"Give it a rest, YOU'RE NOT MY FATHER!"

Yelling had been going on for quite some time and it had been a while since the rest of the group gave up on calming them down and leaving for dinner. Tuffnut's concerned face was aimed mostly at the short pissed off young man rather than his sister, who was fuming like a disturbed Changewing.

Snotlout ignored the door slammed at his face and followed Ruffnut inside her house, hoping that his anger made him look at least a little bit taller. Next to the raging slender woman, his size hardly mattered at all. But he wasn't going to back down.

"IT'S NOT THE POINT, IDIOT!"

"I DON'T CARE ABOUT YOUR POINT! WHO ARE YOU TO LECTURE ME?"

"Oh right, who am I?! MILDEW could scold you for what you did, what are you, stupid?"

"Don't you dare call me that and stop acting like you're chief, I don't have to listen to you!"

"YOU DON'T EVEN LISTEN TO HICCUP!"

"GIVE IT A REST, I SAID."

Their screams got the best of them and in a moment, they were reduced to panting rivals, looking at each other with eyes heated with something other than passion. Many a times he had seen this look on Ruffnut's face, he knew she wouldn't take a step back. But he was too mad to care. It took everything Ruffnut had to stop her from throwing a cauldron at his thick head but she didn't shy away from spitting a few more insults before continuing. Their voices were all that could be heard around the hill; whoever stepped outside of Mead Hall could figure out that what was being said was not sweet nothings. Ruffnut couldn't care less; her nails were digging lines of crescents in her palms as she walked towards Snotlout like death itself. Her voice, throaty, raspy from anger and roaring for minutes hissed at the face across her.

"Don't. You. Dare. Call me stupid. You are not the one to lecture me, you are not the one to snap at me for whatever I choose to do. You do not OWN me."

Snotlout felt like putting a ladle across her skull to see if anything at all get through it but he settled for growling instead.

"Do you even HEAR what I'm saying, you pig-headed nut job?! YOU COULD HAVE DIED!"

"WHAT'S THE BIG DEAL, WE DO THIS ALL THE TIME!" She threw her arms in the air, exasperated and at the edge of shrieking. Being treated like an adolescent was starting to get old. "We did this all the time! You were there, laughing your ass off at whatever we did like an idiot! Hel, you joined us! Suddenly because you're to take your father's place as the chief's second, suddenly you are Tight-skivvies Responsibleson?! Load of shit! Don't try too hard because Astrid has that place covered!"

"It's not about that!"

"What is it about then?!"

"I CAN'T LOSE YOU!"

"What?"

The pointy face was distorted by something other than sheer resentment this time, there was curiosity moving beneath the surface. For the first time since they've started to yell obscenities at each other, she was listening.

"That's right!" shrieked Snotlout, looking all but frustrated and desperate. It was the effort to make her get something that she did not care to learn about and he'd have a new found respect for her parents, when this crisis died down a little. Calling her difficult would be the understatement of the season. "I may not own you, but you're still mine! I can't lose you, okay? Thor in a thunderstorm, what IS IT with you?!" It was hardly the first time they've argued, neither during their friendship nor their more intimate days but Snotlout was finding it incredible how careless she could be, this strongly maybe for the first time. Taking advantage of the small break she took, he kept talking, mostly to himself. "Yeah, I joined you and I laughed at you and your stupid stunts and pranks and blowing things up, because it's funny! But it wasn't the same back then. You were my friend, you were my friend's annoying weird twin sister, you were the insane girl of the class, I didn't care if you accidentally get yourself burnt alive or something?! Well, I cared, but 'we grew up together so I have to care' sort of way, not 'if you die I'll probably choke to death right after you' kind of way! Fuck…"

It was the surprise in his voice that kept Ruffnut from rolling her eyes and making fun of the whole drama; he looked like he was just realizing all this now and it took him off guard. Sitting there looking at the floor with wide open eyes and tense shoulders, he suddenly looked sad to her but at the same time, she didn't know what to say.

Another moment passed with both of them gathering their thoughts. Ruffnut was the first to open her mouth in the dark room which was yet to be lit with a fire because neither of them could think of a source of heat or light during their quarrel.

"Look, if you want me to say that I'll be extra careful and suddenly become the goody two shoes Astrid was, it's not happening."

"Ruff-"

"Shut your hole and listen. You knew who I was when you started chasing me around like a creepy baby dragon, okay? Things are not the same as when we were kids maybe, but I am the same person. Duties, I'll take care of. I'll support Hiccup and help him out when I can. I'll be a part of this village. But what I do for fun probably will never change. You better get used to it because I can't worry about your nerves every time Tuff and I do something weird. I admit today got out of hand a little bit, but my point is the same."

Snotlout raised his head to meet her eyes; Ruff rarely spoke this long which was why the tension in his chest increased slightly. She wasn't doing this to piss him or anyone else off. They weren't children; this was what he signed up for, this was it. He tried to figure out at which point he stopped laughing at their oddities and started worrying but he didn't care to be the person who shook his finger at her and told her to behave. He didn't care for a timid Ruffnut. He just wanted her in one peace, as safe as vikingly possible.

He let out a small sigh. He was tired. "Fine," he grumbled, "Just, don't die."

It was enough to steal a smirk from Ruffnut. "I won't."

A/N: Snotlout is a softie and Ruffnut is out of fucks to give.

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