To The End - A Tuffnut Love Story (HTTYD)

34. Hatching

Tuffnut looked from Astrid to Iris and frowned, raising a eyebrow, "not exactly the reaction I was expecting."

"Oh my Thor, does he not know?" Astrid questioned Iris, approaching her to take a look at the egg.

"Not know what? And who is, 'he'?" Tuffnut asked in confusion.

Iris took a deep breath as she saw Arrow running over to her. The dragon stopped and sat infront of her with a smile. "When were you gonna tell me about this?" Iris demanded. Arrow rolled her eyes and gurgled lightly. Iris sighed and looked back to her love, "Tuff..sand wraiths only lay an egg when they sense the beginning of a new human life of their tribe."

"That's neat," Tuff responded with a cool grin. After a moment, he processed what she was saying. His blue eyes widened and he stared down at Iris in disbelief, "wait, does that mean..?"

With a nervous smile, Iris nodded, "i-it does."

Her nervousness, however, melted away as Tuffnut's eyes began to sparkle with delight. He lifted her by the waist and twirled her around before bringing her into a loving hug, "that's amazing, oh gods..this is amazing, Iris."

Iris laughed as tears of joy began to slip from her eyes. "Careful of the egg," she warned. He immediately let her go, not wanting to harm the egg.

"I can't believe it," Astrid remarked with a shocked grin.

With a proud grin, Iris looked from Arrow to back down at the egg. However, she soon frowned, "I've never seen a sand wraith egg like this before."

"Well, I don't think it's a full sand wraith," Astrid piped up. Iris looked up in time to see Arrow hop off happily to Toothless. "Oh my Thor."

"What happened over here?" Hiccup questioned as he approached the yak nog covered floor.

"Arrow laid an egg, and apparently that means something," Ruffnut shrugged from where she was leaning back against Eret watching eveything go down.

"Hiccup! We're related!" Tuffnut attacked the Chief with a tight hug.

Hiccup gasped for air. When he was finally let go, he took a deep breath, "okay, what did I miss?"

"Arrow and Toothless laid an egg," Astrid explained excitedly.

Hiccup smiled wide in surprise as Iris handed him the egg, "what?! When--how?"

"Yeah, and so did Iris!" Tuff spoke confidently, then questioned himself, "wait, no, that doesn't make sense." He turned to Iris and asked awkwardly, "you don't lay eggs, do you?"

Iris gave him a look and punched him hard in the shoulder, "no! It's a baby, not an egg."

"Ow! Okay, my mistake," Tuff chuckled at the flustered look of Iris:s face.

"You're having a baby?!" Ruffnut shouted, suddenly realizing what was happening.

Hiccup looked from Ruff to the couple with raised eyebrows and a blown away grin, "I walk away for a few hours and suddenly everyone's having babies."

"Isn't that kind of every Snoggletog?" Ruffnut pointed out, gesturing to the swaem of baby dragons still licking up the spilt yak nog; at least someone was enjoying the drink.

Hiccup hugged Iris firmly, then moved to hug Tuff, "wow, congratulations." He then looked to see Toothless and Arrow coming their way. "You're gonna be a dad before me, huh, bud?" He asked Toothless with a crooked smile, scratching the night fury's head.

Toothless gurgled as if to laugh. The dragon then took the egg in his jaw and carefully placed it infront of Arrow. The two sniffed it generously before laying down with it between their bodies.

With a small grin, Iris leaned back into Tuff's body. He wrapped his arms around her gently and sighed into her ear. He was in a daze of joy and disbelief. Needless to say, it was the best Snoggletog he'd ever had.

***

"How long do you think it'll be before it hatches?" Fishlegs asked Iris eagerly. The two were in Iris and Tuff's home with Astrid, Hiccup, Tuffnut and Toothless. The two parent dragons were laying in the sand pit together, Arrow licking the egg thoughtfully to keep it clean.

"It's usually only a few day, just like other dragons," Iris explained.

Hiccup then finished for her, "but we have no idea how long night furies take to hatch."

"What are we gonna call it?" Astrid wondered, "it'll be a completely new species."

Tuffnut and Iris exchanged a look. Once he got a nod of approval from his love, he spoke, "I thought night wraith would be fitting."

"That's actually perfect, Tuff," Fishlegs complimented.

Just then, Toothless lifted his head in alert and Arrow stopped licking the egg. The head sized mount wiggled. "Quick question do sand wraith eggs explode like other species'?" Tuff asked speedily as he and the other riders backed away slightly.

Iris smiled in amusement as she knelt on the ground, "other dragon eggs explode?"

"Yeah," Fishlegs confirmed, "all but a few species..guess I can added sand wraiths to that short list." Then, the shell began to crack. Thin lines striped across the surface, and the shellback to fall away.