Warning, excessive cuteness and dragon baths ahead. This entire thing is in Toothless' point of view. And to my three loyal followers, don't worry. I am going to update YOTD soon. This little one-shot is just to help me get my muses back on track and the creative juices flowing.
Disclaimer: I do not own How To Train Your Dragon. If I did, there would be more Night Furies. And Avengers.
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He's awake, Hiccup is finally awake. In my excitement I bound around my rider's wooden nest, clawing my way up one of the beams to look at Hiccup upside down. He doesn't seem nearly as happy to see me, distress obvious in his human words. I pay them no mind, leaping down to crawl on him as a metal thing falls over in my rush, gently butting against his face. As I'm licking him, he makes a sound of pain as my paw accidentally presses against his soft stomach. At once I back off, concern and slight guilt for causing him pain flashing through me. Hiccup suddenly looks distressed, looking towards his leg. The next thing I know he is trying to stand on that bit of metal and wood that the strange, two-limbed human stuck on him earlier. He manages to stand and a sense of pride fills me, not only is he trying to balance on two legs but one of them isn't even his own flesh.
And he is standing, at least until he tries to walk. Hiccup manages only a few short steps until he starts to fall, overestimating his ability to walk unassisted. Instantly I am by his side, letting him grab onto my head to balance. Slowly, we make our way to the nest's opening, a sturdy wooden slab leading outside. Hiccup opens the door and I just barely catch a glimpse of Hookfang roaring at us before Hiccup slams the door shut in his face. I'm confused, until I remember that Hiccup hasn't been able to see the changes his island has gone through after the Red Death. Boy is he in for a surprise.
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Sweet bliss. Food has nothing on the rush flying gives me. Stormfly, Hookfang, Meatlug, and Barf and Belch along with their riders all joined Hiccup and I for his first flight with the not-real-leg. It was amazing, we played air tag and raced each other all around Berk. Stormfly nearly beat me, but I pulled ahead at the last second to fly through the doors into the giant stone nest. As the riders start congratulating each other, or in Snotlout's case try to suck up to Astrid, Stormfly walks over to me on her two thick legs. Her spiny crest flares slightly before relaxing against her skull.
"~How are you Toothless?~"
"~Good, my rider has finally awoken from his healing sleep. Why do you ask?~" At my reply Stormfly gives me an incredulous look, her eyes roving across the length of my body. With a short, amused chuff she replies.
"~Have you looked at yourself since the Queen attempted to kill us all?~"
"~No...~" Her amused chuffing grows into purring laughter. I stare at her, waiting for an explanation.
"~Toothless...you're absolutely filthy. Considering you are a solid black, it is quite obvious. I have no idea how your rider hasn't noticed yet.~" Looking at what scales I can see, she has a point. My usually gleaming black scales are covered in a thin layer of ash, dirt and small stones caught between small gaps in the scales from when I fell after defeating the Queen. Embarrassment wells up. While I am in no way a vain dragon like those colorful Changewings, I do take pride in making sure my scales are clean and well maintained.
"~I will just slip away after dark to rub the ash off on some grass or something. It isn't that bad.~" Stormfly stares at me, tail twitching behind her. From what little I know of Nadder body language, she is fighting back more laughter.
"~From what I know of my human, yours is probably going to notice your less-than-clean state any minute and give you a 'bath'.~" My face must have twisted in confusion as she continues with, "~A bath is what humans do to get clean or clean their dragon apparently. Astrid just gave me one yesterday and it wasn't too terrible.~" I fail to notice her teasing tone as I consider her words. A 'bath'? What in Goddess' name is a bath? Will it hurt? By the time I come out of my thoughts, Hiccup and I are back at his nest, the others nowhere to be seen. Hiccup scratches beneath my jaw, right where I love it the most. I fall over; he stops and seems to look over my body.
I'm too blissed out to notice Hiccup dragging a large, wooden trough over. By the time I come back to my senses, Hiccup had somehow managed to completely fill it with water.
"Alright, Bud, bath time for dragons," Hiccup exclaims! His large grin does nothing to calm my mounting panic. With a small roar I dash away from the nest, my short yet powerful limbs quickly putting distance between me and the Trough of Evil. Even Hiccup's alarmed shouts do not make me pause, instead only serving to make me move even faster. I'm running nearly as fast as I had when Hiccup was being attacked by Hookfang back in that metal-covered hole in the ground. Sprinting past startled Vikings and dragons alike, with a few close calls, I finally reach the edge of the village. By the time I climb my way up a tree, far away from the village, I'm panting from exhaustion as my scales heat from embarrassment. Why did I run like that? Honestly, I have no idea. I know that Hiccup would never hurt me. He didn't when we first met...if being downed by someone, then that someone attempting to kill you but deciding to cut you free from their trap then roaring in their face and trying to fly away can be called meeting someone.
Maybe I'm still freaking out about that...or I'm still on edge from almost being killed by the Queen and thinking Hiccup had actually been killed by my own fangs. He had been seconds away from a fiery death, and actually accepting that fact. In my panic, I had stretched out as long as I could and hooked my teeth on his leg. Thankfully, he had already passed out from the smoke or adrenaline and didn't feel my fangs ripping into his leg as I pulled him into my fore paws just in time to wrap my wings around our bodies and fall through the fire.
Remembering that instantly sends a pang of guilt through me. If Hiccup and his pack can forgive me for tearing off his leg, then I can endure a 'bath'. I think. Hopefully...I need to at least try.
Clambering back down the tree, no way am I going to try and fly down without Hiccup on my back, I start to lope back towards the village and Hiccup, my best friend and brother in all but blood.
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"There you are, Toothless, Astrid and I looked all over the village." Standing next to Hiccup is Astrid. She stares at me with a look of exasperation on her face. Slowly, I make my way over to where they are standing right next to the trough. Deciding to get it over with, I hop inside as the two riders stare at me in shock. Water splashes up and completely soaks them both. It is...surprisingly not that bad. The trough is just large enough that only the smallest part of my tail hangs over the edge, which I quickly curl up beside my paws. The water isn't too cold, and already I can feel the ash and grime being washed away.
The whole experience makes my earlier reaction even more embarrassing.
"Well, he's here now. Let's get this over with before he decides to run off again," Astrid huffs. She grabs a bucket, dunks it in the water, and tosses it over my head. Water runs over my neck and snout, forcing me to close my eyes. I keep them closed as more water is dumped over me when I smell something strange. It is like a mixture of mint, goat milk, and fat. Squinting my eyes open shows Hiccup and Astrid each have a hunk of white-ish yellow goop in their hands. Astrid tosses her pile into the trough with me while Hiccup leans over the edge.
"Hey, Bud. Do you think you could turn around a few times?" Hesitantly I start to rotate in a circle on my paws. By the time I stop, there are bubbles covering the surace of the water. I poke at them curiously; giddiness flows through me as the bubbles catch the light and throw of a rainbow of colors. I feel hands start rubbing against my scales, water, bubbles, dirt, and that goop smearing across my body. It feels almost like a tongue bath, but much wetter and more relaxing.
However, I wouldn't be me if I didn't want to mess with the riders a little. Staring at Hiccup. I wait for the right moment. It comes when he turns to Astrid to talk about whatever humans talk about at times like this. Quick as a lightning bolt, I flick my tail and send water splashing all over Hiccup. Instantly he is sputtering, absolutely soaked. Astrid and I both start laughing when he gets an evil gleam in his eyes.
"Thank that's funny do you?" And before I could do anything, Hiccup grabbed a small bucket full of water and tosses it on my snout. Water rushes up my nose and I sneeze, eyes squinting through the blurry shapes brought on by getting hit with water straight in the snout. Astrid is doubled over laughing, Hiccups clearly isn't amused as he quickly fills the bucket with water from my bath and throws it at her. Astrid stops laughing immediately and launches a counter-attack.
Things just get worse from there. The next few minutes, or hours honestly I'm not sure, are filled with shouting, screeching, and bubbly water flying everywhere as all three of us try to dodge the others attacks while attempting to hit them with our own. All of us are completely soaked by the time we cease hostilities, the humans more obviously than myself. Their hides are darkened with moisture and their hair is flat against their heads. My scales only appear to glisten more brightly than usual, the occasional bead of water rolling down between them.
"That got a little out of hand." Astrid glances at Hiccup as she says this, her face quickly reddening. Hiccup's face reddens as well. "Well, Toothless is clean now," Hiccup remarks. "At least someone is." Hiccup flushes even deeper at her words, true as they are. Not only are they both soaked to the bone, but they're also covered in bubbles. They continue talking, but I'm honestly not paying them that much attention. I hop out of the tub, water sloshing from my abrupt movement. I turn around only to see Hiccup kissing Astrid! When were they kissing?!
One small leap and a roar later, Hiccup is doing a nice impersonation of Hookfang as we walk away from an equally red Astrid. All in a day's work.
"That was the most embarrassing moment of my life...wait no it wasn't. It was pretty close though. Toothless, why did you have to jump on Astrid and then roar in my face? We were in the middle of something."
"~Yeah, in the middle of performing your strange human courtship ritual right in front of me. You may be my brother-in-flight, but I do not want to see you mate with another human in front of me.~" Of course Hiccup doesn't understand Draconian so he only hears irritated huffs and churrs. Somehow, he understands the basics of what I meant. "You might not want to see us kissing, but that doesn't mean you have to jump on her! That was a bit excessive, Bud." The tiniest bit of guilt wells up at those words. "~...Sorry.~", "It's alright, just, next time? Don't look if you don't want to see Astrid and I kissing." I nudge his side with my head, the closest thing to agreement I can express.
We reach the wooden slab that leads into the nest. Just as Hiccup's hand starts to pull it open, their is a shout. Whirling around, I stare in astonishment as the most unexpected sight graces my eyes. In the air, about 18 feet above us, is a strange dragon and rider. The dragon is a mix of lilac and white scales, a faint blue glow surrounding its form. The wing lobes are diamond-shaped and make up most of the dragons body, a thin neck leading to a small head with a single pair of horns. But it was the rider that really caught my attention. A mix a pale blue and white cloth clothing completely hides his or her form, blending into the sky along with the odd dragon. I can just barely make out the shape of a weapon before they shoot over our heads, racing towards the harbor.
I barely have enough time to even think to chase after them. By the time I come to my senses, they're already miles away. "Toothless...what just happened?" "~I have no idea.~" "Yeah, me either, Bud." I meet Hiccup's equally confused look with my own, following him into the nest. While I'm dying to know what had just occurred, I know that by now we would not be able to track those two down, never mind attempt to catch up with them. Oh well, maybe we'll see them again in the future. The world isn't that large.
Me: OMG, this thing took on a life of it's own. I have no clue where that ending came from.
Red: Quit your whining, that ending was genius.
Me: Red!? Did you do this?!
Red: Who me? No. Ask Lobo.
Lobo: Ask me what?
Me: What is up with this ending?
Lobo: Oh, that. I thought it was a good teaser for when you finish Yuki of the Dead and start on one of your other H-
Red: SHUT IT BAKA! That's a surprise for the readers! SPOILERS! *pulls out Hisame*
Lobo: F***! (runs away screaming)
Red: GET BACK HERE AND LET ME SHANK YOU! (runs after Lobo)
ME: ...
Me: I'm sorry about those two, Red's crazy and Lobo is, well, stupid sometimes. Anyways, like Lobo said this is a teaser for a fic idea I literally came up with while writing this thing. Honestly, this surprises me as much as it does you. This thing was just supposed to be a cute, funny little one-shot, not a sample of an upcoming story. I haven't even decided on the Oc's name or gender yet. If you want to read the story sooner or just want to influence the Oc's development, review one of the stories or PM me, I usually check my inbox everyday. Love you all~