If We Had Wings - A Tuffnut Love Story (HTTYD/RTTE)

18

After licking Tuffnut's wound, the dragon became visibly more relaxed. "Ugh..." He moaned dramatically, lifting his head and opening his eyes. Upon the sight of Delta, he was still too dazed to stop himself from shooting her a dreamy smile. "Delta.."

Caught off guard by this new soft tone in her friend's voice, Delta blinked a few times before responding. "You should close your eyes again; rest."

Tuffnut rustled around half-heartedly so that he was curled up comfortably, tail wrapped around his body to his chest. "But if I do that, then I won't be able to look at you," he argued smoothly. "Well, I mean, I'd probably dream of you," he corrected tiredly, "but that's not the same."

Delta was officially rendered speechless. Surely this wasn't Tuffnut talking? As if he'd read her mind, the sand wraith uncurled and stretched out on his side lazily. "Oooh yeah," he sighed, "the humans here always have the best dragon nip."

"They gave you dragon nip," Delta groaned in realization, finally understanding why Tuff was acting so strangely.

Tuffnut looked to her with sudden wide eyes. "They gave me..they gave me everything!" At the word 'everything', he threw his head back dramatically to lay it back down on the grassy floor. "They gave Hiccup his leg, and taught Fishlegs how to garden," the sand wraith babbled on in a lazy voice, "they gave Astrid this really cool ax. I mean, I don't know why a dragon who's already so violent would need an ax, but she has one." He paused and frowned before grumbling, "and I'm not allowed to touch it."

Delta was blown away when she realized just how much these humans helped the dragon rescuers. But she couldn't hold back a gurgle of laughter at how out of sorts Tuffnut was.

The sand wraith whipped his head up and looked in her direction, as if he'd forgotten that she was in there. "Oh, you're still here," he purred joyously, grinning. He then sudden hopped up to his feet and squawked, "hey, my shoulder's better!"

"Yes, Tuff, I healed you," Delta reminded him with amused blue eyes.

The sand wraith suddenly nuzzled into Delta's neck in a way so loving that the tidal fury was certain that this dragon had had way too much dragon nip. "Woah, you're a life saver," he sighed, then pulled away, "we should go tell Hiccup's mom that..that you saved my life.....is she here? Or did I dream that?"

"Okay," Delta squawked in alarm, trying to diffuse her friend, "how about you just lay back down," she paused to walk him back onto his bed of grass, "and go to sleep?"

"Yeah, I guess I could do that," Tuffnut groaned as he laid back down. He exhaled deeply as his eyes lidded in exhaustion. "But Delta," He spoke up again, in a voice more serious than the tidal fury had ever heard him use before. She peered down into his face with wide, curious eyes. "Thank you. For healing me," he specified before a toothy grin cracked across his face, "you're the coolest dragon ever."

Delta purred light-heartedly at the compliment, unable to keep her heart from leaping. She leaned down and shyly nuzzled his head with her own. "Go to sleep," she purred.

"Aww..that's sweet.." Tuffnut grumbled quietly, nuzzling Delta back with the same timid affection.

The tidal fury smiled smally. She wasn't entirely sure of her own feelings for Tuff yet, but his were becoming hard to miss. So as the male twin quickly fell into a deep sleep, Delta remained at his side, thinking. Could this dragon be a suitable mate for her? Any sane dragon would reject such an immature specimen. But it was his immaturity, mixed with his heroism and kindness, that captured Delta's heart.

• • •

Delta sat with all of her dragon friends on Berserker Island the next morning. All but Tuffnut, who was still resting in the man-made nest. The group was inside of a much larger space made by the Berserkers; Heather called it the "stables".

"So you two really live here? With the humans?" Delta asked the pair of skrills.

"Ever since we were hatchings," Dagur answered confidently. However, his confident grin turned to a frown as he recalled more of his story. "Well, mostly, at least," he countered himself, "Heather was lost at sea before she could even fly. I spent a long time searching for her, even got caught up in the hunting trade for a while...not my proudest years, heh."

The two death gripper exchanged a look of surprise. "You've worked for hunters before?" Eret asked in awe.

"Trust me, I didn't want to," Dagur squawked, "but I was becoming desperate; I needed to find my sister."

"And what happened to you, Heather?" The tidal fury questioned.

Heather smiled. "I washed up on a island of ice, spent my years scavenging, until Dagur and I reunited," she explained, "then we came home together; our father was so happy to see us."

The other five rescuers had been listening with smiles as their Berserker friends told their story, a story they'd heard many times before. But Ruffnut frowned in confusion at Heather's words. "Wait--I thought you didn't have parents?"

Dagur gurgled in laughter. "She means the chief of the village, Oswald," he clarified, "he's the one who found us and took us in; I was just a year old, and Heather was still in an egg. But Oswald is the closest thing we have to a father...after hunters took our true parents."

"I'm terribly sorry," Viggo groaned his empathy. "It would seem we've all had lost loved ones to those heartless killers."

Many of the dragons lowered their heads for a moment in silent respect of their lost families and friends. "You, too?" Delta mumbled sorrowfully to the Viggo.

The death gripper let a deep breath out, his gaze casting on the ground ad he answered, "my brother."