It is a week since Hiccup recovered from Firevein, the first in Viking history to do so. It is a week and one day since that same boy left Berk on the back of a Nadder, weak and not quite at full strength, and returned on the back of his legendary Nightfury. The resulting celebration lasted a day; the hangovers lasted considerably longer. Toothless is hailed a hero, not for the first time. Hiccup is treated like he is as fragile as the petal of a flower, a fact that annoys him to know end and is utterly inescapable, given that Toothless is the worst offender. Things are almost back to normal, and the scare is almost forgotten.

Almost.

The peace comes to an abrupt end early one morning, the high pitched shriek enough to startle several soundly sleeping Vikings.
"Hiccup!" The bellow that immediately follows is enough to ensure no one is going back to sleep. Curious heads poke out of windows and doors all over the village, and the sight that meets their eyes is almost enough to have the villagers forgiving the awakening. Snotlout runs in circles around the plaza, with a flamed up Hookfang in hot pursuit, and he is no doubt responsible for the shriek. Stoick stands with arms folded, watching the proceedings with a disapproving scowl; the origin of the bellow, then. The trouble doesn't just start with Snotlout, though he seems to have the worst of it. Astrid tries to coax a shifty looking Stormfly out from where she hides between two buildings, regarding her rider with one baleful eye. Meatlug hovers just above Fishlegs reach, pegging the Viking with an entirely disapproving stare. Barf and Belch lie dozing on the ground; at first, it appears they are giving their riders the least trouble. However, each time Ruff and Tuff attempt to approach their beast, a negligent flick of a two pronged tail sends the twins sailing overhead. The twins think the "game" is so much fun, they have obviously completely forgotten the original purpose.
"Hiccup, what is going on?" Stoick demands of his son, who watches the chaos with raised brows, Toothless leaning gently against the boy's side.
"Bath day." Hiccup responds easily, gesturing to the buckets and long handled scrub brushes in the centre of the plaza. Stoick's eyebrows threaten an immediate disappearance into his hairline,
"Since when do Dragons have a bath day?" He intones, shooting a pointed glance at Hookfang, who is making a serious attempt to light his rider's pants on fire.

"Well, since I got sick. The moss might help to keep the Firemites off the Dragons. If we bathe them regularly with it, then maybe no one else will catch Firevein." Hiccup shrugs uncomfortably, one hand rubbing at the back of his neck. He gestures awkwardly to Toothless, and now that Stoick is looking, he can see traces of the moss where it has been rubbed into the Nightfury's scales.

And he wonders why he is surprised that Toothless, of all the Dragons, had been the one to cooperate.

"Well, you're the dragon expert." Stoick finally says, and decides he really doesn't want to see how this all turns out. He'll come back and see how much of the village Hookfang has burned down later; right now, he really just wants breakfast.
As Stoick takes his leave, Hiccup releases a breath he didn't realise he'd been holding.
"Toothless, think you could help the others out?" He mutters, nodding in the direction of Snotlout and Hookfang. Toothless snorts, but after affectionately headbutting Hiccup's side, he bounds off to corral the errant Nightmare. Surprisingly in the time that Hiccup was conversing with his father, Fishlegs has somehow managed to talk Meatlug down and now the Gronckle unhappily submits to being scrubbed. After a moment, she seems to realise how good the brush is at getting rid of itches and the moss mixture is quickly forgotten.

Meatlug's obvious relish seems to be enough to finally convince Stormfly, and in short order Astrid is managing to apply the moss. Toothless has rescued Snotlout from imminent death by Nightmare fire, but hasn't quite progressed to the bathing stage. Which leaves Hiccup with the twins. The young Viking tries not to sigh as he makes his way over to the pair,
"Uh, do you two even realise what you're supposed to be doing?" He poses the question with a kind of naive hope.
"Uh, duh." Ruff responds, rolling her eyes heavenward. Her brother snorts, folding his arms across his chest and looking at Hiccup as though he is the simpleton.
"Of course! We're...Uh...Don't tell me, don't tell me!" He looks from Hiccup's unimpressed face, to the 'dozing' Zippleback, to the Dragons being scrubbed and finally back at Hiccup again.
"The Dragons are having a bath!" He exclaims abruptly, and Hiccup's eyes threaten to pop out of his skull.
"Wow, seriously? First try, too." He responds, impressed despite himself. It doesn't often happen, the twins being right, but he supposes its fair that it has to happen eventually.
"I was right? I mean, yeah! Right. Of course I was." Tuff nods to himself, apparently answering his own question.
"Only, we don't bath. Neither do Barf and Belch. It ruins our natural perfume." Ruff informs them all, levelling a disapproving stare at Stormfly and Meatlug.

Hiccup sighs heavily, reaching up to rub at his temples.
"Or not," He mutters, half glaring between the twins. He waits a moment until their attention drifts back to him before he speaks again.
"Look, it's important. You have to scrub Barf and Belch down with that," He pauses and points at the buckets Astrid and Fishlegs are using. "So they don't get Firemites, which are dangerous to humans." He continues, trying to keep the explanation as short as possible. The Twins look thoughtful for a moment, looking between each other and Hiccup, and then they shrug. Hiccup waits for the argument, or for them to just simply not get it,
"Barf! Belch!" The twins shout at the same time, and something in the way they say it seems to work. The Zippleback scrambles to its feet, both heads turned attentively to their respective riders.

Later, Hiccup will be utterly floored by the fact it took so little time to get the twins sorted, compared to Hookfang and Snotlout. He ends up helping them scrub the Zippleback, simply because they keep getting distracted and trying to beat each other with the brushes. His back is turned to the chaos going on with Hookfang, but he trusts Toothless would let him know if things were getting out of hand. Toothless lets out a warning rumble just as someone screams behind him. He feels the heat of a large fire at his back, the crackle of burning wood enough to tell him that he really doesn't want to turn around.

"Hiccup!"

It's going to be a long day. But he (probably) wouldn't trade it for anything else.