Tumblr prompt: "Damn, you're strong for a little thing." for KonoHana (requested by ibloo)
Title: Facing the consequences of backhanded compliments
AN: Been meaning to create a drabble collection for these two where I gather the short Tumblr drabble prompts I receive, and those I write for myself. This is the result.
Scanning the room for his next victim, he spotted Hanabi in the corner, talking to Moegi about something.
Perfect.
He had arm-wrestled Moegi before, and that wasn't fun, but Hanabi was a new opponent. He had already defeated Shino and Udon and needed some new blood.
He was pretty drunk, and in a great mood, so when he shouted across the bar to get the girls' attention, he might have shouted a little bit too loud, but who cared. The arm-wrestling competition they had come up with earlier was more important.
"Ey, Hanabi, come fight me!" he shouted and made it clear what he meant by putting his elbow up on the table and wiggle his arm a little.
That got her attention. Ah, perhaps not the right kind though, she looked a bit grumpy when she threw him a glance before leaning over and saying something to Moegi he couldn't hear. Moegi snorted and rolled her eyes, and they both made their way to the guys' table.
"Are you really sure you want to do this?" Hanabi asked sweetly as she sat down in front of him and put her elbow up on the table.
"Sure, show me what you got, ey?" he answered, perhaps a tiny bit cockily but hey, he was confident in his own strength and this was just for fun.
She grinned and somewhere in the back of his beer muddled mind warning-bells went off, though he quickly dismissed every thought of backing down.
"Okay, your call," she said and grabbed his outstretched hand.
They were remarkably evenly matched.
He was stronger but her technique made it impossible for him to get the upper hand. Things were finally getting interesting here. Putting a little bit more force into his arm, he felt his face starting to redden with the strain, though for nothing. Her arm didn't budge an inch, and he began to realise he actually had a pretty experienced arm-wrestler in front of him.
When had she learned that?
"Damn, you're really strong for someone so tiny," he said and realised as soon as the words left his mouth that they didn't come out quite right. He was maybe a bit drunker than he had thought. Honestly, it was meant as a compliment, but judging by how her lips pursed and the frown that formed between her eyebrows, she didn't take it like that.
The next thing he knew was that the table had cracked in two, his hand hurt like hell and she was standing over him, grinning evilly.
"Next time you want to arm-wrestle, perhaps you should be a little bit more wary of who you pick as your opponent."