The Twins took flight on Barf and Belch, speeding in the general direction of Hiccup's hut while the others watched from below.

"Well," Fishlegs yawned, stretching his arms before climbing onto Meatlug's back, "I'm gonna go get some rocks for Meatlug, and prepare us all some quick brunch."

He paused, a calculating look on his face as he shifted himself to look at Hiccup. The leader was stroking his chin, lost in his thoughts, and looked like he was reflecting on some old, buried memories.

"You sure you're gonna be okay?" Fishlegs questioned concernedly.

"H-huh?" Hiccup stuttered, snapping out of his daze, "O-oh, yeah. J-just go on ahead."

Fishlegs gazed at him warily, but accepted Hiccup's dismissal nonetheless.

"Okay," Fishlegs said. Meatlug's wings began to flutter, and his voice slowly became more distant as they flew away further, "But come to my hut if you're not feeling well, I have a few herbs that can help with that!"

And then there were two.

"You don't look 'okay'," Astrid remarked, and it was true. Hiccup was shuddering slightly, a tight knot swirling around his stomach like a worm in his chest. Anyone with functioning eyes could see that he was feeling tense.

"Really?" Hiccup deadpanned as he began walking, "I-I-I thought I looked pretty decent."

"You're taking the long way by walking," She observed, she and Toothless striding towards him to keep up, "I'm coming with you."

"You don't have to."

"But I want to," Astrid insisted, "Everything that happened when we were kids is way behind us, and neither Dogsbreath nor Snotlout have the right to drag it back up."

"'Lout probably didn't participate in that," Hiccup reasoned, "He hasn't called me, 'Useless,' since we were fifteen."

"Plus," He pointed out, "We all know what happened when he apologised the first time."

Both Astrid and Toothless let out a chuckle at that. The craziness that ensued when Snotlout tried to smother him with 'cousinly love' in the first few weeks after the war ended was, indeed, a fun memory to behold.

"Still," Astrid replied, her tone growing serious, "Dogsbreath's got influence on him. It's like that whole thing you told me about with Spitelout, and you know how more-muttonheaded-than-usual he gets when he wants to impress someone."

Toothless rumbled in agreement, and Hiccup let out a sigh.

"I know," Hiccup sighed, "But he'll still have to listen, right?"

"Only one way to find out," Astrid responded, curtly. The three had stopped walking, and were now standing right outside Snotlout's hut.

"I'm gonna give you guys some privacy to talk," She stated, standing guard at the door with Toothless, "Shout if you need us to threaten someone with an axe, or a plasma blast. Okay, babe?"

Hiccup chuckled, slowly pushing the door open.

"Thanks, Milady."


The first thing that Hiccup noticed, as he closed the door behind him, was the smell. It stank of mossy rocks and rotten fish, which was probably expected, considering that both Snotlout and Dogsbreath regularly skipped Washing Day.

"Uh, Snotlout?" Hiccup called uncertainly. Hookfang was snoozing by the corner, and Seaslug was nowhere to be found, which meant that Dogsbreath wasn't here, which eased Hiccup's nerves quite a bit.

"Five more minutes.." Came Snotlout's dozing voice. Apparently, he was still in the middle of his, 'beauty nap'.

"Snotlout." Hiccup repeated, approaching Snotlout's bed. That appeared to do the trick, as Snotlout soon tumbled out of bed with a clumsy, "Huh?"

"Wha-?" Snotlout squinted, still barely awake, "Oh, hey, Hic."

The short viking yawned loudly, stretching his arms, "Is it time for patrol already, or..?"

"No, but we need to talk."

"If this is about me using Astrid's toothbrush, in my defence, Hookfang burned mine."

"No, it's about- Wait, what?" Hiccup paused, with widened eyes.

"Uh..." Snotlout snapped to attention, "Nothing! You were saying?"

"Erh.. Anyway," Hiccup continued, "We've gotta talk about Dogsbreath."

"Oh, yeah!" Snotlout perked up, fully awake by now, "Isn't he awesome?"

"He's taking his 'pranks' too far," The heir stated bluntly.

"Whaaat?" His cousin exclaimed, "Nah, he's just having fun!"

"He wrote, 'tears' all over the Twins' warehouse and made Tuff cry."

"Tuff's dramatic, he cries over everything."

"He also poisoned Fishlegs two nights ago."

"I saw, it was harmless!"

"He's rude."

"That's just him being cool!"

Hiccup took a deep breath, pressing his palms together and pointing them towards Snotlout in a 'V' shape, "Okay, what else do you know about Dogsbreath's pranks, exactly?"

"Yeah, that's pretty much it," Snotlout said, making Hiccup blink back in mild surprise. He really didn't know.

"Nothing else?" He pressed further.

"Well, he did ask me to get some red paint yesterday," Snotlout's face scrunched up in thought, "Probably used it as fake blood, or something."

"H-he-" Hiccup stuttered, fumbling over his words as his voice came to a screechy halt, suddenly full of emotion, "He- uh, painted, 'Useless,' in large letters on my door."

As soon as Hiccup said that, Snotlout's expression shifted dramatically. Hiccup knew that Snotlout felt that something like that was way out of line. His blue eyes zipped around, guilt and several other mixed feelings flashing through them as he scanned Hiccup in disbelief. But Hiccup was no liar, and even the most meat-headed dimwits could see that.

"Oh, scallops," Snotlout swore after a moment's pause, his expression strangely unreadable.

"Y-yeah," Hiccup crossed his arms, a swarm of emotions swirling inside him as well. He absolutely hated playing the pity card, but if Dogsbreath was willing to do something like that to him, what would he end up doing to the others? He didn't want Dogsbreath prodding around his friends' deepest insecurities and hurting them, too.

"And-" Whatever Hiccup was going to say next was interrupted by the sound of loud screeches outside. The tell-tale screeches of the Night Terrors reporting an intruder.

"Guys!" Astrid shouted, slamming the door open as several Night Terrors flew around in panic, "Dragon Hunters and Flyers, approaching from the South!"

"Oh, scallops," Both Hiccup and Snotlout said in unison.