When We Meet

The Mead Hall was quiet except the howling wind outside in the night. The flames of the torches flickered whenever the odd blow licked them.

Snotlout put his empty mug on the table and stretched his neck. His attention was on his sore fingers before he glimpsed at Ruffnut, looking, well, rough. It had been a long day. The face so familiar was bored, but at ease. There was no one at that table to impress or worth putting a mask on for. She was exhausted and she did not bother hiding it.

"Huh…"

Ruffnut's gaze left the chatting ones at the other end of the table. She didn't need her name to be mentioned to assume his "huh" was aimed at her; they were the only ones who did not put their two coins in on the conversation going on. Ruffnut couldn't care less which breed's feces were more beneficial to crops and Snot made it clear that Shit Talk could wait until he was finished with his meal.

"What?"

"Uh, nothing." He shook his head, it was nothing to comment on.

"What is it?"

"Nothing! I just… realized something."

"What?"

The voice was getting impatient so Snot shrugged, trying to look disinterested.

"I was thinking. I've known you my whole life. I can't remember when we met."

Ruff looked at him as if she suspected an earlier blow to his head. He was acting weird and she could only afford an eye roll and a "Yeah, wow," when the next thing on her mind was calling it a night and crashing.

Snotlout shrugged again, now regretting talking about the whole thing, and stuffed his face with the last piece of mutton. But the more he thought on it, the stranger it felt; the fact that she had just been a part of his life, no questions asked. It was like noticing the air he breathed in every day. They've known each other since they were born, stuck on an island with nowhere to go. All of them.

Yet it was still weird to truly realize that he knew her. And she knew him.

Ruffnut finally finished her drink and left the table to go to bed and Snotlout purposefully avoided watching her leave. He was getting ready to give an uninformed lecture on why Nightmare crap was the best.