Tuffnut blinked patiently as he sat cross legged on a wooden stool before his master, Gobber, and waited for the reason for Gobber's smirk to be revealed.

Gobber sat across from him on his stool in the rare afternoon silence of the smithy leaning his big weight on his good leg and seemingly enjoying the sit after standing for hours handling iron and tools.

"Astrid... is sweet on ye," Gobber finally said.

"No comprendo."

"Yer as blind as a bat in Hel!" Gobber exclaimed. "The lass comes every o'er day just to see you and talk about everything under the Sun!"

"We just talk about dumb stuff, like the weather, and why you haven't tripped over your own beard yet."

"Eh?" Gobber said. He ignored the comment. "How d'you explain 'er sneaking you off to lunch everyday when I don't see? I don't give y'breaks unless you can work for 'em."

"It's not as hard as you think. You just never really turn around much."

"What I mean is, she likes yer comp'ny. She likes you."

"No way," Tuffnut swore with a firm shake of his dreads. He used his hands to emphasize the obvious. "This is Astrid you're talking about. Y'know, the one that's completely out of my league? She's nice 'n stuff, but I think you're just pulling my leg."

"If y'don't take my werd fer it, you should be a man and ask her if she likes ye for yerself!"

"Me?"

"There's no use in guessing. D'you feel the same way?"

Tuffnut's teal eyes wandered at his surroundings in thought. The way Astrid made his heart skip a beat whenever she laughed at his jokes, the flowery scent of her skin whenever she met him at the service window, the confident swagger she had anywhere she walked. He had always felt something lovely, forbidden. A feeling that he couldn't even describe to Ruffnut.

"She's my friend," Tuffnut said quietly with a shrug, like his words explained everything, even to himself.

"Ah, so the feelings aren't mutual. That makes things much easier!"

"How come?"

"All ye need to do is tell 'er how ye feel. Don't be too hard on 'er. She won't forgive you any. Ye have t'let her down easy. It's only the right thing to do." Gobber's grey-blue eyes shone with wisdom that only a near-lifetime of romance and heartbreak could earn.

Tuffnut faced the sunlit floorboards and chewed his lip.

"Breaks over! Get back t'work." Gobber announced after a moment. He grunted and waddled to stand upright again.

"Gobber? Can I say something to you, man to really-old-man?"

Gobber's eyebrow lifted over Tuffnut.

Tuffnut refrained, but then muttered, "You're sorta, kinda like a dad to me, so I think I can trust you." Tuffnut squinted unsurely at Gobber, but trusted the words he had uttered.

"Aye," Gobber said in a calm, questioning tone.

Tuffnut hiked his shoulders and sighed, "I think I like her, too."

Gobber smiled and sat down again to listen. "Is that so?"

Tuffnut hid his face. "Whaddo I do?"

"Simple! You show 'er you're interested."

Tuffnut twinged his eyebrows.

"Think of it like fishing. You first gotta cast a line."


Sorry it's short again. (: Hope you enjoyed.