Chapter 5: Yak lifting
The weeks passed quickly, but progress was slow. Sure Hiccup was getting stronger, but it felt like his goal of bigger biceps just wasn't happening. Instead, over the weeks, they became ridiculously defined; when he flexed, every little detail was visible – the individual muscles creased together, the tendons popping in and out, the layers of veins. Quite honestly, it resembled something from Gothi's anatomy tomes.
The week of the Yak lifting contest, Snotlout began pestering to compete, but there was still a vast gulf between Hiccup's strength and that strongmen and strongwomen of Berk (including Snotlout). When Hiccup asked Astrid if she would be competing, she told him that she was not, and that the Hoffersons valued speed over brute strength.
Hiccup spent the day of with Astrid, cheering on his dad (who only competed as an honorary contestant) and Astrid's cousin Sigsvey.
The festivities ended with Stoic crowning a winner, and a feast in the Great hall. Hiccup and Astrid were drinking when an argument broke out between the twins.
"Everyone knows you aren't allowed to be smart and strong!" Tuffnut proclaimed.
"Yeah!" Ruffnut loudly agreed, then thought about it, "Wait, are you calling me dumb?"
"No sister, I am calling you weak"
Apparently that was the wrong thing to say, because Ruffnut responded with "We'll see about that," then punched Snotlout in the head. Hard.
"You know, I have to disagree with you two," Fishlegs chimed in.
"I want to challenge that, Fishface. If anyone is strong here, its me," Snotlout called out.
"All right, how about we arm wrestle"
The twins immediately stopped fighting and latched on to the idea of an 'arm wrestling tournament'.
They had had them before, but this was the first one since Hiccup began working out. In the first round, Snotlout trounced Fishlegs, Hiccup beat Ruffnut, and Astrid beat Tuffnut. Snotlout went on to soundly win, but for Hiccup, the most exciting round was him against Astrid.
It started with a deadlock. Neither Hiccup nor Astrid was able to budge the other. But as the seconds wore on, Hiccup could feel Astrid starting to waiver. He was going to win, Hiccup knew it. But something held him back, if only a little. Inch by inch, Astrid gradually moved towards winning. Finally, he felt the back of his hand touch the table. To everyone else, Hiccup had lost against Astrid. But it wasn't a loss to him. Hiccup knew that he could have won. Suddenly, Hiccup no longer felt self conscience about his skinny biceps; he no longer felt weak compared to her.
AN: yeah I know I took a month and a half to poorly write a few hundred words. But I have my excuses. First and foremost being that university is hard and incredibly time consuming. The second is that I sprained fingers on both of my hands with none other than weightlifting. Don't be an idiot like me and use proper form. Having sprained fingers makes typing hurt. So no chapters. I know that this chapter is low quality, and I may well rewrite it along with the whole story because I really am not feeling the style. Let me know what you think please & thank you.