Chapter Text
“Woah…”
“That was…”
“AWESOME!” the nine-year-old twins finished in unison.
As Tuffnut watched the flames spread to a third house with a look of awe in his eyes, he asked, “How does a scrawny little toothpick like you manage to cause so much destruction?”
Ten-year-old Hiccup sighed as a fourth house caught on fire. “I was only trying to help…”
“Ye call this help?” Gobber cried. “When yer father finds out-“
“HICCUP!”
Hiccup cringed and slowly turned to face his father, who was barreling towards him, looking ready to explode.
“What have I told you about messing around with your fool inventions?! Just stop!” Stoick yelled.
“But I was just trying to-“
“Can you not see that I have more important things to do than clean up your messes? Every time you step outside disaster follows. Sometimes I think you’re worse than the dragons.” Stoick sighed and ran his hand down his face. “Get back to the house.”
As Hiccup started to trudge home, the twins happened to glance at one another. Unfortunately for Hiccup, the look they exchanged was the start of something he could never have predicted. But then again, maybe it was one of the best things that could have happened to him.
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Although Hiccup was grounded, no one was around to enforce it. So, as usual, the next day found him sneaking out the back door to spend the day wandering through the forest. He did not get far before he was interrupted.
“Where are you going?”
Hiccup jumped and glanced behind him to see the twins hanging by their legs from the eaves of his house. As he tried to edge his way toward the treeline, he muttered, “Uhhh, nowhere in particular.”
“I guess we can work with that,” Ruffnut said as she swung down and started walking towards Hiccup, with Tuffnut close behind.
Things never ended well with the twins and Hiccup was anxious to get away from them. “So, I’m just gonna go now.”
“Ok,” Tuffnut said as he and his sister started to follow Hiccup into the woods.
“Why are you following me?” Hiccup asked as he quickened his pace, trying to put some distance between him and the twins.
“You, my fine friend, are a magnet for trouble,” Tuffnut explained, “and we want front-row seats.”
That was not the answer Hiccup was expecting. He paused and stared warily at the twins. “Is this some kind of a trick?”
The twins cocked their heads and glanced at each other. “What do you mean?” asked Ruffnut with a puzzled look on her face.
“You two want to follow me around in the hopes I do something you find entertaining,” Hiccup said in disbelief. “You’re not going to trick me into walking off a cliff or push me into a river or tie me to a tree and throw a wasp nest at me or anything like that?”
“While those are all good ideas, especially that last one, we weren’t planning on doing anything like that.” With a grin, Ruffnut added, “Though if we don’t get any action soon, they might become possibilities.”
“Oh great, just what I wanted,’ Hiccup grumbled, “two shadows and the threat of pain.” Not seeing any way out of this situation, other than being struck by lightning (which was unlikely since it was a sunny day), Hiccup figured he may as well continue into the forest and hope for the best… or at least hope for no broken bones.