Fishlegs was sitting with a chicken leg halfway to his mouth, aghast at the fact that Hiccup hadn't done what the Book of Dragons ordered and run. The boy's curiosity was equal to his own, possibly bigger. They could have had such a great time, talking about dragons and the different kinds together, possibly looking them up in the book that Fishlegs treated like the Holy Grail.

The next scene, outside the Mead Hall and with pouring rain, jogged the big teen's memories. Oh no. This was going to hurt.

It was the day he'd tried to share his knowledge with the others and been completely blown off. Why couldn't the twins understand the merits of the Book of Dragons? Snotlout was even worse.

"I mistimed my somersault dive. It was sloppy. It threw off my reverse tumble." Wow. Oh So Great Astrid was nitpicking her performance again. What good was a fancy somersault when a Whispering Death came up from underneath you? And what if you were fighting a Changewing and rolled into a puddle of acid by mistake? You had to know your enemy before fighting. But of course no one else thought that was more important that sword swinging.

And, of course, Snotlout had to butter her up and completely ignore the fact that she wasn't interested in him. Astrid made that quite clear with an eye roll that the blond teen didn't know she was possible of. Even Astrid got exasperated, who knew?

"Where did Hiccup go wrong?"

"Uh, he showed up." And what is wrong with that, Fishlegs wanted to ask the female of the pair. You showed up too. So did you go wrong the same way? He felt the same way about Ruffnut's remark. If you were going to insult someone, at least do it in such a way that you don't look like a moron.

But he stopped lamenting the twins' lack of half a brain when he noticed something. Their table was far from full, but Snotlout was deliberately moving around to fill the empty space as Hiccup walked by it.

Not that Hiccup should have taken a seat at their table. Snotlout would probably have bugged him through the whole meal or kicked him under the table. The others would probably have joined in, too, if only for the amusement. At least this way they were limited to verbal barbs, which didn't seem to have the great of an effect on the chief's son. He actually just grabbed some food and sat at the next table over, poking the chicken on the plate. Why wasn't he eating?

A closer look at the teen's face answered the question. People who are lonely, tired, and shameful generally don't have much of an appetite, and all three of those expressions were written clearly on his face.

The reason for the first one was painfully obvious. Fishlegs had just seen the root of it after all, and been slightly shocked by his own part in it. So what if he thought Hiccup would be a decent person to discuss dragon lore with. He hadn't made a single move to turn the idea into reality, hanging out with the safer crowd of cool kids instead of making himself more vulnerable to teasing by befriending the village pariah. With a dad like Stoic and no friends, or human friends at least, there was no question about why his posture screamed loneliness.

And, of course, anyone would be tired after a training session like that with a hike through the woods and hair-raising experience such as that encounter with the downed night fury as a follow up. Maybe that was why he didn't fight the jabs with sarcasm like he usually did. It just wasn't worth the effort to come up with a response, especially since it usually went over the heads of the other teens anyway.

Before seeing this, however, Fishlegs would have assumed that the shame mixed in with the tired and lonely looks was due to his performance during the last raid and all the other fiascos before it. Now he knew that the emotion had much deeper causes. Hiccup had released a dragon. He had then followed said dragon and not made any hostile movements towards it. That pretty much went against the entire Viking code. Oh, and let's not forget that he was doing all of this behind his father's, the chief's, back. Oh, didn't that just add to the pile.

"The Dragon Manual. Everything we know about every dragon we know of." Yes! There it was, his favorite book, and the source of his expertise. Yes! This was the perfect chance to rope the others into his world for a change.

"Wait, you mean read?"

"While we're still alive?" And there they were, shooting down his hopes of an intellectual discussion before they could even properly form. Still, he had to give his image-self credit for trying. But he was trying with the wrong people, which became painfully apparent when the others ran off and Hiccup actually touched the book. Oh, why hadn't he stayed and taken his chances with Hiccup instead of trying to persuade the "cool Vikings" to try something new (unlikely, but still!)?

"So I guess we'll share?" Those words stuck in his ears like inch-long pins. How could he have ignored something so obvious right in front of him? And watching Hiccup's crestfallen expression as Astrid left him to his reading only made it worse.

Then Fishlegs watched as Hiccup began to discover the treasure trove that was the Dragon Manual. Flipping through the various entries, he stared at the pictures that flickered in the candlelight, giving the impression of movement. Ominous warning after ominous warning was voiced by the mellow tenor. Then, finally, he turned to the page he was looking for.

"Night Fury." He read the description with a suitably spooked voice, finishing with the warning that he had clearly not obeyed earlier in the day. Although, Fishlegs now had to wonder at the wisdom of such a warning. Night Furies had never actually killed anyone, and Hiccup's encounters with the specimen in the woods had certainly proved many of the book's statements wrong. As Hiccup pulled out his sketchbook and laid it over the blank page, Fishlegs wondered if he could do more than that. Perhaps his fellow dragon nerd would be able to fill in the blanks about Night Furies and more. If only they hadn't driven him off.

Someone Suggested that I should add more movie quotes to spice things up. How do you think I did?

Fishlegs might seem like a bit of a pushover in the movie, but the TV series made his character grow a real spine. That's where I got some of my ideas about his character. Tell me what you think!

Here's the Fishlegs chapter everyone wanted. Review, and get a twist reveal!