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When Hiccup woke that morning, there was a pungent aroma choking the air around him. It was almost sour, curling into Hiccup's nostrils and singing his nose hairs. Determined to discover the source of this acrid smell, he left his hut, hobbling while attaching his leg at the same time, and followed the stench to the twins’ hut.
‘Gods damn it’ Hiccup thought, ‘what are these damned twins up to now..’
A thousand images of what he assumed the twins could be doing flashed in his mind - bathing in a tub full of dead fish, rubbing the oil into their hair, or even deciding to create some sort of yak dung stew (please not again… oh Gods Hiccup doesn't think the disgusting taste ever left his mouth) but nothing could have prepared Hiccup for what happened when he opened the door to the twins’ hut. A billow of lazy smoke rolled out the door, and the smell somehow got stronger. The hut windows were blacked out, and the only light that existed in the densely thick fog of the room was from the door where Hiccup stood. Two pairs of red bloodshot eyes met Hiccup's green ones, hazy and unfocused.
Hiccup coughed and surveyed the hut, wafting away the smoke with his hand. Ruff and Tuff were crouched in the middle of the room and between Tuffnuts index and middle finger was a tightly packed roll of herbs? Is that what Hiccup was seeing? Was that.. Dragon Nip? The thicker end was set alight, and a small trail of putrid smoke was coming from the lit end.
“Heyyy Hiccy..” Tuffnut slurred, coughing lightly before taking a drag of the thin roll between his fingers. He passed it to his twin Ruffnut who quickly copied her brothers actions, taking a deeper, more full lungful, holding it in for as long as she could before releasing the smoke from her lungs. Tuffnut squinted at Ruffnut, before scoffing.
“Y’know holding it in doesn't actually DO anything, don't you?” he said.
Ruffnut made an offended noise, before retorting,
“That’s just cuz you’ve never held it in long enough!”.
Her speech was also slurred, and she poked Tuffnut in the nose as if to say ‘Hah!’.
Hiccup just stood in the open door, slack jawed, unable to come up with an immediate response to what he was seeing. Sputtering, he gestured wildly at the two stoned twins crouched on the floor before slapping a hand to his forehead and dragging it down his face. This was NOT what he was expecting, yet somehow he was not surprised.
“Wha- what the fuck are you doing?” He demanded, exasperation evident in his voice.
“Smoking.” Ruffnut shrugged as if it were the most casual thing in the world. A small laugh rippled from the back of Tuffnuts throat, almost childish.
“Yeah, we found that if you wrap Dragon Nip tightly into parchment, set the end on fire and breathe it in, it like, really, REALLY, feels nice after a while. I feel more.. Relaxed, yunno? Wouldn’t you agree, sister of mine?”
Tuffnut trailed off into a fancy accent before collapsing into a fit of giggles at his own ludicrosity. Ruffnut was also laughing, taking in deep gasps of air to respond and passing the roll of Dragon Nip to her brother.
“Indubitably, brother of mine, you are correct.” she managed before she fell back into uncontrollable laughter.
Hiccup shook his head, incredulous.
“How in the world did you discover that? Why would you even do that? W-What?” He was so confused, unable to make sense of how the twins came to the conclusion of smoking Dragon Nip. Tuffnut took another drag, before offering the roll to Hiccup.
“You try it Hic, it might make you chill out a bit. Thor knows you need it.” Tuffnut ducked his head into the crook of his elbow to cough.
Hiccup considered for a bit, before asking,
“Hey, I’m good, but where did you get the parchment from? I didn’t know you guys kept notebooks. Or that you could read.. Or write..” Hiccup said the last part under his breath, eyes darting around the room to find the source of the twins' parchment. A brief flash of emotion washed across the twins’ faces, as they looked at each other in a sort of ‘no, you say it!’ way. A sinking feeling settled into Hiccup's gut, a feeling that only came from being around the twins too much and prying into their mischief and schemes. Their main motto was “ask me no questions and I will tell you no lies”, but in their current state Hiccup didn’t think they were capable of forming a coherent argument, let alone a lie.
“About that..” Ruffnut started, refusing to meet Hiccup's eyes. He shifted his weight to his good leg, crossed his arms and fixed the twins with his best ‘i’m not mad, i'm just disappointed’ glare.
“All I’ll say is I hope you didn’t need that sketch you drew of Astrid the other day” She finished, speeding up her words at the end of the sentence before shoving the roll of Dragon Nip between her lips.
“Excellent penmanship though Hiccy, I must say you captured her likeness quite well, who knew she had a mole on her left cheek.. Or was that an ink blot?” Tuffnuts' forehead creased, trying to search his addled mind and recall the details of Hiccup's painstaking masterpiece that had taken him HOURS.
Rage filled Hiccup that hadn’t inhabited him in a while. He’d spent days, no weeks, staring at his girlfriend and forcing her to stay still for him to sketch, insisting it must be perfect, and here it was, rolled up and burning between Ruffnuts fingers.
‘Fuck it’ Hiccup thought as he stomped into the smoky haze of the hut, and snatched the roll from Ruffnuts fingers. She made a noise of anguish as it was taken away from her, before Hiccup plopped himself on the floor next to Tuffnut and stuffed the roll in between his lips almost desperately. He might as well see what the fuss is about if they used his art to create it, he decided as the twins looked at him with shock, almost sober.
And this was the day Hiccup and the Twins discovered the medicinal properties of smoking Dragon Nip for his leg pains and constant headaches, as well as a method to get Hiccup to actually sleep and take a break for once. Astrid also didn’t mind that it increased Hiccups appetite either, Thor knew he was too skinny for his own good.