I do not own the How to Train Your Dragon franchise.

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Dare suggested by nightfury153.

Painting the Sheep Pink

Ruffnut waited a few weeks before even thinking about what dare she would give Hiccup. While she didn't fear much, she did fear the wrath of Gobber. Burning off his mustache was perhaps crossing the line, if there was a line for Vikings.

After feeding Barf and Belch, she left her brother to his own devices and went in search of Hiccup. She eventually found him sketching in his notebook near the docks. "You can be a hard person to find sometimes," she informed.

Hiccup glanced up at her, squinting against the early morning sun. "Sometimes I try to go somewhere where I won't be found," he returned. "Guess it didn't work this time."

"Has Gobber said anything?"

He smirked at her. "Why? Are you scared?"

"No," Ruffnut automatically denied. She paused for a moment before admitting, "Little bit."

"Don't blame you. He can get frightening when he's furious. It doesn't help that he has that hammer attachment." Hiccup closed his notebook and set it by his feet. "But no, he hasn't said anything. Not to me, anyway. And I haven't heard anything by way of my father."

"I'll take that as a good sign."

"Did you come looking for me just to see if you were in the clear?"

Ruffnut grinned. "No. I've come with a dare."

Hiccup made a face. "Of course you have. What is it?"

"I dare you to paint Mildew's sheep pink," she informed, pointing at him dramatically.

The lanky teen was torn between being relieved and dismayed. Relieved because this was one of the more tame dares, and would not bring too much attention. There was always some juvenile messing with the old grouchy Viking, and so suspicion would not jump immediately to him.

He was dismayed because he knew if he got caught, it would result in a whole lot of trouble he didn't feel like dealing with. "Fine," he agreed after a moment of silence. "But why pink? Why it can't it ever be blue or green?"

Ruffnut arched an eyebrow. "What fun are those colours? Pink is bright and sometimes humiliating, depending on how it's used."

Hiccup smirked. "Like when it's used in your hair?"

Ruffnut scowled, fingers idly playing with her pink locks. Since her hair was starting to grow, her roots were showing, rather obviously. She was able to avoid ridicule thanks to her helmet-though there were still whispered remarks about her odd choice of hair colour.

"Shut up. Some people can pull it off."

"You are not one of those people," teased Hiccup.

He received a punch to the arm for his jest. "Shut up. You're the reason I have to keep it like this. I missed out on the first heavy rainfall thanks to our awake-a-thon. I'm waiting for the next one."

"I'm sure it'll come soon enough," said Hiccup, who was impressed that the girl had kept the colour with little complaint. "And if it doesn't, I might amend my initial statement and let you wash it out."

Ruffnut rolled her eyes. "Gee, thanks. You have until tomorrow afternoon to complete the dare."

"Got it."

She nodded in satisfaction. "I'm off then. Got to find Tuff before he decides to do something stupid without me."

…

After some deep thinking, Hiccup decided to head over to Mildew's at nightfall. It seemed to be the safest time, as he would be cloaked by the darkness and the man would be asleep.

When the silver moon was high in the sky, the teen made the long trek to Mildew's house, situated on the other end of the island. By the time he climbed the cliff, he was sweating and panting, the metal can of paint clutched in his arms.

"Maybe I should have brought Toothless," he wheezed, crouched behind a rock to take a moment to catch his breath.

But he knew that bringing his dragon would probably increase his chances of getting caught. Mildew may have been old, but he wasn't showing signs of slowing down anytime soon. His ears would pick up on the soft sounds of the Night Fury, as he seemed in tune with anything that would get Berk's resident Dragon Trainer in trouble.

His breaths now evening out, Hiccup climbed to his feet and snuck over to Mildew's house. Sneaking around the side, he found an open window. He peeked through and found the fire in the hearth roaring healthily. Eyes flicking around, he spotted the man asleep in his bed, the soft orange glow illuminating him and his sheep, who was snoozing beside the bed.

"Here we go," whispered Hiccup.

"Don't screw up."

It took everything Hiccup had not to scream. He whirled around to find the twins crouched behind him. "What are you doing?" he hissed.

"Wanted to make sure you did the deed," replied Ruffnut.

"Were you following me?"

"Maybe," said Tuffnut. "You took forever, though."

"If you guys were this stealthy during training as you are when you're trying to cause mischief, we wouldn't have half as many problems during missions," said Hiccup flatly.

He climbed through the window and the twins moved forward to watch their friend as he worked. Hiccup lowered himself near the sheep and dipped the paintbrush into the thick mixture. As gently as he could, he worked the paint over Fungus' wool, pausing every time the creature wiggled.

Mildew's snores were low, but they might as well have been as loud as thunder as far as Hiccup was concerned. His heart pounded madly and his hand trembled. It came as a relief when he finished, and Fungus was now a bright pink.

"Nice," whispered Ruffnut.

Hiccup slowly stood up and backed up. His back struck something solid there was a resounding crash!

Mildew jolted upwards with a "Wha-?"

Panicked, Hiccup flung the contents of the paint can at the man, preventing him from getting a clear view of who was intruding. Hiccup dove out the window, Mildew's screams ringing in his ears. Fungus snoozed on, undisturbed.

He joined the twins in the mad dash for freedom. He nearly fell and broke his neck from the way he was hauling butt down the cliff. When they reached the village the Thorston twins hurried for their home while Hiccup stumbled up the slope towards his front door.

As silent as he could in his frantic state he entered his house and went straight to his room. Toothless opened his eyes and stared sleepily at his human, who was looking paler than normal.

Hiccup set the paint can and paint brush in front of his dragon. "Burn it," he whispered. "Burn it until there's nothing!"

He then dove under his covers. Rolling his eyes, Toothless obeyed, burning the items until they were nothing more than ashes and barely recognizable material. Idiot, he thought, not without fondness.

Hiccup cowered under his covers, extremely grateful that Mildew lived far away from the rest of Berk's inhabitants, where no one could hear his enraged screams.

Next chapter: In which Astrid intervenes and dares Ruffnut.