"Hiccup, are you sure you're alright?" Astrid asked, concerned. She looked like she wanted to say something more but decided against it.
"Yeah, Astrid, I'm Fine. Never been better, actually! Why do you ask?"
Astrid looked pointedly at Hiccup's plate, piled high with mutton. "Its just that, well, you've been eating almost three times as much as normal. And that is not normal, well for you at least."
"Astrid, I'm Fine. I've just been really hungry lately. Its nothing to worry about." Hiccup cringed. He was an awful liar, and he hated lying to Astrid. But he definitely couldn't admit the truth.
"Hiccup, its nothing to be embarrassed about-"
Hiccup's eyes widened. She knows. How can she know?
Time seemed to slow.
"- lets go to Gothi, and she can help you with your tapeworm problem."
Hiccup choked. Then burst into a fit of laughter.
"You think," he wheezed, "I have a tapeworm! A Tapeworm!"
Judging by the look on Astrid's face, she was not happy to be taken lightly. "Yes. I do. And you are going to see Gothi about it."
"I appreciate the concern," Hiccup said, trying to hold back another fit of laugher, "I really do, but I definitely do not have worms of any kind."
Astrid huffed; "You have the symptoms – You've been eating way more without any discernable weight gain or increase in energy usage. You. Are. Going. To. See. Gothi. Besides, its not like worms are uncommon. We eat fish most every day." Astrid glanced at Hiccup's plate of mutton – "Well, some of us anyway."
There was only one answer to that which Hiccup could give– "Oh alright , I'll go see Gothi since you're so concerned. But I do not have any worms in me!"
o0o
Thankfully, Gothi declared Hiccup worm free. Hiccup would have to let Astrid know that tapeworms actually make you feel less hungry, not more. But there was still a problem: Hiccups muscles weren't any larger than they were two weeks ago. Eating more clearly wasn't going to give him better biceps than Astrid's. So, what to do next? If only he knew someone who knew how to work out properly. Well if only Hiccup knew someone who wasn't Snotlout, that is. Truthfully, Snotlout was very completely jacked, but Hiccup loathed to ask him. But the idea of forever being dwarfed by his girlfriend in the muscle department outweighed Hiccup's inherent dislike of asking Snotlout for help. Or listening to him talk. Or really just being in the same general vicinity as him.
Hiccup was not looking forward to it.
AN: Some people can dramatically increase the amount of calories they eat, and still lose or maintain constant weight. It can be an ok thing or very bad thing depending on the reason. Hiccup just has a super fast metabolism and a build that makes it hard for him to gain weight no matter how much he eats. And really skinny people have a more difficult time gaining muscle in the long term