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Snotlout didn’t really like coming back to Berk. He’d tried to stay behind, saying that someone needed to guard the Edge, but Hiccup insisted that the Edge would be fine for a week and that they were long overdue for a visit. Hiccup was right, and Snotlout missed his mom, but he didn’t miss his dad. Right now, he wanted to be as far away from him as possible. They’d only been back a day and Spitelout had gone at him, yelling and swinging his fists. Those fists had hit in a few places, but luckily the bruises that were forming could be hidden by Snotlout’s clothes. He couldn’t hide that he’d been slapped in the face though, but luckily it was dark. His cheek was still red, still stinging. It was for that reason that he hesitated before knocking on the Thorstons’ door. That and it was late, but there was light coming from the windows. He hoped Tuffnut was still awake. Everyone knew his dad yelled at him, but Tuffnut was the only one who knew that he went so far as to hit him. Of course he’d tell his boyfriend that. He needed someone to tell all this to.
Snotlout frowned, lowered his fist. It was stupid though. It had been a stupid fight and he didn’t feel like he should be feeling as bad as he was. Everyone’s parents got angry with them from time-to-time. Maybe hitting was just a thing that fathers did to their sons. Maybe he was making a big deal out of nothing.
But then he tried to picture Fishlegs’ father hitting him, or Stoick hitting Hiccup, and he couldn’t do it. He couldn’t do it because it was so unlikely, so ridiculous and improbable. It wasn’t a thing that the others went through. It was just him. He was allowed to feel bad about that, wasn’t he? He was hurting, both physically and emotionally, and he didn’t want to be alone right now.
So, he gathered his courage and knocked on the door. He didn’t have to wait long before it was opened by Mrs. Thorston. She was a tall, middle aged woman with bits of gray in her braided blonde hair.
“Hi, Mrs. Thorston.” Snotlout rubbed at his face, suddenly feeling conscious of the red mark on his cheek. Light was spilling out from the doorway. He wondered if it was visible.
“Snotlout, it’s a little late, isn’t it? Is everything alright?”
“What? Yeah, yeah, everything’s fine.” He made himself lower his hand from his face. It would look suspicious if he kept it there any longer. “I’m just looking for Tuffnut. Is he awake?”
“Aye. Do you want to come in?”
“No, that’s okay. I’ll just wait here.”
Mrs. Thorston nodded. “I’ll go get him then.” She closed the door, and Snotlout was relieved to be back in the dark again, and without her having mentioned his face. In about a minute the door was opening again and Tuffnut was stepping outside.
“Hey, Snotman. What’s up?” He went in for a hug, but Snotlout put a hand on his shoulder to stop him, warily looked around. He knew it was stupid to think that his dad had followed him after he’d left the house, but he still felt nervous about showing such public signs of affection.
“Can we go take a walk?” Snotlout asked. “To the beach maybe?” He doubted anyone would be there. They could be alone.
“Yeah, sure.” Tuffnut started off and Snotlout fell into step beside him. “Something wrong?”
“It’s my dad,” Snotlout admitted. “Can’t even be back a day without him getting on my case.”
“What about?”
“Well, he came home drunk and I guess he decided that I stole his axe, which I totally didn’t. He wouldn’t listen when I told him that. It’s stupid. The whole thing’s stupid.”
“Your dad definitely seems like more of an idiot when he’s drunk.”
“Not so loud, Tuff!”
“What?” Tuffnut spread his arms. “There’s no one else out here.”
Snotlout looked around. It was just them on the street, illuminated by flickering torches.
“Sorry. Guess I’m just feeling a little paranoid.” He rubbed at his side, grimaced. Tuffnut noticed the action.
“Did he hit you?”
“Yeah. A few times.”
Tuffnut made a frustrated and angry growling noise in his throat. “Hard?”
“Kinda.” Snotlout shrugged, trying to make it seem like it wasn’t a big deal. “I’m sure I’ll be fine. Nothing’s cracked or broken.”
“That doesn’t make it okay, Snotlout.”
“I never said it was okay.”
“Yeah, but you shrugged.” Tuffnut copied the motion, over-exaggerating it like he did all things. “You don’t shrug about that kind of shit.”
“Whatever. I did.”
Tuffnut sighed. “I just don’t like that he does that to you.”
“Yeah, me neither,” Snotlout said dourly. They veered off the main road and onto a little path that went down a hill towards the beach. “It sucks. I hate coming back here. Sometimes I just want to stay on the Edge forever.”
“You know we can’t. We’ll have to leave that place sometime. And when we do, Chicken is absolutely coming with me. I can’t leave her on her own! Who would preen her feathers? Who would feed her?”
Snotlout rolled his eyes. “Gods, I still can’t believe you named a chicken Chicken.”
“Hey, it was the middle of the night when that happened,” Tuffnut protested. “I was tired, scared, sleep-deprived… Nothing of genius was going to be coming out of my head at that point.”
Snotlout wanted to make a joke about nothing of genius coming out of Tuffnut’s head at any point in time, but stopped himself. Due to his bad mood it would probably come out like he meant it, which he didn’t, and he didn’t want to make him feel bad.
They got down to the beach, sat down next to each other in the sand. Tuffnut put an arm around Snotlout, and he let him. There would be no one to disturb them here.
“I feel dumb for getting upset about this,” Snotlout admitted after some time in silence. If Tuffnut wasn’t talking, it meant that he wanted him to and was willing to listen. This was a side of Tuffnut that a lot of others didn’t get to see, a more serious, caring side. “I mean, parents get mad at their kids.”
“Yeah, but they don’t hit them,” Tuffnut said. “My mom certainly never hit me or Ruff. She hardly ever shouts at us either, which is saying something given that everyone shouts at us.”
“You sure this isn’t just a normal thing?”
“Yep. Hate to break it to you Snotlout, but your dad’s crazy.” He looked at him, and Snotlout’s eyes had adjusted to the dark, so he could see him raise his eyebrows. “You said he hit you over losing his axe? Seriously?”
“Yeah,” Snotlout said. “He was drunk. He does shit like that when he’s drunk. He probably just left it somewhere.”
“Wow, that’s dumb. That’s a really stupid thing to get mad about.”
“Yup.” Snotlout found himself leaning his head on Tuffnut’s shoulder. He looked out at the water, studying the way the waves rolled and crested. Tuffnut’s hand went to his back, rubbed in a circle.
“You sure you’ll be okay?”
“Wasn’t the worst he’s ever done to me. Remember that time I had a broken wrist?”
“Yeah, but you said that you fell off of Hookfang.”
“I lied,” Snotlout told him. “Didn’t want anyone to know what was going on. He broke it. I don’t think he meant to, but that’s what happened.”
“Did he apologize?”
“For my wrist? Nah. Told me to suck it up.”
“Ugh, what an asshole.”
Snotlout had to admit that it felt good to be telling someone about this stuff, to have his own thoughts about his father validated. A few months ago he would have never dreamed of telling anyone, never mind Tuffnut, but then they’d started dating and Snotlout had realized there was more to him than joking around and pulling pranks.
“Tuff, why do you pretend to be an idiot?” Snotlout asked after some time in silence.
“Maybe I’m not pretending. Maybe I really am an idiot.”
“You’re not. I’ve seen you do smart things.”
“Like what?”
“Like when you and Ruff noticed that all those different drawings made a map,” Snotlout answered. “And were able to figure out where the Buffalord was. That was smart. Plus you can say stuff in other languages and use words I don’t understand.”
Tuffnut looked at him, his eyes twinkling slightly with mischief. “I could be making all that up. You don’t know.”
“I don’t think you are.”
“Whatever you say, mon chou.” Tuffnut stood. “So, you wanna go for a swim?”
“Isn’t it late to be doing that?”
“We’re out here anyway, aren’t we?” Tuffnut asked.
“I don’t have a towel.”
“Ah, we’ll figure it out,” Tuffnut said, tossing his helmet down, then taking off his vest. Then he was hopping on one foot to pull off one of his boots. “Come on. Let’s not just sit around. It’s boring.”
“Fine,” Snotlout ceded. He stood, joined Tuffnut in undressing. Once they were stripped down to their underwear they made for the water, hands casually linked.
“Okay! Wow, that’s cold!” Snotlout exclaimed as his toes touched the water, jumping back. Tuffnut still held onto his hand, was standing in the water like it was no problem.
“Not that cold,” Tuffnut said. “Come on.”
Snotlout huffed a little, but joined him. It didn’t feel so cold after standing there for a while, and so he was able to walk in further, up to his knees. Of course, it hadn’t reached Tuffnut’s knees yet. It irked Snotlout how everyone was taller than him. Even Hiccup, who’d always been small, had gotten taller than him.
Tuffnut tried dragging him in further, but Snotlout planted himself firmly. “I’m not going in any further.”
“Why not?” Tuffnut let go of his hand, turned to face him, walking backwards into the water.
“Still cold.”
“Seriously? You’re no fu-” Tuffnut was cut off as he suddenly slipped and fell backwards, going under. Snotlout waited a bit for him to resurface, but he didn’t.
“Tuffnut!” Snotlout waded forward as quickly as he could. He got to the spot where Tuffnut had disappeared, up to his chest in the water now, waves gently lapping at him. Had he hit his head? Had he-
Hands grabbed at him, and Tuffnut’s head popped out. “Ha! Made you do it!”
“Seriously, Tuff? That wasn’t funny.” Snotlout lightly shoved him away, crossed his arms.
“Wasn’t supposed to be funny. Was supposed to get you in the water, and here you are.” Tuffnut paddled around him. “Come on, man. Let’s have some fun. You need it.”
“You asked for it then.” Snotlout smiled deviously, and as Tuffnut was coming back around, he splashed him in the face.
Tuffnut swam back, stood, then returned the splash, laughing. Snotlout laughed too, though his ribs were sore. He’d definitely be getting bruises. That didn’t matter right now. This was good.
He and Tuffnut played in the water until they both decided it was too cold to stay in. Then they waded back to shore, stood there dripping wet.
“Maybe we should have gone back for a towel,” Tuffnut said. He went over to his discarded clothes, picked up his vest. “But I suppose this can do.”
“What about me?” Snotlout asked, trying to pretend that he wasn’t shivering.
“You first.” Tuffnut tossed the vest at him and he caught it.
Snotlout started drying himself off. “I swear, if I get a cold because of this-”
“Then we’ll both have one.” Tuffnut was wringing water out of his braids. Snotlout found himself watching him do it. He liked Tuffnut’s hair, especially right after he washed it.
“Fair enough. You know, I’ve always wondered: do you braid your own hair?”
“Course I do. I can do hair like a pro. Though, Ruffnut and I braid each other’s hair sometimes when we aren’t punching each other in the face.” Tuffnut laughed. “Imagine trying to braid someone’s hair and punch them at the same time.”
“That would be problematic.” As dry as he was going to get, Snotlout tossed the vest back to Tuffnut, then bent and picked up his clothes. He tried to wipe off his feet before sticking them in his boots, but they still had sand on them. He’d just have to deal with the discomfort of walking with sand in his boots for now. Something inside of him crumpled as he thought of walking, walking back to his house, to his dad. Had he gone to sleep? It didn’t matter if he was awake or not. He didn’t want to go back.
“Would your mom care if I slept over?” Snotlout asked. “I can’t deal with my dad right now.”
“Probably not. Just have to be quiet coming in. She probably went to sleep.” Tuffnut was dressing now.
“And Ruffnut?”
“She might care in the morning, but whatever. You don’t want to go back to your dad right now, and I don’t want you going back either.” Tuffnut finished dressing. “Let’s go.”
“Wait, one more thing.” Snotlout went over to him, took his hands in his. He stood on his tiptoes and kissed him on the lips.
“Snotlout, we can kiss in my room.” Tuffnut said as he pulled away. “Don’t have to rush it.”
“Yeah, I know. It’s just, um, kind of romantic out here I think.” Snotlout almost hit himself. He sounded ridiculous saying that. He hoped Tuffnut didn’t care that he was getting sappy. Then again, this was his boyfriend. He could do that around him. “Thank you for this, Tuff. Thanks for being here for me.”
“Anytime, Snotlout.” Tuffnut rested his hands on his waist, looked around. “And yeah, you’re right. It is kind of romantic.” He leaned down and kissed him, and Snotlout smiled against his lips before kissing back.