A/N: This is a sort of continuation of "Loosen Up", so if you haven't read that one first, go read it and this will make so much more sense.

It's not necessarily a full-out Ruffcup one-shot, but there are definitely elements of it; and as I said before, it's made to tie in with the last one.


Everything is only fun for so long. That is, until reality hits you in the face.

For the love of the gods, she had to keep her mouth shut. She was beyond stressed out, far from consolation and unexplainably confused; not to mention angry as Hel and distraught at the sudden realization that her life would never be the same. For various reasons all brought upon by herself.

Asgard forbid he ever know about this.

Or anyone else, for that matter.

Sitting on her bed, wringing her messy, tangled hair between her fingers as she choked on her own heart heaving in her throat wasn't solving anything, nor was it helping her calm down and think about it all clearly. She hadn't started crying yet – in fact, she nearly refused to cry – but felt as though she weren't far away from it. It took a lot to make her cry, and even something as violent and painful as a punch in the mouth would only ever drive her to anger; forget tears or crying.

Though, with something this heavy on her mind, swimming in her gut, and suffocating her senses, it was extremely hard not to.

"Ruffnut!"

At the sudden sound of her mother's voice, she felt her body jump off the bed, and this time she was pretty sure that already pounding heart of hers had forced itself past her uvula somehow, without making her vomit; even though she'd felt like vomiting already.

"Mom," she snapped, gritting her teeth. "You scared the shit outta me. Go away!"

There was a pause. "Are you okay, dear?"

"No!" she screamed, throwing herself into her pillow and blankets. "Seriously, go away! You are the last person I want to talk to right now!"

Besides Hiccup, her mind quickly added. She gripped the pillow so hard she was sure it'd burst momentarily.

The door creaked, and Skade tried poking her head in. Upon seeing her daughter flung out on her bed, distraught, she gave a moan of sympathy and attempted to approach her. Ruffnut madly swung her hand, motioning for her to leave.

"I'm not gonna talk about it, so don't even bother," she choked out. "Just leave me alone."

Skade stood uncomfortably beside the bed, wondering how to respond. Ruffnut had her moments, but in all the twenty-one years she'd raised her, she'd never seen her this upset or unwilling to spill whatever was bothering her. Normally, Skade could never get her to stop talking.

"Well, if you're not going to talk to me, could you at least do me a small favor, dear?" she gently asked. Ruffnut didn't move or otherwise respond. "There's something I need delivered to Mrs. Jorgenson, and I'd go myself, but it's nearly dinner time and I haven't even started on it." Ruffnut groaned loudly, and Skade tilted her head. "It'll take all of five minutes, Ruffnut. I'd really appreciate it."

After fifteen seconds of absolute silence, Ruffnut finally lifted her head up and turned it to look over at her mother. Her expression was wrought with disdain; disgust, even. Languidly, deliberately, she peeled herself from the bed and stood to her feet in front of her mother, heaving a loud sigh while rolling her eyes up at the ceiling.

"'Kay, fine. Gimme the stupid thing and I'll run it up."


Mrs. Jorgenson smiled brightly as she unwrapped the package Ruffnut had reluctantly handed to her. While Mrs. Jorgenson gawked at a set of potholders Skade had hand-made for her, Ruffnut happened to peer past her and see Snotlout gnawing on his dinner. Almost at the same time, he curiously turned to see who was in the doorway, and as soon as they caught glances, Ruffnut frowned and shot him an angry glare.

"They're beautiful!" Mrs. Jorgenson was still gushing. She lifted her happy, glistening eyes up to Ruffnut and continued to glow. "Tell your mother I love them. She always does such a wonderful job with these hand-made things, doesn't she?"

Ruffnut gave a half-hearted grin back, which evaporated off of her face almost instantaneously. "Yeeeah."

Mrs. Jorgenson's attitude and expression did a 180º turn, and she furrowed her brow and tipped her head.

"Ruffnut, are you feeling well?" she wondered. Ruffnut raised an eyebrow. "You look unusually pale."

Ruffnut shook her head and shrugged. "Just kinda… tired. I guess."

"Are you sure you're not coming down with something?" Mrs. Jorgenson further probed. "You've got these awful circles under your eyes, and as I just mentioned, you're terribly pale." She paused and folded her arms in a scolding sort of fashion. "You didn't eat your breakfast again this morning, did you?"

"I couldn't," Ruffnut spluttered, folding her arms right back. "Not when I felt like throwing up, anyway. No way I'm gonna try and stomach something I'll heave back up in five minutes."

There was a horribly long and uncomfortable lapse. Ruffnut could have sworn Snotlout leaned forward in his seat.

Mrs. Jorgenson narrowed her eyes curiously. "You feeling fatigued, a little crampy?"

"Ugh, I could just die," Ruffnut moaned. She hung her shoulders and closed her eyes. "I wanna crawl into a hole and never come out."

"Well, you certainly look fatigued, dear," Mrs. Jorgenson continued. "Even a bit lightheaded, if I might add. You sure you don't want to come lie down for a moment?"

"No," Ruffnut shot back, almost before the words could finish leaving Mrs. Jorgenson's mouth. She eyed Snotlout again and saw that he'd resumed eating. Good. "I'm going right back home anyway. I'm going to go lie down when I get back."

Mrs. Jorgenson held up a finger, and a small grin played on her lips. "Let me get you something to help with that."

As soon as she turned her back, Ruffnut rolled her eyes. The coot had no idea what was going on, and there was nothing she could possibly do to make it better. Nothing.

The seasoned Viking warrior returned holding a jar, which she handed to Ruffnut with a smile. Before Ruffnut could ask what it was for, Mrs. Jorgenson leaned close and continued to smile.

"Take a spoonful of this every hour or so, or whenever you feel the nausea return," she explained. "It'll help ease its bite, and you should be able to keep your food down. It also helps you sleep at night, so put some in a cup of tea or something before you go to sleep." She winked and leaned back, taking a few steps back into her house. "You can't skip meals – that little one needs all the nourishment it can get!"

Ruffnut began to blush. Hard.

How in the holy name of Frigg did she know?

Before the door closed in front of her face, which was plastered with an expression of shock and embarrassment, she could have sworn to the gods she saw Snotlout's eyes doubled in size.

Two people knew.

Damn it.

She turned and tore off like mad for the safe haven of her home. It wouldn't be long before the rest of the village knew.

Before Hiccup knew.


"So, how are you dealing with it?" Snotlout asked Tuffnut as the two conversed later that evening over mugs of mead. Tuffnut furrowed his brow and slowly turned to look at his best friend.

"What are you talking about?" he replied, shaking his head. Now it was Snotlout's turn to wear the confused face.

"You know, the whole deal with Ruffnut?" he said, wondering why Tuffnut had no idea what he meant. Even still, Tuffnut looked like he wasn't getting it. Snotlout gave him a serious stare. "Your sister's pregnant… for crying out loud, how could you not know that?"

Tuffnut nearly came out of his seat, and he swiveled to face Snotlout. "My sister's what? Where the Hel did you hear that? She hasn't said anything about that!"

Snotlout held up his hands. "I just heard my mom talking about it with her a little while ago. Ruff said she was feeling gross and my mom gave her some stuff to help. Before Ruff left, my mom made some sort of comment like, 'You gotta feed that little one'; so when she was gone I asked Mom about it, and she said she was pretty sure Ruff's pregnant. Apparently she's got all the symptoms of it."

"Well… we all knew it was gonna happen," Tuffnut finally groaned, shaking his head again. "She wanted Hiccup bad. And we all know her – she gets her way in the end."

The two chuckled and exchanged looks.

"You think this is what she wanted?" Snotlout snickered. Tuffnut smirked and took a sip of mead.

"Heh, not at all," he drawled, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand, "but she definitely asked for it."