"So…" Hiccup said slowly. "Fishlegs. It's… good to see you."

In the back of his mind Fishlegs observed that Hiccup wasn't quite as wordy as he usually was and Hiccup was the sort of guy you could count on for being decently droll at any given moment. Sarcasm, rather highminded-sounding phrases. Fishlegs, if no one else, enjoyed listening to him every now and then. He was supposed to always have something to say, but now Hiccup just seemed uncomfortable. Fishlegs had gone to the forge when he had fortunately (or perhaps unfortunately) had discovered Hiccup and once the usual pleasantries of greeting were past Hiccup's speechcraft just wasn't up to par.

Then again, Fishlegs hadn't been the best at holding up his end of the conversation. Sweat was beginning to bead on his forehead. Was that little detail contributing to the awkwardness of the situation? "I think you already said that."

"Yeah. Forgive me for not knowing the right words to say to someone who just stands in one spot staring at me for five whole minutes." Hiccup's signature sarcasm returned in full force. That was good.

Except Fishlegs still wasn't sure to say. "Sorry about that. I don't know what I'm supposed to be saying."

Hiccup glanced back at the anvil where he had been pounding a sword. It was probably going to be an awesome sword, Fishlegs thought. "Well, I do need to actually be working. Or something. So if you don't know what you're supposed to be saying you could make small talk while I work. Or continue on with your day."

Fishlegs cleared his throat and tried to remember all of what Ruffnut had told him. She just talked so fast and frankly Fishlegs didn't much care for what they were doing. All he knew was that she had said something about Snotlout and Astrid. There were more details… "You haven't heard any strange rumors going on, have you?"

Hiccup shook his head as he picked up a hammer and began pounding the sword. "I'm still out of the loop of the rumor mill. Saving the entire village and possibly all of humanity doesn't do very much and old habits die hard. Besides, who cares about gossip?"

Fishlegs forced a laugh that was terrifying even to his ears and Hiccup nearly dropped his hammer. "Yeah. Gossip. That's for girls."

"That might be a sexist thing to say, but yeah, I get what you're saying. You really are a great one for conversation, Fishlegs. No offense. I mean, it's nice you dropped in to talk to me. You're just not… talking."

"I can talk."

"I know."

"So, talking." Gods, why did he let Ruffnut talk him into doing yet another stupid thing? Was he so incapable of standing up to a crazy girl like her? "Speaking of Snotlout—"

"I didn't think we were." Hiccup gave the sword another strong smack with the hammer. "Does this look even to you?"

"I wouldn't know. So speaking of Snotlout, did you hear about what he did?"

Hiccup let the hammer fall to his side as he stared at Fishlegs. It made Fishlegs very uncomfortable. Hiccup wasn't mean, everyone knew that, but he still didn't like the way the other boy was looking at him. "Are you actually trying to gossip?"

Fishlegs' gaze dropped to the floor. He didn't have the social skills to gossip; he had tried to explain that to Ruffnut and she hadn't cared, not at all. "Yes."

"Oh, boy." Hiccup rolled his eyes.

"But it's not gossip. It's the truth." That was another thing Ruff had said. Don't let there be any doubt in the phrase. The listener had to think it was 100% truth. 100% or it wouldn't work. And Fishlegs knew a thing or two about percentages. When it came to 100% there was no ifs, ands or buts. "I swear."

That seemed to pique Hiccup's interest slightly.

"So I guess Snotlout really likes Astrid."

Hiccup blushed slightly but otherwise showed no emotion. "Yeah. He has flirted with her for years."

Fishlegs took a deep breath and gave himself another moment to go over the information in his mind. He just had to trust Ruff, that's what she had told him. Trust her and do exactly what she said and all would go well. But say everything in his own words. "So last night he asked her to go to the roof of Mead Hall with him."

The hammer dropped from Hiccup's hand and struck the floor with a loud clang. "What?"

Fishlegs wasn't sure how to respond. That did seem to be a positive reaction. Maybe he was better at this gossip stuff that he had thought. Strange, though. No one had ever seemed to listen to him before. "Just what I said. Last night Snotlout asked Astrid to go to the roof of Mead Hall with him."

The sword on the anvil was beginning to do something weird that Fishlegs figured couldn't be good, but Hiccup didn't seem to notice. "That's impossible. You must have heard wrong."

Fishlegs hadn't been prepared for an accusation of impossibility. "No, no. I talked with the kids who saw them. The kids were out fishing and they saw Snotlout and Astrid going to the roof."

"When?"

"I talked with the kids last night after everything happened."

"When last night?"

Fishlegs wanted to crawl into a hole. How did Ruffnut find this fun? "Late? I mean, late. Really late. After everyone was asleep."

Hiccup shook his head. "No. Astrid said she was tired and it was late so she was going home to bed."

"That sword is starting to bend…" Fishlegs pointed at the anvil.

But Hiccup wasn't listening. "So it's impossible. Because Astrid is honest."

"Maybe she didn't want you to know."

"If she didn't like me she would just break up with me."

"I didn't even know you were dating."

Hiccup nodded. "I thought everyone knew we were. Not were. Because we are. So I don't believe what you said. Those kids were lying."

Fishlegs was really sweating. He was going to get caught. He was so going to get caught in his big mess and then Ruff would get mad at him all over again. This was the last time he was ever going to do a favor for anyone. "No, I was lying."

"Why would you lie about that?"

Honesty was a wonderful thing and Fishlegs couldn't understand why he hadn't just gone with it in the first place. Of course, if he had he would not have even been there. He breathed in the rainy and smoky air and felt a million times better. "Because Ruffnut told me to."

Hiccup made a face and picked up his hammer. "That was mean of her. Yet I'm not surprised."

Ruffnut was mean, wasn't she? Fishlegs had never thought of her that way. "Yes. That was mean of her."

Hiccup stared at the mess his sword had become. "Great," he muttered under his breath. "Now I have to fix this. If you admit that it was mean, why did you come here and tell me that?"

Fishlegs thought quickly. No way was he going to implicate himself on this matter, so he repeated his earlier phrase. "Because she told me to."

"So you listened to her?"

"She's kind of scary."

"And you're what, three times her size?"

"I don't hit girls," Fishlegs said defensively.

Hiccup shrugged. "She would hit you without thinking twice about it. And has, now that I think about it. A number of times. Don't feel bad, she has also hit me." He rubbed his shoulder.

"Maybe I should just go…" Fishlegs turned towards the forge's entrance.

"Whoa, hold on!" Hiccup called. "Apparently you felt the need to come all the way over here and lie to my face. What's going on?"

"Um…" He was so not ready for this kind of question.

"Look, it's not like you to pal around with just her. And the entire village knows about what happened to Tuff so he's out of commission for Odin knows how long. So I deduce that something is going on."

Fishlegs squeezed his eyes shut and thought hard and fast. And, to this thankful surprise, inspiration came. "Snotlout was on the roof last night." He opened his eyes and waited for results.

"But not with Astrid."

"No. He was there with Ruff."

Hiccup's eyes went as wide as saucers and he dropped his hammer again.

"You kind of need to fix that sword," Fishlegs pointed out.

"Come on, forget the sword. The sword is a disaster, I feel bad about it, I'll fix it in a few minutes. When you say Snotlout was on the roof of Mead Hall with Ruffnut, do you mean that way? As in Snotlout was on the roof of Mead Hall with Ruffnut?"

Fishlegs paused. "Yes?"

Hiccup laughed nervously, then shook his head. "I figured Snotlout would eventually get a girl up there."

Fishlegs tried to laugh, too, though he wasn't sure why. All he was sure of was that Ruffnut was not going to be happy with him.

"Wow. Maybe I should pay more attention to stuff like this. I mean, I've only been up there with Astrid once. It's not worth the climb, really, and it feels stupid flying a dragon up there and apparently you're supposed to climb anyway according to tradition…"

"Tradition," Fishlegs echoed, laughing again.

"So Ruffnut didn't want her reputation soiled." Hiccup laughed. "Anyway, it was good talking to you."

And with that Fishlegs found himself shuffled out the door.

Now he was going to have to explain this to Ruffnut.