Sorry for missing last week. I was sick and not much of anything got done.

BLUSH

'Wake up wake up wake up!'

Still half asleep, Hiccup turned over and pulled the covers over his head. "Go away."

A hard mouth unceremoniously closed over his remaining foot and dragged him out of bed. 'Emergency!'

He landed on the floor with a thump. "Stormfly!"

'Sorry sorry sorry hurry hurry hurry!'

"What am I hurrying for?" He rubbed his eyes and yawned, hopping over to his leg. "Toothless, wake up."

'Tired want-sleep!'

"Don't blame me, it's Stormfly who came charging in at six o'clock in the morning."

'Hurry hurry hurry!'

"Alright, alright, I'm coming!" He struggled into his clothes and fumbled the saddle into place, still longing to return to his bed. "Where are we going?"

'My rider hurt! Won't let me see! Say it-nothing! Worried worried worried!'

"Astrid?"

'Yes yes yes hurry hurry hurry!'

His arm was almost tugged out of its socket by her frantic pulls. "I'm coming! Let me get on Toothless!"

Finally, they were awake enough to jump out the window and start running through the village. 'Fly! Hurry!'

Hiccup groaned. "You didn't give us time to put the tail on, girl."

'Not-tail back house,' Toothless translated. 'No time.'

Stormfly leapt into the air with a squawk, and dived for her house. 'Get rider, bring her!'

oOoOo

They met in the middle of the town square, and Stormfly dropped Astrid in front of Toothless. 'Help her!'

Astrid looked annoyed. "Hiccup, what's going on?! My dragon's gone crazy."

Dismounting, now thoroughly awake from the cold air, Hiccup helped her to stand up. "Where are you hurt?"

"Hurt? I'm not hurt."

'Pretend not-hurt, but smell blood!' Stormfly cried in despair.

"Were you cooking with meat or something?"

She blinked. "No, what kind of stupid question is that?"

Toothless took a step nearer and sniffed her. 'Smell blood. Her blood, not animal.'

"Easy, Stormfly, calm down." He reached out to touch her nose soothingly. "I'm sure there's a simple explanation."

"An explanation for what?!"

"She's upset because you smell of blood," he explained, waiting for her to tell him what was going on.

She froze. "Uh—well—"

He frowned. "Are you hurt?"

"No, no, it's nothing. It's completely normal."

Stormfly wasn't satisfied, even when Toothless translated what Astrid had said. 'NOT-normal, smell BLOOD, rider hurt hurt hurt, Stormfly worried worried worried—'

"I—" Astrid groaned, colour flooding her cheeks. "It's my monthly cycle, it's a human girl thing, it started this morning, please settle down!"

'Monthly cycle?' Toothless queried, not sure how to translate it.

Hiccup looked at Astrid. "They don't know what a monthly cycle is."

"Then you tell them!"

His cheeks flushed. "I don't know either?"

"What?!"

"I'm a guy, remember? So is Dad, and Gobber, and they're pretty much the only people who bothered to explain stuff to me."

"Argh!" Her hands instinctively reached for her axe, but it wasn't on her belt. Hiccup winced.

The dragons were coming to their own conclusions. 'Why not say! Not say even Hiccup, he human! He her desired!'

'Maybe mating thing? Humans strange and not-talk mating things.'

'Why why why? She HURT!'

'Not-know. Human smell useless.'

Stormfly bent and sniffed Astrid hard. 'No scent of other, not-tell not-tell not-tell!'

'Maybe mating wrong?'

The Nadder wailed. 'Force-mate, HURT her, KILL him!'

Hiccup blanched. "Astrid, you've got to say something. They think you were—were raped or something." His cheeks flamed. "Stormfly, don't look at me like that!"

A huge head knocked him to the ground, and he held up his hands in horrified shock. "No, no, no, I didn't touch her!"

Toothless knocked Stormfly away. 'Stupid! Hiccup NEVER hurt ANYONE!'

'Fire-wing's human! Find him find him find him KILL him!'

"Gah! Astrid, stop your dragon before she murders Snotlout!"

"Stormfly, calm down! I'm fine, no one raped me, it's normal!"

Toothless helped Hiccup back up, and he dusted himself off. "Well?"

Astrid stared at the ground. "Stormfly, if a human isn't pregnant, she bleeds every month."

'Pregnant?' Toothless wanted to know.

"Has babies growing inside her," Hiccup muttered.

'No egg?'

"No, we don't lay eggs. The mother is the egg."

Wide eyes stared at him in silence. 'What about hatching? Human mothers explode?'

"No, no, they—argh!—the baby kind of, just, comes out."

'Lay babies, not eggs.'

Hiccup grimaced. "Strange way of putting it, but yes. Humans lay babies."

Astrid cleared her throat awkwardly. "If there isn't a baby that cycle, the woman bleeds"

'Humans mate every month?!'

Hiccup translated, his face a brilliant red.

"No, they could make babies once a month, but they don't normally. If they do make a baby, it stays inside the mother for nine months, and she doesn't bleed." Astrid flushed, hands reaching for her invisible axe again.

oOoOo

"I don't know if I should laugh or be sick," Hiccup moaned.

"What did they say this time?" Astrid said, wearily resigned. "Do I want to know?"

"They're saying that human females keep a 'shell' of blood inside them at all times, and if it isn't 'filled with a baby' it gets laid anyway." He buried his head in his hands. "Not a nice mental image."

She groaned. "I'm fine with them believing that if it means Stormfly will calm down."

"Me too."

He stood up and motioned to Toothless. "Take me to the ocean, bud. I need to scream at something."

'Not-like talk mating?'

"No, I don't. Please?"

They'd been talking where Stormfly had dragged Astrid down to meet Hiccup and Toothless, in the middle of a street. The early morning had deterred most observers, but a strangled snicker suddenly came from round the corner.

Hiccup whirled around. "Oh, the gods hate me—"

Snotlout staggered out from behind a house, shaking with uncontrollable giggles he'd obviously been holding in for a long time. "You—hahahahahaha—and Astrid—hahahaha—explained to dragons—"

Both humans fled to the skies, faces blood red and pressed into the saddle.

THE END

ABOUT GROWING FLAME'S SEQUEL: I've got to chapter 16 out of 19 in Raging Inferno and I'd appreciate it if someone PM-ed me and volunteered to be a beta. So far, no request I've sent out has come back with a response, and I'd really like a second opinion.

YOU KNOW WHAT COMES NEXT:

1) Always Come Back—1.8k words, oneshot. Just some gratuitous Toothless whump, really.

2) Blood Always Shows—9.6k words, five oneshots in the same universe. I'm not entirely sure about posting this, because it deals with some stuff I know is a sensitive topic, and (thankfully) I have no personal experience with it. Nothing too graphic, hopefully, but still trigger warnings for self-harm and accidental near suicide.

3) Coconuts—3.5k words, oneshot. Berserkers poison Hiccup, and Toothless and Astrid have to find the antidote that happens to be halfway around the world within a week.

4) How Not To Pick Your Dragon—3.1k words, oneshot. I saw an opportunity for Hicctooth hurt/comfort and took it. Slight deviation from the episode How To Pick Your Dragon.

5) Lowest Moment—23.3k words, sixshot. AU on Weakest Moment. Hiccup flew from Toothless' grip as he hit the ground, leaving Toothless alone to brave both Alvin and Dagur.

6) The Unspeakable Happens—3.7k words, oneshot. Like the title says, the unspeakable happens. Set in HTTYD 2.

7) Tired—3.7k words, oneshot. Immediate aftermath of HTTYD 1. Hiccup isn't Useless anymore, and he's determined to keep it that way. Toothless only wants his human well rested and healthy again.

8) Undeserving Trust—5.1k words, oneshot. The Terrible Twos, but from Toothless' POV and with a few extra details.

Thanks for making it this far!

~JustAnotherRandomPoster