#they are a much more interesting pairing than Rufflegs

[e-wills-afterhours]

Daydreams

A/N: Rufflout oneshot, because it's an underrated pairing that deserves some love-- for no other reason than they'd make a spectacular dumpster fire of a couple; and I'm honestly here for it.

Rating: T+

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No one suspected Ruffnut had much going on inside her head. Most of Berk assumed the space between her ears was rather vacuous, save for a permanent cloud of mischief and chaos that shot out hairbrained schemes at random intervals. What they did not realize was that she possessed a vivid imagination. True, it was at its best when augmented with a little dragon nip, for flavor; but even by its own merit, her capacity for daydreaming was impressive. The only drawback was that she did not wield much control over it.

Indeed, it could be a bit of a problem. Hidden behind her distant gaze, while she picked at her fingernails or absently twirled her heavy braids, was an entire world that consumed her. At its epicenter was a certain short and beefy Hooligan. A few years ago, she would never give him a look; but sweet Allfather, hormones were powerful.

Anything could set off a fantasy--a much better name for it, really. His laugh, the way he could chug three tankards of beer in rapid succession, or even the stupid way in which he stopped to admire his own reflection whenever he could. He was a dumbass, truly--but oh, gods, was he a beautiful one.

"What are you looking at?" she would bark when he caught her staring, much to his utter confusion.

Unbeknownst to him, they were just rolling around in the sands of her imagination, shoving hands up and under articles of clothing as if their lives depended on it. She did not know for sure, but at least in her wild daydreams, he was a good kisser. Then, there were other parts of his body he wielded with equal finesse.

No, he had no idea as he challenged anyone who would listen to an arm-wrestling match, that he was also doing rather scandalous and impolite things to Ruffnut in her mind; it was a personal achievement to maintain such a blank facade while the fires of lust ranged beneath her skin. She mastered the art of scowling at his dumb face, while she thought about all the ways she might make him beg.

But she heard tell that fantasies were better left as such. Undoubtedly, Snotlout would leap at the chance to act out any of the scenarios that manifested, unbidden, in her brain. Maybe she was not the wisest, but she was not a complete fool, either. She and Snotlout were a volatile couple, outside of her salacious imaginings. Whenever he opened his mouth, she wanted to put her fist in it. At the same time, she wanted his lips all over her. In reality, he found her antics rather exhausting, but could not get enough of her in her mind. Daydreams gave him unfettered access to her body, but she kept him at arms-length with her abrasive attitude in the real world. They were destined to crash and burn--like the Red Death; any previous attempts to get close to one another ended that way.

She wished they could get along as easy as Hiccup and Astrid, who made the most infuriatingly perfect couple--but Ruffnut did not do perfect; she did messy. At least, she did so in her daydreams, pulling Snotlout down on top of her, shoving her tongue in his mouth. They were a disaster, unfolding anywhere and anytime she fancied it. He was clueless, and she liked it that way. No permission was necessary to undress him in the places they could never go.

"I hate you," she often told him.

"No, you love me," he would boast, just to get her dander up.

While he was not right, he was not exactly wrong either. The truth was not a binary; it existed somewhere in the space between. So did her unspoken attraction, and all trysts that never happened, which would remain comfortably nestled among her dirty little secrets, right where they belonged.

[edge-of-bizarre]

why do you think ruffnut will change her mind?

so far ruffnut has shown us her inability to choose between two boys who are tryna get with her for the only purpose of getting married to SOMEONE, and she knows that, and she’s milking it for all its worth. Ruffnut hugging a weeping fishlegs at a wedding after seeing no interaction for the entire movie other than her scene in grimmels place where she basically annoys her way to freedom due to her indecision, her reasoning for why she likes snotlout is much more compelling, she thinks he’s hot but wouldn’t be able to love her the way he loves himself (and i’m sure his interest in valka dissuaded her further…) and she plans on eating fishlegs if they were stranded together, which was hilarious but also makes her argument seem like she’s leaning towards one boy than the other.

Also what originally i found very enjoyable about rufflegs (i started as a rufflegs shipper) i totally see why, big softie and tough toughie is always a match, opposites attract is usually the reasoning and i’m usually here for it but based on their interactions and personal development, they have VERY LITTLE in common, which is why i eventually turned away from it because they felt a little too different, opposites attract are more like hiccup and astrid, they’re very different but they make one another stronger, or amy santiago and jake peralta in b99, opposites attract is more so meant to be a way of “they compliment each other’s personalities”

ruffnut has a lot of good interactions with snotlout in the first movie, they share the same crude humor usually, they are eccentric in their own ways, and are fighters, of course they’ll be a mess together but it feels better than the “pair the spares” feeling i get from fishlegs and ruffnut, if there had been like a romantic scene or something to build up on that comment of “i like sensitive guys” i would have been more than willing to close the books on it, but we were given very little and it felt more of a way to leave it open ended without committing too much.

I think it was very smart, because it can be interpreted a variety of ways, whether you ship rufflegs, rufflout, ruffret, whatever. Ruffnut ought to be appreciated god dangit and so far none of these boys have done anything to deserve that

[kingofthewilderwest]

Let’s clump some of these together to make it less of a dash spam, and because lots of these are about the same characters! :)

Some more thoughts of Rufflout and Rufflegs.

Rufflout

Send me a ship and i’ll rate it

vomit / don’t ship / ok / cute / adorable / sexy / perfect / beyond flawless / hot damn / screaming and crying / i will ship them in hell

I know that Rufflout has some following, and that’s all cool! Please enjoy your ship. :) For me, personally, I don’t think Ruffnut and Snotlout match each other very well. I don’t prefer Ruffnut and Snotlout getting together in part because I feel like Ruffnut and Snotlout would be butting heads a lot. Also, the HTTYD 2 Ruffnut-Snotlout-Fishlegs flirtations are meant to be a parody on the love triangle... so it’d feel a little stale to me if, after all that, Ruffnut ended up hooking up with either Snotlout or Fishlegs. I think it’d be more optimal if all three characters, if they do enter romantic relationships, don’t hook up with each other.

Rufflegs

Send me a ship and i’ll rate it

vomit / don’t ship / ok / cute / adorable / sexy / perfect / beyond flawless / hot damn / screaming and crying / i will ship them in hell

My opinion of Rufflegs is about the same as Rufflout. Ruffnut and Fishlegs have the cute moment of rubbing noses with one another at the end of their brief marriage, but overall I will admit it’s not a ship that I find intuitive. The fact that Ruffnut was so pushy to Fishlegs during their marriage is something to show that their personalities don’t match in a relationship. I think that Ruffnut and Fishlegs would be slightly more mismatched than Rufflout (the twins and Snotlout tend to prefer one another’s company and have a few more common interests than Ruffnut and Fishlegs have with each other), but that both ships are better left for the brief parody in HTTYD 2.

Heatlegs

Send me a ship and i’ll rate it

vomit / don’t ship / ok / cute / adorable / sexy / perfect / beyond flawless / hot damn / screaming and crying / i will ship them in hell

I was initially hesitant about Heatlegs before it was implemented into RTTE. Heather at the start of the series is emotionally unstable and makes somewhat questionable or dark moral choices. Fishlegs, as the sweetheart he is, contradicted that, and I didn’t think it’d be good to mach them together. 

But as Heather grew through RTTE, she and Fishlegs were able to connect through positive interactions, such as by confiding in one another, Fishlegs helping her through her emotional struggles. I do like the idea of the two being pen pals, opening up to one another, and sharing a few sweet nothing moments together. So there are some moments to Heatlegs that are sort of cute! I think I like the ship best as something that is temporary rather than long-term... it’s nice to see them smiling together, though I do think that it’s nice to see in story some relationships fading away because they have to part ways. 

Who knows? Maybe far down the road Fishlegs and Heather can reconnect. I wouldn’t object. :)

Snotlegs

vomit / don’t ship / ok / cute / adorable / sexy / perfect / beyond flawless / hot damn / screaming and crying / i will ship them in hell

I suppose I don’t see how there could be feasible romantic dynamics between Snotlout and Fishlegs. Their interactions in the franchise don’t have any sense of chemistry. It seems a little out of character to try to pair them together, at least from my personal perspective.

That said, if we’re talking about Snotcrusher... when Snotlout is fanboying over Thor Bonecrusher...

Snotcrusher

vomit / don’t ship / ok / cute / adorable / sexy / perfect / beyond flawless / hot damn / screaming and crying / i will ship them in hell

I love Snotcrusher and it’s my second-favorite ship in the HTTYD world (after Stalka)! It is admittedly very one-sided, where Thor Bonecrusher in fact ignores Snotlout as he’s flirting with him. That’s not a healthy relationship and I would never ever condone something so one-sided. 

But what I like about Snotcrusher is what it showcases about Snotlout’s tender side. Snotlout staring at TB is showing him at his most unabashedly flirtatious, his most open, his most... crush-y. It’s absolutely adorable to see Snotlout acting that way! Bilout all the way, wooooooot!

Now if Snotlout happened to meet a hot hunk man who was interested in him, Snotlout started flirting with the hunk, and the hunk flirted back... ahhhh... would totally ship that for life. XD <3 <3 <3

Finnrey

vomit / don’t ship / ok / cute / adorable / sexy / perfect / beyond flawless / hot damn / screaming and crying / i will ship them in hell

I like Finn and Rey as friends! I don’t think that the two would have the best personality dynamics together as a couple, but that they’re more interesting as friends with their contrasting perspectives. So I don’t want the end game of the new Star Wars trilogy to pair them together. It’d be nice for the main trio to be friends. 

Personally, if there is going to be any pairing happening between the main new trio, I’d prefer Stormpilot. Finn and Poe have a really great start together, and even though we’ve only seen a quick connection, there’s a lot of room for it to grow. Poe’s kindness toward Finn is a decent starting ground for something to develop. I don’t think that Finn and Rey have that same sort of potential, though I do anticipate they’ll greatly grow in their respect and friendship to each other!

Shallura

vomit / don’t ship / ok / cute / adorable / sexy / perfect / beyond flawless / hot damn / screaming and crying / i will ship them in hell

I think if we talk in purely theoretical and abstract terms by laying out their common qualities, there would be more potential for Shiro x Allura than Shiro + some of the other Paladins, or Allura + some of the other Paladins. They’re the two most responsible individuals of the Voltron team, most likely to be serious about the issues they’re handling in their fight against the Galra Empire. They’ve both been through tragedy at the hands of the Galra - Shiro being captured and experimented on; Allura losing her species and homeworld. They both are willing to take on enormous burdens for the good of the people around them, for the good of the entire galaxy.

But when I see Shiro and Allura act with one another, I don’t think they have a close emotional bond with each other, and I don’t think they’d connect in a romantic bond. Shiro is very respectful and professional to the princess, while Allura’s interactions with Shiro are almost always business, too. We see Shiro telling Allura to take a rest at one point, concerned about how much she is exhausting herself... but while that is a real concern about her, it’s still embedded in the overarching framework of them working together on their missions. Shiro and Allura haven’t really bonded as friends.

Honestly, it’s hard for me to see them becoming so informal and close. It’ll probably get better, but Shiro + Allura doesn’t seem like it’ll ever be one of the deep bonds in the Voltron team. It means personally I don’t get gravitated toward the idea or feel much for it.

There’s something to be said... it’s hard for me to ship Shiro with most characters. It’s the age gap between him and the other Paladins. He’s ten years older than Pidge! I’m the same age as Shiro (I’m a month shy twenty-five), and when I try to put myself in a situation romancing someone who’s seventeen or eighteen... it... well... it feels off to me. I do have one good friend who’s eight years younger than me, and I’m often friends with people who are five years older/younger than me... but I can’t imagine me entering a romance with a teenager. The life stage of a seventeen year old and what they’re experiencing is quite a different stage than what a twenty-five year old is experiencing. Everyone is awesome whatever life stage we’re in, but it’s hard to really relate and enter something like a romance when we’re at such different life points. I’d have a hard time being romantic with someone who’s going through things I’ve already personally resolved, or them trying to help me with issues that typically don’t strike until they’re older. In our fifties and sixties the age gap isn’t going to be so profound, but at this stage, the age gap seems like a hindrance between Shiro x most other Paladins.

I do have one ship I like with Shiro, though, and one ship I like with Allura!

And for what it’s worth... I think it’d be really really really really good for both of them to sit down, open up, and talk about their personal emotions regarding what the Galra Empire’s done to them. That could be cathartic for both and help them handle the emotions compromising them.