#ruffcup

Hiccup was someone Ruffnut thought she could always come to for whatever and whenever. Even if the reason was a little bit crazy, he could sigh, he could roll his eyes, but he would do it. Whatever was troubling her, whatever thought came to mind, she could always share it.

Nowadays, they can’t even be in the same room together without there being an icy cold tension between them.

It’s not just her, he’s giving Astrid the cold shoulder as well, but she has a much easier time shaking it off. She just gives him a sigh, an empathetic squeeze on his shoulder that almost makes him cry every single time and then she moves on.

But Ruffnut? She just can’t do that. Even hated by him together, she can’t swallow it.

They’re sitting in the living room together on opposites sides of the dinner table, each on one end. Hiccup has his arms crossed with a scowl on his face that they’re slowly getting used to. Toothless sits in front of him, tries to purr at him comfortingly, but he’s not listening.

And only a month after giving birth, they can’t blame him. Because he’s not the one sitting here and nursing his child; Ruffnut is.

Astrid has as well. Neither have recently had a child, but they’ve each given birth at least once already, Ruffnut has a set of twins. So even when a child of theirs cries that they haven’t personally given birth to, they’re close enough that their bodies will provide. They love this child, this little boy, he’s just as much theirs as he’s Hiccup’s. And yet, watching Ruffnut sit there and nurse the son he carried from conception to birth hurts, because they are doing what he can’t. For some reason, he’s not producing enough milk.

Eventually, their son, aptly named Vigi, has had enough and Ruffnut settles him over her shoulder to burp him. She tries to ignore how Hiccup is staring at the wall on his other side just so he won’t catch even a single glimpse of her in the corner of his eyes. He’s resenting both her as well as Astrid, putting a strain on their once loving relationship and she feels guilty.

This son is Hiccup’s third, but his first to survive.

Back when their marriage was new, he was the first to express the desire to have a baby and soon after they started trying, but they didn’t get him pregnant once, not until both Astrid as well as Ruffnut had their children first. Their eldest daughter was four by the time Hiccup had his first.

That child came about a month too early, he was stillborn.

He was devastated, heart and soul both broken, but he only allowed himself a few months to recover before he insisted that they try again. He got pregnant almost immediately that time, only to give birth even a month earlier to a girl that he held for an hour before she, too, passed. She was so small she fit in both his hands.

Another five years passed, Astrid has given birth to a healthy baby boy in the time it took them to get him pregnant for the third and, hopefully, final time. He loves all of their children so much that it hurts. When he even thinks something might be wrong, it becomes hard for him to breathe. And in Astrid’s second pregnancy, he projected all of his fears onto her.If this one hadn’t worked out, he would’ve just called it quits.

He doesn’t even enjoy sex with his partners anymore, it’s a chore for him now. Only done because one of his loves asked him. When things get heated anywhere and they don’t immediately involve him, he leaves before they can.

But Vigi was born when he needed to, he’s healthy and when he first held him, Hiccup promised him that he would do everything in his power to protect him.

Only to immediately find out that he can’t even feed him and now he resents those who can. And his resentment hurts.

Vigi burps and Hiccup visibly tenses up. Ruffnut can feel the guilt eating away at her even as she holds their son in her arms and sees his happy little face. Maybe she can do something about the tension by returning him his son. She’s desperate to shatter it.

“Hiccup, I’m done, so you can-” he doesn’t give her the chance to make it right, shooting up from the chair and leaving the house with surprising speed for someone who had a baby only a month ago.