Tuff Love (A How To Train Your Dragon Fanfiction | Astrid x Tuffnut)

"I thought we weren't going to kill each other!"

"This-!" Hiccup shouted as he went still and zeroed in on Tuffnut, who had slipped away several feet and brought their confrontation to a standstill. "-is going to be way too easy!" He snarled again and used a stealthy spin to backhand the axe towards Tuffnut's helmet, where Tuffnut's immediate action to speed to his haunches would surely knock him off balance, and that was exactly when Hiccup planned to stump his heel on Tuffnut's breastplate.

Instead, metal rang out against Hiccup's axe in a shriek.

The axe in Hiccup's hand started to tremble against Tuffnut's sword as his eyes flamed inside of his helmet. The sun had shadowed Tuffnut's eyes and made him appear like a soulless enemy clad in dreamscape scales.

"You...bird-brained...bandit-!" Hiccup's trembling voice whispered to himself. He whimpered only for a moment to Tuffnut's ears as he braced against the edge of Tuffnut's sword in the middle of his axe, forcing his hands closer in-between his knees and groin and threatening his stance to weaken.

Hiccup was intimidated that Tuffnut had chosen not to stick to defensive moves, but he was prepared for a real fight if Tuffnut dared to bring him one. Hiccup felt a hot rush of sweat slither from his forehead and rim his lips with a wet taste of salt.

In a raw burst of power, Hiccup surged Tuffnut from him in an uproarious shout and repositioned. Noise from his tribe watching him from above swelled joyously.

Tuffnut watched Hiccup lunge forward at him at full force.

Hiccup reemerged from their standoff with hefty bats from his dominant left hand and an unexpected amount from his right. Tuffnut resolved to use less of his shield if he was ever going to find an advantage against Hiccup. His thumb flattened to press against Ruffnut's sword-halter in a hammer grip to deliver hard blows against Hiccup's axe.

Tuffnut tried to find a spot to land a strike to Hiccup's wrist with the pane of his sword to stun Hiccup's hands and make Hiccup lose grip on his axe. Hiccup, however, was keen to Tuffnut's plot and barely gave Tuffnut time to visibly see his wrists.

Every swing of Hiccup's axe was two-handed, and Hiccup's hooks with one hand were too fast for Tuffnut to pinpoint the location of his wrist. Tuffnut gasped when Hiccup's dual-blade scooped the metal of his sword and threatened to plume it from his hands.

Tuffnut thrusted his foot to Hiccup's ribcage and yanked his sword from Hiccup's maneuver.

The move earned him some space and he shuffled backward with his eyes on Hiccup. For only a second, he glanced at Ruffnut's sword that she had lent him and saw that it hadn't been chipped.

"Oh, thank the gods-!" Tuffnut exclaimed aloud with thin lungs. Ruffnut would kill him if he got a scratch on her weapons. He had none of his own personal weapons except a spear that was useless, for it was in the same class as a hunting knife.

In the slim second Tuffnut risked to review the sword's damage, Tuffnut scarcely avoided Hiccup's attack to his shin. Tuffnut met Hiccup's low strike with his blade. Tuffnut hurried to shield himself with his armguard from Hiccup's sudden knee-jab to fend him off center, and he forced Hiccup's middle away by his own strength. He realized his mistake of moving his shield too late and cursed, "damnit-!"

In a vertical swing, Hiccup swooped the wooden blunt of his axe on the side of Tuffnut's helmet.

Tuffnut felt a punch of force spin him to the ground and he saw white. He hadn't been hurt, as he quickly understood, but he had been dizzied, and his hands were planted on the stone of the arena.