapter Text

'Mom? Dad?' Hvitserk's voice sounded in the dark room. He sounded weak and a bit hoarse.

Ragnar rose from his bed and turned on the lamp on his nightstand. Tiredly, he rubbed his eyes and blinked a few times at Hvitserk.

Aslaug beside him also slowly came to life as she yawned and blinked up at her second oldest.

Hvitserk was still wearing his coat, boots and wool hat. His cheeks were red and in the dimmed lights Ragnar couldn't tell if it was from the cold outside or because his son had cried. He seemed nervous, fiddling with the hem of his coat as he stared down at his hands and wouldn't stand still.

'What is it, Hvitty?' Ragnar asked then with a sigh. Finally Hvitserk looked up to him and Ragnar pulled the blanket away from his body and tapped the mattress next to him.

Reluctantly, Hvitserk came to his father and sat down next to him, not letting go of the hem of his coat and now staring at his hands again.

Ragnar shifted in his position and turned, so that Hvitserk's back was now almost leaning against his chest. He looked at his son for a moment longer, then he embraced him with his arms, resting his chest against the boy's back and his chin on his son's shoulder.

'You're cold,' the father mumbled.

Hvitserk only hummed in response, not looking away from his hands.

'Have you been outside all the time?'

Again, the boy only hummed.

Ragnar nodded weakly, then he solved his body from his son's and stood up from the bed. 'Take off your shoes and coat.'

Hvitserk did as he was told, slowly taking off his clothes, and with a look at his father's figure, though not meeting his gaze, he laid down in the bed next to his mother then who had only observed the whole situation silently.

When Hvitserk laid still in the bed, Ragnar laid down beside his son with his back to the boy, and draped the blanket about both their bodies then.

He turned off the light and could hear how his wife laid back a moment later. She draped one of her arms around the pillows and Ragnar could feel her hand cupping his cheek. Her other arm came to a rest around Hvitserk's body.

It was only a matter of seconds until Aslaug drifted back to sleep, but Ragnar could hear that Hvitserk's breathing wasn't slowing down beside him. He waited another couple of minutes, but when he heard soft whimpering sounds, he turned around again, searching for Hvitserk's face in the dark.

'I don't want to be like this,' Hvitserk suddenly sobbed silently as he felt his father's eyes on him.

Ragnar hesitated. Then he carefully extended his hand and wiped away Hvitserk's tears in the darkness. He didn't need to say anything, he thought. What could he say anyways? He knew that Hvitserk was unhappy with himself. Hvitserk knew that he was unhappy with himself. And nothing Ragnar could say this night would change anything about it.

'I'm sorry,' Hvitserk sobbed then, almost too silent for Ragnar to hear.

Ragnar only nodded which he was well aware Hvitserk could only hear as his head moved over the pillow, but not see in the dark.

'I will better myself, I will change, I promise.'

A sad and tired smile flashed over Ragnar's face. His hand went to Hvitserk's hair and he started playing with it as he could slowly feel the breathing of his son calm down.

His own limbs started to get heavier, too, and finally he only rested his hand next to Hvitserk's head. 'Please don't change, my son. Please always stay my little boy who comes to seek protection in my bed when he can't take the world around him anymore,' he whispered as he felt the sleep lulling him in.

Chapter Text

The next morning started for Ragnar as early as the day before, but this time he didn't need to pick his son up from the floor because this time Hvitserk had been trapped between his parents while he slept, though Ragnar had to admit that he barely had slept himself with that constantly moving and rolling around third adult in his queen sized double bed.

He ended up in the living room again, with a mug of coffee, as he watched the news silently again because Ivar laid stretched out on the sofa and snored.

Ragnar knew he had to find a solution to this problem, it couldn't be that two of his children had to sleep anywhere but in their own beds. But for now he only enjoyed the silence that was still very much present in the cabin.

Ragnar used this silence to recover from a night of kicks from Hvitserk and a day of noise ahead from him. Today they had planned a little tour into the nearby city and he knew already that this day could only be loud and adventurous with his bunch of legally adult kids that rather behaved like a group of pre-schoolers.

Aslaug had planned a little girls' trip with Helga, Saga and Angrboda, so he was at least safe from his daughter's smart-ass comments, but it also meant that he had to deal with his sons without his wife. And his sons were actually far worse than his daughter.

Slowly, the whole house woke up and people started running around seemingly aimless, but in the end they actually managed it to have everyone sitting around the dining table and everyone was even showered and dressed, which, Ragnar thought, was a miracle.

'Coffee?' Aslaug asked and handed around the pot of coffee while Helga handed everyone bread.

'What are the particular plans for today now?' Alfred asked as he munched his breakfast. 'My Dad only told me the girls won't be with us today.'

'That's tradion,' Ivar explained during bites: 'Mom, Helga and the girls always have a girls' day. When Gyda and Björn would be here this year, the women and girls from their families would go with them, too. They always do some shit only women like.'

Alfred chuckled and looked over to his girlfriend. 'And what is it that only women like?'

Saga shrugged. 'We usually go shopping or go have or nails done. Nothing special.'

'Though it's better than the things the boys do while we're at it,' Angrboda stated and Alfred raised his eyebrows at her.

'And what it that?'

'Ugh, Alfie, let yourself be surprised,' Ivar said with a smug grin.

Floki giggled. 'He only says that because he don't know himself yet. Ragnar plans another activity each year and we only always find out when it's too late.'

'Too late?' Alfred asked, a bit scared, and yelped when Hvitserk beside him suddenly scared him as he placed his hands in his neck.

'Yeah, something scary and dangerous,' Hvitserk said with his most spooky voice and tilted his head a bit as his face turned into a crazy grimace. 'Don't you know we had another brother? He was younger than Ivar and on one if these tours he tragically-'

'OK, enough, Hvitty,' Ragnar chuckled.

Alfred really seemed a bit worried now and only looked nervously from Hvitserk to Ragnar and to his Dad.

Athelstan couldn't help the chuckle escaping his lips. 'Don't be so scared, Alfie, I thought that I told you to never believe the Lothbroks. You're so naive sometimes.'

'Geez, Alfie, I know you all you're life. Don't you think you would have met the brother Serk spoke about if he had existed?' Ivar scoffed and grabbed the bottle of orange juice in front of him.

Alfred only shrugged and looked down at his plate. 'How could I know? I thought Hvits knows better if you had another brother.'

'Alfie, do you really take me for someone sacrificing his own son's life?' Ragnar snickered. 'Look at that bunch of softies, do they look as if I'd ever put them at any risk?'

Ragnar's sons already wanted to protest, but Ragnar only raised his finger and signed them to be silent.

Athelstan looked around the table and at the brothers then and couldn't hide the amused grin tugging at his lips.

'They really are a bunch of softies,' Floki giggled, without looking at the brothers, but instead focusing on his breakfast as he spread butter on a slice of bread.

'Better than being an old donkey,' Ivar spit back, mockingly.

Floki sighed and laid back. 'Better an old donkey than a crippled mama's boy.'

'Oh, that he is!' Hvitserk let out excitedly and laughing.

Ivar only leaned back against the rest of his own chair and shrugged at Hvitserk. 'It wasn't me sleeping in our parents' bed last night,' he stated dryly.

Hvitserk immediately blushed and took over the color of a tomato. He froze in his movements and only stared down at his plate as everyone stared at him now, too.

Then Ubbe took pity on his little brother and huffed. 'I'd sleep there, too if they'd let me. But there're we again: the oldest only ever has responsibilities and never gets a cookie himself.'

A moment of silence followed, but then the whole table erupted in laughter.

After the breakfast, the women already left the cabin for their girls' tour, while the men stayed a bit longer in the cabin. Ragnar wanted to prepare something first and disappeared in his bedroom to do this.

He had told the others to put on some comfy clothes, though.

'Ubbe, where are my sweatpants?' Sigurd yelled through the house as he stepped in the hall, only wearing a t-shirt, boxers and socks.

In the next moment a pair of sweatpants came flown out of the bathroom at the end of the hallway. Sigurd went went over to grab them, but sighed when he took a closer look at the black fabric.

'These are Ivar's!' He yelled then and the next moment Hvitserk ran past him, he was only wearing boxers.

'Dude, where are your clothes?' Sigurd huffed.

Hvitserk stopped in his tracks, looking up and down his own barely covered body. 'Ivar stole all my clothes. I need Ubbe's now.'

'How could Ivar steal all your clothes?'

'He can't find his, so he took mine.'

Sigurd rolled his eyes and hold up the pants in his hands. 'Here's Ivar's pants. I bet Ubbe has all his clothes.'

'Then give them back, Ubbe!' Hvitserk suddenly yelled and attacked the closed bathroom door with his fists. 'Ubbe, get out of here!'

The door swung open and Ubbe's head came out, Hvitserk's fists came to a halt on Ubbe's chest.

'Ouch,' Ubbe huffed, amused about how Hvitserk jumped when the door opened. 'What is it now?'

'Give Ivar his clothes back, he's stealing my stuff.'

'No, I won't give Ivar his stuff back because basically Ivar doesn't own a thing. He stole everything from me and claims that it's his stuff now. And this pants there, Sig, are not Ivar's. There also mine, but I don't need them now, so take them before Ivar does.'

Sigurd looked at the pants in his hand and frowned. 'I swear I've never once seen you wear them.'

'That's because the spawn of Satan was quick to rob me after I went to get new clothes.' Only now Ubbe seemed to realize that both his brothers stood in underwear in front of him and he snorted. 'Why are you two only wearing boxers anyways? We should get ready, you remember?'

'Ivar had my stuff!' Hvitserk grunted and slapped the door frame next to Ubbe's head.

Ubbe flinched a bit, took a step back and his eyes widened in surprise. 'What is it with you now?'

Hvitserk grunted, not answering Ubbe's question as he angrily stared at the floor between them.

'Huh? Does the little devil annoy you?' Ubbe joked and he was very surprised and a little taken aback when Hvitserk suddenly slapped the wall again and snapped at his brother.

'Yes! And I'm sick of him! I'm sick of him doing what he wants! I'm sick of him stealing my stuff and getting away with it! And I'm sick of him being so scornful all the time!'

'Dude, just get down and get your stuff back. The little devil has no chance fighting you,' Sigurd suggested with a scoff.

Hvitserk turned and stared daggers at him. 'If it's so easy, you can do it, right? Because I'm not fighting our baby brother for something as ridiculous as clothes.'

'Well, if you think it's beneath you, you can go with boxers then. But I don't intent such a thing, so I'll get down and kick his ass now.' With that, Sigurd dropped the sweatpants on the floor and hurried downstairs.

'Bro, you should've not said that,' Ubbe muttered as he rested his chin on Hvitserk's shoulder. 'Sig's gonna kill our Nugget.'

'He's a devil, don't call him 'Nugget' as if he was still this cheeky little boy with big blue eyes that stare up at you and melt your heart. Our cute little Nugget has turned into a pretentious asshole for all I care.'

Ubbe lifted his head from Hvitserk's shoulder and narrowed his eyes at his little brother. 'Since when do you talk like that? You used to be his biggest fan.'

'That was before he changed into... whatever he is now...'

Loud yelling from both Sigurd and Ivar sounded through the house and Ubbe couldn't help the sigh escape his lips. He observed Hvitserk who walked over to the stairs now and only stared down instead of actually walking down.

'What has he done?' Ubbe huffed, not expecting the innocent gaze his brother turned a second later on him. 'Is it because of the comment this morning?'

Hvitserk only pressed his lips together and looked down at the floor. He didn't need to answer, Ubbe knew every face of his little brother and would always know what's happening in his head.

He still couldn't help chuckle, he was pretty much amused about this after all. Still, he took pity on his brother and so went over to him. He laid his arm around Hvitserk's shoulder and pressed his forehead against Hvitserk's.

'Don't let the devil humiliate you. You're better than this,' Ubbe whispered and winked at Hvitserk.

Hvitserk snorted and pulled his head suddenly back. 'No, I'm not. And we all know this. I can't compete with Ivar's wit. And making fun of... certain things in front of our family is below all I ever expected Ivar to do, actually. Not enough that mom and dad suddenly feel the need to scold me in front of everyone, and that all of you are constantly picking on me, no, Ivar now even started to use my Achilles heel against me. Something I'd never do in turn.'

'And this is why we all love you and hate Ivar,' Ubbe joked and nudged Hvitserk's shoulder. He looked at his brother who barely reacted, and scoffed then. 'Come on, Hvitty, don't be so moody now. Yes, Ivar said something that was not okay and if you want me to kick his ass, I'm gonna do it right now, but stop pouting, alright?'

'I'm not pouting.'

'Yes, you are,' Ubbe huffed.

The noise coming out of Ivar's bedroom only got louder as Ubbe and Hvitserk could hear their younger brothers go into the living room where they kept yelling at each other.

'No, I'm not.' Hvitserk extended his bottom lip and kept staring at the ground.

Suddenly Ragnar came out of his bedroom and stared at Ubbe in disbelief. 'Ubbe, would you mind?' He almost snapped and pointed at the stairs with a meaningful glare.

'On my way,' Ubbe muttered and with a last look at Hvitserk he scoffed. 'If you want me to believe you that you're not pouting like a pre-schooler you should probably suck your lip in again.' He rushed down the stairs and a moment later his little brothers were silent.

Ragnar listened satisfied for a moment how Ubbe scolded them then, then he wanted to go back into his room, but his eyes landed on Hvitserk who still stood motionless in the hall. He sighed. 'Hvitty, are you alright?'

Hvitserk flinched a bit, as if he hadn't even noticed his father's presence, then he looked at the man and blinked a few times. 'Huh?'

'I asked you if you're alright.'

'S-sure.'

'Then I would suggest you finally put on some clothes, this is no male strip club here.'

Hvitserk looked himself up and down and blushed. 'Sure,' he mumbled and disappeared in Ubbe's bedroom.

Twenty minutes later, the brothers and Alfred stood in the hallway and waited for their fathers and Floki to finally join them, so that they could start their activity for today.

Ragnar was the first one to come into the room and immediately when he spotted his sons, he frowned. 'Why are you all wearing Ivar's clothes?'

Ivar couldn't help the laughter escaping his lips, only his brothers rolled their eyes and Ubbe muttered: 'That's all my stuff. These idiots just steal my clothes all the time.'

Ragnar only hummed in response. That was an issue that was still new to him, even after eighteen years as a father of seven.

Floki joined the group only a minute later. He was fighting with the fly of his coat as he walked into the hallway and so only came to look at the boys in front of him later as he raised his head a minute later. His eyes immediately narrowed. 'Why are all of you dressed up like Ivar? I'm sure you could have found a better way to humiliate yourself than to dress up like a crippled bastard.' He giggled.

'First of all, I'm not a bastard, we discussed that already and came to the conclusion that Ubbe's the only bastard,' Ivar stated, pointing at Ubbe, then he looked over to Alfred: 'and you, of course. But that is something else. Anyways-'

'Ivar, you're missing the point here,' Ubbe muttered and looked to Floki: 'We're not dressed up as Ivar, my idiotic little brothers all just wear my clothes.'

'Huh, that is new,' Floki acknowledged with a nod.

'That is exactly what I thought!' Ragnar exclaimed with a wide grin.

'Why's everyone dressed up as-'

'We're not looking like Ivar, that's my clothes!' Ubbe groaned as Athelstan came into the hallway and wanted to say the sentence already.

Athelstan raised his hands in surrender. 'Just wanted to ask.'

'I just responded,' Ubbe muttered and sighed. 'Can we go then finally?'

'Totally,' Ragnar announced and opened the front door. 'Everyone in my car please, we'll have to drive to our destination.'

Chapter Text

'Are you kidding?' Ivar asked in disbelief as Ragnar stopped the twelve seater in front of the building. 'A gym?'

'Not only a gym,' Ragnar corrected. 'They have archery, sword fighting areas and axe throwing arenas. They promise the pure viking feeling. There's also a bar and a traditional viking restaurant attached.'

'Woah! That sounds amazing!' Hvitserk happily exclaimed as he opened his car door already and stumbled our the car, rushing to the entry.

'Hvi-' Ragnar already wandted to yell, but only swallowed his shouting then and sighed. 'Whatever.' He turned around to face the other occupants of his car seats. 'Go on, follow him, I'll park the car and we'll meet inside.'

Ragnar entered the building a few minutes later. Floki was already discussing with one of the staff members as he joined his friend.

'Hey, where's my wild card?' Ragnar muttered as he laid his hand on Floki's shoulder from behind.

'Off and away, nowhere to be seen,' Floki giggled and pointed then at the middle aged man in front of him. 'That is Uve, he's our supervisor for today.'

'Ugh, I see you make new friends fastly.' Ragnar extended his hand to the man. 'Ragnar Lothbrok, I called earlier this day.'

The man smiled politely. 'Yeah, I remember. Eight people, one with physical limitations if I remember correctly.' His dark voice and rough looks matched his job perfectly. He had a long beard and shaved head just like Ragnar and Floki, big tribal tattoos showing on his bare forearms and he was of a bulky statue.

Ragnar nodded eagerly. 'Right, my son here needs the extra program, please.' Ragnar grabbed behind him without looking and pulled Ivar closer, almost making him stumble with his crutches.

The boy blushed and only shyly nodded at the man as he greeted Ivar politely.

'Well, I'd say we'd get started then. You guys already wear sport clothes?'

The men nodded.

'Great, then we'll already go into the arena and you can change your shoes there.' He paused and looked over the group with a frown. 'Are all of you already of age?'

'Ugh, no, my son Alfred is only 17 yet. Is that a problem?' Athelstan hastily said and pointed at his son. Alfred only waved awkwardly at the man.

'No, not at all. You're his dad? Because we can't allow minors without their legal guardians in here.'

'Yeah, I'm his father.'

'Great,' the man said and nodded at Athelstan, then he turned around to face the whole group again and after a moment of hesitation he added: 'But you're only seven people, right?'

Suddenly, Ragnar remembered again sighed. 'No, we're actually eight, but my son already came here before us and he somehow disappeared in here. So maybe you can tell me where I can find him again.'

The man frowned. 'You are actually our first guests today. I haven't seen someone coming in here before you. But I will immediately send someone look for your son. Is he a minor, though?'

'He should be,' Ragnar muttered, mostly to himself, but looked up at the man then and managed a tormented smile. 'He's twenty-two actually. But if you find him, you should better treat him like a minor.'

'I go with him, Dad. Make sure Hvitty didn't throw any axes around already,' Ubbe said and already stepped closer to the staff member.

The man frowned, though amused. 'Another of your sons? How many sons do you have?'

Ragnar sighed and looked around at his sons then. 'Five sons in total. Three of them are here right now and that one got lost somewhere in here.'

'How could one squirm out of the family activity? Is he still too young?'

Floki giggled. 'On the contrary. His eldest is 36 and is home with his own children right now.'

The man's eyes widened. 'You must have had your son really early then.'

'He's got a daughter who's 38 already,' Athelstan nodded. He placed his hand on Ragnar's shoulder and the man across from them only stared at Ragnar with more disbelief than before.

Ragnar raised his eyebrows at Athelstan and turned then to the man. 'Could we maybe not discuss my family life right now, but instead find that lost descendant? I'm not really happy with him running around here on his own, that usually has no good ending.'

The man drew in a sharp breath. 'Is he... a... a criminal or something?'

Ivar scoffed. 'No, more like an idiot.'

'Okay, that is something one gets used to working here,' the man joked. 'Follow me.'

They walked into a big room with plenty of aims on the walls and soft mats on the ground.

'You can change your shoes here, I'm going to search your son,' the man said and pointed at a few benches across the room.

Suddenly, a young woman approached the man, she was wearing a t-shirt with the logo of the gym.

'Ugh, boss, I've got a problem at the axes,' she said, hushing her voice.

The man turned to her. 'Yeah, Josie, give me a minute, please. I've got to solve another problem first.'

'But it's really important!' She insisted and even seemed a bit scared.

'What is it?'

'There, uhm,' she took a look at Ragnar who almost stared at her now and hushed her voice even more: 'there's a young man at my counter, demanding to see all the axes. He, uhm, seems really nervous and I don't think I should give him an axe. But he refuses to leave.'

The man didn't respond to his employee, but instead only looked over at Ragnar with a questioning gaze.

Ragnar only sighed and rolled his eyes, then he looked to Ubbe. 'Ubbe, would you please...'

Ubbe nodded eagerly and approached the woman. 'Of course.'

'Josie, show this young man the way please, he's going to solve your problem,' the man said and signed at Ubbe.

Reluctantly and with a confused frown at her boss, the young woman signed Ubbe the way. 'This way,' she mumbled and followed Ubbe than as he went the way she had signed him.

'We can't turn our backs at you for five minutes,' Ubbe groaned as he approached the counter the woman had spoken about a minute earlier.

Hvitserk turned to his older brother, fidgeting with the hem of his sweater, and with his eyes flicking around the room, never meeting Ubbe's gaze.

'What are you doing, here, huh?' Ubbe demanded, resting his hands on his hips as he stopped in front of his brother. The young woman stood nervously behind him.

'I just wanted to see the axes, isn't that why we're here?' Hvitserk stumbled over his own words so fast he spoke.

Ubbe couldn't help the chuckle escaping his lips. 'You're right. But you can't just run off. Dad worries about you, you know?' Ubbe softly grabbed Hvitserk's shoulder and wanted to turn his little brother around to follow him back to their family.

Hvitserk pushed Ubbe's hands away and took a step back. 'Leave me alone, I'm no kid you have to look after!'

'No, but you already scared the employees, so would you please come with me. And talk quiter,' Ubbe muttered, and reached for Hvitserk's hand.

The younger brother hastily pulled away and now finally stared in Ubbe's eyes, his own eyes flickering. 'No! I said leave me alone!' He almost yelled now.

The woman behind Ubbe flinched at the suddenly increasing volume.

'Hvitserk, stop behaving like a child now and come with me,' Ubbe grunted and used his most strict expression on his brother.

Hvitserk only shook his head. 'I'm no kid, leave me alone. If I want to go anywhere, I can do that. And if I want to ask for the axes in here, I can do that as well. You can't tell me what to do,' he nervously breathed out now, much more silent.

Ubbe scoffed and raised his hands in surrender. 'Fine, do what you want. You're an adult after all, as you said. Deal with Dad on your own then.' Ubbe turned around, but didn't immediately walk away. He knew better than to do so.

And after a few seconds Hvitserk actually spoke up again, suddenly vulnerable and innocent in his tone. 'Ubbe, wait, please. I didn't mean what I said. Of course I'll be coming with you, just don't walk away and don't leave me alone! I don't want to disappoint Dad always and I'm sorry, I just can't control myself sometimes and-'

Hvitserk suddenly stopped talking as Ubbe pulled him in a hug, softly pressing his brother's face against his shoulder to make him stop talking. 'I'm not mad,' he breathed out then and immediately felt Hvitserk's very tense body relax in his hug. The younger one even hugged his brother back after another moment of hesitation.

'I won't tell Dad, too, if you just come with me now, yeah?' Ubbe whispered against his brother's head.

Hvitserk nodded reluctantly and then, after Ubbe let him go again, he grabbed his brother's hand and didn't let go as he trailed after him back to their family. Ubbe didn't fight his brother, as long as Hvitserk was following orders for once, he could deal with the sweaty and nervously shaking hand of his little brother in his own hand.

They came back to their family as they were getting a crash course in sword fighting from the man from before. Ivar was, other than everyone else, sitting on top of a stool, his crutches nowhere within reach, but instead he hold onto a long sword and listened attentively to the man who was giving instructions to the group of men.

Ragnar only acknowledged his sons' return with a small nod and not even their supervisor said anything about their late return.

Ubbe and Hvitserk stood near their brothers then and listened for the rest of the man's instruction talk.

Hvitserk didn't let go of Ubbe's hand and everytime Ubbe felt his brother's body tense again, he softly squeezed his hand, feeling the tension disappear a moment later from his brother's body.

After the man had finished his instructions, he wanted everyone to pair up for a fight simulation, and everyone participated in the task, only Hvitserk took a few steps back and sat down on the benches behind him first.

Ragnar watched him confused and excused himself then before he went to Hvitserk and sat down beside his son.

They watched the other try the fighting techniques for a bit in companionable silence, then Hvitserk suddenly spoke up, shyly and silently, staring at the floor under his feet.

'I've been smoking weed again.'

Ragnar only acknowledged this with a nod and a sniff, not looking at Hvitserk. 'I know.'

'I'm sorry.'

'I know.'

'I'm high right now.'

'I can smell that.'

'Are you mad?' Hvitserk turned to look at his father.

Ragnar returned the look, not giving away any hint of emotion. 'Not at all.'

Hvitserk nodded, and looked back at the floor. But a monet later he lifted his gaze again and looked back at Ragnar, confused. 'Why? I promised I won't do that again.'

'I know. And I'm sad that you didn't hold what you said. Lift your arm, Sig!' He yelled the last part, looking at his training sons.

'But you're not mad at me... Why aren't you?'

Ragnar sighed and turned to look back at Hvitserk. 'Look, Hvits, I know what you're going through. Well, I don't know, to be honest. I know what it is like to take drugs. The feeling that only they can help you see the world clearly.'

Hvitserk nodded slightly, looking back at the floor.

'You know that I have a past with drugs on my own, yeah? When you were little-'

'I know, Dad.' Hvitserk looked up at his father, suddenly the innocence in his gaze was gone, instead there was something more deep, more pure. Sadness. Regret. Fear.

'Good. Then you also know that it took me a few years to overcome this.' He paused, observing Hvitserk's gaze that turned back to the floor again. 'But I got it in the end. Before I could do something very stupid, too.' He paused again, then sighed. 'As long as you're only smoking weed, I don't worry too much. That's something most people of your age do every now and then. Believe me, your older siblings aren't different in this relation.' He huffed weakly.

Hvitserk looked back up at his father, questioning.

'Believe it or not,' Ragnar scoffed and nudged Hvitserk's cheek, but then his gaze hardened again and the crease of worry came back on his forehead. 'Your siblings have one advantage, though.'

'They're not brain damaged,' Hvitserk sighed.

'I'd say they don't have your struggles, but you're basically right,' Ragnar said and sniffed. Now it was him who tried to avoid his son's gaze on himself. 'Hvitty, you had to go through a lot in your still young life. Your mom and I- you know that we're sorry.' He forced himself to look at his son.

Hvitserk nodded. 'It's not your fault that... all of this...'

'And neither is it your fault.' Ragnar sighed again. 'You know, you've always been a bit different from your siblings. Always so energetic and overly happy. Except from when it came to school, of course,' he huffed. 'You always just knew what you wanted and we couldn't hold you back if you wanted to run anywhere or climb a tree. Totally different from your brothers. Reckless and always this cheeky smile.' Ragnar rubbed his thumb softly over Hvitserk's cheek. 'We loved you for your energy and life joy. A welcome contrast to the problems at home.'

'Until it got too much.'

'Hey, listen to me, Hvitty,' Ragnar turned his son's chin, so that the boy had to look at him. 'You've never been too much for us. Neither your energy and life joy, okay? It's not always appropriate, but we still love you for it.'

'But I worry you and mom. Especially in the last few months since... since Sig...'

'That your brother moved out was not easy for any of us, you know? Especially not for your mom and me. And we totally understand that you struggle with sleeping alone in your room now. And we know that you miss your brother. You're just always been someone who needs his family around him.'

'Dependent, you can say it.'

Ragnar scoffed. 'And if. Dependent is not a bad word. It means that you love your family. That you love your brother. That is something good if you ask me.'

'Maybe...'

'It is, Hvitty. You're a good boy. A good son. A great brother. The most endearing among my seven children, too.'

Now, Hvitserk scoffed. 'Even considering Gyda?'

Ragnar sniffed. 'Well, maybe you're second.' He winked at Hvitserk and nudged his cheek. 'But the point is, my great son, that your mom and I love you. And we're proud of you.'

'But you're always scolding me for everything and you seem so annoyed by me. You must think I can't survive on my own. All my siblings move out and I'm-'

'Hey, stop saying these things about yourself. Yes, your mom and I sometimes wonder what's going on in there.' He poked Hvitserk's head. 'But in reality we do know that you can survive on your own. We just want that you get that drug thing under control. And yes, sometimes we wish you were a bit calmer. Or at least slept better and wouldn't get high on sugar so easily.'

Hvitserk snorted. 'That is really something l I have to work on, isn't it?'

'Pretty much, yeah,' Ragnar stated flatly, but a smile tugged at his lips the next second and he nudged Hvitserk's shoulder. 'I'm just joking. Yeah, of course it would be great if you'd sleep eight hours in your own bed each night and if we wouldn't always need to remind you on your sugar intake, but we rather take you with these flaws than in any other way, okay?'

'But I'm 22 and I slept last night in my parents' bed. And the night before on my father's lap. And the months before I cracked on my baby brother's floor 'cause I can't sleep alone.'

'Yeah, that really is shit...' Ragnar turned back to his training sons and Hvitserk's eyebrows raised.

'No reassuring words right now?'

Ragnar shrugged and looked back to Hvitserk. 'Not really. You're right, you need to work that out for you. You can't sleep in our bed every night, you kick me all the time.'

Hvitserk scoffed and Ragnar had to smile, too.

'We will get through that, too, I promise. Just like we got you through school somehow. And like we got you into university. We'll find a way, okay?' Ragnar looked at his son now again, placing his hand on the boy's shoulder.

Hvitserk only stared into his father's ocean blue eyes for a moment, then he lowered his gaze a bit. 'I want to try therapy.'

Ragnar raised his eyebrows surprised. 'What made you change your mind? Last month you yelled at your mom for suggesting that.'

Hvitserk shrugged. 'She was right, I guess. I can't deal with... me... on my own. I'm too much for myself. My brain is too much for me. It's too fast and too restless, I can't keep up with this barstard.'

Ragnar scoffed and pressed his forehead against Hvitserk's. 'I love your brain. Even if it's on overdrive all the time. That is where all your ideas and everything good about you comes from.' He paused and then a slight smile appeared on his face. 'I'm not stopping you from therapy, though. It's your decision, you're old enough to make this decision on your own. And whatever you decide, I'll be right behind you. And with me is your mom.'

'Do you believe therapy can help me? Make me... calmer? More focused? Keep me away from the drugs?'

'I believe, this here is invincible,' Ragnar said and poked Hvitserk's head. 'But maybe therapy can teach you to calm yourself down if you want to.'

'That is all I want.'

'Then try it.' Ragnar turned back to his fighting sons. 'Faster, Ubbe, faster! Yeah, you have him!' Ragnar yelled and clapped his hands excitedly and for once Hvitserk couldn't keep himself from leaning his head against his father's shoulder.

'Thank you,' he whispered.