Hi !! Just discovered your blog (and your buffcup tag) yesterday. Which kinda gave me a silly idea >:D !! Here's a daydream for you.
In fanfiction it's kind of common (but still very interesting) for Spitelout to pit his son against hiccup, either to prove he's somewhat better than his brother Stoick or as way to try and make Snotlout the heir of Berk ....... but what if that went wrong due to Snotlout misunderstanding ? Like, the cousins are like 10 or 11 (since it's said that hiccup is 15 in the first movie ..... I think)
Spitelout says something like : Son, your cousin is the heir of berk but also a fishbone, take advantage of that !!!
And snotlout interprets that as "help my cousin bulk up" !! And so he does >;D
Spitelout it's none the wiser about it because he hears hiccup complaining about being sore and stuff like that. He assumes that his son is giving stoick son a really rough time or something like that ....... but in reality snotlout just helping him train/exercise and work-out a lot, complaining about his cousin diet AND fixing it !! Either by dragging his cousin to the great hall, complaining to gobber since uncle stoick it's always out or busy with chief duties ...... or learning how to cook himself >:D !! Personally I kind of like the cooking idea, partly due to it being a thing spitelout would disaprove (because he sucks) but also cause I can see snotlout really enjoying cooking, being really meticolous and about the taste and nutrition (plus, it's not only a way to help hiccup bulk up, but it also helps snotlout with his own gains).
And after hiccup starts getting used to working out, he begins having some ideas on how to exercise even more !! Like, dude figured out a way to build a prosthetic tail fin for a dragon ..... in like days at most, even if it's something he learned from gobber, that's really impressive. You cannot tell me he wouldn’t be able to figure out how to build a rudimentary pulley machine to work out his back (and then keep improving the design and weight limit as he and snotlout continued to bulk up). And I dunno, maybe he would get really into studying the muscle-groups and how to exercise them, figuring stuff out from gothi books and extrapolating from there !! Trying and testing new ways to make his biceps burn till they're begging for mercy (that's how you know it's working ....and it kinda feels good too).
And it feels so good to present a new work out contraption to his cousin !! Especially with how excited snotlout gets
After a 1 or 2 years (still before cannon-time) the cousin start to really look like cousins (or brothers even) not only due hiccup bulking up a lot and thus sporting a similar build to his cousin, but also cause of them treating each other like brothers, playing around and just having fun, maybe even being affectionate in the sorta-viking way. Like light punches, shoulder squezze and chest-bumps !! (In cannon you could make them not be cousins and things would mostly remain unchaged in their interactions). But here they look like brothers due to their friendship forged in their fiery workouts
You could even have them bonding over not having the greatest relationship with their dads !! Like, spitelout wants snotlout to be mean to his cousin (even though said fishbone it's FAR from being a fishbone now) to stop cooking so much ....... and maybe he could even dislike the new work out methods !! Why try for something new when the old way already works just fine ? But snotlout doesn't want to do any of these things
Similarly Hiccup still struggles talking with his dad (when he has the chance). Like, he bulked up like his stoick always wanted him too ...... but doesn't acknowledge the fact it was something born out of effort and greatly on snotlout parts !! Assigning most of the credit to the haddock genes which clearly just needed a while kicking. And hiccup thought he would finally get his father approval ....... the father just moved the goal-posts !! Asking if his son's popular with the other kids and flexing his leadership skills, bothering him to spend less time at the forge and more practicing combat instead, maybe even trying to "warn" him to be careful around snotlout due to the rivarly stoick has with spitelout himself
So it just kinda makes Hiccup and Snotlout more close as they feel like they're the only ones who understand and help each other get through it all ...... plus working out together it's a great way for them to push each other FURTHER !!!
This whole ask it's just them being Gym bros !!! GYM BROS !! OI OI OI OI >:D !!!
Hiiii!!! Yes! I saw you going through the hyperfixation of my blog, and it made me so happy, and reignited my vigor for the subject!
There are many versions of Buffcup in my head, and as per a poll the first one I'll write is the one where he bulks up right after httyd 1 (also a very fun scenario), but when I first ever conceived of Buffcup, the idea was exactly like yours!! One where he got all big pre canon, and would be a beefcake already at the time of httyd 1 where he is indeed 15.
Gotta confess, Snotlout is not a character I've given much though to, but you've singlehandedly made me reconsider! I love the idea that he misunderstood the assignment from his dad and that leads him to helping Hiccup FINALLY start to push himself. With how Viking-ly Snotlout is, I think he'll commit fully to the task, and actually succeed out of seer stubbornness alone haha!
Yes, I think you're very right, their relationship would certainly improve. Perhaps they're be some friction initially, especially with the inevitable hardship there's will he with Hiccups stubborn nature and his tendency to NOT EAT. But I think eventually they would develop something very brotherly for certain, especially with the shared experience of having a difficult father.
And you're so right, Stoick would move the goal post because that's so him! He'd be a bit proud for sure, but the intensification of the contest between him and Spitelout would maybe cloud his vision and he won't be able to see how important the progress Hiccup made is to him! And the cooking thing, ha! It's wonderful, worthy of a sitcom of its own, because no doubt they'll make something blow up.
Yeesss! How did I not think of that!! Of course Hiccup would invent some sort of machine to help them. I can already picture it, Hiccup ushering in his cousin to the forge and excitedly going on about this new pulley system he combined, and how it is connected to some weight and allows them to allocate the force on their back, all while Snot is confused but supportive. I also love the mental image of Hiccup, broad back hunched over Gothi's anatomy books and spending his free time trying to find ways to optimize everything.
I think despite it all it's still possible that he would be a klutz, so perhaps that's would be why he wouldn't be so good at combat?
It would be interesting to see what kind of dynamic would there be between the duo and the rest of Berk. I'm picturing something like...
