Author's Note: Hey, everyone! =D Welcome to an HTTYD one-shot written by none other then meh, Moon! *Tosses purple colored confetti*

I honestly don't have much to say other than this idea is pretty random. X) This is actually one of my many HTTYD headcanons, and it was about time I wrote it, so I did. X) I hope you guys enjoy this little one-shot! =D


How to Bathe Your Dragon

Toothless hated baths.

The Night Fury couldn't explain how much he loathed them. He hated them more than Sharpshot taking the attention from Hiccup. He hated them—possibly—more than eels. Baths were despicable to Toothless, and he wondered why such a concept even existed. What kind of viking found it fun to get scrubbed with a rough brush, dumped upon with freezing water, and scrubbed in places that—to Toothless—didn't need to be scrubbed?

Baths ruined everything that made a dragon, well, a dragon! They washed off the scent that was built off from years and years of survival. They ruined the brave, warrior-looking appearance of a dragon. Toothless had spent years and years collecting scents from all of the islands he had been from. In fact, he had the most out of all of the dragons in the Dragon Training Academy, and they respected Toothless because of it. The dragons could tell that Toothless had been through a lot and seen a lot, all thanks to his smell. Toothless was proud of the way he smelled, and he was even prouder of the dirt and grime that he had collected over the years. Some had been there since he was a hatchling, which he didn't find at all disgusting.

His human companion, Hiccup, however, did find it rather horrifying that his dragon had dirt and grime stuck in places for years and years on end. The Night Fury had begun to radiate a rather unpleasant stench. Why, it sent some of the biggest, strongest vikings fleeing for the hills! Toothless proudly held up his head whenever this happened; he thought they were running because they were intimidated by his demeanor. He was the unholy offspring of lightning and death after all.

Soon, Hiccup had begun to talk about giving Toothless a long, thorough bath. When the Night Fury first heard this, he was extremely appalled. A bath? Oh, Thor, no! He had spent years collecting his many different smells, and he wasn't going to have them washed off by some putrid soap!

The talk of giving Toothless a bath seemed to fade into the background as time went on, soon to the point where Hiccup didn't bring it up at all. The young viking only scrunched his nose when Toothless walked into a room, his stench floating around freely. Toothless didn't find himself stinky, but Hiccup seemed to. Still, he never kicked Toothless out of his room when he walked in or made any sort of exclamation that Toothless stunk like a bowl of rotting fish. Instead, he grimaced silently, letting out the occasional gag when Toothless wasn't paying attention.

Days wore on with no talk of a bath, and Toothless began to think that he was safe from being washed down by a block of soap. He allowed himself to relax and he let his guard down, letting out a soft sigh as he made himself comfortable on his stone slab. Hiccup was sitting on his bed, scribbling something in his notebook, sending the occasional glance in Toothless' direction. Soon, the young viking placed his notebook aside, laid down, and promptly fell asleep. Toothless crooned blissfully, deciding that the perfect way to spend the day tomorrow would be to fly with Hiccup and find a basket of haddock lying around to eat.

Something was off.

Toothless wasn't fully awake, but his dragon instincts told him that something was up. The Night Fury cracked an eye open, spotting that Hiccup, surprisingly, wasn't in bed. His vest was gone from its usual hook, meaning that he must've woken up early and headed out. Toothless was bemused. Hiccup never left without him. And when he did, he always let Toothless know where he was going.

Perhaps there were some things that Hiccup had to attend to. Perhaps there was an emergency involving a dragon, so the young boy had gone off to resolve it. Toothless felt his eyes beginning to close again, deciding that he would sneak in a few more minutes of sleep before waking up and starting the day.

Suddenly, the wooden floorboards groaned. Toothless' ears twitched; the sounds were coming from the stairs. Stoick wasn't home; he got up even earlier than Hiccup and Toothless did to start chiefting, so the only other person that could be walking up the stairs was…

Hiccup. But why was he walking so slowly? By the sounds of his footsteps, Toothless could tell that he was trying to sneak his way upstairs. Toothless was confused. Who tried to sneak into their own bedroom?

Thump. Click. Thump. Click. The familiar sounds of Hiccup's boot and prosthetic slowly made their way up the stairs, pausing when another creak from the floor sounded. Toothless could hear the boy mutter about having to replace the floorboards, and he continued to walk up the stairs. It was then that Toothless heard another sound—one that he wasn't expecting—following Hiccup's footsteps.

Slosh, slosh, slosh. Water. Toothless cracked one eye open. Hiccup had water with him. In a bucket, most likely. It sounded like a lot too. Toothless felt his unease begin to rise. Hiccup had water, he was walking up the steps as if he was breaking into someone's house, and he got up early…Toothless' eyes snapped open the exact moment when Hiccup entered the bedroom. Hiccup stared at his dragon and Toothless stared back, his acid green eyes looking Hiccup over. The freckled boy was holding a bucket that was filled to the brim with water. A sponge was clutched in his other hand, and a bar of soap was tucked under his arm. Toothless couldn't believe it…His rider was going to give him a bath!

Toothless was on his feet in an instant, and Hiccup placed the bucket of water down, extending his hand toward Toothless.

"Now, Bud," started Hiccup, approaching his dragon slowly. "It's okay. I'm just going to give you a bath, alright? Nothing to worry about."

Toothless backed away, growling.

Hiccup sighed. "I know you don't like baths, but…You're sending half of the village across the island with your smell!"

Toothless snorted. It wasn't his fault that some vikings couldn't handle a strong scent. And they called themselves tough. Ha!

"Just let me wash you," continued Hiccup, holding the sponge in one hand and soap in the other. "And things will be fine."

Toothless stood still. As still as a statue. He looked at Hiccup, who smiled lightly, thinking that he had made it through to his dragon. Unfortunately, he hadn't, since Toothless had other plans.

The Night Fury glanced at the open window, where the sun was beckoning to him. Toothless looked at Hiccup, and then, in a flash of black, he leapt out the window.

Hiccup stood in his bedroom, a look of surprise on his face. He huffed.

"Darn it," he said.

Astrid was walking through the village with a bright smile on her face. It was a beautiful morning, and the sun illuminated her blonde hair as she strode through, waving at vikings who passed by. Astrid hoisted her axe onto her shoulder; it was due for a sharpening, and while she preferred if Hiccup sharpened her axe, she decided that she would ask Gobber to. The previous day, Hiccup said that he'd be late to the Dragon Academy for reasons he left unknown. Astrid was curious, but she didn't prod him any further. She trusted Hiccup, and he always made it to the Academy.

Astrid began to approach the forge, a black figure suddenly dashed right in front of her. Astrid stumbled backwards, a surprised "Whoa!" escaping her mouth as she caught her balance. Once she was on her feet again, and Astrid looked around. Her nose scrunched as the smell of various unidentified—but smelly—scents filled her nostrils.

"My Thor," exclaimed Astrid, fanning her nose. "Who has the audacity to walk out in public smelling like this?!"

Astrid caught movement in the corner of her eye, and she turned around to spot Toothless, who was barreling through the plaza like a yak gone mad. Astrid stared, completely nonplussed. Toothless never left Hiccup's side, and when he did, he was never gone for long. And what was he running from? And why did he smell so bad?

"Toothless!" The familiar voice of none other than Hiccup came from behind Astrid, and the blue-eyed girl turned around to spot the young viking running in an attempt to catch up with his dragon. Hiccup stopped in front of Astrid, placing his hands on his knees and panting like a dog who had just run a marathon.

"Morning," greeted Astrid, unsure how to acknowledge the rather strange situation. "What's going on with Toothless?"

Hiccup dusted his pants and he stood up straight, running a hand through his hair. "Toothless smells like death, but he doesn't seem to notice it. I tried giving him a bath this morning, and, well…" Hiccup gestured to the Night Fury who was currently running through the village, clearly avoiding Hiccup. "Let's just say Toothless has a strong hate for all things bath related."

Astrid nodded, placing a hand on her hip. "This sounds very familiar."

Hiccup managed to crack a smile. "Yeah, but this is a dragon we're dealing with. Not some old blacksmith."

Astrid shrugged. "It's the same concept. We just have to prepare a bath, catch Toothless, and bathe him before the vikings of Berk decide to flee the island."

"That's a far better plan than the one I had in mind," said Hiccup.

Astrid smiled. "Thanks. But before we get started, we're going to need help. There's no way we can handle a rampaging Night Fury on our own."

The crowds were vast, but Toothless manage to navigate his way through them, ignoring the stares and shouts of surprise from the people around him. Why the vikings were so bunched together, Toothless didn't know, and it was rather frustrating trying to barrel through them all. Didn't people know to make way for a running Night Fury?

Finally, Toothless burst from the crowd, knocking over a barrel of apples, but he didn't stay behind to help the owner collect them. Right now, Toothless' main goal was to avoid Hiccup. It sounded strange in his mind at first, as Toothless never left Hiccup's side without a good reason but considering that the young viking had a bath prepared for him, and he was more than determined to give him one, Toothless was making a run from Hiccup.

It wouldn't be long until Hiccup gathered Astrid and the other Dragon Riders to try and track him down, which was why Toothless was scouring the village for the perfect hiding spot. The village houses weren't an option; they were too obvious. Hiding in the Great Hall would just draw more attention to himself…Toothless growled to himself. Where was he going to go?

Suddenly, an idea came to Toothless' mind. It was probably the most humiliating thing he would do, but the Night Fury was desperate. Toothless veered right, running toward the corrals where the yaks were kept. There were so many, and they were all black or dark colored, so blending in wouldn't be a problem.

Toothless leapt over the fence, immediately immersing himself in the waves and waves of hairy black yaks as they walked around. Some kicked and bucked, but Toothless kept his head low and wings tucked at his side. Hiccup would never suspect to find him there.

The other Dragon Riders had all accepted to help Hiccup track down his wayward dragon. The twins and Snotlout were still laughing about the fact that Toothless had run away because of a bath, and Hiccup was doing his best to ignore them and focus on trying to locate his dragon.

"I mean, think about it!" said Ruffnut. "Night Fury. Speed: fast. Size: large. Weaknesses…baths!" The female Thorston broke off into laughter. Tuffnut and Snotlout laughed along with her.

Hiccup rolled his eyes. "Ha, ha, yeah. Very funny. We've already established that Toothless running away because of a bath is funny. Now, can we please focus on finding him?"

"Where do you think he went?" asked Astrid, turning around so she could face the auburn-haired boy. Since Toothless was absent, Hiccup was riding on Stormfly with Astrid. Hiccup tapped his chin.

"To be frank, I don't know," said Hiccup. "Obviously, Toothless can't fly by himself, so he couldn't have flown off the island…So he has to be somewhere around here."

"And it's day," said Fishlegs. "Toothless can't blend in as easily with his surroundings as he would at night."

"So finding him should be easy, right?" asked Tuffnut.

"Not if we keep on circling the village a bazillion times!" Snotlout hollered. Hookfang grunted in agreement.

"Well, we don't know where we're going, so we might as well circle in case we spot any sign of Toothless somewhere," said Astrid.

Hiccup snapped his fingers. "I got it! Toothless ran through the plaza, so he should be somewhere around the animal corrals."

"Then let's go!" said Snotlout impatiently. The Dragon Riders dived down toward the village, flying over villagers who were cleaning up the mess that Toothless had left behind. A few barrels had been knocked over, and some vikings were still holding their noses as if Toothless' stench was still lurking through the air. Hiccup and the Dragon Riders flew over them, hoping that Toothless was still nearby.

The Riders arrived at the animal corrals, where mostly the sheep and yaks were kept. Some vikings hand their own corrals set up behind their homes, but the majority of Berks animals were kept in the corrals that were set up a few ways away from the plaza. Sheep were fenced in on one side while the yaks were fenced in on the other. They were all grazing away at the grass while others were busy staring off into the village of Berk. The Dragon Riders landed a short distance away so that the animals wouldn't be frightened at the sight of the dragons. While dragons had been living on Berk for a while, the animals that the dragons used to prey on were still wary of them.

Hiccup and Astrid slipped off of Stormfly's back while the other riders slipped off of their own dragons. They began to make their way to the large corrals, scanning the area of any sign of Toothless. There was none, unfortunately, but Hiccup refused to give up so quickly.

"He has to be around here somewhere," said Hiccup. "We just need to look around."

The Riders split up, each of them taking their own spot around the fences as they peered in toward the sheep and yaks. None of them seemed disturbed or recently frightened, so the Riders assumed that Toothless may not have passed through there. Hiccup and Astrid stood next to each other as they looked into the yak corral, spotting nothing but hairy black yaks.

"I'm not seeing him, Hiccup," said Astrid. She sniffed the air. "Or smelling him either."

Hiccup sighed. "I don't understand…Toothless was headed in this direction. Where else could he be?"

"Maybe he flew away," said Tuffnut as he and his twin sister walked toward Hiccup and Astrid.

Astrid crossed her arms. "Toothless can't fly on his own, you idiots."

"Oh yeah? What about the automatic tailfin that Hiccup gave him?" countered Ruffnut.

"Toothless smashed it," said Hiccup bluntly.

"He did?" said Ruffnut. "But I saw him wearing it yesterday."

"Same here, sis," said Tuffnut. Astrid and Hiccup rolled their eyes, and geared their focus back onto the yaks lumbering around in front of them. As Hiccup peered inside, he spotted a familiar figure amongst the hairy cows. Hiccup squinted his eyes, making out the figure of Toothless lying on the ground, a look of immense irritation on his face as yak hair brushed over him. The Night Fury sneezed. Hiccup grinned, and he touched Astrid's shoulder.

"There he is!" whispered Hiccup, pointing at his dragon amongst the yaks. Astrid smiled as well.

"How are we gonna get him out?" asked Astrid. "And all the way to the Academy without him running off?"

"I don't know," said Hiccup. "But let's focus on not alerting Toothless that we're—"

"HEY GUYS, I SEE HIM!" shouted Tuffnut, ponting at the large group of yaks. The large, hairy creatures bellowed in surprise, distancing themselves from each other and exposing Toothless crouched beneath them. The Night Fury was on his feet in an instant, his eyes flicking around at the Dragon Riders. He stepped away from them, growling indignantly.

Hiccup leapt over the fence and into the corral. "C'mon, Bud. It's just a little bath! Please don't make us chase you all over—"

With one loud roar, Toothless leapt out of the corral and dashed away. Hiccup slumped.

"...Berk," he finished lamely.

"This is ridiculous!" shouted Snotlout as he and the other Dragon Riders flew over Raven's Point. A couple of kind vikings had told the Riders that they had spotted Toothless running in that direction, and Hiccup immediately thought of the Cove, where his and Toothless' friendship had first begun. It had been a while since he visited the place, but there was no time to reminisce on the past as he and the Dragon Riders flew through the air, their eyes peeled for any sign of Toothless.

"We're really going to spend all day hunting down Toothless, who clearly doesn't want to be bathed?!" asked Snotlout. "I say we just let him go!"

"Snotlout, being properly cleansed is important," said Fishlegs. "If Toothless doesn't get cleaned, bacteria and other germs could—"

"Shut up, Fishface!" snapped Snotlout. Fishlegs clamped his mouth shut. "What I'm saying is that we don't have to run around Berk chasing after a dragon who doesn't want to be bathed. I think this is a waste of time."

Hiccup pursed his lips together. Toothless didn't want to be bathed, yes, but that wasn't the only reason why Hiccup was trying so hard to look for him. Toothless was his best friend, and he didn't want the Night Fury getting lost. Not only that, but Toothless was a downed dragon without his tailfin, so he was vulnerable without his usual ability to fly.

There hadn't been any sign of Alvin and his Outcasts, but Hiccup still kept his guard up. The Outcast chief had made it clear that he would do anything to get Hiccup to train his dragons, and kidnapping his dragon was one of them. If Alvin got his hands on Toothless…If he laid even a finger on him…

"Dragon Boy, are you okay?" asked Astrid. Hiccup looked up; the blonde-haired girl was looking at him, concern written across her face.

"Y-Yeah, I'm fine," replied Hiccup, trying to regain his usual composure. "Why do you ask?"

"You went silent for a while," said Astrid. "Not to mention that you had your worrying face on."

"M-My what?" stuttered Hiccup. Astrid laughed.

"Your worrying face," she repeated. "Your face gets all scrunched up and your brows furrow together."

Hiccup blinked, a light blush crawling onto his face. "I-I, uh…I didn't know I did that…"

Astrid shrugged, but a somewhat sheepish look rested on her face. "Anyway, what's on your mind?"

Hiccup sighed. "I'm just worried about Toothless…What if he's long gone? What if he hurts himself?"

"He won't," said Astrid. She punched Hiccup's shoulder lightly. "Stop worrying! Toothless just doesn't want to take a bath. And I don't think he'd cross the ocean, even though he wants to get as far away from baths as possible, just to avoid taking a bath."

"Uh, Toothless can't fly, Astrid," said Tuffnut. "He doesn't have an automatic tailfin that allows him to fly on his own."

Astrid glared at Tuffnut. "I know, Tuff. I'm not stupid. Unlike some people."

Ruffnut blinked. "Who's some people?"

"The guy who stole our yak chops last week," replied Tuffnut.

"Ohhhh," said Ruffnut. She frowned. "I really hate Some People."

"Same here, sis."

Astrid, Snotlout, and Fishlegs groaned while Hiccup stayed silent. A plan was forming in his mind, one that he wished that he had thought of sooner. "Guys, I think I know how we can get Toothless to bathe…without having to drag him all the way to the Academy."

Astrid's blue eyes sparkled. "What did you have in mind, Hiccup?"

Hiccup grinned, and he told the Riders his plan.

Toothless trudged through Raven Point, feeling tired. Running all the way through Berk and through Raven Point left the Night Fury rather winded. Toothless didn't know how far Hiccup and his friends were from his trail, but he did know that he wasn't going to let them bathe him. There was no way in Valhalla that Toothless was going to take a bath. Ever.

The black-scaled dragon continued his way through the forest, wondering where on Thor's green earth he was when his stomach grumbled. Toothless grumbled. He was hungry; he had skipped breakfast when he had left the Haddock hut that morning, and it was probably around lunchtime by now. Come to think of it, Hiccup must have skipped breakfast too. Perhaps he was eating lunch with his friends, not even thinking about bathing him anymore.

Toothless sighed; he knew that he would eventually have to head back to the village to find some food, but frankly, he didn't want to, knowing that the Dragon Riders were probably still around for him.

Suddenly, the scent of fish—and not just any fish…haddock—filled Toothless' nose. He sniffed the air, finding that the smell of his favorite fish was very close, not too far from where he was standing. Toothless licked his lips and looked around, seeing nothing out of the ordinary. The fish could easily be a trap, but Toothless' stomach was begging for food, so the Night Fury decided to take his chances.

Toothless followed the scent of fish all the way to a small beach that he and Hiccup had discovered on one of their flights. The ocean licked and lapped away at the sand; its waters sparkling like diamonds. Toothless looked around, spotting no sign of any haddock fish anywhere. Toothless slowly began to think that he had just fallen into a trap.

Then, out of nowhere, Astrid, Snotlout, Fishlegs, and the twins leapt out of the bushes, screaming at the top of their lungs. They ran toward Toothless, who had snapped his wings out in surprise, and he began to instinctually back away from the group of young riders. The Night Fury realized too soon that he had tumbled into the cool waters of the ocean, and at that moment, he heard Hiccup yell, "Drop it now, guys!"

From the sky came Stormfly, Meatlug, and Hookfang, carrying a large bucket filled with soapy water. Toothless' eyes widened when his three dragon friends dumped the contents of the large container right onto him. Toothless screeched when frigid, stinging soapy water ran down his scales, slipping into places that Toothless frankly didn't know could be reached by soap. Hiccup ran out to his dragon, who was breathing heavily, a look of pure indignation on his face. The young viking only smirked.

"I told you that you needed a bath," said Hiccup. "And you know I'm stubborn."

Toothless huffed. Hiccup only smiled.

"Aw, are you pouting big baby boo?" Hiccup jested. And that was the last straw. Toothless snatched Hiccup by his prosthetic and dragged him into the water. Hiccup screamed in surprise when his body hit the cold, freezing water of the ocean. Toothless chortled with laughter as Hiccup spat and spluttered. He looked up at his dragon, bangs covering his face.

"Har, har, very funny," said Hiccup. The other Dragon Riders and their dragons laughed as well. Hiccup frowned.

"Are you guys just going to stand there and laugh or are you going to help me?" asked Hiccup.

Astrid crossed her arms. "Eh, standing here seems pretty nice to me."

Hiccup rolled his eyes, and he stood up, leaning against Toothless. The Night Fury snorted, and Hiccup chuckled. Right then and there, he had successfully learned how to bathe his dragon. And even though he had received an unscheduled bath himself, he didn't mind. For when he was with his dragon, things always became a little more fun.


Author's Note: I'm seriously questioning my use of the term "one-shot" now. =') My "one-shots" are more like short stories then the usual, shortish one-shots...Man, I feel like my word count is just growin' and growin'...

Haha, anyway, what did you guys think? =) Random, I know, but eh. I still think this is a pretty decent little fic. =D

...Also, I had to sneak in Hiccup's adorable HTTYD 2 quote in here. It just popped into my mind, so I snuck it in there. X)

Anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed this one-shot! =D

Until the next story!

~BeyondTheMoon1203