To The End - A Tuffnut Love Story (HTTYD)

22. Suspicious Behavior (2)

***

After spending her whole morning gathering samples of flowers for her brother, Ruffnut made her way through the village to meet him at their home. Attempting to avoid as many eyes as she could, she was on high alert; the last thing she wanted was for people to start thinking she picks flowers in her free time. Suddenly, someone called to her, "hey,  Ruff."

"Ah! What?" Ruff whipped around to find herself face to face with the last person she wanted to spot her. Trying to stay calm, Ruff hit the flowers behind her bacm, "Iris, hey! How's my favorite dragon warrior? You know what? I'm actually really busygottagobye!"

She ran off before Iris could speak again. So much for staying calm. When she finally reached the Thorston house, she was out of breath. "Woah, what happened to you?" Tuff asked as his sister glared at him.

"Your sneaky girlfriend almost caught me," Ruffnut retorted, thrusting the bundle of flowers into Tuff's face, "any of these good enough?"

Tuffnut took the flowers and examined each one with care. Finally, he sighed, "afraid not, sister. Looks like we'll have to go to a whole different island."

"Uh, how? We're still grounded for blowing up the armory?" Ruff reminded with a shrug.

The young man throught for a moment before suggesting reluctantly, "I guess I could tell Hiccup why we need to go. He'll understand, right?"

"I don't know man, it's your call," Ruff raised her hands as if to back out of the decision.

***

Tuffnut approached Hiccup in the Great Hall that day at noon. "Hiccup, Chief, my friend," Tuff began with a charming grin.

Hiccup rolled his eyes and crossed his arms, "no."

Smile immediately failing, Tuff argued, "what? I didn't even ask yet!"

"You were going to try and convince me to unground you and Ruffnut," Hiccup replied plainly.

Tuff looked to the ground and frowned, "woah, you're good..." He paused for a minute before begging, "but it's not just because I miss flying and the smell of zippleback gas in my clothes; it's for Iris."

Finally, Hiccup expressed interest. He stared at Tuff's wide, pleading eyes and finally gave in. With a sigh, he accepted, "fine..but just for today, and the rest of the riders are going with you. I have to stay here, so that means you listen to Astrid."

"Yes!" Tuff jumped and punched the air excitedly. He quickly raced off before Hiccup could change his mind. Grabbing his sister from their home, they made their way to the arena where Astrid was with Snotlout and Fishlegs. "Good news!" He shouted with a grin, "we're coming with you!"

For some reason, no one else seemed to take this as good news, and Tuff couldn't understand why. "What? But you're grounded," Snotlout argued.

"Not today, they aren't," Hiccup walked down into the arena, looking like he regret his earlier decision. He approached Astrid and explained, "Tuff has something he needs to do for Iris, and I figured you all could use a break from training."

"So what are we doing then?" Fishlegs wondered.

"I need to find the perfect flowers for Iris," Tuffnut went on dramatically, "something beautiful, like her..that smells good, like her...something that really shouts, 'Iris'." He motioned his hands in the air as if to paint the picture for his friends.

Fishlegs and Hiccup exchanged unamused looks. "Uh, how about an iris, then?" Fishlegs suggested.

Tuff's eyes widened and he exclaimed in woah, "ah! An excellent idea, my fishy friend."

"Wait just a second," Astrid butted in, "why flowers? And why now?"

The male twin began to blush and look around in a fluster. "Hey, don't pressure him!" Ruff shouted, "it's a secret."

Astrid raised an eyebrow and smirked, but decided to leave the subject alone. She started packing up Stormfly's saddle bag in silence. The quiet was soon broken, however, by a shout of surprise by Tuffnut. Astrid turned to find Iris clinging to him and giggling.

"Iris," Tuff greeted with a crooked grin, "okay, okay, you got me." He smiled fully and touched her hair, "I like this."

Taking one of his hands into her own, she smiled up at him, "can I come watch you train today?"

"Noooo!" Ruffnut interrupted dramatically.

Everyone took turns, attempting to get Iris to stay behind. But Tuff simply couldn't say no to spending time with his girl. So when all eyes were on him, he decided it would be least suspicious to just let her come.

***

"What a beautiful island," Iris exclaimed as she and the riders landed. Fishlegs had led them to an island where he was sure irises grew. "Do you always train here?"

"Uh, sometimes," Tuff tried to cover up the real reasoning as to why they were there, "you know, for a change of scenery."

For the remainder of the time, Astrid kept Iris distracted while the other riders took turns disappearing into the forests to look for the flower. Once it was finally found, the 'training' was over and everyone went back to Berk. Now Tuff new exactly where to go to get the flowers when he needed them, and Iris still had no idea what was coming.