THE TRANSLATOR, httyd.

the translator, thirty-seven.

snotlout generally had three rules for his life.

the first rule: kill a drag — okay, what the hell? did he not update it? hookfang sniffed disgruntledly behind him. hissing, he slunk away.

snotlout shook his head. correction: have a dragon who loved him. hookfang and him had a very complex relationship. it would usually end with snotlout getting hung from the roost upside-down, yelling about how his underwear would be shown to everyone with hookfang laughing.

the second rule: never, ever get involved in drama. last time snotlout's name was mentioned in an argument, he had gotten a black eye and a broken leg ( he wasn't able to do training for months! ). he didn't particularly like it, but one way or another, he had gotten roped into being in berk controversies. 

sigh.

the third and most important one was a secret. makesureyourfriendsarehappy. but shh, that one should be always kept to himself — always — after all, he had a reputation to uphold. 

and three of those three rules were now broken, and snotlout didn't have any idea what he was going to do about it. 

kill a dragon? well, hookfang certainly stopped him from doing it. 

never get involved in drama? hiccup and elina decided to be dramatic muttonheads and that means berkians would gossip about him as well. 

make sure your friends are happy? well, snotlout knew that hiccup could barely eat or sleep, and elina rarely talked to anyone, only conversing with her dragons.

sigh.

and so, through an intense thinking montage, snotlout finally decided to make a list of things he thought that would be able to bring elina and hiccup back together again.

the only problem?

the list was blank.

and snotlout was back at square one.

sigh.

maybe astrid would have a better idea. so, snotlout found himself at the shield maiden's door, nervously knocking. he didn't want to get severely maimed that day. snotlout barely managed to step out of the way as astrid slammed the door open with gusto, looking around with an eyebrow raised.

"who's there?" her voice was pleasant — something snotlout had never heard before in his life. snotlout shuddered at the thought — she was usually very, very mean to him. especially when she threatened to chop off his balls with her axe and choke him with it.

"uhh," snotlout was now wondering if this was a good idea, "it's snotlout."

astrid rolled her eyes, and suddenly, snotlout felt an arm grab him from his hiding place and shove him forwards to meet eye to eye with astrid hofferson.

snotlout gulped.

"what do you want, snotlout?" astrid said. snotlout scratched the back of his head.

"so, you know about hiccup and elina, right?" snotlout whispered cautiously, keeping an eye out for the two. 

astrid raised an eyebrow and nodded. "yeah, what about them?"

"haven't you noticed they've been acting a little bit — well — depressed, lately?" snotlout internally patted himself on the back for using a big word. depressed.

astrid sighed and pocketed her axe. well, at least he had something interesting to say. but that meant she wouldn't be able to cut snotlout's balls off, and she was sad about it.

"obviously," astrid told him. snotlout hadn't even noticed astrid was pulling him inside her hut. 

"so, i think we should get them back together."

snotlout winced at the look on astrid's face. 

sigh.

"okay, genius. what's your plan, then?" she asked sarcastically, leaning against the wooden boards of the hut.

"i don't have one," snotlout retorted. "it was hard, okay? besides, i think it'll be best for elina and hiccup. they looked so happy before."

astrid sighed. "it's not going to be that easy, snotlout. elina betrayed all of us; it was a miracle that most berkians were willing to ignore the fact and let her live here. i'm actually surprised stoick and valka weren't too mad about it —"

"hey!" snotlout felt the need to defend his best friend. "she's great! she saved both hiccup and stoick! and don't forget all the help she gave us when we were working on the dragon eye and still fighting viggo, ryder and drago."

"i know, i'm just stating the point that it's going to take a miracle for them to get back together again. in hiccup's eyes, he was basically told by the person he... well, loved," snotlout thought he threw up a little bit in his mouth, "that she just pretended liking him".

sigh.

"okay, but do you know why she..." he lowered his tone, "backstabbed us?" snotlout asked. the question had been on his mind, and almost everyone else's minds, even if they pretended it didn't exist. 

astrid shrugged. "the past is in the past," she said absent-mindedly. then, she paused. "although, she did seem a bit... reluctant while saying it, didn't you notice?"

snotlout gave her a look. "i don't look at people's faces in that much detail," he scoffed, "it's like you have a crush on her or something."

he didn't notice the way astrid froze for a second before she snorted it off. "don't be stupid, snotlout," astrid punched him on the arm. 

snotlout yelped in pain. 

sigh.

"seriously, though, do you think we should ask elina what happened?"

"i guess," snotlout murmured, his mind subconsciously imagining how the conversation would go. 

astrid nodded in determination. "okay, i'll go ask her now."

snotlout was jolted out from his thoughts. "now?" he nearly shrieked, and astrid didn't even turn back at his loud volume. "you're gonna ask her now?"

"obviously," snotlout stared at astrid's back incredulously. he could imagine astrid's scowl as she spoke.

it was all for elina, snotlout repeatedly told himself. it was all for elina.