Ivar Ragnarsson Imagines

Marry Me

Ivar sat and listened to the men in his camp. He hadn't been paying them any mind until they mentioned your name. Then they had nothing but his attention.

He'd grown up with you. It wasn't as if he hadn't noticed you. As his older brothers said you were a sweet, quiet thing. Good for looking at but not much else. Ivar had heard that your parents had tried to make so many matches with you that they were giving up. The men were making fun of you being unable to find a match. All of the men who had been from Kattegat had been asked.

"Perhaps I should meet her?" Harald said with a playful smile. Ivar sighed. He could recall wide eyes, watching, careful nervous steps around him. Floki had shown you how to gather herbs and wild food from the forest. He could recall the day as if it was yesterday. You had been so timid that you hadn't said a word the entire day.

Sigurd had insisted that there was something more to you. He was sure he'd seen you with friends that visited from a far off earldom. Ivar didn't believe a word he said when Sigurd had described the dancing and yelling he claimed to have seen. Having enough of their taunts about your families desperation he decided to go to bed.

He couldn't stop thinking about you. During breakfast he didn't hear a word his brothers said. The day went on he decided that when the raid was over he would seek you out. During the boat ride home, all he thought of was if you would remember him. You hadn't been one to play with the other children. More often than not you preferred to sit beside him and his cart and listen to Floki's stories. It took him a few days after returning to Kattegat to finally find you.

"Can I help you?" You asked as he shuffled into the building. It was a small cabin. Split in two. One part of the cabin was filled with sewing things on a table, bits of fabrics and wool that someone had begun to spin. A small wooden half wall split the building in half and Ivar could see a table and a small fire. A reasonable sized bed sat in the back corner and in the other was a cupboard. A small ladder led to a ledge that he could just make out a neatly folded pile of furs.

"I was looking for (Y/N)?" Ivar asked as he leant on his crutches. He saw movement from the corner closest to the table and you shuffled out. A small piece of fabric in your hand which had neatly embroidered flowers flowing along it.

"Ivar." You said quickly and he smiled. He recognised you as soon as you spoke. "Can I help you with anything?"

"I... um wanted... was." Ivar said, suddenly nervous.

"Are you here for your brother's cloak? I finished fixing it." You asked quickly.

"Yes!" Ivar answered. He smiled when you nodded and went to the back of the room to the cupboard where you fished out the cloak and draped it over his arm. "My brothers and I are throwing a celebration tomorrow evening, it would be, I would enjoy it. You should ... could come." Ivar said quickly and you nodded.

"I have some work to do but if I finish it I shall."

**********************

When you had come into the hall, which was filled with a small gathering of each brother's friends, a place had been made with Ivar for you. Which was out of the way. Ivar had insisted that they take into account that you were shy and quiet.

Now he was staring at you in awe as you stood on Ubbe's shoulders, yelling and laughing as you tried to hit Sigurd of Hvitserk's shoulders with a pillow. You swore and shouted and laughed as you fought. Sigurd toppled down but you suspected Hvitserk had something to do with it as he gently dropped his brother. Ubbe let you down and you sat next to Ivar who handed you a drink.

"You are having a good time?" Ivar asked and you nodded.

"No one really enjoys spending time with me. My father has passed and my mother has lost what he earned on raids. I work for both of us and she has been so adamant to marry me off so she does not have to worry about me. Now everyone avoids me. No one wants to marry me. We do not have much land left and no animals..." You confessed and Ivar smiled at you.

"No one wants to marry me either so we should marry." Ivar said cheerfully.

"Ivar! You are a prince. I am sure anyone you asked would marry you."

"So you will marry me? You said anyone I asked would marry me." He raised his eyebrows as he punctuated his sentence with a sip of his mead. You laughed as he grinned with a wicked playfulness in his eyes.