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It’s a normal day on Berk, academy business, when Snotlout drags the riders out to the beach to show off what Tuff thought was a fancy smashed ship – exactly the way he likes them – and it turns out to be a girl. She’s about their age, bright green eyes that sparkle with life though sort of sad in the same way Hiccup does, and she’s sort of small and scrawny.
She could almost be Hiccup’s twin, like Tuff is Ruff’s. But Tuff swears she’s smart in just the right ways, and not your average, stuck-up Viking brute, which gives an instant plus.
“So, Heather, what happened to you?” Astrid asks.
“My family and I were on our way home to our island when our boat was attacked by pirates,” Heather says, and all he hears is the word ‘pirate’.
“I wanna be a pirate,” Tuffnut offers. “Or a fish cleaner. I’m still on the fence.”
“You were saying?” Astrid continues, ignoring him.
“They attacked our boat and took us back to our island, laying siege to it. I was able to escape, but my mother and father, they weren't so lucky,” Heather continues softly, hands clasping tightly in front of her as she looks down.
What? That is awful. “Stupid pirates! I'm definitely gonna be a fish cleaner.”
Hiccup jumps right on that to calm her down the freaky way he always does, offering Heather a spot in his house and a talk with Stoick. Why does he always get the cool stuff?
“Hey,” Tuffnut whines as he and Ruff head back for their home. “Why does Hiccup get to do all the cool stuff?”
“I don’t know,” Ruff shrugs distractedly. “What’s wrong now, bro?”
“I wanted to invite Heather home,” he grumbles, though the thought of actually showing her their mess of a home has his stomach flipping a little. It’s not uncomfortable, but also maybe is just a bit. It’s weird.
“Why’d you care to invite her over?” Ruffnut just seems confused. “She’s not our problem.”
“No, but she’s pretty,” is the best and absolutely most embarrassing thing that Tuff can manage to spew out.
Ruffnut gags. “Ugh! Don’t tell me you’re thinking that!”
“I am,” Tuffnut whines, slouching. Ruff really wouldn’t get that, would she? She’s a girl. That’s the one thing they’d never see on. He wants boy advice, he should probably go to one of the boys. Not Snotlout – he already has eyes for Heather, and it makes Tuff irrationally annoyed. Snotlout has a lot more to offer anybody than him, and he knows it. Which just leaves Hiccup, and…
“Ugh,” Ruff groans. “That’s disgusting.”
Hmph. Okay, he’ll talk to Hiccup later.
***
There’s some strange talk rolling the next day in the arena about hens and roosters that confuses Tuff to no end, though Astrid looks ridiculously grumpy about Heather spending time with Hiccup for not even having feelings for him. Which kind of grosses Hiccup out, so maybe he gets Ruff’s weirdness.
Ruff, who he knows very much has eyes for Hiccup, though it’s weird.
Hiccup finally shows up late with Heather in toe, and the chaos rolls up again.
Snotlout and Fishlegs are both squabbling for her attention, and Tuff just watches, annoyed, and even more annoyed when Astrid grabs Hiccup and drags him off to the side lines to talk to him in private.
“What’s her problem?” Tuffnut asks, staring in confusion at Astrid’s grumpy jealousy. “Doesn’t she already have all the boys on Berk nagging her? Why’s she mad Hiccup isn’t?”
“She’s Astrid,” Ruffnut grumbles.
“I know, it’s not like you’re even jealous of her,” Tuffnut agrees.
“Right,” Ruff grumbles and looks away.
Tuff shrugs – his sister gets weird about Hiccup, and that’s not his problem. He just waits for class to be out – Hiccup calls it an early scatter so they can help get Heather accustomed to Berk together, and Astrid scowls fiercely at his back the whole way – and Tuff grabs Hiccup’s arm and hauls him off the instant they’re out.
“So, uh,” he asks, “How do you get a girl to like you?”
“What?” Hiccup asks, his voice pitching into something ridiculously high and panicked.
“I’m serious,” Tuffnut tells him seriously.
“O – okay, I don’t know why you think I would know anything about that –”
“Ruff likes you,” Tuff protests. “So… how do I make Heather like me? The other boys are already swarming her, and I don’t think she’s even looked at me.” He maybe shouldn’t feel so ridiculously sullen about it, but he really, really does.
“Are you kidding?” Hiccup asks angrily, pulling away and turning around. “Heather just lost her home. She needs some sanity right now. Stability. Friends, yeah, but not people jumping her.”
“Right,” Tuffnut mumbles in apology, shoulders slumping, sufficiently scolded. “Sorry. But that’s easy for you to say. Everybody likes you.”
“Tuff –”
“You’re a hero,” he continues anyway, irritated. “You’re the future Chief of Berk, and you have a Night Fury. All I have is a parasitic twin I drag with me everywhere.”
“Okay, seriously, Tuff, Ruff isn’t that bad,” Hiccup argues, “And I honestly have no idea, I’ve never cared to try it. I mean, I don’t really have time, you know? I’ve got Toothless, and the Academy. You’re right, I don’t…” He sighs, though he looks hurt, too. “Okay, how about you ask Heather if she wants to go somewhere this afternoon, or maybe wait until tomorrow after Snotlout and Fishlegs have had a moment to back off. But do something fun, and let her pick what it is. And don’t drag her into something that scares her. She really needs some help right now. She’ll get overwhelmed pretty easily.”
“Whoa.” Most of that lost Tuff, but it was very Hiccup and overly thoughtful. “Thanks.”
***
“Ugh,” Ruffnut grumbles. “Stop staring space-ily with that dreamy face. It’s freaking me out.”
Tuffnut shoots up, immediately grumpy again. “You look at Hiccup like that all the time!”
“I do not!” she defends. “I don’t get all sappy and clingy like you!”
“Hey!”
Before he can throw fists, a small, soft voice asks “am I interrupting something?” from nearby. Tuff jumps and spins around to see Heather, her hair still perfectly combed instead of Ruffnut’s gross mess.
And his mind nicely blanks out. “Oh,” he squeaks. “Uh, no! No, we’re great. It’s a really great time.” Can he stop fumbling wildly every time the prettiest girl on Berk shows up? “Can I show you Barf and Belch?”
“Ugh,” Ruff grumbles. “I’ll just step out.”
“You don’t have to,” Heather is quick to reassure.
“Don’t worry, it’s just Ruff,” Tuff starts promising quickly over his twin’s “eck, it’s just Tuff. I’ll be over there, keeping out of sight of him making eyes.” She walks away, braids swinging and grumbling disgustedly under her breath.
“This is Barf and Belch,” Tuffnut introduces proudly at the dragon heads. “The hi, uh…”
“Hideous Zippleback,” Heather answers for him. “I remember this one. Though they’re actually kind of cute.”
His flustery fluttering fumbling is all back. “Oh. Wow. You’re really smart. Unlike my sister, who is stupid, and she’s the only girl I know, except Astrid, who just hits us all the time.”
“Uh, thanks,” Heather fumbles. “Do you know how much they weigh?”
“Nope. Not a clue. Fishlegs usually keeps track of that. You could ask Hiccup. He knows everything about dragons.” He hates to turn anything she asks him down, but he really has no idea. He is way too dumb for her. “How about I take you for a ride? I can show you how they work.”
“Sure. Which head do I sit on?”
“This is Belch, and he’s mine,” Tuff answers, hopping onto his seat on the dragon. “The right head is Barf, and he’s the one that does the explosion work. My sister usually rides it, but she’s not here now, so he’s all yours.”
“So, Tuff, tell me how this works again?” she inquires.
“Okay, you yank on his head, he barfs up this really nasty gas, and I spark it. But, don't breathe it in,” he quickly adds.
“Why not?”
“You don’t want to know.” Both he and Ruff have done it and it’s awful. “Just give me the signal.”
“What’s the signal?”
It’s such an obvious question, and Tuff has fought a ridiculous number of battles with Hiccup, and he usually knows what he’s supposed to be doing, but right now his brain just freezes up. “Ah, I always forget that.”
“How ‘bout fire?” Heather suggests. She’s so smart.
“Wow, you’re really good at this! Much better than my sister, who I can easily get rid of, by the way. I mean, easily. She looks a lot like me. Sometimes I impersonate both of us. I mean, nobody would even miss her, except maybe Hiccup. Have you seen them look at each other? It’s freaky.”
“Yeahh,” Heather agrees. “Why don’t we focus on the task at hand?”
“Right. Okay, ready?”
“Ready.”
“Signal!” Tuff yells, and Heather just blinks at him. Oh, the “Ugh, I mean, fire!”
Heather yanks the horns, and Tuff pulls belch’s back, and an explosion sails beautifully through one of the nearby boats.
Heather gasps. “What do we do now?”
“Usually, we hide until the Chief finds us. Then we get in trouble.” Barf and Belch slowly slink down and away from sight. Hey, at least he got a little bit of time with Heather.
***
Ruff and Tuff drop by at Hiccup’s house later, just for old times’ sake. They do that every now and then, and as long as Stoick isn’t home yet, they should be great. Tuffnut kind of a little wants to see Heather again, too – she seemed pretty upset about the nearly-getting-in-trouble-with-Stoick thing earlier.
Ruff had pitched in to tattle, and Tuff punched her for it, but he will definitely make sure not to do another explosive stunt without his sister. Heather seemed about as spooked by it as Hiccup would be.
“Are you sure Heather’s not your secret, older twin?” Tuff asks him.
Hiccup laughs, working on Toothless. “What?”
“Heather,” Tuff repeats, hoisting himself onto a random nearby fence. “She looks just like you.”
“Yeah, I – guess.” Hiccup laughs a little. “It’s a little different. Nice, having her around.”
“Oh, you think it’s nice to have a twin/” Ruffnut whines. “I want to get rid of Tuff.”
“And I wanna get rid of Ruff,” Tuff gripes. “I wish I could fly with Heather.” She glares at him. Tuff ignores her.
“Okay, I think this has gotten mildly out of hand,” Hiccup informs flatly.
“What does that mean?” Tuff asks, a bit wounded, though mostly confused. Barf and Belch growl from somewhere in the background as they pace past, going to nose and Toothless, who grumbles, barely tolerating the duo nosing at him.
“I mean, this Heather obsession,” Hiccup says, “Tuff, really. You’re fifteen.”
“I know,” he argues, genuinely stung. “But I’m not ever gonna have a chance at that, will I? I’ll be stuck with only Ruff forever.”
“Look, you two have each other,” Hiccup argues, “Just like I have Toothless now. You’re never gonna be alone, and dealing with each other might be hard, but at least you have that.”
Tuffnut slumps a little, looking at Ruff, who mirrors him. He doesn’t actually know what he’d do without his sister. She’s maddening, and he hates her, but really, he can’t imagine living without the constant thorn in his side. Who would he really prank everybody with if he didn’t have Ruff? Heather is way too nice, just like Hiccup.
“Fine,” he mumbles to his boots’ toes, slumping. “But I still like Heather. I mean, she’s basically you, but a little more mysterious, dark-haired, and a girl. Sort of like me and Ruff. Except neither of you are stupid.”
“Okay, I get it, you’re serious,” Hiccup sighs. “Okay, well, don’t – don’t push it. And don’t try to use her as a replacement for Ruff, because that’s really not who Heather is. Ruffnut is your sister. Heather is a friend. Please try to remember that, Tuff.”
“Uh, hey,” Ruffnut cuts in, pointing to Hiccup’s open house door. “You wanna check that out? I think Astrid’s mad.”
Hiccup bolts inside without a word Astrid storms back out, slamming the door behind her with an angry scowl. She looks murderous, and scary.
“What’s with you?” Tuff queries.
Astrid turns her icy scowl on him. “Heather was reading the Book of Dragons.”
Huh? “Are you sure? Does she know how to read? Because I barely know how to read.”
Astrid’s fist slams into his stomach as she passes.
“Ow!” Mean. Very, very mean. He really does not like that girl.
***
It’s the next day that the riders are called together early, without Stormfly, and a steaming mad Astrid riding Toothless behind Hiccup, that Tuff hears Heather stole the book of Dragons, Stormfly, and disappeared. “What she did was bad, right?” Tuff asks. “So, why do I feel a strange sort of admiration?” It hurts, yep, but he’s sort of awed. “I mean, Heather? Who would have guessed?”
“I would,” Astrid snarls, arms crossed and glaring. “And none of you listened to me. Really great friends, all of you.”
Hiccup flinches, face raw with hurt, and Tuff immediately remembers his siblings-are-important speech yesterday, and how Heather’s the closest he’s ever gotten to one. “Hey,” he snaps. “You’re kinda mean to everyone. Who would think you’re picking extra on Heather for something…” What was the word?
“Mean?” Astrid bristles. “Mean? I’ll show you mean!” She dives forwards, but Toothless takes off, grabbing her in his claws and flinging her safely back onto his back.
“Come on, guys,”” Hiccup calls past her, “We’ve gotta find her, fast.”
“Yeah, no thanks to you,” Astrid hisses at him. Tuff wishes he could punch her.
At least Ruff isn’t that mean. Hiccup’s right. He could have Astrid for a twin. He’d rather have Ruff. Even if he’d never tell her so.
***
They’re flying for a full day. It’s evening when they finally reach the outskirts of Outcast Island and the battle runs off. Astrid, as mad as ever, goes to beat up Heather, and Tuff watches with useless dejectedness.
Astrid throws her and the Book of Dragons off Stormfly. Hiccup goes for the book, and Snotlout for Heather, but the fire arrows have them falling back.
Stoick has Heather dragged off to jail, and Tuffnut wanders off, sullen. He somehow finds himself a moment of a seat beside Hiccup in the Arena as the others prepare for training.
“You okay?” Hiccup asks, side-eyeing him, because the boy somehow has the terrifying, uncanny ability to be worried about him even though he’s the one who just lost his could-have-been twin.
“Yeah, I’m great.” Tuffnut huffs. “Okay, not so great. I don’t like Heather being locked up. I also don’t like that she betrayed us. And you just lost your could-have-been twin.”
“Uh.” Hiccup sighs, rubbing at the back of his neck. “I guess. I don’t like it, either, but we need to focus on getting the Book of Dragons back.”
“She seemed so nice!”
“Yeah, she did, Tuff. I don’t get it, either. But this is the mess we’ve gotta deal with. Everyone, try to put yourselves together. We need to get a play laid out and fast. My dad’s not gonna be happy.”
“I thought he hasn’t looked happy since the day you were born,” Ruffnut offers, leaning over, appearing from basically nowhere.
“That’s kinda true,” Hiccup agrees, “But we still need to get the Book of Dragons back. Come on, everybody. Let’s try to work this out. We’re gonna have to break into Outcast Island, and I know you’ll love that form of chaos.
He’s got that one right – Tuff could really use blowing something up right now. The chaos and flames would be awesome.
Oh, and by the way, Hookfang apparently likes having his horns bent to the ground, which Tuff thinks is insane until Ruff shoves Tuff’s own horns down, and he rethinks that immediately. It actually feels pretty nice. Dirt is actually really, really soft…
***
Astrid looks terrible dressed up as Heather. She dyed her hair and changed her clothes, but she looks all wrong, and her eyes are blue instead of green.
Tuff can actually see the difference even at night, thanks, but she sails off to Outcast Island, and then it’s just loads and loads of chaos.
They try ambushing Alvin when Astrid comes back with Heather’s parents in tow – her parents aren’t dead??? – and then Barf and Belch get netted.
The twins are thrown from their backs and cornered beneath a lot of Outcast weapons. He’s in the middle of contemplating whether he should offer Ruff up as first-kill or himself, but then a blast from Stormfly has the Outcasts scrambling back, and her claws slice Barf and Belch free.
Tuffnut blinks up on awed confusion to see none other than Heather on the dragon’s back.
Heather came back to help them? That girl makes no sense.
“Is it weird that makes me like her more?” Tuff asks.
Ruffnut huffs. “Gross! Can we get back on our dragon already?”
“You don’t hafta ask twice!” He scrambles for Belch, and they take off again, sending a few blasts at their pursuers. The twins cover fire while the others fall back. Astrid somehow falls off Stormfly from behind Heather and picks up a Monstrous Nightmare of all dragons, and Tuff has to say it’s actually really, really cool to watch Heather flying a dragon of her own.
And then the chaos is averted and everyone’s back on Berk.
And Tuff feels kind of… well, he doesn’t know, but honestly really, really bad. Heather really needed their help, and he was oblivious, and then he was mad, while none of it was Heather’s fault at all. Just the usual Thorston chaos, and a few more things just seem… real, maybe. Hiccup did say to talk to her, so that’s what he does, Ruffnut shadowing from a distance for moral support.
“I’m sorry we didn’t help you,” Tuffnut blurts out, fumbling. “Or that I didn’t help you. Or – I don’t know.”
“I know, Tuff, and it’s okay,” she replies with a small smile and squeezes his shoulder. Ohh. That feels nice. And it doesn’t hurt. But it’s nice. Maybe a little too fluttery, though. “Besides, you all helped me. I can never thank any of you enough.”
“Uh, thanks,” Tuffnut mumbles, “I know why you don’t like me, or, uh, I’m a Thorston. Or a Nut. But I’m dumb. And you deserve so much better than dumb.” Should he have talked to Hiccup about this first, or…?
Heather laughs. “No, I, uh… well, we’re still kids, Tuff. If I see you again in a few years, maybe we can talk about it.” She hugs him. Tight and brief, but a hug’s a hug, and it’s so weirdly unexpected. No one hugs Tuff, but he hugs her back, mostly just an awkward back-pat and hopes he’s doing it right.
Heather and Ruff do a brief exchange of goodbyes, and she runs off to the docks to find Hiccup.
Tuff watches her and her parents leave, hugging Hiccup and Astrid goodbyes and getting onto the boat, waving until they’re out of sight. “I’m really gonna miss her,” he supplies forlornly.
“If you want my honest opinion,” Ruff offers, “There was never any future there.”
“Thanks,” he grumbles.
“I’ll still give you a hug,” she offers, yanking Tuff into a tight embrace. He and Ruff have very rare hugy-sappy moments, and he likes it like that, but hey, it’s kinda… nice. Hey, Heather might leave, but he’s still got his sister.
And Hiccup… he guesses. Which is weird. Nice but weird. Weird and nice. Weird and… what’s he talking about again?