Vikings, chapter 1

In this story, Bjorn was eleven when Lagertha and him left Katergath.

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Ragnar Lothbrok sighed tiredly. He was not just tired, but also beyond frustrated... He had not actually put much thought into it before, but Bjorn's return home had not turned out as he would have expected.

When the boy had showed up at dinner in the Great Hall four nights ago, he had been startled to say at least. There were no words to express how he had hoped to hear "Hello, Father" from his eldest again, and he did, but it was the tone what unsettled him... The boy sounded as if he were there just because he didn't have any other option, not because he had wanted to.

As if that wasn't strange enough, when he had tried to go hug him, Bjorn just walked past him towards his little brother and procceeded to introduce himself to the toddler. He didn't even look at his father or Aslaug until it was absolutely necessary, when before he used to look at the man as if he held the moon and the stars... He hadn't even been civil towards the woman, and she hadn't appreciated being ignored.

"And what brings you here, Bjorn?" Aslaug had wrongly asked, making the boy glare at her incredously.

"It was my home first, in case you don't remember." He had spat, before distracting himself again with his brother.

Ragnar had cleared his troat and intervened.

"How is your mother?" He ignored Aslaug's annoyed look.

"Now you care?"

"I beg your pardon?"

"You didn't seem to mind her well-being much when you fucked with this harlot."

"Excuse me?" The expression on Aslaug's face had been priceless.

Bjorn rolled his eyes.

"My mother married someone," he finally answered, playing with his brother. "Who I happen to dislike more than I dislike this woman."

Maybe that hadn't been the correct choice of words, but it was all Ragnar needed to hear... It killed him to know that Lagertha was with someone else, it broke his heart, but that wasn't what was important there; he was not going to have his son living with someone he didn't like. That was, like Bjorn had said, his home, and even if that boy was not currently acting like himself, his Father was glad to have him there again.

However, as much glad as he was, he couldn't help but being startled by his eldest's behaviour... Not only had he acted strange at his arrival, but he had also been hostile and evasive since then. Still, Ragnar had not been able to speak with him about it, the boy had spent every minute of the day either with his brother or out of home. Right then, he had been out for almost nine hours...

The man looked thoughtful at his plate. He was actually not hungry, not really, and he had not been since his son and real wife’s departure. Since that day, Ragnar had not stopped thinking about how stupid he had acted… Living the three of them together? What an idiot…

“You’re not eating,” Ragnar barely refrained himself from Rolling his eyes. While this woman had been… interesting when they met, she had proved to be more of an annoyance during the last three years, she never stopped wanting to talk, but they had nothing in common other than the son they already had and the one they were expecting.

“I’m not hungry.”

“You’re never hungry,” Aslaug insisted, trying not to sound as she was reproaching him, she wasn’t fond of making scenes in public, and even if almost everyone had left by then, there were still some people.

“Not when you’re pestering me like this.” The man mutered.

Aslaug scowled at him. She was done putting up with that boy and her husband's rudeness.

"It's not my fault that child's such a brat."

"Bjorn's not a brat," her husband replied immediately. "He's just readapting."

"I didn't know ignoring his parents and every rule set were part of readapting."

"He's not ignoring me."

"No, he just avoids interacting with you as much as possible."

Ragnar couldn't help himself and rolled his eyes.

"Could we just not talk?"

"About your son?"

"About anything." He wanted to enjoy his meal, not spoil it.

***

The hours passed and Ragnar still didn't get any news from his eldest. He understood that maybe Bjorn wasn't a little kid anymore, but he wasn't a grown man either, he couldn't just leave without telling anyone and stay outside as late as he wanted...

Just as he thought about a way to approach the subject with the boy, the door opened for his brother and eldest son to tumbled inside, both obviously drunk.