"Such a Simple Thing..."

"Oh Simple Thing...where have you gone...?"

She was right though. Much as he hated to admit it, she was right. It was stupid of him to go out in this weather. He couldn't see a damned thing in front of him, let alone look around to find something as a present. Of course, Scrye was doing fine, blind as she was. He heaved a sigh, shaking his head slowly before dropping it into his hand, scrubbing the frozen fingers over his wind blistered cheeks and burning eyes. Almost three weeks AFTER Christmas and he was STILL looking for something.

Hiccup had yet to give him anything; just kept repeating over and over that he was a perfectionist. Tuffnut had no idea what that meant, he just knew he didn't have a gift yet. From Hiccup or FOR Hiccup. He DID have one on Christmas...he had planned to give Hiccup a stone he had found near the pond they were always by. It was just a piece of rose quartz, but the way it was shaped and flattened it looked a little like Toothless' head. He had thought it would be a neat little idea...paired with a night of leaving bruises and making the boy scream Tuffnut had thought he had the best Christmas ever planned out for the little brunette.

Then Ruffnut found the stone.

He scrubbed his hands over his face, pressing his free one against the Nightmare's shoulder, trying to warm it on the coal hot scales. Ruffnut had given him such shit for that stupid stone. Talking about how they use to collect rocks together as kids and how he was so sentimental and so cute. CUTE was what she called him. CUTE. Then she had laughed about how Hiccup was probably giving him something really nice, probably making him something like a new pair of boots or something, and he was going to give the little viking a stone.

He pitched it into the lake when no one was looking.

Now he was gift-less. At least with the stone he had SOMETHING to give. Now he had nothing, and it was THREE WEEKS after Christmas. He still had yet to RECEIVE anything and had yet to GIVE anything. Maybe the brunette hadn't given him anything because HE had yet to receive anything...Was this the little viking's version of passive aggressive punishment on him? Don't be stupid.

Tuffnut lifted his head and looked out over the gray ocean, watching the waves calmly roll over each other, the snowflakes dancing across its surface before disappearing. He sighed again, his breath coiling around his face in a warm cloud of moisture; wasn't there some way he could bag up the ocean and give it to the boy? Or catch the wind in a bag...He loved to fly so much, it would be the best gift ever to give him wind to use on a day when there was none. Tuffnut shook his head, scrubbing his hands over his face before smearing them back through his icy hair; he needed a gift, dammit.

Scrye turned her head, opening her maw to let out a puff of fire in his direction, grumbling alongside it. With another heavy, put-upon sigh he nodded his head, dropping into a slump and patting the nape of her neck. "Fine...this is worthless anyways..." Did this make him a bad boyfriend? Or...whatever he was...? The nightmare let out a slightly bigger, triumphant blast of fire before turning on a wind current, slowly taking them back home. He had never really felt like a failure before...He was too much of a man for that. But, this weird feeling in the pit of his stomach? He wasn't too fond of it...and was pretty sure it was what his father had described to him, as a child, as failure.

Ruffnut had said he was out...Where would he go in weather like this? No one should be out right now, let alone on a dragon. He'd catch his death and Scrye would too. Hiccup shook his head, pushing wet bangs from his eyes as he trudged downhill from the Thorston's house, dragging his feet through the snow to avoid tripping. He had gone into the barn to see if he really WAS out, and Scrye WAS missing...so he guessed the female twin wasn't lying to him; not that she ever really had in the first place. But, where could Tuffnut be?

He paused at the base of the hill, sighing and slumping over his awkward load. The gift was easily twice as long as him, maybe a LITTLE less, and almost near as heavy. He had wrapped it in skins pretty good though, not to mention the leather casing for it, so it should be pretty well protected from all the snow. He hadn't been able to strap it to his back and carry it, so here he was lugging it around with both arms wrapped around it, its tip almost dragging in the snow.

Should he go back to the smithy hut? He didn't want the gift to get ruined...but, he really wanted to find out where the blonde was and give it to him. He had been looking forward to it since Christmas.

Hiccup sighed and lifted his load again, starting back for the center of town, still shuffling his feet; he was clumsy enough, the snow only made it worse-if precautions weren't taken. He had noticed Tuffnut hadn't given him anything for Christmas either...His gift was just late; he really had been working on it since before Christmas. But, Tuffnut...he just hadn't given him ANYTHING. He hadn't even really mentioned it...he just fucked him so hard on Christmas that he couldn't stand for the entirety of the next day. Not that that wasn't a GREAT gift...Hiccup had just...hoped for something a little more tangible.

Part of him wanted to just keep the gift for himself. He would never be able to use it, but he could mount it on the wall or something...Or sell it to one of the other vikings...He didn't want to, but a small part of him kept nagging at him to do it; just to show Tuffnut a lesson for not getting him anything. With a bit of defeat Hiccup pushed open the Smithy door again, dragging his feet inside, the wind catching the door to shut it behind him. He had been trying not to let the lack of a gift bother him lately...What if Tuffnut really thought that night of screwing really was a good gift...He couldn't hurt his feelings by letting him know he expected more.

But, what was the point in a relationship if he couldn't tell the blonde how he felt? And Tuffnut had to see that SOMETHING was amiss with the lack of a gift...especially since he never got one from Hiccup...Didn't that bother him? Didn't it MEAN something to him? Hiccup dumped his gift, a bit unceremoniously, onto one of the cluttered table tops; what was the point if it wasn't wanted? This gift thing...no matter how high his happiness and hopes had been this morning as he finished his gift...was starting to hurt more than make him happy. He was starting to get depressed over something he wasn't even sure how to go about fixing...or if he even COULD fix.

The door swung open behind him, letting a blast of cold air swirl in with a gust of snow, the billows' fire threatening to gut out with violent flickers. "Come on, shut the door, don't put my fire out." Hiccup waved over his shoulder, grumbling the words as he moved in front of the fire, in attempt to block the flames from the still gusting wind.

"Hicca," The door shut with a small slam, the wind catching it behind the baritone voice as well. "I need to talk to you about something..." He couldn't help it, even at the disappointed grumble in the voice, even at the ominous words, he still spun on his heel with an unstoppable grin spreading across his face. The blonde just had a way of doing it to him; no matter how angry or depressed he was at him.