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Ruffnut knew what she was bringing on herself the moment she brought the knife to her hair, maybe even before. But she did it, anyway. How couldn’t she? Scauldy needed it. It didn’t matter if Viking girls never cut their hair. She’ll face all the stares when she gets back to Berk she has to. Scauldy is more important.
It’s not like Ruffnut’s ever been your average Viking girl, anyway. She doesn’t do… most of the things they do, things that are considered normal and whatever, things that literally everyone else does.
She honestly never cared, either. Usually. Not unless she thinks about how crazy everyone gets over Astrid, about how nearly every boy she’s ever seen stares at Astrid, about how even the not-boys gush about how smart and pretty and fierce a fighter she is.
Astrid is idolized among the kids of Berk.
It’s annoying. But if you’d look for the perfect girl, it’s the rider’s other blond member, not her. Ruff is too scrawny, maybe just a bit too weak, too boy-ish and too ugly, and she knows she smells awful. Which is just fine. She’s got Tuff, and she doesn’t need anything else. Oh, yeah, and the million, obvious scars littering her body from honestly, she doesn’t remember what. Most of them were pretty self-inflicted, though.
And there’s a reason everyone who looks at her thinks at first glance that she’s a boy. Which is also perfectly fine. Okay, honest, it can be annoying. It really, really is annoying, and she just tends to prefer pretending it isn’t, ‘cuz that gets miserable.
But, bonus – Scauldy’s okay. It doesn’t matter if Ruff had to lose her braids to save the dragon. He would’ve died if they’d left him.
Has anyone ever told you was the snippiest comeback she could make to Tuff after. Not her greatest, but she really misses the ridiculous, weighted braids swinging at her back.
When they hop off Barf and Belch back on Berk, everyone is staring. Which is good, too. Ruffnut likes attention, but not really the kind she’s gonna be getting a lot of.
Viking girls never cut their hair. She knows she made a small sacrifice, but it was for a dragon, so she doesn’t much care, though no one else seems to have gotten that yet. Ruff’s probably barely gotten it herself.
The what happened to your hair questions are starting as the riders break off, splitting up and heading home in the final stages of winter preparations.(Snotlout’s slinking off with a broken wrist, thanks to Astrid, probably not to see Gothi like he should, because he always comes to the twins for his injuries, and Ruff wants to strangle the girl all over seeing that.)
Ruffnut shrugs in answer.
“We had to save a dragon,” Tuff answers for her, “I would’ve cut mine, of course, but I thought Ruff would look funny without it.”
She pointedly elbows her brother, but the words are already spreading. Everyone is gonna know soon. And she really doesn’t mind sacrificing her hair, for as much as she loves it, for Scauldy. It’d be nice if everyone would stop looking. She knows literally everybody on Berk is judging her, and Ruff would usually be happy, but when it’s about things of actual, cultural importance that all Vikings understand, not so much.
There are some rules even she doesn’t break. But this time, she had to.
Ruffnut slinks into their house, and her and Tuff sit quietly by the fire, warming up and for once, a little lost in thought. And really missing her hair. Nothing to comb out tonight, clearly. “I really wish Scauldy came back with us,” she says.
“Yeah. I wish he did, too. It was fun to watch,” Tuff supplies.
“What do we eat tonight?”
“I don’t know. Scauldron venom?”
“I thought that was poisonous?”
“That’s why, right?”
“Good point.”
“How about no venom?” Hiccup’s voice asks from the doorway, tapping on the front door and inviting himself in, Toothless following him as the ever-present lingering shadow that he is. “I’m not staying, but I thought I’d just say hi.”
“Oh, hey, Hiccup.” Tuff waves from beside the fire. “Maybe we should eat your venom.”
“I don’t have venom, Tuffnut, and if I did, I definitely wouldn’t give it to you to eat.” He comes in a little closer, doing that uncomfortable shifting thing he does when he’s nervous, and Ruffnut gives him a pointed look to start talking. They’ve been friends for a Few years – he can definitely talk.
“I just wanted to say you did really well back there with Scauldy,” he says, crouching beside Ruff. “Both keeping him calm, and trying to help him get out of here. We never could’ve done that without you.”
She doesn’t know what to do with thanks. Nobody really appreciates her presence, and that’s no complaint. It’s sort of just simple fact. She doesn’t care. But it’s still strange when someone says thank you.
“I liked Scauldy,” Ruff offers in defense. Should she be defensive? It’s honestly hard to tell.
“I know,” Hiccup replies, smiling, and she ignores the little fluttery sensation in her stomach. “But you sacrificed something important for a dragon, and that’s something I would’ve done.”
“I guess I’m learning from you,” Ruffnut shrugs, feigning carelessness.
Hiccup kisses her, brief and fleeting, but still leaves Ruff blinking in confusion and a definite bit of sappiness. Hey, she can say for a fact that even if the rest of their tribe is mad at her, Hiccup isn’t, and that’s actually a whole lot more important, right?
Toothless’s ears perk up happily and he makes a quiet little snicker sound that makes Hiccup’s flush deepen. He’s basically as annoying as Tuff is to Ruff. Mean.
“Okay, don’t even do that, bud,” Hiccup grumbles. He leaves, and Toothless patters out behind him, still giggling at him in dragon. The boy makes a quiet grumbled response Ruff doesn’t really hear the moment they’re out of the house, probably Hiccup Hiccup-ly telling him to shut up and stop trolling him. That’s fun. She’d actually love to watch just a bit more of it. Hiccup’s kind of adorable when he’s flustered, but she loves him however he is or isn’t.
Tuff scoots closer as soon as he’s gone. “Whoa,” he supplies.
“Don’t start,” Ruffnut huffs, cheeks definitely reddening. Even though, it’s absolutely true and she does have an uncomfortable level of feelings for Hiccup.
“Okay,” Tuffnut offers, shrugging. “Uh… what are we eating tonight again?”
Ruff twitches and quickly looks at her twin. “Do you think Hiccup has venom?”
“If he did, he certainly wouldn’t tell us.”
“What if he’s actually part dragon?”
“Then how did he fall through fire?”
“He’s a flammable dragon,” Ruff settles on. Which is actually kind of scary, though would be entirely unsurprising – but for the record, she loves him anyway.