To The End - A Tuffnut Love Story (HTTYD)

5. Picking Flowers

Hiccup, Astrid, and Fishlegs all scattered out into the village. Snotlout simply went and laid down by the water with Hookfang, clearly enjoying this 'paradise'. Ruffnut snuck away to go play with the fire fruits again, calling back to her brother, "you coming or not?"

Tuff gave her a nervous look and scratched behind his neck, "uh, no, you go ahead."

Although Ruff was obviously confused, she nodded and shouted back to him, "fine, but Barf and Belch are coming with me." She then ran off with the two headed dragon.

"You and your sister must do everything together," Iris observed.

"Really? You can tell?" Tuff questioned. Iris nodded and grinned. Then, Tuffnut spoke again, "could I, uh, help you do your work?"

He watched Iris's grin widen, making his chest grow hot. "That's thoughtful of you," she began, "but I'll be on a mountain peak today. It's a long climb up, and I wouldn't want you to fall."

"Oh trust me, I've lived through way worse," he assured her with a memorable smile, "like the time I was stuck in a boar pit for three days, or when I fell into that fireworm nest. Good times."

Iris gave the slightest laugh. It was the first time Tuff heard her laugh. His eyebrows raised slightly as he turned to look at her. "If you insist," Iris gave in.

"Yes!" Tuffnut shouted in joy. He followed Iris to the bottom of the steep mountain and together they began to climb. "So, uh," he began to ask, "why don't you fly to the top on the dragons?"

"In our tribe, riding the wraiths is disrespectful; they are our equals," Iris explained. She looked over to see Tuff in a rather precarious position, "please be careful," she worried.

"Are you kidding?" Tuff asked, "I love putting myself in dangerous situations."

Iris was once again taken by surprise by the odd man, and it only seemed to interest her even more. "That's..unique," she hesitantly said, unsure how to really respond.

"I used to be way worse, back when we first started training dragons," Tuffnut told her with a sideways grin as he continued to climb with her.

Iris looked back up as she responded, "I can only imagine."

Once they reached the top, Iris greeted her sand wraith, who was already up there waiting. The peak was like a small plateau, only about ten feet in diameter. It was covered in bright green grass and red flowers the size of his palm.

"This is cool, like an island in the sky," Tuff held his arms out wide and turned to look all around. There were many other small mountains, and one huge one, but they seemed to be on the shortest one.

Suddenly, Iris thrusted a bucket into the his hands and told him, "fill this with the red flowers; no stems or leaves though."

"Got it," Tuff answered firmly, soluting Iris, "just red, no green." He then sat on the ground and began picking.

Iris couldn't help but find him adorable, the way he sat criss cross, picking flowers with a smile. She tucked her short hair behind her ear and sat beside him facing the opposite direction. After a while of quiet plucking, Tuffnut asked, "hey Iris, what are these flowers for anyway? Sacred stew?"

Iris giggled softly, "more like sacred paint."

"Paint? Awe, I love paint!" Tuffnut shouted with a grin, "it's so fun to throw at people."

"We won't be throwing it, Tuff," Iris assured with an amused smile, "let's just say, it's for a party; and yes, you're invited."

Tuffnut looked over at Iris with a sideways smile. She had accepted him so quickly, and never once made fun of him like the other riders did sometimes. It made him feel good on the inside. It made him not want to look away from her.

Only when Iris sighed and stood up was he snapped out of his daze. "Two full buckets," she observed with satisfaction, "this should be enough." She then clicked a few times in the back of her throat. The sand wraith clicked back. Then, the dragon grabbed both buckets by their handles and flew off.

Tuffnut was visibly impressed as he remarked, "I don't think that will ever not be awesome. How do you do that?" His enthusiasm made Iris smile.

She responded, "I grew up with these dragons; our whole tribe has a universal language with the sand wraiths."

Things like this had never interested him before. But something about Iris made learning her culture fascinating. He followed her to the edge of the peak then frowned, "woah, uh, I know you can fly and all, but I only have arms."

Iris smiled and detached something from her back. "I brought my spare wings," she told him, "normally, they would snap right onto a dragon skin suit, but since you don't have that..."

To Tuffnut's surprise, she came right up to him and began to equip him with the scales. All he could do was stare out as he felt ropes of she'd skin tighten around him.